Category: Mike’s Blog

During the last month I’ve spent a considerable amount of time in the Belgrades chasing fish and turkeys. It’s a been amazing to say the least. While we’ve moved to Bar Harbor (a.k.a. Acadia National Park), I’m still making many treks down to “home base” to guide fishermen. We still have our fishing cottage on Snow Pond and are still working with all the lodging operations there too: Whisperwood Lodge for American Plan, 4-Season Cottages for do-it-yourself meals, etc, etc. Such a lovely place to visit and fish!

Right now the smallmouth are on their beds, which is always fun and yesterday I guided Cobbossee and found largemouth on beds. It’s a bit early for that, but we’ll take it. We also have had great luck with northern pike and trout/salmon. Really can’t complain about the fishing at all – it’s been terrific.

Many thanks to everyone who has sent in e-mails about our big move. It’s exciting, but Belgrade will always be home to me. Although, I am slowly falling in love with Acadia National Park and the surrounding areas. There’s a lot of water to explore here and I trust that I’ll be ready to guide the area by next spring. I just need some time to figure it all out!!!

Don’t forget that I put more information on our facebook pages:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Maine-Wilderness-Tours/113166285385874

Join in and post your pictures too!

Tight lines,
Mike

Ice Fishing & Winter Fun!

We are gearing up for this year’s ice fishing season and I can’t wait.  As you may know, our family moved to Bar Harbor this past Fall, and I’ve been having fun exploring the new area and learning as much as I can about the surrounding lands.  It is beautiful here on Mount Desert Island, and Acadia National Park is truly amazing.  But I’ve found another playground just off the island!  There is so much land and woods and waters to explore within a half- hour drive of my home.  It’s difficult to pick a desintation to explore because they all look  so good.

So for this winter, we’ll be running our usual Ice Fishing  trips in the Belgrade Lakes region.  I’ll open our cottage on Messalonskee Lake (which is for sale by the way) in January and will keep it open into March.

We still have a few openings for rentals and/or guide services, especially for weekdays in February.

We also work closely with my good friends at Belgrade 4-Season Cottages and we have my in-laws Belgrade Stream Cottage for rent this winter too.   So lodging shouldn’t be a problem, however setting your dates early is recommended.

 

 

 

There is something special about fishing with true friends; real people that you know, love and trust. As I realize that my time here in the Belgrades is slowly coming to an end (we are moving away this fall), I realize how much I cherish my friends here and the fishing opportunities in the area. Suddenly I enjoy every eagle, every osprey, and every fish much more. Sunsets are clearer and more vibrant and the smell of the water gets sweeter each day. Well, this past week I had the privilege to fish with a real friend and a legend in the area – someone who I’ve come to know and thank my luck stars to have met. If it wasn’t for the beauty of the Belgrades and the love of fishing, our paths would never have crossed. It may sound corny, but the luxury of my job is to meet some wonderful people from all over the world and Dick Dempster is certainly at the top of the list.

Perhaps the title of this article should read: “Fishing Creates Friendship” or better yet, “Fishing Friends Fish Forever”. Either way, my friend and his son-in-law Gentry went fishing last week. It was a full moon that brought a cold front and a breezy day, so I was concerned the bite would be off. Well those excuses came true because the fish were being stinkers, but we managed to find a few smallies and some pike on the deep edges of weed beds. We caught the fish on live bait and tube jigs, and we were happy to get the bites we got. After about an hour we decided to move into some back waters where there was current and lots of structure. It was technical fishing and the casting target was really small, but we managed to get the right casts into the right areas and caught some big fish. Sometimes it’s better to catch a few big fish rather than catch a bunch of smaller ones.

Boat position is key when fishing technical waters, and we managed to position just right in front a fallen tree. After the boat was set up, my friend Dempster told me that he thought the fish would be on the leeward side of a fallen tree. I positioned the boat and chucked a shiner into the spot he had called. It wasn’t more than 10 seconds and he landed a HUGE largemouth. High Fives and the clicking of cameras followed, but the best part was a few seconds of silence when we all realized how special the moment was. Three friends brought together by the love of fishing had just shared in the sweet success of the catch. A few minutes later the big female was released and we all went back to fishing. Silence ensued for a while, but the memory of that fish, and that moment will be burned in my mental CD for the rest of my life.

Good luck this week!

Welcome back to another fun filled year of playing in the Belgrade Lakes Region.   As I sit here typing away, my mind is full of daydreams and wonders what adventures are in store this summer.  I wonder what giant fish will be caught this year and by whom.  It’s always hard to predict but brown trout is definitely a species that will produce a few monsters this summer, and of course there will be lots of giant pike caught too.  I wonder if the state record pike will be caught this year.  It’s certainly possible someone will catch one bigger than the current 31.2 pound record.  That record has stood since 1998.  Rumor has it that the black crappie record was broken this past winter on one of the Belgrade Lakes.  That’s not surprising because crappie numbers are exploding along with white and yellow perch.  The ice fishing for white perch this winter was the best we’ve ever experienced, so get the chowder pots ready because the perch fishing is going to be awesome this spring.

Wild turkeys and smallmouth bass have been dominating the local outdoor scene during the last few weeks.  Turkey hunters have reported seeing birds on a daily basis and the birds are decoying and coming to call with regularity.   As the season winds down (the last day is June 1), hunters will see more bachelor groups of mature Toms together.  The later part of the season can be difficult because the birds are educated, but this is a great time of year to find the biggest Toms.  On one of our successful hunts this spring, Darrell had four jakes come into our decoy spread.   I was doing the calling and he was set up in a blind overlooking the back end of a field.  I called the birds into the decoys, but Darrell couldn’t shoot because the birds were so close together.  They put on quite a show, gobbling like crazy and fighting with the decoy and each other.   Finally they separated enough and one shot later it was time to fire up the grill.  Darrell was fortunate this year because he got two birds on back to back trips.  The State of Maine allows hunters to purchase a bonus turkey tag so you can take two male birds in the spring. 

In addition to the sweet sound of gobbling birds and falling asleep to a chorus of singing peepers, there’s one more sure sign of spring – bedded smallmouth bass!  The smallies started making their nests about 3 weeks ago, which is a little bit earlier than usual.   The water warmed up quickly because we had very little rain in late April and early May.  It’s so much fun watching the bass work their nests and protect them from predators like bluegills and crayfish.  We’ve been catching quite a few female bass off the deeper sides of the beds and for the most part we try and leave the bedded fish alone (although it’s hard to pass up sight fishing for bedded smallies).  One fun way to catch bedded fish is on a fly rod rigged with a small popper.  Because this is visual fishing, it’s great practice for a beginner and a fun way to shake off the winter rust for avid fly casters.   During this time of year, it’s vital that anglers diligently practice catch and release and put the bass back on their beds to protect the future of the fishery.  This is a stressful time of year for the bass and they need us to be as gentle as possible.  It’s important that we try not to drop the fish on the deck of the boat and try to avoid “over-fighting” the fish.  Have fun catching them, but try and get them back into the water in a timely manner so the fish doesn’t get too stressed out. 

As another season begins, don’t forget to send in your photos and I’ll try and get them in the paper.  We all love seeing those big fish!  I’m really hoping to find some time to perch fish this week.  I have a craving for a fish fry!  Tight lines.