Fish River Lodge Journal

Journal entries from Fish River Lodge, Eagle Lake, Maine. Adventures in hunting, fishing, trapping and running a sporting camp in northern Maine.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Fleeting Moments of Summer

Summer is fleeting in the north country - after a very long winter, wet spring, slow start to summer, and finally sun and warm temps at the start of the month, we realize summer is short-lived. We enjoyed nearly two decent weeks of weather through July 11th. It has basically rained ever since. The silver lining to that "dark cloud" is that temps have been in the upper 60s and 70s - very comfortable and much cooler than what the rest of New England is experiencing.

The week of July 4th was quieter than normal. Some of our "regulars" were unable to return due to "the money squeeze" affecting all of us. John and Sue Chasse (cabin 7 regulars) returned with their grand daughter for two weeks - Savanah and Kaitlyn spent many hours together swimming at the beach, giggling in the Chasse's cabin, making s'mores at the campfire, and tubing behind John's boat. The Calvert girls joined in - it was much like a girl's summer camp experience for all!

Shawn Pelletier was home on leave from Fort Lewis, WA. He helped us celebrate Independence Day along with John Chasse who made his famous (infamous?) "trash-can-turkey". It has become a July 4th tradition at Fish River Lodge. John roasts the turkey under a small metal trash can and the rest of us contribute to a pot-luck meal at the lodge. We did our best to gather 'round the fire pit after dinner but with the lake so unusually high this year we didn't have much room. We did a "21 gun salute" of sorts off the deck with my trusty 20 ga.. the girls had sparklers, and Wayne's zombie mask came in handy for a prank on the girls...we saw them wander up to the Calvert's cabin...I put on the zombie mask, camo jacket, and black ball cap then hid behind a fir tree in the darkness...finally, the girls came wandering back toward the fire pit...I stepped out of the shadows...and the quiet night was pierced by their screams - so loud my ears were ringing! After I pulled off the mask we all had a good laugh. Next up, the parents...I hid in the shadows of cabin 7 when the adults were returning to their cabins and stepped out in front of them - more screams, then "damned you Tenley!" They recognized my short legs and boots! More belly laughs from all!

Cory and Maureen Lathrop (Hallowell, ME) and Harold and Claire Dyer let us host their dinner party at the lodge on the 5th. They were joined by the Calvert and Chasse families. We served rosemary roast pork loin and herb marinated grilled chicken breasts, oven roasted Aroostook potatoes, and sauteed summer squash; dessert was cheese cake topped with wild berries. The Lathrops have a camp on Eagle Lake, just up the road from us. They have been dinner guests several times, most recently when they were up snowmobiling in the winter. On the same day we hid the very decrepit fox mount in the woods across from the lodge. We've tricked many in to believing it is a real fox lurking in the bushes. Tony Dube was so "duped" he exclaimed, "Wayne, look at that fox! He doesn't look too good, you better get your gun!" More belly laughs as the joke was on Tony!

The Clapps (Addison, ME) arrived on the 6th. Wayne accidentally moved them in to the wrong cabin but we soon had them settled in cabin 8 for a two-night stay before Jim and Charmain Vogt (Hallowell, ME and Chicago, IL) arrived to stay in cabin 6. Wayne took the Vogts fishing on the 9th. They hooked many fish and landed three - one of which was Charmain's first land-locked salmon. They had a fantastic time entertained by Wayne's good humor! Our neighbor, Mike Michaud, caught a beautiful 4 1/2 lb. brook trout on the 6th - it was HUGE!
I've accepted the position of president for the Eagle Lake Trail Blazers ATV club. Membership is growing and we have some very active members, especially Fred Michaud and Wayne Pelletier of Eagle Lake. We're excited about the trail system the various clubs are coordinating to give riders access to the entire northern tier of The County. You can ride from Eagle Lake north to Fort Kent, west to Allagash, north east to Madawaska, and south east to Caribou and Presque Isle.

John Chasse made another trash-can-turkey on the 11th. Wayne and Shawn fished Blake Lake in the evening but those fussy trout wouldn't take anything they threw but the guys had a great time trying. Steve Daigle (Paper Signs, Ink of Fort Kent) has designed and will print and mail our 2008 moose hunt brochure. It is beautiful with the many photos of moose, salmon, grouse, and the lodge dining room. We hope it will attract zone 2, 3, and 6 moose hunters to our lodge.

Rod Lebrecque, Mary and their children and grandchildren (cabin 7); and Eldon and Sue Devoe and their children (cabin 8) returned for their vacations on the 12th We always look forward to "old friends" returning year after year. Larry Gilman and son Greg stayed with us for the weekend too - they have been here before, first to celebrate grandson Ethan's birth and this weekend his 4th birthday. We hosted the Plourde family dinner party in the evening. Shawn stopped by to show us his limit of trout from Pelletier Lake - nice fish! Then Wayne and Shawn played show-and-tell with all their fishing gear and Wayne's recent purchases from Alvin Theriault's "Fly Shop" in Patten.

Steve and Peggy Rollins (Union, ME) spent a week here in cabin 6 the week of the 13th. Wayne and I fished here on Eagle Lake the evening of the 14th and are STILL catching salmon! Wayne landed a decent 18" fish and I caught a little 14" salmon for the smoker. These fish pale in comparison the the one Chris Parent (Eagle Lake, ME) caught while fishing with Tony Dube on July 14th...they landed a 6 1/2 lb, 26 1/2" landlocked salmon - what a gorgeous fish with a hooked jaw and fat belly. We all celebrated Chris' fish then put our catch from the night before on the smoker for dinner.

By this time we have had several days of rain but we never let it dampen our spirits. We keep doing whatever is planned...I took a lovely picture of the Devoe girls swimming in the reflection of a rainbow on the lake. We went "moose hunting" (actually moose watching) on the evening of the 16th. We watched a cow and calf for quite some time then enjoyed a spectacular lightning show and peeks of the moon during our ride back to the lodge.

Lou and Germaine Levesque and their daughter Gloria arrived for a month-long stay on the 17th. On the 19th I met Linda Englehardt and Dave Kelso in Allagash to make the long trek over to St. Pamphile to pick up a load of bear bait. We enjoyed a leisurely day under partly sunny skies, had lunch at Dick Thayer's cabin on the Big Black, then got caught in a thunder storm, complete with pea-size hail, on the way out. I stopped at Two Rivers in Allagash and picked up more bear bait from Wade Kelly. We have plenty to get started! While I was gone Mike and Sharon Bolduc arrived with their party boat. They are from Fairfield, ME ; The Schoonmakers (New Britain, CT) also arrived for a wek-long stay.

On the 20th we went on an "adventure" with Shawn...first priority to set out moose licks in preparation for a September zone 5 hunt planned with Ron and Mim Webber (Cundy's Harbor, ME). After setting out the licks the day was ours! We fished several streams and ponds and came home with a couple of 14-16" trout each. We saw several moose and a couple very nice bulls in velvet. Spectacular "fiery" sunset on way home after leaving the Oxbow check point.

Sherri Roberts (Labrador, Canada) was here for a week-long stay beginning July 22. Steve Davis and his bride Deb (Cundy's Harbor, ME) spent their honeymoon with us. They enjoyed some decent fishing on the lake and look forward to returning in the winter to ice fish. Steve Davis and Sharon Bolduc know each other from working at Bath Iron Works - small world! We fished Third Lake Wallagrass the evening of the 22nd. We all caught a bunch of trout and kept only one each. We had a feast of venison, moose, fiddleheads, and potatoes for dinner after a nice afternoon of fishing. Did I mention the rain? Well, it's been raining since the 11th...if not all day, part of the day, but still we fish or whatever! We enjoyed the lobsters Steve and Deb brought up with them - it was a taste of "home". We don't get lobster very often up here so it was a real treat!

On the 25th torrential rain washed out the driveway, again. Wayne did his best to repair it but we'll probably need more gravel. Shawn stopped by to say "so long" - he's headed back to Fort Lewis in Washington state, the Bolducs and Davises headed back down-state. We look forward to the Bolducs' and Schoonmakers' return next summer. We hosted Pat Labbe's (Fort Kent, ME) family dinner party on the 26th. We always enjoy the Labbe family dinners - they arrived and departed on their party boat, Cajun music and all! The Sharp family (Georgetown, DE) Was here for a week to explore the region. They're thinking of relocating to the area. The Koepniks (Dublin, OH) spent a few days with us as they were touring Maine. We thanked them for making the effort to travel this far north to see the "Real Maine". The Dulacs also spent a few days with us while in the area for business. And the Alice Gove family (Winthrop, ME) was here for a week. We enjoyed their camaraderie and friendship - they sure know how to have a good time, even in the rain - it rained ALL week!

Suddenly it's the end of the month and we wonder, where did it go? Our part-time jobs eat up much of the week, then there's laundry to do, cabins to clean, calls and emails to return, grocery shopping and cooking and clean-up for our dinner parties, marketing projects and monthly accounting and bill-paying, not to mention visiting with our guests and squeezing in a few afternoons of fishing, and getting ready for fall hunting season! It's all in a day's work...we started our bear baits on the 25th and already they're getting hit. It's August 2nd and we've just returned from checking our bait sites across the lake. I figured I better get caught up on this July entry now, tomorrow we'll spend the morning cleaning more cabins then setting up bait sites off the Pennington and Chain Bridge Roads, then another week begins.

Summer is fleeting and as we say, if it happens to fall on a sunny day we have a cookout (or trash-can-turkey)! Once August arrives we add running bear baits and scouting for moose to our list of things to do. The maple tree in front of the lodge is fading to yellow as we turn our attention to hunting season...