Still in Winter's Grip

While many look forward to the first day of spring, we're still held tight in winter's grip. March in northern Maine is just the end of winter, not nearly the start of spring. And March for Wayne and I is also a time for celebration. On March 6th we celebrated our 3rd anniversary. He surprised me by sending a beautiful bouquet of roses to work and then we went to China Garden for dinner. We left for Fort Kent in a snow storm but by the time we finished dinner it had changed to rain. The roads were a mess and we were glad to get safely back to the lodge. Except when we entered the lodge it was full of smoke and the wood stove was "belching"! There was no chimney fire but Wayne climbed up on the roof and discoved our stove pipe had rusted through and water was dripping in to the woodstove making it smoke, the smoke was backing up in to the stove pipe and would ignite and "belch" smoke through the damper of the stove in to the lodge! We let the fire in the stove burn down and spent the next hour airing out the lodge. The next morning Wayne ordered all the parts needed to replace our old stove pipe.

Wayne decided to pull our ice shack off the lake while conditions were good. A series of cold days and nights in the single digits had hardened previous slushy conditions so he was able to easily pull the shack across the crusty snow with his snowmobile. The pull was easy across the lake but as he ventured up on shore and over a snow drift the shack lurched and tipped. Just before dark on the 10th I was in my office returning calls and emails when I heard Wayne open the kitchen door latch..."Hun, can you help me? The ice shack tipped over." "Tipped over?" I questioned, "Yeah, it's tipped on its side." he grumbled. I put on my snow pants, boots, anorak, and gloves all the while envisioning the ice shack leaning at an awkward angle simply needing to be pushed "level" as he pulled it with his sled. As we made our way around cabin 7 toward the beach all I could see of the ice shack was its roof facing us! It had tipped completely over and was laying on the downhill side of the drift! It was then I began wondering how he and I were going to right it alone, and if we did, what would keep it from toppling all the way over on its other side? When I asked Wayne what the "plan" was he suggested that as he pushed it upright I "catch it" as it came over. Hmmm. I contemplated the idea and while doing so could only imagine the pain of a broken arm or dislocated shoulder, twisted knee, or all of the above if the shack were to flip over on me. I decided not to catch the shack, rather I prefered to work along side Wayne and hope it didn't flip completely over the other way. If it did, we'd figure that predicament out next. As it were, we both pulled and then pushed and the shack neatly righted itself. Actually, it was too bottom-heavy to flip again. I though it might be a good idea to just leave it there on the beach for the time being. But after floundering in the snow we discovered it was sitting right on top of one of our rental boats! Plus it would be wiser and safer to tow it up on level ground.

Wayne celebrated his birthday on the 12th. I surprised him with a store-bought cake I picked up on the way home from work the night before and hid it in my truck. I also gave him a picture. It was a picture I took of Wayne fishing at the warden pool on the thoroughfare to Square lake. He is in his waders and reflected in the water. At work we "photoshopped" the picture to look like a watercolor. It is truly a piece of art! Wayne loved it! That night we began packing for our long anticipated ice fishing trip with a gang from Eagle Lake. In years past we've missed the trip because we were exhibiting at the Wilton Sportsman Show. This year we chose to "sit out" the show. With the downturn in the economy we suspect there will be few from western Maine venturing to Aroostook County to vacation.

Our trip began at 5:00 a.m. on the 13th when we woke to a chilly zero degree morning. By 6:00 the sky was brightening with the promise of a sunny day. Wayne picked up some fresh-caught smelt given to him by Ron Albert - Ron fishes for smelt every morning at 3:30 a.m. - he's retired. Then we met everyone at Tamarack Inn for breakfast - Mike & Geneva Michaud, Ron & Margaret Soucy, Justin & Denise Raymond, Reed Devoe & Morgan, brothers Ron and Dana Laferrier, brothers Bert & Cory Simard, Buck Labbe, Bruce Dube, Clayon Fournier, and Fred Michaud. We all had our MURS radios on and the chatter began! I'm sure if I had taped the conversations I could make a million selling it as a comedy show! We got on the Pinkham Road at Portage - it was in good shape most of the way. We took the 522 Connector to John's Bridge Road and it was glare ice. Wayne avoided a jack-knifed trailer with his quick hands! The road in to Barry Ouellette's logging camps was glare ice too, and so was the parking lot and anything that had been plowed! We all unpacked our gear and slip-slided as we moved in then departed for Ross Lake. Our small tote flipped several times on the icey lake surface but we managed to get everything in place and set up by 1:00 and lost only a partial bag of wine - which Fred all too eagerly finished emptying for us. With no fish caught in the first hour Mike declared it was time to move, so we all packed up like a bunch of nomads and moved, set up again, and started fishing again. We all had shelters of some sort on the ice and were glad for that. The wind was so strong we had to tie ours off our sleds to keep it from collapsing! When we tried to make sandwiches the wind would blow our bread out of our hands and ham off our sandwiches! By nightfall several togue and about a dozen whitefish were landed. Wayne caught a 17 1/2" and 18" white fish and I lost one. Back at the logging camp we enjoyed a big spaghetti feed then settled in to watch American Logger on Discovery - we even had satelite TV!

Saturday the 14th dawned sunny, cold and windy. We woke for a big breakfast prepared by Wayne and Clayton. No one lingered over coffee - we immediately loaded gear into frosty totes and climbed on to our frosty sleds for a day of fishing on Chamberlain Lake. First we had to cross Eagle Lake. Sleds were overheating due to the lack of snow cover on the frozen lake. We rode over as much crusty snow as we could find but it wasn't enough. Fortunately we gave the sleds a break just in time at the adandoned steam engines. What a sight to find two huge locomotives in the middle of the north Maine woods. Back in the day (1927) Edouard Lacroix, a Canadian logging industrialist, conceived the idea to haul logs from Chamberlain Lake to south-flowing waters. Eagle Lake flows north to Canadian waters, Umbazooksus Lake, 13 miles from Chamberlain, flows south to waters that would bring logs to mills in Millinocket. One of the engines was purchased used from Rutland Railroad, the other from New York Central. They and enough steel for a 1500 foot bridge across the Allagash were hauled in by Lombard haulers over the winter while the lakes were frozen. The new railroad was called the U&EL line (for Umbazooksus and Eagle Lake).

Justin Raymond (works for Irving Woodlands) took the role of tour guide and shared lots of information on the railroad and old days of logging. Clayton Fournier took a group photo of us at the engines and then we moved on to get set up on Chamberlain for another day of ice fishing.

The clear sky made it possible to see Katahdin rising to our south. What a sight to look over one shoulder at Katahdin and the other shoulder at a pair of eagles soaring overhead! It was a slow day for us but others caught togue and brook trout. We cooked hotdogs on the ice and the afternoon sun felt so warm when we could get out of the wind. It seemed much like a day at the beach - our shelters were cabanas as we "sun bathed" all over the ice. Chamberlain has to be one of the most spectacular ice fishing spots in all of Maine!

That night Wayne and Clayton put on their chef's hats again and made us a feast of grilled filet mignon, baked potatoes, and corn. An evening of stories, laughter, and card games followed. The younger guys went cusk fishing on Eagle Lake. Margaret and I went out to check on them and were amazed to watch a million stars in the clear night sky. We counted six jet liners pass overhead and wondered where all those people could possibly be going? One thing for sure, there are few more beautiful places in the world than where we were standing!

Sunday morning we "broke camp". The drive back home was over muddy roads softened by the rising sun as we left the logging camp. Further north the Pinkham Road was still frozen and light snow fell. That the roads are starting to break up indicates winter is slowly losing its grip. Back in our Town of Eagle Lake Ron and Margaret had all of us over to eat up our leftovers from the trip for lunch. Slowly our ice fishing adventure came to a close.

The week of the 17th we were very busy at the print shop printing and binding 250 town reports for Wallagrass, 200 targets and timing sheets for the biathalon, (and mailing) 1200 brochures for a fire wood company, 500 brochures for the university, and lots of FedEx returns for Radio Shack to name a few. Another ice shack mishap on the 18th. While Wayne was sanding the driveway the truck slid on an unsanded section and knocked over the ice shack again! no real damage to truck or shack and Wayne used the bull dozer this time to right it.

Wayne's work schedule has been cut back so he started "spring cleaning" the lodge on the first day of spring - he washed all the logs in the dining room and living room - I could tell as soon as I pulled in after work - I could see the shine on the logs from outdoors! He mopped floors, vacuumed and dusted. He spent a few afternoons ice fishing as the season came to a close and caught some nice salmon and brook trout.

On the 22nd Dave Despres and Cliff Fletcher (www.overthecliffproductions.com) came to spend a few days at Fish River Lodge to shoot an episode for their "Sporting Camps: Comfort and Cuisine" series. They were refered to us by Eldon Jandreau who is a dear friend, fellow guide, and taxidermist from Portage. They are also working on a documentary about moose and bear with Eldon.

That afternoon we took them out to ice fish. The day before Wayne had caught 5 brook trout and a salmon so we knew just the right spot to set our traps. While Cliff and Dave filmed we set out five traps. The wind drove us in to the comfort of Ron Toussaint's ice shack to keep warm. We watched and waited and checked each trap after the flag would go up but each time only our bait was stolen. Later they filmed an otter on the ice shelf at the mouth of the river. Had it been stealing our bait, or was there a large brookie under the ice? We would never know for sure. For dinner Wayne prepared a traditional chicken stew and ployes. He expertly played the role of "chef" explaining the recipe, preparation tips, and tradition as he was filmed. I made a "depression era" chocolate cake from a recipe handed down by my great grandmother Effie. It contains no eggs or milk and is a delicious and moist cake recipe. Finally at 9:00 we sat down to enjoy our creations with our new friends. Dave shared stories of his adventures around the globe and many stories from closer to home. His mother was born in Eagle Lake and he now owns a camp on Portage Lake.

On the 23rd they filmed the ice road which connects the two sides of town in winter. It cuts a 45 minute trip down to 5 minutes! While venturing off the ice road Wayne broke through the snow and got stuck - Cliff and Dave enjoyed another adventure filming Wayne and Ron Toussaint as they unstuck the truck. Later Wayne, Cliff, and Dave met me at work and we drove over to Larry Murphy's "Valley View Kennels" so they could film Larry and his dog team. We have teamed up with Larry to offer dog sledding adventures and figured the show would give us both excellent exposure when the series aires. That night for dinner they filmed Wayne making his scrumptious rosemary roast pork loin, oven roasted Aroostook potatoes, and maple glazed carrots. I made an apple crisp for dessert. The next morning we bid Dave and Cliff well with their show and made plans for a reunion in the summer, with Eldon, Dave, and Larry along with their families.

On the 26th I attended an Aroostook County Tourism meeting and learned that we have mapped 1,100 miles of ATV trails! This is exciting and we're hopeful will put Aroostook County "on the map" bringing ATV riders in from far and wide.

The weekend of the 28th we exhibited at the Presque Isle Fish and Game Club's sportsman show. We always look forward to seeing friends old and new, especially after the show on Saturday when Lila and Carroll Ware and the Club host a social and dinner at the Northeastland Hotel. This year we had dinner with Yvan and his partner from Domaine Pipmuacan, a hunting and fishing lodge located on Lac Richard, 100 miles north of Chicoutimi , Quebec. Another thing we enjoy about going to and from the show is seeing the deer in Ashland and Portage. We counted more than two dozen each day during our commute. I also saw my first robin in Eagle Lake on Sunday morning. While we were at the show, Dave Kelso, a local friend, caught a 37", 17 lb. togue! He brough over pictures and video to show us on Tuesday.

We got another storm and 8" of snow on the 30th. We still have about 18" of snow on the ground although it is melting fast and at least two feet of ice on the lake. The last day of the month Rocky Bard (friend from Wallagrass) presented us with a gorgeous, handcrafted shelf with moose antler hooks for hanging coats and caps. He tells us he made the shelves all winter and is now giving them to family and friends. We were honored to be counted as a friend and proud to hang his shelf in the lodge.

March is like having a favorite uncle come to visit - the kind that makes us laugh with his antics. We look forward to his arrival, enjoy his visit, but by the time he leaves we are weary and glad to see him go... It rained all weekend and April showers are a good sign that warmer weather is on its way! By the end of April we will be counting the days (or hours!) until Eagle Lake is free of ice and we can begin welcoming our first spring fishermen!