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.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

In and Out Like a Lion



March arrived like a lion… It was cold with temperatures well below zero – since our kitchen water was froze in the morning, I figure it was at least -20 even though I didn’t record an “official” temperature in my journal that day.

Every year I write about the much anticipated CanAm sled dog races and encourage folks from downstate to come up and experience our “mini Iditarod”, complete with a Main Street start. This year, Gloria Barnes and her partner Carroll made the trek. Gloria is Acadia’s “other grammy” and agreed to shuttle Acadia up for the weekend. Jaye Foucher, my friend, web site designer, and musher stayed with us for the race. Normally Jaye runs the 250 but this year, with her young team, she ran the 60 – which gave us extra time to visit before and after the race. Acadia was thrilled when she learned we’d have Jaye and her huskies staying with us! We drew pictures of huskies for Jaye, played in the snow, and made burritos for dinner while we waited for Jaye to get back after her driver’s meeting. After our evening visit, Acadia bundled up to help Jaye take care of the dogs before bedtime. Acadia has all the makings of a young musher!

Race day on the 3rd greeted us with heavy snow. We met Jaye at the Key Bank dog lot in town before the start and she offered to let Acadia ride the runners of her sled to the starting line – Acadia was thrilled! I had tears in my eyes watching my grand daughter get a taste of sled dog racing – it had been a huge part of my life before she was born. It must be in her blood because when she and Jaye were being handled to the start, the dog handlers lost control of Jaye’s team, the sled flipped, and both Jaye and Acadia were dragged a distance before they got the team stopped and sled righted. Acadia never let go of the sled (which is rule #1 of running sled dogs)! At the starting line we watched and cheered as Jaye left on the 60 mile run through northern Maine's woodlands. Once all the teams left Main Street Wayne drove Jaye’s truck and I helped John Pelletier empty the lot by driving another musher’s truck up to the finish at Lonesome Pine Trails. We enjoyed watching Rita & Bill Wehsler’s team run down Main Street, as well as the teams of so many other mushing friends. Times like these I really miss running dogs! The snow continued and it really was beautiful watching the teams in such a perfect winter wonderland.

We didn’t stay to wait for all the 60 mile race teams to finish but were proud to learn Jaye’s team finished 10th among a field of very competitive teams! Acadia helped Jaye feed and clean up after the dogs Saturday night and Sunday morning before all headed south. We’d enjoyed an exciting weekend of sled dog racing and visiting with friends old and new.

On the 6th Wayne and I celebrated our anniversary and opened an anniversary gift from Ed and Julie Dallas – beautiful, laminated and hand-carved wooden dippers and spatulas. They are truly works of art but Ed has encouraged us to use the oiled set to dip pancake batter and the spatula to turn the cakes. I don’t know – they are just too pretty to use, for now!

On the 8th temps climbed to an amazing high of 60 degrees! Snowmelt was running like rivers everywhere!

Back in to the deep freeze days later, then on the 11th, Quigley’s Outdoors sponsored a youth ice fishing derby at Fish River Lodge. The kids fished, went sliding, took snowmobile rides, played horse shoes, Frisbee and tug-of-war on the ice, and ate hot dogs. In all they caught three “keeper” salmon 12 inches long or more. Although it was a cloudy day, the lack of wind and mild temps made it perfect for playing outdoors all day!

Wayne celebrated his 50th birthday on the 12th – his birthday celebration began with a “wake up” call from Ed and Julie – Ed playing nose flute, and Julie singing “happy birthday”! Later we celebrated with pizza and birthday cake, then Wayne went on-line and ordered a digital video camera he’s wanted for a very long time.

Another MPGA meeting in Bangor on the 18th (which meant leaving on the 17th to visit with Magnum!) I found the “snow line” at Millinocket. North of that there was enough snow for riding snowmobiles. South of Millinocket, no snow except for a few snow banks. I arrived in Bowdoinham and was greeted by sun and very warm weather. Mom and dad took me to dinner at Fat Boys, a famous drive-in eatery located in Brunswick and open only during the “summer”. Off to Bangor Sunday morning which was another gorgeous day. We were meeting indoors much of the day but when the meeting ended at 2:30 we all spilled in to the parking lot and soaked up some of the heat and sun before scattering in all directions for home. I drove all of the interstate with the windows down! Back in Millinocket much of the snow had melted over the weekend! The snow line had retreated as far north as Patten!

Snow on the lake was melting and many ice shacks had been hauled off the ice over the weekend. Wayne and Randy Bossie pulled ours back to shore on the 19th.

On the 20th Wayne and I took a ride to Allagash to look at the river and hopefully see some deer. We found the St. John with stretches of open water and starting to jam in a few places and we also saw lots of deer! The temperature hit a record-breaking 70 degrees – the earliest 70 degree day in history! Wallagrass Stream jammed on the 21st but didn’t flood as we enjoyed another 70 degree day, 72 to be exact! And the 22nd made three days in a row of 70 degrees or better! Ice went out of the Allagash and jammed at Fort Kent, but no flooding but there was record flooding further down river in New Brunswick. It was also the first day all winter that I could back up the driveway without 4-wheel-drive, we’d melted down to dirt! We also had visitors on snowmobiles – I later learned it was Eddie Caron from Topsham. I’m certain they were some of the last to ride Eagle and Square Lakes this season!

March 24th was a very sad day for The Valley. Fort Kent burned! A terrible fire burned an entire block, leaving 10 people homeless, leveling buildings that housed Nadeau Furniture, Acadia Home Health Services, and an empty store front. Firefighters from Canada and neighboring towns saved China Garden restaurant and Radio Shack, Sears, and Roger’s Sport Center across the street. We all agreed we were blessed that night – the wind didn’t blow (as it had been and did for days after) or much of Fort Kent might have burned down. As only The Valley can, communities and businesses rallied – nearly $50,000 was raised in just two weeks to assist those who'd lost everything in the fire.

March, I guess you could say, left like a lion too. It was very windy with gusts to 35 miles per hour the last few days of the month. The lake was very loud this year. It grumbled and groaned for weeks until the pressure lessened with wide stretches of open water.

On the 30th I saw a turkey here at Fish River Lodge! It is still unusual to see turkeys this far north, although we do have some small flocks around.

On the 31st we enjoyed a fantastic visit from Patty Moores-Labbe Cormier, Mark Cormier, and Peter and Judy Labbe. They are friends from downstate and it was so great to see them – I hope we see them up here again this summer!

And then it was April…

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Winter Fun!


The 1st of February and we welcomed another snowfall. After shoveling the 8” that had fallen, we were craving something chocolatey and sweet – we made a batch of no-bake cookies which I consider “health food” since they contain oatmeal – yum!

On the 4th we hosted our Wesgat Sipu friends for a day of ice fishing. Every Saturday the families plan a “child-friendly” outing – this Saturday they fished in front of the camps. While there were only a few fish landed, we also enjoyed snowmobile rides, hot dogs, and the opportunity to visit and share stories. They kindly thank us with a beautiful gift – a dream catcher which will be a reminder of our friendship and love of the outdoors and memory of the day we shared.

On the 6th I started my new job – bookkeeping for Brian Bouchard Trucking in Winterville. Gisele Charette started training me to do the accounting for all the wood that comes in to, is processed, and leaves their log yard in Portage. Brian gave me a guided tour of their operation after having lunch at Dean’s in Portage. Then on the 7th I finished packing and headed south on the first leg of my journey to the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I stopped at Wendy’s barn and spent the afternoon with my horse Magnum then spent the night with mom and dad. They dropped me off at the airport in Portland on the 8th where I met up with warden sergeant Tim Spahr. We’ll help staff the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife booth with deputy commissioner, Andrea Erskine. Our flights from Portland to Philadelphia, then Philly to Harrisburg were uneventful, we found the rental car at the airport, checked in to our hotel, then found Andrea at the show. It is a HUGE show with 200,000 or more attendees! Tim, originally from neighboring Carlisle, gave us a tour of the area in the evening. We met his parents, had dinner at the “Gingerbread Man” one night, and did a lot of networking with others in the outdoor industry from Maine and other eastern states. It was fun inviting and encouraging folks to visit our state; I hope to see some of them in the coming years. While I was there I also had the opportunity to visit outfitters who offer buffalo hunts - dad is hoping to book a hunt in the future. I didn’t get back to Maine until the 13th, stayed over with mom and dad, visited Magnum again, then drove home in time to celebrate Valentines Day with Wayne. He made a nice chowder from the 8 lb. togue he’d caught a few days earlier.

With February half gone, I felt like we were sprinting through winter! I got back to training at Bouchard’s, Wayne continued working, and in between work we’d get some ice fishing in.

Tom Webber and Megan Carr returned on the 19th for another weekend of snowmobiling. This time temperatures were much more agreeable! We planned a ride to Portage for lunch, then completed a loop back to Eagle Lake that took us toward Caribou, on to Stockholm, Cross Lake, and back home. It was a gorgeous, sunny day, the trails were great and we all agreed we could have ridden many more miles!

John and Mary Lu Medina were up snowmobiling during school vacation week. They found me walking on Eagle Lake on the 21st, which was another beautiful, sunny day. I love to walk on the lake in winter! Allie and Grace, and often our cat Trouble follow along – we’re quite an odd group parading across the lake!

I attended my first Maine Professional Guides Association meeting on the 26th. I’ve been nominated to their board of directors. I am honored to have been asked and graciously accepted, looking forward to representing the guides of the St. John Valley.

Giselle treated me to lunch at Custom Cake Factory in Fort Kent on the 27th. After running errands and making our deposit at the bank we had a delicious lunch of a hearty, homemade tomato soup and sandwich on homemade bread. Definitely plan lunch at the Custom Cake Factory in Fort Kent – their soups, breads, and desserts are all homemade and delicious! I felt a little guilty when I got home – Wayne had been shoveling roofs! On the 28th, when Cody Jandreau came down looking for a job, I suggested he help Wayne finish shoveling the roofs. The two of them removed a season’s worth of accumulated snow by week’s end!

We got more snow on the 28th but the sun shined brightly on the 29th…so long February! The longer days with warm sun are making us anxious for spring!

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HAPPY NEW YEAR


Happy New Year!

I spent the first day of 2012 as the last day in the lodge until spring. Wayne worked in the morning so while he was gone I did all the laundry I could before he got home and shut off the water and drained lines. On the 4th I drove down to Bancroft to buy a saddle from Brianna Hannington – she is a delightful young lady and former 4-H’r. We made a timely connection with the saddle – I bought her old western saddle and she used the money to buy herself a new dressage saddle!

By week’s end I had updated Austin Theriault’s “FastTrack” racing magazine and sponsor packet pages. I help the family with some of their design projects throughout the year – the magazine is usually one of my biggest projects. We always enjoy pulling it together, then seeing the finished product when it’s printed.

January cold finally settled in The Valley with overnight lows below zero and single digits by day. Wayne Pelletier and Fred Michaud started grooming our sled dog race trails for the 100 mile race. I joined them on the 7th and we rode all the way in to Moose Point Camps on Fish River Lake. Several times we re-routed the race trail to avoid logging operations. At Moose Point Camps we found a doe that had been harassed by coyotes – she was “hiding” between camps when we arrived and we suspect we scared the coyotes off but they’d already done some damage. She ran off and it was easy to see where they’d tried to “hamstring” her, but she would live another day. On the 9th we pulled together a work crew to cut brush on a section of trail. Although temps were cold, we easily worked up a sweat cutting a 3 mile section of trail. On the 10th, Wayne Pelletier called - he and Fred had made another run to Moose Point to set up trail signs and they found the doe, dead. The coyotes had pretty much picked her bones clean. Those darned coyotes harass our deer year-round, not just when the snow is deep.

We shipped a “Charette Roof Rake” to Cordova, Alaska on the 11th. They were receiving record snowfall and having dealt with our own record-breaking snowfall in 2008, we could appreciate their struggles to stay dug out! Roland Charette (Fort Kent) is a client who has “invented” a better roof rake (www.CharetteRoofRake.com) . We have one and it is now almost effortless to remove snow from our rooftops using his "rake" - which is actully more like a snow "cutter".

January 14th – Eagle Lake Sled Dog Race day! We enjoyed a sunny, mild day for the race which is perfect for spectators. The Wesget Sipu blessed the teams and performed a drumming ceremony before teams left the starting line. It was a slow run out to Moose Point Camps but a fast run back in as temps dropped below zero and the trail hardened up. Denis Tremblay won, with Rene Marchildon finishing moments behind him. All teams were in at the Rec Center finish line by 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning. I crawled in to bed at 3:45 to get a couple hours rest before giving out awards at 11:00 – I no more than settled in to bed when the alarm went off – Wayne headed to work at 4!

Tom Webber & Megan Carr were up snowmobiling for a few days on the 20th. I rode with them on 21st but it was a very cold day. We stopped at the Carter Brook Club House to warm up and have lunch and decided that ride was enough! We headed back for the warmth of the cabin.

On the 23rd I went to Augusta to present our final report of the Non-Resident Hunter Task Force. We spent the fall examining the decline of non-resident hunting license sales in Maine and developed strategies to increase sales. The report was presented, along with other testimony, to the legislature's Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee. We hope they will implement at least some of our recommendations. Since I enjoy the legislative process, I sat through two other hearings before heading north - freezing rain was predicted and I wanted to get as far north as I could before dark!

Mike Duni arrived on the 25th for the Long Lake Ice Fishing Derby Weekend. Wayne and Mike moved our ice shack down to Alex Book – our favorite spot to fish for winter brookies. The guys struggled through lots of slush on the lake but got the shack set up and returned home just after sunset, just as I was getting ready to go looking for them! We fished the 28th and 29th and caught lots of fish; several brookies measured near 15” and weighed 2 lbs., Mike landed a beautiful salmon, but none were derby-winning fish.

On the 29th I came back to the cabin early in the afternoon to follow Austin Theriault’s race on “Speed 51” as he drove for Brad Keselowski Racing in Georgia! Austin finished a very respectable 8th behind NASCAR drivers Kyle Busch and Regan Smith! We're looking forward to his 2012 racing season.

January was seasonably cold here in the north while the rest of New England enjoyed mild weather. Their mild weather prompted many calls about spring fishing, which seems ironic as we’re shoveling snow, drilling holes in the ice to fish, and hoping the red line on our thermometer rises above 0. Our spring fishing bookings trickle in while we're enjoying ice fishing for now!

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