The Underground’s Maine Wrapup Post (Complete With Moody Pictures!)
By Tom Chandler on Jul 29, 2008 in Travel
There truly is no place like home - even for a fly fisherman lucky enough to fish a long list of amazing waters over the last month.
Montana was a little slice of heaven (as if the pictures hadn’t told you that already), and Maine was what Maine always is: rustic, ageless and fun (plus pie and lobster).
The L&T headed to town in a Grand Laker Canoe
Still, I feel like I haven’t been home in months.
I mean, what’s happening on my favorite alpine stream? My alpine brookie lakes? The Upper McCloud? My favorite Upper Sac spots? I’m drawing blanks on all of them.
Time to get to work.
I’m wrapping up my Maine trip with this post, and providing valuable information about how you too can become the Wiffleball Death Match MVP (hint: make a headfirst belly flop onto home plate, craft a triple play, a double play, and an Ozzie-Smith-like nab of a line drive, then whine a lot about damaging yourself for the team, and you’re in).
Plus a few leftover pictures, starting with…
The Canoe You Should Own, But Can’t
First, there’s the cedar lapstrake canoe that one of you is not going to win in a drawing by the Downeast Lakes Land Trust, which is a damned shame.
Want to win this? You can’t (and I didn’t).
If I’d twigged to the drawing sooner, I think a great big bait ball sized school of Undergrounders would have thrown down $10 for a chance to win this gorgeous floating canoe (it’s like a supermodel with thwarts), but alas, there was no warning.
The drawing’s over (and I didn’t win either).
Sorry, wood-loving Undergrounders.
Grand Laker Canoe Redux
My posts about Grand Laker Canoes from two years ago still score a lot of traffic. Clearly, there’s a lot of interest in these great craft, yet when people had questions, I had nowhere to send them.
Until now.
Bill Shamel’s still building Grand Lakers (he’s Pop Moore’s son-in-law).
Bill Shamel’s shop in Grand Lake Stream continues to pump out 5-10 Grand Laker canoes annually, and he takes on interesting restoration projects.
Want to know more? You’ll find contact information for Shamel and a couple other Grand Laker builders here.
The Dark and Moody Underground
What’s left are a few kinda moody photographs that simply don’t fit anywhere else on the Underground’s inevitably sunny pages.
See you on the river, Tom Chandler.
harry | Jul 30, 2008 | Reply
Nice, but I have to point out something that I noticed. The only visual proof that any actual fishing was done (fish caught)was the L & T’s nice smallmouth. Is it possible, dare I say it?
Did TC get skunked? Makes one wonder when pie (food in general) was his favorite topic of the trip. Things that make you go hmmmmmmm.
Tom Chandler | Jul 30, 2008 | Reply
Harry: You notice wrong; the landlocked Atlantic salmon photo was mine, as was the closeup of the smallie.
In truth, you simply don’t get skunked on West Grand Lake. Hell, on Saturday a relative and I caught a dozen or so 45 seconds from the boathouse.
At Grand Lake, catching fish isn’t hard. Staying alive through dinner is the trick…
harry | Jul 30, 2008 | Reply
I stand corrected-my humble apologies for even thinking that such a fate could have befallen you after traveling clear across the country.
Tom Chandler | Jul 30, 2008 | Reply
Think fat, not fishless.