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Posts tagged: grand laker canoe

Quick, Before the Mosquitoes Get All My Blood…

July 28, 2011, by Tom Chandler 7 comments

The days have been long, but that’s due in large part to the fishing, which has been rejuvenating.

Unfortunately, the card reader’s not reading the photos from my camera and I’m writing this on the back porch in the dark, wearing a headlamp and getting eaten by mosquitoes, so here are the highlights:

On Wednesday a local guide and I endured a pummeling at the hands of several rainstorms (a measured 1.5″ of rain in the rain gauge at the canoe), but still managed to land a steady stream of Big Lake smallmouth.

I had a couple in the 16″-17″ range, and way more than a couple in the 13″-14″ range.

Not exactly world-beating stuff, but damned satisfying on a day when most of the fishermen seemed to be running for cover instead of hooking up.

Thursday (today) was clearer, warmer and windier — the kind of post-front bluebird day that would prompt me to say “we’ll have to work for ‘em today” in one of those statements meant to make me seem like a knowledgeable expert (which I’m not).

For the first half of the day, it was true; only a few bass were fooled, and the Big Shore Lunch was imperiled by our inability to boat fish in the 10″-12″ slot limit.

Luckily, one of the boats trolling leadcore got a couple to match our couple (this was a big family fishing day, with four Grand Laker canoes on the water), and lunch was saved.

Later, we split up, and my guide and I pulled up on an island (that looked like all the other islands) and he said “I’ve always meant to fish this, never have.”

First cast = 13″ smallmouth bass.
Second cast = 14″ smallmouth bass.
The next 20 casts = nice-sized smallmouth bass.

This went on for a good half hour — right up until we started circling the island (we hadn’t moved) because we were feeling guilty about beating up that one spot.

Two hours later we simply gave up and went home, the bite having “slowed” from every-cast to every-fourth-or-fifth cast.

Even gluttony, it seems, is relative.

There’s plenty more to come — but only when the mosquitoes are having dinner somewhere else. (Expect Grand Laker canoe pics and “A Knowledgeable Expert Tells You How to Catch a Smallmouth Bass On Every Cast”

See you on the lake, Tom Chandler.

The Underground’s Maine Wrapup Post (Complete With Moody Pictures!)

July 29, 2008, by Tom Chandler 6 comments

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).

Grand Laker canoe on West Grand Lake
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.

Lapstrake canoe
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.

Grand Laker Canoe brass plate
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.

Grand Laker Canoe

West Grand Lake

See you on the river, Tom Chandler.

Paying the Bills

Allen Fly Fishing

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