Belated Trip Report (long)

I got to Lakewood in time for lunch on May 17th. It was cold with a
bone chilling rain.. Although the lake was full, Florida Power and
Light were drawing *only* 400 cfs, barely a trickle, really. With all
the rain expected in the next week or so, I could see that they would
probably open the dam to some outlandish number right at the peak of
spring fishing.

As I normally do on my first day in camp, I fished the dam. I caught
a couple of small landlocks, but nothing more than 12 inches. Because
of the low flow, I believe the fish had not yet come up the river from
Pond in the River.

The next morning I biked down to the Pond and fished the currents. The
sucker spawn was just beginning and Second Current next to the island
had three guys catching some nice brook trout and salmon. Nothing
really big, however, because the fish still hadn't come out of the
depths of the Pond. I fished the spawn for awhile and when a
fisherman moved from the X rock in the current, I waded down and took
his spot. Fishing with a GRHE, about a size 16, I soon had a fairly
decent salmon - 15 or so inches. Fought like hell with jump after
jump after jump, tailwalking across the current. Ahhhhh, the Rapid
River.

I took some nice brookies too, but again, nothing more than about 15
inches.

Since I was going to be at camp for a week, I spent that afternoon
napping. We old farts need our rest.

Friday found the currents with the same usual suspects fishing First
and Second Currents. I waded up to the Wing Dam and managed a few
small Landlocks on dries, but again, no really big fish. They should
have been there, but I suspect that the flow of only 400 cfs was not
enough to draw them out of the pond. I took a new fisherman to the
Rapid under my wing. Walt is from Connecticut, a good fisherman, but
you need more than skill to fish the Rapid. I showed him spots that
*should* have contained fish, but he caught nothing. So much for my
"exert" advice.

We jumped into the boat and putt-putted across Pond in the River to
Lower Dam. The dam structure itself had been removed in August of 05,
but I had yet to see it in its new form. What a shock as the boat
made it around the last little point and all we saw was river. Sad,
really. The Lower Dam has been filmed and painted by many folks and
will be missed by all. A picture I took from Louise Dickinson Rich's
"Winter Cabin" has been my desk-top for a couple of years and has
Peter Charles and Frank Reid fishing the wing dam area down river from
the structure.

We anchored in the Spawning Beds and fished dries, nymphs and
streamers. Nothing. We went ashore and fished the Lower Dam pools
and riffles. Nothing. I walked down-stream and fished the Lower Dam
Wing Dam. Nothing. Back to the currents where I finally got Walt
into a nice brookie. Walt left the next day, but I was sure that the
Rapid had bit him - he'd be back.

The flow was upped to 600 late on Friday, so I gave the dam a try
first thing Saturday morning. Again, the fish had not come up the
river. I caught a few small Landlocks, but there was not a large
quantity of fish in the pools and riffles, and no big fish had come
up-river. I changed spools on my reel and walked down to Harbeck Pool
and fished streamers on a sinking line. First cast with a Grey Ghost
and *bammmm*, I was into a nice Landlock of about 16 inches. He
fought like hell before shaking the barbless hook loose. I lost two
others in the next half hour before heading back to camp for lunch. It
was still cold and raining, so I settled in my cabin, built a warm
fire and spent the afternoon reading until the steady drum of the rain
on the roof lulled me to sleep. I must have been tired because I
slept for 3 hours. The smell of Lakewood's cabins brings me back to
the 40s and 50s when we used to fish the Connecticut Lakes region of
NH. I think I could give up the luxury of my home and live in those
camps the rest of my days, but without the winter's snow/cold. Of
course I'd need the maid service and someone to cook my meals. d;o)

Sunday I headed down to the currents again and met up with some old
friends that had canoed in. They had the best spots covered, so I
fished the seam next to the island on the Second Current side where I
picked up a few salmon and brookies. When the X rock became
available, I waded out and fished the tail of the Second Current as it
tumbles into the Pond. I fished a size 18 Copper John and picked up
several small salmon (10 inch max), but no big fish. It was time to
try something different, so I cast behind where the small fish were
holding and let the lure sink deep into the big hole at the end of the
riffles. I had a lot of line out, maybe 50 feet and was retrieving
very slowly when an obviously large fish hit the nymph. I set the
hook and knew immediately that it was a big brookie. I thought it was
a female because the fish went deep, taking out another 15 feet of
line, and stayed deep without the frantic running back and forth that
a male brookie usually displays. I couldn't budge the fish from the
bottom. On more than a few occasions, I have lost big brookies on
this river because they displayed this type behavior. Down and deep
and won't budge. After what seemed like ten minutes, but couldn't
have been more than a minute, the fished moved and began to fight like
a male. I initially gained some line on him/her but then lost it in a
big run. I was using 5X fluorocarbon tippet, not really that light,
but was it big enough for this fish? The fish fought like hell,
giving and taking, and using the current against me. After about five
minutes, I finally netted the biggest brookie I've ever taken on the
Rapid - a *male* of 25 inches. My net has an opening of 18 inches,
and he was a good dollar bill+ up the handle. He came off the hook
while in the net, and I managed to stick the hook deep into my index
finger right at the fingernail as I was releasing him. I'm glad I was
using barbless (the law) as the hook came out easily.

So, the secret was out. Copper John into the deep water, sunk deep,
and retrieved very slowly. I took a few more nice brookies (largest
about 18 inches) before heading back for lunch. I thought I had
earned a nap, so the afternoon was spent reading/napping with a fire
in the stove and lots of rain on the roof.

Monday was more of the same at the Currents, and the sucker spawn was
beginning to draw some of the bigger trout and salmon up the river. I
tried the bead method with some beads that I bought in a bead shop in
down-town Ayer. Instead of a bare hook, I had a big nymph tied on
below the bead. I caught a couple of salmon with this method, but I
finally realized that my normal sucker spawn tied with yarn and
flashaboo worked better. I fished the wing dam and the gravel beds of
the pool with a dark caddis dry, landing several small brookies before
heading back for lunch. Again, after lunch I took a nap until about 3
and then headed down to the dam to try some dries. Again, not much
happening. Oh, there were fish there, but not in the quantity or size
that this water normally holds.

I headed home on Tuesday, happy to have spent a cold and rainy week on
the river and in the cabin, knowing I would return on May 29th. No
pictures, unfortunately. The camps use an agency to get kitchen/camp
help from Europe. The new boat and cabin boy was a young man from
Russia named Sirgi. He showed up with one pair of shoes, sneakers,
but no work boots or raincoat. The carters took him into town and
bought him both boots and a cheap raincoat. He was very, very
thankful. He didn't have a camera either, so I gave him my digital
Olympus with over 150 pictures left on the card. He got very busy
taking pictures of the hired help and the area. I down-loaded it for
him and set up a web page at http://sergey.shutterfly.com/action/ when
I went back on Memorial Day. By the 17th of June when I went home,
Sirgi had taken and downloaded 95 pictures. The beautiful blond, btw,
is 19 year old Clarrissa from Germany. The other two young ladies are
Agnes from Poland, and Katie from England.

More to follow.....

Dave