Lewis Pond, Etc.

Yesterday, we were supposed to float the Connecticut River with Bill, starting in Canaan. Got to Solomon's at 8am only to find that the night's rain had turned the river into chocolate soup. As we pulled up to Bill, he asked, "Plan B"?

Plan B turned out to be a trip over to our neck of the woods to find Lewis Pond. After stopping for a VT license for Bill at Priscilla's, we headed over the East Branch logging road down to route 105. From there, a right turn, and then the next right brings you into the Silvio Conte WMR, which has been in existence for about 10 years but about which we are just learning. They've got new signage up that lead you fairly easily to Lewis Pond, especially if you have a gazeteer. Lewis is beautiful and we popped the drift boat in and set out to explore. Seemed like it was good brook trout water, although the fishing was not particularly good, but it was a bright day in the middle of the day, so I'd try it again.

After a few hours in the sun, we repaired to the Lewis Overlook for lunch. This apparently is one of the best spots in Vermont for viewing fall foliage -- I can believe it.


After lunch, we explored around the black branch of the Nowhegan River, which had a lot of water coming through it. Looked like beautiful trout water but Alan says he never had much luck fishing the east branch as a kid -- so we don't know what the story is. Back at camp, we said goodbye to Bill, and headed over to Jackson Lodge to see Serge and Donna and to have a nice meal.

Another excellent day in Vermont!

Vermont July musings

After a whirlwind trip to Long Island to pick up Mrs C's car, we finally reached Camp at 9:30pm Sunday evening. But that 60-cycle hum from work and family and stressful driving didn't abate until Monday afternoon when the quiet joys of Papelousu began to take hold. Casting at the ponds Monday night was the clincher. I took a nice brook trout out of the upper pond and Alan got a 13" rainbow on the lower. Sweet!

Tuesday morning found us up at Lopstick meeting up with Bill for a half day wade on the Connecticut. We went to a stretch we'd never been to before somewhere below second Connecticut Lake. It was gorgeous -- great pocket water which we fished upstream to a beautiful set of waterfalls. Caught tons of brookies and salmon -- most small but some 8-10" -- on dry flies. Gorgeous, sunny day with big fluffy clouds -- just a great day. Finished up to about 2:30 and headed to Happy Corner Cafe where we enjoyed tasty food, as always. Back home we thought a dip in the lake would be just the ticket -- and it was that, if you want a ticket to freezing!

On Wednesday, we headed over to Quimby's to check on Ray and foung things bustling. Lots of guests in the lodge, some on wireless, kids trouping around everywhere. With the help of another QC fan, Belinda, we did a lot of work on the Quimby's website in May -- went live in early June -- and it shows. We even have guests coming from Perth, Australia, later in August! And we are almost full up for moose hunting season. Ah, the power of the internet. Glad to have played a part in making sustainable this very special place.

Headed to the Balsam's for lunch (we missed that last year) and then tried to repeat last year's famous raspberry outing, only to find that a frost in June had killed off this year's crop. Boo. :-( Back in Averill, ran into Robert and Priscilla, always nice, and made tentative plans to kayak Little Averill Friday night. Quick swim in the lake -- seemed somehow warmer today, quick kayak trip, and it's time to make dinner already. Days sure go fast here.

Tomorrow, an all day float with Bill, starting in Canaan.

Lake lapping, wind up, rain is on the way!

Back from Vermont

After 12 hours of travel, we're back home from Vermont. Various difficulties and other priorities prevented posting from there -- one post got eaten by the ether (google sites really don't come through on satellite up there). And, now, my capabilities are limited because I LEFT MY LAPTOP in Vermont. For those who know me, this is completely uncharacteristic since not only am I anal about room sweeps but I also am completely wedded to my laptop. I mean -- it's me, my photos, apps, configurations, etc. Using the work Air right now which is...okay. How could this have happened? Well, clearly it's Alan's fault. I mean, I'm just saying, he is responsible for putting the bags in the car. :-)

Highlights from the trip include spending time with family for the holiday. Suzy, Johnny, Dawn, Jay, Crista, Crista's sister Stacy, and baby Jack came up for the 4th, which was rainy and cold. Seriously, this July trip felt like a autumn visit -- it was cold and wet -- highest temp was 62 degrees. The lake was at an all-time high -- no beach whatsoever, despite the dam being wide open. We didn't even get out the kayaks it was so wet.

We did, however, have some great fishing. Good session down at the ponds on Friday with brookies and a rainbow from the lower pond. On Sunday, we had a totally excellent adventure with Bill (that's the post that went into the ether). We borrowed some belly boats from Quimby's and hiked two miles into a remote New Hampshire pond, almost at the Canadian border. For this trip, the weather was good -- only cold and damp, not teeming with rain. The pond was eerily beautiful -- clouds wafting over the water and dead trees poking up through the water, ringed with conifers. The BB's were fun, bit of a trick to navigate (our first time), but the brookies were eager and snapping -- kinda clear this pond isn't fished much. But at some point, especially in 58 degree water, all good things must come to an end and our leg cramps demanded a return to the earth. The stiff breeze going back was not a plus. Once again on land, it was like getting off a boat -- legs took a minute to adjust. But awesome! Alan "perky boy" Cattier was the last off the water, fishing to the end, while Bill and I cataloged muscles we didn't know existed.

Developed some new methods of carrying the inflated BB's and headed down the trail (so much easier than up). Loaded back up and bagged the picnic lunch option for the warmth and warm food of Happy Corner Cafe. I will tell you that at this point, I nearly put my head down in my sandwich, I was so beat. However, it was only 4:30pm and we'd only been fishing since ummm....10am (at the lodge at 8), so the day was not done. Back to Lopstick for the boat and off to Back Lake for the Hex hatch. There we tried out Bill's Orlios 9.5' 5 wt and let me tell you it's nice to cast a big fat fly that you don't have to worry about watterlogging or losing sight of. Day turned clear for the first time in 32 days and a lovely sunset was had by all.

End of the hatch -- did fairly well with some smallmouth bass and trout. Called it at 9:15pm, back home 10:30ish, made some quick spaghetti supper. Wow, cool, utterly cool day.