1989 August 20 - Esther's Trophy Smallmouth, Maine

It was a calm gray drizzly day and Frank and I had our rain suits on.  We were picking along the shore when I hooked into something really big.  I had never felt such a fight before and was afraid I would lose it.  But I brought it to the surface and Frank landed it for me and then I snapped this photo.  We couldn't believe it, we had never seen such a large smallmouth bass.  Not wanting to harm it, we quickly put it back in the water, so I didn't even get a picture of me holding this prize fish!  I actually thought they were all this large in Maine, but I soon found out they are not all this large and in fact, it took me 21 years to beat the size of this smallmouth bass.

Esther's 4 lb Smallmouth Bass

Esther

1989 August - Maine

We went up to Maine and camped our land so we could fish almost every weekend.  Some fishing trips were more successful than others, as you can see by Frank's catch! 

Frank's little perch

One good weekend, we caught a pair of 2-1/2 lb smallmouths and decided to  keep one of them for dinner.  Unfortunately, when we got back to the campsite to prepare dinner, I realized I was missing a key ingredient.  So we threw the coleman stove, frying pan and fish into the car and headed to the nearest store in Belgrade Lakes, which was 20 minutes away.  We had stayed on the water so long, I was starving and knew there was no way I could wait to get back to the campsite to cook.  Right next to the store was a small public park on Long Pond.  I set up my stove, and proceeded to fillet and cook my fish.  Some other tourists came into the park and they started to photograph me as I prepared my fish and cooked it. They must have thought I was a local Mainiac living off the land!

Esther with one of the 2-1/2 lb smallmouth bass

1989 May 29 - Maine

We had just bought 4 acres of land in Mainr and this was our first fishing trip on the pond we have deeded access to.  I decided to troll across the lake to see what I could catch and was pleased to quickly catch this perch.

Esther's perch

I continued to fish, remembering what the guide had taught us and I caught a smallmouth .  

Esther's smallmouth bass

Then I caught a largemouth, each fish got bigger and bigger.  Yes this is mine! Frank is just holding it since he frequently helped me land the fish. 

Esther's largemouth bass

1989 May 26 - 28 - Leen's Lodge, Grand Lake Stream Maine

Our first big fishing trip was to Grand Lake Stream in Maine.  We stayed at Leen's Lodge which is a fishing lodge that Ted Williams used to stay at.  We had 3 full days of fishing adventures. 

Esther and Frank at Angler cabin at Leen's Lodge

It was a  windy day with huge waves on the lake, but it didn't stop us from trying to troll for salmon on West Grand Lake.  The woman from Leen's lodge was very nervous and watched us from shore.  She was glad (and so was I ) when we gave up and came in.

Frank Trolling for Salmon on West Grand Lake

Next, we tried fly fishing on Grand Lake stream.  Frank had all of the proper gear, but I didn't.  I wasn't sure if I would like fly fishing, so all I had was an inexpensive flyrod from K-mart and no waders.  So Frank carried me on his back and set me down on a sand bar so I could fish the stream.  It didn't take long for me to fish the area and decide there were no fish where I was.  So Frank carried me back and I told him I would just fish from shore. 

He proceeded to go into the deeper water at the base of the dam as shown below.  Meanwhile, I found 1 spot with just enough room for the backcast of my fly line and almost immediately I hooked into a salmon!  I screamed "I got one" and the salmon jumped out of the water for Frank to see.  I proceeded to clumsily land the salmon and quickly let it go, after it tumbled off my hook into the sand.  It wasn't long before Frank was on land next to me to see if he could catch one too.

Frank fly fishing Grand Lake Stream

Our next adventure was to hire a guide who took us onto the St. Croix river.  I had no confidence I would catch anything and I remember asking the guide if he ever took someone out and they did not catch any fish. He said "Never!", but I had my doubts.  Well the guide was right, and I did catch some bass, enough for us to have a nice lunch. 

My first smallmouth

Guide cooking up Esther's fish

1988 - My new Fishing Partner, Frank

Frank Dec 1988

Frank and I met in Dec 1987 and one of things we learned about each other is that we had both enjoyed fishing as kids, but had gotten away from fishing.  We decided to give it a try again and our first efforts in 1987 were not very good.  So Frank started reading a lot about fishing - where to go, how to fish etc.  And for Christmas 1988, I gave Frank a lot of fishing gear and I also gave him this tee shirt because that was what we intended to do - kick bass!