Drift boat trip postponed

Guide Dan Legere of the Maine Guide Fly Shop in Greenville (right) takes a photo of Jasper Walsh fishing in the East Outlet of the Kennebec River during a drift boat trip on Sunday, June 15, 2012. Walsh, of Newburgh, won the BDN’s annual “Win a Drift Boat Trip” contest. When Legere stopped on a sandbar to prepare lunch, Walsh was tempted by rising fish in the river and waded in to cast flies to them. BDN photo by John Holyoke

For years, it’s become a tradition: Come Father’s Day, a lucky (maybe) reader joins me (that’s why I said “maybe”) for a drift boat trip down the East Outlet of the Kennebec River.

The BDN has been giving that trip away, thanks to the generosity of guide Dan Legere of the Maine Guide Fly Shop in Greenville, since the late spring of 2003.

Over the years, the lucky (I hope) winners and I have had a great time (again, I hope). We’ve caught a lot of fish. We’ve learned a lot about fishing from Legere, who I consider one of the best teachers I’ve ever met.

We’ve eaten sumptuous shore lunches.

And we’ve emerged with some great stories to tell.

Alas, sometimes the weather gets in the way of a great plan.

That was the case this Father’s Day, when a week of wet weather made East Outlet essentially unfishable.

Legere can, and has, drifted the river at 4,000 to 4,500 cubic feet per second flows, he informed us. Come Thursday night, that flow was 7,800 cfs, and the river was up into the trees.

Luckily, both our winner, John Craig of Bucksport, and Legere were able to set up another date. No harm done.

And tomorrow, we’ll hit the river bright and early for the annual BDN drift boat trip.

It’ll be a great time (I hope) for all.

 

John Holyoke

About John Holyoke

John Holyoke has been enjoying himself in Maine's great outdoors since he was a kid. Today, he's the Outdoors editor for the BDN, a job that allows him to meet up with Maine outdoors enthusiasts in their natural habitat. The stories he gathers provide fodder for his columns, and this blog.