I believe I have died and went to fly fishing heaven… the picture above says it all… what we experienced for 2 days of smallmouth fishing in a forever wild, paradise on New England's second largest river system, the beautiful and picturesque Penobscot River. This 8,570 square miles of river waterway runs from the Maine and Quebec border and empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Penobscot Bay. The Penobscot is a diverse watershed includes rocky rapids, long sections of slow rolling river branch that shows scenery such as eagles soaring overhead, Maine's highest peak, Mt. Katahdin, rolling hills and extensive bogs, marshes and wooded swamps. Experiencing the fishing on the Penobscot River is like going back 100 years in time, the way life should be. We stayed at Howland Maine, www.penobscotrivercabins.com ; a affordable, friendly & cozy family run operation is located in the center of the Lincoln lakes region (13 fishable lakes). Hall of Famer and Fly Fisherman Ted Williams frequented this area and called this area of central Maine “one of the best Bass fishing waters east of Mississippi”
Some of the most hardest fighting river bass you'll ecounter, My wife and I caught 58 fish in 1 & 1/2 days of fishing, My wife spin fished and I fly fished
Jeff (Camp Owner) recommened a day fishing trip, (just float), he put us in 17 miles up the Penobscot River in Lincoln, ME and we floated 13 hours down to the cabins experiencing some of the most beautiful scenery, wildlife, craziest top water fishing I have ever experienced, Smallmouth jumping 6-8 times was not uncommon...
Even landed a large sucker, (Golden Chub) which put a heck of bulldog of a fight, and very pretty fish in the sunlight
Caught most the fish on Joe Cornwall's fantastic Red Foxee Clouser, which got immediately hammered this fly after 2 or 3 strips off any rocky shoreline and almost yanked the rod out of your hands, top water action was INSANE through out the day, various colored Flash Dancers, (white is a hot color pattern), pencil poppers were getting heart stopping strikes....did well on Goldies and Rizenkoff crayfish also.. Lost as many fish as as we brought to hand, plus lost many flies to the rock and underwater structure....Didn't matter, I was in awe of the fish aggressivenes eager to try another fly
Scenery was breathtaking
My wife was catching some nice specimen and rubbing it in on who could catch more fish!!! She did all right and and we had double hook ups often
Boats are available for $55 for a full day, or you can bring your own boat, .... kayaks and canoes are actually even better to get back to some river tributaries that bigger boats can't get into to, fishing is real good there, according to the some of our neighbors who fish here often. Most every one we spoke to caught any where from 20- 35 fish per day, plus missing as many....Jeff will put you in and pick you up anywhere you want along the Penobscot river or Pistaqauis river and give advice where the best fishing spots are....Spoke to a group of retired Marines who have been coming to the Penobscot Cabins in canoes/kayaks for 4 years for their annual miltary get together and fishing trip, Jeff puts them in 25+ miles up river at sun rise and they fish all the way down to cabins 15 hours of non stop fishing action ....They claim to catch 40-75 fish each per day.... Smallmouth fight like a Marine... they never give up!!!
Comfortable "Home away from Home" for a weekend for $40 pp a night was an absolute bargain, only thing you need to bring was your food, fly rod and change of clothes, everything is supplied. Slept like the dead, windows open fresh air so clean, crisp, smell of the spruce and pine, it's hard to wake up in the morning....They have a great meal plan if one wanted to, our fishing neighbors who been coming for years said Jeff's wife, Mary cooks like Chef
An absoluely great therapeutic spot to fly fish, vacation for a weekend, relax and do battle with these aggressive legendary "Maine Bronze Backs" Now that I am sore, bruised and battle hardened, I will definitely be back very soon (weekend in August, anyone up for a trip?) to this secret hush, hush honey hole and get some more action from of these hard fighting smallies...
Tightlines
Gillbuster
