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Saturday, July 15, 2006
Ssshhhh . . . It's a secret
Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||||||
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Messer, of Concord, fishes nearly every day of the summer on the Kennebec River below Wyman Dam, often from dawn to dusk -- as he has for nearly 22 years. Plenty of patience, and practice, has turned Messer into a model of fly fishing efficiency: At 45 years old, he's worked nearly every kink out of his system. He lives with his parents in a home just a fly cast away from the river. He wears shorts, white socks (with no shoes or laces to tangle his fly line) and a white shirt that reads "Discover the Kennebec" in thick black letters, below -- of course -- a picture of a trout. He fishes from a customized 20-foot Jon-boat imported from Arkansas. He knows the river, its riffles, boulders and runs like most people know their commute to work. A log peeler by trade, Messer was laid off earlier this spring when the mill where he worked shut down due to "lack of supply." He hasn't wasted a minute since. He spends 50 hours or more on the river each week, fishing hard every day until thunderstorms, high water flows or darkness drive him home to bed, bleary-eyed, sore-shouldered and exhausted. One can hardly blame him. In his backyard lies what some biologists and avid anglers consider to be Maine's best-kept fishing secret: The wild rainbow trout of the Kennebec River. RAINBOW MADNESS Messer targets big rainbow trout on the Kennebec. He prefers dry flies. "If they're not taking what I'm offering, then to heck with them," he said, laughing. He covets the surface strike above all else. Messer said he once spent 14 evenings casting to a single rising rainbow trout before he finally hooked it. "I had him on for about three seconds and I went home happy. He must have been 24 inches long," he said. Rainbow trout are an anomaly in Maine -- the Kennebec is one of a handful of rivers and ponds in the state that harbor them. They were introduced in the late 1940s by intrepid biologists seeking to provide a new fishery in a river long since riddled with dams, log drives and impoundments, according to Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife biologist Dave Boucher. Like Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout are known for their aerial acrobatics, often hurdling themselves out of the water with dramatic head shakes and plumes of whitewater and spray. Ernest Hemingway once wrote that "rainbow trout fishing is as different from brook fishing as prize fighting is from boxing." Boucher said department records show the Kennebec received its first 2,000 rainbow trout in 1945, them more in the 1970s. "Of all the places in the state we stocked rainbows, in the 30s, 40s and 70s, they really only established themselves as self-sustaining in the upper Androscoggin and Kennebec rivers below Wyman Dam," said Boucher. Part of the reason for their success, according to Florida Power and Light biologist Bill Hanson, is Wyman Dam itself. "Water coming up and out of Wyman Lake is drawn from fairly deep in the reservoir, so it's cold," said Hanson, who spent 2002 snorkeling, electrofishing and tagging rainbow trout on the river. Rainbows require relatively cool water, and thrive in the river. Spawning habitat abounds. Fish reproduce naturally, without supplemental stocking by the department so the fishery costs the department and its hatcheries nothing. "Spring water just boils out of the side of the hills along the river. Every tributary in that stretch had young of the year and juvenile rainbows in it. It's a fish factory -- a giant nursery system," said Hanson. "Water quality is excellent. It's really an impressive fishery," he said. UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY It's not just Messer who thrills at the opportunity of catching a big rainbow trout. Rainbows are among the most popular trout in North America, though they are native only to the west slope of the Rocky Mountains and Alaska. Rainbow trout fisheries bring millions of tourism dollars to Montana, Colorado and New Mexico, to name a few. Biologist Dave Boucher said that rainbow trout, while an outstanding gamefish, are not native to Maine, and though the department currently is seeking to expand fishing opportunities for the species, it will proceed cautiously. "As we look to expand our rainbow trout program, we'll have some very strict criteria in so far as where we can stock these fish so we don't risk our native salmonid populations. Rainbows are very strong competitors with brook trout," he said. The rainbow's low profile in Maine has traditionally meant very little fishing pressure in places they exist, including the Kennebec. "It's an unknown fishery. There are very few people that make this stretch of river a destination," said Messer. LIGHT PRESSURE Last Monday, in eight hours of fishing, Messer saw only one other angler on the river. He passed no other boats. Though Route 201 parallels the river closely for much of its length, the sounds of civilization are lost to the riffle and flow of the river. Kingfishers bob and spring from streamside banks. Bald eagles monitor the river from towering pines. Messer has seen moose, deer and gray squirrels swimming across the river this season. Other anglers are a rare sight. Bob Mallard, owner of Kennebec River Outfitters in Madison, 30 miles south of Bingham, sees this stretch of the river as an economic gold mine. "It's the one river in Maine that fits the 'River Runs Through It' image. It's a classic tailwater fishery. There's nothing else like it in New England. It's what the big fly fishing magazines are selling today," he said. Messer agrees. He says it's not just the quantity of the fish, but the quality. "I've fished for rainbows in Montana, in Arkansas. Nothing compares. These fish are just incredibly strong," he said. Messer is convinced the smooth, almost boulder-free river bottom in this stretch of river explains the fish's abnormal strength and spunk. "They're not setting behind some cushy boulder all day. These fish have to work all day. Because of that, they may not get as fat as they do in other places, but they're all muscle, which is what makes them so special," he said. The study conducted by biologist Bill Hanson seems to corroborate Messer's observations. "They seem very content in the flows. They were stocked in the 40s, and they've dealt with a daily peaking flow out of the dam every day since," he said. It's a daily workout regimen for the fish -- which anglers then exercise on the ends of their lines. Messer seems happy to oblige. DAY'S END From the heavens -- or so it must have seemed to the rainbow trout lying in wait -- dropped a fly the size of a dime, dressed with tan elk-hair to imitate the caddis flies that dance along the alder banks of the Kennebec River in July. It fluttered gracefully to the surface. A fish boiled beneath it, inhaling with the ferocity of an industrial-strength toilet bowl. Messer hauled back on his fly rod. His 15-foot hair-thin monofilament leader tore through the water. His reel screamed. "Hear that? Its like a power drill whining. What other fish can do that," he said. In seconds, the fish crossed the entire broad, riffled expanse of the river, more than 100 feet into Messer's backing, and began heading up the opposite shore. Messer palmed his spinning reel to slow the fish down. After a 10-minute tug of war, fish and fisherman came to a standstill, just a few feet from shore. Messer netted it, then deftly removed the barbless fly from the corner of the fishes mouth with his thumb and forefinger. It was a rainbow trout of 19 inches, perhaps three pounds and spotted like a leopard across its broad, dark shoulder. Its flank was festooned in an almost indescribable kaleidoscope of color. Each of the fishes' scales shimmered individually in the afternoon sun. As he revived the fish, its mossy back blended so perfectly with the river bottom it all but disappeared, even in the air-clear water. With a stroke of its tail, the trout was gone. Messer smiled. "I'll probably see him again this season," he said. Dave Sherwood -- 621-5648 dsherwood@centralmaine.com DO IT! WHAT: Fish for wild
rainbow trout on the Kennebec River. Compiled by Dave Sherwood
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