Ice fishing???

With temperatures in the mid-60's last weekend, I honestly thought spring had sprung. But as this week progressed, the weather transgressed into something like December. Snow, sleet, and ice along with a cold front found way down east to officially slap the executive order signed by our governor which brought open water fishing one week earlier. On any account, Matt Diesel and I made plans to hit Tunk Lake which lay exactly halfway between our abodes. This lake is rumored to hold the next state record togue and holds a decent amount of landlocked salmon. Tucked in the mountains between Ellsworth and Cherryfield, Tunk is one of the deepest lakes in the state of Maine.

Here is the state lake survey map and information on Tunk Lake

It was cold, damn cold this morning and even without wind, the chill quietly struck any exposed skin and the better part of the lake had skimmed over with ice as to say that no angler dare trespass these waters. So being the criminals we are, we launched Matt's Lund (he lost the coin flip and my boat remained home this time) and tried to follow the trail left by one lone boater who apparently was a little more eager and a whole lot more insane. After some early morning trolling and one salmon, we chose to fight an ice sheet that packed into the north end of the lake which also holds the landing.

The video below says it all, I apologize for the lack of quality. For some reason, the same movie I loaded onto my facebook page in HQ didn't pull off the same luster here. In addition, my wife made me weaken the noise from the ice breaking. So with those warnings, enjoy the show. Can't wait until next time!!!

Freshwater Fishing Opens Early!!!

Typically the open water fishing season opens April 1, but our gracious (insert sarcasm) governor has opened up the season as of right now.

Click here for the link: Bangor Daily News



Now, I've got to bust my hump to get the Duckforce in order. The vessel of duck demise is in dry dock and I'm smelling an attack on some landlocked salmon!!!

Have a great one...

The Downeast Duck Hunter

Launching the new site...

One of the biggest issues that my friends and family had about my blog was the stupid "the" in www.thedowneastduckhunter.blogspot.com but when I first was creating my blog, I messed up and couldn't get this address.

So after a couple of years, my guess is that the account expired and I was able to get this site. I suppose I'll get to dropping off the blogspot, but for now I'll rip and tear with it.

I would like to thank the readership that has followed me here and to those newcomers who already joined before the big shift, I look forward to the time sharing my experiences in the outdoor genre.

Spring fishing is almost upon us and I'm eager to pursue the landlocked salmon, maybe a couple of bass as well.

Thanks for swinging by,

The Downeast Duck Hunter

It's time...

For the 3.2 people that read my blog, you can find me at Downeast Duck Hunter.

So for now there will be no more posts here and I'll try to get going on some new stuff.

So see you in my parallel universe...


The Downeast Duck Hunter

Working on some streamers...

This past weekend, I was digging around and came up with my father-in-law's old fly tying kit. The mother-in-law suggested I give it a try and it didn't take long for this to seem fairly easy and complicated at the same time.

My plans are to focus on streamer flies such as the black ghost, gray ghost, and other common works utilized in the Maine region. On taps is some ordering of materials based on the recipes for tying, and a couple of books. I would like to mention that there is an abundance on quality sites on youtube for the aspiring individual. It's pretty fun and if anyone wants to bounce ideas of off me then don't hesitate to post or email to the above listed address.

Below are a couple of flies, one done by me and the other constructed by my oldest daughter with minimal help from her dad.

My first stab...



My beauty's colorful work of art...


Here's a good link to the gray ghost... Click Here

It looks like the next fishing season is going to be quite favorable with ice fishing as long as there is ice and open water fishing once the ice is gone, I'll check the details out further and post on the new changes for 2010.

Take care,

The Downeast Duck Hunter