Hello from Housatonic Meadows State Park in the beautiful Berkshires! This morning we gathered our things and departed from the historic Lakewood Camps before beginning our longest drive of the trip, one filled with music, conversation, and anticipation for the fun that lies ahead. We now sit around a fire, enjoying some pasta and meat sauce while enjoying the exceedingly rare comfort of having this campground almost entirely to ourselves.
The past few days, since the start of our trip have been a blast, although the fishing has been a little tougher than usual. After collecting everybody at the airport and leaving Boston-Logan, we drove roughly four hours up to our first campsite, Asizcoos Valley, along the mighty Magalloway in northwestern Maine. The beginning of our trip was met with less agreeable weather, with a consistent drizzle for the first night that, as it is known to do in Maine, turned into 65 and mostly sunny the next day. We spent the first day fishing the "Mag"', catching a few fish, missing a few really big fish, and acquainting ourselves with the waters of Maine. The next morning we packed up early and drove to the boat pickup for Lakewood Camps, a historic Maine fishing lodge with four-person cabins just 30 miles from the Canadian border. Not only did these cabins give us an opportunity to grab a shower, use a blanket, and make a fire, but they also gave us access to the headwaters of the Rapid River, home to some of the best native Brook trout fishing in the United States. When we arrived, we were informed that the several weeks prior of above average rainfall had tripled the flows coming out of the dam, making fishing a little tougher than us usual. Still, the kids persevered, catching dozens of Brook trout and several of the acrobatic land-locked salmon that jump clear out of the water when hooked.
On our second day at Lakewood, we completed our service project for the trip, which consisted of removing invasive smallmouth bass from the Rapid River system that were introduced a few decades ago. Every kid had a blast, catching smallmouth and successfully removing them from the ecosystem. The invasive bass decimate the native brook trout populations, so it felt good to help protect the world-class fishery we were lucky enough to experience.
Now we look forward to the next chapter of our trip, which is centered around floating the Housatonic River in search of Northern Pike, smallmouth and largemouth bass, and several species of trout. The group has formed a great bond, and everyone is excited to try their hand at catching multiple different species of fish out of our canoes, which is a new experience for most.
As we reach the middle of the trip, it's been awesome to see the group connecting and making fast friends while simultaneously growing their fishing abilities. We can’t wait to get on the water tomorrow, and hopefully reel in a few of the monsters that call this river home.
We will keep you posted before the next chapter of our trip on the bicep of Cape Cod!
Until then, wish us some tight lines!
Eli, Max, David, and the boys
