September 18-21, 2008
Thursday: We left home about 10AM, towing the boat. It took us about 2.5 hours to get to Errol. Weather was beautiful. We stopped at LL Coates for some fishing tackle and worms, then went over to the Errol General Store to pick up lunch. We launched the boat and made our way up the river slowly. The views were beautiful, but we were a little surprised how few trees had changed color since our visit last month. It was chilly. Within a few minutes of starting the ride, we were putting on more clothes.
We were staying at a new campsite this time. This is big for us. We are serious creatures of habit. But we'd seen this site last year and thought it looked wonderful. It's completely on the other side of the lake, so lots of things were different. Our "normal" site is almost in the marshlands. There are a lot more ducks, mergansers, loons and even muskrats, etc. This side of the lake is more rocky and harsh. We were only visited by a couple loons (adult and juvenile) and four ducks that we think were golden-eyes.
The campsite is on an island. We found a decent spot to tie off the boat.
The outhouse is conveniently located behind this giant rock.
There's a little beach where we could swim, if the weather was warmer.
More shots from around the campsite.
After we got camp set up, we took the boat back out for our first attempt at fishing. It was fairly successful! smallmouth bass and a giant perch!
Back at camp, we started to settle in to watch the sunset. Our beach faced directly west.
The evening got *really* cold, and it became obvious that we're going to need a fire for every meal, just so we could sit comfortably. We definitely did not have enough firewood with us. We had to scrounch a bit around the shoreline by the second and third day.
Friday: No early morning fishing for us. Fog was everywhere and it was COLD (29 degrees F). Very difficult to get out of the sleeping bags. Around 8:30am, the fog lifted and we could see the shore. We bundled up and headed out. Again, we caught a lot of bass and maybe a perch. Valerie is just learning to fish using any method other than worms, and she lost several bass that jumped right out of the water and threw the hook. Tim won the award for most unusual catch with his mussel/clam. We spent quite a bit of time in the deep water trying to find the trout and landlocked salmon, but no luck there at all. In the afternoon, we went over to the outlet for Rapid River. There were a couple deep spots there. Val lost the biggest bass of the weekend there. She was learning all the lessons the hard way.
Saturday: Oooh, only 31 degrees this morning. Still lots of fog. Ducks and the loon were back out on the water. No wind at all. The water was like glass. We still had no luck chasing trout and salmon. We're starting to doubt that they were really in the lake at all. Bass and perch were still hitting. After lunch, it started to get reasonably warm. Mid 60's to 70. We sat on the rocks and toasted ourselves. Tim decided that three days without a shower was too much, so he headed in for a dip. We went out for the last fishing trip of the weekend that evening.
Sunday: It was much warmer overnight and wasn't even bad getting out of the sleeping bags in the morning. The weather was much grayer. It probably would have been better fishing that all the bright sunny days. We had breakfast, broke down camp, and headed home. As we drove back up the Androscoggin, we saw the entire family of bald eagles (Mom, Dad and 2 young ones).
Driving home, we stopped again at the Errol General Store and bought lunch. Steak & Cheese subs. These are to die for. We recommend that everyone passing through Errol stop here for lunch (or drive out of your way for it).
