Maine: The Drive.

My friend Douglas and I and his Spinone (more on this wonderful dog later) drove up to Greenville, Maine together to meet up with some friends and do some fishing and bird hunting. I didn't hunt, but they were after woodcock and grouse in the field and we were after landlocked salmon and brook trout in the East Outlet of the Kennebec River off of Moosehead Lake.

Above is a view of the New York skyline. The trip went pretty fast most of the way, despite hitting traffic around NYC and every other City along the way. By the time we reached the Maine line, we decided to reward ourselves with dinner and a pint. Lucky for us, we happened across Gritty McDuff's Brew Pub. Great atmosphere, great food, great beer. Hit the spot.



We eventually reached our destination, Moosetracks Family Cottages. Another beer or two and we were ready to get some sleep and start fresh in the morning...

Flyfishin' Product Review: Beer

My last post made me think about an aspect of fly fishing that is not as necessary as rod and reel, but can punctuate a nice day of fishing perfectly: Beer.

More than once I have made a 'novelty' purchase of some beer with a trout on the label, thinking it'll be the perfect addition to a weekend fishing trip. The bottles are great conversation pieces but, more often than not, the beer inside ranges from forgettable to (nearly) undrinkable. However, Mad River Brewing Company's Steelhead Extra Pale Ale was not only the perfect beer to bring along on my first steelheading trip, it happens to be a product I have tried before and like quite a bit. Here is what Mad River has to say about it:

A bright golden hued ale with a medium body and a crisp spicy/floral hop character and very mild bitterness. This unfiltered ale has a pleasing mouth feel and remains our most popular brew. This beer goes with everything and every occasion.

Okay I have no idea what any of that means, but I do agree with the last part. And I know for a fact it goes well with cold rivers, good friends, cheapish cigars and, of course, angry steelhead.

Honorable mention goes to a fine beer I sampled many, many times during my brief time fishing the mighty Missouri River around Cascades, Montana. Bayern Brewing Company calls their Trout Slayer Ale a "specially brewed top- yet cold-fermented wheat beer with a very distinct wheat flavor and a golden color." Uh, okay. I guess that's right. All I can say about this one is, it goes great with bison burgers and the Big Sky.

But then again, what doesn't?