Epic (maybe crazy) Adventures!
April 8th 2014 – The Epic Adventure (Memories from Justin Ottmann)
Cabin fever had gotten the best of us. Sure it was April 8th and there was still four feet of snow on the ground, but we had our minds set on running the river. After hours of brainstorming we finally had a plan. Maybe not a good one, but it was a plan never the less! With air temps hovering around 32 degrees, Charlie, Scott, and I hopped on the snowmobiles and headed for Indian pond. Snowmobiling and driftboating in the same day? Alright we might be a little crazy. After dropping off a snowmobile on the still frozen pond near the inlet of the river, we were fully committed. Back at the dam, the crew was ready, including our pirate puppy Lacie. GoPros on, bundled up, we shoved off and Scott was rowing for the first time in 2014. The actual floating the river part of the trip was fairly uneventful, floating over the oh so familiar pools, reminiscing over the memories of the big ones caught, and the bigger ones that got away. Once we hit the pond, rods came flying out of the rod holders and it was a full on streamer chucking contest for a few hours, all of us hoping to hook the first fish of the year. At this point in the day it was getting fairly warm, right around fifty degrees, and we soon noticed that the ice on the pond that was in great condition six hours before, was deteriorating fast! This is where things started to get interesting, after hooking a rope from the sled to the driftboat and dragging it up onto the ice, it was a race for the boat launch. As usual I drew the short straw and got to ride in the driftboat. The next mile across the lake was full of fishtailing and getting yanked along at 50 mph (pretty sure a new land speed record for a drift boat off a trailer). Upon hitting the launch, I hopped out of the boat and kissed the ground, while Scott and Charlie laughed hysterically at my obvious fright. 2 hours and a lot of ditch banging later we finally had the boat towed all the way to the jeep and trailer on Rt. 15. Each car that passed slammed on their brakes, clearly confused as to what we were doing towing a boat behind a snowmobile. Little did they know we had just finished the most EPIC adventure. Back at the house completely exhausted from the long day, we concluded that we officially had the record for the earliest run on the East Outlet of the Kennebec, but that it was not a trip any of us would like to make again! A lot of people think we might be crazy, that or stupid, but the addiction to the tug of a chrome salmon on the end of your fly rod will make a man do some crazy things!