Moosehead Region Fishing Report: July 11, 2007

Last week we said goodbye to a great sportsman and friend, Wiggie Robinson. He was the quintessential traditional Maine sportsman and gentleman. I’ve known Wiggie for many years having met him early in my career in the Moosehead Lake Region. I was also fortunate to have the opportunity to work several sportsman shows with Wiggie over the past few years. We worked at a fly-fishing show in Danbury, CT a few years ago and Wiggie was the highlight of the show. I don’t believe he had ever been there before, but by the end of the second day, it seemed everyone at the show was looking for Wiggie. His friendly, gregarious nature was infectious and he was a great ambassador for the State of Maine.

I had many conversations with Wiggie regarding fishing. He had a vast knowledge of many of the waters in my region. I was amazed by some of his stories. Wiggie once told me about a remote pond in my region he fished in his younger days. I had the chance to visit that pond a few weeks ago and as I hiked the new trail, I was thinking of Wiggie’s recount of his route. He would hike into one pond where he had a canoe stashed then paddle across two ponds, carry his canoe though the woods to a larger lake then paddle up the lake and finally portage his canoe uphill to the trout pond. He would then reverse the trip at the end of the day. By my estimation, it was about 6 miles each way and the terrain is very rugged. The next day, he did the same trip. The fishing was good and Wiggie loved to fish. A few years ago, I visited the Ragged Stream smelt run while staying at Chesuncook Lake in the spring. The stream was open to smelt dipping at the time and I wanted to check it out. It was pitch dark but I could see the lake was down and it was difficult to get down to the stream due to the fragmented ice on the banks. There were a number of people standing around waiting to dip smelts. In the distance I could see a small fellow gliding up and down the glare ice banks like an otter, obviously catching smelts and putting them into a bucket. I asked the warden, “Who’s that kid?” It was no kid. It was 80 year-old Wiggie Robinson. They say it’s not the years in your life but the life in your years. Wiggie lived it right.

He was very interested in fisheries management and had a great understanding of all the issues. I remember one letter I received from Wiggie regarding slot limits several years ago. Wiggie did not like the new trout slot limits and was particularly bothered by the regulation that only allowed two 12 inch fish with only 1 fish over 14 inches on a few splake waters that were open during the winter. Wiggie wrote that most of the fish were over 14 inches and therefore anglers could only keep 1 fish. I responded to Wiggie giving him some background on the genesis of the regulation and the effort to standardize regulations statewide. In closing, I told Wiggie that I wished all my letters were complaining that the fish were too big. We always had a good laugh over that together during our future discussions. Wiggie was the type of gentleman that you could disagree with over an issue but still be best of friends. I always appreciated that quality.

I have many other stories and fond memories of my friend Wiggie. I will miss the “Baron of the West Branch” and I will think of him often, especially when I travel to the shadow of Mount Katahdin, pick a maple syrup out of my fly box, and fish many of the “secret” ponds we shared in the Moosehead Lake Region.