The first week in October was a little too warm but it was hard to complain. I spent the week at Libby Camps in northern Maine guiding grouse and woodcock hunters and spent an afternoon fishing for brook trout in one of the ponds open to fishing in October. Most afternoons it was simply too hot for the dogs to work, one day the temperature was 80 degrees at 4PM. Hard to imagine in Northern Maine in October. One thing that I did notice was that there is no afternoon breeze off of the water that far inland. Here near the coast all but the hottest days cool off after around 2.
Being a guide means that you change activities with the seasons. October first marks one of those shifts in activity. I change from a fishing and canoe guide to an upland bird hunting guide. I have been working with the dogs for an hour or so each evening for the last six weeks and everyone seems to be ready except the boss. Changing mental gears is the problem, I don’t want to put away my fly rods and striper gear.
The foliage change is starting to happen but we are still a couple of weeks at least away from peak color. There are a few trees that have color but for the most part things are still as green as August. We are supposed to have a frost tonight so I am sure that will get things moving.
