Below is a piece written by Don Kleiner, Class of ’76, for his own blog. He has kindly allowed me to place a copy here. I will add other pieces, stories, or anecdotes as I receive them.
Thinking about my roots
November is always a time of reflection for me; the season is for all intents and purposes over and there is a pause before my responsibilities as Executive Director of the Maine Professional Guides Association take most of my time. Yesterday I spoke to a Forest Resources class at the University of Maine about what I do and how I got started so very long ago. Finally I received an e-mail from a professor at Stockton State College asking what I remembered about the cabins on the shore of the pond that the college is built on. All of this got me to thinking about where I started.
I clearly remember fishing on that pond. Now called Lake Fred by the college but I think we called them the Sawmill Ponds before the college was built. I learned to fly fish there on warm summer evenings wading on the flat at the western end of the larger pond. I had a South Bend fly fishing outfit which someone gave to me for a birthday or Christmas. I am certain that no one in my family even knew anyone who fly fished but still I had that setup. Nothing compared to the Orvis rods I make my living with today but perfect for a beginner. I taught myself how to cast and the pickerel in that pond taught me about presentation and how to carefully approach a fish.
Looking back it must have been nerve wracking for my family to wait for me in the evening as a boy of maybe 12 or 13 when I would stay on the water until it was pitch dark. I do not remember anyone ever being at those cabins until the college took over right before I became a student there in 1972 and I do not remember ever fishing there after the college opened. That means I would have last fished there over 45 years ago. Does not seem possible!
I have many fond memories of those warm summer evenings and still fish for pickerel even with clients today. Hopefully one of my Learn to fly fish trips is sparking a passion like mine, or at least creating lifelong memories!
Created on Tue Nov 18, 2014 by Don Kleiner. See this post on its original blog here.
The Argo for May 13, 1975 (volume 13, number 11) has an article by Mike Ryan describing an early fishing contest on Lake Fred. You can read the digitized version of this issue here: move to pages 2 and 3 to read the article which describes the results of the contest.