Sealhunter, yeah, I know the pics. I've got some from almost the same angle!
Saw a massive Stag right next to that "nameless" pond in your first pic this past weekend. Caribou pops may be dropping in Central, but in our stomping grounds they're still plenty healthy despite the poaching that is going on. Shame really, if they'd let 'em alone, we'd probably would've had a small license draw by now. I was moose hunting from that highest hill in the Grove this side of Ralph B.'s cabin and counted over 150 in one day last year.
Had a couple so curious they walked right up to the bog bikes to investigate. I'm pretty sure we were the first humans they'd ever seen. I was ticked 'cause that had to be the time I forgot to bring along the camera. Had a shot at a massive bull, but he was under the cliff and across the brook. No way of getting the quarters out without killing ourselves...basiclly, you'd have to take the frying pan and a sack of onions and eat the bugger where he lay!
We've got a trailer set up down near Milley's Pond right now, you see Caribou everywhere. I've even run into them on Milley's Jump...hell, we had one in the back yard for a couple of days! I think he ended up hanging out with Rod Demarche's cattle for a while.
Skinnymagoo, average pan size keepers run a 1/2-1 lb or better. You'll hook a few larger 2-4lb trout, but there are bigger there, you just have to luck into them, along with the right air pressure, water temps and position of the sun.
You'd be surprised were you find the big ones, sometimes they'll laze about in these very narrow channels cut through the bogs that are only 2-3 feet across and just a foot or two deep. You have to stand back 20-30 feet from the channel edge and cast as the vibration of walking across the bog will be enough to spook them. Using that method, you can sometimes catch your limit in minutes. I usually prefer to just take a couple and leave the rest for breeding stock.
Nothing better than waking up surrounded by nature to a meal of freshly caught trout and woods tea and thick slices of mom's homemade bread smothered in butter and molasses!
