Ellsworth woman wins BDN drift boat trip

There are few guarantees in life. Coming close, I have learned, is this: On Father’s Day, I will go fishing with a lucky winner of our “Win a Drift Boat Trip” and our top-notch guide, Dan Legere, and we will catch a boatload of fish.

Guide Dan Legere of the Maine Guide Fly Shop in Greenville (right) takes a photo of Jasper Walsh fishing in the East Outlet of the Kennebec River during a drift boat trip on Sunday, June 15, 2012. Walsh, of Newburgh, won the BDN’s annual “Win a Drift Boat Trip” contest. When Legere stopped on a sandbar to prepare lunch, Walsh was tempted by rising fish in the river and waded in to cast flies to them. BDN photo by John Holyoke

Today, I’m happy to announce that this year’s winner of that contest — the 15th edition, if you’re keeping count — is Jeanine Curtis of Ellsworth.

Curtis will join Legere and me on June 18 for a full-day drift down the East Outlet of the Kennebec River, where we’ll fly fish for landlocked salmon, brook trout, and whatever else chooses to take a fly. We’ll also stop along the way for a delicious shore lunch.

Curtis said she has never fly fished before, but also said that she’s pretty adventurous and eager to learn something new.

She’ll be in good hands: Legere, the proprietor of the Maine Guide Fly Shop in Greenville, is a fantastic teacher, and I’ve seen him work wonders with a few other novice fly casters we’ve taken on this trip.

We began offering this trip with Legere back in 2003 as a promotion to help introduce a new outdoor writer — me — to BDN readers. We’ve continued our affiliation with him ever since, and I can tell you the annual float down the East Outlet is one of my favorite days of “work” of the year.

We run the free-to-enter contest through the spring outdoor expo season, and have added a digital component that allows online entry as well.

Mike Horvers was our first winner, back in 2003. Others followed: Jason McCubbin in 2004, Doug Saunders in 2005, Tom Nichols in 2006, James Rolph in 2007, Dick Fortier in 2008, Tiffany Shepard in 2010, Don Factor in 2011, Jasper Walsh in 2012, John Craig in 2013, Byron Hale in 2014, Harvey Siebert in 2015 and John St. Onge in 2016. The particularly alert reader may notice we didn’t take a trip in 2009. That’s true. We couldn’t find a date that was acceptable to the winner.

Thanks to everyone who entered this year’s free drawing. Without your participation, this contest wouldn’t continue.
John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.com or 990-8214. Follow him on Twitter: @JohnHolyoke

John Holyoke

About John Holyoke

John Holyoke has been enjoying himself in Maine's great outdoors since he was a kid. Today, he's the Outdoors editor for the BDN, a job that allows him to meet up with Maine outdoors enthusiasts in their natural habitat. The stories he gathers provide fodder for his columns, and this blog.