More Medway History

It will soon be February. Years ago, it marked the opening of Atlantic Salmon season on the Medway River. Dennis McKinnon told it like this:

"The old people used to start fishin' in February," he began. "They'd take a saw out on the ice above McLeod's Falls, and they'd cut down both sides. Then, they'd go to work, saw across the top, and let this sheet of ice go down over the falls," he continued. "They'd stand out there on the ice, castin' them great big Hardy flies - #6-0 Silver McAllisters - with them three-piece greenheart poles. They'd catch 'em, too. Great big salmon! But they didn't want nothin' to do with a grilse. In June," he said, "when the grilse came in the river, they'd hang up their rods. They were all done fishin'!"

The picture shows Luke McGinty, as a boy, with his grandfather, John Jones, and a large salmon caught on the Medway River, circa 1933. For many years, a pulp mill was in operation at Charleston, and the river was dammed just below Salter's Brook. This trapped salmon in the lower part of the river and they would congregate in the deep water above MacLeod's Falls. Here the river is 12-14 feet deep even in mid-August. Periodically, what came to be known as the "Baker Gate" was opened to allow passage of water and fish around the dam.

Judging by the expression on young Luke's face, he'd seen plenty of salmon that size before. We really have almost no idea today how big, or how numerous the Medway salmon once were.

Good Luck and Good Fishin'!

- Random Phrump