This fishing guide gave a 12-year-old a lifetime experience

By Julie Harris, Bangor Daily News Staff

Todd Mercer of Poland saw the boy fly fishing at the boat launch of Big Eddy Campground for a couple of days.

The boy was there when Mercer left with clients in the morning and when he returned.

Mercer has been a registered Maine fishing guide for five years and runs Horizon Line Adventures out of Big Eddy on the West Branch of the Penobscot River in the summer.

One evening after working all day, Mercer decided to go out in his drift boat for a bit of fishing on his own. He spied the boy, still diligently fly fishing but not catching much.

Mercer rowed closer to Bowen Moore, 12, of Woodstock and asked him if he wanted to go out in the drift boat with him to fish.

Bowen said he was skeptical when Mercer first approached him and declined, saying he had planned to fish with his father. But his dad Matt Moore went to the shore and spoke with the guide.

Moore said he told Mercer they didn’t have the money in their trip budget to pay for guide services, but the fisherman assured him it was free and that he just wanted to help Bowen out.

Father and son joined Mercer in the drift boat and the fishing guide showed Bowen some maneuvers that only experience teaches, such as how to cast upstream and let the fly drift down and to tie more than one nymph fly on a line to create the illusion of nymphs emerging from the water.

“I had seen a nice fish rising beyond where Bowen could reach from the boat launch. We went after it. It was a 19-20-inch salmon that we didn’t get in the boat,” Mercer said.

Bowen recounted Mercer hooking the fish while demonstrating fly fishing techniques and handing the rod to Bowen to bring it in. When the fish was near the boat, it spit the fly out and went on its way.

That was only the beginning.

Bowen caught four salmon that made it into the boat, including one that was 18 inches long. He used a fly he had tied himself at first, but soon switched to one Mercer suggested. Bowen’s uncle taught him to tie flies, and he’s been doing it for about a year, he said.

Mercer, 53, said that one of the best parts of the encounter for him was how much Bowen’s dad enjoyed watching his son fish.

“I could identify with the feelings his dad was having. I have three daughters and two of them fish,” he said.

Mercer, who also has been guiding raft trips since the 1990s, said he occasionally picks up people to take them fishing. He watches for people like Bowen who are working hard from the shoreline but not catching anything. 

He especially loves getting kids or novices out on the water. He sees it as a great opportunity to be an ambassador for the sport and to teach people how to fly fish.

“There was a lot of happiness in that boat. Being close to someone who has excitement about catching fish and with his father who was excited, and being part of their experience, was joyous and gratifying for me,” he said.

He has had several responses to his Facebook post about Bowen from other guides around the country who do similar things for kids. One from Colorado has retired from his guiding business but still takes kids out, Mercer said.

For Bowen, who had never been on a drift boat before, it was an adventure from start to finish.

Bowen was back at the boat launch fishing the next morning, and caught a 20-inch salmon. He got it in the net but couldn’t get the hook out. He called out to Mercer, who was on the water with a client, but went to shore long enough to help Bowen.

Bowen practices catch and release and the men and he tried to revive the fish, but there was too much damage from the hook. The fish was taken from legal waters, so the family ended up eating Bowen’s catch.

It was the first time Bowen had eaten a fish he had caught.

Fly fishing isn’t his only sport. Bowen also fishes with a spinning rod and bait casters, he said.

This is the second year the family vacation has been on Big Eddy, but Matt Moore said he thought it would become their tradition.

“What Todd did is what really makes Maine special — helping out and giving a kid an experience of a lifetime,” Moore said.