Harrison's Pool
Rising Salmon and Falling Bridges
By Don MacLean
While I love everything about the St. Mary’s River I have a special attachment with Harrison’s Pool, for several reasons. I caught my first salmon there, in 1983, but I also began my education as a salmon angler on that stretch of water. As a young salmon angler I spent most of my time changing flies as I was convinced I wasn’t fishing the right fly for that pool, on that day.
Fortunately, I had the good fortune to meet, and fish with, Waldo Hendsbee when I was a novice salmon angler. In those days I haunted Harrison’s Pool and many mornings received a lesson in how to catch salmon by watching Waldo in action. I can still remember showing Waldo my fly box and asking him which pattern he would suggest. The flies were my first efforts at tying salmon flies, the results of many winter hours at the fly tying vice. At that time I had one of every pattern I could tie, all in one size. Tied true to pattern I was sure he would be struck with the brilliance of my fly tying. Waldo took a long look, shook his head, and said “Nothing any good there.”
However Waldo was a generous man who also spent the winter tying flies and crafting simple handmade fly wallets which he often gave out to people he met on the river. I was the fortunate recipient of one of Waldo’s fly wallets with a selection of his pattern which he called his Five Cent Fly as well as some of his other flies, all sparse patterns tied in small sizes. With Waldo’s help, along with other anglers such as Wilson MacLeod, I gradually gained some confidence, and began to catch a few salmon.
While the fishing, and the people, is what I cherish most about my time on the St. Mary’s it was also the site of my most unusual experience while fishing. It was a July evening and I headed to the river after work. It had rained so the water level was excellent and I was expecting a great evening of fishing as I parked by the bridge above Harrison’s Pool. A quick check revealed a small group of anglers were already fishing the pool so, rather than wait to fish I decided to begin fishing at the bridge and work my way down to the pool. I took my time fishing under the bridge and was soon lost in thought as I slowly worked the water. As I fished I became aware of a machine on the other side of the river driving down from the Lead Mines Road. It was making quite a racket and I was becoming curious when it finally appeared in sight. Rather than the piece of woods equipment I expected an asphalt roller came in sight and began slowly making its way over the bridge. I thought it was kind of an unusual piece of gear to see driving on the road but by this time the roller was half way across the bridge and I went back to my fishing. I had just moved from beneath the bridge and was slowly worked my way through the pool below the bridge when I heard a crack which sounded like a rifle shot followed by the screeching and banging of twisted metal and one section of the bridge, along with the asphalt roller, collapsed and fell into the river.
After a moment of stunned silence I ran up to the bank to see if the driver was ok. He was making his way up the steep incline of the fallen bridge and appeared none the worse from the experience when we met at the edge of the road. I moved my car to block that end of the bridge to prevent any cars from driving off the end. We were soon joined by the anglers who had been fishing at Harrison’s. Someone went to call authorities and one of the first people to appear on the scene was Dr. Chuck MacNeil who checked out the driver. Fortunately he was ok.
As I remember the bridge was out for the summer and Wilson MacLeod took to his river boat to make the trip from his cabin on the Lead Mines Road to fish Silver’s Pool. In the aftermath of the accident I ended up being interviewed twice by insurance companies for the Dept. of Transportation and the company which owned the roller. I don’t know how it was resolved but eventually a bailey bridge was installed, until the second half of the bridge ended up in the river a few years later when it collapsed under the weight of a loaded pulp truck. These days a new bridge stretches over the water. Unfortunately, it has been a few years since I waded the water of the West Branch but the memories remain and, thanks to the restoration work being carried out on the river by the St. Mary’s River Association, I hope I will once again get a chance to fish my favourite waters.
By Don MacLean
While I love everything about the St. Mary’s River I have a special attachment with Harrison’s Pool, for several reasons. I caught my first salmon there, in 1983, but I also began my education as a salmon angler on that stretch of water. As a young salmon angler I spent most of my time changing flies as I was convinced I wasn’t fishing the right fly for that pool, on that day.
Fortunately, I had the good fortune to meet, and fish with, Waldo Hendsbee when I was a novice salmon angler. In those days I haunted Harrison’s Pool and many mornings received a lesson in how to catch salmon by watching Waldo in action. I can still remember showing Waldo my fly box and asking him which pattern he would suggest. The flies were my first efforts at tying salmon flies, the results of many winter hours at the fly tying vice. At that time I had one of every pattern I could tie, all in one size. Tied true to pattern I was sure he would be struck with the brilliance of my fly tying. Waldo took a long look, shook his head, and said “Nothing any good there.”
However Waldo was a generous man who also spent the winter tying flies and crafting simple handmade fly wallets which he often gave out to people he met on the river. I was the fortunate recipient of one of Waldo’s fly wallets with a selection of his pattern which he called his Five Cent Fly as well as some of his other flies, all sparse patterns tied in small sizes. With Waldo’s help, along with other anglers such as Wilson MacLeod, I gradually gained some confidence, and began to catch a few salmon.
While the fishing, and the people, is what I cherish most about my time on the St. Mary’s it was also the site of my most unusual experience while fishing. It was a July evening and I headed to the river after work. It had rained so the water level was excellent and I was expecting a great evening of fishing as I parked by the bridge above Harrison’s Pool. A quick check revealed a small group of anglers were already fishing the pool so, rather than wait to fish I decided to begin fishing at the bridge and work my way down to the pool. I took my time fishing under the bridge and was soon lost in thought as I slowly worked the water. As I fished I became aware of a machine on the other side of the river driving down from the Lead Mines Road. It was making quite a racket and I was becoming curious when it finally appeared in sight. Rather than the piece of woods equipment I expected an asphalt roller came in sight and began slowly making its way over the bridge. I thought it was kind of an unusual piece of gear to see driving on the road but by this time the roller was half way across the bridge and I went back to my fishing. I had just moved from beneath the bridge and was slowly worked my way through the pool below the bridge when I heard a crack which sounded like a rifle shot followed by the screeching and banging of twisted metal and one section of the bridge, along with the asphalt roller, collapsed and fell into the river.
After a moment of stunned silence I ran up to the bank to see if the driver was ok. He was making his way up the steep incline of the fallen bridge and appeared none the worse from the experience when we met at the edge of the road. I moved my car to block that end of the bridge to prevent any cars from driving off the end. We were soon joined by the anglers who had been fishing at Harrison’s. Someone went to call authorities and one of the first people to appear on the scene was Dr. Chuck MacNeil who checked out the driver. Fortunately he was ok.
As I remember the bridge was out for the summer and Wilson MacLeod took to his river boat to make the trip from his cabin on the Lead Mines Road to fish Silver’s Pool. In the aftermath of the accident I ended up being interviewed twice by insurance companies for the Dept. of Transportation and the company which owned the roller. I don’t know how it was resolved but eventually a bailey bridge was installed, until the second half of the bridge ended up in the river a few years later when it collapsed under the weight of a loaded pulp truck. These days a new bridge stretches over the water. Unfortunately, it has been a few years since I waded the water of the West Branch but the memories remain and, thanks to the restoration work being carried out on the river by the St. Mary’s River Association, I hope I will once again get a chance to fish my favourite waters.