Knee Surgery, Stoicism, and spring FIshing report

ACL reconstruction and repaired double meniscus tear in November 2025

Probably seems odd to see a photo of my post surgery knee in a fishing report blog? However, it seems fitting from where I am sitting. For those that don’t know, I am a dad to teenagers. Five months ago, as the 2025 guide season was beginning to slow down, I suffered a knee injury. I was playing basketball with my sons Varsity buds and my 44 year old body did not like it. One drive to the basket and me trying to improvise a layup, elevating off the wrong planted foot and presto! Full ACL tear and meniscus tear. I had been playing with a previous injury for two years, but this time I did it in good. But here we are March 23rd and I am 4 months post op! My road to recovery has been amazing. I cannot thank the staff at Maine Health enough. My surgery and rehab have been off the charts. I am at 90% strength and entered the final stage of my rehab (return to sport). Right in time for fishing season prep. But, life is about perspective. Through the tough recovery process I was determined to turn the negative of wrecking my knee into a positive. Enter fly tying and philosophy?

Getting ahead on Hornbergs!

Fire poppers!

A little stoicism

“Love the hand that fate deals you and play it as your own.”

‍ ‍-Marcus Aurelius

“Don’t seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will, then your life will flow well".

-Epictetus

Stoic philosophy……oh boy! But hear me out. In my life I have found some of my largest leaps in personal growth have come at some of my lowest times. Granted there have been much lower points in my life than my knee injury, but I was determined to accept my “fate” and roll with it. Fly tying became my silver lining to recovery. I love to tie and pride myself on being prepared with the needed flies for almost any situation. But time is always at a shortage, so my desire to be a fly tying work horse in the winter is not always a reality. However, now I found myself with nothing but time on my hands. I was non weight bearing for the first 6 weeks on my right leg. So aside from rehab, getting to bed, and the bathroom, I was in a recliner most of the time. But I started a list of the most important flies I needed for the 2026 season. I burnt through that list quickly and started tying flies I always wanted to but never did. My mind stayed off the negative and was seated in the positive. I was somehow moving forward even though physically it seemed like I wasn’t

Tube Sock Fly

Now it is the end of March. I am doing inventory of fly lines, reels, fixing broken rods, stocking up on tippet, and organizing the fly boxes. I feel a sense of gratitude as I do it. Grateful to be physically capable to guide this year. Just so lucky and blessed. But looking forward to the 2026 season what should you look for?

April fishing

As many remember 2025 brought severe drought to Maine. We still are not out of the woods yet. Hopefully our snowpack melts slowly and we have a nice steady supply of rain through the summer. April is a tough month to plan fishing trips in Maine. Due to flows being unpredictable and water temps being low, the fishing can be great or it can be challenging. However, if you are a trophy hunter for trout than this is the month for you! The conditions have to align perfectly, but when they do, this is when we catch our largest trout of the year. In April the three most important factors are flow, clarity, and temperature. Often in April fly fisherman are looking for that nice warm day to enjoy the river. Granted after a long winter this is a nice reprieve. However, this is not always the day that will show the best fishing. In early spring even a 2-3 degree spike in water temperature will bump a trout’s metabolism. The problem with a super warm day is it often lowers the river water temp. This is due to excessive snow melt. This is where knowing a guide can be very helpful. They have an intimate relationship with their rivers and tributaries and understand the nuances of flow, clarity, and temp. It is not something that a USGS site can tell you. Whether the clarity will improve during the day or the river will spike in temp, or drop in temp, etc. But a guide through countless days on the water can have almost a sixth sense. When all 3 factors (flow, clarity, temp) align it can make for a very, very exciting day. Beware though, success in April is not always measured by the number of fish you catch but the size! Streamer fishing is the name of the game, in Maines large rivers, in early spring. It is fun for those that enjoy bombing the bank with meat and looking for that reactionary bite!

April Brown Trout taken on a circus peanut

May fishing

May marks a change in spring fishing. Typically water temps have stabilized. The trout are in the optimal metabolic window and have put the feedbag on. This is also when frogs are migrating back from their winter muddy homes (think smallmouth). Plus pike are coming off the spawn and looking to put weight back on! However, in the trout world May is when you will start seeing your first bugs of significance flying around. Hendricksons start making an appearance, followed by sporadic caddis. This is a fun time of year because you need to be prepared for everything. You never know what you will encounter on the river in May. Streamers, dries, nymphs, and emergers are all possibilities. For those looking to plan a trip May-June typically starts to be more predictable flow and clarity wise as well. It is a great time to be on the water and in nature!

June Fishing

June is the unofficial beginning of summer. On the Androscoggin and many other rivers in Maine, it can be a great trout month. I suggest those looking to trout fish in June, shoot for the first 2, maybe 3 weeks. On the Androscoggin River we normally start seeing water temps touching 70 degrees toward the end of this month. This is when we make the full transition from offering trout trips, to only smallmouth trips. As the water starts flirty with 70 degrees the smallmouth sections of the Androscoggin turn into topwater, fly fishing heaven. As I say when the dog days of summer hit, “save a trout, catch a smallie”. This is when it begins. However, discussing July and smallmouth is………….to be continued! Next blog.

Get out there!

I hope as spring fishing is approaching, you are as excited as I am! A new season brings about that sense of discovery again. The trees spring buds, fiddleheads peak through the surface, rainbow trout focus on the next generation, and green becomes the new color of the outdoors. What a great time to…. in the paraphrased words of Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus, “Love the hand that fate has dealt you……..so……..then your life will flow well”.

-Alex