The oars slipped in and out of the Kennebec River in a soft, soothing rhythm. A breeze blew up the river as the boat drifted down it. Birds sang or shrieked as the spirit moved them, and fish parted the waters with an occasional slap or a splash. John Patriquin Maine guide Jim Thibodeau, center, rows Brenda and Patrick Mothersell of Watertown, N.Y., into position for fly fishing the Kennebec River in Solon in a drift boat last week. With no motor to hum or tend, a drift boat offers such a pleasant, peaceful mode of fishing that it's easy to get hooked on it.
Drift boats are a familiar sight on Western waters but a newer addition to the Maine landscape.
This is the third year that McCormick, who owns a plumbing and heating company, has had his fiberglass Hyde drift boat, which was made in Idaho. His enthusiasm for it certainly hasn't waned. Not only are they excellent river boats, but they're great on ponds, and in southern New England they're being used offshore, although only in harbors and fairly protected areas. They're real stable. They're shallow draft, flat-bottomed, very maneuverable.