Known as “The Mad Fisherman,” Charlie Moore made the trip to Aroostook County June 23-26 to fish brook trout on Prestile Stream and Three Brooks in the Mars Hill area and muskie on the Big Black River in northern Aroostook County.
Contributed photo/Ron LavalleeCharlie Moore, left, also known as “The Mad Fisherman” to his viewing audience on ESPN and NESN, poses with Master Guide Dave Kelso of Eagle Lake during their muskie fishing trip to Big Black River in late-June. The trip will be featured on the television show “Beat Charlie Moore,” to air Saturday at 8 a.m. on ESPN 2. Moore also fished for trout in central Aroostook brooks and streams during his stay in Aroostook County.
Moore appears regularly on “Beat Charlie Moore” on ESPN and “Charlie Moore Outdoors” on NESN. The trip was arranged by Master Guide Dave Kelso of Eagle Lake, who is a friend of Moore’s, and Aroostook County Tourism.
Moore spent a day fishing brook trout with Kelso, Scott Thompson, the manager of Aroostook State Park in Presque Isle; and Tom Tardiff of Robinson, a registered Maine Guide.
“It was a real good time,” Tardiff said. “He’s a real nice guy and he enjoyed the trout fishing a lot.”
Tardiff said despite the hot weather, which made for tough conditions, Moore caught “seven or eight” fish on the day.
“The Prestile is phenomenal water and I knew we’d catch a bunch of fish,” Tardiff added. “Charlie had fun, no doubt about it.”
Kelso concurred, saying “Charlie loved the brook trout fishing. I have always said stream fishing for trout brings out the kid in all of us and Charlie is a big kid at heart and it will be seen on the show.”
Earlier in the week, Kelso and Maine Guide Jason Stedt of Fort Kent had the opportunity to join Moore in canoes for muskie fishing. At the end of the day, four muskie were captured on film for both the ESPN and NESN shows. It was Moore’s first muskie fishing trip in his 15 years in television.
“Bringing Charlie to the County was a great way to reach a vast number of outdoor enthusiasts, with NESN being delivered into more than four million homes, and ESPN being the self-proclaimed ‘world wide leader in sports.’
“With these two shows, Aroostook County will be brought into the living rooms of potential visitors across the country and around the world,” said Dave Spooner, former tourism specialist at Aroostook County Tourism.
Another segment of the brook trout show will be an ATV ride with the Eagle Lake Trail Blazers club. Even though it was not in the original script, Moore agreed to promote this activity to help Aroostook businesses.
The original script had Kelso appearing in only the muskie fishing segments, however, “Dave and Charlie have such a great chemistry, that Charlie and I decided to have Dave appear in all the segments. He did such a great job putting this entire trip together,” said Bob Sylvester, producer of both shows.
“This is the kind of advertising that Aroostook County needs to promote our outdoor-related tourism. Everyone will eventually benefit from this type of exposure,” said Kelso. “Money spent for this and future TV shows is money well spent to promote what we have to offer.”
Footage of the muskie trip will be aired on “Beat Charlie Moore” on ESPN 2 Saturday, Aug. 1 at 8 a.m. and will be repeated at least once during the winter. A viewing party is scheduled at the Swamp Buck Restaurant in Fort Kent Friday, July 31 at 7 p.m.
Exact dates have yet to be announced, but coverage of the brook trout fishing and ATV excursion, as well as a separate show on the muskie fishing, can be seen on NESN later this summer and will also be repeated throughout the winter.
