FARMINGTON – Justin Forbes stood in pouring rain Friday and brought his fishing rod back and then forward. He cast his line in a long arc into Rollo Pond.

The Farmington 11-year-old had had several nibbles but hadn’t landed any yet.

“I like to fish a lot,” he said, as the rain fell on the hood of his clear plastic poncho. “I’ve been doing it my whole life.”

Well, actually, it hasn’t been quite his whole life, said his mother, Sarah Forbes. She started bringing him fishing when he was about 3.

When he’s able, he goes to the pond in Abbott Park weekly, sometimes daily.

He’s after the big one. So far, he’s caught a bass a little over 5-inches but he threw it back in because it was too small.

But he knows there is a 5-pounder in there somewhere, he said.

He’d like to get at least a foot-long fish or a sturgeon. The latter he knows he won’t get in that pond adjacent to the University of Maine at Farmington. Fishing is second favorite pastime following riding his bike, he said.

He reeled in his line and discovered his salmon egg was missing. No matter. He cast it back into the water. His small red and white bobber bobbed on the surface.

The hook still has the smell of the egg, he said, and the fish are attracted to the silver flashing in the water.

“If they bite, you jerk it like this,” the Cascade Brook sixth-grader said.

He yanked on his pole as his bobber went partially under the water.

“You always have to watch it,” he said. “You need lots of patience.”

He pointed his hand to the middle of the water.

A fish just jumped, he said. The fish is rising, “see it,” he said.

“They were jumping like crazy yesterday.”

He reels in his line again. He drew his rod back and then forward as the line made a high arc toward the water.

“I’ve been practicing,” he said of his casting. “I’ll probably catch some fish once I get some more bait on my hook.”

dperry@sunjournal.com

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