Leroy “Roy” Day holds his fishing pole. The 104-year-old Woodstock resident enjoys reading his detailed records of fishing and hunting trips since the 1940s. Submitted photo
WOODSTOCK — At 104, Leroy “Roy” Day enjoys a lifetime of memories of fishing and hunting ventures he has recorded in great detail since returning from World War II.
Born on June 24, 1916, the Woodstock native grew up in a farmhouse on the Gore Road along with two older half-sisters and a younger brother. An avid hunter and fisherman since childhood, Day spent much of his life hunting Maine’s vast woods and fishing its many bodies of water.
His daughter, Mary Day, said she remembers her father being gone most weekends – either fishing or hunting, though the former was always his favorite.
“He always had his fishing pole with him, no matter what,” she said.
He even took it with him when he was stationed in the Aleutian Islands during World War II.
When he returned home after the war, he began keeping a record of every fish he caught, documenting his catches in notebooks. Not only are the dates listed, but the locations of fishing holes, the species, sizes and number of fish caught, time of day he left and returned home, and the weather. Under “remarks” he notes how the fishing went and who was with him.
The bulk of his catches were brookies, as he referred to them, but he also caught rainbow and brown trout, salmon, yellow and white perch, pickerel, bass, smelt, chub, cusk, bluefish, hornpout and togue.
He fished Maine’s many rivers, lakes and streams a lot, but sometimes ventured into New Hampshire and occasionally traveled with friends to New York to fish for salmon.
He also recorded many animals he shot during hunting season. One of his more notable trophies was a 201-pound albino deer in 1952.
Although he had to give up fishing and driving three years ago, he’s still able to relive his many fishing and hunting expeditions through his detailed writings and photos.
Roy Days sons, John and George stand next to his albino deer, which he shot in 1952. Submitted photo
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