At MacLennan Lodge, tradition is more than a quaint expression, more than an abstract principle.

At MacLennan Lodge, tradition is more tangible. Look at the kitchen table, and you notice it. Look down at the Upsalquitch River, and you feel it. Look inside yourself, and you find that you’re doing exactly the same things, in the same ways, at the same times, that generations of previous Atlantic salmon anglers have done in this special spot.

Then talk to the guides, and you’ll realize exactly what tradition is.

“I’ve spent the last 21 years sitting in a canoe in this pool,” head guide David Mann said the other day, as he watched a fisherman unsuccessfully try to convince a salmon to take his offering.

“Twenty-one years,” he repeated, shaking his head … and grinning.

Mann’s home waters are Mowatt’s Pool and Cox’s Landing. Each day during salmon fishing season, he takes a sport to one of those spots, each within a couple minutes’ trip from NEWS publisher Rick Warren’s MacLennan Lodge in Robinsonville, New Brunswick.

One pool from 9 a.m. until noon. The other from 6:45 or so until dusk.

Every morning … every evening.

That’s tradition.

At MacLennan, the guides show up at 5 p.m. and take their places at the kitchen table.

Each day, you’ll find them there … in the same spots … no matter what.

There’s David, sitting on the left side. Across from him is his brother, Shane, who has been guiding out of MacLennan for 24 years. To Shane’s left, facing the window, is Ollie Marshall, a toothless, grinning, joking, wisecracking gem that every salmon camp should have one … and only one … of.

And to Ollie’s left?

The spare chair.

“Tucker [Cluett, who owned MacLennan before Warren, and who died in 2000] used to sit with the boys in the morning,” Nancy Firth tells you. “He came down at 7:30; he made a point to be at the table with the boys.”

Every day. It was simply tradition.

Now the chair sits vacant most of the time. That, too, is tradition. Visitors can use the chair, but when the three guides sit down for a smoke and a laugh, the spare chair is empty.

Still, Cluett’s name is mentioned often, usually when referring to one or another of the practical jokes he preferred.

Like launching water balloons at returning guides with a monstrous three-person slingshot.

Or like making sure that Marshall earned his pay each week.

“We get paychecks on Friday,” David Mann said. “Ollie’s was always in a great big brown envelope … duct-taped.”

Tradition, you see, doesn’t necessarily mean “stuffy.” It doesn’t have to mean “stern,” or “severe,” or “uncompromising.”

Sometimes, it means something else entirely.

In this case, it means this: If you go to MacLennan once, you know what you can expect if you’re lucky enough to go back again.

Ann Murray’s meals will be delicious.

Nancy’s work ethic will prove to you that you’d never truly understood the definition of “tidy” until you arrived at MacLennan. And when you head home, you’ll make a mental note to clean your house … twice.

Sandi McKinnon will greet you with a smile (and soup and sandwiches) after another grueling evening session on the water.

David and Shane will listen more than talk.

Ollie … well, he’ll just be Ollie.

You’ll eat … and eat … and eat … and laugh.

And you’ll fish.

That, too, is tradition.

On this trip, Daryl O’Kresik of Dedham hooked his first-ever Atlantic salmon – a 12-pounder – on the first night, and he was still wearing a silly grin when he saddled up his motorcycle and headed home.

My fiancee, Dawn, went fly-fishing for the first time and ended up catching both a 10-pound salmon and a four-pound grilse … on the same night … on the same dry fly. She’d kill me if I didn’t tell you that David Mann deserves much of the credit, since he actually cast those two flies when she found she hadn’t developed the necessary pinpoint control in just a couple hours of casting practice.

I haven’t had the heart to tell her that her morning at Cox’s Landing may turn out to be the best fishing she’ll ever experience.

Me? I followed Ollie’s advice and caught a four-pound grilse at Moore’s Pool.

And NEWS photographer Linda O’Kresik? Well, let’s just say the bubbly photog was in charge of the entertainment, and proved to be a fine partner in our daily dart games.

All of us, it turns out, followed Ollie’s most sage advice.

“[No matter what happens] he always says, ‘It’s all in a day’s pay,'” Firth said just before we packed and reluctantly headed home. “He’s so right. You’ve got to have a good time.”

Then she paused … and repeated a phrase certainly worth repeating.

“You’ve got to have a good time,” she said.

We did.

As is the tradition at MacLennan Lodge.

The letter was short. The suggestion was simple. And thanks to that brief message from 14-year-old Chris Roy of Fort Kent, we’re happy to announce that we’re adding a new feature to our weekly Outdoors spread.

Here’s the letter Chris wrote … and our response to his request.

“Dear editor of the Bangor Daily News: I enjoy reading your newspaper, but I really think it would be even better if you would include a table of times when it is best to fish.

“I think that you should include this table because many fishermen such as I would like to know that kind of information.”

In a follow-up phone call to Chris, I learned that the sophomore-to-be at Community High School in Fort Kent prefers to fish Glazier and Eagle lakes and spends as much time as possible on the water.

Now he’ll be able to spend the right times on the water, too.

We listened to the suggestion. We did a bit of research.

And beginning today, we’re happy to offer you the original Solunar Tables, which many anglers and hunters have been reading and relying on for years.

We’re joining more than 150 other newspapers nationwide – as well as national sporting magazines – in printing the tables.

The theory – which you’re free to adopt or ignore, at your whim – is that all forms of wildlife activity peaks at certain times of day.

Those times, when the moon is directly overhead, or directly under your feet, are (theoretically) the best times to be afield, whether hunting or fishing.

The tables we’re printing were invented by John Alden Knight and have been around since 1935.

“Major Periods,” those that are the very best on each day, begin at the time listed and last for up to two hours thereafter. “Minor Periods” are of shorter duration, but will also offer good hunting or fishing opportunity … or so the folks at Solunar Sales Co. tell us.

Good luck with the tables. Let me know how they work for you.

And if you run into Chris Roy when you’re out fishing, you might want to thank him for the suggestion.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.