MORNING SENTINEL • May 13, 2022
It’s always a good day on the river — that’s Willie Grenier’s philosophy, anyway. Whether he catches shad or not, the 75-year-old Waterville resident and avid fisherman enjoys being on the Kennebec River. Having fished since he was 5, Grenier knows a lot about not only fishing, but also river ecology. A retired, 35-year Clinton Elementary School teacher, he has taught river ecology to many high school and college students over the years, and for 10 years worked with Project Healing Waters, taking disabled veterans out to fish. A member of Trout Unlimited, he taught at that organization’s Maine Trout Camp in Solon. Ticonic Bay is the area between Fort Halifax Park and the Lockwood dam where the alewife population exploded after the Edwards Dam in Augusta was removed in 1999. It is where Grenier typically fishes for shad as it is a world-class shad fishing spot.