Where Cool Waters Flow

Randy Spencer is a Master Maine Guide, which means he is qualified and certified by the State of Maine to guide clients on fishing, hunting, or recreational adventures, although Randy's specialty is fishing. Randy's guiding business is based in the remote eastern Maine town of Grand Lake Stream, home to some of most beautiful scenery and some of the best fishing in the nation. Randy also maintains a home in Holden, Maine. In addition to guiding, Randy is a talented singer/songwriter who has released five CDs, including his latest, Footprints in the Sand. In fact, he regularly writes a column for the Northwoods Sporting Journal that is titled "The Singing Maine Guide." He is also a freelance writer for other outdoor publications. In 2008, Yankee Magazine named Randy one of the "25 People You Need to Meet Most This Summer" and Portland Magazine named him one of the "10 Most Intriguing People in Maine."

"You'd be hard pressed to find a stronger, or more vocal, advocate for the glories of life in the Maine North Woods than Randy," wrote Maine humorist, Tim Sample.

Where Cool Waters Flow, which essentially covers a year in the life of a Maine Guide, is Randy's first book.

In the News:

• The Long Wait

  (March 25, 2019)

"Spencer's book, quite simply, is the rare local volume that I can honestly recommend with the highest praise a fellow writer can muster: I wish I'd written it. But I couldn't have. Spencer's prose is clean, quick and witty. He successfully transports readers from their living room easy chairs to the wilds of Grand Lake Stream, and does so without bombarding them with strings of adjectives designed to paint the picture he sees in his mind. Instead, like the songwriter he is, he picks his words judiciously, commits to them and makes them do his bidding. And the result is a stunning portrait of a truly special place, illuminated by the people who live for their yearly visits to those remote Maine woods. You may find a better Maine book than Where Cool Waters Flow. You may find a better outdoor book. You may. I haven't." – John Holyoke, Bangor Daily News

"To say that Randy Spencer has written a nice book about Maine is not to damn him with faint praise. Nice is not a backhanded term for blandness, but an umbrella that covers such vastly underrated virtues as good manners, good humor, and good company. Spencer provides all three in Where Cool Waters Flow as well as a portrait of one of Maine's most beautiful and beguiling villages: Grand Lake Stream." – Roberta Scruggs, Down East Magazine

"Where Cool Waters Flow will take anyone with the love of hunting and the outdoors away from it all for a little while, onto Grand Lake Stream with someone who knows its every ripple and rock – who knows full well what people mean when they want to 'get away from it all.' He knows where and why and when to share, when to spin a yarn or a paddle or a fly ... and when not to. He's been there – he may have done that, but he'll take you along – if not for real, then on the page." – Marilis Hornidge, Lincoln County News (Damariscotta, ME)