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Landlocked Salmon Video Hi Speed Only

April in Maine means one thing. Landlocked Salmon. Just like clock work, I know the places I will fly fish and I know the people I will inevitably bump into. Many fly fisherman spend their April days casting to stocked fish. Sometimes I do too. However, as I get older, I have come to appreciate and enjoy the pursuit of wild Landlocked Salmon. The pursuit is always the same and there are really only a select few people who are interesting in going the distance. The pursuit typically involves cold, rainy days, big water and limited success. The pursuit typically involves casting a Grey Ghost into an overwhelming amount of water. The pursuit is typically marked by several days and thousands of casts with the end result being no fish. But, if your willing to stand in the same spots that the fly fishermen of lost years stood; you might experience the pleasure of hooking a wild Landlocked Salmon. On Saturday, I had the pleasure. I went to my typical Salmon Spots. I saw exactly the same people that were there last year. We picked up the conversation right where we left off in the fall. I then made my way out to my favorite position and prepared myself for a few hours of long casts, short quick strips and no action. I threw out

a ton of line. My Grey Ghost hit the water. I let it sink for a bit and then began to strip it back. A Salmon leaped out of the water with my fly in his mouth. He landed back in the water and ran straight towards me. He then cut to my right and leaped out of the water again. Line was peeling off my reel and he leaped again, and again and again. I brought him close to me and got a little underwater footage for my digital log book. I released him and felt content. The Landlocked Salmon, in the environment of which I speak, are not easily found and not easy to trick. It is so easy to sometimes call it quits and go to the stocked streams in pursuit of stocked brookies. However, for me, the reward of catching one wild Landlocked Salmon in the spring far outweighs the rewards of catching 100 stocked brookies. Don't get me wrong. I love to fly fish for all kinds of trout. Stocked or not stocked, but there is something special about catching these fish. When I am fly fishing for the Landlocked Salmon I often find myself thinking about how much has changed and how little has changed. These Landlocked fisheries are so precious and I love the fact that most of the guys I have met on these waters are old timers. They have been fly fishing for these fish since long before I was born and they have seen many people and fish come and go. In a world that is fast paced and ever changing, it is comforting to see that not much has changed when it comes to the pursuit of Maine's wild Landlocked Salmon. We still walk to the same old spots and cast the same old traditional patterns. It is an excercise in patience and respect for times gone by. I hope that nothing ever changes, in respect to this fishery. I hope that someday, my son, will stand where I stood and cast the same fly into the same water. The faces will change but the pursuit will stay the same.