Maine SalmonFly fishing, for me, represents a series of fleeting opportunities. In my lifetime, there are a finite number of spring salmon runs, hendrickson hatches, fall steelhead runs, albie runs, herring runs, bluefin tuna runs, hex hatches and so on and so forth. From a global perspective, there are so many opportunities and destinations that I would love to, but probably never will get to experience. My home state of Maine offers so many opportunities that I will probably never get a chance to experience. With 35,000 miles of rivers and streams it is simply not possible to be everywhere at the same time. Maine’s winters can be long and it is no wonder that when the ice goes out on Maine’s 5,000 or so lakes; it is cause for celebration. Seriously, “ice-out” in Maine is a big event and folks even have bets on exactly what day the ice will go out on a lake. Ice-out for me, as a fly fisherman, offers a fly fishing experience that I really enjoy and try to take advantage of every year. During the winter when the ice is on the lake, the big Salmon cruise just below the surface in all different water depths. During the summer, the big lake run salmon tend to hang out in deep waters of the lake. So, ice-out offers a fleeting and somewhat transitional period of time where the water is cold enough and the smelt are in the rivers and close to shore and the salmon are right there with them. It is a different kind of experience, but one that I have truly come to enjoy and I try my best to take advantage of the little opportunities that arise. So, the ice was out, it was 5pm and another work day came to an end. I hopped in my car and drove to the lake. I arrived and there was still a fair amount of sun in the sky. I rigged up my fly rod with a sinking line and a white bunny strip smelt type fly pattern. The water was very cold and little ice chunks still hanging around, as portions of the lake were still frozen. I was not too optimistic but started to make a few casts anyway. After a very long and cold and snowy winter in Maine; it felt great to be outside. I made a cast as far as I could into the lake and let the line sink. I slowly stripped back the streamer fly and just when I was losing hope, fish on! I landed and released my first lake run salmon of the year, and the smelt run is not even in full swing yet. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come and the first of many great fly fishing experiences in Maine this year. This fish and this experience taught me that not all fly fishing experiences have to be big long excursions. Even if I can just get out after work and take a few casts with my work clothes still on; it is better than watching TV or sitting on the couch and definitely better than not fishing at all that day.