Maine Salmon

This past weekend we drove over 500 miles on back roads through the northern Maine woods in search of Landlocked Salmon and Brook Trout. The fishing report and weather report looked grim but we pushed forward with optimism. Luke and I showed up to our first river of choice and the flow was lower than normal but still very fishable. I cast my nymph rig into a slick on the edge of a seam and boom, fish on. I laughed at Luke and said “that guy’s report at the fly shop was way off.” Not long after that Jeremy met us and we fished down stream finding a pod of suckers (a.k.a hot rubber). We each hooked a rubber mouth and did a u- turn back up river to find some more Salmon. Jeremy knew a spot on the upper stretch of the river and we all took positions in the hole. Luke and I were startled when we heard “Oh my God, this thing is huge! It’s my biggest salmon ever!” Jeremy was right. Upon landing this fish we were all in total awe, a prehistoric war warrior from the deep depths of the river crushed his olive wooly bugger. The fish was easily 6 pounds and a beautiful display of the Salmon species. Things started to slow down so we thought we would try our luck on another river which was near by but difficult to access. We glanced at the map and picked our route to find this piece of water that none of us had ever fly fished. After 20 miles of dirt roads, wrong turns and directions from 3 logging trucks and a 2 mile hike we found the river. It didn’t take Luke long to dial into the fish. While Jeremy was scaling the dam and I was falling in the river Luke was battling a big Salmon. He brought the monster to hand that measured 23.5 inches on the dot. Luke’s biggest Landlocked Salmon ever. We watched as it swam away back to the depths of the river and took in the beauty that surrounded us. Day one ended with a long trek back to the car and a solid night sleep at camp. The next morning Jeremy headed south and Luke and I headed north on yet another adventurous search for Landlocked Salmon. The ride brought us over the rugged Maine mountain tops, plenty of rivers and finally to our destination. We fished wooly buggers and nymphs having the most luck on nymph patterns. Luke and I each hooked numerous Salmon and Brook Trout in the 16-18 inch range with a couple of bigger ones breaking us off. We explored the river finding new runs and untapped pools. The light breeze and bright sun made for a great day on the river. On the way home we reminisced about the weekend and both agreed that this spring has been the best Landlocked Salmon fly fishing in a number of years. Thank you Luke and Jeremy for the company and great weekend, there will be many more to come.