This is spring salmon fishing in Maine

By V. Paul Reynolds

Right now, from Lake Winnipesaukee to the Rangeley Lakes to the Fish River chain of lakes in northern Maine, a late spring ritual is underway.

The scene has appeared every year for as long as even us oldsters can remember: men, women and kids bundled in winter garb aboard a wide array of motorized fishing boats that patrol slowly along shorelines. Two, sometimes three fly rods with slightly bent tips rise above the gunwales. 

The salmon trollers are at it once again. 

Sooner or later, if conditions are right, the moment will be punctuated by an exhilarating alert to all hands: “Fish on!”

When a landlocked salmon hits a Grey Ghost tandem streamer and leaps skyward above the stern wake in a silvery dance, the excitement is infectious. In the annals of freshwater sport fishing, there is nothing that quite matches the rush and kinetic feel of it all. Trolling for landlocked salmon is like slow dancing with a lightning bolt. You’re moving steadily, almost lazily, when out of nowhere the line snaps tight and the whole world jolts to life in your hands. 

In northern New England, trolling for landlocked salmon with colorful tandem-hooked streamer flies is rooted in a long tradition marked by a handful of legendary patterns and personalities. 

In western Maine, Carrie Gertrude Stevens is often credited with helping spark the streamer trolling craze. Stevens created the vaunted single-hook streamer from old hat feathers and tinsel. 

The rest, as they say, is history. 

Today, there are more streamer fly designs than there are Maine lakes to troll them. A Waterville doctor and avid angler, J. Herbert Sanborn, who often fished Messalonskee Lake, is credited with creating the tandem streamer fly known simply as the 9-3. 

By all reports, it was a very effective fly. Sanborn was fishing Messalonskee Lake with his friend, outdoor writer Gene LeTourneau, when LeTourneau hooked and landed a 4-pound trout on the then-unnamed pattern. Moments later, Sanborn landed a salmon weighing 9 pounds, 3 ounces on the same fly, earning the name 9-3. 

Sanborn’s fly, like Stevens’ Grey Ghost and a host of other fabled streamers, was designed to imitate a rainbow smelt — the salmon’s pièce de résistance when it comes to fine dining. 

The most successful salmon trollers rely on time-tested tactics in their pursuit of Salmo salar. In their popular book “Trolling Flies for Trout & Salmon,” Dick Stewart and Bob Leeman advise anglers to focus on water temperature when chasing these silver warriors. The sweet spot is between 45 and 55 degrees. 

Early in the season, they recommend trolling close to shore where smelt are running. Productive areas include shallows, sandbars, shoals, reefs, points and inlet or outlet areas where smelt gather. 

Later in the spring, as surface waters warm, traditionalists often forgo downriggers in favor of action-tip fly rods and sinking fly lines, a method that makes salmon fishing especially fascinating and challenging. 

Unless it is really late in the season, look for fish about 10 to 20 feet below the surface. The most popular terminal lashup is a time-tested streamer fly tied to 20 to 30 feet of 6-pound monofilament, which is then tied to a dark-colored floating fly line. 

Recommended trolling speeds are between 2 and 3 mph. Another effective tactic is to pump the rod tip or give it quick jerks while underway and vary trolling speeds.

Best flies? 

Leeman’s top three picks are the Red & White Bucktail, White Marabou Muddler and Grey Ghost. Stewart’s favorites are the Winnipesaukee Smelt, Hornberg Streamer and Cardinelle.

Tight lines, salmon trollers.