Maine is cold-water America's attic: landlocked salmon named for Sebago, togue in glacial depths, wild brook trout ponds beyond counting, and a striper coast that runs to Canada. We start where the salmon got its name: Sebago Lake.
Reports current for Friday, October 23
Every one of the 15 Maine waters we cover has a live read this morning. None reaches 4 out of 5 and 15 are slow. Water runs 55 F to 64 F. Pressure is rising on most of them, which costs a point in our model when the sky is clear. Wind touches 19 mph on the roughest of them.
Best right now: Casco Bay 2/5, Chesuncook Lake 2/5, China Lake 2/5
Live verdicts from this morning's reports.
Sebago Lake: Maine's deepest lake and a Portland Water District supply, where lake trout, landlocked salmon and bass lead the state's species list.
A 6,000-acre headwater lake in Maine's Rangeley region, managed for landlocked salmon and brook trout sustained by annual stocking.
The largest of the Rangeley Lakes: 16,300 acres of cold, deep water with wild landlocked salmon and native brook trout, held up by the dam at Upper Dam.
Moosehead Lake: 74,890 acres and 246 feet deep, where togue, landlocked salmon and wild brook trout share the water with smallmouth and perch.
Grand Lake Stream: fly-fishing-only water below West Grand Lake in Washington County, Maine, with brook trout, landlocked salmon and a state salmon hatchery.
West Branch Penobscot: landlocked salmon water below Ripogenus Dam, fly fishing only down to the Telos Road Bridge with a 26-inch salmon minimum.
Rapid River: 3.2 miles of fly-fishing-only water from Middle Dam to Umbagog Lake, where every brook trout goes back.
Maine’s working river reborn: the Kennebec runs landlocked salmon and trout through Bingham, and stripers to the sea below.
Kennebago Lake: a 1,700-acre, unstocked Franklin County lake with wild brook trout and landlocked salmon, fly fishing only from April through October.
Maine’s restored river: the Penobscot runs salmon, smallmouth and stripers after historic dam removals.
Maine’s third-largest lake: Chesuncook holds brook trout and togue in the North Woods.
China Lake: a 3,845-acre two-basin lake in China and Vassalboro, Maine, managed for stocked trout after salmon stocking ended in 1978.
Casco Bay: Maine's island-filled bay between Cape Elizabeth and Phippsburg, with Portland piers and ramps and a 28-31-inch striped bass slot.
A 16,070-acre boundary lake on the Maine–New Brunswick line, with stocked landlocked salmon and wild lake trout.
A midcoast Maine lake: Damariscotta holds salmon, bass and a famous alewife run.
Species activity across the state's covered waters. Peak of the year: April.
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.
Seasonal surface curve for this state's dominant water type (estimated).
| Water | Type | County | Live gauge | Peak month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sebago Lake fishing report | Lake | Cumberland | USGS | Apr |
| Rangeley Lake fishing report | Lake | Franklin | modeled | Apr |
| Mooselookmeguntic Lake fishing report | Lake | Oxford | modeled | Apr |
| Moosehead Lake fishing report | Lake | Piscataquis | modeled | Apr |
| Grand Lake Stream fishing report | River | Washington | USGS | Apr |
| West Branch Penobscot River fishing report | River | Piscataquis | modeled | Apr |
| Rapid River fishing report | River | Oxford | modeled | May |
| Kennebec River fishing report | River | Somerset | USGS | Apr |
| Kennebago Lake fishing report | Lake | Franklin | modeled | Apr |
| Penobscot River fishing report | River | Penobscot | USGS | Apr |
| Chesuncook Lake fishing report | Lake | Piscataquis | modeled | Apr |
| China Lake fishing report | Lake | Kennebec | modeled | Apr |
| Casco Bay fishing report | Coastal | Cumberland | modeled | Apr |
| East Grand Lake fishing report | Lake | Washington | modeled | Apr |
| Damariscotta Lake fishing report | Lake | Lincoln | modeled | Apr |
Maine holds what the rest of the East lost: self-sustaining landlocked salmon fisheries (Sebago, Moosehead, the Rangeleys), togue lakes 300 feet deep, and thousands of wild brook trout ponds protected by remoteness and law (many fly-only, many never stocked). The North Woods tradition: canoes, streamers, thermoses: is not nostalgia here: it is Tuesday.
Ice-out (April-May) is the event: salmon and togue chase smelt along shorelines everywhere at once. June brings the brook-trout ponds alive (hex hatches at dusk) and stripers arriving on the southern coast. Summer sends the salmonids deep: trolling season: while smallmouth (a quiet Maine strength) fill the rivers. September: salmon color up, moose season shares the roads. Winter: ice derbies on every big lake: Sebago's February derby is the state fair of togue.
The landlocked salmon: Salmo salar sebago, named for Sebago Lake. Ice-out trolling with streamer flies is the hundred-year-old tradition that still fills April.
They are the East's last wild-brookie stronghold: hundreds of remote ponds with native fish. The State Heritage list protects the best: fly-only, no live bait, and worth every logging-road mile.