Fly fishing for blueback trout in Maine
I have been an avid fly angler for more than 30 years and my favorite day out is exploring the trout streams of Shenandoah National Park (SNP) in pursuit of brook trout. It does not matter that these fish rarely exceed eight inches – their friskiness and stunning patterns delight me every time I fish for them. However, this penchant for SNP brook trout has not kept me from being intrigued by the prospect of landing larger brook trout in other parts of North America. So, when I was approached by the fishing manager of my local Orvis store to participate in an excursion to Maine’s North Woods to fly fish for brook trout, I did not hesitate to sign up.
Maine is synonymous with a lot of different wildlife, such as the moose, the loon and the lobster. But as David Coggins writes in The Optimist: A Case for the Fly Fishing Life, fishing in Maine means brook trout and the species is ubiquitous throughout the state. In fact, the Maine Council of Trout Unlimited estimates that the state has “97% of the remaining brook trout lakes and ponds in the US”. It also has more intact populations of brook trout than anywhere else in the US (meaning the state supports sustained population levels that have not been altered or depleted over time).
This is not only due to the sheer number of bodies of water in the state – Maine has nearly 6,000 lakes and ponds. But also stems from the outsized conservation efforts of the State Legislature and the Department of Inland Fisheries to address challenges and create partnerships through the Maine State Heritage Fish Program, which aims to ensure the self-sustaining nature of wild native brook trout and Arctic char in approximately 575 lakes and ponds.
Our host was Libby Camps, an Orvis-endorsed lodge that has been a family run operation for more than 130 years. Before arriving there, I had not been fully aware that we would have the opportunity to pursue Arctic char in addition to brook trout. For me this was not a novelty, per se, as I have put plenty of char in the net while fishing in British Columbia, but the species in Maine is no ordinary char. Rather, it is a regional subspecies called blueback trout or Sunapee trout (Salvelinus alpinus oquassa) and is particularly rare. In the Continental US this subspecies is found exclusively in Maine and is native in only 12 ponds in the state.
Author and native fish advocate, Bob Mallard, writes in an article for Orvis that while most anglers have probably heard of the blueback trout, few know that they still exist. I guess that makes me an outlier as I had never heard of the blueback before arriving to Maine on this trip – and I have been fly fishing for trout for 30 years on multiple continents. So, when our group learned that there were two ponds holding blueback trout accessible to Libby Camps, we were excited at the prospect of fishing for them.
This Arctic char somewhat resembles the brook trout – its fins are orange with white tips and bodies that are spotted yellow and sometimes red. However, unlike the “squaretails”, blueback trout have tails that are pointed, or ‘V’ shaped. They also color up to a brilliant orange in the fall. These trout usually measure eight to ten inches, but some lakes hold monster bluebacks greater than 20 inches.
They also prefer deep water, which means that fishing for them is no easy undertaking. While cruising Wadleigh Pond within Baxter State Park in a canoe, our guide used a fish finding device to locate schools of bluebacks, generally at depths of 25 to 30 feet and then anchored up about 20 feet away from where the fish were holding. To reach them we used fast-sinking lines with various streamer patterns until the desired depth was reached, then retrieved the fly at a slow and steady pace hoping for a strike.
It is not unusual to go several hours without a fish taking the fly, which can make for a long day even for the perpetually hopeful angler. During our excursion on Wadleigh Pond, my fishing companion and I put four blueback trout in the net over a period of about seven hours. None of these fish were bigger than 12 inches. Another pair of anglers from our party ventured to Big Reed Pond and landed three bluebacks in a full day of fishing, all of which were 18 inches or greater.
Despite the considerable effort it takes to fish for blueback trout, it was very rewarding to have the opportunity to catch this very rare salmonid species, no matter the size!
Note: I am not being compensated for my mention of Orvis or Libby Camps. I am simply a happy client.
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