Fly fishing for brook trout in Maine
The community of advocates and stakeholders coalescing around the conservation of the only trout species native to the eastern US, the brook trout, are in general agreement that populations are a fraction of what they were years ago and continue to be seriously threatened, particularly in the Mid-Atlantic region. One study conducted by the National Park Service in Shenandoah National Park (SNP) identified a drop of 50 percent in brook trout numbers in two-thirds of the SNP’s streams over the past 25 years. The Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture (EBTJV) also reports that “brook trout no longer occur in 40% of their historical natural range” in the southern region of the US. These reductions are due to several challenges related to rising temperatures; agricultural run-off and acid rain; predation and invasive species; and urbanization.
According to the EBTJV, the intact populations of brook trout (meaning that sustained levels have not been altered or depleted) in the northern region of the US outnumbers the other two regions combined. This is largely due to the scale of Maine’s native brook trout population, as the state is estimated to have “97% of the remaining brook trout lakes and ponds in the US”, according to the Maine Council of Trout Unlimited. It 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.
Fly fishing for brook trout is one of my favorite pastimes and I am fortunate to have this ‘native’ treasure close to home. While the great majority of my brook trout fishing is in the waters of Shenandoah National Park, I have caught ‘brookies’ in most states along the east coast from South Carolina to Maine. 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.
Our host was Libby Camps, an Orvis-endorsed lodge that has been a family run operation for more than 130 years. Libby Camps comprises a main lodge and 10 lakeside cabins on Millinocket Lake. We would be hosted for five days of guided fishing, including two float plane excursions, and six nights of accommodation, inclusive of all meals served family style in the main lodge.
The trip itinerary took us to Bangor, Maine by commercial air carrier followed by a transfer on Katahdin Air Services by float plane to Libby Camps. In the air, en route to our destination, I was struck by the vastness of the North Maine Woods, which is larger than Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks combined. As we neared the end of our seaplane journey, all one could see was forest, ponds and logging roads. This remoteness was accentuated by the fact that we had no phone service at the camp, generators provided power for about 15 hours a day and the nearest town was 45 minutes away….at least we had Starlink providing Wi-Fi at the main lodge!
Over the course of the next five days of guided fishing, we were provided a variety of experiences comprising float plane excursions, still water fishing from canoes on ponds and wade fishing on moving water. The species available to us included the coveted brook trout (referred to locally as ‘squaretails’), land-locked salmon, lake whitefish and Arctic char, the latter being a regional subspecies called blueback trout or Sunapee trout. The blueback (Salvelinus alpinus oquassa) is particularly rare - in the Continental US this subspecies is found exclusively in Maine and is native in only 12 ponds in the state.
Although I learned to fly-fish for trout on stillwater in England, I had not done so in a long time. But Maine has nearly 6,000 lakes and ponds, so it is inevitable that most fly fishing for trout will be done from a canoe on a pond. In Maine, you will rarely hear a reference to a fresh water “lake”, because the Maine Department of Environmental Protection legally classifies any natural body of fresh water greater than 10 acres as a Great Pond. These Great Ponds are also owned by the State in trust for the public, so that everyone can have access.
Except for when targeting blueback trout (which is the subject of a separate blog post), I generally fished my Helios D 9-foot, 5-weight rod with a Mirage reel, a floating line and 4x tippet, alternating between dry flies, sub-surface micro streamers and nymphs under an indicator. Frankly the fly choices were totally dependent on the guide’s instincts. If one approach was not successful, we moved to another until we discovered what the fish wanted and stuck with that. As an example, we began a day on Matthew’s Pond with a dry fly, which attracted attention initially, but then after a long pause we switched to a sub-surface fly that again produced action quickly, followed by another long pause, so we moved on to a deeper diving streamer to create more action at the end of the afternoon.
We also had two days of wade fishing on moving water, which is my favorite way to fish for trout, mainly because you get to “read” the water and identify “fishy looking” areas among the riffles, runs, deeper depressions (or holes) and structure. On these waters we were able to alternate between dry fly fishing, indicator nymphing and high-stick, Euro-nymphing (using a 10-foot, 4-weight Echo Carbon XL). I was fortunate to be able to put a trout in the net using all three approaches in one day on a single water for the first time.
The week at Libby Camps was immensely rewarding and helped me to appreciate why David Coggins writes in The Optimist: A Case for the Fly Fishing Life that fishing in Maine means brook trout, which he calls “the most beautiful fish”. I would tend to agree.
Note: I am not being compensated for my mention of Orvis or Libby Camps. I am simply a happy client.
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