Sunday, October 8, 2006
ATLANTIC SALMON
THE ATLANTIC SALMON is found in the Northern Hemisphere in or around the Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea. The range of landlocked Atlantic salmon is greater. Unlike Pacific salmon, there is only one species of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar).
SALMON ARE DEFINED as anadramous, migrating from saltwater to freshwater to spawn. Young salmon stay in the river of their birth for two to three years. During this time they mature into smolts and their bodies change to ready them for life in the ocean. Salmon from the western Atlantic move to the ocean between Greenland and Labrador to feed. They return to their natal river after several years to spawn. While in freshwater as adults they do not feed. Atlantic salmon do not die after spawning.
SPECIAL SEASON
THE EXPERIMENTAL SEASON for Atlantic salmon runs through Oct. 15.
THE LIMITED SEASON is being held as an experiment to make sure any continuation of Atlantic salmon fishing will not threaten recovery efforts by the Atlantic Salmon Commission.
THE SPECIAL LICENSE for the season costs $15 for residents; $30 for nonresidents 16 years of age or older; $5 for nonresidents under the age of 16; and $15 for a three-day license for nonresidents ages 16 and older.
MEMBERS OF MAINE'S Indian tribes and residents under age 16 can fish for free.
THE SPECIAL SEASON requires catch-and-release only; any salmon hooked must be released immediately; no salmon may be removed from the water; fly fishing only; and only one fish may be caught and released each day.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, go to www.maine.gov/asc or call 287-9972.
EDDINGTON - Steve DeWick was like a ghost of sportsmen past. The Maine fisherman drove to the Eddington Salmon Club's parking lot down a quarter mile of rocky, rutted logging road, got his fly rod out and walked in his waders down along the ancient, precarious gravel path to the banks of the Penobscot River.
Then, without seeing anyone on the river, he stopped.
"This is where they used to sit," DeWick said as he looked at the old, rotted lean-to built into the rocky hillside. He spoke over the roar of the river, which ran this day among brilliant fall colors below Veazie Dam.
For five years, the Penobscot had been closed to recreational Atlantic salmon fishing. It was one of eight rivers in Maine closed to the fishermen in November 1999 in order to protect wild salmon populations in them. The salmon were believed to be a threatened species.
"I'm surprised nobody's here," DeWick said, looking intently at the lean-to, as if at a shrine, before turning to this river that is full of meaning, myths and, of course, fishing lore.
On Sept. 15, the Atlantic Salmon Commission opened the Penobscot River below Veazie Dam and above the old Bangor dam for restricted Atlantic salmon fishing. The commission chose to allow the one-month season this fall because it is a time of year when there are far fewer of the migrating, sea-run fish than in the spring.
Traditionally, there have been few fishermen in the fall. The experimental season was opened to at least give them a taste of the famous Penobscot River sport.
The regulations are restrictive, allowing for fly-fishing only, catch-and-release, and one fish per day per fisherman.
The Atlantic Salmon Commission will use data collected in logbooks and on the river to determine if another fall season will be allowed next year, said Joan Trial, senior biologist with the commission in Bangor.
While a spring season is what fishermen want, that is not being considered at this time, Trail said.
"I don't think we're on course for a fishery next spring," Trial said. "That's what they would like, because there are more fish around then, and it is the more traditional time to fish. I think generally there is an awful lot of interest and people are excited. And, one of our goals is to get people reconnected with the river."
Yet, after just three weeks, the experimental fall season produced little action, either with fishermen or fish.
"I expected to see a lot of fishermen here," DeWick said. "It's nice not to have to compete for the pool. But the fact there are not a lot of fishermen speaks for itself."
LOW EXPECTATIONS
At last count (through Sept. 26), only 202 special Atlantic salmon permits were sold.
The fall is not the high season for Atlantic salmon fishing. People want to be out in the spring, when the salmon are rushing back from the ocean to their home waters to spawn.
They're hungry and feeding and, as Vermont fly fisherman Kim Kolakowski put it while fishing the Penobscot last week: "Full of piss and vinegar."
Kolakowski and fishing buddy Dale Carpenter of Pennsylvania didn't care that their experience in the fall season was completely different.
"This goes beyond a valiant effort, straight into clinical insanity," Kolakowski said, after three hours of fishing in a downpour.
"This is a great treat, because we've always wanted to (fish the Penobscot for Atlantic salmon). And, now we are," Kolakowski said. "All fishermen are optimists. Even if it is unrealistic. We live, and hope."
DeWick, who lives in Woolwich, came to cast for the "king of fish" in this famous river for the first time. But, he knew the fish, from Atlantic salmon fishing decades ago in the Sheepscot River, which is also closed to anglers.
DeWick said he always intended to come down to the famous lean-to with its simple, weathered planks and leaking black tarp to soak in the tradition of the Penobscot fishery. And, then, before he could, the river was closed to salmon fishing, the shelter where fly fishermen waited their turn in line deserted.
"That's our home," said Ken Clark of Athens, pointing to the empty shelter,
Clark, 59, who has fished for Atlantic salmon somewhere in the world every year since 1984, spent nearly every day for two weeks on the Penobscot this fall.
He drove an hour with his monster spey casting rod -- the Scottish Highland's version of the traditional fly rods.
And he never saw a salmon rise, never felt one take his line, and, needless to say, never had one on.
Did he care?
"I've fly-fished since I was 15. I've been a fly tier ever since," Clark said. "A lot of people complain there is not fishing in the spring. Basically, there are not enough fish. Until there are more fish, people should be pleased with the work of the Atlantic Salmon Commission."
FALL'S FEW FISH
Kolakowski and his fishing buddy, Dale Carpenter, found few fly fishermen on the river the second week of the season -- and no fish.
But, the salmon are there -- if only a small number.
"We did pass some fish through the trap yesterday. There are few fish around," Trail said. "Several people have had hookups, a fish has taken a fly. They haven't been on for more than a second, but they felt the fish, and then it was gone."
Kolakowski and Carpenter were on the river when 22-year-old Beau Peavey caught he first salmon on Sept. 27. They were the only ones to see it.
"It was incredible. It was like having time stand still," Kolakowski said. "To see someone catch an Atlantic salmon is a treat. It doesn't get any better."
"Unless, you caught it," Carpenter added.
Others are waiting, hoping the experimental fall season will lead to a spring season, when more fish are there.
"Hopefully, if this fall all the experiences are positive and there is no lethal affect on the fish, everyone is hoping for salmon fishing in the spring, for a limited season. That's when you see more fish, when you hook more fish. That's when it will attract a lot more fishermen," said Bob Wengryznek of Old Town, president of the Maine Council of Atlantic Salmon Federation, who did not fish the river the first few weeks of the season.
"It's not about fishing," said Wengryznek, 56. "It's about tradition. I've been with people that have done it for 40, 50, 60 years."
Still others, like DeWick, understand the closure of the salmon rivers.
"I was quite surprised they had this special seasons. I'd rather the fish survive, than allow fishing for them," DeWick said.
DeWick, like many, came out a week ago to fish -- but not catch fish.
"I'd be happy if I saw one breach the surface," he said.
But to catch an Atlantic salmon after years of historically low returns through the river's fish traps?
"It would be highly unlikely," he said.
Staff Wrtier Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:
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