West Branch of the Penobscot River: Maine Salmon Fishing Report

Spent a few days fly fishing the West Branch of the Penobscot River this week, skies were blue, black flies were hungry, and I was happy to fish in the wind. Water temps were right around the magic 50 degree mark varying a bit from one location to the next.

Katahdin in Spring

On Tuesday I was in good company with Blake and Chad both from the big state of Texas. We had a beautiful day to float, and shared alot of laughs as the fishing was a little slow. We fished a good variety of flies, but nymph fishing with pheasant tails and caddis larvae seemed to be the game for getting some smaller fish to the net. By mid afternoon we began to see a few scattered Hendrickson duns sailing up river in the wind, but they were early to the party as a true “hatch” never materialized, nor did we see any rising fish.

Blake fighting his first Salmon

Blake with a 21 inch Salmon!

We had a good float and Chad had to put the rod down in the afternoon, because his fishing license expired. Blake and I decided to give one more spot a few casts, before calling it a day. Glad we did. In true Texas fashion, Blake ended Big!