The Best Fly Fishing is Everywhere - 05.16.2025
Ramblings & Readings, Creativity & Conservation, Happenings & Hope
My Fishy Friends,
I’m writing from the kitchen table in my parents’ home, where I have sat for uncountable hours, dining and chatting and thinking and looking out the window at the bird feeders and the yard and the woods. I’m back home for a variety of reasons, fishing being one of them. Inspired by this place, you’ll find this week’s newsletter is filled with northeast-related links. I hope you enjoy!
Cheers,
Jesse
Banner photo: Two open seats and two rods, just a dock-walk away.
[I heard there were some stripers around, so here’s one from the archive.]
It doesn’t matter what time you fell asleep, you’re still tired if you wake up at 3:00 am. It’s early – wicked early – but you have to do it. You can catch up on sleep tomorrow or next week. Or after the striped bass leave for winter…
Salmo Salar Sebago
The landlocked salmon, native to Maine and eastern Canada, is a fish of my youth, a distinct and exciting complement to the brookies that I chased in ponds and rivers with my father. I don’t hear much about them when I’m outside of my natal state but this old article from a 1953 issue of Outdoor Life brought me back to my early fishing days. The essay, written by Ted Janes, is filled with old, regional slang, a variety of classic angling techniques, and some great anecdotes. Of particular interest was the question of the origin of this species: I always assumed that they were as their name described them, that being Atlantic salmon that got stuck inland, but Janes posses that maybe the anadromous versions are descendants from the inland versions. A lovely read from back in time!
Amongst Many Others
Released recently by Ánadröm is the short film “Amongst Many Others,” which tells the story of the Petit-Saguenay River in Quebec and its Atlantic salmon. The film is filled with beautiful scenery, incredible footage of salmon leaping falls, holding in pools, and taking dries, and great personal accounts of the history of the river and conservation efforts. “The best guardian of a salmon river, it’s a salmon angler. If you don’t have anglers on your river, it’ll be left on its own,” says Élias Côté, former President of the Petit-Saguenay River Association.
Heritage Waters
My home state of Maine has a unique program for designating and protecting its wild native populations of brook trout and Arctic char called the Heritage Fish program. Heritage Waters are defined as lakes and ponds containing these heritage fish that have either never been stocked, or haven’t been stocked within the last 25 years. The program is unique both in its nature (it’s actually a state law) and also in its magnitude and reach: Maine has a remarkable 575+ such waters! For more information, check out this comprehensive overview from the nonprofit Native Fish Coalition and click here to support the program. I’ll be fortunate enough to fish four or five such waters on this trip!
Arnold Bunker Testifies
I was doin’ the swearin’-in down at the courthouse last winter when they brought up that old fella to the stand…
“What’s your name?”
”Arnold Bunker.”
”How old are ya?”
”’Bout eighty-five.”
”Where d’you live?”
”Bailey Island way.”
”You live there all your life?”
”Not yet.”
[Listening to the skit is strongly encouraged.]
~ From Marshall Dodge and Bob Bryan also known as Bert & I
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© Jesse Lance Robbins, 2025
