Landlocked Atlantic Salmon

​ Lake Ontario had a huge native landlocked salmon population at one time and it was wiped out. It has taken a long time to get it back. There was limited success adding Atlantic salmon to the Great Lakes at the start 55-60 years ago. I am not sure what has changed but it is good to see.

Despite being on a salmon river and being fish crazy I never spent time on sea run salmon however I had a thing for landlocks. I pestered Dad as a teen to go to the nearly singular lake here that had them. Damn, if he didn’t get one about 15-18 inches. I was green. I did get one or two in Newfoundland on the Grand Lake system after that. The lake was dammed with backed up water. I bugged Dad to make a run for Hinds Brook that ran into the lake several miles south. We did it on a calm day in a 14 foot boat. I think of it now as crazy but teens do not think about risk, especially, if the old man is in charge. There was wild risk on a lake that big in a small boat. We got to the flooded mouth of the brook which ran through a twisting canyon that funneled down as we progressed. Roaring water got louder as we went until we turned a corner and saw the river was pouring into deep water. It was tight but we managed to work the boat to fish a little bit. I had a gang troll that I dropped into the depths and watched as I pulled it straight up which was all I could do in the space I had. In a flash, a salmon about 20 inches long was zig zagging around the troll like a dervish. It was spectacular. Unfortunately the baited hook was two feet under the troll and the salmon never touched it. It was disappointing but still a great adventure.

When I was in New England I convinced a couple of guys to go all the way to Lake Champlain for an oversold spring salmon fishery. One of the guys did get one but I had no clue how to fish for them and it was the last chance I had. I threatened to go to the Penobscot River in Maine but never did.

Nowadays, one of the best fisheries is at the Soo where Hemingway fished.

This has a story on fishing for landlocks. It is by David Seybold and one of the best stories on fishing obsessions I have read. Something I mentioned before.

Steve has a piece in the book on Rio Grande fishing.

This had other memorable bits on landlocks. Steve did a review on it when it was current and it remains a favorite book. Wright discusses stream restoration on a piece of the Neversink River in NY that he leased. Landlocks were added to the river and for a short time were available in the river but most were added to the Pepacton Reservoir downstream. I often wonder if they are still there.