Flyfishing the West Branch Penobscot - Maine |

Salmon and Brook Trout in the West Branch Penobscot River in Maine.

What a great highlight to our 2022 summer trip to Maine – the West Branch of the Penobscot River. Much has been written about this playground and it’s often a fond memory of the local salmon and brook trout fly angler. I hadn’t planned on fishing this river but as I was travelling towards Maine, I struck up a conversation with some locals who said they had the best time whitewater rafting, kayaking and fishing on the West Branch. Like most rivers and streams in Maine, fishing can be good or great depending on the time of year your fish it. If the section you are fishing isn’t producing then move to another section upstream or downstream. I started just below the Ripogenus Dam and it was dead, dead, dead. I saw one fish chase a streamer, but the rest of the casts didn’t produce. I made my way down to the Big Eddy Campground and found a spot at the campground to stay for the night. The staff was very friendly and gave some tips on where and how to fish the river. Just before dusk, I fished the section near the campground and found the Brook Trout and Salmon were eagerly slamming most any dry fly I presented in front of them. Most were 6”-10” size, but I wanted bigger. I heard stories about 20”+ fish and me wanted so I headed down stream in search of size the next morning. As I headed down the Golden Road (the road that runs along the river), I stopped and chatted with another angler who was parked at a random section along the river. He invited me to fish with him and we walked down to the river in search of sizable fish. His name was John and he had fished this river many times, so I was looking forward to learning. John was fishing streamers and after about the 10th cast, he landed a nice 16” salmon. That’ll get the heart pumping with excitement!

I tried a few different streamer patterns with no luck and reverted to my go-to setup – the dry/dropper. The Dry was the Stimulator pattern and the Dropper was a random Tungsten Bead Head nymph. After 20 or so casts and no takers, I lengthened the distance between the dry and the dropper and changed the dropper to a Bead Head Prince Nymph pattern. First cast….Fish on! After a lengthy fight, the tippet broke and was without a fish – and it was solid!. It appeared I found the nymph that the salmon were wanting, and the rest can be watched in the video.

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