MOOSELOOK MEGUNTIC L

The last morning of the trip was a good one. Got to the spot at around 6:15. No salmon were jumping this time since there weren't any hatches going on. I spent way too long setting up my nymph rig and wasting the first light of the day. I caught 2 salmon right away from the hole, and the bite quickly died down. I switched to a streamer and started catching some yellow perch in the pocket water of the hole. I was also able to catch a couple of small brook trout by letting the streamer swing to the back of the pool. I think if I started with the streamer earlier in the day and didn't waste time on my nymph rig, I could've gotten some bigger fish. After about 2 hours of fishing the main hole, I fished downstream to the trail. Like yesterday, there were tons of little salmon smolt in the riffles. I hooked and landed a ton, and every cast was a bite. After an hour, I had to get back in my car and make the 4 hour drive back. This was such an amazing trip. Even though I had to change plans from arctic char, it was still very successful. The maine woods in Rangeley just have so many fish and great fishing spots. Next fall, I think I am going to make a 9 hour drive and head even further north to try and catch some char. Maybe I'm a little crazy for trying to drive 9 hours to catch a fish, but hopefully, it will be worth it

Tonight's session was awesome! Like the morning, it did not start out great. My plan was to fish the outlet of rangeley river where it flows into Mooselookmeguntic. I got to the parking lot the same time as one of the locals and we were the only 2 there. He told me that the last week when he fished the river, it was almost unfishable because it was so low. When we got to the biggest pool, we realized that it was indeed unfishable. There was very little flow, and it looked rather dead. He left immediately, but i stuck around and tried, with no luck. However, I remembered he found a rod in the river, and said"Someone probably lost this at the dam pool" So I decided to check out the dam pool. It was probably took me an hour to actually reach the dam pool. This is because in every run farther up river, there were tons of salmon smolt I think they ranged from 2-8 inches. Every cast, I gor multiple bites, but i was only able to hook 1/10 of them, and then land 1/2 of those. Every now and then there was a little brook trout, which was a nice mix. I do think I caught a new species, the lake chub. Im about 80% sure that this is the right species, however, it could just be a fallfish. I dont think its a fall fish though because of the tall. I took my time fishing the riffles below the pool because I saw the same guy I met earlier already there. While I was messing around with the smolt, he I saw him land 2-3 nice adult salmon. I probably got to the pool at the end of daylight. By this point there were salmon jumping left and right, and thousands of midges on the water, along with some mayflies. I added an indicator to my tight lining rig and a few casts in I hooked up. It was a beautiful 12 inch salmon, my biggest in years. I probably should've called it quits at this point, since it was so dark, but I told myself 3 more casts. I could not see my hot pink indicator whatsoever, but I did not care. On the second cast, I hooked into a beautifully colored up 10" brook trout, the biggest of the day. Unfortunately, it was very dark, and all the pictures I took he was squirming around. I had to use Ai to unblur it, because it was probably one of the prettiest fish I've caught on this trip. This was an insane ending to the day. Keep in mind, this was a little over an hour of fishing at the end of the day, and I caught more fish than the 6 hours I spent at the much larger Magalloway. If this is my last successful session, then my Mainr trip was a big success. I will hit this dam pool again right before sunrise, and depending on how I do, I might head back to the Magalloway or head home.

Brook Trout