Eleven Flies for Salmon Fishing Grand Lake Stream, Maine You Have Probably Have Never Heard Of

Everyone has a favorite fly.  And then there are the traditional flies.  Sometimes they are one and the same, but sometimes they aren’t.   You have all heard of the gray ghost created by Carrie Stevens in 1924 at Middle Dam in western Maine, as well as the black ghost created by Herbie Welch around 1925 at Haines Landing again in western Maine, Governor Aiken (64th governor of VT), Nine-Three, Micky Finn (once known as the assassin), Supervisor, etc.  Probably less known are the Joe’s Smelt, Amy’s Smelt, Magog Smelt, Barne’s Special.  All good flies.  All catch fish.

The point here is that there are many, many fly patterns and these mentioned here are tied to imitate smelt, a baitfish and crucial food source for Maine salmon and brook trout.  Determining how effective a fly is at catching fish can be related to many factors including color, the location of cast/drift, and regardless of what you have heard – size.  But interestingly the most important factor determining whether a fly catches fish is the retrieve.

How To Fish Streamers

Less important is the color, size, and location of cast/drift.  Obviously, you need to be over fish, but being able to stimulate the predatory response in a predator species is simply the best way to get a fish to bite.  So, the moral of the story is that it is less important as to what fly you use, and more important to fish whatever fly you choose to fish – properly.

You need to make the fish want to bite it.  Don’t count on the color, size, pattern of the fly or cast/drift to catch a fish.  You need to make it dance!  I have explained this to my clients for years, sometimes successfully, sometimes not.  In the end, use the fly that makes you happy.  Once you learn how to fish it, you will catch fish.

Fish Stories

My favorite fly to fish, mostly in the fall – is the one-eyed poacher.  I like it because it has a story.  Created by a local fly tier – the late Bob Upham – known locally as the “River Master” of Grand Lake Stream.  The fly is named after a character in a series of short stories written by Edmund Ware Smith that was published in the New Yorker back in the early half of the last century, “One-Eyed Poacher of the Maine Woods.”  Great stories that every angler should read, written about the woods and waters surrounding Grand Lake Stream.  You will be rolling out of your chair laughing at the exploits and memorable tales of the local game warden, Tom Corn and the infamous fictional poacher with one eye named Jeff Coongate.

11 Flies you have never heard of

Streamer for fly fishing and salmon fishing in Maine

  1. Earl’s Gray Smelt
  2. Phantom Smelt
  3. Ballou Special
  4. Close ‘Nuf,’
  5. Pink Magog Smelt
  6. Barred Ghost
  7. Jerry’s Smelt
  8. One-Eyed poacher
  9. Amy’s Smelt
  10. Joe’s Smelt
  11. Barne’s Special

Buy These Patterns Online

All of these patterns can be found online or purchased from Registered Maine Guide, Deryn LaCombe https://www.squaretailflies.com