BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 15, 2025
Since the rights to many sectors of the best salmon rivers are still privately owned by individual people, corporations or the provincial government in Canada, average fishermen would have to take out second mortgages on their houses to lease fishing rights for a week. But Mainers have a less expensive option nearby known as black salmon fishing. Black salmon are Atlantic salmon that moved from the ocean into their home river to spawn during late summer and fall, and then spent the winter in that river or its feeder lake. New Brunswick and Quebec are the best answer to a Maine salmon angler’s prayer. It’s possible to catch half a dozen a day. The Canadian rivers are close to Mainers, the price is fair and the fish take flies fast and furious from mid-April through May.