Campfire - Fall In Line

Cooling temps and rising stream levels mean one thing—trout and landlocked salmon are on the run

- Will Ryan

THE YELLOW CONEHEAD Woolly Bugger whistles by my ear and plunks in the river on the far side of a white plume. At the end of the swing, it glides into the slack water around my feet. A crimson blur flashes toward it—a brook trout trying to chase an intruder from the eddy. But then the trout sees me and vanishes into the clear flows of Maine’s Kennebec River.

Another 15 minutes of casting and turtle-hunching in the wind. Should I switch flies? I wonder, stripping in the cone head. Suddenly, a salmon is in the air, skittering across the rapids. My line snaps through the guides. I connect the dots—bingo!

Ten minutes later, a 20-inch land locked salmon comes to net, glittering and strong. I know the fish resulted from my fly ending up in its path almost incidentally, but the early- morning salmon gives me a charge nonetheless. Luck and patience are big parts of fishing the fall migration, no doubt.