At certain times of the year, the town of Grand Lake Stream takes a bit of a nap – and perhaps a full-fledged slumber during the winter months – as the flow of angling tourists slows.

In the spring, Grand Lake Stream is a salmon-fishing hotspot for some, an opening-day tradition for others. Fishermen and women are willing to drive for hours just to spend a couple of hours flinging flies with a limber rod.

In the fall, as the weather cools and fish become more active, the process begins anew, as anglers invade the picturesque little burgh and wade into the crystal-clear stream the town is named after.

Salmon like cold water, you see. And during the summer months, as water temperatures rise, fish are scarce … hard to catch … and not worth the bother.

At least, that’s the theory.

Jeff McEvoy, who owns Weatherby’s in Grand Lake Stream with his wife, Beth Rankin, says that theory didn’t prove true this year.

“Right now is probably the slowest we’ve seen the fishing all season, and there’s still nice fish being taken every day,” McEvoy said on Tuesday, taking a break from his customary duties at Weatherby’s, The Fisherman’s Resort.

“But the fishing this summer was actually incredible,” he said.

That’s “incredible” during June. And July. And August. Warm water or not, McEvoy says the fishing was great.

Weatherby’s isn’t far from the stream. You can make the walk in waders and not break a sweat … even in July. And the new owner of the legendary camps tried to get out and fish when he had the chance.

The chances weren’t infrequent, but their duration certainly was. McEvoy came up with a simple plan to balance his duties with fly fishing.

“When we were slow in the middle of the summer, I could sneak out and go down to the stream for an hour or so,” he said. “My goal was to catch two salmon and come back. And usually I could do that pretty easily.”

If you’re one of those cold-water purists who gave up on Grand Lake Stream about the time you could comfortably plunge a bare hand into the water … and hold it there for a minute or so … I’m sorry to punish you. But let’s give McEvoy the chance to walk you through his summer of fishing … and the summer you missed:

“In June we were flat-out busy, and the stream was packed [with anglers]. I didn’t get a chance to fish much during the evening hatches, but I did sneak down there a couple times,” he said. “It was pretty amazing when you did get down there.”

That was June. In July – usually a down month for salmon – McEvoy found that as the flow of guests slowed and he had more time to fish, the fish were still cooperative.

“Come July, there was absolutely nobody on the stream,” he said. “I had the stream to myself, with the blue-wing olive hatches and the caddis hatches coming off every day, all day. And there was nobody fishing. It was incredible.”

Incredible, but for a man who is making his living selling Grand Lake Stream’s recreational possibilities to others, the joy of having a stream to yourself had to be tempered with the knowledge that others would gladly pay to share that kind of experience.

If they’d only known … or believed. Then came August. The weather stayed hot. So did the fishing.

“I had a film crew from NBC up here in August and we’re down there in the middle of the day catching 20-inch salmon on dry flies,” McEvoy said.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.