Fast water may have flushed salmon from Grand Lake Stream

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On the first day of April each year, dozens of the state’s anglers flock to a special place in the Maine woods to enjoy what has become an opening-day tradition.

That piece of water is legendary, as is the town that shares the same name. Utter the words in front of a fly fisher, and chances are, they’ll smile.

Grand Lake Stream.

Shortly after midnight next April 1, there will likely be plenty of eager anglers in the famous Dam Pool, waving their slender fly rods and trying to coax a silvery landlocked salmon to net.

But if you’re one of those folks who lists Grand Lake Stream as one of their favorite Maine spots, I’ve got some bad news for you.

Fishing might be a bit slow this April.

The explanation in a moment. For now, let me put in an unsolicited plug for a town that truly doesn’t need my help to draw visitors.

If you were planning on going to Grand Lake Stream in April … go ahead. If you’ve never been … consider it. Just realize that you might not have as much luck as you thought.

For me, a trip to Grand Lake Stream is less about catching fish than visiting with friendly people in one of the state’s most beautiful places.

Even if you don’t catch a thing, Kurt and Kathy Cressey, the fun-loving proprietors of the Pine Tree Store, will make sure you leave town laughing.

Last April, I stood waist-deep in Dam Pool and watched as Joe Glowa enjoyed one of the finest days of fly fishing I’ve ever seen.

Glowa caught 50 fish that day … and he took frequent breaks to warm up, chat with other anglers, and let others choose the water they wanted to wade.

And next year? Well, there are reasons to expect things to change for the worse.

According to Ron Brokaw, the longtime regional fisheries biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, the wet fall may have taken its toll on the Grand Lake Stream fish population.

Typically, landlocked salmon swim up the stream from Big Lake to spawn in the fall, and many of them remain in the stream – holding in the deep water of Dam Pool – for the entire winter.

And come April 1, anglers wade into the stream, just below where a dam holds back massive West Grand Lake, and enjoy predictable success.

But after hearing that last week’s rains had turned Grand Lake Stream into a raging torrent, I called Brokaw and asked him what that meant to fish … and fishermen.

“[As far as] the impacts on the fishing in the stream on opening day, it’s very likely going to be a big negative,” Brokaw said. “Probably the tremendous flows have flushed out most of the salmon that had just finished spawning a month or a month and a half ago.”

According to the U.S. Geological Survey’s real-time river flow Web site, from Dec. 2 through Dec. 4 the stream peaked at about 4,000 cubic feet per second.

The median stream flow for those dates over the past 76 years has been less than 200 cfs.

“[The fish] were in a weakened condition after spawning and probably couldn’t maintain their position [in the stream due to the strong flow],” Brokaw said.

“Some of them might swim back up to the Dam Pool or the Hatchery Pool before opening day, but most of them won’t,” Brokaw said. “They’ll end up in Big Lake and be pretty happy there.”

One of the reasons for Grand Lake Stream’s popularity for opening-day anglers is the fact its water is always flowing, while smaller streams and lakes are often still socked in by ice.

Kathy Cressey, whose Pine Tree Store is just up the hill from the stream, said high water conditions have plagued the stream this year, but this fall’s water has been historically high.

In the spring, the stream ran at about 3,000 cfs, she said, with four gates open on the dam. Then, as West Grand Lake became abnormally full this fall, all five gates were opened and a torrent swept downstream for days.

“That definitely was the highest it’s been as far as most people around here could remember,” she said.

On Wednesday, the stream was still running at a brisk 2,350 cfs.

“At the end of November [West Grand Lake] was at a critical stage and we got 3.2 inches of rain,” Cressey said. “That was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak.”

Cressey said farther downstream, Grand Lake Stream Camps was partially flooded, and the owners had to wear waders just to get into their home. And upstream, the spring erosion at Dam Pool has gotten worse.

“It was actually awesome to look at because you can’t believe our little stream was such a raging force, but you get a sense of how fierce water is, how strong it is,” Cressey said.

And while she described 2005 as “a year of water, water everywhere,” the eternally upbeat Cressey was still able to find a potential positive.

“[If the fish have been flushed downstream] that might lead to some pretty good ice fishing and spring fishing in Big Lake,” she said.

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