EDDINGTON – For the past six years, salmon fishermen have gathered on opening day to rehash old fish tales rather than cast their hand-tied flies into Maine rivers.

But this fall, some skillful or lucky anglers likely will return home with new stories about the big one that got away or, better yet, the even bigger one they landed and released.

The Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission voted unanimously Thursday to reopen a stretch of the Penobscot River near Bangor to Atlantic salmon fishing for one month this fall. The catch-and-release fishery will give anglers their first chance to legally hook a sea-run salmon in Maine since 1999.

The season will run from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, although the commission retains the option of closing the fishery at any time to protect the river’s salmon population. The stretch of river that will be open to angling – from 150 feet below the Veazie Dam fishway downstream to the former site of the Bangor Dam – includes many of the fishing pools that made the Penobscot famous.

Fishermen will be restricted to artificial flies with single-pointed, barbless hooks and must immediately release any caught fish unharmed without removing them from the water.

“This is a great milestone and a great opportunity, and I personally hope it works,” said Roland “Danny” Martin, commissioner of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and one of the ASC’s three board members.

Martin’s sentiment may help explain why the coming season was labeled “experimental.”

The Atlantic Salmon Commission closed all Maine rivers to fishing for sea-run Atlantic salmon in December 1999 in response to precipitous population declines of the fish. The federal government later placed the distinct salmon populations in eight Maine rivers on the endangered species list.

Salmon populations in the Penobscot have since recovered somewhat, although the number of adults returning to spawn fluctuates annually. Biologists are pleased with the 650-plus adults counted in the Veazie Dam fishway so far this spring, but are hesitant to make predictions for the year.

Commission staff and board members received plenty of feedback from biologists, fishermen and conservation groups both for and against reopening the Penobscot to salmon fishing, even temporarily.

Some fishermen and scientists urged the commission to keep the river closed, arguing that even a monthlong fishery could weaken a population already teetering on the edge.

Many fishermen said they would prefer to fish in the spring when populations are higher and the fish stronger after months or years at sea. Other anglers said they would gladly take whatever fishing opportunities they can get.

In the end, the commission weighed the scientific evidence and concluded that a catch-and-release fishery held in the fall would pose no long-term danger to the Penobscot’s salmon population, said board chairman Dick Ruhlin.

“This is a conservative approach and one that I … have a lot more confidence in,” Ruhlin told audience members gathered Thursday at the Eddington Salmon Club.

That didn’t eliminate all of the grumbling about the spring vs. fall fishery, however.

Lou Horvath, a past president of the Penobscot, Veazie and Eddington salmon clubs, said he doesn’t approve of a fall fishery. But he predicted that the fishery would provide a boost to the fishing community and the local economy.

George Chalmers, a member of the Penobscot Salmon Club, said he also would have preferred a spring season but was pleased that the commission heeded the calls of fishermen to reopen the Penobscot. Chalmers said the season would help the local clubs.

“All of the clubs are hurting for membership,” he said. “No fishing, there’s no membership.”