Peavey hooks 1st salmon for 2nd straight year Persistence aids angler’s success

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A year ago, Beau Peavey of Glenburn gained a fair measure of local fame when he caught and released the lone Atlantic salmon landed during the experimental fall fishing season on the Penobscot River.

The river had been closed to fishing since 1999 and was reopened for one month.

There are many possible reasons for Peavey’s success. Chief among those, perhaps, is the college student’s sheer persistence.

“[I put in] 175 hours on the water last year,” Peavey said. “It was 23 days, or something like that.”

For 23 days (or something like that) out of a monthlong season, Peavey averaged more than seven hours per day on the Penobscot.

Casting. Changing flies. Watching the water. Waiting for something good to happen.

Eventually – about two weeks into the season, it did.

This year, the 23-year-old Peavey is already grinning. Yes, he’s still fishing like crazy. And yes (for now) the fish are biting.

Some anglers say there are no salmon to be caught and say that holding a season during September and October is an insult.

Peavey simply shrugs, trudges down to the river, and fishes … successfully, as it turns out.

On Saturday’s opening day, Peavey was determined to be the first angler on the river … and he likely was.

He was also determined to catch the first fish of the season … and he did.

“I don’t know if anyone had [caught the first fish] two years in a row, so it was kind of my goal to do,” Peavey said.

To that end, he headed to the river early. Very early. And he stayed as late as he had to stay.

“I was here at 2:30 on Saturday morning and I didn’t catch it until 2:50 in the afternoon, so it was a long day of fishing,” Peavey said.

There were a few momentary thrills, however.

“I hooked up at 9:30 and lost a fish on the first jump,” he said. “I hooked up again at noon and lost a fish on the second jump up by the dam. And then, two and a half hours later, I hooked up the third fish and finally got it down to where I wanted to land it and finally got it in.”

Getting himself into position took some work: Peavey had to scramble down river to a place where he could wade and release the fish without taking it from the water.

Peavey estimated the fish was about 28 inches long and weighed eight pounds.

Though young in salmon club years, Peavey has spent plenty of time fishing for Atlantic salmon on the Penobscot.

He first fought an Atlantic salmon at age 3 and landed his first fish at 4.

“[The first fish] was just too big. It was a 12-pound fish and I was not much bigger myself, so it didn’t pan out,” Peavey said with a chuckle.

When he was 4, his father hooked a grilse and handed young Beau the rod. He landed that fish and was pretty well hooked.

“It was just an addiction after that,” he said.

Enough of an addiction that in the three days the river has been open to this year’s monthlong catch-and-release season, Peavey has been out there, near his favorite salmon pool, trying his luck.

On Sunday, he had two fish rise to his fly and had one on his line momentarily. By mid-afternoon on Monday, he had two strikes but hadn’t landed a fish.

According to the rules of the season, anglers who catch and release one fish are required to stop fishing for the rest of the day.

There has been, however, a bit of a problem, as far as Peavey is concerned.

He has heard the conversations and the comments tossed around at local salmon clubs. He has heard longtime anglers complain that the fall season is being offered at a time when there are few fish in the river.

And he wishes that more people would simply ignore that fact and get out on the river.

You don’t know if you don’t try, after all.

“My whole issue right now is that we’re fighting for salmon fishing, we’re fighting for salmon fishing, everybody’s supporting it, and then we finally do get some kind of season and no one comes to it,” Peavey said. “I think that people should try to show more support for what we have now, even though it’s not the spring season that we want. It’s better than nothing.”

Peavey said he hasn’t had much company on the water this year, and numbers released last week bear him out: More than 200 licenses were sold for last year’s experimental fall season, and 30 had been sold less than a week before this year’s season began.

Anglers looking for a spot to drop in and fish on opening day had an easy time finding one, both on the Eddington side of the river and on the Veazie side that Peavey prefers during low-flow water conditions.

“This year it seems like fewer people [are fishing than last year], but the people that are here seem more interested, which is really cool,” Peavey said.

Word of Peavey’s success may spur more people to fish, and that would be fine with him. It’s a big river, after all, and there are plenty of pools to explore.

And unless the water conditions change, there’s one not-so-secret pool out there where you’ll be able to find the friendly Peavey.

By then, he may have caught another fish … or two … or three.

But rest assured, he’ll be out there trying, no matter how the day’s fishing turns out.

“It’s been a good season so far,” he said. “[Considering] everyone says there’s no fish in the river.”

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