US Fishing·News desk
Maine's fall landlocked salmon run is getting underway
Maine's third prime stretch of the fishing year is the fall landlocked salmon run, and Bangor Daily News outdoors columnist Al Raychard writes on Sept. 21, 2026, that it is getting started. Salmon that spend most of the year in deep, cold lakes — Sebago, the Rangeley chain, Moosehead, and others — leave those lakes for the rivers where they were born, to spawn. Anglers call that move the fall run.
The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife puts salmon fisheries in about 300 lakes and about as many miles of river, a mix of self-sustaining populations and stocking. Whether a river is early, late, or already peaking comes down to cooling water and rising flows, from rain or a dam release. Raychard notes much of the state has been in drought, and warm, low water can hold a run until after the season closes on some waters. The rivers he uses as examples will not move on the same clock: the Crooked, which feeds Sebago; the Roach, into Moosehead; the Kennebago, in the Rangeley country; and Grand Lake Stream in Washington County.
The season is still open through Sept. 30 on many of the favorite salmon streams, and a number of waters stay open into October or later. Raychard's read is that fish are moving now, and that numbers — and the fishing — build toward the close.
Photo: Al Raychard / Bangor Daily News (anglers below Upper Dam on the Kennebago River).
This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.