Piscataquis Observer: late-September salmon still on the West Branch Penobscot

The West Branch of the Penobscot still held fish in late September, by one angler’s count. Marc McDonald wrote in the Piscataquis Observer on Oct. 2, 2026, that he and his partner Robert spent three days on the river after a few years away. They landed at least some salmon each day. McDonald says they did not catch many, and he lost fish on short hookups.

The hatch he describes started each afternoon and ran, on and off, until nearly dark. Sarah Sindo, manager at Chewonki Big Eddy Campground, had told them to expect white caddis. McDonald writes that relatively large white or cream caddis, perhaps size 14, dominated, with a smaller brown caddis that looked like a size 18 mixed in. He hooked a trout on a size 14 tan Elk Hair Caddis after the fly skittered, and lost it after about 15 seconds. Robert hooked a salmon on a size 12 white Wulff and lost it after three or four jumps, then caught a small brook trout on a Hornberg and another on a streamer. McDonald says white and orange streamers worked for Robert, and that the biggest fish of the trip came on a white conehead Zuddler with an orange highlight. Splashy rises were common; he writes that the showiest fish tended to be smaller.

McDonald frames the trip against the July kill he ties to Brookfield Renewables’ McKay station going offline and dropping the flow. He cites a Trout Unlimited estimate of 6,000 to 12,000 fish deaths, and says his own look at the rises eased his worst fear that the river had been emptied. That death range is his citation of Trout Unlimited, not a count from this desk. This column is separate from the North Zone season-closure note already filed.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Piscataquis Observer — What I learned about fishing Maine’s West Branch in late September (Marc McDonald, Oct. 2, 2026).