Landlocked Salmon
Landlocked Salmon in Great Brook (Photo: Stantec)
Landlocked Salmon are a subspecies of Atlantic Salmon that no longer go to sea as part of their life-cycle. Landlocked Salmon were originally found in only four Maine river basins, including the nearby Presumpscot River & Sebago Lake. Originally thought to have been landlocked by the last ice age, it’s now believed that the four original populations, over time, gradually changed their habits and simply stopped migrating to sea before returning to spawn.
A prized game fish, Landlocked Salmon have been distributed widely among Maine lakes. The fisheries was well established in Kezar by the early 1900’s when the Lake was a popular sports fishing destination boasting many salmon in the six to ten pound range.
Bessie (Andrews) Irish with 10 3/4 pound Salmon on the side porch of the Kimball Stanford House. Photo: Lovell Historic Society.
Salmon fishing at Brown's Camps about 1910. Photo: Lovell Historical Society.
Being a deep and well-oxygenated lake, Kezar provides ideal habitat for these coldwater fish. Unfortunately, Kezar is also great for lake trout (aka togue) which were introduced to many Maine lakes in the 1970’s. Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife’s (IF&W) now acknowledges that to have been a mistake. Togue are voracious feeders that compete heavily for the salmon’s primary food source, rainbow smelt. Lake trout have not been released in Kezar since 2001 but they are still a menace to the salmon fishery.
In recent years, IF&W has been trying to reestablish Kezar Lake as a premiere salmon fishery. As part of their management strategy, IF&W has increased the daily catch limit of Kezar’s lake trout to six fish (the limit for salmon is two fish). If you catch a lake trout, keep it!
A number of Kezar’s landlocked salmon breed within the Watershed. In the late fall, usually stimulated by a heavy rain, salmon make their way up Great and Boulder Brooks to spawn. (The streams are closed to fishing at that point.) It is remarkable to watch these magnificent fish move through such small waters. The salmon create redds, which are oval-shaped “nests” of rocks and gravel in which they lay their eggs. The eggs hatch in January and the young salmon generally spend two years in the streams before heading back to the Lake. The increased number of extreme weather events associated with climate change present a challenge to the salmons’ successful breeding. Intense fall rainstorms can wash away the eggs, just as a spring deluge can flush away the young.
Over the years, KLWA has studied some of these salmon spawning events. Brief summary reports from 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 can be found here.