Warm days have made for good lake trout fishing on Sebago Lake this summer and, as the water cools down this fall, anglers will get their chance to try and catch the salmon that have been hiding in its deeper waters.

Though salmon fishing has left much to be desired in recent years, a boom in the smelt population, the sole source of food of salmon, is a good omen of things to come. In fact, if all goes well, Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will stock double the amount of salmon – from 1,000 to 2,000 fish – in Sebago Lake next spring.

“We’re very encouraged by the trend we see,” said Francis Brautigam, regional biologist for Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, “We think the lake has finally got to that point” where it can sustain more salmon.

Biologists have yet to measure the health of salmon at their Jordan River fish trap in Raymond and collect necessary data on the smelt population needed to assess the situation, but Brautigam reports that 20 percent of the tested salmon are three pounds or larger, a growth they haven’t seen in years.

Salmon populations have greatly declined since the 1970s when non-native New York lake trout were introduced into Sebago Lake. The thought at the time, Brautigam said, was that the lake was deep enough to be capable of supporting lake trout and therefore create another opportunity for anglers. Instead, the lake trout took over and began eating the smelt that salmon depend on.

“It was flawed logic,” Brautigam said. “In hindsight, it was certainly a mistake and now we have to live with the consequences.”

Don Sicotte, president of Sebago Lake Anglers Association, is optimistic that the salmon population can make a comeback if the department steps up its stocking. To ensure success, Sicotte and a team of anglers and students from Southern Maine Community College have been on a mission to strengthen the salmon population by harvesting smelt eggs and putting them in tributary streams.

“If there isn’t smelt, they’re not going to survive,” Sicotte said. “It’s a big effort and we are seeing a tremendous result.”

Sicotte remembers the “good old days” of salmon fishing on Sebago Lake, but now lake trout, or togue, rule the lake – fish that Sicotte calls “mean, nasty critters” because they eat anything and have been known to gobble up whole salmon. Just this year, anglers have caught togue with eight-inch salmon in their bellies, said Sicotte.

While some anglers prefer to fish for the prized salmon, a group of fishing buddies known as the Togue Fleet wakes up at the break of dawn every morning during summer to catch lake trout feeding in shallow water.

“We fish almost everyday when the weather’s good,” said Willy Wilkins, member of the Togue Fleet.

The fleet has been together for years and members have nickname “handles” – like Red Spot or Hammer Head – which they use when talking to each other over their boat CB radios. Wilkins said togue fishing has been steady since 2000 and this year it seems the togue have eaten their fair share of the smelt as well.

“They’re almost full,” Wilkins said of the togue, “Full as footballs.”

Wilkins said that he has seen “clouds of smelt” everywhere in the water and hopes that the Inland Fisheries can start stocking more salmon.

“This is the home of the landlocked salmon,” Wilkins said. “Years ago, they used to come right up to the surface.”

As the fall weather sets in, anglers like the Togue Fleet will be moving into deeper waters as salmon come out of hiding. And just as many anglers wait out the summer for a chance to catch a big salmon in the fall, so to that many of the same anglers have been waiting for the glory days of salmon fishing to return.

“The outlook is good,” said Carroll Cutting, longtime angler and owner of Jordan’s Store in Sebago. “We’ve been patient for salmon. Patience is a virtue. The time will come.”

Roger Bacon, a Standish summer resident, holds up a 22-inch, five-pound salmon he caught off Frye Island this week. Because of a boom in smelt populations, Inland Fisheries and Wildlife may be stocking double the number of salmon in Sebago Lake next spring.

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