The Sebago Salmon-1907
William Converse Kendall of Freeport, Maine holds a 16 pound native
Sebago Salmon (Salmo salar sebago) captured at Sebago Lake in August
1, 1907. That the same day the world rod and reel record for lake-dwelling
(landlocked salmon) was set at Sebago with a 22 pound 8 ounce salmon. Sebago
Salmon of this size have not been recorded in the lake for over 75 years;
few if any Sebago Salmon over 10 pounds have been recorded at the lake in
the past 50 years.
In the 1700s, European settlers in Maine noticed that in addition to
the sea-run Atlantic salmon which ascended more than 20 Maine rivers each
spring, a small number of these salmon rivers contained Atlantic salmon
which appeared to stay in upriver lakes all year-round. These lake-dwelling
Atlantic salmon were called by many names: silver trout, Schoodic salmon,
Sebago salmon, silver salmon, etc.
Lake dwelling Atlantic salmon were found in only four river drainages
in Maine: the Penobscot (Sebec Lake); St. Croix (West Grand Lake); Union
(Green Lake); and the Presumpscot (Sebago and Long Lakes). Before the construction
of dams, all of these lake-dwelling Atlantic salmon had access to the sea
and as such were never really "landlocked." The construction of
dams without fishways below these lakes in the 1800s (most of which still
lack fishways today) is what made these salmon "landlocked salmon,"
which is what they are known as today.
Most of the native lake-dwelling Atlantic salmon in Maine were small
and rarely exceeded 5 pounds and two feet in length. The exception were
the lake-dwelling Atlantic salmon of Sebago Lake, which often exceeded 20
pounds and 3 feet in length.
Historic records indicate the Atlantic salmon of Sebago Lake lived
much like sea-run Atlantic salmon except that instead of going to the Atlantic
ocean to feed and grow, they stayed in the vast, clear waters of Sebago
Lake and feasted on its schools of rainbow smelt. Interestingly, sea-run
Atlantic salmon of Sebago's outlet, the Presumpscot River, most likely also
spent time in the lake alongside their freshwater cousins.
The Sebago salmon spawned in two principal places: the Crooked River,
which is the major tributary entering Sebago; and the Presumpscot River,
which flows out of Sebago to Casco Bay. In the fall, adult Sebago salmon
went up the Crooked River or down the Presumpscot River to spawn. The next
spring, the adults in both spawning areas returned to Sebago and resumed
eating the lake's native smelt.
The eggs laid by Sebago Salmon in the gravel of the Crooked and
Presumpscot Rivers hatched in the spring into tiny "fry" about
the size of a paper clip. These young salmon would spend their first two
or three years in the spawning rivers and then move into Sebago Lake to
begin feeding on smelt, insects and other prey.
To learn why Sebago Salmon no longer spawn in the Presumpscot, click
here.
To learn about the effort to remove the Smelt Hill Dam, click here.
