Sebago Lake

Landlocked Atlantic salmon are known as in Maine. Some other names are Sebago Salmon or Quananiche and the scientific name is Salmo Salar. The average size is 16-18 inches and 1-2 pounds, but fish 3-5 pounds are not uncommon. Adults are generally silvery wiyh a slightly forked tail and small x-shaped marking on the back and sides IPER. juvenile salmon have a dark red spot between each pair of marks Parr. men develop a mature kype or jaw hanging, during the spawning season.

Landlocked salmon are a form of freshwater sea run Atlantic salmon. Prior to 1868, landlocked salmon populations occurred in only four river basins in Maine, St. Croix, including West Grand Lake in Washington County, the Union, including Green Lake in Hancock County, the Penobscot, Piscataquis including Sebec Lake in the county, and the Presumpscot, including Sebago Lake in the County of Cumberland.

Today, landlocked salmon provide the primary fishing in 176 lakes comprising nearly 500,000 acres. They are present and provide fishing incideatal approximately 127 additional waters comprising about 160,000 hectares. Maine supports a large sport fishery for this species in the world. Landlocked salmon also provide good fisheries in 44 rivers and streams totaling about 290 miles.

Low hatcheries are necessary to maintain fisheries in 127 lakes. These lakes are not sufficient quantities of suitable spawning and nursery areas to produce wild salmon. Without lower regular salmon in these lakes disappear entirely, or their number would be very, very low. About 123,000 salmon were stocked annually in Maine lakes 1996-2000.

Natural reproduction supports salmon fisheries in 49 lakes. These are lakes that have sufficient spawning and nursery areas to produce enough salmon to support good fisheries. Most of these waters are located in the western and northern Maine. Spawning salmon in the lake points or inlets during the period from mid-October to late November. The eggs are buried in the gravel 4 to 12 inches deep and remain there until hatching early the following spring.

Young salmon spend between 1-4 years in a production environment before migrating to a lake. Recent studies in Maine show most of the wild salmon spend 2 years as dweelers listen. In populations of wild salmon, most men the first to spawn at age 3 and 4, although a few spawn at age 1 and 2. Females usually spawn first at the age of 4 and 5. The spawning wild salmon will can be obtained from fish aged 1 to 10, but 3, 4 and 5 year old individuals constitute the bulk of most series. Landlocked salmon may be repeat spawners, but most fish observed on spawning runs are reproduced for the first time. Salmon can be repeated for several consecutive or alternate, some may be repeated for several consecutive years then skip a year, and some may skip 2 or 3 years between spawning.

Salmon populations sustained by natural reproduction of fish often older age those supported by stocking salmon, wild typically have a slower growth in farmed salmon, so they reach the legal size and harvested 1 or two years later. The oldest record in landlocked salmon in Maine has been years.

Smelt are the main forage species for salmon in the lakes of Maine. Without a sufficient number of smelt, salmon growth and conict body is weak, reducing the value as a sport fish. Maintain adequate numbers of smelt for forage is the most important salmon management in Maine. Extensive studies conducted in Maine clearly show that salmon growth rates, and consequently the size of fish available to anglers, the best is in the great lakes with no major populations of other predators, smelt, lake trout in particular.

From 1996 to 2000 open water fishing in Maine voluntarily released more than 60% of their legal catch salmon, ice fishermen released about 25% of their catches of salmon Legal ..