Lewiston Sun Journal news story
BANGOR (AP) – A Glenburn man has become the first angler to catch an Atlantic salmon on the Penobscot River since fishing for the sea-run species resumed nearly two weeks ago.
Beau Peavey hooked a 12-pounder Wednesday morning while fishing below the Veazie Dam. It was the first sea-run salmon legally caught in Maine waters since 1999.
Peavey, 22, said he started fishing for Atlantic salmon in the Penobscot when he was only 4 years old.
“It was the river I grew up on, and getting back there was great,” said Peavey, one of more than 200 anglers who bought special permits.
An experimental month-long catch-and-release season started Sept. 15 along a 3.5-mile stretch of the Penobscot around Bangor.
Salmon fishing on the Penobscot ended in 1999 as the number of fish declined. A year later the federal government listed Atlantic salmon as endangered on eight Maine rivers. But with more fish returning, officials approved the experimental season.
