Early Season Float Trips
(April 1st thru the end of May)

 Our Early Season Floats, in April and May, have become one of our Signature trips.  We float the pre and post run-off flows on the Magalloway, Kennebago, and Sandy Rivers. These trips may not be for the fair weather fishermen.  This time of year finds the seasons in transition with spring and winter battling it out.   Some days are better than others!  For this reason we don’t book these trips too far in advance.  We keep a close eye on the weather and when we see a mild stretch we jump on it.  A typical season sees us on the water for the first few weeks in April and then the run-off takes over for a couple weeks.   Once the run-off has subsided we’re back at it again! The angler who is flexible with their plans can be greatly rewarded.  Large streamer eating brookies, browns, and salmon are not uncommon.

In July-August, when water temperatures are too warm to safely fish for trout and salmon without harming them, we target native Fall Fish(chub) and non native Smallmouth Bass. The Fall Fish has traditionally been looked down upon as a trash fish but like the Whitefish in rivers of the American West it has more recently gained respect from fly anglers as a sporting bycatch during the trout season and even a target species in the off season. Smallmouth Bass need no introduction. They are some of the hardest hitting and fighting gamefish around. Yet, here in the Rangeley Region they are a non-native fish that competes and threatens the future of the unique and native wild brook trout. During the dog days of summer, relaxing our efforts to catch trout while increasing our efforts to catch bass is a good way to keep them in check. We humorously call it “Operation harass the bass”.

A float trip is really a great way to see and access parts of these rivers that would otherwise be impossible to fish on foot.