East Grand Lake

East Grand Lake stretches along the Maine-New Brunswick boundary at the headwaters of the St. Croix drainage, 15,917 acres of island-studded water shared between Washington and Aroostook counties. Its shoreline runs nearly 79 miles, wrapping around coves, points, and thoroughfares from Orient at the north end down to the village of Forest City at the south, and much of that shoreline remains forest rather than camps. For a lake this size, East Grand keeps a remarkably low profile; its better-known neighbor West Grand Lake draws the fly-fishing traffic, and East Grand quietly fishes just as well with a fraction of the pressure.

The fishery is a genuine two-story mix. Landlocked salmon are the headliners, sustained by both wild fish and annual spring stocking, and they key on the lake's smelt. Lake trout are largely wild here and grow well in the deeper basins, brook trout are stocked at catchable size each spring at Weston and Orient, and lake whitefish add a native bonus. Then there is the warm-water story: East Grand holds excellent smallmouth bass, and when they push onto the rocky shoals in June, a floating line and a small streamer produce fast, athletic fishing all day long.

The fly angler's calendar opens at ice-out. Salmon and togue follow smelt into the shallows, and streamer fishing at Greenland Cove near Danforth and around the Forest City thoroughfare is the classic play. The show improves through May, when salmon surface-feed on smelt schools in open water and sight-casting to busting fish becomes a real possibility, a rarity on most stillwaters. As the lake warms, the smallmouth take over the shorelines while the salmonids settle deeper, and by fall the salmon return toward the surface and the thoroughfares.

East Grand's border status shapes the experience. Special St. Croix watershed regulations apply, and on most of the lake either a Maine or a New Brunswick license is valid, a quirk worth understanding before launch. Public access is easy for such remote country, with uncrowded launches at Danforth, Orient, and Forest City splitting the lake into fishable sections.

The sum is one of Maine's most underrated big-lake fly fisheries: real numbers of salmon, wild lake trout, a bass fishery good enough to plan a trip around, and enough water that you can fish a full week without covering the same shoreline twice. For anglers willing to trade fly-shop amenities for solitude, East Grand belongs on the short list.

East Grand is a big, moderately deep natural lake whose level is augmented by a dam in the St. Croix system. The numbers tell the structural story: a maximum depth of 128 feet against a mean of only 30 feet means the lake pairs a handful of deep basins with vast expanses of fishable shoal water, rocky points, island edges, and coves. That mix is exactly why it supports coldwater salmonids and a thriving smallmouth population side by side.

The state depth chart shows where the two stories meet: contour breaks where broad shoals shelve off into the deeper basins are the travel lanes for salmon and togue in spring and fall, and the same rocky transitions hold the biggest smallmouth in early summer. In summer a thermocline sets up over the deep basins and the salmon and lake trout hold near it, while the extensive shallows stay in play for bass.

Rainbow smelt drive the coldwater fishery, and smelt movements dictate where the salmon are from ice-out through May. The shoals and cove margins carry the usual northern stillwater menu of chironomids, damselflies, dragonflies, and leeches, and crayfish and baitfish keep the smallmouth fed. With nearly 79 miles of shoreline and long open reaches, wind sets up quickly; plan crossings with the forecast in mind.

East Grand sees a winter fishery through the ice for its salmon, togue, and whitefish, but as a border water it falls under special St. Croix watershed rules; winter seasons and methods on boundary waters differ from Maine's general law, so verify current ice-fishing dates and regulations in the lawbook's border-water section before drilling a hole.