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Best landlocked salmon lakes in Maine

13 Maine waters hold landlocked salmon, 12 mapped with real state-agency depth surveys. Ranked below by size and depth-data quality — open any water to see exactly where to fish it: depth contours, scored spots with plain-English reasons, seasonal windows and bait picks. Lake-dwelling Atlantic salmon that lives and dies by the smelt run. Ice-out surface fishing at its finest.

1. East Grand Lake — 127 ft max · survey depth data · Smallmouth Bass, Lake Trout, Landlocked Salmon
2. Long Lake — 163 ft max · survey depth data · Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Landlocked Salmon
3. Sebec Lake — 155 ft max · survey depth data · Smallmouth Bass, Lake Trout, Landlocked Salmon
4. Big Lake — 92 ft max · survey depth data · Smallmouth Bass, Landlocked Salmon, White Perch
5. Rangeley Lake — 148 ft max · survey depth data · Brook Trout, Landlocked Salmon
6. Kezar Lake — 161 ft max · survey depth data · Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Lake Trout, Landlocked Salmon
7. Millinocket Lake — 52 ft max · survey depth data · Brook Trout, Landlocked Salmon
8. Auburn Lake — 92 ft max · survey depth data · Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Lake Trout, Brook Trout
9. Swan Lake — 101 ft max · survey depth data · Smallmouth Bass, Lake Trout, Brook Trout, Landlocked Salmon
10. Embden Pond — 154 ft max · survey depth data · Smallmouth Bass, Lake Trout, Brook Trout, Landlocked Salmon
11. Phillips Lake — 98 ft max · survey depth data · Smallmouth Bass, Lake Trout, Landlocked Salmon
12. Panther Pond — 92 ft max · survey depth data · Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Brook Trout, Landlocked Salmon
13. Kennebec River — 12 ft max · Smallmouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Landlocked Salmon

When to fish landlocked salmon in Maine

• Spring 1–15 ft — The legendary ice-out bite: salmon follow spawning smelt to tributary mouths and windblown shorelines, right on the surface.
• Summer 25–60 ft — Salmon hold just above the thermocline with the smelt schools — depth control decides the day.
• Fall 5–30 ft — Turnover scatters bait and salmon shallow; spawners stage off tributary mouths, hot-tempered and territorial.
• Winter 10–40 ft — Where winter seasons allow, salmon cruise for smelt under the ice — sewn bait near a drop is the classic set.

Also in Maine: best largemouth bass lakes · best smallmouth bass lakes · best northern pike lakes · best rainbow trout lakes · best lake trout lakes · best brown trout lakes · best brook trout lakes · best chain pickerel lakes · best white perch lakes

Landlocked Salmon elsewhere: New Hampshire · New York