By Gail Geraghty,Staff Writer

LOVELL – It’s known as one of the prettiest lakes in Maine, with some of the most exclusive shorefront property anywhere.

In a few years, Kezar Lake may also be known for producing trophy-sized salmon – the four- and five-pound variety that anglers dream of – and that also helps to draw tourist dollars into the state.

The 2,510-acre Kezar Lake was recently selected to be the focus of a Classic Landlocked Salmon Project, a cooperative effort between the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine and the state’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

It’s a fisheries management effort that has been nearly two years in the planning stages, and will be subject to a series of public hearings this winter and summer, according to John Hunt, SAM project manager.

“I think a lot of fishermen are interested in catching large fish, as opposed to a quantity of fish,” Hunt said. He added that a state survey found widespread support for the project, which will include new regulations to increase the average size of salmon on the lake.

The regulations would include limits on recreational smelting, increased harvesting of lake trout, a high maximum length limit on salmon, and a reduction of salmon stocking to maintain salmon growth rates.

Right now the average size of salmon caught on the lake is just over 19 inches, or 2.4 pounds.

Six other lakes where salmon fisheries are already well established are also part of the project, including Rangeley Lake in Rangeley, Long Lake in St. Agatha, Tunk Lake in Sullivan, Chesuncook Lake in Chesuncook, Swan Lake in Swanville and Pleasant Lake in Island Falls.

They are part of the DIFW’s so-called “size-quality waters,” where the biology, geology and use patterns of the lakes support the growth of larger-size fish. Currently, there are just under 200 salmon waters in the state.

“Some of them are already producing quality salmon,” Hunt said, thanks in part to efforts in the last few decades by the DIFW to rebuild the salmon fishery.

Anglers on Rangeley Lake, for example, routinely catch salmon that are five pounds or more, Hunt said. Rangeley is already “an intensely managed lake,” he said.

State fisheries biologist Francis Brautigam said the definition of a “trophy salmon fishery” varies from lake to lake, based on such factors as past growth and performance, water quality, forage, and lake productivity.

Time was in the 1800s when 10- and- 12-pound salmon were caught on Sebago Lake, another popular salmon fishery, Brautigam said. Sebago isn’t part of the initiative, he said, because of the popularity of that lake as a lake trout fishery. “There’s too many complicating factors,” he said.

Until the late 1980s, he said, when the state really started focusing on size-quality management in lakes, a salmon was considered big if it was 18 inches, or two to three pounds.

The statewide minimum for salmon is 14 inches, but the number varies from lake to lake. On Kezar, a salmon is a keeper if it’s 16 inches or bigger.

To consider the program a success, the state wants to see a measurable increase in the number of three- and four-pound salmon on Kezar, with a few five-pound and greater salmon in the mix, Brautigam said. He said that once the state has been able to maintain a good growth rate for salmon, the minimum size for salmon caught in the lake will be increased, to perhaps 20 inches or greater.

Hunt said he’s extremely happy with the degree of cooperation the fisheries biologists have shown to the project to date. He sees SAM’s role in the project as one of promotion and education.

“We don’t want people’s expectations to get too high,” he said, especially in the beginning. But increasing the average size of salmon on certain waters in Maine is very doable, he said.

“It’s great for economic development,” he said.