Next to being on a Maine trout pond with a fly rod during the much-heralded green drake hatch in late June or early July, there’s nothing an angler prizes more than seeing a rod bend while trolling for landlocked salmon.

And this is the time of year when salmon devotees pack a hot thermos and take to the boats in search of surface salmon action on fly rods and streamer flies. When a three-pound salmon rockets upward and dances in defiance just beyond your boat’s wake, the thrill is incomparable.

When this happens, the cold hands and biting wind are soon forgotten.

This angling high is the driving force behind a commendable effort by the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine (SAM) to bring back the good old days when you could, in a day of fishing, hook into a 4- or 5-pound silversides. Called the Classic Salmon Initiative, SAM’s goal is to encourage public support for the kind of sport fisheries management that will produce special salmon waters that produce bragging-size fish.

SAM’s goal is inextricably linked to wise and creative fisheries management, and angler sacrifice.

This ongoing program involves the careful selection of promising salmon waters that have the potential to grow big fish, if properly cultivated and regulated. Maine’s seven regional fisheries biologists have been directed to participate in SAM’s concept.

Here’s an example of what is going on out in the field.

Downeast Maine’s biologist Ron Brokaw has had his eye on Cathance Lake as a potential classic salmon water. As recently as 1999, this 3,000-acre lake in Cooper was producing large salmon. While Tunk Lake in Washington County is already being managed for classic salmon (16-20 inches), Brokaw wants very much to see Cathance Lake get the nod for large salmon management.

According to Brokaw, his fall trap-netting of Cathance generated a fish sample that indicates significant potential. Eight of the 61 salmon netted weighed 3 pounds or more.

“This is an impressive proportion of larger fish, ” says Brokaw. “They exhibited very good growth increasing in size on average 10.6 inches from the day they were stocked. Their average weight was the best since 1998, and confirms that growth rate has rebounded in response to reduced stocking rates, coupled with several smelt egg transfers.”

One thing most fisheries biologists agree on is that when it comes to growing fish, lakes – like garden spots – are all different. Over the years, seasoned fish scientists like Brokaw develop a special sense, an awareness about a lake’s potential. Brokaw, in his 34th year, has discovered that Cathance salmon, for whatever reasons, respond well to management “tweaking.”

Of course, nothing is simple. Brokaw can’t make Cathance a candidate for the classic salmon initiative by simply snapping his fingers. His proposal must pass muster, not only with his professional peers, but with the public. And sometimes when you propose to make future fishing better by imposing stricter catch regulations, the public balks. So the idea must be sold to anglers, often a skeptical bunch.

Like George Bush pushing Social Security privatization, Ron Brokaw plans to get out and talk about his hope for Cathance Lake. He says that a public hearing will be held in a few months to consider his proposal.

Brokaw’s arguments are strong. And his track record during his career has been commendable. So when he says, “I’m convinced that Cathance offers an especially good opportunity to manage for big salmon,” that’s good enough for me.

I also am convinced that Maine sportsmen have begun to appreciate, not only the catch and release ethic, but the practical benefits that stricter fishing regulations can deliver to a popular sport fishery.

A prediction: Washington County anglers will support Brokaw in his bid to grow bigger salmon at Cathance Lake. It will make the list.

But if you’re not convinced, I encourage you to contact him at (207) 434-5925 or e-mail him at [email protected].

V. Paul Reynolds is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WCME-FM 96.7) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is [email protected].