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17 . Merrimack River (Atlantic salmon)

Location: Central New Hampshire, less than an hour from Manchester an hour from Boston, Massachusetts; and 2-hour ride from Portland, Maine. Full-service airports are available in all three cities.

The Northeast was once home to large runs of anadromous Atlantic salmon. Adult salmon returned from the sea annually to spawn in their natal rivers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. Some showed up elsewhere under what is called genetic drift—nature’s way of maintaining genetic diversity. These salmon helped feed the indigenous populations for countless generations, and provided a critical food supply for the early European settlers.

States such as Maine relied heavily on Atlantic salmon. The salmon brought fly fishermen from all over the country to Maine. Celebrities such as baseball legend Ted Williams and his friend, sportscaster Curt Gowdy, came to Maine just to fish for Atlantic salmon. Salmon clubs—complete with their own clubhouses—were built on banks of rivers such as the Penobscot. For years, the first Atlantic salmon caught each season in Maine went to the President of the United States.

That was before the Northeast’s Atlantic salmon population crashed due to dams, pollution, and overharvest by commercial driftnetters. Since then, Atlantic salmon have been listed under the Endangered Species Act. What started with restrictions on the seven Down-east Maine salmon rivers has expanded to include the Penobscot River, and more recently the Kennebec River and Androscoggin River in Maine. Other rivers have been closed to the taking, and even targeting, of salmon as well.

Contrary to popular belief, you can still fly fish for Atlantic salmon in the Northeast—at least in some form, and for now. Thanks to a cooperative effort between the New Hampshire Fish and Game department and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, with help from local Trout Unlimited chapters, brood stock salmon raised in a federal hatchery in Nashua, New Hampshire, and used in the Merrimack River restoration program are tagged and