Fly Fishing the Magalloway River. Kris Thompson

      7 . Magalloway River

       Location: Northwestern Maine, about a 3-hour ride from Portland and Bangor; a 3-hour ride from Manchester, New Hampshire; and a 4-hour ride from Boston, Massachusetts. Full-service airports are available in all four cities.

      Sometimes overlooked in regional guidebooks, the Magalloway River is by any rational definition one of the two finest native Eastern brook trout rivers in the country. Brook trout here are measured in pounds, not inches. Nonnative landlocked Atlantic salmon are also present. These, too, can grow to trophy sizes. All trout

      and salmon in the river are wild—there is no stocking.

      The Magalloway is rich in history and lore. Roughly 10,000 years ago, Paleoindians camped along its banks below what is now Aziscohos Lake. Here they hunted herds of migrating caribou. Metallak, “The Lone Indian of the Magalloway,” hunted, trapped, fished, and guided the area. A pond and a mountain just over the border in New Hampshire were named after him. Parmachenee Lake was named after his daughter—said to be a beautiful young woman. President Eisenhower fished the river in 1955. A plaque on the bank commemorates his visit.

      The Magalloway River is divided into three sections: upper, middle, and lower. The river is nearly 30 miles long, not including two lakes. Each section is different in regard to topography, size, flow, and the fishery itself.

      The upper Magalloway originates from springs along the Canadian border. Several small tributaries converge to form the

      river, which flows into 2½-mile-long Parmachenee Lake. This section winds its way through thousands of acres of private timber company land. Access is via a network of logging roads, but is restricted by several locked gates—unless you are a camp owner, or a guest at the nearby sporting lodge. Here the Magalloway is a small freestone river with riffles, runs, and pools. Brook trout and salmon in the 6- to 12-inch range are plentiful. Larger fish ranging from 16 to 20 inches migrate upstream from the