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Home › Waters › Maine › West Grand Lake
Lake · Down East · Maine

West Grand Lake Fishing Guides

The heart of the Grand Lake Stream country in Down East Maine, home of the Grand Laker canoe and one of the oldest landlocked salmon fisheries in the state.

A canoe drawn up on the rocky shore of a northern forest lake
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the West Grand Lake

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

Order on this page: premium and outfitter plans first (labelled Premium placement), then claimed free profiles, then unclaimed — one published price, no bidding for position. How placement works

About the West Grand Lake

West Grand Lake sits in the Down East lakes country of eastern Maine, at the head of Grand Lake Stream, and it is one of the most storied fishing destinations in New England. The village at its outlet has been a sporting camp community for well over a century, and the Grand Laker, a long square-sterned canoe built specifically for these lakes, was designed here.

Landlocked Atlantic salmon are the tradition. They are pursued by trolling in spring after ice-out, when the fish are near the surface and feeding on smelt, and the season has a rhythm that regular visitors plan their year around. Lake trout, called togue in Maine, share the deeper water.

Smallmouth bass are abundant and superb, particularly around the rocky shorelines and islands, and they have become the mainstay of summer fishing here. White perch, yellow perch and chain pickerel round out the list.

Grand Lake Stream itself, the short river flowing out of the lake, is a famous fly fishing water in its own right and is worth a day of anyone trip.

The surrounding country is largely undeveloped forest, and the lake is part of a chain that can be travelled by boat, which makes multi-day trips practical.

Guiding here is a genuine profession rather than a sideline, and the Grand Lake Stream guides have a reputation that goes back generations. For a first visit, a day with one is the fastest way to understand a lake that gives up very little to a stranger working it alone.

The gauge below reports lake elevation and water temperature. On a salmon lake the temperature is the more useful of the two, because it tells you whether the fish are still near the surface or have gone down for the summer.

This water needs a real photo

The photo at the top of this page is not West Grand Lake.

It is a regional stand-in, honestly captioned but generic — we will not put a name to a river we cannot prove. Send us a photograph you took here and it replaces the stand-in, with your credit on it.

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  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Pool right now

295.95ft NAVD88
  • 24 hours-0.01 ft → steady
  • Water temperature48 F
  • For the dateLow for the date

Reading taken 1h ago at USGS 01018900, West Grand Lake at Grand Lake Stream, Maine. Elevation is the surface of the lake above the survey datum, not depth. Source.

Fished this water? Add a photo

Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to West Grand Lake.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Lake level alert

Tell me when the pool at West Grand Lake ft (NAVD88)

Now: 295.95 ft pool elevation, read 5:00 am CST, Mon Nov 2, 2026 (USGS 01018900, West Grand Lake at Grand Lake Stream, Maine).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Grand Lake Stream village: the main access, with sporting camps and guides.
Public boat landing at the outlet near the dam.
Sporting camps around the lake offer boats, guides and lodging.
The lake connects to others in the chain for multi-day travel.
Grand Lake Stream itself is a separate and famous fly fishing water.
Nearest services are in Grand Lake Stream and Princeton.
Note: remote country. Plan fuel, food and communications accordingly.

Seasons

Winter: ice fishing for togue and salmon where and when it is permitted.
Spring: the classic post-ice-out salmon trolling, the season everyone comes for.
Summer: smallmouth on the rocky shorelines and deep salmon and togue.
Fall: cooling water brings salmon up again and the woods are at their best.

From the water

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Questions

What species can you catch on the West Grand Lake?

Anglers target Chain Pickerel, Lake Trout, Landlocked Salmon, Smallmouth Bass, White Perch, Yellow Perch on the West Grand Lake in Maine.

Are there fishing guides on the West Grand Lake?

GuidedFloats lists 1 guide and outfitters on the West Grand Lake. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the West Grand Lake?

Grand Lake Stream village: the main access, with sporting camps and guides. Public boat landing at the outlet near the dam. Sporting camps around the lake offer boats, guides and lodging. The lake connects to others in the chain for multi-day travel. Grand Lake Stream itself is a separate and famous fly fishing water. Nearest services are in Grand Lake Stream and Princeton. Note: remote country. Plan fuel, food and communications accordingly.

When is the best time to fish the West Grand Lake?

Winter: ice fishing for togue and salmon where and when it is permitted. Spring: the classic post-ice-out salmon trolling, the season everyone comes for. Summer: smallmouth on the rocky shorelines and deep salmon and togue. Fall: cooling water brings salmon up again and the woods are at their best.

Where are the fishing regulations for the West Grand Lake?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Maine agency site: https://www.maine.gov/ifw/fishing-boating/fishing/laws-rules/index.html