Fly Fishing Only Regulations Challenged In Maine

A few years ago, Maine passed a statewide Right to Food law that states, in part, “all individuals have a natural, inherent and unalienable right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing.” This law is now the basis for a couple’s challenge to fly fishing only regulations within the state.

Some of Maine’s best native brook trout waters are currently under fly fishing only regulations to preserve and protect this native species. One family—Joe and Samantha Legendre—has filed suit against the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to remove those regulations and allow any fishing tackle to be used statewide. Not doing so, they argue, runs afoul of the Right to Food law, which was passed in 2021.

The crux of the Legendres’ argument also relies on the assumption that fly fishing is only accessible to those of a higher income bracket. They specifically stated, as reported by Julia Simone of WGME, that regulating fly fishing only waters “discriminates against working-class people.”

The International Order of Theodore Roosevelt, a group focused on protecting the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, is backing the family. A spokesman for the group also told Simone that working-class people who don’t fly fish “are paying for the license fees, they are paying their taxes, they support the states conservation efforts, but because they don’t have time to learn how to fly fish or the money to buy the equipment, they are not able to go fish in these pristine spots.”

Bob Mallard, a former fly shop owner in Maine, rebutted that point by recounting his own experiences there in the state.

“My fly shop customers were mostly working-class people, and certainly not what you would call wealthy,” Mallard wrote. “They worked in the woods, trades, retail, services, and the two local paper mills. Many were self-employed. They fly fished because they enjoyed it. And most ice fished during the long Maine winter, while many did at least some level of spin fishing.”

Mallard also didn’t mince words when offering his opinion on Maine’s Right to Food law, either.

“When a law is passed that doesn’t address any real issue, as was the case regarding Maine’s Right to Food law, I always worry how it will be used up the road,” he said. “In this case, the first thing that came to mind was fishing and hunting. Unfortunately, my concerns proved correct as the law has now been used twice to try to undermine Maine’s hunting and fishing laws. And if it is not abolished or amended to provide absolute clarity, it will inevitably be used again.”

The lawsuit is pending, and we’ll continue to monitor the story for future updates.