The Alewife is a common baitfish in Maine waters. It is similar to the Shad only smaller. The adults run from 6" to 10" and weigh in about 1/2 to 1 pound.

They are a member of the Herring family and are the most numerous of fishes migrating up Maine's coastal streams and rivers. In the Kennebec the spring run above that damm dam in Augusta is nonexistent.

The Alewife is however trapped and trucked by the State (the effort is funded I believe by the Kennebec Hydro-Development Group) from below that damm dam to suitable lakes for spawning. Thankfully, one of those lakes is Wesserunsett Lake (Lakewood) which allows us to enjoy the fall run by the young of the year back to the Atlantic.

The young of the year are normally 1 1/2" to 6" and like their parents are silver, flat-sided fish with a blue green to light blue back. They normally start their run back to the Ocean mid to late summer and run as late as November. September and October are the prime months. During this outbound run all of the bigger fish in the river key in on this rich food source.

So the $64.00 question is what to use to imitate these fish. Here's what I use (you may notice that I use a 94720 streamer hook on a lot of these patterns - it isn't the original hook but I like the length - it's an 8 extra long hook - a size 6 is 1.75 inches):

Ballou Special
Hook:     9575 or 3665A or 94720 (2-10)
Thread:     Black
Tail:     Golden pheasant crest feather curing downward (gap width in length)
Body:     Flat silver tinsel
Wing:     Red bucktail, then white marabou, then ten to twelve strands of peacock herl (all half a shank length past the bend)
Cheeks:     Jungle cock eyes (or equivalent) second eye showing.
Head:     black
 

Bead Head Lite Brite Zonker
Hook:     94720
Thread:    White, size 6/0
Body:     5/32 or 3/16" silver or gold bead, followed by 1/8" of red dubbing, followed by Polar Pearl Lite Brite (use a dubbing loop)
Wing:    White Zonker strip tied front & back

Zonker
Hook:     94720
Thread:     Red
Body:     Silver Mylar tubing (build underbody with cotton core, metallic tape or lead foil)
Hackle:     Red hackle as a red fly collar
Wing:     White Zonker strip (tied front & back)