THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 679 



completing its run earlier in the central and western part of the State than in the eastern. In 

 the Penobscot it is sometimes taken near Bangor in the month of March, and always early in 

 April. It is more abundant in June, and the catch practically ceases early in July. Those indi- 

 viduals that succeed in escaping capture, reach the upper waters early in the summer and lie there 

 quiet until their spawning season, which is the last of October and the first of November. They 

 lay their eggs at night on gravelly shallows, covering them loosely with gravel. The old fish 

 return to the sea mainly in the sprirfg, spend one entire year in recuperation and further growth, 

 and the second year again visit the rivers for spawning. The eggs lie under the gravel, slowly 

 developing, from November till May, when they hatch. The young salmon feed in fresh water 

 one or two years, then descend to sea, and after the lapse of a period not definitely ascertained, 

 but probably two or three years, revisit the rivers as adults, weighing from 9 to 14 pounds. The 

 general average of adults taken is about 13 pounds, but it varies from year to year, being some- 

 times less than 12, and sometimes (rarely) as high as 18 pounds. Salmon eat nothing while in 

 fresh water, constantly falling away in weight and deteriorating in quality. They swim mainly 

 by day and near the surface. 



It is well ascertained that salmon originally frequented the following rivers, viz : The Pisca- 

 tauqua, Mausam, Saco, Presumpseot, Royals, Androscoggin, Kennebec, Sheepscot, Medomak, Saint 

 George, Penobscot, Union, Narraguagus, Wescongus (Pleasant River), Machias, East Machies, 

 Orange, Denny's, and Saint Croix. At the present day they are found only in the Androscoggin, 

 Kennebec, Sheepscot, Penobscot, Machias, East Macbias, Denny's, and Saint Croix.* In the 

 Androscoggin only a few are found, seeking to ascend the, river ; in the Sheepscot only occasional 

 specimens are observed ; of the Machias about the same may be said ; in East Machias the 

 yield is unimportant (only 35 in 1880) ; the Denny's has of late yielded from 200 to 1,000 yearly, 

 the Kennebec about the same, the Saint Oroix from 100 to 500, and the Penobscot from 5,000 to 

 15,000. 



MODES OF CAPTURE. Salmon are captured with spears, dip-nets, drift-nets, set-nets, weirs 

 and traps, or pound-nets. The spears have only been used by the Indians, and appear to have been 

 their ordinary, if not exclusive, implement for the capture of this fish. An Indian spear of the 

 present day consists of a wooden handle, a straight, plain terminal spike of steel, and a pair of 

 wooden jaws on opposite sides of the spike. When a fish is struck the spike pierces the body, the 

 jaws spring apart, and then close upon the body of the fish and hold it securely. They are plied 

 at night, by torchlight, from a canoe. Dip-nets have been in use since the occupation of the 

 country by Europeans to capture salmon in difficult places about falls ; but on nearly all rivers it 

 is now unlawful to take auadromous fishes in such places, and therefore dip-nets are not much 

 used for salmon-fishing. 



Drift-nets and set-nets. Drift-nets and set-nets take salmon (and other fish) by enmeshing 

 them. They have a large mesh, from 6 to 7 inches, and are essentially alike, being simple straight 

 nets, buoyed at the top and leaded at the bottom. The same net may be used in either way, and 

 in early times such was a very common practice. Previous to the present century the salmon of 

 the Maine rivers were taken almost wholly by meshing nets, either stationary or drifting. At 

 points where the shore was bold a net would be set directly from it, the shore end being made 

 fast to a stake and the outer end kept in place by killocks anchored off at proper distance. On a 

 gently-sloping shore the fisherman would build a brush hedge to a suitable distance from shore 

 and set the net at the end of that. The size of these nets was not uniform, but a common length 



* Single specimens are indeed sometimes taken in other smaller streams, as the Harrington River, but these are 

 considered strays. 



