HISTORY OF SALMON ANGLING IN NEW ENGLAND. 91 



A Brief History of Salmon Angling in New England. 



Fly-fishing for salmon is a time-honored sport and no fish caught in fresh water excels 

 the salmon as a game fish. Taken all in all, it is doubtful if a salmon angler who may have 

 tried all other game fishes of inland waters or of the sea, if restricted to one game fish, 

 would choose other than the salmon, if salmon waters were within his range or his means. 



For years salmon anglers of this country, who could afford it, thought they had to go 

 to Canada, Newfoundland, or Labrador, notwithstanding the fact that salmon fishing 

 was almost in their own dooryards. Long after the Connecticut and Merrimack had lost 

 the prestige that they had or might have had, good fishing, although limited in extent, 

 was still to be found in Maine, had the fact been known. It is true one or two local 

 anglers, and perchance some friends from a distance, knew of Dennys River and indulged 

 in the sport there, but they did not advertise the fact. 



The history of salmon angling in Maine waters consists of scattered notes in sports- 

 men's journals. The first sahnon taken with a fly in Penobscot waters was landed by 

 J. F. Leavitt and H. L. Leonard of Bangor, Maine, in 1880. The catch was made in the 

 Wissaticook Stream which empties into the east branch of the Penobscot. 



It was not until about 1882 that Mr. Fred Ayer of Bangor, who previously made his 

 annual trip to Canadian waters, conclusively demonstrated that the Penobscot, even 

 within the city Umits, afforded opportunity for angUng previously unsuspected. Later 

 the St. Croix and Aroostook attracted attention, but in each instance the fishing was 

 practically restricted to one pool. In the Penobscot the pool was below the Bangor 

 dam, the lowermost dam of the river. In the St. Croix it was Ukewise below the Union 

 MiUs dam, the lowermost dam of that stream, near Calais; and in the Aroostook it 

 was almost in the 'heart of the city' of Caribou, below the only dam in the main river. 



Despite the recorded catch of Messrs. Leavitt and Leonard in the Wissaticook 

 it did not appear to occur to any one that fly-fishing might be found at other places 

 in any one of these rivers, in each of which there were good pools. At the time there were 

 those, knowing that salmon were netted in the vicinity of the Hunt farm, not far from 

 the stated place of capture, who doubted the statement that the fish were taken on a fly. 

 The anglers who brought the fish to Bangor were reputable men, and if they said they 

 caught the fish in the manner and place reported, there seems no justifiable reason for 

 doubting the statement. Furthermore, there is no apparent reason why salmon might not 

 have been taken at many other places in the proper season in the East Branch and its 

 larger tributaries, hke the Wissaticook and Sebois. 



The followmg references to anghng at the Bangor salmon pool are condensed from 

 various newspapers and sportsmen's journals, principally. Forest and Stream, American 

 Angler and Maine Sportsman. AH of the references have not been cited. 



1885. 

 In 1885 more than six salmon were taken in the Bangor pool by Fred Ayer who thus 

 demonstrated that the salmon fishing with the fly is as good on the Penobscot as in any 

 salmon river in the world, according to the Bangor Whig, 1885, p. 454. During the same 



