426 Reminiscences of 



I think the trout in the Rangeley Lakes, excepting 

 the Umbagog, are about as plentiful as ever, although 

 the raising of the waters has changed their spring and 

 autumnal habitats a good deal, and some of the old 

 fishing places are of the past. Trout Cove in the large 

 lake above the Upper Dam was a spring fishing place 

 for a period of ten or fifteen days, where in the gentle 

 current one could satisfy his most ardent passion for 

 trout, and become fairly surfeited ; that is, if one could 

 ever become completely surfeited with fly-fishing. 



Not far from Trout Cove was the run below the old, 

 now submerged, stone dam, which for large trout in 

 the autumn surpassed any spot I ever knew of. I used 

 to have the fishing there alone and unrestricted to my 

 heart's exorbitant content, over twenty years ago, 

 when the're was scarcely another rod going. Day 

 after day I fished it in the height of the season, wending 

 my way to it a mile through the woods by lantern 

 light to get the first fishing of the blushing morn; and 

 after resting through the day I would take in the even- 

 ing fishing, and wend my way home an hour after dark 

 by the same light which had guided my morning foot- 

 steps. Sometimes I would get hold of a big fellow 

 after dark, which would so tire my patience that I 

 would feel like straining my leader to separation. 



The water there ran dark and smooth in a passage of 

 30 or 40 ft. wide between large rocks into a pool of 

 several acres in area below. In the passage and below 

 were the leviathans of the deep. Now of late years, 

 the lake, raised 12 or 1 5 ft. higher, has destroyed the 

 current, and made a sea of the locality. 



Some days one might whip the run and pool for hours 

 without a rise, although gigantic breaks about might 



