Trout-Fishing in the Rangeley Lakes. 363 



181^ lbs., averaging over 6 lbs. each. Then the ladies find the 

 locality a wonderful one for great "catches" — of trout. Mrs. Theo- 

 dore Page has taken several weighing between 6 and 9 lbs. each, and 

 even the young folks are fortunate. Masters Harry and Allie Page, 

 aged respectively 5^ and 3^ years, it appears from this record, 

 during one visit caught 57 trout weighing $7 lbs. Ten averaged 

 1 lb. each, and one weighed two lbs. Lest these large catches 

 should provoke remonstrance against such wholesale slaughter of this 

 beautiful fish, it should be stated that it is the almost invariable rule 

 to return to the water all uninjured trout weighing less than half a 

 pound. Those hooked so deeply that they cannot live are kept for 

 consumption at the camp. The larger fish, as soon as caught, are 

 deposited in the car which each boat always has with it. Upon the 

 return to camp at night, the living trout are carefully transferred to a 

 larger car, — which in this case is the name given to an ordinary dry- 

 goods box with slats on the bottom and sides, admitting free pas- 

 sage through of the water, — and at the end of his stay each angler, 

 if he desires to take a box of trout home with him, selects the largest 

 and releases all the others, which speedily find their way to the deep 

 waters of the lake again. Thus the actual destruction of fish is by 

 no means so extensive as it would at first appear that it might be. 



In general, the early spring fishing and the late fall fishing are 

 decidedly the best and most enjoyable. The pestiferous black flies 

 do not appear until June 10, but their attentions can be warded off 

 by a liberal application to all exposed parts of the neck, face, and 

 hands of a mixture of tar and sweet oil in equal parts. Oil of penny- 

 royal, in sufficient quantity to make its odor plainly perceptible, is 

 thought by many to render this preparation more effective. By 

 September, with exemplary regularity, the black flies disappear, and 

 with them goes the only hinderance to complete enjoyment of out- 

 door life. 



As regards methods of fishing, it need only be said that the 

 high-toned angler will not tempt his intended victim with anything 

 but a fly at any season. The best fly fishing is to be had in the 

 streams in the spring and in the lake in the fall. Those who go to 

 the lakes in the spring and early summer determined to catch the 

 biggest fish at all hazards must seek them with live minnows for 

 bait, by still fishing, or by trolling in deep water. In either case, the 



