426 Reminiscences of 



I think the trout in the Rangeley Lakes, excepting 

 the Umbagog, are abovit 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 there 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 mom; 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 15 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 



