RANGELEY LAKES, MAINE: FISHES, ANGLING, AND FISH CULTURE. 539 



it was the opinion of the commissioners that it was a great mistake to allow these beau- 

 tiful fishes to be taken at all, as it was to the blueback that they attributed the great 

 size of the Rangeley trout. They further stated that it was their opinion as the blueback 

 diminished in numbers so would the far-famed Mooselucmaguntic trout, and went on 

 to say that the blueback was to the Rangeley Lakes what the myriads of smelt were 

 to Sebago Lake and Reeds Pond. 



Capt. Barker " wrote that the fish was very valuable as food for the brook trout 

 and stated that it was a very common occurrence to catch trout in deep water with a 

 blueback in its stomach, especially in the winter. 



Finally, some time in the nineties a comparatively rapid decrease in the number of 

 bluebacks appearing in their accustomed spawning places became so marked that 

 protective legislation was urged, but it was not until 1899 that a law was passed providing 

 that "it be unlawful to fish for, take, catch, or kill any blueback in any waters of the 

 State at any time" (chap. 42, sec. 5, P. L. 1899). Protection, however, had been too 

 long delayed. 



In the fall of 1900 the writer visited Oquossoc Lake with a letter from Commissioner 

 Stanley to George Esty, a reliable fish and game warden of that region. Mr. Esty's 

 aid in every way possible was requested in the letter. A man in whom Mr. Esty had 

 confidence agreed to watch a certain stream where the fish used to fairly swarm and, 

 as Mr. Esty said, were dipped and hauled away by the barrel and cartload. This man 

 watched the stream throughout the spawning season without seeing a single blueback. 

 This was the famous outlet of Dodge and Quimby Ponds. In Kennebago Stream, the 

 Oquossoc Angling Association caught one pair of bluebacks. The male had been liber- 

 ated but the writer secured the female, which weighed about i pound. In 1902 a few 

 large bluebacks were taken by spawn takers, and in 1903 five more, all that were taken, 

 were secured by the writer. In 1 904 another visit was made by the writer to Oquossoc 

 Lake. The State fish hatchery located on Rangeley Stream was then in operation, and 

 the fish culturists were taking trout and salmon in that stream by means of a weir and 

 in Kennebago Stream by seine. Only three bluebacks, these ranging as high as 2 or 2% 

 pounds, were secured or observed, although they were looked for at all of their former 

 breeding places. The writer has been unable to learn that even a single specimen has 

 been taken since. It would seem, therefore, that the blueback is probably extinct in 

 the Rangeley Lakes. In the Maine Sportsman, February, 1905, referring to the probable 

 cause of the decrease in numbers of bluebacks, the author wrote: 



There is evidently a recent decrease in the numbers of this fish, almost to a complete disappearance 

 from their usual spawning grounds. On the other hand, occasionally fish larger than used to be caught, 

 even up to 2 or 2 ' i pounds, I am told, are caught by anglers, when fishing for other trout and the salmon, 

 both in Mooselucmaguntic and Oquossoc Lakes. That these fish are verging on extinction in these 

 waters can not, I think, be wholly ascribed to excessive fishing. For much more than 50 years such 

 fishing has been carried on with but little appreciable diminution of their numbers. Of course, injurious 

 effects are sooner or later inevitable from such drafts upon them. But in their case it seems as if 

 there must be additional factors at work. Here again our conditions of growth and existence may be 

 brought into consideration. If trout depended largely upon bluebacks for subsistence, salmon rapidly 

 increasing in numbers in these waters would doubtless come in for their share. Recognizing this possi. 

 bility, the State commission planted smelts in the lakes in 1891.'' They have also flourished and waxed 

 great in numbers. 



o Forest and Stream, Jan. 12, 1888. 



& In 1900 a spa\\Ti taker of the Rangeley and Oquossoc Angling Association told the writer that 1891 was the date of the first 

 plant of smelt in these lakes. 



