RANGELEY LAKES, MAINE: FISHES, ANGLING, AND FISH CULTURE. 55 1 



The comparatively recent development of the study of scales has shown that rarely, 

 if ever, is a greater age than lo years attained by European trout {S. fario), and probably 

 not that; the lake trout of Scandinavia probably not over 12 years. 



Allowing, then, an average growth of i pound a year, as suggested by Mr. Page's 

 experiment, the record fish would be only 12X years old. It is quite probable that trout 

 seldom live longer than 12 or 15 years. 



Seth Green stated" that trout differ in size and growth in nearly every locality and 

 then again the speckled trout which inhabit lakes are known to attain a larger growth 

 than the speckled trout of the streams. He said that from careful measurements of 

 brook trout from Caledonia Spring Creek he had found that a brook, or speckled trout, 

 when first hatched is nine-sixtenths of an inch long; at six months old, 2 inches long; at 

 one year old, 4X inches long; at two years old, 6}4 inches long; at three years old, 8 

 inches long; at four years old, 9 inches long; at five years old, 10 inches long; and at 

 six years, 12 inches long. After they have reached the age of six years their increase 

 in length is usually very slow, but, like old men, they increase in breadth and thickness. 

 These measurements are a fair average, but fish are like people and animals — some grow 

 faster than others under the same conditions, and frequently a 2-year-old trout will be 

 as large as a 3-year old. 



In Forest and Stream, June 30, 1 887, page 495 , some one writing under the pseudonym 

 of "Percival" gave the following formula for ascertaining the approximate weight of 

 normally shaped trout: 



L (P 



W- 



1,000, 



in which W equals weight, L equals length from eye to root of tail (not total length), 

 and G equals girth, which, as the formula shows, should be cubed. The result is the 

 weight in ounces. In fish up to, say, 5 pounds, this is extremely close, in larger fish it 

 of course, is liable to slight differences, increasing as the fish departs from normal form. 

 As an illustration, he said: "Applying this, now, to some of the fish whose measure- 

 ments and weights are given by Mr. Page, say, for example, his own trout, which was 

 30 by 18 inches, and subtract a reasonable amount for nose to eye and tail (for the length 

 was, of course, total), we find the weight 10% pounds, which is close to Mr. Page's fig- 

 ures. Applying it to Mr. Grote's trout, we find it about 8X pounds, which is what the 

 fish must have weighed." (See p. 553.) 



Large trout. — The size which the trout might attain was for a long time a subject 

 of disputatious and argumentative discussion. Hallock mentioned one from the Nepi- 

 gon River that was said to have weighed 17 pounds. In newspapers and sportsmen's 

 journals even greater weights have been reported from other localities, some of which 

 were in Maine. The largest trout reported from the Rangeley Lakes was one of 24 

 pounds, said to have been taken in 1872 by a boy, who had left his hook baited with a 

 minnow in the water over night. In connection with the account of this fish, others of 

 17, 15, and 12 pounds were alleged to have been subsequently caught. Such records 

 undoubtedly were based upon mistaken identification or misinformation. 



In American Fishes G. Brown Goode stated that the brook trout seldom exceeded 

 2 or 3 pounds and a 5-pounder was thought a monster. He referred to the Rangeley 



a American Angler, vol. III. May i6, 1885, p. 312. 



