RANGELEY LAKES, MAINE: FISHES, ANGLING, AND FISH CULTURE. 56 1 



When warmer weather and fly fishing begins, which is perhaps as much due to the pres- 

 ence of flying insects as the weather, the trolHng, as a rule, ceases. And there is a period 

 during midsummer when usually the only successful method is by deep-water bait 

 fishing, locally called plug fishing. However, throughout the season — any season, in 

 fact — if the angler fishes in the right place at the proper time of day he may catch some 

 fish by any one of the methods mentioned. But the disagreeable conditions known as 

 hot and cold, windy and rainy, disincline many anglers to prolonged attempts to find 

 fish, and the attractions of hotel or camp outweigh the inclination to catch fish when 

 to do so necessitates early rising for morning trolling or a long boat ride in the hot sun 

 to a fly-fishing ground where the fish rise to the fly only in the first evening dusk. There- 

 fore, as previously stated, much depends upon the angler as well as upon the weather, 

 and good or bad weather fishing reports result accordingly. 



Number of anglers. — Various conditions affecting the fishing, or that may affect 

 it from time to time, have been mentioned. No one of these necessitates a constant 

 progressive diminution. One factor not previously mentioned that would tend in that 

 direction unless it were safeguarded by enforced restrictive and limiting laws is that of 

 numbers of fishermen. 



Prior to 1891 no railroad extended nearer to any of the Rangeley Lakes than Bethel, 

 Rumford Falls, and Farmington. From those stations the angler was obliged to travel 

 by stage and buckboard, and in some instances on foot a part of the distance, for 20 or 

 30 miles or more. Even then a great many anglers annually visited the lakes. The 

 region became famous for its numerous large trout, and an increased number of anglers 

 were attracted by the fishing. As the number of visitors increased, accommodations 

 increased accordingly, and the lakes became more accessible by improved roads and 

 extension of railroads. As early as 1883 it was stated on good authority that the number 

 of visitors annually frequenting the Rangeley Lakes then reached the large number of 

 3,000, to accommodate whom capacious hotels, camps, and cottages had been erected. 

 Since then facilities for reaching the lakes have been increased and improved and accom- 

 modations of every character, from unpretentious camps to large, fashionable hotels, 

 as well as almost innumerable private summer residences, have been established, and 

 it is an unusual season when they are not all filled. 



In a letter to a sportsmen's journal, dated June 8, 1889, which was before a rail- 

 road reached any point on the lakes, a correspondent estimated that there were 1,000 

 people on the lakes the week before. 



Before a legislative committee in 1903, regarding the establishment of a hatchery 

 at Rangeley, an owner of very commodious camps said that for the past four years he 

 was obliged to turn away people who wanted accommodations. Another camp owner 

 stated that there were then 10 sportsmen to i nine years previous, when he first went 

 to the region. 



It is not necessary to call attention to the possibilities of depletion from unrestricted 

 fishing by an unlimited number of anglers. Artificial propagation and due regard to 

 conservation greatly reduces the danger. Yet, as mentioned elsewhere, there is a 

 limit to the efficacy of artificial stocking of the lakes, imposed by the limitations of 

 biological capacity, the significance of which is that it is possible to conceive of so many 

 anglers that the lakes could not support enough fish to afford good fishing to all; also, 

 that there is danger of deterioration from overstocking, sooner or later resulting in general 

 depletion. 



