RANGELEY I^AKES, MAINE: FISHES, ANGLING, AND FISH CULTURE. 579 



The same paper of May 20, 1899, reported: 



The fishing has not been up to former seasons, since the water is the highest ever known, and in 

 both Richardson and Mooselucmaguntic Lakes are millions of smelts, many of them dead from spawn- 

 ing. The trout are "just gorging" on these smelts and will not take artificial flies or other bait till 

 the smelts are gone. Still a few trout are taken. 



In the issue of May 27 of the same year the same paper stated that the last reports 

 showed that the smelts were fast disappearing, and there was little doubt but what 

 fishing would be better very soon. The smelts had been remarkably numerous in 

 all the trout and salmon waters of Maine and New Hampshire, with more than the 

 usual number of dead and dying on the surface. Later these little fish disappeared, 

 no one knows whither, and the trout and salmon that had been feasting on them were 

 forced to seek other food. 



The same paper of August 30, 1902, contained an article by "Special," entitled 

 "Rangeley trout and the smelts," as follows: 



Boston, August 23: Mr. Henry W. Clarke, of Boston, a veteran angler in the Rangeley waters, 

 has just returned from a stay of seven weeks at the Moimtain View, foot of Rangeley Lake. This was 

 Mr. Clarke's twenty-eighth successive annual trip to those waters, and his opinions naturally carry a 

 good deal of weight on angling subjects. He says that of all the seasons he has ever spent there the 

 past has shown the poorest fishing. His idea is that the poor fishing is largely due to the putting of 

 smelts into the Rangeleys. He says that the smelts are in deep water the most of the season, only 

 going up into the streams to spawn in the spring. The trout have found them better eating than the 

 old-time minnows, for which the Rangeleys have always been noted, and, like the salmon, tliey follow 

 the smelts into deep water. Mr. Clarke says that he caught one trout, hardly 3 pounds' weight, which 

 had in its throat and maw 53 smelts. He adds: " It must have taken my hook out of idle curiosity. 

 There could have been no other reason for its biting. " Mr. Clarke regards the stocking of the Rangeleys 

 with smelts as a dangerous experiment at the best. He believes that the trout fishing has been greatly 

 injured thereby. Mr. C. P. Stevens, another veteran angler at the Rangeleys, has the same idea. He 

 says never has the trout fishing been so poor in the vicinity of his cottage , in the narrows, Richardson 

 Lake. It is the opinion of other "old timers" at the Rangeleys that the big trout of that region are 

 done for, and it is certain that not half the usual number have been caught the past season, while the 

 catch of salmon has been greater. 



The smelt was introduced into these lakes, primarily, as food for salmon, for 

 which purpose these small smelts are particularly suitable, but undoubtedly the trout 

 was also greatly benefited in that way, as indicated by the following notes: Forest 

 and Stream of May 14, 1898, stated that a trout of 1% pounds' weight, upon being 

 unhooked, disgorged 13 smelts, and a communication to the Maine Woods of May 31, 

 1907, stated that a 3-pound trout caught in Mooselucmaguntic Lake had eaten 37 

 whole smelts, and it was not known how many more. This was said to be a true smelt 

 story, "for," the correspondent said, "I put them on the wharf and the boys counted 

 them." 



That the large size attained by trout is due to plentiful food can not be denied, and 

 it is a well-known fact that where trout are practically restricted to insect diet they do 

 not attain a large size. As has been previously stated, the large size of Rangeley trout 

 was ascribed to the abundance of smaller fishes. The change brought about by the 

 introduction of smelts was only one of greater amount of fish food and could in no way 

 affect the manner of feeding. The trout is just as prone to vary its diet by resorting 

 to insect food while smelts are abundant as it is when any other fish, cyprinids, or 

 bluebacks furnish the major part of its food supply. Furthermore, experience on 



