THE RIVER FISHERIES OF MAINE. 679 
completing its run earlier in the central and western part of the State than in the eastern. In 
the Penobscot it is sometimes taken near Bangor in the month of March, and always early in 
April. It is more abundant in June, and the catch practically ceases early in July. Those indi- 
viduals that succeed in escaping capture, reach the upper waters early in the summer and lie there 
quiet until their spawning season, which is the last of October and the first of November. They 
lay their eggs at night on gravelly shallows, covering them loosely with gravel. The old fish 
return to the sea mainly in the spring, spend one entire year in recuperation and further growth, 
and the second year again visit the rivers for spawning. The eggs lie under the gravel, slowly 
developing, from November till May, when they hatch. The young salmon feed in fresh water 
one or two years, then descend to sea, and after the lapse of a period not definitely ascertained, 
but probably two or three years, revisit the rivers as adults, weighing from 9 to 14 pounds. The 
general average of adults taken is about 13 pounds, but it varies from year to year, being some- 
times less than 12, and sometimes (rarely) as high as 18 pounds. Salmon eat nothing while in 
fresh water, constantly falling away in weight and deteriorating in quality. They swim mainly 
by day and near the surface. 
It is well ascertained that salmon originally frequented the following rivers, viz: The Pisca- 
tauqua, Mausam, Saco, Presumpscot, Royals, Androscoggin, Kennebec, Sheepscot, Medomak, Saint 
George, Penobscot, Union, Narraguagus, Wescongus (Pleasant River), Machias, East Machias, 
Orange, Denny’s, and Saint Croix. At the present day they are found only in the Androscoggin, 
Kennebec, Sheepscot, Penobscot, Machias, East Machias, Denny’s, and Saint Croix.* In the 
Androscoggin only a few are found, seeking to ascend the river; in the Sheepscot only occasional 
“specimens are observed; of the Machias about the same may be said; in East Machias the 
yield is unimportant (only 35 in 1880); the Denny’s has of late yielded from 200 to 1,000 yearly, 
the Kennebec about the same, the Saint Croix from 100 to 500, and the Penobscot from 5,000 to 
15,000. 
MODES OF CAPTURE.—Salmon are captured with spears, dip-nets, drift-nets, set-nets, weirs 
and traps, or pound-nets. The spears have only been used by the Indians, and appear to have been 
their ordinary, if not exclusive, implement for the capture of this fish. An Indian spear of the 
“present day consists of a wooden handle, a straight, plain terminal spike of steel, and a pair of 
wooden jaws on opposite sides of the spike. When a fish is struck the spike pierces the body, the 
jaws spring apart, and then close upon the body of the fish and hold it securely. They are plied 
at night, by torchlight, from a canoe. Dip-nets have been in use since the occupation of the 
country by Europeans to capture salmon in difficult places about falls; but on nearly all rivers it 
is now unlawful to take anadromous fishes in such places, and therefore dip-nets are not much 
used for salmon-fishing. 
Drifi-nets and set-nets.—Drift-nets and set-nets take salmon (and other fish) by enmeshing 
them. They have a large mesh, from 6 to 7 inches, and are essentially alike, being simple straight 
nets, buoyed at the top and leaded at the bottom. The same net may be used in either way, and 
in early times such was a very common practice. Previous to the present century the salmon of 
the Maine rivers were taken almost wholly by meshing nets, either stationary or drifting. At 
points where the shore was bold a net would be set directly from it, the shore end being made 
fast to a stake and the outer end kept in place by killocks anchored off at proper distance. On a 
gently-sloping shore the fisherman would build a brush hedge to a suitable distance from shore 
and set the net at the end of that. The size of these nets was not uniform, but a common length 
* Single specimens are indeed sometimes taken in other smaller streams, as the Harrington River, but these are 
considered strays. 
