126 



RECREATION. 



TROUT FISHING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 



A. S. ALLEN. 



One day in June Mr. Retsof, Dr. Blank, 

 Mr. Carter and I, with the 10 year old son 

 of the doctor, whom we called Dr. Junior, 

 took the B. & A- train for South Twin 

 lake. There a small steamer was to take 

 us up South and North Twin lakes, 

 through the thoroughfare connecting with 

 Pemadumcook lake, to the head of Pema- 

 dumcook, some 15 or 20 miles. Thence 

 we were to cross the carry about 2 miles 

 to the camps on Debsconeag lake, where 

 we were to make our headquarters, fish a 

 day or 2, and return. 



It was the log driving season and a num- 

 ber of lumbermen and river drivers were 

 aboard the train. We were nearing the 

 end of our railroad journey when one of 

 them told us the thoroughfare was jammed 

 with logs, and that it was likely to stay so 

 10 days, or might break up at any moment, 

 but that if it did, it might fill again at once. 

 He said if we were prepared to stay up 

 there 2 or 3 weeks we would be all right, 

 provided we could get through, but that 

 otherwise we would better not try it. If 

 we should get through, we might be un- 

 able to get back, as there was a dense 

 forest all around, and any other way of 

 travel than by boat was out of the question. 



We held a hurried consultation and de- 

 cided not to stop at South Twin house, 

 but to go to Norcross, a mile farther, 

 and then to replan our trip. After supper 

 at the Norcross hotel, Dr. Blank sug- 

 gested that we go to Outlet dam, Moose- 

 head lake, where he assured us the fishing 

 was magnificent. We decided to try it. 

 To that end we returned to Brownville on 

 a freight train, stayed there the remainder 

 of the night, took the Iron Works train in 

 the morning to Brownville Junction, and 

 went to Moosehead on the Canadian Pa- 

 cific. 



We had a 40-mile ride on a mixed train 

 to Moosehead, over the C. P. R., but it 

 was through an exceedingly picturesque 

 region, abounding with lakes, streams, 

 hills and forests. We made the trip in 

 about 4 hours, and at noon, after being 20 

 hours from home, we were in sight of our 

 destination. Is it not strange what incon- 

 venience people will endure when on pleas- 

 ure bent? 



Moosehead Station is at the outlet of the 

 lake into the Kennebec river. Wilson's 

 hotel stands on a point of land between 

 the lake and the river, and Mr. Wilson has 

 a little old saw mill on the end of the point 

 where the dam commences. We were to 

 fish from the dam on the lower side. After 

 hastily swallowing our dinner, we adjusted 

 our tackle and started for the dam. It is 

 a perfect spot. The piers are about 20 feet 

 square, and 20 to 40 feet apart, hewed 



logs being laid across the top to walk on. 

 The trout could be seen flitting about in the 

 eddies on the lower side of the piers, and 

 in those spots we cautiously and quietly 

 angled for them with bait, or cast for 

 them with flies. It was not only my first 

 fly fishing, but my first trout fishing. It 

 was also Dr. Junior's first experience, and, 

 while he is a boy of 10, he took no back 

 seat, but became quite adept with the rod 

 and reel. Quiet, careful, alert when he 

 felt a strike, he soon distanced some others 

 of the party in the number of trout he 

 lured from the sparkling water. 



We remained at Moosehead until noon 

 the next day, when it commenced to rain 

 heavily and we went to Greenville, to 

 take the B. & A. train home. Our train 

 was late on account of the storm and we 

 had to stay at Greenville all night. It had 

 stopped raining, and Dr. Blank suggested 

 a deep water try for togue. We got a 

 guide and went out. Dr. Junior had a 

 strike, but lost him. The guide got one 

 togue, which weighed 3 pounds, and I 

 caught a square tailed trout which weighed 

 about a pound and a half. Altogether the 

 3 of us had perhaps 40 pounds of fish, and 

 as we are all men with families we could 

 use all we caught. 



We did not regret our replanned trip; 

 and when, after a comfortable night at the 

 famous Moosehead inn, we were speeding 

 down the line toward home, we vowed that 

 when the first of June came around again 

 we would hie ourselves to the Moosehead, 

 fish where we could be in sight of the rail- 

 road station, and where we could leave 

 for home at any time if necessary. 



TROUT FISHING IN THE SALMON RIVER. 



S. ALMON TROUT. 



One summer afternoon Bill Bliss, Dick 

 Haynes, myself and a fourth, whom we 

 eventually named "Asinine Artie," started 

 for a fishing trip. A freight train took us 

 from Malone to Mountain View, in the 

 Adirondacks, and a little steamer from 

 there up the outlet y 2 mile to Morgan's 

 hotel, a comfortable and pretty log struc- 

 ture with summer boarders and excellent 

 meals. 



In the morning the weather was fair and 

 beautiful. We got 2 flat bottomed boats 

 and made ready for our start up the Sal- 

 mon river. The way there is fearful and 

 wonderful, and the river winds tortuously. 

 It is so narrow we had to paddle in single 

 file. Then came the strange spectacle of 

 one boat proceeding up the stream and 

 meeting the other, across an intervening 

 patch of brake and brushwood, apparently 

 going down. Many times one of the boats 

 stuck on sunken logs and the other had to 

 go to its assistance. Our pipes were 

 brushed from our mouths by branches and 



