Mat 30, 1886.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



331 



NEW ENGLAND TROUT WATERS. 



DURING tlie winter and early spring it is easy to make 

 up one's mind to be sure to make a trip to the trout 

 waters this year; to once again drink in the beauties of the 

 stream, the woods and the lake; to reap anew the rich bene- 

 fits found only in an outing ; to add another five years to 

 ones days by throwing off, if only for a brief season, the 

 worry and strain of business or professional life. But it is 

 not so easy to put the good plan into execution. Unexpected 

 happenings thrust themselves in the way, and it is often 

 hard to rind the courage to start off on what looks to the 

 ordinary mortal like a foolish jaunt for the sake of a few 

 fish. The true and only way is to start when the fever is on. 

 Delays are dangerous; they are more dangerous to our fish- 

 ing trips than is that procrastination which is the thief of 

 time. Our ardor cools, if ardor it is, and not a fixed, annual 

 purpose, and so the trip is lost for want of mere decision 

 such as we should bring to bear upon any of the other 

 real affairs of life. Mere trifles or slight changes hinder us. 

 The ice went out of the Maine lakes from eight to ten days 

 earlier this year than usual. It was not wholly unexpected, 

 and yet the lovers of line and rod were not generally pre- 

 pared for it in all its force. The time to take up the tackle 

 came too soon, and business could not be left just then, and 

 the result has been the breaking up of a great many parties; 

 and many will stay at home altogether. This is chiefly true 

 of tnose who may be termed the early rushers, to be sure, 

 but it shows how slight a circumstance may spoil eveu a 

 much contemplated trip. It is a fact that the movement to 

 the Maine lakes is being much less than last year, so far as 

 Boston is concerned, at least. A report of the same nature 

 is suggested from other cities. Strikes and the uncertainties 

 of labor may have hindered the builder, the manufacturer, 

 the carpenter and other tradesmen from taking that fishing 

 trip, and the early trips are not being taken to the extent of 

 former seasons. Now just here comes a selfish suggestion , 

 but it is too good to keep— there will be all the more trout 

 for those who go later in the season. 



But the silly number of lies have begun to be told. The 

 Maine country newspapers of small circulation and less in- 

 fluence, devoted to the attempt to help some lazy tavern- 

 keepers, stage owners and tradesmen into a fortune through 

 the summer resort business in one-horse towns, begin to con- 

 tain such items as these: "Mr. Thusandso of Suchaplacc 

 caught yesterday 100 'speckled beauties' in an hour and a 

 half, out of Impossible Pond, and there are plenty more 

 left." How happened there to be just a hundred? Why did 

 the fisherman not leave off at 99 or 101 ? Such stories with 

 enough of truth in them to be worthy of a passing thought, 

 even the country newspapers ought to be ashamed of. They 

 give at least the sound of respectability to the despised fish- 

 ing for numbers which has done so much of the deplorable 

 depletion of our lakes and streams, and which threatens, iu 

 a very few years, to reduce the trout to a fish of the gone by, 

 in spite of all protection can do. The man who would take 

 even a hundred minnows for the mere sake of telling a big 

 story, ought to be ashamed of his cruelty and destructiveness, 

 say nothing of robbing hi-a brother fishermen of fifty trout or 

 a dozen salmon. Oh ! for the time when the man who goes 

 to the lakes and streams for health and recuperation shall 

 have learned to be satisfied with trout enough for the table. 

 It is devoutly to be hoped that time is coming, under the 

 good sense of true anglers and the training of the Forest 

 and Stream. It is also to be hoped that it will not be too 

 tardy — will not be delayed t ill the work of depletion of our 

 best waters is done irrevocably. 



But the teaching of moderation is no easy task, and as you 

 well know, good Forest and Stream, there are a good 

 many interests at stake. The entire summer resort and sum- 

 mer travel interest is arrayed against good sense and the 

 perpetuation of the best locations as the fishing grounds of 

 the future. The daily papers are being called upon to 

 advertise the localities in two-column, illustrated articles, by 

 gushing hack writers. But they say too much. There are 

 millions of trout waiting to be caught. Only patronize a 

 certain hotel, stage line or railroad, and thousands of trout 

 are sure. But like the patent medicine advertisements, 

 they say too much. If there was a shadow of truth in them, 

 any man would be a fool to ever die. After all, such trash 

 catches only tourists and greenhorns, and greenhorns catch 

 no fish. They go once. That is enough. They are done. 

 Ever afterward they listen to fish stories and blame their luck. 



The trout season of 1886 is now fairly begun, but unless 

 some sudden impetus is given, the hotels and summer resorts 

 will not make their fortunes this year. The attempt was 

 made to start off their business with a boom, but somehow 

 the thing is being overdone in the way of big stories and 

 show. At Phillips, Me., the first fishing* party of the season 

 was met at the train by the Phillips Brass Baud and escorted 

 to the hotel in grand style. Alas! has it come to this? Must 

 we go fishing to the tune of a brass band, and a country 

 band at that ? Special. 



The trout season of 1886 is proving to be one peculiar to 

 itself. The redspots or brook trout are hardly coming up to 

 time in the record of catches thus far, but the blackspots, or 

 landlocked salmon, are surprising even their warmest 

 friends. This is particularly true of Weld Pond, in Maine. 

 This pond was first stocked with salmon scarcely more than 

 ten years ago, and yet the catches being made there this 

 spring are something of which the Maine Fish Commissioners 

 may well be proud. Commissioner Stanley has just returned 

 from a very successful trip to that pond with some of the 

 first sportsmen in Maine, and they all express themselves as 

 highly pleased with the success of landlocked salmon. Com- 

 missioner Stanley gives an account of one caught the other 

 day which weighed elven pounds, and I have just taken up 

 a Maine paper, rather given to telling big fish stories, which 

 mentions the taking of a landlock, Friday, weighing four- 

 teen pounds. This last story should be taken with a grain of 

 salt, at least till confirmed. But even a salmon of" eleven 

 pounds comes with a great deal of pleasure to those most in- 

 terested in the culture of the landlocks in Maine. It must 

 be remembered that this is all the work of ten years, and 

 that too, under difficulties. Weld Pond is full of blackspots 

 of less size. Commissioner Stanley remarks that they arc 

 taking fish there from two to five pounds by the thousand. 

 These smaller fish, he remarks, are evidently the work of 

 more recent stocking, since the State has done more for that 

 purpose. As to the growth of these salmon, Mr. Stanley is 

 much pleased, as well as surprised. Together with Mr. Stil- 

 well the Maine Commissioners are now of the opinion that 

 trout, thg^conditions of food being favorable, grow much 

 faster than many writers have told us. Certainly the results 

 of landlocked salmon in Weld Pond go to prove that they 

 are correct. Speaking of the monster brook trout of the 

 Androscoggin waters, Mr. Stanley does not give them credit 



for the great age usually ascribed to them. He finds trout 

 of this class to have grown to six inches in length which he 

 has every reason to believe were only two years old. From 

 that time he believes them to grow very rapidly. The Maine 

 Commissioners may also be put down as fully convinced that 

 fair angling— that is, with single hook and line— can never 

 tot ally exhaust, the trout or landlocked salmon in any waters. 

 They admit that the fish may be "thinned out," but not ex- 

 hausted entirely. These gentlemen commence this week the 

 work of planting the several quotas of landlocked salmon in 

 the Maine waters. Commissioner Stanley is authority for 

 the fact that landlocked salmon are being taken with the fly 

 this year, a fact heretofore considered doubtful. The latest 

 report also shows that landlocks are at last being taken in 

 Eangeley Lake. An eight pound fish of that species was 

 taken there one day last week and several have since fol- 

 lowed of less proportions. Special. 

 Boston, Mass. 



Under date of May 4, Mr. O. A. Dennen, of Moosehead 

 Lake, writes to Mr. T. Sedgwick Steele, of Hartford; "The 

 ice left the lake earlier than usual this year, the date of 

 its going out being May 1 and 2. The weather for three 

 weeks past has been fine. Clear, cloudless sky, with wind 

 not over .six miles an hour. Temperature for the week end- 

 ing May 4 averaged 36 degrees, taken at 6 A. M. Average 

 for the month of April, 32 degrees (taken at same hour). 

 The fur huuters htve had a fair run of luck. Two 

 Indians came out of the woods about three weeks ago and 

 received $735 for their skins, consisting of beaver, miuk, 

 sable, black cat, otter, etc. Considerable large game has been 

 killed the past winter, or up to Jan. 1, when the time 

 closed. In the latter part of December, 3 moose were killed 

 on Blue Ridge in sight of the hotel. One cannot, however, 

 go far into the woods without seeing plenty of signs which 

 indicate that moose, deer, caribou and bear are still quite 

 plenty. Tne fishing season is fairly opened, several parties 

 are already on the ground and the steamers Kineo, Day 

 Dream, Twilight and Ripple are scudding about the lake 

 seeking out the best grounds. Everything indicates a fair 

 season at Kineo. The spring opening about two weeks 

 earlier than usual will be likely to rid us of the black flies 

 early in July." 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The ice left the lakes on Tuesday, May 4, and the fishing 

 season was commenced by the guests of the Green vale House, 

 Geo. M. Esty, proprietor, Greenvale, Me., on Saturday, 

 May 8. At this point the waters of the Sandy River are 

 discharged into the Rangeley, or Oquossoc Lake, and flow 

 through the connected lakes, discharging finally into the 

 Androscoggin River. The best early fishing for the cele- 

 brated Rangeley trout is found here. The record for the 

 first two days is as follows, no record being made of trout 

 under three pounds in weight. Of these smaller trout large 

 numbers were taken: 



May 10, 1886, Henry T. Richardson, New York; boatman. H. R 

 Fuller, Phillips, Me., land-locked salmon, 8 pounds. 



May 12. Henry Hobart, East Bridgewater, Mass ; boatman, Nathan 

 Ellin, Greenvale. trout, pounds. 



May 12, Win. L. Reed. South Abington, Mass.; boatman, Nathan 

 Ellis. Greenvale. trout, 3 pounds 



May 13, Eusene H. Clapp, Boston, Mass. ; boatman, Chas. H. Tooth- 

 aker, Ranaeley, trout. 5J4 pounds. 



May 12, Horace P. Tobey, Boston, Mass.; boatman, Chas. H. Tooth- 

 acber, Rangeley, trout, 5J4 pounds. 



May 12, C. L. Browning, Millbury, Mass.; boatman, a friend, trout, 

 <% pounds. 



May 12. Geo. E. Keith, Brockton, Mass ; boatman. Ebenezer Hinck- 

 ley, Rangeley, land-locked salmon, b}4 pounds. 



The land-locked salmon were introduced into these lakes 

 in 1874 by the Fish Commissioners of the State of Maine, 

 and their increasing number establishes the success of their 

 undertaking. T. 



SEBAGO LAKE. 



SEBAGO LAKE, Portland's great water reservoir, lies in 

 the northern part of Cumberland county, Maine, and is 

 easily reached by rail from Portland via P. & O. R. R. to 

 Lake station. It is a most beautiful "stretch of water," as 

 its Indian name signifies, being about twelve by fourteen 

 miles in area and noted for its large land-locked salmon. A 

 few years since a male fish of this species was found dead 

 and stranded in Roger's Brook, a tributary to Long Pond, 

 one of the head waters of the Sebago Lake system. Four 

 years ago Mr. J. Hamilton, superintendent of the P. & O, 

 R. R. captured one in Sebago Lake, with an eight-ounce rod, 

 that weighed sixteen pouuds, and many have been taken 

 with rod and line weighing upward of ten pounds. The 

 fishing season lasts usually about two weeks, commencing 

 soon after the ice leaves the lake and when the smelts (for 

 salmon are not the only salt-water fish land-locked in these 

 waters, for smelts and cusks are abundant) are returning 

 from their migrations up rivers and streams, where they 

 have deposited their eggs. The method of capture most in 

 vogue is trolling with a smelt for bait — care being taken that 

 the bait does not spiu but runs straight and true — fifly yards 

 of line being sufficient. 



The fishing has not been quite as satisfactory in numbers 

 this spring as in some previous years, owing, no doubt, to 

 the greater abundance of smelts, or perhaps the season was 

 in advance of the fishermen, bat never before did the catch 

 average so many heavy, well-conditioned fish. Not a single 

 "racer" (spent male) is reported, The best fish taken can be 

 credited as follows: J. Hamilton, Portland, Me., 13^ pounds; 

 R E Edes, Naples, Me., 12 pounds; E. O. Noyes, Brockton, 

 Mass., lljpounds; A. S. Hinds, Portland, Me., 11 pounds; P. 

 Burnham,Portland,llpounds; J. Hamilton. Portland, ^pounds. 

 Many more weighing over six pounds have been boated, one 

 touching the beam at less than four pounds being an excep- 

 tion to the general rule. About thirty speckled trout, weigh- 

 ing from one to four pounds each were also taken. It is 

 now only about ten years since the salmon fishing here with 

 rod and reel attracted any attention. Before that time the 

 practice of spearing them on the spawning beds had been 

 almost universal, and even now we are sorry to say, that 

 notwithstanding stringent laws and the untiring efforts of 

 commissioners, wardens and friends of the cause, it has been 

 impossible to entirely suppress the poacher. Yet public 

 opinion is steadily gaining ground against this evil, and at 

 no distant day we hope the spear will be a relic of the past. 

 Last fall, through the efforts of Frank Gibbs and J. Mead & 

 Son, of Brighton, sixteen thousand land-locked salmon eggs 

 were taken from Roger's Brook. These, with thirty thou- 

 sand fry of land-locked salmon from Grand Lake stream, a 

 gift from the State, are soon to be turned into these waters. 

 Encouraged by the success of Gibbs and Mead on Roger's 

 Brook, the Fish Commissioners have decided to operate on 

 Crooked River this fall, and it now looks as though fishing 

 would rapidly improve. The favorite fishing grounds on 



Sebago Lake are at the mouths of Songo and Muddy rivers, 

 both places being at the head of the lake and about two 

 miles apart. At the former arc three camps, owned respect- 

 ively by the Songo Club, Robt. E. Edes and Raymond Par- 

 ties. At Muddy River two camps have been erected this 

 spring, one owned by O. B. Gibbs, of Bridgton; the other 

 by Naples parties. Transient accommodations can usually 

 be obtained near the fishing grounds. Guides charge about 

 $3 per day for man and boat. Black Spot. 



Sebaoo Lake, May 6. 



THE MONTREAL FLY. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have recently received a copy of the work "Fishing 

 With the Fly." Most of the colored plates in the book are 

 comet; but there is, however, one important exception, that 

 is the one of the Montreal fly, which is wrong in several par- 

 ticulars. 



The Montreal fly has a strong hold on my affections and 

 has for many, many years occupied the most prominent 

 place in my fly-book, being especially adapted for our North- 

 ern waters, it had its origin with my old and lamented 

 friend, the late Peter Cowan, E-q., of Sweetsburgh, Quebec, 

 who first made and used it at lea^t half a century ago. The 

 original and genuine Montreal fly is made with a "red body, 

 ribbed with yellow tinsel, the hackle assorted scarlet and 

 ginger, and a lieht gray mallard wing." Soon after its first 

 appearance it became a standard fly with the English fly- 

 fishers who were in Canada, and through them samples of 

 the fly were sent to England, where they were made for the 

 trade. 



Mr. Cowan was one of the most enthusiastic of fly -fishers; 

 genial, jolly, a true and warm-hearted friend, a good 

 reader of human character, and a thorough hater of shams 

 and affectation. He held for many years an important office 

 of trust in the eastern townships of this Province, and often 

 had for companions on his fishing excursions one or m<re of 

 the English army officers who were formerly stationed in 

 Montreal; but woe was sure to befall them if they brought 

 their cockney airs out to the trouting grounds. Many a 

 practical joke did Uncle Peter, as he was familiarly called, 

 play at their expense. 



Some twenty years ago I was traveling by stage through 

 one of the back districts of the townships, a noted trout 

 region, when we picked up at a small farm house Uncle 

 Peter and a young officer who were returning from fishing, 

 well laden with full creels of S. fontinalis. Uncle Peter's 

 sunburnt phiz beamed with the expression of good nature 

 and satisfaction that told the story of success and a general 

 good time. The old veteran and the writer were soon en- 

 gaged in exchanging fishing experiences and di.-cussing the 

 merits of the different waters of that section of the country 

 when the young Englishman, who had been quite silent, 

 apparently in a deep study, said, "I say, Uncle Peter, I am 

 awfully much obliged to you for your kindness, you know. 

 We over in England have a wrong idea of you fellahs out 

 here, but, by Jove, you have taken me down a peg, you 

 know." This brought out a roar of laughter from Uncle 

 Peter that made the woods ring. The young fellow joined 

 in quite as heartily, and when their mirth had partly sub- 

 sided, he said: "But, you know, that first morning was a 

 stunner, though." This admission was followed by another 

 explosion, if possible louder and longer than the first. 



1 afterward received from the old gentlemen a condensed 

 account of their trip, and the incidents concerning that par- 

 ticular morning. This young Englishman who was anxious 

 to show the natives how to kill a trout, you know, had pre- 

 sented himself at Uncle Peter's office bearing a letter of 

 introduction, etc. He was clad in the most nobby of cockney 

 fishing suits, and also wore a pair of wide top knee boots, 

 but underneath this exterior Uncle Peter saw what he 

 thought would be good stuff when the flimsy outside was 

 rubbtd away. So a trip back to a famous trout stream was 

 soon arranged. The road that they traveled was new and 

 rough, and when the stage that evening set them down at 

 the door of the humble home of a small but nospitable farmer, 

 a place where the writer has spent many a pleasant night 

 after a good day's sport, the young cockney was fatigued, 

 and grumblingly compared the accommodations to those of 

 the small inns along the Thames, you know. "This blasted 

 country was not fit for a gentleman to come into, you know." 

 He expressed a desire to retire early in the evening to his 

 sleeping apartment; so he was given a tallow dip for a light 

 and directed to a small room in the chamber, which he 

 grumblingly declared to be "a regular dog kennel of a hole, 

 you know;" but when he placed his boots outside his room 

 door to be blacked, Uncle Peter drew a line at this action 

 and made use of them in lieu of a slop bucket. At the first 

 peep of daybreak the young fellow was awakened and told 

 to hurry and dress and be outside, for it's the early rod that 

 kills many a fine trout. "A dem beastly hour to arise," said 

 the young cockney; "the trout at home never rise, to a fly 

 until the mist is off the water, you know." He hastily 

 dressed, opened the door, and poisiugon one foot, he caught 

 hold of the straps of a boot and -slipped the upraised foot 

 into it — slosh. This was followed by a shout that sounded 

 very much like an oath and exclamation. But we had best 

 drop the curtain and let the reader imagine what followed, 

 and return to our favorite fly. 



When this fly was introduced to the trade it was called 

 the Montreal or Canada fly, but usually the Montreal fly. I 

 have I believe killed far more and larger trout with this fly 

 than with all others put together. I invariably use three 

 flies, with the Montreal as a stretcher, and use various other 

 kinds for droppers as the water and season require. Bro. E. 

 B. Hodge of the N. H. Fish Commission, who is an old 

 companion of mine, 1 presume remembers well the big trout 

 (my largest) that I killed on this fly in Hopp's Pond, a 

 small body of water situated near Mount Orford. This pond 

 was once celebrated for its large trout; but alas, its glories 

 have departed forever, for some contemptible vagabond has 

 stocked it with pickerel. As I now write my thoughts go 

 buck to years long past when Bro. Horlge and the Montreal 

 fly" were intimately associated in many a trouting expedition. 

 The catch that we made one afternoon was thirty that 

 weighed forty pounds, at Lake Nick, where H. bad a severe 

 headache which spoiled his appetite for the fish which the 

 writer so nicely broiled, but which did not prevent him from 

 casting a fly while the trout were on the feed. It was there 

 that the "big one" came out of the weeds and tried to eat up the 

 two and a half pound fish that H. had hooked and was playing. 



I afterward struck that big fellow and he turned tail to 

 and dove into the weeds in spite of any strain that I could 

 bring to bear on him with my Norris rod, and in those 

 weeds he remained until he broke or rubbed off the casting 

 line. Then, again> my thoughts delightfully live over again 



