Aug 16, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



67 



MAINE FISHING. 



T) ANGELEY, Me.. Aug. (3. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 XX It seems strange to me that Kit Clarke will still 

 persist in his false statements in regard to the Rangeley 

 Lakes, as his articles are getting weaker and weaker the 

 more he writes. In regard to my statement of catching 

 500 trout in seven hours, he says I did not say where nor 

 in what year this illustrious event occurred: but to humor 

 him I will say that they were caught July 2, 1888, in the 

 Kenehago Stream, which empties into the head of the 

 Mooselucmeguntic Lake, and that it was not steady cast- 

 ing, like his rioted angler of the Upper Dam, as we made 

 several stops and the record was not ruined. 



Fishing has not been so good on the Mooselucmeguntic 

 Lake for vears at this time of the year as at present. F. 

 L. Tuttle'and W. L. Boylston, of Jamaica Plains, caught 

 on Aug. 1 twenty -four trout weighing 444lbs., which 

 shows that fishing at the Rangeley Lakes is not "a thing 

 of the past." W. A. Robinson. 



Richardson, Me., Aug. A.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 I send you the catches of Aug. 1, 2 and 3, made on the 

 Mooselucmeguntic Lake, one mile from the Mooselucme- 

 guntic House, on what is known as the middle grounds, 

 in order to show that the fishing here is improving instead 

 of being played out, Kit Clarke to the contrary notwith- 

 standing. The following is a true list of the number and 

 weight of the trout taken: 



Aug. 1. Caught by W. W. Boylstou and Frank Tuttle, 

 of Boston— four fish of 21bs. each, three of 2-flbs. each, 

 four of 6, Q, 2i-lbs. respectively. 



Aug. 2. By W. W. Boylston, of Boston, and Chas. W. 

 Smith, of Forestville, Conn. — eight of Ulbs. each, two of 

 2ilbs. each, five of 7^, 6L 5, Si and 8} lbs. respectively. 



By L. Hubbell (Clark Hill, guide)— seven of lib. each, 

 two of 2*1 be. each, one of 91bs. and one of 31bs. 



By W. J G.Clark and wife, of North Attleboro, Mass., 

 (R, Crosby and Ames Ellis, guides)— thirty-four of lib. 

 each, six of 71, <H, 6+, 6f, 54- and 4|lbs. respectively. 



Aug. ,1. By L. Hubbell— eight of lib. each, four of 54, 

 3|, 2^ aud 21bs. respectively. 



By W. G. Clark and wife— ten of lib. each, two of 21bs., 

 two of 31hs., two of 41bs., one of 10*Jbs., one of 641bs. and 

 one of 6 J ,lbs. Henry M. Pierce. 



Editor Forest and, Stream: 



In your issue of Aug. 2, Mr. Kit Clarke, commenting 

 on Mr. W. A. Robinson's report "myself and another 

 man in seven hours' fishing caught 500 trout," says: "In 

 seven hours there are four hundred and twenty minutes, 

 and therefore the above gentlemen took one and a fifth 

 trout every minute steadily during the memorable 

 horns. " As there were two men fishing, each caught 250 

 fish in the four hundred and twenty minutes, or one fish 

 in about 1.60 minutes. This is not such a remarkable 

 record for Maine. Tim Pond and other waters near it 

 can beat that in number of fish, but of course they can- 

 not come anywhere near the weight of the Rangeley 

 catch. Isaac Tuttle. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The following letter from Mr. George Hart, of Water- 

 bury, Conn., may. with his permission, be printed: 



Waterbhry, Conn., July 28.— My Dear Captain: I saw yours of 

 June 30 in Forest and .Stream, and it is quite amusing to me 

 to read Kit Clarke's tale of the Rangeley s being played out; yet I 

 hardly think it is so; in fact, Captain, I am quite sure there are a 

 few trout there yet, and if alive I hope to prove it next year, as I 

 have this, and several before this year. Did you ever hear of our 

 party going without a meal for want of trout? I mean fresh 

 trout, caught the day we cook them. If so, drop me a liue. 



In regard to tbo&e taken the first day we went to Sinker 

 Island, we had at nipcht, or rather 3 p. M.. Durand 48 and Hart 37 

 trout, making 85 trout in all. We had the 65 at noon, when we 

 went to your house to dinner. These were all taken with a fly, 

 mauv times two at a cast; and none of them were small, and a 

 good' many were over a pound in weight. The next day there 

 was not less than the same number, and I think more, for there 

 were others fishing there. On the 28th Mr. Hill took 19 with fly 

 there; one weighed -?.\\ lbs., and most of them a pound and over— 

 a fine lot of fish. I am sure the lake is full of hsh. Perhaps all 

 don't have the same luck that we do, but we get a lot of fish, and 

 good ones at that. Hoping to meet you in '89, I am, yours very 

 truly, George Hart. 



I did not ask Mr. Hart to write the letter; he did it of 

 Ms own free will. 



In regard to the 500 trout taken in seven hours by W. 

 A. Robinson and another man. I had it from both of 

 them that they did it; and surely 250 fish could be easily 

 taken by one man with two or three flies on his leader in 

 seven hours, and give him plenty of time for lighting 

 his pipe, eating a sandwich, etc. 



The place where the trout were taken was the Kene- 

 bago Stream, and the date was the 1st or 2d of last July. 

 At that season, when the water begins to warm up in the 

 lakes, the trout run up all the streams, running into the 

 lakes in large numbers. The Kenebago Stream is a favor- 

 ite summering place for both large and small trout. Fish- 

 ing is prohibited by law there Sept. 1; it should be the 

 season through. Their catch was made seven to nine 

 miles above the mouth of the stream, on the falls. Here 

 for three or four miles there are large rocks and deep 

 pools, with spring brooks running into the main stream 

 at short intervals. Here, as well as in other places of the 

 same sort, when an angler strikes it right, it is only a 

 question of honor and conscience how many trout he will 

 slaughter. 



Twelve years ago the prevailing sentiment was, "kill 

 all you can catch," but for the last few years it has been 

 steadily changing to kill only what is needed for the 

 camp or hotel table. This has done a great deal toward 

 keeping the fishing where it really is. It surely is not all 

 of fishing to kill a large amount of fish. For about three 

 weeks lately quite a party of ladies and gentlemen have 

 been with me at Camp Bemis; about every afternoon 

 they would charter my small steamer and go trolling 

 on the lake for trout. On starting out they would choose 

 sides, and each side would try for the most fish, and they 

 got a great deal of sport fishing in this way. Many a 

 trout was caught, counted for the side that captured it, 

 and returned to the water. Only what were needed to 

 supply the table were kept; or if one of the party was 

 going out and a small box was wanted, all would con- 

 tribute to help make up the box. Taking trout out from 

 the woods is rapidly going out of fashion at the Rangeleys; 

 and many of the spring fishermen, after they have fished 

 for a Aveek or ten days, and have caught from fifty to a 

 hundred trout, turn them all back into the lake, and re- 

 turn home without taking a single trout along. Of 

 course this is not to be expected of a man wjjo has come 

 from a long distance, paid out a large sum of mosey in 



the region and worked hard for his fish. But we don't 

 think any less of the gentleman who is generous enough 

 to do it. 



Now, one word to that poor, unfortunate angler who 

 wasted so much time casting his fly below the Upper 

 Dam without a rise. Let me advise that if he ever mus- 

 ters up courage to try our lakes again he hire a guide, if 

 only for a few days on the first of his trip, and instead of 

 trying to make a big show in casting a fly, get posted up 

 a little on the habits of trout. There is a higher power 

 than even this wonderful and egotistical Kit Clarke that 

 causes the sun to shine or Jack Frost to appear, and by 

 this largely governs the coming in and the going out of 

 the trout at Upper Dam. When they are not below the 

 dam they are somewhere else; and that somewhere else is 

 the place he must fish in to be successful. 



I do not deny that I am peeuniarity interested in this 

 region. I have put eighteen years of work in here in the 

 woods and on the lakes; and Camp Bemis, Island Camp, 

 and steamers Metalluck and Mallelockett are the results. 

 This little property stands me too high to let false state- 

 ments like what Mr. Clarke has published in your paper 

 go by unnoticed. F. C. Barker. 



Camp Bemis, Me., Aug. 8. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I notice that some of your correspondents have been 

 writing down the Rangeley Lakes with respect to those 

 waters affording present sport to anglers. An experience 

 dating back to 1860 at the Rangeley Lakes certainly 

 enables me to form a correct idea as to the real truth of 

 the matter. The number of the anglers visiting the 

 Rangeley Lakes has of course largely increased, and 

 while the individual angler may not make the remark- 

 able catches of fifteen or twenty years ago, yet he will 

 have no difficulty in realizing better sport than in any 

 other waters in the world. It can be truthfully said of 

 tlie Rangeley waters at the present time as in tire past, 

 that nowhere can trout of the enormous size taken there 

 be captured. In no other waters of the extent of the 

 Rangeley Lakes are such enormous numbers of trout 

 hatched' artificially and liberated. Thousands of young 

 landlocked salmon have also been placed in these lakes. 

 The State supports a well-equipped hatching house at 

 the outlet of the Rangeley Lakes, which is under the 

 personal supervision of the Hon. H. O. Stanley, who has 

 been one of the Commissioners of Fisheries for the past fif- 

 teen years. A large majority of anglers, too, are influenced 

 by the accessibility of these waters. They can be reached 

 in thirty-six hours from New York, and there are no 

 hardships attached to the sport. Commodious camps are 

 found at convenient points through all this great chain 

 of lakes, covering a distance of sixty miles. Corroborat- 

 ing the foregoing, I have before me a record of a catcli 

 by Mr. Walter S. Clark, of North Attleboro, Mass., made 

 on the 2d and 3d of the present month. These trout were 

 taken in Lake Mooselucmaguntic, about two. miles from 

 Camp Kennebago, the headquartess of the Oquossoc Ang- 

 ling Association. 



I am sure that any of your readers who visit these 

 waters cannot fail to be amply repaid . The best route is 

 via the Eastern R. R. from Boston to Portland, and then 

 by the Maine Central and Sandy River R. R. to Phillips, 

 Me., and from there by stage coach twenty miles to the 

 Rangeley Lakes. George Shepard Page. 



New York, Aug. 11. 



[Mr. Clark's record is given in the letter from Mr. 

 Henry M. Pierce.] , 



Editor Forest and, Stream: 



It seems that the August fishing is tmning out better 

 than usual at Mooselucmaguntic Lake, if we may believe 

 the reports. There is a good record for early August, and 

 in a measure it makes up for the dull fishing in July. 

 The reports do not say how the fish were caught, but such 

 work is usually done at that lake by very deep trolling, 

 and that frequently over ground that has been for several 

 days baited by chopped up minnows and larger fish. 

 The record of fly-fishing is not very good, especially in 

 the neighborhood of Moosehead. There are only a few 

 sportsmen from the vicinhVy of Boston now at the Maine 

 lakes, though a number will go in the month of Septem- 

 ber. Mr, Walter Hill, prominent in the house of John 

 Squire &Co., Boston, started Monday for a few days' fish- 

 ing at Alligator Lake. He is accompanied by Senator 

 Wilson, who is somewhat worn down with his duties at 

 Washington and in need of a few days' outing. 



Special. 



TROUT AND FLY. 



"VTEW YORK, Aug. 1L— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 l\ It is amusing to read the articles on trout taking 

 the fly. One angler has great luck with the fly in certain 

 waters; another tries it and cannot kill a fish excepting 

 with bait. Angler No. 2 goes for angler No. 1 for telling 

 fish stories, and angler No. 1 calls angler No. 2 another; 

 and so the fight goes on. And yet both are often right. 



AVhether it is Lake Edward in Canada, or Moosehead 

 in Maine, or Pend d'Oreille in Idaho, the trout, and black 

 bass, too, for that matter, will not leave the deep cold 

 water to rise into the warm surface water for any fly, not 

 even the "patent fluttering." That is the whole business 

 in a nutshell. I have fished in lakes that either in June 

 or September afforded the finest fly-fishing one could ask 

 for, and in August the angler could cast until his arm 

 ached, morning, noon and night, without seeing a sign of 

 a fish. Now and then one may find a lake so cold that 

 the July and August sun does not drive the fish down, 

 but they are rare. Human beings take the shady side of 

 the street in summer and the sunny side in winter; and 

 trout are very much the same way. 



From twenty-five years experience I can say that it is 

 utterly useless to expect fly-fishing in large lakes in July 

 and August, with rare exceptions. So no matter how 

 good the reports are of fly-fishing in May and June, do 

 not expect the same in hot weather. 



Wakeman Holberton. 



Muskoka Lakes.— A guide to Muskoka Lakes, Upper 

 Magnetawan and inside channel of the Georgian Bay, is 

 published by the Muskoka and Nipissing Navigation Co. 

 (Gravenhurst, Ont.), and given out by them gratuitously 

 on application. 



Lake Sunapee,— A guide book to Lake Sunapee is 

 published by L. Arthur Dodge, Stmapee, N. H. 



SALMON IN THE HUDSON. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



My letter to Forest and Stream two weeks ago an- 

 nouncing that salmon had made their way up the Hud- 

 son till stopped by the Mechanicville dam, has brought 

 me several letters on the subject. One, from Mr. Robt. 

 C. Lowry of New York city, is very pleasing, as showing 

 the practical interest taken by anglers in the movement 

 by the United States Fish Commission to stock the Hud- 

 son with salmon. 



Mr. Lowry asks if the Mechanicville dam is the only- 

 bar to the salmon reaching suitable spawning grounds, if 

 so, he is confident that he could receive enough money 

 among salmon anglers to build a fishway over the dam. 

 I had to reply that there were eight dams between Troy 

 and the point where the larger part of the salmon fry 

 were planted, which makes the passage of the salmon too 

 great an undertaking for private pluses. 



While speculating on the chances for the salmon to find 

 a spawning ground in Hoosick River or other streams be- 

 tween Troy and Mechanicville, when the spawning in- 

 stinct was strong upon them and the fish found further 

 ascent of the Hudson impossible, it was reported to me 

 that the salmon had disappeared from below the dam at 

 Mechanicville and several had been found diead along the 

 river banks. Fast upon the first report came a second, 

 that scoundrels had been using dynamite below the dam 

 to kill the salmon, and my informant had picked up a 

 dying fish of 8£lbs. The only part of this outrage that is 

 at all pleasing is, that the men were seen at their nefari- 

 ous work, that the penalty is severe and that the machin- 

 ery of the law is now in operation to punish them. When 

 a .justice has informed these fellows what it costs to kill 

 salmon with dynamite, I do not think there will be more 

 candidates for their places at the bar for some time to 

 come. 



Mr. Mather is now engaged in examining the Hudson 

 to find how many salmon have been taken in nets, the 

 condition of the fry in headwater streams, the number 

 and nature of the obstructions between Troy dam and 

 proper spawning grounds, and a proper place for placing 

 the salmon next year in order to take their spawn. This 

 is being done to report to Col. McDonald, at whose request 

 the examination is being made, and I am sure that the 

 most damaging part of the report will be that on the first 

 appearance of the salmon above tide water they were 

 killed with dynamite. Dynamite is a specially deadly 

 agent in destroying fish illegally, and there should be a 

 law making it specially unpleasant for those who use it 

 to kill fish. A fixed term of imprisonment would prove 

 the most effective discourager to the dynamiter of saJmon 

 and other fish. A. N. Cheney. 



Glexs Falls, N. Y., Aug. 12. 



TROUT WEIGHTS AND SIZES. 



Editor Forest and Stream. 



Noticing your favor from Mr. Cruttenden, of Cazenovia, 

 I would say that the length of a trout is a comparatively 

 small element of its weight. The 51bs. l3oz. trout of Mr. 

 Mills was nearly 24in. long, but only a trifle over 5in. in 

 depth. In Olmstead Pond this spring I caught a trout 

 19jin. long that weighed 3ilbs.. and two days later Mr. 

 Louis Webb, of New York, caught one of exactly the 

 same length in the same pond that weighed 41bs. Mr. 

 Tallman, of Ogdensburg, caught a trout this spring in 

 Panther Pond that was, I think, 22in. long, but it weighed 

 over 8|lbs., and some years ago a trout of but 19in. in 

 length was caught on the inlet that weighed over 4ilbs. 

 The depth and width of the trout seem to be the points 

 where weight counts. Could not some of the sportsmen 

 who have caught some of the big trout in Maine waters 

 give the readers of Forest and Stream some measure- 

 ments and weights, from which possibly a comparative 

 standard of the weight of a trout could be drawn by ob- 

 taining the cubic contents of the fish? 



The fishing for the past ten days has been very poor, 

 owing doubtless to the hot dry weather. 



A. Ames Howlett. 



For Catching "Fingerlings."— Lake George, N. Y., 

 Aug. 8.— Dr. Ellsworth Elliott, Jr. , House Surgeon of the 

 New York Hospital, was convicted to-day before Justice 

 Ctifton at Hague, Warren county, on a charge of violat- 

 ing the game laws of the State on May 23, in catching 

 and keeping brook trout under six inches caught from 

 the streams that run through that town. The conviction 

 was on a plea of guilty interposed by the doctor, and the 

 magistrate fined him $45, which the doctor paid and im- 

 mediately left the town and county, expressing his deter- 

 mination to obey the laws of the land if he should ever 

 pass another vacation period on the shores of Lake George. 

 It will be remembered that the doctor was arrested June 

 27 last in New York city by Game Constable Burnett of 

 Warren county, and that his law^yer then attempted to 

 procure his release upon a writ of habeas corpus issued, 

 by Judge Barrett of the Supreme Court, but that this was 

 denied upon the hearing under the writ before Judg e 

 Andrews the next day, and that Judge Andrews held 

 him to bail to appear before the Justice at Hague yester- 

 day. Dr. Elliott at the time claimed that his arrest was 

 a scheme to get him into Warren county for trial, and 

 amounted to blackmail. The prosecution was brought 

 about by the Lake George Fish and Game Protective 

 Association, of which Robert Lenox Banks is president, 

 under wmose direction game constables patrol along the 

 66 miles of lake shore, bent on enforcing the law. — Neio 

 York Times, Aug. 9. 



Fishing in the Kills. — For years the fishing in the 

 Staten Island Kills has been ruined by the sludge acid of 

 the oil refineries on the island. The waters were so pol- 

 luted with this refuse that yachtsmen disliked to sail 

 through the sticky stuff, and oystering was a thing of 

 the past. The fishing is fair there now, and porgies, 

 weakfish, etc., are daily taken. This is the result of a 

 prompt enforcement of the law by order of Mi 1 . E. G. 

 Blackford, Shellfish Commissioner, who directed Oyster 

 Protector Merserau to bring action against all parties 

 who violated the law by flowing the refuse from oil or 

 chemical works into those waters. Several large firms 

 were fined, aud the practice, which has been a source of 

 complaint for years, has been stopped. 



Keokuk, Iowa, March 13, 1888.— jr. F. Breitmstein. Jfoq., Keokuk, 

 la.: Dear Sir: The box of U. S. C. Co. paper shells that I received 

 from you last fall I tried, and found them to be all that you 

 claimed, and better than any shell I ever used, not oue of them 

 missing Are, Yours truly, (Signed) T. J. Lowrie. Adv. 



