Mat 31, 1891.] 



Hayes, of Maiden, the friend of Mr. Stevens, was obliged 

 to come out of camp on Friday, his time being xip. He 

 got no trout of any consequence. Mr. E, J. Shattuck, 

 also of the same camp, did not get away till Saturday, 

 the 16th, and, under the conditions found by the rest of 

 the party, he was glad of it. Mr. Smart, 'of the same 

 party, cannot get away to go a-fishing this spring. 



At Weld Pond the landlocked salmon fishermen are 

 having good luck. Judge Wm. Wirt Virgin, of the 

 Maine Supreme Bench, is doing that lake with a good 

 deal of success. He has devoted some seven hours a day 

 to the sport. He has taken a salmon weighing lOlbs., so 

 report says. On the I4th, inst. Albert Rawlins caught a 

 salmon from that lake weighing T^lbs., Samuel Vose, of 

 Madison, one weighing olbs., and John Schofleld one 

 weighing olbs. Several business men of Livermore Falls 

 have been to the same lake, and have taken a good many 

 trout and salmon, the largest weighing 6flbs. The party 

 got six salmon in all. 



A landlocked salmon weighing lllbs, has been taken 

 from Green Lake, Hancock county, Me. F. W. Ayer, of 

 Bangor, has taken the largest salmon of the season thus 

 far from the celebrated pool there. It weighed 29|-lb3. 

 The fishing has not yet been good. A few salmon are 

 taken daily, when the weather is suitable. It is hoped 

 that the recent rain will bring better fishing there. 

 Landlocked salmon fishiiig in the Sebago has been fairly 

 good this season, but the weather was unusually cold. 

 One needed a winter overcoat every day for the first 

 week of the fishing. There is a report of another salmon 

 being taken from Green Lake, Hancock county, with a 

 fly, the Mitchel. This is almost the first instance of a 

 landlocked salmon rising to a fly in that lake so early in 

 the season, if indeed they i-ise at all. 



Later comes the true" sx^ort of fly-fishing. Then the 

 trees will be a:reen. Snow and ice will have done, and 

 overcoats will not- be needed. It is not siirprising that 

 the sportsmen who spend most of the summer at their 

 camps on the Maine waters should "up and away" as 

 soon as the telegraph announces that the ice has gone, 

 but how one who has but a few days for fishing at his 

 command can wish to start so early is past finding out. 



The Hall Brothers have just got back from their Nova 

 - Scotia trouting excursion. They left Boston on Tuesday, 

 the llth, via steamer, for Yarmouth, and then went in- 

 land a number of miles by team, to their trout river. 

 They found the water down to about the right pitch, and 

 the trout rose to the fly in splendid style for so early in 

 the season. They found the people very hospitable — they 

 desired to take the fishermen home to t^a. The party 

 was made up of J. E. Hall, with Eice, Kendall & Co. ; 

 James E. Hall, of Milford, and Irving G. Hall, of Boston. 

 They took 15 trout weighing an average of l^lbs. and one 

 of 2lbs. They had about all the trout they desired of a 

 smaller size, Mr. Waldron Bates, of Boston, was fishing 

 the river just below them for salmon, and has succeeded 

 in landing one of lllbs. They also came so near to get- 

 ting one themselves that they came along the stream just 

 after a guide not employed by them had taken a tine one 

 out of a pool. ' Special. 



Another correspondent writes: The first trout caught 

 at Middle Dam this season were taken by Mr. Corson of 

 Andover, Me. One weighed 5lbs., another S^lbs. The 

 Anglers' Retreat was open for business Monday, May 11. 

 Several guests are now stopping there. A party of twelve 

 fishermen leave Lowell for Middle Dam on Wednesday, 

 May 20, for a two weeks' stay. The ice is now out of aU 

 the* Androscoggin Lakes, and the different steamers and 

 stages throTighout the region are running on regular time. 

 Excursion tickets have been placed on sale in Boston, 

 and may be obtained at the usual places. 



NEW HAMPSHIRE TROUT SEASON. 



l^ASHUA, N. H., May 8.— Editor Forest mid Stream: 

 .lN My usual Friday pleasure has just ended (that of 

 reading Fohest aj^d SxEEAii from cover to cover, "ads." 

 and aU), and while the contents are fresh in my mind I 

 beg leave to make a few comments on the article on "The 

 New Hampshii-e Trout Season," signed by "Angler," in 

 the number just read. The streams of our State are 

 visited by a constantly increasing army of anglers each 

 season, and any changes, however slight, in our existing 

 laws are sure to excite wide interest. 



For the purposes of this article I may be allowed to 

 divide this army of anglers into two classes: (1) Those 

 who come among us each season from other States to 

 spend their vacations with us, and in whose coming all 

 residents are more or less interested; (2) a much lai-ger 

 class of our own citizens who are finding out each year 

 that the grand resources of our own State can afford 

 them health ann sport at their own doors. Speaking as 

 a member of the second class, as an angler of some 

 twenty years experience, and as one who has made the 

 habits of trout something of a study, I desu-e to take ex- 

 ception to some of the sweeping statements in the com- 

 munication by "Angler" before referred to. 



He says "the change was vmcalled for, unwarrantable, 

 and unjustifiable." Let us see. "LTncalled for." In the 

 southern half of our State especially there has been a 

 strong feeling for some years that the trout season open- 

 ing on May 1 was too late; and in conversation with 

 sportsmen from various portions of the southern half of 

 the State, I have yet to find a single man who opposed 

 an earlier opening. Most anglers suargested April 1. 

 That date being thought too early, the loth was adopted 

 as a compromise measure. Our older anglers as a rule 

 prefer to wait for the better fishing later in the season; 

 but all that I have seen are heartily in favor of the 

 change, and these are a few of the reasons: Trout being 

 well past the spawning season are in good condition 

 (comparatively) and the supply of breeding fish can be in 

 no way affected by an earlier opening date. Then the 

 month of April is sometimes quite warm ; in this case 

 one of two things happens (and both bear hard on law- 

 abiding sportsmen), either some worthless fellows will 

 begin fishing a few days before May 1, or else (still worse 

 in my opinion) the month being warm, the trout run well 

 and the first day of May finds a brook filled with trout 

 which is literally skinned out the first few days of open 

 season, leaving but poor reward for later anglers. From 

 the standpoint of stricter protection it seems to job that 

 the months of August and September might be made 

 close months, but as those months are neeessary to the 

 fly-fishing interests of the northern part of the State, I 

 ■would not advocate this change. The effect of opening 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



April 15 will, it seems to me, be beneficial in more ways 

 than one. If the month of April is cold no fishing is 

 done: but if the month is warm a few anglers venture 

 outf rom time to time, meeting generally with poor success. 

 By the time the good fishing arrives quite a large per- 

 centage of the early anglers ai-e over the "fever" and 

 sometimes disgusted with the results, and I firmly be- 

 lieve that if there is any difference in number of trout 

 caught during a season, fewer will be caught with an 

 opening day April 15 than when the season opens on 

 May 1. 



I have not seen the text of the new law, but if I am 

 correctly informed it contains one glaring defect; it does 

 not prohibit taking brook trout through the ice. In view 

 of the fact that ponds in the northern part of the State 

 are. covered with ice to April 15 this seems to be aseriotis 

 mistake: and yet I am informed by members of the Leg- 

 islature that the Fish Commissioners are in a large meas- 

 ure responsible for the omission in this way; By their 

 bitter opposition to the change in time they aroused the 

 ire of members who were naturally in favor of the 

 change, and these members in their eagerness to change 

 the time rushed the bill through without amendment. In 

 short, the Commissioners by attempting to kill the whole 

 change (which fairly represented public opinion in the 

 southern portion of the State) missed the most vital part 

 of the bill — an amendment prohibiting taking trout 

 through the ice at any time. This omission is to be re- 

 gretted by aU sportsmen. 



AVith this amendment I believe the change to be a good 

 one — doing away with much illegal fishing and at the 

 same time protecting the trout. 



Do not let me be understood as saying there is a clash 

 of interests between the northern a7id southern portions 

 of our State. We of the southern portion — cheer- 

 fully — although against our better judgment, as far- 

 as om' own interests are concerned— allow the months 

 of August and September to be made open months 

 and in favor of the fly-fishing interests of the north, 

 all that we ask is that we be granted an open season 

 that in its opening will violate neither a rule of nature 

 nor an honest effort to preserve our trout. 



In my opinion the "yomigsters" of Manchester have 

 done well, and with the amendment before suggested 

 their efforts will meet the approval of the ma jority of 

 the sportsmen of the State. Certain it is that May 1 will 

 never be adopted again as an opening day with the help 

 of B, 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



As to the trout season, of which I wrote you, luckily 

 the clerk of the weather has taken a hand in the game, 

 and frost and ice have prevented any fishing for a week: 

 but it is moderating to-day, aud should we have a warm 

 pleasant Sunday the brooks will be pretty well skinned. 

 That's where the hoodlums get the advantage of quiet, 

 law-abiding citizens, and the Lord seems to favor Sun- 

 day fishermen in weather. Angler. 



THE LEMON SOLE. 



THE lemon sole is apparently destined to become an 

 important and well-known member of the flounder 

 family. Its existence in our waters has been known 

 since its discovery by the U. S. Fish Commission. The 

 late Professor Baird called attention to this valuable food 

 fish in 1877, and some of the renowned caterers of New 

 York and Boston placed it before a discriminating ptiblic 

 in very attractive style. The serious difiiculty, however, 

 to the rapid introduction of this fish was found in its ex- 

 tremely small mouth, which made its capture by means 

 of hook and line next to impossible. It was not until 

 March of the present year that Capt. Alfred Bradford, of 

 Gloticester, Mass., demonstrat ed at once the practicability 

 of taking this sole by means of the beam trawl, and the 

 suitability of the bottom from latitude 41" 45 " N. to the 

 Capes of Vu-ginia for the operation of this new apparatus. 

 Capt. Bradford towed his trawl over 140 miles of fishing 

 ground without a single accident, except once fouling an 

 anchor, in that long distance. The lemon sole was found 



to be extremely abundant and easy oT capture. In three 

 hauls it was estimated that fully 200 tons of fish were 

 siu-roimded, but their weight was too great to be lifted, 

 and fully 10 tons of these fish were liberated after a single 

 haul. 



This species has been previously described in these 

 columns under the name of craig flounder or pole flounder. 

 In shape it is not unlike the common sole of Europe, but 

 it grows much larger and is not a very near relative of 

 the sole. The eyed side of the body is light brown in 

 color. The fins are sometimes lemon colored, and one of 

 the common names is said to be derived from this circum- 

 stance. The head is small and the mouth diminutive. It 

 is a deep-water species and occurs on both sides of the 

 north Atlantic. It was always one of the characteristic 

 and most abundant species taken in the explorations by 

 the vessels of the U. S. Fish Commission. First discovered 

 in the deepest part of Massachusetts Bay, it has since been 

 obtained as far south as the entrance' to Delaware Bay 

 and as far north as Halifax. Its range extends nearly to 

 Greenland, and on the coast of Norway it reaches latitude 

 65=. 



This flounder is pqrtioularly adapted to deep sea life, 

 having been trawled in depths as great as several hundred 

 fathoms. It breeds in the summer, and the young have 

 been taken by the Fish Commission from July to October. 



The lemon sole, or pole flounder, grows to a length of 

 3ft,, and has provsd to be one of the best food fishes of its 

 famUy, bearing a strong resemblance in flavor to the 

 celebrated English sole. Its general tntroduction cannot 

 fail to give the greatest satisfaction. 



ON THE NORTH SHORE— IV. 



[.Contimied f rom Page 3^7.] 



EVERY thing being in ship-shape in our new quarters, 

 dinner was prepared and served, and then we took 

 boat and started for the home of the radiant trout. The 

 shore southeast from the camp disclosed splendid haunts 

 for this fish, there being a rocky bottom generously 

 creviced and fissured part of the way, and then gravel and 

 innumerable boulders; just the place for a brook beauty 

 to poise and lie in wait for prey, or fall a victim to the 

 seductive fly. 



We commenced casting the minute we left the shore, 

 and had not proceeded more than a hrmdred yards before 

 Ned had a magnificent rise, and then an infuriated trout 

 rapidly taking the braided thread from his silver spool. 

 Away, away, he s^jeeds like a gleaming arrow, until the 

 skillful angler puts a slight pressure on the reel, and then 

 with desperate frenzy he reaches the sm'face and makes 

 a tarpon-like plunge from the water, showing the lovely 

 glitter of the rainbow dye and shaking the crystal drops 

 from his quivering fins. Again in his realm he'starts with 

 lightning sjpeed, and with frenzied energy born of despair 

 bravely tries to shake in his rapid flight the__^mpered 

 steel from his trembling jaws. Another strarn^on the 

 fine, and then to the top he flashes, and with another 

 desperate dash indulges in graceful ctuwature, and as 

 quick as thought tmms and makes for the boat, with 

 evident intent of a trick. 



Bravo, I called, brave fellow, 

 Neat trick that in its way, 



Perliaps ere long you'll And, though, 

 We trick for trick can play. 



The little spool rapidly gathers the slack as he franti- 

 cally races, and thus discomfitted, he starts wildly on 

 another run, with rod bending and reel singing; and now 

 bewildered and much weakened, he makes a desperate 

 effort in plunging downward with savage shake, in hopes 

 of escape from the tu'eles line. It was his last rush for 

 freedom, and well nigh successful. A dash or two more, 

 and the gallant fighter shows signs of surrender, and 

 then inch by inch the reel recovers line, and soon the 

 angler has him within the contines of the net. The scales 

 register him as a five-pounder, and we record him as 

 handsome afontinalis as ever wore the colors of a rain- 

 bow on a spangled jacket. 



I was delighted to see the skillful angler successful, 

 and praised him highly for the masterly manner in which 

 he handled the autocrat of the lake. It was an artistic 

 piece of work, of which any knight of the rod would have 

 Ijeen proud. 



We are in good grounds, and carefully cover every 

 inch as we proceed. A foolish trout, that could not tell 

 the counterfeit, sprang upon my fly as it daintily lit upon 

 the water, and admirably succeeded in impaling himself 

 upon the cruel hook, and in a few moments thereafter 

 was in the bottom of the boat repenting of his hasty 

 actions. He was a poor companion for Ned's beauty, as 

 he was only about half the size. Again on the move, we 

 approach some large rocks, o'er which the water is gently 

 breaking, and where I am confident a trout or two lurks. 

 Ned is the first, being in the bow, to send his line near 

 the ragged edge of the rock. It met with a response, but 

 the angler met with a miss. 



"You strike too quick," says Joe. 



"Too slow, you mean," came the reply. 



I took issue with Joe as to the time, satisfied that one 

 can never strike too quickly when a trout rises. Joe never 

 responded instantly, and the season's fishing exempUfied 

 that he lost infinitely more strikes than Ned or I. He 

 said he never gave a twitch, simply keeping his line taut 

 by trailing o'er the water. If the theory holds good that 

 seven out of every ten troitt hook themselves on a taut 

 line, then it is evident that all the trout we caught hung 

 themselves. I always gave a twitch of the wrist the mo- 

 ment I observed a rise, and when I was a little slow about 

 it, I generally missed. Ned operated on the same basis. 



Having an opportunity to send my flies where Ned's 

 failed, I was lucky enough to hook and boat a 3-pounder. 



This being all we could capture here, we gUde along, 

 sending our lures into every tempting place, particularly 

 the dark streaks o'er fissured rocks. Ned was the next to 

 capture a beauty, and then I came in for a prise, x^fter 

 this we moved nearly half a mile before we got a rise, 

 and then I roused a tiger-like trout from his watery lair, 

 which I hung and killed in a short time. He was a good 

 3 pounder and a game fighter. A moment later I picked 

 up "a pounder," and elevated my nose when I saw him 

 fairly in the boat. I was after larger fish. 



But a rod or two ahead was a splendid fall, so Joe stated, 

 and I now recollected the spot as the place where we 

 had made some tine catches last season, Word was given 

 to push ahead for the promised land, and as we proceeded 

 a kingfisher, just ahead, was noted in the bright sunshine 

 sitting complacantly on the top limb of a dead tree, in aU 

 the splendor of brillant green and blue, and shining with 

 metallic lustre. "It's the same place," says Joe, "where 

 we saw one last year," and without doubt this was the 

 same bird that then watched us as we robbed his preserve. 

 This keen-eyed bird is evidently a dainty epicure, and is 

 always to be found on trout streams, or wherever the 

 sparkling beauty thrives. 



Reaching the desired locality we commenced sending 

 as airily as possible the feathered lures in search of the 

 golden fins, and infinitely successful were we in our 

 endeavors, for in the course of an hotir we had added six 

 more lovely troj)hies to our previous captures. It was an 

 hour of unalloyed sport, ever pleasant to dwell upon. 

 Having now more trout than Ave needed for immediate 

 use we headed our xjrow for the camp with a rapidly 

 declining sun confronting us and a sky luxuriant in 

 pearly clouds. We soon reached camp and sat down to 

 a good supper. 



We were surprised when we awoke next morning and 

 found it raining, as the indications before retiring were 

 for pleasant weather, as the sky was clear and bright in 

 twinkling stars. The best of weather prophets and all 

 the time-honored predictions frequently fail here. Joe 

 was as good a barometer as we needed, for he always 

 complained of aching limbs before a rain, being rhetimat- 

 ically inclined. 



"Rain soon," would come from Mm at times when the 

 sun was shming brightly, and generally he was correct. 

 An authority on the subject says when gnats fly in com- 

 pact bodies in the beams of the sun it indicates fine 

 weather, but if they retire under the shadow of the 

 boughs at evening rain may be expected. Snails aad 



