880 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Ajkil 27, igor. 
the shore of the cove, where old Phil waited for us at the 
tishhouse door. -' 
"Come, come, boys!, the breeze is comin'," old Phil 
said. "Bundle right into the boat, Elder. That was a 
good discourse ye give us last Sunday, sir. Pull away, 
Lawyer! Everybody. '11 be out o' the breach ahead of us 
if ye ain't lively. I ain't lookin' for anybody to haul our 
gear to-day." 
Voices and the creaking of blocks echoed across the 
cove. How the various crews found their boats was a 
mystery. Lawyer rowed the skiff unswervingly to the 
side of the twenty- four foot cat. Young Phil held her 
alongside while we hopped aboard, and then the skiff's 
painter was tied to the anchor biioy and the heavy sail 
went up into the darkness slowly. 
Cap took the tiller the instant we were aboard and 
Old Phil was too busy hauling on the sail. to scold. 
"Cast off, there!" was the command. "Here she 
comes !" 
A faint breath of air fanned my cheek as 1 tried to 
peer across the cove. 
"Got your 'scare', Phil?" demanded the skipper. 
Young Phil answered from the head of the boat with 
a mighty blast upon the horn. The catboat, lumberingly, 
at first, began to move. The water — smooth as oil else- 
where — rippled at the bows, and I hung over the rail 
and watched our phosphorescent wake. 
Old Phil came back into the standing room evidently 
improved in temper. 
"Light up down there, Lawyer, an' put some water on. 
There's some 'shorts' in the well, an' the Elder an' the 
doctor here'U have an appetite in no time." 
wasn't altogether sure of that, but I said nothing. 
.\ fishing smack isn't expected to smell like the perfumed 
boudoir of a duchess; but there was something about the 
odor which pervaded this boat that laid over anything 
I ever before experienced, and I once resided for a brief 
time between a soap house and a fertilizer manufactory — 
which ever direction the wind blew, it was always strong. 
They tell about one fastidious old lady on the island who, 
during the lobster season, made her husband sleep in the 
barn, and I don't blame her. 
The luscious criistacean (which is most extensively 
canned and then served to us in our Broadwaj' restau- 
rants in beautifully manufactured paper-mache shells) is 
not a beast of cleanly tastes. Like the oyster and the 
clam he is a scavenger — whether from taste and desire 
or because of a partial paralysis of the olfactory nerves 
T am not prepared to say. Certain it is that nothing at- 
tracts him to the pot but bait in an advanced state of 
decay. Perhaps, as he is largely a native of the New- 
England coast, he may be troubled with the universal 
catarrhal difficulties of that region. 
However, there was a good sized bait tub with us and 
before we got through the breach and out where the 
morning breeze was chopping the sea nastily. I began 
to feel as though I'd have saved money and effort by 
skipping my several previous meals. But those "shorts" 
steaming hot from the pot, were delicious! 
. "Get enough of 'em down ye, an' j^e can't be seasick," 
declared old Phil, and I have faith yet that he was right, 
only — I couldn't get enough downl I am not naturally 
a garrulous individual and I can usually keep a secret all 
right, but after the catboat was by the end of the break- 
water and heeled over before the gale, I positively could 
keep nothing to myself! 
But day was cftning now with a rush. There was a 
broad band of light in the east and a flash of blue over- 
head as the breeze swept the fog blanket away to sea- 
ward. The sand hills loomed up on the island — great 
yellow patches against the darker background; and soon 
the isle in its entirety, all hills and vales, with scattering 
trees and clustering, weather-beaten dwellings, lay as 
prett}' a picture as God ever made under the beams of the 
rising sun. 
The boats swept by the fish pounds, the piles which 
held the long strihgs of twine (the fisherman's term for 
nets), casting monster shadows across the tumbling 
Avaves. The crews hailed each other and the tooting of 
the "scares" was stilled. It was a pretty race past the 
rock-strewn shore, and stretches of smooth beach where 
rhe boats lay above the reach of the tide. The tw'o sturdy 
figures, approaching the life saving station from opposite 
directions were the surfmen coming in from their last 
"beat." 
The boats drew apart now, for although the sea is so 
trackless to the landsman, it is like the stree.ts of a city 
to these fishermen. They know the shortest course to 
their gear, and take it, for it will soon be low tide, and 
the pot buoys float too far below the surface to be picked 
up at any other time. 
"In a line nor' nor' west from the kam buoy — twenty- 
two pots," the skipper mutters, and although there isn't 
.such a thing as a compass aboard he rounds the catboat 
to directly over the first yellow-striped pot buoy. 
The boat lays there with her big sail all shaking and 
Young Phil, hanging far over the rail, catches the buoy 
with the boathook and haiils' it in. A big, black "i" 
painted on one side of the four by four strip of timber, 
proves that Cap has made no mistake in his calcula- 
tions. Everybody but the helmsman lays hold of the 
rope and the pot, weighted heavily with ballast rock, 
comes in slowly. 
The pot is a home-made cage of laths with a two part 
net inside in which the foolish lobster is led astray. The 
bait is in the inner net and Mr. Lobster never knows 
enough to get out the way he came in. If the gear lies 
too long without being pulled, however, the An'ctim may 
cut the twine and get clear — a costly proceeding for the 
lobsterman, for each of these pots cost a dollar and fif- 
teen- cents to manufacture and the profits from the busi- 
ness is not what it once Avas. 
"Tliere's a 12 inch one," Lawyer observes, with .sat- 
isfaction, plunging his hand in and grabbing the angry 
crustacean, whose clashing nippers have no fear for him. 
•The tAVO others, however, are 'shorts'— under the legal 
lens-th — but all are taken. The fishery laAvs are not A'ery 
faithfully enforced on the Sou'west Ledge. There are 
several deep sea crabs lunching on the lobsters' dinner, 
too, but these are flung back as not being worth market- 
ing;, The bait is renewed, the heavy pot raised to the 
rail_ and tipped over, and with a revert^erating' splash 
it -sinks %gam into the sea. ' ^ 
"Boom!" shouts the Cap at the tiller, the sail sweeps 
round, catches the breeze again, and we are off for the 
next pot. 
"When we used to find two and three good lobsters 
in a pot every mornin' there was money in it," Old Phil 
remarks. "But they're scarce— have been for several 
seasons. The papers say we kill off all the small ones 
and that's what's the matter, but we gotter live. The 
hotels '11 take all the 'shorts' we get at three or four 
cents apiece, so why shouldn't we take 'em? Noav we 
only haul gear every other day, an' the season is short at 
the best. Just as soon as the bluefish strike on, you bet 
we don't fool away our time at this heavy work." 
And it is back-breaking work to haul the heavy gear. 
The men are saved from saturation by their long boots; 
but their hands are cut and parboiled, and it is disheart- 
ening to sometimes haul pot after pot to find nothing in 
them but crabs and sea-spiders, which devour the bait 
and are worth nothing. 
Every time the bait tub is uncovered we get a stronger 
whif of its odorous contents and finally I give up the 
fight again and cross over to the other rail to "coi-ipL- 
mune with Neptune" once again. I am disgusted to see 
that the Elder is a better sailor than myself, and am 
doubly disgusted that I cannot" follow Old Phil's pre- 
scription and eat enough of the hot boiled lobsters to 
cure my well developed case of mal de rner. 
"You can see how little there is in it for us, sir," Old 
Phil says. Oracularly. "We've got to invest more 'n a 
hundred dollars every season for new gear, for what 
pots the sea don't pound to pieces, the brick barges and 
such like pick up, and those chaps don't stop for a poor 
fisherman's lobster pot." 
I have sufiicient interest, despite niy perturbation of 
soul, to ask a question oh this point. 
"HoAv do they pick 'em up? - On their haAvsers. The 
barges drift along behind the tug with their hawsers 
hangin' slack most of the time. The hawser catches 
under one of the pot-buoys and the whole gear is drag- 
ged off the bottom. It makes them barge men so mad 
to get tangled up that way that they just slash in with 
a knife and let the pot go to the bottom and the buoy 
go floatin' ashore. There ain't many of 'em like a barge 
captain, that run afoul of some gear off the Old Harbor 
last season." 
"What did he do?" asked the Elder. 
"M^hy," and Old Phil bit off a "chaAv'^ apologetically 
behind his hand, Avhich act the Elder carefully refrained 
from noticing, "his tow picked up a pot and he carried it 
along Avith him to Boston. The feller what set the gear 
put it down to profit 'n' loss, same 's we all do, but a 
couple of weeks later he found the lost gear set right 
in line Avith the other pots an' only two or three numbers 
out of the Avay. There was a shingle nailed to the buoy 
tellin' where it had been an' how the barge captain had 
brought it back with him. an' dropped it as near home 
as possible." 
There was a strained silence after that lasting several 
minutes. The Elder confided to me later that our friends 
restrained themselves very well, indeed; it is hard for 
sailors not to play somewhat upon the credulity of 
landsmen. 
The first string of gear was finished and the 'Cat ran 
over to the second, and then a third. The last Avas scarce- 
ly under run before the tide rose too high to make such 
work impossible. The other boats Avere beating up the 
island toward home and we folloAved with them. The 
gale had not clianged its direction and there was a spat- 
ter of rain occasionally which drove the passengers 
under coA^er. But the cabin was strongly impregnated 
with the effluvia from the bait tub, and I quickly prefer- 
red a wetting to its hospitality. 
A long leg out into Block Island Sound and a short 
leg toward the shore brought us up to the breach. I be- 
lieve the sea began to grow smoother then; at least I 
was more used to its pitching, and by the time we scut- 
tled through the narrow passage into the New Harbor 
I felt (like Jerome K. Jerome's brother-in-laAV who went 
on a sea voyage for his health) that if I had only a little 
more time I could have gotten square with those hot 
lobsters. ■ 
For a man with no olfactory appreciation of bait a lob- 
ster boat is the place on Avhich to eat the succulent crus- 
tacean. If he has ever eaten them steaming hot out of 
boiling salt water, he will forever deny the "stiffs" of- 
fered him along Broadway, no matter how fancifully they 
may be served. 
But between the reckless breaking of the law by the 
fishermen, and the greediness of hotel keepers who would 
rather buy "shorts" for a cent or tAvo less per pound 
than pay the proper price for lobsters of legal length, 
that course will soon have to be cut out of our menus al- 
together. There are a few lobster nurseries along the 
coast, but yoiing lobsters are harder to raise than Jersey 
cattle, and it is rather discouraging for any private indi- 
vidual to spend money, care and much time in hatching 
and feeding the youngsters while somebody else reaps the 
financial benefit. W. Bert Foster. 
• Spring: in the Aditondacks* 
Essex, N. Y., April 18. — A sign of spring more potent 
than the first robin Avas the arrival of the steamboat 
Chateaugay at the Essex dock this morning on her 
maiden trip for the season. The ice broke in the head 
lake a week ago, but there are still miniature icebergs 
and floes in abundance. 
Essex enjoyed just one-third of a year of consecutive 
sleighing during the past winter. There are places in the 
woods Avhere runners are still being itsed. The snow in 
the basin at Dix last week Avas from six to eight feet deep, 
while at the base of the mountain, though soaked and set- 
tled considerably, it was from tAvo to three feet deep, with 
no bare ground to be seen. The deer have had one of the 
hardest winters in this section for many years. The snow 
water will not be entirely out of the brooks till late in 
May, and good brook trout fishing cannot be counted on 
before June i. 
In the_ ponds, of course, the season will be earlier, the 
best fishing being immediately after the ice goes out, or 
about May i for this section. J. B. B. 
The Forest ahd Stream is put to i)re8s each week on ^Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at thf 
latest by Monday and as i^w^ eariier af prseticabte. - 
NewHEngIand]f Fishing. 
Boston, April 20.— The ice is out of Sebago Lake, 
Me., and that opens the landlocked salmon season there. 
On Tuesday the telegraph announced that the lake was 
practically clear of ice, one day earlier than last year, 
Avhen die Big Bay was clear April 16, though the ice 
hung in the Lower Bay for several days. Boston fish- 
ermen were hardly ready to be off. the ice going earlier 
than was anticipated, but some of them have started. 
Mr. John G. Wright, Avho has fished that lake almost 
every spring for a long time, will not be there this spring, 
for he is in Europe. The Sebago Club members have 
lost their interest there, having disposed of their camp, 
Camp Sebago, last year. They Avill seek another location 
somcAvhere in Maine — ^liave several fishing places in 
vicAV. J. L. Peters started for Sebago on Wednesday. 
J. P. Kendrick and a fishing friend are all ready to start, 
but are hoping for warmer weather. Mr. Farrington, of 
Lewiston, with Elliott Russel, of Rangeley, for guide, 
will fish Sebago next week. It is a new feature for a 
Rangeley guide at Sebago. A Portland dispatch of 
Wednesday evening gives a glowing account of fishing 
at Sebago. A party of Portland fishermen returned that 
evening from the lake, where they had been since Satur- 
day, having gone up as soon as word came that the ice 
had started at all. They brought home twenty-four 
salmon, ranging in weight from 4^4 to 7 pounds. Mr; 
Edward C. Walker, of Portland, also took, in three days, 
seven salmon, the united weight of which was 27 pounds. 
G .Fred Murch landed a salmon yesterday that weighed 
754 pounds. 
The ice is not out of Grand Lake at this writing, 
though expected to go very soon. A number of Boston 
fishermen are anxious for the report that the ice has 
gone. The ice is out of Cobbosseecontee, Gardiner, and 
fishermen are flocking there. Of late years the early fish- 
ing there has been excellent, many fine salmon being 
taken. Lake Auburn is not yet clear of ice, and Lewis- 
ton and Auburn fishermen are all ready for the event. 
Almost every day some one of the more experienced of 
them goes up to the lake and reports on the condition 
of the ice. The last report suggested that it might be 
the 2Sth before the lake would be clear. The weather is 
very cold in that part of the country. Snow has fallen 
in some parts of northern Maine several times during this 
week. Most of the nights have been very cold, with 
hard freezes. The i* is not yet out of Varnum and 
Clearwater ponds, Farmington, and it is likely to remain 
in some days longer. Reports from the camp and hotel 
people there say that several Boston and New York 
sportsmen are expected as soon as the ice goes out. 
As for the Rangeleys, the ice is likely to linger for a 
couple of weeks longer, at the very shortest. Following 
the lead of Sebago, the ice will not leave the Rangeleys 
till about May 10 or 11, since Mooselucmaguntic was 
not clear till the 12th last year, and Rangeley till a couple 
of days later. But Capt. Fred C. Barker, of Bemis and 
the Birches, is reported to have written a Lewiston 
party that they could come about the first of May and 
bring their fishing rods. Still it must not be forgotten 
tliat a numbef of sportsmen were stranded at Bemis last 
year for three or four days, waiting for the ice to go 
out. 
NoAV it looks like the putting up of a lot of camps and 
summer cottages in the vicinity of Sunday Cove, Um- 
bagog Lake, the lower lake of the Rangeley chain. Mr. 
F. N. Saunders, of Lewiston, and Mr. Estes, of Auburn, 
have purchased a large tract of timber land in that 
vicinity, including a long strip of shore, and will sell 
such lots, along the line of the lake, as may be desired. 
These lots will front directly opposite Metalluc Island, 
on which Mr. Harry Dutton, of Boston, erected a sum- 
mer home last year costing about $100,000. A great 
many years ago somebody did the foolish thing to put 
pickerel into Umbagog Lake, always a Avonderfully good 
trout lake before. But soon the trout fishing begun to 
decline, till finally nobody thought of going to that lake 
for trout, though there Avas good pickerel fishing for 
several years. But finally that began to decline also. 
The Maine Fish and Game Commissioners have stocked 
Umbagog with black bass, and a good many landlocked 
salmon have found their way down the Rapid River, 
five miles, from Richardson Lake and the Middle Dam, 
till noAV trout and salmon fishing begins to be good in 
Umbagog itself. The theory is that the pickerel are de- 
stroyed, or at least cannot thrive where there are black 
bass, and this has certainly proved true in Maranacook 
and the other Winthrop lakes, as well as Cobbos- 
seecontee at Gardiner. Those most interested hope to 
see Umbagog restored to its former prestige of furnish- 
ing the giant trout of the Rangeleys, while salmon fish- 
ing is very likely to be good there. Rapid River shows 
a wonderful number of these fish in the spawning season. 
Massachusetts lovers of the lobster, and particularly 
the Fish and Game Protective Association, are greatly 
pleased that Gov. Crane has A^etoed the bill to repeal the 
laAv against the mutilation of lobsters, as Avell as the bill 
reducing the size of lobsters that may be legally taken 
to 9 inches. The Governor is flatly against both meas- 
vires. He set forth in his veto message to the House, 
concerning the bUl that Avas designed to permit of the 
mutilation of lobsters, that if such a measure were passed 
all protection of the lobster would be lost; since it is so 
easy for the, lobster fishermen to tear lobsters to pieces 
that are under the legal length, and then sell them as 
lobster meat. The bill reducing the legal length the 
Governor did not believe to be either reasonable or ex- 
pedient, since there is great danger of the utter destruc- 
tion of this noble crustacean along the Massachusetts 
coast. Maine has a law preventing the selling of rnutilat- 
ed lobsters. 
Boston, April 22. — The ice is going out of the Maine 
fishing waters early, after all. A dispatch from Lewiston 
Saturday stated that the ice had gone from Lake Au- 
burn, and that local fishermen were on the lake, al- 
though the Aveather was cold with a dense mist, This 
clearing is six days earlier than last year. Mr. Henry 
Hanson, a local fisherman, has a record of the departure 
of the ice from Lake Auburn for the past ten years, as 
follows: In 1890, April 26; 1891, April 27: 1892, April 
21; 1893, May 5; 1894, April 24; 1895, April 23; 1896. 
April 25; 1897, April 26; 1898, April 18; 1899, April 30; 
1900, April i6. It will !?e -seen that April 20th. the 4a.p? 
