23B 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
rather high. The temperature of the water was 42° F. and the air 50° F. at noon; 
at 8 p. m. the water was 40° F. and the air 32°. The smelts continued to run until 
May 6. The last seen were only two inividuals on the morning of May 7. On 
May 6, at midnight, the temperature of the water was 42° and that of the air 40°. 
Probably very few smelts escaped capture, for almost every night the brooks were 
frequented by boys and men who fished in the usual abusive way. 
In 1926 the season was very backward. No smelts were seen until April 17, 
when three or four were observed below extreme high-tide mark. The fish must 
have come up during the preceding night, when high tide occurred at 3.05 a. m. 
At 10 a. m. the temperature of the air was 40° F. and that of the brook 36° F. 
The first visit to the brook was on April 11, when the stream was high and 
muddy and the weather very cold. Cold weather continued, with the exception of 
April 14 (which was mild), until the 17th, when three or four smelts were seen. On 
that date it is possible that other smelts than those seen were present, but the water 
was turbid. 
On the 18th the brook was still turbid but had subsided considerably. One male 
smelt, nearly 7 inches long, but not quite ripe, was caught. No other fish were 
seen. At 9 a. m. the temperature of the air was 34° F. and the water 36° F. 
On the night of the 20th 10 smelts were caught and a few others were seen. At 
10 p. m. the temperature of the air was 32° and that of the brook 34°. High tide 
occurred at 5 to 5.20 a. m. The smelts were all taken below high-tide mark. 
From that date the smelts gradually increased in number, with some fluctuations, 
until April 30, when they began to fall off. The last (about a dozen) were taken on 
May 16. This season the fish were not nearly as numerous as they were the preced- 
ing year, and there were so many fishermen it is probable that the fish were nearly 
all caught. 
The following notes represent some of the observations made in previous years 
in the aforementioned brook in Freeport, Me., and in another tributary of Casco 
Bay at Brunswick, Me.: 
Freeport, Me., April 18, 1903 . — The ice went out during a warm spell in the last 
of March. Smelts were caught for some time prior to this date. On the night of 
the 18th a few hundred were caught. It was high tide at Portland at 4 p. m. The 
smelts did not appear in the brook until after dark, but were running on ebb tide 
for some time after the tidal water had left the brook. About 9.30 p. m. one young 
man had taken about 200 smelts and ceased fishing. He estimated that about 400 
in all had been taken. 
Freeport, Me., April 18, 1903 . — A good many smelts were caught by six boys and 
young men. Most of the fish were taken below high-tide mark, even several hun- 
dred yards below; probably between one-half and one bushel of smelts were caught. 
Notwithstanding the intensive fishing evidently some escaped, for a number were 
seen some distance up the brook. Fishing had been begun too early to permit of a 
good “run.” The fish were easily caught by hand. So intent were they on ascend- 
ing the brook that it was with difficulty that they could be driven down into the 
nets set in the brook. Milt did not run freely from the males, but eggs were easily 
expressed from the females. 
