THE SMELTS 
291 
that had there been smelts there they could not have been seen. Subsequently the 
only smelts observed during the daytime were not over a dozen in each of the two 
pools under special observation on the 22d and 23d, only one smelt on the 24th, and 
a small school in the hatchery pool on the 25th. 
The information concerning the breeding season of the fresh-water smelt in most 
of the lakes of Maine is derived from observations of several persons, but largely 
from unpublished notes made by Atkins many years ago. 
Long Lake . — Mead (1883) referring particularly to Sebago waters, wrote: 
“When the first frog peeps” smelt may be looked for with an almost sure chance of success. 
The time of their running up brooks but a mile or two apart varies. I have known the “ big smelts ” 
plenty the tenth of April; this year they were in the height of their run in the brooks emptying 
into Long Pond about the twentieth of April; they vary with the seasons. The smelts almost 
invariably ascend the brooks in the early part of the night and return to the ponds towards morn- 
ing; a few times only have I ever seen them in the brooks by day-light. Both kinds (for I shall 
treat them as distinct kinds) come to the same brooks; the males of the “ big smelts ” are the first 
to appear probably to prepare the spawning beds. After making their appearance in “ old bachelor” 
style for a few nights, females will begin to straggle along, and for the last few nights both males 
and females are taken in about equal numbers. The “run” lasts from one to two weeks. About 
the last of the run of the larger kind, the “little smelts ” come to the same brooks and to all appear- 
ance on the same errand, straggling at first, but in multitudes finally; their run lasts about the 
same length of time as that of their big brothers, extending about as many days after the large ones 
have disappeared as they were behind them in making their first appearance. After the spring run, 
very little is seen of either kind for the remainder of the year. 
Two years later, under date of April 25, the same observer (Mead, 1885) said 
that the run of smelts exceeded anything for many years. He stated that one party 
caught 480 large smelts the night before in Rogers Brook, and that he heard good 
reports from all the brooks on Long Lake. He said: 
I am led to believe that the main army of smelts do not come to the brooks every year, and 
it may be that they pass over several years. For a number of years the run was so small that it 
appeared that they were diminishing rapidly. Fifty smelts to a net per night has been considered 
a good catch for a number of seasons past. It may be that on some particular year they were not 
disturbed and a large amount of spawn was left, but as all the brooks responded at the same time 
I incline to the first view. The run this year is something like old times. 
Again, two years later than this, signing his initials only, the same correspon- 
dent ( “J. M.,” 1887), under date of May 28, wrote that the run of smelts was equal 
to that of any recent season; that the water was unusually high and probably a 
larger number than usual escaped the dip net. He said that a few days after the 
water fell he visited Rogers Brook and was attracted by what appeared to be 
frost on a space a foot or more in width upon the brook margin, but upon closer 
inspection he found that it was smelt eggs left by the receding water, which had 
turned white by exposure to the air. 
Sebago Lake . — The late Frank Meserve, in 1898, told the present writer that 
the smelts begin to run at about full moon in April, the large smelts preceding the 
small ones, and the runs of each size last about a week. It is said that they run 
in almost every stream, large or small, but usually are found later in the smaller 
streams than in the larger ones. He stated that the smelts ascended Crooked River 
as far as Edes Falls. 
