92 
KENDALL: NEW ENGLAND CHARES. 
It is my opinion that fish crave salt the same as a deer and a little given them occasionally is 
of great benefit. 
“The largest speckled trout I ever saw which was caught in a brook weighed four pounds 
and two ounces and measured eighteen inches in length. The largest speckled trout I ever heard 
of was caught in the Rangeley Lake, Maine, which, if my memory serves me correctly, weighed 
ten and one-quarter pounds.” 
In Forest and Stream of June 30, 1887, page 495, someone writing under the pseudonym 
of “Percival” gave a formula for trout weight: “Apropos of the discussion in late numbers of 
the size and weight of trout, particularly that in your last issue by Mr. Page, the following may 
be of interest. 
“The weight of a trout if of normal shape, and by this I mean not excessively short and 
chunky, extremely so, in fact, may be approximated with great closeness by the following 
formula: 
1,000 ’ 
in which W equals weight, L equals length from eye to root of tail (not total length), and G 
equals girth, which, as the formula shows, should be cubed. The result is the weight in ounces. 
In fish up to say 5 lbs. this is extremely close, in larger fish it, of course, is liable to slight differ- 
ences, increasing as the fish departs from normal form. 
“Applying this now to some of the fish whose measurements and weights are given by 
Mr. Page, say for example his own trout, which was 30 x 18, and subtract a reasonable amount 
for. nose to eye and tail (for the length was of course total) we find the weight IO 2 lbs. which 
is close to Mr. Page’s figures. Applying it to Mr. Grote’s we find it about 8^ lbs., which is what 
the fish must have weighed.” 
Large trout . — The size which the trout might attain was for a long time a subject of dis- 
putatious and argumentative discussion. Hallock mentioned one from the Nepigon River 
which was said to have weighed 17 pounds. In newspapers and sportsmen’s journals even 
greater weights have been reported from other localities, some of which were in Maine. The 
largest trout reported from the Rangeley Lakes was one of 24 pounds, said to have been taken 
in 1872 by a boy who had left his hook baited with a minnow in the water over night. In con- 
nection with the account of this fish others of 17, 15, and 12 were alleged to have been subse- 
quently caught. Such records were undoubtedly based upon mistaken identification or mis- 
information. 
In American Fishes, G. Brown Goode stated that the Brook Trout seldom exceeded two 
or three pounds and a five-pounder was thought a monster. He referred to the Rangeley Lakes 
as a famous locality for large fish and mentioned one obtained by Professor Agassiz in 1860, 
which weighed 11 pounds. 
