FOREST AND STREAM 
657 
Maine Salmon Fishing 
By L. C. Douglas. 
Portland, Maine, May 5, 1914. 
The interest in the salmon fishing at Sebago 
Lake is being revived with the reports that have 
been circulated relative to the large catches that 
have been made since Sunday. 
Mrs. Fred Bliss of Norwich, Conn., who is a 
guest at the camps of R. P. Thompson at the 
mouth of the Songo River, met with excellent 
success Monday. Mrs. Bliss with her guide after 
a struggle secured a handsome 10 pound salmon. 
The fish was one of the finest specimens of land¬ 
locked salmon that has been seen at the Songo 
this year. 
Mrs. Bliss later in the day landed two three 
pound salmon. 
C. L. Marren of Lowell, Mass., took a 7 and 
5 1-2 pound salmon this morning; Freeman Bill 
of Lowell, Mass., landed a 5 and 7 pounder. 
George C. Dempsey, a Boston angler, had an 
interesting session with a blackspot to-day. The 
fish struck viciously at the attractive phantom 
trolled by Mr. Dempsey and after the salmon 
had become thoroughly hooked, it took nearly 
three-quarters of an hour to kill him. The 
salmon tipped the scales at nine pounds. 
Other anglers successful were, Dr. C. F. 
Mullen, Cambridge, Mass, one of 6 and one of 
7 pounds; Miss Polly McCue, Boston, one salmon 
5 pounds. 
T. J. McDonald, Lowell, Mass., a 6 and 3 1-2 
pounder; M. J. O’Flearn, Brookline, Mass., one 
six pound. 
Thomas Hill, East Sebago, one salmon 4 
pounds. Albert Martin, East Sabago, one 5 
pounder. 
Fishermen are meeting with good success at 
the mouth of the Songo River and some hand¬ 
some redspot trout have been taken. The fol¬ 
lowing Portland men have landed trout: Richard 
Conant, two trout, largest 3 pounds; Belcher 
Waugh, one of 2 pounds; Harold Kirkpatrick, 
two, of two pounds each; Roger Thaxter, two 
of 2 pounds each; George Shurtleff, one 3 1-2 
pound redspot. 
Other catches reported at the lake are: Fred 
Fitch, East Sebago, one 6 pounds; Mr. Follett, 
Boston, two of 3 and one of 4 pounds; H. L. 
Sutton, Boston, two, 3 pounds each; Maurice 
E. Finn, Boston, one 8 pound salmon and 15 
brook trout; E. Frank Lewis, Lawrence, Mass., 
one 5 pound salmon; L. C. Spaulding, Rochester, 
one 4 pounder; Bristow Draper, Hopedale, Mass., 
25 brook trout. 
The smelts are coming back out of the rivers 
and brooks from their spawning beds now and 
there is every indication that some of the finest 
salmon fishing imaginable will be obtained with¬ 
in a week, if not sooner. The best sport will 
be available in what is known as apple-blossom 
time, when the salmon are well fed and the 
water and weather generally is warmer. 
All eyes are now turned upon Maine and its 
fishing and vacation resorts. While in some 
sections the snow is still deep in the woods and 
there is teaming being carried on across Moose- 
head Lake up around Kineo and North East 
Carry, the ice in other lakes is fast breaking up 
and almost daily reports are received that the 
heavy winds of the past two weeks have wrought 
havoc with the ice and it is going out of the 
ponds. 
Green Lake which is located some distance 
beyond Bangor is clear and the following catches 
have been made: R. L. Higgins, Bangor, one 
3 pound salmon; Mrs. H. Stafford, Bangor, one 
3 pounder; A. E. Hardy, Bangor, one bass three 
pounds weight; F. Frazer, Ellsworth Falls, one 
Capt. E. B. Nickerson’s Catch in Sebago Lake, 
Maine. 
5 pound salmon; Daniel Mason, Bangor, one of 
5 pounds. 
At Lake Auburn, twenty-six salmon, totaling 
80 pounds were captured over the week-end. 
The ice has left Phillips Lake and Holbrook 
Pond at Phillips, Me. Long and Great Lakes 
in the Belgrade Lakes section are now clear of 
their embargo of ice and bass and trout fishing 
is on in earnest. 
Surf Fishing by Night 
By “Switch Reel.” 
REMEMBER a dark night on the beach. 
Three of us hit the sands about half¬ 
past eight. A “ dry northeaster ” was 
piling the booming breakers high on the beach 
and they were coming fast. The flying spray 
kept everything damp and salty. The black 
heavens shut out the moon’s light and the mist 
obscured nearby objects. We were compassed 
about each in his own small dim circle and out¬ 
side was mystery and the incessant roar of the 
sea. The sport had been most discouraging for 
a week. Twenty rods working faithfully and 
not a fish to show. From early dawn until after 
mid-night regardless of weather the faithful ones 
had relieved each other hoping the fish would 
strike in. 
A dim object slowly drew near. It wasn’t 
ten feet away when I first noticed its approach. 
It was Jim following his drifting bait. We 
exchanged a few monosyllables. My bait was 
“laying” well. He passed inside and I raised 
my tip to let him go under. In a moment he 
was lost in the swirling roaring gloom. A short 
time afterward I reeled up just for the excite¬ 
ment of putting on a fresh bait. Casting at night 
is a sporty proposition, because a back lash is 
serious in the dark. It sometimes spells “finis,” 
for the flickering light of a bonfire or a lantern 
is too poor for some of the birds’ nests achieved. 
One thumbs prayerfully. No splash is visible 
to tell when the lead strikes. The reel must be 
stopped by instinct, yet, strange as it may seem, 
back lashes are comparatively rare in the dark. 
Some casters even seem to think they cast better 
at night than in daylight. 
I took up the slack of the cast and found the 
lead drifting. Slowly side stepping southward 
I followed it. In ten minutes I came to the 
box on the dry sand just back of the overhang 
made by the last tide. It was there that our 
basket of crabs and our sand spikes had been left 
and on the box sat Sahdalla brooding fiercely 
over a cigarette. Broad shouldered, deep chest¬ 
ed, tapering trimly to the heels, swarthy, smooth 
skinned; eyes dark and by turns dreamy, stern 
or wary; booted to the hips in rubber, a great 
black slicker encasing his massive form and a 
black sou’wester pulled well down. 
“Well?” I questioned in passing. 
“Rotten!” he answered with a shrug. And off 
I went after Jim in the roar and darkness, think¬ 
ing of him as some great black spirit working 
a mysterious conjure. I could almost feel his- 
dark and wild resentment against the ill fortune 
attending us and seemed to know that a few 
minutes later his mood was to change to one 
of grim determination. An hour later I got 
back to the box. There sat Sahdalla humped 
up and gloating. His rod was in his sand spike 
and his cigarette flaring its feeble light as he 
puffed. But at his feet was a thirty-five pound 
channel bass! Yes, even in the darkness before 
seeing the fish, I sensed his gloating. And he 
seemed more than ever a part of the weird¬ 
ness and roar and blackness. Jim came and 
when we had picked up our duffle and were 
swinging across the sands toward the hotel, 
Sahdalla in the lead with his great fish dangling 
down his back, I knew the storm of wild exulta¬ 
tion that raged in his breast, a fellow to the 
storm that raged over the sea and the sand dunes 
as he battled his copper colored submarine tor¬ 
pedo boat through the surging roaring breakers 
that were pounding the beach that black night! 
Johnstown, Pa., May 16. 
The fine weather of the last few weeks has 
brought out the anglers in full force. 
The Swank Hardware company recently of¬ 
fered a weekly prize of a steel fishing rod to 
the person capturing the largest trout in this 
vicinity. The first honors have been awarded 
to George Livingstone of Valley street, who at 
the upper end of Millcreek dam succeeded in 
capturing a rainbow that measured 19 1-4 inches 
weighing 2 3-4 pounds. F. G. Rogers of Seward 
was second with a 16-inch rainbow from Bis 
Springs run, the trout weighing 1 1-2 pounds. 
