348 
FOREST AND STREAM 
June, 1918 
Stream, going back to the first issue, for 
his chapter on big trout. 
But before the close of the Civil War, and 
antedating Forest and Stream, the Rangeley 
Lakes were famous. We cannot do better 
than to draw on the material found in the 
chapter “Trout Fishing in the Rangeley 
Lakes,” written by Edward Seymour in the 
handsome volume “Sport with Gun and 
Rod” issued by the Century Company about 
thirty-four years ago. 
Mr. Seymour describes the excitement 
that broke out in the angling world when 
several New York gentlemen in 1863 
brought home with them from the Range- 
ley Lake region a number of real brook 
trout, some weighing as much as 8->4 
pounds. At once a violent discussion broke 
out as to whether these trout were the real 
Salmo Fontinalis. Prof. Agassiz settled 
this point by declaring after examination 
that they were. 
George Shepard Page of New York was 
one of the pioneers who made known to the 
world these enormous Maine trout. He 
kept careful record of his catches, and 
below is given the result of a ten days’ 
catch, made in 1867, by himself, Mr. Stanley 
of Maine, and Mr. Fields of Gorham, N. H. 
name has been associated. Concerning this 
fish Mr. Page wrote in Forest and Stream 
of June, 1883, that in 1867 he carried alive 
to his private pond in New Jersey a female 
trout weighing 834 pounds and a male that 
weighed exactly 10 pounds. They were 
weighed after they had been three weeks in 
captivity, during which time they had eaten 
nothing. 
In Mr. Page’s words, “They had endured 
the discomforts of nine miles across Range- 
ley Lake in a fish car which contained forty- 
three brook trout averaging 5 lbs. each; 
thirty-five miles by wagon ride, four hun¬ 
dred miles by railroad; across Boston and 
New York by express wagon ; and two miles 
by wagon in New Jersey! Describing this 
experience on one occasion to the late Prof. 
Agassiz, I inquired what they probably lost 
in weight. He replied, ‘the male trout at 
least two and one-half pounds and the 
female one and one-half pounds.’ This 
would make them twelve and one-half and 
nine and seven-eighths pounds respectively. 
The male trout was thirty inches in length 
and eighteen inches in circumference and 
eleven inches in diameter.” 
In Forest and Stream he later stated that 
the male fish weighed after death 10 pounds. 
No. 
of Trout 
Weight of 
Each in Lbs. 
Total Weight 
in Lbs. 
No. 
of Trout 
Weight of 
Each in Lbs. 
Total Weight 
in Lbs. 
3 
2 
6 
2 
534 
1134 
1 
214 
234 
5 
6 
30 
3 
234 
734 
2 
634 
1234 
2 
234 
534 
1 
634 
634 
5 
3 
15 
1 
7 
7 
5 
3 34 
1634 
3 
734 
2134 
3 
334 
1034 
3 
734 
2234 
2 
334 
734 
2 
734 
1534 ’ 
1 
4 
4 
2 
8 
16 
2 
434 
9 
1 
834 
834 
1 
4 34 
4 34 
1 
834 
834 
3 
5 
15 
1 
834 
834 
1 
534 
534 
1 
934 
934 
1 
534 
534 
1 
10 
10 
293 
59 Trout. Average, nearly 5 lbs. 
Here is an exhibit from the record book 
of the old Camp Kennebago Association, of 
six days’ catch by eleven members in 1869, 
not counting smaller fish. 
Three of 4 lbs. each ; one 4 J 4 lbs.; two of 
4 H lbs. each; three of 5 lbs. each; one 5% 
lbs.; four lbs. each; two of 6 lbs. each; 
two 6 l /l lbs. each; two 6Y\ lbs. each; two 7 
lbs. each; one 714 lbs.; one 7^2 lbs.; three 
8 lbs. each ; one 8*4 lbs.; one 9 lbs.;—total, 
181% lbs., averaging over 6 lbs. each. 
In the vernacular of tire day, that was 
“some fishing,” particularly so when it is 
stated that most of these trout were taken 
on a fly. 
Now let us get into the researches made 
by Dr. Kendall. 
T HERE are four records of Rangeley 
Lakes trout weighing from 12 to I2j4 
pounds, of which two are authentic, 
the others being more or less uncertain es¬ 
timates. All but one of these were taken 
on the spawning beds and the exception is 
the 914 pounder just referred to and which 
is discussed later. 
The first was the one caught by Mr. 
Stanley with which George Shepard Page’s 
one ounce, and that according to Stanley 
and Atkins it would weigh approximately 12 
pounds. 
This weight was not equaled until eleven 
years later, when two men dipping Blue- 
back Trout in October, 1878, caught the two 
trout, one of which, a female, according to 
Commissioner Stanley, weighed 12 pounds, 
and a male which weighed io34 pounds. 
Both were returned to the water. This is 
possibly the record referred to by Captain 
Barker in a letter to Forest and Stream 
under date of March 28th, 1886, in which 
he says: “As far as I know the large trout 
taken near Rangeley Dam a few years ago, 
by the men fishing for breeding purposes, 
still stands at the head of the list of our 
large trout. I did not see the fish weighed, 
but a man who did told me this afternoon 
that the weight was an honest twelve pounds 
two ounces.” 
In September, 1879, another large trout 
was heralded in the papers as weighing 
12 pounds, caught by a Mr. Marble and 
his guide, Steve Morse, of Upton, at Upper 
Dam, September 30th. A correspondent of 
Forest and Stream who saw the fish 
weighed, stated that its actual weight, taken 
sometime after the fish was caught, was iiJ 4 
pounds. He wrote: “It was a most un¬ 
gainly fish, a male with a wonderfully prom¬ 
inent hooked jaw. I saw the fish a few 
moments after its capture and had seen him 
several times on the spawning bed which 
the trout had made at that time a few feet 
above the dam, owing to the low water. 
The trout, evidently an old one, was thin 
and flat, but very wide, with a crooked 
back. The numerous pictures on the covers 
of guide books, and on the advertisements 
of the various railroads, do him justice only- 
in point of ugliness. Still he had the bright 
spots and the vermilion side of the prefect 
Salmo Fontinalis at the breeding time.” 
T HE Forest and Stream of July, 1886. 
published the following: “The Biggest 
Brook Trout.—We have to record the 
capture of a brook trout weighing \2 x / 2 
pounds by Mr. J. Frederic Grote, of Nbw 
York City, in Mooselucmaguntic Lake, 
Maine, on June nth. The fish was a female 
and Mr. Grote kept it in a car for one week 
when it died. It was weighed several times 
at the Mooselucmaguntic House, in the pres¬ 
ence of Mr. John Schultz, of Philadelphia, 
and the proprietors, Messrs. Crosby and 
Twombley. It was 26J 4 inches long, 1734 
inches girth, 7% inches deep, and was 4 
inches thick through the back. The guide 
was Jerry r Ellis. We believe this to be the 
largest brook trout y r et recorded.” 
In Forest and Stream of June 23rd, 1887, 
George Shepard Page wrote in comment 
that C. T. Richardson informed him that 
the trout was one that Jerry Ellis, Mr. 
GroteVguide, called an 8 pound trout, but 
did not weigh it. After the entrails were 
removed after having been in the car four 
days, it weighed 8 l / 2 pounds. Commissioner 
H. O. Stanley estimated the weight as 8 j 4 
or 9V2 pounds, basing its estimate on the 
known weight of one of like dimensions. 
Of trout weighing 11 pounds and over, 
but below 12, the one previously referred to, 
ir ’4 pounds, caught by' Steve Morse, guide 
to Mr. Marble, was taken September 29, 
1879, and reported as a 12-pound fish. 
Doubtless Ii 34 is authentic. 
On June 7, 1887, Dr. S. J. Mixter, of Bos¬ 
ton, caught, by deep trolling with minnow 
bait, three trout of the respective weights 
of nJ 4 , 9/4 and 6 pounds. In answer to 
an inquiry by Wrn. C. Harris, publisher of 
the American Angler, regarding the largest 
fish, C. T. Richardson stated that he saw 
the trout weighed after nearly one pint of 
spawn had run out of her and the stated 
weight was absolutely correct. This record 
is almost entitled to enter the 12 pound 
class. As it is, however, it is the largest 
fish caught on a hook and line by an angler 
during the fishing season in the Rangeley 
Lakes. Its length was 2754 inches, depth 
8J 4 inches, thickness 4 inches, girth 20j4 
inches. 
O F trout weighing from 10 pounds, in¬ 
clusive, up to 11, there were 15, of 
which two of 10 and ioj4, respectively, 
were taken on the spawning grounds in 
1867; one of 10, also a spawner, taken in 
1873; two of ten each, also spawners, in 
1878; one of 10/4 and one of 109-16 taken 
in September, 1883, the latter caught by Mr. 
John Prentice near Brandy Point. Regard¬ 
ing it the Editor of Forest and Stream 
stated that it was the third largest. 
(continued on page 372! 
