Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1875-07-19

FISHING AT MeNsEHEAD LAKE.

There is great difference in sportsmen.
Your city-bred man comes with any num-
ber Of tlies,s with patent rod, with all the
latest improvements. He dresses In cor
duroy and fannel twines his extra sllies
around his hat band, and tucks his troW-
sers into his huge boot legs with the sig:
nificant air of knowing what he is about.
Quite another man is the genuine fisher
man, whether from the city or livingat
the lake. He indulges in no superfiuities,
doesn't talk, goes straight for game. He
has the best guides, the bes. canoes, the
best fishing ground. Generous as he may
be in all things else, he is always selfish
in his fishing. He can not endure rival
Most of the guides understand all that can
be known about fishing. 1t is one of the
strong points in their profession. They
invest but little in novelties They are
not confined to the fly. A stick. a hook,
can always count ON their SUCCESS Many
a minister, apostolic with his rodif not in
his commission, and many a lawyer have
know how to do it. They can no more
limpart the skill to others than. you can
make the divining-rod work in uniting
hands. The birch skiffs shoot out from
| the Kineo pier at 9 A. NJ or earlier, often
wives and daughters accompanying the
| fishermen, and go TO the famous fishing.
pools. returning at night with the brilliant
| ly spotted game, which is served for
breakfast the next morning. q The guides
have wonderful skill in handling these
birches in quick water and amidst heavy
seas. They are Yankees, Indians, and
half-breeds. intelligent. thoroughly wide
awake, and interesting in all that relates
to backwoods life. and capable of story
telling TO any extent. The Day-Dream
takes parties to all points on the lake for
fishing or pleasure-io the Outlet, to Lily
! Bay. to the Socratean Stream, to the North
west Garry, to Spencer Stream, and to
the North Bay, the east side of Kineo
Cliff.S A. whale-boat with a steam-engine
in it, a gem ofa steamer. the factotum at
Mount kineo, it works night and day dur
ing the height OF the season, and brings
the distant hooks and points of interest
within easy reach for the days sport.
Guides and fishermen rapidly assimilate
| in appearance as the days 90 on, till you
can hardly tell the bronzed faces one from
the other, and are forced to confess the
truth of the saying that dress makes the.
man-certainly makes the Distinction
| which we too often ascribe to birth or for
| tune.
The fishing itself is hardly what it used
to be when the lake was overfull of
speckled trout. 1t now requires more
skill. The trout do not rise so readily to
the fly, and yet the sport is not lesscned
they are still ahundant-if you can catch
them. They spawn in the brooks which
feed the lake. Spencer Stream is q IA
nous spawning bed. 1t is filed with lit
| tie mounds or heaps OF gravel stones made
by the trout. which carry the pebbles in
their mouths, and place them in regular
order over their spawn with their tails.
The survival of the fittest is the law in the
realm of fishes as well as in the contest of
races. The male trout protects the female,
| while spawning, from the reaches and red
| fins, which seek to destroy the spawn, and
these mounds are the castles Of defense
which the trout erect for this purpose.
Even with this protection, it is estimated
that not more than one trout in thousand
arrives at maturity. The little streams
are alive with the tiny trout darting to and
| fro in schools in the shimmering light.
| The fish have their haunts. with which all
the good guides are familiar. They often
follow the log booms in the spring, and
have their holes as in the meadow streams
The fly is used at all seasons, though Sep
tember is the best month. Deep-water
fishing is best in June, July. and early in
! April 10 June. White fish and lake trout
are caught in large quantities through the
ice in winter. Buoy fishing is common all
through the summer. Famous stories are
told of the lakers or togue. The largest
specimen yet taken weighed twenty-seven
pounds. Our guide was positive that he
had seen several uncaught which ought to
weigh hundred apiece. These lakers
/ are the monsters of the deep. and prefer
to live on their own race-cannibals in
fact and cannibals in appearance. The
spackled trout are the best to eat, and the
most gamy to catch.-Reu. Julius II. Yard
in Harper's Magazine for august.