News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-01-17
SMELT FISHING IN MAINE,
THE ARMY OF SPORTS3sEN ENCANPFp
ON THE ICE.
The Method of Catching The Delicate Little
Eish-A Village OF SmeI:-Fishers Flying
Before a Gale.

The Method of Catching the Delicate Little
Eish-A Village of SmeI:-Fishers Flying
Before Gale.
III anyone likes fishing through the
ice with the thermometer 10 degrees be-
low zero and the wind blowing some
times at the rate of % miles an hour. he
can lind his ideal sport just now on any
OF the rivers and inlets along the coast
OF Maiue," said Mort" Scott. we'll
known In angling circles in New York
city, who returned recently from a week S
hShlng for smell ON the Maine coast.
Smelt-fshiDg is now at its best up
there, but the weather Is about at its
worst. at least in the estimation of the
visiting sportsman 1t is; but those native
and TO the manner born think it couldn't
be better. They don't seem 10 mind &
little matter such as the marcurv regis
terlng 10 degrees below. ard to see their
tents lifted from the ice by the wind and
carried upward like balloon IS regarded
by them as only an episode that adds
zest and humOr to their enjoyment
When l left there the other day it was
SO cold that the holes IN tie ice froze
over nearly rs fast as they were cut,
even with fires in the tents, and TO keep
them open required little more labor
than even my enthusiasm in the sport
could well Overbalince. Bat there were
scores of fishermen on the ice when
lett, for the smelt seem to bite better
the colder 1t IS, and after this month the
hshlng gets poorer, the fish moving
gradually to other quarters.
''Smelt-hshlng through the ice" cor
tlnued the speaker, ''does not differ
much from the same mode of angling for
pickerel, but the element Of uncertainty
is unknown in the former sport You
may fish all day sometimes for pickerel
and then be obliged TO buy enough to
save yourself from going home
'skunked, but when you cut your holes
in the ice and put in your lines for
smelt, you are lust as certain of being
kept busy pulling out fish as you are that
you bait your hook. A smelt isn't as big
a fish as a pickerel. but he's a game
fighter, aud there Is an excitement about
tending the lines that fredericksburg
does not create. The people up in
Maine look upon smelt-fshing as the
sport of the year, and they come from
miles about the country to enjoy it.
Even the Indians from the far-back
country tramp in to the coast
during the season to exercise their
skill in Turing smelt. The tackle foy
smelt-fshing Is very simple. The line
Is an ordinary stout linen cord, about
four feet long. To one end of this is
attached piece of lead about three
inches long and the size and shape of a
hree-cOrnered file. This is called file
snker To q swivel in the other end of
the smker is tied a pink-colored smell, |
made of common fish-line, to which is |
attached hook such as is used IL fishing /
for catfish. The smell is two feet long. |
The water acting on the triangular /
sinker, hung on its swivels, keeps it con- !
stantly twirllDg abont, aud the bait, /
which Is an ugly-lOoking insect called |
the clam-wOrm, is always III motion. |
Each fisherman viii have an average of /
four lines, III as many different holes, ii /
he seeks the enjoyment of the sport /
under the protection and shelter of a |
tent, or house, as the natives call them.
If ne, Ike many of the local anglers, Is !
Drawing the clements with the sole inten- !
ton OF extracting profit from the catch, !
and dances and trots about on the ice re-
gardless of extraneous aids to combat
the wind and frost, he is likely to have
ten or dozen lines TO care for, spread
over an area a hundred feet around: and
Ii the fish are biting good he will have
but little time to think of the cold, rs he
will be kept busy hauling up his lines
and keeping the holes open.
1T has only been within a few wears
that such thing as smelt-fshing under
shelter was known The fishermen had
either to stand out unprotected against
the gales and storms that seem to be
kept .on tap along the coast for use at
any moment or pull up their lines and
go home. To be sure, they could pile
up walls Of ice and thatch them with
pine bougbs, but as it frequently is
necessary for the fisherman to change
his location and the ice barricades could
not we'll be taken along, the building OF
them x-nerallv time and labor
Thrown away. BY the way, that is a
peculiarly Of smelt-fshIng. The fish
may be biting SO that you viii be kept
constantly hopping from one hole to
another to land your catch. Suddenly
your 'tip-ups' VIII cease to tip. The
smeits have taken it into their heads
that the locality Is not safe for them,
and have moved. Well, in a case of this
kind, as I said, the angler would find bis
ice and pine boUghs useless, and he
would have to desert them to hunt up
the spot to which the fish had changed
their base. But one season q man named
Job Secor went up from Boston to try
smeft-fshIDg. He tried If for a day and
froze one foot and both ears, aud then
went away. But he didn't 90 home.
He went to Belfast and had a heavy
wooden frame, 10 feet square, made by
a carpenter. He procured some sail
canvas and covered the frame with it,
leaving an opening for a door. The
frame was On runners. When the house
was finished he had IL drawn upon the
ice and placed over the holes heintended
to fish through Then il occurred to
him that hs miQht add still further to
his comfort, and he bought a small box
stove, ran a pipe from out one side of
the house, started roaring pine-wcod
fire IN it. aud. seated on a bench, fshed
as comfortably as if he were in his room
at the hotel watching a stove-pipe hole
In the floor. The house was secured to
the ice by graphing irons. If smeait
ceased biting IN ole spot, he simply
loossned his grapples, showed his house
along on the runners, and '5quatted' in
more favorable quarters. No one who
fishes for s02ealt simply for the spnr;
there Is II It has zone Oh the ice since
then without one Of the houses. Many
who make a business Of smelt-fishirg
have adopted tue plan, and now, IN the
height Of the season, 4 stranger going
Tor the first time t. any OF the rivers or
irlets along the coast would imagine
that small army was in camp there.
Goa good day for smeit the average
catch pcr line VIII be at least 100, cor say.
81 pounds. The fish net the business
angler about five cents n pound, and have
caaay sale III the local markets. On
"Wednesday Of last week was having
busy time n my house. had only two
holes IA use, for the fish were biting so
lively chat [ coulln't take care of any
more. Itwas showing hard ard blowing
harder. bat my lire was roaring inside.
aud { -as to,erably comfortable. Sud
deny along came one of t. ose Zephyrs
thai love TO play mp and down the Maine
coast. L seemed to think that / was
emitting things a little too fat around
there, aud It stopped at my mt, got
. luvernge on my grapples, and the next
instant Int, fisherman, stove and all
wy" moving of at lively speed. The
fT0.-t pat OF the stOye-vhicn WAS 10,
much i1Te illaI toy stove, being ONLY
tw. AID q hall feet long-dropped into
one of the holes IL the ice, and the
whole business went down among the
snelt. We were scudded along for
huadred yards, when my house cameui
contact vijh another fisherman's honse.
This lid a Sudden halt, and took