The Portland daily press., 1886-11-01

West Branch, or in Chesuncook waters, per-
haps. Up in these waters the young fish spends
its infancy and youth 1t stays there for three
years, and grows from a little fellow very
small indeed to fish weighing as much as
three quarters of a pound. It is now able to
travel, and impelled by instinct starts down
river for the salt water Of the ocean. Down
there 1t thrives apace, and in one or two
years has grown to weigh five or eight
pounds. Then the instincts of breeding be-
GIN 10 pe reallzeu, ana the salmon unerringly
seeks those waters where it spent its YOUTH
almost as II impelled by the human wish that
It's offspring may enjoy the security in which
the parent did so we'll, They remain up the
river Tor given period, and then return
with the spring floods to the ocean, not TO re-
turn again until the instinct of breeding
again shows them the way to their old home.
This is supposed to happen once in two
years. The present season, salmon put in
the head waters of the Saco six years ago are
returning to spawn: But 1t takes about ten
years before the fish get large enough to
yield any substantial returns.
"It is during these j0urneyingS to and
from the spawning grounds that the greatest
slaughter of salmon has been made in times
past and is still continued in some places.
An illustration of this is furnished by the
landlocked salmon of Sebago Lake. In ap-
pearance and in many of its habits the land
locked does not differ from the other variety
OF salmon; especially is it liable to the same
misfortunes. Fifty years ago there were a
great many salmon in Sebago Lake; now
there are comparatively few. The reason of
this Is simple. Crooked river has been the
great breeding place. 1t is long and, as its
name implies, very crooked. The fish COM
mlsslonerS have not had means to watch it,
so the poachers have slaughtered the fish
without hlndrance when the latter, blind To
everything but their mission to breed, were
on the spawning GROUNDS. But this yeaI
we have new plan which we are put
ting into operation at the present time. We
stretched weir in Crooked river below their
spawning grounds; and instead of allowing
the fish to 90 up the river to be killed, we
have caught every one, and are confining
them until their eggs ale ripe. We now have
100 salmon weighing on an average about
eight pounds each, while there are several
| as heavy as 20 or % pounds. We have
just begun to take their eggs, getting about
GOO to every pound of fish. These eggs we
shall hatch at our works at Edes Falls, and
| put the young fish into Sebago waters. They
| will stay in the streams about year, going
| into the Lake during the second year. In
this way we shall circumyent the poachers
and eventually get Sebago Lake well stocked
''All other fish are not so difficult to prop
| agate as the salmon. For instance, you turn
dozen bass into pond, and they will stock
| it in few years. But it takes as many
as ten years. with all your care, before you
can expect to have many returns from your
salmon. Ten years ago we put landl@cked
salmon into WelC Pond. This year a salmon
weighing ten pounds has been caught. which
pleases us greatly.
There are lots of queer things about q
salmon, and the queerest is its desire for
novel and gaudy colored food. Now make
| a great many salmon flies. such as are used
! by fishermen, and | know Just wha
a salmon likes. We have to ransack the
globe to suit him. You know on a salmon
hook the feathers have to be the real article
You can't color hens feather and pass il
off for the plumage of an English Kingfish.
| er. 1t won't do. The feathers must be gen
uine, and the fly must be made with care. Il
is all done by hand. We hunt over the world
| to find brilliantly col0red birds. Here is the
skin of a Scotch Pheasant. 1t is from this
| that we get the golden feathers ON this
hook. These blue feathers are from the Eng
| lish Kingfisher, and have in my book case
there the skin of a jungle Fowl from India.
| With such gay feathers we fix up the bait fol
| the salmon. And it is very remarkable that
the bats that the salmon likes best bear re-
semblance to no insects found near the wa
| tiers where the salmon feed, or in fact to any
insects in existence. We simply make them
up in the gayest shape we can imagine. But
| the salmon has preferences. dor instance
here are two hooks of different kinds; one
| is called the Jock Scott and the other the
Silver Doctor. Their makeup, the arrange
ment of colors seem to please the fish, and
these hooks are in great demand Salmon
flies are made by hand, and as it takes time tC
| make them, are worth from twelve to eigh-
| teen dollars dozen. Other kinds of flies
come cheaper as trout and bass, and mosi
other fish are not so dainty as the salmon.