The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1898-09-30
Lake Morey Fishing Past and
Present.


have made Mr.. Babcock's acquaintance
while here at his col tage; we welcome all
such worthy visitors here, and the day
they leave Lake Morey for their homes is
the day from which we look forward to
their return the next season, and with
many others truly wish the fishing in
Lake Morey could again be what it was
only few years ago-before the rapa-
cious bass were let loose in it's waters.
AS | was born here and have never had
any other home and was boat-keeper for
several years have seen some of the ups
and downs of the fishing here. | used to
fish and catch fish with hook and line and
also with other natives" here used to
quite an extent that instrument and GER
tain emblem of barbarity, the spear.
Tradition tells us there were trout in
"Fairlee Pond" once, but that Samuel
Morey, the inventor, and in whose honor
the name Lake Morey was given and who
then owned most of the land around it,
stocked its waters with pickerel from
Lyme PoDd, and, doubtless, it was Fair
lee Pond instead of Fairlee Lake that he
stocked with pickerel IN 1909, mentioned
in Thompson's History of Vermont; be
that as it may, it is well known that this
body of water was the best place in this
region to catch pickerel, and the pickerel
we're of the finest quality and highly ap-
preciated, while perch, very valuable
kind of fish, were very abundant and of
excellent size and quality. Suckers were
so abundant as to be thought ineXhausti-
Bile, many old or middle aged men now
living near here well remember the whole
boatlOadS of them that could be taken in
a night from the middle Point and 9th
er brooks. HOrDpoutS, by many cOnSid-
cred the most excellent table fish, were
so plenty that anyone could catch as
many as he wished for, in an hour or two
on simmer evening. Spearing the
pickerel off their spawning beds prevent
IDl l,as. al,
iniure the pickerel fishing perceptibly tOr
a time,p but the laws prohibiting this
abOminable practice and the returning
good sense of the inhabitants around the
lake soon gave the return of good picker
ell fishing, as many OF its friends will tes-
tify.
will refer without permission to such
gentlemen as j. B. w. Prichard, John
Hardy, e. II. Curtis, Ellis McDuffee and
Col. D. X. Andross of Bradford, and will
allow them to give the details of their
own fish stories; but | we'll remember
when these men used frequently to come
to our place for boats, bringing with
them large pail or tub usually large
covered wooden bucket of minnows for
bait and taking it home full of fish
caught here In the top part of the buck
ct would be, as an ordinary catch, from
ten to twenty Tor more very fine picker
ell, weighing from one to four or five
pounds each Enough good large perch
weighing from one-half to one pound
each were put in the bottom of the buck
ct to hold those pickerel at the top, and
the fishermen of those days were very
smiling and much more willing to show
their fish than they have been in the past
few years | mention these men in per-
feet confidence that they will stand as
evidence that through all this excellent
pickerel fishing, with open season sum-
mer and winter there was an abundance
of ol1 al na ch
myriads of those beautiful little pond
sinners" (by many known as goldfish
and also great numbers of Clubs or
''rock dace." | believe these gentlemen
will each and all say emphatically that
pickerel. are most excellent fish for
many reasons, among them, good to
catch, good to dress, good to eat and good
for all these things all the year round,
and that they were really the fish Tor
"the people," But there came a time
when class of men styling themselves
"sportsmen" began to decry pickerel as
"fresh water sharEs,' "destroyers, T." club
hers to catch" and ''of no account"
Why? These men had seen or heard of
black bass, "the sportsmen's fish," 1.-THE
true game fish," ETC., etc. Yes, and we
also the fact that their game is the mean
est e have ever vet seen played. g, r
Green goods men, buncO steererS, three
card Monte men and nearly all other de-
frauders and robbers usually let their
victims 90 after they have robbed them;
but not so with black bass. There is no
end to their marauding as long as there
is anything they can MURDER drive or
plunder We have personal knowledge of
their deStruCtlVeneSS toward all other
fish in Connecticut and Waits Rivers and
Lake Morey, while reports from Lakes
Winnepesaukee, MasSabesic, Squam sun
apee, and more than twenty other bodies
of water in New Hampshire, that were
stocked with bass strengthened these i'm
pressions. Pickerel are the only fish thus
far able to any extent to breed and thrive
in the same waters without artificial aid
and culture, and for this reason alone
pickerel deposit their spawn in the. grass
and weeds of the shallow waters and on
the meadows while flowed. At about the
same time that the bass are very vigilant
on all sandy or gravelly shoals, protecting
their own spawning eds and picking up
the spawn of the perch, suckers and all
other fish that attempt to spawn on such
grounds; or if few spawn are deposited
and Matched they make dainty morSelS
for the nearest bass while not pickerel,
or any other fish will touch bass, large
or small, or linger in its company. And
so our perch are terribly thinned out, our
pond sinners eXterminated, suckers be-
coming very scarce, and the condition OF
our lake is, as Mr. Babcock says, very
bare of minnOwS, crawfSh and other fish
food" but the bass have caused it and
what can be done to remedy it, OF
course this is the reason SO many more
bass were caught the past season, they
were hungry. There are plenty of them
here, land we expect the bass fishing will
for time improve in proportion as their
food grows scarcer.
1t is true the bass are game fish and the
delight of the sportSmen who understand
catching them, and are by some people
considered a very fair table fish, and as
they are here to stay we hope there can
be some way to keep the fishing of Lake
Morey up to and improve its present
standard, for the pickerel fishing is also
quite good. We appreciate every effort
of the state fish commission, but we fear
that to furnish enough trout and land
locked salmon to keep the bass and pick
erel well fed Will require several more
state hatcherieS running on full time.
We do not believe that the scheme of
CLOSING the waters to all fishing what
ever excepting the two months, July and
August" or stopping William Martin
from selling few pickerel to his friends
in Bradford and such of the cottagers as
desire him to get them few fish, will in
crease the small fish and fish food in the
lake; we know that such legislation
would be ve,y unsatisfactory to the ma
jOrity of residents, cottage owners and
frequenters of the place, many of them
L Aa1