The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-04-07
THE SALMON SEASON IN MAINE.
Fishing in the Famous Pool in the Pe-
 nobscot Above Bangor.

nobscot Above Bangor.
 The salmon fishing season at the fa-
 nous pool in the Penobscot river, mile
 above Bangor city hall, will open to-
 morrow, and soon the big pink fishes
 will be displayed on the market slabs
 here and receive honorable mention in
 the dinner bills of New York and Bos-
 ton hotels. The river is still frozen over
 for miles below Bangor, but there is a
 large open space at the pool where the
 salmon are caught, and sportsmen pre-
 dict that there will be a good run of
 fish at the start The open time for sal-
 mon is from April 1 to July 15, and in
 that period many thousands will be
 taken from the Penobscot, either by the
 fly or in the weirs and nets down the river and bay. At Bangor pool all sal
 mon are taken with the fly, and it is
 here that the enthusiastic anglers from all over the United States gather every spring to try their skill,
 The Penobscot is by far the best sea salmon river on the Atlantic coast, and the bulk of the supply for the eastern markets of the country is taken in the weirs below this city All along the river the salmon finds it's way, and may be seen sporting in the rapids hundreds of miles above Bangor or resting in the shady pools in quiet stretches of the far awayswest branch. e}fs " +s49@ %
 Fly fishing at Bangor pool has been a great sport since 1885, when Thomas Allen, a warden, found that the sal mon would rise to the fly Anglers of note from all over this country and frx1 spring to cast for the big fellows, and while they usually have good luck, they long for a return of the days described by the old settlers when both salmon and shad were so plentiful that ship loads of them were sent in dried or pickled form, to the West Indies and South America, and when they were used even as a fertilizer in potato fields. It was a common saying on the river then that a vessel had a cargo of sal mon and shingles out, rum and mo- lasses back" on a voyage to the West Indies.
 The luckiest fisherman or the most skilfu in the history of Bangor salmon pool is Fred w Aver, the Bangor lum- herman, who has caught with the fly 800 pounds of salmon in single season. The total catch with the ky at this pool ranges from 6,000 to 5000 pounds in a season, the weights ranging from ten to thirty pounds, sixteen pounds being about the average. The first fish of the season, if it gets to market, brings about $1,25 a pound, and quickly at thta, for there is always a rivalry be- tween hotels to get the first Penobscot salmon.
 The first fish is generally taken on the first day of the season, and last year the man who caught the first salmon sold it immediately for $2125, while for the entire season his catch was worth over $500, The seasons first salmon us- ually goes to some New York or Boston hotel, or to the president of the United States Fish sent to distant parls of 1 the country are packed in boxes filled | with moss, sawdust, and cracked ice, | and in this way they have been trans ported thousands of miles. After the | first week or two the price in Bangor | market falls to seventy-five cents a i pound then to fifty, and when the weirs begin to send in their supply the best cuts can be bought here at retail for fifteen to twenty cents pound. Ban gor people care little for salmon, but the silver-sided beauties are always in demand in the big cities. It is curious to note that on the dinner bills of New York hotels "1Xennebec salmon" are featured There is no such thing as a Kennebec salmon, any more than there Is a Moosehead mackerel. The salmon so referred to come from the Penobscot.
 Among the famous fishermen who come to Bangor in the springtime to- try their luck with the salmon fry are Archibald Mitchell of Norwich, Conn.,, Judge Porter and Lawyer Briscoe of the same city, Rev. Newman Smyth of New Haven, and q dozen or more ;portsmen from New York city. Charles Burnett of Glasgow. Scotland, has been l frequent visitor and in the course of } season good many notable people from various sections of the United tes join the naglers at the famous oool.-Bangor Letter in New York Times.