The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1905-05-18
MAINE TROUT and SALMON
u. \. Taylor in the Boston Globe.

u. \. Taylor in the Boston Globe.
With the vanishing of the ice from
lake Sebago and some of the goodly
waters in other parts of Maine, fort
night or so ago, the half year period of
inaction for the angler came to long
and impatiently waited close. Many
of the trout brooks in this State were
open for line wetting weeks earlier,
but for those who delight in trolling
for big square tails and land-locked sal
mon there was no opportunity until
Sebago partly picked the lock of frost
and gave up more than a score of sal
mon one Monday forenoon when the
wind blew cold enough to threaten an
other freeze. The largest was IA
FOUNDER, killed by man named Bru-
nell, but everything of interest cling
ing to that first day has already been
told
Much has been done throughout New
England and especially in Maine, to
meet the ever increasing demand for
good fishing by the medium we'll do
and wealthy Americans, who are tigur-
atively batting toes against heels in
their efforts to get to the wilds. for a
time at least, each year. Maine has
more than half a dozen extensive fish
hatcheries where trout and land locked
salmon, togue and white fish are hatch
ed and reared to lingering and year-old
lengths and in addition the T. S. gov
eminent supports two big hatcheres
and substation for the propagation of
inland water deniZens and the Atlantic
salmon. Twenty years or so ago there
were less than half score lakes in the
State where land-locked salmon could
be found. The number may have been
less, but the fact is that originally this
superb finny arlstocrat was Indigenous
to but four. They were found in Seba-
go and three lakes of the Sebec, the
union of which is a tributary of the Pc
nobscot and the st. Croix systems. Sc
bago, which is in the Presum pScot SyS-
TEN, furnishes, or did until recently,
the largest of the land-locked salmon
in the State, but other lakes like Au-
burn and the RangeleyS, are now CON-
ing to the fore with fish quite as bulky.
Frequently there occurs among an
glers dispute as to whether or not the
land locked salmon was originally a
saltwater fish. Much has been said
and written on this subject without
any satisfactory conclusion being
reached. Those who commended that
the land locked salmon is fresh water
habitant direct attention to the raw
fact that in many waters where they
abound, notably in eastern Maine and
several of the Nova Scotia, New Bruins
wick and lake st, John region waters,
there is nothing to prevent them from
returning to the sea, which, it is con-
tended, they certainly would do were
they full brothers to the Atlantic sal
mon.
On the other hand, dsputants who
hold to the theory that these fishes at
some remote period got into fresh
water and couldn't find their way out
again, assert that it is only in waters at
the heads of streams or rivers to which
the sea salmon actually resort now, or
did in the past, that the land-locked
species are to be found.
Maine has achieved a success in
stocking probably not equaled by any
other State in the Union. There was
an immense amount of disbursement
encountered by those who first at
tempted to interest the legislature in
the artificial propagation Of fish, but
facts brought to bear on those who at
first looked upon such scheme as
moonshine and wasteful resulted in
the establishment of lone hatchery.
First attempts at stocking were with
fry, which, of course, were quickly
gobbled up by everything from horn
pout to pickerel.
When at last the vexing discourage
ments of planting inch-long trout and
salmon in the States waters finally
came home to the commissioners, like
the kick of a mule, they changed their
methods. Lakes and ponds were screen
ed at the outlets to prevent newly in
troduced fish from wandering away to
other places and stocking with finger
lings and year-or-more-old salmon and
trout was begun. This method, backed
up by close time on brooks emptying
into stocked waters. and the prohibition
of ice fishing, brought about the desired
result, and there are now in Maine
nearly if not quite 200 lakes and ponds
where salmon are to be found.
AS for native trout waters, there are
hundreds of them in lake, pond and
stream formation, some of the Aroos-
took lakes teeming with one-half to one
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