As old man winter loosens his grip on the region, many a Rangeley angler is now braving our legendary, albeit chilly waters, in search of trout and salmon. This annual rite of spring via rod and reel is now a 185-year-old tradition. However, truly Native anglers would scoff at that number as they had been fishing here with spear, gig, weir and net for over 13,000 years! But that is another story for a future edition perhaps.
What follows appeared in the April 30, 1896, edition of the RANGELEY LAKES newspaper and shares some of the experiences and hard-won knowledge gained from a first fishing trip to Rangeley by a group of novice anglers just a mere 127 years ago.
What remains true even to this day is the importance of securing an experienced local guide, especially if you are new to the area and/or fishing or pursuing any of the fun sport or activity one can enjoy here. Don’t make the same mistakes these flatlanders made.
(All text reprinted just as it appeared in 1896. Contemporary commentary printed in italics)

Some Rangeley Experience
Our party consisted of two medicos and myself, a newspaper man; and this being our first experience in the Maine angler’s paradise, we learned some things, by experience and expense, that might serve to help other novices who try the same thing. “We thought we had arranged to have a steamer meet us at South Arm, Richardson’s Lake, and therefore left Andover at 3 in the afternoon with no misgivings. A misunderstanding caused us to remain at the boat landing all night. There was no shelter there, and we slept under the stars and found “the canopy of heaven” a cold coverlid. It didn’t help matters when, in the cold, gray dawn of morning, we found that there was a hotel a few rods up the lake and just hidden by a depression in the shore line. We did happen to have some pork in our luggage, our provisions had been sent on to Upper Dam, and catching a number of 1lb. trout, we had a nice supper. All things must end, and so early the next afternoon saw us at Upper Dam; and here is pointer number one. Unless you have much baggage, so much that you can’t handle it yourself, fight shy of the honest lumbermen at Upper Dam. We paid $1 for transferring our five small bags and bundles a distance of 100 rods,
(They paid about $36 in today’s money, for toting those 5 bags approx.1650 feet, so that lumberjack soaked those greenhorns pretty good).
Our objective point was Buckfield Camp, which is situated on an island at the head of Mooselookmeguntic Lake, about a mile from Senator Frye’s camp and Lake Cupsuptic.
(This island is now connected to the mainland by a small causeway and bridge and lies just northwest of Haines Landing).
On our way up, when Capt. Barker’s little steamer was making ten miles an hour, Deke, a member of the party, fired at a loon with his Winchester. The distance was fully fifty rods (825 feet), the boat was far from being still, but he killed the bird, and it now adorns Dr. T .’s office in Rockville, in the Nutmeg State.
(That would be Connecticut and today this “nice shot” would get him 90 days in jail and a $10,000 fine).
We spent several days around the lake without meeting with much success; but we finally were enlightened as to the popular game. We had been fishing with flies, ordinary-sized baited hooks, etc., and caught very few trout; other sportsmen were landing fish weighing from three to nine pounds. It was this that led us to investigate, and we found that the success was due to these facts: A large pickerel hook is “ bent in” to the line, baited with half a dozen or more fat, wriggling angle worms.
(The old secret weapon also known as a gob of ‘garden hackle’).
The man with the rod and reel takes his seat in the stern of a boat, an experienced oarsman pulls the boat slowly and easily about the “good places”. The speed is just sufficient to keep the hook and worms near the surface at the end of 50 ft. of line. Result— big trout! One was landed 100 yds. from our camp and we went over to the Haines Landing Hotel to see it weighed; nine pounds flat!  Another tipped the beam at nine and one fourth pounds.
(Today, one would have to make the long and expensive trek to a remote lodge in Labrador to catch a brookie in the 9-pound class and these newbies caught two right here on Mooselook. This was NOT at all uncommon at the time).
Hundreds were caught in this way, ranging from one to five pounds. A Philadelphian and his son caught one hundred pounds of trout in one day and thank Heaven we’re not all hogs! We discovered that Mooselookmeguntic, Rangeley and Richardson furnish the biggest and finest trout in the world (this statement was not hyperbole at all, as this region was without equal at the the time). That the time to be at the lakes for sport is early in June. That angle worms are $1 a quart. That the hotels are good and rates fair. If anything in this helps a fellow angler to more successful sport, I shall feel repaid. Novice.
(If you wish to learn more about the gilded age of fly fishing here in the Rangeley region and see an amazing collection of boats, equipment, mounts and other fascinating artifacts, then be sure to check out the Outdoor Heritage Museum in Oquossoc. It’s an amazing collection illustrating a wide array of topics from the region’s iconic and unique history. Have a great week and be sure to make some great Rangeley history of your own!)

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