Notes and Queries 



103 



evening instead of the morning, but if the 

 water is slightly roily they come out to feed at 

 all times during the day. 



" Impale your worm and cast at least thirt)'^ 

 feet away down stream near the bank, and the 

 first thing you will be aware of is a business- 

 like pull at your rod tip, which will develop 

 into as pretty a battle as you ever experienced 

 — troiit and bass not barred." 



Once Again — The Carp. 



I am a deToted reader of The Angler, but must say 

 your several articles on that worthless specimen of a 

 fish, the carp, to my idea, consumes too much space in 

 your valuable little magazine. He is not entitled to it 

 and should be relegated to the mud bottoms, where he 

 belongs, instead of being made the object of lengthy 

 notice in the clean pages of The Angler. I doubt if the 

 sharks would devour him were he a salt water fish, pos- 

 sessed of the same characteristics he now has. P. 



[Our correspondent will please take note that 

 the series of papers now being printed by us 

 Tinder the caption of " Fish and Fishing in 

 America," will be exhaustive of the sub- 

 ject, so far as it may be in our power to accom- 

 plish it. Under this condition even the carp 

 must have a place, and an extended one, if 

 from no other cause than its qualities on the 

 rod and on the table are debatable questions. 

 See Mr. Johnson's letter on the carp in this 

 ■department. — Ed.] 



The Catfish, Sucker and Carp. 



I have before me a review from the Phila- 

 delphia Public Ledger, of October 29th, of 

 your work, "The Fishes of North America," 

 and as a humble disciple of Walton thank you 

 for your good words about the catfish as food 

 fish. To my taste they are as good as any that 

 swim the tide water of our Delaware River. 

 We have our fine shad about three months of 

 the year, but the catfish are with us always. 



You also write kindly of the sucker. At this 

 season, and early in the spring, we find them 

 very fine food fish. As for carp, they are with 

 lis as big a humbug in the water as sparrows 

 are on the land. They were brought here as a 

 game fish and the largest I have seen caught 

 with a hook and line weighed twelve pounds, 

 and I saw one caught in a shad net last spring 

 that weighed thirty pounds. I tasted both fish, 

 but I don't hanker after carp any more, and 

 as for their gameness, any fish that weighs 

 from ten to thirty pounds would be called 

 game by many handliners. Our white perch 

 is the gamest fish for his size that I ever 

 caught. He may be small, weighing a half to 



three-quarters of a pound, but he is game and 

 comes out of the water with fins and tail brist- 

 ling, and is one of the best food fish we have. 

 Florence, N. J. C. M. B. 



Among the Steelheads and Pacific Salmon. 



Mr. J. R. Moore, of this city, has kindly sent 

 us a letter written to him b}^ Captain George 

 Cummings, of the Pacific Coast, wherein a 

 brief but fruitful experience among the sal- 

 monoids of that section is given. We quote at 

 length : 



" In my last letter I mentioned that I was 

 going to the Elk River after steelheads. I 

 fished there three days and caught several one- 

 half and one pound fish, and one five-and-a- 

 half pound steelhead ; but, finding that the 

 fishing would be better about the end of Octo- 

 ber, I returned home and went there just in 

 time to catch some of the king salmon that 

 gather in immense numbers at the mouth of 

 the Bear. They could not get up to spawn, the 

 water being very low on the riffles. 



" I fished the river about thirteen miles from 

 the ocean and only caught several small fish, 

 but hooked a big fellow on my steel rod. I 

 had only a trout rig, consequently had to be 

 very careful ; he fought hard, could not get 

 him to the surface, but tried to get him in 

 shoal water, which he did not like ; he would 

 run off the fifty yards of line I had on my reel. 

 Finally, after two hours hard fighting, the 

 fellow was gaffed ; he weighed, by the scales, 

 39 pounds. I also caught one lo-pound steel- 

 head ; he also was very game, but my best 

 fishing was at the mouth of the river. 



" On November ist I caught six salmon from 

 a boat, having a man to row. These fish 

 weighed 28, 27, 26, 251^, 22)4. ^^^ 25 pounds ; 

 total, 155 pounds. I spent another day after- 

 wards in the same place, and caught eight fish 

 which weighed 15, 20, 22^^, 34, 12, 27, 33 and 

 29 pounds ; total, 1921^ pounds. I fished with 

 a two-jointed Leonard salmon rod, with a 6-in. 

 tip; 200 yards of 21 thread linen line and large 

 spoons. There were 21 boats out at the same 

 time and all on board got fish." 



Salmon Fishing. 



The property of the late Sam. Davis, consisting of two 

 pools and a comfortably furnished new cottage, is to be 

 leased for one, two or three years. This property is sit- 

 uated on the best part of the River Restigouche, three 

 miles above the Club House, and affords very choice 

 fishing. For fuller information address J. B. Cole, No. 1 

 Madison avenue. New York City. 



