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TJie American Angler 



came completely destroyed and they disap- 

 peared. The carp is now monarch of all. and 

 when not hibernating, is rooting around in the 

 slime and mud foraging for food. Neither are 

 they particular of what their food consists. 

 They may one moment be feeding upon the 

 succulent roots of aquatic plants ; the next will 

 find them gorging their appetites with the 

 faical matter of base vermin. In the fervid 

 heat of a summer day in great shoals they dis- 

 port themselves in the sunshine. Though usu- 

 ally sluggish and "loggy," they seem, for the 

 time being, to be invigorated with unusual vi- 

 tality, and are, under such circumstances, ex- 

 ceedingly cautious of danger. I have culti- 

 vated patience to an almost unlimited degree 

 in a vain attempt to lure these fish to most 

 tempting bait, but all to no purpose. It was 

 as one " casting pearls before swine." I am a 

 a long-descended fisherman, and have cast my 

 lines in the best fishing waters of North Amer- 

 ica. No one can be more fondly passionate of 

 fishing than I, and the strike of a game fish is 

 the thrill of joy, but when I think of the time 

 I have consumed in attempting to capture a 

 carp, a shadow of sadness steals over my heart 

 and drapes my fancy in mourning. Give me 

 the waters undisturbed and unpolluted by the 

 carp, or let me alone. 



Farmer number two did not drain his pond 

 until the fall of the year ; I think it was in the 

 latter part of the month of October. To his 

 great surprise, not a fish was to be seen. The 

 bottom of the pond exhibited no living thing — 

 nothing but slime and mud. The fact of the 

 mysterious disappearance of the fish occa- 

 sioned no little comment in the neighborhood, 

 and the mystery was left unsolved until in 

 early spring. Then it was that the farmer, 

 having changed his piscatory venture to the 

 more profitable occupation of agricultural pur- 

 suits, plowed up the fertile soil of the pond. 

 This solved the mystery surrounding the dis- 

 appearance of the fish. They had gone down 

 into the mud at the first approach of winter, 

 and now their white and bleaching carcases 

 told the story of their tragic taking off. When 

 brought to the surface by the plow-share they 

 were preserved in form, but decay had long 

 since set in. They made an excellent fertilizer. 



In life they were an unprofitable "compound 

 of dust," but in death they revealed the pur- 

 pose of their existence by making the arid soil 

 bloom and blossom like the rose. 



Charles E. Buroker. 



" Fly=Fishing for Clams." 



Brother Chs. F. Johnson, of Chicago, our old 

 friend and a keen angler, has met with a fish- 

 erman with new trout ideas, which are given 

 us in a private letter, but we want the craft at 

 large to take note, hence see below ; 



"I have just had an interview with an ex- 

 tremely self-satisfied old German gentleman, 

 who professes to be an accomplished, scientific 

 trout fisherman. He has been regaling me 

 with an enthusiastic discursive rhapsody on 

 the joys and delights he experienced from a 

 s uccessful day's trouting, with chicken guts 

 for bait. Holy Katie ! to think of a human 

 being desecrating one of the loveliest works of 

 God — a trout stream — with such filthy garb- 

 age, and yet the complacent, kindly features 

 of the old fellow betokened so keen and true 

 Waltonian enjoyment during his recital as to 

 convince me it was through ignorance only 

 he erred, and if shown the full atrocity 

 of his method of angling he would forth- 

 with amend his ways ; so in place of bodily 

 firing him the only punishment I inflicted 

 was to give him a full twenty minutes' des- 

 criptive chapter on the art of 'fly-fishing for 

 clams,' which he swallowed with remarkable 

 avidity, and I believe is at this moment plan- 

 ning a trip with the fly-rod in the certain be- 

 lief that a clam will rise and dash at a brown 

 hackle or coachman with all the vim of a two- 

 pound trout. 



" By the by, I have just discovered that 

 the best wood for a fly-rod is osage orange. It 

 is a rich golden color, possessing a steely elas- 

 ticity, extremely tough and plays from tip to 

 butt with a vim which makes the best split 

 cane rods appear sluggish in action when com- 

 pared with them. 



The New U. S. Commissioner of Fish and 

 Fisheries. 



Commander John J. Brice, U. S. N., retired, 

 has been appointed U. S. Commissioner of 

 Fish and Fisheries, to fill the vacancy caused 

 by the death of Col. Marshall McDonald. 



Commander Brice is said to be about 53 

 years old, a man of intelligence and executive 

 ability. While his experience with the special 

 work of ^he commission has not been large, 

 he has taken much interest in the propagation 

 of the salmon on the west coast. 



