176 
causes, possibly to poisonous substances intro- 
duced into the waters of these streams. 
Fishing among the trout streams of the 
middle and northern portions of the state has 
been unprecedentedly fine this season. Since 
the opening of the season, on May 1, very large 
catches have been reported. In Lake county, 
and the waters along the lines of the F. & P. 
M. Railway, the G. R. & I. Railway, and the 
C. W. & M. Railway, have seen some lively 
sport. Brook trout, the German brown trout, 
and rainbow trout, weighing from 14 to 30 
ounces, have been taken. On the first day of 
the open season, near Red City, about three 
thousand trout were taken. 
The state board of fish commissioners have 
accomplished a great success in the propaga- 
tion and stocking the streams of Michigan 
with these trout, and more than fifty counties 
have shared in the distribution of the small 
fry, of which about 8,000,000 were planted 
during the past two years. 
The artificial propagation of the small-mouth 
black bass has only been undertaken during 
the past year by the commission, on account 
of the abundant natural stocking of the waters 
of Michigan by this fish, but the recent great 
increase in the fishing of the waters, and the 
consequent depletion, has seemed to render 
some attention necessary for the maintenance 
of the importance of this excellent fish. 
About 50,000 were hatched and planted in 1893, 
and with great success. WALTON. 
The Useless Carp. 
I desire information regarding German carp; their 
effect, when planted in a stream, on pickerel, bass, 
and fish native to Southern New York waters. Are 
they destructive to other fish, their fry or spawn? 
What is the best way to get rid of them? 
JOHN T. COLEMAN, Jr. 
Under no circumstances place carp in your 
waters. They are worthless both as edible 
and rod fishes. They are also destructive of 
the spawn of other fishes, and if your streams 
or ponds are frequented by wild fowl, the carp 
will soon drive them away by eating the 
sprouts of all vegetable growth upon which 
wild fowl-feed. If you have the carp already 
with you, seine, catch, kill and poison them 
out. The United States government has 
spent thousands upon thousands of dollars to 
introduce them, and the sportsmen of the 
country would be willing to be taxed an equal 
amount that the carp might be exterminated. 
Notes and Queries 
Personal. 
The readers of THE AMERICAN ANGLER are 
cordially invited to visit room 36, I9 Park 
Place, and inspect the series of oil paintings 
(65) which have been painted under my _ per- 
the moment the fish 
the water. 
sonal supervision, at 
were taken from These oil por- 
traits are the originals of the colored litho- 
graphs now appearing in my book— The 
Fishes of North America’’—and the collection 
includes many species never before placed 
upon canvas in their life-like colors. 
Wm. C. HARRIS. 
bE Eee: 
APRIL I, 1895. 
He wandered by the river, 
With a prehistoric pole; 
Though the east winds made him shiver 
Yet he bobbed with all his soul. 
But all the fishes knew him, 
By his beacon of a nose, 
And the odor of a bottle 
That he carried in his clothes. 
So he never got a nibble, 
Though he bobbed the live-long day; 
For his odor and his beacon, 
Drove the little fish away. 
When night came down upon him, 
He climbed up on a fence, 
And indulged in deep potations, 
At some liquor man’s expense. 
And his lumbent nose grew redder, 
*Till its glory filled the air, 
And played like an aurora 
Round his close-cropped bristling hair. 
Then with legs no longer weary, 
He cork-screwed toward his nest, 
With his creel and bottle empty, 
And his fish worms in his vest. 
But he never knew who put him 
In his little bed that night, 
To dream of troubled waters, 
And of fish that wouldn’t bite. 
R. M. N. 
