FISHES AND FISHING IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 251 



There are some very evident causes of this condition — causes which the State 

 could have prevented or arrested if it had begun the work of preserving the 

 forest, fish aud game in time. Apparently, it was only when it began to see 

 that commercial interests were involved, and water for navigation and water 

 power was diminishing from a denuding of the forest, that the State awoke to 

 the situation, then too late to undo the mischief, and undertook to save some- 

 thing from the wreck. The damage cannot be repaired within a decade, a 

 quarter or half century. But a beginning has been made, and with a serious 

 effort the Adirondacks some time — not while the older sportsmen are on earth 

 to enjoy it — the forest may come back to something like its old glory, and the 

 native home of the trout fitted for their return. 



The greatest injury to the forest — and incidentally to the game fishing — has 

 been caused by the reckless lumbering of privately owned lands, and some of 

 the worst results of this profligate use of the forest growths have come about 

 by the destructive fires that frequently follow the cutting and removal of pretty 

 much all the trees, large and small. There is no desolation more gloomy and 

 forbidding than a forest section stripped of nearly all its trees and then burned 

 over, the very soil destroyed, and the bare rocks and ghostly scattered tree 

 trunks, dead and blackened, telling of the raging, devouring forest fire. Bird and 

 beast shun the region as if it were accursed. The streams, once cool and full, shrink 

 and shrivel; the shady nooks and covering under which the trout used to sport and 

 multiply are gone, and the trout themselves have sought other homes — if the 

 devastation has left access to any such. 



Then, too, the traffic by steamers plying on the lakes and navigable streams, 

 however desirable or necessary, disturbs the shy fish in their natural haunts and 

 sometimes destroys or seriously disturbs their hatching beds. 



No doubt it is wise to introduce bass in certain waters which from one cause 

 or another the trout have practically ceased to inhabit and to which, for various 

 reasons, they cannot be restored. The bass is a game fish with which the expert 

 angler will be glad to test his skill and fill his basket and to meet and enjoy at 

 his table — if he cannot follow the trout. Nevertheless, he is a menace to the 

 trout, and, as has already been suggested, if not otherwise well fed will complete 

 the work of extermination of the trout still struggling to maintain the reputation 

 and traditions of the old fishing waters. There is no excuse, however, for the 

 pickerel in the Adirondacks. His introduction there was fiendish and his work 

 among the gentle trout family is as devilish. Both these fish multiply rapidly 

 and work out their instincts vigorously. Where they both abound, the old type 

 of Adirondack sportsmen will certainly be seen no more. 



