FOREST AND STREAM. 



29 



tt 



from the pine trees around it, mid I thought, perhaps it might 

 have something to do with the color of the fish. They seem 

 to be au individual species— ao far, at least, as aize is con- 

 cerned—for no one that we know of has ever caught one in 

 the Jake larger than about a pound, sud smaller ones are very- 

 rare. Yesterday I went down again with several 8t. Louis 

 gentleman, whd are here lishiug, and we took eighty bass. 

 We met Captain liich and Mr. Abbott, of Milwaukee, there, 

 fishing from a new made raft, and having a Hue time. One of 

 the gentlemen of our party tried a trolling spoon, find 

 afterwards a tly, and then a baited bass lly, but none of them 

 would attract, and he was nut awarded with a bite or a rise. 

 If I noticed any preference shown for our bait it was for a 

 minnow's head, but if I lake the individual score of any one 

 bait 1 must yield the palm to the festive bull-frog, a small 

 specimen of which we captured on our way to the lake, anil 

 with which its captor took eleven bass before he finally lost it 

 down the gullet of a voracious one. The only disadvantage 

 in using it. for the first half hour was its occasional trips to the 

 surface of the water, perhaps to see if the liahermen at the 

 other end was all right. On such occasions a sudden down- 

 ward "yank" of the rod would take him under and he would 

 stay there awhile. I attribute the success of live frog fishing 

 to the fact that ordinarily the frog hunts around on the bottom 

 till he finds a bass with open mouth, when he crawls in, and 

 before the baas can throw him out the hook is fastened and 

 the jig is up. How is this for theory ? 



I f an early start is made Irom the lake, a few hours tan be 

 put in profitably at Trout Brook, above and below the bridge. 

 I took twelve the afternoon my wife was with me, and while 

 they were small, you know how much above the ordinary 

 speckled trout they are prized. Yesterday Oapt. Rich ami Mr. 

 Abbott took twenty odd with the fly, using only the common 

 Brown tackle. Tours truly, Jno. W. Munson. 



Ashland, Wis., July 30. 



Massachusetts Angling — Warelmm, July 30. — Mr. Editor: 

 The present is really a jubilee of fishes in the head-waters of 

 Buzzard's Bay, embracing Wareham, I feci it an important 

 duty to herald the fact to the outside barbarians of the uni- 

 verse, that they too may participate in these bountiful gifts of 

 Dame Nature. There is not a day in the year that lish of 

 some variety cannot bo procured in our waters. Our oysters 

 are of the choicest ; quakogs, clams and scallops abound on 

 our scores of miles of shores, rivers, creeks, lagoons and coves. 

 Of our scale fish the white perch, Morone americana, a resi- 

 dent citizen, is taken every month in the year, in winter by 

 Dotting through the ice. in early March, as the weather be- 

 comes warm, he takes the worm and shrimp until the waters 

 arc chilled with the frostB of winter. Favorite grounds for 

 this choice fish are on the Agawam and WeWcanlit Rivers. 

 The former, the most successful and convenient, as a walk of 

 from three-fourths to one ..and quarter miles from our village 

 will take one to the marshes, on the shores of which the 

 angler takes his stand, or by au accumulation of dry seaweed 

 he makes a comforiable sitting. 



In March last I indulged in a tide (last of an ebb and first 

 of a flood, we call a tide) of this rare sport, and on the point 

 where L took my stand there were by actual count forty-three 

 fishing : men, women and children, using every conceivable 

 rude stick which bore the slightest resemblance to a rod or 

 pole, and all got mote or less fish. About this season our 

 welcome legal-tender alewife puts in his appearance. He is 

 placed in salt for a few hours, and then removed to the stove 

 oven, where he is roasted or baked, and when done he is 

 served on the table as the choicest of all titbits of one's home. 

 Following nest in season is the tautog (in .New York black- 

 fish), scup (in New York porgies), striped bass and black or 

 rock bass, all of which remain until late in autumn, except 

 scup. Early in July the most welcome blueflsh makes his 

 annual defrttt with vengeance among the menhaden, while he 

 contributes rare sport to the amateur and professional angler. 

 Last cornea the squeteague, weakfish (New York), trout (fort 

 Monroe), OgH/QScion regtdis. He gets along from the middle 

 to the last of J uly. In fact our waters are now prolific with 

 that gay fish, save fins and tail, which, like peacocks' feet, 

 are moat horrible. If there lives in the flesh an amateur, 

 angler who has not experienced the sport of catching and 

 landing a squeleaguc he certainly deserves the pity of the 

 knights of the rod and reel throughout the land. 



On the 1st of July our Commonwealth of Massachusetts, by 

 statute edict, opened the broad gales to our inland waters, in- 

 habited by that princely game fish, the black bass, and thus 

 far the angler has been well rewarded for time and labor 

 bestowed. Our neighbor, Joseph Alden, a true disciple of 

 the rod, takes the lead so far by taking a bass from Jilacka- 

 more's pond which turned the scale beam at five and a quarter 

 pounds. As scores of lakes and ponds in this locality are 

 stocked with black bass to an extent defying annihilation, 

 there need be no alarm as to want for all time, provided our . 

 State laws are strictly observed. 



Our surroundings of land and water, sea and inland ; our 

 forests stocked with herds of wild deer, foxes and rabbits, 

 partridges, quails and wild ducks ; the fishes that abound in 

 the salt waler; the black bass, pickerel and perch in our lakes 

 and ponds, and last, though not least, the wanton trout, who 

 skipB in the numerous crystal streams, offer a greater and 

 more varied advantage to the pleasure-seeker and invalid than 

 any point on the whole coast, line of New England. Then 

 again every acre of Buzzard's Bay is admirably adapted to 

 yachting. 



Tourists who are sleepless in their undecided minds where 

 to no for cheap recreation are advised by me to pack up and 

 come to Wareham. Take a Fall River boat at New York at 

 5 P. M., which will arrive here at 7 o'clock next morning. 

 Boats for bluefishing are in abundanco, with faithful skippers. 

 Cvrtjb LlSOttM. 



The Swedish Heeeing Fishery.— Prof. Spencer F. Baird 

 expresses in the Gape Ann Advertiser the opinion that sooner 

 or later this renewed fishery may be expected to come to an 

 end, and that after an interval of from twenty to sixty years, 

 or thereabouts, the Gloucester skippers may again, if inclined, 

 engage in the business of carrying herring from North Am- 

 erica to Gothenburg. This opinion is based upon the follow- 

 ing item which Professor Baird communicates to the Adver- 

 tiser : 



Regarding the periodical occurrence of herring in enormous 

 schools in the archipelago and fiordB of Bohuslan, I have 

 lately read some Swedish newspaper articles and pamphlets 

 on the subject, and will here give you a short extract thereof : 



Before the sixteenth century no records were kept of the 

 fisheries. As, however, both king and church had some in- 



come from taxation and tithe on the herring, it has been pos- 

 sible to ascertain that such fisheries have existed periodically 

 ever since the beginning of the Eleventh century. Before 

 that time the archipelago was hardly inhabited, and the fish- 

 ing seems not to have been of any importance but to the 

 scanty population on the fiords, who had too primitive imple- 

 ments for capturing large quantities of fish, and no means of 

 preparing the article fdr a distant market. The following is 

 a list of the herring periods of which we have atiy knowledge ■ 

 ,1. About the year 1020. 



2. Iu the latter part of the Twelfth century. 



3. From about 1260 to about 1341, thus lasting more than 

 80 years, 



4. About the middle of the Fifteenth century. 



5. Prom 155(5 to 1590, thus lasting for 35 years ; interval to 

 next period, 09 years. 



6. Prom 1600 to 1680, thus lasting for 21 years; interval lo 

 next period, (ill years. 



7. From 1746 to 1808, thus lasting for 62 years j interval to 

 next period, 68 years. 



8. From November, 1877, to February, 1878. 



The most important period was the above No. 7, especially 

 during the last twenty years of the last century. It has been 

 calculated that in some years during that time the annual 

 quantity of herring fished in Bohuslan amounted to at least 

 one and a half million barrels. 



During the six weeks, January 1— February 15, this present 

 year, about 160,000 barrels of fresh and salt herring were, 

 shipped from the archipelago of Bohuslan to ueighborin 

 markets. The fisherman and merchants are preparing largely 

 for making big hauls, when the herring will return in the fall, 

 as is expected. 



Believe me, dear sir, sincerely yours, Josua Lisdahl. 



Teoi t and Potato Bugs — Editor Forest and Stream,: 

 noticed in your last week's number a statement that fish wore 

 killed by eating potato bugs. I have good reason to think 

 that is a mistake. Last fall a neighbor of mine was in the 

 habit, of passing over trout ponds daily with from two to 

 three quarts of the beetles, which he had gathered from his 

 potato vines. One day I asked him to give them to me. 

 He handed me the pail, wondering at the same time what I 

 intended to do with them, and supposing, like many others, 

 that potato bugs were poison. But I had seen turkeys eat 

 them with a relish, so 1 did not hesitate to try them on brook 

 trout. Of course, they ate them, as aensiblo trout should. 

 In my opinion it does not pay to raise brook trout for table 

 use if we can't teach them to live on potato bugs ; and 

 furthermore, I think that any brook trout that can't live on 

 potato bugs in their season and enjoy life, manifest a great 

 lack of good breeding and a great want of refined taste. I 

 feel it my duty to exhort all my brother fishmongers to train 

 up their fish (brook trout in particular) with good moral prin- 

 ciples and with habits and tastes to conform with this age. 



Ludlow, Pa., Aug. 5, 1878. 



Tho reported cases of potato-bug-poisoned fish, we pre- 

 sume, may be accounted for upon the supposition that the 

 bugs have been themselves poisoned by Paris green. Next 

 week we shall give authentic information upon this subject, 

 Paris green poisoning of birds and game, which has become a 

 very serious one in certain localities. 



TnE Oldest Tkotjt m the Woeld.— Really this is becom- 

 ing complicated. To maintain a satisfactory grandeur in 

 size, weight and number of his fish has hitherto tested the in- 

 ventive and imaginative faculties of the emulous angler. 

 Now, a Buffalo paper comes to the frout with an entirely 

 novel yarn, and introduces a new element into the fish stories. 

 Affidavits must accompany any rival statements : 



We believe the oldest trout m the world lives in Onon- 

 daga County. James Sherman has a brook trout in his well 

 that is positively known to be upwards of thirty years of age. 

 He has lived in the well all of these long years some thirty 

 feet under ground, making frequent visits to the upper regions, 

 when drawn up in the bucket. For five or six years of the 

 time the well had a chain pump and was covered tight. The 

 trout now will weigh less than half a pound, in shape re- 

 sembles a bullhead, having grown broad across the head, and 

 siui m the body. He is darker in color than the ordinary fish, 

 and looks the "ancient fish" that he is. Who canmatch him 

 for age ? 



Weight, Not Ntjmbee.— Mr. C. F. Clapp, the intelligent 

 editor of the Sunbury (Fa.) American, echoes the sentiments 

 of a great many anglers when he says : 



"If the catches of fish were stated in pounds instead of 

 numbers it would be much more satisfactory. When such 

 large numbers are reported they are generally nearly all finger- 

 lings, which it is a positive disgrace to any one styling him- 

 self a fisherman to retain in his creel. It is this sort of fishing 

 that, depopulates streams, and finally renders any real pleasure 

 in fishing abortive. Any numbers of such fish will not com- 

 pensate the real angler for the magnetic thrill of hooking a 

 one or two pounder. The most reprehensible practice is this 

 greed for numbers. 



Do Fish Talk ?— Certainly ; out in Colorado, Pike's Peak. 



THE PREPARATION OF SILK GUT. 



Editoe Fokest and Stream ■. 



As I may have been misunderstood iu the articles which I 

 have written for the Fokest add Stkeam, which only partially 

 described such of our native silkworms as were most suitable 

 to procure silk gut from, and their food ; also, the best time 

 and way to procure them for the purpose of rearing them. I 

 advised that the cocoons should be collected in the fall or 

 spring of the year. I did not attempt to describe either the 

 method or time in the life of the insect when the gut should 

 be drawn, 1 did not suppose it possible that anybody would 

 think of drawing silk gut from a worm that had already ex- 

 hausted itself of silk iu spinning its cocoon, or from the 

 chrysalis, and I now repeat that the most suitable time for 

 collecting a stock of these insects to breed from is either in 

 the fall or spring of the year. 



Late in the spring or early in the summer the moths leave 

 their cocoons, and soon deposit their eggs, which are hatched 

 about the time the leaves appear on which the larvae feed. 



Perhaps I should have written another paper stating that 

 the cocoons should be placed in a cool room, and as soon as 

 the moths make their appearance and conjugate the females 

 should be placed in large pasteboard boxes, in which they 



will soon deposit their eggs. These after a few days will 

 hatch, and will require suitable food. If A. ^Ucropia , the 

 leaves of the plum tree or Fulton|fall shrub ; if A. Prometheus 

 are the breed, the leaves of the sassafras or Spice bush should 

 be given the young larvie, or worms. 



I have drawn silk gut not only from the JScropia and Pro- 

 metheus, but also froni the Italian silk worm. I have never 

 killed the worm, nor put it iu vinegar for this purpose, which 

 may be the best method. Soon after the larva; ceases to feed 

 he begins to spin his cocoon, which is the right lime to draw 

 the silk gut. I pn. the worm to a board, putting one pin in 

 his caudal extremity, and another pin about one-third of his 

 length back from his head. I then, with a sharp knife, cut 

 off the fore-part of the worm far enough back to cut off a very 

 little of the sac containing the silk, which is a fluid of about 

 the consistency of the white of an egg. I then take a large 

 pin, and dipping it into the fluid silk, which adheres to the 

 pin, I draw out the silk slowly (the more slowly the larner 

 will be the gut), uutiJ I have drawn out all, or nearly all of 

 the silk contaiued in the sacs. I then take another pin, and 

 attach it to the other extremity of the gut, at the point where 

 I divided the worm. The two pins are then stuck into a 

 board, drawing the gut taut, which soon becomes hard and fit 

 for use. The fluid silk hardens lo some extent immediately on 

 coming in contact with the air., I will only add that the 

 reason why your readers may have seen so few of these moths 

 is because they lly only in the night. T. Gaklick. 



Wc append the following touching lines from our brave old 

 friend. We sincerely trust that health may come again to him: 



I have written the foregoing paper under very great suf- 

 fering. It was so badly written that I had my daughter to 

 copy it. 1 presume this is the last, article 1 shall ever write 

 lor any paper. I may get belter again; but know full well 

 that this contest between disease and life cannot continue 

 much longer. For nearly fourteen long weary years this con- 

 test has been going on— a constant fight. I am now well into 

 my seventy-fourth year, and glad that I am so near the end. 



Sincerely yours, T. Garlics. 



Bedford, O., August 6. 



ON THE BIG SOUTH FORK. 



l\ Stanford, Ky., July 19, 1BTS. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



The seemingly fabulous reports made ot auecesa In ashing the lower 

 waters ot tlie Big South Fork of Cumberland' Elver Induced Col. J, K, 

 Faulkner, of Lancaster, Rev. J. Loton Barnes and myself, of this place 

 to uuuerialce too mitts of travel— much tlie greater part of that distance 

 by road-wagons over the most villainous mountain thoroughfare that 

 can be fouad east of the Bocktes— that we might Bee for ourBclf es j 

 where no knight of the rod had ever been seen by the Methuealehs ol- 

 that section. Mouth of Rock Creek, seven miles be! .w Devil's Jumps, 

 was ourdestinailon, which we reached Wednesday loth Inst, after near 

 ly two days and a half of horrible travel. Col. J. L. Bohon, of Wayne 

 Co., started with ua f .cm his hou=e Tuesday morning aud accoiui anled 

 us Co the river that he might see that our send-off was such as he had 

 negot ated with a native, and possibly accompany us to the terminus of 

 cur seventy miles' cruise to Point Isabel at tho mouth. After spending 

 one night with us upon the river he concluded lo return Thursday with 

 our wagoner, who preferred to rest his team nearly twenty-four hours 

 before stirring back. Uis desertion of us was a sad blow to all. A 

 couple of staunch canoes had been made for as by specifications and a 

 couple of expert oarsmen engaged for the trip. Iu less than fifteen 

 minutes after we had unloaded oar loggage at the river and hud begun 

 trolling, while our agents were catching minnows, I had the felicity of 

 leading a seven and a quarter pound pike into the landing net, wl.lch 

 Bah as served within an hour by Col. Bohon made one of i he most savory 

 dishes that any of the nine men partaking thereof remembered to have 

 ever eaten. Immediately after dluner we loaded the canoes, pushed off 

 for Devil's Jumps seven miles above and began Ushing with minnows. 



We caught back bass by the scores. Could see them in the water 

 clear aa air, dart from the rocks and Beize a minnow at almost any 

 depth, utterly regardless of glittering gimp and the painted flouts. They 

 are notat all faalldionalu matlerof bait. 1 saw Col. Fuulknerealch 

 four of them that averaged one and a Quarter pounds with one minnow 

 which was dead when taken from the bucket. Of course he was trolling 

 it slowly when each one seized It. At the Jumps he look a ten pound 

 walled-eyed pike with a dead chub which had begun to decompose. It 

 had been cast into rather awift water and the bntt of the rod ihruat InJ 

 to a crevice to await a bite, while he manipulated a heavier rig. A No; 

 2 Meek reel, small grass Hue and a willowy Japanese- rod delicate 

 enough for lly casting constituted the tackle with which ho landed him. 

 tho parson, in absence of landing net, dexterously lifting him out by 

 hand. That salmon was caoght in perfectly clear water at mid day. 

 We caught so many Hah that the residents (ell heir to at lea^t two-ihirda 

 of our catch. We didn't permit a single flsh to die and be thrown away i 

 Iu canoeing "0 miles we made but two portages at what the ret-ldenta 

 call the " Drlos," a distance of about two miles, where therlver at a low 

 stage is diverted into a subterranean channel. Late rains had fllled the 

 ordinarily " dry ponds" and our portages were little more than twenty 

 live and geven'y-flve yards, easily male, though at noon, when old Sol 

 peppered us mercilessly. Our ministerial companion preached by ap- 

 pointment to a small congregation on the river bank under a "huge 

 spreading beeoh" on Sunday forenoon. 



One of oar oaramen went home Saturday afternoon and returned Sun- 

 day, bringing us the claws aud tail uf a catamount which he had killed 

 as he traveled homeward. 



Game is said to be quite abundant— deer, turkey, partridges, wild 

 oats, catamounts, wolves and bears. A large flock of domestic goata 

 have become wild and are frequently seen near the Devil's Jumps. 



The tackle used by natives in Ashing is grapevine trot lines, bark 

 "set onts," with short line aud hookUedou at euifaceof the water, 

 spears, guns and traps. We saw many traps with dams which it 1 

 Die for a fish to escape in traveling down stream. We killed 

 pike salmon, black basa and catfish, catching nearly all Iu (-hallow, 

 swift water The bass ran much smaller than expected, ranging from 

 one half to three pounds. Most caught were of about one and a quarter 

 to one and a half pounds. Water was astonishingly wsrin. of a higher 

 temperature than our small streams In central Kentucky. The C. 3. EB„ 

 when completed, will make the Big South and Its headwaters iu Ten- 

 nessee, where it Is called New Elver, of convenient access aud the skep- 

 tical can easily verify oar declaration that no river iu Kentucky afforda 



tithe of the attractions to anglers that doeB the one above menUoned 

 Despite the uardahlps our trip was oue of sufficient delight to create a 

 longing to return, and if the C. B, iatt't soon llnished there'll be another 

 wagon rldo over Jordan-lute highways. 



There were many natural curiosities which deserve especial and 

 elaborate description, but I ahail not burden your columna with them, 



Kentuckian. 2 

 _ . — • — . . 



—A new wager in pedestrian circles is to walk half a mile 

 in six hours, moving aU the time. It takes a "Professor " to 

 do this kind of business. 



