FOREST AND STREAM. 



fr 



405 



A trout on llie teed, when it sees a tly fall on the water or 

 come floating down the current, rises straight at it, tal 

 his mouth and returns, the florwxtward turn, makewhai 

 call the s^virl, and that is the moment to strike. Ou reaoMog 

 bi testing place he swallows his prey. If the fish BH 

 anything wrong in thfl bs 0] ! . be blows or spits it from 

 his month 'with, consul I 'nee in n while a trout 



■will jump clear Out oi the water in his eagerness to catch an at- 

 tractive fly, and if he misses it repeat the jump a number of 

 times. I could fill pages of queer circumstances connected 

 with the. feeding of trout, and I think all experienced anglers 

 Will agree with me when I say that the more one fishes for 

 them the less certain one feels about their habits. The flies 

 of one season are useless the next, the theories of lust season 

 are upset by the experience of this, and so on. Trout often 

 miss the fly or become suspicious, and a quick strike will hook 

 them foul as tbey turn to go down. 1 am afraid Mr. Prime's 

 idea or theory cannot be sustained by any evidence. He 

 brought the subject up at one of the meetings of the " Society 

 for the Protection of Game," but, if 1 remember, ihe anglers 

 present all differed with him. W. Holbehton. 



FisnKiiL-oN-THE-HirosoN, Dec. 14, 1878. 

 Editor Fokbst and Stream : 



The discusion as to how a trout takes a fly, has in it some 

 considerable interest. I have read Mr. Prime's very interest- 

 ing book, "I Go-A-Fishing,'' and remember of his spealuug of 

 tVput striking the fly with their tails before taking it. Mr. 

 Van Siclcn has seen them do it also. Probably owing to my 

 less keenness of vision 1 never have, although I always 

 thought my eye-sight was as good as the best. I have very 

 frequently hooked I rout and bass in the tail, andonco hooked 

 a trout in the tail when fishing with bait. In this case he 

 might have tried to shovel the bait into his mouth with his 

 tail, but as the water was very deep I could not say for a fact. 

 I onco hooked a pound trout in the tail while' fishing the 

 Lacka.wack stream m Ulster Go. He was in a pool and I saw 

 the motion of the water as he went for my fly, but he saw me 

 too, I thick, for he turned short and started for the bottom 

 with the hook fast in his tail, but 1 don't think he had any 

 idea of striking the fly, for he was evidently trying to get out 

 of sight; and I think {hat if trout were in the habit of striking 

 the fly with their tails there would be a good many more 

 caught in that way. The editor gives the trout credit for 

 being a hold biter, which he deserves, and Mr. Van Siclcn 

 thinks they are not, because he has seen them in clear pools at 

 low water, and has put grasshoppers, crickets and worms 

 under their noses and they would not take them. I don't 

 know what fish would under the same situation but a sunlish 

 or minnow. I have always found that a trout could see me 

 about as soon as 1 could see him along the stream, but a trout 

 when he starts for a fly or bait and is not interfered with goes 

 with a rush and strikes hard. Mr. Prime also states that he 

 has seen a trout start from a point forty feet distant, for a bait 

 in the Pemigewassct, and take it. This should be evidence 

 enough that they are bold biters. 



Yours truly, Flip Flat. 



i/ Elmika, N. Y., Doc. 14, 1878. 



Editob Foeest and Stream: 



Permit another lover of the gentle art to enter an opinion 

 relative to the manner in which a trout takes a fly, particu- 

 larly when he "' takes it with his tail." I most corroborate 

 the observations of your sprightly correspondent, Geo. W. 

 Van Siclen, and declare that trout So strike both natural and 

 artificial flies with their tails. I doubt not that almost every 

 angler has seen this performance. But 1 cannot say that the 

 fly is knocked into the month of the trout, for you see that 

 statement", to be verified, requires an acuity of vision not 

 possessed by the subscriber. My impression has always been 

 that the movement was intended to submerge the insect that 

 it might the more readDy be taken. Have you never seen a 

 trout strike a flying insect with his tail, leaving him helpless 

 for an instant upon the surface of the water, then to disappear 

 in a swirl made by the returning fish as he sucks him in ? Eh? 

 That performance is of such frequent occurrence that it cer- 

 tainly could not have escaped your notice. I have had this 

 occur repeatedly during a day's fishing on the Lycoming to 

 my artificial flies, occasionally capturing the sly gymnast hy 

 hiscaudal appendage, when my strike was quick enough. By 

 the way, he doesn't strike the fly in the manner illustrated by 

 that double tailed fish in the last Forest and Stream, but 

 exactly the reverse of that. Flop him over the other way and 

 make him strike downward, then you have his motion and 

 the plan by which he captures his prey. 

 Piscatorially thine. T. S. U. 



ARE FISH NEAR-SIGHTED? 



Editoe Fobest and Stbjjam : 

 »r* We are led to believe by the investigations of anatomists 

 that the organs of special sense in fishes are very imperfectly 

 developed ; but while this may be true in the main, as regards 

 the special senses of smell, sense and touch, I am constrained 

 to believe, from ihe observations of myself and many others, 

 that fishes in general have the senses of sight and hearing de- 

 veloped in a much greater degree than is generally supposed. 

 It is a popular idea that tish are necessarily near-sighted on 

 account of the conformation of the eye, which is large, round 

 and prominent ; and the maiD argument adduced to support 

 this theory is the readiness with which they will take an arti- 

 ficial fly, trolling spoon or other artificial bait which resem- 

 bles in but slight degree the natural objects of food that they 

 are intended T.o represent, if, indeed, they are intended to 

 represent anything. It is very often the case that those an- 

 glers who are most strenuous in their theory that fish are 

 near-sighted, stultify themselves by carrying a large and 

 most varied assortment of artificial flies of all shapes and 

 colors, in order to meet the "fastidious taste "of the fish 

 that often refuse one pattern or color and rise eagerly to an- 

 other, which could not be the fact were they so near-sighted 

 as many believe. The consistency of these anglers would be 

 more apparent if they would adopt Mr. Cholmondely Peu- 

 nell's theory of artificial llies, and confine themselves exclu- 

 sively to his three typical flies— brown, yellow and green 

 hackles. 



Now, I am not of those who believe that our brave game 

 fish possess such extreme gullibility as to mistake an artificial 

 lure for the genuine article upon the hypothesis of near-sight- 

 edness. My opinion founded upon numerous experiments, 

 is that fishes see and hear as well in and through the medium 

 of the water for all practical purposes as the angler does 

 through the medium of the atmosphere— the clearer and more 

 ratified the medium, the clearer and greater the range of 

 vision in both instances. In muddy or turbid waters the 



sight of fishes is necessarily limited; as ours would be in bazy 

 or fogey weather. It is neither fair nor logical to presume 

 in water ought to discern objects in the atmosphere 

 above, any clearer or plainer than we can perceive objects in 

 the water while standing on the brink. We are altogether 

 too prone to judge everything from our own standpoint, and 

 to attribute to our own cleverness results that in all proba- 

 bility depend upon other and extraneous circumstances. 

 Who of as could tell a skillfully tied artificial fly from a real 

 one beneath the water, when its surface was ruffled by a 

 brisk breeze, shadowed by drifting clouds, covered with the 

 froth and suds of an eddy, or surmounted by the foam and 

 bubbles of a rapid t Yet, there are those who contend, be- 

 cause fish fail to detect this dilference through the same ob- 

 stacles to clear vision, that they are of a veri ty near-sighted and 

 easily fooled by the very poorest semblance of a fly or feath- 

 ery nondescript ; but let one of these persons try a cast of the 

 best flies upon a bright, still day, w ben the water is perfectly 

 clear and the surface like a mirror, and if he expects to get a 

 rise under such conditions ho himself must be very near- 

 sighted indeed. On the other hand, any one who has seen a 

 black bass dart like an arrow aud seize a minnow swimming 

 quietly thirty feet away, or a brook trout flash like a meteor 

 for a dragon fly hovering near the water at the same distance, 

 must admit that their visual powers are sufficient for all prac- 

 tical purposes. 



1 am well aware that scientists consider fish myopic or near- 

 sighted ; not, however, on account of excessive convexity of 

 the cornea, as is popularly supposed, for it is an exploded 

 theory in medical science that myopia depends necessarily 

 upon this condition : indeed, in fishes the cornea is almost 

 flat, while in birds of prey, which have a very extended range 

 of vision, the cornea is quite convex. From the lack of an- 

 alogy, from the great difference of construction of the ocular 

 and auditory apparatus of fishes and terrestrial animals, and 

 from the wide difference in the properties of the media of air 

 aud water, I am convinced that the organs of the special 

 senses of sight and hearing in fishes are not well understood 

 at the present day ; and I am confident that future investiga- 

 tions will prove them to be possessed of much greater acutc- 

 ness of vision and hearing than is now accorded them. 



It is a well-known fact that fishes are attracted by any gay, 

 bright or glittering substance, as a finger-ring, a sleeve-button, 

 or a coin, and have deliberately swallowed them when dropped 

 in the water. I have caught brook trout with wintergreen 

 and partridge berries, the bright scarlet color seeming to al- 

 lure them, and I have even caught them with a naked bright 

 fish hook ; but all this does not prove that they were the vic- 

 tims of a myopic mistake.or|lhat Wtheir near-sightedness they 

 mistook these various articles for something else ; neither 

 does it prove that a black bass will grab at a trolling spoon, 

 a bluetish snaps at a bone squid, or a Spanish mackerel seized 

 a metal or pearl troll under the delusion that they arc really 

 choice shiners or delicate piscatorial tidbits. A camel, it is 

 said, will bolt all sorts of substances, as metal, glass, stones, 

 leather, etc., but when was his shortcomings attributed to 

 short-sightedness? Our dogs will often refuse good, clean 

 food and hunt up an old dry bone, a stone, an old shoe, or a 

 stick, and will gnaw them with delight, and even swallow 

 them with evident gratification. Birds will peck at and 

 swallow bright beads, colored threads, etc., and kittens will 

 sieze, claw and bite almost any moving small object ; but 

 these vagaries are attributed to the idiosyncracies of the ani- 

 mals mentioned, while in fishes they are asscribed to defec- 

 tive sight. Does a salmon or a shad at spawning-time seek 

 out and ascend its native stream by instinct, smell or sight? 

 It is very convenient, but not at all satisfactory to give in- 

 stinct the credit for this truly wonderful faculty, on the same 

 principle that Coleridge accounts for the blindness of love. 

 "Uln eyes are In liia mind." 

 But what are a fish's eyes for ? According to our present 

 knowledge they are to enable him to become " a snapper-up 

 of unconsidered trifles " with hooks attached to them ! 



Now, as far as the artificial fly is concerned, when it is cast 

 lightly upon a fretted surface, I think it is generally taken by 

 a fish under the impression that it is a natural insect j but 

 with regard to trolls of all kinds, as spoons, squids, spinners, 

 propellers, etc., aud very often with regard to the artificial 

 fly, I am of the opinion thnt they are taken through a spirit of 

 mere bravado, curiosity or wantonness, and not with the idea 

 that they are living objects of prey. They arc seized by the 

 fish because they are bright, attractive and in motion ; not 

 because they are hungry, but because they are in a biting 

 mood, for we often find, nay, most always find, that fish so 

 taken are already gorged with food. Every black bass angler 

 has Been — where the water was clear enough for observation — 

 the bass seize his minnow through seemingly mere caprice, 

 and, instead of attempting to gorge it, would take it gingerly 

 by the tail, toy with it, and finally eject it or Bpit it out, aB it 

 were ; and this would be repeated several times in succession, 

 or until the angler's patience became exhausted, when, while 

 unjointing his rod, he would muse upon the waywardness of 

 fish in general, aud would be convinced that Solomon never 

 went a-fishing or he would have added another item to the 

 four things too wonderful for his ken, or at least have substi- 

 tuted "the way of a fish with a bait," for the less puzzling 

 proposition of " the way of a man with a maid." 



Cynlhiana, Ky., Dec. 5, 1878. J. A Henshaix. 



FISH JOURNEYINGS AND FISH VO- 

 RACITY. 



New Loudon Dec. 10, 1573. 

 Editor Stkisaii : 



You've all noticed how often a hungry ash will leap for your fly, re. 

 gardless of warninga In sharp pricks oi the hoot, until at last he's laid 

 away in your creel. 1 wanted uiuoh sympathy over flsh I have caught 

 with their jaws torn, thinking how they must have>uflered ; but when 

 t caught a trout which had an old hook In hla Jaws, and later, one with 

 a hook aud nearly three f?ct of Hue attached, I felt easier, and more as 

 if they had deserved It for their greedinesp. These fish were caught in 

 a small stream, aud therefore my chances ol catching a flsh previously 

 hookad were not desperate. Bat la salt water, with the whole ocean 

 before you, you will admit that the like chances are us ulim as drawing 

 the ural. prize in a lottery. A. few years ago T was one of a fishing party 

 on the smack Qvilp, dipt. George Harrison, oue morning while ash- 

 ing off Rhagnana lieef for codtlsh I fastened to a large one and suc- 

 ceeded in brlaglng him to the surface. The Captain stood by to take 

 htm, when away he went, with a new hook ami six feet of line. T told 

 i be Captain I would know that fish again when l saw aim. " Ten," he 

 said, "wnen you see turn you will." That nii;ht we lay In Port Pond Bay 

 sua early the next morning started for tho south side of Long Island, 

 and anchored a long distance off shore. Oar lines were soon over, and 

 iirpi: flsh I caught was the Identical lish t lost on Shagmma 

 Reef the day before, over twenty miles from our present ashing 



grounds, with the same hook, with serving and finely died point, and 

 marked hy flio cuts. I knew it weU. 1 told ihis to one of our smackmen 

 here believing lie would tell me, " Yon don't expect me to swallow 

 that ;" but he replied, " Yes 1 once I was Ashing off Block Island ; didn't 

 have much luck ; lost a heavy hook and some feet of line ; thought I'd 

 try a run down to Coxen's Ledge, when I'll be d- — -d If I didn't catch 

 that same flsh and he bad rny gear in hla Jaw." Another says, "I fell 

 In with some awordflsh off Montauk and got a oouple and pat tho Iron 

 Into a big one, but it tore out ; the Iron struck his back fin. and out It in- 

 to two parts, and It looked pretty ragged, The next day we went off 

 Block Island and I Baw the same flsh, and again off No Man's Land , 

 and when I got to Nantucket I saw nun again 1 I met the same fellow 

 off the Capes, and finally ran afoul of him off Portland, where I got him. 

 He was the Bame flsh, if l ain any Judge, which I struck and lost off 

 Montauk. and his fin hadn't healed ! It is well known that whales have 

 been killed, having irons In them marked with vessel's name, years 

 after and thousands of miles from the spot where they were Ural 

 struck. misai.. 



M ew UnbluiHtiotiii. 



Tits Yachtsman's Handy Boojc. By W. H. Bosser. Ohas. 

 Wilson, 157 Leadenhall St., London, E. 0., England. 

 Aa a rule, there ia no branoh of yaohting less understood or ap- 

 preciated than the science of navigation. An elementary work | 

 touching only npon eneh portions of the science aa are really 

 necessary and within the comprehension of an ordinary eduoalion, 

 is, therefore, a book that is sure to bo welcomed by the Btudent 

 who desires to acquire familiarity with his favorite sport in all Its 

 different phasea. Suoh a book is the ono now under notice. Pre- 

 pared expressly for the use of amateurs by writers who are famil- 

 iar with their needs and capabilities, the text has been confined 

 strictly to the solution of a "day's work," other valuable infor- 

 mation being incidentally incorporated wherever neoded. Wo 

 admire the system and arrangement throughout the book, and 

 beginners will find the care taken in this regard a material help to 

 thom in mastering what is too often considered as purely abstruse 

 and of little practical value. The leading chapter entora npon 

 the arithmetic of navigation. In it the relatione of degrees, min- 

 utes and seoonds of arc and tinie are explained. The conversion 

 of time or hour angles into arcs then follows, with an elucidation 

 of the scales employed. The compass, its variations, correction 

 of courses to true courses ; leeway and currents, and allowances 

 for same ; tho log, common and patent, aro all taken up in suc- 

 cession, and their working laid bare in plain, terse language, which 

 can be understood almost for the trouble of reading. The next 

 division treats of the " sailings" and working out of a ship's posi- 

 tion at soa by " inspection" or rule of thnmb. Eor that purpose 

 the construction of traverse tables is fully gone into, and depart- 

 ure and difference of latitude entered upon ; and thon a sample 

 of a full "day's work" ia given, for practical purposes the ubs 

 of the ohart is considered. Beyond this the taking of observations 

 of heavenly bodies receivea attention, including, first, a descrip- 

 tion of the construction and handling of the Bextant, and the man- 

 ner of taking an altitude, tides, time of high water, and magnet- 

 ism of ships ; andnext, the mothod of finding latitude hy meridian 

 altitude, longitude by chronometer and sun's altitude, azimuths 

 and amplitudes, tho latter two for correcting the compass. In 

 addition to this, somo very handy and useful brief rules in naviga- 

 gation, the working of logarithms, aud much other interesting 

 matter ia inoluded in this volume, which, we need hardly add, 

 should be found aboard every yacht whose owner lays claim to 

 being a thorough yachtsman. Many a leisure hour can be profita- 

 bly spent in its perusal ; the interest will hardly flag, for the book 

 has been eo written as to make an easy and agreeable study out of 

 what in less able hands would have become a desultory mixture. 

 Not the least valuable foature in thiB work is the International 

 Code, with oolored Hags, and the Semaphore and boat signals which 

 have been appended. These and the International Steering and 

 Sailing Kules, and a catechism of fore-and-aft seamanship, serve 

 to make the book very complete— and all within the size of a vol- 

 ume of a hundred pages. Tho fore-and-aft seamanship has also 

 been published in the form of a separate pamphlet. It would do 

 good to havo it generally distributed among yachts' crows, who 

 might plols up valuable points in the art of sailing from it. fa 

 the latter form it includes an explanation of the weather-glasB for 

 north latitudes and signB of the weather. 



Cruise op the Obion. By It. T. McMullen. Chas. Wilson, 

 157 Leadenhall st„ London, E. C, England. 

 As tho question of "Cutter vs. Sloop" is now agitating the 

 yachting public, all information of a reliable character concerning 

 the actual doings of tho English cutter will be found of deep in- 

 terest to amatojrs on this aide of the Atlantic. In the little vol- 

 ume now before ua we have a well written account of a cruise in 

 a twenty-ton yawl, niado by the author in 1S77, from London to 

 Cherbourg aud return. Starting with two hands before the mast, 

 he was obliged to dismiss them in France on account of bad 

 behavior, and there formed the plat 

 again single handed. How thia w 

 aud the successful ending of the 

 describes hi a vivid and minute 

 himself aboard the yawl, and makes him feel aa though he wore 

 actually present upon the occasion. The author also branches off 

 into a consideration of many other things intimately connected 

 with a sailor's life ; and though in some respects the reader may 

 differ from him, especially in the relation of labor and capital, or 

 employer and employee— master and servant, aa they are atiU 

 considered in England — the reflections of the lone cruiser will 

 command attention. The chapter on lighthonseB Is one which 

 cannot fail to elicit warm approval, and is one to which we call 

 the officials in charge of our lighthouse system, as containing 

 a great many valuable and exceedingly practical suggestions con- 

 cerning the modification of the electric light aa at present in use 

 on foreign coasts, As we will sooner or later tako to that light 

 ouraelvea, it ia well that aU information bearing upon the subject 

 should receive consideration ; and from Mr. MoMullen's book wo 

 conclude that few would bo better able to give a clear exposition 

 of the needs of small ooasting craft in this direction, To our 

 yaohting readers the final chapter on small yachts will not bo lha 

 least interesting, especially now that the cruising spirit ia abroad 

 to a greater degree than heretofore. 



of sailing the Orion home 

 a done, tho work it entailed, 

 ludertaking, Mr. McMullon 

 which carrioa the reader 



