56 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



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In regular advertising columns, nonpareil type. 12 Hues to the Inch, 2E 

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NEW YORK, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1874. 



To Correspondents. 



All communications whatever, whether relating to business or literary 

 Wtfasnondenoa, must be addressed io TBS Forest and Stream Pub- 

 ubhiNg Cowabt. Personal or private letters of course excepted. 



All communications intended for publication must be accompanied wilh 

 ,-eai name, as a guaranty of good faith. Names will not be published if 

 Objection be made. No anonymous contributions will be regarded. 



Articles relatiug to any topic within the scope of this paper are solicited. 



We cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 



Suere'.iries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor us with Brief 

 note- Cf their movements and transactions, as it is the aim Of this paper 

 to boeome a medium of useful and reliable information between gentle- 

 men sportsmen from one cud of the country to the other : and they will 

 ilud our columns a desirable medium for advertising announcements. 



The Publishers of Forest *se Stream aim to merit and secure the 

 patronage and countenance of that portion of the. community whose co- 

 nned intelligence enables them to properly appreciate and enjoy all that 

 l5 beautiful in Nature. It will pander to no depraved tastes, nor pervert 

 the legitimate sports of land and water to those base uses which always 

 tand to make them unpopular with the virtuous and good. No advertise- 

 ment or business notice of arf Immoral character will be received on any 

 terms : and nothing will be admitted to any department of the paper that 

 may not be read with propriety in the home circle. 



We cannot be responsible for the dereliction of the mall service, if 

 money remitted to us is lost. 



Advertisements should be sent in by Saturday of each week, if possible. 

 «:HAItl.ES I1AULOCK, Managing Editor. 



WILLIAM C. HARRIS, Business Manager. 



CALENDAR OF EVENTS FORTHE CUR- 

 RENT WEEK. 



Fr-tow IKmemhec ttli Begitta of the Notional Association of Ama- 

 teur Oarsman! Laureate course. TrOy, N. Y.-Trottlng meetings at Sy a- 

 enae, ». T„ Providence, R. I , Boston, Mass., Knoxvllle, Syracuse, and 

 Macomb, III., and Micl.llebiiiy, Vl. 



SATDicDAT.ScpiemherSth, -Yacht race, New Rochelle hart., ,.-. N. V. 

 -Practice day bo it clubs, Harlem. N. Y, -Tootling meeliug Prospect 

 Park. Brooklyn, N.Y., and Macomb, 01 



Moximt. September ;th. -Trolling meetings at Aurora, 111., Daw.u- 

 part, Ioivn, and St. Joseph, Mo. 



TufstiAY September Sill.— Trotting meeting,-, at Eau Claire, Wis., 

 Wolcuttville. Conn., Kingston and Clyde. N. V., Reading, Pa.. Boston, 

 Ma'S . St.. Paul, Minn., and Davenport, Iowa.-Running meeting, Buff- 

 alo. N\ Y. 



WEi.SEsr.AV. September Oth.-Seneca Lake regatta. w atktiis, N. 1 — 

 Convention of Sportsmen, Niagara Falls, N. Y -Match day, encket 

 clubs, Boboken, N. J.-Trotiing meetings at Prospect Pari;. N. Y., Au- 

 rora 111 D.venport, low... St. Joseph, Mo., Vt olcmtvllle, Conn. King- 

 ton and Clyde. N. Y.. Readina. Pa., Boston, Mass., ana St. Paul, Minn. 

 — Running meeting Bullalo. N. Y. 



Tuorsday. September 10th.— Seneca Lake regatta. Watkius, N. Y._ 

 Conventli.il of S, ortsmen, Niagara Fads, N. Y. -Trotting meetings, at 

 Wol -olivine, Conn.. Kingsion and Clyde, N. T„ Reading, Pa., Boston, 

 Mass., St. Paul, Minn,, Etna, N. Y.— Running meetings at Prosptct 

 PMfc, Brooklyn, and Buffalo. N. Y. 



We take great pleasure ir announcing that the veteran 

 field sportsman, Horace Smith, Esq., so well known to 

 moat, of our friend's wild love Hue dog ami the gun, will take 

 charge of our Phila delphia office and inter ests. 



The Intern" vtio.nai. Regatta at Sapatooa.— This 

 Important event was concluded on August 31st., and for 

 full details we refer the reader to our boating columns. 

 The four-oared scull race was made specially interesting 

 from th6 fact that the South was represented by two crews, 

 one from Charleston, the other from Savannah. The 

 Whole regatta was a most extraordinary success, reflecting 

 great credit on the Saratoga Bowing Association, and on 

 Mr. Coakling, tho President. Commodore Brady's (-Hurts 

 and untiri ■" n tfgy iwe also not to bci'orgotten. In giving 

 James O'NeU's lime in the extra single sculls as wonder- 

 fully fast, it must be taken into consideration that rowing 

 Lo dead water may give oertain advantages. A straight 

 away race may be the best tor making excellent time, but 

 turning races are far more interesting than those on a 

 utraightaway course, as tlvey allow I He spectators to see 

 tho start and the tiuisl: 



COD FISHING— FROM FULTON MARKET 

 TO NANTUCKET SHOALS. 



IT was not exactly a ease of mental use up; but those 

 peculiar drawers in the brain, in which are stored 

 away for ready reference certain facts and fancies, which 

 drawers ought to have sprung out of the intellectual cabi- 

 net, when only a finger was put on the handles, refused to 

 work, and grated on their slides. Even when they were 

 wrenched open, after no end of strain, absolutely nothing- 

 was found iu the receptacles. The mental digging for 

 FOREST \nd Stream, though not in stony or sandy soil, 

 had, perhaps, from over delving, dulled I he spade edge, 

 and the back ached and the arms were tired. In fact, a 

 holiday— a perfect relaxation from all work— was a neces- 

 sity, The question was, How or where should we take our 

 two, weeks' faring? Nothing is more enjoyable than abso- 

 lute Contrast From a purely literary and sedentary life, 

 a physical and active existence was what we were yearn- 

 ing for. We wanted to sail in somewhere in our shirt 

 sleeves, wear old clothes, go unshaven, and, enjoying God's 

 pure air, suck in untainted breezes, and wash off the ink 

 stains from our fingers and brain. 



"The very best thing you can do," said Mr. Blackford, 

 of Fulton Market, "is to take a trip in our smack, the Wal- 

 lace Blackford, Captain Michael Keduiond, and go to Nan- 

 tucket Shoals and back, and catch cod for market. .The 

 smack lies at Greenport, andwill sail to-morrow. You can 

 lake a aound Steamer, or the railroad, and catch her." 



The proposition was hailed wilh delight, the offer In- 

 stantly accepted, and next day we were at Greenport, Long 

 Island, and on board the smack were duly enrolled as an 

 amateur cod fisherman. 



Now there arc smacks and smacks— some antique and 

 dilapidated, others fresh and pretty. The gayest, sauciest, 

 trimmest of them all is the Blackford. Of some forty-six 

 tons measurement, with a neatly fitted cabin, she is as 

 handsome in model as a yacht, and carries two rakish 

 masts, with topmasts, and is altogether the pride of the 

 market Soon we bowled out along the Sound, caught, a 

 fog off Piitte.JuiU (Point Judilh), made New Bedford next 

 day, where we shipped some fifteen tons of ice, and then 

 off again, sighting Gay's Head. Next day an eight knot 

 breeze took us to Nantucket. Here we tarried a day, tak- 

 ing some forty bushels of sea clams for bait, aud adding to 

 our number a Nantucket fisherman; then off wo started 

 with a rattling breeze for Nantucket Shoals. 



Now look at your maps, and off to the eastward of the 

 island of Nantucket you will see Sankaty light. On your 

 charts, about 69° 30" by 41° 00 you will find all kinds of 

 shoals and rips. Look a little further, and you will dis- 

 cover that the currents are indicated as running in all di- 

 rections. It is a locality dreaded by the coasters. Some- 

 times drifted iu by a fog, some loggy drogher stumbles in 

 here, and the skipper, seeing the malicious lines of sharp 

 surges that race across the seas, as the tides tear over the 

 shoals, gets bewildered, and scuttles out again, if he can, 

 into smoother water, louse a sailor's expression, "as last 

 as a scalded hog." Just here, some twenty-five to forty 

 miles east of Sankaty light, are the cod fishing grounds. 

 There is Deep Rip aud the Cod Bank aud the Rose and 

 Crown, and lots of other shoals. 



Cod are fished for and brought to the New York market 

 all the year round. The harvest never ceases. From De- 

 cember to May our fishermen find cod off the shores of 

 Sandy Hook as far as Cape May, Ihen from June to Sep- 

 tember they are caught, off Nantucket; in October and 

 November they take cod off Bass' Rip and Old Man's 

 Shoals, nearer to Nantucket. The gadeaus seem to love 

 cold water. In summer they seek deeper water; in win- 

 ter shallower beds. Off on Nantucket shoals il it always 

 deep sea fishing, from twenty fathoms to sometimes almost 

 forty fathoms. Off Sandy Hook cod are caught by trawl 

 ing in shallow water. Trawls are long lines anchored and 

 buoyed wilh shorter lines ffansed to them, sometimes as 

 many as 500 hooks being on a trawl. Trawling is done in 

 boat's, the smack picking up the men. It does not matter 

 much whether you catch your fish by trawling or by deep 

 sea fishing, the work is hard either way. 



Our captain, sailing over lips and surges, instinctively 

 flnds a good place for fish. The lines areas much as forty- 

 flve fathoms long, each provided with a sinker of some 

 two and n half pounds, lo which are attached by a snood 

 or gunsc two No. 12 hooks. The vessel is so inanceuvred 

 as to be carried broadside by the tide. The wind, if it 

 blows favorably, holds her back so as to retard her move- 

 ment. Alongside of each man is » basket of clams. The 

 first mystery of cod fishing, the rudimentary part, is to be 

 an expert, cfam opener. You take a round bladed knife, 

 gash through the clam, and with a peculiar scrape, at one 

 motion drop the meat on the deck and sling the shells over- 

 board. During the time it takes your sinker to plumb the 

 depths you ought to be able to open some half dozen clams, 

 for if the fish are iu the humor of biting yon will want 

 every one of them. Over, then, went our line, thrown 

 clear of the rail, and we waited. We felt the lead touch 

 bottom, when there came a tug. We jerked aud drew on 

 the line. There was a wriggle some ISO feet below, -and 

 hand Over hand we went for that fish. Our excitement 

 was inteu?e. We pulled something to the surface— a hot- 

 rid creature, which gaped at us over the rail. The crew 

 laugh, and cry "a purp, a purp!" The bruie feels ice cold 

 as wc disengage him from the hook. Our captain tells us 

 to beware of two claw-like appendages which protrude 

 from tile dorsal fins of this ugly fish, which might hurt us 



if be struck us. We have caught a dog fish. We tear the 

 hook from his grizzly nose, toss him overboard, rebait our 

 hooks, and over goes the lino a second lime. While our 

 slnkr-r goes dow*u wo lank around. Some half dozen fish 

 are already flopping on the deck, and every man. Jack of 



COOk and all, have their lines laul, ami 



in full tension are singing merrily over the tlr-.arls. 

 Now comes on our line a more lusiy, honest pull. Wo- 

 yank away, (the captain's expression) and haul and tug. 

 Nou this pulling on a stiff cord, not more ihan Hie sixth 

 of an inch iu diameter, calls into play peculiar muscles 



you have never exactly exercised before. Give - 



inch rope, and tug en that, and the hand, arm, and usual 

 muscles are exerted, bill gripping 80 small n luilig as u MsU- 

 ing line With the ends of the lingers is unite a different 

 kind of business. If you had been a violin player, using 

 your left hand on Iht: strings, perhaps your digits miglfl 

 have been strengthened. Your three fingers on each hand, 

 it is true, are protected by India rubber finger stalls. Eailel 

 cots (Query — whether the expression coUotting mything 

 is not a fisherman's expression?), but still the line cuts 

 You pull away, all nervous aud excited, and land on deck, 

 with a flutter, your first cod. Confound it, he has gorged 

 the hook! Fur a twenty pound fish to gorge his hook is ,t 

 shameful proceeding. You pull at that hook, but it won't 

 come. The captain shows you how to extirpate it. Yon cut 

 a slit below the fish's jaw, slip your lingers. through tho 

 wound down the gullet, turn the hook backwards, paBS ihe 

 ti >p of 'he line through the cut, and out slips the line. 



Just in the middle of the craft a temporary bin has been 

 erected, and now, as the flsh are caught, they are slung 

 into this receptacle, aud fish arc fast being heaped up there, 

 No sooner is our line down than we feel a bite and jerk, 

 and up she comes. It is a second drtg flsh, and wo arc 

 forthwith flubbed with the honorable title of "Champion 

 dog fisherman/ 1 Captain Redmond explains !o us that we 

 are fishing too near the bottom, Wc catch alter that cod 

 after cod. Now suppose you took a fish line with forty 

 pounds attached to it, and let it go of its own weight off a 

 spire 200 feet high, and then hauled it up us fast as you could 

 some twenty times, and you would commence lo think it, 

 was a heavy job, Our fingers were exactly of that opinion. 

 We buckle, however, down to the work, and slick to it, 

 when nolens Wteni we have to give it up from sheer exhaus- 

 tion. The fish are coming up all around. Jack, Tom, 

 Silo, George, a gentleman from Syracuse, aud the captain 

 are working away on codfish, but our own fingers, cut to 

 the bone, are too sore for work, The fishing continues 

 until flood tide sets in, and the drift of the vessel becomes 

 too rapid. By this time the bin is overflowing with cod 

 and haddock. The fishermen call the latter Dickey. Now 

 thete is a fine old Catholic legend telling how St. Peter, 

 •when he look the tribute money from the fish, marked the 

 haddock with two spots back of the shoulders. Devil-may- 

 care Jack has a different yarn. "You see, sir," said Jack, 

 "old Nick went a fishing and caught a haddock. 'Belay 

 now, Dickey,' said old Fire and Brimstone, 'I've got you 

 good.' 'Divil a bit of it,' said the fish, as Belzebub clapped 

 his claws on him, for you see a haddock is slimy, and he 

 slipped through his crooked fingers. T'U mark you, 

 though, Dickey,' said old Satan, and for sure he did. Just 

 where he touched Dickey he burnt his back uilh his red 

 hot fingers." 



Wc had caught some fine pollacks— the salmou of the 

 sea — and they really bear quite a resemblance hi shape lo 

 the salmonidaj. Some strange fish had also been dragged 

 up. Huge sea toads aud skates, and a ling of a pale yel- 

 low color, and an ugly brute of a sea catfish. This fish 

 was the very personification Of anger and spite. Showing 

 his Sharp fangs, fully an inch long, he bit and snapped like 

 a WOlf, A poor, inoffensive cod near Him he pounced on, 

 and shook and worried ai would have done mi animal. 



We had caught some 350 cod fish on ttie tide. The very 

 smallest would Weigh two pounds, the largest forty oounds. 

 Now all hands drew iu their gear and commenced to dress 

 the fish. For market purposes the very small fish are left 

 wilh their heads on, but these were few. The greater pro- 

 portion of the fish had to have their heads cut off. and all 

 had to be disemboweled. Three men decapitate and clean 

 rapidly, while two of tho hands wash ardscrui 

 This lask finished, the fish go below to be iced. One of 

 the ice house? is emptied, the ice is broken up, and layers 

 of fish and ice are stored .-.nugly away. Next the decks are 

 tidied, innumerable buckets of water and brooms ate 

 brought into play, until not a bit of blood or slime, or a 

 scale is seen on deck, and. so cods our first, day's flsh. We 

 IttUSt catch some 3.200 fish before we. will be ready to trim 

 sails for Fulton Market, and 2,200 fish means— for tho cap- 

 tain has said the ■ ig very large— fully eight 

 tons of .fish to be hauled up over Hie smack's side from a 

 depth of water pot , 



(To he ,' , ,,- 1,-ext.) 



Mr.yi.DU is of our National Ritle Association are warm In 



the acknowledgement of the many courtesies afforded them 



by the Quebec Rifle Association. Not only was; there 



i fair play about the whole proceedings, but 



■ and men of the Provincial Rifle Clubs, seemed 



lo vie with one another, in their endeavors to show every 



ltd out represeuiives. We assure our Canadian 



friends how fully we appreciate these favors, and we trust 



, . . ■ lu- fall meetiug, to extetid 



to them the same hearty welcome. 



— Those who wish to bind tho second volume of Forest 

 and Stream, will find a title page with tho present issue, 



