Febrtjaey 24, 1881.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



71 



Picker?:, 



fua and §iver Jiuhmq. 



FISH IN SEASON IN FEBKl JURY. 



MESH WATER. 



%og ;-■ ffci/./atu*. I white Bass, Roccun chrymia. 



ruceornckor.-t, &„_ c <„.„•,«. | Roek Bass, AwMopiue*. (Two 

 PlKe-perch (walfcerea pike) i species'. 



st<;o^;hiu-,:i nmer'-'anvtn, ,v. | \\ ' fir-mouth, Cha-nobryttus gulom-s. 



iirimnm, etc. Grapple, Hmdiw i>?Yfiv»j',r<nWrj?</..'. 



Yellow Perch, /'e™ iiin<al.iiii. Bachelor. Pm*,,*,/* annularis. 



Striped -bass, riuccu.* UnraUm. \ chub, xmivtius Mi-jivi-aHts. 



SALT WATER. 

 Sea Bass, ttntTbprigtis atrarius. I Smelt, Otmenui mordax. 

 Striped Bass, A'oreu.v li„entu.s. Pollock. r„ir<zcli;.u.* carbwirius. 



White Perch, .Vonoie t/.wjMtna. 



THE GAMY - RAINBOW TROUT. 



rjlHAT the latest importation from California, the beauti- 

 -*- fill Salmo irideu, is a thrifty growing fish for the fish- 

 culturists has long been known, but little has been said of 

 its gamesome, ways and its grit. The Sun sent a reporter 

 down to Fulton Market to interview Mr. Blackford on this 

 subject, and this is w-at Mr. Blackford said: 



"We expect to display some large trout of this kiud on 

 our stand on April 1, some that will weigh rive pounds 

 apiece As they run in the California streams they average 

 about four pounds in weight. Ours will come "from the 

 United States hatching works on the MeCloud River. Some 

 trout will come, too, from Mr. F. N. Clark's tish hatching 

 works at Northville, Mich Of course they are native in 

 California, and those in Mr. Clark's hatching works were 

 produced from spawn brought from Califoru a. 



" It is only two years since fishculturists in the East have 

 received the eggs of the trout. This is to be the first year in 

 which the United States Fish Commission is to turn 

 loose small California trout in our streams. The culture of 

 these fish has hitherto been carried on by private enterprise. 



"The California mountain trout takes its name, rainbow 

 trout, from the beautiful band of colors that runs along the 

 side of the fish, and is ab lit a fourth as wide as the fish. 

 There are no red spots on the body, as in our brook trout, but 

 there are a few black dots near the head. When the fish is 

 first taken from the water this baud has all of the tmis of a 

 rainbow. After it is dead it becomes a uniform red color, 

 but shading to a lighter color underneath. We had a rain- 

 bow trout about a year ago, sent by B. B. Redding, Com- 

 missioner of Fisheries in California; that was a male, over 

 two and a half feet long, and that weighed five and three- 

 quarter pounds. It was well- shaped and plump, with large 

 black dots thickly sprinkled on the shoulders and tail. The 

 operculum was decorated with a bright, red tint, blending 

 into a greenish brown, or olive toward the eye. A broad, 

 red dish or strip of color stretched from the tip of the tail 

 to the cheek. It was a gaudy-looking fish. 



" They are more gamy, and they tight far more than the 

 common brook trout. At the fish hatching ponds iu Cala- 

 donia N. Y. , last spring, 1 caught with a fly several rainbow 

 trout weighing from a quarter to half a pound. Each time 

 that the trout struck my hook I thought that I had a pound 

 trout on my line. Why, they strike a hook like that." Mr. 

 Blackford, to illustrate, brought the palms of his hands to- 

 gether with vigor. "Then they are off iu a flash, with the 

 line running off so rapidly that the reel fairly smokes with 

 the friction Although the average weight when full grown 

 is about four pounds, yet they have been taken as large as 

 six pounds, while in a lake near Bellingham Bay, on the 

 Pacific slope, the trout are said to grow to be ten or twelve. 

 pounds in weight. 



"As to their reproduction in New York State waters, the 

 New York State fish Commission in 18TS obtained SOU eggs 

 from the MeCloud River, from which in 1880 there were 16,- 

 000 trout two years old, and 34,000 one year old. They can 

 be raised from the egg much more easily than the common 

 brook trout, and experience shows that the rainbow tiout is 

 the hardiest fish in every -way. • Not half so many rainbow 

 tr.mt die iu artificial life as their cousms in the East. They 

 grow rapidly, too/ In 1878, in the Caledonia Spring Creek, 

 2,000 young rainbow trout were set free, and last year a 

 fishermen had no difficulty in landing a dozen with a fly in- 

 side of an hour. They remain in good condition for the 

 table much longer than the brook trout, which spawu in the 

 late fall or beginning of winter, and are lean, slabsided and 

 tasteless from September to February, while the California 

 trout begins to spawn about two months later than the 

 Eastern brook trout. The female produces about 1,500 eggs. 

 The males are ferocious. They fight with one another all the 

 time. It is this aggressiveness that makes them take the 

 hook so savagely " 



"Are they as" handsome as the Eastern brook trout?" 



"No," the Commissioner replied ; "no fish is handsomer 

 than a Long Island brook trout, unless it, is the ' Dolly 

 Yardeu' trout. They are also a California trout, and are fre- 

 quently found in the same stream with the rainbow trout, 

 and are of about the same shape, pump, round and full. 

 They differ from the rainbow trout in having all over their 

 sides brilliant vermilion spots from one-eighth to three six- 

 teenths of an inch in diameter. The spots on the Eastern 

 brook trout are only one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter. 

 This season, I think, there will be distributed in New York 

 streams from 75,000 to 100,000 small rainbow trout. They 

 mingle amicably with the Eastern brook trout, but they will 

 not be put in streams where these run in great numbers, be- 

 cause we want to keep the species distinct from each other. 



" As to their habits, they are, unlike our trout fond of 

 moderate currents of water or still places with the surface of 

 the water shaded. The Eastern trout, on the other hand, 

 love to hover under a waterfall or to skip from ripple to rip- 

 ple in the most dashing rapids. Fishermen who have killed 

 them on the Pacific coast say that the rainbow trout is most 

 plentiful along the Western coast of California and north- 

 ward. All of the true brook trout. West of the Mississippi 

 River have black spots. Fishing is very fine in nearly all of 

 the rapid streams of the Coast mountains and the Cascade 

 mountains in Oregon. At Fort Dallas trout fishing is good in 

 April. May, June and July. The rapid snow water streams 

 that flow from Mt. Hood abound in these trout, but the in- 

 numerable rattlesnakes interfere with, and in places prevent, 

 angling. The fisherman has also another foe in the cotton- 

 woods, willows and squaw bushes that make fly casting al- 

 ways impossible. AYhen a fly does touch the water, though, 

 it is snapped up greedily. The fish is delicious eating. In 

 that section most of the fishing is done with bait. The fhh 

 takes common raw meat, the tougher the better. Crow meat 



is generally used, and crows are shot for bait. This flesh 

 combines a vivid redness with a rank smell aud a powerful 

 toughness. All of these qualities are. desirable for bait that 

 is most taking. Like their Eastern relations, the California 

 trout are. sometimes capricious, and then a piece of a red fin 

 from a dead fish will often lure them to destruction." 



The Fly Casting Tournament — Since the announce- 

 ment in our last, issue of the arrangements made for the com- 

 ing tournament in connection with the meeting of the New 

 York State Association for the Protection of Fish and Game 

 in June, many letters have been received. 



Loouus & Plumb., Syracuse, N. Y., have- offered one of 

 their newly-invented "automatic" reds to be made with a 

 hard rubber shell or disks, gold mounted and appropriately 

 inscribed and decorated, worth fifty dollars. 



B. F. Nichols & Co., 30 Beach street, Boston, Mass., offer 

 several of their "hexagonal" split bamboo fishing rods as 

 prizes. 



The Syracuse Juwtml says : "President Crook and the 

 officers of the State Sportsmen's Association associated with 

 with him have done themselves much credit in their selection 

 of Mr. Fred Mather to have the sole superiuteudence of all 

 matters at the next meeting relating to the rod aud reel. Mr. 

 Mather is an assistant to the Lnited States Fish Com- 

 mission and editor of the angling department of Forest and 

 Stream, and is thoroughly skilled in all that relates to his 

 profession. For many years past fly easting at the conven- 

 tions of the association has been a burlesque, and as a conse- 

 quence gentleman *ho are true descendants of Isaak Walton 

 have declimd to participate in the contests Such men do 

 not. care so much for the prizes as for the credit of having 

 honorably won distinction iu an art for which they have so 

 much fancy. Under Mr. Mather's direction the contests will 

 be honorably, honestly and intelligently conducted, and it is 

 fair to presume tha' there will be a large attendance of fly 

 casters, many of whom will for the. first time attend a con- 

 vention of the association. The th inks of every expert aud 

 amateur in the State are due to President Crook aud his as- 

 sociates for the admirable choice they have made, showing at 

 once that the strictest fidelity is to be one of the guiding 

 principles of the next meeting." 



Maine Notes. — We learn from the Belfast Journal that 

 the Maine House has passed to be engrossed an act. for the 

 protection of trout aud landlocked salmon in Kennchago aud 

 Rangeley chain of lakes and streams ; an act for the protec- 

 tion of fishing in Hosmer's pond in the town of Camden; and 

 an act to incorporate the Piscataquis Game and Fish Protec- 

 tive Society Mr. C. G. Atkins has forwarded to New York 



State Fish Commissioner Blackford 25,000 salmon eggs, col- 

 lected at Graud Lake Stream Smelts are scarce at Warren. 



The petitions to the Legislature from theshore towns pro 



hibitiug the seining of mackerel off the Maine coast will be 

 confronted by remonstrances from the seiners of Portland 

 and other fishing places, claiming that the fish are 

 not diminished in numbers or the fishing interest im- 

 paired by seining. The Portland Pras says that the 

 mackerel fisheries of Portland are valued at half a 

 million dollars a yew, and that as the treaty With Can- 

 ada allows seining within three miles of the shore, the only 

 result of not allowing our vessels to seine mackerel would be 

 to drive them under the English flag, sailing under which 

 they would continue the business, and thus Anglicize more of 



our commerce The Waterville Mail says a petition for 



shortening the close time for perch has received many sigua- 

 naturcs from sportsmen in that place, who argue that the 

 spawning season is over before the first of June, which is one 



of the nicest months in all the year for fishing Tom cods 



are plentiful iu Bangor and sell for 50 cents a bushel. Some 

 of the down river fishermen select and dress the finest fjsji 

 and ship them to New York city, where .f 3 per bbl. is paid for 

 them. 



Fisn Hatching by an Amateur. — The readers of the 

 Fokbst and Stream interested in fish culture will re- 

 member perhaps an article stating the success of John N. 

 Bennett, of Stamford, Delaware County, New York, in 

 hatching over 10,000 brook trout in his cellar last winter. 

 Those trout are now over four inches long, domg well in one 

 of his five trout ponds, situated on his beautiful estate ad- 

 joining the Delaware and Ulster Railroad in Stamford. In 

 one of these ponds he has breeding trout that range from a 

 pound to 'wo pounds in size. The other ponds are well 

 stocked with smaller ones. 



This past summer Mr. Bennett built a large and fine hatch- 

 ing house just below two large and running springs, and is 

 now hatching out (a part are already out) nearly 50,000 of 

 the Babw fonthialia for the free stocking of the west branch 

 of the Delaware River here and adjacent supplying brooks. 

 I have the promise of 15,000 eggs of the California 'mountain 

 trout which Mr. Bennett is to hatch for the same purpose. 

 We hope to have a law passed this winter protecting our 

 streams for two years, and if w T e do, with over 200,000 fish 

 B'ocked therein during the past and present year, this part 

 of Delaware County will again hold its old prestige of good 

 trouting waters in the season 



Mr. Bennett deserves great credit for his taste, energy and 

 perseverance, for impure water from a creamery Once emp- 

 tied his ponds of the finest stock I ever saw— one, 3,000 of 

 his trout being of large size. Mr. Bennett takes the Forest 

 and Stream and enjoys your fish department vastly. 



Ned Btjntline. 



How Large is a Quarter-Pound Trout?— New York, 

 Feb. 10. — Will you ask your correspondent, "Manhattan," 

 whose communication appeared in to-day's issue, what are 

 the dimensions of a trout which weighs one-quarter of a 

 pound? I highly approve of " Manhattan's " indignation at 

 fiugerliugs being caught by boys or by would-be sportsmen, 

 and it recalls to me that a few summers ago, at Pol Smith's 

 I one morning caught from one locality, and put back alive, 

 nineteen baby trout, and then went farther. On my return 

 to the hotel at evening I found a " sportsman " displaying his 

 great catch of about fifty " trout" the size of your little fin- 

 ger, caught, that afternoon at the spot I had left, and among 

 them, 1 do believe, those. I had put back -they were the same 

 size anyway— and the whole fifty could easily have been 

 eaten by one man at a meal, and not much of a meal, either ; 

 they did not weigh two pounds. But if there is to be a pen- 

 alty for a trout under a quarter of a pound in weight, what 

 is its size ? and what is the girth of a trout eight inches long 

 and what will it weigh ? No guess work, now. 



Geo. W. Van Siolbs. 



Spobt at Fonda, N. Y, — If I were a journalist I would 

 tell you of the fun we had last fall catching pike from four to 



six pounds in weight, and how in booking a three-pound bass 

 we were compelled to send the boy we had to row for us in 

 about five feet of water to retrieve him for us after he (the 

 bass) had taken two or three turns of the line around a snag 

 Ujat was imbedded on the bottom, and ah oof the exciting 

 times we have had running Reynard and how one of our 

 Nimrods has the brush of eighteen hanging in his wigwam— 

 the result of our fall running. But, as I say, we are not jour- 

 nalists; notwithstanding all that, we are as tickled as a child 

 with a new toy when, on Thursday of each week, we march 

 down from the news office with a copy of the em-rent No. of 

 the Forest and Stream. A. B . J. 



Range of the Catfish— Cleveland, O., Feb. 2. — "Lex.," 

 of St. Pauls, Minn.; W. L. Carpenter, U. S. A., Fort 

 Omaha; and Lieut. Asa Wall, of Winchester, Va., have 

 given interesting and valuable information regarding the 

 northern range 'and value of catfish in those localities. It 

 would be of interest to hear from some of the many readers 

 of FoRitsr and Stream in the Southern States giving their 

 knowledge of the habits of this fish, its size, and reputation 

 as an article of food ami how they cook it* We often hear 

 of its enormous size in those waters, but it is usually spoken 

 of as coarse and rather inferior food. The yellow and blue- 

 cats are of the same species, merely differing in color and 

 size, the yellow rarely attaining the weight of fifteen pounds, 

 while the" blue variety, full grown, weighs from forty to one 

 hundred pounds and over, according to the waters most 

 favorable to its development. This fish pairs iu the spawn, 

 ing season, and on several occasions I have reason to know 

 that the two varieties breed with one another. 



De. E. Sterling. 



We Have Received from Mr. R. H. Kilby, of Montreal, 

 Canada, the handsomely illustrated catalogue of his cricket 

 and fishing goods. Mr. Kilby 's stock is extensive and com 

 prchensive, and his establishment is well known throughout 

 the Provinces. Mr. Kilby is well known as one of the active. 

 officers of the Fish aud Game Protective Club of the Province 

 of Quebec. 



Small Strong Hooks. — A London correspondent writes 

 that Florida fishermen can get small hooks which are strong 

 enough, aud says that small ones are to be had iu London which 

 are as strong a's cod hooks, and are known as "Mahseer" 

 hooks. They are used for fishing in Hindostan and prepared 

 to resist the crushing power of a 60-lb. mahseer, while small 

 enough to be used for smaller fish. 



Sending Fish by Mail. — A halibut of one and a half 



pounds was recently sent from Gloucester, Mass., to Mr. 

 Blackford, in Fulton Market, by mail. It was then the 

 smallest on record, but one of three-quarters of a pound has 

 since been taken. 



The Saturday Review, speaking of fishing, says that the. 

 Scandinavian rivers, like the Scotch streams, have passed 

 into the hands of millionaires. 



SPt guliure. 



THE CENTRAL FISHCULTURAL SOCIETY. 



[concluded.] 



MR. FA1RBANK : There is do doubt about the evil influ- 

 ence of the pound net, and Mr. Green is right in his 

 views on it. 



Mr. Clark : How can the pound nets be abandoned and 

 yet leave the herring fisheries profitable ? 



Mb. Booth : No trouble about it in most places, for there 

 are but few localities where the herriug are caught. 



Mr. Baetlett moved that the thanks of the Society be 

 tendered to the railroads which have done so much in afford 

 ing facilities for the transportation cf fish and fry, and also 

 carried them free of charge. Carried. 



The Secretary then announced that a paper had been re- 

 ceived from Dr. Nahutu E. Ballou, of Sandwich, 111., a gen- 

 tleman who had the cause of fish culture at heart, but who 

 was prevented from attending the meeting. It was read as 

 follows: 



FISH CULTURE IN THE PAST AND FUTURE. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Central Fisheultural 

 Society : 



I regret exceedingly that I cannot be in attendance at the 

 meeting of your Society which convenes to-day at the Grand 

 Pacific Hotel, owing to sickness in my family and profes- 

 sional engagements, which entirely preclude absence from 

 home 



But if I were to say a few kindly words in connection with 

 my regrets on the great and important topic of fish culture, 

 it is possible it would be better than absence and silence, 

 twin aids to masterly inactivity and most obvious hindrances 

 to progress in this busy world of ours. In reference to the 

 world-wide interest which now attaches to fish culture, I 

 have read that it was the opinion of Pliny "that nature's 

 great and wonderful power was more strikingly manifest in 

 the sea than on laud." If the "Harvests of the Sea" con- 

 stitute a large portion of human sustenance, and the sea is 

 viewed as a vast reservoir of human food, the writer fairly 

 estimates its wonderful power as a food resource. It was 

 also a remark full of meaning imputed to Capt. John Smith 

 (the original Smith of our country), which mav now be quoted 

 as prophetic language: " Therefore, honorable and worthy 

 countrymen, let not the meanness of the word fish distaste 

 you, for it will afford as good gold as the mines of Guiaua or 

 Potozi, with less hazard aud change and more certainty and 

 facility." Although these words were spoken or written 

 more than two hundred years ago, they are strikingly signifi- 

 cant, and seem to have been tinged with more than a shadow 

 of truth, as current events of to-day, in connection with fish 

 culture, justify. The mines of Guiana or Potozi may become 

 exhausted by man's eagerness and avarice for gold ami ;nr. 

 but wheu exhausted they cannot be replenished, cannot 

 again be charged with golden sands, or golden ore, or planted 

 with diamonds, but the exhausted rivers, lakes aud oceans 

 may bo recharged by artificial production, and impoverished 

 though they maybe, teem again with abundunce of the clt 

 est of human food, 



