132 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[MaeuitT., 1381 



orders? No? Well, I 

 old veteran be a lesson 

 Molina do) Key, and G 

 his line exposed to alia 

 an aide fora young capt 

 Lttg his chief, roeoivi 

 linrke, lake y ur bat 

 right. Keep "the enen 

 rescue you.' The arli 

 Off, had his battery lin 

 day was won and sun 

 the Mexican host. Oa 



?ill tellyo 



It 



whc 



ed up 

 ikw tli 

 1 Burl 



and let the story of this 

 r as during the battle of 

 seeing a certain part of 

 rter not expected, sent 

 luicklyapproaoh- 

 ■dOr: 'Captain 

 field over the hill to the 

 uirt remain there until I 

 uebed his cap, cantered 

 id off at a gallop. The 

 ■omplele discomfiture of 

 lid not put in an appear- 

 ance and many surmises were made as to his fate. The next 

 day passed and nothing washeard of him, and (General Taylor 

 was heard to say that he could not understand what had be- 

 come of hint. An officer near by remarked that perhaps no 

 order had been sent him to abandon bis position. ' By Jove, 

 sure enough '. One of you fellows ride out and see ir he is 

 slid there and, if so, order him in.' Sure enough, there he 

 was ; and would have been to this day if lie had not received 

 a command to retire. Talk about Casabianca! bah— Lord! 

 What an eel! " and in came another one. 



We fished until nothing was left of the bobs, and at 1 p. n. 

 returned to the fort, our boat certainly one-third full of eels 

 — a loathsome, squirming, slimy mass, enough to sicken one; 

 but the colonel was delighted, For said he, "We will save a 

 whole day's rations and feed the men on them ; they won't 

 be lost." We stopped at the sutler's to refresh tho inner 

 man and while sitting over our beer and cigars the colonel 

 told the following story, which, although it may Lave been 

 in print before, is well worth repealing. ' It is apropos of the 

 eel : 



"A wagon drove up to the cottage door and a quiet, gen- 

 tlemanly visitor descended who knocked and was admitted 

 by the good woman of the house. ' Widow Jones ? ' said be, 

 'No widow,' said she—' Mrs. Jones.' ' Widow Jones,' said 

 lie, ' the eels are oulside-lwo bail's of them.* ' Win re did 

 they conic from ? ' said she. ' Outer the old man— fell in the 



ree It — d ro wn dead. 

 critters into the kitch 

 do with the defunk?' 

 tp do would be to tak 

 wiped a hig tear fron 



Allerthistobedai 

 tflsslea with enOrmbui 



For the benefit of o 

 York it may 1 



' Oood Lord!' said she, 'bring tl 

 i.' ' All rigbV said he ; ' what shall I 

 'Wall, I kinder guess the best thing 



him back and set him agin,' and she 

 icr glassy optic." 



dream all night of eel bobbing and 



ur friends living in the viciuity of New 

 •ked that the locality where we fished is 



off the sea-wall at Fort Wood, Bedloe's Island, Mew York 



harbor. 



the moonlight, 

 Opposite being 



light's rest 

 I a trout break- 

 nv friend Turner 



TRIP TO MADAWASKA LAKE AND ITS SOURCES. 



I RAVING the comfortable and thriving village of Fraser- 

 J ville, Me., at 2:15 P. m. on a bright day in August in 

 the mail conveyance, under the care of my esteemed tiicnd, 

 John Turner, a veritable sport, we soon found the aroma of 

 birch in the air alt r the recent shower of rain, and the roads 

 being in spli ndid condition, we got along finely at the rate of 

 eight miles an hour ; aiid after changing horses at si. Louts, 

 du lin 11a, and satisfying the cravings of the Inner man, we 

 continued our journey through mountain gorges and thick 

 forests, glorious' to I'cli'ohl, vye arrived at Lake Madawaska at. 

 rJ:l"i i-. .«., having made our journey of eighth-one miles in 

 eleven hours, including stoppages. 



The Lake was now at our feet, basking 

 and to me it seemed like a little sea, the shores Op 

 almost too distant 10 Sue, as it was forty one mil" 



However, to lied we got. and enjoyed a good 

 from cair hospitable host, (1cm. Ilurclx 

 fast in the morning, and (I a. m. saw me, 

 look a different route after bear, with two guides engaged, 

 and canoe, tent blankets and all the necessary camp fi'vings. 

 including a splendid rifle and twenty rounds of animuuitiou I 

 got the use of from my friend, (o'l. Thenaull, who lives on 

 the river -Madawaska and owns a farm of three miles along 

 the edge of the lake, and one and a hair miles deep, and is a 

 thorough Nimrod. All being in readiness we started at 7 

 A. m, ami hy I '2 oVI, ck dined just live miles up the river 

 which is, up to this point, a succession of rapids and falls, 

 and the water lining low we had to do some immense drag 

 ging with onr loaded eanoe, and to be careful not to slave 

 a hole in her. Well, wca-CJisbfid our dinner of trout which 

 I caught while the iruides were preparing for dinner, and 

 soon after continued our journey. 

 Worst part of the river the task v 

 using the paddles all the time. The 

 a lake of about five miles long and I 

 widest pan, wiih plenty of ducks all 

 get at. Saw immense flocks of youcj 

 which got through the 

 what the guides 1 old mew, i c ■'-■'.. <■, 

 pas-ed close by the canoe, and he d 

 of wing five feel four inches, of a dar 

 beautiful ciesied head. 



mil" : 

 around, b 



ml lei 



wings alone. Alter passi 

 Whose waters were withe 

 forested with cedar, maple 



lake, seven miles Ions a 

 limbered with cedar; 

 before us for five mil 

 LaFourcbe. the head ol 

 and twenty- five miles fr 

 fi time during the earl 

 wood at the hares wiipl 

 Urn lire. The guides m 

 made a very palatable I 

 Mere at La Fourche t 

 one of about four miles 

 being led by 



Having got over the 

 now a pleasant one, 

 ver here widens into 

 road at the 

 tQO wild to 

 e to lly, but. 

 it; also lots of 

 shot one which 

 from lip to tip 

 wn color and a 

 1 preserved the 



uffle 



three miles of river, 

 ami whose shores are 

 we entered the second 

 no mile broad, slightly 

 PC again bad the river 

 . M. saw us in camp at 

 :h of Madawaska River 

 We had quite 

 pieces of 

 ,edby 

 and they 



glu, shyb 

 ie camp 



hi tr 



miles lo: 

 took the 

 miles foqni 

 high and a! 

 tug lor oyei 



o , :.■ 



During a 

 the beal bei 



pensed lor i 

 was only al 

 the bottom 

 fishing pole 



1 got ll.V 



no use. T 

 success : tl 

 riggecltl 



, fed I 

 ' Katrli 



'Ei 



■ la 



oing up f( 



; piled s,u, 



iistriet. We 

 r about four 

 e. forty feet 



id ol t 



ll'iewe had to 



,..;■•! i:i ill.; iron: M-hing was very poor, 

 C jioimd in weight. We were now recom- 

 i tar. At the head of the jam the water 

 • feet deep and clear as crystal, and in 

 see I he l rout ill swarms, some " long as a 



V and Tied them with a Jock Scott, but 

 •lv every colored lly imaginable, but no 

 in the meantime having fixed camp and 

 ut of il 



...r about four feet long, with a good strong 



of pork for bait, and if they wore not landing some of the 

 finest trout 1 ever saw it was a caution. I then got them to 

 cut me a rod, as here you must fish in the holes' among the 

 logs, and a long, light trout rod is useless. So, being rigged, 

 I commenced, and it would take us all of ten minutes to land 

 them. We caught sixteen dozen, averaging 2.V lbs. each, and 

 then stayed the slaughter as I was afraid ive would not manage 

 to keep them from spoiling, having insufficient salt with us; but 

 the guides fixed them, part sun dried and part salted. Next 

 morning the sky had changed, wind westerly and continual 

 clouds. Tried the. fly with 'success, but as the' canoe could not. 

 be used on account of its shadow in the water I had to wade, 

 and that in some places to the arm-pits, but had the pleasure 

 of landing in three hours four dozen, some of them five 

 pounds weight. 



Having exhausted my vacation I thought it time to take 

 the home route again, although it was my intention to go as 

 far as Eagle Lake, but home 1 must go, and having the fish 

 well packed in cedar branches we commenced our journey 

 back. 



While going down the river ahead of the guides, about one- 

 half a mile wading and fishing, and not taking particular no- 

 tice of my surrounding I nearly fell over a full-grown bear. 

 1 was walking across a strip of sand where the river took a 

 short bend, and having leather moccasins on I made no noise 

 whatever, and Mr. Bruin was lying down in the sand by the 

 river's edge within twenty yards of me. I don't know" well 

 which made the best time lor home, the bear or I, but mine 

 was "Dexter-ously" fast, and when I told the guides they im- 

 mediately got the ride (I carried no revolver) and started in 

 pursuit, but Bruin had a good start and was not to be bagged 

 that tiuie. On examining the shore along could be seen foot- 

 prints of both a large and a small one. One track I followed 

 for fully one-half mile along the river in the sand, of evident- 

 ly a she bear and her cubs by the large andsmall foot-prints. 

 We never had any close aquaintanee with them after that, 

 but the same night a hunter shot one about a mile from our 

 camp, ami the skin measured ten feet. 



Nothing of note happening on our journey except the flag- 

 ging of ari occasional hare, and we arrived at"the colonel's who 

 gave us a hearty welcome and a good send-off. 



Arrived at Fraservillo the boys turned out to see the 

 "catch," and they were surprised to learn that Iliad upward 

 of a flour barrel full, aud after sending around a few dozen 

 among them I had a jolly fine supper from mine host, Alex. 

 (.lilies, who invited all the boys, and they toasted me to my 

 heart's content. 



Home again and sorry for it, but if the readers of Forest 

 and Stkkam wish good fishing I can recommend Madawaska 



River. Siv.o;.; FraSEB. 



Quebec. Sept. 15. 



SUCKERS. 



THE question of a correspondent of Foiiest and Stream 

 of Feb. 84 in'referenco to sucker fishing and replied to 

 in your answers to correspondents, reminds me of much 

 sport I have, had catching suckers with a three-pointed hook. 

 On most any railroad or wagon bridge where suckers mosl do 

 congregate, especially in the West, one can look down when 

 tin' water is clear and see the sucker or redhorsc nosing along 

 among the rocks, slowly working up stream. if the condi- 

 lions are favorable one can see a fish stop a' a stone or against 

 a rock of a pier, [or instance, and take in the moss and vege- 

 table substance adhering and then throw it out in pulls' or 

 little clouds when he has extracted the nutriment he was 

 after. 



1 have bad my spott with an ordinary bass line and reel 

 with a grab-hook attached, and a bullet or bullets to keep it 

 steady and guide il to the fish's nose. If not alarmed or on 

 the qui rir.r. airainst danger the sucker is rather stupid, you 

 know, and not much account anyhow. It requires care and 

 patieuce to direct the hook at the end of twenty or thrly feet, 

 of line, hut it can be done, and there is lots of fun in it — 

 when you have nothing else to do. Throw the hook in a few 

 feet up stream, guide it skillfully down to the. unsuspecting 

 redhorsc, aud just as it reaches the bottom; under Miffivstemw'/i 

 nose, jerk! To use an expressive phr :se, if the hook takes 

 bold he'll do some of the liveliest lltnishing about you ever 

 saw in your life, and it will tax you somewhat io gel your 

 game to land. I have several times furnished Hie greatest 

 amusement to my children by taking them willi me and 

 spending au hour or so catching suckers. We had a colored 

 attendant who was always glad to take our fish, knowing that 

 we cared nothing for them. He had a way of dressing them 

 and getting rid of a half million or so of bones that was novel. 

 He would partially sever a sucker's head, make incisions each 

 side the backbone, and then, by a "twist of the wrist," yank 

 the head backward and pull the backbone out with [i large 

 proportion of all the numerous small bones adhering ' 



J. A. B. 



WnF.RE and. When no BxojJeibh Si-awn?— Ked Rank, 

 X. J. — Under the above heading 1 wish to add my local ex- 

 perience for the last fifteen years. The blucfish arrive in our 

 river about J unc 1 but I have taken them as earjy a3 May 2">. 

 No earlier. They do not remain down the ii via' but a very 

 short, time but lake the flood and go up to Lawrences ( love, 

 nearly opposite Red Bank, this being about as far as they 

 and the weaktish go up this river, the North Shrewsbury. 

 1 am under the impression that at this cove (Lawnnce's) they 

 do their spawning, as they remain here about two Weeks when 

 they leave for the lower part of the river in the vicinity of 

 Locust Point. About the loth of July small schools of young 

 bluefish are seen in lied Bank Bay and up hy the railroad 

 bridges. They are about one inch in length and are taken in 

 the small seines in company with menhaden fry, but arc 

 smaller at this date. 



About August in or 20 the same "young snappers," as we 

 call them, become a nuisance to the bait fisherman. They re- 

 main with us all the season aud are about the last to leave. 

 The large fish, when they first enter the river weigh about 

 one and a hall' pounds, with an occasional one about Ihrc- 1 - 

 quarters of a pound. 1 have visited the, beachfront May 35; 

 to October 15 during the rims of the large lish and I have 

 never seen on the beach a. smaller blucfish than four inches in 

 length. So I presume from I his they cantiol olaim Hie sea as 

 their birlh-phiro. 



Theyonngol' this species of flsh are of a very rapid growth. 

 I have "frequently taken them, while trolling Tor striped bass, 

 four inches in length and this on a four-inch squid. Happy 

 to hear the striped bass we sent to California were a success, 

 and when they get plentiful I will go and help Commissioner 

 Throckmorton to " catch 'em." Should this meet the eyes of 

 that enlhusiasi.ie commissioner allow me to send him J. A. 

 Throckmorton's aud T, A. Throckmorton's best wishes.— Q. 

 II. Wild. 



On tub Kissimmee— Key West, Fla., Feb. 2G.— We have 

 just completed a successful trip from the head waters of the 

 Kissimmec River lo Hie Gulf Coast via Lake Okeechobee aud 

 Caloosahatchie River. We used a twenty-foot boat, aud 

 made the entire trip without a portage." Our time from 

 Okeechobee to open water in the Caloosahatchie was about 

 two days, with little or no wind and a moderate stage of 

 water. So fur as we can learn we are the first sporting party 

 to make the trip without a portage.— Geo. O, Allen. 



Smelts in Fresh Water— Under the beading of "Culti- 

 vated Smelts " the Boston Henrtl has the following •■ "One 

 of the curious articles in our fish market, last, week were 

 some cultivated smelts from a fresh-water pond in Maine. 

 They were much large than any smelts ever before seen in 

 market, most of them weighing three-quarters of a pouud 

 each ; 18 of them weighing 10 pounds. They r were very hand- 

 some fish and very suggestive to the fish commissioners, 

 wing what may be done in fresh water with a salt-water 

 fish, being quite equal to what is done in Europe, and pro- 

 posed to be done herewith the carp. The smelts were found 

 to be in spawn, and, in one of them at least, was found a 

 small smelt entire." 



Our correspondent, ~Mr. G. H. Peters, of the Grand Trunk 

 Railway of Canada, writes uson the subject of these same fish 

 as follows : "The smelts were caught through the ice while 

 fishing for pickerel, and sent me by a friend to dispose of. 

 I personally caught several last winter of equal size from 

 same locality. ' Landlocked' would appear lo be, more des- 

 criptive than cultivated, as 1 am not aware that any care has 

 ever been taken of the fish iu question." 



Tile Wa Wa Yaxda Fishing Clcti.— At a meeting of this 

 club, held at Gabe Case's, Jerome avenue, on Monday last, 

 the following gentlemen were elected officers for the ensuing 

 year: Shepherd F. Knapp, President; James A. Flack and 

 Charles Banks, Vice-Presidents ; William C. Conner, Treas- 

 urer, and Robert A Van WacK, Secretary. After the election 

 there was a dinner followed by speeches, songs and chat. 

 The headquarters of the club is at. Fire Island, where there 

 is a handsome club house. The club has over TOO members. 



DEEP SEA FISHING. 



TN the opinion of Prof A. E. Van-ill, of Vale College, the recent 

 1 deopaoa, dredgiug expedition oil' the coast of Ithodn Island) 

 on the edge of the Gulf Stream, under tho auspices of the Knifed 

 States Fish Commission, proved the most successful over sent out 

 liv Oris or imv caber country. In three days inoro specimens wore 

 obtained than hy any other expedition in iib many hionths. In- 

 deed, the English expedition on tho Challenger, which was at 

 work deep-sea dredging for live year* continuously, did not ac- 

 complish imirt or get a larger coll, ctiou. 



The dredging was done from 78 to 115 miles aoulh of Newport, 

 in the region known on tho charts as Block Island soundings, llio 

 depth of the water being from one-quarter to thrco-emwtera of a 



n.il. . 



The 



iVltll III 



wpcditic 



Tie 



,-' ;1 ' 



ad t 



,; ,. : 



ad ope 



et 



The be 



trawl was used for scraping the bottom of th 

 t..rtv ..r liflv feet long Tho uinulU of il w« 

 oak 'beam fifteen feel long :md sk inches in 

 rested upon heavy Iron rnimerB, to keep tho network bag about 

 two feet off Of the tottom. The lower side of tie- month of the 

 net wax formed of a receding rope, weighted with load. This rope 

 dragged along the bottom and scraped the shell Ash, shoUaand 

 whatnot into the net. fish swimming at that depth were also 

 scooped hi, and oueo inside th.-\- w.iv entangled In pockets that 

 prevented their escaping. This trawl would be thrown out and, 

 drawn along behind the steamer, malum,- a BWath half a mile long 

 and twelve or fifteen feet wide. Then a powerful hoisting engine 

 would be sol to work and the trawl and its onutcnU hoisted aboard 

 thesteamer. As immv as 4,0(10 pound* weight of stuil' wonldbo 

 taken from (he bottom of the oeean each tune, the trawl was 

 hoisted, Tw 



speci 



To 



thoroughly Mrang 





itv the thousand* of specimens oli- 



lam. 'd will oecupv 





ision all whiter. Mo-t of this work 



will be done by l'r 

 Kightccu species 



.... Verrill u 

 of flsh w, 



i.i in ■ a ii hit mis. 



re caught heretofore unknownjairfi 









Kin-one. but. ir-l t. 





also a wond-rfiil van.lv of crabs, 



sin nop and lob.-t. 





ol them verv handsome, 



and loitv - il 



of tin in i: 



lin-lv new. One hundred and fifty- 



five different kind 





l!o of them not before known on 



this pail, ol the 





live not knowu as inhabitants of 



Am, i man waters, 



m,l thirty i 



bollv unknown to scientists lieroto- 



fore, were obtains 



1. fu addi 



iou, two new kinds of devil lish, ono 



about a foot long 



200 specin 



ens of a now ami prcllv squid, and 



twenty new kind 



of starlj- 



i were taio.-n. Of these Btariiah, 



thousands of ape-. 





ii. -lied, some of exceeding beauty. 



Quite a number 





,. ,,i corals were caught, =(iinf of 



them bei 





lU; bnshcl. Ol fan coial some 



bear, 



Humlri 



de- 



They stood mi 



oeirte glistened 

 color was cou- 

 1 none of the 



brilliantly colored, some of them 

 lighted the eyes of men of science. One stru 

 worm inhabiting a quill liko a goose-quill. 'X 

 a foot long, and ....-on after being tafcenont o 



hard that. Ihev.-ouid be and were used for pt 

 in the mud at the bottom of the sea. The woi 

 colored, and when taken out ol" their strange 

 and presented •■> rather pretty appearance, so I 

 cerned. They were raked up by thousandi 

 scientific men ever heard of tin m before. 



Tin- discovery was mado that the lileli.-.h is pl.-ntartlniii tho cod. 

 V Gloucester fishorniau last winter hauled in the that td.'ii-li. 

 Since then few have been caught. Prof. VerrUl, however, caught 

 three with a perpendicular trawl line. On opening then sloniachH 

 he found therein some of the rare Crustacea that abounded Iboni- 

 bout, and ho knew it waa then- feeding ground. Ho is satisiicd 

 that they are plunder there in season than codHah ell Block 1-land. 

 One of the three lish caught weighed lifty pounds. Thetuofish, 

 asdoscribed bv Prof. Verrill. is a. magnificent !i-li or a light yellow- 

 brown color, shaped like a sea bass, and spotted all over Willi >>-!- 

 low. It is fine Cilfuig, and he i- convinced that it is destined to li- 

 ,.,■,:, a favorite mat lint fish, now that it is known where it can 1 o 

 rea.lbv .-aught. 



All of the. lish caught bv the dr-dg 

 .iiiartors of thoCi 



hend- 



.- tin 



y bo>:< s 

 v being pn 



:i. Il:" 



ed f... 



Musiuiiis of lh.-.'-.',niirV, lb.- ii.stcla,:-. ^oii:,- to tin National 



and detailed report will also I,,-, mad.- bv the commission. 



The records of the temperature at different d.-pllis were always 

 mad,, will) gnat , are. At a depth of from HID to I421j fiitllOliH 

 th- temperature w.s Ueirally from 51 dog- to 53 dog. A'ahreuhi 

 l'.oni I vr . to iJo fathoms il was from U .leg. lo ft. leg., and ut- 

 500 fathoms it was 40 deg. The pressure at 501) fathoms or 

 was very great— sufficient to crush and press together the wood 



