Apeil 21, 1881.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



231 



A TRIP FOR BA.88 IN KENTUCKY. 



Mount Sterling-, Ky., April 18. 



THE skies are clear, but tiie signs are not " in the Heck." 

 But, a mysterious word passed from the Judge to 

 Ticket: Agent Parker, of the Lexington and Eig Sand\ "Rail- 

 road, and from C'oonie Jones, the jeweler, to the Doctor, 

 that, bass would bite. So the Doctor invited Grocer Thomp- 

 son into the counting room as though he would pay his bill, 

 and the same question was put and like answer returned, 

 and in two hours the buck wagons were loaded with sundries 

 of camp life, tent, mess chest, rods, etc. After a slight, de- 

 lay in repairing the minnow seine, we were off for Licking 

 River, in Ball] and Bowan counties. Nothing occurred to 

 mar the ride through this fine. Blue Grass country, covered 

 with its greenest of green carpets, with short-horn herds 

 grazing on every hillside. Here and there were plenty of 

 plowed land, with hands planting corn or preparing tbe to- 

 bacco fields. We passed by the famous *« Hamilton's Plat 

 Creek herds," which contain some of the choicest blood of 

 Europe and America's short-horn stock. Fifteen miles on 

 our road and the scene changes. The country is very poor 

 — plenty r of oak timber of fine size, Boil of an ashen color, 

 grass thin and stunted. We soon came to the famous 

 "Confedrit X Roads." Did not see anything of Isaacer 

 McGavut or Deacon Pogruui. Reckon they were resolved 

 in solemn conclave to ascertain how 10 obtain a drink. We 

 now turned down the river some miles to Glese's Dam, the 

 only one in the Main Licking, which was constructed for a 

 fish trap, but afterward put. to grinding corn meal, "a more 

 noble and glorious purpose." 



We arrived at the Dam about 4 o'clock, pitched camp, 

 and bought some eggs of a small boy at twenty cents per 

 dozen. Upon remonstrating at such a price, the lad said 

 they were worth more than that, as he had to "break up the 

 old yaller hen to git 'em." He appended that "eggs was 

 powful scace." While supper was being cooked we made 

 valuable progress by adjusting our tackle and surveying the 

 river, which tumbles over a low dam about a hundred yards 

 long, placed at the head of a rapids, thus making some 

 beautiful boils and eddies to catch bass and "salmon" in. 



We were aroused at daylight next morning hastily, and 

 dressing, wc then gathered our rods and shoved the ferry 

 scow into position and anchored, with a dug-out for a tender. 

 All were eager for the first fish, which fell to the Judge, a 

 ring-eye five Inches long, then a ten-inch bass to Jones, then 

 another to the Doctor, then another to the Judge. Breakfast 

 was announced, but such fun could not be left, so wc con- 

 , tinued until we had eight fine fish, not large but fair size— 

 and who bur, a hungry, enthusiastic angler can tell how good 

 those fish tasted, killed and cooked to a turn inside of two 

 hours ! 



The next day we divided, two of us going over in the dug- 

 out to the opposite shore, where wo found one of our long, 

 gaunt mountaineers perched on the end of a projecting tim- 

 ber, with a long stout pole cut from the natural growth, with 

 a chalk line attached, fishing as solemnly as a kingfisher 

 waiting for his breakfast. He cast a look of pity upon us as 

 we threw full fifty feet to some favorable looking eddy or 

 swirl or smooth patch of water. Then reeling iu and recast- 

 ing he, hearing the alarm of our Week's reels slowly uti- 

 kinked himself, Btuck the end of his pole into an empty auger 

 hole, and proceeded to take a nearer view of our " trix," and 

 relieved himself thusly. " Wal, I 'low it won't take much of 

 a hsli to break that buggy whip thing of yourn." I good- 

 naturedly informed him the fish that broke that rod would 

 have to be near as long as he, aud just then I felt that well 

 known savage, jerk that all know so well, and the fun began. 

 This way, that way, then out of the water two feet high, 

 and the little rod swayed and quivered as if it would part in 

 a half dozen places, but in two minutes I reeled in a fourteen- 

 inch bass, whipped and subdued, as passive as a chip. Our 

 mountain friend gave a low, long whistle, gathered his old 

 coffee pot under his arm, pulled up his line, and somewhat 

 imitated the Arabs upon a certain occasion. And right here 

 let me say, of all rods I ever used (and they are many) a split 

 bamboo is the best. I shall never look for a better. The cost 

 is considerable at first start, but it is economy if one fishes 

 twice a year, and then the comfort and assurance one feels 

 with them in hand I 



We caught sixty-two bass, and one red-horse twenty inches 

 long. The bass were not large, but made fine sport. We 

 had all we could eat and brought twenty home with us. Saw 

 plenty squirrels, but the season is closed until May 15, and 

 no member of Sterling Fishing and Shooting Club, I trust, 

 will molest game in close season. Van. 



Vermont Notes — Ferrisburgh, Vt., April 2, 1881. — A 

 Westport, N. Y., correspondent of our local paper stated a 

 couple of weeks ago that game-protector Liberty, of Eliza- 

 bethtown, had made a seizure of nets in Pennsylvania. 

 From last weeks' iBsue of the same paper I cut the inclosed 

 slip, by the same correspondent : "The suit brought against 

 game-protector Liberty, of Elizabethtown, by By rain, of 

 Peru, for seizure aud confiscation of Byram's nets, was tried 

 in Plattsburgh last week, and residted in a verdict for 

 plaintiff of $55 and costs." Cannot, your old Keeseville con- 

 tributor tell us how it happened that "a game protector is suc- 

 cessfully prosecuted by a violator of the laws ? Why such 

 things should be is a mystery to us, who are anxiously watch- 

 ing the workings of protection on your side of the lake. H 

 it is impossible to frame a game or fish law without a hole 

 through which the poacher may crawl out and get top of 

 the heap, we might as well give up the good but losing fight 

 first as last. 



I inclose another slip from the same correspondent's items. 

 What are the fish which have been caught near Valcour ? I 

 am very sure that our fish commissioners have never placed 

 auy land-locked salmon in Lake Champlain, and as sure that 

 if anything of the salmon kind has been taken in the lake it 

 must be the true salmon, the results of the planting of the 

 salmon fry in the Winorski and Lewis Creeks in 1875. Later 

 some land-locked salmon were introduced in some of the 

 Binaller lakes and ponds in the northern part of the State, 

 from which they could not possibly reach Champlain. Per- 

 haps the blue fish, salmon herring, etc., which from my 

 drawing Mr. Hallock took to be of the salmon kind, have 

 just reached the Valcour fishermen I cannot learn that this 

 beautiful aud well-flavored fish had ever been caught in 

 Champlain till within ten years, or twelve years at the utmost, 

 and as far as I know is never caught now but in winter by 

 fishing with a hook through the ice.— R. E. B. 



The slip which our correspondent incloses is as follows ; 

 Who can tell what they are? "It ^s reported that land- 

 locked salmon of good size are becoming plentiful in Lake 

 Champlain, several having been caught during the whiter 



near Valcour. These waters were stocked with land-locked 

 salmon five or six years ago by the Vermont State Fish Com- 

 mission, and it seems that they may yet become one of the 



most valuable fisb of our lake." 



The Tennessee Fish Law. — Our Tennessee friends intend 

 making their State, in the language of a valued correspond- 

 ent, "the grandest angling Eden in America." The Nash- 

 ville Banner says : 



"One of the important measures parsed by- the General 

 Assembly was the enactment of a general law for the pro- 

 tection and preservation of the food fish of Tennessee. For 

 this great benefit, to the State and its citizens they are much 

 indebted to the tireless and potent endeavors of the Fish 

 Commissioner of Middle Tennessee, Col. George F. Akers, 

 who has worked faithfully- to secure the passage of the bill." 



The new law referred to provides that it shall not be lawful 

 for any person to catch, kill, destroy, or take fish in or from 

 any of the waters of this State by any means otherwise than 

 by angling with baited hook and line and with tro r line ; pro- 

 vided that none of the provisions of this act shall hinder or 

 prevent the Commissioners of Fisheries, or their agents, from 

 taking fish from auy waters, a', such time and in such man- 

 ner as they may deem proper, and to them only, for the pur- 

 pose of stocking or restocking the waters of the State; and 

 provided furl her, that this ace shall not be construed so as to 

 prohibit the use of a hand or minnow net in taking small fish 

 or minnows for bait. 



It shall not be lawful for any person to place any trap, of 

 any kind whatever, in any stream, or in the mouth of any 

 stream or in lake or pond which has any outlet to any stream 

 either in high or low water, thereby preventing the free as- 

 cent and descent, up and down, to and from said waters. 



It shall not be lawful for any person to molest, disturb or 

 damage any fish during the spawning season, or to disturb 

 any fish eggs or young fish in any of the said waters in this 

 State. 



Any person violating the sections of this act shall be guilty 

 of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be fined 

 not less than five nor more than twenty-five dollars, and shall 

 forfeit all boats, nets, seines, gigs, spikes, grab and snatch 

 hooks, and all other contrivances used in violating the pro- 

 visions of this act, which contrivances will be sold at public 

 acution by the sheriff of the county in which the offense is 

 committed. 



Catfish ab Food— Quiney, Ky.— Dr. Sterling wanted 

 to hear from some of his southern friends on the above 

 subject. 



First, the doctor is badly mistaken in regard to size. The 

 regular yellow catfish of the Ohio River grows to a very large 

 size. The father of the writer once caught a yellow cat, that 

 was 6 feet long, weight 127 pounds. Last summer one was 

 taken that tipped the beam at 115 pounds within a mile of 

 this place, and one was taken about, five miles above that 

 drew 185 pounds was taken in the summer of 1878. 



We also have the blue or channel cat, as we call them, but 

 they do not grow so large ; one was taken Feb. 27 that 

 kicked the scale at 42 pounds ; it was injured some way and 

 was barely alive when taken. 



The blue and black cats are the fish we catch the most of 

 in our creeks. They are quite a game, fish, make a hard fight 

 and will take auy kind of bait from the common eel worm 

 up the scale to the fly. The writer while fishing last season 

 for bass hooked a blue cat in very unexpected water. He 

 was at the foot of a riffle fishing with very strong tackle, 

 wire snood, etc., and was using a large suntish as bait. All at 

 once the line ran out at a very rapid rate, and after some fur- 

 ther maneuvers he was finally landed— a five-pound cat. I 

 never caught nor saw one caught in so swift water. They 

 covet still, deep water, around old roots or logs, and prefer a 

 mud bottom. They take the hook with ease and are caught 

 in great numbers around here. They are. one of our best 

 table fish, being very free from bones, and are a rich, tender 

 fish. They are cooked like other fish of the same size, but 

 after they get above 25 pounds they are best stewed. 

 I am sure if the doctor could get a dish of this fine fish, 

 stewed by some of our Kentucky cooks, he would never say 

 they were coarse and inferior again. — D. 



The Gbbknwood Lake Spobtbmbn'b Asbooiatios have ar- 

 ranged to erect a handsome club-house this season on the 

 upper part of Greenwood Lake, Orange County, N. Y., 

 where for some years they have owned a valuable property. 

 Among the members of the association are Messrs. H. O. 

 Havemeyer, W. O. McDowell, C. Olcott, A. S. Roe, H. C. 

 Cooke, Daniel E. Starr, C. H. R. Doringle, P. M. Millspaugh, 

 C. A. Olcott, H. Griswold, John Underbill, E. A. Wallis 

 and the Rev. A. H. Young. For a number of years these 

 gentlemen and their colleagues have enjoyed camp life, 

 boating and fishing on Greenwood Lake, and so well have 

 they become attached to the attractions of the locality that 

 the erection of a commodious club-house has been decided 

 upon. The building will be complete in all its appoint- 

 ments and architecturally attractive, and measures are to be 

 taken for its immediate erection, so that it may be in readi- 

 ness for use early in June. 



A Fish Without an English Name. — There is a fish in 

 Pyramid Lake, and sometimes in the river, which the Indians 

 call couyouie. They weigh about 2£ pounds and resemble 

 the whitefish. They have been caught, weighing as high as 

 four or five pounds. They come up as far as Wadsworth in 

 the summer to spawn. Alvaro Evans says the couyouie is 

 the best, fish in the river. Comparatively few people know 

 auything about the fish. Pains will be taken to secure a few 

 specimens for the California Academy of Sciences. Old 

 anglers say they never saw a fish of the same kind in auy r 

 other waters. It may be that the couyouie is a species of fish 

 peculiar to the Truckee and its lakes. If some of the fish 

 sharps in San Francisco get their eye on a specimen its true 

 species may be determined. — lie-no, Inl, Gazette. 



When you have a fish with no name call it " trout," no 

 matter if it is not a bit like a trout. It is the fashion, aud 

 you might as well be out of the world, you know. America 

 suffers from Old World names applied to new things, and can't 

 suffer any- more ; so don't be original and get a new one for a 

 new fish when good old names, as trout, salmon, etc., are 

 plenty. 



Ohio Fish Law. — The following was recently passed i 

 " Under a penalty of a fine from $50 to $100 it is forbidden 

 to catch any fish for salting, packing and selling from the 1st 

 of June to the 1st of September. The fine goes into the 



Common School Fund. The owner of every dam across any 

 river or creek in the State must keep a chute or way open for 

 the passage of fish. When he does not do so, such passage 

 may be made at his expense. Fishing by seine or net, or m 

 any other way than by hook and line, except for minnows, is 

 prohibited, except in the Mercer county Reservoir, Laramie 

 Reservoir, in Shelby county, and Lake Erie. The penalty is 

 from $10 to $50, or imprisonment from ten to sixty clays. 

 Fishing of any sort, except in bodies of water containing" as 

 much as a thousand acres, is prohibited during the spawi ing 

 season — from April 1 to June 15. 



Salmon Now Goon.— The Pacific Life calls the attention 

 of all salmon lovers to the excellenr. condition of the salmon 

 now in the markets. They are more delicious at this 

 season than they are later on iu July aud Angus' . In these 

 latter months the salmon are ready to spawn, "and the flavor 

 of the fish has in a great measure been lost iu the nourish- 

 ment of the eggs. Just now they are in prime condition, 

 and would be relished hy all who desire to enjoy salmon at 

 their best. 



PaOBABLK EXTINOTION OF Q]{AYT.IN« IN MlCHlfiAN.- A. 



correspondent writing from Bay City says i "1 fear tbe gray- 

 ling are all killed by anchor ice in the An Sable and Manistee 

 rivers. I saw one of the residents a few days ago, and he 

 said there were millions of them dead. I shall go as soon as 

 the weather will permit If you desire I will let you know 

 the result." 



tme, 



THE AMERICAN PISHCULTUKAL ASSOCIATION. 



[continued.] 

 The Secretary then read the following paper : 

 HABITS AND FOOD OP CARP. 



BY H. D. M'OOVEBN. 



TT Is with pleasure that I place bebsre \,,i. ,-,ii, , LL -, V .•-T | -, f , J .; i _ ni .,. 

 x with fishes, more, particularly the carp, during the past year. 

 In the carp I have taken great interest, and have been, I am 'glad 



'■"■■ "nee,-,,:!,, I i" ■> I, r d,e Ikile e, on ; in ,. n V, „, ;',.„.,,. 



State waters My jimf mention wilhbo uf a lot <>l cighteeri-months- 

 old dorps, thirty-five in number, placed bv mo in a pond prepared 

 For them. The pond wan three feet iu deptb, there being a bottom 

 of and or fine loam of ab. inches. Some of my carp would turn 

 the scales at two aud a half pounds previous to piaciutr them in 

 tbe pond, which was constructed for observation andfed from 

 si iruiD-i. In the early part of January I kept an air hole open in 

 the ice which had accumulated on the pond, aud fed the fish by 

 means of a wooden spout, one foot square and fonr feet long, in- 

 closed iu a huge sheaf of catheads and closed at the opening with 

 a wad of salt grass to keep the froatv air from entering the tube 

 or shaft. When I wanted to feed my carp 1 would remove the wad 

 grass and drop my food down the aperture, after which I would ob- 

 scure the light from the opening by throwim a , uninv.i mr bend, 

 and would then be rewarded by seeing all fi»h within range of the 

 opening at the bottom. Py this means I could ascertain the. food 

 mosi relished by the carp. And here it is well to say that thev dis- 

 1 osod cf oat meal dough and a dough of rye meal mixed with "chop- 

 ped rabbage more quickly than an? other kind of food given them. 

 My shaft worked well until the teinperatun • ■.[] ; /,..„. f,-,, 

 notwithstanding the covering of reeds or catheads, it closed up, 

 and I waa compelled to cut holes in the ice and remove all the par- 

 ticles remaining. 



After the opening wati cleared I would drop m food, and as the 

 hsb were not shy they would come to the opening aud hover around 

 after eating. Theu suddenly you would see a line carp turn over 

 on its side and, as if attracted 'by magnetism, come to the under 

 part of the ice and there stick fast. I extricated some few, which 

 you will see on exhibition in the market, with my other fish on Mr. 

 Blackford's stand. I could have saved more of them, but, to use 

 an old fishermen's phrase, I could not see the point of wasting a 

 mackerel to catch a sprat. Now, gentlemen, I am inclined to think 

 that a carp pond should be at least four feet deep, with a foot of 

 soft bottom, making in aU five feet. I say this only for our N< irth- 

 ern waters, and would not recommend feeding in the months of 

 December, January and PebruaiT as I think the fish I have men- 

 tioned would havejfouo in the rmid and be eafo now had I not 

 given them the habit of being fed in frosty weather. They are a 

 fish that I can assure you will withstand any amount of handling 

 iu moderate weather, and live longer out of "water than any other 

 fish I have ever handled. Some time ago I took an eighteen- 

 months-old carp from my pond— its weight was about two pounds— 

 I 'oldefl it in a piece of wet bagging, brought it to rnv home, No. 

 l::-i ii.il ton street, a distance of four miles, and laid it on a slab, 



'■'•'lb'' i yarns,,'. ,.,i dinner. I ch eu , in rind « ll h i i for IVivr Yd ,rk, 



and arrived at Mr. Blackford's stand two hours and thirty minutes 

 from the time the fish was taken from the pond. I placed the fish 

 in one of the tanks, and in presence of many of the market men 

 the earp; swum off as if it had only been changed from one tank to 

 another. There was no swooning nor cause for resuscitating. 

 I would still further inform those who may have carp m their 

 ponds uml bj be astonish,;.. i j i , a d; .-;• d.esine, iLueln let eoeci. ;, 

 tbe lapse of a month or two they find them in an adjacent one 

 having no seeming connection with the first. The fact is. the carp 

 will jump three feet, and then like an eel wriggle its way over 

 damp grass, and make its way to other waters. This has been my 

 experience, aud having bad, previous to its introduction from Ger- 

 many by Professor K. P. Baird, but very little know ledge of the 

 fish. I suppose some of my associates in this body are still in the 

 same position or uncertainty in regard to the carp as I was in 

 previous to my personal investigation. 

 Mr. Asnin— My experience with carp has beon that I received 



seventeen .sole die. li :,e!i ■,;,,.,] and save end, one -It. 



A Mehbeb— I would tike to ask if we have not had the. carp in 

 the Hudson River for years? I have heard of their being caught 

 their suite ofteu, but do not know if they are the same as the so- 

 called German carp. 



Mr Roosevelt— I have seen many hundreds of the earp in the 

 dime Son, They seldom grow above a pound in weight, but in Ohio 

 they have a carp which weighs several pounds, as high as seven, I 

 think. 



Prof. Goode— The fishes spoken of are. not the Germ 

 has lately been introduced. The latter are bebt for 

 especially in the southern States. In the national i 

 Washington there are now two hundred of the origiua 

 from Germany some four years ago ; many of them 

 that they eannot be put in'an ordinary wash-tuY 1 

 them will weigh over fifteen pounds. So great h 

 growth in America that the Germans have applied to 

 stock to improve their own. A carp sent to Texas wl 

 baches long grew to eight ponuds in one year. 



Mr. Mather- I collected all the accounts of the gi 



in America and read l.he.m before the (dented idsbc'i ,1 era! dm. j, iy 

 at its last meeting at Chicago. It was published in Fohest and 

 Stbeah of January 27 of this year aud will soon appear in the 

 report of the Society referred to, of which I have the honor of 

 being corresponding secretary, and I will be pleased to mail that 

 report to any members of this Association who mar apply for it. 



Mr. Roosevelt— I forget what that large carp in Ohio is called. 

 I gave some account of it in a book of mine, published many years 

 ago. 



Prof. Goode— The President probably r»fers to some of the 

 " carp suckers," which from their superficial likeness to the carp 

 are so called. They are common in the Ohio Valley and occur in 

 the great lakes. They were called Carpiodm; by Itafinesque and 

 belong in the family Oato$tomid<£ or suckers, and not in the family 



n oarp which 

 arm waters, 

 irp nonds at 

 •.arp'brougbt 



only a few 

 wth of carp 



