Apiul 36, 1883.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



249 



Kentucky Game Notes. — Our principal game to come 

 is the partridge. The birds are in fine Condition, having 

 passed a very open Winter, Being Bcaroe last fall, they wero 



limited but little, and there are now many fall coveys. II a 

 dry.fuae should f aver us, we can count en fine shooting 

 next fall. Our elub played havoc with hawks by raising a 

 fund to pay a bounty fur their destruction. The result shows 

 plainly in the field. " A year ago last fall 1 hunted, and often, 

 by observing a hawk, found a covey of parlridgi IS which they 

 were watching. Now w may travel all day and not find 

 one. Squirrels are in moderate numbers; being migratory, 

 cannot say they will he plenty. Young ones led I grown 

 already in" the adjacent mountains. Report comes 01 more 

 ruffed grouse than usual. Our superintendent of stone quar- 

 ries say they can be heard in all directions drumming.— Van . 

 (Ml. Sterling, By.) 



BABTO&D, Flu., April 14.— A good many quail have been 

 ' killed this year, but not many deer. The bleeding season 

 seems to he" backward, as I have noticed several coveys of 

 birds within a day or two that have not paired off; I he close 

 season for me begins April 1 . Some weeks ago 1 saw a lew 

 doves going past at a pretty good rate, about forty yards 

 off. I shot one with No, (3 shot, and when I picked him up 

 found him to he a very curiously marked partial albino, 

 mottled all over, every 'third feather or .so being while. It 

 is the onlv albino dove 1 have ever seen. Have seen no 

 ducks this year except on the river. There are frequent 

 heavy rains; rather earlier than they usually com,'. Presi- 

 dent Arthur arrived in Sanford Saturday, the seventh, and 

 has been to Luke Tohoptalngu, where he ditl some fishing.— 

 Tkimt- 



MAINE. — Smyrna. Aroostook Co.. Me. — It is gratifying to 

 be able to state that through the increased vigilance, of the 

 game wardens there has been less crusting done than in 

 previous seasons. Warden McCain and his assistants, by 

 their presence in this vicinity, have deterred many outsiders 

 from venturing into the woods, and restrained the local 

 hunters as well Hunters and Lumbermen agree that moose 

 have been more plentiful than for many years, while i lie 

 deer are greatly in excess of any former period.. The In- 

 dian butchers who ravaged the Choose yards last year in the 

 Munsungan country have given the region a wide- berth, 

 fearing, "doubtless, the vigilance of Warden McLain, who 

 gave them a close call last season. — Wakflkcu. 



Iowa. — Burlington. — Duck shooting on the river, in the 

 sloughs and ponds, and in the lakes on the islands up the 

 river, of which there are a great many, has been very good 

 this spring. Sportsmen have gone from here in the' morn- 

 ing and returned in the evening with Rom 80 to 100 ducks, 

 of'both the mallard and pintail. Now- it. is getting too late, 

 and but few birds are brought in by our best shots. Jack 

 snipe are reported quite plenty in the lowlands opposite the 

 city, on the Illinois side, and south of us cm our own side 

 of the river.— Dweeb. 



Belleville, Onl., April 19. — The spring migrants are 

 with us once more. Ducks are plentiful, and some good 

 bags have been made, but the birds are in very poor condi- 

 tion. A few- days ago a woodcock was picked up on one of 

 the streets of the city. It was unhurt, and soon recovered 

 after being placed in a cage. Its weight was seven ounces. 

 A pair of horned grebes (Poilieeps cvrnvfw), male and 

 female, were recently shot at Wellcrs Bay, a few miles dis- 

 tant. Thev are rare visitors to this part of the country, — 

 R. S. Bell' 



Wbig-htsville. Pa., April 33.— We have had, aud still 

 have, some very fine duck shooting on the Susquehanna, but 

 mostly at redheads and coots; very few mallards and canvas- 

 backs' have made their appearance. No snipe as yet. but 

 they are expected every day. What few Quails were not 

 chased and scared away last fall have wintered well. — 

 Razoh, 



Philadelphia, April 19, 1883. — The New Jersey Game 

 Protective Society met yesterday at Helleman's Hall, Cam- 

 den. A balance of $450,97 was reported in the treasury 

 A committee was appointed to find out why the Game Com- 

 mittee had not reported what disposition to make of $300 

 appropriated to stock the district, — Homo. 



|«* and §iver ^ishmg. 



To insure prompt attention, communications should be- ad- 

 dressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co., and not to 

 individuals, in whose absence from the office matters of im- 

 portance are liable lo delay. 



ANGLING RESORTS.— We shall be glad lo hare for publi- 

 cation notes of (food fishing localities. Will not our corre- 

 spondents faror us with notes of desirable points for angling 

 excursions? 



ANGLING FOR WHITEFISH. 



XN your issue of April 12 a correspondent requests in- 

 formation in regard to angling for whitefish This 

 delicious and choice" fish lives in Mooseheud Lake in this 

 State, of whieh water it is a native. They are quite plenty 

 in that lake, and are caught by a hook baited with angle 

 worms, pork' or live bait. The former is considered the 

 most preferable as a bait. They are always ou or near the 

 bottom, and are taken in water of about sixty feet in depth. 

 They are from one to two pounds in weight," and are wary, 

 timid and cautious in taking a hook, yet they are caught 

 with fair success every summer. There is no fish in this 

 region more highly prized for food than is the whitefish of 

 Moosehead Lake. J. F. B. 



Momson, Me. 



In Forest akd Stream, April 12, ••Nemo'' asks informa- 

 tion about the whitefish, aud the editor remarks that he 

 does not know that the fish is ever angled for. While at 

 Moose River settlement in the year 1881, J met a man who 

 was fishing through the ice for" this fish,' aud made a busi- 

 ness Of it. He said he fished with set hooks and entirely in 

 the night time, and near (he bottom. The kind of bait he 

 used I cannot remember. I know but little of the fish, as 

 there are none in 'his part of Maine, but several ponds at 

 and near Moose Kiver are full of lliem. aud they are a nice 

 table fish. ' .1 , G. R, 



Bethel, Me, 



THE PIKE-PERCH TAKES THE FLY. 



OF the many articles relating to pike-perch in your paper 

 I have not seen a mention of the line fly-fishing this 



finefiah affords as. In mj ow -mnirv they go bythenome 



of "pickerel," whieh I will hereafter call them, aim are con- 

 sidered otic of our lines! tish and are protected by our game 

 laws, pur river pickerel are far ahead of the lake w saud 

 pickerel, as we call them, and are far gamier. 



May 15 the open season begins, and on ihe banks of our 

 river, the Grand, any morning can be seen a great many of 

 fishing sports with spoons, spinners and live ' minnow, and 

 pickerel are preferred by our best sportsmen In black bass. 

 "Say Mae, what have you got, black bass? By the way he 



fought I thought he was a pickerel; better luck uexi lime." 



Most Of our WaCk baSS for the lOSl lew years are wormy. 



whieh is never the case with our pickerel; besides, when they 

 are from one lo three pounds weight we prefer I heir flesh to 

 that of the black bass. But the best of our pickerel Ashing 

 begins on or about July lo. when the water in till rive, 

 jretslow we find is the best time. At night, about J P. M'., 

 we start for our fishing ground and lish to ten or eleven; 

 no moonlight night, but a dark, cloudy one is preferable. 

 We use salmon or bass tiies, and sink them about a foot 

 deep aud move very slowly. There have been some very 

 large fish caught here, Ihe' largest I believe weighed about 

 eleven pounds, but the largest I myself had ihe pleasure lo 

 assist in landing was seven and a quarter pounds, aud if any 

 of my angling friends had been present they would never 

 ttgain complain Of the pickerel being a -luggi .ii tish and not 

 gamv ; and as for being voracious, well it is a fact he is so, 

 bul tins lean confidently say, as many pickerel as 1 have 

 caught and cleaned, I find them far more particular in I heir 

 habits man the bass, and always when 1 go fishing for 

 pickerel I take the swiftesl par! of Ihe river, as (hey are 

 generally there, and very seldom, unlike the bass and pike, 

 in still wafer. Now I think the pickerel is sadly abused. 

 and all on account of the mixing up of the names of the two 

 fish, pike and pickerel; and if any of the numerous anglers 

 who take Foiiest axd Stream would fry fly-fishing al 

 night time for them thev would have (he samB respect for 

 them that 1 have. The' Grand River is considered lo be one 

 of the finest bass and pickerel rivers in Ontario. At Port 

 Maitlaud, its mouth, and just below the great government 

 dam at Duunvillc, is as fine a place for trolling or fly-fishing 

 for these two tish as one would want to have. 



When I ired of that, if a change is wanted, they can try 

 their hands at hauling in a forty or fifty pound channel cat, 

 and occasionally, while trolling for bass, a niasealonge is 

 hooked. Around Bradford the fishing is not quite as good 

 as it is further down the river, although within seven miles 

 of the city there are quite a number of good trout streams. 

 Two weeks from to day will find myself, rod in hand, fill- 

 lowing up my favorite -Stream, and during the summer you 

 may occasionally hear from Little Mac. 



Brantford, Ontario. 



I see in your issue of April 12 an article written by "H. P. 

 H.,'' wherein it is plain to be seen that many of your former 

 correspondents have confounded the grass pike, or pickerel; 

 with the pike perch or wall-eyed pike, I can perceive but 

 one article where this mistake has been made, il is in vour 

 issue of March 30, where "Will" says he saw a pike perch 

 caught in a trap on Mussel Shoals that weighed eleven 

 pounds, and his friend look one in Cypress (reek that 

 weighed nine pounds. A pike perch will not go in a creek, 

 or on shoals; they stay in deep and clear water. The pike 

 will Dot go in impure water and if put there he will not live. 



Fifteen years ago pike-perch were taken in Saginaw 

 River by tons with seines, now it is so depleted of pike that 

 fishermen have nearly abandoned it altogether. What has 

 Caused it but the numerous sawmills, and sail blocks from 

 which the refuse has been cast in the river/ how the only 

 time the pike is taken is in winter and early spring, when 

 the river is frozen over and the sawmills anil salt wells are 

 not in operation. A few years ago one of the fishermen 

 had a large pond dredged on the shore of Saginaw Bay ; it 

 was twelve feet deep, oue hundred feet wide, and three 

 hundred feel long. At one side I here was a small creek 

 that emptied into the pond, and at the other site there was an 

 outlet made with sheet piling, so that the cicek watei was run- 

 ning through Ihe pond continually. In April thisfisherntan 

 had about Jour hundred barrels of pike-perch put in the 

 pond; two months later, when they went to take them out, 

 they could not find a live pike in the pond. 



Another instance is where 0, W.'Gnuthier. a large fish 

 dealer in all kinds of lake fish, had a tish pen built on Ihe 

 St. Clair River in the spring ci 1881. During the months 

 of May and June he had about five hundred barrels of pike- 

 perch put in. a pen. More than two-thirds of them died. 

 Others have I ried to keep them in pens, or ponds, but all 

 with the same result. In regard to the game qualities of 

 the pike-perch, there seems to lie a vast dilietvnceof opinion, 

 but 1 think that all those who are not prejudiced, aud have 

 had the pleasure of taking the pike either with the rod or 

 trolling line and spoon, will vouch for his gameness. "II. 

 P. H." says that a pike-perch weighing from six to seven 

 pounds is'an exception. I have seen hundreds of pike taken 

 that weighed from ten to twelve pounds, aud I have seen 

 specimens taken weighing from fifteen to eighteen pounds. 

 The pike-perch in Canada are called "pickerel" by those 

 speaking the English language, and called "dore" by the 

 French Canadians. MumxE. O BrteLn. 



Milwaukee, Wis. 



Allow me to "drop a line" into the stream in ir- wall-eyed 

 pike, or, as here called, dore. 



First, as a game tish. Here it is the first fish caught in 

 the spring. As soon as the water in our rivers becomes 

 clear, after the freshets, rods and poles are got out, minuows 

 caught, and early in the morning, or near sunset, the lovers 

 of forest and stream who cannot wail for the tardy trout, 

 muster on the rocky shore of the Magog where it joins the 

 St. Francis, to wel'eiitue Ihe first lish of Ihe season. ' 



We use no sinker, as the eddies are sufficient to draw the 

 bait to the required depth, two or three feet. The bait is 

 held on a taut line, hut not so as to prevent the current car- 

 rying it along, so that the gentle bite of The dore is at ouee 

 felt. Then the tip is lowered aud in a few seconds away 

 goes Ihe game, making the reel buzz as does the first rush 

 of the black bass. 



When he stops the fisher begins lo feel the greatest thrill 

 of enjoyment to be experienced in the whole fight. He 

 gives his game a moment to get Ihe bait into good position, 

 then strikes. Now it is the fish thai is excited. 



All your readers know what follows when a, good trout is 

 struck. Weil, what follows now comes as near as possible 

 to that, the highest, standard of sport. The dore (here) does 



not equal lie- black bass, but the game in a black bass is dif- 

 ferent from that shown by u ,lore. 



*lt Es certainly a good fiah for sport. In a fortnight or 

 three weeks after the first are caught, a spoon hail, with a 

 rod takes (or is taken) well, either from shore, where the 

 current is swift, or trolling from a born. This lasts till Die 

 middle of June. 1 do not think a dole was ever ot " 

 here in July. As for size, the largest one I ever heard of in 

 this neighborhood was caught about six miles below here 

 and weighed eighteen pounds. The largest one I eve] • 

 weighed eleven and one half pounds. 



Secondly, as a table tish. Honestly, I must say I think it is 

 better to give away your catch at the first abode of poverty 

 you pass than to carry if borne. If you do the first you 

 will experience a. bigness of-liearf-edn'css. If you give your 

 game lo the cook, look out for bones, 



Now, understand. lam onlv speaking of dore as I find 

 mem here. "Kentuekian" and "S. C. C-," Say they find 

 them good. 1 am glad of it, and I well know that S h v in 

 iu many ways, according to the waters from which they are 

 taken. Here, Ihe flesh of the dore is watery anil full of Small 

 bones. Cookilasyouwill.it tastes but 'half cooked still. 

 Rhyme accidental.) 



To sum up. they are a welcome fish, and in a week or 

 two! hope to see my rod make thai b..w which ail the dis 

 eiples are glad lo look upon as homage to the ones I hey woo. 

 Sherburni.. Quebec. ' WALTON. 



I am pleased to see that, the wall-eyed pike (locally pick- 

 erel) has been receiving (hat attention in your columns which 

 so valuable a food-fish deserves. Pickerel were formerly 

 very numerous iu the Bay of Quinte. but their slaughter was 

 so persistently carried on during the spawning season that, 

 although Still comparatively plenty, their numbers have been 

 greatly reduced. Between ihe middle of April and the 10th 

 of May they ascend the rivers hereabouts and deposit I heir 

 spawn"; and. although the fishery officer does all in his power 

 to protect them, many of these fine rKli. ranging, generally, 

 iu size from three to eight pounds, fall a prey fo lie- spear, 

 the scoop-net and the "bail" of the poacher. Worse than the 

 poacher, even, are the red-finned sucker, the mullet and the 

 niudcat, or bullhead, which closely follow the pickerel, and 

 feast upon their spawn. Time was. aud that not main j ears 

 ago, before the pickerel were protected, ihai as many as 

 from fifty to a hundred wheelbarrow loads of them were 

 taken daily iu the rivers during the spawning season. Not 

 one-twentieth part, of that number are now captured. During 

 the greater part of the year the pickerel remain In the deep 

 water. Many arc taken by seines in the early summer and 

 autumn, and "a still greater number are caught" through holes 

 iu Ihe ice during the winter, at which time they tire at I heir 

 beat Very few fall to Ihe lot of the angler, but, I have seen 

 them taken with the fly at point,-, very near the mouth of the 

 river iu June and July. Those so captured usually weigh 

 not more than a pound or two, and they afford fair sport. 



Belleville, Ontario. R. S. Bell. 



ROUTE TO THE NEPICON. 



IN answer to inquiry of "Angler" in Pokes, and Stream 

 of 19lh instant. I will say that there is no regular 

 steamer communication between Duluth (or Superior) and 

 Red Rock. The Canadian steamers from Duluth down Ihe. 

 lake sometimes touch at Bed Rock, however: so that the 

 communication is about as frequent and about as uncertain 

 with one end of the lake as the other. There is never any 

 difficulty in reaching Prince Arthur's Landing or Silver 

 Islet from either Duluth or Sault Sle. Marie. Steamer ad 

 vertisemciits cannot be entirely relied on. and I have known 

 cases where tickets purchased and personal assurances of 

 lauding there by steamer officers were not successful in get- 

 ting people to Bed Rock. A. fog or a brisk wind baa been 

 sufficient "stress of weather'' to make an e .vcuse for not com- 

 plying with the contract. 



Immediately about Sault Ste. Marie, thai is. on the rapids, 

 the fishing is somewhat exhausted by August, although good 

 earlier. There, are some good streams within a half day's 

 time, however, although the trout rarely exceed twelve 

 ounces in them. Larger are taken on the rapids at the Sault 

 and a few miles below on the American side, As to the 

 latter. 1 speak from information only. Agawa River is 

 three davs (on the average, from Sault, and Bachevv am, Bay 

 about one and a half or two days. Some of the rivers Tun- 

 ing into that bay have line fishing. Most excellent, fishing 

 can be had along the lake shore above Goulais Point and on 

 the lake front of the isla ud in the hay, In fact, few points on 

 the lake surpass il. 



If "Angler" should be at St. Paul he ought by all means 

 lo go, via Lake Superior, to Boston, whether he can stop to 

 fish or not. FlSB____jfi 



FISHING THROUGH THE ICE. 



VFEW winters since I wished fo go fishing through the 

 ice, and never having the pleasure of doing so. thought 

 a little advice from retired fishermen would he acceptable. 



On interviewing an old gentleman with hoarv locks, he 

 said in reply to my question. "When is the best time to 

 go?" "Well, yon wail until the south wind blows two days, 

 and unless the wind changes, you will have no better time; 

 but it is useless to go when the wind blows from flu- north." 

 Old gentleman No. 2, same question: "Never go when the 

 ice cracks, or when it is "squally, 1 or snowing. You Cannot 

 catch any when it is zero weather." Old gentleman No. 3, 

 Same question: "Alter a thaw and the wind not blowing 

 from the east. Now, you cannot catch anything when the 

 wind blows from the east, mind that." 



Life being short, and my stay being limited, I must go 

 when the appointed day came. That day came, and you 

 never saw anything like it. For my special benefit New 

 England weatheikwas on a "tantrum:" wind blowing from 

 all quarters, snow- flying, and thermometer at zero. "Horse 

 hitched up and we started. As we had about four miles to 

 go to the pond wc had ample time to reflect on the advice 

 as given by friends. After gathering up overshoes and live 

 bait which was quite well distributed over the beautiful 

 snow, I forgot to mention thai we lipped over, aud we had 

 a very-nice mixture consisting of minnows, buffalo robes, 

 horse' blankets, would-be fishermen, lunch, and some very 

 large words. Not being able In do the subject justice only 

 a few words were spoken, but they were somewhat pointed. 

 and afiei .retting to the pond and cutting holes in two feet 

 of iee. ue caught about twentj live pounds of pickerel. 

 When we left the pond it, was four degrees below zero. 



We had a good fire on the shore and would run out every 

 few minutes' and break ice around our lines. Now I do 

 not think it makes anv difference when you go fishing 

 through the iee. I have" fished when all the elements, aC 



