Sept. 27, 1883.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



169 



the liuli. Hv reversing the present location of the pocket, or 

 tu6vabio band, displacement' of reel would be obviated. 



Ax .-'i:i--.<i ->i. 

 [Wo hffvt urg'id the matter of a standard reel plate and 

 Beat upon MiaNational Rod and Reel As& ciatioo and will 

 Bgnin lay the matter before tboui. We do not know that 

 thev will" take any action in llie mailer, IIS some of the com- 

 iiiille,- do uot 8(ie l In.- necessity ol it. It is well, however, 

 to agitate (his question, for w think this great evil will be 

 remedied in lime. The association is the proper held to 

 agitate the question in. and ;i standard Which is there ap- 

 proved is the only one that would be considered by the rival 

 makers'.] 



THE FISHLESS HUDSON. 



r I"Hi; articles lately published in Forest and Stheam in 

 J relation to lisli and tlsulng in the Hudson River "will 

 have a good i ffocl by calling attention to some of the causes 

 which art Buiklng" angling iii this river near New York a 

 thin» of th" past. " 



Ten years agb one could (tike a good basket of striped 

 bassal points between Bpuytcn I>uyvil and bankers, lisli of 

 One-half to three pounds, hul of late years il is almost USC- 



iiift to li-h at all. and abed 

 In the vtoluilA Of Vi.uk. 



mi--, d by Hie n I i 



tea which pollute Ihc slion 



id dv 



ckcrel and Lafayette 



s and shrimp are wasted. 



the scarcity of lish may be 

 >rks, and othei facto- 

 : : ially at I he mouth ol the 

 the Hudson. 



all lish. such as striped 

 , is caused by fyke nets, 

 which are Slaked QUI along the shore fur inilcr, auri into 

 l lair hungry maws the li-h are swept by every tide. 



As many as twenty fykes may he counted at times between 

 Spun leu Liuyvil and' Yuukers, on the eastern shore. "Fyke 

 netting is carried on by shad fishermen afier the run is over, 

 and it'is evident thai the catch of bass must be large to pay 

 for expensive outfits, such as mav be seen at the fishing 

 station below Rivi rtlale 



If the law allows fyke nets in the Hudson, there, should 

 at last be a .dose, watch kept to see that only fish of the 

 proper size are saved. From August to Dece'mber. or freez- 

 ing weather, the fyke nets stand in ihc way of anglers with 

 rod and reel, and no sport may be expected where such 

 wholesale destruction of small fish is allowed. 



The same fishermen sal pole nets iu the channel, and take 

 many la gc striped bass and sturgeon during the fall months 

 near v outers. A. 



Y...\kf.b3, Sept. 20. 



Fish isimi Connecticut Rivkh.— There are always peo- 

 ple fishing off the docks at the river, but the catch is piti- 

 fully different from what it used to be even twenty years 

 ago, and the change is probably due more to the pollution of 

 the. water by manufactories on the main stream and its 

 branches than to any oilier cause. At that time there were 

 great numbers of perch, aud iu the course of a season a good 

 many striped bass were eauaiit. running usually from half a 

 pound to five or six pounds. In the shad season, boys fish- 

 inn fur perch with shad roe forbaitused to get long strings, 

 and occasionally at such times the water was fairly alive 

 with small perch that could be caught literally as fast as the 

 line eould be drawn in. All through the season there was a 

 possibility of getting a reasonable quantity of good lish. 

 Those who had occasion to drive across the river frequently 

 will remember the bass fisherman who eould usually be seen 

 in a boat, anchored just a bore the bridge, and who kept at 

 it day after day. Ten-pound bass were not so rare but that 

 several were usually taken in a season. At present very few 

 of these fish are caught, and the idea of going out to fish all 

 day for siriped has hardly occurs to any one. It is very 

 probable that the putting in of black bass has done some- 

 thing to reduce the numbers of other fish, but those familiar 

 with the river and with the ways of fish, attach more im- 

 portance to the change iu the water, and instance among 

 other things the decrease in shad, which is sufficiently indi- 

 cated by the fact that with all the stocking of the stream 

 from year to year the supply does not reach the 

 point that would be expected, ronacthing ia to be 

 inferred also from the decrease iu dace, a fish of no particu- 

 lar food value, but handsome, active fellows that thrive in 

 clean water, and were large and abundant a few years ago, 

 but are now much reduced in numbers, while comparatively 

 few large ones .seem to be left, The failure of the attempts 

 to slook the river with salmon, points in the same direction. 

 Of all the young fry put in, very tew reached maturity and 

 returned ; not neatly as many as might naturally be expected 

 to escape the perils that attend small fish. The' actual con- 

 dition iif the water may be seen by any who will examine it. 

 In appearance, taste and smell it is very different from what 

 it was. The same process is going on that has been pretty 

 well carried out in such streams as the Hoekanum, where 

 the mills have almost killed off all the fish that used to 

 abound in the stream. One curious thing in both cases is 

 that, though | he. fish are not nearly as plentiful as before, 

 there are still considerable numbers of youug ones, appar- 

 ently oue year or sometimes two years" old, while larger 

 Ones have disappeared. Allowing ail that can be allowed 

 for the use of fine meshed nets iu the spring, it still seems as 

 if the tish did not find food enough to thrive on in the con- 

 taminated water, or became diseased and died off. The fish 

 that are now most abundant are the poorer sorts that dp as 

 well in foul water as iu clean. Artificial propagation partly 

 meets the difficulty, as iu the ease of shad, but il cannot take 

 the place of suitable natural conditions for the tish; aud 

 stood judges maintain that the tlavor of a Connecticut River 

 shad is not wh.it if used to be, even of those caught far up 

 the stream so as to allow for the slight difference that u.-ed 

 to exist, or was said to exist, between fish caught as they 

 entered the river and those that had spent some da.\ sin fresh 

 vvatey As long as the river receives so much poison from 

 factories and so much sewage from cities, it is probable that 

 the supply of lisli will remain small in quantity and poor in 

 quality . — Hertford Courant. 



Rock Bass ur the StJSQO^aAMHA. — In answer to Homo's 

 inquiry iu regard to rock bass I would say, if I am not great- 

 ly mistaken, they may be found in. the Chemung River at 

 Alliens, Pa., and as the Chemung is a tributary of the Sus- 

 quehanna, they will bedouUless be found there also. — J. H 

 Antihe. 



Two Fisn ON O.YE Hook— Boston. September 11.— 1 had 

 a. curious thing happen the other day. While fishing for black 

 bass with shrimp, 1 caught two red perch on oue hook, both 

 through the mouth.— 6; J. G-. 



Fisii and tiikik \.\tivk, Waters.— That lish have some 

 way of distinguishing the waters of their Dative streams 

 seems highly probable, else how could migratory species find 

 their way through muddy streams to the one where they 



passed their infancy: Our attention has been called to thfs 

 by lindimr an account of this in-linel in ale wives in an old 

 copy of the Hunker Hill Aviwa of .Mav 81, 1-51. Itsavs: 

 "The Middlesex Canal wasop.ncd on the first of the present 

 month, and 'great store of alewive-..' as OUT forefathers used 

 to express tin nisclves. arc crowding up through the locks 

 from Charles River to the Concord and Merriniac. to make 



their annual visit to tb< waters of their nativity. I>r. Jpi <■ 



V. C. Smith, in a lecture before the Cambridge Lyceum 

 some ten or fifteen years ago said that the alcwives of Con- 

 cord and Menimae rivers were peculiar, having a different 

 mark from the common Charles River variety, and that it 

 had been .ascertained that the aJewives which are caught in 

 the canal locks in this city are: the .Merriniac River ale 

 wive-, and none other, thus Droving thfil thev are attracted 



bj the ( oncord River water", vhich they are' able todi-im- 

 euish from th" Charles Rivar water, and beautifully illus- 

 trating their instinct, which Leads liem toseek wiihastonish- 

 ing perseVl ranee the shores of their native river, by the same, 

 route which they followed to the ocean, however devious or 

 difficult that may have been." 



An Unlickv Fisiikhman. — The iiuiuekicsl man in Geor- 

 gia lives in White county. While fishiii!; in the river in a 

 bateau ii eapslfscd and threw hire into the water Trying to 

 reach the boat again, his fool caught iu asuagand wrenched 



tlieboat. Ho finally reached the shorn,, and was hobbling 

 across tt field, when ninige, ferocious hull started Tor him. 

 Reaching a tree, be climbed ii lively enough to escape the 

 bull, but also lively enough to get into a hornets' nest. The 

 hornets objected, and lie sprang to another limb, which 

 broke, letting bin fab to the ground, fracturing his wrist. 

 With the broken branch he kept the bull at hay, and man- 

 aged to escape, All thlg happened on a 1'iiday 



Fishinu Notes. — The bass fishing in the Schuylkill River 

 during the past week has been the best of the season. More 

 large fish have been taken than during the entire summer. 

 At tile old wreck at BarncgU see ba.-s have been biting well, 

 and most likely will continue to do so until tin: season closes. 

 At Betterton the perch fishing is attracting many. The 

 talcs of enormous catches 1 will not mention"; it sounds too 

 much like wilful waste or slaughter. — Homo. 



BnUErisu On- Lo.no Island.— The lishiug is poor along 

 the Great South Bay, as it has been all the season, Off 

 Moutauk aud Orient Points, and about. Plum Islaud at the 

 eastern entrance of the Sound, it has been fair. Many small 

 "snappers" arc taken on the north shore in Roslyii, Cold 

 Spring and Port .lefferson harbors. These are smaller than 

 usual at this lime of year, averaging only five or six inches. 



Athens, Pa. — B. W. Davie.s eamrht with an eight ounce 

 rod, two black bass that weighed -1 lbs. each, at the, point 

 of the Chemung and Susquehanuah rivers, at this place, on 

 Wednesday, September ill, using bullheads for bait There 

 waB also a catch of thirty-two black bass by one man in less 

 than two hours. — AV. K.'P. 



the year 1881 took but li'iO.lUl lbs., 



and duriii"' the vear 1683 



1,065,1 i v . The present j ear the in 



Si Bfrwi ho-;; and 1 





iva-ed yield in tutor, years, 



as (he rc.-uH nol onlv of the arliik 



!-:i aid rendered, bill of the 



protection afforded the lish dunn 



rj i.' 



the enforcement of the fishery lav 



vs. and the opening of the 



milidams in thi< province, which 1 



re-now being supplied with 



the best form of ti';hwnv that exi> 



tfe, through which the fish 



are ascendiue in abundance whr 



rever thev are. They arc 



beingeon aaweeai 



1 get them built. Sti 11 there 



are and ahvavs have been grum 



tiers v. ho -can to require 

 terprise against which to 



.-ome progressive measure or ei 



bump their head-, or thev would 



die of ennui. While this 



class of people seem to be 



-aw to enterprise as the 



horse-fly to the existence of the le 



rse— thev. like ihc flv. pass 

 1 ic.ov— on as if they had 



away in their season and the war! 



not been about. \\ e have the fitt 



-1 fish-farm in the world. 



aud those who are charged with it 



nient and culture 



mav expect to meet with ann-.v,-;n 



ees and difficulties, ehielly 



iirisuii; out of a general want of in 



formation which the recent 



great nsneries exhibition held in 1. 



m.'on will do much to re- 



move. Ihave no doubt that this. 



wit.h moral backbone and 



pluck on the part of those engage 



in the work will in the im- 



mediate future produce gratifying 



resultstotheoountry. 



fitff culture. 



I-TSH TRAPS JN THK DELA WA KE.-The fallmv. oil in the 

 number of shad taken at the different fisheries along our river 

 Delaware during the postseason, was marked ami eould not 

 foil to be noticed. With all the planting of young shad, and 



the efforts of the < lmissiaiei.- io Increase the supply, it 



would sec in the numbers each vear grew less. The attention 

 Of FoTOJST AKD S erttl times drawn to the fact 



thai the great cause of complaint existed ia the upper waters 

 eff the Delaware, in the lhape of 11-. t -. weirs, etc., sei directly 

 ou the spawning grounds, These not onlv disturbed the shad, 

 but all varieties of lish. r.-im -l.nl to write you that State 

 Ourue Protector T. \Vo...d, of Schoharie county."*. Y., has just 

 completed a woir-destio\ ing lour of that portion of the Dela- 

 w.ov fiiver which lies within his jurisdiction, Protector 

 Wood has authority over 1 ia counties of Sullivan. Delaware, 

 Otsego and Schoharie. With two assistants be began his 

 labors at. Narrowsburg, Sullivan county, and proceeded up the 

 river in row-boats. Between that point and Hancock, thirty- 

 oiejit miles, thev found t w.-:n v-live weirs, nearly all of theiu 

 containing large numbers of dead fish, which were too small 

 to be of use to the owners of the weirs. Among them were 

 black bass, striped bass, sunfish, perch and pickerel. The 

 weirs were all demolished by the onlcei's and the stone wings 

 torn down. From N'arnnvshurg to Port Jervis. the jurisdic- 

 tion of the liver, it is asserted, belongs to Pennsylvania, and in 

 that distance, thirty-live miles, there are a large number of 

 weirs in the river. Authority- for their removal is vested 

 under the law in the sheriff of" Pike county, but although he 

 bus been notified of the presence of these weirs, none of them 

 have been destroyed. Sheriff Mills, of Orange county, N. Y.. 

 demolished all tho woirs that were within his district two 

 weeks ago. in the Delaware, below Port Jervis, there are 

 deadly fish-traps for almost every mile. There seems to be a 

 question us to whether thev should fall victims to the New 

 J ersey or Pennsylvania authorities, and consequently thev are 

 allowed to remain and destroy hundreds of game flsVi nightly. 

 Large sums of money have been spent in stocking the river 

 with bass, shad and salmon, and all questions as to authority 

 m the matter of taking measures for their protection should 

 be settled by the Legislatures of the three States of which the 

 river is the boundary, so that no officeis shall in the future 

 have any excuse for not removing at once everyone of these 

 deadly traps that is placed at any point iu the stream.— HOMO. 



HABITS OF SALMON. 



MR. W. H. ROGERS, Inspector of Fisheries of Nova Scotia, 

 has been interviewed by the reporter of a local paper, 

 and says: 



' A marked increase from the culture of salmon eould not 

 ixpected inside of seven or eight years, from the first years 

 planting of the fry, because it is known that these tish do not 

 attain their full growth until they are five years old ; and as 

 the few we have oeen hatching in the maritime provinces 

 have been planted in smaU parcels, in innumerably small 

 streams, and as the fact is just now be Timing to be demon- 

 strated that they will only return to the rivors to which the 

 parent fish belonged, instead of the one in which the fry spent 

 the first year of its existence, therefore, as the parent "fish for 

 the Bedford hatchery have been taken from other streams, 

 they are not returning to the Bedford River as we have been 

 exp'ecting, but they are rapidly increasing on the River Pbdip, 

 whore most of che ova for the hatching has been obtained, and 

 whore some 40,000 fry per annum hare, been planted. The 

 main Restigoitche in tf. B.. where Mr. Mowat obtained bis 

 parent fish, has this year yielded the largest number of sal- 

 mon it Uas for many years, 1,630 having been taken with the 

 fly, averaging 22 lbs., or a total of over 35,000 lbs., while the 

 Matapedia and Upsflquitcb branches of the same river, where 

 large numbers of fry have been annually planted (but from 

 parent fish taken from the Re-stigouehei there is little or no in- 

 crease. These facts, if corroborated by further experience, 

 will be invaluable in the future, as they will prove the neces- 

 sity of having a hatchery on each of the more important rivers 

 at least." 



"Do you think that it would be a wise expenditure of the. 

 public monev to increase fish hatcheries iu the Dominion V 



"1 most certainly do, for where Sainton can be readily sold 

 at -?1 per pound, as is the case during much of tho salmon 

 season in the western portion of Nova Scotia, no time or ex- 

 pense should be lost in multiplying them as quickly as possi- 

 ble in the rivers of Yarmouth, Shelburne, Queens and Lunen- 

 burg, with their extensive inland waters, where, on account 

 of the rocky and rough state of the river bottoms, the paucity 

 of natural spawning beds renders such a step almost impera- 

 tive. Such a step woidd doubtless vdeld immense profits to 

 the country. This is also, though in" a less degree, true of the 

 salmon fisheries of the entire Dominion, as good prices will al- 

 ways be obtained in the future, both on account of an in- 

 creased population aud better conimereial facilities." 



"Have, ycu any idea why there has been so much written 

 and published against fisheulture in the Dominion of laief 



"It is not at all difficult to understand the reasons, but at 

 present I do not think it prudent to give the public my views 

 in detail on that phase. I mav say, however, that unfair ad- 

 vantage has been taken of tbe"continual deciiue of the salmon 

 fishery as a whole during the several past years, which has 

 occurred on all parts of the Atlantic coast of" North America. 

 To such fluctuations all fish are periodically subject, tho cause 

 for which being beyond human ken. This fact seemed to 

 offer a fair opportunity to certain parties to make an attack 

 upon the whole management of fish hatching, and to demand | 

 that results should not only neutralize this general movement 

 of fish off the coast, but that a large inerea-:. n: 

 salmon should be th° result of seven of eight years' 

 planting. But those people begau to shout failure 

 too soon, as is uow being demonstrated in the large in- 

 crease of last vear and the present year, as follows: In 1881 

 we caught in iNova Scotia only 398,(143 lbs. of salmon, ana in 

 1882 we took 025,061 lbs. , and I thank that the preseut, year 

 will also show a large further increase. New Brunswick in 



THE GEORGIA COMMISSION.— La Grange, Ga., Sep- 

 tember IT.— The number for September 18 is just at 

 hand. Page 138 presents your annually collected list of 

 Commissioners of Fish and Fisheries of the different pro- 

 vinces, States, and Territories of North America. As 

 this list will be copied into perhaps most of the reports of Fish 

 Commissioners, it is exceedingly important to have everything 

 rigidly correct. Y T ou failed to "give my residence; while" I keep 

 an office at the Capitol, at Atlanta, most of my business is 

 transacted here. And my name is spelled incorrectly. I al- 

 ways reject the e in the surname. Let it lead as foUows: Dr. 

 H. H. Gary, Superintendent of Fisheries, La Grange.— H. H. 

 Caby, Supt. of Fisheries. _____ 



THE CALIFORNIA COMMISSION.— The changes in the 

 Fish Commission of this State make the new Board as fol- 

 lows: 



A. B. Dibble, Glass Valley, Nevada comity. 



R. H. Buckingham, Washington, Yolo county. 



J. D. Redding, Sau Francisco. 



PUBLISHER'S DEPARTMENT. 



Uaiterj States.— RicuJHDUn.E. I 



Penman's liaiid paralysis can I 

 wood penholder aud Esterbroc 



.stationer for [hem.— A'li: 



loa-'ler. re,. rimer, p.v. 

 that it is within t: _ .-. 

 the gnu trade. See t 



Learning th_Wbi 



is. William, at 



■ell: 



the 



vife, 



infsrnul work-no" eud of dosing mv sto-j 

 a valuable animal cie,i, so 1 just sent and 

 Homeopath io ^peeirips— ihe veterinary— 

 Stock Since." Why, do thev eui-ef" ' "1 

 anv ease of colic iu a fete minutes, and l 

 fails. No trouble, no drugging, 1 



ioingvery well. Per- 



' the character in the 

 it Fisheries. 



■1 " "All quite 

 welly" ''-No, 

 ■11. You know 

 i four" "Test, 



just such 

 > iu a while 

 umuhre.v'K 

 1 a head of 



You know just what to do and how to do it ' "Well, William, I'll try 

 it." "If you will, Uncle .tosh, vou v. ill Hud it the best day's work voii 

 ever put iu." '1 will try it. I'll try aud learn the wrinkle," said 

 Uuelo Josh a^ai". as he drove on. "because, come to think out, I've 

 heard u great many say the same thing. "—Bout on Cultivator.— Adv. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 

 "THE HEART OF THE ALLEGHAMKS 

 This honk deals with an extreme!-." interesting regiCU. thai of 

 Western North fn-oima. r-i.-r , , ,--..■, ,.-. .,•-.,,-■ romantic bisllorv 

 novel wro-s of liviiig. -11 vluii.e-r.. ,-. ...ll.sw's ,.fe.uno_ i-n i -.r.itn-e 

 lore qrfishftuj and shooting, stories told by the "natives. " stirrinsr ad- 

 ventures ajjd oovel ... lomt -. m ortbe 



■ Ben is '...: . up— lBadeaa eStended tour thromrh the 

 ■■ Uegl ' ml •- an 1 I a lytall in capitals! . hat they mv, and heard. 

 Then ,..-.. | Ic i - -s ari 5i_p| Ii ; thev reveal Io full light phases of 

 life in aeorneroftJw-worla which are ■. _.ien.iimi._ as they are 

 unique Th..- book Is Stlul toe thing with which to v. hlle a.va.v a rainy 

 afternoon; | Brooks & Co., Cleveland. O.i 



"iiESKEL KEpOKD." 

 "The Breeders and Exhibitors' Kennel Record," by "W. Krisey" 



