■L\y. 10, 1884.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



477 



Sex ok GrHOTTSB.— Onondaga County, If, Y., Dec. 80.— 

 Editor Forest (fnd Qtream: Our game season virtually closed 

 Wednesday, as it lias rained aff day to-day, and but few if 



auy will cave to tackle the brush to-morrow! Woodcock and 

 partridge did not hatch well, owing no doubt to the excessive 

 rains. This tall I have noticed particularly that the sexes of 

 partridges killed by ray friends and nivself seem to be more 

 evenly divided than in some years, For instance, last year 

 one bag of nine birds contained eight cock birds. An hour's 

 drive from here 1 can start twenty-five or thirty birds in a 

 day's hunt, but owing to the rough ground and the distance 

 of their first flight, we do not kill manv. Yesterdayl started 

 ten birds in a small gulf, but the steep sides and thick hem- 

 locks prevented success— killed six rabbits and left the birds 

 to winter over, hoping for better luck next September. Saw 

 the first snowbirds \Pkrirophnic.x MMli») yesterday. No 

 shore larks, pine linnets or redpolls yet.— Walt. Mickt.k. 



Station Island. — The annual meeting of the Game and 



Fish Protective Association of Richmond county was held 

 on Tuesday. Dee. 18. at the Yanderbilt House. Cli'fton, when 

 tire following. members were elected for the ensuing year: 

 Francis Endicott, President; Thomas B. Gill, First Vice- 

 President; Robert W. Hopkins. Second Vice-President; G. 

 D L'lluiher, Treasurer; George Endicott. Secretary. 

 Directors — Peter Pulworth, Wesitield; James H. Clark, 

 Southficld : Harry 0. Jones, Ytiddletown ; Thomas J. Couroy, 

 Noithtield; Jeremiah Sullivan, Caslleron. The Treasurer's 

 report showed a handsome balance in the bank lothe credit 

 of the \ssoeiation. 



Mexico.— Tuxpam. Dee. 28.— We have a very line 

 winter climate, abundance of game, aud would be pleased to 

 see some sportsmen down here for a season's .shooting and 

 fishing. I am sure if they once came they would return 

 again. It is only five days from New Orleans by steamer 

 and any time after the first of December would be suitable 

 for good sport— 0. M. M. 



Ti-..x is.— Martin County, January, 1884.— We have at 



very mild winter here so far, and antelope are very fat yet, 

 but are not so plentiful as last winter, as there have been no 

 hard northers to drive them down oil" the plains. Some 

 buffalo meat (dried) was brought in from the Saud Hills a 

 few days ago. The buffalo are very BCarCe. — W. 



TKAPrnso Qcail Ui Mismsbu-PI. — New Orleans, La., 

 Editor Forent and. Stream: J wish to call the attention of 

 the sportsmen of Canton, Miss., to the importance of stop- 

 ping the shipment of live Quail from their city to New Or- 

 leans by one Emilc Nick.— Edwakd Odei.l. 



\e& mid loiter fishing. 



IZAAK WALTON. 



JUST two hundred years ago. the 10th of December last, Izuuk 

 Walton died. TbeehattU of his writings an angling Increases 

 with a«e. and His simple yet elegant seuitaiees-.vill be read bj schol- 

 ars tor commies to come; even tij those who care frothing whatever 

 for angling, but who love to drink fioie (he "weD of pure English uu- 

 defiled.'' Perhaps the kindly spirit phlcl pervades each chapter 

 tended to endear him to his readers u- much an any other thing, and 

 they certainlj show a heart overflowing with kindness. The fallow- 

 ing beautiful hues by Mr. Westwpod, well known to our readers from 

 his " Uibliotheeo PfsCfttoria," have jus; been received and will delight 

 lovers "f Walton. 



IN MEHOHtAM. 



IZAAK. WALTON. OJOTT UiTFl llBCEMbeB. 1688; 



Father ot anglers! when, two hundred years 

 Agonfi, death sealed thine eyes, his visage trore 

 Grew touched— the legend tells -with sudden ruth. 

 He seiited i lii ne eyes from tears and world's despite 

 With icy fingers, hut he spared thy heart. 

 'Not death, hut dreams through all the years to Rome 

 Shall be thy portion, sweetest soul," he said. 

 "Dreams of accustomed fields and haunts of yore— 

 Trout-dimpled pool, and babbling brook and burn— 

 Dreams of old faces ami familiar speech. 

 And cordial ge-ste and gossip by the way— 

 breams of immortal morn— eternal May." 



So Fine-ear, liendiug. Izaak, o'er thy tomb- 

 Through chink and ereviee of the mouldering stone, 

 Hears, as it, were, a ripple and a rhyme— 

 Hears quaint diseours' PKcuL>i''-s homily, 

 Venator's staid response, and, after pause, 

 The piping minor of the milkmaid Y, song. 

 With cadence Ol the nightingale and thrush, 

 Or distant-sounding bay of otter-hounds. 

 Old life, old sports of Lea-side and of Dove— 

 The life wc cherish and the sport we love. 

 BRUSSELS, Dee. Is, 1833. T. Wehtwood. 



THE MENHADEN QUESTION. 



Eiiii-jr Sorest ''nd Stream, 



Having been a hook aud net fisherman for the last thirty 

 year.-, 1 wish to give you my ideas of tin- scarcity of most of 

 the iood lish along the New England coasts 



The menhaden is a migratory lish, and may be found in 

 large schools from the straits of Gibraltar southward iilomr 

 Hie coast of Africa, in the winter months. In the spring 

 they return about the last, of May or first, of June, coming on 

 our coasts to spawn. Soon after they arrive every inlet from 

 Maine to North Carolina, abounds with these' fish. Five 

 thousand barrels to every mile of the above named coasts is 

 not a large estimate. Feeding on the large antl small men- 

 haden could be found the principal kinds of all our food fish 

 —the halibut, cod, mackerel, bluefjsh, striped and rock bass. 

 The menhaden makes the best known bait for all these. 



The swordtish, boiiito, Spanish mackerel, squiteague, blue- 

 fish and mackerel, are fish that follow the menhaden to our 

 shores in the spring of each year, aud with those large schools 

 our coasts was one vast belt of feed, which drew" the food- 

 fish to our coasts in reach of the fishermen. The market was 

 then supplied at less than one-half of the present prices; that 

 is, as 1 found the fishing thirty years ago. After it was 

 found that the menhaden was valuable for its oil, sailing 

 companies were formed to catch them: later, fourteen rears 

 learners were constructed for the business, and" this 

 gave them much advantage over the sailing fleets Most of 

 the \ i 



fish. Now there are nearly 100 steamers, commanded by the 

 most: competent men, who meet these fish 200 or 300 miles 

 south of Long Island tts they are coming north to spawn. 

 They fish for them with so much vigor that many are soou 

 taken, and the remainder are frightened from the coast. As 

 they have gradually disappeared, so have our food-fish, 

 which have followed them. 



Menhaden are to many of the fish what, seeds and insects 

 are to the birds— without them not manv can be found. 

 There should be a law to protect this fish on the coast of the 

 North Atlantic States until the 1st of September of each year; 

 or, what would be better still, an aporopriation to pay the 

 just value for the steam fishermen's property, and take the 

 purse seine's from the ocean. It would not probably cost 

 more than ■*'.', Mbl.1.000, and would be worth more to the pub- 

 lic than all of the river and harbor appropriations for the last 

 ten years. 



The United states Fish Commissioners can never'add many 

 tish to our coast until the menhaden are protected to return 

 and spawn. Fisiieiiman 



westpoht hahuuk, Maas., Dec 81. 



ENGLISH AND AMERICAN TROUT. 



Editor Forest and Stream 



With the compliments of the season I send you a screed 

 on the American and English trout (the result of twenty- 

 eight years' experience on each side of the pond), taking it 

 for granted that the word 'English" includes England, Ire- 

 land and Scotland, as with the last two countries my first 

 twenty eight years of fishing life and love has to do. 



With "6, V. S." in your issue of Dec. 37, 1 think there is 

 little if airy difference in flavor aud game qualities (taking 

 size into consideration) of the two fish The English trout 

 has a decided advantage in Aldermanic proportions. It 

 must be conceded that the more robust the trout the greater 

 his vigor and staying [towers, the English trout being more 

 widely distributed than our American trout and indigenous 

 to all -waters. 



And this brings me back between fifty and sixty years, to 

 boyhood's days, and sets me down on the banks of the water 

 O'Leeven, Fifeshire. Scotland, the river being (if memory 

 is correct) from forty to fifty feet wide, with an average 

 depth of five feet, every foot of which held its quota of 

 'rout of the finest quality and size. Of course, there were 

 days in the year, and hours in the day, when the trout, would 

 reject your advances to a nearer acquaintance with distrust, 

 and at the best of times it took tiie finest of tackle and the 

 greatest caution to secure a good creel of from twelve to 

 eighteen trout, and often half that number, varying in 

 weight from half a pound to four and a half pounds each. 

 Cue would as soon expect to throw in an anchor for a trout 

 to swallow as to throw such a fly as we successfully throw 

 at our American trout. If it was attempted you might, ex- 

 pect to hear a chuckle come from the bottom and the 1 words, 

 •'What are you giving us, old duffer?" 



The anglers' tryst was at the Auchmuir Bridge, from where 

 they would fish' up the water about four miles to the lake, 

 then fish down the olher side to the bridge, where stood the 

 old inn, the anglers' retreat after the day's sport, where the 

 haps and mishaps of the day were conned over, the fish 

 counted and weighed, and the smell of the fish washed from 

 the fishermen's hands. Eight years last summer a friend 

 visiting the old home had a three (lays' fish on the water, aud 

 he reported little change from the days of old. The fish still 

 come with both eyes open. He made U good creel with a 

 few lusty fellows top-dressing each day's creel. 



Another place of fishing memory in Scotland was Loch 

 Tom, about oue mile up the moors from Greenoch. which 

 yielded a good supply and some good specimens of the wary 

 trout. At that time the otter" was much userl on the 

 loch for the capture of trout, aud a law was passed prohibit- 

 ing its use, and nothing too soon, for had it been continued. 

 the trout days of Loch Tom would have disappeared. There 

 are other fishing resorts in Scotland equally as good, but as 

 they do not come into my own experience, I will not men- 

 tion them. 



Now . Mr. Angler, a kingdom for a boat to pull across the 

 channel to the little green isle aud its trout streams. Take 

 -dear dirty Dublin as your objective point. Take a drive of 

 leu or twelve miles over to Liffey Head, and you will find 

 yonrself on the nursery grounds of a trout river uot to he 

 despised. As you follow the rivulet down, other rivulets 

 are joining hands until a brook is formed, and as the water 

 increases in volume the trout increase in size. Follow on 

 round its course of sixty or seventy miles, and if the signs 

 are right you will be satisfied. The best and only signs fol- 

 lowed are a good clay, an early morning and long gloaming 

 of the summer's day eve. Nine months of the year the 

 water was of a yellow color. The trout were called white 

 trout. All the tributaries of the Liffey were well stocked 

 "with the white trout. 



The River Dodder, a wide shoal stream, has an abundance 

 of small trout of dark color, owing probably to the color of 

 the water and the turf bottom over which it flowed for most 

 of its course. The trout were well educated, and seldom 

 exceedetl one pound in weight. Its many tributaries flow- 

 ing down from the mountains were full of small trout. 

 Which were seldom sought after by the angler. The Grand 

 Canal, a sluggish stream with no other current than the 

 passing of boats through the locks, turned out some noble 

 trout. For three or four miles up from the city it was so 

 pcrseveriugly fished that for a good day's sport it was neces- 

 sary to take the early mornmg train for a twelve or fifteen 

 mile ride, equipped with a pail of minnow, a small hag of 

 angle worms hung from a coat button, a few flies, and if the 

 trout were not inclined to lie sociable with the fly, give them 

 a change and troll homeward. The two best trout that, ever 

 fondly attached themselves to my person to accompany me 

 home were taken from that water. They were great, burly 

 slashers of the Jolm L. Sullivan pattern, "black-guards" 

 both of them. 



Another stream flowing into die city, well noted for the 

 quantity and quality of it trout, took its rise in the moun- 

 tains: a short distance from the head waters of the Liffey, and 

 took its course about midway between the Dodder and the 

 Liffey— one of the best trout streams it has ever been my lot 

 to know, turning out more fish (great brown-baek fellows) to 

 its inches than any water I have ever fished. I have seen 

 that stream lor the last six miles of its course completely 

 depleted. A company built two mills for the bleaching and 

 manufacture of straw paper. After the mills got into opera- 

 tion there was not a living thing left in the water below 

 l hem, and for days the surface of the water was covered 

 w'uli dead trout. A few years ago the two mills were shut 

 down, tl will here quote from a letter received last sum- 

 mer) , ' You will be. glad to hear that the. old river is, getting 



as full of trout as it was in the days when you and 1 fished it 

 together, A few mornings ago onu of four pounds two 

 ounces, two of two pounds, aud several from half to one 

 pound each, came home with me to stay. Several others 

 from four to four and a half pounds were taken by other 

 parties." 



In all of these streams the fish were not easily fooled. 

 They generally looked twice before they jumped once, aud 

 when they did come you had something to be preml of, ami 

 a lasting impression of conquerhig an adept in the. manly 

 art. Ail the Irish waters which I have known had itstrout, 

 the Shannon from Limerick to Castle Connell, the Shannon 

 and Blackwater. and their tributaries in Galwav, turned 

 them out in numbers and size to satisfy the most fastidious. 

 The summer «f 1805 ended my experience in Irish water, 

 and two months after killing" my last Irish trout my first 

 American trout came to creel, and* he was a beauty in "mark- 

 ings and game qualities, but, poor little thine, he looked like 

 the last of his race. Another about the same size (seven 

 ounces) made up my creel for the afternoon— that was in 

 New Jersey. Since then my experience has been in parts of 

 Connecticut, New York State, and Western }I;issaebusctls, 

 and the first thing that strikes the angler's notice in all the 

 waters that I have fished, is that thu trout are confined to 

 mountain and spring brooks, which aie at the opening of 

 the season so crowded with fish that there is nothing for 

 them to eat. _ The best fishing is to be had for a few weeks 

 after the law is off, when you have only to drop an angle or 

 a piece of sole leather into' the water, when a dozen or more 

 trout would be seen to rush for the prize. History repeat- 

 ing itself, only changed from man to fish. Let 'him take 

 who has the power, let, him keep who can, the swiltest and 

 strongest securing the coveted morsel, the uext moment to 

 find himself yanked skyward. By the time the summer is 

 half over the brooks are half dry, some of them drv alto 

 gether. so that the flpgerlinas become dry. hungry and cold, 

 aud fall easy victims to the rapacity of the. hog, one of whom 

 1 have seen exhibit a string of seventy-five trout which could 

 comfortably lie on a common breakfast saucer. 



Such has been my experience in American trout fishing, 

 and can be summed up in the same words the boy used with 

 the old lady's pie: "Thankee, mam; it is very good i f there 

 was enough of it. Bouse' me, mum; I— I mean there is 

 enough of it, such as it is." Now, I would not take oue jot 

 or tittle from our gamy liltle beauties, it is not their fault' it 

 they are small and hungry, they would ttrow larger if they 

 could, and with increase of size would give increase of cau- 

 tion, as well as game and enduring qualities; but so long as 

 their habitat is coufiued to. spring and mountain brooks, they 

 must be content with a hard lot and an early death, 



Acclimatizing the English trout in American waters would 

 be worth a trial. The Scotch waters will uot reach as high 

 a temperature as our American waters. If my memory serve 

 me right, all the Irish waters I have named, the Lcffey, the 

 Doddeu, the Grand Canal, and others, will reach as liigh a 

 temperature as the Connecticut, the Merrimac, or the Hud- 

 son. The tish onee acclimated, and with a good foothold, 

 they could not he fished out with legitimate fishing, and in 

 a few short years the coming angler would exclaim, "Eu- 

 reka!" Thos. C'ualmees. 

 Holtoke. Jan. 1. 1881, 



TROUTING ON THE BIGOSH. 



A >EW MOBE LAKERS. 



r pHERE was silence for a while after Uncle Ben's discov- 

 1 ery. It was a silence that spread out trom the bout and 

 quieted the ripples all around, mid became so oppressive that, 

 one could hear the circulation of blood around his eardrums. 

 Its duration was short, for the Colonel lit a match on the 

 side of the boat aud gravely remarked: "We might as well 

 smoke and stop fishing for a while, for the droppmg of the 

 anchor so suddenly has disturbed the fish below, and we 

 will not get a bite in halt an hour." Jack wanted to laugh, 

 but a look from his father checked it in its youth, and" it 

 perished after reaching the smiling point. A 'few moments 

 after he looked toward me aud let me understand his appre- 

 ciation of the situation by a six-inch grin and a wink, which 

 I dared uot return for fear of wounding the old man's feel- 

 iugs. 



After the tobacco was burned the Colonel picked up my 

 hook and examined it. "This," said he, "is a peculiar hook. 

 and one that I do not remember to have seen before. It lias 

 the short barb and long bond of the 'sproat,' but to a greater 

 degree. Where did you get it?" 



"It is the form of hook used by Adirondack guides for 

 taking lake trout. It probably would be called a "sproat" 

 by the trade but it is a hand-made hook which I understand 

 is made by some backwoods blacksmith after a pattern ap- 

 proved by the guides. It seems to he a good one and is, as 

 you see, a true" central draught hook. For a home-made 

 hook it is uot. clumsy, I have owned this one for twenty 

 years." 



"But we are using gangs of hooks, don't you think a gang 

 is better than a single one?" 



'Perhaps ii is. but somehow I am more in the habit of 

 using a single hook aud can usually hold my owu with It. 

 A gang appears like a cruel thing aud as if it was takiug an 

 unfair advantage of the fish." 



Poor Uncle Ben was silent and thoughtful aud not until all 

 our hooks were batted and overboard did he put his hand in 

 the minnow pail for a bait. Wishing to divert his attention 

 the Colonel asked him: "What is the name of this lake, 

 Uncle Ben?" 



"Well, it ain't got no name, as 1 knows on, we calls it 'the 

 pond.' 'though when old 'Squire Smith owned it, forty years 

 ago. they called it 'Smith's pond.' It is the only pond 

 within twenty miles, aud so it gets along without a name. 

 The old 'Squire talked about putting a dam at the outlet and 

 raising the pond; but he never did, and I am glad of it. The 

 property is in the courts now, and it wilt be some lime before 

 a dam is built, if ever. I alters said it would spile the pond, 

 an' it would." 



"It would spoil the looks of it. 'certainly," said the Colonel, 

 as he struck a tish so vigorously that his reel sang and the 

 rod bent with the sudden strain. The fish tried hard to get 

 near the anchor rope, and the, Colonel lugged to keep" it 

 away, reeling in as fast as he could and keeping a steady 

 strain on everything. Once the.fish bored down so strongly 

 that it took on a few yards of line, but was checked, and in 

 less than ten minutes from the time of striking the gaff 

 brought o fine lake trout of about fifteen pounds on board. 



Jack took two and I three, while TJucle Ben eclipsed us 

 all by landing a (tout on his hand line which would weigh 

 rive pounds more than the Colonel's. Now the old man 

 laughed, and it did us all good to see his face light, up 

 delight, and Ihe frame of while fringe avouud his coume 



