154 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



BE-MURRAYED ADIRONDACKS. 



ON all sides we hear complaints of the constantly-di- 

 minishing resources for good sport among the Adi- 

 rondack^, particularly in those portions which are most 

 accessible, or have been most tenanted by summer tourists. 

 This is particularly the case with respect to the fishing, 

 which has been prosecuted, in season and out of season, 

 with such pertinacity that now the aggregate catch of a 

 summer is almost nil. Even the headwaters of the streams 

 are raked, and the North Woods, which were a 1 error to 

 our childhood imaginations, have become almost as full of 

 paths as the park of an English deer preserve. The sim- 

 ple-hearted, generous mountaineers of ten or fifteen years 

 ago, who were glad to see you for your own sake, and 

 happy to show you the mysteries of trout pool and deer 

 covert, have learned that the metropolitan is lavish of his 

 money but sparing of his gratitude; the mountaineers find 

 themselves no longer trusted guides, eo thoroughly did 

 they do their work the seasons before, but servants. The 

 Adirondacks are no longer the old North Woods of 

 the trapper, but a resort of such fashion as does not care 

 to go to Long Branch or Saratoga. Even those earnest 

 devotees of nature and sport who first discovered the grand 

 solitudes where the Hudson takes its rise are beginning to 

 find this out, and warn the friends, whom they have so long 

 and so ardently invited, to stay away from the streams, 

 which must be restocked before it will pay to joint a sin- 

 gle rod, forgetting that their exaggera'ed stories of wood- 

 land life, sung too long and loud, have brought about as 

 their legitimate result the very desolation they deplore. 



No one has contributed more to spread abroad the fame 

 of the Adirondack wilderness as a hunter's paradise, and 

 all the guides as Arcadians, tban the Rev. Mr. Murray, of 

 Boston. But even he is disgusted, and in a recent letter to 

 his paper — The Golden Rule — tells us that he has not put 

 his rod together four times in four years, because it was of 

 no use. He says. — 



"The Adirondack waters will have to be stocked by arti- 

 ficial means before a fly-rod is needed on them, and it will 

 take six years to do it. The average guide of to<iay is as 

 miserable a piece of luxury as one cau have about him, if 

 he searches the world over for a foolish way to spend his 

 money. They know little and like to do less; no more 

 like the old guides of ten or fifieen years ago than a tramp 

 is like a thrifty Vermont farmer. Their companionship 

 costs a man $35 a week, which is pretty steep for workmen 

 tkat you can hire the like of in Boston for $15 a month and 

 their board, aud whereas formerly one needed a guide, he 

 now needs only a servant, viz , a man to pull an average 

 oar, chop wood, bring water, and cook a plain meal indif- 

 ferently well. And to have to pay such a man $5 a day is 

 simply barefaced extortion." 



Commenting upon this unequivocal statement, Dr. John 

 John S. Ordway, President of the Massachusetts Anglers' 

 Association, writes from Rangeley lakes, Maine, to the 

 Boston Journal as follows: — 



"Now, while I fully agree with Mr. Murray in many 

 points of his letter, descriptive of the beauties of life in 

 the woods, 1 cannot but feel that much of this extortion, 

 which has cost the people who have visited the Adiron- 

 dacks thousands of dollais more than it ought, is due to 

 the overdrawn description of individual guides, and par- 

 ticular localities in Mr. Murray's published books and let- 

 ters of the Adirondack waters. Many friends of mine, 

 who have been induced to visit those waters from this de 

 scription, have returned unsatisfied, and have come here 

 to rind enjoyment to their hearts' consent. When I first 

 came here, ten years ago, but very few fishermen went 

 'into camp,' as it is called, but now twenty to one at that 

 time go in, and the increase is caused by one who has real- 

 ized the pleasure speaking to a brother sportsman of the 

 certainty of enjoyment to be had in the Androscoggin 

 waters." 



To this we say amen ! Too much advertising is ruinous 

 to a region which depends for its attraction upon preserv- 

 ing inviolate its pristine wildness. It is only to be hoped 

 that the Rangeley lakes may not suffer a like calamity with 

 the Adirondacks, from a similar cause. 



h» md Mivet 



FISH IN SEASON IN OCTOBER. 



Black Bass, Micropterus salmoides; Weakfish. Cynoscion regalis. 



M. nigricans. Bluetish, Potnatomus saltatrix. 



Mascalonge, Esox nobilior. Spanish Mackerel, Cybium macula- 



Pike or Pickerel, Esox Lucius. turn. 



Yellow Perch, Ferca fl'ivescens. Cero, Cybium regale. 



Sea Bass, Scicenops ocellatus.. Bonito, iSarda petamys. 



Striped Bass, Roccus lineatus. KingJish, Merdicirrus nebulosus. 

 Wiiiie Perch, Mo/ one americana. 



Fisn in Market. —Fish of all kinds are more plentiful 

 and prices lower. Live codfish and blackfish have com- 

 menced to arrive in market. We quote: — Striped bass 20 

 to 25 cents per pound; smelts, 18 cents; bluefish, 12 cents; 

 salmon, (frozen), 40 cents; mackerel, 15 to 25 cents each; 

 weakfish, 15 cents per pound; white perch, 15 cenis; Span- 

 ish mackerel, 75 cents; green turtle, 15 cents; terrapin, $12 

 per dozen; halibut, 20 cents per pound; haddock, 8 cents; 

 codfish, 10 cents; blackfish, 15 cents; flounders 12 cents; 

 porgies, 12 cents; sea bass, 18 cents; eels, 18 cents; lob- 

 sters, 10 cents; sheepshead, 20 cents; turbot, 20 cents; 

 scollops, $2.00 per gallon; soft clams, 30 to 60 cents per 

 hundred; whitefish, 15 cents per pound; pickerel, 18 cents; 

 salmon trout, 20 cents; black bass, 20 cents; pompauo, 

 75 cents; hard shell crabs, $3 per 100; soft do., $1.50 per 

 dozen. 



—There is good black bass fishing at Rondout, N. Y., 

 where fish have , lately been taken that weigh five pounds 

 apiece. 



— Lake trout now take the spoon in Lake Memphrema- 

 gog. Their flesh of this season is very firm and sweet. 

 There is excellent ruffed grouse shooting in the vicinity of 

 Magog, at the head of the lake where excellent hotel ac- 

 commodations can be found at the Park House. 



— A large number of men are daily employed near Bath- 

 urst, N. B., in fishing f oi smelt for American markets, 

 principally New tfork and Boston. During the past two 

 weeks about forty tons have been forwarded by rail. 



— The steamer Leopard at St. Johns, Newfoundland, re- 

 ports the loss of 37 vessels, with their cargoes, on the Lab- 

 rador coast. No lives are reported lost. All the vessels 

 were wrecked in harbors and at anchor. The herring have 

 struck off from every part of the coast. 



— A well-known angler of this city, the other day, 

 counted 91 boats containing anglers, anchored in the upper 

 Delaware along a distance of 40 miles, commencing at 

 Trenton. — Oermantow n Telegraph. 



— An immense number of black bass were taken in the 

 upper Delaware with rod and line during the month of 

 September. In one pool alone, near the Bushkill- creek, 

 we are told, three thousand thus summarily ca:ne loan 

 end. The low water that prevailed during the greater part 

 of the month induced the fish to frequent the deep holes, 

 and there they collected in large numbers. 



Black Bass. — Sunapee Lake, in New Hampshire, is 

 splendidly stocked with black bass, and the following par- 

 agraph from the New Hampshire Argus, will be read with 

 pleasure by all anglers who are desirous of |engaging in this 

 sport; — 



"The Fish Commissioners of Winchendon, Mass., viz: 

 E S. Merrill, S. Fairbanks, G. S. Loud, and A Bateman, 

 came to Chandlerville, near Sunapee Lake, ou a fishing ex- 

 cursion on Wednesday of last week, and returned on Fri- 

 day noon, carrying away with them 500 black bass, varying 

 in size from two ounces to three pounds — every one of 

 which was caught with hooks. They were caught for the 

 purpose of stocking Dennison Lake and Whitney's Pond, 

 in Winchenden, Mass. This is certainly the most success- 

 ful catch of black bass, in less than two days, on record 

 hereabouts. The lake is well stocked with them, as is 

 Sugar river from Sunapee to New T port. Sometimes they 

 will take the proffered bait and sometimes they won't." 



* Angling Incidents.— Having met with two rather curi- 

 ous adventures with salmon this season, 1 send you an 

 account of them, as it may interest some of your readers. 

 On the 11th of May last, while tithing for salmon in the 

 river Taw, North Devon, I hooked a large fish that broKe 

 my gut line almost immediately alter taking the fly. I 

 tied on a fresh fly of exactly the same description, and 

 fished the pool down again, and on arriving at the spot 

 where 1 lost my fish (in less than ten minutes) I had an- 

 other rise, and was soon last in another fish, aj I thought. 

 After playing him tor about twenty minutes I brought him 

 to land, and, to my great surprise, found my lost fly in his 

 mouth. The fish proved to be a kelt of about 13 pounds, 

 which I returned to the river. My second adventure took 

 place yesterday (August 29ih). I was fishing in the same 

 river with worm for perch, with a small trout rod aud very 

 tine tackle. My first bite was from a perch of about three 

 ounces, and my second from a salmon of about 10 pounds, 

 which gave me fine sport lor nearly half an hour, and was 

 eventually landed t«y a friend who, after three attempts at 

 taking him out by the tail, succeeded at last in getting his 

 fingers into his gills and briuging him to land. — J. J aslor, in 

 Meld and Country Gentleman. 



v(— Here is William C. Prime's opinion of the pickerel as 

 a food and game fish: — 



"Pickerel have fearful tenacity of life. I took five in 

 Echo Lake one day, in a hot sunshine, and they lay in the 

 bottom of the boat some time; then 1 carried thenii in my 

 landing net down to the kouBe, a half-mile, and passing by 

 the wash-room I emptied the net into a marble basin and 

 filled it with the cold spring water. An hour later I 

 tound the five pickerel wide awake aud making the water 

 fly out of the basiu. Then I killed them dead. I cut off 

 their heads, and I trust that finished them. They are 

 wretched fi*h for the table, enemies to all other fish, aud 

 their preseuce in Echo Lake prevents its being made a trout 

 lake, which it once was, before some insaue pickerel lover 

 put the pickerel into it. 



Fishing Movements. — The number of fishing arrivals 

 for the past week has been unusually small, numbering 30 

 in all, including one from the Bay of St. Lawrence, with 

 a catch of 70 barrels of mackerel, 5 from oil" shore, with 

 about 60 barrels do., 4 from the Banks with 180,000 pounds 

 codfish, and 20 from Georges with 200,000 pounds cod and 

 05,000 pounds halibut. Prices are welt sustained, with no 

 prospect of immediate change in any important line of 

 the trade. 



The fleet of Boston boats have recently had a good haul 

 of herring, which have found a read}' sale in this market. 

 They are peculiar looking crafts, sloop rigged, with the 

 mast near the centre of the boat. The herrings are caught 

 in nets during the night and good schools of them are now 

 found in Boston bay. 



forgies have made their appearance in Ipswich bay, and 

 several of our fishing fleet have been baited by the Lanes- 

 ville fishermen. 



The mackerel fleet have had a poor week's work. They 

 report large quantities of "tinker mackerel," which would 

 hardly be worth the catching. 



Schooner Margie Smith had her seine full of fine large 

 mackerel on Tuesday; but the seine burst and she only 

 succeeded in saving twenty barrels. — Cape Ann Advertiser, 

 October 7th. 



—On last Saturday a heavy haul of fish was taken at the 

 Chapel Cove, Creignish. One crew nearly sank their boat 

 with a single net. On the same day herring struck heavy 

 at the mouth of Long Paint river. Very good fishing done 

 along shore all the week, and the fish are better than usual. 

 After an amusing chase ten whales were easily beached in 

 McKay's Cove, by one boat, last Monday, the 2d inst. 

 Fourteen blackfish of small size were driven ashore at 

 Judique this week. — Halifax {Nova Scotia) Herald, Oct. Wi. 



— An ingenious device is practiced in Cochin China for 

 the capture of eels, which consists in cutting pieces of 

 bamboo as thick as the arm into sections of about three or 

 four feet in length, the divisions of the interior being bro- 

 ken out, with the exception of the one at the end, which 



forms the bottom of the snare. At the entrance is placed 

 a slight grating of bamboo, and some bait, either of fish 

 or earthworms, is introduced into the interior. The bam 

 boo is then laid at a slight depth in the mud, and the eels 

 enter the hollow tube, in which they can scarcely move 

 and cannot turn themselves, and are consequently taken 

 captive. The bamboos are taken out every morning and 

 the eel, which holds on very firmly to the interior, is pulled 

 out by means of a very strong hook. 



i 



FISHING IN MOOSEHEAD LAKE. 



■ ♦ ■ 



Boston, September, 1876. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: — 



So many of your readers have been to Moosebead Lake, have sailed 

 over its blue waters, looked on the grand old mountains surrounding it 

 aud have learned to love it, that I have ventured to say something of my 

 trip thither this Centennial summer. I have been (here again and again 

 and yet I always feel my blood quicken when I catch the first glimpse of 

 the dear old lake from the hill just as you descend iuto the town of 

 Greeneville. Trout I have caught there until I was fain to cry enou»h- 

 hungry, active fellows leaping in the air, rising ere the fly touched the 

 water. Moose had I seen in its wilds, years and years ago, a sight not to 

 be forgotten. 



"I know each lane, and every alley green 

 Dingle and bushy dell in this wild wood." 

 And to renew my acquaintanceship from year to jearis to me a quiet 

 quaint angler, most pleasing. The railroad has crept nearer and nearer 

 the lake until now you are landed at Abbot, 22 miles distant. The stage 

 ride from there we found delightful, the view from the stage most glo- 

 rious. At Monson we took in a droll specimen; he talked all the time 

 saying a great many bright thines. His observations in regard to travel- 

 ing were certainly trite. He said that for lunch baker's bread was first 

 rate and "sassengers," that he never was such a fool as to call at a rail- 

 way station for anything hot, which you did not have time to eat; he 

 always called for "cold mince pies. We reached Greeneville cold and 

 hungry, but mine host of the Eveleth House soou had a blazing fire and 

 hot supper for us. The next day (Sunday) we drove to the top of tha 

 high hill where the Mac Farland place is situated. The road winds 

 through the woods by a gentle ascent until you find yourself at the sum- 

 mit, where a splendid view awaits you— mountain, lake and forest are 

 before you, forming a scene most enchantirg. The fishing at Wilson's 

 pond is at times excellent, as is also that at "Bum'" pond. From the 

 latter we saw 76* brought in in one day. We can heartily recommend the 

 Eveleth House; the trave'er will fiud there a most attentive landlord, 

 and an excellent hotel. The Lake House, in another part of tne town, 

 is said to be a verv good house. We arrived at the Mount Kineo House 

 ou the following day, where we secured good rooms. Our old friend 

 Mr Dennen still has charge, and the house was never better kept— his 

 many friends will bear witness to this, aud to his interest in their wel- 

 fare. 



The view from the piazza is still the same, ever to be remembered. 

 There is a stream called '•Misery," doubtless many "'Kineites' 1 know it, 

 and have there cast a fly. It empties into Brasna Lake, and near it is a 

 deep wood, where many a jolly party has camped. What, pleasant times 

 have I had there; shall I ever forget them? What strings of trout have 

 I seen on that sandy beach; 166 pounds three of us caught in 48 hours; 

 bat I fear the glory of the stream has departed. Thither we turned our 

 steps with trusty "Sam" as guide, and before night had fallen our 

 two tents were pitched in the woods off the beach. We found t> e next 

 morning that Misery trout were still the same lively fellows, game to the 

 last. Day after day we whipped the stream, catching all we could eat 

 ami more, having some fine sport.. The trout, however, are not there ia 

 the same numbers as formerly; had they been we should have put back 

 all not needed. Misery stream is much exposed to ..westerly winds, and 

 we should advise parties never to attempt to camp 'here when the wind 

 blows strongly in that direction. A heavy rain having swollen the 

 stream, we left for Kmeo, which we reached after a damp walk through 

 the woods and a pleasant sail across the lake. At the Kineo House were 

 Mr Strong, Mr. Lippitt, Dr. Booth, Col. Leland and Mr. Carpenter-fellow 

 anglers all. After a few pleasant days there we left Kineo one bright 

 morning and sailed away into the sunshine for home. Somehow the 

 lake never locked more alluring Black Hackle. 



§fzchting and Ranting. 



- — « — 



All communications trotn Secretaries and friends should be mailed m 

 later than Monday in each. week. 



HIGH WATER. FOR THE WEEK. 



Date. 



Boston. 



New York. 



Charleston 



Oct. 12 



Oct 13 



H. M. 



6 27 



7 35 



8 33 



9 24 

 10 10 



10 53 



11 'ii 



a. m. 



4 20 



5 18 



6 10 



6 56 



7 34 



8 11 

 8 58 



H. a 



2 27 



3 35 



Oct. 14 



Oct 15 



4 33 



5 24 



Oct. 16 



Oct 17 



6 10 

 6 53 



Oct. 18 



7 32 



The LoubatCup. — This handsome cup valued at $1,000, 

 placed in the custody of the New York Yacht Ulub by the 

 spirited owner of the Enchantress, will be sailed for to-day 

 over the regular club course to Sandy Hook Lightship and 

 return. It is open to schooner yachts of 100 tons or over, 

 with a time allowance of twelve seconds per ton. The en- 

 tries had not closed up to the time of our going to press, 

 but it is said that the Idler, Palmer, Ailauta and some other 

 fine yachts still in condition, will contend. 



'vVilliamsbtjrgh Yacht Club — The fall regatta of this 

 club was sailed on Monday, the course being from the 

 North Brother to and around Sand Point Buoy, a distance 

 of twenty miles. >0leven boats competed, of which the 

 Katie and Pluck and Luck capsized. The wind, which in 

 the morning promised to be light, increased to almost a 

 gale later in the day, and gave the crews all 'hey could do. 

 The following table gives the entries and the result of the 



THIRD CLASS SLOOPS^OPEN. 



Start. 

 Names h. m. s. 



Rosina ...12 9 25 



Favorita 13 10 35 



Gilbert J. Orr 12 11 20 



Home Stakeboat. 



H. M. S. 



5 15 5 

 Towed in. 

 5 53 



SKCONB CLASS SLOOPS— OPEN. 



MaryGibson U 15 45 5 2 35 



Katie 12 16 20 Capsized. 



THIRD CLASS SLOOPS — OPEN. 



Endeavor 12 23 10 5 55 30 



Nettie n 23 35 6 1 15 



Greenpoint 12 27 20 5 2^ 35 



Pluck and Luck 12 28 34 Capsized. 



FIRST CLASS SLOOPS -CABIN. 



Sorceress 12*37 30 Time not taken. 



Chester Arthur .^!\\1 43 *0 5 45 55 



The champion pennanl>*for the first boat in, of all classes 

 giving lime allowance, was awarded to the Mary Gibson, 

 and the class prizes in the order given to the following 

 boats: Kosina, Mary Gibson, Greenpoint, and Chester 

 Arthur. 



/ 



