48 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[AtrausT ID, 1880, 



from France, who went there to study the fishery display 

 of all nations : — 



SOCIETE D'ACCI.IMATATION, PaBIS, Juhj S2li. 



Dear Sir : In the time of ray last letter, I was unwell, 

 and I had not the leisure to tell you all that I wished. 

 Pej-mit me to write to you now to"e>:).r( ;-;; to you all my 

 admiration for the magnifie.cnt f,liow i.i the United 

 States Fish Coromis&ion at the Fisliprei Exhibition, in 

 Berlin. The American division w.is utterly the fii-st 

 among all oilier sections in this exhibition, and it was in 

 perfect correlation with the magnitude of all things 

 made by the great American pPojOe. 



There was luiich iii:=triiition t<i K'ltber for us in this dis- 

 play, and it was a gicat pleature lor mo to seeall those 

 things, in coiiiijaiiy \\\i\\ tbe Irarm-it Prof. Brown Goode, 

 and Mr. Mather. The apparatus of the "Fish Hawk," 

 above all, amazed me. -Ho%v much we have to do, in 

 France, to follow your countrj'mcn in the work of fish 

 culture ! 



I iiiHst aelino>vle<:lgc that in our country very few peo- 

 ple umlt-rstand, a.s it deserves, all the importance of fish 

 culture. The Societc D'Acdiinatatlon. is nearly alone in 

 the work, and as its resources are very small, the results 

 every year are not extensive. However, we hope this 

 year" to create a lahomtory with a little school of fish 

 culture, in which we shall exhibit as far as possible all 

 the apparatus and nielhofls u-ed in loroi,i,'ii' countries, 

 I>ai-ticulaxly the ree'ejit Ani< rican iniiiroveinents, and 

 also living specimens of all s])i c iee of exotic fishes worthy 

 of special attention. I do not fail to nrnke you ac- 

 quainted with the execution ol this ticln-mi-. and 1 trust 

 you will be good enough on occasion to grant us the aid 

 of your precious advice. 



I have the honor to he, dear sir, yours most respect- 

 fully, RA-NTOtET Wattei., Secretary. 



JUonsiew Je Prof. iSpencer F. Baird. 



Im Httd ^iver^ ^ishmQ, 



FISH IN SEASiOir TN ATJGC8T. 



FRESH WATER. 



Trout, S»?7m'i f'mtfTitifl^. I Maskoloiig-e, Emx noMlinr, 



s«iinnri. s,iii,),, sninr. \ Pilie nr PiokPi-el, Kno.i; Imiue. 



M'//ia|(Ciw7i. \Ye\Sow Verrh. Pcrca lluvuxiflix. 



lak. 

 Latin 



Sea Bass, Oinlroprislia atrarlm. 

 Sbocpgtieacl. Arch'imrgiui wha- 



UiCfiilinln.i. 



Stripi ■! ■■..'. ' • - 'i'lrO'H^. 



h'af mo Grayling, 'niiiiinaiin iricolur. 

 , Micruijlcrtiii sa/nioitfos ; M. ynlUdug. 

 BAI/r WATBB. 



Bluoftsli. Pomotomws saUalrix. 

 Spaniph Mackerel, Ciibium mac- 



nlatum. 



DorniiK Sr, III, pelamiis, 



MOVEMENTS OF SALMON. 



IN our issue of July 22d weptiblished a letter from Prof. 

 Hind to Prof. Baird, entitled -'Late Appearance of 

 Canada Salmon," whicli contained a new idea on the use 

 of the liook oii the lower jaw of the adult male during 

 the bieerling season. This letter attracted much atten- 

 tion, and was widely copied. We print below Mr. Mowat's 

 letter on the subject to the Mirimichi Advunee, in which 

 he does not agree with Prof. Hind in all things, although 

 he indorses his vie\vs upon the use of the hook, which 

 the Professor says is for the ptirpose of rupturing tho 

 ovarian sac and allowing the eggs to flow into the ducts, 

 an operation accomplished, as he says, by the male fish 

 griping the female behind the pectoral fins. Mr. Mowat 

 saye :— 



Prof. HindV lotter on tlio unnsnal scarcity of salmon 

 inailour North Atlantir riveis Ihi-s y^•al■ possesses very 

 great interest, aiui I l)o;ie jt niay Ijf tht- means of further 



• "The oldest fishermen," of 



id sjieoimeiiB, say — and it is 

 years ap;o, wlien salmon were 

 n"ced jnHt as poor, if not worse 

 iU.ny rneii of skill and knowl- 

 niarks, liiuifes and worn con- 

 (ii-li thev have actually 

 ibaVed Ijy it am! 



-stery. 



elucidating tl 



whom we have a fow g 

 some comfort— that forty 

 in abundance, they expcri 

 years than tliis lias been. 

 edge believe tiiat from the niL 

 dition of very many ol tliis se; 

 been oaught'in thegrip of the ise, 



destroyed in someway in their migrat 

 weather here last fall was not colder tb,i 

 the river presented a good show 

 grilse, as well as a very large slio\ 

 All the June and July Jisb, also, ) 

 weather. The Professor says some 

 rivers for sanitary purprses, being 

 only doing so once in two years. 



lieie. Our 

 1 usual, and 

 th salmon and 

 V of sinolt and parr. 

 lad gone before cold 

 i^abuon only An.9it the 

 liiennial .spawnora, or 

 Bef.ire I can 1: 



this theory I must have stronger proofs, for .such salmon 

 do nol enter any of the Bay Chaleur rivei's. All our 

 June lisU (and they .seldom arrive before the 1st— often 

 .IS late as tlie loth) have the ova half developed. The 

 July and August fioh are .still further advanced, giving 

 ova about Oct, 10th, finishing ;-'Otli, and going to sea in 

 about ten days after, some of them immediately. Dur- 

 ing the seven ve,ai-s I have been engaged in jiiaciculture 

 the tune has been nniforni, not varying more than two 

 days, even although the salmon chanced to come three 

 weeks earlier. These fish do not winter here in the 



weeks earli 



river, and whether they are 



ing spring I cannot say, 1 ' 



spring kelts are fish comii 



of November with the ova ; 



iish, and I should think requlnng t. 



ture ; they go well up to headwaters 



succeed- 



le. Our 



!i middle) 



I he June 



uoutbs to ma- 



: once, where, ow- 



ing to the numerous spring brooks, tlie ice does not form 

 to the same extent or solidity, often thawing out in Feb- 

 ruary and March, and where they deposit. Following 

 tho ice down in the spring, these go to sea in June. On 

 examination these kelts will be found quite dift'erent from 

 the fall kelt, being well mended and bright, with the 

 next year's ova quite well formed, the roe being from 

 three to four inches in length. 



Now, should those roving sanitary schools spoken of by 

 the Professor enter this river, they must do so under the 

 ice m April and depart before our netteracau catch tlieitu 

 I have known our estuaiy, clear for three and four 

 weeks, before a fifih made its appearance. To show the 

 rapidity wilh^which thfy come I may state that I took 



not long ago, a salmon at the Indian House, with a par- 

 tially digested caplin in it. The cr.plin never leaves salt 

 water, and the nearest point at which the salmon could 

 get it is Huron Island, serentv two milts ri,,m Indian 

 House. That extreni,? rold may retard tlie growth of the 

 ova, is possible, but to extinguisli tlie intinel or desire to 

 spawn after the ova is fully developed is impossible. 



Owing to the very heavj' and se-^ere ice runs, both fall 

 and spring, ns well as the"hpavy spring freshets, which 

 most of our Canadian Kalmo'n rivers are Enliject to 

 just at tlie time v. hen ova is newly laid, or when the 

 young fish is bursting the shell, artificial propagation is 

 much nioif a necessity than in more favored countries. 

 This last sj'iing particularly the river bed has been com- 

 pletely niiset hy spring ice destroying most, if not the 

 whole of the iiattirally laid ova. Independent of this 

 cause, I know, froni act aal examination, that three- 

 fourths of the ova naturally Laid are dead eggs. I at- 

 tribute this fact prineipally to the rapidity of the water 

 caiTying away tlie milt betore coming in contact with 

 the egg : prohal.iv, also, to eiHier a want or an excess of 

 males. I have ol.iseixrd on a hai- v. Iierc fifteen or twenty 

 fish were spawnini; .1 ! ■_ ,. ! -:u.-hing round chasing 

 smaller males and Li, oig little attention to 



the females spawnuiL, .: ,./..■, know that if the egg 

 is a very short time III ihe wider without contact with 

 the mUt it will not fructify. 



I do not ignore the giving of all due care to the pre- 

 serwation of the rivpr,'"so that a good stock may be al- 

 ways there for natural production, but when by artificial 

 production 98 per cent, can be turned out, in our Can- 

 adian rivers at any rate, it is a most valuable .assistance 

 and one that we r'annot afford tn despise. 



That every river has Its own li.-h is certain, and that 

 everj' fish linds its own nver, and knows it— and 

 knows the portion ol it where it passed its young 

 days — I believe also. I saw a peculiarly niarked 

 fish, having three old spear wounds on one side, while 

 boating in the fall of 18fl7. She was spawning on the 

 bar at Larry's Gulch. The next fall, not five yards from 

 the same place, myself ami nieii again saw her. In the 

 June of the follow int' year, I found her in Mr. Haddow's 

 ice house at Alhol thmse, taken in a net tliere. Her 

 weight was thirty-three pounds. The three scars or 

 cicati-jees on one side w fre so marked that there was no 

 possibility of niistaking the fish. 



Salmon in some rivers may rush, and keep rnslniig 

 for the headwaters as, for instance, in the Fra/.or IMver, 

 1 give om- salmon ci'edit for more sense ; thev know t heie 

 is more danger in the small, contracted pools, or liead- 

 waters, than where the liig pools and deep water exist, 

 and since the thorough protection was inaugurated the 

 large pool at Metapedia holds more fish than tin rtv miles 

 of the Kedgwick, and fish now spawn from fidew'ater to 

 the source. 1 am certain there are some of the very first 

 run of fish in the Iifeta]iedia jiool to-day, and any expert 

 can tell bythe color and rondition of the fish liow long 

 they have been in the fresh v^■ater. 



1 frdly indorse the Professors opinion respecting the 

 use of the hook on the lower jaw of the male fish, having 

 actuall}' obseiwed it in '73. The following vear I told 

 Mr. Charles Hallock of it, when I expected" he would 

 laugh at such a theory, but ho didn't. Still. I can haidlv 

 go so far as (he Professor, having kept the sexes separate 

 for a week before being mature, and manv ol iheu'i have 

 given ova freely on lifting tliem out of the water. But 

 in many cases, when yon 7eel tlie e;j,;is completelv sepa- 

 rated and the iish rijie, a snian grasjicir two behind tho 

 gills at the throat will a( once linnR tlie ova. 



Now, ]\Ir. Editor, far tie it fiom lue to dispute the au- 

 thority of Prof. Hind, or to say he is wrong in any of his 

 oonchisions. I only tell you what I know from actual oli- 

 servation in the Kestigouche River, and no other. Any 

 light or information resjiecting the nature and habits of 

 our most valuable fish should he disseminated, and I 

 trust you wiil have many contributors on the .subject. I 

 am, sir, yours uuly, ' John Mowat. 



IiesUgoMh& Fish Satchei'y. Dee Side, July 39it/j. 



FLV-FISHING FOR SHAD, 



'^ f?PKTNGFlELD. Mass., Juli/ 2ith. 



Editnr Forod and Streanr ;— 



I intimated that 1 should s..on revisit Holyoke, and 

 essay the capture of some of the gamy beauties in a scien- 

 tific manner, by casting, instead of the usual style prac- 

 ticed there of fishing with a long line — that ia, if I could 

 find my incomparable tip. Well, I found that tip— now 

 don't smile — for it was in tho hollow cane all the time, 

 stuck fast. Let us change the suliject, for 1 know that 

 in yoin- crowded columris Sjiace is' valnahle, and there- 

 fore I will not occupy it Willi the commentB that I of- 

 fered upon tho occasion, but will at once take you 



On tlie breast of ttio beautiful river, 

 Wlioiv. Rlcaious s|)ort uan be hfid : 



And set your quiet nerves aU a-ijutver, 

 In a llgbi Willi ibegamy Ehud. 



The Profe8i5or accompanied me upon this occasion — ^not 

 that he cared to fish, but his scientific ^sensibilitieK Ibid 

 been greatly shocked by my assertion of the fact that 

 shad not only regularly feed in fresh water, but afford 

 first-class sport. This statement was so much at variance 

 with his preconceived notions thathe repudiated the idea 

 at once, and laughed me to scorn for setting myself— a 

 mere tyro — at;aiust all of our well known ichthyologists 

 in a matter of fact ; but as I stoutly maintained that 1 

 was right, he consented to go with nie, stating that he 

 could disprove ray a5sertions, or at least explain their in- 

 consistency. When we arrived, we found ihatmy favor- 

 ite position was occupied, and so cast anchor just below 

 the old pier, where the two currents meet. As the Pro- 

 fessor was a stranger to "the delights of the swaying 

 rod," he ti-usted his fortunes to a hand line, and I com- 

 menced whipping across the current. It was half an 

 hour before either of us got a rise, when the Professor, 

 ■who is a little inclined to be nervous, gave a fearful yank, 

 and with many ejaculations and much struggling with 

 the line, hauled in a clam as large as my hand. Instmc- 

 tively realizing my opjiortunity to repay him in kind for 

 some of his many'lectures upon his favorite topic, I as- 

 sumed a look that Solomon would have envied, and in a 

 candid tone of voice that almost persuaded even me that 

 I was enunciating fimdamental truths, I turned my hon- 

 est eyes full upon his face, saying : "Professor, I am ut- 

 terly dumbfounded that you should express surprise at so 



common an occuiTenco. Why, every schoolboy knows 

 that the festive clam will, in "his gayer moments, spor- 

 tively rise to the fly; and to see a'n.aturalist of your 

 welleaiTied rejmtation ignorant of the fact fills uie with 

 aslonisliment. and I no longer wonder that you dispute 

 the equally well-known fact that shad will also rise." 

 With a comical grimace he expressed himself as now wil- 

 ling to believe anything, and that he was readv to swear 

 that, not only would shad bite, Imt tliat 1 'cotdd pull 

 them in with that whipstick. .Tnst then 1 .saw the s^drl 

 of a heavy fish about thirty feel aw;,y, and quicker than 

 thought my stricken fly was lightly "dancing among the 

 undulating oircleri— there w,ts a silvery flash and a sud- 

 den shower of pearly drops thrown high in the air as my 

 victim seized the line ; and, as with " instinctive turn of 

 wrist " I fastened the cruel steel in his mouth, he gave a 

 leap that showed his magnificent proportions and with 

 speed of a frightened bird rushed down the stretim, I was 

 entirely occupied w-ilh my fish, but 1 must have glanced at 

 the Professor, for I can yet see the lookof wonder— almost 

 awe — in his wide open eyes. No word was spoken, for 

 my heart ifJts too lull of satisfied jileasure. No doubts 

 or fe.ars disturbed my mind, for my trusty tip was in 

 place and bending all its energies to accomplish the de- 

 feat of our scaly foe. After more tlian half an hour nf 

 most exciting sport, I slipped the landing net muler him, 

 and with along-drawu satisfied sigh, lifted him into the 

 boat. We could not tell his weight, as my iioclcet scales 

 register liut six pounds, and they proved inadequate to 

 the task. We at once resumed our fishing, and the Pro- 

 fessor had extraordinary luck in getting bites ; hut not a 

 fish did he land. In vain I cautioned him against twitch- 

 ing their lieads off. No sooner did ho feel the " soul in- 

 spiring thrill" than with a s|iasuiodic yank he would tear 

 the hook from their tender mouUis, and then wonder 

 '• why they didn't bang on." I soon had another one go- 

 ing, and as he kept near the bottom, and did not show 

 much iight, I soon had him in the boat. This lisli had 

 swallowetl tho fly, and it was fast in his stomach, and I 

 was obliged to use mv knife. Upon opening him we 

 found that his stomach" was distended, almnst to burst- 

 ing, with food which ccnsisled of iu^eets inamly, al- 

 though there w as also the well defined skeleton of a 

 binairfisli of srmie kind, and strangest of all, several bits 

 of vegetable substance that we pronounced to be pick- 

 erel grass. The Professor was noiqilussed, and wlien I 

 lifted up on the point of my knife a wee bit of crusta- 

 cean that I had found in tiie inass, he exclaimed, ■•Til 

 give it up now; that is a 0'a)H»?(n-i(.s' )»i)!»,s/" 



" Hold on," said I, "that settles it forever; for if a 

 shad can swallow that" — I did not dare try to pronounce 

 it—'- he can swallow anything." 



'■ Yes. " said he, " and I should not he suiprised if you 

 were to tell me that they went ashore nights and robbed 

 hen-roosts." 



Whether this was intended for a sly kick at my hom- 

 ily upon the clam, or merely tho fanciful expression of 

 his highly wrought feelings,! am unable to say. Our 

 squadron was now reinforced by a cockle-shell of a boat, 

 containing a crew of two men who brouglit their frail 

 craft to anchor about thirty yards to our right, and a lit- 

 tle below us, thus giving ua a capital view of the per- 

 formance that 1 shall attemjit to describe, although mere 

 wSrds v-ill eonvev lait a faint idea of the scene. 



.After safely mooring their lotilisli boat, they let out a 

 line from each side and one from llie stern; then the 

 man who was stationed aft put his rod together, and ly- 

 ing a couple of flies to the end of his line with a LOid 

 stpiareknot, ho took off his coat, and, .spitting on his 

 hands, raised uji on tiptoe and — well he didn't throw bis 

 rod clear ashore, as I imagined he was .going to, but with 

 a powerful back-handed s\ving and ,a suilden jerk for- 

 ward that would have snapped a green hickory, ho landed 

 his flies upon the water with a splash that was only 

 equalled by the noise of the rod as it followed suit and 

 buried half its length beneath the surface. Just here 

 the Professor attempted a witticism at my expense, by 

 saying that the man was castuig. You will readily per- 

 ceive the animus of this xipon learning that the only 

 casting tliat lie Imd ever seen was at my hands ; but f 

 entirely ignored the feeble effort, and confined my at- 

 tention to affairs in the little boat, winch swayed and 

 rocked fearfully at each successive throe of the stalwart 

 fisherman, who kept it up Inavely, and literally la.sl,ed 

 the waters into foam. Not the li a.t amusing part of the 

 performance was to see his cunipanmii dodge at every 

 cast. After watching him awhile I came to the conclu- 

 sion that it was not from fear of the hooks, but that it 

 was the noise of the whistling line that caused him to 

 shy. With ever-increasing wonder at the power of hi.s 

 arms and the astonishing strength of his rod, I welched 

 with deepest interest the performance, until a splash in 

 tho water and a fierce tug at my line forced me to attend 

 to my own alTairs. But in spite of tba gamy struggles 

 of my captive, which required all my efloi ts to circum- 

 vent, my eyes would still fondly turn toward the little 

 boat, and although I lost my fish by the means. I fell 

 amply compensated when I saw our hero suddenly throw 

 his rod into the hollom of the boat with a vim that 

 would have broken a crowbar, and loudly calling to his 

 companion to fetch the landing not. he seized the line at 

 the stern, and with wildly gj-rating arms hauled it in 

 hand over hand. Oh ! for the pencil of a Hogarth to 

 immortalize the picture. <')h ! for the pen of a— a— Mur- 

 ray to jiortrav the scene, as he surged upon the tautened 

 line and iinllered" for the net, which was describing 

 erratic parabolas in the air, but still surely coming, as we 

 coidd plainly see by the upheaval of one end of the boat 

 and the sinking of the other. Soon die water was pour- 

 ing over the stern, and our hero spasmodically sounded 

 the retreat— vliirli lii; companion efl'ected aone too 

 soon — hut L-a!!i' ' ill re he did not relax his hold of 

 the line nor in li : Jraniic yanks until he sttfely 

 flopped into ijie Lw.it n. yearling sliad tnat wotdd weign 

 nearly half a pound. It was now almost night, and 

 having demonstrated to our entire satisfaction that 

 "casting" was the true and only sportsmanlike way to 

 capturethese gamy fish, we reeled up our lines (every fly 

 was gone fro. 11 the" Professor's) and started for home with 

 that "deep feeling of satisfaction in our hearts that is 

 only experienced by the happy angler at the close of a 

 day of successful sport. 



I had intended to descant upon the UirilUng sensations 

 e.tperienced at the strike of a lively fish— although your 

 companion may bo playing him at the time — but this 

 will keep iintil my next. . ShadO'VS-. 



