FOKEST AND STKEAM. 



[ArausT D,D1880. 



transit. I regi-et that I kept no record of the amount of 

 loss during the process of hatching, but am safe in stat- 

 ing tliat it was no greater than that sustained in the 

 liatch, of >Yhioh a record is herein given. On the 18th of 

 Feln-uiivY I received from the same place 10.000 brooTc 

 trout, iM-{i,'s, w liii h wore all hatched in tweiity-.soven days 

 from tlie ilnv of anivfil ; a record of whi<'.h i.s as follows ■ 

 Ecceived, l*eb. IHth. lii.OOO brook trout efrga ; tempera- 

 tm-e on receipt, -"iS'F. : teiniif-r.-itiire of water in which 

 they-wero to be hntiiieil. ri4'-F.; ainouut "f ^■K■.c^^ picked, 

 140. Feb. 19th, picked i5 : Ftl>. 2iJlh. 10 ; Feb. 21st. 10; 

 Feb. .23d, 7 ; Feb. 2;id, 7 ; 1 eh. u'Jtb, 4 ; Feb. ;?r,th, h ■ Feb. 

 2Blli, 5 ; Feb. 37th, 3 ; Feb. SyUi, U : Feb. '.mh, ?, : JIarch 

 1st, a: March 3d. 1 ; March :M. '3; ilnrcb 4tb, ] ; March 

 oth, 3 ; March Cth, 3 i Marcli 7th, 1 ; March Stii, ; March 

 !Hh, ; Miirch 10th, 1 ; March 11th. 3 ; March 13th, 1 ; 

 MnrtAi 13th, ; March lith, ; March Wth, 1 ; March 

 10th, ; total, 337, 



It will be seen that tlie, above statement includes the 

 loss sustained in tranaportatiou, and the young fry that 

 died in course of and immediately after hatching. 1 

 will also state that no deductions are made for utiimpreg- 

 nated ecgs ; notwitliBtaniJiri.E; all this, it ^vill be oliserved 

 that mv hatch Is sonicthiuo; in excels uf niiie(r-se\'en 

 and a half per cent. The temperature of the npriug in 

 which this batch was marie was n4-'F. during the entire 

 time. Tlio water, altbouKh never roily, deposits a great 

 deal of sediinent in the form of a sandy luani, Tliese 

 eggs were hatebed in the Shaw lial:cliing-br>x. the en- 

 tire paraphemaUa of which, including the wire Bcreen.s, 

 are well iiaiuted with coal tar. The eggs were in differ- 

 ent stages of development at the time of transporiation. 

 The 5,i/00 eggs above mentioned uere piiekeil in four lay- 

 ers of about'equal quaJitities ; tv. ...f tlie,.- wei-^ much 

 further advanced than tlie others. livid fjea e I raiis].)ortn- 

 tion much better, there being only tiiree spoiled eggu and 

 two dead fry. 



The young fry from all the above-mentioned eggs are 

 now in a fine, liealthy condition ; those from the first lot 

 are beginning to feed quite freely, and have fed more or 

 less for the last two weeks. HeretoforB I have never 

 given food until the umbilical sac was nearly absorbed, 

 but with the above-mentioned fisli I began (ceding at a 

 much earlier period than is usufdiy pmeticed. The 

 young fry, very shortly after tliey were liHtclietl, 1 took 

 off the travs and placed in trou-iip. wlvvo tlie sediment, 

 of which 1 l-iave ma.le mention, wa.- allei-.ved lo aeciimu- 

 late, ,ind 1 Kave tbtiii f.jr tlie iii';-l, l"\v d.-iy- a slight 

 Sprinklinc vrith eommr.n salt, and llieu ;:railna,Hy in- 

 creased the quantity until now I give them suilieient to 

 form a perfect bed on the bottom of the tio\iglia. This 

 had the efi'ect of perfectly eradicating rdl. signs of dropsy. 

 or blue sac, a disease to which, I believe, ail young fry, 

 from eggs that have been transjKjrted from a distance, 

 are more or less liable, Wll. A, Mynster. 



V n.\Ti-niNG THE "Angler," oe "Fibhino Frog.''— 

 Oloiic,'.-:tc-i\ 3/oss., Aug. 2d.— Some interesting experi- 

 ments are being made in hatching the goose fish, monk 

 fi^b. or iiftbing hiyj(Lopliii'.'< piseatoriiis), at the station 

 of the United Stales Fish (JouiniiFsiou in Uiis place, 

 bv Mr. A. Howard C'lark, who lias charge e.f Die Btatlon, 

 and uiueli valuable ini'mniation concenniig the embry- 

 onic and early life of tins natairal angler has been ob- 

 tained. One visiting the station can i-ee the eggs in 

 several stages of development, as well as tlie young fish 

 that have been hatched. In the early stage the eggs are 

 held together by a glutinous substance, whicli, floating 

 in the water, looks like a thin sheet of jelly tluckly dot- 

 ted with small wlutish beads. These sheets are from 

 tbirtv to fifty feet king in/their natural state, and lloaL 

 near 'the surface. The next period shows the embryo 

 formed in the egg, and so on until we come to the fully 

 formed fish taken from the hatching box. The micro- 

 scope shows that the little ^\ iggler has absorbed the 

 umbilical bag, and also that there is a good development 

 of mouth, which, in the full grown tish. Is the mcst 

 Btriking feature, and the extraortlinary capacity of which 

 makes it possible for these creatures to take in their 

 neighbors, the other fislies, in such a cold blooded man- 

 ner. It would be interesting to 1-mow just how these 

 '•anglers" manage to procure their food from early baby- 

 hood unlil they arrive at that age when they can bury 

 r: I , , i:. themud and patiently wait for their prey 



ti I by then' Uu-es within easy reach. But 



il,! o - i,i I with nmch more concerning the lives and 

 hatntsof ilie deep sea fishes, of which so little is now- 

 known, will undoubtedly be more fully understood in 

 the future through the jjatient researches of those en- 

 gaged in this field of scientific investigation. J. W. C. 



Increase of Salmon in McCloub Riveu.— Salmon 

 have never been ?o numerous in the McGloud River, Cal., 

 since It has been known as they have been this summer, 

 o iiHMially about the middle of July, a fact wducli may be 

 a'triliiited to the work of the United States Fish Oommis- 

 sion. li'ee<'nl;ly Mr. Stone caught seven h'-n-!i-"l sr\lmon 

 at one haul, in the open river, and in 1' ' i' ! : ' it was 

 rare, that fif tv were so talien. The v, lo . , : .-:vHr Ls 

 higher and colder than it has been mh^. ■ ;- oo . h were 

 first begun there, and it will be interesting tu see how this 

 \vill affect the spawning of the salmon. 

 • 



Eggs of Caulfoknia Trout.— ^The prospects f<;>r a fair 

 supply of eggs for the rainbow trout, ,Saliii.t/ iiidt-a, i.^ 

 verv good. Last month Mr. Stone fished lught and day 

 for breeders, in the McCloud Kiver, and before the season 

 closes may have two thousand of them, which will aver- 

 at'e three pomids each. These should yield, if no acci- 

 dent occurs, about 50tl,000 eggs. Over 60,000 young trcut 

 were turned into the river this spring from the United 

 States hatching station. 



Suw'Ess oii- iiiE A Ui it's .'A Fish WAY. — A 19 pound sal- 

 mon was erqitari;d atVYaterville, Maine, Tuesday,July 6th, 

 the first siu.;e the nshwa> was opened at Augusta. T)ie 

 Water-^Tlle JJail is hapio' over this capture, and says fur- 

 ther :—" Three were seen last Sabbath, and several stiu-- 

 geon are reported to have been seen jujuping in the bay. 

 This is evidence that the fishway at Augusta dam is a 

 success; and the prospect is good that with lishways iu all 

 the dams above, and with proper rides and regulations, 

 the fish may he restored to their old haunts," 



a woman for the discovery that the oil of the "menhaden" 

 has much commercial vahie. About the v'ar IS.jO ?lrs. 

 .John Bartlett. of lllue Hill, near Mouul ii.,-:^!;. ^.lai.ie, 

 while boiling, some tish lor her chickens, iiotiee-l a tire k 

 scum of oil \ipon the surface of the water. Siuue ot this 

 si ifi bottled, and when on a visit to Bo,lon soon after- 

 wards she carried .samples to one of the leading oil mer- 

 chants of that city, who encom-aged her to liring irone 

 The following year the Bartlett family industriously plied 

 their gill nets and sent to the market thirteen barrels of 

 oil. forw hich they were paid at the rate of ^11 a barrel. 

 in all ^Wa. 



gen ami ghwii J^/s/z/jr/?. 



» 



ZTSH IN SEASON IN AXItiVST, 



PRBSH W.iTEH. 



.<:,Mi.i.-. '.i.ifoi.ilis. |Ma=!;,e.;;i'- r... ,- ,,.,7,i;f„ 



mtar. 



.Id i.l. 



Dlack Bass, Mleropterws mlnuiities ; M. pnllidHa. 



SALT WATER. 

 '■L'H Bass, Ceidropt Mix atrnrluK. I Dluerisli. PnmnliimussaUalrh:. 



' If i\(i, A-rcluisarou-i iiri}ba-\:T.r-d:,- 1' ,:. . I'ljtAum mac- 



(.1. 



.. UlK 



pedt;n-s 



u nil..! t'ereii,.iieo 



Weuktiah, Cuntiicv 



a!o. 



their brethren. As might have been anticipated, the 

 trout fj.shing was poor, but the few obtained wetci of 

 go. I.J size, abd were, I think. Satmo clarMi. I have tried 

 lo settle the question whether, as has been asserte.l. tlie 

 .sahuui in the Columbia refuse the dy and spoon in the 

 Hinnmer months only because of the diseotored condidon 

 ot the river water. To do this I have Ushed in tlie u|iper 

 tide waters ot tlie Klaskanine and Yotmg's rivers, beyond 

 the How of the river water, but where I have often seen 

 snhii.in leaping. I have been entirely unsuccessful in at- 

 tracting their attention, though I have used spoons that 

 last September took four in an hour. I think the truth 

 is, they will only rise to the fly or spoon in water that is 

 clear and sail. In tlie fall, when the river is low and 

 the tides high, the salt water comes up as far as the city 

 front of Astoria, and that is the highest point at wliich a 

 salmon has been hooked within my knowledge. Last 

 fall I tried them of Tongue Point, four miles above the 

 city, and though they were leaping all around, they 

 they would not touch my spoon. While speaking of 

 suckers, I shoidd have said that no one knows whether 

 they come from the sea, or whether they are a liver fish, 

 living on muddy bottoms and in tide-land streams, 

 though the latter is thought to be the case, I have no 

 moans of knowing whether they are found to anjr great 

 distaitce inland, but have been told that they are as high 

 as the Clarkamus. C. A. S, 



DiscovEET 01' Menhauen Oil.— According to LTnited ~-j ^^j ^ . ... 



States FJeb Commissioner Baird, the world is indebted to were just as capable of returning to the river as any of 



SPA-WNIKG OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER CHUB 

 {Mjjlochilus toiej-a/fs- Richardson). 



^', San Pedbo, Cal., JiaylSth. 



Edilor Forest and, Stream :— 



Dear Sir : — ^The following extract from a private let- 

 ter to me, from Mr. Charles J. Smith, of Astoria, Oregon, 

 contains the first authentic account of the spawning 

 habits of the chub, or "sucker," of the Columbia River. 



Ithinkitmay interest other of your readers as it has 

 interested me. Cordially yours, Davui S. Jojjdas. 



ASTOEIA, Oregon, Jitly dth. 

 Prop. S. Jordan :— 



DlCAit vSiit : — I returned last night, reaching Astoria at 

 11 o'clock, from my trip to I-L!a;I;ai.iae. an I . , s a sLickermg 

 expedition, it was a grand huC':-- ' -:.; -,-'.y nothing 

 of rounding SmitJi P.jiiit c.n a L.:i,e_ .r._ . with a brisk 

 breeiLe and a roaring sea, iu my iitlie ..^gaiedl of a boat, 

 because that would liav,. but little interest tor vou : but 

 if the taet).: f can give you in regaril to these (ishes are 

 not already known, 1 expect to interest you thoroughly 

 hefme t sk throttgh. 



Tlie> were iouud on the south fork of the Klaskanine, 

 a (jnai't- r of a mile higher up the stream than in my last 

 ex|.e,iiuon. The first intimation I had of their proxim- 

 ity was the .-igliL of .several dead and partly eaten stick- 

 o'l-s in tlie stream — the work of some mink or otter — then 

 at some distance ahead I ,-aw them leaping from a large 

 pool, so many that there would be a dozen in tlie air all 

 iJietiuie. Tiie pool was perhaps thirty feet by twelve, 

 and five or six feet deep in the middle, with a long rilile 

 at its tipper end ; across the middle of the pool, on a line 

 with the water, I found an old grass- grown log. I first 

 walked on the log to where I could look into the middle 

 of the pool, and I saw sucli a sigln as I never saw before. 

 To say that it was solid full of fisli would be an exagger- 

 ation ; but I think there were ne.r.. than a half dozen to 

 every cubic foot of water in the pool. I now made my 

 way'lo the head of the I'illle, and baitmg my hook, al- 

 lov.'ed the ctirrent to drift it under the log. It was taken 

 instantly, and Avith a vim that showed me that there was 

 something besides suckers iu the pool. After a short 

 contest 1 landed a tktljiio cfar7iw, upwards of a foot in 

 lengtli. Looking to the opposite sirle of the riffle, where 

 the yvater was shiillow, 1 saw a mass of tuck rs com- 

 pletely covering a space of six or eight squ.aie yards, and 

 dropping the hook among them, m a few tninnt.H one 

 was caught, and in this way I captm-ed a ilozen more ; 

 but finding this too slow, I next allowed the hook to sink 

 among them, then, by giving a sharp twitch, I would 

 hook them in the body, and in this way I got as many as 

 I thought you would want. I now started up stream, 

 intending to finish the day on trout, but found that I was 

 not so near done with the suckers as 1 had thought. 

 They had entire possession of the stream for a quarter of 

 a mile. 



In one place where the stream spreads out into a broad 

 shallow basin, with gravell}- sides and bottom, they had 

 collected on one side, in a nia.-s ten yards long by one or 

 two wide, piled upon each other so that at least one 

 fom-th were out of tlie water— a solid, sqnii-ming, quiv- 

 ering mass of fishes. Stepping dowTi beside them, I 

 isegan with both hands to tiirow them upon the bank, 

 and had I wished, I could have thrown out bushels of 

 them. In the quarter of a mile I saw many such masses, 

 and fiupposed they were crowding out ot the water to 

 receive better the heat of the sun. wliich now shone 

 bright : but when I returned at 4 o'clock the sun was 

 below the tree- tops, and the au- was chill, hut even more 

 of them v>'ere in this position, I found one place where 

 several dead and partly eaten ones aliowe<l tliat even the 

 presence of an otter had failed to drive them away. It 

 niav be well to menti.ei ■' " ''^ abdomens of those 

 eau'ght vesterdav wcie i laled than thogeof 



a weeJc a.:;o. 1 think it nearly c.ampleted. 



The tpavvn (milt) of all is iom aii.l white, look- 



ing like milk, with no eggs, unless they were of invisible 

 smaUness. It is a singular fact — ^1 do not know of its 

 liemg true of any species of fish except on this coast — 

 that°(i n.i.ris -f o' i migratory flslies should die inimedi- 

 Htely ail . Of the smelt or eulachon {Os- 



miiriis ; i: iisiderable part die before leaving 



the rivet, altbuu^li ihey tioldom ascend more than a hun- 

 dred miles. I auw this morning Mri W. II. Gray, one of 

 the best known men in the State, author of '• The His- 

 tory of Oregon." etc., the gentleman upon whose farm I 

 saw these fishes, and beyond whose land it is dotihtfiil 

 if they penetrate, and he says that less than half, but n 

 gi'eat many, crowd themselves ashore and die, the re- 

 mainder going back after a week or two to the river. 

 Those that I saw stniggling upon the bank, and that I 

 think Avere on the point of performing the last act iu 

 their tragedy, though through with spawning, were not 

 by any means sick or diseased, but to all appearances 



ous eyes ; no del 



beautiful tip, lie- 



not to be fon 



FLY-FISHING FOE SHAD. 



SratNOPiELD, Mass., July 11 th. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : — 



\<At your request 1 have visited Holyoke in order to 

 glean some information about fishing for shad with a 

 fly, and herewith submit my report. I arrived there 

 about ap.ll, yesterday, and procuring a boat I navigated 

 it to the middle of the river and came to anchor a couple 

 of boat lengt.hs east cd' the old svdng-lerry pier, aud 

 about tito same distance from a boat that contained three 

 preti y lively (ishermeu, while just beyond them waa still 

 antiiher boat, that contained nothing but a solitary hat, 

 as 1 then thought, for this was all that 1 could see ; but I 

 soon found out that there was considerable lite under 

 tiwt broad brim, as I shall descrilie at the proper time. 



Glancing at my surroundings I eoni[ilaeently seated 

 mvself, and commenced preparing mv rod. eutuely sat- 

 isfied v.illi my position, foi' T oeenpied the best place on 

 the river, and had riialmer's boat, wbicli never was 

 known, no matter v.dia; luck betel the others, to come in 

 without full freight of glistening' captives ; my trusty, 

 well-tried rod was in rav hands, and — where in time is 

 that tip. In vain I sho.-.k the hollow cane that should 

 have held it : in vri;-. T ; ; s I into the cavity with anx- 

 ; d ii|i did I see. Alas! my 



' iieal-t and joy of my eyes, 

 .,..,, . _v,ii,- is.slardly hand had removed 



idelv blasted my fondest hopes, for what possi- 



Ide chance eif smicess had I in an encoimter with the 

 monsters of the deep without the aid of my beloved tip? 

 After a few moments of bitter grief, sacred to the mem- 

 ory of that departed tip, and the sacrilegious hivnd that 

 wrought my woe, I braced up my shattered nerves and 

 prepared for the coming struggle which, with a prophetic 

 .ye. I nov,- foresaw was inevitable, for well 1 knew that 

 n mv erippl.d eonditi.m and fatal weakness in my most 

 mlnerable iioiut, that the Idoo.Ulnrsty sliad yvould im- 

 prove the opportune moriLsSL r^ .- is' no .si'.,'i-;i s:s!l,ry 

 to break my line of bail 1 , . . : _ -illi 



inglorious tlefeat. But3si; i ■ ■■ : ite, 



and althou.gh I could out;, raioe in;, coI.jj., „..;i su:j„l liigh 

 I detiautly Hatiutod theni in the very face of the enemy. 

 1 had intended to "whip" the stream and endeavor to 

 punish the shad in a sportsmanlike manner, but owing 

 to my misfortune I was obliged perforce to do as the 

 noble" Romans all around me were doing, and unreeling a 

 hundred feet or so of line I let it float down the swift 

 current and cabnly awaited the signal of battle. Glanc- 

 ing around to see what was gohag on, I saw that solitary 

 hat give a flop anrl suddenly shoot six feet or more into 

 the air, as its owner spran.g'to bis feet and started at full 

 sjjeed toward the stern of his boat, where a short, slim 

 stick, to which his line was fast, was impatiently beck- 

 oning him on. Never was the truth of the old saying, 

 "tin; more haste the less speed," more forcibly exempli- 

 fied, for no so.mer was he up than down he went at full 

 longCh UDon the gunwale, witli .:)no leg iu the river and 

 the^otlier wildly gesticulating in the air. How he ever 

 recovered his balance I failed to understand, but recovet 

 he did, and once more e.=saved to reach the rapidly yi- 

 bratlng stick ; hnt the fates were not through with hiTP 

 yet, and before he was fairly under way he Im-ched to 

 the Btarbcard and brought up all sitting. I heard the 

 crash of the splintered seat above the frantic yells of 

 our three jollv fishermen iu the next botit, and rather 

 expected to see hnn disai.pe.ar tlu-ough the bottom of the 

 boat: buthesooti righieLlup. and. apparently more eager 

 for the fray, he made a grand etforl, and succeeded m 

 reaching ttie goal and grabbing the line, and with many 

 knowing nods and satisfied flops of the huge straw hat 

 he landed Ids fish amid the tumultuous applause of the 

 happy three, who at once, in honor of the event, opoueU 

 some moi-e beer : indec.l, thev liud been doing this all the 

 time, and I had come to the eonclusu.n that tney were in 

 mortal fear that tlie bottles would Imrst and swamp the>r 

 boat and give them a taste of water ; and to avert the 

 dire calamity they were getting rid of thestulT as fast as 

 possible. Scarcely were the bottles at a proper cK', ation 

 when one of the trio dropped his, and with a solemn oath 

 asseverated that he had "got htm," I saw by the sway- 

 ing of the rod that it was a heavy fish, and expected to 

 sec him break away, but 1 soon found out i hat no novice 

 held the rod, and' after a well-fought wtis 



safely brought to net. With pride ii da 



joyful ligiit in his eyes— for this was hi -be 



victor, with the deafening cheers ot ,,.t, ,_,.u.i.a,iions 

 ringing in his eais. uiseutaiigled Ins captive irom the 

 hook, and as I vohuiteeiid the remark that that was a 

 noble fish he carefully placed bis himds under him, and 

 tenderly, proudly raised him up for my inspection, This 

 was a fatal mistake, for no sooner did this crafty Alosa 

 again behold his native element than he doubled iumself 

 up and with a mighty effort tore himself from the fond 

 embrace, and with a derisive wave of his caudal append- 



