OOTOBKB 4, 1880.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



267 



hook and lioavy tackle, generally, for it is a powerful fiab, 

 often weighing fifty pounds and very gamy. They are talcen 

 from a boat, iind when a stout ha.ss rod with large reel, capa- 

 ble of holding fifty to seventy-five yardsof heavy line, is used 

 they afford good sport and only succumb when completely 

 vanquished. 



FISHING m FOX RIVER. 

 "niOX RIVER sources iu Lake Geneva, a beautiful sheet of 



if Wise 



nutll i 



Ir, w 

 iCTiifvinsj: "crvst;!! 



■:---I-M- Itsomift 



-: ' .f niinoip, 

 • : '. •^Plaiiifs 



IN,.:., t:^v,t. It is 

 I very uniform in 

 !, where very few, 



^ 



JL water in the soul . . _ 

 named by the Indians " Kish-\ 

 water," on account of its niicoii 

 is Fo.\; Itiver, wliir], (lows due t 

 then a little westward uniil it •j:n:vti 

 at Ottawa, where Mjey lotrrllier for: 

 about twelve ruds from shiire to si: 

 ■width, like most rivers in prairie r 



if any, hills and mck-ledgea are eueounlered Buftieienl'ly fori 

 midable to interrupt their even llow. F.x Kiver b.ns a swift 

 current and furnishes a splendid waiei -power, which is 

 utilized by the many and vaiioua nianulmMoiiuK m Elgin, St. 

 Charles, Geneva, Batavia, Aurora and otlnr iluivine; eiiies 

 and villages situated upon its banks. It also lias aiijaelious 

 for sportsmen, armed with rod and gun. It is quite a ren- 

 dezvous for wild ducks; many have been shot this month 

 along this river. A neighbor of wine went out a few moni- 

 ins since for a little hunt before breakfast. He brought 

 home seven ducks, which he espied from behind a thicketed 

 shore disporting logelhor in the river. Wilh one burrel he 

 killed three ouiiiuiit and winded two. whieli liis dog .soon 

 retrieved: and befnnMCtiu-ning home he added the re?nain- 

 ing two to tlieir unfurtnuale 'nuUe.s. This was certainly a 

 specimen of l^joiI ni-.u-lvmanship, and sport enough before 

 breakfast ti) frive ii nitin ii irood relish for his coffee and to 

 make him goud-iiatured all day. 



Also, I he li-shiiig is first-rate. Black bass predonnnate, 

 though miniy wall-eyed pike are caught, tlie meat of widcli 

 is, by many, considered sup)erior and preferi'cd to liass : it is 

 very while", juir\- and .sweet. A party of four of u.s iveiit up 

 in August to youtli Elgin and cmglit". in one afternoon, fifty 

 poimris of black tiass and pike, the lieu\'ier ones weiglung 

 four pounds eucli. I hiive been up twice since with a frieucr, 

 and retm-ned home with a handsome string each tune. I 

 find quite a number living on the banks of this river who 

 have acquired the ''-(vrlst knack" and who cast a fly very 

 gracefully and skilfully, and twist a .spoon just riirlil'to en- 

 tice and capture the wary denizens uf the deep. A strunsrer. 

 visiting any of the villages waslied Ijy the waters of 

 River, would soon learn tiiat llic fishing was good, fro 

 display m store windows i that iie could not help but observe) 

 or reels, lines, books ami rods- from the split, bamboo and 

 grecnheart down to the coniirioner sort that bo^-s begin their 

 practice of the fine ai-t with. 



The stream is protected against fishing by harbarous 

 methods. A member of the "Batavia Fish Association" 

 relates how a niau living in the vicinity would persist in 

 fishing with a net, in spite of the law. One day he discov- 

 ered, to his dismay, that a fatal dose of acid had been admin- 

 istered to his belligerent net, and, with uplifted hands, he 

 poured forth his lamentalion : ''Sonie tarn ra.scal. he <:o and 

 put on poison on my net all over, and lie falls all to'pieees 

 like nothing," Who that particular nmnal wjls he has never 

 been able to ascertain. The trick proved effectual ; it not 

 only put an end to his net, but a stop to his fishing after that 

 fashion. It has occurred to me that a summary enforcement 

 of the game laws, by a free use of acid, anonymously ap- 

 plied, nd.ght be the easiest, cheapest, surest. and liest way to 

 secure protection against the mauj' imnaturalized pirates and 

 butchers that infest om' lakes and rivers. Hix. 



Fox 

 ai the 



A PLEA FOR THE ' ■ SUNFI8H "—lEupotmth.} 



Clbtblakd, O., Oct. 21. 

 Srfi'tor Forest nnd Strenm : 



You speak of the " sunfish " or ''pondfish " as a worthless 

 animal. How can yon say this of a fish that gave so much 

 sport In me iu my boy days, and is ever tlie pride of the 

 youthful tisliw? Jic i.s harmless, never eating the spawn or 

 young of any other water animal, and as a pan-fish he is not 

 excelled ; a beauty in his spring colors, and fecimd beyond 

 all measure. In June he fans out his round nest, a foot in 

 diameter, iu the fine sand, deposits his eggs and milt and 

 guards thorn closely until the young are "^ible to care for 

 themselves. Please remember that litlle boys and girls like 

 to go ii-fishing. I am in favor of the auufish aiul bullhead 

 (see Dr. Gariick's book, page 106). In the summer months 

 the sunfish will take the fly as readilyand with as much vit^or 

 !is the trout. Fishing wilh the seine is much practiced du- 

 ring the winter inider the ice in the estuaries and marshes on 

 tJie south shore of Lake Erie, when the fishes of the locality 

 bed in the sunken water-weeds in nuiidjers almost incredible. 

 I have seen taken at one haul of the net sevenlv-tive barrels, 

 consisting mostly of sunfish, straw bass, biar-raouthed bass 

 and a few pickerel. The flat fish are sent, to market, skinned 

 and dressed, and bring readily ten to twelve ,-.enis per pound. 

 Excessive fishing has finally e.xhausi i.i i liii- unr,:!. Would 

 you beUeve me when I relate that lh:_: - . .rds piled 



up frozen in one mass ? But it is s.., ,.i,i [,,, ,i,,ire lot was 

 taken in the space of three acres of water. AH wonder tlicv 

 are all gone, and hardly a ' ' kiver " or straw bass of a decent 

 size remains to tell the tale. !{;. Stei;li-;o 



about five miles from Lake George, which lake is simply a 

 widening of the river 81. John. After a deh'ghtful sail of two 

 hoiu-s we cast anchor at the month of the "creek and went 

 over the bar iu a small boat. AV'hen once' in the creek you 

 are in water as piu-e and clear as crystal. Up the creek to 

 the grand pool at the spring the sportsm;in is in his paraiUse. 

 _ The Captaui .-jointed his eight oimce fly rod, while 1 did 

 likewi.se, and bitsiucss commenced. HardlV a moment passed 

 when I heard from ibe other end of the boat, ■' .Vin't he a 

 whopper?" audi cast my eye over my shoulder to see the 

 Captain wrestling with a monstrous l]ass. At that moment I 

 was fast to his mate, and the fight went on ; first out of the 

 water foiu- feet, then the whirr of the reel and he woifld rim 

 fifty fec-t before another leap. At last they were brought to 

 net, and a pair of Oswego bass lav at our feet that wovdd 

 crowd six pounds each. The sport cmtinued till the skipper 

 who accompanied us stood up to Ids laiees in lish, and sug- 

 gested that it was about time for liuich. ;i suir-estion always 

 in order. We dined from a well tilled limch basket at the 

 side of the great boiling .sjumg, .among lro]3ical scenery and 

 vegetation. The lunch over we again hjok om- pl.-iccs i'u the 

 boat, when the Captain fastened to anoilaa- ■■ wliopper." and 

 seemed to have the game all in bis ov,-ii hruids, as i had seen 

 him land three large bass and I hud not bad a rise. But 1 

 had niy revenge. Soon up came to my fly— which, by-the- 

 . is an Ii. W., nanied after our reuow^led and accomplished 

 sportsman, Keutien "Wood— a fish or huge dimensions, I strike. 

 audm a moment fully fifty feet of my line is nm out. To 

 the surface he came, but not lo jump, and what did I see. 

 Ordy a glance. It looke.l very much like an enormous cat- 

 fish, but 1 could not believe a catfish could ever be induced to 

 come u]i twenty feet f. :.r a fly ; but the R. W. has been known 

 to do unlu'ard-of things. The Captain said, "You have got 

 the boss bass this time." I replied, "Catfish." He said, 

 "Nonsense; .such a thing was never heard oL" I still in- 

 sisted on "cat." The skipp('r said, •'huge bass," and I 

 "art" The Captaui wagered a bottle of th(! Iicst wine " it 

 was not a cat." I accepted on the understandiiiL'^ that the 

 fish must be brought to net to decide the wai,'er ■" and, Mr, 

 Editor, I had a twenty minutes' fight wilh that cal, and any 

 on(.' who says that a catfish on~au eight-ounce rod is ne^t 

 ■-some pumiikins '" is satUy mistaken. The pliant Skidmore 

 won the day, and jMr. Catfish, of about ten pounds, was safely 

 landed. The Captain looked and said, " You always were 

 hooking all kinds of monstrosities, and now j'ou have irone 

 and booked a catfish. I give up the bet." 



Two heiurs more at Ihe'liass, and our boat looked like a fish 

 market, and the Captain remarked ''as we were not fishing 

 for market, we had better qiut," which We accordingly did, 

 and at 10 e. m. were again at our hotel, having enjoyed a 

 .splendid day's sport, Hke many I have enjoyed in the".same 

 pi lol in years gone by. 



This creek can never be depleted, as the immense river St. 

 .John sends up its millions of bnss into this pure, clear spring, 

 which, not liking the warmth of the ri\ or, remain there The 

 sprmg is enormous, making a creek two hmidred feet wide 

 and ten deep. 



On this subject our Cleveland, O., correspondent, Dr. E. 

 Sterling, writes : 



You spetik of the catfish lakmg the fly. I had one fake 

 a red .spoon that was danglmg two feet aliovc the water ; and 

 " cat " has an adipose dorsal fin. Taking these facts alto- 

 gether do you not think it might have contained some sal- 

 mon blood ? 



"We can't say ; we only know that, dazed with wonder as 

 we are, we would not be surprised if it could be .sho-nm 

 that the gentle catfish, who usually gropes the Itotlom and 

 roars, when he does roar, as gently as a sucking do^e, was 

 even now a-evolutin' into a fierce fly-devourin'. lofty tumblin' 

 sfdmon, a-goin' about a-seeking what inoffensive" insect he 

 may devour. 



Smelt Fishisg.— This is the way this damty little fish is 

 taken near Boston, as told by the Sunday Budget: 



Almost any of these frosty mornings groups of fishermen 

 may be seen along the city wharves. « iiJi rod and line and 

 the strawberry box for bait. endeavorin>'- to catch thesesldnv 

 little tlenizcns of the harbor. The season is now at its height 

 will eonlinue until the first fall erf snow, when the smelts 

 disaii]iear tor a jieriod. About the first of January they are 

 again abundant and may be canghl fhrouirh the ice" until the 

 first of March. The best time to catch them now is diu-iuff 

 the flocid tide, on days when the sky is overcast and the air 

 cool. They may be caught at alniejst anv of the wh,Nrye« al- 

 though there are a few places whei-'' 1 1 1- 'i- 

 considerable numbers, especially v,]. 

 makes a small whirlpool or eddy ;:r; m:, 

 wharf. The mifreqnemed wharves of East l!osi..r)ind Clicl 

 sea. the St.. ne walls at the iiininl, of the JIvstie Rivca- and 

 the Boston i^- Albany railroad bridt-e, between East Hoston 

 and Chelsea, are favftrite resorts for fishermen. lar"-e\uiinbers 

 of smelts having been caught at the laiter place '~Thereis a 

 law in this State against seinino; tlie fish, mid conseouentlv 

 they bring a good price, twenty cents a pound beins asked at 

 the markets, and there is alwavs a deinand for rhenr \lii'ht 

 pole, delicate taclde nnd fresh shrimps are needed and if The 

 sportsman is skiUful— for there 'is quite a sc" 

 them— a good haifl may be obtained. 



V 



Catfish Take the Flt.— A correspondent writes us as fol- 

 lows : ■' In your last issue I notice that a catfish was taken 

 with a fly in the Pardonales River, Texas, and that you speak 

 of the event as the first recorded instance of this kind. I send 

 you here^ndth an extract from a letter to the Syracuse, N. 

 Y„ Journal, of April 5, 1880, written last winter by the 

 •wdl-knowu sportsman Mr. James Geddes, of that city, who 

 took a ten-pound catfish on an eight ounce SWdmore rod." 

 The fact that these fishes take a fly at all is new to us, and we 

 are glad to place the valuable testimony of so excellent a fly 

 fisher as Mr. Geddes upon record. Here is the extract : 



At Palatka we foimd that the iiotel on Drayton Island, near 

 Ihc fishing ground we were bound for, hiitrbeen burned, so 

 wewenl iiy steitiner to Mt. Royal, where we found Jlessrs. 

 Kiri'/v and W n-lit, of Auburn, N. Y.. li-vinc among theh- 

 orange gr. .ves. We chHrlered a large sail boat r7f Mr. Vamum 

 to take us over the twelve miles betwe«i Mt. Royal aud the 

 fiuued Bait Creek. TWs creek is made from a huge spring 



fifty breeding trout, weighing in the asrgresate over two Jnui- 

 dred pounds. Every fish was taken from off the spawning 

 beds, aud no man can say how many young trout wldch 

 wotdd have aided in the restucking of that great fishing resort 

 ■were destroyed by these capitures. 



If, as is claimed, there is no law against the use of spawn 

 as bait, it certainly seems as if the law to that extent should 

 be changeil. FnrlVier, it is pertinent to inqiuro wliat right 

 the (Jonimi.ssiouers have to grant such permits, the exercise 

 of which produces such fatal results. If there is no legal way 

 of prevention, it only remains to appeal to an enlightened 

 public sentiment, of which your journal i.s the' best exponent, 

 and to ventilate this subject thoroughly, to the enii that so- 

 called gentlemen fishermen, who hide themselves behind a 

 cliiim of legal right, may be shamed into a compliance with 

 the requirements of fair dealing, and so made to abstain from 

 spawm fishing, than which no' more destructive method of 

 killing breeding trout has ever been devised. 



The iiiliiieiice of your paper is invoked in favor of 



Fair Plav. 



The Northern Barbaovta.— This small fish is more 

 plentiful on om- coast than is suspected. Its small size and 

 agility almost always enable it to elude the net. They are 

 plenty in Pcconic Bay this season, aud last week 3Ir. .John 

 Tallmadge. a fisherman of Sag Hiubor, N. Y.. saw a big 

 school go through his net as he was raising it, but only one 

 ha|ipeiied to be^caught. He showed it to us, and we identi- 

 fied it as Sphj/i-Kiia h(ir(alh, DeKay. The fish is usually 

 eight to ten inches long, and about three-quarters of an inch 

 in diameter. Its teeth are formidable for so sinaU a fish, re- 

 sembling a jiike's .somewhat; the lower jaw is the longest; 

 two dorsal lins, with a -wide space between them; head about 

 one-third of the length. The fishermen generally do not 

 know this fish for the reasons given. 



Old CAJfKED Salmon. — A Maine paper is responsible for 

 sajing : " At the ofliee of the Portland (,3Ie i. Paekinc: (."oni- 

 pany is a can that was paclicel with salmon in 1814" The 

 vessel in which the can was shipped was wrecked, and a 

 t time ago this can was taken from the wreck. It - 



opened the other day, and the contents 

 condition." 



;'re f'liind in jjerfect 



The Maokbrei, Oatch— -ZVOT^wrt, B. .A— The fishing has 

 now settled do-wn to mackerel, very few boats going after 

 fish. The mackerel that are caught now are mosth'^No. 2, 

 and very fat, -(vith quite a lot of Ko. 1 among them. The 

 boats go with two men, and average from .50 to"300 flsh to a 

 boat. They are caught anj^vhere i^rom Gould Island out to 

 the light-ship. " Occasional. 



l\ 



S§h gttituu. 



AFTER BIG TROUT EGGS FOR IOWA. 



BEENG here in company with my father, Mr. B. F. Sliaw, 

 for the purpose of securing salmon trout eggs for our 

 State (Iowa), a few Knes from this section of the country 

 niay be of interest to you. 



Grand Marais (pronomiced Mo-Ray) is situated 105 miles 

 from Duluth, on the north shore of Lake Superior, in Cook 

 County. This county is about 70 miles long b^- some 30 to 50 

 wide, with a white population of I.t mcii and nut; woman. 

 The balance of the population are mostly Indians, of the 

 Otchipwe(Chip-pc-w«) tribe, together witha lew half-breeds, 

 mostly Inehan aud French, in all about 200. "We arrived here 

 a week ago yesterday. On Friday last we had secured about 

 300,000 eggs, but on Friday night a storm destroyed about 

 half of them. 



The storm is said by those who have lived here for the 

 past 12 years to have been the worst evcti- iinown. ]\Iany of 

 the fishermen lost their nets, boats, fish, fish-houses, and in 

 many instances fheir dwelUngs. The storm has left us such 

 continued bad weather that the fishermen have been unable to 

 lift their nets, and until it changes for the better shall be un- 

 able to secure tiny more of the i, 000, 000 eggs that we want. 



The country ie covered ■with snow ;" on the trail up and 

 down the lake shore it is reported to be 14 inches on the level. 

 The temperature here for the past three days has been below 

 freezing, and the inland ponds are frozen over. A good many 

 cariboo arc killed here diiriiis the winter season. 



Grand Marnli, Minn., Oct. V^.■ Ed. R Shaw 



1 securing 



S^■.\^^^- Fishing in the Raxgeley Laxes— .So,<i<f,>- M/m 

 Oct. 'i'd.— Editor ForeM. and Stream -. In your issue of the 

 S8th instant is a paragraph relating to the takinsr of lart^e 

 trout in the Rangeley Lakes, in which it is sfaiedthat many 

 large fish were taken this fall bv the use of spawn as Ijait" 

 Although the p,aragraph referred to does not state it, it is a 

 fact that the eleven pound brook trout it speaks of as hav- 

 ing been t-aken at the Upper Dam was captured by the use 

 of spawn, after every other method had been exhausted 

 This noble fish, which attracted much attention when cm ex- 

 hibition m Bradford & Anthony's window in this city aiid 

 yvhich was afterward purchased by the Smithsonhan Institu- 

 tion, was one of several large trout which had for some days 

 been seen coi the spa-wning beds, and which many expert 

 flshenren endeavored to capture by means of various and 

 seductive flies and worm bait without success. Finally 

 taking advanta;:e of the fact that few trout can roast spa-wn' 

 some persons who eared little for the future of the fishinff' 

 and were only anxious for the evanescent glory of inakiny- a 

 big score, resorted to the u.se of spawn, an"d the bie fish in 

 question was one of the victims. 



And other parties who had permits lo fish out of season 

 gi-anted theiu by the Pish Commissionera, adopted the same 

 practice with such success that in five days they took over 



o Growth oe Caei-.— 0/?Jce oft/icFiah Commfmon, Austin, 

 Trx<7«, CM. 4. 18m.— Prof €s,wr Spencfr F. Bnird, Wnxhing- 



t'liL. I>. (\ — Ilenr Sir: I .saw a day or two ago one of the 

 carp Sell! me last winter ithese fish were the j-bimg of 1S7!I 

 aud alHiui tliree or four inches lone when received')': it meas- 

 ured twenty inches. T am inclined lo Hunk tlie'v spawned 

 tliis last summer, for the reason that the pond is now filled 

 with rmall fry, nnkno-ivn before in the jiond," Should it 

 prove to be correct I will inform you, Respectfidly, 



J. H. DiNKiNb, Fish CoBiraissioner. 



^ Growth of Carp.— Mr. Geo. W. Hopkins, of Mount 

 Sinai. Long Island, I^. Y., received some carp last spring 

 from the national carp ponds at Washington, thron^di 3Ir. K 

 G. Blackford, Commissioner of Fisheries for Kew York, 

 which were then about three inches in length, but by the first 

 of October would measure from t-welvc to fourteen inches. 



The III moisFiSH Commission. — Another addition toour list 

 of Fish Commissioners comes from Illinois. "We stated that 

 the term of 3Ir, Briggs had expired and that no appointment 

 had been made in his place. We -wrote him on the subject, 

 but it appears that he was absent. The folio-wing has just 

 been received : 



Kankakee, l\\.. Oct. 35. 

 - Editor Forest and Strmm : I find your letter of the .5th 

 inst. awaiting my return home. My 'appointment as Com- 

 missioner of Fisheries was for the period of one year, datine 

 from the 2d day of .July, 1879, -with the right to hold over 

 until my successor shall be ap^jointed. I^have not been 

 notified of the appointment of a successor. 



J. S.MiTH Briggs, 



Carp eor DiSTRiBtiTtos is TSsvi York.— Mr. E. G. Black- 

 ford, of the New York Fish Coniinisaion, has received from 

 Prof, Baird a lot of l.OOO young carp for distribution. The 

 flsh are about three inches loo* and can he had by applying 



