370 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



| June 10, 1880. 



If it were not for the fact that the date of Mr. Redfteld's 

 birth is down in black and white in the family Bible, we 

 should be inclined to think there was a mistake of some 

 fifty years in his age. 



First MusCAIiONGE op Tmc Season,— New York, June 

 4C7i. — Just received a splendid fish (musealonge) from 

 Clayton, N". Y.; the first of the. season; weight, twenty 

 pounds. Caught by Mr. G, M Skinner on one of his own 

 spoon bait. Sorry we can't invite youall to dinner: have 

 distributed it to many friends in small portions. 



Abbey & Imerie. 



■■ ■ ■» 



"Wisconsin— Oshkosh, May 2Mh— Black bass flsliing is 

 reported better than for years past, and indications are 

 that some of the finny tribe will be taken into camp, 



C. C. M. 



A New Salmon River Purchased.— A club of New 

 York gentlemen, among whom are Messrs. Vanderbilt, 

 Tiffany, of the well-known jewelers' firm ; Mr. Win- 

 chester, treasurer of the National Express Company ; 

 Messrs. Fearing, Cooper, Lawrence and a score or more of 

 metropolitan Waltonians. have just completed the. pur- 

 chase of a large tract of land and fishing privileges at the 

 junction of the Meta podia and Eestigouche rivers, near 

 Capipbellton, N. B. This tract was the property of Mr. 

 Frazer. whose hotel has been known for years to the ang- 

 ling tourist readers of the FOREST AND STREAM. The price 

 paid was $33,000. The salmon fishing here has long been 

 famous. Some of the members of the new club are now 

 on the ground, and tokens of then- success with the rod 

 and line have already been received in this city. 



Canada Salmon— Eight-inch Trout.— New York, May 

 nth.— hi reply to Mr. Fay's communication in your pa- 

 per of the 32d ult. I would say that he was very fortunate 

 in hitting the salmon fishing on the Eestigouche and 

 Melapedia so exactly as to be there at the arrival of the 

 first run of salmon" and— in a week — to get such good 

 sport. Such good luck would probably seldom occur. 

 Ordinarily people require a |month's absence from the 

 States to be sure of a good score of salmon. That fish 

 arrives in the fresh water streams in Canada at very irreg- 

 ular periods, and seldom so early as the 5th of June. I 

 have waited two weeks in some years before salmon com- 

 menced to run freely, so that ordinarily salmon trips are, 

 as I said, very expensive, and anglers may either make 

 up their minds to face three or four weeks' expenses in- 

 stead of one week, or else go home without salmon. So 

 that With rod, flies, lines and other expenses, a person had 

 better multiply Mr. Kay's figures by four to get a total 

 cost, for to my notion it don't pay to go so far and return 

 thence with poor or no luck, merely because one cannot 

 stay at stream only a week — as Mr. Fay did. 



But the principal reason for writing you is to say that 

 I am informed that the open or public fishing on the 

 Metapedia lias been taken up by a club, and so a friend 

 who has been accustomed to going there says he is shut 

 out. It does seem as though none but governor-generals 

 and the nobility of England could longer afford to go 

 a-fishing for salmon. 



While passing laws to prohibit the taking of lobsters 

 under a certain size, why not make a vigorous effort to 



runish the taking of trout less than eight inches long? 

 have seen such slaughter of troutlings, fingeiiings, such 

 infanticide, that I fear nothing but the brand of the law, 

 added to the scorn of true sportsmen, will stop this mur- 

 derous work and preserve any trout for decent and mer- 

 ciful anglers. Do urge this subject. Can't we get such 

 a law? Manhattan. 



A law prohibiting the capture of trout less than 

 eight inches in length might be acceptable to expert 

 anglers, but it would be both undesirable and impracti- 

 cable. 



-mi * i m 



NEW HAMPSHIRE NOTES. 



T*HE salmon have again made their appearance in the 



1 Merrimac River at this place, two having been seen 

 below Amosfcag Falls on Friday, May 28th, and one of 

 10} lbs. weight was taken from the river at the same 

 place on Monday, which had been killed by the logs ; the 

 last of tlie annual " drive " of lumber being on its way 

 over the falls thai day. 



The river has been unusually low this spring, and 

 the logs have been very much delayed, but the rains of 



lay or two have raised it so" as to float them out 



of the Way, and give water enough for the salmon to 

 come up. and a number were reported yesterday as being 

 in and about the fishway. 



Salmon have also been seen, during the last few days, 

 in the Nashua River, in which they were planted by the 

 Massachusetts Commissioners in 1876, and in which we 

 caused two fishways to be built at Nashua in 1878. 



Lamprey eels and alewives have also made their ap- 

 pearance in large numbers at Lawrence and Lowell, and 

 their advance guard has found its wav up to Nashua and 

 Manchester. This shows that with proper fishways 

 there is no difficulty in restoring these migratory fish to 

 one river. 



The writer took a trip to the Upper Coos country last 

 week, with a lot of ■• Schoodic salmon," otherwise called 

 land-locked, which latter term is such a. misnomer that it 

 ought to be abolished, for whatever may have been the 

 original condition of these fish, or the circumstances in 

 wluch their ancestors were developed, they are in no 

 sense •• land-locked" now in Grand Lake stream, and can 

 go to salt water any warm morning they may fancy the 

 excursion. 



These salmon are placed in Great Diamond Pond, in 

 Stewartstown. and although the extreme heat of the 

 25th and 36th ult., when the trip was made, together 

 with the thumping over the roads, after we left the rail 

 at North Stratford, lulled a part of them, enough were 

 left to start the breed in Diamond Pond, from which we 

 hope they will find their way to Diamond Stream and 

 the Marauoway. 



The lumbermen who have been at work at the Con- 

 necticut lakes this spring report having seen several 

 iijols of those planted in Second Lake last sum- 

 mer, being now from sis to nine inches long. The writer 

 and his son. who assisted him on this trip, had several 

 hours' good fishing on "Great Diamond," and brought 

 hack more pounds of fish than they took up, getting 



about sixty, ranging from nine to twelve inches in length, 

 averaging over £ lb. in weight. This is said to be the 

 normal size of the fish in "Great Diamond," while those 

 of " Little Diamond." which is the upper lake, are said 

 to run up to two pounds. The fish in " Little Diamond" 

 had not; begun biting yet, so that we did not see any of 

 them ; but I am strongly of the impression that" the 

 Great Diamond trout me neither more nor less than 

 the " lil ue-backed trout," or " Salmo oquassa, , ' ot the 

 Rangeley Lakes, answering perfectly to their description 

 so far as I could see. 



They look more like a mackerel than a brook trout, 

 when "taken. The flesh is very deep red and very high- 

 flavored, and altogether they are a superb fish, The 

 trout of " Little Diamond" do not bite till two or three 

 weeks later than those of the lower lake. 



Should any of your readers feel like a trip to the 

 upper Connecticut, this month, they will find excellent 

 accommodations IB the Parsons House, Colebrook, and 

 an obliging landlord in the proprietor, Mr. E. F. Bailey, 

 and good fishing in every direction. 



Besides the lakes above spoken of, there are the Mo- 

 hawk River, rising in Dixville Notch, and flowing west 

 to Colebrook ; Clear Stream, also rising in the Notch, 

 and flowing east to Errol Dam ; Sim'3 Stream, three 

 miles below Colebrook, and brooks in every direction. 



The Willard House, at North Stratford, kept by Messrs. 

 Gould & Moses, is another good place for headquar- 

 ters. I must not forget to mention that we met your 

 correspondent, the well-known guide, Mr. Edward Nor- 

 ton, and enjoyed an hour's chat with him over his 

 moose hunting reminiscences of last fail. 



For good fishing, good roads, beautiful scenery, abun- 

 dant springs of natural ice water, and obliging landlords, 

 commend me to the Upper Coos country. 



Samuel Webber. 



Manchester, N. H., June 2d. 



THE BLACK BASS OF TEXAS. 



Editor Forest and Stream : — 



Since the perusal of the last few numbers of the Forest 

 and STREAM, I am more than ever convinced of the neces- 

 sity for a better system of nomenclature for our game 

 fishes. If anglers cannot remember the scientific names, 

 which is the only safe plan, they should agree upon dis- 

 tinctive common names for the different species, which 

 should bo applied in all of the States indiscriminately, 



As a case in point, the black bass has had more than 

 forty scientific specific names applied by different natur- 

 alists at various times, and it is known in the several 

 States by nearly as many vernacular names: it is, there- 

 fore, not surprising that anglers find it difficult to make 

 themselves understood when alluding to this genus, even 

 by residents of their own State, as the following may 

 witness: — 



Inyoui-issue of May tith is a communication from Willis 

 Texas, signed "C. h. J.." in which he asks for informa- 

 tion in regard to fly -fishing for black bass, and incident- 

 ally alludes to this fish in a way that proves that he 

 knows what he is talking about. In theissue of Mav 27th. 

 however. " C. S. W.," in a communication from Waxa- 

 hachie, Texas, takes issue with " C. L. J.," and denies 

 that there is such a fish as the black bass i 

 State of Texas, and uses the following langua 



1 • I have fished all the principal rivers and best fishing 

 grounds in the State and killed every variety of fish known 

 to exist in Texas fresh waters, but have "never yet met 

 with the black bass. What is known as the black bass 

 here is rock bass proper, called in the Northern States 

 variously rock bass, striped bass, rivor bass, et 

 ing to the locality, and universally known as tr 

 natives of the Southern States. " If ' C. L, J,' 

 fully peruse Frank Forester's ' Fin and Featb 

 find there such information in regard to black basi 

 rock bass as will forever settle in his own mind 

 of the two varieties abound in Texas waters.'' 



Now "C. S. W. "is, no doubt, perfectly serious and 

 honest in this declaration and tullv believes every word 

 of it, as viewed from his standpoint : and realty the only 

 difference between the two gentlemen consists in their 

 applying different names to the same fish. " C. L.J." 

 properly and correctly calls it the black bass, while ■• G. 

 S. YV.,""like most Southerners, calks it the trout, which, 

 in this case, are both one and the same fish. 



But there are two species of black bass — the small- 



i the whole 



:d- 



ut among 

 will oare- 

 ' he will 

 vnd 

 icb 



bed black bas 

 vs to a larger size. Indee 

 of this fish is of Texas or 

 . which he first found ii 

 nsis. and even at the 

 lillar 



ithed bass — and here 

 W.'s" confusion begins. The 

 (there is no evidence that the 

 its in Texas) inhabits all of the 

 and it is just the same as the 

 if the North and West, except 

 rl, one of the scien- 

 gin. Girard called 

 the Nueces River. 

 present day it is so 

 ' listing- 



Par 



ided 



this 



' by 



i the 



mouthed bass 

 probably whe 

 large-mouthec 

 small-mo ' 

 fresh wffl 

 large-mo 

 that it gi 



this speci 



Dioplites 



called in France, Prof. Leon V; 



uishiiig this variety as Miv-roptems nueeensis in 



now in press, entitled " Mission Scientifique auM' 



•■ C. S. W.;" instead of throwing any light 

 subject, makes " confusion worse confou 

 stating that what is known as the black bass in ' 

 really the rock bass, and which he says is knowi 

 North by the various names of rock bass, rivf 

 striped bass, etc. (names that apply to fishes of wholly 

 different genera).; Now, if he had read "C. L. J.'s" article 

 more attentively he would have known that " C. L. J, " 

 meant black bass (trout) and nothing else, for he speaks 

 of it as weighing from four to six pounds. The largest 

 rock bass I ever saw weighed but two pounds, and it 

 seldom weighs more than a pound. 



The rock bass (Ambloplites rupestriti) is a fish entirely 

 dilferent from the black bass, being very deep for its 

 length and much compressed, so that a specimen as long 

 as the hand would be about as wide and no thicker than 

 the hand ; it is also known as " red eye" and ?oggl 

 eye." The large-mouthed black bsBs^ieropteruspai - 

 diis), as is well known, has more proportional length and 

 width, with an enormous mouth, and an adult fish 

 have no difficulty in swallowing an ordinary rock bass. 



The striped bass (Roeciis lineal us) is a salt water fish of 

 the Atlantic coast, growing often to a weight of seventy- 

 five pounds, and frequently taken with rod and line, 

 weigh ing thirty pounds or more. 



There is a fresh water species of this genus, however, 

 in the Great Lakes and a portion of the Mississippi Val- 



onld 



ley, called the striped lake bass, or white bass (Roecus 

 ehrysops), but its weight seldom exceeds two or three 

 pounds. In the Lower Mississippi and some of its tribu- 

 taries there is a fish belonging to the same family, but of 

 a different genus — the short striped bass, or brassy bass 

 (Morone iuterriipta), and which grows to about the same 

 size as the last named species. 



The only fish known in the North as "river bass" is 

 the small-mouth d black bass, and is so called in Western 

 New York, in contradistinction to the large-mouthed bass, 

 which is there called " lake bass." 



C.S.W." seems to have got these several ash consider- 

 ably mixed, £ind I do not wonder at it if he takes • ' Frank 

 Forester" as his guide, for it is notorious that ' : Frank For- 

 ester" never caught a black bass in his life, and I doubt 

 if he ever saw a live one, if I may judge from his d sorp- 

 tion of the species in his standard work. " Fish and Fish- 

 ing." The illustration of the black bass m said work is 

 a, miserable burlesque on this fine game fish, though it 

 professes to have been drawn from nature by the author. 

 The illustiation of the rock bass in the same work is not 

 a rock bass at all, but is a very poor cut of an entirely 

 different fish — the " crappie," or calico bass 

 nigromacidat us). Aside from the salmon and the 

 speckled brook trout, "Frank Forester's" ichthyologioal 

 writingB are totally unreliable. His descriptions of most 

 of the species were compiled from authors who were in 

 many instances inaccurate. 



"C. S. W." evidently recognizes but one species of 

 black bass, the small-mouthed (which does not exist in 

 Texas), and ignores the fact that the fresh water 

 "trout" of the Southern States is the large-mouthed 

 black bass. But so it is, and the two species co-exist in 

 many Southern streams, where they are sometimes 

 called "white trout" and " black trout," but oftener are 

 known collectively as "trout." 



I will merely say to "C. L. J.," who seems to have the 

 right stuff in him for an angler, that he has gone to work 

 Lathe right way, and that he will have no difficulty in 

 getting the black bass of Texas to rise to his flies (even if 

 they are of his own tying) if he fishes from sundown 

 until dark, when there is'a good rippling breeze, in favor- 

 able portions of the stream, and provided he keeps well 

 hid or out of sight of the fish. This is the great secret in 

 fly-fishing for black bass. J. A. Henshall. 



Cynthiana, Ky., June 3d. 



^ Willis, Texas. June 1st. 



Editor Forest and Stream:— 



vy In your issue of May 27th one "C. S. W.." of Waxa- 

 nachie, Texas, takes me to task for applying the term 

 " black bass " to a certain variety of fish in our waters 

 commonly called " trout," and although he advises me 

 that the term is misapplied, yet he does not tell me what 

 I should call it, 



I have fished ever since I was big enough to pull an 

 angle worm in twain, or since I could take a brass pin 

 between my teeth and crook it into a semblance of a 

 hook, and with a "sour wood" sprout snatch out the 

 lusty goggle-eye and polly wog, and I have ever been a 

 close observer of every variety of fish and game met 

 with, and I would be utterly afraid to place before a 

 criticising world an effusion upon something I know 

 nothing about. " C. S. W." directs my attention to 

 Forester's " Fur, Kin and Feather." I have never read 

 the work, although I have many other books by that 

 versatile author, and there is not a Sportsman in America 

 who cherishes in his heart a higher regard for Frank 

 Forester than I do ; but this is an age of pro -c 

 although Forester is excellent authority on many things, 

 yet 1 believe we have, more modern writers whom I would 

 regard as authority far above him. 



I will take the privilege of calling the attention of " C. 

 S. W," to " Hallock's Gazetteer." Read what he says 

 about black bass ; get Gill's opinion, also Dr. Eates', D. S. 



Jordan's, Dr. Henshall's and others, who km 



about such things than Forester ever Choi tght of, at least 

 so far as Southern fishes are concerned. Frank Forester 

 never was in Texas, nor did he ever sec a fish from this 

 State, hence f can not allow him as authority on that 

 which he never saw, and against the direct experience 

 and study of our first-class native-born naturalists. 



1 still claim that the fish vulgarly called " truut " in 

 our waters is the large-uiouthed black bass proper. 1 

 believe there are two varieties of black- bass at the North, 

 the large and small mouth, and I regard our fish as 

 the latter, and one cannot make any thing else out of him. 

 I can go in one day's fishing in this county into a cirele 

 whose radius is not over one mite, and 1 will guarantee 

 to kill four different specimens of black bass and lay them 

 all side by side on the grass, and ninety-nine men out of 

 every hundred would pronounce them each a separata 

 and distinct variety. I will take two out of our lake. 

 one of which will be a beautiful, glassy, pea-green on the 

 back and head, fadinit into white on the belly, with an 

 almost imperceptible form and aft line running along the 

 side from the gill covers to the tail, where the scales of 

 the back and sides divide with those of the rest of the 

 body. The other is precisely the same fish in every 

 respect, except that the color on the back is a dark olive 

 or subdued lead . fading down as in the other. The third 

 1 will take from another lake, whose water is dark amber, 

 clear and deep. (The water of the former lake is a light 

 steel colored. ) In this latter lake the fish are all very 

 dark, nearly Mack on the UppaT parts and very white be- 

 low. The fourth I take from a clear, bright, running 

 creek. These bass are smaller and more slender, scarcely 

 any color, a light steel with a sheen of green and eyes as 

 yellow as gold, whereas those in the lal 

 brown or hazel eye. Now take those, out of the lakes and 

 put them into the creek, and in two weeks a 11 will be the 

 color of the little four ounce fellows found ti 

 rice versa. Those taken from the small creek are only 

 smaller because of their ago; they leave and go into 

 larger lakes and streams as they attain greater size. Now 

 if "C. S. W." were to see these specimens lying together 

 he would call one a "Texas trout," another "rock 

 bass," another "chub," and the little fellow a "brook 

 ro.u't," as I have known others like him to do before, and 

 leave' the "black bass " out, like a "Door boy at a country 

 wedding," meriting a good deal, but having no show. 



That which is termed rock bass, straw! ■;■ 



pie, etc.. at the North, is our white perch, or gasper, in 

 Texas; sac-a-lac and chincapin perch in Louisiana, and 

 white, or silver perch, in Alabama and Mississippi, 



I shall still insist that the fish commonly called trout 

 in the Southern States is one of the two varieties of black 



