August 31, 1882, J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



91 



"White Pekoh re Ticnnt.hsf.e. — I have -watched in vain 

 for some correspondent to say something about the white 

 perch. I tnkc it for granted then that they are not so well 

 known as other varieties. Allow me to' say a few words 

 about the white perch as found in the "scatters" of Reel- 

 font Lake, Hie Forked Deer and Obion rivers. As a table 

 fish they are. the equal of any fish that swims, are of large 

 size and very game. They weigh from half a pound to three 

 pounds, and lake a minnow in preference to any bait. They 

 inhabit deep water only, and prefer to have a tree top or lot 

 of brush in which to 'play and evade pursuit of thevoia 

 cious alligator gar and "grindle," or "dogfish," as you 

 Yankees call them. They will not bite in hot .weather, 'but 

 when September conies aiid Jack Frost is on the ground, go 

 to the Obion or Forked Deer livers, or to Reelfoot Lake, or 

 any of the. basins or large ponds — formed by the earth- 

 quakes of 1811 — and search for a deep, brushy hole, and 

 there you can have fun at any time from September 1 to 

 January or later, if heavy rains 'do not interfere. The white 

 perch go in schoolsand are not afraid of noise or commotion of 

 any kind in or near the water, ami you can catch the whole 

 school in an hour. On the lfith of last December the writer 

 and Dr. K. R. Vernon went to the river at this place and 

 found that our favorite place was utilized for the purpose of 

 rolling in saw logs to he floated to a sawmill just below. 

 We thought it unnecessary to cast, but hated to go hack empty, 

 so we tried it and took fifteen line perch in a tew minutes, 

 the smallest one weighing hall' a pound, and up to two and 

 one-quarter pounds, although negroes with ox-whips and 

 log wagons were making a continual racket and rolling 

 large logs in the water within thirty to one hundred feet of 

 us. We also have the speckled perch, yellow bellies, sun 

 perch, black perch, bream, gizzard shad, 'government shad, 

 black and striped bass, jack, about twenty-five varieties of 

 catfish, grindle, gar, soft-Shell and loggerhead turtles, etc. 

 At no season of the year are fish so game or their flavor so 

 acceptable as in the fall. Then gnats, snakes and mos- 

 quitoes are unknown, all water is fine for drinking, especially 

 at Reelfoot, and if there is just a little skim of' ice on the 

 water it will bike minutes to worry a trout down, and be- 

 sides your hook will be troubled by nothing hut the white 

 perch or trout, as gar and srrindlo lie dormant after frost.— 

 T. L. Wells. - 



Shout Salmon (!at<h on tuk Pacific Coast. — The 

 San Francisco Skamimr says: "The season of 1SK2 has 

 resulted in the poorest salmon catch in this State and in 

 British Columbia for many years. Many of the principal 

 canneries have been compelled to close down and run on 

 half time for want of fish, and prices of fresh fish in this 

 market have ruled higher than at any time during the open 

 seasons of the past, ten years. The actual causes for the 

 shortage in the salmon take this season are two in mom her. 

 and have never yet been publicly commented upon. First, 

 a strike among the men on the Columbia kept them idle 

 several weeks in the best part of the early or spring run of 

 fish, and consequently materially reduced the catch, as sim- 

 ilar trouble did in 1879. Secondly, the nefarious practice of the 

 Chinese fishermen alla'ong the coast and in this bay of catch- 

 ing the smallest kind of fish, which they dry for shipment to 

 China, has so reduced the amount ol* food needed for the 

 sustenance of salmon that thousands and thousands have 

 died of starvation, or have become so week for lack of food 

 as to fall an easy prey in enormous quantities to their nat- 

 ural enemies, tne sea lions, a colony of which will eat as 

 many salmon in a day as a hundred boats will catch in a 

 week. The natural and only food of the Pacific coast sal- 

 mon is the young of other fish and full-grown fish of small 

 breeds, such as whitebait, small smelts, sardines and tom- 

 eod. small fish which never go far away from land and the 

 shelter of rocks and seaweed, where they can escape a few 

 of their many natural enemies. There the salmon resorted 

 in immense numbers until recently, but the constant catch- 

 ing of small fish by (he Chinese has swept their favorite 

 feeding grounds as clear of food as though a vast explosion 

 had killed every fish in the ocean. The nets and weirs and 

 pounds used by the Chinese are clearly in defiance of the 

 very excellent fish law of the State, which, however, is 

 never enforced, for want of proper officers." 



Gkavung. Tkovjt and Bass. — Manistee, Jvlich., Aug. 34. 

 — Grayling fishing has been "A 1" this season and large 

 catches by local fishermen, Messrs. Higgins, Lobe and Cox 

 making the largest catch of the season, viz. : one day's sport. 

 212. Higgins caught, the big one; weight, two pounds five 

 ounces. Good trout fishing in the Betsy River, Charles 

 Thomas taking 107, all gorxfones, in two days' fishing. Our 

 fishermen here take no fingerlings; small ones ate returned 

 to the water. A man gets no credit as a count, fisherman 

 here. Our rivers, lakesandstreamsaboundinfinefish. Grand 

 old Lake Michigan rolls its surf on our shores, and on pleasant 

 days the piers are thronged at the entrance of the river with 

 fishermen of all ages, sizes and sex. Perch, herring and 

 pike are Caught in large numbers. On our inland lakes one 

 may always tind fine fishing. The black bass, both the big 

 and small mouthed species, are abundant. Dr. Henshall 

 should have the thanks of every reputable fisherman for the 

 best written work I have ever seen on black bass. They are 

 to-day one of the gamiest fish known to American waters, 

 and as a game fish are less appreciated by fishermen than 

 any other, but are now coming to the front. They have 

 been toy favorite, fish for years,' and I have caught them 

 many wafers and never yet found or 

 the end. "Old Knots, "one of the 1 

 to them, while the Scribe is nor 

 kindlytries to convert the elder frotr 

 did trout fishing of the Cedar. Not 

 waters they were always quaffing, 1j 

 had immersed the elder in the Cedar. It is notofleu that 

 version and immersion occurs at the same time, but strange 

 thins., happened in the camps of the Kingfishers, and the 

 Scribe has my thanks for the pleasant recollections of the 

 well-written camp sketches.— S. E. B, 



Lioni ok flEAVi Rods. — "What is one man's meat is 

 another man's poison." The several articles that have ap- 



Cred in the Fobest and Stream about the weight of rods 

 e been instructive to a certain extent, as they have called 

 the attention of anglers more particularly to the subject, and 

 would have been more agreeable, had some of (hem been 

 less unkind in spirit. Some years since 1 bought a fly rod 

 and used it with more or less success until it was supplanted 

 by a split, bamboo of eight ounces weight, a rod exactly 

 adapted to my peculiarities, with one exception, and that 

 jave me great satisfaction, and does still, although I have 

 used it for years. I found, however, I lost too many fish- 



hat wa 



lgfishers, takes kindly 

 averse to them, but 

 unfishing to the spleu- 

 tisfied with the spring 

 Lid not rest till he. 



did not hook them— and after thinking the matter over 1 con- 

 cluded the tip was too pliable and did not have sufficient 

 spring with the force I naturally use in striking to force the 

 hook through the mouth ol" the fish. I changed the tip for 

 B shorter and firmer one, and since then do not lose one fish 

 where 1 formerly lost three. Every fisherman intuilivclv 

 strikes his fish quickly or with slight hesitancy, with force 

 or moderation, according to his organization, and if he has 

 a strong arm and wrist a more pliable rod is essential, or in 

 too many cases he tears the hook from the fish or breaks the 

 tackle, while in the other case, a person with less strength 

 must have his rod so adapted that by its elasticity it does 

 the work that he uatnrally will not do. This seems to me 

 to be about the best solution of "Heavy vs. Light." Whether 

 one wants to kill a fish quickly or take more time and more 

 chances is just as a "feller feels," — Syracuse. 



"TnF. Scientific Ambler,' 1 — A neat little book of 39a 

 pages comes to us with the above title, written by the late 

 David Foster, a well-known English angler, and 'published 

 by Bemrose & Seais. 23 Old Bailey, and Derby. London. 

 The work was compiled By Mr. Foster's sons and, besides 

 the steel engraving of the author, has man/ illustrations of 

 tackle, hooks and dies. The author was in his youth ap- 

 prenticed to a jeweler, but his fondness for angling led him 

 to connect himself with the making of fish hooks, and he 

 entered the large factory of Messrs. Allcock & Co., Red- 

 ditch, and afterwards d'evised many improvements in fish- 

 ing tackle, among them a steel-centered rod which is about 

 to be put on the market. The book is well written and con- 

 tains chapters on habits and haunts of fish, bottom fishing, 

 pike fishing, -pinning for trout, worm fishing for trout, 

 grub fishing for grayling, piscatorial entomology, fly mak- 

 ing, fly fishing for trout and grayling, live fly unit beetle 

 fishing, notes on the months for fly fishing, salmon and sea 

 trout fishing, about hooks, and trout culture. Of course, 

 there are a few minor points on which we do not agree with 

 the author, hut as the book seems to be largely original we 

 wtl not dwell on them. The price is not given. 



A Considerate Trout. — Boston, Mass.. Aug. 24. — Good 

 day for bass fishing last Tuesday, on Mossapoag. "Two "boys" 

 cauffht twenty-four, four of which -weighed fourteen pounds. 

 Nice lake that— bass there very frisky, too; one big fellow (I 

 'speed he was a seven-pounder) took hold of unguarded tackle, 

 the boys heard a disturbance in the stern of the boat and 

 looked" round just in time to see a $30 rod. reel and line dis- 

 appear in thirty feet of water. One, boy suggested the other 

 should dive and recover it, hut the soundings discouraged 

 him, so drying a tear of regret, he said good-bye tackle, and 

 sat down with a stub of a. pencil to figure up the cost of the 

 day's sport. Half an hour later, on i tilling up anchor, they 

 found the bass had taken the bait off, and having no use for 

 the rod had kindly hooked the whole thing into the anchor 

 rope, and there it was joyfully recovered. 'Next, I — Al. 



Restiooucue Salmon.— Montreal, Aug. 21,1882. — Mr. J. 

 H. Stearnes, the genial proprietor of the Albion Hotel, of 

 this city, with a party of six, has just returned from a short 

 but pleasant trip down to the Restigouche. Their catch 

 numbered twenty-three salmon and a large number of trout. 

 Many of the latter kicked the beam at three and a half 

 pounds, the salmon averaged small, ten to fifteen pounds. 

 Game prospect here in Quebec are good. — Stanstl uc 



Black Bass in Greenwood Lake.— Mr. Oleou must 

 east again before he can claim the honor of having caught 

 the largest fish of the season at Greenwood Lake, as Mr. A. 

 F. Quimhy, on July 11, caught an Oswego (or big-mouth) 

 bass weighing six and one-eighth pounds, which makes him 

 the champion fisherman, as this is the largest, fish caught, 

 thus far, this season.— W. F. 



Enormous Black Bass.— Glens Falls, N. Y., Aug. 25.— 

 Landlord Pardo, of the American, eaught the champion 

 black bass on the 24th. It was 33+ inches long, 10 inches 

 girth, and weighed 8f pounds. It was of the. small-mouth 

 species and was taken in Glen Lake, sometimes called Long 

 Pond, three miles noi th of this place, with an 8oz. Tod and 

 fine tackle.— F. Joyner. 



White Bass at Niagara,— At Niagara, Out., August 12, 

 J B. Plumb, Esq. , caught 174 white basis, and on August 14 

 Dan Shtulock took 151, both using the fly.— L. C. Ketchum. 



tgisffcttlture. 



THE AMERICAN F1SHCULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 



PROCEEDINGS ELEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 



MATERIALS FOR A HISTORY OF THE SWORD-FISH, 

 nr g. brown goode. 



rcOSTINCED.l 

 PUGNACITY. 



The pugnacity of the sword-fish lias become a by-word. 

 Without any special effort on my part, the following in- 

 stances of their attacks upon vessels have, in the last six 

 years, found their way into the pigeon-hole labled "A, III, 



to, sward-ash," 



Aelian says (B, xxxii, C. 6) thai the sword-fish has a sharp- 

 pointed snout with which it is able to pierce, the sides of a 

 ship and send it to the bottom; instances of which have been 

 known near a place in Mauritania known as Cotte, not far 

 from the river Lixus, on the African side of the Mediter- 

 ranean. He describes the sword as like the. beak of the ship 

 known as. the trireme, which was rowed with three banks of 



' One of the earliest accounts is that given in the second part 

 of vol. i, lib. ii.p. St), 1(115, of Purchase Pilgrims: 



"The sixth Circum-navigation; by William Corneiison 

 ...;-.,- i i u;,:.. ..-■■■ J,. '. .'-'-r.ii ' i-i ji ijili . I" :-'i .' iiilii . s 

 Magelan in Tierra.-dell'vogo, t'ovnd and discovered a new pas- 

 sage thrC Tgh the great Sovf.h-sea, and that way sailed rovnd 

 about, the. World," etc. 



Off the coast, ot Sierra Leone: 



"The fif't of October we were vuder foure degrees seuen and 

 twentie minutes, the same day about noone, there was such a 

 noyse in the Bough of our Shippe. that the master, being be- 

 hindin the Gallerie. thought that one of the men had fallen out 

 of the Fore-ship, or from the Boe-sprit into the sen, but as hee 

 looked out over the side ol the Ship hee. saw the Sea all red, as 

 if great store of blond had been powrc-d into it, whereat hoe 

 wondred, knowing not what it meant, but afterward hee found, 

 that a great Fish or a Sea monster having a home had there- 

 with stricken against the ship with most great strength. For when 

 We were in Porto Desire where we set the Ship on the Strand 

 to make it, clean, about seven foot under water, before in the 

 Ship, we found a Home sticking in the Ship, much like for 



tmciaiesse ana taslnon to a common lilepharits t. n 4h, not hollow, 

 but full; very strong hard Bone, which had entered into three 

 Plankes of the Ship, that is two thiVke Planless of greene and one 

 of Oken wood, and so into a Rib, where it turned upward, to our 

 great good fortune, for if it had entered between the Ribbes. it 

 Mould happily have made a greater Hole, and have brought both 

 Ship and men in danger to he lost. It struck,-- at least half a foote 

 deep into tne Ship aud about half a foote without, where, v. itb 

 5 broken off, by reason whereof the gj bs t njqa- 



?xpe 



mob." 

 a century later C. Mortimer, M. D.. 



s this 



'■Mr, Bnnklev skewed me the Hunioi a Fish thai had pene- 

 trated above S inches into the Timber of a Ship and pray me 

 the following Relation of it: 'His Majesty's Ship Leopard, 

 having been at the Wrsl Indies and on the Coast of Guinea, 

 was ordered by Warrant from the Honorable Uaxy-BQaju, 

 dared Aug. is,' its. to be uleaned and refitted at Portsmout 

 for Channel-Service: Pursuant thereto, she was put into the 

 great Stone-dock: and. in stripping off her H heat hing, the 

 Shipwrights found mwih king iliac, was uncommon in her 

 Bottom, aboi u 8 Fee_t Crow her Keel, just before the Fore 

 Mast: which they searching into, found the Bone or Part of 

 the Horn of a Pish of the Figure here described; the Outside 

 Rough not unb'ke .SW/-.S7,a ,. . and the. Mud, where it was broken 

 0« shewed itsell like coarse Ivory. The Fish is supposed to 

 have fallowed the Ship, when under Sail, because the sharp 

 End of the Horn Pointed toward the Bow: it penetrated with 

 that Swiftness or Strength that, it went through the Sheath- 

 ing 1 Inch thick, the Plunk 3 Inches thick, and into the Tim- 

 ber 4e;, inches. "'iS-Vi 



Don Joseph Cornide, in his "Essayo de Una, Hisloria de I03 

 Feces de la Costa de tia.lieia." 178?: 



'■This fish is taken in the seas of (iaiieia. where it is more 

 common toward the Rio de Vigo, where it is well known 

 that the Balandia ft small fishing vessel! of S: M. le Ardilla 

 was pierced in its side and sunk by the ana of one of these 

 fishes, which is i.reserved iu the Royal Cabinet of Natural 

 History," 



In lS.'l the little yacht Redhot, of New Bedford, was out 

 sword-iishing, and a sword-fish had been hauled in to be 

 lanced, and ii attacked the vessel and pierced the. side so as 

 to sink the vessel. She was repaired and used in the service 

 of the commission at Wood's Holl. (Prof. Bated), 



Couch quotes the pei'soual statement of a gentleman, who 



"We huv 



! had the. 



pleasure of 



mspectmg a 



piece 



Of M 



ood 



cut out of 



one of th 



e fore plat 



ks of a vessc 



lithe 



Hrisr 



ilia. 



from Pern, 



unbuco), 



lirough w 



lieh was st 



■uck 



ihnn 



IS 



inches of 1.1 





apon of Hue 



sword-fish. 



The f 



>rce i 



vith 



which it m 



ist, have b 



;en driven 



in affords a 



strike 







plifi.eu.tiuu < 



f the poi 



ver and le 



•oeily of the 



fish. 







cilia is [.nit 





ssel. Capt 



lin Taylor, h 









states that 



when nes 



ir the Azo 



es, as he w, 



is wo 



km'-' 



the. 



onarter-det. 



k at nigl 



t, a shook 



vas felt wh 



eh bj 



hie'. 



.1!! 



hands fron 



below, u 



nder the i 



nprcssion th 



at the 



ship 



hml 



touched uj 



on some. 



rock. Thi- 



was, no doubt, 1 



vhei 



the 



took place." 

 The New York Herald of May 11, 1S71, states: 



"ill, English -hni neceesbeiTy has "ve: struct Ijy a sword- 

 fish which penetrated ton, depth of 30 inches,eaur.inga leak which 

 necessitated the discharge of the cargo.'" 



The London Daily News at December 11, ISiis, contained the 

 iollo'-u'ng paragraph, .'.hi eh emanated, Csuspect, from the pen of 

 Pref. K, X Proctor:' 



"Last Wednesday the court of coi oj 1 ion pleas— rather a strange 

 place, by the by, for im|iiiring into the natural history of fishes 

 igaged for several hours in trying to determine 1 



what circumstances a sword-fish might be able t 

 after thrusting his snout into the side of a ship. 

 Dreadnought, thoroughly repaired, aud clause 

 had been insured for a::;, obi. ' against all the risks 

 sailed on March 10, 18(54, from Colombo, for 

 days later the crew, while fishing, hooked a swo 

 however, broke the hue, aud a few moments arte 

 ,,r -the veir.i r v. i/h ca:j oiijeer. l" -,i.i,,i:l.i -at:.-,. ■ ,. 

 his persecutor, the Dreadnought. Probably ht 

 that the enemy was some abnormally large M 

 was his natural duty to attack forthwith. Be tl 

 attack was made, and at four o'clock the next 1 

 tain was awakened with the 



•ad-fish. " No 

 ord-fish had 



,pe scot-free 

 Olant ship 

 t Lloyd's, 

 ;eas. She 

 n. Three 

 Xiphias, 

 d half out 

 ; a look at 

 ?d himself 

 . Whieh it 

 . may, the 

 g the cap- 

 at the ship 

 had sprung a leak. She was taken back to Colombo, and thence to 

 Cochin, where she was hove down. Near the keel was found a 

 round hole, an inch in diameter, runiiiug' completely through the 

 copper sheathing and planking. 



'As attacks by sword-fish are included among sea risks, 

 the insurance company was willing to pay the dam 

 claimed by the owneis; of the ship if only it 'could be pr< 

 that the hole had really 

 instance had ever been rec 



been able to withdraw Ids BWOrd after attacking a slu'p. A 

 defense was founded on the possibility that the hole had 

 been made, in some other way. Professor Owen and Mr. 

 Frank Buckland gave their evidence, but neither of them 

 could state quite positively whether a sword-fish which had 

 passed its beak through three inches of stout planking could 

 withdraw without, the loss of its sword. Mr. Buckland said 

 that fish have no power of 'backing,' and expressed his belief 

 that he could hold a sword-fish by the beak; but then he ad- 

 mitted that the fish had considerable lateral power, and 

 might so 'wriggle its sword out of a hole.' And so the in- 

 surance company will have to pay nearly sLv hundred pounds 

 because au ill-tempered fish objected to be hooked, and took 

 its revenge by running fidl tilt against copper sheathing aud 

 oak planking." 



The Gloucester schooner Wyoming, on a last trip to George's 

 Banks, records the New York World of August ol, lSTo, was 

 attacked by a sword-fish in the night time. He assailed the 

 vessel with great force, and succeeded in putting his sword 

 through one of her planks some two feet, and after making 

 fearful struggles to extricate himself, broke his sword off, 

 ieaving it hard and fast iu the plans, and made a. speedy 

 departure. Fortunate was it that he did not succeed in 

 drawing out his sword, as the aperture would undoubtedly 

 have made a leak sufficient to have sunk the vessel. As it 

 was, she. leaked badly., requiring pretty lively pumping to 

 keep her free. (34] 



Another instance of a similar nature is this, which was re- 

 corded in the Liverpool Mercury about the year 1870: 



"Mr. J, J. Harwood, master of the British brigontbie For- 

 tunate, in dock at. Liverpool, reports that, while on his passage, 

 from the Rio Grande, when in latitude. 20 deg. 12 nun. north 

 and longitude 4? deg. !! rnin. west., 

 large fisli, which made the vessel 

 ing the ship had been merely stri 

 monster, he took no further notice 

 discharging cargo at Runcorn, and comi 

 half-tide dock, he found one of the ph 

 split, and on closer examination he disco 

 fish had driven his sword completely the 

 inehes iu thickness, leaving the point 

 eight inches through the plank. The 

 broke the sword off level with the. 1 

 sel, and by its attack upon the ship lost 

 of the very dangerous weapon with 

 There is no doubt, that this son 

 took place wdien the vessel was si 

 describes." 



Forest and Stueam of June 34, 1876, recorded the follow- 

 ing incident: 



33. An Aceouutof the horu uf a Fish struck several luetics lae tie 

 side of a 8hi|i, by C. MprtUner, 51. D, F. fl. S. Pliilos. Trans, xl., >hx 

 li'.i. ]., sue, 1741. 



34. New York WarUi, August 81, 1976. 



ship v 



shake ver 



10k by the 



: the m 



which it 

 ivhat •singular 

 ick as Captui 



■hcii by d 



the stem 

 a sword- 



iank, lour 



id nearly 



struggle 



the ves- 



foot length 



Harwood 



