Forest and Stream 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



NEW YORK, OCTOBER 19, 1882. 



and t 

 to the 

 in by 



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Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 

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Editorial. 



The Anglers" Tournament. 

 A Waller of Opinion. 

 Rilired Grouse. 



Tiii'; s,i'<.r.TSM vn TourasT. 

 "Nutmeggers" on the Otta 

 Belov Quebec.-v. 



'■ i ... Viiv-mi:] Lov.lan.l-:, 

 i'i i. : History. 

 Uird Migralion inter jlissis; 



Valley. 

 Tlie^b.'-isav-iii-a spire 

 CUire Bai 



CONTENTS. 



even Ponds. 

 Cultural As- 



Dolini, 

 llossi], . 

 Sport h 



In FIoi 



'' -a 



Cn in],.' 

 biglil 



i ail. 



ml Er 



Jup Abroad, 

 out the (.ileal] 

 ndFeatherwf 



rate Abroad. 



I On; Readers mill cimfer a faenr by xnntiny us the nanus 

 ..;'.■■. '■•/; ../' i/tci'r fiiciirls as- are ant nOJtO a iiiaiiij Hit ' snvii-ribers 

 \'if tin Foiiest and Stream, but who would presumably be 

 •eskd h, tl„ pap, r. 



TILE ANGLERS' ToUHNA M1CNT. 

 EpitE louinaiueut will be in progress at Htirlein Mere, in 

 ' Central Park (weal her permitting), tin's morning, after 

 this issue of Fouest and Stream is in the mails. We an- 

 ticipate one of the most interesting contests that has yet 

 taken place in the annals of angling, and believe that this 

 . 'M III tin beginning of a series of tournaments which will 

 attract, much attention to the elegant art of By-casting and 

 serve as an educator of our youthful Waltons, some of whom, 

 for wan! of proper teaching, are falling into the heretical 

 mi that bait -fishing, or even the use of nets, is as good as 

 ,uc lly. so long as by such means fish may be captured, a 

 •esult .that they erroneously consider lobe the end of angling. 

 The arrangements for a successful tournament are most 

 pbinplcte. The judges in the different classes have been se- 

 eded with care, and a different set of them are assigned to 

 lacli separate contest. Score-books have been printed which 

 .'onlaiu the inles. the prize-lists, and also ruled blanks for 

 Rtfo£ the score in each contest, giving the name of the 

 Hfcstant, length and weight of rod, distance east, and the 

 "iii i. aided him in the contests for delicacy and aceu- 

 M , as well as the number of his award. 

 i One feature, new to angling tournaments, which may 

 m ome explanation, is the different "scales of points," 

 nadc tor the different contests in fly-easting, This is the 

 Bit of different opinions held by individual members of 

 Beommitlee, on the value of these points. Some of the 

 Ibhi rs the majority in fact, were for making all the eon- 

 •sts on one plan, in which the distance cast was the only 

 ling to be taken into account. A few contended that a fly- 

 istcr should cast delicately and accurately in order to 

 HttCve the best results, and therefore these points should 

 ivc weight in the decisions. The majority, not wishing to 

 \ irry I heir point by simple reason of being a majority, 

 Eged to make one contest for distance alone, and to give 

 Berent values to the, delicate and accurate points in the 

 l-li'-is. Hence the light rod cou tests and class A have the 

 Mowing scale of points: Length, the distance east; deii- 

 I'tcy and accuracy, So each; thus: If a man east Go feet 



and is awarded 20 in delicacy and only 10 in accuracy; his 



score is Ob 120 M 11=95. In class B tin" scale is; Distance, 

 actual cast; delicacy and accuracy, 10 each: here if a man 

 cast as above his score would be, distance. 65; delicacy. 8; 

 accuracy, S; equaling 7rf. In. class C the distance alone 

 counts. While, admitting that delicacy and accuracy are 

 most important points in angling, we must confess that we 

 were with the majority against considering them in an 

 angling contest, and will give our reasons. 



There are many other things which go to make a success- 

 ful angler beside easting a long line and casting it delicately 

 and accurately. These are selection of flies, knowledge of 

 the habits of fish, caution and a hundred things which can- 

 not be taken into account in a tournament. As for the point 

 of accuracy, we bold it of little or no value in actual fishing. 

 A cast within four feet of a rise will be seen by a trout as 

 well as if placed in the center of the ring which lie made, 

 for it by no means follows that he is lying under that point 

 when the next cast, is made. As for the point of delicacy, 

 our views, which, as we have said, are held by the majority 

 of the Committee, some of whom are familiar with fly-casting 

 tournaments, are that it should have no place in a contest, 

 After this assertion, which seems radical to those who have 

 not devoted time to the. consideration of angling tourna- 

 ments, it may be well to give the reasons for this opinion 

 also. 



In all contests in fly-casting the main interest centers in 

 length of cast. The spectators are interested in it, and those 

 who are not present inquire on this point only. A. ffy- 

 ca.ster's record is one of distance alone, and it is a point 

 upon which there, can be no two opinions, as there easily 

 may te' upon the comparative ••delicacy" of two casts. It 

 is the record that the winner will be most proud of, :nul I lie 

 one that will go farthest in the estimation of other anglers 

 reading of the tournament. The delicacy of bis casts, on 

 the contrary, cannot be recorded; this is like the art of the 

 actor, only apparent to those, present, and but to a 

 portion even of these. We believe that a man cannot make 

 a long east anil splash his flies down heavily on the water; 

 the force is lost when the flics fall, and they must, there- 

 fore ii jsarily fall delicately. Besides, a man who is 



enough master of his rod to make it cast, seventy feet, has 

 sufficient knowledge of it to cast sixty feet with delicacy. 

 It is true that when a man easts seventy feet with a single- 

 handed rod that his line touches the water before the Hies 

 do, but it is in that part of the water that lie has fished 

 before and 1ms exhausted. When an angler begins neat- 

 shore or at the edge of a spring hole, and takes all the trout 

 possible at a twenty or thirty foot cast, he then begins to 

 get out more, line, and pays no attention to the spots where 

 be has cast before. He reaches out. out, out, and in some 

 cases the man Who can cast the furthest makes the best creel. 



The Committee of Arrangements have had a platform six 

 feet and a half square built out thirty feet into the lake, ami 

 a walk four Fret wide leading to it. This platform was 

 originally intended to be two feet above the water, but the 

 bass-ousters, some of whom cast by sweeping the rod under, 

 wished it to be three feet high, and it was. made so. This 

 arrangement gives a choice of casting in three directions, 

 along the shore to the right or left, and out into the lake, 

 as the direction of the wind may make it advisable. The 

 Superintendent of the Park, Mr. Jones, has kindly offered 

 to send over seats for ladies, members of the press, and 

 elderly gentlemen. 



A few more prizes have been offered and placed in the 

 prize list. Mr. F. 1). Divine, Utiea, has given a rod, which 

 is put in Class C, single-handed fly-easting. Mr. G. M. Skin- 

 ner, Clayton, N. Y., has given a dozen assorted spoon baits 

 and a photo of a forty-pound maskinongc, which goes in 

 the salmon contest. Mr. F. J. Kaldenberg has offered an 

 elegant, meerschaum and amber cigar-holder, with carved 

 trout upon if, which has gone to the class in light bass-cast- 

 ing. An additional contest, has been arranged for actual 

 members of the press, in which the entrance is compliment- 

 ary. The (1 rst prize is "The American Angler's Book," by 

 Thad. Norris; second prize, a McKinnon pen (these prizes 

 ;o to the two contestants who cast the longest lines); third 

 prize; bunch of twenty -five cigars, to go to the handsomest 



star; fourth prize, a pipe of meerschaum, to go to the 



licst caster; fifth prize, a string of fish, which the list says 



'■beyond price," and is to go to the poorest caster. 



At the present contest there will be a better gathering of 

 anglers than lias heretofore been collected in America, and 

 a this meeting will come suggestions which will be of 

 great value to future ones The present tournament is the 

 first Of ;ui annual series which Forest AMD S'EREAM has 

 begun, assisted by some of the most prominent members of 



the brotherhood of anglers, and the interest which it has 

 awakened has surprised the originators of the enterprise, 

 for it was conceived outside this office, and while the depart- 

 ment editor of this paper, who naturally would have been 

 consulted in the matter, was in the Adirondacks, and Brat 

 knew of it on his return. To the wisdom of the excellent 

 committee of arrangements is due the success which pronv 

 ises to attend the first Anglers' Tournament ever held In 

 America, which was really what it was intended to he. and 

 not a' mere side show or after thought to other contests. 



RUEEED GROUSE. 

 TT/"Eare assured by many of our correspondents, and also 

 *' by many friends with whom we have conversed, that 

 the ruffed grouse is not entirely exterminated, and that the 

 prospect is bright for a fair amount of sport the present 

 season for the lovers of this ' 'king of game birds. " Our in> 

 formation is not from isolated or limited sections, but covers 

 a wide area of the country inhabited by them, and almost 

 uniformly gives us welcome news of full broods, of well- 

 grown birds, and in many instances we were assured that 

 they are quite plenty, much more so than they have been for 

 the past few years. We have given much space to tho 

 question of the cause for the scarcity of the grouse, and so 

 far as wordsare concerned, it has been very ably discussed 

 by our many correspondents, but none of them, to ourmind, 

 have explained the true cause of their disappearance, 

 "Byrne" very plausibly advances a new idea in our issue of 

 Aug. 24, and attributes their scarcity to the chicken cholera, 

 introduced to this country by foreign fowls. That his 

 theory is true or false, we may never know, as in matters 

 of this kind it is almost impossible to obtain facts that, are 

 incontrovertible. 



We have carefully and persistently studied the habits of 

 these royal birds for uearly forty years, and with extreme 

 ■ow have noted their gradual decrease. We have several 

 times within this period observed that, following a season 

 hen they had been unusually plenty, we have found their 

 haunts comparatively deserted, and that they would then 

 fually increase until in a few years they would again be 

 plenty, and perhaps remain so for a year or two, aud then 

 gain unaccountably disappear. When we first noticed 

 this, we were loath to believe that our beautiful friends had 

 winged their last (light, but, with vague ideas of a migration 

 o more favored retreats, where, perhaps, an ample supply 

 .f their favorite food could be found, we trustingly awaited 

 their return. But as the seasons rolled by and we failed to 

 find more than the natural increase of the birds which had 

 ained, and learned that in widely separated districts in 

 every direction the same lamentable state of affairs existed, 

 we were sorrowiugly forced to admit that out conclusions 

 were wrong, and that, unless in the happy hunting grounds, 

 never again should we "through woodland wild or tangled 

 copse" behold the flashing forms of the glorious birds we 

 loved so well. It is with increasing sorrow that we have 

 seen each recurring period of scarcity more disastrous than 

 the preceding, and each season of comparative abundance 

 less plentiful than before, aud we greatly fear that the time 

 is not far distant when these noble birds will become ex- 

 tinct. 



That the pursuit of them with dog and gun, in proper 

 season, would ever exterminate them, we cannot believe. 

 We have seen too many of their successful tucks, aud wit- 

 nessed too many of their triumphant escapes from the best of 

 dogs and the best of guus to believe anything of the kind. 

 There are also in nearly all localities frequented by them, 

 many places where, owing to the inaccessible nature of 

 their chosen retreats, they are. practically secure from the 

 most daring hunter, and in most sections these places will 

 always preserve a stock amply sufficient to furnish the next 

 season's supply, to say nothing of the many survivors who 

 craftily escape the hunter's wiles, even upon tho most favor 

 ing grounds. With snaring the ease is entirely different ; 

 and the man who thoroughly understands their habits, in a 

 short time will entirely exterminate them from any locality. 

 So long as this practice was confined to the country boys, 

 who rarely succeeded in capturing enough to seriously di- 

 minish their numbers, no one could find any fault; but 

 when the market hunter, with a, consummate skill, born of 

 bis needs and opportunities, commenced his merciless war 

 of extermination against the helpless innocents, it was high 

 time that all lovers of these beautiful birds should band to- 

 gether for their protection; and it is a stigma upon the name 

 of the many sportsmen's game protective associations 

 throughout the land that this pernicious practice is still 

 allowed. 



True, some of the States have a law upon their statute 



