452 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



r January 5, 1882. 



SALT WATER VS. FKESII WATER FISHES. 



Tl I B issue Of Fo-rkst ato Stream for Dec. 1 contains as a 

 motto Jor its rialiing columns an extract from the ■writ- 

 ings of H. W. Herbert, V. Iiicli affirms that, " with very few 

 BsceffliOus, tbe gaffl'e fisli are thofe which do n'o| confine 

 themselves eilLerto sail or fresh water, but visit one or the 

 other as their babll r tfi • ■lirect them.'' 



This seoms l;o be one of the generalisations' of that great 

 writer, who, however, was familiar only with the fishes of 

 New England ami the Middle States, as known in his time. 



Recent investigations show the incorrectness of these state- 

 ments. 



Professor Jordan iu a late work describes of bass, 7 spe- 

 cies; perch, 4 species; pike, 3 species. Total, fourteen species 

 of game fish found east of the Mississippi and north of Norlh 

 Carolina, which inhabit fresh water exclusively. Besides 

 these there are several species of Balmfonida, which live 

 ■wholly in freshwater; the lake trouts of Northern New 

 York and New England, as well as two species in the great 

 , lakes. 



West of the Mississippi, in the waters of the great plains 

 and the Pacific slope, are other game fish which never visit 

 the sea. 



Mr. Herbert also affirms " that those fisheB which never 

 visit the salt water at all are unquestionably so much infe- 

 rior to others, of the same family which run periodically to 

 the sea, that they are with difficulty recognized as belonging 

 to the same order with their roving brethren ; while of those 

 cone ol winch are known to leave fresh water, but two or 

 three kinds are worth taking at all, and even these are not to 

 be compared with the migratory fish." 



Either Mr. Herbert had never tasted the brook trout of 

 Wisconsin and Michigan, lire siscorett, the black bass, the 

 mnscsflonge, the great Northern pike, the pike-perch, and 

 white-fish "IT the great lakes, (considered by many to be the 

 best of fresh water fishes), nunc of which visit, the sea— or he 

 might have brought with him his British prejudices. 



Another of Mr. Herbert's theories was that there were no 

 large trout in America, and that trout in this country were 

 crjnflned to small slre-ons, and never occurred in rivers of 

 any size. He had never fished the Maine lakes, the Penob- 

 scot, or the M-igallaway — the Rjsligouchc or the Novelle in 

 Canada — or the big rivers of Lake Superior. His experience 

 was confined to the trout brooks of New Sfork and New Eng- 

 land. As fat as that went his writings and descriptions are 

 valuable, and as one of the earliest of our sporting writers, 

 especially so, but he did not live to know the works of the 

 new School of American observers and wiifeis upon natural 

 history and field sports. Perhaps they also will appear obso- 

 lete in 1930. S. C. C. 



SILK WORM GUT. 



THE color and quality of gut is a most important topic 

 of consideration lo the angler. He may have the best 

 Of rods and the strongest of lines, but if the gut tint com- 

 poses his leader, or "casting line," as it is called in England, 

 be of poor quality, or contain one poor strand, his whole 

 outfit is rendered worthless. In gut the first requisites are 

 strength and pliancy, and it is not easy to judge of these. 

 The color is important, and there are many receipts for ren- 

 dering the gut invisible to the fish, which SM ! it from below 

 against a cloud, a tree, or a clear sky. Some of the coloriug 

 processes employed render the gut brittle. There have been 

 lengthened discussions ou this subject in the London Field, 

 which tire still being carried on, and we propose to quote 

 from them foi our readers, without expressing any opinion 

 on them at present. 



Mr. Francis Francis says : "I quite agree with your corres- 

 pondent as lo staiue.l gut— viz., that a deep slain makes it 

 brittle and more easily to be seen in the water than gut which 

 is unstained. If you want to prove this, get some strands of 

 gut stained of various shades, take a glass shade such as you 

 tmt, over ferns, etc, half fill it with water, lay the strands on 

 the surface of the water, and then look at them from below 

 with only the sky for a background, and I doubt if you will 

 ever staiu cut again. The color which is affected by many 

 anglers, particularly some of our Winchester friends, is per- 

 fectly absurd. I have seen it often almost black ; and as 

 they use very iiue-drawn gut, it is almost impossible to tie it 

 in a knot if kept ao} r time, and when on calm water you can 

 see It any disiance off. if it must be colored at all, the 

 palest smoke color is sufficient. If you can only dim the 

 exceeding brightness of new gut, it would be far better than 

 any stain. 1 have heard of waxing the gut slightly, but 

 though that would dim i! and waterproof it slightly, would 

 it not materially add to the weight?'' 



Another correspondent, Mr. John L. Moinlaws, of Scot- 

 land, writes ■. '-Fine fishing, go where you may, is a necessity 

 in our day, more especially on open public rivers. I have 

 been charged with having underrated the light, delicate 

 casting powers of English" anglers, but most unjustly so. 

 On t lie contrary, 1 have had occasion frequently to admire 

 and envy the skill and deftness which several of these fisher- 

 men exhibit! d on reaches of water difficult to approach and 

 dour to kill in. But then I said to myself, ' Matters are pretty 

 even ; here iu Scotland we have little or no private water on 

 any river of importance; our best fly reaches are daily waded 

 . li and fished over by hundreds of anglers. The same 

 thing is repeated during the long summer nights; and al- 

 though our streams present more "rough broken water than 

 the English rivers, where the current' is more sluggish and 

 canal-like, still we on the Tweedside have to deal with trout 

 as wary and wide-awake, as well fed and willful, as any down 

 south.' 



"Such being the case, two questions naturally present them- 

 selves : Of what color and quality should my gut consist? 

 These two points deal with the whole subject raised by your 

 correspondents. A third one might be suggested— the length 

 of eacii casting line. I would briefly refer to the first— viz., 

 color, 



" This is a much disputed point. For salmon fishing I con- 

 sider stained gut quite superfluous, though its use is perfectly 

 harmless. What does a salmon iu its sober senses take a 

 gaudy parson or a glittering Jo ck Scott for, and why? Let 

 this matter be settled before, wc become ov. r-finical in 

 our notions of dyeing. I have seen a Galashiels weaver, 

 COHltng down over a salmon ' lie' after it hsd b; en carefully 

 fished some half dozen times, hook and kill the capricious 

 brute which had obstinately rejected the most templing 

 looking Hies noosed on to one of Fallow's finest stained gill 

 lines ; that wcavci 'S tackle was a caution to behold. There 

 watno disguise about the gut fl was double twisted, old, 

 worn, frayed and unstained. Vet I saw from the high bank, 

 With the forenoon sun glaring upon the water, the dainty 



liltlo fish of 111b. swiftly shoot upward from behind the 

 stone where she lay, and, regardless of the white, stringy- 

 looking gut wabbling over her nose, take down the quiet 

 commonplace teal-drake wing. 



" As regards trout fishing, the matter is a much more diffi- 

 cult one lo settle, if it ever will be settled, which I doubt. 

 Mr. Brander prelers opaque gut, while ' Cornubian' argues 

 in favor of tne unstained material, because it "is far less 

 observable in the water than the stained," having tested it on 

 theUsk; and, iu Thi Field of the llHh, Mr. Francis lends 

 the weight of his wide experience in upholding this clear gut 

 theory. I cannot, in the limits of a letter, enter fully into 

 the discussion here opened up. I trust others will give the 

 results of their experience : allow me lo state mine." 



" Your correspondents, in their strictures against the use of 

 stained gut, fall into the common error of trying to prove 

 too much. Granting, for a moment, that unstained gut, as 

 a general ride, is superior to the dyed material, I would ask : 

 Are there no exceptional cases in which the bitter is not only 

 preferable but absolutely necessary if you want to kill? 1 

 hold there are. And these instances are so numerous and 

 critical that 1 am constrained, in the absence of further 

 proof, toreducctheni all to one broad, general rule, universal 

 in its application and true in all circumstances. In every 

 condition of water, weather and sky, whether clear or dis- 

 colored, Still or broken; calm, wet or windy; bright or dull, 

 stained gut is an essential. This rule, however is constantly 

 violated by indiscreet anglers. Some stain their gut over- 

 strenglh; others, the great majority, use colors which, when 

 the gut is drawn through the water, must convince the astute 

 trout that the deception is too 'thin.' The great thing to 

 be aimed at is to get a dye which will harmonize with that 

 dull grayish-blue fight which floats between sky and water 

 when seen from the trout's point of view. Opaque gut can- 

 not give you this, still less can clear gut. Accordingly, we 

 must resort to staining. Logwood, copperas, coffee and tea, 

 however skillfully combined, produce too strong a dye. 

 After long experience 1 have come lo the conclusion ihst, 

 to obtain that light gray slate shade, a mixture of walnut and 

 ink, well diluted, is about the nearest approach one can make 

 in the present state of matters. Mr. Francis' test of stained 

 gut, by placing it in a large glass globe filled with water, 

 is not to the point. The conditions here are not the same as 

 in a river, with its rapid current, its swirls and eddies, its 

 combination of shade, sunshine, and shadow which trees 

 and hills and passing clouds help to deepen or soften — these 

 and many other circumstances of river life render the com- 

 parison one sided and the test fallacious. 



" In fishing a stretch of not over-deep fly water, you observe 

 an exceptionally heavy trout leisurely feeding in mid-channel. 

 The sun is not over bright, the current is not too swift, but 

 nicely broken ; an odd fly is only coming down now and 

 again, just serving to whet his appetite and disarm his sus- 

 picion ; the cast is not a long one, and you are eager to draw 

 blood. The case is now on its trial — stained vs. unstained 

 gut. What will the verdict be?" 



We will continue this subject from The, Field and other 

 papers, and would invite our correspondents to give their 

 views. It will be seen that there are two questions at issue — 

 the best color, and the dye which does not impair the strength 

 of the gut. 



PIKE FISHING THROUGH THE IQB: 



Lhwiston, Me., Jan. 1. 

 Editor Forest and iSlrmm: 



Among the winter sports of the people of our State there 

 is none more vigorous nor exciting than that of taking the 

 pike, or pickerel as we call if, through the ice. It is one of 

 those sports which have an exhilarating effect upon the hu- 

 man system, and instead of faiigue one feels refreshed the 

 day after. 



Pickerel bite well after the ponds have just frozen over, 

 and the fishermen like to get on the ice about as soon as it 

 will bear their weight. Talk with an incorrigible angler for 

 half an hour and you will generally find him full of old 

 chimney corner superstitious and traditions of the forest aud 

 stream. One of the current beliefs is that the first time a 

 green hand goes out he is hound to have good luck. Another 

 tradition is that pickerel sometimes swim or scoot on a down 

 grade, and that when they have their nostn pointed toward 

 the bottom, you can't catch one, if your piikerd biit were 

 peaches and cream. 



The piscatorial belief in Ihe influence of Ihe signr of the 

 almanac is profound. And your sly old fisherman generally 

 consults his almauac before he catches his bait. " When the 

 signs are in the belly they'll bite well every time. 1 don't 

 know what the meaning of it is, but I s'posti they're hungry," 

 said a yeteran whom we consulted on the zodiaud question. 

 Fish will not bite well when they are spawning. Tbeirtnauy 

 traits afford a wide range of study. "Fish are die tdfill con- 

 trary critters," is the way ihe aforesaid veteran bums up his 

 philosophy. 



When tne pickerel fisher finds the signs and the weather 

 ight, he takes his dip-net. and goes down to the river 

 after live minnows for bail. These foolish little fish are at- 

 tracted into the tine meshes by meal liberally fed to ihera. 

 The pickerel doesn't relish dead food, and must be caught 

 with live bait. The fun of pickerel fishing h in your ability 

 to have so many strings a-going at once. Twenty-five is a 

 fair number, although two men can fish with 40. 



Cutting ihe holes through the ice 5b fuc, if you have, u 

 sharp chisel and the ice isu't over lour inches thick ; but 

 when you have two feet of solid freeze under you, and all 

 old axe with which to penetrate it, it's more like business. 

 Two men generally go together, and one Bats the sticks and 

 awanges the lines while the Other mite the holes. The man 

 ffhrj sets the lines first gels the bottom and adjusts his bait 

 about two feet above it — more or less, perhaps, according to 

 his own idea of the correct thing. The lines are attached to 

 poles set in the ice at au angle of about 15 degrees, over the 

 boles. Each line is also loop. d over a bob screwed loosely 

 on the pole, so that when a pickerel bites and darts oil', the 

 bob is turned and forms across with the longer stick, thus 

 signaling to the fisherman. 



One of the ways of Ihe pickerel is to chew bis bait a little 

 while, and this is in favor or his catcher. When ihe pick- 

 erel begin to bite before the lires are all set, as they fre- 

 quently do, the excitement is at its pitch. " There goes 

 one 1" shouts one man. " There's another 1" suouts his chum, 

 dropping his axe and running to pull him up; and when the 

 25 or 40 lines are all in aud are pulling sharp, who then 

 wouldn't be a pickerel fisher f Lew is. 



MAINE LOBSTER CI.XT 1 1BB. 



WRITING to Mr. E. M. Stilwell. one of the Maine Commission- 

 ers of Fisheries and Game, Professor Spencer E. Baird Rays : 

 "There iu a Very great promise of success in cultivating lobsters- 

 on a largo scale by inclosing them in small salt water bays, where 

 there is a free circulation of water, and the egress of tho lobsters 

 can bo prevented by grating or netting. They can ho fed, as I un- 

 derstand, very largely upon clams, aud will not only grow very 

 rapidly under such circumstances, but carry on the propagation 

 of the young. The young can either be kept iutbe inoiosure or 

 go out to sea and increase the supply in the vicinity. This ir, by 

 fai. t lie most feasible way of solving the problem iu regard to the 

 depletion of lobsters along the coast of Maine and the Provinces, 

 la there any provision iu the fishery lawB of Maine by which an in- 

 dividual undertaking this work can prevent unauthorized persons 

 from going in aud reaping the benefit when tho individual culti- 

 vator actually owns or leases the adjacent shore? Of course no 

 man will ho willing to go into the business unless he can bo pro- 

 tected, and if there is uo provision in Maine; as there is in Massa- 

 chusetts, by which the Fish Commissioners can tease a pond to 

 particular 'individuals for the purpose of propagating fish and se- 

 enre to them thereby exclusive rights in the waters, it would be 

 well to have such a provision, with tho understanding that it is to 

 apply to salt waters as well as to fresh. If the experiment proves 

 as successful as I confidently anticipate and believe it will be, it 

 will add enormously to the resources of tho State, as there are 

 hundreds of localities where such pondscouldbe established to tho 

 best advantage. Of course I suggest no interference with high 

 seas navigation." 



TROUT AND SALMON IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



Raletoh, N. 0., Dec. 22, 1881. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



During last September I captured two specimens of saloionidiv. 

 in Mill Creek, McDowell county, differing from the brook trout, 

 Saihio fonlinaUs. I recently forwarded them to Prof. Baird, and 

 I have received from him to-day the following letter: " Wash- 

 ington, D. C, Dec. 21, 1S81: Dear Sir— Dr. Bean reports that of 

 the two specimens sent bv vou on this 24th of November, tha 

 small one of T l A inches is tlie land-locked salmon, and the one of 

 8 iuchee is the California front. Satruo iridia. Yours truly, Spen- 

 cer P. Baird." 



The above specimens are ot the planting of 1880, and it affords 

 meg-rest pleasure to record the fact that tbeyaie flourishing in 

 North Carolina. Mill Creek contains but few brook trout, but is 

 of the same pore character of moat of the head streams of 'West- 

 ern Carolina. Over two hundred land-locked salmon were taken 

 iu John's River, Burke county, the past spring, but most all were 

 returned to the water alive from the traps, and the latter (18 in 

 number) torn out aud destroyed by influential citizens by authority 

 of law. S. G. Won™, Sun't Fisheries. 



STICLKEBACK BEEEDPNG.-Cineiimati, O.— To articles which 

 have been published ou the stickleback 1 am able to add tho 

 following : A water temperature of 60 to 70 degrees P. seems to be 

 the most favorable during breeding time. After the female has 

 deposited the eggs and left Ihe nest the male chases her away from 

 the nest and enters it himself, remaining in it from two to three 

 minutes. After this he closes tho hole out of which he aud the 

 female left the nest and takes his position before tho entrance, 

 fanning the eggs day and night, only leaving thein to take a little 

 food, lie lakes the eggs out of the nest from time to time to assort 

 them, carrying away the bad ones aud placing the good ones hack 

 iuthonestl This is done some days four times. The number of 

 eggs in oue deposit of a female is from 3u to 40, and about live 

 -tooi deposits are made into different nests iu intervals of about a 

 week. Only two-thirds of them, however, become young fish. 

 Considering that one male takes the eggs of four to five females in 

 one nest, and after these are hatched goes to housekeeping agaiu 

 until the hot weather approaches, he can get up a pretty numerous 

 family in one season. Sticklebacks are ■:. intelligent fish. The 

 first s'ticklebaoK that eugaged iu nest building in one of our aqua- 

 ria had, having the rirst pick, used np idl the best building material, 

 and when he had completed building hardly any was left, A second 

 one. which had also commenced building, had no other chance to 



ill,!;, rial than bv stealing it from tho nest of the other. To 

 that effect he made himself appear too busy to notice anything 

 elhc than his own affairs. But as soon as the other stickleback 

 left his nest to "make improvements on it" or to "go comtiug" 

 to the other end of the tank, he sneaked through the cavity of the 

 rockery— taking advantage of every stone or plant to bide behind 

 and keeping close to the bottom— to the other one's neat. Hero no 

 time was lost ; with a good mouthful of building -material he re- 

 turned just as carefully over the same road to his own nest, which 

 was one-third time as fur as if he had used the straight road. Once 

 he was caught iu the act of stealing and a fearful tight followed, 

 which lasted about five inhiutcs,".uud was finally decided by the 

 females, who took part for the thief and drove the other back to 

 his asHte. The twelfth day after the eggs are deposited tho young 

 fish make their appearance. The old ones should now be taken 

 iiwny from them, as tlicv will eat them, and placed m auother 

 aquariam, well stocked "with plants. About half an hour after in- 

 troduction m then- new home they commence to build a new nest ; 

 but no* not so much pains are taken in constructing it. Perhaps 

 that iu higher temperature the eggs would need less protection. 

 -.nuts given by other authors we find stated " that stickle- 

 backs always place their nests where the sun can strike them." 

 We have just found the contrary. Our experiments Bxtend over 

 three seasons ; during that time we have raised hundreds of young 

 sticklebacks, ot which some are yet alive, now being one year old. 



— Hl.iiO MimEKTT. 



AllEVUCAN CARP IN SCOTLAND.— Douglas Gall, near Dal- 

 beattie, Scotland, Deo. Mi.-Fddor Forest and Stream .- You will 

 he pleased to hear that the leather carp which Professor Baird so 

 kindly sent to the care of Mr. E. G. Blackford, New York, for mo, 

 : oe safely lauded iu this country and are now swimming about in a 

 large tank inside the hatching-house of the Solwaj Fishery, where 

 they will ha- 



made for them nntnd 





ure of the water here 



varies from 3S to on dog 







too cold for them. I fea 





mystery nbtHit carrying 









, .; ''ScytbiS " a i 



ght through thus- 



e fearful gale.-., Weduea- 



.l:iv, NOV, 23, On '.Mi 



blew with hnr 



•icane force and we had 



to ''heave-to for 33 ho 



rs: the wh« '-In 



ise was stove-iu, and one 



of the boats carried a\ 



-r ... roi - iii" d 



,-rk, knocking down the 



ehituuev-staek of tha d 





lraeamBn were, disabled. 



one ba.ing two ribs bro 





illy cut about the head, 



and tlie other two lamas 



. let white all 



thia was going oil the 



carp behaved extremely 



well I gave tliei 



i some fresh water four 



times during the voyage 



, aud aerated rh 



- water twice daily; also 



gave them a little oatmt 



s.l and boiled pot 







A. W, AciusrEAO. 





In 'i'. .to. Hei . 



netebo that almost everj body wants. 



" Vanitt FoJU," the well-known smoking tobaceo rnami- 

 . d by Messrs. Win. S. Kimball & Co., Rochester, N. 

 1*., maintains its superiority over all other brands. It is of 

 uniform excellence, and the smoker can always count on 

 finding his "Vanity Fair" just right. There are several 

 different brands, giving grades of strength, to suit the vary- 

 ing tastes of those who use the weed. The "Vanity Fair" 

 has won lots of prizes at expositions, and deserves many 

 more. 



