FISH AND FISHING, 



125 



istic leap, splash and run. The fish is 

 gradually brought alongside after the boat 

 is at the shore. The gaffsman strikes and 

 the quarry is landed. W. E. Bramel. 



FISH SUFFER LITTLE. 



I have fished ever since I can remember, 

 without thinking how much suffering is 

 caused by using live bait. Last summer, as 

 I was going with a bucket of minnows to 

 fish, a man spoke to me and showed me so 

 plainly the suffering it would cause that 

 when I got to the river I emptied my 

 bucket and said I would never again use 

 live bait. Would it be possible for the 

 S. P. C. A. to stop the use of live 

 bait ? Why have they not done so ? 



Persons making their own flies will find 

 that the hair of a ground hog, or wood- 

 chuck, as they are called, is excellent to use 

 instead of feathers. In can be colored, if de- 

 sired. 



Another thing I have used with success 

 is a pork rind minnow. Catch a live min- 

 now, skin it carefully by splitting- down 

 the underside, stretch the skin carefully 

 over the pork rind and you will have a 

 minnow that will fool any fish, though it 

 takes lots of pains to make one nicely. This 

 is a good thing, especially for crappies. 



John A. Cooper, Delaware, unio. 



You are mistaken in thinking it cruel 

 to hook a minnow, a frog or a fish. It 

 has been clearly demonstrated by scientists 

 that these lower orders have little sense of 

 pain. There are hundreds of authentic rec- 

 ords of fish having been hooked; having 

 broken the line or leader; and after a 

 few minutes or a few hours the same fish 

 having taken another bait or fly ; and 

 when taken from the water the first hook 

 has been found firmly imbedded in the iaw 

 with the piece of line or leader attached. 

 There is one case on record of a perch hav- 

 ing been hooked, and of the hook having 

 passed through its eye. When the fish 

 was taken from the hook the eye was pulled 

 out and hung on the hook, the fish, which 

 was small and worthless, being returned to 

 the water. The angler, realizing that this 

 would probably make a good bait, cast 

 again with no other bait than the perch's 

 eye. Within a few minutes he had a bite, 

 pulled up and landed the one-eyed perch 

 he had lately taken from his own hook. 

 This proves conclusively that this fish felt 

 little or no pain at the loss of an eye. 

 Nearly all old anglers have had similar ex- 

 periences. — Editor. 



muskalonge fry at a fair price. What 

 would you consider a fair price per 1,000, 

 delivered. I should have to start on a 

 limited scale. 



H. R. Field, Indian River, Mich. 



ANSWER. 



The New York State Fish Commission 

 has for some years been hatching muska- 

 longe in large numbers at Chautauqua lake. 

 The Wisconsin Fish Commission has also 

 done something with the muskalonge. As the 

 various State Fish Commissions are in the 

 habit of furnishing fry and eggs to one an- 

 other and to people of their respective 

 States who wish to stock private or semi- 

 public waters, it is not certain but they will 

 be able to fully supply the demand. 

 Whether a private hatchery would prove a 

 financial success is a question. However, 

 the expense of equipping and operating 

 such a hatchery would not be great and the 

 experiment is well worth trying. 



Information regarding the muskalonge 

 may be found in the following : The vari- 

 ous recent reports of the New York Fish 

 Commission; report of the Wisconsin Fish 

 Commission for 1899-1900; The Fish Cul- 

 tural Manual, published by the U. S. Fish 

 Commission, which may be obtained by 

 applying to your Congressman ; and "Notes 

 on the Fishes of Lake Chautauqua," which 

 may be had by addressing the U. S. Fish 

 Commissioner, at Washington. — Editor. 



MUSKALONGE HATCHING. 

 As I intend to start a muskalonge hatch- 

 ery here, if it is possible, I should con- 

 sider it a favor if you would tell me what 

 you think my chances would be for selling 



WHAT WILL THESE TROUT TAKE? 



The last 2 springs I have succeeded in 

 taking from a small lake in Delaware 

 county, this State, brook trout weighing 

 one to 2 l / 2 pounds each. While this fact 

 may not be unusual, the circumstances con- 

 nected with trout fishing at this particular 

 place are. The ice leaves, or melts, about the 

 time the trout season opens, and for a week 

 or less thereafter trout may be caught with 

 bait. After that time no one has succeeded 

 in capturing more than one small 

 trout, and then only occasionally. After a 

 month, however, none are caught. An- 

 glers have tried numberless schemes to 

 take trout during the later season, but have 

 not succeeded. Can you or some of the 

 readers of your magazine suggest some 

 way to overcome this difficulty? When I 

 was there last spring the natives were dis- 

 cussing the feasibility of stocking the lake 

 with bass. That, in my opinion, would 

 mean extermination of the trout. If some 

 means could be found for catching the 

 trout later in the season, probably no such 

 plan would be carried out. 



A. D. D., Binghamton, N. Y. 



STOCK WITH NATIVE FISH. 



Our Fish and Game Club wishes to re- 

 stock a small inland pond near here, having 



