218 



RECREATION, 



REPLY TO MR. COVERT. 



T. F. Covert, Beaver Falls, Pa., asks 

 the cause of the tapping sound in the drift. 

 My opinion is there were several German 

 carp feeding under that drift. He says 

 the water was shallow about the drift, 

 which is contrary to my observation in 

 similar cases, but I have seen carp feeding 

 in shallow water. The drift would hide 

 them. 



In September, 1898, a friend and I were 

 fishing for bass on Fall creek, and heard 

 similar tapping. It came from an old 

 stump below and on the opposite side of 

 the creek. We moved down to a sand bar 

 about 60 feet from the stump and were 

 quiet a while. As long as we remained 

 out of sight the tapping continued. 

 As soon as we would rise we would 

 see a wave from the stump, caused by Mr. 

 Carp moving to deep water. I am told the 

 noise is caused by the carp sucking the 

 moss or any eatable it may find on the 

 stump. The carp has a sucker mouth and 

 will make this noise when caught, by clos- 

 ing and opening its mouth. The moving 

 of the drift was caused by the carp's tail 

 striking it. 



Last fall, my friend and I went to Lick 

 creek to catch bullheads and sunfish. We 

 came to a drift in the afternoon. I stepped 

 out on a big elm that had fallen across the 

 creek. We were having a great run of 

 bullheads, when right under me and not 

 3 feet from me I saw the drift move. At 

 first I supposed it was a small turtle that 

 was causing it to move, but as the drift 

 continued to move at intervals of 2 or 3 

 minutes I decided that it was a carp, I 

 told my partner to drop him a line. No 

 sooner had the line dropped than a big 

 carp snapped it. 



We had willow sprouts for rods and a 

 short line. The fun was fast and lasted 

 only a short time. The carp was too heavy 

 for us to lift on the bank and soon broke 

 loose. By this I do not intend to say the 

 carp is a bass and will snap up any bait that 

 suits his fancy. I have fished for him days 

 without landing one. That carp was feed- 

 ing and the worm dropped in the right 

 place. 



L. E. M., Warrington, Ind, 



In this oart of the country tapping 

 sounds similar to those described by Mr. 

 Covert are made by fish belonging to the 

 sucker family. They are here called quill- 

 backs. That is probably only a local name. 

 They frequent deep, quiet pools, especially 

 such as are covered with light drift. They 

 appear to feed wholly on vegetable matter, 

 such as moss and scum. Weed and grass 

 seeds that lodge in drift are, when they be- 

 gin to sprout, also eaten by these fish. 



Quillbacks are flat and thin, as bony as 



shad, and never weigh over 2 or 3 pounds. 

 In color they are silver white, the dorsal 

 fin is 3 to 4 inches long, and the mouth 

 is small. Underneath, the body is a per- 

 fectly straight line from mouth to tail, but 

 the back is greatly rounded. They are not 

 considered food fish, and can not be caught 

 with hook and line. They may, however, 

 be taken by spearing. 



G.._L. Martin, Marshalltown, la. 



Replying to Mr. Covert : While fishing 

 on Boguechith creek, Mississippi, I saw 

 and heard the same thing he writes of. I 

 made a close investigation and found that 

 the noise was caused by a small species of 

 turtle that lives in our creeks and lakes 

 down here. Like the buffalo fish, these 

 turtles deposit their eggs on driftwood, 

 bark and chips. While doing so they 

 strike the under side of their bodies against 

 the drift and that causes the knocking 

 sound. They all have a hard strip of shell 

 across their body that hits the drift while 

 depositing their eggs. The eggs are hatched 

 by the sun at some future time. The 

 eggs adhere tightly to the driftwood and 

 are about the size of No. 6 shot 



W. E. Davidson, Jackson, Miss. 



In answer to T. F. Covert's inquiry in 

 March Recreation would say that the 

 peculiar sound and motion which he noticed 

 in floating debris was caused by suckers, 

 buffalo fish, carp or other fish having sucker 

 mouths. The noise is made while they 

 are feeding, and their movements, of 

 course, disturb floating objects. If Mr. 

 Covert will watch goldfish in an aquarium 

 while they are taking moss, etc., from 

 stones or the sides of the tank, he will see 

 how the sound is made. 



M. A. Stempel, Macedonia, la. 



A HUGE WHAT? 



Editor Recreation: L y nn > Mass " 



One summer afternoon about 10 years 

 ago I was sailing along the shores of Na- 

 hant with Mr. Stephen Woodward, Dr. 

 Warren and his niece, all of Lynn, Mass., 

 Mr. Cobb, Superintendent of Chestnut Hill 

 crematory, Boston, Mass., and a man 

 named Mr. Charles, I was acting as skip- 

 per of the boat. 



We were passing a weir on the Nahant 

 shore when an unusual commotion in the 

 water attracted our attention. It was ap- 

 parently caused by some kind of a fish. I 

 sailed the boat as close to the weir as the 

 guy ropes would permit, then tacked and 

 sailed past the weir 3 times, the fish in 

 sight all the time. Some of the party were 

 timid and wished to go away and as there 

 was nothing to be gained by a further 

 scrutiny we went away, leaving the fish still 

 swimming about in the weir. He was at 



