FISH AND FISHING. 



43 



yards long and plunged into the creek; 

 while the bear, probably more astonished 

 and worse scared than Ame, turned several 

 back summersaults and scurried off 

 through the brush as if Satan were after 

 him. 



Ame said that if I ever told anyone how 

 badly he was frightened he would shoot 

 me, but as he is now in Dawson I feel safe 

 in making the matter public. 



C. E. Oliver. 



P. S. — My fish got away. 



WILL STOCK MASSACHUSETTS WATERS. 



At a meeting of local sportsmen held 

 here last week, an organization was formed 

 which is to be known as the Greenfield 

 Sportsmen's Club. It was voted to buy the 

 shooting house and traps of the Rod and 

 Gun Club, which will probably disband and 

 join the new club. The object of the club 

 is to protect and propagate game, hold 

 match shoots, and promote social inter- 

 course among sportsmen. A petition has 

 been presented the representative from this 

 district to secure Belgian hares, and sev- 

 eral pairs of Mongolian pheasants have 

 been liberated in this vicinity by members 

 of the club and by the State agent. A pe- 

 tition will also be presented to the fish and 

 game commissioners for trout, fry and fin- 

 gerlings, to stock the local brooks. Fish 

 and game have become much depleted here 

 in the past few years, the gray squirrel and 

 ruffed grouse having disappeared in an al- 

 most unexplainable way. It is hoped that 

 with the new law, now in effect, prohibit- 

 ing the taking of trout less than 6 inches 

 in length, and the effort which will be made 

 to put a bill through the Legislature pro- 

 viding for a bounty on foxes, fishing and 

 hunting may be much improved. 



The new organization starts off with 56 

 members, and as the charter is to be kept 

 open one month, many more are ex- 

 pected to join. Much enthusiasm is shown 

 among the members and the club has every 

 promise of a successful career. 



There has also been a sportsmen's club 

 organized at Amherst, 18 miles distant, 

 which is doing good work for the promo- 

 tion of fishing and hunting. 



Geo. W. Plumb, Greenfield, Mass. 



BRISTOL ROD STANDS THE TEST. 

 I received the steel rod from the Hor- 

 ton Manufacturing Co. in quick time and 

 O. K. The makers deserve great praise for 

 the neat and secure manner in which 

 they ship their goods. The rod is a beau- 

 ty. I had never before handled one of 

 their bass rods. Had always refrained 

 from buying a steel rod, as other styles I 

 had found too whippy for my use. The 

 No. 4 bass rod is just what I wanted. I 

 tried it for fly casting, too, and can put a 



longer line away with it than with- any 

 other rod I own. I tried it on bass last 

 week and caught on it 3 small mouths, 5 

 pounds, 4 pounds and 3^2 pounds. This was 

 a good test of the rod, and it certainly 

 surpassed my expectations. With any kind 

 of fair play no one need ever apprehend 

 a smash if he uses this rod. With the big- 

 gest bass at one time of the fight I had to 

 absolutely stop him, or have him among 

 some bad snags-. He was stopped, but I 

 think the strain necessary to do the stop- 

 ping would have put a set into almost any 

 other kind of rod I know of. The Bristol 

 is all right, and Recreation is all right, 

 too. If it hadn't been for Recreation I 

 should never have had the rod. Accept 

 my sincere thanks. 



J. J. Dodds, East Lynne, Conn. 



THE AMERICAN MERGANSER AS A 

 FISH HOG. 



On page 473, December Recreation, is 

 an article that is ridiculed by a reader and 

 the editor also takes a crack at it. I think 

 I can beat it, and although I am liable 

 to criticism, I can furnish proof. The 

 article referred to recites the story of a 

 duck being killed that had swallowed a 

 9 inch bass, a warning, by the way, to all 

 fish hogs. 



March 7, 1898, a neighbor shot a female 

 American merganser that had in her throat 

 and gullet a shiner 11 inches long, and 

 the bird was flying when shot. The tail 

 of the fish stuck out of the bird's mouth, 

 and the fish had evidently just been cap- 

 tured. My father was present and saw 

 the duck shot and the fish taken from the 

 throat of the bird. 



February 22, 1899, I killed a male of the 

 same species, at the same place along the 

 Cuyahoga river, that had an 8 inch sucker 

 in his possession. The head of the fish 

 was partially digested and the body lay 

 in the bird's throat awaiting its turn. This 

 bird was also flying when shot. 



W. B. Haynes, Akron, O. 



THE WINNEBAGO FISH WAR. 



The fish war on Lake Winnebago has again 

 reached a stage of activity in which the use of 

 firearms reveals the temper of the thieves. The 

 game wardens have been watching the lake closely 

 of late, and during the week succeeded in confis- 

 cating 30 barrels of pike and thousands of feet of 

 nets. This so exasperated the offending fisher- 

 men that in one instance they fired on the 

 wardens from cover, but happily without result. 

 The wardens have in turn become angry, and 

 they are seeking authority to use firearms also. 

 This is a serious state of things, that demands 

 the attention of chiefs of police and sheriffs in 

 all the official bailiwicks which abut on the lake. 



Some years _ ago the oyster dredgers of Chesa- 

 peake bay objected to the Maryland regulations 

 in regard to the taking of oysters and chose to 

 defy them to the extent not only of stealing the 



