454 



RECREATION. 



DENY THE CHARGE. 

 Harry Hake, Louis A. Ireton and I. N. Miller 

 have just returned from a fishing and hunting 

 trip to Cass lake and Turtle creek, in Northern 

 Minnesota. They report one catch of 50 bass in 

 48 minutes, and 8 muskalonge in 2 hours. In 2 

 day's shooting over the marshes they bagged 400 

 ducks, while 13 deer and 5 moose passed within 

 sight of the camp in 11 hours. — Cincinnati Post. 



Regarding the truth of this report are 

 the following letters : 



I am of the opinion that my friend and 

 I are being made the subject of a practical 

 joke. We have just returned from a 

 trip to Northern Minnesota where we en- 

 joyed excellent fishing, but no duck shoot- 

 ing worth mentioning. In fact, we were 

 not able to kill enough for camp use, much 

 less any such number as mentioned in your 

 letter. I should indeed be ashamed of 

 such a record as your information credits 

 us with. If such were true the game would 

 necessarily spoil or be sold in the market, 

 and no gun of mine shall ever destroy any 

 of the wild animals or wild fowl for either 

 purpose. I may well add as much for my 

 friend, Mr. Harry Hake, who was with 

 me. 



We enjoyed excellent muskalonge fish- 

 ing in the Itasca lake region of Northern 

 Minnesota, on the line of the Great North- 

 ern Railroad. We took as high as 13 fish 

 per boat a day, with 2 rods to the boat, 

 and the fish ranged in size from 5 to 18 

 pounds each. All that were not needed 

 for use in camp were returned to the 

 water to grow larger, perpetuate the spe- 

 cies and furnish sport for some other dis- 

 ciple of Walton. The bass fishing was 

 exceptionally good. We landed several 

 weighing s J A to 5^2 pounds. 



I trust your magazine will continue to be 

 devoted to the preservation of the birds, 

 game and fishes of North America. 



Louis A. Ireton, Cincinnati, Ohio. 



Your information is not correct. Two 

 friends and I recently made a trip to Min- 

 nesota and were there 3 weeks. Ducks 

 were scarce, and we did not kill over a 

 dozen all told. Two of us caught 8 mus- 

 kalonge in one day, the largest weighing 

 12 pounds. As bass m and 'longe are not 

 common in the same waters, we did not 

 catch any bass the same days we caught 

 muskalonge. Bass, however, are plenti- 

 ful, and one can catch all he can make 

 use of, weighing 3 to 5 pounds each. Few 

 are caught weighing less than 3 pounds. 

 Two years ago, when I tried to make a 

 bass record, I caught 50 good sized ones 

 in 48 minutes by the watch. It is strange 

 that in 2 lakes in Minnesota, only l /2 mile 

 apart, one can catch nothing but muska- 

 longe in one of them, while apparently the 

 other will have no muskalonge, but bass, 

 pickerel, and other varieties are plentiful. 



Grouse are plentiful in Minnesota this 

 year, and one man can easily kill 50 a day 

 if he had a well trained dog. 



I. N. Miller, Cincinnati, Ohio. 



I am glad to learn you returned most of 

 your muskalonge to the water. If I were 

 you, I would never fish for a record, for 

 muskalonge, bass or any other fish. That 

 kind of work is only indulged in nowa- 

 days by men who do not read or think, 

 and who do not care to be classed as true 

 sportsmen. — Editor. 



SALMON TROUT. 



It has been my intention since reading 

 your note at the bottom of my article on 

 salmon fishing in Charleston lake, in the 

 September, 1902, issue of Recreation, to 

 obtain and give the correct names of the 

 fish contained in the lake ; and as the sal- 

 mon-trout fishing season is now open, it 

 may be of interest to your readers at this 

 time. The Department of Marine and 

 Fisheries, at Ottawa, has annually depos- 

 ited salmon-trout fry in Charleston for 

 some years and at different times in Big 

 Rideau lake. These" fish are somewhat 

 different in color and shape from the in- 

 digenous variety. I asked F. Gourdeau, 

 Deputy Minister of Marine and Fisheries, 

 tc jgive me the names of both varieties ; 

 also of other fishes in these lakes. His 

 reply is as follows : 



"The common and scientific names of 

 the fish deposited in Charleston lake, On- 

 tario, are, (a) salmon-trout, great lake 

 trout, gray trout and Mackinaw trout; (b) 

 Salvelinus namaycush, Cristivomer nam- 

 aycush (Walbaum). The introduced vari- 

 ety and the variety indigenous to Charles- 

 ton lake bear the same specific name, and 

 have never been regarded as distinct spe- 

 cies. 



"The scientific names of small mouth 

 black bass, large mouth black bass, pike, 

 pickerel and those of the salmon and sal- 

 mon-trout are : Small mouth black bass, 

 Micropterus dolomieu (Lacepede) ; large 

 mouth black bass, Micropterus salmoides 

 (Lacepede) ; common pike, Esox lucius — 

 Lucius lucius (Linnaeus) ; pickerel, or dore, 

 Stizostedeon vitreum (Jordan and Gilbert) 

 — Lucioperca Americana (Cuv. and VaL). 

 In some localities fishes of the pike genus 

 (Esox) are called pickerel." 



There are many lakes in the Rideau, 

 Beverly and Charleston chain in which sal- 

 mon-trout are caught in large numbers. 

 The record weight of salmon-trout for 

 1902 for Devil lake, one of the Rideau 

 group, was 30 pounds, and for Red Horse, 

 adjoining Charleston lake, 25 pounds. Un- 

 der the careful protection of the fishery 

 overseer and local fish and game associa- 

 tion the fishing is getting better each year. 



