JtLHCff 3, 1883. f 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



91 



and lie goes home with a light heart and a firm step to show 

 his mother how successful he has been. Iler evident grati- 

 fication at his success, her pride in his growing manhood 

 and her praises of bis skill and prowess fill his heart once 

 more with filial love and determination to he and do some- 

 thing every clay that shall be worthy the praise of so good a. 

 mother 



Seventy years or more later, you see him an aged patriarch, 

 after having fought life's battles manfully, with his rod and 

 line, following the same meandering brook with his heart 

 still full of hope and expectation that each new cast will 

 bring him some new conquest, and still dreaming that "the 

 superb sport of to-day will be excelled by the grander sport 

 of to-morrow. " And now he sings one of his favorite songs: 

 "tv'e angled in many waters 



On many a summer's day, 

 In many a murmuring' river, 



By many a tangled way; 

 Bui the voice of that brook has never 



Lost its pathos and charm for me. 

 As it ripples and runs forever 



To its grave in the mighty sea." 

 Should you see and hear him while his silvered hair was 

 covered from sight, you would ask, "What boy is that?" and 

 when told thai it was the same boy who, seventy years be- 

 fore, swallowed the sucker bone, you might at once compare 

 him with old Mr. Skinflint anil lion. Moneybags, and well 

 wonder how it could be. Look deep down into his inner- 

 most heart and see the golden memories of a life well spent 

 in communication with nature and thus with nature's God. 

 His life has been one long fishing trip after knowledge — for 

 the hidden secrets of nature, for happiness for himself, his 

 loved ones, his friends, aud for humanity, and not for power 

 or gold. His stalwart form. Ids pure heart, and his still 

 brilliant mind are his best possessions. Would you have him 

 barter them for the gold he might have made without earn- 

 ing from those who have earned, without getting it, the 

 shrunken and shriveled body, the dwarfed mind, the impure 

 heart and stricken or hardened conscience of the money-get- 

 ter? No. You may value the gold, perhaps, for more than 

 its worth, but you would nevertake it at such a cost. 



FISHING AT HORTON'S POINT. 



iUSED to go down to the east end of Long Island (or 

 rather, what would be the east end if a good piece were 

 cut off), and when it was possible to get out on the Sound 

 at Horton's Point, you might count on finding subscriber 

 out among the fishermen. Sometimes on a very pleasant, 

 calm day the change of tide, woidd bring with it a heavy 

 swell and an off shore wind: then you might count on get- 

 ting all the work you wanted in rowing ashore, and often a 

 spill in the surf as'you made a landing. 



One day Fred. R and I were out in a miserable flat- 

 bottomed* scow that would go only one .way at a time, and 

 that always the wrong way. We fished close in shore and 

 got a few sea bass, but found that by getting further out we 

 could do "better, so we kept gradually working further off 

 shore until it got pretty weB on in the afternoon. The 

 breeze was freshening and the water rising, but the fish were 

 doing their prettiest, and we did hate awfully to quit. 

 Finally I said, when I got my next fish we would give.up. 

 That time was not long in coming, for 1 soon got the twitch 

 that sounds "to action?' and on hauling up found I had on 

 a skate about twenty inches long and a' dogfish nearly three 

 feet long. "Well, there was a little fun about that time. I 

 was too old a fisherman to think of losing either fish, though 

 one of them was good for nothing, hut it required all my 

 strength and skill to save both. My plan was soon laid, and 

 I hauled in the dogfish, got him by the tail, took out the 

 hook, then let the skate play on a taut line while I killed the 

 dogfish — no easy thing to do, by the way — then the skate 

 was pulled aboard and added to our mess. 



We were only about a mile from shore, but that mile was 

 the longest I ever traveled on water. The boat bounced 

 around and turned wrong end _ foremost; got sideways and 

 tried hard to get on top of us; in fact, we did begin to think 

 she could sail better that way, but how to get her turned 

 over, and we on top, was the difficult problem, and it was 

 decided that, as we came out in the boat, she should carry us 

 back in the same way. And she did, too: but when we got 

 ashore we could hardly crawl up the bluff, so completely 

 " tuckered out " were we: but our baskets were well filled, 

 and that settled all claims. T. R., Jr. 



Angling and Politics. — It is well known that President 

 Arthur is an enthusiastic and skillful angler. Mr. George 

 Dawson, of the Albany ffloemng Journal, author of "The 

 Pleasures of Angling,'' and one of the veterans of the craft, 

 is an intimate friend of President Arthur. Some years ago, 

 when the latter caught the fifty-pound salmon, which will 

 always make his name famous on the piscatorial roll of fame, 

 Mr. Dawson wrote to us of the great pleasure it, would have 

 given him, had he himself brought the big fish to gaff, but 

 adding that as the gratification had been denied him, there 

 was no other man in the world whom he would rather have 

 catch the fish than his friend and fellow angler, Chester A. 

 Arthur. We were reminded of this letter by seeing in the 

 Albany Journal, the other day, some comments by Mr. Daw- 

 son on President Arthur's recent appointment of General D. 

 B. Warner, of Ohio, to the office of Consul at St. John, JNew 

 Brunswick, a position which he formerly held. "Although 

 blessed with but one arm. " says Mr. Dawson, ' 'General War- 

 ner can cast a fly and kill a salmon as deftly as any fully 

 equipped angler" wo ever met with, and it was as an' angler 

 and not as a Government official that General Arthur first 

 formed Ms acquaintance. He was the lessee of the river 

 from which the President has taken many a score of the king 

 fish of all waters, and, having enjoyed this unpurehasabie 

 luxury through the courtesy of General Warner, it must have 

 afforded him extreme pleasure to reciprocate his courtesy. 

 Having shared in General Warner's courtesy upon more than 

 one occasion, and thereby reached the summit of an angler's 

 ambition, we desire to congratulate him upon the fact that 

 the bread he cast upon salmon waters years ago has returned 

 to him after many days. It was while enjoying the kingly 

 sport made possible by General Warner's kindness that the 

 President met the scholarly and accomplished Judge Gray, 

 of Massachusetts, whose appointment to the Bench of the 

 Supreme Court has giveti such universal satisfaction. From 

 these i simple incidents it can he sees that it sometimes pays 

 to he courteous aud that it is not always time wasted to f go 

 a-fishing, ' 



Michigan Fishing.— The Elk Rapids, Mich., Progrm 

 reports that the aggregate catch of black bass by local anglers 

 from May 27 to September 2, 1831. was 4,200; of trout, 3,810. 



THE TEN-POUNDER. 



REGARDING the fish called by Capt. Dampier a "ten- 

 pounder"' in his notice of Southern fishes, published in 

 Forest and Stream a few weeks ago, and about the iden- 

 tity of which our correspondent "S. G. C." raised the ques- 

 tion, we mny be Efble tu throw a little more light, By favor 

 of Mr. Frank Endieott, who kindly gave us the first extract 

 from the book of the doughty captain, who sailed in search 

 of plunder, fame, knowledge" and fish, we have another ex- 

 tract from Dampier's description of the "ten-pounder" which 

 may lead to its identification. 



"Ten-pounders,'' writes Capt, Dampier, "are shaped like 

 mullets, but are so full of very small stiff bones interrnixt 

 with the flesh that you can hardly eat them." Mr. Endicott 

 writes: My own impressiou is that, it is a fish known locally 

 on the Homosassa River as the "skipjack," a long, slender, 

 pickerel-like body with a powerful tail, small head and large 

 eye, dorsal tin setting down into a filmy case as to be out of 

 the way in its lightning-like movements through the water. 



This fish took the fly very readily and almost literally, for 

 after a desperate struggle, in which it would frequently get 

 loose owing to the tenderness of its mouth, it would leave the 

 fly all ragged and useless, in fact, almost reduced to its origi- 

 nal elements of simple hook and gut. 



Dr. Ferber and I had some of them cooked as an experi- 

 ment, and found them very bony, but of a very delicate 

 flavor, somewhat, resembling^ shad. F. Endicott. 



Pensacola, Fla., Feh. 23, 1882. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your issue of Feb. 16, you ask what is a "ten-pounder," 

 etc., etc., and I write to say that I have heard the Elops 

 wants (Linn.) of the Gulf Coast called by that name. I do 

 not understand how the name could be reasonably applied to 

 this fish, as it is usually of much less weight than ten pounds, 

 and am inclined to think the name was originally given 

 to some other fish which, perhaps, the E, saurus resembles. 



Elops saurus is of the same family as the tarpurn, and their 

 general habits seem to be very similar. In this section it is 

 commonly called "lady-fish" and "skipjack," and is exceed- 

 ingly abundant, during the greater part of the year. It ar- 

 rives on the coast in early spring in immense schools, which 

 remain several weeks about the inlets and sea-beaches, before 

 entering the bays and lagoons. At this season it swims near 

 the surface preying upon the schools of small fishes that are 

 also coming inshore, making a great commotion all the while 

 and attracting large numbers of sea birds. By the middle 

 of summer the schools are broken up and the individuals are 

 scattered all through the bays, lagoons and bayous, where 

 they feed in shoal water on grassy bottoms, upon such small 

 fishes and crustaceans as may be found there. In the fall 

 they again form schools and gradually leave the bays alto- 

 gether. The spawning season is in September and October, 

 as determined by the ripe ovaries taken from them during 

 those months. 



I have never had. an opportunity to follow their movements 

 closely at this period, so cannot say how or where they 

 spawn. It is probable, though, that 'the spawning grounds 

 are in the bays, for in the early spring I have caught very 

 small specimens there, which must have been hatched near 

 to where they were caught. 



During the summer specimens are occasionally taken hy 

 hook and line, and they afford considerable sport, as they are 

 very gamey. Their flesh is soft and tasteless and quickly 

 spoils, besides the quantity of fine bones it contains makes it 

 undesirable for food. The average size of this fish is about 

 twenty inches long and about three pounds weight, but speci- 

 mens are taken of twice those sizes. The "lady-fish" is quite 

 valuable in West Florida, for it makes the best bait that has 

 been yet found for red-snappers. It is used both fresh and 

 salted, and quite a large quantity is preserved by the fisher- 

 men each year. 



Elacete canadus has besides the names "cobio," "sergeant," 

 "crab-eater" and "snooks," the name of "ling" among the 

 fishermen of this section. Here it is found only in the deep 

 water at. sea, and usually on the red-snapper .grounds. 

 I The tarpon is usually called "silver fish" here, or else "tar- 

 Ipon" instead of "tarpurn," as in other parts of Florida. 



Silas Stearns. 



MORE ABOUT CHUB. 



IT was my good fortune to live about six years in the smart 

 little village of High Falls, Ulster Co., N. Y., situated 

 on the Rondout Creek, twelve miles from where it empties 

 into the Hudson. 



The village takes its name from a waterfall at that point of 

 about forty feet, furnishing a splendid water-power, which is 

 chiefly utilized by three large cement mills — Norton's, Dela- 

 field's* and Van Dennark's. The rugged country thereabouts 

 abounds with cement rock, and the market is largely supplied 

 from that region and the adjoining town of Rosendale. Mid- 

 way between High Falls and the Hudson River, the Wallkill 

 empties into the Rondout, about doubling its volume of water 

 from that point. The Wallkill is well stocked with black 

 bass, and affords fine fishing. Bass are also taken in the 

 Rondout at and below the mouth of the Wallkill. Few are 

 caught, above; not any as far up as High Falls. Some sea- 

 sons, however, chub are quite abundant. They are a pretty 

 fish, almost as gamey sometimes as a bass, and the meat is 

 white, solid, of fine fibre, and delicious. 



In shape they correspond with the wood-cut given in 

 "Chambers' Encyclopedia," where they are said to be of the 

 Leticiscus genus, and of the family Cyprinidm. In color they 

 also agree, with the description there given — " bluish black on 

 the upper parts, passing into silvery white on the belly." 

 They are found in the warm months in the rifts and strong 

 currents. We used for bait either grasshoppers or grub. Our 

 mode of fishing for them was with a long bamboo, with a 

 line of the same length, and a simple hook of medium size. 

 We would wade into the rifts, and cast into the deeper chan- 

 nels. It was common for them to rise and take the bait the 

 moment, it struck the water, and make off with it up stream. 

 Giving them ample time, you were almost always sure of 

 your fish. 



I leeall two rather pecrdiar incidents in chub-fishing. In 

 the summer of '71 1 was expecting a friend, who is fond of 

 fishing, from New York, to spent! a, few days with me. 1 

 went out in the afternoon, as he arrived in the evening, to see 

 whether the chub would bite, 1 went up the creek, to what 

 is there known as "The Rocks," baited with a grasshopper. 

 and standing back the length of my rod from the shore, I 

 dropped the grasshopper upon the surface of the water along- 

 side of a large rock, gently washed by the current, where the 

 depth was about four feet". The moment the bait struck the 

 water I saw a sunfish snatch it and dive down. I gave him 

 a slack line, and presently the slack began to be slowly taken 



up. I pulled, and to my amazement landed a plump two- 

 pound chub. He must have begrudged the sunfish his fru- 

 gal meal, and appropriated himself the morsel, paying his 

 life for his greediness. Soon adding three more fine fellows 

 to him, I relumed home to report to my friend on his arrival 

 that Ihe nshinc; was good, as we also found it the next clay at 

 "The Rocks." 



On another occasion I went chub-fishing, and it was in my 

 way to call on a sick elder, who had been suffering from a 

 long run of fever. His fever was slowly subsiding, and he 

 was well nigh in the early stages of convalescence. The elder 

 was something of a fisherman. His house stood upon the 

 banks of the river, and many a nice ha id had he made from 

 the rifts near by. Asking me to stay on my return to report 

 luck, which I promised to do (though it word d have been a 

 hard promise to keep if I had not taken a scale), I took my 

 leave of him and proceeded a few rods up the stream. I 

 stopped on a bank at least twelve feet, above the surface of 

 the creek, where there was a short, sharp curve, the water 

 eddying in the curve, and quite darkened by the low over- 

 hanging boughs of two large white, oaks that rooted them- 

 selves in the margin. It looked very fishy down there; but, 

 then, how was I to make a cast with my rod among all those 

 limbs? I hit upon tins plan: Placing my rod "upon the 

 ground, with the tip just at the edge of the bank, and making 

 sure thai my line was free, I took~tke hooked grasshopper in 

 my hand and cast it down upon the surface. The instant it 

 struck it was seized by a pound and a half chub, and the way 

 that water boiled, and that line surged, and that tip danced 

 up and down, and my nerves quivered, is beyond the power 

 of description. I could only hold on and let him play till he 

 exhausted himself, and then haul him up hand over hand, 

 which I did successfully. A little further up, on a clean, un- 

 obstructed shore, I had the good fortune to land several more 

 that afternoon. On my way back I reported myself to the 

 sick elder, and as his languid eyes surveyed my string of 

 chub his wan face brightened up wonderfully, and he has 

 assured me, a score of times since, that in all his sickness 

 nothing did him so much good as the sight and smell of those 

 chub. Hrx. 



Spearing Fish Through the Ice.— Following is an ex- 

 tract from a letter dated at Alexandria, Jefferson county, N. 

 Y., Feb. 12, 1882: "This cold weather has given us some 

 magnificent skating and ice-boating. The river is frozen to 

 the depth of six inches, with good clear ice, the entire dis- 

 tance from here to Ogdensburg.'and below. I had one novel 

 experience, i. c, that of skating down fish, and spearing them. 

 It was done in this way. We went over on the flats, and the 

 clearness of the ice gave us a good opportunity to see the fish 

 lying on the bottom. Then we chased them until they became 

 tired, when they would stick their noses into the mud, and 

 there remain until we cut a hole in the ice and speared them. 

 Three of us speared seventeen fish in this way in less than 

 three hours, all pickerel and muskelonge," 



THE EEL QUESTION. 



IT is the disposition of American ichthyologists to accept, 

 for the present, the views of Dareste, and to consider all 

 the eels of the northern hemisphere as members of one pole- 

 rnorphic species. Gunther is inclined to recognize three 

 species in North America — one the common eel of Europe, 

 Anguilla vulgaris; one the common American eel, Anguilla 

 bostoniensis, which he finds also in Japan and China; and the 

 third, Anguilla, texemai, described and illustrated by Girard, 

 in the Report of the United States and Mexican Boundary 

 Survey, under the name of A. texana, which, he remarks, is 

 scarcely specifically distinct from A. bostoniensis, from which 

 it differs only m the greater development of the lips. The 

 distinction between A. bostoniensis and A. vulgaris, as stated 

 by him, consists chiefly in the fact that the dorsal fin is situ- 

 eted a little further back upon the body, so that in the former 

 the distance between the commencement of the dorsal and 

 anal fin is shorter than the head, while in the latter it is equal 

 to or somewhat longer than it. This character does not ap- 

 pear to be at all constant. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE EEL. 



We may therefore provisionally assume the identity of the 

 eels of the old and the new world, and define their distribu- 

 tion somewhat as follows: In the rivers and along the ocean 

 shores of Eastern North America, south to Texas and Mexico, 

 and north at least to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but absent, in the 

 waters tributary to Hudson Bay, the Arctic Sea and the Pacific ; 

 present in Southern Greenland' and Iceland (?) latitude 65 deg. 

 north; on the entire coast of Norway, from the North Cape, 

 latitude 71 deg. , southward ; abundant in the Baltic and in 

 the rivers of Russia and Germany, which are its Iriliuliuies, 

 and along the entire western and Mediterranean coasts of 

 Europe, though not present in the Black Sea, in the Danube, 

 or any other of its tributaries, or in the Caspian; occurring 

 also off Japan and China and Formosa ; also in various 

 islands of the Atlantic, Granada, Dominica, the Bermudas, 

 Madeira and the Azores. 



general note on habits. [Professor Baird.] 



The habits of the eel are very different from those of any 

 other fish, and areas yet but little understood. 



"This, "so far as we know," writes Professor Baird, "is 

 the only fish the young of which ascend from the sea to at- 

 tain maturity, instead of descending from the fresh to the 

 salt water. Its natural history has been a matter of consid- 

 erable inquiry within a few, years, although even now we are 

 far from having that information concerning it that would 

 be desirable, in view of its enormous abundance and its great 

 value as a food fish. 



"The eggs of the eel are for the most part laid in the sea, 

 and in the early spring, the period varying with the latitude, 

 the young fish may be seen ascending 'the river in vast num- 

 bers, and when arrested by an apparently impassable barrier. 

 natural or artificial, they will leave the water and make (heir 

 way above the obstruction, in endeavoring to reach the point 

 at which thej r aim. Here they bury themselves in the mud, 

 and feed on any kind of animal substance, the spawn of fish, 

 the roes of shad, small fish, etc. At the end of their sojourn 

 in the ponds or streams they return to the sea, and are' then 

 captured in immense numbers in many rivers in what are 

 called fish baskets. A Y-shaped fence is made, with the 

 opening down stream into the basket, into which the eels fall, 

 and from which they cannot easily escape. This same device. 

 it may be incidentally stated, captures also great numbers of 

 other fish, such as shad, salmon, and other anodromous fish, 

 to their grievous destmction. 



"As might be expected, however, the Falls of Niagara 

 constitute an impassible barrier to their ascent. The fish is 



