88 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



I Feb. 28, 1884. 



The Hammekless in Demand. — Editor Forest and 

 Stream: A year ago, if any one had told me that at ihistime 

 I would waut a hamrnerless shotgun I should have smilingly 

 responded "I guess not." At that time I considered a gun 

 without external hammers a good deal like a cow without 

 horns; somewhat of a freak. But opinions change, and 

 after having hammers slip from cold thumbs while cocking 

 in the field, spoiling 1 one or two canvas cases by the chafing 

 of hammers, barking one's knuckles on hammers, getting 

 whistle cord and watch chain snarled up with the sanie, and 

 last Lint not least, seeing a man killed by slipping the butt of 

 his gun oft" from a door step and striking the hammers, 

 thereby discharging the piece into his breast, I have come 

 to the conclusion that the best place for the hammers is inside 

 of the gun. — Dorkin. 



Maine Indictments. — Indictments were found by the 

 Grand Jury, February term, against Jeremiah Lynch, having 

 partridges in his possession in close time; George Trafton, 

 Frank Gould and John Spearing, attempting to kill salmon 

 by dynamite; George Trafton, Fiank Gould, John Spearing, 

 Clan nee Peavey and Frauk Gram, of Sherman, fishing with 

 net in waters not tide waters; J. T. Richards, having trout 

 in his possession in close time; James Dunn, killing deer; 

 Joseph Gillespie and Lovell Weymouth, hunting deer with 

 dogs; Benjamin Toik, killing caribou; Charles Spearing, 

 hunting deer with dogs. 



Catawissa, Pa., Feb. 16 — A number of our sportsmen 

 here have been very active during the past severe winter in 

 caring lor the quail in this vicinity. They have also suc- 

 ceeded in getting some of our farmers to take an interest in 

 the welfare of the birds. They have now about one hundred 

 quail which they have brought through safely by giving 

 them protection from the deep suow T s, and providing feed 

 for them. These gentlemen certainly deserve great credit 

 for what they have done. — E. 



Frankfokd Gun Club. — Anew club has been organized 

 in Frankford, Philadelphia, to be known as the "Frankford 

 Gun Club." Obieqt: Improvement in wing-shooting. The 

 officers are: President, Henry Winnemore;"Vice-President, 

 Henry Longhead; Secretary, * R. H. Mellor; Field Captain, 

 Aknzo Tolbeit, Secretary's address, R, H. Mellor, 309 

 E. Orthodox street, Frankford, Philadelphia, Pa. 



Good Ground.— Long Island, Feb. 23.— There are plenty 

 of dueks in Shinnecock Bay; it is estimated to be one hun- 

 dred thousand by natives. All redheads and broadbills, and 

 still coming by the thousands daily. — Willl\mN. Lane. 



Michigan. — Escanaba — A few deer are wintering about 

 here, but there are as many wolves as deer. No one kills 

 the wolves, as there is no bounty on them. This, 1 think, is 

 a great mistake, — A. F. Y. 



Quail in Iowa. — Vail, Feb. 18.— We are having very 

 little snow in this vicinity so far this winter, and the quail 

 are doing nicely — E. B. B\ 



M** xnd 



iuer 



PRIVATE PONDS OUT OF SEASON. 



IN New Hampshire the question has been set at rest 

 whether an owner of a private pond, not communi- 

 cating with public waters, may take fish from it out of sea- 

 son, lu that State he may. In the suit of the State against 

 Roberts the indictment was set aside. 



The Court, said: "The right to have migratory fish pass in 

 their accustomed course up and down rivers and streams is a 

 public right, which may be regulated and protected by the 

 Legis'ature, and so far as the waters of this State are com- 

 mon passage ways lor fi-h, they are of a public character 

 and subject to legislative control. The t ikiug and killing 

 of certain kinds of fish and game at certain seasons of the 

 yeer tend to the destruction of the privilege by the destruc- 

 tion consequent upon the unrestrained exercise of the right. 

 This is regarded as injurious to the community, and there- 

 fore it is within the authority of the Legislature to impose 

 restrictions and limitations "upon the time and manner of 

 taking fish and game considered valuable as articles of food 

 or merchandise. For this purpose fish and game laws 

 are enacted. The power to enact such Jaws was 

 exercised previous to the adoption of the constitution, 

 and it has been so long used, and so beneficially for the 

 public, that it ought not now to be called in question. But 

 while the Legisrature has power to regulate and limit the 

 time and manner of taking fish in waters Which are public 

 breeding places or passage ways for fish, it has not assumed 

 to interfere with the privileges of the owners of priv- 

 ate ponds having no communication through which fish 

 are accustomed to pass f o other waters. Such ponds, 

 whether natural or artificial, are regarded as piivate 

 property, and the owners may take fish therefrom 

 whene.er they choose without restraint from any 

 legislative enactment, since the exercise of this right in 

 no" way interferes with the rights of others. The Legisla- 

 ture protects the owners of such ponds in the enjoyment of 

 their privileges, and they are expressly excepted from the 

 statutory restrictions by the third section of the act upon 

 which tiie indictment in this case is founded. The defend- 

 ant is in possession, claiming the ownership of North Pond. 

 There is no sugge-tion that the public have any rights in its 

 waters other than as a breeding-place for the supply of fish 

 to other streams, or a channel lor their passage. If. as the 

 defendant claims, the trout are within his control, aud there 

 is no communication through which they can pass from the 

 pond to other waters, the indictment cannot be maintained. 

 11 ah is claimed in behalf of the State, there is free com- 

 munication through which trout pass from the pond to the 

 streams leading into it and to the Ammonoosuc River, the 

 indictment can be maintained upon proof of those facts." 



I am not aware that this point has beeu settled in tie State 

 of New York. Query: If the owner of a pond, the 

 source of stream, keep wire across the outlet so no fish can 

 pass out, has he the control and possession spouen of in the 

 lorcgoiug decision, which will aliow him to catch fish out of 

 season? I think I know one thing that will result from 

 such a wire, dam, and that is that, if a trout stream and trout 

 pond, the fish not being able to run up from the stream into 

 t'je. pond to spawn, the fish in the latter will first grow very 

 large from over-feeding, and will then steadily diminish in 



numbers from not being reinforced annually in the natural 

 way from the stream. 



"There is that scattereth and yet increaseth, and there is 

 that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to pov- 

 erty." 



A very nice point has been suggested by Mr. Roe. of Roe 

 & Macklin, of Ibis city, whether the placing of fish from a 

 public hatchery in any part of a stream would not give a 

 public right of fishery in all parts of that stream, no matter 

 if a long p'ece of it were privately owned and preserved, be- 

 cause the fish would spread from the part where they are 

 put in; and that New Hampshire decision would seem indi- 

 rectly to sustain this view. For myself, I do not think the 

 right of the distant owner could be so affected without his 

 knowledge and consent. Mr. Roe is a famous lasvyer, how- 

 ever, and a good disciple, who annually makes a pilgrimage 

 to the Neversink. Geo. W. Van Siclen. 



New York, Feb. 11, 1884. 



A PENNSYLVANIA CASE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In a letter to your journal from this city, under date of 

 Jan. 21, the writer refers to large bunches of quail, grouse 

 and rabbits as being exposed for sale in our market, whicfi he 

 says were evidently killed alter Jan. 1, in which case it would 

 be a violation of the law. The letter also refers to the 

 Lycoming Sportsmen's Association, and asks whether the 

 city has any game wardens. The organization still exists, 

 and its object is (or was) for the more rigid enforcement of 

 the game and fish laws in this locality. It is in a healthy 

 condition and numbers upward of one hundred members. 

 An executive committee is elected each year, and it is the 

 duty of each member of this committee to report any viola- 

 tion of the law that they may see, or that may be report°d 

 to them, and prosecute the offenders if the case is strong 

 enough to warrant it. Each member of this committee miy 

 properly be called a game warden. Until within the past 

 year our club has manifested considerable interest in the 

 enforcement of the game and fish laws and the protection of 

 game and fish. The cases prosecuted by us were from an 

 honest standpoint, and the spirit is still in us to continue the 

 work; but in the last undertaking we were so decidedly "sat 

 down upon" that our members have become discouraged, 

 and at present are not as active as they otherwise would 

 have beeu. The case in question will define our position. 



We arrested parties for seining, which we thought was 

 contrary to the act of Assembly, which reads: "No person 

 shall draw a drag net or seine in any of the wateis of this 

 commonwealth." The waters in which the seine was drawn 

 was a mill-pond which is fed by a canal, and the canal by 

 the Susquehanna River, and the fish have free access to all 

 the waters named. The defense was, that the mill-pond 

 was private property, and the defendants had permissi' n 

 from a part owner to seine. Our view of the ca-e was that 

 the pond was not owned in its entirety by the party granting 

 the permission, and the fact of the fish not being confined 

 made them common property, and the law had therefore 

 been violated. The case was heard by an alderman, both 

 sides being represented by counsel, and a judgment given 

 in our favor, the alderman basing his decision on a decision 

 of the Supreme Court in a parallel case, which is as follows: 



Pennsylvania S'ate Reports (12 Norris, p. 458, etc.)— "If 

 the waters of a pond cover a large surface of land, and one 

 whose lands aie covered by a part only of the water, places 

 fish therein for the purpose of propagation, it does not I hereby 

 became a private pond. To bring it within the act of 1876, the 

 whole pond must be so far private property as to confine therein 

 the fish with which it is stocked; the ownership of apart only 

 of the land covered by the water is not sufficient to give to the 

 whole water the distinctive character of private, the pond 

 must be treated as an entirety, either the whole or none is 

 private." 



The case was appealed. At the terra of court in which 

 it was to be tried, the judge, in his charge to the Grand 

 Jury, alluded to it, and his remarks were in substance about 

 as follows: "The defendants had just as much right to 

 seine and take fish from that pond under the circumstances 

 as a farmer would have to take his cattle from the pasture 

 field." Upon the strength of these remarks, we presume, 

 the Grand Jury ignored the bill of indictment, ana the costs, 

 amounting to some $75, were put upon the prosecutors. We 

 were somewhat surprised to find our labor disposed of in 

 this manner, for we took the piecaution to consult several 

 of our most prominent attorneys before, commencing the 

 action, and they all said our case was a very plain one. When 

 this seining was done quite a number of black bass were 

 caught, and we could have brought another action under 

 tin, same law, but our protection not being assured, we con- 

 cluded to give the matter the go by. 



The quail, grouse and rabbits referred to were exposed for 

 sale right in front of the entrance to our club room, and 

 many of our members spoke about the law in the matter, 

 but none seemed to have any inclination to make an investi- 

 gation for the reason of our failure in what appeared to be 

 a plain case. I very much doubt whether a single piece of 

 the game was killed in this locality, or in this State, but 

 rather think it was the production of other States, and in 

 that case I do not believe the laws of Pennsylvania would 

 be affected. 



A Member of the Lycoming Sportsmen's Club. 

 Williamsport, Pa., Feb, 13, 1884. 



THE BEST COLOR FOR LEADERS. 



Editor Forest and Streeim: 



Nothing has appeared of late in the Forest and Stream 

 which 1 appreciated more highly than Mr. Wells's article on 

 the "Best Color for Leaders." And now, in furtherance of 

 the idea of "looking at the leader from beneath the water," 

 I have an idea which I can't better illustrate than by giving 

 a bit of experience. Near us we have a stream in which 

 the fish — trout — are scarce and wild. They are exceedingly 

 suspicious of any kind of tackle. Is not such water the very 

 place to test my tackle? 1 had repeatedly cast the moat 

 tempting flies, with a mist colored hader, without effect. A 

 soliloquy followed : "That leader is not natural to the water 

 ner to the every-day life of the fish." 1 adjourned to a neigh- 

 boring meadow and cut three or four long, leafy timothy 

 stalks, which I very loosely whipped on my leader. There 

 was no casting, but simply letting the line float with the 

 current over the most likely places. Complete success was 

 my reward. 



Mr. Wells's article bothers me in one particular. "The 

 best trout, etc., can't pull one pound on a flexible rod," and 



there a strain of only a pound, or a little more, on the line 

 when a salmon leads a skiff all over a little lake? There 

 may be a clear explanation, but I am fearfully in the log. 



Forty-Niner. 



The communication of "Forty-Niner" having been referred 

 to Mr. Wells, that gentleman'has favored us with the fol- 

 lowing comments upon it; 

 Editor Forest and Stream: 



The communication of "Forty-Niner" has been received, 

 and read as requested. 



In regard to the first paragraph, it is to be wished that all 

 anglers would follow 7 this most excellent example and print 

 any unusual experience. You have provided a column for 

 that express purpose, and it is a great pity it is uot more 

 used. After a while some enthusiast would collate, com- 

 pare and publish these scattered facts, and a decided ad- 

 vance in the art would result. 



To me this paragraph is second in interest to no angling 

 intelligence I have met for a long time. It tends strongly 

 to confirm an idea forced on me by my own investigations, 

 but in regard to which, from dislike to hasty conclusions 

 drawn from insufficient data, 1 had decided to say nothing 

 until the weather permitted the test of further experiment. 



1 am inclined to believe that more important than fishing 

 up or down stream, more important than weaving brilliant 

 or sober-tinted clothing, more important than wading rather 

 than fishing from the bank, more important than a dry or a 

 wet flv, more important than being yourself visible or con- 

 cealed, more important, indeed, than any of the dozen dif- 

 ferent cauiions of the books, is it to have your leader abso- 

 lutely invisible, or, if that is impossible, then at least that it 

 pnsent to the trout no unusual or unfamiliar appearance. 



That, in or on smooth water, the leaders in present use till 

 neither of these conditions, uuless my experiments deceive 

 me, I cannot doubt. Whether it is possible to make a leader 

 which w T ill always comply with either of them is another 

 question. Certainly the first step toward supplying a want 

 is to recognize its existence. "Forty-Niner's" leader, pre- 

 pared as described, did comply with one of these conditions, 

 and the "complete success" which attended its use is very in- 

 structive "to all who are willing to be admonished." 



The statement that "the best trout, etc., can't pull one 

 pound on a flexible rod" seems to stagger Mi-. "Forty-Niner." 

 It would not be difficult to answer, on theoretical grounds, 

 the objections he so considerately suggests, rather than 

 asserts. But no theory has the convincing power of direct 

 experiment. Let him try it for himself. 



If he will take a single handed flexible rod, run the line 

 through the rings and about three feet beyond the tip, tie a 

 loop in the end of the line, hook a spring balance into that 

 loop, get a friend to hold the spring balance down close to the 

 floor and follow up with it the natural bend the rod will as- 

 sume and the direction of the line, always holding the bal- 

 ance close to the floor; and if he will at the same time take 

 the rod in one hand, with the butt clear of the body, and put 

 on all the strain he possibly can, when his friend reads off 

 the indications of the spring balance, he will then be in posi- 

 tion to compare the strain lie has exerted with the severest 

 pull a trout has ever imposed on him; and then he can and 

 will draw his own conclusions as to the truth or falsity of 

 that statement. UexbyP. Wells. 



New York City, Feb. 25. 



[Page 70, fo'irlh paragraph from end of Mr. Wells's 

 aiticle, for "us" read we.] 



THE STATE IN SCHUYLKILL. 



N his "Chronicle of the Compleat Angler," Mr. Thomas 

 Satchell writes as follows of the famous Philadelphia 

 Angling Club: 



lie was preceded, iu 1830, by an anonymous author, whose 

 work has la come a rarity, even in its birthplace, while only 

 one or two copies have found their way to our shores. It is 

 enticed "An Authentic Historical Memoir of the Schuylkill 

 Fishing Company, of the State of Schuylkill, from its es- 

 tablishment <-n that romantic stream, near Philadelphia, in Ihe 

 year 1732 to the present time. By a Member."* We lay 

 no claim to literary value in relation to this tract, but as it 

 has the signal merit of giving us an insight into what 

 angling life in America was a century aud a half ago, it 

 cannot fail to be of interest to all Wa'ltonians. We have, 

 therefore, not to excuse a brief digression on its behalf. 



In that year of grace, 1732, Philadelphia was the center of 

 an infant colony.a colony struggling up, indeed, into strength 

 and stability, but with a world of work on all hands, still 

 left to be achieved, ere the rough, primitive forms of the 

 settlement could be mellowed into order and harmony. Toil 

 and turmoil must, therefore, have been the order of the day, 

 and leisure and recreation mere remote contingencies. From 

 this point of view, it is nothing short of a marvel that, at 

 the date j"*t cited, certain contemplative citizens of the new 

 capital did actually establish this fishing club, or company, 

 and set it going, with a governor at its head, five assembly men, 

 a treasurer, sheriff, eighteen _ associates and the lugubrious 

 appendage of a "coroner." Several of the projectors of the 

 duo had come over with Perm fiom England, and had been 

 fellow workers with him iu his colonial scheme; and it is but 

 reasonable to suppose that an affectionate memory of the 

 old land they had left forever, and of happy youthful 

 days spent, 'angle in hand, beside its lakes and water- 

 courses, lay at the root of their proceeding. If so, they must 

 have been met by many points of divergence. Instead of 

 wenr ing to their .-port through the grassy English meadows 

 of "auld lang syne," their path lay through the uncleared 

 wilderness, wbich, at the period in question, overshadowed 

 the very walls of the town, and from that center stretched 

 out west, north and south, in limitless expansion. Instead 

 of speckled trout imd silver grayling, they had to fill their 

 creek with lumbering "catfish," or at best, with "white 

 perch." And instead of partaking, when their sport was 

 over, of smoking sirloin, or venison pastry, flanked with 



are the only English-sounding adjuncts of their repasts. It 

 is but fair to add, however, thattheclub grew pioudof their 

 white perch in the course of time, and that some American 

 anglers of the present day laud it above the trout.f 

 Having obtained the grant of about an acre of land on a 



*-\An Authentic Historical Memoir of the Schuylkill Fishing Com- 

 pany of taoSiate in Schuylkill. *rom Us estabLbhiiient on that ro- 

 mantics. ream, near i J hiiadolpbia, in the year VtZi to the present 

 time. ByaJJemtM-r fWillian Wiluer, Junr.J. 



■If you lo k to its antiquity, it is most ancient,— 

 If to Us dignity, most bom. urabli 

 If to its jurisdiction, it is most extensive. 

 Philadelphia: Judab Dobsou. 1830." 



Collation: pp. viii. 127. ii. „ ^ „ 



•fit is the small white bass, or Lebrax pattidus of De Kay. 



I 



