268 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 1, 1884. 



Paterson, NT., April 25.— The Passaic County Fish the length of a two-foot pocket rule. It will be remembered 

 arid Game Protective Association held a regular meeting last ; also that the detectives discovered in the cellar of a poacher, 

 night in the new hall in the Vandevoort Building. The -• 

 first feature of interest was the announcement by the secre- 

 tary that he had received a check for $100 from Mr. Jacob 

 S. Rogers for the association. The principal feature of the 

 organization which Mr. Rogers approved of was the inten- 

 tion of the association to protect, song birds. The associ- 

 ation will see to it that the State law is enforced relative to 

 the shooting of Songsters by persons who indulge in that 

 practice principally out of sheer wantonness. The Board of 

 Aldermen has been requested to pass an ordinance imposing 

 a heavy line for the killing of song birds within the city 

 limits, and the ordinance will in all probability pass, as there 

 is no opposition to it and a great deal maybe said in its favor. 

 Mr. Rogers's generous gift was accepted and he was tendered 

 a vote of thanks. The constitution and by-laws of the asso- 

 ciation were then adopted and ordered printed, so that per- 

 sons desiring to join the association may know its objects. 

 In some way or other an impression has gone abroad that 

 this association is nothing but a meieclub, which will have 

 rooms open every evening where the members can spend 

 their evenings. Nothing is further from the intention of the 

 association. It was formed for the purpose of protecting 

 game, game fish and American song birds, and the by-laws 

 provide, regular machinery for the prosecution of all persons 

 who offend against the laws. The association will hold 

 monthly meetings and a committee was instructed to procure 

 a room for that purpose. The counsel of the association, 

 Senator Griggs, was requested to draw up a certificate of 

 incorporation^ which will be filed with the County Clerk and 

 recorded, so that the association will enjoy all the privileges 

 of incorporated bodies. 



From a Farmer's Point op View. — "My Dear Sir:. You 

 are fortunate in having it in your power to go where game 

 is. But few of us farmers can do so unless the game is near 

 by, for we have not the means nor the time to make long and 

 expensive trips in quest of sport. If we had the means, at 

 the season when such a trip should be made, we have not the 

 time to spare. A farmer's days of leisure fall in winter 

 mostly. A day now and then in summer for fishing, and in 

 fall for shooting, is about the extent of his plasant weather 

 play days. And so to no one more lhanthe ordinary farmer, 

 who loves field sports, is the preservation and protection of 

 fish and game in his home streams and woods important and 

 desirable. I, for one of them, am almost hopeless of any 

 effective protection in my day. There is such apathy and 

 such 'cussedness' and selfishness among those who should 

 be most active and generous in the good work, that it is 

 enough to dishearten the faithful few. And yet we must 

 do what we can, and hope for the awakening of a better 

 spirit in the masses." 



The Elastic Heel-Plate, described and illustrated in 

 our issue of Aug. 23, 1883. has been put upon the market, 

 and an advertisement of it will be found elsewhere. The 

 purpose of the rubber is to serve as a recoil pad, and it does 

 this very successfully. One of the veterans at the Parker 

 gun works, the other day, after firing a heavily-loaded gun 

 without and with the elastic heel-plate, compared the first 

 recoil to the kick of a mule and the second to a blow with a 

 soft boxing glove. The new heel-plate will add much to the 

 pleasure of a day's shooting. 



OPENING OF THE MAINE SEASON. 



r \ ^HE opening of the season in Maine, May 1, will be pro- 

 _L pitious, though the snow still lingers on the mountains 

 and iu the woods, and the lakes and ponds are frozen over. 

 But the rapid streams and lower rivers are clear of ice. They 

 have been cleared earlier than usual by a great rise of water, 

 which has been kept up by the copious rains and melting 

 snow. Such a state of the streams is very favorable for 

 trout. As soon as let out from their ice prison of the winter, 

 a great abundance of food is washed within their reach, or 

 they are permitted to visit parts of the shores in search of 

 worms and insects where low water would never permit 

 them to go, and nence by catching time they are well fed 

 and fat after their winter fasting. Besides,"tkeir progress 

 from winter quarters iu the deep pools to the swift running- 

 rapids, where they delight to spend the sunny May and leafy 

 June, is greatly facilitated by high waters. One of the best 

 trouting spring seasons ever noted on the Richardson Lake, 

 one of the Androscoggin chain, followed the late extra flow- 

 age of thirteen feet, put on by the Union Water Power Com- 

 pany , in the fall of 18-51 . Trout were caught near the shores 

 where dry land existed only a year before, actually caught 

 in the woods with their maws full of ants and Wood worms. 



The ice is not expected to move from the Androscoggin 

 lakes before the 10th of May, possibly not till the 15th. 

 Last year Richardson Lake cleared on the 12th, iollowed by 

 Moos'elucmaguntic the 13th, and Rangeley about the same 

 time. Four parties of Boston merchants, six in each, will 

 start for these lakes about as soon as the ice is out. The 

 artists, Messrs. Griggs and llotlingsworth, will start for the 

 Upper Dam as soon as the ice is out of Richardson Lake. 

 At Lewiston, Maine, the usual early spring parties have 

 their tackle all in order, and they will be followed by Port- 

 land sportsmen and parties from South Paris, Norway and 

 Bethel. The spring trolling usually brings out some large 

 ji s l 1 __ s i Xi eight, and even ten-pound brook trout. 



A strong pull is to be made for Sebago land-locked salmon 

 this spring, in both Sebago Lake and Long Lake above. 

 Commissioner Stanley will take his spring fishing trip to 

 these waters this year, instead of to the Androscoggin lakes 

 as usual. The finding of those enormous specimens (if the 

 land-locked salmon in Rodgers Brook, a tributary of Long 

 Lake, last November, has convinced sportsmen that some 

 noble fish exist in the Sebago waters, and a determined effort 

 will be made to capture them with rod and reel this spring. 

 Commissioner Stanley, who has been very successful with 

 these fish, recommends that sportsmen give them a fair trial 

 this year. He recommends casting the fly for them in the 

 night as well as the daytime. It is altogether likely that 

 success will be achieved' by somebody with these beautiful 

 fish at the end of the line. The specimen which was found 

 stranded on the shores of Rodgers Brook last fall measured 

 thirty eight inches iu length by nine inches in depth, and 

 weighed twenty-five pounds. The female laDd-locked 

 salmon found in the same brook a few days previous, 

 alive and on the spawning bed, was taken out and 

 measured and returned to the water. She was exactly twice 



who lives on the shore of Songo River, in the fall of 1882, a 

 land-locked salmon, which must have weighed thirty pounds. 

 It, with several smeller specimens, had beeu pitched out of 

 the Songo, the connecting river of Sebago and Long lakes, 

 with a pitchfork. Protection, then begun in earnest, has now 

 stopped such poaching, and hundreds of such noble fish are 

 now alive in the Sebago waters, which had, previous to 1882, 

 been pitched off from the spawning beds by the worthless 

 poacher. It is believed that anglers" in open season will be- 

 gin to reap the benefits of such protection this spring. The 

 Maine waters will doubtless he fished more than ever this 

 season, but they have been better protected for the past two 

 years, and there will be more fish for the honest angler. The 

 non-transportation fish and game law has effectually stopped 

 market fishing for trout and land-locked salmon in that 

 State, and the fish are left for the angler, who is satisfied 

 with a reasonable ereel. Special. 



Boston. 



FOR NEW YORK ANGLERS. 



A "WORD anent some good trouting ground. At Henry - 

 ville, Monroe count}'. Pa., on the Delaware, Lacka- 

 wanna & Western Railroad, close to Stroudsburg and the 

 Delaware Gap, are good fishing and excellent accommoda- 

 tions. I was there ten days ago and was surprised to see 

 such fish. Although an invalid, uuable to wade, I caught 

 fair messes every day; but 1 saw catches that amazed me. 

 Looked into one creel and saw a lot of Salvelinus fontinalis 

 taken with a fly that were worth traveling to see. Weight 

 eleven pounds; average less than four to the pound, with 

 three fifteen-inch fish. Another mess, caught with bait, 

 numbered sixty; weight sixteeu and a half pounds. Twen- 

 ty-five of the fish were over fifteen inches long. Parson 

 Knight caught a fine mess with the fly. The place has a 

 record of one four-and-a-half-pound trout and one four-pound 

 trout. 



The streams are the West Brodhead, the Big Brodhead, 

 Paradise Creek, Saw Creek, the Big Bushkill and a dozen 

 others, and are Avithin eleven miles of the streams that flow 

 off High Knob, at the point where Wayne, Pike and Monroe 

 counties meet. West Brodhead and Paradise creeks have 

 the purest spring water I ever saw. W. E. Henry, post- 

 master at Parkside, one-third of a mile from Henry ville sta- 

 tion, is rhe angler's "guide, philosopher and friend." 



Amateur. 



DOWELS AND REEL-SEATS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



1 have read with much interest the discussions in your 

 paper regarding dowel questions. I agree with Mr. "Wells 

 that dowels on a rod are not only useless but also weaken the 

 rod. I have never built a rod with dowel pins where 1 have 

 been allowed to use my own judgment, but if a customer in- 

 sisted on having them I would put them on with the under- 

 standing that I did not consider the workmausLip perfect 

 and would not warrant the rod against breakage at the fer- 

 rule. If cylinder ferrules are used and fitted on over the 

 wood wdthout shoulder and are wrapped at the end of the 

 ferrule with silk, there is little danger of breakage at this 

 point. 



I notice that some of your correspondents advocate swelled 

 ferrules as preferable to cylinder ones, on account of the in 

 creased strength of the wood at the large end of the ferrule 

 preventing the rod from breaking at this point. If some of 

 the advocates of this principle will rise and explain, it will 

 enlighten a rod maker, who is very much in the dark, and 

 at present writing has no hope of ever seeing the light on 

 this point. I claim that in order to make a fishing rod perfect 

 it is necessary that the ferrule should be made perfectly 

 waterproof. In order to do this a metal disc should be fast- 

 ened in the inside center of outside ferrule, also metal cap on 

 the end of the inside ferrule. I prefer to fasten them with 

 soft solder, as it makes a perfect job, and if necessary can be 

 removed without trouble; this prevents moisture from getting 

 at the wood, and preserves the wood at the ferrules sound 

 for all time. 



I am very much in favor of banding the lip of the female 

 ferrule, particularly when light ferrules are used, as it pre- 

 vents the female ferrule from swaging open by careless joint- 

 ing of the rod, and adds much to the finish of the ferrule. 



I also think a rod should he mounted with a solid metal 

 reel-plate, as it prevents the reel from getting stuck fast by 

 the swelling of the wood, which is very liable to occur when 

 reel-bands are used. 



I also think that when manufacturers of rod mountings 

 settle on some standard size of reel-seat, and reel makers 

 make their reel bases to conform to the reel-seats, a step will 

 be taken in the right direction. Edward Smith. 



Pittsford, Vt., April 21. 



DRAINING THE ANDROSCOGGINS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The future of the Rangeley Lakes, so far as trout fishing- 

 is concerned, is, from the present outlook, rather dubious. 

 That remarkable species of the Salmo family, which has 

 been the pride and making of the Rangeley region, is doomed 

 to speedy extermination if the existing condition of affairs is 

 allowed" to continue. As the matter now stands it is the 

 interests of a corporation against the fishing interests of the 

 region; but that corporation is a wealthy one. and what can 

 a tew hotel keepers and guides accomplish against it? The 

 habitues of this famous fishing locality are scattered through- 

 out our broad Union, and to nearly all of them the Forest 

 Astd" Stream comes laden with the news and doings at all 

 the sporting localities of the known world, and to them this 

 wail from the forests of Northern Maine should go. 



The case stands about thus : A few years ago the Water 

 Power Company, of Lewiston, on the Androscoggin River, 

 bought or acquired the right to use the Umbagog, Welo- 

 kenebacook, Molechunkamunk, Mooseluckmaguntic and 

 Cupsuptic lakes for storage of water, and proceeded to raise 

 the dams and overflow the banks of these lakes, spoiling 

 the beauty of the shores by covering up the beautiful 

 beaches and scenes of many a "noonday roast," sending the 

 waters back into the woods and marring the view generally. 

 This they probably had a right to do, and so far it was an 

 offense against the eye only. 



A year or two later they acquired the same rights in 

 Rangeley Lake and raised the water as in the other lakes, 

 but, that not sufficing, they, during the past winter, have 

 gone to the other extreme and have drained the Rangeley 

 Lake to such an extent as to lay bare the best spawning 

 beds, thereby slaughtering spawn by wholesale. To accom- 



plish this I understand they have dredged the stream at the 

 outlet to the depth of about five feet. Yet this is not the 

 extent of the enormity. Last summer, when the gates of 

 Middle Dam were open "and the stream below full of water 

 and fish (a favorite resort). I am informed that the gates 

 would be suddenly shut tight, stranding and ' destroying 

 multitudes of fish at each operation. 



This occurs in a State where one year ago the most strin- 

 gent laws were enacted for the protection of fish, and the 

 amount of fish each sportsman could take away was limited 

 by law. Then, at great expense to the State," the Commis- 

 sioners carry on their artificial propagation in these waters, 

 turn their few handfuls of fry into the stream, and prosecute 

 vigorously any offender to the extent of a fish or two, and 

 stand idly by and witness this wholesale slaughter, without, 

 so far as I have yet heard, any remonstrance. 



Do they permit this enormity because they have not. the 

 will to stop it, or because they have not the power? If the 

 latter, why keep up the farce of hatching houses, stringent 

 laws, commissioners and fish wardens. 



Can a water power company acquire the rights of absolute 

 proprietorship iu these lakes to the exclusion of all rights of 

 the fishing public? # is now the mooted question. 



Alb. Boleyn. 



FLY-BOOKS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Now that our pioneer, Mr. Wells, has cleared out the way, 

 and called our attention to that "long felt want," a discus- 

 sion through your columns of the advantages and disadvan- 

 tages connected with our tools, I wish to direct the attention 

 of some of our experts to the many miserable, useles fly- 

 books, which are annually foisted on iunocent novices, and 

 wdiich a great many who are not novices in the art of fly- 

 fishing, are compelled perforce to use. 



These abominations are of several kinds, the greatest of 

 which is the parchment, or as it is generally made, paper 

 book, with .several thicknesses in the leaves, forming several 

 — generally three — pockets on each page. These can only 

 be used to carry the old style of flies, with I he long, coiled 

 snells, and were well enough in their day, when the long 

 snells were used, and the angler was content to spend five 

 minutes every time he changed his fly in straightening the 

 snell. Now, however, all good flies are made with short 

 snells, which can easily be carried at full length, in a book 

 which will not be of inconvenient size. To keep up with 

 the times, and provide some means of carrying the short 

 pressed flies at full length, the manufacturers have devised a 

 book with parchment pages, and a row of small hooks at one 

 end, or (as some are made) at one end with a band, at the 

 other end to slip the loop of the fly under. 



These, however, do not meet the situation, for the reason 

 that, if there are hooks at each end. the snells are of course 

 not exactly of the right length and the flies will not stay on 

 the hooks; and if the hooks are on one end and a band on the 

 other, about the same difficulty is presented. 



Another style which I have seen was a slight improvement 

 on the last-named, inasmuch as three of the hooks on one end 

 of each page were replaced by very small coil wire springs, 

 about half an inch long, which kept the snells stretched out 

 at full length. 



As there were only about five pages in the book, however, 

 this arrangement only alkrwed of fifteen flies being carried in 

 this manner, and the modest price asked for this book was 

 ten dollars. Now, it seems to me that a fly-book might be 

 made which would combine cheapness with utility, and such 

 an one I would make something as follows: 



I w T ould have the book contain about eight pages, made of 

 some stiff material, for instance, leather stiffened with steel 

 or brass bands along the end. Each page should have, say, 

 six small coil wire springs on one end and a fixed hook for 

 each spring at the other end. 



This arrangement would accommodate sis flies on each 

 page, and hold them firmly in place at full length. The 

 book w T ould hold four dozen Hies, and would also contain 

 pockets for leaders and extra flies. This book need not be 

 bulky, and would be about the thing in my opinion. Some- 

 thing of this sort may be now manufactured. If so I would 

 like to know about it. 



For my part I have adopted the plan of keeping my flies 

 in envelopes and find it works very well. I use a book with 

 eight compartments, and use small envelopes opening on the 

 end, five inches long and two and one-half inches wide. 

 These I label on the end conspicuously, putting one or two 

 varieties in each envelope. As my flies all have short snells, 

 they go in at full length and are always straight. This 

 method is superior to any other in my estimation, but there 

 are of course many who' prefer to have the flies in sight, and 

 it is for their possible benefit that 1 make these suggestions. 



Governor. 



Seattle, Washington Ter. , April 5. 



The Sign is not Right.— Mill Spring, Ky., April 21.— 

 The oldest weather wizards have not stumbled on an ad- 

 jective satisfactorily expressive of the unprecedented winter 

 and spring of 1884 up to now, nor does the oldest manipula- 

 tor of red worms recall so few opportunities to indulge de- 

 ferment of a few chores to a half day's recuperation from 

 spring fever, In fact, there have been but two or three days 

 suggestive of an attack and the necessity of medication, and 

 only the fortunate resident, convenient to the mouth of some 

 of the larger tributaries to our rivers, has enjoyed a ea-t. 

 Last year I began taking pike-perch the last day of February, 

 and by this date had strung, with uumerous others, six pike- 

 perch and one pike, which aggregated fifty pounds by the 

 scales and without the addition of numerous odd ounces at 

 each draft. Three times I have had a bucket of minnows 

 caught for the next proper stage of water, and as often that 

 proper stage was not. To-day was anxiously anticipated, as 

 the dogwood is in bloom and the mercury soared into the 70s 

 yesterday and the day before, but an infantile blizzard from 

 the east last night is followed by an unceasing rain from that 

 quarter to-day, and wheu the wind is from the east our or- 

 dinarily inspired weather prophets give it up. Our aquifer- 

 ous apparatus has been unaccountably deranged since the 

 snow. Some farmers have concluded that Mother Shiptohs 

 calculations should have figured out 1884.— Kentucktax. 



Trouting in Wyoming.— South Fork of Stinking Water, 

 April 18,— Trout are very numerous in this beautiful moun- 

 tain country, and yesterday 1 took twenty fine ones in an 

 hour. Game is abundant also, and B. T. Rogers, better 

 known as "Curley" Rogers, is preparing to furnish pack out- 

 fits and guide parties in the mountains. The trout average 

 a good size and rise freely. — Billings. 



