[Fee. 19, 1885. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



69 



to a salmon stream among the wild woods and peaceful val- 

 leys of Canada invariably afford. A looker on at Mr. 

 Lyne.li's auction room iu Quebec this afternoon, who could 

 almost fancy that he saw The salmon leaping in the angler's 

 eyes, and fancied that each one felt as he secured his hid 

 that lie had gaffed his salmon and was wreathing the shiny 

 captive in delighted smiles, would never believe that [lie 

 instinct of sporting could have such a potent influence on 

 the railway, commercial and legislative "operators" of the 

 busy world, unless it was supplemented by hygienic gains 

 that dollars and cents cannot huy in all the 'apothecary shops 

 of the universe. 



AN OLD MILLPOND. 



A MAN is always learning something new iu trout fish- 

 ing, and last spring I had a new "experience, and as 

 this is the time for learning new wrinkles to put in practice 

 next spring, 1 am going to tell it, hopiug it may he of service 

 at some time to some 'of my brother anglers, I will tell 

 about my trip in full, as I think it will be interesting. 



At 4 P. M. oue day in early May, last spring, T. 'and the 

 writer hoarded a north-bound train with various bundles, in 

 the way of valises, creels, rods, etc. A ride of an hour and 

 a half brought us to our stopping place, and we were soon 

 asking the station agent if he could direct us to a place where 

 we could stay that night, 



There was no hotel in the little village, but a hospitable 

 farmer took us in, and supper was promised in an hour. It 

 looked at this time very much as if a tremendous thunder 

 storm was coming up. but as we had the fever strong upon 

 us, we took our rods and rubber coals, and passed quickly 

 down the village streci aud over the hill to a grove of dark- 

 some pines to explore an old mill darn which T. had fished 

 before, and which he averred contained trout. A sharp walk 

 of a mile brought us to the spot, and under some trees we 

 put our rodstogether and I looped on a white-winged coach- 

 man and a ginger hackle, as it was growing toward dusk. I 

 had made a few casts and had had a faint rise, when I sud- 

 denly became aware thai, a great darkuess had fallen upon 

 us, and as 1 looked up to see the cause, a scene of surpassing 

 grandeur met my eye. 



We were standing on the mountain side and could look 

 down and up the beautiful valley through which rolled the 

 river F . Field upon held' stretched the rich bottom- 

 lands, with here a patch of woodland and there a white 

 farmhouse, while over all the landscape showed the tender 

 green of early spring. In the distance across the vale rose 

 the rock-wall ridges aud pine crests of the opposite moun- 

 tains. In the north aud west dense legions of black clouds 

 were rising deeper and deeper and hurrying southward at- 

 tended by flankers of flying scud. A haze filled the air, aud 

 through it; the sun shone blood red. Everywhere theairwas 

 full of a lurid yellow light. It was a weird scene. Even 

 as we gazed the sun disappeared aud a dense gloom settled 

 over all. while the air was filled with dried leaves, whirled 

 into the air by the storm wind of the coining tempest. A 

 few heavy drops of rain fell. Evidently no time was to be 

 lost if we would escape a ducking. Leaving the problem of 

 the trout, we hurried into our rubber coats, undid our rods 

 and struck down the hill for home. We made it, but after 

 all it proved to be more wind than rain. The yellow look 

 of the sky was explained by forest fires to the northward. 



Next morning the rising sun found us preparing for the 

 fray. A brisk walk of a few miles brought us to our stream, 

 but to our dismay we found notices 'not to fish every two 

 hundred yards of its entire length. Being law-abiding citi- 

 zens, there was no angling for us, and with heavy hearts we 

 turned our heads homeward. As we walked we agreed to 

 go and try the old mill pond we had looked at the night be- 

 fore. We did not anticipate much sport, but we had come 

 to go fishing, and go fishing we wsuld, even if the gates of 

 our Mecca had been closed to us. 



So back we tramped two miles over the hill and through 

 the woods, where ever and anon we heard the scream of the 

 bluejay or the moraine greeting of the robin, and once we 

 were greeted by a rabbit, which sat under a bush, calmly 

 regarding us with great round wondering eyes. 



About 9 o'clock we arrived at the mill and commenced 

 work. It was a peculiar place and merits a description. A 

 little stream comes murmuring under brush heaps down the 

 mountain, and suddenly rushes into the pond. This lies on 

 a hillside and is really a trench about forty feet wide, three 

 deep, and from four to five hundred yards long, lying at 

 right angles to the stream. It is bordered everywhere, save 

 in one spot, by a grove of tall hemlocks, which shade it 

 deeply even at mid-day. Between these trees the banks were 

 bordered by a young thicket. It was filled with clear, cold 

 water, and the bottom was thick with dead leaves and pine 

 needles, under which the trout hid themselves. A wood 

 road ran along one bank under the towering pines. One end 

 of the pond backed into a sawmill yard, whence came the 

 screech of the log under the teeth of the saw, and the voices 

 of the men as they rolled the huge logs toward the mill. 

 Steam was the motive power here, and the little pond yielded 

 its tithe of water only to fill the boilers. This same end of 

 the pond was really in the farmyard of the mill house, 

 which was only a short distance away behind a clump of 

 evergreens. From this the pond ran through the grove into 

 the woods beyond. It was a very pretty pface. 



We walked up the road a little way, the mill hands smil- 

 ing good-naturedly at us and asking us if we were going to 

 catch minnows. We put our rods together and I put a good 

 lively worm on the hook, as it was impossible to cast a fly 

 on the pond save at one spot. An iustant dart, a trembling 

 of the rod and I drew to land a 10-iuch trout. The problem 

 was solved; there were trout here and we set to work to get 

 them. We each took one end, T. going to the upper while 

 I took the mill end. Ind ustriously I worked and finally 

 caught a little fellow and nothing more. 1 grew discouraged 

 and finally wandered down the little stream, and from one 

 or two holes where the water swirled drew a fine trout. 

 Under the bridge 1 took several, and so I worked on down 

 through the meadows, just clothed in vernal green, while 

 the mild, warm air was filled with the music of a thousand 

 bird throats. 



After fishing through several meadows I came to the rail- 

 road culvert, and here I determined to stop and see what T. 

 had been doing, and help him investigate the lunch he car- 

 ried in his creel. I tramped back, but T. was not in sight 

 and not to be found, so I must wait. I sat down and looked 

 over the contents of my creel, in which reposed a dozen 

 trout, with several big fellows on top, lighted my pipe and 

 gave myself up to reverie and the enjoyment of a mild 

 spring day. 



I tired of this after a while and went out and made friends 

 with the sawyer's dog and talked to one of the workmen. 

 "What luck?" "Oh, fair. Anything to be caught in 



this pond?" "Wal, there was trout here ouct, but they're 

 gone now. and when I goes a fishing I goes to the river." 

 'What do .you get there?" said I. "Oh, I get pickerel." 

 As he spoke I saw several line rises up the pond tu gnats 

 dropping in the water. I determined to investigate, -and as 

 I walked I prayed that every one would think like the wood 

 sawyer and fish only iu the river. Soon I saw more trout 

 rising. 1 caught a fly on the water; he was a rfict spinner. 

 I had his duplicate in my fly book, but that did no good, for 

 1 could not throw it here. I sat aud watched the trout for 

 sonic time, and then an idea struck me. I put a six-foot 

 leader of the finest drawn gossamer gut on my line, a liny 

 hook tied on the same, atid then I" chose a 'small, lively 

 worm which 1 looped on. This I did away from the bank, 

 and then crawling carefully till near the edge, without rais- 

 ing up I poked the rod tip through a gap in the bush 

 fringe, and taking the hook in one hand drew down on 

 the rod point till it was well bent, and then let go, The 

 worm shot out over the water till the line straightened 

 and then fell softly and sank. 1 remained lying flat down 

 for several minutes, and then felt a jerk" Raising up 

 1 drew I o me a fine trout. The secret was solved. There 

 were plenty of trout, but they were disturbed so much by 

 people passing that they hid tinder the leaves at the bottom 

 and only came out sometimes when the coast was clear. If 

 they got the slightest idea, of any one's presence they would 

 not bite. Then I changed my place, repeated the same 

 tactics and hooked a larger trout' which I was compelled to 

 play very carefully, owing to the delicate leader. In this 

 manner I worked carefully over the pond, and in two hours 

 had secured a couple of dozen, rejecting the little fellows. 

 Then the interest waned, and 1 began to wonder what had 

 become of T. Soon my shouts received an answer aud he 

 appeared. Then we discussed luncheou and told our luck 

 while we ate. lie had tried the upper end of the pool, but 

 having do luck had gone up the stream, fishing both ways, 

 aud had taken forty, all rather small. AVhen I told him" to 

 look iu my creel, he was astonished at their size and deter- 

 mined to try my tactics, but he got nothing. 



At length I persuaded him to desist and we then went 

 down the road, T. catching his last under the bridge. We 

 took the train for home tired, but happy with our luck and 

 pleasant day, and 1 am firmly convinced' that rules are worth 

 nothing in trout fishing, but experience and ingenuity every- 

 thing. Percyval." 

 New Haven, Conn., Feb. 5. :885. 



BASS FISHING IN THE OZARKS. 



THE heat of July of 1883, and strict attention to office 

 work during the dog days had resulted iu its natural 

 consequence of weariness and lassitude, when my soul was 

 thrilled by a proposition from '■'Frater" to "take a' trip down 

 the James." Now, our Southwestern James, gentle reader, 

 does not follow a tame and prosaic course, like its more 

 celebrated namesake of old Virginia, but it is a swift and 

 dashing stream flowing down the southern slope of the 

 Ozark Mountains. It is clear as crystal, full of rocks and 

 rapids and winds in a very crooked channel among the hills 

 and overhanging bluffs of the roughest portion of Southwest 

 Missouri. On the maps it is put down as the "James Fork 

 of White Bivcr." It is also, and this is its chief attraction 

 to us, moderately well stocked with that king of game fish, 

 the small-mouth black bass. 



The cars carry us twenty mile southwest to the little town 

 of Billiings where we find a carriage waiting, and going due 

 south for thirty miles, we strike the James at "Webster, 

 where we are to make our headquarters. Webster's farm- 

 house is just at one heel of an irregularly shaped "horseshoe 

 bend" of the river, which after describing many a zig-zag 

 curve for twenty-five miles, brings the other heel of the shoe 

 only a mile and a half distant over the stony hills. 



Here we have a comfortable log camp, and here for a 

 week we tempt the gamy bass from the clear depths and 

 draw in vigor with every breath of the crisp mountain air. 

 Let me describe one day's sport of several we had, 



It was a peerless morning with a gentle south wind just 

 rustling the leaves, >nd not a cloud in the skies, that we 

 started to run around the big bend. Our boat was an un- 

 gainly home-made affair, which would have required steam 

 power at least to force her up stream, but as our trip is all 

 down hill her size only adds to her steadiness and cargo's 

 comfort. There were seven of us in all, iucluding ladies and 

 children. At the stern with a long paddle in hand stands 

 old Bill Webster, a veteran of the stream, who has taken 

 hundreds of flat boats and rafts down this swift course, and 

 who knows every rock and eddy to be encountered. 



On the little deck at the bow, "Rusticus" takes the first 

 chance with rod and line, while just behind him "Frater" 

 stands with boathook ready to feud off from dangerous rocks 

 as we shoot the rapids, while the ladies and children occupy 

 the waist of the boat. Se we cast off, and instantly the old 

 tub of a boat begins to toss her head and dance over the 

 waters "like a thing of life," as the gusher hath it. 



Meanwhile I am whipping the dashing waters as best I 

 may, sending my Abbey & Imbrie spinner flashing here and 

 there, and receiving occasioual electric shocks as a swift 

 flash of bronzed sides and a desperate tug and struggle pro- 

 claim the presence of the king of the waters. 



No light, fancy tackle will do here. The boat is shooting 

 along like a race horse, and when a bass strikes the hooks 

 there is no chance to skillfully play him or bring him slowly 

 to hand. *t)ur tackle comprises a jointed sixteen-foot cane 

 pole, with reel and silk line strong enough to stand the strain 

 of both fish and boat; and while some of our enthusiastic 

 brethren, who always — on paper, at least — catch their fish 

 "according to Hoyle,"with just the orthodox amount of 

 playing and reeling, may sneer at our rough styie; my word 

 for it, if they had been of our party that day they would 

 own that there was enjoyment and science, yes, absolutely 

 science, iu capturing a good bass in our way as well as 

 theirs. 



But I must not take your space to tell a tithe of the inci- 

 dents of that day. The blood-stirring dash down the long- 

 rapids under the thousand-foot Virgin Bluffs ; the repeated 

 thrill of joy when, like a flash of lightning, a bass takes the 

 hook aud fights to get back under his native rock, like a 

 water hen, as he is; the bivouac on a gravelly beach at noon, 

 and the marvellous disappearance of substantiate thereat; 

 the thousand beautiful views of river, hills aud forests, 

 changing at every turn, until we sight the mouth of the 

 Jackson Ho, low and find the boys waiting with the wagon 

 and saddle horses, which convey us, boat and all, with our 

 string of twenty-four beautiful fish, back to Webster aud 

 sweet repose. 



As I write the sleet taps at my windows and the north 

 winds rattle the blinds, but I mentally vow that when the 



leaves bud again I will be found with rod and line breathing 

 in strength and vigor, and, perchance, faking a few bass 

 meanwhile. And may all the brethren of the "Forest and 

 Stream family be permitted to "go and do likewise" is the 

 wish of Rusticus H, 



North Springfield, Mo. 



THE VERMONT FISH LAW. 



Editor Forest arid Stream: 



Is not "Awahsoose" in error as to a black bass measuring 

 9y or 9f iuclies loug weighing a pound? The evidence of 

 "Stanstead," who corroborated his testimony with table for 

 Forest Akd Stukam, before the legislative committee, was 

 that a bass :>f that length would not weigh a half pound. I 

 thought as "Awahsoose" does, and got the committee to 

 make the length six inches, but on the showing made by 

 "Stanstead" and others it was restored to ten inches, and I 

 believe they were right. The objections he makes as'to the close 

 season for pike-perch were also presented before the commit- 

 tee, and the time shortened to June 1, but it was demonstrated 

 tothe committee that to make the law effective to stop net 

 fishing it must be June 15, and that date was restored in the 

 House. The thus far very profitable pound net and seine 

 fishing at the north end of the lake is very fast depleting 

 these waters of fish, and especially of pike-perch. Heretofore 

 the seizure and destruction of the nets, with the fining of 

 the fishermen, if caught, have been the penalities. Now 

 the seizure and confiscation of the fish is added, and to 

 make that effective, to take them in any way is made illegal 

 to June. 15. This shuts off all pretense that any fish that 

 may be seized were taken with hook and line, and hence not 

 liable to seizure. If something had not been done to make 

 the statutes against net fishing more effective, neither 

 "Awahsoose'' nor anybody else would have been able to take 

 pike-perch with the hook and line at any season of the year, 

 because there would be none to take. I have enjoyed the 

 early fishing for many years, and should be glad to continue 

 to enjoy it, but if "Awahsoose" could hear the testimony 

 and know the facts he would commend instead of condemn 

 the Legislature of 1884. It took decided steps in advance, 

 and did provide funds to pay for enforcing the law forbidding 

 net fishing. ' H. A. 



That Duck Capture. — Louisville, TXy., Feb. 10. — Editor 

 Forest and Stream: In the Washington Star there is a re- 

 ported capture by Senator Hampton of a wild duck while 

 fly-fishing. This is a very good fish or duck story, but will 

 it bear analysis? The correspondent says the Senator first 

 cast the hy at a distance of sixty feet. He does not state the 

 distance at the second cast, but I presume the distance was 

 about the same as at the first, inasmuch as he says at the 

 first cast the duck was struck on the back with the fly. 

 Now the question is, is there a fly-fisher in this country or 

 any other country who can cast a fly sixty or fifty or forty 

 feet without retrieving at least once before attaining even the 

 minimum distance here mentioned? Such being the case, 

 would not the act of retrieving frighten the duck" so that it 

 would not be taken?— X. Y. Z. 



Bass Often Takkx in Winter.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: Say to your Swedesboro (N. J.) correspondent that 

 black bass have frequently been taken while pike fishing 

 through the ice in the stocked ponds of his county during 

 the past five winters. — M. P. P. 



Mr. Tnos. Malleson, late with Mr. T. J. Conroy, this 

 city, is now connected with Mr. Fred. Malleson, South 

 Sixth street, Brooklyn, New York, where he will welcome 

 any of his many old friends who may call. 



tffisJjmUure. 



SHELLFISHERIES OF CONNECTICUT. 



WE have the fourth report of the Shellfish Commissioners 

 of Connecticut to the General Assembly, January 

 session, 1885. The rapid growth of the oyster industry has 

 brought a variety of novel questions such as the arbitration 

 and adjustment of disputes between adjoining owners of 

 oyster grounds, conferences with oystermen to fix a just 

 valuation in order to secure a satisfactory basis of taxation, 

 negotiations to secure grounds for signal stations upon the 

 shore, making maps of the oyster grounds within the State, 

 etc. 



Since June 1, 1881, the total number of applications received 

 is 576, covering au area of 88,964 15-100 acres; of which area 

 45,015 58-100 acres have been designated ; and they have netted 

 to the State the sum of $49,560.03. If to the foregoing designa- 

 tions, made by the Commissioners, you add the designations 

 previously made by the towns, the total area designated iu 

 State jurisdiction will be found to be 79,018 910 acres, of 

 which 14,066 acres are cidtivated, and 64,962 9-10 are un- 

 cultivated. The total number of taxpaying cultivators in 

 1882 was 216; in 1SS3 it was 2S0; in 1884 it was 385, of whom 16 

 own each 5 acres and under ; 53 own each between 5 and 20 

 acres ; and 332 own each 20 acres and more. 



That there is a steady growth, in the oyster industry of the 

 State is obvious in many ways. One of the most striking 

 proofs is the rapid increase in the number of steamers 

 employed. There are already in the business forty steamers, 

 with an aggregate carrying capacity of 36,720 bushels. 



Another proof of the growth of the business is the great 

 increase of shijanents of seed and grown stock to neighboring 

 States. The quantity of seed shipped is increasing annually, 

 although the price per bushel is considerably less than 

 formerly. Still, this is probably the largest and most 

 profitable branch of the oyster industry of this State today. 

 The distributing of oysters in the shell and in kegs and cans 

 to all parts of the "United States is carried on all the year 

 round. With increased freighting facilities and improved 

 preserving appliances, the trade is constantly growing. 

 Probably no stock is produced on the Atlantic coast that 

 reaches the consumer in better condition, after a long journey, 

 than that shipped from Connecticut at any season of the year, 

 even in the hottest summer months. 



The plague of starfish has increased in some waters, while 

 in other beds there have been none. In reply to the question 

 put by the Commissioners, where do they most abound? the 

 answers were various ; but a fair deduction from them shows 

 that they are found at all seasons of the year in all salt waters 

 of the Sound; that they remain on the natural beds and other 

 grounds where the young seed oysters are as long as they find 

 food abundant, and then they attack the neighboring 

 cultivated beds. They are quiet in July and August, when 

 they form into large bimches or rolls for spawning. They are 

 most destructive in the fall, winter and early spring months. 

 They are rarely found on mud bottoms; they seem to prefer 

 hard clay or rocky bottoms, and they gather about the head- 

 lands and on fines running off from the headlands into the 

 Sound. The depth of the water seems to make no difference 



