454 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[July 2, 1885. 



to teD all hands of the monstrous big pickerel he had hooked 

 that morning. He said: "Boys, there is a tremendous big 

 pickprel down in that pond and I'm afraid there isn't any 

 cord around these diggings that will hold him. He has got 

 3»our trolling spoon in his jaw and about fifteen yards of 

 line. You see, S. was rowing and I was trolling, and had 

 just let out a lot of line when I felt 'that peculiar twitch' 

 which only a pickerel can give, so I gave a tremendous jerk 

 and then I knew I had on a big one. so I told S. to row quick 

 while I hauled in, but to this the pickerel seemed to object, 

 as I could hardly gel in any line, so giving the line an extra 

 strong pull to move the tramp it parted. I think the line 

 must have been rotten." 



During this ghost story my friend who sat opposite me at 

 the table kept giving me the wink. We knew very well it 

 wasn't a pickerel that parted that line, for it was strong 

 enough to hold the two largest pickerel in the pond, so when 

 the old gent said it was rotten it got us excited, but the old 

 fellow took it all back and said he would send down to the 

 city for a new spoon and line. We got the location where 

 he' lost the spoon and started out. We had been fishing 

 about fifteen minutes when somethiug struck the spoon, or 

 rather the spoon struck something, and held fast. We 

 backed down and before we could see the spoon we saw 

 another line quite a distance below the surface, running 

 parallel with ours. Of course we got excited, and when we 

 got a short distance further we were somewhat surprised to 

 find on an old pole about a foot under water our spoou and 

 the one Mr. Pike lost that morning securely hooked a short 

 distance below ours. Now, here was a chance to get square. 

 As the spoon was securely fastened in the pole we broke off 

 the upper part of it with the hooks in, and after trolling 

 about an hour and catching six pickerel and one bass we 

 started for home. It was just dinner time and we left our 

 traps out in the hall, and as we entered the room the first 

 question was if we had caught that big pickerel. My friend 

 said we had, and that we would show it after dinner. This 

 would not do, however, as most of them thought he might 

 be giving them a fish story; so being hard pressed he related 

 how we were trolling when he felt "that peculiar twitch," 

 and after a good deal of work got it alongside of the boat, 

 and found the spoon which Mr. Pike had lost, not six inches 

 from where ours hud stuck, and my friend skipped out in 

 the hall (Mr. Pike saying in the meantime that he could 

 always tell "that peculiar twitch";, and brought in the. pole 

 with the spoon securely fastened in it. 



I wish you could have seen "that peculiar twitch" fisher- 

 man. I think he hardly knew whether he was in Orange 

 county or in Alrica, but after that we never heard my more 

 about pickerel fishing or "that peculiar twitch." 



Gcs. Feron. 



Labrador Trout.— In an article on the Labrador Fisher- 

 ies in the Bulletin of the United Slates Fish Commission, 

 Mr, W. A Stearns says: "Trout are caught at all seasons, 

 from early iu the spring, when the ice breaks up, to late in 

 the fall. They are most abundant just before it is high tide : 

 and their favorite time is from 2 to 4 in the afternoon of a 

 rather windy and lowering' day. They at all times seem to 

 prefer cloudy weather in which to be about, and when the 

 wind blows lightly, ruffling the water, and are theu caught 

 in greater abundance than at any other time. In some of 

 the bays the trout are so abundant that you can cast a double 

 hooked line and generally catch a fish almost instantly on 

 each hook. I have in mind a locality called Baie Les Roches, 

 where a small stream comes down into a sort of bay or arm 

 of the sea, and where, in 1875, a party of five of us suc- 

 ceeded in taking with hook and line some 938 fish, large and 

 small, fishing only part of two days. The fish bit at the red 

 and gray flies, and as fast as we could haul them in. About 

 100 of these would weigh less than half a pound each, the 

 majority between 1 and 2 pounds, as many as 75 of them 3 

 pounds apiece, and the largest weighed 4| pounds. There 

 seems to be three or four varieties or species of trout in these 

 regions, but they have not all as yet been positively identified. 

 They are called here salmon trout, spotted and gray trout, 

 sea trout, and another species, if indeed it be a valid one, 

 called by the people the mud trout. Of these three or four, 

 the sea and spotted and gray tUnit alone appear extensively 

 as articles of commerce. Trout are caught all along the 

 coast from Miugau to Blanc Sablon, if not to Belle Isle 

 itself. Anywhere about the mouths of small streams these 

 fish are abundant. The large streams are usually so com- 

 pletely filled with salmon nets that trout nets are of no 

 account whatever. In the small places even, I have known 

 a small boy hardly ten years old to catch from half a barrel 

 to a barrel and a half of trout in a season with one or two 

 small nets only, thus earning from $15 to $20 on this alone. 

 The fish, like all other catches, are taken by the traders 

 at a nominal price in exchange for food and articles of 

 necessity, and sold in Quebec as grade 1, 2 or 3, according 

 to quality, as seen by examination of the barrels by the 

 inspection officer." - 



Maine Salmon.— Yesterday forenoon E. M. Hersey 

 landed a fine salmon and F. "W. Ayer two with fly hooks. 

 This makes half a dozen caught within a few days by Mr. 

 Ayer, who was fortunate enough to catch the first salmon 

 with a fly on our river. He has thoroughly demonstrated 

 the fact that salmon fishing with fly and rod is as good on 

 this river as on any river in the world. Mr-. Ayer, together 

 with all other "lovers of the gentle art," desires to extend 

 hearty thanks to our able and euterprising Fish Commission- 

 ers, Messrs. Stilwell and Stanley, for the noble work they 

 have done in stocking our rivers'and ponds with game fish. 

 Had others been present yesterday afternoon with rod and 

 lim, fifteen salmon at least might have been taken. Mr. 

 Ayer has demonstrated the fact that there is no better place 

 in the world for salmon fishing than in the wafers of our 

 own noble Penobscot and below the dam in our city. Ex- 

 President Arthur, who is now fishing at Restigouche" would 

 do -well to try his luck and skill here.— Bangor {Me.) Whig, 

 June 27. 



"Skinned Streak." — Editor Forest ami Stream: We 

 have read the criticism of "Litchfield Couuty Farmer" in 

 Forest and Stream of last week. That good man and 

 myself do not differ in respect to protection for farmer and 

 fish. "We only wish that all men were as ready as he is to 

 enforce the laws. All we ask of him, though, is to remem- 

 ber that when "Stillaboy" ribbed Skinned Stream it was 

 neither against the law nor did he take the fingerhng*. And 

 we would add that should he or any other man ever find 

 "Stillaboy" violating any game law, he would deserve all the 

 threatenings of "Farmer's" wrath.— Stillaboy. 



The Most Killing Fly.— Editor Forest and Stream; In 

 your issue of .Tune 4 an article by "Sport" recommends the 

 black prince fly for Colorado waters. I am unable to find 

 the fly in Orvis or Conroy's selections of flies and would 

 much like to correspond with "Sport" unless you can tell me 

 where I would find said fly. 1 have fished Colorado waters 

 for years and agree with him and "Cyrtonyx" that the 

 coachman is the killer,— C. E. Hart. [We do not know the 

 black prince, perhaps "Sport" will give us a description of 



it. — Ji^D.J 



Berkshire Hills.— New Marlboro, Mass., June 17.— 

 Angling reported very good here this season. Expect to wet 

 my line in a trout stream this afternoon. The Berkshire 

 people have been persistently stocking their streams, and 

 more particularly their lakes, with Sebago salmon for seven 

 or eight years past, but no mature fish have ever been taken. 

 Now the lessees of Lake Buel propose to keep their lot of fry 

 in a prepared pond for three years before turning into the 

 lake, caring for and feeding them meanwhile. A good plan. 



Pillsbury, Minn., June 27.— Last week Willie Bain, a 

 lad of nine years, caught a wall-eyed pike weighing eleven 

 pounds. The same day, Clark Eldred captured one which 

 raised the beam at exactly twelve pounds. Leon Honde, A. 

 P. McRae and several others have just returned from a three 

 days' camp at Long Lake. They report a magnificent catch 

 and a general good time.— J. F. Locke. 



North Carolina Quail.— The prospect for Bob White 

 was never better. I heard the same report during a recent 

 visit to my kinsman M,, who resides iu Goochland county, 

 Virginia.— Wells (Rockingham, N. C, June 26). 



"Camps of the Kingfishers" continued in next issue, 



JUislfmlture. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co. 



THE NEW YORK OYSTER COMMISSION. 



WE have the first "Report of the Commissioner of Fisher- 

 ies of the State of New York, in charge of the Oyster 

 Investigation." It is an octavo of 137 pages and seven plates. 

 The law authorizing the work provided for an investigation in 

 three particulars: As to the decrease of oysters; as to the 

 enemies of oysters ; and as to the means of increasing the supply 

 of oysters in our State waters. In each of these particulars 

 the investigation to be of value requires thorough and careful 

 work, which demands time. So far the time for the investi- 

 gation has been a little more than six months, consequently 

 very much that it would have been desirable to have done 

 has had to be left undone, and many localities have had to be 

 left unvisited. During this short time the Commissioner ac- 

 complished much in the way of getting information touching 

 upon the aims of the investigation from as many of those 

 localities which are fairly typical oyster regions and from as 

 many individuals who are engaged in practical ovster work 

 as was possible, so that the results should at least "serve as a 

 basis for further research. The time did not permit nor the 

 means allow, a systematic survey of the oyster grounds of the 

 State, Which may be done hereafter, but a superficial inspec- 

 tion of the oyster territory was made and much information 

 gained. 



The work covered a large portion of the western part of 

 Long Island and the vicinity of New York city, but did not 

 extend east of Patchogue on the south side, nor' of Port Jeffer- 

 son on the north side of Long Island. Near City Island and in 

 the Spuyten Duyvil Creek -were formerly valuable oyster 

 grounds" and there are still natural beds which produce some 

 oysters by reason of the continual working of the beds favor- 

 ing a catch of spat on the clean shells, yet this continual work- 

 ing prevents the oysters from attaining to any respectable 

 size, and, as there appears to be no close season recognized, 

 the dredging and tonging continuing right along through the 

 summer and fall months, for "seed," as it is said, thousands 

 upon thousands, perhaps millions upon millions, of the newly- 

 attached young, and the young in all the stages of growth 

 when the shell is thin and easdy crushed, must inevitably be 

 destroyed . 



As might be expected this greedy and persistent working of 

 the o.yster territory has had a marked effect in diminishing 

 the oyster areas, and in many places tracts that formerly were 

 nourishing beds of native oysteis, have, by this means, been 

 completely ravished of their inhabitants. As a rule, the natural 

 oyster beds in the neighborhood of all large oyster centers 

 have been so depleted that practically they have ceased to be 

 beds, and after thus being despoiled have been claimed as 

 vacant, or not natural oyster territory, staked in, and appro- 

 priated for planting purposes, since any land upon which a 

 person cannot get enough oysters to constitute a good day's 

 work is generally considered by the oystermen as not natural 

 oyster territory, and can be claimed for planted beds by the 

 first person who finds and wishes to hold it, and in very many, 

 perhaps the majority of cases, these exhausted localities, which 

 have been claimed and planted, are now highly productive 

 properties. Just how much of the land along the north shore 

 of the Sound, which was originally oyster-bearing territory, 

 and which having been exhausted, is now "planted" property, 

 it is impossible at the present time to say, but probably by far 

 the larger portion of tne land in the immediate vicinity of City 

 Island which is now used as oyster producing territory, belongs 

 to the class of exhausted, natural oyster lands. Not all of the 

 exhausted land in this neighborhood, however, was depleted 

 entirely by the working of the oystermen. Some has been the 

 result of the increase of sediment and dirt in the water, such 

 as the sewerage and refuse material floated from the cities of 

 New York and Brooklyn, and the dirt caused by the increased 

 working along the shores, which, lodging upon the oysters, 

 forms a slimy or dirty coating to the shells and upon which no 

 young can then attach themselves. The annual supply thus being 

 cut off it did not take long to use up the adult oysters and so 

 depopulate the bed. The sediment, which was sufficient to pre- 

 vent the attachment of the "spat" and thus eventually cause 

 the extinction of the beds, was not, however, of sufficient 

 amount to prevent these localities from being excellent plant- 

 ing grounds; indeed the sediment and mud may have im- 

 proved them in this respect, and accordingly they are to-day 

 in excellent condition and produce great numbers of fine oys- 

 ters for our markets. The localities of these old natural oyster 

 grouuds are not the only locations where planted beds are 

 now found around City Island, for a large part of the soft 

 bottom, upon which no oysters ever grew naturally, or at 

 least with rare exceptions, is now planted, and the growth in 

 most cases is fully equal, and in many cases superior, to that 

 upon the old natural ground. The reason for this is that the 

 tides which serve to bring the sediment in abundance, also 

 bring plenty of that kind of food which the oysters need for 

 their growth, and undoubtedly more food is found when there 

 is plenty of sediment than when the water is very clear. 

 The oyster business as a whole is therefore much greater than 

 it was years ago, and this has been brought about by the ex- 

 tension of the planted lands and at the expense of the natural 

 beds. Fifty or sixty years ago efforts were made in these 

 waters to increase the supply of oysters by planting shells for 

 the spat to attach themselves to, and. about the same time the 



first stakes were stuck in the East River to mark off a bed for 

 the purposes of planting. These were probably the earliest 

 attempts in this country in the direction of what has become, 

 through the increased and still increasing demands of custom- 

 ers, a gigantic industiy, that is, the increase, by means of cul- 

 tivation, of the supplies to be obtained from the natural 

 grounds. And with the increase in the planted areas came 

 greater demands upon the natural beds for seed and the con- 

 sequent depletion of inauv of them. Up to the present time 

 most of the seed used at City Island has been obtained from 

 the natural beds near at hand, but it is becoming neces- 

 sary for the oystermen to go further and further away 

 each year for the required material to replant their beds, 

 and soon it will be necessary to adopt some more cer- 

 tain method for getting seed, over and above what can be 

 obtained from the natural beds, than by throwing down old 

 shells either upon the old beds or upon new territory where 

 they may become buried in the mud. Further than thi3 no 

 systematic efforts have ever been made at City Island to col- 

 lect the spat. But in this direction thousands of bushels of 

 shells, since the initiative step was talcen, have been thrown 

 overboard here and in other sections of New York waters, 

 sometimes with excellent results, sometimes with no results at 

 all. The fact is, few of the oystermen make a study of then- 

 business, as most farmers do of the demands of their farms, so 

 as to introduce any improvements in their methods of work, 

 or so as to enable them to explain, with some sort of reason, 

 why their efforts are not more successful than they often are. 

 They are content to follow in the old rut until some one more 

 enterprising than the rest shows tbem the value of a new 

 road, when they eagerly "follow their leaders" where they 

 can see "any money in it." 



Complaint is made of the dumping of the garbage and citv 

 refuse along the Sound as far as Execution Light, Portchester 

 and Rye Beach, and it is thought if this could be stopped 

 and proper care could be taken for the removal of the ex- 

 cess of old shells, and the preventing of over-dredging by a 

 close season, a t nd perhaps by a limit to the number of oysters 

 which any one person could take from the beds per dav. there 

 seems no good reason why this bed should not be' a fine 

 source of supply, for the planted beds, at least, for years to 

 come; but if it is 'not protected in some efficient manner.it 

 hardly seems as if it could long be of any great value. Its 

 location is entirely in its favor, and this is probably what has 

 kept it in fair condition up to the present time. "The oysters 

 from the bed were mostly of fair size, but generally set in 

 clusters much like the raccoon oysters of the South. Upon 

 opening them they were found to be thin and watery and the 

 flavor was not good, but as these oysters spawn very late, 

 probably as late, if not later, than those of any other bed in 

 New York waters, they would undoubtedly be of much better 

 flavor, as well as in better condition, later in the year. 



Most of the oysters ia this part of the Sound and in the East 

 River and the bays and inlets of the north shore of Long 

 Island are not placed in fresh water to "tone down" their 

 flavor. They are sometimes "drinked" in order to "fatten" 

 them, but as a rule their flavor does not require that they 

 should be freshened in order to suit the palates of the majority 

 of those who consume these bivalves. Execution Light-House 

 rock is worked by the oystermen from both sides of the Sound, 

 and the oysters taken are either carried directly to market, 

 or more commonly, planted in private beds for a short time, 

 at least, before tney are offered for sale. The number of 

 oystermen who work here, and the number of oysters taken 

 from this bed in the course of the year is large, but it would be 

 difficult to make any definite estimate in either case from our 

 present knowledge. On some of the shells taken from this 

 oed there were a few "set," but it was too early to form any 

 opinion as to what the set of the year might be. There were a 

 few drills noticed among the oysters, and unquestionably the 

 drills do a great deal of damage here, as well as on the other 

 beds in the Sound, among the young "set3." No other enemies 

 were found, although periwinkles are at times plenty, and 

 star fishes are now and then very destructive, and more or less 

 of them are gathered every season. The dredges used on this 

 rock are large and weigh up to the limit allowed by law in 

 the Slate. 



The investigation, so far as it has now been carried on, has 

 demonstrated beyond question that, with the exception of one 

 section of our oyster territory, and in certain individual cases, 

 the industry upon neither the natural nor the planted beds, is 

 in as flourishing condition, or as well conducted as it should 

 be, owing, in many cases, to bickerings and diverse workings 

 among the local townspeople, and to a rather general effort or 

 desire on the part of the oystermen to work more territory 

 than can be well and systematically handled. Still, tne inves- 

 tigation has also demonstrated that as a whole, the oyster in- 

 dustry, as carried on in the waters of our State, is of much 

 greater scope than it was formerly, and is of constantly in- 

 creasing importance, and that this extension of the boundar- 

 ies of our oyster areas is due entirely to labor in the direction 

 of private cultivation. 



It is recommended that the Commissioner in charge of the 

 Oyster Investigation be authorized to make a close season on 

 the natural growth beds from the 15th day of July until the 

 1st day of October, of every year; to offer some reward for 

 the capture of starfishes in quantities, and to be empowered 

 with authority to compel the captains, or those in control of 

 garbage boats, and of all other vessels, to comply with the 

 laws in regard to dumping various commodities into our State 

 waters, and some arrangement should be perfected with the 

 New Jersey State authorities whereby the dumping of gar- 

 bage, or the pouring of any deleterious substance into our 

 State waters should be prevented, even to the absolute prohi- 

 bition of the placing of any refuse material from any oil or 

 sugar refinery into the waters at all. While the natural beds 

 can thus be protected to a certain extent, that part of our 

 oyster territory which is at present time occupied by private 

 individuals for the purpose of cultivating- oysters, and which 

 has drawn so largely in the past and depends so n uch in the 

 present upon our natural areas for its supplies, offers a some- 

 what perplexing problem for solution, since the requirements 

 of the one are somewhat different from those of the other. 

 There can be no question, however, but what every effort 

 should be made to encourage and promote the oyster indus- 

 try, as carried on by private enterprise, in the various sec- 

 tions of our State waters, but just what had better be done, is 

 not so easy to determine. 



The experiments in propagation were placed in charge of 

 Prof. H. J. Bice, who established his headquarters on the 

 grounds of the N. Y. Fish Commission at Cold Spring Harbor, 

 where the facilities offered inducements. In his report to 

 Commissioner Blackford Professor Rice soys: "The State 

 hatchery, which was formerly used as a mill, is located on 

 the western side of the harbor," just south of the limits of the 

 inner bay, and a short distance beyond the reach of the high- 

 est tides. It is admirably situated in every way for the pur- 

 poses for which it is now employed The hillside to the west 

 and the surrounding land contain innumerable springs of 

 clear, cold water, so that any desired number of fish ponds 

 can be constructed with unfailing water supplies and the 

 hatchery itself can be furnished to any desired extent from 

 the same sources, consequently the producing power of the 

 hatchery is only limited by the ability or desires of the Com- 

 missioners to make use of the facilities. Some of the State 

 Fish Commissioners have long recognized the advantages 

 offered by this locality, not only for the propagation of the 

 fresh water fishes, but for the increase of those species found 

 in the ocean, many of which have become quite scarce 

 within the past decade or more upon many sections of 

 our coast, and as it became more and more apparent that 

 something ought to be done toward increasing the supply of 

 salt water food fishes, and on account of the comparative ease 

 with which the salt water from the inner bay could be intro 



