108 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



LSept. 8, 1885, 



The newspapers of New Jersey, and especially those of the 

 shore counties, should a,£;itate the question' of menhaden 

 poaching uutil the true stale of matters is brought home to 

 the people and our representatives in Congress with a force 

 and cci'taiatity that will brook no delay iu carrying out 

 speedy and effective measures for the total extinction of this 

 suicidal fish destruction. The menhaden pirates must go. — 

 Bnlnmy {N. J.) Advocate, Aug. 26. 



The New York Commercial Advertiser reports: United 

 States Fish Commissioner Eugene Blackford said this morn- 

 ing: "Fish have been much more plentiful the last few 

 days. Blutfish have been caught very freely all the week 

 and are wholesaling to the large hotels at eight cent« a 

 pound. Pompaao and Spanish mackerel are also^ plenty and 

 cheap." "Do you think that the catching of the "men- 

 haden in the waters around New York will have a dis- 

 astrous effect on the catching of blueflsh?" "I don't 

 believe it will have any influence at all. I have made the 

 laws of the supply of iish a stiidy, and am sm-e that no man 

 can tell anything about the reasons for their being plentiful 

 or scarce. A careful comparison of fish in our waters for 

 the last ten years shows that the causes of tlie scarcity oV 

 salt water fish are beyond the agency of man, and most 

 certainly cannot be affected by raenhaden fishing. About 

 one hundred years ago all the b'luefish suddenly disappeared 

 from our coast. At that time there were no menhaden 

 steamers, and the catch of that fish for bait was very limited. 

 This goes to show that fish come and go, whatever men may 

 do. " Mr. A. C. Hoff, a fish dealer, differed with Mr. Blacii- 

 ford. "Everyman caught catching menhaden," said Mr. 

 Hoff, "should be shot or hanged. They put out their nets 

 for menhaden and catch numbers of small, immature blue- 

 fish. These they bring in and injure the market for good 

 bluefish by selling them. The catching of so many men- 

 haden in the waters of our shores is, in my opinion, killing 

 our bluefishing. If the menhaden are destroyed it will 

 certainly rob the bluefish of one kind of food and will 

 compel them to go to places where they can find menhaden. 

 This will make blueflsh higher, just as it does Spanish 

 mackerel, which used to be caught off Long Island until 

 they were driven away by such practices." 



thrust into water. A ray of light striking the inner or outer 

 surface of water at an angle less than forty degrees to the 

 horizontal line is wholly rejected and none enters or passes 

 out. From these principles we can now understand the fol- 

 lowing diagram. 



A RESTIGOUCHE SALMON SCORE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Salmon angling on the Eestigouche this season has been 

 good. I hand you my score, onp rod, which speaks for itself. 

 Arrived on my angling waters .T"Tie 15, being one-half on the 

 Quebec side of the river au the Indian HoiJse section. In 

 consequence of logs running there was no angling until 18th. 



Lbs. 



.Tune 18—3(5, 26, 21, 25, S6, 35, 32 170 



.Tnn,- T' So, 26, 26, 21. 21 142 



.1 JO, 21, 22,31 115 



J . i4 45 



J Uiit f6, 27, 28, 19 125 



oune .1^1 -is; 20. 21, 31, 23, 21 124 



June 25-12, 2.3; 24, 34, 27 , 110 



June 26—20, 24 44 



June 27—35, 23, 31, S8 92 



967 



June 28— Much rain, causing an extraordinary freshet, rivers ris- 

 ing: 5 feet, and no angling imfcil 4th. 



Julyi 4-21, as, i:i 56 



July 6 -22, 20, 22, 19, 15, 14, 29, 22, 24, 29 216 



July 7—10,28.22.16,12.24,24 136 



July 8 -26, 24, 26, 27, 28, 15 ■ 146 



July 9-27,24, 13. 12 76 



July 10—12. Ifi, 21, 22, 35, 10, 36, 25 15T 



J uly 11—28, 21 , 23, 10, 13 !)4 



85 salmon in 16 day?, averaging 22 pounds. 1,848 

 July 13— Qave-up the water to ot'her ijarcies, occasionally angling 

 on water where .salmon rarely freqneur, and increas- 

 ing the score dm-intc 8 days tliu.^:: -^i, 25, 23, 32, 24, 24, 

 13, 11, 13, 25, 15, 13, II 243 



Total, 9S salmon 2,093 



An Old Hand. 



OPTICS AND ANGLING. 



FROM time to time various articles have appeared in the 

 columns of this paper in which different authors have 

 discussed how leaders, flics, etc, , appear to a fish and how a 

 fish sees, that is, how external objects appear to them. Many 

 statements made in these articles were clearly wrong, and 

 the mistakes seem to have arisen from ignorance of the fun- 

 damental laws of optics. For instance, one writer expresses 

 much surprise to find that he can look up vertically and see 

 out of a mass of water as if it were a piece of glass. He 

 expected it would reflect like a mirror. Yet he knows he 

 can look horizontally through a piece of gla,ss or a mass of 

 water inclosed in glass, also that he can look vertically up- 

 ward through a piece of glass, then why not upward in like 

 manner through a mass of water inclosed in glass, or water 

 alone. But should he look at the inner top surface, or in 

 fact, any inner sui'face of a transparent liquid, provided 

 these surfaces are smooth and transparent at a right angle, 

 at less than a certain angle, which for water is about 40', 

 they would appear like mirrros, for the light cannot pene- 

 trate, but is totally reflected. Therefore, it has been thought 

 that a critical discussion of these points would be of interest 

 to anglers, and enable them, perhaps, to correct some of 

 their old notions, as well as gain some new ones. It will 

 not be necessary to begin with a full discussion of the prin- 

 ciples of optics, of the Jaws of light and the sensation of see- 

 ing, for that would be entirely too long and wearisome to the 

 ordinary reader, as well as trite to those versed in the sub- 

 ject. 



It will be sufficient to say that light is a vibration of the 

 particles of matter, that we get light in two ways, first from 

 a luminous bod^^ which emits it, and second from an illumin- 

 ated body which reflects that already received from some 

 lumiuous source. The sun is our great luminaiy and his 

 reflected light enables us to see external objects. Sunlight 

 is white and this is composed of innumerable shades of color. 

 Hence a substance that reflects all the light it receives ap- 

 pears white; one that reflects only the red rays, red, etc. A 

 black object reflects none at all. 



Eays of light pass through a transparent homogeneous 

 medium in straight lines. A ray passing from one medium 

 of this kind into' another of a different density is bent at 

 point of contract and the angle thus made varies with the 

 dilference of the densities. If the reader will look at Fig. 2 

 for example he wall see the ray coming from the man's hat is 

 bent when it strikes the water and reaches the fish at the 

 bottom of the pond. When the ray strikes a denser medium 

 than the one just left, it is bent as in the fisure, had it 

 struck a rarer instead of a denser medium it would have been 

 bent in the opposite direction. Thus theoretically the man 

 ought to be able to see the fish the same as the fish sees him. 

 This for example explains why a stick appears broken when 



In Fig. ] we see the map of a lake with a boat upon it and 

 a man fishing, on the shore a house, windmill, tree, etc. 



Pig. 2 shows a vertical section of the isame. The point 

 where the lines converge is the position of a fish at the bot- 

 tom of the pond. We see the rays of light bent as they 

 enter the water. But the fish of course sees them in the con- 

 tinuation of the straight line that enters his eye. He cannot 

 know the ray is bent. Thus, for instance, instead of seeing 

 the man where he really is, he sees him w-here he (the man) 

 would be if the line from the man's head were bent up until 

 it made a straight line with its continuation from the surface 

 of the water to the fish's eye. Hence external objects are 

 lifted up and projected upon the bottom of an inverted cone, 

 the apex of whichis at the fish's eye. Beyond this cone the 

 objects on the bottom of the pond and in the water are re- 

 flected in the inner surface of the water as in a muror. But 

 there is no exact line between the two classes of objects. 

 The images overlap, and as external things are viewed at a 

 greater and greater angle they become more and more indis- 

 tinct and distorted until they cease and the bottom alone is 

 reflected, while on the otiier hand, as the fish looks more and 

 more directlj'' overhead, external objects become plainer, and 

 when he finally looks directly up, he looks out of the water 

 as if it were all air and sees the bird overhead the same as 

 we and in his proper place. 



the reflection of the room behind, flashes of hght and all 

 objects would be a confused mass of images, indiscrimi- 

 nately mixed and changing. Something very similar to 

 this would be the case with the fish looking up at the surface 

 broken by waves* 



From recent experiments undertaken by French savans jn 

 the lake of Geneva, it was found by the aid of photography 

 that in that lake at a depth of over 160 meters (over 500 feet), 

 when it was a clear day above, there was as much light as in 

 a clear night without moon. The amount which penetrates, 

 of course, varies with the clearness of the water. From 

 this it would be safe to say that in our' clear streams and 

 lakes, up to 25 feet in depth, the water is as full of light and 

 as easily seen in, as a foggy day outside. Anglers do not 

 reaUze how clearly and well fish see in their proper element. 

 When the water is very clear there is no reason why a fish 

 should not see a fly or bait nearly as well as an angler, and 

 at a great distance. 



From this we can easily see how important it is to fish 

 with fine neat tackle. A fish can see all the tackle and its 

 arrangements as well in the water as the angler in the air. 

 Leaders therefore should be as fine as consistent with safety; 

 The color is not of so much importance. If you are going 

 to cast in open water hqld the gut against the sky and piek 

 out the tint least visible; if on a tree-shaded stream a dark 

 tint is best. A very dark tint in open water is bad. In bait- 

 fishing White transparent gut is best. 



Also fish see far less of the colors of flies than anglers 

 think, and, for that matter, of natural insects also. For in- 

 stance, hold one of your flies against a dull sky and look at 

 it from below. The lower part is poorly illuminated and re- 

 flects little light, consequently there is very little color seen, 

 A white fly is best seen, for it reflects all the light it receives. 

 The shape ajipears very distinctly, and if the wings are of a 

 transparent feather then a color is visible, but often quite a 

 different one in the transmitted light from what is seen by 

 reflected light. The hackle gives generally quite a good deal 

 of color, and is of more importance in the make-up of a fly 

 than it is generalty credited with. 



As a matter of fact, flies are generally gotten up on a 

 totally wrong piinciple. They are tied with reference as to 

 how they appear to us on our tables, without any reference 

 as to how they may appear under altered conditions to the 

 fish. That we have good ones is due to the fact that out of 

 a thousand ties some hits must be made. Two flies that look 

 alike on the table, when held against the sky might appear 

 quite different, and yet this is the way a fish sees them. The 

 wings of one might he transparent, which would not be 

 noticed on the table; but when held against the sky this 

 would show a color (and possibly quite a different tint' from 

 what it has upon the table), while the wing of the other is 

 opaque and the whole fly looks almcst black. Then, again, 

 if the fly is sunk below the surface it would appear to the 

 fish as \t does ordinarily to us. 



These points have been commented on because they are too 

 generally neglected. 



It has' been recently stated that fish are near-siglited. This 

 seems unreasonable. A near-sighted fish would be as badly 

 off as a near-sighted man and worse, for the fish could not 

 obtain glasses, "it is argued from the density of the medium 

 and the convexity of the fishes' eyes. The density of the 

 medium, water, has nothing to do with it. Rays of light 

 move in straight lines and act alike in mediums of every 

 density provided they are homogeneous, which we know 

 water to be. Thus objects are seen in all mediums alike, 

 provided they are equally transparent, without regard to 

 density. 



Moreover it must be proved that the image produced by 

 the crystalline lens of the eye does not fsdl upon the retina 

 at its proper focal distance. The convexity of the lens 

 amounts to nothing if only the retina is at the right distance. 

 In respect to looiiing at objects out of the water while he is 

 in it, myopia might possibly be of benefit to a fish ; but it 

 would be enormously disadvantageous to him in respect to his 

 immediate relations and interests" and faculties are generally 

 developed for such purposes. Pbrcy\-al. 



If now the reader will hold this paper horizontally over- 

 head and about three inches from his eye, and will look at 

 the spot in the center of the circle in Fig. 3, he will gain an 

 approximate idea of how this pond, landscape, etc., would 

 appear to the fish. The objects around the circle show other 

 fl.sh, pads, things on the bottom, etc. The overlapping of the 

 two sets of images has not been shown, as it could not be in 

 a diagram without a loss of clearness and a tendency to con- 

 fusion. 



One point more. These conditions described exist as such 

 only when the surface of the water is calm. When broken 

 by waves the two sets of images are being continually 

 mingled. It is very much as if one stood before an open 

 window surveying a landscape, while one in the room above 

 was pouring down a shower of broken min-ors in front of 

 the window. It can be easily understood that the landecape, 



TROUTING LONG AGO. 



"^T/E have been kindly permitted to look over the record 

 \ T of a famous sportsman who fished Long Island 

 waters many years ago, but only began to keep a record of 

 his fishing in 1833. It was the journal of Gen. Henry Floyd- 

 .Jones. father of the present well know^n gentlemen who live 

 on the old estates, on the south side, and who inherit the 

 love of angling that their father and his brother Thomas 

 Floyd-Jones left them. Massapequa L;ike then, as now, was 

 famous for its trout, and all the streams were well stocked. 

 The record says : 



"A morning's sport on June 28, 1823, yielded three dozen 

 fine trout from Stump Pond, Suffolk county. March 24, 

 1824, Capt. John Livingston, John Kartright and H. Floyd- 

 Jones killed eighty trout, remarkable fine ones. That year 

 took four fine tro'ut in Jackson's Pond, Jerusalem. June, 

 1825 Thomas Floyd-Jones and H. Floyd-Jones fished with 

 success in Stump Pond, find you can fish there best with 

 ground bait,' 



In 1826 the brothers "took thirty fish at Stump Pond, fish 

 in these waters not fine. Followed Mifl's Pond below where 

 the fish have access to salt water through Smithtown River, 

 thpv are large and fine flavor, the fish in all these waters are 

 lively and make fine sport. * * * Feb. 29, 1828. the 

 earliest fishing in these waters, we killed twenty -six trout, 

 but they were poor. Feb. 26, 1829, still cold iu the pond; 

 cauo-ht 40 fish weighing 36 pounds at Sam Carman's. March 



ounces Henry Wvckoff killed a trout weighing 2i pounds." 



"Feb 29 1832, Dr. Kartright and H. Floyd- J ones killed 

 24 trout "in Stump Pond, largest 1 pound 14 ounces." On 

 March 15 1832, the same persons "at Snediker's, in the creek 

 near Islip killed 14 fish weighing 18 pounds." On April 2, 

 same year, "clear and windy, six rods from flume at 

 Homan's Pond, Middle Island, Thomas Fioyd-Jones and Dr, 

 Kartright killed in one hour 15 trout weighing 22i pounds, 

 the largest of these fish weighed 2f pounds,* this is as fine 

 sport as ever had on Long Island. . . t 



On the 18th of February, 1833, they took 18 trout at Ishp, 

 the largest weighing 1 pound, and next morning captured 

 82 fish in three hours, three of them weighing a pound each. 

 April 5 1835, the same gentlemen killed 50 floe fish at Stump 

 Pond and the journal says: "xlbout this time an English- 

 man killed 100 trout, a good fisherman but not an honorable 



*Mount made a painting of this fish, which is now in the possession, 

 of Mr, Williawi Floyd-Jones at Massapequa. 



