Sept. 3. 1885] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



109 



sportsman ; he pickled the fish and sent them to town." Two 

 gentlemen, March 13, 1838, "took 38 trout in the creek at 

 Isiip, one tish weighing 2 pounds and one weie;hing If 

 pounds." Messrs. H. and T. Floyd- Jones "fished a short 

 distance from them, only look one that weighed 3 pounds 2 

 ounces. 



The first record of flv-fishinsr appears in the iournal under 

 date of July 20, 1838," as follows: "Edward Floyd Jones 

 . killed -with fly 24 trout near the reeds in T. Floyd Jones's 

 creek." March 17, 1839, "Returned from Albany to fish in 

 Talip: no fish. I will state what Mr. William Townsend told 

 me, and it can be relied on, that he caught in Buckram 

 Pond, belonging to Thomas Cox, one trout weighing 5 

 pounds. Capt. Nathaniel Smith took one east of Patchogue, 

 Swan [?] Creek, which weighed 7i pounds. Mr. Smith is a 

 gentleman that can be relied upon. William Buckner, of New 

 York, killed a trout in Stump Pond, in 1816, that weighed 

 4 pounds 6 ounces, and in 1833 Mr. Kneeland took a trout in 

 Islip Creek weighing 3 pounds 6 ounces; at the same time he 

 took four fish that weighed 11 pounds. A trout was caught 

 I with a spear in the Forge River, Moriches, in 1838, weighing 

 4| pounds. Samuel Carman, now living, caught with a net, 

 in 1828, a fish in his mill flume that was called by some a 

 trout, but must have been a salmon, weighing 14 pounds, 

 This fish may have hcen lost from some fishing smack on its 

 way to New York or strayed from the Kennebeck of his own 

 free will. William Onderdonk says his brother, Andrew, 

 caught a trout at Hempstead Harbor, lower pond, that 

 weighed 4 pounds. Mr. Seatontook, in Sam Carman's pond, 

 a trout whose weight was 3 pounds 2 ounces. Mr. Pcrris 

 took a trout in Carman's River whose weight was 4 pounds 

 4 ounces; the place is called Ferris Hole. Andrew Glover 

 took a trout in Carman's River w^hose weight was 4 pounds 



2 ounces, in 1822. In 1819 Mr. Seaton took one weighing 



3 pounds 14 ounces." 



"In 1800, an English lady, Mrs. Crow, took a trout that 

 weighed 4 pounds 6 ounces. This lady had the pleasure of 

 taking the largest trout ever taken out of these waters. 

 March 17, 1839, T. F.-J. and H. F.-J. took in Islip River 

 seven fish, one oE them, caught by H. Floyd Jones, the 

 largest trout I have ever taken, altiioiigli 1 ]ia,ve fished these 

 ■waters for 40 years; it weighed Si pounds. August, 1839, 

 took 22 very fine fish in my creek with fly. Aug. 26, 1839, 

 took 40 trout with fly in my creek. « « * In 1832, Mr. 

 Hamlin took 24 trout in Carman's Creek weighing 38 pounds, 

 one of three pounds 3 ounces, the largest he ever caught; 3 

 of them weighed 3 pounds each. In 842, Charles Clinton 

 took in Massapequa Lake, old brick house .stream, at once 

 fishing with minnows, 1 trout 2J pounds, and In all 17 fish 

 weighing 18f pounds. Aug. 20, 1842, took 14 fish with fly 

 in my creek, 3 of them where I could see the stars shining." 



"In -November, 1842, was taken in Moriches Bay in a gill- 

 net, by John Raynor and Isaac Bishop, 4 salmon weighing 7 

 or 8 pounds; this is worthy of remark, as salmon have never 

 been taken before in South Bay. 1843, H. Floyd-Jones and 

 brother, at Fire Place, took 6 fish weighing 11 pounds 2 

 ounces, and on the 21st of April, I and E. Floyd-Jones took 

 12 fish in Massapequa Lake which Aveighed 20 pounds, one 

 of 2|- pounds and 2 fish of 2 pounds each." 



"IS.IO, went to Sam Carman's but did not wet my line; 

 not many fish taken. Fine fishing this spring in my creek. 

 Of those taken in Massapequa Lake, 1 weighed 2 pounds, 1 

 3f, byT. F.-J. * * * Good fishing this year in the lake. 

 1850, 14 trout with fly in my creek," 



REFLECTIONS ON THE CATFISH. 



THIS is the way the London Saturday Bevieio lifts up its 

 hands in horror at the catfish: "Our institutions are 

 indeed being Americanized. In some respects _ Britannia 

 capta has even outrun her conqueror, and it is possible, 

 though we hope improbable, that the land of the New York 

 Herald may have to complain of the Anglicizing of her news- 

 papers. But from one American institution our country is 

 free — long may it be untouched by the invaders I It seems 

 almost incredible that any one should wish to introduce the 

 accursed catfish to our native shores. Yet we read, with 

 horror, that 'a consignment of catfish has been received by 

 the National Fishcul cure. Association from the Fish Commis- 

 sion of the United States.' Is America to be allowed to ex- 

 port the paupers and criminals of her brooks and rivers into 

 our innocent waters? If mere sport is the object of the 

 National Fishculture Association, perhaps they intend to set 

 a dogfish at the catfish, and enjoy the brutal pleasures of the 

 one-sided confiict. The Councd, according to the Field, 

 'will not introduce these or any strange fish into English 

 waters without full knowledge and consideration.' This 

 sounds too much like Mr. Gladstone's reserves about the 

 House of Lords. The Council will think twice, or even 

 thrice, before introducing catfish. Perish the thought ! One 

 might as well say that cholera, or pellagra, or the plague, or 

 the Colorado beetle, or the man-eating tiger will not be in- 

 troduced 'without fuU knowledge and consideration.' 



"In the first place almost all of these acclimatizations are 

 errors. People in charge of our rivers should be like hostesses 

 who 'don't introduce.' Where trout exist you can do 

 nothing but harm by bringing in parmnus. Some lunatics 

 brought in pike in certain Scotch waters. The consequence 

 is that trout are like the Palfeoithic peoples after an irruption 

 of men in the Bronze Age— that is to say all but extermin- 

 ated. Even grayling should be left where they are natives. 

 They have come into the Clyde, where they are d&spised and 

 detested, more or less by the Caledonians, who indeed de- 

 spite their hospitality, rarely receive such strangers gladly. 

 And grayling, the ladies of' the waters, are not to be com- 

 pared to the hideous, voracious, plebeian, un-English cat- 

 fish, whose very name condemns it. Even birds, beasts and 

 insects comparatively harmless at home — sparrows, rabbits, 

 and so f oith — do inestimable mischief when planted in Amer- 

 ica, Australia or New Zealand. The catfish, the white cat- 

 :fish, is deperately ugly, 'a garbage-eating, bottom-feeder, ill- 

 looking, of no consideration inlhe matter of sport, and not 

 worthy of introducing where it would eat up the food of our 

 ■own fishes,' and probably eat up our own fishes as well. 

 From a passing notice in 'Huckleberry Finn,' we 

 guess that the catfish may grow to about the size 

 of a man of middle height. If this be so even bathing 

 would be unsafe in rivers infested by catfish. From Mr. 

 Frank Stockton's account in 'Rudder Grange,' of the cap- 

 ture of a catfish, we infer that the incident resembles the 

 catching of a tartar. Of course, if the brute does not rise 

 to fly, it will cause less annoyance to anglers of the right 

 sort; but over here it might change its habits and acquhe a 

 passion for black gnats or March browns. As to its ediDle 

 qualities, the catfish is said to resemble the eel, and that is 

 saying enough. We have a sufficiency of eels, and need not 

 reinforce our 'food stuffs' with catfish. 'At present they are 



curiosities on view/ we wish that they could be exhibited 

 stuffed. Perhaps a pair of catfi,sh may 'escape from South 

 Kensington through the waters with floating electric lights, 

 may reach the Serpentine, may invade the river, may push 

 their wa}'^ into the Kennett, the Wandle, and so forth, and 

 finally the kitten fish of the species may even get into the 

 Tweed, and the melancholy mewing of the cattish will be 

 heard where the swan on sweet St. Mary's Loch pitches into 

 the angler. There is, were it wanted, another proof of the 

 folly of those acclimatizations. Because Word,sworLh put a 

 property swjm on St. Mary's, impracticable real swans have 

 been introduced, and, like the catfish, they arc disti: 

 iniisanccs." 

 Punch breaks out in rhyme as follows: 



Oh, do not bring the catfish here; 

 The (.-atflsh is a n.an)e of fear, 



Ob. spare eacb stream and spring, 

 The Keunet swift, tlie Waiidle clear, 

 Tlie ];ikc, the loch, the hroad, the mere, 



Frtiiii tliat detested thing! 



Tile eatfisli ia a tiideous beast, 

 A bottom-feeder thao doth feast 



Upon unholy bait; 

 He's no addition to your meal. 

 He's rather ricliei- than the eeJ, 



And ranker than the skate! 



His face is broad, and flat and glum ; 

 He's like some mon.strous miller's thumb; 



He's bearded like the pard. 

 BcJioldintc liim, the grayling flee, 

 The ti'out take refuge lii the sea, 



The gudgeons go on guard ! 



He grows into a startling size; 

 The British matron 'twould surpi'ise. 



And raise her burning blush. 

 To see white catfish, large as man. 

 Through what the bards call "waters waji" 



Come with an ugly rush! 



They say the catfish climbs the trees, 

 And robs the roosts, and, do^vn the breeze, 



Prolongs his catterwanl. 

 Ab, leave hi[ii in his VVpsfern flood, 

 Wiiere Slississippi eluirns the mud; 



Don't bring hiui here at all! 



The American regard for the "catty," often affectionately 

 called bullhead, has been sung in prose by the Chicago 

 JSfexOs in this wise; The original bullhead is essentially a 

 game fish, and it takes a native Missourian to cope with him 

 successfully. (Jther men may catch him, but none as 

 dextrously and swiftly as a Missourian. Six other men, 

 with baoiiboo poles, silver plated reels, and fly-hooks, may 

 beat a Missouri bayou from 6 A. M. to G P. M. and not get 

 a nibble; then a long-haired, flat-footed, lop-eared Missourian 

 will happen along with a bob hue, pin hook and an old- 

 fashioneti angleworm, and in less than half an hour will 

 haul out a string of bullheads, each bullhead with horns on 

 him like a series of Christmas-tree cornucopiae, and a voice 

 like one of tiie chorus singers in a Wagner opera. We 

 wish our fish commission would invent some means of 

 preserving in the imported buUhetids those characteristics 

 which distinguish the original sj^ecies. The kind now 

 spawned in Illinois waters are a degenerate race, and their 

 flesh is as watery, insipid, and tasteless as their habits are 

 effete. The Missouri bullhead, however — the good old 

 originals caught up around St. Joe, or in Callaway county, 

 or down in the old French district near Ste. Genevieve — has 

 a flavor that is as rich and ripe as the grand old soil in 

 which it buries itself when the Cottonwood sheds her foliage 

 and the ,storm-king comes riding o er wold and weir. 



FLY-FISHING FOR BASS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Nearly everj^ married man thinks his wife, his dog and his 

 razor are the best, and it is a fortunate dispensation of Provi- 

 dence that men do so think, or they might run away with 

 the other man's wife, or steal his dog, or go to the barber's 

 to be shaved, none of which ever occurs. 



So, too. the fly-caster thinks that some particular fly is the 

 ne plus ultra., the indispensable to his success, without which 

 dry land would be eqtially prolific when he wants fiish for 

 breakfast. 



Like all converts, whether it be to religion, or rearing of 

 chickens, or any craze, the enthusiasm of the early fly-caster 

 knows no limits ' until his book is filled with a variety of 

 styles, hues and size, that combined resemble a boquet of 

 freshly-gathered flowers, enchanting to behold, but wither- 

 ing with time and disappearing with experience. 



To assert that a certain kind of fly for certain kind of fish 

 will be effective in all waters, is simple nonsense. 



The statement a few years since of Dr. Estes in the For- 

 est AND Stream, I think that what is known with him as 

 the ' 'Lake Pepin" fly — a pure yellow — was very successful, 

 induced some of our dealers to order a supply, and your 

 orrespondent fell in line at once. 



A thorough test proved that it was "N, G."in this sec- 

 tion, and that fly to-day is part of my botiuet and of no other 

 use, and other cases might be cited. 



I am thoroughly satisfied that bass in different sections 

 and in different water of same section, differ in their habits, 

 as men born and reared in Massachusetts, or in New York 

 or Indiana, for instance, although of the same race, differ 

 more or less in their language and in many other ways. 



The fly craze struck me only a few years since, but in that 

 short time I have had it bad, and bought and bought, and 

 given away and destroyed (in fact can hardly resist even now 

 "just to try" some new tangled whim), until 1 have come to 

 tlie conclusion that not to exceed six or seven varieties of fly 

 are all that any black bass fisherman needs or can success- 

 fully use. 



Be that as it may elsewhere, such has been my experience 

 in Central New York. I am also inclined to think that the 

 first fly that has been successful with the beginner, "his 

 first love," so to speak, is very likely to continue his 

 favorite, and will always be found in his book, ready for 

 use, when flirting with others fails to fill the vacuum. 



A knowledge of the habits of bass, their daily change of 

 feeding ground, the condition of the waters, the temperature 

 of the weather, the sunsliine and the shadow, not forgetting 

 your tackle, are of greater importance than variety of flies." 



Sybacttse. 



"Camp Flotsaji."— Battersea, Out.— I am close to the 

 time of breaking camp. Once more Truthful James and I 

 will return, "followed by glory like a shadow." The Can- 

 adian forests are daily adding new hues to their foliage, and 

 the lake shores are resplendent in scarlet and gold, while all 

 natiu'e says stay. But our outing has died with the summer 

 days, and though we suffer the same fate we go.— Wawa- 

 yAnda. 



Shrevip as Bait forBi.ack Bass.— New York, Aug. 30. 

 — Can you inform me if shrimp are a good bait for black 

 bass, and whether bass will bite on shrimo if dead'? Also 

 whether shrimp come put up for keeping sowie time? After 

 my experience last month fishing in Sullivan county, N. Y.. 

 I learned that nothing was to be despised as a bait. I was 

 fishing in a boat during a thunder storm, and had taken 

 several bass, but no large ones, and had used up everything 

 in the shape of bait I had when I chanced to think of a 

 large bull-frog I caught that morning and had put in my 

 flsh-box in the boat in a tomato can; no sooner thought of 

 than done. I hooked the "bull." who was about four or 

 five inches high through the lips, and cast him on the 

 waters, expecting that if any returns were received they 

 would be satisfactory. It had not been in the water more 

 than two minutes before a strike was felt that meant business, 

 and upon striking with my rod found he was fast. 'The 

 bass immediately struck out for the deep water, taking out 

 about thirty yards of line before he could be snubbed, which 

 made him so mad that he jumped up out of the water about 

 five feet. He then made two circles round my boat, each 

 one smaller than the other, making four jumps. After about 

 fifteen minutes I laid him flajiping in the net in the bottom 

 of my boat, satisfied that a three-pounder was as gamy as a 

 larger tish. — C. E. B. [Shrimp are good bait for black bass 

 and are best dead as the.y show better. They may be put up 

 in salt. We see large Southern prawns at Mr. Blackford's 

 in Fulton Market, wliich are put up in some preserving fluid. 

 These should be good.] 



1w& Herrings Desert Ireland. — The most capricious 

 of all crops has this year proved unpropitious to Ireland. 

 The herrings have left Oublin Bay, or rather, they have not 

 come into it. The accustomed shoals have lost their geo- 

 graphical bearings. The Gulf Stream is possibly to blame. 

 The herrings were generally constant to the bay, and year 

 after year came and were caught with dispatch, regularity 

 and profit. Other shoal fish showed a tendency to be erratic. 

 The sardines were as capricious as ever they could be. You 

 never knew where to find them. They abandoned the Bre- 

 ton coast, where the fishermen had for many years largely 

 welcomed them, and turned up without rhyme or reason 

 along the seashore by Rochelle, the inhabitants being quite 

 unprepared for their reception, much of this "silver of the 

 sea" being hopelessly lost. On another occasion they disap- 

 pear altogether, and for the following year pilchards and 

 sprats were largely tinned and consumed at breakfast under 

 a flattering misnomer. But herrings seem, on the whole, to 

 be a faithful fish, and in the average of years come and are 

 caught with praiseworthy punctuality. This season they 

 have altered their route," omitting Ireland from their pro- 

 gramme. The Isle of Man and the southwest coast of iScot- 

 land are in favor, and at the present moment Dublin is 

 actually supplied with herrings shipped over from the oppos- 

 ite coast.— Pa?? Mall Gazette, Aug. 11. 



Torch and Spear.— Bainbridge. Ga., Aug 23.— A few 

 days ago J. S. Wigham at night paddled into Still Spring, 

 emptying into Spring Creek, a stream abounding in every 

 species of fresh-water fish. A blazing torch he carried dis- 

 closed hundreds of rock bass playing in the limpid depths 

 of the spring. Seizing his gig and placing his torch where 

 it would enat^le him to see his attractive prey, after many 

 hotirs of solid fun he captured twenty enormous fish, weigh- 

 ing in the aggregate five hundred pounds. Coming to the 

 city, he reported his find to our lovers of piscatorial venture, 

 and a party of four was quickly organized, armed and 

 equipped. They reached this spring, twenty-two miles dis- 

 tant, at 8 o'clock, finding twenty -five other gentlemen on the 

 ground. A seine was stretched across the spring run, and 

 five boats sped out to the work of death. Until midnight the 

 exciting sport went on. Result: Judge O'Neal killed five; 

 Chas. Eggerton, five; Rube Cloud, six; Tom Mock, four; 

 H. Olivanl, two. The largest weighed fifty and the smallest 

 twenty-tour pounds. The next da}^ .Judge O'Neal killed a 

 splendid buck. Turkey and deer are quite plentiful in our 

 forests at present. — O, G. Gusley. 



Trout in the Sierra Neveda.— In a long article on the 

 ascent of Mount Whitney, in the San Francisco Bulletin, 

 Mr. Thomas Magee says that the AYhitney region is perhaps 

 the very finest fishing region in the Sierra Nevada. They 

 are not only numerous but "magnificent" in their coloring. 

 Mr. Magee claims that they were never made to be eaten. 

 We wish that he would send us a few jjounds of them, in 

 season of course, not necessarily for publication, but as an 

 evidence of good faith, especially some of those he speaks of 

 "in the Kern River and Kern Lake, large trout weighing 

 one pound and a half to four pounds."" If these are care- 

 fully packed in ice and sent in a refrigerator car, express 

 paid, we will cheerfully give him our unpurchasable opinion 

 on the question of their having been made to be eaten. By 

 the way, we have a paper on angling in the Mt. Whitney 

 country, and will publish it in an early number. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co. 



THE USE OF THE THROWING-STICK BY ES- 

 QUIMAUX. 



[Read before the American Fisheries Society by Prof . O. T. Mason.] 



EVERYTHING that exists should have a reason for its 

 existence ; so I must tell you why I am before you to- 

 day. I'rof. Goode, the Assistant Du-eetor of this Museum, 

 came up on my balcony the other day and asked me if I would 

 not read a short paper to you on some one of my studies con- 

 nected with fishing among the savage people of the world. 

 Bo it is at Prof. Goode's request that I am here this afternoon 

 to say a few words about the use of the instrament known as 

 the thi'owing-stick by the Esquimau in fishing. 



In the east north range of the National Museum you wall 

 see many specimens of modern appartus for capturing fish, 

 and probably in the next case you will see the savage appai'- 

 atus for the same purpose; and you will be astonished over 

 and over agam at the similarity between the modern and sav- 

 age forms. 



Scarcely a week passes in which some Patent OQice Ex- 

 aminer does not come to the Museum to examine the eoUec- 

 tions to see whether that for which a patent has been claimed 

 is not merely a ditphcate of something invented years and 

 years ago. Patents have been claimed for things used in the 

 days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 



One of the most intei-esting implements invented by savages 

 is the little wooden instrument which I am now going to show 

 and explain to you. 

 1 In Southwestern Greenland, the eastern part of Labrador, 



