190 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



LOcT. 1, 1885. 



striped bass should be in any way interfered with, but only 

 that the catching or exposing for sale of fresh-water stripeii 

 boss should be prohibited between the twentieth dav of May 

 and the first day of the following January, and acting upon 

 this knowledae we commissioners so read the law and have 

 so enforced it, feeling contident that should a case concern- 

 ing this matter be carried to court tlie interpretation would 

 not be the letter of the law, but tlie intention of the law 

 ma,kers. It would have done an immense damage to this 

 market if the salt-water bass had been excluded, for we 

 would not only have missed the fish here, but have seen them 

 placed on the Philadelphia and Baltimore markets. As for 

 the fresh-water striped bass, probably not so many come to 

 the New York market during the whole year as come in one 

 day in the season of the Southern salt-water bass. At the 

 next sitting of the Legislature the Fish Commissioners will 

 try and have this difficulty cleared up. As to the remark in 

 the foregoing letter, that after all the Anglers' Association 

 had in this amendment but reiterated the old law, though 

 that might not have been questioned, let me say that this is 

 not true. The only statement there is a prohibition of the 

 catching, selling or exposing for sale of a striped bass weigh- 

 ing less than half a pound. 



"We have also had some diflBLculty with regard to brook 

 trout. Hitlierto the closed season has been from the first 

 day of September to the first day of May, thus rcstrictiug 

 the time of fishing one month more than under the old law. 

 But this is not all. From this restriction both Queens and 

 Suffolk counties have immimity, anJ though a man may not 

 find a brook trout in a New York or Brooklyn market 

 during the month of April he may go into Queen" or Suffolk 

 counties and eat all he wants. This law is in plain black 

 and white and we have to enforce it, though it will probably 

 cost_ the New York market alone $?5,000. The month of 

 April has been our great month for brook trout, and more 

 business was done than at any other time. Such a law 

 must be detrimental to fish dealing interests all over the 

 State. The Fish Commissioners are against this amendment 

 also, and we will endeavor to have it abolished and the old 

 time law reinstated. 



"With the exception of these two points everything seems 

 to be working well within the jurisdiction of the State Fish 

 Commissioners. The fish hatching station at Cold Spring. 

 L. I., where Mr. Fred Mather is in charee, is turning out 

 very satisfactorily. Between eight and nine millions of 

 young fish were hatched and sent out to all points of tlic 

 State last year. The varieties included salmon, land-locked 

 salmon, brook trout, shad and frost fish. Work on the same 

 line will not only be pushed next year, but a new feature 

 will be introduced, that is. the hatching of cod's eggs. The 

 only place where this has been done successfully has been at 

 the United States Fish Commissioners' Station at Wood's 

 Holl, Massachusetts, where the result was very gi-atifying. 

 We have tried the experiment at Cold Spring, but failed, 

 owing to causes which can doubtless be obviated this time. 

 The eggs before were not fresh, having been carried about a 

 lone- time before they were sent to the hatchery. A sloop 

 will be specially chartered for this trial, and sent out about 

 November, when the fish are likely to be in prime condition. 

 The boat will start at Sandy Hook and run east along the 

 south side of Long Island. When the eggs are procured 

 they will be quickly transported to the station, and put im- 

 mediately under treatment. As each cod yields several 

 millions of eggs, it will not reciuire the spawn of a gi-eat 

 many fish to make the trial." 



The Stbiped Basses — Hon. E. D. Potter gave a lecture 

 on these fishes before the Toledo Fishing Club. We extract 

 the following: "The fishes embraced in this family— Fawi% 

 Mbraddce—(ihe bass) are very numerous, but as few of them 

 inhabit our Western waters, I will briefly notice a few with 

 which I am acquainted. Fir.st — Roccus lineatus (striped bass 

 or rock fish) is a marine fish entering rivers and bays on the 

 Atlantic coast. He may be known by his silvery hue and 

 six to eight dark, longitudinal bands along the sides. They 

 are taken with seines in great abundance in the Potomac in 

 the spring of the year. Durine the summer and fall they 

 are taken with hook and line, baited with herring or other 

 small fishes, and will not refuse a crawfish, lobster or frog. 

 They are vigorous biters, and show all the game an angler 

 may desire. They were formerly abundant at the falls of 

 the' Potomac above Georgetown," D. C, where their average 

 weight was about three or four pounds, sometimes running 

 as high as twenty-five pounds. Mr. Webster, Mr. Crampton, 

 British Minister; and Baron Stoeckle, Russian Minister; 

 often resorted hither for recreation. The last time I visited 

 this place the party consisted of Messrs. Justice Nelson and 

 Grier, of the Supreme Court, and Gov. Seymour of New 

 York. We took an early start. Dexter, of the National 

 Hotel, Washington, furnishing the supplies. Justice Grier 

 was an ardent fisherman. Justice Nelson and Gov. Seymour 

 preferred the shade surrounding a beautiful spring of water, 

 on the Virginia side of the Potomac, where our headquarters 

 had been established. 1 cannot brag much on our success 

 in fishing. I remember I hooked a very large bass that took 

 a shear and entered the rapids, carrying away upward of 

 fifty yards of valuable line, which I have every reason to be- 

 lieve he or she (as the case may be) carried to the ocean in a 

 hurry, for the fish was geing at a very rapid gait in that 

 direction at last accounts. Becond— Roccus chrysopis, striped 

 lake bass, or white bass, silvery, with half a dozen dark 

 longitudinal stripes. Moron e, white bass— 1st, Morone 

 armricana, white perch, faintly striped, found along the 

 Atlantic coast in abundance; 2d, Morone interrupta, short 

 striped bass, silvery with interrupted dark stripes, found in 

 the Mississippi and southward. They are best taken with 

 small minnows, but will accommodate the worm fishermen. 

 They seldom weigh one pound." 



Rules for the Tournament.— Since you have pub- 

 lished that the committees for the coming casting tourna- 

 ment vpould be ready to receive suggestions, etc., allow me 

 to offer the following: Why not make the minnov/ casting 

 for black bass as near akin to actual fishing as is practicable, 

 the same as is done in the fly-casting competitions? One 

 thing is casting a sinker hanging within one or two inches of 

 the end of the rod, another casting the same accompanied 

 by leaders and hoolss and as often used hung so that it can- 

 not be reeled up closer than three or four feet from the tip 

 end of the rod. I for one, not only would like this change 

 made, but also the one suggested by Prof. Mayer in regard 

 to substituting a wooden minnow for the \oz. lead, and for 

 that matter, why not a live minnow? Kindly accept this as 

 an open letter to the proper committee, and if acceptable 

 give it room in your columns, that others may be encouraged 

 in expressing their opinions.- BroOklynite. 



Remarkable Catches. — A writer in Land and Water 

 tells the following: An angler was telhng me the other day 

 that he caught a good pike by whipping a pool with a dead 

 sparrow aflixed to a flight of hooks. I could not say him 

 nay, for had he told that his bait had been a mousetrap, or 

 the sole of an old boot, T should have concluded that it was 

 just within the bounds of possibility where such a voracious 

 rascal as Esox hieius was concerned. An Irishman once told 

 me that he and a friend had been spinning a famous lake in 

 his native country where the pike ran very large indeed, and 

 that quite at the close of the day the bait ran out. The 

 friend who was with him, a certain Lord Buzzy Parker— (I 

 have looked, by the bye, through Debrett, and found no 

 trace of the family) — saw a very lieavy pike strike among 

 some weeds, and then, lo! there was not a solitary bait left 

 in the can. "Bedad, I have it," cries my Lord Buzzy, and 

 he suddenly whipped off his little brown scratch wig," said 

 Fitzgerald, "rowled it round a flight of hooks, and wid two 

 brass buttons off his waistcoat for the eyes, and a bit of rope 

 for a tail, he made a water rat with it. At the very first 

 cast Buzzy had him, and after the divel's own tight he pulled 

 him ashore, an<l that pike weighed noienty-six pounds — he 

 did, by my soul, and faith, I bad a greatcoat made out uv 

 his skin." 



Greenwood Lake. — This famous spot for bass fishing still 

 maintains the leading attractions for the lovers of black bass. 

 Mr. H. Folsom has just returned from a day's fishing there, 

 and in about five hours' time caught seventeen black bass, 

 weighing a trifle over 37 pounds, the largest of which turned 

 the scale at 6^ pounds, being the largest bass taken in that 

 lake this year. Mr. Folsom also carried off the prize last 

 year by taking one of 7f pounds. The Fuller House has 

 been opened this year at the lower end of the lake, being 

 right in the center of the best fishing and directly opposite 

 where the above fisli were caught. To reach it, stop at 

 Cooper Station, Greenwood Lake, N. J. 



Claimed in Canada. — "Spalding's hammered trolling 

 spoon" is advertised by a Brooklyn man in Forest and 

 Stream as "something new for anglers," and it is announced 

 that a patent is applied for. The bait in question may be 

 "something new" in the metropolis of the United States, 

 but it is nothing new in what is understood to be the back- 

 woods of Canada. Mr. DeLany has made spoon baits iden- 

 tically the same in Orillia for some thirteen years, and first 

 put them on the market at Cobourg four years before that 

 time. _ Thousands of them have been'sold by Mr. DeLany to 

 Americans, many of whom must read Forest and Stream. 

 —OriUia {Ont.) PacUi. 



Fish Killed by Lighting. — A gentleman living at Cald- 

 well, Tex., had an iron pipe leading from a spring into a 

 pond. This was recently struck by lightning and every liv- 

 ing thing in the pond was killed. After the storm he found 

 black bass, perch, catfish, gars, minnows and frogs dead all 

 ail over the pond. He immediately went to Austm and pro- 

 cured a stock' of carp from Mr Lubbock and has planted 

 them with faith in the adage that lightning never strikes 

 twice in the same place. 



Bass in the Susqueh.anna.— Athens, Pa., Sept. 31.— 

 Bass fishing here has been poor for the last month, as the 

 heavy rains have raised the Susquehanna River and kept it 

 muddy; but now it is clear, and the fishermen are making 

 up lost time by catching a great many. Most of these are 

 small and should be thrown back, some not six inches long 

 are carried home. This spoils good bass fishing and should 

 be slopped.— Park. 



Bass about Philadelphia. — The coming month of 

 October is the season par excellence around Philadelphia for 

 bass fishing, and more fish will be taken from the Upper 

 Schuylkill in the next four weeks than in the whole summer 

 and spring. Minnows after all seem to be the best bait. — 

 Homo. 



SiBjfcultnre. 



FISH COMMISSIONERS. 



FOREST AND STREAM presents its annual list of the Com- 

 missioners of Fish and Fisheries of the different Provinces, 

 States and Territories of North America. Tiae list has been 

 revised and cori-ected to October, 188.5: 

 Dominion of Canada— 



[We cannot learn that any appointment has been made 

 to the ofBce vacated by Mr. W. P. Whitcher two 

 years ago.] 

 Province of New Bbpnswick— 



W. H. Venning, Inspector of Fisheries, St. John. 

 Province of Nova Scotia — • 



W. H. Rogers, Inspector, Amherst. 

 Province op Prince Edward's Island— 

 J. H, Duvar, Inspector, Alberton. 

 Province of British Columbia— 

 A. C. Anderson, Victoria, 

 The United States — 



Prof. Spencer P. Baird, Washington, D. C. 

 Alabama — 



Col. D. R. Himdley, HuntsviUe. 

 Hon. Charles S. G. Doster, Prattville. 

 Arizona— 



J. J. Gosper, Prescott. 

 Richard Rule, Tombstone. 

 J. H. Taggart, Business Manager, Yuma. 

 Arkansas— 



James H. Hornibrook, Little Rock. 

 H. H. Rottaken, Little Rock. 

 California— 



R. H. Buckingham, President, Washington. 

 A. B. Dibble, Secretary and Treasurer, Grass Valley. 

 J. D. Redding, San Francisco. 

 Colorado— 



John Pierce, Denver. 

 Connecticut— 



Dr. Wm. M. Hudson, Hartford. 

 Robert G. Pike, Middletowu. 

 James A. Bill, Lyme. 

 Delaware— 



Enoch Moore, Wilmington. (Term expires April 33, 

 1887.) 

 Georgia— 



Hon. J. T. Henderson, Commissioner of Agriculture, 

 Atlanta. 



Dr. H. H. Cary, Supt. of Fisheries, LaGrange. 

 (Under the laws of the State these two constitute the 

 Board of Fish Commissioners.) 



Illinois — 



N. K. Fairbank, President, Chicago. 



S. P. Bartlett, Secretary, Quincy. 



Maj. Geo. .Brenning, Centralia. 

 Indiana— 



Enos B. Reed, Indianapolis. (Term expires in 1887 ) 



Iowa— 



A. W. Aldrich, Anamosa. 



A. A. Mosher, Spirit Lake. 

 Kansas— 



S. Pee, Wamego. 

 Kentucky— 



Wm. Griffith, President, Louisville. 



P. H. Darby, Princeton. 



John B. Walker, Madison. 



Hon. C. J. Walton, Munfordville. 



Hon. John A. Steele, Versailles. 



W. C. Price, Danville. 



Dr. W. Van Antwerp, Mt. Sterling. 



Hon. J. M. Chambers, Independence, Kenton Co. 



A. H, Goble, Catlettsbm-g. 



J. H. Mallory, Bowling Green. 

 Maine— 



B. M. Stilwell, Bangor. ) Commissioners of Fish 

 Henry O. Stanley, Dixfield. \ and Game. 



B. W. Counce, Thomaston, Commissioner of Ssa and 

 Shore Fisheries. 

 Maryland— 



G. W. Delawder, Oakland. 



Dr. E. W. Humphries, Salisbury. 

 Massachusetts— 



E. A. Brackett, Winchester. 



P. W. Putnam, Gambririge. 



E. H. Lathrop, Springfield. 

 Michigan- 



Dr. J. C. Parker, Grand Rapids. 



John H. Bissell, Detroit. 



Herschel Whitaker, Detroit. 



(W. D. Marks, Superintendent, Paris.) 



(A. J. Kellogg, Secretary, Detroit.) 

 Minnesota — 



Lst District— Daniel Cameron, La Crescent. 



2d District— Wm. M. Sweney, M. D., Red Wing. 



3d District - Robt. Ormsby Sweeny, President, 8t. Paul. 



(S. S. Watkins, Superintendent, Red Wing). 

 Missouri— 



J. G. W. Steedman, 2803 Pine sbreet, St. Louis. 

 John Reid, Lexington. 

 Vacancy. 

 Nebraska— 



W. L. May, Pi-emont. 



R. R. Livingston, Plattsmouth. 



B. B. B. Kennedy, Omaha. 



IffSVADA— 



Hon. Hubb G. Parker, Carson City. 

 New Hampshire— 



George W. Riddle, Manchester. 

 Luther Haves, Milton. 



E. B. Hodge, Plymouth. 



(B. B. Hodge, Superintendent,) 

 New Jersey— 



Richard S. Jenkins, Camden. 

 William Wright, Newark, 



F. M. Ward, Newton. 

 New York- 



Hon. R. Baniwell Roosevelt, President, 17 Nassau 

 street, New Yo?-k. 



Gen. Richard U. Sherman, Secretary, New Hartford, 

 Oneida County. 



Eugene G. Blackford, 809 Bedford avenue, Brooklyn. 



William H. Bowman, Rochester. 



(Superintendents: Seth Green, Rochester ^ Pred 

 Mather, Cold Spring Harbor; Monroe A. Gre«n, 

 JVIuraford, Monroe county; P. A. Walters, Bloom- 

 ing dale, Essex county.) 

 North Carolina— 



M. McGeheo, Raleigh. 



Logan Terrell, Assistant, Raleigh. 



Ohio— 



Col. L. A. Harris^ President, Cincinnati. 

 George Daniels, Sandusky. 

 James Dority, Toledo. 

 (Henry Douglass, Supt., Sandusky.) 

 Pennsylvania— 



John Gay, President, Greensbmg. 



H, H. Derr, Secretary. Wilkesbarre. 



Arthur Magmnis, Swift Water, Monroe county. 



A. M, Spangler, Corresponding Secretary, Philadelphia. 



Aug. Duncan, Treasurer, Chambersburg. 



Charles Porter, Corry. 

 Rhode Island— 



John H. Barden, Rockland. 



Henry T. Root, Providence. 



Col. Amos Sherman, Woonsocket. 

 South Carolina— 



Hon. A P. Butler, Columbia, Commissioner of Agri- 

 culture. 



C. J. Huske, Columbia, Superintendent of Fisheries. 

 (These two constitute the Fish Commission.) 



Tennessee— 



W. W. McDowell, Memphis. 



H. H. Sneed, Chattanooga. 



Edward D. Hicks, Nashville. 

 Vermont— 



Hiram A. Cutting, Lunenburgh. 



Herbert Brainerd, St. Albans. 

 Virginia- 

 Co!. Marshall McDonald, BerryviUe. 

 West Virginia — 



C. S. Wtiite, President, Romney. 



N. M. Lowry, Secretary, Hmtoh. 



P. J. Baxter, Treasurer, Braxton Court House. 

 (Terms expu-e Juxe 1, 1889). 

 Wisconsin— 



The Governor, ex officio. 



Philo Dunning, President, Madison. 



C. L. Valentine, Secretaiy and Treasurer, Janesville. 



J. V. Jones, Oshkosh. 



A. V. H. Carpenter. Milwaukee. 



Mark Douglass, Melrose. 



C. Hutchinson, Beetown. 



(James Neviu, Superintendent, Madison.) 

 Wyoming Territory — 



Dr. M. C. Barkwell, Chairman, Cheyenne. 



Otto Gramm, Secretary, Laramie. 



N. L. Andrews, Buffalo, Johnson county. 



E. W. Bennett, Warm Springs, Carbon county. 



P. J. Downs, Evanston, Uinta county. 



T, W. Quinn, Lander, Sweetwater county. 



SUCCESSFUL OYSTER CULTURE. 



THIS summer, by direction of Mr. E. G. Blackford, member 

 of the Board of Fish Commissioners of Fisheries of New 

 York, and in special charge of the Oyster Investigation, I be- 

 gan some experiments in the artificial propagation of oysters 

 at the hatchery under my charge at Cold Spring Harbor. L. I. 

 The trial was made under two different conditions and was 

 successful in each. 



One experiment was made in a wooden tank 12 feet long, 6 

 feet wide and 3 feet deep. This was of two-inch pine plank 

 coated with coal-tar and supplied with sea water through 



