510 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan. 31, 1886. 



GAME QUALITIES OF THE BASSES. 



Ediior Forest and Stream: 



I notice that "Wawayanda" is not content with the scalp 

 he took from me last summer, but is now aftei^ the ears 

 which gi-ow below it. In your last issue he throws down 

 the gauntlet to me and invites me to a contest, Marquis of 

 Queensberry's rules, to see if he cannot name the species of 

 black bass that is hooked, the rounds to be ten seconds. I 

 had thought that he would give me time to get my wind 

 while he was putting on the gloves with "Nessmuk." If I 

 decline he threatens me with "A, N. C," who he thinks 

 can raise my hair in an artistic manner. Of this I have not 

 the slightest doubt. 



I wiU still claim, however, that the big- mouth has been 

 badly maligned by anglers generally. My old Yirginia 

 friend, Alexander Mosely, always spoke of him as a "vul- 

 garian," against which term I invariably protested. I have 

 conscientiously done my duty to the big-mouth in speaking 

 of him as I found him, a strong, gamy fish, which when 

 tinder two pounds weight is at his best, and very little, if 

 any, inferior to his congenor. In the matter of reliability 

 in accepting the fly I am on record as declaring the big- 

 mouth to be much superior to the other. The first part of 

 this " Wawayanda" does not believe, and is silent as to the 

 second claim. 



It is my present notion that if I wished to stock a pond 

 with black bass for fly-fishing exclusively, I should choose 

 the big-mouth. I have gradually dropped ouL of bait-fish- 

 ing and have not done any of it in two seasons, and there- 

 fore I prefer the fish which I think is the most likely to take 

 the fly. _ Further discussion on my part seems useless, for I 

 have said all that I have to say and can add nothing more. 

 I read with great pleasure the "Camp Flotsam" stories and 

 smiled when I saw that the genial author was trying to take 

 another rise out of me^ and I thought at first that I wouldn't 

 rise to that lure, but afterward concluded to nibble a little 

 and see if he could get any sport out of it. He is as confident 

 and firm in Ms belief as l am— perhape more so— but I can- 

 not see just why he left "ISessmuk" to stir me up. "Insati- 

 ate archer, would not one suffice?" F. M. 



Tip-Up for Pickerel.— Springfield, Mass.— Will some 

 of your readers give instruction in Foeest and 8tream 

 how to make some first-class tip-ups for fishing through ice? 

 -^PicKEKEL. [There are several forms of tip-ups in use. 

 Some have spiral springs and triggers to hoist the flag when 

 a fish is hooked. A great deal of ingenuity is displayed in 

 some of these, while others are simple and equally effective. 

 We prefer to let our correspondents teU how they "make them 

 and thus bring out different methods.] 



Two Hooks for Bass.— Kansas City, Jan. <d.— Editor 

 Foresi and Stream: lama constant reader of your paper 

 and have never seen anything relating to fishing for small- 

 mouthed black bass with two hooks, either with the same 

 bait or different. Will the additional amount of tackle in- 

 crease the fear and reduce the chances, or will an a.ssortment 

 of bait (live) tempt more fish? I wish some of your learned 

 fishermen would give some light on the subject.— F. W. 0. 



BiiACK Bass in Winter.— Kalamazoo, Mich., Jan. 13.— 

 For the benefit of Dr. Hen shall and others I would say that 

 the small-mouthed black bass are now running quite "freely 

 and a good many are being caught. The ice is about eight 

 inches in thickness and the average temperature of the 

 weather is about zero. — Ben O. Bush. 



Quebec— Aylmer. Jan. 6.— The Titneg. of this place re- 

 ports that Mr. Edward Gravelle and Oapt. JSToel, his brother- 

 in-law, went to Lake Constant on Monday last, on a fishing 

 expedition, and returned home the same evening with over 

 100 pike. They were all large ones. They say the fish bit 

 well. 



Striped Bass in New York.— In the Albany Senate 

 last Tuesday Mr. Pierce introduced a bill to exempt striped 

 sea bass fi-om the provisions of the law applying to the fresh- 

 water fish bearing that name. 



Decoration Day in New Jersey.- Au attempt will be 

 made in the New Jersey Legislature to change the openiug 

 d^y for black bass to May 30 instead of June 1, to provide 

 legitimate recreation for Decoration Day outers. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co. 



THE WISCONSIN FISH COMMISSION. 



Editor Forest and. Stream: 



This season will be the most successful of any for the Wis- 

 consin Commission, as far as hatching the largest number of 

 fish is concerned. The commission will have for distribution 

 to the public streams of this State some four millions of brook 

 trout fry, five hundred thousand rainbow trout, three million 

 lake trout, fifty million whiteflsh fry for the great lakes, and 

 the expectation is that we will have some f oi'ty millions of 

 wall-eyed pike for inland lakes. 



The first mountain trout eggs were taken this year on the 2d 

 of January; last year the first eggs were taken on the 20th of 

 January; in the year 1884 the fish commenced to spawn on the 

 30th of'Pebraary, which goes to show that these fish will, in 

 course of Dime, become autumn spawnei-s. On Monday, the 

 4th of this month, one large male rainbow trout was taken 

 from the creek below the fish ponds that weighed some five 

 and three-quarter pounds, this is the largest fish of this kind 

 that has been seen or caught in the neighborhood of the fish 

 hatchery. 



The Fish Commissioners of this State have taken great pride 

 in their work and have spared no expense inputting the ponds, 

 biuldings, and grounds in first-class order. Through the zeal 

 of the Hon. Philo Dunning, president of the Commission, an 

 appropriation of $24,000 for two yeare was secured to carry 

 on the work. The past summer there was spent at the 

 Madison hatcheiy some $6,000 for permanent improvements. 

 The superintendent's residence was moved from its fonner 

 location to a more suitable one upon the rise of ground, sur- 

 rounded by a beautifid grove and in fuU view of the grounds, 

 fish ponds and hatchery houses below. The residence also 

 received a touching up and looks more modem in appeai'ance. 



The ponds here when first built were put together in a clap 

 trap kind of way and were out of keeping with the times. 

 This past smnmer they have most all been rebuilt with two- 

 ineh matched planks and made water tight, so there are no I 



cracks nor crevices for little fish to get m and hide and starve 

 to death and die for the want of pure w-ater. The Commis- 

 sion has put up this past season a building the most convenient 

 of Its kmd of any in the United States. This building is one 

 laundjed feet long by twenty-five wide, is built in gothic style 

 and to answer four pui-poses, feed house, hatching house, 

 aquarium show, and 3pa.wning race; all spawning races here- 

 tofore known are out of doors. The men that have worked 

 Here tor years taking spawn know how to appreciate it this 

 winter when they think of times, for weeks on a stretch, 

 when they have day after day, bad to go and handle fish 

 from the spawning race when the mercury was from ten to 

 twenty-five below zero. Now it is all done within six feet of 

 the stove. 



The first twelve by twenty-five of the biulding is used for a 

 teed house where the fiver is kept in a box with fresh spring 

 water running through it to keep it fresh and cool. In 

 this room is the chopping machine and meat block for cutting 

 the coarse food for the larger fish. Troughs are arranged vdtfi 

 tresh water running through them where the pans are kept 

 with the fine food in them for the voung fish. All young fish 

 less than a year old are fed twice a day, and for the fli-st four 

 months thi-ee times a day. Underneath the feed house is the 

 wheel house where there is an over-shot water wheel used for 

 driving the chopping machines and the gilndstone for sharpen- 

 mg the tools about the place. Along one side of the next 

 room, eighty-eight feet, is a row of glass aquariums with all 

 the different varieties of fish in them, with an aisle of four feet 

 the full length of the aquariums. The next twelve feet in 

 width and seventy-four feet in length is taken up with hatch- 

 ery troughs running lengthways. On the opposite side of 

 the room fi-om the aquariums is the spawning race, one 

 hundred feet long and six feet -wide, underneath the floor. The 

 race is bmlt of two-mch matched planks, bottom and sides, 

 with about six iaches of gravel on the bottom. The water at 

 the mouth of the race is eighteen inches deep and mns to a 

 gradual slope up the water wheel to six inches of water. AU 

 the water from the ponds above runs thi-ough this race and 

 makes a good cm-rent of water, and the fish in the nond below 

 are bound to find their way up stream. 



Part of the floor of main room for six feet wide makes a 

 covering for the race by means of trap doors eight feet long 

 wdth strap hinges next to the outer wall, so that when the 

 race needs to be uncovered these trap doors are turned up 

 and rest against the wall. The pond at the mouth of this race 

 is four himdred feet square. All the spawning fish that are 

 in the ponds above dm-ing the summer months are let down 

 through the gates to this large pond at spawning time, and 

 when they want to spawn they iiave to run into this race as 

 the pond is of a mud bottom. When there is any spawning to 

 be done the men go inside the building to the mouth of the 

 race and drop a gate made of perforated zinc. All fish that 

 are inside will have to remain. The trap doors are then 

 tm-ned up, one man with a pair of rubber boots on goes to the 

 head of the race vrith a gate also of perforated zinc the width 

 of the race and walks dowm tlie race with the gate in front of 

 him and drives the fish all before him till he gets them down 

 to where he wants them. He then makes the gate fast, turns 

 down the doors with the exception of the two lower ones, 

 takes his scoop nets and dips what fish he wants mto tanks on 

 the main floor where they remain till they are handled over 

 and the spawn taken from them. To feed the vast army of 

 fish that is gathered together here costs from $75 to SiaS per 

 month. Badger. 



Madisok, Jan. 3. 



LOCAL MOVEMENTS OF THE SALMONIDyE. 



THE foUowing paper was read at the half yearly meeting of 

 the Scotch Fisheries Association, Edinburgh, Nov. 3, 1885, 

 by W. Anderson Smith, Ledaig, Argyllshire: 



"The general movements of the Salmonidte, in sea-water 

 more especially, are so little known that it may help the 

 subject if I endeavor to bring together a few facts conceraing 

 those frequenting the waters of this part of Lorn. Even 

 should the facts in themselves not be absolutely new they may 

 cozToborate, or suggest new departures for, the tacts gathered 

 by. or the observations stiU to be made by, other inquu-ers. 



The great water-way of the Ltunhe Loch fm-nishes an ad- 

 mirable ground for the student of this particidar class of fishes. 

 For the lochs that form sub-waters are so extensive, and so 

 wide apart, that the vai'ious fishes have ample range and 

 sulfi^ciently diverse conditions to differentiate to a remarkable 

 extent, quite enough to be readilj' distinguished one from the 

 other by unscientific but otherwise skilled and practical ob- 

 seiwers. If, in the case of the herring — as is assumed on pre- 

 sumptive evidence— the varieties are mainly ijroduced by 

 variety of feeding provided by each loch or range of feeding 

 ground, this can scarcely be the case with salmon, as this fi.sli 

 cannot be said to feed to any practical extent in fresh water 

 except in its early stages as parr and smolt, when it is just 

 possible the pecuhar characteristics may be given, however 

 difiicult it would be to distinguish them at that stage. 



At any rate the salmon of the various rivers from the Lochy 

 to the Nant gradually find their way into Loch Linnhe, and 

 thence apparently proceed ia a great body out to sea beyond 

 Mull. What they do there it would be difiicult to assert pos- 

 itively, as facts are greatlj- wanted in this connection— but 

 the probabUity is that they go to fatten upon the herring, as 

 most other fishes do that are greatly voracious. That the sal- 

 mon must be of such a character, is abundantly evident from 

 its rapidity of growth when it once gets to salt water. 



These fish go, not in one, but in various shoals through the 

 season, and commence returning earlv, striking Mull nes.r 

 Lochbuy, and thence advancing by Klerrera toward Loch 

 Linnhe. The consequence of this is, that the man who some 

 years ago commenced a fishery on the island of Kerrera, 

 levied virtual blackmail on the shoals that passed on to all the 

 higher rivers, and made a marked difference on the fishing of 

 such rivei-s as the Awe. 



As the shoals passed up Loch Linnhe the fish of the Loch 

 Etive streams first left the main body, and then those of Loch 

 Creran, Loch Leven, &c. Those of Loch Etive had thereafter 

 to divide as they reached the Nant, the Awe, and the 

 numerous other salmon streams that enter that noble Loch. 

 Now a remarkable but recognized thing is, that while the 

 mouths of the Nant and of the Awe are close alongside, the 

 fish of either will not enter the other beyond a certain point. 

 Thus, those of the Nant may enter the mouth of the Awe 

 should the water of the former liver be too low to jjermit their 

 ingi-ess at all — but they will not proceed beyond the mouth. 

 Again, the Awe fish have been caught at the head of Loch 

 Creran but not in the Creran river. They may blunder so far 

 as to miss the mouth of Etive, but they apparently soon dis- 

 cover their error, and return again upon tbeh coiu'se. The 

 difliculty of finding the entrance to Etive or Creran is not 

 httle, and it cannot be wondered at that a few fish occasion- 

 ally fail to leave the main body along with theh comrades. 

 But it is to be wondered at that, flndmg out then- error, they 

 should start off again to repair it. 



When the fish come in toward the shore, they may be taken 

 in the nets at Dunstaffnage Bay before entering" the Etive 

 Loch, and again in Aird's Bay before enteiiug Loch Creran, 

 bub once they have entered these lochs their com-se seems to be 

 straight up toward the head in the case of Crei an, or toward 

 the Awe and Nant in the case of Etive. We are not aware of 

 any case (except one) in which- salmon have been taken in 

 these lochs in shallowish water or near the shore. Those who 

 ■'scringe" or seine for sea-trout do not find the salmon among 

 theu" prey, nor do we beheve that the salmon delays in or- 

 dinary cases between the mouth of the loch and the mouth of 

 its own river. A friend informs us that only twice in twenty 

 years has he seen a salmon leaping in play in lowei' Loch 

 Creran, and we have frequently observed the swift course of 



a salmon near the sirrface of the water m mid-loch, going 

 straight towai-d the head of the loch without halting. 



The sea-trout, on the other hand, keep close inshore, com- 

 paratively speaking, and lay themselves open to the operations 

 of the scringers. At regular intervals, more especially at 

 spring tides in June and July, the sea-trout pass slowly up- 

 ward along the shore to their various rivers, continuing to do 

 so on till October. By the middle of November they have 

 mostly left the fresh water. 



These shoaLs of sea-ti'out open up questions of great interest 

 most dilficult to answer. "Sea-trout" they are aU roughly 

 called in the west of Scotland, but they undoubtedly represent 

 several species, and perhaps many varieties. Not only have 

 the fish of each several stream a' character of their own, but 

 they are found intermingled with the /Sa/nio/aWo fi'om the 

 smaller streams, that have taken to the sea, and in con- 

 sequence donned a hvery of silver more or less pronoimced. 

 These include the common Salmo fario, as well as the species 

 estuarius, which may be considered as intermediate. We 

 have little doubt that the Sahno fario takes to the sea at cer- 

 tain seasons, when we cannot find a .single representative in 

 the small streams that enter the Western Highland lochs. We 

 have found them among the shoals of sea-trout and their dark- 

 colored congeners in the bmns. It has long been well known 

 and throughly proved that the external coloring and super- 

 ficial characteristics of fishes alter readily under changed con- 

 ditions; and the marked differentiation evident among the 

 various fishes in the different streams, as well as between the 

 same fishes in the said stream or off them in the salt water, 

 point to great facility of alterations and mobility of physical 

 characteristics. 



We have also taken in certain streams fishes that we would 

 have called sea-trout but for their complete absence of silver 

 coloring, the marking pointing to them as bull-trout. 



These we are disposed to consider sea-trotit that have re- 

 mained long in fi-esh water and lost theh silver coat as the 

 Salmo fario acquires it in the salt water. 



These sea-trout shoals are most voracious; we have taken 

 young herrings in quantities, and squids also, from their 

 stomachs, and this may be the reason they keep toward the 

 shore in this pi'ogress riverward, in place of rushing thither 

 in mid-loch. 



The salmon, on the other hand, when it approaches the 

 shore, is not bent on feeding, although we have heard of them 

 being taken by boys with line baited with sand-eels for 

 flounders. They are like our best herring, which are no longer 

 on the feed when they approach the shore for spawning pur- 

 poses. It is extremely difficult to obtain facts regarding sea- 

 salmon proper, or to distinguish them from the fish of the 

 rivers in the vicinity of the coast where they are captured. 

 Mull and the other islands have rivers and plenby of fish of 

 their own, or else we might seek to ascertain what food they 

 are suppfied with when they fu'st make the shores of MuU on 

 theu- way to Loch Linnhe. These fish are sent to the South 

 untouched, and therefore the question remains unanswered 

 so far as we are concerned. But we wdsh to dhect special 

 attention bo the pomt, believing as we do that the salmon goes 

 to sea in piu-suit of the herring, whose oily nature supphes the 

 rich body of the salmon with its heavy jiuces, imtil the fish be- 

 comes so gorged and plethoric with its wealth of feeding that 

 it becomes a prey to the parasite that is ever ready provided 

 to prey upon any rich constitution. This parasite, and its 

 instincts of reproductions, drive the body of fish from the 

 rich feeding grounds of the outer watei-s in toward the rivers, 

 in which, although they may swallow some trifling article of 

 food, they may yet be said to five upon their plentiful fat 

 imtil— reduced to famished and voracious skeletons— they 

 once more, as kelts, seek the outer waters, and the abundant 

 hezTing harvest that awaits their onslaught. 



The fact that a fish will return in six weeks to its native 

 river many pounds inweight additional, points to a rich and 

 plentiful supply of nourisimaent, that only this "rabbit of the 

 sea," as it has been termed— the heiTing— prolific aud nutri- 

 tious, could possibly supply to such vast shoals of large and 

 voracious fish. 



Had the salmon hunted in isolated bodies like the small 

 shoals of sea-trout, that do not apparently go very far out to 

 sea, and are more readily supplied with an omnivorous diet, 

 it might have been poss"^ible to undersband theh living on a 

 mixed and Avidespread table. But their coming together in 

 such important bodies, tuci-easing as they pass seaward, points 

 to an important food supply, that only the herring shoals, 

 never absent fi'om these outer waters, can well be supposed to 

 constitute. 



The study of the food of most animals goes a long way to 

 elucidate the principles that actuate theh movements, and we 

 wish to direct attention to the apjiareut fact that the salmon 

 returns to the rivers and streams with such a store of vitahty 

 that it virtually carries them through the jieriod of gestation 

 and spawnnag, and consequently what it may or may not eat 

 in these waters is a matter of trifling economic import. What 

 we wish to discover is whether facts have been or are forth- 

 coming to settle if this noble fish preys, like the bulk of our 

 food fishes, upon the herring, as thereby we would ajnlve at 

 another definite principle whereby its movements could be 

 somewhat calculated. 



For the division of salmon in most rivers into spring, sum- 

 mer and autumn migrations may be necessitated by the diffi- 

 culty of procuring nourishment for the whole salmon popula- 

 tion of a river in one great body, and through our modes of 

 fishing out certain migrations we may really be lessening the 

 power of a river, not by lessening its fish capacity, but by too 

 great concentration of the fish shoals, that ought naturally to 

 be spread over the year. We have looked upon the sea as 

 inexhaustible, nor troubled ourselves about how or wUere bhe 

 sea-salmon can derive nourishment, but the salmon will 

 doubtless have arranged this to its own satisfaction long ere 

 we set about alteriag the condition of the problem by unwise 

 and inconsiderate fishing. 



In this connection it may be well to add that the sea-trout, 

 whfie freely devouring herring-sile, does not apparently return 

 so plethoric, nor so capable or willing to starve in fresh water. 

 It is one of the most formidable enemies of the salmon, eating 

 it in quantities in the early stages; and while the youngsters 

 can escape the voracity of the kelts by seeking shallow waters, 

 the sea-trout is too weU fitted to foUow tiiem thithei-. The 

 undue protection and cultivation of the sea-trout is a matber 

 to which careful attention should be given. It can people 

 streams to which the salmon cannot aspire, but it levies heavy- 

 tribute from the nobler fish, and it may be well to ask our- 

 selves whether the calbivation of the sea-trout conterminously 

 with the salmon in some wuiteris not an attempt to "eat our 

 cake and have it." In the smaUer rivers and streams the sea- 

 trout is pi-otaably the more valuable economic inhabitant of 

 the two, bub in larger rivers it may be found that ibs presence 

 is pm-chased at too great a price. At any rate we are satisfied 

 from our observation that the habits of the two fishes are 

 markedly dift'erent, and that in the case of the salmon the 

 estuary of a river in such a water system as Loch Linnhe may 

 reaUy and truly extend beyond the island of Miill. 



The Home Insurance Company, — The statement of this 

 company, pubhshed in another column, well deserves the 

 inspection of all those interested in insurance. The net sui'- 

 plus of the company is about a million and a quarter dollars. 

 The total assets amount to $7,618,116.08, of which over 

 .§3,100,000 consist of cash in bank and United States bonds. 

 Bond and mortgage first liens on real estate held in fee, make 

 up two millions of dollars more, and the remainder consists 

 of railroad. State and city bonds, bank and railroad stock's, 

 and call loans. The statement speaks well for the manage- 

 ment of the company. 



