Feb, 4, 1888. J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



29 



Sagadahoc Association.— Bath, Me.— This association 

 elected the following officers for the ensuing year: Presi- 

 dent, Dr. Charles A. Packard, Bath; Vice-Presidents, A. Q. 

 Goud, Topsham, James H. Millay, Bodowinham. Ex- 

 ecutive Committe, 8. W. Carr, Bowdoinham; A. Q, Goud, 

 Topsham; G. H. Nichols, A. Hatch, Bath; A. S.Alexander, 

 Richmond. Secretary and Treasurer, Geo. E. Newman. 

 Bath. A committee of three were appointed to consider the 

 best method of prosecuting violators of the game laws, and 

 an offer of a reward of $10 was voted for proof sufficient to 

 convict any person of such offense. This association is now 

 in a flourishing condition, and much good has been done 

 here during the few years of its existence. Sewall's Pond, 

 in Arrowsic, Campbell's Pond, West Bath, and Nequasset 

 Pond, in Woolwich, have been stocked with black bass to a 

 limited extent, and the latter being thought particularly well 

 suited for the purpose, it is proposed to deposit there early 

 the coming season one hundred of these superior food fishes. 

 The gentlemen composing this club have shown much public 

 spirit in their experiment with the Messina quail, and in 

 stocking the waters in the vicinity with trout and black bass, 

 paying ali the expenses connected therewith freely out of 

 their own pockets. The good results of this organization 

 are seen also in a better state of public sentiment in regard 

 to the game of our forests, and the song and. insectivorous 

 birds of our fields and gardens, and it is seriously hoped 

 that the time is not far distant when these laws will be re- 

 spected by all, and when it shall be considered not only 

 inhuman but the height of meanness to take the life of our 

 beautiful song hirds for mere s-port, or kill our partridges 

 and other game birds out of season. 



Michigan Notes. — If the deer in northern Michigan don't 

 become extinct in a very lew years, it will be something 

 wonderful to relate. During the year 18S5, 1,130 carcasses 



were shipped from Alpena alone. William McKeeson and 



Lewis Ingersoll w r ere hunting deer (out of season) in Pioneer 

 township, Missaukee county, near Lake City, when Ingersoll 



shot and killed McKeeson, mistaking him for a deer. H. 



H. Warner, of Rochester, N. Y., who owns MaUon Island 

 in Saginaw Bay, intends to have Congress pass a bill, if 

 possible, giving bim the marshy portion between the island 

 and the main shore, on tbe ground that it is part of the 

 island and a recent accretion. While this property would 

 seem to be of no great importance to any one, even to Mr. 

 Warner, it is in reality a valuable territory. It comprises 

 the Wild Fowl Biy hunting ground, and therefore is valua- 

 ble to the sportsmen of this section of Michigan. At the 

 last Congress a similar bill was offered, and by the strenuous 

 opposition of the Lansing Gun Club, was defeated. It now 

 behooves sportsmen to use their utmost exertions to oppose 

 the bill if they desire to hold possession of the property. If 

 it passes into the hands of Mr. Warner be can arbitrarily 

 prevent any one fr©tn shooting on this ground, thus reserving 

 it for his own use. As Wild Fowl is the principle ducking 

 ground on Saginaw Bay, the sportsmen who annually visit 

 it will readily understand the importance of bringing their 

 influence to bear in opposition to the Warner bill. 



A Currituck Ducking Score.— Following are the scores 

 of four days' shooting at Currituck: 



Jed. OB. E.H. Wid. CD. Geese Mia. 



11- Twogiins, Little Sheep IsUlh.).. G .. 8 8 1 



13— Two guns, Sheep Island U 6 18 1 8 



12— Two guns, Narrow's Is!. (2hra) .3 5 



H— Two guns. Sheep Island 93 S 9 SO 2 4 



18-One gun. Devil's Elbow 2T 10 1 10 



18— Two guns, N.E, p't Home Marsh 



(J^day) t 5 1 .. 8 



13— Two guns. G randy Island, oppos- 



ite club hoiue 17 44 15 



14- Two guns, Sheep Island 47 9 » 4 2 



14— Twoguus, N E. p't Home Marsh,. 5 83 .. g 13 

 14— Two guns, Devil's Elbow ; 10 28 4 6 2 



14— Two guns, Grandy Island, opp. 



clubhouse 9 33 .. S l 



Total 267 170 26 81 



Total for davs: 

 581. 



22 



Hth." IS; 12th, 70; 13th, 275; 14th, 218. Grand total. 



Lyman's Patent Ivory Bead Front Sight.— This sisrht gives the 

 sportsman a clear white bead, which can be seen distincly aeainst 

 any ohject, in the woods or in bright sunliebt. 

 Tbe contrasting black neck of the sight tnalces 

 the bead all the more prominent. The con- 

 struction is strong and the sight durable. It 

 has been tested and is highly endorsed by the 

 best known rifle shots. Mr. Otto Wilkr&s, of 

 Kent, Ohio, well known as a splendid wing 

 shot, who uses the Lyman rear sight for all his 

 snooting, says of this front sight: - 'I am of 

 the opinion that this front sight, is about as perfect as it is possible to 

 make it. I do not claim to be much of a Stationary shot, but at 50 to 

 100yds, with this front sight and your rear sight, I can bunch the 

 bullets in a way that would surprise some of our older and more ex- 

 perienced rifle shots. In my wing shooting it shows up so plain and 

 distinct, that it is quite an easy matter for me to hit glass balls 

 tin-own up at from 33 to 50yds., which is. as you know, a much more 

 difficult, feat tnan at 15ft., which is the distance some of our cham 

 pioa wing shots shoot."— Adv. 



Waterproof Cartridges.— Windsor, Conn., Jan. 2:1— U. S. Cart- 

 ridge Co., Lowell, Ma-s.— Hentletnen— Thinking it might be of much 

 interest to you, we take pleasure in informing >ou of the success 

 which your nrst quality waterproof shells have achieved. During 

 the past two weeks the TJ. S. Government have been testing in every 

 manner nossible, one of our shotguns, which has resulted in the gun 

 accomplishing all it was asked to do, with no failure in anything. 

 Daring the test your shells, among others, were used, and the Board 

 of Officers, who' had charge of the trial, soaked in water for forty- 

 eight hours some of your first quality waterproof shells (paper) and 

 at the expiration o£ that time, these shells were put into the magazine 

 of our gun and were manipulated through the gun and fired without 

 a catch or failure.— Truly yours. Spencer Arms (Jo.— Adv. 



Game Bills Introduced at Albany are as follows: (1) 

 Mr. Huntting'a, to protect deer, European hares, gray part- 

 ridges and English pheasants on Long Island for rive years. 

 (2) Mr. Parker's, to prohibit jacking deer. (3i Mr. Barnes's, 

 to make open season for deer Aug. 1 to Nov. 15; allows 

 houuding Aug. 15 to Nov. 1; forbids jacking at any time; 

 limits transportation of venison to two carcasses accompanied 

 by owner, and legalizes shooting dogs when in violation of 

 the law. (4) Mr. Pierce's, repealing the deer hounding law. 

 (5) Mr. Wemple's, permitting deer hounding in Fulton and 

 Hamilton counties during September and Octobtr. (6) Mr. 

 White's, permitting floating from Aug. 15 to Oct. 15; hound- 

 ing from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15; sale of venison Aug. 15 to 

 Nov. 15. (7 1 Mr. Peart's, to forbid woodcock shooting be- 

 tween Jan. 1 and Sept. 1. 



Foxes are Unusually Numerous in the neighborhood 

 of Morsston, Sullivan county, N. Y. — or at least they are 

 bolder than ever in depredations on the poultry. The local 

 hunters and trappers have had great sport hunting foxes, 

 and there is scarcely a barn in the region that has not at 

 least one fox pelt nailed to its door. The extraordinary 

 number of foxes in the county and their unusually bold 

 manner of operating can be explained in no other way than 

 by the theory that the wild animals and birds on which they 

 depend for food — rabbits, partridges and other small game — 

 are for some reason not to be found in their usual haunts, 

 thus forcing the fox to resort to heroic tactics to obtain 

 necessary provender. 



Fort Bowie. Arizona, Jan. 21.— Q vail are very plentiful, 

 so are cotton tail and jack rabbits. Deer are getting scarcer 

 every year, although 1 have killed two in the mountains just 

 back of the ranch within the past three w r eeks, going out 

 and getting ba<-k the same day. There are plenty of ante- 

 lope in the valleys. Now and then a bear is killed in the 

 mountains. Blacktail deer are scarcer than the whitetail; 

 occasionally a small band comes in here in trie winter time. 

 In some localities within a few miles of here good deer hunt- 

 ing can be had. There are some turkeys on the summits of 

 the mountains. Antelope hunting is the most exciting sport 

 I know of.— J. O. H. 



Highland Park, HI. — What little cover we have left is 

 pretty well beaten over by hunters who come up from 

 Chicago and elsewhere. When I first came up here to live, 

 in 1869, there was fair shooting just on tbe outskirts of the 

 village; but the growing timber has been cut down, hard 

 winters have killed the quail, and too much shooting has 

 done the rest.— Harry Hunter. 



Texas — El Paso, Jan. 23. — T admire your positiou toward 

 non-hounding deer laws, the rigid enforcement of game pro- 

 tective laws, eic. There is no protective law in El Paso 

 county, and the evil is being felt already. Our Legislature 

 dues not meet until next January, so there is no relief until 

 then, when our gun club hope to bring this county in. — R. 



Maine Moose — Two of the Kineo guides at Moosehead 

 Lake recently shot a pair of moose within three miles of the 

 hotel. Leaving the carcasses in the woods and returning the 

 following day to bring the meat home, they encountered on 

 the way and shot another of the monarch? of the forest. All 

 were of very large size. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co. 



FLY-FISHING FOR SUCKERS. 



A PARTY of us were in camp on our favorite around at 

 M. Pond, in the latter part of August, 1885, for a 

 week's fly fishing for trout. The fish had been rising quite 

 freely night and morning for the first three days, and 1 had 

 taken from twenty to thirty in perhaps three hours' fishing 

 each day. But now, for some reason known only to them- 

 selves, they had stopped rising, and after a morning's fishing 

 with only two trout to show for it, we began to talk of try- 

 ing another pond. 



During an excursion to this region in 1883, in passing along 

 the shores of a pond about one and a half miles to the east- 

 ward, I had seen fish rising; in fact, the pond seemed fairly 

 alive with them, and they appeared to be of large size. 

 1 had fished it several times with indifferent success, but as 

 it was quite a distance from where I was camping I had 

 never cast a fiy on its waters after sunset. So now we con- 

 cluded to try it under different conditions, for I was certain 

 that it contained an abundance of trout. Taking supplies 

 for two meals, our rods and landing net, we started at about 

 4 o'clock for the pond. Following an old tote road, partly 

 overgrown with bushes, in about an hour we came to Long 

 Pond. This contains twenty-five or thirty acres, is oval in 

 shape and twelve or fifteen feet deep, and is situated on a 

 divide between two mountains, being fed entirely by springs. 



It was a clear day, and the surface of the pond, unbroken 

 by a ripple, mirrored the mountains, with all their rugged 

 outlines, on either side. A pair of hawks wheeling in circles 

 overhead, a pileated woodpecker calling to its mate on the 

 opposite mountain side, and once in a while a flycatcher, 

 leaving its perch on some limb overhanging the water, would 

 scoop up a fly from the surface before it had time to dry its 

 wings and fly away, were all the signs of life to be seen. 

 An old raft was anchored at the shore near by, but from 

 its appearance little fishing had been done here this season. 



"If trout were very plenty here," said Jim, "I should not 

 suppose the flycatchers would be allowed to have all the 

 fun." 



"Wait till sunset and perhaps there will be a change in 

 the programme," said I. "But meanwhile I will try what 

 virtue there is in an angleworm." So putting together our 

 rods we pushed the raft out a few rods from shore and 

 began still-fishing with worms. Once in a while a fly would 

 come to the surface of the water, cast its skin like a mos- 

 quito, and float on the surface until its wings were dry 

 enough to use, when it would rise in the air only to be gob- 

 bled up py the nearest flycatcher, as though it had been 

 hatched for his especial eating. 



Do all fishermen know that the flies that trout like the 

 best come from the water like mosquitoes? In the best 

 natural trout ponds you will find their cast-off coats floating 

 in great numbers, and in some of the larger varieties of flies 

 nearly an inch and a half in length. I was watcbing a fly 

 fluttering along the surface of the water tiying to rise into 

 tbe air before its wings were fairly dry, when it was sud- 

 denly taken by a trout that I judged would weigo at least a 

 pound, and making a splash that fairly made us jump, and 

 might have been heard twenty rods. 



Carefully moving the raft witbin casting distance I cast 

 the bait across the wake, and letting it sink below the sur- 

 face it is quickly taken, and with a few minutes' play I have 

 him in the net. "A pound and a half ?" "No, pound and 

 a quarter," said I. 



Just then another rise at the opposite side of the pond, and 

 as the sun sank behind the mountain tops, leaving the pond 

 in the shade, it became fairly alive with fish, all apparently 

 of large size. Alter catching two more with bait I take off 

 the bait hook and put on a couple of flies, and making a 

 short cast across a big swirl wi.hin fifteen feet of the raft, a 

 big one took the tail fly nearly as soon as it touched the 

 . water. Turning him as he started, bringing the dropper 

 : perhaps three inches from the surface, it was taken by an- 

 other fish; then the fun began. As I was using large flies I 

 1 did not let the fish get very far away, but they made nay rod 



bend almost double when they would both start in the same 

 direction. 



"I've got a buster," shouted Jim, and looking up I saw 

 his rod bent in a half circle, and his eyes as large as saucers. 

 He had evidently got a big one, but I could only give him a 

 hasty glance, for I had all I could do to keep mine from 

 going under the raft and getting tangled up. Bringing them 

 sharply round I slipped the landing net under the nearest 

 one and brought him on the raft, when instead of having a 

 trout as I expected I had a sucker. To say that I was dumb- 

 founded would not half express my feelings at that time. 

 Jim did not notice what it was, eo I quietly put it in the 

 basket and poceeded to reel in the other one, of which T had 

 caught a glimpse, and I saw that one was a trout and a large 

 one, too. Meanwhile Jim had got his fish pretty well tired 

 out, and calling for the net he took him in. "A sucker, as 

 I am a sinner," said Jim. "If that is what you are catching, 

 land this fish for me," said I, and bringing my fi«h around so 

 that he could reach him, he took in a trout that, would weigh 

 a pound and a half at least. "That is what I am catching 

 to-day," said 1, and as ho turned to unhook his sucker, the 

 expression of disgust that came over his countenance was 

 amusing to see. I laughed, but not a smile from him. "Are 

 suckers in the habit of rising to a fly?" said Jim, as soon as 

 he could make himself heard. "Not to mine," I replied. 

 But now came an experience, that if it had not happened 

 under my own observation, I am afraid I should have called 

 a "fish story." For the next half hour suckers were contin- 

 ually rising for flies, and I judged I caught as many as 

 fifteen and Jim nearly as manv more, all taken with the flies 

 on the surface of the water. They would rise as greedily as 

 trout when they are on the feed, and the hook catching in 

 their tough lips, we had to take each one in and unhook him 

 with our hands. 



The surface of the water was fairly alive with fish from 

 one to three pounds weight, and I should think more than 

 three-fourths of them were suckers. We could hear their 

 lips come together, when they look in a fiy, for quite a dis- 

 tance, and that was all the way we could tell a sucker from 

 a trout, till he was in the net. The noise made by them in 

 taking flies is something that was entirely new to me as was 

 their taking our flies so freely. I have frequently seen them 

 feeding in schools with their back fins out of water, when 

 they would go down in an instant if a bait or fly was cast 

 among tfeem, but here they were, not at all shy, and fre- 

 quently rising within a few feet of the raft. We caught 

 only four more trout that evening but they were large ones. 



We camped that night by the side of a fine spring of 

 water, and tried them again in the morning and caught four 

 more trout, but not a sucker put in an appearance. They 

 had evidently gotten their fill the night before. After the 

 sun came up they stopped rising, and the surface of the 

 pond was as quiet and unruffled by a fin as when we first 

 saw it on the day before. Going ashore we ate our break- 

 fast and went back to our old camp with a basket of trout 

 of which anyone might well be proud. Any one passing our 

 camp that evening might have supposed a big jollification 

 was going on, from the shouts of laughter that frequently 

 issued therefrom as I thought of the look of intense surprise 

 and disgust that came over Jim's countenance as he landed 

 his first sucker. When he reads this it will be the first time 

 he knows that I caught the first one. 



As we talk over that excursion we promise ourselves that 

 when the next fishing season comes for us, and we feel the 

 angling fever coming on, we will look for part of the anti- 

 dote at Long Pond. S, J. G. 

 Lancaster, N. IL 



THE STRIPED BASS LAW. 



Editor Forest and Stream: . 



In your issue of Jan. 28 you advocate, under the caption 

 "The Striped Bass Law," the revision and modification of 

 the present law in regard to the close season on striped bass 

 (Jan. 1 to May 19). It seems very strange to us that you 

 (who, of course, know, that the close season now named in 

 the law, barely covers the period duriDg which the striped 

 bass are running up the Hudson, spawning and returning to 

 salt water) should seriously lend your influence in the 

 direction of the extermination of our great game and food 

 salt-water fish. Any of our old Hudson River anglers can 

 remember when splendid takes of bass were made up the 

 river, especially at and near Sing Sing. And every one 

 knows that the fishing through the ice and netting in the 

 early spring has about destroyed any hope of ever getting 

 any more bass up the river, and made the fishing for them 

 miserable in our bays. There is just a chance left for the 

 preservation of striped bass, and that chance lies in the main- 

 taining of the present law. 



The fish mongers may say that the bass sold in our markets 

 come mainly from the South. So the game butchers say the 

 quail sold here come chiefly from the West. But this is no 

 reason why — for the sake of their making a few dollars just 

 now— our game fhh and birds should be exterminated. 



Abbey & Iaibrte. 



New York, Feb 1. 



[The fact is that the season named does not cover the whole 

 season of the striped bass in the Hudson, for small ones are 

 found spawning occasionally until the middle of June. No 

 one knows where the large bass spawn within the limits of 

 the State of New York; if any one does know the locality 

 then that person has kept the secret well, for our fishcultur- 

 ists and fish commissioners have sought this information in 

 vain. On two or three occasions a small striped bass has 

 been found with ripe eggs, in tbe month of June, or late in 

 May , as high up as Cat ski! I or Castle.ton, by the men em- 

 ployed in the shad hatching for the State, and a few eggs 

 have been hatched. The large bass of thirty pounds and up- 

 ward often go up the Hudson and winter under the ice in 

 the vicinity of Tarrytown and here they are caught by nets 

 set or hauled under the ice. They do not go far up the river 

 and leave it early in spring. Tbey are found in salt water 

 about Montauk Point, the eastern end of Long Inland, in 

 Apiil and May, full of eggs, but seldom with ripe ones. It 

 may be fairly questioned whether they spawn here or not as 

 a rule. The only spawning grounds of striped bass that 

 have been found are in North Carolina. We have advo- 

 cated the repeal of the bill because outside of tbe fish 

 taken under tbe ice in the Hudson and an occasional one 

 along the coast of Long and Staten Islands, there are no bass 

 taken in the State, the most of them coming from the South, 

 and it has not been shown that their capture in Southern 

 waters has threatened the supply of this valuable food fish. 

 It has seemed best to repeal the law before passing another 

 one on the same subject, and if this were done in the present 

 case we could then join Messrs. Abbey & lmbrie in ad- 

 vocating the passage of one which prohioits the netting of 

 striped bass under the ic« in the Hudson-.] 



