130 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



(March 11, 1886- 



Province of Quebec, in a lake just below Lac Sac A Comie, 

 which is situated about seventy miles east, and about forty 

 miles north of Montreal. A specimen was caught in this 

 lake by Mr. C. H. Simpson early in the present month and 

 was brought here by Mr. E. O. Blackford on the 10th inst. 

 It is catalogue No. 37,670. 



The blue-back trout is described in recent ichthyological 

 works under the name of Salmo, or Silwlinus, oquassa. The 

 same species also occurs in Labrador and in Greenland, in 

 which countries it reaches an immense size. Mr. L. M. 

 Turner sent from Labrador a number of very large examples, 

 much larger than any other specimens of Salvelinus to be 

 found in the museum. One of these specimens (from Turner) 

 is twenty-six and one-half inches long-, and, in its present 

 condition, weighs seven pounds, after lying in alcohol two 

 years. 



The oldest available name at present known to me for this 

 species is stagnalis, of Fabricius; and our species should 

 stand as Salmlinus stagnalis. , I can find no difference of 

 specific importance between Mr. Dresel's Disco Island speci- 

 mens, Mr. Turner's Labrador examples, Mr. Hodge's Suna- 

 pee Lake blue-backs, Mr. Simpson's Quebec specimens and 

 the oquassa of Maine. 



Among the characters which 1 take to be of specific value 

 are the following : 



Proportions of the various parts of the body, length and 

 number of developed fin rays, size and number of the scales, 

 shape of the caudal fin, number and size of the gill-rakers, 

 shape of the gill-covers, character of the dentition of the 

 hyoid bone,. size of the eggs, number of the pyloric cceca and 

 general features of coloration. I find for example that none 

 of the charrs, in which the hyoids are specially developed, 

 have mottled fins, such as are always observed in the com- 

 mon brook trout, iS. fontinalis. 



It is highly desirable to obtain from Mr. Hodge a full ac 

 count of the feeding and breeding habits of this blue-back 

 trout of Sunapee Lake. Our knowledge on tlxis subject is 

 very limited. It is highly desirable also to secure additional 

 specimens of the blue-back from Maine, and these should be 

 as large as possible. There is not now in the Museum a 

 single individual from Maine that will reach twelve inches 

 in length. Very respectfully yours, T. H. Bean, 



Curator, Dept. of Fisheries. 



It has formerly been supposed that the range of the blue- 

 back trout was confined in the United States to a few lakes 

 iu Maine, and that it was a fish of very small size. It will 

 be seen from the above correspondence that its habitat is 

 not as restricted as has been thought, and that its size is 

 sufficient to command it to the notice of anglers. Mr. Hodge 

 says, 'he can furnish even larger specimens than those which 

 he sent to Professor Baird. When we saw the small speci- 

 men from Oanda, at Mr. Blackford's in Pulton Market, we 

 .said, "if the fish had come from Maine we should think it 

 could be nothing else but a blue-back trout." Its graceful 

 shape, forked tail, absence of mottling on fins were sufficient 

 to show that it was neither our native brook trout nor a 

 salmon; yet its coloration did not seem to be so decided a 

 blue as specimens we have seen from Maine. 



BLACK BASS vs. PICKEREL. 



PICKEREL fishing through the ice on New England 

 waters has been only fairly good this season— not up 

 to what it was a year ago, and far behind several seasons 

 ago. Not nearly as many pickerel have reached the Boston 

 market this year as usual, for the reason, the dealers say, 

 that they have not been taken. From a number of well- 

 known lakes and ponds in Maine comes the report that pick- 

 erel are scarce. Curiously enough these reports come from 

 waters which have been stocked with black bass, or into 

 which waters the bass have drifted. 

 Tho Cobosseecontee waters, Maranocook Lake, and the 

 . other ponds in Winthrop and Readfield, Me., are not yield- 

 ing the usual quantity of pickerel; all these waters have been 

 stocked with black bass. The same situation is true of the 

 Sebago waters, A gentleman of excellent judgment, reared 

 in the close vicinity of the Sebago lakes and ponds, believes 

 that the black bass in those waters are fast thinning out the 

 pickerel. The gentleman is an enthusiast with the rod, 

 spending all the time he can spare on the trout waters, but he 

 is sick of the black bass. He believes the pickerel to be far 

 ahead of the bass, and regrets exceedingly that the bass is 

 fast becoming the king of the Sebago waters. The increase 

 of the black bass in his section is something wonderful; but 

 the pickerel are disappearing. The bass, from one or two 

 ponds stocked, have crept into all the waters near, and it is 

 evident from their multiplication that they have come to stay, 

 and with the determination of exterminating other fish. 

 "The black bass furnishes good sport with the rod?" 

 "Oh, yes." 



But a little of it has satisfied all the sportsmen near the 

 waters in Maine best stocked with them. Lovers of the rod 

 who dwell on the banks of the Sebago waters or the Win- 

 throp ponds, drive thirty or forty miles to trout streams and 

 ponds. They take their annual trips to the Androscoggin 

 Lakes. But they do not "tackle up J ' and fish for the black 

 bass which are often within less than a mile of their doors. 

 The most of them have tried the bass fishing; a few catches 

 vas enough. Says one gentleman: "I caught a savage, 

 agly-looking fish, but his ungainly carcass was destitute of 

 all ike lines of beauty which go with the fresh-caught trout 

 or salmon. A pickerel is king to a bass in the way of looks. 

 Then when I had caught my row of ugly, black gudgeons, 

 what was I to do with them? They are no good as a fish 

 to eat. We left our catch of bass to rot, and I learn that 

 every other sportsman, who has tried them cooked, does the 

 same." 



Who has ever seen a black bass in market? Perhaps a few 

 might find their way there, but a very few would block the 

 way ever afterward. Not so the pickerel; he is a good mar- 

 ket fish. Thousands of pounds find their way into the Bos- 

 ton markets every year. It is too bad to take so much 

 poetry out of what has been written concerning the black 

 bass as a game fish, but to eat his warty, wormy hide is too 

 much. The fact that he is of no earthly use when caught, 

 helps to kill the glamour of catching. In some of our 

 inland, muddy waters the bass may do, but to the sportsman 

 who can reach the clear, sparkling trout waters, he is of no 

 account. 



The people upon the bass waters of Maine will probably 

 ask their next Legislature to do no more protecting of black 

 bass, and possibly to make some law against his further en- 

 croachments. In several sections of that State the people 

 wished the black bass in their waters, but they now more 

 heartily wish him out and even the pickerel back again. 

 The white perch is a far better fish, and he might have been 



propagated in many of the ponds now given up to black 

 bass. But both white and brindled perch are fast disappear- 

 ing from waters where the black bass reigns. There are a 

 plenty of Maine sportsmen who seriously blame the prime 

 movers in introducing black bass, because they did not look 

 more thoroughly into the habits and value of those fish before 

 putting them into waters where there was any hope of even 

 pickerel. Maine. 



The Same Old Story.— One of the chief attractions of 

 Lake Hopatcong as a summer resort is being rapidly de- 

 stroyed by the waste from the Forcite Powder Works being 

 allowed to run into the lake. A party from this town went 

 on Wednesday to the beautiful inland sea for a day's fishing 

 through the ice, and after fishing for several hours and not 

 catching anything, they moved on up the pond to a place 

 where a party of men, who reside along the borders of this 

 sheet, were fishing, and found empty creels there also. 

 Upon inquiry as to the probable cause of the fish not biting, 

 one of the natives volunteered to show our townsmau where 

 the trouble lay, and going to where the ice was clear he told 

 him to look through and in doing so innumerable dead fish 

 were seen floating away under the ice. The gentleman fur- 

 ther said that if a live bait were sunk down to within a foot 

 of the bottom of the lake, it would die in a minute, and he 

 believed that the mortality was caused by the discharge of 

 the waste acids into the lake by the powder company. In 

 walking a mile our informant counted over a thousand dead 

 fish of all varieties. The matter should be looked after by 

 the proper authorities, and sportsmen who are interested in 

 preserving the lake as a fishing resort should make an effort 

 to let the authorities know that clanger of its entire ruin 

 exists. If the fishing is ruined, the popularity of Lake Hopat- 

 cong as a summer resort will be short-lived. — Hacicettstown 

 Gazette. 



A Nuisance at HofatCOng. — Morristown, N. J., 

 March 6. — Editor Forest and Stream: Lake Hopatcong, 

 lying in the hills of Northern New Jersey, is suffering from 

 the poisonous refuse of a powder factory which is drained 

 into the lake. The lake has been a favorite resort for ang 

 lers for some years past and the black bass have been in- 

 creasing in its waters since they were planted there some 

 ten years ago. This winter thousands of dead fish have 

 been seen through the ice, lying on the bottom of the lake 

 and the natives about the shores claim that they were killed 

 by the acids or other material discharges from the powder 

 works. Cannot something be done to stop this?— G-. B. 



The New' York Trout Law. — As the law now stands, 

 all fishing through the ice for brook trout is forbidden at 

 any time. Trout may be taken in the counties of Queens 

 and Suffolk from April 1 to Sept. 1, but in the rest of 

 the State the lawful season is from May I to Sept. 1. 

 We learn that Senator Traphagen has introduced a bill 

 which provides that trout legally taken on Long Island, in 

 the counties mentioned, may" be held, but not sold in other 

 counties. This will permit anglers who fish on the island 

 to bring their fish to their homes in New York or Brooklyn, 

 and will remedy one of the errors which we have pointed 

 out. We think' however, that a bill which opened the sea- 

 son south of one of the lines mentioned in our editorial last 

 week, on April 1, would be more satisfactory all around, 

 as many anglers wish to fish in other waters near the 

 city besides those of Long Island. It was manifestly unjust 

 to allow fishing on Long Island and then forbid the angler, 

 who in nine cases out of ten came from the city, to bring 

 his trout to his own table. 



More Mtjskrat Fishing. — Manistee, Mich , March 1. — 

 In your issue of Feb. 25 I read with interest Mr. Dyer's 

 account of catching a muskrat through the ice on a pickerel 

 hook. In the winter of 1860, while fishing on Charles River, 

 near West Newton, Mass., with a friend, we had almost the 

 same experience. Running to one of the lines which wa 

 down, I pulled out a dead and limp muskrat securely hooked 

 in the side of the head near the mouth. As the bait was 

 missing, we at once concluded that, while trying to secure 

 the shiner or minnow, the muskrat had hooked himself and 

 immediately drowned. It is singular that the one Mr. D. 

 speaks of was alive when taken out, for when fast or caught 

 under the ice thej' soon lose their breath and are drowned. 

 So it is probable that the one he refers to had but just been 

 hooked. It is evident that muskrats sometimes feed on fish. 

 I have caught them in traps set for mink and baited with 

 fish. — E. H. B. 



St. Lawtjence River Fishing. — The Utica Associati >n 

 for the Protection of Fish and Game and the Anglers' Asso- 

 ciation of the St. Lawrence River have adopted the follow- 

 ing resolution : "Resolved, That these associations approve 

 the extension of the close season for bass and muskalonge 

 from May 15 to June 15, as recently made by the depart- 

 ment of marine and fisheries at Ottawa, and heartily recom- 

 mend that the close season in the State of New York, and 

 particularly in the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, 

 be extended to the same date, as the best means for protect- 

 ing the fish while on the spawning beds."— Portsa (Utica, 

 March 6, 1886). * • 



The Bass and Mescalonge Season in the St. Lawrence, 

 Clyde, Stneca and Oswego rivers, is from May 20 to Jan. 1. 

 In other words no black bass nor muscalonge can be caught 

 In those rivers, or had in possession, or sold, only from May 

 20 to Jan. 1, under a penalty of S10 for each fish so killed or 

 had in possession. This open season is generally understood, 

 and accepted and respected, and it is that there may be no 

 mistake about the time that I send you this note, writes 

 "Old Sport" to the Syracuse Journal. 



The Sussex Angler's Club has just been organized 

 and has purchased Grant Lake, on Pochuck Mountain, near 

 Deckertown, N. J. The lake covers fifty acres, and is so 

 liberally supplied with bass that it will not need stocking. 

 The officers are: Cyrus C. Force, of Brooklyn, President; 

 Schuyler B. Jackson, of Newark, Vice-President; Howard 

 Littell, of Deckertown, Treasurer, and Theodore 8. Morrell, 

 of Newark, Secretary. The preserve cost $5,000. 



Large Trout from the Yellowstone. — We have a 

 paper pattern of a five pound trout caught in the Yellow- 

 stone on Feb. 24 by Mr. Poole, and which is said to be 

 the largest one yet caught there. The pattern is witnessed 

 by Charles H, Stuart and Elwood Hofer. 



Herring in the Air. — A correspondent of Nature gives 

 some instances of herring jumping out of the water when 

 frightened. He says that he has observed whole shoals of 

 this fish, in their anxiety to escape when pursued by whales, 

 piled up above the surface of the sea to a height of from 

 three to six feet. On one occasion the fish formed a mass 

 even with the top of the mast of a fishing boat, viz., about 

 fifteen feet, and had part of this mass fallen into the boat it 

 would doubtless have sunk. 



jjHislfcultnre. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish.- 

 ng Co. 



FISH CULTURE AT BLOOMING GROVE PARK. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The Blooming Grove Park Association now have a hatchery 

 in their extensive grounds in Pike county, Pa. The selection 

 of the site was determined some two years ago through the 

 enterprise of Dr. Spencer M. Nash and others, who obtained 

 the services of Mr. Fred Mather to examine the different 

 springs and streams, and also to plan the hatchery. This 

 winter it is in full operation. Mr. Hardy, one of the direct- 

 ors, has presented the club with over a thousand eggs of the 

 brown trout, obtained in England, and which arrived in good 

 order and are now on the trays, The native spawners did not 

 yield many brook trout eggs; it seemed to be an off year with 

 them, and but a few thousand were obtained. Prom the TJ. S. 

 Fish Commission the club received 15,000 brook trout eggs, 

 and 50,000 eggs and 25,000 fry have been purchased from Jas. 

 Aunin, Jr., Caledonia, N. Y. All the eggs are looking well, 

 the water is cold and the development goes on slowly, which 

 is understood to be best for the young fish. White Miller. 



Brooklyn, March 3. 



LAND-LOCKED SALMON IN NEW YORK. 



AS our readers are aware the land-locked salmon of Maine 

 has been successfully acclimated in that portion of the 

 Adirondacks which has been cared tor by the Bisby Club, so 

 far as to live there and to be occasionally captured. We now 

 have an account of their spawning there from the president 

 of the club. Gen. R. U. Sherman, who is also one of the State 

 Commissioners of Fisheries, who, in a letter dated March 3, 

 among some other things, writes: 



"A Woodhull and Bisby guide, John Stell, was here yester- 

 day and says that be took at Woodhull dam last fall a male 

 land-locked salmon which tipped the scales at ten pounds. The. 

 land-locked salmon gathered on the sloping wall of the dam 

 last fall to spawn. This wall is laid ac an angle of forty-five 

 degrees, without mortar. There are open spaces between the 

 stones and I suppose the fish sought to deposit then" spawn in 

 these spaces where they would be secure from depredations. 

 Mr. Scell took also several female fish which he stripped and 

 impregnated their spawn and deposited it on a gravelly bot- 

 tom in the stream below the dam, returning the parent fish to 

 the water in the lake. The fish were in plain sight from the 

 surface and were taken by lowering a hook to their mouths, 

 baited with a worm. The fish took the hoot, apparently to 

 keep the bed clear rather than as food. The large salmon was 

 probably from the original plant made in 1879. There have 

 been two plants made since that time, one in 1882 of 10,000 

 from the hatchery at Cold Spring Harbor, and 10,000 in 1883 

 hatched at the Bisby Club hatchery from spawn f umished 

 from Cold Spring Harbor. This large fish is probably the 

 largest land-iocked salmon ever taken in this State." 



SHORT LOBSTERS. 



SOME persons may think that a short lobster is as good as a 

 long one, but everybody will agree that, in that point of 

 size, the long lobster is ahead. Now this is just where the law 

 steps in. It has been for a long time understood that the 

 lobster fishery on the New England and provincial coasts was 

 dying out, or that the noble crustaceans are becoming extinct 

 from constant and unremitting fishing. In order to give the 

 lobster time to grow, and prevent the taking of a three- 

 quarter pounder when each year's growth would add double 

 to his weight, the Legislatures of Maine and Massachusetts 

 have enacted statutes, with penalities attached, making it a 

 punishable offense to catch or sell, or have in possession, a 

 lobster under 10>.< inches in length. This law has never been 

 very cheerfully obeyed m either of these States. Only a short 

 time ago Deputy Fish Commissioner F. R. Shattuck of Bos- 

 ton, who has "worked diligently, in conjunction with the 

 Massachusetts Fish and^Game Protective Association, for the 

 protection of the lobster, became satisfied that short lobs- 

 ters were being shipped from Portland, Me., to this market, 

 and being sold "on the sly." He also became satisfied that 

 one or two parties, at least, the owners of smacks, were in 

 the practice of sailing down among the islands on Portland 

 harbor, buying the short lobsters off the fishermen, putting 

 them into barrels ■ on the way back, and shipping them to 

 Boston and New York under cover of night. Commissioner 

 E. M. Stilwell of Maine was enlisted, and he took hold of the 

 matter with his usual earnestness. He put B. W; Counce, 

 commissioner of sea and shore fisheries, of Tbomaston, on the 

 track. One Warden Johnson also came to Boston, ostensibly 

 with the intention of putting Deputy Shattuck and his de- 

 tectives on the watch tor certain vessels expected with short 

 lobsters. One schooner arrived tho other day, and was 

 searched by Mr. Shattuck and his detectives, but no short 

 lobster's 'were found. Another suspected vessel put into 

 Portland, evidently warned that Boston was getting to be a 

 poor place for short lobsters. But the fight at both the Boston 

 and tne Portland ends has been kept up with very satisfactory 

 results. Commissioner Counce, with one of his deputies, oh 

 Thursday seized a lot of short lobsters from one William Tre- 

 fethern, for some time suspected, and later in the day made 

 another haul from the schooner Monterey. But the best move 

 o£ all was made vesterday, when the commissioners seized in 

 all 3,000 short lobsters, and later in the day about S200 was 

 paid over by the dealers in fines. Joseph A. Brewer of Che- 

 beague Island, schooner Horizon, has been caught with short 

 lobsters, and fined §59 and costs. In Maine, the fine for taking 

 or having in possession any lobster under 10J^ inches in length 

 from head to tail extended, exclusive of claws and feelers, is 

 SI. In Massachusetts the fine is ?5. The Massachusetts law . 

 reads: "Whoever sells or offers for sale, or has in his pos- 

 session, a lobster less than 10J£ inches in length, measuring 

 from one extreme of the body extended to the other, exclus- 

 ive of claws or feelers, shall forfeit S5 for every such lobster: 

 and in all prosecutions under this section the possession of 

 any lobster not of the required length shall be prima facie 

 evidence to convict "— Acts of 1S84, chap. 212, sec. 1. 



To the lobster trade it may be stated that Commissioner 

 Shattuck is determined to see this law enforced, and he has 

 able detectives on the alert. Also, it may be added that the . 

 earnest fish commissioners and wardens of Maine are render- 

 ing able assistance by preventing the shipping of short lobs- 

 ters to this market, as the results mentioned above will 

 show.— Boston Herald, 



Portlanp, Me., March 3. William S. Trefethen was before 

 the court this morning charged with having in his possession 

 1858 lobsters less than K% inches in length. He was found 

 guilty and was fined $1,308 and costs. 



