168 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March 25, 1886. 



m md ^ivet fishing. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co. 



NEW ENGLAND ANGLING. 



APRIL" 1 the trout season will open in Massachusetts. In 

 this State prospects are not flattering for the early 

 catch, since the streams, in the northern towns at least, are 

 likely to be locked in ice. But trout will he in market law- 

 fully, and that will he satisfactory to the markcturan and the 

 gourmand. By the way, bow curious.it is that the fish mar- 

 kets all have trout on their stands on the morning of April 

 1. when the law says plainly that there shall be no having in 

 possession previous to that date. Some trout must be caught 

 very early in the morning, to say the least. 



"But," remarked the owner of a fish market on that day 

 last year, when asked how he came by trout which had been 

 dead a week, "the law isn't designed to prevent our having 

 trout for sale April 1, but to prevent early fishing and pro- 

 tect the fisb." Veiy good. The fish must be taken unlaw- 

 fully, else they cannot be for sale the moment the law is off. 

 But it is the marketman who must be favored under all fish 

 and game protective laws, and it is the marketman who is 

 fast driving the last shadow of the best fish and game out of 

 existence. When will the public come to understand this? 



In Maine there is a vast body of snow— greater than usual 

 at this season. The last storm— rain on the seaboard— added 

 to the already heavy quantity of snow in the interior. The 

 chances are that the opening of the trout season in that State, 

 May 1, will find the ground partly covered and the streams 

 full of ice and snow water. "In the Androscoggin Lake re- 

 gion, it is not easy to indicate prospects thus early, bufrthere 

 are great trout expectations. A number of Boston sports- 

 men will he "on the wing' the day the telegraph says "The 

 ice has gone out." A party of three or four Boston mer- 

 chants propose to make a novel trip to "the fishing grounds" 

 this week. They will go by sleigh, not to fish, but just for 

 the novelty of riding down Oquossack to the camps, on the 

 ice. 



By the way, the rebuilt Upper Dam puts the flowage of 

 Mooseluctnaguntic Lake some four feet higher, and some of 

 t he camps are being moved back. The most of the camps 

 on that lake, however, will be "high and dry." What the 

 new flowage will do for the fishing~is a question. At Trout 

 Cove it will doubtless be better, since it has always required 

 moderately high water to bring success at that well-known 

 point. When Richardson Lake— the lake below the Upper 

 Dam. — was raised eight feet by the rebuilding of the Middle 

 Dam six 3 ears ago, it was followed the second and third 

 years by remarkably good fishing. It is concluded that 

 flowage creates new feeding grounds for trout, but breaks up 

 spawning beds. At the Upper Dam itself there has been no 

 fishing for two seasons. The repairing, begun one year 

 ago, caused the drawing off of the water and the shutting of 

 it off by coffer dam at Trout Cove, so that visitors there last 

 season found the bottom dry where the rushing pool used to 

 be, and a lot of logs, dry enough to burn, at the very spot 

 where the _ celebrated eleven-pound trout, the largest true 

 Sttlmo fontinalis on record, was taken six years ago. 



A recent letter from the superintendent says that the re- 

 pairs at the Upper Dam will be about completed, and the 

 water, unobstructed, turned on by the beginning of the fish- 

 ing season. What the long-continued holding back of the 

 water at this point has done for the fishing remains to be 

 told. One experienced sportsman suggests that since "trout 

 always go up stream in the fall and down stream in the 

 spring, "Ihere will be no fishing below the new dam, but it 

 will be as good as ever above it. Another theory is that the 

 trout will follow the minnows up from Richardson Lake be- 

 low tbe same as usual, but that there will be no fishing 

 above the darn. Probably the true position is that the trout 

 have been driven away and much disturbed by the long 

 absence of water, and it would be singular if they got back 

 in as great numbers as usual in season to be caught this 

 spring. 



The popularity of steam launches on the Androscoggin 

 lakes is great. Capt. Fred Barker adds a new steamer to 

 the Mooselucmaguntic fleet this jear. Messrs. Betton & 

 McKane have put a nice little steamer on Richardson Lake. 

 This makes five steamboats in all on that lake — three private 

 boats and tw^> public. Alas! for the march of improvement. 

 It builds dams and cuts down the forests. Row boats are 

 too slow, and the camp must give way to the hotel and the 

 summer cottage. This march of improvement is like the 

 coming on of old age. Both are determined to end our sport- 

 ing days, and it is sometimes a question which will first 

 succeed. Special. 



A LARGE TROUT. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Mr. Green, of the city of New York, caught at Sault Ste. 

 Mary, on the 20th day of J une, 1845, a speckled trout (Sal- 

 veliu-us fontinalis) that weighed on a pair of balances, used 

 in a store, just twelve pounds. It caused considerable ex- 

 citement at the time. Oid resident fishermen of the Sault 

 declared that it weighed a little over two pounds more than 

 the largest that ever before was caught to their knowledge. 

 This was the only fish Green caught that day. He started 

 back to New York with his monster. I was with him when 

 he caught the trout. It was taken near the Canada shore 

 ju§t at the foot of the falls, in a whirlpool caused by the ob- 

 struction of a large rock. 



As this all happened over forty years ago, I cannot at this 

 day give you Mr. Green's initials or address. I did not know 

 him very well; we were guests in a tavern kept by a Mr. 

 Fowler and there was no register kept at his house. At Mr. 

 Green's request, I accompanied him in an Indian bark canoe. 

 W e paddled as near the falls as possible, where he made 

 numerous casts which were unsuccessful. We then landed 

 on the Canada side; he opened his book of flies, which I 

 viewed with pleasure, as it was the first fly-book I had ever 

 seen. He selected a fly of medium grade, I think he called 

 it a "drake," and took his position on a projecting rock 

 which stood at a point where the water was boiling and 

 whirling over a sunken rock, which slightly projected above 

 the angry falls. I had left him and gone a short distance 

 into the woods in search of flowers when I heard him 

 shouting for me to come and assist him, as he had hooked 

 a whale. When I came in sight of him his rod was bent 

 into an irregular ellipse, the line, about twenty feet long, 

 was stretched out to its full extent. Of course, I gave him 

 much unasked advice, how to keep away from the rocks, 

 how to work his fish as far down stream as possible, etc. 

 Finally I got into the canoe and went to his assistance. After 



keeping up a steady strain on the line, the fish began to show 

 signs of weariness from its great efforts. I had a landing 

 net ready, and as soon as the fish approached the boat, I 

 slipped it under him, and came near going into the water in- 

 stead of taking the fish out. The battle occupied fully fif- 

 teen minutes at least, although it seemed to be much longer, 

 and Mr. Greene was in a violent perspiration. After the 

 capture he took the evening boat for Buffalo, which in those 

 days occupied much time on the trip, aud as there was no 

 ice at the Sault, I had fears that the trout would not reach 

 .New York in good condition. 



If Mr. Greene is still living, l'am in hopes he may see this 

 article. p. R Hoy, M.D. 



Racine, Wisconsin. 



ANGLER, GUIDE AND TROUT. 



ANEW YORK man went with his guide to Brandy Point 

 in 1885 to catch trout. After much laborious sitting 

 still the guide managed to hook on the end of a hand line 

 with a struggling warm for bait, an enormous trout which 

 weighed ten pounds and a quarter. When the fish had been 

 safely landed and incontinentally knocked in the head with 

 a club, the unsuccessful but ingenious angler looped a gaudy 

 "toddle bug" fly upon the end of his Une, and fasteuing the 

 hook in the mouth of the gasping fish, he bent his rod double 

 by the strain he put upon it, Upon reaching the Mooseluc- 

 maguntic house where he lodged for the thus, the angler 

 told how the big trout had been caught upon the toddle bug 

 fly and had bent double the pliant' rod, but he did not je- 

 member the guide nor the handline nor the worm. When, 

 however, the New York angler had returned to his home 

 and had put the big trout and the toddle-bug fly in a glass 

 case, the guide remembered the rest of the story and made 

 merry over it. 



This fable teaches us how New York can give points to 

 the rest of the country in capturing big Rangeley trout, but 

 it also teaches us that the angler should first set it up with 

 the guide before extolling the gaudy fly at the expense of 

 the humble but industrious red-worm. A. Moece. 



A GAME CATFISH. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have just been reading the "Adirondack Fishes" and the 

 work has interested me very much. 1 must differ from Mr. 

 Mather concerning the edible qualities of the black bass, as 

 I am fond of them, but no two persons agree upon tastes and 

 relative value of foods, yet I appreciate with him the com- 

 mon catfish of the East, Amiurus catus. 



There is one of the cats, however, which is very much 

 better; this is the Southern channel cat, Ictalurus punctata*, 

 of the South, west of the Blue Ridge — not to be confounded 

 with the catfish, also called "channel" found in Pennsylva- 

 nia, Virginia, etc., I. albidvs. The panctatus loves clear 

 running streams and likes a bottom of stone or gravel. It 

 is an excellent table fish, and 1 think is one of our most val- 

 uable fishes. It is very gamy and rises splendidly to the fly, 

 and shows, I think, as much and even more fight than some 

 trout. Many, I may say most, people in the Eastern States 

 do not know that this is a first-class game fish, and by first 

 class I mean one that takes the fly finely and fights well. 

 Though mostly fished for with bait, these cats rise splendidly 

 to the" fly and are full of game. I have heard of many being 

 caught in Texas with the brown hackle, but I have never 

 been successful with it and have always found a gaudy, bright 

 black bass fly was better. The best fly for these cats is made 

 with a white body. A fly which I have never been able to 

 find in tackle stores, or in dealers' lists, but which is used 

 in the South as a home-made article, is one of the best flies 

 for this fish. It has red wings, white body, white hackles 

 (deer tail hairs) and a black head, like the heads on some of 

 the salmon flies. 



The cat in question I believe grows to the weight of thirty 

 pounds— Jordan says twenty to twenty-five pounds - 1 have 

 never seen them of over eighteen pounds. I cannot help 

 ranking this fish far above the mascallunge and the lake 

 trout, for the deep trolling, spoon trolling and bait fishing 

 these two fish require seems like inferior sport, and any fish 

 that has to be taken in these ways is much below a fish that 

 takes the fly as does this cat. 



Unfortunately many good anglers are but poor naturalists, 

 and are not accurate observers of the differences of fishes. 

 Tnis has caused many people in the East to confound and 

 mix up all the catfishes. In their minds a catfish is a mud- 

 loving beast, and the common horn-pout represents to them 

 the whole tribe. I have been surprised at the ignorance ex- 

 isting on this point in the East. I have found skillful anglers 

 and intelligent men who thought that the horn-pout, the 

 great Mississippi cat and one or two others comprised the 

 whole family. They tarred all with the same stick, and 

 thought all the cats had the same habits, tastes, etc , the 

 fundamental axiom being that they all loved mud, were 

 coarse fish, exclusively bottom feeders, and not game. Now 

 all this is very wrong, of course. According to the latest 

 list of North American fishes— published last year, 1885— 

 there are thirty-one species of catfish, divided into seven 

 genera, north of the Mexican line. They differ much in 

 their habits. For instance, the two members of the genus 

 Irtalurus, to which the channal cat belongs, love clear water 

 and stone or gravel bottoms, while the Amiuri, certain mem- 

 bers of which are the most known to Eastern people, love 

 muddy streams and sluggish water. It is this genus, 

 Amiurus, that has thrown odium on the whole family. 



Let me quote from Prof. Jordan, the great ichthyologist, 

 whose opinion on a fish is certainly entitled to consideration: 

 "The flesh of the channel cat when fresh is very superior; 

 it is white, crisp and juicy, of excellent flavor and not tough. 

 When well cooked I consider it superior to that of the black 

 bass, the wall-eye, the yellow perch, or any other of our 

 perc'oid fish. Among our fresh-water fish it is inferior only 

 to the whitefish, the trout, and other SalmonMre, The chan- 

 nel cat abounds in all flowing streams from Western New 

 York westward to Montana and southward to Texas. It is 

 perhaps most common in Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri. 

 It seems to prefer running waters, and both young and old 

 are most abundant in gravelly shoals and ripples. * * * 

 I have occasionally taken channel cats in ponds and bayous, 

 but such localities are apparently not their preference. They 

 rarely enter small brooks, unless these are clear and grav- 

 elly. Whether they will thrive in artificial ponds we can 

 anly know from experiment." 



The channel cat is, as I have said, a southern and western 

 fish, and is found from Montana to Mexico, and to Georgia. 

 On the east it seems to be limited by the Blue Ridge 

 Mountaius. Prof. Cope, in his "Fishes of North Carolina," 

 says that the channel cat is only found west of the Blue 



Ridge, that is, in the streams flowing into the Tennessee, 

 and so eventually into the Gulf. East of the Blue Ridge 

 another genus of cats— the Amiwri— takes its place. This 

 genus is very different, however, in its habits, haunts and 

 value, either for food or game. 



Like many other fishes the channel cat is generally fished 

 for with bait, by those who know of no other way, but it is 

 a first-class fish for the fly-fisherman. Cy'ktontx. 



BLACK BASS ANGLING, 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Your correspondent "F. W. O.'s" inquiry as to the advan- 

 tage of using two hooks for bass, and Mr. Leopold's reply in 

 last week's issue have been noticed. My own experience in 

 fishing for black bass (small-mouth) has been confined to 

 still-fishing in the Jakes of New England, and principally 

 in New Hampshire, and during a period of several years I 

 have caught a great many. I have used two hooks and 

 sometimes three, but have finally come to the conclusion, 

 based upon my experience, that more fish and larger ones 

 can be caught with a single hook than if more are used. 

 Perhaps in running waters the multiplication of hooks 

 would be an advantage, and the greater display of tackle 

 be a less serious matter than I believe it to be in still lake 

 fishing. I have tested the matter until I am convinced that 

 there is a disadvantage in using several hooks in slill-fishiusr, 

 even though different kinds of bait be used on each hook, 

 I have often used two rods, one haviug a single hook and 

 the other two or more, and while the fish would freely 

 bite at the tingle hook, they passed the other assortment 

 of hooks and baits, although one of their number nn,»ht 

 be baited with the same kind of bait as the single hook. I 

 do not mean to say that they would never bite at the gang 

 of hooks, but my success with a single hook has always fai 

 exceeded that when more were used. This in still-fishing 

 from a boat. In running water or in rapids, where the water 

 is constantly in motion, the extra hooks may be of advan- 

 tage, as the extra display would be less likely to be noticed 

 by the fish than when used in lake fishing, for bass are often 

 very capricious, and although many are ciught with coarse 

 tackle, heavy lines without any leader, yet so far as my ob- 

 servation has extended, through several successful seasous, 

 the finer the tackle used and the less display in the water 

 made by the tackle, the more successful has been tbe result. 



Using but a single hook does not by any means prevent, t he 

 use of a variety of bait, a half dozen* kinds can be tried until 

 the right kind is found, if necessary, and if the bass are in a 

 biting mood it will take but a very short time to meet their 

 requirements in way of bait, if it is at hand, "but if they 

 won't bite they won't, you may depend on't." Days theie 

 are when, no matter how varied or enticing the display of 

 bait, the prince of game fishes will not be persuaded, days, 

 too, that seem to the fisherman most perfect for the sport. 

 Many a time have I watched them in the clear waters of the 

 lake — big fellows that fairly drove one wild in his desire to 

 hook them — lazily swimming about, and occasionally ap- 

 proaching the baited hook and, stopping within an inch or 

 two of the tempting morsel, suddenly whisk their tail arid 

 slowly turn away. Days like those, of course, when the 

 surface of the water is calm, are not the best for bass fishing. 



If "F. W. O." fishes in still water, let him try the experi- 

 ment next season of fishing with two rods, the one having a 

 single hook, the other more, using same kind of leaders and 

 hooks on both, and I think he will become convinced thai 

 the rod with a single hook will kill more pounds of fish than 

 the other in the same day. 



The note from "B. O B.," Kalamazoo, Mich., in Forest 

 axd Stream Jan. 21, in which he says bass are being caught 

 through the ice there this wiuter, reminds me of a big one 

 (smalt-mouth) I caught a year ago the present month in 

 Rockingham county, N. H. 



1 was fishing for pickerel through ice eighteeu inches 

 thick. It was early in the morning; having set my lines the 

 day before, I was that morning rebaiting the hooks. It was 

 exceedingly cold, and nearly three inches of ice had formed 

 in the holes during the night. 1 had set one line about a 

 hundred and fifty to two hundred feet from shore in water 

 some thirty-five feet deep, where I frequently caught a big 

 perch. I had just put a good-sized live minnow ou the hook 

 and before it had sunk many feet something seized it and 

 started in a hurry toward the north pole, and in less time 

 than it takes me to write it had taken out some fifty or sixty 

 feet of line, and I thought it about time to have a band in 

 the business. I struck— what I could not tell— but some- 

 thing that made thiugs lively for a time. I pulled in the fish, 

 and to my surprise landed a black bass that weighed nearly 

 four pounds (31bs. l4oz., ten hours later). It was a female, 

 in good condition, and contained good-sized roes. I know 

 that several large bass have been caught from the same lake 

 through the iee in mid-winter. 



I also notice in a JNew Hampshire paper received to-day 

 the following: "A black bass weighing seven and a half 

 pounds was caught through the ice in Sunapee Lake a few 

 days since." 



If the bass do hibernate, as claimed by Dr. Henshall and 

 others, there are many exceptions to the rule. Noinoe. 

 Kansas City, Mo., February, 1S86 



The "Lcefish" of Lake Champlain. — Editor Forest and 

 Stream: I send you to day some specimens of the so-called 

 "icefish" from Lake Champlain, and should like to know 

 what you determine them to be. If an Osmerus, as you sug- 

 gested in conversation a while ago, what species? I send 

 them as I received them, without examination.— Petra. 

 [The fish were smelts, Osmerus mordax (Mitch. ),_ Gill. They 

 were too far goue in decomposition to determine whether 

 they might be either of the two varieties from Maine lakes, 

 recorded by Jordan and Gilbert— "Synopsis of the Fishes of 

 North America"— or not. Had they been packed in ice, this 

 point might have been determined.]. 



Bass Flies for Minnesota.— Casselton, D. T., March 15. 

 — Will some of the "brothers of the rod," who have tried the 

 fly for bass in Minnesota waters, be kind enough to give me 

 some bints as to what they found to be the most taking 

 "bugs" for those waters? I tried, in a casual way one day 

 last summer, a gang composed of the oriole, Cheney and Seth 

 Green, but found no takers — H. P. Ufford. 



Nobthekn Wisconsin.— Eagle River.— This part of 

 northern Wisconsin, on the Wisconsin and Eagle rivers, is a 

 prime fishing country. Muskelonge, lake trout and other 

 fish are caught in profusion. Deer are found and trapping 

 is done near here,— T. 



