248 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April 22, 1886. 



BIG TROUT. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Having read in your always truthful journal several ac- 

 counts of very large trout which have been caught in various 

 places and at recent dates, I trust you will not object to pub- 

 lish, and thus perpetuate, an account of the biggest kind of 

 a trout, although caught "in the days of long ago." 



While sojourning on Long Island several years ago I 

 became conversant with the following facts— I say facts, 

 because there are living witnesses enough who were per- 

 sonally cognizant of them to establish their truth in any 

 court : 



In June, 1822 or 1823, a trout was caught in Carman's 

 River, South Haven, L. I., below the mill dam and about 

 three miles from the South Bay, which weighed 14} pounds. 

 When discovered in the "mill hole" a strong net was 

 stretched around it, and after having been kept in confine- 

 ment for some time was killed and sent to New York to 

 some noted fishermen of those days, who sent in return a 

 check for $100 to iLs captors. 



Daniel AVebster and other noted sportsmen of the old 

 school were often guests at Carman's celebrated hostlery, 

 and enjoyed fishing in this stream. Trout of three and four 

 pounds' weight were not uncommon there at that time. The 

 waters of this stream, at the time I was there, were, and 1 

 think are still, controlled by the Suffolk Club, a party of 

 gentlemen and true sportsmen. 



The following named gentlemen are now living who saw 

 this wonderful fish, and declare it to have been a genuine 

 brook trout — viz. , Nathaniel Miller, Joseph Carman and D. 

 M. Clark, men of undoubted integrity, who can be found at 

 Brook Haven and South Haven, L. I., to verify the above 

 statement, 



A better account of this trout may have been published at 

 the time it was caught. I hope so, and that this mention 

 may be the means of reviving it. If no account was ever 

 published, I am sure you will deem this worthy of the space 

 it requires. A. 



Chicago, 111., April 13. 



VARIATION OF BROOK TROUT. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Seeing a communication from Mr. Webber, ex-Fish Com- 

 missioner of New Hampshire, in which he says that perhaps 

 the trout in lower Diamond* Pond are identical with the 

 blue-backtrout in the Rangeley Lake, reminds me that some 

 time ago I thought of writing an article for Forest and 

 Stream in regard to the variation of the brook trout in our 

 different waters. 



But the execution was for some reason delayed, until the 

 discovery of the new variety of trout in Sunapee Lake by 

 Mr. Hodge again brought the idea to mind. 



I am pretty familiar with nearly all the trout streams and 

 ponds in Coos county, N. H., and excepting the lake trout 

 (Salmo namaycush), "found in First and Second Connecticut 

 lakes and South Pond, in Stark, I think we have but one 

 variety of the Salmo family native to our waters, although 

 they vary much in their general appearance as well as habits. 

 The causes of some of these variations are still a puzzle to 

 me, and a discussion on this subject will be of great interest 

 to me and I think to many others. 



I will state some of the differences in size, shape, color, 

 habits, etc., of trout caught in different localities, and per- 

 haps some one will tell us the cause. Of course there is a 

 reason why the trout in one pond scarcely ever attain a 

 weight of f of a pound and never exceed 1 pound each, 

 while in another only a short distance from the first and con- 

 nected by quite a large stream, they are often taken weigh- 

 ing from" 2 to 3 pounds each. This is the case with the trout 

 in the Diamond Ponds near Colebrook. In the lower pond 

 I have never seen a trout taken that would weigh more than 

 f of a pound, and a native fisherman who has fished it every 

 season for over 30 years, told me that he had never caught 

 one larger. The Swift Diamond (the outlet of the pond) is 

 a very prolific stream, and small trout are continually run- 

 ning into the pond during the summer season, and they are 

 certainly genuine brook trout when they enter the pond, and 

 I think they still remain the same, although they gradually 

 change their habits and appearance. Their food is not so 

 abundant in the lower pond as in the upper one, but is that 

 the cause or one of the causes of the difference in size of the 

 fish? 



Another common difference in trout taken in the same 

 pond, and fed and raised under the same conditions, is that 

 one specimen has white meat and another red, but outwardly 

 they are the same. Are they the same variety, and if so 

 what causes the difference in color? 



Where trout have an abundance of food they grow faster 

 than where their food supply is scanty, but in the pond 

 where the food supply is the best of any pond that I know 

 they never exceed 2 pounds in weight, and the most of them 

 go from ^ to f of a pound each. 



Another pond where the fish have a different appearance 

 from the ordinary brook trout is North Pond, in Stark. 

 They are quite long for their weight, light colored below, 

 and average i of a pound each. The pond is fed by moun- 

 tain streams and springs, but the natural food supply is 

 small and the native fish is small although of fine flavor. 

 Good fishermen who have fished there for years say that they 

 never caught one there that would weigh more than a pound. 

 The waters discharge into the Ammonoosuc River," where 

 formerly large numbers of trout we/e caught of 3 and 4 

 pounds weight. 



In Big Dummer Pond, the trout caught will average 2 

 pounds each if caught in deep water. I caught one a few 

 years ago that measured 21| inches in length and was 13A 

 inches in circumference. They are of almost a bronze color 

 and scarcely ever rise to a fly. In Greenough Lake some of 

 the fish are of the same color, but they are not as large. 



There is a small pond in Errol, of probably not over seven 

 or eight acres in extent, that contains very finely flavored 

 trout and of very good size, and they are the gamiest fellows 

 one would wish to find. A dish of these fish baked in cream 

 at the Errol House, some time during the summer of 1884, 

 is often spoken of by the participants as something to be long 

 remembered, and the gastronomic gymnastics of Clark, the 

 Magalloway stage driver, were something simply wonderful 

 for so large a man. 



At Success Meadows is the junction of two streams called 

 respectively Black Strap and Silver Stream, together with 

 the outlet of Success Pond, forming the Chickwolnepy River 

 which empties into the Androscoggin at Milan, N. H. In 

 Black Strap the trout are very dark colored and thick-bodied 

 and in the other they are long and slim, and almost as silvery 

 as a true salmon. ' A greater contrast in trout found in 

 different streams whose waters unite is probably not found 

 in the State. 



In Mill Brook in Stark the trout in the upper part of the 

 stream are orange-colored on their sides and bellies, and I 

 have noticed that they were exceptionally fine-flavored, but 

 they are of small size, scarcely any weighing over four 

 ounces each. But the best of all our 'trout are those found 

 in Little Millsfield Pond. Probably hundreds of small fry 

 run up into the pond every year, but after they have been in 

 the pond a few months they don't look enough like those in 

 the stream to be brothers. Their change of food and habits 

 make a wonderful difference in the appearance of the fish. 

 So much so that Dr. Elmendorf , of Brooklyn, N. T., threw 

 away a half pound specimen caught in the stream below the 

 pond, because it bore so little resemblance to those we had 

 been catching from the pond that he thought there was 

 something wrong about it and so threw it away. These 

 trout have the smallest heads of any trout in our waters and 

 a gamier trort never rose to a fly. They are very dark- 

 colored above und white beneath, and take a fly very readily. 

 There is a great uniformity in the fish after they have been 

 in the pond for some time, but once in a while I have caught 

 small ones that were like those in the stream below. 



I have enumerated some of the peculiarities of the trout 

 found in our waters, the cause of which I will leave to be 

 explained by some one with more knowledge on the subject 

 than myself. There must be a cause for all these variations, 

 but some of them seem very singular. 



In mentioning our different ponds I have made mention 

 only of the native trout. Some of them have been stocked 

 with land-locked salmon and black bass, but this article has 

 reference only to fish native to Coos county. Our waters 

 can only stand the great drain on them by restocking by the 

 State. But let them be stocked with trout, for black bass 

 are a poor substitute for our beautiful brook trout. 



S. J. G. 



Lancaster, N. H. 



NEW ENGLAND TROUT STREAMS. 



THE Massachusetts trout season has not yet been very pro- 

 ductive, though the snow and ice are" about out of the 

 way, even in the western part of the State. There is a com- 

 plaint that favorite trout streams are not "panning out" 

 very satisfactorily, even to the annual visitor for many years. 

 The dealers in the Boston market are much dissatisfied. 

 They claim to be able to obtain a fair supply of trout, but 

 the demaud is small. This they attribute to the law, which 

 prevents their selling trout in winter. "It is so long between 

 seasons," they say, "that the public lose the taste for trout." 

 If they could be allowed to sell Canada trout in winter, there 

 would be a good trade in native trout in the spring, and thus 

 a good deal of money made. This is their argument. It 

 sounds as reasonable as that of the boy who desired to be fed 

 on strawberries in January, simply because he was fond of 

 them. These marketmen imagine that because they can get 

 all the trout tbey can now sell from Sandwich and other 

 towns on Cape Cod, that a continued supply could be kept 

 up, the same as in codfish or mackerel. They desire to make 

 a market fish out of what must be regarded as a rarity. 



Besides, the privilege of selling trout from the Provinces 

 in winter would simply mean more smuggling from the 

 Maine waters at that season ; and the marketmen are well 

 aware of it. One of them recently confessed as much to me. 

 He also further remarked that the whole fish protective laws 

 of New England, Maine especially, were non-constitutional; 

 that he had the money— made in the fish business— and had 

 he the time and the desire to go into the courts, he would 

 drive the trout and salmon laws from the Maine statute 

 bocks and the fish commissioners and wardens out of busi- 

 ness. Truly it is the marketman that the angler has to fear, 

 as well as does his fellow sportsman with dog and gun. It 

 gives the angler the heartache to see such a strong desire for 

 traffic in that which is so dear to him, and that which, in 

 spite of all protection has done, is yearly growing more and 

 more scarce. 



Recent letters from those familiar with the Maine waters 

 suggest an early clearing of the ice from the lakes, though 

 this is probably based chiefly on theory. The snow has been 

 very deep late in the winter, causing thinner ice and rapid 

 melting from below. The trout season promises well. The 

 law has been well obeyed, as to close time, and rough 

 weather and deep snows have prevented residents lrom fish- 

 ing since Feb. 1, to the extent they otherwise would have 

 done. All this is favorable to the angler. So far as the big 

 catches through the ice are concerned, the Maine papers 

 have told of but very few this spring. It is to be hoped that 

 another session of the Legislature of that State will repeal 

 the law which allows residents to take trout and land-locked 

 salmon through the ice after Feb. 1. The law is abused. 

 Non-residents only have to go to "the holes" and "watch 

 the residents fish," to get all the trout they want. Commis- 

 sioner Stilwell put (he matter in its true light when he told 

 the Legislature of that State that her fish and game were 

 worth as much as her lumber — that her fish and game drew 

 in millions of dollars every year from summer visitors who 

 come into that State for no other purpose than for fish and 

 game. 



But very few fresh salmon have yet been received in this 

 market. Two from the Penobscot came in Tuesday, and 

 sold at $1 per pound. It is a pity that the Salmo xalar is not 

 better protected by law below tide water in the Penobscot 

 River. That river is uow known to be the last resort for 

 eggs of the true salmon for propagation, and yet the parent 

 fish are the prey of the marketmen, till the arrivals from the 

 Province* bring down the price to where it no longer pays 

 to net the Maine salmon. Special. 



Crawfish. — H. A. Kelly's note in your last issue reminds 

 me that after R. S. Tarr's paper on crawfish, I wrote you 

 that he was mistaken in saying that they were found in only 

 one locality in New England. When I was a boy, we used 

 to find them often in a brook on my father's farm, and it is 

 not more than ten or fifteen years since I saw one in the 

 same brook, but have seen none there since. Then the brook 

 was perennial, or at least, there was always water in the deep 

 pools. Now, in summer, its bed is as dry as the highway. 

 I am told that in some of the brooks emptying into Lewis 

 Creek, crawfish are yet to be found in considerable numbers. 

 Thompson's "Vermont," 1842, says: "It is very common in 

 many of the small streams in the western part of the State." 

 — Awahsoose (Ferrisburgh, Vt., April 10). 



Minnesota Bass Flies.— Hastings, Iowa —In reply to H 

 P. TJfford, would say that I fouud the grizzly king the most 

 attractive to the bass last summer. Will some of your cor- 

 respondents in Colorado, along the Denver & Rio Grande 

 Railroad, please give some information as to trout fishing 

 localities, etc., and whether streams have to be waded or 

 fished from bank, also flies used?— Hollow Rib. 



THE BRANDY POINT TROUT. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In one of the issues of Forest and Stream last fall, I 

 noticed an article by one of your regular correspondents, the 

 sum and substance of which was that the large trout 

 taken the latter part of September near Brandy Point by a 

 New York gentleman did not rise to the fly, but was taken 

 in an unsportsmanlike manner; and all the ground the 

 writer seemed to have for his suspicion was the idea that 

 large trout did not rise to the fly at that season of the year 

 as they were "down on the spawning beds." If your cor- 

 respondent is really the sportsman that he evidently would 

 have the readers of Forest and Stream believe him to be, 

 it is very singular that he should be so ignorant of the habits 

 of large trout, 



I took the gentleman and his guide to Brandy Point on 

 my steamer the morning of the clay that he took the large 

 trout, also the following morning. He told me that the trout 

 rose fair and took the toodle bug fly; also of the hard fisrht 

 of an hour he had with him before the guide slipped the 

 landing net under him. I had not at the tithe, and still have 

 not a shadow of a doubt but that he told me the truth. 1 

 have seen that guide many times since then, and have been 

 with many of the guides continually from the time the trout 

 was taken to date. The only intimation that I have ever 

 seen or heard that the trout was taken otherwise than fairly 

 is what I have seen in the Forest and Stream. 



The last few days of September were very favorable for 

 the fishing ground in the vicinity of Brandy Point. The 

 same gentleman who took the large trout took, the last day 

 of September, three trout of 4, 71 and 8* pounds. Three 

 New York gentlemen, members of the Oquossoc Anglers' As- 

 sociation, with their guides fished near Brandy Point the day 

 after the large fish was taken. These gentlemen are old 

 time frequenters to our lakes and the mention of their names 

 to those who know tneit fishing principles would be a guar- 

 antee that whatever the record was it was a clean one. No 

 trout comes to their landing-net except by fair angling with 

 the artificial fly, and then usually only to be weighed and 

 let go again. These gentlemen took one each which is worth 

 mentioning, one 5£, one % and one 9i pounds. One of the 

 guides told me lately that the seven-and-a-half-pouuder came 

 for the fly three times before he struck it, as smart as he 

 ever saw a small trout. These trout were all weighed and 

 then permitted to go again. How is that for a New York 

 angler? Can any city show a better illustration of a true 

 gentleman sportsman? And is it to be wondered at that when 

 gentlemen from a distance take so much iuteiest in keeping 

 up our fishing, as to put back not only the small ones, but 

 trout- of this size, that wc who are directly and pecuniarily 

 interested, should feel kindly toward them, and when a 

 slanderous statement, like what appeared in Forest and 

 Stream, comes under our eye that we should feel like letting 

 some one have it right from the shoulder? 



I once used to guide a New York gentleman, and I was 

 never tired of sitting on the piers at Upper Dam or in a boat 

 at the Cove, with the landing net in readiness watching "my 

 man" cast or handle his trout. After I got to running a 

 camp and boat he stopped with me, and one day, with no 

 other object in view than that of patronizing the boat, he 

 took a round trip. At the TJpper Dam I had a landing to 

 make to connect with the boat on Mollechunkcraunk Lake. 

 We had a little while to wait; so he took his rod and said he 

 would go down on the pier and make a few casts, if he 

 "struck anything" he would hallco.when I should come with 

 the landing net. It seemed that he had had hardly time to 

 get there before I heard him halloo, as only the angler can 

 who has struck something and thinks he is in a hurry tor 

 the net. I caught up the net and scrambled down on to the 

 pier. I found him with only the butt joint of the rod left in 

 his hand; the rest of it and most of his line was out of sight 

 under water, the water was swift but the trout swifter. 

 While he would reel iu and snub, the trout would pull out 

 and try not to be snubbed. After about half an hour of this 

 kind of work we began to occasionally see the broken joint 

 of the rod, the tip being suug down to the leader. Then all 

 of a sudden the trout made a run for the pier where we 

 stood, but he made a mistake and landed in the net instead 

 of under the rocks. Out he came, a good eight pounder, 

 and as 1 lifted him from the water the fly dropped from his 

 mouth, where it had been very lightly hooked. The best of 

 handling was all that saved him; and I should like to see 

 one handled better, just to see how it is done. 



Caft. Barker. 



Camp Bkmis, Rangeley Lakes, April 6. 



"A Trip to the Intermediate Lakes." — Your corres- 

 pondent, "J. O. S.," in issue April 1, is substantially correct 

 iu his statements, so far as I can remember. He and his 

 friend did call on "Kelpie" — how they found him I know 

 not — probably through some process of generalization and 

 deduction, for there was no sign out. He says that one of 

 'em looked like the Old Scratch, and the other still worse. 

 If by the S. is meant the devil, I believe that authorities 

 differ as to his appearance. If we accept the Japanese ideal 

 I should say that "J. O. S." did himself and friend less 

 than justice, though they did look rather tbe worse for wear. 

 If 1 had known that they were man hunting I might have 

 been ready with a rifle; "as it was, when I overheard them 

 wondering whether their rags would hold together until they 

 reached Traverse City, I thought of offering one of them my 

 other suit (consisting of an old jumper and overalls). I did 

 not act on this benevolent intention, partly from native 

 modesty — I am a very modest man ; partly because the O. S. 

 aforesaid could not have told which of the twain was the 

 more dilapidated, and partly owing to the fact that there 

 hung about them an indescribable something which to a close 

 observer indicated that they thoroughly enjoyed the situ- 

 ation, were having a glorious vacation, and asked no odds 

 or favors from anybody. It was a surprise to me to learn 

 that I had been "interviewed," but the crisis is past, and 

 here I am. They were visitors of the right sort, and I shall 

 be glad again to greet them when next they visit the Inter- 

 mediate Valley.— Kelpie (April 10;. 



Those Long Island Trout.— The bill relating to trout 

 illustrated, in the engrossed act as filed in the Secretary of 

 State's office, the value of punctuation points. The first 

 section sets out to amend Section 19 of the laws of 1879 so as 

 to have it read as follows: "No person shall catch, or 

 attempt to catch, or kill, or expose for sale, or have in pos- 

 session after the same has been caught or killed, any speckled 

 trout, brook trout, salmon trout, landlocked salmon, or Cali- 

 fornia trout, save only from the first day of May to the first 

 day of September in each year, except in the counties of 

 Queens and Suffolk, where it shall be from the first day of 



