268 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



THE MAINE ANGLING SEASON. 



BY the time many of the readers of the Fokest and 

 Stkeam have seen these lines, the Maine trout arid 

 land locked salmon season will have opened — May 1. Pros- 

 pects on the streams in that State are earlier than usual. 

 The very warm weather for a week past has dissolved moun- 

 tains of snow and ice, and put the trout streams in good 

 condition for the early catch. Such weather was unex- 

 pected and the season promised to be late; but even in the 

 lakes now locked in ice, the chances are for a very early 

 opening. One letter, from good authority, suggests that the 

 ice will be all out of the Androscoggin lakes by May 10. 

 This is remarkably early. But such prospective clearing of 

 the ice is no earlier than the desires of many sportstneu, 

 usual frequenteis of tbe Maine lake regions. A good many 

 of them will go to the fi-hing grounds as soon as steam and 

 stage can take them; others will go beforehand and be ready 

 for the first trips up the lakes One Boston sportsman is 

 bound to eclipse all the rest. He has camned for one or two 

 spa«ons at The Narrows of Richardson Lake, a celebrated 

 fishing ground with those who know it. This year he sent 

 up his cook stove and blankets a month or more ago, to be 

 left near his camping ground by the lumber teams. He will 

 take his own departure in a day or two, or has already taken 

 it, in order to go up on the ice" before it bi-comes too rotten. 

 At his camping ground he will wait for the ice to leave, or 

 rather, he expects The Narrows to clear some days hefore 

 his brother sportsmen can reach him and give him fine sport 

 all by himself. Alas for such cupidity ! If he desired to go 

 mackerel or cod fishing, he could do so with less trouble and 

 exposure; and how much better is catching hungry trout 

 with worms just released from a six-months ice prison, than 

 is deep sea fishing for cod or halibut? If pounds of fi^h are 

 wanted, then the ocean voyage would be the more satisfac- 

 tory. 



In Weld Pond, in the town of Weld, Maine, some remark- 

 able good catches of land-locked salmon have been made 

 this spring. Alas! through the ice. Salmon as heavy as 

 ten pounds have been taken. This is all the more remark- 

 able when it is considered that only a few years ago — the 

 dates are not at hand— the first salmon fry were put into this 

 pond; a tangible proof of the value of fishculture. This 

 spot is a particular pet of one at least of the able Fish and 

 Game Commiss-ioner of Maine — Henry O. Stanley. He owns 

 a camp there, which he enjovs in summer with his friends. 

 It is fast getting to be understood that land locked smelts- 

 have I coine l a term? — are the best, if not the natural food 

 of the land-locked salmon, just as the minnow or dace, so 

 well-known and so abundant in the Androscoggin Lakes, is 

 the natural food of the speckled trout. In conversation the 

 other evening, Commissioner Still well remarked that "ene 

 of the first conditions of successful fisbculture is food, and 

 without food there is no success. In the Rangeley — or 

 better, the Androscoggin Lakes— there are minnows by the 

 million, and there we get the monstt-r speckled trout or red- 

 spots. The Sebago waters are renowned for landlocked 

 smelts, and there we get the largest land-locked salmon or 

 black spots in the world. In Weld Pond the smelts are 

 abundant." 



The sea salmon are putting in quite a remarkable appear- 

 ance in the Penobscot, just below Bangor, this year. On 

 Friday, April 9, there were taken from a weir two salmon 

 which weighed 3?i pounds. Four more of good size were 

 taken on the following Tuesday. On Monday the 12th one 

 was caught at Verona weighing 18 pounds, and the same 

 day one of 22£ pounds. These were all taken in wt-irs and 

 sent to the Boston market. Oti! for some force to stop this 

 weir fi.-hing. But a Maine paper says the "salmon fi>hery 

 is an important industry on the Penobscot and is the source 

 of quite a handsome revenue to down-river people." They 

 buy them off and pension tbem to let the salmon alone. 



Commissioner Stiilwell believes that the salmon are in- 

 creasing in the Penobscot, even under the poor protection 

 the law affords in allowing of no fishing near the dam at 

 Bangor nor at any time above the dam with nets or weirs. 

 Last year an unusual number were caught with the fly above 

 the dam, and there are strong hopes of this season. Salmon 

 anglers went all the way to New Brunswick waters for no 

 better sport than was enjoyed not far from above the dam 

 at Bangor. Maine. Besides the waters are free to every fair 

 angler, royalty having no rights to sell. Perhaps, under 

 protection, the Penobscot above the dam may yet become 

 the Mecca for the fly-fisherman. This can all be done under 

 bo good a form of protection as the Commissioners of Maine 

 have organized for moose and deer— only two or three 

 salmon to each sportsman in a season, to be taken with the 

 fly only. How will that do, brothers of the salmon angle? 

 Not enough! Then make it four or five, but stop fishing 

 for numbers and lor the market. Special. 



Bass and Pickerel.— Amboy, 111., April 14.— Editor 

 Forest and Stream: it is very interesting to read the experience 

 of anglers in taking bass, and reports of big bass in Forest 

 and Stream. It is surprising to see so much piejudice ex- 

 isting against bass in some of the Eastern States, and the 

 statements that they are driving all other game fish from the 

 waters where chey have been planted. I have failed so far 

 to find any logic or good proof to sustain any of those argu- 

 ments. We are fighting hard here for the propagation of 

 bass, both the large and the small mouth, considering them 

 not only the gamiest fish for sport, but the finest for food 

 that the waters in this State will produce. Our Fish Com- 

 mission in Illinois amounts simply to no commission at all 

 except in name, and it would be a credit to lovers of the rod 

 and reel to have that name changed to a set-still committee. I 

 will give my reasons for thinking that pickerel at least pre- 

 dominates over bass. I have never yet found any pickerel fry 

 in the stomach of a bass, but have often found baby bass in 

 a pickerel's stomach. I have carefully examined the digestive 

 organs of many bass for the purpose of finding their food for the 

 sake of procuring bait suitable to their tastes, for sometimes 

 they seem to be quite dainty. I have often found in the stom- 

 achs of black bass, both large and small-mouth, such food as 

 small frogs, erabs, water grubs of different kinds, flies, bees 

 and minnows. In the white bass seldom anything but flies 

 and small minnows. In pickerel I believe I have found every 

 species of fish that inhabits the waters of this State, and 

 some not very small either, with occasionally a green or 

 meadow frog. On a fishing excursion to the Mississippi 

 River one of the party caught a five-pouud pickerel and 

 dressi-d it for supper. In the stomach was a pickerel five 

 inches long, and inside of that one was a pickerel fry fully 

 two inches in length. On one other occasion a gentleman 

 named Barr took a twelve-pound pickerel in Rock River, 

 near Dixon, and in its stomach was a small snake ten inches 

 in length.— J. Swisher. 



Pennsylvania. — The trout season opened in Pennsyl- 

 vania on April 15. The following is a condensation of the 

 State laws: Sunday fishing and hunting are offenses pun- 

 ishable by $25 fine. Trout fishing is legal from April 15 to 

 July 15, but only with rod, line and hook. Bass, pike and 

 other game fish can be caught from June 1 to the end of the 

 year, but with rod, line and hook or troll only. Set and 

 fyke nets (the latter a small hoop net) can be legally fished 

 within March, April and May, and in September, October 

 and November, but must be placed in the open stream and 

 not under a dam, wing, wall or sluice of any kind. Any 

 game fish caught and retained renders the party liable to the 

 fine. Nets found set in the water from June 1 to Sept. 1 

 can be taken up by any one, their contents put back in the 

 water and the net or nets held until the owner calls for 

 them. Dip-nets for catching bait are legal, and larger dip- 

 nets for suckers, etc., will be tolerated so long as their use is 

 not abused. The only nets recognizpd by the law are set 

 nets as stated above, dip nets for catching bait and catching 

 fish to stock other waters, and the warden will act accord- 

 ingly. Outline fishermen who raise their lines do so for the 

 purpose of catching bass and other game fish and are liable 

 to the fine for so catching them. Nets and outlines have no 

 business in the waters on Sundays. They come under the 

 law of Sunday fishing and the owner is liable to the fine of 

 $25. Laying up new or repairing old fish dams is illegal 

 under a heavy fine. There are other violations which the 

 laws condem, so well known that they need not be referred 

 to. It is unlawful to kill web-footed wildfowl, such as geese, 

 etc.. between May 1 and Sept. 1. 



Black Bass at Pelee Island. — This famous fishing 

 ground in Lake Erie belongs to the Dominion of Canada, 

 and lies near to the mouth of the Detroit River. On Tues- 

 day, April 6, a public meeting was held on the island to 

 protest against a recent law, or order-in-council. which 

 changed the close season by making, it unlawful to take 

 pickerel from April 15 to May 15, and black bass between 

 April 15 and June 15. The meeting was well attended and 

 was enthusiastic. Wm. McCormick, reeve of Pelee Island, 

 was appointed chairman, and J. H. C. Atkinson, secretary. 

 A committee was appointed to draft suitable resolutions ex- 

 pressing the spntiments of the meeting. The preamble and 

 resolutions of the committee, which were unanimausly 

 adopted, set forth that to enforce such an order would vir- 

 tually be a prohibition of spring fishing, as by far the most 

 valuable of the spring catch were pickerel and bass, and the 

 close season for these covers the whole fishing season; that 

 this would not only injure the business and capital of the 

 numerous persons engaged in pond fishing there, but would 

 injure the business of the whole island, and stop the running 

 of a steamer.to the island, which is now mainly supported 

 by the fisheries. While the meeting approved of the pro- 

 tection of fish, such as existed under the old law, it was con- 

 sidered that the change would work to the advantage of the 

 Americans, because the island was so near the boundary 

 of the two countries, being within six miles, and that as the 

 Americans had no such close time they would catch all the 

 fish. A petition to restore the old law was numerously 

 signed. 



Size of the Channel Cat, — "Cyrtonyx" says that he has 

 never seen a channel cat that weighed over eighteen pounds. 

 When fishing in the Missouri River with trot lines, on a hard, 

 sandy bottom, in a stiff current, we catch channel cats much 

 larger thau those he speaks of. One morning about eleven 

 years ago I took from a trot line that had been baited with 

 paw -paws three channel cats, aggregating 170 pounds. The 

 largest one weighed 90 pounds and was 5 feet 4 inches long, 

 and when dressed weighed 60 pounds. They are the same 

 fish, so far as I am able to see, as the smaller ones that we 

 catch in the small rivers tributary to the Missouri. If the 

 large ones I speak of are not channel cat, what are they and 

 what is the difference between them? We never catch any 

 channel cat in an eddy in the Missouri River. — J. F. L. 



California Notes — The Petaluraa Argus says: "After 

 Thursday next it will be lawful to catch trout— but there 

 will be none to catch except in out-of-the-way places. The 

 boys in several places that we could mention have already 

 taken out about all the trout that are large enough to eat. 

 They say that they are tired of protecting the fish until the 

 first day of April'for the benefit of the San Francisco sports- 

 men, who swarm along the banks of the streams and take 

 them all out in a short time." The Sacramento Bee makes 

 the following excellent comment on the selfishness embodied 

 in the above, as follows: "The old 6tory — there's always 

 some excuse for violating laws designed to protect game 

 and fish. If everybody acted upon the theory of these boys, 

 there would soon be no fish left in any stream." 



Address all communications to the Forest and. Utream Publish- 

 ing Co. 



DEEP SEA DREDGING ON THE U. S. S. ALBA- 

 TROSS. 



[Read before the American Fisheries Society.] 

 BY F. L. WASHBURN. 



THOUGH the appropriateness of discussing the above sub- 

 ject in the Society of American Fisheries might at first 

 be questioned, second thought assures me that the work now 

 being done by the Albatross will, in the near future, prove of 

 the greatest value to tishculture and fishery economy. 



Thus assured, I ask your attention for a few minutes, hop- 

 ing not to tax too severely those who are familiar with the 

 process of marine dredging, and trusting the article may be 

 of some interest to our western friends, whose opportunities 

 for deep sea fishing are naturally limited. 



In the first place, a word about the Albatross and the pur- 

 pose for which she was built. She is a twin screw iron 

 steamer of 1,000 tons displacement, 235 feet in length, built in 

 1883 by the Pusev & Jones Co. , of Wilmington, Del. She was 

 constructed for the United States Fish Commission, and in- 

 tended to make extensive trips along our coast and to other 

 countries, for the purpose of making observations on the 

 ocean fisheries. Her work, principally, consists in determin- 

 ing, by sounding operations, the temperatures of the water of 

 the sea, the nature of the bottom, and the effect of the same 

 on the migraiions and breeding of the mackerel, cod, men- 

 haden and other varieties of economic importance to our fish- 

 eries. When the vessel can be spared from the regular work 

 of the Fish Commission, she is loaned to the Navy Depart- 

 ment, who use her for the purpose of observing ocean depths, 

 surveying harbors, and especially in determining the exist- 

 ence of ledges and shoals hitherto unknown. Her crew num- 

 bers between fifty and sixty men. Her commander at present 



is Capt. Z. L. Tanner, U. S. N., and she is officered by lieu- 

 tenants of the navy. 



Mr. J. E. Benedict is the naturalist in charge, and there is 

 generally associated with him on board a scientific staff of two 

 or more to assist him in obtaining data and preparing speci- 

 mens. 



The ship is admirably planned and constructed. The cap- 

 tain's cabin occupies most of the after part of the deck, is 

 spacious and well furnished with everything necess iry for the 

 commander's comfort. This cabin contains two staterooms, 

 and is lighted during the day by port holes on the side anG a 

 skylight above on the poop deck. The officers' ward room is 

 below this, having seven spacious staterooms, a bathroom, 

 and other conveniences not generally found on steamships. 

 The ship is lighted throughout with the incandescent electric 

 light, which not only makes the wardroom particularly cheer- 

 ful in the evening, but also illuminates the entire deck, so 

 that at night the vessel, as seen from the shore, looks like a 

 brilliantly lighted ballroom. Another thing rendered possible 

 by the presence of the electric light is surface collecting at 

 night. 



Mr. G. W. Baird, chief engineer of the ship, is the inventor 

 of a cable to which he attacnes a screen-covered electric light. 

 This, when the vessel is at anchor, can be lowered into the 

 water just below the surface, and the numerous young fish, 

 marine worms, squids and shrimp, attracted by the brightness 

 of the light, are captured by means of a hand net and trans- 

 ferred to the laboratory table for examination. This labora- 

 tory is amidships. There are really two laboratories, an 

 upper and lower; the first furnished with working tables, a 

 sink, a library of books for reference, a microscope and con- 

 venient tanks of alcohol; the second, called the "lower labo- 

 ratory," is below this, has benches for chemical work, and 

 opportunities for general carpentry and work conuected with 

 the collections. Here guns are cleaned and mended, and here 

 too are tiers of drawers in which specimens are stored. Be- 

 neath these drawers are large metal tanks filled with aloohol, 

 for containing the larger fish and specimens whose size pre- 

 vents them from being stored in the small glass jars. Below 

 this second laboratory, in the hold of the vessel, is still a third 

 storeroom, of much the ss me nature and used for much the 

 same purposes as the one above it. 



The apparatus for deep sea sounding, which is placed on 

 the port bow, consists of an easily running wheel supported 

 in a frame. Over this wheal runs a steel piano wire from a 

 cylinder or drum, which holds about 4000 fathoms. When a 

 sounding is to be made, a brass cup is attached to the end of 

 the wire to catch and bring up some of the botton , that its 

 composition may be observed. Just above the cup is a ther- 

 mometer which records the temperature of the deep water. 

 To tbe above-mentioued cup a heavy shot is fastened to ac- 

 celerate the downward motion. When a sounding is to be 

 taken the ship is kept stationary, that the wire may be 

 straight up and down, and, everything being ready, the 

 weight sinks rapidly to the bottom. The concussion caused 

 by striking the bottom detaches the heavy weight, at the same 

 time the cup grasps a portion of the bottom's surface, and a 

 donkey engine turns the cylinder, whereby the wire is quickly 

 reeled in. Each sounding station is given a number, and a 

 record is kept of the depth of the water, the nature of the 

 bottom and the temperature at that depth. 



A long article might be written on the various appbances 

 and mechanisms of the ship, but it would be too great a 

 digression from the subject originally proposed. Most worthy 

 of mention, however, are the annunciators on the upper 

 deck, placed against the wheel house. These are two con- 

 trivances, one for the starboard engine and a similar one for 

 the port engine, which indicate to the off cer of the deck the 

 movement of both engines. This is also an invention of 

 Engineer Baird, as is, too, the process by which the ship is 

 furnished with a never failing supply of pure, fresh drinking 

 water distilled from the salt water. 



Now, as to deep-sea dredging. Just forward of the wheel 

 house, attached by one end to tbe foremast, is a boom capable 

 of being raised like a derrick and swung over the side. Just 

 below this boom is a donkey engine, and below that, in the 

 hold of the vessel, is coiled a strong wire cable, about one-half 

 inch in diameter and about four miles long. This runs along 

 the under side of the boom and over a wheel at its free ex- 

 tremity. To this end of the cable is attached the dredge, or 

 trawl, as it is sometimes called. This consists of a strong, 

 baggy net, fastened to what looks like a pair of huge iron 

 sleigh runners, kept at a distance of about eight feet from one 

 another by means of an iron rod. It is between these "sleigh 

 runners," in the intervening eight feet of space, that the net is 

 placed. To these sleigh runners is also attached by ropes a 

 stout canvas bag, the mouth of which is kept open by iron 

 jaws. The position of this bag is just behind the small end of 

 the net, and on the sea bottom it is dragged along after the 

 large net, scraping up mud or sand and rocks, thus relieving 

 the meshes of the net from a strain which would be too heavy 

 for them. 



Evervthing being ready for dredging, and soundings having 

 first been taken to ascertain the depth, the net is lowered 

 carefully into the sea, the progress of the vessel being stopped. 

 If the sounding gave 1,200 fathoms, then 1.700 fathoms of 

 dredge cable has to be let out, or even more than that before 

 bottom is reached. This has to be done slowly and necessarily 

 takes a long time. Sometimes when the water is 3,000 fathoms 

 deep, as is often the case, four hours are consumed in one 

 lowering and hauling. This process is also called "trawling." 

 When the bottom is reached, the dredge is dragged slowly 

 along for half an hour and then hoisted on boardf by means 

 of the donkey engine, at first slowly, then, as it gets clear of 

 the bottom, very rapidly. 



It is an exciting moment when the huge net and canvas bag 

 emerges from the water and hangs dripping over the deck. 

 The net is then opened at the bottom and its contents allowed 

 to roll out into tubs, while mud and sand and rock in the can- 

 vas bag are emptied into a large sieve on the forward deck, 

 then to be carefully washed and examined for small marine 

 animals. , . , ,. , . ' 



The contents of the net which have been emptied into tubs 

 consist of many curious forms of life from the deep sea, which 

 are carefully picked out and sorted, each class by itself, and 

 then placed in glass jars containing alcohol. A minu te report 

 of each haul is kept in a book for that purpose. 



Sometimes the "catch" is extremely interesting, beautiful 

 specimens of Actinidce (sea anemones), corals; Echino ids i or 

 sea urchins, varieties not found in shallower waters. Also 

 specimens of Octopus (the cuttle fish), rare sponges, and deep 

 sea forms of holothurians or sea cucumbers. These latter so 

 much dislike being torn from their ocean bed that they use a 

 power given them by nature and split into fragments before 

 reaching the surface. Rare forms of starfish sometimes de- 

 light the eye of the naturalist who is sorting the contents of 

 the dredge; and deep sea fish, which, on being released trom 

 the tremendous pressure to which they were subjected in the 

 deeper water, become distended by the gases contained within 

 them, and often burst, reaching the ship's deck in a rather 

 dilapidated condition. Often, however, the dredge comes up 

 nearly empty, or with but little life in it. To my question as 

 to whether such work was not veiy disappointing at times, 

 the captain replied: "Not at all; we consider ourselves fortu- 

 nate if we get the dredge back safely," for it occasionally 

 happens that dredge and many fathoms of cable are lost by 

 the catching of the apparatus on the bottom. 



When the bottom is supposed to be so rocky that lowering 

 the dredge would be unsafe, "tangling" is resorted to, which 

 consists in dragging over the bottom large bunches of hemp 

 rope attached to iron bars. These bunches of rope catch and 

 hold in their strands small marine animals with which they 

 come in contact. In the April 2d number of Science Mr. Bene- 

 dict has described the method of surface collecting, so I need 



