392 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jtos 1«, 1886. 



SALMON IN THE HUDSON. 



Trot, N. Y., June 7. — Editor Forest and Stream: Sev- 

 eral salmon have been taken below the dam at this city with- 

 in the past week. There are known to be four and there are 

 rumors of others. The largest one which we have any posi- 

 tive record of weighed 14£ pounds, and it was a fine plump 

 fish. The salmon are now stopped at the dam here and are 

 being taken in nets. This should be stopped at once and 

 fishways should be built to allow them to reach the upper 

 river where they can spawn. The fact that there are salmon 

 in the Hudson should arouse anglers and game protectors to 

 see that the first crop is not destroyed. — J. H. R. 



Mr. H. P. Schuyler, of Troy, has written to Mr. M. M. 

 Backus, of New York, that on Monday last a 141 pound 

 salmon was caught at the State dam, making the third 

 within a week whose aggregate weight was 35 pounds. Mr. 

 Backus writes to Mr. Blackford that there is an impression 

 at Troy that a few years ago the State Legislature made an 

 appropriation for a fishway at Troy, but it never has been 

 built. Mr. Schuyler says that the fish referred to will be the 

 last one killed, as "a few knights of the angle intend to 

 take matters in hand," and that his brother has^notifled the 

 fishermen'that alljfish taken in future must be returned to the 

 water, and adds: "I believe the waters in the vicinity of the 

 dam are swarming with salmon that are unable to get above 

 the dam," 



Troy. N. Y., June 7.— Editor Forest and Stream: Two 

 salmon have been taken here. These must be fish that were 

 planted three or four years ago by theTJ. S. Fish Commission 

 from the Long Island hatchery. I saw the first shipment 

 taken to North Creek by Mr. Mather in 1882 while they were 

 on the platform at Saratoga, and expressed my opinion to 

 him that it was doubtful if they would ever return, because 

 they were so small. I am prepared to believe that more 

 will come.— D. Y. Smith. 



Troy, N Y., June 4. — On the second day of June some fish- 

 ermen took from the waters of the Hudson, just below the 

 State dam at this city, a strange fish, some ten pounds in 

 weight. They presented the fish to their employer, who was 

 also ignorant of its proper name and species, but found it 

 very good eating. Yesterday another of the same fish was 

 taken at the same place. It was brought to the city and in 

 the evening I had the pleasure of inspecting a'fine male 

 salmon, which measured 28 inches in length, 16 in girth, and 

 weighed 10 pounds 8 ounces. Did not the Legislature pro- 

 vide for the construction of a fishway in the above-mentioned 

 dam? If so, let us have it at once. — Seymour Van Sant- 

 voord. 



EYED HOOKS. 



"IVTOTHTNG is new," said Talleyrand, "but that which is 

 li forgotten," and the saying is strikingly illustrated by 

 the eyed hook. Eyed hooks have been in use by fishermen 

 so long that the "oldest inhabitant" does not recolleet their 

 first adoption ; and yet when their existence had at last be- 

 come like the aborigines of this country, almost improved 

 off the face of the earth, they were suddenly resuscitated — 

 reinvented with some improvements — and, lo! according to 

 Mr. Levison (and others), those which have the eye turned 

 up are "about perfect," and, to pile Pelion on Ossa, those 

 with turned down eves, labelled with the talismanic name of 

 "Pennell," are "much superior" to the "about perfect" ones. 

 Moreover, Mr. Levison recommends fly-fishermen not to lose 

 much time about giving the latter hooks a fair trail. I 

 would suggest that the angler wait till their price is more 

 reasonable. At present the manufacturers ask what is aptly 

 characterized by a large English firm of dealers writing 

 recently a "murderous price;" in fact, about ten times that 

 of the best Sproat, which is, in my opinion, a far superior 

 weapon in regard to shape of bend. 



To those who are not acquainted with the eyed hook a few 

 words concerning its history, form and utility may be of 

 interest. The "turned up" eyed hook existed at least half a 

 century ago. That I know, for in the fly-book of my pater- 

 nal grandfather 1 find the remains of flies dressed on them. 

 But they were ill made and coarse, and usually of the Kirby 

 bend, a maker who is said originally to have derived his 

 secret of tempering hooks from Prince Rupert. Hence these 

 hooks, till within the last few years, were employed chiefly 

 for sea-fishing and night lines for eels; their apotheosis in the 

 dress of a quill-gnat floating fly had not yet been accom- 

 plished. 



At last, about five years since, the disciples of the floating- 

 fly school of up-stream fishing for trout, beginning with 

 those fishing the English Itchen, Test and other Hampshire 

 chalk streams, found that the drying of the fly in the air 

 cracked off so many flies — aided by the gossamer gut which 

 is used of necessity — that some remedy, partial or entire, be- 

 came imperative. The needle-eye hook was first tried and 

 found undesirable because the eye cuts the gut, and finally, 

 Messrs. Bankart and Hall— two justly esteemed premier 

 fly-fishermen — after countless experiments and failures, suc- 

 ceeded in devising the turned up eyed hook which, as to bend, 

 they decided, after the most exact and careful trials, be it 

 remembered, should be a modification of the Sneck and 

 Limerick. I have fished with these hooks over the shyest of 

 English trout — those of the Itchen — and can indorse the 

 enthusiastic opinion of all the chief anglers of England, from 

 Francis Francis downward; and also that of Mr. Levison, 

 that they were and are "about perfect." That was the gen- 

 eral verdict. They hooked the fish with certainty, showing 

 that a rigid gut snell was not absolutely necessary at the end 

 of the shank; their penetration and holding power were con- 

 ceded to be in advance of the Sproat or round bend, and 

 their fouling quality, by reason of the "Snecky" side twist, 

 was par excellence all that could be desired. ' 'The force of 

 nature could no further go," was opined by all who thought 

 about the matter. In a word they were "about perfect." 



But anon arises the drastic and reforming Mr. Pennell. 

 This gentleman, I gladly concede, rejoices in a piscatorial 

 record of a very high character. In it we find that he had 

 undoubtedly written the best book on pike fishing, _ substi- 

 tuted six typical and supremely bizarre compilations of 

 feather, silk and tinsel for the thousand and one flies of the 

 entomologist angler, with which he proposed to slaughter 

 all the members of the family Salmonidm; and that his is the 

 distinction of having advised down-stream fly fishing, with- 

 standing to the face that prince of trout fishers, Stewart, 

 author of the "Practical Angler." In his recent volume of 

 the. Badminton series, he advances the "turned down" eyed 

 hook. This gives its only right to be named after him; for 

 the down-eyed hook was made by Allcock & Co., of Red- 

 ditch, as they assert, twenty years ago for Holyroyd, of 



Gracechurch street, London, and the bend of the hook is 

 precisely that of the old Limerick. It is amusing therefore 

 to read Mr. Pennell, writing {Fishing Gazette, April 3), "I am 

 advised that the sale of these hooks under my name by un- 

 authorized firms would be contrary to law." How sublimely 

 modest in the gifted author of "Puck on Pegasus!" 



To advert, however, to the practical utility of the eyed 

 hooks generally, it seems to me that their chief merit lies in 

 their being less liable to break off in casting, and in the 

 ready changeability of which they are susceptible. Still m 

 this regard their benefit is like every good thing in this "best 

 of all possible worlds," not unalloyed. When fishing a cold 

 mountain stream in a chilly wind — not by any means an im- 

 possible conjunction of events— with numb fingers, the tying 

 of even the "gain knot" (Mr. Pennell's again, though as old 

 as the first bit of string) is fraught with difficulty, and I 

 know by experience that the tiny fly may more easily slip 

 from the fingers than the old-fashioned snelled hook, and 

 that the eye of the hook to this short sighted generation of 

 neuresthenic and over-worked money grubbers is often pro- 

 vokingly indistinct, and as evening gathers round and the 

 fish hasten to make the most of it, this is to say, the least of 

 it, like Lord Palmerston's world, "a fortuitous concatenation 

 of incongruous" circumstances against the enjoyment of the 

 eyed hook, whether its eye squints up or down. 



J. Harrington Keene, 



Manchester, Vfc. 



ANTRIM COUNTY ASSOCIATION. 



AT a meeting of the Antrim County, Mich., Game and 

 Fish Protective Association at Central Lake, the fol- 

 lowing officers were elected: Roswell Leavitt, of Bellaire, 

 President; George M. Clow, of Central Lake, Vice-President; 

 F. H. Thurston, of Central Lake, Secretary ; Thomas M. 

 Rush ton, of Central Lake, Treasurer; George W. A-lbrecht, 

 of Bellaire, Vice-President for Kearney township; Jesse A. 

 Cary, of Central Lake, Vice-President for Central Lake town- 

 ship. 



Mr. Leavitt moved for a vote to see whether, as a society, 

 the association will exert its influence to enforce the pr esent 

 statute laws of this State for the protection of game and fish. 

 In response every member voted "yea." 



The following explanation of the spirit and purpose of the 

 association is given by the secretary in the Breeze: "The 

 following is intended to explain the motives and intentions 

 of those who have organized the Fish aed Game Protective 

 Association: They believe that among our inalienable rights 

 are life, liberty, and the catching of fish. Life and liberty 

 we have, but how to catch the fish? I used to be called a 

 good fisherman, and settled on these lakes expecting to 

 have all the fishing I wanted. In the past three years I have 

 not caught ten pounds, and I think it useless to try with the 

 only legal means — a hook and line. Some say : 'Spear them 

 —net them— shoot them— blow them up with dynamite.' 

 In answer it may be urged that such methods are illegal. 

 But we are told to pay no attention to the laws, that nobody 

 minds them, and that we can't get fish unless we break these 

 statutes, or buy from those who do. Now there are those 

 among us who, while quite willing to fish with spears, are 

 not prepared to defy the law, and who believe that disregard 

 of existing statutes of any kind is a very bad sign. If A 

 breaks one law, B another, and C a third, and so on without 

 hindrance from public opinion, we should soon have no law. 

 It is better that our laws should be obeyed; then, if they are 

 wrong, or need improvement, let all combine together about 

 the needed changes. Our association mean to try its best to 

 learn the reasons why the supply of fish in our waters, once 

 bountiful, has in most of the lakes so fallen off that we can 

 hardly get a 'mess' of bass or pickerel unless we spear them, 

 and even by such means only in spawning time. Such is 

 the general verdict. If this is the fact, and if we must de- 

 pend upon the spear for our supply of fish, then by all means 

 let spearing be legalized, so that when a man wants to 

 exercise that craft, he need not go about it like a thief. 



"If it shall appear that the fault is in the absence of 

 proper fish ladders at the dams, let measures be taken to have 

 the needful work done, and give the people a fair chance, 

 which, I take it, means the chance to catch a few fish with a 

 hook and line, as we did five years ago. If a man has no 

 spear, he ought not, therefore, to be defrauded of his lights. 

 Some have talked about this association proposing to do 

 something or other to interfere with the rights of the poor. 

 How can this be done? The poor, as the rich, whoever they 

 may be, are equally affected by existing laws, they can join 

 the society for twenty-five cents, and one would think, could 

 easily outvote all other classes. It would seem for their 

 interest to join the society, and add their influence to assist 

 in obtaining the repeal of unjust laws, if any such exist, and 

 help to secure the passage of others which shall maintain 

 their rights in our fish and game. 



"One gentleman of Central Lake spoke feelingly, just 

 before the organization of the society, and said that he could 

 get as much fish now as he ever could. He admitted that it 

 would be by spearing (contrary to law). His brother stated 

 that fish are very scarce compared to their former 

 abundance. The first did not favor the association, the 

 second did. 



"A prominent farmer of Echo, who attended the meeting 

 but heartily opposed it (mainly, as I think, from a misap- 

 prehension of its objects), emphatically denounced the whole 

 movement as contrary to the interests of the poor. He said 

 that the supply of fish would always be about the same, and 

 as many as people wanted could be had on the upper lakes. 

 Perhaps he was right in this last statement. The fish in 

 spawning time are likely to go up stream as far as they can 

 get, but they seldom return to feed the poor along the shores 

 of Central Lake. The spears around Six Mile Lake and 

 Scofield's dam attend to that part of the business, but how 

 long will the supply last? 



"I once asked this same gentlemen from Echo to use his 

 influence in getting a starch factory established at Central 

 Lake. It would have been backed by heavy capital, and 

 would have proved an important industry. It offered to pay 

 25 cents, cash, for potatoes just out of the ground, regard- 

 less of size. He in reply, speaking as now, in what he said 

 was the interest of the poor and needy, scouted the idea. 

 The price was too low, and he fought the project tooth and 

 nail. There has since been no year when potatoes could not 

 have been bought for less money, and just now they go beg- 

 ging at fifteen cents. The shrewdest sometimes fail in judg- 

 ment, and we may thank this gentleman, and those who 

 sided with him, that we have no home market for our 

 potato crop. 



"There is no doubt that we ought to have in our waters a 

 better supply of fish, but without organized efforts we shall 

 never have it. This is why a few, among whom are repre- 

 sented the farmer, the teacher, the lawyer, the merchant, and 



others, have joined hands and made a move in what they 

 believed to be one of the real interests of the people of 

 Antrim county. Will not others, no matter what may be 

 their occupation or possessions, assist us by joining the 

 Antrim County Fish and Game Protective Association, and 

 help secure equal rights for all? F. H. Thurston." 



DECORATION DAY AT BLOOMING GROVE 



THE special car attached to the 4:30 P. M. tTain on the 

 Erie road on Saturday, May 29, contained thirty-three 

 members and guests on their way to the club house of the 

 Blooming Grove Park Association, to pass Decoration Day. 

 At the house were already twenty-seven guests, and the new- 

 comers swelling the number to sixty, it took the superin- 

 tendent some little while to arrange accommodation, but all 

 were provided for. 



Sunday, May 30, bright and warm, a beautiful day, was 

 passed in various ways, some starting early for the Bloom- 

 ing Grove and Shohola fishing, others rowing on Lake 

 Giles, no fishing being permitted there until July L 

 Others walked over to the breeding park, to see the trout 

 hatching and the new fish ponds. In the hatching troughs 

 were upward of 75,000 fry, some hatched from eggs 

 brought from the Michigan State Hatchery, some from 

 Caledonia, some English brown trout, eggs imported from 

 England, and some from eggs taken from the club's own 

 breeders. In one of the raceways were 250 breeders all 

 from the Shohola, as fine trout as one would want to see. 

 Besides stocking its own streams the club will soon be in a 

 position to supply the market with eggs and fry. One of 

 the prettiest sights was to see the deer in the breeding park, 

 an inclosure a mile square, come up to the salt lick. Timidly 

 they step along, until at a word or a movement of the body, 

 though you are standing 300 yards from them, away they 

 dash out of sight. In this park are upward of 300 deer, 

 and none are allowed to be killed, except in the fall, bucks 

 may be killed still-hunting. Sunday was a quiet day though 

 the members and guests were all enjoying themselves. In 

 the evening, in the large parlor around the piano, the whole 

 party of sixty joined in Moody and Sankey hymns, and later 

 camp meeting 'tunes and some secular music. All seemed to 

 catch the spirit of the occasion and each vied with his or her 

 neighbor, in the desire to make it pleasant for all. 



Monday was the day fixed for the several coutests. An- 

 nexed are the scores, and it will be seen that they are scores 

 to be proud of. There were several private contests, both in 

 rifle shooting, pigeon and clay pigeon shooting. Evening 

 come too soon. Hardly was the day long enough to allow 

 all the contests. Monday evening the various victors cele- 

 brated their victories by offering entertainment to all who 

 would accept. Chess, billiards, whist, games were indulged 

 in, and the air of Pike county was made to resound with 

 chorus after chorus. Some of the party left the club Mon- 

 day afternoon for New Yoi*k, but the larger part waited for 

 Tuesday morning and the special car. Tuesday morning 

 was perfectly beautiful when the six coaches left the club 

 house at 6 A. M., all too sorry to go. Among those present 

 were D. G. Croly, T. W. B. Hughes. G. H. McLean, Dr. S. 

 M. Nash, R. J. Legatt and wife, H. W. Nason and wife, H. 

 M. Williams and wife and daughter, T. E. H. Curtis, N. S. 

 Smith, W. H McCord, R. B. Lawrence and wife, H. W. 

 Banks and wife, W. H. H. Stafford and wife, Joel Parker, 

 W. F. Owens, J. B. Miley, H. M. Montgomery, C. R. 

 Hewitt, Daniel Youmans and wife, D. Bacon, Dr. E. M. 

 Sell, Frank Raynolds and many others. 

 Rifle match, 200yds. for club prize, silver badge: 



Curtis 33504-15 Nason 43433-17 



Nash 43414-19 Stafford, Sr 53334-18 



Smith 02430- 9 Parker 32302-10 



Stafford, Jr 34344—18 Hughes 50423-14 



Lawreoce 44344—19 Bacon 33334—16 



Williams 22303-10 



Tie for first: 



Nash 4444—16 Lawrence 4443—15 



Ties for second: 



Stafford, Jr 3 Stafford, Sr 4 



Match won by Mr. S. M. Nash. 

 Contest at clay pigeons for club prize, silver badge: 



Nash .... 1 1 1 ^0 14O— 4 

 Smitb... 1 %\ 1 1 1 1 0- t% 

 Stafford .0 1 0-1 

 Lawrence 1 11111111 1—10 

 Williams 001000000 0—1 

 Nason... 11110 11111-9 

 Stafford ,0000000000-0 



Bacon .... 000 00000 0-0 

 Curtis.... 100000111 0—4 

 Chapman. 1 1 1 1U— 4}$ 

 Owens ... 0-0 

 Parker.. .J^ 0000000 oU-l 

 Wyse 1 1 1 0—3 



Fly-casting for club prize, silver badge: 



Nash Wffe. 



Nason 70ft, 



Team match at 20 live pigeons: 



Chapman 11111— 5 



Nason 00011—3—7 



Second match, at 10 birds: 

 Chapman 110-2 



Nason 00-0—2 Smith 10-1-3 



Lawrence 78ft. 



Raymond 68ft. 



Lawrence 00110—2 



Smith 01110-8-5 



Lawrence 110—2 



New Fishing in Connecticut. — Over the hills to the 

 west of Newton lies a pretty spring-fed body of water, which 

 the maps call Fountain Lake and the natives Taunton Pond. 

 It is a favorite place with the fishermen, and unkind critics 

 have asserted that there were more anglers than fish there 

 half the time. It has been stocked half a dozen times, more 

 or less, and the Connecticut Legislature has made laws for 

 its special benefit without permanently increasing the num- 

 ber of its denizens. Four years ago, however, the pond was 

 stocked with German carp. For two seasons nothing was 

 seen of them, but last year a few representatives of the new 

 fish were discovered prowling about places where the bottom 

 is muddy. During the. past few weeks some of them have 

 been caught, and a day or two ago Andrew Nichols who 

 lives near the pond and understands the science and art 

 of fishing in it, captured a carp that weighed fifteen and one- 

 half pounds— ten pounds more than any other fish ever 

 taken out of the pond. The big carp is now a prisoner in a 

 tub at Nichols's home. The scales on some part of its body 

 are said to be as big as a silver dollar. The capture has 

 boomed fishing in that locality generally. Fishermen who 

 have invested bait in speculations in the Housatonic River 

 have just solved a riddle which puzzed them for a year. 

 About twelve months ago there appeared in the river what 

 seemed to be a new fish, a sort of a cross between a bass and 

 a prickback. This spring a good many of them have been 

 caught, and, as they seemed to be larger than those of the same 

 species' captured last season, the wise men among the fisher- 

 men were kept busy trying to solve the problem. And now 

 it turns out that they are rock bass which got into the Hous- 

 atonic in this wav : Three years ago the fish commissioners 

 put into the river at New Milford 50,000 of what were sup- 

 posed to be landlocked salmon fry. By some mistake the 

 cans were mixed up and the greater part of the fish were 

 rock bass. This explains the new species and the fisher- 

 men's puzzle. 



