268 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[OCT. 28, 1886. 



AdOrm all comtnunicaUons to tlie For^ and St/ream Pxtb. Co. 



ILONG ISLAND SEA FISHING. 



I HAVE been seeking for reliable information relative 

 to the fishing interests, and send the following re- 

 port, which I have chiefly gathered fi-om Mr. H. Ford- 

 ham, of Greeni)0i-t, 



I learn that while dui-ing the week ending Oct. 3 large 

 quantities were caught, there seems a decrease in the 

 catch diu-ing the w-eek ending Oct. 16. The season is 

 now drawing to a close and it is probable that most of the 

 menhaden works will close in a week or two. 



Large quantities of fish have been seen otf the south 

 side of Long Island boimd south. It is stated that proba- 

 bly more fish have been in one school than have been ren- 

 dered by all the works on our coast dxirmg the season. 

 Tliese fish were ti-aveling south very fast, and some of 

 the steamers were able to catch some of them, as the fish 

 were going about as fast as the steamers could follow -with 

 their utmost speed. 



The large numbers seen every fall olT our coast prove 

 beyond a doubt that the employment of steamers has 

 little or notliing to do in decreasing the immbers of edible 

 fish that visit the shore, as large numbers of them have 

 been caught this .season, notably among them sea bass, 

 bluefish and porgies, many of which were shipped to New 

 York markets. 



Large quantities of skillet (mullet) were caught last 

 week with shore seines, at Promised Land, near Montauk, 

 where Messrs. Price, Tuthill and other enterprising men 

 have established large factories and employ many steam- 

 ers in the menhaden fishery. 



The menhaden fishery this season has been pretty fair, 

 but I have been unable to ascertain the numbers caught 

 by the several factories. Many steamers are still pursu- 

 ing the business, and I have to-day seen several of them 

 patrolling this Sound shore. Isaac McLellan. 



Grbknpoet, Oct. 18. 



HAY BAY AND BAY OF 



QUINTE. 



BELLEVILLE, Ont., Oct. 18.— One good txvrn deserves 

 another, and as the genial "Piseco" has given toyoiir 

 readers — among them myself— much amusement, edifi- 

 cation and instruction in his valuable contiibutions to 

 yom- columns, I propose to make a partial retm-n for the 

 same by giving him some information as to Hay Bay and 

 other famous fishing resorts hereabou.ts. 



First, however, I would disabuse him of the idea, that 

 our postal and express services are bad and unreliable. 

 This first experience of them was no doubt luifortunate, 

 but on further acquaintance with them he will find that 

 he was mistaken. 



Hay Bay. whicli is about thhty miles from Belleville, 

 has from time immemorial been one of the favorite duck 

 shooting resorts of this part of the country, and I have 

 visited it several times, generally with a fair degree of 

 success. The marsh is as "Piseco" states, preserved, but 

 permits can be had at the rate of U fur eacli sliO(;ting 

 day. As a fishing ground for uiuskelkmge it did not be- 

 come kno\\Ta untir about nine years ago. wlien it was 

 found tliat bv trolling with a large spoon, weighted so as 

 to tow from three to six feet in depth, Esox nohilior could 

 be caught quite readily. As an instance, the Eev. M. 

 Chambers, of Napanee, whom I saw put off from the 

 shore in 1879, returned in an hour and a half with five 

 muskeUimge which he had caught and one larger than 

 any of the others he had lost by its jimrping out of the 

 boat immediatelv after tlie hook liad been extracted. As 

 is usual in such "cases the fame of the fishing ground 

 spread abroad and the result was such an invasion from 

 your side of the lines, such an insatiable pursuit of the 

 noble fish that they became scarce. Besides, several steam 

 yachts visited the place with noisy fishing parties on Sun- 

 days and the Sabbath-loving people who live around the 

 shores of the bay were justly incensed, and the Sabbath 

 breakers were haled before magistrates and made to real- 

 ize the authority of the law. Thus it is that the people 

 did not take in the most kindly way to all strangers; 

 for although the visitors from the States did not break 

 the Sabbath, they fished too industriously to please the 

 natives. ^ 



The muskellunge usually begin to rim up Hay Bay 

 about the ixrst or second week in October and good 

 fishing can be had for a month or six weeks. 



As to reaching the bay, if you bring your omti 

 boat, go to Picton on the Hero, take the steamer Qumte, 

 which leaves Picton earlv in the morning, and she will 

 drop you at Thompson's Point, whence you will have a 

 run of about eight miles to the best fishing ground, which 

 begins just west of the ducking preserve and extends 

 some tliree miles eastward, within the bounds of the 

 preserve, but the Shooting Company have no jurisdiction 

 except as to shooting. Or, you can go to Napanee on the 

 Grand Trunk and a drive of seven miles from that town 

 will land you near the eastern end of Hay Bay, on the 

 north side; but the south side is best for the fisherman. 

 Perhaps the best way of all is to run to Kellerville by 

 Grand Trunk, hii-e boa,ts and a steam yacht here, and 

 in three hours and a half you can be landed on the ground 

 at a very reasonable cost for a party. 



There are other points where muskeUunge are fre- 

 quently taken, notablv Carnahan's Bay, opposite Glenora, 

 Nigger Island, (seven miles west of Belleville) and thence 

 to the head of the Bay of Quinte, and at West Lake and 

 "Weller's Bav many fine ones have been taken. 



As to bass flshmg, it can be had to perfection on all the 

 bars from Deseronto westward after the begmnmg of 

 August. There axe many splendid places withm from 

 half a mile to twelve miles of this citj% and were so dis- 

 tinguished an angler as "Piseco" to visit us he would find 

 no difficulty in acquiring information from local brothers 

 of the angle. The bass of the Bay of Quinte are gemime 

 small-mouth, and as gamy as the most ardent angler 

 could desu-e. Manv of those caught at West Lake are 

 big-mouths. Within easy reach of the city, too, are Eice 

 Lake (bass and muskellunge), Trent Eiver ditto. Stone 

 Lake ditto, also the Northern lakes, in which the great 

 lake trout and salmon trout are found, and some streams 

 well stocked with brook trout. But Belleville is the best 

 place for bass fishing at the right season. On the whole, 

 this part of the Dominion, if not exactly an "angler's 



paradise," is very favorably situated for the pm'suit of the 

 gentle art. Our bay has several summer resorts, which 

 are gradually being added to, and ample accommodation 

 can be had" by those who, like "Piseco,'" "Kingfisher," 

 "Wawayanda"'and others, spend the greater part of their 

 leisure hours in pursuit of the finny inhabitants of the 

 wateiTS. In saying thus I have nothing exaggerated, but 

 rather understated, for there are many other noted fishing 

 gi-ounds wdthin a few miles of the city which I have not 

 mentioned because I have not personal or weU-authenti- 

 cated knowledge of them. I would, however, add that 

 unless visitors can manage to secure accurate information 

 as to the bars, they will get very few bass, except at cer- 

 tain times bv troUing. 



As to our piscatory nomenclatm-e, it has at all events true 

 merit of consistency, for a pike is with us a pike, be he 

 big or little; a pike-perch is a pickerel and a muskellunge 

 is a "masko." Quinte. 



MASKINONJE, M ASCALLUNGE, ETC. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



My article upon the deiivation of the popular name of 

 maskinonje, in your issue of March 18, has brought me 

 many letters from persons interested in tliis matter, some 

 of which I will quote from. Dr. Albert Gtinther, the dis- 

 tinguished ichthyologist of the British Museum, writes 

 as follows: "I have to thank you for your article on the 

 maskinonje. I have often been puzzled by the latter 

 name, and 'inascalonge' brings to my mind the long faces 

 of the gentlemen who have gone etymologically astray." 



Prof. D. S. Jordan says, under date of March 30: "I 

 have just retm-ned from Florida, where I read in Stearns's 

 office your note on the muse— onge. I think that we 

 must accept Esox masqumongy as its specific name from 

 Mitchell." 



Gen. 1. Gerrard, wdio has been making original investi- 

 gations concerning an unspotted form of this fish found 

 in the ilississippi region, and which he brings quite an 

 amount of evidence to sliow is specifically different from 

 E. nolnlior and that it is tlie blue pike of Norris, for 

 which Gen, Gerrard proposes the name of E. imniacula- 

 tufi. writes me several letters on the subject irom whicli I 

 quote: "I was much interested in your article in Forest 

 AND Stkeam. on the etymology of maskinonje, masca- 

 longe, etc., the former, I thiolv. must be very nearly the 

 right word. I am making inquuies through prominent 

 citizens of St. Paul, formerly engaged in the Indian C'liip- 

 pewa trade on Lake Superior, as to what the Indian nau ve 

 Avas for this fish, and the meaning of the adjective 

 'mas,' which you do not translate.* I am also in- 

 quiring what distinction the Indians made between 

 the blue-spotted ]3ike, E. nobilior. found in the 

 waters of the St. Lawrence system, and tlie one witli solid 

 color, found in the waters of" the Mississippi system, from 

 Chautauqua Lalce at the head of the Alleghany to the Eagle 

 waters, and the Thousand Lakes of the pineries at the 

 heads of the Wisconsin, Chippewa. St. Cr<jix, etc. These 

 Indians lived on both waters, and it will be interesting to 

 learn that tlie untutored savage did not call them both by 

 one name, as moder]] scientists seem disposed to do. I 

 object very decidedly to the vicious termology of 'Sub 

 genus 'imiskellangus finding a place in piscatorial science, 

 * * " I have received through the Idiid assistance of 

 Hon. Edward Rice, Mayor of St. Paul, this informatiuii, 

 rei-eived from liis intelligent half-breed guide (French and 

 Chippewa), Mr. Jolm B. Cadotte, of Duluth. Mayor Rice 

 t<jok with him three photographs whicli I send you, one 

 of E. luciu.'i, one of E. nobilior and <:)ne of E. immacula- 

 tas. The names hi Llie Chippewa tongue are as follows, 

 in the same sequence as written by John B. Cadotte: 



No. 1. Ge-da-ge-Genozliay; translated spotted pike, E. 

 liichis. ., 



No. 2. Mosh-Kenozhay; translated big or monster pike, 

 E. nobilior: , j -, , , 



No. 3. Osli-au-wash-ko-Genozhay: translated blue pike, 

 E. immaculatus. 



I also send the same Chippewa names as written by 

 Col. C. H. Graves, of Duluth, as they sounded to his ear: 

 No. 1. Ki-ta-ge-Eanonje. 

 No. 2. Mas-Kinonje. 

 No. 3. Gsha-wasko-Kenonje. 



Cadotte translates Kenozhay, Kinonje, or Genozhay, as 

 meaning "sharp," and it may refer to the long sharp 

 build of the pike f amilv or to the shape of the head. It is 

 rather strange that the name "blue pike," used by the 

 Chippewa, is one of the names given to the same fish by 

 Norris, in his description of it as an Ohio River pike. 

 You -will observe that the word "Kenosha" is the same m 

 all and is the generic name for the' pike family, as stated 

 by you. I will now prosecute my investigations to the 

 further extent of getting descriptive translations of the 

 adjectives designating the species, wliich have not been 

 furnished, and will send you the information obtained. ' 



I am inclined to tliink that Gen. Gerrard is correct m 

 claiming the great unspotted pike to be an undescrihed 

 species, from the evidence which he has submitted to me, 

 but this is a question irrelevant in the present article, but 

 one which I will take up at some future time when I can 

 learn more of the subject. I have so far in these articles 

 confined myself to trying to find \\diich of the various 

 spellings of the popular names of E. nobilior was correct, 

 and have succeeded in proving, to my own satisfaction at 

 least, that "maskinonje" is the nearest to the Ojibwa, from 

 which the name is derived, although the second "n' m 

 that word is an interpolation, and that the I\-ench cor- 

 rupted this into "mascalonge" and its various forms. As 

 I have before said, mv present knowledge of Ojibwa is ex- 

 ceedingly limited, but in my early days I spoke it to a 

 limited "extent, having passed between two and tliree 

 years in hunting and trapping, and with surveying parties 

 where I was constantlv among the O j ibwas. In those days 

 I paid but Utile attention to the name of tliis fi.sh, further 

 than to know what it was caUed by the Indians when i 

 wanted to trade flour or bacon for it, or perhaps to ex- 

 change a few drops of Scutah-wabahf for a fair-sized 



felt gratified to be sustained in these researches by such 

 Ojibwa scholars as Len. Jewell, the famous Michigan 

 guide, and Mr. Cadotte. 



Mr.' Roosevelt evidently inclines to receive the name 

 wliich the Canadian Fi-enchman has given the fish, but 

 as before stated the Canadian has twisted a native word 

 mto something more familiar to his ear and jnade "Masque 

 allonge" from maskinonge or kinozhay, just as the Eng- 

 lish have twisted the French name of ecrivisse into cray 

 fish, and as English sailors twist the name of the war 

 ship Belleropbon into "Bully ruffian," and as peony is 

 corrupted into piney, and the cliina astor into chiny 

 oyster, in order to bring the new name into line with 

 some familiar word. I must disagi'ee with Mr. Roosevelt 

 in his statement, in a private letter, that we shall never 

 discover the derivation of the word, and that it makes 

 little difference. For the derivation of any word is a 

 matter of importance, and the derivation has been dis- 

 covered in this case. 



It is not to be expected that anglers will change the 

 name which they have been accustomed to call a fish, 

 when that change is but a shght one. If the change is 

 radical it is not hard to make; for instance, it w^ould not 

 be difficult for a Pennsylvanian to acknowledge his past 

 sins in calling a pike-perch a "salmon" and applying the 

 true name to it when he learned that there never was a 

 sahnon in the rivers oi' the State of Pennsylvania. But it 

 would l)e muclt more difficult to make a man from Iowa 

 call a fisli a trappie \vhich he liad from boyhood called 

 "cruppy." Tlie change in one case is abrupt and radical; 

 in the ' other, he might consider it as an affectation to 

 cliange a letter in the name instead of an enthe name, 

 and, as anglers \\'ill continue to say mascalonge, musca- 

 longe, etc., it is only to show them where the name came 

 from that these articles have been written. 



Fred Mather. 



HALCYON DAYS.-n. 



^^^It i?consoling to one who is working up any subject to 

 find that he gets upon the right track, and therefore I have 



*I would refer Gen. Gerrard to a commmiicatioix signed ''X." in 

 Forest and Stream of Jan. 7, Avritten by a gentleman of New 

 York who has spent much time on Laie Superior, m which he 

 gives the term "mas" as spotted. 



ear that hears it. 



IN the fall of each year, when the leaden sky and cold 

 di-izzling rains gave indication of approaching winter, 

 it became the duty of every household to lay in a large 

 supply of cord wood for the wmter's use. This being 

 hauled convenient to the woodshed, the sawyers, with 

 their old one-horse tread-power machine, were engaged 

 to cut it up into stovewood lengths. 



Adjoining our house was a large A^-agonhouse, one end of 

 wMch was partitioned off mto a woodshed. The sawyers 

 had arrived and departed, leaA^iiig a massive^ pile of 

 chunks, and it devolved upon mc to spht and pile this up 

 in long, narrow ranks, a good two weeks work for any 

 man, but I had plenty of time and was not pressed with 

 other Avork and needed not to ovei'-excrt myself. 



The morning aftei- the saw\ crs had left was dull and 

 heavy. Great' black clouds da ripened the sky. Tlie at- 

 mosphere was at first oj:»pressivel y warm, then came a 

 feeling of cliUly dampness, expressive of what might be 

 expected when" the later f all rains came. I had taken 

 doAvn the axe from its accustomed hanging place and had 

 fixed in position a suitable chopjnng block and was ready 

 to begin mv long task, but I hesitated, I did not feel like 

 going to work. The axe did not seem to hang just right, 

 some of those knotty, hard-splitting chunks seemed to be 

 the first in the way, and a half aozen other petty ex- 

 cuses intervened to deter me from striking the first blow. 

 Present) V fcliere came a gentle pat on the shingles over- 

 head, then anuther. and still anotlier. until ttiey came 

 faster and faster in a long steady pit-a-pat. and the rain 

 was descending. As I listened to its musical patter on 

 tlie roof my eyes glanced upward and on the rafters I 

 saw wa-itten in'clialk, the records of iirevious seasons' ad- 

 vancement or declination. •■First snow Nov. — th 18 — ." 

 "Last snow April — th IH— , ' and I feel an ahnost uncon- 

 trollable power to do something, I know not what, any- 

 thing but commence that hard task before me. The rain 

 settled int<3 a steady drizzle and as it began to drip from 

 the eaves, with a "pit, pat, pit-a-pat," it seemed to say, 

 "Come, come, come away" so earnestly that the appeal 

 was irresistible. Up there on that long narrow shelf 

 nailed against the beam, with several cleats holding it 

 straight, lays mv fishing pole, a long slender peeled maple 

 sapling, its line"^ wound carefully from tip to butt around 

 it, the" sinker nicely adjusted and the ringed hook stuck 

 carefuUv m its side'. What had I to do but take it down, 

 dig some worms and go a-fisliing? And was there ever 

 such another morning for fishing as thisV Surely the 

 fish would bite to-day if ever. And as the ram came 

 steadily and lightly down in its long regular patter, and 

 the dripping from the eaves grew thicker and louder, it 

 explained to me the secret of my indolence. The disease 

 was firmly imbedded and I "had it bad." 



In after years it was so with mo and is so yet. When 

 it rains I feel an irresistible inclination to go fishing, and 

 have done it manv a time too, .retting only a good wettmg 

 for my pains. And it mattered little as to the catch, for 

 as I sat on the bank well pKjtected l^y my rubber coat, a 

 dry stone for a seat under some friendly trees for shelter, 

 watching the pattering drops as they fell, occasionally 

 reaching out to grasp my rod when I would get a mbble, 

 T was enjoying that solid comfort that only an angler can 

 ai>|jreciate,' and the rain and dampness added zest to it. 



Almost before I knew what I was doing that mornmg 

 the axe was laid awav. the rod taken down, and I was 

 out behind the shed digging worms. The miUpond was 

 not far away. Choosing one of my favorite spots, i soon 

 had my hook baited, and unmindful of the ram waited 

 patiently for a bite, and I did not have long to wait either, 

 for the day was all it promised to be, and as I lialf sat, 

 half kneeled, my hands ga-asping the rod in eager expect- 

 ancy, watching the floatmg cork, the light misty drops 

 falling lightly around it, occassionally givmg a little bob 

 down and up, then moving slowly away propelled by 

 some invisible power, then suddenly going down, down, 

 tmtil the line became taut, causing the rod to dip and 

 quiver, I knew it was time to pull up, and as I landed 

 some fair sized specunens, I felt that it was better to be 

 there than at home s])litting wood any day. 



That was a long time ago and I do not remember all 

 the incidents of the dav's sport, nor how each particular 

 fish was caught, nor that I had any fierce struggle m 

 landing any of them, but I do remember that it was a 

 day of particular enjoyment to me. When I retm-ned 

 home m the afternoon wet and hungry I had a fme string 

 of fish, and I went to work with an energy that enabled 

 me to make ahnost as fair a showmg at the woodpile by 

 supper time as I would liad I staid at home. J. H. B. 

 MANSFIiaD Valx,bt, Pa, 



