76 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[July 27, 1895. 



NOTES FROM FISHING WATERS. 



Correspondents are invited to send us notes of fish, fishermen, fish- 

 ing conditions and fishing facts, so that they map reach this office 

 i n a Monday. 



Fob k ed River, N. J., July 18.— The weakfishing in 

 Barnegat Bay is very fine. Guests from hotels are making 

 catches of from 25 to 100 per boat, weighing from 1 to 3 

 and 41bs. each. Asa Tilton (Lafayette House). 



Barnegat City, N. J., July 18.— Bluefish are biting 

 freely at this point. One boat on Monday caught 109 

 weighing over 4001bs. I. Moffett. 



Crystal City, Beulah P. O., Mich.— Black bass fishing 

 O. K. here in Crystal Lake, with an occasional muskel- 

 lunge and salmon trout. Speckled trout fishing in the 

 Betsy and Platte rivers bang up. L. T. "Van Winkle. 



Waretown, N. J., July 17— Taking from 50 to 150 

 weakfish to a boat, and good bluefishing in the inlet, only 

 five miles away. J, H. Birdsall. 



Manhanset House, N. Y., July 21. — A party from Man" 

 hanset House with the old fisherman Josh Fournair, fish- 

 ing off Moore's Point, Long Island Sound, on July 19, 

 made a catch of 65 blackfish and sea bass, weighing 

 1201bs. The largest was a blackfish weighing 8ilbs., 

 caught by D. B. Lyon, of Sherman, Tex., and it is said by 

 - the fishermen to be the largest ever caught in these waters. 

 We also had three bass weighing a trifle over 5lbs. 



D. B. L. 



Dingman's Ferry, Pike Co., Pa., July 19. — Never has the 

 bass fishing been as good as the present. Mr. Stel wagon, of 

 Philadelphia, returned from a morning's fishing (16tn) with 

 a string of 14 fish weighing 191bs. On the same day Hale 

 Jones and Herbert Whitlock brought in 25 weighing 331bs. 

 This was followed next afternoon by the Messrs. Coe, of 

 Newark, with a string of 15, and Messrs. Jones and 

 Stelwagon with 18, and the next day with a string of 35. 

 Yesterday Messrs. Jones and Whitlock capped the climax 

 by returning with 25 fish weighing 39|lb8. — one of them 

 weighing 4£lbs. , the largest small-mouth bass caught this 

 season. It is the best fishing we have ever had here. 



P. F. F. 



Rouse's Point, Lake Champlain, N. Y.— I send you a 

 photo giving some idea of a good day's sport up here on 

 the lake. The sportsmen are Messrs. Holcomb, Cook and 

 a guide. Yesterday Messrs. Denton TJmford, of New 

 York city, and G. Julius Rohr, of Montreal, took a fine 

 string of bass in a few hours. Mr. D. W. Coon and sons, 

 of Saratoga, N. Y., bring in some days from 10 to 401bs. of 

 fish. Windsor Hotel. 



Bainbridge, Pa., July 20.— Fishing good. Harry Sny- 

 der took twenty-seven bass on July 19. Several reverend 

 gentlemen of the town were out all day the 20th, making 

 good catches. B. A. B. 



SEA COAST FISHING. 



Asbury Park, N. J., July 16.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: Now that the bluefish season is with us, a sub- 

 ject comes before me I had intended asking our salt- 

 water anglers about at an earlier date. I refer to a small 

 parasite which I have found on the young of that family, 

 the snappers. Three years ago I found them very abun- 

 dant, about one fish in three being so affected. Directly 

 back of and partially under the gill opening was to be 

 found a parasite or tick, in size nearly the same as the 

 common potato beetle, though much less convex in form; 

 in color a steel gray, with darker gray stripes. The ten- 

 acity with which they clung to the fish was remarkable. 

 The past two seasons have produced but few of them. 

 And I have never found them on any mature fish, neither 

 have I ever seen them on any I have taken in the Raritan 

 or Barnegat. They seem to be confined to our rivers here, 

 the Manasquan and Shark rivers. I would be pleased to 

 hear from any of our friends who may have noticed them, 

 as it would be interesting to know whether they are en- 

 tirely of a local character or not, and to what extent, if 

 any, they affect the fish. 



I have taken every variety of fish indigenous to our 

 waters, and have never seen the parasite referred to on 

 any other species. 



Bass fishing has taken a set back the past few days, 

 owing to the variable and light winds prevailing, com- 

 paratively few having been taken, and those of light and 

 medium weights. The Ocean Grove pier seems to have 

 had the call the entire season for both bass and kingfish, 

 which may be accounted for by the formation of a great 

 flat within easy casting distance from the pier, around the 

 margins of which the fish feed. 



The proprietors of both piers have reaped a golden 

 harvest already from the eager throngs which have come 

 from many States to lure the gamy bass. 



Mr. J. A. Bradley has in preparation a magnificent gold 

 medal, to be presented at the close of the season to the 

 party taking the largest bass from his pier. At present 

 the record stands in favor of Lloyd E. Marshall, of New 

 York city, with one of 21ilbs. Leonard Hulit. 



Mussels Caught with Hook and Line. 



Ferrisburgh, Vt.— Editor Forest and Stream: It is 

 not unusual, in trolling in Little Otter Creek for pike- 

 perch and pickerel, to catch fresh-water mussels quite as 

 often on the line as on the hook, the shell closing imme- 

 diately upon whatever chances to be thrust into it. The 

 same thing happens in bottom fishing for bull pouts, to 

 the disappointment of the angler who feels his line coming 

 in heavily only to find a big worthless mussel fast to hook 

 or line. It might prove a profitable catch if it occurred 

 in the upper waters of the Winoski, where these mussels 

 sometimes contain valuable pearls; but I have never heard 

 of one being found in the mussels that inhabit Lake 

 Champlain and contiguous waters. In trolling for pike- 

 perch, bass and pickerel, the bowfin or mudfish, the 

 sheepshead, the bull pout and the gar-pike are sometimes 

 caught, the latter most rarely, though his nibbling, 

 jerking bite is not infrequently felt, but the hook does not 

 pierce his hard, bony bill. The yellow perch also is not 

 an unfrequent biter at this glittering trolling bait. 



Awahsoose, 



Here is a Black Bass Puzzle. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Can you or any of your readers give a satisfactory ex- 

 planation of the fact that in some waters black bass 

 will readily take the artificial fly, while in others— under 

 practically the same conditions— they seem to be so indif- 

 ferent to its attractions as to make fly-fishing a very 

 thankless task? Cases in point are Greenwood Lake and 

 Lake Hopatcong, N. J., which are scarcely twenty miles 

 apart, and where the seasons, surroundings and food con- 

 ditions are about alike, while the natural conditions of 

 the lakes for fly-fishing, viz., rocky and shallow shores, 

 insect life, etc. , are, if anything, in favor of Hopatcong. 

 Now, I have fished both lakes very assiduously, and while 

 in the beginning of the season I can always make a fair 

 creel on Greenwood Lake, Hopatcong has invariably 

 proved most disappointing. The bass in Hopatcong is as 

 much of a surface feeder at that time of the year as his 

 confrere in Greenwood, which is clearly demonstrated by 

 the fact that he is fished for very successfully with the 

 artificial bait spun on the surface, by skittering, bait cast- 

 ing, etc. , but the fly he will hardly ever touch. As far as 

 my experience with bass goes, he is not nearly so nice a 

 fly discriminator as the trout, and as a rule it makes little 

 difference what kind of fly you offer him, provided it 

 be big enough, yet on Hopatcong I have tried all sorts, 

 from the smallest bass fly to a medium salmon fly, and 

 from the gayest colorings to the most sober and Puri- 

 tanical hues, with very poor results. I have been trying 

 to think out a theory for this waywardness of the Hopat- 

 cong bass, but I cannot arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. 

 Can you or some of your readers throw a light on it? 



Puzzled. 



Fun and Fishing. 



We have received with regret (that we may not accept 

 it) an invitation to join in the fourteenth annual encamp- 

 ment of the Allegheny, Pa., Champion Hunting and 

 Fishing Club. The convention went in on July 23 and 

 will extend to Aug. 14. The committee sends us, perhaps 

 not for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith, these 

 particulars of the accommodations and amusements: 



ACCOMMODATIONS. 



Seven hotels on camp ground— all first-class— hotels "Two Johns," 

 "Scandrett," "Girl Wanted," "Nit," "Dago," "Never Sleep" and 

 "G'rad' wie in Deutscbland." Large dining hall, etc. Pleasures in 

 season. Mosquitoes, gallinippers and other insects to be had six mileB 

 from camp (charges, extra). Skiff ferry across sixteen-mile run, 

 tinder prominent sea captain's charge. Safe landing guaranteed. 

 Passengers can have life insured before sailing, or have life preservers 

 attached to feet without extra charge. 



AMUSEMENTS. 



Merry-go-round, toboggan slide, fireworks and numerous other at- 

 tractions, by the members. Champion Hunting and Fishing Club 

 brass band in attendance during the whole camp. Good fishing at 

 the docks and hunting in the markets. Barn pheasants in abundance 

 (in the cook house.). 



%;&tnt and <0kf[ ^rahi[tiaih 



The Work of the U. S. Fish Commission. 



BY TARLETON H. BEAN, M.D. 

 [An address to the American Fisheries Society, June 12, 1895.] 



The work of the "United States Fish Commission has been 

 very forcibly brought to my attention by a member of this 

 Society who is now assistant in charge of the Division of 

 Fishculture in that organization. Having been at the head 

 of that division for several years, and being naturally very 

 much interested in the growth of the Commission, I was 

 much struck by his presentation of this year's operations, 

 now nearly finished. It is the climax of twenty-four years' 

 continuous activity of the National Fish Commission, and 

 represents, chiefly in the form of eggs, almost a billion in 

 number. The totals of distribution of fish by the numer- 

 ous stations not having been fully reported up to the present 

 time, we will present the principal items in the form of eggs 

 of fishes and lobster, s 



EGGS OBTAINED BY THE U. S. FISH COMMISSION. 



Pike-perch 450,000,000 



Whitefish 150,000,000 



Cod 120,000,000 



Shad 115,000,000 



Lobster 70,000,000 



Lake trout 13,000,000 



Quinnat salmon 4,500,000 



Flatfish 4,000,000 



Brook trout 1,500,000 



Rainbow trout 1,250,000 



Steelhead trout 1,000^000 



Atlantic salmon 20o'0O0 



Landlocked salmon 180^000 



Total 930,630,000 



Besides the above output of eggs, the Commission has dis- 

 tributed 70,000 young rock bass and 30,000 black bass ranging 

 from 4in. in length to adult size. These eggs and fish were 

 produced at about twenty active stations. The cost of pro- 

 duction and distribution, including the maintenance of the 

 stations, was about $200,000. 



I do not cite this as the greatest work done by any Fish 

 Commission, but merely as one of the great triumphs of fish- 

 cultural operations. There are present other mem bers of the 

 Fisheries Society who can point with pride to their hundreds 

 of millions of fish deposited during the past year by State 

 commissions. 



The United States Commission was not the 'first in the 

 field. The States of Massachusetts and Connecticut had 

 commissions six or seven years before the national organiza- 

 tion was in existence, and the American Fisheries Society 

 under its old name of the American Fishculturists' Associa- 

 tion, was largely instrumental in establishing the National 

 Commission. 



The system of public fishculture, which originated in New 

 England, has grown and increased in popularity and useful- 

 ness until there is no longer any need of supporting it except 

 in the matter of appropriations. * 



The United States Fish Commission is a great fish and ess 

 producing organization, but it can do nothing to enforce the 

 , protection of fish. From the nature of our laws, the United 

 States cannot protect fish except in national waters Fisherv 

 regulations are in the hands of the States, and the States Fish 

 Commissions combine with their fishcultural operations the 

 equally important duty of fish protection. I believe the time 

 is coming when the States will accomplish their object and 

 regulate their fisheries in such a manner as to give proper 

 protection to the fish. * 



What do we see in many centers of active fishery? There 

 are laws, it is true, which are sometimes properly enforced 

 but in other localities there is no provision for enforcing 

 them. This is particularly true of Alaska. The only thin* 

 which saves the salmon of Alaska, the most valuable fish in 

 the Territory, is a law of commerce— the law of supply and 



demand. There are fish enough to last for years to come; 

 there are perhaps as many as there were fifteen years ago, 

 when I first studied the fisheries. . Independently of the laws 

 regulating the capture of salmon, for the enforcement of 

 which there is no adequate provision, the law of supply and 

 demand offers temporary protection for the fish. The can- 

 ners must sell their wares. If they could sell all thpy can 

 get they would take them without hesitation. Some of 

 them have dammed the rivers, contrary to law, so that the 

 fish cannot get up to their spawning grounds; but inability 

 to market an over supply is now the only efficient safeguard 

 of the salmon. 



To return to the United States Fish Commission. The 

 annual cost of the propagation and distribution of fish and 

 maintenance of stations is about $200,000. The work is con- 

 stantly growing; the demand for fish is increasing, but the 

 appropriations for the past two years have been at a stand- 

 still. The Commissioners of the States, when their work is 

 enlarged, urge their claims for increased appropriations and 

 do not ask in vain; but the National Congress pays little 

 heed to the wants of its Fish Commission. We have fallen 

 upon a period of unwise retrenchment which has hurt the 

 cause of public fishculture. 



If the results so far obtained in the watei-3 of the States 

 and of the Nation are satisfactory in the light of statistics so 

 well established, let the American Fisheries Society and the 

 friends of fishculture in general unite in urging that the 

 organization which has made such a splendid record be 

 provided with the funds necessary to continue its achieve- 

 ments. 



New York Game Protectors. 



State of New York Fisheries, Game and Forest Com- 

 mission Office, Albany, N. Y., July 12.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: The Commission have not made all the appoint- 

 ments of protectors, and in view of that the districts have 

 not been formed. 



There are now on duty of the old protectors Robert Brown, 

 of Port Richmond; Willett Kidd, of Newburgh; Matthew 

 Kennedy, of Hudson; Charles H. Barber, of Greenwich 

 (Washington county), and Joseph Northup, of Alexandria 

 Bay. 



The new protectors to date are: 



Orla. S. Potter, Sandy Creek, Oswego county. 



Bentley S. Morrill, Plattsburgh, Clinton county. 



Robert Bibby, Olmsteadville. Essex county. 



James W. Littlejohn, Loon Lake, Franklin county. 



E. J. Lobdell, Northville, Funton county. 



A. B. Klock, Herkimer, Herkimer county. 



Eugene Hathawav, Harrisville, Lewis county. 



Archibald Muir, Fine, St. Lawrence county. 



Alvin Winslow, Stony Creek, Warren county. 



Wm. A. Ten Eyck, Ballston Spa, Washington county. 



Edward I. Brooks, Brookmere, Monroe county. 



Daniel N. Pomeroy, Lockport, Niagara county. 



Spencer Hawn, Cicero, Onondaga county. 



S. N. Prouty, Whitehall, Washington county. 



John E. Leavitt, Johnstown, Fulton county, and Mannis- 

 tee C. Worts, Oswego, are the two protectors who have been 

 designated as assistants to the Chief Protector. 



Wallace T. Reed, Canandaigua, Ontario county. 



Egbert R. Benjamin, Bay Shore, Suffolk county. 



Lester S. Emmons, Oneonta, Otsego county. 



Geo. B. Smith, Horseheads, Chemung county. 



James H. Lamphere, Weedsport, Cayuga county. 



Riley M. Rush, Camden, Oneida county. 



George Carver, Lyons, Wayne county. 



John L. Ackley, Penn Yan, Yates county. 



Harry Lipman, New Yory city. 



Ira B. Elmendorf, Broadhead Bridge, Ulster county. 



Moses E. Sawyer, Factoryville, Tioga county. 



Edgar Hicks, West New Brighton, Staten Island, is the 

 Oyster Protector, and Sebastin Heabach, Ozone Park, is the 

 Assistant Oyster Protector. J. W. Pond. 



imnel 



PIXTU RES. 



BENCH SHOWS. 



Sept. 9 to 13.— Industrial Exhibition Association's annual bench 

 show, Toronto, Oat. C. A. Stone, Sec'y and Sup't. 



Sept. 17 to 20. — Rhode Island State Fair Association's third annual 

 bench show, Narragansett Park, Providence, R. I. 



Sept. 17 to SO.— Orange county Fair Bench Show, Newburgh, N. Y. 

 Robert Johnson, Sec'y. 



Sept. 17 to 20.— Montreal Kennel Association's show, Montreal, Can. 

 Geo. K. Lanlgan, Hon Sec'y-Treas. 



Sept. 24 to 27.— New England Kennel Club's second annual terrier 

 show, Boston, Mass. D. E. Loveland, Sec'y. 



Oct. 8 to 11.— Danbury, Conn.— Danbury Agricultural Society. G. L. 

 Rundle, Sec'y. 



FIELD TRIALS. 



Sept. 2.— Continental Field Trials Club's chicken trials at Morris 

 Man. P. T. Madison, Sec'y, Indianapolis, Ind. 



Sept. 10.— Morris, Man.— Manitoba F. T. 0. John Wootton, Sec'y, 

 Manitou. 



Oct. 29.— Assonet Neck, Mass.— New England Field Trial Club's 

 fourth annual trials. Arthur R. Sharp, Sec'y, Taunton, Mass. 



— . Morris, Man.— Northwestern Field Trials Club's Champion Stake. 

 Thos. Johnson, Sec'y, Winnipeg, 



Nov. 5.— Chatham, Ont.— International F. T. Club. W. B.Wells, Sec'y. 



Nov. 7.— Newton, N. C— U. S. Field Trial Club's TrialB A. W. B. 

 Stafford, Sec'y, Trenton, Tenn. 



Nov. 11.— Hempstead. L I. — National Beagle Club of America, fifth 

 annual trials. Geo. W. Rogers. Sec'y, New York. 



Nov. 18.— Eastern F. T. Club, at Newton, N. C. W. A. Coster, 

 Sec'y, Saratoga Springs, N. Y. 



Nov. 25.— Continental Field Trials Club's quail trials at Newton. 

 P. T. Madison, Sec'y, Indianapolis, Ind. 



Dec. 2 to 4 — High Point, N. C— Irish Setter Club's trials. Geo. H. 

 Thompson, Sec'y. __ 



CROPPING. 



On this subject, which is now exciting so much interest 

 in the kennel world, the writings of a few of the old 

 medical authors may not be without interest, as showing 

 that they were far from concurring in the practice. Of 

 cropping Youatt writes: 



"I have some doubt whether I ought not to omit the 

 mention of this cruel practice. Mr. Blaine very properly 

 says that *it is one that does not honor the inventor, for 

 nature gives nothing in vain. Beauty and utility appear 

 in all when properly examined, but in unequal degrees. 

 In some, beauty is pre-eminent, while in others utility 

 appears to have been the principal consideration. That 

 must, therefore, be a false taste that has taught us to pre-^ 

 fer a curtailed organ to a perfect one, without gaining 

 any convenience by the operation.' He adds, and it is 

 my only excuse for saying one word about the matter, 

 that 'custom being now fixed, directions are now proper 

 for its performance.' 



"The owner of the dog commences with maiming him 

 while a puppy. He finds fault with the ears that nature 

 has given him, and they are rounded or cut into various 

 shapes, according to his whim or caprice. It is a cruel 

 operation, A great deal of pain is inflicted by it, and it is 

 often a long time before the edge of the wound will heal; 

 a fortnight or three weeks at least will elapse ere the ani- 

 mal is free from pain. 



