208 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Sept. 7, 1885. 



SALMON ON THE RESTIGOUCHE. 



As I have already informed you, the June angling was 

 not nearly up to its usual standard, owing to the lack of 

 water. This prevented the fish from lying in the reaches, 

 usually the favorite spots, most of June. It is true the 

 angler may say, "Fish must pass, why not catch them?" 

 There are two reasons why. Fish won't rise when trav- 

 eling, as a rule. Again, when river lowers and water 

 clears, fish travel by night, only resting when reaching 

 the deeper pools. As many salmon as usual were in the 

 river. Mr. Rogers and friends got their usual score of 

 150 salmon. The Indian House, Patapedia and Devil's 

 Acre pools gave fine fishing the whole season, the stage 

 of water suiting them; another pool on the Sweeny prop- 

 erty, now changed masters, also fished well. 



The Upsilquitch River fished well in July, giving some 

 eighty fish. The Metapedia River was also better than 

 usual, particularly in the last three weeks of the season. 

 On the Mowat pools I had fifteen fish in seven days. 

 Something over fifty were taken by friends on them. 

 The Causapcaul pools, fished by the Restigouche Salmon 

 Club, also gave good sport. On the whole the year has 

 been good where the angler could secure the proper pool. 



I heard the Restigouche Salmon Club passed a law lim- 

 iting the number of fish to a rod to eight per day. This 

 may have a tendency to prevent the sport degenerating 

 into slaughter as well as leaving a residue for the succeed- 

 ing angler. It cannot bind riparian owners who fish their 

 own waters, and it will require legislation to cure. I 

 doubt if the average weight was over 201bs. Large num- 

 bers of 121b. and 141b. fish were in the river, I should say 

 their first year in as adults, and being young and foolish 

 they took the fly more readily than their elders. Many 

 30-pounder8 felt the gaff; two of 381bs. were got. My 

 heaviest was 281bs. 



While on scores let me mention a ten-year-old son of Mr. 

 A. O. Barbarie, who on a trout rod on Aug. 5 hooked, 

 landed and killed a 14lb. fish near the Upsilquitch River. 

 Another son of Mr. Ayers, of Bangor, took eight salmon, a 

 young fisherman about 13 years old. Young Q. P. Mowat, 

 same age, killed a 141b. fish on a trout rod and fly, at 

 Mill Stream, Metapedia, on the 10th. 



The last three weeks of the season turned out cool and 

 showery, and the latter end was much better, particularly 

 so with any fish newly in from sea. The change put new 

 life in the June fish, as, if they did not take the fly, they 

 would come up and look at it, and the angler knows well 

 what new life he gets when a salmon makes a pass at the 

 fly, and how [many times he will change his fly and 

 position to get him to come again. 



I see our friend Mr. Mitchell, of Norwich, on his outing 

 is doing the Scottish Locks for trout, and he did not get a 

 first prize in a competition. One sure thing, where Mr. 

 Mitchell fishes, you will never find his line dry. 



So far I have no accounts of scores on the lower rivers, 

 I understand nothing extra has been done. I see the St. 

 John River (Gaspe) is reported as turning out large fish. 

 I purghased salmon there three years and never got a fish 

 over 121bs. from it. Perhaps the restocking it with the 

 Dartmouth fish has increased the size. The lessee reports 

 100 fish seen in the river in one pool. Out of the many on 

 the 100 miles of Restigouche water 500 salmon can be seen 

 to-day, and the young smolt in their new silver dress are 

 now dropping down toward the ocean in shoals in order 

 to perpetuate the name and fame of the old Restigouche. 



John Mowat. 



Camfbellton, N. B., Canada. 



SOME NAMES OF FISHES. 



Quebec, Aug. 26.— Editor Forest and Stream: I am 

 frequently asked the origin of the names of some of our 

 fishes. After considerable inquiry, finding many differ- 

 ent opinions, I have come to conclusions partly my own, 

 to the best of my belief, and will state my reasons. 



Maskinonge, — This fish is called by many the masqueal- 

 longe, muskellunge, mascalonge, muskellunjeh, etc. 

 My opinion is that the pioneers (French explorers) of this 

 country when traveling in canoes no doubt fished for food 

 on their way, catching among many other fishes the pike, 

 which they knew aad called by the same name that it 

 was known by in France then as well as now, le brocket . 

 It is probable that when they reached Lake St, Peter, near 

 the River Maskinonge, where then as now the fish is 

 found, the travelers caught their first specimen of this 

 monster pike; and comparing it with the smaller members 

 of the same family, they remarked the difference in size 

 and markings, and to distinguish it from the others called 

 it maskinonge, after the name of the river where it was 

 caught. This river empties into Lake St. Peter, and is 

 situated in the county of Maskinonge, Province of Que- 

 bec. 



Dore. — This fish is called wall-eyed pike, pike-perch, 

 Ohio salmon, etc., and was not known to the French at 

 all. It no doubt takes its name from its yellow or golden 

 hue. This is pretty freely admitted. Dore means golden 

 or gilded. 



Poisson Castor, Dogfish, Mudfish, Bow-Fin, Grindle, 

 Lawyer, etc. — This good-for-nothing, voracious fish has a 

 rounded tail somewhat resembling that of the castor or 

 beaver in shape. Hence it is called poisson castor (beaver- 

 fish) by the French. Among its many other names is that 

 of the lawyer, which is said to be owing to its biting at 

 anything, and when caught no one wants it, for he is a 

 slippery fellow. 



Ouananiche, Wannanish, Winninish, Landlocked Sal- 

 mon,— This gamy and combatant little salmon was doubt- 

 less met with at Lake St. John by the first Jesuit mission- 

 aries. The Indians called it then as now "ouananiche" — 

 little salmon — "ouanan" meaning salmon, "iche" little; 

 and it really is a dwarf salmon. J. U. Gregory. 



How about Turtles and Gars? 



St. Louis, Mo., Aug. 27.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Sitting on the Okaw Bridge in the burden and heat of the 

 day, I was amusing myself in trying the effect of the 

 new-fangled mantled bullets on turtles and gars, when 

 the thought struck me, Is this a cruel waste of innocent 

 life? We are taught that all things animate have their 

 uses, and that it is more or less a sin to disturb the equili- 

 brium of nature by killing things unfit for food. But the 

 more I thought the fact over, the less use I could find for 

 turtles and gars. They destroy things that are good for 

 us to eat; and nothing seems to prey upon them in turn. 

 How, then, about the "balance of nature?" They are re- 

 sponsible for much ill-temper and naughty speech on the 



part of our brethren, the anglers. I remember one occa- 

 sion in particular when an exemplary man of my ac- 

 quaintance passed nearly a whole day watching the most 

 exasperating nibbles pulling at unbalted hooks, and cry- 

 ing aloud in the agony of his great grief, "God forbid 

 that I should swear!" 



Are gars and turtles good for anything? Does anything 

 but the Missouri rifle crank prey upon them? Are they 

 not an all-around unmitigated nuisance? 



I put these questions to a gentleman in overalls who 

 stood on the pier watching my target practice, and he re- 

 plied in his quaint drawl, "I reckon God A'mighty made 

 them to encourage rifle shootin'." 



I reckon so, too. What does Mr. Hough reckon? 

 (Here is my hand, brother; go in and hit Science another 

 lick — I believe in fairies, me). And they of the gentler 

 school, woodsmen poets, "Coahoma," "Kelpie" and the 

 rest— now, honor bright, how about turtles and gars? 



Horace Kephart. 



Ouananiche Almost Inexhaustible. 



Quebec, Can., Aug. 27.— I had the pleasure of taking 

 quite a number of ouananiche in Lake St. J ohn in July of 

 this year, and found them in as great numbers and about 

 the same size as I did twenty years ago. They are, I be- 

 lieve, almost inexhaustible. If all anglers will act as well 

 as those I met at the Grande Decharge this season, every 

 one of whom I came across while fishing putting back 

 alive into the water all small fish, showing that they were 

 true sportsmen and gentlemen, they will greatly assist in 

 keeping up the supply. It affords me much pleasure to 

 make this statement. 



There are miles of lurking good feeding places where 

 these fish cannot be interfered with by the angler. The 

 waters fished over occupy only spaces here and there, 

 with long stretches between, in which great numbers of 

 the fish safely enjoy the summer months. 



I hardly believe that they will perceptibly diminish in 

 numbers for many years to come. The supply from the 

 great Lake St. John and several large rivers emptying 

 into it appears sufficient to keep up the number in the 

 waters known as the Grande Decharge, the favorite fish- 

 ing ground; and the true sportsmen, by putting back 

 small fish and contenting themselves with a reasonable 

 daily catch, can materially aid in maintaining the pres- 

 ent excellent state of the fishing as I found it. 



J. U. Gregory. 



Tim Fond Trout. 



New Yore, Aug. 29,— Editor Forest and Stream: I 

 have just returned from a two weeks' trip to the Dead 

 River country in Maine, most of the time being spent at 

 Jules K. Viles's camps on Tim Pond, which is truly an 

 ideal spot for those who love to fish for speckled trout. I 

 was accompanied by my wife and our son, who is 7 years 

 old. We all stood the trip in from Eustis to the pond 

 very well. The boy especially took delight in the buck- 

 board ride. Mine is a fishing family, and each of us had 

 a fly-rod. Mrs. Simpson and the boy each succeeded in 

 taking two trout at a cast within a lew seconds of each 

 other. This was too much of an event for me to let pass 

 unnoticed, so I have had the fish skins mounted for 

 decorative purposes. Tim Pond is the best place I ever 

 saw for August fishing with a fly. We took an average 

 of thirty trout a day, running from 6oz. to 12oz. each. 

 We caught many Bmaller ones, but returned them all. 

 The largest number we took to the camp was forty-three 

 in one day, although if we had been so disposed we could 

 have got more, as we threw back at least as many as we 

 killed. While we were in camp we saw several fish 

 caught weighing from li to 21bs., but nothing larger than 

 fib. fell to our lot. We saw abundant deer and partridge 

 signs. William Simpson. 



Lake Winnepesaukee. 



Mirror Lake, N. H., Aug. 30.— Noticing W. B. Smart's 

 disparaging remarks in your last issue on fishing in Lake 

 Winnepesaukee, I take the liberty to write of my luck. 

 Two weeks ago a friend and myself went trolling in my 

 folding canvas boat and in three hours had the "scientific" 

 fortune to secure three bass weighing respectively 4lbs. 

 6oz., 4lbs. 2oz. and 31bs. 9oz.; total 12lbs. loz., besides 

 several smaller ones. 



A week ago I spent the day fishing and secured nine 

 bass, which weighed 131bs. As I have visited this part of 

 the country for five seasons and have seen very little 

 mention of it in your columns, I desire to mention my 

 success here during July of last year, when I secured six 

 bass weighing respectively 2lbs. 15oz., 31bs. 3oz, , 31bs. 12oz., 

 31bs. 2oz. , 41bs. 4oz. , 3lbs. 3oz. I caught all while still- 

 fishing with pickerel frogs. This year, however, I have 

 had best success while trolling with a Skinner casting 

 spoon. The first year that I was here ('89) I caught a 

 small-mouthed bass weighing 5|lbs., while my mother 

 beat the record for this vicinity with one weighing just 

 71bs. and measuring 21iXl6fin. around. G. L. G. W. 



The Nepigon. 



Nepigon River, Aug. 20. — The tourist season is now at 

 its height; there are about twenty-five ladies and gentle- 

 men enjoying the privileges of the stream. The Nepigon 

 is equaled by no other river on the continent for both scen- 

 ery and fishing, and the quality and size of its trout have 

 been tested this season. This is one of the best seasons 

 for fishing that has been for years. Among those who 

 are now up the Nepigon are: Dabney Carr, Dr. N. B. Car- 

 son and family, R. S. Carr and son, E. Stevenson, Dr. E. 

 J. Marsh, L. M. Yale, T. M. Stetson and F. W. Salsbury. 



Judge J. Fitz3immons and Mr. J. W. Hague have just 

 returned from their trip up the Nepigon. They have had 

 excellent sport, catching several Sib. and 61b. trout; this 

 is their first experience on the Nepigon. They say seeing 

 is believing, so they preserved a few 61b. trout to take 

 home with them to convince their friends who doubt 

 their fish stories. John E. Newsome. 



A Small Boy's Big Catch. 



New York, Aug. 29.— Editor Forest and Stream: Victor 

 Grob, a lad of 13 and a great fisher, caught on Wednesday, 

 the 28th inst., at the foot of West 152d street, at one haul 

 the following: On the bottom hook an eel, on the next a 

 large Boft shell crab, on the third hook a Lafayette, and 

 on the fourth hook a hard shell crab, and landed them all 

 safely on the dock. Can any one beat that? 



An Old Subscriber. 



Lake Champlain Bass. 



Lake View House, Vt., Aug. 26.— As a constant reader 

 of Forest and Stream, I look with a great deal of interest 

 at your reports of the catches made in various parts of the 

 country from time to time, and as we have your invita- 

 tion to "report your luck" before us all the time, I send 

 the following: Myself and son Harold (15 years of age), 

 without any guide, took twenty-five black bass at Wood 

 Bar, Samson's Lake View House, Lake Champlain. Vt., 5 

 A. M. and 12:30 noon. Nineteen were taken by 8 A. M. 

 and we stopped fishing when we bad taken twenty-five. 

 Largest weighed 3£lbs., the three largest 81bs., fifteen 

 weighed 30 Jibs., and twenty weighed 381bs.; total weight 

 of oatch 421bs. 



Mr. A. L. Wager, of Rhinebeck, also took nine fish in 

 two hours and a half, weighing 19jlbs. , at same place and 

 time. J. K. 



Caught a Shark with a 18oz. Rod. 



Ah Gumming had an encounter with a huge shark at Santa Cruz on 

 Sunday, dimming had engaged a boat and was out for salmon. Sud- 

 denly there was a jerk at his line that almost capsized the boat. The 

 fish came to the surface, and his fins showed that he was a big shark. 



Cumming toyed with him for a while, and as the shark felt the 

 sharp prong of the hooks forced into his mouth he made a plunge, 

 going down fully 100ft. and reeling out about 500ft. of line. Cumming 

 had only 100ft. more on his reel, and if the shark had accomplished 

 that distance he would have escaped. But he was exhausted and 

 came to the surface again. Then, with the skill of an experienced 

 angler, Cumming played the line carefully, and after great effort got 

 the shark alongside of his boat. Both the shark and his captor were 

 winded. The boatman killed the shark with one blow of his boat- 

 hook. 



Mr. Cumming caught the shark with a 12oz. salmon rod and a linen 

 salmon line. The fish was more than 5ft. in length and weighed fully 

 1501bs. It is the largest shark ever landed with a hook and line, and 

 its capture was due to the perfect knowledge of fishing that Mr. Cum- 

 ming possesses. The contest lasted just ah hour, and exciting «s it 

 was for Mr. Cumming it was also as much so for the onlookers. Fully 

 twenty boats were in the vicinity.— San Francisco Examiner. 



, Loss of Fish at Caledonia. 



The principal hatching station of the State of New York 

 is, as is pretty well known, situated on Caledonia or Spring 

 Creek, near Mumford, in Monroe county. This was the first 

 hatching station to be established by the State, and it is the 

 largest one now operated by the Commission. Spring Creek, 

 as it is locally known, is made up of springs which rise from 

 the ground near Caledonia, in Livingston county, and at this 

 point there is a mill pond. Below the mill pond the stream 

 is controlled for some distance by the Caledonia Fishing 

 Club, and then comes the State property, on which is the 

 hatchery, the ponds for stock fish, rearing ponds, etc. Below 

 the State property the stream is controlled by another fish- 

 ing club. The hatchery, the stock ponds, the rearing ponds 

 orboxes, are all dependent upon the creek for a supply of 

 water; or, in other words, the main creek, with the mill pond 

 at its head, flows through all the receptacles for fish, from 

 the hatching trough to th^ ponds containing the largest 

 breeders. On the property of the Caledonia Fishing Club is 

 a club house, and the gentlemen of this club are as much 

 interested in maintaining the supply of fish in this part of 

 the stream as any citizen of the State is in maintaining the 

 stock of fish at the State hatchery below. All along the 

 creek there have been erected "hides," as they are called, 

 which are simply hiding places for the fish, which nature 

 did not supply as liberally as the club and the State thought 

 necessary for the comfort and security of the fish. With 

 this preface as to the location of things at Caledonia I may 

 come to the main subject. Last June there was a great loss 

 of fish in Caledonia Creek and in the State hatchery and 

 rearing and breeding ponds. 



I have seen several brief accounts in the newspapers of 

 thisdisaster, but not one that I read gave a correct account 

 of th e loss or of the reason for it. 



Early in June I was at the Caledonia hatchery and this 

 whole country was suffering from drought such as was never 

 known before, I was told. Springs were drying up or flow- 

 ing half or less their usual quantity of water, and the heat 

 was intense, for I recall that the thermometer stood at 96° in 

 the shade at the hatchery building. Mr. James Annin, 

 Jr., the general superintendent of the State hatcheries, lives 

 on this creek a little way above the State property, and on 

 the morning of June 6 I went from his house down the 

 creek in a boat to the hatchery. The water was very low and 

 clear, and the fishing club, as we passed over their water, 

 had a man employed raking from the bottom some of the 

 moss and vegetable growth which interfered with fly casting. 

 In the afternoon when I returned up stream to take the cars 

 at Caledonia the water had raised materially and was very 

 muddy. In the morning I had noticed three dead trout on 

 the bottom, but in the afternoon I could, not see them. It 

 was evident that the mill was in operation at the head of the 

 creek, and the volume of pond water coming down in conse- 

 quence was greater than that previously in the stream. On 

 my way to the station I noticed the mill pond very low and 

 fairly reeking with decomposed and decomposing vegetable 

 matter. This, I was told, was most unusual. 



The next morning many dead fish were found, chiefly year- 

 lings, near the pond, and from that time on the deadly pond 

 water, poisoned with decaying water weeds, worked its de- 

 struction upon the fish of the Caledonia Fishing Club, then 

 upon the State fish, and then upon the fish in the creek be- 

 low the State property. The fry in the troughs went first 

 and then the yearlings, and finally the stock fish. 



So far as the State is concerned the loss is a blessing in 

 disguise, as the stock fish in the ponds had been so hybrid- 

 ized and monkeyed with that it was difficult to tell whether 

 some of them were most bull pup or most yaller dog. As 

 soon as it was discovered that the fish were dying because of 

 the flow of water from the mill pond every possible effort 

 was made to check the disaster. The State and the Cale- 

 donia Fishing Club had the same interest at stake and both 

 worked together. Scientific men from Rochester hastened 

 to the spot to determine the cause of death, and the science 

 of fishculture put forth every effort to check the disease, 

 for disease it was, though brought about by the warm pond 

 water, which was killing the fish by thousands. In another 

 column of this journal may be found the report of Prof. 

 Dodge, one of the first on the ground, made to the Commis- 

 sioners; the report of Prof. Lathinon made to Commissioner 

 Babcock, and the report of Prof. Smith made to Mr. Annin, 

 which show the cause of the disaster. If State fish alone 

 had suffered it might be said that it was the visitation of an 

 all-wise Providence for the purpose of putting the seal of 

 disapproval upon the hybridization of fish. 



Now, as to the actual loss of fish sustained at the hatchery 

 and the number of fish that are left on hand of all kinds and 

 ages, I have seen but one printed account of the loss, and 

 this was furnished by a former superintendent of the sta- 

 tion to a Western paper. After enumerating the various 

 species of breeding fish and the number of each species at 

 the station, he says: "They are all dead. Furthermore, all 

 the fish in the creek from the railroad bridge (this 

 bridge crosses the creek at the lower end of the State prop- 

 pertyj to the head of the stream are dead. The natural fish 

 food in the creek, including shrimp, crayfish, sticklebacks, 

 miller's thumbs and water insects of all kinds, are gone." 



