Dec, H, 1895.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



817 



are all in keeping. White whales gleam out of the dark 

 flood in striking contrasts of color. A beluga is not ' 'sort 

 of white," but is one of the most beautiful of white ani- 

 mals, the quality of his coloring reminding one of the 

 soft, supple white of a pure white stallion. 



At Tadonsac, with its lofty terraces and shifting dunes, 

 the Saguenay joins the St. Lawrence grudgingly, and the 

 reddish waters push far out into those of the greater 

 river before their moroseness is tamed. 



Robert T. Morris. 



DOG AND DOG SALMON. 



You probably remember that a year or two ago Judge 

 Greene wrote of Billy Newman's catching salmon with a 

 bulldog and a club— or, perhaps, Billy wrote over his own 

 signature of the fact. I do not remember now, but the 

 fact remains clearly impressed, and the more so that 

 now I have been having the same sort of unique and en- 

 tertaining experience. I remember that the judge drew 

 the inference from some jesting remark of mine that I 

 harbored a little duhiosity (permit me to coin a word, or, 

 if not coined, unused in my hearing) concerning the 

 alleged transaction. I was somewhat pained at the atti- 

 tude of the judge in this matter, for he well knows that 

 anything in his epistolary menu, from the soup of his ap- 

 petizing and introduce ry paragraphs to the palate-tick- 

 ling and refreshing coffee of the beautifully rounded and 

 concluding sentences of his literary repast, goes with me, 

 and goes smoothly, quickly and pleasurably. I am truly 

 sorry that anything I said aroused suspicions in his mind 

 that his veracity was doubted by me in the smallest par- 

 ticular. We are governed by faith considerably, and also 

 no little by ocular evidence. Anent thesalmon-dog-olub- 

 hunting I have the benefit of both. But it was not a bull- 

 dog this time, but just a sort of common Irish water 

 spaniel setter cross of a canine that furnished the amuse- 

 ment. Some duck hunters camped near where I am stay- 

 ing a week or two ago, and when they left, after some 

 very profitless experience, among the camp wreckage 

 was thiB dog, who wandered around a day or two discon- 

 solately and evidently very empty, and finally was adopted 

 by the major domo of the ranch. Why the men left the 

 dog was apparent recently, when the owner came along- 

 shore in search of him. He (the dog) was a fine duck re- 

 triever, as I had reason to know when he brought out 

 duck after duck for me in fine style. But he was in his 

 element in more senses than one when we took him down 

 to the creek where the dog salmon, running up from the 

 salt water, were fairly swarming in the pools and dashing 

 the water into spray with their powerful propellers as 

 they forced their difficult way up the boulder stream 

 rapids. 



We have been told in the columns of Forest and 

 Stream of the wonderful numbers of salmon as they run 

 up fresh water to spawn; bow they fill the stream from 

 bank to bank, even so that one might walk dry shod upon 

 their backs. I have never essayed that feat, and, know- 

 ing the slipperiness of a salmon, I haven't any ambition 

 in that line, and even had I, I have not seen the fish quite 

 so thickly packed as to warrant the trial; but I have stood 

 upon the banks of a stream not over ten or twelve feet 

 wide, and not straight enough to afford a lengthy view 

 either way, and seen hundreds of fish of 5 to 10 pounds 

 in weight lying in the shallow pools so close as almost to 

 touch each other, with their backs an J tails to the 

 median line, often out of water, or rushing, splashing, 

 dashing, hissing through the shallow water of the rapids, 

 struggling over the shallower parts, and resting occasion- 

 ally for breath where there was a little more water, until 

 they finally made the pool above, or, tired and disheart- 

 ened for the nonce, slipping, weakly struggling, info the 

 pool from which they started, to try it again when the 

 impelling force asserted itself. 



Near the rapids the dog would take his stand, and when 

 the big fish had fairly started upward, dashed in and, 

 seizing it by the back, endeavored to take it ashore. Then 

 the fun began. The powerful fish flopped, floundered and 

 desperately .struggled, throwing the water in sheets, while 

 the dog, with vise-like jaws, endeavored to maintain his 

 hold and back out with his prey. Seldom did he succeed 

 without a break away, once, twice, thrice, but he was 

 about as quick as the fish and immediately hitched on 

 again, drifting down stream a little each time, when he 

 succeeded in getting the salmon ashore, always taking it 

 away from the water, even up quite a steep bank or into 

 the brush, sufficiently far to insure its not flopping back 

 again. The care he took in this respect was remarkable. 

 Or it might be that the fish, breaking away, turned 

 and made an arrowy flight for the pool below. Then 

 there was an aquatic race worth seeing. Terror lent 

 wings to the fins, while the dog, with unstable footing 

 among the smooth stones, rushed through the flying 

 water vainly endeavoring, with savage Jungc s, to get a 

 tail hold, or any hold, until dog and fish plunged, ker- 

 souse! into the pool among scores of waiting salmon that, 

 suddenly crazed with fright at this awful irruption, 

 dashed this way, that way, any way, up stream, down 

 stream, making the water literally boil with the mad 

 whirl of dog and dog salmon, while the former, wild with 

 excitement, plunged his head under water and came up 

 snorting in repeated, but not always vain, endeavor to 

 fasten to the slippery and elusive fish. 



It was an enjoyable and exciting experience for the 

 spectators, and very evidently for the dog, whatever it 

 might have been for the fish. After some experience, the 

 favorite hold of the dog was the back fin, and notwith- 

 standing the severe struggles of an 8 or 10-pound 

 fish, I have repeatedly seen the dog maintain his hold, 

 dragging the fish to safety. I should dislike to have that 

 dog fasten to a fiu of mine with that grip — I should have 

 to go along, too. 



Concerning the club part of the dog salmon perform- 

 ance, that's easy. There's no affidavit necessary. 



These salmon gradually turn white after being in fresh 

 water, at least hundreds of them do, and the streams are 

 lined with their dead bodies. Whether all such die before 

 spawning I know not— large numbers do. It may be that 

 the majority of the dead are males. I suspect that this is 

 so. They have ugly hooked teeth at the end of each jaw, 

 and if a person's finger came into contact with these teeth 

 there will ensue a sorrowiul remembrance for many days. 

 But there's a heap about salmon that I don't know. When 

 I learn more perh:ip3 I'll talk. The dog and club story is 

 all right. O. O, S. 



Washington, November, 



OUT OF A NEW JERSEY POND. 



Persons interested in angling and fish life generally 

 who happened to be present at the drawing off of Vree- 

 land's Pond on Wednesday and Thursday last were 

 treated to a sight well worth witnessing. Vreeland's Pond 

 lies in a section of Passaic which is rapidly building up. 

 It belonged to the Vreeland estate, but was some time ago 

 purchased by a Mr. Kingsland, who with his two sons 

 compose the Yantacaw Ice Company. This company has 

 cut ice from the pond for a number of years and up to 

 last year there waB little complaint concerning the quality 

 of the ice. The pond is fed by a brook which supplies 

 several other ponds, and was inhabited by black bass and 

 a number of small fish. These fish, together with what 

 current the flowing, stream contributed, kept the waterin 

 good condition. For many years it has been the almost 

 daily resort of the angling fraternity of Passaic, and many 

 good catches of fish have been made there. Two years 

 ago it was noticed that the quality of the ice had deteri- 

 orated, and last year the complaints were more pro- 

 nounced. At times the ice seemed to have a decided 

 fishy flavor. This was attributed to the existence in the 

 water of a large quantity of German carp, which had 

 come down a few years ago from a pond further up the 

 stream. The carp were of both the scale and the leather- 

 back variety. The pond was a considerable body of 

 water and the owners did not care about undertaking the 

 project of draiuing it, although they thought that such a 

 process, with the removal of the fish and the cleaning of 

 the bottom, would result in a better quality of ice, Two 

 enterprising individuals, who thought they could make 

 some money out of the sale of the fish, made an agree- 

 ment with the owners of the pond to do the work neces- 

 sary for the draining in return for the fish. The work 

 was begun on Monday, and on Tuesday the water in the 

 pond began to go down. On Wednesday it was pretty 

 well down and it was apparent that there were plenty of 

 fish to be had. 



The outlet of the pond flows under one of the public 

 streets of Passaic, and for the purpose of preserving the 

 fish for the market a screen of fine mesh was erected under 

 the arch. The latter was separated from the gate of the 

 pond by a space of about a hundred feet and connected 

 with it by a 3ft. pipe. As the water receded the fish soon 

 found their way through this pipe in large numbers, and 

 consequently were imprisoned between the dam of the 

 pond and the arch. In order to protect as far as possible 

 the game fish, the State Fish and Game Protector took a 

 hand in the work of removing the fish. He ascertained 

 that all the water was to be drawn off, and his first inten- 

 tion was to erect a coffer dam in the pond and place in the 

 inclosure all the game fish, in order that they might be 

 liberated as soon as the pond began to fill again. But he 

 soon ascertained that it was the intention of the owners 

 to drain the pond again in the spring of the year, and 

 that there was every likelihood that the territory formerly 

 covered with water would be turned into dry land. It 

 was consequently useless to talk about saving the fish for 

 the pond itself, and consequently the protector concluded 

 to remove all the fish he could get hold of to some other 

 ponds, where they would be of use to the angler. 



The sight on Wednesday was one affording a great deal 

 of amusement. The residents of the Dundee section of 

 Passaic, principally Poles and Hungarians, assembled in 

 large numbers and proceeded to help themselves to the 

 fish. The men to whom the fish really belonged had 

 their hands full in keeping the crowds off, but could not 

 succeed. There were about 8ft. of mud and about a 

 hundred men were engaged in spearing carp or raking 

 them ashore with rakes. Every once in a while one of 

 these men took a tumble and found himself imbedded in 

 soft mud and ooze to the great delight of the onlookers 

 and frequently to the discomfiture of the principal actors 

 in the scene. But on most occasions the men who met 

 with these accidents paid little attention to them and 

 proceeded in their quest after fish as if nothing had hap- 

 pened. It was a matter of comparative ease to capture 

 the carp, on account of the sluggish movement of these 

 fish, and there was little danger of any bass being cap- 

 tured with' any such crude contrivances as rakes or spears. 

 When the carp had disappeared either in baskets or bar- 

 rels or through the pipe into the inclosure between the 

 dam and the arch of the street the fishermen turned their 

 attention to the eels, which were found in considerable 

 numbers in the mud. Digging the squirming eels out of 

 the mud and securing them by persons standing in 3ft. 

 of mud resulted in more fun for the large audience which 

 watched the operations from the dry land. 



As no bass were being taken the work of the protector 

 was easy enough on Wednesday, but he apprehended 

 trouble on the following day, when the fish were to be 

 removed from the inclosure above referred to. He 

 accordingly secured such assistance as was immediately 

 necessary, and telegraphed for Wardens Eiley and Tooker, 

 who put in an appearance shortly afterward. It was 

 evident that the Hungarians would make a raid on the 

 inclosure during the night and for the purpose of prevent- 

 ing the taking of bass the protector had the place watched 

 all night. 



The work of removing the fish from the inclosure was 

 begun on Thursday morning, but it was soon interfered 

 with on account of the continual flow of water. The 

 gate in the dam had been removed, as it was badly 

 broken, and so this place was filled with bags of sand. 

 This stopped the flow of water and the bottom of the in- 

 closure soon presented a lively sight, being literally 

 covered with a large number of fish all endeavoring to 

 get away. Unfortunately the splashing in the mud 

 done by men looking for carp in the pond above, which 

 could not be stopped, forced large quantities of mud and 

 sand into the inclosure and the fish were in an exhausted 

 condition, which precluded the possibility of their being 

 removed to any great distance. It was only by the use 

 of fresh water and the greatest care that they were pre- 

 served. This was attended by further difficulties caused 

 by the cold weather, the nets used for taking out the fish 

 being frequently covered with ice. 



Some of the angling fraternity of Passaic requested the 

 protector to place the fish where they would be of the 

 most use to the people living in Passaic, and in order to 

 comply with their wishes the protector decided to stock 

 Westervelt's Pond, a sheet of water of some eight acres, 

 lying near Clifton. The first lot of bass removed con- 

 sisted of ten cans. These were taken to Westervelt's 

 Pond. As the water had almost drained off, there was 

 little difficulty in securing the rest. Ten cans, each hold- 



ing from thirty to fifty fish, were then removed and taken 

 to Pompton Lake, where they will be a welcome addition, 

 as the lake had been run down on account of the great 

 amount of fishing done there. A large hogshead had 

 been secured, and in this were placed such bass as could 

 not very well be transported as far as Pompton on account 

 of their size. About twenty bass, weighing anywhere 

 from 2 to 4lbs. , were placed in this tank and removed to 

 Westervelt's Pond. 



It was impossible to keep an accurate account of the bass 

 removed, but their weight is estimated at nearly l,0001bs., 

 and of these only three were lost, and these were in a mor- 

 ibund condition when taken out of the water, having been 

 jammed against the screen. 



On Wednesday l,8001bs. of carp were removed by the 

 men who were entitled to them, and about a similar if 

 not larger quantity by the poachers. On Thursday at 

 least four tons of carp were removed and 5001bs. of silver- 

 sides and eels. Silversides are not supposed to be good 

 eatiug, but they found a ready market in Dundee. 



One important fact was definitely established by the 

 draining of the pond, and that is that the presence of 

 carp is destructive to the life of black bass. It has fre- 

 quently been argued that carp would annihilate the bass 

 on account of the carp eating the spawn of the bass, but 

 this is perhaps the first case in which this was proven 

 beyond the shadow of doubt. Vreeland Pond has always 

 been a good pond for black bass of the large-mouthed 

 variety. The absence of rocks and the little sand to be 

 found made the pond unsuitable to the small-mouthed 

 bass, but it was just what was wanted by the big-mouthed 

 fish. They thrived year after year, and although fre- 

 quently the shores of the pond were almost lined 

 with anglers the supply continued. The bass taken on 

 Thursday were all 2 years old and not one was less 

 than lOin. in length. There were no bass of last year's or 

 this year's spawning, showing conclusively that the carp 

 had eaten up every particle of bass spawn during the past 

 two years. The bass stands no show with the carp, as the 

 lumbering carp grovels in the mud and crawls into the 

 nest, where he is secure from the bass, whose weapon is 

 situated on his back, being the sharp fin so frequently 

 used for disemboweling fish at which the bass gets a 

 chance. 



The carp taken were nearly all of the variety known as 

 the scale carp, there being comparatively few leather- 

 backs. Their number was enormous, but their size was 

 smaller than might have been expected, there being very 

 few specimens weighing 15 or 20ibs. , although there were 

 hundreds weighing over lOlbs. Only one goldfish was 

 taken and one perch, and there was no sign of any pick- 

 erel or pike. — Charles A, Shriner in Paterson Chronicle, 

 Dec, S. 



ADIRONDACK OTTERS, 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In the summer of lb92, while I was at Number Town, 

 Lewis county, in a discussion on the subject of Adiron- 

 dack fur bearing animals, Mr. Fenton, proprietor of the 

 Fenton House, an old time woodsman of more than a 

 half century's experience, expressed an opinion that 

 otters in many portions of the Adirondacks were as 

 "plentiful as they ever were," which statement I received 

 with several grains of allowance. The experience of 

 many years in the Adirondack woods had led me to be- 

 lieve that the otter had become a somewhat rare animal 

 in the lakes and streams of even the more remote por- 

 tions of the woods. 



In the fall of 1894, however, I became convinced that 

 the views of Mr. Fenton were not far from correct. That 

 season I spent ten days at Hutchins's camp (Bonney's old 

 place) on the Chain Lakes, located in townships 17 and 

 18, Hamilton and Essex counties, during which time our 

 party saw five otters, two of which were shot at, but 

 neither was secured. The day following my arrival at 

 the camp a gentleman stopping there called my attention 

 to two animals that were swimming near an island in 

 Third Lake, and a glance through a field glass showed 

 them to be otters, one of them a very large one. 



Early the following morning when paddling through 

 Second Lake I saw an otter . swimming within 30yds. of 

 the boat, and as it rose in the water to get a good look at 

 us I sent a shot after it, which the guide thought struck 

 it. The water where the otter disappeared was very deep , 

 and we were unable to see bottom, so could not tell 

 whether or not the otter was killed, at all events we saw: 

 nothing more of it. On the afternoon of the same day 

 game protector Isaac Kenwell, who came in the woods ., 

 with us, saw an otter eating a trout on a partly sub- - 

 merged log on the shore of Grassy Pond, a small pond | 

 connected with the Chain Lakes. Kenwell shot at this > 

 one, and a trail of blood on the log and in the water;- 

 showed that the shot took effect, but he was unable to 

 find the game. The trout was a 21bs. female, laden with 

 spawn nearly ripe. Two days later on Jackson Pond, an- 

 other small sheet of water connected with the Chain 

 Lakes, guide Carlos Hutchins and I saw an otter swim- 

 ming quite near the shore and disappear under some over- 

 hanging black alders. We waited some time for it to 

 show up, but it did not, and we were unable to get a shot. 

 As the places where these animals were seen were quite 

 long distances apart it is not probable that we saw the 

 same otter several times. The fact of our having seen 

 five otters in broad daylight in less than one week in one 

 locality is sufficient evidence to me that they must be 

 quite abundant in that part of the Adirondacks, too abun- 

 dant by far for the welfare of the trout in the Chain 

 Lakes. S. 

 Troy, N. Y., Nov. 30. 



News for the Lake George Trout Fishers. 



The following will be good news for those who like to 

 indulge in the lake trout fishing in Lake George: The 

 Lake George Steamboat Co., realizing the necessity of 

 more adequate facilities for early and late transportation 

 on the lake, purchased this year the steamer Mohican. 

 With the idea of accommodating the early trout fishers, 

 as well as for other purposes, the Mohican will commence* 

 her season of 1896 shortly after the month of May has 

 opened; she will run from Caldwell to Baldwin and re- 

 turn twice daily, calling at all landings on signal. 



Game Laws in Brief. 



The Game Laws in Brief, current edition, sold everywhere, has * 

 new game and fish laws for more than thirty of the States. It covers 

 the entire country, is carefully prepared, and gives all that shooters- 

 Qd anglerB require. See advertisement. 



