March i, 1888. J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



107 



AN ANGLERS' CLUB. 



T^HE time is about ripe for the formation of a club of 

 L Auglers iu New. York city, modeled somewhat on 

 j&e Fly Fishers' Club, of London. There is no lack of 

 ESper material for the formation of such a club, and it 

 urouUl not be difficult to bring this material together. At 

 ofesent there is nothing of the kind, if we except the 

 National Rod and Reel Association, whose headquarters 

 ite hi the city, but this association exists mainly in order 

 $ bold fly-casting tournaments, and is in no sense a social 

 Mfganissation, having no rooms or library, and it bas never 

 kjjen able to gather its members to a social dinner, and 

 jesid-s, its membership is not sufficiently exclusive. 



In New York there are clubs whose membership iscom- 

 SOSed of tbose engaged in a single profession, as the Press 

 gpib, and the Lotus (principally of actors), and also 

 Numerous clubs of amateurs of various kinds, as the Ath- 

 fetic, the Artists', etc.; as well as the political clubs, all 

 SI which are more or less of a social character, and that 

 here is room for a club of anglers there is no doubt. Such 

 I club would bring together a class of gentlemen who 

 lave a common bond of fellowship and who would find 

 lie meetings a source of interest as well as of pleasure, 

 hi our last issue we referred to the financial statement 

 nade by the treasurer of the Fly Fishers' Club, of London, 

 pi we now give the statement of the treasurer in full: 

 THE FLY FISHERS' CLUB. 



)f. STATBMSXT OF ACCOUNTS, 1887. O. 



Expenditure. Receipts. 

 1887. £ b. d. 1887. & s. d. 



So Rent for one year.. 250 ByBalawe brought for- 

 I F. F. Club's proper- ward to Jan. 1, 1887 115 18 



tion dub expenses, " Cash received for 



Stationery, etc 25 subscriptions 375 13 5 



Printing rules, eir- " Cash received by 



culars, etc 22 2 Hon. Sec. for din- 



i Proprietor ot Cricb- nor tickets 46 17 6 



ton Club for balance M Donation from A. D. 



due on liouse din- Borrington, Esq., to 



ners,etc (i 7 6 library fund 10 10 



Cash paid by Hon. 

 Treasurer, sundries 17 8 

 f' Cash paid by Hon. 

 Secretary, postage 



and sundries 18 10 2 



I Holborn Restaurant 

 for annual dinner 



in February 49 17 8 



' Expenses on draft... 

 f Balance forward to 

 ". credit of club at end 



of 1887, at bankers. H7 1 

 Balance in baud of 

 Hon. Treasurer.-.. 19 11 4 



Jjffaliatlhtn. 



£548 IS 11 



£548 18 11 



1888— Jan. 1. 

 By Balance brought 



forward 166 17 5 



Audited and found correct, 



A. W. Cooper. 



B. Avrb Smith. 

 This shows a balance to the credit of the club of about 



5834, an increase of $350 over the previous year. The 

 ihib proposes to raise a subscription to the memory of 

 he late Francis Francis, and $400 has already been re- 

 vived toward this object. 



"We would like to see a similar club started in New 

 fork, not necessarily confined to fly-fishers, for we have 

 mong our anglers a large number of ciubable men who 

 ishfor striped bass and other salt-water fishes, and if 

 he project is favorably received we will gladly render 

 igistance in its formation by receiving the names of gen- 

 Iemen who may wish to found such a club, and place 

 hem in communication with each other. 



THE KINEO ASSOCIATION. 



"pHFi members and invited guests of the Kineo Angling 

 A Association had their annual dinner at Young's 

 lotel, this city, on Monday evening. The occasion was 

 , very enjoyable one, as the meetings of this association 

 Iways have been. It was organized at Kineo, Moose- 

 lead Lake, a few years ago. It embraces eight active 

 oembers, all prominent Boston merchants and business 

 aen. Mr. W. S. Hills, of the flour and grain trade, was 

 •ne of the prime movers. Mr. J. B. Thomas, Jr., of the 

 Standard Sugar Refinery, usually acts as commodore, 

 iiese gentlemen are all enthusiasts in the gentle art. 

 3Sey meet at their annual dinner to talk over previous 

 ishing excursions — usually to Moosehead— and to plan 

 he season's trip. All try to be there together. They hire 

 . little steamer to take them to the points of the lake 

 bey wish to visit. They are true anglers and the most 

 ourteous of gentlemen, always making it a point to in- 

 ite respectable anglers who may happen to be at Kineo 

 •fc the time to help "to make up their party. Then such 

 nests are usually invited to the annual dinner, if they 

 re within reasonable distance. These gentlemen are all 

 y-fishermen, doing but very little trolbng or bait-fisb- 

 ag. They make a point of observing the law hi every 

 aspect. They put off their trips till well into June for 

 he sake of fly-fishing. They are Avilling to take the 

 hances of mosquitoes and black flies for the sake of the 

 of on the surface. At the above meeting it was decided 

 bat the start from Boston this year should be on or 

 bout the 8th of June, to arrive at Kineo abottt the 11th. 

 'he eight active members of the association are W. S. 

 Jills, J. B. Thomas, Jr., J. P. "Woodbury, J. F. Nicker- 

 jrm, E. R. Hunnewell, C. E. Lauriat, J. W. Sanborn and 

 at. R. Beal. These were all present, with one exception, 

 i't the annual dinner. 



I Boston, Mass. 



JOHN J. FLANAGAN. 



ITVEE many friends of John J. Flanagan will regret to 

 M- learn that be dropped dead in TJtica, N. Y., on Mon- 

 ilay last, while at his work, as city editor of the Utica 

 wtjfiei'ver, Mr. Flanagan was a well-known angler and 

 , t .'as President of the St. Lawrence Angling Association. 

 Ife was a popular, jovial man of forty-seven years of age 

 (Ind one who weighed in the neighborhood of 300 pounds. 

 { ( In early life he paid great attention to a lady who mar- 

 lied another, and John remained a bachelor until the 

 . tdy became a widow with a numerous family, when she 

 carried Mr. Flanagan. The children by the first mar- 

 riage were devoted to "Uncle John," as they called him, 



nd he proved to be a devoted father to them. 

 1 Every one who came in contact with him was at once 

 Impressed by his genial and kind nature, and his circle of 

 striends comprised all who knew him. 

 I He was active in the protection of fish and game, and 

 Iras widely known as one of the most honorable of 

 T6«rtsmen, 



THE MISSION OF THE MENHADEN. 



hditur Fbr68t Mid Stream: 



It was said in Maine during the 1870 and 1877 fight against 

 the menhaden fishermen that they were destroying the food 

 of food fish, and if this destruction were allowed it was sure 

 to result disastrously to the shore fisheries. The agitation 

 resulted in a st ringent law against the menhaden fishermen. 

 Since its passage no menhaden worth mentioning have been 

 north of Cape Cod, and we are informed on the best authority 

 that the fisheries in the waters where the menhaden ha ve 

 absented themselves from have not apparently been affected 

 eit her way. 



Our observation leads us to the conclusion that there is 

 not a single food fish on our whole coast that depends on the 

 meuhaden for their daily food, and if they should totally 

 disappear from Cape Cod to Florida the shore fisheries 

 between these points would, like those in Maine, be un- 

 affected. It is the mission of the menhadeu to be devoured 

 by sharks, whales and porpoises; and whenever they ar 

 found congregated in large bodies one or the other or all 

 three are usually found in their company destroying them 

 in large quantities, We have taken over one hundred men- 

 baden from the stomach of one shark. Mr. Martin or any 

 one else can find out the facts by observing the food taken 

 from the stomachs of our shore fish, and he, like many 

 others, would be much surprised when he learned the truth 



Mr. Palmer, of New Bedford, m:nle the statemenl in Bos 

 ton last winter, before a committee which had a restrictiv 

 trap law under consideration, that food fish were growing 

 scarce in Buzzard's Bay and vicinity; hut the trap men pro 

 duced a man from Wood's Hoi I, who testified that the sea- 

 son before he and his boy with hook and line caught one 

 sugar barrel ful of sea bass per day, not failing a day dur _ 

 the season of catching that amount, and that before 1880 he 

 could not have caught a sugar barrelful of sea bass in three 

 months, ft a well known fact among fishermen that sea 

 bass have been scarce on our coast for nearly thirty years, 

 and that they came on plenty in 1880 and have remained I bai 

 way ever since. 



Striped bass have been absent several years, but were back 

 pleuty again last season. 



Representative McAdoo, of New Jersey, made the state- 

 ment this winter, before the House Committee on Fisheries, 

 that food fish were disappearing from the coast of New 

 Jersey, but Messrs. Wm, Jeffers. Risley and Barlow, three 

 dealers in food fish in his State, contradicted him point 

 blank. 



ft is a popular mistake that food fish are growing scarce 

 on our coast. My observation, which extends over thirty 

 years, leads me to the conclusion that the marked fluctu- 

 ations which are constantly occurring in sea fish, resulting 

 in periods of extreme plenty and scarcity, are iu accordance 

 with a law of nature, and man is not an appreciable factor 

 to explain whv they are plenty or scarce. 



Daniel T. Chdrch. 



Tiverton, K. I., Feb. 30. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I am in accord with the legislation now proposed for the 

 protection of fisheries on the Atlantic coast, and trust that 

 it mav ripen into a statute. Now is the time for action if 

 our food fishes are to be perpetuated. I can conceive of no 

 reason whv they should not be nurtured. 



The sophistries and subterfuges resorted to by the men- 

 haden oil men should not be allowed to overshadow the fact 

 that the food fishes are decreasing. 



Do these men use such means to bolster up their opera- 

 tions? Let us see. Prof. Goode has stated that bluefish 

 consume enormous quantities of menhaden. Prof. Baird 

 has so stated. The estimates of these savants roll the 

 amount of such consumption up to a royal array of millions. 

 These statements are ex cathedra. Now. what says Cant. 

 Church, who has written freely and testified much, and who 

 is a leader among the oil men? 



In FOREST and Stream, Aug. 26. 1886, he writes thus: 

 : 'On page 574 of said book ("The Fishery Industries") is an 

 estimate of the amount of menhaden destroyed by pre- 

 daeeous animals (bluefish and bonlto at the head) each year. 

 * * * Disinterested men like Baird, Button, Huxley and 

 Goode all give their testimony one way after investigating 

 this subject." He further writes: "Less than five years 

 ago large quantities of small menhaden * * * were in 

 Buzzard's and Narragansett Bays * * * and with and 

 feeding on them were quantities of bluefish and squeteague, 

 and from several dally observations it was found the jish 

 had over ten fresh menhaden In their stomachs from which 

 calculations were made," etc. (Italics mine.) 



He used this statement of the scholars, and the fact which 

 came under his own notice, to show how few meuhaden the 

 oil men get in comparison with those devoured by their 

 water enemies. 



So far so good. Now for the fallacy. I quote further 

 from the same letter. It is the opening sentence: "In your 

 issue of Aug. 19 a correspondent says it is a fact that blue- 

 fish are largely dependent on menhaden for food, ivhich is 

 not true" (italics mine). He then goes on with his demon- 

 stration. Mark now, he makes this assertion to show that 

 any scarcity of bluefish cannot be possibly due to the whole- 

 sale capture of menhaden by himself and others, because 

 bluefish do not depend largely on menhaden for food. Com- 

 ment is not needed. 



Again, the oil men complain that their business will be 

 ruined by prohibiting their operations within the three 

 mile limit. There is no ground for such fear. They intend 

 the inference shall be that menhaden cannot be caught 

 beyond the proposed limit in quantities. Let dipt. Church 

 testify: Report of Commissioner of Fisheries for 1877, part 

 5, p. 88: "The fishermen usually steam square out to sea, 

 and for the last ten years have found immense beds of them 

 and apparently inexhaustible amounts, three and four miles 

 off shore." 



This is not recent testimony, but it is good. Have the 

 haunts of the menhaden changed since then ? Capt. Church 

 also answers this question, and he is good authority. Re- 

 port of Commissioner of Fisheries, imprint. 1885, part XL, 

 p. 148: "They are caught from the shore to thirty miles at 

 sea." , , 



With such evidence to the contrary it is safe to say that 

 menhaden oil will not soon become an unknown commercial 

 article. 



The three mile limit should be made a law. It suits the 

 oil men now to operate within that line to the detriment of 

 the inshore fisheries. With the law they would then oper- 

 ate beyond the line, and the in-shore fisheries would then be 

 benefitted. 



A recent editorial in this paper alluded to some of thewild 

 statements made by the oil . men before a committee of the 

 National Rod and Reel Association last month. I say wild, 

 because made in the face of accepted facts, and iu contra- 

 diction of their own declarations. 



The menliaden men know much respecting our coast fishes. 

 They should concede a little wisdom to others. It is by such 

 processes as these that they endeavor to stave off wise and 

 proper legislation. Let us hope they will not succeed. 



Arthur Martin. 



Washington, D. C, Feb. 20. 



The House Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fish- 

 eries, Feb. 24, agreed to make an unf avorable report upon the 

 bill recently introduced by Mr. McAdoo, of New Jersey, pro- 



hibiting the taking of menhaden with purse, pound or weir 

 nets within three miles of the Atlantic coast, and imposing 

 a fine of #1,000 for a violation of the law. The committee 

 has given this bill a great deal of careful attention. The 

 United States Fish Commission a,nd a number of experts, 

 as well as fishermen from the Atlantic coast, have been ex- 

 amined, with a view to ascertaining whether there was any 

 good ground for the, allegations that have, Been made to the 

 effect that the practice of taking menhaden within the 

 three-mile limit was destructive of the food fishes. Mr. 

 Farquhar, of New York, one of the signers of the report, 

 said to a World, correspondent to-day: "Our adverse report, 

 is fortified oy the statements of the scientists and experts 

 who have appeared before the committee and by the official 

 reports of the Fish Commission. All agree in theconclusion 

 that, bluefish, which it is the object- of the bill to protect do 

 not feed upon the menhaden, as has been supposed. When 

 large numbers of them meet a school of menhaden they fre- 

 quently attack and kill great quantities of them; but I lu-y 

 simply mutilate them and do not feed upon them. Gener- 

 erally speaking, however, the two species are rarely found 

 in t he same waters." Congressman Amos J. Cummings has 

 prepared a minority report "favoring the passage of the bill, 

 on the ground that fishing for menhaden with seines and 

 weirs is destructive of food fishes, and also that the men- 

 haden constitute the food of the bluefish, 



THE DECREASE OF FOOD FISHES. 



ITNDKIv' I he title of "The exhaustion of the food fishes on 

 J the seacoast of Massachusetts by destructive methods 

 ,of fishing," Mr. George H. Palmer made an address before 

 the Committee on Fisheries and Game, of the Legislature of 

 Massachusetts, on Feb. 3, 1887, which we find to be instruct- 

 ive. After an introductory paragraph Mr. Palmer said: 



This investigation may be regarded as the continuation of 

 that of 1870. I shall present the matter to you, as I conceive 

 the argument to be, from such reliable evidence as then had 

 been obtained, together with what has since been furnished 

 down to 187H. It will then remain for us to bring before you 

 only such evidence as will be necessary to show you the state 

 of the question as it is to-day, that you may see whether or 

 not furtlfev legislation will be required. 



We assume that the Report of the United States Commis- 

 sioner on Fisheries for 1871-72, the Reports of the Massachu- 

 setts Commissioners on Inland Fisheries, and the published 

 statistics. ai*e evidence already in the case for the use and 

 benefit of either of the parties, and to be referred to as may 

 be required. There is no question, to a certaiu extent local 

 in its application, of more consequence and importance than 

 that of the possible exhaustion of the sea fisheries along the 

 shores of this Commonwealth. That a, large number of our 

 citizens with a costly apparatus are engaged in the catching 

 of fish, and another and still larger number either are, 

 or would be so engaged, as a matter of business or as a 

 means to a living, would he enough of itself to warrant and 

 demand the serious attention of the Legislature; but, when 

 to that is added the fact that upon the increase or decrease 

 of the fishes largely depends the abundance or scarcity of 

 food, all questions affecting the general subject assume an 

 importance not surpassed by any other. Add to this the long 

 list of the petitioners and remonstrants whose names are be- 

 fore you, and the interest which is so manifest here, and it 

 will be seen of what consequence the matter appears to a 

 very large number of our fellow-citizens who live upon or 

 near the seacoast. 



In the early days of our history, fishes of all kinds were in 

 great abundance in our waters, and one, if not the chief, of 

 the inducements which led our forefathers to settle on the 

 rough New England shore was the great supply of edible 

 fish, and the ease with which they could be taken. Our 

 rocky, sandy coast, bleak and inhospitable, could give little 

 promise of early and abundant crops, but our bays and rivers 

 were the storehouses of a never-failing supply of wholesome, 

 nutritious and palatable food. So long as the forests would 

 supply the early settlers with wood for their fires, and the 

 sea yielded up its treasures of fish, if wealth was not easily 

 procured, starvation was out of the question. 



Some of the notices in regard to their abundance, are ex- 

 ceedingly quaint and curious. They will be found, as col- 

 lected by Prof. Baird, appended to the Report of the United 

 States Commissioner on Fisheries, 1871-72. I will read a 

 part of Jacob Steendam's poem in "Praise of New Nether- 

 lands," 1661, translated by Hon. Henry C. Murphy: 



The lamprey, eel and sunfish, and the white 

 And yellow perch, which grace your covers dight, 

 And shad, and striped bass, not scarce, hut quite 

 Innumerable. 



The bream and sturgeon, drum-fish and gurnard,* 

 The sea-bass,+ which a prince would not discard, 

 The £od and salmon, cooked with due regard, 

 Most palatable. 



The black: and rock fish, herring, mackerel, 

 The haddock, mossbanker, and roach, which fill 

 The nets to loathing; and so many, all 

 Cannot be eaten. 



And thus it happens here, that in the flood, 

 Which, rolling from the Fountain of All Good, 

 O'erwhelms weak, mortal man with royal food, 

 He is forgotten. 



You've weak-fish, carp and turbot, pike and plaice, 

 There's not a pool or tiny water-trace 

 Where swam not myriads of the finny race, 

 Easily taken. 



Crabs, lobsters, mussels, oysters too, there be, 

 So large, that one does overbalance three 

 Of those of Europe; and in quantity, 



No one can reckon. 



The turquoise, seal and shark; and, in your bay, 

 The mighty whale and porpoise, sporting, they 

 The power and wondrous works of God display, 

 For our beholding. 



Like all other subjects which depend upon scientific re- 

 search, careful and continued observation, and a full col- 

 lection and complete arrangement of facts, this, certainly, 

 is not without its difficulties. Absolute certainty is not, 

 and cannot be, expected until one thing is done, one experi- 

 ment tried, which it is the main object of these petitioners 

 to secure. In his report, in 1870 (leave to withdraw), Hon. 

 Nathaniel E. Atwood, of the Cape District, Chairman of the 

 Committee, gives some reasons which led to the report, and 

 afterwards in the Senate, on the 19th of April, spoke at 

 in its support. I shall be led in the course of these remarks 

 to refer both to the reasons assigned aud the argument used 

 to sustain it. s 



Precisely the same conditions are present to-day as m the 

 hearing in 1870. The parties are the same, they are no better 

 reconciled, and the question is the same. The only differ- 

 ences are that evidence has been accumulating since then, 



♦"Gurnard." Murphy thinks this was certainly the "porgy." As 

 the latter was not known in Europe, Stecndam used the name of 

 the European species which most resembled it, {Traila haumh». 

 It, however, more probably refers to the sea-robin (PrionotUS). 



+ The name Zee-baars is now applied in Holland to the represent- 

 ative of our striped bass. 



