168 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March 22, 1888. 



TALK ABOUT TACKLE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



When an angler declares his preferences, objections or 

 prejudices for or against any certain kind of fishing 

 tackle, or its appurtenances, he lays himself open to the 

 criticisms and corrections which are generally forthcom- 

 ing. "Percyval" with his usual diplomacy* thought to 

 avoid this by "decrying endless discussions," etc., but I 

 fear the results. 



A few years since an old angling acquaintance (a 

 machinist of inventive genius) astounded me by the inquiry 

 why a useful rod could not be made of hollow metal 

 cylinders, preferably brass or steel, made as light as con- 

 sistent with safety, and with telescopic joints. My rather 

 abrupt reply to this man was that I did not consider the 

 scheme feasible, and even if it were such an implement 

 would not receive favor at the hands of anglers. To 

 prove that this conclusion was hasty and unwarranted 

 one has but to refer to tbe Horton steel rod and the flat- 

 tering success attending its introduction. Though yet a 

 novelty, this rod promises future possibilities tbat may 

 give it precedence over all others. In fact with many 

 anglers it has already reached that point. Borne day I 

 propose giving one a trial myself. The rod I now possess, 

 a lance wood California general, is an old battle-scarred 

 veteran, whose defeats have never been humiliating, 

 and which has scored victory after victory under the 

 most adverse circumstances. The treatment and expos- 

 ure received by it had warped it out of all semblance to 

 its former self. "When put together its curvature forms 

 almost a perfect quarter circle. During action its con- 

 tour is ridiculous. As a remedy for this annoyance 

 peculiar to the wood rod, how would it do for manufac- 

 turers to build them with a graduated core of spring wire 

 through their centres, nicely adjusted of course so as not 

 to interfere with the balance or pliancy of the rod, yet 

 always to insure a maintenance of its proper position? It 

 seems to me such a plan would not only give increased 

 strength, but considerably retard the influences of sun 

 and elements in producing these effects. We now have 

 lines, etc., with metal centers. Why not give our rods 

 an artificial backbone ? 



Here is a notion of mine in regard to the whipping of 

 rods and securing the guides. Instead of using silk 

 thread for this purpose, I obtain at the hardware or mil- 

 linery store fine steel wire of about the same size and 

 substitute for the thread. I find it makes just as neat a 

 tie, is more convenient to handle, and above all is abso- 

 lutely reliable. No chafing and fraying out in two or 

 three weeks' time; it is there to stay. To more closely 

 resemble the thread it should then be painted the same 

 color. A mixture of crimson and seal-let lake tube 

 paints will produce the exact shade, but either alone is 

 near enough. My rod has been in the hands of many 

 clever anglers, but none have ever discovered the decep- 

 tion. 



My ideas of a bass reel par excellence is one similar in 

 model to Wm. Mills's "imperial," differing in these par- 

 ticulars: It should be a four-multiplier with click and 

 drag transposed to left side. The crank post should then 

 be shortened enough to secure the advantages of a pro- 

 tected handle. It should be noted that this reel is almost 

 entirely composed of hard rubber with only enough metal 

 in its construction to warrant perfect strength and solid- 

 ity. This material is preferable for various reasons, one 

 of which is its exceeding lightness. The necessity of a 

 light reel was impressed upon me after witnessing a 

 favorite rod weighted down by a heavy metal reel (a 

 veritable millstone about its neck) disappear in the raging 

 waters of Big Beaver forever. Another commendable 

 feature is the stylish and clean appearance it always 

 presents. Any ordinary dent or scratch can easily be 

 rendered unnoliceable, while on the plated reel it remains 

 there always as evidence that you are either very careless 

 or awkward. Again, how frequent in making the spring 

 inventory of duffle, we find our German silver or nickle 

 plated reel tarnished almost to blackness by atmospheric 

 action or destructive gases from stove and chandelier. 

 It is a singular fact too, that once allowed to get in 

 this condition the original lustre can never be fully 

 restored. 



There are many superiorities that could be urged in 

 favor of the rubber reel with left hand operating devices, 

 and when better known I believe they will supplant many 

 of our present ones that have only loud sounding titles, 

 and little practicable merit to recommend them to the 

 angler. Defend us from all so called automatic reels. 



Jo. 



Wellsville, O., March 10. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Referring to the request of "0. O. S.," who asks, "Will 

 those who have used the automatic reel please add their 

 testimony pro and con," I take pleasure in saying that 

 during the summers of 1886 and 1S87 1 used the automatic 

 reel exclusively in black bass and pickerel fishing in Lake 

 Harriet, Bush Lake and Prior Lake, in Minnesota, Avith 



Eerfect satisfaction. I have used it in fly-casting and 

 ve bait fishing (using frogs and minnows) and have 

 caught bass weighing anywhere from lib. to 31bs., losing 

 very few fish. When fishing with bait I used a short 

 lancewood tip on my fly-rod. The reel never failed me, 

 and I hope to use it this summer in the Maine lakes. I 

 consider it the ideal reel. It is manipulated by the little 

 finger of the hand which holds the rod, and if properly 

 managed will save every fish that is at all well hooked. 

 By lotting the spring do its proper work as soon as you 

 are fast to a fish, the liveliest bass can get no slack line 

 on you, and his leaps and gymnastics only tire him out 

 more quickly and induce him more quietly to come to 

 net. I have heard objections urged against it, but from 

 personal experience know of none that would induce me 

 to give up using mine. P. L. 



Fobt Preble, Me. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In reply to the inquiry of "O. 0. S." as to the automatic 

 reel I may state that I have used one for seven years. It 

 has never been out of repair but once, and that came 

 from my own carelessness. I use no other. To fish Avith 

 one successfully, first learn the principle of how it is 

 constructed and what it is intended to do; then quietly 

 go to some open water, where there are no bushes nor 

 any one to annoy and make you nervous, and practice 

 with your rod and line untd you have the thing perfectly 

 under your control. Unless you do, you will be very 

 likely not to like it. One thing you must be on your 



guard against; the spring works very quickly and shoidd 

 ou allow it to get the start of you without doubt you will 

 ave a broken tip. 



The advantages of an automatic reel are; (1) the spring 

 in the reel after a fish has been hooked and after the 

 brake has been removed is so much quicker than any fish 

 can be that it is an impossibility for a fish to get any 

 slack line; (2) when making long and short casts on 

 streams it does away with that everlasting crank wind- 

 ing; (3) after hooking a large and hard fighting fish you 

 have both hands to handle your rod and line and if you 

 do not lose your head, you will save many fish you would 

 be very likely to lose with a crank reel. I know some 

 anglers have said it is fun for them to twist or reel a fish 

 in by turning a crank, but for me I had enough of that 

 w r hen a boy turning grindstone to sharpen scythes. I will 

 venture the assertion that when any angler once gets used 

 to a good automatic reel, and thoroughly understands its 

 workings he will use no other. Life for me is too short 

 to spend much of it twisting an old crank reel. 



Skill Back. 



Greene, N. H. 



Massachusetts Bass in March.— Th e Worcester, Mass. , 

 Spy of March 16 reports: "E. W. Plumloy, manager of 

 the Spencer Telephone Exchange, enjoyed an extraordi- 

 nary day's fishing on the North Podunk pond at Brook- 

 field last Saturday. His catch included four black bass, 

 the total weight of which was U-Jlbs.. The fish weighed 

 respectively 2f, 3, 4 and 4jtbs, To these was added a 

 large number of pickerel and perch. II. L. Gleason and 

 a companion who were fishing beside Mr. Plumley, caught 

 two bass, one weighing nibs, and the other 41bs. The 

 largest one measured 22in. in length and 7in. in width. 

 A few days previous a party of three, on the same pond, 

 caught 99 pickerel, the total weight of which was nearly 

 801bs. The largest fish tipped the scales at 41bs." As the 

 black bass season is now closed and will not be open 

 before July, it is in order for Messrs. Plumlev, Gleason 

 and the other man to walk up and settle for 'their law 

 breaking. They will not be likely to do this uuless some 

 one points out their duty. No doubt the Worcester 

 Sportsman's Club would make its influence felt in this 

 case; and we commend to it the task of seeing that the 

 penalty is enforced. 



The Princeton College Campers. — East Saginaw, 

 Mich., March 17 —Editor Forest and Stream: As to the 

 Princeton College men, it depends on what time they 

 want to come to Michigan. If they want to rough it anv 

 time from July to September, to fish only, let them go to 

 Sault Ste. Mary or to Detour, which is at the entrance of 

 the St. Mary River, and there they can engage guides 

 and boats and go on sort of a wild roving expedition to 

 the many charming islands of tbe St. Mary River. Trout 

 fishing can be had in the many streams that put into it, 

 bass and larger fish can be got in the waters near the 

 islands. I think it is one of the prettiest spots for a 

 veritable camping out I know of.— W. B. M. 



Mr. Rtjshton advertises a cottage on Star Lake, where 

 the fishing is good. This appears to be a desirable piece 

 of property for one with a penchant for fishing. 



Every person who it sufficiently interested in the National 

 Park to do his share toward securing protection for it, is in- 

 vited to send for one of the Forest and Stream's petition 

 blanks. They are sent free. 



THE MENHADEN QUESTION. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The question of the menhaden steamers being permitted 

 to destroy the food supply as well as taking the bread from 

 the mouths of thousands of hardy fishermen along the At- 

 lantic coast, is one that does not appeal alone to the millions 

 on the immediate seaboard, but to as many within hundreds 

 of miles in the interior, because they are' now, and greatly 

 from the selfish action of these corporations, forced to pay 

 prices for fish that should and would never obtain, were a 

 proper restriction put upon the catching of fish for manu- 

 facturing purposes. 



To any one who is the least acquainted with the habits and 

 mode of capture of the striped bass and bluefish, it really 

 seems too utterly ridiculous that they should be required to 

 believe that the menhaden is of no importance. Still the 

 men representing these grasping corporations, in their testi- 

 mon fbaf ore Con Kress, ass u m e t he ri gh t an d arrogate to them- 

 selves the forming of public opiuion and seem to imagine 

 that whatever they may have to say i n the matter must wi th- 

 out question or debate he accepted as the true facts of the 

 case. Now just see what buncombe it is to state that the 

 men at Fulton Market do not find any traces of this fish 

 when cleaning either striped bass or blueiish, among others. 

 By this we are led to suppose that the search is a stneqita 

 non of the business and that the cleaning is quite a second- 

 ary matter. 



At the proper season of course aud during the run of the 

 menhaden I venture to say that it would be almost an im- 

 possibility to clean either of the fish in question and not find 

 parts of the mossbunker present. Again, the .statement that 

 they do such valuable service in catching sharks, from the 

 fact that a pah of these fish will destroy more food fish in 

 twenty-four hours than they catch in an indefinite period, is 

 not borne out by the facts. 



We are also told that the menhaden is the onlv fish suit- 

 able to their business on account of the large percentage of 

 oil that it yields, and that the taking of food fish is much 

 against their desire and in fact almost worthless for the 

 purpose. Then, such being the case, why, when they make 

 hauls of tons of Spanish mackerel, bluefish, weakfish, etc., 

 in the place of what they profess to be after, do they not re- 

 lease them instead of grinding them up for fertilizing pur- 

 poses? Here there are two "niggers m the fence." One 

 is that they do not perform as they preach for obvious rea- 

 sons, and the other I know something about. 

 ^As to the lack of bait for the regular market fishermen 

 which, according to their version, would be one of the evil 

 effects were they forced to keep outside of a three mile limit, 

 that is bosh, pure and simple. There have been and there 

 are at present plenty of sailing vessels that make a specialty 

 of procuring bait for this very purpose; is it therefore to be 

 supposed that these men will sell their outfits and go out of 

 the business from a brotherly feeling for these fellows'? 



And this man who went on one of these steamers to invest- 

 igate, who is he that because he reports that hardly sufficient 

 food fish were secured to supply the table, we are to believe 

 that this is therefore the rule and not the great exception ? 

 Why does he not give us the data from his note book, per- 



haps then it would be an easy matter to explain the occur- 

 rence? 



When fishing on the Jersey coast. T have sent men out to 

 these steamers to buy bait, to have them return without a 

 fish, saying that the haul showed tons of weakfish and Span- 

 ish mackerel, but not a single mossbunker; and to prove the 

 correctness of their story they showed over fifty of the finest 

 Spanish mackerel I ever saw. These beautiful fish were be- 

 ing pitched into the vile smelling hold of the steamer to be 

 ground into fertilizers. 



I have seen them come inshore so near that I could with 

 ease cast my hook in their boat; it mattered little to them, 

 that my fishing, as well as others near me, was spoiled by 

 their action; they wanted it all and were doing their best to 

 get it. 



That the bays are the natural spawning- places of the men- 

 haden is a well known fact, but let me ask, how are the adult 

 fish to get there if ten steamers cover the mouth of an inlet 

 not over 400 feet wide? And if it so happens that the water 

 on the bar would be right for the fish to pass in at about 

 daybreak, these fellows come down the night before and 

 anchor near by. It is a sickening sight to see, and shame to 

 think that such outrages can be permitted in this era of en- 

 lightenment. 



A thorough and persistent ventilation of the question 

 through the press is the only way of obtaining the necessary 

 relief, and although at times this may seem a somewhat 

 slow method, it is positive in its eventual effect. 



Bio Reel. 



New York, March 12. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I am not a champion of the bluefish nor of any other food 

 fish alone, but stand squarely and frankly for all edible fish, 

 and further, for those who catch, or desire to catch these 

 fish with hook and line, either for a livelihood or for recrea- 

 tion, in the waters of the Atlantic coast. My aim is. and 

 has been, to avoid misstatements and to so write as neither 

 to mislead, misinform nor mystifv such of your readers as 

 may not have directed their attention especially to the sub- 

 ject of the conservation of the Atlantic food fisheries. I 

 write by the record, and with that I am content. 



The tendency of the operations of the menhaden oil men 

 is adverse to the best interests of the food fisheries. These 

 interests, then, can be better advanced by those whose in- 

 clinations harmonize therewith. If this defpuse traverses 

 or runs counter to the ways of the oil men, it does so simply 

 to secure an equal benefit "to all from the menhaden run. Is 

 this unfair? Should the greed of the oil men be encouraged 

 by non-action? 



The question of the decrease of food fishes, so ably pre- 

 sented to the Massachusetts Legislature last winter by Mr. 

 George H". Palmer, of New Bedford, and the publication of 

 which recently graced your columns, carries its own con- 

 viction. 



Has that argument been assailed? Yes. "The traprnen 

 produced a man from Wood's IIoll who testified tint the 

 season before he and his hoy with bock and line cauerht pnl 

 sugar barrelful of sea bass per day. not failing a dav during 

 the season." That evidence was indisputable For there was 

 the man! Splendid evidence this to prove the abundance of 

 food-fishes of that particular kind, on that particular ledge 

 and at that particular time, but, oh, of start small propor- 

 tions that it may never be properly appreciated. 



Tt seems to me that the oil men are somewhat inclined to 

 be disingenuous. Appropriating the menhaden vield almost 

 bodily, prospering at the expense of manv thousands of 

 hook and line fishermen and unheedful of the equal rights 

 of others, they express solicitude lest their investments and 

 operations shall become subject to lawful restraint. Were: 

 they thus solicitous when adopting the appliance of the 

 menhaden steamers, lest they might injure the hand line 

 fisheries or deplete the inlets and estuaries of the Atlantic 

 coast? Standing on unstable foundations, they shift from 

 position to position as thev think the exigencies require. 

 This statement cannot be disproved. Witness: "The men- 

 haden is rarely found in the stomach of a food-tlsh. * * * They 

 (menhaden) are the bait or food of most every fish in the sea," 

 vietc Capt. Church. "If we were forced bv law not to fish 

 inside a one-half mile limit it would ruin our business. * * *i 

 For the last ten years (1S67-1877) have found immense beds 

 of them and apparently inexhaustible amounts, three and 

 four miles off shore. * * * They are eausht (18S3) from 

 the shore to thirty miles at sea. * * * In 1885 between 

 Fire Island aud No Man's Land, and between Newport and 

 twenty-five miles off shore there were over 1,fif)0 souare 

 miles of water that swarmed with menhaden," rids Capt, 

 Church. In your issue of loth instant Capt; Church writ es: 

 "Their claim' is that the menhaden is the food of fnod fish, 

 which we deny." Does he disprove the claim? No. He 

 writes: "There is not a single food fish on our whole coast 

 that depends on the menhaden," etc. No one claims that 

 the food fishes depend on menhaden for food', but that they 

 do feed largely on them when available. 



Assuming that the bluefish is the one fish which it is 

 especially desired to protect, the oilmen in a dogmatic man- 

 ner boldly assert that it has now been aorreed that bluefish 

 do not eat menhaden. In other words, from the earliest ob- 

 servations down to the year A. D. 1888, the impression that 

 has prevailed is erroneous. The investigations that were 

 thought to be thorough, made at large expense to the 

 Government by the very first fish scientists in the world, all 

 are deceptive and that every one has been misled heretofore. 

 Can any sensible man confide in this new gospel regarding 

 the bluefish? At the risk of prolixity I desire to quote hot 

 the familiar statements, but others bearing ou the fact that 

 bluefish eat menhaden. 



Prof. Goode: "It is possible that the presence of their 

 favorite food, the menhaden, has as much influence upon 

 their movements as water temperature. * * * Not con- 

 tent with what they eat, which is of itself an enormous 

 quantity, at least one-fourth of the fish devoured by blupfish 

 on the shores of New England are probably menhaden." 



Prof. Baird; "They appear to eat anything that swims of 

 suitable size, * * but perhaps more especially the men- 

 haden." 



Now in this connection here are quotations from men 

 along the coast in answer to the question, To what extent 

 do they (menhaden) suffer from the attacks of other fish or 

 other animals, as sharks, bluefish, porpoises, etc.? 



"Whales live ou them and sharks and bluefish devour 

 them * * they suffer to a great extent from bluefish * * 

 all other fish feed on them * * largely from sharks, blue- 

 fish and porpoises * * bluefish destroy in ore than all other 

 fish * * to a very great extent, especially bluefish * f 

 the bass, trout, bluefish * * feed on this species of fish 

 :; * I noticed that each bluefish caught had from one to 

 three fatbacks in the stomach." 



A trip on a menhaden steamer would probably reveal to 

 the careful observer the mode of surrounding and securiug 

 schools of menhaden and the visible proof that but few food 

 fishes are captured with such schools. On stepping ashore 

 from such a trip the observer, ou reflection, would naturally 

 ask of himself what have I learned about the abundance of 

 food fishes? Capt. C Lurch states that "Mr. Wells said he 

 was surprised, for our statements were so contrary to what. 

 • he had heard," etc. He well may have expressed surprise; 

 , manv others have done so. The title pages of the rep< rt> ; of 

 | the TJ. S. Fish Commission from the first volume tc t iat 

 published in 1887, bear as the leading sub-iudexthese wo ds: 

 "Inquiry into the Decrease of Food Fishes." Many believe 

 that the conditions still exist for the retention of that 

 phraseology. Akthttr M artist. 



Wa shzngton, Dt O-, March 1?. 



