250 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April 19, 1888. 



TROUT PROSPECTS IN MAINE. 



THE latest reports from the Maine trout waters do not 

 indicate an early departure of the ice, though up to 

 the middle of March the ice seemed very thin and fast 

 wearing away. But the fact is that ice has actually been 

 making since that time, instead of melting away, as it 

 often does in the month of April. One letter from the 

 South Arm, Eichardson Lake, of April 11, says that the 

 weather has been very cold, the mercury running down 

 to zero since April came in, and going below freezing 

 nearly every night. This letter also says that the ice has 

 actually grown stronger, and that it will be late about 

 going out. Another letter from the Upper Dam confirms 

 the same position, and goes on to say that it will hardly 

 be possible for the ice to get out before, the 10th of May, 

 though it went out of a part of the lakes on the 4th last 

 year. From the Moosehead waters the reports all indi- 

 cate cold weather for the first part of April. Hence the 

 ice has not made the usual headway toward melting. 



There has been considerable fishing through the ice on 

 the waters in that State where the inhabitants thereof 

 are permitted by law to take trout after the first day of 

 February, to be carried to their own homes. This per- 

 mission by the fish and game protective laws is one of the 

 most abused of any in the code. It is a very easy matter 

 *for the guides, residents of the State, to have the holes all 

 ready, indeed the lines all set, if need be, against the ar- 

 rival of the gentleman from Connecticut, the gentleman 

 from New York, the gentleman from Boston. Then the 

 fishing goes on. under the cover of the law. The gentle- 

 men from out of the State do not catch thetrouU?) They 

 are there only as spectators — silent witnesses of the sport. 

 There is no law to prevent their standing on the ice while 

 the fun goes on. O h , no ! 

 But what are those long 

 trips from Boston, New 

 York or Connecticut to 

 the trout lakes made for 

 in the month of March? 



The law permitting any 

 fishing out of season is 

 a foolish one, and that 

 should engage the atten- 

 tion of the Legislature of 

 the State,which convenes 

 again next winter. There 

 is no good reason why 

 even a resident of the 

 State should be permitted 

 to take trout through the 

 ice. It is well known that 

 ice fishing has done more 

 to deplete our troutwaters 

 than it is possible for all 

 the fly-fishermen in the 

 country ever to do, and 

 yet Maine permits resi- 

 dents of the State to fish 

 out of season. They give 

 some of the trout butch- 

 ers out of the State the 

 word, when unitedly they 

 go to some of the best 

 trout lakes and ponds, 

 and with live bait take 

 erery trout that can be 

 lured to their lines. Such 

 fishing is all the worse 

 when it is remembered 

 that the trout, long con- 

 fined under the ice, are 

 hungry, and readily ac- 

 cept the live bait offered. 

 Give us all an equal chance with fly or bait in open season, 

 is all we ask. When Maine, as a State, once rises to the dig- 

 nity and good sense of such a position, then will her people 

 begin to reap the benefits her trout and salmon waters are 

 capable of yielding. But so long as poaching and fish 

 butchering are permitted by loose statutes or a niggardly 

 enforcement of some of her really excellent statutes, so 

 long Avill her best fish waters continue to become de- 



?leted, till at length they will fall into utter disrepute, 

 he demand is very great from the sportsmen who are 

 willing to go without trout unless they can be taken 

 fairly: but once cut off the poaching and sneaking in, 

 under any form of the law, and there will then begin to 

 be trout enough for all. He who plans a trip to Maine 

 to take trout through the ice is letting himself out to do 

 a mean act, and an act which is actual robbery, so far as 

 other sportsmen are concerned, who are willing to wait 

 the time when they can get trout legally and fairly; un- 

 less that robbery has taken them all. Is not there grow- 

 ing up a sense of honor among the lovers of fishing? Is 

 not there a time coming when a man will be ashamed of 

 taking trout out of season? Ashamed of it, for the reason 

 that he is robbing his brother sportsmen. Special. 



and its inlets between the twentieth day of September and the 

 first day of May. Cisco nets may be used to take ciacoes in their 

 season, within the mile limit, between Oct. 20 and Dee. 1. Only 

 sturgeon nets, with not less than Bin. meshes, and fyke or boxnets 

 shall be. used in the St. Lawrence River and its tributaries. 



Sec. 2. Any person taking black bass, pickerel, muscalonge and 

 California mountain trout in the nets named in section one of 

 this act while fishing for food fish, shall at once restore the same, 

 without injury, to the water whence taken. 



Sec. 3. Henderson Bay and the shoals adjacent are exempt from 

 the operations of this act. 



Sec. 4. Any person taking, or found with black bass, pickerel, 

 muscalonge and California trout in their possession, which have 

 been caught in the waters covered by this act, in nets or by any 

 device other than hook and line, or rod held in hand, shall be 

 deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upou conviction shall be 

 punished by a fine of not less than fifty dollars and imprisonment 

 in the county jail for a period of thirty days for the first offense, 

 and for the second or any other subsequent offense a fine of one 

 hundred dollars and imprisonment in the county jail for a period 

 of sixty days for each conviction. The finding of black bass, 

 pickerel or muscalonge in possession of any person violating this 

 act shall be taken as prima facie evidence of guilt, unless satis- 

 factory proof is furnished by said party that said fish were caught 

 by hooks and line, or rod held in hand. 



Sec. 5. Any resident of the comity of Jefferson may use a suit- 

 able seine to take "menhaden" for fertilizing purposes in the 

 waters covered by this act, at any season of the year, providing all 

 game fish named in this act are at once restored to the water 

 whence taken, without injury. 



Sec. 6. All penalties imposed by this act maybe recovered with 

 costs of suit before any justice of the peace or any court of record 

 of Jefferson county. The District Attorney of said county is 

 hereby required to prosecute actions in the name of the people of 

 the State of New York for the recovery of the penalties hereby 

 imposed immediately upon receiving proper information of the 

 incurring of a liability to pay said penalty, and to undergo said 

 imprisonment. Any penalty so recovered in a court of record or 

 before a justice of the peace shall be paid as follows: One-half 

 thereof to the person informing the District Attorney, and one- 

 lialf to the Superintendent of the Poor of said county for the 

 benefit of the county poor. All costs or charges incurred in any 

 such prosecution shall be a county charge. 



Sec. 7, This act shall take effect immediately. 



Fish Protection in Michigan.— Sault Ste. Marie, 

 Mich., April 9. — Editor Forest and Stream: A few notes 

 from this frigid corner of the earth may perhaps be inter- 

 esting to your readers as a proof of the really wonderful 

 progress being made in the rigid enforcement of healthy 

 game protection in this State, of which your valuable 

 paper is the most powerful advocate I know of. As far 

 as I can learn, the past close season has been the first and 

 only one which has been enforced in this locality, and 

 when I say that it is stated that trout fishing (up to the 

 present winter) has been carried on through the ice to 

 such an extent that hundreds of pounds have been caught 

 and marketed by this means just at the lower part of Ste. 

 Marie's Falls, and that during the past close season not a 

 trout has been taken in this or any other way, it will be 

 apparent that some good will accrue from this decided 

 change in affairs, and that the millions of brook trout 

 inhabiting these wonderful waters will surely be increased 

 by being unmolested for even a season. There is not a 

 sign of spring here yet. The snow is from three to ten 

 feet deep and the ice in the river about thirty inches 

 thick, no ice having come down from Lake Superior yet. 

 For the past week the temperature has ranged about 8° 

 below zero at night. — Edward H. Bowers. 



Charleston Fish Protective Association.— Charles- 

 ton, 111., April 9. — Editor Forest and Stream: The 

 Charleston Fish Protective Association was incorpor- 

 ated April 1, 1888, its object being to enforce the fish 

 laws of the State which prohibit the catching of fish in 

 any way except with hook and line, and the members of 

 it are determined that the law shall be enforced, and in 

 a few years expect to have fine fishing in our litte 

 stream, the EmbarraFo 

 River. The officers of the 

 association are: Pres., 

 Isaac Winter: Treas., D. 

 H. Calvert; Sec'y, Otto 

 Weiss; Directors," D. H. 

 Calvert, A. M. Mitchell, 

 J. M. Liston, C. D. Mc- 

 Crory, C. O. Skidmore, 

 W. F. Jenkins, E. H. 

 Easton. — Otto Weiss, 

 Secy. 



Sunapee Trout. — New 

 York, April 12.— Editor 

 Forest and Stream: I 

 may answer Mr. Hallock, 

 who, in your issue ot 

 April 5, approves the 

 opinion advanced by Dr. 

 Quackenbos and Mr. Web- 

 ber as to the origin of 

 the Sunapee trout by a 

 very brief statement. S. 

 aureolus was caught in i 

 Sunapee Lake in large 

 numbers before the intro- 

 duction of the landlocked 

 salmon into that lake.— 

 E. B. Hodge. 



A BAD BILL. 



AVERY bad bill is now before the New York Legisla- 

 ture, which, if it becomes a law, will open the way 

 to the destruction of the more valuable fishes of the St. 

 Lawrence River. It is the Assembly bill No. 722, enti- 

 tled "An act to regulate fishing in the waters bordering 

 on Jefferson county." Under the present law no nets 

 can be used in the St. Lawrence, and it is comparatively 

 easy to protect the river, but if the proposed bill should 

 pass, no available force could supervise the nets and see 

 that all the provisions of the law were complied with, 

 because the fish which it is desirable to protect are the 

 very ones that are of value to the fishermen for market. 

 The bill opens the door to all dishonest and illegal fisher- 

 men, and will end hi destroying the fishing which now 

 attracts thousands to the river every season. We give 

 the bill in full, in order that the danger which lurks in it 

 may be fully seen : 



Sec. L Any resident of the county of Jefferson may net all kinds 

 of food fish, with the exception of black bass, pickerel, muscalonge 

 and California mountain trout, in the St. Lawrence River, be- 

 tween the twentieth day of September and the first day of May; 

 and in the waters of Lake Ontario, bordering on Jefferson county, 

 subje-t to the following restrictions: No gill nets shall be used in 

 the river St. Lawrence, nor within one mil s of the main shore or 

 islands adjacent in Lake Ontario; and no j uu^d i>r trap net shall 

 be set within one-half mile of any shore or islands or inlets 

 thereto in Lake Ontario, between March 1 and Mav 1, between 

 the St. Lawrence River and the Oswego county line. Fvke or box 

 nets may be used in all the waters bordering on Jefferson county 



FIN OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN GRAYLING (Tliymallus montanus) Natural Size. 



A BIG GRAYLING. 



THE accompanying cut shows the natural size of the fin 

 of a Rocky Mountain grayling (Thymallm montanus), 

 from the South Fork of the Madison River in Idaho, 

 about twelve miles from the Firehole Basin in the 

 National Park, and ten miles from Henry's Lake. The 

 fish was caught within half a mile of Manly's ranch. We 

 have caught in our time a good many grayling in the 

 mountains, but we are free to confess that Ave never 

 captured one anywhere near so large as this one. The 

 grayling in the South Madison are rapidly growing fewer 

 in number. This is not because there are too many 

 anglers there, but because nets are dragged through the 

 river which take out all the fish. It is said that at one 

 time 2,0001bs. of these delicate fish were taken with 

 seines and hauled into the Park, where they were bought 

 by the hotels and sold to the tourists for trout. It is a 

 pity that some means cannot be taken to preserve these 

 fish there, for it is the nearest convenient fishing ground 

 for grayling to the National Park. 



THE COMING TOURNAMENT. 



IVfEW YORK, April 10. —Editor Forest and Stream: 

 JJN Prizes for the tournament of the National Rod and 

 Reel Association next month are coming in, and I can 

 now report the following: 



Capt. "Win. Dunning, cash for medals $25 00 



Mr. Louis B. Wright, cash for medals 25 00 



Mr. Chas. A. Bryant, cash for medals 25 00 



R. Dunlap & Co., order for silk hat 8 00 



J. Harrington Reene, Cossayuna, N. Y., one lot trout flies... 15 00 



J. Harrington Keene, Cossayuna, X. Y., one lot bass flies 15 00 



A. G. Spalding & Bros., Premier S. B. fly-rod - 25 00 



A. G. Spalding & Bros., automatic reel, rubber 8 00 



A. G. Spalding & Bros., Bray fly-book 5 CO 



Several others have agreed to contribute, but were not 

 ready to say what they would give. G. Poey, Sec'y. 



The Ice Moving.— New York, April 11.— Editor Forest 

 and Stream: The Adirondack Preserve Association, of 

 which Mr. Henry C. Squires is president, is in receipt of 

 a letter from the club house, in Essex county, N. Y., 

 which states that the ice is fast going from the lakes on 

 their preserve and will probably be all out by the 20th 

 inst. , which is early for this section, and will permit the 

 members to take advantage of the opening of the trout 

 season Mav 1.— Secretary. 



Big Tarpon. — Our correspondent "Tarpon" sends us 

 from Sanibel Island, where, April 9, he was lying wind 

 bound on his way north, a scale from the big tarpon 

 caught by Senator Quay, of Pennsylvania. Length, 7ft. 

 lin.; weight, 1874-lbs. He says: -'Tarpon are plenty here, 

 and fishing of all kinds good." 



Fly- Fishing for Shad. < 

 — Birmingham, Conn. — 

 Editor Forest and> 

 Stream: I am anxious 

 to try fly-fishing for shad. 

 Will some one be kind 

 enough to give me 

 through your valuable i 

 columns, a few points 

 about flies, tackle, weather and best time to fish?— W. 

 W. H. [We have published many articles on this sub- 

 ject during the past ten years. See our issue of March 29.] 



FISH LAWS AT ALBANY. 



ALBANY, April 12.— Although an unusually large number of 

 game bills have been introduced in the Senate and As- 

 sembly, yet only two or three of them have passed one house. 



The Senate committee on game laws has reported Senator Fo- 

 ley's bill relating to fish hatcheries in the Adirondacks. 



Mr. Prime's bill (for the game laws committee) providing for 

 the appointment of 15 game and fish inspectors, for as many 

 districts in the State, has passed the Assembly. 



The committee on game laws in the Senate did not make any 

 report during the past week. In the Assembly the committee 

 reported the Aldrich bill relating to fishing through the ice in 

 Lake George; also the Hunting bill prohibiting the shooting of 

 ducks, etc., from steamers in Peconic and Gardiner's bays. 



A very important bill for the erection of fish hatcheries by the 

 several towns in this State has been introduced by Assemblyman 

 Brownell, which is said to cover more especially a fish hatchery 

 at Indian Lake, Hamilton county. It provides as follows: 



Sec, 1. The electors of any town of this State are hereby author- 

 ized to vote, by resolution at the annual town meeting held in 

 their respective towns, for the purchase of a site and the erection 

 of a fish hatchery thereon, a sum of money not exceeding $800. 



Sec. 2. Upon the erection of such fish hatchery in any" town as 

 provided by this act, the electors of such town may also by resolu- 

 tion vote at each annual town meeting a sum not to exceed $200, 

 to be expended under the direction of the supervisor of such town 

 for the purpose of the propagation of fish for stocking the waters 

 of such town. Such supervisor shall account annually to the 

 board of towu auditors for all moneys received and paid out by 

 him under the provisions of this act. 



Sec. 3. The action of the electors of any town heretofore taken 

 at an annual town meeting in voting by resolution any sum of 

 money not exceeding $800 for the purpose of erecting a fish 

 hatchery is hereby in all respects legalised, ratified and con- 

 firmed, and such resolution is hereby declared to have, and at the 

 time of its adoption to have had the same force and effect as if 

 it had been adopted under the provisions of this act. 



Sec. 4. Nothing in this act contained shall affect any action or 

 legal proceeding now pending. 

 Sec. 5. This act shall take effect immediately. 

 Albany, April 16.— Both Senator Vedder and Assemblyman 

 Prime, the chairmen of the game law committees in the Senate 

 and Assembly respectively, are of the opinion that it is very much 

 better to leave the game laws about where they are than it is to 

 agitate the question of very much change. There has been little 

 effort on either part to secure much legislation. The Assembly 

 committee, however, has reported a number of bills during the ' 

 past week. Among them were the following: Mr. Maynard's to 

 facilitate the ingress of fish into Chittenango Creek. The original 

 bill compelled owners to put in a dam. But, on investigation, it 

 was found that all similar dams had been put in atthe expense of 

 the State and so a substitute for the bill was prepared and 

 reported which appropriates $1,000 of State money to meet the 

 expenses. The second bill reported was McAdams' amendment 

 to the general game law of 1879 still further amended by the com- 

 mittee so as to make the close season for duck, brant, etc., from 

 March to September. The third bill was Mr. Sheehan's amend- 

 ment to the same law, allowing Pike, etc., taken outside of the 

 State to be sold within the State. The fourth bill was Seavers's 

 for the protection of fish in Lake Ontario along the northern bor- 

 der of Cayuga county. The fifth bill was reported adversely. It 

 was Mr. Piatt's, exempting Dutchess county from the operation 

 of the game laws. The judiciary committee of the Senate has 

 reported Senator Murphy's bill amending the penal code in rela- 

 tion to dredging for oysters. 



