May 10, 1888.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



313 



friends, are exposed on the wall of ruv carriage-house — 

 which is always open. There are "strangers' rods" for 

 the use of visitors (some fifty or sixty come every week- 

 day to my grounds), and pirate rods which no one but 

 the owners ever fingers. There they hang, in all their 

 beauty and suggestiveness, exposed to the public road 

 for four months, and no one of the thousands of strangers 

 who ha ve viewed them has ever so much as taken one 

 down from the hooks to examine it. So my experience 

 with rods has been somewhat different from that of Mr. 

 Hutchinson. Is it not singular that his prophetic dream 

 did not prefigure the damage to his tackle, which, after 

 all, as the provisions were badly munched, was possibly 

 the work of an itinerate hedgehog! I trust that Mr. 

 Hutchinson's piece of ill luck will not deter those of gen- 

 tler instincts from seeking recreation amid the pines 

 and on the pebbly beaches of Sunapee. Anglers certainly 

 will not be indictable for infringement of "patent should 

 they adopt this new method of deep-water fishing. 



Dream No. 2.— Permit me to answer Mr. Hodge's 

 "brief statement" on p. 250 — that "the aureolas was 

 caught in Sunapee Lake in large numbers before the in- 

 troduction of land locked salmon"— with a counter state- 

 ment equally brief: There is absolutely no evidence that 

 this new trout existed in Sunapee Lake before the intro- 

 duction of landlocked salmon. Commissioner Hodge first 

 saw the lake in 18815, when he leased from me the right to 

 build a hatchery on my place — at this time he did not 

 suspect the presence of a distinct species of trout. After 

 five years' acquaintance with the lake, the Colonel ex- 



Eects us to believe that he is personally familiar with the 

 ist thirty-five years of its history, and that he is justified in 

 making the monstrous statement above emoted. The in- 

 telligent angling world has had all of this kind of logic 

 it can stand, viz.: I. Hodge, think so; therefore, it Ms so. 

 ' Give us something new, Colonel; the old chestnut is a 

 weariness to the flesh. John D. Quackenbos. 

 New York, April JJ3. 



THOSE WARY CARP. rr ~T\< 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



My purpose is to seek information rather than im- 

 part it. 



At the Caton stock farm. Will county, 111., we have a 

 fish pond well stocked with German carp, which were 

 introduced seven years ago. The pond is supplied with 

 water from an artesian well, which is more than 2,000ft. 

 deep and flows 100 gallons per minute. The overflow not 

 required for the use of the farm is discharged into the 

 pond, this may amount to the half of the quantity above 

 stated. The water when it issues from the will is of a 

 temperature of 65° and has a very appreciable trace of 

 sulphur a.nd iron. The gas showing the presence of 

 sulphur soon disappears upon exposure to the atmos- 

 phere. 



In the fall of 1885 the pond was drawn off and the large 

 fish taken out and placed in a tank supplied with water 

 from this well to be there kept for future use. The next 

 morning all were dead, while in the pond the fish had 

 always been in apparent health. The gases which had 

 killed the fish in the tank had evaporated from the pond. 

 All kinds of stock prefer this water as it issues from the 

 well, and during the great drouth of 1887 almost seemed 

 to live upon it. They all kept in good condition when 

 the pastures were quite bare of grasses and only noxious 

 weeds were to be found. A large part of the time was 

 spent by the stock around the watering troughs, and it 

 was evident that an unusual quantity of water was con- 

 sumed by them. I mention this t:> show that water 

 which was fatal to the fish was healthy and eagerly 

 sought for by land animals. 



Now, what I want to know is, how can I catch these 

 fish without drawing off the pond? Without the means 

 of doing tliis they are of little value to the farmer for 

 domestic use. But for the little fellows the larger ones 

 might be taken with the hook, at least occasionally. The 

 moment a properly baited hook is dropped in the water 

 it is surrounded by a great multitude of little fishes which 

 denude the hook of the bait before a large fish discovers 

 it. Of course, fingerlings are frequently hooked, and 

 perhaps one fair-sized fish is hooked in a year, but that 

 is the extent. 



I have faithfully tried the gill-net, the pocket-net and 

 the drag-net persistently, but never has a fish been .taken 

 by these means. The truth is these fish are smarter than 

 I am. But few land animals have the cunning which 

 they have to avoid the toils set for them. There are an 

 abundance of large fish in the pond, for they are fre- 

 quently seen twenty-four or more inches long. ' The bot- 

 tom and sides of the poni are of blue clay, and in this 

 they root like hogs in a potato field. In this exercise 

 they seem to especially delight, and so the water is kept 

 more or less roily during the summer, though at times 

 good views into the water are obtained. For instance, 

 when the first gill-net was stretched nearly across the 

 pond with two and one-half inches mesh, Mr. McKinna, 

 the • farm manager, lay quietly watching the result. 

 After the water had cleared away, so as to give him a 

 fair view, he saw a carp which he judged would 

 weigh fifteen pounds, cautiously approach the net and 

 feel of it, or as he expressed it, smell of it ; and so he 

 went along feeling his way, till he passed out of sight. 

 Evidently the meshes were too small for that fish, though 

 as there were plenty of. smaller in the pond, the size of 

 the mesh could not have been the reason why some were 

 not taken. 



However, after three weeks' trial with the first, I got 

 another gill-net with 4in. meshes; but with no better suc- 

 cess. I then tried a pocket or bag-net, with the same 

 result. Extra weights were attached to these nets, so as 

 to fairly settle them in the soft mud bottom. And yet 

 the large fish certainly passed them to reach the feeding 

 place, for it was surrounded by the net, and yet they 

 appeared there, if not as abundantly as usual, still a con- 

 . siderable number of good-sized fish were there- They 

 buiTOwed in the soft mud under the net I In no other 

 possible way could they have passed it. The drag-net 

 was tried with no better success. 



Well, I say we are fairly beaten by what, I venture to 

 say, is the smartest fish known, at least to me. 



Much has been published, not only in the periodical 

 journa's but in the reports of Fish Commissions, about 

 the German carp, and always with a laudatory recom- 

 mendation to. farmers in a small way and for their own 

 use; but not one word have I seen as to how they can be 

 taken for this domestic use. If they can only be taken 

 by drawing off the pond, they are of no practical use for 



mere domestic consumption. Can you help us out of this 

 dilemma? 



I might, and indeed I propose, unless you can suggest 

 something better, to make a small storage pond adjoin- 

 ing the main pond and connected with it by a pipe near 

 the bottom, in which the large fish can be place*d when 

 the pond is nearly emptied, but I feel by no means sure 

 that these cunning rascals will not beat me at that. If 

 the bottom of this storage pond is paved, for instance, so 

 that they cannot hide in mud and so escape the drag-net, 

 I much doubt if they would do well through the many 

 months it would be necessary to keep them there, no 

 matter how carfully and abundantly they might be fed, 

 and certain it is that without free access to the soft mud 

 they could not winter there. In the spring they must be 

 poor, during the summer they must get fat and in the 

 fall will be in their best condition. The best results mobt 

 likely may be expected when they are kept io the large 

 pond, if only they can be taken when wanted. This 

 wanting, I fear we must abandon the carp and try some 

 other more stupid fish, that cannot beat us in a trial of 

 wits, perhaps the catfish. John Dean Caton. 



MoNTEiticy, Cal. 



[There are so many carp ponds in this country, and pre- 

 sumably so many large carp have been caught, that 

 Judge Caton should by this inquiry gain the information 

 he is seeking. Ths California way is to shoot the big 

 fish. Mi". J. M. Stephenson, a sportsman who lives on the 

 Sacramento River, told a reporter of the Sacramento 

 Record-Union that he had read the account of a Georgia 

 sportsman, published in Forest and Stream, who went 

 out to shoot plover and came across two carp which he 

 shot; and he went on to say that the sport of shooting 

 carp with a rifle is not a new one in his neighborhood. 

 Last week his son went out and killed sixteen in one day, 

 none of them weighing less than 71bs. In fact he would 

 not shoot the small one's. Last season a party went out 



• from this place and killed 6001be. in one day on the over- 

 .flow of Pitt Lake. Mr. Stephenson describes the sport as 

 wonderfully exciting and interesting to the sportsman 



. who knows how to handle a rifle. The water on the over- 

 flow is how about eight inches deep and the season for 

 carp shooting is at its height. If any of the Sacramento 

 sportsmen want to try their hand on carp they should 

 call at Mr. Stephenson's place and they will be directed 

 to the hunting grounds.] 



NEW ENGLAND ANGLING. 



I)EFORE this article reaches the eye of the reader of 

 ) the Forest and Stream the trout and landlocked 

 salmon season will have opened legally in Maine, New 

 Hampshire and Vermont. May 1 the law is off, but the 

 principal lakes and streams in the northern and eastern 

 portion of these States are usually protected a number of 

 days later by nature. The ice and snow are not gone, 

 and such is the case this year. In fact April has been a 

 very cold and backward month. Oscar Cutting and 

 Wiiliam Akers, two well known guides on Richardson 

 Lake, were in Boston last week, and they report the snow 

 still two feet deep in Andover, Me., and three or four feet 

 in the lake region. They say that the ice cannot possibly 

 leave the Androscoggin lakes before the 10th of May, and 

 probably not before the loth. Capt. Fred C. Barker is re- 

 ported as believing that the ice will be very late in leaving 

 Rangeley and Mooselucmaguntic lakes. Still, he has not 

 said the same to m;, and it is possible that he may have 

 been misreported. The Phillips Phonograph believes that 

 the ice will be out by the 13th. The average departure of 

 the ice from those lakes is about the 13th. that is, such 

 has been the average during the past 10 years. But way 

 back in the sixties it is reported to have gone out one 

 year on the 20th of April. In 1886 the upper lakes were 

 clear on the 4th and Richardson Lake was clear two days 

 later. Last year, however, the ice did not leave these 

 waters till the 13th. I give considerable space to discuss- 

 ing the possibilities of the departure of the ice from the 

 Maine lakes, but those who understand the amount of 

 interest there is in the subject to the New England sports- 

 men will readily appreciate the situation. The news of 

 the leaving of the ice is always the signal for sportsmen 

 to take the first trains. Indeed prominent fishermen for 

 trout have frequently departed before the news came, in 

 order to be the first there. 



This year the interest, from a Boston standpoint, is 

 hardly as great as usual. Considerable dissatisfaction 

 has sprung up in regard to the fishing in Maine. The re- 

 peated reports of poaching and taking trout by unsport- 

 manlike means have had an effect on the ardor of the 

 Boston sportsman, and the result is the formation of at 

 least two prominent sporting societies, for the purpose of 

 controlling lands and lakes and streams in the Provinces. 

 There better fishing is hoped for and for this year, at least, 

 the interest promises to be divided between the Maine 

 waters and the waters of Canada and New Brunswick. 

 A large number of members and shareholders have been 

 secured in these sporting clubs, and it is no more than 

 natural that gentlemen should frequent the waters where 

 they hold an interest by having paid for it. But at the 

 same time the Maine waters may not now be as badly over- 

 run or over-fished as for the past four or five years, and 

 the day of better things may be on the way. But the 

 Forest and Stream is laboring for the only true doctrine 

 — trout enough for the camp table. When the lovers of 

 rod and reel come to that belief, and cease to kill trout for 

 numbers and to send home as poor, and sometimes stink- 

 ing, trophies, then there will be trout enough in any of 

 the Maine waters for all who will desire to frequent them. 



Much interest is manifested in the salmon pool at Ban- 

 gor, Maine, below the dam, which has become so famous 

 within a couple of years. It is a curious feature that the 

 salmon had commenced rising on April 27 this year, Mr. 

 Fred Ayer, of Bangor salmon fame, having taken one of 

 some 191bs., and another gentleman another. On Monday 

 several Boston sportsmen were ready to start, but a spe- 

 cial, by telegraph, from Mr. Ayer to Henry C. Litchfield, 

 dispelled the pleasing idea.- The dispatch said that^the 

 water was almost up to the freshet pitch and still rising, 

 and no fishing. It is also true that the water is bound to 

 be high at that point for a couple of weeks, unless a tre- 

 mendous freshet makes short work of sending down the 

 vast body of snow water there is in the woods above; or 

 that possibly very cold and freezing weather may stop the 

 process of melting. As it is the salmon fishermen have 

 generally given up the early hopes that the story of early 

 salmon inspired. Later the run at Bangor is expected to 

 be an improvement over last year. 



There is also a good deal of interest in the landlocked 

 salmon in the Sebago waters. This fishing usually begins 

 several days earlier than the trout fishing in the lakes 

 further north, for the good reason that the ice leaves the 

 Sebago waters several days earlier. The landlockers fol- 

 low up the smelt, when they seek the streams to spawn, 

 and at that time there is much sport iivtrolling. Commis- 

 sioners Stilwell and Stanley are usually there, and both 

 have records for large fish. Portland, Saco and Biddeford 

 sportsmen are also annual visitors to the Sebago. The 

 salmon fishing is usually at its height for a week, begin- 

 ning soon after the ice goes out. Then it dies away, and 

 finally is done for the season. Not much success has yet 

 been achieved in taking these noble fish with the fly. 

 There is a theory, and doubtless it is a true one, that the 

 fish have year after year been drawn upon so hard at the 

 spawning season, by poaching from small streams where 

 they ascend to breed, that the supply has been kept down, 

 so that there is really little chance for fly-fishing. It is a. 

 theory of the Maine Commissioners that the great majority 

 of the large salmon ascend these streams regularly in 

 autumn, and that it is not a difficult matter to destroy 

 nearly the entire stock at that time. There is evidently 

 food enough for a great stock of fish in those waters, and 

 protection at the breeding season would evidently tend to 

 greatly increase them. But the conditions are rather dis- 

 couraging when an armed band of robbers turn out in the 

 nighttime, and with blackened and masked faces demand 

 that the keeper of hatching works on one of the best of 

 these streams — demand that he make no resistance— and 

 then proceed to break up the weir across the stream. 

 Then after taking all the breeding fish their wagons will 

 hold, they turn the rest loose, in order that they may go 

 up stream for then- neighbors to steal, and take' their de- 

 parture. Such was the fact in Maine last November, at 

 the hatching works at Ede3 Falls. Such are some of the 

 discouragements the Maine Commissioners have had to 

 encounter, all of which the readers of the Forest and 

 Stream have been informed about at the time. It need 

 only be added here that people who desire to take trout 

 or landlocked salmon at the breeding season are about as 

 filthy as they are ignorant and covetous. An Indian eats 

 the eggs of the wild fowl from the time they are laved 

 till the chicks are grown and hatched , and the same people, 

 with those of lighter skin, hut equally disgusting in their 

 habits, desire to feed on salmon and trout when the cav- 

 ities of the body of the male fish are full to bursting with 

 milt and those of the female with spawn. It is hard to 

 bring such people to see that there are better ways in the 

 management of things than to destroy breeding fish and 

 game simply because it can be done with little trouble. 



The Bangor salmon fishing opened again on Saturday, 

 after the lull caused by the high water of the early part 

 of the week. A letter to H. C. Litchfield says, that five 

 were caught on that day and that there is great excite- 

 ment in Bangor. The letter also invites Boston sports- 

 men t6 come and participate in the sport. As already 

 stated the season is ealier than last year, but there is not 

 the least reason in the world why it should not hold out 

 fully as late. This salmon pool is a great boon to Ban- 

 gor, and thousands participate in the fun. All sorts of 

 outfits are on hand, and some of the crudest of boats are 

 to be foimd stemming the boiling water. It is a virtue of 

 such crafts that they are generally as safe and strong and 

 staunch as they are clumsy, else the loss of life might come 

 in to vary the programme. On some days last season 

 twenty or thirty salmon were taken, and almost every 

 day double the number taken were hooked and lost. The 

 idea of attempting to land a twenty-pound salmon with a 

 juniper pole and fifteen feet of ordinary twine! But 

 such outfits hooked salmon last year and lost them, of 

 course, though not always. Again the best outfit of 

 tackle that could be selected from the best tackle*store in 

 Boston hooked a salmon and lost him. Such is the fun. 



The ice still holds firm in the Maine trout lakes, and all 

 the reports indicate cold, backward weather. But the 

 interest with Boston sportsmen increases as the month of 

 May wears away. Special. 



THE FLY-CASTING TOURNAMENT. 



r I^HE next fly- casting tournament of the National Rod 

 X and Reel Association will be held at Central Park, 

 New York city, May 23. Secretary G. Poey reports that 

 more than $100 worth of prizes have come in already. 

 They comprise: 



Split-bamboo fly-rod, value $35; given by Tlios. J. Conroy, 65 

 Fulton street, New York. 



One hundred "Forest and Stream" cigars, value $7; Wm. Eggert 

 & Co., 345 Pearl street. New York. 



One thousand satin straight cigarettes, value $7; Wm. S. Kim- 

 ball Co., Rochester. N. Y. 



Two sets luminous bait, value about $25; Enterprise Manu- 

 facturing Co., Akron, O. 



Leonard split-bamboo rod, Fitch handle, value 835: Levison fly- 

 book, value $7; dorsal-fin net ring and handle, $3; Wm. Mills & 

 Sons, 7 Warren street. New York. 



Hexagonal split-bamboo fly-rod with patent cork handle, Ger- 

 man silver trimminffs, and Orvis patent reel seat, value $21; C. F. 

 Orvis, Manchester, Vt. 



Two rod canes, each value $3; Syracuse Split-Bamboo Rod Co., 

 Syracuse, N. Y. 



Black bass rubber and nickel reel, value SO, and line for same, 

 value $8; Von Lengerke & Detmold. 8 Murray street, New York. 



Rubber minnow casting reel, value $15; Ed. Yom Hof e, 97 Ful- 

 ton street, New York. 



Gogebic grilse reel, $3.50; Gogebic sea-fishing reel, $3.25; Goge- 

 bic trout reel, $1.75; three Gogebic brass reels, $2 each; Meissel- 

 bach & Bro„ Newark. N. J. 



Two epauleted ventilated coats, velvet collars, each $7; Jas. J. 

 Byers Epauleted Ventilation Co., City. 



Set trolling spoons and rubber bailE, $10; Ohas. Plath & Sons 

 130 Canal street, City 



Four subscriptions to Forest and Streaji and subscriptions to 

 other papers. 



A Fift y-Po und Muskallonge.— We have received 

 from Mr. Geo. S. Marsh, General Passenger Agent of the 

 M. L, S. & W. Railway, a photograph of a 501b. muskal- 

 longe caught in the Eagle Waters. The length of the 

 fish was 4ft. llin., and the girth 2ft. 4in. He is a formi- 

 dable looking fellow, even stuffed and fitted with glass 

 eyes, and his, fellows are waiting in the Eagle Waters to 

 avenge his death by tearing to tatters the tackle of am- 

 bitious anglers. 



Jock's Lake in the Adirondacks will have added ac- 

 comodations for anglers this season. The route is by 

 way of Prospect, where train is trken. A. D. Barlow, 

 Jr., of the Lake, thinks that the icp will be out May 15. 



Tyngsboro, Mass., is rejoicing over the discovered 

 presence of mirror carp in one of its ponds. The owner 

 of the pond has been offered a large price for the control 

 of the fishing in it, 



