July 13, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



493 



The scenery of the Rangeley Lakes has not heen in- 

 jured to any extent by the rising of the waters. In a 

 few places for a short distance the trees that fringe the 

 lake shores haTe been killed, but to offset this the lakes 

 have been very considerably enlarged, the waters cover- 

 ing many unsightly places and largely increasing the 

 feeding grounds for the fish. As stump willows or 

 willows of any other description never grew around 

 the lake shores or anywhere in the lake region, it is a 

 conundrum to me how they could have been injured. 

 But this is another of Mr. Clarke's facts (?) and as false as 

 the rest of his assertions. Neither are the shores lined 

 with "decayed spruce trees" from the fact that the num- 

 ber of spruce trees that grew around the lake shores was 

 very small, the principal growth around the shores being 

 cedar, white birch and poplar. Mr. Clarke's ignorance 

 of the subject on which he writes is as amusing as his 

 false statements arc provoking. Good fishing at the 

 Rangeley Lakes is not played out, but the trouble with 

 Mr. Clarke is that he is played out at the Rangeley Lakes, 

 and if he can get along without the Rangeley Lakes, the 

 Rangeley Lakes can very well get along without him. 



The New Hampshire Legislature at its last session 

 passed an excellent law, that no person should carry 

 away more than ten pounds of speckled trout or land- 

 locked salmon, not of each kind, but of the two taken 

 together, and it would be a very good thing for Maine 

 fishing waters if the next Legislature of Maine would 

 pass the same law, or at least cut the amount now 

 allowed, 501bs., down to 25lbs. It would also be a good 

 thing if the Maine Fish Commissioners would visit the 

 Rangeley Lakes once in a while dxiring the fishing sea- 

 son and watch the management of the water. T think they 

 might see some things in connection with it that woidd 

 at least call for a protest if nothing more. These lakes 

 are the finest fishing grounds in New England, and it 

 would be a profitable enterprise for the State of Maine to 

 appropriate sufficient funds each year to annually stock 

 the waters with large numbers of small trout and land- 

 locked salmon. CHAS. A. J. Farrar. 



Pohtland, Mo., July 2. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I returned Saturday, June 80, from my annual fishing 

 trip to Kineo, Moosehead Lake, Me. Arrived there June 

 l<5 and found the lake very high, but it had not made 

 any difference in the fishing, as up to that time more fish 

 had been taken than during the same time for a good 

 many years. There were no black flies on the lake this 

 year, and one could be as comfortable as at his own 

 home, and get splendid fishing besides. Have kept an 

 accurate score of fish taken during my stay there in June 

 for the past five years, and am satisfied that the fishing 

 is growing better every year in regard to numbers and 

 weight. Moosehead is truly a great lake for trout, and 

 with the splendid accommodations at the Mt. Kineo 

 House and the best of guides, what more could be de- 

 sired? 



The trout began taking the fly this year about June 1, 

 and fly-fishing continued to be good all the time I was 

 there; in fact the best fishing was the last week in June. 

 The fish that one will take with the fly in June will 

 average Hlbs., and for sure fly-fishing I know of no bet- 

 ter place. 



I have been very much interested in the articles writ- 

 ten by your conespondent "Special" about Maine fishing, 

 but he must be misinformed in regard to Moosehead 

 when he says that a S^lbs. trout is a large one to be taken 

 with the fly in that lake. 



As I never fish in any other way than with the fly I 

 give you my score of trout taken the past two seasons of 

 21bs. * and above. In 1887—2 of 21bs. each, 2 of 2Hbs. 

 each, 1 of 241bs., I of Sflbs., 1 of 31bs., 1 of 3£lbs. and 1 

 of 4f lbs. In 1888—3 of 21bs. each, 1 of 2£lbs., 1 of 2|lbs., 

 1 of Sflbs., 1 of 3Hbs. and 1 of 3pbs< The largest trout 

 (8. fontinalis) brought into Kineo during my stay in 

 the "past five years weighed albs, and was taken with the 

 fly by E. H. "VVhite, of Meriden, Ct.; the next largest was 

 taken by the writer in 1887, of 4|lbs. 



The above fish were all accurately weighed, and my ex- 

 perience has been that fully as large fish are taken with 

 the fly in Moosehead Lake as are taken in any other way 

 of fishing, but perlraps a season's catch with the fly 

 would not average quite as large as a season's catch with 

 bait. 



The most taking flies in June are the scarlet-ibis, griz- 

 zly-king, silver-doctor, quack-doctor, Montreal and the 

 various hackles. 



The above flies should be tied on No. 5 or G sproat 

 hooks for those waters. So little reliable information 

 can be learned, of even our best known fishing resorts, 

 I have written the above thinking it might be of interest- 

 to some of your readers who contemplate visiting Moose- 

 head Lake. * N. A. Plcmmer. 



BrATTLHBOBO, VI., July 2. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Kit Clarke says good fishing at Rangeley Lakes is a 

 tiling of the past. How does he know ? Has he tried the 

 fishing this season, or does he get his information from 

 some one who had poor success, or would not be satisfied 

 with good fishing? I will state for a fact, and think I 

 can prove it to the satisfaction of any true sportsman, 

 that the fishing has been better this season than for sev- 

 eral years. I have been located here for twenty-six years, 

 and have heard the least fault found with poor fishing I 

 have ever heard, More large trout and landlocked sal- 

 mon have been caught this season than I have known be- 

 fore. Two sportsmen took sixty trout with flies, in the 

 big lake, in one day last week, and two others took 

 seventy in the same lake on the same day, near Beamis 

 Stream. I do not feel disposed to call such fishing as that 

 a thing of the past. I do not vouch for the fishing in the 

 lower lakes and at the Upper Dam, where the jigging pro- 

 cess, the villainous gang hook and the marauding of 

 spawning beds is the modus operandi. 



C. T. Richardson. 



Indian Rock, Me., July 6. 



The Largest Salmon.— Chicago, June 25. — Editor 

 Forest and Stream: Messrs. A. Booth & Son, the well- 

 known dealers in fish in this city, display a huge salmon 

 in their show windows, with the following placard 

 attached to same: "Largest salmon ever caught; weight 

 8Hlbs." How do the records stand on this question? Is 

 this the largest salmon ever caught? — Inquirer. 



SEA BASS OFF LONG BEACH. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Last Friday Col. Hugh R. Garden, of the Sawyer-Mann 

 Electric Light Co., asked me to come down to Long 

 Beach for a day's fishing. I left Long Island City by 

 the 0:30 A.M. train next morning, and in less than a 

 couple of hours had stowed away a good breakfast at the 

 hotel and boarded Capt. Van Wyck's schooner. We beat 

 out of the inlet, put out three squids and cruised for an 

 hour or so, taking a couple of two-pound bluefish. By 

 this time a strange catboat, whose society the Captain did 

 not like, had gone off about its own affairs, so presently 

 we went about) the lines sagged, and when they were 

 taut again there was a sea bass on one of the hooks. We 

 cast anchor and began to get them in. 1 was fishing with 

 a light stiff rod and Mr. Garden had a couple of Leonard 

 bass rods. We twisted a ring out of the wire from a 

 bottle of Appollinaris, whittled a short top out of a bit 

 of pine, whipped the who on and then there was a 

 chance to strike. We fished with two-ounce sinkers in 

 about eight fathoms of water, with two good-sized hooks 

 on wire snells. 



The Captain looked after me, Ms man "Dave" after 

 Mr. Garden, and all hands were kept busy, for when we 

 counted the spoil, being fairly weary of winding in, there 

 were by actual count seventy -eight sea bass, averaging 

 from five pounds and a half down to a pound or so, and 

 there then were a couple of dozen between two and three 

 pounds. I got tired winding in and rigged up the other 

 Leonard and had some sport, stripping the line in with my 

 right hand, although I could not strike with the same 

 certainty as when using the stiff rod. Captain Van 

 Wyck knows where to go; Ms schooner is forty-five feet 

 over all, so there is lots of room to move about, and both 

 he and his son are clever, companionable folk who will 

 earn the ten dollars which he charges for the day. I've 

 got a notion of taking down a gallon of menhaden oil and 

 casting the same upon the waters some other day. The 

 fishing ground is about tMee miles from shore, and it 

 might get the bluefish round. Has this oil business been 

 tried ? Or how could we get menhaden to Long Beach ? 



Gray John. 



THE SALMON FISHING. 



METAPEDIA, July 2.— Editor Forest and Stream : You 

 often hear of the finest fishing in the world at many 

 different places. Look at this one. Last week the ship- 

 ment of anglers' catch, via express from Metapedia to 

 U. S., was 135 boxes, many of them, of course, two fish, 

 but many four and six, and some eight. The shipment 

 this morning is 40 boxes. There have been in the last 

 week nearly 100 rods of the River Restigouche and its 

 branches. The fish average about 211bs. ; 30, 32 and 341bs. 

 fish are not uncommon, and one of 461bs. has been caught. 

 Some rods, having better places than others, and also 

 knowing better how to kill as well as hook a fish, are 

 doing better than others, and run a score of five, six and 

 eight fish per day. As for trout, they are not counted 

 in; in fact the first salmon completely spoils a trout fish- 

 erman. Of course the Restigouche Salmon Club own 

 nearly all the waters; still there are a few spots left 

 where a fish can be caught. If there is any place, 

 either on this continent or in Europe, like the Resti- 

 gouche for salmon angling, please inform your readers 

 where it is. M. 



Weakfish in Jamaica Bay.— One of the handiest 

 spots to reach for New Yorkers who want salt-water fish- 

 ing is Jamaica Bay, on the south western end of Long 

 Island. The advance guard of the weakfish are now 

 there, and within a fortnight the fishing promises to be 

 excellent. The Long Island Railroad runs trains to Rock- 

 away Beach, via Woodhaven, and this branch crosses 

 Jamaica Bay on a great trestle, on which is a station 

 called Broad Channel, established especially for fisher- 

 men. This is the place to get off, and Broad Channel is 

 the channel to fish in. Anglers must not take the Far 

 Rockaway branch, via Lawrence, but must go from 

 Woodhaven direct to Rockaway Beach. This route is 

 not on the general time table of the railroad. It is about 

 an hour's ride from Brooklyn or Long Island City. Some 

 t rains stop at the station, others do not; be sure to get on 

 one that does. Boats are' there at fifty cents a day. Meals 

 at Chas. Fuller's hotel cost forty cents. Shrimp bait is 

 there in abundance. Messrs. Reynolds and son, and Mr. 

 Weeks, of Brooklyn, fished at this point one day last 

 week, and in two hours of low Avater took 171 weakfish 

 of good size. The fishing for weakfish and bluefish is re- 

 ported to be growing better every day. 



Fishing off New York Docks.— Forty years ago there 

 was good fishing from the docks of New York and fine 

 striped bass were freely taken, especially at the Battery. 

 As the city grew and the water became fouler the fishing 

 ceased. Of late fishermen have found out that at the 

 upper end of the city, on the North River side, there are a 

 few bass to be taken. This week a man took four striped 

 bass of lib. each, at the foot of 138th street, and three 

 more were taken from the cinder banks north of the 

 Manhattan Iron Works. It is estimated that at least sixty 

 bass were taken between the cinder banks and Spuyten 

 Duyvil on Sunday last. 



Fishing Records.— For the benefit of anglers Spaulding 

 Bros., on Broadway, New York, have opened a register, 

 in which fishermen may write a faithful report of the 

 number of fish caught, the condition of the tides, moon, 

 clouds, atmosphere, etc., at the time they were caught. 

 A chart locating the various ocean wrecks will be pasted 

 in front part of the book. Anglers are requested to w rite 

 full particulars about the kind of bait used, and in every 

 other way assist brother anglers in making future fishing 

 excursions successful. Knights of the rod and reel are 

 indebted to Mr. Geo. Paddock for this interesting idea. 



"The Giants of the Weeklies" is the becoming title of a 

 most attractive pamphlet, prepared and published by Mr. W. F. 

 Hardenbrook, the well-known newspaper advertising agent, 

 whose office is at No. 168 Washington street, Chicago. The con- 

 siderations presented in its pages for advertising in weekly 

 journals in preference to other publications are cogent and con- 

 vincing. 



SHAD IN THE HUDSON. 



TROY, N. Y.. July 7. -Editor Forest and Stream: In 

 your issue of July 5 you quote from the Troy Times 

 my article "Shad in the Hudson," and also Mr. Cheney's 

 repl y thereto. As the subject is one which may interest your 

 readers, will you please in the same connection insert my 

 reply to Mr. Cheney's article, which reply was published in 

 the Times of June 9, and which is as follows: 



Away from home at the time Mr. Cheney's article appeared 

 in the Zwies of Tuesday last, I did not read it until my 

 return, and on that account have not replied to it before. It 

 will be remembered that in my former article the objection 

 made to the system of shad culture followed by the New 

 York State Fish Commissioners was on account of their con- 

 fining their operations to the sluggish water of the Hudson 

 at Catskill Creek for the setting free of the shad fry, instead 

 of their liberation in the highly-aerated water of the Upper 

 Hudson, and not the work done by the United States Fish 

 Commission. 



But the statement of Mr. Cheney suggests that the better 

 rule has been followed by the United States Commissioners 

 in planting in the upper waters of the Hudson some millions 

 of young shad. And here again comes another question as 

 to whether this procedure has resulted in any benefit to the 

 stocking of the Hudson at all; if it has or not depends en- 

 tirely upon the fact whether the young shad turned loose by 

 the United States Commissioners belonged to the Hudson 

 River family of this fish, or the Potomac, the Chesapeake or 

 Delaware rivers. If they belonged to either of the latter 

 they would affiliate with their family on their return the 

 following year, and while it might help the Potomac, Chesa- 

 peake, or Delaware rivers, it would do but little for the Hud- 

 sou. 



All migratory fishes of the shad aud herring family 

 (< 'lupeidw), and also the salmon classed with the former as 

 the Physostomi, are assumed from their origin to have their 

 habitat in the deep waters of the ocean. "This is inferred 

 from their obvious descent from the Tlirissopidea of the 

 Oolitic period, their having a dense, heavy muscular tissue, 

 and the fact that they still retain through life an air passage 

 or kind of windpipe connecting the swim-bladder with the 

 throat. 



From their home deep in the ocean all of the shad return 

 to our coast to spawn in families, and from the St. John's 

 River in Florida to the Connecticut River, each of these 

 families are distinct and well defined. So much so is this 

 the case that we never find shad of the Connecticut family 

 mingling with those of the Hudson , nor vice versa. It does 

 not require much of a naturalist to tell a St. John's River 

 shad from a Potomac River shad, or to tell a shad from any 

 of the Southern rivers from a Connecticut River or a Hud- 

 son River shad. These family affinities are so well estab- 

 lished that a young Potomac River shad if put into the 

 Hudson must on its return to the ocean rejoin its relatives 

 there, and it would obviously come back with them to the 

 Potomac on the succeeding year; so that it is an open ques- 

 tion whether the putting of young Potomac shad in the Hud- 

 son adds anything to the shad stock of the latter river, and 

 from a naturalist's point of view it would not, for the same 

 law that led them to arrange themselves in families at the 

 start would teud to their continuance as such. 



With the salmon this tendeney to family association is 

 sometimes closely adhered to, and in other cases it is not. Iu 

 some of the Canada waters, even where two rivers unite by 

 a common mouth, there is a family of salmon for each 

 branch, and the fry of one branch of the river being placed 

 in the other branch will not return to the one wherein 

 placed, but to the one where its family belongs. Here in the 

 Hudson we have seen Kennebec salmon become enough 

 suited with the Hudson to return to it, weighing from eight 

 to ten pounds, and then again weighing from twenty to 

 twenty-five pounds, with evidences of a lusty development, 

 and the best of tendencies to obtain a large growth. We 

 may reasonably infer from these facts that the "Hudson fur- 

 nishes good conditions for the development of salmon, and 

 that it is only a question of fish ways and proper protection to 

 make this most delicious of food fishes abundant under the 

 continued and well-directed work of Fred Mather, acting 

 for the United States Fish Commission. W. E. H. 



THE NEW YORK COMMISSION.— Last week the Gov- 

 ernor appointed Mr. Henry Burden, of Troy, to be a Com- 

 missioner of fisheries in place of Mr. Roosevelt, resigned. 

 The board met in Albany on Friday last, and elected Mr. E. 

 G. Blackford as president; it now stands: E. Gr. Blackford, 

 President, New York; R. U. Sherman, New Hartford, On- 

 eida county; Wm. H. Bowman, Rochester; A. S. Joline, 

 Totteuville, Richmond county; Henry Burden, Troy. Thir- 

 teen game protectors were appointed, among them a few of 

 the old ones, but there are still several vacancies, as well as 

 that of the chief game protector, who has not yet been 

 selected. 



Dogs: Thei r Management a nd Trea tment in Disease. By 

 Ashmont. Price p. Kennel Record and, Account Book. 

 Price p. Training vs. Breaking. By S. T. Hammond. 

 Price $1. First Lessons in Dog Training, with Points of 

 all Breeds. Price 25 cents. 



F I XTU RES. 



DOG SHOWS. 



Aug. 27 to 31.— Toledo Dog Show, Toledo, O. II. 15. Cook, Super- 

 intendent. 



Aug. 29 to 31.— Third Annual Snow of the American Fox- 

 Terrier Club, at Saratoga Springs, N. Y. (Including all terriers. ) 

 Entries close Aug. 22. H. P. Frothingham, Secretary, 2 Wall 

 street. New York. , ' „. 



Sent, 4 to 7 — Second Annual Dog Show of the Michigan Kennel 

 Club, Detroit, Mich. H. E. Cook, .Superintendent. 



Sept. 11 to 11.— First Dog Sttow of the Buffalo International Fair 

 Association, at Buffalo. N. Y. C. W. Kobmson, Secretary. 



Sept. 18 to 21.— First Annual Dog Show of the Syracuse Kennel 

 Club, at Syracuse, N. Y. Howard B. Rathbone, Secretary, 



Sept. 24 to 27.— Fifth Dog Show at London, Ont. C.A.Stone 

 Superintendent. . , „ . 



Sept. 25 to 28. —Second Annual Dog Show ot the Bristol Park 

 Agricultural Society, Bristol, Conn. Entries close Sept. 22. C. 

 F. Barnes, Secretary. 



Oct. 9 to 12.— First Dog Show of the Virginia Field Sports Asso- 

 ciation, at Richmond, Va. B. H. Grundy, Secretary, Room 26, 

 Sharer Building. Eutries close Oct. 1. w 



Feb. 12 to 15, 1889.— Fifth Dog Show of the New Jersey Kennel 

 Club, at Jersey City, N. J. Geo. D. Wilms, Secretary, 142 Monti- 

 cello avenue, .lersey City, N. J. , - 



Feb. 19 to 22, 1889.- Thirteenth Annual Show of the Westminster 

 Kennel Club, New York. .Tames Mortimer, Superintendent. 



Feb. 26 to March 1, 1889.— Second Annual Show of the Renssalaer 

 Kennel Club, Troy, N. Y. Alba M. Ide. Secretary. 



March 5 to 8, 1889.— Second Annual Dog Show of the Albany 

 Kennel Club, at Albany, N. Y. Geo. B. Gallup, Secretary. 



March 12 to 15, 1889.— Second Annual Show of the Fort Schuyler 

 Kennel Club, Utiea, N. Y. James W. Dunlop, President. 



March 19 to 22, 1889.— First Annual Dog Show of the Maryland 

 Kenn-1 Club, at Baltimore, Md. W. S. Diffenderffer, Secretary. 



March 26 to 29, 1889.— First Annual Dog Show of the Massachu- 

 setts Kennel Club, at Lynn, Mass. D. A. Williams, Secretary. 



