90 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Aug. 25, 1887. 



them the pipe of peace we thanked them for their gener- 

 ous hospitality and Vid them good day. 



When we reached the solitude of our own tent we were 

 obliged to confess how very much we had been disap- 

 pointed. It had been remarked in my presence by Presi- 

 dent Lincoln "that if the Fifty-fifth only fight as well as 

 they feed they will do well!" And both of us rendered 

 honest tribute to the excellence of French cooking. Cap- 

 tain W. said, "I was never more deceived in my life. 

 Tasted more like rabbit." I replied, "Yes, or a gray squir- 

 rel." There was no disputing the fact. We never should 

 have known what we had been feeding on had we not 

 been told. 



Neither the Captain nor myself ever repeated the per- 

 formance or felt any desire to do so. I have, like old 

 Martin Luther, "a good old Protestant stomach." 



But I have given my reasons for my faith, and I say 

 with all sincerity that 'cat cooked by a Frenchman will 

 "lay over" pickerel any day, cooked as that monstrous 

 humbug of a fish generally is by a native born American. 



Capt. Clayton. 



THE LARGEST BLACK BASS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I see that the question of the ' 'largest black bass" is 

 again brought up for decision. In your issue of Aug. 18, 

 in reply to a correspondent, it is stated that the largest 

 small-mouth black bass on record was taken from Lake 

 Ronkonkomo and weighed 81bs. In speaking or writing 

 of this fish, as I have had occasion to do several times, I 

 have always accorded it the weight you give it, and my 

 information was gleaned from a letter to a public print 

 which stated under date of July 18, 1883: "I have had 

 the pleasure of seeing to-day the largest small-mouth 

 black bass taken from waters in this vicinity, and claimed 

 to be the largest recorded. When caught last night at 

 half -past eight o'clock it tipped the beam at a square 81bs. , 

 and after it had been out of the Avater nearly 24 hours it 

 was weighed at Mr. Eugene Blackford's stand and scaled 

 over Tibs." 



The writer further states that Mr. Blackford and Mr. 

 H. H. Thompson pronounced the fish a small-mouth bass. 

 Under date of July 24, 1883, Mr. H. H. Thompson pub- 

 lished a letter in regard to the same fish, in which he 

 stated: "Placed in the scales under my own eyes, with 

 the sparkling eyes of 'A. N. C in my imagination look- 

 ing through mine, the weight was carefully noted at 

 exactly 71bs." This was at Blackford's. In 1884 Mi-. 

 Thompson in commenting upon large black bass spoke of 

 the Ronkonkoma fish as a "71bs. bass." 



I believe I was the first to record a black bass (small- 

 mouth) approximating 81bs. in weight, and out of it grew 

 a correspondence w T hich caused Mr. Thompson to refer to 

 me by my initials as above, for it took me about three 

 years to convince liim that the trees up here bore bass of 

 71bs. and over. 



The first day of August, 1877, I caught a small-mouth 

 which at 5 A. M. weighed on steelyards 8+lbs. , but at 8 

 o'clock the evening of the same day weighed but 71bs. 

 14oz. , when placed in the scoop of three different sets of 

 grocer's scales. The latter weight is all I have ever 

 claimed for the fish. In September, 1884, I sent a small- 

 mouth black bass to Mr. Blackford and telegraphed 

 Foeest and Steeam that I had done so and that the fish 

 was at the disposal of the paper if it wished it, if not I 

 desired it to go to the Smithsonian. If you can borrow a 

 copy of Forest and Stream of Oct. 2, 1884, you will 

 find that the bass weighed S^lbs. I notified Mr.' Thomp- 

 son that I had sent the fish to Mr. Blackford and he saw 

 it weighed. Mr. Mather wrote me that the bass weighed 

 Sirlbs. at the market, and was forwarded to Washington, 

 where I presume there is a cast of it. A. N. Cheney. 



Glens Falls, N. Y., Aug. 21. 



An Allegheny River Resort.— Creighton, Pa., Aug. 

 9. — In compliance with your issue of July 28, 1 report that 

 the Jolly Hunting and Fishing Club was encamped last 

 September at West Hickory, on the Allegheny River, 

 about 27 miles above Oil City, and we caught black and 

 yellow bass and jack salmon in abundance. They were 

 as fine fish as I ever saw come out of the river. We used 

 worms, minnows, mussels and crabs for bait; we did not 

 use any flies. There is some trout in the small streams, 

 but as we were out of season for them we did not fish for 

 any. There are still a few deer there, and black and red 

 squirrels are in abundance.— S. S. Hudepohl, Sec'y. 



Sauk Center, Minn., Aug. 18.— Birch Lake is twelve 

 miles east of Sauk Center on the L. F. & D. R. R. It 

 abounds in pike, black bass, whitefish, pickerel, etc., and 

 is one of the most pleasant little sheets of water in Minne- 

 sota. One can reach it by taking train at Sauk Center at 

 10:07 A. M., and can return at 4:15 P. M. on the same day, 

 or, what is better, take tent and come out for a few days. 

 Two gentlemen from Cincinnati are making this lake 

 their headquarters for a while, and judging from the fine 

 looking string of fish they brought in on the west-bound 

 train the other night, my words are more than verified. — 

 Dell. 



Trout and Blaok Bass.— Winnipeg, Aug. 13. — Loon 

 Lake is a beautiful little lake some two miles in length 

 and located in the Nepigon region on the C. P. R. R. , six 

 miles west of Pearl River, and is, in a fisherman's way 

 of speaking, literally alive with those two game fish, 

 speckled trout and black bass. They seem to live har- 

 moniously together, for the angler, when using two or 

 more flies, often lands a trout and bass at the same time. 

 The largest trout average about 1-^lbs. each, and the 

 largest bass 31bs. and over. The catch in numbers is 

 usually nearly equal. — Stanstead. 



St. Albans Bay, Vt., Aug. 18.— I inclose herewith 

 record of small-mouthed black bass caught by H. B. 

 Thomas and his son Orton, of Troy, N. Y., with Rodney 

 W. Potter as guide. One hundred and fifty bass were 

 caught by them during their stay of ten days. They 

 fished during that time three full days and the rest of 

 time fished only late in the afternoon. All bass of lib. 

 or under were returned to the water as soon as caught; 

 the 150 bass averaged 21bs. each: Aug. 6th they took 11, 

 8th 15, 9th 25, 10th 5, 11th 4, 12th 9, 13th 13, 15th 31 , 16th 

 25, 17th 12.— H. ht Samson. 



A Big Run oe Bluefish.— On Tuesday rooming of last 

 week there was a great run of mackerel at Shinnecock 

 Inlet, Long Island, driven in shore by bluefish. The 

 beach was lined with immense schools of mackerel, 

 which, in their endeavor to escape the preying bluefish, 

 cast themselves ashore. Residents from neighboring 

 towns gathered up the flopping fish by bushel-basketf uls 

 and barrels and cartloads. The net fishermen made great 

 hauls of bluefish, and the trolling was something that 

 comes to a man once in a lifetime. 



Addrcm all communications to the Forest and Stream Pub. Co. 



STATE FISH COMMISSIONERS. 



r Remarks before the American Fisheries Society.] 



BY R. EDWARD EARLL. 



MR. PRESIDENT^! do not intend to occupy the time of 

 the Society with a paper, but it has occurred to me that 

 this would be an excellent opportunity to bringto the atten- 

 tion of its members a matter the importance of which has been 

 growing upon me for some time, namely: the changed con- 

 dition of the duties of Commissioners of Fisheries. During 

 the past few years it has been the one great and sole aim of 

 all Commissioners to hatch out and plant in the waters of 

 their respective States as many fish of the different, kinds as 

 it was possible for them to hatch and distribute, with the 

 means placed at their disposal; but we find that the time is 

 rapidly approaching when it will become necessary for these 

 officials to present to their respective government, or to the 

 appropriations committees of said governments, a clear and 

 concise statement of all that is being accomplished with the 

 money appropriated for fishcultural work. 



There has thus far been very little effort on the part of 

 most of the States, and until recently upon the part of the 

 general government, to obtain definite and detailed informa- 

 tion regarding the extent and value of the fisheries of the 

 various localities. It is, in my judgment, especially import- 

 ant that each Commissioner of Fisheries should make him- 

 self, as far as possible, thoroughly familiar with the details 

 of the fisheries of his own State. I say the fisheries; I mean 

 more especially the commercial fisheries — that he should 

 give special attention to the kinds of apparatus that are be- 

 ing introduced into the waters and to the effect of each par- 

 ticular kind of apparatus upon the abundance of fish. It is 

 only by this means that he will be enabled to tell what the 

 result of his labors in stocking the waters is proving to be: 

 and, further, it is only by this means that he will be enabled 

 to stand between the man who condemns all fishing for pro- 

 fit and the man who wants no restrictions placed upon the 

 fisheries. We. have at the present time two contending parties, 

 on the one hand, the angler, who wants fishing only for sport, 

 and wishes to prohibit the use of every form of implement 

 for catching fish that will interfere with the enjoyment of 

 his summer vacation, and on the other hand, a large class of 

 men who derive their entire support from the catching of fish 

 for market. Each class comes with its complaints to the 

 legislative bodies of the country, and the one that makes the 

 best impression upon the legislature is very apt to carry the 

 day. We are thus coming to have a series of laws enacted, 

 some of which are very unwise and ought never to appear 

 upon the statute books. 



It is only recently that the U. S. Fish Commission has un- 

 dertaken to familiarize itself with the details of the fisheries. 

 Through an arrangement with the Censns Office in 1879 Pro- 

 fessor Baird, as you all know, was allowed an opportunity 

 of carrying out an elaborate scheme for the investigation of 

 the commercial fisheries. The work was placed under the 

 direction of Prof. Goode, and the results of that work are 

 beginning to appear. Owing to the exhaustion of the appro- 

 priation of the Census Office, they were able to print only a 

 very small portion of the material that was given them, but 

 all of the manuscripts were retained by them until recently, 

 when they were returned to the U. S, Fish Commission. 

 Professor Goode and his associates have given much time to 

 the preparation of these reports, the first two volumes of 

 which have already appeared, and a large amount of addi- 

 tional material is now in type and will soon be ready for dis- 

 tribution. At least half a dozen more volumes similar in 

 size to those already out will be published. These will de- 

 scribe in detail the fisheries of all the more important fishing 

 towns, the history, methods and present extent of each of the 

 special fisheries; the characteristics of the fishermen both at 

 home and at sea, thi character, extent and location of the 

 principal fishing grounds, the apparatus of the fisheries, and 

 in addition will give an exhaustive statistical review of the 

 fisheries industries of the country. 



But these reports will picture the fisheries as they were in 

 1880, and if they are to be available for present use, they must 

 be kept up to date. With the desire tokeep abreast with any 

 changes that might take place, Professor Baird has frequent- 

 ly, since that time, sent out committees for the investigation 

 of special subjects. It has been my privilege to be on several 

 of these committees of investigation, and I have found how 

 comparatively easy it is for one, even though a stranger to 

 the locality, to get control of the details of the fisheries of 

 any village or stretch of coast. From my experience I have 

 been convinced that it would be entirely' practicable for the 

 Commissioners of the several States to familiarize themselves 

 with the changes that are taking place within their own 

 borders and to collect from year to year full and complete 

 statistics of the fish caught in the territory under their con- 

 trol and to publish these for the information of the public 

 in their annual reports. 



I have been much pleased to see in the States of Michigan 

 and Wisconsin a very commendable effort in this direction. 

 1 think the Commissioners of both of these States have so 

 familiarized themselves with the details of the fisheries in 

 their own waters and with the influence of each kind of ap- 

 paratus of capture that they will be better able to cope with 

 the problem of legislation than the Commissioners of other 

 States, and also to show more clearly the influence of their 

 fishcultural operation upon the yield of the commercial fish- 

 eries. Any one who has heard the conflicting statements of 

 the fishermen when summoned to give evidence regarding 

 proper legislation for the protection of the fisheries, cannot 

 fail to appreciate the importance of a full knowledge of all 

 important details. In the Great Lake fisheries the gill net 

 and pound net fishermen are at swords points; one claiming 

 that the other is using the most destructive apparatus that 

 could be devised, while the angling element, especially in 

 the more eastern lakes, is opposed to both. Therehave been 

 frequent attempts in various States to entirely prohibit the 

 pound net fishing, and there have been equally strenuous 

 efforts to prohibit the use of the gill net, and again laws 

 have been framed forbidding the use of haul seines, while 

 fishing with pound nets and gill nets was in no way restricted. 

 Numerous attempts have also been made to control and pro- 

 tect the fisheries by regulating the size of the mesh, but the 

 utter inability of legislation to protect the small fish by this 

 means is shown very clearly by the remark made to me yes- 

 terday by one of the gentlemen present, who claimed that if 

 it were possible to insist upon the use of a given size of mesh, 

 the fisherman could still regulate the size of the fish taken 

 quite at his pleasure by simply pulling hard upon the upper 

 cork line at one end of the net and upon the lead line at the 



other end, so as to draw the meshes together, and thus pre- 

 vent the very smallest fish from going through. 



I bring this matter to your attention because I have comft 

 to feel the importance of a definite and positive knowledge 

 in this contest, when parties interested and parties whose in- 

 terests are not apparent are clamoring for legislation. I 

 think the time has arrived when the Commissioners of the 

 different States should stand between the contending ele^ 

 ments and should settle, definitely in the minds of the law 

 makers the questions which are up for consideration, and 

 nothing, in my judgment, is more necessary to a proper Un- 

 derstanding of these questions than a careful comparison of 

 the yield of the fisheries of the various localities from year 

 to year. 



With a desire to obtain as reliable statistics as possible; 

 the TJ. S. Fish Commission has recently, through the co- 

 Operation Of the Treasury Department, established a series 

 of reports in which I think you will all be interested. The 

 Secretary of the Treasury has consented to require of the 

 owner and master of each vessel engaged in the fisheries of 

 the United States, regardless of the locality, a detailed state- 

 ment regarding the size, the value and the rig of the vessel; 

 the number of men employed; the kind of apparatus used; 

 the locality where fishing; the quantities and values of the 

 fish caught, and other questions of importance affecting that 

 particular vessel. We are receiving hundreds of these re- 

 ports every month from all portions of the coast, including 

 the Pacific coast, the Gulf of Mexico and the numerous fish- 

 ing ports of the Atlantic; and we are thus gathering a very 

 large amount of information regarding the vessel fisheries, 

 but the boat fisheries are still unprovided for, and if it were 

 possible for the Commissioners of each of the States to ar- 

 range to get reliable estimates of the quantity of fish caught 

 yearly within their own borders, the number of men that are 

 dependent upon these fisheries, and the distribution of the 

 catch, I think we would be able to show what legislation is 

 needed, and consequently, which I consider more important, 

 to show clearly the importance of fishculture in the com- 

 mercial fisheries and the achievements that fishculture has 

 already attained. I should be very glad if some of the Com- 

 missioners present would give us a statement of what has 

 already been done in their waters and of the difficulties, if 

 such exist, in carrying out the line proposed. It has been 

 suggested this afternoon in conversation that there would 

 be considerable difficulty owing to the fact that many of the 

 Commissioners have only limited appropriations placed at 

 their disposal, while others receive nothing whatever for 

 their services, these being gratuitous, but it occurred to me 

 that by having intelligent correspondents in each of the lead- 

 ing centers, men in whom they had confidence, it would be 

 possible to get together for the State reports very valuable con- 

 tributions to our information regarding the condition of the 

 fisheries. 



***■»#•**** 



I will simply add for the information of any one here who 

 sees no way of sending out agents to inquire as to the extent 

 and value of the fisheries, that there is a growing prejudice 

 among the commercial fishermen in favor of the work of the 

 various State, Commissioners and of the TJ. S, Fish Commis- 

 sioner, and that they are now quite willing to give to the 

 different commissions reliable information in answer to 

 questions that may be asked. As a proof of this I will state 

 that a circular was sent to each of the 1,000 vessels employed 

 in the food fisheries of New England, and answers have 

 been received from 1,500 of them, leaving only about 40 ves 

 sels out of the 1,000 that failed to respond. In the case of 

 the fisheries of, the Great Lakes inquiry circulars were re- 

 cently sent to every fisherman on each of the five lakes, and 

 more than ninety per cent, of them have been returned, and 

 whenever, during the past two or three years, there has been 

 an effort to obtain information by correspondence, this 

 effort has been met with hearty co-operation on the part of 

 those engaged in the commercial fisheries; so that even with- 

 out the expenditure, of any considerable amount of money 

 it will be possible for those who are familiar with the local- 

 ities and with the more intelligent resident fishermen to ob- 

 tain possession of information from which very satisfactory 

 reports can be prepared. 



TMt fflmnel 



FIXTURES. 



DOG SHOWS. 



Aug. 30 to Sept. 2.— Hornell Kennel Club Show, Hornellsville, 

 N. Y. J. Otis Fellows, Superintendent. 



Sept. 7 and 8. -Second Show of the Fox-Terrier Club, Newport, 

 li. T. Entries close Aug. 27. F. Hoey, Sec. Long Branch, N. J. 



Sept. 13 to 16.— First Show St. Paul and Minnesota Kennel Club, 

 St. Paul, Minn. W. G. Whitehead. Secretary; Chas. Weil, Super- 

 intendent. 



Sept. 20 to 23.— Fourth Show of the New Jersey Kennel Club, 

 Waverly, N. J. Percy C. Ohl, Secretary, 44 Broadway, N. Y, 



Sept. '20 to 23.— Wisconsin Kennel Club's Annual Show, Mil-, 

 waukee, Wis. A. M. Grau. Secretary, 552 East Water street. 



.Sept. 27 to 30.— Annual Show of the Southern Ohio Fair Associ- 

 ation, at Dayton, O. M. A. Nipgen, Secretary. 



Oct. 12 and 13.— Third Annual Show of the Stafford Kennel Club, 

 Stafford Springs, Conn. ft. S. Hicks, Secretary. 



FIELD TRIALS. 



Sept. 6.— Manitoba Field Trials Club Field Trials. Derby entries 

 will close July 1; all-aged entries Aug. 1. Secretary, Hubert Gait, 

 Winnipeg, Manitoba. 



Oct. 17 to 22.— Second Annual Meeting of the American Coursing 

 Club, at Great Bend, Kan. G. I. Koyce, Secretary, Topeka, Kan . 



Oct. 31.— First Annual Field Trials of the Indiana Kennel Club 

 at Bicknel, Ind. Open to dogs owned in Indiana. P. T. Madison s 

 Secretary, Lock Box 4, Indianapolis, Ind. 



Nov. 7.— Third Annual Field Trials of the Western Field Trials 

 Association. R. C. Van Horn. Secretary, Kansas City, Mo. 



Nov, 21.— Ninth Annual Field Trials of the Eastern Field Trials 

 Club, at High Point, N. C. W. A. Coster, Secretary, Flathush, 

 Kings County, N. Y. 



December.— First Annual Field Trials of the American Field 

 Trials Club, at Florence, Ala. C. W. Paris, Secretary, Cincinnati, 

 O. 



Jan. 10, 1888.— Second Annual Field Trials of the Texas Field 

 Trials Club, at Marshall, Tex. W. L. Thomas, Secretary, Mar- 

 shall, Tex. 



A. K. R.-SPEC1AL NOTICE. 



THE AMERICAN KENNEL REGISTER, for the registration 

 of pedigrees, etc. (with prize bsts of all shows and trials), is 

 pubbshed every month. Entries close on the 1st. Should he in 

 early. Entry blanks sent on receipt of stamped and addressed 

 envelope. Registration fee (50 cents) must accompany each entry. 

 No entries inserted unless paid in advance. Yearly subscription. 

 $1.50. Address "American Kennel Register," P. O. Box 2832, New 

 Zork. Number of entries already printed 5296. 



"WILDFOWLEB," FOUND GUILTY. — At the Commit- 

 tee meeting of the English Kennel Club, held July 26, 

 charges were brought against Lewis Clement ("Wildfowler") 

 by Mr. E, B, Joachim, for a brutal attack upon him at a dog 

 show, and by Mr. M. Martin, for non-payment for dogs sold 

 by him to Clement. Following is the decision of the com- 

 mittee which we clip from the Kennel Gazette: "The cases 

 were then fully considered under Kennel Club Rule X., and 

 it was decided unanimously that Mr. Lewis Clement had 

 been proved guilty of discreditable conduct in connection 

 with dogs and dog shows, and he therefore be declared in- 

 capable of competing for or winning a prize at any show or 

 field trials held under Kennel Club rales." Clement is well 

 known in this country by his swindling dog dealings 



