110 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



LANDLOCKED ROCKFISH. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I notice that one of your contributors speaks of rock- 

 fish (Rooms lineatus) being abundant in Chipola Lake, 

 Calhoun county, Florida. This rockfish is the striped 

 bass of Northern waters. Until quite recently its presence 

 in fluvial and inland waters of the South was not ad- 

 mitted by most ichthyologists, some of the best authorities 

 within the present decade even expressing doubts thereof . 

 Hence any authentic testimony regarding its habitat and 

 breeding habits is of scientific as well as economic value. 



Chipola Lake, your readers have been informed, is 

 about twenty miles long, and from two to four miles 

 wide, running parallel with the Apalachicola Elver. This 

 river a.nd its tributaries, at as great a distance as 200 miles 

 from the Gidf of Mexico, are known to contain rockfish, 

 some of which attain 301bs. and upward in weight, and 

 compare very favorably with the monster striped bass of 

 Cuttyhunk and Pasque Islaud, off the Massachusetts 

 coast. But those waters are by no means exceptional in 

 this respect, for striped bass are "constantly seen in rivers 

 of fresh water at great distances from the ocean," and are 

 "common in all the rivers of the Southern States." [See 

 Hallock's "Sportsman's Gazetteer," 1877, page 401.] 



The anadi-omous character of the striped bass has long 

 been known, though observers were not decided as 

 respects then' spawning grounds and seasons. At present, 

 however, under increased light, they are believed to have 

 habits much like those of the shad, passing the greater 

 part of their time in salt water, without especial regard to 

 latitude, and running up the tributaries of rivers in spring 

 to spawn. The young remain up stream one year and 

 return to salt water at varying periods in the spring fol- 

 lowing their birth, according to the temperature of the 

 water where hybernating. Reservoirs which do not 

 freeze to the bottom are then* chosen winter quarters. 



In the Gulf States, whose rivers are subject to periodi- 

 cal overflows and to freshets which submerge immense 

 areas of land, large bodies of water are left standing after 

 each subsidence, some of which partake of a permanent 

 character, becoming reservoirs for inflowing streams and 

 harboring a remarkable variety of edible fishes of the 

 better grades, such as black bass, sturgeon, trout, perch, 

 bream, suckers, pickerel, catfish and turtles, as well as 

 rockfish, all of which are mentioned by your correspond- 

 ent "Viator" as inhabiting the Wewahitchka or Chipola 

 Lake. Included in the collection are several varieties 

 which are habitues or frequenters of salt water, but they 

 all thrive well in spite of their restriction, and in a brief 

 space of time become strictly landlocked varieties. 



In like manner, and by like process of nature and 

 adaptation, we are presented with the landlocked salmon, 

 smelt, shad, herring, etc. And thus we leave the land- 

 locked rockfish, equal to its marine brother in edible and 

 game qualities though differing by force of circumstances 

 greatly in its breeding habits. Structurally the two are 

 identical. Besides these we have the chrysops and the 

 interruptus, which are modifications of the lineatus 

 though classified as different species, the anatomical 

 characteristics being sufficient to so determine them. 

 But these specific differences we may suppose have been 

 accomplished in course of time by specific causes directly 

 referable to their differences of habit, character and 

 quality of food, and temperature of water. 



Tho enumeration of fishes inhabitiiagboth salt and fresh 

 water is already large, and it may prove eventually that 

 a great number of the marine species have their repre- 

 sentatives or co-ordinates in inland waters. Of these 

 the salmon and the striped bass are at present the most 

 important. Chaeles Hallock. 



Cusk. — Manchester, N. H. — I have been much inter- 

 ested in the discussions in the Forest and Stream re- 

 garding the fresh-water fish called cusk. I have talked 

 with a number who profess to have caught them, and 

 they seem to differ greatly in the description of the fish, 

 also as to the edible qualities of what they called cusk. 

 While some extol them highly for the frying pan, others 

 say "No cusk in mine, please." Last January a friend 

 sent me a half dozen fish he said were cusk, caught on 

 set lines through the ice in the night, hooks baited with 

 6hiners. The fish would weigh l^lbs. each. Head some- 

 thing like a horn pout, body tapering, tail round, more 

 like an eel than most fishes. Tasted something like horn 

 pout, but quite inferior. These fish were taken in a very 

 deep water pond a short distance from Lake Winnipa- 

 saukee, in this State, on 60ft. of fine set for lake trout. 

 It seems from the different ideas about them that there 

 must be several different species of them. — I. I. A. 



FISH COMMISSIONER GOODE. 



THE newly appointed United States Commissioner of Fish 

 and Fisheries is so well known as a fishery expert that 

 his succession to the place made vacant by the death of 

 Prof. Baird is heartily approved. 



G.Brown Goodewas horn in New Albany, Ind., in 1851. 

 He is a graduate of Wesleyan University at Middletown, 

 Conn. His scientific bent was manifested at an early age, 

 and while a student at Middletown he took so much inter- 

 est in the development of a museum of natural history that 

 the college authorities recognized his work and employed 

 hinij after graduation, to pursue certain ichthyological in- 

 vestigations. 



In 1871, when the United States Fish Commission was 

 established, Prof. Goode was appointed an assistant of Prof. 

 Baird, and he has been connected with the Commission, do- 

 ing most efficient work in it, ever since. In 1875 he was em- 

 ployed in connection with the Government Fishery Board 

 for the Centennial Exhibition; in 1877 as statistical expert 

 in behalf of the State Department at Halifax; in 1878 in be- 

 half of the National Museum at Gloucester he was one of 

 the party at the coast stations taking part iu the marine ex- 

 plorations. From 1879 to the beginning of 1881 he was in the 

 employ of the Superintendent of the Tenth Census in charge 

 of the division of fishery statistics. Since 1875 the Commis- 

 sioner of Fisheries has from time to time intrusted him with 

 the conduct of special investigations, the results of which 

 have been published in the official reports. In 1880, at the 

 International Fisheries Exhibition at Berlin, and m 1883, 

 upon a similar occasion at London, he was appointed by the 

 President to represent, in the capacity of United States Com- 

 missioner, the'fishery interests of the Nation, including the 

 work of the United States Fish Commission and the fish 

 eommissiohs of the several States. 



At the London Exhibition Prof. Huxley, in the course of 

 an address, paid a tribute to Prof. Goode and the United 

 States Commission, in these words: "The great moral of 

 the United States contribution to this exhibition, and 

 especially of the contribution which Mr. Brown Goode has 

 just made to the conferences, was that if this country or any 

 society which could be formed of sufficient extent to take up 

 the question, was going to deal seriously with the sea fisher- 

 ies and not let them take care of themselves, as they had 

 done for the last thousand years or so, they had a very consid- 

 erable job before them, for he did not think, speaking with 



G. BROWN GOODE. 



all respect to the efforts made by Sweden, Germany, Hol- 

 land, and so forth, that any nation at the present time had 

 comprehended the question of dealing with fish in so thor- 

 ough, excellent and scientific a spirit as that of the United 

 States." 



Prof. Goode is an indefatigable worker, as the printed 

 monuments of his labors give ample proof. He is the author 

 of an extensive "History of the Menhaden," the text of "The 

 Game Fishes of the United States," which accompanied Kil- 

 bourne's plates; "The Fishery Industries of the United 

 States," "Materials for a History of the Swordfish," and 

 numerous monographs, papers and reports of special studies 

 and investigations. At the time of his appointment Prof. 

 Goode held, and will still hold, the position of Assistant 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the same position 

 held by Prof. Baird when he was appointed Commissioner. 



The portrait here given is from a photograph. 



THE NEW YORK FISH COMMISSION. 



WE have the Fifteenth Report of the Commissioners of 

 Fisheries of New York, transmitted to the Legisla- 

 ture Feb. 28, 1887, and covering the work of the season of 

 1885-6. This Commission has always been behind in its re- 

 ports and there seems to be no effort to bring them up to 

 date. The last Legislature adjourned many months before 

 this report saw the light and only had the Fourteenth Report 

 to refer to when the question of appropriations came up. The 

 Commissioners, in short, apologize for this state, of things 

 by saying that the Fourteenth Report of the Board, under 

 date of May 10, 1886, for the two years ended Dec. 31, 1885, 

 was not published until October, owing to delay in the 

 printer's hands. No doubt that is where the delay occurred 

 m the present case, but it would seem that it should be the 

 duty of some person to see that the report was timely. 



This department of the work of the Commission has been 

 prosecuted to the extent of the facilities of obtaining spawn. 

 These, for the reason mentioned in our last and in nearly all 

 our preceding reports, are very much restricted. The block- 

 ade of the fishing grounds by the netters in the{lower part of 

 the Hudson River is a barrier to the passage of the shad to 

 their natural spawning grounds above, which are at and 

 above the junction of tide with fresh water. Few shad com- 

 paratively, for the reason stated, now reach the spawning 

 grounds, and countless millions of spawn which might, for 

 a trifling expenditure, be turned into valuable fish, are now 

 altogether lost. To remedy this waste it has been proposed 

 to require by statutory enactment all nets to be taken and 

 kept up from Saturday night till Monday morning, which 

 would give the fish free' passage up the stream for thirty-six 

 hours in each week, and would, it is believed, increase the 

 spawn supply many fold. Not only is such a measure called 

 for in the interest of artificial production, but it is due in fair- 

 ness to netters up the stream who, by the virtual monopoly 

 of the fishing at the mouth, are cut off from their proper 

 share. A bill to meet this case was introduced in the Senate 

 at the last session by Senator Pitts, and passed that body, 

 but it failed of final action in the House, not so much, it is 

 believed, from any doubt of its merit, as from the lack of the 

 friendly nursing which is so often the cause of the failure 

 of salutary measures of legislation. 



The following statistics of the catch of shad in the season 

 of 1886 we received through the courtesy of Prof. Spencer F. 

 Baird, of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisher- 

 ies, he having obtained the same and paid the expenses in- 

 curred, the work being done under the direction of Commis- 

 sioner Blackford: 



Total catch on the upper Hudson, fish that were not 



sent to New York markets 356,976 



Total catch on the lower Hudson, fish that were not 



sent to New York markets 89,050 



Total number of shad received on the west side of 



New York city from the Hudson River 382,169 



Total number of shad received on the east side of 



New York city from the Hudson River 572,754 



1,300,949 



The following table gives a comparative statement of the 

 shad catch and the shad hatch in the two seasons of 1885 and 

 1886: 



Catch, 1885. 



In the Upper Hudson 278,273 



In the Lower Hudson 102,750 



Received and sold in New York markets . . . 796,312 



— 1,174,835 



Catch, 1886, 



Upper Hudson , 356,976 



Lower Hudson and not sent to New York 



markets 89,050 



Received on west side from the Hudson 



River. 282,169 



Received on east side 572,754 



1,300,949! 



Hatch, 1885. 



Spawn taken 1,575,000 



Fry deposited 1,467,000 



Hatch, 1886, 



Spawn taken 2,510.000 



Fry deposited 2,279,000 



The catch in the season of 1886 was one of the best that has 

 been made since artificial hatching was established. The, 

 proportion of large fish was marked, and the supply was so 

 abundant that prices rated lower than in many previous 

 years. 



To the frequenters of the great fishing resorts on the St. 

 Lawrence River, the Thousand Islands region, there is no ; 

 attraction so great as the capture of the monarch of these 

 waters, the Esox nohilior, or muscalonge, as he is commonly 

 called. His great size, vigorous game spirit, and superior 

 table qualities, combine to make him a rare prize. No am- 

 bitious angler is content to leave these waters till he has put 

 at least one of these fine fishes to his score. The capture of 

 one of large size is an event of such interest to the tourist 

 community that flags are raised, steamboat b°lls rung and 

 guns fired in commemoration; and the lucky captor when he 

 reaches the shore with his prize is the lion of the day. And 

 the fish is worthy the distinction given to it. To say noth- 

 ing of the pleasurable excitement of the capture, the prize 

 has a gastronomic value not excelled by any other large fish 

 of our fresh waters. Indeed, it properly ranks in quality- 

 next to the salt-water salmon. If the worthless pickerel, 

 .Esox lucins, could be exterminated in the St. Lawrence 

 waters and its place supplied by the muscalonge, it would 

 be a boon to the public or sufficient value to compensate for 

 all that has been expended in artificial fishculture. What 

 now is especially needed in this work is the multiplication 

 of useful food fish which can be furnished to consumers at 

 moderate cost. The amateur fisherman has been well dealt 

 with in the supply that has been put within hisjeach, of the 

 finer sorts of game fish, as trout and bass. The muscalonge 

 is what is wanted to furnish consumers as well as sportsmen 

 with first-class fish. 



Looking, among other useful means to this end, the Com- 

 missioners have authorized Mr. M. B. Hill, of Clayton, Jeff- 

 erson county, who has for some years conducted hatching 

 operations at his own expense, to make experiments in their 

 interest, with the muscalonge. What has been done thus 

 far is promising, and it is believed that by continuing the ' 

 moderate pecuniary aid needed, completely satisfactory re- 

 sults will be obtained. 



Mr. Hill reports to the Commissioners on this subject as 

 follows: 



"I desire, in brief, to give you my views in regard to the 

 artificial propagation of the muscalonge; how it may be ac- 

 complished, etc. First, it is necessary to have a suitable 

 number of breeding fish, taken in proper conditioa or kept 

 until they are in such condition. I am of the opinion that 

 they will have to be taken alive and placed in proper ponds 

 and kept there until the eggs are ripe. The breeding fish 

 should be kept from year to year the same as trout are kept 

 at the hatcheries. There should be a large deep pond or 

 ponds provided, so constructed that the water can be drawn 

 off and the fish stripped at the proper time. The young to- 

 be retained for breeding should be kept by themselves, as. 

 the muscalonge will prey on his own f amily sometimes. I 

 have one noble fish of the St. Lawrence species, which is 

 3ft. long, and from present appearance is filling with spawn, 

 have also 100 of the Indian River species, each from 5m. to 

 7in. long. Theresa experts say they are the genuine stock. 

 To prove this, however, time must be taken, but I do not 

 know they are not the common pickerel. They are 

 noble feeders and are growing nicely and seem very 

 hardy. I have one pond situated thirty rods below the 

 hatchery that covers one and one half acres. It has 

 thirteen boiling springs, besides the large stream from the 

 spring that feeds the hatchery flows through it. It has also 

 a quarter of an acre of marshy sides, and a mud bottom 

 where coarse wild grass grows in the water. I think this 

 would be the exact place to grow muscalonge for breeding 

 purposes. There is quite a range of temperature in the 

 water, because of the surface exposed to the sun. The 

 water at the boiling springs never freezes, although the 

 main surface of the pond is mostly covered with ice in the 

 winter time. I have grown pickerel, bass and pike-perch in 

 this pond, and it is surprising what a growth, they make 

 there in two years' time. I am certain the muscalonge will 

 do equally well in this pond, and by removing all other 

 large fish and stocking it with chubs and shiuers they would 

 get abundance of natural food. The chubs and shiners are 

 plenty in the neighboring waters and are easy to obtain. 

 The pond I speak of can be drawn off readily and it has 

 gravel and sand as well as mud bottom, so that it will not be 

 difficult to discover what sort of bottom the fish selects for 

 spawning beds. As regards the hatching artificially. I do 

 not entertain a doubt it can be done if the spawn can be got 

 in proper condition, as I believe it may be by the means I 

 have indicated. I would like the advice of the Commission- 

 ers in regard to clearing this pond of other fish and prepar- 

 ing it for the muscalonge, which is so well adapted to the 

 many lakes and rivers in the State, where, on account of the 

 high temperature and other causes, trout will not thrive. 



"M, B. Hill." 



The report is illustrated with pictures of the hatcheries at 

 Caledonia and Cold Spring Harbor, and, as a frontispiece, 

 has alleged likenesses of the Commissioners and one of the 

 superintendents. Perhaps it may be well that the Legisla- 

 ture adjourned before they saw this very unflattering pic- 

 ture of the good-looking men composing the State Board of 

 Fish Commissioners. 



The details of work done at the different hatcheries will be 

 recorded in a future article. 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



F. M. R., Providence.— The lines of these yachts have never been 

 published. 



W. S. W., Richmond, Va.— See our advertising columns for ad- 

 dresses of builders. 



J. L., Brooklyn.— Robin shooting in New York SI ate is permitted 

 on Long Island and Staten Island only, between Nov-. 1 and Jan 1. 



Martin, Camden, N. J.— The Pearl and Nautilus have carried 

 lOOf t.;in main and 35 to 50ft. in niizzen, balance lugs, with 60ft. spin- 



E A. M., Brooklyn.— We know of no regular Model Yacht Club 

 near about New York or Brooklyn. A few races are sailed at 

 times on Bowery Bay, but the sport is not followed very keenly 



A. S. G., Philadelphia, and others.— There are patented eompo- 

 sitions for canvas boats, but their manufacture is a secret. Use 

 boiled linseed oil and a good dryer. Nothing will tighten canvas 

 when once it has stretched. 



H. K., Wisconsin.— 1 . While out shooting I dropped my gun, and 

 not being able to clean it for some time I found the wood work 

 had come away from the metal; how can I fix it? 2. Where is the 

 nearest good woodcock ground? Ans. 1. Take it to a gunsmith. 

 2. Inquire at the local gun store. 



Lakeside, Geneva, N.Y.— Please give me your decision on the 

 following: In a shoot there were prizes given for best average, 

 second best average, third best average, fourth best average and 

 fifth best average. A and B tie on highest score and claim first 

 and second prizes. Are they right or shoidd the tie be shot off as 

 in the regular shoot? Ans. A and B should take first and second. 



