186 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Sept. 29, 188TJ 



\tu and Biter 



Addresss all cotnmunkations to the Forest and Stream Puh. Go. 



MIRAMICHI SALMON. 



THE Miramichi has lately been made much more ac- 

 cessible for sportsmen owing to the construction of 

 a railway from Freclericton to Chatham Junction on tbe 

 Intercolonial, and cars now run daily from Fredericton, 

 passing Boiestown at a distance of about 48 miles from 

 the former place. Salmon have been more plentiful on 

 the Miramichi and its branches above Boiestown this year 

 than for many previous ones; as the water was high 

 nearly all the season, the fish were enabled to reach their 

 spawning grounds with great ease. 



There has been less spearing done this season than com- 

 monly; this was no doubt partly owing to the dark color 

 of the water, due to its height, but a good deal of this 

 freedom from trespassers is due to better protection as 

 well on the part of the Canadian Government as on that 

 of individual lessees, who are now becoming numerous. 

 Indeed all of the best trout streams as well as salmon 

 rivers in New Brunswick, are being held under h ase by 

 individual owners or by companies. Public opinion is 

 compelling both Dominion and. local government to pay 

 much more attention to the subject of fish protection 

 than was formerly the case. In this matter there was 

 much need of reform, and much remains to be done be- 

 fore the fisliing interests of the country will have received 

 that attention to which they are entitled. 



The first run of salmon above Boiestown took rjlace 

 from the first to the middle of June, the fish were of good 

 size. Owing to high water they were always on the 

 move, and have been found further up stream than ever 

 known before. Some were taken nine miles above the 

 Forks up the North Branch. 



There have been about twenty parties of fishermen 

 above Boiestown during the summer. One of these 

 parties secured sixty fish, another caught thirty-seven, 

 while one person caught in one day at the mouth of 

 Burnt Hill nine salmon. Most of the fishermen who have 

 been on this part of the southwest Miramichi returned 

 well pleased with their success, and few complaints have 

 been heard of ill-luck. 



The formation of a new sporting club at Fredericton 

 during the past season has given an unwonted impulse to 

 all that is connected with salmon and salmon fishing 

 there. Until within a short period the waters of the 

 lower southwest Miramichi were to be reached only by a 

 long and tedious drive over rough roads; now the sports- 

 man is taken by rail from Fredericton in the fraction of 

 a day to within a few miles of the clear" cold pools of the 

 Renous and its branches, which abound in salmon. The 

 territory leased by the club for ten years covers about 

 eighty miles of these streams, all navigable for canoes at 

 the ordinary height of water. With the exception of 

 about twelve miles then territory is bounded by a forest 

 in which there is not a solitary settler. 



The protection afforded by the Canadian Government 

 to the numerous salmon which ascend these streams to 

 their sources has been of a very inefficient character, 

 owing to the fact that political partisans were the persons 

 selected to fill the office of guardian. Messrs. M. Tenant 

 and T. G. Loggie, who were appointed a committee of 

 inspection to visit the proper-ty of the Eenous and 

 Dungarvon Club, report under date of Sept. 1: "Our 

 guardians informed us that some days prior to our inspec- 

 tion they cut away nets placed across the river from bank 

 to bank, and since returning to Fredericton we have been 

 informed of one party below Colepaugh's having nets set 

 in the above manner. At the mouth of the north branch 

 of Renous (a rapid, rough, cold water stream) there is a 

 large pool in which we caught three grilse and lost one 

 salmon. This in our estimation is a fine stream for fish; 

 the banks are high and bold, cold springs rush frequently 

 from the banks, and the descending rapid water, falling 

 over great boulders, forni many fine pools in which 

 salmon delight to lie." 



Under the new regime inaugurated by the club there 

 are now five competent guardians, the whole of whose 

 time is occupied in patrolling the streams in canoes and 

 seeing that ail the laws enacted for the protection of fish 

 are duly carried out; some are. occupied at this work dur- 

 ing the daytime, others at night. 



The attention of Messrs. Tenant and Loggie during 

 their recent visit of inspection, was directed chiefly, how- 

 ever, to the Dungarvon, which they ascended to its head, 

 finding it a first-class salmon stream, their catch being 

 twenty -seven fine fish, two other parties who went up 

 after their return secured twenty-nine more salmon. 



The Dungarvon, as well as the other branches of Renous, 

 abound with trout, many of which are of large size. 



Edward Jack. 



Fbedbiucton, Canada. 



Vermont Trotjt and Pike. — John Averill, the veteran 

 baggage master on the Central Vermont Railroad, went 

 fishing for trout the last day of August, and says his ex- 

 perience that day convinced him that the close season for 

 trout should begin the 1st of August instead of the 1st of 

 September. In his catch were several from 8in. to a foot 

 long, and he says many of them were full of well developed 

 sp wn. Some years ago C. F. Orvis, of Manchester, and 

 others interested in trout fishing in the western part of 

 the State, took ground before the legislative committee 

 in favor of closing the open season for trout the 1st of 

 August, and the logic of events has convinced us that 

 they were right. W. E. Green and T. P. Fuller recently 

 caught twenty-four wall-eyed pike at Thompson's Point, 

 on Lake Champlain. The largest weighed 4flbs. For 

 some years there was a marked and growing scarcity of 

 wall-eyed pike in the lake, but the enforcement of the 

 laws making from the 1st of February until June a close 

 season for these and for b ack bass, with a prohibition of 

 all net fishing, except seines for about six weeks, has 

 caused these fish to increase again. This increase began 

 to be noticed last year, and was still more evident this 

 year. This is the proof of the wisdom of the legislation 

 protecting fish in Lake Champlain, and there should be 

 no step backward in the matter. In fact, the close season 

 for black bass should be extended until the first of July, 

 as they are not through spawning and protecting their 

 young as early as the first of June. — Montpelier Argus 

 and Patriot. 



Maine Trout Jigging.— A Camp Bemis correspondent 

 of the Boston Herald says: "The first prosecution of the 

 season on the Rangeley lakes for illegal fishing was in- 

 stituted to-day by George D. Huntoon, game and fish war- 

 den of Rangeley. The defendants were A. S. Stewart of 

 New York and Mark Holiingsworth of Boston. Each 

 agreed to plead guilty before a trial justice at Andover, 

 and they paid $25 and $28 respectively. Another man, 

 named Hoyt, who hails from Lynn, will probably settle 

 in a few days rather than stand a prosecution, as the war- 

 den has evidence enough to convict him. These cases are 

 of great interest to the hundreds of sportsmen who find 

 keen pleasure in taking, by legitimate means, the peerless 

 fish of these famous lakes. An item in the Herald, 10 

 days or a fortnight ago, told of two handsome trout on 

 exhibition in Appleton & Litchfield's on Washington street. 

 It interested many, but it amused the fishermen here and 

 their guides, for they know that Mr. Stewart, although 

 he is the vice-president of the New York Rod and Reel 

 Club, and professedly foremost among the protectors of 

 fish here and in his own State, was one of a party at the 

 Upper Dam who were knowingly breaking the law every 

 day by taking the biggest trout from a pool below the 

 apron of the dam by means of a "silent doctor." They 

 have taken at least 300 pounds. Their apparatus was not 

 exactly a grapple; it was a line equipped with several 

 large hooks, un baited, and by "jigging" with this in the 

 pool, they hooked the trout in great numbers. The war- 

 den to-day could find but three fish in their possession, but 

 all were hooked in the side or under the mouth. The 

 guides and the real sportsmen have instituted these pro- 

 ceedings for the protection of the fish and the sport. The 

 Oquossuc Angling Association was especially interested. 



Camp Flotsam.— Toronto, Sept. 8.— The pegs of the 

 seventeeth annual camp have been pulled — or broken off, 

 the canvas packed and stored at Gravenhurst for another 

 summer's outing; and yet I am not happy. The Muskoka 

 District has enthralled me, I have pursued the bass and 

 maskinonge for eight weeks, and not in vain; have 

 watched the nightly flight of black ducks, and allowed 

 my eyes to follow the deer crossing the lake within gun 

 shot with never an impulse to pull the trigger. In those 

 eight weeks no rain fell; the vast forests were in a sheet 

 of flame, which on Aug. 14 gave us a night fight to save 

 the camp. We succeeded in doing this, but with the loss 

 of one tent, a pair of blankets and a rubber coat. But the 

 bass and E. nobilior escaped the blaze, and we were con- 

 tent. — Wawayanda. 



Key East Beach, N. J., Sept. 19.— An article on bass 

 fishing at Ocean Beach, in the Beach Patrol of Saturday 

 last, calls attention to the increasing interest in fishing 

 for bas6 in the surf. At Key East, fishermen of note 

 from New York city, Asbury Park and other places line 

 our beach in front of Avon Inn. Superintendent Murray, 

 of the New York police force, and four friends of his, 

 caught twenty-two fine large bass opposite Avon Inn to- 

 day. Mr. Hertiz at the same time caught six, Mr. Ferry, 

 of Orange, N. J., three, and Mr. Napier, two. Our neigh- 

 bors across the river are catching some fish, but the palm 

 must be awarded to Key East, as the famous fishermen 

 are found regularly on our beach. Shark River inlet was 

 alive with fish to-day. 



Can Fish See in the Dark? — I keep a small silver fish 

 in my bedroom. He is a little glutton for flies. Just be- 

 fore retiring the other evening I caught and dropped one 

 into his water, but as he would only make feints at it, I 

 extinguished my light and retired. Shortly after, in per- 

 fect darkness, I heard him "strike," and getting a light I 

 found the fly had been taken. Can any of your readers 

 throw any further light on the question ? — W. F. 



Menhaden.— Greenport, Long Island. — The Menhaden 

 fishery has been unsuccessful this season, but the fish 

 taken have been of very fat and productive quality, and 

 so make amends by then' superior quality for their lesser 

 numbers.— Isaac McLelian. 



AN UNTOWARD EXPERIENCE. 



AFTER spending several annual vacations in the same region, 

 however enjoyable they may have been, however good the 

 fisliing and shooting, and the natural beauties of the country may 

 be unsurpassed, the sportsman naturally rejoices at seeing a notice 

 of some new section of country which promises all that he has 

 already enjoyed and more besides. So after five excursions into 

 the Maine woods, 1 read the advertisement of the Northern and 

 Northwestern Railroad in Fobest and Stream with delight. 



They furnish a guide book upon application, which I promptly 

 obtained. It is a charming little work of fiction containing about 

 200 pages and nicely illustrated. The same book bound in cloth 

 can be bought in Toronto for 75 cents. I read it with great care 

 and as I had no objection to roughing it a little and wanted the 

 best fishing and shooting the region afforded, 1 finally settled upon 

 the "far famed Maganetawan River" as the objective point for 

 this year's vacation. 



As the trip was not entirely devoid of incidents, and as one 

 sportsman's experience is sometimes of value to others, I offer 

 mine for what it is worth. I first wrote to one of the guides, 

 whose name I found in the guide hook, to see whether it would be 

 possible to hire a log cabin in that section to camp in a few days; 

 and received no answer. I then wrote to Croswell's Hotel, Ah- 

 Mic Harbor, and though the proprietor informed me afterward 

 that he answered my letter. 1 never received his communication. 

 I started, however, with a friend fromBrookline, Mass., Saturday, 

 Sept. 3, via Niagara Falls and Toronto. 



Our first experience worthy of mention wc enjoyed at Niagara 

 Falls. As I have never had any opportunity for gunning more 

 than once or twice a year, I had not bought a gun for previous 

 trips, hut used one belonging to a friend. As he had sold his, 1 

 hired one of a local dealer. As be called my attention to the fact 

 that the firing pins needed attention, one being broken, I sent the 

 gun to one of the most reliable houses in Boston for repairs, and 

 called for it on my way through the city. They said it was all 

 right, and I had just time to catch my train, so I did not examine 

 it until my arrival at Niagara Falls. It struck me there that it 

 would be well to examine it before going into the wilderness, and 

 I found to my disgust that one of the pins, bent before, had not 

 been touched, and was practically useless. To see that the other 

 was all right I slipped a cartridge in, and as 1 snapped the barrels 

 down into place blew a hole in the side of the room about the size 

 of a man's fist. I told the hotel clerk to bring in his bill for a new 

 house, and bought a gun at Toronto; not a fancy gun, but a good 

 plain English gun for $35. 



Here wo bought a ticket to Ak-Mic Harbor and return, on the 

 Northern and Northwestern through the "Garden of Canada," so- 

 called. If this region is the garden, may heaven help the man 

 who lives in the wilderness. The road is a new one and runs for 

 miles through a forest of scrubby spruce with once in a while a 

 new settlement of Bmall houses. It may be more attractive, seen 

 under different circumstances, but I could not sleep well, and 

 raising the window curtains, braced myself up in my oerth with 

 pillows and inspected the country. It was not a dark night, and 

 as I arose very early in the morning I saw considerable of the 

 scenery before we stopped at Burk's FaRs, the head of steamboat 

 navigation on the Maganetawau. 



Here our troubles commenced. '"Music," whoever he maybe, 

 wrote some time ago to Forest Aim Stream that "the trout nave 

 an unlimited range and are seldom disturbed, so that they have a 

 chance to grow." The guide book and Hallock's "Sportsman's 



Gazetteer" both say, "Speckled trout are caught 3 to 51bs,; bam» 

 toSlbs.; pickerel, 8 to 1-llbs." I will confess that J was 

 little skeptical about finding trout in such compan v as b • : 

 and pickerel, but in the face of so many authorities, it w , 

 edly aggravating to find that there were absolutely no trout in ihl 

 river. They say there, "Of course, it is possible that 

 great -while a trout may be caught that gets in from some broofi- 

 out no trout live in the river." 



We were told that we would find good bass and pickerel fish™? 

 atAh-Mic Harbor, but would probably need bait, As we irmj 

 come equipped thoroughly for fly-fishing this was a damuftr 

 They also doubted whether we would like Ah-Mic Harbor, whlfi 

 the accommodations, we were told, were poor. I asked w hich 

 place there was the best at which to put up, and they smiled It 

 my ignorance and said there was only one, Croswell's. I nfildjb 

 quoted the guide book, which enumerated three, besides some 

 farmhouses whore boarders could be accommoda ted. These wern 

 evidently myths, fancies of the active brain of the compiler of 

 the above mentioned book of fables. 



We were advised to stop at Maganetowan, which the guidebook 

 says is a' 'thriving town," and also "the Great Northern ' 

 tion road crosses the river and a center for surrounding distrtot* 

 has been formed." It is twenty-five miles down the river which 

 is really a beautiful stream, winding as it does through the woods 

 for eighty or a hundred miles, I am told; we followed it t, 

 We went ashore at Maganetowan and went to one of the tola 

 hotels to look for a guide. The hotel and village seemed to ng 

 both the most dirty, as well as uninteresting and God-forsatag 

 spots man ever visited. The principal street is made up largjHI 

 of a villainous light yellow clay which, softened by the light, iaiii 

 which was falling, stuck to our shoes like paint. The pigs j 

 to be about as numerous as the inhabitants and travel rhc , 

 oughf ares with the same freedom and I should judge in full 

 great a state of average cleanliness. 



In due time, near the foot of Ah-Mic Bake, which is an enU 

 ment of the Maganetawan River, we found "Croswell's ho 

 To quote our invaluable guide, "G ood accommodation for tra v 

 or tourists; the best hunting and fishing in the district, boats. a 

 livery on hand; goat's milk for sickly children," etc. We foimi 

 small farmhouse, the proprietor of which runs a sawmill. 1 

 "livery" mentioned consists of one or two horses which are % 

 for work in connection with the mill. He owns two or t~ 

 rather poor boats. Both Mr. and Mrs. Oroswell seemed git 

 see us, and I have no doubt thev were, as we were the first tS 

 from the United States they had entertained tins yea v. They . 

 did the best that lay in their power to make our stay enjoy, 

 during our limited stop. The beds were clean and the house 

 erally in the sanae condition. A few million loss-flies at the a 

 ner table might have made our meals there more enjoyable, a 

 have occasionally in traveling struck a rather more appett 

 bill of fare; still, in that out of the way place then- opporiun 

 are limited, and had the fishing been good we should haw. st; 

 a week or ten days. 



After dinner we started with Mr. Croswell as guide to some tbSL,' 

 ticularly choice spots for black bass fishing. Mr. Croswell talcij 

 some minnows for bait, as he had no faith in fly-tishing; he sa 

 had never seen any before, a statement that impressed us 

 the number of sportsmen who must have been there. We 

 all the afternoon with the result of getting all told three bass 

 one small pickereL One of the bass weighed 21bs. and the sm 

 est one was certainly less than Sin. long. 



The next morning we tried partridge shooting; they told us thttt 

 ducks were scarce, and I have no doubl they spoke the i uuj 

 They might have included partridges without fear of contract©* 

 tion. Mi-. Croswell's nephew. Bill Stanyard. acted as our glxHB 

 assisted by a mongrel cur called Snap. The partridges there are 

 accommodating in the extreme; when scared up by a dog they lake 

 to a tree and wait for the dog's yelps to attract their murdercii. < 

 This obviates any necessity for the most indifferent shots misste j 

 one. They will allow one to approach so nonr tuat care is essential 

 to prevent blowing them to pieces. Before we had been in the 

 woods ten minutes the dog sounded his alarm and we batrged *™» I 

 birds. Wo may in doing so have killed all the birds of that 

 in Canada for all I know to the contrary, for we found no 

 although we tramped through the woods all the forenoon, 

 the first half hour Snap evidently thought he had worked en..., 

 and sauntered along before us as though he cared nothing for tin*' 

 fact that we had come 700 miles for tins exciting sport, 

 afternoon we went back to Burk's Falls. Mr. Burk, the gentl 

 for whom the village was name, keeps a hotel which is at le 

 years ahead of the town. The table is fair and the house 

 furnished throughout. The parlor is quite luxurious, being 

 elegantly fitted and boasting a fine piano. The hotel is sup 

 with electric bells and has a telephone attached. 1 da 

 what the telephone can be attached to at the other end, but 

 it is. There are two other hotels in the village, and how they 

 keep alive is a mystery. 



Mr. Burk felt really bad that wc had found no be 

 said he never knew but one other party to go away dissatisftfifi 

 and he wanted us to take a trip with a guide of his sclec ' 

 was the proposition: We should hire a wagon of him a 

 brook some distance away, and lie would guarantee _ 

 (guide included) should catch 150 brook trout in a day or he wailBfl 

 make no charge. He held out no alluring promises as to the eiefi 

 of the trout— "a great many would weiuh a pound." We mu&t 

 have angle worms, which must be imported, as the} 

 their sandy soil, and if successful the charge for 

 would be seven or eight dollars. As we were nc 

 record we declined. 



Ho then said: "See here, I don't want you to go away feeling 

 that we have no fishing up here; we think that we have g]|H 

 good fishing and shooting as can be found in the world, 

 will stay one more day 1 will drive you to Horn Lake, v 

 brook and salmon trout are caught, and will not charge 



We agreed, and the next morning Mr. Burk took a go 

 horses and drove us I don't know how many miles to a 

 sheet of water. We were everywhere told that we wen 

 for anything but bait fishing, and the lake is very deep, 

 say. We fished around the shore with flies, spoons and r ~ 

 minnows, and caught nothing. He then drove us to Stirling F8HN 

 a fine looking trout stream, where I am told they catch some MB 

 strings of fish. Armed now with bait and with a resident, VESf 

 got us a chub for bait, to act as a guide, we began our last aftffijt 

 noon's fishing. It resulted in my gettingalhn. trout almost ashcfB 

 I am rather glad I did not secure him, and so break the reocnHf 

 Neither of tne others got any. Mr. Burk is a thorough gentleiflM 

 and I wish Lira heartily the success that his pluck in trying to run 

 such a hotel in such a place deserves. 



Almost everybody we met informed us that we had comaU 

 early and that October was the great month for lake fishing. MB 

 the law goes into effect there on trout Sept. 15, this was coufdfflB 

 to law-abiding fishermen. Everywhere, too, we met people ffiB3 

 could tell us just where we should have gone; and yet we selefflBH 

 what we judged beforehand was the best stream in the whole 

 koka district. 



I am told that many sportsmen go there year after year 

 have great luck; but. Maine is good enough for me. 1 have can 

 many hundred trout and black bass, and I know it was not 

 gether inexperience that caused our hard luck. I arn convinced 

 that the guide book is unreliable, and that the particular reaB 

 we visited is greatly overestimated. 



Tile urbane and gentlemanly Custom House officer at LewiaffflB 

 on the Niagara River, charged me S12.95 dutv on my gun upon^H 

 return. I explained that it was bought to take tbe place of a 

 broken gun I brought from the States; that it had been used juffl 

 was purchased for my own use. He was inflexible, and 1 amJHH 

 now a violent free trader. O. E. BoitnES! 



Fali. Rtver, Mass. 



breed 



ugh, 



beautiful 

 ton early 

 50ft. tliey 

 I nhan tmn 



The angling season on Lochleven which has just clos 

 been the most successful for many years past. The 

 capture of trout has been 17,882, and their total weight 

 pounds. Last year 11,938 trout were taken, and 1(5,558 i 

 The most productive month was August, with 6,fi88 

 and next came June, with 3,285. The heaviest trout 

 season weighed 4 pounds, and the best basket was tal 

 a Yorkshire angler on July 23. It contained 59 trout, 

 weighed 58 pounds. Lochleven, which belongs to Sir Gi 

 Montgomery, is open to the public on very reasonable \ 

 and since nett ing was abolished it has become one of tl 

 angling lochs in Scotland, and the trout not only s 

 good sport but they are of excellent flavor. — London V 



Vic Smith's Lions.— Last Sunday night one of tb 

 mountain lions recently purchased by Vic Smith in th 

 part of the Territory, became tangled in some manne: 

 the chain to which it was tied and choked to death, 

 loss is quite a serious one to Vic as he intended to ta) 

 animals East with him shortly as apart of a Wild West 

 he is accumulating. To add further to Vic's troub 

 had the misfortune, while reloading shells a few day 

 to have a pound or more loose powder explode so nea 

 that it severely burned one side of his face. — Llvtn 

 (Mont.) Enterprise. Sept. 3. 



