Feb. 3, 1887.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



31 



The days passed quickly; and one morning I stepped 

 into the boat for a final fish. After two hours of sport we 

 returned with twenty-six splendid trout, which weighed, 

 as taken from the water, a few notches over twenty 

 pounds. These were cleaned and packed carefully in 

 cool moss for canying out. Camp was broken up, the 

 lake crossed, the boat carefully concealed as before, and 

 soon the forest veiled dear delightful Plumador from our 

 view. 



And so are hidden from the present our joys of the past. 

 Some day we part the shrubbery on the top of the 

 "divide'" and fix our gaze on the gone before. While 

 wiiting I have been sorely tempted to change the past to 

 the present tense, so fresh and vivid all its scenes have 

 been. I heat the night wind sighing in the trees, the 

 owl hooting dismally from the swamp, the crackling of 

 the camp-fire as a sudden gust catches and tosses the 

 flame. I watch from my balsam bed the gray glory of 

 the coming dawn, until the uprisen sun first whitens 

 then chases away the smoke-like fog hanging so closely 

 to the slumbering lake. I breathe the odor of the woods. 

 Then the fury of a winter storm raging without tells me 

 that months have passed and months must coins before 

 my wrist will feel again the spring of the pliant rod, or 

 my ear hear the swish of the flying line and the splash of 

 the eager trout. Trulv 'tis not all of fishing to fish. 



' H. E. S. 



Sybactjsk, In. Y. 



Moosehead Lake Trout.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Those petitioners who have asked the Maine Legislature 

 to extend the close time on trout and landlocked salmon 

 in Moosehead Lake to May 15, or up to June 1, as then- 

 petition at first read, are understood to have been given 

 leave to withdraw by the Committee on Fisheries and 

 Game. The story is that a body of sportsmen, together 

 with some of those interested in the hotels and steamers 

 on Moosehead Lake, were desirous of preventing the 

 taking of the usual large quantities of trout in the early 

 spring by bait-fishing, and that they resolved to petition 

 the Legislature to make the close season longer for that 

 purpose. The petition was signed by a number of prom- 

 inent fly -fishermen from both New York and Boston, and 

 set forth the damage to the trout from the practice of 

 this early bait-fishing. The measure was opposed by 

 several prominent sportsmen, who like to go to the lakes 

 early, among them the Hon. Hannibal Hamlin. It seems 

 that the force was too great against the measure. Even 

 the Commissioners are understood not to have favored 

 the measure, though they of course believe in giving the 

 trout all the protection possible. But from a matter of 

 principle they are against special legislation for locali- 

 ties, not only because more difficult to enforce, but be- 

 cause of the injustice to those who wish to indulge in 

 bait-fishing. — SPECIAL. 



The Forest and Stream has been complimented by 

 having a new brand of cigars named after it by the well- 

 known manufacturers Messrs. Win. Eggert & Co., of 

 Pearl street, this city. The familiar vignette of the 

 paper ornaments the cover of the box, and the manu- 

 facturers say that they have made the brand worthy of 

 its name. 



Subscribers who may chance to receive mutilated or 

 defective copies will confer a favor by returning them to 

 this office, and others will be supplied in exchange. 



Address all communication* to the Forest and Stream 2 A uf>. Co 



No salmon 

 Bangor that is not 

 These fish should 1 

 and bait or flies is all the li 



A PAIR OF WADING TROUSERS. 



ABOUT Christmas time the expressman left a package for me 

 which contained a pair of wading trousers with hoot attach- 

 ment. There was no card, nor even au express mark on the pack- 

 age to denote who had been so kind as to send them. Coming well 

 under the armpits of a rather short man, they must give him the 

 appearance of Adonis and add a charm to the landscape wherever 

 he may he. The hoots fit well and should the wearer slip on a 

 mossy stone and then conclude to lie on his back in the stream and 

 cool off for a while, there is room for several gallons of water and 

 a half bushel of chubs in the legs. All efforts, to locate the unknown 

 sender of the trousers have failed. 1 wish, however, to thank him 

 for his kind remembrance, and to send him the first trout caught 

 while wearing them. Can it be that at some time I have said that 

 rheumatism had of late followed wading, and its horrid spectre 

 appeared to view at every opening in the bushes and that the 

 dancing shadows on tbe trout pools often suggested the shooting 

 pangs which come later? If so some friend has sent this present 

 as a solution of the difficulty, perhaps to wean me from a 

 later fondness for boat fishing on lakes and to try and bring about 

 a reconciliation for an earlier love. As ordinary rubber boots are 

 a delusion and a snare to the wader, keeping the promise of dry 

 feet to his eye hut hreaking it to his hope, there is no compromise 

 between low shoes, which let the water In and out. and wading 

 trousers which keep it out. After thanking the unknown donor 

 and admiring the present for a while, I sat down at the desk to try 

 how they would fit on the bank of a stream. The following solilo- 

 quy was' found on the table next morning: 

 To wade, or not to wade, that is the question: 

 Whether it, is better in the legs to suffer 

 The slings and arrows of rheumatic torture, 

 Or wear rubber trousers in the cold wave's wetnes6, 

 And fey protection end them? To wear, to sweat, 

 No more; and by wearing to say we end 

 Sciatica, and the rheumatic stings 

 That flesh is heir to— 'tis a consummation 

 Devoutly to he wished. To wade, to slip; 

 To slip, perchance to fall; aye, there's the rub; 

 For in that slip on back what waves may come, 

 When we have slid from off a mossy stone, 

 And fill our trousers to the very neck, 

 Must give no pause: there's still the boat 

 That bears us dryly on the wood-bound lake: 

 For who would hear the pinchings of neuralgia, 

 The doctor's visit, the hypodermic syringe, 

 The drowsy opiates and the nurse's poultice, 

 When he himself could all these ills avoid 

 By use of boat? Who would heavy trousers wear, 

 To slip and sweat under a weary load; 

 But that the dread of something after damp; 

 The dancing imps along sciatic nerve, 

 The fiendish tortures, whose most dread return 

 No angler e'er desires, puzzles the will: 

 And makes us rather bear the ills we have, 

 Than fly to others that we know not of? F. M. 



Impeovisu Gash of Animals.— Every thoughtful observer must 

 have marked how in late years the devices for the comfort of our 

 dumb servants have improved. Better cars for their transporta- 

 tion, hotter yards for thair keeping, better stables, stalls and feed 

 for their comfort. -People find that it pays to keep good stock and 

 to keep them well. Interest and humanity both demand good 

 keeping. This extends to their care in sickness as well as in 

 health, and this improvement reaches further than is generally 

 supposed. Strolling into an extensive establishment where some 

 of tlie best stock in the country is kept, a fine animal was brought 

 from his stall evidently suffering from severe colic. He could not 

 stand a moment, scringing with pain, pawing and could be-hardly 

 kept on his feet. The foreman, eyeing him for a moment, stepped 

 to a little case, opsned it, took a small bottle, and wi th a little 

 bent glass tuhe ejected a few drops upon the tongue. ' The horse 

 was soon easier, and after a second dose in half an hour began 

 nibbling his bay. "That's the way we do it," said tbe foreman; 

 "no bottling, no balling, no bleeding or blistering for any disease, 

 only Humphreys' Veterinary Specifics. They cure every time. 

 We have not for years used any other medicines, and don't lose 

 any stock from sickness," They are being used everywhere.— J.dv. 



THE MAINE COMMISSION. 



IT^ROM the report of the Commissioners of Fish and (Tame 

 1 of the State of Maine, for 1886, Ave have already quoted 

 the interesting article on lobster protection iu our issue of 

 Jan. SO, and in the next issue we gave an extract concerning 

 the alewife. The report opens by saying that the two 

 years that have passed since the last session of the Legis- 

 1 at lire have severely tested the new fish and game laws then 

 enacted, while the increased pecuniary beuefit has evidenced 

 the wisdom and foresight of the lawmakers, and then fol- 

 low some extracts from Forest and Stream and other 

 papers which are inserted to show the approval of the laws 

 by persons outside the State. 



Of all the rivers of the Atlantic slope of the United States 

 the Penobscot is the ouly one which furnishes salmon eggs 

 iu sufficient quantity to provide them for stocking other 

 rivers, and had it not been for the work of the State and the 

 United States fish commissions there would be few or no 

 salmon left in the river to-day. The increased population 

 and facilities for transportation, together with the obstruc- 

 tion of the water courses by mills, and all those other en- 

 croachments of civilization, including the rapacity of the 

 fishermen, would have thinned the annual runs of salmon to 

 a few stray fish, had not propagation come to the rescue. 

 The Commissioners say: 



above the. tide-water dijd at 

 seeking its spawning ground, 

 i. To oe angled for with hook 

 use that should be permitted. 

 But the law has been openly set at defiance. Parties from 

 Massachusetts have been iuduced by the avarice of persons 

 on the east branch of the Penobscot to participate in the 

 felonious sport of netting our brood fish. Not only have the 

 fish been netted, but dynamite has been and is used as an 

 effective means of lishing by the local poachers. Appl icat ion 

 was made to the last Legislature to again legalize netting two 

 days in the week on the east branch. The question was asked 

 iu response: 'Would they guarantee to enforce the law if 

 granted?' The answer was: 'No.' The Penobscot can be 

 made self-sustaining if the State will provide money to pro- 

 tect the salmon from destruction when above tide-water, if 

 not, then provision must be made for 1,000,000 of salmon fry 

 to be turned into the river and tributaries annually. By 

 adopting one or the other of these two methods alone, can the 

 salmon in the Penobscot bepreserved from utter extermina- 

 tion. The benefit to the inhabitants of upper Penobscot from 

 visiting sportsmen to fly-fish tax salmon, would far exceed 

 in value all the salmon captured by net, spear and dynamite, 

 while an equal opportunity is open to them to fish by legal 

 methods with their visitors. The testimony of many men 

 > can be adduced in Bangor and Calais, who never dreamed of 

 j the possibility of taking a salmon with what was termed a 

 fish pole, who are now converts to the rod and fly, aud fierce 

 opponents to any other methods above tide water, such is 

 their enthusiasm for the newly-experienced delight of kill- 

 ing a salmon in a fair struggle of skill. Salmon do not 

 spawn oftener than once in two years, a portion ascending 

 the rivers each year. Since the enforcement, of the law for- 

 bidding netting near tbe dams on the Penobscot and St. 

 Croix rivers, the salmon collect at every tide in considerable 

 numbers, undergoing a sort of preparatory acclimation 

 before making a lengthened journey to their spawning 

 grounds in the fresh water, thus affording excellent sport to 

 the angler. Both the St. Croix and the Penobscot, if proper 

 means of protection are furnished, will yield an increased 

 revenue to the State from the advent of anglers to enjoy this 

 noble sport, which with us is free to all," 



Salmon planting in the Saco has been a success. The first 

 plant was made in New Hampshire in 1879, and t his has been 

 followed at other points on the river, and in 1886 "salmon of 

 large size have appeared in considerable numbers at the 

 mills at Saco, and at the dam at Bar Mills, where a fishway 

 is urgently called for by the local inhabitants." In 1886 

 there were planted 1,200*000 salmon fry in the waters of 

 Maine. Of this stock Prof. Baird contributed 500,000. The 

 distribution was: 700,000 to the Penobscot, 300,000 to the St. 

 Croix, 100,000 to the Saco, and 200,000 to the Kennebec. Of 

 those contributed to the St. Croix, Mr. Frank Todd, of Sr. 

 Stephen, has always paid for the hatching and distribution. 

 The salmon works at Orland purchase the fish from the nets 

 at market rates, and after stripping them of their eggs the 

 parent fish are returned to the waters, a system of great 

 benefit to the river. 



The landlocked salmon has not been found in Maine 

 waters unaccompanied by the smelt, which seems to be 

 their favorite food. The smelt spawns iu the spring and its 

 young are hatched about the time the young salmon begin 

 to feed. The Commissioners have never known the land- 

 locked salmon a marked success in any waters, unless there 

 was a plentiful supply of dwarf spring-spawning fishes. "If 

 there have been marked failures they have arisen from an 

 insufficient supply of food adapted to the new-born fish. In 

 Rangeley Lakes there are red fins, blacked-nosed dace, and 

 doubtless other dwarf fishes. The landlocked salmon is a 

 success in Rangeley, as is evidenced by a fine show of salmon 

 at the spawning grounds near the village. Many landlocked 

 salmon fry have been planted at Moosehead; the dwarf fishes 

 are doubtless to be found there, but in both cases, at Range- 

 ley and at Moosehead. we shall never be entirely satisfied 

 with the plant until a strong colony of smelts is introduced 

 into both waters. A. foolish notion is widely entertained 

 that a surplusage of fish food (or minnow food,' perhaps, will 

 be better understood) will injure the fly-fishing. Just the 

 contrary is the fact. Trout and salmon will rise to the fly 

 even with minnows in their mouths. Webb's Pond, in the 

 town of Weld, is noted for its fine pickerel and trout. The 

 tributary inlets of the ponds are large and of swift running 

 water over a gravelly and rocky bottom, affording abundant 

 protection to the trout from the vile pickerel. The pond is 

 full of smelts, indigenous to the locality. Ten years since 

 we commenced stocking this pond with landlocked salmon. 

 Some few of the fry we introduced were from Sebago salmon 

 eggs, but the main supply was from Grand Lake Stream, 

 The increase of these fish in their new locaUty is truly won- 

 derful, many of all sizes from 1 to 81bs. being yearly taken 

 on both fly and bait. In the spring of the present year, a 

 spent male salmon was taken, that weighed lllbs. 2oz, This 

 fish in full condition must have weighed 15 or 161bs,, prob- 

 ably more. On a recent visit of the Commissioners to the 

 pretty little village of Weld, they found the people quite 

 elated over their great run of salmon on the spawning 

 grounds." 



Sebago Lake has been a great source of expense and 

 trouble. It required more money for wardens to protect it 

 than the Commissioners had. Their only resource to save 

 the few salmon left in Sebago waters has been to build a 

 weir ? stopping every fish as near the mouth of the river as 



Eossible, to take the spawn of every ascending salmon and 

 atch the product at a house built at a convenient point for 

 the purpose, all to be turned back into Sebago waters. Sebago 

 may thus be made one of the most popular fishing resorts m 

 the country, and of inestimable value to Portland and all the 

 railroads centering there. The demand for landlocked sal- 

 mon fry has been far in excess of the supply or its possibilities. 

 The device contrived to check poaching on Crooked River 

 was a fence weir built directly across the river near its 

 mouth, with a plank walk on top, to enable a man with a 



rake to clear away any refuse collecting between the rails of 

 the fence, endangering the safety of the structure from any 

 suddenly occurring autumn freshet. From time immemorial 

 the spearing of these fish has been the only method of taking 

 them by the local inhabitants, and is continued down to the 

 present day, until the fish have become nearly extinct. Weir 

 has been amply sufficient to take and hold all the ascending 

 fish. If the lake could now number one salmon to an acre 

 of water, the Commissioners should have required weirs 

 capable, of holding as many hundreds as they have now 

 units. 



It seems that as many landlocked salmon can be bought 

 at the rivers as there are funds to pay for, while at Grand 

 Lake Stream the waters are limited and the crop of parent 

 fish is proportionate. A new field has been opened at Crooked 

 River, Sebago Lake, the large size of the fish taken there 

 yielding many hundreds of eggs per fish more than those at 

 Grand Lake Stream, one female taken there weighed 25lbs., 

 and an increase in the future supply is looked for. 



THE INDIANA COMMISSION. 



IN his report, recently issued, Mr. Enos B. Heed, Pish 

 Commissioner Of Indiana, says: While on the subject of 

 carp, permit me to say that since testing them as a food fish 

 I have quite changed my mind regarding them. Prom my 

 own experience, and the experience of others related to me, 

 1 am led to believe that the carp is about as edible a fish as 

 swims, wheu it has been properly raised aud properly pre- 

 pared for the table. No fish taken from a pond all mud 

 would be palatable, and the misfortune is that carp ponds 

 are not properly built or supplied with sufficiently pure, 

 water. If it should be asked, could not other fish be as 

 profitably raised as carp? I would answer no, for the reason 

 other fish cannot be so easily propagated, and there is none 

 save the pike that grow so rapidly. Wlien a 3in. carp in one 

 year will reach to a growth of from 12 to Win. and be fit for 

 table use, the wonder is not that there is such a demand for 

 carp, but why there is not a carp pond on every farm iu the 

 State. Bach year adds to their growth until they reach the 

 weight of good-sized sh oats, and are fully as palatable. It 

 has been said, by those who profess to know, that carp will 

 eat whatever a hog will. Certain it is that they will eat 

 almost anything. 



In my opinion there are no fish that oould be introduced 

 into our rivers, creeks and lakes of a superior quality than 

 those, I might say. "native and to the manor horn." We 

 have*four or five different varieties of fish of as excellent a 

 flavor as can be produced anywhere. I might name the small 

 and large mouth black bass— as gamy as any fish of their 

 size that swim, reaching to the weight of four, five and six 

 pounds — the goggle or red eye — in some localities called rock 

 bass, a most juicy and toothsome fish and long lived withal. 

 The erappie or bachelor, orCanipbellite — a delicate fish, and 

 none sweeter if eaten on the same day that it is taken. 

 Then there are small perch and sunfish and the dace, which 

 latter, though small, are equal to any trout that ever were 

 caught. The lake perch — raccoon or striped — which are so 

 abundaut, is a most solid fish, the roe of which— and almost 

 every raccoon perch seems to have a roe— is like the pie of 

 four-aiuLtwenty blackbirds, "fit to set before a king " — and 

 we are all kings in this country. I do not mention (lie mud 

 and channel cat, which some fishermen affect to despise, 

 while the latter is as rich as a white-fish. 



All these fish are plentiful— or would be if left alone— in 

 the river, creek and lake from one portion of the State to the 

 other — but the misfortune is they are not let alone, but are 

 subject to the vandals of the seine and dynamite, who have 

 been accustomed to laugh at the laws made for the protec- 

 tion of the tinny tribe. 



If I was asked to say in one word what was needed in order 

 to make fish more plentiful in our streams, I would say, 

 "Protection! Protection! Protection!" Let this be provided 

 and Indiana needs precious little else. But how can we 

 have fish iu plenty when in some of the counties a Grand 

 Jury does not indict those- who are known to seine and 

 dynamite and the prosecuting attorney is afraid to prosecute? 



There is not a lake or a stream iu the State which, if pro- 

 tected from the seiners and dynamiters for from two to four 

 years, would not be full of edible fish that would seek the 

 bait and ask to be "taken in out of the wet." Then might 

 the fly-fisherman or the live-bait angler ply the gentle art 

 with success and to his heart's content. 



Fishing on a Foggy Morning.— Casting a meditat- 

 ive glance toward where the sun had gone down, the old 

 rounder began; "Well, gentlemen, I had a little experience 

 of my own once. I went down the Chattahoochee River, in 

 Decatur county, to visit an old friend. He had often told me 

 of the splendid fishing there, and I was anxious to try it. It 

 was late in the evening when I got there, and I retired early 

 so as to be ready for the fun next day. 1 asked how far it. 

 was to the creek, and they told me it was only a fe.w-itSJtft'ed 

 yards just beyond the fence. By light next morning I was 

 up and secured a good tackle and a few sawyers. 1 started 

 off toward the creek. The fog was so heavy, for it was 

 woods' burning time, that I could not see any" distance, so I 

 groped my way as best I could across the little clearing. 

 Reaching the fence I climbed over, and picking my way 

 carefully, for I did not want to fall into the creek, I proceeded 

 slowly down the slope until I thought I must be near the 

 water's edge. Baiting my hook I threw it forward, and just 

 about time enough for it to strike the water I felt a pull, and 

 with a jerk I brought in a fine fellow. For ten minutes I 

 stood there and pulled them in, and then, fearing that I 

 would spoil one day's sport, I regretf ully retired, and by ac- 

 cident I reached the house through the fog. After breakfast 

 the fog lifted and Ave got ready for a day's enjoyment. You 

 may imagine my surprise, when on going to the place where 

 I had caught so 'many early in the morning, I found it was a, 

 full 100yds. from the bank of the creek. The truth is, I had 

 not touched the water, but just stood there and caught them 

 out of the fog. — Atlanta Constitution. 



An Attempt to Keep Terrapin.— Mr. Edward H. Strong 

 was in Chestertown recently, and gave some interesting 

 information about the dianiorid-back terrapin. Mr. Strong 

 is a farmer, but, living near the water, and being fond of all 

 the sports which it affords, spends a great deal of his time 

 in his famous canoe, the Mayflower. He states that terrapin 

 are easy to catch iu the spring, but the trouble has always 

 been how to keep them until winter, the time at which they 

 are in demand. If you confine them in a pond of water they 

 will become very poor and very often die; if kept in the air 

 they are sure to die. The high price they bring in the city 

 during the winter is the result of the difficulty experienced 

 in preserving them from the spring until the winter. It is 

 nothing unusual for fine diamond-back terrapins to bring 

 from $50 to §75 per dozen in Baltimore or New Vork city 

 during the Christmas season. Last spring Mr. Strong 

 caught a great many, and resolved to try several experi- 

 ments in order to see whether or not he could find a suc- 

 cessful plan of keeping them. About the 1st of June he 

 placed seven in an iron box and hermetically sealed it; he 

 put nine in a wooden box that was not air-tight, and then 

 took twenty-six or twenty-seven and buried them in the 

 earth about 18in. deep. A few days ago he determined to 

 examine the terrapins, All of those he had put in the iron 

 and wooden boxes were dead, while all those ne had buried 

 were alive, fatter and in better condition to eat than when 

 they were buried last June,— Baltimore Sun, Dec, 5, 



