110 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



f March 3, 1887. 



accuracy no one will pretend to deny that the record of the Rem- 

 ington is the hest. 



For further proof of the accuracy of the breechloader I refer all 

 admirers of the rifle to the targets lately made by Mr. F. J. Rab- 

 beth, of Boston, Mass., and others. He also uses a Remington- 

 Hepburn. 



No, Messrs. Merrill and Romer, you must march along with the 

 arts and sciences, or go down into North Carolina where the boys 

 arc still voting for General Jackson, and shool ing muzzlcloadhig 

 rifles. Small BojMe. 



E vansville. Ind. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I rather regretted to see the somewhat flippant article that ap- 

 peared in your last issue, in the shape of an open letter to "P." 

 from "Meatier." 



Either "Mestier" must be a very superficial student or his 

 mental caliber is to small to enable him. to properly appreciate the 

 very great value of the careful experiments made by "P." and his 

 able deductions therefrom. 



The point established, that a very flat trajectory, combined with 

 a fair degree of accuracy, can be obtained from an express car- 

 tridge shot from one of our quick twist target rifles, is of the 

 highest, importance. 



"P." shows that his gun is capable of giving a flatter curve and 

 a higher degree of accuracy than has been obtained from the slow 

 twist English express rifles. 



The result is especially gratifying to me, as I advanced the 

 opinion, some years ago, that a quick twist would present no 

 obstacle to a satisfactory performance of these particulars, pro- 

 vided that the bullet was correctly proportioned, both as to hard- 

 ness and diameter. 



I find that I must differ f rom >l P." in the opinion that a patched 

 bullet, is essential to accuracy when a high powder charge is used. 

 I can see no reason why a'propcrly designed cannclured ^bullet 

 should not perform well. Those heretofore used have generally 

 been too soft, and the cannelures have been too few and too deep. 



My experience has been that, with the same powder charge and 

 weight of bullet, a cannclured bullet will give an appreciably flatter 

 curve (due to less friction between the well-lubricated surfaces of 

 contact) than will a patched one. While in dirty shooting (the 

 only practical style for hunting) the advantage in accuracy is 

 likely to be with the naked ballet. 



I would ask "P." if there is not danger of the patch being 

 roughened and abraided by exposure to moisture and caroless 

 handling, so that the cartridge will enter hard and the patch be 

 stripped from the bullet in tiring, giving wild shooting with a 

 tendency to leading. I have not used a patched bullet in fixed 

 ammunition to a sufficient extent to be sure on this point, but 

 should think that this difficulty would be likelv to occur, espe- 

 cially if the cartridge is carried in a belt. 



In conclusion, 1 wish to thank "P." for the valuable data he has 

 already furnished us, aud to express the hope that no ill-consid 

 ered criticisms may deter him from continuing in well-doing. 



New York, Feb. 36, 1887. James Duane. 



A MODEL GAME LAW. 



WESTERN N. Y. CLUB, Feb. U, im.-I>ear Sir: In view of the 

 adverse aufl sol li sit opinions upon the subject of protecting 

 hsh and game, and confusion of laws, the proposed draft of a law 

 is submitted for your approval. It is deemed sufficiently broad 

 and comprehensive to satisfy this diversity and selfishness, afford 

 all "consistent" protection and latitude, and is concise and easily 

 understood. With an influential following in this direction, it is 

 thought you are the best man to recommend, and ha ve the honor 

 of getting it through. It is approved by this Club and bv all mar- 

 ketnien. If will be cheerfully obeyed bv pot-hunters. Yours, etc. 

 B. Frog, President. 



An Act to protect and regulate the killing, transportation and 

 sale of fish and game. 



The people of the State of New York, represented in Senate and 

 Assembly, do enact as follows: 



Section 1. The lawful season for killing fish and game of all kinds, 

 shall commence on the first day of January and end on the SlSt 

 day of December in each and every year. During the period afore- 

 said hsh and game maybe lawfully sold, transported or had in 

 possession, but not until after caught or killed. 



Sec. 2. All persons violating this law shall forfeit all rights of 

 fislung or hunting prior to the violation. 



Sec. 3. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent or contrary to the 

 provisions hereof are hereby repealed. 



Sec. 4. State game protectors may enforce this law according to 

 discretion, and use. their best efforts in aid of the political candi- 

 date by whom they are appointed. 



Sec. 5. This act to take effect immediately. 



fed nnd iiii er Jfftehing. 



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



SURFACE SCHOOLS OF FISH. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I am glad to notice in the late numbers of your paper 

 that the discussion of "Surface Schools of "Fish" is in 

 order. In reply to "Jay Beebe" in your issue of Feb. 7, 1 

 . have no doubt whatever that the fish I saw were trout; 

 my party, guides and all, agree in this. I failed to land 

 the fish I hooked, but we all w T ere often within a dozen 

 feet of the schools, so near that we could see then mottled 

 backs, and I do not think it possible that we were mis- 

 taken. Again, in this chain of lakes, I am not aware that 

 any other kind of fish are taken; none to my knowledge, 

 except now and then a sucker. During several seasons' 

 fishing I have seen over a thousand speckled trout caught 

 and not a dozen suckers: so I again state with the great- 

 est certainty that we saw "schools of trout swimming 

 with their backs out of water packed like sardines." 

 Further, let me state that they were "out on business," 

 then- uneasy ways impressed us so; they were not feed- 

 ing or playing. The most satisfactory explanation giveti 

 me is, that they were seeking their spawning beds; it 

 was late in the season and some of the fish we dressed 

 were filled with roe. Another friend suggests that as the 

 water was low and very warm it might not have held a 

 full supply of oxygen, and they came to the surface to 

 "get their breath." I am glad '"the question is now be- 

 fore the house." Spicewood. 

 Centbalia, Pa. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



I have read with great interest several letters concern- 

 trout playing on the surface of the water, I give you an 

 instance or two which have come within my experience, 

 and "Which, though they differ to a certain extent from 

 what is related by your correspondents, may throw some 

 light on the matter. 



Some years ago I had the good fortune to fish on a lake 

 in Finland, the time of the year was June, and as the 

 days were hot and the water clear, most of our fishing 

 was done in the short nights. At time about sunset (at 

 that time of the yea? the sun only dipped below the hori- 

 zon for about two hours) the surface of the water wduld 

 be broken in all directions by large fish. The rise lasted 

 about half ah hour, when thev left off. These fish were, 

 apparently not f eeding, as they would not look at the flies 

 I offered them. All we caught in the lake were caught 

 •with an artificial minnow. Later in the year, however, 

 I believe they are caught there with a large red- or black- 

 calmer. - " 



Two years ago, in the autumn, I was fishing in Norway, 

 in a rapid stream flowing from a large lake. The day 

 was cold and cloudy, threatening rain. We had rather 



poor sport, the fish we caught were good ones. About 

 midday the rain came down in torrents, and the fish im- 

 mediately began rising in great numbers. I never saw j 

 so many fish before nor since. With each throw w r e 

 covered three or four rising fish. Our flies, however, 

 were not right, the fish were feeding on a small iron blue 

 dun, which had suddenly appeared in swarms on the 

 water. I had left my book of small flies at home, and 

 only had with me a lot of larger and rather brilliant flies, 

 Which I found most serviceable on the same river a day 

 or two before. My friend changed his hooks several 

 times, and hooked one fish by the back fin, which being 

 a two-pounder led him such a dance that the rise was 

 over before he got him into the boat. I have seen the 

 same sort of thing happen in other rivers, and I am sure 

 that unless one has the exact fly the fish are taking it is 

 very little good fishing at all. For when there is a large 

 rise of a certain fly, the fish leave all other food and even 

 other flies, and confine their attention to the one sort 

 alone. 



All this is experience from the other side. Whether 

 trout have the same habits and customs here as their 

 cousins in the older countries, I hope to learn this spring. 



Kismet. 



Philadelphia, Feb., 28, 1887. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your issue of Feb. 17, "Jay Beebe" hazards the 

 opinion that the fish referred to were not trout. I hap- 

 pened to be fishing in another of the Mastigouche lakes 

 on the same day that "Spicewood" noticed the peculiar 

 actions of the fish. I had been out all day with ray wife 

 in a canoe trout fishing, and as we had rather poor suc- 

 cess before noon, were on our w T ay back to camp, but 

 stopped for a short time near an island in Lake- Seymour, 

 where I tried a few casts. The surface of the lake was 

 like a mirror, unbroken save where an occasional riffle 

 showed where some wary trout had discovered an unsus- 

 pecting insect and taken him in out of the wet. After 

 several ineffectual attempts to seduce some of the more 

 eager fish into accepting the artificial for the natural, I was 

 about putting up my rod when my wife called attention 

 to a peculiar appearance on the surface of the water 

 about 100yds. from us. A space of 15 or 20ft. in diameter 

 seemed to be alive with fish, which kept the water in a 

 perfect boil, the whole school moving slowly toward our 

 boat. When they passed within a few yards of us. we 

 saw they were trout, apparently of all sizes, rushing back 

 and forth so close to the surface that their dorsal fins 

 were visible. I made several casts right among them, but 

 succeeded in hooking only one, and that near the tail. 

 On landing the fish I found it to be a plump, healthv 

 trout of about 10in. in length. The school had disap- 

 peared as suddenly as it came and we saw no more of it 

 that afternoon. The old guide with us, who had been on 

 these lakes for years, said he never saw anything like it 

 before. On speaking of this novel occurrence in camp 

 that evening, "Spicewood" and two of his friends, who 

 had been camped on another lake for two or three days 

 and had just returned, spoke of the same thing as having 

 been seen by their party several times during that and 

 the previous day, and there was not a doubt in the minds 

 of anyone that the fish seen were genuine Sulmo fontina- 

 Ks. The supposition of "Jay Beebe" that they might be 

 herring is not borne out by the facts as noted by eye wit- 

 nesses. The Mastigouche Lakes are full of genuine 

 speckled trout, and no other fish are known in these 

 waters except suckers and such small kinds as serve for 

 food for the trout. 



The theory of an old Yorkshire fisherman residing in 

 this city, to whom I mentioned this phenomena, was that 

 in lakes with a soft bottom, when the trout could not find 

 sand or gravel beds to clear themselves from parasites, 

 they collected in schools and rubbed against each other 

 for the purpose of getting rid of obnoxious company. 



I have fished in numerous lakes in our Laurentian re- 

 gion for a number of years, but never saw nor heard of 

 any such peculiarity among the trout before. 



Henry W. Atwater, Sec'y M. F. C. 



Montreal, Canada. 



BASS AT BREAK OF DAY. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



With the wind shrieking and howling and the mercury 

 nearly out of sight "below," there is little out of doors to 

 attract the attention of the sportsman. The best that can 

 be done is to sit by a glowing grate, whose warmth seems 

 the more cheerful as compared with the chilling blasts 

 without, and read the Forest and Stream between inter- 

 vals of dreaming of pleasant days that are passed, and in 

 planning for those to come. The trim little rifle we see 

 resting on the rack reminds us of days devoted to squirrel 

 and woodchuck in which it played so important a part. 

 Trustworthy and companionable we always found it, and 

 its whip-crack was ever to our ear the sweetest music. 

 The less shapely, though none the less business like shot- 

 gun, brings pleasant recollections of days afield, when 

 every tree and shrub was clothed in autumn's rich and 

 varied tints. Again we feel the thrill caused by a grouse 

 springing from cover and whirring away through the tree 

 tops like a small cyclone, to come again to earth with a 

 dull thud, while a shower of feathers come floating back 

 on the air; or, quite as often, to safely disappear while we 

 look ruefully at our smoking barrels.* In memory, a rab- 

 bit starts from beneath a tuft of grass at our very feet, 

 and bounds away with springs that scatter the dry leaves 

 from his path. Instinctively our gun comes to shoulder, 

 a hasty glance along the barrels, a sharp report, a prompt 

 recoil, and, through the drifting cloud of smoke we see 

 a tuft of white cotton describing circles in the air, and 

 when the smoke clears up, there, on a bed of moss, lies 

 our game ready for the bag as soon as a fresh shell is 

 placed in the gun. 



None the less pleasant are the recollections of days 

 spent upon the water with rod and line. The reading of 

 a correspondent's first acquaintance with bass recalls my 

 first experience -with that gamy fish. All preparations 

 were made the night before. Very early we started, for 

 the day's spoil was to be prefaced by a ride of ten miles 

 through the keen air of a frosty October morning. In 

 due time we reach favorite fishing grounds along the 

 -"Old Susquehanna," with which my companion is. well 

 acquainted, and without disturbing the" inmates of a 

 farmhouse on the river bank, who are not yet astir, we 

 leave our team in the barn, procure a boat, and are soon 

 afloat; and even before the first faint blush of the ap- 



proaching dawn appears in the east we are ready for the 

 sport. 



The boat — a good one for the purpose — is moored 

 squarely across the stream by using two anchors in water 

 13ft. deep. Our tackle is of the simplest kind, consisting 

 merely of lines 25yds. in length and furnished with two 

 hooks, sinker and float. After being duly baited with 

 live mummy chogs, the hooks were thrown but below the 

 boat and the lines paid out as they floated gently awav 

 with the current, the float keeping the hooks from foul- 

 ing the bottom. 



And now Ave impatiently await a strike. At last it 

 comes, but is not quite what we had expected. And, as 

 we manipulate the line, we quickly conclude that the 

 accounts read and the stories heard told of the gamy 

 qualities of this much-talked fish must have been de- 

 cidedly "fishy." Our catch is quickly towed alongside 

 (no other terms will express the manner of doing) and, 

 in extreme disgust, we drag a bullhead into the boat. 

 But as the first rays of the morning sun gild with light 

 the topmost pines' on the mountains at our right, and 

 awaken to busy life the occupants of the farmhouses at 

 our left, the bass give us their attention and very quickly 

 secure ours. The glorious dawns, the grand old moun- 

 tains, the gently flowing river, the peaceful rural scenes, 

 all are forgotten in the excitement and pleasure of land- 

 ing bass after bass in rapid succession; and we were soon 

 ready to believe everything we had heard of their good 

 qualities. Those we took that morning were not very 

 large, but the quantity was all a reasonable sportman 

 would ask. The largest one hooked was lost, as is usually 

 the case, as, with exultant pride, we raised him over the 

 side of the boat. There was a quick slap of the broad 

 tail on the rowlock, a splash, a swirl in the water, and 

 we stood looking where he disappeared, and we felt — 

 well, if you are a fisherman you know how we felt. 



As the dinner hour approached, a call from Parmer B. 

 summoned us ashore, and a genial, hospitable gentleman 

 w^e found lihn. He took pride in showing, for our 

 amusement, the accomplishments of a fine pointer of 

 which he is the owner. We had noticed him during the 

 forenoon hunting in the willows along the rive]- bank. 

 We fished a short time in the afternoon and added six to 

 our string, but the best of the fishing was had in the 

 early part of the day. Our score numbered thirty-six 

 black bass, one goggle-eye and a pickerel that tipped the 

 scales at 2|lbs., besides the aforementioned bullhead. 

 Two better pleased anglers never beached their boat and 

 took from it their catch at the end of a clay's fishing; and 

 I seldom joint a rod or bait a hook without thinking of 

 that — my first day with black bass. Bon Ami. 



Susquehanna County, Pa. 



SALMON IN THE HUDSON. 



THE following letter from Col. Marshall McDonald, of 

 the U. S. Fish Commission, to Mr, A. N. Cheney, of 

 Glens Falls, N. Y.,isof great interest. Now that there 

 is a prospect of having salmon in the river, as Was evi- 

 denced by the capture of five er six adult specimens last 

 year, it is important that steps should be taken to protect 

 them not only while they are becoming established, but 

 for all time. The recommendations of Colonel McDonald 

 are excellent, and to the point. He writes: 



Washington, D. O, Jan. 31, 1887. 



Mr. A. N. Cheney: 



Dear Sir — I have been greatly interested in your com- 

 munication to the Albany Argus in regard to salmon in 

 the Hudson, but have been so overwhelmed with official 

 work for weeks past, that I have not had time before to 

 give it the consideration and thought it well deserves. 



The success of the experiments already made with sal- 

 mon, indicates that fish (fry) placed in the Hudson, are 

 under favorable conditions for growth, and that after 

 migrating to salt water they will return to the river to 

 spawn. 



To render the Hudson permanently a salmon river; 

 furnishing a great addition to the food supply for the 

 people; affording fine sport for the anglers arid greatly 

 enhancing the attractions of that section of the State 

 drained by its headwaters ; bringing greater influx of 

 visitors, greater profits for your hotels and boarding 

 houses, better markets for home supplies, profitable em- 

 ployment for guides and boatmen, and directly or indi- 

 rectly profit to the community generally, three things 

 are necessary: 



First; — To open the way over natural and artificial ob- 

 structions so that the sea-run-sa lnion may find a ready 

 passage from salt water to the extensive and favorable 

 natural spawning grounds at the sources of the river. 



Second — To continue the work of artificial hatching 

 and planting until an abundant annual run of salmon is 

 established in the river. 



Third — Stringently enforced laws for protecting fry, 

 parr, grilse and salmon, from capture by any means 

 whatever, for a period of years ; and afterward by a 

 close season and prohibition of their capture by other 

 means than hook and line above tide water. Their cap- 

 ture in tide Water should also be regulated. 



During the past season, in October, I spent several 

 weeks on the Mohawk, and gave it most careful study. 

 The habitual clearness and purity of its waters and the 

 low summer temperature, indicate favorable conditions 

 for salmon. In these respects, and in the pale amber 

 tint of the waters in mass, I was strongly reminded of 

 the Tay in Scotland, wdiich is a stream not so large as the 

 Moha wk, but affords the finest salmon Ashing in Scot- 

 land, and vields to the proprietors of its fisheries an an- 

 nual rentafof £10.000. 



Above the falls at Cohoes there are no material obstruc- 

 tions on the Mohawk. The dam at Schenectady has now 

 an efficient fishway, which will, I think, demonstrate to 

 afford an easy and accessible passage for all species 

 of fish ; moreover the dam itself being only six feet high 

 will be no obstacle to salmon which will readily pass any 

 part of it in ordinary or full stages of water. 



At Cohoes the total height of the fall to be overcome is 

 about 110 or 120 feet, vertical. This locality presents un- 

 usual engineering difficulties ; a part of the way would 

 be" through tunnel in solid rock, and all parts wotdd 

 have to be of the utmost strength. The cost of a fishway 

 there would be from §15,000 to $20,000 — to erect such a 

 construction as I would recommend. 



I think it would be wise to concentrate all interests 

 concerned on the Hudson for the present. I do not 

 know the aggregate height of the obstructions, natural 



