March 17, 1887.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



189 



their appearance, the finger-marks and spots are covered 

 and concealed by a coating of bright silvery scales, and 

 the natural instinct of their kind impels them to leave 

 the fresh water and transfer themselves to the briny 

 waters of the ocean. On experiencing this change, they 

 assemble in shoals and commence their descent of the 

 river. Arriving Avithin the range of the tide, they linger 

 for a few days in the brackish water and drop gradually 

 down toward the mouth of the river, floating up and 

 down with the set of the tide, adapting themselves to t he 

 changes of medium. When this is completed they pass 

 out into the open sea, and scatter themselves along the 

 coast in search of the food appropriate to the new phase 

 of their existence. 



They generally arrive in the tidal part of the river in 

 the months of April and May, and their arrival is the 

 signal for the assembling of a host of enemies, which as- 

 sail them during the whole period of their stay with un- 

 remitting perseverance. Flocks of terns circle in the 

 air and ever and anon dart down with unerring aim upon 

 the unfortunate stragglers which come too near the sur- 

 face. Fleets of guillemots and razorbills float upon the 

 Burfaee and pursue their prey in the depths beneath. 

 Loons and grebes, singly or in pairs, sink from sight with 

 hardly a ripple, and reappear with a fish in each bill, and 

 even the mighty solan does not disdain the small but 

 tempting morsel, wdiile occasionally a seal pops up his 

 round bullet head and gazes around as if taking his hear- 

 ing. Nor are these their sole nor even their most danger- 

 ous enemies. Keenly as they are pursued by their aerial 

 foes, beneath they are subjected to a persecution still 

 more sanguinary and unrelenting. While then- persecu- 

 tors may "be counted by hundreds, their scaly pursuers 

 must be numbered by thousands, and while the former, 

 for the most part, can capture only those which expose 

 themselves near the surface by daylight, the latter can 

 follow them into the deepest recesses of the cm-rent both 

 by day and night. Of these predatory fish there are 

 several kinds, but the chief depredators are the poddler 

 or saith, the young of the coalfish, which generally weighs 

 from 1 to 41bs. ; the lythe or hake, a shorter, thicker fish, 

 olive on the back, and having a projecting jaw like a pike 

 or bulldog, and weighing from 3 to 8 or lOlbs., and lastly 

 the codlings, white and red, from 3 to 10 or l'ilbs. The 

 poddlers are the most numerous, and they give the name 

 to the fishing. 



My tackle consisted of a rod thirteen feet in length, 

 stout enough to lift ten or twelve pounds of fish up the 

 side of the pier. It was made in two joints, the bottom of 

 ash and the top of hickory and lance wood, with a splice 

 joint tied with waxed twine when in use instead of a fer- 

 rule in the middle; a reel holding eighty yards of stout 

 water-twist linen line, and a foot-length of three-ply sal- 

 mon gut closely laid and securely knotted. The sinker 

 was a pencil of lead with a brass wire cast lengthwise 

 through it and turned into a loop at each end, weighing 

 altogether about three ounces. This was fastened to the 

 extremity of the foot-length. The so-called flies were 

 made from the white feather from a goose's quill tied on 

 a tinned ''haddock hook;" three or four of these were 

 fastened to the foot-length at intervals of eighteen inches 

 apart, the snoods being shortened so as to project not more 

 than four inches from the line: another, on a snood of 

 about twelve inches long, was attached to the lower loop 

 of the plummet. To use this tackle with the best effect, 

 the practice is to first plumb the depth of the water and 

 shorten the fine until the plummet is raised a foot or so 

 from the bottom; hold it so for a short time and then give 

 a steady upward pull (not a jerk) of three or four feet, 

 and continue doing so at intervals of about ten seconds. 

 "When a fish is struck do not be in a hurry to land it uidess 

 a heavy one, as often others will be attracted to the bait 

 and every hook filled. The beet time to enjoy this sport 

 is when high water occurs at from four to six o'clock 

 P. M., beginning to fish when the tide has turned an hour 

 or an hour and a half. On such an evening I have often 

 commenced fishing at 7:30 P. M. and before nine o'clock 

 have landed from 60 to a 1201bs. of fish. This was 

 by no means a wanton slaughter, for there were always 

 plenty of boys on the pier who were glad to get the surplus 

 for home consumption. The poddlers were mostly taken 

 on the upper hook, the lythe on the lower ones, and the 

 codlings almost without exception on the hook below the 

 sinker. One evening when the fish were biting freely 

 and the lythe were unusually numerous,I struck something 

 which I supposed from the dead resistance to be a bottom 

 hold; but on raising the point of my rod and putting on a 

 strain a sudden rush seaward took off 30yds. or so of my 

 line and obliged me to run twice that distance along the 

 pier at the top of my speed, when the fish headed for the 

 opposite shore; the strain, however, was too much for 

 him. This maneuver he repeated again and again, but the 

 hold was good, the tackle trusty, and I brought him up 

 against the strong current in a series of diminishing semi- 

 circles, of which the fish described the circumference, the 

 line the radius and myself the center, until at last I suc- 

 ceeded in bringing him around the corner of the pier, 

 where there is a "batt," that is a platform of hewn stone 

 with sloping sides, used for drawing the seine of the 

 Crabwater salmon fishery on, on which I landed a very 

 dead run fish, and my son brought up the ladder, not a 

 salmon, as I had vainly flattered myself, but a lythe over 

 three feet in length and weighing twenty-five pounds, 

 the largest fish ever taken at the pier up to that time, 

 May, 1854. 



In comparative culinary value these fish vary very 

 much. The flesh of the poddlers is soft and insipid; that 

 of the lythe is much firmer and better flavored, while that 

 of the white codlings, after feeding for a week or two 

 upon the salmon fry, acquires a richness and delicacy it 

 does not possess at any other time. One of these fish of 

 six or seven pounds weight split open from the throat to 

 the vent, lined with a, stuffing of bread crumbs and finely 

 minced suet, moistened with milk and seasoned with 

 green parsley shred very fine, pepper and salt and baked 

 in a rather slow oven, makes a dish fit to delight the 



Ealate of the most fastidious ichthyophagist. N. B. — I 

 elieve that a good black bass, channel cat or pike-perch 

 cooked in this way would not be much inferior. 



A good deal of discussion had arisen respecting the 

 length of tune the salmon fry remained in the salt water 

 before they returned to their native streams as grilse. The 

 prevailing belief was that they returned in the fall of the 

 same year in which they .went down; but some persons 

 maintained that it was absurd to think that a fish which 

 required two years or more to attain a weight of three 

 ounces could grow to a weight of three pounds or up- 



ward in six or eight weeks. In order to settle this point 

 the Berwick Shipping Co. instituted a series of experi- 

 ments in the years 1842-3-4-5-6, in which I had the pleas- 

 ure of assisting. Considerable numbers of these smolts 

 were captured and marked by inserting loops of silver or 

 copper wire in then- fins or tails, varying the position in 

 each year, and keeping an accurate record of the same. 

 Several of these marked fish were subsequently recap- 

 tured as grilse and identified by myself and others, but 

 not one of those so taken had remained in the salt water 

 for a shorter period than fourteen months, during which 

 time they had attained a weight of about three pounds, 

 and most of these had lived in the sea for two years or 

 more, when their weight increased to from six to eight 

 pounds. 



In my former letter, One evening late in August, 

 1SS4," should have read. "One morning late in August, 

 1844." ( So. D. 



AN ALASKAN SEA SERPENT. 



Salmon and Sea Lions.— The destructiveness of the 

 lion among the salmon and other fishes of the Pacific coast 

 is well known. Concerning this the Portland Oregonian 

 says: "William Arnold has been gunning for sea lions of 

 late at Tillamock and with good success, having already 

 246, The bodies of these huge beasts blown ashore lined 

 the beach for miles. "While others have been writing let- 

 ters about fish wheels, traps and pound nets, Mr. Arnold 

 has taken his little gun and done good practical work for 

 the preservation of our salmon interests and salmon nets. 

 The sea lion was doubtless created for some useful pur- 

 pose, probably to prevent salmon from becoming too 

 numerous. Vast numbers of them congregate at Tilla- 

 mock Rock and at Seal rocks, a few miles south and near 

 the shore, where they live at then- ease and prey upon the 

 shoals of sabnon entering the Columbia. It is estimated 

 that half of the salmon which come into the Columbia in 

 the early part of the season are captured by sea lions, 

 which also damage nets to the amount of thousands of 

 dollars." 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



If, indeed, any of the aquatic animals long drawn out, 

 however they may vary in "form, structure, appearance 

 and habits," and even' size, may be considered a sea ser- 

 pent, then truly "the existence 'of veritable sea serpents 

 * * * is no longer disputed and denied." But is not 

 such a use of the iterm simply trifling with words? The 

 idea current in most minds is that the so-called sea 

 serpent is some unknown animal of the serpent kind or 

 having the form of a serpent and especially characterized 

 by the gigantic size it attains; 3,000 or 4,000ft of length 

 have been even assigned to it. The application of the 

 name to any moderate-sized or small aquatic animal is 

 therefore a misnomer and nullifies any special significance 

 connected with the name. The naturalist knows of 

 numerous forms to which the name is as applicable as to 

 the fish noticed by Mr. ilallock in Forest and Stream 

 for March 10. If, however, the general conception of the 

 sea serpent is held as a criterion, then I for one must 

 dissent from the probability of its existence. My reasons 

 for dissent have been given in an ai'ticle entitled "The 

 Sea Serpent Myth/' published in the Forum for March. 



As to the so-called "Alaskan sea serpent," it is a well- 

 known, fish of the family of Alepisaurids. The Alepis- 

 aurids belong to a large group, chiefly confined to the 

 deep sea and open sea, called Iniomes, and the family 

 consists of about half a dozen species and is represented 

 in distant seas. One kind is quite commonly caught by 

 the bank codfishermen in deep water and two or three 

 kinds have been caught in deep water off the Pacific 

 coast of North xlmerica and sometimes they come even 

 into shallow water or are driven on the shores. The 

 figure given in Forest and Stream gives a very poor 

 idea of the fish. The dorsal, for instance, is very long 

 and unbroken, and reaches from near the nape to the 

 vertical of the oval. The form is also much less elongated 

 and slender tha,n is represented. It may be added that 

 the skin is perfectly smooth, naked and not scaly. A 

 figure of a species closely l-elated to the Alaskan fish is 

 given in the atlas of ' 'The Fisheries and Fishery Industries 

 of the United States" (page 202). It is the Alepisaurus 

 ferox, originally described from Madeira, and which is 

 called by the bank fishermen the "lancet-fish." The 

 Alaskan fish may be either Alepisaurus (Caulomis) 

 horcolis or cescidapius. Both are found in Alaskan 

 waters, and the name "handsaw fish" is applied to either 

 indifferently. Theo. GlLL. 



Smithsonian Institution, March 11. 



The Mystic Anglers. — Fort Wayne, Ind., March 9. — 

 Yesterday our club was presented with a beautiful gold 

 medal by Mr. John H. Bass, of this city, and our 

 Wealthiest citizen. Mr. Bas,? is president of the Bass 

 Foundxy and Machine "Works, of Chicago, St. Louis and 

 of this city, and is a gentleman whom our people respect 

 more on account of his liberal ideas, benevolence and 

 genial sptrit, than any other in the city or county, in fact, 

 northern Indiana. He is a lover of legitimate sports, 

 although his business prevents much indulgence. On his 

 large and beautiful farm west of city he has everything 

 the heart can desire. His fish ponds are gems, the largest, 

 I believe, in the State artificially made, and are well 

 stocked with fish. The medal is to remain the property 

 of the club, no one being entitled to it longer than a stated 

 period, and must be won to be worn by the members. As 

 we are forninst fishing for count, the largest black bass 

 taken with rod, line and hook held in hand, weight to 

 decide (not loaded), using live or artificial bait, gets the 

 medal, subject always to the above conditions. The fish 

 must be taken from streams in this county, of which we 

 have seven which contain black bass. The medal will 

 henceforth be known as "The John H. Bass Medal." The 

 medal is made of fine gold, shield shape, on which are 

 two rods beautifully chiseled out and raised above the 

 plate, a landing net, with the figures 1887 and inscription 

 "John H. Bass to the Mystic Anglers, Fort Wayne, Ind." 

 On top of the shield is a fine Kentucky reel. A minnow 

 net is supported under the shield from hooks projecting 

 from the sides. The pin is attached to the shield by gold 

 chains and represents a black bass in motion — the scales 

 are very distinct and a ruby represents the eye of the fish. 

 The medal is 2fin. long, "the fish 1-Jin., and the shield 

 lfin. wide.— John P. Hance. 



Waterproofing Lines.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Some time since, in Forest and Stream, I incidentally 

 alluded to and recommended a certain carbon oil for 

 waterproofing fishing lines. I have not lost faith in it; 

 but, nevertheless, wish to call attention to another pre- 

 paration for the purpose. Last fall I happened to be 

 chairman of a committee appointed to test the value of 

 this preparation for waterproofing muslin, etc., for cer- 

 tain purposes. It was found, after long-continued trial, 

 to be excellent. It occurred to me that it would be 

 equally good for fishing lines, landing nets, etc., and was 

 found to be so. It is cheap, easily applied, and is mildew 

 proof. The company, no doubt, would waterproof lines 

 and nets; but, inasmuch as the preparation can be 

 bought by the gallon, the angler can do his own water- 

 proofing. It is made by the American Waterproofing 

 Fiber Co. of New York. I may add that the line is not 

 weakened by the preparation, but rather strengthened. 

 Naturally, the fine is made a trifle heavier, but in use 

 it is lighter than an unprepared line, as the water does 

 not soak into it. Perhaps some of the readers of Forest 

 and Stream will give tins thing a trial, and report the 

 result. That is the proper way to get at its merits.— Petr a,= 



Castalia, O. — The Cold Creek Trout Club have pur- 

 chased the entire property of the Castalia Mining Com- 

 pany, and it is rumored here that the machinery in the 

 mill will be disposed of and the large building arranged 

 for a magnificent club house and billiard parlors. This 

 change would give the company one of the finest club 

 houses in western Ohio, and the'transfer will improve the 

 village of Castalia many thousands of dollars and give 

 employment to more laboring men. The stream of water, 

 fed by the famous Cold Creek springs, is one of the 

 grandest trout streams on the globe, clear as crystal, pure 

 as snow, cold as ice in summer, and never freezes in 

 winter. 



The Coming Tournament.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 The committee on rules of the National Eod and Eeel 

 Association have agreed in adding the following to Rule 

 4: "In the contests with light rods of 5oz. and under an 

 allowance of Uoz. will be made in favor of such rods as 

 have a solid reel plate."— G. Poey, Secretary. 



The President's Outing, — A workman at Frankfort, 

 Ky., has sent President Cleveland a reel, with the com- 

 pliments of "a Kentucky Republican, who loves him for 

 the fish he has caught." In a letter of thanks the Presi- 

 dent said: "The sight and handling of it makes me long 

 for the time when I can put it in use." 



tgiBluttlhire. 



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



THE FOOD OF THE SALMON lD^E AT SEA. 



BY W. ANDERSON SMITH. 

 [From the Journal of the National Jfishculture Association.] 



IT is well known to most sportsmen, as well as to most 

 naturalists, that once the salmon enter our rivers they 

 may rip up a fly in play, or a minnow even, in exuberance of 

 spirits, but until they spawn they rlo not seem to be, as a 

 rule, "on the feed." The voracity of kelts, on the other 

 hand, is sufficiently understood and the great injury those 

 do who remain in the waters where the young salmonidee 

 are struggling for existence. This being the case, it is cer- 

 tain that before such a strong fish can bring itself again 

 into condition it must reach fishing grounds of exceptional 

 richness, and, from their great numbers, also of exceptional 

 extent. Authorities have spoken of the food of the salmon 

 with a doubtful expectation of being believed, because, the 

 greater portion of fish with which they have come in contact 

 have had empty stomachs. The same was formerly said of 

 the herring. The press teems with communications deny- 

 ing that the. salmon feeds at all in fresh water, and by 

 analogy may seem to suggest that they do not eat anything 

 very tangible in salt water. An indefinite idea prevails 

 among unscientific observers that something they call 

 "suction"— and that seems to point to microscopical supplies 

 — builds up the large rich bodies of these fine fish. A list of 

 authorities gives color to these ideas of the untrained ob- 

 server. "Ova of sea-urchin," "Entomostracea and Crus- 

 tacea," and "Ova of Echinodermata," being the character- 

 istic accounts, when they do not simply assert "sand eels." 



Now we have no doubt that all these objects go occasion- 

 ally to build up the system of the salmon, but the salmonidaa 

 cannot as a class be called "insectivorous fish," like the her- 

 ring or mackerel, and their onslaughts on the floating life of 

 the sea of an invertebrate class are only make-shifts, in the 

 absence of the more important food to which they must in 

 reality mainly look. 



Since a paper read last year before the Scotch Fisheries 

 Improvement Association, I have had some further experi- 

 ence with regard to the food of the smaller salmonidee at 

 sea, although by no means such an extensive experience as I 

 had hoped for. During an expedition of several months' 

 duration, extending from the mouth of West Loch Tarbert 

 in Knapdale to Portree in Skye, sea trout and salmon were 

 found to be exceptionally scarce; and at the same time the 

 herring were almost entirely absent, at a time of the year 

 when they are commonly on that coast. All floating inver- 

 tebrate life was found to be extremely backward of develop- 

 ment, owing to low temperature prevailing throughout the 

 district in question during the season; the herring and mack- 

 erel that feed upon such life were equally unripe; and no doubt 

 the salmon and sea trout, that in our opinion largely de- 

 pend upon herring in earlier stages of growth, were deficient 

 on our west coast for the same reasons. 



In an inquiry of this kind it is necessary to obtain as great 

 a gathering of facts as possible, and from widely different 

 districts. I have received statements of fact from men of 

 knowledge and experience bearing upon this question. Their 

 publicity may lead other observers to add to the bulk of 

 evidence. One of the most experienced and cultured fish- 

 curers of Lewis assured me that, in his experience, salmon 

 at sea fed upon herring sile. Maelaine, of Lochbine, in- 

 forms me that at one time off Colonsay he came upon large 

 fish leaping out of the water in their eagerness to seize their 

 prey, and these were found to be salmon chasing herring. 

 On the west of Mull, salmon taken in the fresh water direct 

 from the sea were found to be full to the mouth of herring 

 sile, and this is thoroughly well authenticated by several 

 eye-witnesses. Dr. MacKinnon, Strath, an experienced 

 angler and correct observer, tells me that the celebrated 

 Young, of Invershire, had mentioned to him having obtained 

 a grilse full of young herring— those in the mouth covered 

 with silver scales, and those further down well digested — 

 showing their rapidity of digestion, and perhaps accounting 

 for the absence of food in the stomach as a rule in rivers. At 

 one time the salmon caught in the extensive sea fisheries of 

 the Messrs. Hogarth, Aberdeen, were, prior to the days of 

 rapid transit, all preserved in Aberdeen. Mr. Rae, a salmon 

 fisher of experience, assured me. that his father, when em- 



