326 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



|Mat 5, 1887. 



Salmon in Maine.— Dixfield, Me., April 29.— Editor 

 Forest and Stream: Our season is very backward, and it 

 looks now as if our fishing would be very late. The ice 

 has been out of the Penobscot but a few days. Last year 

 we commenced catching salmon there with fly the 27th 

 of April. The river is high and the water colored. The 

 salmon have been fished for every day, and I have been 

 expecting to hear of one being caught, but as yet none 

 have been taken. The ice in the Sebago goes out very 

 early. I heard in Portland yesterday that the upper part 

 of the lake was clear, and I presume to-day the ice is all 

 out. Mr. Stilwell and myself intend to go over there 

 Monday. May 2, to look after our young landlocked sal- 

 mon which we are hatching for Sebago waters, and of 

 which we are to turn in there 750,000 this spring. Shall 

 probably try the salmon a day or two, and will inform 

 Forest and Stream how matters are pertaining to fish in 

 those waters. At Rangeley and Moosehead there is yet 

 3ft. of snow in the woods /and the travelers go on run- 

 ners instead of wheels. A few warm days will make a 

 wonderful difference, as there is no frost in the ground. 

 I think it looks very favorable for good fishing the com- 

 ing season in Maine, and would advise those who intend 

 to come here at the opening to file up (heir fish hooks and 

 be ready, as the time is close at hand and even at the 

 door. — Henry O. Stanley. 



Thomas Satchell. — Literary anglers will regret to 

 learn that Mr. Thomas Satchell died at his home, Down- 

 shire Hill House, Hamsted, London, on April 17. Notices 

 of Mr. Satchell's works have frequently appeared in our 

 columns. He was joint author with Mr. Thomas West- 

 wood of the " Bibliotheca Piscatoria," and through his 

 researches in ancient angling literature we can now ob- 

 tain access to books, through his reprints, which were 

 only known to us by their titles, or, at best, from a quo- 

 tation. The " Library of Old Fishing Books," with the 

 issue of which Mr. Satchell mainly, in collaboration with 

 Mr. Westwood, was intimately connected, comprised 

 "The Chronicle of the Compleat Angler," "The Secrets 

 of Angling" (John Dennys, 1613), "Older Form of the 

 Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle" (1450), " A Booke 

 of Fishing with Hooke and Line " (Leonard Mascall, 1590), 

 and " The Angler's Note Book and Naturalist's Record," 

 which appeared in serial form some two years ago, and 

 after the completion of the " green series " was suspended 

 tor a year, and the " yellow series " remains incomplete. 

 To the literary angler the death of Mr. Satchell is a loss 

 that will be felt wherever the English language is 

 spoken. 



"Farmer Brown's Trout." — Farmer Brown has the 

 big end of the stick, for he owns the woods and the fields 

 and is learning to protect or destroy. As an example of 

 this, I can mention a little pond near here that a few 

 years since in summer was a shady pool, beloved by the 

 quiet angler, and affording bass, pickerel and perch, as 

 well as lesser fish. Now in summer it is a dirty, muddy 

 pond hole, so heated by the sun that the fish are scarcely 

 fit to eat. The great trees are cut a way and not a bush 

 even allowed to take their place, because sportsmen, not 

 content with fishing, must lawlessly tread down the grass 

 for rods around the pond. — Pine Tree. 



It is an Ancient Device.— Edit or Forest and Stream: 

 An old retired fisherman told me not long since a method 

 of luring fish into nets, which he claims is original and 

 uniformly successful. He had blown to special order 

 several heavy glass balls about Sin. in diameter, with a 

 lipped neck similar to those on bottles. Inside these were 

 placed enough minnows to form an attractive bait, which 

 were confined by a perforated cork stopple. A ball and 

 its contents were then placed in the rear end of a net, the 

 meshes of which were purposely arranged to entangle 

 about the gills of fish that had made a savage rush to 

 capture the minnows. The majority, of course, gained 

 admittance at the regular openings, although in many 

 instances he has taken about the same number from each 

 place. Have you any similar lure on record? — Jo (Wells- 

 ville, O.). 



The Albany Fly-Casting Association will hold their 

 annual tournament on June 21. — F. K. Wood, Member of 

 Executive Committee. 



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



SALMON IN THE HUDSON. 



THE following letter on the subject of salmon in the Hud- 

 son River and cflf fishways for them was written to Dr. 

 Samuel B. Ward, President of the Eastern New York Fish 

 and Game Protective Association in reply to a communica- 

 tion from him : 



Deak Sir; — I have yours of Jan. 34, suggesting that I 

 might wish to say something regarding the salmon in the 

 Hudson River. I have, as you are probably aware, con- 

 ducted the hatching and planting of the true sea salmon 

 which have been placed in the river for the past five years, 

 under the direction of Prof. S, F. Baird, United States Com- 

 missioner of Fish and Fisheries. The eggs were obtained 

 from the United States salmon station on the Penobscot 

 River, at Orland, Me., and were forwarded to the hatchery 

 at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, which, while a station 

 of the New York Fish Commission, does some work for the 

 general government, which bears a portion of the expense. 

 The number of fish planted in the river, your Association 

 has already received from your vice-president, Mr. A. N. 

 Cheney, to whose great interest in these experiments we owe 

 much information regarding the existence of the fish in the 

 river. Mr. Cheney first sent us specimens of about Tin. long 

 from Clendon Brook, near Glens Palls, and has kept us ad- 

 vised of all that he has seen or heard of the fish. Last sum- 

 mer there were five, if not six, adult salmon taken in the 

 river, one of which weighed 16}^lbs. Some of these fish were 

 taken near the Troy dam, one down at Coxsackie and one in 

 Gravesend Bay at the mouth of the river: the latter a fish of 

 lOlbs. I think that all the fish were taken in nets, but have 

 no definite information concerning this. 



It has been the policy of Prot. Baird not to interfere in 

 any way, as I understand him, with State laws for the cap- 

 ture of fish. He supplies millions of fry of different kinds to 

 many parts of the United States, wherever he thinks the 

 waters are suitable, and then considers that he has done his 

 duty, and it rests with the people whose waters are stocked 

 to protect the fish placed therein. In making the following 



suggestions, therefore, I ask to be considered merely as a 

 member of the Association of which you are president, and 

 not in any official capacities as Prof. Bairn's assistant in 

 this matter, or as a superintendent of the New York Fish 

 Commission: 



It is well known that the Hudson was not an original sal- 

 mon river, but that may have been on account of the ob- 

 structions which debarred the way of the parent fish to its 

 upper waters, where we now have positive evidence that the 

 young salmon thrive in the cool brooks which supply the 

 river above Glens Falls, therefore, as the experiment of 

 stocking the river was not a very expensive one, Prof. Baird 

 thought it well worth trying, and the results so far are en- 

 couraging. It is not at all likely that every fish which re- 

 t urned to the river last year was captured, therefore we can- 

 not say how many did return. Had only one been caught it 

 might have been thought a stray fish which had come down 

 from some of the Connecticut rivers; for at intervals of 

 many years a single salmon has been taken in the shad nets 

 of the lower Hudson, but on no occasion that 1 know of has 

 ever more than one been taken in a single year. The fish 

 captured last summer appearing just four years after our 

 small planting in 1882, may with certainty be credited to Our 

 work, and I look forward to see the run increase yearly. 



To properly protect these fish until such time as we may 

 be enabled to obtain salmon eggs from the Hudson, it would 

 be well, in my opinion, to prohibit their capture by any 

 means whatever, for a period of four or five years, and after 

 that to aUow them to be taken by hook and line only, mak- 

 ing it a misdemeanor for any person to retain a salmon in 

 his possession, or to kill it, or to sell it to another if it is 

 accidentally captured in a net used in taking other fish, or, 

 in other words, compelling the person to return the fish to 

 the water alive. I am aware that should such a law be 

 passed those persons who were disposed to disregard it would 

 not report their captures, and we would be deprived of the 

 encouragement of further stocking which such reports give ; 

 but this is a secondary consideration to the preservation of 

 this valuable fish, and however gratifying such reports may 

 be to the fishculturist he would be unwise to counsel unre^ 

 stricted fishing in order that he might receive such evidence 

 of the success of his work. 



Another thing needed is a system of effective fishways 

 which will allow the salmon to reach the mountain brooks, 

 where alone, they find suitable breeding grounds. There is 

 something which is called a fishway, or was built for one, in 

 the dam at Troy, but is wholly useless. I think it is a mere 

 timber chute built years ago, and is of a pattern that never 

 ■worked well. The modern fishways, such for instance as the 

 McDonald, will give free passage to the fish, and will pass 

 them safely to the waters above, provided they are not netted 

 or speared while in the fishway. Above Troy there are 

 several dams and natural falls which, if I remember rightly, 

 are something like 80 or 90 feet in the aggregate, and these 

 can probably be supplied with fishways of modern construc- 

 tion at a cost of #10,000 to 812,000. I have not figured closely 

 on this subject of cost, but estimates can easily be obtained 

 from men who are more expert in the matter of building 

 fishways. 



It is among the possibilities that if the salmon ascend to 

 the waters of the Upper Hudson, they can also be established 

 in the tributaries of the Mohawk. The West Canada Creek 

 would make a splendid salmon river, and the few dams upon 

 it could easily be overcome by fishways. The principal ob- 

 struction is, of course, at Cohoes, where the total height to 

 be overcome is somewhere between 110 and 130ft., and the 

 cost there would probably be more than for the whole 

 Hudson. 



While on the subject of fishways, I would say that the 

 Salmon River, emptying into Lake Ontario at Pulaski, was 

 formerly a famous salmon stream, but of late years it has 

 very much deteriorated, although a few are taken in it al- 

 most every year. I have also made plantings of salmon fry 

 in this river, by direction of Prof. Baird, but find that the. 

 people there attribute the falling off in the catch of salmon 

 to the erection of dams. There is a dam near Pulaski, 

 about lift, high, which has the foundations for a fishway al- 

 ready laid, and it is possible that a proposal to build a first 

 class fishway on that river would enlist the sympathy of 

 residents in the western -part of the State, and that their 

 representatives would join a movement to erect fishways on 

 all the streams of the State which contain salmon. 



In this connection permit me to call your attention to the 

 experiment of re-stocking the Connecticut River with 

 salmon. It was originally a splendid, natural salmon 

 stream, but under a system of netting, spearing and mur- 

 dering the fish, even on the spawning beds, the last fish dis- 

 appeared, and some twenty-five years had elapsed, I think, 

 since the salmon had been taken in it, when Prof. Baird 

 and some of the New England Fish Commissioners thought 

 it worth wiiile to try and restock the river. Four or five 

 years after the first planting a few fish were seen in the 

 river. The year following some 40 or 50 were taken. I can 

 not give the exact figures for I am writing from memory, 

 and for three years after, comparatively large numbers of 

 salmon were sent to New York market, and Connecticut 

 River salmon were common in New York. I have seen ten 

 or a dozen at a time on the slabs at Mr. Blackford's in 

 Fulton Market. The fish were taken m nets ands pounds at 

 the mouth of the river and few or none were allowed to 

 reach the breeding grounds. The plantings were stopped 

 and the fish have gradually disappeared. I cannot recall 

 when the last plant was made, but it must have been six or 

 eight years ago, and now an occasional salmon surprises the 

 shad fishermen in the Connecticut. It is possible that this 

 history may be repeated in the Hudson unless an effort is 

 made to protect the few fish resulting from the first plants, 

 and access to the spawning grounds be furnished them. 



very respectfully yours, 



Feed Mather 



Note,— I am thoroughly satisfied that Mr. Mather greatly 

 underestimates the number of salmon taken in the Hudson 

 last season. From reliable information I believe that at 

 least thirty adult fish were taken and perhaps fifty.— S. B. W, 



THE CONNECTICUT SHELLFISH COMMISSION. 



DURING the few years in which there has been a Shell- 

 fish Commission in the State of Connecticut there has 

 been a great deal of most excellent work done in correctly 

 mapping and locating the oyster beds of the State, a thing 

 which never was attempted before, and the Shellfish Coni- 

 mission of the State is regarded as a model of all that is 

 desirable in the way of mapping, leasing and controlling 

 oyster beds on our coast, and the system has been proposed 

 for adoption in the State of New York. The Commissioners 

 are able and intelligent men, who have worked hard and 

 faithfully to establish this state of things, and after all the 

 most expensive part of the work is done, and it only remains 

 for the Commission, with the aid of Mr. Bogart, the very 

 able engineer, to complete the maps, a few persons who are 

 interested in restoring the chaotic state of things which for- 

 merly existed, have petitioned to the General Assembly to 

 abolish the Board of Shellfish Commissioners because, as 

 they state, the remaining work to he done is of such a charac- 

 ter as can readily be performed by one competent executive 

 with far less expense than at present. This movement prob- 

 ably emanates from some person or persons who woidd like 

 to name the successor to the Shellfish Commission, for 

 reasons best known to themselves. We sincerely hope that 

 their petition will be refused, and that the present Commis- 

 sioners will not resign in the midst of their work and place 

 its completion in the hands of men not familial - with the 

 methods which the present Commissioners have built up. 



BLUEBACK AND SUNAPEE TROUT. 



CONCERNING the embryonic markings on these fish, on 

 J which something has been said in our issue of April 21 

 and 28, Mr. Henry O. Stanly, Fish Commissioner of Maine, 

 writes to Mr. Mather as follows: "I have watched the blue- 

 backs (Salmo nqiHtssa) carefully, habits and characteristics-, 

 and have taken all the eggs that have ever been taken at 

 Rangeley, have hatched them a number of years and 

 watched them through all their stages till turned loose ( 

 and have never noticed any white line on the lower edge of 

 the tail fin you speak oh Had there been any (even if "very 

 slight) I think I should not have failed to notice it. I ant 

 sorry to say we have not any eggs hatching this season tft 

 verify my Opinion, but I feel very sure there is none; The 

 adult fish does not haVe any white on the fins at all like the 

 brook trout. The fins of the tuales are bright Jed, or the 

 color of bright autumn leaves-. When taken f rom the water 

 they are of a dark color; but after death turn to a light yel- 

 lowish casts The spots are very minute, very thick, very 

 bright yellow and red, Both thicker and brighter than on 

 the brook trout. There are not a biting fish more than the 

 sucker, about the same. I have occasionally caught them 

 in summer in deep water, but nevermore than one or two 

 at a time. They are a very hardy fish and tenacious of 

 life, nearly as much so as the eel or bullhead. I have 

 frequently seen them alive in the morning, where they 

 have lain on the shore all night. When they come 

 up the streams to spawn, they school together like the her= 

 ring and smelts, do not make and work on beds like the 

 trout, yet they spawn in same pools Usually, My opinion is s 

 that they are not the same species as the New Hampshire 

 fish, although I have never seen one of the latter-. All I 

 know of them is from the description I have seen in FbRES't 

 AND STREAM and other _ papers, As 1 imderstand it. the 

 Sunapee trout are caught of various sizes ; the hlueback 

 never. Out of a thousand I do hot think you could select 

 two that will Vary over one ounce in weight, or even that 

 you could pick Up five (take them as they eomej that will 

 Vary ah ounce from a pound— five to the pound is the rule. 

 Their eggs are the same size as those of the trout, and the 

 difference I am not able to detect by their looks and size. 

 1 have never found one with more than 100 eggs, as a rule 

 about fifty. Are very hardy and mil stanclvery roueh 

 handling, and about all hatch. From the 10th to the 20th 

 of October is the only time they are seen. 



" Within the last twelve years we have distributed them 

 in various lakes and ponds in Maine, but have never seen 

 any returns from them, yet they might haVe taken root iii 

 all the places where they have been put and not been seem 

 as there are only about ten days In the year that they show 

 themselves, and I have not looked for them at that tinier 



"My opinion is (although I have nO particular authority 

 to found it on) that they attain their growth very quickly 

 (say two yeafs). The Only reason I have to confirm it is that 

 (in summer) when the brook trout are in deep water I have 

 often taken large trout with from one to six bluebacks in 

 their stomachs, and have never seen any but full-grown 

 ones — none less than three ounces." 



THE ADIRONDACK FISH HATCHERY. — Senator 

 Wemple's bill for a fish hatchery at Mill Creek, Hamilton 

 county, has passed both branches of the Legisl ature, and now 

 awaits the Governor's signature to become a law. We have 

 given a brief description of the site in a former issue, and will 

 now give a more general description of the, region lobe bene* 

 fited. The Adirondack region is divided by two great water= 

 sh eds, from one of which the waters flow into the £>it Lawren cfe 

 and Lake Ontario, and from the other into the Hudson River 

 direct or into the Mohawk and its tributaries. This region 

 is the great sanitarium of the Empire State, and future gen- 

 erations will bless those who builded so wisely in the enact- 

 ment of laws for the preservation of its forests. The State 

 Forestry Commission says: "As years go on and these woods 

 are protected from spoliation, the young soft timber will 

 grow up and the forest assume its primitive condition." 

 We add, as well the lakes and streams teem with native 

 brook and lake trout; that many lakes and streams have 

 been depleted of trout, and the cause is well known to 

 anglers in this region. Many of the causes are now re- 

 moved, and we know that the inhabitants of Hamilton 

 county will gladly aid in restocking and preserving its 

 waters from further spoliation. The hatchery, if estab- 

 lished, can supply all the waters on the south watershed — 

 that is, the waters flowing into the Hudson and Mohawk 

 and their tributaries. We hope it may receive the executive 

 approval. — MohawK Valley Democrat. 



SABLE ISLAND SUPPOSITIONS. 



TN tin article entitled "An Ocean Graveyard," in the May Sr.rih- 

 net 's Mayazine, Mr. J. Macdonalcl Oxley gives some account of 

 Sable Island, famed for its wrecks. Because of the hazard of 

 approach the island is rarely accessible and "a visit can be made 

 only under certain conditions. * * * Let us suppoBe," says Mr. 

 Oxley, "that we have obtained permission to accompany the 

 Newfield upon one of her regular supply trips." And then he 

 goes on to describe the island as follows: 



"After exchanging greetings with the superintendent and his 

 staff, * * * our first thought is to climb the big flagstaff 

 and view the landscape from the crow's nest perched perilously 

 on high. The ascent accomplished, a wonderful panorama lies 

 outspread before us. From beneath our feet the narrow island 

 stretches east and west its how-like form, holding a shallow 

 lagoon, some eight miles long, in its center and presenting many 

 an effective contrast of sandy upland and grassy meadow, bare, 

 bleak and richly ho wered nook, where fairies might hold their 

 midnight revels. From the foreground with its group of build- 

 ings, the eye roams over to the West End lighthouse, whence the 

 men are now hurrying, pony-back, at the summons of the flag 

 announcing the steamer's arrival. Every sandy peak or verdur- 

 ous knoll bears some sad tradition. Baker's Hill, Trot's Cove, 

 Scotchman's Head, French Gardens— so many silent records of 

 human suffering. Then turning eastward we see the little bury- 

 ing ground, nestling in the deep rich grass and consecrated to the 

 last sleep of many a victim to the ocean's wrath. Nine miles 

 further down a telescope makes plain the flagstaff at the foot of 

 the lake, and five miles beyond that the East End light with 

 its attendant buildings. Herds of wild ponies jealously guarded 

 by shaggy stallions graze upon the hillsides, black duck and shel- 

 drake In tempting flocks paddle about the innumerable ponds, 

 while seabirds fill the air with their harsh chatter, and whole 

 regiments of seals bask in snug content along the sunny beach. 

 Here and there the bleaching ribs of naval skeletons protrude 

 half buried from the sand, and the whole picture it set in a silver 

 frosted frame of seething surf."— Scr timer's, pp. 005-6. 



Now, if Mr. Oxley will permit a suggestion, let him while sup- 

 posing suppose an easier method of getting such a pretty little 

 word picture. Let him suppose, for instance, that instead of 

 going away down to Sable Island, he goes to his bookcase, takes 

 from the shelf Dr. J. B. Gilpin's account of the island and copies 

 it thus: 



"Here and there along the wild beach lie the ribs of unlucky 

 traders half buried in the shifting sand. * * * Nearly the first 

 thing the visitor does is to mount the flagstaff, and, climbing into 

 the crow's nest, scan the scene. The ocean bounds him every- 

 where. Spread east and west, he views the narrow island in form 

 of a bow, as if the great Atlantic waves had bent it around, no- 

 where much above lm. wide, 20m. long, including the dry bars, 

 and holding a shallow lake 13m. long in its center. There it all 

 lies spread iike a map at his feet — grassy hill and sandy valley 

 fading away into the distance. On the foreground the outpost 

 men galloping their rough ponies into headquarters, recalled by 

 the flag flying over his head; the West-end house of refuge, with 

 bread and matches, firewood and kettle, and directions to find 

 water, and headquarters with flagstaff on the adjoining hill 



