320 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 9, 1889. 



OZARK MOUNTAIN TROUT. 



THE opinion is pretty widespread among ichthyolo- 

 gists that there is no native trout in the Ozark 

 Mountain region of Missouri, Arkansas and Indian Terri- 

 tory. It must be remembered, however, that a species of 

 Salmo has been described from Kansas River, a tributary 

 of the Missouri, emptying into the latter stream not far 

 from the mouth of the Gasconade. It may be that this 

 species, Salmo stomias, did not really come from Kansas 

 River, but from some locality further west. The fact 

 that no additional specimens have been obtained since 

 the types were collected would seem to warrant this be- 

 lief. There is another side to this question, and we 

 desire to bring it forward , in order that the truth may be 

 discovered. Some of the anglers' guide books refer to 

 several localties in Missouri, Arkansas and Indian Terri- 

 tory, at which trout may be caught. In many cases it is 

 certain that they do not mean black bass, which is gen- 

 erally called trout in the Southern States, but a fish of 

 the salmon family. In the Smithsonian report for 1864 

 will be found a • 'Journal of an Exploration of Western 

 Missouri in 1854," under the auspices of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, by P. R. Hoy, M.D. This is dated April 4 to 

 June 4, 1854. Under date of May 14 Dr. Hoy says: 

 "Rained all night, which puts an end to our fishing here; 

 this I greatly regret, for there are several species of fish 

 I am exceedingly anxious to obtain, especially one species 

 of Salmo (?) called here salmon trout. * * *" Mr. L. 

 M. Turner, who gave me this extract from Dr. Hoy's 

 journal, also wrote out for me his own experience with 

 trout in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri in 1872. Mr. 

 Turner has caught thousands of trout in Alaska, Labra- 

 dor and elsewhere, and his statement should receive due 

 consideration: 



"During the latter part of July, 1872, I had occasion to 

 travel nearly the entire extent of the Ozark Mountains of 

 Missouri. * * * In one of the small streams tributary 

 to the Gasconade River, near Waynesville, we stopped to 

 allow the horses to drink. We observed a number of 

 trout in the deeper portions of the gravelly-bedded 

 stream. Following the course we came to a place where 

 the water ran rippling over a bed of small stones. We 

 frightened some of the trout on to the shallow place and 

 killtd several by throwing stones at them. Two of the 

 fish were fully a foot in length, the remainder smaller. 

 We fried them for our supper. They * * * had the 

 coloration as follows: Back and upper sides dark lead 

 with faint greenish shade. The middle sides lighter and 

 the lower sides much lighter. The middle sides were 

 flecked with rounded black spots, most numerous about 

 and immediately below the median line. I do not now 

 recollect that the larger individuals had any spots on the 

 back, but do remember that the smaller spots were on 

 the posterior portions of the fish." 



I have been informed recently by Mr. Slosson, of Wash- 

 ington, D. C, that he caught black-spotted trout in 

 mountain streamlets in Crawford county, northwestern 

 Arkansas, about ten years ago. He says they were not 

 black bass, but real trout, and that they are caught also 

 in the Ozark Mountain region of Indian Territory. I 

 hope that, some of the numerous correspondents of Forest 

 and Stream, who are familiar with the region in ques- 

 tion, will be able to throw some light on this subject. 

 Rainbow trout were planted in 1880 by the U. S. Fish 

 Commission in the headwaters of the Gasconade and 

 Osage rivers, and 3,000 were deposited in Spring River, a 

 tributary of the Arkansas. In 1885 the Missouri Commis- 

 sioner found at least three generations of trout in Spring 

 River. The Commissioner stated that no native species 

 of trout is found in any of the streams that rise in the 

 Ozark range. . T. H. Bean. 



HOW TO CATCH TROUT. 



IN Mr. Mershons account of his trip on the Flying- 

 Peggy I observe that, like hundreds of other anglers, 

 he falls into the common error of believing that the man 

 who goes first is the one who catches the most trout. I 

 think I am justified in saying this is an error. When I 

 am fishing for trout, and observe "two or three natives 

 sneaking in ahead of us," I just let them sneak; and, in- 

 stead of taking a short cut to head them off, I will fill my 

 pipe, sit down on a stone beside the cool stream, watch 

 the tumbling torrent as it bounds from rock to rock, 

 listen to the birds chattering around me, and anon stretch 

 myself on my back, and between watching the curling 

 wreaths of smoke, observing the grand old oaks and 

 pines nodding and bowing so graciously to each other, 

 and contemplating nature in general, a very pleasant and 

 profitable half hour goes speedily by. Taking up my rod 

 and examining the flies, I slip quietly along to yonder 

 pool, cast the bait behind that rock or log, when splash! 

 a fine fellow jumps out of the water, seizes the hook, 

 executes a somersault, and down he goes! The rod bends 

 and twists as the trout rushes hither and thither, I play 

 him for a moment or two, then gently elevate him and he 

 is in my hands. Wiggle, wigglety-wig — ah, what a sen- 

 sation — and I drop him in the basket. So it continues. 

 In the meantime what are the natives doing? In their 

 greed they rush pell mell over the crackling brush, 

 bounding over rocks, falling into pools and frightening 

 the trout out of a year's growth. Occasionally they hook 

 a fingerling, but more frequently they don't, and I tell 

 you, gentle reader, a fish of any decent size is rarely seen 

 on their stringers. 



Is this usually the case? By no means, I am sorry to 

 say. It is usually reversed. The average sportsman, 

 after spending a year at his desk, rigs up his tackle about 

 the first of April, gazes lovingly upon his split-bamboo 

 rod all mounted with German silver, pats it on the back, 

 and exclaims, "Ah, there! What a royal time we will 

 have next week!" He hies him away, and two days are 

 consumed in reaching the grounds. He stops at a village 

 or a house, three miles from the best fishing, and when he 

 casts his line it is about 9 A. M., just the time he should 

 stop and take a snooze for a few hours. Suddenly he ob- 

 serves some one ahead of him. "Ah! this won't do. I 

 must get ahead of that yawp," lie says. And he does, 

 after skirmishing over rocks, through green briers, under 

 laurel, over logs, etc., and when in half an horn- he 

 reaches the stream breathless, exhausted, clothes torn, 

 shins peeled, tip broken, flies gone, he looks back and ob- 

 serves the other fellow a hundred yards below, calmly 

 smiling upon him, yanking out the fish, with a string of 

 fine big fellows dangling at his side. It is enough to 

 make a fellow cuss. In fact I have cussed under such 

 circumstances, and so have you. 



The moral is plain: Don't go trout fishing if you have 

 but two or three days to spare. Take two or three weeks 

 and take a small tent and outfit. Camp near the stream, 

 fish early in the morning and late in the evening. Don't 

 be in a hurrv. If there are half a dozen ahead of you no 

 matter. Let them go, only don't follow them too closely, 

 and my word for it, you will have more fish than they. 



Pacific. 



WINTER FISHING AT POINT BARROW. 



THE natives of Point Barrow, Alaska, fish very little 

 with hooks, their fish being taken with gill nets 

 both summer and winter: they axe very expert in the use 

 of nets for taking both fish and seals; they will set a net 

 under 5 or G feet of ice on the rivers where they go to 

 hunt in winter for reindeer. Their manner of doing it is 

 by drilling holes through the ice as "indicated in Fig. 1. 



They drill usually three holes; then, by putting a line 

 on the end of one long pole and a hook on another pole, 

 they get the hook on the line and pull it through the 

 second hole, and so to the third hole. Communication 

 being thus established, it is easy to set the nets under the 

 ice as shown in Fig. 2. The holes are small at the top 

 and enlarged at the bottom; the middle one through 

 which they draw the nets and fish the largest. 



Fig. 2. 



In making these holes they first drill a hole about 6 or 

 7in. in diameter through the ice to the water, then they 

 enlarge the hole at the bottom. The hole now being filled 

 with water, the ice broken off by the ice pick floats to the 

 surface, and is removed by a scoop made open on the 

 bottom, as represented in Fig. 3. With tliis scoop they 

 also remove the ice from the hole while sinking to the 

 water. 



The fish taken are mostly whitefish. In these nets I 

 have seen taken from 40 to 601bs. of fish at one setting of 

 twenty-four hours. The size of the nets is 15ft. long by 

 4ft. deep.- 



When I think of poor DeLong sitting down and starv- 

 ing on the banks of the Lena River, which, like all large 

 rivers emptying into the Arctic Ocean, teems with fish, 

 just for the want of the knowledge possessed by the in- 

 habitants of these northern regions, it makes me feel sad. 

 I have always felt that if he had with his party a couple 

 of Esquimaux, most of their lives might have been saved. 



I was told by the natives that trout are to be found in 

 the large rivers, and I have seen what we call the salmon 

 trout. E. P. Herendeen. 



San Francisco, Cal. 



CALIFORNIA FISH LAWS." 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I wish to call your attention to the provisions of the 

 California fish law headed, "Permanent Contrivances in 

 Fishing; Punishment for Violation of Provisions of Penal 

 Code:" 



Every person who shall set, use, or continue, or who shall as- 

 sist in setting, using, or continuing any pound, weir, set net, trap, 

 or any other fixed or permanent contrivance for catching fish in 

 the waters of this State, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Every per- 

 son who shall cast, extend, or set any seine, or net of any kind, 

 for the catching of, in any river, stream, or slough of this State, 

 which shall extend more than one-third across the width of the 

 said river, stream or slough, at the time and place of such fishing, 

 is guilty of a misdemeanor. Every person who shall cast, extend, 

 set, use. or continue, or who shall assist in casting, extending, 

 using or continuing "Chinese sturgeon lines," or "Chinese shrimp 

 or hag nets," or lines or nets of similar character, for the catch- 

 ing of fish in tbe waters of this State, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 

 Every person who, by seine or any other means, shall catch the 

 young fish of any species, and who shall not return the same to 

 the water immediately and alive, or who shall sell, or offer for 

 sale, any such fish, fresh or dried, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 

 Every person convicted of a violation of any of the provisions of 

 this chapter shall he punished by fine of not less than fifty dol- 

 lars, and not more than three hundred dollars, or imprisonment 

 in the county jail, of the county where the offense was commited, 

 for not less than thirty days nor more than six months, or by 

 hoth such fine and imprisonment. One-third of all moneys col- 

 lected for fines for violation of the provisions of this chapter to 

 be paid to informer, one-third to District Attorney of the. cottnty 

 in which the action is prosecuted, and one-third to the Fish Com- 

 missioners of the State of California. * * * It shall not be 

 lawful for any person to buy oi sell, or offer or expose for sale, 

 within this State, any kind of trout (except brook trout) less than 

 Sin. in length, any person violating any of the provisions. of this 

 section is guilty of a misdemeanor. 



Of course this does not apply to the Fish Commission- 

 ers. This is only a small part of the law, but it covers 

 what I shall allude to. 



Now, as will have been seen, the law strictly prohibits 

 any permanent contrivance for catching fish. That being 

 the case, why were not the parties that built a trap across 

 the San Joaquin River last fall to shut the salmon off 

 from coming up the Tuolumne River arrested? A dam 

 was also built across the mouth of the Tuolumne River, 

 and persons speared as many as forty salmon in one night, 

 and kept their traps there for over a week. Some of 

 those same parties have since made their brags to me that 

 it was election times and the officers would not notice 



them, for- they were afraid they would lose a few votes. 

 I mention no names, but will call attention to the fish 

 laws of this State, and perhaps through Forest and 

 Stream the attention of the Fish Commissionets of this 

 State may be drawn to this matter. 



The warden that was last here in this district was no 

 good. He would arrest Chinamen, Frenchmen and 

 Italians for violating the above laws, but citizens of the 

 State he never arrested, and you can form an opinion why.' 



I have no especial love for Chinamen, but when it 

 comes to a question of law and order, arrest one man for 

 violating the laws as well as another. R. 



Modesto, Cal. 



FISHING NEAR CHICAGO. 



C CHICAGO, April 29.— A little of the fishing news go^ 

 ; away last week. It seems that the season has* 

 already opened at Fox Lake, and in right good earnest, 

 too. A week ago yesterday a large number of good fish, 

 were taken in Fox, Petite and Nippersink lakes, includ-l 

 ing bass, pickerel and wall-eyed pike. One p'ckerel of 

 71bs. was killed, and two bass of over 41bs. each. Mid 

 Wm. White, better known as Billy White, had twenty- 

 seven bass, pike and walleyes. That was a pretty good 

 showing for one day, surely. It will not be long now 

 till we begin to hear of fun all along the fishing line. 



The following item, taken from a daily paper here,/ 

 may be an old "rounder" for all I know, but it is of some] 

 interest: 



"The largest pair of black bass ever caught in Missouri 

 waters or in any other waters of the United States, irri 

 fact, were caught by J. W. Peters and son, of St. Louis, 

 in Peter's Lake, Pemiscot county, Missouri, on March 3 

 last. They weighed lllbs. and 12oz., and lllbs. and 10oz.^ 

 respectively, seven days after they were taken from the! 

 water. The larger fish was 28fin. in length from the 

 lower lip to the extreme end of the tail, and ISfin. in oil* 

 cumference at the largest portion of the body. It was an 

 least 31bs. heavier than any one specimen of black bas8> 

 ever caught in the United States before. The heads o# 

 these monsters of the black bass school have been beauti J 

 fully mounted in elegant frames and were given to Capt» 

 H. C. West, the Fish Commissioner of Missouri, who iri 

 turn will present one to President Harrison, and th^ 

 other to ex President Cleveland. They will be exhibited; 

 in a Broadway show window for three weeks." 



The above is a fair sample of what the average daily 

 paper does not kno w about sporting matters. Personally, 

 I never saw a bass that weighed over 71bs., but I do not 

 believe that the bass above mentioned weighed 31bs. morei 

 than any bass ever taken in the United States, nor do I 

 believe that these bass are the largest ever taken, because 

 I am very credibly informed that they have been taken, 

 on the St. Clair flats weighing over 121 bs., and I have, 

 heard on pretty fair authority that 121 bs. bass have beett 

 taken in Florida. At any rate, I should like to hear frond 

 the bass record as understood by Forest and Streai^ 

 readers, or better still, by fish dealers who handle netted: 

 fish. 



May st. — The maskallonge season has opened, and J 

 wish some one would tell us how to spell it. At least one; 

 good fish has come down from Eagle Waters. Its weight 

 is421bs., and it is very thick and stocky. It is on ex T : 

 hibition at one of the fish markets, and I do not know, 

 who caught it. The ice should by this time all be out of 

 the Wisconsin and Michigan lakes, and the much -spelled 

 fish will soon be in his glory. Doubtless it is generallyl 

 known that May and early June is the best time to catch: 

 this fish unless one waits until after frost. In midsum^. 

 mer the "bloom" of the lakes kills the fishing. Eastern'' 

 fishers who monkey with trout at $4 an inch will do well! 

 to come out here this spring and just go fishing for once,/ 

 One or two 40-pound fingerUng maskallonge, or maski- 

 nonge, or muscallonge, will convince them that Gilead 

 lies just north of Chicago. 



May 4- — Additional reports show the fishing season now 

 well begun, and the end of the week will see northbound 

 trains crowded with anglers en route for Silver Lake,i 

 Lake Maria, Twin Lakes, Wauconda and other accessible 

 waters near by. Messrs. David Oliphant and Geo. Haz- 

 litt start to-day for Wauconda Lake, pursuant to th^t 

 advice of Geo. Pratt, a resident of- the lake, who writes 

 that the fishing is good. Mr. Pratt has sent down a very 

 fine pickerel. Wauconda is worthy the attention of our 

 anglers this season. The lake has been high and the out- 

 let full, and fish have been running up from Fox River 

 in great numbers. It is said of this lake that one can. 

 always take a string of fish there, no matter what the! 

 weather. The fishing is better there early in the season, 

 as its waters are quite full of vegetation in the summer. 



Everybody looks very happy here now. E. Hough. 



FISHING NEAR ST. LOUIS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



St. Louis, Mo.. May 4 — Croppie fishing is most excel- 

 lent in this part of the country. Reports to hand from all 

 the lakes, sloughs and small rivers are to the effect that the 

 sport was never better. Bass have as yet not begun opera- 

 tions, for very few have been caught. . Croppie, though, 

 are taking the minnow in a most ravenous way, and 

 large strings have been brought in by parties who were 

 out. Creve Coeur Lake, which is situated twenty miles 

 west of here, is furnisning splendid sport to the disciples 

 of Izaak Walton. Two gentlemen from this city spent a 

 day out there the past week and returned with nearly 

 200, averaging about three-quarters of a pound each, and 

 yesterday another gentleman showed up seventy-two 

 croppie as the result of a day's angling on his part. Judge 

 P. S. Langham and a friend came back from Murdock 

 Lake, which is located twenty-two miles south of here in 

 Illinois, and they had over 250 fish on their string, all 

 caught in a day and a half. Among the number were 

 a few bass, one of which weighed a little less than 41bs. 

 Murdock Lake is one of the oldest fishing places in this 

 vicinity, and, usually, more bass are caught there than 

 croppie. This season, though, just the opposite is the rule 



A telegram was received from the superintendent of the 

 Kings Lake Club stating that the fishing was exceedingly 

 fine up there, and several of the members have started up 

 there to take advantage of the sport. Unsk.R Fritz. 



The Fly-Casting: Tournament will be held in Central 

 Park, this city, May 23-24. The secretary is Mr. G. Poey 

 P. O. Box 3049, New York. 



