May 16, 1889.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



339 



Indians, but never practiced, scarce less deadly than 

 those which I have named. They are probably known to 

 the editor, but neither he nor I would like to see them 

 described in this paper, for even the fish-hog has been 

 known to read the .Forest and Stream. I suppose he 

 read it backward, as the devil is said to have done by the 

 Lord's Praver. 



Only, if I were lost, like Mr. Everts, in the Yellowstone 

 country, and if my fishing tackle had galloped away on 

 the pony: if I should see, as he did, a brook full of trout 

 and nothing apparent to catch them with, it would prob- 

 ably not be very long before I should have a few of 

 those trout stuck upon sage bush forks and sizzling over 

 the fire. Kelpie. 

 April 9. 



ANGLERS' ASSOCIATION OF EASTERN 

 PENNSYLVANIA. 



AT a recent meeting of the above association the presi- 

 dent, Hon. A. M. Spangler, delivered an address on 

 its inception, growth and work. The organization was 

 demanded by the deplorable violation of laws framed 

 for the protection of fi-hes, bringing to naught all efforts 

 at restocking depleted waters. A.t the preliminary meet- 

 ing, held in Philadelphia, Nov. 15, 1882, fourteen gentle- 

 men pledged themselves to promote the objects of the 

 proposed as-ociation, which were stated to be "the wel- 

 fare of the angling interests of this vicinity, * * * the 

 enforcement of the fishery laws of the State, and the 

 restocking of streams which have become depleted by 

 illegal fishing and other causes." When a constitution 

 was framed the first section reversed the above order by 

 reciting that "the primary object of the association shall 

 be the preservation, protection and increase of edible fish 

 in the waters of Pennsylvania, the enforcement of the 

 laws cone rning the same, and to increase th« interest 

 in angling." Measures were at once taken to secure 

 permanent headquarters, a library, to promote corre- 

 spondence with similar organizations and with other per- 

 ' sons interested in this work. Provision was made for 

 discussions on fish and fishing topics, the reading of 

 essays and the delivery of lectures. 



After the organization was completed there was an 

 immediate and large increase in the applications for 

 membership. The association entered into friendly rela- 

 tions with the Fish Commissioners of Pennsylvania, the 

 i U. S. Commission and with angling associations in Penn- 

 sylvania and other States. The membeis then went to 

 work to obtain information about the state of the streams, 

 the quality of the fishing, violations of fishery laws, etc. 

 The advice of fishculturists was obtained in relation to 

 game fishes for slocking the waters of eastern Pennsyl- 

 vania, and a fish warden was secured for the vicinity of 

 Philadelphia. The State Fishery Board was urged to 

 prevent the use of fish baskets in the Susquehanna and 

 Delaware Rivers, and to increase the stock of trout and 

 black bass. Violations of fishing la ws were reported and 

 rewards offered for the arrests and conviction of the 

 offenders. By request of the association Mr. Spangler 

 was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Board of Fish 

 Commissioners. One of the many important actions of 

 the association was the preparation of a complete digest 

 of the State fishery laws, which will be incorporated in 

 the forthcoming report of the Pennsylvania Fish Com- 

 mission. Through the efforts of the Anglers two car- 

 loads of rainbow trout were obtained from the Govern- 

 ment supplies for Pennsylvania streams. The work of 

 distribution was accomplished by the members at then- 

 own expense, but the results were unsatisfactory. 



In the way indicated and by all other legitimate means 

 the gentlemen have labored to protect the fishing inter- 

 ests of the State and to increase the store of valuable 

 species. We look forward with hopefulness to the time 

 when the lessons which the Anglers' Association are try- 

 ing to teach will result in an enlightened public senti- 

 ment in favor of protection and increase of edible fishes 

 in Pennsylvania streams. We cannot avoid expressing 

 the hope that our associates among the anglers, who 

 exert a powerful influence, aided and extended through 

 the agency of the press, will be especially careful to learn 

 all the facts involved in the discussion of fishery methods 

 with which they may have no personal acquaintance. 

 Let us investigate every disputed point, attacking noth- 

 ing until we are sure it is wrong, never descending to 

 the undignified practice of applying hard names to men 

 whose interests may appear to conflict with our own. 

 We have nothing to lose and everything to gain by 

 patient, intelligent study of problems which the best 

 methods of research have not yet solved. 



THE RANGELEY LAKES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I am preparing for a long and I trust a lively campaign 

 among Salmo fontinalis up North,, but I cannot sail 

 away without dropping a few remarks versus Mr. Jean 

 E. Stebbins's letter in this week's issue of Forest and 

 Stream. I am glad he met with success at the Rangeley 

 Lakes last September. Few people are so fortunate now- 

 adays, and where one person catches trout in those 

 waters, a hundred are copiously "left." I concede that 

 the records he quotes are exceedingly good, and most 

 creditable to his ability as a fly-caster. Camp Betnis, too 

 is a lovely spot, and a sojourner there will not have 



I gone amiss. I am also pleased that so eminent a gentle- 

 man found pleasure in reading my little book, "Where 



■ the Trout Hide." It may interest him to learn that the 

 contents of the volume have pleased others, for the pub- 

 lishers have paid me royalty on over 15,000 copies, and it 

 is still going rapidly, although a mere infant of but three 

 months of age. 



Mr. Stebbins says the book was evidently written in the 

 interests of the Lake St. John boom. In' this Mr. Steb- 

 bins errs. It was written — if such a tractate deserves 

 the dignified accusation of ever having been written — 

 principally in the interests of the author, who found it 

 profitable, and to direct the fraternity of anglers to a 

 glorious fishing country. It will prove profitable to 

 them also. 



Mr. Stebbins says I must be prejudiced against the 

 Rangeley Lakes, and here he again errs. I am not pre- 

 judiced against the lakes, but the exceedingly poor suc- 

 cess I as well as many acquaintances have invariably 

 met there in recent years. 



Probably, if I were to sit in a boat and freeze while I 

 .trolled with "gang hooks" as the ice disappeared, I might 



"catch on." I know this course is pursued by some 

 "fishermen," and they are welcome to it, but as for me, 

 well: 



I want to be an angler. 



And with the anglers stand, 

 No "jig" or ugly gang Look 



Invades that honest band. 



I will add that Mr. Stebbins does not known me else 

 he would not say that I must be mad at something that 

 has happened to me there. I rarely get mad, but on the 

 contrary, I have a nature as sweet as a June lilac. When, 

 at very rare intervals, a real good A No. 1 first-class mad 

 comes upon me, I'm something awful. 



I am told that upon such occasions I tremble in the fins, 

 my gills turn pale, and for hours in succession I refuse 

 enticing luxuries of every description. When Mr. Steb- 

 bins concludes that I may possibly be "very ignorant" I 

 promptly plead guilty. My commission from the Medes 

 and Persians prohibits any reply to such an accusation, 

 and my most sincere prayer is that consillio et animis I 

 may live to ovprcome it. However, I freely forgive him, 

 and if he, with his friend "Pheco," will permit me to 

 direct them to a little stretch of damp water during 

 September I will promise them more big tiout (from 1 to 

 41bs. each) in three days than they will take at the 

 Rangeleys in three months, or even three years. Thirty 

 hours by railway from their rock-ribbed home will land 

 them on the spot. My knowledge of the Rangeley Lakes 

 has been derived from a personal experience extending 

 over many years, and possibly repeated disappointment* 

 may have induced me to look upon them a little "nor' 

 nor' east, a little nor';" yet still upon the subject of good 

 fishing my vision is decidedly clear — most emphatically 

 "sou' sou'west, a little sou'." 



In the interests of a leading newspaper I shall visit the 

 Rangeley Lakes this season, as well as Parmachene, and 

 shall find pleasure in writing only the plain unpainted 

 truth. I have been told that I would meet "trouble" if I 

 went there, and hence I shall go fully prepared for any 

 emergency. On the contrary, J feel sure that nothing 

 will occur of an unpleasant nature, and I anticipate an 

 enjoyable journey. Should it appear that my views are 

 incorrect I promise not to abridge the excitement. 



Kit Clarke. 



NEW ENGLAND TROUT.' 



BOSTON, Mass., May 13.— The opening of the trout 

 season was very early, but it is also proving to be 

 slow. The exodus to the Maine trout waters is not yet 

 up to the advanced season, and the catch of trout is also 

 a good deal behind the season, A party of Boston sports- 

 men has been at Moosehead for a week, under promise to 

 telegraph their friends here when the trout are biting, 

 but still the welcome news does not come. Those friends 

 are waiting to be off, but they can spend but a few days 

 on the loved trout waters, and they are almost discour- 

 aged. The weather has been very warm, and the water 

 is as warm as need be, but the trout do not bite. The 

 same story is also true of other trout waters in that State. 

 Even the newspapers that usually have them do not yet 

 contain the big trout stories, though the ice has already 

 been out a couple of w^eeks. At the Upper Dam there 

 was fairly good fishing in the rapid water below the 

 dam at first, but trolling in the still water in the Range- 

 leys has not yet been good this season. Perhaps the 

 transportation and hotei people will not thank me for 

 writing this story, but the truth must be told, cost what 

 it may. It is possible that there is to be splendid trout 

 fishing later in the season — possibly at about the usual 

 time, and that all the early opening is to go for naught; 

 that the trout are not to bite till they get ready. Per- 

 haps it is the season, the time of the year, and not the 

 going out of the ice after all that signals the biting of 

 the trout. We will wait and see. At any rate there is 

 no news at present calculated to stimulate us to be on the 

 way. 



The salmon at Bangor are also veiy tardy. The season 

 opened remarkably early with a few caught, but since 

 the first day or two the fishing has been very poor. The 

 waiters here, and there are several of them, watch for 

 the welcome of the dispatch from Mr. Fred Ayer in vain. 

 Letters come by mail every day or two, saying, "Do not 

 come yet. Wait till I telegraph." A big run of salmon 

 is certainly expected, but it is very tardy thus far. 



Reports from the trout streams* in this State continue 

 good — better than usual In fact it would seem that the 

 better protection which has been given these streams for 

 the past two or three years, through the influence of the 

 Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Aseociation, is 

 bringing forth good results. Some of the New Hainp- 

 shiie trout streams are also "panning out" well this year. 

 In that State also protection has been better for a couple 

 of years. But in Maine the reverse is true. The law has 

 been enforced perhaps, but winter fishing was never 

 carried to a worse extent than during February, March 

 and even April, 1889. This was all done under the law 

 that permits such work, by the inhabitants of the State. 



Mr. Geo. B. A_ppleton, with Mr. Fuller, will go to Ban- 

 gor salmon fishing as soon as the telegraph informs them 

 that the run has begun. Harry Moor will start for the 

 Rangeleys about next week. The Kineo Club is still 

 deTermined to put off its trip to Moosehead till about the 

 first of June. W. D. Weld will join a fishing party to 

 Maine next week. Mr. Wards worth, who has been at 

 Rangeley every season, for a number of years, is obliged 

 to give up his trip this year, from the fact that he is just 

 recovering from a severe carbuncle. Special. 



Boston, May 14. — Some good trout scores from Range- 

 ley this morning. At Upper Dam Messrs. Clark and 

 Brackett, of Peabody, Mass., took on Saturday two of 

 lUba., one of 51bs., two of 4ibs., two of 31bs., and a host 

 ol smaller. — Special. 



Four-bearded Rockling.— In one of the aquaria at 

 Wood's Holl, Mass., Mr. Vinal S. Edwards has placed a 

 four-bearded rockling (Onos cimbrius), an interesting little 

 member of the cod family. One peculiar feature of this 

 fish is the construction of its first dorsal fin, which is 

 composed of a long, detached anterior ray, followed 

 by a series of minute filaments which do not rise much 

 above the contour of the back. These filaments are 

 situated in a furrow, and Mr. Edwards states that they 

 are kept in rapid motion even when the fish is lying at 

 rest. The function of this rudimentary fin is unknown, 

 and it is to be hoped that the species may be kept under 

 observation until more is learned about its habits. 



LAKE LAMOKA. 



ELMIRA, N. Y. — Editor Forest and Stream: Though 

 a reader of your valuable paper for many years I 

 have Feen nothing in your angling columns describing 

 Lake Lamoka, in Schuyler county, this State. This beau- 

 tiful sheet of water is three miles long and about one 

 mile wide, situated between Seneca and Keuka lakes, 

 near the village of Tyrone. It is noted for the fine fish- 

 ing to be had there during the angling season. It abounds 

 with gamy bass, both large-mouth and small-mouth, 

 pickerel, yellow perch, bullheads, sunfish, etc. The best 

 months for fishing are June. September and October. 

 There is good fishing through the ice during the winter 

 months also. There are some fine spots for camping 

 along the lake shore, and the neighboring farmers are 

 very hospitable, or if the angler prefers he can find ample 

 accommodations with Len. H. Storrs, who keeps a board- 

 ing house on the bank of the lake, close to the fishing 

 ground. Mr. Storrs also has a number of good boats and 

 has bait and tackle at all times. He sets a good table 

 and has a good many fishermen to entertain during the 

 summer months. His charges are very reasonable. His 

 P. O. address is Tyrone, Schuyler county, N. Y. There 

 is good woodcock and grouse shooting in season, also 

 ducks and quail. 



I have spent many happy days on the banks of old 

 Lamoka. and expect to pitch my tent there in June, and 

 I anticipate having a glorious time fly-fishing for bass. 

 If any of your readers want a quiet spot to go and while 

 away the summer days, a place where they can always 

 fill their creel with fish, this is the place. I have' derived 

 a great deal of benefit from the information of shooting 

 and fishing grounds contributed to your coin rims l>y 

 members of the fraternity arcl now feel like adding my 

 mite, and I feel that if any sportsman should go to L ike 

 Lamoka and have some of the sport I have been having 

 the last few years I shall be amply repaid for these lines. 



E. A. S. 



ST. LOUIS WATERS. 



ST. LOUIS. Mo., May 11 —Ever since the • opening of 

 the season large catches of croppie have been re- 

 ported. Bass have been somewhat tearce. This is to be 

 expected until about the latter part of next month. War- 

 dock Lake, in Illinois, a few miles south, has been fur- 

 nishing excellent croppie fishing to the members of the 

 Murdock Lake Fishing Club. Judge P. S. Lanham spent 

 two days at the lake in the early part of the week and 

 returned with 245 croppie and 6 bass, the largest of which 

 weighed 41bs. Another member returned after staying 

 one day, with 78 croppie that would average about lll^s. 



Mr. i. V. Dutcher and a party of friends leave to-ni^ht 

 for the club house, to remain a few days. The Meramic 

 River has had its quota of fishermen, and with few ex- 

 ceptions they have enjoyed satisfactory sport. Mr. W. 

 Mackwitz spent one day and caught a good string of fish, 

 among which was a jack salmon weighing Ulbs. 



About twenty-three miles south of here, where thi3 

 stream empties into the Mississippi, a party last Tuesday 

 caught 23 large eels, 45 croppies and 3 bass. 



At King's Lake the fishing has been only ordinary. 

 The Dameron Lake Club, a few miles above, report the 

 same state of affairs at its grounds. There has been no 

 rain for some time, the waters are perfectly clear and 

 fishing ought to be good. 



The Grand Pass Fishing and Hunting Club, which has 

 a large preserve, seventy-two miles distant in Illinois, is 

 fortunate in having a really favorable place for fishing 

 in connection with its hunting grounds. Major Cun- 

 ningham, in one day with a fly, took 35 bass, which would 

 average 4Albs. This catch by far surpasses any other. 



A telegram from the superintendent of the Current 

 River Fishing and Bunting Club says that fishing at pres- 

 ent with live bait is good, hut that it is a little early for 

 trolling. Mr. W. D. Groves is at the club house now, and 

 in a letter to a friend here says that he is having splendid 

 sport. Next week a largo party leave for the locality to 

 remain several days. Unser Fritz. 



THE LUMPF1SH. 



AT the present .time the lumpnsh (Cyelopterus luni.pnx) 

 is very abundant at Wood's Holl, Mass., and in- 

 dividuals of all sizes are found. This is the spawning 

 season of the species. Late in April Mr. G^o. A. Lewis 

 forwarded a female, measuring 20in., to the National 

 Museum. By weighing the ovaries and counting the 

 eggs in a portion, Mr. Barton A. Bean determined the 

 number to be about 172,800. The lumpfi^b, also known 

 as the lumpsucker, sea owl and cockpaddle, ranges north- 

 ward to Greenland and Iceland. Southward it reaches 

 Virginia in cold weather. The most striking peculiarities 

 of this fish are the following: The male makes the nest 

 and takes care of the young, Avhich cling to his bod y by 

 means of sucking disks on the belly. The youu;< are 

 found at the surface in summer in the midst of floating 

 rockweeds; they have an anterior dorsal fin, which be- 

 comes obsolete with age. The colors of I he adults are 

 bright green, or blue, and red. It is claimed that the red 

 ones are males and the others females. The specimen 

 above mentioned was greenish. In some parts of 

 land and among the Greenlanders the lunxpfish is ten 

 but Buckland thinks it about equal to a glue pudding 

 indicating a difference of taste which we leave tor the 

 Ichthyophagi to reconcile. 



TROUT AND WINNINISHE IN CANADA, 



MR. DAMON S. COATS, of the Springfield Fishing 

 and Game Club, tells us that as a result of thp 

 notice of the club's Canadian grounds, printed in these 

 columns, he has received numerous inquiries for fishing 

 waters. Mr. Coats recommends anglers to go to the es- 

 tablishment; kept by Harry Poole, five miles from Cbajaa* 

 bord, P. Q. Mr. Poole has leased the old Hudson's Bay 

 Company's post at the mouth of the Metabetchouan, 

 where he furnishes board at the rate of $1 per day, and 

 guide with canoe at $1.50 per day, guide to be found; he 

 can direct to excellent trout fishing, and there is good 

 winninishe fishing at the post. These fish strike in there 

 from the 10th to the 15th of June, and remain for two 

 weeks, then they go to the Grand Discharge, where the 

 catch is great. Mr. Poole has teams to convey the angler 

 to different points. Chambord is on the Quebec and Lake 

 St. John Railway. The train leaves Quebec in the morn- 

 ing and reaches Chambord at right of the same dav. 

 Mr. Poole's address is Chambord, Quebec. 



