Arjot. 8, 1889 T 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



47 



En a cloud of blue sulphurous sinoke, and an odor of 

 burning brimstone filled the air, There was no fire in 

 the cami) and some phenomena must account foi the 

 gtate of the atmosphere. The disturbance was apparently 

 '•volcanic. We met two of the party at the landing re- 

 turning from a visit to Mehoopany. Walking with them 

 Mp to the tent we learned the cmse of the disturbance as 

 told by the occupants in language abounding in forcible 

 ad-kctives. Early in the afternoon they had gone up the 

 river a short distance to fish, bribing a hoy to watch the 

 camp by the promise of a much coveted rod. After the 

 departure of the fishermen Tommy found it rather dry 

 business, and finally wandered off on the beach and 

 amused himself with wading in the water and digging 

 | mussels in the sand; and the sun was low in the west 

 [ when he returned to find that a herd of cows had taken 

 I no* session and wrought ruin in his absence. All the 

 edible* had been piled on one of the large tables and the 

 Mows bad made a clean sweep. Bread, bacon, potatoes, 

 I onions, corn, salt, all had disappeared. A box of pepper 

 ualoDe remained. Tommy drove them away, and upon 

 pfomprehendiug the damage they had done, fled the 

 i camp. We arrived just in time to hear the expletives of 

 the fishermen as they came to realize the state of affairs. 

 Many and awful were the threats of vengeance against 

 Unfortunate Tommy. Many methods of torture were 

 suggested, but none decided up-n as equaling the offense. 

 A party was detailed to visit the farmhouse back from 

 the river and soon returned with a loaf of bread and a 

 peck of potatoes, and in the cooking of the supper and 

 the more than real interest aroused by the rinding of a 

 case of beer in the boat, that had been to town, both their 

 loss and revenge w< re forgotten . Tom my did not get the 

 coveted rod, but we learued later that he managed to get 

 away secretly with a valuable reel belonging to one of 

 the party. 



. The niglit was exceedingly chill for the time of year; 

 but a good fire kept burning'the entire night flooded the 

 tent with both l'ghfc and warmth. Thursday morning 

 dawned bright and beautiful. At breakfast the amount 

 of toast that Sfiarpe devoured was far more noticeable 

 I than his catch of bass the day before. Breakfast over, a 

 |-con=ubation was held, at which it was decided to devote 

 I the forenoon to exnloring the river for some distance be- 

 Row. For roe the loc >llty has a double interest. On the 

 opposite shore and a little below our camp, something 

 over sixty years ago stood the old leg cabin in which my 

 father was born; and we put up our tent on the farm 

 .where his early boyhood was spent. Often have I heard 

 him tell of the game and fish to be found here in those 

 early day*— of the wild turkeys that flew across the river 

 'to feed in the cornfields, the big flocks of ducks that 

 passed up and down, of the deer pursued by dogs that 

 swam the river, and of the many fi-h caught. Although 

 great changes have taken place in the past fifty years, 

 still tlie locality is a charming one, and offers many in- 

 ducements to the camper. The Vosburg tunnel now used 

 by the Lehigh Valley Bail road leaves five miles of river 

 undisturbed by the screech of locomotives and the jar 

 and rumble of heavy trains. The mountains are grandly 

 beautiful, the fishing good, and the farmers who occupy 

 the pleasant houses a little back from the river will wel- 

 come vou heaitily. and if you are the gentlemen aB 

 campers should be, will do all in their power to make 

 your stay a pleasant one. 



So we drifted about that bright September morning, 

 landing often to explore the shore*, visited the cemetery 

 and found many familiar names on the mossy tomb 

 stones, and finally accepted an invitation to dinner from 

 a hospitable farmer. The broad and fertile acres be till- 

 have passed from father to son for three generations, and 

 no doubt at least one of the five manly boys we met 

 there will follow the occupation of the father. We found 

 Mrs. B. a charming lady, and the hour we spent in that 

 hospitable home will Ion. 1 : lemain a pleasant memory. 

 Dinner over we took leave of the farmer in the midst of 

 a melon patch where the fruit lay thick upon the ground 

 and Ave were asked to help ourselves to all we could use. 



We fished in the afternoon with good succes*. The 

 following morning the leaden sky and south wind spoke 

 plainly of an approaching storm. We bad proposed 

 staying another night, but wishing to avoid the storm we 

 broke camp early, packed the boat and started up the 

 l river. The wind being astern a large umbrella was made 

 I to do duty as a sail and good progre-s was made. Lad- 

 ling Sharps at Mehoopany I pulled along to Meshoppen, 

 where I found my team awaiting me. A ride of nine 

 miles put me at home again. My vacation parsed with a 

 pleasant memory. That night and the following day as 

 the rain fell steadily I was glad to be at home, but 

 already had T begun planning for another outing another 

 summer with the same congenial companion alms the 

 same grand old river. Bon Ami. 



Auburn, Pa, 



AS TOUCHING WALTON. 



ACCOBDING to Allibone, Walton's "Compleat Ang- 

 ler" has gone through thirty-four editions in Eng- 

 |land, two or more in the United States and one in Ger- 

 I many, and has been called "the angler's Bible." In some 

 respects it is treated by the votaries of the rod and reel 

 as the sacred volume is by some Christians— it is much 

 quoted and little read. 



Some angling writers are in the habit of referring to 

 ■thiB author as "Sir Isaac Walton." If they had diligently 

 studied the life and writings of the plain "citizen of Lon- 

 don, who carried on the trade of linen draper, in half a 

 shop, in Fleet street, A. D. 1624, they would not have 

 made the mistake of knighting him. 



Walton belonged to that respectable middle class of 

 Britons who have been for centuries the strength and 

 .glory of old England, and who settled the newer and 

 greater England beyond the Atlantic. 



And one of his sayings is quoted, "I had rather be a 

 ©ivil, well governed, temperate, poor angler, than a 

 drunken lord," which meant something at a period when 

 the English ncbility seemed to rule by divine right, and 

 like the King, could do no wrong. 



Although the "common father of all anglers" was a 

 plain and unassuming man, he was on terms of intimate 

 friendship with many of the literary men and clergy of 

 this time, the lives of some of whom he wrote. The ang- 

 lers of the present day cannot do better than to study the 

 life and writings of their prototype. S. C. C. 



Marietta, Georgia. 



AMERICAN CLUBS IN CANADA. 



LAKE EDWABD, Quebec, Aug. L — Editor Forest and 

 Stream: By the mail last evening I rvceived the 

 Forest and Stream of July 38. I had just had a late 

 "snadc" after a day's fishing with good success, and cock- 

 ing my feet at the regulation angle, a habit our English 

 friends never tire of ridiculing (the reason they never do 

 it is, I imagine, their modesty in exhibiting the size of 

 their feet), and with the proverbial brier wood well filled 

 and lighted , I proceeded to open the paper and see who had 

 told the biggest lie— fish s<ory, I mean. 



The first item my eye encountered was a short editorial 

 headed " American Clubs in Canada," which referred to 

 the alleged prejudice of Canadians against the leasing of 

 lakes and rivers and formation of clubs by Americans. 



The complaint that we are monopolizing their fishing 

 has, as you say, two sides to it. 



Firstly— If the Canadians wanted these lakes and rivers 

 themselves, why did they not secure them in accordance 

 with their own laws'? They had the same and better 

 opportunities, living on the ground, as it were; and they 

 knew that the Canadian Government was offering these 

 privileges, which have been in the market for years, and 

 only within the last two have Americans availed them- 

 selves of the opportunity. 



Secondly -There is a plenty of lakes and rivers that we 

 have not taken up, a little more remote, perhaps, but avail- 

 able with a moderate outlay for trails to give access to 

 them. Mr. Canadian don't pronose to spend any money tor- 

 tus pleasure. He wants all fi*hing free, which is not in 

 accordance with the laws of the mother country, which 

 Canada takes as its authority. The American clubs spend 

 money for these privileges. They pay a rental to the Gov- 

 ernment. They build houses, cut roads and trails give em- 

 ployment to guides and mechanics, travel on Canadian 

 railroads, patronize Canadian hotels, in fact, speud 

 ten dollars in the c untry for fishing privileges where 

 the Canadians spend one. Why, then, should the 

 Government withhold these privileges from Ameri- 

 cans to give resident grumblers free fishing? And 

 again, the men composing the membership of these 

 American clubs are true SDortsmen, and do not be- 

 lieve in indiscriminate slaughter. They do not go in for 

 depleting. They catch a moderate number and waste 

 none, and become really the best protectors of game 

 and fish C mada could have, for they prevent the pot- 

 hunter from unlimited destruction of fish, regardless of 

 numbers they can preserve or use. 



As an instance, when up here last fall, a party of five 

 from Quebec camped on the Jeanotte Biver, at its outlet 

 from Lake Edward, for a week. The number of trout 

 they C4Ught they did not state; but they brought up four 

 barrels, and one of the party confessed that they had 

 thrown away twice that quantity. From my own obser- 

 vations I should say they caught over a thousand pounds 

 of trout, more fish" than any club would have taken in 

 two years. And this was not the only instance of 

 slaughter. Another party, camping on the same river, 

 went into a regular fish curing business, smoking and 

 carrying away probably 5001b a . ; and all these gentlemen 

 were Canadians, residents of Quebec and Montreal, not 

 an American among them. These are the people who 

 are howling against the granting of fi-hing privileges to 

 us Americans. They want the Government to keep the 

 rivers and lakes open for their benefit, and never a penny 

 do tbey propose to pay for this rnurderous system of 

 cleaning them out. 



The Canadian Government is acting wisely in granting 

 privileges to Americans and American club*, as it there- 

 by insures a perpetuation of the attractions Canada 

 presents to sportsmen, the preservation of its fish, and 

 the continued business for hotels, railroads, mechanics 

 and laborers, for not a club es'ablished that does not ex- 

 pend thousands of dollars in buildings and expenses, 

 every dollar of which is a local benefit. Can the people 

 or the Government reap an equal benefit from the pot- 

 hunter.-? At the rate they are now ruthlessly wasting 

 the fish all along the line of the railroads, these pot- fish- 

 ermen will in a very few years denude Canada of its fish 

 and fi-hing, and make it no longer attractive to sports- 

 men: and a,s a consequence there will be less expenditure 

 in the remote localities where people live who never saw 

 a dollar in coin until the railroad brought American 

 =portsmen to them. This may seem a wild statement, 

 but there are plenty of men fifty years of age in the 

 wilds of Canada who never saw a dollar in cash (coin or 

 paper) until the advent of the railroad in the midst of 

 them. They say missionaries and railroads are great 

 civilizers. Very true, but give me the railroads eveiy 

 time. I have been where it was only the missionary; 

 Christianity and whisky were having a tight race, with 

 whisky considerably ahead, which was, of course, not 

 the teachings of the missionary, but the natural result of 

 civilization; wmisky follows close on the heels of 

 enlightenment. I heard a converted native once say, 

 when asked if he was not glad he had been rescued from 

 his heathen, condition and been made a good christian, 

 "Ye*, me heap sorry missionary man not come sooner; 

 me lose heap time, no whisky." 



As I am up here in the land, or rather waters, of the 

 trout, I suppose you would like to hear how the fishing 

 is. Well, as they say, it is fair to middling. The trout 

 learn to seek the deep waters of the lakes during the 

 hot spell, and it can be hot uo here as elsewhere, when it 

 gives its mind to it. The fishing in the streams (fly-fish- 

 ing) is not bad, but the mosquitoes are. The pestiferous 

 blackfly has departed, leaving the mosquitoes in posses- 

 sion. To fish on the shores of any stream in Canada at 

 the p-esent moment with any degree of comfort one 

 should wear a veil and long gloves that protect the 

 wrist. In an hour's fishing yesterday I caught four 

 trout, averaging 2 Jibs, each, fair and actual weight, 

 and a dozen or so of a size that would have been ac- 

 counted large for brook fishing at home. With this 

 string I quit fishing, as being entirely unprotected and 

 unprepared, the zeal manifested by the blamed insects 

 was greater than my enthusiasm for fish, and I aban- 

 doned the ground. 



At Lake St. John they are taking a goodly number of 

 f ininish or ouininish (you can spell it either way you 

 like, there being no recognized authority except the un- 

 reliable pronunciation of Mr. Indian). The fishing priv- 

 ilege at the Grand Discharge, the place to fish for them, 

 has been leased by a Canadian party, who has a com- 

 fortable camp house on the ground, where fishermen 

 find accommodations by paying $5 per day for board and 



the privilege of fishing. To get there you take the steam- 

 boat Feribonca at Boberval, the terminus of the Quebec 

 and St. John's Bailroad, on Wednesdays amd Saturdays. 

 By leaving New York on Mondav or Thursday from 

 Forty-second street depot, you will arrive at Boberval 

 Tuesday evening, or Friday evening, fare flfl, tourist 

 ticket. Board up this way $3 per day, guides $1.50, boats 

 $ I, at which prices you get fair equivalent, but not the 

 gout. The wininisli are great fighters and you want good 

 sound tackle, but of course not heavy for good sport. 

 Double or heavy gut flies and leaders make a surer thing 

 of saving your fish, skill and science do the balance. It 

 is the next thing to salmon fishing. The fish do not run. 

 large just now, from 3 to 5lbs., but what there is of them 

 is very animated; they differ with you. as to views of who 

 is master, and it requires considerable skill in the argu- 

 ment to convince them that they are going home with 

 you and not you with them, a discussion that all true 

 fishermen delight in. PodGers. 



TROUT AND LEECHES. 



ROCHESTEB, N. Y., July 20.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: Beference in a recent issue of Forest 

 and Stream to leeches preying upon trout by destroying 

 the young fry and fastening themselves to the adult fish, 

 should elicit further information. So far as my observa- 

 tion goes, I have not found leeches destructive to speckled 

 trout, at least in the manner stated by your Montreal 

 correspondent, by preying upon the adult fish. 



Some fifteen miles from Flesherton. in Grey county, 

 Ont., there is a deep spring fed lake, about seventy acres 

 in extent. This, known as Brewster's Lake, has far more 

 than a local reputation on account of the size and num- 

 bers of its fish, though they are at all times extremely 

 difficult to take with hook an ^ line, whatever lure be em- 

 ployed, or whatever the season or time of dav or night 

 they may be angled for. Although continually netted, 

 the lake still maintains its reputation for large size and 

 numbers of its speckled trout. Indeed, I ha ve never seen 

 such fat, well-fed and red-fleshed fish as those taken from 

 this lake. 



Some twelve miles distant in another direction in Grey 

 county there is a large mill pond formed by the head- 

 waters of the Noisy Biver. This, until it bpcame hope- 

 lessly fished out, was also noted for its numbers of large", 

 highly colored fish. In both of these waters the leech 

 exists in great quantities; and that it is a favorite of the 

 trout I have repeatedly verified by noting the contents of 

 the fishes' stomachs. The pond has a muddy bottom, but 

 its fish are among the sweetest I have ever tasted. I 

 never not ced anv crustaceous food to speak of in this 

 water, and I came to the conclusion, whether warranted 

 or not, that the extremely brilliant flesh of the fish in 

 both the waters specified was due to the leech diet they 

 so abundantly supplied. 



The pond mentioned was originally stocked by a pail- 

 ful of fish placed in it from an adjoining lake, and the 

 young fry, it would seem, found no difficulty since then 

 in avoiding the multitudinous leech. This with reference 

 to the statement quoted from the London Field: "The 

 most deadly enemy to young fish I believe to be leeches, 

 and in some streams it seems to me to be a puzzle how 

 any of the small fry when just emerged from the egg 

 can escape them." Naturally, in warmish, sluggish 

 waters where the leech exists very numerously, and 

 where the hiding p'aces of the young fry are restricted, 

 the latter must necessarily suffer. 



With reference to a remedy for the trouble complained 

 of by your correspondent, possibly stocking the waters 

 with speckled trout that have been accu -turned to a leech 

 diet would prove the easiest and most efficacious. But 

 may not the case he refers to of the leech fastening 

 themselves to the adult gray trout be owing to a disease 

 of the fish which invites the enemy and renders the fish 

 less able to rid themselves of their persecutors? 



George H. Ellw anger. 



CHANGES OF COLOR IN FISHES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



An exchange says: "There is a hot-tempered liHle fish, 

 known as Betta pugnax. and kept as a sort of domestic 

 net by the Siamese, to display its prowess for the Mongol- 

 ian amusement. When in a state of quiet, its dull colors 

 present no remarkable sight, but if two be brought to- 

 gether, or if one sees its own image in a looking glass, 

 the little creature becomes suddenly excited., the raised 

 fins and the whole body, shine with metallic colors of 

 dazzling beauty." 



This fact, if it is one, is important to science in deter- 

 mining that the iride°cence and complexion of fishes, at 

 least of some fishes, is to a degree emotional or voluntary. 

 The blush may not be peculiar to the human face alone. 

 The finer the organization, the keener t^e sensibilities. 

 In coarse species the colors appear fix°d. In higher 

 grades they are evanescent, or at least variable, especially 

 in the scienid", red mullets and dolphins. The fact that 

 co^ration is heightened by anger, fear, delight, or ap- 

 prehension, or bv emotional excitement of any kind, in- 

 dicates a suffusion of blood to tlie surface of the body. 



A study of the phenomenal effects may assist in throw- 

 ing some light upon the venous circulation of fvdies, 

 wmch has so long been an interesting subject of investi- 

 gation. Fishes may not be as cold blooded as philoso- 

 phers have represented. The chromatophers or nigment 

 cells in the skin of a fish are extremely sensitive. Guenther 

 demonstrates how easily they are excited by external 

 irritation. When they are exna,nded intense colors pre- 

 vail; when they contract the fish becomes paler. A mere 

 change from darkness inro light is sufficient to induce 

 them to contract and vice versa. In trout which are kept 

 in dark places, the black chromatophers are expanded, 

 and consequently such specimens are very dark colored; 

 when removed to the light they become paler almost 

 instantly. Fi«h which do not see must Naturally have 

 less sensibility than those which have sight, because they 

 have fewer media of perception. Blind fish are always 

 of a, neutral tint, no matter where they are, or whether 

 their companions are fight-colored or not. It would be 

 interesting to experiment with blind specimens of the 

 Siamese fish, and ascertain whether they become bril- 

 liant by excitation. Charles Haixook. 



Seines. Nets of every description. American Net & Twine Co., 

 Mfrs., 34 Commercial st., Boston, or 199 Fulton St., N. Y.—Adv. 



