348 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



|Nov. 21, 1889. 



with shotguns") it needs no second thought. It answers itself. 

 Although The high school hoy of to-day is older, and more care tut 

 than the hov we. meet in the woods, and is supplied with rifle and 

 uniform, and drilled according to the manual used by the sum e 

 militia, vet he is not trusted with ammunition. li,videnti\ 

 "Wacautah" and the city boy are strangers. He professes a very 

 sure and certain knowledge on all subjects. Particularly on the 

 disposal of this question in the near future. I do not! I must 

 leave it to the great bodv of our American sportsmen, only adding 

 mv opiniou to that of others, who believe in "fair exchange^ and 

 "for value received." Had "Wacautah" been wise he would not 

 have nut in his article the statement that he had hunted weeks 

 where 'Cohannet' bad days," and later on expressed a horror ot 

 those "selfish professional gunners, pot-hunters and dudes. * or 

 every man who knows me and the extent ot my hunting, will im- 

 mediately place him as one of the first of the charming trio. 



As to this prophesy, "And I repeat there will be no special taxa- 

 tion of guns; their use may be restricted, etc.. and that, would 

 cause but little opposition," he may be right. But why not sup- 

 port this positive statement by enlightening us as to the means 

 whereby this restriction without, opposition is to be brought 

 about. How except by taxation? Also, how shall we tax the 

 professional gunner" when he exists only in the imagination ot 

 would-be law revisers? ^ 4 . 



Let us have the rifle and shotgun, and let the boys have them 

 too. But there is a place for everything, and the place tor the 

 bov and his rifle is not in the fields and wooos, just outside City 

 limits, here in southwest New England. As the cold days which 

 "Wacautah" speaks of are coming soon, perhaps "the considera- 

 ble number of riflemen" who will not "tamely submit to have, a 

 special taxation laid on their rifles" had better "take down then- 

 self-appointed champion by speaking for themselves in contra- 

 diction to his views and statements. ■ 



Although "Wacauta's" convictions are very positive (and I hey 

 maybe right) I fail to be convinced of the fact, and with others 

 here beg leave to differ. Cohannet. 



"That reminds me." 

 286. 



WE were comfortably seated around the hearth at 

 Porter Lake, in Pike county, Pa., and the spirit 

 of story telling was strong upon us, because the fishing 

 had been unusually good and the supper bounteous. The 

 flash and sparkle of wit filled the upper air of the room 

 as with a fine aurora, and a halo of calm bliss encircled 

 the brow of each entranced listener. But first the drug 

 and then the antidote. The benevolent Colonel drew us 

 down gently from the giddy heights with a story of a 

 coarse plebian, locally known as a catfish. Thus ran his 

 tale: "A man and his dog went fishing in the Mississippi. 

 In a short time the man felt a mighty pull on the line, 

 and he knew that a catfish had taken hold. The giant 

 came along peacefully enough until he happened to 

 change his mind, and then he decided to double on his 

 course and take the man along. The faithful dog, seeing 

 his master's danger, rushed to the rescue bravely enough. 

 The wily catfish, when he found the dog ptu-suing, turned 

 upon him and terrified the dog, who incontinenty turned 

 tail and swam vigorously toward the dryland, the catfish 

 hotly following. Presently the dog gained the land and 

 ran hastily, the catfish madly surging after him. The 

 dog, sorely pressed and fearing a painful death, in his 

 extremity climbed a tree, the catfish still pursuing." 



"Hold on! hold on!" we cried in chorus; "dogs cannot 

 climb trees." 



"Can't climb a tree?" responded the Colonel. "But the 

 catfish was close upon him, and this dog had to climb." 



ANGLING NOTES. 



DOES the angler ever stop to think when looking over 

 the pages of his fly-book, what a great variety of 

 material is used in dressing flies, and from how many 

 different parts of the world they are gathered? Take 

 even the ordinary trout flies (and they are quite simple, 

 as a rule, in their construction), and yet the variety of 

 feathers used is quite extensive. When we come to the 

 elegant salmon flies, every quarter of the globe has to be 

 laid under contribution to supply the necessary assort- 

 ment. Among our home birds which supply material 

 are the wild and the domestic turkey, teal, widgeon, 

 mallard, sheldrake, woodduck. blue heron, swan, and 

 many others, including the much-used hackles. The 

 scarlet ibis comes from- South America, the bustard from 

 Russia, the bluejay from England, the Indian crow from 

 India, the argus pheasant and macaw from the far East, the 

 ostrich from Africa, the grouse feathers from Scotland, 

 etc. The golden pheasant, originally from China, is now 

 raised in England in great numbers, and the famous 

 crests so much used in salmon flies, are picked from the 

 live birds, otherwise they do not have that metallic lustre 

 so highly prized. These are but a few of the fly dresser's 

 materials. There are very many more from other birds, 

 like the woodcock, quail, English snipe, rail, robin and 

 pigeon, besides fur from the seal, golden monkey, water 

 rat. hare, squirrel, camel, etc., all of which must be kept 

 in fly makers' establishments, and it is no small matter to 

 keep up the assortment. 



The snells are made from silkworm gut and not from 

 catgut, as many still believe. Not long ago a gentleman 

 inquired in one of our tackle shops for salmon gut, and 

 he would not be imposed upon by silkworm gut; he in- 

 sisted that he wanted gut made from the salmon, and 

 that nothing else would answer. 



That Metabetchouan score, recently referred to, is very 

 encouraging, particularly as so many anglers who visited 

 Lake St. John were rather discouraged this season. In 

 fact, there was very little fishing to be had, unless the 

 angler could get permission from the owners of the 

 waters. The Hotel Eoberval is some 15 or 20 miles from 

 the nearest salmon pools, and the lake is so shallow that 

 it is with difficulty that the little steamer can land its pas- 

 sengers anywhere near the fishing localities. The rail- 

 road people have promised to obtain more fishing rights 

 the coming season, so that their guests will not be disap- 

 pointed again. Those who visit these waters must make 

 up then- minds to rough it and put up with the plainest 

 fare when off at the camps fishing. 



Striped bass fishing in the Hackensack River, New Jer- 

 sey, was very poor this season. Those who are in the 

 habit of fishing there complain that the river is full of 

 illegal nets, and that Fish Warden Ricado is not strict 

 enough. The Hackensack used to he famous for its 



striped bass fishing; but, like the rail shooting, this is a 

 thing of the past. Five years ago a bag of forty or fifty 

 rail was not unusual, now half that number is a rare 

 score. In fact, a rail hardly gets a chance to alight be- 

 fore half a dozen boats are after him. The majority of 

 sportsmen in Bergen county aver that they would be 

 glad to pay a reasonable tax on the gun if it would assure 

 them a little sport. 



Many anglers have no doubt had the good luck to come 

 across a worn out stream, which, having been left to 

 itself for several years and considered not worth fishing, 

 has panned out wonderful results. Dr. Howard, of this 

 city, showed us a photograph of six or seven noble brook 

 trout taken in such a stream last summer. They were 

 all killed in one evening; the seven weighed 91bs. The 

 stream was but a short distance from a very large and 

 fashionable hotel in the western part of this State, and 

 was supposed to contain only a few pickerel. A short 

 time after that he devoted a whole day to the stream and 

 killed thirty odd trout, none under half a pound. 



One of the most killing flies, in fact, the most killing 

 fly last season, for the landlocked salmon, was the Jock- 

 Scott. 



BEARS, BIRDS AND FISHES. 



ABOUT the middle of last August a little party sent 

 out by the United States Commissioner of Fisher- 

 ies to get information about the salmon industry of 

 Alaska found it necessary to go up to the source of the 

 most famous stream in the Territory, the prolific Karluk, 

 in the island of Kadiak. After we had seen the fishing 

 gangs of the canneries landing their tens of thousands of 

 red salmon almost daily, and one particularly favorable 

 Sunday running the catch up to about 150,000, we were 

 all the more anxious to see the spawning grounds of these 

 struggling myriads. The river would be considered a 

 rather small creek at home, yet it yielded as many red 

 salmon this summer as all the other streams of Alaska 

 combined. It was evident that some explanation of the 

 annual occurrence of such immense shoals of fish would 

 be found in the lake out of which the Karluk starts on 

 its devious course, and we determined to reach Karluk 

 Lake if possible. Several miles above the mouth of the 

 river there is a series of rapids, over which we knew it 

 would be impossible to float even a bidarka at the exist- 

 ing low stage of the water; so we took passage on the 

 little steamer Ella Rohlffs, which carries salmon from 

 Karluk to a cannery in Uyak Bay, and journeyed with 

 our good friend Capt. Larsen to his headquarters in Port 

 Larsen. an arm of the bay, from which Karluk River 

 above the obstructions is reached by an easy portage. We 

 were obliged to turn away from the fine trees, flowering 

 plants and luxuriant ferns of the Uyak Bay shores and 

 from the generous hospitality of our host, and push rap- 

 idly iorward on our mission. Mr. Lewis and Mr. Stone, 

 however, found time to row across the bay to see the 

 wonderful mass of humpback salmon struggling up a 

 little stream not deep enough to float them nor wide 

 enough to hold the column of spawning fish. Mr. Lewis 

 obtained some of the eggs and mixed them with the milt 

 of the accompanying males. The eggs were found to be 

 larger than those of the red salmon, but smaller than 

 quinnat eggs, and not quite so bright red. 



Seven natives of Karluk were employed to go with my 

 party, and they took for our use two 3-hole or 3-hatch 

 bidarkas. Mak Cem (sometimes called Maxim), because 

 of his ability to talk indifferent English, was a sort of 

 leader of these natives. He is a young man of bright and 

 rather attractive countenance, about 5ft. Sin, tall, and 

 weighs 1601bs. We carried a tent for the four white men, 

 and intended that the natives should sleep in barabaras 

 along our route. Provisions were taken from Karluk and 

 Uyak bays, and we had everything necessary for a stay 

 of a week or ten days. Canned meats, vegetables and 

 fruits were furnished us by Mr. Hirsch and Capt. Larsen 

 at San Francisco prices, which are very reasonable. We 

 carried three repeating rifles and two shotguns as a precau- 

 tion against bears, whose country we were about to in- 

 vade, and we knew that the guns would bring us a supply 

 of ducks, plover and other birds, to improve our bill 

 of fare. Mr. Booth carried a theodolite, a steel tape 

 measure and an aneroid barometer. I had a fine outfit 

 for photography and a thermometer for water and air 

 temperatures. Very early in the morning, August 16, 

 we started from Port Larsen, conveying ourselves and 

 the entire company and working outfit in a dory and 

 the two bidarkas. Those of us who traveled for the first 

 time in bidarkas furnished considerable amusement for 

 the natives when we made our attempts to be seated 

 without capsizing the unstable craft; but when we 

 tried to get out at the end of our comfortable journey 

 the fun grew intense. The hatch is so narrowly sepa- 

 rated from the bottom of the canoe that a beginner is 

 always caught at the knees and held fast until he learns 

 the knack of t wisting around sidewise and drawing up the 

 knees before trying to arise. We reached the head of 

 the arm of Uyak Bay in one hour and a half, after pad- 

 dling five miles. The heavy dory was fully two hours in 

 making the distance. Eagles, ducks, magpies and si ag- 

 ing birds, including various sparrows, were common 

 everywhere. Rapid little streams tumble into the bay in 

 many places, and wherever a humpback salmon can force 

 its way will be found a squirming mass of fish intent on 

 wriggling to the highest possible point, to deposit their 

 eggs and milt and then drift helplessly back, lacerated 

 and dying, toward the sea from which they came, but 

 which they never seem to regain alive. 



It was about two o'clock in the afternoon when we 

 reached the old barabara on the Karluk River, where we 

 proposed to camp for the night. The portage is not diffi- 

 cult and may be crossed readily in an hour and a quarter 

 with nothing to carry. From the bay the trail starts at 

 one of the little salmon streams, passing through a nar- 

 row belt of timber consisting chiefly of cottonwood, 

 alder and willows. There is a gradual ascent to a height 

 of several hundred feet to a comparatively level and 

 boggy plain. The natives carried our goods and the bid- 

 arkas, making two trips, and landing everything at the 

 river by six in the evening. 



A lean and apparently spent Dolly Varden trout was 

 discovered in a little rill near our camp, and a few sal- 

 mon were seen leaping in the river. Some ducks were 

 shot, and we had a very good stew for supper. We were 

 not long in pitching our tent, and the natives soon patched 



up the roof of their barabara with a little grass, which 

 is abundant and cheap on Kadiak. 



On the morning of the 17th we made an early start up 

 the river; one-half of the party traveling in the bidar- 

 kas and the rest walking, sometimes along the shore and 

 occasionally making cut-offs where the stream bends in 

 its course. We expected to find a great many young 

 ducks between the barabara and the lake, and we were 

 not disappointed; ducks could be .had by the boatload if 

 we had felt inclined to slaughter them. In a very brief 

 space of time one gun killed enough teal, butterballs and 

 mallards to supply the entire company for two days. A 

 young swan, also, came to bag. There was enough va- 

 riety in the shots to suit the most fastidious taste, and 

 yet a pot-hunter could have destroyed whole broods of 

 birds with a single cartridge. The Karluk is decidedly 

 a meandering river, and especially in its upper portion. 

 It is a very little stream in a very big valley, and at the 

 time of our reconnoissance the water was extremely low 

 in many places, so that our loaded bidarkas, drawing less 

 than one foot, were frequently aground. The broad and 

 very low valley of the upper Karluk is a favorite breed- 

 ing ground for ducks, and a few swans were observed 

 there during the summer. The abundant tall grass affords 

 shelter and concealment, and innumerable little streams 

 of cold water fringed with seed-bearing plants must 

 supply ample nourishment. The river is dotted here and 

 there with water plants not unlike some that we have at 

 home: one slender and graceful species bearing a small 

 white flower being especially handsome. Wild celery and 

 wild parsnips are common. The shores are brilliant with 

 flowers of many hues, and yield several different kinds 

 of berries; but for the purposes of walking they are sim- 

 ply distressing. The difficulty of walking in Alaska, 

 however, is an old grievance with me, and had better be 

 passed over as lightly as possible. 



We reached the lake about 3 P. M., bringing it into 

 view suddenly by an abrupt turn of the stream near its 

 source. Low mountains surround it, bearing trees within 

 certain limits of altitude, and capped here and there with 

 patches of snow. We had little* opportunity at this time 

 to study scenery, for Jupiter Pluvius was abroad and our 

 tent had to be pitched in a hurry. Near the river source 

 is a low pebbly spit making off shoal into the lake. Here 

 a colony ot gulls of small size were discussing the bait 

 question, and a little flock of blue wing teal circled around 

 just in time to give me a quartering shot at twenty or 

 twenty-five yards. We had broiled teal for breakfast. 

 In spite of the rain Mr. Stone and I stalked a little bunch 

 of lesser yellow legs, which we marked down near the 

 mouth of a rivulet adjacent to our tent, and we brought 

 back all of them after a few pretty shots. The natives in 

 the meantime paddled off in their bidarkas to a shoal not 

 far away and killed some of the spawning red salmon by 

 means of stones. They started a fire in the barabara and 

 soon looked very comfortable notwithstanding the rain. 

 It is astonishing to an American how little wood will 

 serve to boil water and cook a meal for the natives. 

 Wood is scarce at many points, and economy in its use is 

 always necessary. It did not take us long to discover 

 this fact, and we soon came to the further conclusion 

 that a barabara is a far more comfortable summer dwell- 

 ing than a tent. T. H. B. 



[TO BE CON1INUED. | 



BY WAY OF PROTEST. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Another batch of odds and ends, if you will take them. 

 I promised to say something of the "bass hog." I met 

 him in Florida two years and a half ago. It was on the 

 shores of Lake Monroe, at Enterprise. His boat came to 

 the shore late in the day, and I saw his tackle and catch. 

 The latter was black bass of all sizes which nearly filled a 

 huge oblong basket containing, I should think, two or 

 more bushels, I asked what would be done with them, 

 and learned that day after day this act was repeated — 

 the man doing his best to dejnete the stock of bass in the 

 lake and always bringing in a boat load — the cook at the 

 hotel usiDg as many as he chose to, but the greater part 

 going to the hogs, and this time I mean the swine. I 

 learned that this man or another (I cannot in absence of 

 my notes remember which, but the man who did it was 

 a Brooklyn alderman), had had an ambition to beat all 

 records in the world, and had in about eighty days of 

 steady fishing taken with fly-rod over four tons of black 

 bass, and there was no record nor mention of his ever 

 having returned - alive to the water a single fish. Now, 

 what else can be said of such a man save that his pride 

 of slaughter has excluded every gentler sentiment, and 

 that in him the sportsman, if he ever existed, has been 

 lost in the fish hog? 



Compared with the trout, the black bass is no great 

 friend of mine. He is only better than the pickerel, and 

 one trout is worth a dozen of him for all purposes what- 

 soever; but still he is a genuine game fish, and in waters 

 where he is the rightful king ami not an interloper, he is 

 to be respected and valued ; and such waters are the in- 

 land lakes of Florida, which he inhabits in astonishing 

 numbers. No waters, however, can be so well stocked as 

 to defy forever suqh attack and waste, and it merits the 

 sharpest rebuke. Moreover, the coarse and crude gratifi- 

 cation at mere slaughter is not for a moment to be com- 

 pared to the fine delight in sport which does not destroy 

 the means of sport, and which rejoices in the thought 

 that it may be perpetuated and that others may share it. 



Let any one kill what he needs and can use and even 

 what he can share with his friends, provided it is done 

 lawfully and by fair and sportsmanlike devices, but let 

 all that is beyond this be abandoned. Once let a man 

 give up slaughter for sport, and, having in his creel 

 enough for the pan, put back into the water every other 

 fish, and, my word for it, he will never go back to' the old 

 and senseless practice. With the proper care that "par- 

 ticularly big one," caught after enough have been saved 

 for use, can be weighed and measured and returned un- 

 harmed to his native wave; and the word of a man known 

 to do a thing like that ought to be taken unsupported. 



Let me here have a whack at the misguided man who, 

 forsooth, because he has had plenty of trout all his life 

 and thinks it would be fine to have picket el and black 

 bass " for a change," puts tbose coarse fish into trout 

 waters and thereby ruins them forever. This mistake 

 once made, is made for all time. Nothing can remedy it. 

 Gradually this foolish man is getting in his work through 

 southern New Hampshire and Maine, and gradually the 

 trout waters are being ruined. Many and many a noble 



