Jan. 3, 1890.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



473 



a sore red spot. Whether this form had any relation to 

 the former can at present be only conjectured. 



The other form was a leech-like parasite, apparently 

 chitinous in outward covering, about the length and 

 diameter of a small pin, holding fast to the fish at any 

 convenient point by a sucker-like disk. 



These parasites seem to infest only mature fish, as no 

 individual which retained in the slightest degree the parr 

 marks, w T as ever taken with them upon it or in any way 

 differing from a, well-fed, healthy trout. It is to be earn- 

 estly hoped that so interesting a phase of trout life in 

 these regions may be carefully worked out in the future 

 under the auspices of the TJ. S. Fish Commission. 



Perhaps in closing a few words for the benefit of 

 anglers who may chance to tish these waters in the future 

 may not be out of place. 



The sine and weight of tackle suitable for these lakes 

 and streams has been overestimated, as has the size of the 

 fish. An 8oz. fly-rod is heavy enough, with reel and line 

 to match. The device first recommended I believe by 

 Mr. Henry P. Wells, of a handle detachable from the butt 

 of the rod, is particularly well suited for Rocky Mountain 

 travel. The handle can then be stowed in any con venient 

 place, and the butt and joints can be carried in a stout 

 brass tube, where they will be protected from harm. I 

 made one by obtaining a strong brass tube of suitable 

 length, then soldered a cap over one end and closed the 

 other by a ecrew-cap. The diameter of the tube was 

 about l£ih., inside measurement. In this, the rod can be 

 packed upon a mule, rolled up in the bedding, or it can 

 be tied by strings to the saddle and carried under the leg 

 like a rifle. 



In this manner I carried a rod all summer through 

 hundreds of miles of mountain travel, caught great 

 quantities of fish with it and brought it back in as good 

 condition as that in which it started. For flies, those 

 tied upon books of a si/.e from 5-7 Sproat are sufficiently 

 large for the rivers and Jakes, while 8-10 is right for the 

 small streams. For kinds, the brown-baekle is above all 

 others best on these waters. The Alexander and black- 

 prinee are excellent in the swift streams. I tied the fol- 

 lowing combination a good deal and found it very useful 

 on the lake: Wings and hackle lead-colored, body red. 

 tail white and rather large and full. We caught great 

 numbers with this, and in default of a name called it 

 the Yellowstone. Any modest-colored flies will prove 

 serviceable, however. Perovtval. 



NOTES FROM WORCESTER. 



WORCESTER, Mass., Dec. 13.— Editor Fores! and 

 - Stream: The year 1889 has been an exceptional 

 one. for sportsmen, in Worcester county at least. Not for 

 years has the trout fishing been as good as it was last 

 spring. No especially large catches were made near here, 

 but every one had better average success than has been 

 known for a number of years. The season was a wet 

 one, and particularly favorable for a good run of trout; 

 and a better observance of the close season is undoubt- 

 edly having a good effect on the fishing. Some of the old 

 trout streams which dried up entierly during the drought 

 in ? 82-'8;i are slowly beginning to restock themselves, 

 and where trout have been unknown since that time, 

 last season a few were taken. The question of restock- 

 ing these streams is receiving considerable attention, and 

 at the annual meeting of the Sportsmen's Club the matter 

 will be agitated, and if the idea meets with favor, a com- 

 mittee, which will give its attention to the fish problem 

 especially, will be proposed. 



That such a committee, if composed of the right men, 

 could do a vast amount of good there is no doubt, and 

 that in taking hold of this work the sportsmen's club 

 would greatly increase its membership and popularity is 

 also true. But the work must be done intelligently and 

 unselfishly to bring about the best results. The per- 

 nicious practice of leasing brooks cannot be too severely 

 condemned, and although this practice has so far been 

 confined to a very few, it has resulted in the posting of a 

 number of brooks in this vicinity. 



The idea of those interested in the proposed work of 

 improvement is broader, and will undoubtedly meet 

 with the hearty co operation of sportsmen and farmers 

 alike. The proposition to be made to the landowners is 

 not that they will be expected to watch the brooks and 

 drive anyone, friends and neighbors included, off their 

 land, but in return for the benefit which they and their 

 friends would derive from' having their now worthless 

 brooks stocked with trout the only favor asked is that 

 they will not post their lands, leaving them open to 

 everyone. 



The feasibility of stocking Lake Quinsigamond with 

 trout and landlocked salmon is also talked of quite gener- 

 ally, especially by fishermen who make frequent trips to 

 the Maine lakes, and the general opinion is that our lake 

 has natural advantages equal if not superior to any of the 

 Maine lakes. Deep, cold, with numerous spring holes, it 

 offers a retreat for trout or landlockers where the pick- 

 erel could do them no harm, and the numerous brooks 

 emptying into it would afford excellent spawning 

 grounds. At present it is worthless as far as fishing goes, 

 a few r pickerel and pouts constituting its fish supply. 



A little money judiciously expended yearly for a few 

 years would give us as good fishing at our very doors as 

 we now have to go hundreds of miles for. The cost of a 

 two- weeks' trip to Maine or New Brunswick for a single 

 persons would, if spent in stocking Lake Quinsigamond 

 with yearling landlockers yearly for ten years, save 

 Worcester anglers hundreds of dollars every season. 



The past season has also been a remarkable one for 

 birds. Good bags have been made from Sept. 1 up to the 

 very last day of November, and while fox hunting since 

 Dec. 1 1 have put up enough partridges to insure a good 

 number of breeders for next season. 



Closing the bird season Dec. 1 has proved a wise move, 

 as with an open month, such as we are having now, the 

 hunters could kill more birds during December than in 

 any other month. Woodcock have also been very 

 plenty. Though some of the old covers held but few 

 birds they were found on new grounds, and those famil- 

 ial 1 with the covers made good bags, both of native and 

 flight birds. 



Quail are more plenty than usual, but our winters are 

 so severe that we can probably never expect very good 

 quail shooting in this section, 



If ilis shooting continues to hold its o«n w« cannot 

 tioropi&iu in Wore-ostet ay a hutn'mg grocad, hat w« n&ud 

 ij&o&mnx m&f S9 then* m mors shelters hm sW+ 



in any city in the East of its size. New ones are coming 

 out every year, and there is not a better class of men in 

 the city than the shooters. Doctors, lawyers, ministers, 

 Congressmen, the most prosperous of our business men 

 in every line, are numbered among the fortunate possess- 

 ors of a love for the sports of woods and stream. Hal. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST, 



C CHICAGO, Dec. 24.— Mr. E. C. Burton, lately men- 

 > tioned to me one of his possessions, for which 

 he says he would not take a farm. He calls it a minnow 

 trap. It is made entirely of glass, stout but transparent. 

 The principle is that of the funnel trap or fyke net, there 

 being a conical lead of glass running from the mouth 

 into the middle of the big jar which the trap in the main 

 resembles. The apex of this cone is cut off, leaving an 

 opening through which the minnows may freely pass. 

 In the body of the jar some cornmeal or similar food is 

 placed, and the trap is baited and ready for work. It is 

 placed on its side in clear water known to be inhabited 

 by minnows. A school of minnows noticing the feed 

 will work around the sides of the trap until they find 

 the opening, and if two or three go in the rest crowd in 

 after them, and are unable to find the way out. Charlie 

 says be caught 800 in a half an hour one day in a Minne- 

 sota lake. This sounds a good deal like a fish story, but 

 he says it true. The trap is said to have been the inven- 

 tion of a Tennessee man, and to have been in use in the 

 South for a number of years. Not many have been seen 

 in the North. I never saw one. but should think it would 

 be interesting to watch the minnows fill one up. 



The mildness of the winter up to this date has doubt- 

 less saved many thousands of good game fish from being 

 taken by legal or illegal ice-fishing on our Western 

 lakes. Last winter was also a mild one, and the result 

 of the two years should be favorable, if the ice will only 

 keep off for a couple of months longer this season. 



Speaking of ice-fishing reminds me of mi account a 

 friend gave me of the bullhead fishing on Lake Koshko- 

 nong in the winter time. "I went out on the ice to one 

 of the holes,*' he said, "where they wen- catching and 

 skinning the bullheads. The fish were all skinned alive, 

 a pair Of sharp steel pincers being used to jerk off the 

 skin. As soon as a fish was skinned, it was thrown on 

 the pile, without being killed, cleaned or having the 

 head taken off. That great pile of live skinned bull- 

 heads was the most horrible sight I ever saw. It writhed 

 and moved all through itself , from top to bottom, and 

 the whole sight was such that it made me sick. I pro- 

 tested to the brutal fellows who were doing this work, 

 and insisted they should kill the fish, but they said they 

 'didn't have time for that.' I think this is one of the 

 most brutal things I ever saw or heard of. Doubtless it 

 is the same up there now, and if so something ought to 

 be done to stop it." 



I have myself seen the bullhead skinning at the great 

 fish port of Sandusky. The hands there use pincers 

 similar to those mentioned above, but the fish is first be- 

 headed. . 1 wish Mr. G. E. Gordon, of Lake Koshkonong, 

 would inquire about the case above mentioned. It is not 

 probable that he would long endure its continuance if he 

 knew of it. 



A curious but very practical and very deadly device 

 used by these same Koshkonong pot-fishermen has come 

 under my notice. This is called the '"Koshkonong reel," 

 and is used by all those fellows who have discarded the 

 old tip-ups. It consists merely of a crotch, the legs of 

 which are about five or six inches long. To the top of 

 this crotch — which is simply cut out of a stout forked 

 twig, perhaps as thick as a lead pencil — the line is tied 

 fast and attached to a stick, which goes across the hole 

 in the ice. This part of the line is long enough so that 

 the crotch or "reel" is suspended entirely below the sur- 

 face of the water. The long part of the line is wrapped 

 around the crotch, the spring of the wood holding it on 

 tightly. One leg of the crotch is split slightly at the end, 

 and into this split the fine is passed, so that it is held 

 tightly there after enough has been wound about the 

 crotch. Below this split end the short line and the baited 

 hook depend. When a fish bites he jerks the line free 

 from the split that holds it, and goes off with the bait, 

 the "reel" slowly unwinding the line as it whirls around 

 in the water. When the line is all off the "reel" the fish 

 is at the end of his rope, and by that time is gradually 

 hooked fast. The actual object of the reel is to keep the 

 line coiled without freezing. It does not freeze when 

 kept quiet under the water. If coiled up on the ice it 

 would freeze stiff, and so not run out well. The ways of 

 the marketman are simple, but fatally direct to their 

 purpose. 



The market-fisher is a naive sort of creature, truly 

 childlike and bland. One of them sat in Blackhawk 

 club house one night as we were talking about the pro- 

 gress in matters of fish protection on the lake. Some 

 one spoke of the law prohibiting netting and spearing, 

 and remarked that it would protect such fishes as the red- 

 horse, which does not take bait. 



"How vill ve ketch redhorse, den?" asked the market- 

 fisher, whose mind was first of all filled up with the 

 necessity of catching any and all fish. We tried to ex- 

 plain to him that it didn't make any great hole in the 

 national safety even if he didn't ketch 'em. That is not 

 an uncommon question among these gentry. "If you 

 won't let us float for canvasbacks and won't let us shoot 

 outside of natural cover, how will we kill canvasbacks?" 

 They are firm believers in their divine right to kill. That 

 anybody else has any right to the game is a fact they 

 can't get through their heads. Any effort to hedge in 

 their ancient right of butchery they meet with the old 

 cry about the down-trodden farmer who wants a mess of 

 fish for Ms suffering family. 



They tell some rather grotesque stories on this head up 

 in this country about which I have lately been writing so 

 much. There was an old German who lived on the edge of a 

 stream that ran into the lake, and who was repeatedly 

 caught in the act of netting fish in the stream. He was 

 remonstrated with, and even fined, but on trial setup the 

 novel plea of self-defense. ' 'Shudge," said he, ' 'dose bick- 

 erels dey svim up and bite off de leaves off my dobacco 

 blants vhat I haf down near de vater. Oont dey lays eggs 

 all of er de grass. So ven de catties comes down to eat dey 

 goes • Bah \ bah ! ' Great grashus ! I must prodeot my 

 catties fon dose dings, on spide of all you tarn RehubUoan 

 dievesl" And yet> "on spite " of his argument ibis 

 I gentleman later b» got si x tnm#i»\» 1*P His tettftlitar 



Mr. G. W. Esterly, of Whitewater, Wis., comes for- 

 ward with two bass stories. One day Mr. Esterly was 

 fishing and hooked a bass which, on attempting to swing 

 it into the boat, he knocked against the gunwale of the 

 boat and disengaged from the hook. The bass started 

 for tall corn, but Mr. Esterly made a grab for it, caught 

 it by the back and landed it in the boat. At another time 

 a bass carried away all of Mr. Esterly's line, and was 

 playing horse with a lot of other bass, when Mr. Esterly 

 fished the end of the lineup out of the depths and landed 

 his fish. These stories are vouched for by eye witnesses. 



I am reminded by a friend that it is wise for an unsuc- 

 cessful hunter returning from the chase and wishing to 

 buy a few ducks to take home to his wife, never to buy 

 an even number of birds, like six, or twelve, or a dozen 

 and a half. That looks too much like "Thre« dollars a 

 dozen, sir," or some other price established on the dozen 

 basis. The truly wise hunter will buy some odd number, 

 like seven, or eleven, or seventeen birds. Observation of 

 this apparently simple little matter would have kept 

 peace in many a family before now. 



Dec. -27. — I see "Kingfisher" and Mr. Clapham are hav- 

 ing a war about how to stiffen a rod ferrule. Now, I was 

 the innocent cause of that war, for it was I who told of 

 the time when I tried to mend a, broken rod and found 

 the Ferrule soft after burning out the wood. "King- 

 fisher's" first kindly advice about cooling the ferrule in 

 the air was given to me. I have never had time to try 

 any experiments on the matter as Mr. Clapham has; but 

 1 know one thing, if either "Kingfisher" or Mr. Clapham 

 had been right where I was, and had seen those big bass 

 jumping near him all the time he was tinkering with his 

 rod. he would have done just what I did, and have jabbed 

 that ferrule into the lake as far as he could reach, in the 

 effort to cool it quickly as possible. 'Twasn't a question 

 of stiffness, it was a question of time. If I can ever get 

 "Kingfisher" into just such a scrape as that I will bet 

 him all he wants that he can't sit still and wave his hot 

 ferrule in the air until it cools, any more than he can 

 write without emitting wisdom. I think he would call 

 it "onpossible." Will some other worthy brother tell us 

 what to do in a case like that — something that can be 

 done "to onct." E. Hough. 



Black Bass in England.— London, Dec. lit. —Editor 

 Forest and Stream: I had the pleasure of being present 

 last evening at a meeting of the Piscatorial Society of 

 London. By request of the chairman and others I gave 

 them many particulars concerning our famous game 

 fish, the black bass. A strong and growing feeling exists 

 in Great Britain respecting their introduction into waters 

 for which they may be well suited. The collection of 

 game fish of Great Britain owned by the Piscatorial So- 

 ciety is the finest in the world. I wish especially to 

 express my appreciation of the special courtesy extended 

 to me by Mr. E. Sachs of the Piscatorial Society, one of 

 the editors of Land and Water. — Geo. Shepard Page. 



California.— Sea fishing is excellent this year, along 

 the rocks of the north side of San Francisco and San 

 Pablo bays. Rock cod, perch, sea trout and smelt reward 

 the hook and line fisherman within five miles of the city. 

 The run of salmon to their spawning grounds will begin 

 soon. The State Fish Commissioners have ordered their 

 deputies to arrest all fisherman taking "trout or salmon 

 trout, or the young of salmon at this season," and several 

 arrests have been made. — Charles H. Shinn. 



FISH CULTURE AND PROTECTION IN INDIANA. 



Editor Forest and- Stream: 



Indiana is waking up to the necessity of paying some at- 

 tention to her fish. A state fish and game protective society 

 has been formed at the State capital, with Fish Commis- 

 sioner Dennis at its head, and Col. Lilly, Judge Davidson, 

 Mr. Butler and Mr. J. P. Applegate as an executive eom- 

 mittee, with a vice-president in each of the thirteen con- 

 gressional districts of the State. The Commissioner, aided 

 by persons interested in the preservation of our game fish, 

 has secured the building of fishways over dams in rivers 

 emptying into Lake Michigan in the northern part of the 

 State, and will have ways put in around dams on streams 

 emptying into the Ohio at once, to be followed by securing 

 ways around or over all the dams in the State. The laws of 

 the State are being enforced, numerous indictments have 

 been found and there have been a number of convictions of 

 violators. 



I promised to inform you how the scheme of making road 

 supervisors act as fish and game constables worked. It 

 does as well as could be expected of an entirely new law, 

 and in time will prove the means of preserving our fish and 

 game from anihilation. 



The work of stocking the streams is being intelligently 

 and vigorously pushed. The Southern Indiana Fish and 

 Game Protective Association is doing a grand work. There 

 is also capital work being done in Shelby and Montgomery 

 counties, and at other points. A stock company at Turkey 

 Lake is very efficient in protecting the fish. We confidently 

 expect in a few years to see our loved Indiana famous for 

 the game fish in her streams, and for the sportsmanlike 

 manner they are taken on the fly, and the hospitality with 

 which her anglers will greet the rod and reel men of sister 

 States. Jap. 



WORK OF THE U. S. FISH COMMISSION. 



ONE of the cars of the Commission has started out from 

 Wytheville, Va., with about 60,000 yearling rainbow 

 trout for distribution in public waters of Pennsylvania, 

 Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and 

 Tennessee. 



Another car is taking carp into the South , and at the same 

 time some adult red-eye perch, European tench, carp and 

 golden ide to the new Government station at Neosho, Mis- 

 souri. This station will soon he furnished with 100,000 front 

 of several species for stocking the mountain streams of the 

 Ozark region. The rainbow trout has taken a strong hold 

 in those waters. 



Cod are appearing all along the coast in waters stocked by 

 the efforts of the Commission. Mr. Chas. H. Stevenson, 

 writing from Stouington, Conn,, reports that many small 

 codfish, recognized by fishermen as the product of the 

 hatcheries, are now being taken. 



SAWDUST AND FISH.— Amherst, N. S., Boo, 81 — 

 Editor Forest and Stream: If your ! 'anti-sawdust corres- 

 pondent had the manliness to pat hjs uanu to .yhat ha 

 winter j might ask. a. iittlo ^nva If; e.m&>; Iks Wishes and 

 f t .bt.Hu>,,-i^ u* n in, i , 1 ph'« n.o ?:•?•!" t.) ■■n>it*im-?ii<'fih nam 



