108 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Feb. 27, 1890, 



THE SUNSET CLUB. 



THE president called the meeting to order at the usual 

 hour, and stated that, owing to the open winter, the 

 discussion about new methods of fishing under the ice 

 would he indefinitely postponed. "But we will consider 

 to-night," he continued, "the review of the report of the 

 new invention for catching fish, an omission in 'Looking 

 Backward.' Of course you are aware that we are in- 

 debted to the passenger department of our leading rail- 

 roads for the discovery and success of the original con- 

 trivance. Tt is an established fact, or rather a foregone 

 conclusion, that railroad men are generally truthful, 

 though occasionally one may be found who has a trifling 

 impediment in his" veracity.* There is no class of men 

 who take a greater interest in introducing to the public's 

 notice open byways, secret retreats, quiet lakes, romantic 

 solitudes where the game fishes of our American waters 

 abound, than the general passenger agents. They are 

 each and all of the Truthful James order, and they trans- 

 rait the clandestine power of producing positive effects 

 to their traveling passenger agents, who are men selected 

 from Sunday-school rolls, and who distribute this con- 

 densed magnetism of interest through innocent ticket 

 agents to the unbeguiled public. T. P. agents are reli- 

 able anglers, patient, persevering, and need no fishing 

 medicine to give them luck. 



"The device used by a party of these young men is really 

 scientific. It remained for them alone to discover the 

 use and application of electricity to the immediate wants 

 of a hungry man. It is a known fact that nearlv all 

 species of fish are readily attracted at something bright. 

 We believe an exception is made of the eel, which is said 

 to turn tail when a ray of light is thrown on him. Pas- 

 senger agents have a lay off, a week of rest, of retire- 

 ment, and during the latter part of the past season several 

 of them combined their telegraphic knowledge together, 

 with what they picked up on the road, and succeeded in 

 getting the electric light into service. They made a 

 strong non-conducting receptacle that would resist tons 

 of pressure to the square inch, and bottled up in it. the 

 Lord only knows how, a prodigious number of thousands 

 of 'ohms' or something like it of lightning, of both varie- 

 ties, heat and light. There was cussedness enough in the 

 magazine, which if let loose all at once would have blown 

 the Central Traffic Association into smithereens, and 

 wiped from the face of the earth all traces of the gentle- 

 men's agreement. When everything was in readiness, 

 D. H. messages Avere sent to all traveling passenger agents 

 within the territory to meet the gentlemen at Baw Beeze 

 Lake, a landlocked lake of Michigan, to test this wonder- 

 ful invention. They came from every direction, and as 

 soon as they arrived were stationed in boats around the 

 power. Among them were Captain Shearman with 

 smiling McC. Smith; W. S. Brown with his umbrella; the 

 tall and graceful Snavely; 'A Man' with T. J. Clarke, 

 who tried to convince him that sunshine and moonlight 

 received their light from the Eock Island Road. There 

 was McWhinney, dressed in his new suit of clothes: A. G. 

 Robinson with diamonds; Fred Lord and C. H. Hold- 

 ridge, each toying with maple leaves; Jake Holderman 

 and F. H. Tristram listening to W. R. Israel's lecture on 

 Egyptian productions; the handsome A. E. Lippineott 

 and several representatives of Southern sunny States. 

 Seldom was such a ray of talent and enthusiasm gathered 

 on the shore of any lake. 



" It is in the clear waters of Baw Beeze Lake that the 

 distinguished black bass finds the savage muskalonge. 

 When all were ready the accoutrements and attachments 

 were placed in position, the ' inducement ' let down into 

 the water and the current turned on. No one breathed- 

 the first victim was a muskalonge, 231bs. with scales off! 

 He cautiously approached the invention, rolled his eyes, 

 poked his nose within the circle, were he remained per- 

 fectly dumbfounded and was readily snared by the man 

 at the bow. The intelligent monarch of the inland lake 

 did not realize his sad end until too late; he had purchased 

 his ticket. Then followed black bass, and of such crreat 

 sizes that the oldest inhabitants along the lake shore stood 

 gaping at each other. There were black bass with the 

 proud distinction of having at some time broken the rod 

 and line of such successful anglers as Byron Archer 

 whose fame extends throughout the State. But besides 

 bass there came the smaller fry; all shared the same fate. 

 But to active, nervous T. P. A's the sport became monot- 

 onous; it was really too much of a good thing; they had 

 more fish than they knew what to do with. The men in 

 charge were not through with the experiments— a greater 

 surprise awaited their guests. They let down a second 

 insulated wire and turned on the heat current. There 

 was nothing ever equal to this; even D. P. Wheeler 

 acknowledged his surprise and declared there was noth- 

 ing along his line equal to it. Every fish that came in 

 contact with the wire was cooked. The moment the nose 

 touched, the body flew about and attached to the wire as 

 if it was part of it. Five black bass were cooked in- 

 stantly, being done to a turn before they were through 

 kicking, and when scooped out, and the little motions of 

 evisceration, peeling, yanking out the backbones and an 

 application of salt and pepper and anchovy sauce were 

 gone over, there was indeed a feast fit for the veriest 

 gourmand that walks. The smacking of lips echoed 

 along the lake and died out in the distance like a parting- 

 tram. John Bastable and Fred Boyd, both good judges 

 of delicate food, pronounced them extraordinarily fine. 

 When the day's fishing was done the passenger agents 

 convened under a shaded elm tree and formed themselves 

 into a convention; speeches were made, when it was no- 

 ticed that one by one they sought convenient hiding 

 places. They looked pale and careworn— the fish cooked 

 by electricity made them sick, and there was not a bottle of 

 fishing medicine in the county. When the sun went down 

 on Baw Beeze Lake, and the rippling waves died softly in 

 the autumn haze, side by side on the sandy beach, with 

 no other covering but nature's own moonlight, there lay 

 the representatives under the influence of incandescent 

 cooked fish. How long they slumbered the official report 

 saith not." 



After the initiation of several members and the con- 

 clusion of the regular order of business, the president 

 said, with some feeling: "Brethren, I am happy to in- 

 troduce a gentleman who has done more for the 'interest 

 of the angler than any man in the West. He is known 

 among the railroad magnates as 'The noblest Roman of 

 them all,' and among the fishermen as the Fish Commis- 

 sioner of Wisconsin. From his youthfu 1 clays, at Middle- 

 sex, Vermont, to the present, he has ever kept in view 



the interest of the angler and the lover of outdoor recre- 

 ation. I have the honor of introducing Mi-. A. V. H. 

 Carpenter, G. P. and T. A. of the C. M. & St. P. R. R." 



Mr. Carpenter said: "You ask me to say something 

 relative to a history of my life and sufferings in the great 

 cause of fishing and hunting. If you are fresh in your 

 recollection about the incidents in the life of 'Peter 

 Simple,' you will remember the visit of the 'middies,' of 

 which number Peter was one, to the zoological gardens, 

 and the account given by the keeper of the same of the 

 traits and attractions of the several specimens on exhi- 

 bition. The hippopotamus was described as being an am- 

 phibious animal, and so called because he could not live 

 on land and died in the water. Again, you are, of course, 

 up in all the details of the remarkable history of the 

 Pickwick Club, and the characteristics of the several 

 members of the corresponding society thereof, among 

 whom was the celebrated Mr. Winkle,'the sportsman of 

 the club, who achieved the wonderful feat of wounding 

 one of his comrades in shooting at a covey of birds while 

 said comrade was standing nearly behind him. Another 

 incident from Pickwick is probably as fresh as your 

 memory, viz: the visit of Mr. Tony Weller, the celebrated 

 stage driver, to Doctors Commons, after the death of his 

 wife, for the purpose of procuring the probate of her 

 will, at which time he took along several of the full- 

 dressed, heavy-sterned stage drivers as sort of umpires 

 'to see fair.' 



"These anecdotes of the doings and sayings of great 

 men in other lines furnish a well-fitting key to the door 

 of my experience in hunting and fishing. I have in the 

 last few years been vividly reminded of the impressions 

 people have in regard to my experiences and attainments 

 as a hunter and fisherman, by frequent inquiries similar 

 to those you make. It is no doubt natural enough that 

 people should expect one who has had the honor of being 

 a member of the Commission of Fisheries of such a State 

 as Wisconsin, which is the natural paradise of all the va- 

 rieties of fresh- water fish acceptable to the palates of good 

 straight-haired Americans, should have had some experi- 

 ence in capturing the members of the various finny tribes; 

 but in this, you will see by my "leaders," they are sadly 

 mistaken. I think the Governor who appointed me had 

 in mind that at least I would not do more damage in the 

 way of destroying the fish than the Board could do good 

 in securing their introduction to the waters of the State. 

 I think I am the only member of the Board who is not 

 an expert fisherman. 



"Away down in 'old Varmount' in the days of my boy- 

 hood, which was a long time ago, I used to capture the 

 beautiful little brook trout which swarmed in the moun- 

 tain streams of the Green Mountain State. They were 

 all sizes, from the length of a lady's little finger to the 

 forefinger of a good-sized double-fisted man. We, i. e., 

 the boys of the neighborhood, were wont to assemble on 

 the Saturdays of the season, with bread, salt pork and 

 pickles and cooking utensils, find a good rendezvous on 

 the banks of the stream to be fished, then separate, make 

 our catch and return, dress them and cook them, the cook- 

 ing being done by placing a strip of salt pork inside the 

 trout, then placing it on a fork of witch hazel and cook- 

 ing in the blaze of a nice wood fire. If a good cornfield 

 were near and the corn at the right stage we occasionally 

 made a raid on the field and got a good roast of corn ears; 

 and if the farmer and his big sons were at home and out 

 gunning for poachers we sometimes got our own ears 

 "roasted" as a part of the entertainment. We had more 

 fun to the square inch than ever did any coterie of fish 

 liars who ever undertook to paralyze one another with 

 their yarns. 



"As to the matter of hunting, I once killed a black bear 

 with an old United States Springfield musket, flintlock, 

 with the regulation cartridge or ball and three buckshot 

 for a charge. I killed him as a matter of necessity, lot- 

 it was either he or I that had got to die, or else all the 

 indications were at fault. He came after me as though 

 he meant to have me, but I got there first, and if Mr. 

 Bear had had time to think about it after the charge 

 struck him, I have no doubt he would have been sorry he 

 came. That too was down in 'Varmount.' r Since I 

 commenced railway life on Jan. 1, 1849, game and fish 

 have been safe from destruction at my hands, my atten- 

 tion having been turned mainly to finding out and pro- 

 viding convenient methods of getting to the best places 

 for sport either with the rod or gun, and especially here 

 in Wisconsin where nearly all the best points are reached 

 by the great Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul R. R. and its 

 various branches and connections. 



"Now, this is said to be a world of compensation, and 

 when I feel like kicking myself for not having performed 

 any miraculous feat comes the reflection that I am as 

 well off as the old farmer who attended revival meeting 

 and being interrogated by the conductor as to what the 

 Lord had done for his soul, replied, 'Nothing to brag on;' 

 and thus I am saved any bragging. 



"I will not bore you with any statistics from our Board's 

 report of the condition of the fisheries in Wisconsin, be- 

 cause those are items which can be had by reference to 

 the published reports of the Board, and if you desire to 

 peruse one of them, I will write to the president of the 

 Board to send you one. They form interesting reading 

 to the disciples of Izaak, surnamed Walton, but are 

 rather too voluminous to form part of a skirmish speech. 



"To sum up, the most remarkable thing concerning 

 myself is, that there is nothing remarkable about me that 

 I have ever been able to discover." J. E. Gunckel. 

 Toledo, Ohio. 



Carp Fishing in North Carolina.— Windsor, N. C, 

 Feb. 10.— Editor Forest and Stream: For some weeks 

 past we have been having very good fishing of an entirely 

 new kind. I say new kind, because it is a new fish with 

 us, and also to anglers generally. I believe that carp will 

 readily take a hook baited with an angle worm, and they 

 do take the bait right along. I knew one party last week 

 to take over a hundred carp (I think they are mirror carp) 

 in a day, and many other parties took from seventy-five 

 down; the largest weighed about 34lbs. and the smallest 

 about 12oz., the average being about lib. These fish were 

 taken from creeks emptying into the Roanoke River, this 

 being the first time in two or three years that the river 

 has been low enough to fish. They are supposed to be 

 escaped fish from private ponds, which were all broken 

 in the summer of 1888 and 1889 by the great number of 

 heavy rain storms. No carp were ever known in these 

 waters before.— Cashie. 



CANADIAN SALMON RIVER LEASES. 



THE following circular has been sent out to those who 

 purchased leases of Canadian salmon streams at the 

 sale of Jan. 10: 



" I beg leave to inform you that I have received instruc- 

 tions from the Hon. Chas. H. Tupper, Minister of Marine 

 and Fisheries of Canada, to forward to every purchaser 

 or lessee of fishing rights and privileges in those rivers 

 and lakes in the Province of Quebec advertised for 

 sale on the 9th and 10th of January last (1890) by the 

 Hon. George Duhamel, Commissioner of Crown Lands 

 for the Province of Quebec, in the Quebec Official Gazette, 

 on or about the 18th day of November last (1889), and also 

 the purchasers or lessees of similar rights and privileges 

 purchased or leased since the said public sale by private 

 agreement, a certified copy, under my signature and seal 

 of office, of the protest which the said Hon. Charles H. 

 Tupper as Minister of Marine and Fisheries for Canada 

 caused to bo served upon the said Commissioner of Crown 

 Lands on the 8th day of January, 1890. 



"As I have beeu given to understand that you have in 

 your name or as the attorney for other parties, purchased 

 or leased certain fishing rights and privileges in the rivers 

 and lakes herein referred to, I have the honor of inclos- 

 ing to your address for your information and for that of 

 your principals, a duly certified copy of the above-men- 

 tioned protest. 



"Before closing this letter 1 shall take the liberty of 

 calling your attention to the fact that by this protest' the 

 Minister of Marine and Fisheries, for the reasons therein 

 mentioned and detailed, claims that all such sales of fish- 

 ing rights and privileges are illegal and contrary to law, 

 and will not convey any title to the purchaser thereof; 

 you are therefore requested to take notice of the said pro- 

 test and to govern yourself accordingly." 



This document is signed by J. A. Charlebois, notary 

 public, Quebec, Canada. The protest is a paper of con- 

 siderable length, and recites that Notary Charlebois had 

 appeared before Commissioner Duhamel and through 

 Assistant Commissioner Tache had protested in behalf of 

 the Dominion Government against any sale of the rivers 

 and lakes which were advertised by Duhamel for sale on 

 these grounds: That the fivers mentioned, so far as they 

 were ungranted at the date of the passing of the British 

 North American act, became by the express provision of 

 that act the property of Canada, and the Province of 

 Quebec has no rights or interest in such rivers which it 

 can sell or transfer: that the sale or transfer of fishery 

 rights in the sea coast and inland fisheries appertains to 

 the Government of Canada alone, and the government of 

 a province cannot interfere -with that power; that more 

 particularly the intended lease of the River Patapedia is 

 in any event an interference with the power of the Gov- 

 ernment of Canada, under the authorieties of the Fisher- 

 ies act, which reserved and set apart that river for the 

 propagation of fish; that all such sales of fishing privi- 

 leges advertised as aforesaid are illegal and contrary to 

 law, and will not convey any title to the purchaser. 



AQUARIA NOTES. 



Occasional Observations ort the Fishes in the Aquaria, of the 0 S 

 Fish Commission. 

 BRACKISH WATER FOR INJURED FISH. 



AVERY interesting experiment has recently been 

 made in confining fishes infected with fungus (as 

 a result of injuries received in transportation) in brackish 

 water for a time. It is well known by all who handle 

 live fish that they are very easily in j ured. The scales 

 may be torn off, the tins torn and abraded, the lips gen- 

 erally bruised and torn from knocking against the sides 

 of the can or box, and the whole mucous coating and 

 skin more or less scratched and bruised. Many oflhese 

 Injuries do not show for some days, and it is possible 

 that where fish are speedily restored to natural conditions 

 at the end of their journey they may find in the mud or 

 in Borne other source a healing balm which will effect a 

 cure. In the aquarium, however, they are soon attacked 

 by fungus {Saprolignia), and in their generally depressed 

 condition refusing food though undoubtedly starving, 

 they soon succumb. The usual method of treatment in 

 such cases is to dip them frequently in salt water. While 

 many other solutions, such as carbolic acid, washing soda 

 and others are frequently used, it is quite probable that 

 the salt water is quite as efficient as any. The labor in- 

 volved, however, in treating a number of fish in this 

 maimer is very great, to say nothing of the splashing 

 and slopping occasioned. It is also a question as to 

 whether the injuries inflicted upon the fish in the fre- 

 quent handling of them— especially in the com rn on knot- 

 woven net— are not as great as the benefits received. 

 However that may be, the experiment mentioned above 

 seems to open up a very simple and efficacious treatment 

 of fishes so injured. 



The water in the aquarium used was brought to a 

 density of 1.006. The fish experimented upon were large- 

 mouthed black bass, white bass, red-eye or rock bass, 

 crappie, yellow perch, white perch, eel, sunfish, carp, 

 goldfish and catfish. The under lips of the black bass 

 were badly torn and completely covered with fungus. 

 There is no question in the minds of any who saw them 

 and understood their condition that they would have 

 died in the fresh-water aquaria. They are now, after 

 more than a month's sojourn in the brackish water, fully 

 restored, with new skin grown over what were ragged 

 festering sores. While in the brackish water they com- 

 menced to chase and feed upon the small minnows given 

 them, and will now, from all appearances, be kept with- 

 out difficulty. 



The crappie are a very timid and rather delicate fish, 

 easily injured in transportation. They are soon attacked 

 by fungus. In this case they were speedily restored and 

 are now living comfortably and feeding on smaller fish. 

 They will swallow a fish larger than can be taken by a 

 yellow perch of the same length. All the other species 

 mentioned were easily freed from fungus. The goldfish 

 and carp were infested by a minute parasite of which 

 recent mention has been made. They were speedily re- 

 stored. Many of the catfish, sunfish, white perch and 

 the trout are also infested with a parasite heretofore 

 mentioned in these columns— the Chromotopkagiix para- 

 sitieufi—&nd it remains to be seen whether or not they 

 can be exterminated in the same way. 



The trout, embracing four kinds— speckled, rainbow, 

 lake and hybrids of speckled and lake, (also a grayling)— 

 were first placed in water of a density of 1.0 10, and this 

 was gradually increased to 1.021, in which they are now 



