March 27, 1890.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



191 



restrict the generality of the foregoing terms of this 

 ction it is hereby declared that (notwithstanding any- 

 ling in this act) the exclusive Legislative authority of 

 te Parliament of Canada extends to all matters corning 

 ithin the classes of subjects next hereinafter enumer- 

 d, that is to say: (1) Public debt and property; (2) regu- 

 fcion of trade and commerce; (3) raising money by taxa- 

 3d; (10) navigation and shipping; (11 12) sea coast and 

 land fisheries, etc., etc." 



Thus I contend the Parliament of Canada have the 

 >wer to enact laws to regulate inland fisheries, also navi- 

 liion and shipping, but the act does not give the 

 ominion either the right of fishing or the ships. It 

 ould I think be absurd to imagine that the Dominion 

 irliament could take away a riparian's private rights 

 id prohibit his fishing in his own water, no matter how 

 uch it might be considered in the public interest to do 

 , without adequately compensating him for his loss. 

 Mr. Wells's letter is correct throughout and is so plain 

 at it really requires no further explanation, but as 

 me of the cases which I have cited above touched upon 

 ther a different ground, I thought they might interest 

 me of your readers. I. Henry Phair. 



Predericton, New Brunswick. 



LOUNDER FISHING IN JAMAICA BAY- 



' CARGELY has February gone with a last blast of 

 ) mighty winds and rattling hail, while the March 

 ies are yet wan with threatening snow and the gull's 

 Ings glint ghastly white against leaden clouds, when 

 e flounder fisherman gets ready his hooks and lines for 

 e capture of the flat fellow that has been bedded all 

 inter in every muddy channel and drain that connects 

 ith the ocean from Montauk to the Battery. Then may 



seen daily, whenever the tide has receded and exposed 

 e shore with its tangled seaweed and gasping, staring 

 a, creatures, bending figures toiling busily among the 

 eks and sands. Far as eye may reach, from where the 

 utories of South Brooklyn breathe forth their heavy 

 .por, along the tree-broidered steeps of Bay Ridge, past 

 e picturesque Owl's Head and under the grassy embank- 

 mts of Fort Hamilton, far along Gravesend's rocky 

 ach, are scattered the toilers, reaping a living harvest, 

 ey are seeking for the unfortunate creatures that have 

 er been accepted as the proper bait for flounders — the 



iggling red sand worms. Rudely torn from their rest- 



f place, they are transported to the city, where they 

 iy be seen displayed in flat trays in the markets, notably 



Catherine Market, which is, especially on Sunday 

 prning, a great resort for salt-water anglers whose purse 

 lows them but one day to devote to the gentle art. 

 len may the chance passer-by in the early gray of 

 Orning see well-muffled figures, with rods and baskets 

 ring glimpses of material comforts within to ward off 

 e cold without, crowding around the stands, all eager- 

 iss and excitement, lured and hurried on by visions of 

 ighty catches and wondrous sport; and, perchance, if 

 s tastes be at all inclined toward the luxurious, he will 

 rap himself more closely in his great coat, and, shiver- 

 g as he watches his breath congeal in the biting March 

 r, wonder greatly at the doubtful taste of the anglers, 

 own in Long Island's southern bays, great, clamorous 

 id bitter winds are sweeping, and mighty billows, white- 

 ,pped and frothy, hurl themselves ceaselessly on shore; 

 >ats are tugging and straining at their moorings, and the 

 ild air is filled with stinging salt spray. 

 If you are not disheartened come with me; yonder, 

 raight across the bay. where four miles off the sand- 

 ur glints white, while the ocean's surf is flung high 

 'er it, I know a sheltered spot, where bending reeds 

 id high shores break the winds. There the flat ruis- 

 lapen fish have bedded for the winter. Last fall, just 

 i the Indian summer was bedecking the land with paint 

 id flashing, flaming tints for the struggle with wintry 

 jath, they came fresh-run from the sea, a hungry, 

 mntless multitude, and rare sport they gave until the 

 e chained the bay in its silent glittering rivets. All 

 inter they have been hidden in the soft black mud, with 

 >thing but their eyes exposed, so that the dark bottoms 

 ust have seemed studded with innumerable tiny stars, 

 ow, at the summons of the March sun, they are coming 

 it and wilifeed until about the end of April, when they 

 art for the sea again, to go who knows whither? After 

 pril some may still be caught, but the great army has 

 elted as it came, and made way for other and gamier fish. 

 It is cold work rowing across the stormy waves on a 

 larp morning like this, and we are glad we have reached 

 ir destination. Muddy flats, shallow near shore and 

 ■adually deepening until they form a channel about 

 ift. deep at mean low water, the bottom of black mud 

 id sand , with broken shells well mingled with it, is the 

 nd of a place where flounders should be found. 

 We anchor, not in the middle of the channel, but on 

 ie edge, and proceed to throw over a few shells to bait 

 !e ground, with the pious hope that they will attract the 

 »ject3 of our quest, and not the ubiquitous and spiny 

 ickle-head, or the beautiful and sylph-like skate, Now 

 int your rod. It should be f airly limber, but stiff enough 

 ' hold a considerable weight of lead. Alas for us who 

 ve light, airy tackle! for the flounder we must use 

 ;avy sinkers and fish on bottom. The most successful 

 igler in the western end of Jamaica Bay, who rarely 

 imes ashore with less than fifty and always with at 

 ast twenty-five to thirty, uses 14oz. weights. Weep, 

 laak! But while we not advocate carrying matters to 

 Lch extremes, weurgethp necessity of as heavy leads as 

 jssible. The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, the 

 sh we seek is a bottom fish and seeks his food there, 

 id the baits must consequently be there also. Secondly, 

 ie heavy weight sinks into the mud, and when it is 

 oved gently, as it should be from time to time, the sedi- 

 ient is stirred up, and this attracts the flounder, who 

 as, mayhap, up to this time been quietly bedded not a 

 lot away from your line. Seeing the stirred up mud, 

 s probably suspects either a more than usually tempting 

 :ey, or fears that some rival has hunted out a bait which 

 3 thereupon desires, and slides toward the scene, to he 

 I luck favors the fool at the other end of the line) 

 romptly hooked and gathered to his forefathers. 

 This reminds us that before you hook your flounder 

 m must attach to your line the where- withal for so do- 

 ig. If you have not left this necessary adjunct at 

 ome, as the Irishman did his anchor, you must choose 

 •om your book some No. 1| or 1 hooks. Double-gutted 

 >roats are what we like best, and with reason, but every 

 igler has his own particular favorite, and denounces 

 lose who believe not in him as men who know not 



Moses. At any rate, whether you use any of the different 

 shapes or all, bring a good supply along. Make room for 

 them, if necessary, by throwing out the medicine bottles, 

 for you are after flounders, not swallows. Please spit on 

 your hooks carefully and then tie one immediately above 

 the sinker and the other as close to it as possible. There 

 is no law against putting more than two on, but it is not 

 advisable to put more than a dozen on, as unfeeling spirits 

 might hint darkly at "pot" if they saw such an array. 



An English gentleman, well known in the western end 

 of Jamaica Bay for his sporting proclivities, always 

 uses about four hooks on each Hue, and generally has 

 two or three lines out. Each hook being liberally loaded 

 with one or two feet of sandworm or a half pound or so 

 of clam, he spits on them, as advised above, and then 

 casts his bait establishment on the waters. As a conse- 

 quence, when he anchors in a promising place, he must 

 first fish out all the skates, hackleheads, crabs, sea-spiders, 

 and old shoes and tomato cans, before he can buckle 

 down to the work of the day and pull in Paralichthijs 

 dentatus. (For the benefit of laymen I would mention 

 that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, this is the 

 scientific name of the flounder.) 



This season the fishing has been more than usually 

 good in Jamaica Bay, and notably that part of it which 

 is reached via Canarsie. Catches of from fifty to sixty 

 have been brought in by the old anglers, while even the 

 tyros have had good luck. The fish, owing, no doubt, to 

 the mild winter, are larger than they have been for some 

 seasons. Measurements of three taken last week showed 

 each one to be 18in. in length and Sin. across, with a 

 weight of Bibs. These were the ordinary size, and larger 

 fish were brought in. Though not honored by being 

 called a game fish, a flounder of that size will give 

 genuine enjoyment and makes a good fight, and the 

 warning given above, relative to bringing plenty of 

 hooks, is not without reason, for the fish fights hard and 



Sandwort (Nereis pelagica). 



is a violent and powerful plunger, being more destructive 

 of tackle than gamier fish are. The season, so far, has 

 not shown signs of abating, and anglers who come 

 properly prepared (without a "jag") may still hope to 

 find sport during the next few days. I speak more par- 

 ticularly of that part of Jamaica Bay known as Canarsie, 

 because all my fishing this season has been done there. 

 It is easily reached from East New York and promises 

 to reward the patient angler well this season. 



The writer belongs to a circle of gentlemen who know 

 the possibilities of the bay, and are anxious to have gen- 

 tlemanly anglers come there, hoping that this may grad- 

 ually lead to the discouragement of rough elements, 

 which, however, are not nearly so prevalent as they once 

 were. Boats may be had all along shore at reasonable 

 rates, but sand worms had better be brought along. Later 

 in the season all baits such as shedders, shrimp, etc., may 

 be "*had there. Last season those who know the proper 

 places and methods had splendid sport with large weak- 

 fish , and it bids fair to be good if not better this year. 

 The "lone fisherman," J. J. R., as usual carried off the palm 

 and had a bad habit of loading his boat with the croak- 

 ing beauties, while others caught nary fish. However, 

 our records averaged well, and each one generally 

 brought in from twelve to thirty large, handsome fish, 

 no school fi3h, but all tide-run and powerful fighters, I 

 will write you about blackfishing and sea bass in a few 

 weeks. Catches of large tautog are being reported. Last 

 spring we took some from the wrecks inside the inlet 

 that weighed 5 to 6 pounds. J. N. M. 



Hatching Perch Eggs. — In his report upon the oper- 

 ations at Central Station, U. S. Fish Commission, last 

 year, Mr S. G. Worth, superintendent of the station, 

 refeis to the successful hatching in April (1889) of eggs of 

 the yellow perch {Perca americana), as follows: "Adult 

 specimens gathered from the Potomac River, March 3, 

 for exhibition purposes during the inauguration cere- 

 monies, spawned in the aquaria tanks, where the eggs 

 were naturally fertilized. Upon being removed and 

 placed in Universal hatching jars, the result was in all 

 respects satisfactory. The loss in hatching was so slight 

 that it was hardly to be computed or recorded. The eggs 

 from several fish were handled, those from each fish being 

 in a conglomerate mass, oblong in shape, of fleshy tex- 

 ture, several inches long and heavier than water. The 

 fry were very minute. No deposits of the young were 

 made, they being retained and kept under observation." 

 Mr. Worth further informs us that their experiments last 

 spring were of such an interesting nature that they have 

 taken the matter up again this year, and have secured a 

 number of adult perch, which are now in the aquaria. 

 On March 10 these began to spawn in a temperature of 

 41°. The principal object of the experiments this spring 

 is to determine the date of spawning and the period of 

 hatching, together with temperature. The results of 

 these observations will be of much interest and benefit to 

 those who may in the f uture desire to propagate this 

 species, 



THE OLD LAKE NOT FOR LEASE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I am reminded that some time ago I sent you a form 

 of advertisement in relation to leasing a trout lake. I 

 shall have to let it drop. The fact is my brother went 

 back on me. That is, one day last winter he pitched all 

 his Greek and Latin lexicons into a corner and came here 

 to visit me. We went straight off into the woods and to 

 our cabin, as we always do, where we spent ten delight- 

 ful days together. It snowed a portion of the time, 

 rained some and blew great guns a part of the remainder, 

 but that made no difference. We caught what trout we 

 wanted to eat through the ice and Nazaire cooked them. 



The result was that when the question of leasing the 

 lake was broached there was no question at all about it. 

 The thing couldn't be endured. We should be too home- 

 sick. We must do as a friend of mine says he is going 

 to do whenever some new book or something of the kind 

 tempts him, a thing that happens about every day of his 

 life, "economize in some other way." There was an- 

 other thing that I will never allow influenced me in the 

 least, and that was when I spoke of leasing the lake two 

 young girls (isn't it strange how fast they grow up?) ex- 

 claimed, "What! Let our lake! Oh, papa, don't!" 



So there was a unanimous decision that we must keep 

 it for ourselves and friends this year as formerly. My 

 brother's economy takes the shape of determination to 

 visit the place four times a year instead of three, and 

 mine comes in in adding to the accommodations for 

 ladies.- It is really an economy for him, as such things 

 are for almost every one who will escape from the city 

 and work to lakes, hills and trout streams, for he picks 

 up the pure air, health and vigor to carry him through 

 double what he could do otherwise. 



Therefore, instead of advertising in Forest and Stream 

 and finding some man who would appreciate the loveli- 

 ness of the spot (if he fully appreciated it he would 

 double the rent of his own free accord) and would pay 

 us several hundreds of dollars, we not only keep the 

 place for our own enjoyment, but go to work to make it 

 even more attractive, 



I don't know that a fishing camp is not as bad as a 

 yacht. "You commence with a dugout and end in the 

 poorhouse." Our first cabin, ever so many years ago, 

 was 6x8. The present one is 14x56, to say nothing of 

 the "summer pavilion" (which is a joy forever), the ice- 

 house, bathing house, storehouse and all the rest. 



Three years ago I said we had all we needed and I was 

 not going to spend any more money there. But now that 

 economical brother of mine is prompting me to set up a 

 hatchery, where we can breed winnini9h by the thous- 

 and and trout by the tens of thousands, to put into other 

 lakes where the minnows so abound that the trout grow 

 big, fat and lazy and do not care for flies. As he says so 

 I suppose it has got to be done, or at least attempted. 

 Just as if there were not all the trout we want already 

 right at hand. I don't suppose we take a hundred dozen 

 trout from the lake in a whole year, while thirty or forty 

 years ago the habitans would take nearly as many in 

 two or three days. And yet I have no reason to think 

 there are less trout in the lake than there were then, for 

 of late years certainly it has not been overfished. 



In those days the people waited for la premiere glace 

 (the first ice) and took the fish on the spawning grounds 

 by the thousands. Seven salt bags full, one man tells me, 

 he brought away on one occasion. They don't do that 

 now, I can assure you. I am a stickler for the game laws. 

 They may not always fit the esses exactly, but I regard 

 them all the same, and sometimes more. Last year, in 

 one of our rivers, three weeks before the close season, I 

 found spawn in the fish , quite well advanced. I quit fish- 

 ing there at once and betook myself to other waters. 



Speaking of our "pavilion" as a thing of beauty it is 

 interesting to see how the rude mind takes in that beauty 

 that comes from proportion and simplicity. The thing 

 is only a roof set on four posts. Its size and height were 

 determined partly from accident of location, but a gentle- 

 man of intelligence and of some distinction in Canada as 

 well, who chanced to be a visitor last summer, pronounced 

 the proportions to be absolutely classic. There is nothing 

 in the slightest degree pretentious or ornamental about 

 it. The roof timbers are stayed by tamarack knees, 

 spiked to them and to the corner posts. The roof itself 

 is covered with light spruce poles, common bean poles, 

 projecting a foot or so beyond the crossbeams. Almost 

 all the work was done by the guardian, with only axe, 

 saw and hammer. And yet this arrangement strikes the 

 uncultivated Canadian habitants mind — than which there 

 is none more primitive except that of the savage — with 

 delight. He pronounces this "la plus belle bdtisse de 

 toutes " and calls it " charmant." I agree that it is 

 charming and the prettiest building of all and its appear- 

 ance better than I anticipated, but what surprises me 

 most is that the ordinary Canadian, so little alive to the 

 beautiful as a rule, should be so taken with it. I at- 

 tribute the effect to the tamarack knees, the roof of poles 

 and the projecting eaves. Without these apparently 

 trifling things the whole would be merely commonplace. 

 With them it pleases the rude and cultivated alike. 



Another thing in the same line also pleases. A com- 

 mon way of covering lumbermen's camps, here as else- 

 where, is with partially hollowed logs (auges, troughs), 

 one tier inverted over another. Our cabin is covered in 

 the same way, only, instead of using small logs on poles 

 of say 6 to lOin. diameter, as the lumbermen do, we used 

 hollow pines and cedars from say 16 to 24in. diameter. 

 The difference in appearance is wonderful. This also 

 strikes the Canadian, for though our camp is built almost 

 precisely like a lumberman's shanty, there is no similarity 

 between them. It shows what little change from the 

 ordinary way of building may produce a picturesque 

 effect. And as our camp has been enlarged at different 

 times by elongation only, without change of height or 

 line of front, the projecting ends of the cross timbers 

 produce a similar effect to what an architect might seek 

 to get by means of pillars, columns, etc., in along facade. 

 We also avoid incongruity. We have no suburban villa 

 in the woods. The whole thing accords with the sur- 

 roundings, while giving us every convenience. 



So I do not think we can let our lake this year. It 

 would go too far toward breaking our hearts to miss the 

 tender touch of the rising sunlight on the hills across the 

 lake and the broad glow that sweeps up the mingled 

 shadows and reflections that front us as the sun goes 

 down. There is no other lake like it. G. de Montatjban, 

 Quebec. 



