April 34, 1890.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



273 



rod and was landed bodily several feet further into the 

 stream than he had any intention of going. Standing in 

 water up to his elbows he turned and cast a helpless be- 

 seeching glance upon his friend who had been the inno- 

 cent cause of his misfortune, when that gentleman coolly 

 remarked, "That's right, W., I believe there is better 

 fishing on the other side of the river." Seeing no pros- 

 pect of assistance from that quarter, he lustily called for 

 help, when another gentleman of the party extended a 

 rod to him, and after no small amount of tugging bis 

 1851bs. avoirdupois was safely landed upon terra Jvruia, 

 but not so the fish; it had taken rod, line and hook and 

 departed. While our champion lay upon the ground and 

 one of his companions was pulling away at his gum boots, 

 he chanced to look in the direction of his friend standing 

 upon the trusty tussock, and noting a smile upon his face 

 he growled, "'Laugh if you want to, you'd laugh if a man 

 were drowning. " 



Another time this gentleman, in company with some 

 friends, was angling for catfish in the same river, when 

 bites were few and far between, and despair had taken 

 possession of the entire party, when some one proposed 

 that two of them should take the boat and try their luck 

 further down stream, while the remaining two should 

 await then- return. Patiently they waited, with never 

 a bite, until at last some heathen Chinese came rowing 

 down stream with a load of beautiful cats which they 

 had caught with a seine. This was a streak of luck for 

 our tired fishermen, and they at once entered into nego- 

 tiations with the Celestials for the entire outfit, at the 

 same time cautioning them not to mention the transac- 

 tion to the geutlereeu in the boat down stream should 

 they chance to meet them. "O, no, me no tell," re- 

 sponded John, as he rowed away. This immense catch 

 was soon stowed away in sacks and secreted, with the 

 exception of two of the very largest, which were cruelly 

 placed upon the hungry hooks and launched in the 

 stream. Presently the exploring party were seen ap- 

 proaching, and our brave fishermen began tugging for 

 dear life to land their big fish; but their fun was all 

 spoiled when the returning party exclaimed, "0,yes, we 

 understand all about it; we saw John down there, and 

 when we wanted to buy some fish, he said, "Me no got 

 any fishes; your partner up there he buy plenty fishes." 



Now our champion being of a slightly nervous tem- 

 perament, was somewhat excited by this new disappoint- 

 ment and he gave his catship a mighty jerk thinking to 

 land him without further dallying, as the fun was all 

 over; but to add to his day's misfortune, his victim ob- 

 jected to being captured the second time and he made 

 his escape, carrying hook and line with him. The chag- 

 rin of our hero was unlimited, his language very emphatic 

 and his face slightly flushed; but the Celestials were far 

 away down stream and no lives were lost. The remain- 

 ing members of the party took a more philosophical view 

 of the matter and putting their learned heads together, 

 like politicians as election draws near, the fish were put 

 into four sacks with the biggest on top, and the party 

 started homeward. Chancing to meet some friends on 

 the way, they generously gave them a few mammoth cat- 

 fish and at the same time relating glowing accounts of 

 the finest day's sport on record; and as they had taken 

 the precaution to cruelly perforate the jaw of each victim 

 with some pointed instrument, the deception was a suc- 

 cess; a stampede was created among the angling frater- 

 nity generally, and one of the leading dealers in sporting 

 goods in Sacramento did a land office business in heavy- 

 weight fishing tackle for many days thereafter. 



8 A C R Aitf ENTO, CaJ . MARION. 



BRITISH FISHERIES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have been a constant reader of your paper for some 

 years, and, as a consequence, have become a devoted dis- 

 ciple of the art. I write more particularly now in answer 

 to an article that appeared March 6, 1890, under the head- 

 ing of "Random Casts.'' The writer in that article urges 

 the necessity of protecting our fish against unlawful and 

 unfair fishing; he points to the old country — we presume 

 he means Great Britain — as an example of the effects of 

 this kind of fishing, where he states that the shores are 

 bare of fine food fish: also, that the Englishman is com- 

 pelled to eat skates and sea robins for want of something 

 better. I do not know on what he bases his statement- 

 can only conjecture. That the contrary of all this ex- 

 ists, I think can be proved; also, that the old country 

 is fully alive to her interests and quite able to protect 

 them. 



The coasts of Great Britain, including the adjacent 

 islands and North Sea, have for centuries furnished vast 

 supplies of fine food fish. What the conditions would 

 have been to-day had the same policy been pursued that 

 obtains in this country — the wholesale slaughter of food 

 fish and other game in season and out of season — it would 

 not be difficult to conjecture. I will now quote from 

 reliable statistics as to the quantity of fish brought in to 

 some of the English markets; time and space would not 

 permit of my going over the ground fully. 



We will take Billingsgate fish market in the city of Lon- 

 don, which has been devoted to the sale of fish alone for 

 200 years. The daily average is from 400 to 500 tons, 

 from the lordly salmon down to the sprat. The bulk of 

 these fish come from the east coast and North Sea. During 

 the herring season the daily average supply in the above 

 market is 500 tons. In the season of 1888 from 500 to 700 

 tons of herring per day were shipped to the Billingsgate 

 market alone. More than a quarter million tons of this 

 fish are landed on the coasts of Great Britain . represent- 

 ing a money value of $6,000,000, The Scotch fisheries 

 are said to be the greatest in the world, employing 13,000 

 boats and 100,000 people. The chief kinds of fish are 

 salmon, haddock, herring and ling. The quantity of 

 haddock shipped to Billingsgate for curing is so large that 

 the authorities have constructed a separate market for 

 the handling of the same, 



I have not mentioned the Irish fisheries, which are very 

 extensive, and only need capital to further develop them. 

 I mentioned Billingsgate as being the oldest and leading- 

 market in this particular line; but, as many of your 

 readers will know, it does not represent the entire coun- 

 try. Every large town possesses a fish market, and 

 many of them two or more, where the fish are disposed 

 of to the fishmongers, who supply the public. The city 

 of Liverpool has built a second market to meet the 

 increased demands of the trade: her supplies are drawn 

 from Scotland and Ireland chiefly. Every variety of fish 



in season can be purchased in all these markets at very 

 moderate prices. Shellfish I have not mentioned. I do 

 not wish to trespass further on your valuable space. I 

 have endeavored to prove that the fisheries of Great 

 Britain are not quite exhausted, as your correspondent 

 "Big Reel" would have us believe. T. H. J. 



Harbismtrg, Pa. 



The Opening at Big Springs. — Harrisburg, Pa., 

 April 18.— Editor Forest and Stream: Will you grant me 

 space in your valuable journal to tell your readers what 

 was done at Big Springs, a noted trout stream in Cum- 

 berland county, Pa. The 15th opened cold and raw, not 

 the kind of day one would select for fly-fishing. About 

 thirty lovers of the gentle art left Harrisburg before the 

 break of day for Newville, which is situated close to the 

 stream. Among the party were some who have won 

 fame as noted fishermen, some whose fame is somewhat 

 doubtful, others again who have gone to try their pren- 

 tice hand. It was somewhat surprising to find the 

 ground fully occupied by a small army of natives, men 

 and boys, from every hamlet and village for miles 

 around, all very industriously occupied in fishing after 

 the primitive fashion, with worm and pole. The con- 

 tingent from Harrisburg labored hard, and while many 

 grumbled over their bad luck, few, if any, came home 

 with empty creels. The average trout was very small. 

 A few specimens of the rainbow trout were caught. The 

 killing fly appeared to be the black-gnat,— T. H. J. 



Large Yellow Perch.— Manchester Green, Conn — 

 Editor Forest and Stream: In drawing the water from 

 one of the reservoirs in the town of Manchester a few 

 days since, a large number of fish were taken, among 

 which were 113 yellow perch weighing from 1 to &Jlbs., 

 and two that weighed 41bs. each. Few large perch were 

 taken -with hook and line, but any quantity of small 

 perch could be got at any time in the summer. Last 

 season I caught eight good-sized perch in this reservoir; 

 the largest weighed 14-lbs. The fish grew very fast in 

 this water; the feeding grounds seemed adapted for the 

 growth of large fish. At the rate posting of streams in- 

 creases in this State, fishing for the many will soon be 

 prohibited, and it will only be the man with the long 

 pocket book who will be enabled to enjoy this pastime. 

 Our fish commissioners should not put fish in any stream, 

 pond or lake that is not free to the people of the State in 

 the open season, for as matters are now tending we shall 

 have a privileged class, more arbitrary and exacting in 

 every respect than those in Europe. — Jonathan. 



Connecticut Law Breakers.— President A. C. Col- 

 lins, of the Connecticut Association of Farmers and 

 Sportsmen for the Protection of Game and Fish, has 

 recently sent detectives to Bantam Lake, in the towns of 

 Litchfield and Morris, to look after violators of the fish 

 laws. The detectives captured Dexter Derby. Charles 

 Curtis, Russell Curtis and some others, of Litchfield, in 

 the act of hauling seines over seventy rods in length, 

 during the night, in Bantam Lake. The poachers had 

 taken bushels of black bass, pickerel and bullheads. Of 

 course the nets were seized and will be forfeited, and the 

 men will pay heavy fines for their illegal and wholesale 

 destruction of food fish. Perhaps it is not too much to 

 hope that this unpleasant encounter with determined 

 officers of the law may lead them to forsake poaching 

 and begin honest fishing. If not, the Connecticut Asso- 

 ciation will undoubtedly repeat the necessary lesson of 

 obedience to wholesome laws. 



Charleston, 111., April 15.— Will Jeffries and Frank 

 Parker were at the Embarras River, April 13, for a day's 

 recreation and angling. They caught some nice fish 

 during. the day. Policeman Will Jeffries caught the 

 largest black bass, 2+lbs. The second one weighed iilbs. 

 Mr. Parker's black bass weighed 21bs., 1 Albs, and lib. ' He 

 caught some smaller fish of different kinds. Freeman 

 Biggs caught ]31bs. of fish in the Embarras River on the 

 8th inst.; the two largest catfish weighed l-jdbs. each. 

 Conrad Scheytte caught some fine ones, and also John 

 Miller. I did not learn the kinds and weights. — J. B. D, 



Trout Fishing in New Hampshire. — Portsmouth, 

 N. H., April 12. — The trout fishing along the adjacent 

 coast here will be unusually early this year. Already 

 snow and ice are gone, and trout are reported jumping 

 at early millers. The season begins May 1, and local 

 anglers are waiting eagerly for the day to come. Brooks 

 that debouch into tide waters are two weeks earlier than 

 those of the interior, and will be visited first.— Piscata- 

 QUA. 



Flooded Fishing Grounds. — The lake and river fishes 

 axe suffering greatly from the overflow, the waters are 

 running freely into Lake Maurepas, and from there back- 

 ing up into the Amite and Tickfaw rivers, two of the 

 best black bass streams of southern Louisiana. The out- 

 look is very gloomy for the angler this season, as these 

 streams are now filled with the muddy waters of the 

 Missistippi— G. P. F. 



There is a stream of sumrner visitors to the lakes and shores of 

 Maine, which has beeu increasing with such remarkable rapidity 

 within the last ten years as to render Maine in a certain sense, a 

 summer resort throughout its entire length and breadth. There 

 is no State in the Union having so large a lake area as this ex- 

 treme Northwestern commonwealth; including as it does the 

 famous Moosehead and Rangeley lakes and Penobscot^River— the 

 latter far-famed for its salmon fishing — while Lake Sebago and a 

 vast number of smaller ponds and brooks are being stocked con- 

 tinually wit h the most gamy trout, black bass, pickerel and perch 

 to be found in the country. The spring train service is at present 

 in effect, while on June 30 the summer arrangements will be in- 

 augurated, when express trains will be put on for all points.— A fit). 



JjffwIfcuUwq. 



THE SHAD.— In the Washington station of the U. S. 

 Fish Commission are about 6,000,000 shad eggs taken by 

 the gill-netters and the Fish Commission seines at Fort 

 Washington > on the Potomac. The water in the hatchery 

 has been so cold that the period of incubation was eight to 

 ten days, and the fry are weak. When the temperature of 

 the water reaches 60deg., and the hatching period is reduced 

 to four days, the young fish will be strong and vigorous. 

 The run of shad in the Potomac up to the present time has 

 been'much above that of last year. In the Delaware the 

 yield is enormous. A catch of 75,000 was made in a single 

 day. This, according to Mr. H. C. Ford, is the greatest haul 

 ever taken. 



SUCCESSFUL TROUT CULTURE. 



MR. MILTON P. PEIRCK thinks that trout culture is a 

 failure. When this section of country was settled bv 

 white men. thirty years ago. most of the mountain streams 

 were abundantly stocked with the several varieties of the 

 black-spotted or Western brook trout. In course of time 

 t he streams near to the larger settlements became seriously 

 depleted. That was particularly the case with the South 

 Platte River, Bear Creek and other streams within 50 miles 

 of Denver. The fishing became so uncertain that old-time 

 fishermen gave up these streams entirely. 



In 1876 a State government was organized, and soon after 

 a State fish hatchery was established, a fish commissioner 

 appointed and trout culture was begun on a small scale. 

 The yearly expenditure for the commissioner's salary and 

 another expenses has since ranged from $1,500 to $2,500. 

 Hatching has been confined almost entirely to the spawn of 

 pastern trout, because it was the easiest and cheapest to be 

 had. In the last ten years the young fry have been quite ex- 

 tensively distributed throughout the State, but the plant- 

 ing has nowhere been abundant because of the limited sup- 

 ply. The hatchery being near Denver, the distribution was 

 naturally first and most plentiful in the exhausted streams 

 near by. The result is that they have become again among 

 the best in the State. And there is no doubt about the arti- 

 ficial planting being the cause of the improvement, because 

 at least four -fifths of the fish now caught are the Eastern 

 brook trout. There was not one in the State before they 

 were planted here, so there can be no possibility of mistake 

 about it. A friend who fished a day in Bear Creek, about 

 twenty miles from Denver, last season, told me he took 64 

 trout and 60 of them were of the Eastern variety and 4 

 were natives. This is about the way the catches run in that 

 stream as well as in the Platte and other of its branches, 

 for several years past. Clear Creek was exhausted of native 

 trout; planting has restored very fair fishing in its upper 

 waters. Mining and milling prevent any front living in its 

 main stream. 



Thirty years ago a large andbeautif n l branch of the South 

 Platte was found to have no fish in it because of an inac- 

 cessible fall near its mouth. A neighboring fisherman car- 

 ried a few trout above the falls and liberated them. It soon 

 became a good trout stream, and for many years past has 

 equalled any upon the eastern slope of the mountains. 



Echo Lake, near timber line in Clear Creek basin, was bar- 

 ren of fish because they could not reach it. It was stocked 

 with Eastern trout from the State hatchery. In twenty 

 months trout were taken therefrom that weighed from 3 to 

 Sj^lbs. 



A little lake near the head of Muddy River, in Middle 

 Park, that had inflowing water but no visible outlet, had a 

 few native trout placed in it a few years ago by a fisherman 

 whotook them with hook and line from a neighboring stream 

 and carried them in a basket to the lake. Now it is abund- 

 antly populated, and two years ago I heard of 6 and 71b. 

 trout being taken from it. 



Our northern neighbor, Wyoming, had no trout in its 

 southern portion— in any of the waters of North Platte 

 River. Trout culture and trout planting have converted 

 hundreds of miles of those same waters into good trout 

 streams. "W. N. B. 



Denver, Col., March 31. 



FIXTURES. 



DOG SHOWS. 



April 23 to 26.— First Doe Show of the Schenectady Kennel Club, 

 at Schenectady, N. Y. G. A. Rosa, Secretary. 



May 6 to 9.— Second Annual Dog Show of the Southern Cali- 

 fornia Kennel Club, at Los Angeles, Cal. H. W. Wilson, Super- 

 intendent. 



June 3 to 6.— The Cincinnati Kennel Club's Fourth Annual 

 Show, at Cincinnati, O. Geo. H. Hill, Superintendent. 



Sept. 2 to 5— Third Annual Dog Show of the Michigan Kennel 

 Club, at Detroit. Mich. M. V. B. Saunders, Secretary. 



Sept. 9 to 12— Second Anuual Dcg Show of the Tolelo Kennel 

 Company, at Toledo, O. C. E. Rowland. Secretary. 



Sept. 23 to 26.— Second Annual Dog Show of the Central Canada 

 Exhibition Association, at Ottawa. Alfred Geddee, Chairman 

 Committee. 



Oct. 6 to 11.— Ninth Annual Dog Show of the Danbury Agricul- 

 tural Society, at Danbury Conn. B. C. Lynes, Secretary. 



FIELD TRIALS. 



November.— Second Annual Field Trials of the Brunswick Fur 

 Club, at Brunswick, Me. J. H. Baird. Secretary, Auburndale, 

 Mass. 



Nov. 17.— Twelfth Annual Field Trials of the Eastern Field 

 Trials Club, at Otterburn Springs, Va. W. A. Coster, Saratogo 

 Springs, N. Y., Secretary. 



Dec. 1.— Second Annual Field Trials of the Central Field Trials 

 Club, at Lexington, N. C. C. H. Odell, Mills Building, New York, 

 Secretary. 



1891. 



Jan. 19.— Eighth Annual Field Trials of the Pacific Kennel Club, 

 at Bakersfield, Cal. H. H. Briggs, Secretary. 



Feb. 2.— Third Annual Field Trials of the Southern Field Trials 

 Club. T. M. Brunby, Secretary, Marietta, Ga. 



NATIONAL GREYHOUND CLUB. 



THE following circular has been sent to greyhound fan- 

 ciers, and it is hoped that all lovers of the breed will 

 respond to the invitation: 



New York, April 17.— An informal meeting was held by 

 the undersigned, and it was decided to organize a specialty 

 club, to be known as the National Greyhound Club. A 

 meeting will be held at the Metropolitan Hotel, New York, 

 Monday, May 5, at 8 P. M., for the purpose of adopting a 

 constitution and electing officers. The object of the club 

 shall be the improvement of the breed of greyhounds in 

 America. It is contemplated making the dues small, in 

 order that all who are interested in the breed may become 

 members and have a voice in the management of the club. 

 You are respectfully and earnestly requested to attend this 

 meeting, either in person or by proxy. 

 N. Q. Pope, 341 Park place, Brooklyn, 

 J. H, Watson, 79 Downing street, Brooklyn. 

 L. C. Whiton, 115 Broadway, New York. 

 C. L. Griffith, 82 Front street, New York. 

 H. W. Huntington, 14S South Eighth street, Brooklyn. 



WHOLESALE DOG POISONING.— Schenectady Station, 

 April IS— Editor Forest and Stream; The city of Schenec- 

 tady for the past two months has been an ill-fated place fcr 

 dogs. Not less than fifty dogs have been poisoned, includ- 

 ing many valuable ones, and the cowardly wretch who is 

 doing this work has so far avoided detection. He no doubt 

 drops his poisonous baits in the street at night, and the first 

 dog that comes along is a victim. A few weeks ago several 

 gentlemen who have lost their dogs in this manner held a 

 meeting and subscribed a reward of -3400, which will be given 

 to the person who will detect this villian in his work. The 

 last victim was a very valuable Irish setter belonging to 

 Miss Jackson, of Washington avenue. If this vile wretch 

 is ever caught :*t his villainous work, dog owners will see 

 that he gets all the punishment the law allows.— LOPIS. 



