July 31, 1890.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



31 



P/They Did Not Know the Birds.— Chicago.— Last fa,ll 

 I -was passing the Saratoga Restaurant on Dearborn street 

 Kft this city, where quite a crowd of people had collected. 

 !l elbowed my way through until the object of their curi- 

 osity was seen. To nay surprise (though a welcome sight 

 m a sportsman's eyes at all times), it was only a covey of 

 ^uail, To listen to the remarks of the city-bred, middle- 

 «ged and young men, was amusing. They did not know 

 "wlmi kind of chickens" they were, and disputes would 

 Ifpise on the variety of the birds; some contended they 

 [were pheasants, and others young prairie chickens. 

 Really it was amusing to see people whom one would 

 naturally look to for information display so much ignor- 

 lance on things so common. — Ah Look. 



Quail in Ohio.— Toledo. O., July 25.— Three years ago, 

 about the middle of July, Mrs. Beebe and niyself drove 

 from Toledo across country down into Central Ohio, a 

 matter of a hundred miles. During that drive we saw 

 :jnid heard just one solitary quail. Last week I duplicated 

 the trip, and, during the greater part of it, was scarcely 

 [out of sight or sound of our friend "Bob White." Mild 

 winters and a short shooting season have worked wonders. 

 Seneca, Wyandot, Marion and Delaware counties all 

 promise good sport when the quail season opens again 

 next November.— Jay Beebe. 



Buffalo in the Park. — Yellowstone National Park, 

 July 17.— Buffalo have been seen several times recently, 

 and a short time ago two crossed the wagon road at 

 Mary's Hill, head of Nez Perce Creek, passing between 

 two coaches, frightening the horses. The wagon- tongue 

 was broken and the passengers much excited, but no one 

 was seriously injured. — H. 



North wood, N. Y., July 18.— A few days ago John 

 Pardy shot a crane, which was 6ft. Sin. across the wings. 

 | The bird had a hole iu its neck, between the windpipe 

 and neck bone, which had apparently been made by a .38 

 >r ,40cal. bullet some days before it was killed. A man 

 could easily put the end of his little finger through the 

 hole in the neck.— Ray Spears. 



Minnesota. — Detroit Lake, July 17. — The chicken sea- 

 son will open up the middle of next month, and the 

 outlook is good for the sportsmen. The Indians are kil- 

 3g deer now. Two weeks ago two Indians north of 

 land Lake killed fourteen or fifteen in a week. — Myron 



JOLEY. 



j§># m\d ^ivet fishing. 



FISHING NEAR NEW YORK. 



F UR practical and specific directions to reach several hundred 

 S| fishing resorts within easy distance of New York city, see 

 issues of 18S0 as follows: April 18, April 25, May 3, May 9, May 30, 

 June 6, June 13, June 20, June 27. 



'JUMPING" BASS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



It is easily seen that your correspondent, Mr. E. Hough, 

 lives and has had his piscatorial education in such a back- 

 woods town as Chicago, when he shows his surprise on 

 learning that black bass will jump into a boat. That fact 

 has been known to many others for years. I never sent 

 any account of it to the papers because I knew that if it 

 was made known to the general public there are many 

 who would take advantage of it to catch bass in that way 

 when they should be left in the water until taken in the 

 only legitimate way — with hook and line. But now that 

 he has "let the cat out of the bag," a fuller statement 

 may be made. 



Under ordinary circumstances there is not much 

 chance for "jumping" bass into a boat; but it is when a 

 stream is rapidly rising, and they seek shelter out of the 

 rapid current by coming in near the shore, that they may 

 be taken in large numbers in that way. The first large 

 catch that I knew of being made in this way occurred 

 several years ago at Saltsburg, Pa., on the Conemaugh 

 Mver. There is a dam buil t across the river just above 

 its junction with the Loyalhanna to form the Kisikimin- 

 eta's. The Conemaugh is the river on which occurred the 

 great flood which was so disastrous to the city of Johns- 

 town. It is subject to very sudden floods. On the oc- 

 casion referred to, a man was rowing a boat up the 

 stream, in the back-water above the dam, and to avoid 

 the stiff current, was keeping about an oar's length 

 from the bank. After rowing a short distance he was 

 surprised to see a bass jump from between the bank and 

 "boat and land in the boat at his feet. After examining 

 his prize he started again when another, and then another 

 bass jumped into the boat. By the time he reached the 

 head of the slack-water he had a fine string of these 

 beautiful fish. He then returned to town and told others 

 of what had occurred, and other boats tried the experi- 

 ment. To make a long story short, during that rise in 

 the river, and in that dam, from eighty to a hundred 

 fine bass were "jumped." 



"While coming down the St. John's River, in Florida, 

 last March, on the steamer Plant, I was much interested 

 in the leaping of the bass along the shore as the steamer 

 passed. When the suction of the steamer would draw the 

 water from the shore, especially where there were lily- 

 pads, the bass would leap clear out of the water, and 

 break for the deeper water of the river. This would con- 

 tinue until the steamer had passed. Some of the bass 

 would leap two feet above the surface of the water, and 

 go five or six feet before they would enter it again. 



Of course no true sportsman would resort to this method 

 for catching bass, any more than he would to seining. 



HOMERTJS. 



Cleveland, O. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The article by Mr. Hough, in issue of July 10, in re- 

 gard to jumping bass, is rather amusing for an old- 

 timer to read. I venture to say that the practice of 

 jumping bass is an ancient one; and if old Izaak were 

 alive he could give pointers on the "method" the boys 

 would take advantage of when the fish would not bite. 

 I was born and reared in the country (a "hoosier"), and 

 in a sportsman's paradise, with a richer variety of game 

 than was to be found elsewhere in these United States. 



We had all from the bear to the chipmunk and the wild 

 turkey to the wild pigeon. The practice of jumping bass 

 we boys would invariably indulge in whentlie fish would 

 not bite, and when we thought we had an insufficient 

 string to make a creditable showing for our day's fishing. 

 The way wc would proceed to business, was to doff our 

 clothing and all take a hand. Wo had an old square- 

 built flat-bottom rowboat about 3ft. wide, and we waded 

 in the stream, pushing the boat before us down stream, 

 as the fish always head up stream. We would kick and 

 splash, and make all the noise possible, and many a time 

 we would get a "biff" in the breast or face from the leap 

 of a bass. Onco, I remember quite well, a young fellow 

 by the name of Weaver was completely upset, and wouid 

 no doubt have been drowned had it not been for his com- 

 panions, by a bass striking him in the temple. They can 

 leap with great force and can jump several feet clear of 

 water. 



Mr. Hough speaks of the $5 trips to good bass fishing 

 from this point that are possible. I would like to learn 

 of such places, as well as a good many others I venture. 

 Perhaps Mr. Hough is a railrood man and his fare costs 

 him nothing. We may not be so fortunate in that respect. 



Chicago, III. Ah Look. 



MAINE WATERS. 



THE newspapers that have the interest of the fishing 

 resorts at heart are booming the season for all it is 

 worth, although it is a fact that the summer travel in this 

 direction has been rather short since the actual spring 

 season for trout closed. These papers tell all the old fish 

 stories they can find. They hold over some of the ac- 

 counts of big trout caught and bring them out late in the 

 season, only omitting the dates, and the incautious reader, 

 especially if he be a, novice at trout fishing, reads the ac- 

 count with the idea that the big trout was caught since 

 the hot weather begun. The object is accomplished. The 

 novice resolves that he will take his vacation in July or 

 August and will visit the scene of the big trout. The re- 

 sult is a disappointment, as indeed it ought to be. But 

 there are still a few fishermen at the Celebrated resorts, 

 summering there, in some cases accompanied by wives and 

 daughters. The Houghton & Dutton Camp, at Cupsuptic 

 Lake in Maine, is occupied by its proprietors — or part of 

 them— the celebrated dry goods men of Boston. Mr. John 

 Richards, of Boston, is on record as having taken a ll^lbs. 

 lake trout from Clear Water Pond, in Franklin county, 

 one day last week. There is, however, more of fishing 

 and camping on the far-away lakes and ponds than usual, 

 aud these ponds are rapidly becoming accessible and open 

 to the public. They are. known only to the few more 

 enterprising sportsmen for a year or two, then some guide 

 or backwoodsman cuts out a road and establishes convey- 

 ance for the public, be the conveyance ever so crude, and 

 the jewel, dear to the sportsman's heart who first knew it 

 in it's natural state, is a thing of the public and no longer 

 attractive. Quite a party from Waltham, Mass., have 

 lately been visiting Tim and Seven Ponds with good 

 results in the way of trout caught. The party consisted 

 of Dr. J. F. Hndley, W. H. Flagg, G. H. Lawrence, 

 F. A. Larcom,W. P. Smith, of "Waltham, and A. H. Rolins 

 and wife, of Cambridge. Mr. C. P. Stevens, of Boston, 

 well known to nearly every printer in New Eng- 

 land as he of printers' roller fame, starts for Camp Vive 

 "Vale at the Narrows, Richardson Lake, to-morrow. He 

 is to be accompanied by Mrs. Stevens this time, and her 

 sister, and they are to remain till the 1st of September. 

 Mrs. Stevens has been trying for four years to get the 

 strength to make this trip, she being an invalid, and has 

 great expectations of regained health and pleasure. The 

 chances are that she will be satisfied, for their camp is in 

 the jewel of a spot and Mr. Stevens is a pioneer fisherman 

 on those waters, and if good trouting pleasure is to be 

 had, he knows where to find it. By the way, I hear that 

 the sportsmen in that section of the country have been 

 few this season. Early the fishing was good, bub later 

 the waters have been deserted. 



The fisher for count is abroad again, and worse than 

 ever, if we are to believe the Maine local papers. The 



accounts of Mr. , with for guide, catching up 



among the hundreds of trout from such a pond or stream, 

 are simply sickening to the real lover of the rod and line. 

 If the number of trout were really taken, it is a fact that 

 the paper telling the story ought to be ashamed of, as 

 well as the doer of the deed. To the initiated the story 

 simply means that the paper lies and lies about that which 

 hurts itself and its town to make, or else some trout hog 

 has been taking fingerlings in a way that he ought to be 

 ashamed of, and would not make public were he any- 

 thing of a true sportsman. It is one thing to kill trout 

 and another thing to fish for the trout that are actually 

 needed in camp; but the very papers the most interested 

 in the question are doing much of harm by making what 

 ought to be branded as a shame rather honorable than 

 otherwise. Special. 



Neversink Poachers. — Those interested in the preser- 

 vation of fish and game in New York State will be glad 

 to hear that Mr. Clarence M. Roof, of this city, on the 

 23d inst. convicted three men who wilfully and persist- 

 ently violated the law by fishing in the private waters of 

 the Neversink River, Frost Valley, N. Y., owned and pre- 

 served by him. Three suits have been instituted by Mr. 

 Roof in all. The first, in 1888, was tried before a local 

 justice and jury, and the laws being imperfectly under- 

 stood, the jury refused to convict. The present suit was 

 brought at Saugerties, N. Y., before Justice Maclane. 

 Mr. Roof was represented by Mr. H. M. Soop, counsel for 

 the Ulster & Delaware R. R., and Mr. Chas. Davis, of 

 Saugerties. The prisoners were convicted. The fine 

 with costs amounting to $70 being promptly paid, the 

 additional punishment of imprisonment was waived. The 

 suit was brought in pursuance of Chapter 534 of the Laws 

 of the State of New York for the year 1879. The section 

 of the country through which this part of the Neversink 

 River flows, is near Slide Mountain, the highest peak of 

 the Catskill Range, and thence through the wild and 

 beautif ul Frost Valley. There are but few farmers along 

 the stream, it is densely wooded and few spots are more 

 primitive. Although the sentiment of the respectable 

 citizens of this section is in sympathy with the enforce- 

 ment of the game laws, there is a small band of reckless 

 irresponsible persons, who not only persistently poach 

 and otherwise violate the laws, but threaten violence as 

 well. It is believed throughout Ulster county that the 

 prompt and fearless action taken by Mr. Roof will break 

 up the gang and do much toward the preservation of 

 game in that section. 



HABITS OF BLACK BASS. 



OCCASIONAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE AQUARIA OF THE 

 U. S. FISH COMMISSION. 



THE character and depth of the waters usually inhab- 

 ited by the black bass and the wary nature of the 

 fish make it almost impossible to learn anything of it in 

 a natural condition, and on the other hand, an adult bass 

 in an aquarium is much like a lion in a cage as a rule, a 

 sulky, unhappy creature. Until aquaria of sufficient 

 size are afforded, no very satisfactory observations can 

 be made upon them. The same may be saidof the adults 

 of many other fresh-water species and of most of the salt- 

 water fishes. The young of fishes no doubt to some ex- 

 tent reflect the habits of the adults, but they lack, in the 

 case of the black bass at least, that element of cautious- 

 ness so characteristic of it. The black bass is the most 

 wary of fishes, and though it be starving it can only be 

 caught on a hook by deception. 



It is undoubtedly a fact that many adultfish in aquaria 

 will deliberately starve while surrounded by their natural 

 food, and, as has been stated by Prof. Henry C. Chap- 

 man, regarding carnivorous animals in captivity, the 

 greater number of them die of heart-disease, induced no 

 doubt by grief — literally broken hearted. This is uni- 

 versally known concerning many of our wild birds. The 

 late Prof. Spencer F. Baird frequently suggested to the 

 writer the making of experiments of herring and mack- 

 erel in aquaria. Being convinced that the limited size of 

 the tanks is the cause of the fright manifested by the fish, 

 which, as in the case of wild birds, caused them to dart 

 around violently and wear themselves out with nervous 

 excitement, the making of some larger aquaria was ad- 

 vised. In these, when constructed, although only three 

 feet wide by six feet long and three feet deep (the largest 

 now in uee in the U. S. F. C), herring and mackerel 

 moved about quietly and normally and took food. 



To return to the black bass, the adult, in the ordinary 

 sized aquarium, is a sulky creature. Crayfish, shiners, 

 catfish, sunfish, minnows, all may wander around it with 

 impunity. This is not its true nature; wary and suspi- 

 cious it is, but it is not the creature to sulk. . Thus, as at 

 present equipped for observation, the young of fishes (not 

 over 5 or 6in. long) are best fitted for captivity, and afford 

 us the duly clue to the natural habits and instincts. The 

 young black bass is very much in habits like its cousins, 

 the sunfishes. In a depressed condition, with its fins 

 closed and its abdomen shrunken, it is as unsightly in 

 appearance as a mangy lion, and gives one an unfavor- 

 able impression. The young bass, however, with its fins 

 erect, its abdomen distended with food, sleek and fa.t, is 

 a picture of content and satisfaction, an ideal fish. The 

 young bass will eat with avidity worms, minnows, cray- 

 fish, almost anything alive, but it will immediately spit 

 out apiece of beef which it has been beguiled into taking 

 through hunger. Its food must be alive and wriggling. 

 The amount it can stow away is simply astonishing. 



W. P. Seal. 



BLACK BASS IN DELAWARE RIVER. 



HON. HENRY C. FORD, president of the Pennsyl- 

 vania Fish Commission, has given us the following 

 notes on his recent experience with black bass in the head- 

 waters of the Delaware : 



The black bass fishing in the Delaware is the best 

 known for years. Mr. Ford fished four days about 

 the middle of July and caught one weighing S^lbs., one 

 of 51bs., one of 4^1bs., four weighing 41bs. each, eight 

 of 31bs. each, besides a great many smaller ones. He 

 never keeps any less than lib. The largest bass was 

 landed after a fight lasting 25 minutes on a 7oz. rod. 

 Live bait was used altogether. Some bass have been 

 caught in those waters with artificial flies. The "Epting" 

 is the best and the Baltimore-oriole is good. Sometimes 

 a lead-winged coachman is successful. Mr. Epting took 

 18 fine bass on a fly a year ago while fishing down the 

 riffles at Dingman's* Ferry. In warm weather the bass 

 are on the riffles and in cooler weather in deep water. 

 When the water is muddy and the river high they are 

 found in eddies along shore. In all the thousands of 

 black bass Mr. Ford has examined he has seen only two 

 young shad, and this is to be expected, for bass feed near 

 the shore while shad swim in the channel. The striped 

 bass kills young shad in large numbers, following them 

 and destroying them without cessation. Mr. Ford has 

 several times cast bait into the swirl made by a fish chas- 

 ing shad and has had strikes from striped bass every time. 

 The young shad are running down the Delaware now, al- 

 though it is early for naturally-spawned fish,and these may 

 be from artificial introdtiction. The helgramite is one of 

 the very successful black bass baits in this region. Mr. 

 Ford takes them in the orthodox way in the shoal water 

 of the riffles by means of a fine-meshed landing net held 

 below the stone while the current sweeps the larva into 

 the net. The helgramite rolls itself up into a ball. The 

 stone catfish of the Delaware is one of the finest of all 

 baits. It is darker in color than the stone cat of the Sus- 

 quehanna. The bass will not take the young of the 

 common yellow cat of the Delaware; sometimes it will 

 take hold of its tail and pull a little and then let go. The 

 stone cat is always taken head first, and this is rendered 

 easy because it is sluggish and does not raise its spines. 

 The yellow cat, however, keeps its spines erect and ready 

 for business. Lampreys are excellent for bass bait also, 

 and they are rather plentiful now along the headwaters 

 of the Delaware in sand bars near the mouths of brooks 

 tributary to the river. One man collected 800 and kept 

 them in a little spring brook. The lampreys are in the 

 sand from 2 to (fins, under the surface of the wa.ter. They 

 go down into the sand head first and will burrow out of 

 sight very quickly in wet sand. 



Killing Herons to Save Fish. — "Whatcom, "Wash., 

 July 15. — Mr. Adams, who lives on a farm some eight 

 miles north of this city, with a friend on June 26, killed 

 140 blue herons, together with the crested heron, in a 

 heron rookery near a small lake on Ten-Mile Creek ; and 

 there are several hundred there yet. The reason for 

 killing them is that they keep the small trout all killed 

 out, and those ranchers object to the herons monopoliz- 

 ing the trout business. — J. Y, C. 



Illinois, Hamlet. — We have had no good fishing since 

 early spring, and then only for a short time, the water 

 has "been too high. Reports from different parties work- 

 ing in hav fields are that there are large droves of prairie 

 chickens.— P. W. D. 



