Attg. 81, 1890.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



93 



save where the ripples and eddies showed the moving 

 current, and flecks or bunches of foam from the rapids 

 floated down on the water, swam about for awhile, and 

 then passed down the river out of eight. 



[TO be continued.] 



A FEW REMARKS ON BASS. 



ALBANY, N. Y., Aug. 7— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Ever since reading your Black Bass Number I have 

 wanted to contribute some of my experience with these 

 fish, covering a period of twenty-two years. 



It seems that the big-mouth fellows must be gamier in 

 the West than in the East, for I have never handled any 

 that fought as their small-mouthed brethren do; they 

 always sulk and run for the grass hike a pickerel. Fre- 

 quently when fishing upon certain portions of Lake 

 Champlain I have seen a native hook a fish, and heard 

 them call out "swago" before they had seen the fish at all. 

 I have caught them in Kinderhook Lake, near Albany, 

 but never had them jump as the other fellows do, except 

 in a few isolated cases. They do not seem to inhabit the 

 same waters, the large-mouth thriving in muddy ponds, 

 where the small-mouth do not do well at all. I should 

 think that of the two the big-mouth fellows were the 

 most prolific. 



My first acquaintance with black bass began in the 

 Mohawk River, where my father and I used to go twice 

 a week. We would get up about three or four o'clock in 

 the morning, drive six or seven miles, get a mess of fish 

 for a good sized family, and occasionally a few to give 

 away, then return home by dark. 



Bass are very wary, as 1 had demonstrated two days 

 ago when one darted out from under a big rock at my 

 fly, but seeing me when he was within a foot of the fly, 

 he turned, like a flash and went back; nor could I coax 

 him out again. But they also have a great amount of 

 curiosity, as have numbers of fishes. When river fishing, 

 we always anchored the boat bow and stern across the 

 current, each one fishing with a rod over the end and a 

 hand-line over the side, thus enabling us to throw well 

 down into holes, as we always anchored above them, 

 fishing down stream. Our boat, a common, flat-bottom 

 skiff, leaked some; and when fishing got very dull father 

 would often say, '"Hen, guess I will bail boat and see if 

 that won't stir them up," and many a time it did. I have 

 always noticed that bass will almost always bite immed- 

 iately after the anchor is put down, if there is any ripple 

 on the water, and I never could do much with them on a 

 still day, unless in October when they are on the reefs; 

 then if you see a swirl, either when they are playing or 

 chasing minnows, throw a good minnow in that direction 

 and you get a strike every time. Their curiosity must be 

 stronger than their fear. An old gentleman, whom I 

 met fishing at Stony Island in Lake Ontario, told of one 

 being around the boat for a long time, but would have 

 none of his baits ; so finally he took his knife and cut a 

 large white button off the neckband of his shirt, put it on 

 his hook, and presto! the bass took it and was landed. 



Well do I remember a few years ago, fishing for bull 

 heads on Lake George one evening, there was a small 

 bass around the boat which would turn up his nose in 

 contempt whenever I put my hook of worm bait in his 

 direction. I had given him up in disgust, until happen- 

 ing to see a large fat worm crawling down the side of the 

 boat I took it by one end and slung it at the fish, which 

 immediately gobbled it down. This gave me an idea. 

 Selecting a nice worm and hooking him just in the head 

 I let him swing out in the bass direction, and in two 

 minutes he was mine. 



I have always found that they would bite best in a 

 very stiff wind. One day coming down on the inside 

 shore of Shelburne Head, Lake Champlain, the wind was 

 blowing a gale, at times the spray flying clean over me. 

 I had in the boat my boy George, 9 years old, and his two 

 sisters, 7 and 5, a very helpless and precious freight to 

 have out in such rough water. Of course I had to row 

 and the boy fished astern, trolling a minnow, I doing the 

 same over the shore side, thus fishing right in the outer 

 edge of the breakers. We struck a school of bass and 

 got five nice ones, and the boy a pickerel weighing 31bs. 

 We were using light rods and my hands were well occu- 

 pied to keep the boat off shore, for she would have 

 swamped and filled the instant we struck. As it was I 

 took in a pail or two of water, and concluded that the 

 risk was getting too great, so we went ashore, left the 

 little girls there and returned to the spot, fishing all 

 along the shore; but they had gone. Most likely they 

 had been working a school of minnows which moved off 

 and the bass followed. 



My remarks, bear in mind, relate wholly to the small- 

 mouthed variety. I have never found them in biting 

 humor when on their beds, but of course they will take 

 anything if dropped directly on to it. They used to catch 

 large numbers of spawners at the Winooski Falls, but 

 since they are enforcing the Vermont law more string- 

 ently in years past this has been checked. The favorite 

 bait at this time was dobson, but I never hankered after 

 fish with spawn in, so let them alone. After they leave 

 the spawning ground they work out into deeper water, 

 forming schools, and then along the ledges and reefs on 

 the jelly that forms there. This, I think, is the reason 

 we all have such poor success in mid -summer, as the bass 

 and the wall-eyed pike are both full of this jelly in July 

 and August, coming out in grasshopper and cricket time, 

 fat and plump and ready to bite again, and give the poor 

 patient fisherman a chance. Lake fish seem shorter and 

 thicker than those in swift rivers and not quite so quick, 

 at least that has always been my impression, and have 

 heard many others assert the same. 



Take him wherever you may find him, he is always the 

 same plucky, never-yielding fighter, king of all fresh- 

 water fish his weight and inches. Dexter. 



Lake Tahoe Trout.— Dr. Carl H. Eigenmann has re- 

 cently investigated the fish fauna of Lake Tahoe, Cal., 

 and found a variety of names in use for the trout. There 

 were brook trout, black or red trout, bulgers, silver trout 

 and the yellow belly. Three names are applied to dif- 

 ferent ages of the same fish. The trout were observed to 

 be spawning in the lake instead of ascending the tribu- 

 tary streams for this purpose, as usual. This may have 

 been due, the Doctor supposed, to the exceptionally cold 

 water of the streams this year. The Fish Commission has 

 traps and dams in the streams to secure spawners for the 

 hatchery. After taking their eggs the trout are returned 

 to the lak§ f 



A LAKE ST. JOHN WINNINISH. 



WE have received from Mr. Geo. H. Dana, of Wash- 

 ington, D. C, a small winninish, which was 

 caught by one of his party in Lake St. John, Aug, 1. 

 This was the largest salmon captured at the time, and 

 Mr. Dana wrote that few large ones were to be seen, 

 Unfortunately, the specimen arrived in a poor state of 

 preservation, although every effort was made to get it 

 through in good condition, and it is difficult to make a 

 satisfactory comparison with sea-run salmon of the same 

 species. In all essential particulars, however, as the pro- 

 portions of the different parts of the body, number of fin- 

 rays, size of scales, structure of gills, colors of head, body 

 and fins, it shows no great difference from the anadro- 

 mous salar after a brief residence in streams. One feat- 

 ure that deserves mention is the massiveness of the upper 

 jaw, particularly in its posterior half. This leads us to 

 the belief that the example is a male, though lacking the 

 characteristic elongation and hooking of the jaws so note- 

 worthy in salmon approaching the spawning season. If, 

 on the contrary, the fish in question be a female, a point 

 which must remain in doubt because of the absence of 

 the abdominal viscera, we have in the heavy upper jaw, 

 small size, large dark blotches, so well displayed in Kit 

 Clarke's "Where the Trout Hide," page 52, and the rela- 

 tively great size of the fins, a series of distinguishing 

 marks of the northern winninish by means of which the 

 angler and the ichthyologist may recognize it at sight. 

 It appears to be unusually difficult to get a Lake St. John 

 winninish safely into the hands of a student of the salmon 

 family, but we will not give up in despair. "All things 

 come to him who can but wait." In the meantime, if 

 any reader of Forest and Stream will help to shorten 

 the period of waiting by sending a prime winninish to 

 this office, wrapped in coarse cloth or birch bark and 

 packed in ice, we will duly express our thankfulness and 

 contribute our share toward the complete description of 

 this peerless salmon. It may be that a little later in the 

 season a specimen could be successfully shipped without 

 ice by means of one of the modern preservatives fre- 

 quently referred to in these columns. For scientific pur- 

 poses, however, there is nothing better than alcohol, and 

 the methylated spirit will answer fully as well as recti- 

 fied spirit. 



BROOK TROUT IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



MR. PIERRE LOUIS JOUY, well known in connec- 

 tion with explorations in China and Japan, has 

 recently visited western North Carolina in search of 

 health and natural history collections. In the class of 

 fishes be found a variety of members of the great family 

 of minnows (Cyprinidw), which gave him opportunity to 

 make some valuable color notes from the fresh specimens. 

 "We were particularly interested in the brook trout of 

 that region, and Mr. Jouy brought back with him to the 

 Smithsonian Institution the following information as to 

 the present condition of the trout streams of the Roan 

 Mountain country: 



"Trout are tolerably abundant in the small mountain 

 streams of western North Carolina up to about 4,000ft. 

 elevation (Roan Mountain). In the lower sections, about 

 the settlements, the streams are almost fished out. Oc- 

 casionally three or four are caught, with other fishes, by 

 seining a stream after a heavy rain, when the water is so 

 muddy that the fish are unable to see the net. The com- 

 bination of worm and fly on the same' hook has proved 

 too much for the trout in the lowlands, and for good 

 fishing one must go up the mountains to where the stream 

 is only a few feet wide, but swift enough to scour out 

 deep holes in which trout love to hide. In such places 

 pretty good fishing can be had, and if the fisherman is a 

 sportsman he will adhere to the rule of throwing back all 

 under 6in. Trout have been offered for sale at the hotel 

 at Cloudland, N. C, as low as ten cents per pound." 



Blue Heron and Trout.— A note from Portville, Pa., 

 in a Pittsburg paper says: James Shuman, of this place, 

 shot a blue heron on Page Creek yesterday which had 39 

 brook trout in its stomach, none of them in the least ad- 

 vanced toward digestion, showing that the big bird had 

 taken them all at the meal it was still engaged in securing 

 when it was shot. As a large number of these immense 

 birds have been fishing along Page Creek for a couple of 

 weeks past, incalculable numbers of trout must have been 

 destroyed by them if 39 trout, none less than a yearling, 

 are not sufficient for one meal for a single heron. No one 

 remembers having ever seen a heron along the brook 

 before, and a party is to be organized to hunt the army of 

 greedy marauders off the stream. The heron Shuman 

 killed stood four feet high, and measru-ed seven feet from 

 tip to tip of its wings. 



Vancouver, B. C, Aug. 6.— Trout fishing is at its best 

 just now, and some fine baskets are being brought in. 

 There is another big run of salmon on the Eraser just 

 now, and there appears every probability of being a pack, 

 despite the late run. Last Saturday one of the canneries 

 had 15.000 fish waiting to be packed, all these were 

 caught the previous night; the cannery had thirty boats 

 out, making an average of 500 to a boat. How's this for 

 fishing?— Charles E. Tisdall. 



The Big Bass of Belmar.— At Belmar, N. Y., Aug. 13, 

 Mr. G. J. Ferry caught a 261bs. bass in the surf at the 

 mouth of Shark River. One man who heard of this said 

 he would like to catch three of the same size; but one 

 such fish in a season should satisfy the ambition of the 

 average Belmar fisherman. Our correspondent "Big 

 Reel" fishes in the same surf. 



Rescue of Illinois Fishes.— Dr. S. P. Bartlett reports 

 that the work of rescuing fishes of the Mississippi Valley 

 is now in full progress. Fish are abundant, the weather 

 is cool and pleasant, and everything favorable to a great 

 season's result. When the operations began this sum- 

 mer it was very hot, and this made the efforts to handle 

 fish extremely difficult. 



Bass Fishing at Cossayuna Lake.— Greenwich, N.Y. 

 — Mr. Charles Ferris and friend, fishing at above lake 

 Aug. 14, took 42 small-mouth black bass; 6 large-mouth 

 black bass, 5 pike (pickerel) and 3 large bullheads. 

 The bait chiefly used was frogs. Some of the bass were 

 of very large size, and aH were above the average..— -J. 



Mackerel and Shiners. — A solid school of medium- 

 sized mackerel were up Annisquam River, off Smith's 

 Landing, Aug. 12. They refused to take the hook, and 

 only one mackerel was caught. They were after the 

 shiners, and the large schoolsTof this fish afforded them 

 good feeding. On the morning of Aug. 13 the mackerel 

 had entirely disappeared, to the great disappointment of 

 many fishermen who were seeking them in the afternoon. 

 It is the finest fun on earth to catch them when they 

 bite sharp. — Gloucester (31ass.) Daily Times, Aug. 13. 

 [The shiner of Gloucester is Menidia. notata, the com- 

 mon silversides or friar of the New England and Middle 

 Atlantic coast. It is a hard-scaled but savory fish, four 

 or five inches long when adult, and swarms along the 

 shores in salt and orackish water in countless numbers. 

 Not only the mackerel, but also the weakfish, bluefish and 

 other carnivorous food species derive a large part of their 

 subsistence from the slender little shiner. In the aquari- 

 um this fish is conspicuous on account of its broad silvery 

 stripe along the side and semi-transparency of its tissues.] 



In this week's issue the well known "Seal Island," situated be- 

 low Quebec, aud noted as a resort for geese and wildfowl of all 

 descriptions, is offered for sale, This presents a valuable oppor- 

 tunity for a club to secure an excellent preserve, with an almost 

 inexhaustible supply of birds, and intending purchasers are 

 offered a chance to shoot over the ground when the season opens. 

 A. Tonssaint & Co. of Quebec are the owners, and will give full 

 particulars on application.— Adv. 



Jpr*» fennel 



FIXTURES. 



DOG SHOWS. 



Sept. 1 to 5.— First Annual Bog Show of the Youngstown Kennel 

 Club, at Youngstown, O. S. D. L. Jackson, Sec'y. 



Sept. 2 to 5.— Dog Show of the Wilmington Fair Association, at 

 Wilmington, Del. F. R. Carswcll, Supt., 101 West Sixth street, 



Sept.. 3 to 4.— Dog Show of the Midland Central Fair Associa- 

 tion, at Kingston, Ont, C. H. Corbet t, Secretary. 



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

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



Sept. IS to 19.— Second Annual International Dog Show of the 

 Industial Exhibition Association at Toronto, Canada.- C. A. Stone, 

 Secretarv. 



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

 Exhibition Association, at Ottawa. Alfred Geddes, Chairman 

 Committee. 



Sept, 23 to 26 —Third Dog Show of the London Kennel Club, at 

 London, Ont. S. F. Glass, Secretary. 



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

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



Dec. 30 to Jan. 3, 1891— First. Dog Show of the Buckeye Poultry 

 and Pet Stock Association, at Canton, O. James Sterling, Sec'y, 

 39 North Market street. 



1891. 



Jan. 20 to 25.— First Annual Dog Show of the Louisiana Poultry 

 and Pet Stock Association, at New Orleans, La. A. E. Shaw, Sec- 

 retary, Box 1658. 



Feb. 24 to 27.— Fifteenth Annual Dog Show of the Westminster 

 Kennel Club, at New York. James Mortimer. Superintendent, 



March 24 to 27.— Second Annual Dog Show of the Massachusetts 

 Kennel Club, Lynn, Mass. D. A. Williams, Secretary. 



FIELD TRIALS. 



Sept. 9.— Field Trials of the Manitoba Field Trials Club. Thos. 

 Johnson, Winnipeg. Secretary. 



November.— Second Annual Field Trials of the Brunswick Fur 

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

 Mass. 



Nov. 3.— Fourth Annual Field Trials of the Indiana Kennel 

 Club, at Carlisle, Ind. P. T. Madison, Indianapolis, Ind., Sec'y. 



Nov. 3.— Second Annual Field Trials of the Canadian Kennel 

 Club, at Chatham, Out. O. A. Stone, Toronto, Ont., Secretary. 



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

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

 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.— Eigh th Annual Field Trials of the Pacific Kennel Club, 

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



Feb. 3.— Third Annual Field Trials of the Southern Field Trials 

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



COURSING. 



Oct, 21 to 25.— Fifth Annual Meet of the American Coursing 

 Club, at Great Bend, Kan. I. D. Brougher, Secretary. 



INDIANA FIELD TRIALS PUPPY STAKE. 



INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., Aug. 17.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: The entries for the puppy stake of tht Indiana 

 Kennel Club closed Aug. 1 with thirteen nominations. All 

 were born after Oct. 1, 1S89: 



Doctor W. (L. C. Newman, Stanton, Tenn.), black, white 

 and tan English setter dog (.Gladstone Boy — Clara). 



Effie K. (G. E. Gray, Appleton, Minn.), black and whits 

 English setter bitch, pedigree not given. 



FLORA (Dr. G. G. "Ware, Stanton, Tenn.), black, white 

 and tan English setter bitch (Gladstone Boy — Clara). 



HOPE'S Mark (D. E. Rose, Lawrenceburg, Tenn.), black, 

 white and tan English setter dog (Gath's Hope — Lady May). 



Idaho (Elms Kennels, Forest Lake, Minn.), lemon and 

 white English setter bitch (Monk of Furness— Pearl Lave- 

 rack). 



Marie Burr (W. F. Burdell, Columbus, O.), liver, white 

 and tan English setter bitch (Paul Gladstone — Latonia"). 



MINNESOTA (Elms Kennels, Forest Lake, Minn.), black, 

 white and tan English setter bitch (Monk of Furness— Lady 

 Faydette). 



Nutwood (Fairbank & Board, Indianapolis, Ind.), liver 

 and white pointer dog (Ossian — Nellie E.). 



Onota Dos (F. L. Cheney, Pittsfield, Mass.), red Irish set- 

 ter dog (Chief — Bizrena). 



Onota Peg (F. L. Cheney, Pittsfield, Mass.), red Irish set- 

 ter bitch (Chief — Bizrena). 



PAXico (A. J. Gleason, Alma, Kan.), liver and white 

 pointer dog (Ossian — Nellie E.). 



Rose of Claremont (F. H. Perry, Des Moines, la.), red 

 Irish setter bitch (Claremont Patsy— Nino). 



Tennessee Joe (D. E. Rose, Lawrenceburg, Tenn.), liver 

 and white pointer dog (Ossian— Nellie E.). 



P. T. Madison. 



THE NORTHFIELDS YORKSHIRE KENNELS have ad- 

 vice that the manager, Mr. Thomas, will sail from England 

 in the Venetian and is due here on Wednesday, the 27th. 

 Mr. Thomas will bring the well-known Irish terrier dog 

 Breda Bill and two bitches of the same breed, one of them 

 in whelp to champion Breadenhill. He also has in charge a 

 Russian corded poodle bitch, by champion Achilles, and the 

 dog Dexter, the longest corded poodle on record. A King 

 Charles spaniel with a pug and some Yorkshires, all pur- 

 chased through Mr. Richard Toon, of Sheffield, Eng. Mr. 

 Thomas intends to show all of the dogs at Detroit. 



THE BEAGLE FIELD TRIALS.— Boston., Mass., Aug. 

 18,— Editor Forest and Stream: The National Beagle Club's 

 field trials will be held at Hyannis, Mass.. beginning on 

 Tuesday, Nov. 4, and continuing through the week. The 

 running rules will be ready Sept. 1.— F. W. Chapman, Sec'y. 



Haytbveh sufferers use Peshall's Remedy. Certain relief. All 

 druggists or by nj,a 1, Price 75c, Geo, L, Wilms, Jersey City, N. J, 



