Dec. '^5, 1890.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



489 



best and free in running; go in for extra length if you 

 have the choice, and a spare one or two won't be amiss; 

 remember insular civilization has not yet produced a 

 tackle shop in that region. Of course for this last reason 

 you must carry with you reels, lines, gut, hooks (take 

 those with eyes), swivels, leads, floats, and the little 

 etceteras. With these you will be on the right side and 

 ought to be comfortable and easy in mind. Tropical fish 

 in their habits are much the same as their brethren up 

 north; it is a fact that they take the bait in their mouths, 

 and when hooked try their level best to sever the 

 connection. 



"When moving about, or shifting position, nothing beats 

 a spoon or other spinner, natural or artificial, trailing in 

 your wake; you may spin deep or near the surface, you 

 will find willing mouths at all depths. Tropical fish are like 

 others, capricious, what suits to-day may be rejected to- 

 morrow, so keep your eyes and wits about you. In deep 

 water and in the strong current outside, off shore, a rod 

 is useless for bottom fishing, and in this case you must 

 have recourse to hand lining — be sure you have by you a 

 strong thick pair of gloves, and no style surpasses what 

 is known across the water as the Kentish rig, a. crossbar 

 of stiff wire, the lead in the center, the snoods at the ends. 

 But after all, minute instructions as to tackle and method 

 of fisbing are not absoiuely necessary. 



Of Course} when you have caught your fish j on will 

 wish to take them on shore iu the best condition. Fish 

 micro-organisms develop rapidly and wonderfully in 

 tropical temperatures, and if you want the best results 

 remember the following and act accordingly: Kill your 

 fish quietly, quickly and effectually by a tap on the head 

 (one tap is better than two); handle it gently as if you 

 loved it: do not allow it to bruise itself by flipping and 

 jumping; quiet the nervous system by destroying the 

 brain — an easy matter; if large, disembowel, wipe clean 

 and dry. apply an antiseptic— there is one that I us? that 

 shows best results — inside and out sparsely, and lay the 

 body hi a quiet place where it can drain and be oat of 

 reach of the sun's rays. You won't regret the trouble 

 you have taken. 



You will want to know where to go aud how to get 

 there; but there will be. no difficulty. In Kingston har- 

 bor fish are plentiful and at times superabundant, but 

 they are seldom angled for. Boats and canoes with 

 men may be had for a consideration, with a native as 

 captain, philosopher, friend and guide. You will find his 

 philosophy and guiding power much on a par, and his 

 friendship— well, it will last and intrude so long as there 

 is anything to be made out of you. A thorough under- 

 standing at the off-go is advisable, and you will realize 

 that upon the density of its thoroughness and reality so 

 will be your enjoyments and results. Your best plan 

 (and my advice) is, write to the secretary of the Exhibi- 

 tion, or call on arrival, for information to cover boatmen, 

 boats and charges, etc.; doubtless some one will be tolled 

 off to supply you. 



Off-shore fishing, as may be expected, will be attended 

 with a greater expenditure of time, energy and cash, but 

 the equivalent will be forthcoming for splendid fishing 

 is to be had around the cays and over the feeding banks. 

 A writer in a recent number of Seribner's Magazine 

 writing on "Tarpon Fishing in Florida," states that in 

 his opinion tarpon fishing is the most magnificent fishing 

 sport in the world, and in partial support of his convic- 

 tion compares the relative weights of the silver king and 

 Salmo salar. We are all peculiar to our idiosyncrasies 

 and it is fortunate that it is so, but the experience of a 

 lifetime annihilates, in my mind, the theory that great 

 weight enhances sport. I have yet to experience the 

 sensations consequent on the killing of a leviathan silver 

 king in Florida waters; but if the heart-throbs produced 

 by a tarpon can exceed or were equal those that have 

 been mine with a salar on Loch Tay and the kingfish off 

 Jamaica, then I must cry peecavi and be silent. 



Years ago (alas!) on a February day on Loch Tay, 

 amid a storm of snow, wind and waves i hooked a salmon 

 in the forenoon. Long after dark, three miles distant 

 from the point of connection a 88-pounder paid the 

 penalty, after one of the most glorious and determined 

 fights ever fish made, without one minute's sulk or rest. 

 The finale was tragic, some will consider it amusing, the 

 curious may be gratified by turning over the pages of the 

 London Field of Dec. 29, 1889, for "A Long Fight on 

 Loch Tay." 



In the Carribbean Sea there is a fish that may lay 

 claim to be classed in the same category with the salmon 

 and tarpon as a sporting fish. The giants of his race — I 

 have seen one of lOSlbs.— are not far behind in weight 

 those of Megalops thrissoides, and I have on record a 

 Goliath that pulled the beam at 200. His every day indi- 

 vidual weight, anything up to 60 and 701bs., is, however, 

 far below that of the silver king (of which, so far as I 

 know, only the big ones are recorded), but I dare assert 

 that the • 'dimmed total," as Mr. Mantilini expresses it, of 

 a morning's fishing will place the Carib king long ahead 

 of the silver monarch, and the sport? well, that is a 

 matter of opinion. If the reader will follow me into the 

 middle of next week we will meet again in Forest and 

 Stream and have a morning's sport with (Jybium solandri. 



Something must be said about baits. In a country 

 where sea angling is almost unknown and hand -lining 

 the rare exception instead of the rule, the bait question, 

 so momentous in northern fisheries, has not yet been 

 considered. As a rule the conch will be considered as 

 entitled to premier rank, but there is a little crustacean 

 to be found under the weed that grows on the rocks along 

 shore and upon which the waves beat that surpasses all 

 others. By lifting the weed or removing a loose piece of 

 rock they may be seen and gathered and will keep well 

 and happy — apparently. These little crabs are very deli- 

 cate and consequently troublesome to keep on the hook, 

 but when on and fast their attractive powers— due en- 

 tirely to their bouquet— is unlimited. . They have the 

 misfortune of developing when dead putrefactive micro- 

 organisms with wonderful rapidity; within three or four 

 minutes after death they are useless. But if a number 

 be procured and kept handy a single prisoner may be 

 sacrificed as wanted. Prawns and shrimps in or out of 

 their crust are also effective; sprats are common — to pre- 

 serve them use the antiseptic already alluded to—and 

 other impromptu lures are not difficult to obtain in a 

 tropical climate aud country. If I were asked to place 

 in the sequence of their value the available baits I should 

 write the first four thus: The little rock (not sand) crab, 

 the conch, prawn, and sprat: of artificials the sand eel, the 

 spoon and the phantom (Brown's) surpass all others I have 



had to do with, but a silvery-sprat on a baby -spinner will 

 hold its own with anything. Of sea-flies, white, red, 

 yellow, or a mixture, will satisfy the sea mullet and 

 mackerel when they are in the mood and you iu their way. 



The rivers of Jamaica, and they are many and tempt- 

 ing, ought to afford excellent sport, but I cannot write 

 that they do. In many instances their upper waters — and 

 in some even down to the mysterious and ever lapping 

 wavelets — must strike the. expert's eye as the natural homo 

 of the Salmonida; (it is thought temperature forbids, but 

 that has yet to be proved. An Esquimaux can live on 

 the equator, a Nubian at the poles, they might not be 

 happy in their first generation it is true, but life is tena- 

 cious, vide. Succi), with their pools and shallows, sandy, 

 gravelly and rocky bottoms, and sparkling waters with 

 the yet unborn love of sport in the native, the over-de- 

 velopment of the ill icit practices of the poacher, and utter 

 disregard of past legislature, it is beyond a wonder that 

 their waters hold fish at all. And yet they do, their pro- 

 ductive and recuperative powers are wonderful and 

 satisfying sport may be had at times and places with fly, 

 spinner and with bait at bottom and in mid water. At a 

 fly the mountain mullet, no longer adults, rises with the 

 flash of a grayling but without the endurance of S. fario; 

 and the hog-nose of that ilk will test the strength of the 

 gossamer-cast and skill of the hand that wields the rod, 

 Five snook, with an average of five pounds each, within 

 the hour may not be considered as below the capabilities 

 of a phantom— not long ago it was done and may occur 

 again at a certain spot. The ripe berry of the sweet- wood 

 tree, or a dice-sized piece of a not-over-ripe avocado pear 

 has been the cause of the last struggle of many a black- 

 snapper. The worm, the maggot, the cockroach have oft 

 in the past, and will in the future, be the innocent cause 

 of rigor mortis in a mudfish. 



The lover of the trigger will not find many opportuni- 

 ties for u^ing his shotgun during the early and middle 

 months, for with the close time approaching and the 

 ravages of that ubiquitous pest, the mungoose, there will 

 be little to shoot. If the early months be wet— a rare oc- 

 currence — fair wildfowl shooting may be had over the 

 Great Peco Ponds in the Parish of St. Elizabeth and a 

 few other localities; but as the drought season will be on 

 the outlook is not encouraging. There will be more play 

 for a rifle, especially at alligatoi's, which are to be found 

 in numbers at a certain spot— a sure find— not far from 

 Kingston, and in other districts; but alligator shooting is 

 not to my mind sport or an enjoyable recreation in the 

 tropics. Its surroundings are decidedly disagreeable, ex- 

 cept when a boat may be used. There are a few large 

 sheets of inland water and two or three rivers upon 

 which an alligator slayer may paddle his own canoe and 

 have an occasional shot at a saurian and pick up a few 

 good fish by way of variety and pom' passer le temps-. 



The Norman rifle range, about three miles from Kings- 

 ton on the windward road, will afford target practice for 

 those inclined to indulge or try conclusions with local 

 marksmen of whom there are many that can give a good 

 account of then- prowess and skill in planting a bullseye. 



[TO BE CONTINUED.] 



ANGLING NOTES. 



THE early cold weather has put a stop to all angling 

 in this part of the country, for pickerel fishing 

 through the ice, though excellent fun, can hardly be 

 called angling. There is nothing left to do now but to 

 look back and enjoy the recollections of last season's 

 sport, or what is almost as great a pleasure, plan new 

 trips for the coming year. 



Outsiders are greatly mistaken when they think that 

 angling means only catching fish. They little know 

 what a stock of enjoyment for future use can be laid up 

 on a two weeks' fishing trip into the woods and moun- 

 tains. 



Many an overworked business man finds rest and relax- 

 ation after a long day of worry, in recalling the events 

 of some such trip. As he sits before the fire in the even- 

 ing, with the fragrant smoke of the "weed" curling up- 

 ward, he again sees the cool lake in the forest, or wades 

 the rippling trout brook overhung with bright green 

 foliage, and remembers the killing of that big trout with 

 all its exciting incidents. Or perhaps his vacation was 

 spent on the f ar away waters of Maine or Canada, and 

 delightful visions of camp life, with its freedom from the 

 irksome restraints of society, pass before him, and he 

 glances at the calendar to count the weeks that must pass 

 before he can again enjoy the delights of "going a-fish- 

 ing." 



The early advent of winter ought to make a good 

 season for Florida; already many tourists and anglers 

 have departed for the "sunny South," and many more 

 are prepared to start. Nearly every one hopes to kill a 

 tarpon, but unless they remain till spring they will most 

 likely be disappointed— notwithstanding Senator Quay's 

 success in that direction with his bandline fishing. 



Very many people, particularly those who have had no 

 experience in Florida, seem to think that any kind of 

 tackle will answer for tarpon fishing. One season's ex- 

 perience generally convinces them that they are wrong; 

 that is if they happen to strike one of those big herring. 

 The tackle for these great fish must he of the very best 

 quality and sufficiently strong, or they will smash it and 

 leave you disconsolate after perhaps many hours or even 

 days of patient waiting. 



Therefore the most successful tarpon anglers use special 

 rods, reels, lines and snells. Noibwood makes the best 

 rod and so far they have stood the strain of the heaviest 

 fish (Mr. Hecksher's 184lbs.). They should be made with 

 a long tip and short butt, something like the Cuttyhunk 

 style of rod, only stiffer. The next best material is the 

 plain Calcutta cane, made up in the same shape. 



SpUt-bamboo rods are more expensive and do not stand 

 the climate of the Florida coast. 



The line should be of the best hand-laid flax, 18 or 20 

 threads and 600ft. long. These lines require big reels and 

 they must run on steel points. One good run of a big 

 tarpon will tear an ordinary reel to pieces. 



The best snells of the many kinds that have been tested 

 are the flat braided linen, mounted on special hand-forged 

 steel hooks. These snells are tough, will stand the grind- 

 ing of the tarpon's jaws, yet a shark will cut it at once 

 and you will he able to save the line. The gaff must be 

 made very strong and of the best steel. It should have a 

 spread of from 4 to 5in. Thumb stalls of knitted linen 

 must he used, and it is even safer to have a small leather 

 apron on the reel, to act as a drag. It is not unusual to 



have the boatman squeeze water from a sponge on the 

 I line to keep it from burning when being run off hy a 

 lively tarpon. Rigged in this manner, and well supplied 

 with patience and a good boatman, the angler will, sooner 

 or later, enjoy great sport. But he must remember that 

 the great run of tarpon does not begin until April or May. 

 In the mean time, he can amuse himself with 251b. cavalli 

 and channel bass, or 601b. drum or hordes of smaller fish, 

 many of which will take a fly and afford the best of sport. 



Scarlet-Ibis. 



THOSE SUNAPEE TROUT AGAIN. 



Editor Forest ayid Stream: 



You certainly give Salmo aureolus or alpinus, which- 

 ever he may finally prove to be, a good space in your 

 columns, but 1 must ask for a word or two more to correct 

 misinformation, or misunderstandings. First, deep-water 

 fishing in the. Sunapee is no new discovery. 



I have personally been informed of it at Sunapee Lake 

 as far back as 1844, when I reached the lake in June, 

 too late for shore fishing, and was told that I must use 

 "live bait, long lines, and go out into deep water," and 

 the only trout then known were the regular red spotted 

 Salnw fontiualis. 



With regard to hybrid ism, I can only say that the like- 

 ness to the landlocked salmon suggested the idea tome 

 in 1883, and if the plant of '77 had not produced them, 

 Dr. Fletcher's plant of '65 might have done so, should such 

 a crop be possible. 



There is yet another point, which no one has noted, 

 should the fish prove to be Salmo alpinus. 



The shipment to this country called for 60,000 eggs. 

 5,000 were said to have been lost on the voyage, and Mr. 

 Powers reported a loss of 6,515 in the hatchery. This left 

 49,485, of which only 30,000 were reported to have been 

 placed in Newfound Lake. This leaves 19,485 unaccounted 

 for. Some were kept as hreeders, but I always believed 

 that Mr. Powers, from his well known affection for 

 Sunape»\ put part of them in there, and this impression 

 was strengthened by his reticence and refusal to express 

 any opinion on the subject, when it was eliscusseel in his 

 presence. Should he have done so in 1881, it would easily 

 account for their appearance on the spawning beds in 1885. 

 Of course this 13 only conjecture, but in such an in- 

 vestigation, all causes and chances should be considered 

 and weighed. 



This, however, would not account for their appearance 

 in Dan Hole, and if they are the genuine saibling, the 

 only way they could have got there, would have been by 

 getting mixed in the hatching house, and it was always 

 a mystery to me in my visits to the house, that the fry 

 did not get so mixed, with the constant flow of water, 

 through those shallow teays, in which they were always 

 huddled at the lower edge. 



Landlocked salmon were planted in Silver Lake, in 

 Madison in '78, but if these fish can he found, as Mr. 

 Aiken suggests, in the pond in Warren, it would be pretty 

 positive proof that they are an aboriginal and hitherto un- 

 known variety, which I hope for the sake of my friend 

 Hodge may prove to be the case. Von W. 



Chahlestown, N. H., Deo, 20. 



The California Sardine.— San Francisco Bay is said 

 to be fairly swarming with sardines at the present time. 

 "On clear nights they come to the surface in such myriads 

 as to set the water fairly ablaze with their silvery, phos- 

 phorescent light, and their leaping and playing produces 

 a sound that resembles the patter of hailstones. All the 

 quiet coves of the bay are infested with them." Most of 

 the fish are as large as the herring and cannot, therefore, 

 he utilizeel for sardines. This is the C il if ornia sardine 

 (Clupea sagax), and it resembles the well-known sardine 

 (Clupea xyilchardus), but grows larger. It abounds in 

 winter on the California coast, especially southward. At 

 San' Diego Drs. Jordan and Gilbert reported its capture 

 from the wharves with hook and line. As a food fish the 

 sardine is preferred to the herring. It is believed that 

 the species forms an important part of the food of the 

 salmon. 



Accident to Edgar Smith.— Boston, Dec. 21.— Mr. 

 Edgar Smith, proprietor of the Round Mountain Lake 

 fishing camps in Maine, while in Boston, last week, buy- 

 ing some horses, met with a most unfortunate and pain- 

 ful accielent. On Wednesday evening, Dec. 17, while 

 crossing the city in the blinding storm, he was struck and 

 thrown down by a horse car that turned a curve and 

 came suddenly upon him, the wheels then passing over 

 the toes of one foot and the other ankle and leg, inflict- 

 ing injuries of such a nature that at the present time the 

 result is doubtful. With good care it is hoped that ampu- 

 tation will be unnecessary. The many friends of Edgar 

 and his father, who is so widely known among sportsmen 

 as the pioneer of the Dead River country, will feel a deep 

 sympathy and interest in his recovery, — M. 



Cuttyhunk Bass Score.— The score of the Cuttyhunk 

 Club for the season of 1890 shows a total catch of 154 fish 

 aggregating a weight of 216^1 bs., an average of about 

 14lbs, The largest fish pulled down 4lilbs,, and the 

 smallest was a diminutive specimen of 4|lbs. The year's 

 recordfor 1889, it will be remembered, was practically nil. 



HATCHING BLUE BACK SALMON.— Mr. W. A. Wil- 

 cox, of the U. S. Fish Commission, informs ns that in the 

 fall of 1889 Mr. G. W. Williams hatcbed 300,000 eggs of the 

 blueback salmon (Oncarhynchus nerka) and kept them in a 

 pond at the Cascades of the Columbia River. The young 

 fry it is said were kept in the pond two months and were 

 fed twice daily on oatmeal mush, with the addition of liver 

 twice a week. The pond in which they were kept is only 

 about one acre in extent and has au outlet into the Colum- 

 bia River. Its temperature was from 40 to 45 degrees and 

 its depth S0£t. At the age of two months the fry had 

 reached a length of from 2 to 2}4m. and were allowed to 

 escape into the Columbia. Mr. Williams hatched, also, 

 eggs of the red-throated trout (Salmo purpuratus) success- 

 fully. 



Names and Portraits of Birds, by Ghirdon Trumtran. A 

 book particularly interesting to gunners, for by its use they can 

 Identify without Question ail the American game birds which 

 they may kill. Oloth, 330 pages, price 83.50. For sale by Forest 

 AMD 8TB1A&, 



