Jan. 1, 1891.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



477 



Omitted in the list but greatest of them all for sport 

 and value of flesh is the kiugfish, the Cybium, solandri, 

 in whose company, by the invitation in my last, we are 

 about to spend a few hours. The kingfish around 

 Jamaica, principally on tbe south side and to the west, is, 

 I believe, the Cybium caballe of Cuv. and Val. Giintber, 

 and Scoviberomerus caballa of Jordan and Gill, but with 

 his scientific appelation we have nothing to do to-day. 

 He is a remarkable fish of the mackerel tribe, grows to a 

 large size, boneless except the vertebra, flesh firm and 

 delicate, possessing a high percentage of oily matter, and 

 a keeping quality unsurpassed by any fish in the same 

 waters, while as a sporting fish he surpasses all others, 

 and may take rank among the Salmonidce. In color the 

 back is dark, sides silvery and belly a dullish white, and 

 in the juveniles a few vertical stripes or bars will be 

 found, on either side. Where he resides for nine months 

 of the year is a matter of conjecture — at least to Jamai- 

 cans — but from the middle of March to the middle of 

 June in each year he is to be found in multitudes over the 

 submarine rock formations located in considerable num- 

 bers and area along the south side of the island, paying 

 his periodical visit for the purpose of reproduction. 

 Although they come like a flash and disappear as sud- 

 denly, they don't entirely leave the coast, for individuals 

 are to be caught all the year round, and these are tbe 

 youngsters, for it is rarely a large fish is taken, except at 

 the times above written. That they come from the west 

 and north I feel confident, but we need not enter upon 

 that point here. 



The Santa Cruz range of hills, one of the health resorts 

 in Jamaica, run north and south, and at their southern 

 end fall precipitously almost perpendicularly into the sea 

 from elevations fifteen hundred feet above. At one point, 

 under the towering and vertical walls, nestles a fishing 

 village on a narrow strip of sandy land, forming a mimic 

 bay of crescent shape guarded from the waves that come 

 from the south and east by a rocky bluff. This little bay 

 — our starting point— some 400yds. across lies glistening 

 under the scraggy walls of the mountain heights, its 

 shore guarded by a dense growth of the cocolaba or sea- 

 side grape, which assumes the proportions of a large ever- 

 green, and every cool tree under their spreading branches 

 note the dug-outs high and dry, through the foliage see 

 the fishers' huts. In one of these huts— the best— I have 

 passed a few of the hours that form the night, for it was 

 too lovely to be cooped up in a windowless room of small, 

 very small, proportions. I was the guest of the village 

 boss (agriculturist, shop-keeper and fisherman), and the 

 moon blazed forth in all her glory and in her full: dinner 

 was over, eaten under the spreading branches of the 

 cocolaba, pipes were fuming and stories oft and true of 

 fish and water were the order of our vigil. 



I had slept, dreamed aud was awake again. Conscious- 

 ness brought to me voices mingling with the wavelets 

 and the peculiar croak of the gecko. I am called. I 

 strike a light and find that it wants but a few minutes to 

 1. After a moment more arid I am on the golden sand to 

 find my canoe partially afloat. A cup of coffee, a biscuit, 

 and ten minutes more we are afloat, and away we go as 

 fast as four light oars and a paddle can drive us. In five 

 minutes we are clear of the bay and the bluff, another 

 ten and the cool land wind strikes our faces as it curls 

 down from the heights on our leaving, and the sails are 

 set; unerringly we go on our three hours' pull and sail to 

 the Outer Guinea bank, twenty-five or more miles away. 

 The morning is- delightfully cool, the inland wind fills the 

 sails, four oars and a paddle bend merrily and in time, no 

 sea gull flits more rapidly, our dugout is a blithesome craft 

 and dances o'er the waters. 



A n hour passes, a delightful sixty minutes, during which, 

 while smoking and chatting, I fix ud my rod— a stout 

 10ft. bamboo— attach the reel— of the Nottingham make, 

 carrying 200yds. of a plaited silk line— and fix up the 

 trace with a light boat-shaped lead, wire with two swiv- 

 els, a large-sized spoon with two triangles, from the lower 

 of which I hang three silvery sprats as tails, and I am 

 ready. Presently my friend the cap'n says: " 'Quire, we 

 are passing over McDonnell (a feeding bank): you may 

 get a fish,'' but we don't, it's too early; and another hour 

 passes. Again the boss informs us: "We are now over 

 Little Guinee (another bank); you must get a king," and 

 we do, a lively beauty of some 271bs. The bank is nar- 

 row, and crossing it at right angles we are soon in deep 

 water on the other side: four miles more and then for the 

 Soho or Greater Guinea, the bank we are bent on fishing. 



At last we are there, and our chronometer tells the hour 

 a little past the four: half an hour to rest the men, give 

 them a drink, and let them smoke a pipe is sufficient to 

 show the first signs of light in the east; the time has ar- 

 rived, we must prepare for action. The canoe's bows are 

 turned to the west, the oars dip and away we go at racing 

 speed. On m y side disappears my spoon and trio of sprats , 

 over the other the cap'n flings his double hook baited thus: 

 The first hook, size about No. 20 cod, is bent on to a length 

 of wire, a few feet, and over its bu-b is placed a second 

 hook attached to a short loop, the points of the two hooks, 

 when in position, being reversed, and upon each hook are 

 strung three sprats; there are no swivels, no leads. The 

 kingfish is a surface feeder, and has not yet learned to 

 prefer a spinning to a wabbling bait. He will be educated 

 one of these days. 



Hardly had we attained full speed when my reel 

 sounded and a battle commenced, but the work was not 

 to haul on my side, for scarce had a hundred yards of 

 line left the epindle when I noticed our captain hauling 

 in, and ere many seconds came on board a king of about 

 twenty-five pounds. Quickly the double hooks, freshly 

 garnished, were again cast forth; meanwhile my fish 

 went traveling west, heading the canoe by about one 

 hundred yards. Again and again we shortened the dis- 

 tance that separated us; the tackle was good and there 

 was no doubt a,bout the strain that was on; still the fight 

 continued, and ere it closed fish number two was credited 

 to our boss. Three fish in about twenty-five minutes, 

 not bad to start with thought I, My spoon and the cap- 

 tain's arrangement were soon astern again, and another 

 forty or fifty yards had us fast in what proved in my 

 case to be a beauty. The fun went on without slackening 

 until about 7 o'clock, when a leviathan seized the spoon, 

 and the tight of the morning began; the sport he gave 

 was considerable, the excitement great, but after an 

 hour's play he yielded to the gaff and was drawn on 

 board to join his fellows. After 8 o'clock the feed went 

 off, at 9 was gone, and for the first time since we began 

 we lit our pipes and had a look round and at the beauties 

 that monopolized considerable space in the bottom of 



our spacious dug-out, much to the inconvenience of our 

 nether limbs ; seven and twenty kings, not one less. 

 Nothing more was to be done, so the canoe's bows were 

 pointed north, the lines still trailing astern, and on cross- 

 ing the inner bauk three other victims fell, one to the 

 spoon, the others to our captain's cable. 



Merrily pass the three and a half hours' run back to 

 land, the morning was beautiful, the sun bright, our 

 recollection vivid, and the Seabreeze cool and strong. 

 Gaily danced our cotton- tree boat as she crested and 

 passed wave after wave. Spirits went down, narcotic 

 fumes up, tongues were garrulous until somewhat past 

 the meridian we rounded the little bluff and glided into 

 the still water, a few moments later our bottom grated on 

 the sandy beach; the slain were counted— thirty — the 

 weight recorded — a pound or two under six hundred. 

 Now was the sport, in comparison with, well say tarpon, 

 worth the candle? Let us consider: Up atl A. M., a beau- 

 tiful uight, the lunar lignt making it almost day. A 

 glorious sail over a placid sea, a balmy zephyr fanning all 

 the way. Sport fast and furious for four hours and over 

 with a fish that has the heart of a salmon, the pluck of a 

 sea- trout, the endurance of a porpo se and the speed of a 

 baracouta, added to which, flesh second to none. When 

 sport is over another delightful run in as buoyant a craft 

 as ever showed stem to a freshening breeze, cheerful com- 

 panions, and the slain ! place them on the golden strand 

 side by side in the sequence of their size and contemplate. 

 Have you thought it out? Well! own up. Yes! it will 

 take many a candle made from mammoth tarpon fat to 

 outweigh tbe sport that can be had with the Caribbean 

 king. But! I have tried the one, not the other; such is 

 my opinion— sans pear et sans reproclie— take it for what 

 it is worth. After all, comparisons are very objectionable. 

 One can't have kingfishing, with its many pleasant sur- 

 roundings, far up north, and more the pity, leviathan 

 tarpon and the Salmonidm are denied to those who live 

 in or visit the islandsof theSeaof the Caribs. We must be 

 satisfied with what we have goo without comparison 

 with that of others; it is placed within the power of a very 

 few to decide by actual experience which takes the 

 cake. Edward M. Earle (of Jamaica, W. I.). 



New York City, December. 



A CARD FROM MR. BLACKFORD. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



As you have already noted in your journal, I have been 

 laid aside by a serious illness for the last six weeks. Dur- 

 ing the larger portion of that time 1 have been unable to 

 receive any mail or read newspapers. Now that I am 

 sufficiently recovered, I have been reading up the back 

 numbers of FOREST AND STREAM, 



I find that a great deal has been written and published 

 regarding the removal of Mr. Drew from the office of Chief 

 Fish and G itue Protector. On this point I think nothing 

 more is necessary to be said, except that the New York 

 Fishery Commission took such action as they were per- 

 fectly compel nt and had the right to do/ The four 

 Commissioners who voted to make the change did so be- 

 cause they believed that a great improvement might be 

 made in the administration of that department having 

 charge of fish and game protection. But this action of 

 the Commission seems to have greatly disturbed and 

 wrought up the feeling of one John D. Collins, of Utica. 

 In various communications that he has sent tn the news- 

 papers, he has seen fit to attack the Commissioners col- 

 lectively, and the president of the Commission individu- 

 ally. The Commission needs no defense at my hands. Its 

 record is before the people of the State of New York; by 

 that they are willing to be judged. As to the personal 

 attacks make upon me, permit me briefly to make the 

 following statements: 



The charge made by Mr. Collins, that I procured the 

 repeal of the six-inch trout law, is false. I have never 

 made any effort for the repeal of any law for the pro- 

 tection of fish and game; on the contrary, I have spent a 

 great deal of time and some money in promoting legisla- 

 tion for the better protection of fish. 



Next, the charge that I had some sort of an interest in 

 receiving or selling fish illegally caught by the netters is 

 a lie, and Mr. John D. Collins knewit to be false when he 

 uttered it. I have never received any fish from Oneida 

 Lake whatever, and I challenge Mr. John D. Collins to 

 produce the proof or evidence for his statements, or stand 

 convicted of being a willful and malicious slanderer. I 

 also challenge him to produce any evidence that I have 

 ever done anything as a buyer or seller of fish that has 

 been inconsistent with my position as a Commissioner for 

 the State of New York. 



And now, Mr. Editor, there has been considerable said 

 as to the propriety of a fish dealer occupying the position 

 of Commissioner of Fisheries, and it it were not for 

 occupying too much of your valuable space, I should like 

 to spread before your readers copies of correspondence 

 that I have had with the Fishery Commissioners of foreign 

 governments, with the United States Fish Commission, 

 and with the different State Commissions, which I think 

 would clearly demonstrate that so far from the two posi- 

 tions being incompatible, my occupation as a dealer in fish 

 has made such services as I have been able to give to the 

 cause of fishculture and fish protection of more practical 

 value than they would have been if I had been engaged 

 in any other business. Eugene G. Blackford. 



Brooklyn, N. Y., Dec. 27. 



COD FISHING FOR SPORT. 



OF course, the idea strikes one as rather tame, but 

 when followed under the right conditions you will 

 find excitement lurking around on all sides, as well as 

 underneath. About the first of October, as cool weather 

 comes on, schools of cod work in toward the land, and 

 numbers are found in the traps, pounds and gill nets. 

 These shoal water fish, when taken with a hook and 

 line, act much livelier than when they are in derp water, 

 so that a 10 or 15-pounder makes considerable fight before 

 he is landed. The right conditions for this kind of fish- 

 ing are the four nights before and the two after the full 

 of the moon in the months of October and November, 

 with a clear sky and not too much sea running. 



In the outfit, any kind of boat not likely to drown you 

 will do; linen tautog lines, with rather small-sized Har- 

 rison bass hooks, two on each line, with respectively 24 

 and 30in. snoods, sinker weighing 3 or 4oz. In bait, 

 fresh menhaden, herring, small fish, lobster or clams. 

 - Start in the evening, soon, after daylight has gone and 



I 



as the moon is well up. Go from one-third to two-thirds 

 as far from the shore as you would fish in tbe daytime. 

 Keep the hooks about 3ft. from the bottom in from 5 to 

 10 fathoms of water. There is a weird excitement in 

 this kind of fishing found in no other. You hear the 

 distant cry of the bittern and night heron, notice the 

 phosphorescent trail made by some stray shark or big fish 

 as he plunges by, watch the long ground swell, until it 

 Beems as if it were really alive, and with the swash of 

 the sea on shore you by this time have a mighty sharp 

 bite from a cod and he does not at all resemble a log as 

 you pull, but tries his best to get away until landed. 

 During the fishing a spine dogfish or so investigates; then 

 comes a peculiar kind of bite and, as you look over, there 

 is something alongside that reminds you of the mouth of an 

 old-fashioned carpet bag with nails on end stuck around 

 the edge: this is a goose or bellows fish, whose use, as 

 yet, has not been found out. Now you think you have 

 got fast to the bottom but soon find it is a skate about 

 4ft. across, which comes up slowly in circles, having by 

 prowb'ng around got a hook in one* of his nutneroim outer 

 edges. Then by fishing about half way to the bottom 

 you can catch quantities of frost fish or whiting. Codfish 

 are more numerous inshore and bite better during the 

 night than in the daytime. If after you are through 

 fishing you still wish for more excitements just catch a 

 sea wrong, or rather let it catch you right, as you land on 

 the beach, and you will get enough in the next few 

 seconds to last well into the morning. 

 New Bediobd, Mass. Willard Nye, Jr. 



"WITH FLY-ROD AND CAMERA." 



CONTENTS OF CHAPTER I. 



Our First Night on the River— How to See a Salmon in a Deep 

 Pool— Spearing and Gill-Netting Discussed and Condemned— 

 Cape Breton Salmon Spearing-Hard Luck— The Boy Told a 

 Straight Story- Destruction Caused by Seining— A Startling 

 Splash in the Pool— Fly-Fishing by Moonlight for Trout and 

 Salmon— The Delights of Angling-The Difference. Between 

 the True Sportsman and the Fish Killer— The JVliraruic.hi and 

 its Tributaries— Some Fishery Statistics— Changes in the Life 

 of the Salmon— Did You ever See a Female Grilse? -How to 

 Drag a Salmon Fly— Favorite Flies— Habits of the Salmon- 

 Kelts are Unfit for Food. 



CONTENTS OF CHAPTER II. 



An Early Cast— Silver Doctors-Cover the Water Thorooghly- 

 A Big Sea Trout— Lively Times— How to Cook a Trout— An 

 Admirable Cast— Another Salmon Hooked and Lost— Fly 

 P'ison in DemRiid— Bluek Flies on the MagaUnway— A Rough 

 Experience— Playing a Drift Tree Top— Two Fish Hooked and 

 Both Saved— A Great Struggle— The Cup that Cheers— We As- 

 cend to the Fifth Pool— Queer Characters Who Go a-Fisbing 

 —A Man who Wanted the Earth — Tealousv— Lake and Spotted 

 or Brook Trout Compared— Killing a Togue on the Fly— 

 Schoodic Fishing in Old Times— Picturesque. Sea Coast of 

 Maine— Land-locked Salmon— Ducks in Abundance— A Lively 

 Fish— Hooking a Pair of Land-locks— Trolling for Salmon- 

 Pickerel Fishing— How to Make a Bark Camp— "Fish Killers" 

 — Indian Traditions— A Plenty of Land-locks Left. 



CONTENTS OF CHAPTER III. 



A Bright Morning— Notions About Flies — A Nuisance of Sea 

 Trout— Another Salmon Hooked— Splendid Play— Dismay— 

 "Confound the Drift Wood!"— Philosophers— Killing the Fish 

 not all there is of Fishing— Kingfishers and Sheldrakes as 

 Pests on a Salmon or Trout River — it's a Wonder we have any 

 Salmon Left— A Salmon that has Long been in the River is 

 Shy on the Fly— The Phantom Minnow Used in Trolling for 

 Salmon— A Strange Lot of Fish— Aggravating Salmon— Ex- 

 citing Times— Worms as Bait for Salmon — A Strong Fish, and 

 a Contest Long to be Remembered— A Bad Mess— Retribut ion- 

 Rising to the Fly in Still Water— An Exciting Struggle— Vic- 

 tory— Fish in Abundance— Our Permanent Camp— Such Luck 

 as an Amateur Sometimes Has— Salmon that Played Me— 

 Fisherman's Luck. 



CONTENTS OF CHAPTER IV. 



A Choice of Routes to Cape Breton— Poor Mulgrave and the Gut 

 of Canso— St. Peter's Canal— The Beautiful Bras D'Or— All 

 About Sydney and Coal— The Success of the Sydney FiBh 

 Hatchery— Statistics of Cape Breton Salmon Breeding— Poor 

 Old Louisbourg— Baddock— A Delightful Trip to the Margaree 

 —Educated Trout— Success in Using a "Gray Mouse"— North- 

 east. Margaree— Abundance of Sea Trout— The Fishing Station 

 of Chetticamp— Work of the Fish Commissioners at Northeast 

 Margaree— Taking and Handling Salmon Eggs— Picturesque 

 Scenery on the Margaree— Lake Ainslee— A Celebrated Pool- 

 Outwitting Educated Fish— Wbykokomagh— A Most Enjoy- 

 able Sail— Abundance and Variety of Bird Life on Cape Breton. 



CONTENTS OF CHAPTER V. 



A Heavy Rain— Sounds of the Night— Fly-Fishing Sometimes 

 Good iu a Storm- A Great Catch— Trout, Ducks and Grebes 

 Exterminated by Pickerel-Ozone— Another Salmon Hooked- 

 Hopes and Fears— Disappointment— Hiram as a Fly-Caster— 

 More About Favorite Flies— A Handsome Trio— Hooked and 

 Saved— Frere Gets Another Fish— How the Country Boy 

 Angles for a Salmon— A Squirrel Skin Fly — A Great Catch— 

 The Jacquet Riv er in New Brunswick — Barclay's Hotel and 

 the Beach on the Baie des Chaleurs— Good Sport in Prospect— 

 A Summons from Hiram— Excitement— A Long Struggle- 

 Congratulations— A Pretty String of Sea Trout— Frere also 

 has Good Success— Sending out Fish to Friends— Trout Fishing 

 at the Rangeleys— Great Sport with Light Tackle— Hatching 

 Salmon Artificially a Great Success— The Operations at Dif- 

 ferent Hatcheries— Weir Owners Get the Cream— Our Anglers 

 the First to Uige the Artificial Stocking of Rivers and Lakes 

 —Statistics of Salmon Fisheries— Poachers Growing More 

 Reckless— Surface Fishing Cannot Exterminate the Fish- 

 Habits of the Salmon— Conjectures Concerning the Identity 

 of the Sea Trout— All About Lakes Edward and St. John— 

 The. Home of the Winninish— Great Rivers in the North— Is 

 the Winninish a Landlocked Salmon? —Dimensions and 

 Weight of the Schoodic Salmon. 



CONTENTS OF CHAPTER VI. 



The Last Day in Camp— Spawning Habits of the Salmon— Salmon 

 Runs-The Sea Trout, its Gameness, its Identity— The Winni- 

 nish— Lake Edward— Lake St. John and its Fishing— The 

 Perihonca and the Ashuapmouchouan Rivers— The Land- 

 Locked Salmon. 



CONTENTS OF CHAPTER VOX 



The Morning of Our Last Day on the River— A Rise in the River- 

 Long Casts— Excellence of the Split-Bamboo Rod— About Fly- 

 Casting Tournaments— Excitement in Running Rapids— A 

 Rise— An Exciting Struggle— A Stubborn Salmon— Landed in 

 a Novel Manner— Great Sport— Charms Attending the Angler's 

 Life— Beautiful Thoughts on Angling by Different Authors- 

 Retrospective Angling— At the Third Pool Again— A Narrow 

 Escape from an Accident — A Souvenir— Frere Rises a Good 

 Fish— A Grand Battle— Triumph— Give tiie Guides a Chance- 

 Hiram Rises a Salmon and Lands it after a Short Struggle- 

 Notional People are Guides— William has his Inning Also— 

 Valedictory, 



Forest ANP Stream, the weekly gentleman sportsman's jour- 

 nal, comes to hand every week rich in reading that is not only 

 real in its delineations of those noble, invigorating and health- 

 giving recreations of which it is the advocate, but clean and pure 

 in its tone. The dog jockey and fish liar extraordinary having 

 been eliminated from its columns, there remains only meat for 

 the true sportsmen. Its natural history department is always 

 entertaining for both young and old; and the ladies often find a 

 diversion in its columns. This journal can go into any household. 

 The last number announces some very clever articles in the near 

 future.— Readers'' Union Journal. 



While one of the guests at Innimore Lodge, Mull, Scot- 

 land, was salmon fishing in the Colleader River, a grouse 

 rose behind him as he was casting back his line. He hooked 

 the bird, and, after playing it for some time, succeeded in 

 bagging it. 



