May M, 1891.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



333 



THE PIKE FAMILY.-III. 



[Concluded fivm Page 233.'] 



THE series of brief sketches of the pikes will be closed 

 with a statement of an easy way of distinguish 

 ing between the important groups of the family and a 

 shore account of the niuscal(in.c,e (Esox noljilior). I am 

 aware that some of my ichliiyological associates are now 

 writing the name Eso.x mas'iuinongy. but as Mitchill's 

 description of the masquinongy or maskinonge, is inac- 

 cessible to me, and there is good reason to doubt its per- 

 tinence to the mu -calongp, I prefer not to change a name 

 so well identified with the sijecies as Thompson's name 

 Esox nohiUor. This paper does not include a discussion 

 of the common nure of the fish for the very good reason 

 that I am not satisfied as to its original orthography and 

 would rather take up the subject when my information 

 is more nearly complete. While on this topic I will say 

 that Mr. H, W. Henshaw. etljnologist of the Bureau of 

 Ethnology, Washington, D. C , has written me the fol- 

 lowing note: "The word matkinonge appears to be an 

 Ojibwa or Cree word, hoth of them being Algonkian 

 tribes. It is derived from 

 the word mask, meaning 

 ugly or disfigured, ami ki- 

 TCongff?, meaning fish." FOR- 

 EST AND Stream has held 

 to the name muscalonge, 

 which, I am inclined to be- 

 lieve, will eventually be 

 considered a corruption of 

 the original Indian name of 



the specie.s but until we '''.4 

 know the correct spelling 

 of the Algonkian term we 

 will gain nothing by sub- 

 stituting one doubtful ap- 

 pellation for another. 



A matter of probably 

 greater importance to him 

 who goes a fishing is some 

 clue to the way of distin- 

 guishing the various species 

 of the pike family at sight, 



and herewith follows a short description of the musca- 

 longe and a concise key to the main groups of the Esoc - 

 idee, of which it is a conspicuous and famous member. 



The muscalonge (Fig. 1) is a stout-bodisd fish with a 

 lar^e head, the head equalling more than one-quarter of 

 tue length without the tail, and the depth about one sixth, 

 It is stated to reacli a length of Sft. 



distinguished from the muscalonge by its coloration, the 

 epots being paler than the ground color of the body. The 

 sides are gray or dusky and with numerous oblong or 

 roundish white spots. The dorsoJ, anal and caudal fins 

 are black-spotted. la Ih e young tlie white spots are more 

 or less confluent, forming oblique sl:,reaks or bars. 



The i^ickei el (Fig 4) has lr)tli the cheeks and the opercles 

 fully scaled. In tho lai gest of the species, reticulatus, 

 the aides are usually greejiish and covered with a net- 

 work of narrow dark lines. Sometimes the reticulations 

 are wanting in this pickerel, givins; the fish a imique 

 appearance. The U^-o niii-illor .-pcci?s mentioned in the 

 preceding papers (i'e>'imc'ilal.iis and ciYiierimims) are dif- 

 ferent in coloration from the relic ulahrs, or common 

 pickerel, but agreo with this in having the cheeks and 

 opercles entirely scaled. 



Thk MuscAtONOE (Fia. 1). 

 Distribution.— -Tlv^ inn icalonge inhabits the Great Lake 



region and nortl; 

 itely fixed. It 

 and Professor L 



i thern limit; not being defin- 

 -i.ouaily in the Ohio Valley, 

 ids a specimen taken in Con- 



ANGLING NOTES. 



LAST Friday and Saturday several parties started for 

 the Adirondacks, having received word from their 

 guide that the ice was out. This is remarkably early, 

 and as there has been but little rain, the chances are in 

 favor of their having excellent fishing. One of the great- 

 est drawbacks to the early fishing generally is the high 

 water, but it looks as if everything was favorable this 

 spring. 



Mr. Harry Green reports the fishing on the Bushkill 

 very good this season. He says he saw five deer cross 

 the stream while he was fishing one day last week. So 

 there are still a few deer left in Pike cotmty. Last season 

 it was reported that they had been pretty 'well extermin- 

 ated in that section. 



FiG. 2. Head of Muscalonge, 



(Lower ba1f of cheeks and opercles naked.) 



The dorsal has 17 rays, the anal 15, and there are abcut 

 150 scales in the lateral line. The scales on the cheeks 

 and opercles are large — much larger in proportion than 

 in any other member of the pike family. By reference 

 to the illustration (Fig. 2), it will be seen that the lower 



Fia. 3. Head of Pike. 

 (Ctieeks scaly. Lower aalf of opercles naked.) 



parts of the cheeks and opercles have no scales. This is 

 one of the best distinguishing marks between the musca- 

 longe and all other fishes of its family. 

 _ The color of the muscalonge is usually dark gray, some- 

 times without spots, as in the variety immaculahis de- 



FiG. 1. The Muscalonge {Esox nobilior). 

 (All the figures are froin "Fishery Industries, U. S.") 



neaught Lake, Crawford county, Pa., measuring 17in, in 

 circumference behind the eyes." In Like Erie among the 

 favorable localities for mu'calonge are Dunkirk and 

 Barcelona, New York, Erie. Pa,, and iViiirs Grove, Ohio. 

 Id Sandusky Bay and at Kelly's Island some large ex- 

 amples have been taken. The species is comparatively 

 scarce in this lake. In Lake Ontario Cape Vincent is 

 is one of the noted places for this fish. Clayton, N. Y., 

 furnished good fishing last summer, and Theresa, on 

 Indian River, was a good locality. At the southern end 

 of Green Bay the nmscalonge was i-eported common by 

 Mr. Kumlien nearly ten years ago. In wdnter the species 

 is fovnid in Lake Michigan in the vicinity of Eacine, Wis. 

 Coolidge, Wis., has furnished excellent fishing in July. 

 In the southeastern part of Lake Michigan only large 

 individuals are reported to occur. It is said to be rare 

 throughout the Straits of Mackinaw, but common at Les 

 Cheneanx Islands. The Missitquoi River, at Highgate, 

 Vt , lias yielded soms fine nriuscalonge. From the evi- 

 dence before us the muscal-nge is not remarkably abund- 

 ant in any part of the Great Lake region. It seems to be 

 not gre.garious, but occurs for the most part in pau's. It 

 has the reputation of being the largest game fish in the 

 fresh waters of the Uniied :?'ates. " This statement, how- 

 ever, takes no account of several anadromous species 

 which spend a considerable portion of their time in the 

 ftesh waters. Among: the large examples recorded are 

 the following: In 1864 Mr. Fred Alvord announced his 

 capture of a siiecimen in Maumee Bay which weighed 

 85, bj'., and in 1^(35 Mr. Schultz claimed to have seined a 

 muscalonge in the old harbor at Milwaukee weighing 

 lOOlbs. The species reaches a length of 8ft., and 

 individuals weighing SOlhs. are moderately common. 

 Mitchill described a specimen 47in. long, which weighed 

 rJUlbs. The average length of the sprcies is about Sft. 

 ^ Habits.— L\hQ the other members of the pike family 

 he muscalonge j>reys upon smaller fishes, and its sm-- 

 passing size and strength, as well as its voracious dispo- 

 sition, combine to make it one of the tyrants of the fresh 

 \ aters. We have already alhtded to its occurrence com- 

 monly in pairs. Richardsrn states that in the spa^vning 

 season in small rivers falling into Lake Simcoe it feeds 

 upon small fishes and upon small gelatinous green balls 

 which grow on the sides of banks under the -water. He 

 wj- informed that spawning takes place in the spring. 

 Lu t.'Iiautauqna Lake, New York, Mr. Monroe Green, su- 

 ' 1 ^ ij en t of the C i ledonia hatchery, obtained the eggs 

 - ins in April and May. Oiithel9lhof AjotI, 

 - e female furnished 60,000 ega;s. At this time 



Che L L- j i.aUire of i'^e vr:-±pr ranged from 40 to 46% and 

 very few of the t, i'lierl. In Ma v of the same 



year 44 females v.- , _ Atl:e samo lake and 103.000 



eggs were securtii. r; u_1a ■ . r;ch 15,000 fry -were deposited 

 Mav 27. The temperature of the water ranged from 46 



There are a good many members now visiting Bloom- 

 ing Grove Park, and they are having great sport with 

 the big speckled trout that were turned into Lake Giles 

 last winter. The executive committee very wisely passed 

 a rule prohibiting any mem- 

 ber from killins more than 

 five in any one day, so as to 

 give every one a chance at 

 them. The club has pur- 

 chased two miles more of 

 the Shehola, thus securing 

 ati excellent stretch of fly- 

 fishing water. 



There were quite a num- 

 ber of small striped bass 

 taken last week in Coney 

 Island Creek and one of 

 over 181bs. was shown that 

 was caught near the mouth 

 of Shrewsbury River. One 

 fisherman, I believe it was 

 the same gentleman that 

 caught the 201b. striped bass 

 at Tarrytown, had his line, 

 etc, carried off by a large 

 bass; as they have taken them in nets this spring ttpward 

 of 401bs, in weight it shows that they are there, but, of 

 course, people who fish in the Hudson are not rigged for 

 bass of that size. 



Large weakfish have appeared on the stands in market, 

 they were, of course, netted— probably near Fire Island. 

 Bluefish are plenty off the Delaware coast. 



Frozen fish have had their day. The best restaurants 

 and hotels have about made up their minds not to pur- 

 chase them, as their guests do nrjt like them. I wonder 

 that people eat them at all, for of all tasteless trash frozen 

 fish is the worst, except perhaps frozen game, which is 

 not tasteless by any means; it would be better if it were. 



C. Fuller sends word that good-sized blackfish are plen- 

 tiful in Broad Channel. 



On 



n=h th.f 



to 60 

 of the 



great dihicuii 

 Mr. Jonathan 

 :i tlieni 1 

 plac 



>ut 4fl 



, ui ; 



size and great strength 

 c;__;s wab attended with 

 ic eggs of the muscalonge 

 s la charge of the work, 

 from the l>ottom of the 

 33 IStt. deep, and in 



FiG. 4. Head of Pickerel. 



(Cheeks and opercles completely scaled.) 



scribed by General Garrard, but generally with roundish, 

 distinct or confluent dark spots about the size of buck- 

 shot. The color of the sides is often bluish .gray, as in 

 the vaiiety above mentioned. The fins are black-spotted, 

 the lower parts of the body pale. The eye of the mus- 

 calonge is com paratively small, only one-fom"th to one- 

 fifth as long as the snout. 



The pike (Fig. 3) has the cheeks fuUy scaled and the 

 Ipwjsr Jiaji of tlje ppercles naked. It may be still further 



this way ho .-ucceooed bt^tier tiian l)v his former experi- 

 ment of batching them in jars or travs. 



Parker Gillrnoro, in a recent issue of Land and Water, 

 gives a description of muscalonge tishuia- m which he 

 mentions his success with spoon bail aiul wjLh a unique 

 lure consisting of the tad of a young br(j wn calf. The 

 shank or tn*' hook \'.-,is (lasscd up through the center of 

 the tail 1 'd 1 I I [■ I -v,.\cl. to which a foot of strong 

 giui]) was atiaclico. ILh lOfMii ions the use of the musk 

 from the muskrat by on*^ of lus iiulian guides to increase 

 tlie attraciiveness of tins .smguhir tlsli lure. 



lu tli'^ ^ji-^iMluoi Ki\<-i at le ^^t.. a correspon- 



dent of Forest and Strea:u killed several fine musca- 



longe on 

 191 bs., broi 

 work to br 



a lie:' 



lod. One of them, weighing 

 - aon and cost a half hour's 

 ir a full and grapliic ac- 

 ui 1 ur.. . ..oiige the readers of Forest 

 •.vill refer to E. Hough's interesting articles, 

 iy -d, 10 and 17, 1890. T. HI Bean, 



Game Pkotector Bradlet, of the Eighth District, 

 was reinstated by the New '5^ork Fish Commissioners at 

 their meeting last Tuesday. 



The reports from the Beaverkill and Neversink rivers 

 are very conflicting. The majority of anglers complain 

 that they had practically no fishing, while two or three 

 others report excellent sport. There is no question if 

 anglers would only wait until settled warm weather, they 

 would enjoy better fishing. May loth to the 20th is early 

 enough for the mountain streams, and those who go be- 

 fore that are disappointed nine times otxt of ten, 



Scarlet-Ibis, 



DIDN'T WANT THE TROUT. 



BEFORE the close of the trout season last year one of 

 otir enthusiastic anglers went out on Beaver Creek 

 to make a few farewell casts. He ga.thered in a few speci- 

 mens, and in his wanderings ran across a shallow pool of 

 a spring brook that made into the creek— he doesn't re- 

 veal the exact locality of the spot — in which could be 

 seen a large number of big trout, that would run 

 from .]lb. to lilbs. On accidentally making this breath- 

 taking discovery he dropped down "out of sight and held a 

 council of war with himself preparatory to a regular 

 siege. He first went into action with an angleworm 

 which wriggled temijtingly on the treacherous hook. He 

 cast repeatedly across the pool, and lei the worm float 

 down the rift into the pool, all to no purpose. Then the 

 fly- book came out and a temi^ting cast was put on. These 

 fluttered down upon the surface of the water, but there 

 was no i-esponsive tug or splash. These lords of the 

 crystal element would come up and give the bait a play- 

 ful cuff with their tails, as much as to say, "Do you take 

 me for a sucker?" Ane-leworms, flies, grasshoi^pers, every 

 available lure, was spurned by these aristocrats. Then 

 it was that our exasperated sportsman pulled off his coat 

 and shoes and prepared for a hand-to-hand encounter; 

 but the pool, though it seemed of insignificant propor- 

 tions, was just large enough to prevent Ms cornering 

 them. "Thou art so near and yet so far." So thought 

 oirr fisherman as he desperately splashed around in the 

 water over the slippery stones. After a siege of three 

 hours he started for home philosophising that it would 

 be decidedly unsportsmanlike to take a lot of ti'out off 

 their spawning beds. S. 



BhOOK FIELD, N. Y. 



A Hatosome Catalogue.— We have received from Mr, 

 W. J. Cummins, Bishop Auckland, England, a copy of 

 the tenth edition of his catalogue entitled "Fishmg and 

 Fishing Tackle," with which is a supplementary xjrice 

 list, dated April, 1891. This catalogue is a very handsome 

 publication, and while the greater part of the 1 12 pages 

 which it contains is devoted to descrijjtions of various 

 angling appliances, it contains also a considerable amoxmt 

 of information on angling, especially in England and 

 Norway. One scarcely realizes without looking over a ■ 

 catalogue of this kind all the various articles that are in- 

 cluded in a complete outfit of an angler of the present 

 day. Rods, reels, lines, hooks and flies are, of course, 

 understood, but, besides these, there are half a hundred 

 articles and utensils, each one of which must appear an 

 absolute necessity to the enthusiastic fisherman. JVIr. 

 Cummins is an old advertiser of Forest and Stream and 

 it gives us pleasure to call attention to his handsome 

 catalogue. 



