458 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[June 2S, 1891. 



DOGS THAT CAUGHT CRABS. 



IHA.VE seen mention in the Fokest and Stream of one 

 dog that caught suckers and another with a prefer- 

 ence for catnsh. It seems a singular thing for a dog to 

 develop a taste for fishing, but then the accomplishments 

 of the good ail-around dog are many, and I feel sure he 

 has one or more surprises to spring upon us one of these 

 days. I do not for a moment doubt either of these dog- 

 fishing stories, for I oace knew tvyo dogs that took great 

 delight in catching crabs, not soft crabs, but lusty, hard 

 ones, capable of making a good fi.ght. 



When about twelve years of age I used to spend my 

 vacations at a large farm on a tributary of the Chesa- 

 peake Bay. Besides myself there was another boy and 

 two dogs at this house, the other boy, like me, staying 

 for his vacation, while the dogs were permanent members 

 of the family. One of the dogs was a large Newfound- 

 land, as all black, shaggy water dogs are commonly 

 called, and the other was one of those medium-sized, 

 puzzlmg combinations of short hair and no particular 

 color — probably an all-around dog, at least as far as con- 

 cerned his breeding. One day I noticed the large dog 

 wading about in the shallow water at the foot of the yard 

 and evidently searching for something. I found that he 

 was looking for crabs. When a crab was discovered he 

 would prance around it, and after making several 

 attempts seize it in his mouth and bring it up on the 

 beach, and then play with it, much as a cat does with a 

 mouse, until the poor crab was either dead or helplessly 

 exhausted. He seemed to do this for the mere sport of 

 the thing, barking all the time in a tone that denoted 

 excitement rather than anger. He never ate the crabs 

 after killing them. The crabs fought back to the best of 

 their ability, and it was often difficult to say which had 

 the tightest grip, dog or crab, for the crab would fasten 

 on to some portion of the dog's mouth with both of his 

 powerful pinchers and it would require much shaking 

 before he would drop off. 



Here was a great find for us boys. Some distance be- 

 low the house was a small cove. Here, secure from 

 observation, we would dip up crabs in a net and turn 

 them out in the shallow water of a sandbar for the dotrs 

 to fight. The smaller dog h-id no great love for the 

 water, but he was of such a pugnacious nature that he 

 readxly took a hand at the game when he found there 

 was fighting in it. We soon had him initiated. As for 

 the lai-ger dog, I tliink he picked up the accomplishment 

 through d iving after stones and oyster shells that were 

 thrown into the water for him. 



I must confess that I am now ashamed of the part I 

 took in this useless destruction of life simply for the 

 amusement of two boys and two dogs, but it is hardly 

 fair 10 hold a boy responsible for all the misdeeds oppoi'- 

 tunity and the devil suggest. W. L. Hall. 



FISH OF MAINE WATERS. 



THIE trouting season in northern New England and 

 Canadian waters is at a standstill for the present. 

 The black flies and mot^quitoes have the field. Sports- 

 men lately returned complain bitterly of their fierceness, 

 and say they have never seen them worse. Mr. N. G. 

 Manson, Jr., who has just returned from Eichardson 

 L^,ke, Me., where he has been to superintend the erection 

 of his camp on Cherrytree Point, tound the flies remark- 

 ably bad, with mo.<quitoes'f ar too plenty. He went with 

 the view of taking in some fly-fishing also, but the flies 

 kept him from trying but one day, and that a cool and 

 rainy one. Then he found trout abundant and rising 

 freely, but he and Oscar Cutting were driven from waters 

 and into the camp, after catctimg fourteen trout in a few 

 minutes' fishing. He finds that his lot is belter and more 

 sightly than hd at tu-st supposed. Back a few rods from 

 the witer he will get an elevation of some bOft. On this 

 ridge he propo-es to set his camp. 



The landlocked salmon season is proving to be a re- 

 markable one in all of the Maine waters. The catch at 

 Sebago was a good one, with some large fish. At last it 

 has been established that there are landlocked salmon in 

 Moosehead. The Commissioners put fry into these watfiv 

 six or seven years ago, but since that time very little has 

 been seen of tbem. Indeed it had come to be a popular 

 belief with sportsmen visiting Moosehead annually that 

 there were no landlocked saimon there. But the success 

 of Mrs. Barber, of Madison avenue. New York, who has 

 betn there with the Rev. Dr. "Van Dyke, has changed the 

 notion. She has landed a landlocRfed salmon at North- 

 west Carry that weighed 4jlb3. This salmon, as suggested 

 above, must be about six years old. 



Mr. Bateman, ex city architect of Boston, naturally 

 feels very proud of his Lnndl eked salmon, mf^ntion of 

 which has already been made in the i^ OREST and Streaji. 

 He feels proud of it because it is the largest fi^h of that 

 epeciea that has ever been taken below the Upjaer Dam — 

 8|lbs. He feels proud of it because he took it with a fly, 

 since the theory has all aiong been that landlocked 

 salmon would not rise to the fly, neither in theEangeley 

 Lakes nor in the Sdbago waters, though rising freely in 

 the proper season at other Maine waters. Commissioner 

 Sta*iley has always persisted that landlocked salmon 

 would rise, under proper conditions, and now it is proved 

 that in the pool below the Upper Dam they will rise. 

 Mr Bateman at first supposed that he had a big trout on 

 his hook, and inrieed c jnlinued to think so till the huge 

 fish begun to make tremenaous ri^es out of water and 

 into the air. An excited eye witness suggests that the 

 fish went out of water loft, at a lunge. When xdr. Bate- 

 man found that he had a salmon on his fly, in his own 

 words, it took the strength aU out of him. When the 

 fish was landed, after a fight ot over an hour, Mr. Bite- 

 man was a happy man. It proved to be a male fish, with 

 a ti emend ous hook on the lower jaw, indicative of the 

 breeding season. It was shown in Appieton's window in 

 Boston, and is to be mounted. 



In the upper Rangeley waters also they are getting land- 

 locked salmon. Judge W. P. Whitehou-fe, of Augusta, 

 Me., is ahead with a salmon weighing logins., which fish 

 gave him a most remarkable fight. It also beats the 

 record of salmon in Rangeley waters. He came out of 

 the water four times before yielding to the rod. The wind 

 was blowing a gale at the time the fish was hooked, and 

 though the Judge is an expert with the rod, it seemed as 

 thdugh he was to by beaten. Reports say that it was two 

 hours and fifty live minutes from the time the fish was 

 hooked till he was landed. Mr. Wbitehouse also took a 

 4jlb. Salmon, and another of the Timberlake party took 

 one of 4J.bs. 



Commissioner Stanley is reported to have said that 

 nearly twice as many landlocked salmon have been taken 

 at Weld Pond this year as usual. A young lawyer from 

 Dixfield has taken one weighing 6^1bs., and others have 

 done almost as well. In this connection it will not be out 

 of pl-ice to say that the comoiission has planted about 

 100.000 landlocked salmon at Sebago and Rangeley this 

 year. The clubs at Rangeley and Lake Awburn have 

 raised some 300,000 trout, and these the commissioners 

 have assisted them in planting. At Orland the Govern- 

 ment has about 1130 000 young salmon. These will be 

 kept till one year- old, or better able to take care of them- 

 selves, and then they will be turned into streams in the 

 State below the pulp mills, or at such points as to be out 

 of the influence of the deadly pulp chemicals. The interest 

 in fishing in Maine waters is increasing very rapidly, and 

 something must be done to kepp up the supply. Commis- 

 sioner Stilwell feels very badly about the attitude of the 

 pulp manufacturers in regard to the salmon interest. He 

 is better pleased with the results of the salmon fishing at 

 Bangor this year than last, however. 



Mr. .John Fottler, Jr , of Boston, and secretary of the 

 American Seed Trade Association; Alden Spear, president 

 of the Boston C nam ber of Commerce, and Mr, W.Bar- 

 bour, of New York, have gone salmon fishing on a tribu- 

 tary of the St, John, at Gaspe, P. K. They will be absent 

 several weeks, and expect to find some excellent fishing. 

 The salmon stream is a noted one, controlled by Mr. Fot- 

 tler and Ivers W. Adams. They are soon to erect com- 

 modious camps and make other improvements. 



The members of the Kineo Club have returnpd from 

 their annual trout fishing trip to Moosehead. They are 

 thoroughly browned from the effects of their outing, and 

 report a splendid time, though the fishing was not quite 

 up to their expectations, especially the fly-fishing for 

 brook trout. SPECIAL. 



A NEW MINNOW BUCKET. 



ANEW andingeninus minnow bucket has been patented 

 by Mr. Thos. M. Dtrrah, of Wheeling, W. Va. The 

 contrivance consists of two buckets, one contained within 

 tlip other. The outer has no peculiarities. The inner is 

 of perforated sheet metal or wire-cloth, with a hollow 

 compartment or air-space above. This air-space causes 

 the bucket to float, and when the angler has reached his 



fishing grounds he sets it into the stream or lake and it 

 floats on the surface while the water passes freely through 

 it. A false bottom is raised by rods, which pass up 

 through the air chamber portion; by this means the min- 

 nows are lifted u p lo the top of the water and there you have 

 them for selection. Still another and smiller recepta- 

 cle is hinged to the minnow bucket and fits snugly within 

 it; this is. for crawfish or frogs. Altogether Mr. Darrah's 

 device is handy, compact and calculated to add materi- 

 ally to the fisherman's convenience. With an aerating 

 attachment the thing would be complete. 



SURPRISES WITH TROUT. 



A BROOK TROUT thirteen inches long is somewhat 

 i-X pretty nice. While not exactly rare, such catches 

 are much less common than generally supposed. When 

 an enthusiastic disciple tells of a recent big catch, "sev- 

 eral of them runnint^ over a foot," unless you know the 

 man— know him tolerably well, in fact— it will be safe to 

 set the limit at llin. Of course, it will often happen 

 that, knowing the man, one wdl be inclined to diacotmt 

 an inch or two more. A funny thing about these whop- 

 pers is that they are often taken from whence least ex- 

 pected, and by means of apparatus in whose company the 

 angler, properly so called, would feel very unconifort- 

 able. 



The other day a little urchin hooked a 13-inch trout 

 from a raceway running through the heart of this largest 

 village in Orange county. Like a true son of Yankee- 

 dom, the lad took the unexpected as a matter of course. 

 Plenty of scientific anglers will repeatedly during the 

 season whip our trout-abounding streams without land- 

 ing any where near so fine a fish. Yet look at the bfy's 

 gear. Not the little birchen rod and horsehair line of the 

 simple urchin, but a last year's bean pole, a few yards of 

 eel line, with a hook of generous dimensions, the lure 

 being a fat angleworm. An onlooker of betting jiroclivi- 

 ties would have been willing to stake gold against cor>per 

 that no fish of sufficient ferocity to tackle that formidable 

 bait ever ventm-ed into the artificial waterway. 



The_ writer's experience admonishes against wagers of 

 this kind. I was under eight when I took my first trout. 

 He was a large one and pulled so violently on the line 

 that I let him have it; however, the fates had it that he 

 should not escape. The scene was a farm in May many 

 years ago, where unmixed with drudgery life was full of 

 joyous mcident. A streamlet ran within a few yards of 

 the kitchen door, the flow from a few near by springs. 

 At a boertfy spot an old log lay half buried in the soil; 

 under this the water passed forming a deep hole which 

 swarmed with minnows. 



One day I lay upon this log fishing for chubs with hook 

 and line but no pole. The Ime was a three-stranded braid 



of grocer's wrapping twine. The hook was a largish one, 

 and as the game were small, I had to depend on sight to 

 tell when one of the nibblers took hold of the bait in just 

 the right way. The current kept drawing the bait under 

 the log, where finally a fish "as was a fish" seized it. 



After the first tremendous jerk the line was still. I had 

 distinctly seen the whisk of a broad tail, but not know- 

 ing the anatomy of that animal I thought I had hooked a 

 muskrat. I lowered my face almost to the surface of the 

 water to look under the log. To my horror I beheld a 

 great fish darting, as I thought, straight for my nose. I 

 threw back my head with a yell that brought my mother 

 on the scene. The string had slipped from my hand, and 

 a rod or two further down we discovered the splendid 

 fish turning and struggling among some prunings which 

 had been thrown into the water and in which the line 

 had become tangled. Encouraged by my mother I waded 

 in and secured my first trout. I never saw another ti-out, 

 large or small, in that stream. 



A short distance from where I hved the main brook 

 that ran through the hollow was crossed by the highway, 

 and here on almost any day throughout the summer 

 several large trout might be seen leisurely pulling against 

 the stream in the deep water under the bridge. These 

 trout utterly disdained the baited hook. When it came 

 near them they quietly moved aside. Throw a stone at 

 them and they darted into the wall of the bridge, only to 

 apppar a few minutes later further down, gradually 

 working up to their favorite position. 



I had spent a great many hours the previous summer 

 watching the maneuvers of these mysterious trout. 

 Shortly after the capture of the big trout as above related, 

 I secured a pole about as flexible as a i-ailroad tie. Hav- 

 ing lengthened my braided line I tied it on and went to 

 the bridge. The water was slightly roily and in greater 

 volume than I was accustomed to see. Trout were dis- 

 cernible under the bridge, but I saw several just below. 

 Standing on the bridge I baited in plain sight and lowered 

 the pole almost perpendicularly. As the bait approached 

 the group of fish one of the largest leisurely moved for- 

 ward and took it. An instant later he was wriggling in 

 the dusty road. I never was able to do it again, though 

 I trif d many and many a time. 



One more and I have done. "It was in the bleak De- 

 cember," or possibly November. The frost had not yet 

 struck into the ground, although the air was cold and 

 flurries of snow had already made then- appearance. The 

 owner of the adjoining farm was a spiritualist, and 

 under the guidance of mediums had sunk a number of 

 shafts in quest of minerals. Not far from the line fence 

 one of these was begun, but had to be abandoned on ac- 

 count of striking a. spring. The result was a wide pit 

 with several feet of water, which had an escape under 

 ground and appeared again in a spring further down the 

 slope. Of course this was no place to fish, but I was just 

 wise enough to know that the principal reason wliy I 

 was so forciby enjoined against going to the place was 

 fear that I might fall into the water. My father was 

 plowing in the adjoining field when I cautiously ap- 

 proached the pit and looked down. What I saw did not 

 much surprise me; indeed it rather served to strengthen 

 certain private convictions of my own. On the yellow 

 sand through which the water was bubbling up lay a 

 larere black trout. I ran home for my tackle and got the 

 fish with the first cast. 



Hurrying to my father I exhibited the trophy in 

 triumph. He was incredulous, and leaving the horses 

 accompanied me to the pit. After hearing my explana- 

 tion he took the fish from my hand with an expression 

 of disgust, flung it into the midst of a patch of briers, 

 and without comment returned to his work. I never 

 quiteunderstood whether he disbelieved me or thought 

 there was something uncanny about the trout, which 

 was strangely dark-colored, owing probably to some 

 property of the water. 



How did the fish come to be there? Possibly he man- 

 aged to wriggle from the talons of some bird of prey and 

 chancpd to reach the water before being retrieved. The 

 fish hawks frequently drop small fish on which no trace 

 of talons are v sible. B. F. Henlev. 



Port Jjjhvis, N. Y. 



R. R. GUIDES AND FISHING RESORTS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



On May 11 there appeared in the New York Times a 

 letter over the signature of a IMr. G irdner Ladd Plumley 

 warning the public against our sporting book known as 

 "Fishing and Shooting." It is the aim of this company 

 to give reliable information to the public and not to pub- 

 lish anything that is hable to mislead them. Mr. Plum- 

 ley called here before he rushed into print with his 

 grievances, and I explained to him that if the informa- 

 tion as given in our guide book was wrong and we could 

 be so convinced, we would only be too glad to change it 

 in subsequent issues of the book; but in order to ascertain 

 how near correct he was I wrote to our general passenger 

 agent, who in turn refen-ed the matter to a Mr. W. R. 

 White, barrister at Pembroke, Ont., who lives in the im- 

 mediate neighborhood of Bissett's Creek, and who is a 

 noted sportsman and thoroughly familiar with all the 

 streams in that part of the country, and I beg to give you 

 below his reply: 



Mr. O. McKav, Company's Agent at B'ssPtt's Creek, has asked 

 me to writfi you respecting the inclosed file of correspiadence. I 

 have fished t Bissett's Creek with a friend for years bafk and 

 have always had ver' g^od sport indeed. It mav be a littJe over 

 ihe marli to say the trout average a pound, but I have taken a 

 gieat many trout weighing a pound and over a pound. The 

 majority of tbe irout run from half a pound to a pound. I am 

 sppuking now of the waters within two or three miles of the 

 station. Some seven or eight milps further up The creek trout are 

 frequently taken over a pound, so that the average in taking the 

 whole stream in 'o consideration may be taken at about a pound. 

 I do not know who Mr. Plumley's Pemhroke correspondent 1p, but 

 this I can say, namely, that Mr. J, H. Burritt, barrister ■ f Pem- 

 broke, and myself ^ ave done more flstiing in Bissett's Ureek than 

 any one in this vicinity, and Mr. Barritt will if necessary corrob- 

 or -te my statements. Bissett's Creek is not a small wooded brook 

 from 12 to 20tt- wide, but is a good broad rushing stream that in 

 Ulster Hnd .Sullivan counties would no doubt be called a river. I 

 should say the average width of the stream would be from 50 to 

 l.')Oft.. with good rapid-flowing shallow watf r, with deep pools, 

 good wading and plenty of room to make as long a cast as I am 

 satisfied Mr. Plumley would wish. If Mr. Plumley is really desir- 

 ous of getting hold of monstrous trout, whi- h seems to be his aim, 

 you can say to him thnt the war.ers round here are fairly packea 

 with them, many of them weighing 2 to i%\bs. 



From this you will readily see that the party to whom 

 Mr Plumley addressed his letter has evidently been try- 

 ing to mislead him. E. V. Sionnek, Gen. East. Agt. 



OHBTCfi Canadian Pacifc Rt^ Co., New York, June 30. 



