Jm.T 16, 1891 J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



619 



THE DEADLY SPEAR AND SET-LINE. 



Editor Forest and Strcavii: 



Bass and pike fishing haf e been very poor here on the 

 Susquehanna, From one to six lights can be seen nearly 

 every night from spearing boats manned by people who 

 don't care to fish in a legal way. and say they cannot 

 catch fish with a rod and line/ Well, I guess that is 

 «,hout true, for between them and another gang that 

 makes a business of making a network of the river with 

 set-lines reaching from shore to shore, it is plain enough 

 that before long nobody ^txII be able to catch any, and 

 this helped along with now and then a fyke net and 

 seine. 



Is there some way to get at them? They claim to catch 

 only eels, catfish and suckers, and that they have a right 

 to spear them. I cannot find anywhere in the game and 

 fish laws of Pennslyvania, passed 1878-89, any such 

 privilege granted them. Of course, those fish are not 

 protected. They claim they don't catch or spear any 

 game fish, but that is not so, for I have foimd several 

 black bass that bad been speared— one that would have 

 weighed 4.rtbs,, the other nearly as much. They had 

 been speared and torn loose, or else had been thrown 

 away to keep them out of sight of the fish wardens, who 

 are doing all in their power to stop it. Two of them went 

 out and found some lines, but no owners; the lines were 

 baited vrith little stone catfish and angleworms, I assure 

 you those lines will not be set again, for the hooks were 

 unbaited and the lines cut in a hundred pieces, and before 

 this goes to press more of these deadly set lines will share 

 the same fate and the owners may have to settle besides. 

 Just think of it — line after line stretched across the river 

 with from 100 to 300 hooks baited with all kinds of 

 bass bait, and, with the spearing boats, the effect it will 

 have on our game fish can easily be foretold. It is not 

 only here, but above and below us as you ride along on 

 the train which follows the river for about one hundred 

 miles you can see most any night the lights from these 

 murdei'ous spearing boats. Perhaps even now some of 

 your old friends with their beautiful bronze back are 

 mutilated with the marks of the cruel spear; it may be 

 some old warrior that you had that fight with just below 

 there by that big rock last summer that you promised 

 yourself you wordd try next time you came down that 

 way. You are sure he would have weighed 51bs., and 

 now perhaps they have killed him as you would kill a 

 snake, without giving him a chance for his life. Is there 

 any way to stop this mode of catching fish? This river is 

 well adapted to bass with its rock and gravel bottom, over 

 which, in a good many places, the water runs very swift, 

 while in other places it is still and deep, so they can have 

 their choice. There will be plenty of fishing for all if 

 they were caught in a legal way. If we had some one 

 here like E. Hough to haul them over the coals as he did 

 those people in the Fox Lake region, through Fokest and 

 Stream, I think people would come to the conclusion that 

 it is time to use some means to stop it. A. V. E, 



TOWAND^, Pa. 



ANGLING NOTES. 



THE best score for salmon so far reported was made 

 by Mi. Miu-dock on the York Eiver. During three 

 weeks in June he killed forty fish averaging 31|lbs. 



Landlocked salmon are taken very well at Grand Lake 

 Stream, Maine, mostly by trolling. They are from 3 to 

 51bs. each in weight. 



Mr. Henry B. Hyde has just started on a grand fishing 

 trip through Canada, He takes his family in a special 

 car over the Canadian Pacific R. R, to the Pacific coast, 

 stopping at the Nipegon and other famous fishing places. 

 He expects to be gone about two months. 



Weakfish are fairly plenty, but bluefish and striped 

 bass are exceedingly coy and hard to please. It is inter- 

 esting to note in how many different ways the striped 

 bass are fished for. The fishermen along the Eastern 

 coast, at Newport, West Island, etc., use a short, stiff 

 rod, casting menhaden or lobster tail bait from raised 

 platforms into the ocean. Along the New Jersey coast 

 they generally cast from the beach, using white* or red 

 worms to attract the fish, and they consider it necessary 

 to have a 2 or 3oz. sinker on tlieii- line. In Barnegat Bay 

 a long bamboo "pole" without reel is the favorite, with a 

 light sinker and shedder crab bait. At Hell Gate the 

 bass are taken mostly by trolling at night with a hand- 

 line and a gang baited with sand worms. In the lower 

 Susquehanna River lajrge striped bass are taken by trol- 

 ling with a salted eel tail drawn over a No. 8 /0 sproat 

 hook. This makes a very tough and durable bait. So 

 that it seems as if every localitj' had some special way of 

 fishing, and from long experience the locai anglers gen- 

 erally know v?hat is best. 



Prof. Bickmore stai'ted on the Portia last Saturday for 

 Newfoundland, After visiting the different fishing sta- 

 tions on that coast and the coast of Labrador he intends 

 to cross the island from Humber to Exploits River. The 

 Professor will undoubtedly have some fine fishing, and 

 will return well posted about the sea trout, salmon, etc. 

 and will also probably learn something about the flies of 

 Newfoundland. 



chicken without a shudder. They had been taken from 

 the cold storage house and probably kept several days in 

 the restaurant. So while cold storage houses are im- 

 doubtedly a benefit in some resiDects, the sportsman re- 

 gards them as one of the greatest factors in the destruc- 

 tion of game fish. Scarlet-Ibis. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN GRAYLING. 



OMAHA, Neb., July 1.— Editor Forest and Stre.am: 

 With a great deal of interest I notice in your issue 

 of July 3 an article on the Rocky Mountain grayhng. 



The writer has met this gamy fellow frequently and 

 under varied circumstances, but'has never been able to 

 fully identify him, and being far distant from a railroad, 

 whenever an extra fine specimen worthy of sending to 

 such an authority as you are was caught, have been 

 unable lo ship one to you. I have caught this grayling 

 in sUeHuis in the Big Horn basin, in Wyoming, .and in 

 both forks of White River, in northwestern Colorado. 

 During the winter have seen him caught (although he 

 does not seem to be at all hungry then) through the ice 

 with a small piece of bullpout as bait. In tlie early 

 spring, during the first spring rise of the mountain 

 stream., I have had a good deal of pleasure with these fish 

 by casting below riflies (in the deep holes), using a very 

 light shot to sink the line a trifle, and with crawfish as 

 bait. From June, or after the streams clear after the 

 •ixme rise, they rise well to the fly. They have quite a 

 preference, at least so far as my experience goes, for the 

 brown-hackle, with a peacock body, and the royal-coach- 

 man. I have caught them weighing from 1 to 24lbs. 



During early August, and when the weather" is very 

 warm, these fish have a habit of becoming very sluggish 

 and sleeping in the quiet shallow water above the riflies. 

 When they become thus lazy the most tempting fly in the 

 world cannot induce them to stir, and the writer has fre- 

 quently touched a big fellow with the end of his rod. 

 This is a habit which has given them a bad reputation 

 among fellow casters whom I have met, but when the 

 Rocky Mountain grayling is once hooked he makes a 

 splendid fight. His flesh, though not so fine in quality as 

 that of Salmo fontinalis, is very deMcate in flavor. 



Big Horn. 



[If our correspondent will send us a dorsal fin of the fish 

 we can then be sure of its species.] 



Harj)er\'} Weekly lately devoted considerable space to 

 an flhustrated article booming the cold storage ware- 

 houses and mentioning the advantages of frozen fish and 

 game. I take it for granted that every one knows that 

 the keeping of game in cold storage houses is illegal, and 

 so it is to keep speckled trout — no matter when or where 

 purchased. This has been decided in the highest courts 

 through the eftorts of the M. Y. City Assotiatiou for the 

 Protection of Game. As for eating game or fish after it 

 has been frozen, that is a question of taste. The finer 

 and more delicate birds and fish are ruined for my taste. 

 They gradually become dry and without flavor, though 

 they may remain sweet. Again, though they may come 

 out of the freezer perfectly sweet and healthy, the minute 

 they thaw out they begin to spoil, so that a bird or fish 

 that was all right in the morning may be utterly ruined 

 for eating purposes before night and even unhealthy. 

 The best restaurants and hotels are giving up the use of 

 frozen fish on tlieir tables. I was served with prairie 

 chicken at the Hotel Brunswick last spring (for which 

 suit has been brought) that was simply frightful, thev 

 TPere go imr^tv m4 nasty. I oaiinot think of prairie 



iNGLEwooD Fish and Game Corporation.— This club, 

 organized under the laws of New Brunswick, includes in 

 its membership about fifty merchants and professional 

 men in Boston, besides several New York and Connecti- 

 cut sportsmen. Its officers are: President, Andrew S. 

 March, Boston; Vice-President, Fred E. Whiting, Boston; 

 Treasurer and Assistant Secretary, Henry O. Cutter, 

 Boston; Secretary, Leonard B. Knight, Muequash, N. B.; 

 Directors: Andrew S. March, Henry P. Brigham, Leroy 

 S, Brown, Samuel Shaw, E. Noyes Whitcomb, Fred E. 

 Whiting, Henry E. Cobb, C. A. Hopkins, all of Boston; 

 Joshua Knight, Musquash, N. B. House committee: 

 Leroy S, Brown, GO Commerce st., Boston; Samuel Shaw, 

 IS Beacon street, Boston; Fred E, Whiting, Boston 

 Herald office, 355 Washington street, Boston, The direc- 

 tors report the securing of funds to cancel all indebted- 

 ness, and a new and long lease of property on the Mus- 

 quash River, in Sc, John and Kings counties, N. B., con- 

 taining 35,000 acres of land, with twenty lakes and con- 

 necting streams. The waters are stocked with sea 

 salmon, landlocked salmon and brook trout. A hatching 

 house with a capacity of 1,000,000 eggs, in which salmon, 

 brook trout and brown trout have been successfully 

 hatched this spring, is one of the improvements; its 

 troughs now contain about 25,000 brown trout. The 

 forests furnish deer, moose and smaller game. The prop- 

 erty is accessible from Boston by Boston & Maine R. R. 

 by two trains daily, and the steamers of the International 

 Steamship Co. three times 9, week. 



The Lauhentain Cltjb,— The sixth annual general 

 meeting of the Laurentian Club was held at the Windsor, 

 Montreal, on Monday the 6th. The treasurer's report showed 

 that the club had had a good yea,r and that after making 

 various improvements to its extensive territory and 

 erecting new buildings it still had a balance on hand. 

 The club's prospects are very bright and its shares are in 

 such favor that it was decided to advance their price to 

 $300. A resolution was passed tendering the thanks of 

 the stockholders to all the officers, but especially to the 

 president, Mr. T. V, R. Brown, who, because of his inten- 

 tion to leave Montreal, did not wish to be re-elected. For 

 the past six years he has filled most satisfactorily the duties 

 of his position. Directors for the ensuing year were unani- 

 mously elected: Louis Sutherland, of Montreal; W. H. 

 Rintoul, of Montreal; David S. Cowles, of New York; 

 George H. Seeley, of New York; Joseph W. Howe, of New 

 York; W. Q. Riddle, of New York; Frederick Stancliffe, 

 of Montreal; Thomas Hiam, of Montreal; T. V. R. Brown, 

 of Montreal. At a meeting of directorss held afterward 

 the following officers were unanimously elected: Frederick 

 Stancliffe, of Montreal, President: Joseph W. Howe, of 

 New York, Vice-President; W. H. Rintoul, of Montreal, 

 Treasm-er: Thos. Hiam, of Montreal, Secretary. House 

 Committee, W. H. Rintoul, of Montreal; Louis Sutherland, 

 of Montreal; Joseph W. Howe, of New York. 



Loch Leyen Trout in Bisby Lake.— Early in Janu- 

 ary, 1885, the United States received 100,000 eggs of Loch 

 Leven trout from Sir James G, Maitland, of Stirling, 

 Scotland. When these were distributed 10,000 were sent 

 to the Bisby Club, Herkimer county, New York, of which 

 Gen. R, U. Sherman was president. The trout hatched 

 from these eggs were reported by Gen. Sherman to be the 

 finest he had seen. The introduction of this new fish into 

 Bisby Lake was scarcely remembered, but early in June 

 the General was surprised in landing a 21b, trout'of a kind 

 unlike any of the species known in the lake, and which 

 he believes is certainly one of the forgotten Loch Levens, 

 If this prove true, the Bisby Club is to be congratulated 

 upon the success of its venture, and all who go a-fishing in 

 Bisby Lake will applaud thek enterprise, for the I^ch 

 Leven is a treasure._^ 



Halibut in Great South Bay.— Commissioner E. G. 

 Blackford was informed by ex-Senator Wagstaff, presi- 

 dent of the New York & Brooklyn Bridge, that the Hon. 

 Joseph J. O'Donohoe last week caught two small halibut, 

 one weighing 16 and the other l71bs., in Great South Bay, 

 close to the mussel beds. He has never known them to 

 be caught before in this locality. The halibut occasion- 

 ally migrates far south of its usual haunts; a few years 

 ago a 50ib. specimen was caught in the Potomac River, ■ 

 at Colonial Beach, far above tide water. 



Spruce Cabin, Canadensis, Pa,, was totally destroyed 

 by fire on the evening of June 95. For many years past 

 this place had been the resort of a number of New York 

 lovers of sport with rod and rifle, and its destruction by 

 fire will be learned with regret. The fii'e was discovered 

 through the sagacity of a fine Irish setter named Gyp, 

 the property of Geo. W. Blake, of the New York Sun. 

 Mr. Blake is an enthusiastic sportsman, and has annually 

 visited Spruce Cabin. At the time the fire broke out Mr. 

 Blake's brother, ,Iohn E. Blake, and his family were 

 sojourning there. On the evening named, Mr. Blake's 

 three children were asleep in an upper room, while Mrs. 

 Blake was reading in the parlor. About 9 o'clock Gyp 

 was heard whining and scratching up stairs. All the 

 men were absent save a friend of the Price Brothers, and 

 he, Mr. James Zabrieskie, took a stick and started up 

 stairs to drive the dog away, as Gyp had never been 

 aUowsd to ascend the stairs. Reaching the top of the 

 stau's Mr. Zabrieskie observed Gyp scratchmg at a door 

 with both paws, and seemingly greatly excited. Mr. 

 Zabrieskie opened the door, when a volume of smoke 

 and flame rushed out. Mr. Zabrieskie at once rushed to 

 the rescue of the children, and when they were safely 

 brought out Gyp left the burning building. Ten minutes 

 later it was a mass of flames. The Price Brothers lost 

 their all in the flames, but Spruce Cabin will at once be 

 rebuilt.— Kit Cuarke. 



SO ALL THE WORLD OVER. 



A charming ivomati, but not in lier first youtli, had to give 

 evidence in a French court. "Your age, madame?" To this 

 delicate question she replied that she was 30. "But," said the 

 magigtrate, "did you not tell me that you were 30 when you ap- 

 peared before me as a witness about two years ago?" "I think it 

 very likely," said madame, with a smile; "I am not one of those 

 women who say one thing to-day and another to-morrow." I was 

 telling this story at dinner one night, when an innocent damsel 

 sitting next me exclaimed, "Ah! what a glorious example of 

 truthfulness. How different are men. Why, my cousin Tom 

 caught a trout weighing lib. three years ago. Last year he said 

 it weighed SJ^Lbs., and this year it Ixas grown to 41hs." 



"Noo, laird McGlashan, what was really the weicht o' that 

 awfu' big saumou you and Saunders killed last Saturday in the 

 Blick Dub Pool?" asked the McNab from the midst of a select 

 company who were enjoying the McGlashan's hospitality at a 



rather late hour. "The weicht o't man? It was . Saunders, 



man, Saunders," calling to his faithful henchman, "did ye weigh 

 the muckle saumon, Saunders?" "Deed aw weighed it, laird." 

 "Weel, then, tell the company a' aboot it." "Ye '11 excuse me 

 laird, but a canna mind thee noo to an exact pun; but aw heard 

 ye tell Captain McPherson after breakfast that it was twenty-five 

 pun, at luncheon time it was fifty pun, efter deuner, when ye sat • 

 ower the punch, it was sixty-five pun, and last Thing at nicht 

 when ye and themeenester wor ea'ing yin anither leears, it war 

 twa saumon eighty pun a-pieee.''— jPisMHg Gazette. 



lenmh 



FIXTURES. 



DOG SHOWS. 



St. Louis Notes.— Fishing has been fairly good during 

 the past two weeks, the water in the rivers, sloughs and 

 lakes being in fair condition. At Kid Lake the bass are 

 taking the fly freely. Many parties have been up the 

 Merrimac River, but no large catches have been reported. 

 In a trip of thirty miles into the country last week I 

 found an abundance of quail, and there will be fine shoot- 

 ing this faU. — ^Aberdeen. 



Rhode Island. — ^A correspondent reports: "With a 

 friend I have been trouting four times and have caught 

 80 trout; the largest was a S-pounder. All together 

 weighed over 451bs. Game is doing finely, and it looks 

 as if this autumn's shooting would be good. — F. de C. 



Blueeishing has been capital in Great South Bay and 

 numerous big catches have been reported. At Sayville,. 

 Islip, Fire Island and other places the returning fisher- 

 men have fairly staggered under their loa4s of and 81b. 

 fish, 



Sept. 1 to 4.— Dog Show of the Youngstowu Kennel Club, at 

 Y'oungstown. O. 



Sept. 8 to 11.— First Annual Dog Show of the Hamilton. Kennel 

 Clab, at Hamilton, Out. 



Sept. 14 to 1«.— Toronto Industrial Exhibition Association Third 

 Internationa] Dog Show, at Toronto. C. A. St^ne, Sec'v and Supt 



Sept. 23 to 25.— Inaugural Dog Show of the Montreal Exposition 

 Company, at Montreal, Canada. 



Sept. 29 to Oct. 1.— Third Annual Dog Show, iu connection with 

 the Central Canada Fair, at Ottawa, Gat. Alfred Geddes, Supt. 



im-i, 



Jan. 13 to 11.— Second Annual Dog Show of the South Carolina 

 Kennel Association, at Columbia, S. C. F. P. Capers, Secretary 

 Greenville, S. O. j . 



FIELD TlXIALS. 



Nov. 2.-inatisurrtl Trials of the Ignited States Meld Trial Club, 

 at Bickuell, lud. P, T. Madison, Secretary. 



Nov. hi.— Eastern PieM Trials Club's Thirteenth Annual Trials, 

 at High Point, N. C. Members' Stake No\% 13. W. A. Coster, 

 SerretyiT- 



Nov. 30.-Cenlral Field Trial Club's Third Annual Trials, at 

 Loxiugton, N. C. C. H. Odell, Sec'y, 44 and 46 Wall street. New 

 York city. 



Dec. 14.— Philadelphia Kennel Club's Field Trials. Charles E. 

 ConnoU, Secretar^% 



A CUEIOITS CASE.— Loyds. Yc%.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: Does a dog ever eat her own puppies when they 

 are three weeks old? A fine collie bitch whelped fotir pup- 

 pies under a hotise. They were removed on the day of their 

 birth to a kennel prepared for them. The bitch nursed them 

 very well until they were three weeks old. At that time a 

 rain storm occurred one night and she carried them back 

 under the house where they were born. She did not return 

 them to the same bed iu which they were littered but took 

 them to another place under the building, which was quite 

 large. The next day the puppies seemed to be whining and 

 crawling about, although they could not be seen. Shortly 

 afterward the bitch appeared with one of them in her 

 motith, dead, and the other three were never seen again 

 Did the dog eat her puppies three weeks old?— P. S. Hrjv- 

 TER. [At that age they would be able to crawl away from 

 the nest and may have died of exposure. It is very unusual 

 for a bitch to eat her pp.ppie.s after they hayij bg§n ojifp^,] 



