f**EU. 18, 1893,1 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



181 



WINTER SPORTS IN NORTH CAROLINA, 



LETTER V. 

 Fishes in Quantity and Variety. 



THE great variety of edible fresh- water fishes seen in 

 the Newbern market thus early in the season is 

 something remarkable. Last week the drag nets cap- 

 tured twenty different kinds off the mouths of the several 

 large creeks which empty into the Trent River above 

 tidewater. Included in the list observed on a given day 

 were large and small-mouthed black bass, striped bass, 

 blue and yellow catfish, mud cats, yellow perch, white 

 perch, croppies, red horse, mullets, pond sunfish, white 

 and hickory shad, branch herring, red drum, spots, 

 roaob, weakfish, pickerel and garfish. E.v cathedra, no 

 such assortment can be found in the ftfew York markets 

 at any time. There the daily exhibits of salt-water fishes 

 are noteworthy, both for their variety and abundance; 

 which is not to be wondered at, since "the dealers draw 

 their constant and changeful supplies from sources all 

 along the const from Newfoundland to the Gulf of Mex- 

 ico. North Carolina herself furnishes a veiy large per- 

 centage of their Southern representatives, and if any 

 interested reader of FOR EST and Stream would take 

 pains to attend the coming Fish and Oyster Fair which is 

 to open at Newbern on Feb. 22, he will possibly see from 

 thirty to forty kinds on the slabs. 



But while marine species are commercially the most 

 important, iulaud species deserve attention. A broad, 

 untrodden field of study lies wide open here, where the 

 streams meet the tide. Here anodromous species come 

 up from the ocean to spawn. Right here the fresh-water 

 spEcies drop down from the watersheds to disport in the 

 brackish inflow. Glut herring, or branch herring, so like 

 the gaspereau of the British Provinces in habits and ap- 

 pearance, choke all the streams. Rockfish or striped 

 bass penetrate inland to their very headwaters. Salt- 

 water trout, or weakfish, "use" in the deep fresh-water 

 holes which occur in the estuaries having obvious under- 

 ground connection with the rivers. Pickerel sport right 

 on the edge of the tide, when the -water is perceptibly 

 qualified with the brine. White sh&d (Civ pea sap klmiyraa) 

 are running up already to spawn, and by the latter part 

 of May fingerlings an inch long may be seen descending 

 to the sea in company with their parents. Most of the 

 channel ways axe paved with shell rock [coquina], and 

 spawn finds chosen depositories in the hollows and crev- 

 ices. Sometimes spawn and one-inch fish are seen at the 

 same time. Young channel bass, or red drum, are now 

 in the mouths of the fresh-water creeks: both kinds of 

 black bass (Microptcrus) venture within the lines claimed 

 by the sea. By such occasional interchange of habitats 

 the littoral and inland species promote fecundity and 

 grow in size and flavor. 



There is no such nursery for fishes of all sorts and pro- 

 clivities as the Trent River. 



A little later on both herring and shad will crowd it to 

 its fullest capacity, and fish eaters will luxuriate on cheap 

 food. Just now shad sell at 75 cents per pair. Earlier 

 specimens brought a dollar apiece. All the way up the 

 river, for forty miles or more, there are fishing stands 

 made of poles projecting from the banks, where negroes 

 stand with long-nandled dip nets and scoop them as 

 they ascend, sometimes as many as half a dozen at a 

 time. Occasionally there are rude windlasses, fashioned 

 of unpeeled logs and poles to be used in hauling drag nets 

 and stake nets set across the mouths of creeks. Everv 

 settler along the riverside makes fulsome use of his ripa- 

 rian rights in this respect. For a month past in White 

 Oak River and New River, in Onslow and Carteret coun- 

 ties, bordering the sounds, fishermen have been making 

 bis: earnings, and last week two crews of ten men divided 

 $700 as the net profits of twenty-four hours fishing. The 

 fish business of Newbern occupies four or five, heavy 

 packers and shippers. Vessels from outside and skiffs 

 from the rivers are constantly arriving with fish and 

 oysters, and the market slip is usually crowded with the 

 craft. Winter fishing for marine species is always active 

 from Roanoke Island to Bogue Inlet, and there are 

 numerous shippers at Manteo, Hatteras, Morehead City 

 and Swansboro. All through December weakfish are 

 abundant. The first white shad was caught on the loth 

 of that month, a date so early as to be note worthy. On the 

 20 ch there was a great run of big bluefish, averaging 

 12lbs., all the way from Morehead to Manteo, and there 

 were also in market large red drum (Sckena ocellata), 

 croakers (Microjjogonundukitus), spotted sea trout (Cynos- 

 eion ■ ma.cv.la.tus), mullets, croakers, weakfish, and a few 

 scattering shad and yellow perch. On Jan. 1 red drum, 

 spots, weakfish, croakers, and a few salt and fresh-water 

 catfish, robins, yellow perch, red-horse, pickerel and 

 black bass. Fishing will improve from this on and reach 

 its climax in June, when drum, weakfish, hogfish, pin- 

 fish, sheepshead, bluefish, croakers and Spanish mackerel 

 will afford good fishing with hook and line. July and 

 August are the poorest fishing months. Fall fishing 

 begins in September, when there is always a big run of 

 mullets, which are highly esteemed hero for the table, 

 lasting until November, and then rockfish and white 

 perch. Fresh-water fishing is always in abundant variety, 

 as already indicated, but there are no species of any ac- 

 count other than those enumerated. 



Hitherto the ichtbyc fauna of North Carolina has not 

 been intelligibly differentiated and investigation may be 

 prosecuted with advantage, economically and scien- 

 tifically. But students will be puzzled with the local 

 synonymes. which are as quaint as they are specific. 

 Popguts white-headed minnow, for example, is intensely 

 characteristic, though it does not clearly designate the 

 class or family of fishes to which it belongs. Millpond 

 flier is an expressive name for the croppie, which is also 

 known as a chinquapin perch, speckled perch, silver 

 perch, goggle- eye and several other aliases. Ring perch, 

 raccoon perch and redfin all do very well to designate the 

 common yellow perch. Red-bellied robin-perch and 

 leather- wing are names applied to the common pond sun- 

 fish. The big-mouthed black bass is known as a Welsh- 

 man, and the small- mouthed bass as a chub and red-eye. 

 Pickerel are called jackfish: red-horse are known as suck- 

 ing mullets: roach as bitterheads— a species of small 

 dace excellent as bait for bass. Hell- benders are known 

 as water-dogs. Each one designates some peculiarity of 

 habit, trait, or feature. A similar nomenclature attaches 

 to a long category of animals, birds and plants, and a 

 full chapter thereon would be interesting. From "Tar 

 Heel" to "pine root hog," the list is full of novelty. 



As to angling, per se, it is a dead art in these waters, 

 Occasionally a venerable negro will take his rickety old 

 punt and steal away to a favorite bend in the river where 

 there is a deep hole and a stake to tie to, and sit so quietly 

 that his russet garb can hardly be distinguished from the 

 dead grass of the marsh which surrounds him ; but sports- 

 men seldom follow the pursuit in this way. In the fall 

 theygotothe beach and troll for bluefish from a sail- 

 boat or fish with handlines for weakfish, IN evertheless, 

 as the days lengthen and the weather grows warmer, 

 there will be some lively skittering for Welshmen along 

 the sunken trees by the Trent-side, when my friend and 

 I take a band in. Chub, so-called, are scarce in this part 

 of the State, but there are several ponds which are said 

 to be well stocked with them. Pickerel here are very 

 numerous in all the creeks, but they ta=te of the bottom 

 and are considered of small account. Pike, however, are 

 favorably regarded, though not abundant. Fishing for 

 speckled perch or croppies in some of the interior lakes 

 is reckoned superlative sport. As far as I can judge the 

 fishing here is well up to the average of Northwestern 

 lakes. Later on I can write more definitely about it, 

 though I hardly think the incidents of our outing will be 

 exciting enough to justify an extended chapter. There 

 are some lakes out here on the "Po-coson" which are 

 well stocked with bass and blue and yellow perch. I have 

 been out there, and in my next I will describe for you 

 what Pocoson is like. Charles Hallock. 



NOTES FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



LANCASTER, N. H., Feb. 11.— Mr. Bumford's party 

 to his hotel at First Connecticut Lake, for a few 

 days' ice-fishing, of which mention was made in a recent 

 issue of Forest and Stream, failed to materialize, the 

 party wisely deciding to postpone their trip until spring, 

 when they can enjoy every detail of angling. 



A few words in regard to the winter fishing at these 

 lakes may be of interest to your readers. Of course the 

 laws of N. H. make it legal to take lake trout through the 

 ice after Jan. 1, and it is practical every winter more or 

 less, both at First and Second lakes, but more particularly 

 at First. 



The writer spent several days at First Lake at two dif- 

 ferent times last winter, and if his experience is that of 

 the majority of winter fishers there, it is safe to say that 

 the resources of First Lake will suffer no diminution dur- 

 ing the winter. The patience required to induce a nicej 

 big "laker" to quit his comfortable quarters, and come 

 out into this snowy, frozen country, is something the av- 

 erage man does not possess. Of course some fish are taken 

 through the ice every winter, but the numbers of fisher- 

 men grows less each season. Now and then a speckled 

 trout is caught when fishing for lakers, but they are re- 

 turned to the water again (?), for if they were found in 

 possession, the unfortunate fisherman would be made 

 to dance a jig to the tune of "dollars, hard dollars, sev- 

 eral dollars." 



The fishing for the "lakers" in spring and early sum- 

 mer is fine, they at times rise readily to a spoon hook, but 

 the most satisfactory method is in the use of live bait, 

 shiners being the best. 



The writer and his "best fellow" had lots of sport at 

 First Lake last June, taking five, six, and eight pound 

 lakers with fly-rod, using small live shiners and sinking 

 in from 20 to 30ft. of water. They will make a good fight 

 a few minutes, butlikeafat man running up hill, they are 

 soon "winded." The fish in these lakes will run from 2 to 

 1211s. in weight, and every season brings a few from 12 

 to 201bs., and last season a 14-year-old son of Mr. J. W. 

 Baldwin of Pittsburg caught one that weighed 211bs. and 

 measured just 36*in. in length, and there are said to have 

 been caught in years past now and then some even 

 larger than that. Just imagine yourself with a 7oz. rod 

 and fast to a 311b. laker. It is said that there are "just 

 as good fish in the sea as ever were caught." I believe I 

 have "lost" a 21lb. trout in Connecticut Lake, and as soon 

 as the season opens, I shall make a very presistent effort 

 to find him. 



"Mart" Noyes of DiamondPond Camps has gone "down 

 country," as we say here. Pie and Mrs. Noyes will visit 

 some of their many friends in Mass. and'Conn. before 

 they return, and I'll warrant "Mart" will have lots of 

 reminders of the trip when he gets out to Camp Diamond 

 next spring. 



By the way, I wonder if this would not be a good time 

 to tell a little incident that took place one Saturday after- 

 noon, last summer, at this same Diamond Pond. Early 

 in the afternoon there was heard quite a commotion in 

 the woods below the Camps, with now and then such 

 military commands as "Git up there" and "Go 'long, you 

 old cuss." An investigation Avas about to be made, when 

 the cause of this irregularity made its appearance in the 

 persons of two natives (later on found to hail from the 

 Green Mountain State) leading an old gray horse, from 

 the back of which hung sundry camping utensils, to- 

 gether with a fifty-weight butter tub, ingeniously but 

 securely fastened on, It so happened that our efficient 

 and every-where present Fish Commissioner, Colonel 

 Hodge, was stopping for a day or two with mine host 

 Noyes, and chanced to be present when the party arrived. 

 The Colonel greeted the newcomers very cordiallv, at 

 the same time eyeing the butter tub, and this is the "con- 

 versation that ensued. The Colonel says: "Well, boys, 

 I conclude you have been fishing." "Yaas." "Where 

 have you been?" "Down on Dimun stream." "Have 

 good luck?*' inquires the Colonel. "Yaas. we got a hull 

 lot ov 'em, but there's lots of little cusses, tho*." "You've 

 no objections to my looking at them,! presume?" ob- 

 serves the Colonel rather disinterestedly. "Oh, no, not a 

 bit ; you jest wait a niinit until we git unhitched, an' then 

 you can lift the cover off 'm the tub and see the hull 

 business." 



It is safe to say the Colonel did "see the hull business." 

 He did not only "see it," but "went it several better," the 

 result being that they were brought before the proper 

 authorities to answer the charge of having more than 

 ten pounds of brook trout each in their possession, and 

 also of having brook trout in their possession of less than 

 oin. in length. They settled to the amount of about S75 

 fine and costs. 



The look of astonishment when they found who Col. 

 Hodge was can better be imagined than described. 

 "B'gosh," said one to the other, "If that 'are 'aint thet 

 New Hampshire fish man; I guess we're in for 't now." 



Rob. 



ANGLING NOTES, 



JUDGING from a photograph recently received I should 

 say that there was still some big trout left in Michi- 

 gan. The picture represents twenty-five speckled trout 

 that weighed 29lb3, dressed. The two center ones are 

 monsters that must have weighed 4 or 5lb3. each, but 

 they are handsome fish and well proportioned. They were 

 caught by John Cole, of Tremont, Mich. 



As a rule these very large trout are not pretty to look 

 at. they generally are short in proportion to their length 

 and have ugly heads. Besides this they are apt to be 

 black in color, and their meat is, as a rule, rather coarse 

 and dry. The only way to cook these old fellows is to 

 boil them and serve them with egg sauce. 



I do not believe there is any fish that varies so much in 

 flavor as the speckled trout. When taken from ponds 

 where there are many decayed logs and rotten leaves 

 they are sometimes unfit for food, and in some fine clear 

 streams they seem to be soft in texture and absolutely 

 without flavor. I have caught trout in hundreds of 

 localities, and I think the finest on the table that I have 

 ever tasted came from Green's Creek, on Long Island. 

 New Bridge Creek, another salt-water stream! used to 

 furnish superb bright pink-meated trout. The best 

 mountain trout I have ever eaten came from the streams 

 around Ralston, Pa., and as I spent eleven seasons at 

 that place I had a pretty good opportunity of judging. 



Those who have experimented in feeding trout state 

 that a liberal supply of flies make the best meat, and next 

 to that diet minnows and shrimp. Trout fed on earth 

 worms are the poorest of all. 



There are three excellent methods of cooking trout, 

 viz., frying, roasting in the ashes a la Thad Norris. and 

 steaming or boiling. To fry trout well is a great art, and 

 rarely understood. The fat, be it butter, olive oil or lard, 

 should be sweet and burning hot. As soon as browned, 

 the fish should be rifted out and the fat allowed to drain 

 off. A thin slice of salt pork or even bacon will go well 

 with the fish, but too much bacon may give them a 

 smoky flavor. Small trout, from 6 to 8in., are best 

 cooked in this manner. Any sized fish may be roasted in 

 the ashes, and they are excellent that way; but trout 

 from i to fib, give the best results. But above all, give 

 me a good big trout boiled properly, with a little white 

 wine vinegar in the water, and served hot with either 

 caper or egg sauce, and a glass or two of white wine to 

 wash them down. I think a trout so cooked goes ahead 

 of even the royal salmon, as it is more delicate and not so 

 cloying. I haye never eaten a well-cooked and tasty 

 trout in a city restaurant. It* is impossible to get them 

 fresh enough, and they are generally disguised with some 

 outlandish sauce which ruins their true flavor. 



In selecting any kind of fish in the markets, see that 

 the flesh is firm to the touch, and the eyes bright and 

 clear, The gills should be of a bright red color and not 

 slimy. Frozen fish are never good. Freezing seems to 

 spoil the texture of the meat and to destroy the flavor. 



Gen. Bruce's chapter, in last week's issue, was a most 

 interesting and excellent article, but I do not agree with 

 him in his artificial-fly theory. He states that "an 

 angler's flies resemble nothing when cast upon the water." 

 Now there are a number of artificial flies that are verv 

 close imitations of natural insects, and on over-fished 

 streams these are the only killing flies. The scarlet-ibis, 

 silver-doctor and the like answer very well for wild 

 waters of Maine, Canada and the Adirondacks, but they 

 are useless on the Beaverkill, Neversink, and other old 

 streams that have been fished for years, and which require 

 the finest of leaders, and most delicate and careful imita- 

 tions of ihe various duns and millers to please the big ■ 

 fellows and coax them out of their hiding places. I could 

 mention dozens of instances, in my 30 years' experience 

 as a fly-fisherman, when I have found some one fly taken 

 after offering them many others which generally they 

 would not refuse, but on these occasions they would not 

 look at. Scarlet-Ibis. 



SEWER FISHING. 



MR. TOM DEERY tells a story of having caught a 

 fine 31bs. red snapper in a New Orleans sewer dur- 

 ing the exposition of 1884. One not acquainted with the 

 wide open sewer system of that city, would hardly credit 

 the story. His tale in plain unvarnished English (with a 

 little brogue), is as follows: 



"We were going back from the exposition building via 

 a street running into the center of the city. There was 

 a boy and girl sitting on the bank catching sunfish and 

 crawfish; right on the other side of the street I happened 

 to be noticing of the gutter and saw a red snappw, right 

 m the open sewer, a mile and a half from the Mississippi 

 and two miles from Lake Pontchartrain." 



This fish was lifted from the sewer by Mr. Deery's 

 hands, there being not enough water to allow its escape. 



All our visitors to New Orleans were enchanted with 

 the beauties of Lake Pontchartrain, where, to use Mr. 

 Deery's words; "The fish were jumping all around, one 

 can catch fish by the thousands there, and fine ones,' too. 

 The most beautiful place I ever laid eyes on," 



A well-known collector and writer upon natural history 

 subjects a few years since caught a 5ft. gar-pike in his 

 baciryard gutter, in New Orleans. 



Eels, catfish and small fish of various kinds are often 

 found in city water pipes. A few years ago a plumber 

 had occasion to do some work at the Executive Mansion 

 here in Washington, and upon opening the box placed to 

 catch such things he found quite an assortment of fish 

 skeletons and an eel as thick as his wrist. There is a 

 3m. pipe running into this house, and that accounts for 

 the extra large fish haul. Bon 



A Big Brown Trout.— The sketch received by Mr 

 Eugene G. Blackford of the big brown trout caught in 

 bpring Creek at the Caledonia hatchery, represents a fish 

 measuring 27-iin. in length, loin, in gi'rth, and weighing 

 91bs. 13oz. Herr von Behr sent the eggs, from one of 

 which this giant was produced, eight years ago. Mr 

 Myron Green is confident that some of the brown trout 

 of this age are now of the weight of 151bs. The stru^le 

 between a great river trout of 151bs. and our brook trout 

 weighing a pound or two will probably be short, sharp 

 and decisive— then the lion and the lamb will lie down 

 together, with the lamb inside. 



