March 3, 1892.] 



the bundle from a limb by a rope, in the deep sbade out 

 of reach of prowling varmints, and proceeded on our way. 

 Such trout and such fishing had only been dreamed of by 

 us. Imagination may bave pictured such waters, but 

 this waT the first full realization of those dreamy pictures 

 and waking anticipations of trout and trout waters either 

 of us bad ever experienced. We need not have fished 

 far, for a dozen pools would have furnished us with all 

 the trout we wanted, but not knowing when another op- 

 portunity might offer for the investigation of the Upper 

 Molalla, we pushed forward as rapidly as possible. None 

 but anglers can appreciate with what intoxicating bliss 

 we appropriated nature'3 hidden treasures. Enamored, 

 infatuated with the weird stream, we could hardly resist 

 the temptation to go on and look further into the secret 

 recesses of nature's inner temple, even when night, 

 sweet nature's dusky maid, had drawn her sable curtains 

 down. 



"Harry,"' said I, "let us take a tumble to ourselves and 

 quit." 



"All right; just wait until we get to the cascades in the 

 bend," he replied. And soon we were at the designated 

 spot making our last cast for the day. A bright fire soon 

 crackled at the mouth of an unfinished cave, our coffee 

 was boiling and our trout frying in the broiler, and our 

 blankets hung near the carnp fire to dry. Then we sat 

 down and ate and chatted as only hungry, happy anglers 

 can eat and chat after a hard day on the mountain stream. 

 We cleaned our afternoon's catch, wrapped it in fern, and 

 put it down on the cold rocks near the water and turned 

 in. Of course the night was uncomfortably cool, but ex- 

 hausted nature asserted her rights and we went to sleep. 

 Several times I was awakened by old Mike, who seemed 

 to be restless and watchful. It must have been shortly 

 after midnight, when the dogs brought us both to our 

 feet by their vicious growls. As we jumped up the dogs, 

 emboldened and with hair bristling, dashed down toward 

 the bundle of fish by the stream. 



"A coon must be after our fish," said I. 



"What's the matter with cougars and wildcats?" Harry 

 suggested, and added, "The dogs wouldn't take on so over 

 a coon." 



An hour later Harry's opinion was emphasized by an 

 infernal yell that rang out horribly somewhere on the 

 mountain above and which was presently answered from 

 near the stream below. We did not know whether it 

 was a cougar matinee or a demon pic-nic, but I assure 

 you we kept our camp fire roaring the balance of the 

 night and on until it was broad daylight. Suspending 

 our bundle of trout and cacheing our luggage we fished 

 up the stream until noon and then retraced our steps to 

 the camp of the previous night. Our trip had terminated 

 at an enormous boulder that sat defiantly in the edge of 

 a deep pool at the foot of a long rapid. Standing on the 

 rock we lifted eight trout out of the pool, none of which 

 weighed less than a pound; then, sadly turned our backs 

 to the hidden wonders above, that appealed to us so al- 

 luringly. I believe that this was the only time in my 

 life that I really wanted wings. But we had done as 

 much as could be expected of mortals and we felt grate- 

 ful for the rations of happiness which had been assigned 

 to us. 



Another night by the stream, another day with its 

 rapids and pools and we were well down toward the 

 forks. We had passed the place at which we had de- 

 scended to the stream, hoping to find some easier way 

 out, but none had presented itself, and here we were in 

 the cul de sac of the gorge. It was a trying position to 

 place two heavily laden, weary fishermen in. Through the 

 gorge, a half mile would put us on the trail, while over 

 the mountain — another wretched night, another day of 

 weary toil. 



"Let's try the gorge," said Harry, and I responded, 

 "It's a go." So we repacked our fish and luggage; then 

 we jumped up and down and yelled to loosen the sus- 

 pended boulders that seemed to be curiously watching 

 our preparations from above. Like two cats we crept 

 along the narrow shelves, scarcely breathing for fear of 

 awakening some sleeping boulder that might grind us to 

 dust. 



The trip through that gorge was the most entertaining 

 to my nerves, for a short trip, in all my fishing experi- 

 ence. 



But here we were again in the mellow haze of the open 

 valley, listening to the evening carols of the happy birds, 

 the mournful ditties of the sorrowing crickets and closing 

 the last chapter of my fronting experience in the lovely 

 Molalla country. S. H. Greene. 



Poai'LAND, Oregon. 



["Judge Greene's Molalla letters are delightful," writes 

 our contributor "Von W.," of Charlestown, N. H., "I 

 wish I could be with him for a week this summer." The 

 appreciation and the wish must have been shared by a 

 host of readers, who have followed these happily told 

 relations of an angler's outings in the Noi'thwest.] 



ANGLING NOTES. 



STRIPED BASS are now being caught with nets in 

 large numbers, but it will be some time before they 

 can be taken with hook and line. Generally the first baas 

 or "rock mh," as our Southern anglers call them, are 

 taken about the middle of April in our waters, and I am 

 surprised to learn from a Potomac angler that they do 

 not take striped bass in that section before May 1. I am 

 inclined to think that if they tried fishing for them a 

 little earlier with patience and perseverance and proper 

 bait, they might find the season open by the first or mid- 

 dle of April. 



As to the question, "What is the proper bait to use?" I 

 hardly know what to say. Striped bass will take artificial 

 flies, phantom minnows, live minnows, shrimp, crabs, 

 clams, fiddler I crabs, lobster , menhaden, scpjid, young 

 eels, etc., etc. So from this bill of fare the angler can 

 select whichever he can best obtain. Large striped bass, 

 I mean the big fellows that are taken along the Atlantic 

 coast, prefer the menhaden to any other bait, though a 

 lobster tail will answer when the mossbunker cannot be 

 obtained. Near New York the favorite baits seem to be 

 shedder-crab, shrimp and the red or white sand worm. 

 One of the most successful ways of killing striped bass in 

 our waters is to troll for them with a small gang well 

 filled with sandworms, above which a small metal or 

 mottled p^arl spoon revolves as the fisherman rows slowly 

 over the ground. No sinker is necessary, as the swivels 

 are heavy enough, 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Further south, the eel tail pulled over an 8-0 Sproat 

 hook is used for trolling and is a very successful bait. 



Small striped bass will take the fly very well at times 

 in brackish water, and are very lively on a fly-rod. A 

 shrimp cast in the same manner is also very taking. 



Large bass are very shy and require light but very 

 strong tackle. When chumming for these fish they will 

 often rush up and take the smail bits of menhaden in 

 plain sight, but the next instant will turn away from the 

 most tempting bit of bait on a hook. For this reason the 

 bass fishermen of West and Pasque islands and other 

 clubs along our coast prefer 9 or 1'3 thread lines, even if 

 rather light for 501bs. fish, experience having taught them 

 that unless the water is discolored, larger lines show too 

 plainly. 



The rods used for this style of fishing should be made 

 in one piece with a short removable butt for convenience 

 in traveling, and, of course, the reels, to withstand the 

 rush of these fish must be of the best quality. The 

 knobbed O'Shaugnessy hooks are best for large bass, say 

 Nos. 8-0 and 9-0, and for medium and small fish Nos. 4 0 

 to 6-0 sproat are generally preferred, Kirby bend 

 hooks are not in favor among anglers for striped bass. 

 On March 15 the anglers of Cleveland, at least those who 

 are so fortunate as to belong to the club, will open the 

 trout season at Castalia, near Sandusky, O. The writer 

 expects to be there if the weather permits, for in the 

 month of March the weather is a very important factor 

 when it comes to fly-fishing, and there is no telling what 

 we may have on that date. The members are overhaul- 

 ing their tackle and making great preparations for the 

 occasion and fine sport is expected. Scarlet-Ibis. 



BOSTON PICKEREL FISHERMEN. 



WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY might well be called 

 pickerel day, in the New England States at least. 

 It is not intended to intimate that the Father of His 

 Country had anything like a pickerel in his nature, but 

 rather that the tired merchants and professional gentle- 

 men in the cities, as well as the farmers and country 

 boys, are coming more and more to regard this as the 

 holiday for fishing through ,the ice. Never has the day 

 been more thoroughly devoted to this pastime by Boston 

 anglers and sportsmen than this year. Preparations were 

 made and parties made up days beforehand, and best of 

 all, the weather was propitious. 



The Loring party was one of about the best of the pick- 

 erel parties that went out from Boston the day before the 

 22d. It was made up of R. T. Loring, of the Chamber of 

 Commerce grain trade; C. A. Loring, of the New York & 

 New England Railroad freight department; ^E. Clement 

 Holden, of the lumber trade, and G, H. Holden, of tha 

 clock trade. They went to Foster's Pond, in Andover, 

 Mass., and a splendid day they had of it, 



Before they went there was a deal of discussion as to 

 the relative merits of tomcod or shiners for bait. But 

 finally they decided on tomcod, and they came back well 

 pleased with their decision. They found that the tomcod 

 lived longer on the hooks, and that they made a tougher 

 bait, the pickerel not generally succeeding in unbaiting 

 the hook without getting caught. They obtained their 

 bait of a man in Lowell, who makes a business of keeping 

 live bait for sale. But they found that they were not 

 alone on the pond. There were over 500 lines in the pond 

 on that day, and the Loring boys express surprise as to 

 where so many pickerel could come from, since nearly 

 all of the fishermen had more or less of luck. The Loring 

 party got 16 in. all, and two of their large ones weighed 

 101 bs., the largest one being considerably over olbs. The 

 boys were satisfied, as to numbers, and much pleased with 

 their trip. 



C. Claude Tarbox, also of the Boston grain trade, is a 

 great lover of fishing. He had his pond ail selected 

 before the 22d and had his bait where he was sure he 

 could "put his hand on it" in season. He went to Stet- 

 son's Pond in Boxford, with a friend or two, and they 

 had fine sport. 



Another most enthusiastic fisherman is Mr. A. W. 

 Tompkins, of Waltham, with Foster, Weeks & Co., in the 

 Boston grain and produce trade. Mr. Tompkins, with 

 his friends in Waltham, supports a good camp a few 

 miles up in the country, and they go there both for ice 

 fishing and summer fishing, dri ving tip with good teams, 

 of which they are especially fond. On the 22d Mr. Tomp- 

 kins, with A. S. Hartwell, J. A. Tolman and "Skipper" 

 Somes went to Herd's Pond, in Wayland. It ought to be 

 mentioned right here that Mr. Somes's front name is not 

 "Skip" nor "Skipper," but so well is he known by the 

 cognomen that his real name is neglected. This party 

 had remarkably good luck. They took 38 pickerel and 

 2 black bass, one of which weighed 21bs. and the other 

 2^-lbs. They used shiners for bait. They had the bait 

 caught and saved beforehand. Last fall they caught 

 2,000 shiners at the Outlet, in Brighton, and they have 

 bad them in reserve for pickerel fishing. Mr. Tompkins 

 says that they have used the last of them, however, and 

 that is considerable bait for one winter. There were a 

 great many lines in the pond, and all seemed to get fish. 



On the Sudbury River, at different points, considerable 

 fishing was done on the 22d. One party, including W. 

 W. Hartwell and John Jemson, b^d excellent luck. They 

 caught pickerel on nearly every line, and they had a 

 good many lines out. Charley Nichols with a friend or 

 two also had forty lines out on the Sudbury River. 

 They took a grpat many fish. Charley, or "Nick," as 

 he is better known, is one of the greatest fishermen in 

 his neighborhood, and that is saying a good deal. He 

 goes as often as occasion permits and his lines are among 

 the most successful. Roberts Pond, or the old Cambridge 

 reservoir, was lined with pickerel fishermen on the 22d, 

 and some good hauls were made. One boy, [ could not 

 learn his name, came home to Boston by train that night. 

 He had an enormous pickerel by the gills. It must have 

 weighed six or seven pounds, and the boy's face was 

 radiant. He will be very likely to visit the old reser- 

 voir again on the first opportunity. 



The Commodore Club, at the head of Moose Lake, in 

 Hartland, Me., has lately been visited by a delegation of 

 some 30 of its members, with invited guests. The party 

 went for fishing through the ice, and they had fine sport. 

 The party included some of the best known lovers of the 

 rod and line in Boston and vicinity. Several of the 

 members of ex-Gov. Brackett's staff were in the party. 

 Among them may be mentioned Col. H. T. Rockwell, 

 Col. J. M. Hedges, Col. Buffi ngton, Col. Fred M. Well- 

 I ington, John A. Lowell, H, W. Tenney, Wm, Gray, Dr. 



199 



Carter, John Lakin, Arthur W. Pope and Francis Bachel- 

 ler, and several others, all the above of Boston. In the 

 party there was also Mayor Frank Harris of Pawtucket 

 and Maj. Merrill, of Lawrence, State Insurance Com- 

 missioner. They found the Commodore club house com- 

 modious as ever, and hospitable enough for them all. 

 These winter excursions to this famous club house are 

 greatly enjoyed, and there are reports of good ice fishing, 

 though the weather is very cold up there— almost always 

 10 or 12 degrees colder than in Boston, and perhaps 15 to 

 20 degrees colder than in New York. Another party of 

 the club's members and friends is to start in a day or two, 

 of which the Forest and Stream shall have an account. 



As a result of the fishing on the 22d a good many 

 pickerel came into the Boston market, and yet not as 

 many as last year, nor as many as might have been ex- 

 pected, since the day was a fine one for the sport of fish- 

 ing through the ice. But there is naturally a dislike 

 among sportsmen toward seeing game fish in the markets, 

 and hence few of the fish caught by the lovers of fishing 

 for the sake of fishing find their way into the markets. 

 There is also an antipathy among lovers of the rod and 

 gun toward game and fish that find their way into 

 market. This is well illustrated by an actual circum- 

 stance connected with pickerel fishing on Feb. 22. Mr. 

 James L. Ray bold, salesman at the commission house of 

 Hyde & Wheeler, has probably sold many tons of pick- 

 erel, such as come to market. He would never think of 

 carrying one home for his own table though reared in 

 the neighborhood of the Adirondacks and as dear a lover 

 of rod and gun as there is in the world. But a friend 

 went on the 22d to a pond "down on the Cape." They 

 put out some "night lines" and had a nice, pickerel on 

 nearly every line. The friend came back. He visited 

 the house of Mr. Ray bold, and not finding anybody in 

 the kitchen, he helped himself to a platter on which he 

 left a fine pickerel, nicely dressed. This he put into the 

 refrigerator, and left without notifying the household. 

 But in the morning the fish was cooked, and Mr. Ray- 

 bold claims that it was one of the nicest fish he ever 

 tasted. Special. 



THE MIGRATION OF EELS. 



MR. H. C. FIELD, in the New Zealand Journal oj 

 Science for November, 1891, gives some interesting 

 notes upon the migration of eels in New Zealand. He 

 says: "These fish come up from the sea in large shoals 

 about the months of October and November, only about 

 two inches long and as thick as a straw, and work their 

 way up the tributary streams to very high elevations, 

 large numbers living in swamps. They surmount the 

 waterfalls by wriggling upwards among the wet moss be- 

 side the falls; the Maoris assert that each fish takes hold 

 of the tail of the one in front of him with his mouth, so 

 that they all help each other to ascend. This much is cer- 

 tain: If the head of the column is dislodged, the whole 

 fall down; and the Maoris take advantage of this to catch 

 large quantities of these 'tuna riki' (little eels), by hold- 

 ing flax baskets below a column and then detaching them. 

 They then dry them for winter food, just as they do the 

 whitebait, and the little eyeless fish of the volcanic springs 

 at the head of the Roto-aire Lake. I know streams, trib- 

 utaries of the Mangawhero and Wangahu rivers, which 

 swarm with eels that have surmounted falls 200 feet to 

 600 feet high. Again on the west side of the Wanganui 

 river, near the heads, there was formerly a large swamp, 

 the surplus water of which trickled into the river over a 

 flat of sand, several chains in width. In the autumn of 

 1856 or thereabouts, a gentleman who had been to the 

 Station, was returning late in the evening, found a great 

 number of large eels wriggling their w r ay across the sand 

 from the swamp to the river, and brought a string of them 

 as large as he could carry, back to town with him. For 

 several nights afterwards, several of us visited the spot 

 and secured a large number. The migration lasted for 

 about a week. The Maoris are perfectly well aware that 

 the large eels migrate to the sea with the first autumn 

 rains, and catch great numbers of them with traps at that 

 season. The rain, no doubt, causes the water of the streams 

 and lakes to rise, and so increases the pressure as to warn 

 the fish to migrate. It was probably in this way that the 

 eels of the Chatham Island lagoon, mentioned by Mr. 

 Smith, knew that their way to the sea was open." 



There are several lakes near here in which there are no 

 eels, and any Maori would at once tell you this is because 

 these lakes do not communicate with the sea. Up to 1855 

 or 1856 there were no eels in Virginia lake. The main 

 road was then constructed northwards from Wanganui, 

 and to enable it to be carried along the southern margin 

 of the lake a trench was dug through the lowest adjacent 

 ground and the water was lowered three feet or so. In 

 the following spring, it is said, eels ascended to the lake in 

 considerable numbers, although they bad to surmount a 

 fall of about twenty feet in height. Several years later 

 this trench was deepened in order to increase the supply 

 of water in dry weather. After this more eels found their 

 way up to the lake, and the runs of eels continued until 

 the lake was utilized as a source of water supply for the 

 town about 1873, when the outlet was closed. It was soon 

 found that the lake could not be relied on as a source of 

 water supply as it drains no appreciable area of land, 

 and therefore pipes were laid to bring into it water from 

 another larger lake two miles distant. This lake is con- 

 nected with the sea and contains eels, and every autumn 

 some of the large ones endeavoring to migrate seawards, 

 come through the pipes into the Virginia lake. This is 

 known for certain, as the eels sometimes stick fast in the 

 pipes and cause a stoppage of the water. 



The presence of eels in Virginia Lake is no mystery and 

 and they are certainly not bred there, as the young are 

 never found in the lake. Very few are caught and they 

 are all of a size worth taking, never- under 21bs. weight, 

 and as high as seven. 



The Opah in California.— In our issue of Oct. 31, 1889, 

 we announced the capture of the first recognized specimen 

 of the opah in California waters. The fish remained un- 

 known to those who saw it, or a copy of the photograph 

 made from it, until its identification by Forest ani> 

 Stream. This example, weighing 70 or 801bs.. was taken 

 in October, 1888, Bolinas Bay. Mr. C. H. Townsend 

 has sent us a photograph of a second specimen, weighing 

 701bs., which was captured by fishermen at Monterey. 

 The opah from Bolinas Bay was sent to Redding, Cal. , 

 where it was cut into steaks and pronounced a good food 

 fish. A description of this remarkably handsome species 



