302 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



[March 31, 1898, 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



CHICAGO, 111., Match 25.— The coming meet of the 

 Western Canoe Association on Lake Winnebago in 

 July next is an event which ought to attract a great deal 

 of attention among anglers and outdoor men of all sorts, 

 whether or not they be now included in the canoe cult. 

 The grounds of the association will belong to the canoe- 

 ists properly, but Lske Winnebago is wide and many 

 camping spots will be found, even if the fellowship of 

 the men of the little boats were not even wider than Win- 

 nebago. For an outing in which angling, camping, boat- 

 ing and plain breathing may be combined, this occasion 

 offers an opportunity seldom surpassed. It is a proverb 

 that the angler always catches fish in Winnebago. I 

 hope there will be many who will go to see this canoe 

 meet, even though they may not properly take part in it. 

 Thus may the fire of the "canoeists enthusiasm spring 

 a light in other souls and the craft so gain hew converts. 

 This meet has heretofore gone to Lake Erie and few out- 

 side the actual canoe men went from here. Winnebago 

 is more accessible. We shall see a fleet of tiny craft 

 upon its shores such as rarely flitted around Ballast 

 Island in the larger sea, shall see set forth in its mrat 

 Spectacular form one of the moBt beautiful and pleasant 

 varieties of outdoor sport. Lat us have audience as well 

 as actors at Winnebago in July, for it is from out the 

 audiences that all actors must come. 



Gen. Geo. R. Davis, director-general of the World's 

 Fair, is a man of whose like there are too few. He has 

 just sent his check for $50 to Mr. Cole, president of the 

 Fox Eiver Association, for use in the work of that body. 

 With this sort of a director-general, the World's Fair can- 

 not fail. 



Dr. S. P. Bartlett, secretary of the Fish Commission, 

 was in town to-day. Dr. Bartlett has for over a month 

 been afflicted with an obscure nervous ailment which 

 quite unfits him for active physical exertion, though he 

 suffers very little from it when in quiet. He is feeling 

 better now, and we hope will soon be well. He is one of 

 the ruggedest-looking men one would be apt to meet, and 

 till this winter never knew what it meant to be enforcedly 

 still and careful of himself. 



THE STATE LEAGUE MOVES. 



After ample [time for deliberation, the committee ap- 

 pointed to draft constitution and by-laws for the State 

 League announces itself ready to report. The follow- 

 ing correspondence has passed, and this is offered in 

 order to give the formal call a wider publicity. A cir- 

 cular letter embodying the following will at once be 

 mailed to all persons likely to be interested: 



Geo. K. Cole, Prcxidcnl, Chicago. HI: 



Str— Fur-uani to ilie instruction of the meeting at the Sherman 

 House, Chicago. Jan. 13, 189", at which meeting you were elected 

 pr» si'.lent of the preliminary body, tbere being present members 

 of the Fox River, Kankakee River, Illiuo's Valley and Vermillion 

 Co. Associations, also of the leading angling and protective clubs 

 of all sections of the State, the undersigned, of the duly ap- 

 pointed committee on constitution and by-laws, have dulr delib- 

 erated, and now beg to state tliat we are ready to submit a report 

 to the meeting for permanent organization, the same to be called 

 at such date as in your ulasure may seem best. 



[Signed] Henry L. Hertz, Chairman of Com. 



March 



38, Houqh, Secretary, Chicauo. Ill: 



Sir— Herewith 1 hand you a communication from the com- 

 mittee, on constitution and by-lawp, suggesting a call for the meet- 

 ing for permanent, organization of the State League of the Fisb 

 Associations and clubs of Illinois, at. whose preliminary meeting 

 you were elected secretary. L?t the call be issued for Wednesday, 

 April 13. at the Lelaud Hotel. Springfield, 111., and do you u.=e 

 every means to put this calkin the bands of every societ y and every 

 man interested in the preservation of the fish of thii state. 



[Signed] Geo. E. Ooj/k, Pres. 



March 25. 



To Ann a ml All Of lUiuoix: 



In accordance wiiii the above and foregoing ad vices, you are 

 summoned to be and appear in actual person at the League meet- 

 ing, at the Lelaod Hotel, at Springfiold, 111., at the hour of 2 P. M., 

 Wednesday, April 13, 1892. The purposes of the League are too 

 noblf* to be slighted. Thos«* purposes will be set forth in the con* 

 sl itiition and by-laws then and there to be adopted. 



it. is hoped that all the associations and clubs of the Slate will 

 be represented at this mcetinar, but no lines are drawu, and the 

 individual who loves angling, and who wishes to see our game fish 

 preserved for the use of the people and not for the gain of a few. 

 is the man desired at this meeting, whether he belongs to any club 

 or not, and no matter where bis residence in the Stale. 



The main purpose of the State League is to band together in 

 one active central organization all the lesser protective societies 

 and protective, men in the State. A general union of this kind 

 will, at a trifling exppnse pro rata, give a working fund which 

 will render the body the most formidable tool in protective work 

 ever known in the history of tbe State. By its means the illegal 

 and destructive killing of fish, which has long disgraced this 

 State, can be broken up on every lake and stream within its 

 borders. 



Success can only follow a good start. You can help at the 

 start. Be at the meeting without fail. Excuses do no good. Be 

 theTe yourself. 



Please return inclosed postal card, and let us know whether 

 we can count on you at this meeting. Yours respectfully, 



B. Hough, Sec'y. 

 No. 175 Monroe Street, Chicago, 111, March 35. 



The placing of the meeting at Springfield will give the 

 men of the lower country a better chance to attend. The 

 success of the enterprise depends upon these lower coun- 

 try men, and not upon Chicago. This meeting will be 

 well advertised. Upon its quality and numbers will in- 

 stantly depend the future of this league. If the meeting 

 is puny and of genuine interest, then it will, in the minds 

 of the leading men in the enterprise, be better to drop it 

 altogether. But this, let us hope, will not be found 

 necessary. 



Warden Buck has now been on his net hunt at English 

 Lake for ten days, and as the weather grows milder there 

 appears promise of success. On the 19th he had only 

 found one net below the lake, and it had apparently been 

 torn out by drifting ice. On the 22d, however, he wrote 

 as follows: 



English Lake, Ind.— I came back up the river from the eeuutv 

 line to-day. There are seven nets between here and there, three 

 on LaPorte side and four ou Stark county side. It rained hard 

 last night and all of the ice is gone. They will most likely com- 

 mence putting in nets now. Mr. Greene told me there were f out- 

 men up in the lake on Sunday night with .lack lights spearing. I 

 am going up the river to-day, may go as far as the Nickel Plate 

 R. R. I will be here again about Thursday. I have only killed 

 rive ducks since 1 came, but ought to kill some to-day, as it is 

 storming. Yours truly, F. L. Buck. 



Yesterday Mr. Buck wired, "Nets to be taken to-mor- 

 row." It would appear that the raid will be successful, 

 and if so, the Kankakee Association is much to be con- 

 gratulated. 



Mr. F, L. Rockey, a veteran angler of the Kankakee at 

 "Kellys," near Lorenzo, was up from his home in Joliet 

 this week, buying tackle for his first fishing trip. I pre- 

 sume the first bass fishing of this region comes on the 

 mcky riff's below the State dam, at Kelly's place. Mr, 



Rockey told me'tbat he intended to try it this week, and 

 fully expected to find the bass running and biting. They 

 take the fly here on the very first run, better then than 

 later. Mr. Rockey is to inform me what success he has 

 on this early trip. I am afraid we cannot highly com- 

 mend this early bass fishing under a dam, as the fish are 

 then doing their best to get up stream to spawn. It is a 

 mistake to think that fish trying to get over a dam in the 

 spawning run will not bite, for they will. The fly, arti- 

 ficial minnow and spoon are better than live bait at Kel- 

 ly's on this early run. 



It was currently reported that that lovely fish, the gray- 

 ling, was extinct on the Au Sable, in Michigan, and in- 

 deed all through the State, so far as sport was concerned. 

 This is hardly the case. Last year I reported some gray- 

 ling catchep, and many were made of which no word got 

 out. Last year a party of Chicago gentlemen, Messrs. R. 

 Traill, Taylor A. Snow, E. F. Thorndyke and Dr. Chas. 

 E. Jones, floated the Au Sable almost from head to 

 mouth, and they made some fine catches of grayling. 



This summer, probably in July, tbe above party, with 

 the exception of Mr, Snow, who is replaced by the irre- 

 pressible Dave Oliphant, will go up to Late Gogebic, and 

 go down the Ontonagon River clear to Lake Superior, 

 boating it in canvas boats. Should they not find good 

 sport they will take a lake boat to Cheboygan or some 

 point on the south peninsula, and thence drop down to 

 Au Sable. There is little doubt as to tbe trout fishing in 

 the Ontonagon, though of course there are no grayling. 

 When on the Brule last summer we were told by a 

 wealthy lumberman, who fishes all that northern country, 

 that the best fishing he had had was on the Ontonagon; 

 aud he added that one needs a boat to fish that stream 

 properly. 



We have still a few tarpon anglers down in Florida, 

 but most of them are back. I have already mentioned 

 the trip of Dr. Hutchinson and Mr. Wilcox, and spoken 

 of the huge swordfish now being mounted here by Dick 

 Turtle for the latter gentleman. Dr. Hutchinson tells me 

 that up the south fork of the St. Lucie, 25 miles or more 

 above Jupiter Inlet, he found the bleaching bones of a 

 good-sized manatee, or "sea cow." The skeleton was per- 

 fect, about 10ft. long, the flesh nearly all gone. Above 

 the skeleton was the placard "No sportsman will appro- 

 priate a single. This is the property of the Smithsonian 

 Institute and will be duly claimed by the man who killed 

 the specimen." This warning to all sojourners in the 

 wilderness had so far been effectual, and the skeleton was 

 untouched. It is to be hoped it will arrive safely at its 

 destination. 



Mr. P. Lorillard, of New York, was in Florida at the 

 time the above two gentlemen were there. He had a 

 floating stable which he towed behind bis naphtha launch, 

 and by means of fifteen men and several horses was 

 managing to have a good time fishing. 



Mr. C. F. Silvester, Western agent of the Winchester 

 Repeating Arms Co., has been a resident of Chicago only 

 about a year, and does not yet know all the angling at- 

 tractions hereabout. He has, however, determined to 

 send bis family up to Fox or Geneva Lake for the sum- 

 mer. Mr. Silvester is perfecting a repeating bass rod 

 which is an interesting piece of mechanism. 



March 26 — The following telegram was received from 

 Warden Buck last night. It seems hard to understand, 

 as a haul of 100 nets is something unprecedented : 



Engeish La ke, Ind., March 25.— Over one hundred nets seized 

 to-daj ; more to come. F. L. BuOK. 



Further word will be awaited with much interest. 



March 27.— In regard to the large seizure of nets at 

 English Lake and vicinity, Warden Buck writes the fol- 

 lowing in description : 



Winder's Station, Ind., M«rch 25.— w« took up out of English 

 Lake 23 nets and found about 75 or Si) in two men's houses w ho do 

 fishing for a living; those the officers searched. I then came down 

 he river to the county line and back as far as this place, and Will 

 return to Enalish Lake to morrow and take a run up the river. 

 The cases will more than likely be called Monday and I will bas e 

 to attend. All of the nets are out of the river and English Lake 

 from the west line of the county to six miles above Euglish Lake. 



I don't know what they will want me to do after the trials, but 

 think it will be a trip down to Momence. I will let you know the 

 outcome of the trials. I have not killed many ducks as I have not 

 bunted them. Everything is all free of ice and any quantity of 

 geese and ducks to be seen flying, and I understand some good 

 bags have been made, but I was after other game.— F. L. Buck. 



This is a most decisive blow at the netters, and must 

 unfit them for active operations this spring, as it destroys 

 their reserve ammunition. The work of this association 

 has been singularly successful, and this is the greatest 

 cottp it has yet made. The Fish Commission of Indiana 

 muet feel highly pleased at the result of the aid the 

 Chicago men extended. Tbe whole campaign, simple 

 and rapid as it has been, only shows how much more a 

 little actual work will do than a whole lot of talk. 



These nets should be destroyed. If burned , they will 

 take no more fish. If the courts say wrongfully burned, 

 time then to talk of paying for them. The fine is $50 a 

 day for having nets of this character in possession. The 

 penalty could be made very severe. This severity ought 

 not to be fully exercised, but the nets ought to go. It is 

 safety for the fish, and not vengeance on illegal fishers, 

 which the Kankakee Association desires. Let the fight 

 be over the ashes of the illegal nets. The saving in bass 

 will buy the nets, if the netters have a case. This they do 

 not have. E. Hough. 



Landlocked Salmon in Peabody Pond.— Dixfield, 

 March 28.— Editor Forest and Stream: I send you copy 

 of letter just received from Judge W. W. Virgin, of Port- 

 land, Wis.: "Portland, March 24.— My Dear Stanley: 

 Frank Libby, of Bridgton, caught a black spot (landlocked 

 salmon) at Peabody Pond day before yesterday that 

 weighed just I21bs. I was there last week and caught a 

 red Fpot (trout) that weighed 2lbs., and another man 

 caught one that weighed S^lbs. Yours truly, W.W. Vir- 

 gin." I have just looked up my statistics and find that 

 we put the first salmon fry m Peabody Pond in June of 

 1886, making the fish less than six years old, a growth of 

 over 21bs. per year. The stock came from Sebago Lake. 

 — H. O. S. 



New Fishing Tackle. 



Rudolph's Ventilated Tackle Boxes. Pocket-. Tackle Box. Glass 

 Minnow Trap. Adjustable Bait Box, Chain Fish Stringer, Float- 

 ing Mrnnow Buckets, Floating Live Fish Net, Floating Minnow 

 Pocket. Ask your dealers to let you look at these, it will pay you, 

 or send for illustrated circular to Rudolph Mfg. Co., Chicago.— 

 Adv. 



Kentucky; Fish and Game Club.— Secretary H. C. 

 Forsman writes us from the headquarters at Louisville 

 that the club now has about 800 member. During the 

 past six months the farmers and countrymen have been 

 awakened to the importance of fish and game interests, 

 and the club has received from these sources an accession 

 to its numbers of about 500 members throughout the 

 State. General enthusiasm has been aroused in the pro- 

 tection of fish and game. A convention will be held at 

 the State capitol at Frankfort on April 19. The General 

 Assembly is in session, and effort will be made to impress 

 upon the Legislature the importance of passing good 

 laws. Mr. Forsman states that fishing promises to be 

 good this spring, but owiDg to the drought last summer 

 and the work of rascally dynamiters and seiners during 

 the low stages of the streams, the supply of fish will be 

 short. Hereafter the club expects to have no such trou- 

 ble, as the laws will be enforced to the letter. By means 

 of the convention it is hoped also that the game bill will 

 be passed. 



A Flood's Pond Trout in Hancock county, Maine, has 

 been pronounced identical with tbe golden trout of Sun- 

 apee Lake and Dan Hole Pond in New Hampshire by Mr. 

 S. Garman, we are informed, and we are willing to admit 

 the probability of this statement. When the lake systems 

 of New England and the adjacent regions northward 

 have been fully explored we shall expect to hear of golden 

 trout in many of them, and it will be admitted that no 

 question can arise as to their being a native and not an 

 introduced trout. In Flood's Pond tbe fish was known 

 many years before the introduction of the European 

 f albling. 



Deep Sea Net Fishing,— Newbern, N. C, March 25 — 

 The new methods and practice of deep net fishing ar« be- 

 ing pursued and extended along the coast of North 

 Carolina with pro6t and success. The nets used are 

 purse nets and gill nets. The latter are 75yds. long and 

 6ft. wide, weighted and suuk to 8 to 10 fathoms. At 

 Southport last week a quantity of fish said to be alto- 

 gether new to the fishermen were caught. They aver- 

 aged 8in. in length and were striped vertically like 

 sheepshead, but the head is of an entirely different shape. 

 I have not seen any specimen however.— Charles Hal- 

 lock. 



Potomac Kiveb Pike ha ve made their appearance in 

 the Eastern Branch near Washington, D. C, and many 

 have been taken by night seining, much to the disgust of 

 anglers. 



NEW HAMPSHIRE FiSH CULTURE. 



|"N their report for tbeyear eDding Dec. 1, 1891, the Fish 

 _]_ and Game Commissioners of New Hampshire state that 

 "the year has been the most .successful one since the forma- 

 tion of the Commission." Owing to fine weather during 

 the month of October, in which the eggs of the trout and 

 salmon are procured and hatched, also to increased facilities 

 obtained through practical expmence, a larger number of 

 young fry have been placed in the waters of the State tbau 

 ever before. As a result of the planting of brook trout fry 

 within the past three years, aided by an abundance of water 

 and plenty of food, the fishing has been very good in many 

 trout brooks. An unusually severe drought in September 

 and October, during which many large streams were re- 

 ported nearly dry, must have killed large numbers of fish. 

 New Hampshire has over 350,000 acres of water, and during 

 the year various bodies were examined to ascertain the kind 

 of fish suitable for them. Sunapee and Newfound lakes are 

 amoDg the best adapted for fish life. At the hatching houses 

 good results have generally been obtained. Hundreds of 

 spawning fish were secured on the beds, producing a large 

 number of eggs, the fry from which have been planted in 

 these lakes, besides large numbers transferred to other 

 waters of the State. 



The expense of procuring eegs has been very small in com- 

 parison with the cost of purchasing them as heretofore. The 

 introduced smelts are very abundant in Sunapee and New- 

 found lakes, and this accounts for the rapid growth of the 

 landlocked salmon and lake trout. The salmon and trout 

 have been taken weighing from 12 to lSlbs. each. The Com- 

 missioners state that they believe there is no better fishing 

 iu New England than in Sunapee and Newfound lakes. 

 People residing along the borders of these lakes are given 

 credit for assistance in stopping the unlawful practice of 

 taking fish from the spawning beds. 



The white perch, heretofore unknown to New Hampshire 

 waters, has been successfully introduced. A pond iu Man- 

 chester, coveriug an area of twenty acres and whose waters 

 are said to be peculiarly adapted to this fish, bas been 

 secured for its propagation and the Commission expects to 

 be able to plant hundreds of white perch in suitable waters 

 this spring. 



The necessity of a fishway in the dam at Exeter, to allow 

 alewives to pass up the river to their spawning grounds, is 

 pointed out. Five new and additional hatcheries were 

 erected at Sunapee. Newfound, Laconia, Keene and Cole- 

 brook. 



Many complaints were received about the spearing of 

 trout in Squam Lake, while on the spawning beds, deplet- 

 ing its waters to a large extent. Lake Winnipesaukee has 

 furnished more trout this year than for many years. This 

 is due, it is thought, to the plants made three or four years 

 ago, and to the better observance of the law iu regard to 

 spearing and netting trout on their spawning beds. While 

 there have been complaints of illegal fishing on some parts 

 of the lake, as a whole there has been much less wanton 

 destruction than heretofore. 



For Plymouth hatchery Superintendent Hodge reports 

 that the run of salmon in the Merrimack during 1891 was 

 the largest known since the work of restocking the river 

 began. This was attributed to the large plants made in 

 1887 and 1S88. Salmon from 20 to 301b3. weight were taken 

 and placed in the reservoir, of the hatchery at Plymouth, 

 Twelve hundred and fifty-one small wild trout have been 

 added to the stock of breeders iu the ponds. Many of the 

 large female trout spawned in July and August, causing a 

 large loss of eggs, as no ripe males could be secured until 

 the first week in September, and then the milt was not fully 

 developed. 



The receipts of eges at the Plymouth hatchery were as 

 follows: Jan. 19, 10,000 eggs of the California trout. Jan. 26, 

 10,000 eggs of the Loch Leven trout. Feb. 20, 132,000 eggs of 

 the Penobscot salmon; purchased by the State of Massachu- 

 setts. March 6, 50.000 eggs of the landlocked salmon, pre- 

 sented by the fj. S. Fish Commission, as were the eggs of 

 California trout and Loch Leven trout. 



Twelve thousand brook trout fry were planted in Whit- 

 comb Mountain Pond, in Odell. The total distribution of 

 trout fry t to various towns was 548,000; landlocked salmon, 

 90,000; Penobscot salmon, to tbe Pemigewasset river, 3H3,000; 



