S82 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



(.Nov, 19, 1891, 



"GENESIS." 



IT was in the spring of '71 that I first essayed the trout 

 in Maine waters— or for that matter, in any waters. 

 From early childhood, with an instinctive love of nature, 

 I had roamed the woods within a radius of a dozen miles 

 around my home, and made pot shots with the old 

 muzzleloader or bobbed for eels or skittered for jiickerel 

 in the sluggish streams and muddy ponds within my 

 ken; but only from hearsay had I any knowledge of the 

 wary troTxt, with his penchant for clear, cold, running 

 waters, and his lordly beauty of form and color. An 

 opportunity unexpectedly offered me to visit the Range- 

 leys, with a friend better posted than I, was hailed with 

 the wildest delight, and phantom shapes, spotted with 

 crimson and gold, haunted my dreams for many days 

 while I was planning and saving to accumulate the 

 wherewithal to cover the expenses of the trip, 



SuflSce it to say that on the 8th day of June my com- 

 panion, John , and myself embarked on the Portland 



steamer from Boston en route to Andover, Me., via 

 Bryant's Pond, loaded to the muzzle with a complete 

 camp kit and dunnage enough to swamp a whaleboat. 



I must have been completely dazed when we reached 

 the hotel at Andover, for time seemed to shp by on the 

 wings of the wind, till John and I found ourselves alone 

 in an enormous chamber over the office, gloomy with the 

 deep shadows hardly illumined by the small oil lamp left 

 with us. 



We were younger then, John and I, than now; and the 

 courage born of innocence and inexperience began to 

 ooze away as we hstened to the moaning of the wind 

 around the gables, and realized that we were indeed 

 '*stra.ngers in a strange land." 



Why was it, too, our room possessed so many doors, 

 leading whence we knew not? A consultation of war 

 was held, and our first move was to barricade the en- 

 trance door to our room, which was only fastened by a 

 rusty, time-worn lock, by wedging a chair under the 

 knob. Then producing an antique pistol from our satchel 

 we began to examine our quarters. 



Opening one door after another, we discovered only 

 closets; but with the opening of the last door, we felt our 

 doom was indeed sealed. Only a mass of impenetrable 

 darkness stared us in the face". Bang went the door, and 

 down we sat in fear and trembling. What was this 

 dreadful space of Stygian darkness? 



Another consultation resulted in .John's determination 

 to " do or die," and once more advancing, John ahead, 

 holding the lamp high aloft, I following, pistol cocked, 

 we opened up the door. All was still, and listening 

 breathlessly, we heard no sound. Getting bolder, .John 

 took two steps forward, stopped, listened, and then, with 

 a " Come on, I'm not afraid," took a step one side to 

 enable our " battery" to move up! Slam! iDang! crash! — 

 John gone — utter darkness — a pistol shot — oblivion. 



It seems, as after investigation proved, that we were 

 encroaching on the large hall used for dancing, with an 

 entrance from the kitchen by a stairway, at the head of 

 which was a ti-ap door, open at the time, and as John 

 stepped to one side, he fell down the hole in the floor, 

 and the trap promptly responding to the unexpected caU, 

 dropped sharply into place, shutting out all traces of poor 

 John, who, clinging to the lamp, sliding like lightning 

 on his back down the stairway, came to anchor with his 

 feet sticking through the panels of the kitchen door 

 below. No bones broken. 



Next morning, arranging for our boat at the "arm of 

 the lake," we piled up our belongings on the conven- 

 tional "buckboard" and started. That same buckboard 

 was a revelation to me, and if I remember aright I felt 

 like Jonah before our exodus. Such thumping and 

 banging I had never before experienced, for with my 

 ignorance of horseback riding I didn't "rise to the trot," 

 but keeping everything taut and rigid and hanging on 

 for dear life, I nearly lost it. At last, sore and wretched, 

 we came to a halt at the arm of the lake; and its pictur- 

 esque location and the glimpse of the fair water, with a 

 cool breeze coming down from above, did much to re- 

 lieve us of the ennui we felt. But the boat. We had 

 pictured in our minds an airy-fairy giddy thing with 

 white wings that would fly over the foam-crested wave 

 and bear us hither and thither ad liJ). Alas, our hopes 

 were dashed, for half out of water, like a stranded 

 whaler, lay om* boat, a weather-stained, battered nonde- 

 script, one end rotting in the sun, the other completely 

 water-logged, only one whole oar, the other little better 

 than a raft pole. 



In the meantime the team had sneaked away; and left 

 to our own resources and with no alternative we sadly 

 hauled the thing out of water, allowed the sun's rays to 

 partially absorb some of the moisture in the water-logged 

 end. and then daubing on the seams inside and out a 

 quantity of pitch and tar — fortunately left, perchance, 

 by old Noah— we launched and loaded her. 



I can never describe how we strained and tugged with 

 our puny muscles till against a strong head wind we 

 finally found ourselves ashore in the cove above the 

 middle dam completely exhausted. We didn't wait for 

 supper, but turned into the blankets instantly, forgetting 

 that we had a tent, or too tired to pitch it. 



Next day we fished about the dam, and there I caught 

 my first trout. Reader, have you "been there?" I sup- 

 pose I made a fool of myself, but then, I can console 

 myself with the reflection that better men and older men 

 than T have lost their heads and given expression to most 

 extravagant antics on such occasions. The following 

 day, the wind shifting, we had a comparatively easy row 

 up the Lower Richardson, past Rich's Camp and Metallic 

 Point, at the moxith of the Narrows, through the Upper 

 Richardson, skirting the western shore part way, and 

 finally crossing to the foot of the carry at Upper Dam. 

 We camped near there on the south side of the dam. 

 During our stay at this spot, where we for the first time 

 set up our tent and unpacked our truck, we had remark- 

 able fishing for greenhorns. Initiated with the mysteries 

 of fly-fishing by such a notable example as that of J udge 

 Webster, who was stopping at the Upper Dam, we be- 

 came Nase in a short while, and subsequent arrivals un- 

 doubtedly admired the sang froid with which we struck, 

 played and (sometimes) netted two and three fish at a 

 time. Why is it that the novice always catches at least 

 one tremendous fish on his first outing? I have now an 

 outline on birch bark of a trout I took that spring below 

 the Upper Dam, whose size is far in excess of any I have 

 ever taken since, he measured Slin. in length. I often 

 look at this outline sketch with pride, and I still strive to 



go one better, but while I have caught many a heavier 

 trout I have never landed another so large. ' 



From this trip my love of trout fishing has developed 

 into a passion, and every opportunity offered finds me 1 

 with rod and reel "where the trout hide." | 



I have caught black base, wall-eyed pike and muskal- 

 longe in Michigan, and fish of other species in places less 

 remote, but the memory of my first trip to the Pine Tree 

 State in quest of trout has indelibly impressed itself upon 

 my brain, and I love to think of that honest, whole-souled 

 delight I felt when I landed my first trout. 



A. T. Bond. 



WHITE BASS FISHING. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have had a chance at different times to see your 

 paper and I never see anything from this locality. Now, 

 I think we have here a daPS of sport not to be had any- 

 where else on the ball, and that is catching white bass. 

 This city is on the Sandusky River, at the head of navi- 

 gation, and in the spring the white bass come up to 

 spawn, and then the fun begins. We use a small minnow 

 with a red head: by the way, the minnow comes with 

 the advent of the biss and is called by us natives a "red 

 head," Two hooks, a small one about a foot above the 

 other, are employed, and it is an ordinary thing to make 

 a double catch. The white bass is of the trout disposi- 



THE WHITE BASS. 



tion, quicker than double-greased lightning. You either 

 fish from a boat or use a pair of long boots and wade, 

 and when jou get a strike you either get him or you don't 

 — it is like a flash. If you get him, don't land him too 

 soon,, for for his size he is "a good 'un." They don't grow 

 very large, lib. being a good average. I think we had 

 the best run this spring we ever had, that is, the largest; 

 a few were caught that weighed 21bs. and a great many 

 of 1 to lilbs. About the middle of August they go back 

 to the lake, which is about 30 miles distant; in the fall 

 we fish between here and the lake for what T call the 

 king of American waters, the black bass, and we do get 

 some daisies; 51bs. 9oz. is the largest up to date. 



Fbemont, O. J. 0, Cark. 



[The white bass referred to is the Roceus chrysops, of 

 the "Fishery Industries," plate 171. The "red head" min- 

 now is hard" to identify, as the males of several species 

 have the head more or less rosy in spring. The yellow 

 bass of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys and the white 

 perch of the East are the nearest relatives of the white 

 bass. J 



FISHWAYS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Youx term of "a continental failure" is a new one, but 

 fits the fish way at Holyoke very well. It is a monumen- 

 tal failure certainly, for as your correspondent Mr. Waters 

 says, it is reported to have cost $30,000, and there is no 

 record of any fish except a few eels ever going up it. 

 During the five years I was on the New Hampshire Fish 

 Commission I visited it frequently, and never saw a fish 

 of any sort in it. 



The trouble with it is that like many of the early fish- 

 ways it was built from a wrong "point of view," or as the 

 boys say, "hind end first." The Lawrence fishway was 

 built in the same manner, or with the mouth of it far 

 down stream out of the main current, up which the fish 

 always go until they meet an obstruction, when they try 

 to get around it. 



The Lawrence fishway was utterly useless for the first 

 few years, until in 1877 or '78 the Commissioners cut it in 

 two in the middle and turned the lower end backward, 

 so as to bring it into the pool at the foot of the dam where 

 the fish could find it. The New Hampshire Commission 

 have always protested against both of these fishways as 

 first built, "and my colleague, the late A. H. Powers, went 

 to Massachusetts to urge the change in the one at Law- 

 rence. 



The instant it was changed fish of aU kinds (except 

 shad) began to come up it, and the number of salmon has 

 been increasing yearly. I do not know how many Com- 

 missioner Hodge took in all this year at the halchery at 

 Plymouth, N. H., 100 miles up the river, but he had 

 taken 76 the last time I heard from him, and a number 

 had been caught on their way up, about Garrins Falls, 

 above three fishways. The New Hampshire Commis- 

 sioners have begged' those of Massachusetts again and 

 again to bend back the fishway at Holyoke. They 

 plead ofl:' at first on the excuse of great expense, but 

 have had a better one since in the fact that the Con- 

 necticut fishermen caught every fish that attempted to 

 ascend the river in their weirs and pounds at the mouth, 

 and the Connecticut Legislature refused to coirect thp 

 evil. The result was that the salmon, with which New 

 Hampshire and Vermont stocked the river in 1874, were 

 ail caught before they could get up as far as Hartford, 

 biit a large number were taken below there for two or 

 three years, I think in '78 and '79. 



So as New Hampshire cannot move Massachusetts, nor 

 Massachusetts start Connecticut, the river remains un- 

 fruitful. I have never heard of shad going up any fish- 

 way, without it be the McDonald, and that is impracti- 

 cable in our Northern rivers, on account of the heavy ice 

 brought down in the freshets in the spring, which would 

 smash any timber construction to splinters, unless pro- 

 tected behind a heavy stone abutment. 



It is easy enough to build a practicable fishway, if the 

 builders will only look at it in the right way, and remem- 

 ber that the fish are going up the river, and not down. 

 That, except eels and small fish, they are usually out in 

 mid current, and not being up in the air like birds, they 



cannot look down and see the ingenious ladders which 

 men have built for them, far down the stream, but go on 

 against the current tiU they run against a dam or reck, 

 and then try to get around it to the right or left. It 

 makes no dift'erence where the upper end is, so long as it 

 is in the water of the upper level. 



I built the Manchester fishway from the pool below the 

 dam, leading up to the canal, also below the dam hori- 

 zontally, or down stream, but on the upper level. Let the 

 fish once surmount the fall, and they will find their way 

 up through the headgates of any canal fast enough. Tf e 

 Manchester fishway has been a perfect success, although 

 some ignorant busy-bodies found fault because the fish 

 stopped to rest for a day in the pool at the foot of the 

 dam, after climbing the natural "chute" below, before 

 they attempted the second climb of the fishway. Let me 

 repeat, it is no matter where the upper end of the fishway 

 is, if on the upper level, if the lower end is in the pool, as 

 near the fall as possible. You may build a loop round 

 the end of the dam, you may run down, and come back, 

 as at Lawrence, or lead into the canal as at Manchester, 

 but have the lower end where the fish can find it with- 

 out "going up in a balloon" to look for it. They will find 

 their way down any fall, "tail first," fast enough. The 

 Holyoke fishway needs only to be cut in the middle and 

 bent back to the dam. 



I did not mention the one at Lowell, and it should not 

 be omitted, but it simply consists in leaving off one flash- 

 board at the north end of the dam, opposite the city, 

 where the ledge rises to the surface, so that the dam is 

 only 2ft. high. When the fish meet this fall they simply 

 "turn to the right and find their way round the corner!" 



A series of "log cabins," 13ft, square or so, was fii'St 

 built at Lowell, against the center of the dam, each one 

 about 3ft. lower than the one above, expecting the fish 

 to jump up from one to the other, but it was worthless. 

 The point seems to me to be here, the fish do not go up 

 stream by sight, but by feeling, and go against the most 

 favorable current. 



I do not think a fish can see very far in the broken 

 water of a fall, and I do not think from my experience 

 as an angler that they see objects out of water, through 

 it, under such conditions. I always prefer to fish a pool 

 from the upper end, where the broken water serves to 

 hide me. 



I forget how far down stream the Holyoke Fishway 

 debouched, and have lost my record, but think it was 

 about 400ft. and away off at one side, where no fish 

 would think of either looking or feeling for a passage. 



chaelestown, n. h. Von W. 



A LARVAL CONGER EEL. 



Editor Forest and, Stream: 



A very interesting fish has recently been sent to me by 

 Commissioner Blackford, and as it was found at Rocl!'- 

 away doubtless some of your New York readers will be 

 glad to hear about it. The gentleman who found the 

 specimen was fishing off the shore at Rockaway last 

 spring. "He noticed something in the water that shone 

 very brightly, and after watching it a few minutes it was 

 washed ashore. He noticed it moving on the sand and 

 picked it up, thinking it might be a curiosity. " The cap- 

 tive was put into a vial of alcohol and afterward given to 

 Mr. Blackford, through whose kindness I am enabled to 

 describe the specimen. 



The eel is about 4in. long, whitish in color, and with 

 two rows of minute black spots, one along the middle of 

 the body and the other on its lower edge. The jiws are 

 much like those of an adult eel. The fins are not devel- 

 oped, and the body is deep and ribbon-shaped. In life 

 the animal is translucent and is almost invisible in tea 

 water. Very few specimens of this kind have been 

 taken on our shores, and the whole number caught at the 

 surface by towing nets from vessels of the Fish Commis- 

 sion is comparatively small. The variations among the 

 forms, on the other hand, are numerous. None of them 

 are exactly like this Rcckaway example, and so 1 am at 

 a loss to know what is the adult form of this laiva. It 

 may be a young Conger; it is certainly one of this type of 

 eels, but there is no adequate guide to the study of ihes^ 

 curious fishes. Dr. Jordan's "Manual of the Vertebrate^" 

 (page 90) mentions a single species {LeptocephaiuM mor- 

 risi) as occurring on our coasts. The collections of the 

 Fish Commission, however, contain many species of 

 widely differing characters. These larva; have been con- 

 sidered to represpnt a stage of arrested development of 

 young eel-like fishes which increases in size, but never 

 attains the characters of the perfect animal. The gener- 

 ative organs are undeveloped and the skeleton is cartila- 

 ginous: even the skull is composed mainly of cartilages. 

 Lejjtocephali are pelagic and abundant, but. on accoimt 

 of their transparency, seldom discoverable in the water. 

 They move slowly and feebly, and but for their protec- 

 tive coloration would have little chance to escape from 

 predaceous fishes. The largest specimen recorded is 

 lOin. long. Dr. Gill now regards these larv?e as young 

 stages which will develop, in a shorter or longer period, 

 into the perfect animal. T. H. Bean. 



FlSHVFAYS IN THE SUSQUEHANNA.— In 1886 two of 



the Rogers fishways were put in the dam at Colum- 

 bia, Pa., and the fact that shad will pass through 

 it was established by setting a gill net around the 

 upper exit and catching in it several of these fish. 

 There was at this time a good stage of water and the 

 entrances were easily found by the shad. Since that 

 time, however, the shoaling of the water has made the 

 openings less accessible and shad have not been able to 

 find them until the difficulty was remedied. At the best, 

 however, the fishery above the dam amounts to very 

 little except when breaks occur, and this ixnfortunate 

 state of affairs is undoubtedly due to lack of proper ad- 

 justment of the entrances to the ways. About two years 

 ago there was a break in the dam and between 2,000 and 

 3,000 shad were caught above the obstruction. 



We Should Say So.— "John Smith" writes to the 

 Evening Post: I find the following in your paper of this 

 evening: "The Rev. Wm. H. Ryder preached in a Glou- 

 cester, Mass., church last Sunday on the topic, 'Can a 

 man be a fish dealer and a Christian?' " I would re?pecr- 

 fully ask if this is not rather hard on the Aposlles, sev- 

 eral of whom are understood to have been in that 

 business? 



