10 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[July 1, 1893. 



PIKE COUNTY STREAMS. 



The sketch of "Tom's Creek," in Forust a.n.d Stream 

 of June 23 is locally interesting, says the Port Jervis 

 Oazette, but the writer is all wrong in saying, or intimat- 

 ing, that trout fishing in the brooks of Pike county is not 

 as good now as heretofoi-e. There is no better trout fish- 

 ing in the streams of any part of Pennsylvania, or any 

 other State in the Union, than there is, this year, in those 

 of our neighboring county of Pike. The writer hereof 

 has had ample opportunity, during a number of weeks 

 past, to see and experience proofs irrefragable that as 

 many of the "speckled beauties" have been caught in the 

 streams of Pike county, this seasou, as there have been 

 for manj' years past, within a like number of weeks, 

 He has been there and has seen and tasted the lovely 

 trout, from time to time, and seen the "catches" of friends, 

 during the season, -as in former seasons, and knows 

 whereof he affirms. 



Several times this season has Forest and Stream pub- 

 lished paragraphs and letters in which it has been asserted 

 that trout fishing is not as good in Pike county this 

 season as heretofore, and we hoije that this excellent 

 sporting journal will permit us to convince it of its error 

 and that it will hereafter do justice to that favorite resort 

 of fishermen and hunters. 



We fully concur with the Forest and Stream con- 

 tributor in what he says in praise of Mr. Fauchere's 

 inimitable cooking of trout and of his excellent dinners. 

 Mr. Fauchere has few, if any, peers ia his line in these 

 parts, pr anywhere else for that matter. And we cordially 

 agree with our lively sportina: contemporary in all its 

 praises of the charms of the Upper Delaware Valley — its 

 fine drives and beautiful birds, lovely scenery, etc. But 

 w(i object to our esteemed contemporary's disparagement 

 of the trout fishing in Pike county, or its intimations that 

 such fishing is not as good there as formerly, and we hope 

 that popular paper will publicly acknowledge its error 

 in this respect. 



We are not certain who "Harry Hudson" is, but we 

 Fuspect that he is our friend, Russel Headley, Eiq., of 

 Newburg. a,nd that his friends, "John" and "Mac" are 

 John W. J.yons, Esq,, of Port Jervis, and Norman Mac- 

 lean, Esq., late of Godetlroy, now residing temporarily 

 in British India and amusing himself in the cultivation 

 of coffee. 



SALE OF TROUT IN CLOSE SEASON. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I notice Mr. A. C, Collins of Hartford, Conn., has 

 criticised my paper read before the American Fisheries 

 Society in reference to Connecticut, having modified her 

 law in relation to the sal& of artificially raised trout. I 

 give the law as furnished me by my Connecticut at- 

 torney: 



Sec, '-im. Revlsecl Statute of 1888 of Connecticut. Every person 

 who shall catch any brook troiu except witli a hook and line, or 

 shall sell, expose for salH, purchaBe, catch, or have in his posses- 

 sion any trout except from the first f!<tv of April to tlif; first day 

 of July, shall he fined not more than §30, or imprisoned not more 

 than thirty days or both; provided that any person may take 

 trout in waters owned by him, for the purpose of RtockiuK other 

 waters or take and sell any truut reared in such waters. 



If the above is correct I think our friend will have his 

 hands full in preventing the sale of cultivated trout in 

 Connecticut at any season of the year, either dead or 

 alive. If I have been misinformed T shall be happy to be 

 set right in the matter. 



I think our friend can find little consolation in the 

 o|)inion of Chief Justice Shaw and others of the U. S. 

 Supreme Court, which he has cited, for it must be ac- 

 knowledged by every fair-minded man that the public 

 would be greatly benefited to have 500, 000 lbs. of brook 

 trout raised annually and sold in the markets as a food 

 product after Jan. IS, thirty days after the spawning 

 season has passed, and all objections that have been 

 raised are purely sentimental, or as one sportsman ex- 

 pressed himself to me, that he did not want any trout 

 sold in the market before the opening day, as it would 

 take the romance from trout fishing. The estimated 

 500,0001bs, of trout to be raised annually in Massachusetts 

 or Connecticut is certainly a large amount; but it is 

 within the possibilities to do. I know of facilities in this 

 town for raising lOO.OOOlbs., and in what are now waste 

 wa,terg, not yielding 501 bs. of trout yearly. 



Trout raising is to-day in its infancy, and only asks for 

 a fair chance to become an important industry in many 

 of the States. W. L. Gilbert, 



Plymouth, Mass., July a. I 



OHIO RIVER MASCALONGE. 



Editor Forest and Stream; 



At lastlam ableto exclaim with Archimedes, "Eurekal" 

 For nearly ten. years I have been tryina: to obtain a speci- 

 m< n of the mascalonge of the Ohio River basin, locally 

 known as "pike," and have only recently succeeded in 

 getting one through the zealous exertions of Mr. J, H. 

 Newton, of Newark, O., a member of the Ohio Fish Com- 

 mission. 



Early last April I had a conversation with Mr. Newton 

 on the subject, and he promised to use his best endeavors 

 to secure a specimen. He was more successful than I 

 dared hope for after the repeated failures on the part of 

 others. 



In the latter part of April Mr. Newton and Mr. Chas. 

 Heipley, of Newark, proceeded to the mouth of Wills 

 Creek on the Muskingum River, where they met. by pre- 

 vious arrangement, Messrs. John P. and Claude Sturtz, 

 of Adamsville, all of whom were experienced anglers. 

 After a day's fishing on the part of the four gentlemen, 

 Mr, John P. Sturtz had the good luck to hook and land a 

 tine mascalonge, 



Mr, Newton packed it in ice and shipped it to me at 

 Washington, where a mold and cast were made of it for 

 the World's Pair. It measured 43in. in length and 

 weighed 18lbs. In coloration it could not be distinguished 

 from the typical St. Liwrence River mascalonge. Its back 

 was dark olive green, a little lighter on the sides, and the 

 belly of porcelain whiteness. The body and fins were 

 marked by numerous dark, roundish spots, almost black, 



I had previously seen the heads of some half dozen 

 mascalonge of the Ohio Valley, and expected that the 

 coloration would be similar to that of the same species in 

 the upper Mississippi, or northern Michigan, that is, of 

 almost uniform grayish green, and without the charac- 

 teristic and well defined black snots usually seen in Sfc. 

 Lawrence River examples. James A. Henshall. 



Susquehanna River Fishing. 

 _Mr. W. L. Powell informs us that fishing in the 

 vicinity of Harrisburg, Pa. , has not been very good on 

 account of continuous high and muddy waters, but a 

 good many fish have been caught at Newport. Fish ap- 

 pear to be plentiful about Harrisburg, but the conditions 

 are unfavorable for catching them. There has been a 

 good deal of agitation, writes Mr, Powell, regarding the 

 propagation of the rainbow trout; he assures us that a 

 great many Pennsylvania streams have been successfully 

 stocked with this species. In one stream to which he has 

 given particular attention, and in which only mature fish 

 were planted, a good many small ones, five or six inches 

 long, are now being caught, which demonstrates the fact 

 very forcibly that they will thrive in some of the waters 

 of the State. 



The Yankee Fish Hook. 



Thk "Yankee" fish hook, advertised elsewhere in our columns, 

 although only put upon the market a few months, has already 

 achieved n great, success. From trout streams and mountain 

 lakes, as well as from tide waters and the deep sefi, come reports 

 of iTj^ achievements, and it is safe to say that no more practical 

 or effec(,ive devjce for fillin? the angler's basket has ever been 

 invented. The fact that it is endorsed hymen who earn their 

 daily bread by fishing is the strongest possible l ecommendation, 

 but If further proof is wanted the reader is advised to send to the 

 manufacturers for sample hooks and become convinced of their 

 merits by personal experience.— ^du. 



EASTERN FISH IN CALIFORNIA. 



Wk are indebted to Hon. Marshall McDonald for permis- 

 sion to publish the following extracts from a letter ad- 

 dressed to him May 16, by Mr. Ramon E. Wilson, secretary 

 of the California Pish Commission, about the progress of 

 landlocked salmon, brook trout and other fish introduced 

 from the East. 



The landlocked salmon at the Bear Valley Station "seem 

 t'^ be doing well, and the loss is exceedingly small, but the 

 fry do not seem to grow very fast. They have not yet com 

 menced to take food given to them, although the sac has 

 left them for some time. We intend to put them into a 

 small lake from which we will be able to take them for 

 distribution." 



The Country Club planted some brook trout "in one of its 

 lakes ODO year ago last month. The club received from Mr. 

 Mills, Pish Commssioner of Nevada, 14,000 fry. Nothing 

 was heard of them after they were planted until last month, 



-~ — caugh„ ,....^,.,„..ufs 

 13in. .Hnd weighing from 13 fo 14oz. There is no mistake 

 that the fish caught were the ones planted, as before the 

 planting there were no fish of any kind in the lake. The 

 females are fuU of spawn, as large as No. 6 shot, and from 

 present appearances it would seem as if they would spawn 

 late in August or in the first part of September. We have 

 had excellent luck with t,he .spawn taken from Nevada and 

 have distributed about 3,000 foiiUiialix. most of them in the 

 streams on the coast. Ir is an experiment and we are afraid 

 they will find their way to the sea and not return. 



"We are now taking spawn of the rainbow, and up to date 

 have secured about 500,000 eggs, aud hope to raise this to 

 1,500,000 or even more. 



"It has been reported to us that lobsters, which were 

 planted here some years ago, have recently been caught in 

 Monterey Bay. We are now at work trying to confirm the 

 story. 



"Our striped bass are increasing wonderfully. One was 

 netted recently weighing 351 bs. Many experiments have 

 been made, especially recently by, skillftil sportsmen to take 

 them with book and line, but thus far without success." 



The growth of the brook trout above referred to is certainly 

 remarkable, and probably cannot be equalled in Eastern 

 waters; the average weight of yearlings under domestication 

 is only about ;3oz. 



The .spawning season of the rainbow trout mentioned 

 above is later than usual, on the McCloud River the season 

 usually closed before May 1 . 



Eugene Gr. Blackford, who was for nearly thirteen years 

 a member of the Commission of Fisheries of the State of New 

 York, and for a great part of that time president of the Com- 

 mission, is in the city, says the San Francisco Chronid.c. 

 Mr. Blackford, who is the largest wholesale fish dealer in the 

 Fulton Market, New Y'ork city, was appointed by Governor 

 Lucius Robinson, and he held office until Dec. 31, 1891, the 

 appointment of his successor, David Hackney, of Fort Plain, 

 N. Y., who is said to have acknowledged that he "did nob 

 know a sucker from an eel," being the last official act of 

 Governor Hill. Mr. Blackford has made a handsome for- 

 tune in the fish business, and he is now president of the 

 Bedford Bank, of Brooklyn, N. Y.. and a director in three or 

 four other financial institutions in New York and Brooklyn. 

 He has been making a tour of California, spending two or 

 three weeks in the sonthera part of the State, but for the 

 past week he has been in Sau Francisco. He leaves here in 

 a day or two for Portland, Seattle aud Tacoma. and on J\ine 

 6 he will sail on the steamer Qtteen from Tacoma on a totir 

 of Alaska, 



Mr. Blackford is an enthusifist on the subject of fi.sh and 

 fishctdtitre. In conversation with a Chronicle reporter yes- 

 terday, he said: "During the week that I have been in this 

 city I have been getting up early and making a tour of your 

 wholesale fish markets at 5 or 5:30 in the morning. 1 did 

 that because I wanted to get a view of your fish when they 

 are fresh and before they are distributed to the retail trade, 

 and I have in that way seen a good many things that inter- 

 ested me. 



"What did I see that most interested me? Shad. The 

 shad here not only interested but surprised me. Fifteen 

 years ago the United States Fish Commission procured from 

 New Y'ork and sent here 80,000 young fry less than half an 

 inch in length in charge of Seth Green. They were planted 

 in the Sacramento River and were the first shad ever seen 

 in Pacific waters. To-day I should s:iy, judging from the 

 price, that shad are more plentiful here than in the East. 

 Within the week the price has been one and a half to two 

 cents a pound wholesale for shad of an average weight of 

 five pounds. I have seen many shad here weighing twelve 

 pounds and one exceptionally large one weighing fifteen 

 pounds. Now I think that is remarkable when you con- 

 sider that the average \yeight of our Connecticut River shad 

 in the East is four and one-half pounds, and that the largest 

 of which there is any record is eleven pounds. 



"Then, too, I would like to say a word about your striped 

 bass. Oaly nine years ago there was not a striped bass in 

 your waters. At that time I was president of the New Y^ork 

 Commission, and at the rf quest of the United States Com- 

 missioners I procured 1,500 small fry about one inch in 

 length. They were sent out her.e and planted, I think, 

 somewhere near the mouth of the Sacramento River. Now 

 I find them in your markets in such quantities that they are 

 sold as low as fifteen cents a pound. They would probably 

 bring a higher price if yoiu* people were as well acquainted 

 with the merits of the fish as we are in the East, where they 

 readily bring from thirty to forty cents a pound when the 

 supply is at all light 



And right here I do not think that it is possible to give 

 too much credit to the United States Pish Commission, and 

 especially to the late Spencer F. Baird, who was so long at 

 its head. In the introduction of the shad and striped bass 

 alone they have given to the Pacific coast a food supply 

 which more than repays the whole expenditure of the Com- 

 mission since its establishment. 



"How does the quality of the fi.sh here compare with the 

 sanie kind in the East.' That depends. I have eaten as fine 

 a piece of shad here in California as any that ever came out 

 of the Connecticut River; but I got it fresh from the water, 

 and it was handled and prepared aceordina: to my own 

 directions. The fish, however, as it generally comes to the 

 table of the consumer here is not in as good condition as we 

 get it in the East, and that, probably, is wh v, as a food, it is 

 not as popular here as it ought to be. Yes, I have heard 

 complaints that the meat of the shad here is soft and mealy 

 and that it has not that firmness which is its characteristic 

 in the East. The complaints are perhaps just, but the fault 

 does not lie with the fish but with the manner in which it is 

 handled. Perhaps it is the high price of ice, or perhaps the 

 unwise economy of those who control the wholesale trade 

 here which operates to prevent the fish reaching the con- 

 sumer in as good condition as it might and ought to. I 

 notice that little or no ice is used in your tish mar- 

 kets. Now, shad should be laid in fine ice as soon 

 as caught, and should be kept there until out on 

 the .stabs for sale to the consumer. It i.s the mo,<5t 

 tender-meated of all fish. The fish should be bandied as 

 tenderly as a baby and stacked up in boxes in the ice on their 

 backs, edgewise, so to speak. InstPad of that I see them 

 here slammed around and thrown into the boxes one ou top 

 of another, fiat side down aud in all sorts of confusion. 

 The result is that 'S^-'^''-- jc hvnken up and it reaches the 

 consumer soft aiSne thing that haSoQtjy ^[i-;^ ^.j^g ^.^p 



Tacoma and Seattle, ^ gnjer the li e °ow setting in New 

 York a large portion o. , , from those places. The 



first shipment we recei ;r ^ le year aud a half ago, 



came m poor condition ".^"^^ ^^^J the business for a time, 

 but now we are getting T';'ng grour;f,pioad in improved re- 

 frigerator c^rp, and ifc d to be no aper and better than the 

 halibut from Gloucestens take t During the past winter, 

 up to the time I left Newb.e clea-Avelve carloads had reached 

 us from Seattle and Taci;,o ev-t>e carloads averaging 23,000 

 pounds including ice, or ak.;.Lit 12,000 net. The fish sells in 

 New York for about 15 cents a pouud wholesale." 



Mr. Blackford concluded his remarks by reiterating his 

 belief that in its fish the Pa-cific coast had an inexhaustible 

 supply and that all that v care^seded to make our fish more 

 popular as food was more San'hxl handling by those Avbo 

 are engaged in the trade.— Francisco Chronicle, May :>4. 



MINNESOTA PROTECTIVE WORK. 



The Fish and Game ^''mmi.ssioners are again after 

 the law breakers, and the '^lillers and proprietors of dams 

 who have failed to comply with the requireoients of the 

 law providing for flshways over dams. A meeting of the 

 Cummission was held at the .State capitol yesterday fore- 



haye become aware of the fact that yery few mill owners 

 have complied with the State law providing for the con- 

 struction of fish ways over dams. Their excuse has been 

 that the water has been too high to allow such work ou the 

 dams. The Commissioners are determined to have the 

 law obeyed and have instructed the game warden to see 

 that its provisions are complied with. 



The game warden submitteil his report, covering a period 

 from Dec. 1 to May 1, During these' months he bad con- 

 ducted a number of prosecutions for illegal fishing and .shoot- 

 ing game out of season. In several instances the par- 

 ties were either fined or imprisoned. He called the Com- 

 mission's attention to the fact that the law was being 

 violated on Lake Pepin by parties usiing nets to catch fish. 

 The city markets are largely .supplied from this lake and 

 the amount of fish taken in the course of a year is some- 

 thing astounding. 



The game warden said that he was unable to enforce the 

 law from the fact that the Wisconsin warden had failed to 

 co-operate with him in the enforcement of the law although 

 requested to do so. Whenever he had attempted to arrest 

 the poachers they would ci'oss to the Wisconsin side. Vice- 

 President Timberlake was ipsfcructed to communicate with 

 Gov. Merriam in reference to this matter, rtquesting the 

 Wisconsin authorities to assist in the enforcement of the 

 fish laws on that lake. The neglect of the Wisconsin game 

 warden to co-operate in this affair is regarded simply as an 

 oversight on the partof that official. 



The committee appointa'- to confer with railroad officials 

 to secure their refusal to transport game and fish out of .sea- 

 son reported that the maj,grity of the lines had agreed to 

 this. They considered it i;. to their interest to preserve 

 the game and fish on acc.>'a£,: of the additional tEatfic they 

 received during the huntiu'g and fishing season. Petitions 

 were received asking that the lakes of the State be stocked 

 with small-mouthed bass, of which the Commission has a 

 large stock at the hatchery below St, Paul. The request of 

 the petitioners will be complied with.— St Paul Pioneer 

 Press. 



F I XTU R E S. 



eePG SHOWS. 



Sept. 6 to 8.— .Second A othtl T)oa; Show of the-Haiiiilton Ivenael 

 Clab. at Flamilton, Car-p^,,„^\. D. Stewart, Pe^-'y. 



Sept, li to 9.-Roebesr , el Club, at Rochester, N. Y. Dr. O. 

 S. Bambpr, Sec'y, Ought 1 



Sept. 1;J to 15.— Four-feed whl Dog Show of the Toronto In- 

 dustrial Exhibition -trengthe^' Toronto, Canada. C. A. 

 Stone, Spc'v, ' ^ 



Sept. 19 to 22.-Thi'nce as tnai^g sj^^w of the Kingston Kennel 

 Club, at Kingston. C-fiti-aaa H. O. Biiee, Sec'y. 



Sept. ;« to 2y.— Western Michieari Kennel Cluii. iit Grand Rapids 

 Mich. K. Dale Adams, Gi-alc&hurK, Mirlu, Superiatendent. 



Sept. 27 to 30.— Dog Show at Ottawa, Can. Alfred fieddes, Sec'y. 



Oct. So to 28.— Omaha Kennel Club, at Omaha, Neb. B. L. 

 Marston, Sec'y. 



FIELD TRIALS. 

 - Sept. •''v.— Manitoiia Field Trial.?, at Morris, Man. A, HoHoway, 

 Wiuuipp^g, Man., Sec'y, 



Oct. 25.-Tliird Annual field Trials of the National BeBglei Club, 

 at Nanupt, N. y. Bench ahow of the club Oct. 21. H. Y. Jamie- 

 son, Sec'y. 



JSov. 7.— International Field Trials Olub. third annual 1 rtalg, at 

 Chatham, Oot. Amateur Stake. Nov. 7. Open Stakes, Nov. 8. 

 W. B. Well=, Sec'y, 



Nov. 7.— United States Field Trial", at Elizabethtown, Ky, P. 

 T. Madisor, Indianapolis. Ind., Sec'y. 



Nov. 8.— New Ene-laad Field Trials, at AsEonet, Mass. Qeo. B. 

 Stick ney, Newburyport, MaHs., Sec'y. 



Nov. 14.— Fou'tb Annual Trials of the Brunswick Fur Club, at 

 Princeton, Mass. J. H, BaU'd. Sec'y. 



Nov. 13.— American Field Trial?, at Columbus, Ind. W. J, Beck, 

 Sec'y. 



Nov. 3f.— Eastern Field Trial Club Trials, at High Point, C. 

 W. A. Coster, Sec'y. 



Nov, 2S. -Philadelphia Kennel Olub Trials, aS High Pcjilit, ST. C. 

 F. G. Taylor, Sec'y. 



Dec. .5.— Central Field Trials, at Lexington, N. C. Ool. Odell, 

 Sec'y. 



