July 7, 1893.] 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



9 



Scott for dessert and as a reminder of their heritage of 

 royalty. 



Again, it has been stated by both gentlemen above re- 

 ferred to that salmon have been taken perfectly matured 

 at 41bs. It is not claimed, I believe, that they are of 

 the same age as the oO pounders, however, and it is hardly 

 reasonable to suppose that they are. As they spawn at 

 least every second year it would follow that no great pro- 

 portion of them die after their first procreative effort, for 

 here in Oregon streams you will always find the great 

 big fellows fully as numerous as the small matured fish. 

 Comparatively nothing is known by even the best in- 

 formed persons about the habits or habitats of the salmon 

 in the ocean, and 1 believe that much may yet be learned 

 of their habits in fresh water. 



Far be it from me to assume to criticise anything con- 

 tained in Bulletin No. 4. I am "sitting at the feet of 

 Gamaliel" asking- knowledere; but I do know that we have 

 great sport at Willamette Falls and in other fresh waters 

 with the salmon by exciting their bumps of alimentive- 

 ness with tempting morsels of la^^y tinsel; and I know 

 tha,t when once hooked they are active and gamy. A 

 twenty -pounder on the hook in the foaming rapids at the 

 Fdlls is very entertaining until brought to gaff, as dozens 

 of Oregon sportsmen can testify from actual experience. 

 Only last Friday a friend of mine hooked and properly 

 landed a forty-two jjounder, an.d^i '-'^ ready to lift both 

 hands under oath that be waSr,voY.^v\p_pV busy with both 

 hands in making th'iv-'.'r'/'pivii ^'^'^'•^y auvf^. H. Greene. 



Portland, Oregon, "^^^^^ -i r^.::,Afkiuas 



hoiv thoy became 



'ou that can be g've^ 

 ANGequive much imilS. 



land spaniel top 

 Local of the spar'sn. 



It is sometimes a difF he remembet-to identify an Amer- 

 ican fish by a local coii?^°^'^^°'^^PJ^alone, for its country 

 is vast and the local n°^j^g g^^^^g . he different fishes are 

 many and confusing, an " ne is asked to identify 

 a European fish by a loc-ee or fcnon name as the only 

 guide it may become a tain Brita more difficult, particu- 

 larly if the name is the >o thdcan pronunciation, ex- 

 pressed on paper, of a foreign'^^^vord. A gentleman from 

 Pennsylvania who had fished in Germany asked to have 

 a fish that he had caught, iiua, tributary of the Rhine 

 identified by a local GermaiJiad f-.e. As he was a German 

 himself I assumed that he i,7orc!pe]led the name to give 

 the German sound to the W.niil. I could not find the 

 name or anything like it in Gentian ichthyological works, 

 and applied to the author of "Fischzuchf for informa- 

 tion and failed. The president of the Deutscher Fisch- 

 erei Verein knew nothing of "^"j*; fish, neither did Direc- 

 tor Haack, but they sought iCxormation for me at the 

 very place where the fish were caught and no fish was 

 found that even locally lilled the name given to me. 



Early this spring I was having a little visit with Dr. 

 Edward Eggleston, the author of "The Hoosier School- 

 master," etc., when he said that the most delicious trout 

 of all the different kinds of trout was one that he ate in 

 Gil way, Ireland, last year. He said that it was caught 

 in the rapids of Corrib within the town limits. That it 

 was not a sea trout, and that it would not, as a rule, take 

 a fly. This information he secured from an English gen- 

 tleman, who presented a fish to him and called it a "Len- 

 wog" trout. :That, at least, was the pronunciation, 

 although it might not be the spelling. Of course I was 

 unable to distinguish the fish unless it might be the Brit- 

 ish lake trout. Salmo ferox, which had run into the 

 stream from Lake Corrib, as our lake trout does in some 

 cases. Mr. Marston submitted the matter to the author 

 of "Where to Fish in Ireland" ("Hi Regan"), but from 

 the name alone he was not entirely clear as to the identity 

 of the fish, Mr, Richard Bradford, of Cionmel, however, 

 is able to throw light on the subject. The name should 

 be spelled "Len Og," og being Irish for young or small, 

 and len meaning eels, thus "eel-fry trout" or "elver 

 trout," also called "slob trout." They are the ordinary 

 fario or brown, trout which h,^,;e been to sea and in re- 

 turning follow up the elvers or young eels from salt to 

 fresh water. It is an easy matter to have "len og" trout 

 in this country, as the brown trout which we already 

 possess has only to be planted in streams that will give 

 them access periodically to 8al^,(iyater, and the salt water 

 and the young eels, etc., will cfo* the rest, as they now do 

 to our common brook trout when it runs down to the 

 rich pasture of the sea. Upow '^'-eturning to fresh water 

 the brown trout takes the fly y'^ t^^Ij. 



The LosrVish, 



With a friend I was fishing for black bass in Lake 

 Ohamplain, and having very good success, too. My 

 friend had a strike, and for a moment the tip of his rod 

 bent downward until it almost touched the water, then 

 the bare hook came back to him./L-5>nd he sat down on the 

 boat seat with a most luguhb'tc.s expression on his 

 face and mourned the loss of 1;ne largest black bass 

 that he ever saw. He said he saw the fish plainly, and 

 holding up his hands he indicated its length. I told him 

 such a fish would weigh over 15lbF • but he stuck to his 

 measurement. He sat perfectJv ot^jected, making no 

 effort to resume his fishing, ac covereached over for his 

 hook to see if it was intact, ancd witbe point of the hook 

 was a fish scale and the scale \ front leji the body of a big 

 pike, generally called pickere';^'^''^* P'*'"^end was not con- 

 vinced of the species of his K^^it^I^f^il a scale from a 

 black bass was placed besid ^'^j^'^H.^.'^Fje scale on the 

 hook, when he smiled and saa^ IPJ-.^imld stick to the 

 length anyway. 



Fish Scales. 



One hears or reads very little about the scales of fishes, 

 except tarpon scales, and scales for the wings of trout 

 flies, but they are worthy of study if for no other pur- 

 pose than to find the difference in scales worn by differ- 

 ent fishes. Mr. O. Greig, in the Fishing Gazette, tells 

 how he is studying scales for a far different purpose. He 

 is of the opinion that the scales of Snlmonidce may indi- 

 cate the age of the fish. That portion of the scale which 

 is free has numerous lines conforming in direction to the 

 shape of the scale, and very like the concentric circles 

 shown in the cross section of a tree, and which in the 

 case of the tree represents its yearly growth. The lines 

 in the scale are very fine and must be counted under a 

 microscope. Of course no result will be obtained that is 

 of value unless the lines in scales of fishes the ages of 

 which are known, are constant. For instance, quoting 

 from Mr. Greig's examples, brook trout, fontmalis, of 

 18 months had 13 lines on scales from the median lijtie; 



scales from a ti-out, fontinalis, 29 months old, had 18 

 lines; scales from a trout 33 months old had 31 lines. 

 These figures were obtained by counting the lines on 

 several scales from the same fish. The lines may differ 

 in number when taken from other fish, so that very many 

 examinations must be made to arrive at satisfactory re- 

 sults. 



Thomas Jefferson Vindicated. 



I am more and more convinced that it is not wise on 

 all occasions to question a tall fish story — a story that on 

 its face seems, to put it mildly, very improbable. Thomas 

 Jpii'ereon, of Stillwater, N. Y., was fishing in the Pludson 

 River and returned home wet to the skin and said that 

 he hooked a big fish which pulled him into the water 

 from the boat, and very promptly the man with the 

 historic name was classed as an Al fish liar. A day or 

 two ago a pike of 37lbs. weight was found dead or dying 

 in the river, and in its mouth was found Thomas Jeff"er- 

 son's spoon hook, and attached to his hook was his line. 

 The fisherman had told the truth. He was standing up 

 in his boat and the fish caught him oft" his balance and 

 pulled him in, 



I personally knew of a fishing companion being pulled 

 into the water in something the same way by a lake trout 

 of less than half the weight of the pike. The angler 

 hooked the fish and attempted to stand up in the b^at. 

 He was cold and cramped from sitting and the lake was 

 rough, and over he went. The funny part of it was that 

 his boatman who was looking ahead did not see him go 

 overboard, nor did he hear him. The boat felt lighter 

 and looking around the oarsman found himself alone in 

 the boat and it was more than a mile to shore. The boat 

 Avas backed up and the angler caught the gunwale with 

 one hand and chmg to his rod with the other, and fish 

 and fisherman were both saved. 



A guide at Schroon Lake told me on one occasion a she 

 came in from fishing, that with a hook baited with cray- 

 fish he caught a black bass by hooking it through the 

 eyeball. As he had a reputation for embroidering cold 

 facts when relating his fishing experience, the eyeball 

 story was received with allowances, and I was perhaps 

 the chief of his inquisitors, yet the very next day I caught 

 a black bass hooked in the same manner through the eye- 

 ball. 



Lake Trout. 



The season for lake trout fishing, when the fish are at 

 the surface of the water, is in the spring, directly after 

 the ice disappears from the interior lakes. At such time 

 it requires but little skill to find the fish if one knows 

 where the deep water of the lake is, and the trout may 

 be taken by trolling a bait without a sinker. The trout 

 remain at the surface but a short time, and if one should 

 continue to fish as the season advances it would be found 

 that more and more lead must be added to the line to get 

 it nearer and nearer to the bottom, until, to be successful, 

 the trolling must be done at the very bottom with a heavy 

 sinker. No longer does every "yank" on the line mean a 

 bite and a trout, for it may mean that the sinker has 

 struck grass, rocks and the other things that go to make 

 up the bottom of a lake. One must know not only where 

 to find trout, but when found must be able to detect the 

 difference between a bite on the hooks and the sinker 

 striking the bottom. I believe there are men who never 

 learn the difference and so condemn deep trolling, or 

 condemn it because it is harder work than surface fish- 

 ing, and to be successful requires strict attention to busi- 

 ness. Just now deep trolling for lake trout in Lake 

 George is rewarded with great catches of fish. 



Lake George Trout. 



On the east side of Green Island, Lake George, passen- 

 gers on the steamers plying through the lake may see a 

 battlemented stone tower rising in the trees above a 

 castle-like structure, which the owner. Mr. E. B. Warren, 

 of Philadelphia, calls a cottage, and which he has named 

 Wapanak. On the south side of the island is an equally 

 pretentious "cottage," called Belleview, which is occu- 

 pied by Gen. Robert Lenox Banks, of Albany, General 

 Banks and Mr. Warren are president and vice-president 

 respectively of the Lake George Association for the Pro- 

 tection of Fish and Game. It is quite the fashion to troll 

 for trout in summer from a small steamboat, and this 

 year Mr. Warren has a new steamer, Cyric, to replace the 

 Wapanak of last year, and Gen, Banks also has a new 

 steamer. Cricket. For some years the respective boats of 

 these gentlemen have been credited with the finest catches 

 of fish (trout and black bass) made at the lake during the 

 summer season. A letter from Mr. Warren, under date 

 of June 28, says: "We are having a very fair catch of 

 lake trout for this season of the year. Wednesday Robt. 

 L. Banks, Jr., on his steamer the Cricket, caught 21 trout 

 weighing 681i3s. ; the largest OJlbs. The same day Aleck 

 Taylor and I caught the same number on the Cyric, 

 weighing 70Ibe. ; the three largest, 6. 7 and 81b3. Thurs- 

 day Alec and I caught 11 weighing 421bs.; the largest, 6, 

 8 and lOlbs. Friday we caught 9 weighing 4r)lbs. ; largest 

 81bs , and the other eight were from 3A to olbg., which is 

 a large average. From the 10th or 1,5th of July to the Ist 

 of September we find that the trout bite better and aver- 

 age larger in size. If you can come up Friday and Sat- 

 urday, I vfiih to give you a share of the sport." Mr. 

 Warren's guide and fisherman is Alec Taylor, and there 

 ia none better at Lake George. Capt. Lee Harris, on the 

 Cricket, also knows the trout grounds from one end of 

 the lake to the other, and is a first-class fisherman in 

 every respect. It must not be understood that because 

 steamers are used for trolling they are a necessity, as a 

 rowboat with a man at the oars answers every purpose. 



Lake George Seasons, 



For a few years past there has been a special law for 

 Lake George which provided a close season of four and 

 a half months for pike — the so-called pickerel. Under 

 this provision of the law, and ' rigid enforcement of all 

 fish and game laws at Lake George, the pike have in- 

 creased very rapidly and big catches of the fish have 

 been made. Really there seems to be no good reason 

 why a close season should be provided for a fish that in- 

 creases so rapidly as the pike, for the average number of 

 eggs deposited by a female pike is 100,000, and a big one 

 will furnish 600,000 eggs, when if confining the means 

 of capture to hook and line at all seasons they will in- 

 crease further than any other hook and line fish in the 

 lake. Many people regard the pike very highly both on 

 the rod and on the table, and this fish should have suit- 

 able protection to keep up the stock, and if it is caught 



only with hook and line I believe there wiU be no 

 marked falling off of the pike. To be seen it is a mere 

 matter of taste which each one must exercise for himself 

 whether or not he will catch and eat a fish that has just 

 spawned, but it is not the catching with hook and line 

 at all seasons that reduces the pike, it is the spearing 

 and shooting and clubbing when they run into;the creeks 

 to spawn. The law which was passed last winter repealed 

 the close season for pike in Lake George, and now they 

 may be caught at any time with hook and line. Week 

 before last George Fish of Locust Grove Hotel, near Bol- 

 ton, caught eighteen pike at odd times during five days 

 from the dock in front of the house. The fish were in 

 good condition and tit for the table. Some weeks before 

 that time two men stood on a bridge over a creek flowing 

 into Dunham's Bay and caught about 70lbs. of pike in 

 part of a day and their bait gave out before they could 

 catch more. The fish had been up the creek to spawn 

 and were returning to the lake. Here is where the ques- 

 tion of taste comes in. When the close season for pike 

 was in force fishing began .July 1, and it is now good for 

 those who care for it in spite of the fact that fish have 

 been caught for several weeks. A. N. Cheney. 



TEXAS TARPON AND JEWFISH. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Being a constant reader of Forest and Stkeam, and 

 noticing the frequent reports of tarpon fishing ofi. the 

 other side of the Gulf, I have concluded to send you the 

 inclosed clippings from our local daily paper of last 

 week, not necessarily for publication, but for your own 

 information and edification , and to use as you see fit. 

 From these reports you will see that we have some op- 

 portunities for sport on this side of the Gulf also. 



There is very little "scientific" fishing for tarpon here, 

 the general plan being to use a very heavy hook and 

 line, a whole mullet for bait, and, when you have hooked 

 your tarpon, haul him ashore by "main strength and 

 awkwardness." The jewfish is caught with a shark 

 hook and line. They have been more plentiful this year 

 than usual, and have proved a considerable source of 

 revenue as well as sport for the lucky fishermen, as the 

 dressed fish retails here readily for ^5 cents per pound, 

 ordinary fish (redfish, sea trout, sheepshead, etc.) being 

 worth here only 5 or 6 cents per pound. 



The tarpon are eaten by our Mexican population and 

 considered by them excellent eating. 



I hope, befoi'e many years, to see this portion of the 

 Gulf coast the favorite resort of the lovers of the rod and 

 gun, particular-ly those who live in the West and North- 

 west, it being much nearer and more accessible than the 

 south Florida coast, offering equal, or, as I believe, 

 superior advantages for hunting, fishing, boating and 

 yachting, and being entirely free from the insect pests 

 which are the bane of the sportsman's life in Florida, as I 

 know from experience, J. S. Petek, 



Corpus Christi, Texas. 



I From the newspaper cliiipings referred to we leai-n 

 that both tarpon and jewfish are caught from the city 

 wharves. Oq June 14 a jewfish weighing llOlbs. was 

 captured at Sidbury wharf, and on the 10th two individ- 

 uals of about 90lbs. each were taken at the same place, 

 while on the loth a fine specimen weighing 75Ibs. was 

 "yanked out" at Central wharf. From the same wharves 

 three tarpon were captured on June 14 and 15. On the 

 17 th Perry Lege and Bob Hill caught a tarpon 5ft. 3tn. 

 long at Miramar wharf. Tarpon have been plentiful in 

 Corpus Christi Bay and are biting more freely than 

 usual. 



The big jewfish may be the one illustrated in our Flor- 

 ida Supplement of Jan. 9, 1890, or the black grouper of 

 Dr. Gjode's "American Fishes," page 47. Both of these 

 are giants and both are called jewfish; but the latter has 

 the spiny back fin very high, the longest spine nearly 

 one-half as long as the head, while the former, as shown 

 in FoKEST AND Stream, has very low spines, less than 

 one-sixth as long as the head. The colors are very differ- 

 ent, too, at all ages. Perhaps Mr. Peter will tell us which 

 of the tvs'O is found at Corpus Christi. 



Another source of amusement in Texas waters is the 

 great spotted ray or calico fish, which we think must be 

 the bishop ray. A specimen of this fish weighing 347lbs. 

 was taken in Aransas Bay, June 14; its tail was 13ft. long 

 and its disk 64ft. wide. 



The leaping powers of the tarpon were forcibly illus- 

 trated in Aransas Bay, when a 5-foot fish boarded the 

 pleasure boat Alice, flounced into the cabin to the great 

 detriment of thf glasawai'e, returned to the deck in a few 

 awkward somersaults, and then escaped overboard before 

 its mad progress could be stopped. How a similar feat 

 was performed in King's Channel was graphically told 

 by E. M. Bryant in the Corpus Christi Caller, June 18: 



"Capt. Tom Roberts's adventure with the tarpon on 

 board the yacht Alice recalls to mind a similar exiierienoe 

 of myself and two other Mustang Islanders some years 

 ago, that was rendered all the more thrilling on account 

 of my enfeebled condition, I being an invalid at the 

 time and so weak that 1 could scarcely stand. I took 

 passage for Padre Island on the old schooner Highland, 

 bound down Corpus Christi Channel. 



"Nearing the quarantine station we entered (close- 

 hauled on the wind) a tortuous narrow cut known as 

 'King's Channel.' Just then I was standing near the 

 oompanionway, watching the schooner's course, steady- 

 ing my weak body by holding on to themainboom, when 

 all of a sudden a monster tarpon came on board, slightly 

 grazing my left shoulder, turning me half round with, 

 the velocity of the touch, and nearly throwing me over- 

 board. Striking the starboard side of the cabin with 

 great force, the glancing blow launched the tarpon 

 swiftly forward, where he brought up against the star- 

 board hatch combing. My brother, Martin Bryant, 

 immediately seized a hand spike and engaged the tarpon 

 in battle. 



"Capt, Jas. Grant, Sr., being closely occupied steering 

 the vessel, took no part in the spirited action, while my 

 weak condition rendered me a non-combatant. The vio- 

 lent struggles of the fish threw him into the hold down 

 the hatchway, where he was speedily dispatched. He 

 measured over 8ft., and his large silvery scales surpassed 

 in size and brilliancy a brand new silver dollai\ Hia 

 scales were secured hj Mr. Peter Benson, the quarantine 

 officer, and are, I believe, still possessed by his good lady 

 in Corpus Christi as a relic of tne adventure."] 



