318 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[OCT, 13, 1892. 



CASTING LINES AGAIN. 



In the Forest a^id Stream of this week, I have imag- 

 ined a tendency on the part of Mr. Hough to poke fun at 

 my eight cent fish line, which he thinks will hardly do 

 for casting. A similar doubt was also indicated in the 

 letter of presentation, in regard to the trolling qualities 

 of the unbleached linen, and taken altogether, I tear my 

 effort at helping Mr. Hough out has been a failure. But 

 here is another suggestion which may be more service- 

 able. Did our Chicago friends ever try for ba8s-C;asting 

 purposes, the ordinary ^ea- grass line (so called) which in 

 point of fact is made of raw silk? It is hard, smooth, runs 

 easily through the guides and takes up very little water, 

 while it does not grow tender with moderate use. This 

 line is used very largely on the St. Clair Flats, where the 

 art of casting a minnow from the tip of the rod is practiced 

 to perfection, and where the writer took his first lessons 

 from some of the expert "punters" of that section more 

 than fifteen years ago. If some manufacturer would 

 only give us a line which would embody this same 

 material in a round, hard braid, it would afford a most 

 excellent article for minnow casting. As it is, the break- 

 ing strain of the sea-grass line is nearly twice as great as 

 the ordinary undressed, braided silk line of the same cali- 

 ber. If I were going to try one of them on Mr. Hough's 

 bass, it would be a cable, laid line of the next to the 

 smallest size. Of course these lines, being twisted, are 

 not available for trolling. 



Away, out here in the effete northeastern portion of 

 Ohio, on the Maumee, we have still another way of cast- 

 ing the minnow in bass fishing, but that is too long a 

 story to take up now. 



It' occurred to me, while I was penning the preceding 

 paragraphs (with my Remington) that if I can get it, I will 

 mail Mr. Hough a clipping from a braided line sent only 

 a few days since from Germany to that veteran and ex- 

 pert manipulator of piscatorial truth, Mr. John E. Gunc- 

 kel. It is an admirable line in appearance, and possibly 

 may be the very thing that Mr Hough is seeking. 



TOLEDO, Oct. 8. J-A-Y Bebbe. 



P. S. — This comes of not reading over what you have 

 written. What I meant to say was that after my linen 

 line had been dipped in oil and was partly dry, it was 

 rubbed with a little wax, not "oil," as the type- writer 

 made me say. 



QUESTIONS AS TO NAG'S HEAD. 



In answer to questions asked about Nag's Head from 

 several correspondents I would reply in general as fol- 

 lows: 



The hotel at Nag's Head proper is only opened from 

 June 20 to Sept. 15. It is owned by a stock company of 

 North Carolinians, and it was managed last year by Geo. 

 P. Galling, of Norfolk, Va. The table set at the hotel is 

 first class. Oysters, clams, softsheU crabs and all var- 

 ieties of fish cooked fresh from the water are tht'ir 

 specialties, of course. Board at this hotel costs from $10 

 to $15 a week, and less by month. 



There is a little hotel at Manteo, on Roanoke Island, 

 that is open all year. Manteo is reached by Old Dominion 

 boats three times a week. Tom Crank, of Collington, is 

 a fisherman, hunter and guide. He has five extra rooms 

 in his house, and takes boarders in winter who come to 

 shoot ducks and geese and fish. The boat referred to for 

 f 1 a day, with board, is of course a duck-hunter's skiff. 

 Bait is easily and cheaply gotten. Clams cost 20 cents a 

 hundred. Drum are caught with hook and line, baited 

 with a whole fish. Rock are caught with hook and 

 line by sportsmen, with nets by the fishmongers. The 

 drum are caught in abundance from the beach with cast 

 lines. 



There is no pleasanter place I know than the Nag's 

 Head Hotel for one's family for a whole summer. The 

 best people in North Carolina go there and every body is 

 free and easy. The beds in the hotel are pretty rocky, 

 but the air is so pure and sleep so sound you can sleep all 

 night on boards. I never saw any one who complained 

 of loss of sleep. If you want to be quiet and get out of 

 the world absolutely go to Nag's Head. The name of the 

 little hotel at Manteo is the Tranquil House, open all year. 



Thos. Dixon, Jr.. 



Maryland Bass> 



Havre de Grace, Md., Oct. 8.— Black bass are biting 

 freely and some good catches have been made from the 

 wharves. Early this morning William Raisin took about 

 a dozen, the largest weighing 31bs. 5oz. Small min- 

 nows, called gudgeons, are used for bait. It is not a 

 common thing to capture bass here, but for some reason 

 the fishing is better now than it is at Port Deposit, three 

 miles up the river. Crappies are plentiful in Tide Water 

 Canal and furnish fair sport. White perch may be bad 

 in abundance near the battery station of the U. S. Fish 

 Commission. For these the best bait is "peeler"' crabs. 

 Yellow perch are very common and the square-tailed 

 catfish are as plentiful as the sable fisherman could 

 reasonably wish. 



Young shad are reported in great shoals coming down 

 the Susquehanna. A very observant steamboat captain 

 has noticed that the black bass will take the minnow 

 most freely very early in the morning, and the fishing 

 invariably slacks off when the sun begins to warm up 

 the water. 



A "Long Island Bed Snapper. 



The Timoi records that a magnificent specimen of the 

 red snapper (Lutjanus Uachfordii) has been sent to E. G. 

 Blackford, at Fulton Market, from Gardner's Island, at 

 the east end of Long Island. This fi^h was taken in one 

 of the pound nets at that place. It is a very unusual 

 thing for red snapper to be found north of Cape Hatteras. 

 This specimen weighed lOlbs. 



Trout or Black Bass. 



Editor Forest, and Stream: 



As I am a subscriber of the Forest and Stream, 

 although a comparatively new one, I would beg leave to 

 ask a few questions. I never see any communications or 

 information on fishing in the Southern Central States, so 

 I thoiight I would write and ask for some. I have never 

 had very much experience in trout fishing, but had just 

 enough to get an insight of the pleasure and sport con- 

 nected with it. We hare Bome very fine trgut streams in 



Tennessee which I think worthy of mention, and as there 

 are no other fish in the State that are worth fishing for, I 

 would like very much to get some information in regard 

 to the trout family. The fish in question are found in 

 small streams in the near vicinity of Nashville. They are 

 something similar to the regular "brook trout," probably 

 a little thicker, resembling a "perch" to some extent. 

 The color is nearly black on back, shading to a perfect 

 white underneath. They are commonly called "black 

 perch," but I think they are some species of the trout 

 family. They are also very game, and when you strike 

 them in the right season there is lots of sport, and they 

 bite fast and furious like trout. Hoping you have time 

 and space to answer this, I remain, Irwin McBride. 

 Kashat;dlij;, Tenn. 



[The fish referred to is not related to the brook trout of 

 the salmon family; it is a black bass. A figure of the 

 species was published in our Black Bass Supplement.] 



Spawning of Striped Bass. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Q aeries — When do the striped bass {Bxiccus siruatiis) 

 spawn? I find in the ', Fishery Industries of the United 

 States," on page 435, that Professor Goode, under the head 

 of "Reproduction and Growth," states as follows: "They 

 spawn in the late spring and early summer, some of them 

 in rivers, others probably at sea, although this has not 

 been definitely ascertained." I took this afternoon, from 

 a stand in front of our club house, two bass weighing 

 respectively 31 J and 13ilbs,, female bass, each with large 

 roes, and spawn nearly fully developed and ripe. They 

 certainly could not have carried their spawn till the "late 

 spring or early summer." From a careful examination of 

 the spawn I am satisfied that they could not have carried 

 it for over a month longer. Do they spawn twice a year? 

 I have heard that they do. Can you give us any informa- 

 tion on this point. Henry P. McGown. 



I The striped bass usually spawns from April to June, 

 either in the rivers or in the bi-ackish v^aters of bays and 

 sounds. Young striped bass, lin. long, have been found 

 in the Delaware the second week in June. At the present 

 time specimens about 4in. long are taken in the Potomac. 

 A peculiarity of these young fish is the presence of numer- 

 ous dark bands on the sides. Nothing is known to us 

 about two spawning seasons in a year, but the fish spawn 

 much later in northern waters than in the South.] 



Death of Hiram Atkins. 



HiGHGATE, Vt., Oct. 4. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 One of Vermont's most earnest fish protectionists, Hiram 

 Atkins, Esq. , died at his home in Montpelier, Vt, , on the 

 1st inst. Mr. Atkins was editor and proprietor of that 

 wideawake paper, the Argus and Patriot, and was owner 

 of the well-known "Cauip Watson," on the eastern shore 

 of Lake Champlain, where he spent most of the summer 

 months, surrounded by relatives and congenial friends. 



His death is sincerely mourned by a host of friends 

 found among all political creeds. 



In fish protection there was something of the old Ethan 

 Allen style about him, as the following anecdote will 

 show: iBefore the present State law was passed prohibit- 

 ing catching black bass under lOin.'in length, he had 

 made such a rule for one of Camp Watson's laws. One 



day one of his guests, Judge , brought into camp 



some small bass. Mr. Atkins promptly called his atten- 

 tion to the fact that they were under the regulation size. 

 The Judge with a stiff amount of dignity replied that he 

 didn't know of any law that prevented him from killing 

 any sized baas that he caught. Mr. Atkins's reply was 

 that Camp Watson had such a law and if he broke it 

 again he would be bounced out of camp and be escorted 

 to the railroad depot in short order. 



Mr. Atkins was an Episcopalian and one of the most 

 influential members in the diocese. Stanstead. 



Black Bass for Stocking. 



Mr. Mark Samuel, of 10 East Sixteenth street, this 

 city, advertises to supply black bass for stocking. As 

 there has always been great difficulty in securing fish for 

 this purpose, prospective bass culturists are admonished 

 to remember Mr. Samuel's address. 



ROD AND GUN AND CAMERA. 



As a recogaition of the important place of amateur uhotography 

 in its relation to sports of the lield and prairie and mountain and 

 forest and stream, the Forbsi and Stream offers a series of 

 prizes for meritorious work with the camera. The conditions 

 under whicn these prizes will he given are in brief as here set 

 forth: 



There will be ten prizes, as follows: First $35. Second S30 

 Third §15. Fourth $10. Six of $5 each. 



The competition will be open to amateurs only. 



The subjects must relate to Forest and Stream's field— game 

 and fish (alive or dead;, sbooting and fishing, the camp, campers 

 and camp life, sportsman travel by land or water. 



There is no restriction as to the time when the pictures may 

 have been or may be made— whether in 1893 or in previous years. 



Pictures will be received up to Dec. 31, of this year. 



All work must be original; that is to say, it must not have beer 

 submitted in any other comyetition, nor have been published. 



There are no restrictions as to make or style of camera, nor as 

 to size of plate. 



A competitor need not be a subscriber of Forest And Stream. 



All photographs will be submitteed to a committee, shortly to 

 be announced. In making their awards the judges will be in- 

 structed to take into consideration the technical merits of the 

 work as a photograph, its artistic qualities; and other things 

 being equal, the unique and difficult nature of the subject. 

 Photographs must be marked only with initials or a pseudonym 

 for identification. With each photograph should he given name 

 of sender, title of view, locality, date, and name of camera. 



The photographs shall be the property of the Forest and 

 Streait. This applies onlv to the particular prints sent us. 



From time to tim.e we shall reproduce by the half- tone process 

 samples of the work submitted, and should the interest in 

 Forest and Stream's Amateur Photography Colled ion prove 

 to be what is anticipated, we may ask for an expression of opinion 

 by a vote of all our readers after the manner of the successful 

 and famous "Oamp-Fire Flickering Vote." Such popular vote 

 wiU be quite distinct from the award by the committee. 



Oharmingly lUmtrafect "GrAM"E LAWS IN BKIEF," 



MmmL 



F I XTU R E S. 



DOG SHOWS. 



Oct. 85 to 38.— Omaha Kennel Club, at Omaha, Neb. E. L. 

 Marston. Sec'v. 



Nov. 32 to 25,— Brooklyn. H. W. HuntingtoD, Sec'y, 14S South 

 Eighth street. 



1893. 



Jan. 3 to 6, — Mohawk Valley Poultry and Kennel Club. Lyman 

 W. Olute, Sec'y, Ballston Lake, N. Y. 



Jan. 5.— Gloversville, N. Y. F. B. Zimmer, Sec'v. 



Feb. 31 to 33.— Westminster Kennel Club, New York city. Jaa 

 Mortimer, Supt. 



June 13 to 17.— World's Fair, Chicago. 



Sept. 7 to 10.— Hamilton, Ontario. A. D. Stewart, Sec'y. 



FIELD TRIALS. 



Oct. 35.— Third Annual Field Trials of the National Beagle Club, 

 at Nanuet, N. Y. Bench show of the club Oct. 34. H. V. Jamie- 

 son, Sec'y. 



Nov. 7.— iDternationalField Trials Club, third annual trials, at 

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

 W. B. Wells, Sec'y. 



Nov. 7.— United States Field Trials, at Blizabethtown , Ky. P. 

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



Nov. 8.— New England Field Trials, at Assonet, Mass. E. 

 Knight Sperry, New Haven, Conn., Sec'y. 



Nov. It.— PoixTth Annual Trials of the Brunswick Fur Club, ah 

 Princeton, Mass. J. H. Baird. Sec'y. 



Nov. 15.— American Field Trials, at Columbus, Ind, W. J. Beck 

 Sec'y. 



Nov. 21.-Eastern Field Trial Club Trials, at High Point, N. O. 

 W. A. Coster, Sec'y. 

 Nov. 38.— Philadelphia Kennel Club Trials, at High Point, N. C. 



F. G. Taylor, Sec'y. 



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

 .Sec'y. 



Dec. 19.— Irish Setter Field Trials, at Lexington, N. C. Dr. G. 



G. Davis, Philadelphia, Pa., Sec'y. 



1893. 



January.— Pacific Coast Field Trials, at Bakersvllle, OaU J. M. 

 Ki'garif. Sec'y. 



Feb. 8.— Southern Field Trials, at New Albahy, Miss. T. M, 

 Brumby, Sec'y. 



DANBURY DOG SHOW. 



Whenever you mention Danbury to a dogman he smiles 

 and says, "Better take it in, lots of fun" — and so there is in 

 a mild, countrified way. The trotting is good, the side 

 shows are lively, and above all the show is a go-as-you- 

 please, and the committee, while charging no entry fee, do 

 their level best to give every one a prize. If you have one 

 dog and there is not a class for it, they make one. This is 

 why Danbury is popular, especially with the handler.s, such 

 as Ben Lewis, George Thomas, etc. 



The eleveut)] annual fixture took place last week, Oct. 4 to 

 7. As usual, on the first day the weather was execrable — 

 rain, wind, hail and generally very cold and uncomfortable. 

 This year, however, the judging took place inside the (log 

 show building, a space at one end having been partitioned 

 off. The judizes were Mr. .James Watson and Dr. .Tames K. 

 Hair. Mr. Watson took all the classes excepting Irish, 

 Gordon and some of the pet dogs, which were handled by 

 Dr. Jas. E. Hair, of Bridgeport, Conn. 1 don't know whether 

 it is fair to criticise the awards much, as there is danger 

 about the numbers not being on the right dogs. In some 

 cases, however, there was no mistaking the fact that some 

 of them were hardly up to form, and there was some grum- 

 bling—still it was all Danbury, and at Danbury everything 

 goes. 



Catalogues are an unheard of quantity at Danbury. No- 

 body troubles about any, as there are no numbers on stalls, 

 and the jiulge gets along in the good old way by u.sing the 

 secretary's book to get the numbers and see which dog is 

 which. The superintendent receives entries itp till the night 

 before the show, and as they come in he as.signs a number 

 and enters the dog in the little book assigned to its breed. 

 As may he imagined, the numbers get delightfully mixed 

 up: number 7, probably a St. Bernard, being alongside 179, 

 and as most of the dogs are bunched in the same rotation, 

 one can imagine that if the reporter is not in the ring at the 

 time of the judging his task to sort them out after is almost 

 a hopeless one. Tags are put on the dogs, but we all know 

 what becomes of paper tags in a dog .show, and the brass 

 tags supplied in most eases reposed in the owners' pockets. 

 This must be my excuse if the awards are not quite right, 

 though 1 think' they will be found measureably correct. 

 They are taken from the secretary's book, but as" many of 

 the dogs were entered by handle'rs and "lumped" in "the 

 team, I have corrected the owners' names of those I knew. 



Several well known exhibitors were present. Besides the 

 judges there were Messrs. Chas. N. Symonds, ,7. B. Hefter, 

 Smith Bros., Wm. H. Hyland, P, E. Dole, J, S. Mead, C. E. 

 Osborne, G. E. Knott, Ben Lewis, George Thomas, A. Bit- 

 ter, Dr.Kune, C.K.Bradbury, Buckellew Kennels owner, Mrs. 

 Smyth and Mrs. Dole. The superintendent, G. E. Sears, was 

 as cordial and obliging as usual, and his assistant, Mr. Reed, 

 kept the aisles in good -shape. The show is always tastefully 

 benched in a permanent btulding, and is a source of great 

 attraction to the country folk, who simply crowded the big 

 aisles from morning to night. As stated before, Danbury 

 charges no entry, and as the classes are always divided and 

 this year 85 and S3 were given in prizes, a handler with a 

 good team could win a neat sum. This year the .show just 

 fit in after Ottawa, and before disbanding their forces the 

 "regulars" literally swooped down on the money, for wins 

 do not count here, and the consequence was an array of 

 quality such as Danbury has never seen before. It wa.s 

 given out, and so printed on entry forms, that Mr. .John 

 Reed would judge, but as .stated in Forest AND Stream a 

 couple of weeks since, he declined and Mr. Watson was 

 elected to serve. He needed some help and Dr. Hair was 

 pressed into service after Mr. Morris had declined. 



It is not much use taking the classes in extenso, a run- 

 ning commentary, perhaps, would be better. MastifEs had 

 five entries present. Kaiser William, the superintendent's 

 dog, moved up to first place; his head needs depth of muz- 

 zle and his legs are none too good, an ordinary dog. Ry- 

 mil's Rex loses in head even to the others. Ethel was the 

 same old fat Ethel of last year, but beats Queen Salva in 

 head properties, bone and probably in body, if any one could 

 tell what that part of her anatomy is like in its natural 

 state. 



Roland overtopped anything that was in St. Bernards, a 

 well-made dog that we should see more of. Ruth Cleve- 

 land, the winner in bitches, heeds more depth in muzzle 

 and breadth of skull, body light and rather .straight behind, 

 but neverthless is a bitch showing lots of quality. 



The deerhound was a poor one, small head, light bone. 

 The greyhounds turned out well, and I wa.s delighted to see 

 that good dog Ornatus once more on the bench after we 

 were told that he would probably never face the judge 

 again. Whoever has doctored him deserves the utmost 

 praise for the cure, as the dog was badly cut in the hindleg 

 tendons. In open dogs Dover wins over Baritone, the latter 

 beats in head, neck, stronger loin; he loses, however, to 

 Dover in front, who also is stronger in quarters and thighs, 

 but he has not so much quality as Baritone. In bitches I 

 cannot agree with the judge at all. Maybrook Nell, a long- 

 waisted one, with bad feet, very open, and stand.s back on 

 pa.sterns, head coarse, was placed first. Lady Clare, well- 

 known as a pretty fair bitch, was second, but Mi.ss Dollar, 

 he, the best of the three, and winner at Rochester the other 

 day, should bave won easily; a> ^taarte? IjitQlj all pou,i(J, lots 



