382 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Nov. 3, 1892. 



The Fish Laivs of the United States an d Canada, in the 

 "Game Laws in Brief," 2o cents. In the "BooTi of the 

 Game Laws" {full tsxt), 50 cents. 



THE KEKOSKEE FISH STORY. 



It is not surpising that the Kekoskee fiali story should 

 meet with "doubting Thomases" in this Tery matter of 

 fact period. In fact one has but to say "fish" to bring to 

 the surface all the incredulity in man. Sim's ''Big Lie" 

 or Gulliver's grandest exaggerations sink into insignifi- 

 cance in the mind of the average reader when compared 

 with a truthful fish story, set forth in a quiet, dignified 

 manner. It is true that a close analysis of brother 

 Hough's story reveals some inconsistencies, but as yet 

 no one seems to have paid the least attention to them, 

 having undoubtedly relegated the whole to the already 

 long list of remarkable "fish stories." We wish to add 

 our mite to the wonderful tale. At the time mentioned 

 we resided in the western portion of Fond du Lac county, 

 Wisconsin, some thirty miles or more from the hole in 

 the lake from which the fish were' taken. At that time 

 what is now known as Horicon marsh was a lake, this 

 hole being in the northeaBt part of it. It was in the win- 

 ter season, but the sleighing was good; therefore the 

 wagon portion of the story must be eliminated that ab- 

 solute truth may prevail. The reports of the marvelous 

 supply of fish soon reached the people living at a dis- 

 tance from the lake, and from far and near the farmers 

 and others with two-horse sleighs, on which were wagor 

 boxes, went to the lake, forked up a wagon box heaping 

 full of fish, and took them to their homes, where many 

 fed them to their hogs, as has been stated, while others 

 skinned and salted them. The fish were principally bull- 

 heads, with an occasional pickerel. We have seen as 

 many as five loads of these fish pass through our little 

 village in one evening, and that was but one of many 

 roads that was traveled by parties going to and from the 

 lake. The east side of the old lake is indeed a veritable 

 Arcadia, and many are the interesting tales of hunting, 

 fishing and Indian war scares that a diligent writer might 

 unearth among its quaint and unvisited inhabitants. 



Akaba. 



Boston, Oct. 27,— Editor Forest and Stream: In your 

 issue of the 30th "Nutmeg" expresses his regret at my 

 comments on the Kekoskee fish story, and speaks of my 

 "casting discredit" on Mr. Hough's "plain statement of 

 fact," and attributes my action to "a spirit of jealousy of 

 the scientific attainments of the West." "iSow this is 

 most alarming," to use the words of Little Buttercup in 

 "Pinafore." Those v\rho read my article must see that it 

 was written for the express and only purpose of bringing 

 to the support of Mr. Hough's statements a new line of 

 argument and that in the article I expressly and unequivo- 

 cally asserted my belief in the story. Pray, Mr. Editor, 

 what more can a man do? "Nutmeg" claims to live in 

 St. Louis and "much nearer Kekoskee and the Widow 

 Sheider and Old Santa Anna" than I, and therefore to 

 know more about the facts in the case. 



Now, though a resident of Boston, which "Nutmeg" 

 sneeringly refers to as "the home of pure science, not to 

 say the forcing house of speculative philosophy," let me 

 say that I have spent years in Wisconsin and northern 

 Illinois and believe I could give "Nutmeg" points on 

 Western matters generally. Moreover, I do not believe 

 that "Nutmeg" lives even as near to the scene of the story 

 as St. Louis. His name is suspicious and he must belonj 

 to the wooden variety. No sir, I want him to understanu 

 that Mr. Hough and I believe that story, whether anyone 

 else does or not, and that it isn't the right thing to cast 

 doubt on the sincerity of either of us. Brought up as I 

 have been in my humble way on "pure science" and the 

 simple methods of "speculative philosophy" I resent the 

 imputations of guile made by one who evidently knows 

 little of science, "fine" or otherwise, and who, judging 

 from his language, takes "speculative philosophy" to be 

 some sort of a vegetable. 



While I am writing let me express my gratification that 

 the question of the panther's ability to scream is fairly 

 started. I wish I knew how and where we left off with 

 the "woodcock's whistle" and the "coon's whicker.'' 



C. H. Ames. 



THE BIG ALLIGATOR GAR. 



Mr. William J. Lees, of St. Louis, has informed the 

 secretary of the Smithsonian Institution about the cap- 

 ture of a monster gar in the Mississippi River at Caronde- 

 let. The fish, which belongs to the species called alliga- 

 tor gar, or manjuari, is one of the largest and most for- 

 midable predaceous inhabitants of our fresh waters. It 

 is a native of the Lower Mississippi Valley, extends 

 southward to Mexico, and is credited also to the Island of 

 Cuba, where the name manjuari is applied to it. 



In 1820 Rafinesque published a description of the alli- 

 gator gar from which we extract the following remarks- 

 "Its length is from 4 to 10ft. One was caught which 

 weighed 4001b8. It lies sometimes asleep or motionless 

 on the surface of the water, and may be mistaken for a 

 log or a snag. It is impossible to take it in any other 

 way than with the seine or a very strong hook- the 

 prongs of the gig cannot pierce the scales which are as 

 hard as flint, and even proof against lead balls! Its flesh 

 16 not good to eat. It is a voracious fish. Its vulgar 

 names are diamond fish (owing to its scales being cut 

 like diamonds), devil fish, jack fish, garjack, etc. The 

 whole body covered with larger stone scales, lying in 

 obliqiie rows; they are conical, pentagonal and penta- 

 hedral with equal sides from half an inch to one inch in 

 ?nvn f ^""t becoming of the color of 



tuitle shell when dry. They strike fire with steel' " 



i he development of the gar has been studied bv Mr 

 Alexander Agassiz, who found some resemblance be- 

 tween It and the sharks in the brain, the mode of develop- 

 ment of the breast fin, and of the formation of the gills. 

 nnLw'^fo^ gars "move very slowly and seem to float 

 i^^oTh ^^Pi^ vibration of the pec- 



torals [breast fins] and the tip of the taU. They do not 

 swim about much, but attach themselves to fixed objects 

 SnTJf K^'^i^f y horse-shoe-shaped ring of sucker ap- 

 pendages about the mouth." * 



The eggs are deposited in the spring; they are large 



adhesive, and resemble toads' eggs. The young eggs of 

 the common bony gar, naturally laid, were hatched in 

 six days. 



The gar taken at Carondelet was evidently the largest 

 on record if no mistake was made in its measurement; 

 its length was given as 31ft. Tin., and its jaws 5ft. Peter 

 Heii and Ed. Brown were fishing from a boat with a 

 stout line and a strong hook baited with beef. After the 

 gar was struck it towed the craft and its occupants rapidly 

 for a space of three blocks when its strength became ex- 

 hausted, and the huge captive was fastened with a wire 

 rope, to become an object of curiosity .to hundreds of ad- 

 miring visitors. 



If Rafinesque had lived to read Forest and Stream of 

 June 5, 1890, he would have reconsidered his statement 

 about the vulnerability of this bony monster, for he 

 would ha.ve learned how "L. M." and his friend Howard 

 Douglas harpooned three alligator gars in Bigbee River 

 during a short fishing trip. 



Readers who wish to see a figure of a gar-pike nearly 

 related to the alligator gar should turn to plate 241 of the 

 "Fishery Industries." T. H. B, 



PIKE3 PICKEREL AND MASCALONGE. 



Laih'SING, Mich. — I would like to ask you a few questions 

 in regard to the names, length and weight of some fish to 

 be answered in Forest and Stream. There is a discus- 

 sion here as to what pike, pickerel and mascalonge are. 

 Now, I was at a place called Trufant's, on the D. L. & N. 

 R. R., and was shown a head of a mascalonge that was 



HEAD OF PICKEREL. 

 (Gheeke and oiiercles completely scaled.) 



HEAD OF PIKE. 

 (CheekB scalj-. Lower laalf of opei-cles naked.) 



HEAD or MASCALONGE. 

 (Lower half of cheeks and opercles naked.) 



said to weigh when caught, 601bs., and have been told 

 that they never grow so large. 



How large does a genuine pickerel grow and what is 

 the color of its meat? 



How large is the largest mascalonge known, the weight 

 of which can be proven? 



What is the difference between a grass pike and a 

 pickerel? G, m. K. 



[The common pickerel seldom exceeds 6 or 8lbs. in 

 weight, and its limit is said to be lOlbs. The flesh is white 

 and savory, but often dry and inclined toward toughness. 

 Moreover, it is very fuU of fine bones. The largest mas- 

 calonge recorded appears to be the lOOlbs. specimen men- 

 tioned in "Fishery Industries," U. S. , page 464. That was 

 taken at Milwaukee in 1868 by Mr. Schultz. Mr. Ludwig 

 Kumlein, who communicated the statement, said its 

 accuracy was vouched for by many reliable persons. The 

 grass pike is the common pike of the Great Lakes. It 

 differs from the pickerel in many respects, and notably in 

 color and size. The pickerel has a network of narrow 

 dark lines covering the usually greenish sides, while the 

 pike has the sides thickly covered with pale blotches 

 nearly as large as the eye, and arranged almost in rows 

 on the grayish or green-gray body color. You should 

 send to Forest and Stream for its numbers containing 

 descriptions and figures of the pike, pickerel and maFc^ 

 longe, which will enable you always to distinguish these 

 fishes without difiBculty. These are dated April 2 and 9 

 and May 14, 1891; the last especially will help you to fix 

 the differences in your memory.] 



Vermont Trout Season. 



Vermont Legislature now is session. Bill introduced 

 m the House Oct. 19 prohibits the taking of trout for a 

 period of five years. Referred to Committee on Game 

 and Fisheries, F E A 



CAMPS OF THE KINGFISHERS.-XIV. 

 CARP LAKE, MICHIGAN. 



The Carp Lake Camp. 



[Continu€.d from paae S58.] 



I w^AS determined to take a trout out of that stream 

 above the bridge, if I had to follow it to its source. 



The woods on this side were more open, and I had 

 little trouble in getting to the water. 



The stream above the bridge widened to 50 or 60ft,, 

 and many of the best looking places were out of reach 

 without "cooning" a treacherous log or "teetery" limb, 

 and taking the chance of a sousing in the icy water and 

 afterward strip and dry my clothes in the sun, at the 

 mercy of the deer flies and skeeters, as "Br'er Roach" 

 did once upon a time in the past on Cedar River, and "ye 

 Editor," on the same stream, which episodes were still 

 fresh in my memory. 



I had to content myself with fishing along the bank 

 where there was an occasional opening through which to 

 drop the hook, but the results were not very satisfactory. 



In the hundred yards or more that I followed up the 

 stream I took four trout, two of which were strung on a. 

 twig to carry back to the boat, another — a little one under 

 the limit— returned to the water, and the fourth and 

 last was left jerking and twisting in the water in plain 

 sight, a victim to his own smartness, for he had taken a 

 turn or two around some sunken limbs 5 or 6yds. out in 

 the stream, and I was forced to break the line and leave 

 him to his fate. 



I tied on onother hook and went on up a few rods, and 

 lost another yard of line and the hook by getting fast, 

 but this time without "hanging" a trout. 



The tangle was getting bad again and I turned back 

 disgruntled and out of humor with that part of Cedar 

 Run, and its profanity-breeding surroundings, stopping 

 on the way to find that my smart trout had worked loose, 

 at which I rejoiced, for 1 had been feeling a trifle mean 

 because I had been unable .to get out to the submerged 

 limbs and release him. 



Back at the bridge I found Kelpie busy on a log withi 

 the lunch, but believing it a good practice not to eat 

 when you don't want to I tied on and baited another hook 

 to try the deep hole below the bridge, where Kelpie 

 said he had taken a lOin. trout and lost another good one. 



The "good one," or one that Kelpie said "bore a strik- 

 ing resemblance to him," seemed to ha^e forgotten all 

 about the recent pricking from Kelpie's hook, for as the 

 cm-rent carried the squirming worm near a sunken log 

 he came out from imder it with a quick flirt, sucked in 

 worm, hook and all — the water was so clear I could see 

 the whole performance — and turned to go back under 

 the log, but somehow he lost his bearings and took the 

 wrong direction, and before he found out how the catas- 

 trophe came about he was gasping and flopping on the 

 grass at the end of the bridge,wishing, as Kelpie quaintly 

 "guessed," that he had staid under the log till the cyclone 

 was over. 



While Kelpie finished his lunch I tried the hole again, 

 and although I saw another trout I could not induce him 

 to bite; he had no doubt been a witness to the crazy 

 antics and disappearance of the other one, and "had his 

 doubts" about worms with strings to 'em. 



When Kelpie had cleared ofl" the table (log) and put the 

 remainder of the lunch back in the boat we crossed the 

 bridge and fished down the stream a matter of SOyds, in i 

 the open water to where it narrowed to a rod or more, 

 but we got nothing except two or three little fellows that i 

 were returned to the water, and then as the sun had til- 1 

 ted away over past the noon mark we concluded to get ' 

 in the boat and fish along down and get out on the lake 

 before darkness overtook us, for to get caught in that 1 

 stream after dark in a canvas boat.meant shipwreck sure, 

 and a night in the "bresh" with a million or two hungry 

 skeeters that would suck the blood out of us till we would 

 be too transparent to make a shadow when morning 

 came. 



When we got out in the stream we f oimd it would take 

 the whole time and attention of one of us to manage the 

 boat in the swift current to keep her off the logs and 1 

 snags and hold her steady in desired places when neceg^ 1 

 sary, while the other fished. 



Kelpie insisted on "standing" the first watch as sailing 

 master by sitting flat down in the bow of the boat, where ' 

 with an oar braced against the bottom, or by hanging on 

 to a bush or projecting root along the bank he could hold 

 the light craft, while I stood up in the stern, hanging 

 down stream, and fished below. 



The stream was open enough for free casting, but as 

 we had no flies along we had to content ourselves with 

 the means at hand. I tried worms for the first hundred 

 yards or so, but the result was not very gratifying, and I 

 killed one of the trout and fashioned a nondescript fly, or 

 lure, out of the anal, and one of the ventral fins by 

 placing them on the hook in such a way that they would 

 twist iu the water like a spinner when acted on by the ■ 

 current. 



This "happy thought enticer" — with which I had scored 

 a failure on the "big trout of McConnell's Creek"— proved 

 to be just what the trout of Cedar Run had been waiting 

 for all summer, and almost the first cast started trouble 

 among them ; however, it required little casting, as the , 

 current would switch the fly (?) nearly anywhere required 

 by a lateral movement of the rod tip either to the right 

 or left. 



Standing up in the boat I could see all the likely look- 

 ing places and deep holes before we got too near them, 

 and a "stop her" to Kelpie would bring the ironclad to 

 anchor at about the right spot to fish without too much 

 line out to handle well, and when we wanted to move 

 again "drop her down a little, Kelpie," and the current 

 did the rest. 



Every few yards, or rods, as the boat floated over 

 sunken logs or a tangle of roots, trout would dart out 

 from under or among them— 3, 3, 4, and 5 in view at a ' 

 time— and flirt out of sight up or down stream, those 

 going below to be routed out again when the boat came 

 along, or to remain in hiding under the bank, or behind a 

 log, mayhap, till we got by. 



The stream seemed to be alive with them, and we 

 kicked ourselves with vehemence, mentally and figura- 

 tively, because we had not made some trips to it before, 

 instead of wearing ourselves out threading the tangle of 

 McConnell's Creek, Pouch's and Maybert's, not counting 

 Alexander's Creek and the little stream near Daddy 

 Nolan's. 



