56 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan. 19, 1893. 



BOSTON AND MAINE. 



Tonging Tomcods. 



A FRIEND asked me the other day if I ever went "tong- 

 ing tomcod?" Here was a puzzler to me. and perhaps it 

 will be to some of the readers of the Forest and Stream. 

 At first I thought that he must be guying me. But he is 

 a great lover of hunting and fishing, and I was bound to 

 find out his meaning. His na.nie is eJLande Tarbox, of 

 Byfield, and he is in the grain tra,de at the Boston Cham- 

 ber of Commerce, with A. P. Aldrich & Sons. He explains: 

 "I went Christmas morning wdth niy brother-in-law, J". 

 Oren Bailey, and. we tonged a bnsh el basketful, as cold as 

 it was." 



"But how in the world is it done?" I asked. 



"Why, it is simple enough." he explains, "though I 

 never heard of its being done aiiys^iiere but down our 

 way. About this time of the year the tomcod come up to 

 the"^ fresh water falls, where the streams empty into the 

 salt water. At low tide we go after them. We have 

 wooden tongs with crossed arms, about four feet long. 

 Between the jaws, Avhere the tongs come togetlaer, we 

 have sharp brads to hold the fish. These jaws are a good 

 deal like the ja,ws of a big fish; the brads taking the place 

 of the teeth of the fish. Well, you are ready for tonging. 

 With the tongs in hand— one hand hold of eacli arm— you 

 get on to the" rocks at the fails and i_»eer down into the 

 water. There are the tomcod. The tongs go down cau- 

 tiously. One is between the jaw s. C'hck go the A^'ooden 

 ^rms "together, with a quick inotiou of the hands above 

 water. The fish is caught and the brads liold him. With 

 a swing he is deposited on the shore, and you are after 

 another. No matter if only his tail sticks out from among 

 the rocks, the brads will liold the fish. It is great fun. 

 You should see my brother-in-laAv. He is an expert, 

 though he has only one leg, as I liave told you before. 

 Tongs in hand, he jumps from rock to rock on one foot. 

 His crutch is usually somewhere up on the shore then. Of 

 all the men I have ever been bruiting or fishing w^ith he 

 loves it the best, and not one man in a dozen, with both 

 legs, can get around as fast as he can. He is a born 

 sportsman. He never backs out. • He can go where you 

 can, or anybody else. His gun and his crutch are all he 

 requires for a "glorious day in the woods. Come down, 

 and go tonging tomcod witli us." 



The pickerel fishermen are at it again, or will be as soon 

 as the extremely cold weather lets up. The bait is gener- 

 allv ready. Mr. A. W. Tompkins, of Foster, Weeks & 

 Co^. tells of a good haul of pickerel bait from the Charles 

 river the other dav. It seems that the fishermen watch 

 the holes where the ebb tide leaves the small tomcod con- 

 fined, till the next tide. Here they dip them out with 

 nets, and put them into proper receptacles— generally 

 some part of a running stream, set off with Avire netting — 

 till thev are wanted for bait. This time Mr. Tompkins 

 with Ms friend, found a, very deep hole, and they dipped 

 and dipped till they liad many thousands of little tomcod, 

 just right for pickerel bait. The pickerel fishermen speak 

 highly" of the little tomcod. They wiU stand more hard 

 usage, both in transporting and as bait, and come out 

 alive, than almost any other form of minnow. The catch, 

 mentioned above, will be used later, probably at the Sud- 

 bury river, where Mr. Tompkins and his friends own a 

 hunting and fishing carnp.^ 



ANGLING NOTES. 



Pike Work Down Stream. 



It was not until uia note making reference to the move- 

 ments of pike in a stream was in type that it occurred to 

 me that I could get some evidence on the subject right 

 here at home, Pike were transplanted from Lake Cham- 

 plain— and I mean the so-called pickerel. E,i0.x- Imiiis. not 

 the pike-perch, which is locally known as Ohamplain 

 pike— to Schroon Lake about 1845. This date may be a 

 year or two out of the way, but an uncle of the writer 

 was visiting Schroon Lake the year after the pike were 

 introduced and learned of the plant from the men who 

 made it. and he thinks it was about 1846 when he was 

 there. Within four years from the time of planting the 

 pike in Schroon Lake the nncle referred to was fishing in 

 the Hudson River above Glens Falls for trout and caught 

 361bs. of pike, very much to his astonishment. He told 

 me to-day that he thinks that it was really within three 

 years from the time the pike were planted, but to be on 

 the safe side he finally said four years. There were no 

 pike in the upprr Hudson nntil they worked down from 

 Scl-rroon Lake, and to get to the place where the 361bs. 

 were caught the fish had to leave the lake, follow down 

 Schroon River into the Hudson, a distance as the streams 

 flow of from forty-five to fifty miles. It is not at all likely 

 that a large number of pike were brought from Lake 

 Champlain for the purpose of stocking Schroon Lake, arid 

 that they should not only stock the lake, but spread down 

 stream for a distance of fifty miles in such numbers that 

 361bs. were caught in one day by one man, all within four 

 years, is rather startling evidence of the rapidity with 

 which they breed and spread, and is the best evidence 

 that the pike requires no close season, and spearing if 

 shooting and netting is prohibited by law. 



Pike in Glen Lake. 



There are pike in Glen Lake, the home of the giant 

 black bass of the small-mouth species, and as the lake was 

 formerly the home of the brook trout, before the pike, 

 and then the black bass, were introduced, I have been 

 curious to know how the pike got into the w^ater, but 

 only learned the facts regarding their introduction very 

 recently. When the pike from Schroon Lake had worked 

 down the Schroon River to the vicinity of Warrensburgh, 

 one Joseph Bentley, in 1851, took some of the fish and put 

 them in an artificial pond on his farm, the outlet of which 

 flowed into Glen Lake, and the pike soon found their 

 way down mto Long Pond, as Glen Lake was then called. 

 If the fish did but know it, they have only to go down the 

 outlet of Glen Lake to find themselves back in their 

 original home. Lake Cliamplaiii. 



Pici<erel. 



Of pickerel proper, Esox reticulatus, there are very few 

 ui the waters of northern New York, although the pike 

 is universally called the pickerel. Morean Pond, in 

 Saratoga county, contained the true pickerel, and until a 

 few years ago it was the onlj- water anywhere near my 

 home that did contain this fish. Within the past half 

 dozen years Judge Orange Ferris showed me some pickerel 

 toat be caught m the Hudson while fishing for pike at a 



place very near- the pond, where my uncle first caught the 

 pike while fishing for brook trout. That was the first in- 

 timation that any one had that pickerel were in the 

 Hudson. I mean any one that could tell the difference 

 between pike and pickerel. How the pickerel came in. 

 the river I do not know^ to this present day, but it is quite 

 evident that some one brought them from Moreau -Pond 

 and put them in the stream. At first, out of five fish four 

 would be pike, and one a pickerel; now four out of five 

 and very often five out of five are pickerel, and the pike 

 appeals to have almost disappeared. 



How Fish Spread. 



Having told something of how the pike worked dow u 

 the Hudson, it may be of mterest to relate briefly how tiie 

 black bass got np the Hudson. The building of the Eiie 

 Canal brought the black bass into the lower Hudson. 

 From there they were taken to Saratoga Lake (Saratoga 

 Lake furnished the bass Avhich stocked a great part ot 

 New England), and then to EQ'nor Lake in Saratoi>a 

 county. From Effnor La.ke the bass got into the Sacan- 

 daga River, and so into the Hndson from Luzerne soul li 

 From Effnor La.ke tlie bass were carried to Schroon Lak(> 

 and thus stocked the Hudson and Schroon River, south to 

 Luzerne Falls. This spread of pike, pickerel and bla< k 

 bass lias destroyed a lot of good trout fishing water, and 

 the introduced fish lia^^e not taken the place of the trout. 

 The last ti out that I caught in the Hudson below Ltizerne 

 weighed over 21bs. , and I caught it just 20 years ago 

 Long before that, and before the advent of the pike, my 

 uncie, already mentioned, and Judge Ferris caught trout 

 just above Glens Falls that weighed from 41bs. to over 

 51bs. each. A few big trout are yet to be oauo-ht in tlie 

 upper Hudsoir about North Creek and North River P. O. , 

 but they are very few indeed. A. N. C. 



WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA TROUT. 



The headwaters of the AUeghany River in McKean 

 county, Pa., have furnished good brook trout fishing in 

 the past and continue to furnish moderate sport at present. 

 Last spring some fairlj^ good catches were made. Owing 

 to the use of dynamite as a fish destroyer, the native trout 

 supply was about exhausted, and this necessitated the 

 formation of a.n anglers' fish protective association. "It's 

 an ill wind that blows nobody good," so the bad state of 

 aft'airs resulted in the birth of the Port Alleghany Fishing 

 Club, the members of which set to work to replenisli and 

 protect the streams of their vicinity. 



One of their first steps was to prevent the use of dyna- 

 mite in fishing. The anglers suj^posed they were helpless 

 under the fish laws of tlie State. If they had consulted 

 the Book of the Game Laws they would have found that, 

 according to Sec. 26 of the Statutes, the use of any ex- 

 plosive for JiiUing fish in the ^^'aters of the Stat-e is punish- 

 able by a fine of $50. 



To accomplish then- immediate purpose, trout were se- 

 cured from the State hatchery at Erie and planted in the 

 waters in question. These axe rainbow trout and seem to 

 be doing well. 



One of the Ix^st ])oints for sxieckled beauties is at the foot 

 of the Rowlev Mill I )ain. about two miles above vVUeghany 

 Port. The nvei- linv is about lOOft. wnde. and immediately 

 below the dam as jnuch as tSft. deep. Trout of a poimd 

 we.ierlit. occasKinaUy seveial ounces better, are often 

 taken. .Sevei-al liaM' lieen seen that are regular old fash- 

 ioned "specklps. Last spring E. H. Brown, ot Alleghany 

 Port, drew m oiu ot I lie wet a beautv ot lib. 9oz. 



()th( r uLeiu))eis ol Uie < htb aie: S. L Yonng, 



Buckingham, Flannan and John Brown. McKeax. 



will prepare the young fish to protect and feed themselves 

 We deem this a great advance, as it increases the chances o 

 life to the newly-born fish. One of the young fish that is fed 

 for SIX or eight months before being turned into a pond or 

 river is deemed equal to ten tunes the number of the newlv 

 born iisb wlien plntni'd miki 1 1 able to i)e eaten by even tlie 

 most worthless vermin that sv/ims. 



'■ the [iim(.id m,u,i's ( iiinnussioii iiiis been verv liberal to 

 our btate m aatts ot salmon ega:s and try. We intend to 

 adopt the svstem ot teetbng all our yountj fishes tor some six 

 or eisjht mouths lu onr State hatchene.s before planting them 

 p.ist as soon as our means will admit ot it. "W e have already 

 introduced it m a small v\ a,v at ,\ii)uTrn Viafch our landlocked 

 salmon. havmE!; ted a.nd distributed successfully some 50,000 

 six months old fish. " 



In lh( ( on.mi-,--ionei~, planieil ui tlie Peuob-^col 80 000 

 young salmon that had been ted at Urland tor eight months. 

 These fish when planted ^vere troni :i to -im. lone-. They were 

 transported about twentv nnles and Ji))era,ted in tTi-ant and 

 Burr s brooks, tributaries ot the Penobscot. .Some of these 

 iisli, (japtnred tliree months laKir. lia.d reached a. leugtli ot 

 from 4 to (>iu. 



Landlockeil salmon have tlinvcMl in all siiiiable uonds and 



lakes. They require wide ransi^e ot ivater, which miLst he 

 quick ruiimna- and with Q,ravellv bottom, m \Adiich to spa.wn. 

 The lakes must be deep enough to attoi-d cold retreats from 

 summpr heat, and thev must be, plentitnlly stocked with 

 smelts. TO servp as trind tor the sa.linon. The Commissioners 

 i( I" jiiunend tlif- pi - ue f i I it\ t ibiddin_ tin rapture of 

 these salmon ni ^1 kI hi Ulis ujitil -.iv >c u-, ittei planting 



111 betaago LalvP tbe r-pawnma; landlocked salmon are ob- 

 tained, and since artincial storking has been carried on the 

 fish have greatly m creased: manv are caught by trolling in 

 Mav and June alons< the shores. 



Last spring tlie ( dmnus.sioners commenced feeding a por^ 

 tion of their vouna; salmon at East Auburn. About 50,000 

 Avere kept until six mmiths old when they were 3m. long. 

 They consider one hundred of these hsh of more value to 

 stock a hike i,hati one thoiisaiid ot tlie vouiilc irv just begui- 

 luiiLc to feed, ajid i.u'ri[)ose to contume tins method hereafter 

 as tar as their means will allow. 



Some peculiarities of the landlocked salmon not generally 

 understood by the angling fraternity are mentioned in the 

 report. They resemble, tlie sea salmon in many if not all 

 their habits, liut their home and feeding grounds are in fresh 

 waters instead of the ocean. 



"Coming into the streams to spawn at the same season Of 

 the year, and on the same grounds. Hatching at the same 

 time, the young remainin.sc in the streams one or two years 

 before going back to the lake. 1' hey are iden tica! in looks 

 and habks and cannot be identified troni each other. They 

 are not a flsh that take the fly or bait readily, even in the 

 feeding season, often being days that not a fish can be taken, 

 at other times taking the ho'ok or bait greedily. There are 

 only about two months in the year ( May and -J iinc i in which 

 they can be angled for siicce^sfuil.y, th'jugh a fish may be 

 taken in now and then during thesummer season, liut rather 

 as an exception than a rule. ""They grow -^-ery rapidlj' during 

 their feeding season, often attaimng a .growth of two pounds 

 in one year. We have authentic information of fish being 

 caugiu' in ponds, stocked by us only six years that had at- 

 tained a groAvth of eight pounds and over. In one instance 

 (Peabody Pond.) of twelve pounds. There appears to bo some 

 lakes tliat grow large fish, while in others with apparently 

 the same ad^-antages, no lish will be found of over four or 

 five pounds. There are now quite a large ninnber of lakes 

 and ponds in Maine that have been stocked by us A\dth these 

 fish. In many of these they are quite plenty, wliile in others 

 hardly a fish has been take'n, but as a Tule. where the waters 

 have the requisites mentioned in the preceding pa.ge, they 

 have been a success. 



"The painstakin.a- and careful experiments of Hon, Chas. 

 G. .4tkins. Saperintendeiit of the l/nited States works at 

 Orlaud, has made the discovery that the sea salmon only re- 

 turn to the rh-ei-s to spawn once in two years. The same law 

 apiilies to the landlocked salmon, and xierhaps with the brook 

 trout likewise." 



STOCKING WATERS WITH SALMON I D.flE.* 



Spring Fishing for Ouana>niche. 



Editor Forest and Streavi: 



Mr. M. C. Luckenbacli. in your issue of Jan. 12, seeks 

 information as to sjiring fishing for ouananiche in the 

 rivers ranniug into Lake St. John, rightly presuming, I 

 suppose, that there is no early spring fishing in the Grande 

 Discharge. In your note at the end of IMr. L..'s ietter, you 

 speak of Mr. George H. Dana's fishing at the foot of 

 Alma Island, in the latter part of June. That is usually 

 ten or fifteen days after the fisliuig commenced there, but 

 I do not think it is wise, to expect good fishing there in the 

 spring. I shordd recommend Mr. Luckenbacli to try either 

 the Ouiatcliouan or the Metabetchouan for early ouan- 

 aniche fishing, say from about May 20 to June 10 or 15. 

 Last year I had splendid fishing in the pretty Ouiatchouan 

 Pool,' immediately above the railway bridge, on May 35 

 and 36. So had "R. M. Stocking, of this city, Mr. Chase, 

 banker of Waterbury, and president of the Waterbury 

 Watch Co., and Mr. J. Wallace, of Ansonia. Conn. I 

 briefly described this fishing ui the Forest and Stream of 

 June 9 last. There is always good fishing about the same 

 period in the mouth of the Metabetchouan, and also along 

 the Roberval shore of Lake St. John, in front of the hotel. 



E. T. D. Chambers. 



MAINE FISHERIES. 



The Commissioners of Fisheries and Game have presented 

 their report for 1891 and 1892. "The success of their work is 

 best rer-orded by the journals of the day, the railroad super- 

 intendents, the'hotel keepers and the pretty little village re- 

 sorts of summer visitors." Newport, Sebago, Green Lake, 

 Belgrade and Sebec are illustrations of the combined attrac- 

 tions of pure air and good fishing. 



Black bass have been introduced at trifling cost and have 

 multiplied so rapidly that they no longer need protective 

 legislation. The Kennebec has been despoiled of its salmon 

 by the dam nuisance at Augusta and the destmctive in- 

 stincts of the natives at Watervile Falls, combined with the 

 pollution of the stream by factory and mill refuse. 



"The salmon fishery of the Penobscot has been preserved 

 the last few years almost entirely by the joint efforts of the 

 United States and Maine Commissioners of Fish and Fish- 

 eries. The United States Commission purchases the flsh at 

 the weirs on the river where taken and conveys them to 

 waters set apart for that purpose, where they are carefully 

 protected until ready for spawning, when their eggs are 

 taken and distributed to such of the States as have sub- 

 scribed to the expenses of the work for home planting. We 

 as representatives of the State's interest subscribe to the full 

 extent of the i-esources that the State Legislature places in 

 our hands. We have established small hatcheries of our 

 own at such points as are most central and convenient for dis- 

 tribution. The United States Commission has lately adopted 

 a system of feeding the young fry for a length of time, that 



The very successful establishment of Sir James Maitland 

 is well known wherever tisheultnre is practiced, audits in- 

 fluence has been widely felt for good. Perhays nowhere else 

 in the world have scientific principles been more judiciously 

 and advantageously applied to the diriicult .and varied prob- 

 lems of fish breeding, and the public has not been slow to 

 profit by the experience of the author of the "History of 

 Ho^viettiun." 



"The first edition" of the pamphlet on stocking "had to 

 beg the whole question of modern fishcultnre; the fourth 

 edition finds artificial stockin.g s'ery generally adopted and 

 trout farms established in many places in England and Scot- 

 land as purely commercial ventures, thriving both fish- 

 culturally and financially." 



A similar, but more e.Ktensive, giowth of public sentiment 

 in favor of artificial hatching has developed in the United 

 States under the stimulus of vigorous Natural and State 

 flshculture operations. 



Sir James Maitland's pamphleti ^\•i^ be read with interest 

 because of the many practical subjects treated, as, for ex- 

 ample, the preferred age of spawning fish, the separation _of 

 the sexes and of sizes, the raanagenuait of eggs during in- 

 cubation, the cost of eggs, fry, yearlings and older fish, the 

 care and breeding of trout in tlie hatchery and ponds, the 

 transportation of eggs and fish. 



The cost of eyed eggs is stated to be §1.62 per thousand; 

 fry at three months "cost from s;;!.50 to -t'I.OO per thousand; 

 yearlings from §30 to $45 per thousand; two-j^ear-olds are 

 .sold at i^l2r> thousand. 



The pamxihlet contains much practical information about 

 the construction of ponds, the water supply, the use of xvater 

 plants and of natural food. Sir James finds the water-flea 

 (GammaTuif) the most valuable flesh colorer, since it gives a 

 deep pink hue to the flesh of trout. Snail (Limnmu) are 

 also useful. S^van mnssels, in our country known as fresh- 

 water mussels or uuios, are found to increase the number of 

 water-fleas. Watercress beds at the inlet of ponds have 

 given excellent results. 



On Stocking Rivers, Streams, Lalces, Ponds and Reservoii-s with 

 Salmonidse. By Sir Jam&s Maitland, Bart, etc. Fourth Edition. 

 Published by J. B. Guy, Secretary, Howietouii Fishery, StirUng, 

 N, B., 1893. ' 



A Pennsylvania Railroad Tour to Florida. 



Hi'.^cE on t/he first persoiiallv conducted IVi 

 to Honda is bemf^ Ciif^iii-lv fioimtit tor. The ^ 

 ter and the continuous snow stonn irhioli Iju: 

 week has been the means ot toi-fii;';- inr i. 

 iVorthto seek a warmer climate i 

 winds and zero temperatui-e wlueii : 

 tour- m oharge ot a Touriet Agent aiii l i in |jr 

 aiid Philadelphia m a Pidlmau Palace A estilji 

 round trip rate ut iM troin .\eiv iurk uiii 

 covers transportation and meals en fovjH m uimh .jul-cli 

 ticket tor this tour -svilt admit ot two ivhoie wetl:s ^-uy m th 

 sun.shine and flowers, which tmit; n-dl sive rhc tourist ample opportu- 

 nitv to profit in health and pleasure, and admit ot a thorousa tour ot 

 all the interestiny- places in tlie PemnsiUa. Later tours to i^lorida 

 will leave duriiiE;- the months ot Februai y and i\Iarch, dates for which 

 liareheenhxedfor t eb. 11. ;^s. MarcD M and A neatly prepared 

 lionk on Florida and its surrouudin£?s is at the disposal ot aU apph- 

 ■ •ants ijv addressutg- the tourist agent ot the Pennsylvania Kailroad 

 Company, 8t9 Broadway, New York, or 233 Soutlk Fourth street, 

 Philadelphia,.— ^di;. 



vlvania Padroad tour 

 ! Ill ^Ili le" win 

 I], ii Mi' ihe past 

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i nr first 

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1 I I 1 1 The 

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 ■ land ot 



