^10 



FOREST ANE) STREAM. 



with a No. 11 rubber boot. Some of the fish are nearly 

 frozen stiff before they reach the water. Such is the 

 method practiced in the central part of the State upon the 

 Seneca River. Any one knowing anything about such 

 fishing and such methods of treatment knows that they 

 may as well put a knife through a fish, for it means cer- 

 tain death. 



The winter being long and the wea,ther very cold, it has 

 ' been a hard one upon the game fish, and I think one may 

 as well stay at home as go a-fishing with a hook this sea- 

 son upon these waters. Thoraands of the best game fish 

 now he frozen in the ice, and hundreds of crows and gulls 

 are feeding upon the flesh of the gamy bass. 



Please spend a day and see for youi-self , and you will 

 favor protection. If this should continue for another 

 year it would deplete Cayuga and Seneca lakes and the 

 Clyde River of their best fish. The tune has come when 

 the sportsmen should take some action in this matter and 

 have this law amended so that this wholesale slaughter 

 will not go on upon the best spawning grounds in the 

 State. H. C. Carr, Protector. 



FINLAND FISHING. 



, Dk. Oscar Nordqvist, president of the Fishery Asso- 

 ciation of Finland, is now in the United States studying 

 our. system of fishculture and the methods of our fisheries. 

 He has visited Washington to make himself familiar with 

 the work of the U. S. 1^'ish Commission and will go from 

 there to several of the important stations to examine 

 their operations with trout, salmon and whitefish. 

 . He will also visit the great fishery centers of the United 

 States and the World's Columbian Exposition and return 

 to Finland in June. 



Finland, according to Dr. Nordqvist, has a goodly 

 number of the finer fishes known to American anglers. 

 Chief among them is the Atlantic salmon, which is repre- 

 sented by the common form so well known in the rivers 

 of New England and Canada, as well as by a land-locked 

 variety much Uke our sebago or winninish, but larger. 



There are five principal salmon rivers in Finland, the 

 Kymmene (in South Finland), Kumo (Southwest Fin- 

 land), Ulea, Kemi and Toruea (in North Finland). The 

 Ulea is the chief river for rod fishing and salmon are 

 taken by this means chiefly in its upper waters. 



In the Tornea they take the hook rarely in the upper 

 portion. The Kumo furnishes more sport for the angler 

 ^ in its tipper waters, while in the Kymmene no salmon 

 are caught vsdth rod and line. 



The landlocked salmon occurs in Lake Ladoga and its 

 ributaries. The sea trout of Europe is a common fish in 

 Finland waters. The salbhng, or red-spotted char, is 

 another choice species for the angler. The graying 

 completes the list of the salmon family for Line fishing^ 

 but three kinds of whitefish are found in the waters. 



The common pike is abundant, but not highly esteemed. 

 Yellow perch aboimd, and if they differ from our own 

 species it is hard to define the points of difference. A 

 very fine pike-perch is among the choice game fishes. 

 Cmionsly enough the golden ide, which we have intro- 

 duced into the United States from Europe, is one of the 

 prized anglers' fishes of Finland. The bream {Abramis 

 brama), a large species of the carp family, is considered 

 a very good fish and its capture furnishes considerable 

 sport. 



The only catfish known in the country is the Silurus 

 glanis, and this is found rarely in only one lake of Fin- 

 land. 



The caprice of the salmon in taking the hook is quite 

 as noteworthy in Finland rivers as it is in our own. Some 

 streams contain many salmon, which are caught freely in 

 nets, but seldom or never on hooks. In some severe win- 

 ters the salmon that run up to spawn are imprisoned by 

 ice before they have finished spawning, and when they 

 finally escape seaward in the following spring, some of 

 them die in the rivers. There is, however, as a rule very 

 little mortality after spawning. 



Helsingf ors is a center of considerable angling interest. 

 Anglers' outfits made in the country are sold here, but 

 better appliances are imported from England. A paper, 

 Spoften, devoted to out-of-door amusements, is j)ubUshed 

 here. Dr. Nordqvist says Forest and Stream is read in 

 Finland with great interest. 



BOSTON AND MAINE. 



Boston. — Ice-fishing all over New England has received 

 a setback that it may take several weeks to recover from, 

 or possibly it may not be of much value again this season.' 

 The lakes and ponds are covered with 3 to 5ft. of snow, 

 in addition to the remarkably thick ice already mentioned! 

 A party from Boston, that was made up for Cobbossee- 

 contee. Me., the first of March, has postponed the trip till 

 the outlook is better; doubtless indefinitely. Another 

 party that went to Lake Winipiseogee, N. H., a year ago, 

 and was intending to make the fishing trip again this 

 spring, wiU postpone it till better weather and till there 

 is less snow on the ice, if indeed they go at all. 

 From Maine there are but few reports of ice-fishing. The 

 snow has been so deep and the roads so blockaded that to 

 go to the ponds and lakes has been almost an impossibil- 

 ity, to say nothing of the storm that has raged. A friend 

 writes that he knows of a fisherman who has kept a hole 

 or two open in the Androscoggin River, at Barkerville, 

 just below Lewiston, Me. , all winter, and has taken out 

 some very nice pickerel. At this point, so near to the 

 city, no one else has thought of fishing. 



Some of the Waltham fishermen have recently had a 

 big time fishing for bass at Kurd's Pond in Way] and. It 

 is against the law to take bass at this season, and for tliat 

 reason the names of the boys are not mentioned. They 

 seem to think they had a good excuse for having taken 

 the fish, for the reason that the fish had already caught 

 themselves. It seems that the pond drains mto the 

 Sudbury River by a very shoal creek, and that the creek 

 has been lower than ever the past winter. During the 

 ■ recent rain and slight rise of water it seems that tlie bass 

 in great numbers went from the river up the creek 

 toward the pond, till they were caught in the ice some 

 way, and it was an easy thing for the" fishermen to secure 

 them. They claim that if they had not taken the bass, 

 they would have been frozen in and destroyed by tlie cold 

 weather, which immediately followed the thaw. One 

 party secured 13 pickerel and some 20 black bass. One 

 bass is reported to have weighed 51bs, Another party got 

 more bass than the one just mentioned, but they do not 

 say how many. 



A petition has been handed in to the present Massachu- 



setts Legislature, asking that the open season on black 

 bass in tliis State begin on June 1, instead of June 15. 

 The petition is signed by several prominent members of 

 the Fish and Game Protective Association, but it is under- 

 stood that Commissioner Brackett is oi)posed to the opening 

 of the season at this time. 



An amendment to present game laws has been intro- 

 duced, making the penalty for the second killing of moose 

 in tliat State to be imprisonment, in addition to a fine. 

 The amendment also adds the last ten days of September 

 to the open season on moose, caribou and deer. It also 

 provides that no deer shall be killed in any lake, pond or 

 river in the State. This is a dnect attempt to prevent 

 jack -shooting in a very awkward way, and by a means that 

 it will be utterly impossible to enforce. There is very little 

 chance that the measure will ever become a law, however. 

 It is attached as a rider to the biU making a part of Sep- 

 tember an open month on big game; a bill that the lum- 

 ber people will not permit to pass, if they can prevent it, 

 and there is no more powerful interest in Maine. 



Our good friend F. R. Shattuck, so Avell known to the 

 Forest and Stream, has a letter from Capt. Jenkins, of 

 West Barnstable, givmg a more encouraging feature to 

 the attempt to plant prairie cMckens in that part of the 

 State. Two years ago the restocking committee of the 

 Fish and Game Protective Association put out three or 

 four pairs of,these birds on Capt. Jenkins's place. Some 

 time after two of the birds were seen. Since that time, 

 and up to within a day or two ago, nothing had been seen 

 of the birds, and they were given up as gone forever. But 

 now Capt. Jenkins has seen a fox hunter, in whom he 

 puts confidence, who says that the other day he saw two 

 of the birds. He not only saw them, but he watched 

 them for some fifteen minutes. This is encouraging news 

 to Mr. Thayer and other members of the committee, who 

 have taken so much pains in the way of restocking the 

 game covers of the Bay State. They can see that the 

 prairie chickens have not wholly dissappeared, though 

 they feel that if they had been a success at West Barn- 

 stable, that there should have now been dozens of birds 

 instead of two. This season they are putting out prairie 

 chickens in the western part of the State rather than on the 

 coast. But they are thinking of the present tremendous 

 winter with a good deal of alarm. The snow is remark- 

 ably deep all over the State, and the chances for food for 

 the prairie chickens and quail that it w-as hoped to acclim- 

 ate are greatly reduced. The committee feels that if the 

 birds sm-vive the present winter that there is not the least 

 doubt but ^vhat they are a fixed fact in Massachusetts. 

 There has not l^een a winter so severe in twenty years. 

 The men who have charge of Frankhn Park, Boston, say 

 that they have seen nothing of the qiiail that were there 

 through the summer and fall since the very cold weather 

 early in the winter. Special. 



BROOK TROUT OF WAUTOMA. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



At the request of one of your enthusiastic subscribers I 

 write this article, hoping it may prove of general interest. 



Last June, having heard much of the trout fishing at 

 and near Wautoma, the county seat of Waushara county. 

 Wis., I concluded to tiy for myself and see if the fishing 

 there was, in regard to sport, comfort, quality and quan- 

 tity, all it had been recommended. 



Wautoma is a lovely village twenty miles from the 

 railroad at Berlin, embowered in shade trees, with taste- 

 ful and varied residences, while through its emerald 

 meadows brawls a silver brook, one of the many tribu- 

 taries which here abound, fretting along "to join the 

 brimming river." 



A few years ago not a singlq trout inhabited these 

 streams. The noble enterprise of far-seeing men induced 

 the State, after encomitering much opposition, to stock 

 these streams with trout fry. Now the number caught 

 in a season is simply prodigious. The size of the fish is 

 unusual and, in some instances, phenomenal. Speckled 

 trout, rainbow trout and an occasional silver sahnon ai-e 

 taken. 



Last summer I saw a rainbow trout, caught eight miles 

 from there, that weighed 51bs. 7oz. and measured 2ft. 4in. 



There are two hotels there; the one at wliich sportsmen 

 generally stop is kept by W. A. Bugh, a young, enthu- 

 siastic and true partisan of the rod and gim, with all 

 those words imply; and when I say truly that no sportsman 

 who has once "put up" with him has yet failed to come 

 again, I have said it all. 



Bright was the morning, the fog rising through the 

 trees, blushing with the first rays of the rising sun, as 

 with hmch and rod and a few clioice flies I stood on a 

 bridge which spans the sti'eam at the outskirts of the 

 village. A crippled veteran, I could not go far or fast. 

 Yeai-s had passed and, alas, gone forever since I had 

 thrown a Ime for trout. 



As I gazed on the bubbling waters as they rushed under 

 the bridge, now here, ro v there, with many a curve and 

 foaming ripiale, I thought of the old bridge away off in 

 York State, where a happy boy with only the ignoble 

 worm, with wild delight, "dear Tom," I 'caught these 

 beauties of the brook "just forty years ago." The brook 

 sang the same old song again; my heart felt the same old 

 thrill again, and I thanked God that while many never 

 can renew their youth, the sportsman always can. 



Slowly and cautiously, with the eye of a hawk and the 

 tread of a cat, "afraid of my own shadow" fiitting on the 

 golden shoals, I cast the gossamer's frail, gaudy lure as 

 tenderly as maiden's glance upon the form she loves. 

 Slowly down the stream I hitched along (for better I 

 could not). No bogs, no thorns, nor superfluity of bi-ush, 

 but just enough to hide and cast without inconvenience.' 



Not a fly, not a "no-see-um," not a single "skeet;" and 

 this is true of all the streams in this part of the country. 

 Of course in August there are some deer-flies, and in thick 

 shaded lowlands some "mosqueets;" but no other tor- 

 ments have I ever seen such as drive the sportsman wild 

 in the northern woods. 



Several fine trout, but none too smaU, was my reward. 

 The air seemed pulsing with the songs of robins and a 

 thousand happy birds. The grateful shade along the 

 brook at intervals mellowed the sun's too ardent rays, 

 while I quaffed long draughts of the spring-cold stream. 

 At last, at one deep hole, where the waters found their 

 channel by a mass of roots, one gorgeous beauty leaped 

 with seeming clumsy splash (a fimny imitation of the 

 yoimger graceful "kids") to take my fly, but missed. 

 Once more I teased him to respond, and darting again at 

 the lure, he would not bite, but only made a feint. 



Again, again and again I cast and trailed the silly httle 

 myth along up the fretful tide. Then he got mad,' I sup- 

 pose, and daxting, seized it with a vim, and soon I had 

 him safely on the bank. He meastrred 12in. , and I could 

 scarcely squeeze him in my closed basket. Great, beautiful , 

 gaudy, sparkhng, fat fellow! And yet I have seen a dozen 

 such, the result of one day's fishing there with a party, 

 who brought in 200 or more as their day's catch. 



So ended a perfect day, but which will come again, I 

 trust, to all who try then- fortune at or near Wautoma, 

 along its many attractive streams. R. W. Hubbell. 



PLArai'iBLD, Wis. 



THE ANGLER'S DREAM. 



What memory more pleasing than green fields and 

 shady glen, silent pools and rushing stream, and cheery 

 laugh luring tlie leopard of the brook from his watery 

 liomet As I sit poring over the last issue of dear old 

 Forest and Stream, and being alone and in meditative 

 mood, my thoughts revert to my favorite pools and swirl- 

 ing eddies, and as I sit and ponder, it pervades my whole 

 being with an eager, restless longing for the return of the 

 open season again. 



Strange are the human likes and fancies of this world. 

 There are plenty among us who sneer at the sportsman's 

 innocent, happy fife — a waste of time and money, say 

 they. Those who care naught for the charm of nature, 

 even in her brightest moods, know little of the thoxights 

 and feehngs of the child of nature; of the intense longing 

 for the fields and forest, the birds and flowers, and, best 

 of aU, the healthful, life-giving sports that nature pro- 

 vides. 



Ah! the scenes that in retrospective pass before me, 

 seem to be reahzed only bv the sportsman-angler. See! 

 a glorious .Jime morning; the sweet bird-songs and chat- 

 ter of gossiping squirrels (they your only companions) 

 ringing in your ears; a wild, rolUcking moimtain stream 

 tmnbhng and foaming among the boulders, or falhng 

 over some mossy old ledge, forming a deep foam-flecked 

 pool, the home of some wary old trout. Or again, the 

 same brawhng stream, toneVl down to a calmer mood, 

 flowing silent and swift over beds of yellow sand or shin- 

 ing pebbles between banks of soft, wavy meadow grass, 

 thickly dotted with buttercups and daisies, with here and 

 there a clump of blue iris, or anon stretching away in 

 long silent reaches— the very spot to throw the gaudy fly 

 and lure the crimson-spotted trout to destruction. 



All! 'tis now the angler is in his element; 'tis here you 

 catch the music of his reel and the swish of his leader as 

 he sends it far out o'er the water with a skillful cast, ac- 

 quired by long practice. Tliis is pure, unalloyed pleasure; 

 it is grand. There is something in this kind of life that 

 in all true lovers of the gentle art produces a joyous dis- 

 position and tends to promote a brotherly feeling toward 

 others. Constant companionship with the charm and 

 solitude of nature softens man's harsher feeling-s and im- 

 prints a feehng of good fellow^ship in his breast. 



How the quickening blood courses through the veins as 

 you see the magic words "the opening of the trout sea- 

 son." How the fingers tingle to the very ends as you 

 grasp the trusty old rod once more! What an overhaul- 

 ing of tackle as you hasten to get ready for the summer's 

 campaign ! When the day arrives you are ready and saUy 

 forth to your favorite stream. Soon you see the pool be- 

 fore you, and sundiy dimples and ripples on the surface 

 tell you that the spotted quarry is there as of old. 

 ^ With caution you approach and make the fii-st cast. 

 Soon there is a yeUow flash, a bidge in the waters 'nea,th 

 the fly, a turn of the wrist and you have him fast. Now 

 begins the struggle. The well-oiled reel revolves with 

 Ughtning speed as he runs off the line; see! he is going 

 for that brushwood on the opposite side of the pool. Ah! 

 he is a crafty old fellow; but you draw him gentlv away, 

 and as he feels the cruel barb in his flesh, like a flash he 

 is away again. Poor fellow, he is making a hard fight 

 for liberty; but no use, you soon land him, dripjiing upon 

 the bank. 



What a beauty! Every curve and line perfect in con- 

 tour, and the crimson spots upon his golden sides bright 

 and glowing, fresh from his native element. 



Ah! is not this kingly sport! And so you go on from 

 pool to pool, from ripple to ripple, and tnidge home 

 at dusk with a well-filled creel, tired, but happy and con- 

 tented. 



So I awake from my reverie to realize that it is but a 

 pleasant dream; but mayhap for the moment it Avfll have 

 some interest for a brother angler, for some of the many 

 readers of Forest and Stream. E. M. Brown. 



Pkeston, Conn. 



TROUT SPAWNING IN JUNE. 



We are indebted to Mr. F. W. True, of the National 

 Museum, for copies of the foUowing letters relative to late 

 spawning of trout in certain New York lakes. It seems 

 hardly possible to frame laws whicli wiH serve to protect 

 trout of such unusual habits and still give anglers the 

 opportunities to which they are fairly entitled: 



Trenton, Jan. 27, 1893.— j}/i/ Dear Friend Wmiam: Yours 

 of 26th is before mo. I do remember fi.sblug in Moorhoiise 

 Lake in June with you and taking trout in my Lands and 

 the spawn would run from them, and we both talked about 

 it at the time, I think. Dr. Hamlin, of Middleville, is one of 

 the party which has purchased the lake and a man by the 

 name of Mosher. I think Dr. Hamlin would give you all the 

 information you want. H. S. Stanton. 



Middleville, N. Y., Feb. 2, 1893.— TFm. Calverley: Dear 

 Sir— Dr. Hamlin handed me yours of the 28th in.st. to answer. 

 We frequently catch trout in Moorehouse Lake thnt have 

 two sets of spawn. Catch them in May and .June and they 

 are generally from 1 to 2Ibs. in weight. I ha^-e always con- 

 cluded that the two sets of spawn were caused from some 

 disease; once caught a three-pounder in Big Rock I^ake with 

 two sets. Trout in that condition always discharge the large 

 spawn with very light pressure; will frequently discharge 

 them in the boat in death struggle. Yours truly, 



W. W. Mosher. 



Barnegat, N. J., Feb. 8, 1893.— Prof. F. W. True: You 

 will find inclosed two letters which I have received in regard 

 to trout spawning in Moorehouse Lake. Mr. W. W. Mosher 

 states that he caught a trout in Big Rock Lake which had 

 ripe (spawn in it. He speaks about the trout in Moorehouse 

 Lake having two sets of spawn in them at the same time. 

 That was the ease with the ones 1 caught. Big Rock Lake is 

 in Hamilton county, southwest corner, about seven miles 

 from Moorehouseville. I wrote to another party ( Joe Lane) 

 but have not heard fi-om him; but the evidence I have given 

 you I think is enough to prove my statement about the trout 

 spawning there in J une. Yours respectfully, 



Wm. Calverlet. 



