May 4, 1898.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



387 



IN NORTHERN STREAMS. 



REDDlN-a, Cal., April 22.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 California is a paradiise for the lover of rod and gun, and 

 as tliey say, "it's a cold day" when some measure of suc- 

 cess does not reward the energetic sportsman. "Podgers" 

 boasted that not a trout would be caught on opening 

 day, April 1. Had his prediction been published a little 

 earlier my trip would doubtless have been given up, for I 

 have come look on his statements as fisherman's gospel, 

 but in ignorance I went and found that he did not speak 

 for the whole State. The waters were raging; the little 

 brook (creek here) that I had selected was a madly rush- 

 ing river, with a roar that confined all conversation to the 

 sign language. My companion, a budding angler of 

 fifteen, had an inordinate hankering for many packages 

 and complete preliminaries. His alphabetical list of 

 requisites for this one day's sport staggered me consider- 

 ably when it was first submitted for my inspection. My 

 observation and experience lead me to think that a sports- 

 man's bags and parcels are inversely as the crumples on a 

 cow's horn 



The day was a perfect one, and knowing how and 

 where, we soon began to get "samples," and when count- 

 ing-up time came I had 124, and my partner ("Podgers's" 

 small boy) 33. All under 6in. were jmt back when caught, 

 and all over lOin.— well, they are in the creek yet, so far 

 as we are informed. We are not trout hogs; ten famiUes 

 had trout on the bill of fare the next day. I never sold a 

 fish or bird in my life. 



Two weeks later, with a fisherman old in experience, 

 not in years, I went to another and a larger stream. I 

 found the water higher than ever. We quit with five 

 dozen that day. Four of these were about 15in. in length, 

 the rest smaller. The moimtain streams in northern Cal- 

 ifornia are all full of trout. The waters of Shasta and 

 Siskiyou are all easily reached, and some of the most 

 pleasant summer resorts in the State are just on the line 

 that separates these two counties. The only drawback 

 that I think worthy of mention is this, that in California 

 you cannot sit on the hotel piazzas and catch trout. 



K. E. 



BLACK BASS WATERS. 



Editor iorest and Stream: 



I have read in issue of April 20, the note of Ira F. 

 Harris on "Bass of Lake Winnipiseogee" and also the re- 

 marks of "E. J. Tucker, M.D.," "In Quest of Bass." 

 Those were four very fine bass of Mr. Harris's, and I 

 imagine the sport afforded ui killing them on an 8oz. rod 

 was such as to make the angler's blood fairly boil. I 

 have had the pleasm-e of a sail on beautiful Winnipiseogee, 

 and a view of the surrounding country from Mt. Wash- 

 ington, but I have never had the pleasure of enjoying 

 bass fishing there. 



For the benefit of Dr. Tucker, who was disgusted with 

 his experience with the bass fishing at Lake Hopatcong, I 

 will give the record of a few hours' catch at Prentiss Bay, 

 Lake Huron, in September, 1889. Should the Doctor go to 

 the Muskoka country again, he might continue on to the 

 ' SSoo" or to St. Ignace, and make a trip through the Les 

 Cheneaux Islands. Prentiss Bay is east of the Les 

 Cheneaux group and near Round Island, which as I re- 

 member, is the easternmost of this group of islands, just 

 off the south shore of the Northern Peninsula. It could 

 be reached from the "Soo" by "Mackinaw" boat, or, as 

 we went from St. Ignace, by steamer to the lumber camp 

 at Prentiss Bay. If from the latter, a most delightful 

 stop could be made at Mackinac Island, from whence a 

 steamer also runs to the Les Cheneaux, where there are 

 hotels, and the trip could be continued by sail boat from 

 Marquette Island, the largest of the Les Cheneaux group 

 (or by the St. Ignace steamer which stops at Mai'quette, if 

 the Prentiss Bay lumber camp is still in existence. I 

 imderstood that they would finish up the lumber then on 

 hand in another year and remove the plant elsewhere. If 

 this lias been done, the steamer has probably been 

 discontinued between Marquette and Prentiss Ba.j), and 

 camp established on Round Island (Spider Island as we 

 dubbed it, as next to the bass the spiders were there in large 

 numbers) where the bass were, and I have no doubt still 

 are, as the place is off the beaten lines of travel and con- 

 :sequently not fished out; in fact, the people at Marquette 

 Island did not know of there being bass at Prentiss Bay. 

 We had made a trouting trip to the neighborhood of 

 Albany Island near Pt. Detour, and discovered the bass 

 en route, noted the spot, and stopped on our way back. 

 That is a most delightful country, and the trip should re- 

 ]pay one for the health-giving qualities of tlie delightful 

 >ozone-laden atmosphere. 



Below is the record of the catch aUuded to, not all the 

 bass we caught, for we made a second trip from 

 Marquette Island for the benefit of the ladies, and spent 

 a week in camp fishing a part of each day, with enough 

 bass to supply the camp, including guides: 



3i 3, 3, 2+, 31, 3, 2^-, 3i, 3i, 3, 24, 3, 3, SJ, 3i, 2i, 

 4, 2i, 2i, 2, U, 4, 21, 4, 2i— 27 bass, weighing BOilbs. ; 

 average weight about 31bs. 



Enough for one day for any man, or two men, ' Mr. 

 W. B. Beebe of Cleveland, Ohio, who shared with me in 



this grand catch, and who I beheve, also took a record of 



the weights, will bear me out as to the correctness of the 



above. 



We were loath to leave this grand sport, for the bass 

 were taking the minnow or spoon with a vim, but my 

 friend had been separated from liis darling for a week, and 

 the writer, who was a lone bachelor then, as now, was 

 compelled with manj" regrets to give in. But we vowed 

 to"retm-n again, and did so the following week, and of 

 coui'se my friend had to take his better half along. 



The second tiip yielded fifty-seven bass, if I remember 

 (we did not preserve a record of the w-eights on this trip), 

 many of which weighed over 5lbs. 



We found the best fishing from about 7 to 11:30 A. M.; 

 in fact, we caught none in the afternoon. They seemed 

 to come in from the lake to feed on the shoals, in the 

 morning only, and we could see them in schools on the 

 bottom, as the Avater there is perfectly clear and pure. 

 We used minnows for bait, which were furnished in 

 abimdance by the Indian boys from their camp hard by. 



On tlie whole, give me a rapid-running stream for bass 

 fishing, and I beheve the sport afl'orded by a 31b. bass in 

 such a stream, with a Henshall 8oz, minnow casting rod 

 will far sui-pass all of yoiu* troUing, still-fishing, skitter- 

 ing, etc. , in still water, even with the bass iiinning 1, 5 and 

 Olbs. A 21b. bass or alb. or LVlb. bass, taken at some of 



fighting you in a swirl among hidden rocks in some of 

 the madly rushing stretches of this river is, to my think- 

 ing, the verv acme of sport with Ilicropterns dolomieu. I 

 have fished 'in the bays of Ilurou and Ontario, and have 

 taken the large and the small mouth from Greenwood 

 Lake, but they do not afford the same sport as our riv^er 

 bass, and I shall be better satisfied to take fewer and 

 gamier bass, even if smaller, than a larger catch of large 

 bass taken in a sluggish lake, such as G-reouAvood, and I 

 suppose Hopatcong, though I have never fished there. 



There is no need of the Doctor going to the North Pole 

 or Hudson Bay, when we have such grand waters as the 

 Upper Delaware, Susquehanna, Potomac and Cheat 

 rivers, within a few hours' ride of New York, all good 

 bass rivers, as the pages of our Forest and Stream have 

 recorded from time to time. 



I might add that we had splendid trout fishing at 

 Albany Island the latter part of August, 1889. We sup- 

 pHed camp for several days with l^lb. and 21b. trout, and 

 were able to preserve some in moss, which kept them 

 for a week nearly. "W. W. Blake. 



Baltimore, April 37. 



THE LAMPREYS. 



A SINGULAR class of animals is that including the hog 

 fishes and the lampreys. These are distinguished by their 

 cartilaginous skeleton, imperfect skull continuous with 

 the back bone, the absence of jaws, limbs, ribs and other 

 elements found in true fishes. They have a suctonal 

 mouth, a single nostril and six or more gills on each side. 

 The body is naked and eel-shaped. 



The lamprevs or lamper eels have numerous small eggs 

 and ascend streams for the purpose of spawning. The 

 young pass through a long period of larval existence, dur- 

 ing which they are without teeth and have rudimentary 



MOUTH OF AUSTRALIAN LAJIPREY. 



eyes and a contracted mouth, with the lower Up forming 

 a' distinct lobe. 



The great sea lamprey runs up into fresh water in the 

 spring to deposit its eggs, traveling chiefly at night. It 

 builds up large piles of stones, in which the eggs are con- 

 cealed. The young are said to return to the ocean in the 

 fall and the adults are supposed to die after spawning, 

 but this needs confirmation. 



More than a half dozen kinds of lampreys are known in 



A MAINE PAPER ANSWERED. 



DixEiELD, April 32.— Editor Forest and Stream: Since 

 I have been on the Fish and Game Commission 1 have 

 made it a rule not to criticise or answer any communica- 

 tion in regard to fish and game matters in Maine that I 

 read in the newspapers. Neither do I propose to get into 

 any controversy or answer any article that may appear 

 hereafter. In your last issue of Forest and Stream I 

 find an article entitled "Preserve System in Maine," 

 which strikes me as being very misleading, and I cannot 

 help saying a word to straighten it out. , . , 



The writer says in regard to the clubs in Mama buying 

 up private preserves: "Meantime the men of means, who 

 will have hunting and fishing at any cost, are gradually 

 ta,king up all the good ponds and streams and forest lands 

 and making them into private preserves. * * * Here- 

 after no citizens of Maine can go on to that sacred ter- 

 ritory without first getting a permit from the owners, who 

 live out of the State." This writer evidently don't know, 

 ' 'or is not posted" on the laws of Maine. 



The facts are that there is no law on our statute books to 

 prevent any citizen of Maine (or outsider) hunting and 

 fishing in anv forest or water in Maine, except m ponds 

 of less than ten acres, whether owned by clubs or indi- 

 viduals. As proof of what I say I refer you to a case 

 tried in Piscataqua countv in 1882. Tlie decision was 

 concurred in by all the judges. The case was printed in 

 our report at that time, 'a copy of which I have mailed to 

 you. 



The critic also finds a great deal of fault at the way the 

 laws are enforced, and says, "Take any twenty-five war- 

 dens in Mame and it is doubtful if they average to make 

 one arrest a year." Here he is again off the track. I can 

 put my finger on one alone who has arrested that num- 

 ber. ' . 



The fines imposed on poachers, instead of. being hun-^ 

 dreds of dollars, run up into the thousands, of which I 

 can give ample proof. 



We don't advertise these cases, but had we been asked 

 would have given the information. That there is too 

 much poaching done in Maine I admit. There are a large 

 number of resident sportsmen as well as outsiders who 

 cojne here; buttaken as a whole the percentage of poachers 

 is small. 



The slender means we have had at our command, we 

 have used as our best judgment dictated for the best in- 

 terests of the State, whether successfully or not we leave 

 the public to judge. Maine is now acknowledged to be 

 the banner state for fish and game. If such a rotten 

 state of things exists in Maine in regard to her game laws 

 why is she so regarded ? , , . 



The salmon fishing at the Bangor , Pool opened this 

 week; seven were taken in one daj^ with fly. 



Henry O. Stanley. 



Merrimack River Salmon. 



That there are salmon in the Merrimack this year was 

 demonstrated yesterday when a 30-pound beauty was 

 caught at North Chelmsford under very peculiar circum- 



o x.c..^ ..^^^^ ^ . . " — ^ .^^^.^-^ stances. As the Ayer & Salem freight was passing along 



the United States, principally in fresh waters. The larval ' that place the engineer, Charles Talbot, saw a big commo- 



THE AUSTRALIAN LAMPREY. 



young are obtained by fishermen in muddy sand bars | tion in the water near the shore. He stopped his train, 

 near the mouths of small sti-eams and form a very good and all hands rushed to the spot. Here they found a 

 bait for bass, rockfish and other game fishes. Their food ! large salmon struggling as best he could to free himself 

 consists chiefly of animal substances; they are parasites from a line about him that had become entangled in the 



the points on our Susquehanna River, with his bassship sea lamprey. 



and burrow into the flesh of shad, stiu-geon and other 

 large fish. 



Although the lamprey is common in the Mediterranean 

 and was well known to the ancients, the origin of the 

 name is involved in obscurity. It is supposed to have 

 been corrupted from the modern Latin lampetra, which, 

 again, is thought to have come from Lambendo x^^tras. 

 The name refers to its habit of clinging to stones by 

 suction. 



A remarkable relative of oiu- American lampreys is 

 foimd in Australia, where it is esiDCcially known in the 

 Murray River. This creature has the power of living in 

 soft mud during dry seasons, a faculty which enables it 

 to endure the protracted ch-oughts for which the basin of 

 the Murray is noted. According to a writer in Longman's 

 Magazine, "As the stream recedes the animal fills its 

 pouch and disappears into the soft mud below, there to 

 remain until the drought has passed away, subsisting on 

 the moistm-e which it has learned to store in a special- 

 ized receptacle at the side of the head." 



There is doubt as to the nature of this so-called pouch 

 in the AustraHan lamprey, but the fact of the animal's 

 ability to exist in a torpid condition in moist mud is well 

 established. In South America occm-s a stUl more 

 curious relative of the lampreys in which a large pouch 

 is one of the leading anatomical peculiarities. The size 

 of the Australian lamprey exceeds that of our weU-known 



bushes, holding him fast. Mr. Talbot succeeded in getting 

 the fish ashore with a little assistance, and bore it off in 

 triumph. When weighed it was found to be just about 

 3{Ahs.— Lowell Courier, April 81. 



" NESSMUK." 



O Bahd! like shining Pleiad of radiant daj'S, 

 Midst constellations of spheres in starry night, 

 Thy golden words flash like meteors in their flight, 

 Revealing winsome lore of "Woodcraft" ways. 

 Thy magic, echoing words the woodlands praise. 

 In witching anthems awakenmg the weird wood-spritCj 

 Mid whispering pines 'round the camp at twilight; 

 O thy gracious welcome to the camp-fh-es blaze. 

 Thy entrancing words shine like a ghstening gem 

 In thy lovely "Forest Runes." Wliat a graceful token! 

 Writ in Nature's enchanting wooing Muse. O, Poet-wise ! 

 Thy cultured IjTics— thee should wear a golden diadem; 

 And now comes sadness that thy lyre is broken, 

 With upUf ted eyes we think of thee in Paradise. 

 Hahtpqkd, Conn., March 30. Abbott CLiRENCK Collins. 



The real flying fish inhabits the warmer seas and de- 

 rives its name from the wonderful length of time it can 

 sustain itself in the ak. It is not claimed that it flaps its 

 fins, or wings, if you please, hke a bird, or that it can 

 change its course. 



