120 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



IAttg. 12, 1893. 



Tenner, who came to this country upon the solicitation of 

 a number of his American friends and fellow-sportsmen, 

 not only possesses the necessary experience for such an 

 ofSEice, but he also broiight over with him a full set of in- 

 struments of the most improved and approved construc- 

 tion, among them an apparatus for ascertaining the gas 

 pressure or bursting strain in gmi barrels as pi-oduced by 

 the various powders, a new force gauge for determining 

 the penetrative force of the pellets, two chronographs le 

 Bouleng6 for measuring the velocities of shot and biillets, 

 etc- 



All sportsmen desirous of placing America on a level 

 with the European States as regards a better knowledge 

 on all questions pertaining to gunnery, gun powder and 

 sporting ammunition, are invited to ommunicate with 

 the undersigned temporary secretary of the American 

 Proof House Association. 



It should be borne in mind that a proof house will not 

 only serve as a som-ce of valuable information, but it 

 should, and unquestionably will, also prove a beneficial 

 agent to the manufacturer who frequently is too much 

 pressed for time by his regular business engagement as to 

 allow of his devothig the necessary attention to all the 

 details of ballistic laws. Albert Stetson. 



50 Broadway, Tower Building, New York city. 



Another Camp Material. 



Essex, N. Y., Aug. 4. — In current issue I notice a sug- 

 gestion by "L. S. S." for sheathing paper for covering 

 camps. What is in m_y opinion far better than sheathing 

 paper is Neponset red-rope roofing paper. It is practically 

 indestructible, not being affected by cold, heat, rain, or 

 snow, is tough, and unlike sheathing paper, which when 

 wet is easily punched through by faUing limbs. It is 

 cheap, being Ic. per sq. ft. , easily transported and easily 

 apphed, and with a small supply of perforated tin or zinc 

 caps, which may be home-made (I cut out mine) a roof 

 may be put on a cam}) in half an hour that will last at 

 least two years unpainted, and if put on a good smooth 

 roof and painted will last years. The tin caps should be 

 nailed on the lap of the joints and scattered through body 

 of roof. The Neponset red-rope roofing paper is manu- 

 factured by F. W. Bird & Sons, East Walpole, Mass., and 

 sold also Vjy Williams & Monogue, Troy. Kin. 



Mississippi Game. 



Pelahatchee, Miss., July 31.— The wet weather has 

 not afi'ected the production and rearing of quail in this 

 section of Mississippi, judging from the large coveys of 

 well grown birds that may be seen along the line of the 

 A. & V. R. R. Turkeys growing scarce, owing to "bait- 

 ing" and shooting from blinds; and deer owing to the 

 hounding in and out of season. If these nefarious prac- 

 tices were stopped, this country would soon fill up with 

 all kinds of game, for the reason that most of the negroes 

 having left here, the country is growing up in timber, 

 afi;ording better cover for game than before clearing and 

 better resource for food; but as the old, school sportsmen 

 fade away, the imitation has little sentiment about selfish 

 greed, and less esteem for the public interest, hence their 

 j)rogeny will in two decades not know a turkey from a 

 vulture or a deer from a cane hare. Chas. L. Jordan. 



The Adirondack Deer Season. 



SaeAnac Lake, N. Y., Aug. 1.— Editor Forefit and 

 Stream: The opinions of Mr. Burnham respecting the 

 Adirondack deer season, as set forth in your issue of July 

 33, are those held by us here. We would like to see the 

 proposed change to later dates. H. Benham, 



Visitors to our Exliibit in the Angling Pavilion at 

 the World's Fair should not fail to examine the 

 stock of "Forest and Stream" books which will 

 be shown by the attendant 



SALMON IN SALT WATER. 



In continuation of my article in Forest and Stream 

 of July 39, relative to features which I have observed of 

 the salmon in salt water, I make some additions, which, 

 although uninteresting to some, will I am sure be attrac- 

 tive to others, who Hke myself have pursued the pastime 

 of fly-fishing for the noble fish in fresh water. To myself, 

 the spectacle of the salmon in the salt water in the normal 

 condition, feeding upon its accustomed food, with its 

 methods of taking, pursuit, action and habits, so far as I 

 have been able to observe, lias been of most absorbing in- 

 terest. At the presenttime the salmon are stretched over 

 an extent of about 37 miles along the coast, commencino- 

 11 miles south of Monterey Bay and extending north of 

 the bay toward San Francisco for 17 or 18 miles more to 

 the watering place of Santa Cruz, where the salmon seem 

 to be as plentiful as about Monterey. I have not gone 

 north of Monterey Bay, although I have fished over the 

 11 miles south, which comprises an open sea of exposure, 

 without the protection which is given inside the bay! 

 Out from the land as far as three miles I have found the 

 salmon in quantity, and in water of over ahundred fathoms 

 depth, although the average of fishing water is compara- 

 tively shoal, and I have caught the salmon in not over 

 lf)ft, of water. 



It is probable that salmon have frequented the coast as 

 now witnessed from an ancient period, although the atten- 

 tion of fishermen was not attracted until late years, first 

 of the market-fishermen some twenty-five years ago. I 

 learned of the fishing a decade ago, from my friend, and 

 that all-around accomphshed sportsman Mr. Austin C 

 Tubbs, of San Francisco, who at my fishing home on the 

 Raugeley Lakes in Maine, told me of his rod trolhng experi- 

 ences with the salmon in Monterev Bay in the year 1800 

 when he with a few friends engaged in the spoi-t, and cap- 

 tured over fifty salmon. 



• This I believe was the first attention given by sportsmen 

 to the capturing of the salmon on the coast by a proper 

 and artistic method. The hand line as used by the mar- 

 ket-men is a base and plebian method, excusable among 

 those who fish for a liveliliood, but unworthy of a sports- 

 man who can avail himself of a higher and more skillful 

 aj)pliance. 



The King salmon of the Pacific coast, the Quinnat or 

 Chinook, which is the salmon of Monterey Bay, has a red 

 or orange colored flesh, and for delicious flavor at this 

 season is unsurpassed by any. It is an extremely full- 

 blooded fish, and at times from the gail cut will bleed 

 profusely. It is not uncommon when fresh cut, to see a 

 stream of the red fluid spurt up to the height of four 

 inches, and to the extent of a teacupf ul. I have looked 

 in vain for one of those hooked bill males of large size, 

 which are so familiar to the fresh-water fisherman, but 

 have not seen one, or any approach toward that iDeculiar- 

 ity, which leads me to believe that none of the fish which 

 I have taken or seen, have ever ascended the fresh-water 

 streams. 



In fact I am led to befieve that the opinion of Professor 

 Jordan of the Leland Stanford University Junior, to 

 whom I am indebted for information regarding the 

 Pacific salmon, is correct. That few if any of the salmon 

 which ascend the fresh- waters treams of the Pacific coast 

 ever smwive to return to the sea. In fact none do which 

 ascend to the higher tributaries. They all perish ig- 

 nobly, at least the latter, the milters as well as the 

 spawners, and if any do return it may be questionable 

 if they are in a condition to survive the hardships 

 they have imdergone. Those of the autumnal run, or 

 some who do not ascend far may perhaps return and put 

 on a vigorous aspect again, and make the phenomenally 

 large fish which are sometimes caught. 



The ascent of the Pacific coast salmon extends in some 

 streams for several hundred miles, distances which re- 

 quire several months to complete, more than six months 

 in some instances, and the sadly worn out condition of 

 the fish at the upper waters makes it an easy prey to the 

 prowling animals, and millions annually are left to die 

 by the retreating waters. I have personally witnessed 

 the dying condition of thousands, huddled up, whipped 

 out, worn out and exhausted, and half blind, struggling 

 vainly in confined pools, where the shores were white 

 with their bones and skins, left by wild animals which 

 had dragged the salmon to shore. 



None of the Pacific coast salmon take the fly, this is un- 

 usual and unfortimate. There may be isolated cases of 

 their taking the fly, but few and far between. Grilse are 

 taken readily in San Francisco Bay with shrimp and 

 other bait, and a few salmon are taken with roe bait in 

 the rivers, and the fly-fisherman's labor is lost with the 

 salmon of the Pacific, but the sea is open to their taking 

 when the salmon is in a higher condition than he is ever 

 found in the fresh-water streams, and when his game 

 qualities are at the best. 



The best fishing I have had has been at the Bay of Car- 

 melo, eleven miles south, where there has been but little 

 fishing, and where no accommodations exist for getting 

 boats or fish bait or putting up over night, which has 

 compelled me to send down my boat and two men the 

 night before. After the first trip down and back I sent 

 down the boat again and kept it there for two days, going 

 down myself by the road early in the morning, starting 

 as early by team as half past three, which brought me to 

 the fishing grounds as early as five o'clock. In fact the 

 early fishing is far better than that of any other part of 

 the day, unless it be that of the late evening, and upon 

 aU the excursions I have now made, about a score, 1 have 

 not in any instance commenced fishing later than five 

 o'clock, and almost always have quit at half past ten, 

 although in two instances I have lished straight through 

 the day, having been encouraged by the holding on of the 

 fish. Upon these two occasions 1 made notable catches. 

 How distinctly the salmon in the sea is a nocturnal feeder 

 I cannot say, but from what 1 have seen from its food- 

 seeking before night, and what I have leal-ned from the 

 experience of the market-fishermen as regards the success 

 they have sometimes had far into the twilight, I am led 

 to believe that, like the trout, the salmoh is a nocturnal 

 prowler and feeder. An hour before sUnrise is better tlian 

 any two after> and the salmon commence feeding earlier 

 than I have been able to ^et after them, and I have sev- 

 eral times commenced fishing when daylight had hardly 

 commenced. 



On my last trip to Oarmelo Bay I witnessed a condition 

 which I had heard of from the market men, and was 

 fortunate enough to see. It was scarcely dawn after my 

 drive of ten miles in the dark from the Del Monte Hotel 

 to my boat, wliere my men were waiting. The morning 

 was warm and breezeless, and the glassy sea was without 

 a ripple. The long green waves in their weary passage 

 from the Asiatic coast were about to feel their first check 

 on the California shore, and in those moderate swells were 

 thousands upon thousands of salmon, full of lusty 

 strength and silvery glistening, eagerly pursuilig ah im- 

 mense mass of anchovies, which, scattered and demotal- 

 ized, were vainly seeking escape. A few pulls at the 

 oars brought the boat from its rough sheltering rocky 

 wharf into the midst of active life. The water was clear 

 and attractive in its bluish green hue. Down mahy feet 

 could be seen the silvery anchovies scattered here and 

 there, and easily followed by theu- slight but flashing 

 brightness. Among the anchovies were the salmon seem- 

 ing at play, but with a play as xvahton as that of the tiger 

 with its victim well in the thorny clasp. Within an area 

 of a few acres were half a dozen breaks and swirls at tlie 

 instant, and this continued for the space of half an hour 

 or more, until the anchovies had passed away from the 

 immediate vicinity of the boat, chased on toward the 

 combing waves of the beach to the right. Blue fiashing 

 streaks occasionally passed near the boat a few feet below 

 the surface, which were salmon in passage, and now and 

 then a salmon broke fairly out of water, not with the 

 playful leap as seen in the fresh-water salmon pools, but 

 as the trout breaks from one wave to another in headlong 

 pursuing flight. Only once did I see a salmon come up 

 vertically, head on, and that occurred within two 

 feet of the boat. It was bold and vigorous. He 

 came up with a rush from below, undoulitedly for 

 anchovies above. It was an exciting moment, for 

 I had a salmon on at the time, which was wild 

 with fight, and it seem.s to me that the leaping salmon 

 would come into the boat. As I fought my salmon to 

 g:afit, which had struck my bait as I was bending on my 

 sinker line 40ft. from the hook, which, however, was 

 fully completed, and which carried out my line fully 

 300ft. on the first rush, but which I brought around in ten 

 or twelve minutes, my sinker was caught by another 

 salmon as I was lifting it clear from the water to detach 

 as usual from the boat aide, and carried it off. This was 

 within 6ft. of the. boat, and I plainly saw the rush, the 

 open mouth, the strike and the tear away. The sinker i 



ine fortunately broke, leaving my half exhausted salmotl 

 on my hook line, which I safely after brought in. Strik- ; 

 ing at the sinker is by no means rare with the salmon, 

 this being the third I have had carried aWay, and 1 havB 

 several times seen the salmon strike the sinker within 6' 

 or lOft. of the boat and strike at it several times in rapid: 

 succession, and am quite sure that with a hook bent on 

 the sinker end I would occasionally hold a salmon, but 

 the rush of fishing has been on ao strong that I have had 

 little time to experiment, and I h.ave been quite satisfied 

 to hold a single salmon with its vigorous life and game 

 fight. I am confident I could get doublets and even trip- 

 lets if I chose, but when the salmon are as yilentiful as I 

 found them on the occasion I am referring to at Caimelo. 

 Bay, I am sure that by having my leading line sufficiently 

 strong witli its hooks to play the salmon oft' against each 

 other until exhaustion occurred, that I would be enabled 

 to bring them to gaff, I am sure they could not run so 

 far as a single salmon, and it would, with proper care, be 

 but a question of time in fetching them up to the surface 

 and boat. I am sure also they could be brought around 

 with the light steel rod of lO^oz. which I am using, 

 slowly but surely, by right management of the 

 boat, and when I get toned down to the normal 

 condition and over the stirring excitement which 

 the catching of over six score of salmon has not 

 yet abated, and have the time and the proper occas- 

 ion, I shall experiment with it. LTpon the occasion 

 referred to, I dispensed with my sinker after tlie first fish, 

 and had my bait of fresh sardine taken about as fast as I 

 could get it out. I have always considered the plajdng of 

 the salmon as a period of great satisfaction, but tliis time 

 with the salmon so plentiful about, I could not but be- 

 grudge the enduring vitality of my fish. 1 saw what I 

 had heard tlie market-fishermen speak about, the follow- 

 ing in the cleat water of several salmon at a time after 

 the bait, when the envied and successful striker left his 

 comrades to seek other and less dangerous lures. There 

 was no difficulty in following the school, although the 

 rufiled water made tlie surface breaks leas conspicuous, 

 for the friendly shags, muirs and gulls came in for the 

 harvest also, following up the salmon breaks for the de- 

 moralized anchovies, which, driven to the surface, fell 

 readily to the bills of the birds. 



So on to the combing beach went the anchovies, the 

 salmon and the birds, and less slowly my boat, impeded 

 by the necessity of fighting hooked salmon. But we fol- 

 lowed on, finally into the jaws of the ground swell, where 

 for half a mile in length, on the shore, the salmon held 

 the anchovies for at least two hours. Back probably 

 from the advancing file of pursuers, were other contin- 

 gents of breakfasting salmon, and no cessation of quick 

 biting occurred until the sun was an hour high. Then the 

 salmon fell back into deeper water, but in fact large 

 numbers had been tliere all the time, and by noon I had 

 seventeen salmon in the boat. For an hour or two after 

 eleven, I trolled with but little succese, getting? quiet 

 strikes and bait strippers> and losing several good ifah. At 

 one o'clock more vigorous striking commenced, and by 

 five I had twelve more salmon in the boat, making a. total 

 catch of twenty-seven, which after weighing, I found to 

 be 482 pounds. 1 was satisfied and had my glut, and a 

 carnival of ilshing I am sure 1 shall not soon see again. 



My largest flsli of the day was SBlbs. alid the smallest 

 131bs., and the average 17 Jibs.; somewhat larger than the 

 usual average of ray whole fishing, of wh ich the average 

 weight has been about Itlbs. The s&imOn came in about 

 June 10, and my fishing has been from the 30th of June to 

 the 35th of July-j during Which period I have been out six^ 

 teen times, taking 139 salmon; weighing a total of S,3831b8. 

 My largest salmon was one of 411bs. , which required 2fl 

 minutes to bting to gaff. One of 541bs. has been taken by 

 the miliiiet-flshetmen, slnd seVetal of from 40 to 48lbS. 

 On the day o£ the iatge catbh, I lost twelve fish which had 

 been hooked and played from five to fifteen minutes. Ten 

 I lost from the liook; one, and the only instance I have 

 had occur, ran all of my line and parted it, despite all my 

 greatest exertion, and another sprang out of the boat, a 

 30-pounder, after being gaffed and brought in, before 

 receiving the usual quietus of a blow on the head. 



A singular result occurred twice on that day, that of 

 fetching in two salmon IV 1th broken hooks. In each in- 

 stance the hook had first entered the inside of the mouth, 

 coming out at the eye hole, a firm hold, tlie hook and two 

 finks of the htam wire had followed to the outside of the 

 head, and the two lihks had thrown over the fh'st and re- 

 maining link, there being a large brass swivel between 

 each fink, and there locked, leaving the hook dangling, 

 and in each instance broken at the hook bend I have 

 puzzled myself to aCcoUht for the occurrence happening 

 twice exactly alike, and I cannot tirrive at any other con- 

 clusion than that the dangling hooks were broken by tiie 

 powerful mouths of the fish. 



A 1 1 salmon fishermen have observed the powerful head- 

 shaking force of the fish, of which a common illustration 

 is given in the black bass, Which terrier-dog-like motion 

 shakes out the hook. It has seemed to me that this force 

 is intensified by the salmon in the sea oVer that eschibited 

 in fresh water. In the fresh water the first exertions of 

 the salmon are indicated by a rim; in the saltwater, aftef 

 the first hook set, the characteristic and almost invariable 

 action is the violent vibration resulting from head shaking, 

 which indicates the strike as that of a salmon as against 

 another fish. Its runs donot generally occur until the fish 

 approaches tlie surface. After the first shaking it almost 

 invariably works down, sometimes over 1.50 and some- 

 times 300ft. As the strain continues it allows itsi If to be 

 gradually brought up, when the sinker can almost always 

 be taken c ff -without difificulty, attached as it is by the 

 slip bow 40 to 6Uft, Irom the hook. When within 1.5 or 

 20tt. of the surface it starts off, but with nothing like the 

 rush it does wlien it gets to the toiJ. There, unimpeded by 

 the dragging line and sinker, it goes off witli a flash which 

 gives warning against allowing an overrunning of the 

 line, or a handle catch. It may be one hundred, it may 

 be three hundred feet without a stop, it may be more, but 

 generaUy not over two hundred feet. At the stoj), the 

 violent head shaking occurs, and that is the great moment 

 of anxiety, and the spells of head shaking seldom cease 

 until the' white belly turns. 1 have watched this head 

 shaking close at the boat before exhaustion had occurred, 

 when no run of consequence had happened, and of all the 

 wfld fierce working of a fish in its flurry, never saw it 

 equalled. 



Time and time again have I seen the hook seemingly 

 well set in the somen's head, ^t and 3.boyg the water 



