188 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Sept. 3, 1893. 



HARDSHIP OF THE MACKEREL LINERS. 



Mackerel fishing with band line and jig is exciting 

 sport if one gets fish, and to professional fishermen it is 

 lucrative, too. But if a boat comes back empty, it is 

 more than hardship— it is misery. If one gets no fish 

 throughout the entire season, penury is involved, if not 

 absolute starvation. 



I have just returned from a brief cruise off the Atlantic 

 shore of IMartha's Vineyard in a mackerel slonp, and as 

 we returned witli liarely two barrels of fish, when we 

 ought to have had twenty, while the seiniag vessels at the 

 same time picked up from 80 to 150 barrels each, my sym- 

 pathies are with the liners. 



Seven or eight large schooners are constantly quartering 

 the mackerel grounds day and night, and they scoop up 

 all the fish, so that the seventy or eighty smaller craft 

 which comprise the hook and line fleet are left absolutely 

 destitute. Occasionally one of these will pick up a barrel 

 or so, but all invariably come back fight, and many of 

 them utterly empty; and inasmuch as they are obliged to 

 return to port every afternoon their labor and hardship are 

 enhanced. 



So serious has the stress become at length, that the fish- 

 ermen are conspiring now to arm their centerboards with 

 scythes and so destroy the seines by crossing them, just 

 as they did some years ago in Jamaica Bay. As most ol 

 them depend upon this vocation for a livelihood, it is a 

 groundhog case of a desperate character obviously. 



It is a grand sight, indeed, to see these many white- 

 winged craft swooping down into port together, like a 

 flock of guUs, of a sunny afternoon, with their canvas 

 flashing in the light. Every day about 12 o'clock they 

 appear in the offing and by 3 o'clock they run into Edgar- 

 town Harbor, in time to split and salt their catch and ship 

 by the little narrow gauge railroad which runs to Cottage 

 City and there connects with the New Bedford boat for a 

 market. The wind is generally fair from the southward 

 at this season, and the trim little catboats and sloops look 

 gallant and jaunty as they bunch up in the narrows be- 

 tween Katamu and Chappuquiddic Island, in close sailing 

 order, each one with a bone in its teeth and the foam 

 piled high under its forefoot. 



I was fortunate enough to see the vessels of the New 

 York y. C. bear down into Vineyard Haven the other 

 day, but no more beautiful sight was presented than the 

 incoming fishing fleet of Edgartown affords every day. 

 Scores of cottagers and summer visitors flock to the 

 wharves always to view them as they come in. Some- 

 times they bring a swordfish, and perhaps a sawfish, 

 mighty with their armatures, which have been harpooued 

 from the sm'face of the deep when the sea was smooth; 

 and strangers as well as friends are always interested 

 in their commercial success. One of these quaint mon- 

 sters is esteemed a goodly prize to its captor. 



To go mackerel fishing on one of these craft one has 

 only to go down to the wharf and pick out the skipper he 

 fancies best, make his arrangement and be on board at 3 

 m tlie morning. Any one of them vnll be pleased to have 

 help to handle the fishkig lines and will charge nothing. 

 The trip, however, involves a rusty suit of clothes, or 

 better yet, "an ile suit," for fishing is wet and somewhat 

 dii-ty work. When the fish bite smartly one has all he 

 can do to tend three or four lines and slap off the fish as 

 they come aboard, and much sea water comes up with 

 the lines into the sleeves. The early rising before day- 

 break, the unwonted phenomena of the dawn, tlie exhila- 

 rating salt sea breeze, the run out into the ocean, and 

 the continuous "bait, heave and haul," as the metal gigs 

 go out and the mackerel come in, comprise about all there 

 is to the trip. But the experience is invigorating to such 

 as enjoy this sort of thing, and it is one of the stated 

 sports of the Vineyard. 



There are few jjlaces which afford more novelty or 

 surer relief from summer heats than Martha's Vineyard 

 and I could perhaps indite a letter more in the spirit' of a 

 seaboard yarn, but there is a moral to my fishing story 

 which I fain would point, and that is contained in the 

 caption of niy contribution. It is the hardship of the 

 liners resulting from the operations of the seiners. There 

 is an economic consideration, too, which should be le- 

 garded in this connection, for the fish are diminishing^ 

 rapidly m numbers. Besides being conspicuously unlair 

 to methods which it handicaps so seriously, seining terror- 

 izes the mackerel and drives them from suitable spawning 

 places which are accessible to remote regions which are 

 unnatural to reproduction, so that tlie spawn does not 

 mature and the results are lost. One observer here who 

 is employed in mackerel fishing declares that the fish have 

 become so sagacious that they not only svek locafities 

 where seines cannot be used except with difficulty but 

 they actuaUy sink out of reach of the seines when' the 

 least noise is made, whereas, before seines came into 

 vogue they came alongside of vessels without fear and 

 boldly, and were taken with hues no more than 10ft 

 long. The immense quantities of bait, comprising 

 minced fish and clams, which were thrown overboard to 

 attract them, taking the place of food which they were 

 obliged to forage for, helped to improve their size and 

 flavor. Not only had the hook-and-liners no terrors for 

 the mackerel, but on Sundays, when fishing and baiting 

 were suspended, as was the early pious custom, the fish 

 persistently followed the vessels, expecting to be fed as 

 on the ordinai-y week days! 



One serious objection to the use of seines is that they 

 capture large quantit les of baby mackerel whicl i are thrown 

 back mto the sea when dead, and wasted. And besides 

 the unfairness of monopoly and the detriment to the fisli- 

 mg interests, seining gluts the market at times when 

 many vessels arrive together. Use of hook and line alone 

 as m the old time, equalizes the catching of fish, render- 

 ing supply and demand more even, which is more com- 

 fortable and in the end more profitable to both the con- 

 sumer and producer. Vet, in spite of obvious detriment 

 and injustice, men not only persist in employmg seines 

 aad fast sailing vessels to facilitate destruction, but there 

 have recently been put afloat two steamers! Cui hono^ 

 Business has its limits to be profitable. Devices cannot 

 go beyond thein without confronting the laws of cause 

 and effect. Consequently when causes and effect are 

 known it is wisdom to obviate folly. A national law 

 yphich would afford a system of equalization in the catch- 

 ing ot fish would not only preserve the fisheries but in- 

 crease the supply a hundred fold faster than artificial 

 methods of propagation, and that without cost. 



ate the fish supply should be supplanted by a conservative 

 and rational system whereby all may profit and be made 

 glad. This question will soon become as serious to the 

 dwellers of Massachusetts shores as it has become to the 

 natives of western Alaska. 



It is gratif.ying to know that the U. S. Fish Commission 

 under Col. McDonald is now engaged in a systematic in- 

 vestigation of the life history of both the mackerel and 

 menhaden, and that facts are being obtained which will 

 have an important bearing upon the protection and regu- 

 lation of these fisheries. I have it direct from the Chief 

 Commissioner, who is now in the vicinity, that he hopes 

 soon to present for the consideration of the States in 

 vrhich the power of regulation inheres, the plan of a na- 

 tional code based upon a knowledge of the food, spawn- 

 ing habits and conditions of environment of the two 

 species referred to. Cha:rles Hallock. 



ANGLING NOTES. 



Puffer Pond of Long Ago. 



Puffer Pond in the Adirondack wilderness will always 

 have a place in my affections, for in it, twenty-six years 

 ago last June, I had the best day's fishing for trout that I 



time, fishing with a fly, and saved them without a landing 

 net. My guide at that time has since become demented, 

 and on the rare occasion that I meet him now he does 

 not know me. He comes out of the woods once in a 

 wlule and walks the streets of the town in fantastic dress, 

 attracting the attention of men, women and children by 

 his harmless antics, but his mind is blank. The fly that 

 I used had no name when I cast it on the waters of 

 Puffer Pond, but it was the one fly that my book contained 

 that the trout were eager for above aU the others. 1 

 saved one of the half dozen that I possessed and when 

 new ones were tied from it the fly was christened "The 

 Puffer." From that day to this the "Puffer" fly has been 

 of no earthly or watery use to catch fish. These two facts 

 have caused me to think in my later and maturer years 

 that if I had not taken so many trout in the two hours 

 that I had to fish before leaving the pond, poor Frank 

 Harris would not have gone crazy and the Puffer fly 

 might have proved kilUug for trout in otiier waters. 

 Nearly a dozen years after that bright particular June 

 day I was wading the upper Pludson, just below the 

 mouth of the Boreas River, fly-fishing for trout with Dick 

 Birch, a well known Adirondack guide, and when we 

 went on to the bank for our noon lunch and smoke we 

 talked over the fishing and shooting of the past. I said : 

 "Dick, how is the fishing in Puffer Pond?" "There is no 

 fishing in Puffer now, but you can walk across the pond 

 dry shod on the backs of the bullheads that have filled 

 up the pond since the trout were fished out." This 

 was another reproach to my conscience, although every 

 one of the trout that went to make up the 351bs. that I 

 took out of the pond was taken Avith the set pm-pose of 

 taking them home to friends. Still other years, later, I 

 learned that there was good trout fishing in Putter Pond. 

 Having had a long rest in consequence of the bad name 

 given to it the fish had increased in the water. Puffer 

 Pond is so easily reached that on several occasions 1 have 

 recommended that particular region to angler friends. 

 One of these friends, Mr. J. E. McDonald of Troy, N. Y., 

 fished in the pond very lately, and the following is an 

 extract from his letter, telUng me about his visit and the 

 hshiug. 



Puffer Pond of To-Day. 



"1 have just had a little outing which did me a great 

 deal of good. Frank Church and 1 spent a weeJi at 

 Moxam's, on Thirteenth Lake, and there I had niy first 

 experience in fisliingwith the fly, and 1 now probably 

 have as supreme a contempt for bait-fishing as you have. 

 We ari ived at Moxam's at 6 o'clock P. M., Monday, June 

 26. After eating supper we walked over to the lake and 

 tished at the inlet and caught seven nice trout, averaging 

 about j-lb. each. Tuesday morning we again tried the 

 inlet, but got only six trout, as they were not rising well. 

 In the afternoon we tried deep water for lake trout, and 

 did not get a bite; and then went to the inlet for speckled 

 trout and got about as many as in the morning. Wed- 

 nesday we tramped five miles through the woods to the 

 Sacandaga River, but as we got a late start we did not 

 fish untU nearly 12 o'clock. It was a very hot and very 

 still day, not at all favorable for fly-fishing, but we caught 

 thirty -six trout— good ones— the largest being Ijlbs. after 

 it was dressed. 1 think Ave would have had a fine catch 

 if the day had been cloudy or if we had had a little Avind, 

 fur on Monday (a very cloudy day) a gentleman of the 

 name of Steele, from Rutland, Vt., with his guide, caught 

 sixty-eight trout at this place, and one of them Aveighed 

 2ibs. lOoz. Thursday we planned to go to Puffer Pond 

 and camp. This is six miles from Moxam's, but our plans 

 were knocked in the head by the failure of our guide to 

 appear. Friday we started for Puffer with team and 

 sledge to carry provisions, blankets, etc., and reached the 

 camp at 1 o'clock. Dr. Spencer, of Rutland, went on to 

 Puffer Avith us. In the afternoon Av'e three fished. 

 Spencer and Church from a boat along the shore and I 

 from a raft. We got about 121bs. of the handsomest trout 

 I ever saw; no very large ones, but the average weight 

 was aiiout ^Ib. Satm-day morning, Church, Moxam and 

 1 started at 4 o'clock to see the famous Twin Lake trout. 

 This lake is literally alive with trout, and the largest 

 ones m the Adirondacks, so they claim, but they 

 will not take a fly. We whipped the lake for three 

 hours and got but three trout, and then gave up in 

 disgust and returned to camp. We remamed at camp 

 until late on Sunday afternoon and then A\'alked into 

 Moxam's and left there at 4 o'clock Monday morning for 

 home. We could only bring out lOlbs. or so of the trout 

 last caught, as Ave had no ice in camp," Twin Lake 

 mentioned in Mr. McDonald's letter, is a new name to me 

 for an old lake. On Stoddard's map it wfll be found as 

 one of the Siamese ponds, and so these ponds have been 

 called as long as I can remember, and they are on middle 

 groimd between "Thirteenth" and the Ktmjamuck. One 

 of the charms of the Thirteenth region, which includes 

 Puffer Pond, is that it is so accessible, and that sportsmen 

 pass it by to go further into the woods and perhaps fare 

 Avorse. To reach the Thirteenth take the D. & H. R. R. 

 from Albany to Saratoga and then the Adirondack Rail- 



5 miles, and from there it is only a few miles to Thirteenth. 

 Moxam's is the farm of the Freeman Lumber Company, 

 and this is the same company that operates on the Kun ja- 

 muck, the camp on the latter being Scheflin's head- 

 quarters. 



"It Beats the Record." 



On the eleventh of this month I received a telegram 

 from a brother, Geo. A. Cheney, dated at the Vancouver 

 Hotel, Vancouver, British Columbia, Avhich read: "Sent 

 you to-day largest salmon ever caught in British Colum- 

 bia." The fish came last Friday and proved to be a red 

 salmon (0. nerJea) from the Fraser River, that Aveighed 

 Solbs. It was a magnificent fish, in splendid condition, 

 and by magnificent I mean it was finely formed, every 

 scale in jilace, a shapely head and a bright fish. From a 

 Vancouver neAvspa,per Avhich followed the iish to me I 

 learn that even in Vancouver this big salmon when ex- 

 hibited at Winch & BoAvers's it attracted widespread in- 

 terest. I exhibited the fish in one of the home markets, 

 but was obhged to leave toAvn that day. The next day 

 the marketman told me that he thought 2,000 people had 

 been in to see the salmon. A, N. Cheney. 



AN IDYL OF BARNEGAT. 



Barneoat City, N. J., Aug. 25.— I have found a place 

 which fills a quiet corner in my heart, where I can take 

 my household gods and leave them in restful ease, so 

 that when business cares permit, I can in tAvo hours, by 

 ran, rejoin them; and when the northeast wind does not 

 vex my soul and Skipper Paderew^ski-Peckworth's spirit 

 (because Avhen a north av ester makes Barnegat shoals Avhite 

 with the breaking billows, no sane fisherman ventm-es out 

 of the inlet while the harbor bar goes moaning), in plainer 

 words, Avhen the condition that confronts us means a 

 south wind, a wind sou'west— then I feel sure of a reason- 

 able day's sport; otherwise not. 



The place I have disported myself in for two siunmera 

 is Barnegat City, N. J., where a dress coat is imknoAvn; 

 at least I have never seen one; and Avhere the real joys of 

 summer for a tired man can be fotmd, living in a cottage 

 and taking one's meals at the Oceanic Hotel across the 

 street. If I Avake up at 6 A, M, and see the cold gray 

 Avaves of the sea cfimbtag and combing over each other 

 and dashing their white crests high in the air, I know 

 that my friend, the Skipper Paderewski, who OAvns the 

 JMinnie, a pretty cat-rigged yacht, at my service, will 

 "not wake and call me early." I confide in Ins judg- 

 ment implicitly as to the propriety of hunting bluefish 

 that day, and I quietly wait the incoming mail, which 

 brings me the New York Sun and mayhap my Aveekly de- 

 light, Forest and Stre.\m. Ennui is a Avord never men- 

 tioned at our cedar "palace" by the sea. 



My little cottage has eight rooms all neatly furnished, 

 but we are only three — my daughter, J. M, S. and "Bebee," 

 my little grandchild and one serA^ant. We miss sadly 

 one gentle pure spirit, who sanctified our home one year 

 ago. She left this earth for the heavenly when the "May 

 sun shed her amber light the neA\'-leaved Avoods and 

 lawns between," and, like Dante's Beatrice, so great was 

 her virtue and her humility and her truth, that life was 

 not worthy anything so pure or so excellent. And now 

 our children, her constant companions; and Love and I, 

 alas! are left alone. 



The two best known fisliernien here are Paderewski 

 Peckworth (so called for his skill on the fiddle at country 

 dances) and Captain Morse, and as I have a iieAv name 

 for all the skippers, I call him Cap Mossbunker, and it is 

 only a week ago Ave made a friendly bantering match 

 Avhether Cap Mossbunker or Cap PadereAvski could bag 

 the most bluefish on a given morning, each boat to carry 

 three bluefish lines and no more. As to weakfishing it is 

 a lost art; where I used to catch, four of us, 400 a day, 

 in Barnegat Bay, it is noAv good luck to bag 10 in five 

 hours, and the fish pounds and the menhaden pirates are 

 to blame for it. The bluefish match came off, and we 

 fished side by side after Paderewski had sailed doAvn to 

 the bell buoy where the tintinnabulation of the bell can 

 be heard aU day and all night, sounding like the cry of a 

 lost soul in pain. By the bell buoy we caught 200 sea 

 bass, and when. the four houi-s' contest was over Pader- 

 ewski had 90 big mackerel and Cap Mossbunker 118. The 

 time we lost after the "logy" black bass was put to use 

 by Captain Mossbunker, but the battle Avaa a draw, for 

 Peter Seidel, of the Oceanic, decided that Paderewski 

 had the most fish in nimiber and in weight; that as Cap 

 Mossbunker had thirteen more mackerel than Paderewski 

 the battle must be fought over again. This was agreed to. 



Y^oung Patterson, of the Record, recently criticised 

 some of my late letters to the Fokest and Stream on the 

 ground that they lacked "a briUiant thread of connection," 

 and were not "compact enough." 1 replied to Mi-. Pat- 

 terson that I was not reporting facts for the Record, that 

 in August a nation of fishermen from Buzzard's Bay to 

 the great White City Avere not clamoring to any appre- 

 ciable extent like Dickens's Mr. Gradgrind, who said, 

 "What we want is facts." And I finally silenced my 

 briUiant young feuilletonist and critic by reminding him 

 that when that genial and kincUy essayist, Montaigne, was 

 tracing the annals of chivalry back to Charlemagne, he 

 injected the information in that essay that most of tlie 

 Montaigne family had, at one time or another, suffered 

 from gravel. Pfimmer did to Dixon Avhat this did for 

 critic Patterson. 



r»,. , , t- 1 ' . -""^""^v^ou. irom ja.ioany to oaracoga ana tnen tne Adirondack Rail- 



T^Se method XrteS'^^^ ^^^^ ''i^''''^' Creek. = A daily stage comiecte witira 11 



ineretoie, methods which tend to deplete and extermin- through trains, taking passengers to North River P. 0„ 



Civilization runs riot at the fashionable seaside resorts. 

 Not so at Barnegat City, where Ave take our ease at our 

 inn. I owe my magnificent health to hving twelve of 

 the best years of my life, till I Avas 22, in the woods, 

 riding forty miles on horseback, or, rifle in hand, with 

 half a pound of crackers in a school satchel for lunch, 

 roaming over tAventy miles of beech woods in pursuit of 

 the fugitive gray squirrel. It was a bad day when I didn't 

 bring home twenty-five gray rodents with their scalps on 

 — mostly hit in the head with a rifle ball at lOU yards, up 

 a big oak or beech tree, and lying very much " perdu " on 

 a hmb. 



My plea is not so much against the Jeimesse dorm of 

 sweU civilization sucking Manhattan cocktafis with a dash 

 of absinthe in them— that's their idea of enjoyment. But 

 I plead for nature in her various moods, the early morn- 

 ing bath in old ocean "in the buffV regardless of flannel. 

 Take the biUows' kisses as they come, stay in ten or fifteen 

 minutes, tlien go to bed and sleep until 8 o'clock, and 

 even if an invalid you will find healing underneath the 

 wings of the sea. 



