Jan. 20, 1894.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



88 



had requested of the South Park Board that the Walton 

 House be allowed to remain at Soutli Park as long as pos- 

 sible. There was reason to expect that the request would 

 be granted and the Walton House remain there perma- 

 nently. Out of $150 appropriated for the tournament, 

 which was the sum expected to be expended on it, the 

 committee returned $63.44. Besides being out of debt the 

 club was reported in good condition otherwise. Of sub- 

 scriptions $80 were reported still unpaid. Great progress 

 in skill in casting was reported. From casts of 61ft. with 

 the fly, at the beginning, there were now records covering 

 from 96 to lOGAft. In bait-casting there were records o! 

 as high as 170tt. The total amount of tournament entry 

 fees was $189, expenses, $275.56. Mr. J. Edmund Strong 

 was unanimously elected a member of the executive com- 

 mittee, vice Mr. Rossiter, who resigned. Twenty delin- 

 quent members were dropped from membership. This 

 left 40 active members in good standing. It was carried 

 that notice be given to members that at the next meeting 

 an amendment to the constitution, permitting honorary 

 membership, will be proposed. Mr. B. W. Goodsell was 

 unanimously elected vice-president in place of Mr. Brooks, 

 who resigned. The tournament committee's report was 

 accepted and the committee was discharged. It was 

 reported that there are widespread violations of the law 

 against seining in Illinois. One member said he knew of 

 8,000 seines being sold in Illinois alone in the past year. 

 On motion, an entertainment committee was appointed 

 to arrange a club banquet in the near future. 



B. Waters. 



ANGLING NOTES. 



Scale of Hooks. 

 A friend called upon me to-day to ask about the number- 

 ing of hooks, as he wished to order some flies in season for 

 the spring fishing to be tied on Pennell hooks. So far as 

 I know all the fly tyers in this country use the "old" or 

 "Redditch-scale" in numbering hooks; anyway, flies or 

 hooks ordered by nnmbers from the "Redditch-scale" will 

 be filled even if the hooks ordered are numbered by the 

 "new scale." 



I do not at this moment recall who it was that first 

 advocated a new scale for numbering fish hooks, but think 

 it was Mr. H. Choluiondeley-Pennell at the time his turn- 

 down-eyed hooks came out. I know there was quite a 

 controversy about it in the Finking Gazette, the Redditch 

 manufacturers contesting for the old style, and Mr. 

 Pennell for the new, by which his "Pennell-Limerick" 

 hooks were numbered as well as the "Pennell-Snecks." 

 Since that time the "new scale" of numbering hooks has 

 been adopted to a greater or less extent for hooks other 

 than those that I have mentioned, and for the convenience 

 of others who may desire light on this subject I give both 

 the old and new scale of numbering. The upper figures 

 are those of the old or Redditch-scale commonly used in 

 this country, and the lower figures are those of hooks cor- 

 responding in size in the new scale: 



Old Scale: 0-5 0-4 0-3 0-2 0-1 1 2 3 4 6 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 36 17 

 New Scale: 19 18 17 1G 151413121110 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 00 000 



The 5-0, the largest hook of the old scale, finds its coun- 

 terpart in 19 of the new scale, 17 of the old scale finds its 

 counterpart in 000 of the new scale. The hook numbered 

 000 in the new scale is the smallest made, and it is small 

 enough, and too small for the generality of fishing In this 

 country. 



Some hook makers used to number by the old scale to 

 20, and I think 22, but this was done by omitting the old 

 numbers after 12. I have compared some hooks that I 

 possess and numbered by the makers 20, and find that 

 they correspond to 000 of the new scale and 17 of the old 

 scale, as I have given it above, so that it may be assumed 

 that these hooks are the smallest made, except it may be 

 for some special purpose. Certainly they are about as 

 small as the ordinary man's fingers can fix to a leader 

 with neatness and dispatch., particularly if the man has 

 arrived at an age called the "four-eyed stage" or eyeglass 

 stage. 



Walbran's "Anglers' Annual." 



I have received from Mr. Walbran, Leeds, England, a 

 copy of his "Anglers' Annual" for 1894, and although it is 

 bound in paper, I think every one who possesses a copy 

 will feel that it is of a character to deserve a more perma- 

 nent binding and thereafter a place on the book shelves of 

 the angling library. 



There are excellent articles in the "Annual" written by 

 Mr. Senior, Mr. Marston, Mr. Jardine, Mr. Tod, Mr. Mur- 

 doch, Mr. Murray, Mr. Bickerdyke and Mr. Walbran, and 

 there are four full-page illustrations of angling scenes. 

 The frontispiece is a beautiful half-tone of "Summer Trout 

 Fishing," in which Mr. Senior and Mr. Walbran are shown 

 on the Wharfe at Pool. 



In "Winter Grayling Fishing" on the Yore the other 

 extreme is portrayed. If Mr. Senior looks to be hot and 

 thirsty beside the still water of the Wharfe, Mr. Walbran 

 looks to be anything but hot as he wades the Yore, every- 

 thing but the water being covered white with snow. 



The next full-page picture shows Mr. Fraser Sandeman, 

 author of "By Hook and by Crook" and designer of the 

 Sandeman salmon flies (there is a full-page reproduction 

 of the Sandeman salmon Hies in the "Annual"), salmon 

 fishing on the Eden, and then there is a very taking pic- 

 ture of pike fishing. Besides the literary and artistic 

 features, the 300 pages of the "Annual" contain about 

 2u0 illustrations of fishing tackle, all of which is fully de- 

 scribed in the text. 



Precocity of Salmon. 

 A few years ago when I was planting a lot of salmon 

 fry (salar) I took one can of the little fish to a small feeder 

 of the trout stream in which the plant was being made, 

 that I might turn them into still, shallow water and watch 

 them for a time before they were swept down stream. 

 The little salmon had been all night on tlie cars traveling 

 from the hatchery on Long Island, and at the end of the 

 railway journey the cans containing them had been placed 

 in a wagon and driven six miles to the stream. The fry 

 had but just absorbed the umbilical sac, and had not, I 

 think, been fed in the hatchery, and owing to the lack of 

 ice and detention at a railway junction they had arrived 

 at their destination in not the best of condition, and it 

 was for this reason that I emptied one can where I did to 

 examine the contents. 



When the water in the little feeder had cleared and 

 become still after the rod from pouring the water out of 

 the can into the stream, I got down on my knees with 

 my face close to the surf ace, and was peering into the 

 water; the little salmon were huddled at the bottom of 



the brook in groups, as the young of the salmon family 

 will huddle behind or on the down stream side of stones, 

 or in depressions in the sand to get out of the force of the 

 current, when a big black ant, as I now recall it, fell from 

 an overhanging hush on to the surface uf the water, 

 directly over the salmon fry. The ant struggled on the 

 water and instantly several of the little fish left off trying 

 to hide their heads behind the stones and in the sand, and 

 "rose to the fly" with all the dash and vigor of a trout 

 native to the brook. They circled about the struggling 

 ant as if they would devour it, if it had not happened to 

 be nearly as large as one of the fry, and gave every 

 evidence of the game character that distinguishes the 

 adult salmon when it rises to the artificial fly of the salmon 

 fisherman. 



' I have narrated this incident on a number of occasions, 

 but the frequency with which some of my hearers have 

 raised their eyebrows, as one does to imply doubt, has 

 caused me to lock the story up; and this reminds me that 

 there are people who do express doubt concerning a state- 

 ment simply because they have no personal knowledge of 

 it. For a number of years I tried to convince a number 

 of skeptics that the small-mouth black bass did grow 

 to 81bs. in weight. I knew it because I had caught one, 

 but I honestly think that a lot of men in New York city 

 did not believe it until I sent a larger one to New York 

 and telegraphed to Forest and Stream where it could be 

 seen. Since that time a small-mouth of lOlbs. has been 

 caught in the same lake and no one questioned the weight 

 or the species. But I have drifted away from the pre- 

 cocious salmon, and the fact is I have just found unex- 

 pected confirmation of my experience. 



Mr. Senior Catches Baby Salmon. 



Please remember that all I claim is that salmon fry 

 raised to an ant in the water, and then read the follow- 

 ing, which is the experience of Mr. Wm. Senior ("Red 

 Spinner"), angling editor of the London Field, told in 

 Mr. Walbran's Annual previously referred to: 



"I got a bit of salmon fishing anyhow out of the Exhi- 

 bition. A friend told me that the wee samlets hatched 

 out in Wilmot's breeding troughs in the Canadian Court 

 would rise at a fly, and that he had caught one. I chal- 

 lenged him to the proof, and he rigged up for me a 

 whippy top for rod, a length of string for line and a foot 

 of drawn gut for cast. The fly was, I am bound to say, 

 the smallest I had ever seen made. The hook was the 

 tiniest, and the dressing of the artificial midges a most in- 

 genious thing, reflecting, as the reporters say, the greatest 

 credit upon the tyer, Mr. Kenneth Cornish. It was great 

 fun to see the little salmon of little more than an inch 

 long rising at the fly dibbled on the surface. They came 

 witn a boil just as a big fellow would do, and made at 

 once for the nearest cover. I got one at last by fairly 

 working the tiny midge under water, and out, dangling in 

 the air, came a small fish amid the laughter and applause 

 of the crowd. This salmon fishing, I should add, was 

 done in the breeding trough. The youngster was of course 

 put back." 



It seems that friend Senior challenged proof when he 

 first learned that salmon fry would rise to a fly, so I will 

 forgive those who raised their eyebrows at my story. 

 The Saranac Convention. 



An item has been going the rounds of the newspapers 

 stating that a convention had been called at Saranac 

 Lake, in the Adirondacks, to appoint delegates to go to 

 Albany and oppose proposed changes in the game laws 

 said to be favored by Dr.W. Seward Webb in the interest 

 of his private park in the Adirondacks. The tenor of the 

 entire item was so contrary to my own knowledge of Dr. 

 Webb's views in regard to the protection of fish and game 

 in the Adirondacks, and of his conduct in relation to fish- 

 ing and shooting on his preserve by others than himself 

 that I did not believe there was cause for such a conven- 

 tion. Now, it seems, that prominent citizens of Saranac 

 Lake, headed by Dr. Trudeau of the Sanitarium, have 

 signed resolutions in which it is denied that such a con- 

 vention is to be held, or that Dr. Webb proposes to ask for 

 changes in the game law, or that there is any feeling 

 against Dr. Webb. On the contrary, the people of Sara- 

 nac are "very much incensed over the false report sent 

 out from there by an irresponsible party who evidently 

 has some pique against Dr. Webb and the railroad com- 

 pany." Dr. Webb has always been very willing to gr.ant 

 permits to hunt and fish over his preserve. I know the 

 permits require the holder to observe the State game laws 

 and to be cautious about fires, and those are about the 

 only restrictions. Before the State amended the game 

 laws in 1892 the permits limited the game to be killed to 

 less than the State law allowed, but now the State has 

 come to Dr. Webb's standard. A. N. Cheney. 



BOSTON AND MAINE. 



The weather has not been favorable for the pickerel 

 fishermen in the ponds in the vicinity of Boston. Several 

 excursions have been planned, but blustering weather, 

 with more snow and the mercury down below zero, have 

 been sufficient to keep the fishermen at home. But the 

 bait will keep, and it is likely to be used as soon as the 

 weather is mild enough. On Monday some fishing was 

 done on the ponds in Bayfield and Georgetown, but n ot a 

 pickerel was taken, by one party at least, though they do 

 not like to have their names mentioned. The Upper Pond 

 in Wakefield is still a much-talked-of location for the 

 pickerel fishermen, the pond where the close time ^or 

 several years was terminated Oct. 1, 1893. Some good 

 strings continue to be taken there, when the weather 

 permits. On Monday and Tuesday last this pond was: 

 visited by fishing parties, though with very poor success. 

 The pickerel fishermen all mention warm days as the 

 only days favorable to their sport on the ponds in winter. 

 They continue to discuss th« relative merits of shiners or 

 chub and tomcod as bait. It is generally agreed that the 

 shiner is the best bait, but that he does not live long on 

 the hook. The tomcod is a far tougher fish on the pick- 

 erel hook, and it is much more difficult for the pickerel to 

 get him off the hook without g> ttmg hooked himself. 



A pickerel story grows out of Antoine Bissette's last, 

 told in "Danvis Folks" in the Forest and Stream of 

 last week. In Antoine's case there was a long string of 

 trout all trying to get at the bait by swallowing each other. 

 Our pickerel case was on one of the ponds near Andover, 

 Mass., the other day. Our friend Charlie Macintosh tells 

 it. He was fishing with a boy on that pond. They had 

 some thirty traps out. The day was windy and cold, and 

 the fish did. not bite well. They were about discouraged 



with keeping the lines free in the holes, the ice making so 

 fast that they had to be cleared every five or ten minutes. 

 At last one of the flags was down, and both man and boy 

 ran for the spot. The boy arrived first, hooked the fish 

 and commenced to pull him. "He's only a littleone," said 

 the boy; but no sooner than said the line began to slide 

 through his fingers, and he could not hold it. The man 

 took hold and soon had the fish up to the ice, though not 

 without considerable hard pulling. The fish came up 

 through the ice part way, and the boy laughed. "I told 

 you it was only a little onel" he cried. Sure enough there 

 was a little pickerel scarcely more than six inches long— 

 or the tail of him. But another big pair of jaws was com- 

 ing up through the ice. It was a monster pickerel. He 

 had seized the little pickerel evidently about the time the 

 line begun to slide through the boy's fingers. He had 

 turned the small pickerel and had swallowed him head 

 foremost, hook, minnow bait and all, and was firmly 

 hooked. The small pickerel had the minnow bait in his 

 mouth also partly swallowed. There were really three fish 

 on the hook, the largest weighing nearly 31bs. But the 

 fish were not in a string, as in the case of Antoine's trout. 

 That functionary will also do well to "rembler him" 

 when he tells another "true" story, that fish invariably 

 swallow their prey head foremost. Special. 



QUEER THINGS. 



"His aDgle rod made of a sturdy oak; 

 His line a cable which in storms ne'er broke; 

 His hook he baited with a dragon's tail, 

 And sat upon a rock and bobbed for whale." 



— A Giant's Angling. 



Last summer while salmon fishing in Newfoundland I 

 was informed by a very reliable gentleman that during 

 the month of September, 1892, he hooked a 121bs. salmon 

 which took the fly with avidity, and after landing him 

 discovered an unusual enlargement of the abdomen. On 

 opening the stomach he found a large field mouse, almost 

 intact, as if but recently swallowed. 



Queer! Is it not — with the fact staring us in the face 

 that salmon do not feed in fresh water. 



While fishing the same river last spring one of our 

 party hooked and lost a salmon by the breaking of his 

 leader. Of course it was a monster, and the whole camp 

 was turned into mourning for the loss. On the second 

 day after this the same pool fell to the lot of another 

 member, and at night he returned to camp with a salmon 

 of 121bs. , which had hanging from its mouth the fly and 

 portions of leader which were lost by the previous angler. 



Queer 1 Is it not- 

 First— That the big fi3h always get away! 



Second— That this fish did not start for the ocean with 

 the hook in its mouth, as it is so often stated they do! 



Another queer thing has occurred to me. Why do cer- 

 tain persons write so enthusiastically of the game qualities 

 of the much talked about but over-rated ouananiche, and 

 pour all sorts of maledictions on the head of Mr. Lowry, 

 who happens to differ from them in regard to the fighting 

 qualities and nomenclature of this fish? 



Let me say in all timidity (for I know there are sports- 

 men from whose wrath I shall suffer) that I read Mr. 

 Lowry's article tor the first time while camping at the 

 beautiful Fifth Falls of the Mistassini Elver, and had 

 taken my first ouananiche only a day or two before. I 

 felt there and then I could say "Amen" to it, and after 

 catching many large fish during our stay of nearly a week 

 and spending another week at Isle Malin— where only 

 small ones were taken — I could indorse the article almost 

 in its entirety. 



If ouananiche fishing is to be compared with salmon, 

 trout or black bass fly-fishing, I must have struck the 

 wrong season and logy fish, and I can but feel that those 

 who talk the loudest and throw their hats the highest, 

 have not yet learned to successfully cast the fly and enjoy 

 the ecstatic thrill which the salmon, trout and black bass 

 impart. 



This somewhat mysterious ouananiche has its place as a 

 game fish, but please let it rank where it belongs, and its 

 supporters "whoop er up" as much as they like— if there 

 is no axe to grind ; but add a postscript for the guidance 

 of those who may believe their stories and wish to follow 

 in their footsteps; this luxurious fishing is only for the 

 wealthy, as the hotel company claim to control the waters 

 of the lakes and rivers, and the fish that dwell therein; 

 therefore, to cover cost of this franchise, they explain a 

 charge of $6 per day is exacted for the service of two 

 canoemen, with supplies for them and yourself. 



Facts are sometimes queer things, aren't they? 



"There are more things in heaven and earth and fishing, Horatio, 

 Than are dreamt ot in your phiiosphy." 



Now, Mr. Editor, when we come to think of it, the 

 world is full of queer things. How did it seem to you 

 when you found the recent convention so fully in posses- 

 sion of the net fishermen? This meeting was called by 

 philanthropic, whole-souled men for the purpose of devis- 

 ino-ways and means to stop the depletion of the food fish 

 along the Atlantic coast. Surely, "The wicked flee where 

 no man pursueth," for these very innocent net fishermen 

 appeared in numbers, braced up by attorneys and wonder- 

 ful statistics; and through these, and their oily tongues 

 proved satisfactorily (to themselves) that net fishing could 

 not cause any diminution, but the supply had increased, 

 and they were humanitarians toiling for the dear public. 



Noble men! your children shall rise up and oall you 

 blessed (because of the ducats left them); but the other 

 fellows' children— alas! alas I they may hurl fearful 

 anathemics on the despoilers. "God bless the rich, the 

 poor can beg." 



I wonder, though, if I can be mistaken: and if after all 

 you and I have seen with our eyes, and heard with our 

 ears, these public beneficiaries. The net fishermen are 

 right; and, in order to increase the future world's supply 

 of food fish, we should enlarge and multiply these harm- 

 less nets. 



Wouldn't it be queer? Queerest. 



Game and Fish Bills at Albany. 



[From a Special Correspondent.] 



Assemblyman Thornton has introduced these amendments to the 

 game law: Allowing the taking of sturgeon in the Hudson River with 

 nets of meshes of not less than Tin , between June 1 and Sept. 1; re- 

 ducing the size of meshes from l*|m. to lj^in.; making the close sea- 

 son for wildfowl from May 1 to Sept. 1. • 



Assemblyman Horton has an amendment tnakmg it lawful to fish 

 for bullheads, eels, suckers, catfish, pickerel and pike with spear in the 

 streams of Wayne county that empty into Lake Ontario. 



