June 2, 1894.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



471 



All the Hudson River salmon that have found their way 

 to market have come from fry planted in the river since 

 1882, unless there were a few taken before that as the result 

 of a small plant of fry (47,500) made in the Battenkill 

 River in Vermont, a tributary of the Hudson, in 1875, a 

 plant of 30,000 made in the Hudson in 1873, or a plant of 

 20,000 in the Mohawk, at Rome, in 1875. But that is not 

 the point, for the same paper says that last year over 250 

 Hudson River salmon were sold in market, and a propor- 

 tional increase (over the fifty sold the year previous) is 

 looked for this year. Pleasant as it may be to record 

 salmon in market from the Hudson, every salmon taken 

 in the Hudson, or from that portion of it controlled by 

 New York, is taken illegally. New Jersey has done noth- 

 ing toward stocking the river with salmon, and resists all 

 appeals to protect them from the netters until the stream 

 can be made self-supporting. 



Salmon from Lake Champlain. 



In conversation with Mr. E. S. Sweet, I learned that 

 salmon had been taken near Plattsburgh, N. Y. Mr. 

 Sweet was then on his way from New York to Plattsburgh 

 and promised me particulars in regard to the fish, which 

 he furnished soon after. In 1892 two salmon were killed 

 at the mouth of the Saranac River, under the railroad 

 bridge, and at least 10 or 12 other adult salmon were seen 

 in the Saranac River just below a dam, but the people in- 

 terfered to prevent their being killed. Mr. Sweet tells me 

 that it is believed that the salmon strayed from the St. 

 Lawrence and came up the Richelieu River to the place 

 where they were killed and seen. 



This explanation will not hold water, and I have a much 

 better one. In 1886, 50,000 salmon fry were taken from 

 Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, by Mr. "Walters, the 

 superintendent of the Adirondack hatchery, and planted, 

 a portion of them, in the headwaters of the Saranac River, 

 and in all probability it was some of these fish, having been 

 to sea, that were seerrtryingtogetback to the place where 

 they spent their infancy. But the plant of 1886 was not 

 the first of salmon fry made in the Saranac. In 1875 

 Livingston Stone hatched a lot of Penobscot salmon at 

 Charlestown,«N. H, and 36,500 of the fry were planted in 

 the Saranao River at West Plattsburgh, and the year be- 

 fore — 1874: — 24,000 were planted on the other side of Lake 

 Champlain near Ferrisburgh, Vermont, the home of "Uncle 

 Lisha." The 'appearance of salmon in the Saranac River 

 establishes the fact that with fishways that stream may 

 be restocked with salmon, and the streams on the Vermont 

 side of the lake may also be restocked and made to teem 

 with salmon as they once did. A. N. Cheney. 



HOW TO CATCH PIKE-PERCH. 



Sinoe my note about the discovery of the spawning 

 pike-perch in Lake George I have received a number of 

 queries in regard to the habits of the fish and the number 

 of catches there. I think I have already written two 

 pages in Forest and Stream about the habits and man- 

 ner of fishing for pike-perch, but "Dexter," a well-known 

 Albany angler, and correspondent of Forest and Stream, 

 came to the rescue. I think it is just sixteen years ago 

 that I first met "Dexter" in Forest and Stream's col- 

 umns, and then we were discussing the black bass. 



As to the size to which pike-perch grow, it depends 

 upon the water in which they are found. Dr. Estes of 

 Lake City, Minn. , caught a pike-perch in Lake Pepin that 

 weighed 401bs. He had the head of the fish the last that 

 I knew. In the mail with "Dexter's" letter was one from 

 Fish Commissioner Wentworth of New Hampshire tell- 

 ing of a pike-porch of 9lbs. caught inSunapee Lake, N.H., 

 and yet few people about the lake have seen a pike-perch. 



A. N. Cheney. 



Albany, N. Y., May 14.— I noticed with much interest 

 your communication in Forest and Stream of the suc- 

 cessful planting of wail-eyed pike in Lake George, as I 

 consider them one of the most valuable of our fresh- water 

 food fish; besides they afford some attraction to the 

 sportsmen. I think the reason they have not been noticed 

 to any extent heretofore was that what few of them there 

 was went to some less conspicuous spot to spawn. They 

 prefer to run up a running stream very early in spring, 

 usually spawning there, and then returning to the mouth 

 and feeding on worms or such other food as the suc- 

 cessive freshets following the spring rains bring to them. 



If you wish to catch them during hot weather troll 

 with a lake trout rigging on reefs that have a depth of 

 from 15 to 50ft. , with very deep water near by, using a 

 No. 3 Buell spoon in place of the gang and minnow. 

 They require water about as cold and pure as do lake 

 trout, and will go to it when possible during the summer 

 months. I think the estimate of their size rather high, 

 as in fourteen years' experience with them on Lake Cham- 

 plain I never heard of one being caught that weighed 

 when put on the scales over 8^-lbs. Of course, larger ones 

 have been hooked and lost. 



They are very clannish, and usually when you get one 

 persistence will find the school and insure a good string. 



Your speaking of Mr. Bull's experience in catching four 

 trout almost in our city limits reminds me that my son 

 George fished the same brook last Saturday, getting 

 three from 6 to 7|in. and one weighing fib. This I think 

 makes him high hook for Sand Creek this year up to 

 date. 'Tis only a small stream running into one of our 

 city reservoirs, but it shows what the trout can do when 

 they have some place of safety for the time being. 



Dexter. 



Niagara County Anglers' Club. 



Lockport, N. Y., May 25. — Secretary F. K. Sweet is 

 working up the arrangements for the forthcoming tourna- 

 ment, and he is making life very miserable for the can't- 

 get-aways who must stay at home. 



A Word About "Kelpie." 



Bai/timore, May 25.— Editor Forest and Stream: All health and 

 long lile to "Kelpie" — or Thurston or any other name, by which he 

 may be known to others. We of the Forest and Stream know him as 

 ■ "Kelpie," and "Kelpie" he must remain to me and, I think, to all 

 readers ol our Forest and Stream. We take Forest and Stream into 

 our family circle and read it to our children. It is free from all objec- 

 tional features and always prompts a desire on the part of the old 

 folks (as well as of the "kids"; to join just Buch campers as "Kelpie." 

 I confess I formed a picture of "Kelpie" in my mind's eye. I was "far 

 out of line," as we say in railroad parlance; but the good face and 

 genial expression of that face carries out my idea of what my "Kelpie" 

 ■would be. _ a z^z _ , . ^_ Y, 



WHITEFISH NOTES. 



Alpena, Mich.— Editor Forest and Stream: The ques- 

 tion of bait for whitefish and the taking of them with 

 hook and line which has somewhat interested your readers 

 in recent numbers of Forest and Stream and aroused in- 

 quiries from an occasional correspondent, does not appear 

 to possess any special interest or value for the angler for 

 several reasons. 



The whitefish is not in any sense a game fish, nor found 

 in waters where anglers would be apt to seek him. It is 

 one of the most timid of the finny tribe — a soft, sucker- 

 mouth chap with no spirit or sport in him. Even if he 

 would take a hook with his favorite bait, the first pang 

 from the steel hook would cause him to throw up the 

 sponge and surrender unconditionally. Whitefish have 

 been taken at the Sault Ste. Marie in the rapids with 

 hook and line, as stated in the Forest and Stream, but 

 it is exceedingly doubtful if the fish caught at Owosso, 

 Mich., or in Otsego Lake, N. Y., or in other inland lakes 

 were the true whitefish of the Great Lakes. They were 

 either "long jaws," "black fins," herring or "white 

 suckers," as certain fish in these waters are called, and 

 which in some respects resemble the whitefish. I am in- 

 clined to think with Mr. Tulian, superintendent of the 

 U. S. fish hatchery at Alpena, that these fish are a cross 

 between a whitefish and lake herring, as they combine 

 some of the characteristics of each. But they are totally 

 different from the genuine whitefish in both habits and 

 associations. 



I have many times made the inquiry both before and 

 since seeing your reply to your Owosso correspondent 

 relative to bait for whitefish, whether this fish is actually 

 taken with hook and line, and to this day I have yet to 

 see the man who has taken one. Within the past three 

 days I heard of one who was said to be successful in tak- 

 ing them in Hubbard Lake, some fifteen or twenty miles 

 from Alpena; but diligent inquiry revealed the fact that 

 there was never a whitefish in Hubbard Lake, and Mr. 

 Tulian confirms this by the statement that no whitefish 

 fry were ever planted in these waters. The fish alluded 

 to were -undoubtedly "long jaws," the name given them 

 on account of their peculiar-shaped mouth, which is quite 

 different from that of the whitefish, with which it has 



have just seen a very pretty one made in a stream near Au 

 Sable. There were about 401bs. of the beauties, ranging 

 in size from ooz. to l^lbs. in weight. The season has been 

 cold; last night, in this vicinity, ice formed in small ponds 

 as thick as a postal card, and, as usual, when we have an 

 early opening of spring we are having a backward May. 

 The foliage hereabout is no further advanced than it wa6 

 in March in the southern portion of the State. Keuka. 



Trout Tickling. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I wish to submit to our bureau of information a descrip- 

 tion of an odd method of capturing the wily brook trout. 

 I have followed the streams since boyhood, and although I 

 confess to having in several instances heard of this mode 

 of taking trout, I certainly never have seen it in practice, 

 neither have any of my angling associates. Some time 

 ago a correspondent of the Norwich Bulletin expatiated 

 at length upon trout tickling. He gives the testimony of 

 Dennis P. Rich, of Shelton, as one who is an adept at it, 

 Mr. Rich catches a gr< at many trout every season, but 

 admits that most of the big ones are taken by hand. As 

 Mr. Rich strolls along the brook, he discovers in some 

 dusky pool a sage old trout who has grown big and fat. 

 The man lies stealthily down on his stomach, and then as 

 slowly as if he was a black log slipping down the bank, 

 worms himself into the stream; then with caution his 

 long naked arm slides slowly and almost imperceptibly 

 through the sluggish current toward the big fellow's tail. 

 The spotted victim lies perf pctly still, the delicate swaying 

 motion of his back fin comes to a rest, and there is not 

 the ghost of a movement in his whole body. Perhaps you 

 may fancy the trout does not see that long slim arm ad- 

 vancing upon him, but the presumption is that he does, 

 for a trout's vision in the water is like a hawk's in the air. 

 But the trout does not know what the singular thing is. 

 At last Rich's fingers touch the big fellow, and that first 

 touch of the electric human hand settles the business and 

 it is all over with the trout; the fingers glide slowly along 

 the quivering body till they encircle him at the gills; then 

 they close with lightning swiftness, there is a sudden flirt 

 on the part of the fisherman, and the big trout is tossed 



WHITEFISH OF LAKE MILTONA. 



been confounded. The resemblance, however, is consid- 

 erable, and might easily lead to the common mistake; one 

 easily distinguishing feature is the dark fin of the ' 'long 

 jaw." The fish is quite as good on the table, and in all 

 probability there are few who could detect any difference. 

 In the water the "long jaw" is by no means a game fish, 

 but somewhat more satisfactory than the whitefish, be- 

 cause he has a better mouth and more pluck. 



It is often regretted by anglers that so beautiful and so 

 delightful a fish as the whitefish should not also possess 

 the qualities that afford him the sport he so keenly enjoys. 

 There is nothing required in praise of the table qualities 

 of a "planked" whitefish to him who has ever tasted one. 

 There may be other things just as good , but it is a ques- 

 tion of doubt; but in any way that this fish may bo 

 cooked, fried, broiled, baked or "planked," it i3 a dish fit 

 for a king of gourmets. 



The United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries 

 has a hatchery at Alpena in charge of Mr. E. A. Tulian, 

 which has a capacity of about 50,000,000 eggs, but not for 

 more than 30,000,000 fry, and as Mr. Tulian observes, with 

 the present facilities it keeps them hustling to take care 

 of more than the number turned out the past season, 

 which was about 16,000,000 fry. There were also planted 

 some 8,000,000 whitefish eggs and 7,000,000 lake trout 

 eggs. These were disposed of along the spawning grounds 

 as far north as the Sault. Two attempts have been made 

 to propagate black bass pt this hatchery and eggs have 

 been carefully gathered and handled, but so far wholly 

 without success. Not a fish has been hatched. 



The greatest enemy of the whitefish, in fact, of every 

 other variety of the tribe, is the lake trout, an aggressive, 

 pugnacious and ugly fellow, which regards as legitimate 

 prey all that crosses his path. The whitefish is no fighter, 

 and its extreme swiftness enables it to elude its formidable 

 and voracious adversary, generally with good success. 



Much has been said, and well said — none too strongly, 

 of the disastrous inroads upon the supply of whitefish in 

 the Great Lakes by the pound system of fishing. The evil 

 has been a great one. 



Though a tremendously prolific breeder, there has been 

 grave danger of the utter depletion of the waters of this 

 superb fish. On Lake Erie especially, he could not swim 

 a half-mile without encountering some kind of deadly 

 trap set for his destruction. This spring, however, he is 

 enjoying a partial immunity from this evil. The very 

 low price in the market has caused hundreds of fishermen 

 to abandon the occupation, and where usually a dozen 

 tugs are employed in the business, there is scarcely one. 

 I find that whitefish are selling in all the Lake ports at the 

 astonishingly low price of 2 to 2^ cents per pound ! Think 

 of buying a superb 51bs. whitefish for a dime! This is, 

 perhaps, pretty rough on the fishermen, but it is giving 

 the fish a chance, which they have not for years enjoyed. 



The season for brook trout has been thus far very fair, 

 and some very respectable catches have been made. I 



out on the bank palpitating and wondering'^how" in the 

 world he got there. ■ 



Such is the detailed account of the singular proceeding 

 called trout tickling; and to give co^r to the above, a 

 German blacksmith, living on the Salem Turnpike, six 

 miles from Norwich, states that in Germany the practice 

 was common. Now the question is, why does the trout 

 with his wild timid nature lie so quietly and succumb so 

 easily to the touch of the human hand, is it an overween- 

 ing curiosity, a hypnotizing influence exerted by the 

 stronger human mind, or simply the love of being tickled; 

 or is the whole thing the invention of the fertile brain of 

 some literary Ananias? If any of the many contributors 

 to Forest and Stream can give me any information on 

 the subject, I should be glad to hear it. E. M. B. 



Maine Fishing. 



The fishing at Rangeley was exceptionally good last 

 week. A party of four New York sportsmen, consisting 

 of Messrs. Cleveland D. Fisher, James N. Jarvie, Cyrus 

 K. Small and Frank B. Arnold, have just returned from 

 a ten days' trip well satisfied with their success. They 

 fished Rangeley and Mooselucmaguntic, as well as the 

 mouth of the Kennebago and the pool at the Upper Dam. 

 While larger fish were caught during their stay, theirs 

 averaged among the best taken, and no one of the New 

 Yorkers has reason to be jealous of his companions. 



Mr. Arnold took the top fish, which weighed 4f lbs. after 

 having been out of the water all day. Mr. Small's and 

 Mr. Jarvie's fish ran from 41bs. down to 2J, and Mr. Fisher 

 brought back with him four that a number of hours after 

 catching weighed respectively 3£lbs., 41bs. and two of 

 4j-lbs. These latter were exhibited in the window of 

 Kolb's restaurant on Pearl street. The party also caught 

 four or five landlocked salmon, and found the fishing 

 steadily improving during their stay. They took their big- 

 gest fish out of Rangeley, but caught more in Mooseluc- 

 maguntic. Most of them were taken trolling, though 

 some Were caught fly-fishing. 



They caught so many big, genuine square-tail brook 

 trout that they acquired the habit of not keeping any- 

 thing that weighed less than 21bs. Mr. Fisher acknowl- 

 edges that this had a paralyzing effect on his nerves, and 

 thinks it has unfitted him for any other trout fishing in 

 future. B. 



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