514 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[June 16, 1894. 



the water is rapid afford very much more sport than m 

 those of sluggish current. A Nepisiquit salmon, for in- 

 stance, often leaves the water completely several times 

 before he is landed, while a Restigouche salmon, I am 

 told, rarely leaves the water until he is lifted out by the 

 gaffer. 



I had intended in this paper to have given my experi- 

 ences in camp life, arrangements of camps such as I have 

 built upon the Nepisiquit and the St. John at Gaspe; some 

 things we eat and drink, and how we cook them: about 

 rods, lines, flies, reels, leaders, fly poisons, their applica- 

 tions, and some other points, but this article has already 

 assumed larger proportions than I had anticipated, so I 

 must leave these to the future. 



I cannot refrain here from publishing for the first time 

 a charming letter from Lord Dufferin, in answer to one 

 written him bv my associate upon the St. Jo >n's, Mr. 

 John Fottler, Jr., of Boston, and which explains how our 

 camp was given its present name, "Dufferin Camp," Lord 

 and Lady Dufferin having camped here some five years 

 when he was Governor-General of Canada about fifteen 

 years ago. 



British Embassy, Paris, Oct 19, 1893.— Sir: I haBten to acknowl- 

 edge the receipt of your letter of S ^pt. 30 and to express to you my 

 beat thanks for your kind thought iu sending me photographs of our 

 old camping ground on the St. John's River. 1 am delierhled to find 

 that it has fallen into the hands of so sympathetic and excellent a 

 sportsman, and Lady Dufferin and I have been very much touched by 

 your giving our name to the camp. I hope you will have there every 

 season the same happy time that we bad during our stay in Canada. 

 The St. John's is a most charming river, and my brother-in-law and I 

 once caught forty fish there apiece in a fortnight-., excluding Sundays. 

 My smallest fish was 231bs. and the biggest 33, the average being 27. 

 One could not wish for anything much better than that. Pray remem- 

 ber me to Mr. Curtis, of whosd hospitality on the occasion of our 

 visit to Gaspe, my wife and I have a very grateful recollection. With 

 renewed thanks, I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, 



Dufferin and Ava. 



I believe I cannot close this paper to my mind more 

 satisfactorily than by quoting from a recent poem of James 

 Whitcomb Riley, published in the May number of the 

 Cosmopolitan, 'it cannot fail to touch the heart of any 

 older fisherman at least, substituting the Brandy* ine for 

 his own native stream: 



Up and down old Brandy wine, 



In the days 'at's past and gone— 

 With a dad-burn hook-and-llne 

 And a saplin'-pole— i swawm ! 



I've had more fun, to the square 

 Inch, than ever aru/where! 

 Heaven to come can't discount mine 

 Up and down old Brandy wine I 



Up and down old Brandywine. , .— 



Stripe me with pokeberry-juicel— 

 Flick me with a pizenvine 

 And yell "Ftp/" and lem me loose! 

 r— Old now as I then wuz young, 

 'F I could sing as I have sung, 

 Song 'ud shorelv ring dee-vine 

 Up and down old Brandywine! 



I. W, Adams. 



ANGLING NOTES. 



Are Maine Ouanam'che Landlocked? 

 A friend and correspondent asked this question : "Are 

 any of the Maine ouananiche absolutely landlocked, or 

 can they all reach salt water and return again if so 

 minded?" 



I replied that originally all the Maine ouananiche had 

 free access to salt water, and were as free to return to the 

 fresh water where they were found, but as he used the 



g resent tense in his query I would be obliged to ask Mr. 

 harles F. Atkins as to the present condition of things. 

 Mr. Atkins writes me as follows: "Before man's inter- 

 ference the way was open to all landlocked salmon of 

 Maine to go to sea and to return to their native streams 

 and the lakes they frequented. In recent times, and in- 

 deed at present, th* way is still open for them to go to 

 sea, but their return has been hindered by dams on every 

 river where they are naturally found. In each case I 

 think it will be established that there have been periods 

 of years when it was impossible for them to return the 

 dams being insurmountable. 



"Fish ways have been constructed on all the rivers in 

 question, and thereby all of them have been for part if 

 not all of the time for the past 20 years reopened— so that 

 in some instances the sea salmon have ascended as far as 

 the haunts of the landlocks, but I have no evidence that 

 the landlocked salmon have used the fish ways— they may 

 have done so to a limited extent, but I have not heard of 

 it. They do not descend in sufficient numbers to warrant 

 ub m looking for their return. I am not aware that the 

 descent of any of them to the sea has been observed but 

 it is reported that they do, at the spawning season, descend 

 from Sebago Lake into the Presumpscot River, and if so 

 we might expect them to return via the fishwav at the 

 outlet of tne lake. 



"It is a matter of tradition that many years ago say 40 

 or 50— it was not uncommom for landlocked salmon to be 

 taken further down the St Croix and the Presumpscot 

 ™an in former times but I never gathered any consider- 

 able body of testimony on this point." 



Ouananiche on Pacific Coast. 

 The Northwest Sportsman, of Portland, Ore in its 

 issue of May 19 notes the exhibition in that city of three 

 fish taken in a lake near the Cascades of the Columbia. 

 Chief of Police Hunt, a well informed angler who has 

 taken the ouananiche in Lake St. John waters in Quebec 

 identified the three fish as ouananiche, and Judge S H 

 G /^ en ^' U P°.» a separate examination, without knowing 

 of the identification of Chief Hunt, also pronounced them 

 ouananiche. 



Unless the ouananiche have been planted in the Pacific 

 coast waters, and I can find no record of such plant in 

 Jw^iT?* 6 ? 8 or m the Canadian Blue Books, I fear 

 that both of the gentlemen mentioned are mistaken in 

 tneir identifications. 



Bather curiously, perhaps, Dr. Jordan in writing; me 

 this spring about another matter said incidentally "Th? 

 ouananiche is of course not found on the Pacific coast " 

 As the ouananiche or landlocked salmon is the Atlantic 

 salmor iCSalmo salar), which after being hatched In fresh 

 water has remained there without going to sea, they must 

 first have the salar on the Pacific coast before the oS- 

 aniche can be developed. 



This view will be discouraging to Western anglers who 

 may have congratulated themselves upon being possessed 

 of the game ouananiche, but the item is to me very en- 

 couraging for a reason wholly different from that 

 to which the quoted paragraph leads. Judge Greene 

 is familar with the different species of Pacific salmon, 

 therefore the three fish are probably new, unless they 

 should prove to be Bean's hmnerleyi salmon, which is a 

 landlocked salmon, or the new Kamloops trout, which 

 Jordan first called the Kamloops salmon; and if new they 

 may tend to confirm the opinion of a gentleman who has 

 written me that he believes' that there are two landlocked 

 salmon that have not been described in Pacific coast 

 waters. This gentleman has been in Europe during the 

 past winter, and a few days ago informed me of his return 

 and that he would soon journey to the headwaters of the 

 Columbia, where it is possible he may obtain the desired 

 specimens of the fish in question. 



The Philology of the Ouananiche. 



In the extract to which I have just referred I am 

 quoted as to the pronunciation of ouananiche, and quoted 

 wrongly, probably owing to a reversed letter, or it may 

 be because, as a printer has told me, I make a u and an n 

 so near alike that it takes a good guesser to tell one from 

 the other. What I said was that ouananiche was pro- 

 nounced as though written whonanishe, and it was so 

 printed in Forest and Stream, but the Western news- 

 paper makes it whouanishe, which is all wrong. 



Mr, E. T. D. Chambers, of Quebec, has written a paper 

 upon "The Philology of the Ouananiche," and it will be 

 read by Dr. Stewart before the Royal Society of Canada. 

 This article will practically settle the question, as the 

 author has been for years collecting the various forms of 

 the word which have perplexed the readers of the litera- 

 ture of this game fish, and his conclusions will be author- 

 itative. 



Fishing: Lines. 



"A. C. H." of Providence, R. I., asks: "Which is the 

 best line for salt-water fishing— a linen or cotton, laid or 

 braided? Would it improve a cotton or linen line to boil 

 it in sperm oU? How can lines be preserved from rotting 

 out when not in use?" The line most affected for salt- 

 water angling is a laid linen line. It would not improve 

 any kind of line of vegetable fiber to boil it in sperm oil. 

 I have had good success with linen lines by dissolving 

 equal parts of sugar of lead and powdered alum in rain- 

 water and soaking the line in the solution. The best lines 

 I ever saw for any kind of fishing, in fresh or salt water, 

 were lines dressed by Mr. Walter M. Brackett, the cele- 

 brated Boston artist. It is almost twenty years ago that I 

 first saw Mr. Brackett's salmon lines of braided silk 

 dressed in cold linseed oil boiled specially for the purpose 

 by J. Babcock of Cambridgeporb, Mass. Mr. Babcock 

 told me that he also boiled oil especially for dressing 

 linen lines, but I never tried his preparations for this pur- 

 pose. At the time I speak of Mr. Brackett's lines had been 

 in use eight years and had always been allowed to dry on 

 the reel, and from that time to this I have seen no lines 

 from this country to compare with them. The lines were 

 as flexible as ever a line should be, and were polished 

 like plate glass. Such a line is expensive and requires a 

 heap of work, but is really cheaper in the end. 



Mr. Brackett's method was to soak the line in the oil 

 three times, with an interval of two weeks between each 

 shaking, when the line was stretched and rubbed down 

 with a piece of chamois skin. Back in 1876 Mr. Babcock 

 charged $2 for a half-gallon can of the oil for silk lines, 

 but what the charge may be now I cannot say. If an 

 undressed line is thoroughly dried and aired after it is 

 used and then put in a dry place, it will be preserved as 

 long as it is possible for such line to be preserved. To dry 

 a line wind it on a line dryer from the reel, and vice versa, 

 to prevent twisting. It is impossible to wind a line on 

 chairs or trees and not put kinks in it that should not be 

 there. If a line does get twisted draw it in the water 

 behind a boat with the end of the line free. 



I once attempted to dress a line (silk) with pure rubber 

 dissolved in chloroform, and in the few places where I got 

 the line coated with the rubber it was a fine piece of work, 

 but the places were few, and I had a strong desire to live 

 and use the line, so I did not complete the coating of 

 rubber. 



Re-Varnishing Rods. 

 Mr. F. P. V., of Delaware, Ohio, wishes to know how 

 to remove old varntsh from fishing rods without injuring 

 the rods. First go over the rod with a damp cloth on 

 which you have placed as much emery as the cloth will 

 hold. Wipe the rod frequently with a wet cloth that you 

 may see that the work is evenly done. Unless the old 

 varnish should be defective in some way it is not best to 

 take it all off, as it will act as a filler. After rubbing with 

 tue emery, take another damp cloth, and with powdered 

 pumice stone again rub down the rod evenly. Revarnish 

 with best coach-body varnish, thinly applied. If then you 

 wish to polish the rod, rub with powdered rotten stone 

 first wet and then dry, being careful not to cut through 

 the varnish. Professional rod makers varnish a rod so 

 evenly and thinly that there is no necessity for afterward 

 rubbing down the varnish. 



Black Bass Slaughter Begins. 



On the day known as Memorial Day, May 30 set apart 

 to honor the memory of our dead soldiers, it is legal in 

 the State of New York, under the general law to kill 

 spawning black bass with hook and line in a sportsman- 

 like manner. The terms are rather incongruous I must 

 admit, but such is the result of the law which now 

 adorns our statutes as a monument to our law-makers' 

 ignorance or disregard of the future supply of one of our 

 chief game fishes. 



The people of Warren county, New York and the 

 people of a few other counties in the State have dis- 

 covered the utter imbecility of a law which permits black 

 bass to be caught just before spawning time and the 

 supervisors have added June to the close season Black 

 bass, of all the so-called game fishes, require protection 

 for a longer period than that in which they are actuallv 

 spawning, for they brood their young after thev are 

 hatched, and the young are hatched in such exposed 

 places that if the parent fish is killed the young- fall an 

 easy prey to other fish. Black bass being the only game 

 fish that broods its young it would seem as if this fact 

 would be a factor in the law for its protection, instead of 

 which it is not, under the general law of the State, per- 

 mitted to spawn before it is subject to capture This 

 condition of thingB is rapidly depleting our waters of 



black bass and 'apparently they can be saved only by 1 

 supervisors' laws, as the State has refused repeatedly toj\ 

 act in the matter. 



Wednesday being the first day of the open bass season • 

 in Washington county, five gentlemen, Messrs. N. R,2 

 Gourley, Wm. Guthrie, Dr. T. I. Henning, F. C. VieleandJ 

 Robt. McClellan, drove to Cossayuna Lake from Giens\i 

 Falls the evening before prepared to fish. They spent the- j 

 day on the water and returned to Glens Falls in the ; 

 evening, having caught seventeen big-mouthed bass and ! 

 forty-three pike (the so-called pickerel). The fish were'1 

 displayed in the drug store of Ferriss & Viele and their 

 photograph taken. All day Thursday men, women and \ 

 children filed into the store to see the handsome string of ' 

 fish. Never before was a string of large-mouthed black 

 bass shown in this village, and it was amusing to notice ' 

 the men when they were told that the fish were not the j 

 small-mouthed black bass, or ' 'black bass" as they called j 

 them to distiuguish them from what they called ' 'Oawego 

 baste." Men who are perfectly familiar with the small- \ 

 mouth failed to discover that these fish were not of that , 

 species. The bass were all caught on the shores by troll- 

 ing a minnow bait. The troll was made by fastening two 

 hooks back to back on a leader, one hook 1£ or 2in. above | 

 the other. The upper hook was fastened in the lips of 

 the minnow and the other in the side. On such a lure, \ 

 with a single minnow, Mr. Viele caught two bass, of about! 

 2lbs. each, at the same time. 



I asked to be notified when the bass were opened and 

 was present. The largest bass of the string weighed 3ilbs„ < 

 and was a female. Both of the ovaries were quite hard, • 

 and I question if the fish would have spawned under , 

 thirty days. I think it was a moderate estimate to say 

 that the bass contained over 20,000 eggs. Dr. Henning 

 and Mr. Gourles, who were present, said those were the 

 last black bass that they would ever catch in May. What 

 I have said of the condition of one of the bass will answer ' 

 for all except as to number of eggs in the' smaller females. ' 

 The milt in the males was hard and none of the fish would 

 have spawned before the last of June. And this, be it 

 remembered, is the earliest spring in this region within, 

 the recollection of living men. 



A Show Trout. 

 Thursday evening, May 31, Judge J. M. Whitman, of 

 Sandy Hill, N. Y., returned from Aiden Lair Lodge in the, 

 Adirondacks, where he had been fishing for a few days, j 

 Later he came up to ste me about a 21bs. trout about 

 which there had been a discussion at Aiden Lair, and 

 which I was to settle. It was a brook trout, fontinalis, 

 caught in Hewitt Pond, and it was decked in all the vivid 

 colors of a breeding male in autumn, making a picture 

 for an artist. The fish had been opened so there was no 

 opportunity for other than external examination. 



A. N. Cheney. 



ON THE NORTH SHORE OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 



(Continued from Page 1,93.) 



We were somewhat disappointed, for the dawn indi- 

 cated rain; but despite this we went immediately after 

 breakfast to Sand River, some five miles distant. On 1 

 entering that mountain stream of foaming rapids andi 

 pellucid pools, we found that some barbarian pale faces; 

 had about completely depleted it of the trout by seining.. 

 Ned said he was satisfied who did the pot-hunting vandal- 

 ism, for the Indians reported as having last year seen the| 

 same persons he mentioned using a net on this river. As* 

 about every violation of the game law passes unnoticed 

 here, we presumed this would, even were it reported to. 

 the Game Warden or Commissioner, with sufficient proof 

 to convict. Considerably discouraged at the apparent 1 

 evidences of netting, we fished a few of the pools with 

 poor success, only catching eight or ten small trout. 



After r maining here a couple of hours, under the dark 

 canopy of vapor that had threatened us all the morning 

 with the dripping moisture, it began to rain, and then 

 there was a stampede for the boat over a mass of broken 

 rocks that was rendered very treacherous by the shower. i 

 After a few slips and falls and a misstep or two into thei 

 stream, we reached the boat, and then donning our rub-: 

 bers were off for the camp with steady strokes from thej 

 oarsmen, there not being sufficient wind to straighten the* 

 sails. The somber shadows which enshrouded the dense 

 forests completely harmonized with the melancholy 

 moisture of the murky skies, and made us long for thei 

 shelter of our far-away tents. 



It was a continual drip, drip, drip of the watery beads, 

 but ever and anon some surcharged cloud of inky dark- 

 ness would sweep over us, pouring out a deluge of more 

 than minor discomfort. 



We had gone about a mile when the rain ceased, and 

 the whipping of a gentle wind began, the prelude doubt- 

 less of some fierce storm that might overtake us ere we 

 reached camp and give us a lively tossing on the billows. 

 The wind, of course, was suggestive of sailing, but it 1 

 seemed to be working round as if to take us over the bow. 

 The boys therefore thought it best to stick to the "cedar 

 breeze," and they did and that manfully. 



At this juncture, two loons that were indulging in their 

 mournful notes, were discovered just ahead of us. Ned 

 at once picked up the gun, a splendid Dougall, which 

 we always took with us, and putting in the necessary car- 

 tridges told the oarsmen to move along. 



Ned said, "I will not get either of them on the first 

 shot, but look out for a tumble on the second." 



"Sure?" says I. 



"It will be a close shave at least." 



Ned was a capital shot, and as the gun was a first-class 

 shooter I felt that he would assuredly bag his game. On; 

 getting within shooting distance he motioned the rowers 

 to stop, and then taking aim let drive The leaden hail 

 went straight to the mark, but the loons were under 

 water before it fell. This was expected, but the next 

 shot was to be decisive as to whether Ned was to put a 

 feather in his cap or not. 



The marksman is now on the qui vive, cool and col- 

 lected, with every nerve ready to leap at his command as 

 soon as the fowls broke the surface. 



"Ah, there they are," and before the words were com- 

 pleted Ned's second barrel rang out with a loud report 

 and over tumbled one of the loons, which gave a quiver 

 or two and then floated quietly on the rippled waters. 



Ned was highly complimented for his fine shot, as a 

 loon is a very hard bird to kill, the second shot, as stated, 

 being the one that does the business, if at all. 



We rowed nut and picked up the dead fowl, which Ned 



