Feb. %% 1896.] 
17 ¥ 
Fisherips. They were accompanied and introduced by 
Geo. Taylor, M." P. The matter of equal fishing rights in 
the waters of the Thousand Islands, as well as the further 
project of an international park, were discussed. As 
your representative to discuss with these gentlemen the 
question of equal fishing rights, for purely sporting pur- 
poses, within the waters of the Thousand Islands extend- 
ing on the Canadian side from Kingston to Prescott, and 
on the United States side from Cape Vincent to Ogdens- 
burgh in the State of New York, 1, of course, had noth- 
ing to say on the matter of an international park, as the 
creation of any such park would not be under the juris- 
diction of the Department of Marine and Fisheries. 
The committee of the Senate were accompanied by Mr. 
J. S. Van Cleef as counsel, and with this gentleman, after 
hearing all that had been advanced by the members of the 
Senate committee, I discussed the project of setting apart 
the before mentioned waters for purely sport fishing, and 
together we have prepared the following regulations, 
which are submitted for your approval. 
It is understood as a sine qua non on our part that the 
terms of the United States Alien Labor Act must be so 
modified, restrained or interpreted that our citizens act- 
ing as guides or boatmen may be allowed to ply their call- 
ing and seek engagements in the United States waters 
and along the shore and among the islands within the 
points specified between Cape Vir cent and Ogdensburgh 
as freely and as Becurely as the United States boatmen do 
the same in our waters. 
This being arranged for and guaranteed by some official 
authority, I am prepared to recommend to your depart- 
ment: 
1. That no nets be licensed or permitted in the 
waters of the St. Lawrence between Kingston and Pres- 
cott. 
2. That the close season for bass, maskinonge, pickerel 
and pike be from Jan. 1 to June 9, inclusive, of each 
year. 
3. That the limit of the number of bass to be taken by 
each rod per diem be fixed at twelve (12), and that the 
number of rods to each boat be limited to two (2). 
4. That all undersized and immature fish be returned 
alive to the water, and that no bass under ten (10) inches 
in length be taken. 
5. That the penalties for a violation of any of the above 
regulations be the same for the United States and Canada. 
(The penalties we have not arranged ; this will be done 
later by correspondence. Personally I believe that the 
penalties now in force under the New York act will best 
suit the conditions.) 
6. It is recommended that for the protection of the 
Canadian waters herein above specified one chief fishery 
officer should be appointed, having jurisdiction over all 
the Canadian waters from Kingston to Prescott. This 
officer to be assisted by as many subordinate guardians as 
may be considered necessary, these guardians to be 
selected by himself. The waters on the United States side 
to be protected in the same manner. 
The undersigned therefore recommends that on the 
part of the Department of Marine and Fisheries of 
Canada the foregoing suggested regulations be adopted, 
and that United States sportsmen be allowed to fish for 
sport with rod and line, and United States boatmen and 
guides be allowed to ply their avocations freely in the 
Canadian waters of the Thousand Islands, it being under- 
stood and agreed that the same privileges be as freely ac- 
corded to Canadian sportsmen, boatmen and guides in 
the waters of the United States, abreast, both being sub- 
ject to the same regulations. 
The above regulations will be submitted to the Anglers' 
Association for their comment and approval. It may be 
that they may have to be, in some minor detail, modified. 
I submit them to you now in their present shape, that 
you may be fully informed of the drift and progress of 
the proposed arrangement. 
There can be no doubt that we have both something to 
gain under these proposed arrangements. United States 
sportsmen will enjoy a larger and more varied fishing 
ground, while our boatmen and guides will have a greatly 
extended field of employment. 
The stoppage of all netting on our side will not entail 
any hardship, as over most of the district we do not even 
now allow any netting; while the men who have hereto- 
fore held net licenses are of the class who will find employ- 
ment as guides. 
I have had to consent to allow the open season for bass 
to begin five days earlier than it does by our present regu- 
lations. In New York State bass fishing begins on June 
1. Under this proposed new arrangement- their close 
season will be extended to June 9. Therefore, our loss is 
more than made up to us by the nine days gained on the 
United Statps side, coupled with the stopping of all net- 
ting, the imposition of a size limit, and the limit of the 
daily catch. 
I hope, therefore, that we have actually made a consid- 
erable gain in the way of bass protection. I am charged 
to inform you of the regret felt by the members of the 
Senate committee and the Anglers' Association of the fact 
that you were unable, owing to previous official arrange- 
ments, to meet them at Alexandria Bay, 
The Deputy Minister was accompanied to Alexandria 
Bay by Mr. John Hardie, of the Department, and Mr. 
Samuel Wilmot. We were met at Brockville by Mr. W. 
C, Browning, president of the Anglers' Association, and 
many other members of the club, and from there taken 
over to Alexandria Bay on Mr. Browning's yacht 
Indienne. 
This yacht was also kindly sent to take us through 
among the islands and back to Gananoque. On behalf 
of the other Canadians present and myself, I desire to 
thank the members of the Senate committee and the 
Anglers 1 Association for the kind and generous manner 
in which we were treated. 
I have the honor to be, sir, etc. , 
(Signed) Wm. Wakeham. 
: REPORT YOUR LUCK i 
: i 
With Rod or Gun 
I TO FOREST AND STREAM, | 
| New York City. \ 
AN INTERMOUNTAIN BUDGET. 
Facts, Figures and Possibilities. 
After four weeks of continuous and unwonted cold, 
the January thaw came with all the sweet influence of 
the northwestern "Chinook." Snow left the ground. Ice 
disappeared from the rivers, and on Jan. 20 the song of 
the meadow lark was heard in the land . But the Btrangest 
part of this pseudo-spring is the fact that the trout have 
commenced to run four weeks before their accustomed 
time. Ever since Jan. 15 there has been excellent trout 
fishing at the mouth of Provo River, and on the 25th ult. 
I was tempted to visit the lake and indulge in a little sport 
with hook and line. The lake, except at the mouths of 
rivers and creeks, was covered with about lGin. of ice. 
Teams were constantly crossing to the opposite side, 
twelve miles distant, and returning heavily laden with 
cedar posts. 
Scarcely had I reached my destination when a friend 
wanted to borrow my tackle "for a couple of minutes." 
As a result, it took just that length of time to get the 
spoon snagged and lost in 6ft. water — moral. This gave 
me an opportunity to study what was worth far more than 
any amount of trout could have been. Two miles north, 
away out on the ice, I could see several groups of seiners 
at work. Thither I hastened. The man who rowed me 
across the river said that during the current week at least 
a thousand pounds of trout had been caught at the mouth 
of the river. Reaching solid ice, a brisk walk of half an 
hour brought me to my objective point. On the way I 
saw a large pile of carp and suckers that had evidently 
been drawn the night before. This pile, as I afterward 
learned, was the surplus from a previous catch that more 
than loaded the wagon of the seiners. All over the light 
snow were the tracks of wildcats and coyotes. When the 
fishermen clean their fish on the ice the offal is all dis- 
posed of by wild beasts or buzzards before the following 
day. 
This was the first time that I had seen the operation of 
seining under the ice. Mysterious as the performance 
had been to my imagination, it was yet more mysterious 
when I saw two men, 200yds. apart, each working a wind- 
lass until a certain black knot showed through the hole in 
the ice, then going on with his machine for another 60ft. , 
and so continuing the hauling process until the two sides 
of the isosceles triangle converged in a hole a dozen feet 
square and close to the edge of the lake. This particular 
seine was 200yds. long, and the drag was about 600yds. 
It took two hours to make the haul. How slowly the 
seine came into sight I More than half of it was in when 
the first fish appeared. Then the fun began. First a 
golden-sided earp and a few wriggling mullets; then the 
spotted gleam of a trout and the soft gloss of muskrat fur. 
The Deputy Fish and Game Commissioner becomes an 
animated spectator. Each trout is pitched back into its 
native element, while the ice all around is hidden by a 
writhing, flopping mass of carp, suckers and mullet. 
Eight hundred pounds is the result of this one haul — 
6001bs. carp, 2001bs. suckers and mullets, five large trout 
and one muskrat. 
On my way back to town I saw several well-laden 
fishermen and they all said that in all their trout both roe 
and milt was unusually mature for this season. It seemB 
to me that it would be advantageous to the sportsman 
should the season close a month earlier than it does at 
present. At all events this early run is the best for the 
fish, because the large trout spawn and get back to the 
lake before the irrigation season commences. Not by 
hundreds, but by tons, are trout destroyed during the 
June and July irrigating. Sometimes an irrigator will 
pick up a dozen fine fish in his lucerne patch. One 
morning last summer I found three trout on my little 
20x20 vegetable garden where I had left the water run- 
ning over night. Sooner or later every fish that gets into 
an irrigating ditch is left high and dry. 
The Tuesday following, Jan. 28, trout had reached Clear 
Creek, a tributary of the Spanish Fork River and forty 
miles from the lake. Three days later a trip of four miles 
up Provo River gave me eight beauties. I thought that 
this would end all such sport until June. But such was 
not the will of fate. Only yesterday, while walking be- 
tween Provo and Springville, I saw an urchin with some 
mosquito net gathering minnows. This boy was a good 
boy and his heart was as open as his countenance, for 
when I offered him two bits to show me his fishing ground, 
he not only did so, but gave me the use of his tackle. 
Strange that I should have gone twenty or thirty miles to 
find good trout streams when here within five miles of my 
door was the champion of all. Unfortunately the "kid" 
had no reel and but a short line, or my joy would have 
been longer. Through the willow thickets we plunged 
and the warm sunlight made us feel that spring is really 
here. Under the banks and into the deepest pools I 
dropped the silvery bait and almost every time it was 
greedily seized, though I landed only six trout. One of 
these I threw back to grow for another year or two. The 
remaining five weighed when dressed 8f lbs. I shall cul- 
tivate further acquaintance with that brook when the 
days are at their longest. 
What our Game Wardens Say. 
It should be a matter of earnest congratulation to the 
sportsmen who live between Snake River and Grand Canon 
that Mr. Hough never writes up this neck of the woods as 
he did "Bobo's Black Bear Preserve." We have fish and 
game to last for many years and we can treat our friends, 
who are invited, to fin, fur or feather, as they may like, 
but we must enforce protection more rigorously in the 
f uturp. In view of Commissioner Musser's biennial report 
and of proposed changes in the fish and game law, the 
wardens of the several counties have been expressing 
themselves freely and making many wholesome recom- 
mendations. 
Commissioner Myron C. Newell, of Utah county, evi- 
dently makes a very careful study of his work from an 
economic standpoint as well as from that of the sports- 
man. He reports a general observance of the fish and 
game laws. He states that the amount of fish caught 
and marketed, as nearly as he can estimate, is as follows: 
Suckers, chubs, carp and other common fish, 146,0001bs. ; 
trout4,0001bs.; black bass, 20,0001bs. 
During the year 1894 twenty-one arrests were made, 
seventeen tried and fines to the amount of $82 imposed. 
The attention of the authorities has been called to the 
condition of the canals and the need for screens for 
the saving of the fish from death by running down the 
same. 
Provo River has been extensively shot with giant pov - 
der in Wasatch county. This is a practice which should 
cease. 
In 1895 fourteen persons were licensed to seine in U tah 
Lake. The amount of fish caught was: Trout. 4 OOOlbs. ; 
bass, 40.000lhs. ; carp, 133,3241bs.; other fish. 189,9001bs.; 
total, 357,224' bs. The increased value over the preceding 
year was $4,474 93. The amount of ducks killed and sold 
in this county was $1,000. Trout are slightly on the in- 
crease. That they do not increase more is due to the de- 
fective irrigation system. Black bass are increasing very 
rapidly under favorable conditions. Pelicans, blue cranes 
and other birds retard the progress of the small fry to a 
great extent. Carp are increasing, while suckers and 
chubs are decreasing. Catfish are doing well. Sunfish 
are becoming quite numerous The law permits the 
catching of black bass fifteen days too soon. They should 
not be taken sooner than July 1. Seining should be per- 
mitted as late as May 1 for carp, suckers and chubs. It 
should be prohibited from May 1 to Sept. 1, and not al- 
lowed within a half mile of any stream flowing into the 
lake. Ducks should be protected from Feb. 1 to Oct. 1. 
Mr. Newell earnestly advocates the export of carp at all 
seasons and of bass during the open season. The people 
of Utah, and especially of th mining camps, do not yet 
appreciate our food fishes, and if the home market alone 
was considered it would not pay to run a single seine, 
Colorado is our great market. The price realized by 
fishermen is for suckers, 1| cents; carp, 2-^ to 4 cents; 
bass, 10 cents; trout, 12£ cents. The middleman doubles 
the price, and in Salt Lake the following prices are 
quoted: suckers, 4 to 5 cents; carp, 6 to 8 cents; black bass 
20 cents; trout, 22£ cents. The catch of bass with hook 
and line was so great at times last season that the com- 
mission merchants refused to buy, and yet the average 
wages, man for man, of the fishermen of Utah Lake has 
been only $1.39 per working day for the past year. It 
has been conclusively proved by Mr. Newell that as a 
preventive one heavy fine is worth a score of light ones. 
Commissioner Heath, of Salt Lake county, reports the 
arrest of twenty-eight persons, and the collection of fines 
and costs to the amount of $334. Trout fishing is better 
in his district than it has been for many years. He com- 
plains of pelicans, loons, weasels and skunks; suggests 
that quail be protected for a term of three years and, at 
the expiration of that time, that the season be limited to 
four months; favors the seining out of all carp, suckers 
and common fish, and leaving the lakes and rivers free for 
trout, bass and whitefish. Mr. Heath is radically opposed 
to the shipping of fish and game outside of Utah. 
J. A. Lampert, of Weber, says he had $5 salary left in 
1894 after paying expenses. Several arrests were made. 
One man was apprehended at a cost of two days' work 
and $4. The offender was fined $1. Mr. Lampert thanks 
God that his term expires in March, because there is no 
encouragement for doing good work. 
Cache county, through N. W. Crookson, reports a 
society for the protection of fish and game with over one 
hundred members. Five convictions were had during 
the year 1894. Deer and mountain sheep are killed by 
mountain lions, which are on the increase. A bounty 
should be offered for them. Game birds are increasing; 
fish doing well. Four convictions with fines of $25 each 
were had last year for using dynamite. The officer sug- 
gests a fine of $50 for this offense and recommends that 
no sawdust be allowed to run down the stream. 
Wasatch county reports but two arrests, and yet in this 
county violations of the law are more frequent and open 
than in any other portion of the State. 
Uintah, Carbon, Emery and Grand counties contain 
elk, deer and mountain sheep. Owing to the unsettled 
character of country and population, the law is evaded 
and carloads of venison have been shipped to Denver. 
From this section as well as from the South come reports 
of Indians killing deer for their hides. 
In southern and western Utah, in the Sanpete, Millard 
and Beaver districts, the reports are most encouraging. 
Irrigation reservoirs, as soon as constructed, are stocked 
with carp or bass, and the pond weed with surrounding 
grain fields Boon attracts thousands of ducks and geese 
during the migrating season. Eight tons of trout have 
been caught during the year from Panguitch Lake. Some 
was done by illegal seining. 
C. C. Kearl, of Bear Lak,e, says that the laws have been 
faithfully' enforced. About 15,0001bs. of chubs were 
caught from the lake last year. Idaho men come down 
to the lake and use semes and gill-nets in an unlawful 
manner. It is almost impossible to catch them. He 
recommends the same law as governs fishing in Utah 
Lake. In Forest and Stream's synopsis of Commissioner 
Musser's report mention was made of an attempt to stock 
Bear Lake with whitefish. The following favorable rex>ly 
was received yesterday by Mr. Musser: 
Washington, D. C, Feb. 4.— Mr. A. M. Musser, Salt Lake City, 
Utah: Dear Sir — Replying to your letter of the 27ch ultimo, relative 
to a carload of whitefisn fry for Bear Lake, I beg to say tnat your ap- 
plication is on file and it is probable that the Commission will arrange 
to send the car west from Alpena, Mich., early in March. You 
should arrange as you did last year for the car to be so placed that 
there will be no difficulty In obtaining constant supplies of fresti 
water for hatching the eggs. Please provide transportation from 
Chicago to Bear Lake and return for United Scates fi3n car No. 3 and 
crew of five men, R. S. Johnson in charge. The transportation should 
be sent to this office. 
By direction of the Commission. Yours truly, 
W. Djs C. Ravenkl, 
The above means two or three millions fry. Good, eh ! 
A. Milton Musseh. 
Law Makers and Game. 
Did you ever see a boy put on his first trousers? It takes 
him some time to distinguish the front from the rear and 
to amble in the right direction. When he has mastered 
the pants he always tries to conquer hi3 dad, and gener- 
ally nothing short of a good thrashing will bring him to 
his senses. Kind friends, Utah has just put on pants, and 
the first State Legislature is monkeying with Venezuela, 
Turkey, Ambassador Bayard, new iron-clads and every- 
thing on earth except the interests of the young com- 
monwealth. However, while all this is going on, the 
lobby is getting in some excellent work. The fish and 
game committee is composed of men who have no prac- 
tical knowledge of the needs of the State, nor of the 
proper legislation to bring about desired results. They 
are very anxious to do what is for the best and have 
already had several sessions at which the views and ex- 
periences of sportsmen, irrigators and fishermen have 
been presented and freely discussed. 
