April 18, 1896. J 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
819 
the matter clear and explain why there is no description 
of the horse mackerel, as existing on the Pacific coast, in 
his "Synopsis of the FiBhes of North America," and it 
only remains for some one to come forward and tell in 
Forest and Stream where the horse mackerel may be 
encountered on the Atlantic coast with reasonable prospect 
of hooking one. Should one of these fish be captured 
with hook and line the majestic tarpon will be obliged to 
retire to the primeval forest to conceal its emotions at its 
downfall from its proud position as the greatest hook-and- 
line fish in the world. 
A few words about the photographs sent to me by my 
correspondent showing some of his catches at Santa Cata- 
lina Islands. One is of two yellow-tails (Seriola dorsalis, 
for this classification see the appendix of Jordan's "Syn- 
opsis," as in the body of the book it is given Seriola 
lalandi) of 32 and 431bs. , the latter being the Santa Catalina 
Island rod and reel record for this species of fish. Another 
is of a sea bass of 431bs., and its captor says: "These fel- 
lows fight well, and as they come near the boat at the last 
they are as beautiful as a trout, possessing all the brilliant 
colors of the rainbow." This sea bass I take to be Cen- 
tropomus undecimalu, and it is quite unlike another 
photograph of the black sea bass or jewfish. 
Tlp-ups in New Hampshire. 
The use of tip-ups in pickerel fishing through the ice 
agitates a portion of the public mind every season. My 
friend and fellow laborer, Ed. Mott, the "Old Settler" of 
the New York Sun, was sitting at meat with me in the 
Albany Club when he informed me with the air of one 
who knows, ' 'They have only three seasons in Pike county, 
Pa." 
"Only three! How does it happen that they are shy 
one season?" 
"They never had but three, and that is enough. There 
is the trout fishing season, the bear hunting season, and 
the season for catching pickerel through the ice. But 
they have only two seasons in New Jersey. One is when 
they drink apple jack hot and the other is when they 
drink it cold; so you see, Pike county, Pa., is better off 
than would first appear to a man up a tree," 
At another time I will relate where this conversation 
led us, but now I must return to the tip-up question. 
Every winter the question comes up regularly, "Can I use 
tip-ups in fishing for pickerel?" And every winter and 
spring I read the game laws to inquirers, and they at 
once proceed to denounce the law -makers if the waters 
they wish to fish do not come under the exceptions. Fish 
Commissioner Griffin, of New Hampshire, submitted to 
the Attorney-General of that State the following question: 
"Is it legal to fish for pickerel through the ice with sev- 
eral hooks and lines attended by one person?" The 
Attorney-General's reply is before me, and I quote from 
it: "From your question, I understand you to refer to the 
practice of setting a single hook and line with bait in a 
hole cut through the ice, one person at the same time 
having several single hooks and lines so set at points con- 
veniently distant from each other. Section 3 of Chapter 
133, Public Statutes of New Hampshire, prohibits the tak- 
ing of pickerel 'in any other manner or with any other 
device than the ordinary way of angling with a single 
hook and line with bait, artificial fly or spoon,' and the 
same section also makes the having in possession upon 
any fresh waters of this State, or upon the shore of the 
same, any gill or seine net, spear, jack, torch or trawl, 
prima facie evidence of the violation of the law by the 
person having the same in possession; thus indicating 
what methods of taking fish the statute is designed to 
prevent, none of which includes the one in question. 
Taking fish in this way through the ice has been practiced 
for a very long time, and must have been as well under- 
stood by the members of the Legislature who enacted the 
law as the other methods prohibited by them, and it is 
reasonable to assume that if they had intended to prevent 
the catching of fish with single hooks and lines set as be- 
fore described, they could easily, and would have said so. 
"I am therefore of the opinion that fish can be taken 
in this way, subject to limitations imposed by Chapter 61. 
Laws of 1895." ' 
It is evident that the Attorney- General of the Granite 
State understands fishing through the ice for pickerel 
with tip-ups (and I imagine there are very few men 
brought up in the country, fond of fishing, who do not), 
for his opinion reads as though he understood fishing as 
well as law; but I think, unless my memory plays me ut- 
terly false, that the Supreme Court of New Hampshire 
has decided that fishing with tip-ups is fair angling, and 
that I mentioned the decision in this journal several years 
ago. The New York law on this subject is not very un- 
•.like the New Hampshire law, except that after providing 
that no fish shall be taken by methods other than by 
rangling, it defines angling "to mean taking fish with hook 
and line and by rod held in the hand, and does not include 
.set lines." 
I have always maintained that tip-ups are not "set 
lines," as a set line is a device separate and distinct from 
line or lines used in tip-up fishing. A set line is a lon°- 
and heavy line with from 100 to 500 short lateral lines, 
each armed with a baited hook, attached thereto, 
and this line is "set" or anchored in a stream or pond 
and left to do its own fishing during a night or longer. 
The set line of fresh water is the trawl of the sea 
fisherman, and "the trawl is set by allowing it to sink 
to the bottom, the ends being secured by anchors." 
Tip-up fishing is the acme of all fishing with many 
country people, and it is a healthy sport, and really 
does less injury to the fish interests than other methods of 
fishing which are legal. As it is, the law permits fishing 
through the ice with tip-ups for pickerel, bullheads, cat- 
fish, eels and sunfish in any waters of the State not inhab- 
ited by trout, lake trout, black bass, landlocked salmon 
or moscalonge. To emphasize the fact that the game 
law is a piece of patchwork, waters that do contain trout 
are excepted. After limiting the tip-ups to certain waters 
under certain conditions, the same section gives the spear 
an inning in these words: "Provided, however, that pike, 
pickerel and wall-eyed pike may be taken with hook and 
line or spear, and moscalonge with hook and line, in any 
of the inland waters of the State not inhabited by trout 
or salmon of any kind during December, January and 
February," except in one lone county. Fortunately the 
sea waters are excepted by the word inland. Section 141 
is a bird! I used to think Section 140 was the banner sec- 
tion, for the first stanza reads: "It shall be lawful to fish 
at any time for perch, suckers, bullheads and pickerel 
with nets and fykes, and to spear and fish through the ice 
in any of the streams, ponds or lakes in Warren county," 
except, etc. 
It is quite evident that the law itself does not intend 
that tip-ups shall be considered set lines, for it makes a 
distinction between them in that beautiful Section 141. 
A. N. Cheney. 
BOSTON ANGLERS AND MAINE ICE. 
Boston, April 12.— The weather continues remarkably 
cold and backward. This is not pleasant for the early 
fishermen proposing to visit the streams and ponds for 
trout. More than one early enthusiast has got home from 
the Cape with no trout. In Essex county the streams are 
still full of ice, and the boys have done nothing, A re- 
Sort yesterday from Lake Auburn, Me., mentions Supt, 
[anson, of the fish hatchery there, as saying that the 
ice can scarcely leave that lake before May 1, and pos- 
sibly considerably later. He also mentions prospects of 
good fishing there, with the idea that the fishing has been 
better in that lake for a couple of years past than in al- 
most any other waters in Maine. Fish Commissioner 
Stanley got a 91b. landlocked salmon on the fly there the 
last day of September last year. On the spawning beds 
later more large salmon and trout than ever before were 
taken for the purpose of propagation, and liberated after 
being stripped. I saw a gentleman Thursday, from Lewis- 
ton, Me., who remarked that the ice in Lake Auburn 
could not possibly get out before the middle of May. He 
is pretty well posted as to the Maine fishing waters, and 
thinks that the ice will be remarkably late in getting out 
this year. Only last Tuesday there -weie 2ft. of snow in 
the woods in the vicinity of Eustis and Round Mountain 
Lake. By the way, I learn that Mr. Charles L, Bly, of 
Boston, has bought an interest in Edgar Smith's camps 
and fishing and hunting preserve at Round Mountain 
Lake. Several new camps are to be built this season and 
other improvements made. Mr. Bly and his most esti- 
mable wife are very much in love with Round Mountain 
Lake. 
The fishermen have made a few trips to the Cape and 
the south shore, but the fishing has generally been 
very poor. Along the north shore but little fishing has 
been done, high water and snow and ice prevailing. 
Punkapog Brcok, in Canton, or near the Blue Hills, has 
yielded one or two strings of trout. A crack fisherman 
of that section— his name is not given— caught thirteen 
good-sized trout there in one day last week, though the 
banks of the brook were overflown, and the most of the 
lower part of it an overflown meadow. Mr. Henry Savage 
and a friend fished the brook the same day, with the 
result of four good trout. They are satisfied that some 
good strings will be taken as soon as the water starts to 
go down. 
Mr. Geo. B. Appleton, of Appleton & Bassett, will make 
an early trip to Sunapee Lake, New Hampshire, where 
he will be under the direction of Fish Commissioner 
Wentworth, and where he is likely to get some of the 
best of landlocked salmon fishing. He will be accom- 
panied by Arthur Soden, the celebrated baseballist; Mr. 
Devlin and possibly another friend. Mr. Arthur T. Sis- 
son, for some twelve years a salesman in the fishing 
tackle house that is now Appleton & Bassett, has left that 
place and taken charge of the tackle department of John 
Wood, Jr., on New Washington street. Mr. R. H. Jen- 
kins, of the Boston Chamber of Commerce, will make an 
early fishing trip to Newfound Lake, N. H. , for the pur- 
pose of trying the lakers. He is invited by a friend who 
is posted on the fishing there. They will go on the de- 
parture of the ice. 
No further reports of salmon being taken at Bangor 
have come to hand at this writing. The weather has con- 
tinued cold and unfavorable. A few salmon from the 
Penobscot are to be seen in the markets, evidently from 
the weirs at -Bucksport, or somewhere below Bangor. 
What is termed the Dry Goods Club would visit Sebago 
Lake, Me., in pretty good numbers if the ice would only 
be out on April 19, Patriots' Day, and a legal holiday in 
Massachusetts. But the members are very much afraid 
that the lake will be locked in ice even as late as that day. 
Arthur Shaw writes Mr. Rodney P. Woodman, under 
date of Friday, April 10, that there is a foot of solid ice in 
Sebago Lake, with no prospect of its breaking up before 
May 1. Mr. Shaw is an experienced guide on that lake. 
He has guided for Mr. Woodman a number of seasons, and 
his opinion concerning the ice is good. Mr. Woodman 
has his fishing tackle all packed ready for a telegram 
saying that the ice is out of his celebrated; landlocked 
salmon waters; but he does not expect to be off for a 
couple of weeks at the very least. Sebago Lake cleared 
of ice last year April 15, ten days later than the year 
1894. On April 19 of last year the Boston Dry Goods boys 
dedicated their new camp called Sebago. Special. 
Boston, April 11.— Reports of the April 1st stream fish- 
ermen continue to come in, and nearly every man who 
has been out had some success, even though conditions of 
weather and water were bad. Dr. Hall, of Warren, R. 
I., was obliged to journey seventeen miles to his favorite 
stream, and although he found the water high and rapid, 
he captured a few trout— enough to make him feel repaid 
for the trip. James Edgar, of Brockton, Mass., with two or 
three friends, went down to Lakeville and found the streams 
so high that fishing was almost impossible. A very small 
creel held their catch of the day, and even then it was not 
necessary to tie the cover down, Another friend spent 
the first two days of the month down at Plymouth and 
came back with Beveral trout, the largest of which 
weighed lib. 15oz. two hours after his capture. It is need- 
less to say that this gentleman was satisfied. Not think- 
ing for a moment that such a large trout made his home 
in the stream he was fishing, he thought he had hooked 
some mongrel fish or other; but this thought was rapidly 
dispelled by the strong fight made by his victim, which 
was all the more fierce since our fisherman was placed at 
a great disadvantage, being crouched down in an alder 
thicket too dense to give any freedom of action. W. 
K. Churchill and his friend, Mr. Vose, of Wal- 
pole, Mass., have gone down to Scorten Brook, on 
the Cape. Both men are good fishermen and are 
pretty certain to find reward. Some men are 
born with the fishing instinct fully developed, 
and surely if there is such a man in Massachusetts it is E, 
S. Thayer, of Salem. He can and does take fish where 
none are supposed to exist, and laughs to scorn many of 
the fixed rules of your ancient angler. He does not take 
any lengthy vacation, but manages to get away during 
the fishing season on many short trips of two or three 
days duration. His first one of this year will begin next 
Monday, when he starts for Plymouth, intending to fish 
Eel River for brownbacks or California trout, with which 
this stream has been stocked. Mr. Thayer is now anx- 
iously waiting for the ice to go out of Newfound Lake in 
£ lew Hampshire, He goes up there every Bpring and gets 
the very first of the salmon fishing. 
g „ A P ° r . tla ?d friend tells me that the ice in Sebago Lake is 
i °It i\ thlck ' In 8 P ite of these formidable figures the 
landlocked salmon fishermen, who go there in the early 
spring, are expecting it to break up about the usual time, 
that is, the last of April. A party of Portland men have 
organized a fishing club and are building a club house, 
which is said to be very fine. It is expected that an un- 
usual number of anglers will fish Sebago waters this 
spring, as the lake has been steadily growing in favor with 
salmon fishermen during the last five years 
Mr. H. Marston, of Boston, returned a few days ago 
from California. He has been out there several weeks 
and states that he had good sheepshead fishing, which 
he enjoyed very much. Just before starting East he 
reached a place on the coast where the salmon were run- 
ning. 
H. B. Stowell, of Boston, has been on the Pacifio coast 
for about two months. He reached home last week. 
Trout fishing and some shooting furnished him with recre- 
ation during his stay in the West, and he came back with 
many pleasant memories of the trip. 
Ed. Grant, the Maine guide who was with the Maine 
exhibit at the New York Exposition, spent a few days in 
Boston this week en route to his home. The redoubtable 
Ed. has been having quite a vacation visiting friends in 
other cities since the show ended, and during his short 
stay in the Hub he was followed in his perambulations by 
ripples of laughter from those he met over the quaint 
stories which he tells of experiences in the Maine woods. 
He has no equal in this accomplishment, and is a general 
all-round favorite among sportsmen. 
That Boston sportsmen's exhibition which was to take 
place in Mechanics Building early in May has been aban- 
doned, at least for this year. Nearly all of the Boston 
sporting goods houses signed a paper requesting that the 
show be put over until next year, on the grounds of lack 
of time for preparation, etc. A show of this magnitude 
cannot be carried to a successful issue in such a short time, 
and May would have proved much too late to hold it. It 
was a wise move for all concerned to put it over. 
In a recent issue of Forest and Stream I mentioned 
something of a fire which occurred a short time ago on 
the preserve of the Inglewood Fish and Game Corpora- 
tion in New Brunswick. I have since learned that the 
club property destroyed was much more extensive than 
reports at that time indicated. The buildings destroyed 
were the main club house, cook house and guides' room, 
guides' house, ice house and the new lounging camp, only 
one year old. Very fortunately the burned buildings 
were partially insured, so there will be some reimburse- 
ment for the loss. The fire took place on Sunday night 
and its origin is unknown. The warden, who was living 
in the guides' house, discovered fire issuing from the roof 
of the club house, and it was but a few moments more 
when the structure burst into flames. The club will re- 
build at once, and it is the intention to put up a two- 
story log camp about 22x45f t. A partition will run across 
the center, with fireplace on each side. There will be a 
dining and lounging room downstairs and eight sleeping 
rooms on the upper floor. An 8ft. covered piazza will 
run around three sides of the building, and there will be 
accommodation for about fifteen people. In addition to 
this the club have two nice camps, which were not 
burned, that will accommodate twelve people. Other 
buildings for cooking purposes, guides' dining room and 
ice storage will be built, and all will be finished in time 
for the early fishing, for which a good-sized party is 
now organizing to go down. The club have placed in 
their waters in each of the last five years 50,000 sea salmon 
fry, and have built a fishway at (one place 32ft. high, 
costing a large amount of money. There are twenty- six 
lakes and ponds on the property, in all of which good 
fishing can be had. Hackle. 
New England Trout Seasons. 
Charleston, N. H., April 9.— Although we have had a 
long, cold winter, the streams have not frozen to the bot- 
tom as they did the two previous winters, and the pros- 
pect for trout, in due season, is better than last year. But 
even May 1, to which our open season has been restored, 
will be full early. The fact is, that the middle of May, in 
average years, is early enough for Maine, New Hampshire 
and Vermont, and all northern New York, say north of 
the line of the Erie Canal; while south of that, and for 
Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, May 1 is 
early enough, except for the few streams which empty 
into Long Island Sound and Buzzard's Bay, where trout 
can be taken in April. 
Our game seasons of all kinds begin too early and last 
too long if we expect the future generations to know any- 
thing of wild gams except by tradition. 
I hope you will "stand by your colors," as I know you 
will, to prohibit the sale of game and abolish "spring 
shooting." von W. 
Maine Ice. 
Augusta, Me,, April 5.— While fishing through the ice 
last week (I think it was Tuesday, March 31) I saw an 
English snipe pass overhead. I do not think, however, 
that these birds have arrived in any great number yet! 
The ice on the lake where I was fishing was about 15in. 
thick on an average. Oae hole was cut, however, where 
the ice was 34in. in thickness, though of course this is 
unusual, and probably found only in a few places. One 
can think how much thawing or warm rains it must take 
to break up this ice, and it will probably be some time 
before he can go fly-fishing at Rangeley. 
G. S. Morton. 
Cape Cod Trout. 
Dr. G. B. Harriman, of Boston, recently bought a 
farm and trout brook in South Wellfleet, on the Cape 
The first day of April he caught twenty-four trout that 
^ ,ei g he al'jibs. They were counted and weighed by Mr 
G. W. Holbrook, of Wellfleet. H. 
