74 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July 28, 1894. 
FEEDING HABITS OF TROUT. 
Seattle, Wash. — I have caught a large number of 
brook troufc, or what are locally called brook trout, and 
have had several surprises in doing so this season. First 
I found that, in brooks which empty into the Sound, 
these trout take a fly better right on the beach bplow high 
tide mark than thev do up in the woods. I caught 33 
trout, ranging from 6 to 13in., in one brook about 6 or 
8ft. wide, between tides on the same day. I started when 
the water had gone down about 4ft. (perpendicular), and 
quit when it came in again to about the same point. 
They were all taken with flies and bit at any fly offered. 
To test this I changed my whole string of flies three or 
four times. I used the governor, coachman, brown and 
gray hackles, scarlefc-ibis, miller and white-moth, also 
several other flies which I do not remember now. They 
took them all alike. While dressing them I examined 
the contents of the stomachs and found only one fly com- 
mon in all. This was a dark fly, and on comparison I 
found the artificial governor a very close counterfeit. 
Two or three individuals had one or more other flies in 
addition to a good feed of the dark one. Several fish 
had from ;pne to three or four shrimp, and all had 
in the stomach a few of the grubs known locally as 
"periwinkles." One little fellow measuring 4in. had a 
frog, which when laid on the table and straightened 
out registered 5 in. in length! He was a mighty "fat" 
trout when he got hold of my coachmau, and he had 
the frog stowed away shipshape and doubled up as they 
pose on the mud at the edge of the spring, ready to 
leap. The next day I whipped the same stream back 
in the woods about half a mile from the beach, and got 6 
fish all day. 
Now, why were well-fed trout down on the open beach 
eating all sorts of stuff, when they had only to run above 
high tide mark to reach an ideal stream with gravel, 
riffles, pools, shade and an abundance of the flies which 
leave a good taste in a trout's mouth? 
Two days afterward I caught the same species, in good 
condition, in the opan bay (salt water) with a spinner 
worked with a rod from the steamboat wharf. They 
were jumping to fly and rushing at a minnow which 
seemed to be the young of what is locally known as salmon 
trout; but they took a spinner greedily, and on opening six 
individuals I found|£that [not a single stomach contained 
other food than shrimps. 
Last week I fished a stream near Seattle where in sev- 
eral years' experience I could never get a rise to anything 
except a governor and a brown-hackle. These two flies 
did not tempt them at all this time; but they took a gray- 
hackle and a white-miller just as greedily as they have 
always taken the governor and brown-hackle at this time 
and under the same conditions in former years. Why is 
this thus? 
Can Judge Greene or some of our readers who are 
authority on these fishy things give us a reason, or explain 
why these facts are facts among the erratic denizens of 
the brook? I have always supposed the trout to be a 
strictly fresh-water fish of well-developed and very par- 
ticular appetite; yet I find him up to all sorts of things 
unbecoming to a citizen of his reputation. Let us have 
the search light turned on him and see if we can find him 
out. 
I inclose a water color drawing of the fish I speak of, 
made from life with the object of positive identification. 
I cannot settle on his real name from the many aliases he 
travels under on this coast, and so send you his picture 
from life; color and form are as near as I can reproduce 
it, though it lacks that peculiar metallic luster of the living 
fish which eludes the brush and defies reproduction. 
What and who is he? El Coatancho. 
[The fish shown is the Salmo irideus, rainbow trout, 
also called California trout, and as here, brook trout. The 
species is known to go to sea, but for the most part is 
found in the upper portions of the stream. Eastern brook 
trout in streams flowing into the sea also visit Bait water. 
Some of the Long Island trout are noted for the richer 
flavor acquired by such visits.] 
BOSTON AND MAINE. 
Boston, July 21.— The hot weather has been against 
the Boston fishermen of late. There has been some 
going down the harbor and codfishing, while perch fish- 
ing begins to be the order of the day, and some good 
Btrings are daily taken off Beachmont and Swampscott. 
In the streams the water is remarkably low, and the New 
England lakes and ponds are beginning to suffer from 
the dry weather. The brooks around the Cape and 
about Barnstable Bay are still yielding a few strings of 
trout. A couple of Boston gentlemen stopping at a Fal- 
mouth seaside hotel, went out the other day with a result 
of 52 trout, which were served on the hotel table the next 
morning. They do not give the name of the brook and 
object to the publishing of their names. 
The State of Maine country boy is interested in hunting 
and fishing. Well he may be, for the opportunity is all- 
around him. Master Frank Moody, who is at present with 
his grandmother at Hebron, Maine, is a good deal of a 
fisherman for a boy, and also a good shot with either 
shQtgun or rifle. He is a graduate of the Edward Little 
High scool at Auburn, Maine. This introduction is made 
only to prevent the impression that he may be some- 
thing of a backwoodsman. It may also be added here 
that at Hebron is the academy where ex-Governor Long, 
Hon. Hanmbal Hamlin, afterward vice-president, and 
many another man who has made a national fame re- 
ceived the rudiments of his education and fitted for 
college. Both gentlemen were always great lovers of 
the line and rod, and both have fished the very streams 
that Master Frank mentions below. His Aunt Emma, 
who lives in Boston, is a successful angler, and has a. 
record of an bibs, trout at Richardson Lake. She has 
recently returned from her annual fishing trip to the 
Rangeley waters, and Master Frank writes her the follow- 
ing letter; 
Dear Aunt Emma: I am glad that you had good luck at the lakes. 
1 tuougJit ot you lots, and wondered in -what ponds you were flshine 
I had quite good luck at Sumner the other day, catciiing 125 trout in 
fishing less than ten hours. Two of them weighed over half a pound 
They probably seem small to you, but are large for the brooks in 
Sumner. I went down on the Cushman Brook Commencement Dav 
and caught twelve trout. They were all over Via. long, and two were 
9 and lOin. long. ° 
You can't guess what Madie saw the other day. I was feedine mv 
chickens, so lost the sight. Elwell, the hired man, came runnine in 
and got Madie. They ran out into the field, and there, feeding in our 
oats, was a deer— a big one) Dan Paul, the other hired man, held the 
dog, and Madie got up to within less than three rods of the deer. Juat 
think of it! Couldn't any one almost have shot it with an air rifle? It 
was not frightened. Ic walked off, and they followed it almost half 
an hour. By and by it came to the wire fence, and then it doubled up 
and slipped over it so neatly that they hardly knew it was gone. It 
then disappeared down into Ike Bearce's pasture. 
Master Frank's chagrin at his sister seeing the deer and 
he being left behind, would be almost pathetic to those 
who know the boy's great love for the inhabitants of the 
forests. He climbed a tall oak last autumn and caught in 
his hands a couple of gray squirrels. He came down with 
them, notwithstanding the pain and bleeding of his 
hands from their bites. He made a box cage for them. 
Soon they became very tame and he made pets of them. 
But, alas! they never fully forgot their native oaks, and 
took the first opportunity to make their escape. 
F, E. Stanley, of Newton, Mass. , was born in King-field, 
Me. He does not forget the trout streams in that section, 
fished so many times in his boyhood. The other day he 
paid a short visit to the farm of bis brother Isaac, three 
miles from Kingfieid village, and under the brow of 
Mount Abram. In the morning Frank asked Isaac if 
there were any^ trout in the brook. It rises up in the 
mountain and makes the watershed on that side. Isaac 
admitted that this season they had caught about the room 
full where they were sitting. They fitted up their lines 
and started. The brook was fairly high; there has 
been an abundance of rain in that part of the country 
this season. They fished up the stream a short distance, 
starting in at the point where the horses are watered. In 
less than an hour they had more than twenty beauties, 
weighing a quarter of a pound and upwards. Noticing 
that the brook was cold, and that the trout were unus- 
ually hard, Frank, who is a good deal of a scientist and 
investigator, tried the water with a thermometer and 
found it to register fifty-four, though the weather has been 
extremely hot at times. The brook is fed by springs in 
the mountain side. Though the book is not specially pro- 
tected, yet Mr. Isaac Stanley feels that at least the lion's 
share of the trout there belongs to himself and his friends, 
since the land belongs to him. 
Mr. E, C. Stevens, with Stillman F. Kelley, is spending 
his vacation in Middlebury, Vt. He is not there without 
line and rod, by any means. He writes me, under date 
of July 20: "Here I am in my native element, enjoying 
pretty good fishing. I landed a five-pound pickerel from 
Lake Duntnore, Salisbury, on Tuesday. Yesterday I 
caught eight pickerel in Otter Creek, weighing from 
two to four pounds. I am trying for a big one. They 
catch them here as large as 12 to lSlbs., but I fear I am 
rather late in the season," 
Mr. Charley S. Keyo starts for the Mountain View 
House, Rangeley Lakes, this week. Special. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
The Law on Netting Trout. 
A lady, the wife of a well known angler, writes me 
for information as to the year it became illegal to catch 
trout with a net. "I learn from the 'old time' fishers 
that many used to be taken here that way. I have been 
asked to write a chapter for a small history of the village 
of Salem, Washington county, N. Y., on the subject of 
fishing. I suppose this is because my husband is so fond 
of that sport. White Creek has been noted for many 
years for the fine trout that, make their home in its 
waters, and I thought I would like to note the contrast 
between fishing with net and scientific fly-fishing, if I 
could fix upon the year that it became illegal to use 
the net." 
A request from a lady is a command. I searched the 
Session Laws and became so interested in what I found 
in the ruusty old laws that I nearly missed my train home. 
Somewhat to my surprise I found that the first trout law 
in the State of New York, unless there was a Jaw passed 
between 1801 and 1812, for which years the printed laws 
were missing, relating specifically to trout and the man- 
ner of taking them in certain waters, was passed to cover 
the very waters in Washington county about which my 
correspondent inquires. This law was adopted in 1819, 
and provided that it should not be lawful to take any 
trout in the Battenkill or any of its tributary streams, in 
the county of Washington, in any other manner than 
with hook and line, and the fine was fixed at $25. 
I think I recently referred to the fishing in the Batten- 
kill, although I may have mentioned it by its Indian 
name of Ondawa. White Creek is a tributary of the 
Battenkill. I fished the main stream in Vermont from 
Manchester down to about the Washington county line 
for nine or ten years in succession, and always found fair 
fly-fishing-, and in Washington county it was even better, 
and perhaps the very reasonable and just law passed by 
our law makers in 1819 had something to do with educat- 
ing the people to this end. However that may be, our 
forefathers knew how to frame a good fish law. 
Another Old Law. 
I found another law, passed in 1813, which read: "That 
it shall not be lawful to draw any seine, set any net, make 
any weir or other obstruction in the following rivers, 
running into Lake Ontario, viz.: The Big Salmon River 
or Creek, or within one hundred rods of the mouth 
thereof; Oswego River, Grass River, Racket River, Sfc. 
Regis River, Wood Creek, Fish Creek, and the different 
branches which empty into said streams, whereby the 
salmon may be diverted from pursuing their usual course 
up said river, creek or streams, and every person offend- 
ing therein shall, for every offens°, forfeit $25, besides the 
salmon he may take by such nets, seines, weirs, etc." 
A similar law was passed in 1801, except that a less 
number of rivers and creekB were mentioned. Sec. VI., 
of the law of 1813 provided: "That it shall not be lawful 
for any person to take any salmon in the waters (naming 
the waters of Sec. I.) by net, hook, spear or any other de- 
vice whatsoever, in the months of October or November 
in any year." This is good evidence that salmon were 
taken with hook and line in waters more than forty miles 
from tide water. I am too fast; here is evidence in the 
laws that I have quoted, that salmon were taken with 
hook and line in the waters mentioned in the act, and 
when it is remembered that salmon to get to the waters 
of Oneida county, N. Y,, bad to ascend the St. Lawrence 
and so through Lake Ontario, it will be seen that those 
who feared that salmon would not rise to the fly in the 
upper waters of the Hudson, have raised fears that are 
groundless if we reason by analogy. Furthermore, now 
that the U. S, Fish Commission has located its salmon 
and whitefish hatching station on the St. Lawrence River, 
it is interesting to know of the streams that were once 
salmon rivers, although it is quite probable that iu some of 
them the salmon fishing cannot be restored. 
Salmon and Fishways Long Ago. 
In view of the effort being made to open the Hudson 
River with fishways to permit the ascent of the salmon, 
it is of interest to read how our law-makers regarded 
fishways nearly one hundred years ago. The following 
law was passed in April, 1801: 
"And be it further enacted, that the owner or owners 
of mill or other dams, which were on the 28th day of 
March, one thousand eight hundred, made across any 
river or creek running into lakes Ontario, Erie or Cham- 
plain, so as to prevent the usual course of the salmon from 
going up the said rivers or creeks, shall on or before the 
first day of October next so alter such dams by making 
a slope thereto not exceeding forty-five degrees and 
planked in such smooth manner that salmon may easily 
pass over into the waters above the dam, or by removing 
the obstructions of such dam in any other manner so that 
salmon may freely pass into the waters above such dams; 
under a penalty of two hundred dollars, to be recovered 
and applied as aforesaid, and in case such dam shall not 
be so altered within the time mentioned such dam shall 
be adjudged a public nuisance." The idea of what con- 
stituted a fish way in 1801 was rather crude, but our law- 
makers of that time meant well and they were deter- 
mined evidently that salmon should not be impeded on 
their way to their spawning beds. 
To-day a law declaring a dam furnishing water power 
a nuisance would be a very harsh measure, but fish have 
rights that are not respected by the owners of dams, and 
the United States Supreme Court has so declared in an 
opinion which virtually obliges every dam owner to build 
a fishway in such dams as may impede the free move- 
ment up and down the streams containing fish used as 
food. Fishways may be built in the Hudson which will 
give the salmon every right to which they are entitled, 
without interfering with the water power or taking from 
the owners of dams any right to which they are entitled 
as owners or manufacturers or employers. I have found 
very recently that when the fishway question was ex- 
plained to mill owners and they understood it fully they 
have offered no objection to them. 
Chub or Fall Fish. 
I suppose that every fisherman is acquainted with the 
chub, fall fish, silver chub, or conical trout, as it is called 
in New England because of its fancied resemblance to the 
brook trout. It is a fish that rises to the fly, takes a spoon, 
or bait, and is a fair fighter when hooked. Its flesh is 
white, but soft, and as we have so many better fish for 
the table, the poor chub is despised and rejected. I have 
caught many chub in many waters, and must confess that 
I never tasted one until a day or two ago, and then by 
mistake. I was fly-fishing for black bass in Sunapee Lake, 
N. H., where the water is very cold and pure, and caught 
a chub of about a pound in weight, and was just about to 
throw it back into the water when Dr. Quackenboss 
stopped me by saying that one of the family preferred 
chub to bass when cooked. When the chub was cooked 
with the bass by a strange chance the chub fell to me. I 
saw at once that the fish on my plate was not a bass, but 
I did not known what it was, as I had forgotten his chub- 
ship. Being taught to eat what was set before me, 1 pro- 
ceeded on those lines until I spotted the fine bones of the 
chub, and apologized to the lady of the family for having 
appropriated her fish through the error of the carver. I 
found the flesh very good, a trifle sweet, but much firmer 
than I would have believed it possible to be. I cannot 
say that I am absolutely in love with the fish for the 
table, but fresh from cold water it is sweet and good, and 
if it were called something besides chub it would be rel- 
ished by people who now \urn up their noses at chub. I 
am glad to find that a fish so game as the chub on the 
hook has fair table qualities. A. N. Cheney. 
Another Florida Tarpon Ground. 
Grove City, Fla. , July 17.— Lemon Bay, Florida, stretch- 
ing 12 or 14 miles along the Gulf coast, just northeast of 
Punta Gorda, is a great feeding ground for almost all 
varieties of fish from the Gulf. Your readers have prob- 
ably heard little about it, as it is only a few months since 
the Gasparilla Hotel was finished and accommodationK 
provided for guests. I moved here from Chicago last 
September and shall stay here and raise fruit. I am not 
an expert angler, but I have made frequent trips across 
the bay, three-fourths of a mile, to Stump Pass, where 
the waters of the Gulf enter the bay, and am always 
rewarded for my row with a fine string of channel bass, 
sheepshead, ladyfish, mangrove snapper, cavalli, sea trout. 
Spanish mackerel, grouper and flounders. There is no 
long waiting for a strike here, and no little part of the 
enjoyment is in the variety of the game — at one moment 
reeling in a Slbs. snapper and five minutes afterward play- 
ing a 201bs. channel bass. 1 started in, however, to tell 
you a big fish story, and will not dwell on the minnows 
longer. 
As the tarpon is not an edible fish, there is little induce- 
ment for the residents here to fish for them. I have seen 
a few killed, and have often watched them swimming in 
the water, so I knew there was a chance for as good sport 
as your correspondent had at Fort Myers; in fact, reading 
that article in one of your May numbers started me m 
my first seeking for tarpon. Last Monday, having secured 
the assistance of Mr. Rigby, we started out bright and 
early, with all the necessary tackle for a day of it. I am 
not proud of the result, and shall not dwell on the details, 
as I had three runs in less than as many hours, and loot 
all three fish. But I at last found something on my hook 
that stayed there— in fact, we went sailing off to the Gulf 
as though harnessed to a pair of porpoises. After 4lj 
minutes of excitement we landed a sea bass or jewfisli 
weighing 2931bs., length Oft. 6in. For myself and my 
neighbors we prefer our catch to the three tarpon we did 
not get; but I don't give up that I can't kill a tarpon, and 
you shall hear of my next try at it. 
In addition to fish, turtle, oysters and clams, we have 
excellent hunting here in season, and a climate that can- 
not be beaten anywhere. The hotel will be open next 
season, and expert fishermen looking for tarpon can find 
them by hundreds in Lemon Bay. J. ;S. 
