Nov. 10, 1894.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
407 
bluish silver beneath the flies, like the sudden blaze of an 
old mine stone! Instinctively your wrist turns and 
tbe barb of your tiny hook is set in the lip of 
a 14lbs. Loch Leven trout. The moment you have 
dreamed of for years has come at last. Be cautious, for 
your tackle is refined to the utmost, and your fish is the 
prince of finny diplomats. His first rush is toward the 
drifting boat. "Catch the pirn I" cries tbe watchful oars- 
man, and in response you reel madly on the slack and 
lead your fish successfully past the bow. Who but a 
lover of the angle can conceive of the exalted thrill 
which accompanied the rush of that trout at the descend- 
ing "teal and red" — who else, that erethism, short-lived, 
unearthly, that electrified every nerve in your frame as 
you twisted the steel into his jaw and felt him "fast" — 
that concentration of delight in the struggle that fol- 
lowed, wherein the noblest fish that God has made 
matched his brute intellect, perhaps bis manifold experi- 
ence, against your reason and art; wherein your wand- 
like Leonard gracefully responded to his desperate leaps 
for life, and arched in perfection to his wild circles. 
Who but an angler knows of the sweet calm that followed 
victory, as you tenderly placed your dying captive on the 
skiff bottom, and wearied by the excitement, sat down to 
watch his brilliance fade, with the feeling that if your 
life were forthwith to end, you bad not altogether lived 
in vain. 
May I entertain the hope that some day you — the dear 
companion of many a happy outing — will fish with me 
over the shoals of the storied loch; for I know that an intro- 
duction to the capricious, sharp-eyed, quick eared beauty 
himself must convert you from the stupid theory that 
makes him one with the good-natured, slow-going, worm- 
loving synthesis of ocellated spots, and yellow netherness, 
and orange fins. John D. Quaceenbos. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
Salmon in Lake Champlain. 
Fish Commissioner John W. Titcomb, of Vermont, 
writes me: "I recently heard a report that landlocked 
salmon had been taken in Lake Champlain, and that 
Walter Button, who keeps the lighthouse near Burlington, 
was conversant with the facts in the case. I wrote him 
and received in answer the reply which I send you with 
the inquiry whether you have heard anything about this, 
and whether you believe there is anything to it." 
Mr. Button states the case as follows: "I am in receipt 
of yours referring to landlocked salmon. The salmon 
was taken in April, 1894, with a spear by a man living 
about one mile north of Port Kent, N. Y. The dressed 
weight of the salmon was 12^1 bs. This man saw others 
of about the same weight. 1 think this fish was taken 
near the mouth of the Au Sable Kiver, and I also think it 
is not generally known in that locality that any salmon 
has been taken." 
I had not heard of this particular fish mentioned by 
Mr. Button, and it is not at all probable that it was a land- 
locked salmon, as the first of this species planted in the 
tributaries of Lake Champlain were planted on the Ver- 
mont side of the lake in November, 1891, and they would 
scarcely grow to a dressed weight of 12+lbs. in three years. 
The fish was, without doubt, a sea salmon, and it is not 
unusual to find sea salmon in Lake Champlain, on the 
New York side, as the result of planting fry in the Saranac 
Eiver. In Forest and Stream June 2, 1894, in a note 
under the head of "Salmon from Lake Champlain," I 
mentioned that two salmon were killed at the mouth of 
the Saranac, and 10 or 12 others were seen. The same 
note told of a number of plants of salmon fry made on 
both sides of the lake. 
Only a few hours after I received Mr. Titcomb's letter, 
about Port Kent fish, Mr. J. W. Burdick, general pas- 
senger agent of the D. & H. R R., wrote me from Albany 
as follows: "It will interest you to know that on Monday 
last I obtained authentic information of a sea salmon ap- 
proximating about 201bs. weight, having been seen in 
Lake Champlain, near Westport, this season. The fish 
was not caught, but Mr. Bishop, the man who saw it, is 
an intelligent and caretul naturalist and says there is no 
question whatever as to the identity of the fish." 
Plants for Ponds and Color for Boats. 
Mr. Edwin Hallam sends me another letter containing 
these queries: "I have just read your researches on the 
Loch Leven trout printed in Forest and Stream. In the 
latter part of the article you mention some plant food for 
the trout family. Will you in some of your future notes 
in Forest and Stream give the common English names 
of some of the plants, how and where to plant them, 
whether the seed or roots and character of bottom where 
grown? 
' 'Here is another and perhaps foolish query, at least it so 
appeared to me when 1 first heard of it; but I would like 
your opinion on it. In Jake and river fishing, does the 
outside color of the boat used have any influence in scar- 
ing the fish? In other words, if a boat is painted white 
outside would it be more likely to frighten fish than one 
painted lead color or some neutral tint? 1 have known 
fishermen who will not go fishing in a boat that is painted 
white on the outside if they can obtain any other." 
To answer the last question first I may say that I have 
known fishermen who would not go fishing unless the 
"sign was right" and the two men would contend for a 
different sign. In fact, old Jake Hutcheson at 8unapee 
Lake swears by one "sign" on one day and another "sign" 
on another day, depending upon his success. He changes 
so easily and so frequently that I think during the year 
he must swear by all the signs of the Zodiac. I think 
Jake would be just the man to tell about the proper color 
to paint a boat. Personally, I have never concerned my- 
self about the outside of tne boat from which I fished. 
If it was dry inside and reasonably safe it was enough. 
However, now that 1 think of it 1 believe I have fished 
more from boats white or very light color outside than 
from boats of any other color, and 1 do not believe the 
color makes any more difference to a fish than it does 
whether you smoke a five cent Grabiola or a twenty-five 
cent Perfecto when you sit in the boat. 
In my reference to aquatic plants for trout waters I 
did not mean to be uudenstood that the plants themselves 
were to serve as food for trout, but rather that the water 
vegetation supported the food of the fish. Livingston 
Stone says: "Water plants consume carbon and return 
oxygen. Trout consume oxygen and return caroon. By 
putting plants and fish together, therefore, we avail our- 
selves of one of nature's great universal agencies, in bal- 
ancing vital forces against each other, and maintaining 
the equilibrium on which the continuance of organic life 
depends." 
While aquatic plants are most desirable in trout waters, 
great care should be exercised to introduce only those 
that are desirable, for there are many that are wholly un- 
desirable. Mr. Armistead, of the Salway Fishery in 
Scotland, recommends water lobelia and water quill- 
wort. ' 'The water quillwort does well in water any depth 
up to 10 or 12ft., and does not attain a height of more 
than a few inches; it soon covers the bottom with a grass- 
like looking carpet. The water lobelia does best in water 
from a foot to 3ft. deep, and sends up a single flower 
stem." To plant them, he recommends that grass sods be 
cut and placed grass downward and the roots of the 
water plants be pricked into the soil, and then the sods 
are lowered into the water where desired. I have read 
very recently that Mr. Armistead had a book in press in 
which this subject will probably be treated at length, but 
I cannot now recall where I saw it or who is to pub- 
lish it. 
Mr. Thomas Andrews, a most successful trout breeder 
in England, says, "If I may be allowed to venture an 
opinion, I will name as the most desirable weeds to culti- 
vate, watercress, starwort, crawfoot and water celery. 
Many southern rivers contain all these forms of vegeta- 
tion, and they can be easily introduced into other waters. 
There can be no doubt that the reason of our southern 
trout running to such a size is owing to the great grow th 
of vegetation, and the abundance of insect life which it 
supports." If Mr. Hallam will write to W. P. Seal, 907 
Filbert street, Philadelphia, Pa., he can find out all about 
aquatic plants from A to Z. 
Hook Chart and Jam Knot. 
I believe that I have now sent out charts showing old 
and new scale of numbering fish hooks, with illustrations 
of jam and slip knots, to all that applied for them. One 
postal card was dated Charlestown, with no State, and I 
assumed it was Charlestown, Mass., from the street 
number given, as I happen to know that Charlestown, 
N. H., has no such number. Another card was from 
Iona, with no State, and the post mark furnished no clue, 
so I sent the chart to Michigan. If I have overlooked 
any request for charts I will be glad to remedy the over- 
sight, as I now have plenty of the circulars. 
In explanation 1 may say that I sent out at first a lot of 
charts in eight-page form, and when I sent to England 
for more I could only obtain about a dozen of them, but 
I did get a quantity in another form showing various 
forms of hooks with diagram of knots on a separate 
sheet. 
Landlocked Salmon for Lake Champlain. 
A week is supposed to have elapsed since I wrote the 
first note in this week's issue of Forest and Stream, and 
in fact it has elapsed. 
I received a letter from the IT. S. Fish Commission 
which read in part as follows: ; As the trip to Lake 
George with landlocked salmon was . such a success I 
think it advisable to try and move another carload of 
these fish to Lake Champlain as referred to in the Com- 
missioner's letter to you on Dec. 4, 1893. The car can go 
to Albany, thence over the Delaware & Hudson R. R. 
to such places on the lake as you think desirable. Will 
you arrange the transportation for the car and crew, 
making special arrangements to have the car hauled over 
the D. & H. The car can leave Green Lake with the fish 
as soon as these arrangements are made." 
As I was not expecting that this car load of fingerling 
salmon would be planted on the New York side of Lake 
Champlain, I was somewhat unprepared to carry out the 
directions of the Commission so iar as selecting suitable 
streams might be concerned, and that was all important 
to the success of the plant. The Chief Executive of the 
United States occasionally addressed a letter to some 
"great and good friend," but I did better than that, for 
I addressed two letters to two great and good friends. 
The first, Mr. J, W. Burdick, the general passenger agent 
of the D. & H. R. R., sent me transportation for the car 
and crew by return mail, and said he would go up the 
Champlain division of his road and examine the streams 
near Plattsburg and tell me all about them so I would 
not have to go myself. The second, Mr. W. C. Wither- 
bee, of Port Henry, commodore of the American Canoe 
Association, wrote very promptly that he would go up 
the line of railroad and examine the' streams near West 
Port, Port Douglass, etc., and that he would furnish 
teams to take the fish from the car to the streams. The 
car started from Green Lake Oct. 25 with 10,000 finger- 
ling salmon. Mr. Elihu Vedder, of Rome, Italy, was my 
guest at the time and I invited him to go with me and 
see how fish were transported and planted. The car 
was No. 4 in charge of Captain T. C. Pearce, and when 
I met it early Saturday morning, my first question to Capt. 
Pearce was, "How are the fish?" When he said "Bad, 
very bad," his face was so serious I thought something 
serious had happened, but an examination of the contents 
of the hundred cans in the car showed the best carload of 
landlocked salmon ever transported a journey of forty- 
eight hours. The fish had grown remarkably since the 
trip of car No. 4 to Lake George, and they were all large 
and thrifty. The total loss for the entire trip was 230, 
making it the banner trip with this species of fish. Mr. 
Burdick had written me that he would make the journey 
with the car, but wired me Saturday that he was unex- 
pectedly called elsewhere much to my regret, for he has 
for years taken such an active interest m stocking the 
waters of northern New York with fish, I hoped he might 
see this planting of salmon made. We were favored 
with perfect Indian summer weather, and as the car rolled 
along the shore of Lake Champlain, the talk of its occupants 
was about fish. Mr. Vedder, who is familiar with and 
takes a great interest in all that relates to Japan and the 
Japanese, told of Japanese fish and fishing, and put a 
question to me which I could only pass. Many people 
have seen the Japanese gold fish with their tails, and 
doubtless wondered how the Japs succeeded in breeding 
the fish with the extra tails. Mr. Vedder leased a villa in 
Perugia, Italy, for a number of summers, and he says 
that on the property there was an artifical pond contain- 
ing gold fish, and they had occupied the pond for a hun- 
dred years or more, and, certainly there had been no 
introduction of gold fish 'from Japan. Yet these fish, 
some of them, developed three tails. As this could not 
have been the result of Japanese skill in breeding cur- 
iously formed fishes, what was it? Was it just Mother 
Nature and inbreeding? 
At Port Henry Mr. Witherbee met the car, and the fish 
m sixty cans were taken off, doubled into thirty cans, 
and three teams started with them for three different 
trout streams flowing into the lake without dams, mills or 
falls on them. The car went on to West Port and Port 
Douglass, and twenty cans were taken off at each place, 
where teams were waiting to take the fish to other trout 
streams tributary to the lake. Mr. Vedder and I re- 
mained at Port Henry, the guests of Mr. Witherbee. We 
followed the teams to the streams and saw the salmon 
planted in ideal water, and when this was done we drove 
to the top of Bulwagga Mountain, where we had a view 
difficult to surpass. The next day we went by steamer 
with Mr. Witherbee and Dr. Chas. A. Neide to Fort Crown 
Point and Fort St. Frederick, taking a Peterboro canoe 
with us. After walking over the old ruins, little known 
in comparison with Fort Ticonderoga, but much greater 
in extent, and well worthy of preservation for historical 
associations,we listened at sun setting for the quail which 
Mr. Witherbee has planted around the old ruins, and 
which have done remarkably well in spite of the cold 
winters, and then in the gloaming we paddled back to the 
Bulwagga boat house. The next morning the fish car re- 
turned from Plattsburg and we joined it. Port Henry is 
far and away the best place to plant fish that I ever 
struck, provided Mr. Witherbee and Dr. Neide assist at 
the planting, and I would like to make a plant up there 
every few months. Aside from the personal pleasure 
that Mr.Witherbee's guests are sure to derive, the streams 
are in every way suitable for the salmon, and they will be 
protected in the streams by Supervisors' law, and fed 
by plantings of natural food if such proves to be neces- 
sary. A. N. Cheney. 
Pleasant Pond Landlocked Salmon* 
Charlestown. N. H., Nov. 2.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Some three weeks since Mr. Cheney in his 
"Angling Notes" published a letter from Commissioner 
Wentworth, of New Hampshire, on the stocking of Pleas- 
ant Pond, in New London, with landlocked salmon, and 
the rapid and remarkable growth they had shown. 
Now, with all due respect to Mr. Wentworth, I think 
he was entirely mistaken in supposing that he made the 
first plant of these fish in Pleasant Pond, for if my mem- 
ory serves me right, and it usually does, my colleague on 
the Fish Commission put a few hundred fry in this pond 
in 1879 or '80. 
I know he abstracted a few from one of the large lots 
sent to Sunapee about that time, and placed them in two 
other trout lakes in the vicinity. One of them I know 
was Star Pond in Springfield, and I think the other was 
Pleasant Pond. I transmitted all my regular records to 
my successor, and all my private notes and correspond- 
ence with a copy of the lists of lakes in the State stocked 
and unstocked were destroyed by fire three years ago. 
Still, my memory is very clear on the point, and I know 
we made t several small plants of fry experimentally, with- 
out any public announcement of the fact. Among the 
ponds so stocked were the Campton Ponds in Sandwich, 
and Commissioner Hodge and I visited them two years 
later, and took three or four salmon a foot long as sam- 
ples, and I carried two of them down to Manchester and 
exhibited them. It is very doubtful if any one but 
Powers and his nephew knew of the plant in Pleasant 
Pond, but I am very sure it was made about 1880, and 
this will account for the I2lb3. fish to-day. 
I have been hoping to see an account from "W. W. B." 
of gray squirrel shooting on Skitsiwauke, as the bushy- 
tailed gentry have been more plenty on this side of the 
river than for many years past. 
A young friend of mine shot fourteen one day a month 
ago, and our village baker got sixteen and was back for 
dinner. I am on the retired list now, my right eye.which 
has been troubling me for some years, has at last refused 
to work in the woods, and I am too old to learn to shoot 
left-handed. It does not matter much, for the desire "to 
go out and kill something" departs with advancing years, 
and I am content to read Forest and Stream and enjoy 
the stories of the exploits and successes of a younger gen- 
eration, and am glad once more tohearirom "Shoshone." 
When in funds I shall send for the "Danvis Folks." 
Von W. 
Cayuga Lake Black Bass. 
Ithaca, N. Y. — Messrs. Finch and Goodwin claim the 
laurel branch of victory for the finest catch of black bass 
made at this end of Cayuga Lake this season. In a few- 
hours' fishing one afternoon recently they caught five 
bass, the total weight of which was 17f lbs. Every one 
was a beauty and a fighter from Fighterville. A local 
angler, who claims to have facts to back up his pessimistic 
views, asserts that the enormous quantity of carp at this 
extremity of the lake is destined to destroy the true 
angler's sport very shortly. M. CHILL. 
Hudson River Striped Bass. 
Sing Sing.— The members of the Point Senasqua Rod 
and Reel Club catch of striped bass on Oct. 27 on Croton 
Point Reef was the best of the season, some 60 being taken 
from lib. up. H. S. S. 
The Sunset Limited to California. 18 Hours 
Quicker Time. 
Commencing Thursday. Nov. 1, the Southern Pacific Railroad will 
put on a last limited train composed of dining and sleeping cars to 
rim from New Orleans, La., in connection witii the Southern Railway, 
"Piedmont Air Line," Southwestern Limited now operated between 
New York and New Orleans, within thirty-nine hours. This elegant 
train will leave New Orleans every Tnursday morning at 8 o'clock, 
after arrival of the Southern. This new schedule gives the California 
travel many hours tne quickest travel with complete dining and sleep- 
ing car service between New York. Los Angeles and San Francisco. 
For full particulars call on or address R. D. Carpenter, General Agent, 
or Alex. S. Thweatt, Eastern Passenger Agent, 271 Broadway, New 
York. — Adv. 
Foe the convenience of the bankers, brokers, lawyers and business 
men in general, in the vicinity of Wall street and the StocK Exchange, 
the Pennsylvania Railroad ticke.s, formeily at No. 113 Broadway, 
have been removed, two doors below their former location, to No. Ill 
Broadway. Triniiy Building, where every facility has been provided 
for the reservation of sleeping and parlor car space on limited and 
other trains to ihe West and South, and where a staff of experienced 
and attentive ticket sellers will be found constantly on duty during 
business hours, assuring the public the promptest and best attention. 
With this office in Trinity Building and the old established offices con- 
tinued at No. 1 Astor House and at No. 433 Broadway, besides an 
office at No. 261 Broadway, the convenience of the down town busi- 
ness community has been well provided for by the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road Company, which is always in the van to meet the wishes and 
requirements of the citizens of New York.— Adv. 
