148 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Feb. 23, 1895. 
yank the reel 'out of TitsTseat'as it did not seem to fit very 
well. 
I caught the reel with my other hand, there was a great 
yank and a great commotion on the water. I involun- 
tarily made a step forward, and in the same instant saw 
I had hooked a muskrat. But my step had taken me into 
deeper water, into a hole. I went under, and as I was 
going down the question rushed through my brain: 
Had I better hang on, take the chances of losing line 
and reel, or the rat breaking away, or let go the pole and 
take the chances of the rat making the other shore, climb- 
ing the bank, getting the line wound around some tree 
or stick and thus breaking away or breaking only a piece 
of the line ? 
Under these circumstances, what should I have done? 
J. Bruce Payne. 
OREGON NOTES. 
As cumulative proof of the truth of the old saw that 
"a man that is born to be hung will never drown," let 
me relate the following incident: Last Saturday a party 
of us hunters chartered a small steamer, the Cygnet, for 
a trip down the Columbia. Among the party was my 
good friend Fred Swift, of the well-known hardware 
house of Hogue & Swift. As the sequel will show the 
main interest of this story will attach to the dress and 
paraphernalia of my friend Swift during the memorable 
performance somewhere in the "small hours ayant the 
morn" of Feb. 4, so I will describe them in detail as far 
as my knowledge will permit: A suit of heavy woollen 
underwear, a sweater, two pair of trousers, an undercoat, 
a leather overcoat, a shell-vest with forty loaded shot- 
gun cartridges in it, a belt with about fifty revolver cart- 
ridges in it, a Colt six-shooter, frontier model, a large 
hunting-knife with scabbard for both revolver and knife, 
watch and chain, hat, woollen stockings with Arctic 
over-socks and hip rubber boots pulled up. There were 
other items of less importance, such as a dozen or more 
big silver dollars, match-box, comb, knife, keys, etc. 
About four o'clock in the morning, when it was darkest 
and the fog thick enough to slice with a cheese knife 
there came a cry of "man overboard!" It was Swift, of 
course. The steamer was stopped and the engines re- 
versed, and in less than five minutes we had Swift with 
all his paraphernalia back aboard the boat except his hat. 
The waters of the Columbia are very cold at this season 
of the year, and particularly at that time in the morning, 
and it must be a matter of surprise to all old hunters 
how a little fellow of only a hundred and thirty pounds 
weight could keep himself above water for so long a 
time, particularly with such a load. He certainly mani- 
fested wonderful powers of endurance, and, withal must 
be an excellent swimmer. While stripping and congratu- 
lating him, Winters remarked: "Swift, I always thought 
you were a chappie sort of a sport, but there isn't an- 
other man in the State of Oregon that could have got 
out of that scrape alive, " and we all concurred in the 
sentiment. 
Swift and I were put off at Knapp's Landing, and the 
night was so dark and the fog so dense that we got lost 
in less than a minute and wandered around for an hour 
or more before we found the cabin. But Swift was the 
first man to have his boat and decoys out, and was ready 
for business with the ducks before the first streak of 
day, and stayed right by it all day. In the language of 
the Irish philosopher: '"'I must respect his pluck, but 
condemn his judgment," for such cumbersome loads as 
above described are unnecessary on such trips and are 
certainly dangerous. 
r J. Roberts Mead and Harry Beal went over to the 
Columbia yesterday for salmon trout, and fished all day 
with salmon eggs. There is nothing very remarkable 
about all this, if we will for the time forget the oft-re- 
peated declarations of both these gentlemen that they 
would never, under any circumstances, fish with any- 
thing but the fly. 
But there was one rather remarkable incident connect- 
ed with the trip which I desire to tell readers of Forest 
and Stream about. Mr. Beal hooked, played, and with 
the assistance of Mr. Mead, properly landed a steel- head 
salmon (which Professor Jordan declares is a trout), 
which was thirty inches long and weighed nine and 
three-quarters pounds. And there would be nothing 
particularly remarkable about that if we did not consider 
the circumstances and tackle, for we have all hooked, 
played, and properly landed hundreds of steel-heads as 
large or larger. But Mr. Beal hooked and landed this 
fish with a No. 6 S. Allcock & Co. trout-hook attached to 
an ordinary trout line and rod. The fish had plenty of 
room for operations, for the Columbia is considerably 
more than a mile wide at this part, and all in all it was a 
most creditable performance on the part of these gentle- 
men. 
' Speaking of salmon reminds me of a good one on Mead r 
and I guess that I will have to tell it, even at the risk of 
losing the gentleman's friendship. It won't do to spoil 
so good a story for friendship's sake. He had been up to 
the falls of the Willamette fishing for salmon, and, in 
consequence of being a little too previous, the cold 
weather, water, and various other good and sufficient 
reasons failed to take a single salmon. Mr. Moore with 
his. dip-net was there scooping up bushels of them, and 
not liking to see Mead go home empty handed gave him 
a couple of fine ones. Now, although Mead is one of the 
most honest, truthful and upright anglers I have ever 
met, he could not resist the temptation to claim these as 
his catch when he got home. Joe Paquet, one of our 
oldest and most successful salmon fishermen, could hard- 
ly believe that the salmon were taking the spoon so early, 
but his dreams were troubled that night and so the next 
day found him at the falls. Of course, he never got a 
strike, and while resting at the resort near the falls took 
occasion to mention to the proprietor that it was very 
strange that Mead could come up there and catch two 
fine salmon while he, the most expert of all salmon fish- 
ermen, could not even get a nibble. Then the resort man 
gave the whole business away, and Joe came home well 
satisfied of two things — viz.: the salmon were not yet 
biting, and secondly that the man whom he had always 
regarded as the personification of truth and veracity 
was as great a liar as any of us old hands at the business. 
But he said nothing. Shortly afterward Mead and I 
went up for more salmon, and, like Joe, we stopped in at 
the resort to rest. The proprietor did not know Mead 
from Job's off ox, and he knew, of course, that I would 
not lie, so he opened up on the yahoo that had been up 
there recently and gone back to Portland with a lie in 
Iris mouth about the salmon biting, and added: "Why, 
Moore gave the miserable cuss the only two fish he took 
home, and there was no necessity of his tying about such 
a little thing." The resort man had a great deal to say 
about the matter, and was very free in expressing his 
opinions about such contemptible creatures, that would 
rather lie when the truth w r ould do better. Mead never 
said a word, then, but his face got very red, and when 
we came out he acknowledged the corn to me, and de- 
clared that it was the first time he had ever lied about 
fish, and, God helping him, it would be the last. I be- 
lieve that Mead has sacredly kept that promise. He has 
so far as my knowledge goes. S. H. Greene. 
Portland, Oregon. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
Feeding; Mack Bass. 
The voracity and pugnacity of the back bass have been 
favorite themes with fishermen for years, but the charges 
brought against the fish in these respects have been gen- 
eral rather than specific, as a rule, and doubtless many 
charges have been brought without foundation in fact. 
The last report of the United States Fish Commissioner 
for 1892, just at hand, adds to our knowledge of the 
qualities referred to in the black bass. 
Generally new waters are stocked, or old waters re- 
stocked, by the introduction of adult black bass, but the 
United States has inaugurated the cultivation of young 
bass, not, however, as the young of the salmonidae are 
cultivated, but by the selection and separation of adult 
bass at spawning time, and the removal of the young 
after they are hatched natural! j. Of a lot of black bass 
sent on to Washington from the Neosha station many 
died shortly after arrival, and an examination disclosed 
the fact that the fish had been injured by close contact 
in the cans, broken points of fins being found in their 
bodies, these wounds causing inflammation and death. 
Fifteen bass were sent to Wytheville station where 
they spawned, and as soon as "ibe young were seen for 
the first time their innate voracity was shown by their 
attacks on tadpoles and other animal life that came with- 
in their reach." 
At first food was furnished in the shape of frog and 
toad spawn, later in that of chopped and live fish, twenty 
to thirty pounds being supplied to them daily. Their 
appetite was unappeasable, apparently; the more they 
were fed the hungrier they seemed to become. 
As they grew older their voracity knew no bounds, and 
in the absence of other food they hesitated not to devour 
one another. The report does not say how T many of the 
bass were females, but say that eight were of that sex, 
and it must be assumed that only the young were left in 
the pond to be fed, and if the young of eight black bass 
consume from twenty to thirty pounds of food per day it 
will be understood that the question of food for fishes is 
one not to be lightly considered. I am fully aware that 
I may be accused of riding the hobby of fish food, but if 
it had been ridden more than it has been in the past 
there would have been fewer failures in fish culture and 
fish planting. If fish are to thrive in deep water they 
must have food and plenty of it. 
Last season I went with a car load of fingerling land- 
locked salmon to plant them. A number of the fish died 
in the car, and upon opening them they were found 
gorged with chopped liver. I suggested that the next 
car load should not be fed for twenty-four hours before 
they were placed in the car. They were not fed for 
thirty-six hours before shipment, and were two days on 
the road. They came through with scarcely any loss, 
but where'turned into the streams, then instanc search 
for food was an object lesson. The turning into the 
water, the presence of men, the long journey on the cars, 
all gave way to a scramble for something to eat that was 
amusing to the spectator, showing that a hungry fish is 
very like a hungry man, and must be treated accord- 
ingly. 
Goldfish as Bail. 
A few days ago I was in a shop where there were a 
number of glass globes and jars, filled with water, gravel, 
water-weeds, and goldfish, and as I was talking with the 
man in charge of the aquaria a friend entered and sug- 
gested that the goldfish would make the best kind of bait 
for surface trolling for lake trout, and then asked: Ex- 
cept for the expense would not the goldfish make good 
black bass bait? I have not the least idea that any car- 
niverous fish has, as a rule, any particular choice con- 
cerning the species of fish upon which it feeds. It is the 
attractiveness of certain small fish in the water, and 
their ability to survive changes in temperature, as well 
as to live long on the hook, that make them better bait 
than other small fish. I can recall a time when profes- 
sional fishermen used small black bass as bait for pike, 
and they claimed that pike had such a dislike for and 
dread of the black bass that they took delight in eating 
their young. This seemed to be utter nonsense, and the 
eight-inch bass law stepped in to save the bttle bass from 
an ignoble death. On general principles a fish that is 
active and that can be seen the greatest distance in the 
water is the best bait-fish that can be used for any fish. 
Never having used the goldfish as bait for other fish, I 
cannot say how good a bait it may be, but I have paid 
fifty cents each for gold shiners to be used for lake trout 
bait, and I believe that goldfish can be bought for 
twenty-five cents each. Gold shiners (bream) are, I 
think, more attractive in the water as bait-fish than gold- 
fish. The goldfish are of a deeper red color than the gold 
shiners, but the latter have glistening scales which the 
former lack. The gold shiner is a delicate fish, and the 
scales rub off easily, but there was a time, not very long 
ago, when in Northern New York they were considered 
the best obtainable lake trout bait, and as they were 
difficult to get in the spring they always commanded a 
high price. I say the best obtainable bait, because the 
best bait was a small white fish, and they have, since net- 
ting has been permitted, entirely taken the place of the 
gold shiner, in the palmy days of the gold shiner, when 
it was considered too good to be offered on the hook to 
pike, I went one spring to an Adirondack Lake for the 
surface trout trolling. 
My guide had a bucket'of frost fish (sound white fish) 
for bait, and judging from previous experience I con-, 
eluded that I could just about clean the lake out of lake 
trout. I put a white, fish on my gang, and trolled about 
half a day without getting a single strike, although I 
could see the trout breaking the surface from time to 
time. I finally said that white fish were altogether too 
rich for one who, up to that time, had been dependent for 
such bait upon finding an occasional white fish undi- 
gested in the stomach of a trout caught on a less com- 
mon bait. In the bucket were a few plebeian suckers, 
which were rather more in my class. I exchanged the 
white fish for a sucker, and with it caught three trout in 
less than an hour's time, but that did not destroy my 
confidence in the white fish as bait. In the gold shiner 
days I have taken as many trout on suckers as I have on 
gold shiners. No matter what the bait may be it must 
be presented to a hungry fish, or presented in sue!) a 
tempting fashion to a fish that is not hungry as to cause 
him to snap it, simply because he cannot resist the temp- 
tation. 
Fishing is full of surprises, and I have just read: 
" We know it all at twenty. 
At fifty we confess 
We have unlearned a little- 
More or less." 
But to answer the question, would goldfish make good 
black bass bait? I do not think they would, for the rea- 
son that black bass are peculiar, and seem to care only 
for food with which they are familiar. They would prob- 
ably take goldfish if offered, but not regard them above 
other bait-fish. Some years ago in a pond where there 
were plenty of gold shiners the bass in the pond took 
them readily, but in a lake four miles away gold shiners 
were not considered a good bass bait. Crawfish is one of 
the very best of black bass baits, but in a lake where 
there are no crawfish the bass will take other baits much 
more readily than they will crawfish. But, then, bass 
are peculiar. 
Do Fish Distinguish Color. 
Dr. Hinde is not the only one who has been studying 
the mechanism of the eye of fishes. A friend has sent me 
a clipping from the London News with an article by an 
unknown angler, who says: "The more closely its fly 
(artificial) resembles the fly on the water the better 
chance we have. My notion is that the color attracts the 
fish. Now, Sir Herbert Maxwell, a practiced angler, 
avers that the part of the ocular mechanism, which pro- 
cures color has not been found in the eye of fishes. He is 
more than inclined to doubt whether trout and salmon, 
can distinguish color at all. No fly is so large, and in 
color so marked as the May fly, as big as a small, yel- 
lowish butterfly. Sir Herbert thinks it quite conceivable 
that a trout, feeding on May flies, would take a scarlet or 
skyblue artificial imitation, if properly presented. He 
has not, it seems, made the experiment, because the May 
fly season is short and not to be wasted on mere science. 
But if Mr. Marston, or any other experienced angler, will 
try the experiment of scarlet and blue May flies, and if 
the trout take them the experiment is not crucial. The 
trout, an odd creature, may be trying an experiment, too. 
He may distinguish colors, yet have a fancy to partake 
of a red May fly. . . . Whoever will watch a trout 
feeding when they are fed with flies on the water, will 
note that he subjects every floating atom, say a petal of 
a flower, to the closest scrutiny. He sails off, and looks 
in a short-sighted way at objects hardly visible to the 
human eye, turning away his head with an air of morti- 
fication when they are not what he wants." 
Doubtless th ere are times when some trout will rise at 
anything under the sun that has movement in the water, 
and it is quite likely that trout may be found that wall 
rise at a blue May fly, for the trout is an odd creature 
as every trout fisherman knows, but let no one make 
the mistake of thinking that trout do not distinguish 
color, for if they do not I have spent my fife as a fisher- 
man for nothing. In no other way, than that trout do 
distinguish color, can I account for incidents in my own 
experience that would fill columns of this journal. The 
one incident that stands out prominently iii my memory 
when trout did not or could not distinguish color was 
when I was fishing in the upper waters of the Hudson 
River for a big trout that was known to have its home in 
a pool where a trout stream came into the river. The 
very day that I had cast over the pool, as they believed 
in a workman-like manner, with flies of the most ap- 
proved form and color to represent actual insects, a man 
came down to the bank with an alder pole, tied a line to 
it that was but little longer than the pole, fastened to 
the line a fly that was like nothing, in color or form, in 
nature, and wading out into the river, he cast over the 
pool that I had fished and caught a trout weighing over 
four pounds. He said it was a purple hackel that he 
used, and it was, but a purple that I had never seen be- 
fore and have not seen since, and I think the receipt for 
making that particular shade of purple was lost as soon 
as that one hackle was made. 
Two incidents of the other sort will suffice to relate. 
Fishing in the Adirondacks nearly thirty years ago in a 
pond where the trout were unsophisticated and so abun- 
dant that they tumbled over one another to get a fly cast 
on the water, I was using three flies alike in form and in 
size, but unlike in color. The trout rose persistently to 
our fly, and never to the others until that one was taken 
There was no mistaking the fact that they wished that 
fly alone, and, hungry as they were, they only took the 
others after the blue-bodiced fly had been appropriated 
I must confess that the fly of their desire was. unlike any 
insect that I have ever seen, and with us it has not been 
a killer since that day. More recently I was fishing a 
pond made by damming a trout stream. The water was 
shallow, and the trout were educated. To get them one 
had to fish fine and far off, and even then°do his most 
skillful casting. My fishing journal tells the story of the 
fishing: "Used Coachman, Green Drake, and Orange- 
black. The trout rose only to the Drake, and to test their 
perception of color I changed the Green Drake from one 
place to another on the leader and added from time to 
time a Professor, Grey Drake, Grizzly King, Stone fly - 
Red Fox, Montreal, Cowdung, brown Hackle, and Ferij 
fly. Whatever the positions of the Green Drake on the 
leader the trout rose only to that, and paid not the least 
attention to the other flies named." 
The Grey Drake referred to k is so very like the Green 
