230 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
March S3, 1895. 
this pond abounds, and by trolling with these, we took a 
few trout of about a pound apiece, which we were obliged 
to return to the water, having no use for them. But as 
this kind of sport did not seem entirely satisfactory, we 
drifted slowly back to our camping place and made our 
preparations for the night. 
Sometime, perhaps a year before, a rough bark shelter 
had been built here, and the fragrant remains of an old 
shake-down still covered the ground. In front of this 
shanty, a little space had been cleared for a camp-fire, 
and it was altogether a fair kind of a wood's hotel. There 
we built our camp-fire, cooked our supper, and then seat- 
ing ourselves on an ancient water bleached cedar log on 
the shore with our backs comfortably supported against 
an adjacent stump, we offered up incense to the cloud 
compelling deities. ' Meanwhile the rosy tints of evening 
changed from purple to gray; the loons' wild cry echoed 
from the south end of the Bald Mountain. A cold mist 
rose over the water; tne owls began to hoot, and we 
knocked the ashes from our pipes and turned in. 
F. S. Bunker. 
t T0 BE CONTHSTJED.) 
small spoon, cast with a fly-rod, and have myself lost 
large (and old) flies by their fierce strikes when it was 
too dark to see the rise. I can not now tell whether 
these were the large or the small mouths, but which ever 
they were, like the celebrated one-eared cat "in the pos- 
session of all their faculties," even if it was dark. 
F. M. C. 
\mt{t and protection. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Goldfish as Bait. 
f Having used gold-fish for bait, I do not class them as 
the best bait, either for bass or pickerel. Being a lover of 
fishing, during the summer months I always keep a sup- 
ply of live minnows on hand— obtain them from lakes, 
creeks or ponds 
I had an argument with one who considered himself 
authority on which was the best killing (live) bait, and 
not being satisfied with his argument, I made up my 
mind to experiment, I made these trials on three consecu- 
tive Saturday afternoons, each time taking the same 
variety of bait— gold fish, chub, silver, stone fish, dark 
chub and sucker minnows. Stone bait are found at the 
bottom of the rivers, and resemble a small pike, with 
mouth like that of a sucker. 
I gave the several baits a fair trial. I went by myself to 
a spot where I knew bass and pickerel were sure to be 
hooked. I had with me four rods, all fixed up with the 
same kind of lines, floats, hooks (gut) etc. Procuring a 
boat, I went out and ran her up on a large bowlder, thirty 
yards from shore, with four and a half feet of water, the 
boat lying cross svays to the current. Lines were baited 
with the different baits, thrown out, from the bow, one 
from stern and two from about centre of boat. I al- 
ways baited same line with same kind of bait and 
changed the positions of the rods every little while. First 
afternoon, stone fish, gold fish, chub, sucker, were used. 
The stone fish caught three black bass, one pickerel; gold 
fish, one bass; one large chub, two pickerel; sucker, 
nothing. 
Second afternoon, stone fish, dark chub, silver, gold 
fish. Stnne fish: five black bass, three pickerel, two rock 
bass; goldfish; two pickerel, one blank bass; dark ohub; 
two pickerel, one maskinonge (eight and one-half pounds; 
minnow, two and one-half in. long), silver; three rock 
bass, one black bass, three perch. . 
Third afternoon, gold fish; four pickerel; (missed two 
fish); chub, three bass, three pickerel (missed one); 
stone fish; one bass, one cat fish, one large schub; dark 
chub, one maskinonge. 
First two Saturdays were cloudy, with fine warm rain. 
Third was a bright, clear sky. 
In one day, using only goldfish and stone fish, I killed 
forty-three bass and pickerel. With the stonefish, thirty- 
one; rest with the goldfish. My experience on the whole 
is— sloneflsh first, goldfish second, for bass and pickerel. 
Dark chub for maskinonge; chub (light) for other fish. 
In Ottawa City, with a population of 45,000, the resi- 
dence of the Governor-General and the seat of the Do- 
minion Government, the game and fish laws are poorly 
enforced. I have seen pickerel caught within three min- 
utes' walk of the Parliament buildings during closed 
season. Game is scarcer every year. River f siring is not 
nearly so good as a few years ago. Lakes are "stocked" 
from Government hatchery with trout and bass, and are 
fished out by Government officials by any means with 
which they can make the largest catch. Preserves show 
signs, "Keep off these grounds. Private property." 
Enough. E. T. Loveday. 
Trout Fishing at Night. 
Cleveland, O., Editor Forest and Stream: — In the 
Forest and Stream of Feb. 22, Mr. Arthur F. Rice, under 
the heading. "Trout that rise at night," speaks of his ex- 
perience on an Adirondack lake where the large trout 
(presumably) were feeding, or at least rising, from 11 a. 
m. till 3 a. m., and asks for information in regard to it. 
1 have not presumed to reply to his questions thinking 
that Mr. Cheney, or some other authority, would attend 
to the matter, but as they seem to be busy, I will give my 
own experience in the hope that it may be of interest to 
]VIr. Rice 
In the clear streams of "Western New York (including 
the celebrated Spring Creek of Caledonia) in which I have 
fished for several years, it is the custom to do a great deal 
of nio-ht fishing in July and August, as at that season the 
large°fish seem to be moving and feeding only at night. 
Many anglers there do not start for the stream till after 
dark during the hrt weather, and though smaller trout 
will rise at dark as before, the largest ones are almost in- 
variably taken much later, particularly on warm nights. 
Of course the leaders and flies used at night are much 
larger than those used in the daytime, and a long cast is 
not necessary. It is the custom to let the fly sink, and a 
bit of worm on the fly is a great help, though, of course, 
one does not dwell on that feature when telling about his 
catch the next day. The flies used are the red and brown 
hackles, grizzly king, white miller, etc. 
I have taken many trout when it was so dark I could 
not see the fly or the surface of the water for that mat- 
ter. One pool in particular I remember that was entirely 
surrounded and overhung with large forest trees, and at 
ten o'clock at night was as dark as any plac» I ever saw, 
yet I have taken trout there often at that hour during 
August. 
Some years ago I read, in Forest and Stream, I think, 
of the taking of trout, on one of the Adirondack lakes at 
night with small black flies. This matter brings to mind 
the discussion a few weeks since in regard to the small 
mouth black bass, and its power of seeing after dark. 
I have seen a great many bass taken at night with a 
ECHOES OF THE BLOW. BILL, 
No news has as yet been received from Springfield in regard to 
the sportsmen's bill (the Mott bill), in the hands of the commit- 
tees of the Legislature. The Blow bills, first and last, are con- 
ceded by everyone, including Mr. Blow, the game dealers and the 
Game Healers' Friend, to have been licked, horse, foot and 
dragoons, by the sportsmen of the State. 
With the defeat of these unwholesome measures the main in- 
terest of Forest and Stream in the matter ceased. There are, 
however, some bits of inside history of the fight which may be of 
interest if only in the waj of reminiscence. One of the most amus- 
ing of these bits is the story of the way in which the Game Deal- 
ers' Friend, purporting to be a sporting paper, was kicked back 
out of the way by the Illinois State Association, whose interests 
it had labored so faithfully to injure by its support of the Blow 
bills. 
A SHORT. STUDY IN HERALDRY. 
This so-called sporting paper has performed what in newspaper 
talk is called a "flop," a "'crawfish " or an "eating of crow." The 
Game Dealers' Friend (.American Field) can tell whether or not 
the last-named bird is good to eat, and whether it ought to be im- 
ported and kept on sale on South Water street the year round in 
order to supply a certain Chicago demand. Instead of a fat, husky, 
exultant rooster, such as we sometimes see a newspaper disport 
after having eagaged in a " wrassle" with live issues of the day, 
the Ga me Dealers' Friend is entitled to run up as its emblem the 
picture of a fowl which might be described in heraldry as a raven, 
sable, with the inscription - 'Dieu et mon Diet." 
THE HUMBLE CRAWFISH. 
Or, there is the crawfish. I am not certain that the crawfish is 
not a better emblem for it than the crow. The crawfish is good 
to eat, and y du can buy it. Moreover, it looks one way, but if you 
step on its toes it goes another. You can't depend much on a 
crawfish, but it's amusing. 
JSot long ago there was a meeting of the executive committee of 
the Illinois State Association; which I did not attend, because I 
was out of the city, but I have account of some funny things which 
happened there. Warden Blow was there, and Comrade George 
Washington Strell, the sporting Moses who led the van with the 
defunct Blow bill, was there. There was also a stenographer 
present, brought by Mr. Mott of the law committee. There were 
some mighty lively times inaugurated for Comrades Blow and 
Strell. and 1 opine that two more unhappy souls are seldom seen. 
The former professed absolute contrition, said he had eaten his 
two proposed bills, and they were no longer in the uauds of the 
Legislature. He was wid de sportsmen now. And perhaps some 
of the sportsmen were foolish and blind enough to believe him, 
though it is hard to see what credence this man deserves after 
what he has done. 
Mr. Mott also asked the sporting Moses to come out and define 
himself and the policy of his paper on ihe matter of the game 
laws. He called attention to the fact that the. game dealers had 
had published several things in the Aniei ican Field whion were 
of detriment to the inteieets oi sportsmen, and that the paper was 
in an unenviable light. Mow, said Mr. Mott, was a good tune, in 
the presence of the stenographer, to define the position of the 
paper above mentioned and 'the men who purported to represent 
it. The sporting Mi.ses was put in a very awkward position. He 
said he thought Mr. Mott's remarks were uncalled loi and unjust. 
He asked that they be expunged from the minutes, as they were 
not the sort of things which he. the Moses, liked to reflect upon as 
part of the record of the doines of the Illinois Sportsmen's Asso- 
ciation. Mr. Mott, however, was insistent in his purpose of put- 
tine everybody on record. 1 suppose the sporting Moses was 
unhappier than about anybody, for he and his paper got the 
worst scoring that any man or paper ever did get in public, and 
it left neither one nor the other more than about knee nigh in the 
estimation of the sportsmen. He hated to eat his raven bird, but 
he done eat it, and has since also done a few lines of the same in 
print. The sporting Moses joined that great and good man. 
Warden Blow, in a public proiession of a change of heart. He 
snid in effect that he and his outfit foreswore allegiance to the 
Blow bill and the doctrines which a few weeks before it was an- 
nouncing so pretentiously and cockily, and that the sportsmen 
and the bills framed by the sportsmen were the one true love of 
him, Moses, likewise of the Game Dealers' Friend, price $5 a year 
in advance. He had just been fooling all along. What was the 
use silting on a fellow.? 
Then people smiled some. The crawfish is not a noble animal. 
He is dead easy, but he ain't noble. Really, it did not make much 
difference about the direction of this particular crawfish, for the 
Blow bill at this time. was admittedly dead. 
But this is not allot' the record of humiliation of the Game 
Dealers' Friend (the American Field) or of its representative. 
The latter went to Mr. Mott and begged that the stenographic re- 
port of that meeting be suppressed, else it might be shown that 
an attack had been made at that meeting upon the American 
Field. Hb especially requested that all the facts be kept from 
Chicago and the West of Forest and Stream, lest the latter migh^ 
use them to the disadvantage of his paper. Mr. Mott obligingly 
complied! The executive committee and the secretary, of cburs e 
lent no hand to any such action. 
ON THE SUPPRESSION OF NEWS. 
Unhappy Mosesl Why did he not reflect that it is always the 
"suppressed" news that is sure to come out'/ Why did he not re- 
flect that that is just the sort of news everyone always does hear 
about, and after which any newspaper man will go till ne gets it? 
Perhaps ordinarily I should not care to aevote much space or 
time or trouble to the story of the methods by which an unwise 
and weak-backed contemporary was forced to take back its own 
opinions, but the case being as it is, I feel forced to give these 
"suppressed" facts, just for a little garnishment for the dish of 
crawfish and crow which is the present diet of the above singular 
and misguided representatives of sporting journalism. I have 
many more details of the little recantation process of the above, 
but they will not matter just, at present. We can use 'em after 
awhiib, maybe, when 1 feel good. If there is anything more which 
our esteemed co temporary wishes "suppressed," 1 shall be glad, 
and 1 hope it will not be backward about offering the tip. But I 
beg pardon. In the nature of things, the crawfish can't be any- 
thing else but back ward, can it? 
From ali o! these things I infer that the best line of activity for 
a newspaper or a newspaper man is to stick close to the neighbor- 
hood of plain, horse sense, and absolute honesty and fearlessness 
in open or in secret. Do that, and you won't have to live on crow 
and crawfish, and you won't be scared all the time. For a sporting 
paper, this means to steer clear of all such fallacies as those of 
the late Blow bills. It means to swing clean into line on a definite 
policy, and not to try to ride two horses at once. It means to 
have just a little bit of sand, and a few convictions, and a trifle 
of self-reliance. These things have been wanting to a lamentable 
extent in the course of the paper above mentioned upon these 
topics of game, protection, and that right at a time when the 
sportsmen neeaed all their friends, and even the small assistances. 
Moses, I charge thee, fling away ambition. By that sin much 
abler angels than ,you have got it in the neck before .now. Take 
a rest, Moses Lean your brain in vour little hands, honey, and 
let it rest awhile. You ain't tit, just now, to go into a real hard 
game. 
FOREST AND STREAM WILL NOT NEED TO RETRACT. 
By the above Ican best show something of the nature of the 
fight we have been having out here. In spite of a singular oppo- 
sition, the sportsmen have won, and have defeated the dealers, 
the dealers' warden and the dealers' organ. We have never had 
so hot a fight in the West. Even the daily papers have taken up 
the cudgels in faror of protection, and that right earnestly. When 
Mr. Sloan, representing the game dealers, saw the managing 
editor of the Tribune in regard to a Tribune editorial which was 
damaging to the interests of the street, he was told that his mis- 
sion was useless, "I am a sportsman myself," was the reply to 
him, ' 'and I know that if you pass your law we will have no game 
left in three years." The Herald also, which at first gave space- 
to Blow's vaporings, has changed its tone and come over to the 
sportsmen. 
The sportsmen "of this region have made more friends and 
whipped more enemies in the last two months than they ever did 
before. There never was so general and intelligent an interest 
in these matters. The public is evidently beginning to think. 
The more it thinks, the nearer it will come to the Forest and 
Stream doctrine— "Stop the sale of game, or else you must see the 
game soon pass away." I imagine the. sportsmen of Dakota and 
of the entire West, who have been looking with such anxiety 
toward Chicago this winter, will take comfort in the fact that 
they have fine friend in a newspaper not afraid- to announce such 
doctrine and to stand by it. I imagine no one will be under the 
necessity of asking Forest and Stream to recant any unsports- 
manlike utterances, or of framing for its use a better doctrine, or 
of asking for its sake the suppression of any attack that can be 
made upon a paper so loyal and fearless and a doctrine so incon- 
testably sportsmanlike. E. HOUGH. 
909 Security Building, Chicago. 
Massachusetts Trout Season. 
Several hearings have been given at the State House of late 
upon a bill introduced in the House by Representative Young, 
of Springfield, the purpose of which is to open the market to 
domestic trout, so-called, two months before the open season, 
which begins April 1. 
On this general subject interviews have been obtained with 
gentlemen prominently identified with fish and game protec- 
tion. 
Mr. Edward A. Samuels, who has taken trout in very many 
public streams in Massachusetts and in other New England 
States, also in Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, was 
asked : 
" When, in your opinion, are trout through spawning?" 
"That depends upon the latitude and the water." 
"Do you think that in Massachusetts they are entirely done 
spawning m January?" 
"I do not. In fact, I have taken trout in this state, even in 
April, tbat contained ripe eggs. As a rule, trout spawn in the 
early fall and winter." 
"What do you think of trout as an article of food just after 
the spawning period?" 
' "They are not suitable to be eaten at that time. Every one 
admits that salmon are totally unfit for food after depositing 
eggs. Even poorest people would not think of eating them 
until they had been to sea and recuperated. So, too, trout 
must go through a nrocess of recuperation after the exhausting 
effects of reproduction before they are Jit for the table. Tow- 
ard the end of December last, an Indian in Nova Sotia brought 
some trout to sell to me, taken, no doubt, through the ice. I 
remonstrated with him for taking them at that season. As he 
had been to much trouble in getting them, and was very needy, 
against my inclination, I gave him some money and allowed 
him to leave them. To satisfy myself as to the table qualities 
of the fish I cooked the finest one, and found it to be worth- 
less. There was no trace of fat, and the meat was dry, white 
and tasteless. Had I not known to the contrary, 1 never 
should have imagined it to be the meat of a trout." » 
"How long a time is necessary after spawning for the trout 
to recuperate?" 
"That depends upon the food. Almost invariably during 
the winter the food supply fails, and in the spring months it 
becomes more abundant." 
"How early in the spring are trout in the best condition for 
food?" 
"Trout feed largely on the larvae of iusects which pass 
through their transformations in the water; but the fish do not 
take on much flesh until the 'ephemeridae,' or May flies, so- 
called, make their appearance. As these become abundant, 
the trout devour them voraciously, and accumulate fatty tissue 
very rapidly. When the spring is early, so that the water 
becomes warm, these insects are matured the latter part of 
April in favoi-able localities. In my experience 1 have found 
trout to be much more palatable in May than at any time 
earlier in the season." 
"Are you in favor of a law opening the market earlier to 
trout artificially reared than the first of April?" 
~ : I see no way that this could be done without causing the 
destruction of the native trout in our streams." 
"What is your opinion of the raising of trout artificially as a 
means of providing cheap rood for the people?" 
"As a constant food trout could never take the place of other 
edible fish. In my own experience, and as a matter of observa- 
tion, I find every one tires of them after a few meals, just as 
one tires of mushrooms or any of the so-called delicacies. If 
trout could be put in competition, as to price, with sea fish, 
such as cod, mackerel, etc., the latter would, in my opinion, be 
generally preferred. That any such competition could be 
brought about 1 regard as an impossibility. The great value of 
the trout lies in the pastime; and recreation its capture affords 
the angler. The people should receive the benefits that the 
numerous streams within the borders of our own State would 
afford if the same efforts at stocking as are made in New 
Hampshire, Vermont and Maine were systematically made. In 
my opinion our State has never done a quarter part of what 
should be done in this direction." 
John A. Loring said: "As early as the year I860 I appeared 
before a committee of the Legislature in support of a bill 
which resulted in the establishment of the Board of Commis- 
sioners on Fisheries and Game, and I have never since taken a 
great interest in such matters. 
"By giving those who cultivate trout in enclosures this priv- 
ilege of selling for food in February and March, the Legislature 
would give them an advantage over the owners of streams not 
inclosed, but in which trout abound in the wild state. Further- 
more, if this legislation were enacted, a temptation would be 
given to poachers to purloin wild trout during those two 
months to the detriment of the owners of those streams. As the 
law now stands the poacher has'no inducement to carry on clan- 
destine fishing, inasmuch as there is no market. Without a 
market the fish are of no value to the dealer in them. Give 
him a market as from fifty cents to $1 a pound and he has 
inducemment enough to buy, and the poacher enough to supply 
him. Give the poacher a market and ne will furnish the fish. 
"The laboring people in portions of the State where 1 have 
fished, have never relied on trout as an article of food, even 
where they were abundant. Trout have never been a cheap 
article of food. They have always been consumed by guests at 
hotels and private restaurants and by private persons to whom 
the expense, even at $1 a pound, was of no consequence. 
"The effects of such a law would be prejudicial to owners of 
streams leased by them for substantial rent, The rental value 
of such streams would be substantially diminished, and the 
leases of the same would be subjected to a large expense to 
guard the streams during these two months." 
J, Louis Stackpole said: "The trout cannot be said to have 
fully recovered from the effects of spawning earlier than the 
last of March or first of April. It is impossible, except for a 
skilled expert, to distinguish those artificially reared after 
being out of the water for a while. The inevitable result of 
such a law would be the depletion of trout brooks all over the 
State. No better evidence that these artificially raised trout 
furnish no part of the food supply of the people is needed than 
the testimony of one dealer, who said that, of 7,000 pounds of 
such fish sold, 5,000 pounds went to New York, and that the 
sale of them there closed about July 1, when the 'Four Hun- 
dred' go into the country. 
"Again, the words 'artificially reared' are extremely vague, 
and will give rise to a large amount of litigation. To say that 
there are no trout exceecling nine inches long is nonsense. It is 
the larger trout, those over nine inches, that we rely on to 
furnish the spawn for reproduction." 
Hon. George W. Wiggin said: "I think the trout in the old 
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