268 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
April 6 , 1895. 
been so planted they have disappeared for good after 
their second year. Even in ponds where they can .be con- 
fined to prevent their escape, they are not regarded as the 
equal of our native brook trout. I have long had a desire 
to see the black-spotted trout of the Rocky Mountains (S. 
Neykiss) tried in Eastern waters, if anv of the Western 
fish are to be introduced, but the more I learn about the 
fish the more I feel that we should be satisfied with the 
fash native to our waters and the brown trout. The black 
spotted trout is a summer spawning fish, spawning from 
the first of May to the middle of June, and like the rain- 
bow, a smaller percentage of the eggs is hatched than is 
the case with our native trout. The highest percentage 
of eggs of the "black-spotted that I have seen given as 
good is seventy-five, but I have also seen that as low as 
forty per cent, only have been hatched. The eggs of this 
fish hatch in from twenty to thirty days. 
PIKE PERCH AND WALL-EYED PIKE. 
A gentleman asked me if there was any di fference be- 
tween a pike perch and a wall-eyed pike, and when I said 
no, he told me that he would write me a note asking the 
same question, and he would like an answer over my 
name. Therefore, I say asjain. there is no difference be- 
tween a pike-perch and a wall-eyed pike. The pike- 
perch, which is the proper name of the fish, is also called 
wall-eyed pike, glass eye, blue pike, dory, horn fish, 
green pike, jack and jack salmon. There are two mem- 
bers of the pike-perch family, and the other than the one 
I have mentioned is the jauger or sand pike, very like the 
pike-perch in appearance, but a fish that does not grow 
to exceed fift c en inches in length. 
FOREST AND STREAM AND THE GAME CODE. 
The Forest and Stream arrives in Albany about 11 
o'clock in the forenoon on Wednesdavs. Last Wednes- 
day the journal was on time, and a few hours later Sena- 
tor Donaldson had his attention called to the suggestion 
in these columns about giving the fish commissioners 
power to close brooks in which they had planted Ssh long 
enough to establish the fish planted. This is something 
that has heretofore been regulated by supervisor's laws. 
The suggestion met with the approval of the author of the 
game code, and the next day an amendment was pre- 
pared to change the bill in this respect. This will really 
be an improvement upon the supervisors' laws for the 
same purpose, as the supervisors met but once a year and 
always some months after the fish are planted. Such 
power in the hands of the New Hampshire commis- 
sioners has been of great benefit in stocking new waters 
with fish. 
RAILROADS AND FISHING. 
1 To-day the angler is greatly dependent upon the rail- 
roads of the land for the means of reaching his fishing 
and the railroads realize that good fishing on or beyond 
their lines is a source of profit to them. 
By referring to the reports of the U. S. Fish Commis- 
sioner, it will be found that the railroads haul the fish 
commission cars free, thousands of miles each year- for 
instance, in 1892 the railroads gave the fish cars and their 
crews free transportation over 62,761 miles of road. For 
many years I have received free transportation over the 
Delaware & Hudson Canal Co. 's Railroads for fish cars, 
cans, men, etc., and every facility has been offered by 
the officers when fish were to be planted on the line of or 
beyond their road. It well deserves the name of the 
Fishing Line," for a number oi the general officers are 
fishermen, and the road has a very friendly feelin°- for 
fishermen, as for instance: Last year I was leavingltfon- 
treal with a box of ouananiche and wished to make sure 
that the fish would reach home when I did. I had tele- 
graphed for a carriage to meet me on the main line and 
drive me home in the early morning. I supposed I would 
have to make some private arrangements with the train 
baggage man and asked for him in the station, but upon 
telling the station baggage man what I wanted he said: 
I will check the fish for you to the point where you 
leave the road." He procured a strap, nailed it to the 
box, checked it, and when I reached home at 3 a ml 
had five ouananiche less than forty-eight hours out of the 
^ at ^ r exhibit to m Y fiends. The latest evidence that 
the D. & H. has given of its interest in fish and game pro- 
tection, is an order issued by Mr. J. W. Burdick the 
general passenger agent, which reads: 
'Any employee of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Com- 
pany known to have intentionally violated the game and 
fish laws will be dismissed from the service of the com- 
pany." 
This order is far-reaching, as the road extends from 
Pennsylvania to Canada, through New York State,with a 
number of branches and leased lines. Mr. Burdick has 
set {an example which, if followed by other of the 
railroads, will have a material effect upon checking: 
illegal traffic in fish and game. 
I happen to know that Mr. Burdick is a sportsman in 
the highest sense of the word, and thus he institutes an 
order which may make him the patron faint of the sports- 
men of the fut ure. A. N. Cheney. 
TROUTING ON ELK RIVER. 
"You grov'ling worldlings , you whose wisdom trades 
Where light ne'er shot his golden wing." 
I left Johnson City, Tennessee, July 1 for the trout 
country of Western North Carolina. 
The day before the start was spent in preparation. 
This anticipatory period has always seemed to me one of 
the most enjoyable parts of the trip to the woods, for it 
is then expectation stands on tip-toe and imagination 
■?Yu- n ,° ^^ter. With what feverish fingers we pick 
out this hackle, or that coachman! Holding it up to the 
light, we feel the barb, the feathers, and then closing our 
eyes dreaui oi quiet pools and shady places. An angler's 
outfit is ot as much importance to him as a bride's is to 
her. I have hung over a large book of flies as lovingly as 
ever betrothed hung over her silks and laces. On this ex- 
pedition I carried a seven-ounce bamboo rod, eleven feet 
long and m three joints As a matter of precaution, I 
took along an extra tip Next to the rod, I am most par- 
ticular about the reel. It must be capable of sons- 1 re- 
member once while standing below a saw-mill dam on a 
stream in North Carolina, an old mountaineer approached 
me. He bad nP ver seen a reel. I showed him mine, how 
it multiplied, and the advantage to be gained by its use 
He heard me through, and then expressed himself as an 
anti-reel fisherman. During the conversation my fly had 
been dancing about in the most alluring way, now float" 
ing with the current, then skimming back over the sur- 
face, when quick as the lightning flashes, it was siezed 
and carried down stream. For twenty >ards the line was 
taut, while clear and high, filling; the little valley with 
sweetness, rang out the song of the reel. 
"My friend," said the dweller in heights, " reckon you 
like that critter because she sings so pretty." Of course 
the reel must possess other good qualities, but this one 
first of all. The flies for this trip were the ordinary ones, 
those generally found in every trout angler's pack. 4 
A month before the day of starting I had written Mr. 
S. M. Dugger, Banners Elk, N. C. about the fishing, ask- 
ing whether the main stream, the Elk River, was high or 
low, and what luck the pioneers of the season had en- 
joyed. He reported a friend of mine as having taken a 
hundred trout in one day just three weeks before, while 
he himself had been nearly as successful. The river was 
low he said, but had water in plenty, and was not too 
clear. 
Dugger lived a quarter of a mile from the bank of the 
Elk. In front of his house and gently sloping to the 
stream, was a meadow. Across the river was more 
meadow land, which stretched away to the dark forest, 
half a mile distant. Dugger allowed none "but his own 
guests— for he kept a sort of anglers' inn— to fish in this 
meadow, and consequently the fishing was gratifyingly 
fine. Many a time in that quiet place have I filled my creel 
m an hour, and that hour before the sun had risen to the 
tops of the mountains which walled in the valley. It was 
not in this spot, however, I intended to fish this season. 
Below the meadows the stream suddenly descends in a 
series of cascades, to a deep, narrow ravine. The trees 
here, white pine, hemlock, ash and birch, grow down to 
the water's edge, and sometimes meet overhead, com- 
pletely shutting out the sky. The boulders are covered 
with moss, and on wet days, or when the saw- mill above 
is running and the water from the dam escapes freely, 
are very slippery. Mr. Dace, the owner of the land, had 
told int the fishing was good here, and kindly gave me 
free use of the stream. 
Long before the sun had riseu I was up and about, al- 
thougn I found myself not a little stiff because of the ex- 
ceedingly rough roads I had come over the preceding 
afternoon, from Elk Park, wnere I left the railroad, to 
Duggers', a distance of ten miles. I saw Dugger nad built 
a new house not far distant from the old one, and I 
thought to myself, he is profiting from us apostles of the 
art. Upon examination, I found the house to be almost 
entirely home made, all but the glass and iron work hav- 
ing been grown and manufactured on the little farm. 
The profits eked from angling sources seemed now meagre 
enough. The mountaineers are the true Democrats, for 
they possess the very life of Democracy, independence. 
My shoes I found where I had left them the year before, 
in an old hollow apple tree. I prefer old shoes to rubber 
boots for wading. With thick, woolen socks and seamy 
shoes, my feet do not get sore, nor am I bothered with 
colds. 
The walk through the meadows (for I purposely 
avoided the road) and down the bank of the river, over 
the boulders, was a wet one, the dew being very heavy, 
even for this latitude. The Elk had changed its course a 
little in the year I bad been away, and in one place, 
where formerly had been a pool, was now a great pile of 
logs and sawmill refuse. I remember thinking at the 
time, how surprised some wanderer of a trout would be 
when he revisited the scenes of his childhood and found 
how completely his old home had been destroyed. For 
trout have homes and do year after year linger and abide 
in the same places. Why, I remember a hole in the old 
sheep pasture, where— but that's another story, and be- 
longs elsewhere. 
Some quarter of a mile below the log- jam, and two 
miles from Duggers', I began the work or sport, just as 
you please, of the day. The water at this place was com- 
paratively quiet and slow, with here and there a bubble 
or fleck or foam, as a reminder of its recent rough treat- 
ment. Looking up stream I could see the last of the 
cascades, Avhile below were little rapids and gently 
whirling pools. In places the sunlight broke through the 
foliage and lit up the dark surface of the waters. Out 
on the checkered surface of the pool, but not so lightly 
as desired, fell my brown hackle.' Now, brown hackles 
are not the most tempting flies in the list, but for all 
times and places I prefer them. They are a sort of stand 
by with me, and a goodly number find their way into my 
book annually. I have used them with success in both 
the Rocky Mountain and Appalachian trout streams. In 
Northern New Mexico, along the Pecos River, I caught 
one fine morning in the season of 1890, a trout weighing 
nearly two pounds and a half with this fly. The partic- 
ular fly used at that time I intend never using again, but 
to keep as a sort of souvenir. The most alluring-lookin^ 
pools sometimes prove themselves great delusions. One 
would think to look at them they were trout palaces and 
parks, but upon examination it turns out that they hold 
not a fin. I have learned this to be true of things other 
than trout streams. Gently my fly floated up and down 
the stream, but there was no signs of Sir Trout or his 
family Changing the hackle for a green drake, I again 
whipped the waters. There was a red bug floating 
around and around near the fly. and I was watching its 
feeble efforts to climb upon a leaf, when there was a 
splash up stream behind me. Turning about, like a pivot 
m its socket, on the boulder where I stood, I saw only a 
series of rapidly widening ripples, but it was enough. 
Quickly the drake left the pool and rested on the rapid 
waters some twenty feet above me. It was for an instant 
only. A flash of sunshine, a glitter of jewels, a surge 
through the water, a wild throb of the reel, a swish and 
a splash, a slow pulling in, a dip of the net, and he lay— 
Oh, the beauty! soft-cushioned in moss. He weighed just 
seventeen ounces. 
I have noticed that the trout in these streams differ 
materially in shape. Now, for instance, this one was long 
and slender, while others I have caught were short and 
chubby- Thinking it was perhaps a sexual character- 
istic I made an examination and learned that it was not, 
as some males were short and thick as well as the fe- 
males, and vice versa. I mentioned the matter to Dug- 
ger, who is very well informed upon such things, but he 
was unable to explain it to me. 
Slipping the fish into the creel, I walked down stream 
for some dozen rods, where an old pine log hung out 
over a rapidly swirling pool. Crawling down to the end 
of the log, I seated myself astraddle of it, and beg-an one 
of the most enjoyable half- hours of all my angling ex- 
cursions. From up the valley came the sound of rushing 
water. On both sides was a thick growth of timber, 
with sunbeams darting here and there in the dark foliaere. 
Above was the blue sky of this beautiful "Land of the 
Sky, "below were little rapids and pools, while directly 
beneath me was a miniature maelstrom, the home, I 
felt sure, of a family or two of trout. 
Adding a couple of hackles to the drake, I quietly 
dropped all three on the water. Surely a conference had 
been held in that place, and a plan of action agreed up- 
on, for no sooner were those three flies on the water than 
as many trout seized each his fly and darted each in his 
own direction. Of course I was highly elated, but I must 
add, not a little astonished and confused. Perched as I 
was on that shaky log I could do practically nothing. It 
was a predicament entirely unforeseen. I am told that the 
hunter sometimes forgets to shoot, so fascinated is he 
with the movements of his prey. It was so with me in a 
sense, for I could do nothing but look. 
How they made that water boil! Two of them I re- 
member were in the air together, while the third acted 
as a sort of anchor for them, and in turn was similarly 
waited upon by the others. I wanted to be anywhere 
but on that log. Every movement I expected the loss of 
at least a part of the booty. Seizing the end of a broken 
limb I began crawling backward up the log, and to my 
great relief, soon stood on a big boulder about ten feet 
above the water. Now 1 could work. Slowly the catoh 
was led to the right, out of the whirling water into a shal- 
low ripple, and with the aid of the net soon lay on the 
pebbled shore. 
Seating myself on a rock, I surveyed those trout for a 
full ten minutes. My heart was running over with joy. 
How often, brother angler, does it happen that a man 
lands his three at a time. They weighed a little over two 
pounds. From this pleasant place I walked down stream 
toward a spot Mr. Dace had told me afforded the choicest 
fishing on the river. Arriving there I found some boys 
in bathing, It looked as though they were tired of fish- 
ing and had sought to refresh themselves by a plunge. 
They had not seen me approach so engaged were they 
with their sport, and hiding myself in a thicket of rho- 
dodendron, I watched them with considerable interest for 
some time. I was much disappointed in finding them 
here though, for I had thought to make a strike worthy 
of remembrance. 
Retracing my steps and passing the scenes of the morn- 
ing's adventures, I floated my flies in a glassv bit of 
water near the mouth of Onorah Branch. Nothing hap- 
pened at this spot worthy'of note, except that I landed a 
remarkably short and broad trout weighing nine ounces. 
A little further up stream I un jointed my rod and follow- 
ing a widening mountain pathway was soon in the mead- 
ows and at Dugger's, 
The nights are cold in that latitude, and a fire was 
kindled in the great fireplace directly after supper. What 
a pleasure it is to recline at ease in a soft arm chair and 
watch the shadows on the wall, and the glow of the 
coats, so ruddy. Then to cross one's legs and light one's 
pipe and read a romance old and racy. In this manner 
did I end the first day. Jamie L. Kino ax 
Cape Cod Winter Notes- 
While on a flying visit to Woods Holl, Mr. V. N. Ed- 
wards, of the Fish Commission, furnished me some of his 
recent observations upon the birds and fish of the 
locality. The unusual cold produced certain anomalies 
of distribution of animal life and led to the destruction 
of a great many common winter residents, especially 
among the fish. 
Daring the night of Feb. 5, anchor frost first made its 
appearance. The temperature of the water dropped as 
low as twenty-eight and a half degrees. The spawning 
cod in the live boxes under the fish commission labor- 
atory, and in the outside pools, were frozen as hard and 
stiff as if they had been out of water and thrown on ice. 
Shore fish, such as the chogset and tautog were seen lying 
on top of the ice in large numbers. Eels, with their 
usual sagacity, burrowed into the mud and escaped the 
widespread destruction, as far as heard from. Curiously 
enough, a lot of cod eggs in the hatchery, over which the 
same intensely cold water at twenty-nine degrees con- 
stantly flowed, were scarcely affected by the mixture 
of ice mush in which they were embedded. At this date 
(Feb. 23) they look as well as any other eggs in the 
boxes and nearly all of them will batch, 
Anchor frost is fatal to fish, but not at all injurious to 
the little animals called copepods, which are ssvarmiiiLc 
now in the waters. Mr. Edwards has seen a great many 
strange things in the course of twenty years' collecting 
at Woods I loll, but he was surprised the other day upon 
bringing in a lump of ice which he found literally 
"alive" with those diminutive creatures. 
These copepods form the natural food of certain young 
fishes now abundant in the icy waters of the harbor- 
fishes so small that even the ichthyologists are in doubt 
as to their identity. It is certain 'that some of the cod 
family are among them, as well as sculpins, eels and sand 
launce, but others are not recognizable. 
Woods Holl, Mass., Feb. 23. T. H. B. 
A Connecticut Fishing- Club. 
The Jewett City (Conn.) Piscatorial Club has recently 
been organized, and has for its object the stocking of 
streams and ponds within its territory with fry and 
yearling fish. It has a membership of fifty, and not a 
few prominent men of Norwich are enrolledupon its lists. 
The organization has been talked of and thought of for 
years, but at this time the fact of the swift decadence of 
the number of trout in our brooks and game and food fish 
in our ponds and reservoirs made it necessary to act at 
once. A new method of raising fry will be put in opera- 
tion. It is also expected that white perch (a fish hither- 
to unknown in this immediate vicinity) will be intro- 
duced. 
The officers elected at the first meeting are: President, 
Archie McNicol; Vice-President, J. II. Finn; Secretary, 
W. L. Sweet; Treasurer, C. W. Reynolds; Executive 
Committee, A. A, Young, Jr., L. F. Kinney, F. L. 
Leavitt, C. H. Fanning, D. P. Chabot. Committee on 
uait— C, H. Fanning, 
