290 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[6c3T. 10, 1898. 
commenced I would take the professor off and put on a 
fly with heavier gut. About 5 o'clock 1 came to the 
mouth of the pass where my friend Mr, Rathbone was 
fishing, and he said there was nothing there over l^lbs. 
and he was going to the next pass for the evening fishing, 
and I told him I would remain there, for I thought the 
big trout would be coming in in about an hour, judging 
from my experience in the same place the evening before. 
Mr. Rathbone started through the pass and I put my rod 
down in the canoe toiill my pipe, still talking with Rath- 
bone as his canoe was disappearing in the bend in the 
pass. The pipe lighted, I took up my rod; I had really 
no intention of doing any real fishing for an hour, as 
Rathbone had been on the spot two hours, but with the 
rod in my band I made a cast, when there was a boil on 
the water, and I struck. The next moment the line was 
disappearing from my reel at a rate which told me I had 
hooked one monster fish or two big ones, and I thought 
what an ass I was to leave that professor, with its thin, 
worn gut, on my cast. With his paddle Tomah backed 
the canoe toward the middle of the lake in the direction 
that the fish had already taken. After some good fight- 
ing I reeled the fish up near the stern of the canoe and 
Tomah exclaimed: "Two: one big one — six poundsl" 
" Which fly is the big fish on?" 
"Can't see; but the big fish is on top." 
That was not encouraging, for the stretcher fly was all 
Tight, and "on top" might mean the second or third fly, 
and they were not all right. A moment later Tomah 
announced to me, "Big fish on middle fly." 
Shades of my piscatorial ancestors, who will rise up 
and call me an angling chump; the middle fly was the 
professor! I soon got a sight of the fish, and they worked 
like a well-broken team, swimming together like two 
souls with but a single thought — to get away together in 
the same direction. Two or three times I brought them 
near to the canoe, and Tomah took one hand from the 
paddle to grasp the landing net. "Don't try to net them 
untU I tell you, and then save only the big fish; let the 
other fellow go if he will." 
I drew them along parallel to the canoe, with their 
dorsal fins out of water, and saw clearly that one was 
nearly twice as large as the other, and concluded that 
Tomah was a good judge of the weight of a fish in the 
water. The smaller fish turned on its side, and the larger 
acted as though he had about enough of it, and then in 
my own mind I determined to save them both. Slowly 
I reeled and drew them toward the canoe, and they came 
together so nicely, the big fish, a female, showing her 
white belly, and the smaller fish dressed in red that the 
males assume when the autumn leaves begin to fall, and 
I thought this is too easy! Nearer and nearer they came, 
and I had to restrain Tomah, who wished to put 
the net in the water, for I was not cock sure 
that the trout were ready for it, although both were 
turning on their sides and righting themselves 
again 10ft. from my face. I swung them gradually 
toward the stern of the canoe, yet still prepared 
for a laat run, when suddenly there was a splaah and 
a boil in the water, and two hearts no longer beat as one; 
for in the last frenzy the trout had darted in an opposite 
direction, and by sheer force of weight the larger fish 
had parted the thin gut above the professor and was gone 
at the very moment I had about decided that she was my 
fish. The male fish was soon in the net, and when placed 
on the scales weighed S^lbs,, and I told Tomah that he 
made a good guess at the weight of the big one that got 
away. As a rule, I do not turn a hair at the loas of a big 
fish, for I have been through the operation too many 
times, and have become philosophical, or hardened, or in- 
different, whichever is the right term, and usually go 
through it without missing a puff on my pipe; but here 
was a case where I lost the biggest fish through my own 
stupidity, when I knew well that disaster was sure to fol- 
low the retention of a weak fly on my cast, and ever 
since that moment when the big trout disappeared with a 
final flirt of its tail in the direction of my face, while its 
head pointed toward the bottom of the lake with the 
broken professor in its jaw, I have been trying to con- 
vince myself that I was glad of it. Certainly if any one 
else should lose a big fish through tackle that he knew was 
defective when he put it in use, at a time when he had 
plenty of sound tackle to replace it, he would not get 
much sympathy from me, and I know of no good reason 
why, under similar circumstances, I should have any 
sympathy for myself; and perhaps I am glad that I lost 
Tomah's 6-pounder, for if I should hook another it will 
not be on a defective fly of which I have been forewarned 
by personal examination. 
If I wished to excuse myself, which I do not, I might 
say that I was not expecting a big fish, for my friend had 
been fishing the place for two hours and he said there 
were no big fish there, and further, I did not expect any 
big trout to come in for an hour. The answer to that is 
that under such circumstances, if I believed what 1 
thought I did, I should have kept the rod and the weak 
fly in the canoe and not have monkeyed with it on the 
water where big trout were liable to be at any moment. 
If a man puts his flies on the water he must put them 
there in a proper condition to take the kind of fish that 
are known or supposed to inhabit the water. I knew I 
was fishing for big fish, knew that big fish were in the 
lake, and Rathbone and I bad agreed to kill no trout under 
21b8. in weight. I knew that I had over and over booked 
two and three fish at a time, and knowing aU this I delib- 
erately presented a fly that was so weakened that while it 
would hold a 61b. trout alone delicately handled, it would 
not hold such a fish if one of the other flies should be 
taken by a big fish not in accord with the first one. Any 
one who will do this sort of thing deserves to lose his big 
4shf 
How Pike Came to Long Lake. 
Last summer, when the Fisheries, Game and Forest 
Commission and a special Legislative Committee were 
going through the Adirondacks to the John Brown farm, 
which was to be turned over to the keeping of the Com- 
mision, the party passed through Long Lake. It was a 
day's journey from th« Sagamore Hotel on Long Lake to 
Wawbeek Lodge on Upper Saranac, with no hotel be- 
tween, and it was decided to have a guide's dinner at 
Eacquette River carry. An extra guide was sent down 
from the Sagamore early in the morning with provisions 
and cooking utensils, and when my boat reached the 
carry I found this guide to be Jeremiah Plumley, brother 
of "Honest John" Plumley, made famous by Murray in 
his Adirondack Wilderness. 
Jerry Plumley was born sixty- two years ago in what 
was then known as St, John's Clearing, now the town of 
Long Lake, and he was the first child born in the clearing. 
He says that when he was a boy Long Lake was like a 
vast spring hole filled with trout, and in raspberry time 
no other bait was required for trout than one of the ber- 
ries on the hook, as the trout took them readily. 
I asked Jerry if he could tell me the exact date of the 
introduction of pike, the so-called pickerel, into Long 
Lake, and the circumstances surrounding it. He said the 
pike were brought from Harris Lake in Newcomb, and 
were brouc;ht to Long Lake and planted by Lyaander 
Hall, Robert and William Shaw, but he would send me 
the date and other particulars when he returned where 
he could consult some records. I had fished Long Lake 
and Racquette River, particularly the foot of the rapids 
above Mother Johnson's, before the advent of the pike, 
and knew that they must have been planted within the 
last thirty years. Jerry thinks Hall was instigated by 
spite against a fishing club that formerly fished near 
Mother Johpson's, of which David Banks (then David 
Banks, Jr.) was a prominent member, although he 
claimed with the two Shaws that trout fishing was no 
longer of sufficient importance to attract visitors, and it 
was desirable to have fishing of some kind in the lake. 
Years ago I talked with David Banks about the Lysander 
Hall incident, but the particulars have all gone from my 
memory; still to the best of my recollection Hall was dis- 
charged from the employ of the club for cause, and was 
instrumental in procuring the pike more for the injury 
they would do the trout fishing than from any good they 
would do; but I never heard that this was the motive of 
the Shaw brothers, particularly Robert Shaw, whom I 
knew as a minister, justice of the peace and all-round 
pooh bah of Long Lake. 
Jerry Plumley writes that he was in error about the pike 
coming from Harris Lake (by the way, Harris Lake is now 
a good black bass lake), that they were caught in Wood- 
ruff Pond by Richard Parker and by Hall and the Shaws, 
as stated; they were brought to Long Lake and planted in 
April, 1867, and this was the beginning of the end of 
trout fishing in Long Lake and even in adjoining waters, 
where the pike have found their own way or been trans- 
planted by man through ignorance or malice. Long Lake 
in its primitive condition must have been a perfect lake 
for trout, for both the lake and brook trout found therein 
were noted even in my day for their perfection of quality 
and their rich red flesh, showing the highest possible food 
conditions. 
This was the case in Indian L%ke, now given over to 
pike, and it is the case still in the Seven Chain of Lakes. 
To think that such a lake as Long Lake and tributaries 
should now be infested with pike, and that the trout 
should be exterminated, is suflicient to make one execrate 
those who are responsible for this state of affairs, provided 
they really did it through malice. 
But to this day waters are being stocked with fish 
wholly unsuitable for them, and it is done with a desire 
to improve the fishing, not through spite, but errors of 
this kind are as difScult to undo as the spiteful planting 
of predaceous fish and the result is the same. 
A. N. Cheney. 
LAKE WINNEPESAUKEE FISHING, i 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Your correspondent, who writes to inquire about the 
food of Lake Winnepesaukee bass, is quite right when he 
concludes that there is an abundance of natural food in 
the lake which rather detracts from its attractiveness as 
an angling resort. The lake has been abundantly stocked 
with smelt from the Lakeport fish hatchery, and while 
this is no doubt a good thing for the fish, it is rather a 
poor thing for the angler. Too much fish food quite often 
deteriorates angling waters as much as over fishing; how- 
ever, the first is preferable to the latter, and let us be 
thankful that it is so instead of being fished out, as some 
other waters are. 
Black bass are fastidious fish under the best of circum- 
stances, and, as every angler knows, there is no lure which 
is sure to attract them any one day. In Lake Winnepe- 
saukee, however, they seem to have reconciled themselves 
to a diet of young smelt almost exclusively, and they 
merely take a fly or spoon occasionally, with the idea of 
having a romp with it and perhaps to keep "their hand 
in," as one fisherman expressed it. I have fished this lake 
quite industriously for the last two years, and my luck on 
bass has been such that I would be ashamed to have it 
known how many I didn't catch. Of those which did 
manage to measure their length on the bottom of my 
boat I invariably found that their stomachs were filled 
with smelt about 1 or 2in. long, and there was little, if 
any, trace of any other food. 
The smelt are wonderfully numerous in the lake; in 
the winter and early spring shoals of thousands and thou- 
sands may be seen through the ice on almost any sandy 
beach along the shore. When the ice goes out in the 
spring the smelt run up the brooks to spawn, and at such 
times the natives around the lake go out with dip-nets in 
the night time and dip them out of the brooks by the 
bushel. I know of a party of four men who went to the 
Sandwich Brook last spring and in one night filled six 
bushel baskets with smelt, and claimed that they would 
have got as many more if they had had baskets to put the 
fish into. These smelt are not nearly as large as the salt- 
water smelt, although I have no doubt Jhat they would 
grow quite as big if given the chance. 
Another fish recently planted in the lake supplies a 
large amount of food to the lake trout. This is what is 
locally known as the "shad waiter," but in reality seems 
to be the whitefish, or whiting, of the great lakes. I 
have never had a satisfactory explanation of the exact 
identity of this fish, and perhaps some one else may be 
able to enlighten me on the subject. They are caught 
mostly in the winter time, and in deep water, 50 to 70ft. 
Some of the local fishermen claim that they are not the 
whitefish, and are not fit to eat — only fit for trout bait- 
but I know that the contrary is true, as I have relished 
them on many an occasion. 
Winter fishing for lake trout is quite a— I was going to 
say "industry"— sport on Lake Winnepesaukee. It in- 
cludes many discomforts and few fiah in return, but it 
gives one a good excuse for an outing at a time when the 
surrounding mountains are clad in white and crowned 
with glistening, pearly diadems. A sunrise on a frosty 
morning on Lake Winnepesaukee is a rare treat. 
Ice-fishing for lake trout consists in "bobbing" a piece 
of cut fish at the end of about 40 or 50ft, of 8ilk;line fo 
an indefinite period or until you have a strike. As soon 
as a strike is felt up shoots the arm and the line is hauled 
in hand over hand without a stop until the trout lies 
floundering on the ice. There is no playing of the fish, 
and if you average one or two bites a day you are doing 
well. One man usually has from two to six holes which 
he fishes at the same time, going from one to the other 
and bobbing a little while at each. Snow or brush is 
piled up on the windward side to secure some comfort, 
but withal it is rather poor sport unless one is endowed 
with a large share of the virtue of patience and is fond of 
winter gaenery. Most of the fishermen are local parties 
and few gportsmen have hardihood enough to expose 
themselves to the rigors of a Winnepesaukee winter, but 
there are a few who go there regularly every winter and 
©njoy it. The local men sell their fish almost entirely to 
the storekeepers, who ship them to the market outside of 
the State, which is against the New Hampshire law. At 
one of these stores I once tried to buy a copy of Forest 
AND Stream, when the worthy owner told me that he did 
not kf ep it and would "not give it house room." He said 
that if it was not for that blankety sheet they would not 
have to be so careful about shipping their trout, and all 
buying of trout out of season was ruined by the agitation 
of that blankety sheet. Verily, Mr. Editor, we love you 
for the enemies you have made. Matterhoen. 
Wells River, Vt^ 
DELAWARE RIVER SALMON AND 
OTHER SALMON. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In the editorial columns of Forest and Stream for 
Sept. 26 the statement is made that planted salmon are 
appearing in the Delaware River, and the sentiment is 
expressed that "it is preposterous that the enterprise 
should be defeated by the lawlessness of the gang of 
spearers who infest these waters." I fear that the enter- 
prise will be defeated by the combined forces of the 
spearers and the shad netters. We are to judge of future 
history by past history. By consulting past history we 
learn that each individual salmon is a fine prize easily 
captured by the stupidest fisherman, with spear or net; 
and the temptation to catch him is too great to be re- 
sisted by the people who live near the streams and who 
have no difaculty in discovering the resting pools and the 
shallow-water spawning beds of these great active acro- 
bats. In the European countries, where poachers are 
promptly and severely dealt with, salmon poaching can- 
not be stopped. In this country the Province of Quebec 
has the best salmon regulations, because leases of salmon 
property give a large annual income to the Government, 
and yet I have heard natives boast of spearing salmon on 
the spawning beds in such well-protected streams as the 
Bay Chaleur waters — and in the streams down east on 
the Gulf coast nets are set in the resting pools almost 
without regard for the authorities. The population is 
small, the people are all loyal to each other in poaching 
matters, and the Government inspector's approach is 
heralded long in advance of his coming. There are many 
rivers which the inspector does not visit anyway. 
On the eastern Quebec coast the herring nets capture 
great quantities of the smolts; and in some places the cod 
traps, which pay no salmon license, catch many more 
salmon than the licensed netters. It is said that the cod 
trappers are allowed to ruin the codfishing and the salmon 
fishing because they belong to the influential class which 
has the strongest pull with the politicians. In Nova 
Scotia, New Brunswick and Cape Breton most of the 
salmon rivers have been poached until they have become 
unattractive to the rod fisherman, but the worst poaching 
at the present time is being done in Newfoundland. Last 
June I covmted eleven salmon nets in the first half mile 
of one river (Coal River), and four of the eleven nets 
barred the stream. A very few salmon manage to get by 
such obstruction by jumping over the nets. The inhabit- 
ants on that river told me that a few years ago the stream 
furnished annually ten barrels of salmon to two short 
nets, and they could not understand why the fishing this 
year was a failure and no one caught a barrelful. On 
two other salmon streams I found nets at the only resting 
pools, and the big resting pool in the north branch of the 
Humber River is netted as a matter of course by natives 
who have no hesitation about telling of their catches. 
The authorities are not likely to catch any of the poachers, 
because they go at it in a ponderous way with war ships. 
One might as well "hunt ducks with a brass band." No 
sooner does the man-of-war appear at any part of the 
coast than the nets are expeditiously stowed away by the 
natives. I have talked with natives from North Labrador 
to Codroy River and they all say that the salmon resting 
pools in the rivers are netted and speared as a matter of 
course. The population is increasing as the salmon are 
decreasing, and the future for salmon fishing is pretty 
dark. Almost all o£ the Newfoundland streams would 
yield a good income to the Government, but the salmon 
fisherman who goes up there and looks over the streams 
decides not to invest his money. The Codroy River is an 
exception in that its salmon are protected, becau je there 
are summer visitors camped on the pool during a greater 
part of the season. 
While there appears to be no doubt that the Atlantic 
coast rivers from the Delaware to Maine could be re- 
stocked with salmon, but in these rivers the white fisher- 
man has shown his superiority over the Indian by his 
ability to catch the last salmon in the river and thus cut 
off his supply. If salmon reappear in the Delaware they 
will be speared on the shallow-water spawning beds as in 
days of yore, but the greatest obstacle will probably be in 
the shad nets. Salmon run into shad nets ireely because 
they have confidence in their ability to smash any kind of 
net, but the gauntlet is too long in our shad rivers. I have 
known a good many shad fishermen and none of them 
were strongly addicted to the habit of putting captured 
salmon back in the river. Robert T. Morris. 
Nkw Yobe. 
Black Bass stocking in New Jersey. 
I HATE received during the past month a considerable 
number of applications for black bass and pickerel, but 
investigation shows that in only a very few instances were 
the waters sought to be stocked adapted for that purpose. 
The United States Fish Commissioner has complied with 
the requests of a number of our oitizsns for black bass in 
suitable waters. Under the circumstances I would re- 
spectfully suggest that no attempt be made this year of 
transferring fish from one water to another, the number 
of applications entitled to favorable consideration being 
