AlABcn 37, 189'j'.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
regarded this friend of mine as a "dead game sportsman," 
never striying for a feminine cqxiivalent for the term, al- 
though I have hoped to refine the language of tlie thought 
somewhat before I gave it speech. When I thinlr of this 
► perfect type of a gentle, cultivated, vcomanly woman, who 
pursues sport for health and pleasure, and rears her children 
to be manly men and refined women, while they follow her 
example— and I know there are others in the world like her 
—1 naturally dissent from the expression fad as applied to 
womeu in the "Medley of the Sexes," and I will let the men 
defend themselves. 
Striped Bass. 
A gentleman in New York city has written me the follow- 
ing letter; "I address you in behalf of an old and valued 
Iriend, whose pursuit for more than thirty years has given me 
a great deal of genuine sport and pleasure, aud,from what I be- 
lieve to he inadequate protection, will not much longer fre- 
quent the waters of the State in the numbers he has — the stri ped 
bass. The only reference to the fish in the laws of our fish- 
eries and game is Section 131, relative to length of striped 
bass which may be taken. I was informed tuat a law or 
section of law was to be passed near the close of last winter's 
session of the Legislatuie (but for some reason or other was 
hung Tip) for the better protection of striped bass. I am 
satisfied from my own observation and the repojts of, I may 
say, hundreds of book and line fishermen who persistently 
fish for the salt- water striped bass, that their numbers are 
lessening yearly. There have been good reasons for placing 
Section 121 in the law, and it meets with approval, because 
a fish of less than Sin. in length would be of small or no ac- 
count as food to any one. It is the unanimous opinion, how- 
ever, of all with whom I have talked that the method of 
taking this fish at any time other than with hook and line 
should be considered illegal in the waters of the State. 1 
have seen these fish in September and October say 13 to 14in. 
in length, beautiful and symmetrical in their dimensions 
and in the following January fish of the same lenath are full 
of spawn, with an increase in depth from dorsal fin to belly 
of 3in. or more. These fish are taken from the waters of the 
State by other devices than hook and line. 
' It is said that the striped bass of salt water has become a 
high-priced fish because of its scarcity, and the poorer classes 
of our community cannot atford to buy. It inhabits our 
local waters, and the neighborhood of Croton Point, ih the 
Hudson, is considered one of their best spawning grounds, 
and they are taken here when they should not be by fishers 
for the markets. If the capture of these fish was prohibited 
for a term of jears it would doubtless tend to multiply their 
numbers and bring prices within the reach of all who desire 
ibis splendid food fish; but do you not think that a law 
should be passed by the present Legislature prohibiting the 
capture of striped bass in the waters of the State at any sea- 
son except by hook and line, and make a close season from 
JSfovember to the following May, or such other safe dates as 
to cover the spawning season ?" 
There is a bill now before the Legislature, introduced by 
Mr. G. W. Meyer, Jr., 30th Assembly District of iSTew York 
city, which provides a close season for striped bass from 
Jan. 1 to May 1 following, and the Sin. limit of length is re- 
tained. The bill was introduced as ISTo. 516, read once and 
referred to the committee on fisheries and game, reported 
from said committee with amendments and ordered reprinlel 
(ISTo. 1,159), and placed on order of second reading as amend- 
ed. It seemed to be the opinion in Albany that this bill 
would finally pass. 
It is my opinion that all food fishes which spawn in the 
fresh waters of the State, or in brackish waters of the State, 
should be protected during their breeding season, but it has 
long been an open question when the striped bass did spawn 
in our waters, The United States Fish Commission says: 
"They spawn in the late spring and early summer, some of 
them in the rivers, others probably at sea, although this has 
not been definitely ascertained." 
The striped bass has been hatched artificially first by Hol- 
ton and afterward by True, I think; but my recollection is 
that those hatched in North Carolina (and this is where they 
were hatched) were hatched in July, but my memory may 
be in fault as to the time. If I am anywhere near right, the 
clos3 season provided in Mr Meyer's bill will not cover the 
i pawning season in New York waters. My correspondent 
speaks of striped hass having spawn in January, but it does 
iiot follow that the spawn is anywhere near ripe at that time. 
Brook trout have spawn in May, but it does not mature 
until the following October, and there is a vast difference 
between ripe and unrijie trout spawn. Striped bass eggs 
are smaller than shad eggs, but the fishermen themselves 
should be able to throw light on the spawning season with- 
out reference to the size of the eggs. Since the foregoing 
was wiitten I find that it was Maj. T. B. Ferguson who 
hatched striped bass in North Carolina, and they were 
hatched in May, 1879. The eggs hatched in Iwenty-fonr 
hours. 
There should be a close season on striped bass from May 1 
to June 30. 
Fish Food in Nevada. 
The report of the Fish Commissioner of Nevada has just 
been received, and under the heading "Fish Food'' I find 
that the Commission has planted crawfish for trout food in 
some of the waters of the State. "On the same day I de- 
posited five dozen of thelarvse of the salmon fry [OorydaUs). 
I investigated for results in the fall of 1896 (a year later, for 
they were planted in May, 1895) and found the Corydalis in 
large swarms." 
Large swarms from a plant of five dozen! Just ^ee what 
the possibilities are in this line. Bat are we to understand 
tnat this is Corydalis cornutus, alias the helgramite? 
A. N. CHBSiBy. 
Mr. Mott's SalmoD. 
These was shown in the Fobest and Stream's 'exhibit 
f t the Sportsmen's Exposition last week a Rastigouche sal- 
mon taken at Dawson's, on the Restigouche, Canada, June 
10, 1896, by Mr. Jordan L. Mott, Jr., of this city. The 
fish weighed 401bs,, and Mr. Mott's time in killing it was 45 
minutes. It is a handsome fish, and attracted much atten- 
tion. 
North Carolina Striped Bass. 
SwANSBono, N. C, March 11, — Striped bass or rockfish 
were in evidence at Swansboro on March 5, Eighteen were 
caught which averaged 13lbs. apiece, and sold for 75 cents 
each. C. H. 
Florida Tarpon. 
PnJSTA GoRTiAj Fla,, March IS.^Mr. John Caswell has 
landed five tarpoa here this week. F. P. F. 
MEN I HAVE FISHED WITH. 
XXXVI.-Mr. Almy. 
I HAD often heard that it was thought to be great sport 
to shoot fish with a bow and arrow in parts of the South, 
especially in Louisiana, and now the opportunity oifered 
to take part in it. Others had confirmed what my darky- 
boy Pete had said about Almy being an expert at this 
sport, and in conversation he said: "Down the river there 
are places wide and deep where there are big fish, worth 
shooting at, and it is easy enough to float down twenty 
miles, but it's all paddle coming back, and while the cur- 
rent is not strong, it is not fun to paddle a dugout that dis- 
tance up stream. Can you paddle?" 
"Yes, I can paddle, and keep the paddle on one side of 
the boat and never take it out of the water, if necessary; I 
wouldn't propose to go if I couldn't paddle, for two are 
enough on such a trip, but I've got a better scheme. We'll 
go down, do our fishing and- then get a wagon, take the 
canoe to Ponchatoula and put it on a freight train for 
home, flow will that suit you'?" 
"Good! How long do you want to be gone?" 
"We'll stay out two nights if the mosquitoes will permit. 
You get ready to start in the morning, after breakfast, and 
I'll send all the prodsions that we want down to the boat, 
if you'll have something to protect them from sun and 
rain." 
As we left Tangipahoa the morning was cool and de- 
lightful. A light rain in the night had discolored the 
water a little, but the little river was not high. Mocking- 
birds were rejoicing in the fullness of life, each trying to 
beat the other in some ditiicult ruii or trill. The soft cool 
of morning and evening was delicious here, but the noon 
was torrid. We protected our faces and hands with tar 
and oil from the clouds of punkies, gnats, mosquitoes, galli- 
nippers and an unnamed host of hungry phlebotomizers 
which thir,sted for the last drop of blood we had. But 
while our exposed surfaces were well defended, our thin 
clothing was easily pierced, and so we made smudges of 
fungi in two iron pots and made the best of it. 
Almy was greatly interested in my outfit of flies, fly- 
f ods and reel. He wanted to look the fly-book all over, 
bandle the gut leaders and play witli the reel. The rods 
he did not think much of, from the scant attention he 
paid them, but after the inspection was completed he said: 
"Let's see you catch a fish with them things." He watched 
the process of rigging up and of casting with great interest, 
and when a black bass took one of the flies and bent the 
rod he got excited and called out: "Let me get hold of the 
line! He'U break that little pole! Pull him in now!" and 
a whole lot of other advice. When I lifted a 31b. bass in 
the landing net he simply said, "GoUyl" 
I unhooked the fish and let it go, much to Almy's sur- 
prise, for in this land of plenty he had never thought that 
there was need to spare what was not required for use. 
He agreed that it was a sin to kill an animal when its flesh 
or skin could not be utilized, unless the animal was injuri- 
ous to man in some way. He wanted to try fly-casting for 
bass, and while I feared for my tackle, I had a reserve in 
case of disaster. He promised to keep cool if he hooked a 
fish, and to obey my orders. The rod was ash and lance- 
wood, and it troubled him to cast its length of 9ft. without 
fouling it. I put the canoe ashore and taught him how to 
get out about 20ft. of line, and we started out into the 
river. After a few casts he hooked a fish, and checked 
and gave line as I ordered. After a short fight he reeled 
the fish up near the boat, and as I said, "Hold still, keep 
him there!" and moved to put the landing net below him, 
Almy tried to lift the fish into tlie boat pole fashion; the 
fish made a dive as the tip broke, the reel sung until the 
bass reached a tree top, where it took several turns around 
a limb, snapped the gut leader and escaped. I saw the 
fish, and judged it to w' eigh about 41bs. Almy had a lesson 
in handling light rods and a lecture on the use of landing 
nets. A spare tip replaced the broken one and he brought 
a. small fish to the net. 
By this time the air was warm and close, as nothing 
stirred along our crooked and heavily wooded stream. 
We w' ent ashore to cook dinner. Wishing to see as many 
fish as possible in these strange waters, I put out two lines 
to the bottom, one baited with a big earthworm and the 
other with the tail of a crayfish, and soon had two fish in 
the boat; the worm having taken a big black sucker which 
Almy called a "black horse," and the crayfish captured a 
spotted catfish. "These," said Almy, "are the two best fish 
in the river, better than trout or buffalo." The sucker 
might have weighed 51bs., and the other perhaps Jib. We 
fried them, and I agreed with my friend. They had not 
the weedy taste of his "trout," which I preferred to call a 
"big-mouth black bass," nor were they as muddy as the 
buffalo. We had good salt pork for frying, and unless you 
use sweet oil you can't beat it much. 
The river was so full of fish that you could catch a din- 
ner in a few minutes, so we fished along and released the 
fish as we caught them, and I made a note of the species 
and their local names. The dogfish of the Great Lakes 
was a "bowfin," the fresh-water drum was "gaspergou." 
The name of "bass" was replaced by "perch," and "sun 
perch," "red-eye perch," etc , were common, but I was sur- 
prised not to find our common yellow perch there. 
Neither did I find a pike, except a little fish of 6in. much 
like our Northern brook pike. About 4 P. M. the river 
broadened to a quarter of a mile, and about a mile down 
we made our camp on a low point and prepared for the 
night. We found a diy knoll, covered our provisions in 
the end of the canoe, which was raised on a log to keep 
dry in case of rain, cooked supper, gathered fire wood and 
drift boards to make a shelter alongside the canoe, spread 
our rubber blankets under them and lay down. 
Almy was a good woodsman, was quite intelligent, and, 
with the exception of his belief in voodooism, as related in 
the last chapter, there was no sign that he was "oftV or, as 
Bell would have expressed it, "had rats in his garret." 
All day long I had been interested in the abundance of 
life. Snakes, turtles and frogs glided, slid and plunged 
into the water; strange birds called, sung or flitted; king- 
fishers rattled and dove, while bitterns, herons and other 
birds croaked, drove stakes or pumped thunder. The 
wealth of fish and reptile life brought an abundance of the 
solitary birds which feed upon it. 
Now as an old camper and campaigner, who from 1854 to 
1865 and slept more nights under the open sky than under 
aroof, I thought I knew a whole lot about the sounds of 
night; but on that point of laud, surrounded by swamp and 
l^ke oear the coast of Louisiana, it seemed as if the echoes 
of all the night sounds I had ever heard had come back 
and focused right thereon that June night. Owls in-- 
numerable, and apparently of all the sizes that owls are 
permitted to be, screeched, laughed and hooted; night- 
herons "quawked," gurgled and fanned the air with their 
wings; shrill cries from other wading birds, to the de- 
ponent unknown, added their voices to the night's discord. 
I've tried to think of something to say of the voices of the 
frogs in this happy frog land, but, like that historic man 
who was famed for profanity and was dumb when the 
boys pulled the tail-board out of his wagon load of apples 
when going up hill, I can say: "1 can't do justice to the 
subject." 
We found a breeze come up from the southeast about 
sundown and that meant freedom from mosquitoes and 
other insects, for they can't stand against a light wind. 
"Almjf," said I, "this is delightful; will it last all night and 
allow us to sleep in peace? I don't mind the racket, but 
I'm a sinner if I want to be tormented all night and get up 
in the morning too weak from loss of sleep and blood to 
enjoy the fishing." 
"Yes, it is seldom that we don't get a sea-breeze here. 
We are only about ten miles from Lake Maurepas, which 
empties into Lake Ponchartrain, and not over iifty miles 
from the Gulf of Mexico, and it's open water most of the 
way to the southeast; you know that New Orleans is be- 
tween Ponchartrain and the Mississippi, and we cx)uld 
paddle there easily to-morrow." 
Giving assent to his assumption of my geographical 
knowledge, which I had probably possessed in schoolboy 
days, but now relearned, I turned the talk to the racket 
about us by saying: "There is a frog here which makes a 
rattling sound like bone 'clappers.' I never heard it any- 
where except in Kansas, do you know what it is? 
"No, I don't, but it is probably one of the small kinds. 
Do you know that there are several kinds of frogs, and 
that some never grow big?" 
"Oh, yes; in the North we have the big bullfrog, which 
may be green or brown, and the spotted meadow frog 
with a yellow vest, the tree frogs, which we miscall "toads," 
and rarely a small swamp frog, with long legs and a white 
line running back of its eye. An old friend, who shoots 
and traps for a living, tells me that this little frog makes 
a clacking noise, but I never heard it in New York." 
"That may be the little fellow that does it. I've seen 
'em, but never heard 'em peep. That darky boy, Pete, says 
you eat frogs. Is that so?" 
"Sure, and I'll cook you some to-morrow." 
"Me? I wouldn't eat one for a farm." 
"Say, wh at do we want of these boards over us? It's star- 
light and ain't a-goin' to rain." 
"Don't you remember when we was a-comin' down the 
river I called to you to look out when a shitepoke, as you 
call 'em, was flying over — we call 'em thunder pumpers 
from their noise — an' once you dodged an' had a close call? 
Well, these quawks are 'bout as bad, and you noticed how 
they foul the shore. They cross this point further down, 
as a rule, but it is well to be careful." 
In the morning the boards bore evidence to Almy's wis- 
dom when camping in Louisiana swamps. A few large 
cumulous clouds were floating lazily in the air, and we were 
now to try the new sport of shooting fish with the bow and 
arrow before the sun got too warm. A long bundle of 
canvas was untied and the implements taken out. A fine 
cedar bow, 6ft. long, strung with a cord of rawhide, sev- 
eral ashen arrows about 3ft. long, and a ligh^ iron spear- 
head are the whole outfit. This spearhead has a flat, sharp 
point, behind which is a hinged barb, which lies in a re- 
cess until an attempt is made to draw it from the body of 
a fish, when it spreads out like the "toggle" of a whaler's 
harpoon, the arrow complete weighing about 4oz. Theire 
is a socket on the spearhead into which the wooden arrow 
fits so loosely that it falls out and floats when a fish is 
struck, while a light cord which is fast to the spearhead 
holds the fish. 
After breakfast we shoved off and paddled out into deep, 
open water. There was no perceptible current here in the 
broad water, and not breeze enough to ripple the surface 
and prevent seeing the fish. Slowly paddling along and 
watching the water over the side of the boat, I never saw 
so many live fish anywhere — fishes of various shapes and 
sizes, from minnows up to gars 5ft. long. "Shoot a gar, 
Almy," I said. 
"No use to shoot a gar in the back, your steel will glance 
off his hard scales. A little later in the day they'll be float- 
ing at the surface, and then if you can get the arrow into 
its gill it's the only chance. Turn up by that tree top. 
Steady, stop!" And drawing the arrow to a head he let it 
go and it struck the water about 8ft. from the boat, the 
wooden shaft floated up, and by the running line it was 
evident that a fish was struck. " Gradually checking it, he 
gently pulled in a "black horse" sucker of some 61bs. X 
had shot fish in Kansas with a rifle, and speared them in 
Wisconsin, but this sport evidently required the same care 
in judging between the place the fish really occupied and 
its apparent position, the refraction being greater the further 
away the fish happened to be, and it required more skill to 
speed the arrow to the mark than to hurl the spear or 
shoot the bullet; therefore it was more sport. 
The water was not very clear, and while I could see 
straight down in the shade of the boat, one could not see 
far in the water at an angle, and it was interesting to hear 
Almy discourse on the character of bubbles. The surface 
was dotted with those little bubbles that come from gases 
in the mud or from minute insect life which seem to sim- 
mer on the surface, but he was watching large ones and 
commenting on them. 
"See that string of small bubbles slowly moving toward 
us?" he asked. "Well, that's a turtle working in the mud, 
and the air comes out of the mud and the bubbles seem to 
hang on long before bursting, but here to the left are 
brighter bubbles that come up swift and in patches; they 
break at once. There's fish feeding there, but unless they 
leave the bottom we can't see. 'em. Paddle over the other 
side, in the bend where the weeds are, and we'll try it 
there." We found open places among the weeds and lily- 
pads aixd I watched Almy kill several fish, including a big 
gar which he struck in the gills, as he had explained. 
His marksmanship at varying distances and degrees of re- 
fraction was excellent. He wished me to try it and I did, 
but my admiration for his skill increased with every shot 
I made. Finally I said: "Almy, there's a soft-shelled turtle 
crawling under the boat, shall I try him?" 
"Yes, plug him when he comes out on the other side." 
X shot and fai^tened the barb in him and he began to 
