Jttxt 10, 1897.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
29 
took off the click from the reel, so that the men would not 
move the canoe, and reeled in the line, and began again to 
cast over the drop. At the first cast the fish came, but short 
as before, both limes coming from the cast to the right of the 
canoe, but nearly astern. I again rested the fish and con- 
sidered the advisability of changing the fly, but the head and 
shoulders I had twice seen above the water made me suspect 
it was a mended kelt, and I cast the same fly over him with- 
out raising him. Then I allowed the fly to float down with 
the current and sink well below the surface of the water, 
where I judged the fish to be, and pulled it toward me as 
rapidly as possible with one quick, upward motion, as I have 
sometimes tempted a less lordly fish than the salmon. 
The shoulder of the man in the stern of the canoe, whose 
back was toward me, had a motion as if he were laughing. 
Perhaps he was, but about the third time that I made that 
fly slide up stream as if it were greased, the salmon took it 
for good and all. I saw the boil in time, so that I did not 
pull the fly from his mouth, as I feared I would do if he rose 
to the lightning express. It was a kelt, and he had the hook 
in his tongue and was duly beached. 
Changlnsr Salmon Files. 
A Jock-Scott I was using had become well worn. The 
yellow part of the body was chewed to apparent pulp, top- 
pings were missing,, and about an inch of silver tinsel was 
hanging from where the tag had been. About the third or 
fourth lengthenmg of my cast a fish rose viciously with a 
boil and splash, seeming to turn almost in a circle at the sur- 
face of the water, but below the fly. He came so savagely 
that I felt sure of the fish after resting him, particularly as 
he came to the surface while I was resting him with a lunge 
that caused one of the men to say, "He's mad." I rested 
that fish again and again. Changed to a smaller Jock- Scott, 
to a silver-doctor, to a Mitchell, to a dusty-miller, and finally 
went back to the worn Jock Scott and got the fish, or an- 
other from the same place, on the first cast. It proved to be 
a big mended kelt, and at the fourth clean jump he made 
another fish of equal size jumped with him. This fish was 
so well mended that, though he jumped clear of the water 
five times, he was thought to bf a bright fish until he was 
gaffed; for the men decided he was bright after 1 had brought 
him to the shore, and it was only when he was lifted from 
the water that the cold truth was revealed 
There is an unanswered letter now on my desk from Mr. 
George M. Kelsoe, who is perhaps the greatest expert in 
Great Britain upon the niceties of colors and shades of color 
in a salmon fly, and where each particular fibre of feather 
should be placed to make it deadly in all sorts of water, un- 
der all kinds of sky, and until that letter is answered, perhaps 
it would be as well for memot to air my views on the sub- 
ject of changing flies to induce a rising salmon to take a fly 
and keep it. Particularly, as his letter is written from a 
salpion river in Scotland where his score at time of writing 
was forty-one fish to twelve for five other men. But 1 will 
say that up to date Land and Water has produced in colors 
twenty-eight salmon flies, with descriptions by Mr. Kelsoe 
(and the list is not nearly completed), andif Ihad the chance 
to go salmon fishing to-morrow I would not whimper if I 
could have not to exceed six patterns of salmon flies with 
which to do my fishing, and if I did not get fish with one or 
another of the six patterns I would firmly believe it was 
because there were no fish in the river that I fished. Rather 
than not go fishing, I would cut the number of patterns in 
two, and go with Jock-Scott, silver-doctor and dusty-miller, 
and be perfectly content. 
A Veteran Fly-Dresser. 
Mr. J. W. Burdick, Dr. Wm. H. Drummond, Mr. J. 
Stevenson Brown and the writer were together in Montreal, 
and the subject of our conversation was fish and fishing and 
fishing tackle. Mr. Brown spoke of some flies with which 
he had success on a trip from'which he had just returned, 
and incidentally mentioned that for years he had had his 
flies dressed by one man, and never had a fly failed him 
through any fault of the maker, who was 8. Maltby. The 
name reminded me that somewhere 1 had heard of the man, 
and from what Mr. Brown said I concluded that I wished to 
see him. Wc all got into a carriage and were driven to the 
lair of the old fly-dresser, a man eighty-one years old. 
When we entered the shop it was like stepping back travel 
100 years, and the proprietor seemed to have escaped from 
one of Dickens's novels and taken root in a side street In 
Montreal, and while the rest of the world rofled on he and 
his shop stood still. He is a Yorkshireman, and once he 
spoke of Englishmen, Yorkshiremen, Americans and Cana- 
dians as though Yorkshire was a nation by itself. With his 
gray side whiskers, silk hat of the vintage of fifty years ago, 
big-bowed spectacles, kindly wrinkled face and laughing 
eyes, he talked in broad Yorkshire until it seemed as though 
we were transported to a country far from Canada in the 
Jubilee year. The old man's enthusiasm was most interesting 
as he showed his work— good, honest work, and good, 
honest materials, but many an angler would pass it by even 
if he found the little shop, because it lacked finish. Perhaps 
years and years ago the old man did more finished work, 
but it was good work yet, and the price of a few dozens of 
flies is chea.p for the pleasure of talking with him for an 
hour. 
Before our visit, Mr. Brown told of an angler who thought 
the body of a certain fly was properly made only when 
wound with a hair from a Scotchman's beard, and he was 
always on the lookout for a Scotchman with a long beard. 
Mr. Maltby had a few hair and silk lines, in his opinion the 
only line to fish with, and he said it was wrong to think the 
best silk and hak lines were made from horse-hair, for 
women's hair made the best lines, as it made the best dress- 
ing for some flies; and he told how as a young man in the 
business he obtained women's hair from medical students. 
This was but one of his quaint conceits. He is a loyal old 
soul, for his cards read "God Bless the Queen and aU Jolly 
Anglers." May he live to the century mark, and his hands 
not lose their cunning to dress flies for Yorkshiremen, Eng- 
lishmen, Americans and Canadians. 
Mascalongre, Pike and Pickerel. 
The Finking Gazeite. Loudon, reviewed the Report of the 
Fisheries, Game and Forest Commission, of New York, 
under the headline, "A Grand American Work on Fish and 
Game," and mentioned various parts of the report in detail. 
"The third special article, 'Mascalonge, Pike, Pickerel and 
Pike-perch. ' This moat interesting and admirably illustrated 
article is by Mr. Cheney. AVithout, I confess, absolute 
grounds for it, I have always had an idea that the fish called 
pickerel, pike and mascalonge in America were simply 
small, large and larger specimens of one and the same fish, 
but Mr. Cheney gives a colored plate of each, showing dif- 
ferent markings and coloring, though he admits that color- 
ing and marking are no sure guide to identification. But 
he gives three illustrations, by means of which each of the 
fishes named may be identified from the peculiarity of scale 
formation shown, * * * Since writing these lines I 
have examined the heads of a very fine STlbs. Irish pike, a 
female, with a remarkably small head, and an English pike 
of over 261bs , a male fish, with a larger head than that of 
the 371b3 . fish. There are strongly marked rows of scales 
behind the eye and down to a level with its lower edge on 
the cheeks of both fish ; below that you have to look closely 
to discover them, and at a little distance the cheeks appear 
to be as smooth and scaleless as the gill covers are. If 
Mr. Cheney will some day send me a preserved head 
and shoulders of the largest mascalonge he can get, 
I will do the same for him with the largest pike I can 
get. I have seen so many variations in coloring and 
marking and in general shape of pike I have caught in this 
country, that I am not inclined to attach too much import- 
ance to the presence or absence of scabs on the cheek and 
gill covers, except, perhaps, as an evidence of age. Mr. 
Alfred .Jardine will be interested in this question, and having 
the finest collection of large pike in the world, I shall be glad 
to hear from him whether the older the pike the balder he 
gets from scabs on his cheek or not." 
Mr. Jardine, who is, perhaps, the great pike authority and 
pike fisherman of England, responds in a subsequent issue of 
the Oazeite, and I quote him only in part: 
"I quite agree with you that t"he different appellations Mr. 
Cheney gives to Esox Indus relate only to the same fish from 
infancy upwards, according to their size and growth, whe- 
ther 2 to 5 pounders, i. e., pickerel; 7 to 13 pounders, pike, 
or the heavier mascalonge, maybe giants of 301bs. * * *. 
I have to-day examined my old, i. e. large pike of 37, 86 and 
Sllbs , and also some of ray smaller fish, 25 and 201bs., and 
others in our anglers' club room of lOlbs. As to scales, they 
are well developed on their cheeks and gill covers The 
younger and smaller pike were cheeky enough to have them 
as pronounced as their older and much larger relatives." 
That was the very point I wished to make in the illustrations 
referred to in the State report; the scales on cheek, etc, 
would identify the several fishes whether they were 4in. long 
or 4ft., as they are characteristics which are constant. 
In England there is one species of pike {Esox lucius), the 
same as our pike, formerly Ehox lucius, but now classified as 
Lucius luciusj but we have five species, and Mr. Jardine is 
in error if he thinks I applied different names to the same 
fish at different periods of growth. I described three dis- 
tinct species: the mascalonge, which grows to lOOlbs. ; pike, 
which grows to 50lb3., and pickerel, which grows to 51bs 
I used the cheek and gill cover scales as an illustration, as it 
is something any one can understand, to separate the three 
species; but the scales on median line are not the same, fin 
ray formula is different, and branchiostegals also. In fact, 
all characteristics which determine species go to separate the 
three fish. For instance, the mascalonge has branchiostegals, 
17 to 19; dorsal fin rays, 17; anal, 15; scales on median line, 
150. The pike, Esox Imiua in England, Lucius lucius in 
America, has B., 14 to 16; D., 16 or 17; A., 13 or 14; scales, 
123. There are other differences not necessary to mention 
here. 
I have arranged to send Mr. Marston the mounted head 
of a mascalonge from the St. Lawrence, and one from Chau- 
tauqua Lake also, if necessary, and when he has the head 
before him he will be quick to see that the fish does not exist 
on the other side, and that it is not the Esox lucius. The St. 
Lawrence River mascalonge are spotted with brown on a 
light ground, and in this they differ from the Chautauqua 
Lake fish; but they are structurally the same. 
Last week I was in Ogdensburgh, and Senator Malby told 
me there were five mascalonge in the market, but when he 
drove me there to see them but one was left, a fish of 20lbs. ; 
but I will send Mr. Marston a larger one. One of 60lbs.was 
taken in Chautauqua Lake last spring, when the State was 
taking spawn for artificial propagation of the young. The 
pike is not propagated artificially in this country, nor is the 
pickerel. ' A. JST. Cheney. 
PUBLIC FISH IN PRIVATE WATERS. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In your editorial in the issue of Forest and Stream of 
June 19, you refer to the act of the Legislature of the State 
of Connecticut, forbidding the stocking of private waters 
with fish provided out of the public funds, and making 
public any waters supplied with fish by the commission, as 
the first sTiccessful expedient to get the better of those indi- 
viduals who procure fish under the pretense that they are to 
be used in stocking public waters, and then place them in 
private waters. 
The claim in your article that persons who pursue this 
course are guilty of dishonesty, has the right ring, and so 
far as these persons are concerned, their dishonesty in many 
cases is not confined to false representations made to the 
Fish Commissioners, but also in placing the fish obtained by 
them in waters which are essentially private, in which they 
have no interest and over which they have no control, and 
then claiming that these waters thereby became public 
waters in which all persons have the right to fish. Such 
conduct is nothing less than a deliberate trespass upon pri- 
vate rights and should be made a misdemeanor, and the 
guilty persons could probably be held personally liable for 
all damages which might result from the introduction of fish 
in waters where they aid not already abound. 
It is not necessary to discuss what powers the Legislature 
of the State of Connecticut may have to pass or enforce the 
law in question, but so far as the State of New York is con- 
cerned, such an act if passed by our Legislature would be 
nugatory on the ground that it would interfere with vested 
rights. 
Our present very efficient Board of Commissioners of 
Fisheries has continued the rule adopted by its predecessors 
in oifice, to the effect that fish will be furnished by the State 
for public waters only ; but it has not stated what is meant 
by public waters, and herein lies a difliculty. 
The damage resulting from stocking our waters generally 
with fish not indigenous to them was practically, if not 
entirely, done before our present Commissioners came into 
oflice, and we all recognize their earnest efforts to confine 
themselves to restocking our present waters with the kind 
of fish which now abound in them, and at the same time 
prevent the introduction of foreign fish, and if the same 
course had been pursued by their predecessors the waters of 
this State would not have been so generally injured or 
destroyed as to their value in furnishing fish for restocking 
generally, without proper restrictions as to the waters in 
which they were to be placed. 
There are three kinds of waters in this State. 
jFVr«^— Waters which are absolutely public, as, for in- 
stance, the Hudson River and the Great Lakes, the title to 
which has never passed from the State to its citizens, aad 
in which everybody has the right to flah subject only to the 
general laws of the State for the protection of fish. 
/Second — Private waters, which, strictly speaking, are wa- 
ters lying wholly upon the property of an individual or 
club, surrounded by their own property, and without inlet 
or outlet. 
The fish in such, waters are the private property of the 
owners, for the reason that they are kept in a state of capti- 
vity, and the taking of them is subject only to the general 
fish and game laws of the State. Whoever comes upon the 
premises of the owners of such waters is guilty of trespass, 
and if he takes any fish from these waters he is liable to the 
owners for the actual value of the fish taken by him. 
If the owner of such waters should apply for and receive 
fish from the State for the purpose of stocking them under 
an application to the effect that he desired fish for the pur- 
pose of stocking public waters, while it would be a fraud 
upon the State, it is very doubtful whether the courts would 
ever decide that by reason of such fraud such waters would 
become absolutely public, so that every citizen of the State 
would have a right to fish in them; and even if the court 
should so decide, no persons could approach such waters for 
the purpose of fishing without being guilty of trespass by rea- 
son of their approach over the adjacent lands, which would 
be a full protection to the owner. 
Assuming that a number of individuals whose lands join a 
lake or pond, without either inlet or outlet, should agree to 
hold such pond as private waters belonging to them as ten- 
ants in common, the same rule would apply; and it is absurd 
to suppose that one of such tenants in common could, with- 
out the knowledge or consent of the others, obtain fish from 
the State for the purpose of stocking such waters on the 
statement that such waters were public, and so open such 
lake or pond for the purpose ol fishing to the public at 
large. 
17iird — The remaining waters of this State are not In any 
sense public nor are they strictly private waters . 
They consist of ponds, small lakes and streams, which 
either by grant or by implication of law are owned to the 
center by the riparian owners, and all such persons possess 
certain rights or interests which pass as incidents to the 
land. 
It is one of the vested rights of every such owner that the 
water which lies upon or flows over his land shall always be 
and remain in its state of original purity, and no one has the 
right to use or taint these common waters in such manner as 
to interfere with the natural rights of the other riparian 
owners. 
It is within the province of the Legislature to pass such 
general laws in regard to such waters as may be necessary to 
regulate and specify the manner in which the persons who 
have equal and vested rights and interests in these common 
waters shall enjoy them, and it will . be conceded that such 
laws must be uniform in their character and affect equally 
all those who have a common interest in such waters, 
whether lake, pond or stream, as otherwise the privileges of 
some of the riparian owners would be enlarged by diminish- 
ing or interfering with the vested rights of the remaining 
owners. It will _ hardly be contended that the Legislature 
would have the right to grant to some company which might 
be located on the banks of the upper part of a stream the 
right to discharge refuse containing acids into the stream 
when such discharge would destroy all the fish in it for many 
miles below, and it is equally difficult to see how the Legis- 
lature would have the right to permit one or more riparian 
owners to place in the waters opposite their lands fish 
foreign to the stream, when stocking with such fish would 
result in a prompt destruction bf those natural to these 
waters. 
A case somewhat in point occurred in this county many 
years ago. A paper mill was located on the shore of a stream 
filled with natural fish, including a large number of trout, 
and the refuse, consisting largely of acids, was thrown into 
the stream and destroyed or drove out the fish for several 
miles below. This mill was burned down many years ago, 
and the waters again became pure; but about the same time 
a person living near the mouth of the stream procured from 
the State some twenty-four black bass, on the ground that 
the waters of this stream were public, with the result that in 
four or five years almost all the fish natural to the stream 
had been absolutely destroyed by the bass for a distance of 
about fifteen miles, and the farm of every riparian owner 
on that stream is, on account of the introduction of the bass, 
less valuable to-day than it would be if the bass had never 
been introduced into the stream, and the claim is now fre- 
quently made that the introduction of these , bass on the 
terms imposed by the State, has made the waters of this 
stream public, in which every one has the right to fish. 
I do not propose in this article to discuss the question as to 
how far the stocking of the waters of this State with fishes 
not natural to them has been beneficial or otherwise, but 
may have something to say on this point in a future article. 
If 1 am correct in the above views, then it follows that 
those who have been guilty of placing foreign fish in the 
waters of this State which are not absolutely public, under 
the claim that they are public, have been guilty of trespass 
upon the rights of the riparian owners, which in many cases 
has resulted in great injury, and the claim in their applica- 
tion to the Fish Commissioners for fish to the effect that they 
were to be used for the purpose of stocking public waters 
has been nothing less than a fraud upon the State. 
How the evil, for it is an evil, is to be remedied is a very 
grave question. 
Our present Fish Commissioners are well aware of it, and 
have been and are doing all that lies in their power to pre- 
vent further injury to waters in which the riparian owners 
have a common and vested interest. 
They have no power, nor have they claimed to have the 
power, to declare that the entire waters of a stream or lake 
or pond become public by the act of one or more individuals 
who have procured fish to stock the waters on the ground 
that they were public, but the evil might be checked some- 
what if the commissioners would define what they mean by 
pubfic waters. 
It is doubtful whether an act of the Legislature providing 
that, where persons owning waters strictly private obtain fish 
from the State upon the claim that they are to be used for. 
the purpose of stocking public waters, the placing of them* 
in such private waters would result in making such waters 
public, in which every person would have the right to fish, 
would be upheld by the courts. To make such waters public 
would in many cases result in the practical confiscation of 
property, and the punishment or penalty would be entirely 
out of proportion to the offense. 
