172 
t^EB. 26, I§9§. 
nets wliich ply in ILake Michigan. All the great market- 
iishermen realize and admit, what portions of the more 
mconsiderate public do not realize, that protection and 
restocking are necessities tor even the greatest, the most 
inaccessible and the most prolific waters. The following' 
table of distribution of the fry hi' the Wisconsin State 
Fish Commission during the. past year shows what is 
being done in the way of restocking for the benefit of 
not only the market-man, but the sportsman; Brook 
troilt 1,949,000, rainbow trout 1,241,000, whitefish 
18.000,000, lake trout (fry) 10,000,000, lake trout (year- 
lings) 10,000, wall-eyed pike 23,300,000, white bass 9,115, 
black bass 4,500, muskelkmge 1,100,000; total, 55,613,615. 
Michigan Spearing, 
They are having quite a circus over in Michigan on 
the question of spearing in inland waters. The new law 
has the tollowing clause: ''It shall hereafter be lawful 
in the months of December, January, February and 
March in each year to take, catch or kill through the ice, 
by a spear, all kinds of fish, except brook trout, rainbow 
trout, German or brown trout, grayling, landlocked 
.salmon, and black bass, in any or all of the inland lakes 
and streams of this State, including Lake St. Clair and 
that part of the St. Clair River below the village of Al- 
gonac. in St. Clair county, the channels through which 
said river empties into Lake St. Clair, and other chan- 
nels and bayous comprising the waters of said lake. 
Provided, that all waters, lakes and streams in this State 
except Maple River below its entrance into Gratiot 
county, which are now protected from spearing by any 
local act of the Legislature of this State, shall be exempt 
from the provisions of this act." 
Believing that under the above wording of the law 
it was legal to spear in the Maple River, a great many 
persons have been thus operating along that stream, 
although the lawyers have been divided in their con- 
struction of the ambiguous clause regarding that water. 
Last week some forty persons were found spearing on 
A^Iaple River, in Gratiot county, many of them having 
killed large quantities of fish. A test case will probably 
be made, it being the belief of the game warden that 
the best construction of the law will forbid any fishing 
along the Maple River v,nthin the limits of Gratiot coun- 
ty by any means except those of hook and line. 
Duluth Fly-CasiQg Club. 
The city of Dulnth, Minn., is in the heart of one of the 
finest angling regions of the West. In that country the 
angler can go fishing and catch something, whether he 
be after trout, bass or muscallunge. Duluth has a great 
•many skillful fly-fishermen, and a number of gentlemen 
met last week and organized the Duluth Fl.v-Casting 
Club, electing the following oiticers: President, J. P. 
Harris; Vice-President, C. H. Hoecker; Secretary, F. 
W. Edwards; Treasurer, D. J. Greensward. 
Tip-aps Taken, 
The sport of tip-up fishing continues this winter on 
many Minnesota lakes in spite of the law, the lakes near 
.St. Paul and Minneapolis being especially well patronized 
by ice fishermen. One day last week over 300 tip-ups were 
found on Bass Lake. Some thirty men were operating 
these, and after a lively chase seven of the fishermen 
were arrested. Ml the fish found on the ice were con- 
fiscated.' 
Illinois Fishermen's Association, 
Chicago, 111., Feb. 12.— The Illinois Fishermen's As- 
sociation is composed of market fishers operating along 
the Illinois River, the same being banded together for 
the purposes of getting what they want, Some 1,400 
men are employed by this Association. An idea of the 
magnitude of the business carried on by these men may 
be gained by a glance at the figures submitted in the 
second annual report of the Association, shown in the 
following table: 
Kinds of Jish. Total pounds Net value. 
Cam 5,489,990 $164,099.75 
Buffalo 3,061,454 61,229.08 
Catfish 235,000 9,400.00 
Bull pouis c 235,000 8,550.00 
whSf p^rch 394,6so 23,140.00 
Craoo e 40,654 2,0.32.70 
B™ bass 40,621 3,249.68 
Total 9,703,298 $279,482.07 
It has come to the ears of many market fishermen of 
the Illinois and Mississippi rivers that the Chinamen of 
Mott street, in New York city, consume quantities of 
dogfish, a species not commonly accepted as food by the 
public. These astute fishermen conceive that there must 
be a market for this fish in New York city, and some of 
them have asked me to learn where it is the Chinese 
buy their dogfish. Will any gentleman who lives in 
Mott street be so good as to advise me on this head? I 
haA^e long been engaged in the industry of supplying jack 
rabbits to the worthy poor, and don't mind taking on 
the task of procuring the succulent dogfish for the sa- 
gracious celestial. 
The Illinois State Fish Commission is on record as 
being in favor of the carp, although the general public 
is coming to believe the question of the carp is much 
like that of the man who caught the panther by the 
tail. He didn't know how to turn it loose. The Fish 
Commission of Missouri gives an instance of the disa- 
greement of doctors. That State has spent a great deal 
of money in establishing the carp, and now it is 
spending a great deal of time in wishing that it 
had not done so. Carp have proved to be a nuisance 
in a great many of the waters of Missouri. E. PIough. 
1206 BoYCE Building, Chicago, 111. 
T7ie FoBFST AND Stream fs pwt to press each week on 
Tuesday. Correspondence intended for puhlication 
shoidd reach us at the latest hy Monday, and as much 
earlier as practicable. 
Fishing Up and Down the Potomac, 
How ith^ Gfeat River was Stocked with Bass. 
The man -who makes two ears of com or two hlades 
grass grow where only one grew before, Swift held, 
would do more essential service to his country than 
the whole race of politicians put together, probably be- 
cause he postpones tliereby that evil day which Malthus 
feared, when population should outstrip production. 
So he is a public benefactor who inaugurates or en- 
courages the increase of our food fish into nfew waters, 
or better into the old. 
The first introduction of bass into the Potomac is 
now a familiar historical incident. 
Small-mouthed black bass from Wheeling Creek to 
the number of about thirty were carried in 1854 and 
'55 over the mountains in the tank of a locomotive 
tender and placed in the Cumberland Basin. Not long 
after the war made the Potomac River a skirmish line 
for both sides, and for some years a man who attempted 
to fish on either side was liable to have his cork pulled 
under with too much lead from the other. 
Fish pots were abandoned and pulp mills were un- 
known; stock had disappeared and the river will prob- 
;ibly never again be as free of pollution. The fish were 
thus effectually protected by their environment, and as 
the river was full of vast quantities of fish food the bass 
multiplied and spread the length of the river until it 
became the most noted bass stream in the world, with a 
far greater supply than those rivers where the bass were 
indigenous, but where there was less bass food and other- 
wise less favorable conditions. 
The Pennsylvania Fish Commission in 1873 said that 
the Potomac supplied the markets of "our chief cities 
with this excellent fish. The annual catch in this river 
is beyond computation." 
But the pollution of the waters killed off some bas.s, 
and jnore of their food, and their great numbers in the 
confined territory so reduced the food left there was no 
longer enough to go round, and they were driven to 
more and more feed on each other until the yield was so 
reduced as to be noticeable throughout the whole course 
of the river, and to attract the oflficial attention of our 
National Commission. 
Efforts at artificial propagation of bass have never 
been successful. The glutinous nature of the ova which 
fastens them to whatever they touch and the difficulty of 
securing the milt from the living male has so far defied 
successful handling and hatching, though we may be 
sure it is only a question of time and study when it will 
be as easily accomplished as is that of the other mil- 
lions we turn out annually. Other glutinous spawn 
that was long thought impossible has yielded to the 
persistent efforts and patient research and inventive 
genius of intelligent fishculturists, and the time must 
come, and it is easy to believe soon, when bass will be 
manufactured and incubated by the miihon, as shad are 
now. 
Meanwhile fortunately the bass' noble character, his 
love_ for his young — as long as he isn't hungry— and 
his ferocious fearlessness of anything that swims make 
him so excellent a parent and producer tliat we are 
constantly planting more than we feed, and they destroy 
each other. He has been much abused for his canni- 
balism, but this to me seems unjust. But for this all 
must have starved in famine times. As it is. if there is 
anything in the doctrine of the survival of the fittest 
we liave saved the best. The extraordinary care which 
the bass manifests for its eggs and young give so high 
a percentage to the progeny reared that it has hereto- 
fore been amply suflicicnt to turn the fish loose in suit- 
able waters, to have them multiply fast enough for all 
practical purposes. Given clean water and food in 
plenty and their increase is abundant to the verge of 
the miraculous. 
When the Potomac was at its best its bass were the 
descendants of at the most fifteen pairs. The trouble 
to-day is they are starving to death. If half the efforts 
exoended in adding new stock were devoted to furnish- 
ing those we have with suitable food and water the in- 
crease would be an hundred fold better than now. 
For many years the Illinois Fish Commission has been 
throughout the State distributing native fish netted in 
the sloughs and lakes in the bottoms of the Illinois and 
Mississippi rivers. When the spring freshets overflow 
the banks of these rivers the waters carry out into the 
shallow depressions many, many fish ripe for spawning. 
When the iioods have subsided these pools are found to 
be swarming with the fry of the native fish. Under the 
laws of the State only such places may be netted as 
would in all probability dry up, or freeze the fish so 
confined. 
Even with this restriction there are millions available, 
and ten years ago the National Government recognized 
the value of this work. 
Up to that time the United States Fish Commission 
had not taken any great interest in bass, and while ad- 
mitting an urgent demand from various quarters for 
stocking purposes were disposed to discourage its in- 
troduction. About '88, however, they formed a sort of 
partnership with the Illinois Commission, paying half 
the exnense and placing Dr. Bartlett, then Secretary of 
the Illinois Commission, in charge. The first year they 
distributed 100,000 fish from this source. Later, when 
Dr. Bartlett severed his connection with the State Com- 
mission, United States Commissioner McDonald ap- 
pointed him in charge of the Government distribution 
from that point, known as the Quincy Station. 
Most of the fish for this fall distribution are procured 
front the lowlands bordering the Illinois River. 
Since that time thousands of , bass have been distrib- 
uted by the Commission, and thousands of anglers made 
hapnier in anticipation and in the realization of better 
sport. 
Many waters have been stocked, and many a pond and 
creek that knew no higher sport than a bob and worm 
for sucker or catfish are now favorite resorts for 
fishermen. Indeed in my own home in southern Illinois 
artificial ponds are built, and even dry and unsightly 
sink holes have become fish pools, in which it is a mat- 
ter of gratification, but not surprise, to take 5lb. bass. 
As an example of what may be done with the help 
of the Fish Commission, I want to tax your patience for 
a few moments with a letter written by a chum of mine, 
the coroner of our little county, to the Illinois State 
Commission, and niade part of their last report. As you 
will see by the size of the document it is most of that 
report, and all there is of it on this subject. 
I feel of course more than a usual interest since it is 
from mv own home and by a friend who helped sur- 
prise me with my first fly-rod, then a great curiosity in 
that country. Now, as you will learn from the letter, 
the fly is so well known that even the catfish are edu- 
cated to rise to the occasion. The report says : 
While it would be impossible for us to attempt to 
give a list of the clubs that have been formed through- 
out the State for the protection and propagation of the 
fish m our various lakes, or to give the names of those 
who have budt ponds for the cultivation of fish, yet we 
cannot refrain from citing the work of that nature which 
has been accompUshed in one section, viz., that adjacent 
to Waterloo, 111., as an instance of what is being done 
and what might be done tliroughout the State. 
We quote from a letter of Dr. Sennott, written in 
compliance with a request for a summary of the clubs 
and their work in his neighborhood. The Waterloo 
people have always been firm supporters of the Commis- 
sion and its work. 
"Your request for a brief synopsis of tke names and 
locations of the various lakes and ponds in this vicinity, 
with a history of the organizations controlling them, has 
been received. I will comply with your request as far 
as I can. Gilmore's Lakes are situated three miles from 
Columbia and ten miles from Belleville, and are leased 
by the Belleville people under the name of the Gilmore 
Lake Fishing Club. 
"The^ membership is limited to twenty and is always 
full. The lakes are two in number, known as Long 
Lake and North Lake. Each covers an area of about 
four and one-half acres. The water varies in depth from 
I to 2oft. They are natural lakes surrounded by forest 
trees and have been well stocked with black bass, crap- 
pies and sunfish. A good club house has been buih on 
the lake. 
"Island Lake, two miles north of Waterloo, is a nat- 
ural body of water, crystal in its clearness, and was the 
first lake leased and protected as a resort by the Water- 
loo sportsmen. It contains a little over four acres of 
water, and the fish taken from it are noted for their 
gameness, beautiful color and fine flavor. ' The Waterloo 
Hunting and Fi.shing Club had this lake under their care 
for the last twenty years. It is now owned by a private 
club of Waterloo citizens. * * * 
"Near Island Pond is Catfish Pond, owned by Mr. 
E. Grosso, and stocked with bass, crappie, catfish and 
sunfish. * * * 
"Mr. C. Kalmer, one-half mile north of Waterloo, has 
a nice artificial pond Avell stocked'with crappie, channel 
catfish and a few bass. These were placed there by the 
State Fish Commission and have thrived wonderfully. 
The channel catfish in the pond take the fly as quickly 
as clo the bass, and put up as good or better fight. 
"Mr. J. Herchenroeder, two miles east of Waterloo, 
has a lake made by damming up a smaU valley, which 
is^well stocked with a variety offish. 
"The mill ponds at Waterloo have been stocked and 
give promise of fine fishing. =1= * =i= . 
"Mr. M. Crowe, five miles east of Waterloo, has an 
artificial nond on his farm, and it is stocked with black 
bass and catfish. * * * 
"Lake Bartlett is a natural body of water over four 
acres in extent, varying in depth from i to 25ft. It is 
situated four and one-half miles southwest of Waterloo 
and IS leased by the Lake Bartlett Fishing Club, con- 
sisting of ten members. * * * 
"The lake and club were named for Hon. S. P. Bart- 
lett, secretary of the State Fish Commission. * * * 
"Schorr Lake Fishing Club, of Waterloo, has the 
largest membership and is the oldest sporting club in 
existence m this country. It was organized by "members 
of the Waterloo Hunting and Fishing Club, which dis- 
banded when Island Lake passed out of their hands 
This club has a beautiful club house at the lake, which 
is a little over a mile south of Waterloo. The water is 
supphed bv springs that never fail, and the lake is said 
to be one of the finest artificial ones in the State. This 
club also controls Beaver Lakes, three lakes situated 
five and one-half miles south of Waterloo. These lakes 
were all stocked by the Illinois Fish Commission. 
"While not in our neighborhood l;terallv, yet near 
enough to count, is- the lake of the Chester Fishing Club. 
Lake_ Langford, named for the late secretary of the 
Ilhnois State Fish Commission. * * * The lake is an 
artificial one, fed by spripp-s, and was made by throwing 
a dam across the ravine. * * * 
"The interest in pond cuhure and the ca^re of our 
lakes has made fishing very popular, fly-casting being 
the prevailing method. Many of our boys have be"- 
come quite expert. A size limit as to fish caught is a 
rule m most of the clubs, and our people are being edu- 
cated to the necessity of the protection of our waters 
m every way possible." 
This, gentlemen, illustrates what organization and the 
help of the Commissions will do. This little town of 
which my friend writes has not many more than 2,000 
inhabitants; the county has no fish streams, and yet' we 
have raised carp of aS^lbs. in weight and bass of 61bs., 
and what is better have afterward taken that 61b. bass 
with a fly. This is not intended as a chahenge, but only 
for encouragement. 
I am indebted to Mr. Ravenal for the list of bass de- 
posited in the Potomac: 
IVAen. mto. Where. Number. 
li^t • • • Wa^h "r"V- r lotom^o River 20:35 
■ ^' Piscatawav lOOO 
1 fol'f ■ ■ ■ • w u' ■ y*^''*'^ Upper Potomac ] ] 4OO 
1892-3.... VV oodbridge, \ a Occoquan River 1100 
1892-3 London Co Jiroad Run JOOO 
1892-3 Loudon Co Goose Creek 2000 
1892-3 Fairfax Co. Accotink, 1000 
1892-3.. ..Fairfax Co.....;... Pohick ' Vm 
1892-3.... Pr. VVm. Co ...Neapsco 1000 
1892- 3.... Pr. Wm. Co Ouantico lOOO 
1893- 4.... L. D. Wine Eastern Br lOO 
1S9.3-4....F. A. Heitmuller Brightwood 50 
1893- 4.... Jefferson Co 400 
1894- 5 Woodmont Potomac 100 
1894-5 .... Zoo Rock Creek 263 
1894-5 Fairfax Co , Johnny Moore 50 
1894- 5. .. .Loudon Co Catoctin 
1895- 6.... Pr. Wm. Co Occoquan 
1896- 7.... Fairfax Co Accotink 
1896-7.... Pr. Wm. Co Powell's 
1896-7,,,. J, H. Hunter Potomac 
100 
100 
200 
200 
50Q 
