May 21, i8g8.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
409 
Gives no slack unto the salmon, 
Laughs to see him madly rushing, 
Laughs to see him leaping upward, 
Till the lortely crane, the heron, 
it*ausing in his flight to watch them, 
Lights upon a shining sandbar. 
Standing on one leg to watch them. 
Long and bravely fought the salmon, 
Till he weary grew and fainting, 
Till his strength began to fail him, 
And he knew that he was losing, 
That the line was slowly drawing, 
Drawing slowly through the water. 
Drawing to the fatal birc|i bark, 
To the landing net of Toney. 
Tlien he thought him of the canip-fire, 
Of the frying-pan he thought him, 
And he made a rush for freedom. 
Made a mighty leap for freedom; 
Almost in the birch bark leaping, 
Splashed the water in the faces 
Of the angler and the Indian, 
Snapped the rod and broke the leader, 
Broke the rod of Hiawatha. 
"He is off," said Hiawatha, 
"He is gone, a twenty-pounder!" 
And his heart was cold within him, 
Like a lump of ice his heart was. 
Then returned my Hiawatha 
To his home in peaceful Salem, 
To the City of the Witches, 
To his home in Massachusetts, 
There he told the wond'ring people' 
Of his camp beside the river. 
Of his tent beneath the birch trees, 
. Of his talks with Abraam Toney 
;By the camp-fire in the evening, 
• Uf the porcupine and heron, 
■ Of the laughing gulls that mocked them 
In the silence of the forest, 
'Jn the stillness of the evening. 
Not a word he said of angling, 
.Not a word of lordly salmon. B. 
The Avalon Yellowtail Record. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
As a close and constant reader of the ably edited 
angling department in that best of angling papers, 
Forest and Stream, I was more than ordinarily in- 
terested recently when I read the well written article of 
Sefior X., published in your issue of May 14, wherein 
is described a spot which is truly one "of blessed mem- 
ory." I refer to that fisherman's paradise, Santa Cata- 
lina Island, Cal. Sefior X.'s description of the game 
qualities of the yellowtail gave me much pleasure; for 
in this gentleman I readily recognized a worthy brother 
of the rod and reel, who, like myself, can recall many 
a battle royal in the past with this truly splendid athlete 
of the sea. Moreover, when I looked at the photo- 
graph reproduced on page 387 I felt a peculiar thrill of 
satisfaction— as when one meets a friend whom he loves 
and whom he has not seen for long — for the fish pic- 
tured there are old friends of mine, and for the very best 
of reasons: I caught them all myself. However, as this 
conflicts with the description printed beneath the photo- 
graph, "One day's catch by two men with rod and reel," 
I wish to beg a little of your space as follows, so that I 
•can substantiate my claim as above to this, the Catalina 
rod and reel record for yellowtail. 
I spent the entire summer of 189S at Avalon, Catalina. 
I went there for the fishing, and more especially to kill 
with rod and reel that tremendously powerful_ and game 
^creature, Stereolipas gigas, commonly called jewfish. I 
made a careful study of the game fish of that locality, and 
■during all my stay I had as a tutor the ablest guide I 
have ever seen. He is mentioned by Sefior X. I refer 
to Harry Elms. To Harry, who was simply tireless in 
my service, I owe almost all the success that fell to my 
rod. Avalon is a most wonderful spot for fishing, but 
it is like any other place that I ever saw. To make the 
" largest catches one must do the hardest work._ Conse- 
quently, as we were both ambitious foi" the distinction 
most coveted of man and guide at Catalina, namely, of 
being "high hook," Harry and I did work faithfully. 
We were always on the way to the fishing grounds be- 
fore dawn, nor did we return usually until after dark. 
Often we covered twenty odd miles in a day, pulling 
double, of course, coming home, but it was well worth 
it; for what Eastern angler, man of brooks and lakes, 
ever so much as dreamed of fishing like that which fell 
to my lot day after day? With the exception of the 
lordly tuna, easily the grandest game fish in the world, 
and which posed as a sort of mystery at Catalina in 1895, 
I took with rod and reel every species of fish enumerated 
by Sefior X. and many more besides. Nor were they 
wasted — an all too common practice at Avalon, I am 
sorry to say — for everything went to the professional 
fisherman, who gladly exchanged an ample supply of 
bait for my daily catch. Harry was very anxious to have 
me break the Island rod and reel record for yellow- 
tail. As the summer drew toward a close the fishing 
grew better and better, but try as we would, it seemed 
beyond me. Mr. James Neale Plumb, of New York, 
the best salt-water angler I have ever met, had estab- 
lished the record that same season, and had set all Ava- 
lon to talking thereby. On one occasion, using two 
trolling rods and having the services of two boatmen, 
this gentleman had actually killed in one day no less 
than sixteen yellowtail. I feel safe in saying that al- 
though this means little or nothing to the novice, the 
man experienced in the splendid game qualities of 
Seriola dorsalis will appreciate this angling feat at its 
true value. I know that I did, for I almost despaired 
of duplicating it. Nevertheless we kept on trying hard, 
working like beavers, the record problem always before 
us. Twice I was almost within sight of it, with catches 
of fifteen fine fish, which aggregated respectively 252 and 
282lbs. This was good, but not quite what we wanted. 
Early in September our turn came. 
The yellowtail were biting well about fourteen miles 
from Avalon, too long a row, however, for the early 
morning fishing. We got at the beauties nevertheless 
by going up the night before, well provided with bait, 
and camping, rolled in our blankets, on the pebbly 
beach. We were out by starlight, and just as the dawn 
was flushing in the east, and when it was still too dark 
readily to locate the always dangerous kelp stems, I 
struck my first fish, a 20-pounder. Thereupon followed 
some really wonderful fishing. The limits of this article 
prohibit a detailed description of that red letter day; 
but suffice it that fish after fish took my silver smelt 
eagerly and greedily, tried my tackle to the utmost, and 
finally yielded to Harry's unerring gaff. Many we lost 
in the kelp as a matter of course — always the case in 
yellowtail fishing — but when I finally laid aside the rod 
from very weary fingers and took up instead an oar for 
the long row home, Harry, as happy as a boy, and 
with the scales in his hands, turned to me and said: "Mr. 
Beard, you've got the record — twenty fish, 3681bs!" Now 
I come to the photograph mix-up, the which has caused 
me to write this article. 
On the following morning, early — for we had not 
reached Avalon until after dark — "l had the photog- 
rapher snap a picture of Harry and myself and the fish. 
This done, I was on the point of turning the catch over 
to Vincente, the fisherman, so that he could send them 
to Los Angeles by steamer, as was his custom, when 
one of the onlookers said to me: "Do you mind, Mr. 
Beard, if I have my picture taken with those fish?" I 
never could see any fun in being photographed with an- 
other man's catch, as some of the visitors at Avalon 
seem so fond of doing, but that's no affair of mine, and 
on the spur of the moment I said: "Go ahead." It 
never occurred to me that this fellow would ever be 
standing in my shoes and claiming what I had worked 
so hard to earn. Whereupon, together with his friend, 
they took our places, and in an instant the thing was 
done. 
As far as I know, that is still the one-man, one- 
rod, one-day record on yellowtail at Avalon. Conse- 
quently, when I look at this picture of the man on the 
right and remember that he was the then bartender of 
the Hotel Metropole, and probably never caught a fish 
on a rod in his life, it gives me a queer sensation, to 
say the least, seeing him as I do quietly posing there 
and claiming my fish and my record. 
I took four jewfish, 624lbs., and 131 yellowtail, 2,332lbs. — 
largest fish 43lbs. — making in all a total for my sximmer 
at Catalina of 5,4i2lbs. of game fish. 
Stuart-Menteth Beard. 
New York City, May 14. 
Williams River Suckers. 
There is a fish, purely North American, found be- 
tween Canada and Florida, which must be familiar to 
nearly every fisherman, but which has never been written 
about to amount to anything, and the books of reference 
which are at hand ignore it altogether. The humble, but 
useful, sucker is referred to. He is unfortunate in name, 
and though he is related to the Cyprinida family, keeps 
the even tenor of his way and leaves it to others to 
establish his claims to that apparently aristocratic name. 
The sucker is a sluggish fish, but very good to eat. 
It seems of even less intelligence than other fish, and 
the canard of one being taught to drink whislcy from 
a nursing bottle was suggested, no doubt, by the fancied 
resemblance, to the suckers, of the lips of those who are 
continually thinking upon alcoholic jo}^s. 
Our gang takes an annual fish for suckers in Williams 
River, and this is written hoping that it will be of in- 
terest to the sportsman to hear of the recent camping 
trip for that purpose. The stream in which they are 
found is one of the clearest, coldest trout streams in 
the West Virginia mountains. The day is past when 
a large catch can be made, but it is still possible to 
catch a couple of dozen very fine trout in a half day's 
fishing. The sucker is only found in one part of the 
river. The stream at the Meadows is perhaps 30ft. 
broad. At the head of the "improvement" the river 
dashes down a rough fall of 30 or 40ft. For a mile or 
so it has a great fall. The rapids are interspersed with 
trout pools until the Deadwatec is reached. There for 
nearly two miles the stream is apparently without a cur- 
rent, and the water is deep and wide. This is the home 
of the sucker, and the safe retreat for the trout in low 
water and the winter, and it has kept them from being 
wholly exterminated. It may be added that such a slug- 
gish stretch of water is very unusual in a mountain 
stream, as they generally slip away with a uniform fall. 
In this Deadwater it is very common to see drift float- 
ing up stream when the wind is drawing that way. It 
Is the place where the deer used to run when chased by 
dogs, and untold numbers have been killed there, swim- 
ming in the water. We have not chased deer here for 
eight years, and the last Legislature made a close season 
of five years for killing deer. 
The suckers live in this deep water the whole year 
round with the exception of two weeks about the first 
of May, when they come up on the riflles to spawn. 
When they first make their appearance they can be 
caught. They must either be taken at the spawning sea- 
son or not at all, and as it is just as destructive to take 
a fish in January that will spawn in May as to take that 
same fish in May, I cannot see but that we have a moral 
right to a certain number of fish every year from the 
countless numbers in Williams River. In early spring 
this fish can be caught at the rate of about one an hour, 
in the style of Rip Van Winkle, who "would sit on a 
wet rock, with a rod as long and heavy as a Tartar's 
lance, and fish all day;" and I have taken them that way. 
The suckers raised in tliis cold mountain stream, just 
before spawning, are good to eat. They rival the moun- 
tain trout — and there are many who maintain that they 
surpass trout as an edible fish. 
On the last occasion our gang camped underneath 
some beech trees on the edge of the river, where there 
was a great rack heap handy for a big camp-fire. By 
the way, a big fire at your feet is the secret of being 
comfortable at night in camp. In a short time a moun- 
taineer came by and told us that under that rack heap 
lived the biggest trout in those parts; and thereby hangs 
a tale, _ _ ■ 
We were equipped for trout fishing, and this same man 
told us that the suckers had not come up. A few hours' 
fish netted thirty-one trout from 9 to nin. in length. A 
few suckers had been seen, but only one caught. We 
were afraid we were too early. We had a very com- 
fortable night and a pleasant awakening, for this is the 
home of the birds. To say that their noise was deafen- 
ing would be to exaggerate; but the sounds were truly 
wonderful. 
After breakfast we took our rods and started down 
stream for trout. The writer had caught eight, all large, 
and was not caring whether the suckers had come up or 
not, when on a shallow riflle he discovered the advance 
guard. The bottom of tihe stream was literally paved 
with them. There must have been a thousand in sight. 
Down the stream for deeper water they went, expos- 
ing themselves and making a show that would have 
moved (.he blood of a dead fisherman. All hands and 
the cook got below them and drove them up stream like 
a flock of sheep to an eddy about 2ft. deep in a bend, 
where lay two submerged logs. The implements were a 
dull, a set of hooks to drag into their mouths, and a 
steel gig, The gig proved the most effective, and 
would have been most terribly destructive had not one 
prong after another broken against the bottom, until 
only the middle prong remained. Then it was a sports- 
man's gig. It took a very expert man to kill a fish with 
it. It amounted only to a spike pole. It was at this 
stage in the game that a most destructive method was 
introduced, and it was all owing to an article recently 
read concerning taking trout in Scottish streams by 
stroking them. The fish would make the water very 
muddy, and only one or two could be taken at a time. 
Then it was that I won a point. Openly derided by 
my companions as the worst kind of a fool, I lay at full 
length on the sunken log, getting wet all over, and * 
reached out in the pool as far as I could. I felt fish lying 
several layers deep, and it gave me an indescribable sen- 
sation to find that my hand did not disturb them. I 
was actually able to pick out a big fish for my experi- 
ment, and I commenced at its tail and passed my hand 
gently along its body to its head, when I grasped it and 
threw it to the bank. This was repeated until I had 
thrown out twenty-three, when we decided we would 
have to stop if we wished to fish the next morning. 
When the fish were strung and counted we found that 
we had eighty-two. They were from 12 to igin. long, 
and had an average weight of about lyilhs. 
The next morning the fishing was repeated, and the 
hand method was the only plan pursued. We took 
sixty-three, making the catch 145, which would weigh 
at least 20olbs. We had friends to use this supply of 
fish, and it is no exaggeration to say that we could have 
tripled the catch easily, so I think we were moderate; 
and while it was a good deal like a general slaughter, 
the fish seemed to be appreciated by the friends at home. 
When we got back to camp we found we had a visitor. 
A Southern colonel, in whose demesne we were camped, 
had called to take dinner with us. It should be stated 
that we had been fishing for trout in odd times, and had 
caught some large ones; but do what we would we could 
not get the big one under the rack heap by tlie camp to 
bite. We had tried all hours, and all kinds of bait and 
flies. But just before dinner tlie Colonel, who had prob- 
ably not caught a fish since he was a boy, picked up 
a rod, and putting on a corpulent worm, stepped heavily 
out to the shingle beside the pool and made a cast. The 
bait had hardly touched the water when there was a 
splash, and the' Colonel had him. He was fishing with 
a light and valuable fly rod, but he jerked the fish out 
before he could turn, happily without breaking the rod. 
It was a I3in. trout, of heavy build. There was a mut- 
tered swearword or two from the man who had fished 
the most persistently for that identical fish, but the 
Colonel was so well pleased that we could not quarrel 
with him for his good luck. Andrew Price. 
Maruntom, W. Va. 
Fish-Eating Birds* 
When young Von Steinwehr, of Cincinnati, shot^the 
loon on Geneva Lake, in Minnesota, last summer, near- 
ly all the guests at the beach condoned the act, because, 
they said, it was a most excellent shot, right in the eye, 
from a moving boat, at a distance of looyds., with a 
- Winchester rifle. The big bird was not mutilated at all 
for a specimen, and it was accordingly stuffed forthwith 
by taxidermist Lindquist and mounted as a trophy at 
the Geneva Beach Hotel. It stood on the glass cigar 
case in the office, where its long indicative bill point- 
ing constantly toward the open "tickler" on the disk, 
served as a perpetual reminder of unpaid dues for boat 
hire, cigars, fish bait, frogs and ginger ale. 
Old man Updegraff, hoAvever, declared that it was a 
shame to kill the loons. There were only a few of them 
left, and he loved to see them flying from lake to lake, 
and to listen to their weird call just before a rain. "For," 
he said, "it is a fact that rain is sure to follow the cry of 
a loon within twenty-four hours after." 
This statement was disputed on its face by Prof. Van- 
demore, who declared that he was at the beach one 
whole summer when it did not rain at all, and the loons 
hollered every night all the same. 
"Oh, that was an off year," Mr. Snedicor rejoined. 
"They just hollered out of spite, because it didn't rain!" 
All hands were examining the specimen just after it 
had been brought in, and presently one happened to 
notice the tail of a four-ounce perch sticking out of its 
gidlet, which the bird seemed to have been in 
the act of swallowing when it met its fate. 
This circumstance was thumbs down for Mr. 
Loon, for it at once dirtcted prejudice against him 
as a fish destroyer, and anglers are jealous of their pre- 
rogatives, especially when they fish for count, as most 
of them seemed to do at Geneva Beach. Any feathered 
pirate (kingfisher, loon, gull, crow, or fish hawk, land 
bird or water fowl) which would detract one iota from 
the chances of an angling competition would come under 
the ban and be destroyed at once if reached. 
This disturbing factor naturally raised the question as 
to the actual damage done to sport and the economic 
fisheries by fish-eating birds, as well as to their number 
and variety; and I was accordingly induced to investi- 
gate from data opportunely at hand whereby I was 
