48 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July, 16, 1898. 
came near them. When the bald eagle appeared in the 
sky, even as a speck, these four acres of birds condensed 
into one acre. They paid no attention to our boat, but 
every head was turned to one side to watch that "speck*' 
in the sky. Circle by circle the speck came lower, and 
as it did the excited coots crowded together like sheep. 
The eagle hovered and the quarry beneath made the 
water boil by their divings, as they went down by hun - 
dreds and came up by thousands. When the eagle made 
its swoop into the terrified and concentrated flock it took 
a fat bird for its dinner. 
Said Jim: "I don't see what you want to waste time 
a-watchin' these fish hawks, white-head eagles an' blue- 
peters a-doin' what they do every day. I see 'em do it 
an' let it go at that, but I can't neA^er understand you 
fellers f'om the Nawth that looks to the doin's of beastes, 
fishes, an' other things. Las' year tha' was a fellow 
down here who killed snakes an' actilly opened their 
bellies to see what they'd been eatin', jess 's if it made any 
difference to him what a snake eats." 
Gulls. 
I don't know that a gull can catch an active fish, but 
every bluefish angler watches, for a flock of gulls and 
can tell by their motions if a school of bluefish is feed- 
ing below them. When the bluefish strike a school of 
menhaden and begin chopping them up the far-seeing 
gulls hasten to the spot at once to pick, up the pieces 
and thus tell the bluefisher where to head his craft. In 
this way it helps the angler, who, several miles away, 
cannot see the commotion on the surface of the water. 
Gulls are scavengers, and should never be shot, they 
will eat most all refuse thrown from the ship's galley, as 
well as devour any dead fish they may find. In winter 
several northern species unknown by name to mc come 
as far south as New York, but our common gull, known 
as the "herring gull," breeds on the islands at the east- 
Tuna and Tarpon. 
New York, July 1. — Editor Forest and Stream: If any 
angler still denies the justice of my claim, as made in 
my article in your issue of July 2, that "the tuna is the 
grandest game fish in the world"; and moreover, if he 
still maintains that his pet, the tarpon, deserves to be 
classed facile princeps amongst all .the subjects for the 
rod and reel; then both Prof. Holder, the conqueror of 
the now record tuna, and Mr. O. A. Mygatt, greatest of 
tarpon fishermen, have both written in vain in the above 
number of Forest and Stream. But, thanks to Mr. My- 
gatt, my position is amply sustained. Let any fair 
minded man read what he has to say concerning the 
splendid tarpon fishing at Boca Grande (page 5), where- 
in he recounts how they "bit like catfish" — seemingly 
being killed about as readily as big catfish too; how 
"every fish was played squarely to a finish without any 
help whatever"; and how he made scores on numbers 
such as were never dreamed of before. Then let such 
a man turn to page 10 and read what Prof. Holder has 
to say of the tuna, his habits, and as to the capture of 
his single fish, a 183-pounder. Result, my assertion is 
absolutely proven. Whereas my friend. Prof. Holder, a 
good angler, as I very well know from personal asso- 
ciation with him, took four hours to capture an indi- 
vidual tuna: was towed ten miles, and was exhausted at 
the end of the fight to such an extent that to have fought 
another such fish would have been an utter impossibility. 
Mr. Mygatt killed in a single day's fishing, not merely 
one, nor two, nor a half-dozen, nor even nineteen, but 
no less than twenty-two of the much-vaunted tarpon ! 
Need I say more? It is hardly necessary, and yet just 
for form's sake I may add that on May 21, when Mr. My- 
gatt took only nineteen tarpon — oh. Vanished glory of the 
erstwhile invincible silver king! — six of his fish went well 
over 6ft, in length. These are no little fellows! Or I 
cellent, with just about the right breeze. They took 
twenty fish in all; the size running remarkably high, the 
smallest being gibs, and the largest io^lbs. There were 
seven boats in all on the bay that day, with a record of 
133 bluefish. Mr. Mills says that he did not see any 
fishermen taking bluefish with rod and reel, though he 
heard of such fishing being done there. 
July 11. — The salmon fishermen are some of them 
returning. M. C. W. Sias, Harry Olmstead and Geo. 
Talbott have returned from the St. John, at Gaspe, Que- 
bec. They fished Mr. John Fottler, Jr.'s, river, and Mr. 
Fottler himself will fish the same this month and in 
August. They had a grand trip and are much pleased 
with the river and the surroundings. They took 50 
salmon in all. Messrs. Waldron Bates, Dr. C. W. Mc- 
Connel, Parkman Haven and W. A. Macleod have re- 
turned from a three weeks' fishing trip to Big Hole, at 
the mouth of the Sevogle, on the Northwest Miramichk 
New Brunswick. They also fished a couple of days at 
Square Forks, of Sevogle. The weather was against the 
fishermen, but they killed 33 salmon in all, the largest 
weighing 20^1bs. Mr. Herbert Dumaresq, Mr. T. R. 
Hoyet, Mr. L. R. Howe and Dr. John Bryant are off for 
the Restigouche on a salmon fishing trip. They are to 
fish one of the best pools in that celebrated region. 
Mr, L. Dana Chapman, corresponding secretary and 
treasurer of the Megantic Club, has returned from his 
flying observation and inspection trip to the club's pre- 
serve. He found matters in excellent shape, with a good 
number of members and guests in camp. The new 
steward of the club is giving good satisfaction. The 
money expended this year on buckboard roads and trails 
is showing good results. The Canadian Government has 
lately put 60,000 salmon trout into Spider Lake, from 
its hatcheries. The club's own hatcheries arc turning 
out well. From them 90,000 trout have, recently been 
put into the waters contiguous to Big Island Pond. 
ern end of Long Island Sound, and in winter flocks 
to the harbors when storms rage outside. It is a grace- 
ful bird whether on wing or water. 
Gulls feed on the flats at low water, perhaps on worms, 
snails or other life, and I have watched them for hours 
with a ship's glass to learn what they were after. Crows 
mingled with them and once I saw a crow and a Bull 
struggling for a large soft clam, and it was fun. They 
braced back and were kept from falling over by their 
tails and they pulled. The glass could not determine 
which bird had the neck of the clam, but it did show 
that when the clam could no longer bear the strain the 
gull swallowed something, while the crow flew off to a 
quiet spot and pecked away at the shells as though there 
was a portion of the prize left for him. As referee I 
declared the game a draw, and all bets off. A remark- 
able thing about this struggle was the absence of in- 
terference by friends and relatives of both parties, who 
were plentiful on both sides, but seemed to take no 
interest in the struggle. 
Our herring gull goes up rivers, frequents the Great 
Lakes and waters of the Adirondacks, and no doubt 
breeds there, for it is there during the breeding season. 
Yet I have seen them in mid-ocean in summer, presum- 
ably the same species, where they were at least 1,000 
miles from either land or fresh water, and then the ques- 
tions arose. Do these birds drink salt water or can they 
go without drink? Can they go as far as that from their 
nests, or is it only the males which go to sea in 
summer? Are the gulls which are with us in the morn- 
ing the individuals which followed us yesterday? If 
these gulls sleep on the water, what protects them from 
sharks, porpoises and other hungry creatures? They 
often rest on the ocean for a while during the day, but 
do they sleep there at night? And all this shows that 
there is much that we do not know about gulls. 
[to be continued.] 
Canandaigfua Lake Fishing;. 
There is no lake in western New York that affords 
better sport of this sort. Under the vigilant care of the 
Canandaigua Anglers' Club the laws against poaching 
have been rigidly enforced, and as the result of their gen- 
erous enterprise every season sees the lake enriched by 
hundreds of thousands of salmon trout, brown trout, and 
black bass fry. As a result these fine game fish, together 
with pickerel, perch, and other finny wealth, abound in 
its waters, and highly reward the skill of the fisherman. 
M, 
Fishing- Near New York. 
Weaketsh are very plentiful in the sound off Russville 
and Kreischerville, S'taten Island; also large numbers are 
taken in Raritan River, above the drawbridge. The 
past week large catches of bluefish have been made off 
Ward's Point, Tottenville, S. I., by chumming with men- 
haden. T. S. A. 
THE TUNA, TUNNY OR HORSE MACKEREL (T/lUnilllS thy mill 
From Bulletin of U, S. Fish Commission. 
might say that on the 26th Mr. Mygatt's companion 
and friend, "L.," concluded that he had been cruelly 
treated by the patron saint of all good anglers, and so 
stopped fishing, in so much as half a day's work yielded 
him a. miserable quota of only fifteen fish. How does 
this compare with tuna, gentlemen? If either of you 
will go to Santa Catalina, and camping on the trail of 
the tuna, rival of your beloved tarpon, make such a 
record for a day on average fish — to say nothing whatso- 
ever of Mr. Mygatt's great score of twenty-two tarpon — 
I shall admit not only that the two fish are equal as to 
game qualities, but that the fortunate angler is the 
greatest rodster who ever turned a reel handle. 
Stuart-Menteth Beard. 
New England Fishermen* 
Boston, July 8. — Black bass fishing is now in order, 
and the lakes and ponds in Maine are popular. Good 
reports come from Cobbosseecontee. H. T. Brown, of 
Boston, with Mr. Sims, of Gardiner, Me., spent the 
Fourth at that lake. The weather was intensely hot, ex- 
cept one clay, when they made a good record. Charles 
E. Sanderson and Councilman Farrington, of Boston, 
have just returned from their annual bass fishing trip to 
Great Pond, at Belgrade Mills, Me. They had great 
sport with bass, fishing almost altogether with flies. 
They caught some bass of good size, and landed many 
doublets. Mr. Farrington lost his cast on a good sized 
fish. Later he was casting and got another strike on 
about the same spot, near the lily pads. He landed his 
fish that time, and behold there was his leader with 
flies attached, one of the hooks fast in the jaw of the 
bass he had just taken. They had fair success with white 
perch, but caught only a few pickerel. The theory there 
is the same as at many of the other Maine lakes and 
ponds: that the bass are destroying the pickerel, while 
the trout they leave undisturbed. There is mentioned 
some large trout taken from the Belgrade ponds this 
spring, 
Mr. E. B. Haskell, senior proprietor of the Boston 
Herald, has also been having his usual success with 
the bass at Belgrade ponds. He was accompanied by a 
Newton clergyman on a part of this trip, and they took 
great numbers of bass, some of good size. Mr. Charles 
Horbury, of-Lewiston, Me., and Mr. Parke G. Dingley, 
of the Lewiston Journal, were also at the same ponds on 
a fishing trip last week. Their score was 300 fish, nearly 
all of good size, varying in weight from 1 to 3lbs. Mr. 
Horbury is declared to be an expert fly-fisherman for 
There has been great sport of late with the bluefish off 
Nantucket and in the neighborhood of Martha's -Vine- 
yard. Off Hyanis some good catches are also reported. 
Boston professional and business men made up a num- 
ber of bluefishing parties for over the Fourth. Messrs. 
Mills, Pratt, Collins and Chamberlain, fished off Nan- 
tucket the Fourth from one boat. The sport was ex- 
Mr, W. W. Pierce, of Cambridge, has gone to the 
Megantic preserve for an outing trip. Mr. Charles W. 
Bryant, with four guests — A. T. Migeon, C. S. Dikeman, 
W. A. Roraback and J. A. Doughty — left Boston Satur- 
day for a two weeks' stay at the preserve. Dr. T. L. 
Jack, of Boston, with his friend, J. A. Shaw, of Port- 
land, Me., has been spending a couple of weeks at Big 
Island Pond. They had good sport with lines and rods. 
Sportsmen and Megantic Club members will all remem- 
ber that the open season for fishing closes on the west 
branch of the Dead River July 20. 
Salmon fishing is still reported to be fairly good in 
Rangeley Lake, Me. Mr. Fred R. Skinner, of Boston, 
took there last week a salmon weighing 9341bs.. as well 
as one of S^jlbs. and 5lbs. Mr. Horace Porter also took 
one of 4%lbs. 
Special. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
An Indiana Bass Preserve. 
My friend, Mr. H. R. Wills, of Alton, 111., writes me 
regarding a fishing preserve owned by the Rod and Gun 
Club of Richmond, Ind., which he says deserves the 
attention of all anglers of this part oi the country. He 
adds: 
"Adjacent to and overflowing into the White River, a 
pure and limpid stream in itself affording in a wild 
way many splendid bass runs, is located the preserve 
owned by the. club. W. B. Craighead is president, and 
C. P. Holton secretary and treasurer, both main 
promoters of the enterprise. The lake- embraces 
an area of about 30 acres of pure spring water, 
crystal enough to be declared direct from the Rockies or 
the Sierras, and the supply is never failing; so for a 
genuine bass home this is about as near the ideal as 
could be imagined. The waters are stocked with small- 
mouth bass exclusively, and the writer had the privilege 
of his life recently in witnessing the feeding of the beau- 
tiful fellows, this through the courtesy of Mr. Holton, 
who had spoken to him a number of times about the 
club, but had refrained from making any boastful state- 
ments, as he really had a right to do. This particular 
day, however, a week ago, we drove out and Mr. Holton 
secured a bucketful of minnows from the river, which 
we carried to the lake and proceeded to "feed" the 
rapacious pirates. The first minnow thrown in brought 
up two recruits, weighing from 1V2 to 2y 2 lbs. We fed 
at this point until we could figure reasonably upon at 
least 150 of genuine small-mouthed bass in sight, and 
then moved to a distant part of the lake to feed again, 
with practically the same result. The place is alive with 
the beauties, and they only await the angler to give hint 
some merry tussles. No fishing has been allowed for 
two years, and the club has managed the propagation of 
their stock in a really scientific manner, which results in 
magnificent promise for this and coming years' sport. 
