13 0 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Feb. i8, 1899. 
Proprietors of fishing and htmting resorts will find it profitable 
to advertise them in Forest and Stseau. 
Winter Fishing near New York 
City. 
J5Y FREU MATilRR. 
We were crosstng Fulton Ferry to that part of New 
York City which for the past year has been officially 
known as "The Borough of Brooklyn," although before 
the consolidation it prided itself on being a cit}'- in its 
own right, the second in size in the State, and the fourth 
in the United States, with an area of some thirty-two 
square miles and a Vi^ater front of nine miles. This is 
mentioned because there are thousands of "New Yorkers" 
who have heard of Brooklyn and know that across the 
East River there is a place of that name where people 
actually live, and a place where New Yorkers may have 
to be buried at some future time, for the great metropolis 
no longer permits interments on Manhattan Island. Per- 
haps some such somber thoughts were chasing each other 
under my scalp lock, or there might have been a specu- 
lation as to the length of time which the great bridge 
overhead would stand before the disintegrating forces 
which are present in the rocks and mountains, as well 
as the little works of man, find the weakest link in that 
great chain, and — 
"Good evening, Colonel, been fishing lately?" And 
there was a break in all speculations as to the rapacities 
of the great Brooklyn cemeteries, aided by the Fresh 
Pond crematory, and the possible life of the great 
"Brooklyn Bridge," as it is called. It took a moment to 
get from the realms of imagination to actual life on a 
ferryboat, just as one awakens from a drearn and has 
to pull his wits together to fit into the new conditions. 
After a fraction of a second, of more or less duration, the 
questioner was recognized as an enthusiastic reader of 
Forest a^^d Stkea.m, whose acquaintance I made when 
some j'ears ago I offered my first vote in Brooklyn, when, 
as an "inspector," he took my name and wanted to know 
if I ever wrote for Forest .and Stream, and we were 
friends from that time. He lived on the .same street in 
Brooklyn, aiid in that city neighbors are neighbors. 
When his card said, "P. C. Macevoy. 139 Linden street," 
and he told me that he had read "our paper" for years 
- there w-as a bond of friendship formed at once. 
The year had grown old and had but a few weeks of 
life left, as we met on tlie ferry, and I replied: "No; 
have not wet a line since August, when the trout season 
closed." 
"Do you never fish for salt-water fish in the winter?" 
"No; during the summer I take in a little bluefishing. 
either trolling or, better yet, chumming for them with rod 
and reel, and perhaps a day or two with the weakfish, or 
'squeteaguc,' as they are known to the eastward; but tell 
me what fishing can be had- now?" 
Mr. Macevoy looked at the bridge for inspiration, then 
down at the Statue of Liberty for information, and slow- 
ly answered: "There is more good winter fishing for 
workingmen, like myself, who can't spend weeks in the 
wilds of the Adirondacks, or in Maine, about New York 
Harbo" than can be found anywhere north of Cape Hat- 
teras. Of course, you know^ that such summer visitors 
to our shores as the weakfish. porgy, sheepshead, and 
some others, go south before winter sets in, but we have 
other fishes wdiich never appear in oitr bays and harbors 
until cold weather comes, and so there is good fishing 
hear New York the year round, when the weather allows 
a fisherman to live on the bays." 
"Now that you speak of it, I rethember to have seen 
fishermen coming and .going to the Long Island trains 
with short rods and that peculiar square hand-basket 
about i6in. long, with a partition in the middle and 
coA'-ers hinged to the partition. The city salt-water an- 
gler may be known by this peculiar basket, which he 
often paints green. Is there any written or unwritten 
law which compels the salt-water angler to carry that 
particular form of basket, or to paint it green, if he uses 
paint upon it?" 
Mr. Macevo}'- glanced at the ice in the ferry slip and at 
the deck-hand who came to attend to the gates, but 
seemed to find no inspiration in either. The question 
was in the nature of a conundrum. As we stepped ashore 
to take our different sini'ace cars, for one reaches his 
home nearer than mine, he replied: "Perhaps it's a mat- 
ter of fashion; I've never given thought to the subject 
before. I own such a basket, and it is painted green; no 
doubt it was a more or less following of a fashion. You 
know that there are fashions in costumes for bicycling, 
golf-playing and other sports; why not for fishing?" 
Here was another conundrum; it was solved b}- saying: 
"What you say is true regarding costumes for various 
sports, but the salt-water angler has no distinctive cos- 
tume; he merely carries a distinctive basket, and that's 
what Avorries me." 
As Macevoy dodged ofi" the ferry bridge J heard some 
disjointed remarks, broken by the roar of trucks and 
elevated trains, about trout-fishers wearing corduroy and 
carrying a creel suspended from a shoulder, and we 
parted. 
Then came merno'ries of tomcods taken along the docks 
and of the "flounder trains" which run up the Harlem 
Railroad every winter and carry hundreds of men up 
the East River and Long Island Sound eve^"- morning, 
especiallj'' on Sundays, when the workinsma.-i ^-.^s his 
only chance to fish without loss of time. The fact that the 
codfish which seeks deep water in summer comes to our 
harbors in winter loomed up next, and it did seem as if an 
ardent angler who was not hopelessly addicted to fly- 
fishing might find a modified kind of sport near New 
York City in winter. 
The fact that steamers went down to the ■'fishing 
banks," some miles outside of Sandy Hook, was well 
known, but nothing would tempt me to -go on one O-f 
them because of a stomach which abhors the rolling of 
a ship and expresses that abhorrence in a painful man- 
ner. I had seen boys taking tomcods from the wharves 
on Long Island harbors and from the docks of New 
York Cit}^ with clam bait, but never thought of corn 
peting with them for the prizes, and as I had not engaged 
in flounder fishing before that very much compressed 
fish, whose name is a synonym for flatness, goes into its 
annual winter, mud, I had given no thought to winter 
fishing, although I knew in a feeble way that some fish- 
ing was going on. without taking interest enough in it 
to investigate what it amounted to either for sport or 
food. Perhaps it was regarded merely as a Way of get- 
ting food which to me was more easily got in Fulton 
Market. 
All this was a year old and partly forgotten, or at least 
laid on memory's shelf for back numbers, where we rare- 
ly dust off the cobwebs and look on what is below, when 
in came Dr. Grover, young, handsome and fresh, not too 
fresh, but just fresh enough. Said he: "This will be a 
mild night for December, there is a gentle south wind, 
and a party of us propose to go to the iron pier at Coney 
Island and fish for codfish, and you will go with us." 
"But, Doctor, I have no suitable tackle, hook, line nor 
sinker, not to mention bait, and am unprepared." 
The Doctor merely said: "You have placed your- 
self in my hands for treatment, and I prescribe a moon- 
light trip to Coney's Isle to-night in my company, and 
all the ingredients of a codfishing outfit will be found at 
the pier. You may order your trolley car at 7 P. M." 
What I don't like about doctors is their autocratic 
way of telling yon what you must eat and drink, beside 
swallowing .such drugs as it may suit their fancy to order 
you to swallow, whether you relish 'em or not; yet we have 
got into such a habit of obeying them tliat when my 
street car came to the door I stepped into it as meek as 
a lamb, w"ithout protest. There had been no order about 
chest protectors, heavy coats and "Arctic" overshoes, 
but they went with the outfit. 
There was the Judge, a jolly young fellow about my 
age, with a fund of anecdote and a flavor of Madeira 
about him which was emphasized by one large shoe 
where the gout had pinched. The Senator was slim and 
disposed to argument, while the Merchant was jolly and 
laughed at everything, but ten minutes later could not 
tell what the joke was. That was the party — wdiich the 
Judge, in a paraphrase of some old prayer, said when 
we ate our midnight lunch : 
"Here's to us, the four of us, 
Thank the Lord, there's no more of ua." 
The man at the pier was- a kind soul; he Furnished us 
with tackle for two hours' use and charged no more 
than Mills or Conroy would have done if we had bought 
it outright, and as for clams, he generously let us have 
them at the small price per clam that daylight dealers 
had the audacity to charge for a dozen, and we were 
happy. 
A soft south wind and a rising moon, rippling waves 
sobbing against the piers and the lights of the ocean 
steamers coming and going, as well as the moonlight on 
the sails of coasting vessels to the westward of us, made a 
picture to be remembered. It was one of those beauty 
pictures which we of the woods and waters retain on 
memory's tintype after the years have fled. The plunks 
of the prosaic sinkers and the baiting of hook with the 
unpoctic clam are forgotten, but the memory of that 
beautiful night remains indelibly imprinted on the super- 
sensitive film of memory and will remain there whiic 
that memory is a livhig thing. 
The tide was coming in, and the lines were all out. 
The stout Merchant pulled in and shouted: "I've got -a 
fish!" He landed it on the pier, but, alas! it was a toad- 
fish, known to tlie scientific duffers as Batrachus tau, 
and it flopped around regardless of the efforts of its 
lawful owner, the Merchant, to take his hardware from 
its mouth. In fact, it closed its jaws on his finger, caus- 
ing him to say things which were utterly irrelevant, until 
we wondered what he was declaiming about. 
The Senator moved that a resolution be adopted where- 
by all toadfish should be forbidden to bite the fingers of 
gentlemen who were fishing for codfish and were hot in 
any way encouraging the attentions of toadfish or inter- 
fering with their business. This was carried unani- 
mously. 
The Doctor urged the amputation of the finger and 
the liberation of the fish, but finally yielded to my sug- 
gestion to amputate the fish and liberate the finger. A 
clamshell in the Doctor's hand opened the jaw of the 
fish and then the Merchant opened his. He said: "Meine 
freunde; we are hier gesembled dieses nacht to catch the 
codfish which is hier, aber nit, and only the needless 
toadfish comt hereon. I move dat de box of beer be 
obened." 
Then the Senator landed a codfish of full 3lbs. weight 
and declared that it had fought well. My line had been 
out without an intimation of a bite for nearly half an hour. 
Of course, the crabs had skinned it, but I was so inter- 
ested in a story that the Judge was telling that I forgot 
the fishing. 
Said he: Some winters ago I was fishing for tom- 
cods oft' the pier at Far Rockaway, where few people go 
in winter, although crowds fish there for snappers, as 
j^oimg bluefish are called, in the fall, when I had a vig- 
orous bite, .and of course expected a big fish of the 
kind, for I knew that albs, was the limit of the tomcod: 
but you know how the heart of an angler increases its 
beats when he believes that he has a big fish on which 
may prove to be bigger than any of its kind that has been 
caught. I reeled in slowly, for the rod was bending to 
nearly its limit, although there was but little struggle at 
the end of the line. Everybody stopped fishing and 
gathered to see the prize or to give advice. Graduallj- 
the reel took in the line, until we saw a dark body near 
the surface — a moment more and a big boot full of 
mud — " 
"Ha! ha! Dot vas ein goot fish, Chudge; iiui^ vot dit 
you do mit dot poot?" 
"Well," said the Judge. "I laitdie^l it fairly, and do you 
know I fished faithfully at that place for two weeks and 
never caught the mate to that boot, so I left it there, 
thinking it might be of use to some one-legged man." ^ 
As the tide began to turn, the fish were well on tiie 
feed, and we made some good catches of cod of 3 to 
4lbs. weight. It was past midnight when we ncared 
home, and after leaving the cars the Merchant and I 
walked on together, and when we parted he remarked: 
"It's besser ven I hai elefen oder nine pounds codfish 
catched dan ven der Chudge ein nlr ^st g;e{:^ngeT\, 
Wot you tink?" ' " ' 
•''Yes, I think so too; good night.'' 
District of Columbia Association^ 
I'rotn the Washington Eve^iing Star^ Feb. 7. 
The annual meeting of the Game and Fish Protective 
Association took place last evening in the officers' quar- 
ters at the Washington Light Infantry Armory, and was 
largely attended. Captain Robley D. Evans, president 
of the association, was in the chair. 
After the regular routine had been disposed of the 
chair called for reports from committees. Game War- 
den Sylvester presented his annual report. He spoke of 
the good work accomplished in the past by the associa- 
tion, and referred to its excellent reputation. From a 
local standpoint, the said, the new fish law had been gen- 
erally respected, and the game laws have been enforced, 
except where evidence has been carried in cold storage, 
which is not accessible under existing circumstances. He 
referred at length to the improved conditions in the 
fishing, which were largely due to the efforts of the 
association. He dealt with the efforts and success of the 
association in preventing the sale of game killed out 
of season. Warden Sylvester thought the association 
should inaugurate an interchange of information with the 
authorities of neighboring States, to the end of prevent- 
ing the illegal shooting of game. He thought it incon- 
sistent that the reed bird, the pest of the rice fields of 
the South, should receive such great protection, while 
the ducks were neglected. He said a policy of education 
by giving information had been pursued in securing re- 
spect for our game and fish laws. Protection of the 
game, he said, is as important to the dealer as it is to 
the hunter and consumer. If game must be had at all 
times the time will come when it will be exhausted. 
Foliation of Potomac. 
Chairman Henry Talbot, of the Committee on Pollu 
tion of the Potomac River, read an interesting paper 
covering recent investigations. Selfishness, he said, had 
polluted the rivers, and it is only by an appeal to selfish- 
ness that the harm may be remedied. When New Hamp 
shire awoke to the fact that summer visitors to the State 
brought from $5,000,000 to $8,000,000, and each one 
wanLed to catch at least one trout, the pollution was 
stopped, more stringent fish and game laws were en- 
acted, and all over the State fish hatcheries were estab- 
lished. 
"Where ignorance is bhss," Chairman Talbot said, 
"the polluter may well ask, 'what's the use of telling 
him?' The answer is easy. The use of a smallpox pla- 
card on an infected house. We go about our daily rou- 
tine, and if somebody says 'typhoid' it is with rather a 
feeling of pride that we point to statistics to show that 
Washington is well up at the head of the list of cities in 
the United States in its cases of typhoid and kindred 
diseases. Only half a dozen towns are ahead of the capi- 
tal city. 
"x\nd when our scientific experts trace the source of 
these diseases directly to the pollution of the Potomac, it 
is always asked, 'Why don't you filter?' It never seenis 
to occur to any one to ask the more rational question, 
Why don't you stop polluting?' The poisons which do 
the greater hurt are organic, or result from their decom- 
position. These wastes, whether of the field or domestic 
establishments, pulp mill or tannery, are all not only val- 
uable, but indispensable for the renewal of exhausted soils, 
and their waste alone is in the nature of the crime _ot 
prodigality, without taking into account the trespass, ill- 
deed the outrage, upon the rights of those upon whom 
they turn this refuse. 
"This might be dried, drowned and filtered, buried, 
burned or scattered on the fields, and be harmless. 
Thrown in the water the sin is hidden, but it is a threat 
against the health and lives of thousands of fellow citi- 
zens, to say nothing of the fish." 
He said the year had shown progress everywhere it? 
the matter of .pollution. It was of interest to the asso- 
tion to know that the big pulp mill at Cumberland would 
shortly be removed. . . 
The Incomparable Potomac. 
"There is no stream in the world to compare with The 
Potomac as a home for bass," he said. "With romantic 
scenery, surpassed 'oy none for beauty, a climate exactly 
suited to this noblest of game fish, a volume^ of water 
that assures him against extermination, out of reach of 
the lamprey or other enemy, save man. Keep but his 
habitat pure and supply him with food, and anglers will 
come from every direction to cast a line for Potomac 
bass, which, with Potomac shad, will stand always for 
the best. 
"The amount of money expended by anglers is usually 
underestimated, but a little inquiry among our own mem- 
bers demonstrates the fact that for those who love the 
sport few spend less than $50 a year, and From that to 
$300, to fish nowhere save in the Potomac. 
"Make the river what it shoidd be, and revenue from a 
few pulp mills to the residents will be a trifle to the 
moneys which wandering anglers will scatter up and 
down its banks." 
Mr. Talbot devoted, some tame to a discussion of the 
bills pending in Congress relative to filtration. If filtra- 
tion is to be the remedy, he argued that it would be well 
to provide at public expense a filter for every community 
;uid every hamlet along' its banks below the sources of 
danger. 
Chairman Hunter's Report. 
Mr. Toseph LI. Hunter, chairman of the Committee on 
Fish, presented a verbal report. He rehearsed what -the 
association did last year in seining the canal, and pointed 
out the excellent fishing which prevailed up the river 
last spring. It was his opinion the seining of the canal 
yearly did a great amount of good. This year, because 
of lack of funds, seining was omitted. He hoped next 
year it would not be. In reply to a question, he said it 
"cost in the neighborhood of $300 to do the work. 
Dr. Theodore S. Palmer. Assistant Chief uf the Biolog- 
ical Survey, Department of Agriculture, upon invitation, 
delivered an address. He took for his theme wild ducks, 
and spoke at length of the merciless slaughter that wa:^ 
going on. which was rapidly exterminating them. There 
were sixty-two species of wildfowl, he said, forty-one of 
which were wild ducks, sixteen geese and five; swan. 
Thirtv-one of these were to be found in the waters of the- 
District, twcntv-seven being \vil4 dticks^ three geese and 
