150 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. 19, i8gg. 
Fishing Up and Down the Potomac. 
Pennyfteld'sii 
In Tait's Magazine, in 1836 (n. s. 3, p. 625), is a re- 
view of Jesse's "Anglers' Rambles," in which the re- 
viewer pays his compliments to penning rodsters in the 
following doubtful strain: 
"The brethren of the rod are beyond contradiction the 
most amiable and amusing literary twaddlers going." 
As the reviewer was without doubt a lover of the angle, 
he makes it all right with himself later, for after thus 
sjithering them up, he proceeds to slather them down 
by saying: "They are all naturalists in the beautiful and 
popular sense; landscape painters as far as words can 
embody the forms and hues of nature; and no contempti- 
ble pastoral poets. No one shall tell you better than the 
angler, because no one knows half so well, where 'the 
old willow dips into the brook,' where the kingfisher has 
his haunts, or when and where the primroseg wiU fcst 
peep forth and the swallows arrive." 
He can discourse you of echoes and fairy rings, and 
unfold the whole phenomena of the honey dew and the 
gossamer. He can talk of plants and trees from the stone 
crop in the cottage window sill to the cedars of Lebanon." 
He leaves the guilty reader in doubt whether his cue 
is to swear or bow. The expression "most amiable" 
would, however, seem in any event to require some mod- 
ification, for few men do more sytematic kicking than 
your steady-going angler as he is met; and evidences are 
not wanting of record to show that he is seldom without 
a grievance on paper. 
Sometimes, it is tru&, their pkrnts sound like the wail 
of the Sybarite who could not sleep because of the 
crumpled rose leaf. But when one reflects upon how 
many elements are required to make the angler's per- 
fect day; of wind and weather and water, sunshine and 
shadow; tackle and dress and fish; the people he meets; 
the food he gets; the boat — if he uses one- — and the skill 
.of its motorman; his own health; how can they always 
be all that he would have? He has license often to find 
fault with his surroundings, and that he does so vehe- 
mently, the an'cient proverb proves, for of all occupations 
only fishermen are cautioned against profanity on pain of 
disappointment. 
Then, when he thinks on the desrtuction of famous 
fish preserves, the disappearance of the trout and salmon 
where once they were plenty, why may he not rail at 
fortune and poachers; at the pollution of streams and the 
destruction by nets; at the indifference of Solons- and the 
general depravity of selfish butchers who know no sea- 
sons and no limits? He has reasons plenty to keep him 
out of the category of "most amiable," but there are real 
troubles enough to contend with, it would seem, without 
becoming hysterical over expressions or language used 
by someone in trying to put on paper some of the pleas- 
ures of his holidays. Think of a book on angling being 
condemned by a reviewer because the author had used 
"brethren of the rod." The reviewer quoted above was 
not infallible in that regard. 
It is an idiosyncras}^ to put it mildly, that anyone shoidd 
ieel outraged by an expression that is appropriate enough 
to be be in common use. It would be well for the critic 
to be positive he has not in past years been himself 
guilty. The bitterness of the criticism will depend, it 
will be found, something on the personality of the indis- 
creet author. We shut our ears to time-worn tunes when 
discoursed by the street organ and applaud the orcllestra 
that offers us the self-same melodies. 
But even in this view there is need of caution. As <^^^ 
may entertain an angel unwares, s.o one. may unjustly 
condemn a genius who through inadvertance or design 
has used a tool which is common property. After all, is 
not criticism of style a waste of effort when rules are 
applied to a fisherman's notes? They are little more lit- 
erary than a ledger and rarely make more pretense. 
What they seek to give and what at least some readers 
want is, "Where did you go, and what, may I expect if I 
get a like chance?" 
Truth in an angler's report is a mater of far more im- 
portance, or ought to be, than the language in which he 
describes his neighbors, his surrounditigs, or his catch. 
Four miles above the Great Falls is Pennyfield's, a place 
long famous among local bass fishermen; one of the few 
points honored by a President. Presidents have been 
g\.ests of clubs and individuals, and gone with some noise 
and ceremony to a few other places on the Potomac, but 
this is one of the very few to which a Chief Magistrrate 
has gone uninvited. Perhaps its out-of-the-way charms 
attracted, for it has little but its loneliness and its bass. 
But Pennyfield's entertained the President, and the old 
man who has given his name to the spot still exihibts 
with some pride a meerschaum as a souvenir of the oc- 
casion. There ai"e some people ill-natured enough to 
say that the bass were so embarrassed by the tinexpccted 
honor they lost their appetites, and others that the only 
■string taken was by the host, who has long enjoyed a . 
reputation of seductive methods with the fishing pole. 
Slanders like these are part of the price of greatness. 
The easy way to reach the fishing grounds is to get a 
boat at Great Falls and have it placed in the canal; to this 
a horse is hitched and trots up the towpath, or the boat- 
man throws a loop of the towline over his shoulder and 
cordelles the skiff with its occupant and baggage, without 
much effort. This is much easier on the fisherman than 
bumping over the rocky , hills of the long, roundabout 
drive which must be taken in order to reach this place 
with a "fix." 
For many years the old man was boatman as well as 
host for his guests, and when skill and strength and .spir- 
its were younger had more than once gone down the 
falls at the foot of Seneca Breaks, standing in the stern, 
with glad shouts, while the passengers clung for dea? 
life to the gunwale and wished themselves well out of it. 
It was our fortune once to be caught at the foot of these 
falls by a storm, in which the wind so long preceded the 
rain cloud as to take us by surprise. It was straight down 
the river, and we started for the house with wind and 
current and were entirely satisfied with Our gait, the 
oars doing no more than keeping the boat headed before 
the gale. The water was black in front of us, save where 
the flounces showed on the crests, and the way seemed 
clear, for not a rock was visible, but presently there was 
3 ^rindin^ crunch, as if the bottom were conning thrpugh 
and we ran high and dry on a ledge. There was no mov- 
ing the boat till all hands were out and lifted, and then 
no easy matter to get back. It was a scramble, a touch- 
and-go, to reach the landing, for the skiff was a wreck. 
However, we beat the rain by a minute or two, which was 
some satisfaction, though if we had taken it we could have 
been little wetter. 
The fishing at this point extends from the foot of the 
Seneca Breaks to Black Riffles, three or four miles be- 
low. The river for much of the way looks like a miniature 
copy of the Thousand Islands, being full of grass-puds 
and islets, only three of which are large enoitgh to bear 
even a local name — Big Island, reaching from above 
Pennyfield's nearly to the moss beds just above Black 
Riffles; between that and the Virginia shore is Long 
Island, neither so wide nor so long ?.3 the first, and at 
its lower end Adam's Island, the smallest of the three. 
There are bass plenty in any part of this stretch to be 
had with fly or bait. Ideal water for fly-fishing may be 
found at the foot of the islands, where the coves are 
ffilled with a dark moss that does not come to the sur- 
face, and through which the stronger currents cut chan- 
nels clear of the moss that makes the cove look like long 
flags of dark green and light gray stripes waving in the 
sunlight. Casting into the light streaks and dancing the 
fly across the current, the bass rush out from their lairs 
in the moss, and not half so long casts are required as 
in the open water, where they can see our shadow half 
way across the river. 
Drifting down the river on a quiet midsummer morn- 
ing at sun-up is a ride so full of delightful surprises as 
almost to compensate for the lack of bass, which never 
swarm at so early an hour. From the surface of the 
Avater rises a gray mist that dissolves again a foot or 
two above and looks in the distance like a flat of waving 
silvery sed.ge. Where the sunglints strike through a rift 
in the foliage the yellow sheen upon the water that 
flames up through the spots of sinoke reminds one of 
the sacred fires of Baku; and presently the sun peeps over 
the trees upon the border, and strikes the river full; the 
cool stratum of air which has been condensing the ris- 
ing vapor is suddenly warmed, the mist fades away, and 
the dark waters once more reflect the green hills that 
have cradled them for lo, these many centuries. The 
wood duck, most gorgeous-hued of all the birds that 
swim, has here a home, and twice to-day we have fright- 
ened a brood into veritable duck fits, drifting past the 
corner of a bushy islet behind which they were enjoying 
the privacy of a family chat. There were only half a 
doezn of the little ones. One was probbably killed get- 
ting down out of the tall sycmaore in which the nest 
was built; a cruel .hawk swooped down and took another 
when the mother duck was off guard; a fox caught one 
sunning itself on a stranded log, and two or three swim- 
ming over the moss mysteriously disappeared below, 
swallowed up by a great bass that lay in wait for any- 
thing that came his way. 
A great white crane on stilted legs stands knee deep 
near a shallow eddy, and the industrious way in which he 
plies his mandibles.gives token that he has found a kin- 
dergarten. If it is not a little school of bass it is robbing 
the bass of feed, and a pellet is sent after him to warn him 
the bass has friends, perhaps as cruel, surely more selfish 
than himself, but who will not at any rate permit any 
Herod to decimate the nursery. He flew away with a 
croak that sounded like "Mahana," 
A boat with a good boatman here commands $2.50 with 
beer and luncheon, and though willing to make it a long 
day,- with an early start and a late fini.sh, they are rarely 
called on for both. Good luck is satisfied early and bad 
luck is disgusted" even sooner. Anglers iniaccustomed to 
the waters can hardly manage the heavy boats at all, and 
most of them object to wading and dragging the boats 
over the rocks, as is sometimes necessary. The conse- 
quence is that these waters are really very little fished, 
and it is therefore one of the surest places on the Poto- 
mac for a good catch when the water is right. 
Henry Talbott. 
New England Angflefs* 
Boston, Aug. 12.— The attention of anglers is being 
drawn more and more toward the far North and East for 
salmon and trout fishing. Newfoundland is beUeved to be 
most desirable for salmon anglers, and promises to soon 
be opened up to that sport. Indeed a number of anglmg 
camps are already established on the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
side, or the southwesterly portion. Mr. C. S. Newcomb. 
of Boston, has just returned from a salmon angling trip 
to Newfoundland, where he had great success. He was 
absent from home only ten days, and got four days of fish- 
ing, taking some thirty salmon. His party went by water 
to Prince Edward Island, and thence by rail to the north- 
most point of that island, where they took a water passage 
across Fortune Bay to the extreme southerly point of 
Newfoundland. They went first to Port Aubascan (I am 
not positive about the spelling of these names), thence to 
Corduroy. Their fishing was done on the rivers in this 
vicinity, not far from the salt water. The coast is de- 
scribed as remarkable, with the scenery peculiar. There 
are numerous lakes and rivers, and these are stocked with 
salmon and trout. A number of sportilig camps are 
located along the southwest coast of the island, on the 
Gulf, both for fishing and hunting, and some of the fish- 
ing privileges are already controlled. A couple of Boston 
sportsmen have a trip planned for this region, soon to 
come off. From them I hope to get more information 
about the country and the fishing there._ Mr. Newcomb 
did not have to pay any dirty on his fishing tackle. 
Messrs. C. Ridley, Albert Channey, William Austin. 
Ralph Perkins, E. V. Collins, H. Palmer and others, of 
Boston, have gone on a tiap to Lake Cobbosseecontee, for 
an outing and for bass and pickerel fishing. Alvin R. 
Flanders, Jr., of Newton, a boy of only eleven years of 
age, is on a fishing trip to Stanstead. Canada. He is in 
compau}' with two or three older boys, cousins, and all 
fishermen. They are camping, and j'^otmg Flanders writes 
home glowing accounts of the trout they are taking. He 
.says that there are a good many mountain .streams in 
that section, all .supplied with trout. His party got over 
thirty 1 'Mt on one day's trip. The boys are full of 
courage an (. celf-rcliance, and are longing to be old enough 
to own riflc-s and shotguns, ' §pecial. 
Protector Shriner's Last Report. 
The report for the month of July is the last one to 
come from Fish and Game Protector Charles A. Shriner, 
of New Jersey. One novel feature is that it is issued at 
the protector's own expense. Full return for the ex- 
penditure will be had in the sati.sf action Mr. Shriner must 
have at thus putting the case before the public, for fol- 
lowing the record of prosecutions for the month is a 
discussion of the charges which have been made as to 
Mr. Shriner's conduct of his oflice, and in particular of 
the attitude of Gov. Voorhees, whose hostility to < game 
and fish protection led him to oppose the protector and 
hamper the work of the Commission. The report run,'-' 
in part as follows: 
And now, gentlemen, I desire to reply to the charges 
which some persons have so indiscriminately made dur- 
ing the past few weeks. When I handed to you my 
resignation I presumed that would end all the discus- 
sion as to my office. When sorhe newspapers began to 
make insinuations as to my conduct in oihce, I at first 
determined to pay no attention to them. Since that time, 
as these charges and insinuations have multiplied and 
some of them are based on the authority of State offi- 
cers, I have concluded that it is a duty which I owe to the 
public, to you and to myself to make such explanations 
as will satisfy the public that the duties of office as .far 
as they appertain to yourselves and myself have been 
propertly attended, to. To yourselves is due the credit of 
whatever has been accomplished in the work of protect- 
ing and propagating fish and game; my duty was to 
obey your orders, and this was a pleasant task to me, as 
our views in regard to this work were in perfect accord. 
For this reason, whatever of blame may attach to any- 
thing done falls upon you, and it was this argument 
principally which has led me to the conclusion to reply 
to the critics who have been so energetic of late in find- 
ing fault. I have waited until all have had an oppor- 
timity to throw stones, until the storm of vituperation has 
exhausted itself and until the most diligent of fault- 
finders can apparently discover nothing more. Thi.s 
enables me to consider all criticisms properl}' and in an 
orderly manner, and in one answer to reply to all. 
In an interview, published in a number of newspapers. 
Gov. Voorhees says: 
It is true that I requested Mr. Shriner's retirement as Game 
Protector. My first acquaintance with Mr. Shriner dates from the 
time lie attempted to have passed by tlie Legislature an expendi- 
ture by the State of 14,000 for a book whicli he had compiled. I 
was in the Senate at that time and opposed the passage of the 
bill. It appeared upon investigation that the book called "The 
Birds of New Jersey" had been printed and published by the 
Commission at the expense of the State. There seemed to be no 
reason to my mind why the State should spend $4,000 for some- 
thing that was already State property. Mr. Shriner seemed to take 
particular umbrage at my hostility to his bill. 
There has been so much said about "The Birds of 
New Jersey" that perhaps a short account of how the 
book came ' to be published may best explain adverse 
criticism. Shortly after I had accepted the office of 
Fish and Game Protector, there was a discussion in the 
Board of Fish and Game Commissioners as to what 
constituted insectivorous birds, the killing of which is 
prohibited by statute. Nearly all birds are more or less 
insectiA'-orous; it was suggested that a book indicating 
the comparative value of birds would disseminate such 
information as would result in the better protection 
of birds. Many otlier States had published works of that 
kind. A resolution was passed providing for the pub- 
lication of a book on the birds of New Jersey, showing 
their value to agriculture and containing such information 
as might be necessary to a thorough understanding 
of the subject. I was employed to do the work of 
compiling, and did so under the direction of a committee 
appointed by the Board. An edition of 2,000 was printed, 
the illustrations being taken from the specimens in the 
Museum of Natural History, or prepared expressly for 
the work. The first edition was soon exhausted, the 
demand for the work coming principally from school 
teachers and superintendents. In a number of schools 
the book was used as a text book and is still so used. In 
order to discourage a demand for the work outside of 
the State a price of $1 per copy was fixed upon it for 
persons residing out of the State. Several superintendents 
of county schools asked^ for a sufficient nurnber of the 
books for introduction in the schools, and it was this 
demand that caused the introduction of a bill in the 
Senate providing that the State Superintendent of Schools 
might have printed 2,500 copies of the work at a cost 
not to exceed $2,000 — not $4,000 as the Governor in- 
advertently puts it. I was not at the time acquainted 
with the State Superintendent of Schools, nor am I 
to-day; the copyright of the work had at that time been 
assigned by me to the Board of Fish and Game Commis- 
sioners, so that in no way could I have any interest 
in the passage of the bill except in so far as its distribu- 
tion might further the work of protecting birds. It is 
true that the Senator from Union opposed the passage 
of the bill in the Senate, and it there received four 
negative votes. I was in Trenton on the evening of the 
passage of the bill in the Senate, but thereafter I did 
not return to Trenton at any time until long after the 
Legislature had adjourned, nor did I take the trouble to 
ascertain who voted for or against the measitre. 
There were a number of matters connected with the iternal af- 
fair.s of the Commission which did not suit altogether. A boy 
was arrested in Middlesex county for spearing a black bass and 
fined. Such representations were made to me regarding the case 
that I ordered the fine rescinded. It was clear there was no willful 
violation of the law. 
The arrest in this case was made by B. W. Brown, 
then one of the wardens. In his report to me he stated 
that the defendant had been warned by Mr. Newman, 
of Cranford, that it was contrary to law to spear bass, 
to which the defendant replied : "To h with the law ; 
I am going to spear all the bass I want. I am going 
home now after my spear and get more bass." Mr. 
Newman sent word to Mr. Brown, who caught the de- 
fendant in the act of spearing a bass and placed him under 
arrest. The defendant laughed and declared he would 
not pay the fine. All these circumstanmes were subse- 
quently corruborated by Warden Kerr, whom I sent 
over the ground in order to sati.sfy myself of the exact 
frulh in the matter. According to Mr. Brown's report, 
made to me at the time, Gov. Voorhees called him .tip 
by telephone ?ijid inquired about thq matter, and 9,itet 
