188 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
possible that flies much larger than are customary on 
Canadian rivers may be essential to success. I have seen 
times on Canadian rivers when I could get nothing with a 
fly smaller than a 3.0, and again when I could get nothing 
with a fly larger than a No. 8. 
1 carried my salmon rod all the way to Alaska in ray 
hand on purpose to tty the Chinook salmon with the fly, 
but the hereinbefore described opportunity was the only 
one we had, Salmon were abundant in many places we 
visited, but in all the rivers we saw, except the Clackamas, 
the water was hopelessly turbid with mud brought down 
by the melting snows upon the adjacent mountains. 
When we first arrived at Clackamas we were warned 
by the custodian not to fish below the rack. But whether 
because he had never seen a salmon rod handled before 
and was interested therein, or because he was pleased that 
after killing two fish we treated the rest with tenderness 
and restored them uninjured to the water, or because he 
was interested in the question whether the Chinook salmon 
would take the fly, or because he saw we were fly-fisher- 
men, pure and simple, and thought it would amuse us and 
do his fish no harm, I do not know. But at all 
events, after we had taken our tenth steelhead and had 
had enough and were preparing to take down our i-od, the 
custodian told us we might trj' below the rack. I mention 
this in justice to him that he m3.y not be thought to have 
been remiss in his duty, and in justice to ourselves that we 
may not be suspected of poaching. 
Though I have never seen a Chinook salmon taken with 
a spoon, I have heard of it so often and from so many 
different sources, that I no more doubt it has been fre- 
quently done than I doubt the existence of Africa, which 
also I have never seen. 
Assuming this to be the fact, then to iny mind it is 
almost irrational to suppose that a fly would be boy- 
cotted if of the same size and general appearance, and if 
it were presented under the same conditions. Of course 
trolling with a spoon, if mere taking of fish be alone con- 
sidered, is far more killing than fishing with the fly in the 
manner customary in salmon fishing; which method I un- 
derstand alone to be implied when the question whether 
the Chinook salmon will take the fly is debated. 
The troUer can cover far more water in a given time 
and can fish at any depth he chooses, while the fly-fisher- 
man covers his water much more slowly and must display 
his fly within ift. or so of the surface. Not only does this 
give the spoon the advantage in almost any water, but 
also in the range of water, since the fly-fisherman must 
select a place where the w^ater is comparativel}' shallow 
and where the path of the fish is restricted. 
That the Chinook salmon, since it takes the spoon, will ' 
also take some type of fly I have no doubt. The thing to 
discover is what type of fly. The facts, as far as I know 
them, seem to indicate that some departure from the flies 
used on the Atlantic seaboard is at least worth trying. 
No day's or even week's trial, except by great good 
luck, can solve this problem. Aside from the kind and 
size of fly and the manner of its presentation, remains the 
question where ought one to fish — in fresh, brackish or 
salt water? Experience has taught us where to fish for 
the Atlantic salmon, but it by no means follows with cer- 
tainty that the Chinook salmon is of the same mind and 
taste. 
That the fish with which we are familiar and which only 
enter fresh water to spawn, become very lazy and diffi- 
cult to move after they have been in fresh water some 
fime, we all know. This would seem to suggest a trial 
in brackish or salt water — in other words, to try the fish 
either just before or when they first begin to run. 
I am very much inclined to think that past lack of suc- 
cess is very likely in great part due to too small a fly, and 
that it was used over stale fish. An examination of the 
most successful spoon, and a study of where and how it 
has been most successfully used, could hardly fail to be 
profitable. Until a fly of approximately the same size and 
general effect has been tried with some persistency in as 
nearly the same manner as possible, it seems to me we are 
in no position to conclude that the Chinook salmon will 
not take the fly. A day's failure by an Atlantic salmon 
fisherman with liis Atlantic flies in fresh water, possibly 
over stale fish, seems to me very slim ground for the con- 
clusion that the Chinook salmon will not take the fly; and 
as far as I knoM', this is about all the present basis there 
is for that conclusion. 
I might add as the merest suggestion, that from the 
limited amount of information I was able to acquire T 
thought if I could ftnd a place in brackish, or better 
.still, salt water, where it was not too deep and where the 
fjish bunched, I should try a nice, beautiful silver- 
doctor about 3in. long with the inspiration of hope. 
Your friend, 
Heney p. Wells. 
It is a pleasure to read Mr. Wells' letter and present 
it ta the readers of Forest and Stream, for I can now 
return to my old belief that if the Pacific salmon will take 
a spoon they will as certainly take a fly, particularly as 
evidence is coming in from time to time that the salmon 
of the West have taken the fly. Another friend writes me 
from California, dating his letter San Jose: "Noting 
what you say in Forest and Stream of July 29 in regard 
to the Pacific salmon taking the fly, my mind reverts to 
.some statement made on that subject some time ago. Re- 
"ferring to my notes, I quote as follows : 'It has been dis- 
covered that salmon will take tlie fly in Oregon waters 
away from tide water. In the Clackamas the fishing was 
best from May 20 to June 15. The favorite fly is or a 
reddish cast, and is hard to describe, but can be bought in 
Portland. The most killing fly is one with wine body and 
brown speckled wings. Others used were black-hackles, 
:coachman, professor and bright red flies. In Forest and 
Stream, Vol. 41, No- 8, p. 166, Podgers tells of catching 
salmon in the Navarro River, California, with the ordinary 
brown-hackles, with peacock body of the ordinary size for 
trout. On one occasion he caught twelve fine fish in suc- 
cession on this fly.' " 
If those who have had experience with Pacific fish on 
the fly would follow the example of Mr. Wells and specify 
the kind of fish killed, it would help to arrive at a clearer 
understanding of the question. It is the Chinook, quinnat, 
king or Columbia River salmon chiefly that is meant when 
the question has arisen, will they rise to the fly? The 
steelhead is a trout, and is called salmon trout, and there 
has been no question about its rising to the fly. Un- 
fortunately, perhaps, the fish was first classified as "steel- 
pead salmon," and fixe name sticks to it even now th^t it 
is recognized as a trout. The steelhead have been planted 
in New York waters, and where less than two years old 
have risen ravenously to the artificial fly, and they promise 
to make a valuable addition to our game fishes, but this is 
not the fish that is meant when Pacific salmon is men- 
tioned as rising or not rising to the fly. 
Carp. 
A few years ago a public document contained a state- 
ment that the planting of German carp in waters inhabited 
by other fish should be discouraged, for instead of being 
strict vegetarians, as was heralded when they were intro- 
duced into the United States from Europe, they had been 
convicted of eating the spawn of better fish, and they 
were no more desirable as a food fish than some of our 
common fishes which they might displace. I was charged 
with being the author of this recommendation, and a 
newspaper published in the interest of the commercial 
fisheries intimated in an editorial article that the recom- 
mendation was not well founded because the carp brought 
a round price in European markets, where it was highly 
regarded as a food fish. Since the time that article was 
published, the carp has been growing more and more in 
disfavor in this country when planted in waters containing 
other fish, and its spawn-eating propensities have been 
brought ot:t more clearly and more certainly. In one of 
my notes in Forest and Stream I described the result of 
planting cai-p in one of the finest trout streams in this 
State, and mentioned them as great water hogs, fouling a 
once clear stream and unfitting it for the trout native to 
it. Very recently two committees of men waited upon 
the Fisheries, Game and Forest Commission of New York 
asking that the Commmission take steps to remove the 
carp from streams where they had been planted and in- 
creased to such a degree as to be detrimental to fishes 
native to the water. A member of the fish committee of 
the Tuxedo Club told me that carp had been seen to crowd 
black bass from their spawning beds that they migiit eat 
the bass spawn. This club has made great effort to re- 
move the carp by netting and even by drawing down 
the water in the ponds containing them, with no suc- 
cess, which leads the club to believe that the carp may be 
disposed of and removed from the water to an extent 
which will insure the welfare of the black bass. It is so 
much easier to put fish into ponds and streams than to get 
them out once they are established that care, and great 
care, should be exercised in introducing new species of 
fish into any waters. Properly planted in proper waters 
the carp is a very good fish and much esteemed as food. 
I have just read what is said of the carp by Mr. John 
Ritterhaus, of Pittsburg, and I wish every one in this 
country who has an itching to plant carp could also read 
the article, for there is more common sense in it about 
carp and carp centers than in any article I have read 
concerning this fish. If Mr. Ritterhaus could have spoken 
as plainly and as clearly years ago it would have been of 
vast benefit to those who have blindly planted carp 
without the slightest idea of what the result would be on 
the waters planted. He says many things I have been 
tempted to say about the carp, but which I have hesitated 
to say, because I am not a carp breeder, but his father 
was a famous carp culturist in Westphalia, Germany, and 
he speaks with authority on a subject which he under- 
stands, and does not handle it Avith gloves. I think every 
one who has had experience with carp in this coimtry will 
agree fully with Mr. Ritterhaus, and it may not be too 
late to prevent the planting of carp in unsuitable waters 
if his advice is followed, as there is still a considerable 
demand for carp. 
''The carp is the hog of the fish family. Would you turn a hog 
loose in the stubhle field in which quails are nesting and expect 
to rear broods of the bird? No! Well, then, don't plant the 
carp where he can devour the spawn of game fish. Would you eat 
a hog killed fresh from the barnyard? No! Then how can you 
expect to find carp fit to eat that has got fat m a stream or pond 
reeking with filth? Ycm fatten the hog on grass and roots and 
grain, and you keep him where he can't destroy other valuable 
animal life. Put your carp where he'll do no damage and feed him 
as you would a hog that is being fattened for prime pork. Arti- 
ficial culture — ^that's the secret of carp raising." 
Thus Mr. Ritterhaus proceeds to explain. His father was a gen- 
eral farmer in Westphalia, but made a .specialty of raising carp 
for the market. The firmness, whiteness and flavor of flesh of his 
carp compared favorably with the finest of non-game fresh water 
fish, and brought big prices. Par from being a food for the poor, 
Kitterhaus' carp were eaten only in the families of the wealthy. His 
carp ponds were visited fi-om far and wide, and furnished the text 
for chapters in many ponderous German books on pisciculture. As 
Ritterhaus also raised game fish, particularly pike, his farm con- 
tained a complicated System of ponds which could be emptied into 
one another. In the pike ponds it was a question of the survival 
of the fittest, so that there was but little danger of the water's be- 
coming too populous of pike life. The carp ponds, on the con- 
trary, became easily overfilled, but the surplus small fish were 
handy as live food for the pike. 
The introduction of carp, as done by the United States Fish 
Commission, was a mistake, the younger Mr. Ritterhaus says, and 
why it was he explains thus: Two hundred years ago the carp 
was a favorite food fish in England, and about one hundred years 
ago the artificially raised carp acquired a similar fame in Ger- 
many. With the development of the sea fisheries in England and 
the improvement of facilities for transporting fish across that island 
carp culture died out, so that there is to-day hardly a reminder in 
an actual carp pond of the many former ponds on large estates. In 
Germany, however, fish has grown no cheaper and artificial fish 
culture is still flourishing. Ritterhaus points out that in ancient 
times, as is shown b}' German folk lore, the river carp was good 
eating; but that was before large cities had grown up and polluted 
the streams. The good reputation of the carp for the last half 
century in Germany is almost solely due to articficial culture, 
though excellent ones are to this day caught in the lower lying 
Alpine lakes. 
The carp is tiaturally a gross feeder, but as Ritterhaus says, so 
is the hog, yet raising and preparation of hog meat is one ol the 
greatest industries of the country. The Fish Commission, in his 
opinion, should not have introduced the carp promiscuously in the 
open streams, but should have established ponds, where carp cul- 
ture could have been brought in all its stages, from the spawn 
to the grown and artificially fattened fish. This plan, if followed 
out, Mr. Ritterhaus believes would have resulted in a great in- 
dustry which would to-day supply a large part of the people -With 
a wholesome, good tasting food. 
"Hardly had the carp l3een introduced," said Mr. Ritterhaus, 
"when tlie newspapers and other publications were full of tales 
about the fish enough to disgust any ordinary person. It was said 
that the carp could live best in almost stagnant water, that the 
food of the fish was refuse, that its fleshy was coarse, soft and 
agreeable only to the commonest palate. Now, it is true that the 
carp will live in waters that will suit no other fish save the sucker 
and catfish; but it is not true that sttch water is the carp's favorite 
habitat. On my father's fish farm the carp ponds, as regards tem- 
perature of water and nature of bottom, were exactly like the pike 
ponds, and there is no gamer fish than the German pike. Only m 
the fattening pond was there a mud bottom; but this bottom was 
of clean yellow clay, which was removed every year and replaced 
with new, the nond being drained for the purpose. Even this 
mud was not requisite to the well-being of the carp, but was used 
for a curious ourpose that is worth relating. We fed our fatten- 
ing carp on boiled potatoes and whole wheat stewed to a pasty 
mass. The fish fattened rapidly, but they were very apt to get 
sluggish and loaf around for their meals. By putting a lively, 
hungry pike ifitp tlie pond, one big enough to scare them, but too 
small to hurt a 5 or 6lb. carp, wc kept our fattening stock on the 
go. Too much exercise would have meant a loss o£ too many 
pounds of fish meat, so the clay bottom furnished a handy placf 
of refuge from the pike. The carp took advantage of it, too', but 
always rose to the surface when the gang that we used tp beat 
told them their meal time had come. 
"There is no comparison to be made between a carp fattened as 
I have described and one that feeds in a pointed river. Even carp 
that live in a bass stream are not the best eating. Not being 3 ■ 
game fish, they are obliged to picl'T up their living as best they ( 
can, and no doubt their food is not of the choicest, although bass 
spawn is one of their delicacies-. But a properly fed carp, raise'l 
in a pond fed by a constant streaiu of running water, cooked in 
the right way, makes an excellent dish. Has the carp as fine a i 
flavor as a trout or a bass? It hasn't, I'll admit, but then pork 
isn't venison and the barnyard duck i.sn't canvasback. nor i? the 
chicken gtDMse. Didn't you .ever Eat E©t-k, or chicken, or tame 
duck?" 
I am df the opinidii fha't it might be money well "in- 
vested to print the statements of Mr. Ritterhaus in a circu- 
lar and spread it broadcast over the land that every would 
be carp planter may be informed of the nature of the fisb 
before it is introduced into any waters that do not now 
contain it. 
End of the Salmon Season. 
A letter has just come to me from Mr. Afchibald 
Mitchell giving information abotit the fishing in the Risti 
gouche since the time I printed his last letter : "Have , 
you observed that this has been an unusual fishing season '• 
on the Ristigouche? The fishing was much better in" July ' 
than in June. Mr. Ayer killed seventeen fish the week I 
after I left, and it took me five weeks, lacking one day, tQ. 
kill thirteen. Rev. Newman Smyth and son fished our 
water after Mr. Ayer returned home and killed fifteen 
fish the first three days, two rods. They fished altogether 
six days and got twenty-one fish. Mr. Ayer's two sons, ,'j 
Fred and Nat, fished on the Tobique and killed eighty-! 
salmon, the two largest weighing 261bs. each, killed by| 
Nat. That was good enough fishing for anybody, and the , 
river appears to have improved under protection." | 
Drouth and Trout, [ 
On Aug. iS I drove for ten miles through a' cloud of' 
dust which enveloped horses, carriage and occupants to 
reach a trout stream and follow it for a distance toward 1 
its source to examine its condition, as I expected to have a 
carload of fingerling landlocked salmon to plant in that 
and other streams early in September, having been so ad- 
vised by the United States Fish Commission. I had heard 
that the brook was "running dr_v" and wished to see it in 
its worst condition, atid even after what I had heard of j 
it I was surprised to find the water so very low. There ^ 
were pools of water here and there, but the stream itself 
was a mere thread, and in places where the bed of the 
stream was filled with cobble and boulders the water 
was not visible from the shore line. So far as my ex- 
amination extended not a single trout or young salmon 
(salmon were planted in the stream last year) was seen 
in the brook, and I concluded that as the water receded 
the fish had worked their way down stream to a portion . 
called "the meadows," where, with the aid of some 
tributary springs, there was more and perhaps cooler' 
water. Not once did it occur to me that any of the trout i 
or young salmon had been lost because of the extremely 
low water, for if the meadow water was not suitable the 
lake into which the stream emptied was near by and there 
the trout and salmon would find refuge and water ini 
abundance. 
On Aug. 22 I was reading -some reports 'of the State ' 
Game Protector in Albany, and I noticed that one re- j 
ported that on account of the low water and fires he had! 
spent most of his time in watching the trout brooks; thati 
he had seen many "dead fish," and he feared that the I 
trout would suffer from the drouth. He did not specifyj 
the kind of fish he saw dead and they might have been. I 
minnows, but the question came into my mind, has any oneJ 
ever seen dead trout in a brook, their death coming from j 
low water? Do they not always work down and findi 
cooler and deeper water, their movement keeping pacej 
with the receding water? A. N, Cheney. I 
Canadian Angling Notes* 
Much disappointment has been caused here by theij 
caitcellation on the part of the Vermont Fish and Game ' 
Protection League of their proposed visit to Quebec! 
The various fish and game clubs of this district were quite' 
ready to do all that was possible to contribute to thei] 
pleasure of the Vermonters had they carried out their 
original intention, but they quite understand that the 
preparations for the homecoming of Admiral Dewey nc ' 
cessitated the change of arrangements. Quebecers hope 
hope to have an opportunity before long of inlroducingj 
the members of the league from the Green Mountain 
State to the ouananiche and trout of the northern part of 
their province. 
Since the date of my last letter some very large ouanan 
iche have been sent down to, Roberval from Lakr 
Tschotagama, and some of them nearly 61bs. in weighty 
have been exhibited in Quebec. They were caught by a 
party of Boston anglers. Lake Tschotagama is nearly | 
sixty miles northeast of Lake St. John, being a feeder! 
of the Peribonca River, by way of which it is ascended- ^ 
It is extremely picturesque, and furnishes some of the., 
largest trout and ouananiche to be found hereabouts. If 
can be reached in two of three days from the mouth of 
the Peribonca River by canoe and portage. Several por 
tages are necessary to surmount the magnificent water 
falls to be passed by the way. 
Fishing in the Grande Decharge has kept up well this ' 
month. It ought to be equally good to the end of the ' 
season, while the month of September sees the angling at 
its best in the Metabetchouan. 
Eugene McCarthy, of Syracuse, went up to Lake S' 
John a day or two ago, and Mr. Geo. E. Hart, oi 
Waterbury, will be here in a day or two en route for tht 
Triton tract. Mayor Carter H. Harrison, of Chicago 
with his brother, W. Preston Harrison, and Graham H 
Harris, chairman of the Chicago school board, wen' 
up to the territory of the Tou.rilli tract a few days agu 
on a three weeks' trip. On every hand I hear of visiting 
anglers arranging for_ Septembsr trouting trips. The 
harvest moon brings with it not only the finest fishing of 
the year in Canada, but also the most delightful weather 
for cam.ping in the woods. The air is warm and balmy, 
there is seldom any rain, and the trees are donning theii 
most beautiful colorings. 
