4B2 
FOREST AND STREAM 
'[Nov. 2S, 1899. 
and that the landing net is used, either conveniently or 
necessarily, for bringing the fish into the physical pos- 
session of the fisherman. 
"We cannot believe that the Legislature in using the 
phrase 'rod, hook and line' intended so narrow and un- 
reasonable a construction as is urged by the Common- 
wealth. So common and universal is the use of reels, fly 
' hooks, bait, bobs, sinkers and squids in fishing with rod, 
hook and line that we may take them to be included in the 
phrase 'rod, hook and line' in ordinary and popular use. 
Therefore, if we construe the legislative language accord- 
ing to its popular acceptance, we are bound to hold that 
the appliances or things just named were understood and 
intended by the Legislature to be included in the phrase 
'rod, hook and line.' 
"But the contention is that a landing net is not of such 
common and. universal use as to be included in the phrase 
'rod, hook and line.' Certain it is that the landing net 
was in common use by fishermen as far back as 1653. 
All the testimony in this case is to the effect that the 
landing net is and has been in ordinary, common and 
almost universal tise by those who fish for trout with rod, 
hook and line. In our view, therefore, the landing net 
was as much within the legislative intent when using 
the words 'rod, hook and line' as was the fly hook, reel, 
bait and such like appliances. Landing nets are not 
named in any of the acts. Hand or cast nets are, in the 
sixth section of the act imder consideration. But hand 
or cast nets are not landing nets." 
Salt Water Fishermen's League. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
On -March 20, 1898, a body of anglers, formed the 
Protective League of Salt Water Fishermen, which 
ora;anization was lately incorporated under the laws, ot 
the State of New York. The forming of the League was 
catised by the failure of the angler in securing the same 
amount of sport in striking the fish as in former years. 
How is this? Can any of the anglers answer the ques- 
tion? If not, the leagtie can and will. 
Upon investigation we find that the waters about New 
•York and neighboring places are being polluted by the 
dumping of refuse and the infusing of oils, acids, dye- 
stuffs and other injurious and poisonous matter into our 
rivers and bays. This causes the bed of the waters, which 
is the natural feeding grounds of the fish, to become 
poisoned, thereby driving the fish to other parts far re- 
mote, and thereby incurring a big expense on the 
angler and hours of travel to seek his prey. All our 
rivers and bavs have branches and creeks of salt water, 
wherein the fish attempt to enter and spawn, but. are 
prevented from so doing by the continuous placing of 
nets at the entrances, and the fish are secured before they 
spawn, thus killing the spawn and preventing the hatch- 
ing of millions of fish. 
The menhaden fishermen are another detriment to the 
hatching of fish; they net everything that comes their 
way, edible as well as menhaden. They should be com- 
pelled 'to return the edible fish to the waters, and they 
refrain from so doing, and at present it makes no differ- 
ence to them, all go for oil. 
No one should be deceived by the rumors that are 
being circulated that the league is seeking to deprive the 
net fishermen from making a livelihood. The league is 
only too glad to assist them that we may all have an 
equal chance; but the league is against the unscrupulous 
methods the netters employ in securing the fish by netting 
more than they can dispose of, and sending tons upon 
tons of fish to Barren Island to be made into fertilizer. 
There are some farms along the Hudson River where there 
were tons upon tons of fish strewn over the land as fertilizer. 
This happens every spring, and the matter has now been 
placed in the proper authorities' hands, so as to arrest 
the violators of the same laws, as the fish so used were 
mostly undersized striped bass. If this should keep up 
what will become of our fish? There would be very few 
left, as seems to be the case nowadays, and you all 
know it. ' 1 r . • 
The league has advanced' and grown to be a tactor in 
New York, and has among its members men of prom- 
inence in' all walks of life. We want everybody of good 
character and who has any interest in fishing to join; 
and there are thousands of them who enjoy the sport. 
Come forward, anglers, and become members. Show 
that you are alive to the issue and willing to do your 
share of the work of the league. The future of the 
anglers is at stake. Do not let the few do the work, for 
there are thousands of you who should have a say m 
having the lav/s enforced and new ,ones enacted. Now 
is your time to act. The Legislature meets Jan. i, 1900. 
and the league will then present their grievances to that 
body. Do not hold back. Come like true sportsmen 
and 'assist irt framing a bill that we are going to present, 
so that in. the future you will not say, "Why did not the 
league do this and that?'"' • The dues are only $1 per 
vear, and no otheiT. .expense. ' When all the members of a 
fishiiig club desire to join the league in a body the annual 
dues ht that club are $5, and each member of tlie dub 
receives a. ttiembership card without any additional pay- 
ment for the. first year. It is the duty of every fishing 
dub to - be in league with us and have some of their 
members, present at our meetings to offer suggestions 
as to - the best method.s to be used in securing improve- 
ments ot fishing. , . . , . , -11 
Illustrated lectures and usetal information to anglers wiil 
be given from time to time at our meetings, which are 
hdd every third Monday of each month, at Wall's Hotel. 
106 West Thirtv-first street. New York city, at 8 P. M. 
Theodore Biedinoer, President. 
Eugene Fliedner, Rec. and Cor. Sec'y. 
Fishing vs. Picnic. 
Marlixtom-, ^V. \ a-— Editor Forest and Sll-eani: I 
inclose a photo of a catch of bass made by my brother. 
Calvin Price, on the Fourth of July last^ He did not 
hesitate a moment between going fishing and attending 
a "picnic,'" as Fourth of July celebration.-? are called here, 
and the result of his devotion was this fine bass (3M 
pounds) and a dozen smaller ones. 
A bass of this sjze is unusual in the headwaters of 
Greenbrier River. .... 'N. P.< 
At|Experience2at^RobervaL 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
We, the undersigned, have been through an experience 
which may be of interest to sportsmen contemplating 
a trip in the waters of Lake St. John, P. Q., especially 
to those who believe it is more blessed to give than to 
receive. 
Two years ago we made a trip up the Peribonca River 
under the superintendence of the Hotel Roberval, a con- 
venient arrangement for those desiring to part with $7 
per daj^ for one canoe, two guides and provisions. Of 
that sum $5 we were allowed to believe was paid to the 
guides, the rest going for provisions. The river seemed 
fished out; yet we had the luck in eleven days to catch 
three small pike. What more could sportsmen desire? 
This year, thinking that we might be able to save to 
a considerable extent, we dealt with the guides in person, 
engaging them several months ahead of time and laying 
in a stock of provisions. We understood that the lands 
were open to guests of the hotel, and with no questions 
asked about our proposed trip — be it understood that the 
management usuallj'^ takes great interest in the proposed 
trips of its visitors — we embarked after checking our 
trunks and depositing our valuables in the hotel safe. 
After a two weeks' trip up the Mistassini and the 
Samagua, where we had fair luck with small trout in a 
little lake, we returned to the hotel. On the afternoon 
of our arrival the management sprung a little joke on 
us in the form of a bill for $41.25 each, based, as they 
said, on the profit they would have made had they fitted 
us out. We asked to see the wording of the lease granted 
by the Government, and were satisfied that the hotel held 
the right to sublet the fishing privileges "of the Mis- 
tassini" River and its tributaries," for which it paid the 
Canadian Government the sum of $20 per annum. Ig- 
norance of the existing circumstances and the law of 
course did not excuse us, but the contemptible way in 
v/hich the trap was set for us, and the extortion practiced 
upon us, was enough to call down upon the heads of the 
management all the epithets of a sportsman's vocabulary. 
Realizing that we had done the hotel an injustice, and 
were subject to indictment as poachers, w^e were willing 
to pay for the privilege of fishing in its water, for be it 
observed we were ignorant that the hotel held the lease 
of the river, and we had not the least intention of en- 
croaching upon private grounds, or of fishing otherwise 
than openlv. On our protesting against paying the 
hotel for what it had not furnished us, the manager in- 
formed us that he could charge us whatever he chose — 
an evidence of his generosity in letting us oft" with $41.25 
each. He told us that the guides received but $1.25 per 
day — ^half of what we had supposed before, when there 
was no need of our knowing the enormous profit the 
hotel made. The manager informed us that as the hotel 
did not pay, the profit of the establishment had to be 
made on the privileges of sportsmen, and he took it oiit 
of men in search of fishing. The natives and Indians, it 
may be added, fish to their heart's content— even with 
nets — and pay nothing in the way of a tax. Moreover, 
the waters are in nowise policed or protected, and sports- 
men sent out under the hotel supervision suft'er in con- 
sequence of the slaughter. 
Being pressed for time, we were compelled to pay the 
?4i.25 apiece, though it seemed a little high for one ouan- 
aniche and a few brook trout. 
By publishing this you will confer a favor on us and 
advise sportsmen of a paradise which, although void of 
caribou, moose, deer, or other four-legged game, affers 
the rarest and most costly fish to be found in any waters. 
Respectfully yours, 
c. p. m. rumford. 
Robert R. Logan. 
V.'iLivitNGTOK, D el. 
Rod and Reel at Galveston. 
This is the time of year when the attention of Northern 
sportsmen is drawn strongly to the Southern sporting 
grounds. There is really no hard and fast shooting or 
fishing season in tlie United States, for when our North- 
ern marshes are frozen the Southern shooting is at its 
best, and when our streams have gone out of commis- 
sion in the North the sea fishes of the South are just 
getting into the field. A gentleman who wishes himself 
to be known as "A Galveston Fisherman" writes as below 
about the kind of sport they are having right now down 
in Texas: 
"In improving the entrance of Galveston Harbor from 
13% to 27 J4 feet in depth, Uncle Sam built two jetties, 
each over five miles in length, about a mile and a quartc 
apart and capped each with roughly fitted cubes of 
granite of fifteen to twenty-five tons weight. The sea 
moss, small oysters, crabs, etc., furnish food, and the 
base of the jetties gives protection for the fish, which are 
stopped in their movements by the jetties, and hence 
so concentrated that along these jetties is to be found 
some or the best fishing for salt water fish to be had any- 
where in the country. To stand on a flat rock, no larger 
than a small dinner table, five miles out at sea and see 
the white sharks, tarpon,' Spanish mackerel, redfish and 
sheepshead feeding in the dear water 30 feet deep is a 
novel and pleasing experience in sea fishing. There are but 
few places where rod and reel fishing for sea fish can be 
had except when cramped up in a small boat. 
"It is no uncommon thing to see here ten to fifty tarpon 
an hour . or to lose half a dozen hooks or perhaps your 
whole tackle during an afternoon. For four months this 
summer the fishing was splendid on Spanish mackerel, 
the weight running from J% to 5 pounds, and it was a bad 
afternoon when one could not average 10 pounds of 
mackerel to the rod. In casting one would not know 
whether he had mackerel, trout, tarpon, sheepshead. sea 
bass, pompano, or Junefish. One man this summer caught 
over =;oo pounds of Junefish in an hoiu". though this fish 
runs from =iO-to 200 pounds in weight. 
"The mackerel is the gamest fish for his inche.c; and' 
weight in the world. He fights with a rush and strength 
in the water which is onlv explained when you see his 
yacht-like lines. Out of the water he dies game and is 
ready to take a piece of your finger if you give him a 
chance. The mackerel come in June and leave m Octo- 
ber, and we have fine fall fishing. 
"To-day, Nov. 11, Dr. A. F. Sampson assembled a few 
friends on his naphtha launch, the party being made up 
of six men and two ten-year-old boys. It could be seen 
that the waves were high enough to make it sloppy on 
the jetty rocks, so the launch was turned tow^ard the north 
jetty, where the waves were less rough. By 1:30 we were 
on the jetty, and in a few minutes Fred Van Hartin's rod 
was at work on a -pound sheepshead. Ten-year-old 
Joe Sampson had a hard struggle with a 2-pound redfish, 
but landed it without assistance. From then til! 5 o'clock 
the fishing was good. Dr. Sampson and Capt. B ether- 
son each took a double on sea trout. Gus Dreyfus, after 
landing five sea trout and a lot of sand trout, not 
counted, hung a 3-foot shovel-nose shark, and while 
playing him his second hook was taken by a 7-pound 
catfish. He was using a light lancewood rod, but 
landed both fish. Mr. Rowley led with 11 trout, 2 red- 
fish, in all over 20 pounds. Arthur B. Homer caught 
two sheepshead, a 3-pound redfish and some trout. G. 
E. Mann caught 3 trout aggregating over 5 pounds. The. 
weather was perfect, and several of the party fished in 
their shirt sleeves. The tide on the south side of the 
jetty was running out at six miles an hour, but on the 
north side the water was tideless and smooth as a mill 
pond. We did not see a single tarpon, and they have 
probably gone for the winter. A few porpoises were play- 
ing tag and scaring the skipjacks. The total catch of the 
party was 40-odd fish, a total of over 70 pounds, which is 
not a bad but an extra good catch for the season. 
"The Galveston Tarpon Club, whose membership in- 
cludes 100 local and a large number of non-resident mem- 
bers, will by next spring have club house facilities which 
will give the stranger in our waters all the opportunity 
he may wish to play the tarpon in as good a day's sport 
as can be had anywhere." 
E. Hough. 
480 Caxton Building, Chicago, 111. 
Boating on the Potomac in 1863. 
Boating on the Potomac during the Civil War was 
rather a precarious pastime, as will be conceded after a 
perusal of the subjoined letter from a gentleman who 
crossed the river from Leonardtown, Md., on the night 
of Feb. 17, 1863. He is writing to his wife jn New York, 
v/ho was hoping to follow him. The journey into Dixie 
was precarious, not only because of the vigilance of the 
Federal gunboat patrol, but because the flotilla had 
broken up every craft within sight or reach by which it 
was possible to effect a clandestine crossing. The boat 
used on this occasion was an old seine boat which had 
apparently survived its usefulness: 
Westmoreland County, Va.— Dear : At last I 
am in Dixie, having reached here this morning at 
8" o'clock, after a seven hours' pull at an oar, just one 
week since I saw you. I feel convinced that you will 
never attempt to reach the Confederacy by running the 
blockade, at ieast by my route, although I understand 
that four ladies ran through last Saturday. You may 
infer that I feci quite safe now, although I may tell 
vou that in the two Eastern counties of Virginia, of 
which Westmoreland is one, there are some 3,000 
Federal cavalry constantly roving about to intercept 
blockaders, contraband goods, recruits for the Southern 
ormy, etc. Though nominally under Confederate rule, 
the Yankees seem to hold it by possession, and the resi- 
dents are much harassed by raids from foraging parties 
from both sides. They have a sorry time. 
Thus far we have been very fortunate in getting 
through successfully. Almost every day for three weeks 
past parties have been arrested who came by the same 
route, and one lady had her arm shot through. I gave 
you a hint of some of the difficulties of the journey up 
to date of -my last letter, written from Leonardtown. 
My experience since then has been far more fruitful of 
adventure and excitement. Yet there is genuine pleas- 
ure in it, although one's life is in God's hands. I will 
give you a little outline. 
During Monday, while we were at the hotel, mforma- 
tion came to us (there were nine in our party by this 
time) that a Federal officer had declared that there were 
five blockade runners in town that he could put his hand 
on. This of course was mere suspicion on his part, 
for no hint had been dropped by any one of us. That 
would have made no difference, however, for the soldiers 
have repeatedly taken suspected persons from their beds 
at midnight, not onlv at the hotels, but in private houses, 
and sent them to Washington as prisoners. They con- 
fiscate goods, plunder the residents, and occasionally 
shut up stores. It was evident that we should have at- 
tention paid to us before midnight. Accordingly, our 
arrangements having been previously made, we prepared 
to decamp forthwith. As soon as it was dark we were 
just in the act of leaving the hotel, when one of the 
soldiers came in to see if the game was still there, ilie 
landlord invited him down cellar to have a pitcher ot 
dder, when you may suppose there ^yas some tall 
scampering. We all left in a body by the back door, 
ac'-oss the kitchen garden, over fences, through bushes, 
and across fields and wet weather gullies, to the river 
side where a boat was in waiting to take us. Our bag- 
gage had previously been put aboard in secret 
Induded were several large trunks filled with goods and 
personal effects chests of tea and clothing, tor the most 
part owned by four Jews who were in the business ven- 
ture. I felt sorrv'that I sent my trunk, back from 
Charlotte Hall, you may believe, as the sequd Pjoved 
that the contents were worth a big price in Confederate 
monev L was verv dark. We were soon aboard and 
off in a iiffy, our darkj^ oarsmen (for the slaves still 
stick to thdr own against the Yankees) pulling lor 
d-a- life to escape the pickets who swarmed everywhere. 
'"V''e we'-e well down Brittain's Bay. which widens 
into the Potomac. Avhen a signal rocket \vas sent up; 
hut the men pulled the harder, the oars muffled and not 
u word spoken except in lowest whisper. We soon got 
pretty well out of reach, and a Mime rifle ball whisted 
lis good-by—tolerably near, coo. The rocket must have 
shown otir position. 
Silentlv we sped on. but the boat was very old, 
rotten and leakv. and we soon found that it had nearly 
filled with water, w'nen we made all haste for the shore 
WTien within a rod. or two some one cardessly step- 
