Dec. 23, iggg.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
811 
many of them the official books, I am reminded of some- 
thing that has been lost sight of. The first tournament 
at Harlem Mere in 1882 was the Forest and Stream 
Anglers' Tournament, and upon the organization of the 
National Rod and Reel Association in 1883 the Forest 
AND Stream tournament was adopted as the first of the 
Association's tournaments, and the '83 tournament was 
called the second annual tournament, so that really 
Forest and Stream inaugurated the Central Park tourna- 
ments to determine who were the champion fly-casters. 
The chief prize in 1882 was the Forest" and Stream 
solid silver punch bowl. Reuben C. Leonard and H. W. 
Hawes came in as amateurs that year. Hawes got the 
cup with a cast of 81 feet, with 25 for delicacy and 25 
for accuracy; Martin Culhane was second, with a cast 
of 74 feet, with 24 for delicacy and 20 for accuracy, and 
Reuben Leonard was third, with the longest cast, 85 feet, 
as he failed m delicacy, 12. and accuracy, 20. There was 
one' champion class, single-handed fly-casting, won by 
Harry Pritchard, with a cast of 91 feet, Leonard being 
second, with 90 feet, and Hawes third, with 85 feet. Ex- 
cept in the champion class Hawes and Leonard took every 
first prize for fly-casting, and then the rules were changed 
so that thereafter there were several amateur classes and 
several expert classes, the chief conditions being that 
winners in amateur classes were forced into the expert 
classes, but this by no means implied professionalism. At 
this moment 1 do not recall a tournament m which there 
was a professional class, although this is common- enough 
in England and Scotland. 
Mr. Mansfield says he sees no reason for classifying 
fly-casting records, but the records simply follow the 
classifications provided by the terms of the contests. If 
there is no classifications in the contests surely there 
should be a handicap of some sort to separate the expertly 
skilled from those less skilled or less experienced. I 
imagine the novices would soon tire of entering to cast 
against Mr. Mansfield with his record of 133 feet in the 
West, or Mr. Leonard with his record of 120 feet in the 
East, if they had to meet on even terms, 
Gfowth of Rainbow Trout. 
Herr Jaffe, the German fish breeder, sends to the Lon- 
don Fishing Gazette a photograph of a rainbow trdut of 
pounds, and 26 inches long, which he says was 
three and a half years of age. As fry, at feeding stage, 
the rainbows were planted in a pond 50 yards from the 
sea (the Baltic), with no other trout of this species near 
them except 200 yearlings in a pond adjoining. The pond 
broke and a quantity of fry and some of the yearlings 
escaped to the sea. Two years later 2 and 3 pound rain- 
bows were taken in the net, not over 100 yards from 
where they entered salt water. The 3-earlings mentioned 
were spawned in April, 1896, and "three and one-half 
j'ears later the i3J4-pound trout was caught. Mr. JaflFe 
concludes that the 2 and 3 pound fish were from the lot 
of escaped .fry spawned in 1897, and the big fish was one 
of the j'earlings of 1S96. It is a very deep fish, showing 
that it had had the richest food that the sea furnishes. 
My friend Marston, commenting, says it is a remarkable 
fish, and asks if Mr, Jafte is sure of the age, as it sounds 
a bit like longbow. An Austrian fish breder has informed 
me over and over that he has raised trout (fario) to 
weigh over 2 pounds at twelve months from the egg, and 
if the rainbows that escaped to the sea from Mr. Jaffe's 
rearing ponds were the only ones liberated, I do not see 
how an5' one can doubt the growth, though it is remark- 
able, but food — rich food in abundance — will work won- 
ders in the weights of fishes, wonders that require faith 
to accept them as facts. 
Black Bass and Pike Perch in Germany. 
This big rainbow reminds me of a note on my hook in 
regard to the American black bass in Germany, the infor- 
mation also being furnished by Mr: Jaffe. In brief, he 
says the introduction of black bass into German waters 
has not been satisfactory. He says : "It feeds here prin- 
cipall}^ on small fish, and its appetite is something 
phenomenal, while its growth by no means compensates 
for the amount of food consumed. In very good quarters 
three-year-old fish will weigh pound, and it is some- 
thing very rare to find a foilr-year-old weighing 2 pounds. 
A great drawback is their early sexual ripeness. Quite 
small fish of two years of age sometimes spawn and 
stock the water witli such a host of small fry that food 
for the bigger fish soon gets rare." 
He says that the black bass introduced into large coop 
ponds, ponds of 1,000 acres and more each, where they 
had good range, to keep down roach, rudd and other 
plant-eating fish, did not grow as rapidly as they did in 
his own ponds above quoted, but they did clean out 
Messrs. Rudd, Roach & Company most effectually. He 
concludes by saying that it is much easier to introduce 
the black bass into any water than it is to get rid of them 
afterward. He thinks the European pike-perch quite fills 
the place the black bass would usurp: "The growth of 
the pike-perch is much better than that of the black bass 
under .similar conditions. Three-year-olds will weigh 
2 to 4% pounds, and four-year-olds 5 to 6 pounds. The 
fish spawn from April to June, and the female makes a 
sort of nest in a clean, sandy place, and producing 
2,300,000 eggs." 
Here is a chance for a surprised expression on the 
faces of American readers who are familiar with our own 
pike-perch, as they produce only 150,000 to 200,000 eggs 
on an average, and the record fish at the station of the 
Fisheries, Game and Forest Commission, a fish weighing 
isyi pounds, produced 609,176 eggs. I do not clearly 
understand what Mr. Jaffe means when he says the eggs 
of the European pike-perch hatch in two or three days, 
but assume that he means that length of time after the 
eggs are eyed. He does not give the temperature of the 
water. In this country pike-perch eggs hatch in from 
seventeen to twenty days, with the water at 45 degrees, 
and from five to ten days more to absorb the yolk sac. 
As to black bass, I have known them to grow to 7 pounds 
in four j^ears in the water of a lake in New York State. 
To be sure, it was exceptional water for black bass, for 
it has produced the largest on record. What Mr. Jaffe 
says of the introduction of black bass can be read with 
profit in this country as well as in Europe, but the advicr 
comes too late for some waters where black bass have 
been planted so easily and taken root, and now furnish 
a lot of little fish too small for sport, which cannot be 
removed to make room for other species that would fit 
the water and afford food, if not sport; but one might 
preach for years about the unsuitability of some waters 
for certain fishes, and the misfit planting would go on 
just the same. 
Salmon Smolts Going to Sea. 
Once I was asked on the Avitness stand if the sea sal- 
mon was a fresh or salt water fish, and I replied, a 
fresh water fish. Wh^? Because the eggs and fry of 
salmon die if placed m sea water. Naturally the next 
question would have been, how do the young salmon get 
down to sea when they become smolts at two years of 
age, for certainly they do go to sea before they become 
either grilse or salmon? Mr, Willis Bund, chairman of 
the Severn Conservators, has answered this question very 
clearly: . "With us — i.e., in the Severn — the smolts go 
down in small shoals, and Avhen they get to the tidal 
water they go backward and forward with each tide for 
some days, but getting each day lower down, and not 
coming so far back. I think in this way they become ac- 
customed to the salt water. The proof of this is the gulls 
and cormorants (there are always plenty of them about 
in the sraolt time) always fish with their head to the 
tide, up stream when the tide is going out, down stream 
when it is running up. That is, they wait for the smolts 
to conie to them and doubtless take their toll." 
Srnolts have been taken in the Hudson River at times, 
and in such manner as to indicate that they are very leis- 
urely in working down from fresh into brackish and 
finally into salt water, and shad in like manner begin their 
descent to the sea in the autumn after they are hatched 
and become accustomed gradually- to the change from 
fresh to salt water. ' A. N. Cheney. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST 
Chicago Fly-Castiog Club Smoker. 
The social smoker held by the Chicago Fly-Casting 
Club at the Union restaurant last Tuesday evening, Dec. 
12, was a verp pleasant little affair, some twenty-six 
members' friends being present. Mr. D. G. Henry, of 
Grand Rapids, Mich,, was the only guest from out of 
the city. 1 
Medals to the winners of the contests last summer were 
awarded as follows : 
Class A — Long distance fly, I. H. Bellows ; distance 
and acctiracy Hy, F. N. Peet; accuracy and delicacy fly, 
C. A. Lippincott; bait, H. G. Hascall. 
Class B — Long distance fly, A. C. Smith ; distance and 
accuracy, H. Greenwood; accuracy and delicacy, C. F. 
Brown; bait, H. W. Perce. 
President Bellows presided. C. A; Lippincott gave us 
an interesting account of a trip for trout on the Nipigon. 
B. W. Goodsell told us of some of his experience in 
northern Michigan last summer for trout. A. C. Smith 
gave us the latest game laws of Colorado a? they were 
interpreted to him in a justice court at Colorado Springs. 
J. B. Armstrong gave us one of his experiences with a 
colored lady in Tennessee, and W. T. Church an inter- 
esting account of how the blind pickerel in Gross Lake 
troll for perch. Mr. Henry told about fishing and fishing 
Avaters in Michigan. F. H. Peak was end man and had 
some good stories. Every one present spent a pleasant 
evening and promised to come again. 
The following were present: J. B. Armstrong, I. D. 
Belasco. I. H. Bellows. C. F. Brown, W. T. Church, 
L. F. Crosby, J. M. Clark, F. B. Davidson, B. W. Good- 
sell, H. Greenwood, E. R. Letterman, C. A. Lippincott, 
G. A. Murrell, F. B. Orr, H. D. Osgood, F. H. Peak, 
F. N. Peet. H. W. Perce, F. E. Rugg, A. C. Smith, W. 
Wolfarth, W. T. Foster, O. V. Spindler, J. A. Wood, 
J. L. Kendrick and D. G. Henry. E. Hough. 
480 Caxton Building, Chicago, 111. 
A German Rainbow Trout. 
The London Fishing Gazette published this letter, 
written by Herr S. Jaffe, of Osnabriick, Germany: 
"You were good enough to give room a few weeks 
ago to a report of mine concerning some rainbow trout 
which had been planted by us in August, 1897, as feed- 
ing fry and been recaptured as 2 and 3 pound fish during 
the summer of this year, in the sea, not 100 yards away 
from the place they were planted. Since then I have 
had more than one report from my friends at Flensburg, 
on the Baltic, about similar rainbows having been taken 
by net fishermen in the harbor; but I have onlj^ quite 
latel}- come into possession of any of these fish. 
"You may remember that the fish were planted by us 
as feeding fry in a pond not 50 yards from the sea, which 
pond . breaking through in August, 1897, nothing more 
was heard of these fish for two years. At the time of 
planting these feeding fry no other rainbows were any- 
where near this fishery, except a couple of hundred 
yearlings in a pond adjoining the one that broke through, 
and of these fish a few escaped also. 
"The fish that has now reached me, and a photo of 
which I am sending herewith, was, I take it, one of 
these yeai lings — that is to say, a fish spawned in April, 
1896, an-' now three and a half years of age, while the 
2-pound md 3-pound fish caught in good numbers during 
this su Iter would correspond to the 1897 fish, being 
now tv ana i half years of age. 
"Th' li.sh I have here is a finelj'- shaped female, very 
well f indeed, short and plump, and turns the scales 
at 13' , pounds, truly an extraordinary growth. 
"It is remarkable that these fish have strayed so little 
from the place in which they were planted, some of 
them having been up to spawn (as two-year-olds) this 
spring into the little brook that forms the outlets of the 
fry ponds. 
"The fish is very silvery, but shoAvs the characteristic 
wide pink side stripe of the rainbow and the beautifully 
colored orange gill covers quite distinctly. Yours very 
truly, "S. Jaffe." 
Potomac Black Bass. 
i'he good work of saving bass from the canal and 
i^acing them in the Potomac has begiin. Captain L. G. 
Harron, . of the U. S. Fish Commission, has seining 
parties at work in the vicinity of Harper's Ferrj'. 
B. A, Bean. 
Fishing i in the Bahamas. 
We started from the wharf in Nassau Harbor at least 
half an hour before the sun was scheduled to appear. At 
this early hour it was quite cool, and as the Httle skifiE 
slowly gained headway on a long tack I almost wi;iied 
for a light overcoat. 
There were three of us: Frank Watson, who owned 
the skiff and acted as captain, crew and anvthing else that 
was undesirable. He lived on the island, just a short 
distance from the city limits, and was the possessor 
of a very fine pineapple plantation. We were his guests. 
My chum, Roy Randle, and myself were simply a 
couple of Northern fellows spending the winter in the 
South. We had made the acquaintance of Frank in the 
httle town of Miami, Fla. From that place a small 
steaiper makes regular trips to Nassau. Frank had such 
alluring tales of the many varieties of fishing near New 
Providence that we determined to pay it a visit. Upon 
out: arrival at Nassau he insisted that we make his house 
our home while on the island. His wife was a pleasant, 
jolly young woman of about thirty, who did everything 
possible to make our stay enjoyable. She succeeded. 
We were outside of the harbor this morning by the 
time the sun rose. The mists upon the water showed 
signs of early disintegration under its rays, and a steady 
breeze sent the little boat along at a good rate of speed 
toward an island a few miles from the city. 
We had arrived within half a mile of the shore, when 
Frank lowered the sail, and allowed the boat to drift 
with the tide. He reached down, took up his water glass^ 
and placing the glass end under the water peered in- 
tently through it. This water-glass was made from an 
old bucket, selected for its length, which was quite un- 
usual, being at least iS inches. The bottom had been 
removed, and in its place was substituted a circular piece 
of glass. This had been caulked, and no water could 
reach the interior of the bucket. To use it, the end with 
the glass was inserted a few inches beneath 'the surface 
of the water, and the user, placing his face at the other 
end, looked through it. To us Northerners it was in- 
credible the depth it was possible to see clearly with the 
glass. Fifty feet was no more than a pane of glass, and 
twenty fathoms was not an unusual depth to see the 
bottom. The remarkable clearness of the water is what 
rnakes it possible to see so far. I have seen the natives 
dive and recover a coin in at least 20 feet of water, while 
we in the boat could distinctly see every movement of 
the swimmer. 
The water Avhere we now 'were was very nearly ten 
fathoms. Roy and I gazing far down in those crystal 
depths could make out qr.ite distinctly the forms of coral. 
Some distance from the boat we could discern small 
forms moving about. So minute did they appear that we 
supposed them to be some species of marine insect, until 
Frank, who was gazing toward them, took in the glass 
and informed us that they were grunts. 
We rigged our hooks, baiting with a piece of fish, and 
threw out toward them. Owing to the depth of the water, 
and perhaps custom, we used hand lines. As our lines 
sank, assisted by a pound of lead acting as a sinker, we 
saw the fishes swim toward the hooks, and in less than 
a minute all three of us were pulling in our lines, each 
having hooked a fish. 
It's real sport to haul in 60 feet of line with a struggling 
fish on the other end. By the time we had drawn the 
fish up to the side of the boat he was so nearly ex- 
hausted that it was like lifting a log of wood into the 
boat. Frank, however, when his fish was close to the 
boat, gave a sharp jerk and his fish came flying into 
the boat. Roy and I lifted ours aboard in the same man- 
ner we would lift in a bucket of water. 
I was startled, momentarily, by hearing a long-drawn- 
out sigh, com.ing apparently from back of me. Then 
followed another, and then a third. That was the secret 
of the peculiar name applied to the fish. The noise they 
make as soon as they are out of the water sounds very 
much like a grunt. These we had caught were of the 
same size and would weigh about 2 pounds each. 
We continued fishing for grunts for half an hour, and 
during this time caught seventeen, all similar in size to 
those we had caught first. Then they stopped biting, 
and as we drifted quite close in toward shore, Frank took 
the oars and pulled out toward our first position. 
W^hen in that vicinity again, he handed the oars to 
Roy and took up the water-glass. He directed Roy to 
pull slowly around in a circle, while he looked intently 
toward the bottom. After a few minutes he signaled Roy 
to hold the boat motionless and for me to come to him. 
Following his directions, I took hold of the glass. 
Through the glass the bottom appeared so near that 
it seemed as if I could touch it. Looking in the' locality 
described by him, I saw a dark opening near the base 
of the coral. It looked like two large stones set in the 
form of an inverted V. Just in front of the opening, the . 
water was a little discolored, as if some large fish had 
recently disturbed the sand on the bottom. 
"Now. Roy," I heard Frank say, "there is a grouper 
down there. Just throw your line out so that it will 
reach the bottom near that coral and you will have some 
royal fishing." 
A splash followed. Then I saw the sinker reach the 
bottom a short distance from the cave, and I looked at 
the opening. Soon the head of a large fish appeared in 
sight. Then there emerged from the darkness a fish a 
yard long and moved toward the hook. With the aid 
of the glass, I could see the movements of his fins, as he 
advanced to smell of the bait. Evidently he liked its 
odor, for he drew back, then quickljr dashed forward, 
seized the bait and started to swim away with it. 
"Roy!" I cried. "You have him! Pull!" 
He gave a sharp tug at the line. The fish was swim- 
ming when Roy struck him, and as the hook entered his 
flesh, how he did accelerate his speed! I should have 
liked to have watched the .struggle through the glass, 
but the fish ran in such a direction that there -yvas great 
danger of the line getting tangled about it. So I took 
it up and put it in the boat. 
For fort^"^ minutes Roy had all the fish he could attend 
to, and at times it looked doubtful whether he or the fish 
would obtain the mastery. Finally it was draAvn along- 
side, where Frank dispatched it with a blow from a club 
