90 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Feb. 3, igod* 
"Is there no law that can be invoked to prevent a man 
from writing such articles as your last in Forest and 
Stream ? Now, this is the state of affairs. We are busy 
in a busineiss way, and the family needs food and cloth- 
ing. I have been trying to get down to work, which is 
a difficult matter at this season, for the fever strikes me 
(mildly at first) about Jan. i, and increases as you so 
well know. I was doing very well and keeping my mind 
fairly on business, when along comes Forest and Stream 
with your statement, 'I go fishing in June!' Hang it all, 
you can go fishing in January if you like, but don't write 
about it in the way you do, and set a fellow all afloat. As 
it is, I now have a most violent attack of the fever, and 
the weather here being warm and pleasant, does not help 
the matter; then, too, I am having a log camp built on 
Lac des Passes, and altogether I am ready to start now. 
I may have to wait until May, but I am not sure. Please 
devote your "Angling Notes" in Forest and Stream 
for a time to planting eels or catching codfish, or anything 
but trout and salmon fishing. After reading that note of 
yours I had to order a new rod. I had but twelve, and 
was awful short of rods ; then I had to get a new reel and 
new line and new flies and leaders, and a new rifle — in 
fact, I had to have an outlet, and by ordering a lot of stulf 
I did not need, I managed to pull through, but it was 
close work. We may go hungry and without fine clothes, 
but the fishing tackle is all right, and I go fishing in 
June also. 
"The envelope containing this will remind you that you 
are booked to go salmon fishing in June. Yours sincerely, 
"Geo. E. Hart." 
The "envelope" is made of water-color paper, 4^ x 7 
inches, and the front of it is covered with a painting repre- 
senting a man seated in his den at his desk writing a 
letter to order a "salmon rod to go fishing ir. June." On 
the wall is a picture of a salmon. Pendant from the 
chair in which the man is seated is a placard, "I go fishing 
in June." Over the desk is a mounted deer's head, and 
hanging from its mouth is another placard, "I go salmon 
fishing in June." Leaning against the desk are some 
bound books, with a gilt title, "Fish Stories, Vol. XV." 
On the floor is an open fly-book, and thej'- are evidently 
salmon flies. On the wall are two placards, "I go fishing 
in June," and "Will be gone salmon fishing in June." A 
landing net leans against the window, and a creek is near 
it. Through the window an angler can be seen fishing in 
a stream. In the right fore ground is a trunk and rod 
case. The latter bears the legend, "I go fishing in June," 
and the trunk bears the address, "A. N. Cheney, Glens 
Falls, N. Y.," with the direction "To be sent away in 
Jime." On the back, in place of a seal, is a silver doctor 
salmon fly, also in colors, with the directions, "If not 
dehvered before June, return to George E. Hart." 
My daughter looked at the drawing carefully, and 
said : "The man actually looks some like you, and I think 
it was drawn from a picture of you." There was a pau.se 
as she studied the pictures, and then she exclaimed: 
"Now I know it is you, for there is your ever-present 
cigar between the man's fingers !" 
More of June Fishing. 
Another letter came in the same mail with Mr. Hart's, 
which refers to June fishing and the fishing fever, and I 
quote from that also: "I am pleased to learn from 
"Angling Notes" that you have made up your mind to 
get a little salmon fishing this year, and are making it 
known already that you are going to Canada early in 
June. 
"If, as you say, your time is limited, there is no need 
of your going beyond my water. While the best fishing 
is frequently got late in the month, and the finest fishing 
came last year in July, after the Camp Harmony people, 
many others and myself had returned home, but the fish 
average much smaller, and I would rather kill a few of 
those big early runners than three times the number of 
12 to IS pounds salmon. I have always been in the habit 
of going the very last of May, for I get the fishing fever 
badly just as soon as I hear that salmon have been taken 
in the nets. 
"Fishing fever is not a bad thing to have, provided one 
knows when, and has the time to go and find the proper 
remedy for it. I know you will find the most effective 
medicine for this little ailment on the Ristigouche River, 
P. Q., Canada, for you have tried it. After all the faspina- 
tion of going a-fishing consists of first getting the fever, 
then going to the river full of anticipation and having 
the satisfaction of allaying it by being successful in 
killing a few fish. Angling would be a tame pursuit 
without occasional outbreaks of the fishing fever, and 
the angler who never has it, is not to be envied ; he is not 
a natural-born fisherman, and only thinks he enjoys 
angling." 
That last sentence is very, very true, and I at once 
recalled a friend whom I had enthused with what I 
thought was a clear case of the fever, and he went fishing 
with me with high hopes and heaps of courage, and the 
fever waxed hotter until a rain storm which threw down 
out tent cooled it, and the black flies froze it stiff, and a 
big black bear buried it beyond the hope of resuscitation 
in this life. Yes, it is true as writ that natural-born 
fishermen have the fever, and those who only think they 
enjoy fishing have a sort of varioloid. 
One Misstatement. 
In looking over a newspaper and glancing up and down 
its columns, my eye catches the word fish, or fishing, as a 
man, without looking for it, catches his own name stand- 
ing out from other names and words, when it appears on 
a page of a book as the leaves are rapidly turned. To- 
night in glancing over a newspaper my eyes were arrested 
by the word fish, and in what was evidently a piece of 
plate matter, I read : "A good fish story comes from the 
New York State Fish Commission, and, of course, it 
deals only in unvarnished facts." Then follows the items 
about the catch of tons of cods in the Hudson River 
near Tarrytown, to which I have already alluded in this' 
column. The story did not come from' the New York 
State Fish Commission, and I doubt if the Commissioners 
have ever seen it, unless they read of it in Forest and 
Stream. The item originally appeared in a dispatch to 
the New York Herald, although it may have beea an 
Associated Press dispatch. 
No fish stories come from the New York Fish Com- 
mission, except such as are printed in its annual report, 
or may be given out officially by the secretary after a 
monthly meeting of the Commission. Knowing as I do 
the newspaper history of that fish item, it is quite evident 
that some one has deliberately charged the State Commis- 
sion with it, knowing well that the Commission was 
in no way responsible for it. It is of no moment any- 
way, except that it shows how misstatements get into 
print, as in this case, a legitiniate news item is taken 
from the columns of a newspaper and deliberately changed 
to fit the fancy of some scissors editor without the least 
foundation, in fact, and with the false information it is 
started on the grand round of plates and patent outsiders, 
A. N. Cheney. 
Ffsh Commission Bulletin. 
The Bulletin* of the U. S. Fish Commission, recently 
published, is one of the most attractive of the series of 
eighteen volumes, the first volume was that for the year 
1881. The contents of the present volume include several 
papers of considerable size and interest. Capt. Moser's 
account of the "Salmon and Salmon Fisheries of Alaska" 
covers 178 pages, and is handsomely illustrated by sixty- 
three plates, reproductions of photographic views of 
the country explored, with special reference to the home 
of the salmon, the canneries, and points where seining 
operations are carried on. Plate i, Falls in stream at 
Skowl Arm, Kasaan Bay, Southeast Alaska, is a beauti- 
ful picture of a lovely stream and falls such as we 
have frequently met with in the Northwest. The beautiful 
views of Helm Bay, McDonald Bay, Nichols Bay, Dora 
Bay, Karta Bay, Thorne Bay, Duncan Canal, Streams at 
Loring and elsewhere, are sure to bring out the wish that 
we too may be there some day. Besides the views, much 
valuable information is recorded as to the condition of the 
salmon, rivers and cannery business of the territory, The 
account of the processes used in canning salmon are very 
interesting. 
"The Southern Spring Mackerel Fishery of the United 
States," by Dr. Hugh M. Smith, is an important addition 
to the very meager amount of literature upon the sub- 
ject. 
"The Mussel Fishery and Pearl-Button Industry of the 
Mississippi River," by Dr. Smith, covers pages 289 to 314, 
illustrated by twenty-one plates, and is, by reason of its 
almost unique character, one of the most interesting 
papers published. It shows at a glance what an important 
industry has sprung up and developed within a few years. 
The paper on the "Pearly Fresh- Water Mussels of the 
U. S., Their Habits, Enemies and Diseases, With Sug- 
gestions for Their Protection," by Charles T. Simpson, 
of the U. S. National Museum, precedes Dr. Smith's 
paper, and is a valuable addition thereto. 
The short paper on the reappearance of the tile fish, by 
Dr. H. C. Bumpus, is timely and interesting. 
The final paper of the Bulletin, pages 337 to 563, "The 
Preservation of Fishery Products for Food," by Charles 
H. Stevenson, is one of the most compact, exhaustive 
and altogether interesting contributions to the subject 
ever published. By means of forty-three plates, the 
methods of preparing, marketing, icing, freezing, canning, 
drying, smoking, salting, etc., of fishes for human con- 
sumption are fully illustrated. 
The several minor papers of the Bulletin are: "List 
of Fishes Known to Inhabit the Waters of the District of 
Columbia," by Smith & Bean; "Tide-Pool Fishes from 
Kadiak I. in Alaska," by C. Rutter; "The Peripheral 
Nervous System of the Bony Fishes," by C. J. Herrick. 
B. A. Bean. 
Washington, D. C, January. 
♦Bulletin of the Tlnited States Pish Commission, Vol. XVIII., 
for 189S. George M. Bowers, Commissioner, Washington; Gov- 
ernment Printing Office, 1899. 
Winter Fishing. 
Boston, Jan. 29. — The weather has beeii too cold and 
blustering for much ice fishing of late. Still, there are 
reports of some catches of pickerel from the ponds in 
Maine. In the vicinity of Sebatis the fishermen are on 
the ponds almost daily when the weather permits. They 
go by electric railroad from Bath and the towns below, as 
well as coming down from Lewiston and the towns above. 
Water is still very low in these ponds, though the recent 
thaw started it up a little. Boston fishermen are preparing 
to visit some of the New Hampshire waters a little later, 
* with several parties going to Lake Winnipesaukee for win- 
ter fishing. The outfitting of these fishing parties is often 
something wonderful in the way of clothing, while the 
fishing tackle and eatables and drinkables are all found 
at the fishing camps. 
The legal winter fishing through the ice, for the resi- 
dents of the State, on some of the lakes and ponds in 
Maine, begins Feb. i. Considerable preparation is being 
made for this fishing on Moosehead. Such fishing also 
meets with a good deal of opposition from hotel men and 
guides. They declare that the summer fishing is a good 
deal harmed, while the residents who fish say that they 
catch mainly togue, and but few landlocked salmon and 
square tails. They have a theory that the togue or lakers 
are the enemies of the salmon and square tails or brook 
trout. Some other fishermen and fishculturists also agree 
with them, and seem to express a desire that the togue 
be exterminated. I heard a Boston fisherman, who has 
visited Moosehead many seasons, say the other day, that 
he believed that the lakers destroy the brook trout, and 
Aat it would be much better if the lake was free from 
them. At the same time, he did not know how it could be 
done; but thought that catching them through the ice 
should be encouraged. It is a curious fact that the lakers 
grow to a great size in Moosehead, up to over 30 pounds 
having been taken, while the brook trout rarely go up to 
5 pounds weight. A square tail of 3 pounds is con- 
sidered a big one for Moosehead, while in the Rangeleys 
they have been taken up to pounds. At the same 
time there are no togue or lakers in the Rangeleys. 
Speaking of the Rangeleys, it may be noted that the water 
in those lakes is the lowest ever known, and has been 
so ever since the early autumn. The lakes have been 
drawn down below all storage water for several months. 
What this will do for the trout is a question. It is 
certain that the spawning must all have been done om 
new beds, and much lower down than ever before. The 
danger is that a thaw may fill these lakes to the brimi 
before the hatching is done, in which case the spawn and. 
newly hatched fry will be burned under from 10 to 20 feeti 
of water. Such a condition of affairs cannot otherwise! 
than be disastrous to the trout. Rangeley Lake has been 
di-aAvn down g or 10 feet ; Mooselucmaguntic, 12 or 13 
feet ; Richardson, 20 or 21 feet ; Umbagog, 10 or 12 feet. 
From the sportsmen's standpoint it is a great pity that; 
these trout lakes, the home of the largest brook trout,' 
Salmo fontinalis, in the world, should be ljut the storage,' 
basins for the mills on the river below. 
Special. 
Pickerel Fishing. 
West Winsted, Conn., Jan. 24. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: I inclose clipping from the Hartford Courant 
of yesterday (Jan. 23), and I think the record is correct 
so far as numbers and weight are concerned. 
W. B. Phelps. 
The pickerel is a very handsome fish. It has a large 
mouth and a capacious receiving room. It can eat angle 
worms, any fish one size smaller than itself, frogs, silver I 
spoons, painted floats and whatever happens along its 
way. It is the shark of fresh water. Some people like 
to eat pickerel. These for the most part are folks who ' 
never tried a fried pincushion, and so do not know how 1 
mucla easier it is to swallow this latter article of luxury. \ 
A pin is more readily disposed of than a pickerel bone, i 
and there is a limit to the pins a cushion can hold. The J 
bones of the pickerel are not numbered. Just now is the ' 
time when pickerel fishing is at its height. Our country 
exchanges are bristling with anecdotes of great catches. 
Here are a few : 
At Park Pond, in Winchester, last Friday, two men 
caught I2S pickerel. Another man on the same day 
caught eighty there. 
At Whist Pond, near Torrington, on Friday, two 
men caught 50 pounds of pickerel and perch, including 
a pickerel of 5 pounds 2 ounces. Six pickerel weighed 
IS pounds 2 ounces. 
Three men at Burrville, Friday, took a "large quantity" 
and one (pickerel, not man) weighed 4 pounds. 
Two men at Crystal Lake, Winsted, on Friday, caught 
fifty-two pickerel that weighed together 38 1-3 pounds; 
another man caught twenty, and still another "about as 
many," Two others caught 60 pounds there, and another 
fisherman took twenty-nine, weighing 22j^ pounds, Satur- 
day morning. Three others caught forty hand'some 
pickerel at Otis Pond. 
Accept all this, for it is in print and is about fish. 
Neither condition can be doubted. But here is a story 
that is more likely than any of the others. Three men 
from Winsted started for a pond in Hartland Friday. 
They got there and cut sixty-four holes in ice measuring 
24 inches thick, which is equivalent to a tunnel of 128 
feet. Then they fished and caught five pickerel and perch, 
all weighing 4J^ pounds, or not quite a quarter of a pound 
apiece. They left the sleigh on the thin ice near the 
shore, and, as it was a melting day, the heavy vehicle 
finally pushed itself through and went to the bottom. 
They walked home, but it did not tire them to carry the 
fish. 
Eels'] and Hell Divers. 
OviEL, N. Y., Jan. 27.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
Isn't the idea prevalent that eels are lovers of muddy 
bottoms and quiet pools and the worm that occasionally 
"appertaineth thereunto"? I formerly thought so, but 
last Decoration Day, while trying for a 'lunge in the 
Champlain River, I caught a 4-pound eel on a 4-inch 
shiner in a strong current. The shiner was lively and 
not near the bottom. Wonder if thev won't take flies 
soon I 
We frequently take large eels here in Seneca Lake, and 
usually on the stoniest bottoms. Here is why: Several 
years ago my brother caught a large one that, from its 
bulging abdomen, made us think we had tlie long-looked- 
for gravel eel. Opening it we found eight fine crawfish, 
perfectly fresh. 
The hell diver must go. I recently killed one that had 
a gizzard partially filled with fish spawn. The remaining 
space was filled with feathers. Is the hell diver "a 
carnivorous beast" ? It may have been gun wads, though. 
Gun wads are plentiful on the waters of Seneca Lake 
B. E. B. 
A Rainbow Trout Picture. 
Mr. A. Wydeveld, the well-known painter of fishes, has 
shown us his portrait of Dr. Law's rainbow trout. The 
fish was caught in Twin Lakes, June, 1897, by Dr. Law. 
It ^yeighed about 14^ pounds, was 32 inches in length and 
20 inches in girth. It is now mounted and in a case in 
the city office of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Com- 
pany, in Denver. 
Mr. Wydeveld's painting is one of the very best works 
of the class we have ever seen; it is wonderful in the 
simultation of the real fish, and in the color effects. 
Another of Mr. Wydeveld's pictures is of a trout, weight 
12 pounds, about 27 inches long, caught by Thomas C. 
Brown, in the Gunnison River, near the town of Gun- 
nison, Aug. 13, 1897. It was taken with a No. 6 coach- 
man and 6-ounce rod, and landed in ten minutes. 
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