FCB. 16, 1900.1 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
118 
ments as to length are from memory, as I cannot put my 
hand on the preserved specimens at this midnight hour 
of writing), and apparently the two sizes of fish were 
of two succeeding seasons' hatching. In catching smelt 
in the lake with hook and line to be used as fair for land- 
locked salmon, I have taken some that were (estimated) 
10 inches long. 7se are what are called the land- 
locked smelt thai ^lC classed as small, but I think 
Forester was in e' or in crediting the common smelt with 
the length that i 'jave quoted. The State of New York 
hatches millions Jf smelts, and I will mention this later, 
but I never saw one at the station that would measure 
12 inches. That, however, does not prove that they do 
not grow larger in Long Island Sound, where the breed- 
ing fish come from. In Lake Champlain larger smelt 
are caught at West Port than at Port Henry, and the 
two places are only a few miles apart on the lake shore. 
Forester says the smelt disappeared almost entirely from 
the rivers he mentions in 1853 and '54, and of their dis- 
appearance he says: ''Scarcely any of these delicious fish 
ran up the rivers, owing, I am satisfied, to the establish- 
ment of a chain ferry at the embouchure of the river, 
about a mile above the opening of Newark Bay. The 
apparatus of this ferry consists of three parallel chains 
reaching from shore to shore, the two" on the outside act- 
ing as guides to the boat, that in the center working on a 
draw and acting as the propelling power of the boat. 
This boat crosses the river, on an average, once in ten 
minutes, from 4 o'clock A. M. until 10 P. M., so that 
these chains are kept in a constant state of vibration." 
Apparently he forgot that smelt ran up to spawn in the 
night, and the chains in the water would deter the fish 
about as much as the birds flying overhead in the air ; 
but at Sunapee Lake I heard a complaint of a similar 
nature, only it was the passage of steamboats that the 
fishermen claimed drove the Sunapee trout from their 
accustomed haunts. Netting and illegal fishing generally 
has more to do with driving fish away than chain ferries 
or steamboats, and when impurities are added to the 
water the two agencies work destruction to fish life. Once 
more I quote from Forester: "I may here add that it 
is an established fact that both these species" (that is 
the fish he thinks to be the European smelt found in New 
Jersey streams, and the common American smelt), "may 
be taken with the scarlet ibis flv ; that capital sportsman 
and scientific angler, Moses H. Pesley, of St. Johns, New 
Brunswick, having experienced grand sport with them in 
the Gulf and of Prince Edward Island ; and I myself have 
killed them thus on the Passaic. 
I have recently noticed an illustrated article, descriptive 
of the taking of the Eastern smelt with bait through 
the ice,. This I believe to be an error, originating in a. 
confusion of the smelt with the frost fish, since I never 
have heard or read of an authenticated instance of a 
smelt being taken with a bait. If, however, it prove to 
be correct, it will be another distinction between the 
American and European or Passaic smelt, which not only 
never takes bait through the ice, but is known never to 
run under the ice." 
Frank Forester is entitled to much credit for arousing 
an interest in fishing and shooting in this country, and 
he was a graceful and interesting writer, but I believe he 
made no pretense of being a scientist, or perhaps T 
should say. an ichthyologist, and he was at times m- 
aceurate, but nerhans never more so than in calling the 
snaelt of the New Jersey rivers the European smelt, and 
in saying they would not take bait, and would not run 
under ice. He wrote according to his convictions from 
the best obtainable information of his day, and it is not 
for me to criticize him in the light pf more recent in- 
vestigations, for he was a pioneer in a comnaratively 
new field in this country and had not the nieans which 
exist at this day to determine species, and information 
which cam_e to him was not always reliable from a 
scientific point of view. 
Catching Smelts. 
The catching of smelts in Lake Champlain is prac- 
ticed in winter alone through the ice, and the fish are 
caught with hook and line. After taking one smelt, the 
fisherman is provided with bait, for he takes a narrow 
strip of flesh from the body of the fish near the tail, which 
is white and glistening in the water on the hook. The 
local name of "ice fish" is given to the smelt because 
it is taken only through the ice. When I was at Port 
Henry on Jan. 14 the smelt were just beginning to bite, 
and certainly they are to me as delicious for the table as 
any fish that is found in fresh water, and quite a business 
has sprung up at Port Henry and West Port in bujang 
"ice fish" and shipping them "green," i. e., not frozeri, to 
clubs and hotels in the city. At two hotels in New York 
I have found "Lake Champlain ice fish" on the bill of 
fare. In one case the fish were evidently wliat was claimed 
for them, as the cut near the tail told that a piece had 
been removed for bait, but the flavor of the fresh fish was 
lacking, as they had been too long from the water. In 
the other case, I was satisfied the "Lake Champlain ice 
fish" were Eastern smelt frozen. A great many buyers 
of the Champlain fish select the small ones, and I did 
until I was once forced to take big ones, and now I select 
big ones from choice. 
Breediog Smelh 
One of the pioneers in hatching smelt artificially was 
George Ricardo, of New Jersey, and I would be very 
glad now to get a copy of a paper I once read written by 
him on this subject. The Fisheries, Game and Forest 
Commission of New York hatch smelt at the Long Island 
station. Since smelt operations were commenced at this 
station various streams flowing into Long Island Sound 
have been stocked with the fish. The spawning season is 
March, and the average number of eggs per fish is forty to 
fifty thousand, and with water at 40 to 45 degrees, the 
eggs hatch in from thirty to thirty-five days, and the 
yolk sac is absorbed in about six days. 
Of the early trials and disappointments in smelt hatch- 
ing, I will say notlnng, but the method now employed by 
tlie State is to place a lot of fish in one of the hatching 
troughs of the station and cover them to exclude the 
light, and the fish arr- allowed to spa-wn undisturbed. 
The spawn is glutinous, and it sticks 10 the trough and to 
the fish themselves. The eggs, 1-20 inch in diameter, are 
connected with a fine thread, and they are scraped from 
'the trotigh and passed through a wire meshed sieve 
separate them and then they are hatched in McDonald 
automatic hatching jars. 
Smelt fof Fish Food. 
The small landlocked smelt of Maine which make fucb 
excellent food for trout and salmon have been introduced, 
into New York waters, chiefly in Adirondack lakes. 
While I have been writing this note, a letter has come 
to me in the mail asking how the New England smelt 
may be obtained. The query comes from the owner of 
one of the largest preserves in the Adirondacks, and I 
had previously informed his agent that the State of 
New York could not furnish smelt fry for private waters, 
although the smelt were to provide food for trout and 
salmon. If the conditions are favorable at spawning 
time. Mr. Stanley, one of the Fish Commissioners of 
Maitie, may be able to put those seeking them in the way 
of obtaining smelt eggs. The eggs do not have to be 
hatched in hatching jars when procured for this 
purpose, as they adhere to twigs thrown into 
the spawning .streams, are packed in moss and shipped. 
At their destination the twigs are placed in the water it 
is' desired to stock and left to hatch without further 
attention. Any water in which smelt will thrive is 
suitable water for trout and salmon, particularly for 
the latter, as the smelt loves pure, cold water, and as 
members of the salmon family are to be provided with fish 
for food, there can be no better fish than the smelt, as- it 
also furnishes food for mankind, 
A Motinlcd'BIacfc Bass. 
Last week I received a letter from Commodore John 
Bolton Simpson, of New York, who has a summer resi- 
dence on Green Island. Lake George, informing me that 
he was about to send me a small-mouth black bass,, 
mounted and framed, and that it was the largest black 
bass that had ever been caught in Lake George. A few 
days later the mounted fish arrived, and it is a particularly 
fine specimen, and is handsomely mounted. The bass, 
was caught on ,A.ug. 14 last, near the Sagamore Hotel, 
by Mr. Frank L. Sommer. manager of the National Bis- 
cuit Company, New York, and weighed when caught 7 
pounds 8 ounces. Too often mounted fish are monstros- 
ities, no matter how well meaning the man may be 
who does the mounting, but it is not so with this black 
bass, and. Thomas Rowland, who did the mounting, has 
apparently served an apprenticeship as a taxidermist 
long before he took this fish in hand. It is the first 
moimted fish that has ever hung in my house, and I have 
had a leaning toward fish for more years than it is 
necessary to specify. When Commodore Simpson wrote 
me that he intended sending me the fish, I drew one long 
breath, for a big fish of any kind that is not well mounted 
is not pleasant to live with, but my friend added, "I think 
it is very well mounted," and I was well aware that he 
knew good mounting from bad, and now I know I have a 
prize, and I am proud to show it in my dining room, 
where it occupies a conspicuous place on the wall. In 
mounting the fish there has been no attempt to add 
accessories in the way of property bait or fly, the oval 
background against which the fish rests is painted to 
represent water and water grasses, but this is simply 
suggestive, and the fish stands out boldly in natural color- 
ing. The oval is squared with a mat of crimson velvet, 
and the whole mounted in a handsome oak frame and! 
half-spherical glass front. 
Three times each day that I am home I take pleasure in 
looking at this fish, and I can feel that I have seen the 
maximum weight of the bass in Lake George grow from 
to 7^/2 pounds, and that through the kindness of my 
good friend I can point my guests to the fish that heads, 
the list as the record breaker. It is the exact length, 
22 inches, of a black bass that T caught myself that was 
three-quarters of a pound heavier, but it is not so deep. 
I have at times resrretted that T did not have mv Glen 
Lake bass mounted rthi<; lake being stocked with bass 
from Lake George), but I no longer have regrets, and it 
is more pleasure to me to say, "This fish was presented 
to me," than to say I caught it. A. N. Cheney. 
In the Pound-Net. 
BY FRED MATHER. 
Jack Falstaff said : "I am not only witty myself, but 
the cause of Avit in others." I cannot lay claim to the 
first part of his assertion, but may assert a moderate 
credit in causing the wit of others to flow. And the 
way it flows, if it does flow and is really v.'it. may be 
gathered from the following replies, which, by the way. 
are all from personal acquaintances, some of whom I 
have fished with. 
The 2oth century will begin at a certain spot out in the 
Pacific Ocean where nobody lives, at precisely the sec- 
ond when the 19th century ends. Much has been written 
on this subject, but my conclusions are based on facts 
which cannot be refuted and are absolutely correct. No 
argument, whether the first year was the year 0 or the 
year i, can controvert my assertion; this will comfort 
several anxious friends who are waiting, with more or 
less patience, for a reply. To them I will say that per- 
sonally the new century will probably come and go to 
join preceeding centuries just the same as it it were 
all known to us just when it began, but as it begins away 
out in the Pacific where oflicially the traveler gains or 
loses a day, as he happens to be going east or west, it 
seems as if we might be content to wait until it comes 
to us, unless it came on Jan. i and we never felt the 
shock. What is time to a m.an who thoroughly enjoys 
life when free from physical ills? Not more than to a 
setting hen or a hummingbird when the rain cometh 
not. Let the century come when it will and end when 
it may, we have but few years to enjoy life, be we ever 
so young. Does the ephemeral May-<^y trouble itself to 
consider when the century begins? If not, why should 
we? We are ephemera, 
Dry-FIy Ffshrog. 
Nemo writes from \\Tiitepine. Pa„ as follows: "I 
have read with much interest the explanations of the 
Taylor system of fly-fishing, and yet I find that it is 
not teaUj, aey, haYing seen it used jrears 3gQ-4, e., it 
was the same system, so far as I am able to judge. But 
there is another little trick with the fly that never fails 
on big trout, and which has never to my knowledge 
appeared in print. No fisherman with any originality 
about him ever fishes just as all others do, and he wfeo 
has a trick or two up his sleeve which is not known to 
every fi,sherman is ever more successful because of it. E 
know a successful fly-fisher who uses six distinct andl 
separate methods of fly-fishing in the same day if neces- 
sary. The trick I spoke of is his strong hold for big; 
irout under right conditions. I would explain, but T 
started out to tell of an old habit of our common chip- 
muck." 
Now^ Nemo, as you are "nobody," if my smattering 
of Latin is correct, I can take you under the shed and 
talk to you for the benefit of others who write rambling 
letters which never come to a point. You "find" that 
the so-called Taylor system of fly-fishing is not new, and 
claim to have seen it used years ago, but give neither 
names nor dates. These are essential when one wishes 
lo put on record a claim such as you make. 
Again you refer to a "trick" in fishing which willl 
lake "big trout under right conditions," but there you' 
stop and .switch off on a chipmunk yarn, which I will 
reserve until I have occasion to write of that pretty 
little rodent. Under ordinary circumstances, your va- 
grant remarks would be considered as having no claim 
to attention, but as I get a few letters in this same style 
I insert your notes as a "horrible example" of a style 
to be avoided, at the same time giving the editor your 
address, etc. Your chipmunk notes contain an item 
of value. 
■Wood and Mandada Ducfcs. 
P. T. O., of the Florida Ostrich Farm, asks: "Who 
keeps wood and Mandarin ducks? What would a pair 
cost? How often do they breed? What should they be 
fed on? How many eggs do they lay? Do Mandarins 
lay eggs on the ground or where? Does the drake set 
as well as the duck?" 
Consult the advertisements in Forest and Stream; 
I no longer breed these birds because I have no place 
suitable. The cost I cannot give. They breed once a 
year, but a duck will often lay two litters if deprived of 
the first; they lay six to seven eggs at a year old and 
increase to twelve or fifteen. I had one wood duck that 
once laid seventeen eggs before sittins^, but that was the 
largest clutch I know of. Feed grain in winter, with 
green stuff, cabbage, celery tops, etc., and in spring 
feed a little grain, but give plenty of green stuff and 
plenty of animal food. Try to get as near the natural 
food of a wood duck as possible, and a Mandarin is 
similar to them in structure and habits; in fact, it is the 
Chinese wood duck, differing from our bird mainly in 
color, handsomer to some eyes and not so beautiful to 
others. When wild, these birds eat seeds of manv 
plants, water weeds, especially the so-called duck weed, 
and tadpoles, frogs and insects. The drakes do not sit, 
as a rule, although I have seen them on the nest oc- 
casionally; but they mount guard near by while tlie 
mother is sitting, and when wild, leave her soon after 
hatching. It is as well to remove the drake before 
the hatching; he does the young no good, Make nests 
in boxes a foot or two from the ground, with a 3 inch 
hole for the bird to get in, and as the birds you buy will 
be pinioned, or should be, they will need a sloping walk 
from ground to nest. 
Salmon fn La fee Ontario, 
Mr. John Townson, Globe Office, Toronto, writes 
under date of June S, 1899, as folloM^s: "Having an idea 
that anythmg uncommon in connection with fish would 
interest you, I wish to state the fact that when one of 
the fishermen, v.'ho ply their vocation in Lake Ontario, 
off Toronto Harbor, lifted his whitefish net last Thurs^ 
day (June i), he found therein a young salmon (not 
salmon trout) of about 2 pounds weight. I noticed in 
Forest and Stream a few weeks ago a few lines stating 
that they would like to have information about some 
salmon fry that were deposited in the lower end of Lake 
Ontario, so that is my excuse for writing to you." 
Such items need no excuse for sending, because we are 
all interested in them, but the "excuse" for not printing 
this devolves upon me, and in the last haul of the net I 
gave a hint why there has been a delav. The fact is that 
when I left New York city for the' wildest corner of 
Wisconsin I escaped in such quick time that there was 
much confusion in the baggage trains, and the box con- 
tammg these things from the "pound net" was not 
opened until after Christmas, because of the enthusiasm 
of youth in new and interesting surroundings, hopping 
over miles of trails to gangs of workmen by day and 
"that tired feeling" by night, which forbade all writing, 
even to the neglect of private correspondence. This is 
expected to be received as an apology for all shortcom- 
ings in the way of neglect to those to whom I am in- 
debted, and there you are. 
A Record B.iss. 
Through the kindness of Mr. James Nevin, superin- 
tendent of the Wisconsin Fish Commission, I have re- 
ceived a hfe-size reproduction in half-tone from a pho- 
tograph taken from life, of a small-mouth black bass, 
which IS claimed to be the largest of its kind ever caught. 
This IS accompanied by affidavits of eight good men and 
true, with the seal of Notary C. F. Spensley, of Dane 
county. Wis., to the effect that they saw the bass 
weighed on Nov. 28, 1898, and it tipped the scales at 
8 pounds 10 ounces. The fish was taken by Isaac 
Palmer, of Madison, Wis., off Governor's Island, in 
Lake Mendota, Madison, with rod and reel. It meas- 
ured 24J^ inches in length, and 17^^ inches in girth. 
As I have never paid much attention to "record" fish- 
that is. to the extent of keeping a memoranda of them 
I can't say if this is really the king s. m, b. b. or not. 
A Trouf-Perch. 
Mr. John Moore sends the dried skin of a fish which 
is 4 inches long, and writes: "What kind of a trout is 
this? I caught it in a little brook in O'neida county. 
N. Y,. and it seems to be a hybrid trout of some kind, 
having the red spots and little fat stcoed dorsal 60 61 
