!1Fe3. 24, 1900. 1 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
181 
transit, no attempt to transplant eels has been made by the 
different State fish commissions as far as I know. 
Tfout Of Trot Line. 
The Rev. Archibaldas Holden, of East Aurora, N. Y., 
writes : "An article in an Alabama paper recently men- 
tioned the taking of a large catfish on a trout line which 
had been set over night, and wheii in the South I remem- 
ber hearing of the setting of trout lines in waters where 
the temperature was too high to sustain trout. We 
know that in many Southern States where there are no 
trout they call the black bass by that name, but does 
the black bass feed at night at the bottom where catfish are 
liable to be taken?" 
Some printer is liable for this error, or perhaps many 
printers are equally guilty, for I have many times seen 
notices of fish caught on "troitt lines" set at night. Trot 
line is the correct spelUng, and it is derived from the fact 
that it is set and then overhauled at intervals, "trotted 
over." It is a long, stout line stretched across a stream 
or in the ocean, with baited hooks on snoods at intervals. 
This is called a "trawl" by the cod fishermen of Amer- 
ica, although the "trawl" of Europe is a net dragged over 
the bottom by a boat; it also is called a "set line," 
"spiller" and "boulter," as well as a "trot line," in 
different places. It is not strange that some printer should 
set it up as a "trout line" if he did not happen to know, 
and that the proofreader should pass it if he did not also 
happen to be an angler. The name of "trot line" is one 
that has come to me in mature years by travel and reading. 
In youth, along the upper Hudson, we put out "set lines" 
for eels, turtles and such small deer, and knew the lines 
by no other name. 
Memory la Fishes. 
I have a pamphlet of thirty pages entitled, "Haben die 
Fische ein Gedachtniss? By L. Edinger, Frankfort am 
Main." Dr. Edinger is satisfied that fishes do remember, 
and cites many instances to prove it, and quotes several 
authorities. This is mentioned here to show that some 
persons must have doubted, or denied, memory to fishes, 
perhaps the same who deny that horses and dogs have 
reasoning powers, but to me all this is strange. What 
but memory, and perhaps reason, causes tame trout to 
follow a man carrying a pan of chopped liver? Surely 
the memory of former feelings, if not reasoning that, be- 
cause the man fed them at other times, he will probably 
do so again. 
What brings the migratory fishes back to the .same 
feeding grounds, but memory? This might be carried out 
at great length, but enough has been said. 
Popular Names of Fishes. 
In eastern North America there is but one "salmon" 
and its varieties, the "sebago" and "winninish," but in 
districts named in the following letter from Mr. E. B. 
Burnham, the guides and some anglers, miscall the late 
trout "salmon trout," and often omit the last name, 
thereby causing confusion. Mr. Burnham writes: 
-'Among other fishes, I read of the capture of salmon 
from the inland lakes and ponds of New York, Maine, 
New Hampshire and latterly of Ontario, bodies of water 
which have no direct connection with the Atlantic, and 
consequently are not sea-going fish. I know something of 
Atlantic salmon, as found in Canadian rivers, viz., New 
Brunswick and Quebec, but of those first referred to I 
know nothing. If salmon, how did they get there? If 
not salmon, what are they, and where did they come 
from? If you enlighten me, this printed as a part of 
your contribution to Forest and Stream, I shall see it." 
Trout and Salmon. 
Having replied to the above by mail, Mr. Burnham 
again writes: 
"Your note of 226. received. Thanks. I infer you 
are at Brule, to endeavor to restock that stream with 
trout, for which it was once famous, but ex-Senator 
Vilas' log rafts badly demoralized the trout, and I am 
told substantially destroyed the fishing. Your explanation 
respecting salmon of the interior waters seems to cover 
the point of my inquiry, and now, when I read of salmon 
killing in such waters, I will know Salmo salar is "not in 
it. Should your business or pleasure require you to visit 
New Brunswick, I suggest you arrange for a visit to the up- 
per waters of the Nepissiquit River, which abounds in trout 
of goodly size, are unsophisticated and rise to almost any 
lure, so there is red in it. Red ant on No. 2 Sproat is 
very fetching, for quarter and half-pounders during the 
day, but at evening, when the big fellows feed, then a 
good cast is a royal coachman and an ibis." 
What is said of tlie Brule is true, so far as scarcity of 
trout goes, but I do not know the cause of the depletion of 
this once famous trout stream. He refers to the river in 
Douglas county, Wis., and not to the Michigan Brule 
which flows into Green Bay on Lake Michigan. 
Winninish. 
In the North there is a small salmon which, like the 
Sebago salmon, is not structurally different from the great 
Salmo salar, but yet has a distinctive appearance, and 
never grows large. It may be doubted if it differs from 
variety. Sebago other than in size and habitat, and by 
the "Sebago" we mean that fish which has somehow been 
miscalled "landlocked salmon," but which has access to 
salt water if it desires to go. 
Under the preceding heading I referred to the win- 
ninish, and used that spelling advisedly, because if is the 
good old English way of spelling the name. There is no 
reason why we should retain the French spelling of 
"ouananiche," for this fish simply because the French 
have no "w" in their language than that we should con- 
tinue to spell Wisconsin "Ouisconsin," as the early French 
missionaries who first explored the region of the Great 
Lakes did. Not a bit of it As English is destined^ to 
become the language of the world in a few more centuries, 
it is time to prepare for it now, when we who write in 
that language speak of American fishes. 
Tn the great work of Jordan and Evermann,_ "Fishes of 
North America," 3 vols., 3.136 pages, they give, p. 487, 
"Salmo salar ouananiche. McCarthy, M. S., new sub- 
species," and quote Forest and Stream, March 10, 1894. 
They say of it: "So far as known, not structurally 
different," and give its habitat as "Saguenay River, 
Canada (outlet of Lake St. John), and neighboring 
waters." Referring to the popular name, the authors 
say, in a footnote: "The word ouananiche is from the 
dialect of the Montagnais Indians, who inhabit the 
country about Lake St. John. They have always been 
familiar with this fish, and understanding its deviation, 
have properly named it 'ouanan' meaning salmon, and 
'ichi,' the diminutive — 'the little salmon.' — McCarthy." 
While all this is true, I protest ! And the reason of the 
protest has been partly given above. All this might have 
passed without any "kick" on my part if a child had not 
asked a question. Some time ago a boy at that most in- 
teresting age of eight to twelve, looked up from his paper 
and asked : "Unc' Fred, what is a 00-an-a-nitche ?" 
"I haven't the slightest idea, my boy; is it a beast, 
bird or fish; or is it some game that has been renamed, 
and is to replace our old one of shinny?" 
"It's a fish, and you ought to know all about it, for 
you pretend to know all about fish and fishing." 
This was one on the solar plexus; I "pretended" to 
know some things ! I took the paper and thus expounded : 
"That word is pronounced winninish, because the French 
first wrote of it, and in their language oui is pronounced 
"we," and with no "w" they could do no better than to 
r 
FRED MATHER. 
spell it as they do. We have more of an alphabet and 
can express the name in better shape, if we will." 
Then and there I resolved that if ever I wrote of this 
fish, its name should be spelt in the good Americo-English 
fashion, and as I thought of this I wrote the following 
lines of my young grandnephew to puzzle out: 
O, ouananiche, how I do ouiche. 
That with my rod and ouinche, 
With line and reel, and ouillow creel, ' ' 
You'd strike, and never flinch. i 
No matter how the ouind may blow. 
To see your oinsome form, 
I'd ouieled my rod thro' wind or snow. 
Regarding ouind nor storm. 
If I could ouin you from the ouit, , 
In some Ouisconsin lake, | 
No beat of rain on ouindow pane, J 
That ouildest storm could fret. 
Would hold me in, if you're ouithin 
The distance that I ouish 
To cast my fly; for you to try, 
You ouilful ouananiche. 
That was my hint to the boy that there was an irre- 
sistible movement going on for phonetic spelling, which 
will end in our absurd orthography of to-day being as un- 
intelligible a century hence as the English of the six- 
teenth century, cited in introductions of dictionaries, are 
to us to-day. Perhaps this may be a century or so 
short, but it will come, and the angling antiquarian of the 
year 3000 may wonder why we spelled "winninish" as 
some now do when our alphabet is wealthy enough to 
afford a letter which the French lack. Perhaps a few who 
speak of the fish may pronounce the name "Avananish," 
but I have not met them. "Oo-an-a-nitche" is not a 
serious blunder for either child or man to make. 
Chicago Fiy-Castingf Club. 
Chicago, Feb. 17. — Editor Forest and Stream: The 
annual dinner and meeting of the Chicago Fly-Casting 
Club was held at the Leland Hotel Feb. 12. President 
Bellows presided in his usual able manner. 
After the dinner was finished and some good stories 
told, the election of officers for the ensuing year came 
up. with the following results. H. W. Perce, President; 
W. T. Church, Vice-President; Geo. A. Murrell, Secre- 
tary-Treasurer; E. R. Letterman, Captain, and Q. H. 
Bellows, member of Executive Committee. It was de- 
cided to hold an open-to-the-world tournament this com- 
ing August, and a committee was appointed to get up 
rules and events for it. 
Geo. a. Murrell, Sec'y-Treas. 
The Forest and Strsam is put to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at the 
latest by Monday aad as mudi eaxliex as practicable. 
Smelt Fishing. 
In your last issue I was pleased to read in Mr. Cheney's 
fine article a reference to smelts. This related particu- 
larly to the land locked smelt, and that of the PasNaic, 
My experience extends only to the salt water smelt of 
New England. I like to fish and shoot, but can not find 
time or money to do so as much as I should like, and 
am, therefore, obliged to take my pleasure of this kind 
in reading of the exploits of others. So, when a man 
kills a big moose, and writes about it in our paper, far 
from envying him, I rather share his pleasure with him, 
and almost have a moose hunt right in my kitchen. I 
really believe that every man who has a good shooting 
or fishing story should be obliged by law to publish it, 
so that the stay-at-home hunters should share in his fun. 
Mr. Cheney says: "The frost fish and smelt are the 
same." In the East the frost fish and the smelt are en- 
tirely different, the frost fish being almost identical with 
the tom cod. In the East, the smelt is practically the 
one fish that a man living in the cities can angle for with- 
out having a lot of time and money. 
The Massachusetts law allows the smelt to be caught 
with only hook and line, and no seining is permitted. It 
also makes a close season during the spawning time, and 
on acount of this law, the fish have increased in number 
and in size. I can't cast a fly, yet I have waded and 
cursed through a few trout brooks and tried my hand 
at bass and pickerel, and enjoyed every minute so spent; 
yet, for pure unadultered bliss, just place me in a good 
roomy boat with Bucky Holmes, with a six-foot rod in 
each hand and the smelt abiting, then you can tell me all 
you please of the joys of hunting moose, deer or turkey. 
You couldn't get me to swap. 
The bait principally used here is shrimp, which can be 
netted in the marshes or bought at fish stores. This 
should be placed on the hook tail first, the point of the 
hook almost coming out through the head. Some insist 
on breaking off the sharp little spike on the head of the 
shrimp, but this I consider unnecessary. Sea worms are 
good, also; they can be found on any beach or under the 
rocks. Another favorite is the bloodworm, a long thick 
almost white worm found near the salt water. It has a 
large vein filled with blood running through it, and is 
tough and lasting. Small minnows are sometimes used, 
and I have found them a good bait at night for large fish. 
Common garden worms are also used by some. 
About July I you begin to get the smelt fever. About 
Aug. IS to Sept. I you begin to get smelt. The flood 
tide is almost invariably the best for fishing, and in the 
ebb as a rule they seem to slack off, yet, like all rules, 
this is ocasionally broken. Twenty years ago native 
smelts and those sent from Novia Scotia would run 
about 5 inches (to-day nearer 7), while those caught at 
night will run eight inches. I have caught one that was 
longer than a foot rule, and one evening in October last 
I saw Mr. Geo. Pratt, of Revere, catch one 15 inches 
long, and it weighed 1454 ounces; but this was the larg- 
est I have ever seen and was an exception, although a 
size of 12 inches at night is common. This large fish 
proved very rank and oily on being cooked, and bore out 
the practice of fishermen here, who prefer the smaller to 
the larger fish for home use, claiming they are much 
sweeter. 
One thing I have never seen in print about this fish, 
yet known by every initiated brother, is the manner in 
which it sometimes takes the bait. This is called suck- 
ing, and many a good fresh water fisherman has been 
perplexed on raising his line to find the hooks skinned 
when he had not felt even a nibble. If you should ever 
get a chance to see the fish at low water (if you look 
close), you may see a smelt advance to the bait in a leis- 
urely manner; about an inch from it he will stop, then 
opening his mouth very wide he will make no offer to 
touch the bait, but by suction will draw it toward and 
into his mouth; and all this time the mouth has never 
closed. And now is the time to hook him, for if he is 
given a moment you will see your bare hook ejected 
from the still open mouth. Again, he may reject the bait 
after drawing it in, and the bait is often blown up on to 
the gut snell. 
Forester's theory of that ferry having any effect on 
smelt can hardly be correct, as I have seen them caught 
under and over hawsers, and in places where tugs and 
steamers were constantly keeping the water in a turmoil. 
At a favorite spot for night fishing, a culvert runs under 
the road and the flow of water through is regulated by 
gates, and, until these close, and the water stops running 
through, you can't get a fish; yet 2 minutes after the 
gates close they may be biting all along the line. Whether 
it is because they are afraid of being drawn into the 
sluice or not I don't know, yet the fact is that they don't 
bite until then. At this place, while fish are frequently 
caught at night, it is, indeed, a rare thing to catch even 
one during the day. 
I think there are two varieties or at least two sizes of 
smelts, and they do not school together ; for instance, you 
will often catch a dozen of an alm.ost even size, then the 
next lot will be of various sizes, which would almost 
lead one to think that schools of one size keep together. 
Then, again, in some of the large ones the nose will be 
thick and blunt, in others very much hooked. Again, 
in some small fish the tail has the appearance of having 
been burnt, and are called burnt tails. Why? Bucky 
Holmes and I have caught as high as 50 dozen in a day, 
using two rods each; another day three of us caught 70 
dozen, and I have known market fishermen to go almost 
100 dozen in a day. I do not touch on ice fishing, as 
some of your readers can undoubtedly do it a great deal 
better. Will some eastern smelters tell their little story? 
This is a part of mine. * Grip. 
Hotels for Sportsmen, 
Persons who are conducting hotels or camps in regions 
where there is good shooting or fishing should under- 
stand that the best way to make their places known to 
persons interested in these sports is by advertising in the 
Forest and Stream. Sportsmen have come to depend 
on the hotels which are advertised in Forest and Stream, 
and registered in its Information Bureau, and the hotel 
keepers who patronize these columns are unanimous in 
declaring that they receive most satisfactory returns for 
the moaey invested- 
