290 
FOREST AND • STREAM. 
[Oct. 13; 1900. 
Seventh Annwal Spartsmen's Show. 
The next Sportsmen's Show will open March 2, 1901, 
Madison Square Garden, New York city, under the 
auspices of the National Sportsmen's Association. We 
deem it advisable to make this early announcement in 
order to give ample time for preparation, both in the 
trade and among those who desire to arrange ; special at- 
tractive features, as many weeks and months of prepara- 
tion and careful study is necessary to arrange and com- 
plete many of the exhibits, and we have learned in the 
past through intending exhibitors that had they been ad- 
vised earlier in the season they would have mad? hand- 
somer exhibits or shown some especially attractive fea- 
ture. This not alone applies to exhibits of boats, launches 
and camps, but in collecting rare specimens of game birds 
and animals, also fish. 
The management having already received many in- 
quiries regarding the coming Sportsmen's Show, is assured 
and encouraged by the interest shown, and desires simply 
to announce the date of the opening of the show so as to 
give all intending exhibitors and those who may become 
interested timely notice. 
As soon as arrangements now under way are completed, 
further announcement will be made. 
J. A. H. Dressel, General Manager. 
Proprietors of fishing resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Stream, 
Odd Happenings by the Riverside. 
Recently looking over an old copy of a well known 
English sporting paper, I came upon some stories of 
"remarkable shots" made at various times at fur and 
feather, many of which, to the reader unused to days 
spent by "bracken and burn," would seem to partake 
too much of the Baron Munchausen element to warrant 
credence. But an experience gained in many outings 
teaches diiTerently. Old sportsmen know that very odd 
things do happen sometimes, not only in using shot and 
bullet at game, but with rod and line as well. Remark- 
able occurrences are not restricted by any means to the 
shooting field alone, and many a fisherman could tell 
of curious incidents by lake and riverside that came under 
his notice while practicing his gentle art. 
In this latter connectiqri, while I cannot lay claim 
to being able to relate anything very wonderful, perhaps 
a description of one or two singular exploits pertaining 
to the wielding of the rod may not prove uninteresting. 
For the possessor of a yacht, who is fond of fly-fishing, 
there is no more charming cruise than one day along the 
south coast of Nova Scotia in the months of May, June 
and July. Many fine salmon rivers and trout strearns 
empty into the different bays, on which good sport may 
be had, and it-^'as on one of these, called the West River 
at Sheet HarTlsir, that I had a peculiar battle with a 
salmon. 
This stream issues from a large lake not far from the 
sea, and falls over a series of ledges between which are 
good pools that fish ascending delight to rest in. I 
found, when I arrived at the mouth of the river on a 
bright afternoon in July — having made a most enjoyable 
voyage thither from Halifax in a trading schooner — that 
owing to heavy rains that had fallen previously the water 
was verj' high, and on looking over the first pool I saw 
to my astonishment salmon rising — not leaping with a 
splash, but just coming up to the surface, and display- 
ing part of the back and tail in the quietest manner imag- 
inable. T never witnessed such a thing before. I 
fancy they were on the move upwards, for no fly I could 
show them seemed to attract attention. 
Next morning, however, I was bright and early on the 
spot, and killed a nice salmon of twelve and a half 
pounds at the first pool on a silver-doctor, lost another 
at the second, after a ten minutes' fight, got a ten 
pounder at the third, and at the fourth hooked one in a 
very peculiar manner, and hereby hangs my tale; At 
the first or second cast at the place I rose a fish; but 
though he made a great profession of anxiety to seize 
it, he did not touch the fly. I rested him, and tried 3^ 
intervals several favorites, a Butcher, Kate, Fairy, an^ 
an Admiral (the latter fly is held in high esteeem on 
Nova Scotian rivers, and is made with pale olive pig's 
wool, body ribbed with gold tinsel, red game cock's 
hackle for legs, wings from owl's tail feather- — a sort 
of brownish creatn color — an<i antennse of two fibe'-i 
of blue and buff macaw). But it was no use. The sal- 
mon spurned them all with contempt. I was perplexed. 
T confess, but bj'^ no means inclined to give him up. A'', 
last finding flies useless I determined to try a phantom 
minnow, and removing mv fly attached the lure in its 
place. ' " "'^Wftm 
Casting well across the pool. I brought the miniature 
fish bv gentle jerks down to the spot where I thought. 
the other side of the river, among great rough boulders 
he went into the large pool below; but luckily did not, as 
I feared, cut the Ime, In this place I had plenty of 
sea room, as sailors term it, and smoother water, and a 
better chance altogether of dealing with my lively op- 
ponent. We fought the battle out bravely for half an 
hour perhaps. At times it seemed as if he was going 
to have everything his own way and continue Ins 
voyage to the sea, at others I managed to hold him well 
in check. But as the struggle went on I began to 
gradually get the upper hand, and drew him toward 
ine. Slowly he came, disputing every inch of the way, 
until at last I caught a glimpse of him, and was much 
surprised to see he was not so large a fish as the strain 
on the rod led nie to believe. But why, I W'ondered, was 
he coming tail first, and why had he never leaped once? 
The inystery was soon solved, however, on my gaffing 
and carrying him up the bank away fi-om the water — the 
latter a practice I have invariably adopted since ex- 
periencing the disappointment of seeing a salmon slip 
off my gaff and escape. I found that one only of the 
several hooks of the phantom minnow had held him, and 
this was imbedded beyond the barb in the tough skin 
of his side, about six or eight inches from the tail. 
Trying to reason out how this occurred I came to the 
conclusion that when the fish rushed at the lure he 
passed closely over it, attempting to strike it with his 
tail, and in turning to go down, accidentally fastened 
himself in the way I have described, He weighed only 
about ten pounds. 
I have killed many of the genus Salmo salar, but 
never before or since one that was hooked in any part 
of the body but the mouth. 
I had another singular experience, but of a different 
kind, on the Medway in Lunenburg county, one of the 
best rivers on the south shore of Nova Scotia. "Agita- 
ting the insect" one afternoon on a long swift piece of 
water, a little distance from the tideway, I fastened to 
a fine fresh run salmon, which at first seemed inclined 
to be very peaceable, and allowed me to draw him 
quietly up stream to where there was a capital place to 
manage him. Suddenly he appeared to become alive 
to his danger, and instituted a series of rushes that were 
fraught with hazard to the light gear I was using. Sha- 
king his head violently to get rid of the tether that held 
him. the salmon flung himself out of the water several 
times and then made a desperate race for the rapid below 
the pool. Down this he went, turning somersaults by the 
way, and taking out ,so much of my line I feared in a 
second or two it would be all run off the reel, and my 
chance of securing him gone. After one of these bounds 
in the air, however, to my great surprise he became quite 
passive, and beginning to reel in some of my line I found 
him strangely obedient to my persuasive efforts, and 
brought him back foot by foot up stream, turning over 
occasionally on his side and appearing quite done up. 
In a little time I had him gaffed and on terra firma, 
when I discovered that in his wild attempts to free him- 
self he had twisted the casting line three or four times 
roimd his head and nose, and knotting it in a hitch of 
his own invention had half suffocated himself, the 
water necessary for breathing not being able to enter the 
mouth and pass to the gills. 
One more incident and I have done. I remember a 
very well known salmon fisher in Halifax telling me of 
an odd thing he witnessed on the La Havre River, also 
in Lunenburg county. I must preface, however, by 
stating that the few Micmac Indians living on that 
stream have long ago abandoned the evil ways of their 
forefathers, and exchanged the torch and spear for rod 
and line in catching salmon. I do not say this reforma- 
tion was voluntary on their part, but rather I fancy 
because of the river warden's watchful eye, and the 
knowledge that a sojourn in Bridgewater jail awaited 
the offender if caught breaking the fishery laws. How- 
ever, suffice it to say that some of the Indians are now 
excellent fly fishermen, and have pretty .serviceable gear 
too. They tie most of their own flies, and though these 
cannot be said to rival Farlow's or Johnny Reid's finish, 
still they do their work very effectually. But to the 
story. My friend told me he was sitting one afternoon 
(like the biblical patriarchs of old) at the door of his 
tent, on the bank of the river, watching an Indian lad 
casting in a very workmanlike manner on the opposite 
shore. Presently the lad hooked a salmon, which with 
the customary rush and leap made for the middle of the 
stream, and then sped downwards at the best pace it 
■;vas capable of. The Indian's rod showed by its con- 
tracted curve he was putting the brakes on heavily, when 
suddenly it straightened in his hands-^the salmon was 
free. It had not only gone, but had taken with it the 
whole line (which my friend afterwards ascertained was 
of white whipcord), that had either been carelessly tied 
l^'o the reel or not fastened to it at all. The lad stood a 
moment as if cogitating what was to be done, then run- 
ning to where a canoe lay drawn up on the shore, placed 
his rod in it, pusfeed off, and in a jiffy was paddling 
down stream like mad in the direction the salmon had 
taken. When he got a certain distance down he stood 
up in the canoe and began peering this wav and that in 
|the water, and presently *he made a scoop with his paddle 
ANGLING NOTES. 
the fish was lying, and was fetching it up stream again 
with as life-like a motion as I could, when with a mighty ; and lifted uo his line, which being white he readily saw. 
rush and back out nf water he came at it, and waVS iNow mark the cunning of the redskin. As soon as he 
honked. And then there was a proper fuss. I do no/vj'^^'^ -'^^^ hands he caught uo his rod. and commenced 
■ ' ■■• „ . running the recovered line back through the rings from 
the tip to the reel, and reaching that tied it. no doubt 
securelj^ this time. Then leisurely the lad began to 
/ vifad up, and as good luck would have it. he found that 
the fish — which had stopped to rest as soon as the strain 
was taken off its mouth — was still attached. As soon as 
my friend became aware of this, he also jumoed into 
his canoe, delighted with the fellow's pluck and ingenuitv. 
and paddled to his assistance, and renewing the contest 
with the fish the lad was towed bv him to the shore, 
whfre. stennine' out. He shortly brouErht his victim to the 
ga^'^— a bright lusty fish of about thirty pounds. 
Doubtless. ■ many other true stories " might bf told of 
odd happenings with rod and line which, to fishermen 
at least, would be of interest. 
Nepos. 
think there viAs a sn.uare foot of that nool that the fish 
did not exnlore. Back and forth, hither and thither 
he darted, but never leaped once^ — a thing by the waj 
that struck me as beins: very strange. At length in 
spite nf all that I could do he made for the rapids at the 
tail of the pool, and thoueh I p-ave him the butt as stiffly 
as T dared T could not check him in the .slightest degree. 
Bv the heavy strain on my rod I took him to be an im- 
mensp fish. _ Down the rapid and into the next pool 
y,P rncliprl w'th lif^hteninff speed, nh,' reel singing merriV 
fls T Followed as fast as I was able throuo'h the water— 
for t-he trpps overhung the bank— barking my shins 
h?dlv, hv the same tnke-n. against^undry rocks in my 
htirrv. Here mv antaJTonist stopped about the middle, 
ai^d bpfnn to sulk. However. I succeeded in starting 
Viim snnn asrain bv rappinsr the metal ferru'e on the 
butt of thp rod with the blade of my sheath knife, anij 
then away he darted with a vengeance, this time making 
ri.erht across the pool, treating contemptuously my efforts 
to ?f,Qp Km. an^ over the fHrthfsf h'ttle fall from me, gn 
The FoRKST AND Strham is put to press each week on Tuesday, 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach -us s^t the 
iatist by Monday and ag much earlier as practicable. 
A New Walton, 
There is to be issued in London next winter a new 
edition of Izaak Walton, to be called "The Twentieth 
Century Edition." It will be edited by Mr. George A. B. 
Dewar, author of "Dry Fly Fishing," etc., and will be 
brought out in the best possible manner as to type, paper 
and illustrations, and will be sold in large paper for seven 
guineas — I believe. That Mr. Dewar is to edit the work 
is to give it a hall-mark of excellence that no one will' 
question. 
A Goose. 
The goose has been used to typify stupidity for so long 
a time that I, with others, no doubt, believe the goose to 
be about as stupid a bird as waddles, and yet all geese are 
not stupid, as I can testify. I was riding from Cold 
Spring Station on the Long Island R. R. to Cold Spring 
Harbor hatchery of the Forest, Fish and Game Commis- 
sion, with the veteran, Mr. Totten, who carries the mail 
and passengers to and from the railroad, when an enor- 
mous gander appeared in the road ahead of us with wings 
stretched out and head stretched up and hissing as though 
he would dispute our passage. The horses turned out, and 
for a moment I thought it might be a hold-up, but Mr. 
Totten smiled a superior smile and reached under the 
sea and produced an ear of corn, which he threw to the 
gander as toll, and then he explained to me, "I feed the 
old fellow when I pass, and he expects his corn as much 
as the horses expect their oats at feeding time." This 
has nothing to do with fish, but I feel compelled to pay a 
slight tribute to one particular goose that knows enough 
to recognize Mr. Totten and his team as they pass, for I 
noticed that he paid no attention to a team following us, 
Growth of Troot. 
Once a week on an average the year through some one 
asks me how big trout are at some age or another. Gen- 
erally the query relates to fingerling or yearling trout, for 
those have been the sizes most in demand from the 
hatcheries in the State of New York for planting in pub- 
lic waters. During a year I have occasion to examine a 
great many young trout, hundreds of thousands, more or 
less carefully, but if the general health of the fish is 
good and they are well nourished and free from disease, I 
have not been particularly interested to know just how 
long the fish are at a given age. Since the Forest Cora- 
mission of New York decided to rear no more yearling 
trout for distribution, but to confine its plantings to 
fingerlings and fry, the query as to size of fingerlings has 
been put more f reqiienth' than before. Fingerling trout may 
be from six to eight months of age. The distribution of 
fingerlings begins as a rule in September, when the 
largest of the year's hatching are sent out, for fish of the 
same age vary greatly in size, and as the larger fish are 
sorted out and planted, there is more room at the 
hatcheries for the smaller fish, and more opportunity for 
them to get a fair amount of the food placed in the rearing 
races. Within the past ten days I have visited three of the 
State hatcheries — Cold Spring Harbor, on Long Island; 
Caledonia, in Livingston county, and Pleasant Valley, 
near Bath, in Steuben county. 
At Cold Spring Harbor the men were sorting the brook 
trout into three sizes, all of the same age — about six and 
one-half months. In one dip of the scoop net I took from 
the race containing the larger fish perhaps a dozen 
trout, and the longest one that I spotted when placed 
beside a foot rule measured 6^4 inches from tip of nose to 
end of tail ; several were inches long, and nearly every 
one appeared to be 6 inches. There were 7,000 trout 
of the larger size already sorted, and I dipped the net at 
random into the bunch with the result I have given, but 
undoubtedly there were many in the lot that would not 
measure 6 inches. Of the smaller fish of the three sizes 
some would not measure 2 inches, though all were the 
same age. The stronger fish had secured the most food 
and in consequence had grown more rapidly than the 
weaker ones. After the sorting is completed — and there 
were over 100,000 to sort at that hatchery — the smaller 
trout will have a better chance and will grow more rapid- 
ly than before. 
At Caledonia I looked over 50,000 brook trout fingerling, 
dipping a few from one race after another, and I found 
one 6-inch trout, and only one. The largest other than 
the one were about 5 inches in length, but as at Cold 
Spring Harbor, they were all strong, deep, well-fed fish 
in splendid health. 
At Bath I did not discover a single 6-inch fish among the 
fingerlings, but 4 and 4^ inch fish were common enough, 
and all the fish I refer to were hatched last spring. The 
foreman from Caledonia Avent with me to I3ath, and I 
told the foremen that I did not think the yearling trout 
would be missed next spring by the applicants who got the 
fingerlings this fall. Of course, in wild waters the large 
and small trout must take their chances in the same 
water, for they cannot expect exemption from cannibalistic 
propensities once they are removed from the hatchery 
rearing races, where they are sorted as they grow ' to 
reduce cannibalism to the minimum by feeding plenty 
of liver and putting the small trout out of the reach of the 
larger ones. The largest yearling trout I ever measured 
was a brook trout at Cold Spring Harbor, and its extreme 
length was 10^ inches ; but g-inch 3'earlings are not 
uncommon at the same hatchery. Nor. by the same token, 
are 4-inch yearlings. With the same food trout will 
grow more rapidly in warm trout water than in cold trout 
water, for trout will not thrive in water above 68 de- 
grees, and they grow more slowly in water that is 45 de- 
grees than in water that is 55 or 60 degrees. There is no 
way of telling the age of a trout that has not been reared 
in confinement from the egg, and I have already mentioned 
the .great difference in the size of trout of the same 
age brought up bv hand at the hatcheries. 
Perhaps it wouM be as well right here to qualify the 
statement made above that the largest of the fingerlings 
are selected for early planting. To be strictly correct. I 
should have said of the fish to be planted in filling applica- 
tions the largest are sent out first when the sorting is 
completed. Before any distribution is m.ade of fingerlings 
a portion of them will be set aside for future breeding 
fish, and very naturally the largest an(^ strongest finge^- 
