Oct, aobf^ X9oa.| 
FOREST ANP STREAM. 
Bit 
building hatcheries and scouring, the country for auit&bie. 
water to enlarge th'e.output of fi^ atid incr«A$e the nuin- . 
her of fingerling troiit t? be. turned out alt for the pitrpose 
of renewing the stock in public waters, and always the 
cry is "More, more." 
I have already had my f^ing at the people who catch 
the yearling fish turned out from the State hatch^eries 
before they have had time to get the taste of liver; ^ut of 
their- flesh, and apparently there is no way to stop'it asj 
long as the legal limit of length is 6 inches and the trout' 
will insist upon growing to more than 6 inches in length 
before they leave the hatchery rearing races. I have^al-. 
ways advocated that a limit be placed upon the num^r 
of trout, or, rather, pounds of trout, that can be lega'Uy i 
taken in one day, and something of this kind should; b^ 
done. In Vermont the legal limit of length was 5 inches 
when last I fished there, and I presume it is yet, arid if 
Newt.York should attempt to increase the legal length 
above 6 inches I expect the. measure would be defeat^ed; 
but what objection can be urged to restricting the mtm- 
ber; .or weight of trout to be legally taken in one day? 
We now have a restriction of this kind in black bass 
fishing, and the trout need a safeguard of this sort quite 
as much as the black bass, and Forest and Stkeam 
is the place to discuss what it shall be. 
Artificial Baits. 
A correspondent asks Forest and Stream the follibw- 
ing question: "Please inform me whether there are.any 
authenticated instances of fishermen catching fish with 
what is known as artificial bait in its varieties of frog, 
worm, helgramite, grasshopper, crawfish, etCi, and what: 
fish are supposed to bite at this class of bait." ; • . 
There are plenty of authenticated cases of black' biiss 
biting the artificial baits mentioned, and I presume there 
are of trout, for trout will bite a metal spodn ; but while 
a real crawfish, grasshopper or frog may be impaled tlpoii 
a hook and cast into the water and allowed to remain as 
stationary as circumstances will permit for the fish- to 
inspect carefully or otherwise before they seize it, hot 
so with the artificial bait. To lure with the arti&cial 
frog' it should be kept in motion by casting or drawing 
against the current, and the 'same is true of other baits. 
So far as , the form of the artificial bait is concerned, I 
imagine a black' bass would take an artificial door knob 
of rubber with hooks concealed in it quite as quickly as 
an artificial helgramite, if it is made by motion to simti- 
late life, for it is not so much the thing itself which at- 
tracts as it is the appearance of being alive. There is an 
authenticated case of a fish seizing a man's nose' as he 
peered over the side of a boat into the watet^,- and there 
is no ktiGwn bait which resembles a man's" nose, and it 
was undoubtedly the movement 5f the nose which led to 
its being sore after the fish nailed" it • 
D^.'Johm' D. Q'uatkenbtjs has kindly sent to fiiie^the' 
follo\'^ing letter on the subject of hybrid fishes from' the 
Howietoun Fishery, Stirling',' Sd^tMnd: • ' 
'.'We beg to acknowledge receipt of your most inter- 
esting letter in which -you ask specially as to our ex- 
periments with hytirlds.i^ Most' of 'these had hd^'praietical 
results, and since Dr. Day's death no fresh ones have 
been made. The only hybrids or crosses now at the 
fishery are the zebras, which are friade by meeting the' 
ova of Loch Leyen or Fario trout with fontinalis char. 
The progeny are finely, marked,: hence their name, but 
are very irregular in size, and subject , to deformation. 
We have a few ten-year-old fish up tb 4 or 5 pounds in 
weight, but they are quite barren. We have also the 
cross' between the 5". levenensis and S. salar. In the. first 
cross there vyas a heavy loss in percentage of ova in 
hatGning. The oyi^ of the brood was again melted by 
S. levenensis, which rh'ade three--quaiters trout and bne- 
qUarter salmon. The ova of this lot was' again im- 
prcgriated' by S. levenensis, and this is the seven-eighths 
tvoui and one-eighth salmon mentioned in our price list. 
There is not much perceptible difference between .them 
and levenensis, only they are a little thicker afid' stronger 
on/the whole, and in individual fish you can stiir trace 
some markings of Salmo salar. The late Sir James 
Ma.itland, the founder of the fishery, whose death; was 
a great loss both to the fishery and to a muchiwfder' 
circle, took a keen interest in this cross. One can 
scarcely call them hybrids, as they are perfectly fertile. 
* * * 'There is no doubt that the introduction of 
fresh , blood is often beneficial, but the important: .point 
is to rtake sure that the new blood is from, mature 
parents and from a stock as good as or better than the 
native stock anii of the same family. Dr. Day says: 
'By judicious selection of breeders, races may be-' im- 
proved. The reverse is quite as true, that by 'an in- 
judicious crossing of breeders, races may and will be 
degenerated..' ". 
Zebra trout were bred at Ringwood, N. J., the^'estate 
of Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, and turned into the streams 
annuajly with no idea of their reproducing. They were 
a cross betw^een the fario. brown trout, and fontinalis, 
our native brook trout. Mr. Edward Hewitt was' of the 
opinion that they were earlier fish than the native trout, 
or than the brown trout, but I was not impressed with 
them, for T imagine I abhor a mule as much as nature 
abhors a vacuum. Ringwood is the only place that I 
have ever caught them, and perhaps the only place where 
they were bred in this country. I say were bred, for 
.they are bred there no longer. They are handsome fish 
for those who like zebras, and, surely they do take the 
fly and fight above the water more than our -native 
trout; but when they have had all the praise possible for 
beauty and grace of movement, they are mules, and 
either parent is a better fish. Such crossings are well 
enough, for scientists and experimenters, but the prac- 
tical fish, .breeder should steer clear of mules.^ as they 
are of no .use irx his .business. The State of New; York 
once -went. ejctensiyelj' /into the mule; business-'at-one of 
the fish- hatch erreSi arid \yhen the stock of fish were bred 
to- be ringed, striped and speckled, ■with marks of tine 
.short horn, .Devon. Berkshire, Chester, white and Irish 
terriers, a merciful Providence intervened and destroyed 
the whole blooming . outfit. Now the people get what 
they ha-\'e a: right to expect, straight good?., without a 
taiiit of cross or anj' other monkey work. Nature is not 
in . the, .mule .husi^ess; it I's vnzT\ whfi respcmsible for 
hybrids. There is f r^ph blood enough to be obtained 
from the same species of fish Without going into col- 
lateral branches just to see how much the family can 
be mixed up and live. 
Trout Fry and Trout Fingerlings. 
On several occasions during the past few years I -have 
referred to a statement tnade by the late Col. McDonald 
on the subject of itrout fry and fingerlings at the time 
he was Commissioner f)f (Fisheries of the United States. 
T have as a rule been obliged to give the substance of 
his statement, as I' had not his letter at hand, but re- 
cently I ha'V'e been asked to give his exact language, and 
this I am noW able to do, fqr aftei* considerable search I 
. have found his letter, which was^. written to me on "March 
26, iSgz! This is the exttact: 
'Tf he chooses to attack the policy of planting yearling 
fish it will simply stamp him as unprogressive arid past 
his period of iisefulness. : The desirability of planting 
yearlings instead of fry has been recognized every- 
where, particularly abroad. In, France and Spain several 
of the establishments have for several years been en- 
gaged in rearing their fry before turning them out. In' 
changing from fry to yearlings in our work I have 
only followed the indications of advantage which were 
apparent to me from the reports and experiences of 
others, and from similar experiences of the advantage 
which I had arrived at by actual test of the matter. 'The' 
question of the cost seems to be the only material one 
entering in; but if 100.000 fry canjje reared to yearlings 
at a less cost than 1.000,000 fry can be collected, hatched 
and distributed, then there is no question but that the 
results in the first case will be vastly in advance of those 
obtained in the second. My judgment is that 1,060 
yearling fish is the equivalent of 100,000 fry, when planted 
in waters frequented by small predaceous fish, such as 
blobs, darters and small perch, which are found almost 
universally .in. our streaftis. And certainly it will cost 
much less, 'SI! owing "the; largest "tneasurc of expenditu.rc' 
for it, to hatch and rear 1,000 trout than it will to hatch 
and plant 100,000 fry. 
"Under advantageous circumstances the cost of rearing 
is surprisingly small. I think I mentioned to you before 
that we reared last year at the Green Lake station, Maiiie, 
in an iltiprovised hatchery 140,000 landlocked salmon at 
a cost of about $1,100. This is an exceptionally favorable 
case, but it illustrates what may be accomplished when 
prudent, conservative and economical administration is 
enforced." 
Thii - letter frorh- w^hich I have quoted was written 
eight years ago, and within that time the cost of rearing 
fingerling fish has been reduced. I say fingerling fish, 
for fingerling fish under favorable conditions may be 
7 inches long, which is as long as the average yearling 
trout. For instance, at one of the New York hatching 
stations suckers are netted and ground in a meat chop^ 
per and fed to the young fish, and this form of food costs 
only the time of the men who do the nettisg and the 
grinding, and ' the wear and tear of nets. Liver and 
lights cost 2^ to 3 : cents per thousand. Admitting 
the superioritj' of ye'arling fish for planting, it is not 
possible to rear all the fish hatched by State or Natioiial 
commissions to the age of fingerlings or yearlings, arid 
when from force of circumstances fry must be planted 
this .planting will be made more effective if they are 
planted in small rivulets, as I have already indicated in 
a former note, than 'if planted in the m'airi stream, to fall 
a prey to their numerous enemies — more numerous in the 
big waters than in the small waters. 
Fish Propagated by State of New York, ' 
While writing the preceding note, it occurred to me 
that it might be of interest if I made a iist of the fisheS; 
hatched by the State of New York, for many who ask 
for fish are not well informed, upon the subject. First, of 
the salmon family, there are hatched at the different hatch- 
ing stations: " " ■ 
Brook trout — 'Fall spawning. 
Brown trout — Fall spawning. 
Lake trOut — Fall spawning. ; 
Landlocked salmon — Fall spawning. 
Sea salmon — Fall spawning. 
Rainbow trout — Spring spawning. 
Red throat trout — Spring spawning. 
Steelhead trout- — Spring spawning. e. 
Last year no sea salmon were hatched, but fo'' :''early 
twenty years before they have been hatched, but <xi wayS' 
from eggs fihmished by the United States- Fish Com- 
mission. All the fishes named are reared at the stations 
(most of them are kept in the stock ponds), and planted 
as fry or fingerlings. ' 
Other fishes hatched artificially are: 
■ Mascalonge — Spring spawningi 
Pike-perch — Spring spawning. 
Shad— Spring spawning. < 
Lobsters — Spring spawning. 
Smelts — Spring spawning. 
Whitefish — Fall spawning. ' 
. Frostfish (round whitefish) — Fall .spawriirtg. 
Tomcods — Fall spawning. 
Lake herring — Fall spawning. 
All of these are planted as fry soon after they are 
hatched. ; •^'> 
Black bass, large and 'fetftall mouth ; yellow perch, bull- 
heads, white bass, pike arid pickerel are at times dis- 
tributed, but are captured as fry or adults and shipped. 
The State has hatched yellow perch, sea trout. Sunapee 
trout, etc., and may do so again if the occasion should 
arise for so doing. 
Because the State rears trout t6 fingerlings and has 
reared them to yearlings before planting it is quite com- 
mori . for applicants to ask for fingerling pike-perch and 
fingerling or yearling other .fi.sh. Almost as soon as the 
pike-perch begin to swim after they are hatched they 
begin to' eat one another. ' The large-mouth black bass 
are gathered as fry and shipped at once, and they eat 
one another in the cans on the train. 
Last spring a fishing club tried the experiment pf pre- 
paring a pond to rear mascalonge fry to fingerlings before 
liberating them, and the State furnished 200000 masca- 
longe fry to further the experiment. A few days ago the 
pond was drawn down to secure the fingerlings? to tr^nsfe|^ 
them to their future home, and of the 200,000 fry, but 
two fingerlings remained. I note that the experimenters 
do not quite know how- to explain the shrinkage but I-fj 
would have been satisfied with the explanation if they"';' 
had said that each of the two survivors had eaten the 
remainder of the 100,000 fry after they had compounded 
on one another by a "union or mixttire of elements." 
Young lobsters also eat one another as soon as they are i's 
hatched, and it is wonderful how fast they grow on a'^ 
lobster diet. At: times trout will try to do the sanie'^^'« 
thing when they are scarcely an inch in length, arid 't/'' 
have seen them with the jaw of one in the mouth of th^^^t 
other. Then, too, they will bite the tails of one anothet-- 
and cause fungus to form and destroy the bitten fry, but;' 
in this respect they do not offend to the degree that the-' 
black bass arid pike-perch do, and therefore the pike-percfc: • 
are planted as soon as the yolk sac is absorbed, and troufe'i" 
are reared and well fed and sorted to prevent, as far asli 
possible, cannibalism among them. Put two trout of..j 
same size together in an aquarium and give them no'x 
food and one will try to eat the other, and from this one.: 
can imagine what would happen to small trout among big/ 
ones if all were not well fed. A. N. Cheney. '■■ 
My First Tuna. 
It will be many years ere I forget my first introductiom 
to the tuna — that stubborn, savage fight&r, game to the last^] 
dying rush, a terror to the tyro angler, and oftentimes, in-"i 
deed, not to be conquered even by the most experienced,!' 
fisherman. • ii 
One beautiful afternoon when sea, sky and motmtains* 
were glorious with the varying tints which seem peculiar 
to Santa Catalina, I started forth with my cousin, B., in 
the launch Mildred, owned and handled by Harry Elms, of. 
Avalon— -and what Harry doesn't know about the game fish 
of Catalina waters, also handling and gaffing the same, 
when the right time comes, let some one else try and find- 
out. For a while we trolled for yellowtail, and when oflE? 
the Seal Rocks the keen eyes of Harry discovered signs of; 
tuna off shore. The launch was headed toward them, an^' 
B., reeling in his line, rigged a tuna rod, and as we hade 
no flyingfish, the usual bait, we used a large smelt instead', 
and the lure was .soon trolling some 150 feet astern. I 
retained my yellovytail rig, but .shortened the line that 1= 
might reel in more quickly and be out of the way shooildr' 
B. get a strike. Suddenly 1 was startled by the screech,"" 
of B.'s reel, and almost instantaneously my rod was nearly 
jerked from my hands, and to the music of my screaming: 
reel the line fairly smoked, when I put on the leather 
brake, endeavoring to check the first mad rush of the fish. " 
H. jumped to his engine and reversed, that we might gain 
line. In a few minutes the two fish crossed, 'and we were 
therefore, obliged to change places and pass our rods ov^r 
or under to prevent a bad tangle up of lines; and as the 
fish towed us out to rough water, we both realized that we 
had trouble ahead. After our repeated changes of posi7' 
tion back and forth, which in the heavy sea proved to be' 
anything but an easy matter, both fish sotmded deeply ahd 
kept up a powerful strain upon the rod. Foot by foot' 
we "pumped" the fish nearer the surface by slowly raising 
the rod by main strength then gathering in the slack- Unp 
by lowering the tip and reeling quickly in. Several tirriesS 
all the gain was lost by the fish, making a savage rush:-" 
Then the pumping was resumed. After one and one-hal| '' 
hours from the strike B.'s fish gradually weakened irltit 
Was carefully reeled in and cleverly gaffed by Harry. Tfie 
\\'eight was 96 pounds, and B. laid down his rod with' a- 
sigh of relief and rubbed his benumbed fingers and aehifig 
muscles. . . 1 
. .• At this time my fish seemed to be as fresh as eVei?;' 
With my light rod I was able to raise the fish but very 
little at a time, and the savage rushes proved to be too 
much for muscles unused to such a strain. Another hour- 
passed, and as we .slowly steamed along, the fish steadily 
kept with us, bearing heavily on the line, keeping it tense 
as a harp string. Purple shadows slowly crept over the 
sea, and up the sides of the mountains, whose tops still 
refiected the gorgeous hues of the setting sun. Weaf-ily 
dragged another hour. and. yet the fish showed but slight 
signs of weaken-ng. Slowly and rhj'thmically came the 
long, deep pulsations of the Pacific, its surface now uii- 
ruffied and reflecting the last pale tints of sunset. Night 
coming on, I made one more effort, but my overwbrke'd 
fingers refused to work the reel handle, and I found it 
impossible to use the leather brake with sufficient force, 
and so after a four hours' stcuggle I was reluctantly corfi- 
pelled to hand over the rod to B., for I was coriiplete|y 
used up and well beaten by my first tuna. B.. who . was 
now well rested, brought the fish to gaff. Weigh.f 162 
pounds. Thus I lost my first chance for the coyete.d 
button of the Tuna Club, the rulps of the c^ub requiring 
the fish to be brought to gaff unaided. ' ■ 
The following three weeks will no doubt be long; re- 
^membered by all anglers in Avalon, All previous rec'brds 
as to number of fish taken were broken. WonderfuV iti- 
deed to witness were the spectacular le-aps of the tuna,' as 
they rushed in great schools after mackerel and flyings 
fish, and lashed the water into sheets of foam. Nearly 
every man, woman and child became temporarily tuna 
mad. During the day many eyes carefully scanned the 
sea, and when a boat was discovered headed for Avari>n. 
the tuna flag proudly fluttering in the breeze, great wis 
the rush to the beach to greet the victorious angler and to' 
sec the beautiful fish, glowing with tints of copDer. silver 
and purple, brought ashore .and weighed afnid niariy 
guesses as to the weight. Should the fish prove to fse the 
angler's first button fish, hearty were the cortgratulat'OOs 
of admiring friends, and the ever-present photograoher 
posed his subject with boatman and fish, and secured an 
indisputable proof of success for the del'ghted angler to 
' send to his doubting frierid«. On the Other hand, ri^any 
tales of woe and disaster were told by the rettirning fi'^her- 
man — lines parted, rods smashed, reels wrecked, fingers 
jammed, knuckles skinned ; and as a rule the larffest fish 
of all, lo'^t just at the critical moment. The ladies' also 
entered heartily into the spirit of the sport and keot an 
eager eye upon the launch in' which their lords and riiasters 
cruised up and down following the feed'rig fish.' and Aviien 
. the launch stopped, reversed arid soon slowly pursued a 
varj'ing course., then, it Was known that the fight had 
-cornmericed/ The ..ap{re^raj\c^ of 'fhf^ flag fltmg'^q 
