350 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 3, igoo. 
leaked out, as all such things will, and a couple of days 
later some unfeeling wretch caused the following to ap- 
pear in the paper: "Here is a revised and corrected ver- 
sion of the storv of the man who went from here up the 
M. & K. railroad last Friday and killed a 20_-poiind ^yild 
turkey with his new gun. After demonstrating to him- 
self clearly that he was going to get skunked, be went to 
a farmer, paid the farmer one dollar for a turkey, took 
it out to shoot it to make it look more gamy, and after 
firing five shots succeeded in bagging it. After paying 
twent3''-five cents for his dinner, he was ready to come 
home loaded with turkej- and glory: any one having the 
required $1.25, plus railroad fare and the new gun. can 
have the same exciting experience." 
Pittsburg, Pa. and the thickly populated country be- 
tween here and there, send oitt an army of hunters in 
everj'- direction, and it is Avith diflicultj'- that they are 
kept from hunting in West Virginia mountains without 
a license. Emer.son Carney. 
J. W. Y. S. and His Moose. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Your correspondent J. W. Y. S., in issue of Oct. 27, 
1900, ought also to be prosecuted. The open season for 
moose killing in the Province of Quebec is Oct. i. In 
Ontario — ^this year first time in ten years— Nov. i, for 
fifteen days; then closed for three years. What right has 
J. W. Y. S. to kill moose in September? 
One Who Has Been in C.a.nada. 
[One Who Has Been in Canada is mistaken in his dates. 
The Quebec moose season opens Sept. i.] 
A New Bfunswicfc Hunt. 
Westerly, R. I., Oct. 22. — Dr. R. B. Smith, of Westerly, 
and myself have returned from a hunting trip to the 
headwaters of Mill Stream and Bartibogue River. New 
Brunswick via Newcastle. We encountered rain and 
•flood, but secured one fine bull moose with a spread of 
50 inches, and two caribou. The guides were Jack Con- 
nell and Jim Way. C. W. Willaud. 
Spoftsmen^s Map of Maine. 
Elsewhere will be found an advertisement of a sports- 
men's map of Maine, which covers the hunting country 
and will be found extremely usefttl by those who propose 
visiting that State for game. 
DON'T SHOOT 
Until you see your game, and 
see that it is game and 
not a man. 
fm mid ^iv^r f^isf(ing. 
Proprietors of fishing resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Stream. 
Winninish in New Hampshire. 
Charlestovvn, N. H., Oct. 24. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Last week's Forest and Stream had a sad 
opening, with the announcement of the death of both 
Rowland E. Robinson and Richard L. Ogden, and your 
most appropriate notices of both of them leave little 
to be said. They will be sadly missed and mourned by 
these of us who, like myself, have known them through 
your columns for a quarter of a century, and they leave 
a void not easily to be filled. 'Todgers' Commentaries" 
would seem worth preserving in book form, and the 
writings of Mr. Robinson have, I think, taken an es- 
tabUshed place in the literature of New England. Speak- 
ing from the standpoint of a septuagenarian myself, I 
think that no one has so faithfully portrayed the manners, 
customs, dialect and character of rural New England 
fifty years ago as has Mr. Robinson, and I predict a 
long survival of his artistic portraits — for portraits they 
are of originals whom many of us have seen. The 
shrewd and terse Uncle Lisha. the garrulous Antoine, the 
verbose Solon Briggs and the undecided Joseph Hill 
are familiar to all of us, and I have known two men 
who might have sat for the picture of Sam Lovel. 
Some of your bright news contributors enlivened tlie 
number before its close, and the sketches of Lewis Hop- 
Ivins and Fayette Durlin show that there are good re- 
cruits to fill the ranks as the remorseless Reaper cuts 
down the old "front files." 
To change the subject, I have been endeavoring for 
some time to ascertain the results of the planting of 
winninish in the New Hamoshire lakes, and have got 
at this much information. The salmon trout reported 
in the Boston Herald were not salmon at all. but merely 
some of the large 2 or 3 pound trout which have always 
been taken in the upper lake, or Little Diamond, but 
never in the lower one. They are not only much larger 
than anj'' fish taken in the lower lake, which rarely ex- 
ceed pound, but the flesh is lighter colored, and has 
not the "beefsteak red" of the trout from the lower 
lake, of which I have taken many, but they are the 
genuine salvelinvs after all. and nothing else. To 
account for these differences in the trout- of the two 
lakes, with* a short, open water connection. I' am unable. 
My friend Commissioner Wentworth writes me on the 
subject: "T don't believe there are anv fwininishl in 
Diamond Ponds. I have been to them for the last eight 
years and have never seen one. I have heard Commis- 
sioner Shurtfelt say he once saw a small one taken there. 
"There are salmon to-day in Connecticut lakes. Mas- 
cnnia Lake, North Pond, in Stark (or Lnke Christine); 
Silver Lake, in Madison ; Stinsons Pond. Winni- 
oesaukee Lake. Squam Lake. Winnesquam Lake. 
Pjin'HoI? PoiTicl, NeiiviQUTlt^ I-i^l^? and Pleasant Pnn4. m 
New London. They have been put in Lake Mapabesie 
and Long Pond, in Concord, but none has yet been 
taken in these last two. In fact, Connecticut Lake, New- 
found Lake, Dan Hole and Pleasant Ponds give the best 
results so far." 
I have always believed that the presence of bass in 
Sunapee Lake has been one cause why it has not 
yielded more salmon, but it may be due to the saibling, 
which have appeared and multiplied since the salmon 
were introduced, and which may have considered them 
a food supply. Von W. 
casionally. This species is strong and active, and is 
blessed with a voracious appetite, 
I have never known of a horse mackerel being taken, 
with a rod or reel, but it is not difficult to imagine the. 
fight one might have to bring to gaff a 75-pounder of this- 
species, with the strength of a steam tug in his fins and 
tail. I certainly hope some one will try his skill with 
the horse mackered in the near future. 
J. W. CoLr,iNS. 
The Pollock as an Angler's Fish. 
For many years I have been impressed with the belief 
that angling for large sea pollock had in it possibilities 
uf sport that only had to be understood to be appreciated. 
Indeed, knowing the pollock as I do, and being aware 
of the fact that during the summer it can be found in 
abundance off the coast of Massachusetts near the sur- 
face of the sea, it has been a matter of wonder to me that 
it has so long been overlooked by the angler, and espe- 
cially by the sportsman who longs for a close ac- 
quaintance with a large, free-biting, gamy fish that can 
be found in such numbers as to give the most eager 
fisherman all the sport he wants. One may well be in 
doubt if this apparent oversight is due to lack of 
knowledge of the game qualities of the pollock, of un- 
familiarity with its habitat, or because angling for it in 
the orthodox way with rod and reel has been neglected 
and therefore has not become popular. 
The fact, too, that the pollock is to be had in abun- 
dance in the proper place and season might be thought 
to create an indift'erence toward it were it not for the fact 
that what is true of it in this particular is also true of 
the bluefish, weakfish and many other species that are 
eagerly sought by anglers, and few of wdiich can give the 
autual sport that may be obtained in pollock fishing. 
The following account of angling for pollock is ex- 
tracted from a letter addressed to the writer by Hon. 
E. D. Buffington,- who, as is well known, has been a de- 
voted disciple of Walton for many years, and has fished 
for both sea and fresh-water species from Florida to 
Canada: 
"It was my good fortune to spend a part of last 
August and September at the village of Annisquam, on 
Cape Ann. Being fond of fishing, I inquired of the fish- 
ermen what could best be done in that locality. I was 
advised to go pollock fishing in Ipswich Bay. And as I 
had had some experience of that kind before. I made 
arrangements to start at 5:30 the next morning. 
"In the evening I looked over my tackle and selected 
a new Cuttyhunk line. No. 4-0 Virginia hooks, several 
small lead sinkers and a good tarpon rod and reel, the 
rod strong enough to lift about 8 pounds, dead weight. 
With this equipment, the appointed hour found us in a 
large sailing dory, running slowl}^ out of the harbor, 
with a gentle breeze about abeam. When about a mile or 
so outside of the lighthouse the boatman suggested that 
we put our lines out. 
"Both of us had a drail very •jnueh like those used lor 
bluefish, but without the eel skin. 
"I had let out 75 or 100 feet of line, when there came 
a fierce tug, that would have done credit to a 25-pound 
salmon, and the way that fish darted to the right and left 
was something I was wholly unprepared for. For the 
first five minutes all I could do was to hold on. I asked 
the boatman to bring the boat into the wind, which he 
did at once, and after ten or fifteen minutes of as livelj^ 
work as I ever had with a fish I landed a 15-pound 
pollock. This was repeated with variations until wc h^.d 
seventeen pollock in the boat, which weighed very nearly 
200' pounds. They then disappeared, or 'went to the 
bottom,' as the man said. 
"I then took in my drail'and put on my small hook and 
sinker. Bottom was found at about 75 feet depth. I 
soon was at work again, and found it quite as much 
Sport to handle a 10 or 15 pound pollock in 75 feet of 
water, and get him alongside of the boat, as trolling. 
Occasionally we got a cod, haddock, hake or dogfish. 
But more than half the fish we caught were pollock. 
When we started for- harbor at 3 P. M. we had thirty- 
eight pollock, which weighed nearly 400 pounds, and at 
least two-thirds of them were caught with a rod and 
reel. It was fine sport, but I had had enough for one 
d'dy. The day's fishing fully convinced me that a pol- 
lock is as strong as or even stronger than a bluefish of the 
same size. While its runs are not as long as those of a 
sea bass they are much quicker, and it does not give up 
nearly so soon. A salmon is perhaps quicker and does 
more surface work than a pollock, much resembling 
a tarpon in that respect. A weakfish is generally com- 
paratively logy. A kingfish gives up much easier; the 
tautog and grouper stick to the bottom and root, while 
the red snapper is sinular to a sea bass. The only fish 
which has the strength, gaminess and staying qualities 
of a pollock is the 'jack' or 'cavally' of the South. 
"Of course circumstances may vary, but taking it all 
in all, I think if one wants sport and_^ cannot own a 
salmon river, he will do well to go to Cape Ann when 
pollock are running, and if he don't have all the sport he 
v/ants he must be hard to satisfy. Indeed, when pollock 
are feeding one gets no chance to wait, for the fish are 
on in most cases within 75 feet of the boat and before 
the line has run out." 
The satisfactory experience in pollock fishing related 
by Mr. Buffington will, it is hoped^ prove helpful in a 
suggestive way to many who love the "gentle art." but 
who do not "own a salmon river" in Canada, though 
they may be perhaps able to get out where they can hear 
the click of a reel or see the curve of a straining rod, 
while the humming line has at its outer end a powerful 
'pollock that tugs and rushes to free itself from the 
cruel hook fastened in its jaw. But, while rod and reel 
as well as trolling line may become well known hereafter 
on the pollock grounds, attention may be directed to 
angling possibilities in another direction that may rival 
the famed tarpon fishing of Florida. 
It is a well-known fact that for weeks in summer Cape 
Cod Bay is frequented by the horse mackerel or tuny 
(Orcynus thynnus), -which is often abundant. Those taken 
in the pound nets usually range in weight frorti 30 to 100 
pounds, though much l?irger individuals a.re caught 09- 
ANGLING NOTES. 
"The Big Four." 
The last time that I was at home I received a letter 
from Mr. George E. Hart, of Waterbury, Conn., in which 
he told me of his visit to the Triton Club in Canada on 
his annual vacation for trout fishing in those favored 
waters. Incidentally he mentioned that he was sending 
me with his letter a photograph of himself and others 
that had been taken in Quebec on his return from the 
club. Fie did not say who the others were, and as the 
photograph did not arrive Avith the letter, I did not 
know. This evening when I again returned home the 
photograph was in nly mail on my desk, and I found it 
to be of four personal friends — Mr. Walter M. Brackett, 
of Boston, who paints salmon as no other man can; Mr. 
E. T. D. Chambers, author of "The Ouananichc and Its 
Canadian Environment" ; Mr. L. Z. Joncas, Superin- 
tendent of Fisheries of the Province of Quebec, and Mr. 
Hart. The likeness of each is good, and it would be like 
finding money in a letter it one could get a bet on to bet 
that when the picture was taken the air was burdened 
with conversation about fish and fishing, or perhaps I 
should say fishing and fish. From the expressions of the 
four faces one could assume that Joncas was in a hole, for 
he is very thoughtful, and Brackett looks as though he 
might have asked him why his Government had put up 
the annual rental of his salmon river fifty dollars a year. 
Hart may have asked why American anglers who are 
members of Canadian clubs have to take out a license for 
guests that they take over the line to fish in club waters, 
and Chambers as a newspaper man is watching Joncas - 
for his reply, that he may telegraph it to the New York 
Sun. and write me about it so I can give it to Forkst and 
Stre.\m. AnyAvay, the three men are looking at Joncas^ 
as though they had asked him something that had tnade 
him thoughtful and it was up to him to explain or reply, 
or say something. 
Salmon in Salmon River. 
Under date of Oct. 17 Flon. T. M. Costello, of AHmar, 
N. Y., writes me as follows : 
"The salmon are back in the river at Pitlaski trying 
to get over the dams. I was at Port Ontario yesterday 
and the fishermen told me the river was full of them. 
One was found dead that weighed 14 pounds. It was 
killed by a "lamper eel.' Nothing has been done to the 
fishways, as the river is up and the water is cold, and I 
doubt if the ways will be erected this year." 
First, as to the fishways. When the matter came 
into the hands of the Forest, Fish and Game Commission 
the United States Fish Commission Avas applied to for the 
services of the engineer, Mr. Von Boyer, who improved 
the Cail system of fishway, to visit Salmon River and pre- 
pare fishAvay places. There Avas no time lost over this 
matter. Mr. Von Boyer did A'isit the river and prepared 
the plans, and Avhen received, the plans Avcre submitted to 
contractors after the State Engineer had furnished esti-" 
mates of materials. When a bid was received that was 
within the engineer's estimates, the contract was let. 
notice being given by ware, not even Avaiting for the 
contract to be drawn by the Attorney-General. The bid- 
der ordered the materials, but the river came up suddenly, 
as he said, at a most unusual time, and work Avas stopped, 
and that is all there is to it. The Commission could not let 
tlie contract until plans Avere prepared and it was kttOAVn 
that the Avork could be done within the appropriation. 
Second, the appearance of the salmon so late in the 
season, if this is to be taken as the time that they regularly 
appear in the river — and I understand tliat they have 
returned about the same time each year that they have 
appeared since the plants of fry Avere made- — would indi- 
cate that if the sti-eam is successfully restocked it 
Avould furnish very little rod fishing. Mr. Costello has 
fixed the time for the salmon to return as "about Oct. 12." 
Now the question is, Avill salmon rise to the fly at all when 
they are so late in arriving in the river? — for they have 
probably been in fresh water since May or June, perhaps 
leisurely making their way up the St. LaAvrencc and 
through the lake to the river's mouth. The present open 
season for salmon in NeAV York is from March i to Aug. 
15, and Avhen Salmon River is provided Avith fisliAvays 
and the salmon ascend the stream, to take them legally in 
any manner the season will have to be changed. In Scot- 
land there is an open fishing season for salmon in October, 
and fish are then killed with fly in that month, but they are 
fish that run in on the fall freshets from the sea, and as 
yet Ave do not knoAV just Avhen the Salmon River fish did 
leave salt Avater, or Avhcther or not they will take the fly 
at all. 
If the dead salmon — I say if the dead salmon — was 
killed by a lake lamprey it must have been loafing sg^ne- 
Avhere in fresh Avater. but from what I gleaned at Pulaski 
about the reception the salm.on received last year I ques- 
tion if they need be so much i:i fear of "lamper eels" as of 
other things wielded by man. 
Of course it is most encouraging to have the salmon 
come back to the river, even though they come so late 
in the season as to preclude rod fishing after they re- 
turn. Up to this time I have been unable to learn any- 
thing about the movements of salmon in Salmon River 
Avhen the fish frequented the river early in this century 
and up to the times the nets, spears_ and "lamper eels" 
destroyed them, so that none came back at all until fresh 
plants were made of fish artificially hatched and brought 
from other Avaters. The salmon have probably spaAvned 
in the river since the first plants were made, and with such 
aid as the United States Fish Commission will render by 
furnishing more fry from the Penobscot for planting 
Salmon River seems in a fair Avay to be again considered 
a salmon stream, but who will tell us about its former 
conditions, when salmon were regular visitors to it? 
