Feb. 2, tgoi;] 
91 
has a house full of guns, all kinds of guns for all kinds 
of shooting, and for all that I know he may have cannons 
in the cellar; and then he has dogs, and electric lights 
in the kennel so he can go out and see them in the 
night, and count them to see if any have escaped, and 
he knows the pedigree of every pointer from champion 
to H. C. that has been benched in ten years, and the 
next thing I know he will write me that he has killed a 
record fish of some sort or another on a 4-ounce rod. 
Now I am prepared for anything, although I have hither- 
to supposed if either of these brothers should even think 
of going fishing that all the fish would take to the brush 
and the hilltops. It is just possible that a good example 
in the elder brother is getting in its deadly work at the 
eleventh hour, and there will be dogs and canoes and 
guns for sale, and there will be a rise in the price of fish- 
ing tackle. 
American Fishery Society. 
The printed "Transactions of the American Fishery 
Society for 1900" are far and away the best that have been 
sent out, from a mechanical point of view, since the 
society was organized. The paper is heavy, calendered 
paper, the type is good, and the illustrations are clear. 
The cover and general make up of the pamphlet is at- 
tractive, and as a whole it is a credit to the recording 
secretary, who had the printing done, but I wish to 
register a mild protest about one feature which may or 
may not be chargeable to the stenographer. The con- 
tents — and I mean the papers and the discussions which 
followed the reading of them — are valuable, as they al- 
ways are, and well worth the sum of the annual dues, but 
the manner of recording the remarks is, I think, con- 
fusing. During the business sessions, and later, under 
the head of "Papers and Discussions," the remarks of the 
members are in each case preceded by the name of the 
member making the remarks, except in the case of the 
president and the secretary. We know Mr. Clark, and 
we know Mr. Ravcncl, and Mr. BoAver, and Mr. Wood, 
and all the rest, for w^e have heard them make remarks 
on previous occasions when present, and we can follow 
them in the book in each instance by theese names. But 
who is the president who takes part in every discussion? 
AVe turn to the reverse of the title page, and find that the 
president for 1900 and 1901 is Commissioner Dickerson, 
of Michigan. So we go on until "the president" talks about 
his method in Vermont, and we conclude we have treed 
the wrong man, and then it occurs to us that the officers 
60 conveniently printed are the president and secretary 
who will make remarks next year, and that "the Presi- 
dent" is Commissi oner Titcomb. The case of "the Sec- 
retary" is still worse, for there are two secretaries — a 
corresponding secretary and a recording secretary; but 
Mr. Ravenel is corresponding secretary, and he is not 
"the secretary," for when he has made any remarks it is 
"Mr. Ravenel" who makes them. "The treasurer" does 
not make any remarks, even when called upon officially; 
it_is "Mr. Huntington." So it is really not necessary for 
official courtesy to say "the president," and if the sten- 
ographer would say "President Titcomb" and Secretary 
Bower" it would simplify the matter for the reader of the 
transactions, for there are occasions when it is most de- 
sirable to know just who the man is who makes the re- 
marks. 
The year that the transactions came to me as recording 
secretary to prepare them for the printer, I struck out 
"the secretary" and "the president" so far as I dared, and 
wrote in the secretary's name. I had acted as secretary 
that year only for a portion of the meeting, in the ab- 
sence of Dr. Bean, and I did not take office until the fol- 
lowing year, so I could not take many liberties with the 
minutes when they came to me, and when I really had a 
chance to knock out "the president" and "the secretary" 
from the discussions I was invariably absent. If it is not 
considered advisable to say President Titcomb or Sec- 
retary Bower, as the case may be, why not give the pre- 
siding officers at the beginning of the first day's proceed- 
ings, and the incoming officers as they are now printed, 
on the reverse side of the title page? 
A. N. Cheney. 
Tarpon and Tuna. 
Editor Forest mid Stream: 
During the last two years I have read so many articles 
in Forest and Stream concerning tarpon versus tuna 
fishing that I think perhaps a few words from a man 
who has killed both fish may not be out of place. 
It is not easy to compare the two kinds of fishing, nor 
to say which fish is more game, the tarpon or the tuna, for 
they act very differently. It is safe to say that thev are 
imbued with quite different ideas when first hooked. " The 
tarpon has no fear of boat or fisherman ; his only idea is 
to shake the hook loose, and to do this he jumps out of 
tlie water and will do so several times if vou fight him 
hard. The harder you fight him the more "he jumps and 
the quicker he comes to gaff. I have never had a tarpon 
take more than 250 feet of line, and that in a tideway. 
I have heard of fish that have taken more, but am only 
telling of my own experience. The tuna, on the contrary, 
is off in a wild rush the moment he feels the hook,, and I 
have had 650 feet of line taken from me before I could 
stop my fi.sh. He then dwells, perhaps sounds, then runs 
again, perhaps twice, then sounds as a rule. From that 
time on it is a question of "pumping" your fish up to the 
boat if you wish to kill the fish and not to allow him to 
commit suicide by towing you about. With proper tackle 
either fish should be killed" and gaffed within thirty min- 
utes, barring accidents. If you are fortunate eno'ugh to 
hook yotir tuna in the upper jaw and hold him hard 
during his first run, he comes to the surface practically 
drowned, and if you are quick it takes but a few minutes 
to bring him to gaff. 
The method of fishing for tuna is to troll from a power 
launch or from a rowboat astern of such a launch with a 
flyingfish for bait. The tuna follows the bait, strikes at 
the head and turns as he strikes, so that he is generally 
hooked in the corner of the mouth and makes his run 
with his mouth closed. To kill him in such cases you 
must tire him out. The water is very deep off Catalina— 
hundreds of feet deep. When your fish sounds, if you 
wait a few moments he will discover that the pressure 
of Jf)f wftter j§ ipofe pomfortHb!e nearer the surface. The 
great depth of water is an advantage as well as a dis- 
comfort to the fish. 
I proved to my own satisfaction years since that every 
tarpon should be brought to gaff within thirty minutes, and 
went to Catalina Island to see if the same could be done 
with the tuna, with the following result : 
1900. 
June 5, tuna 150 pounds, 2 hours 20 minutes. 
June 6, tuna 130 pounds, i hour 17 minutes. 
June 8, tuna 102 pounds, 19 minutes. 
June 9, tuna 123 pounds, 19 minutes ; tuna 104 pounds, 
45 minutes. 
June 10, tuna Ii8 pounds, 27 minutes; tUna 88 pounds, 
20 minutes ; tuna 100 pounds, 17 minutes. 
June II, tuna 99 pounds, 15 minutes; tuna 108 pounds, 
14 minutes ; tuna 62 pounds, 8 minutes ; tuna log pounds, 
9 minutes; tuna 118 pounds, 20 minutes. 
Total 13 fish, 1,411 pounds. 
I fought my first fi.sh with a rod that had a flaw in 
it, and the reel was spread by the second fish, yet I aver- 
aged about thirty minutes on the thirteen, and five of 
them I killed in one day in six hours' fishing. I used 
a stout rod, a Vom Hofe Star reel, holding 800 feet of 
No. 22 Hall line, and a Van Vleck tarpon trolling hook 
with swivel and piano wire snood. 
The leaping tuna do not jump after being hooked, but 
do when chasing schools of flyingfish, hence the epithet. 
Now, to answer the ciuestion, Which is the more game — 
the fish that stands and fights, the tarpon; or the tuna, the 
fish that runs away, then holds on and fights to the last 
moment? I say the tarpon. Yet there is no sea fi.shing 
sensation equal to the first grand run of a hooked tuna, 
and he is a harder fish to kill than the tarpon. Try it! 
The season is from June i to July 15. 
F. Gray Griswold. 
Union Club, New York, Jan. 12. 
Massachusetts Fishcttltare* 
From the Commission's Report. 
Output of Fish. — The output of trout fry during the 
jieriod covered by this report was nearly equal to the 
highest point reached in any other year. In addition 
to this, a number of trout and all the landlocked salmon 
have been reared to fingerlings and yearlings before being 
placed in the ponds and streams. 
Through the courtesy of the United States Fish Com- 
mission, we were also able to plant a million fry of the 
pike-perch in our ponds. Thus, in the aggregate, the out- 
put of young fish has been approximately double that of 
any previous year. 
Introduction of New Species. — The Commission has de- 
sired to introduce some species for stocking our ponds 
which are believed to be adapted to Massachusetts waters 
and 10 have other qualifications which will make them 
desirable accessions to our fish fauna. Two species were 
considered especially suitable for this purpose. 
The first and most important of these is the pike-perch 
{Stizostedion vitreum), which is the largest of the perch 
family found in Anierican waters, it having a recorded 
maximum weight of 40 pounds, though its usual size is 
about 5 or 6 pounds. This species is justly considered one 
of the best food fishes in the fresh waters of America, and 
also is valued for its game qualities. 
The species is prolific, 90,000 eggs being considered a 
fair average per fish for Lake Erie; and there is everv 
probability that because of this it will be able to maintain 
itself in many of our deep ponds, and thus add materially, 
not only to the possibilities for angling, but to the annu'al 
yield of food from our interior waters. The effort to in- 
troduce this species in this Commonwealth, which has 
already been successfully begun, will be continued. 
The Commission also contemplated the introduction of 
the calico bass or strawberry bass {Pomoxis sparoides) 
early last spring, and arrangements w-ere made for bring- 
ing fish from Lake Erie to put in some of the State ponds. 
The season had, however, advanced too far and the 
\yeather was too warm to carry out this purpose by the 
time the appropriation was available, and consequently it 
was necessary to defer action until some future time when 
conditions may be more favorable. It is believed that this 
species will make a desirable addition to the fishery re- 
sources of our inland waters. 
Bar Harbor Hotels and Tro«t* 
BcsTON, Jan. 25.— A strong effort is being made by the 
citizens of Hancock county. Me., for the passage of a 
special law prohibiting the sale of trout altogether in 
that county. A number of petitions have already been 
received, asking for such a law, and more are coming. 
The earnest request for this law is the result of the almost 
utter ruin of the trout waters in the vicinity of Bar 
Harbor, by fishing those waters for the hotel tables. It 
has been known for a long time that Bar Harbor hotel 
keepers would pay almost any price for trout in the height 
ot the hotel season. The temptation to fish for such a 
market has been too strong for men and boys to resist. 
At one time last season ten dollars is reported to have 
been paid for a string of brook trout, and not a very 
large string either. The petitioners believe, with almost 
everybody else, that trout are distinctively game fish, and 
should be so treated, and not as food fish. The claim set 
forth is that dealers have driven about the section of 
Bar Harbor, including a radius of ten to fifteen and even 
twenty miles, buying all the trout they could get, and 
urging men and boys to fish for them. They have paid 
at the doors of those who have caught the fish twenty- 
five and fifty cents a pound. One man is reported to 
have admitted the taking of 2,700 trout, all of which were 
sold to the Bar Harbor dealers. The reports also state 
that some of the fishers have not stopped to take the 
trout with hook and line, but have resorted to netting the 
ponds and streams; while there are dark hints of dyna- 
mite being used. The same reports also say that all the 
partridges in the vicinity of Bar Harbor hotels have been 
killed off by those who have taken them for sale. This 
fact is understood to have been one of the first reasons 
for the enactment of the law prohibiting the sale of 
partridges in Maiite^ - Speci.\l. 
The Forest and Stream is put to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach ug at the 
i5t?8t by Monday an4 is m^^ «FM?r 8« priftiggye, ' " " 
\ New3|York Fish Comimssion. 
Forest and Stream is a journal which speaks with 
authority upon such questions as the relations of the 
State government to the preservation of forests and the 
culture of fish. It is therefore a high tribute to one of 
Gov. Odell's proposed changes in administration that 
this excellent judge commends the substitution for the 
existing boards of five Commissioners of Forestry, Fish 
and Game, and three Commissioners of the Forest Pre- 
serve Board, of a single board of three members, two of 
them appointed from among the Commissioners of the 
Land Office, and to serve without pay, and the third to 
be the Shellfish Commissioner, and the practical execu- 
tive man, at a salary of $5,000 a year. Forest, and 
Stream declares that there was never any good 
reason for a Fish Commission of five members, and that 
it was brought into being as a political job. It only re- 
grets that the poHticians are not ready to make the reform 
complete by placing fish culture under one competent 
person and game protection under a single head, each 
with full authority over all employes. "Barring the pos- 
sibility, however, of adoption of such a simple and busi- 
ness-likc system," it says, "we shall welcome the reduc- 
tion of the Commission to the form proposed in the pend- 
ing bill." — New York Evening Post. 
— 
Fixtures* 
BENCH SHOWS. 
Beb. 19-22.— New York.— Westminster Kennel Club's twenty-fifth 
annual show. Tames Mortimer, Supt. 
March 6-9.— Pittsburg, Pa.— Duquesne Kennel Club's annual 
bench show. F. S. Stcdman, Sec'y. 
March 13-16.— Chicago.— Mascoutah Kennel Club's eleventh an- 
nual show. John L. Lincoln, Sec'y. 
FIELD TRIALS. 
February (First Week);— Grand Junction, Tenn.— Championship 
Field Trial Association's annual trials. W. B. Stafford, Sec'y. 
Training the Hunting Dog. 
By B. Waters, Author of "Fetch and Carry: A Treatise 
on Retrieving." 
Xn, — Reading and Drawing, 
(Continued from J>age 31.) 
Roadi.ng and drawing are terms used to denote the act 
of the dog locating the birds by the functional powers 
of the nose which he possesses. Roadmg more spe- 
cifically applies to following the foot scent; drawing to 
following the body scent. Colloquially speaking, the 
effort of the dog to determine the whereabouts of the 
birds, after he has struck their trail or caught the scent 
of them, is called "locating." 
Generally speaking, aside from the individual 'differ- 
ences of manner which all dogs exhibit, one compared 
with another, setters and pointers follow birds in two 
ways, namely, by the foot scent or the body scent. When 
following by foot scent the dog devotes his attention to 
following the course of the birds in all its windings, using 
his nose to distinguish the scent which hovers around 
the tracks, as the handler in an analogous manner might 
use his eyes to distinguish and follow them. 
In following the foot scent, dogs vary in skill, from 
that of the potterer which puzzles about, following the 
back track or forward with equal stupidity and ineffi- 
ciency, to that of the dog which roads with methodical 
celerity and accuracy. 
A reasonable degree of quickness is essential to fair 
performance. The longer and further the birds run 
ahead of the roading dog, the greater likelihood is there 
of complications which may result in the loss of the 
trail, or their secure refuge in dense cover, or their escape 
by wing. Dogs which follow by the foot scent carry a 
lower nose, as a rule, than do those which follow by the 
body scent. 
The dog which locates by body scent is guided by the 
particles of scent floating in the air, though his nose 
may be only at such height as he naturally carries it. 
when he catches a scent, however faint, he darts quickly 
to and fro, following it up quickly till it becomes strong 
enough to follow direct to the birds. It is analogous in 
manner which a man might be supposed to adopt if he 
caught scent of roses in the field and followed the clue 
up to the rose bushes from which the fragrance emanated. 
A dog whose nose is keen and whose brain is sound 
will locate his birds with astonishing quickness by the 
body scent, but there are different grades of performers 
in this method, as there are also in the one aforem.en- 
tioned. 
Whichever style of "locating" is used by the dog, to 
be a successhil finder of birds it is necessary that he be 
able to determine the forward track from the backward 
track, and to locate the hiding place of the birds with a 
reasonable degree of quickness. The accomplishment of 
pointing stanchly is of but little utility if the dog cannot 
find the birds to point. 
AVhether they locate by foot scent or body scent, dogs 
vary greatly when compared with each other in respect 
to proficiency in locating. To strike scent some trust 
to their speed and the consequent wide area which they 
beat out, pointing the birds well when they happen to 
run across theni. Such dogs may have distinctly inferior 
ability in following a scent, and yet, by pointing with 
much firmness and spirit when squarely on the birds, 
they may create a much better impressisri than a less 
pretentious but more meritorious performer. Wide 
range, high speed and spirited points are not necessarily 
indicitive of good finding and locating abiHty. There 
are many sham "high clas.s' performers. 
Whether ranging fast or slow, the dog should have 
his mind concentrated on the use of his nose, as well as 
on beating out the ground with good judgment. When 
ranging in this manner, he will pick np light scents and 
follow them to a successful find; will detect the scent of 
a trail whiC/h h? i? running squarelv ai^ross, and will h&^z^ 
