868 
F 0HES1: AKD Si HE A.M. 
[May II, 1901, 
Proprietors of fishing resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
ihem in Forest and Stream. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
Great Sea Lamprey.i 
Mr. W. L. Hoskins sends me another letter upon the 
subject of the lamprey or lamprey eel, which I give in 
full. 
Since my first letter to you asking about the lamprey 
tel as a table food, I have received your remarks regard- 
. ing it in the Forest and Stream of Dec. 15, 1900, and 
April 20, 1901. In my reply permit me to say that I am 
a living witness for the lamprey as regards its table quali- 
ties. Sixty years ago, while living in Connecticut, my 
father and his neighbors were in the habit of making 
a trip every year, to the Agawam River, in Massachu- 
setts, for the purpose of taking this fish. The lamprey 
i.s properly a salt water fish and ascends the fresh water 
streams in advance of the shad to spawn and then returns 
to the sea. At the time I write of the mode of capture 
was by hand. During the day time these fish lie in the 
deep water, but after dark they run up in the rapids 
and there attach themselves to the stones or rocks, 
swaying back and forth like eel grass. During this 
period it was the custom for one man to carry a tofch, 
and two men with lines, each with a bag on his shoul- 
ders and a woolen mitten on his right hand. They would 
commence at the foot of the rapids and pick the lampreys 
off, one at a time, until each had a load, then go 
on shore and dump them into their wagons. This was 
followed up until they were satisfied with their catch. 
My father has told me of their catching as high as 3,000 
in a night. What is very peculiar is that if any one 
attempted, to catch them by going to the head of the 
riflfs, the entire school would become alarmed and drop 
back into deep water and there would be no more fish- 
ing that night. This fish is so popular in the cities along 
the Connecticut River that I have known them to com- 
mand a price of one dollar each for the early run. For 
twenty years I have been in receipt of a box of these fish 
from Hartford, Conn., and I know of ho article for the 
table that excels them. 
To-day these fish are an article of commerce in New 
England markets. Instead of the old method of capture 
they are now caught in weirs. While their looks are 
repulsive, I think that if you were served with a dish of 
them, nicely broiled, properly seasoned with salt and 
pepper, and a good liberal supply of melted butter 
poured over them, you would pronounce them good. 
I prefer them to the famous Connecticut River shad. 
Regarding thoir destructive qualfties I think they are 
not to be compared to the fresh water eel. I am living 
-on lampreys and have been for a week." 
The remarks I have quoted are of interest, but they 
relate to the great sea lamprey I feel sure, while the notes 
I wrote in Forest and Stream had reference to a dwarfed 
form called the lake lamprey and particularly the lamprey 
. found in Cayuga Lake, except that I quoted Mr. Dean. 
Sage, who fotind a sea lamprey or river lamprey fast to 
a fresh run salmon, for there are a number of species 
of lampreys, about fifteen in this country, though some 
of them are very scarce; and there are several in Europe, 
specifically mentioned. The great sea (Petromyson 
marinus) lamprey is common to the Atlantic coasts of 
Europe and North America and is highly esteemed as 
food, and grows to over three feet in length, while the 
lake lamprey averages but little over one foot in length. 
Pennant records "that it is an ancient custom for the 
city of Gloucester annually to present the sovereign with 
a lamprey pie covered with a raised crust; and at Rod- 
neys, in Gloucester, a rent called 'pride gavel' is paid 
by certain tenants to the lord of the -manor for the lib- 
ert}' of fishing for lampreys in the River Severn." 
Pennell says "The food of the lamprey consists gen- 
erally of animal matter; and in the sea it will attack fish 
greatly superior to itself in size, fastening pertinaciously 
upon them, and practically eating its way to the very 
bone." * * * 
"The laiuprey spawns in May, and its food consists of 
insects, worms, small live fish, and the flesh of dead 
Tines." 
This, however, all relates to the great sea lamprey 
about which there is no question as to its food qualities. 
What I wrote in the issue of Forest and Stream, which 
Mr. Hoskins mentions, is not before me at this moment, 
but I assumed he asked about the lake lamprey as I now 
recall the matter, for this was the fish which Prof. Sur- 
face had written exhaustively about in one of the reports 
of the Forest, Fish and Game Cases about that time. 
Prof. Surface says: "We wish to state here for the sake 
of exposing some bits of folk lore (based, as is most 
folk lore, upon ignorance), that they (the lake lamprey) 
contain no venom whatever, and can inflict no injury 
whatever upon man. neither by bite nor sting; neither 
is the flesh poison to man in eating it. except after the 
alimentary canal has long been atrophied at spawning 
times and the bile and catabolic products being unable 
to escape become .spread throughout the entire system 
of the lamprey and cause all the flesh to assume a green 
co]6r. *• * * It is thought by many persons that 
they will attack people while in the water, and that a 
new hole comes in the side of the neck each year, as 
rattles are supposed to come on a rattler's tail, or as the 
wrinkles come on a cow's horn, but these suppositions 
are, of course, false. The holes in the sides of neck are 
openings into the gill pouches through which the water 
flows to carry its dissolved air to the gills to purify the 
blood, and their number is always seven. Lampreys have 
no means 'whatever of inflicting any injury upon man, 
neither directly nor indirectly, except through their 
economic effect in destroying the fishes he would use as 
food. This destruction, however, is great." 
This is rather non-committal, but should not discour- 
age one who has a desire to try the lake lamprey as a 
table relish. Now as to the lamprey being a fish, as it 
is generally termed. I think it is Jordan who says it 
i<? t^e lowest form of a^pimal with a Ijackfeon?, ^nd that 
back bone is gristle, and not bone. But Surface is more 
explicit: "Lampreys are not fishes, but fish-like vere- 
brates with no paired fins, and neither spines nor bony 
rays in the fins which they dt) possess; no scales, no 
jointed appendages, and, in fact, no external appendages 
of any. kind but the vertical fins of the back and tail, 
with only one nostril, and that found on the middle line 
of the head; adults with a large circular suctorial mouth 
armed with a great number of sharp chitinous teeth, but 
with no true jaws; mouth surrounded by a fleshy mem- 
brane which insures perfect suction and is fringed around 
the entire margin with a close-set row of numerous 
fimbriae; tongues rasp-like, containing many sharp chitin- 
ous teeth." 
At the time the bill to appropriate money to destroy 
the lampreys in Cayuga Lake was in the Senate a Sena- 
tor, a personal friend, asked me about it and what it 
was intended to do. I took from my pocket a dried sec- 
tion of a lamprey's head, making a fine display of its 
open moiith, described above, and said it was to appro- 
priate jnoney to destroy things like that. He frowned 
and said, "I would be in favor of voting more money 
for the purpose than is asked for in the bill." 
Trout Parasites. 
In the report of the Forest, Fish and Game Commis- 
sioner for 1898 there is a paper by Dr. Gary N. Calkins 
on a parasite Avhich made its appearance in the trout of 
a private trout farm on Long Island and killed all the 
fish, young and old, in the, ponds. I now learn with 
Trouting in California. 
San Francisco, Cal., April 13. — ^With our intimate 
knowledge of the subject we have never been able to 
account for the fact that the best fishing on the opening 
day of the season, April ist, within easy reach of San, 
Francisco is to be had in the tidewater of Paper Mill ■ 
Creek, which empties into Tomales Bay in Marin county. 
City anglers (now numbered by hundreds) were out in 
full force all over the State, but the Paper Mill Creek , 
seemed to have the preference. Here the angler is always 
sure of a few good-sized fish on the opening day and fair . 
catches are made well on in the season by those most 
familiar with its many pools and riffles. Heretofore when 
the season opened on a week day only a few of the more 
fortunate anglers could visit this popular stream, but dur- 
ing the past few years fishermen have sprung" up like 
mushrooms and out of the many quite a number availed 
themselves of the pleasure of wetting their lines. Those 
who fished in the tide-water were much moi^e successful 
than those who whipped the headwaters. The White 
House Pool, near the mouth of this lovely stream, has 
always been recognized as a loitering place for the incom- 
ing steelheads on their way to the headwaters for spawn- 
ing and also on their return to old ocean. The run of 
large fish during the winter months has been much 
greater than for several years past and has afforded the 
anglers much sport during the close season. A law, how- 
ever, has just been passed prohibiting the taking of steel- 
heads in tidewater during the months of February and 
ANDY LEGASKE AND HIS STEELHEAD. 
regret that what is undoubtedly the same parasite, from 
what I can hear, made its appearance in the trout of two 
private fishery clubs on Long Island and destroyed over 
thirty thousand trout. This is greatly to be deplored. 
Dr. Calkins unfortunately did not arrive definitely at the 
cause of the parasite, nor did he discover a certain and 
sure remedy. Thus far this parasite has appeared only in 
fish confined in ponds at clubs or fish farms and no wild 
trout are reported as affected. I have believed, and I 
think Dr. Calkins considered the belief tenable that in- 
breeding had something to do with this disease, as in this 
way the fish might have been weakened and less able to 
resist it, and something I have heard in connection with 
the later cases tends to confirm the belief as at least one 
of the causes. 
Another cause has been suggested. I was lately dining 
on a railroad dining car with Mr. Dean Sage, of Albany, 
and he told me that once when fishing in Labrador he 
and his friends caught a number of sea trout and put 
them in a pond made in the rocks by the side of the river, 
and in a few days tliey developed a disease similar to if 
not the same, as that which has visited Long Island, and 
he has seen the Long Island trout that were affected. 
He attributes the disease to overcrowding in the pool. 
A. N, Cheney. 
[San Ffancisco Fly-Casting Club. 
Medal contests, series 1901, Saturday, contest No. 4, 
held at Stow Lake, April 27. Wind, gusty; weather, clear 
and very cold. 
Event Event Event 
No. 1, No. 2 No. 4, 
Distance, Accuracy, , Event No. 8, . Lure 
Feet Per cent. Acc. % Del. Net % Casting^ 
Battu 89 86 92 72.6 82.3 
Brotherton . . . . Ul 89 88 75.10 81.11 
Brooks 97 86.8 85.4 65 75.2 
Edwards 100.6 89 90 75.10 82.11 
Everett 110 91.4 88.4 75 81.8 
Heller 83.8 85 69.2 77.1 
Mansfield 90 90.8 78.4 86.4 
Mocker 87 83.8 83.4 68.4 75.10 
Muller 94 90.4 86.8 76.8 81.8 
Reed 91 87.4 82 65 73.6 
Skinner 88 87.4 82 71.8 76.8 
Smyth 91 84 77.6 80.9 
Judges, Battu and Mocker; referee, Brooks; clerk, 
Smyth. 
Thirty-nine deer were cotinted in a single herd feed- 
ing near SaTville, I., the other d^j. 
March, which will be much appreciated by sportsmen 
who believe in allowing the fish ample opportunity to 
reach the headwaters and tributaries. The spring run of 
small fish has been quite late this season, hence the grand 
sport aft'orded anglers who were fortimate enough to 
visit this tidewater pool on April i, 
On April 2 there appeared in the sporting columns 
of the daily newspapers glowing accounts of the large 
catches made at White House Pool, which enthused 
so many that the' following Sunday the majority 
of those visiting the Paper Mill Creek wended their way 
to this pool and it was estimated that there were at least 
fifty, but sad to relate the fish taken did not average one 
fish to a rod. This poor luck the fishermen attributed 
to the weather, high winds, etc. Quite a number of 
them could not understand why the fish did not mater- 
ialize, as it was positively known that the pool was alive 
with fish only a few days before. We think it may be 
easily accounted for — fifty anglers fishing in one pool 
and not a large pool either, the majority of whom wer<- 
using bait, through the disturbance made by their inces 
sant casting and the heavy sinkers, used to combat the 
outgoing tide, so disturbed the equanimity of the wary 
trout that they persistently refused to take any kind of 
lure presented to them, which included such well-known 
baits as angleworms (barnyard hackle), shrimps and 
, salmon roe (the Butler fly). The anglers who fished 
further up the stream were quite successful, as was evi- 
denced by a few well-filled c!reels wHich were exhibited on 
the return trip. 
Andy Legaspe, probably the best tidewater fisherman 
in San Francisco and a most expert gaffer, was high hook 
of the day. During the afternoon a large fish was seen 
floating down with the tide, evidently much used up, 
Legaspe reached for his gaff and waited patiently for the 
opportunity which soon came; he made the strike and 
gaffed the steelhead amidships. The roll of the fish after 
being gaffed loosened Andy's hold, but he luckily re- 
gained himself and landed an 8-pound steelhead trout. 
My friend Mr. E. W. Currier has favored me with a 
sketch of the incident. James Watt. 
[M^. Currier has some Chinatown paintings on exhi- 
bition at the Currier Art Gallery, No, 15 West Twenty- 
ninth street, New York city.] 
In Quest of Big Ones. 
Mr. Edward vom Hofe, of this city, left on May 7 
for an extended trip in Florida fishing for tarpon. Leav- 
ing there about June i he goes direct to Avalon, Santa 
Catalina Island, Cal,, where ^le ydll spend a month or 
more huntiog up the tuna, ^. vom Kqfs, ]z. 
