228 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Sept, 21, 1901. 
— • — 
Proprietors of fishing resorts will find it profitable to advertial 
them in Fomsx akd Stjixau. 
Fishing in the Bay of Quinte. 
: New York, Sept: 10. — My son, Vance, and I reached 
Glen Island, Bay of Quinte, Ontario. Canada, on the 
morning of Sitnday. Aug. 18, after a week spent at the 
Pan-American. It is needless to expatiate on the beauties 
of the Bay of Quinte. Glen Island is situated six miles 
from Picton and twelve miles from Deseronto. It is a 
most picturesque place, containing fourteen acres of land, 
and thickl}'- wooded. 
Between Monday. Aug. 19, and Aug. 24, I made three 
fishing trips around the island with my son. and we were 
.successful in catching many large black bass, weighing 
from 1^2 to 3l4 pounds. Thc,-;e fish are tremendous 
fighters, and on a light trout rod give yon all the sport 
you can possibly imagine. I had engaged Frank Founis, 
of Adolphstown, as my guide, but, unlike other guides, he 
declined to go for muscalongc. except when wind and 
weather were propitious. I mu-t say this for Frank, that 
he was the most painstaking guide that it has even been 
my luck to have. On Aug. 24 I received a telephone 
message from my guide that he would be over early, that 
the wind was in the right quarter, being from the south- 
west, and there was a chance of getting niuscalonge. We 
started at about 10 A. M., and . trolled back and across 
the bay and along the Prince Edward Island shore until 
about 12:30 P. M., catching a few large black bass and 
pike. Just as we were making a landing at the dock 
Ave passed a Methodist minister, who was hauling in an 
8-pound pike, and acting as though he were pulling in 
the bottom of the bay. 
After d'nner at Frank's house we started trolling back 
to the island. When about 300 yards off shore, the guide 
said : "I think it will be a day with no r.esults," and think- 
ing likewise, I began reeling in my lines. Just as I had 
commenced I felt the rush of a big fish strike my troll 
on the left-hand rod, and turning I saw a mighty monster 
leap from the water — Frank says 7 feet — carry'ng with 
him across his back my second troll, which had snagged 
him in the eye. When he struck the water it sounded to 
me as if a house had fallen into the bay. The mu-calonge 
lashed furiously, running zigzags across my lines, and 
making deep dives to the bottom of the bay. and then 
rushing to the top as though he were going to leap out of 
it again. Three times I had to plunge my rod under 
the water in order to turn him and keep him from break- 
ing it. All this time I thought he would pull me over- 
board, he was so strong. I had to play him, I should 
judge, in the neighborhood of twentv-fivc or thirty-five 
minutes, the line paying out and burning'my fingers as if 
it were on fire. Finally I got the fish near the boat, and 
Frank lunged at him with the gaff which the fish straight- 
ened as if it had been a pin. The next time we were 
more successful, and, as I got him near at hand, I tipped 
the boat a little, and the guide, having straightened Ihc 
gaff into position, made another hmge, and by our ut ated 
efforts we landed him. Then the fun commenced. As 
you are aware, muscalonge are thickly coated with slime 
and are very difficult, especially a large one. to hold. 
Frank finally succeeded in pinning the fish mider the 
seat, and I attempted to .stand on his tail to keep him 
from knocking out the bottom of the skiff. After beating 
the big brute with a gaff and =;ticking a knife into his 
head. Ave finally quieted him. hut even after we had 
landed him on the dock he made a snap at the heel of 
Dugal Dingman's boot. You c;in imagine how I shouted 
when I felt sure that we had tli" fish safe on shore. All 
the guests of the island flocked down to the dock to see 
him, and I believe I have the lionor of being high hook 
so far this season. I sent him to Kingston to be mounted. 
He finally weighed 37^ pounds, after a lapse of some 
time, during which he was Iuuil;- on the dock for exhibi- 
tion to people passing in ^facht' . 
On the next Monday I started out again with Frank 
at the usual hour of 10, and, after crossing the foot of 
the island to the bay oppogite, struck a very large mus- 
calonge, and after a most excit'ng play with him, about 
the same length of time as the big one. we got him into 
the boat. This fish weighed 34 pounds. While I was 
landing him I noticed that the same old parson had struck 
a very large muscalonge, and was employing the same 
tactics of yanking him in hand over hand, as if brute 
strength Avere all that was required. His son-in-law. who 
was roAving the boat, shouted to the old man. "Don't pull 
him so like the devil !" and the old man. very much ex- 
cited, turned and shouted back, "How the devil shall I 
pull him?" I did not Avait any longer, as it Avas about 
dinner time, but made the landing, and found Dugal Ding- 
man, mine host and lord of this isle, and by the same 
token a gentleman of the first Avater and an artist of no 
- mean ability, searching the shore for crawfish, for an 
outing Avith me after the large black bass Avhich we had 
arranged for the afternoon. My son, coming up at the 
time, declared that he must go out with us to try his 
luck with big fish. I had rashly promised to pay him a 
dollar a pound for every muscalonge he might land that 
would Aveigh over ro pounds. AVe started at about i :30, 
and, crossing the same grotmd I had fished in the morn- 
ing, struck a 15-pound pickerel, which fought as I have 
never yet had a pickerel fight, and deceived, not only my 
guide, but myself, who thought it was another large mus- 
calonge, _ This excited my son Vance so much that he 
was pa3'ing very little attention to a hand troll which was 
dragging out from the rear of the boat. Suddenly the 
little fellow turned and said, "Papa, I have got him," and 
commenced to haul, bu.t soon found that his strength 
was hardly equal to the task. I could see that he had 
hooked on to a large muscalonge. and that the fish had 
turned and Avas making straight for the boat. Frank 
yelled. "Help the boy, or he will lose the fish." I threw 
tny rod on the bottom of the boat and took hold of the 
line, when the fish was about lOQ feet from the boat, cut- 
ting through the water very near the top. Just as it was 
within a few feet, I employed the same tactics that I 
had used with my 375^-ppunder, and le^.ned all my 
weight on one side, at the same time lifting the line over 
my head, and succeeded in landing the fish in the boat 
and nearly sAvamping us. We had then to turn our atten- 
tion to going to the nearest point of land to lighten her, 
as the fish Avas dousing us, and Avas very difficult to kill; 
indeed, we only succeeded in doing this after landing him 
high and dry. He AA^eighed 25J4 pounds. We then 
thought Ave had luck enough for one day, and returned 
to the island to celebrate. Dugal Dingman, like the 
good fellow that he is, was more than glad that I had 
such phenomenal luck. But he insisted that the next day 
iluscalunge of 37% pounds taken in the Bay of Quinte by Wallace 
Murray. 
Ave should, without fail, have an outing ^together for the 
black bass and another try for the muscalonge. 
About 10 o'clock A. M. the next day Mr. James 
McBirney, of Toronto ; Mr. Dingman and myself got the 
sailboat ready, Avith the intention of crossing to Pleasant 
Bay, trolling for muscalonge, and then, if Ave had no suc- 
cess Avith them, trying for the big black bass. Din.gman 
said, "Get everything ready and I will be down Avitli the 
bait and some cigars, and A\'ill shove the boat off from 
the dock, so that Ave Avill lose no headAvay." After Ave had 
taken on board our supply of bait, etc., the old man caught 
the boom of the sailbpat, and, giving a good shove, made 
a leap for the boat, but only succeeded in striking the 
edge, and, falling backward, went overboard, and as he 
came up, he said, "Boys, I am in." We hauled him in 
and resumed our cruise. We fished about an hour, having 
only six crawfish and four frogs as bait, but Avith these 
Ave succeeded in landing nine beautiful black bass, the 
largest one taken by Mr. McBirney and Aveighing over 4 
pounds. They Avould average 3 pounds apiece. 
This is but a repetition of many days Avith black bass, 
and it has never before been my luck to croAvd in so many 
pleasant and profitable hours fishing as I did in the two 
Aveeks at Glen Island. Wallace Murray. 
Fish and Fishing* 
_ — _ ^ 
When Salmon Feed« 
To the literature of the much-disputed point as to the 
feeding of salmon in fresh water, a valuable contribution 
comes from a French fishery official, M. Paubze d'lvoy de 
\aPoype," Delegue General de la Commission Interdeparte- 
mentale de Peche des Conseils Generaux du Bassin de la 
Loire," or, representative of the fishery commission of 
the basin of the Loire. A publisher of Poitiers has just 
issued M. d'lA'oy de la Poype's book, entitled "La Ques- 
tion de la Peche dans le Bassin dc la Loire," Avhich differs 
from most Avorks by French Avriters upon kindred top'cs. 
in containing a vast amount of original and strikingly in- 
teresting information. Dealing in main Avith the salmon 
fisheries of the Loire, the author discusses most of the 
leading salmon problems of the day, as, for instance, 
whether the salmon is an annual or biennial spaAvner, the 
speed at Avhich it travels and the question as to its feeding 
in fresh Avater, It Avill , be remembered by those Avho 
have closely folloAved the various arguments 011 both sides 
of the last-m-entioned question, and the evidence adduced 
by those advancing them, that Dr. Noel Paton, and his 
assistants of the Edinburgh College of Physicians, ar- 
riA^ed at the conclusion that the digestive organs of a 
salmon in a river were in such an atrophied condition that 
BO food could be digested. Dr. Paton described them as 
suffering from a desquamative catarrh of the mucous 
membrane. The reviewer of the Field cast doubts upon 
this theory as soon as Dr. Paton' s report was issued, and 
Dr. Kingston Barton subsequently showed the mistake 
into which the Scotch observers had fallen, and that the 
alleged desquamative catarrh was simply a post-mortem 
change, the fish with which they had experimented having 
only been examined some time after death. Prof. 
Schneider, on the other hand, Avho furnishes to the appen- 
dix of the French scientist's Avork a special paper on this 
interesting question, took the precaution of placing fresh, 
'in a solution of formaline, the stomach and intestines of 
salmon Avhich he examined for the author. He arrived at 
precisely the same conclusions as Dr. Barton, and M. 
d'lvoy de la Poype concludes that salmon do obtain 
nourishment in fresh waters, and only cease to feed when 
the instincts of procreation are most exacting. Among 
the salmon that he had examined from the Vienne, a 
tributary of the Loire, Avere many containing no trace of 
food, but among the exceptions Avas a young male fish of 
9 pon;nds weight, which had in its stomach five small fish: 
in all stages of digestion. 
The results of these recent investigations lead us back 
again to the very starting point of the controversy, and 
seem to suggest that the cause " of scientific inquiry into 
this interesting question might be materially aided by the 
observations of American and Canadian salmon fishermen. 
Salmon Flies for Trout, 
The recent French experiments' with the stomachs of 
eahnon and their contents suggest a question that has 
often occurred to me when fishing for trout Avith salmon 
flies. Nobody pretends that fontinalis takes the Jock-Scot 
for amusement, or impales himself upon a silver-doctor 
while snapping in anger at the tinsel-bodied lure. Yet 
Avhen salmon seize the same gay deceits, Ave are asked to 
believe that they take the fly from an altogether different 
motiA'e, and in quite a contrary spirit to that displayed by 
.salvelinus. . Who shall decide the question Avhen so many 
learned doctors differ? 
A New Bass Fly. 
From Mr. N. P. Howell, of NcAvark, N, J., I received-a 
fcAv days ago specimens of a new and very promising bass 
lly. In explaining its raison d'etre, its author says : 
"Thinking that you or some of your friends might have 
an opportunity to try the inclosed flies in Lake St. John 
or other Canadian Avaters, I take the liberty of sending 
them to you, and asking you to kindly give me your 
opinion of them, which I Avould value very greatly. I ' 
designed them from some flies Avhich haA^e appeared in 
great numbers for a fcAv days in June, at Belgrade Lakes, 
Me., where I have gone for the last two years for the 
early black bass fly-fishing. They were eagerly devoured 
by the bass — in fact, CA^ery one that I examined while the 
flies were there seemed to be gorged AAdth them. I am 
anxious to knoAV if they are any good for ouananiche, 
trout, etc." I have not yet had any opportunity of testing 
these flies, but trust that some of my friends may shortly 
do so, if time and circumstances prevent me going 
a-fishing again this year. It is impossible to say from the 
artificial lure before me Avhat fly it is intended to repre- 
sent, but I hope that next year Mr. HoAvell Avill send me 
some of the natural insects to Avhich he refers, and I 
will have them classified. The B. A. Scott fly, which has 
proVed such a killing lure for ouananiche, Avas designed 
just as the HoAvell fly was. The fish were found to be 
ravenously feeding upon the natural insect, specimens of 
Avhich were secured, and furnished models for the crea- 
tion by the fly-tyer of the B. A. Scott fly. This fly, Avhich 
is well knoAvn to all anglers visiting Lake St. John, differs 
but little from the General Hooker. The insect which it 
is supposed to represent is the male of Brachycentriis 
fuliginosiis (Walker). It belongs to the family Sericos- 
tomidje, in the order NcAvroptera. Together with several 
other species closely resembling it, it is commonly called 
the shad fly. 
Returning to the HoAvell fly, I find that it widely differs 
from any of the patterns of bass flies shown in Mrs. 
Mary Orvis Marbury's "Favorite Flies." In general ap- 
pearance it slightly resembles the Governor Alvord, 
though someAvhat darker, having the Coch-y-Bouddti 
body, claret hackle and black Avings. Avith a white spot 
upon the shoulder. It ought to prove a very killing fly 
for trout. 
FIy-Fisher*s Fntomology« 
The. art of tying artificial flies to represent the natural 
insect is by no means a simple one. If they Avere so made 
as to match it Avhen laid alongside of it, dry, it is probable 
that they Avould never deceive an educated fish. As an 
illustration of this statement, let the angler or amateur 
fly-tyer take up one of the standard authorities, Avhere the 
illustrations of the natural insect and the artificial fly that 
represents it appear upon the same plate. Scarcely any- 
thing can be more dissimilar, as all Avill agree Avho take 
the trouble to examine the beautiful hand-colored plates 
in John Jackson's "Practical Fly-Fisher," or Alfred 
Ponalds' "Fly-Fisher's Entomology." 
Interest in the latter work has been reneAved by the 
recent appearance in London of its tenth edition, which 
has been prepared by Mr. J. C. Carter, a nephew of the 
author. The latter died in Australia in i860, after spend- 
ing the last eighteen years of his life there. Most of the 
beautiful original plates of flies and natural insects, on 
copper etchings, have been employed, though they Avere 
made sixty-five years ago, the first edition of this standard 
Avork having appeared in 1836. One cannot but regret, 
however, the perpetuation of the original frontispiece — 
an illustration of trout, parr and grayling, which, as the 
London Field very properly remarks, can only be de- 
scribed as a libel on these beautiful fish. 
The Tuna in American Waters. 
"These fish are in American waters now !" This is the 
statement concerning the tuna Avhich attracted my atten- 
tion a feAV days ago in glancing over a correspondent's 
letter in Forest and Stream, and he asks for informa- 
tion abottt them, and states that "Catalina Island seems to 
haA^e had a monopoly of tuna fishing." I confess that the 
latter statement rather startled me, but upon picking up a 
number of another sportsman's paper of earlier date a 
few days later, I thought, and still think, that I had found 
the authority for Ransacker's assertion. It is contained 
in a letter describing the sport of tuna fishing about 
Santa^ Catalina Island, the writer of which delibesately 
dnipferes that "the pla# has become famous because of 
the fact that only here is this great game fish taken." 
Nothing could be wider of the tnark. In the Aitlfintic \X 
