May 17, 1902.J 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
8 8 9 
Bonefish. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Will you kindly inform Mr. B. A. Bean, whose letter 
of April 26 ,1 have just seen, that / am willing he should 
call the bonefish Albula wipes and not Elops saurus. I've 
called it worse names than that, myself. But I do wish the 
United States Fish Commission would settle once and 
for all on some form of polysyllabic profanity to dis- 
tinguish the bonefish from the bony fish, and stick to it. 
Every Republican Commissioner has called the bonefish 
Albula vulpes, and every Democratic Commissioner has 
stigmatized it as an Elops. Now, to call a poor dumb 
creature out of his name because of a change of politics, is 
both wrong and bewildering. And' why does Mr. Bean 
drag in that statement about ten-pounders being so-called 
in Key West? Bless his heart, does Mr. Bean know what 
Key West itself is called? And what if Key West does 
call the "ten-pounder" a bonefish, what does that prove? 
And what has Key West to do with the Albula Elops 
argument anyhow? 
The photograph I sent was of three bonefish— 7, 10 and 
11% pounds respectively. Whether Albulse or Elopides, I 
neither know nor care, but I do know they were what are 
"known from one end of Biscayne Bay to the other as 
bonefish— -gamest, shyest, strongest fi%h that wears fins. 
Every piscatorial authority on Biscayne Bay, from Eddie 
Pent down to the Richards' kids, will pronounce such fish 
to be bonefish. Their forebears were bonefish twenty 
years ago, they are bonefish to-day. And careful inquiry 
among the local experts, E. Pent at the head, failed to 
discover a bonefish record in Biscayne Bay history ex- 
ceeding nine pounds. Therefore I sent you a statement 
of Mr. Hunter's catch as perhaps establishing a record, 
for more anglers seek bonefish in Biscayne Bay than in any 
waters of which I know. 
A dispassionate perusal of the bonefish chapter of Mr. 
W. H. Gregg's admirable book on Florida fishes, page 
248, will show that for ten years the U. S. Commissioners 
have yawed frightfully from Elops to Albula and back, in 
naming the bonefish. Maybe the agony is now over,- and 
the vainglorious idiots who adhered to the Elops faction 
have been slaughtered, and their viscera hung as a solemn 
warning on the incurved horns of the nascent moon. But 
that is sawdust to me. I have -personal reasons for avoid- 
ing big words anyhow, and unless I am in a bad humor, I 
try to call bonefish bonefish. What they are called in 
fragrant, dainty, delicious and entrancing Key West has 
nothing to do with the case, as the wily Mr. Bean perfectly 
knows. If he doesn't, let him write to E. Pent, Cocoanut 
Grove, Fla., who is personally acquainted with every fish 
from Arch Creek to Cape Sable, knows his history and 
his peccadilloes, the skeletons in his private closet, and the 
gay ramifications of his family tree. E. Pent will tell him 
one or two things about bonefish, and perhaps several 
about Key West. Henry Guy Carleton. 
United States Fish Commission, Washington. 
D. C, May 7. — Editor Forest and Stream: I 
have just read with considerable interest Mr. Heniy Guy 
Carleton's letter anent the bonefish of Biscayne Bay, in 
which he incidentally passes judgment upon the relative 
value of my opinion and that of the author of a book upon 
the proper scientific name of the species. I have never 
posed as an ichthyologist, but with a modesty which Mr. 
Carleton at least must have recognized, have ever been 
willing to yield in that field to more voluble competitors. 
I must confess, however, to a considerable accession of 
self-respect just at present, in view of the development 
that my off-hand identification should have been more 
accurate than the painstaking research of a so clever and 
versatile person as my friend who at various times or all 
at once has done many things, and done them well. 
He now sees other worlds to conquer, and not long since 
remarked that when he had a leisure week he would be- 
come a naturalist. I trust that he will soon find the 
opportunity. 
Messrs. Evermann and Bean have started him in the 
straight and narrow path, and have inoculated his his- 
trionic understanding with the germs of one of the first 
principles which the man of science has to master, but 
should he not find it convenient to become a naturalist 
at once, I trust that he will permit me to tender a word 
of advice. Should he soon again feel a yearning for con- 
troversy on matters biological, he should destroy his 
specimens and suppress his photographs. That is not 
scientific, but it is safe. 
I sincerely regret that my absence from home deprived 
me for so long of the pleasure of reading anything from 
Mr. Carleton's pen. He has often amused me by his 
writings, and I hate to miss them. 
H. F. Moore, 
Asst., U. S. Fish Commision. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
The Bass Season. 
Chicago, 111., May 10. — A cold rain to-day dampened 
the ardor of even the most enthusiastic bass fisherman, 
and as a consequence the out-bound trains carried com- 
paratively few anglers. Our bass season is not very 
flourishing at best, and no very big catches have been 
made, perhaps one of the best being that which fell to Mr. 
Charles Comly and his friend, Mr. Sweeter, of this city, 
who on last Monday caught forty-two bass in Loon Lake, 
one of the Fox Lake chain. 
The biggest fish story of the week comes in the ad- 
vertising put out by the passenger office of the Chicago, 
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway. No opportunity is at 
hand at this writing to verify the matter, which reads as 
below : 
"The Fish Commissioners of Wisconsin have been sein- 
ing Minocqua and Tomahawk lakes for msucallonge, and 
Superintendent Nevin of the State fish hatchery is author- 
ity for the statement that in one morning 122 muscallonge 
were taken in the nets, the largest weighing 102 pounds, 
and a second one 80 pounds — record-breaking weights 
for fish from inland waters. 
"The fish hatchery at Minocqua now has ready for dis- 
tribution in the Wisconsin lakes 2,000,000 muscallonge fryj 
j 3,000,000 pike fry, and two large ponds full of bass," 
These be pretty big figures — 80 and 102 pounds for 
'lunge. 
Fifteen members of the Chicago Fly-Casting Club will 
leave Chicago Wednesday evening next, by boat, en route 
to Grand Rapids, M.ich., for the tournament and fly-cast- 
ing trip which follows it. This will be a most enjoyable 
trip, and the fly-fishing for trout ought to be excellent at 
that time should the weather prove favorable. 
A fishing trip to Lauderdale chain of Wisconsin, on 
the Milwaukee & St. Paul Road, is planned by members 
of the fly-casting club for May 29. This little expedition 
will offer a pleasant way of spending Decoration Day, 
which has so far lost its original significance here as to 
become the great annual angling holiday of the city fish- 
ing folk. 
Fishing is now very good at Fox Lake, Wis., more 
especialfy for pickerel. Fred Lorenz, William Hake and 
F. C. Eschweiler took ninety-seven pickerel on that water 
last Sunday. Report comes that hundreds of pickerel 
were taken on the same day, several dozen boats being 
out engaged in the sport. E. Hough. 
Hartford Building, Chicago, 111. 
M*. Northfup's Trout Catch* 
Sayre, Pa,, May 9. — Editor Forest and Stream: Rela- 
tive to the comments of Mr. Frank G. Harris, of Clear- 
field, Pa., in the current issue of Forest and Stream 
upon my account of the trout taken by Charles Northrup 
in Shrader's Creek, I desire to say that Mr. Harris has 
evidently misapprehended the construction of the para- 
graph alluded. The statement of the catch of 150 trout in 
ten hours did not credit the distribution of time to April 
29, or to any single date, or at least it was not my inten- 
tion that it should, as I had no information on this point. 
The story came to me that the trout taken represented ten 
hours' fishing with no reference to the distribution of 
the hours to any particular diurnal progression or limit. 
In justice to Mr. Northrup, however, I take this op- 
portunity to say that the gentleman who furnished me the 
item referred to was imposed upon by the consciousless 
architect of piscatorial fables to the extent that two or 
three other members of the party to which Mr. Northrup 
belonged were deprived of a very considerable proportion 
of credit attached to faking the aforementioned 150 trout. 
In other words, the party were absent at least three days, 
and while Mr. Northrup with his little rod and fly is a 
very adroit angler, he was ably assisted in taking the 150 
trout by the amiable and active members of the contingent 
from Bradford county. 
I exceedingly regret the intrusion of an inaccuracy into 
the communication of April 29, but rejoice to note the 
existence of so prompt and vigilant a representative of 
the fish and game law as Mr. Harris appears to be, to 
whom, and to all lovers of the angle, I trust this explana- 
tion may prove sufficiently comprehensive. 
M. Chiix. 
Sunapee Lake* 
Blodgett's Landing, N. H., May 6.— The fishing in 
Sunapee Lake this season has been very good since the 
ice went out. the 9th of April, the earliest known in fifty 
years. Last week C. H. Bradford caught four salmon — 
7, 4, 634 and 8 pounds — and six square-tailed trout, from 
lYz to pounds; A. A. Martin, one salmon, S l /2 pounds, 
and ten trout, from 1 to zY pounds; Isaac Rawson, five 
salmon, 7, 8 r 4, 9, H/4 an <i 11 pounds; Perley Graves, 
three salmon, 8, g J / 2 and 11 pounds; S. D. Lewis, one 
salmon, ^zVa pounds; Dr. A. E. Pratt caught one day 
seven aureolus or golden trout, from 2^ to 5 pounds ; 
Merrill White, six square-tail trout, 1^2, 3^, 2, 4%, 3 and 
2J4 pounds; W. D. Leach, three trout, j%, 3 and 2 
pounds; F. W. Huntoon, two trout, 1^4 and 3% pounds; 
E. D. French, three trout, 2, 2*4 and 1 pounds. 
Other fishermen report equally as good catches around 
the lake. Steamers connect with all trains. 
Sunapee Lake seems to be "in it," having the advantage 
of being nearer New York and Boston than any other 
large lake in New Hampshire. F. W. Huntoon. 
The Juniata River Open to Shad. 
ThompsontowNj Pa., April 10. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: In Mr. W. H. Stevenson's article "Restricted 
Range of Shad," one or two numbers back, he stops the 
Susquehanna shad at Clark's Ferry, the mouth of the 
Juniata is there. This spring the Pennsylvania Railroad 
Co. destroyed the Millerstown dam, being, I think, the 
only dam not destroyed by flood on the whole river and 
main branches, so I can report the catch (gigged) of one 
seven-pound shad, a mile below this point, and five above 
Millerstown dam — certainly the first one above the dam 
since it was built, about seventy-eight years ago. Before 
that date five dollars per hundred was the price. Prac- 
tically there is no useful effort to protect fish in either 
the Susquehanna or Juniata. Fish dams, gigging, out- 
lines or any devices are used with impunity. 
Juniata, 
Chicago Fly-Castingf Club. 
Chicago, May 9. — The club members going to Grand 
Rapids will leave Chicago Wednesday evening, May 14. 
A fishing trip to Lauderdale is under arrangement. It is 
proposed to leave Chicago May 29, spending Friday, Sat- 
urday and Sunday there, returning Monday morning, 
H. G, Hascall, President. 
ft m 
X Take inventory of the good things in this issue „<| 
5 of Forest and Stream. Recall what a fund was jg 
^ given last week. Count on what is to come next <J 
^ week. Was there ever in all the world a more S 
Jg abundant weekly store of sportsmen's reading? 3 
Yachting Fixtures, J902. 
Secretaries and members of race committees will confer a favor 
by sending notice of errors or omissions in the following list and 
also changes which may be made in the future. 
MAY. 
17. Huguenot, Y. R. A. of L. I. S., open, New Rochelle, Long 
Island Sound. 
24. New Rochelle, Y. R. A. of L. I. S., open, New Rochelle, Long 
Island Sound. 
24. Manhasset Bay, club raceabouts, Port Washington, L. I. Sound. 
30. Harlem, Y. R. A. of L. I. S., open, City Island, L. I. Sound. 
30. Manhasset Bay, club raceabouts, Port Washington, L. I. Sound. 
30. Columbia, club regatta, Chicago, Lake Michigan. 
30. South Boston, M. Y. R. A., open and tender race, City Point, 
Boston Harbor. . 
30. Seawanhaka Corinthian, club races, Oyster Bay, J-.. I. Sound. 
30. Atlantic, club, Sea Gate, New York Bay. 
31. Seawanhaka Corinthian, Y. R. A. of L. I. S., open races, 
Oyster Bay, Long Island Sound. 
31. Wollaston, club race, Quincy Bay, Boston Harbor. 
31. Hull-Massachusetts, club, Hull, Boston Harbor. 
JUNE. 
7. Boston, Cheney cups, City Point, Boston Harbor. 
7. Atlantic, Y. R. A. of Gravesend Bay. Sea Gate, N. Y. Bay. 
7. Knickerbocker, Y. R. A. of L. I. S., open. College Point, 
Long Island Sound. 
7. Manhasset Bay, club raceabouts, Port Washington, L. I. Sound. 
7, Seawanhaka Corinthian; club, Oyster Bay, Long Island Sound. 
14. Hull-Massachusetts, club, Hull, Mass. 
14. Seawanhaka Corinthian, club race for Centre Island Cup, 
Oyster Bay, Long Island Sound. 
14. New Rochelle, Y. R. A. of L. I. S., open, New Rochelle, 
Long Island Sound. 
14. Beverly, club, Monument Beach, Buzzard's Bay. 
14. Hull-Massachusetts, club, Hull, Boston Harbor. 
14. Columbia, race to Michigan City, Lake Michigan. 
14. Boston, cruise, racing run, Boston to Marblehead, Mass. Bay. 
14-17. Boston, cruise, City Point, Marblehead, Gloucester and Hull. 
15. Boston, cruise, racing run, Marblehead to Gloucester, Massa- 
chusetts Bay, 
16. Boston, cruise, racing run, Gloucester to Marblehead, Mass- 
achusetts Bay. 
17. Atlantic, annual, Sea Gate, New York Bay. 
17. Boston, cruise, racing run, Marblehead to Hull, Mass. Bay. 
17. Hull-Massachusetts, Y. R. A., open, Point Allerton, Boston 
Harbor. 
17. Beverly, open, sweepstake, Monument Beach, Buzzard's Bay. 
17. Corinthian, club championship, Marblehead, Mass. Bay. 
21. Corinthian, club championship, Marblehead, Mass. Bay. 
21. Norwalk, Y. R. A. of L. I. S., open, South Nor walk, Long 
Island Sound. 
21. Larchmont, spring regatta, Larchmont, Long Island Sound. 
21. Seawanhaka Corinthian, club race for Centre Island cup, 
Oyster Bay, Long Island Sound. 
21. Brooklyn, Y. R. A. of Gravesend Bay, Sea Gate, N. Y. Bay. 
22. WoHaston, club, Quincy Bay, Boston Harbor. 
23. Eastern, open, Marblehead, Massachusetts Bay. 
26-28. Seawanhaka Corinthian, Y. R. A. of L. I. S., Oyster Bay, 
Long Island Sound. 
28. Beverly, club, Monument Beach, Buzzard's Bay. 
28. New York C. C, Y. R. A. of Gravesend Bay, Sea Gate, New 
York Bay. 
28. Boston, Y. R. A., open, City point, Boston Harbor. 
28. Hull-Massachusetts, club, Hull, Boston Harbor. 
28. Wollaston, Y. R. A., open, Quincy Bay, Boston Harbor. 
28. South Boston, club handicap, City Point, Boston Harbor. 
30. Bridgeport, Trial races for selection of representative for Sea- 
wanhaka cup contest, Bridgeport, Long Island Sound. 
For Cruising Yachtsmen. 
With the purpose of stimulating the interest in cruis- 
ing, and the keeping of a detailed log by cruising yachts- 
men during the season of 1002, the publishers of Forest 
and Stream offer prizes for the best stories of cruises 
submitted to be published in Forest and Stream. It is 
believed that these will form not only entertaining records 
of pleasant summer days spent afloat along our coasts and 
waterways, but will furnish information of practical value 
to other yachtsmen making subsequent cruises on the 
same waters. 
Prizes will be awarded to the three best stories as fol- 
lows : 
First prize, $50.00. 
Second prize, $30.00. 
Third prize, $20.00. 
Contributions are invited under the following condi- 
tions : 
1. The cruise must be made in waters of the United 
States or Canada in the season of 1902. 
2. The cruise must be made in a sailing yacht, power 
to be used only as an auxiliary, if at all. 
3. The story must be prefaced by a description of the 
boat. Cruises should be treated in as interesting and 
readable a way as possible, but should be practical and 
contain all possible information and data that would be of 
value to men going over the same route. A description 
of the handling of the ship in all weathers will be re- 
garded very favorably in making awards, and it is sug- 
gested to writers that an accurate account be kept of all 
incidents happening while under way. 
4. An outline chart suitable for reproduction, showing 
the course taken, must accompany each article. When 
possible, articles should be accompanied by amateur photo- 
graphs taken on the cruise, including one of the boat. 
Good photographs will be considered in making the 
awards. 
5. The story should contain about seven thousand 
words, written on one side of the paper only, and must 
be received at the office of the Forest and Stream Pub- 
lishing Company, 346 Broadway, New York city, on or 
before Nov. 15, 1902. 
Mr. T. C. Zerega has very kindly consented to act as 
judge and to make the awards. 
Mr. W. T. Benson, of Philadelphia, has had built dur- 
ing the spring at Van Sant's yard, at the Inlet, a cruising 
knockabout. She is 25ft. waterline, 35ft. over all, x^it, 
breadth. She will be known as Marjorie. 
