64 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
[Jaw. 17, 1903. 
sideration that a large portion of our northern country, 
in which lumhering operations have taken place, is 
covered with a dense second growth, in whicli still-hunt- 
ing would lie impossible. Last, but not least, objection to 
still hunting for deer in Ontario is the large number of 
hunters that are killed and wounded in the States of 
Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, and other States where still- 
hunting prevails in contrast with the absence of such ac- 
cidents in Ontario, where for several years there have 
been at least ten thousand hunters in the woods of seven 
or eight of our northern counties during our short open 
season for deer. We had better let well enough alone. 
Our chief game warden will call a halt when the supply 
of deer fails to equal the demand. Ranger. 
Venison in Maine Lumber Camps. 
New York, Jan. 7.— Editor Forest and Stream: I 
want to bring to the notice of sportsmen and more espe- 
cially those living in Maine the condition of the game 
warden force in that State. 1 have recently returned 
from my fourteenth shooting trip in the north woods, 
and am sorry to say that I found deer and grouse le.'SS 
plentiful than ever before. 
This condition is easily accounted for. The wardens_ 
throughout that section traversed by the west branch of 
the Bangor & Aroostook R. R. and the C. P. R. R. with 
one exception are a miserable lazy lot of hotel loungers. 
Their work consisted mostly of heing at the station at 
train time to examine returning sportsmen's tnmks for 
a possible hidden bird, whereas all around them illeg.il 
killing was constantly going on. 
Practically every man Hving in that section kills over 
two deer each season. I met one man on the fifth of 
October who was returning home with the fifth deer he 
had already gotten that season. This game, of course, 
was sold to commercial men going home, or to runners 
for Boston meat markets. The lumber camps practicaMy 
live on deer meat all winter. The men all hunt Sun- 
days, and it is custom-' ry for men who are going on an 
errand of any kind to be supplied with a gun by the boss 
with instructions to get something. One boss icld me that 
278 deer had been used in his camp last season. The 
camp consisted of thirty men. Probably an equal num- 
ber were wounded and left -to die by these wild shooting 
Canadian workmen. I visited several camps this trip and 
found them all using venison lavishly. Wardens seldom 
A'isit these places as they dislike the accommodations. 
Occasionally they stop over night at them when neces- 
sary. But I have never in my tramps, at which I spend 
about three months each year, heard of a single lumber- 
man being arrested for illegal shooting. There is only 
one remedy for the relief of this slaughter, that is, to 
impose a resident as well as a non-resident shooting 
license and employ competent wardens to see that every 
man with a rifle possesses one. George O. Pete. 
Proprietors of fishing resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Stream. 
Fishing for the Leaping Shark. 
Detroit, Mich., Jan. g.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
According to promise, I send you the following short 
description of fishing for leaping sharks in the waters of 
the Gulf of Mexico. . 
As I told you in a late letter, I caught my first speci- 
men of this species about the end of last October at 
Aransas Pass, Texas, but since then- 1 have landed a dozen 
more, including the longest one on record, so now I_ 
feel competent to tell your readers something about this 
fish and the method of its capture. 
As far as I know, no sportsman starts out deliberately 
to fish for leaping sharks, because they are not sufficiently 
plentiful in any one place; but they are caught occasion- 
ally on tarpon tackle when one is fishing for that king of 
all game fishes, the grande ccaille. 
It is seldom that a sportsman takes more than one 
leaping shark per day; nevertheless I landed five one 
afternoon and lost another by the breaking of a wire 
snell. 
The condition most favorable to the sport is extremely 
clear water. This is possibly because these sharks do not 
like muddy water, but more probably because, when the 
water is clear, they can see the bait from quite a distance. 
The only place on the Gulf that I know of where they 
are caught is Aransas Pass; but they surely must be 
found at other localities. Perhaps some of your readers 
will give through your columns some information con- 
cerning this point. 1 have never seen or heard of leaping 
sharks at Tampico; but they may frequent that locahty, 
notwithstanding; for I have been there only ui wniter, 
and have never made inquiry of the natives coiicerning 
them. Thev certainly leave the Texas coast on the ap- 
proach of cold weather, so must go south. It is probable 
that they were migrating from the Aransas Pass waters 
the afternoon ihatl made my big catch, as after a day or 
two later there were no more caught or seen there. 
The leaping shark is easily distinguished from all other 
kinds of sharks by its slimness and agility. Its Imes are 
the embodiment of speed, and its great tail and fins indi- 
cate immense powder for its comparatively small weight. 
In these respects the leaping shark is to the common 
"man-eater" as a rainbow trout is to a Missouri River 
catfish. , ■ J. ^ 
My largest leaping shark measured seven teet seven 
inches in fength, the previous record being less than seven 
feet Unfortunately, I neglected to measure the girth, so 
can make no close estimate of its weight; but imagine it 
to have been somewhat in excess of two hundred pounds, 
while a "man-eater" of that length would weigh probably 
twice as much. , 1. 1 j 
The leaping shark does not always leap when hooked, 
but generally does so. This large one of mine did not, 
but instead made a fierce rush that took out between three 
hundred and four hundred feet of line. It gave me a ful 
half hour of very hard fighting, and I was indeed glad 
when I landed it on the sandy beach near Point of Rocks. 
I saved it? jaws, and my boatman cut out the backbone 
to manufacture into a walking cane by running a steel 
rod through it. Such a cane, although perhaps not very 
serviceable, is certainly quaii.t and curious. 
It was my intention to send you with this letter a pho- 
tograph of a leaping shark, but 1 was unable to obtain 
one. Perhaps some day I may be more fortunate, in 
which case I shall forward you one for illustration. 
Few tarpon fishermen do justice to the game qualities 
of the leaping shark, most of them claiming that it is a 
fcul fish and not worthy of a sportsman's attention. On 
this point I must take issue with them, because, pound for 
pound, the leaping shark puts up a stitTer fight than the 
tarpon, and is much iiarder on both the tackle and one's 
nervous energy ; but it does not j ump so often nor so high 
as does the tarpon. Again, one misses the delightful 
uncertainty that always exists in handling a tarpon; be- 
cause, after the leaping shark is once hooked, it very sel- 
dom escapes except by breaking the tackle, while a tarpon 
is liable to get away even after it is almost hauled out 
of the water. 
The jump of the leaping shark is long but not high» 
and sometimes when in the air the creature spins around 
on its longitudinal axis. It has, too, a trick of twisting 
the line about its body, and, as its skin is like sandpaper 
and its tail sharp, it behooves one to use a long wire snell 
when fishing in waters frequented by the leaping shark. 
The mad, wild rushes of this fish are unequalled by 
any other fish that I have ever hooked: even the first 
run of a kingfish cannot quite compare therewith in either 
length or speed. Using a Vom Hofe No. 36 line, I have 
tried to hold a 5^4-foot leaping shark witli three brakes 
set simultaneously, and in spite of all my efforts it has 
tc-ken out fully three hundred and fifty feet of line. 
After a long run of this kind, the shark is liable to turn 
suddenly and rush back straight toward the boat about 
as quickly as it went away, thus keeping one busily occu- 
pied in reeling up the slack. 
I make a practice of shooting sharks before attempting 
to remove the hook, whether I take them ashore or not. 
This is mainly to avoid the danger to my boatman from 
teeth and tail. 
In concluding this subject, I beg to advise all sports- 
men who enjoy tackling large game fishes to give the leap- 
ing shark a trial, and to this end would suggest that a dis- 
cussion in your columns concerning its habitat and char- 
acteristics would be both interesting and valuable. 
No special tackle or apparatus is necessary for this 
sport, as the ordinary tarpon outfit will suffice, provided 
only that the wire snells have ample length. 
It has not escaped my memory that I promised you a 
paper on "Further Notes Concerning Tarpon Tackle." 
Sooner or later I shall keep this promise, but I have 
often to wait quite a while before finding the opportunity 
to write papers on sporting subjects, as my professional 
work at present demands nearly all of my time. It is 
when stranded in a hotel, as I am to-day, that the op- 
portunity for writing comes; and I shall avail myself of 
the first similar occasion to prepare the said promised 
paper. . . 
Evir since last summer I have been trying to write you 
a couple of short articles on trout fishing, one being en- 
titled, "Rainbow Trout versus Black Bass," and the other 
"Trout Fishing in Montana Waters." These papers I 
shall send you probably within a few months. 
J. A. L, Waddell. 
Random Notes on Fish. 
BY EDWARD A. SAMUELS. 
Change of Habits in Salmon. 
Of the ten species of Salmo in America but one is 
indigenous to the Atlantic coast. This fish is called the 
Salmo salar by scientists, and in common parlance it is 
known as the "salmon," "sea salmon," and the "Atlantic 
salmon." This species is usually anadromous in its 
habits, coming in from the sea in the spring and early 
summer, and ascending fresh-water rivers in which, and 
in the lakes to which they are tributary, they spend 
the summer and early autumn, until the time for spawn- 
ing arrives, this being usually in October or November, 
when the temperature of the water is lowered by cold 
and frosty weather. 
There have been, in years long since past, a large 
number of these fish which abandoned the anadromous 
habit, wholly, or in part, and instead of returning to 
the sea after the period of spawning had passed, they 
moved into large, deep lakes, where they recuperated 
and remained through the winter. 
These fish have, improperly, been called landlocked; 
but they are not and never have been prevented from 
reluming to the sea; they apparently remained in the 
fresh water from choice, or because they found the con- 
ditions as regards food, etc., such that there was no 
need of going to the sea, and the habit became fixed in 
time, so that now they never attempt to descend to 
the ocean. 
Among the so-called landlocked salmon, those which 
have for a very great many years made their home in 
the Schoodic Lakes and in the Grand Lake Stream, a 
tributary of the St. Croix River, which forms the boun- 
dary for a number of miles between Maine and New 
Brunswick, are perhaps the best known to anglers of 
all the so-called landlocked fish. The writer, as far 
back as the early sixties, made annual visits to thosi; 
waters, and the sport that he obtained there has hardly 
been excelled in any other localities. For gaminess 
and pluck tl ey were fully equal to a fresh-run grilse, and 
they were so abundant that one could take them by 
hundreds if he so desired. 
In fact. Grand Lake Stream was often visited by 
anglers "who fished for count," and some of the stories 
that were told of them at the time aroused the in- 
dignation of those who are endowed with true sports- 
men's instincts. , -r. 1 » 
Thaddeus N orris, in his "American Angler s Book, 
states that the catch by some of these parties in the 
three vears, 1856, 1857 and 1858, was by three rods, six 
days. 634 fish; weight 872 pounds. Three rods, six days, 
432 fish; weight, 642 pounds. Two rods, eight days, 510 
fish; weight. 725 pounds. The average time o£ fishing 
was four and a half hours per day. , . 
One can hardly conceive of a greater and more wan- 
ton waste than such sport (?) entailed, for, although 
most of the fish caught were returned to the water, a 
very large proportion of them died from the injuries 
they had received, and my Indian guides informed me 
that the banks of the stream were in some places cov- 
ered with decaying fish after the so-called anglers had 
completed their work. 
Now those fish in the years I have named averaged 
less than two pounds in weight, and in the sixties they 
were not much larger; their food was far from abundant 
and cannibalism was their chief resource to appease 
their hunger. Their natural history was so little known 
that they were called the "Schoodic trout," and the 
"white trout," by anglers and writers generally. 
The average size of the fish had in late years in- 
creased considerably, as will be seen by the following 
memoranda furnished the writer by Mr, \V. T. Buck, 
who supervised the work at the hatchery on Grand 
Lake Stream in 1886-7, i" which year 1 visited many of 
the principal hatcheries in the States and in the Domin- 
ion of Canada on a tour of scientific investigation, and 
witnessed the modus operandi pursued in the different 
establishments. 
Mr. Buck sa3'-s: 
*"Comparison of records shows a gradual increase in 
size of the Schoodic salmon handled at the spawning 
season, and a marked increase in the yield of eggs per 
fish: Thus, 235 males, weighed and measured in 1877, 
averaged 16.8 inches, 1.8 pounds; 247 males, weighed 
and measured in 1886, averaged 20.3 inches, 3.46 pounds; 
343 females, weighed and measured in 1877, averaged 
16.1 inches, 1.9 pounds; 505 females, weighed and meas- 
ured in 1886, averaged 20.1 inches, 3.58 pounds." 
This increase in size may be accounted for by the 
greater abundance of food that the fish have had, com- 
pared with their "short commons" of forty or fifty years 
ago. 
The food supply of smelts is now very great; in fact, 
wherever these little fish have been introduced, the 
Salmonid?e have thrived most wonderfully. 
Like the salmon, the smelt is naturally an anadro- 
mous fish, living chiefly in the ocean, but ascending the 
fresh-water streams in the spring to spawm; but if it or 
its progeny are debarred from returning to the sea it 
quickly becomes accustomed to a permanent home in 
fresh water. 
The Maine Fish and Game Commissioners, taking 
advantage of this peculiarity of habit, are introducing 
the smelts into all waters that they stock with salmon; 
in fact, for the successful establishment of the salmon 
in new waters the introduction of the smelt seems to 
be a sine qua non. 
This desideratum is set forth in one of the reports of 
the Commissioners in the following language: 
"We have known these salmon to grow to thirteen 
pounds in six years; but to obtain that size they must 
have plenty of fresh-water smelts for food, deep, pure 
water, and large lakes or ponds, with large, quick- 
running streams, and a gravelly bottom for spawning 
ground. Without these streams, they never will mul- 
tiply and be abundant. We consider it of very great 
importance to have our lakes and ponds stocked with 
the fresh-water smelt. It is th^e favorite food of the 
trout and salmon." 
As I have already stated, the Schoodic salmon are 
not landlocked, and never have been. Such a condition 
could only arise from some great convulsion of nature, 
and there is no evidence whatever of such an event 
having occurred in the lower St. Croix system. They 
always could have run down to the sea at any time, and 
until the big dam was built at Milltown, they could have 
returned up the river. 
Mr. George A. Boardman, of Calais, Me., who is 
well-known as a naturalist and angler, wrote me years 
ago: 
"I do not regard the fish a landlocked salmon, for 
the water must always have had an outlet to the sea, 
and the fish could go if they chose; and in fact, when 
I was a boy, sixty years ago, they were abundant in the 
river, even to the salt water." 
This change of habit is not peculiar to these fish, the 
•ouananiche, or winninish, of Lake St. John, P. Q., 
which is called a landlocked species, and which is pre- 
cisely the same fish as the Schoodic salmon, having 
also abandoned the sea-going habit, although the 
Saguenay River is open all the way to the St. Lawrence. 
That the fish content themselves with remaining in 
the fresli water is not to be wondered at, considering 
the immense range that is available to them. 
Lake St. John is a vast inland sea, nearly fifty miles 
in length and from twenty to forty in width. Emptying 
into it are eleven large rivers, besides many smaller 
streams. Two of the larger rivers, the Peribonca and 
Ashuapmouchouan, arc of great size and length. The 
Peribonca has been ascended about six hundred miles, 
and the other for a great distance also. So that the 
ouananiche may wander at its own sweet will, and 
never have occasion to go to the ocean to recuperate 
from the labors of reproduction. 
That this fish is a Salmo salar has been proven by 
high scientific authority. I confess I had my doubts 
concerning its identity until I examined specimens with 
considerable minuteness, and then, that tliere might be 
no doubt in my mind whatever, I visited St. Felicienne 
on the Ashuapmouchouan River, about ten miles above 
the lake at a season of the year when no fish could 
be taken at the Grand Decharge, and captured a num- 
ber, which I sent to the Museum of Comparative Zool- 
ogy at Cambridge, Mass., where they were identified 
as dwarfed specimens of Salmo salar. 
Professor Goode, the eminent ichthyologist, has 
stated that he is inclined to the view that the natural 
habitat of the salmon is in the fresh water. If such 
is the case, the sea-going habit is of course an ac- 
quired one, and those fish that abandon it simply revert 
to their original traits and instincts. 
The Pull at the Reel. 
In the Forest and Stream for Dec, 27, 1902, Mr. 
Venning states that he would like to have his angling 
readers guess the number of pounds of tension there 
•Printed in "With Fly-Rod and Camera. " . 
