June 13, 1903.] 
FOREST •AND STREAM. 
469 
at the delightful little irout ponds that are so abundant 
in the lower Penobscot, West Branch region, Rainbow, 
Daisey and Kidney furnish some especially fine strings. 
In the party were Wm. W. White, of Lowell; Peter 
Allison, of Bristol, England, who crosses the Atlantic 
each year to go on this fishing trip with this sime 
party; Wm. J. Leckie. George W. Brown, Wm. Fol- 
lett, Charles P. Hall and J. L. Richards, of Newton, 
Mass. 
Among the successful parties to visit outlying ponds 
and streams from this city was the Kimball party, ar- 
ranged by R. S. Kimball, and including John Webster 
and American Express Agent D. W. Webber, besides 
a fourth angler. They went to the Passadumkeag, go- 
ing to the stream via Enfield and fishing up, instead of 
down, as many parties do. They caught 250 trout, 
which satisfied them all that the Passadumkeag was 
what its admirers claim, the finest trout stream in the 
country. 
A nearer stream, but not, perhaps, quite as easily 
reached, is Leighton Brook, 33 miles from this city 
by team. Elmer Archer and Galen Kingsbury, and 
John H. Piper and F. C. Ball made up two parties that 
fished that brook Memorial Day, and between them 
they took out 425 trout during their stay, the first- 
named couple catching 220 of them. 
Already canoeing parties arc venturing upon the 
waters of the great north country to get the advantages 
of the outing before the flies and mosquitoes get too 
numerous, and while the early fishing is at its best. 
Walter T. De Plaven, M. D. Boyne, and IT. P. Wallis, of 
Brooklyn, N. Y., are on a quite extended trip down the 
Allegash. 
Senator Quay arrived at Greenville this week in the 
Pullman car ''Rambler," accompanied by a party of 
friends, and was joined there by his five guides from the 
Ox Bow region, who were with him last year when he 
made the same trip. They took the steamer to the head 
of the lake, and at the other end of the carry put tlieir 
canoes into the Penobscot for one of the finest canoe trips 
in the northern country. They will go down the Penob- 
scot and through the Allegash to Churchill Lake, where 
the Allegash waters will be left and, by brook and carry. 
Spider Lake will be made, and this will be headquarters, 
whence, when the outing is about over, the canoe trip 
down the Aroostook will be made, leaving the canoe for 
the last time at either Ox Bow or Masardis. Senator 
Quay's cuests included State Senator Walter Merrick, of 
Philadelphia; Stephen P. Stone, of Pittsburg, and Capt. 
Ben Sooey, of Atlantic City. 
Secretary E. C. Farrington, of Augusta, has made a 
partial announcement of tlie plans for the annual gather- 
ing of the Maine Sportsmen's Fish and Game Association 
and friends at Kineo. July 6 to 8, inclusive. The principal 
topics announced for discussion are whether summer 
campers and others, going into the woods in close season, 
shall be permitted to carry rifles with them ; whether there 
shall be further restrictions on the killing of deer by 
permitting the killing of one doe only, and the killing of 
fawns prohibited. It has also been intimated that the 
question of setting aside, a tract of land for a State game 
preserve, in which no fish or game shall be permitted 
killed at any time, would be talked over at this gathering 
of sportsmen, but it was not included in the announce- 
ment. 
There is quite a long list of sports, including a bateau 
race, double and single canoe races, portage canoe race, 
log rolling and greased pole contests, tilting contest and 
a special guides' rifle contest. Prizes will be awarded to 
the person who catches the largest fish; who catches the 
largest and second largest square-tailed trout on the fly, 
casting; the woman who catches the largest square-tailed 
trout; all the fish to be caught and presented to Presi- 
dent Judkins or one of his clerks during the three pro- 
gramme days of the outing. 
Salmon fishing at the Bangor Pool, where there ought 
to be more fish to catch, has not been as hrisk as the 
habitues of that pool would like. Three have been taken 
there during the week, the largest being landed this after- 
noon by J. H. Peavey. It weighed just 20 pounds. When 
one knows that hundreds have been taken during the 
season in the weirs, and that of that number at least 400 
have been purchased by the United States Govcrimient for 
propagative purposes at the Craig's Brook hatchery, it 
seems as if the weirs must have absolute control of the 
river, or nearly that, and that the river will soon be empty 
of its salmon, the greatest game fish caught in fresh 
water. Between the weirs which catch the great majority 
of the fish entering the river and the pulp niills which 
have a decidedly bad influence on those few which are 
permitted to try and pass them to the spawning beds, 
the Sal mo salar of the Penobscot seems doomed to ex- 
tinction. Herber t W. Rowe. 
Food of the Whitefish* 
In the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural 
History for 1897, and again in my Catalogue of the Fishes 
of New York. 1903, page 228, I mentioned a female of the 
common whitefish which was sent from Canandaigua 
Lake, New York, June 17, 1896, by Mr. James Annin, 
Jr. The fish had in its stomach numerous small shells 
of several genera. These shells have been identified for 
me by Prof. W. M. Rankin, of Princeton University, as 
representing the following species : 
Ainnicola limosa (Say.) 
Valvata tricarinata (Say.) 
Pisidium abditum (?) 
Of these three genera Ainnicola w^as taken in 
abundance, while the specimens of the other two were 
present in small ninnbers only. 
The largest of these Pisidium shells are scarcely more 
than one-eighth of an inch in length, while the Amnicola 
are very much smaller. 
The common whitefish above referred to belongs to the 
same species which developed a singular habit of feeding 
upon live killifish in the New York Aquarium in 1S96. 
It was considered a remarkable change of habit at the 
time, for the fish has a stomach specially adapted for 
disintegrating small shells, its walls in the individual sent 
by Mr. Annin having been more than one-fourth inch 
thick. In natural surroundings the fish is a bottom 
feeder; but in the aquarium it learned to catch live min- 
nows in any part of the tank. Tarleton H. Bean. 
Fish and Fishing. 
opening of the Salmoa Season. 
Salmon have made their appearance for some weeks 
past in the Bale des Chaleurs and also in the estuaries 
of some of the rivers flowing into the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence. At first they were taken for a few days very freely 
by the net fishermen, though for some time past, to the 
despair of these latter and to the delight of the anglers, 
the weather has proved very unfaA'orable to netting, and 
it is probable, therefore, that rather more fish than usual 
will enter the riA^ers on their way to their spawning 
grounds. A number of members of the Restigouche Sal- 
mon Club Avere expected at the club house at Metapedia 
about the 8th or loth of June, and from the fact that a 
carload of fish boxes have already been prepared for the 
club this spring, I imagine that the members are antici- 
pating a good season's catch. 
The amount of unleased salmon water in this country 
is growing less every year, and now another north shore 
river has been disposed of by the Government. This is 
the Olomonasheebou, a distant stream, Avide and shallow, 
and in the early part of the season aft'ording excellent 
sport, containing, as it does, large numbers of both sal- 
mon and sea trout. It has been leased bj^ Sir Charles 
Ross, the manufacturer of the Ross rifle, for $350 a year. 
Only for being so comparatively difficult of access it 
Avould doubtless lease for three or four times as much. 
Mr. Ivers W. Adams, with his two sons and Mr. Henry 
Sampson, of Boston, left here last Thursday by steamer 
for their fishing camp on the far-famed Moisie, and Mr. 
Waller Brackctt reached here on Saturday on his way 
to his .salmon pools and summer studio, on the Ste. Mar- 
guerite. Among the earliest salmon fishermen to arrive 
on their river Avere Messrs. Stikeman, I. H. Stearns, and 
Dr. F. W. Campbell, all of Montreal, who fish Chamber- 
lain Shoals on the Restigouche. The streams are all so 
low for want of Avater that unless we soon have rain the 
salmon fishing season Avill be a very short one, especially 
upon the North Shore streams. The short and rapid 
course of the streams, as compared Avith those upon the 
south shore of the St. Lawrence, is responsible for the 
shorter season of fishing in these rivers, except in very 
rainy seasons. They rise tremendously in times of flood, 
but fall very rapidly after their ordinary level is reached 
again. 
I liaA'^e reason to hope that friends who are about to fish 
some of the North Shore rivers Avill take the trouble this 
season to experiment Avith night fishing for salmon that 
Avill not rise during the day. I knoAv that- some of the 
fishermen on the Grand Cascapedia have had good suc- 
cess with night fishing, and friends of mine in Scotland 
claim to have done the same. On one of the Scotch rivers 
Mr. W. P. Campbell recently killed two good fish at mid- 
night on a large black-dose. Here in Canada the night 
ilies which have met Avilh any reported success have been 
light in color. Dark flies are considered the best at night 
for salmon fishing in parts of Scotland. They can scarce- 
I3 be too large, nor need the tackle to be at all fine. 
Fishermen and Fires, 
At present Avriting forest fires are ravaging the whole 
of Quebec's north country. No living man remembers 
to have seen them so scA'ere before or to have covered so 
large an extent of countrj'. As scarcely a drop of rain 
has fallen here for the last nine Aveeks, everything is ex- 
ceptionally dry. Many of the rivers are unusually low. 
Scores of fishermen haA'e been driven out of the Canadian 
Avoods during the last three weeks, either by the existence 
of forest fires or by the dread of them. Many of them 
Avere burned out of their fishing camps, and in some cases 
liad to take to the Avater to escape the flames. The pretty 
railway station of Triton, on the line of the Quebec and 
Lake St. John Railway, has been destroyed, though the 
beautiful club house near by Avas fortunately saved. The 
Press Fish and Game Club of Quebec, the Stadacona and 
the Iroquois Clubs have been less fortunate. All the main 
club houses of these clubs haA'e fallen victims to the de- 
vouring clement, and so haA^e a munber of camps on the 
Jacques Cartier Club's limits and others on the shore 
of Lake Edward, including that of Mr. Odell. The hotel 
at Lake Edward has been fortunately saved, and so have 
been the buildings of the Metabetchouan and Tourilli 
Clubs. In many other parts of the country, too, where 
extensive bush fires have recently raged, fishermen Avho 
were in camp had a narrow escape for their lives, having 
had to take to their canoes and to paddle out on to the 
lake. One of the results of these fires has undoubtedly 
been to drive numbers of Avild animals out of the Avoods. 
The fishermen Avho Avcre burnt out of the club house of 
the Iroquois Fish and Game Club, as just related, saAV 
hundreds of rabbits racing down the railwaj' track some 
distance in advance of the fire, and bears, moose and red 
deer, and even a Canadian lynx have made their appear- 
ance quite close to the city of Quebec. Edgar W. 
Anthony, a thirteen-year-old angler of Boston, Avas cross- 
ing a portage in advance of his father and other friends, 
when he came suddenly upon a bear, Avhich hurried off 
ahead of the party and took to the water at the end of 
the portage. This Avas on the territory of the Laurentiau 
Fish and Game Club in the St. Maurice district. Young 
Anthony had the good luck the same day to hook and 
land a gray or lake trout weighing 21 pounds, on a troll. 
Ouananiche are Plentiful. 
OAving probably to the absence of rain, the fishing for 
ouananiche opened earlier than usual this year. EA^er 
since about the isth of May the fish haA^e been rising very 
freely to the fly in the mouths of some of the rivers, and 
also about the southern shore of Lake St. John. Several 
fish weighing betAveen four and five pounds each Avere 
tsken in one day from the Metabetchouan, and eighteen 
or tAventy fish have been killed to a single rod in one 
morning in the pool at the mouth of the Ouiachouan, 
Avhile a dozen farmers were making good catches with 
bait at the same time from the raiR'ay bridge at the 
mouth of the stream. It is a rather remarkable fact, hoAv- 
ever, that as soon as the Avind veers around to the east, 
the fish cease to rise. The fishing ought to be good, how- 
ever, by the 15th inst. in the Grand Discharge, ^ 
Some very large catches of trout have been made dur- 
ing the last few days in Lake Edward by bait-fishermen, 
but the best of the fly-fishing is only commencing, because 
of the continuance of the cold weather. The members of 
the Metabetchouan Fish and Game Club have made good 
catches with the fly, however, Mr. Bishop taking nearly 
forty pounds' weight in one morning's fishing. Dr. Por- 
ler and his party from Bridgeport, Conn., have also had 
excellent sport, and so has Dr. Zimmerman, of Phila- 
delphia. The Laurentide Club lakes are furnishing capi- 
tal fly-fishing just now to a number of Quebecers, and 
among American sportsmen who have recently shared in 
it are Messrs. Curtis, of Round Lake, N. Y. ; Boynton 
and Hayes, of New York, and H. Veeder, of Hartford, 
Conn. E. T. D. CHAMBERS. 
Quebec, Canada, June 6. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Sparta District. 
Mr. D. J. Hotchkiss. editor of the Fox Lake Repre- 
sentative, Fox Lake, Wisconsin, writes the following re- 
garding the recently mentioned Sparta trout district of 
Wi.sconsin : 
"Your little pointer on the LaCrosse River and Sparta 
a Aveek ago touched me in a tender spot, and it made me 
homesick. I used to live at Sparta several years ago, 
and have fished all those creeks and streams there. It 
set me off so much that I just had to dig out Saturday 
night and go up there for a day Avith the trout. I Avent 
out with Capt. Frank French, an old time friend, and, by 
the Avay, a boy Avho made a great record in the Philippine 
war, Avhose company rescued Gilmore, and who has many 
other daring deeds and several medals of honor to his 
credit. We drove up some eight miles above Sparta and 
put in the LaCrosse River Avith a boat, fishing down 
stream. We got into the Avater about lo A. M., my train 
being delayed in reaching the city, and Ave fished hard and 
faithfully until about 7 o'clock at night, but were only 
successful in getting nine trout, running from six to ten 
inches long. The Avater was very high and somewhat 
roily, and the day Avas decidedly cold, Avith a strong 
east Avind Avhich 3^ou know is a hoodoo for fishing, Avhich 
accounts in part for our poor luck. We tried the fly first, 
as Ave Avished to be sporty and fish right, but could not 
get a raise. Then Ave tried grasshoppers, dead ones, but 
the trout did not fancy that feed, not being fresh enough, 
probably, and would haA^e none of it. Then Ave got down 
to the plebian angleworm and caught every trout we got 
on that bait, but they did not care particularly for them, 
and it Avas only after hard fishing and tantalizing Avork 
in rumiing the bait over and over the holes that Ave could 
get them to touch it at all. There is lots of feed coming 
in with the high water, and they are not hustling much 
for feed. Before the cold Avet weather set in the boys 
Avere getting a few nice trout, and several handsome 
strings haA'e been taken, but for the past two or three 
Aveeks the fishing was poor. I Avanted to remain and try 
them again, but Avas very busy at home and the Aveather 
Avas still unfavorable Monday, so I returned home. Hoav- 
ever, I got a taste of the sport and felt much relieved in 
my longing for the old sport in the Sparta country caused 
by your little item. Perhaps later on, when the Aveather 
gets settled again, I may run up and try them again, but 
at present I shall have to be satisfied with our OAvn 
fishing here. 
'"By the Avay, isn't it about time you paid me that 
promised visit Avhen you Avere going to come up and help 
me harvest my bass crop? They are biting fairly Avell 
now, and several nice ones have been caught, though I 
haven't been able to get out among them myself yet. I 
shall be OA-er my rush in a Aveek or so, and then, if the 
weather gets favorable, I shall try and have some sport 
Avith the bass and pipke, and would be glad to have you 
drop up and help me out. Can give you some good sport 
with the big-mouths." 
The Trout and the Goat. 
A gentleman Avho has recently been fishing the Pigeon 
River, out of Wolverine, Wis., Avrites me to-day, inclosing 
a bit of pebble Avhich would Aveigh perhaps three-fourths 
of an ounce and Avhich measures three-fourths of an inch 
over its greatest diameter and half an inch in Avidth. He 
says: "Inclosed find a small pebble stone, Avhich T 
found in the stomach of a tAveh-e-inch speckled trout 
Avhich I caught in the Sturgeon River yesterday. It Avas 
a female fish, quite fat and in good condition. I broke 
a small piece off one corner of the stone. I have some- 
times found sticks, Aveeds and grass in the stomachs of 
trout, but never before found a pebble stone." 
Close examination Avould seem to prove that the trout 
at times somewhat resembles the North American billy- 
goat in his habits. I haA'e often found them Avith their 
stomachs literally distended Avith Avhat appeared to be 
black mud. This I think they take while feeding upon 
the larA'se of the different caddis flies. The other day 
Avhen Mr. Harris and I Avere fishing together over in 
Michigan, Ave paused for a time in the heat of the day to 
rest ourseWes on certain inAating rocks. Looking into 
the Avater at our feet, we noticed Avhat seemed to be 
pieces of black. Avater-soaked sticks, each from an inch 
to two inches in length. Examination proved these to be 
the cases of the caddis grub. They were apparently fabri- 
cated out of black and almost rotten wood or bark, but 
attached to them Avere small pieces of sand and tiny peb- 
bles. Breaking open these cases Ave found ensconced in 
each a grub about an inch in length. Any trout fisher- 
man is familiar with this sort of thing, and knows that 
Avhen bottom food of this kind is abundant trout are not 
so apt to rise. Of course the trout has his mind set on 
the worm inside of the case, and if he has to swallow the 
case to get at the Avorm, v-erj' Avell. I imagine that my 
informant's trout AA'as going after a certain fat tidbit of 
this sort and regarded the pebble simply as an incident 
in the operation. 
For any fisher Avho is not familiar with the appearance 
of these caddis cases, I may say that he is apt to pass 
them over Avithout careful examination, as they seem to 
be simply bits of the flotsam of the stream. Yet if he 
will Avatch closely along the bottom, he may see one of 
these black looking "stick baits" begin to craAvl, even up 
stream against the current. The head end of the g^se i| 
