70 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[JXJLY 26, 1902. 
Random Notes of an "Angler* 
The Passing of the Striped Bass. 
.That the striped bass is decreasing both in size and 
numbers no one who has followed the fish or observed 
or studied its habits, will deny. 
In the memory of all of us Avho have used the rod 
a quarter of a century, the average size of the bass was 
in earlier days much greater than it now is, and it is 
no exaggeration to state that a day's catch was then at 
least double what it is at the present time. 
The cause of this decrease cannot be attributed to 
overfishing with hook and line, for there are fewer 
englers for it now than there were then; in fact, T be- 
lieve I am safe in stating that there were double the 
number of bass anglers ten years ago than there are to- 
day. In fact, outside a few fishing clubs, such as the 
Cuttyhunk, there are but a small nnmber of fishermen 
who devote much time to this species, preferring to 
follows others which are more certain to afford satisfac- 
tory catches. Time was when there were all along the 
New_ England coast favorite localities at which fisher- 
men in parties of three or four made magnificent catches 
of this truly magnificent fish, the gamest, by all odds, 
of the salt water fishes of America, but they are mostly 
abandoned for the reason that there are no b^ass to be 
found there. 
Of course the pollution of some waters in which they 
were formerly abundant affords a sufficient explanation 
of their disappearance from those locaUties, but they 
have becorne scarce in waters which have not been con- 
taminated in any way. 
For example, Thatcher's Island, a Governmerft light- 
house station off Rockport, Essex County.. Mass., the 
most eastern point of Cape Ann, used to be a famous 
locality for bass, and a number of enthusiastic anglers 
always made it their headquarters during the fishing 
season every- year. The success they had was phenoni- 
enal, and good-sized fish, too, 15 and 20-pounders, being 
often taken, Those anglers have now. I tliink, all passed 
away, at any rate, I know of one that is left. 
They were mostly artists an^ members of the theatri- 
cal profession, and many of them bore illu&trious names, 
such as Junius JBrutus Booth, John Gilbert and Thomas 
Barry. Like the anglers, the bass have also gone from 
that locality, a very few only being taken annually; in 
fact, one might say that the catch is merely nominal, the 
total number reported by the Massachusetts Commis- 
sioners of Inland Fisheries and Game for the four years 
prior to 1901, being only 35 caught in all the gill and 
sweep nets, and the pounds and weirs of Essex County! 
In my younger days we used to fish for the striped bass 
at the tide gates of the milldam between Boston and 
Brookline, using the scarlet ibis fly mostly, but some- 
times changing to the shrimp and minnows, a sinker 
and float being used with the latter. 
At that time the fish were so plentiful, a good catch 
was the rule. 
They -were of good size, 8 and lo-pound fish being, not 
tmcommon, and I have seen an i8-pounder taken there 
with a fly-rod and rather light tackle. When one. re- 
members that the striped bass is .as gamy and active as a 
salmon, the sport that the big fellow gave can be. imag- 
ined. As the fiver became polluted by sewage and by 
the refuse of numerous mills along its course, the bass 
became more and more scarcCj. and finally they entirely 
disappeared from that locality.' 
In the Piscataqua River and in the vicinity of Bidde- 
ford Pool, Me., they were also formerly quite abundant, 
the Piscataqua River with its deep, cool and rapid tide 
being a particularly favorite abiding place with them. 
The size of the fish was in that locality much greater 
than it is at the present time, there being records of 
bass weighing 52 and 70 pounds having been taken, 
while now a lo-pounder would surprise the angler who 
caught it. 
In the waters of Nova Scotia I have never seen very 
large bass, and in the Sale des Chaleurs, where it is 
also found, I think it never attains anything like such 
a mammoth size as I have mentioned, the largest that I 
ever saw there weighing not over 5 pounds. 
In the Bale, particularly about Chatham, they are 
often quite abundant, and in the Miramichi River they 
are taken as far up the stream as "Red Bank," but com- 
paratively small sizes prevail. To show how great has 
been the decrease in numbers and size of this noble fish 
in our own waters, I will quote a portion of the evi- 
dence that was given at the great hearing in relation to 
food fishes, a report of which is given in full in Prof. 
Baird's U. S. report published in 1873. One witness, a 
Mr. Swan, stated that "About fifteen years ago, one 
Fourth of July, I trolled for bluefish while going out to 
my lobster pots and I got a striped bass that weighed 
30 pounds. After I had hauled my pots I got two more, 
one weighing 19 and the other 21 pounds. On July 
8 I went again, and after hauling my pots I cut up a 
little lobster and fixed my bait; that day I got eight that 
weighed in the aggregate 276 pounds after they were 
cleaned." 
Nathaniel Smith said: 
"There are no school bass here in the fall of the 
year. In old times, thirty or forty years ago, the bass 
were around in schools in September and would run 
until cold weather. I have caught them as late as Dec. 
10. I would get from i to 200 a day. I used mackerel 
or menhaden for bait ; I used dead bait, but of late years 
I fished with lobster bait. That would not answer, only 
when there was a heavy sea and the water was thick; 
I_ used to catch a boatload in a day in that way. I got 
isixteen one morning, four of which weighed 206 pounds, 
and the rest would weigh from 30 to 40 pounds apiece. 
Four or five years ago I could not catch any. The 
bass are very scarce now." 
Mr. J. M. K. South wick, in his argument printed in 
the same report, says: "At this writing, July 28, 1871, a 
boat is in the harbor witli 9,000 pounds of bass, the re- 
sult of one haul with a shore-seine, for which they will 
probably realize $900. One day this month one man 
caught with hook and line 1,000 pounds of bass in two 
hours! I know of a locality near Tappahannook, on the 
Kappahannock Riy^r, v^'here there is good fishing fof 
them. Have caught them there in January with troll 
lines, but they are most abundant in February. In Feb- 
ruary, 1867, I saw 6,000 pounds that had been caught 
there at one haul. There was one fish among them that 
weighed 80 pounds, the largest I ever saw. The small- 
est of this -lot would probably weigh 10 pounds." 
At the hearing the great weight of evidence was that 
the diminution in the numbers of the bass was chiefly 
attributable to the nets, pounds and weirs which were 
abundant long the shores. 
Those engines of destruction continue to exist and at 
the present time they are looked upon with great disfavor 
by those who are interested in our food and game fishes. 
In addition to these much stress has been laid on 
the rapacity of the bluefish which kill vast numbers of 
the menhaden and other fishes upon which the bass sub- 
sist. 
But most of all the menhaden fishermen are blamed 
for the mischief that has been wrought; they not only 
capture immense quantities of the favorite food of the 
bass, but they also take vast numbers of the bass them- 
selves, together with other valuable food fishes. 
^ In the 1896 Transactions of the American Fisheries 
Society, there is a paper on the "Waste of Food Fishes," 
by L. D. Huntington, ex-president of the N. Y. Fish 
Commission, in which occurs the following: 
"Mr. E. G. Blackford, the well-known fish dealer of 
Fulton Market, before same committee, stated that from 
his own knowledge every year those fishes which feed 
upon menhaden, grow more scarce, that there had been 
several instances which had been spoken of there of his 
own loiowledge where the menhaden vessels have taken 
large schools of food fish and have brought them to 
market; the very large catch of 1891, just about that 
time of the year, was principally of weakfish. Some 
four or more vessels came up to Fulton Market with a 
cargo or quantity of at least 200,000 pounds, nearly all 
weakfish, and out of that 200,000 pounds about one-quar- 
ter were marketed; the balance of these cargoes was sent 
to the factories and rendered into oil and scrap. Mr. 
Blackford fm-ther stated that in his opinion the effect 
of the great amount of fishing that is carried on for 
menhaden all along the coast breaks up the schools of 
fish which are followed by the striped bass and blue-- 
fish, and has a tendency to make these fish seek other 
feeding grounds." 
Now, if weakfish are destroyed in such great num- 
bers, there can be no doubt that bass, with similar feed- 
ing habits to theirs and moving, as a rule, in the same 
waters, south of Cape Cod, should also be captured by 
the menhaden fishermen. 
As for a remedy for the waste that is thus wrought, 
I have none to propose other than that the operations 
of the menhaden fishermen should be restricted to a 
three-mile limit from the shore. Mr. Huntington says 
of this: 
"The indiscriminate use of the purse net by the men- 
haden fishermen within the three-mile limit is an abuse 
of the rights of all citizens. * * * There should be 
proper restrictions that would be just to all. to the men- 
haden industry, as well as to millions of hardworking 
citizens who depend upon the continual food fish sup- 
ply for a livelihood, the many thousands who at times 
take fish for food for their families, the many thousands 
who, of choice, prefer to catch their supply of food fish 
from the waters adjacent to them, instead of from the 
market, as well as thousands who resort to the waters 
along our coasts for food fish as well as for recreation 
and health; the food fish should be protected within the 
three-mile limit before it is too late. If the use of the 
purse net was. properly restricted, or prohibted within 
a reasonable distance from the shores, and used only in 
waters beyond the depth of the net used, it would go far 
to stop the present Avaste and to insure a continued 
supply now so seriously threatened." 
Some idea of the destructiveness of the purse nets and 
by the menhaden fishermen may be formed when it is 
stated that a haul of one of them inclose about three 
and a half acres of water and capturing, of course, every 
fish within its limits. 
Like the salmon, which it resembles in many respects 
in its habits, it comes into the fresh water rivers and 
ponds to spawn, and it will thrive perfectly if it is per- 
manently restricted to them. 
It is a most voracious fish and a promiscuous feeder, 
accepting almost any bait that is offered. 
Its favorite food, however, is the herring or alewive, 
although it is very fond of shedder crabs, shrimp and 
minnows. 
It seems to be attracted by gaudy colors and will take 
the sqarlet ibis or other red and white fly in fresh or 
brackish water without hesitation. A bright spininng 
spoon or metal or natural squid is also readly taken. 
The rod and tackle may be either that which is 
adapted to salmon fishing, or the heavier so-called bass 
rod, shorter and stiffer than the other and better adapted 
to bait-casting. 
My best success has been with a split bamboo rod 
ten feet in length and weighing about fifteen ounces, on 
which I have used a multiplying reel carrying 100 yards 
of salmon line, the reel being placed on the grip about 
fifteen inches from the butt. 
This tackle I have used for casting menhaden bait, 
for trolling with squid, spoon or eel skin, and for still 
fishing with float and sinker. 
The tip funnel of the rod is made of cornelian and 
the guides a.re large enough to permit the line to run 
absolutely without friction. 
In still-fishing I have found that a sinker which is 
barely heavy enough to carry the bait down in the flow- 
ing tide, is preferable to a heavier one, in fact, many 
fishermen dispense with a sinker when it can be done. 
We used to have capital sport on the bridge at Ware- 
ham, Mass., using for bait either shrimp, shedder crabs 
or the belly of a soft-shelled clam. The tdie there flows 
with considerable rapidity, and on the quarter or half 
ebb it carried our bait and floats a considerable dis- 
tance; in reeling .up our lines we struck a bass at least 
one in three casts, which we considered was having very 
good success. 
Mr. Robert B. Roosevelt, in his "Game Fish of the 
North," state§ that ttie pca^llop is an excellent bait early 
in the fall. 
I have also taken many bass when using small crabs 
an inch or so in diameter for bait while fishing for 
tautog. On one occasion I took five very fine fish 
with this bait, and in a locality which I had no idea 
contained a single bass. This was in the Fore River, 
between Quincy and East Weymouth, Mass. 
On the submerged piles of the bridge which spans 
that stream, are myriads of mussels upon which the 
tautog greedily feed. 
I used the small crabs in preference to any other bait, 
and have always found that tautog will accept then' 
when they will refuse everything else. 
On this occasion, as I was moving my bait around 
which was well down toward the bottom, I felt a fierce 
tuo- quite different from the bite of the tautog and then 
my line was run out in a most lively manner. 
I saw that I had a good fish on, but was puzzled as to 
its identity until after playing it a while I brought it 
to the landing net, when I discovered that it was a 4- 
pottnd bass. 
That I was highly elated goes without saying. I sup- 
posed, however, that it was only a wanderer, and con- 
sequently had no expectation of taking any more. 
Four others, however, came to my creel, and that lo- 
cality became for a while an established bass station. 
But before the summer was ended it came to grief, for 
the authorities, wishing to deepen the channel of the 
river m order that larger vessels and coal barges might 
ascend to the wharves, blasted a number of large rocks 
which lay at the bottom. Heavy charges of dynamite 
were used, and at the discharge great numbers of fish 
arose to the surface, killed by the concussion. 
Among them were many large tautog and striped 
bass, one of the latter weighing 37 and another 32 
pounds. I doubt very much if there are any bass there 
now, although there may be, but I will assure my Bos- 
ton friends that there are a great many tautog left and 
probably there are some good-sized ones. 
Casting for striped bass with the rod is really the- 
most sportsmanlike method. Like fly-fishing, however, 
it requires considerable practice before one may become 
an adept at it. It has been described so many times 
that I will not enlarge upon it here. Casting without 
any rod is also practiced by many. The baited hook and 
sinker are whirled around above the fisherman's 
head until a proper impetus is obtained, and is then 
thrown as far into the ocean as possible, and is then 
drawn back to the fisherman, hand over hand, to be cast 
again and again until it is seized. 
Edward A. Samuels, 
[to be continued.] 
Small Flies. 
Mr. Frank M. Trafton, summering at Sharon, was^ut 
on Lake Massapoag the other evening, and brought home 
several good pickerel and a bass or two. Mr Charles S 
Robertson, of Boston, a gret lover of flv-fishing, was one 
of the many fishermen who were on hand at Grand Lake 
Stream the day the extended close-time law was off In 
order to get ahead of the rest of the crowd, he and his 
fishing companion got up at 2 o'clock in the morning on 
the opening day. The moon had not set and the weather 
was clear; they could see to cast their flies onlv bv the 
ghnt ot the moonlight. But Mr. Robertson made the catch 
ot his life, and that is saying a good deal. At breakfast 
tn-ne he had landed eighteen landlocked salmon, the united 
weight of which was forty-three pounds. All of these 
could not be kept, nor did Mr. Robertson want them, 
ihe smaller fish were returned to the water as soon as 
weighed. He says that never before has he had such fly- 
fishing. He remained for a week, and caught salmon 
e\'ery day, though the weather was cold and disagreeable 
i he fishmg begun to flag by the end of the first day, as it 
naturally must with so many anglers whipping ail the 
desirable water. 
Fly-fishermen are much interested in the recent ac- 
counts of experts using small flies for salmon and trout in 
Maine. I have lately been questioned a dozen times con- 
cerning those new flies." There is nothing new about 
them, except that they are being used for landlocked sal- 
mon and trout, and even sea salmon. They are on No 8 
to 12 hooks, and the only new feature is the small size 
Mr. R. N. Parish caught his champion landlocked sal- 
mon at the Upper Dam the other day, weighing 12 pounds 
9 ounces, on a No. 12 fly. Other experienced anglers are 
using small flies for both trout and salmon. Mr. Robert- 
son, mentioned above, used smaller flies than ever at 
Grand Lake Stream ; scarcely larger than No. 8. Bangor 
salmon anglers are using smaller flies. The bow of a 
No. 12 hook is but three-sixteenths of an inch across, and 
the hook itself is but one-half inch long. The whole fly 
on a No. 12 hook, is almost covered by a dime, and com- 
pletely hidden under a nickel. A No. 8 hook is but three- 
quarters of an inch long, and the bow is but a quarter 
of an inch across. The only question concerning these 
dnninutive flies is the strength of the hook and snell to 
which it is tied. Both must be first class, and capable of 
standing a reasonable strain. No light fly-rod in the 
world will stand more than these hooks and snells will 
hold; say a strain of four or five pounds. Once a large 
fish is hooked, the elasticity of the rod, if in the hands 
of a skillful angler, keeps him hooked. If he makes a 
run, the reel takes care of that, if properly handled. The 
fish is carefully drawn, all the time on the elasticity of 
the rod, or humored with the reel when he runs, plunges 
or leaps, till he gives up in utter exhaustion. What 
greater skill than this; a ten-pound fish brought to net on 
a five-ounce rod, hooked on a No. 12 fly? Mr. Robertson 
mentions a singular experience or two. One salmon 
jumped squarely into the boat, when being drawn up to 
the net. Another plunged and went under the boat, com- 
ing up on the other side. The line was quickly passed 
around the bow of the boat, when the salmon leaped out 
of water again, striking the arm of the guide. This dis- 
engaged the hook and the salmon was free. 
Special. 
All communications intended for Forest and Stream should 
always be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co., New 
York, and jiot to any individual connected with the paper, 
