Aug. 23, 1902.] 
FOREST AND * STREAM. 
147 
Fish and Fishing. 
w ' 
Saw Mills vs. Fish Protection. 
The recent action of the Maine judge who granted a 
perpetual injunction against no fewer than forty-six saw 
mills and three pulp mills, forbidding the proprietors to 
throw the refuse of the mills into the Kennebec or any of 
its tributaries, might be repeated with good effect in many 
parts of Canada, where the laws forbidding the con- 
tamination of streams by sawdust or other mill refuse 
. have been set at open defiance by numbers of mill men. 
Many of those operating establishments on the Ottawa 
River have been great transgressors in this respect, and 
at last, wdien their continued violation of the law 
began to produce its deadly result, the nuisance has been 
to a certain extent modified. I know rivers within, a few 
miles of the city of Quebec which contained salmon up to 
a few years ago, but which not a single fish now enters 
because of the pollution of the water. They order these 
things better in New Brunswick, where the law requiring 
the burning of sawdust is strictly enforced. 
Increased Supply of 'Whitefish. 
Reports from the Great Lakes are to the effect that the 
catch of whitefish in- the Georgian Ba}' has been better 
than for the last fifteen years, and the fishermen are re- 
joicing at present indications of a permanent increase in 
the supply of this important commercial fish. Two- rea- 
sons are a'dvanced for this increased catch. One is the 
provision introduced into the Provincial law and licenses 
some three years ago, making it illegal to capture white- 
fish and lake trout under two pounds in weight, which has 
enabled a greater number of whitefish to come to maturity 
and to reproduce their kind. The other is the prohibition 
of the export of Canadian logs to the United States, which 
has been enforced for the last two or three years. At 
first sight there would seem to be no connection between the 
trade in logs and the supply of whitefish. Under the old 
condition of affairs, however, the large number of logs 
towed from Canada to American ports, especially by^ way 
of Georgian Bay, resulted in ar large accumulation of 
bark in the waters of the bay, and especially upon the 
feeding grounds of the fish. Marked improvements have 
also followed the planting of fry in various parts of the 
Great Lakes, and large catches of whitefish off Inver- 
huron, in Lake Huron, where only solitary specimens of 
the fish have been seen for many years past, is attributed 
to the deposit of fry at Kincardine some years ago. 
To Dye Casting Lines. 
A short time ago I was comparing salmon fishing tackle 
with a gentleman from Galway, who has fished most of 
the Irish salmon rivers, and many on this side as weU. 
The various shadings of his casting lines attracted my 
attention, and he was kind enough to give me his simple 
recipe for staining the gut. Instead of using ink he boils 
the outside skins of onions for his dye, or pours hot water 
on the peel, and when it cools, bathes the gut in the 
solution. If the casting line should not be dark enough 
after one- bath, it is given another. It is useful to have 
castings of different shades when setting out for a salmon 
river, for it is almost always impossible to know what 
color the water may be found in, or how much it may 
vary during one's stay on its- banks by the influences of 
freshets or continued hot weather. 
Where Salmon Take Bait. 
As almost always happens when the relative merits of 
salmon fishing in Europe and America are discussed, the 
gentleman from Galway and the writer soon fell to talk- 
ing of the apparent difference in the feeding habits of 
the salmon of European and of eastern American coastal 
streams. An American angler would as soon think of 
fishing for sturgeon with a fly as to endeavor to take 
salmon in the fresh water of a Canadian river with bait. 
Yet I have met and talked with numbers of English 
anglers who appear quite puzzled at the fact that there 
is no bait-fishing in America for Salmo salar, as there 
certainly is m the fresh-water habitat of the sarrie fish in 
Great Britain. In the Irish waters fished by Mr. Mul- 
holland — the gentleman already referred to — he tells me 
that the most successful baits for salmon are worms, 
shrimps and small spoons, the fresh shrimps being a 
particularly killing bait. Mr. Mulholland was very care- 
ful, too, to have me understand that European salmon 
take the baits above mentioned, far above tidal or salt 
water, or even brackish water. It is not very strange 
that this experience of British anglers, in taking salmon 
freely with bait, should strengthen the belief, which so 
many of them now^ hold, that Salmo salar fares sumptu- 
ously every day, whether in fresh water or in salt. When 
worm'S or shrimps are carefully thrown into a European 
salmon pool in which the movements of the fish can be 
observed, they may at once be seen nosing and often swal- 
lowing the food. It is a part of the theory of Mr. Mul- 
holland and of other British anglers who' share his views 
as to the feeding of salmon in fresh water, that these fish 
expel the contents of their stomachs upon being hooked 
or otherwise interfered with, exactly as black bass have 
been observed to do when hooked in clear water. 
More About Whitefish. 
From information which has lately come into my pos- 
session, it would seem that the taking of whitefish lipon 
a fly-hook in northern waters is not quite so novel a 
performance as some people have imagined. Trolling for 
them in the early spring near the surface of the water, as 
mentioned to me some time ago^ by Mr. J. W. Titcomb, 
is by no means uncommon in some of the Northern 
States, and now my very good friend, Dr. John Duncan 
Quackenbos, the well-known authority on the fishes of 
North and Eastern America, writes me that thirty years 
ago he took whitefish on a fly in the Mettomee River be- 
low the falls; the fly used being a small black one. The 
Mettomee flows through Granville, N. Y.. and discharges 
irto Lake Champlain. That the success of this and simi- 
lar experiments was not very generally known until com- 
paratively recent times, is proved, I think, by the fact 
that the late Mr. "Cheney, in his work on the fishing in 
and about Lake Champlain. makes no mention of-^the 
taking of these- fish oh the fly, though he does, report, on 
page 253 of "Lake:- Champlain and Its Shores," by Murray 
and Cheney, that "it is not so unusual for wliitefish to 
take a baited hook as it might be supposed." 
I have to thank Dr. MacCallum, of London, Ontario, 
for correcting the report of Dr. Bensley, recently quoted 
by me from the report of the Ontario Department of 
Fisheries, upon the identity of the so-called new white- 
fish of Lake Simcoe. Of course there can be no better 
authorities than Dr. II. M. Smith, of the United States 
Fish Conimiss ion, and Dr. Evermann, as to the correct 
classification of the whitefishes, and it is interesting to 
note in this connection that Coregonus richardsonii, 
which, accordng to Dr. MacCallum, they declare the speci- 
men sent_ to them to be, is described by Dr. Evermann 
himself, in his monumental catalogue of the fishes of 
North and Middle .A-merica, prepared in collaboration 
with Dr. Jordan, to be "a doubtful species, perhaps iden- 
tical with Coregonus kennicotti, or possiblv with Core- 
gonus nelsonii." E. T. D. "Chambers. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Sjccessfol Grayling Trip In Michigan, 
Chicago, 111., Aug. 2.— In time past I believe I have 
chronicled my ambition to one day take a grayling. My 
angling experiences in this part of the world came long 
after the grayling had ceased to exist in the sporting 
equation. For many years we have heard that the gray- 
Img is extinct in the waters of Michigan, where in the 
recent memories of man it fairly swarmned. The best 
of anglers for a dozen years last past can scarcely report 
a grayling a year, no matter how extensive their fishing 
in the State of Michigan. Scientists have admitted that 
the species was extinct or doomed to early extinction, 
and sportsmefl have ceased to hope any further experi- 
ences with the fish which once so delighted them. 
Within the past year or so, I have been able to report 
some instances which would lead one to believe that the 
grayling is not altogether extinct in Michigan, and that 
with proper care it could be retained indefinitely as one 
of the sporting fishes of that State. In an issue of 
Forest and Stream of last May I reported the catch of 
forty grayling made by a gentleman on some unknown 
stream in northern Michigan. The name of this angler 
I could not learn, but there was no doubt of the authen- 
ticity and extent of his catch. Later, I heard of a catch 
of grayling made by Mr. C. H. Davis and Maj. Farnham 
Lyon of Saginaw, in July of last year. These same gen- 
tlemen made another trip this spring to some unknown 
water, and again they came out with grayling. I heard 
of a few grayling being taken in the Little Manistee, 
and of still fewer in the Au Sable tributaries. I heard of 
the ineffective attempt of Mr. W. B. Mershon of Sag- 
inaw, to induce the Legislature of the State of Michigan 
to close the upper twenty miles of the Manistee River, 
making of it a grayling preserve. It was stated by many 
anglers that a few grayling, among those many smaller 
ones, had been seen in the Manistee. (This stream is not 
so good a grayling stream as it is a trout stream. It is 
hoped by many Michigan anglers that the Legislature 
will yet es^tablish a preserve of this nature.) 
So much for all the grayling data available up to the 
past week. My Saginaw friends had made mysterious 
threats about a grayling in my behalf. All at once came 
the invitation to get ready to start. Mr. C. H. Davis 
was this time the engineer of the party, and the latter was 
to consist of his friends, Mr. W. B. Mershon. Maj. 
Lyon and myself. Destination unknown. "Come! Come 
quick! Keep quiet and you will get your grayhng." 
This was the bill of advice. 
It is only fair to say that the predictions of my Saginaw 
sponsors were more than fulfilled. I got my first gray- 
ling, and got several others. The party of four rods "in 
all killed numerous grayling. I am here to say now that 
the fish is not extinct in at least one stream in the State 
of Alichigan, that this is perhaps the only stream where 
it has any chance whatever, and that in all likelihood 
another two years will see its finish even in those re- 
rnote waters. It would be obviously unfair to hasten 
his finish by publishing the location of this stream, es- 
pecially as I went under pledge of secrecy; and as a 
guest has no more privileges than those accorded by his 
host, I can only refer inquiries to Mr. Davis and Mr. 
Mershon, much as I would like to give all the readers of 
Forest and Stream the benefit of my own investiga- 
tions. 
Far In the Woods. 
We left Saginaw on Friday evening, July 25. aod 
reached our destination far up in the south peninsula of 
Michigan on the morning of the 26th. That is to say, we 
reached our railroad town. Thence we drove something 
like thirt}^ miles overland, across a sand}' wilderness, 
where for twenty-five miles we did not see a house nor a 
settlement. I presume this is about as far as any one 
can get from a railroad in the State of Michigan. We 
were between the railroads and in the heart of what- 
ever wilderness may be said to exist now in that region. 
It is a wilderness of sandy barrens and slashed off pine 
lands and scattered clumps of Norways still untouched. 
In the middle of it we found a mile or so of untouched 
forest, mostly hemlocks and Norways, a magnificent and 
beautiful vision of the primeval forest. I cannot picture 
its grandeur and beauty. Our road took us through 
what is without doubt the grandest hardwood forest in 
the West. Such maples and elms are not to be found 
anywhere else in this part of the world. 
The Stream. 
So at last, well on in the evening, we reached our 
destination. A beautiful vision of a winding, rippling 
stream came upon our view. We paused in front of a 
deep, bright pool, and decided here to pitch our camp. 
It was a beautiful spot, and here we passed four as pleas- 
ant days as ever have fallen to ray own experience. 
The Saginaw crowd go well equipped, and practically 
equipped, when they are on one of their sporting expe- 
ditions. We had in all'four tents, one for the men, one 
big fly tent for a dining room, and two sleeping tents. 
The latter tents were made of water-proofed silk, and 
one of them, a gift by Mr. Davis to the Saginaw crowd, 
was about 14 feet square by o feet high, forming a wide 
room, the sweet interior of which was very comfortable 
indeed. The whole tent rolled into v<ery small com- 
pass. Then there were sleeping bags and air mat- 
tresses, folding cook stoves, aluminum dishes, and all 
sorts of things delightful to the camper out. Harry, the 
helper of the Saginaw crowd, was on hand of course, and 
we had with us two splendid woodsmen, George King 
and George Higgins, both of whom are old pines woods- 
men and well posted in this region, as we were later to 
discover. With this force we soon had things in com- 
fortable shape. We did not find the mosquitoes and 
black flies very bad, the days were not too warm, the 
nights were not too cold, and everything was delightful 
in the extreme. 
The First Grayling. 
But I run slightly in advance of my story. Pray you, 
believe me, brothers, that if you want anything in all this 
world it shall be yours, provided that you want it badly 
enough and follow it sternly enough. For years I have 
been wanting a buffalo, a grizzly, a moose and a gray- 
ling. I got my buffalo when they were nearly all gone. 
I will get my grizzly some time, and my moose — that is 
to say, the rest of my moose. Also I got my grayling! 
I caught him on the second cast I made in the little 
river. 
In the pool in front of our camp we saw fish rising. 
"Get your rod together," said Major Lyon. "You are 
just as hke to get a grayling here as any other place." 
We all four of us put together our rods, and Mr. Davis, 
standing on the corner of the pool furthest from me, 
took out two or three trout. "Now cast across that pool 
under that tree," said Major Lyon, "and see what you 
can do." I had on tvvo flies, a No. 10 Beaverkill and 
a No. ID Wickham's-fancy. I made one cast over the 
pool to straighten the line, and with the next dropped 
the flies in the place indicated by Major Lyon. Instantly 
there was a double flash of white. The lower fish missed, 
but the upper one struck the Wickham's-fancy, and in a 
moment I knew that my ambition was on the point of 
lealization, provided only that I was careful. I had 
been warned many times of the tenderness of the gray- 
ling's mouth. Be sure I did not need Major Lyon's ad- 
vice. I took no chances. Very gently I kept the line 
tight as the fish started across the pool. I did not crowd 
him when he jumped once, twice and three times, nor 
force him when he ran. At last I quietly led him into 
shallow water, and there we had him, a beautiful picture, 
plainly visible above the sands. We called for a landing 
net, but none was forthcoming. At last, fearing some- 
thing might happen, I gently lifted the captive out on the 
grass. Then there were whoops of exultation. I am sure 
that every one of- those gentlemen was gladder than 
myself that I had caught my grayling, and done it so soon 
and so easily. This indeed was one of the purposes of 
the trip. 
My fish was a beautiful, splendid, iridescent creature, 
bearing upon his back the banner of the Stars and 
Stripes, the sweetest flag that ever floated over land or 
sea. The sunlight played strange pranks on his shining 
sides as I held him in my hands. It was a fish 8 or 9 
inches long, not a mammoth grayling to be sure, but yet 
a grayling. 
This taking of half a dozen fish in one bend of the 
river even before we had camp finished set everybody 
in good humor. "If this keeps up," said Mr. Mershon, 
"we'll do a lot of business with these fish before we quit." 
It did keep up to greater or less extent, and we had a de- 
lightful trip all the way through. 
The Fishing. 
After lunch on the first day Major Lyon -and Mr. 
Davis went up stream a little way, while Mr, Mershon 
and I worked down stream. In this wild country of 
course one has to be careful where he goes, for the 
river runs through a great deal of swamp, and a Michi- 
gan fishing stream is by no means an easily accessible 
proposition for the most part. Mr. Mershon and I cut 
off our experiences a bit earlier than we- might other- 
wise have done, and left the stream in the early dusk, 
hopeful of finding a possible pathway back to camp. We 
found the fish suddenly gone off their feed after the 
fashion of trout and grayling in general. I turned over 
a couple of grayling which I did not fasten. I think 
Mr. Mershon did not have any grayling that first even- 
ing, though, if I recollect correctly, both Mr. Lyon and 
Mr. Davis brought one each into camp. Mr. Mershon 
and I could not do much with the trout. They were 
jumping along the edges of the pools, but would not 
take any fl}' we could offer them. At last my companion 
produced from his plethoric fly-book an English May- 
fly, of the cork-bodied, floating pattern. Casting this 
lightly closely against the opposite bank and nearly 
directly across stream, he let the current carry this 
floating fly down and outward from the bank. This 
scheme worked, and he caught half a dozen trout on 
this fly. 
The totals that evening were: Mr. Mershon nine fish, 
Mr. Davis, five. Major Lyon and myself three each. If 
memory serves, we had three grayling in camp that 
night. 
The next day Mr. Davis and Major Lyon took a 
longer strip of water above camp, Mr. Mershon and I 
going down stream once more. I presume that each 
party fished about three to five miles of water that day. 
Mr. Davis had excellent sport, and left fifty-two trout 
and grayling in his live box up the stream, where he 
stopped his fishing to come to camp. Mr. Davis had 
three grayling in his catch, two of them nice ones. Major 
Lyon was also fortunate in getting a grayling and had 
seventeen fish in his basket when he struck camp. Mr. 
Mershon and I also brought in five grayling, he taking 
twenty-three fish in all, and myself twenty. It may be 
seen that the grayling was a frequent visitor of our fly- 
hooks, and we were elated to find that the fish consti- 
uted a considerable factor in the fishing. We of course 
did not keep nearly all of our grajding, but turned back 
the small ones to the stream. 
Schemes. 
Mr. Mershon and I again found that we were against 
a hard July trout fishing game in our part of the stream. 
There were a great many berry pickers in the huckle- 
berry plains below us, and a great many of these had 
fishing rods. We learned that five parties went down the 
stream before us. At any rate, when we went down the 
trout were even more capricious than before. 
