June li, 1904.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
483 
It was a glorious victory, made sure by the gaff of the 
boatman, and when it was all over the boy all but col- 
lapsed. The nervous and physical strain as well was 
great, but victory perched upon his banner. 
The fish was weighed and pulled the indicator down to 
the is-pound notch. The boy was happy now. The 
microbes had done their worst and the fever had sub- 
sided. He was prepared now to return to Pasadena any 
time. He had won his spurs. And his mother, asking 
the weight of the fish, was told that it weighed 15 pounds. 
It took but little mental arithmetic to ascertain that the 
cost was just $1 per pound. And instead of scolding the 
boy for his extravagance she quietly remarked that she 
had known of fishing trips taken by a certain life partner 
of hers where trout had cost $5 per pound, and there 
were not many pounds in evidence even at that price, so 
she could not have the heart to criticise the son of the 
father for investing in yellowtail at $1 per pound. 
Now when that boy comes home and I take him on a 
trout stream and he strikes a pound trout, everything will 
be compared with that yellowtail, to the disadvantage 
of the trout. And in self-defense I must arrange for a 
trip to the maskinonge lakes and pit him against a 35- 
pound fresh-water wolf, and then, and only till then, will 
I cease to hear about that 15-pound yellowtail. It may 
cost me more than $15 to kill the yellowtail microbe, but 
other microbes will take its place, and as long as they are 
the kind that you pick up in rippling lakes along moss- 
grown brooks, and amid the woods and swales and stub- 
ble, we'll have to diagnose the disease as one that must 
run its course, and not at all dangerous ; in^ fact, highly 
beneficial in the long run for the boy, and let it go at that. 
Charles Cristaboro. 
Fish and Fishing. 
American Anglers in Canada. 
The annual invasion of Canada by American anglers 
is now on. The first fishermen of the season from the 
United States were parties of New Englanders, chiefly 
from Bridgeport, Conn. ; Springfield, Mass., and surround- 
ing points, on their way to the Metabetchouan and other 
fish and game clubs alongside the line of the Quebec and 
Lake St. John Railway, which on Saturday last had to 
put extra sleeping cars on the trains for the accommoda- 
tion of the visiting anglers. From the St. Maurice dis- 
trict of Canada I hear that several members of the 
Laurentian Fish and Game Club are now on their limits. 
The Triton Club management expects several of its mem- 
bers this week to go into camp at various points along the . 
line of the Batascan and connecting lakes, and a number 
of the members of the Nonantum Fish and Game Club 
have made arrangements to visit their club headquarters 
at Commissioners' Lake next week. I am under the im- 
pression that these late spring arrivals will enjoy their 
outing better than those now in the woods at present writ- 
ing, for constant cold rains have made it rather disagree- 
able both for camping and fishing for the last week or 
ten days. This weather is in striking contrast with that 
of the same season last year, when, for want of spring 
rains, everything was parched, and disastrous bush fires 
were the order of the day. 
Up to the last few days the trout fishing in the northern 
lakes has been exceptionally good. Several large catches 
were made in Lake Edward on the 23d and 24th of May, 
and Lake St. Joseph is also yielding good results to the 
fishermen. The fly-fishing season is still, however, un- 
doubtedly backward, and it will take a few days' subsi- 
dence of the present high water due to the prevailing 
rains to make it good. From the 20th to the 25th of May 
it was excellent. 
North of the Laurentians there has been less rain, and 
as a consequence the water in Lake St. John is rapidly 
getting down to its normal early summer level. _ That 
means to say that the fly-fishing for ouananiche in the 
Grande Discharge ought to be good from about the 15th 
of June as usual, and I am just in receipt of a message, 
in answer to my inquiries on the subject, saying that the 
steamer from Roberval will commence her regular trips 
to the Discharge for the accommodation of fishermen on 
or about the 12th of the month. 
Salmon Fishermen in Canada. 
Dr Johnson, of New York, has reached Quebec, and 
is on his way to his salmon river oh the distant north 
shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. He leaves by the 
present trip of the steamship King Edward, expecting 
to have some days on the river before the first run of 
salmon is well in. The first of the fish have already, how- 
ever, reached the estuaries of the north shore streams, for 
the King Edward brought up to Quebec several boxes of 
fresh salmon on the second of the month, which had been 
taken in the fishermen's nets, and the fish were retailed 
the next day at thirty cents per pound. Most of the 
American anglers who fish in Canada for salmon will 
only leave on the next trip of the steamer for the north 
shore, and some of them will go a fortnight later, 
though those who fish south shore rivers, including the 
members of the Restigouehe Club, will find it necessary 
to be in camp by the 12th, or at least by the 20th, in order 
to get the best of the sport with the first run of fish of 
the season. 
I hear that many salmon fishermen who have been 
coming here for the last few years have sent word that 
they will not be able to spare the time for the sport this 
year. This very often proves to be the case in Presidential 
year, and it is supposed in Canada that the condition of 
Wall street may have something to do with keeping many 
men chained to business who^^^vould much prefer a vaca- 
tion in the woods. 
In the Lake St. John district, however, there are evi- 
dences of considerable activity. Many private camps are 
being placed in readiness for summer occupation, and 
many of the club houses expect at least as many fisher- 
men this year as usual. Mr. Dodd and other members 
of the Metabetchouan Club have just returned from their 
club house at Kiskisink, where, although they found the 
weather extremely cold and the water high, the fishing 
was excellent. By this time, with the lowering of the 
water, the sport ought to be still better. Many Qwebecers 
have returned from fishing excursions in the Stadaodria 
^nd L^vife;jti4eg distrtpts? ^'4 l>rin'g gtdwipg rp^oVts of 
the fly-fishing, and some pretty heavy trout in support 
of their statements. Vary large takes of smaller fish are 
reported from various points along the Batiscan River, 
where larger fish may be had as soon as the water lowers 
a little more. 
Lake Edward is more than sustaining its enviable 
record for big fish, Mr. H. B. Jackson having killed one 
fish of s}i pounds on his first cast of the season a few 
days ago, immediately in front of his summer camp on 
this lake. He was using very light tackle, and was over 
twenty minutes in killing the fish. 
There are many applications for accommodation at the 
Grand Discharge, most of the intended visitors proposing 
to come later in the season than usual, however. This is 
doubtless due to the late opening of the spring all over 
the country. As a matter of fact, nevertheless, the waters 
on the north of the Laurentian divide have run down so 
much faster than those further south that Lake St. John 
is now very near to its summer level, and ouananiche 
fishing ought to be good in the Grand Discharge by the 
time that these lines appear in print, or at all events in 
the course of the following week. 
Because, too, of this rapid subsidence of northern 
waters, I would warn those who fish the salmon rivers 
of the north shore of the Gulf that their season is likely 
tc be a short one this year, unless there should be a fair 
amount of summer rain in the interior of the Labrador 
Peninsula to maintain the water supply. Hence the de- 
sirability of getting to the rivers in time to- enjoy the 
early fishing. 
Night Fishing by Artificial Light 
The North American aborigines well and early under- 
stood and artfully applied the knowledge that light at- 
tracts fish as well as insects. Hence their "burning of 
the waters" and spearing of salmon and other fish by 
torchlight. A French entomologist has taken advantage 
of the same knowledge in fishing for specimens in a pond. 
With a portable battery and a small incandescent elec- 
kic lamp attached to a net, he was able to secure a large 
number of fish, larvae, tadpoles, etc., at one operation. The 
net, measuring about one yard across, was slowly lowered 
into the water, and when it reached the bottom of the 
pond the little lamp above it was connected with the bat- 
tery. All the living creatures within reach of the ap- 
paratus rushed toward the light, and were immediately 
secured in the net. It is obvious that the method is ap- 
plicable on a far larger scale, and may prove to be in 
some way useful to commercial fishermen, though it al- 
most gives one the shivers to think of the opportunities 
which may thus be opened up to poachers in the vicinity 
of the spawning grounds of salmon and trout. 
Gut for Casting Lines. 
A tourist friend who has recently returned from a trip 
through the south of Europe was telling me the other 
day of the large proportions assumed by_ the production 
of silk-worm gut for fishing lines in Spain since the de- 
cline of silk culture there. The grub is fed on mulberry 
leaves as usual in silk culture, but before it begins to 
spin— that is in May and June — it is killed by immersion 
in vinegar. The substance which would have formed the 
cocoon is then drawn out from its body in the form of a 
thick silken thread, which is treated with chemicals and 
afterwards dried. These threads are made up in bundles 
of a hundred each, and the Spanish peasants travel with 
them along the shores of the Mediterranean as far as 
France. The best quality of the gut, as every fisherrnan 
knows, or ought for his own protection, when shopping, 
to know, is round. The flat shaped article is always in- 
ferior, and is due, not, fts often supposed, to careless 
drawing of it, but to unhealthiness in the worm which 
furnished it. The chief seat of this industry is Murcia. 
I know many American fishermen who procure these 
strands of gut as sold by the Spanish peasantry, either 
importing them for themselves or selecting them person- 
ally from tackle manufacturers in the United States, 
which is, perhaps, after all, the most satisfactory method, 
and who then tie their own casting lines of the selected 
material. 
The Ling or Burbot. 
It is gratifying to note that the attention of the On- 
tario Government has been drawn by some of its fishery 
officers to the destrutiveness of the burbot or ling, and 
to the desirability of means being adopted for its destruc- 
tion. Recent investigations show thet the loss caused by 
this gluttonous feeder to the best fish life of northern 
waters is very great. Its flesh is of very little use for 
food, and then only in winter, and it is credited^ with 
swallowing fish half the size of itself, besides being_ a 
notorious spawn eater. It is the more dangerous that its 
feeding is generally done at night. In Lake St. John 
specimens of this fish have been taken over two feet in 
length, and it is difficult to estimate the number of 
ouananiche which one of these night hawks of the water 
will destroy in the course of the year. It is really too 
bad that nothing has yet has been done toward the 
destruction of these ling in the best fishing waters of 
northern Quebec. 
Sunday Fishing. 
When I hear or read any discussion of the subject of 
Sunday fishing, there always comes into my mind that 
delightful chapter of Dr. Prime's in his "I Go A-fishing," 
entitled, "What Flies to Cast on a Sunday."_ To me the 
advice contained in that charming chapter is convincing 
enough; but it is not my province to deal with the 
ethical side of the subject, which is for each one to settle 
for himself. The legal aspect of the case has been re- 
ferred to in one of the reports of Mr. S. T. Bastedo, 
Deputy Commissioner of Fisheries for Ontario, and it 
may be interesting to anglers to point out the difference 
on this subject between the laws of Ontario and Quebec. 
In Quebec the fishing for salmon either by rod or line or 
by net is prohibited from six o'clock on Saturday night 
until the same hour on Monday morning, as it is, for the 
matter of that, in all parts of the Dominion. But, with 
this exception, there is no provincial law in Quebec 
against Sunday fishing. The contrary is the case, how- 
ever, in Ontario, though because of the lax enforcement 
of the enactment known as the Lord's Day Act, which 
contains the prohibition in question, the fact is not gen- 
erally known. The fishery overseers of Ontario gre fre- 
quently rc^i<est?4 to iPt'eVfeire with ffersbns wVo "go ftsll' 
ing" on Sunday, under the supposition that it is an 
offense against the fishery law. This, however, is an 
error. Sunday fishing is an offense _ against the Lord's 
Day Act, the provisions of which it is not a part of the 
duty of fishery officials in Ontario to enforce,_ as Mr. 
Bastedo points out. And in support of his own interpre- 
tation of this act, he cites a decision rendered under the 
authority of the Attorney-General of Massachusetts, in an 
exactly similar case, by which it was held that fishing on 
Sunday being a violation of a section of the act entitled, 
"An Act for the Better Observance of the Lord's Day," 
the enforcement of that provision of the act was no more 
one of the duties of the fishery overseers than the en- 
forcem.ent of any other provision of the same act. 
Live Perch as Food. 
A SINGULAR complaint comes from Lake Meraphre- 
magog. It is charged that the perch which have been 
introduced into the lake are killing off the big gray lake 
trout, or rather that the trout are killing themselves off 
by attempting to feed upon the perch, the dorsal fins of 
which stick in the gullet of the feeder and produce death. 
It would be interesting to know whether any similar ex- 
perience to this has fallen under the observation of the 
readers of Forest and Stream. That pike can swallow 
.small perch without much inconvenience there is 
abundant proof. In the absence of other bait, perch make 
good live bait for pike. I have known anglers to cut off 
the dorsal fin before using the fish for bait but if the 
perch is small, this does not appear to be at all necessary, 
for the pike always swallows his prey head forernost, 
while the spines of the perch are capable only of project- 
ing backward — shutting down like the props of an um- 
brella upon pressure from the front — so that they would 
not appear to impede the operation of swallowing. It 
sometimes, however, causes considerable inconvenience 
tc a pike to attempt to swallow too large a perch, and 
Gosse, in his "Natural History," illustrates this by a cir- 
cumstance of not infrequent occurrence in Sweden. 
Large perch swallow the baited hooks of stationary night- 
lines, and then enormous pike gorge the hooked perch in 
their turn. Though the pike is seldom or never actually 
hooked, yet on the fisherman's drawing in his line the 
perch sticks so fast in his throat that he is unable to get 
rid of it, and both are taken. 
The Perch is a Cannibal. 
The perch is just as much a cannibal as the pike or 
the trout. Mr. Francis Francis is authority for the 
statement that it is not at all deterred by the spines from 
feeding upon its own species, and that in a vivarium he 
has often observed them take with avidity smaller mem- 
bers both of their own and of the ruffe species._ The ex- 
tent to which this fish will gorge himself with his favorite 
food may be illustrated by a fact within the knowledge 
of most anglers. When he has filled his stomach with 
minnows so that he can positively swallow no more, he 
will still endeavor to bite, and, if possible, masticate 
others ;' and it is by no means uncommon under these cir- 
cumstances to hook and capture a perch with the tails of 
the minnows which he has already partially swallowed 
and been unable to pouch, protruding frorn his gullet, and 
when thus gorged he often ejects a portion of his prey 
on being landed. From this it may be inferred, says a 
well-known angler-naturalist, "that fish, like many other 
animals — including man himself, in some instances— find 
a gratification in the exercise of their predatory instincts, 
even when the natural appetite has been fully satiated." 
A rather remarkable instance of the voracity of the 
perch is related by Mr. H. Cholmondeley Peniiell. In re- 
moving the hook from the jaws of a fish which he had 
caught in Windermere, one eye was accidentally dis- 
placed, and remained adhering to it. _ Knowing the re- 
cuperative capabilities of piscine organization, he returned 
the maimed perch, which was too small for the basket, to 
the lake, and, being somewhat scant of minnows, threw 
the line in again with the eye attached as a bait — there 
being no other of any description on the hook. The float 
disappeared almost instantly, and on landing the riew- 
comer, it turned out to be the fish he had thrown in a 
moment before, and which had thus been actually caught 
by its own eye. "This incident," says Mr. Pennell, 
"proves, I think, conclusively that the structure of cold- 
blooded animals enables them to endure very severe in- 
juries and wounds without experiencing material incon- 
venience; a fact which may tend to remove any qualms ©f 
conscience felt by anglers on the score of the sufferings 
supposed to be inflicted by their capture." 
Perhaps a less striking illustrarion of the same fact 
came under my own observation/ in the Lake St. John 
country some time ago. A fingerling trout had taken one 
of my flies, and though the hook had torn one of the gill 
rakers, I was anxious that if possible the little fish should 
live. I gently placed it in the shallow water at my feet 
to see if it could revive and swim away. In a very short 
time it had recovered from its dazzlement, when, to my 
utter astonishment, it rushed directly to the fly upon 
which it had just been caught, and which had carelessly 
been allowed to drop into the shallow water, and once 
m.ore impaled itself! E. T. D. Chambers. 
Big- Catfish, 
Erie, Pa., May 29. — Editor Forest and Stream: A 
young correspondent of mine living in Elizabeth, a small 
town on the Monongahela River above Pittsburg, sends 
me the following fish story, that I can wuch for as being 
true or he would not have given it to me. 
About two weeks ago the stern-wheel steamer Diamond 
was passing up the river one afternoon, when some men 
who were at work on a coal tipple on shore noticed an 
object floating in the wake of the boat that seemed to be 
alive. Thinking that it might be a deck hand that had 
fallen overboard, they_ took a skiff and rowed out to it, 
and found it to be a big mud catfish that had been struck 
by one of the wheel buckets and had only been stunned. 
They caught it after some trouble, and towed it ashore. 
It measured five feet in length, but only weighed 54 
pounds. 
This is the largest fish that has ever been taken in that 
river, and probably came up from the lower Mississippi. 
I thought its weight was rather small for its size, though, 
I have taken them out of the Colorado River in Texas 
that were as long a's this, one was, but mine would weigl| 
nVpfre'r ;'qo po«'|fdf. : , pM?^ BLANto, j 
