3 4 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[JULY ft 1904. 
leader, and I used a rather stout sproat hook, and with a 
single swan shot only for a sinker, as I intended to do 
my fishing near the surface. My two companions used 
heavier sinkers and floats, which they permitted to run 
astern of the boat with the tide, twenty or thirty yards. 
Whenever our skipper cast wide his chum, I dropped 
my bait among the shrimp as they fell into the water, 
and it was not long before I was fast to an elegant fish. 
The squeteague is usually called a weakfish, but a four 
or five-pound "yellow fin" is far from being a weakling, 
and the fish that I had hooked was no exception to the 
rule, for his runs were gamy, his leaps above the surface 
of the water were of frequent occurrence, and the fight 
he gave me, although of not long duration, was as plucky 
as I could have desired. And what a beauty he was as he 
was lifted by the landing net into the boat! His gray- 
spotted sides, which were coated with a silvery sheen, 
were beautifully iridescent, and his abdomen, pectoral, 
ventral, and anal fins were of a golden yellow. 
"Good !" exclaimed my friends, as the skipper held my 
prize aloft, "first fish for you," and it almost seemed as 
if I detected in their congratulations a slight tone of 
envy. 
"You are fishing too deep," I replied, "you'll get noth- 
ing down there but scup and sculpin," and even as I spoke 
each_ of my friends pulled up one of the last named ex- 
ceedingly unpopular fish. Fresh chum was then thrown 
broadcast, and it was not long before I was fast to an- 
other beautiful yellow-fin; and I had taken my fourth 
squeteague before my friends discarded their floats and 
heavy sinkers, and imitated me at surface fishing, when 
their luck turned, and both of them until the tide turned 
caught their fair share of fish.. 
The squeteague seemed to be "on their feed" that day, 
for they took our bait freely; they were all of good size, 
and very gamy, and we lost but few of the fish we 
hooked, which is not generally the case among anglers, 
for the weakfish has an exceedingly tender mouth, and 
unless it is handled carefully it is apt to eject the hook 
during one of its wild runs or leaps. 
Squeteague no Match for Bluefish, 
It is a matter of common observation that where blue- 
fish are abundant, squeteague are scarce, and for the 
reason that they, cannot withstand the murderous on- 
slaughts of their savage neighbors.' The squeteague is in 
itself a very rapacious fish; it never spares a smaller fish, 
and often eats to repletion, but before the attacks of blue- 
fish it is as helpless as a mackerel or alewife, and when 
a school of them are overtaken by the marauders they are 
cut up without mercy. 
Weakfish and striped bass of the same size will live in 
amity side by side, and one may capture both species 
with the same bait and from one boat; but nothing will 
fraternize with the bluefish, and he treats every other 
species with the same degree of ferocity, even devouring 
the humble scup, small flounders, and other bottom fish 
in the spring when more tempting food is not obtainable. 
> Edward A. Samuels. 
it is impossible to verify the hypothesis by observations 
°" ^ aP v 1Ve s P ecimens > but it is suggested that much 
might be done by careful observations of the scales of 
marked fish before they are returned to the ocean.— 
London Field. 
Fish Scales as a Test of Age. 
Scales of ordinary fishes, when examined under a 
lense or microscope, are seen to present a number of 
fine concentric lines arranged round a central nucleus, 
the form assumed by these lines being in some cases 
subcircular, and in others more or less irregularly 
ellipsoidal. Such lines evidently indicate intervals of 
growth. More minute examination will reveal the ex- 
istence of a small number of more pronounced lines, 
or rings, as they may be termed, which often include 
from thirty to forty of the finer lines. A German in- 
vestigator, Dr. Hoffbauer, basing his observations on 
carp of which the ages were more or less exactly known, 
found that the number of these pronounced rings in 
the scales gave an exact index of the age of the fishes 
from which they were taken, these rings, marking, in 
fact, the limits of the annual growth of the scales. 
Taking these data as a basis, Mr. J. S. Thomson, of the 
Marine Biological Station at Plymouth, has for some 
time been conducting observations and experiments, 
with a view to' ascertain whether the same law does 
not hold good for marine fishes, the various repre- 
sentatives of the cod family (Gadidce) being selected for 
examination. The results of these observations are 
published in the April issue of the Journal of the 
Marine Biological Association, and are of great in- 
terest and importance, more especially from an eco- 
nomic point of view. The memoir is of a very elaborate 
nature, containing tables of measurements of thousands 
of scales of these fishes and the number of lines and 
.rings they display, and being illustrated by figures of 
magnified specimens. 
After referring to the probability that a law which is 
found to be constant in the case of fresh-water fishes 
would also probably obtain in marine groups, the author 
remarks that, even after allowing for variation, the 
statistics he has brought together afford strong cumu- 
lative proof that in the members of the cod tribe the 
growth of the scales is cyclical, or periodic, and that 
the pronounced rings formed in these structures are 
annual. It appears to be undoubted that the scales show 
a larger surface growth and a wider separation of the 
lines in summer than in winter, this being in all proba- 
bility due to a difference in the general condition of the 
fish and its surroundings at the two seasons. An ex- 
amination of three or four perfect scales taken from 
the median region of the flanks, near the lateral line, 
where their characteristic features are best displayed, 
will, it is submitted, in ninety-eight cases out of every 
hundred, be sufficient to afford a very close approxima- 
tion of the age of the fish. In fishes of more than four 
or five years old the percentage of correct estimates 
would be somewhat less than that given above, but this 
is, fortunately, of but little importance, seeing that for 
economic _ purposes the chief requisite is to be able 
to ascertain the age of younger fish. Corroboration of 
the truth of Mr. Thomson's hypothesis is afforded by 
the fact that his results agree very closely with those 
obtained by workers who have calculated the age of 
fishes from totally different standpoints. Owing to 
the life conditions of fish kept in tanks and aquariums 
being so totally different from those existing in nature, 
Fish and Fishing. 
Good Fishing at the Grand Discharge. 
There has been a great improvement during the last 
few days m theouananiche fishing at the Grand Discharge 
of Lake St. John. When the first anglers of the season 
arrived there, two or three weeks ago, thev found the 
water unusually high for the middle of June". Neverthe- 
less there was reasonable sport even then, as was dis- 
covered by Mr. B. L. D'Aubigne, of London, England, 
who enjoyed his first experience with the ouananiche 
there, m company with Mr. Geo. E. Hart, of Waterbury, 
an old-time friend of the fresh-water salmon of Lake 
St. John. Mr. D'Aubigne has fished many of the salmon 
and sea trout waters of the United Kingdom, and, like 
Colonel Haggard,' finds little, if any, differences between 
the ouananiche and the Scotch sea trout. Among other 
sportsmen who have just paid their first visit to Lake St. 
John waters, are Mr. H. A. DuVillard, of Providence, R. 
I. ; 'Dr. A. Greenwood, of Boston; Mr. and Mrs. A. P. 
Ward, of San Antonio, Texas; Mr. A. C. Chase, of Syra- 
cuse, N. Y., and his son, Mr. W. B. Chase, of New York. 
The Messrs. Chase and Dr. Greenwood were among the 
earliest anglers of the season at the Grand Discharge. 
They founc that the fish preferred rather large flies, and 
most of the members of the party enjoyed the exhilarating 
sport of playing a brace of ouananiche together on more 
than one occasion. Air. Ward, who has done a great deal 
of angling for coarse sea and other fish is a strong advo- 
cate of the automatic reel, like the late Mr. Eugene Mc- 
Carthy. Mr. D'Aubigne and Mr. DuVillard, on the other 
hand— both experienced anglers—quite scout the idea of 
its use, ;.md point to the success of the great majority of 
ouananiche fishermen in killing their fish without any 
automatic aid, as proof that the skill which can thus land 
the leaping ouananiche may well dispense with the use of 
the_ automatic reel in the fight with other fish. The 
majority of the fish thus far killed this season in the Dis- 
charge run from about 1/2 to 3/2 pounds, but of course 
many larger or.es have also been taken. Both the number 
of anglers at the Island House and the size of the catches 
have shown quite an increase during the last few days, the 
water having about resumed its ordinary summer level. 
The lepcrts from the salmon rivers- are not quite so 
satisfactory, the run Of the fish having been much later 
than was expected. Some of the streams, it is true, have 
not yet been heard from ; others report that few fish ex- 
cept kelt have yet been seen in the rivers. There is no 
reason to imagine, however, that this means anything 
more than that the season will be later than usual. Sena- 
tor Aldrich and Mr. Henry R. Reid passed through here 
the other day on their way to join Messrs. Ivers W. 
Adams and Dr. Heber Bishop on the Moisie, and Mr. 
Louis Cabot, of Boston, has gone down to the Grand 
River on the south shore. 
When Anglers Foregather. 
It is a far cry from Lake St. John to Santa Catalina, but 
. the picturesque character of some of the fishing scenes 
about the latter locality were related a few evenings ago 
to a party of anglers sitting around the log fire in the big 
open grate of the Hotel Roberval in so vivid a manner by 
a gentleman who has had considerable experience there, 
that one could almost fancy himself upon the spot. From 
the time that Peter and his fellow fishermen drew in so 
heavy a draught of fishes that the net broke, down through 
the babblings of Walton and his traveling companions in 
the inn beneath the friendly shade of the thatched cottage, 
and up to our own time, the discussion of fish and fishing 
— vulgarly called the swapping of fish stories— has very 
naturally formed the subject of discussion wherever fisher- 
men most do congregate. We were extremely fortunate 
at Lake St. John the other evening in having with us gen- 
tlemen who had fished in almost every quarter of the 
world, and what is more, who had eyes and knew how to 
use them, and the happy faculty of cleverly describing 
what they had seen. We were all very much interested in 
Mr. H. A. DuVillard's story of the fishing at Santa 
Catalina, for that capital understudy of the tuna, the albi- 
core. Though the majority of the fish taken run from 
25 to 30 pounds each in weight, he had seen five tons of 
the fish taken in half a day by a fleet of less than twenty 
boats. The hooks are baited, as a rule, with a large 
pickled sardine, and there are usually two lines from each 
boat. The fish are frequently as close together as the 
members of a school of mackerel, and with five boats out 
together, with two lines from each, Mr. DuVillard has 
seen each of the ten fishermen fast to a fish at the same 
time. . ;* ■ 
There is no great demand for the flesh of the albicore, 
ashore, but it is eagerly sought off Catalina by the sea 
lions which swarm about in schools of 150 or 200. When 
one of the albicore is thrown to the sea lions, they will 
often tear a piece out of its body before it reaches the 
water. The particular herd described by Mr. DuVillard 
was under the rule of one of its number, known to all 
the frequenters of the place at the time as "Big Ben." 
When Big Ben pressed his claims for a particular fish, 
none dare say him nay. Over the sea lions and their prey 
floated a flock of gulls, some of which in their strenuous 
struggles for food had their wings broken by the sea lions 
from whom they had endeavored to snatch a portion of 
their prey. The scene of such sanguinary combats is fre- 
quently redde'ned with blood. Yet in the thickest of the 
terrible struggle, divers, of the loon family, confident of 
their own alertness, may be seen cleaving the water and 
safely rising from it again with whatever fish food. they 
may have succeeded in capturing. 
A description of the albicore led to the very reasonable 
suggestion from another of the party that the fish must be 
almost, if not quite, identical with the striped bonito which 
he had captured with rod and line off the shores of Japan, 
and so, presently, we were carried around in imagination, 
to the scene of mahseer fishing in India, and listened 
spellbound to an account of the first wild rushes of the 
largest of the carp family, to which the run of a salmon 
can bear no comparison. It is quite a remarkable fact 
that though the mahseer, -differing herein from' most 
predatory fish, has no teeth at all in its soft, leathery 
mouth, yet the great muscular power of jaw with which 
it is furnished in lieu thereof enables it to exercise such 
a violent power of compression that its prey is stunned 
and squeezed lifeless at the moment of capture, and a 
spoon-bait, the size and thickness of an ordinary dessert 
spoon, is crumpled up by it like a piece of paper. 
Spoon-bait and minnow fishing for salmon in Irish and 
Scotch rivers formed the topic of another story, and an 
English angler present refused to be convinced that the 
Canadian salmon, which is identically the same variety 
as that of British coastal streams, would not also take bait 
if.it were properly offered him. It is considered to be a 
pretty well established fact in North America that Salmo 
salar will not take any kind of live bait in fresh water, 
yet none of the salmon fishermen present were in a posi- 
tion to assure the visitor that live bait had ever, to their 
knowledge, been carefully tried on Canadian salmon 
streams, and, as already recorded in these columns, Mr. 
W. F. McCormick is authority for the statement that he 
has caught the Atlantic salmon with worms in one of the 
rivers flowing into Hamilton Inlet. 
Death of the Hon. G. W. Stephens. 
Another old angler has crossed the River of Death near 
his fishing grounds. The Hon. George Washington Ste- 
phens was one of the foremost friends of fish and game 
protection in the Dominion of Canada. A wealthy real 
estate owner of Montreal, he had been a member of the 
Provincial Government, and breathed his last a few days 
ago, while driving out to his fishing camp at Lake au 
Clair, adjoining the preserves, of Chas. S. Simpson, of 
New York, and of the St. Bernard Fish and Game Club. 
Mr. Stephens was well known to a number of American 
anglers who fish in Canada. 
The Value of Salmon Fishing. 
A friend of mine who is . thoroughly well acquainted 
with the Restigouche River and its tributaries, and knows 
something about the prices paid for fishing rights, hazards 
the opinion that half a million of dollars would not suffice 
to buy up the salmon fishing of those famous waters. And 
yet well within the memory of men who still go a-fishing, 
the whole of these fishing rights were leased for $150 a 
year. Ihe increase in the value of salmon fishing waters 
in recent years has been something phenomenal. The 
shares of the Restigouche Salmon Club, which were 
originally $1,000 each, are now worth at least $10,000 
apiece. The rod and line fishing of the Cascapedia was 
leased some ten or twelve years ago for $100 a year. Now 
the annual rental is $7,500. Hundreds of thousands of 
dollars have_ been paid out by the Restigouche Salmon 
Club for fishing rights, in addition to those which it leases 
from the Government. It was in 1880 that the Resti- 
gouche Salmon Club purchased the property at Metapedia 
upon which its club house is situated. It cost $31,000, 
and has a frontage of about a mile upon the Restigouche 
and the same upon the Metapedia, which here flows into 
it. A few years later they paid $10,000 for a frontage of 
two additional miles upon the river, and then $12,000 for 
a property on the New Brunswick side of the river, ad- 
joining the Fraser or Metapedia property, which property 
had been secured as recently as 1884, for $4,000, by Dr. 
Baxter, late chief medical purveyor of the United States 
Army. At different times since 1885 the club has acquired 
frontages on the Metapedia for about a mile on each side 
of the river, paying therefor about $3,500. They paid 
$25,000 in 1891 for Lord Mountstephens' property at the 
junction of the Metapedia and Causapsacal rivers. Four 
years later they paid $35,000 for the Indian House prop- 
erty, which had cost the Messrs. S. and J. Wilmot, in 
1880, only $1,500, or an increase in value of some 2,300 per 
cent, in fifteen years. That this was by no means an iso- 
lated case, is shown by the Tact that in 1894 they paid 
$25,000 lor the Patapedia pools, which had been purchased 
from the resident proprietors in 1882 for $2,000. It may 
further be mentioned that Mr. McAndrew purchased fish- 
ing rights on the Restigouche, 17 miles from Metapedia, 
in 1883 for $5,000, which he sold in 1896 for $35,000 to the 
late Mr. Robert Goelet. The Sweeney and Sage properties 
at the mouth of the Upsalquitch were originally purchased 
from resident proprietors for about $5,000, between 1880 
and 1885. The Sweeney lots were sold in 1895 to Mr. 
Payne, of Cleveland, for $35,000, and the late Mr. Sage 
obtained $7,000 for only a part of his property from Mr. 
Clyde, of New York. It is freely stated that the Kedg- 
wick pools and the waters immediately below them, which 
were bought a few years ago for $7,000, would not now 
be sold for $70,000, even if the offer mas made. 
There may be some speculations which pay better than 
some of these in salmon fishing rights have -done, but if 
there are, I know nothing about them. 
E. T. P . Chambers. 
Burning- of "Hollands." 
Blue Mountain Lake, July 2. — Fire! Fire! F-i-r-e! 
This was the awful cry about 6 o'clock last night. A 
glance sufficed to locate the fire. A huge column of smoke 
was pouring forth and flames were already bursting from 
the roof of the long-time popular sportsmen's resort 
known as "Holland's." In a few minutes nearly every 
man in town was on the spot, and doing his. best. Hotel 
guests and summer cottagers vied with residents and 
employes ; but it was evident from the first that the hotel 
was doomed, and attention was given to saving as much 
furniture as possible. The flames made such rapid 
progress that the roof soon fell in, and speedily one floor 
followed another to the ground. Desperate efforts were 
made to^ save the adjacent hotel cottages, but they all 
went. No private property was burned. The hotel be- 
longed to the Blue Mountain Lake Hotel Company, but 
as "Holland's" had won its popularity with generations of 
sportsmen and tourists, and hosts of these will learn of 
its destruction with unfeigned regret. That no one was 
injured is cause for thankfulness. But one suggestion 
forces itself to the front, namely, that every large summer 
hotel — no matter how far in the wildreness — should have 
an abundant supply of water available for fighting fire, a 
good equipment of 'adders, buckets, and other fire ap- 
paratus, and well arranged fire escapes. YVhv should not 
these, as well as. }§§§ important matters, be- regulated by 
law? ..... . Juvenal, 
