34 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 14, 1905. 
A Sportsman^s Paradise. 
The Universal Exposition at St. Louis has brought 
once_ niore to the favorable attention of the world a coun- 
try in which fish and game have been introduced with 
unequalled results. Four decades ago New Zealand was 
almost _ destitute of fresh-water fish, its native species 
consisting of a few eels and some small iishes suitable 
only for bait 
Nature had lavished upon that magnificent group of 
islands a delightful climate, a succession of high and 
rugged mountain ranges inclosing smiling and fertile 
valleys, glaciers, geysers, boiling springs, grottoes, and 
stupendous waterfalls, fiords as wild as any in Scan- 
dinavia, innumerable mountain lakes reflecting many 
colors; streams of clear, cold water perfectly adapted for 
trout; but in the distribution of the salmon family, New 
Zealand was entirely overlooked until man undertook to 
supply the deficiency. 
The acclimatization of trout in New Zealand began 
about the time of the beginning of public fishcuhure in 
New England, but for nearly a quarter of a century the 
results v/ere too meager to allow open fishing. At the 
present time there is no other country in the world that 
can shoAv such gratifying success with the brown trout of 
Europe and the rainbow trout of California. During the 
fishing season beginning October i, 1903, and ending 
'April IS, 1904, the recorded catch of rainbow trout from a 
single lake aggregated nearly 14 tons. Twenty-seven rain- 
bows weighing 166 pounds were taken by two anglers in 
one day, and another angler in two days caught 44 trout 
weighing 275 pounds. Many additional trout were cap- 
tured by anglers and by the Maoris, and are not included 
in the above aggregate. 
The brown trout in New Zealand grows to giant pro- 
portions. A mounted specimen in the display at the 
World's Fair represents an individual of 28H pounds. 
Trout of 20 pounds are exceedingly common. The supply 
of food and the qualities of the water are eminently favor- 
able to trout Hfe. Unpolluted springs and streams furnish 
admirable spawning places, and a wise system of protec- 
tion insures the steady increase of the fish. 
Natural food is abundant as a matter of course. 
Aquatie insectf, and their larvse, grasshoppers, small fish 
of several kinds, among them a so-called smelt which 
has a taste like a cucumber and rises freely to the artifi- 
cial fly, and a little goby known as the "bully," or 
"miller's thumb." The larva of the alder fly, called 
"creeper" or "toe-biter," is a common and ef¥ective bait. 
occurring chiefly under stones at the margins of streams 
in the beginning of the angling season. 
Anglers use also the artificial minnow and various flies 
with marked success ; but trolling with live bait often yields 
the best results. On Lake Roturua, trolling from steam 
launches is the favorite method of capture. Rainbow 
trout appear to take the fly as well in cloudy weather as 
in sunshine. 
The rainbow and brown trout are not the only immi- 
grants in New Zealand waters; the brook trout of the 
United States has been successfully acclimatized in rivers 
of the Otago and Southland Provinces, and in a South 
Island lake — Rotoiti — a Canadian whitefish is now found. 
Persistent attempts to introduce the Atlantic salmon ap- 
pear to be unsuccessful thus far; but systematic and 
scientific investigation of. the waters may yet show the 
presence of that king of fish as the supreme reward of 
patient eff'ort. It seems almost be3'ond question that the 
landlocked salmon of America or Continental Europe 
can be acclimatized in some of the deep lakes, as the trans- 
portation of the eggs involves no greater difficulty than 
with eggs of the brook trout. 
The work of fishculture is done by the various accli- 
matization societies whose hatcheries are numerous and 
effective. _ Millions of fry are distributed annually, and 
the conditions essential to success are pretty thoroughly 
understood.^ The societies deserve the highest praise for 
their intelligence and patriotism; and in a few years, 
it is safe to say. New Zealand will rank with the greatest 
trout and salmon fishing countries of the world. 
As New Zealand has 4,000 miles of seacoast, and lies 
entirely within limits abounding in marine fish life, it 
furnishes endless attractions for the salt-water angler. 
Sea perch of various kinds, snappers, groupers, mullets, 
rock cod, flounders, gurnets, kingfish, and many others, 
exist in vast numbers. One of the perches, sometimes 
called "New Zealand salmon," just as our own pike perch 
is styled "Jack salmon." is a game fish of the best rank, 
taking live bait and artificial minnows freely, and giving 
all the fight that any strenuous fisherman could desire. 
The Maoris formerly lured it with unbaited hooks of 
wood or bone inlaid with abalone shell. The kingfish is 
another game species, often exceeding four feet in length, 
and weighing as much as thirty pounds. For those who 
enjoy the sport, flounder spearing can be practiced in shal- 
low bays ad libitum, and the shark fishermen can be 
assured of all the excitement they require. 
The red deer and fallow deer were introduced long ago 
from England, and both of them have multiplied, and even 
now show some striking variations from the parent stock. 
This is well illustrated by the splendid series of heads 
decorating the space occupied by New Zealand at the 
Exposition. Commissioner-General Donne states that a 
single private ranch in that country has fully 5,000 red 
deer. Wapiti, Ceylon elk, moose, and Virginia deer are 
now being introduced, and are protected, in order to in- 
sure their permanence. Hares and rabbits are almost 
everywhere in abundance ; the rabbits, in fact, were a 
pest, but the utilization of their carcasses by means of 
cold storage transportation to England has abated the 
nuisance, and incidentally fostered a new industry. Be- 
sides all the above mentioned game, there are wild cattle, 
wild goats, and wild pigs, so that the most exacting taste 
in outdoor sports may be fully gratified. 
Native game birds include ducks, curlew, snipe, plover, 
swan, wood pigeon, swamp hen, and quail. Pheasants and 
California quail have been introduced. Both the native 
and the California quail are abundant. 
New Zealand is a good country to visit and to dwell 
in. Its opportunities for hunting and fishing are unsur- 
passed ; its protective legislation is wise and effective; 
transportation is cheap and easy; the cost of living is 
very moderate; the climate is equable, and the natural 
beauty and grandeur of the country are perennial sources 
of wonder and admiration. Tarleton H. Bean. 
World'.s Fair, St, Louis, Nov. 22. 
Fish and Fishing. 
PROWN TEOUT — ^RATOBNA LAKE^ K, 
The Northern Limit of the Striped Bass. 
The recent notes on the striped bass have brought me 
a number of letters on the subject, including one from a 
well-known sportsman-naturalist, who is engaged in the 
preparation of a monograph on the fish. This gentleman 
raises a question which has never been satisfactorily 
settled, namely that of the northern limit of the habitat of 
Roccus lineatus. The recognized authorities on the 
habits and habitats of North American fish — Evermann, 
Kendall, Jordan, Goode and Perley — give- the St. Law- 
rence as the. limit in question, and the existence of the 
- striped bass in both the gulf and river of that name is 
perfectly well known. Some of the books give Quebec as 
the highest point in the St. Lawrence to which these fish 
ascend, but this is an error. Mr. Montpetit rightfully 
describes them as plentiful under the ice in Lake St. 
Peter in winter, and shows that they have been taken as 
high up the stream as Sorel. There is even a record of 
a supposed striped bass having been taken only a short 
distance below the Falls of Niagara, though there is a 
reasonable doubt of its correctness. Specimens have cer- 
tainly been taken, however, only a short distance from 
Montreal. What my correspondent is anxious to know 
definitely is whether the fish in question has been found 
in more northerly American latitudes than the waters of 
the St. Lawrence. From personal experience I am un- 
able to assist him. Neither in the waters of Newfound- 
land, nor yet in the rivers flowing through Labrador into 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence have I caught the striped bass or 
heard of it being so caught. But this may be owing to the 
fact that I never trjed to do so. In those waters one has 
enough of "sport with salmon and sea trout. Nor do I 
find any reference to striped bass in the reports and other 
literature of the fishery department of the Newfoundland 
Government. This, again, may be, however, because the 
department devotes pretty much its whole attention to the 
more important commercial fishes of the ancient colony, 
such as the cod, the herring, the salmon and the lobster. 
Various British authorities describe Roccus labrax, a very 
close relative of the striped bass, as a frequenter of the 
Norwegian coast, and Dr. Goode asserts that it is found 
as far north as Tromsoe, which is in higher latitude than 
Northern Iceland, and still further north than either 
Ungava Bay or Hudson Bay or Straits. It would there- 
fore be very strange, indeed, if labrax, which runs as far 
south as lineatus, ascends to nearly 70 degrees north lati- 
tude on the European coasts and the latter mentioned to 
only about 50 on our own coasts. It must be remembered, 
too, that, outside of Sir John Richardson's researches, very 
little systematic scientific study of North American fish 
life has ever been attempted further north than the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence, excepting in certain inland waters. So 
that it is by no means impossible that the striped bass has 
a niuch more northerly habitat on the Atlantic Coast of 
America than has hitherto been supposed. I am address- 
ing inquiries on the subject to officials of the Hudson Bay 
Company, of the Geological Survey of Canada, and others, 
in the hope that some of them may be able to speak about 
it from personal experience. In the meantime, I should 
be delighted to hear from any of the anglers who have 
fished in the rivers of Hamilton Inlet and of other por- 
tions of northern Labrador, and who may have seen or 
heard of Roccus lineatus in any of those waters. 
Unlike the salmon, which, as a rule, spends its summer 
in fresh water and returns to the sea upon the approach 
of winter, the striped bass ascend the St. Lawrence early 
in August and run down to the sea in the spring. While 
descending, they are taken in nets, but rarely with bait. 
They greedily take the young of the herring, which is 
canned in the Lower St. Lawrence as a sardine, and also 
the smelt and the tomcod, in August, September, and 
October, but cease biting after the first frost. 
I have, on a former occasion, referred to the name 
"bar," by which the striped bass is known to the French- 
Canadians, but I omitted to add that the origin of this 
name is purely French, and that a similar variety is not 
only known by it in France, but also in certain parts of 
the Southern States, where early French settlements were 
planted. The Latin name of the European variety was 
lupus or wolf, and, according to both Oppian and .felian, 
A 13-POUND RAINBOW TROUT TAKEN ON SALMON FLY, 
