March 4, 1905.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
177 
the boatman, gory of lock and freckled as to visage, 
sought the likeliest currents of the tnrbulent waters with 
a confidence and precision born of long experience, and 
soon one or both — generally both, for those bass seemed 
to run in twos— of us would have an engagement of fif- 
teen or twenty minutes with a doughty fighter. 
But mark the difference between east and west. Here 
it is clam, or shiner, or sardine, or Golcher, or Wilson or 
Stewart spoon. For tackle a rod of great heft is required, 
a most capacious reel and a hank of line. Altogether 
the generally prescribed tackle seems formidable, but a 
riumber of reputable anglers assert that it is necessary, 
and opine that lighter tackle would not survive the first 
sfrike. However, I am going to "take a hack" at 'em with 
trout tackle ere long. While heavy tackle is the rule, yet 
t^ere are some few who have adopted lighter rods and 
modester looking reels. Mr. John A. Fatjo, sportsman, 
ciub man and good fellow, of Oakland, gives the follow- 
ing directions for rigging out as many do who angle in 
jEake Merritt, which is in the heart of Oakland : 
: ."The best method, in my opinion, is to hook a shiner or 
Sardine inside the mouth so the hook penetrates out- 
firardly through the neck, using a 000 Wilson hook. 
T-here should be two swivels on the leader, one at top and 
one at bottom. At the junction of line with leader place 
at ;sphere of lead about the size of two buckshot with a 
Kc^le in it large enough for the line to run through easily. 
This is to prevent the line from raveling. When trolling 
dri the flats pay out about 75 feet. In deeper water 
sKorten the line to about 40 feet. The most popular line 
in use on the lake is 15 and 18 strand Cuttyhunk. Some 
few use trout rods and even Milam reels, but they are in 
th^ minority. However, I look for lighter tackle to soon 
displace the kind now generally used. The lighter the 
tac;kle the better one's catch can play, the greater the 
sp©rt and the more skill required to make a kill. Per- 
sdnally I prefer light tackle. 
"So rapid has been the growth of striped bass, and so , 
pletitiful have they become within the past few years, that 
now we of Oakland do not have to leave home for a day's 
sport. Lake Merritt is tidewater, and the gates of the 
la'lce are sO' arranged that it fills with the flood tide, but 
d6es not empty with the ebb. The flood waters are led 
thr?ough the city in another direction, being used for 
flushing the sewers. The bass comes gaily svsnmming in 
on the flood, but seldom seeks to go out the way he came 
in. ' As he can go no further, he remains, and is indeed 
lucky if he is not later stuffed with chestnuts and used to 
fill "several yearning voids in one of the pretty homes for 
which Oakland is justly famed." 
Some idea of the popularity of this sport may be 
gaiiied from the statement of Mr. Fatjo, who owns up- 
ward of thirty yawls and skiffs, easily accommodating 
sixty men ; these boats, he says, are more than demanded 
each Sunday, and on secular days many are in use. Other 
resorts on the lake have a like number, yet on Sunday 
morning the sign "No boats to let" is up and about with 
the early birds. Dozens of the late comers content them- 
selves with casting from the solid masonry banks ; they 
seerh to have pretty nearly as good luck as the boatmen. . 
The, lake is about a mile square; a large portion is flats, 
about two feet deep. These flats are excellent fishing 
ground at night only; great are the killings some times 
made there. The average depth of the lake is five feet. 
Edward Snider, a local angler, is high line, having 
landed 18 bass in one afternoon, the smallest 4 pounds, 
the largest 15. James Watts has also made a number of 
very fine catches. Arthur Sherman has taken the largest 
bass from the lake — ^28^4 pounds. The bass here, as in 
eastern waters, is as coy and fitful as an unwooed maiden ; 
sonie\imes he rises to bait or spoon and swallows every- 
thing greedily ; at otbers the prettiest compliments fail tO' 
interest him. But almost any day, if one exercise 
patience, he may take home enough sizeable fish to "make 
the frying-pan stink." That's one consolation of the-^ 
sport; here — bass are so plentiful that patience seldom 
goes .unrequited. Another feature is that even on the 
coldest winter day one may be quite "comfy" in a light- 
top coat. 
Sari Francisco Bay affords good sport in the fall of the 
year. [ Raccoon Straits is the favorite grounds. Here one 
would better employ a launch — the cost of which may be 
made; reasonable by dividing the hire — if economy be an 
object. The troll consists almost invariably of a Golcher, 
Wilson or Stewart spoon. No. 6 or 7 ; it is here especially 
that the heavy tackle already referred to is considered 
proper. Once in a while the angler encounters a quinnat 
salmon; then he has need of stout tackle. Fishing in the 
straits the past season proved rather poor. Sari Leandrp 
Bay and Bay Farm Island in the same district, thirty 
minutes' ride by electric car from Oakland, also afford 
good "sport. There are other near-by resorts, as Oakland 
estuary, from the mouth a considerable distance up. 
George Tyler scored the following kill at the mouth on 
one tide: 19 pounds, 19 pounds, 20 pounds, 21^2 pounds. 
The sport at the latter point is good only during Novem- 
ber and December. Casting off South Rock Wall, Oak- 
land, also affords good sport, but hundred-pound sting- 
rays, dogfish and leopard sharks are such a nuisance that 
many anglers avoid this point. Some fine catches have 
been made off San Quentin Point, and some at Green 
Brae; at the former point a 38-pounder was brought to 
gaff. - 
San Antonio Slough seems to be the stampmg ground, 
the "wallow" of the big striped bass. This is a branch of 
Petaluma Creek, thirty miles from San Francisco by 
water. All riparian rights are owned by the Petaluma 
Sportsman's Club, but the stream is crossed by the North 
Shore Railroad, and^ as many anglers as can chain their 
boats to the railroad bridge piling. Boats are literally 
stacked up against one another from bank to bank, pon- 
toon-like. A short time ago ten men made a killing in 
this slough of 1,200 pounds. Of this party were Mr. Sam 
Wells,- Mr. Bliss. Mr. McFarland and Mr. Chris. John- 
son. They fished just one tide. Wait a bit, kind reader, 
before yelling "game hog!" It seemed that way to me 
(filled with eastern notions of the proper fishing spirit) 
when I first heard of it, but acording to local standards it 
is all right ethically and legally. Certainly the men named 
are classed as fair-minded sportsmen. On a different 
occasion Mr. McFarland and a companion made a catch 
often weighing 130 pounds. A week later I was one of a 
party on a ten-day trip to the same spot in two yawls, 
pt^ef inpirfl^^rs were as followi ; The Pilgrim, Capt. 
J. Altendorf, Prof. A. F. Twite, F. Pratt and Bert Adams ; 
the Mabel A., Capt. J. Fatjo, Ed. Snider and Edwin 
Moore. It was not a question of how many we could 
take, but how many we should take. Mr. Pratt landed 
the largest, a 175^-pounder after a spirited tussle of fifteen 
minutes. The party was absent ten days, and the boats 
came home laden to idae limit with finest specimens of 
bass for Oakland friends who had bespoken them. Here 
is what Mr. Fatjo, an experienced angler, and knowing 
California waters like a book, said to a friend on his 
return from the trip : 
"I never saw the like; they fill the water like a drove of 
sheep. It is dangerous to drive them inshore in shallow 
water with small boats. We unintentionally drove a large 
school of them into a narrow and shallow arm of the 
slough, and their backs stuck out till we could not count 
them. Driven to the limit they turned to> seek deeper 
water, and in their attempts to escape many jumped upon 
the banks and some into the boats. And that was no fun 
for us, I assure you. Indeed it was dangerous, for they 
jump and come sailing through the air like a catapult 
had released them. One big old lunker — he must have 
weighed at least 30 pounds — lit on his head in the soft 
earth and stuck up straight like a flag-pole. He stood 
thus for some moments, but finally wriggled and twisted 
till he fell over and fluttered back to the water. Mr. 
Pratt tried to turn their frightened flight with an oar- — 
a bootless effort. We had to finally seek deep water for 
safety — put to ignominious flight by a horde of striped 
bass. They were all big fish, and the sight was one I will 
not soon forget." J. D. C. 
The Marking: of Artificially 
Hatched Salmon. 
FxsHCULTURiSTS the world over will be interested in 
the outcome of experiments which the United States 
Bureau of Fisheries has recently begun with the Pacific 
salmon. The experiments are in continuation of those 
first undertaken on the Columbia . River in 1896, and 
consist of the inarking of a large number of artificially 
hatched salmon and their release in the river. The re- 
sults of the early experiments were so striking — that 
is, such a large percentage of the fish returned as full- 
grown salmon, and were captured and reported — that 
a very strong argument as to the value of salmon cul- 
ture was afforded; and the present writer has shown* 
that if the hatching of salmon on the Pacific Coast was, 
on an average, only one-tenth as successful as indi- 
cated by the experiments, the work of the Govern- 
ment was yielding an annual money return of 1,000 per 
cent, of the cost of salmon cultivation. Recent experi- 
ments on the same lines, conducted on the Columbia 
by the Fish Commissioner of Washington, have been 
attended by noteworthy resultsf 
With a view to repeating the experiments on a much 
larger scale, and under conditions that would insure 
information of the most reliable and varied character, 
the present season's trials were inaugurated with both 
Chinook and blue-back salmon. 
Experience has shown that the fins are the parts 
most readily marked, and that they may be mutilated 
without essential injury. In the fish recently operated 
on, the precaution was taken to mark two fins, so that 
the probability of overlooking the mutilations in the 
adult would be minimized, and at the same time the 
chance, of mistaking accidental marks would be practi- 
cally eliminated. Five different lots of salmon, aggre- 
*"Economie Aspects of National Fishculture and Acclimatiza- 
tion." By Hugh M. Smith. (Report of Commissioner of Fish 
and Fisheries for iS03, pp. 14-18.) 
f'Salmon Marking Experiments on the Pacific Coast." By 
Hugh M. Smithi (Tb§ ^meyic^:^ Fish Culturist, March, 1904, 
pp. 9! ' 
gating over 51,000, were used in the experiments — a 
number large enough to furnish a sound basis for de- 
ductions. The fish were retained for several weeks 
after marking, and then planted in good condition near 
the hatcheries. They were of "fingerling" size, averag- 
ing 3 inches long; and the number, history and marks 
of the various lots were as follows: 
(1) Eleven thousand three hundred and sixty-five 
Chinook salmon from eggs taken at the Clackamas 
(Oregon) hatchery, Oct. 16 to 20, 1903; planted in 
Clackamas River May 18 to June 15, 1904. Marked by 
removal of the adipose fin and anterior half of dorsal 
fin. 
(2) Ten thousand eight hundred and thirty Chinook 
salmon eggs taken at Rogue River (Oregon) station 
Oct. 30, 1903; planted in Clackamas River June 20 to 25, 
1904. Marked by removal of adipose fin and posterior 
half of anal fin. 
(3) Nine thousand one hundred and ninety Chinook 
salmon from eggs taken at Mill Creek (California) sta- 
tion, on Sacramento River, Dec. 15, 1903; planted in 
Clackamas River July 12 and 13, 1904. Marked by re- 
moval of adipose fin and anterior half of anal fin. 
(4) Nine thousand eight hundred Chinook salmon 
from eggs taken at Little White Salmon (Washington) 
station, in the fall of 1903; planted in Columbia River, 
July 25, 1904. Marked by removal of adipose fin and 
posterior half of dorsal fin. 
(5) Ten thousand blueback salmon from eggs taken 
at Baker Lake, Washington, November, 1903; planted 
in lower Baker River Nov. 11, 1904. Marked by re- 
moval of adipose fin and one ventral fin. 
The Bureau of Fisheries has addressed to the salmon 
interests of the Pacific coast a circular in which the 
nature and purposes of the Columbia River experi- 
ments are described, and fishermen, canners, anglers 
and citizens generally are urged to co-operate with the 
Bureau, so that whenever a marked fish is caught^ the 
date and place of capture and the weight shall be noted, 
and a strip of skin including the two marked fins for- 
warded to the Bureau. The circular requests those en- 
gaged in the propagation of salmon to mark no fish in 
a similar way for at least three years, in order that 
the results anticipated from the present experiments 
may not be obscured. It is expected that the marked 
fish which survive the down-stream journey and their 
long ocean sojourn, will return to the rivers to spawn 
in 1906-8, and that large numbers will be caught and 
reported. The following points in the life of the species 
ought to be conclusively established: 
(a) The percentage of artificially hatched salmon that 
return to the rivers as adult fish; or, in other v/ords, 
the influence of artificial propagation on the salmon 
supply. 
(b) The duration of the ocean life of the salmon, 
and the average annual increase in weight resulting 
from prolonging the ocean residence beyond the second 
3^ear. 
(c) The tenability of the "parent stream" theory; 
and the extent to which young salmon planted in par- 
ticular parts of the Columbia basin return when ma- 
ture to other parts of that basin and to other rivers. 
(d) Whether the salmon hatched from eggs deposited 
by the early or the late runs of fish always return to 
the streams at the same season that their parents did; 
or whether the particular month when salmon enter the 
rivers is quite independent of the time when their 
parents came in from salt water. 
(e) Whether salmon whose parents frequentd other 
streams behave any differently from native fish when 
planted in the Columbia. Hugh M. Smith. 
U. S, BiTRKAu OF Fisheries, Washington, D. C. 
Fish and Fishing. 
■ '}~^ 
Canada Declines to Stop Seining. 
No announcement that it has fallen to my lot to 
make for a long time past is more regretfully published 
than the statement that the Government of Canada, 
represented by the Honorable Raymond Prefontaine, 
has refused the prayer of the petition addressed to the 
latter as Minister of Marine and Fisheries, by the North 
American Fish and Game Protective Association, ask- 
ing that the Government would put an end to the sein- 
ing of pike-perch upon their spawning grounds in 
Missisquoi Bay, Lake Cliamplain. This petition, which 
appeared in Forest and Stream of Feb. 25, while sup- 
porting the applications to a similar effect made by 
authority of the Legislatures of New York and Ver- 
mont, was entirely a Canadian production, the drafting 
of it having been left by the Association to a com- 
mittee consisting of Dr. John T. Finnie7 of Montreal, 
and the undersigned, though the Association adopted 
it, unanimously, as its own, and instructed its president 
and secretary to sign and to forward it to the Minister. 
I mention this fact to show that Canadian sportsmen, 
and especially the Canadian membership of our inter- 
national protective association, feel quite as keenly 
upon this matter as any citizen of Vermont or of New 
York State can do. I will even go so far as to say 
that I believe that the Minister of Fisheries himself, 
notwithstanding the reasoning by which he supports 
his recent decision, feels somewhat as we do in this 
affair, for it will be remembered hy ex-Governor Nelson 
Fisk, of Vermont, and the other members of the depu- 
tation which presented the petition of the Association 
to him in Montreal, on the 6th of February, that Mr. 
Prefontaine distinctly said that his personal sympathy 
was with the m.ovement in which we had interested 
ourselves. 
Politics versus Pfotection. 
For the cause of the present condition of affairs in 
this matter we must, unfortunately, turn to politics. 
The article from the Burlington Free Press, published 
in FoRE.ST AND Stream of Feb. 18, touched the root 
of the whole trouble. Deplorable as it may be, I have 
not the slightest hesitation in declaring that for so 
small a mess of pottage as the votes of the fishermen 
living on Missisquoi Baj' or in that vicinity, the Gov- 
ernment of Canada is prepared to sacrifice the whole 
^sh Jiff of Champlain, The Minister s^t the be^4 
