838 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 29, 1903. 
proving sport with the trout, some very large speci- 
mens being taken there. From now until t^e middle, 
and perhaps the last of May, each day will see one or 
more of the lakes and ponds in Maine opening to the 
angler. Although there is a license fee for all who 
hunt in Maine, there is none as yet on the fisherman, 
who is simply asked to abide by the protective laws 
laid down. Herbert W. Rowe. 
Boston, Me., April 22. — There is good news from 
Sebago that the ice is out. Already several anglers from 
Portland and some from, Massachusetts have given their 
lines the first wetting of the season and with good results. 
Several local fishermen who had camped on shore were 
out with their boats as soon as it was possible to launch 
them. Mr. Curtis Sanborn got a thirteen-pounder ; Frank 
L. Shaw, of Portland, one weighing nine pounds. W. H. 
Stevens, C. F. and W. L. Jones, of Portland, have also 
met with good success. Lake Maranacook is also clear 
and has yielded up a 2V^-pound trout. So the fishing 
season in Maine has begun, although it may be several 
days yet before the sport will commence at the Rangeleys 
or Moosehead. Below Bangor at Verona, several salmon 
have been taken, which shows that the fish are running 
and presages good sport at the Pool before long. It is 
claimed that more work in stocking has been done the 
past year than ever before, and for that reason there 
should be an improvement in the fishing in the Maine 
waters. One of the changes in fish laws relates to Range- 
ley waters, including Mooselookmeguntic, Cupsuptic and 
the Richardson lakes, a law having been passed last win- 
ter allowing a party in one boat to catch only four fish 
iby "plugging," as it is called— "still-fishing"— in a day. 
If there is but one person in the boat only two fish are 
permitted. White perch caught while trolling for trout 
or salmon may not be kept as heretofore but must be 
returned to the water. 
Only ten pounds of trout or salmon may be sent out 
at a time and that but once in thirty days, properly tagged, 
of course. No person is permitted . to take more than 
fifteen pounds of trout and salmon in one day while troll- 
ing in these waters. 
Dr. W. C. Woodward, of Middleboro, says that several 
sportsmen of his town have taken good strings of trout 
in nearby streams since the opening of the season, April 
1. Mr. Ed. Grant, who has been spending a few weeks 
in Boston, tells me that' deer have come through the win- 
ter in fine shape, and are very numerous in the country 
about his camps at Beaver Pond, and that there are lots 
of partridges. He says that there had been no perceptible 
falling oflf in the fishing for the last few years. It seems 
to me "Ed," as every one calls him, does not look a day 
older than he did way back in the '80s, when he acted as 
one of the guides of our party at Kennebago Lake. One 
of his sons is associated with him in running the camps. 
Central. 
How to Tell a Grilse. 
New York, April 3. — Editor Forest cm<^ Stream: 
I wish that some of your readers would t^l me how 
to distinguish a grilse from a salmon — that is a distinct- 
ive characteristic which is unmistakable. 
For instance, I can tell a parr from a smolt, for the 
parr still retain the dark bars — they are uranJstakable. 
Again, I can tell a smolt from a grilse (or peiiLaps bet- 
ter, 1 think that I can) for it has not yet been to the 
sea. But I have no knowledge which enables me to 
infallibly tell a grilse from a salmon. 
As an illustration, I read from one authority, "I have 
never seen a grilse in Canada of above six pounc?, while 
in Britain ten pounds is not a very rare size, a!->i one 
is reputed to have been taken of twenty poun^l'^,." I 
conclude, therefore, that weight is not a scientific; test, 
for salmon of those weights have been taken, Ati Eng- 
lish writer says that grilse have longer fins_ than sal- 
mon ; this is absurd from a scientific standpoint. Rela- 
tive looseness of scales has been mentioned, but here 
this distinction is too vague, for it furnishes no standard 
of looseness.. It has been said, also, that grilse have 
a forked tail, while salmon have a square tail; but this 
is not adequate, for no salmon has a tail that would 
true to a perpendicular line erected at its caudal ex- 
tremity. It seems not to be sexual maturity, for I read 
that both male and female grilse have been known to breed. 
It has also been said that grilse have a thinner root 
at the tail than a salmon, but this furnishes no clew, 
for the question at once arises, how thick is the root of 
a salmon's tail? The salmon that I have taken have 
shown various thicknesses in the roots of their tails; 
so have the grilse. But it would appear that there ought 
Ito be some unmistakable difference to justify the differ- 
ent nomenclature. Have grilse the X marks of the sal- 
mon? Does a salmon always have them? . 
J. E. HiNDON Hyde. 
Mr. G. A. Boulenger writes in the London Field on 
the subject : 
"A grilse is a young salmon on its first return from 
the sea, and is intermediate in character between the smolt 
and the salmon proper, the principal differences as com- 
pared to the latter being a more distinctly emarginate 
caudal fin when fully spread out (this fin being forked 
in the smolt and truncate, or very feebly emarginate in 
the salmon), and a smaller mouth (the upper jaw extend- 
ing to below the posterior third of the eye in the smolt, 
to beyond the vertical of the posterior border of the eye 
in the salmon). In salmonids, as in most other fishes, 
size does not always coincide with maturity, and the ar- 
gument which has often been adduced in favor of the 
grilse and salmon being distinct fishes, viz., that the 
fonner may be as large as the latter, is of no importance. 
According to Frank Buckland, grilse have been captured 
of the extraordinary weight of fourteen pounds. The 
male grilse may be sexually mature, but not the female. 
"The following is the definition of a grilse by a high 
authority on the life-histories of fishes, the late Prof. 
Brown Goode : 'The grilse is the adolescent salmon, it 
weighs from two to six pounds, and is more slender and 
graceful than the mature fish, with smaller head, thinner 
scales, more forked tail, and spots rounder, more numer- 
ous, and bluish rather than jetty black. The two may 
easily be distinguishcv. even though both should be of 
the &ame size, as not unfrequently happens,' " - 
A I Boy and a Bass; 
I WAS living in the city of Boonville, Mo. The 
Missouri River ran close at hand. The water was low. 
There was a good deal of fishing going on, and I had been 
.working steady for three weeks trying to. get enough 
money to hire a guide to take me fishing in real style, 
although I could fish plenty along the bank. I determined 
to go out and have a try at the big fellow so many had 
let get away. 
At last the money was earned, and I waited till a pretty 
day. The second day I waited was dandy. I hired a 
boatman and started out as happy as a lark. My rod 
and reel were heavy and strong, and my reel held 400 feet 
of line. I fished till noon without much success, ate my 
luncheon, and continued fishing. I was getting drowsy 
when my reel gave a loud discordant scream and darted 
away. "Ah," said the boatman, "you have a stunner"; 
and indeed I had. The fish started out in a way which 
taxed my strength to the utmost. I pressed on the brake 
as hard as_ I dared, and I began to think that if he did 
not stop directly he would take all my line; but, really, 
I had a good deal of line yet. 
"Need any help?" said the boatman. "N-n-not yet," I 
gasped; but just then the fish turned and started toward 
the boat and I was kept busy taking in line. He had got 
nearly to the boat when he sank and I was almost sure 
he got away, and said : 'Got away !" "What ?" said the 
boatman, as the fish gave another terrible lurch that 
nearly jerked the rod out of my hands and the reel crank 
hitting my fingers almost hard enough to break them. He 
now began to make for deeper water and the flying line 
threw spray two feet above the water. I knew if I did 
not stop him it was all over; so I put all my strength 
on the rod and reel and succeeded in turning him. All 
this time the boatman was kept busy with the oars. 
Long before this my breath began to come in quick, 
short gasps; my hands were bleeding and my strength 
was nearly exhausted. But now the fish began to tire 
and we were succeeding in getting him in shallow water. 
Once, when I had him in about nine feet of the boat, I 
cried out : "Quick, mister, with the gaff !" The boatman 
raised his gaff and like a shot it descended, but too late. 
The fish made a leap into the air and then plunged beneath 
the surface and the battle raged as furious as ever. Now 
making long runs, now plunging deep beneath the sur- 
face, now rising and making leaps into the air as if mad. 
now letting itself be pulled close to the boat. At last it 
let me pull it nearer than ever; and this was fatal, for 
the boatman's gaff was caught securely under the gills 
and it was dragged into the boat and killed. I was glad 
the struggle was ended, as it was growing dark; and we 
pulled for land. My' prize weighed nine pounds ; it was 
a black bass and was found to be the largest caught with 
the rod for two years. M. P. Sohlinger. 
Stoutsville, Mo, 
Mullets in Fresh Waters. 
Galveston, Tex., April 20. — Yesterday I saw the com- 
mon salt water mullet, in a pond where, I feel certain, 
no salt water has been since September, 1900. On men- 
tioning it to Col. W. L. Moody, who owns Lake Surprise 
on the mainland, he tells me that the water is fresh, they 
drink it ; and that mullet are very abundant in it. 
This suggests a very interesting question as to whether 
the mullet could not be accustomed first to brackish and 
then to fresh water. What a food supply it would make 
for bass in lakes, and what a supply of bait. It is the 
favorite food of all large fish of salt water. 
When I lived in the coast country of Virginia many 
years ago, it was well known that a few striped bass had 
Ijeen found in mill ponds, the stream or race from which 
emptied into salt water, but the ponds were fresh, and 
the race fresh. It was generally thought that the fish had 
been thrown into the pond by the mill-wheel, or fish 
hawks had dropped them when small. In carrying to 
their young the hawks frequently drop fish when the bald 
eagle gets after them. 
I wish some of the Fish Commission stations, National 
or State, would experiment with getting fresh water 
mullet. G. E. Mann. 
Bearing on the subject are the following notes from 
earlier issues of Forest and Stream, the first by William 
P. Seal and the second by Dr. Tarleton H. Bean. 
I have found that when fresh water is introduced into 
a salt-water aquarium it will remain on the surface 
unless the whole is thoroughly stirred or mingled. It 
is probable that the fresh water of rivers is not 
thoroughly mingled with the water of bays, but flows 
off on the surface, and that at considerable depths it 
may be very nearly as salt as that near shore outside, 
say 1.024, or at least 1.020. 
The sheepshead and tautog are bottom fishes, and ex- 
tremely local, requiring hard or rocky bottom (ledges). 
It occurs to me, in view of the extreme changes of 
salinity encountered by these fishes in this, transition 
without apparent effect, that it opens an interesting field 
for experiment. It is probable that the conditions of 
environment of most animals, and of fishes especially, 
are accidents rather than necessities of existence. I 
feel confident that it would be possible to transfer suc- 
cessfully many salt-water fishes to water wholly fresh, 
by slow degrees, if_ conditions were found otherwise 
similar to their native ones. What a noble fish the 
sheepshead would be for the Great Lakes. 
The possibility suggested by Mr. W. P. Seal in Forest 
and Stream recently, of extensive transfers of marine 
fishes to fresh water, reminded me of an experiment 
made by Prof. A. E. Verrill, of Yale College, about 
ten years ago. As Prof. Verrill's experience harmonized 
very well with that of Mr. Seal, I wrote to the Pro- 
fessor for information about it, and received the fol- 
lowing in reply: 
"Dear Doctor Bean — The experiment that you refer 
to was made some ten years ago. Seeing some very 
fresh-looking tomcod in the fish market here, but 
frozen very hard and stiff on a cold winter day, I got 
permission to put a dozen or more into a large aquarium 
in the market,^ supplied with a constant current of city 
water; My object was to see if they would revive after 
being frozen. They all revived perfectly in an hour or 
less. As they seemed to feel satisfied with their quarters 
in the aquarium, we allowed them to remain, and there 
they lived all winter — probably three months or more- 
till turned out in the spring to make room for other 
things. Sincerely yours, A. E. Verrill (New Haven, 
Nov. 24, 1889)." 
Here we have a marine fish suddenly transferred from 
salt water to air below a freezing temperature and then 
into fresh water without loss of health and vigor. This 
was a remarkable case, and the result could not haVe 
been anticipated. There are many anadromous fishes 
which ascend rivers from the sea far into the interior 
for the purpose of spawning. Among these the shad, 
alewife aiid salmon will be recalled by every one. The 
alewife will even endure perpetual landlocking and con- 
tinue to multiply; the same is true of the smelt and 
white perch. Doubtless numerous other illustrations of 
a similar nature will occur to some of our readers. 
Some of the flounders run into the rivers above tidal 
waters; the bluefish and the silver gar ascend far from the 
sea. Even the halibut has come up the Potomac to the 
vicinity of Colonial Beach, where the water is brackish. 
Examples of marine species domiciled in fresh water 
can be cited indefinitely, and we should not be surprised 
by any new developments. T. H. B. 
Fishing in the Delaware River. 
About this time every season we read somewhere that 
"The fishing in the Delaware River will be poor this sea- 
son because of the floods and ice during the winter," etc. 
But those of us who go up there find a fish here and 
there just the same, and learn to love the river and its 
environments more than ever. Perhaps the chief reason 
why the Delaware attracts so many people is its nearness 
to New York City, and the low fares on the railways, y»t 
I hazard the assertion that not one out of every thousand 
persons who go to the various resorts at a week-end see 
and enjoy the river as it should be seen and enjoyed; in 
short, through the eyes of the angler or canoeist who 
camps alongshore and sees the grand stream and its moun- 
tains at their best — at sunrise, sunset, at noon, and when 
a storm is brewing ; who picks wild strawberries and 
blackberries when they are ripe, gathers great bunches 
of laurel in bloom and wishes he might take it home with 
him, or merely casts now and then in the eddies and rifts 
when the spirit moves him, and tries to persuade his 
camp-mate, who grows lazier day by day, that it was 
fishmg they came for; that they can loaf at home as 
well. Anyhow, it is not a place for strenuous people, un- 
less running rapids attracts more than does the fishing 
and the daily flopping across country in search of ever- 
elusive eggs that go to the boarding houses in spite of 
the campers' protests that they are willing to pay more 
than anyone else, if only the eggs will be kept for them 
when laid; but eggs are bought far in advance, and the 
unlucky camper who is not a steady customer, must be 
content with the case article from New York unless he 
can bribe the farmers' wives to save one or two for him 
each day out of the lot hoarded for the boarding-house 
people, who insist that their boarders come to the coun- 
try for country air and truck, and will be satisfied with 
nothing that comes from the box if there is any way to 
prevent it. 
To me it seems the best way to enjoy the Delaware 
and the fishing thoroughly is to drift downstream in a 
canoe. There are many reasons for this, chief of which 
is that one accustoiaed to wide expanses of water and 
broad vistas of lowland soon becomes oppressed with 
the feeling of being shut in by the hills which border 
this beautiful stream, and longs for new scenes until 
nothing short of breaking camp will satisfy him; and 
the further he drifts the more will the feeling be present 
with him, particularly as running the myriad rapids and 
rifts is most exhilarating and the constant search for 
better fishing waters becomes a sort of will o' the wisp. 
I have a friend who, with his wife, drifted down a part 
of the Delaware one wet summer in, a canvas canoe, and 
who left camp one day for a woods ramble which proved 
to be longer than expected. On their return these good 
people found their tent on the ground and all their be- 
longings trampled into the soil by a drove of cows which 
grazed up and down the shores every day. Certain ar- 
ticles left in camp were missing, among them a box of 
cigars and a whole liam. Now, I have known cows to be 
accused of many things by canoeists, but to accuse a cow 
of taking down a ham that had been hung on the limb 
of a tree and some nine feet from the ground, as well as 
eating strong black cigars, is ^nkind, to say the least. 
The only lesson one may draw from this is to keep an 
eye on the camp while away. Personally, I was never 
bothered by two-footed prowlers, although there are van- 
dals along the Delaware, no doubt. However, there seems 
to be a scarcity of Weary Willies who drill along the rail- 
way tracks. As a rule, I avoid the railway side of the 
river in making camp, but this is not always convenient. 
At one place I camped under the railway embankment 
from necessity for nearly a week, but was never visited 
by tramps. The visitors were of the right sort with the 
exception of a few who, on a Saturday night, insisted 
that I go with them to the nearest ginmill for a night- 
cap, but who were not offensively persistent, as some are 
when partially under the influence of the fiery stuff they 
call tanglefoot or bugjuice, according to the localityi The 
neighbors have a pleasant way of dropping in at nightfall, 
bringing with them a few choice apples or a half-dozen 
mealy potatoes, knowing that the little canoe does not 
carry a cargo of such size as to supply the owner for 
many days, when his appetite is whetted so keenly by 
the mountain air and hard exertion in the rifts. Money 
in return is never expected, and seldom accepted, and I 
recall, one farmer who supplied three persons in our 
camp with fresh milk for four days, and every time had 
to be urged persistently before he would accept coin in 
exchange. "Oh, that is nothing," he asserted, although it 
was a fact that he rowed across one of the worst rifts 
along the river twice daily to deliver milk to one of the 
boarding houses, and our modest wants were supplied on 
the ground, his cows grazing all about our camp, much 
to the discomfort of the Madam, to whom cattle of both 
sexes look alike, and all are terrifying. 
One may read the railway fishing guides and the fish- 
ing laws relating to the river, and learn a lot that will 
be of real service to hini; but neither one will bring fish 
