July 22, 1905.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
60 
; like those of Elops and Albula, elongate ribbon-like ani- 
mals of translucent and colorless texture, with a very 
small head and small fins. They are probably so trans- 
; parent that their eyes alone are apparent in the water 
unless a very close examination is made. The youngest 
of the specimens (2.25 inches long) observed by Ever- 
mann and Marsh, were probably not long before devel- 
oped from the larval condition. Such are the little fishes 
to be looked for as the very young of the great tarpon. 
Most of the large tarpons caught along the coasts of 
Elorida and the Southern States have attained full ma- 
turity ; of such the length is about six feet, and the weight 
: approximates 100 pounds; they are probably nearly or 
over three years old. Growth, however, is continued in 
some much beyond the average, one of 383 pounds, it is 
: claimed, having been harpooned. 
“The silver-king is the greatest of game fishes.” So 
declare Evermann and Marsh, and they, echo the belief of 
i many. Volumes and countless articles in periodicals have 
been devoted to detail of its excellencies. Its activity and 
gameness are proportioned to its size. The northern sal- 
mon affords tame sport compared with the “silver-king.” 
Those of the average full-grown size (six feet long and 
100 pounds in weight) are caught in numbers with the 
rod and line ; one weighing 223 pounds closes for the time 
the record df feats with the rod, and it took the captor 
“three hours and a half before it was brought to gaff.” 
The tarpon is now considered to have little or no edible 
value. It has. indeed, been declared by Schomburgk to 
be “considered a delicate eating” in Barbados, and in the 
United States has been experimented with occasionally; 
one (W. H. Burrall) who did so in 1874, declared (in 
Forest and Stream, II., p. 324) that it was very palat- 
able, but his taste was exceptional. It has been frequently 
tried since but rejected for the table. An effort was made 
on one or two occasions in Massachusetts when consid- 
’ erable numbers had been caught, “to find a market for 
them,” as at New Bedford, “but the people did not like 
■ them, owing to the toughness of the flesh.” 
, Holder’s negro oarsman aptly replied to the suggestion 
‘ that it was “the finest looking fish in the world.” “Yes, 
Sa, hit looks fine, so does hay. I’d rather eat hay dan 
i tarpon, yes, Suh, I v/ould.” It is truly, as Holder re- 
marks, almost the only great game fish “which is utterly 
scorned as a food fish.” Dampier’s opinion, expressed in 
T675. ^Fid that of some Barbadians, has not been adopted 
. by modern gourmands. It is “full of numerous small 
' Lunci, which is a great inconvenience,” says Schomburgk. 
I In almost all cases where it has given anything like satis- 
j tion the fish was of small size, and the truth may be that 
I small ones are tender and savory but large ones coarse 
! and tough, like overgrown individuals of other species. 
The results of unprejudiced judgment are still wanting. 
It may be recalled here, however, that the Indian con- 
gener of the tarpon, the ox-eye {Megalops cyprino-ides) 
is, according to Saville Kent, as well as others, “highly 
esteemed for food,” and in the Malay archipelago, where 
it likewise abounds, it is cultivated in tanks after the same 
manner as the milkfish, Chanos salmoneiis. 
Far from being sought by the fisherman for the market, 
the tarpon is detested by him. “The Pensacola seine fish- 
ermen dread it while dragging their seines, for they have 
known of persons having been klled or severely wounded 
by its leaping against them from the seine in which it 
was inclosed. Even when it does not jump over the cork 
line of the seine, it is quite likely to break through the 
netting before landing,” Nevertheless, even a dead tar- 
pon yields some compensation for the trouble he gives. 
There is quite a demand for its great beautifully silvered 
scales, some of which may be as large as a lady’s palm. 
• They find customers who are willing to pay as high as 
from five to twenty-five cents apiece, and they are made 
up in various ways to attract the winter visitors to 
Florida. 
A species congeneric with the tarpon, but not very 
closely related, is the Megalops cyprinoides which, indeed 
is the type of the genus. It is a less slender fish and the 
outline of the back and head is different from that of 
the tarpon : further, the dorsal fin is not so far backward, 
that fin and the anal have more rays (dorsal, 19 to 21; 
anal. 24 to 27), and the proportions of all the fins are 
more or less different. The size, also, is never so great 
as in the giant tarpons, for it rarely, if ever, attains to a 
length of more than five feet. 
Like the tarpon, the Asiatic fish readily accommodates 
itself to fresh water. According tO' H. S. Thomas 
(1897), in India “they acclimatize very readily to fresh 
water, and grow fast,” and also breed, he was told, “in 
ponds.” The natives, too, “are fond of keeping them in 
ponds.” 
They are more prone to associate in schools or shoals — 
that is, close together like herring — than the tarpon, es- 
pecially when young. Thomas came “across them com- 
ing up an estuary in a shoal, and it was like hauling in 
mackerel ; and they run about the same size. There was 
a fish on as fast as ever you could get your line in the 
water. But the fun was very short-lived. It was in mid- 
stream, and they were all past the boat in a very little 
time.” Thomas took them “on a May-fly and a Carnatic 
Carp-fly.” In “thirty minutes,” “on a light trout-rod,” 
he “took six of three-quarters of a pound each, lost four 
among weeds, and had one fl}'- bitten off. Som-e of them 
sprang a foot in the air, and all fought well.” 
The ' fame of the tarpon has, in recent years, been re- 
flected on its eastern relative and the lesser species has 
found advocates for its pursuit as a game fish. “Enthu- 
siastic anglers disposed to initiate” angling for it as for 
the American fish are referred by T. Saville Kent .(1897) 
to the Badminton Magazine for 1895 for information. 
“There Can be no doubt, in the writer’s opinion,” that the 
Australian fish, popularly known as the ox-eye herring, 
possesses “the most conspicuous potentialities for sport,” 
and “would yield equally exciting sport on the same 
lines.” Unlike its American relative, too, there might be 
the after satisfaction of seeing it on the table for, accord- 
ing to Kent, the ox-eye affords “most excellent eating.” 
In India, it is raised to some* extent for the table in 
tanks. 
All communications for Forest and Stream must he 
directed to Forest and Stream Pub. Co., New York, to 
receive attention We h/ive no oilier office. 
Newfoundland Notes* 
American anglers have been arriving at various points 
along the railway line during the last two weeks. The 
fishing reports received indicate that the sport is very 
good among the ordinary sportsmen who arrive — we get 
the usual mixed assortment. Some of them are disap- 
pointed if the fish do not leap into their baskets, others 
are pleased if they get an odd salmon or grilse or a creel 
of sea trout. There is still another class who imagine 
they have prescriptive right to certain pools and resent 
as an intrusion the advent of other sportsmen to inter- 
fere with them. We have been cursed for years with 
this class. They have the idea that the rivers and barrens 
are a private preserve and that they themselves ought to 
have exclusive rights. Still they do’ not pay one cent 
for licenses, rentals or individual advantages of any kind, 
and yet they talk and write a lot of rubbish about the 
fishing deteriorating and look askance at others who 
have just as much right as they have, and profess to re- 
gard them as trespassers. And, as a rule, these are the 
men who haggle with the guides over a few cents^ or 
the remnants of the canned provisions. A worthy British 
General now gathered to his fathers, came regularly, for 
years, and had the very best pools for his own exclusive 
rod. A couple of years ago he caught on the Upper 
Humber 300 salmon and grilse, and yet he decried the sport 
in the British sporting journals. He positively became 
indignant when some other sportsman “trespassed” on 
the pool that he had come to regard as his own personal 
preserve. According to the Western Star, a newspaper 
published in the midst of the fishing country. Sir Bryan 
Leighton has now donned the mantle of the late British 
sportsman and assumed the role of detractor-in-chief. I 
do not say this of my own personal knowledge, but give 
you the following clipping from the Star that seems to 
convey that idea : 
“Sir Bryan Leighton, who L now on the Codroy River, 
has written the Halifax Chronicle that the outlook for 
the season’s fishing on that stream is most unpromising, 
and, that the fish caught there at any time are of a small 
run. We may say, not for Sir Bryan’s information, for 
he knows his statement to be an evasion of tlie truth, 
that Codroy River affords the besh fishing in the coun- 
try, and if he calls a 32-pound salnion a small fish, we 
would advise him to take out a fishing, license for whales. 
We do not appreciate cheap holiday men coming here 
and, through avariciousness, try to monopolize a whole 
river, and send misleading statements to the outside 
world, thus preventing gentlemanly tourists from coming 
among us. If Sir Bryan finds fault with Mr. Murray for 
fishing at South Branch, Codroy, he certainly is not 
aware that Mr. Murray owns five acres of land in that 
vicinity, whereas Sir Bryan owns not one inch of the soil. 
If he were to go fishing on the Tay River, in Scotland, 
he would have to pay dollars for the cents that he is pay- 
ing in this country. want tourists who will not be- 
little us, and to the right class we will give every en- 
couragement to come among us.” 
Complaints are comin.y, in from all sides that the rivers 
are being poached and netted. The matter has been 
brought to the notice of the authorities, and they have 
issued strict orders to the wardens to put a stop to the 
practice, and bring the poachers before the magistrates. 
The lime his come when the Fisheries Department will 
have to reorganize our whole game system, and put it on 
a similar basis to that which obtains in other countries. 
While there is, and will be, legitimate fishing in plenty 
for thousands of rods in this island, yet if through ignor- 
ance or indifference the .rivers are allowed to be poached 
and polluted the fishing will be ruined, although I believe 
that even with all our carelessness and indifference the 
fishing cannot be totally destroyed. W. J. C. 
Waterproofing Silk Lines. 
Not long ago I referred to some experiments I had 
made in attempts to waterproof soft braided silk lines. 
Up to that time I was not very well satisfied with the 
results, but since then I have used several silk and linen 
lines saturated for a brief time in a solution of paraffin 
and benzine, and am quite sure they have been improved 
somewhat, or at any rate no harm was done. 
An angling friend has suggested that I did not soak the 
lines long enough in the solution, but he believes that if 
they are soaked in it for twenty-four hours, then dried 
slowly, results should be quite satisfactory. This seems 
plausible to me, in view of the action of the lines so far . 
tried after saturation for a half hour or more. 
I have fished in salt water with a small braided linen 
line saturated for half an hour in benzine and paraffin a 
month previously, and which seemed to be perfectly 
waterproof wEen used immediately after drying, but 
which became wet through after using a short time. Sub- 
sequent use of this line surprised me, for it seemed to be 
improved a good d«al, although \yhen drawn through the 
fingers none of the- paraffin came off the surface as at 
first. In long casts little water came in on the line when 
it was reeled in, and it w'ould li^ on the surface like a 
feather until strain was put on the bait. And although 
the business end of the line would get wet after con- 
tinued use, it did not swell badly, as before treatment, 
nor did it seem to stick to guides' and tip. 
A favorite line of raw silk, used on a casting-rod, was 
also treated and used during a w^k’s fishing. This is a 
very soft line, size “H,” and soaked, up water like a 
sponge before treatment. Since tjien, j ho-wever, it shows 
some improvement — almost as much as the linen line re- 
ferred to above. Fishing in waters in which there was 
considerable vegetable growth, either suspended in the 
water or on the surface, it did not seem to pick up mat- 
ter to clog the top or guides.. Altogether, there seems 
to be some merit in the treatment. At any rate, it seems 
that if paraffin and benzine will waterproof tents and the 
like, why will the solution not be good for fishing lines? 
As an example, I have a triangular awning which was 
originally used merely to shade my tent from the sun’s 
rays. It is common bleached muslin, or sheeting. It 
was treated more than three years ago as an experiment. 
It turned water then like a duck. Within a month it 
was used again in camp. As it was suspended tightly 
betweep three trees, and also guyed between all comers, 
after a heaw’ downpour of rain a barrel or so of water 
was caught in it and held until the weight was too much 
for one side or the other, when most of it would run off. 
But none of the water came through this thin muslin, 
which had alternately been carried in a wad in the bottorn 
of duffie-bags, folded, whipped by the wind, etc., until 
one would think it little better than a sieve. Still, it is 
as soft and pliable as when it came from the store. 
After the appearance of ' my previous communication 
on this subject Mr. J. E. Hindon Hyde sent me a small 
piece of a braided linen line that the manufacturers had 
waterproofed with a preparation on which he has se- 
cured a patent.’ He claims his preparation will not rot 
either silk or vegetable fibre.s. and will withstand the ac- 
tion of the holoid salts coniainod in salt water. The line 
from which the bit sent me was cut had been submerged 
in Long Island Sound for six weeks but he said he could 
not find that it had been inj ured' thereby. It seems softer 
than an enameled silk line, of ettual size. and an examina- 
tion shows that the waterproofing -preparation penetrated 
to its core. I understand mat tne^ manufacturers have 
experimented with this line until they are satisfied with 
it, and that it will be in the hands of jobbers within a 
short time. It will be put up in coils on cards bearing 
two fishes, the trade-mark of the manufacturers, who do 
not sell lines in their own name, as they market all of 
their goods through the jobbers. 
The braided silk lines called Saline, and sold under 
the trade-mark mentioned during the past year, are also' 
treated under Mr. Hyde’s patent, and were used in fresli 
water with success. Quite recently Saline enamel finish 
silk lines for use in salt water have been made, and it is 
my good fortune to own one. The claim of its makers, 
that it is absolutely unaffected by any alkaline substances, 
and will stand the ocean water as well as fresh water, is a 
very strong one, but after using one of these lines for a 
week I like it very much. Mine is size “H,” and it was 
used in salt water where there was much vegetable mat- 
ter. Water does not affect the line at all, unless it im- 
proves it in casting. It is more flexible than an ordinary 
enameled line, picks up no for-eign matter, and runs off 
the reel smoothly without balling up. One thing I have 
noticed is the extreme sensitiveness of .this line, the strike 
of a fish being communicated to the angler’s hand very 
plainly through it. I hope it will wear well, for a line 
as small as this, which can be used in salt or fresh water, 
should prove to be a treasure. Perry D. Frazer. 
The Sea Trout at Home. 
We have read so much of sea trout in the rivers where 
they go to spawn and around the mouths of rivers 
whither they follow the smelts in the season of anadromy, 
that the student of ichthyology will really enjoy a new 
sensation when salient facts regarding his marine life and 
sea habits are presented for his edification. For such in 
abundance we of the Forest and Stream are indebted to 
Edward Hickson, of the Intercolonial Railway, at Monc- 
ton, N. B., Canada, as they appear in the following re- 
sume which were submitted with permission to print. ■ 
Moncton, N. B., July 7, 1905. 
Charles Hallock, Esq. : 
Your very interesting letter of the 4th is at hand. A 
few days ago I mailed you a letter from Mr. Sydney Des 
Brisay, an educated fish merchant of Petit Rocher, on 
the Baie de Chaleur, in which Mr. Des Brisay said that, 
in his opinion, the habits of the large sea trout caught 
in and which frequent the Baie de Chaleur were much the 
same as those of the salmon. He also said they caught 
large sea trout, 8 pounds weight sometimes, in the lobster 
bait seines when catching bait in the early spring. 
I have proved for your satisfaction, therefore, as well 
as in previous lerters, that sea trout go- to sea. First, by 
the fact that we have caught trout as large as 8 and 9 
pounds far from the rivers in which these trout spawn. 
We have caught them at the mouth of Bathurst Harbor 
in May, large flabby trout, whose flesh is white when 
cooked, proving that they have not been long out of the 
rivers where they spent the winter. These trout come 
to the mouth of Bathurst Harbor and go up the Nepisig- 
uit River feeding, as they go on the spring run of smelts 
which are goirig xtp that river, and all other rivers on 
the south side of the Bate de .ClTateur, to spawn in the 
fresh water. There are two or three other rivers, which- 
empty into the bay near the Nepisiguit, viz., the Bass 
River, the Millstream and the 'Nigackjo, and into the 
mouths and up as far as the head of ‘the tide of each 
of these smaller rivers the smelts go, and also with the 
smelts and feeding on them go the large::sea trout. Mr. 
Venning asserts that these trout, which feed on the 
smelts at themouths of these rivers, belong to and have 
come down the river for that purpose. This is not a fact, 
for such trout are never caught in any-of these rivers, 
and, on the contrary, they come from the sea with the 
smelts, and go away again with the little fish (smelts), 
still feeding on them. They also feed on small herring 
and herring spawn along the coasts, and it is while feed- 
ing on these that they are caught in early May jn the 
lobster seines.' As stated, the Nepisiguit River is one 
easily studied,- and for that reason I quote it in par- 
ticular. Twenty-one miles from its mouth there is a big 
fell which preveiits any fish, salmon or trout, going up 
any further. There are trout, both sea trout and river 
trout, below the falls, but never a one of over 3 pounds. 
As Mr. Venning says, the trout which belong to the 
river come down to its mouth, and when the inhabitants 
are fishing smelts through the ice in the winter they also 
catch some trout, and an occasional grilse. These trout 
have spawned and moved down river. They play around 
the head of the tide, and may or may not go to sea. _ In 
June, when fishing for salmon at the Pabineau Falls, eight 
miles from the mouth of the Nepisiguit, we can catch 
river trout in the deep holes around the falls. They take 
bait generally, and most of them are white when cooked 
(at this time of year), and I do not much care for "them 
for food. Later in the season they get fatter and are 
good for food. In July and August there is a run of 
bright sea trout which average perhaps a pound. These 
trout may be caught all along the river as far as the big 
falls (twenty-one milea), and are beautiful, clean silvery 
fish, with flesh as red as that of a sahnon.- 
With all these things considered, where do the large 
