92 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July 29, 1905. 
can be arranged, and altogether the pastime is one that 
few dyed-in-the-wool anglers will tire of. 
If it not possible to obtain water where the marks 
may be staked off, as described, because of deep water, 
a rather heavy line can be made to serve the purpose 
almost as well. Round cork floats can be obtained from 
dealers in commercial fish nets, or hollow rubber balls 
can be used, in any event the numbers to be painted 
thereon. It will then only be necessary to stretch the 
buoyed line from the casting point out, and the outer 
end can be made fast with an anchor-line and a stone. 
In some respects this would be a better plan, as the 
buoys can be kept clean and the numbers fresh, while 
mischievous small boys might carry it away or damage 
it if it is left afloat all the time. 
For casting on a lawn, numerous" marking devices 
might be suggested, as stakes, marked lines, etc., but if a 
long tape is available it will prove more satisfactory, 
since its readings will be exact and no estimates need 
be made. 
Casting on the snow or ice has peculiar fascinations 
for the angler who grows weary of the long winter 
months and impatient to test new rods and tackle, and 
in some respects it is eminently satisfactory, as good 
casts may be paced off and marked. The exercise is 
sufficient to keep one’s circulation up except on the cold- 
est days, and one who practices casting throughout the 
winter will take still more interest in fishing than he 
ever did before. 
The remarks set down above will apply to fly-casting 
as well as to bait-casting, with necessary qualifications. 
In fact, any angler who dislikes to "make a show of him- 
self” in public tournaments can tr}" his skill in some field 
or on some little stream where he may be sure no one 
will disturb him; but if he wishes to fully appreciate 
the pastime, let him invite some close friend to go along, 
so that they may cast, one against the other, and my 
word for it, there will be a third, or a fourth party the 
next time, and before many trials are held some place 
nearer home will be selected, perhaps the women folks 
invited to try their skill, and the "game” become better 
understood than it seems to be now. It is peculiarly 
adapted to trials in which women may take part, and no 
angler who takes wicked pleasure in poking fun at his 
wife for being awkward with rod and line in fishing 
should fail to see that she becomes more familiar with 
rod, reel and line in practice casting. She may become 
an expert as soon as he does, too. Perry D. Frazer. 
The Lady fish. 
In the current issue of the Smithsonian Miscellaneous 
Collections, Dr. Theodore Gill describes the ladyfish 
(Albiila vulpes), an interesting species best known to 
anglers in Florida. Of it Dr. Gill writes : 
“It is found in almost every tropical sea, but it is not 
confined to such for individuals not a few extend their 
wanderings quite far beyond the tropical zone, occasion- 
ally even roaming northward to Massachusetts. It at- 
tains a length of from a foot and a half to three feet 
and a weight of about three to ten pounds, but the aver- 
age is far below the maximum mentioned. 
“Notwithstanding its wide geographical distribution, 
it is in truth a shore fish and seeks its food close to the 
shore or on muddy or sandy flats where shellfish — espe- 
cially small bivalve shellfish — most abound. When the 
flood tide begins and ‘up to full tide’ is the select time 
for feeding, and ‘flats in water varying from a depth of 
eight to ten inches,’ a choice place for hunting for food. 
“As the fishes feed in such shallow water, their heads go 
down and their tails come out of the water, and as they 
work in shorewards their dorsal fins cut the water, and 
the sunlight is reflected from their silvery sides.’ The 
actions of the fish thus seen have suggested to some the 
name ‘grubber.’ 
“There is a beautiful correlation between the fish’s 
food and the structural means for assimilating it. The 
dentition as a whole is quite peculiar — unlike that of 
any other animal. The bony roof of the mouth is closed 
in by the juxtaposition of the parasphenoid and ptery- 
goid bones and covered with roundish molar teeth and 
the floor of the mouth has opposed teeth so that the fish 
is well provided with the means for crushing the shells 
which it takes; externally is provision for finding and 
rooting them up in the projecting conic snout, which is 
so prominent as to have suggested one of its early names 
— Conorhynchus, or cone-snout. 
“A favorite region for the discharge of procreative 
duties is the Gulf of California. There the young may be 
found in immense quantities and they are ‘often thrown 
by the waves on the beach in great masses.’ But so dif- 
ferent are those young from the mother fish that they 
would not be recognized by the casual observer. They 
are ‘elongate, band-shaped, with very small head and 
loose, transparent tissues.’ In the water in fact their 
eyes alone are visible. Gilbert tells that ‘from this con- 
dition they become gradually shorter and more compact, 
shrinking from three or three and a half inches in length 
to two inches.’ Then their form becomes much like that 
of maturity and from that stage they grow regularly till 
the proportions of ripe age are attained. Having at 
length shrunk to almost half the length of the longest 
esunculoid stage and acquired a roundness and compact- 
ness of body as well as shape of the adult, it starts anew 
in growth and continues till the size and other charac- 
teristics of the adult are attained. The history of the 
metamorphosis of the species is quite as remarkable as 
that of the butterfly. With diminishing length,, with in- 
creased compactness, the myotomes or muscular folds 
grow closer together and less obvious, the dorsql fin and, 
to a less extent, the anal become better developed and 
advance towards the middle, and innumerable minor or, 
rather, less evident changes accompany such until the 
adult form in miniature is obtained. 
“One of its haunts is the waters of Biscayne Bay and 
those extending some sixty miles further south,’ and by 
residents of that shore it ‘is not known to be found any- 
where’ else. There probably, at least, it is angled for as 
much if not more than elsewhere and is quite generally 
regarded as the gamiest fish that swims. There near 
Miami, August Thomas (1903) verified to his own satis- 
faction the verdict of the neighborhood. He approached 
a school, as is generally done, in a boat with a guide. 
"‘Your guide works the boat toward them carefully, 
for they are as timid as a deer, and once frightened are 
very difficult to approach. When within fifty or sixty 
feet, which is as close as it is possible to get without 
frightening the fish, you cast the bait to a spot in line 
with the direction the fish are working, and not nearer 
then twenty or thirty feet to them. The bait is one of 
the shellfish upon which the fish feed, and it must be 
absolutely fresh.’ This bait must be allowed to ‘lie im- 
movable until the fish find it. The first indication is a 
slight nibble, for they are not vigorous biters, and they 
must be hooked, for they rarely hook themselves.’ 
“At length one is hooked. Then commences the sport. 
‘From three to five hundred feet of line is taken out on 
the first rush, and this is often repeated twice or even 
three times, making from one thousand to fifteen hun- 
dred feet of line in all that is taken out in this manner. 
When these bursts of speed are over it is fight, fight, 
fight, every inch of the way to the boat, the runs growing 
shorter as the fish fails. When at length he sees the 
boat the mighty struggle comes, but not having strength 
to make a dash, he circles about the boat at a distance of 
from ten to twenty feet, often making the circuit half a 
dozen times — when he finally comes alongside, belly up, 
he is dead — died as he had lived — dead game — and may 
be lifted into the boat with safety by the guide.’ 
‘‘Fishes may be caught ‘from November to April, but 
it is at its best in December.’ 
“There is much diversity of opinion respecting the 
culinary characteristics of the ladyfish. Thomas thought 
that ‘as a table fish they have few equals, either plaiiked 
or broiled.’ Goode, ‘from personal observation testified 
that its reputation is by no means a false one.’ In the 
Bermudas, too, ‘where large schools are taken’ and where 
it is known as the bonefish or grubber, it is considered 
■a most excellent food fish.’ Others, however, hold it in 
little e.steem._ Goode himself tells that along the southern 
coast of California where it is ‘found in some numbers,’ 
on account of ‘its beautiful color it sells readily, but it is 
not especially esteemed as a table fish.’ 
“But it is by all with common consent exalted as a 
game fish. The celebrated angler, Henshall, in 1884, de- 
clared that, of all the fi.shes he had caught in the Indian 
River inlet ‘a bonefish of about 3 pounds gave more real 
.sport than any of the others.’ He found that it ‘fights 
in the water and in the air like the black bass, but most- 
ly in the air — a silver shuttle.’ ” 
Fish Chat. 
BY EDWARD A. SAMUELS.. 
Plenty of Bait. 
The hand-line fisherman of the Maritime Provinces are 
getting all the fresh bait they need at the present time, 
for not in years have herring been as plentiful as they 
now are; all along the Nova Scotia coast from Sydney, 
C. B., southward come reports of enormous schools of 
these silvery little fish ; in fact, so abundant have they 
been, great quantities have been carted on the land to be 
used as a fertilizer, the fishermen obtaining all they need 
at twenty- five cents a barrel. 
At Lockport they have been so numerous seining them 
had to be discontinued, a single boat capturing as high as 
eight barrels at a haul. Such an abundance as this is 
very encouraging in view of the fact that in recent years 
this bait has been so scarce, freezers have been erected by 
Government and private enterprise to preserve the small 
stocks which were obtainable. These herring are not 
as large as those obtained early in the spring — large fish, 
indeed, are they sometimes, attaining the size of a small 
shad and chiefly caught at night by seines which are 
allowed to run out astern of the fishing vessels, being 
carried out and distended by the tide, which has no little 
movement even in deep water — but these inshore herring 
are in good condition, and in addition to their value for 
bait are a pan fish of considerable attractiveness. 
If it is a fact that the enormous schools of herrings 
which formerly thronged the Atlantic coast are to be 
restored to us permanently, it is not among the impossi- 
bilities that the mackerel, one of the most toothsome of 
all the marine species, may again find its way back to 
our waters. Until now a good supply of herring bait 
has been considered a sine qua non by “bankers” and 
other deep-sea fishermen, but in consequence of the scar- 
city of this bait American fishermen, particularly those 
of Massachusetts, have in recent years found a substi- 
tute which seems to possess all the merits of the other 
and is obtainable ip almost inexhaustible quantities. In 
the failure to obtain herring dependence has been made 
on the luscious clam, but the new bait, 
Thu Laooce or Sand Eel 
not only entirely supersedes that lure but has proved an 
exceedingly valuable acquisition. 
Prof. George Brown Goode, in describing the lant or 
sand eel, says : , 
“Of all the small species of fishes occurring in the 
North Atlantic there is probably none more important to 
man than the lant — launce, as it is called in Europe. Al- 
though it is never used for food in this country, it is of 
great economic importance, since it constitutes one of the 
chief articles of food for the codfish, the halibut and 
other flesh-feeding species such as the bonito, bluefish, 
squeteague, flounder and mackerel. They swim in im- 
mense schools at the surface, and frequently imbed them- 
selves in the sand, where they often remain above the 
low water mark when the tide is out. Why they do this 
is not well understood, for in their habits they are wan- 
derers,, sometimes appearing in immense numbers at cer- 
tain points upon the coast and disaopearing as rapidly as 
they come. With their sharp noses and slender muscular 
bodies they have little difficulty in imbedding themselves 
in the soft sand several inches deep. Captain Atwood 
has also recorded some curious observations concerning 
the manner in which these fish, with their sharp snouts, 
penetrate through the stomach of the codfish which has 
eaten them, into the walls of the body and there become, 
encysted in the flesh, forming hard, black masses which 
are very inconvenient to the fishermen because they dull 
their knives which they use in dressing the fish before 
drying them.” 
The sand launce is also a favorite food of the salmon, 
in which fish they are very often found, particularly 
those which are taken in nets in the tideways and along 
the shores; in fact, I have found the little eels in the 
stomachs of fresh-run salmon in rivers quite a distance 
from the sea. 
The Cod ts a 'Wanderer. 
But few persons realize how great a wanderer the cod 
really is ; in fact, the general belief seems to be that it is 
local in its habits, and^ having selected an abiding place, is 
content tO' remain in it and not rove to any considerable 
distance away, but such is not the case, for the cod tra- 
verses great stretches of the briny deep almost, if not 
quite, as freely as does the bluefish, pollock and other 
of the more restless species. Several instances have re- 
cently come to my knowledge which show conclusively 
how wide a wanderer it is and how far it travels in a 
short space of time. In the latter part of June, in the 
present year, a very large cod was captured by a fisher- 
man a few miles to the eastward of Liverpool, N. S. ; it 
was an unusually heavy fish, being nearly six feet in length. 
On being dressed there was found imbedded in the walls 
of its stomach a large cod hook such as is used by the 
fishermen of Georges Banks. To this hook was attached 
a portion of a trawl line a the end of which was a swivel, ' 
such as is used on those fishing grounds ; this was 
scoured bright by having been rubbed or dragged on the 
bottom of the ocean by the cod in swimming about, and 
the line must have been parted at the swivel by the great 
weight of the fish. The cod had not fallen away in flesh 
in the least degree, which shows that the hook was swal- 
lowed within _ a very short time, for with such an 
obstruction in its palate it could not have taken much of 
any food or even capture any of the fishes -upon which 
it pre3^ed. Now, the nearest point on Georges Banks to 
the place- where the cod was landed was at least from 
ninety to one hundred miles, and the fish must certainly 
have traveled that distance if it had come in a perfectly 
straight line, which is entirely improbable. 
As another illustration of the roving habits of the cod 
I will state that a vessel was wrecked on or near Cape 
Sable, on the southern extremity of Nova Scotia, and 
among the articles lost in the wreck was a lady’s watch 
upon the case of which were engraved the initials of the 
owner’s name. 
Now the cod with all its other peculiarities has the 
curious_ habit of picking up and swallowung any metallic 
or shining object it discovers on the bottom of the ocean. 
A few days subsequent to that on which the wreck oc- 
curred a cod was captured in Margaret’s Bay, fifteen or 
t\yenty miles southwest of Halifax, in whose stomach 
was found the w'atch which had been lost over one him- ' 
dred miles away. 
The Lobster Is also a Great Traveler, 
Now, w'hile we may believe that a free-swimming fish 
like the cod can easily traverse long distances, one would 
hardly suppose that such a usually slow-moving creature 
as the lobster would be much of a wanderer, but that it 
is not the stay-at-home crustacean it is generally sup- 
posed to be has been proved beyond a doubt. In a recent 
issue of the Bangor (Me.) News I find some exceedingly 
interesting facts in relation to the habits of the lobster, a 
portion of which are well worth reprinting here. 
According to the account given, about 400 lobsters 
were tagged at Wood’s Holl and liberated by the United 
State.s fisheries officers. They were put out in the waters 
of Vineyard Soimd about three years ago, in as nearly 
as possible the exact locality in which they were original- 
ly captured. and they were tagged with little copper tags, 
chiefly to ascertain how often these crustaceans change 
their shells. 
Before the officers liberated any of the tag-bearers they 
issued notices, which were sent broadcast among the fish- 
ermen along the Atlantic coast, informing them of the 
purpose for which the lobsters were tagged, and asking 
their co-operation in carrying out the experiment. The 
fishermen were asked to send all the tag-bearing lobsters 
they caught to the hatchery station, and they were fur- 
nished with blanks which they were requested to fill out, 
giving the circumstances attending the capture of the 
lobsters. 
Whether or not the lobster is migratory was a ques- 
tion which it was hoped the experiment would settle for 
all time, but most important of all was how often the 
lobster sheds its shell. 
While there seems no good reason why these crusta- 
ceans should not crawl or swim from one region to an- 
other, proof was lacking that they do so until this ex- 
periment, of tagging them was made, when it was de- 
finitely ascertained that they often make long journeys. 
The proof was furnished by a lobster fisherman on Long 
Island who was on the look out for lobsters bearing the 
station tags. He was the first to report having caught 
one in his traps. He found the lobster one morning 
about a month after it had been set free. This lobster 
was kept alive and sent to the Wood’s LIoll station as 
requested. So far as the Commissioners could tell there 
had been but a slight change, and that was the growth 
of the captive. 
In a short time another of the tag-bearers was taken 
near the western end of Long Island, nearly one hundred 
miles from the point where it was set free. Subsequently 
maiiy others were taken in the same region and in the 
vicinity of Block Island. None were caught to the east- 
ward of the point where they had been liberated and the 
experiment seems to prove that the tag-bearing lobsters 
had all started south immediately after being put into 
the water. 
Fifteen days after the last lot of lobsters were put 
into the_ waters of Vineyard Sound one of them was 
caught just fifteen miles from the point where it had 
been liberated, .showing that it had traveled at an average 
speed of one mile a day. 
Within a year after the tag-bearers were liberated 
more than seventy-five per cent, of (he totak number were 
heard from, and in almost every instance they were all 
found to the weslward of Wood’s Holl and from five to 
two hundred miles away from the spot where they w'ere 
dumped into the Sound. 
The fact that none of the lobsters were found north 
of Cape Cod has been a source of surprise to the Com - 
missioners, for ihey believed socner or later some of 
them would be caught by the fishermen who set pots 
along Cape Cod Bay shore and at Plymouth, 
