4i6 
[Nov. i8, 1905. 
POREST AND STREAM. 
Fish and Fishing. 
The Recent Dynamiting of Salmon. 
Despite the precautions taken for the prevention of 
poaching in the salmon waters of the Restigouche and 
its tributaries, there is reason to fear that many more 
fish were secured this autumn out of these rivers by 
illicit means than were killed by the anglers who lease 
or own the fishing of them, during the whole of the last 
season. Several residents of the neighborhood are be- 
lieved to have taken fish out of these waters since the 
end of the open season, and in some few cases evidence 
sufficient to convict was readily obtained. Apart alto- 
gether from the fishing during the close season, it has 
transpired that the diabolical practice of dynamiting 
the salmon pools has been resorted td in some in- 
stances, the guilty parties in this matter being men em- 
ployed in erecting poles for a telegraph or telephone 
line in the Causapscal country. In one instance, it is 
said, upon good authority, that thirty-six salmon were 
killed at one time by an explosion of dynamite in one 
of the pools of either the Causapscal or the Metapedia 
River. 
How the Poachers Evade the Law. 
Not even in the entertaining pages of the recently 
issued “Autobiography of a Poacher,” in which are re- 
lated some of the most rascally offenses against the 
fish and game laws of half a century ago in the country 
of Lorna Doone, will the reader find anything to com- 
pare with the desperate strategy of the Restigouche 
country poachers, in their efforts to escape punishment 
for their recent crimes. I have the entire story from 
the lips of the Quebec judge who was sent by the 
provincial government to hear the prosecutions taken 
against the accused parties by the officials of the 
Riparian Association of the Restigouche, Causapscal 
and Metapedia rivers. Four criminal prosecutions had 
been taken in the name of the club against parties ac- 
cused of using dynamite to kill fish in the said river, 
and two against parties accused of the illegal fishing of 
salmon during the close season. The six defendants 
appeared before the judge from Quebec, at Causapscal, 
and pleaded autrefois convict of the same offense, with 
evidence at the same time of having been convicted by a 
local magistrate or justice of the peace, who is at the 
same time the government fish and game warden. In 
support of this plea they produced receipts for the 
payment of different fines to which they had been con- 
demned. It transpired from the evidence in question, 
that is from the receipts produced in court, that each 
one of the accused had been informed against by one 
of the others, who had received the amount of the 
condemnation and had given a receipt therefor; so that 
it is evident that none of them paid over any sum of 
money at all, since each was supposed to have re- 
ceived from another, the sum to which he himself was 
condemned. 
The lawyer for the prosecution, Mr. Kelly, who is the 
representative of the county of Bonaventure in the local 
Legislature, applied to the court for leave to proceed 
without taking any consideration of any of the judg- 
ments rendered by the local magistrate, on the ground 
that he must have been in collusion 'with the accused to 
interfere with the proper course of the administration 
of justice. It was actually shown that some of the con- 
.victions had been rendered by the local magistrate 
during the very night of the arrival of the Quebec judge 
at Causapscal. After hearing argument on all these pleas, 
the judge took en delibere, the question whether he had 
any jurisdiction to proceed any further with the charges 
of offenses already adjudicated upon, even though such 
adjudication may have been by collusion. The further 
nearing of the case was postponed till Nov. 25, and in 
the meantime the judge declared that he would fully 
report all the circumstances of them to the Attorney- 
General. which he lost no time in doing, immediately 
upon his return to Quebec. What the action of the- 
government will be in the case is not yet officially 
known, but in all probability there will be a careful 
investigation into all the charges of collusion made in 
connection with this shameful business. 
Do Fish and Angle Worms Ever Rain Down? 
This is one of the curious questions which^ has been 
submitted for me to grapple^ with by an angling friend 
who sends me a cutting on the subject from a Canadian 
newspaper. The editor of this paper had expressed 
his opinion, which was that the worms, at least, do 
not come down with the rain. He received, in reply, 
a letter from a ship captain in St. John, _N. B., who 
insists that , angleworms do rain down, since he has 
seen them fall on the deck of a vessel by hundreds when 
she was sailing. This captain wants to know whether 
frogs or toads ever rain down. Another correspondent 
asks for an explanation of where the worms come from 
that are sometimes found during a rain storm on roofs, 
and in eaves and water-barrels for catching rain water. 
As to how they reach the air when their home is in the 
ground, it is asked whether they may not be taken up 
in a whirlwind, water-spout or cyclone. 
In this connection I have before me a letter from the 
town of Tyndall, South Dakota, in which the writer 
says: “Some twenty years ago, while living in the 
town of Menno, South D.akota, a very heavy shower 
came on suddenly one warm afternoon. In consequence, 
a stream of water, perhaps eighteen inches across, ran 
down the street. I noticed some small boys excitedly 
catching something in their hands, and, on going to 
them, found they were catching numbers of small fish, 
say from an inch to two inches long. There was^ no 
body of water containing fish, nearer than five miles, 
the town being situated on a high, dry prairie.” 
Though there are more things in heaven and earth 
than are dreamt of in our philosophy, it would require 
a considerable stretch of the imagination to believe that 
either the heaven above or the waters which are above 
the firmament are inhabited by fish and by the angle- 
worms upon which they feed, and it is up to the students 
of meteorological science to explain whether whirl- 
v\ inds, waterspouts or cyclones are responsible for the 
temporary appearance of such phenomena as the ap- 
parent raining down of little fish and worms. 
A Sportsmen's ConventiwO. 
The new Minister of Colonization, Mines and Fish- 
eries of the Province of Quebec, the Hon. Jean Prevost, 
has fixed upon the month of December for holding 
the proposed convention of sportsmen in Montreal, to 
discuss various matters affecting the fish and game in- 
terests of the Province of Quebec. The Minister be- 
lieves that the protection of our fish and game is not 
what it ought to be, and that the government does not 
make the most of its opportunities in this direction. 
Both American and Canadian sportsmen are to be in- 
vited to this convention, and all who are interested in 
fish and game protection and in the relations between 
the government and sportsmen will be gladly welcomed, 
' especially if they have sug.iie.stion.s to offer for the im- 
provement of existing conditions. 
Smelt P er.lifoh 
Smelt are particularly abundant at pre.Amt in the St. 
. Lawwence from Three Rivers to the Gulf. While these 
delicious little pan fish are taken in immense numbers 
in nets in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Baie des 
Chaleurs, and are being shipped away in large quanti- 
ties, the catching of them by rod and line angling is 
quite the vogue at present here. At certain phases of 
the tide the whole of the docks and w'harves on both 
sides of the river are crowded with fishermen, both 
young and old, enjoying the sport of catching smelt. 
At times they take the bait very freely, and it is no 
uncommon occurrence to see several anglers landing 
from one to three of the little fish at the same time. It 
is cold work at this time of the year standing for hours 
at a time at the river front holding a rod, baiting hooks 
and taking off fish, but it is gladly braved by quite an 
army of fishermen for the sport which the catching 
of the little silver beauties affords. 
E. T. D. Chambers. 
Northern Michigan Notes. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
As usual, the first week of August found me at the 
Conway Inn on Croaked Lake in northern Michigan, 
content to rest from office duties, and to enjoy an 
outing of ten weeks in boating and fishing in the 
limpid waters of the famous “Inland Route,” and ex- 
ploring the woods and hills and trout streams, that are 
contiguous. ., The weather proved all that could be 
desired, as tTiere were but three days during my so- 
journ that I was not on the water with my little eleven- 
foot canvas boat Wanderer, rowing or paddling from 
five to twelve miles per day and walking more or less 
as a change. 
The three days of rainy weather were pleasantly 
passed indoors with reading correspondence and games 
at cards or checkers with the genial little party of 
summer guests who make this their home. A new 
structure is to be erected to supersede the present 
Conway Inn that will accommodate about fifty people, 
and as the location is the most charming one on the 
lake, the venture will undoubtedly prove a success. 
Petoskey, only seven miles south, was literally over-^ 
crowded this season with summer guests, and many 
were turned away from its hotels. At Round Lake, 
one mile from Conway, a new attraction, consisting 
of a camp of Ojibway Indians from Canada on a pretty 
point, where they daily gave a representation of the 
principal scenes from Longfellow’s Hiawatha, drew 
large crowds who were comfortably seated in a large 
pal'vilion with open front, and had a good view of the 
performance, which included aquatic sports, canoe 
racing, diving and swimming, and the departure of 
Hiawatha across the bay. The Indian dances and their 
weird songs gave a variety of interesting incidents, and 
upon the whole it was quite an unique show. I having 
seen the Sioux, Winnebago and Menomonie Indians 
in the west in an early day before they were sent to 
their reservations, and having visited their villages on 
the occasion of some of their festivals, it was not so 
new to me as to the great majority, nevertheless I 
enjoyed the spectacle very much. 
From the highest of the conical sand dunes at the 
upper end of Round Lake a very pretty view may be 
obtained that well pays the labor of the ascent, for 
Little Traverse Bay and Lake Michigan, Round Lake, 
Mud Lake, Crooked Lake, Pickerel Lake and a vast 
scope of country are spread out to the observer. 
The fishing has been fairly good, but not quite up to 
last , season, probably on account of nets that are said 
to have been stretched across Crooked River in the 
spring when fish were on their migration from the 
Great Lakes, still some fairly good catches of bass, 
pike perch and pickerel were made, and many good 
strings of the smaller fish, such as perch, bluegills, 
rock bass and sunfish, were brought in. Many from 
Crooked Lake go by launches to Burt Lake for a day 
or so at fishing, and, as a rule, have been quite 
succesful. ‘ 
One of my most delightful trips of the season was 
taken with H. Milton Foss and his’ son, Earl D.. who 
have a neat lodge on a r'tired spot on the shore of 
Crooked Lake, and invited the Wanderer and crew to 
accompany them. We got an early start, and with the 
Malissa and Wanderer in tow, made a quick run to 
the foot of .the lake, thence through the devious course 
of Crooked River until having passed so-called Grass 
Lake, we reached the Devil’s Elbow, and then having 
an idea that we could probably pick up a few bass be- 
fore the daily run of steamer and launches through the 
river took place, Mr. Foss and myself took to our 
small boats, and drifting down ahead of the launch, cast 
with minnow and frog in every likely spot all the way 
down to Burt Lake, but without much success. Mr. 
F. and Earl then went with the launch on up to Maple 
Bay and T. followed, in the Wanderer, trolling with 
spoon aroubd the most likely places near the shore: but 
caught Tut'" one fair-sized pickerel. Arriving at Maple 
Bay. I found them anchored and picking up a fine 
string of ^p.erch that would run from to I pound in 
weight each. 
We went ashore at a favorable spot on the old 
Indian Point and prepared for an al fresco dinner. 
While Mr. F. and I got sufficient fish in readiness, 
Earl had a fire in shape, coffee boiling, bacon fried, 
potatoes boiled, apple sauce made; and while he was 
. frying, the fish, we built an impromptu table and seats 
and were soon enjoying an excellent dinner with 
ravenous appetites. As we were about at the finish a 
cow approached closely and solicited a share, and we 
gave bread and fish bones, both of which were eaten 
Y.’ith a relish; and finally we put down saucepan and 
fryingpan and tin plates, all of which she seemed to ap- 
preciate highl}', as she licked them clean and wanted 
, more. A snap-shot of the incident would have been 
\ery much prized. 
After a rest we again resumed fishing, with fair 
.success, until after sundown, and finally boarded the 
launch and started back. The trip by moonlight through 
the river and lake was not the least feature of the 
outing. On arriving at the lodge at 9:30 P. M., we soon 
were wanning up by a good fire, and Earl shortly sur- 
. prised us with a fine supper. We had a most enjoyable 
day, in which we had taken a half-dozen fair-sized 
pickerel and about sixty perch. While we were in 
Maple Bay, we noticed a number of fishing parties, one 
of whom had been fortunate enough to capture a 
nraskinonge of about 16 pounds. 
■The largest pickerel that I saw this season was taken 
. by Mr. James J. Earan, of the Cincinnati Point Club, 
who spent a day at Carp Lake, Emmett county, and 
besides a number of lesser size, caught one weighing 
about 15 pounds. While called by local fishermen a 
pickerel, it is really the great northern pike. 
The weather continued fine until about the middle of 
October. Ducks were then beginning to come in, and 
theie were many coveys of ruffed grouse in the woods, 
and the promise fair for a good huntuig season. 
. E. S. Whitaker. 
Ways of the Salmon, 
]!y Prof. C. W. Greene, “Phyaiological Studies of the Chinook 
Salmon.” From Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries. 
The salmon is an *iadromous fish. Its natural 
spawning beds are in the cold waters of the mountain 
str-eams. When the eggs are hatched and the young are 
ably, to swim, they ' proceed down the streams and out 
into ‘the open ocean, where they feed and grow for a 
period of two to four years. On the approach of ma- 
turity they re-enter the mouths of the rivers and make 
the . long journey back to the spawning grounds in the 
mountain waters, a distance sometimes of hundreds of 
miles. The mature salmon as they approach the mouths 
■of the rivers are strong and vigorous and in, the very 
prime of condition. They have been feeding voraciously 
■on the abundant ocean fauna and their tissues are loaded 
wi til the supply of fats and oils and other constituents 
which make the flesh so much sought after because of 
its delicious flavor and nutritious excellence. 
The fact which presents so peculiar and interesting a 
problem, or series of problems, in fact, to the physiolo- 
gist is this : The salmon takes no food after it leaves 
the ocean and enters fresh water.* The journey, it may 
he, of hundreds of miles, is made against the swift cur- 
rents, rapids and waterfalls of the mountain streams. It 
matters not how long the distance nor how great the 
exertion that is required, all the energy must be sup- 
plied from the store of material accumulated while the 
fish is feeding in the ocean, material present in its body 
when it enters the fresh water stream. 
A. prolonged fast is always of especial physiological 
interest. Tire winter sleep or hibernation of the bats, 
dormice and the bears, while it is a period of fasting, is 
also a period of inactivity. All the vital processes are 
reduced to a minimum and little energy is liberated. In 
the salmon, on the c ;V.rr;-y, the fasting period is the 
period of the greatest activity of the fish’s life. The 
changes and reactions within the body of an animal that 
is giv'n<>- (.'ff daily a large amount of energy, and at the 
S'- .ne li '‘e is taking in no food to renew its vitality, pre- 
S'rJ peculiar physiological phenomena. Nature herself 
performs the experiment of inanition in the salmon and 
it remains for science to unravel the details. The main 
question is how long and through what stages this one- 
sided process can advance before disintegration reaches 
the point at which the organized life of the individual 
animal must come to an end. 
The numerous investigations of the United States 
Bureau of Fisheries into the natural history of the sal- 
mon — especially the migration, feeding and spawning 
habits — have firmly established the facts upon which the 
general statements made above are based. Of the nu- 
merous workers we may especially mention the recent 
investigations of Mr. Cloudsley Rutter, late naturalist of 
the Bureau’s steamer Albatross, who was one of the 
best informed men on all scientific questions that pertain 
to the Pacific salmon. It is to his energy and skilled in- 
sight that we are indebted for the more accurate details 
of the conditions under which the young make the 
journey from the headwaters of the rivers to the sea, 
also for details as to the progress of the adults to the 
spawning grounds, as well as for saving improvements 
in the methods of propagation. Mr. Rutter was at the 
time of his death in the midst of an exhaustive study of 
the embryology of the salmon. 
*This statement is borne out by the researches of the Bureau of 
Fisheries, and investigations by Miescher-Ruesch and Noel Baton 
on the Atlantic salmon in Europe sho'w the same to be true of 
that species also. 
A Catp Stoty. 
Gharlottesville, 'Va., Nov. 5 . — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Norris in his American Anglers Book says: 
“It is- an established fact thaf on draining carp ponds in 
Germany, to cultivate the soil, which had been flooded 
and made a fishpond of, for the purpose of enriching 
it, that the spawn of the carp left after drawing off the 
water, does not lose its vitality, though exposed for two 
or three years to the heat of supper and frost of win- 
ter ; and that when the field is again converted into a 
popd there is no necessity for restocking it with carp. 
the ova remaining beneath the surface of the ground 
p-r|d^es a stock of clrp, thus keeping up an. .alternation 
oUchpps — fish and vegetables,” Verily, the carp is here, 
to stay, W. O. Watson. 
