REINDEER AND CARIBOU 
Dear Forest and Stream : 
Y our editorial on the reindeer indus- 
try of Alaska is a reflection of the 
wide, active interest that has been es- 
tablished to increase the herds in the 
territory. The industry has already been 
started there with sufficient success to 
insure its continuous growth. Congress 
makes annual appropriations for the 
purpose of studying and regulating the 
industry by the Department of Agricul- 
ture. The Department’s activities have 
taken a wide field, including both scien- 
tific and practical aspects of it, path- 
ology, breeding, grazing, food, and the 
mapping of all areas suitable for rein- 
deer ranges. 
The attention of those interested in 
preserving wild life has not, however, 
been directed to the inevitable results 
of the expansion of this industry. This 
signifies nothing less than the replace- 
ment of the wild caribou of the region 
by reindeer. Every area inhabited by 
the caribou is suitable for grazing rein- 
deer. Caribou cannot exist on any other 
ranges. Applications for reindeer graz- 
ing permits on areas occupied by caribou 
have already reached the Department 
of Agriculture. Should such permits 
be issued, the reindeer will absorb, or, 
in one way or another, drive out the 
caribou. Some of the escaping reindeer 
■will become feral, mingle with caribou 
and destroy the species. They freely 
interbreed. The familiar story of the 
cattle on our western plains replacing 
the buffalo has begun to be repeated 
with reindeer and caribou in Alaska. 
Those interested in the conservation 
of wild life cannot and ought not to 
prevent this advance of material inter- 
ests which will increase the food supply 
of the nation. They should, on the other 
hand, actively encourage it. Yet at the 
same time an effort should be made to 
adjust the industry to the reasonable 
preservation of the several species of 
caribou in Alaska. The situation should 
be anticipated and immediately, before 
it shall prove too late, a complete policy 
of future caribou preservation satisfac- 
, tory to all interests should be formulated 
' ancl accepted. Such a policy should be 
! established as one of real conservation 
■never to be changed in the future. If 
the interests of game conservationists 
shall not be cfliickly and actively aroused 
to this danger, w^e shall, when too late, 
. suddenly awake to find our Alaska cari- 
bou following the path of the buffalo 
to extermination. 
Charles Sheldon, Washington, D. C. 
A RECORD SMALL-MOUTH 
BASS 
Dear Forest and Stream : 
E vidently the small-mouth black 
bass, in Lake Wakefield, Quebec, 
took offence at the statements made by 
Mr. Lincoln in his article in the July 
issue of your magazine as regards th.e 
weight and size of the largest small- 
mouth caught, for a few hours after 
reading Mr. Lincoln’s article I had the 
good fortune to land one 21 inches in 
length, 15 inches around the girth and 
weighing 6 lbs. 7 ozs. 
On our usual evening fishing expedi- 
tion about 7.30 P. M., we were casting 
in a small bay filled with weeds and lily 
pads. I had landed one weighing 
lbs. and about ten minutes later the large 
one decided to give rrie a workout. 
He struck ! I struck ! Then the fun 
started. He jumped easily 5 ft. out of 
the water and then gave me the most 
exciting forty-five minutes I ever had. 
He did everything but climb a tree, and 
still had lots of fight left in him after I 
had him in the boat. As usual, the land- 
ing net was safely hung in the camp. 
My rod looked like Harry Lauder’s 
famous walking stick; as for myself one 
would have thought that I had contract- 
F. M. Roulston with small-mouth bass 
weighing 6 lbs. 7 oz. 
ed a severe' chill. I certainly agree with 
Mr. Lincoln when he says they are one 
of the gamiest fishes. 
I was using an 8-oz. split bamboo 
casting rod, a Marhoff level-winding 
reel, 12-lb. test silk line and an A1 Foss 
Pork Rind Shimmy Wiggler Bait. 
I am enclosing a picture of the fish, 
also a certified statement as to weight 
and measurements. 
Lake Wakefield is one of several lakes 
situated in the Laurentian Mountains 
about thirty miles from Ottawa, Ontario. 
All the lakes in that district are well 
stocked with black bass (small-mouth), 
gray trout and salmon trout and the 
streams are filled with brook trout. 
F. M. Roulston, Canada. 
The record small-mouth bass zvas 
taken at Dents Pond, S. C., in 1917 zvith 
rod and reel and zveighed 9 lbs. It 
measured 24j4 inches in length and had 
a girth of 18 inches. — [Editors.] 
A RECORD LAKE TROUT 
Dear Lorest and Stream : 
O N Thursday evening, June 8th, a 
party of four men, Messrs. J. E. 
Barbour, Paterson, N. J. ; Charles H. 
Bond, Montclair, N. J. ; Malcolm Hain, 
Paterson, N. J., and Paul T. Wise, 
Brooklyn, N. Y., went to Tupper Lake, 
New York, on the invitation of Mr. 
Barbour, to fish in Pollensby Pond, near 
Tupper Lake, on the private preserve 
owned by Mr. Barbour. None of these 
gentlemen had much experience in fish- 
ing except Mr. Barbour. 
On Priday, June 9th, Mr. Hain, who 
was fishing with a 7-oz. bamboo rod and 
a Kingfisher Black Wonder silk-braided 
line, bait minnow on Archer Spinner, 
had a bite and something took hold that 
kept him busy for about fifty minutes. 
During all that time the fishermen only 
had one sight of the trout, which was 
gaffed and brought into the boat about 
7 P. M. The fish proved to be a lake 
trout, weight 31 lbs., length 41 inches, 
girth 26 inches. 
The fish was shipped to Taxidermist 
Charles Deckert, of Saranac Lake, New 
York, to be mounted, and he said it was 
the biggest fish he had seen in thirty-five 
years’ experience. 
We would like to feel that Mr. Hain 
holds the record, and would be glad if 
some of your readers would get in com- 
munication with either you or us as to 
what the record on- lake trout really is. 
R. Crothers, 
New Jersey. 
The record “rod and reel’’ lake trout 
zveighed 35 lbs 4 os. It had a length of 
42 inches, girth of 26jd, and zvas caught 
at Lake of the Woods, Canada, May 16, 
1919, by E. D. Calvert. The species 
grozvs much larger, “over 60 lbs.” 
[Editors.] 
THE CARP AS A GAME FISH 
Dear Pore.st and Stream: 
I T was with a great deal of interest that 
^ I read the article on carp fishing by 
Louis Rhcad in your August number. 
As I believe you knoiv, there is near 
this city a large dam across the Mohawk 
River. The water retained above the 
dam forms Delta Lake. The Black 
River Canal, fed by Black River water, 
sluices into the Mohawk River at va-^ 
rious points above the lake, and at two 
points it sluices directly into the lake. 
Black River, from Watertown to and 
above Forestport, contains a great many 
carp. For some years these fish have 
come down the canal and many have 
gone from the canal to the lake. This 
year, owing to the fact that water has 
been flowing over the spillwav of the 
dam most of the time, the carp have 
managed to get into the basin below the 
dam. During the said period of high 
water it was not unusual to see a hun- 
dred or more carp drop over the spill- 
way during an afternoon. None of them 
