224 
FOREST AND STREAM 
May, 1919 
MORE ABOUT GAME FISH 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream : 
I 'M only a bookshop subscriber to your 
very fine magazine, and around the 
15th of every “inst,” eagerly look for it. 
In the February issue, numerous inter- 
rogations appear, as “What is” — “Defi- 
nition of” — “Manning of,” etc., concern- 
ing “game fish.” 
One says the salmon only, and other 
equally expert opinions differ. 
The word “game,” as applied to fish, 
would require an act of your Congress 
to decide, and even then the act would 
err, for the reason I would like to point 
out. 
I am from England, “Merrie England” 
again, and used to “still fish” in the sea 
a lot, but, until last year, did not have a 
rod in my hand for well over forty years. 
About 25 years ago, I used to “throw 
out” a hand line in the Red River and 
could take quite a few of the much ma- 
ligned cat fish. A few times I have fished 
in the Assiniboine. 
At that time the Red was a fine body 
of water, with a current of about a mile 
an hour, the Assiniboine being twice as 
swift. Sewers emptied into the Red, none 
into the other. From the Red I could 
catch “cats” up to 25 lbs., big black 
backed fellows, but they would “come in” 
like a log till they got to shallow water. 
Then a flip of their tails would take them 
about ten feet, to be hauled back and 
out. Were they “game?” No, most em- 
phatically No! 
Less than a mile across the base of the 
triangle (the point of river junction be- 
ing the apex) I would throw in a fairly 
heavy sinker, and a six pound “cat” 
would connect. Oh! yes, he’d connect all 
right, and you’d know it. These fellows 
were sure of the wildcat persuasion, for 
they would take that heavy sinker, lift 
it 15 feet to the top of the water, and 
fight every foot of the way in. Up here 
at that time the art of “playing a fish” 
was unknown, but, as these fish would 
pull I would give them a few feet of line, 
and have sometimes been ten to fifteen 
minutes landing one. I always used a 
very fine linen line, except for the bottom 
six feet, which is heavy enough to stand 
the strain of the swing. To throw out, and 
to pull in a six pound “game” cat, with a 
fine line, with bare hands is no joke. 
All of which brings me back to the 
original matter. I claim the Red “cats” 
are surely not a “game” fish, but the 
fighting wild “cats” of the Assinniboine 
are as much a “game” fish as is the lord- 
ly salmon or the voracious pike. 
Further, the word “game” is one of 
those abstract words that are absolutely 
indefinable. Like “sin,” “duty,” etc., the 
dictionary can interpret in general terms 
but for the word “duty,” a brakeman has 
LETTERS, 
QUESTIONS 
AND ANSWER 
one interpretation, a human yellow dog 
an altogether different one. 
Dr. Henshall is right, if a fish is a 
fighter he is “game.” If a quitter — well, 
he is just a quitter and not “game.” 
Good luck to Forest and Stream, 
may they both, with the magazine named 
after them, outlast our time, and for gen- 
erations beyond. 
J. E. Costello, Manitoba. 
WHEN AN EEL IS NOT A SUCKER 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
I HAVE had considerable fishing experi- 
ence in the last six years but the most 
exciting one I can remember happened 
last spring. The surrounding country 
where I live does not lack in fishing 
waters; Napanee River with its various 
creeks afford much pleasure to the true 
sportsman. Some people think that fish- 
ing with a net is sport. I disagree; give 
the fish some sort of a chance at least. If 
anyone wants sport let him take a spear, 
some sort of a light and wade up Little 
Creek night hunting black suckers and 
eels. This creek teems with suckers in 
the spring; they come in from the bay at 
night and go out in the daytime. 
One night I went down to the creek 
with a friend of mine to hunt suckers. 
We each wore hip rubber boots and car- 
ried a spear and a good strong carbide 
lamp. We started wading up the rapids 
but never saw a fin. “A little early in 
the night,” announced my friend; “come 
up to the mud bottom, we’ll try for eels,” 
and so up to this spot we proceeded. 
Here’s where the fun started. Imagine 
yourself spearing eels in three feet of 
water and only one hand to do it with! 
I can see those eels yet; they were every- 
where. I left my trademark on several 
of them though ; they seem to have a dis- 
gusting habit of slipping through the 
tines when they shouldn’t! 
The water came up higher on our boots 
all the time and when it was about two 
inches from the tops the going was pretty 
slow. I was on one side of the creek 
and my friend on the other when he 
yelled “Look out! There’s a red fin.” As 
red fin suckers came in this creek once 
in a while I supposed that he had seen 
one so I flashed my light toward the 
center of the stream but saw nothing 
that indicated the wake of a “big one.” 
The first thing I knew my friend had 
something on his spear that looked to me 
like a huge black snake. It was not; it 
was an eel! And talk about eels, that 
was the biggest one I ever saw or ever 
expect to see. I can safely say it was 
five feet long and as big as a man’s wrist! 
But he got away, much to our disappoint- 
ment; it is a hard job to keep an eel on 
a spear with only one hand. My friend 
was so excited he didn’t know what to do ; 
whenever I mention that night to him he 
says, “Holy doodle,” and shakes his 
head. We didn’t get an eel or anything 
else that night except wet feet which is 
invariably the case. At this particular 
spot sucker fishing is quite a sport on a 
good night. 
Walter H. Sills, Ontario. 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
THE GREEN HEAD MALLARD 
A T a recent meeting of the Stutsman 
County Sportsman’s Club, James- 
town, N. Dak., a discussion came up 
relative to the Green Head Mallard 
Duck as to whether or not his head was 
green at all times during the year. It 
was maintained by some that the green 
head was permanent and by others that 
his head was not green during the 
moulting period. Will you please in- 
form me relative to this in detail. 
J. E. Campbell, N. Dak. 
Those who maintain that the green 
head of the male mallard is permanent 
through the year are wrong. The green 
head mallard loses his brilliant plumage 
for a period in late summer and early 
fall and more nearly resembles the fe- 
male. This is not generally understood 
by gunners. This change of plumage 
in male ducks during the summer 
months was first spoken of in the sup- 
plement to Montague’s Ornithological 
Dictionary in 1813, the reference being 
to the pin-tail or sprig-tail {Dafila 
acuta). In the Proceedings of the Phil- 
adelphia Academy of Natural Sciences 
for the last quarter of the year 1899 Mr. 
Witmer Stone discussed “The Summer 
Molting Plumage of Certain Ducks" at 
considerable length. 
The matter is treated of with some 
fullness in GrinnelVs American Duck 
Shooting, pp. 82 to 84, from which we 
digest some paragraphs. 
About 1838 the naturalist Waterton 
described a summer molt in the male 
mallard and from time to time other 
species were found to undergo similar 
changes. Ridgeway, in his Manual of 
North American Birds, refers to a num- 
ber of ducks which have a peculiar sum- 
mer plumage resembling the female. 
Among these are the mallard, blue-wing 
and cinnamon teals, the gadwall, wid- 
geon, pintail and scaup. Mr. Stone 
noted that the change of plumage is 
chiefly confined to those parts of the bird 
