Sept. 8, 1906. | 
Fish and Fishing. 
Some More Ouananiche Problems. 
If, as now pretty generally believed, the ouana¬ 
niche is the original parent stock of its sea-going 
variety— Salmo salar —then the presence together 
in some of the rivers of the Canadian Labrador, 
of both varieties, would seem to afford another 
illustration of the fact that the operations of 
evolution are still in progress among the finny 
inhabitants of our waters. On account of their 
somewhat inaccessible character, except to those 
having plenty of time upon their hands, it is 
scarcely probable that very many anglers for 
some years to come, will cast a fly for the ouana¬ 
niche of far northeastern Canada, yet they are 
to be found in the following among a number of 
northern salmon rivers: Washecootai, Mus- 
quarro, Goynish, George, Koksoak and Hamil¬ 
ton. After spawning, which, as in the case of 
Salmo salar, occurs on the gravelly bottom of 
running water, the ouananiche seeks larger bodies 
of water containing greater quantities of fish 
food, just as the salmon does the sea, and hence 
the prevalence in Lake St. John of one colony 
of fish which spawns in the Metabetchouan, the 
Salmon River and other comparatively near-by 
streams; in Lac a Jim of another colony which 
finds its spawning beds in tributary rivers, while 
(here is good reason to believe that the fish of 
Tschotagama and Manouan Lakes never descend 
to Lake St. John at all, though there is no rea¬ 
son why they should not do so, if so inclined. 
But the darker colored and non-spawning fish are 
found in these lakes nearly all the year round, 
and particularly at the very season that similar 
fish of the Lake St. John are found in Lake St. 
John itself. 
The habits of the fish in Newfoundland and 
Labrador Rivers, which I have visited, are ex¬ 
actly similar to those of the Lake St. John coun¬ 
try. The dark colored ouananiche are found in 
the lake-like expansions of the rivers, and the 
brighter ones in the streams. Salmo salar de¬ 
rives his silvery sheen from the salt of the sea. 
What arrays the spawning ouananiche with the 
brilliant livery denied its spent or barren rela¬ 
tives, seeing that it is not supposed to visit the 
sea at all, and in some instances could not pos¬ 
sibly ascend from it to the waters in which it 
is found? Is the change simply a merciful pro¬ 
vision of Nature for adapting the color of the 
fish to those of its actual surroundings, for aid¬ 
ing it in the work of self preservation? Every¬ 
body is familiar with the change of coloring in 
the coats of many fur-bearing animals of the far 
north at the approach of winter, and while the 
chemistry of the change may not be understood, 
there is no apparent doubt of Nature’s intention 
in the matter. And while it may not be easy to 
understand why the dark water of the lakes, 
which it sometimes inhabits, should communi¬ 
cate its own tint to the ouananiche remaining in 
it for any considerable time, or why the fish 
should take on the silvery lustre of running water 
while ascending it to its spawning grounds, there 
is no doubt whatever that the change actually 
takes place. 
It is chiefly in the rivers, and in or near the 
rapids, that the ouananiche best take the fly. In 
the body of most of the large lakes which they 
inhabit, such as Lake St.John, Lac a Jim and Lake 
Tschotagama, they are mostly taken with bait 
or by trolling. 
September Trout Fishing. 
The cold spell which set in between the 20th 
and 25th of August, in northern Canada, proved 
a great boon to trout fishermen. At present 
writing, the water is still low in many of the 
brooks and in some of the rivers, but the lower¬ 
ing of the temperature has very materially im¬ 
proved the fishing in the lakes. The members 
of the Wayagamack club have been having ex¬ 
ceptionally good sport, and Mr. Herrick took a 
9L2 pound trout out of Lake Wayagamack last 
week. Lake Edward has also been yielding some 
extra good fishing during the last few days. Mr. 
A. W. Hooper has gone to the Nonamtum club 
preserve at Lac des Commissaires for the remain- 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
de*r of the fishing season, and there are almost 
daily additions to the members of the Triton and 
Tourilli clubs now in camp. Among those who 
have gone to the preserve of the Tourilli club 
for a long vacation are Mr. Etterbury, General 
Manager of the Pennsylvania Railway, accom¬ 
panied by Mrs. Etterbury, and Mr. Maurice C. 
Kennedy, Vice-President of the Chambersburg 
Railway. 
Gradual Disappearance of the Whitefish. 
Canadian fishermen along the Detroit River and 
Lake St. Clair are complaining of the present 
scarcity of fish, and claiming that they are not 
doing sufficient business to pay expenses. 1 he 
scarcity of whitefish and perch is most severely 
felt. Both these fish are much in demand, and 
the fishermen are unable to supply their custom¬ 
ers, though a few years ago both species were 
found in abundance in the Detroit River. The 
war of extermination being waged against them, 
by both man and other fishes, goes rapidly on 
however, and the whitefish, in particular, is dis¬ 
appearing so fast, that it is feared that it will be 
soon as rare as the buffalo. It is asserted that 
the supply of 25,000.000 fry of the whitefish sent 
out by the Sandwich hatchery to replenish the 
stock of fish in the Great Lakes is not nearly 
sufficient to meet the depletion of this variety 
caused by excessive fishing and by the destruc¬ 
tiveness of other aquatic inhabitants of the lakes. 
When the whitefish deposit their eggs, the rocky 
‘beds are literally covered with spawn, but schools 
of soft fish suddenly appear and the eggs imme¬ 
diately disappear, only a fraction of them being 
left in the crevices of the rocks. Millions of 
mullet, suckers, carp and other varieties feed upon 
the whitefish fry, and it is estimated that not 
more than one of the latter out of a thousand 
reaches maturity. Another factor in the destruc¬ 
tion of the fish is said to be the dredging work 
going on at Amherstburg. The hatchery at Sand¬ 
wich has a capacity for handling over a hundred 
million whitefish fry, but there seems to be difficulty 
in capturing a sufficient number of parent fish 
during the spawning season to extract the re¬ 
quired number of eggs. 
New Trout Waters Opened Up. 
The other day I visited some newly opened-up 
trout waters, within about seven hours’ journey 
of the city of Quebec, and had some capital sport. 
The territory containing these waters is situated 
to the north of Ste. Anne de Beaupre, which is 
just one hour's run from Quebec by electric rail¬ 
way. The fishing in these waters is controlled by 
a club, of which Mr. Baker, manager of the Kent 
House, Montmorenci Falls, has charge, and 
issues permits. Arrived at Ste. Anne’s there is 
a drive back in the country for about ten miles 
before the actual portaging begins. There 
are a number of hills to climb, one of 
which is a veritable mountain. The portage 
is quite a good one, however, and that part of 
it which ascends the highest mountain can be 
ridden over on a saddle horse. A portage of 
about two hours brings the angler to Lake St. 
IIilaire, a pretty little body of water about a 
third of a mile across and nearly circular in 
shape. It is swarming with small trout which 
rise greedily to the fly, and there is a comfortable 
camp upon one of its shores. Beyond St. Hilaire 
there is Lake Bonnet, reached over a portage 
some two miles long, and here the scenery is 
exceedingly pretty, and the trout both plentiful 
and larger than those of Lake St. Hilaire, some 
of them exceeding pound in weight. Four miles 
beyond Bonnet is Lake George, a still larger lake, 
containing trout up to two pounds weight and 
over; while a couple of days’ journey brings the 
sportsman to Snow Lake, the headwaters of the 
Montmorenci River. Previous to the cutting out 
of the portages herein described, Snow Lake was 
almost inaccessible. It is the center of a great 
big-game country, where both moose and caribou 
are abundant. It also contains enormous trout, 
both fontinalis and namaycush. The latter have 
been taken up to thirty pounds weight here, while 
the brook trout run as large as those in the 
Great Lake Jacques Cartier, described by Mr. 
John Burroughs, and attaining a weight of seven 
or eight pounds. The distance from Snow Lake 
381 
to Lake Jacques Cartier is only a few miles, but 
dense forest surrounds them both. 
E. T. D. Chambers. 
The Pleasures of Angling. 
The pleasures of fishing. How can we de¬ 
scribe them? Are they in the beauty of the 
scenery—the mystery that broods beneath the 
dark pools, the hope that flashes from every 
sunlit stickle, from every tinkling cascade, from 
every circling eddy? Are they in the leap of the 
heart that answers the leap of the twelve inches 
of the golden life and energy, sprung from the 
depths, as if to show us what glory the waters 
hide—glories of shape and color that no earth- 
born creature can surpass; glories of strength 
and activity, of pluck and resource? Are they 
in the daintiness of the fisherman's weapons, the 
grace of his bending rod, the perfection of his 
flies, the well nigh invisible fineness of his lash 
of transparent gut? Are they in the solitude, 
the swish of the line through the long hours, 
the peace of the day, and the sigh that is not 
far from tears in the loveliness of the summer 
evening? They are in all these, and yet in none 
of them. They are in the inexplicable, in the 
secret natures of man, of earth and water, of 
color, of silence, and all the things that whelm 
a man until he, least of any, could tell you what 
they mean. Were he to try they might vanish 
at the mere endeavor. Reader, smile if you will; 
but forgive our enthusiasm. There is not a 
great amount of perfect peace in the world; it 
is hard to find. Many, alas! will never find it 
this side of Styx. But we have found it, and 
pray we may find it again, by the riverside alone. 
If you would seek it, too; if the worry and 
wear of the world have been scraping with 
restless file on your soul, grating at your nerves, 
take my advice, and creep away from it all. 
There are still quiet corners in this great 
blaring world of ours, cool shadows unswept by 
electric light; miles of green, dewy beauty on 
which the great sun smiles down as if he knew 
naught of stifling street and square. There you 
can toil all day, and yet be at rest; can think, 
and yet forget all thought; can dream, and yet 
be awake to influences that fill your soul with 
regret at not having been blessed with them 
long ago. The glimmer of the afterglow will 
light you better than the gas lamps; the even¬ 
ing call of the partridge across the fields will 
strike upon your listening ear more gratefully 
than the dull rolling of the city traffic. Never 
mind the ethics, they are but the business of 
fishing. You have had enough of business; you 
will be a fisherman possessing peace and the con¬ 
tentment of soul which is piscatoribus sacrum. 
—M. H. Grant in London Fishing Gazette. 
A Philippine Fish Catcher. 
An odd sort of fish catching contrivance used 
in the Philippine Islands may be seen at the 
New York Aquarium. 
It is an open work, dome shaped thing about 
two feet in height and two feet across in its 
widest part, at the bottom, made of thin strips 
of a native wood. The upper ends of these strips 
are brought closely together around a circle of 
wood at the top, while from there they spread 
out uniformly wider and wider apart like the 
wires in the top part of a round top bird cage. 
Up under these strips, about six inches below 
the top, is set a wooden hoop, to which each 
of the slats is bound, and over this hoop the 
slats are strung with a slight curve to be held 
in shape and at uniform distances apart by a 
tie run around a couple of inches above their 
bottom ends. So that this is an open dome¬ 
shaped contrivance made of slender curving 
vertical ribs; and in its construction it shows 
nice workmanship. 
The island fisherman uses this fish catcher in 
catching fish much as a boy uses his hat in catch¬ 
ing butterflies; he claps it down' over such com¬ 
paratively sluggish and bottom feeding fish as he 
can get near enough to for that purpose and 
through an opening in the top of the catcher he 
reaches down inside of it to seize the fishes thus 
caught. 
