•Nov. 3, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
701 
each giving a new reason for knocking the new 
act out. Finally, the judge of one court differed 
from his learned brothers and declared the act 
to be constitutional, whereupon the department 
formally appealed to the Superior Court. The 
Superior Court has just handed down a decision 
emphatically declaring the act unconstitutional, 
and the summary proceeding law will therefore 
remain in force. 
Trout are beginning to spawn unusually early 
in the state hatcheries. At Corry over a million 
eggs have already been taken, and at Belle- 
fonte nearly the same number. From the re¬ 
ports of the superintendents to the commis¬ 
sioner, there will be nearly nine million trout 
eggs, and these, with the eggs which are' con¬ 
tributed annually by public spirited men owning 
hatcheries in the state, the indications are that 
the output of trout next spring in Pennsylvania 
will exceed that of last spring by nearly three 
millions. 
The Department of Fisheries during October 
ordered the erection of five fishways in dams, 
which are either just completed or being con¬ 
structed in various parts of the state. Most of 
the owners have complied with the mandate of 
the Department, but one, while he did not re¬ 
fuse, wrote a very ugly letter, stating that if 
the state wanted a fishway, he thought the state 
ought to pay the bill, and could not see why 
the former owners were not compelled to build 
it, he being a new purchaser. He forgot evi¬ 
dently, that while he is a new purchaser, that 
he was the builder of the dam, and had been 
ordered by a warden to construct a fishway, 
iand in response said he did not think he had to. 
Among the successful bass anglers in the Del¬ 
aware river this autumn has been Mr. and Mrs. 
Robert Newhall. The former is the famous 
Philadelphia cricketer. The two caught a large 
number of bass recently from the Delaware 
near the Water Gap. 
Conneautee lake, in the western part of Penn¬ 
sylvania, not far from Cambridge Springs, has 
astonished even those who are well acquainted 
with the fishing qualities of that small body of 
water. An angler remarked a few days ago 
that he could not understand where the muscal- 
longe and black bass came from. He said that 
more of these two fish were taken from Con¬ 
neautee during October than from its much 
larger neighbor, Conneaut lake. 
Last year the Department of Fisheries began 
experimenting with the cut-throat trout, called 
by the United States Bureau of Fisheries the 
“black-spotted trout.” About 60,000 were 
planted in three lakes which could be carefully 
watched. Recently the watcher of Silver lake, 
in Susquehanna county, reported that fish of this 
species between 5 and 6 inches long are seen in 
large numbers, and that success therefore is 
assured. The Department of Fisheries does not 
as yet deem it expedient to plant cut-throat 
trout in streams until it has been thoroughly 
tested and proved that it is not destructive to 
brook trout. It is believed to be a very de¬ 
sirable fish for the spring fed lakes; but the 
commissioner declares he will not grant appli¬ 
cations for this fish until he has demonstrated 
that it is wise to do so. He is not very strongly 
in favor of introduced fishes,'believing more in 
the indigenous species. 
Young herring have been caught in the north 
branch of the Susquehanna river, indicating the 
effectiveness of the fishways built in Clark’s 
Ferry dam. The astonishing feature about the 
find of herring is that they were caught at least 
300 miles above tide water, far beyond the early 
haunts of the alewife. 
The department succeeded in convicting a 
large number of people during October for 
violation of the fish laws, and fines amounting 
to nearly $2,000 were imposed. 
The Department of Fisheries is going heavily 
into bass culture. It now has eight bass ponds 
completed-—one at the Wayne hatchery, three 
at the Union City hatchery, one at the Craw¬ 
ford hatchery, two at the Spruce creek hatchery 
and one at the Torresdale hatchery. Several of 
these ponds cover about an acre each, and with 
the exception of three, are built on designs 
prepared jointly by the superintendents of hatch¬ 
eries and the commissioners, and from success¬ 
ful experiment show that they will carry more 
breeding fish than any other ponds yet con¬ 
structed. The finest bass pond undoubtedly in 
this particular is the one just finished at the 
Crawford hatchery. It is 275 feet long and 80 
feet wide, having a uniform depth of from 1 / 2 
to 2 feet, excepting at the outlet, where there 
is an inverted V-shaped kettle having a base of 
30 feet wide. The kettle is 4feet deep. This 
pond will undoubtedly hold more than 300 brood 
fish or about double what an ordinary pond of 
the same size would hold. 
It is evident that the Department of Fisheries 
intends to greatly expand its trout work. From 
a report just given out, there are at present in 
the trout hatcheries nearly 200,000 fingerlings 
which will yield eggs next year, and the report 
states that at least that many more will be re¬ 
tained next spring. The take of eggs next year 
ought to be more than the capacity of the pres¬ 
ent hatching house for trout in the state. There 
are six trout-hatching houses in operation. 
Bonifacius. 
One of Seth Green’s Fellow Anglers. 
On Sugar island, one of the Thousand islands 
of the St. Lawrence river, two jolly old anglers 
meet every August to renew their youth and fish 
together for a fortnight. Their tents are pitched 
side by side under the trees on the eastern shore 
ON THE ST. LAWRENCE. 
and they cook their own meals over a camp-fire 
in the open. These gentlemen are Capt. George 
W. Ruggles, of Charlotte, N. Y., and E. H. 
Barney, of Springfield, Mass., while the captain’s 
nephew goes along and rows the skiff while they 
fish, assists them in various ways, and often lands 
the biggest fish himself. Capt. Ruggles often re¬ 
counts anecdotes of the late Seth Green, with 
whom he passed many days in angling round 
about Rochester, their home. And game fish 
were plentiful in those days in northern New 
York. In the picture Mr. Barney is in the center 
and Capt. Ruggles on the right. 
Pickerel and pike, perch and rock bass are 
abundant in the waters where they troll among 
the islands, and black bass are taken frequently, 
while the smaller rock bass and yellow perch are 
to be caught off the rocks of their cove at any 
time. 
Fishing Notes. 
It is estimated that the United States Govern¬ 
ment hatcheries on the Fraser river and its tribu¬ 
taries have liberated 100,000,000 young salmon 
in these streams. The 69 canneries, represent¬ 
ing an investment of $3,000,000, report total re¬ 
ceipts of $6,930,000, salmon alone bringing $5,- 
750,000, while $4,384,000 was the total amount 
paid out for labor, etc. The net profit is not 
given. In the second week of October some of 
the canneries along the Columbia, Alsea and 
Siletz rivers and in Yaquina bay reported 
record-breaking catches of salmon, one seining 
ground alone yielding five tons in one day. 
During October some nice striped bass have 
been taken in the Hudson river at the old-time 
favorite places. Several were caught aff Eighty- 
sixth street, this city, and off Fort Washington 
Point, and other grounds further up the river, 
Croton Point yielding good creels to the patient 
anglers. When, in September, it was noticed 
that there was an unusually large number of 
crabs in the small streams flowing into the 
Hudson, the wise men predicted good fishing. 
These crabs were much smaller than usual. 
There were few lafayettes in local waters this 
season, which, it is claimed, attract the bass to 
the rivers, but they only appear in large num¬ 
bers occasionally, according to local traditions, 
every fourth year. Tomcods or frostfish, which 
generally come into the Hudson with the advent 
of cooler water, seem to be late. They furnish 
good sport for thousands of pier anglers, but it 
is a pity that every one caught is kept, regard¬ 
less of size, some of them being too small for 
the pan, and they are not large fish at best. 
Several times during the present year street 
cleaning men of the city of New York have 
found live fish in the fire hydrants when these 
were opened to flush streets and sewers. Only 
last week a number of catfish, carp, eels and 
small bass were in this manner thrown out on 
the streets, showing that the outlet pipes in the 
reservoirs have not been properly screened. 
There has never been any actual wasting of fish 
life in this way that we have heard of, for on 
such occasions crowds of people soon collect, 
to scramble for these finny prizes as a number 
of boys would for a handful of pennies thrown 
their way, but at the same time it is reasonable 
to believe that if small fish find their way into 
the city’s pipes, they are not likely to return to 
the reservoirs, and if not turned out on the 
streets may die in the pipes and pollute the 
water. 
During the two years ending Oct. 1 last there 
were shipped from towns along the Illinois 
river 18,377,730 pounds of fish of all varieties to 
the various markets. Of these Havana, Ill., 
shipped one-third of the total, or 6,490,802 
pounds. 
Fishing in the vicinity of Baltimore, Md., has 
been unusually good during October, and some 
anglers claim the fishing has shown improvement 
this year .over others, due, they believe, to the 
better protection afforded by the Maryland Fish 
and Game. Protective Association. At the head 
of Chesapeake Bay a good many nice black bass 
have been taken, while striped bass in goodly 
size and numbers have been reported from nearly 
all the waters frequented by local anglers in their 
single-day trips. The best known waters along 
the Patapsco, Gunpowder, Little Choptank and 
Chester rivers have yielded goodly striped bass 
and some of the other varieties. 
A ninety-pound black sea bass on a 15-thread 
cuttyhunk line is no mean performance. This 
is what Albert Walton did in an hour and a half 
on Oct. 6, at Redondo, Cal. Yellowtail and 
smaller fish were reported plentiful in the bay 
at that time. 
A black bass was caught at Romney, W. Va., 
recently, in the south branch of the Potomac 
river by Lemuel Hewitt, of Pittsburg, Pa. It 
weighed 6 pounds 14 ounces, and is said to be the 
record bass for the stream mentioned. Its meas¬ 
urements were: Length, 25m; girth, i5R>in; 
thickness, 3l4' n - 
Death of Mr. John Bates. 
Chicago, Ill., Oct. 2 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: It is with regret that I must inform 
you of the death of one of your old subscribers, 
Mr. John Bates, from pneumonia. Mr. Bates was 
widely known about the lakes as one of the most 
scientific casters and an enthusiastic angler who 
had scores of friends. A. N. Printz. 
