948 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Dec. is, 1906. 
The Impossible. 
According to an old couplet: 
"The impossible cannot be done, 
And very seldom comes to pass.’’ 
During my last annual fishing trip to the Bay 
of Quinte, I enjoyed an experience in which “the 
impossible” came to pass. 
I was fishing in about fifteen feet of water, 
using an eight ounce rod, a “G” line, a single 
gut leader, a No. 1 sproat hook with single gut 
snell, and minnow for bait. About eighty feet 
of line was out, with a light sinker, and the boat 
was moving slowly. A gamy bass of fair pro¬ 
portions was hooked, and as he jumped clear 
of the water he was distinctly seen both by my 
oarsman and myself. Presently while playing him, 
I felt something much heavier than a bass, and 
after a few minutes a good-sized mascalonge 
broke water out at the end of my line. With 
such light tackle, while keeping a taut line, I 
had to handle him very gingerly; but once in 
spite of my best efforts, he broke water on a 
slack line, and not getting off, 1 concluded he 
was securely hooked. But if so, why did he not 
cut the snell with his. sharp teeth ? After about 
forty minutes of the best work I knew how to 
do, we got him safely into the boat, and then 
as I lowered the tip of the rod, the hook fell 
loose and no hook mark could be found. At 
the end of the day, we weighed him on tested 
and certified platform scales, 22 pounds, and on 
cutting him open found in his stomach a freshly 
swallowed 15 inch bass. 
Now all this (if told by anybody else) I would 
regard as perfectly. credible, except, how, while 
the mascalonge was “taking in” the bass, was it 
possible (1) for the hook to become detached 
from the bass, and hook itself on the outside of 
the mouth of the ’lunge, and this (2) so securely 
that he. could not get loose even on a slack line 
while in the water, and so insecurely that the 
hook fell out of its own weight as soon as the 
line was slackened after the game was safe: Will 
somebody answer me that? 
Clearly the hook could not have gone down 
with the bass into the ’lunge’s stomach; for in 
that case, it could not have fallen out of its own 
weight. Nor could it have caught inside the 
mouth, for then the single gut snell must in¬ 
evitably have been cut off or bit off by the razor¬ 
like teeth of the ’lunge during the lively forty 
minutes of the contest. As a matter of fact, 
neither the snell nor leader showed any tooth 
marks whatever. 
If I were told this story by any one whose fish¬ 
ing veracity was not already established beyond 
all possible doubt, I would say that it was im¬ 
possible, and mentally would put the narrator 
down as untruthful. Anybody else can think 
that of me that wishes to: but the “cold facts” 
are as I have given them. “The impossible” came 
to pass. Shaganoss. 
P- S.—I desire herewith to apologize to Carter 
Harrison for my refusal to believe an impossible 
fishing, incident which he once told me of, as I 
recall it, about as follows: 
He was fly-fishing in one of the trout streams 
of northern Michigan. A big trout took his 
tail-fly, ejected it through his gills and got 
hooked onto the dropper. Another big trout 
then took the tail-flv and he landed them both. 
After my own experience with “the impossible” 
as above narrated, Carter’s story is easily cred¬ 
ible. “The impossible” sometimes “comes to 
pass.” 5 
For the Protection of Fish. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I send you a description of a self-cleaning 
screen for irrigating ditches, patented April 17, 
1906, by S. A. Murray and W. B. Race, of Lake, 
Fremont county, Idaho. This invention fills a 
long-felt necessity in the protection of fish in 
the irrigating States of the West. 
It is.probably no exaggeration to say that the 
irrigation ditch has been, and is at the present 
time, a greater factor in the destruction of fish 
in the irrigating sections than all other causes 
combined. In many of the streams of the West 
which were once teeming with trout, whitefish 
and grayling the original stock has been com¬ 
pletely exterminated. 
The United States Fish Commission has re¬ 
stocked many of these streams, only to have 
them poured out on the grain fields to die. 
While the irrigation ditch has “made the 
desert to blossom as the rose,” it has its at¬ 
tendant evil in this wholesale destruction of fish. 
Some, if not all, of the States have a law re¬ 
quiring that a screen be placed in the ditches 
to prevent fish from entering them, but this law 
has never been enforced for the reason that it 
occupies a great deal of a ranchman’s time to 
keep an ordinary screen from clogging up with 
trash. 
This new screen removes, this reason for not 
enforcing the screen law and preventing further 
destruction of fish. It is perfectly automatic in 
action and when once placed in a ditch and 
regulated to the required head of water needs 
no further attention. When trash collects 
against the screen it raises the water level back 
of it, which raises a float, which rocks a system 
of levers and releases the screen, which is re¬ 
volved by the current, allowing the trash to flow 
underneath. 
At the release of the screen the water 
drops to its original level, allowing the 
float and levers to drop back and engage 
the screen after revolving half over. As 
fish always lie with their heads up stream, those 
nearest the screen at the time of its release and 
sudden motion dart away from it. As the cost 
of this screen is but little above that of an ordi¬ 
nary headgate and screen, the State authorities 
and all who are interested in the preservation 
of fish should use their influence in getting this 
screen placed in irrigating ditches. 
Tremont. 
Mr. Enright Pleased. 
Mr. John Enright recently wrote to the London 
Fishing Gazette from his home in Castleconnell, 
Ireland, as follows: 
“With reference to my recent visit to New 
York in connection with the International Fly- 
and Bait-Casting Tournament, promoted by the 
New York Anglers’ Club, 1 was very glad to see 
that the Fishing Gazette gave its readers such a 
comprehensive account of the various competi¬ 
tions held on Harlem Lake, Central Park, on 
Oct. 12 and 13. There are, however, a few per¬ 
sonal matters which I wish to place before your 
readers, and I, therefore, send you a short ac¬ 
count of my experiences. I left Queenstown on 
Thursday, Oct. 4, arriving in New York on 
Thursday, Oct. 11, the Teutonic having lost a 
day on the voyage owing to a very heavy storm 
on Oct. 5 and 6. Previous to the arrival of the 
vessel at the landing stage I was handed a letter 
from Mr. Mills Sr., intimating that I had per¬ 
mission to begin practice on the tournament as 
soon as I wished to do so, but, of course, I 
could not avail myself of the kind permission of 
the club on that date (Oct. 11) as it was about 
5 P. M. when the vessel arrived. On my arrival 
I was met by Mr. George LaBranche, chairman 
of the New York Anglers’ Club Tournament 
Committee. He very , kindly waited, saw my lug¬ 
gage, rods, ete., pas'sed through the Customs, and 
then saw me safely landed at my hotel. Next 
morning I journeyed to Harlem Lake, where Mr. 
LaBranche again saw me and introduced me to 
the various members of the committee, who gave 
me a very hearty welcome, and expressed their 
appreciation of my coming such a distance to 
meet their best men. 
“In a very sportsmanlike spirit the members 
of the committee and the competitors who were 
to oppose me gallantly offered to postpone to the 
following day the contest in which I was to com¬ 
pete, so that I should have time to rest after my 
journey, and also have an opportunity of a little 
practice. This postponement of the salmon cast¬ 
ing event, from the Friday to Saturday, was en¬ 
tirely voluntary on their part, and completely un¬ 
solicited and unexpected by me. I may here 
mention that it was only a few days before leav¬ 
ing home that I made up my mind to visit 
America, consequently my preparations for de¬ 
parture were very hurried, and I overlooked the 
necessity of measuring the rods I was taking with 
me. When the event for salmon rods not ex¬ 
ceeding iSft. came off, my rod was found to 
measure 3m. over the limit, but both the competi¬ 
tors and committee waived any objection to it 
on that account. Nothing could exceed the en¬ 
thusiasm which spectators, committee and com¬ 
petitors displayed when I made my record cast. 
“It would be impossible to surpass the kind¬ 
ness and hospitality shown to me and my friends 
who accompanied me by the members of the com¬ 
mittee. We were entertained in princely fashion 
both at luncheons and at the dinner given in 
honor of the other competitors and myself at 
Burns’ Hotel; they vied with each other in their 
endeavors to make my visit an enjoyable one, 
and in that they were very successful, for which 
I very sincerely thank them all. I shall never 
forget their kindness and the genial and sports¬ 
manlike treatment accorded me on the occasion 
of my first visit to an American tournament. I 
have had a very pleasant time, and trust I shall 
some day have the pleasure of reciprocating on 
this side of the Atlantic. The New York Ang¬ 
lers’ Club is but a newly-formed association, but 
under its present able and energetic committee I 
have no doubt that it will soon grow to be one 
of the most powerful organizations of its kind 
in the piscatorial world 
“Their bait-casting was a revelation to me as 
regards distance and accuracy—it is simply won¬ 
derful — and I hope our British casters at the next 
.English tournament will have an opportunity of 
seeing a display by some of our adept American 
cousins.” 
A Salmon Run in the Yakima River. 
Spokane, Wash., Nov. 20 . — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Salmon are running in the Yakima 
River, west of Spokane, as they have not in 
years, and they are of the finest quality. Steel- 
heads. silver and chinook salmon are going up 
the river by thousands. Large fish hooks at¬ 
tached to the end of bamboo poles are the 
favorite tackle, but every conceivable instrument 
from a pitch-fork to a garden rake is used, and 
a number of fish have even been caught with 
bare hands. Hundreds of men, women and 
children visit the river, especially in the even¬ 
ing. Salmon weighing from 3 to 10 pounds each 
are constantly leaping out q>f the water in vain 
efforts to jump over the dam above the flouring 
mill. 
The fishermen sit on the piers at the end of 
the dam, and when a big fish leaps out of the 
water, endeavor to catch it in their hands. 
Probably one fish out of every twenty that leaps 
near the pier is caught and landed. Several 
large fish have leaped over the cribbing below 
the dam and landed upon the rocks, where they 
were picked up and placed in grain sacks. 
The fish are so plentiful that no one will buy 
them and hundreds are given away to those who 
will carry them off. Wagon loads are being 
peddled through the farming sections, where 
they sell at low prices. People are beginning to 
tire of eating fresh fish and large quantities are 
being salted down for winter use. The game 
warden has compelled the mills to remove -a 
portion of the dam at each end, so that the fish 
may proceed up stream to their spawning 
grounds, but this is only a slight relief, as the 
stream is several hundred feet wide and only 
a small portion of the fish find the open gates 
at each end of the dam. Reports come from 
up and down the river that large quantities of 
fish are being caught wherever there is a rapids 
or a low, irrigation ditch dam, and that settlers 
are salting hundreds of pounds of fish for 
winter use. August Wolf. 
WHERE QUALITY IS FIRST. 
Campers and sportsmen who demand the best should 
note that the equipment of every scientific and exploring 
expedition for the past fifty years has included a supply 
of Borden's Eagle Brand Condensed Milk. Keeps in any 
climate and under all conditions. The original and lead¬ 
ing brand since 1857. — Adv.. 
