Dec. 13, 1913. 
FOREST AND STREAM 
761 
“A Day With The Black Bass” 
I T was early in the morning of a threatening 
day last August that, having a few days 
from the desk and the pen, I betook myself 
to the residence of my old friend S— in the 
beautiful little village of S— in northwestern 
Pennsylvania, and upon my suggestion that we 
go fishing in the afternoon he replied, he 
wculd be glad to accompany me, but had no time 
to go for bait and upon my promise to furnish 
this the trip was agreed upon for the afternoon. 
Now here I want to state that the writer, 
who has had a few days’ experience in black 
bass fishing, considers for early August fishing 
the soft crawfish is inferior to nothing in those 
waters and so when I presented myself at my 
friend’s residence in time for the 1:30 car I found 
him ready and waiting for me. 
Our bait consisted of about six dozen of as 
nice softshells as it has been my pleasure to put 
on a hook, which were obtained by the writer 
about one mile north of the village. 
We decided to take the car and go about 
two miles out of the village to where my friend 
had his boat tied and then proceed up stream 
about one-half mile with the oars. 
We arrived at our destination about two 
thirty and without any loss of time we baited 
pur lines and awaited what was in store for us. 
I soon had a bite and after playing the fish 
brought to the boat a two-pound black bass, and 
in succession took in two smaller ones, my friend 
meanwhile having no luck. Then for some rea¬ 
son the biting ceased'and for an hour or so we 
could not get a nibble of anything but turtles. 
About this time I got a tangle in my line 
and some hot words were said about a certain 
variety of silk line. Not wishing to kill my bait, 
I dropped it in the water on the up-stream side 
of the boat while busily engaged in undoing the 
knot. I was surprised to find my line running 
out rapidly. I promptly took up my rod and 
“struck” the fish, but did not succeed in landing 
him, whereupon I at once dropped in again with 
a fresh bait and my friend did the same, and for 
about forty-five minutes we did some of the live¬ 
liest and best fishing it has been my pleasure to 
enjoy for over five years. 
We were just dropping in bait up stream 
against the current only about ten feet away from 
the boat in about six feet of water and the bass 
were right there as soon as it hit the water. 
The writer will not attempt to say how many 
bites we had, but when the biting slackened down 
some my friend S— looked in the bait bucket and 
said there are only four crabs left, “Doc.” 
We decided we had enough for that day, so 
we raised the anchors and took in our fish, six¬ 
teen small-mouth black bass (the gamiest of the 
game), ranging in size from one pound and a 
quarter to. two and three-quarters pounds. 
This was the best black bass season I have 
ever known in those regions and have written my 
friend that I expect to see him again soon and 
once more to wile away the precious “ten days” 
with him along the banks of the beautiful little 
Venango. 
“Mudhen.” 
Chinook Salmon 
Tuxedo Park, N. Y., Nov. 29. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: It will no doubt be interesting to 
many of your readers to know that on the 12th 
of this month the writer succeeded in securing 
in one of the tributary streams emptying into 
Tuxedo Lake, a ripe male and female chinook 
salmon. This is the first authentic record (in 
this country) of their reproduction when land¬ 
locked in fresh water. These fish were hatched 
in March, 1909, at the Tuxedo Fishery from a 
lot of eggs consigned by the Bureau of Fisheries 
at Baird, California, and were planted the fall 
of 1910, when about eight inches in length. Both 
fish were about 16 inches long, and very thin, 
showing that they had not fed for several weeks 
previous. The female produced about 1,000 eggs 
of good quality and color, and both fish recovered 
from the stripping operation in good shape and 
were placed in pools at the hatchery for observa¬ 
tion. The female died twelve days later without 
having taken food of any kind, but the male at 
present seems to be increasing in weight and 
looks in better condition, although we are not 
certain that it has taken any food. If these land¬ 
locked chinooks can be kept alive after reproduc¬ 
tion, it will mean the complete upsetting of all 
theories regarding this species. All authorities 
who have made a study of this and the other 
varieties of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus) agree 
that after once reproducing each and every exam¬ 
ple of this family must die, and that it is not a 
question of condition or environment, but a stern 
demand of nature that death must closely follow 
procreation. While the females of both Atlantic 
and Pacific salmon do not spawn until physical 
maturity has been reached, many males of both 
species become sexually mature at a very young 
age, and when only a few inches in length. It 
is possible that these immature examples do 
spawn and still live to reproduce again when fully 
grown. 
Dr. Jousett de Belleme, Director of the Tro- 
cadero Aquarium in France has handled the chi¬ 
nook in domestication for many years, and he 
claims that all his fish have died after once 
spawning, but he makes no mention of these 
precocious males that are found in all lots of 
yearling salmon. If the fact can be fully estab¬ 
lished that at least some of these land-locked chi¬ 
nooks will live after reproduction, it will mean 
a great deal to many sportsmen who have spent 
time and money in introducing this fish into 
Eastern waters. This fish has been planted in 
large numbers at Lake Sunapee, N. H., and has 
thrived beyond expectations, running up as heavy 
as twenty pounds and furnishing exciting sport 
to hundreds of anglers. It was estimated that 
last summer over 5,000 of these salmon were 
taken at this lake, and could a value in dollars 
and cents be placed on this catch, it is certain 
that this would far .exceed in valuation that of 
a similar number of these fish taken and canned 
on the Pacific Coast. Fishing such as they have 
enjoyed at Sunapee the past few years means 
indirectly thousands of extra dollars for the local 
hotels, stores, guides and transportation compa¬ 
nies. 
The reproduction of these chinooks at Tux¬ 
edo was of such scientific interest that the Bureau 
of Fisheries at Washington sent Dr. W. C. Ken¬ 
dall of their Division of Inquiry at once to Tuxe¬ 
do to make an investigation. He measured and 
identified the species; visited the stream where 
the fish were taken, and collected such data as 
would be of interest to the Bureau. 
W. M. Keil. 
Archery 
Chicago, Dec. 2. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
The Chicago Archery Club held its annual busi¬ 
ness meeting Monday evening, Dec. 1. 
The following officers and executive commit¬ 
tee were elected: Homer S. Taylor, president; 
Homer W. Bishop, vice-president; P. S. Fletcher, 
secretary-treasurer; Herman L. Walker, George 
L. Nichols, Harrison E. Southworth, and Dr. 
Edward B. Weston. 
The official reports showed the club to be 
in good condition. Substantial improvements 
have been made in the target and Ascham room 
owing to the efforts of Mr. Pendry, the retiring 
president, and Mr. Bishop. 
Homer S. Taylor was elected an honorary and 
life member of the club. Mr. Taylor has been 
drawing the long bow for more than thirty years. 
Twice he has been champion of the National 
Archery Association, and its president for two 
terms. He is not retiring from the sport; and 
this year has done the best shooting of his long 
archery life. 
Edward B. Weston. 
Minneapolis, Minn., Nov. 29.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: The articles on archery that have 
appeared in your valuable magazine each week 
are interesting and profitable. I have especially 
enjoyed the papers by H. B. Richardson, J. M. 
Challiss, E. D. Miller and G. L. Nichols. 
From the fact that no archery news has been 
received from this “neck of the woods” it might 
be inferred that there is none to give. Such is 
not the case, for though there is no organized 
club among the men here, the Boy Scouts are 
very enthusiastic over archery, and some are de¬ 
veloping into fair shots. 
I wonder if archers in other parts of the 
country have had the same experience with the 
bowstrings furnished at the shops that I have 
had. The first string bought broke after three 
shots, the second after a day or two, and the 
third one in about the same time. Naturally 
this was not satisfactory so I went back to the 
string of my boyhood days, and found that it 
would last a long time, one season at least. 
These strings are easily made and cost about 
one-tenth as much as strings offered in the shops. 
The materials are a ball of No. 12 Barbour’s 
shoemaker’s thread and some pure beeswax. Be¬ 
tween two nails seven feet apart stretch ten 
strands of the thread. Detach one end and wax 
well but do not twist. Cut this string into six 
equal parts. These are for the purpose of 
strengthening the ends of the bowstring. With 
a sharp knife cut one end of each piece slant¬ 
wise to a point. 
Using the same two nails as before, run four¬ 
teen strands of the thread between them. De¬ 
tach one end and wax well, then stick two of the 
short pieces on the string, one at each end with 
the tapered points toward the center. The sticki¬ 
ness of the wax readily permits this. Now twist 
the string away from yourself into a firm, hard 
cord. 
