FOREST AND STREAM 
859 
Live Notes From The Field 
Being Weekly Reports From Our Local Correspondents 
THE CASE OF JOHN KANE. 
Little Falls, N. Y., May 8.—The case of game 
protector John Kane has created no little interest 
in this part of the state. Kane proved to be 
one of the most efficient of game protectors. 
He caught many violators and frightened a good 
many more than he caught. A year ago he cap¬ 
tured a short length fisherman up in the town 
of Salisbury, and had him fined. This spring, 
the fisherman brought a belated charge of larceny 
against Kane, alleging that he had taken fish 
that were over length, and therefore not subject 
to the seizure by the protector. The case was 
taken before a justice of peace in Salisbury town, 
and that worthy proceeded to answer the calls of 
his back-woods constituents demanding that Kane 
be given the limit, or something like that. 
It seemed to observers to be a case of getting 
a good official, and the matter was taken before 
the county judge, Bell, who took the matter out 
of the hands of the town of Salisbury justice 
and put it into the hands of the forthcoming 
grand jury, in order to insure Kane a fair trial. 
Last fall.game protector Kane was hunting up 
near the noted Powley place, a famous hunting 
resort on the state lands above Stratford. He 
saw a deer at which he fired, but found when 
he came to seek the animal, that he hadn’t killed 
the buck he had in view. Instead, he dropped a 
small deer with scant horns. Forthwith, he 
headed for town and had himself fined for kill¬ 
ing a deer with horns less than the legal length. 
He then took the case to the conservation com¬ 
mission at Albany, and that body decided that 
he should be suspended for a time, and this 
Spring Kane went to work as protector again. 
Kane had been so efficient that efforts were made 
to land him, but so far he has been able to hold 
his own. 
“You take a game protector who is given the 
up and down and a going over, and you’ll gen¬ 
erally find that he’s a first-class man for the 
job; but you take a game protector that every 
one likes, and has a lot of praise for, and you’ll 
find he’s a lot better to his friends than to the 
public,” is the way they put it in local circles, 
among those who desire to have fish and game 
laws enforced. 
Fishermen do not expect an early Adirondack 
trout season this year. The ice is hardly out of 
the lakes, and there is a good deal of snow in 
the thick balsam swamps. Trout “don’t bite from 
snow water.” This is not quite true. The best 
trout fishing is in the lakes, immediately after 
the ice goes out. Then the brook trout will take 
minnows and other baits. Of course, lake trout 
are caught at this time, too. 
The streams yield a few large, sluggish brook 
trout at the mouths of brooks, in deep holes 
and at the foot of the rifts as soon as the water 
warms up the least bit. Perhaps the best bait 
trout fishing in streams is the time when a fish¬ 
erman can just endure the cold water as the last 
of the snow water runs by. 
Practically all the early trout fishing is with 
baits. The fly fishing begins about the time house 
flies begin to appear. The best of the rift fly 
fishing is found in Adirondack foothill streams 
from around May io to June 15. The deep woods 
fly fishing is generally a week or two weeks later 
than the foothill fly fishing, and it lasts a little 
longer. There is commonly a week or ten days 
of “best fly fishing,” when the trout have just 
gone up into the rifts and are lying along the 
backs of gravel beds and in the shallower pools— 
the “big ’uns” usually lie in the big pools, how¬ 
ever, though sometimes striking up into the shal¬ 
lows after shiners and red-belly minnows. 
With the water as cold as it is now, and cold 
winds blowing, the promise is that foothill stream 
fishing will begin around the middle of May. 
The two weeks before and after the first of May 
is counted “the best fly fishing time,” year in 
and year out. 
More and more the trout fishermen are using 
the “midget” flies. These are tied on from 
No. 10 to No. 14 hooks, and the dry fly effect is 
had by taking a tube of vaseline or petroleum 
and squeezing a bit of the heavy oil on each fly. 
This oil lasts half an hour or longer, and serves 
very well in keeping the lure floating. Three 
years ago, the small flies and dry flies were hard¬ 
ly known among local fishermen on the southwest 
side of the Adirondacks, and local tackle stores 
found a dozen or two assorted “midgets” more 
than they could sell. In fact, some stores were 
“stuck” with these little flies and held them in 
stock year after year. Now they meet the de¬ 
mand that has grown up. 
MASSACHUSETTS CORRESPONDENCE. 
North Adams, June 12.—There promises to be 
some mighty good bird shooting in the North 
Berkshire this fall if the small boys and irre¬ 
sponsible hunters can be made to realize that they 
must let the old birds alone. Last fall was an 
off season, there having been very few good bags 
reported. Quail and partridge seem to be plenti¬ 
ful, according to reports brought in by the gun¬ 
ners who have been out looking over the lay of 
the land. 
An interesting report has been made to the 
Vermont Bird Club by Dr. L. H. Ross, in which 
the doctor states that during the past decade he 
has observed no less than. 176 distinct species 
of bird life, and all but 28 of these have been ob¬ 
served about Benton’s pond, which is but a few 
miles from this city. 
The region covered by this report is that part 
of the watershed of the Walloomsac river which 
lies within the state of Vermont. It comprises 
all of the town of Bennington together with parts 
of the towns of Pownal, Stamford, Glastonbury 
and Shaftsbury, which are the towns grouped 
in the southwestern corner of the state. It is 13 
miles from north to south and 10 miles from 
east to west. It is mountainous country for the 
most part, and in and about the pond the birds 
find nearly every condition necessary for their 
life and sustenance. 
F. Le Roy Barnes Holds 12 Pound Salmon Taken at Casco, Sebago Lake, Me., and Albert Barnes 
(His Father), 3 and 4 Pound Salmon on the Gaff. 
