Jan. i8 , 1913 
FOREST AND STREAM 
79 
Winter Fishing in Maine. 
BY SAM R. WEBBER. 
Beside a huge beech tree which towers ma¬ 
jestically toward the firmament above, stands 
cozy camp Nashwaak, the retreat of the winter 
fisherman. Before it almost as far as the eye 
can reach stretching in a vast expanse of white 
lies Nash’s Lake, the home of the trout and the 
pickerel. 
After the delightful sports of the summer 
season and the hunting in the fall which we so 
love are but memories in our dreams and 
reveries this scene grows before us, and we 
long for the days when Jack Frost’s inexorable 
power shall sheath the blue waters in a thick 
ice armor. 
And so it was that when one crisp afternoon 
in February I received an invitation to go fish¬ 
ing with the captain, I packed my knapsack with 
all celerity and joy. 
Next morning when the alarm clock went 
off with a thrilling whirr, the star-studded sky 
gave promise of pleasant weather, and we 
thanked the Red Gods silently for their smiles. 
After a hearty breakfast the old horse was 
harnessed and we climbed aboard the pung 
and started on the long drive for the 
fishing grounds. Presently the captain joined us, 
his hardy face wreathed in smiles, and the drive 
continued uninterrupted, the woodsman clam¬ 
bering aboard. From this point the road lay 
through the woods, and it seemed that the two 
veterans had hardly begun to tell their anecdotes 
of past experiences when the lake, glistening as 
the morning sun peeped over the eastern ridges, 
lay before us. In a short time camp Nashwaak 
loomed up in the distance, and we had reached 
our destination. 
The prosaic part of ice fishing,' the chopping 
of holes through twenty-six inches of solid ice, 
and the baiting of hooks in a freezing wind is 
enough to dampen the ardor of even the most 
enthusiastic; and so when fifteen silvery shiners 
were swimming in the deep waters of Coleman 
Cove, we adjourned to the camp for dinner. 
The remaining hours of the day passed pleas¬ 
antly and quickly, and the catching of several 
large pickerel added excitement. A rabbit con¬ 
tributed his share of the fun when he tried, much 
to his sorrow, to ascertain if the captain’s .32 
revolver were a popgun or a real man’s weapon. 
'When the sun began to sink behind Mount 
Seeall in the west, we took in our lines and again 
set out to Camp Nashwaak to prepare supper. 
And yea, verily, mighty was the eating in the little 
cabin that night, and with good reason, too, for 
who could not eat when camp-baked beans, fried 
rabbit, porcupine’s liver and bacon lay steaming 
on the table before him? 
Supper over and the dishes cleaned it was 
not long before the bunks on the wall began 
to look inviting, so we promptly “hit the 
hay.” 
The next day passed even more quickly and 
pleasantly than the previous one, and when we 
landed several large squaretails, for which the 
lake is noted, our trip seemed a success. We 
drove back beneath a starlit sky, extremely happy, 
happy because we had spent two days in the open, 
happy because we had caught fish enough to re¬ 
concile the ones at home, happy because we knew 
that we should again undergo the same delight¬ 
ful experience. 
How Long Will a Fish Live Out of Water? 
Washington, D. C., Jan. 9. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: I have read with much interest 
the article in your issue of Jan. 4 by Dr. L. O. 
Howard on “How Long Will a Fish Live Out 
of Water?” The article interests me very much. 
The little so-called “black minnow” to which Dr. 
Howard refers is the Eastern mud minnow, 
whose scientific name is Umbra pygmcea, origi¬ 
nally described in 1842 by De Kay from Tappan, 
Rockland county, N. Y. This and one other 
species (Umbra Hmi) which is very abundant 
from Quebec to Minnesota and southward to 
the Ohio, constitute the only American species 
of the family Umbridce or mud minnows, to 
which they belong. The Eastern mud minnow 
reaches a length of about four inches and is 
found pretty generally distributed in lowland 
streams and coastwise swamps from Long Island 
and Northern New York to the Neuse River, 
N. C. Many years ago Prof. Baird said: “A 
locality which with the water perfectly clear will 
appear destitute of fish will perhaps yield a num¬ 
ber of mud fish on stirring up the mud at the 
bottom and drawing a seine through it. Ditches 
in the prairies of Wisconsin or mere bog holes, 
apparently affording lodgment to none beyond 
tadpoles, may thus be found filled with Umbras.” 
I myself have found these little fish in abund¬ 
ance in swamps, ponds, ditches and weedy streams 
in Northern New York. I have found the other 
species in equal abundance in similar places in 
Indiana and elsewhere in the upper Mississippi 
valley. Each species is in considerable demand 
as a bait minnow. Perhaps the chief thing 
recommending them for that use is their great 
tenacity of life. It is a common thing for 
people to catch them and keep them in rain 
barrels or similar receptacles indefinitely. 
One would infer from Dr. Howard’s article 
that he thinks it probable or possible that these 
little fish get into the sw^amps from the larger 
streams during high water. Such is not the case. 
They are not found in the St. Lawrence River 
or similar streams, except perchance in nooks 
and corners where there is quiet water with mud 
bottom. In some places they are called “mud 
fish”; in others “dog fish” and are believed by 
those who have that belief to be the young of 
the bowfin or common fresh water dog fish (Amia 
cakv). They are, of course, nothing of the kind. 
In Northern Alaska there is a fish known 
as the Alaska black fish or Chornia ryba (Dallia 
pectoralis) belonging to a closely related family 
and having habits similar to those of the two 
mud minnows of the United States. They are 
also equally if not more tenacious of life. The 
story is frequently told that the Indians collect 
them in the fall of the year and retain them in 
baskets, frozen, to feed to the dogs during the 
winter. It frequently happens that the dog 
swallows the fish whole, and then the deuce is 
to pay, for the warmth of the dog’s stomach very 
soon thaws out the fish, and then the movements 
and contortions of the fish in the dog’s stomach 
provide an uncomfortable situation for the dog, 
resulting in severe vomiting and the throwing 
up of the disturbing fish. I understand that 
stories of this kind are vouched for by early 
Alaska travelers who elsewhere are recorded as 
men of truth and veracity. 
Barton Warren Evermann, 
Bureau of Eisheries. 
American Fisheries Society. 
The members of the executive committee of 
the American Fisheries Society have decided to 
hold the forty-third annual meeting at Boston, 
Sept. 8 to 12 this year, and arrangements are 
being made to make it the largest meeting ever 
held. It is proposed by the Massachusetts mem¬ 
bers to have all New England join with Massa¬ 
chusetts in giving the members a royal welcome 
that they will never forget. 
1 his society was organized in 1870 and has 
numbered among its presidents many noted men, 
among them being the following: Wm. Clift, 
Robert B. Roosevelt, Theodore Lyman, Marshall 
McDonald, Dr. James A. Henshall, George F. 
Peabody, John W. Titcomb, Hon. George M. 
Bowers, Dr. Hugh M. Smith, Dr. Tarleton H. 
Bean and Seymour Bower. 
The society is divided into five divisions— 
fish culture, aquatic biology and physics, com¬ 
mercial fishing, angling, protection and legisla¬ 
tion. 
The present officers are: President,. Dr. Chas 
H. Townsend, New York; 'Vice-President, Dr. 
H. B. Ward, Urbana, Ill.; Recording Secretary, 
Ward T. Bower, Washington, D. C.; Treasurer, 
Charles W. Willard, Westerly, R. 1 .; Corres¬ 
ponding Secretary, Dr. George W. Field, Bos¬ 
ton, Alass; Executive Committee, Daniel B. 
Fearing, Chairman, Newport, R. 1 .; J. Q. Ward, 
Kentucky; N. F. Buffer, Pennsylvania; Ernest 
Schaffle, California; Dwight Lydell, Michigan; 
George W. Miles, Indiana; George H. Graham, 
Massachusetts. 
Shrinkage of Fish 
Park Ridge, N. J., Dec. 12. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: In reading your Christmas num¬ 
ber it is with great pleasure I noticed your table 
of the shrinkage in the weight of fish. I have 
not made very many tests of this, but last spring 
on Moosehead Lake I did make a test of a 10- 
pound lake trout, which when caught weighed 
exactly 10 pounds, and after a matter of about 
six hours weighed exactly 9 pounds 8 ounces. I 
also made a test of a 5-pound trout which seven 
or eight hours after weighed 4 pounds 12 ounces. 
So taking these two instances into consideration 
I think that your scale of shrinkage is as near 
to being correct as you can ever possibly come 
to it. 
I trust that this will bring up some very 
interesting correspondence which will appear 
from time to time in your valuable paper. 
Geo. E. Duncan. 
At the annual meeting of the Crawfish Club, 
composed of hunters and fishermen of Tazewell 
county, Illinois, the following officers were 
elected for the ensuing year: President, Louis 
Luick; Secretary, G. F. Taubert; Treasurer, W. 
A. Stockert. The club has been incorporated 
and will shortly erect a first class club house. 
During the present year, forty-three convic¬ 
tions of persons violating the game and fishing 
laws have been reported in Central Illinois, the 
fines ranging from $5 to $100. The numerous 
convictions are credited to sportsmen who co¬ 
operate with the game wardens in reporting in¬ 
stances where the laws are being violated by the 
irresponsible classes. 
