112 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Effect of Automobile and Motor Cycle 
on Fishing Conditions 
Editor Forest and Stream-. 
Little Falls, N. Y., July 3, 1914. 
Automobiles and motorcycles have made great 
changes in Adirondack fishing conditions. Take 
the distance from Utica, N. Y. into well known 
Adirondack resorts. A few years ago it was an 
all day journey from Utica to Morehouseville; the 
auto makes the distance in three hours, and 
Northwood is only an hour distant. Fulton Chain 
waters are within five hours. 
The result of this shortening of the time from 
town to fishing waters has been disastrous on t'he 
best fishing places in the woods. Thus the Fulton 
Chain guides have found that their streams are 
depleted as never before. Plans to enforce the 
law against Sunday fishing have been made, be¬ 
cause of the fact that Sunday fishing is re¬ 
sponsible for the most of the big catches. 
The people who come into the woods do not 
hire guides as they used to. Men who run up over 
Sunday in their automobiles simply stop at the 
creek or river side and go to fishing. They don’t 
need guides. There are ten times as many fish¬ 
ermen now as formerly on Fulton Chain waters, 
and the back country, like Moose river, is visited 
now as often as Fulton Chain used to be visited 
in years gone by. Still waters and rifts and pools 
which were fished only two or three weeks of the 
season, are now fished every day, and even 
oftener. 
The new conditions will inevitably compel an 
enlarging of the fish fry capacity of the state 
hatcheries, because the drain on the natural sup¬ 
ply is so great. The present system of putting 
out fish when some one asks for them should be 
replaced by a system, under the supervision of 
game wardens so that streams like the West Can¬ 
ada, Moose river, Black creek, Little Black creek, 
and dozens of other streams would be stocked 
regularly. Leaving the planting to individuals 
and clubs does not scatter the fish as they should 
be scattered, and fails to supply the demand on 
such open streams as the West Canada, which is 
fished oftener and stocked less than any other 
streams on the south-west side of the Adiron- 
dacks. Hundreds of fisherman fish the West 
Canada, and for years the cold beds have been 
netted by gangs of law-breakers who run in on 
automobiles at night and carry away hundreds 
of pounds of trout for fancy feasts in Utica re¬ 
sorts of questionable character. The automobile 
has thus created not only an over-fishing jeopardy 
but new problems in game law enforcement, 
which could be met by mounting several game 
protectors on motorcycles and working them 
around the mountains in the sections where law¬ 
breakers are suspected of violations. 
The motorcycle is even more flexible than the 
automobile in reaching the fishing grounds and 
hunting grounds. There are hundreds of miles of 
old woods roads and cut-out trails which fisher¬ 
men and hunters can follow on motorcycles right 
to the deep woods. Thus late in the summer and 
early fall, when the woods are dry, it is possible 
to leave the main highways and go back ten or 
twenty miles, put the motorcycle out in the brush 
and begin to fish. 
Such places as Limekiln Lake, Wilmurt Lake, 
Piseco Lake, are now within five hours of the 
Mohawk Valley, where formerly they were two 
days journey. Moose River (Natural Dam) is 
only two hours from Fulton Chain where form¬ 
erly it was half day or a day journey over the 
rough woods trail. Honnedaga Lake is two hours 
from Forestport, where it was an all day drive 
ten years ago. Canachagala lake canal reservoir, 
perhaps the best Adirondack Lakes, is only two 
hours from North lake, which is an hour and a 
half from Forestport. 
The tremendous drain on Adirondack game 
and fish supplies is due to the automobile and 
motorcycle. The express company reports of 
deer received no longer indicate even approxi¬ 
mately the number of deer taken out of the 
woods. A few years ago it was the necessity 
of hunters to go out by way of the train. Now 
parties come into the woods from Utica, Syra¬ 
cuse, Albany, Troy, and dozens of other towns 
by automobile, and they leave in the same way, 
carrying their game with them. More hunters 
kill more game, but the records do not show the 
kills, and the loads of deer going out by twilight 
in the motorcars are uncounted and inestimable. 
Even the woodsmen have automobiles and travel 
in them, rather than on the cars. 
The result of all this drain is that Adirondack 
people who depend on summer visitors for their 
incomes see the game taken and no commensu¬ 
rate payment for the loss to the region. The 
Sunday crowd kills more and pays less than the 
others. The result is the agitation for a read¬ 
justment of the conditions by stopped Sunday 
fishing under the law, and the Fulton Chain 
guides are trying to bring some such readjust¬ 
ment. 
The feeling is, however, that stopping the Sun¬ 
day fishing would deprive thousands of their 
right to their share of the fish and game. Other 
proposals are shortening the season, and also 
limiting the styles and types of lures used— 
stopping the use of natural baits, as worms and 
other deep water and spring fishing lures, for 
instance. Stopping buoy fishing and protecting 
cold beds more efficiently from the netters are 
suggestions. 
The best all around suggestion is that the state 
increase the capacity of its hatcheries to such an 
enormous extent that the supply of fish could be 
made adequate, and then have the fish distributed 
pro rata through all the waters of the state, 
where trout fishing is had. Such a distribution, 
under a comprehensive plan worked out at 
Albany would keep such streams as the Spruce 
Creek, East Creek, West Canada, Moose River, 
and other public waters fully supplied, through¬ 
out their length, instead of having them stocked 
in the hit-and-miss manner now in vogue. 
“If you want the fish, come and get ’em,” 
the state says in effect. 
The result of this is that some of the best 
waters of the state are left unstocked year after 
year, while minor creeks and streams are sup¬ 
plied by interested individuals. 
To meet the drain on the trout supply of the 
state, due to the vast increase in the demand 
under the motor engine vehicles, the methods of 
repletion will have to be changed. 
R. S. SPEARS. 
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCIENTIFIC 
ANGLING CLUBS. 
Chicago, June 25, 1914. 
The National Association of Scientific Angling 
Clubs will hold their Seventh Tournament at the 
Anglers’ Pool, Washington Park, Chicago, Ill., 
September 5th, 6th and 7th. Nine events are 
scheduled: Salmon Fly, Accuracy Fly, Distance 
Bait, % ounce, Heavy Tackle-Distance Fly, Ac¬ 
curacy Bait, Vi ounce, Light Tackle Dry-Fly Ac¬ 
curacy, Light Tackle Distance Fly, Distance Bait, 
% ounce, Accuracy Bait, V2 ounce. 
New York, New Jersey, California, Illinois, 
Missouri, Colorado, Ohio, Michigan, Kansas, 
Minnesota and Wisconsin will be represented. 
Judging from the development of the younger 
casters at inter-club contests during the past sea¬ 
son all records will be broken. 
The All-Around Championship will be award¬ 
ed a diamond medal, and the first place in each 
event a diamond trophy, and to the eighteenth 
place, rods, reels and such other incidentals of 
an angler’s kit will be offered as prizes. A hand¬ 
some silver cup known as “Forest and Stream 
trophy” will be given the all-around champion. 
J. M. Smith is secretary of the Tournament 
Committee. 
