May 22, 1909.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
imaginable, still it is more real fun to fight 
tarpon on comparatively heavy tackle. 
The hisses and groans having subsided, I 
shall explain. After a few fish have been actu¬ 
ally landed, the fun is to see them jump. A 
light rod seldom makes tarpon jump more than 
two or three times, and in the case of large fish, 
it involves anywhere from forty minutes to an 
hour of verj"^ hard work before they are landed 
and the angler is ready for another. On the 
other hand, with a comparatively heavy rod, if 
a man fights a tarpon as if he really meant it. 
he will be treated to perhaps five minutes of 
some perfectly amazing aerial performances, 
which so tire the fish that in a very short time 
he can be brought to gaff and released. 
Naturally, if one is fishing where one tarpon 
a week constitutes a catch, it is wise to make 
the fight last as long as possible. I confess, 
under such conditions, I should be strongly 
tempted to let the fish run around all day and 
half the night. But if, as was the case at 
Tampico that first fortnight in April, it is un¬ 
usual to fish for five minutes without having a 
tarpon come to the bait, it seems to me far 
more sensible to get all the jumps one can out 
of a fish, and then to get rid of him as quicklj 
as possible; in fact, to me the most enjoyable 
day at Tampico was the one on which I pho¬ 
tographed the fish in the act of leaping. The 
rod was handled by George H. Price, an Amer¬ 
ican who has been ten years in Mexico and has 
probably caught more tarpon than anyone in 
the Republic, while I sat next to him with the 
camera. When a fish touched the bait Price 
would strike, but not quite hard enough to set 
the hook very firmly. The instant the tarpon 
showed himself Price gave him all the slack 
possible, so the leap would not be interfered 
with. In almost every instance the fish would 
make a tremendous leap and throw out the 
hook, but before he could disappear beneath 
the surface the camera had done it work. 
Two immense fellows jumped so close to the 
boat that the water was thrown all over us, 
but as the pictures were not damaged, this only 
added to the fun. Truly, “it is not all of fishing 
to catch fishl” William J. Ehrich. 
Prof. Dean on Fossil Fishes. 
A VERY beautiful part, V., of Volume IX., of 
the “Memoirs of the American Museum of 
Natural History,” contains Prof. Bashford 
Dean's studies on fossil fishes. This is a scien¬ 
tific work of very great interest, because these 
early fishes, the sharks, chimseroids and arthro- 
dires of the Devonian and Lower Carboniferous 
seem to give a key to many of the puzzling 
structures of recent species as well as earlier ones, 
and suggest also many of the conditions thought 
to be present in the ancestral vertebrate. The 
present paper, which is illustrated with extra¬ 
ordinary fullness, contains, besides general dis¬ 
cussions of the characters of these groups, de¬ 
scriptions of many species, not a few of which 
are now made known for the first time. Among 
the interesting things here described is a chimae- 
roid egg capsule from the North American cre¬ 
taceous. 
All the fish laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
Flesh Color Variation in Trout. 
Bryson City, N. C., May 14. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: I have just read Mr. Schneider’s 
article on the variation of trout flesh color which 
appeared in your issue of May 8. 
There is a pretty large stream called Deep 
Creek near this place which was naturally well 
stocked with brook trout. About seven years 
ago large numbers of rainbow trout were planted 
and since then we have planted several thousand 
nearly every year. 
Last year I went out with a party of friends 
and we fished the creek about six miles from 
where it runs into the Tuckaseegee River. The 
best fish that was caught was a brook trout 
about twelve inches long which I succeeded in 
landing without much trouble, although he struck 
in very swift water. There was nothing peculiar 
in his appearance or way of taking the fly, but 
FALLING. 
when we dressed him the flesh was pink or about 
the color of canned salmon, and when cooked 
was entirely different in color to the other fish. 
We did not notice that it tasted different or 
that he changed color before being cleaned, as 
was the case with Mr. Schneider’s trout. 
So far as is known, no salmon have ever been 
caught in Deep Creek, but some years ago two 
or three were caught in the Tuckaseegee River. 
I have been told that the trout was a cross be¬ 
tween a rainbow and brook trout, but I do not 
think it is so. 
Deep Creek is a good trout stream; in fact, 
we have some of the best trout streams right 
here in Western North Carolina that you will 
find in the East. Hazel Creek, Forney’s Creek, 
Noland Creek, Eagle Creek, Ocona Lufta and 
Soco are all good streams and are close at hand 
and abound both in brook and rainbow trout. 
J. Roy Reagan. 
Lamar, Colo., May 12.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have read with interest articles dis¬ 
cussing variations in color of flesh of trout, and 
while I do not pretend to give any scientific ex¬ 
planation, I wish to speak of some observations 
I have made concerning it. We have in our 
819 
Colorado streams what is known as native trout. 
These are black spotted and their flesh is white. 
If they cross with the rainbow the product shows 
only a very faint stripe upon the side of the fish, 
as an inheritance of the rainbow, and the flesh 
is pink. Now, if this fish in turn crosses with 
a pure blood native, the outer markings are as 
a full blood native, while the flesh still retains 
its pink-like color. I have wondered if the same 
did not occur in the Eastern streams described 
where the brook trout is native and the rainbow 
placed there from hatcheries. I might add that 
in streams where my observations were made, 
the rainbow were at first supplied from hatch¬ 
eries. J. H. Kellogg. 
Pennsylvania’s New Fish Law. 
The new Pennsylvania fish code provides the 
following concerning game fish: Brook trout, 
open season April 15 to July 31, inclusive; mini¬ 
mum size, 6 inches; maximum number per day, 
forty. Black bass, rock bass, calico bass, white 
bass, crappy, open season June 15 to Nov. 30, 
inclusive; minimum size, black bass, 8 inches; 
number per d-ay, twelve. Of the other game 
fish just mentioned and yellow perch, minimum 
size 6 inches. Season for pike-perch, blue pike, 
pickerel and yellow perch, June 15 to Dec. 31, 
inclusive; minimum size of all but yellow perch, 
12 inches; number per day of all game fishes 
excepting trout, black bass and yellow perch, 
twenty-five each. Number of perch, unlimited. 
No device of any kind allowed in a trout stream 
excepting a single rod and line with not more 
than three hooks and a pole and burr hook for 
suckers. The number of rods and lines for 
other game fish is unlimited and no device ex¬ 
cepting rods and lines may be used for game 
fish excepting that eight tip-ups may be used 
through the ice for pickerel and yellow perch 
during the open season. The measurement of 
all fish is from the tip of the nose to the tip 
of the tail. No licenses are required for fish¬ 
ing in Pennsylvania, but no wild trout may be 
bought or sold, and no person may be hired to 
catch fish, but a person may take a guide with 
him on a trout stream. 
Nothing New. 
There is little or nothing new under the sun, 
and this holds true of fishing tackle as well as 
of other things, says Dragnet in the Fishing 
Gazette. The Vicomte H. de France, in an 
article on the recent decision of the French 
courts on the subject of spinning, points out 
that the list of real novelties which have been 
introduced since the year 1829 (the date of the 
act on which the French judges based their rul¬ 
ings) is much smaller than might be supposed. 
He quotes the second edition of Kresz’s 
“Pecheur FranQais” (published in 1830), which 
mentions the multiplying reel, the telescopic 
landing net, and over a hundred patterns of 
artificial insects and spinning baits. The 
Vicomte admits that rods are now lighter and 
stronger than they weje in 1830, and lines are 
better made, but can see no other reason why 
we should pity our grandfathers. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
