490 
FOREST AND STREAM 
The Anglers’ License In Vermont 
Proceeds Will Be Used to Improve Fishing Conditions 
Fishermen whose expeditions take them to 
Vermont waters should bear in mind that the 
new Vermont fishing license went into effect in 
that state on July I, and that all anglers in that 
state, whether resident or non-resident, must now 
procure from a Vermont town or city clerk a 
license to fish, and must carry it upon their per¬ 
sons at all times when taking 'or transporting 
fish within that state. 
The fee is sixty cents, for residents and non¬ 
residents alike, but women, and children under 
sixteen years of age, are exempted. The wa¬ 
ters of Lake Champlain and of Lake Memphre- 
magog, which are border lakes, are also exempted. 
The Vermont fishing license law was passed 
at the last session of the legislature, as the re¬ 
sult of a persistent demand from the Vermont 
fishermen themselves, who endorsed the program 
of State Fish and Game Commissioner John W. 
Titcomb to improve fishing conditions through¬ 
out the state. The fees go to the Fish and Game 
Department, and Commissioner Titcomb’s plan 
for their use provides for many new hatcheries 
and fish rearing stations located in zones which 
will permit the economical distribution of fish 
to every county in the state in far greater num¬ 
ber than has heretofore been feasible. All of 
the fishing waters of the state are to be thor¬ 
oughly and systematically stocked. 
The plan further provides for exterminating, 
by means of copper sulphate and otherwise, the 
coarser fishes now occupying many of the smaller 
ponds and lakes to the exclusion of the game 
varieties. These coarser fish were introduced 
years ago, before the advent of scientific fish cul¬ 
ture. With the lakes restored to their pristine 
condition, they will be stocked with trout or 
salmon, or both. In addition, war will be waged 
on obnoxious fishes, such as the bill fish or gar- 
pike, which inhabit the waters of Lake Cham¬ 
plain and are very destructive to all food fish. 
It is estimated that the receipts from the fish¬ 
ing, hunting and trapping licenses will make the 
Vermont fish and game department self sus¬ 
taining, and enable the wardens to be placed on 
a permanent salary basis. A combination fish¬ 
ing, hunting and trapping license is issued for 
one dollar to residents, or to non-residents who 
own improved real estate valued at one thou¬ 
sand dollars. Other non-residents must pay ten 
dollars and fifty cents for the combination li¬ 
cense. 
Hunting licenses have long been firmly estab¬ 
lished in most of the states, and in many of 
them fishing license laws are no|w in forte. 
Among these are Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, 
Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota, which 
issue only non-resident fishing licenses, and 
Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Ver¬ 
mont, which require a fishing license for both 
residents and non-residents. 
The state of New York alone maintains eleven 
hatcheries, scattered in different parts of the 
state, representing a total investment of some¬ 
thing over $106,000. Their annual administrative 
expenses run over $75,000. As a return on the 
outlay there are planted in the waters of the 
state each year fish which it would cost more 
than $200,000 to purchase in private hatcheries. 
For all this the fishermen pay nothing. The 
same story might be .repeated for other states, 
though on a smaller scale. 
The situation in Vermont was similar. But not 
satisfied with what they were getting, the fisher¬ 
men, as stated in our news article, endorsed the 
program of State Fish and Game Commissioner 
John W. Titcomb, and went after the fishing 
license. They go it, with due regard for the 
small boy, whose half dollars are few, and for 
women, who fish little in the aggregate. If the 
fishermen in other states will get busy, they may 
accomplish much. It is to be doubted whether 
there is a more powerful influence, once it is 
united for the good of the fraternity. 
SPRING FISHING IN VERMONT. 
Wells River, Vt., June 10, 1915. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Fishing has been very good around here this 
year. A large number of lake trout have been 
taken from Caspien Lake at Greensboro, Vt., 
also at Harvey’s Lake in Barnet, Vt. The larg¬ 
est weighed eight and one-half pounds. Brook 
trout seem to be very scarce. After July 1st we 
have got to have a license to fish, which costs 
60 cents, or a combination hunting and fishing 
license for $1.00. I think this is a good thing. 
Partridge were plenty last fall and it looks as 
if there would be more this coming fall. I 
found a nest with eleven eggs in it and saw an¬ 
other with twelve eggs, and know of still another 
one. Deer are seen now. We can shoot does 
this fall. I do not believe this is a good thing 
and am glad it is for this fall only. I have 
been out a good deal this spring and have seen 
many woodchucks. It is great sport to shoot 
them as they are tough fellows, and a bullet has 
to be placed just right to stop them. The spring 
birds seem to be plentiful. I have seen many 
nests. I put out a number of houses but they 
were not occupied this year. I have seen young 
bluebirds, robins and juncos. I wish you suc¬ 
cess with your new magazine. 
Geo. H. Murphy. 
THE MUSKALLUNGE. 
“Whence and what are you, monster grim and 
great ? 
Sometimes we think you are a ‘Syndicate,’ 
For if your quaint cartoonist be but just 
You have some features of the modern ‘Trust.’ 
A wide, ferocious and rapacious jaw, 
A vast insatiate and expansive craw; 
And, like the ‘Trust,’ your chiefest aim and wish 
Was to combine in one, all smaller fish, 
And all the lesser fry succumbed to fate, 
When you determined to consolidate.” 
—“Wilcox.” 
Just so witth the Muskallunge, or Nosconge, as 
the Indians called them. What’s the use of tell¬ 
ing? But ag I was in at the death and aided in 
the landing and killing of seventy-four inches of 
fight that weighed over eighty pounds of cour¬ 
age and spirit, perhaps any experience is at least 
worth the telling. Were it possible for a Mus¬ 
kallunge to retain its size and acquire the endur¬ 
ance of a five-pound black bass or a fifty-pound 
Red Fish in their own environment, there would 
be no taking of him as he would have to be 
killed, and all you would get would be the empty 
body. 
' The Muskallunge has never been very plenti¬ 
ful—at least, I have hunted them for almost 
forty years, and have only been fortunate enough 
to bring two of immense size to the finish, and 
this is how one of them was killed. 
Jim, Doc and I had been in the Kankakee 
lowland between Torch Light and Grass Lakes, 
two small tributaries of Traverse Bay. The 
first day we had landed several of indifferent 
sizes—mine of thirty-five inches, eighteen or 
twenty pounds being the largest. The second 
day we took nothing; the third morning a light, 
warm, drizzling rain had set in about eight 
o’clock, and we had bright hopes. I had just 
pulled a small fish up to my boat, when a yell 
from “Jim” notified me that he was hooked. 
When I reached him, “Jim’s’ boat had been over¬ 
turned, with him in mud and water up to his 
armpits—the surface of the water for fifty feet 
around covered with pond lilies and cat-tails all 
torn to shreds, fighting with every ounce of his 
strength and skill to keep the monster out of 
a dense growth of pond lilies which was evident¬ 
ly the rendezvous of the brute. Rowing around 
I managed to place myself in front of the mon¬ 
ster, and by beating him over the head with my 
oar, I managed, by the aid of Jim’s pull to drive 
him into shallow water; he showed fight, grit¬ 
ting his teeth and snapping his ponderous jaws 
continuously, with an ominous sound that was 
terribly suggestive. Jim finally secured a firm 
footing, and it was a case of “Go it, fish! Go it, 
man!” Only after I had hooked my gaff between 
his massive jaws were we enabled to drag 
seventy-four inches of fish to shore. He 
weighed eighty-seven pounds, and I recall that 
we slew him with a hand-axe. 
This fight was over twenty years ago, and Jim 
has written me of two or three of these mon¬ 
sters being killed in the lake section of Wis¬ 
consin recently. If possible, I want to hook an¬ 
other of these game creatures before I die; 
’twould be worth six months of life, and I hope 
to give the readers of Forest and Stream an ac¬ 
count of a fishing and hunting trip this fall that 
will be interesting and instructive. 
As to the tackle required for Muskallunge 
hunting—a line that will sustain two hundred 
pounds of live weight; the hook, a cross between 
a ship’s anchor and a well digger’s grappling 
hook, rod heavy, but with good spring, ten feet 
long; reel, the heaviest; but the chief requisite is 
a MAN and his chum. ’Twould be as foolish for 
a cowboy to attempt to lasso a Texas steer with 
a thread as to attempt to handle a giant Mus¬ 
kallunge with the scientific standards of a fly 
fisherman. In the way of bait, anything will be 
acceptable to a hungry Muskallunge, from a leg 
of lamb to a minnow. B. F. Jones. 
You are reading “Forest and Stream” and en¬ 
joying it. Why not furnish some of your 
friends who may not be acquainted with the 
good things in this issue, an hour or two of 
similar enjoyment? If you will take the trouble 
to send us the names of any of your circle of 
acquaintances, we will see that they are sup¬ 
plied udth a sample copy with your compliments. 
