FOREST AND STREAM 
769 
ASHOKAN POSSIBILITIES. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
There are in Great Britain to-day more than 
two hundred reservoirs which are stocked with 
trout and with certain rules and regulations as 
to the size and number of the daily catch and 
for a small daily or season fee are open to the 
public for fishing. If these very particular Eng¬ 
lishmen will allow fishing and stocking with 
trout in their city or village reservoirs and after 
many years’ study on the subject find the water 
is much purified by the introduction of the 
trout, it seems to me we Americans might and 
ought to give some thought to this subject. We 
all know our streams and rivers and especially 
our mountain streams in which we do our 
trout fishing are growing smaller yearly on ac¬ 
count of the wooded slopes being cleared by 
the lumberman’s axe. I would suggest that we 
start with the largest reservoir in America—I 
think in our own State of New York—and fed 
by many trout streams—in fact, some of them 
being the best in the State. I refer to the “Ash- 
okan” in the Catskills which when filled will be 
nearly ten miles long and several miles wide. 
This beautiful sheet of water is surrounded by 
the highest peaks in the Catskills and there is 
a beautiful State road around the lake, 37 miles 
in circumference. A State or city trout hatch¬ 
ery could be established near this great reser¬ 
voir and the fees from the fishermen for the 
privilege of fishing would much more than pay 
for the stocking. It would be a well paying 
investment for the State or city. There are at 
least twenty thousand fishermen in New York 
State, many of whom would be willing to pay 
ten dollars a year for the privilege of fishing 
and many who would gladly pay one or two 
dollars a day now and then. 
One hundred thousand dollars is a very con¬ 
servative estimate of the yearly fees each year 
after this great reservoir is stocked with trout 
in size from one to five pounds, which would be 
possible in a very few years. In the stocking I 
would suggest the brown trout be the species 
as they grow very rapidly and attain a large size 
in a few years and as has been proven are much 
more hardy than other species. The trout used 
for stocking purposes should be six inches or 
over on account of the larger fish eating the fly 
or fingerlings. A set of rules as to the number 
and size of the daily catch would have to be 
established and the mode of taking, which on 
nearly all of the English reservoirs is by the 
fly, with a limit of ten fish a day for a rod, and 
fish must be at least ten inches' in length. Trout 
in this natural trout water and with a great 
abundance of feed should and would grow very 
rapidly and with several fish of two pounds I 
am sure a fisherman would be very well pleased 
with his limit of ten fish. The rules could be 
established after this great reservoir is stocked 
and I am certain this could be brought about if 
some of the influential fishermen of the State 
would take up this subject with the help of the 
many fishermen it would only be a few years 
when this great water would be giving pleasure 
to thousands of New York State anglers, as it 
is accessible by train or auto. Let us all put 
our shoulder to the wheel and push the plan 
along. Roy Steenrod. Liberty, N. Y. 
CHEERFUL CHAT FROM CORONADO, FLA. 
Coronado, Fla., Dec. 1, 1915. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
There is some excitement—though gentleman¬ 
ly and sportsmanlike—at the Bridge. It began 
with Judge Holworthy’s throwing his hat into 
the ring, and serving notice on Captain Slavens 
and the other old timers, that he was out for 
the fishing championship at Coronado this sea¬ 
son. It’s the general opinion of the wiseacres 
that the Judge has taken a pretty big contract. 
It is conceded that Captain Slavens, who now 
holds the championship, isn’t going to give up 
without a struggle, and then there are such vet¬ 
erans as Scott, Beatty and Lason and Pryor. 
Schwartz of Pittsburgh, Colonel Damaree of 
the Atlantic House, Streight and Roy and Par¬ 
sons, and Dunbar, and a dozen more that might 
be named, all out for the same high honor. 
Captain Slavens won his present high position 
by catching a jew fish that weighed three hun¬ 
dred and eighty-five pounds—not the largest 
ever caught here by any means—that one weigh¬ 
ed five hundred and five pounds and measured 
seven feet in length—but the largest caught in 
recent years, and he has no end of smaller jew 
fish, sharks, swordfish, bass, sheepshead and 
smaller fry to his credit. 
Sheepshead fishing has been uncommonly 
good, and the railing and draw piers of the 
bridge, Detweiler’s dock and other coigns of 
vantage alongshore have been lined with ang¬ 
lers, white and black, male and female—for the 
colored man and brother is an ardent fisherman 
and gets his share of the spoil. Bass fishing in 
the Atlantic surf on the south side of the island 
has also been excellent, and scenes like the one 
depicted in our engraving are very apt to be 
met with in any morning’s stroll from Mosquito 
Inlet to Shell Mound. The bass fisherman as a 
rule is not gregarious and likes to get off by 
himself to indulge in his favorite sport. In 
bass fishing Colonel Damaree, of the Atlantic 
House, and a select coterie of true fishermen 
from every section that center there can prob¬ 
ably show the biggest bags. C. B. Todd. 
IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
On page 710 of the December Forest and 
Stream you have an illustration that recalls vol¬ 
umes of sporting boyhood days of fifty years 
ago. It certainly does look like “Pot Hunting'’ 
to the present day sportsman—but to the boys of 
those days it was not so considered. The proud¬ 
est day of my life, when about fourteen years 
old—was when armed with my little muzzle load¬ 
ing rifle and accompanied by my halfbred setter 
dog, and only eight bullets for the rifle, I brought 
home seven grouse, all shot through the neck or 
head and my eighth bullet still in the gun. 1 
shall keep this picture, because it so accurately 
recalls my youthful hunting days. V. E. S. 
Fayette, la., Dec. 8, 1915. 
CARIBOU IN MAINE. 
Augusta, Me., December 10, 1915. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Replying to your request that we give you 
further information which we might receive re¬ 
garding the presence of caribou in this State 
would say: Yesterday we received a communi¬ 
cation from Earle Hughey, Lowelltown, a north¬ 
ern Franklin County guide, stating that about a 
month ago he saw a fine bull caribou about four 
miles from Lowelltown. 
M. H. Hodgdon, 
Secretary, Com. In. Fisheries & Game. 
