IOO 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. ig, 1907. 
Commissioner Meehan’s Report. 
The report of Fish Commissioner W. E. 
Meehan for 1906 has been handed to the Gov¬ 
ernor of Pennsylvania. In 1905 there were dis¬ 
tributed from the various hatcheries 143,550,108 
fish. The output for 1906 is 397,636,890, or with¬ 
in about 3,000,000 of the total outputs of 1902, 
1903, 1904 and 1905. For many years field work 
has been conducted on the Great Lakes in con¬ 
nection with the LTnited States Bureau of Fish¬ 
eries for the gathering of white fish, lake herring 
and wall-eyed pike eggs, and on the Delaware 
for shad eggs. This year systematic field work 
was begun for the gathering of wild eggs of 
pickerel and yellow perch from the natural moun¬ 
tain lakes of northeastern Pennsylvania and 
with surprisingly good results. It was this ad¬ 
dition which added so materially to the output 
for the year 1906. Nearly 250,000,000 eggs of 
pickerel and yellow perch were saved in this 
manner. 
The leading fishes distributed were, pickerel, 
179,600,000; yellow perch, 64,398,661; wall-eyed 
pike, 53,700,000; lake herring, 39,120,000; white- 
fish, 36,468,000; brook trout, 9,305,750; lake trout, 
6,170,600; smelts, 5,000,000; shad, 3,013,000; black 
bass, 78,253; frogs, 198,275. The other fishes dis¬ 
tributed in smaller quantities were gold fish, sun- 
fish, catfish, Loch Leven, rainbow and cut-throat 
trout, muscallonge, rock bass, bullheads. 
Believing that what are generally known as 
the commoner fishes like the catfish and sun- 
fish should be given attention, steps were taken 
to propagate both these as well as some other 
fishes, and with gratifying results, and prepara¬ 
tions have been made to propagate them on a 
larger scale in the future. Particular attention 
was given to the sunfish at the request of the 
Department of Health which needed this species 
as an aid in warfare against the malarial 
mosquito. 
A new hybrid trout was produced at one of 
the hatcheries, which it is hoped, will live and 
thrive in waters which have become too warm 
for brook trout. Nearly 5,000 applications for 
fish and frogs were received and the great ma¬ 
jority filled. 
As a result of heavy plantings and a more in¬ 
telligent comprehension of the proper methods 
of planting and a more rigid enforcement of the 
fish laws, the waters of the State are showing 
a marked increase in the number of game fish. 
There were more trout, bass .and wall-eyed pike 
this year than last, according to reports received 
from all parts of the State. Although there was 
a reduction in the value of the commercial fish 
industry on Lake Erie, the causes were other 
than a scarcity of fish. It is admitted that every 
indication points to a restoration of the white- 
fish and lake trout. The chief cause for a reduc¬ 
tion in the value of the catch on Lake Erie was 
a prolonged strike among the fishermen employed 
by the various “fish houses.” The shad fisheries 
of the Delaware are in an alarming condition 
owing to the confusion of the laws between the 
States, the reckless pollution of the streams, and 
to some extent, to unfavorable meteorological 
conditions. Incomplete figures show an estimated 
value of the commercial fisheries exclusively in 
Pennsylvania to have been $634,684.39, of which 
$168,995 were Lake Erie, $203,371 Philadelphia 
carp market, and $2x1,400 shad, herring and fresh 
water fish on the Delaware, and $29,951 as the 
commercial brook trout industry. 
Efforts were made for the first time to in¬ 
troduce salt water smelts into fresh water lakes 
in northeastern Pennsylvania, and experiment to 
determine the value of the cut-throat trout as 
a lake fish were continued. Subsequently pro¬ 
gress was also made toward successful frog cul¬ 
ture. 
In concluding his report Commissioner Meehan 
recommends that measures recommended by the 
joint legislative commission be enacted to secure 
uniform or concurrent laws between the States 
of New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, 
Ohio and Pennsylvania. 
Among the provisions in uniform legislation 
there should be one prohibiting the catching of 
shad in the Delaware River from Friday sunset 
until after Sunday midnight of each week dur¬ 
ing the otherwise legal open season; forbidding 
the sale of certain food and game fishes, notably 
bass and yellow perch of less than a designated 
size, no matter where caught or at what time of 
the year; forbidding the sale of black bass, wall¬ 
eyed pike and chain pickerel, no matter where 
caught during the close season. 
I strongly recommend that there be a small 
license imposed on all devices used for catching 
fish for the market and in return to make fish 
caught in such licensed devices the subject of 
larceny. The moneys accruing from such license 
fees to be devoted to the Department of Fish¬ 
eries. That there be no license fees on devices 
used for purely private purposes and where the 
fish are not for the market; also the enactment 
of stringent legislation prohibiting the pollution 
of streams to an extent that it destroys food 
fish and injures animal life. 
That an appropriation be made sufficient to 
purchase a seagoing boat for patrolling and qgg 
gathering purposes on Lake Erie; that the law- 
limiting the number of regular wardens to twelve 
be changed, so that at least thirty may be ap¬ 
pointed and at a salary to be fixed by the Legis¬ 
lature; that the law providing that half the fines 
collected for illegal fishing be paid to the in¬ 
former, and the other half to the department be 
amended so that all the fines collected should 
be turned into the State treasury for the use of 
the Department of Fisheries; that the regular 
wardens be not entitled to any portion of the 
fines and that the Department of Fisheries be 
authorized to pay such sum as in its judgment 
seems best to such special wardens as secure 
convictions; that there be some legislation giv¬ 
ing the United States Government Federal con¬ 
trol for fish protection purposes on the waters 
of Lake Erie under the jurisdiction of Pennsyl¬ 
vania and the Delaware River bordering Penn¬ 
sylvania ; that there be some slight changes in 
the present law, which in the main will give a 
little more freedom, particularly with respect to 
game fish. 
A Salmon Rod Test. 
A series of experiments was recently made 
by Mr. R. B. Marston, editor of the English 
Fishing Gazette, with the purpose of determin¬ 
ing whether a split bamboo salmon rod would 
bend more than a greenheart salmon rod under 
severe pressure. His assertion of the belief 
that split bamboo would bend more caused a 
long controversy, which was recently referred to 
in these columns. The salmon rods tested were 
16ft. long, one of greenheart and one of split- 
cane, made to match each other in length and 
diameter of joints as nearly as possible. 
“The object,” Mr. Marston says, “was to see 
whether a split-cane would bend more under 
severe pressure than a greenheart, and I was 
told that I could apply any test I pleased. After 
carefully measuring the circumference of the 
joints I found that the greenheart butt was 
slightly stouter than that of the split-cane. To 
see which rod would bend most under tbe same 
pull one of my sons fixed a staple in a tree on 
the lawn about 3ft. from the ground; to the 
staple we fastened a spring balance marked up 
to 16 pounds. At about twenty yards distance 
we placed a garden seat with its slightly sloping 
back turned toward the tree—it is one of those 
seats formed of stout laths of teak from an old 
man of war, secured to an iron frame. With a 
mat on the back of the chair it was easy to 
fix the rods at any angle we required, and at 
exactly the same angle—we tried the rods first 
leaning toward the tree at an angle of about 
45 degrees, and afterward much nearer the 
perpendicular. The loop at the end of the reel 
line was then attached to the hook of the spring 
balance, and I got my son to watch the indicator 
and call out the weight. I then wound the line 
until the balance showed 12 pounds—probably 
more by some pounds than one ever pulls in 
actually playing a fish—in fact, it was about all 
the pressure I could put on with a large salmon 
reel. The loop on the line was then slipped on 
to another hook, keeping the pressure exactly 
the same, and the other rod tried in the same 
way, and when the 12-pound pull was reached 
the rods were found to be bending in identical 
curves—there was so little difference that stand¬ 
ing some yards away on either side it appeared as 
if there was but one rod. We then got a pulley 
with a grooved steel wheel about an inch in 
diameter, with screw staple, which was screwed 
into the tree. After greasing the wheel to make 
the line run quite freely over it we put the lines 
so that they pulled against each other round the 
wheel, still with the 12-pound tension on, and 
found that the curve of the rods made by this 
very severe tension remained practically the 
same. 
“The result of these trials of split-cane versus 
greenheart convinced me that although the split- 
cane was, if anything, a trifle the slighter of the 
two rods (each 16ft. rod weighed 2 lb. 6 } 4 oz.), 
the bend under a pull of any strain up to 12 
pounds was practically identical. I expected 
that the split-cane would bend more, but I was 
quite mistaken. In both cases under the great 
strain the top joints and part of the middle were 
quite straight and hanging on the line. Both 
rods were quite uninjured, proving them to be of 
excellent material and make.” 
Anglers’ Club Meeting. 
The annual meeting of the Anglers’ Club of 
New York was held at Burns’ Hotel the night 
of Jan. 8. A large number of members and 
guests sat down to the dinner which preceded 
the meeting, although the night was most un¬ 
pleasant outside. Several applicants were 
elected to membership and nearly a dozen or 
more are pending. The club roster contains 
nearly seventy names, although it is only passing 
into its second year. The' election of officers 
resulted as follows: President, Robert B. 
Lawrence; vice-president, Milton H. Smith; 
secretary, Perry D. Frazer; treasurer, Gonzalo 
Poey, all re-elected. Directors, in addition to 
the officers, C. G. Levison, James D. Smith 
and John E. Bullwinkel. Committee on admis¬ 
sions, G. M. L. LaBranche, H. B. Leckler, R. 
J. Held, Edward B. Rice and Charles Stepath. 
President Lawrence appointed the following 
committees, to serve during the year: Tourna¬ 
ment—Messrs. LaBranche, Stepath, Frazer, 
Held and Levison. Programmes—LaBranche, 
Held and Frazer. Arrangements—E. B. Rice, 
Leckler and Todd. Delegate to National Asso¬ 
ciation. C. G. Levison. 
Messrs. E. B. Rice, T. M. Jardine and C. G. 
Levison were appointed a committee to secure 
information relative to the purchase or lease 
of a club house and land on some trout stream 
or lake within a reasonable distance of the 
city, where members may go for trips of two or 
three days. 
