May 4, 1907.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
699 
Pennsylvania Fishing. 
Harrisburg, April 27. — Editor Forest and 
[1 Stream: Pennsylvania’s trout season opened on 
April 15, a cold, disagreeable day. Notwithstand- 
ng this the trout streams in Pennsylvania were 
I ined by thousands of fishermen. The great Sun- 
lay newspapers the day before had printed glow- 
ng accounts of the good prospects and cxpecta- 
ion therefore ran high. 
. Fly-fishing was at a discount owing to the ex- 
Feme coldness of the water, and the trout which 
00k the bait were drawn from the water with 
carcely a struggle. Reports from all parts of 
Pennsylvania, based on the day’s catch, indicate 
hat the season is going to be the best that has 
ieen experienced in many years. The sections 
in which very few trout were caught on the 15th 
vere few and those which were caught, accord- 
ng to report, were remarkable for their size, 
ieven, eight and nine inch fish were common, 
nd at least one out of every five fishermen, it 
3 claimed, had one or more running from twelve 
0 fifteen inches. The largest reported specimen 
if brook trout was eighteen and a half inches 
ong and was caught by Joseph H. Mellon, of 
’hiladelphia, in a brook in Monroe county. Its 
lleged weight was three pounds four ounces. 
For the first time in four years the fish war- 
. ens, with three exceptions, found no occasion 
0 make arrests for under size fish. Those who 
: perated in Tioga and Potter counties declared 
hat there were so many large fish in the streams 
hat the fishermen did not care to keep the small 
toes. As far as can be learned Monroe and 
'entre counties afforded the best fishing and the 
lest results on the opening day. Clinton county, 
jvhich is usually among the leading sections, 
eems to have been among the few in which the 
atches were lighter than usual on opening day. 
v few declared they had fairly good success and 
occasionally a man had his legal limit of fifty, 
ohn Croyle, of Phillipsburg, is said to have 
aught the largest, a brook trout measuring 18% 
iches. Among those who secured their limit of 
tty were Harry Holder, George Lamb, Fred 
vskey and Harry Guenther, all from Six Mile 
bin. The chief of police of Phillipsburg caught 
ighteen, none of which were less than eight 
! iches 
i Although Lehigh .county has several large 
owns and one of 40,000 people, it can always 
e depended upon for good fishing, and the re- 
orts this year are glowing. The Little Lehigh, 
diich flows through Allentown, was lined with 
shermen, most of whom got something, Nathan 
j V'eiler, of Allentown, catching the largest, 16 
I iches. 
i Some good fishing was reported from North- 
mpton, but Schuylkill was poor. The fishermen 
' 1 Carbon county had good luck. No reliable 
‘ lformation was received from Pike, but the re- 
| orts were that outside of the streams which 
mpty directly into the Delaware, the fishing was 
i othing to brag about. 
1 One of the astonishing features of the open- 
l ig week was a number.of anglers seen on the 
; Gssahickon Creek, which flows through Fair- 
I tount Park, Philadelphia. For three or four 
S ears the creek has been heavily stocked with 
rook and brown trout and the secret was ex- 
! osed by a Philadelphia newspaper with the re - 
| fit that on the 17th a score or more went out 
nd tried their luck between Chestnut Hill and 
»ie mouth. How many fish were caught is not 
{ n own, but it is said that several went home 
j appy with the consciousness of having for the 
rst time in their lives caught trout in a stream 
(thin the limits of Philadelphia. The largest 
out of any species caught on opening day was 
! ud to be 4 pounds, a rainbow, captured by 
lenrv Winton, of Bellefonte. The probabilities 
I re that the fish was a brown trout, commonly 
i died California trout in Centre county, 
j Last year 40,000 brook trout were planted in 
; linton county streams and the fishermen who 
ere out the first week declared that fully three- 
. mrths of the fish which they hooked were five 
I ’ inches long, proving the beneficent results 
11 stocking. Even lowland counties like Chester, 
ebanon, Berks and Lancaster showed up fairly 
1 e ". In the western part of the State West- 
ondand county appears to have shown up best. 
1 here is much fishery legislation pending at 
Harrisburg, and recently the senators had an 
example of the fact that the angler knows what 
he wants and knows how to ask for it in un¬ 
mistakable language. The Department of Fish¬ 
eries had prepared a bill covering the entire field 
of fishing, and the bill had met the approval 
of the clubs throughout the State as well as 
most of the commercial fishermen. Some of the 
senators got it into their heads that it would be 
a good thing to strike out what is known as the 
six inch limit and permit an angler to keep any¬ 
thing he got on the hook; also to allow a fisher¬ 
man to use 100 fishing rods if he wanted to. 
Within forty-eight hours every organization in 
Pennsylvania knew' of this movement, and within 
three days it is estimated that the majority of 
the senators had from 25 to 300 letters demand¬ 
ing the return of the six inch limit and a restora¬ 
tion to two rods, and the Senate promptly ac¬ 
quiesced. The Senate put in a clause forbidding 
angling on Sunday and sent it to- the House in 
that manner. A member of the House from 
Lehigh county was stricken with a brilliant idea 
and introduced a bill to permit owners of cul¬ 
tivated land and inclosed land to allow people to 
catch fish not specifically described as game or 
food fish by the law T in any manner whatever, 
dynamite included. He made such a pathetic 
plea to the committee on fish and game for the 
poor man that the committee allowed it to go 
on the calendar, and several members have pre¬ 
pared some humorous amendments with which 
to embellish it. The use of a gig under the bill 
is restricted to carp, suckers, catfish and eels and 
to streams in which trout are not established or 
been planted by the State. Somebody inserted a 
joker adding the words “and other game fish.” 
In this form it has gone to the Governor for 
signature. Since nearly every stream in Penn¬ 
sylvania contains either trout or game fish of 
some kind the opponents of gigging have not 
taken the trouble to go to the Governor to ask 
him to veto the bill. 
On April 20 Chief Fish Warden Criswell and 
Warden Nesley made a raid on some fish pirates 
near Duncannon on the Susquehanna a few r miles 
above Harrisburg. After a tussle they landed 
one man who was catching wall-eyed pike on an 
outline. Criswell took him to Harrisburg for a 
hearing. Nesley decided to return and he cap¬ 
tured a man. Immediately after he was beset 
by a number of infuriated fishermen, was stru'ek 
in the face with a stone and had his scalp laid 
open for a length of eight inches by a blow from 
a club. Mr. Nesley managed to escape with his 
life, first badly hurting some of his assailants. 
The Susquehanna River from Duncannon to 
Columbia is considered as among the worst sec¬ 
tions in Pennsylvania for illegal fishing. 
There have been distributed from the State 
fish hatcheries thus far 64,250,000 fish as follows: 
White fish, 46,000,000; lake herring, 8,000,000; 
lake trout, 2,500,000; brook trout, 7,500,000; rain¬ 
bow trout, 250,000. On April 22 there were in 
the State hatcheries 128,770,000 eggs as follows: 
Wall-eyed pike, 103,000,000; smelt, 5,000,000; yel¬ 
low perch, 20,000,000; frogs, 770,000. All indica¬ 
tions point to this year being a record breaker 
in the distribution of fish, even exceeding the 
enormous output of 307,000,000 last year. 
Bonifacius. 
High Price for Walton’s Book. 
At Sotheby’s book sale on Saturday, March 23, 
says the London Fishing Gazette, Mr. Quaritch 
gave £1290 for a very fine and perfect copy of 
the first edition (1653) of Walton’s “Compleat 
Angler.” On the same day he bought a first 
folio Shakespeare for £3600. It is a curious 
fact that a German translation of Walton, pub¬ 
lished about 1853, is rarer than almost any but 
the first two or three editions published in the 
author’s life time. 
Pittsburg Sportsmen’s Show. 
Misfortune attended the opening of the Sports¬ 
men’s Show in Duquesne Gardens, Pittsburg, 
April 24. The supports of the miniature lake 
gave way and the water damaged the exhibits 
and fixtures, but fortunately no person was in- 
j ured. 
Massachusetts Angling and Anglers. 
Boston, April 27 .—Editor Forest and Stream: 
The all absorbing topic among Boston anglers 
just now is when, the ice will leave the Maine 
and New Hampshire lakes. Sebago Lake, near 
Portland, has furnished a real surprise by show¬ 
ing a half mile of clear water on April 22 under 
the pressure of a heavy gale. Mr. J. D. Bingham, 
of Westbrook, Maine, lost no time in getting 
a line into this open space and he received al¬ 
most instant reward, landing a 16-pound salmon. 
The fish was sent to Portland to be mounted. 
With the exception of Sebago all the other lakes 
are completely ice locked and liable to be for 
many days to come. A late season is generally 
predicted as the ice in all the lakes is reported 
to be of prodigious thickness. A few days of 
warm rain followed by high winds, however, will 
do wonders, and once the ice is broken away 
from its anchorage at the shores it takes but a 
short time to smash it entirely. The lakes 
nearest the coast are always the first to clear. 
The early trolling is a decided feature of New 
England fishing nowadays. Where to go is the 
question with a great many. The Rangeleys arc 
alluring, for one is quite sure of a few salmon, 
and there is always a chance of picking up a 
squaretail up to four or five pounds in weight. 
At Moosehead reliable results can be counted on 
with squaretails and lake trout. Sebago is un¬ 
certain in results, but if at all fortunate the 
catch is liable to be heavy salmon. This is al¬ 
ways pleasant as a possibility and Sebago has 
the added advantage of being near at hand. The 
Belgrade lakes have become popular with the 
early fishermen. They are beautifully situated 
and the speckled trout fishing during May and 
early June is excellent. Of all the New England 
lakes, however, Grand Lake presents the greatest 
hopes' of enduring success. If one is after the 
trolling only, go as soon as the ice is out, but 
if fly-fishing also is desired leave for a ten-day 
trip about May 25. Fishing on Grand Lake 
Stream opens June 1 and at that time I have 
never found it poor in results. It is all salmon, 
from 2 to 4 pounds, but they are hard fighters. 
In New Hampshire, spring trolling at Winne 
pesaukee means lake trout; at Newfound, lake 
trout and salmon. The Connecticut lakes are 
nearly always fruitful in squaretails and lake 
trout. There are several good streams in this 
region from which brook trout are taken in con¬ 
siderable numbers. 
Captain F. C. Barker, of Mooselucmeguntic, 
has written a friend in Boston that they are still 
using the lake as a thoroughfare. The ice is 
very thick and well covered with snow. The 
Captain prophesies that it will be May 20 before 
the lakes are clear. Mr. W. W. Sabin, of Port¬ 
land, states that Sebago Lake is well cleared of 
ice and that a few fish are being taken. Smelt 
are now running and the salmon are gorged to 
repletion. 
In unper Vermont there is still 2 r 4 "feet of 
snow in the woods. Willoughby Lake, thirty 
miles from the Canadian border, is counted 
among the best of. the State’s fishing waters. 
Last week I mentioned the departure of E. W. 
Foote and I. C. Paul on a trout fishing trip to 
Mashpee. They returned home earlier than they 
intended owing to the very cold weather. To¬ 
gether they scored about forty trout, the heaviest 
not* weighing over a pound. 
There is urgent need of educational work 
among the immigrant class living in and about 
Boston. The Italians especially seem entirely 
lacking in respect for game laws. Their trade 
in guns and ammunition forms quite an item in 
the business of the gun houses of the city. No 
one begrudges them the pleasure derived from 
shooting in the open season at legalized game, 
but some effort should be made to stop the kill¬ 
ing of native song and game birds at all times. 
The practice is a subject of general complaint. 
While passing up one of the hill streets in Ar¬ 
lington a gentleman saw a ruffed grouse flutter¬ 
ing on the sidewalk ahead of him. It had a 
bullet hole through the neck Hustling away 
through an open field nearby was an Italian with 
a rifle. It is to be regretted that he was not 
arrested and ounished as an example to the 
many other offenders- of his class. Hackle. 
