Iay ii, 1907-] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
IANGER TO THE FLORIDA MULLET. 
NGi.ERS who take their pleasure in Florida are 
loming uneasy at the growing scarcity of the 
1 llet, so much used for bait by fishermen, and 
• > an excellent food fish even though it may 
[ rank among the best. Even the Florida 
iple are beginning to talk about the matter, 
may be seen from what the St. Augustine 
!! :ord says: 
'here’s nothing fancy about your mullet—he 
k ' lot a game fish, and the pompano is more of 
aristocrat. He offers no sport directly to 
man of rod and reel, but, like John Billings, 
up was not witty, but the cause of wit in 
ers, more depends on the mullet than is 
amed of in the fancy angler’s vocabulary. 
t upon the mullet hangs many things; it 
i y not mean much to some that he is the poor 
1 n’s meat, but other fishes wait upon him— 
brilliant bass, the lordly tarpon, the blue- 
[ j , and all the others celebrated in song and 
-y, except the pompano only, follow the mul- 
-they are his obsequious attendants, and 
r will not come except after him. Therefore, 
need only be sure of the mullet to expect 
others in season. 
low, the mullet will risk any danger to pre- 
e a homestead where he was hatched—in 
he is like the shad and the salmon and 
ers of his tribe. Every mullet hatched in a 
; ;n creek or river will return at the appointed 
e to his cradle and there will find his wife 
iting him—they seem to be as constant to 
sense of locality as the American is to his 
ntry. He demands certain conditions for 
breeding place, but while these endure and 
mullet lives there will be a conjunction at a 
time. Having deposited the spawn in fresh 
1 er, with a current not too rapid and a soft 
>; :om, father and mother mullet return to salt 
i er and take no thought of this cradle of their 
:: till the season comes again, 
owever, if no spawn is hatched in the chosen 
: *k, it knows the mullet no more unless by 
dent or the help of man other tribes are 
ij died there—it is always possible to break 
; a natural hatchery of fish as to break up a 
t iral rookery of plume birds. If nets bar the 
1 to the parents year after year those waters 
i w not the mullet again, and the game fishes 
follow the mullet go with him elsewhere. 
* -he St Johns the mullet once so plentiful are 
ppearing—in all our coast waters they grow 
cer year by year. To lose the mullet is to 
nutritious and cheap food, carrying a safe 
profitable means of livelihood to many of 
1 people, and it is also to miss many fish 
■ [* to the sportsman which follow the mullet. 
Tat shall we do about it? The State has 
>j i protective laws for some years and these 
no good, but much harm, since the failure 
'I enforce brings the law into contempt, and 
: ts shown by officials teach our people graft 
the means to command blackmail. Unless 
1 Legislature at its next session shall provide 
er machinery for the enforcement of the 
to protect the fish, the mullet must gradu- 
go from us and so inflict a loss almost equal 
: hat of the great freeze. 
| iere is a compromise measure. If it be con- 
' d that the commercial fishermen cannot be 
e to obey the law without too great cost 
! he State because of the extent of those 
Urs, then set apart certain resorts for the 
that can be guarded, and let these be pro- 
ff by the few men necessary. Half-a-dozen 
; iese hatcheries might be selected, and the 
et will do the rest, provided no net be al- 
! d therein. The schools will pass up and 
1 n the coast where they may be hunted—in 
open waters enough will escape to keep up 
i supply and to attract the game fish desired 
sport along the coast. 
ow, which will the people have? Shall the 
et be exterminated? Shall the laws protect- 
the mullet be enforced? Or shall hatch- 
be selected and kept open for the preserva- 
of the fish most valuable to all the people 
e only one that gives both bread and meat 
3 J iany_ of us? We may choose one of these 
'I ositions now, but in a few years twenty 
s f r JJ>en will be chasing one mullet on each 
1 bar to fill orders from museums. 
725 
»AOt MARK R«£t> i 
STEEL 
FISHING 
RODS 
FISHERMAN'S LUCK 
is'a matter of skill plus tackle. The most important item of the tackle is 
the rod. You can yank out a fish with a hickory pole and six yards of 
staging, but if you want to fight fair, you require a rod. While you’re get¬ 
ting a rod you’d just as well get the best—the name of the best is 
“BRISTOL” —;the original steel rod—with twenty years of rod- 
buiiaing experience back of it and back of that our Three Year 
Guarantee. Look for our trade-mark “BRISTOL.” 
It’s on the reel seat of every genuine “BRISTOL” rod. 
Our catalogue mailed free on request. 
THE HORTON MFG. CO., 84 Horton st., Bristol,Conn.,U.S.A. 
TROUT FLIES Assorted 
12c STEEL RODS Hz $1.50 
Split Bamboo Rods. 75c A 
3 pieces, extra tip. Fly, lofeet; Bait, 8}4 feet. AUtOfl\3tllC IvCCl. 
Send for Catalogue (no charge) in which you will find everything in the Tackle Line. 
CHARLES DISCH, 
318 FULTON STREET. 
BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
The “KINGFISHER 
ff 
Brand of Silk Lines are the kind that stay with the 
job when you hook the big fish—no kinking, no 
snarling, no breaking a silk line that bears the 
“KINGFISHER" Trade-Mark. The “KING¬ 
FISHER" Trade-Mark stands for quality first, last and all 
the time. It’s the maker’s guarantee. Ask your dealer for 
“KI NGFISHER" Lines. Send for catalogue. 
E. J. (MARTIN’S SONS. 
Makers of the “KINGFISHER** Brand Braided Silk Fish-Lines, 
Rockville, Conn. 
MR. JOE JEFFERSON TO HON. GROVER CLEVELAND! 
MILAM’S cQ Jk<fyU£cLt&. wu c7rfi'y£t2Z<JeAj 
FRANKFORT ^ ---v., ^ irOT. 
is the Sportsman’s Ideal, the peer of all fishing 
reels, true as steel, light and reliable- Write 
for catalogue. 
B. C. MILAM 8c SON, Dept. 22, Frankfort, Kentucky 
KENTUCKY REEL 
When writing say you saw the adv. in “Forest and Stream.’ 
Bears 1 Ha.ve Mel—And Others. 
By Allen Kelly. Paper. 209 pages. Price, 60 cents. 
Mr. Kelly’s most excellent book of bear stories, though 
for a time forgotten, has recently come to have an ex¬ 
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are well worth the reading by any audience. 
FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO. 
Hint* and Points for Sportsmen. 
Compiled by “Seneca." Cloth. Illustrated, 244 page*. 
Price, $1-50. 
This compilation comprises six hundred and odd hints, 
helps, kinks, wrinkles, points and suggestions for the 
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“Hints and Points" has proved one of the most prac¬ 
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FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO. 
1 
