86o FOREST AND STREAM. [Nov. 28. 1908. 
Fishes of West Virginia. 
In Bulletin XXVII., of the Bureau of Fish¬ 
eries, is contained the report of E. L. Golds- 
borough and H. W. Clark, whose investigations 
were made under the direction of W. P. Hay, 
of the Biological Department of the Washington 
High Schools. Part of the report follows: 
The particular regions visited in West Vir¬ 
ginia were selected because of their former repu¬ 
tation for abundance of fishes, which abundance 
was now said to be decreasing. It was hoped 
that the cause of this decrease, if there was a 
decrease, might be found, and examination was 
made of all the streams of any importance in 
those parts of the State visited. 
It was concluded that the aquatic life in gen¬ 
eral, and fishes in particular, had been and are 
now in many streams being greatly injured and 
in others practically destroyed by the unwise 
and destructive operations of the lumbermen and 
the miner. There is no doubt that the trout have 
greatly diminished in numbers in certain locali¬ 
ties and that the decrease is continuing. There 
is, further, no reason why this decrease cannot 
be checked by the enactment and enforcement 
of protective laws and the Monongahela and 
upper Potomac basins become an attractive re¬ 
gion to the angler. The water of the mountain 
streams is sufficiently cool for the continued 
residence of the trout, native and still abundant 
in certain localities, and efforts to protect and 
propagate the fish would undoubtedly produce 
most satisfactory and obvious results. 
The investigations were begun in 1899 at 
Beverly, with a route thence in a sort of irregu¬ 
lar circle about the mountainous region, includ¬ 
ing the headwaters of the Monongahela, Poto¬ 
mac and Greenbrier or their tributaries. Thus, 
with a comparatively small amount of journey¬ 
ing, it was possible to examine streams diverg¬ 
ing into widely different regions. 
Fish were found to be fairly abundant every¬ 
where, and in the districts not affected by the 
lumbering or mining operations they were quite 
plentiful. Trout are native to all the streams 
and in places afford good angling. Black bass 
have been introduced, very probably unwisely. 
The bass and trout are not congenial compan¬ 
ions, and sooner or later one or the other is 
driven out—usually the trout. The first plants 
of black bass were made in 1854 by William 
Shriver, of Wheeling, the fish being brought 
from the Ohio River in the tank of a locomotive 
and deposited in the canal basin at Cumberland. 
From the canal basin they escaped into the Poto¬ 
mac River, where they have greatly increased. 
More have since been planted at various times 
and places, until now the Potomac and its tribu¬ 
taries are well stocked. 
I11 1900 the work was taken up in the southern 
part of the State. Beginning July 5, nearly two 
months were occupied in the examination of 
streams and in making extensive collections of 
the aquatic animals and plants. The route fol¬ 
lowed made it possible to reach and to study at 
several different points the tributaries of the 
New, Great Kanawha, Greenbrier, Big Sandy 
and Guyandotte rivers, of the Ohio basin. All 
of these have water slightly warmer than the 
streams tributary to the Monongahela. The beds 
of most of them are rocky, but in many places 
there are long intervals of mud, sand or gravel. 
Until within very recent years the fish life was 
extremely abundant, but it is now becoming more 
difficult each season to secure a good catch. No 
trout were taken in this region, though they 
were seen in some of the smaller streams and 
are said to have been abundant in the larger 
streams some years ago. 
The agencies which have co-operated to in¬ 
jure and to destroy the fish are the same as those 
in the northern part of the State, with the addi¬ 
tional bad effects of more active work in coal 
mining near the heads of the streams. Thus the 
fish of the Bluestone River have been greatly 
reduced in numbers throughout nearly the entire 
length of the stream by the mining operations 
at Pocahontas, Va. In Wyoming and McDowell 
counties logging and coal mining have together 
wrought great destruction, and streams which 
were formerly known far and wide as fine fish¬ 
ing streams are now muddy, filthy currents in 
which few, if any, fish are to be found. The 
railroads, in opening up new regions, have em¬ 
ployed and brought into the country irrespon¬ 
sible persons who have had no hesitancy in using 
dynamite in order to secure a few fish, thus at 
the same time killing great numbers of others. 
Such conditions, all incidental to the industrial 
development of the country, could nevertheless, 
and should, be controlled by the State. 
Salmon Caught in Newfoundland. 
St. John’s, N. F., Nov. 12.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have had several inquiries lately as 
to the best season for salmon fishing up the 
Humber. I wrote George Nichols, the cele¬ 
brated guide, who lives on the Upper Humber, 
and I send you an abstract from his reply, which 
will be interesting to sportsmen contemplating 
a trip in this direction next year. 
“I should say about the first of July would 
be the best time to get here for fishing, as I 
have no doubt that if any sportsman gets here 
at that time, he will have a good two weeks’ 
fishing. 
“The first visitor up the Plumber River for 
fishing this year was Mr. Warburton, of Boston, 
who caught twenty fish, mostly grilse; Mr. Hart 
and his party of four, from Melrose, Mass., 
eighty fish, ranging from 5 to 12 pounds; Mr. 
Stewart, of Halifax, one salmon, 10V2 pounds 
and four grilse; Mr. Torry and sons, of Scran¬ 
ton, Pa., twenty-five salmon from 11 to 18J2 
pounds, and forty grilse, sixty trout, y 2 to 1^2 
pounds; Dr. Glasgow, of St. Louis, one grilse; 
Dr. Sampson, of New York, twenty fish, five 
salmon ranging frCm 6 to 14 pounds, and fifteen 
grilse. 
“The first of the caribou hunters were the 
two Roosevelts from New York; Mr. Robinson 
and wife, of New York; Mr. Hardin, of New 
York; Mr. Redington, of Holyoke, Mass., and 
Mr. Bell and party, from Philadelphia, Pa; best 
head, forty points. 
“I saw two of the moose on Oct. 14. They 
have been living within five miles of where I 
have seen them for two years.” 
Mr. Nichols got one lynx this fall. 
Mr. Nichols refers to the moose imported 
by the Government a few years ago. He does 
not say whether they are increasing to any ex¬ 
tent. He gives the names and catches of the 
sportsmen who visited that region the past sea¬ 
son and they make interesting reading. 
W. J. Carroll. 
Fish and Colors. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
That fish can distinguish colors one from an¬ 
other and that color and size are the most im¬ 
portant considerations in the makeup of trout 
and salmon flies, has always been my belief. 
When Sir Herbert Maxwell announced his ex¬ 
periments with red and blue May flies a few 
years ago, I was much annoyed, as I had no 
“scientific” knowledge to disprove his facts. I 
knew that his tests of the red and blue flies had 
been made on preserved waters which were 
heavily stocked with trout. All my experience 
had tended to confirm my faith in the import¬ 
ance of the color scheme in flies, but I knew 
that the evidence I had accumulated in many 
years of angling had been brought forward in 
the past without convincing those holding con¬ 
trary opinions. 
Recent experiments made at the University of 
Michigan show that fish can distinguish colors. 
The rainbow darter, a small fish of brilliant 
hues, frightens the younger males at the breed¬ 
ing season by displaying its bright red and blue 
coloring. It has also been shown that the very 
young males, colored like the females, are not 
distinguished by the full grown males from 
these (the females), so that the sexes seem to 
know each other by the brilliant colors of the 
full grown males. 
Another set of experiments made in the tropics 
by Prof. Reighard, also of the University of 
Michigan, show that the predaceous barracuda 
sees some colors much more readily than others 
and snaps quickly at bright colored objects. The 
prevailing colors of many small fish are best 
adapted to escape the attention of the big fel¬ 
lows. No one can read Livingston Stone’s book 
on fish culture* without being convinced that 
trout have a keen eye for color. The fact that 
red and blue, or the same colors in combination 
with white, will frequently excite the pugnacity 
or voracity of large game fish has frequently 
been proved to the satisfaction of many anglers. 
For example, it is only necessary to mention the 
well known cracker fly, so much used in Florida 
waters, the Parmacheene belle and my own 
bumple puppies. 
By working out the color scheme with due 
attention to size and lifelike movements in the 
water, all predatory fish found within six feet 
or so of the surface may be taken with flies 
large, small or medium in size. The list would 
include many members of the salmon family, the 
perches, pikes, and a great many salt w'ater fishes. 
I have taken chubs up to nineteen "inches long 
with fly this year. The use of the fly-rod may 
be largely extended, thus adding considerably to 
our sport and pleasure. Channel bass over thirty 
pounds weight have been killed on artificial flies. 
In using large flies for big fish, a rod of good 
power and backbone will be most satisfactory. 
The reel should be large enough to hold at least 
fifty yards of line; double that length may be 
required in some localities. With such fish as 
pike, pickerel or mascallonge it may be neces¬ 
sary to mount the hooks on wire. I never heard 
of anyone taking mascallonge on the fly, but be¬ 
lieve that it could be done with very large light- 
colored flies. Two or three hackles may be used, 
after the style of grub salmon flies, to give life, 
_ 
♦“Domesticated Trout.” 
