FOREST AND STREAM. 
941 
Dec. 12 , 1908 .] 
_ 
Trout Fry. 
The majority of naturalists divide the salmo 
or salmon tribe into four species—the salmon, 
the sea trout, the brook trout and the lake trout. 
Scandinavian zoologists reduce these four to 
two species—salmon and trout—considering all 
the different kinds of trout as mere varieties 
of one species. There is little doubt about the 
identity of the lake trout and the brook trout, 
and recent experiments make it appear that there 
is no doubt about the identity of the common 
trout and the sea trout. If there be difference 
between the adults of the two varieties there 
is none between the fry. The fry of the two 
kinds cannot be distinguished one from the other 
until the trout, leaving fresh water, seeks brack¬ 
ish water in preparation for acclimatizing itself 
in salt. This takes place from May to July, 
during which time the fry of the common or 
brook trout, if brought into brackish water, 
gradually assumes the livery of the salt water 
fish.—British Sportsman. 
Sawdust and Trout. 
New York, Dec. 2 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Following up certain remarks on 
water pollution in your last issue, I should like 
to ask if there are any laws in the State of 
Vermont against the pollution of trout streams 
by sawdust. Some years ago when I found my 
fishing spoiled in Roaring Branch, near Arling¬ 
ton, from this cause, I was informed by a local 
lawyer, to whom I went for advice, that unless 
I could prove damage to cattle that no suit 
would lie. As I own neither lands nor stock, I 
dropped the matter. 
Last July I learned that Hopper Brook, which 
rises west of Equinox Mountain and flows into 
the Green River near Sandgate, Vermont, had 
been closed by the State as a nursery brook or 
refuge for the natural increase and protection 
of trout. I went to see it and found that it was 
running thick with sawdust. Following this up, 
I found that it came from a portable mill set 
up on the westerly slope of Equinox a mile 
north of the Sunderland-Sandgate road. This 
was owned in part by a lawyer, I was informed, 
recently of Arlington and now of Bennington, 
who had already ruined another “closed brook” 
in Arlington township, according to my inform¬ 
ant, although plead with by the powerless war¬ 
den and other decent citizens. 
Is it true that the State of Vermont spends 
money on the stocking of brooks, and after the 
exercise of its right of eminent domain by the 
closing of such brooks for trout refuges is 
legally unable to protect the same from sawdust 
pollution? If this is so, it seems a wicked waste 
of the people’s money; if not, it seems as though 
the game wardens were derelict in their duty. 
I regret exceedingly that the photographs that 
I took as evidence of the pollution were so un¬ 
derexposed in the deep dark valley as to be 
worthless, but any interested person going up 
that brook—and I fear plenty of others—can 
find the bars of sawdust. Even so large and 
conspicuous a river as the Battenkill suffers 
from this same cause. It seems to me as a 
matter of game protection that it is much more 
necessary to pass proper laws to protect the 
water from pollution than to aid the game war¬ 
den in his occasional rounds by making it illegal 
to carry a gun in the closed season. Surely our 
boys and ourselves are not to be denied the right 
to shoot the festive woodchuck? How can we 
hit a running deer if we have never emptied a 
magazineful at a running woodchuck? 
Herbert Wheaton Congdon. 
[We have been unable to find in the game and 
fish laws of Vermont any direct reference to 
the pollution of streams with sawdust.— Editor.] 
Handling Undersized Trout 
Estes Park, Colo., Dec. 2. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: The following is a copy of a card that 
I had published and distributed to the tourists 
here in the park during the tourist season, for 
the express purpose of protecting the under-sized 
fish that our game laws provide shall be thrown 
back into the stream, yet they give no instruc¬ 
tions how to handle the fish in order to save 
its life when taken from the hook. I gave out 
over a thousand of the cards here in the park 
and it surprised me how many of the fishermen 
heeded the warning given. 
A Plea for the Fish.—When removing an undersized trout 
from your hook, always moisten your hand before grasp¬ 
ing the fish; otherwise the dry hand will remove the 
slime from the back of the trout, when it is only a 
question of time until fungus sets in and the fish will die. 
Always kill your fish that are large enough to keep, 
as soon as taken from the hook. This can be done by 
giving it a stroke with a stick on the head, back of the 
eyes. It will avoid all suffering, and make your fish 
far better for table use. 
With us now the fishing season is closed, but 
I am working for the season to come for the 
protection of the fish. All of our railroads have 
promised me that when they publish their ad¬ 
vertising matter for another season that they 
will gladly insert the instructions that I have 
given, for it is the young fish of to-day that 
will make the large fish two years from to-day. 
May I ask you to make mention of it through 
the columns of your paper, thereby reaching the 
fishermen in a way that it would be impossible 
for me to do? G. H. 1 homson. 
Fly- and Bait-Casting. 
Francis A. Niccolls, of the Anglers’ Club of 
Massachusetts, informs us that a fly- and bait¬ 
casting tournament will be held during the Bos¬ 
ton Sportsmen’s Show, in Mechanics Building, 
Boston, Dec. 24-Jan. 7, inclusive. Details will 
be given next week. 
The management of the New York Sports¬ 
men’s Show has asked the Anglers’ Club of New 
York to take charge of the fly- and bait-casting 
contests to be held in Madison Square Garden 
during the Sportsmen’s Show in February. The 
matter was considered at the club’s monthly 
meeting on Dec. 8, and its decision will be 
given in our next issue. It is proposed to build 
the casting tank the full length of the arena in 
the garden; that is, in the center, and much 
wider than usual. By this plan both length and 
width sufficient for the contestants’ needs, it is 
believed, can be attained, and the unpleasant 
features of former cramped quarters done away 
with. Broken rods, damaged millinery and ruf¬ 
fled tempers were common enough last winter, 
and it was even asserted that men who did not 
understand fly-casting deliberately got mixed up 
in back casts and then attempted to call the per¬ 
plexed contestants to account. 
Judging from comments, made recently in the 
Fishing Gazette, it appears that an effort is being 
made in London to organize a fly- and bait- 
casting club there. The increased interest that 
is apparently being taken by English anglers in 
the American multiplying reels and short rods, 
and practice with them has frequently caused 
us, in writing to British anglers, to express sur¬ 
prise that so far no efforts had been made to 
organize a club there. Editor Marston, of the 
Fishing Gazette, is urging anglers to take up 
the matter, and a meeting has been decided on. 
Over there tournaments are held at infrequent 
intervals, showing that there is sufficient material 
for a good club, while the angling papers con¬ 
tain lengthy discussions of matters that could 
very well be threshed out on the casting plat¬ 
form, to the advantage of all those concerned. 
One of our veteran anglers has very well said 
that while tournament casting is not fishing, it 
is the only means the angler has to prove his 
skill and make actual comparisons with his fel¬ 
lows. The skill, experience and confidence he 
acquires on the platform are of inestimable value 
to him in actual fishing. 
Distribution of Fish in Salt Waters. 
For many years the New York Forest, Fish 
and Game Commission has been engaged in dis¬ 
tributing certain kinds of fish in the tidal waters 
of the State. The public, including fishermen, 
often lose sight of this fact, being of the opinion 
that the only distribution is of fresh water types 
among the rivers, lakes and inland waters. 
During the fiscal year closed, 176,600,000 fry 
were placed in the bays and harbors which in¬ 
dent our coasts. The fry were of the follow¬ 
ing varieties: Tom cod, 65,600,000; smelt, 100,- 
000,000; winter flatfish, 11,000,000. 
The plantings of fry were made in Long 
Island Sound and in all the inlets and bays upon 
the north and south sides of Long Island, with 
liberal supplies to Gardiner’s and Peconic Bays 
and the eastern waters. 
These fish are among the best known varieties. 
No more delicate and sweet flavored fish than 
the frost fish (tomcod) and smelt are known. 
They are eagerly sought in the market and 
easily sell for good prices. In addition to their 
value as food fish they are exceedingly useful 
as bait fish, attracting to our bays the larger 
ocean fishes. Since the policy of planting these 
salt water fish has been followed by the commis¬ 
sion, bluefish and other valuable ocean fishes 
have become more abundant along our shores. 
For many years the commission annually dis¬ 
tributed millions of young lobsters in our salt 
waters. For lack of a proper boat and other 
important facilities, these plantings have been 
temporarily discontinued. 
The salt water fish fry are hatched at and 
distributed from the Cold Spring Harbor Hatch¬ 
ery of the commission. This hatchery is very 
favorably situated for this purpose, being located 
on the north side of Long Island and of easy 
access to every portion of our coast line. The 
salt water work of this hatchery is in addition 
to its large production of fresh water species 
of fish. 
New Haven Anglers’ Club. 
The New Haven Anglers’ Club has been or¬ 
ganized in New Haven, Conn., with officers as 
follows: President, J. O. Jones; Vice-Presi¬ 
dent, F. D. Manyard; Treasurer, A. Whiting; 
Secretary, G. H. Mokins. 
