Stories of the Leaping Sturgeon. 
West Park, N. Y., Feb. 12.—Editor Forest 
and Stream: It is only a few years ago that 
every summer an army of mighty fishes came 
up through the Narrows, past New York city 
and on up the Hudson, their leaping or play 
being one of the sights and sounds of the upper 
river on quiet summer days. The only mention 
of them that I have ever seen in literature is in 
General Schaff’s “Spirit of Old West Point,” 
this youthful cadet from Ohio being much im¬ 
pressed by the grandly sportive instincts of the 
sturgeon of the Hudson. And well he might 
have been. Even in my time I can remember 
how these great fish would hurl their brown 
bodies high in air, falling back into the water 
with a splash that echoed from shore to shore. 
There have been cases where sturgeon have 
jumped into rowboats and I have had them spat¬ 
ter me with water as they leaped close beside 
my boat. 
On dreamy August days, when the shadows 
lengthened and the river stretched away like a 
mirror, seemed to be a favorite time for leaping. 
I remember one September day when we were 
cutting grapes, telling my father in all boyish 
seriousness how a sturgeon had just jumped 
across the river, and his instant reply that it 
must have been a might spry sturgeon to jump 
across the river. 
Now, alas, how it has all changed! It is but 
another case of our accursed American waste¬ 
fulness, recklessly destroying for no good pur¬ 
pose* a great food fish, the blame being mainly 
on the shad fishermen who viciously kill the 
young sturgeon or “peelikins.” The law now 
requires that all sturgeon under three feet must 
be returned to the water. Well, the shad fisher¬ 
men return them as the law requires, but first 
they take the peelikin by the tail and knock his 
head in over the gunwale or rowlock. The rea¬ 
son for this is that the sturgeon tangle up the 
shad nets, and formerly—but not now—the big 
sturgeon would tear great holes in the delicate 
linen. So the shad fisherman destroyed the 
‘Sturgeon. I had better not talk about it, for it 
snakes me mad, even though I am not a stur¬ 
geon fisherman. 
If there ever was a poetic calling it is sturgeon 
dishing. In the summer time when it is a joy 
do be on the water and poke around the shores, 
the sturgeon fishermen go out and fish on slack 
water, thus being out about two hours a day, 
idly watching the net for a bite. It is all dream 
and laziness until a sturgeon hits the net, when 
moments of fierce excitement and desperate 
exertion follow in swift succession. As soon as 
a sturgeon gets tangled up in the net he comes 
at once to the surface, when the fisherman rows 
to him in furious haste and endeavors to slip 
a noose or “halter” over his head. If he is 
quick and deft enough in this and gets the noose 
firmly over the sturgeon’s head, he simply raises 
the big fish’s nose over the gunwale and assists 
him to climb in the boat. No other fish would 
be such a fool. A salmon, Tor instance, of the 
weight of a big sturgeon would pull the fisher¬ 
man overboard in a twinkling. The foolish 
sturgeon on the other hand wriggles right in to 
his doom. To kill him they cut off his tail. 
The flesh of fresh sturgeon is excellent, and 
even when smoked and made into “Albany beef” 
it is relished by many. The roe, which was al¬ 
ways thrown away or used for bait in eel pots, 
is now worth a dollar or more a pound for 
caviar. Many a good sturgeon weighing 200 
pounds has been sold for twenty-five cents. To¬ 
day a big roe is worth over a hundred dollars. 
In the old days it was not uncommon to catch 
eight or ten—a boat load—to one slack water, 
and now a man who catches one a month is 
lucky. 
With the passing of the sturgeon has departed 
much of the old order of things on the Hudson 
—the sloops and schooners, the great side-wheel 
towboats, the days of wasteful plenty have gone 
together into a past that is fast growing dim. 
The river was more romantic, more lawless; old 
sturgeon fishermen tell interesting stories of 
their fishing days, so unlike anything now. It 
was every man for himself. C. B., a man of 
mighty frame and one of Grant’s veterans, was 
well able to care for himself. 
“I remember one day some toughs on the coal 
tow tried to steal some of my buoys and lines, 
hooking them with a pike pole as they sailed 
over my net. ‘Catch his buoy,’ they said to one 
another, and I told them to leave that buoy 
alone. But they laughed at me and hung on to 
the buoy. Well, I had fifteen or twenty big 
cobble stones in the bow of my boat, and stand¬ 
ing up in the boat I let drive, throwing for all 
I was worth. It took the fellow in the shoulder 
and knocked him down. They grabbed up the 
stone and threw it back, missing me. I grabbed 
another stone and when they saw I had more 
they all dove down into the cabin except the fel¬ 
low I hit first, and he lay there, stiff as a piker. 
“Once the New York tried to run me down. 
I was a-picking up my net and she bore right 
down on me until I hollered at the captain. ‘Yes, 
I’m going to run ye down,’ he said. It seems 
some fellers below me had blackguarded him and 
he was going to fix me for it. With my net half 
in the cuddy I didn’t know what to do. I soon 
saw I had to do something, so I grabbed my 
oars and pulled, letting the net spill out as best 
it could, just grazing the side of the steamer 
and escaping by a hair. 
“Lots of times I used to get big logs in my 
sturgeon net. The bottom of the river seems 
covered with them. How they get there I don’t 
know. 
“Once when Jack got on a tear he left his 
boat, net and all, tied behind the dock, and some 
of the net got knocked overboard, catching a 
sturgeon that Al. had tied to the dock. Well, 
when! Jack got sober enough to come down he 
pulled in his net and there was the sturgeon and 
he thought he had caught it, and he commenced 
to holler and it took us all to show him that it 
was Al’s sturgeon being tied by a rope to its 
tail.” Julian Burroughs. 
The Anglers’ Club’s Country Home. 
New York, Feb. 11.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: At the regular monthly meeting, held 
on Feb. S, the Anglers’ Club of New York rati¬ 
fied the action of the committee appointed for 
the purpose of securing a country home, with 
fishing and hunting rights. This committee has 
secured controlling interest in a Pennsylvania 
corporation which owns and holds leases on a 
tract at Shimer’s Rock Cut, Pike county, Penn¬ 
sylvania, about nine miles from the junction of 
the Delaware and Lackawaxen rivers and near 
the preserves of the Blooming Grove and Forest 
Lake clubs. Headquarters are five minutes’ walk 
from the station and on the Lackawaxen River, 
nine miles above the town of Lackawaxen. 
This acquisition gives the club fishing rights 
on eight trout streams, frontage on two good 
lakes, both well stocked, one with large and 
small-mouth bass and the other with pickerel, 
and exclusive hunting rights over nearly 400 
acres, providing good ruffed grouse shooting and 
an occasional deer or bear. 
A house committee was appointed with G. M. 
L. LaBranche as chairman, and members are as¬ 
sured of being “housed and fed” by the time the 
season opens, there being sleeping accommoda¬ 
tions for thirty-fi v e at a pinch. Camps will be 
erected at the lakes, boats furnished, a superin¬ 
tendent placed in charge and the main house 
comfortably furnished and kept open the year 
round. Meals will be served at headquarters and 
at all camps at very reasonable figures. Mem¬ 
bers will have the choice of fishing on eight 
trout streams, two lakes and the Lackawaxen 
and Delaware rivers, all within walking distance 
from the camps. The committee is planning the 
flooding of an abandoned canal, which when 
completed, will make fly-fishing water of the very 
best. This improvement will add several acres 
of exclusive trout fishing and will be directly 
under the observation of the superintendent, the 
water being right at the door of headquarters. 
Aside from or perhaps in connection wifh the 
fishing and hunting, the camp on the Rollway, 
about ten minutes’ walk from headquarters, is a 
very attractive spot to spend a vacation. Here 
there are fifty acres intended for the use of the 
bungalow enthusiast. A large bungalow has just 
been completed and is now ready for members 
which contains four rooms, a mammoth fire¬ 
place and a large porch from which a magnifi¬ 
cent view of the river and valley piay be had. 
The committee appointed to inspect the prop¬ 
erty, and members who have fished and hunted 
here, predict good sport for all. 
Edward Farnham Todd, Sec’y. 
Amateur Rodmaking. 
The length and severity of the present winter 
have kept anglers indoors more than is usual, 
and judging from inquiries for materials and 
books on the subject, a very large number are 
making fly- and bait-casting rods for the com¬ 
ing season’s use. Tonkin cane is the favorite 
material, but solid woods are also used to some 
extent. 
