420 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[March 12, 1910. 
struggle and I thought I had hooked only a 
small one. A little later it came to the surface 
in response to my light steady pull, and from 
the splashing I decided that it was larger than 
I had at first thought. I then called Boyd. He 
came, took the landing net from my shoulder, 
and standing in the edge of the water, skill¬ 
fully netted my fish after I had brought it with¬ 
in his reach. When we carried it back into the 
potato patch to examine it I found that I had 
caught a twenty-inch trout that later stretched 
the scales to three and a half pounds. 
I do not consider this the best fishing that I 
did during the season; in fact, it was rather my 
poorest fishing, but probably because the three 
fish were larger than common, I have treasured 
up the details with more than usual care. 
Charles Lose. 
The Passing of Hess’ Riffs. 
Utica, N. Y., March 1 .— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The building of the Hinckley reser¬ 
voir to be commenced this spring for the New 
York State barge canal will wipe out a most 
interesting stretch of water. Hess’ Riffs on the 
West Canada Creek have been mentioned not 
infrequently in Forest and Stream by various 
writers. The rapids start from Natural Dam, 
a tongue of igneous rock jutting across the 
creek, and tumble for a half mile over granite 
boulders until the water streams around the 
islands and past the slip banks. If size of fish 
is considered, here is the best strip of fishing 
on the West Canada Creek. 
But the fishing is not as good as it used to be 
on these rapids, although some very good catches 
were taken last summer. But for the logging 
and netting, the increase of trout would be 
rapid. The logs jam on the rifts and in the 
winter the ice dams against them until a com¬ 
pact mass forms, and like a plug drives down 
the creek, grinding the very bed of all still 
waters below. In July and August the trout 
gather on the cold beds. The netters come in 
the night, throw out their net and gather it in 
with most of the trout on the bed. Dynamite, 
too, is used, but it is said not to be so effective, 
for it spoils the fish and it is difficult to collect 
them after the explosion. 
The reservoir will put the rifts twenty or 
thirty feet under water. It is now one of the 
most beautiful stretches along the whole West 
Canada Creek, Trenton Falls not excepted. It 
will become a mere Stillwater, though doubtless 
beautiful enough when the dam is full. Fisher- 
~*en will then go to Wilmurt when they wish 
to fish the West Canada, for only there will 
rapids be open. 
Hess’ Riffs are known to every log driver in 
the southwestern portion of the Adirondacks. 
The rifts received their name from an old 
pioneer who dwelt at what is now known as 
Shaft’s Place. Old man Hess was the son of 
one of the Revolutionists who chased the Tory 
Butler across the creek just below the rifts and 
was there shot by one of the Americans. 
Eldridge A. Spears. 
All the fish laivs of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
Newfoundland Salmon Rivers. 
Philadelphia, Pa., March 5 .— Editor Forest 
and Stream: I expressed my views pretty fully 
on the fishing situation in Newfoundland in the 
Fishing Gazette ef Jan. 2 and 9, 1909, and in 
writing of the new rod tax can only repeat in 
substance what I said then. 
To understand the situation a little knowledge 
of the country is necessary. Newfoundland is 
a sparsely settled country and contains great 
numbers of natural salmon streams. The in¬ 
habitants are, as a rule, far from prosperous 
from an American point of view. 
Years ago the salmon fishing in Newfound¬ 
land must have been splendid, but at present, as 
a general statement, it may be fairly said that 
it is far from good. Man is the chief enemy 
of the Newfoundland salmon. At present the 
salmon has a hard time of it both from legal 
and illegal fishing. 
One of the chief methods of taking codfish on 
the west coast, on Northern Peninsula and on 
the Newfoundland Labrador, is the cod trap. 
This consists of a great bag, to which is at¬ 
tached a long arm or leader. Large numbers of 
these traps exist and many thousands of salmon 
are taken by them annually. These traps are 
usually placed in bays, often near the mouth of 
a river, and even when not near a river many 
salmon are frequently caught; for salmon, as 
is well known, do not strike directly into a river 
from the open sea, but follow the coast line 
while migrating and thus fall easy victims to 
any form of net. Besides the cod net, for which 
no remedy seems possible, salmon nets are ex¬ 
tensively used in some localities. Near Chateau, 
on the Newfoundland Labrador, I have seen 
miles of such nets. 
No man is more capable of judging the fish¬ 
ery conditions than Dr. Grenfell. In his recent 
book “Labrador” the author takes a very pes¬ 
simistic view of the ultimate fate of the salmon 
on that coast. The law in 1907 regarding salmon 
netting states that no salmon shall be netted in 
fresh water, nor shall any net be placed with¬ 
in 300 yards of the mouth of a river. This is 
faulty for two reasons: first because the mouth 
of a river is an ill-defined point. A definite 
point should be fixed for each river and no nets 
allowed above this. At present the mouth of 
a river is often interpreted to mean as far as 
the water backs up with the tide. Anyone with 
any experience knows that this often means far 
up a river, and this is especially true of small 
rivers such as predominate in Newfoundland. 
Another fault is that a knowledge of the lie 
of the channel, even 300 yards from the legiti¬ 
mate mouth of the river, will often enable a 
netter to so place his net that he will bar the 
river as effectually as if his net was stretched 
from bank to bank. So much for the legal 
enemies that the salmon have to contend with. 
The population of Newfoundland, especially 
near the river, consists chiefly of cod fishermen. 
Almost every river, no matter how inaccessible, 
has a small cluster of houses near its mouth. It 
is indeed a poor family in Newfoundland that 
cannot boast of a net of some kind. Many of 
these people have lived in the same locality for 
years long before any laws preventing netting 
of salmon in fresh water were formulated. 
These people think they possess an hereditary 
right t> net the river. The usual mode of pro¬ 
cedure is to run a net entirely across somewhere 
near the mouth. Travel is almost entirely con¬ 
fined to water and a ship can be seen some time 
before it arrives, thereby giving ample time to 
take up the net, if it is thought worth while. 
The ease with which a river can be poached 
may be imagined. A favorite practice when 
anyone is about who is likely to give trouble 
is to shoot a net across during the night and 
raise it in in the morning. In years gone by a 
common way of poaching was for a crowd of 
men to ascend the river late in the season and 
net or spear the fish on the spawning grounds. 
These fish were frequently canned, but of late 
years the increased amount of canned salmon 
coming from the Northwest has lowered the 
price of salmon and has practically put a stop 
to this practice, although it is still occasionally 
indulged in. Gigging is also sometimes prac¬ 
ticed; indeed, the average native does not much 
care how he gets his salmon. The net is, how¬ 
ever, his chief reliance. 
As regards the extent to which poaching ex¬ 
ists, will say that I am familiar with most of 
the chief streams on the North and West coasts 
and of Newfoundland Labrador, and have been 
fishing this country for thirteen years and have 
never been on a stream where evidences of 
poaching were not observed. Many streams 
have no warden; in other localities one warden 
is supposed to look after a number of rivers. 
All the wardens are badly paid. A man can 
hardly be expected to devote much of his time 
to- a job for which he gets ten or twenty dollars 
per year. The cod strike the coast at the same 
time the salmon do, and the warden is often so 
busy with his cod fishing that even if he hon¬ 
estly wished to guard the river he would be 
unable to do so. More and better paid war¬ 
dens are badly needed, together with a system 
of active supervision by a chief warden or fish 
commissioner. So much for the present situa¬ 
tion, which is certainly far from bright. 
The question arises, what can be done to pre¬ 
serve the splendid rivers? I am strongly in 
favor of the rod tax and believe that ten dol¬ 
lars is none too much. This is not sufficient to 
deter anyone from going to Newfoundland and 
should add somewhat to the maintenance of 
proper protection. In my opinion, however, this 
is not sufficient. 1 he best hope for protection 
and the best all-around financial proposition is 
to lease the rivers, at least some of them. It 
would be impossible, even if desired, to rent 
all the rivers, and such streams as Harry’s 
Brook, Fishel’s, Humber, etc., which are near 
the railway, could be kept open for the use of 
tourists. One has only to examine the financial 
returns obtained by Norway, Canada, New 
Brunswick, Scotland and even such an inac¬ 
cessible place as Lapland to be convinced of 
this. Furthermore, practically the only first 
class salmon fishing to be obtained the world 
round is in preserved waters. This is chiefly 
because the lessee preserves. 
In such a large wild country as Newfoundland 
efficient government supervision is almost an im¬ 
possibility, and this is made especially so by the 
nature and occupation of the people. An ordi¬ 
nary salmon river on the North Shore of the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence will yield the Government 
$1,000 per year, and many rivers much more. 
Of course Newfoundland could not compete with 
the North Shore, because at present her rivers 
