Jan. 28, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
The Harmless Angler. 
141 
Omaha, Neb. Jan. 12 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: An Omaha reader of Forest and 
Stream wants to know whether it is possible 
for an ordinary angler to be a real Christian. 
He says the query ran through his mind while 
reading a bass-catching story in a recent issue 
of Forest and Stream, and he could not re¬ 
frain from asking me, one of your contributors. 
“The tendency of a fisherman,” he adds, “is to 
exaggerate, lo most of them a comparative 
minnow becomes a huge fish, and the average 
bass is little less than a whale. Even those most 
scrupulous in the ordinary walks of life, when 
they capture a fish weighing six pounds and' 
seven ounces, are apt to let their consciences 
stietch enough to cover the odd nine ounces and 
call the fish a seven-pounder. 
“Now, what is the reason of this almost uni¬ 
versal prevalence of magnification in the stories 
of fishermen when it is so seldom to be met 
with in the other branches of recreation af¬ 
fected by sportsmen? Who ever heard of a 
follower of Nimrod on his return from a hunt, 
relating to his friends that he had killed three 
squirrels, each as large as the side of a church, 
or bagged a quail measuring eight feet from tip 
to tip of its wings? Or who ever heard of a 
canoeist standing in the midst of an admiring 
throng of neighbors, declaring that he had pad- 
died eighteen miles an hour up stream and 
against a heavy head wind in a boat of a cer¬ 
tain pattern? And yet this is just what we have 
to stand in the way of gutta percha tales from 
our fishermen, young and old. Is there an un¬ 
discovered principle in hooks and lines, and rods 
and reels and flies that leads their owner’s 
tongue into ways that-are dark? Or does some 
peculiar odor invest the finny tribe which, being 
absorbed by the fisherman, renders him for the 
time being oblivious to all considerations of 
truthfulness so far as the number and weight 
of his fish are concerned? Scientists should 
examine into this matter, and report for the 
benefit of a suffering people.” 
Well, we don’t see why a fisherman cannot be 
a Christian. Would you tie the soaring spirit 
of the angler who sits on a stump all day and 
never gets a bite by the rules which govern 
Nimrod, whose active body, heated by the chase, 
depresses his imagination ? Would you bring the 
fisherman’s poetic soul down to the level of 
steelyards and measuring tapes? 
The angler scorns such materialistic things as 
he does the mechanical measuring of his moun¬ 
tains, and the estimating of the quantity of 
water which falls over his favorite cascade 
What plain, practical people prefer to consider 
prevarication, is to the angler merely a recog¬ 
nized poetical license, and his enthusiasm is too 
great to coldly calculate by tables of weights 
and measures like groveling scientists and 
gropers after facts. He believes his stories 
thoroughly, and they do not harm his fellow- 
man who, not thoroughly imbued with his spirit, 
smfles at his enthusiasm. Angling is the only 
sport that does not pall upon a man as he grows 
older. It is one of which he never tires. The 
aged angler is more enthusiastic than the 
younger one, and its quiet, soothing influences 
interrupted by the sudden excitement of hook¬ 
ing a large fish, makes him keenly alive to im¬ 
pressions which may, like a poetic vision 
magnified in its relating. The poet’s eye, in a 
fine frenzy rolling, magnifies hills to mountains, 
and a waterfall to a cataract, yet none complain 
of him. 
This is the only answer I can make to my cor¬ 
respondent. We hear enlarged stories, and al¬ 
ways allow for the personality of the catcher of 
great fishes. He is so entirely harmless and de¬ 
rives so much consolation from the narration 
o his exploits that it were a sin to compel him 
to carry weights and measures, and then ask him 
to step up to a notary and certify to his state- 
men * :s ' Sandy Griswold. 
Commissioner Bowers’ Report. 
Things That Are Caesar’s. 
Tupelo, Miss., Jan. 19 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: George Dawson, who in days gone 
i WmiilMgnsofi 
c. h. higby’s brook trout angler. 
From the menu card of the Anglers’ Club of New York. 
be 
by was so prominent in political affairs, and so 
well known as the proprietor and editor of the 
Albany Evening Journal, was also one of the 
“old guard” of fly-fishers, and at odd times dis¬ 
coursed through his paper in a delightful and 
masterly manner on the charms of angling. He 
it was who originated the expression : “It is not 
all of fishing to fish.” I noticed in Forest and 
Stream of Jan. 7 that Grizzly King, who is al¬ 
ways so reliable from his perch on the top rail, 
attributed the phrase to the late and lamented 
A. Nelson Cheney, and no wonder, as my friend 
Cheney was very fond of the aphorism, and used 
it^so often that many others as well as Grizzly 
King believed that he was its author. 
James A. Henshall. 
In the annual report of the Hon. George M. 
.Bowers, Commissioner of Fisheries, to the Sec¬ 
retary of Commerce and Labor, he says it is 
gratifying to be able to record another success¬ 
ful year m fish cultural work. Methods have 
not varied appreciably from those of former 
years and attention has been directed principally 
to enlarging the output. 
The widespread and increasing interest taken 
m the bureau’s work by people in all sections 
of the country and the growing conception of 
t e benefits resulting from the stocking of pub¬ 
ic and private waters are manifested by the 
arge number of applications for fish received 
during the year, the number being 10,635, an 
increase of 523 over 1909. 
Work was conducted at thirty-five permanent 
stations and eighty-six field and collecting sta¬ 
tions, located in thirty-two States. With refer¬ 
ence to the fishes propagated, the regular hatch¬ 
eries may be classified as follows: Marine 
species, 3, river fishes of the Eastern seaboard, 
5 ! fishes of the Pacific coast, 5; fishes of the 
Great Lakes, 7; fishes of the interior, 15. 
e results of fish culture depend largely upon 
climatic conditions, the most elaborate and care- 
lly executed plans ending in success or failure ac¬ 
cording to the state of the weather in the spawning 
season In 1910 these conditions were generally un- 
. 0rable > resu ltmg in the curtailment of egg collec¬ 
tions of most of the important species, but owing 
to the superior quality of the majority of the 
eggs obtained, the Bureau was able to exceed its 
record year of 1909 by 126,800,000, or 4 per cent., 
ie total output of fish and eggs being in excess 
° f 3.233.000,000. This was accomplished without 
lnciease funds, the available appropriations 
ng the same as in the preceding two years 
and was made possible largely through the faith- 
tnl and efficient service rendered by the Bureau’s 
employes in their several lines of work 
The following is a table summarizing ’the dis¬ 
tribution of fish and fish eggs for the year. Of 
hese, 443 .i 77 .ooo eggs and 7,425 fish were de¬ 
livered to various State fish commissions, and 
xxd.ooo eggs of salmon and trout were shipped 
to foreign countries. 
summary of distribution of fish and eggs, 
FISCAL YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1910 
c«Lf . T «»'. 
Carp . '’ 44-35 
K? IOfiSh -, 4 7 75 
Lake herring . 71.740,000 
Silver salmon . 11.293,025 
Chinook salmon . sioatao8 
Blueback salmon . 142.956.5^ 
teelhead trout . 3.900,005 
Humpback salmon . 1.368,000 
Rainbow trout . 2,860,338 
Atlantic salmon . 1.460.578 
Landlocked salmon . 1,404,404 
Blackspott;ed trout . r , q q r,o 
Loch Leven trout. 5 ’ 3 g|| 
*? ak e trout . 48,145,772 
Brook trout . 12,150,006 
Sunapee trout . 171,029 
. 106.018 
plckerevv.'.v.v.v:.::::::::: 43 |£ 
Crappie.and strawberry bass 414477 
ock bass . 69,985 
Warmouth bass . 
Smallmouth black bass .... 650905 
Largemouth black bass.... 736082 
