182 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Feb. 4, 1911. 
Big Fish. 
New Orleans, La., Jan. 27 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: A. B. Sabine, residing in this city, sent 
to the Daily States a picture of a swordfish 
which he caught off Horn Island in the Gulf, 
near the Mississippi State line. 1 his monstei 
weighed 1,000 pounds and was caught from the 
deck of a schooner about four years ago with 
a rod, reel and line by Mr. Sabine, and it is 
claimed it is the largest fish ever landed with 
rod and line. The Daily States some days ago 
published a picture of a sawfish weighing 800 
pounds, caught recently by a rod and line off 
the Florida Keys, and the claim was made that 
it was the biggest fish on record caught in that 
manner. Mr. Sabine now claims this honor 
and produced the picture to substantiate his 
claims. 
E. A. Tulain, the State superintendent of fish 
hatcheries, has arrived and will at once begin 
his work. Mr. Tulain says that his first work 
will be devoted to saving the fish and spawn m 
the various streams of this State. He asserts 
that fish often lay their eggs along the banks 
of a stream, and when the water recedes, the 
eggs or young fish are devoured by birds or 
otherwise destroyed. He proposes to save as 
much of this spawn as possible by placing it in 
deep water. Mr. Tulain will bring a great many 
black bass from the North and place them in 
the streams in Louisiana. For the next fort¬ 
night he will devote most of his time to the 
office work of the game commission, and after 
that will make a tour of this State for the pur¬ 
pose of selecting a suitable location for several 
fish hatcheries. Mr. Tulain is regarded as an 
expert on fish subjects, having had many years 
experience in the employ of the United States 
Government. He spent several years on the 
Great Lakes, various portions of this and other 
countries. His home is in Florida. 
Fishing has not been so good in the past fort¬ 
night and very poor luck is reported. A severe 
cold snap lasting several days recently seems to 
have hurt fishing to a great extent. The waters 
were'chilled and the fish failed to bite. It is 
expected that the waters along the Louisville 
and Nashville road near New Orleans will im¬ 
prove, and fishing will be more popular. 
Commissioner Frank M. Miller and E. 
A. Tulian, superintendent of fisheries, have 
gone on an inspection trip for the purpose of 
determining the value of Lake Catherine as the 
proper place for a black bass hatchery. They 
will also inspect Lake Borgne. It seems prob¬ 
able that Lake Catherine will be selected, as 
a good many bass flourish in these waters. The 
lake is comparatively shallow. A great deal 
of interest is being taken by the fishermen in 
this tour. The sentiment seems to favor Lake 
Catherine, which is only about twenty miles 
from New Orleans. Mr. Tulian will make a 
tour of the State for the purpose of inspecting 
the various streams and the location of fish 
hatcheries. 
The warm weather of the past two weeks 
has been favorable to the fishermen and not 
a few of the lovers of the reel and rod went 
over to Lake Catherine, the Rigolets, Chef Men- 
teur, Waveland, the Barataria section and other 
fishing places and report very fair luck for this 
season of the year. A number of green trout, 
speckled trout and red fish were landed, but 
not in very great abundance. The waters are 
getting warmer and it is thought in the next 
few weeks fishing will be excellent, provided a 
cold snap does not intervene. At the present 
time there are a large number of winter visitors 
in New Orleans and these numbers will be aug¬ 
mented as the time for the annual Mardi Gras 
approaches. The clubs on the Louisville and 
Nashville road have had as their guests a^ num¬ 
ber of visitors who are enjoying fishing in the 
salt waters. 
The Game Commission is experimenting with 
catfish skins as material for leather goods such 
as purses and gloves. Recently the skin of a 
large catfish from Berwick Bay was tanned by 
the commission and proved satisfactory. It is 
predicted that this experiment will open up a 
big commercial enterprise. Catfish are very 
abundant in Louisiana, and if the skins can be 
made into purses, gloves, etc., successfully, it 
is certain that a company will finance the 
scheme. The tanned catfish skin is on exhi¬ 
bition in the exhibit of the Game Commission 
in the new courthouse building, and has at¬ 
tracted considerable attention and caused no 
little comment. F. G. G. 
Striped Bass Scarce. 
San Francisco, Jan. 2 3.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Trout fishing in California during the 
season of 1910 was the best that had been ex¬ 
perienced for a great many years owing to the 
fact that streams were well stocked and there 
was but little trouble with high water. This 
fish afforded the best sport of any of the finny 
tribe and many other kinds of fishing have 
proved very mediocre. Striped bass usually af¬ 
ford fishermen excellent sport in the vicinity of 
San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento river, 
but this season but few fish have been taken, 
notwithstanding the fact that great crowds of 
anglers have visted the fishing grounds, and 
attention is being turned from this fish, as a 
result, to steelheads and salt water fish. Just 
why such poor striped bass fishing has been 
the rule had not been explained, for the market 
fishermen have been fairly successful, but the 
fact remains that the bait casters have had the 
poorest success in many seasons. The old fish¬ 
ing grounds have been practically deserted by 
the fish and the best sport is now to be had in 
some of the small lagoons in the vicinity of 
Napa Creek. 
Some excellent steelhead trout fishing is now 
being enjoyed in tide water in the vicinity of 
Point Reyes, although the fish are running 
largely to small sizes. The recent rains ha\v- 
opened the bar across the mouth of the Rus¬ 
sian River and that stream is now fairly swarm¬ 
ing with steelheads. The freshets that have 
come down the streams have attracted the fish 
and where these streams empty into salt water 
some fine sport is being enjoyed. Prominent 
among the local steelhead enthusiasts is Dr. 
L. T. Cranz, who has just made a special fly 
that bears his name and which has proved to 
be one of the best ever used in these waters. 
Salt water fishing has been excellent in the 
vicinity of Moss Beach and anglers hope that 
the railroad that has been constructed down the 
coast touching at all the beach points will be 
put in operation at an early date, for this will 
open a territory that is now reached only in a 
very roundabout manner and which is therefore 
but little visited. 
A. P. B. 
Some News and a Little Gossip. 
The Rochester Y. C. has sent the following 
challenge to the Royal Canadian Y. C. 
“We hereby challenge the Royal Canadian Y. 
C. for the Fisher cup, races to be best two out 
of three under conditions similar to those which 
obtained in 1907 for the Canada’s cup. We ask 
vou to waive the time limit for challenging and 
expressly stipulate that the competing yachts 
shall be selected from those which were built for 
the Canada’s cup race in 1907, the contest to be 
held during the exhibition at Toronto on dates 
that may be mutually agreeable.” 
At a recent meeting of the Rochester Club, 
Eric Moore, owner of Seneca, placed that yacht 
at the disposal of the club as a challenger for 
the Fisher cup if a race could be arranged. 
The Canadians have Eleanor, Aileen and Cru¬ 
sader with which to defend the cup. These 
yachts were built for the last Canada cup senes 
which was won by Seneca. The Canadians have 
been expecting a challenge and are anxious to 
arrange a race. It is possible that as they want 
an international contest, they may agree to con¬ 
ditions as named by the Rochester Club. There 
is however, rather a strained relationship be¬ 
tween the two clubs which has grown out of 
differences of opinion relating to the Canada 
cup. 
According to reports from Toronto, the Cana¬ 
dians are delighted that the Rochester Club has 
challenged, and they are confident that they will 
successfully defend the cup with one of the 
older boats. They point out that last summer 
Crusader defeated Seneca, but they admit that 
Seneca was not handled as well as she was when 
Addison G. Hanan sailed her for the Canada 
cup. A reply will be sent to the Rochester Club 
in a few days, and it is thought that this iace 
will be the means of clearing the atmosphere 
and result in races being arranged again for the 
Canada cup which stands for the championship 
of the Great Lakes. /Emelius Jarvis will sail 
the defending yacht. 
