June 24, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
979 
St. Johns, N. F., June 14.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The first batch of American anglers 
has arrived on the west coast, and as the weather 
conditions just now are ideal and the fish run¬ 
ning well, the sport opens auspiciously. 
There are now eighty salmon rivers wardened 
and well protected for the coming season. This 
number does not include several fine, but not 
easily accessible, rivers on the northeast coast, 
and excepting one river on the Labrador, it does 
not take note at all of the rivers on that coast 
which equal, and in some cases excel, the best 
streams in Newfoundland. 
The Fish and Game Commission has issued 
orders to all wardens, guides and other officials 
of the board not to fish in any stream or pool 
while any visiting angler is in their territory. 
A warden or guide may fish for food if neces¬ 
sary, but not to the extent complained of by 
some visiting anglers when the guides monopo¬ 
lized the best places in the pools to the exclusion 
of the party they were conducting. 
A trouter’s license, allowing a visitor to fish 
in lakes and ponds for trout only, has been issued 
by the board for the nominal sum of $1. Dur¬ 
ing the summer many parties of round trippers 
come from cities in the United States, and they 
only stay for a day or two. Up to> last season 
this class used to avail of the time at their dis¬ 
posal and take a run to the nearby ponds which 
are numerous in the vicinity of St. Johns and 
enjoy an evening’s fishing. The $10 license put 
a stop last season to the enjoyment of that class 
of visitors. 
An influentially signed petition was lately pre¬ 
sented to the board, pointing out that a day’s 
trouting was a great attraction to many of those 
visitors, and that the few trout caught did not 
matter as much as the day in the country with 
congenial companions. 
Many local business men were in the habit 
of taking out visitors who happened to be in 
the city on the weekly half holiday—each Wed¬ 
nesday in the summer is set aside for a com¬ 
mercial half holiday—and giving them a pleasant 
evening, but owing to the $10 license fee exacted 
this practice was stopped. Now with only a 
nominal fee charged, people who do not want 
to angle for salmon may spend a pleasant day 
or so-, catching trout, and if a business man 
wants to take out a guest or so, he will not have 
to pay an exorbitant price for the privilege. 
Some of the reports already beginning to come 
in are sufficient to “make your mouth water,” 
as the saying is. I send you some clippings from 
last night’s papers: 
“Seven dozen mud trout were taken at the 
Narrows, Terra Nova, weighing forty pounds; 
no salmon.” 
“G. W. Beal caught one ten-pound salmon in 
Rendell’s pool, South Branch. Peter O’Quinn 
caught one dozen trout weighing from one-quar¬ 
ter to one pound each.” 
“M. F. Murphy and John Barron, who were 
trouting at Petty Harbor Ponds, returned to the 
city with ten dozen trout.” 
We had about 210 American visitors last year 
and they caught about 3,500 salmon. 
With the protection afforded the rivers last 
year and the increased vigilance provided for 
the coming season, we have room for one hun¬ 
dred times that number of anglers with a cor¬ 
responding increase in the catch of fish. Last 
year the salmon in the Humber were in incredi¬ 
ble numbers and very few were caught. Mr. 
Blakney, an American angler, estimated that the 
number jumping at the Big Falls totaled 250 fish 
a minute. W. J. Carroll. 
What Killed the Fish? 
New York City, June 16.— Editor Forest arid 
Stream: An absorbing topic was under discus¬ 
sion at Craig-e-Clare. 
My suggestion that the stream had been 
dynamited met with rigorous dissent from my 
fishing companion, Mr. W., while our host was 
inclined to side with me, as in no other way 
could he account for the many dead trout. 
The fishing had been unusually poor. Very 
low water, extremely clear, abundance of 
natural food, and a bottom foul with vegetation 
because the spring had been open with no 
freshets or ice jams. And now in the stream 
the dead brown trout began to appear in num¬ 
bers. One day my friend counted seven in one 
pool, all fine large brown trout, and apparently 
most of them had not been dead over a day or 
two. 
We had run up on May 20 to enjoy a few 
weeks’ fishing in the Beaverkill, and at Craig-e- 
Clare had encountered these conditions. 
Every day for nearly two weeks we found 
numbers of dead fish, some lying on the bottom 
of still pools, others floating down stream in 
the swift water, and not one native trout 
among them. They were invariably brown 
trout, and generally large. We found none 
under eight inches, while many of them weighed 
from IJ4 to 1 Y\ pounds. 
While we were discussing the cause of the 
trouble, Mr. B. came up from the stream and 
his creel contained just one beautiful brown 
trout weighing i)4 pounds, fresh and brilliant, 
which he had picked up dead. Our host dis¬ 
sected that trout while we all looked on. Not 
a blemish could be found anywhere. The gills 
were perfect and blood red, and all the organs 
appeared normal. No solution o'f the mystery 
was found in that fish. 
Two smaller ones, brought to the house the 
following day, showed two punctures on each 
fish, one on each side about one-third up from 
the tail, about the size of a No. 8 shot. The 
holes were little more than skin-deep, and ab¬ 
solutely clean. There was no perceptible evi¬ 
dence of a parasitic character and we decided 
that the punctures were not a cause but a re¬ 
sult of death. 
Up and down the stream from Lew Beach to 
Roscoe numerous explanations of the trouble 
were attempted. The dead fish were found over 
this entire stretch. The destruction was un¬ 
doubtedly the effect of one of three causes— 
epidemic, dynamite or poison. 
It is difficult to conceive that it could be 
either of the last two, since the fish were found 
fresh, having died each day, over a period of 
two weeks, and some were seen at the dying 
point, as they flopped around on the surface 
and sank to the bottom. 
Flad it been dynamite or poison, the native 
trout and the chubs would have been affected, 
which was not the case. 
What caused it? This is an important ques¬ 
tion, and I hope that some of the clubs on the 
celebrated stream have laid the matter before 
the fish commission for investigation. 
It would be interesting to hear from anglers 
who were on the stream from May 20 to June 
5 and who must have encountered this sad con¬ 
dition of things, so unprecedented on the 
Beaverkill. Herbert Janes. 
Tuna Club. 
The winter tournament of this club of 
Avalon, Cal., closed May 1, and the list of prizes 
awarded has just been announced, as follows: 
Yellowtaii*—For largest of season, Eddy cup, 
Francis medal, club medallion: Won by Mrs. 
Evelyn Garrett, of Los Angeles; weight of fish, 
45 pounds. Second, club medallion, Colonel John 
E. Stearns, of Los Angeles; 44 pounds. Third, 
H. Chase, Wolfville, N. S.; 42)4 pounds. 
\\ hite Sea Bass*—Largest, club medallion, A. 
E. Eaton, of Avalon; 38 pounds. Second, medal¬ 
lion, H. W. Mataline, of New York city; 26)4 
pounds. 
Albacore*—For largest of season, Banning cup, 
Streeter medal, Club medallion (gold) : C. R. 
Guertler, New York city; 51J 4 pounds. For sec¬ 
ond largest, club medallion (silver), W. D. 
Flagg, Boston, Mass.; 47)4 pounds. For third 
largest, club medallion (bronze), Mrs. Meade 
Goodloe, Susco, Ariz.; 47 pounds. 
Three-Six Class—Potter prize for largest yel- 
lowtail of season, Chubb Three-Six rod, Gus¬ 
tave Pabst, Milwaukee, Wis.; 24(4 pounds. 
*Light tackle class tackle specifications. 
Boatmen’s Prizes, Yellowtaii—For boatman to 
angler taking largest of season, Dyas-Cline prize, 
Three-Six rod. Captain Newberry. 
Albacore—For boatman to angler taking largest 
of season, W. H. Hoegee Co. prize, nine-ounce 
rod, Captain Nichols. 
Bonita—For boatman to angler taking largest 
of season, Western Hardware & Arms Co. prize, 
900 feet nine-thread line, Captain Goulding. 
Buttons Issued—Bronze, 20; silver, 2; gold, 3. 
His Best Brown Trout. 
Berlin, N. Y., June 16.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Tuesday afternoon I took the largest 
brown trout which has been captured in this 
town thus far this season. It weighed 2 pounds 
6 ounces. The water was very high and roily 
from a severe shower in the forenoon. I was 
baiting with angleworms and had light tackle, 
my hook being a No. 8 with a single snell. Fish¬ 
ing from a bridge, it was necessary to climb a 
fence in order to reach the brookside. The 
heavy strain which I kept on the fish finally tired 
him to such an extent that I was able to draw 
him up to the bank and insert my fingers in his 
gills. He was my record trout and his strength 
was a revelation to me. Just how long I was 
fighting him I do not know. Sandy. 
