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FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July 9, 1910. 
waters of lakes, have not a little of the char¬ 
acteristics of the earlier rivers—steadiness of 
volume, slowness and depth, and such rivers are 
mostly in private hands and are among our 
most highly prized salmon waters. 
For the pleasant weather conditions add enor¬ 
mously to the charm of late fishing, and many 
an angler who revels in the joy of a fight with 
a ten-pounder in late July shrinks from seeking 
an encounter with a bigger and possibly better 
fish in the icy blasts of February. 
The largest and best known of our late rivers 
is the beautiful Erne, which carries the surplus 
•waters of the two lakes of its name to the sea 
and tumbles over the falls of Assaroe into the 
harbor of Ballyshannon. A more lovely salmon 
river than this northern Erne is not perhaps to 
be found in the world, but it is unfortunately 
all too short, its course from the falls of Bel- 
leek to the sea being little more than three miles. 
Short as it is, however, it presents every variety 
of water, swirling pools, steady glides, shallow 
stickles, for the river is really a pretty brook 
grown gigantic, and the angler who fishes it all 
has to wade, fish from the bank or resort to a 
boat by turns. 
It is perhaps in volume the largest late river 
in the kingdom, and the fish begin to come in 
while June is yet young, but July and August 
dre the best months. Fish up to thirty pounds 
are got; at least, one forty-pounder is on record, 
but the average is below twenty pounds, for 
many small fish are taken, peel or two-year-olds 
running in great numbers. The Erne is a “sev¬ 
eral” fishery and belongs to a company which 
carries on extensive nettings in the tideway and 
just under the Ballyshannon Falls. Ten rods 
are permitted on the water at five guineas each 
week, the angler retaining two fish. Other fish 
if kept are to be paid for at market rates. We 
have known twenty-eight fish to be taken by a 
rod on the Erne in a day, and baskets of thirty 
fish and upward are claimed. 
Fishing is mostly with the fly, but shrimp is 
sometimes used and with deadly effect. An early 
application for a rod is generally necessary, as 
the beautiful Erne, though far from being the 
river it once was. has many faithful lovers who 
fish it year after year. Shannon Shore. 
Siream Pollution. 
Albany, N. Y., June 29 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream ': As a subscriber of Forest and Stream 
I have noticed with interest your endeavors from 
time to time to maintain the purity of our water 
courses. 
I inclose herewith copy of an opinion just ren¬ 
dered in a suit brought by me in Saratoga 
county which has just been decided in my favor, 
which, if sustained, will tend to keep at least 
that stream of water more nearly in its natural 
state and purity. Robert E. Whalen. 
In the Supreme Court of Saratoga county on 
June 22, Justice Kellogg handed down a decision 
in the case of Whalen vs. the Union Bag and 
Paper Company, in which he said, in part: 
“This action is brought for a permanent in¬ 
junction to restrain the defendant from dis¬ 
charging into the Kayaderosseras Creek, at Ball- 
ston, N. Y., the waste effluents of its mills, and 
for damages. 
“The plaintiff is a riparian owner upon the 
Kayaderosseras Creek, having a farm of about 
250 acres, 172 acres of which are lowland mea¬ 
dows, having a water front upon the creek, as 
it winds and turns, of nearly two miles. About 
three miles up stream from the plaintiff’s farm 
is situate a sulphite pulp mill owned and oper¬ 
ated by the defendant. Its daily production is 
between thirty-five and forty tons. Its daily 
consumption of wood is sixty-five cords. This 
wood is resolved into wood fibre for paper mak¬ 
ing by the use of sulphurous acid. 
“Daily there is poured upon the wood, con¬ 
tained in the form of chips in large digesters, 
60,000 gallons of a liquor containing sulphurous 
acid. I11 the making of this acid 11,000 pounds 
of sulphur are treated with 8,000 pounds of lime. 
Although the liquor so used contains only 2.20 
per cent, of sulphurous acid, such is the com¬ 
pelling power of its presence among the chips 
during the three daily cookings of eight hours 
each, that sixty-five cords of wood are thereby 
resolved into the fibre and various other ele¬ 
ments. At the end of the eight hours’ period, 
the digester’s contents are blown out into tanks 
containing false bottoms covered with cocoa 
matting through which the liquor drains, leav¬ 
ing the fibre to be used for the pulp. This fibre 
is the only product of the cooking required to 
be recovered for manufacture. A cord of wood 
weighs 2,800 pounds, of which only 1,200 pounds 
are pulp fibre. The ba'ance is waste consisting 
of sawdust, slivers, knots, gum, rosin and water. 
Nearly all of such waste from the sixty-five 
cords of wood drains into the creek together 
with the 60,000 gallons of liquor containing sul¬ 
phurous acid, some of which is reclaimed, re¬ 
ducing the strength of the liquor so as to con¬ 
tain ten or twelve one-hundredths of one per 
cent, of sulphurous acid.” 
The defendant failed to prove that the 60,000 
gallons of liquid discharged thrice daily did not 
pollute the waters of the creek, whose average 
flow for that time is 146,000.000 gallons. The 
plaintiff proved that the water was highly color¬ 
ed, deficient in oxygen, detrimental to fish, plant 
and animal life. “It may be,” said the justice, 
“that the sulphurous acid does not render the 
water of the stream deleterious to health for 
drinking purposes, yet it seems to me that the 
right of a riparian owner to water in its natural 
purity includes the right to water of a natural 
color, and that a deep red or brown water, 
whether healthful or otherwise, does not satisfy 
that right. * * * There has been no departure 
in this State from the ancient rule of the com¬ 
mon law that a riparian owner is entitled to the 
natural flow of the stream in its undimiriished 
purity. 1 
“The plaintiff has been substantially damaged. 
He is, therefore, entitled to injunction relief, in 
order to prevent a continuing trespass, and a 
multiplicity of suits. The plaintiff is also en¬ 
titled to damages.” 
Fishing for Pickerel. 
Bass fishing has its charm and its stanch 
group of admirers, but the pickerel claims a vast 
number of fishermen that never knew the song 
of rod and reel and the joy that may be derived 
from the pastime. Almost every boy knows the 
pickerel, so common to our waters, and at one 
time or another has felt the savage snap of the 
pickerel when he strikes the bait. The fisher¬ 
man who wants something that is not so hard 
to catch as the bass and the shy trout finds that 
this fish will tax his energy and give him hours 
of delightful sport. 
bound as it is in almost every State, it is 
common food of the people, the friend of some 
fishermen and the enemy of those who prefer 
bass and trout. Flere in the weedy lakes the 
pickerel flourish, and may be taken at any time. 
In the spring and early summer they are found 
in shallow water where they are on the look¬ 
out for minnows and fry. 
Trolling for pickerel undoubtedly brings the 
best success, therefore it is resorted to by the 
majority. Generally a boat is rowed just out¬ 
side the line of the weeds, where the big fel¬ 
lows lie, and while one slowly rows, another 
holds the trolling line that is let out a hundred 
feet or more in the rear. Some row too fast and 
thus fail to realize their expectations. Usually 
a large spoon hook is used. This hook has the 
feathered end with the usual barbs, or if there 
are no feathers attached, the fisherman ties on 
several pieces of red yarn which proves very 
enticing to this fish. At the distance the hook 
is away from the boat it is in stilled water and 
all ripples have settled. Thus while the fish is 
lying in the grass, this glinting spoon comes 
flashing along and at once his attention is ar¬ 
rested. Whether he, thinks it is some species 
of fish life or not is uncertain, but he is greatly 
interested and rises to the lure. A pickerel will 
follow a bait for some distance before he takes 
it and then will snap it up, probably out of sheer 
exasperation at seeing this strange creature in¬ 
vading its domain and keeping just out of its 
reach. 
When the pickerel has struck, it is a good 
idea to wait a few minutes, keeping the line taut 
to be sure. The line is drawn in hand over hand 
and coiled neatly in the bottom of the boat, and 
when the fish is close by, a quick movement 
brings him in. The pickerel puts all his energy 
in that last flop, and if the fisherman is not 
quick, he may lose him. 
I saw something rather amusing last summer. 
Two young fellows were dragging a line for 
pickerel, and when they got one up close to the 
boat, for fear that it would get away, they shot 
it with a .22 caliber rifle. In camp we could 
count the fish they caught that afternoon by the 
shots we heard, and when they came in at night 
we found that we had come very near the right 
count. 
Aside from trolling for the pickerel, it is 
caught with rod and reel and by still-fishing, but 
the latter method requires patience. The. line 
used for this fishing must be a good one. For 
bait-casting there are three kinds of rods that 
may be used with equal success. Ten ounces 
in my opinion should be the weight of the steel 
rod, and for lancewood and split bamboo about 
eight ounces. The rods having big guides and 
three-ring tops give the best satisfaction. Agate 
guides are best. I have found the cork handle 
suitable, to the grip. Use a reel large enough 
to hold sixty yards of G line. 
The pickerel is a peculiar fish in its way. I 
have caught seventeen in one morning -by just 
rowing up and down one end of the lake and 
-the next day found it impossible to land any on 
the same spot. Pickerel often lie in the mud 
banks. Where there is grass there is always 
sure to be pickerel. Often, however, they lie 
off the sandbars or in the middle of the lake. 
Robert Page Lincoln. 
