308 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[FEB. 24, 1906. 

Fish Chat. 
BY EDWARD A. SAMUELS. 


Early Salmon Fishing. 
ALTHOUGH the clause in the Canadian fishery 
laws, which provides “that it shall be lawful to 
fish for, catch and kill salmon with a rod and 
line in the manner known as fly surface fishing, 
between the Ist day of February and the 15th day 
of August in each year,’ was not intended in a 
Pickwickian sense, it certainly, so far as the early 
date named is concerned, has but little bearing on 
the Quebec and New Brunswick rivers, for the 
number of fish which ascend those streams before 
the ice leaves them is exceedingly small, and I 
have been unable to learn that anglers have im- 
proved their opportunity in any of the noble 
rivers which flow from those two Provinces. 
From the rivers on the southeastern coast of 
Nova Scotia comes a different story, for in most 
of them the salmon make their appearance in 
January or early February and fly-fishing at the 
opening of the season is not only practicable but 
it is done, and it meets with very satisfactory re- 
sults, too. 

In Forest AND STREAM of a year ago I re- 
corded the capture of an 18-pound salmon in the 
Port Medway River by an Indian, who sold it 
at the high price of $1 per pound, and I am in- 
formed that the fishing of this season in the above 
named rivers started in with no little éclat, sev- 
eral fine salmon having been brought to gaff dur- 
ing the first week of the month. 
Among these rivers the Indian, which empties 
into Margaret’s Bay; the Ingram, Port Medway, 
Liverpool, East and Clyde are most noted for 
their early runs of fish, and in either of these the 
angler whose enthusiasm is greater than his fear 
of discomforts may find really acceptable sport. 
Of all these streams the Port Medway is one 
of the choicest; it is an ideal salmon river in 
many ways, and if it were properly protected 
from poachers it would be the best of all Nova 
Scotia rivers. Formerly it was rather difficult of 
access, but the new line of railroad makes it very 
approachable, and in consequence of the extreme 
mildness of the season it will be visited by more 
than the usual number of anglers. In describing 
this noble river the Liverpool Advance of recent 
date says: 
“We wonder if its equal can be found in the 
Province, where they are caught so early and in 
such quantities. For reasons best known to them- 
selves, the salmon just love the rippling Medway. 
Now, as we write, they are slowly moving along 
up stream, for they take their time when the 
water is cold, and are waiting and ready to snap 
at the first fly that lights on the river. And from 
the tide to Greenfield is one succession of sal- 
mon pools, scores of places where the river is 
just suited to fly-fishing, ripples and eddies where 
salmon love to linger and where the skillful and 
patient angler is sure to be rewarded.. We be- 
lieve that if the Medway River was protected and 
patrolled as it ought to be the salmon fishing 
would soon become a source of wealth to the peo- 
ple along its shores.” 
It is several years since I had the pleasure of 
casting the fly on the Port Medway. I had hoped 
to be able to once again visit it this spring, but 
failing health forbids and nothing is left me but 
pleasant reminiscences of sport upon its rushing 
waters and deep and foam-flecked pools. 
I have occasional opportunities, however, to 
learn of what is being done with fly-rod and reel, 
and the information I thus obtain concerning this 
and other early Nova Scotia streams is often 
valuable and interesting in a high degree. 
On the Port Medway. 
Concerning the Port Medway, Dr. H. H. Mack, 
of Mill Village, Queens county, writes me: “The 
first run of salmon enters our river in January, 
the law allows us to fish for them with fly Feb. 1, 
and from twelve to twenty are taken in about two 
weeks; the second run gets here about the middle 
of March, and both runs seem eager for the fly. 
“The standard flies are, for this river, Jock 
Scott, Durham ranger, Silver Doctor, Popham 
and a few others, all of large size for the early 
fishing, and smaller ones as the season advances. 
We natives manufacture our own early fly; the 
body is orange in color with silver tinsel and a 
yellow hackle, wings from the ruff of a golden 
pheasant.” 
Objections Raised to Early Angling. 
That the opening of the season for fly-fishing 
for salmon on Feb. 1 is not.an unmixed blessing 
is the opinion held by many sportsmen, they be- 
lieving that the few salmon which come into the 
rivers at that early date should be permitted to 
ascend the streams unmolested, and thus give a 
greater number opportunities for carrying on the 
work of reproduction; they also claim that the 
privilege thus accorded is often abused, not only 
by the use of gill nets but by the capture of trout 
which are moving up and down the river at that 
time of the year, and not only this, but they also 
assert that in such an inclement season as early 
February the taking of the salmon is not followed 
so much as a sport as ‘it is as a pursuit for profit, 
and that it would be very much better if the time 
was set back from Feb. 1 to April 1 to conform 
with the opening of the season for angling for 
trout. 
In reply to all of which it is said that the fish 
taken in February and March are few in number 
compared with those which ascend the rivers dur- 
ing the entire season; that the capture of the so- 
called sea trout in salmon rivers at any season is 
something to be commended rather than con- 
demned, for the reason that they destroy not only 
immense numbers of the young salmon but also 
devour great quantities of the spawn before the 
fry are hatched, even seizing it as it is exuding 
from the parent fish, and that though there are 
anglers who are so effeminate as to be unwilling 
to make the effort to withstand the rigors of the 
season, there are enthusiasts in plenty who can 
thoroughly enjoy the sport, no matter what the 
weather may be. 

It is probable that the privilege accorded by the 
early opening of the season is but very little 
abused, although we may readily see that it might 
be done, and if unscrupulous poachers had the 
opportunity to put out their nets when ostensibly 
engaged in fly-fishing, particularly in a season like 
the present one, in which the rivers are free from 
moving ice, the high price of $1 per pound, which 
is obtained for these early salmon, would prove 
a great incentive for them to carry on the work, 
the capture of three or four 15 to 18-pound sal- 
mon a day meaning the receipt of $50 or more, 
which would be no inconsiderable sum for such 
persons, but it is very doubtful if this line of 
poaching is carried on, and the fish that are taken 
are brought to gaff on the fly-rod. 
Not a New Departure. 
Now the early coming of these fish to Nova 
Scotia rivers is not peculiar to those streams, for 
the Atlantic salmon, as is well known, begins to 
ascend the rivers of Norway, which enter the sea, 
at the more southerly portions of the west coast, 
and those of Scotland, such as the Thurso and the 
Naver, late in December or early in January, and 
by the middle of January good fly-fishing is to 
be had. 
While our anglers may not, as a rule, be anx- 
ious to obtain their fly-fishing “when the north 
wind doth blow and we shall have snow,” there 
is a considerable number who are as enthusiastic 
and hardy as was the English angler who, in de- 
scribing his winter fly-fishing, says: oy found 
the feathers of the fly stiff and hard, the wings 
being a mass of ice. In fact, several times that 
day I had to put the fly I was using in my mouth 
to thaw it.” This occurred on a cold morning 
early in February “when many of the pools were 
covered with ice, and a bitter ‘norther’ was blow- 
ing, which made it a matter of no small difficulty 
to keep warm.” And yet, notwithstanding the 
discomforts in which his work was done, his kill 
on that day was six fish, ranging from 13 to 16 
pounds each. 
A GREAT auk’s egg was sold at auction in Lon- 
don last month for $1,000. 
Fish and Fishing. 

New System of Fish and Game Inspection 
In Quebec. 
THE’ Hon. Mr. Prevost, Minister of Coloniza- 
tion, Mines and Fisheries of the Province of 
Quebec, has prepared his new legislation for im- 
proving the system of fish and game protection in 
that Province. His bill provides for the division 
oi the Province into six districts for purposes of 
inspection. They are to be named respectively 
Saguenay, Metapedia, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Mon- 
treal and,Ottawa. The Saguenay district will 
include the counties of Chicoutimi, Lake St. John 
and Saguenay. Metapedia will take in the Gaspé 
peninsula and the country as far west as Kamou- 
raska. Sherbrooke includes the whole eastern 
townships. Quebec extends from Saguenay to the 
dividing line between the counties of Berthier and 
Maskinongé. From that line westward to the 
Ontario border are the districts of Ottawa to the 
north and Montreal to the south. Each of these 
districts will be looked after by a fish and game 
inspector, with a number of fish and game guar- 
dians under him, for whose conduct he will be 
responsible, while a chief fish and game inspector 
will superintend the entire system. The inspec- 
tors will have their traveling expenses paid in 
addition to their salaries, and will be changed 
every year or two from one district to another. 
Salmon Poachers go to Jail. 
Justice has at length triumphed over the poach- 
ers convicted of dynamiting salmon in the Meta- 
pedia River. It will be remembered by the read- 
ers of this column that a clever conspiracy was 
entered into by some of these offenders last au- 
tumn for the purpose of escaping the conse- 
quences of their crimes. Information had been 
obtained by the Ristigouche Riparian Association 
against four poachers, who immediately set about 
evading the law by informing, one against the 
other, the law providing that the fine imposed 
goes to the informer. The result aimed at was 
simply to swap fines. While Judge Chauveau was - 
actually on his way down from Quebec to try the 
accused, the latter hurried one another before a 
local magistrate at Causapscal and were con- 
demned to nominal fines. Then, while they were 
rearrested under the warrants taken out by Mr. 
Mowat for the Riparian Association, they pleaded 
that they had already been condemned and could 
not be a second time condemned for the same 
offense. 
Mr. John Hall Kelly, M.L.A., who had been 
retained for the prosecution by the members of 
the Riparian Association, answered the accuseds’ 
plea by stating that the first convictions had been 
abieined through fraud and collusion, and that 
the accused had resorted to these first convictions 
in order to prevent the Riparian Association from 
having them condemned as they deserved. This 
was the first time that such a plea had been 
brought up in the Province of Quebec at a pre- 
liminary examination of the prisoners, and the 
result was several adjournments of the cases, 
while Judge Chauveau, who is also professor of 
criminal law at Laval University, Quebec, after 
taking the case under consideration, ordered a 
rehearing on the points of law involved. The 
cases were accordingly argued anew and judg- 
ment has just been rendered. Counsel for the 
poachers, seeing that the judgment must be 
against them, asked permission to withdraw their 
former plea, and filed one of guilty. Upon this 
plea they were all four condemned.and sentenced 
to both imprisonment and fines. The Judge re- 
primanded the accused very severely, telling them 
they deserved no mercy from the courts, and had 
rendered themselves liable to long terms of im- 
prisonment. He insisted upon the injury that 
would be caused the entire population of that part 
of the country by such nefarious practices as 
would destroy the salmon rivers and put an end 
to the enormous expenditure of the wealthy 
American anglers who frequent the Ristigouche, 
the Metapedia and adjoining rivers in the sum- 
mer season, Mr. Kelly showed that dynamiting 
and other practices destructive of spawn and 
spawning beds must result in the ruin of the sal- 
