May 19, 1906.] 
FOREST 


CAMP ON JUMPING 
the water. I am assured that many will appear 
later, but there should be more of them now. I 
fear that the terrible floods of recent years, 
caused by the destruction of the forests, and long 
drouths during which the water in the lower por- 
tions of the streams became very warm, has 
killed off many of the larva from which the flies 
develop. I wish to know more about. these flies 
and am trying to induce some of my friends to 
carry with them when on the stream a small bot- 
tle of alcohol, in which to preserve specimens of 
the naturals which hatch out in great numbers, or 
at which they see the trout rising. If things are 
no better than they are now but few specimens 
will be got, but I trust that it is only the cold 
mae which have been keeping back the natural 
ies. 
I received this week an artificial fly which has 
become quite celebrated in England under the 
name of Tup’s Indispensable. The gentleman 
who very kindly mailed it to me says that the 
composition of the body is a secret known only 
to one tackle maker, who, of course, does not 
care to give it away. It is a very plain little fly 
but when held up to the light one can see the 
shining semi-transparent effect produced by the 
combinations of dubbing in its body. The hackle 
of this one is blue dun, but it may be honey 
dun, that rarest of rare hackles in this country. 
On Saturday afternoon, May 12, there was a 
fair hatch of natural flies, the first I- have seen 
this season. It was a very small dark dun and 
none of the many anglers on the stream had any- 
thing much like it. However, only the small trout 
were taking it, the big fish probably considered it 
beneath their notice. In the morning I had to go 
to the village with mail, and knowing that there 
was a good big pool and several rifts near it, | 
carried my rod. The river was simply full of: 
chips and sawdust from a mill half a mile above. 
and that pretty piece of water was ruined for the 
time being. Not a trout would rise until I 
tramped up above the tail race of the mil]. I was 
very anxious to kill a few good fish for friends 
who were coming up in the afternoon and at last 
‘I succeeded. They were not many, but all ex- 
ISLAND, 
cept one, four out of five, fairly large fish, so I 
came home to dinner perfectly satisfied. This 1s 
a great time of the year for anglers, they were 
strung along the river vesterday as far as one 
could see. 
The hatch of naturals greatly encouraged me. 
as I hope that I shall see all the spring insects 
on the water within the next few weeks. It adds 
so much to one’s pleasure when the trout are ris- 
ing at something one can try to imitate, even 
when failures predominate. A man will often 
take more fish when very few flies are on the 
water. Then his flies are not contrasted with 
the perfect little winged ships, sailing on the 
bosom of ihe stream with fairy sail erect. I 
have not seen one of the large stone flies. The 
weather or coldness of the water must have some- 
thing to do with the scarcity of insects 1p to this 
time on this river. THEODORE GORDON. 
Fish and Motor Boats. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The article in vour issue of March 31 from the 
New Bern (N. C.) Journal on motor boats and 
fishing, is on a line with my experience. Several 
vears ago. when I first began to fish the Rideau 
Lakes in Ontario, they were entirely free of all 
motor craft except the tri-weekly freight and 
passenger boats between Kingston and Ottawa, 
and an occasional freight boat laden with Im- 
ber or farm products. Nothing else in boats ap- 
peared to disturb the waters except a few canres 
or St. Lawrence River boats, and the fishine for 
small-month black bass was equaled hy few nlaces 
on the continent. Almost anv novice coud take 
thirty er forty bass during a day thot would run 
in weicht from 2 to 5 pounds each, but as a rule 
the fishermen were not game hoes and thev re- 
trned to the water all excent those badly hooked. 
There were, of course. excentions to this rule. 
Gradnallv the heantiful islands came into pos- 
ceessjans af rich Americans and along with them 
came the motor boats. which were running in and 
out in every direction, and the fishing began to 
KIPAWA LAKE, QUEBEC. 
fall off until it became too poor to spend time 
with and we looked for other waters far from 
civilization where we will probably be undis- 
turbed for many years. 
I am convinced that there are still great quan- 
tifies of bass in the Rideau but they are so much 
disturbed by the motor boats during the summer 
that they will not take the bait as formerly. 
TOHICKON. 
Section 58 N. Y. Law. 
In. our issue of April 28 we printed a note 
from a correspondent inquiring as to the mean- 
ing of the section of the New York law which 
reads as follows: “No fishing through ice.— 
Fish shall not be taken through the ice in the 
waters of Lake Wanita, formerly known as Little 
Lake, in the counties of Steuben and Schuyler, 
nor.in waters inhabited by trout and lake trout 
during the close season therefor.” Our corre- 
spondent advised us that Mr. M. C. Worts, Act- 
ing Chief Protector, held the section to mean: 
“Bish shall not be. taken in waters inhabited by 
trout and lake trout during the close season 
therefor,’ which would méan that waters inhabi- 
ted by trout and lake trout are absolutely closed 
to all fishing, except during those months when 
trout and lake trout may legally be taken. 
Mr. Worts stated that he had consulted the At- 
torney-General’s office on this point and that his 
decision was based on the opinion given by that 
office. We explained to our correspondent that 
our view did not coincide with that of Mr. 
Worts; that, in our opinion, the caption of the 
section, “no fishing through ice.”’ limited all the 
prohibitions of the section; which has to do 
solely with fishing through ice. 
Application to the Attorney-General’s office 
confirms our view, and that office writes us that 
the opinion given to Mr. Worts was “in sub- 
stance that fish could not legally be taken through 
the ice in any. waters of the State inhabited by 
trout or lake trout during the close season, ex- 
cept in the waters duly exempt by section 58.” 
