1034 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
SE AAND IRIE FISTING 
[9061 ‘of anof 

Sullivan County Notes. 
Liperty, Sullivan County, N. Y., June 23.— 
We have been having rainy, muggy, uncom- 
fortable weather for a week. Something unusual 
for Sullivan County in the month of June. This 
week one or two days have been first rate for 
fishing and I have no doubt that excellent sport 
has been had. <A fine basket of native trout, 
weighing 14 pounds, was brought back from the 
Willowemock above Malt Decker’s, last week, by 
a resident of Neversink. A very fine trout was 
killed on the lower Esopus, recently. This fish 
was 22 inches long and weighed within an ounce 
or two of four pounds. It took an artificial fly 
near the head of a big pool and gave fine sport 
before it was landed. June is the month for big 
trout, particularly after a rise in the water. | 
hear that pickerel are taking well in the Stevens- 
ville ponds, west of Liberty. A fine string was 
caught on Wednesday; largest fish about 4 
pounds. The country is very lovely now, yet but 
few city people have appeared at the resorts for 
the summer. They never turn out in force until 
July. 
I have had my snag-proof wading shoes half 
soled and hobnailed and they are now perfect. 
This is one of the best ideas I have struck for 
a long time, and I shall bring it to the attention 
of all of my fishing friends. I fancy they will 
be first rate for shooting also, as I wore them last 
fall when out with the gun, and found them 
comfortable. 
I have not heard of many broods of ruffed 
grouse, but know that a large stock of birds 
wintered well. I have advice of two broods of 
woodcock on one small brook; doubtless there 
are many, as there are some good breeding 
grounds in this country. 
A Mother Grouse and the Demon of II] Luck. 
I HAD a queer experience with a ruffed grouse 
yesterday when on my way to the post office. 
had taken the rod and was fishing near the head 
of a long shallow pool opposite a steep bank, 
which was covered with evergreen timber, rhodo- 
dendrons, etc., when I heard a very strange noise. 
I could not imagine what it was until a fine hen 
grouse came creeping along the bank, giving vent 
constantly to what were certainly the oddest 
sounds I ever heard a bird make. If you have 
heard a dog whine when in great pain, that is 
something like it. Of course, the bird’s nest, or 
her young, were on that bank, but I was on the 
opposite side of the stream, and at least twenty- 
five yards away. She scuttled along with me for 
about sixty yards, and gradually her moaning, 
heart-rending notes died away. I have seen many 
mother grouse with little ones, but none ever 
behaved like this one. Woodchoppers had been 
felling trees just above the pool. Is it possible 
that they had taken the bird’s eggs or young 
grouse? I fancied that possibly the herribly noisy 
reel I was using may have alarmed the hen. 
She was in great distress, evidently. 
It was an afternoon of misfortunes; ill-luck 
was surely with me. I did nothing going down; 
there was sawdust running. After getting my 
mail; I returned to the pool behind the post 
office. All this water is fished to death, and my 
chances seemed slim indeed. Then the line 
jammed on that miserable reel, with ten yards or 
more out, and I spent the best part of an hour 
clearing it. At last the sawdust let up a trifle, 
and a trout rose here and there. I put up a 
small quill and by hard work killed five trout of 
no great size. Tramping up stream, I found two 
fish rising and lost them both; then found that 
the barb of the small hook was gone. Put up 
another fly and put it over what I thought was 
the rise of a smallish trout, hooked it and found 
it was a good one. After a fight, the hook came 
away at the last moment. By this time dark 
clouds had covered the sky and the light was bad. 
I could not see my fly in the water. There was 
nothing promising between myself and home ex- 
cept one place where a boy, fishing with bait, had 
been smashed by a large trout. As a last forlorn 
hope I went there, and soon made up my mind 
where the fish must lie, if still at home in the 
same spot. In order to see the fly I tied on a 
larger quill, which floated beautifully. At the 
second cast I saw Speckles come at the fly, which 
she took fiercely; then away she went with a 
mad rush. The stiff click on my reel made 
the situation a dangerous one, particularly when 
the fish turned and went down stream. The 
stream was swift and a heavy rapid began just 
below. The aged Leonard bent double to meet 
this last danger and turned the trout. At last 
I got the lady into a backwater and landed a 
lovely, golden yellow trout of over 21%\lbs. 
This was one of the crazy fish I have mentioned 
as being common this year. I was satisfied that 
I had, by hard work, beaten the demon of mis- 
fortune for that day, at any rate. I fished no 
more, but went home as fast as my legs could 
carry me, 
When we have good luck we come home early; 
otherwise we stay late and fight it out. How 
often we are defeated! Everything goes against 
us and we struggle in vain to conquer adverse 
conditions, but if we do win out, how pleased we 
are. We really believe that we can fish. 
THEODORE GORDON. 
NEVERSINK, Sullivan County, N. Y. 

Parasites of Black Bass. 
New YorK.—Editor Forest and Stream: In 
1895 I was attracted to Culver Lake, N. J., by 
fine small-mouth bass fishing, and at once pur- 
chased property and erected the first house oc- 
cupied by city folks. Fishing continued fair until 
a couple of years ago. Last year it was very poor 
—this season much poorer. I have never lost 
faith in the fish being there, but natural food be- 
ing so plentiful and increasing each year, I’ve at- 
tributed the poor fishing to that cause. 
Last Sunday afternoon a neighbor caught four 
bass, ranging in weight from 1 to 134 pounds. 
He presented them to me. I put them in the ice- 
box over night and cleaned them Monday morn- 
ing. It is a custom with me to examine the 
stomachs of fish and birds for information, and 
I was much surprised to find the stomachs of 
these four bass in a much congested state, so 
much so, that none of the organs were distinct; 
and in each there appeared small white objects 
about 3-16in. to %4in. long which, to the naked 
eye, looked like worms. If worms, they were 
without life—did not move. The flesh seemed to 
be in fine condition, and my friend said the fish 
had given him a nice fight. With the bass was a 
yellow perch and catfish, their organs being. in 
normal condition. 
There are about sixty houses now occupied, 
with others in contemplation. Every one is com- 
plaining of poor bass fishing, although perch and 
pickerel have been much more abundant. 
Is it likely that the bass have some disease and 
are sulking in deep water, and is not this ¢on- 
Eos condition mentioned the disease, and what 
1s 1tf 
Our lake is a beautiful piece of water, with 
rocky shores, with no lilies and but little swamp. 
It will be of great interest to have an intelli- 
gent explanation, and will place many of us 
under obligations if you can give it. 
JAMES L. Ropinson. 
[The parasites above described were recog- 
nized as tape worms or flat worms of some kind, 
and were examined by one of the most eminent 
specialists on internal parasites of fish, Professor 
Edwin Linton, of Washington and Jefferson Col. 
lege. Professor Linton says: “The worms are 
Cestodes, and may for the present be callec 
Tenia sp. I have never seen this species before 
at least not in this immature condition, but, ] 
have really done very little work on the entozoz 
of fresh-water fish. Furthermore, there has no’ 
been much done by any one on the life history 0: 
the Cestodes of fishes. I have found in Fundulu: 
majalis at Beaufort larval Tenie whose adul 
stage is found in certain fish-eating birds; but dc 
not like to venture an opinion as to the final hos’ 
of these in the bass.” 
Fundulus majalis is the common bass killy 
striped killifish, or striped mummichog of th« 
east coast. It does not follow that the larval tap« 
worm referred to would develop if it should ac 
cidentally pass into the alimentary tract of man 
it may belong to a kind which matures in one 0 
the water birds. The final identification of thi: 
worm involves a great deal of iriterest for the 
angler. Unfortunately, our best game fishes ar¢ 
often attacked by such pests, and the study of the 
subject ought to receive more attention than 1 
has obtained hitherto.] 

In New Hampshire. 
BrETton Woops, White Mountains, N. H.—The 
fame of the White Mountains as a fishing grounc 
was for many years widespread. Fifty—yes, eve 
twenty-five—years ago its splashing rivers anc 
deep, swift-running brooks were teeming witl 
gamy speckled trout that rose with equal vorac 
ity to fly or bait or the red flannel of the smal 
boy. Then came a period when the invasion c 
the forest by the man with the axe worked havo: 
and saw mills sprung up on every stream of an) 
size, to choke it eventually with its vomiting o 
saw dust and drive the trout from their old-tim: 
haunts. 
Now, however, the trouting section of New 
Hampshire is less infested with the mills anc 
their fish-killing dust, but another danger ha 
succeeded the former, and despite the yearl) 
stocking of streams during the past decade wit! 
fingerlings and minnows, pot-hunters and idler 
are depleting the streams for want of somethin; 
better to do. 
The village ne’er-do-well is constantly figurin; 
in fiction, with the traditional fish pole over hi. 
shoulder and his only energy that displayed ii 
the filling of his spacious creel. What Nev 
Hampshire needs now is a reasonable protectio: 
from such fishermen, say the hotel proprietors i 
general, and to make the mountain streams th 
best agents for filling the small hotels and board 
ing houses with early season guests. Many :; 
man likes to place his family at a farm or smal 
hotel where he may come to spend the week en¢ 
and get a good day’s fishing. 
The trouble is that at the moment thi 
fishing season opens all the men and boys whc 
for constitutional or other reasons, have been un 
able to remain in useful employment, at onc: 
get busy in taking out the best fish regardless o 
.the real rights of those who have stocked th 
streams and perhaps protected and fed the fis! 
Poachers in posted waters can be arrested fo 
trespass, but the fine is not severe enough, an: 
they suffer little beyond annoyance and costs. 
Fishing for market prevails among certai 
districts of northern New Hampshire. Thi 
should be stopped, and buying or selling mad 
an offense punishable by law. The positiv 
assurance of good fishing would bring early bus! 
ness, and the railroads and small resorts of Ney 
Hampshire would benefit accordingly in a wa 
that would be worth far more to them than th 
privilege of buying trout for the large hotel tabl« 
and the small houses could and probably woul 
be supplied free of cost by their own guests. | 
