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FOREST AND STREAM. 

[JULY 27, 1907. 

trouble and expense the company at Catalina 
could establish a place at the Isthmus where 
anglers could stay over night, for there are 
buildings, tent houses, bedding, etc., up there 
the year around, but everything is closed up 
just when fishing is best. 
~' Several desultory attempts to develop this 
end of the island have been made. A dancing 
pavilion and several buildings have been 
erected, but these efforts to attract people who 
do not fish have come to naught. The pavilion 
is locked and deserted, the buildings are either 
closed or occupied only by men working there, 
and while it would ‘be only too easy to pro- 
vide for the shelter of fishermen wishing to 
spend a night or two, not a place is available 
except in July and August, when the company 
puts up a few tents and rents them to families 
who wish to camp and do their own cooking. 
When J say there is no place to stay at the 
Isthmus ten months in the year, that is not 
strictly true, for there is Dimick’s, at the 
pumping station, a mile or two beyond. The 
old Captain will give up his room and bed any 
night to a weary, fisherman, and both room 
and bed are spotlessly neat. 
It is with a feeling of comfortable anticipa- 
tion that one heads toward the little bay after 
a long day’s trolling. The Captain’s flag is 
flying. He dipped it in the morning ‘when we 
passed on up by way of salutation. The mo- 
ment he sees the launch round the point, head- 
ing in, he hurries down to the beach, shoves 
off his small skiff and puts out to our an- 
chorage to bring us ashore. As he draws 
alongside, he invariably exclaims: 
“Golly, there isn’t much for supper, but’— 
“That’s all right, Captain, we have come 
for some of those cakes.” 
“Well, there’s plenty of them.” 
“Here’s the maple syrup,’ and Gray passes 
over a half-gallon can. 
There is only one place on the island—in 
southern California, for that matter—to get 
griddle cakes, and that is at Dimick’s. The 
year around.a great pitcher of sour dough 
stands on a shelf in the room, which is the 
kitchen, dining room and parlor combined, 
and on a moment’s notice the old Captain 
takes out the proper amount, adds a little 
soda, etc., and there you are, the finest griddle 
cakes in America. 
One doesn’t care for anything else to eat. 
Just a dozen or so of the Captain’s cakes, a 
stroll on the beach, a few stories and remin- 
iscences, then to bed to sleep, perchance to 
dream of the big fellows that got away, and 
the bigger ones to be caught next day. Lucky 
Sleeper if the fish do not hold high carnival 
about the bed and dance a breakdown on the 
pit of his stomach. 
It was one hot day in the bay at Johnson’s 
that I introduced Gray to the mysteries of , 
Camembert cheese. It was not the -genuine 
article from sunny France; only an imitation 
made somewhere in California. In whatever 
other respects it fell short it equalled the orig- 
inal in fragrance. As I unwrapped the small 
piece hidden away in the depths of the iunch 
basket, Gray, whose back happened to be 
turned, shifted about uneasily on his seat, 
leaned over and peered into the bait can. 
“Gee, but that bait is getting rank. Who'd 
have thought it would turn so bad as that?” 
And he shoved the unoffending can up toward 
the bow and covered it carefully with a piece 
of oileloth. 
“T-wouldn’t have believed”’— then he caught 
another whiff and detected the source. It 
was some time before he could be persuaded 
to try the cheese, but Gray is no dyspeptic. 
Ile has one of those appetites which make 
Catalina famous. He could not stand it to see 
me eat all that cheese. 
“It’s not so bad,” he remarked after trying 
a piece, “if a man only holds his nose.’ Often 
while lunching in that bay, large yellowtail 
would pass and repass near the launch. The 
bottom is sandy, the bay shallow and the water 
perfectly clear. It was interesting to see the 
long, graceful fish move slowly by. I some- 
times hung a line over, but never happened to 
hook one in there. ARTHUR JEROME Eppy. 
Rainbow and Brown Trout. 
New York, July 16—Editor . Forest and 
Stream: Mr. Theodore Gordon asks, ‘Where 
have the rainbow trout become well established, 
and ‘where have they been taken year after 
year?” There are several streams in the Cats- 
kills, where up to ten or fifteen years ago, rain- 
bow trout were fully established and were 
caught regularly each season in considerable 
numbers and of good size. The Platterkill 
furnished excellent fly-fishing for this variety of 
trout. A singular fact in connection with this 
creek is that these fish did not run up the 
Roaring Kill—a feeder—or beyond the Platter- 
kill at its confluence with the Schoharie, be- 
tween Tannersville and Kaaterskill Junction. 
The East Kill likewise contained many rainbow 
trout; some are still taken there. Luther 
Holdridge, the bear hunter, caught a couple of 
years since in the pond at the Stock Farm—the 
creek is dammed here—a rainbow trout weigh- 
ing six pounds. There are brook trout in this 
pond nearly as large. The upper East Kill al- 
ways held big trout. It has been included in a 
preserve within the past year; but the stream 
that was best adapted to the development of 
the rainbow and in which they did best, was the 
Kaaterskill. In places it is wild, with numerous 
falls and deep pools. Fawn’s Leap, between 
two and three miles above Palenville, harbors 
to-day as large rainbow trout probably as ever 
grew. Twenty years ago I caught them on a 
fly in this hole weighing two pounds. There 
may not be many of them there now, but there 
are a few, and they’re big. The fishing is un- 
restricted. 
The reason rainbow trout have ceased to be 
found, save rarely in streams where once, if 
not abundant, they were at least fully estab- 
lished, is two-fold: With the general introduc- 
tion of the brown trout, attention was diverted 
from the rainbow and but comparatively few of 
the latter fry were placed in waters where they 
had already made a good start. The 6,000 fry 
mentioned by Mr. Gordon as having been 
liberated in the Willowemoc ten years ago, con- 
stitute, probably, the largest number and latest 
distribution to nearby waters. In the case of 
the Platterkill, Schoharie, East Kill and 
Kaaterskill, there was total failure to restock 
with any variety of fish. The effect was the 
same with the brook trout as with the rainbow. 
In the matter of restocking these waters, no 
great interest was taken; the fishing at the time 
was excellent, especially for brook trout, and 
there were but few local and no outside anglers. 
Fishermen were frowned upon by the good 
people of the sparsely settled valleys as great’ 
idlers. My grandparents lived there and my 
summers from childhood were spent with them. 
In very early life I braved public opinion and 
became a great idler. In this way my knowl- 
edge and appreciation of the rainbow trout— 
then recently, and in some unknown manner in- 
troduced—were acquired. 
Now, as to the chief and irremediable cause 
of the decadence of the rainbow—and of the 
brook trout as well—in the streams above-men- 
tioned. These remarks apply in a lesser degree 
to the upper portions of the Willowemoc, 
Beaverkill, Neversink, Rondout and Esopus. 
The Catskill plateau was never abundantly sup- 
plied with water—notwithstanding its selection 
as the source of supply for the great Ashokan 
reservoir. With the steady and complete lum- 
bering going on during the past thirty years 
the creeks have gradually dwindled to insignifi- 

cance. In dry summers the waters disappear 
entirely from the beds of streams for long 
stretches and occupy only the larger pools. 
Many trout were left high and dry as the water 
fell, and_ those that found their way into the 
deeper holes were snared and jigged and even 
taken out with the hands. Then with the build- 
ing of the Stoney Clove and Kaaterskill rail- 
roads dynamite was added to the other forms 
of summer angling. The combination proved 
quite effective in ridding the creeks of the few 
surviving fish. 
In the case of the Kaaterskill, the conditions 
are somewhat different. North and South lakes 
are its source, but the water is dammed above 


Kaaterskill Falls, and is turned on only for dis- 
play. Haines Falls is operated in like manner. 
The two streams join in the Clove above Fawn’s 
Leap, at the old tannery site, from which the 
distant village of Tannersville derives its name. 
Before the coming of the summer visitor and 
after his departure the water runs in small 
amounts through the creeks. During July and 
August, in the daytime, it is turned on intermit- 
tingly, and after heavy rains with a log-driving 
head, but as a usual thing very sparingly. The 
water is Often ‘stagnant and foul. Therefore 
there are no fish of any consequence to be taken 
aside from in the deep holes. But in such 
places there is sufficient water, well clouded, to 
protect the few ‘remaining rainbow trout from 
being taken illegally. 
In the discussion on the, subject of restock- 
ing the depleted waters of the State with brown 
trout, that has taken place in ForrEsT AND 
STREAM for some time past, the general opinion 
seems strongly in favor of the move. The only 
word written in which favorable mention is 
made of the rainbow, is in the article by Mr. 
Gordon. No doubt the reason the brown trout 
has been given such general preference, to the 
exculsion of the rainbow, is because we are 
more familiar with the former. In New York 
State, particularly in Ulster, Sullivan and Dela- 
ware counties, he has been of ‘late years our 
chief reliance. Given equally favorable con- 
ditions of number liberated and selection of 
streams, the rainbow is as hardy and prolific 
asthe brown trout. Furthermore, this fish— 
the rainbow— will rise to the fly in low, clear 
water when the brook and the brown trout can- 
not be taken at all. 
With regard to the game qualities of the 
rainbow trout, my experience coincides with 
that of Mr. Gordon. The brown trout rises to 
the fly quite as determinedly, but from that on 
his fighting consists of boring toward bottom, 
like the big Maine squaretail, while the surface 
playing of the rainbow resembles more the 
action of the landlocked salmon. 
If rainbow trout fry were planted in the upper 
waters of such creeks as the Neversink, Beaver- 
kill and Willowemoc, and brown trout in the 
lower reaches, these grand streams would be 
worth while visiting once more. These waters 
will likely never again afford much fishing for 
brook trout, with the possible exception of the 
headwaters of the Willowemoc—which is with- 
out doubt one of the greatest breeding streams 
in the State—and of the west branch of the 
Neversink, which is restricted. 
JosEPH W. DrooGan. 


Brown Trout. 
Two members of the Anglers’ Club, of this 
city, fished in the East Branch of the Broad- 
head in Pennsylvania Fourth of July week. 
Fishing upstream at the tail of Dietrich’s Rift 
on the morning of the Fourth, one of them 
struck, and after a long fight, landed a brown 
trout that measured 18% inches in length. 
The angler had been casting with a five-ounce 
rod and a single fly—a No. 10 lead-wing coach- 
man, the most killing fly on those waters this 
season—but a few moments before raising this 
fish he had added a queen of the water on a 
No. 9 hook as a dropper, and to this fly the 
brown trout rose. When he took the trout 
ashore and killed it, a chub was found in its 
mouth, head up and but slightly mutilated. 
Evidently the trout had just captured the 
chub and had killed it preparatory to ejecting, 
turning and swallowing it head first. The chub 
was a trifle more than 4% inches long. 
In view of the fact that a good many writers 
who have contributed their mites to the “Brook 
vs. Brown Trout” testimony have expressed 
it as their opinion that both species are not 
likely to exist in the same waters, it may be 
worth noting that the East Branch of the 
3roadhead has yielded both species this sea- 
son, as well as in other years. The brook 
trout taken from it do not average larger than 
in streams of the Broadhead’s character, but 
some nice specimens have been seen in nearly 
every basket, as has been noted both in 




