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Salamanca Trout Streams. 
New York, July 10.—Editor Forest and Stream: 
Although Salamanca is intersected by the lines 
of three railroads and has, within a radius of 
five miles, several good trout streams, it is al; 
most entirely neglected by all anglers save those 
who live there. I can only account for this upon 
the supposition that, from the railroad, it looks 
to be too populous and commercial. 
Five o’clock in the morning, on April 16, 
found us crossing the tracks to State street. 
It was cold, and there were patches of snow 
on the northern slope of some of the moun- 
tains. In seven minutes we turned up Erie 
street and away from the railroad. Before us 
was a valley a mile long which apparently 
ended at the base of a semi-circle of moun- 
tains. At the end of the sidewalk was a large 
country house, and beyond it a steep hill up 
which the road curved. A short but stiff climb 
revealed a sharp turn in the valley, which, we 
could then see, extended far to the northwest. 
Here we left behind all the more manifest evi- 
dences of a town. It is not remarkable that a 
large proportion of Salamanca’s population 
have never passed this gateway. Hence it is 
that trout live and multiply in the upper wa- 
ters of Newton’s Run. A wagon track follows 
the windings of the run. Two miles we 
walked uphill, then plunged to the right 
through the woods to the bed of the stream. 
Bait alone tempted the trout at that time, 
though in June they manifest a fondness for 
the black gnat during the day and for the 
white miller toward dusk. On an overcast day 
they will rise to the cowdung or the scarlet 
ibis. but the black gnat is unfailing, if the fish 
will rise at all. As a matter of fact, this is a 
stream exceedingly difficult to fish with flies, 
except in certain pools, owing to the dense 
erowth of saplings. 
I started in at a spot where it leaps down a 
considerable declivity in a series of miniature 
cataracts and deep pools. As my bait was 
carried into the first of these pools it was 
seized by a trout which consisted of fourteen 
ounces of lightning-like vitality. ‘ 
We fished carefully over the greater part of 
the two miles to the first reservoir. When we 
met at the upper reservoir it was late after- 
noon. Our creels were well filled and our 
largest fish weighed but three ounces less than 
two pounds. 
As the season grows older the fish do not 
bite so readily; and besides, the water is lower, * 
and the good fish congregate in the pools ‘nd 
grow shy. Yet, in June, and even later, one 
may at dusk raise some fine trout by casting 
over the upper reservoir with a white mille 
as stretcher, and almost any dark-colored flies 
as droppers. 
3eware of a promising looking streamlet 
which flows down through the valley directly 
to the south of Salamanca! It was recom- 
mended to us by an individual possessed of a 
sense of humor; and I must admit that it is an 
admirable “near-trout” stream. But we 
bored for a day without a bite before learning 
from a truthful native that it dries up in sum- 
mer. Yet, I defy any newcomer to offer any 
vood grounds for entertaining such a suspicion 
in April. 
Through East Salamanca East Creek flows 
into the Allegheny. For the first couple ot 
miles it affords excellent bass fishing, but 
above that point it is a trout stream. “The wa. 
ter is wide and greatly resembles the Beaver- 
kill in that the dwellers in its pools have at- 
tained the dignity of age and weight. And 
they are there—many of them; but it is the 
patient fisherman who succeeds in fooling 
them. The average native prefers easier vic- 
tims; hence, the East Creek bears the reputa- 
tion of being fished out. 
Take a late afternoon train to Ellicottville 
and put up for the: night at the hotel, leavine 
a call for 4 A. M. A -few minutes’ walk will 
bring you to the creek; and the sight of its 
foaming rapids and deep, dark pools will 
quicken your pulse. There is such diversity 
of water that not a moment of a long day is 
monotonous. The only rule is to keep out a 
la-. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 

[Auc. 3, 1907. 

long line. Bait only can be used with good 
results in April and May. About the first of 
June I have had equal success with the black 
enat, cowdung, and gray hackle. The East 
Creek, from Ellicottville to Great Valley—at 
which latter place one may catch a train to 
Salamanca at about 7:30 in the evening 
affords an ideal day’s fishing. I have taken 
this train carrying with me eighteen trout ag- 
eregating 19 pounds 7 ounces, and the largest 
weighed 2 pounds II ounces. 
‘An almost exact duplicate of East Creek is 
West Creek, at West Salamanca. Board the 
7:10 train in the morning to Little Valley, - 
nine miles north. Fish to Elkdale, three miles 
below, at which a southbound train stops at 
about a quarter past four. If one wants fewer 
but larger fish begin at Elkdale and fish down 
fer three or four miles. One beauty of the 
East and West Creeks is that they are “fish- 
able” almost every yard of their length. 
It would be unforgivable to leave Little Val- 
ley without suggesting to the possible visitor 
that he devote a day to making the very agree- 
able acquaintance of Billy Burrell. Billy knows 
a few things, gathered in the pursuit of his 
favorite avocation—fishing. If he likes you he 
will hitch, up and drive you a few miles north 
to a little-visited trout stream, where you will 
spend a red-letter day. And after you have 
driven home in the evening and enjoyed your 
supper of fresh trout, he will spin yarns of the 
fishing and hunting of other days. , 
Through Christian Hollow flows Christian 
Run. .To reach it we must walk three miles 
eastward along the single track of the Penn- 
syitvania Railroad, which skirts the base of the 
mountains on the southern bank -of the Alle- 
gheny. Christian Run trickles through a cul- 
vert under the tracks in most unpretentious 
fashion. An old wood road leaves the rail- 
road nearby and follows the course of the run, 
crossing it once or twice, and we are surprised, 
remembering its diminutive size at the rail- 
road bridge, to note that here it is broad, deep 
and still. The water is not rapid, but there is an 
abundance, for the land near the stream is 
swampy. In June I found that flies with gray 
or white wings were most readily taken. The 
sun rarely penetrates tle dense foliage over- 
head. The stream is a succession of still, dark 
pools, and frequently we found holes under the 
roots of big trees. Almost every one of these 
holes yielded its “oldest inhabitant.” The trout 
in these/holes will bite eagerly at bait on the 
warmest days. The bed of the stream between 
the pools may be dry, but beneath the stones 
and driftwood is a constant trickle of cold 
water, And as chance morsels but rarely find 
their way into the deep holes, the fish are 
usually hungry. One who can brave the hot 
walk, will not return empty-handed. The fish 
will average ten inches in length. 
We left Salamanca very early one morning 
and walked the tracks of the Pennsylvania 
road to the west for. about five miles until we 
came to an Indian settlement, a heavily wooded 
valley. It was nearly three miles further up 
the valley to a point where Breed’s Run dashes 
down in alternating pools and rapids. It is 
not a large brook; and though the trout do 
not run.as large as in the other streams, the 
pleasure which attends their capture is, in my 
opinion, the greatest. Later they will leap 
eagerly at a gray or brown hackle or a red- 
ibis. Francis Tittou Buck. 


Salmon in Monterey Bay. 
Capitota, Cal., July 20.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The salmon run began here yesterday. 
Fine salmon are being taken on rod and line, 
and within the next week or ten days I look for 
the run to be in full: blast. The fish are of large 
size, some of those taken yesterday weighing 25 
pounds each. 
In July, toot, I planted black bass in one of 
the lakes of this county. At this time the lake 
is alive with bass and it is not uncommon to take 
several in a few hours’ fishing that will weigh 
from four to seven pounds each. I saw thirteen 
fish taken in two hours that weighed a total of 
43 pounds, two weighing 6 pounds and 6 ounces 
each. WALTER R. WELCH. 
A Lump-Fish from Chesapeake Bay. 
Wasuincton, D. C., July 24.—Editor Forest 
and Stream: Ina shipment of fish made to 
Messrs. Sheaffer & Stuart, of Washington, D. 
C., April 14, last, by Thomas V. Weber, there 
was included an adult female  lump-fish 
(Cyclopterus lumpus), which had been taken at 
Buckroe Beach, Chesapeake Bay, about two 
miles north of Old Point Comfort, Va. In a 
card addressed to the firm above mentioned, Mr. 
Weber stated that in all his experience he had 
never seen one of these curious fishes, and 
would be pleased to learn its name if it had one. 
On exhibition at the fish wharf in Washington 
it attracted much attention, as none of the old | 
fishermen and rivermen had ever seen any- | 
thing like it. t 

So far as I have been able to} 
ascertain, this fish has not been recorded from | 
Chesapeake Bay. Messrs. Uhler and ‘Lugger, in | 
their “List of Fishes of Maryland,’ published | 
in the Maryland Fish Commission Report | 
(1876), include the lump-fish “in the ocean drains | 
of Worcester county,” but do not definitely | 
state its capture. The one here recorded is| 
the only specimen in the United States National | 
Musevm captured south of New Jersey. Other | 
examples in the museum are from Rhode 
Island, Massachusetts, Maine, New Brunswick, || 
Hudson’s Bay, and Greenland. Northern | 
Europe is represented by specimens principally 
from Norway. 
The following measurements and color notes 
were made from the fresh specimen: Total 
length, 18'4 inches; depth, 9% inches; head, 
334 inches long, and eye, 13-16 of an inch in 
diameter, the latter being contained three and 
one-half times in the interorbital space; Weight, | 
7 pounds. General color, ashy gray, with here 
and there a_ slight purplish tinge; a whitish 
longitudinal band along back, the narrow top 
of the latter being dark, and the whitish area, 
which is as wide as orbit extending around and| 
back of the dorsal spines or tubercles, and|, 
covering the flat area of back between first 
dorsal and the tubercles in front. of second); 
dorsal. Top and sides of head, and ridges bear-|| 
ing tubercles,-:dark. Inside of mouth and the) 
chin with a pinkish-purple tinge; under parts 
and caudal peduncle lighter. Dorsal and anal 
broadly margined with dark purple, the basal), 
half of these fins being lighter. Caudal dark), 
purple; pectoral slightly dusky; ventral white. , 
Head and body covered with minute black), 
punctulations. Eye dark; inner part of iris), 
bronze red: pupil dark blue. 
The specimen here recorded is a female, ap-|, 
parently having spawned; seventy eggs passed 
freely from the fish while being measured. The 
eggs are uniformly pink (translucent) in color, || 
measuring with but few exceptions 2 mm. in), 
diameter. The exceptions were a few slightly} ; 
smaller eggs. 
In an elaborate report made to the Fishery| 
Board for Scotland (Part III., 24th Annual 
Report, for 1905, pp. 169-178), Dr. T. Wemyss), 
Fulton presents an exhaustive account of the}, 
spawning habits of the lump-sucker. He states), 
that the spawning time in Scotland begins in|, 
February and extends to the latter part of May,}|, 
and that “there are few better instances among} ; 
fishes of parental devotion to.the progeny than), 
what is shown by the male lump-sucker. For|, 
weeks and months he devotes himself to the}, 
nursing of the eggs with the most remarkable) , 
assiduity, refusing to be driven or seduced from] ; 
his post; fasting and rejecting food until al-| 
most the end of his long and trying vigil; ‘blow-|, 
ing’ upon them and fanning them with his fins), 
all the time to keep them:well aerated and), 
clean; removing anything that might injure}, 
them, defending them with courage and even], 
ferocity from the attacks of foes great andj, 
small.” ; 
In summing up the result of his observations, | | 
Dr. Fulton states that the male alone defends} | 
the eggs, aerating and cleansing them by move-|| 
ment of his fins and by spouting currents ol]; 
water upon them from his mouth, refraining 
from taking food for the greater part of the|, 
period, which is of from forty to sixty days] f 
duration. j ( 
On the east coast of the United States spawn-|, 
( 

