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'rO(3i;TUK« WJT" W. ,4- 'P O ^y S H K N 1) .V <; K 'J' , E w «i ., or KATCIIKZ, MIS8lt4Sll>IM, THIS WORK, ON T II K :|is(j unb ^is^tng of |lovt^ ^mciitn, (S DKDU'ATEU, noTir AS TO AN' AKDKNT AND IKTSLLt(ilC.\T NI'OHTSMAN, AMI A FIRM FKIKM), IIY Ills FRIKND AND SERVANT, FRAN K V U K S T E IJ '. i ' 1 TO THE PUBLIC. Thk Publishers have the pleasure of stating that the prosont re- vised edition of Frank Forester's "Fish and Fishing," contains an entirely new treatise on "Fly-Fishing," prepared by "Dinks," and arranged for this work by Mr. Herbert before his death, as will be seen by the subjoined announcement. They have to express their obligations to the Messrs. J. & J. Oonroy, for providing them with the finest specimen of Flies and improved Angling Implements, from which the illustrations have been engraved ; also their indebtedness to Mr. Francis 1*. Allen, for aiding the artist in preparing the drawings. ANNOUNCEMENT. I am very happy to have it in my power to add to the new edition of ray " Fish and Fishing," the following admirable and most entirely practical treatise on every thing connected with the science of tying and the science of using the artificial fly, by my friend "Dinks," by whom it has been originally prepared for this edition, and who is well known as one of the most accomplished and thorough prac'tical fiy- fishers in this country. For the favor, I return him my sincere and earnest thanks ; and prognosticate for him, from our readers, general and most enviable distinction. Henrt William Herbert. The Cedars. ipiiaBMWI t j ADVERTISEMENT. In offurinjr this work to tho public, I have little to suy, uh its chai-ac< ter speaks for itself, but to indicate thp sources of the infortnution which it contains, and to givo credit to those who, by their works, let- ters or conversation, have aided mo in its execution. A id first, I must express my sincere gratitude to my friend. Pro- fessor Agassiz, who kindly afforded mo every assistance in liirf power, with free access to his fine library, and unrivalled collection of fishes, from which most of my drawings are taken To my friend Mr. Perley, of St. Johns, I am indebted for much valuable and interesting information in regard to the fish and fisheries of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia ; and to Mr. DeBlois, of Port- land, for a communication respecting the great Trout of Sebago Lake, in Maine, which was probably a distinct variety, though the fact can not bo easily now ascertained — the noble fish being, alas ! extinct. To Mr. Yarr'jl's fine work on British Fishes, to Hofland's Britisli AnglerV Manual, to Richardson's Fauna Boreali Americana, to Do- Kay's Fishes of New York, to Soyer's Cooking Book, I thankfully record my indebtedness for extracts more or less copious. All tho cuts were drawn by myself, on wood, either from the dead fishes themselves, or from original drawings in the possession of Pro- fessor Agassiz, lent to me for this purpose, with the exception of the True Salmon — which is copied from his beautiful work on the Fresh- Water Fishes of Europe — of the Arctic Charr, or Masamacush, and the Arctic Grayling — ^which are taken from Richardson's Boreali Ame- Viii ADVERTISEMENT. lioana — of the Salmon Trout — taken from Yarrol — and of the Lake Trout and Pike Pearch, from DeKay's Fauna of the State of New Vork. For the fidelity and excellence of the engraving, I am indebted to Messrs. Bobbett & Edmonds, and Brotherhead, by whom, with one or two trifling exceptions, all the cuts have been executed. To the Messrs. Conroy I have to record obligation for preparations of the fine specimens of various Trout, Luke and Salmon Flies, which are engraved in this work ; and I take this opportunity of strongly and cordially recommending them to all my friends and readi^rs, as deci- dedly, in my opinion, the best rod and tackle makers in the United States. Anotiiku edition of this work having been already called for, I have taken the opportunity carefully to revise it, and correct the unavoida- ble errors, so far as I have discovered them, which must occur in a book treating of a subject so comprehensive as mine. A tour through the north-western lakes, during the past summer and autumn, has given me opportunity to observe the habits and cha- racteristics of many fish which previously I had known only by report of others — to collect information relative to the mode of taking them — and, hence, to verify or correct opinions heretofore expressed. A work of this nature must necessarily be more or less compiled, as no man can be cxpocted to have fished in every State of the Union, or to be personally acquainted with the fishes of each and all. To relate personal expariences, whore they exist — to collect the best au- thorities, where there are authorities ; and othorwise to be silent, rather than give charactor to vulgar rumors — I deem the writer's duty. This, to the best of my ability, I have endeavored to do ; and I can ADVERTISEMENT. U only uiM, that, as it is not delightful to err, I shall be too much obliged to those who will kindly convince me of error, and enable me to cor- rect it. In addition to those, my obligations to whom I have heretofore gratefully recorded, I have pleasure in referring to Mr. King, of Charleston, South Carolina; Messrs. Mandeville and Cobleigh, of Geneva; and Mr. Gkegohy, of Adirondack, N. Y., for information iind specimens from various parts of the country. Several kind correspondents, and some ingenious critics, have poiui- cd out errors, and suggested emendations, of which I have thankfully Availed myself. All the matter thus collected will be found embodied in a copious Supplement to this new edition, provided with a separate Index, under the head of the fishes to which it relates ; and including some authentic information relative to Southern Fishing, obtained from Mr. Kino. A few pages on Deep-sea Fishing will also be found in the Supple- ment ; as it is a subject to which — myself considering it very inferior ns a sport — I perhaps gave scarce " ver^e enough " in my first edi- tion. 1 am happy once again to express my gratitude to the public in general, for a kind reception and favorable hearing ; and to my critics, on the whole, for kindness and candor. Their Friend and Servant, Frank Forester. •^-»<^*>it*aim>m^M,,^MMimi,. ■«k*i«fci(«^(.v»liwwu // LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS. I PAOK FRONTISPIECE— THE MASCALONOE. OUTLINE OF LAKE TROUT, - • • - • • • • 37 HEAD OF THE SILVER TROUT, ....... 46 GILL COVERS AND DENTAL SYSTEM OF TROOT, .... 40 THE TRUE SALMON, 64 SALMON PINKS, 54 SALMON SMOLT, 61 THE UROOK TROUT, 66 UROOK TROUT FRY, 86 rilE MACKINAW SALMON, 104 VARIETY TRUITE DE GREVE, 101 THE SISKAWITZ, 112 THE LAKE TROUT, 116 THE SALMON TROUT, . . -120 THE MASAMACUSH, 120 BACK'S GRAYLING, • • 131 THE AMERICAN SMELT, 136 THE WHITE FISH, - - • • 141 THE OTSEGO BASS, 145 HEAD OF THE NORTHERN PICKEREL, 149 HEAD OF THE MASC ALONG B, ...*.... 151 THE GREAT NORTHERN PICKEREL, 154 THE COMMON PICKEREL, 167 THE LONG ISLAND PICKEREL, 161 THE COMMdP^ARP, 164 THE AMERICAN ROACH, 170 THE NEW YORK SHINER, 72 THE AMERICAN BREAM, j MINNOWS, IVO THE HERRING, 178 THE SHAD, 180 THE CATFISH, 183 THE EEL 166 THE AMERICAN YELLOW PERCH, 187 THE STRIPED SEA BASS, 189 THE YELLOW PIKE PERCH, 192 THE BLACK BASS, .... .... 195 THE ROCK BASS, 198 THE COMMON POND-FISH, 200 / XII THE COD, THE AMERICAN HADDOCK, THE AMERICAN WHITIXO, SAI.MON-FMES, TROIJTFUES, - EMBELLISHMENTS. PAOB 223 8» 253 VIGNETTES. RUSTIC BRIDGE, . • xxiv I'ALLS OF THE MONTMORENCI, 03 MILL AND TROUT STREAM, 81V BROOK TROUT, - • • • 103 RIVER VIEW, no LAKE INCAPAPCO - 119 TROLLING UNDER SAIL, - • 123 STRIKING A GRAYLING, 135 NETS DRYING, 148 THE FERRY, 153 GORGE HOOK AND BAIT, 156 SKIFF AND WATER FENCE, 171 TROUT-DAM, LONG ISLAND, 173 SILVER LAKE, 175 AVATER MILL, ....... 17T TROUT, PERCH, AND BAIT KETTLE, .... 179 NETTING FROM BOATS 184 THE EEL, . 186 LITTLE WHITE BASS, 191 CLICK REEL, - • • ^ 194 ROCK- BASS FISHING 199 FOOT BRIDGE AND TROUT STREAM, 201 FISHING BOATS, 906 A MACKEREL BREEZE, CREEL AND RODS. • 209 214 SQUIDDING UNDER SAIL, 219 HAULING THE NET, 221 THE COMMON SALMON, 252 MAY FLIES AND STONE FLIES, 273 TROLLING WITH SCARLET IBIS FLY, .... 280 THE COMMON PICKEREI>, 2S9 RIVER PERCH, 293 THE UPPER DELAWARE, • * 296 NETS AND BUOYS, 300 RIVER VIEW 307 FISHING BOATS, 311 GOLDEN PHEASANT, WOODCOCK WING, AND HACKLE, - 329 BAIT KETTLE, - - 331 FINIS, 35!/ TABLE OF CONTENTS. TAHG. I sTRODucTORY Remarks 11 The Game Fish of Nortli America 17 SaLMOSIDjE, OR THE !r ALMON FaMIHl' 34 The True Salmon 64 The Brook Trout 86 The Greatest Lake Trout 104 The Siskawitz 112 The L.ku Trout 116 The Sahnon Trout 12(i The Mastmiacush 126 Back's Grayiinjj 131 Thp Americiin Smelt 136 TheCapelin 139 The Wlute-Fish 141 The Otsego Bass 145 EsociD^, OR Tiiii Pike Family 149 The Mascalonge 151 The Great Northern Pickerel 154 The Common Pickerel 157 The Long Island Pickerel 161 CYrRisiD.E, on THE Carp Family 164 The Common Cr.rp 164 The Amerionn Iloach . . . » . . . . . .170 The New York Shiner 172 Tlie American Bream 174 Minnows 176 Cliipid;e, OR THE Herring Family 178 Tlie Herring ... . . i , . . 180 The Shad ISO SlLURID^, 0'\ THE CaT-FiSH FaIMLY 182 The Cat-Fish 182 Anguillid^, or the Eel Family 185 The Eel 185 Peiicid^, or the Peauch Family 187 The American Yellow Pearch 187 The Striped Sea-Bass 189 The Yellow Pike Pearch .... . . 1 !12 Xiv CONTENTS. PAOI. The Black Buss . . 195 The Growler 197 The Rock Bass 198 The Common Pond-Fish 200 The Lake SheepVHead 2U2 ' The Mnlasheganay 203 Shoal- Water Fishes 204 The Sea Bass 206 *riio Lafayette 207 TheWeak-Fish 208 TheKlng-Fish 209 The Silvery Corvina . . 211 The Branded Corvinn 212 The Big Drum and Banded Drum 213 The Sheep's-Hond .215 The Big Porgec 217 The Blue-Fish 218 TheTautog 220 Deep-Sea Fishes 222 The Cod 222 The American Haddoi-k 223 The American Whiting 224 Salmon Fishlng 225 The Implements of Salmon Fishing 239 Trout Fishing 263 Lake Trout Fishing 274 Salmon Trout Fisiung 277 Pickerel Fishing 281 Pearch Fishing 290 Carp Fishing 294 Striped Bass Fishing 297 Black Bass Fishing 301 Eel Fishp'g and Trimmers 308 Shoal- Water Sea Fishing 310 The Weak-Fish 312 The Barb or King-Fish 313 The Sea Bass .... 316 TheTautog .... ... 316 The Sheep's-Hoad ... 319 The Drum 320 Deep-Sea Fishing 322 Blue-Fish Fishing 320 Appendix A. 323 Appendix B 330 Appendix C . . 332 t. CONTENTS TO SUPPLEMENT. / / PART I . FAMC Introductory Rkmarks 357 The Gamk Fisiiks of America 35l> The Salmon 361 The Hrook Trout 365 The Greatest Luke Trout ... . . , ► . 367 Tlio Siskawitz 369 Tiie Lake Trout ... 371 Tlie Salmon Trout . 377 The Salmon of the rAcunc Waters 379 The Quinuat ... 38.1 Gairdner's Salmon 386 The Weak-toothed Salmon . . 388 The Plkewan 380 The Tsuppitch 391 Clarke's Salmon ..... 392 The North-west Capelin 394 The White Fish 397 Le Sueur's Herring Salmon 398 The Lake Huron Herring Salmon 400 The Pike Tearcli 40.1 Southern Sea Fishes 405 p A R T 1 1 . The Fishing op North America 407 Salmon Fishing . . 409 The Rod and Tackle 409 The Casting-Line 411 Trout-Fishing .... 413 The Rod 413 The Use of the Rod . - 41G XVI CONTENTS. I'AOK Op TiioLLiNO FOR Lake Tuout U8 The Rod . . ; 418 Tho Reel .419 Tho Line 420 Tho Lender mid Train of Hooks 420 Tho Bait and Fliea 421 Tlio Bait Kcttlo »21 The Boat and Oarsman, or Guide 421 Tiie Manner of Striking: 422 Set Lines for Lake Fisliinpf ... 425 AnTiFicui, Fl»;s . • 420 iSnlmon and Lake Trout Flies 434 Lake Trout Flics 434 Trout Flies 435 Se.\ Fishing: , , Table of Depths, Baits, how to Strike and Kill 43 C Table of Tackle and Average Weight 437 Table of Spring, Summer, and Autumn Baits, Times of Tide and Day . 438 // II CONTENTS or TREATISE ON FLY-FISHING. PAOB Fly-Fisliing 441 Different Habits of Fish 441 Articles for Fly-Tying ,442 Fishing Case 443 Book for Feathers 444 Variety of Feathers requisite 445 Hooks 446 The Kendal, Limerick, O'Shaughnossey, and Carlisle Hooks . . . 44G Gut 446 Tying-Silks • . 447 A Vice to hold the Hook while Dressing • . . 447 How to dress a Fly .... ...... 447 Plate of Diagrams and Explanation . 448, 450 Examples of the Process . 452 Palmers 45:^ Example No. HI 453 Lines, Receipt for preparing 455 Reels 450 Rods 457 Length of Rod 458 Landing-Net Hoop 460 Fish-Basket 461 Salmon-Bag 461 Example for a Salmon-Fly Book , 462 Example for a Trout-Fly Book 463 Trout-Flies 463 Palmers • . . 467 Receipts .... 468 2 Xviii OONTKNTS. PAOI Flies, continued 460 Sea-Trout Flies . . • 410 Salmon-Flies 470 Handling the Rod 478 Trout-Fishing 480 Throwing the Line 482 Haunts of Solmoii 484 * Trolling 486 Implements for Trolling 487 Natural Bait 490 Natural Bait Tackle 491 Bottom-Fishing 492 NOTE BY THE EDITOR. American Tackle 495 Rods. 496 Lines . - 496 Reels 496 Hocks 497 Miscellaneous .... 497 Floats, etc. 497 ! ) I f . INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 'V^^^^^Nr«^^^^V^»V^^N^^^^^«# To DEAL with a subject so wide as the Fish and Fishing ot au extent of country greater than the whole of Europe, stretching ahiiost from the Arctic circle to the Tropics, from the waters of the Atlantic to thosa of the Pacific Ocean, may seem, and indeed is, in some respects, a bold and presumptuous undertaking. It were so altogether, did I pretend to enter into the natural history of all, or even of one- hundredth part, of the fish peculiar to this continent and its adjacent seas. Such, however, is by no means my aim or intention. I write for the sportsman, and it is therefore with the sporting-fish only that I propose to deal ; as, in a recent work on the Field Sports of the same regions, it was with the game animals only that I had to do. In the prefatory observations of that work, I endeavored to make myself understood as to what constitutes game, in my humble opinion, as regards animals of fur and feather. I did not, it is true, expect, or even hope, to suit the views and notions of everybody, particularly when I looked to the great variety of soils, regions, and climates, for the inhabitants of which I was writing ; and to the extreme latitude and laxity of ideas concerning sportsmanship which prevail in this country. One would suppose it was sufficiently evident, that a work of the n INTROnUCTORY REMAMRS. maguitudo of tho Univorsal Enoyclopaodia, and iiotbiDg abort of that, vrould BuiBoe to givo an oluborato essay aud disquisition on every sepa- rate sort of sport, which every separate individual, of every separate State in the Union, may think proper to practice for his own pleasure or profit 1 therefore determined to confine myself, in the first place, to those sports only which are truly Field Sports in the highest acceptation of the term, and which are established as such by the consent of genuine sportsmen. i. In the second place, I restricted myself to those sports which arc purely and peculiarly American, and which, as such, are not treated of at all, or, if at all, undorstandingly, by European writers. The natural history, the generic distinctions, the migrations, habits, haunts, seasons, and the mode of pursuing and taking, in the most artistieal and sportsmanlike manner, of such animals as are peculiar to this continent, which have never been a subject of investigation to the sporting naturalist, seemed to me to afibrd a topic interesting and agreeable to the writer, and not devoid of some pretension toward entertaining, and perhaps instructing, the general reader. At the same time, neither pretending nor hoping to make Mfy work ftrftct^ I thought proper to exercise my own judgment in deciding what species of sports are to be regarded as Field Sports at all, what as American Field Sports, and what as requiring description, analysis, or explanation. - ... . , . i, . Some men consider the shooting of migratory thrushes, and golden- winged woodpeckers — ^which it pleases them to call robins and high- holders — OS well OS small song-birds in general, as a field sport ; 1 do not. Many men — I might say, of the rural parts of the Eastern and Middle States, -moil men — consider squirrels, raccoons, opossums, ground-hogs, fNTRODUCTORY RKMARKR. XXI and 0uoh liko vermin, as being guino ; I do not. Tkorofore I dealt not with any of thofle, nor apologiHo for not dealing' with them. Again. Fox-hunting on hornoback, in a weU-feneed, arable, or pasture country, is the finest of all field sports, beyond a questioti. But the facts, that one pack of foxhounds is now kept at Montreal, that another was kept a few years since by the members of the liritish legation at Washington, and that a few planters, in two or three Southern States, amuse themselves occasionally and irregularly by fox-hunting, do not constitute fox-hunting an American field sport ; which it is not ; as is demonstrated by the undeniable fact, that there are not above three States out of thirty, more or loss, in which the fox is pursued as anything but vermin. There arc, moreover, many reasons which render it almost impossible that fox-hunting ever shall become an American field sport. In the Northern and Eastern States, where only, as a general rule, the coun- try is sufiiciently cleared of timber to allow of this pursuit in perfec- tion, the severity of the winter, and the jealousy of farmers in regard to trespass on their lands, and the breaking of their fences, combim to render it impracticable. In the Southern States, the woodland character of the country, and the frequency of swamps, bayous, and similar obstacles, destroy all its poculiar excellences, and detract infi- nitely from its excitement, and its scientific character. Yet once more. Had fox-hunting been, what it is not, an American field sport, I should still have dismissed it in a few pages. Because, being a sport thoroughly understood, and carried to the utmost perfec- tion in the Old World ; a sport, so far as it is one here at all, per- fectly identical on the two sides of the Atlantic, and as such, having no peculiarities, and requiring no new precepts here ; and, above all, being a sport on which more able and excellent treatises have been wiitten than on any other in the whole range of sporting subjects, and • XMI INTRODUCTORY REMARKS that by such men as Beckford and Nimrod — names as familiar oh household words to all who can sit a horse, or halloo to a hound — it would have been an act, if not of impertinenco, at least of total supererogation, to fill up the pages of a work devoted to a new class cf subjects, with trite remarks on an old one, or with quotations from books within the reach of every sportsman. ^ ^ All this which I have here set down in relation to my work on Field Sports, and to some strictures which have been made upon it, is simply explanatory of my intentions with regard to this work. .. These are to furnish what information I can in relation to the classes, migrations, habits, breeding seasons, and the modes of taking, of those which I call and consider sporting or game fishes ; to insist on the generic distinctions, and the true names and definitions of the various species and families ; to show briefly how the various families and classes may be distinguished one from the other, thereby enabling sportsmen to avoid the constant errors and blunders into which they are now falling in the confusion of distinct varieties and orders ; and putting it in their power, by the accurate observance, and correct recording, of a few simple signs, to render invaluable service to the cause of science, in one of the most important, and the least under- stood of its branches And, before 1 proceed farther, I shall beg gentlemen from remote sections of the North, East, West and South, not to wax wrathful and patriotically indignant, nor to reclaim fiercely against the author of this work, because they fail to find therein described some singular local mode of capturing some singular specimen of the piscine race known in their own districts, and there regarded as a sporting-fish, but unknown as such to the world at large. Some gentlemen doubtless regard bobbing for eels, and bait-fishing through holes cut in the ice — others, hauling up sharks with ox-chains \ INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. XMll and tcntcr-hooks — and others yet, harpooning garpikes, as excellent fnport, and as scientific fishing, as many more will probably deem of hauling the seine, or fishing with the set-line, or the deep-sea line. None of these things come under my ideas of fair or sporting fishing ; and the gentlemen who admire these and similar practices, I beg leave to prcraonish that they will be surely disappointed if they peruse the pages of this work. By omitting to do so, therefore, they will spare themselves a displeasure, and the author an animadversion. Fresh-watcr-fishing especially is its subject. Lakes, estuaries, rivers, brooks, its scene ; and the Salmon, in all its varieties, the Pike, the Bass, and the Pcarch, the fish with which it will principally deal. All game AmIi will, however, find a place in its pages ; all those, I mean, which can be, and usually are, taken with the rod and reel ; nor will a few pages bo denied to deep-sea fishing ; and to the consideration of some of the finny tribe which visit our rivers and shores, and which, from various causes, such as peculiarity of habit, singularity of structure, excellence on the tabic, or the like, may appear worthy of a passing notice, although not coming strictly within the sportsman's category of game fishes. ' All the 'nodes of rod-fishing will be treated of in their places ; but fly-fishing, spinning with the live, and trolling with the dead bait, more especially will be discussed ; as, for my own part, I regard these as the only true and sportsmanlike modes of operation. Bottom-fishing, ground-baiting with the float and sinker, and the like, are doubtless all very well in their way ; and will perhaps, in many instances, even with sporting fishes, be found the most killing, as they are clearly the easiest methods ; while, with other varieties, they are the only modes that can be adopted ; still they are to fly-fishing, or spinning the minnow, what shooting sitting is to shooting on the wing ; and the flsher who is proud of lugging out of their native element twenty trout — «-«s«\«. XXIV INTRODVCTORT REMARK& by main force, aided by a lob-worm or roe-bait, stands ip the same relation to him who baskets his three or four brace with the artificial fly and single-gut artbtically cast, as the gunner who pot-hunts his bagful of birds, treeing his ruffed grouse, and butchering his quail in their huddles on the ground, does to the crack shot, who stops his cock in a blind brake, with the eye of faith and the finger of instinct, or (;uts down his wild-fowl, skating before the wind at the rate of a mile a minute, dttiibetately rapid and unerring. . .-■&i FRANK FORESTER'S FISH AND FISHING. THE GAME FISH OF NORTH AMERICA. It is with fishing as a sport, not as a source of national wealth or individual epicureanism, that I have to do ; therefore it is of game or sporting fishes only that I propose to treat. Again, it is true that no sportsman captures that, which, captured, is worthless ; and that to be game, whether bird, beast, or fish, is to be eatable. Therefore it is of eatable* fishes alone that I propose to treat. By game fish, I understand those which, being eatable, will take the natural or artificial bait with sufficient avidity, and which when hooked have sufficient vigor, courage and velocity to offer such resistance, and give such difficulty to the captor, as to render the pursuit exciting. By these qualities of the fish, corresponding qualities of the fisher- man are called forth, and the greater the wariness of the fish before taking the hook, compelling the use of the most delicate tackle, the greater his fury and activity when struck, requiring the nicest skill, temper and judgment, the higher does he stand on the list ; and by NoTB TO Rkvised Edition. — It will be readily seen that the phraseology of this page is altered in this edition. It is so, not that I have taken any new ground, but because it appears my language was not so definite as to enable all persons to under- stand what that ground is. I certainly supposed it unnecessary to state so self-evi- dent a fact as that game is eatable. * Hence my non-mention of that very curious fish, the Garpike or Alligator Gar, Esox Osseus. He is no more game than the Shark or Dog-Fish, both of which men catch for fun. -«~t-»''w)i called " Trout." in tho South, in identical with (ho Northern Weak-Fish. From Professor Affassiz, 1 understand it to he a peculiar variety of the Weak-F'sh, Otolithua, being spotted rather than striped, and thus differing somewhat from it, and frequenting fresh streams, which the others do not. ^ * NoTR TO Revised Edition. — With regard to this fish, I am Batirfied thut it is distinct from Ainethyilua, though closely allied to it. It is a deeper and shorter fish. See Supplement. THE OAMF. r:*'H OF NORTH AMCklCA. 97 of flgroBB. I undv!i'Htniul that this Scbayo Trout has aooosn to the sea; there is no reason, thurfforc, why, if originally u truo Salmon, it should have lost its truo charactfristics in wators having their exit through the Saco, more than in those which di.schargo via. the Kennebec, or why it should continue to run up a HmalK'r rivor, when it has dos,'rtL'd all the larger rivers westward of the Penobscot, with the exception of a vory few which are, perhaps, still taken in the Andro8cogc;in and the Kenncboo, where, a few years ago, they absolutely swarnunl. With regard to this fish, however, I hope, before concluding this work, to receive more decided information from some of my obliging correspondents in that quarter ; and perhaps even a specimen by which to compare with the other varieties of this genus. Again, of the Sea Trout, or White Trout, I have my doubts, whether it be not a grilse, or Salmon of the third year. It is as yet, so far as I know, unfigured and undescribed ; but my information con- oorninsr it from excellent fishermen on the waters where it abounds, the rivers, mainly, which fall into the Bay of Gaspc and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is so clear and strong, that I prefer noting it as a ques- tionable variety, in the hopes of call! ig to it the attention of older naturalists than myself, and of those who have better opportunities of obtaining and examining specimens. Lastly, the Rcd-bolliod Trout, Salmo EryfJirognstcr. of Dr. DeKa v, 1 decline to insert on his authority, being entirely unconvinced as to its being anything more than a mere accidental variety. The whole of that region of lakes and rivers, in the Northeastern angle of New York, in which this variety 5s said to exist, teems with accidental varieties of the Brook Trout, of almost every size, as well as shade and color, both of flesh and external tints. The Tr^ at of no two of these lakes or rivers are precisely identical. The same may be said of Brook Trout from various waters in Long Island. These differences, however, are not deemed sufficient, consisting, mainly, in variations of hue, not of form, bony configuration, scales, or fins, whereon to found generic distinctions. The same remarks apply to a small fish, which Dr. DeKay has described at length, and figured under a new name, as the Troutlet, in his fauna of New York ; and which is unquestionably nothing more than the young fry of the common Brook Trout, while it is so small as / 28 THE GKVS. FISH CF NORTH AMERICA. I tfH to retain the lateral transverse bars, or clouded bands, which have lately been discovered to belong to the fry of every known variety of the family of the Salmon, and which have caused all the confusion, and given rise to all the various theories, concerning the Parr of Great Britain. Into all these points I shall enter more fully under their appropriate heads, when treating of the separate fish to which they relate. The Smelt, Osmerus Viridescens, I have mentioned, though not pro- perly a Game Fish — for it is probable that the statements of its being taken with the hook refer to the Atherine or Sand Smelt — because there are some errors to be refuted, connected with him and the young of the true Salmon, which would not so easily be dealt with otherwise ; and the Shad, Alosa Prastabilis^ I have elevated to the rank of a Game Fish, not merely on account of the excellence of his flesh in a culinary point of view, but because I am well satisfied by indisputable proofs, that although it is not usual to attempt the capture of this fish sports- manlike, the fault rests not with the Shad, but with the angler. He will not only take the fly, and on some occasions very freely, but runs strongly away with the line, and fights hard before he is subdued. I regard him a very decided addition to the list of Amercian sporting- fishes. The common Herring can be taken very readily in the same manner, and I have had very considerable amusement in killing them with a gaudy peacock-tail fly, in New York harbor, in the vicinity of Fort Diamond, at the Narrows. ' • *' With these exceptions, and the two varieties of White-fish, one of which is absurdly misnamed Otsego Bass, having about as much rela- tion to a Bass as it has to a Flounder, all that I have named arc admitted to be game by all fishermen ; and these I have mentioned, because I have little or no doubt that they also, like their European congeners, the Gwyniad of Wales and the PoUan of Ireland, may be occasionally taken with the artificial fly. All these fish are Coregonu and are very nearly analogous to one another, forming a sort of intermediate link between the families of Salmonid/t and Clupeida. or Salmon and Shad, although they are included for many satisfactory reasons among the former — the commou / THE OAME r:SH OF NORTH AMERICA. 2\i paoplo in Great Britain calling them fresh-water Herring, while in the United States they not unfrcquently pass by the name of Shad-salmon. The flesh of all the varieties is delicate and highly-flavored. The desire of comparing these American Coregoni with the British varie- ties, and of bringing them somewhat more into general notice, has induced me to notice them, rather than their game nature. I now proceed to the salt water fishes, both those taken in deep, and thosa in shoal water, of the various families above-named ; and there- after shall arrange them according to their haunts and habits. Of those salt-water fish of the Atlantic coasts which afford the most real sport to the angler, and which are alone taken with the rod and reel, all the families belong to the class of the AcantAopterygii, or spiny-finned fishes, none of the soft-finned fishes of the abdominal diviiiinn being taken in the shoal waters of the bays and estuaries ; while the deep-sea fish are all of the sub-brachiol Malacopterygii^ unless we may consider as such the Sea Bass and Porgec, which ore, however, as often or oftener caught in shallow water. Salt-water fish, taken in shoal water, river mouths, and the like, Aea/ntkopterygiif spiny-finned, we have of the family / Percioa, whereof the Pearch is the type. Genus Labrax: The Striped Bass, Lahrax Lineatus. Mentioned above as a fresh-water fish, being frequently caught in rivers far above tide-water, as well as in the estuaries, and even in the surfs on the ocean borders. ^ . Genus Centropristes: '. \ .- The Sea Bass, Centropristes Nigricans. Scienida. Genus Leiostomus : The Sea Chub — Lafayette Fish — Leiostomus Obliquus. Genus Otolithus : The WeaK'FisHj Otolithus Regalis. -a The SovTHfitijf Trovt, Otolithus Carolinensis. Genus Umbrina : The Ktva-FiBHf Umbrina Nebulosa. : Genus Pooonias: The Drum-Fish, Pogonias Ckromis. 30 THE GAME FISH OF NO^IH AMERICA. Spa RID JB. ' V Genus Sargus; ^ , The Sheep's-Head, Sargus Oois. '> , Genus Pagrus: The 'PoROEEy Pagrus Argyrops. : scombridje. :", , \,, Genus Temnodon: • ' The Blue-Fish — Skip-Jack — Temnodon Saltator. Labrid-e. ■ Genus Tautooa : ; — .«. .... ^^..^ ■..„• ..•,;..■ ' The Tautog — Black Fish — Tautoga Americana. These complete the list of those salt-water fish which are of any repute as affording sport to the angler in shoal water ; they may all be taken with the rod and reel, in the bays, mouths of rivers, and shallow inlets along the greater portion of our coast, especially in the vicinity of reefs, the piles of old docks, or the hulls of sunken vessels, around which they are often found in so large shoals, and bite so freely and rapidly, as to afford a very high degree of amusement. Many persons are extremely fond of this kind of fishing, though it cannot sustain a moment's comparison with Trouting, much less with Salmon fishing, or indeed with trolling or spinning for the Pike and the Black Bass. -' ■■ >.-i ► Several of the above-mentioned fishes are of rare excellence ; the Weak Fish and Blue Fish, when quite fresh out of the water, are not easily surpassed ; but the King Fish and the Sheep's-head, the latter a migratory fish, visiting us during the summtr months only, are in far greater esteem, being regarded by epicures as inferior to none which are taken in our waters. The most extraordinary day's sport I have seen recorded in this line, fell to the lot of a gentleman of New York, well known as an enthusiastical amateur and a most skilful proficient in the gentle art, and was thus recorded at the time in the Commercial Advertiser of 1827. I note the circumstance, and quote the following lines from a very useful, unpretending, and not therefore less agreeable compen- dium, " The American Angler's Guide," published, I believe, by Mr. Brown, well known as the proprietor of the Angler's depot, where he keeps an excellent assortment of tackle of all kinds, in Fulton .street THE GAME FI8H OF NOr.TH AMERICA 81 I have oftsu derived both information and entertainment from thin good little manual, which is succinct and portable, and I strongly recom- mend it to my readers. The feat to which I have alluded is thus recorded in its pages: — " On Friday last, a gentleman of this city went out fishing from Rockaway into Jamaica Bay, with his son, a lad of twelve years of age. They commenced fishing at half-past seven in the morning, spent half an hour in dining at noon, und quit fishing at half-past one, having taken with their rods, in six hour four hundred and seventy- two King-Fish. Their guide was J i : ii Bannister; none of these fish were taken by him, as he was diligently employed the whole time in preparing bait." The writer adds that he admit" this to have been " an extraordi- nary performance;" but he goes on to say "that he has many times taken above one hundred in a tide, though of late years these fish have become scarce in those waters, it being supposed that their enemy, the Blue-Fish, by preying on their young, have caused the scarcity." It is scarcely necessary, I presume, to remark that no such feats are to be performed now-a-days; and he is a happy and an envied man, who succeeds, at present, in capturing a few brace of this delicioa*< game fish. I now come to the last section of my work, the deep-sea fishes, very few of which are worthy of remark in connexion with the angler's sport, although they are all of superior excellence, as dainties. These are all soft-finned fishes, but they form a separate class of the Mahcopterygiij owing to a peculiar arrangement of their fins, th(! bones supporting the ventrals being attached to the bones of the shoul- ders which support the pectorals, whence they have obtained the term sub-brachial. To this class of sub-brachial Malacopterygii belong the tro familie.*^ of Gadida and Pleuronectidce, Cod and Fiat-Fish, to one or other of which pertain all the species which are taken by the drop-line on our coast; a sport which is almost too dirty, as well as too laborious, to be in very truth a sport. Of the family Gadida, of which the Cod is the type, we have The Common Cod, Morrhua Vulgaris. The Kat}i>ock^ Morrhua ^glejinis •^ff-rrtmiimiatmmtiivvtttmittmm- »««»vit<«i<.««Mn» 32 THE GAME FISH 0? NORTH AMERICA. The Whitino, Merlangus Americanus. And although there are several other species of more or less esti- mation for the table, as the Torsk or Tusk, Brosmius Vulgaris^ the Hake, Merlucius Vulgaris, and some others, none but these are such as to require enumeration in a work of this description. Of the second family, Pleuronectidaj I shall think it enough to men- tion, The Halibut, Hippoglossus Vidgarisj yrhich is the largest species of this family, as well as the best that is taken in American waters ; for the species of Turbot, Rhombus^ which is found on the coasts of Massachusetts bay, and that neighborhood, is greatly inferior, both in size and quality to the celebrated European fish of the same name. The Flounder, of New York, Pleuronectes Dentatus, which is also frequently taken, though more commonly by accident, while in pursuit of finer fish, than as the angler's prime object, is rather a delicate fish, and often bites freely. With this brief enumeration of sea-fish I shall content myself, as the description and habits of others, though curious, and full of interest to the icthyologist and student of nature, belong rather to the depart- ment of science, than to the craft of the angler. I may, however, mention, not as objects but accessories of the sport, the Atherine, Atherina Menidia, a variety of the fish known in England as the Sand Smelt, here commonly called the Spearling or Sparling, and much used as a bait, for which its bright silvery colors particu- larly adapt it. The British variety is frequently taken with the hook ; and on the Southern coasts, where the true Smelt is unknown, it is commonly known and sold as that fish, to which it bears some degree of similarity in flavor, as well as in the cucumber smell common to both when freshly taken from the water. I am not aware that the American fish is ever eaten, though it is very abundant on the coasts ; in appearance, it so closely resembles the European species, that on a slight inspection it would be taken for it. The Sand Launce, Ammodytes Lancea, is also held in high estima- tion as a bait for sea and hand lines, owing to its silvery brightness. It is for the former of these little fish that the Blue-Fish, Tevmndon niE GAME FIBH OF NORTH AMERICA. 33 Saltatory and tbo Stripod Bass, Lahrax Lineatus, strike at the polished bone, p3arl, or metal squid^ as it }fi termed, of the fisher- man, when it is made to play with a rotatory motion, glancing through the water, in the wake of a Bwift-'-»»v"*iMmmimtf^ f ». * AMERICAN FISHES. SALMONIDA, o» THE SALMON FAMILY. It must not be supposed, although, for want of reflection on the subject, many persons probably may expect it, that thi closest observer and most accurate discriminator of the facts on which the science of the naturalist is founded, can lay down the law with regard to the habits, the food, the haunts, the appetites, or even the distinct species, of that portion of the animal creation which dwell for the most part unseen in the bosom of the waters, with the same certainty as he can those of domestic animals, or oven of birds and beasts, /cr<3 naturd. Of the latter even, especially of wild birds, which emigrate from clime to clime with the change of seasons, there has been much diffi- culty in ascertaining the growth, the age, and the changes of plumage, from the immature to the adult animal, or from the winter to the sum- mer dress — so much so, that out of individuals diflfering in age, sex, or season, of the same family, and belonging to a single species, in many instances, two, three or more distinct varieties have been created by naturalists. Much has been effected, indeed, of late, in these particulars, owing to the greater science and experience of modern naturalists — who now / eALMONinj 30 prefer the investigation of facts to the building up plausiblo theories — to the greater diffusion ol' knowledge and love of scientific inquiry amonc the masses, and, in no slight degree, to the able and laborious system of experiments which have been set on foot and carried out by country gentlemen and sportsmen, to many of whom the world of letters is indebted for very interesting and remarkable discoveries. It is but a few years, comparatively speaking, since that accurate observer and delightful writer, Gilbert White, of Solborne, the most charming rural naturalist whom England — perhaps the world — has produced, thought it not unworthy of his time or talents to enter into a long train of investigation and argument, in order to prove that the Swallow — as then appears to have been largely, if not generally believed — did not pass the winter months in a torpid state, cither in the hollows of decayed trees and caverns, or beneath the waters of stagnant pools and morasses. In like manner Mr. Audubon has been peculiarly minute in describ- ing the migrations of the Sora Rail, as witnessed by himsalf, for the purpose of counteracting the notion, which I myself still know to be prevalent among the vulgar and ignorant where these birds abound, that they burrow in the mud during the cold season, hybernating like the Marmot or the Bear. If, then, errors so gross were commonly in vogue concerning animals, the greater portion of whose life is spent before our very eyes ; which make their nests, rear their young, come and go visibly, and in such manner that their presence and absence, nay, the periods of their departure and return, must be observed even by the careless and inat- tentive looker-on; much more is it to be expected that the habits, nay, the sexes, ages, and distinct species of fish, which rarely present themselves to the eyes even of the most curious inquirers, which come and go unseen and unsuspected, who83 mysteries of generation and reproduction are all performed in a medium the least penetrable to the eyes of science, whose changes of size and color, from infancy to matu- rity, pass utterly beyond our ken, should have been misconceived, mis- interpreted, and misdescribed. Within the last few years more has been done to elucidate these mysteries, and to bring us to an accurate knowledge of this interesting 36 AMEHICAN FI&IIES. portion of the animal creation, than in many previous centuries ; and although much yet remains, infinitely more, doubtless, than has been done, still we have very recently attained much certain knowledge regarding several of the most interesting families ; we have arrived at results which, by simple deduction, show us how we may hope to arrive at more, having now obtained data wherefrom to advance and discover the process by which to do so. The means by which thus much has been accomplished, may be described briefly, as the taking nothing for granted, assuming nothing on hearsay beyond facts, and on investigating everything carefully and painfully, not following too readily preconceived opinions, nor being misled by mere external and superficial resemblances, hut being guided by comparison and experiment, as founded in a great degree on ana- tomy and osteology. In the examination and comparison of fishes, the clear understand- ing of a few simple facts, which it is necessary to observe and record, will enable any sportsman to describe any supposed new variety or species, with such accuracy as to render his description of the highest value for scientific purposes ; to make it, in short, such that a naturalist shall be justified in pronouncing positively thereupon as to the genus, species, sex, and perhaps age, of the variety described or discovered. The first point to be observed is the nature of the fins, as hard-rayed and spiny, as in the Fearch, the Bass, and others which it is needless here to enumerate; or soft-rayed and flexible, as in the Pike, the Salmon, the Carp, and many more. The second, is the position of the fins; and to elucidate this point to the unscientific reader, I here subjoin an outline with references, to render this method of examina- tion comprehensible and easy of acquisition to anybody. The subject of this outline is the young of the Lake Trout, Salmo Trutta Lin. of the European continent. This figure, which is taken by permission from Mr. Aoassiz' fine work, Histoire Naturelle de$ Poissons d*Eau douce de L^Europe Centrale^ represents a young Sal- mon Trout, taken in the lake of Neufchatel, at the end of summer, less than a year old. The lower figure gives the outline of the same fish, as seen from above. Other cuts of the same simple description will show the formation of the head, the gill-covers and the dental SALMONIDJE. 87 system, from which after the fins, and the number of vertebne, the specific distinctions arc most easily ascertained. It will be seen clearly, at the slightest inspection of the beautiful little fish which has been selected as the subject of this cut, and which is a species of Lake Trout from the continent of Europe, that it has eight fins in all, including the tail, six of which are displayed in the lateral view, two being on the farther side ; and seven in the view of the back taken from above ; the eighth, which is indicated by a dotted line, being on the under part of the fish. ' Of these appendages, by which the motion, position in the water and direction of the animal are regulated ; the two nearest the head, one on either side, a a, are the pectorals; the two somewhat farther back, one on either side, bb, are the ventrals; the one on the under side, yet farther back, c, the anal; the tail, d, the caudal; and the two on the ridge of the back, ee, the dorsal ; f is the lateral line. These are all the denominations of fins possessed by any fish, although the number and size, as well as the structure, vary in the various species, which are thus easily distinguished. ' Of these fins, all the classes of fish, concerning which this book will treat, with one exception, the apodal Malacopterygii^ one species of which will be slightly mentioned, all possess the following : — 38 AMERICAN FISHES. Two pectorals. '' ' "' • Two vcntrals. One anal. " One caudal One dorsal. No fish has more than two pectorals, or two ventrals ; many have several anals, and several dorsals; none, unless deformed or monstrous, bus more than one caudal. The apodal Malacopterygii^ of which I have spoken, lack the ven- trals entirely; wherefore their name apodal^ footless; the ventral being assumed as performing the function of feet in the quadruped, although somewhat fancifully. Now, on the texture of these fins is founded the distinction between the two first orders of fishes, as instituted by Baron Cuvier ; the first order, Acanthopterygii, having the rays, by which the filamentous part of the fins is supported and extended, in part hard, spinous, and in some species, sharp and prickly; whence the designation; "aca«- /Aos," signifying a thorn ; while the second order, Malacoptcrygiiy have these rays invariably soft and flexible, as the term, derived from " malacoSy" soft, sufliciently indicates. This distinction is so easily drawn, that when once mentioned it cannot be missed or overlooked by the most superficial observer ; and as to one or other of these orders belongs every fish, without an excep- tion, of which the sportsman takes cognizance — I do not of course include shell-fisb — its importance is self-evident. Of the spiny-finned fishes, though there are many families, and many species of each family, there are no great subordinate divisions. Of the flexible-finned fishes, on the contrary, there are three strongly-defined divisions, of which the largest is that containing The abdominal Malacopterygii ; in all of which the two ventral fins, BB, are situate on the belly, attached to the walls of the stomach, and deriving no support from the bones of the shoulder. To this divi- sion belongs, a^ong many others, the subject of the outline cut on page 37, the European Lake Trout ; and, as a consequence, all the family of the Salmonida. The fishes of this division can be readily distinguished, on a mere external examination, by the fact that the SALMONIDA. 3P ventral fins, an, arc situated much further back than in those of the next division, occupying a position nearly longitudinally posterior to the pectorals, a a ; while in those to which 1 next proceed, thoy are nearly vertically below them. The second grand division of tho flexible-finned fishes consists of the Snh-brachial Mahcopterygii; in all of which tho ventral fins, bb, are placed very near to the pectorals, a a, the bones supporting the former being attached to tho bonos of tho shoulder which support tho latter. The term sub-brachial briefly expresses this formation, signi- fying " having lower arms " — to which human limb the reference is pointed by the connexion of the fin, in this division, to tho shoulder. Tho third division of the flexible-finned fishes, to which I allude rather to complete the subject, than that they fall regularly into tho angler's way, consists of those designated by Baron Cuvier as the Apodal Mala copter ygii ; in all of which the ventrals are entirely wanting. To this division belong the families of Muranidee, and An- guillidai, Congers, Eels, and their congeners. First then, havi; g noted whether the fish we desire to know more minutely has hard or flexible fin-rays, and then, having ascertained by the position of his ventral fins, if soft-finned, to which division he belongs, by examining the number and position, as well as the texture of the dorsal and anal fins, we shall speedily discover his family ; or if we have no book at hand to which we can refer, -ve can easily so describe him by letter to some competent person, as will enable him readily to enlighten us on the subject. To show the importance of possessing even tho small degree of knowledge conveyed in these last few pages, I will merely observe that if the settlers of the shores of the Otsego had been even so far advanced in the science, they had not committed the blunder of mis- naming the excellent fish of their waters, the Otsego Bass ; when it is in truth one of the Salmon family — the former being a spiny, the latter a soft-finned family. A few steps more would have prevented our Southern friends from the commission of the absurdity of designating a variety of Weak- Fish as Trout — two fish which have not the most remote connexion ; and so on ad infinUvm. 40 AMERICAN FISHES. All tho family of Snlnwnida^ or Salmons, have two dorsal fins, as will bo obsorvod in tho outlino figuro on pago 37 ; the hinder one of which has no raye, but is merely a fleshy or fatty appendage. Had the Otscgoites known this simple faet, they would at once have per- ceived that their fish not only was not a Boss, but was a Salmon. And this same degree of attainment would have prevented the application of the misnomer I'rout to the Weak-Fish. I havo observed this very day, in the columns of a distinguished weekly journal, an ofi'cr on tho part of a correspondent to describe the habits, &o., of tho Susque- hannah Salmon ! There being notoriously no Salmon in that or any Southern stream, although the Brook Trout abound in its upper waters, I venture at once to predict that this Salmon will turn out to bo tho fish described by DeKay as Lucioperca Americana^ and vari- ously called Ohio Salmon and Ohio Pickerel ; being neither, but a species of the Pearch family, with one spiny dorsal fin. I hope these brief facts will induce sportsman to give a little atten- tion to this subject ; and that they will not be alarmed by the harsh- ness or apparent difiiculty of a few foreign terms, nor suflfer themselves to bo deterred by a mere show of trouble from acquiring, in a few minutes, that which will surely give them years of gratification. More direct instruction in regard to the mode of observation, and the point to be observed, will be given under the head of each par- ticular fish, in the body of the work ; but I will here point out that it is very well to note down the number of rays severally contained in tho pectoral, ventral, anal, caudal, and dorsal fins of any fish which is suspected of being an undescribcd or distinct variety ; as on this, as well as on the shape of these appendages, much depends in distin- guishing individual species of the same family. I will here, in corroboration of the last remark, state in two words, that next to the arrangement of the gill-covers, of which more anon, tho fact on which Yarrel relies most strongly for distinguishing the BuU-Trout, Salmo Eriox^ from the true Salmon, Salmo Salary is this, that the caudal fin of the former is convex, while that of the latter is more or less concave, or forked, in proportion to the age of the individual fish. I shall now pass to the consideration of the gill-covers, the appa II < • / SALMONIDiE. 41 ratus by means of which the fish brcathcB ; in other words, by which the oxygon ia Hcparuted from th(> water, in which the auiirial exiHtH, ns it enters by tlio mouth and passos out at the aporturo of the gi!U, con- veying its influence to tho blood in its passage. This apparatus being of course of tho highest degree of importance to the animal, varies in form and structure according to the various exigencies of tho different species to which it is attached ; and it is therefore of great value to the observer in distinguishing one family, and even one species of the same family, from another. With regard to tho family of which we are now treating, the Sal' monidfCj beyond all question tho most important and most interesting to tho sportsman, as being the gamcst, boldest, and strongest of all the fish with which he has to do, and to the epicure likewise, as afford- ing the greatest varieties of the most delicious food, the remarks I am about to make have especial application. Of no other family known to tho sportsman, arc tho species oo numerous, and so difficult of definition ; and not only the truly distinct species, but tho subordinato varieties, produced in the same species by difference of food, of water, of bottom-ground in the lakes or rivers haunted by each, and even by the degrees of light or shadow which affects the localities which they haunt. These varieties, often differ- ing by many pounds' weight, colors in tho broadest sense of the word, not tints or shades of hue, quality of flesh, and shape, are by no means to be set down as distinct and permanent species ; for it will be found that a transposition of these from one place to another, and even the regular course of reproduction, will bring them back to tho original or normal type. What strikes us, moreover, at first sight, as in no small degree singular, is tho fact, that different varieties of one spocies will very frequently differ more widely from one another, and from the original typo, so far as those externals which strike the mere superficial obser- ver, than entirely distinct and immutable species. ^ This it is which so often loads common and vulgar-minded persons, who are in the habit of boasting that they believe their own eyes only, and resorting to other absurdities of that kind, and who will not take the trouble of connecting causes and effects, or considering logical 4 ',sf»M - 1 l » «|l «>M Htgi M | W..a iWN a AMERICAN FISHES. consoquonces, to disregard, and even to hold in contempt, the teach- ings of scientific men, as mere theoretical dreamers, useless coiners of hard terms, and founders of distinctions, founded upon no difference. Such, I am sorry to say, is too often the habit of sportsmen ; who will frequently give ear to the superstitious and absurd garrulity of some rustic ignoramus, who pronounces his absolute yea or nay upon some fact about which he is utterly ignorant, and who has no earthly qualification for judging on the qualities of the bird, beast, or fish in question, than that of having seen it so often that he ought to know something about it, which he does not ; while they turn away contemp- tuously, or listen coldly to the teachings of the man, whose arguments are founded upon facts that cannot err, upon deductions drawn from differences of anatomical structure, permanent from generation to gene- ration, and liable to no modification by the change of external circum- stances. This it is which renders the structure of the fins, the shape of the gills, the system of the teeth, and other matters of the same kind, which pass wholly unnoticed by the clod-hopping hunter, of all import- ance ii* distinguishing one species from another ; while the size, the weight, the color and number of the spots, things to which he will point as decisive with all the pig-headed presumption of self-conceited ignorance, are of little, if any weight, as varying in individuals, and not transmitted, like to like, through generations. ' ■ '^ " ' ' ' Almost all the really distinct species of the Salmonidee are distin- guished principally one from another by the form of the head and the structure of the gills in the first degree, and by the dental system in the second. Any permanent and unvarying difference in these, coupled to other variations of color, form, habit, or the like, which might otherwise be deemed casual, being held sufficient to constitute a distinct species. Many discoveries have been made through these means of late years , many varieties, which were formerly supposed to be truly distinct, having been proved to be identical ; and many new species discovered — the tendency of the whole having been to simplify, and to diminish the number of species, in the upshot, and thereby to decrease the labors of the student, and to facilitate the acquisition of science. / SALMONIDJE. 43 Much, however, yet remains to be done, as will be rendered evident by the conHideration that, even in so circumscribed a territory as Great Britain, every water of which has been explored, and, it may bo pre- sumed, almost every fish submitted to the examination of scientific men, groat doubts yet exist concevning many forms, especially of this family of Salmonida, whether they are absolutely distinct, or merely casual varieties, incapable of reproduction. In this country, with its boundless lakes and gigantic rivers — all those to the northward and eastward, and all those feeding the tribu- taries, or lying in the vast basin, of the St, Lawrence, as well as all those on the western or Pacific coast, flowing down through the Sacra- mento and Columbia, or wasting in the arid sands or wet morasses of the Great Central Basin, all teeming with varieties, perhaps distinct species of the Salmon — ^whatavast,what an unexplored field for the sportsman, the naturalinit ; and how doubly charming for him who unites in one individual both capacities. But two distinct varieties of the American Lake Trout, or at the most three, are as yet made out — for I think it doubtful whether there be any positive grounds on which to establish a distinction between the Salmo Confinis of DeKay, known in the Eastern States and New York as the common Lake Trout, and the Salmo Amelhyslut of Mitchil, known as the Mackinaw Salmon. The Salmo Sinkawitz of Aoassiz, discovered in the course of the past summer in lakes Superior and Huron, is clearly a marked and perma- nent species. That there is yet one other distinct species, the Sebago Lake Trout, I fully believe, but only having heard of it by oral description, I dare not take upon myself, without examination and comparison, to decide the question. Again ; another huge fish is constantly mentioned as taken at times m the lakes of Hamilton county, in New York, which, if it be not, as [ believe it is, a gigantic casual variety of the common Brook Trout. Salmo Fontinalit, is certainly a distinct fish. A slight examination of the gills, teeth, and fins, will at once settle this point. Of the common Trout, but one species is as yet firmly ascertained, unless th« Red-bellied Trout, Salmo Erythrogaster, of DeKay, prove to be a distinct form ; which I, for one, do not at all believe. The Troutlct of that author is merely the young of the common Trout. 'mmmmm>mmm»Mdmt'^f« 44 AMERICAN FISHES. Whether there exists a Salmon Trout or Silver Trout, Salmo Trutta Marina, at all in American waters, apart from the Salmon-peal, Grilse and common Trout, having access to salt-water, likewise remains to be proved, by the aid of those easy methods of examination, the use of which I so earnestly desire to impress upon my friends and fellow- sportsmen, not merely as an aid to science, but as an immense addition to their own individual gratification, when in pursuit of their finny prey by the wild margin of some far woodland lake, or on the rocky borders of some lone torrent of the wilderness. That many new species, entirely unsuspected and undescibed, still remain to be found and recorded in our waters, I hold to be undoubted ; when they will be discovered, or by whom, is another question ; for 1 regret to say it, as yet the spirit of science, and the desire to facili- tate and assist the inquiries of the man of letters, has scarcely pene- trated the breasi of the American sportsman ; and while, in England and on the European Continent, many the most distinguished corres- pondents of the literary and scientific institutions of those lands are sportsmen, who have contributed most highly to the advancement of knowledge by their investigations, experiments and contributions, we can, on this side, alas ! point to but two or three of the sporting frater- nity who have cared to record themselves as anything more than killers of animals ; of the habits, characteristics, and even names of which they are but too often grossly ignorant. ' .. A few there are, it is true, who aspire to higher things, and who are actuated by something more than the mere love of killing, the mere ambition of boasting of bag ; and among these, may their num- ber increase daily! it will not, I hope, be deemed impertinent to specify the author of " The Birds of Long Island," who, from a sports- man of no secondary skill or energy, has successfully aspired to the honors of a naturalist; and has most deservedly acquired, as such, no small degree of celebrity and favor. From this short excursion, into which I have been naturally led in the course of my subject, I return to the description of the gill- covers of fish, and thereafter to the dental system, the method of com- paring which I shall lay down briefly for the uso of the learner, and then proceed at once to the history of sporting-fishes. 8ALM0NID.a!. 45 The subject, which I now present, is the head of the Silver Trout of Europe, Salmo LacustriSj a species found in the large lakes of that continent. The figure is copied, by permission, from Professor Agassi z' great work on the " Fresh-water Fishes of Central Europe." 5 c^'' The gill-covers of all the fishes of the three first divisions, with which alone we have to do, consist of four principal parts, and th'eir use is to close the aperture behind the gills, which in all these three divisions is so formed, and so freely or loosely suspended, that the water bathes in its passage every part of their surface. ♦ These parts are, the pre-operculum, or fore-gill-cover. No. 1 ; the operculum^ or gill-cover proper, No. 2 ; the siib-operculumj or under- gill-cover, No. 3 ; and the iiUer-opercuhm^ or intermediate gill-cover. No. 4. The branchiostegous rays, as they are termed, are indicated by No. 5 ; and the fixed plates, forming the posterior immovable mar- gin of the gill-covers, by No. 6. N. 7. indicates the pectoral fin. How widely these parts differ in form, in different species of the Salmon tribe, will become at once apparent by a comparison between the gill-covers in the figure above, and those of the true Salmon, Sal- mo Salar, and the BuU-Trout, Salmo ErioXy Nos. 2 and 3, on the following cut, which, with these, presents a view of the interior of the mouth and the dental system of the common Trout, Salmo Farioj of Great Britain. mmmmmmmmammm »iMmint-%u:f. AMERICAN FISHES. > -" In figure 2 of this cut, representing the gill-cover of the true Salmon, it will strike any casual observer that the hinder margin of the whole covering forms nearly a semicircle, while that of No. 3, the Bull Trout, approaches more nearly to a rectangular figure. In the. former, the pre-operculum, fore-gill-cover, a, differs from the same part, similarly marked, in No. 3, it being more rectilinear; while the opercnlum., gill-cover proper, b, of the former slopes hindward and backward; the same portion, b, in No. 3, cutting in a horizontal line upon the joints of the sub-operciUiim and inter'Operculum. And in all respects both differ entirely from the arrangement of the same parts in the head of the Silver Trout, exhibited in the cut last preceding at page 45. ' " ' •' The most striking consequence of these differences is, that a straight line, drawn backward from the front teeth of the upper jaw, the mouth being closed, to the longest posterior projection of the gill- cover, will , in the three fish, run at a totally different angle to the horizontal line of the body ; and will occupy an entirely different situ- ation in respect to the eye ; such a lino in the head of the Salmon, Salvia Salar, and in the Silver Trout, Salmo Lamstris, passing close below the orbit of the eye ; while in that of the Bull Trout, Salmo ErioXy it will run obliquely very far below it. '■" '•' This distinction is very easy of observation, and is extremely im- portant in the definition of species ; as indeed is everything connected ' t i r V ji i ,i * SALMONIDJC. 47 with the form and poculiarities of tho hcud, not forgetting its relative proportion to the entire length of tho body. Of no less value is tho arrangcmoat of the teeth in the different classes, families and species of fish ; there being, on this point, infinitily greater variety than can be imagined by persons who have given their attention only to the structure of quadrupeds. " Tho teeth," says Mr. Yarrei., in tho introduction to his fine work on P^itish Fishes — from which I have taken tho liberty of borrowing the la^t cut, descriptive of the gill-covers and dental system of the Salmon, BuU-Trout, and common Trout — ^" of fishos are so constant, as well as permanent in their characters, as to be worthy of particular attention. In the opinion of tho best icthyologists, they are second only to the fins, which in their number, situation, size and form, arc admitted to be of first-rate importance. '^ Some fishes have teeth attached to all tho bones that assist in form- ing the cavity of the mouth and pharynx, to the intermaxillary, the maxillary, and palatine bones, the vomer, the tongue, the branchial arches supporting tho gills, and tho pharyngeal bones. Sometime:! the teeth are uniform in shape on the various bones, at others differing, One or more of these bones are sometimes without teeth of any sort ; and there are fishes that have no teeth whatever on any of them. The teeth are named according to the bones upon which they arc placed; and are referred to, as maxillary, intermaxillary, palatine, vomerine, &c. — depending upon their position. " A reference to page 46, will show the situation of the teeth in the Trout, with five rows on the upper surface of the mouth, and four rows below; the particular bones upon which these rows are placed, are also referred to." - i^ ." Mr. Yarrel then proceeds to descant, somewhat too largely for extraction in a work of this description, on the form, position and usos of the various teeth in different families of fishes ; but the gist of his remarks I prefer combining under the heads of the various fishes to which they belong; and I shall only add here, that in some species the teeth are arranged as in the Salmonida, in duplicate or triplicate rows of single teeth ; in others in dannc patches, occupying sometimes the greater part of the palate, sot like the bristles on a shoe-brush, as ui the Esocidte or Pike family; and again in others, as the species 48 AMERICAN FISHES. Lahrax^ of the family Percida, to which belongs our own noble Striped Bass, they cover the whole tongue, besides being thickly set on the palate. The position and shape of these teeth indicate as clearly the habits, mode of feeding, and the food, of the various families to which they belong, as do the teeth of the carnivorous, ruminating, or gnawing quadrupeds inform the naturalist whether the creature, of which the jaw-bone only lies before him, fed on animal substances, on grass, on grain, or on the bark and hard-shelled nuts of trees ; or as the beaks and bills of birds tell the experienced looker-on whether the owner was a bird of prey, an insect-eating warbler, or a grain-cracker. The distinction, therefore, which is founded upon the difference of the teeth in different fishes, is by no means fanciful, or resorted to merely to enable naturalists to display their ingenuity in making definitions, and multiplying species, as many people stolidly imagine; but is real and permanent, as representing the great sub-divisions of the dwellers of the waters, as those which feed on living, those which feed on dead animals of their own species, as insect-eaters, or mas- ticators of hard shell-fish, and so forth, unto the end. Differences, which even the most bigotted enemy of scientific distinctions must admit to be as real, and true in nature, as those between the tiger and the wolf, the ox that chews his cud, and the horse which fattens at the manger. I have known a sage coroner in England, who was wont to indulge in sapient ridicule of the learned professions, and to sneer at anatomi- cal and physiological distinctions, who gravely sat in inquest over .some exhumed bones, and solemnly recorded a verdict of wilful murder against some person or persons unknown, the skeleton, when examined, turning out to be that of a defunct cow. Such instances are becoming, I am happy to say, rare, as regards men in general, and those sciences which regard the human race, and domestic animals. Why it should not be so with the sports- man, I know not ; but too true it is, that most of that fraternity obsti- nately adhere to ancient error, even when it is clearly pointed out ; and attompt to ridicule the man of letters as a mere theorist, and unpractical, for attempting to correct them in their blunders of nomenclature, whereby they confuse all the tribes of the earth, the i /■ 8ALM0NID£. 49 air, and the water, and all the things that have life, whether animal or vegetable, therein. Little are they aware how fantastic are the tricks which they play, " like angry apes before high heaven," in the eyes of all those, whether naturalists or sportsmen, who do not confound conceit with knowledge, or wit with impertinent vulgarity. I shall now proceed to a few obser'">+ion8 with regard to the figure No. 1, in the last wood-cut, "- pa^ '. which represents '' " ^nts- rior of the mouth, opened to vue utmuat., of the common i^out of Great Britain and the European continent, Salmo Forio; which is selected by Mr, Yarrel as "showing" — to borrow his own words — "tho most complete series of teeth among the Salmonidce ; and the value of the arrangement, as instruments for seizure and prehension, arising from the interposition of the different rows, the four lines of teeth on the lower surface alternating, when the mouth is closed, with the five rows on the upper surface, those on the vomer shutting in between the two rows on the tongue," &c. In this cut, letter a represents the situation of the row of teeth that is fixed on the central bone of the roof of the mouth, called the vomer, from some fancied resemblance to the share of a plough, for which the word used is the Latin term ; bb, refer to the teeth on the right and left palatine bones; c, to the row of hooked teeth on each side of the tongue ; dd, to the row of teeth outside the palatine bones, on the upper jaw, which are those of the superior maxillary bones; and ee, to the outside row on the maxillary bones of the lower jaw. Now it will readily be understood what is the importance of exam- ining carefully this system of teeth, in the different varieties of the salmon family, whether called Salmon, Salmon Trout, Lake Trout, Brook Trout, or any other local name whatsoever ; when it is stated that the distinct species are very strongly and permanently indicated by the number of teeth found in each upon the vomer, central bone of the roof the mouth. ^, > ; ^ ; < In the true Salmon, the teeth on the vomer very rarely exceed two ; and sometimes there is but one. In the Bull-Trout, the teeth are longer and stronger than those of the true Salmon; but, like that fish, he has but two, or at most three teeth on the vomer ; he is distinguished, according to the authorities, 00 AMERICAN FISHES. by the different formation of his gill-covers, and the convex form of his caudal fin, whence he is said to be termed the Round-tail in the river Annan, in Scotland. This fish is unknown in America, and is ' merely mentioned for the sake of example and illustration. In the Salmon Trout of Great Britain, Salmo IVutia Lin.^ a mi- gratory fish, growing to a very large size, the teeth extend nearly the whole length of the vomer, thereby establishing a distinction between this and the two aforenamed species. Of the common Trout, we have already seen the dental arrange- ment. In the two distinct varieties of Lake Trout, recognised by authorities in Great Britain, which are non-migratory, and analogous to our Lake Trout ; viz — In the Great Gray Trout, or Loch Awe Trout, Salmo Ferox^ which is common to most of the large Scottish and Irish inland waters, and which is pronounced by Mr. Agassiz to be distinct from any of the continental Lake Trout, — these teeth extend along the whole length of the vomer. And in the Lochleven Trout, Salmo Levenensis, five Cacifer^ Walk- er and Palmer, if it be a distinct species from the common Trout, Salmo Fario, as appears to be conceded — although I must say I doubt it, as I do the Gillaroo, which, however, is more doubtful — there are thirteen teeth on the vomer, extending through its whole length. It would be well, indeed, if American anglers would take a little pains about the examination of these points, and would note them down in their tablets — in which, doubtless, they insert the weight of their captives — together with the relative proportion of the length of the head to that of the entire body ; the form of the gill-covers ; and rela- tive position of the eye to a line drawn from the front teeth to the lower posterior angle of the operculum or suboperculum, as it may be ; the number of rays in each of the several fins ; and especially the form of the caudal fin-tail — whether forked, concave, square, or convex. A very few memoranda on such points as these, accurately recorded, and assisted, where prarticablc, by the roughest sketch, would be of greater utility to the cause of science, than can be readily imagined ; and we should undoubtedly soon arrive at facts of great importance, and perhaps discover some new and interesting species of this most interesting family SALMONID^. 51 At all events, we should not bo tantalized by information so vague and indefinite as that convoyed in a note to the appendix, contributed by the members of the Pi83co club to Dr. Betiiune, for the beautiful and valuable edition of Walton's Angler recently given to the Ameri- can world — with notes on American fishing, the only fault of which is their brevity — by that accomplished fisherman and erudite scholar, who takes no shame to be held a follower of the gentle art, and to possess the finest piscatorial library owned in the United States, whether by private individual or collective body. " In June of this year," says the not3 to which I have reference, " the president of this club killed a red-JksAcd Lake Trout of 24 lbs. weight !" And no more ! Information of the same kind has been given to me by Mr. C. Web- ber, the author of some pleasant letters on Hamilton County B'ishing, published during the past year in the columns of the New York Courier and Enquirer ; but, unfortunately, none of the fortunate takers have noted any points relative to this fish, on which any deliberate opinion can be formed. The flesh of the ordinary Lake Trouts of America, CmifiniSy Ame- , tkystus, and Siskawitz^ are all pale, dingy, yellowish buflF, tasteless, coarse, muddy, and flaccid. It seems to be admitted that the red-fleshed Lake Trout is of more brilliant external coloring than the common variety. This is the fish of which I have spoken at page 43, as being un-^ questionably a distinct species, if not an overgrown and gigantic variety of the Brook Trout, Salmo Fontinali$. This latter, I believe to bo the case; though it is impossible to pronounce positively, without seeing the fish, and instituting careful comparison. •/!,).; .v.; '.. ■=..(; r: The fishermen of that district, on the lake, assert, I understand, positively that this is not the case ; but of course their opinion is utterly valueless, being founded on some such admirable reason as that the Brook Trout never grows to be above five or six pounds ; meaning only that they have never seen what they take to be one over that average. Just in the same manner, a person used to take fish only in the small mountain brooks of Maine, NeW Hampshire, or Vermont, might tell you quite as plausibly, quite as positively, and quite as truthfully — so far as his miserable experience of truth goes — that the 52 AMERICAN FISHEb. Brook Trout Uo'vor grows to bo above half a pound — nor doi^s it in his waters. The common Trout of England, Salmo Fario^ which is so clo«''ly connected with our Brook Trout, Salvia Fontinalis, as to bo constantly mistaken for it by casual observers, is continually taken in the larger rivers, especially the Thames, and in some of the Irish waters, from ten to fifteen pounds in weight. Mr. Yarrel, when preparing his British Fishes, had a minute before him uf six Trout taken in tho Thames, above Oxford, by minnow-spinning, which weighed together fifty-four pounds, the largest weighing thirteen pounds ; and one is recorded in the transactions of the Linnaoan Society as having been taken on the 1st of January, 1822, in a little stream ten feet wide, branching from the Avon at the back of Castle-street, Salisbury, which on being taken out of the water was found to weigh twenty-five pounds. These instances, which are beyond dispute, in relation to a species so closely related to our fish as the Salmo Farioy render it anything but improbable that it too, in favorable situations, should grow to an equal size ; nor is there any reason for doubting it, since it is known to grow to the weight of five or six pounds, within a few ounces of whicli latter weight I have myself seen it ; and there is no natural or phy- sical analogy by which we should set that weight as the limit to its increase. • . Should these remarks call the attention of sportsmen to a matter of Jeep interest, and elicit from them occasional records of cxannna- tions, which none can institute so well as they, their end will be fully answered, and these pages will not have been thrown away. We now come at once to the history of this family, and first, as best,, to that of the true Salmon. This being the noblest and most game in its character of all fishes, as I have observed before, once abounding in all waters eastward of the Hudson, and still, though it has now ceased to exist in numbers, west of the Penobscot, and even there can be rarely taken with the fly, is still the choicest pursuit of the American angler, although he may be now compelled to seek it in the difiicult and uncleared basins of the Nova Scotian rivers ; in the Northern tributaries of the huge St. Lawrence ; or yet farther to the Westward, in the streams of the Columbia and the cold torronts of Oregon, all of which contain the I 8AI.M0NID£. 00 truL> Salmon, with many other noble and diHtinct varieties, in un- equalled numbers. Of this glorious fish, of its generation, migrations, growth, und habits, 80 much has been discovered within, comparatively spouking, a few years, that i am enabled to presont a considerable number of facts, which will bo doubtless new to many of my readers, and which may be received as a.seertained and authontieated beyond the possibility of doubt. ^4 AMKRIOAN FISHES. AUDOMINAL MALACOI'TERYOII. SALMON I DX I % ^i/-^;? Salmom Pinkii up 10 ilz montbt old. ♦ THE SALMON. Tme COMMON SALMON, THE TRUE SALMON PiNKi first year, Smolt, second year. Peal' or Griub, second autumn, — Salmo Salar, Auotoruh, British Fishes, vol. ii. p. 1. PeKay, vol. iv. Although this noble fish has never been made the subject, so far as I know, of any of the strange and monstrous fables which have obtained concerning many others of the inhabitants of the waters — as for instance the Pike, of which old Izuak tells us, " it is not to be doubted, but that they are bred, some by generation, and some not, as namely, of a weed called pickerel-weed, unless learned Gessner bo much mistaken ; for he says, this weed and other glutinous matter, with the help of the sun's heat, in some particular months, and some ponds adapted for it by nature, do become Pikes" — still, until within the last few years, very little has been known with certainty concerning him in his infancy, and during the earlier stages of his growth. " The Salmon," says Izaak Walton, " is accounted the king of fresh-water fish, and is ever bred in rivers rela^ng to the sea, yet so high or far from it as to admit no tincture of salt or brackishncss. He is said to breed or cast his spawn, in most rivers, in the month of ll lONID.E. ^ mn.—Salintt iv. bject, SO far which have I waters — as is not to be I some not, led Gessner nous matter, IS, and some , until within ;y concerning lowth. the king of he sea, yet so [ishness. He the month of -in .V c 5r rn o CO > >.■«►«««>■ JWto.V*«M»..- , • $ + AMKRIC.VN Kl*'! ^i"H)NJI).E, i^' :-> ff";- .,M.iJ-^i^ rA»^- rilE SALMOiN. TlJf :C:.GitMON JfALMOK, THF,, THlfK S\T,MOX :f''3»r. m \ !?;/ ■■ for Jjivx.'ntff. aft t^Ami, . hk'. Wis*?**' with fh' tbt.- ls<*t. i^-rr 14^ lit y^ i fresh -W»^!» '■', . ; hi.li;li or h\ frOfti ; is sai'i xo b/i-c^ ^^ ■. i"'.:•;'i'^' yeay, Vf.m, or Gau*' . ..'/«"' aiiunin. . Ut^usU Fishes, vol. ii. j». J, iJNiKay, vol. iv. -S'iln ■'- . {i**}! has never bf^ri juadii the Fubjf-ct, so far' iio stroMifp aii'l mini>«;ious fablcH which hfivo .<^..iiV" others of fhr inh;ih't.tnteof- the watons — -a?. '>, .»f whi«h 'I'i u.i\\i tells iw, '' it Is not to he %n are brtiMi. ^>i»y by gfioeration, and jorm^ not, v^\h^ ymi^i^^(f^4^ tinloKH It^anietl (Jefsner .- t»#i.a<*, thiv* iifefd and otlun- glutinous riiatior, '*'^«it. tri some particular iiiont!i«, und sonu! . -asc., do beoom*' PIkes"-~8till, until within i!' Hca, yet »u inoiitii «>r ^ m c/> •^ o '* 33 5; C h o c/^ CO CO 8ALM0NID£. 05 August ; some say that then they dig a hole or grave in a safe place in the gravel, and there place their eggs or spawn, after the melter has done his natural office, and then hide it most cunningly, and cover it over with gravel and stones ; and there leave it to their Creator's protection, who, by a gentle heat which he infuses in that cold element, makes it brood and beget life in the spawn, and to become Samlets early in the next spring following." This passage I have quoted because in several respects it approaches very nearly the truth, as it has been proved by the result of a series of well-conducted experiments, to which I shall again allude. The true Salmon is caught in the estuaries of our large northern and north-eastern rivers, on his way up to deposit his spawn in the last months of spring and the early part of the summer. It has been observed in Europe, that those rivers which flow from large lakes afford the earliest Salmon, the waters having been purified by deposition in the lakes, while those which are swollen by melting snows are later in season. It is also observed that the northern rivers are the earliest ; and it is stated by Artedi, that in Sweden, Salmon spawn in the middle of the summer. The causes influencing these facts are not yet decided nor are they easy of solution, says Sir William Jardine, especially where the time varies much in the neighboring rivers of the same district. I am not aware that any difference of this kind has been remarked m this country ; and the great lack of residents on the remote Salmon rivers who will trouble themselves to observe and record such facts as daily occur under their eyes, renders it very difficult to obtain such information as might assist one in coming to any conclusion. So far as I can judge, however, this difforence does not occur on this part of this continent at least ; nor do I believe that the Salmon a^a earlier in their appearance in the St. Lawrence, which flows throjgh the largest chain of fresh-water lakes in the world, than the St. Jol n's, or the Penobscot, which lie farther to the south, and have no lakis of any magnitude on their waters. It must be mentioned, however, 1 tore, that all these rivers are equally swollen by melting snows •. and hat, being frozen solidly until late in the spring, the period of their ooen- ing naturally connects itself with the appearance of the fish. m AMERICAN FISHES. The Connecticut river, which has no large lake on its course, and is the southernmost of all the rivers which have furnished Salmon for many years past, has ceased to be a Salmon river; or some facts might have been ascertained through observation of its waters. The Kennebec also, though formerly an unrivalled Salmon river, is becom- ing yearly less productive of this fine fish. I am inclined to think, bowever, that it is the earliest Salmon river on this side of the Ameri- can continent ; with the Arctic rivers I have of course nothing to do ; and of the rivers or natural productions of California, Oregon, and the Pacific coast, we shall know nothing on which reliance can be placed, until the gold-hunting hordes are replaced by a stationary and organ- ised population. The mouth of the Kennebec is about one degree to the southward and westward of the Penobscot, and flows out of a large sheet of water, Moosehead lake, which abounds in the common Lake Trout, growing to a very large size, the Snlmo Confinis of DeKay. I presume that the true Salmon no longer has the power of making his way up to the head-waters of this beautiful and limpid stream, in consequence of the numerous and lofty dams which bar its course ; but of this I am not certain. The Salmon enters our rivers, then, rarely before the middle of May, and is taken in their estuaries so late as the end of July ; and during the early part of the season, nearly indeed until the latter date, does not ascend far above tide-water, generally going up with the floc 1, and returning with the ebb. At this time they are taken by thousands in stake-nets, on the Penobscot and other eastern rivers, and sent thence, packed in ice, to the markets of all the larger cities of the United States. At the time of their first entering the fresh-water, when they are in the highest possible condition, in the greatest perfection of flesh and flavor, and at the height of external beauty, they are of a rich trans- parent blueish-black, varied with greenish reflections along the back, these colors gradually dying away as they approach and pass the lateral line, below which the belly is of the most beautiful glistening silvery whiteness. The dorsal, caudal, and p3Ctoral fins, are dusky black, the small fatty second dorsal fin bluish-black, the central fins white on the outer side, but somewhat barker within, and the anal fin silversy white, like the belly. SALMONIDiK. 67 There are generally a few dark spots dispersed along the body about the lateral line ; and in the female fish those aro more numerous and conspicuous than in the males. The accompanying cut, facing page 54, is of a female, fresh run from the sea, and is copied, by permission, from the figure by Son- rel, in Mr. Agassiz's great work alluded to above. The individual from which the figure is taken, was caught in the neighborhood of Havre-de-Grace, in France ; but the Salmon of the two continents are identical. I will here observe, en passanl, that whenever it has been in my power to obtain specimens, either living or in spirits, I have myself drawn the figures from nature on the wood; but where, from the season of the year, or other causes, I have been unable to obtain that advantage, I have copied my illustrations from the best authbrities, where I could find plates or drawings which I deemed satisfactory. In the absence of either, I have left the fish unrepresented, in prefer- ence to giving incorrect caricatures of the animal — such as disgrace too many works of natural history, and, I am sorry to say, among others, the great Natural History lately published by the State of New Vork, the illustrations of which aro below contempt as works of art, and, in a scientific view, utterly useless, and uncharacteristic. After they have gained the upper and shallow parts of the rivers, preparatory to the deposition of their spawn, the colors of the Salmon are materially altered ; the male becomes marked on the cheek with orange-colored stripes, the lower jaw acquires a peculiar projection, and turns upward at the point in a hard, hooked, cartilaginous excres- cence, which, when the mouth is closed, occupies a hollow between the mtermaxillary bones. The body of the fish becomes greenish above, with the sides of an orange hue, fading into yellowish-green on the belly, and the spots assume a sanguine hue, the dorsal and caudal fins being more or less spotted. The females at this season are even darker than on their arrival in fresh water. The males are at this period termed Red-fish in Great Britain, and the females Black-fish ; and they aro so designated in the very salutary enactments which, in that country, by protecting the fish during their 5 68 AMERICAN FISHES. season of breeding, have preserved them from extirpation ; enactments which, as cannot be too much regretted or too strongly reprobated, the recaleitrative and over-independent spirit of our people wil' not tolerate, much less obey. The time will come, when the population at large will deplore this foolish and discreditable spirit j when, like him who slow the goose which laid the golden eggs, they find that by thcur own ultra-domo- cratic spirit, they are deprived entirely and forever of a great source of national pleasure, as well as national profit and wealth — for such are the fisheries of a country. During the winter the fish go through the process of spawning, which is thus described by Mr. Ellis, in his " Natural History of the Salmon," as quoted by Yarrel in his " British Fishes : " " A pair of fish are seen to make a furrow, by working up the gravel with their noses, rather against the stream, as a Salmon cannot work with his head down stream, for the water then going into his gills the wrong way, drowns him. When the furrow is made, the male and female retire to a little distance, one to the one side, and the other to the other side of the furrow ; they then throw themselves on their sides, again come together, and rubbing against each other, both shed their spawn into the furrow at the same time. This process is not completed at once ; it requires from eight to twelve days for them to lay all their spawn, and when they have done they betake them to the pools, and descend to the sea, to refresh themselves." At this time they are lean, out of condition, and unfit for food. Meanwhile, the female has acquired a grayish color on the back, with bright yellow sides. She is covered above the lateral line, including the dorsal and caudal fins, with alternate dusky and ruddy spots. Her pectoral, ventral, and anal fins are of a bluish gray color. She is now a long, lank, big-headed, flat-sided fish, as unlike as possible to the beautifully-formed glistening creature which ran up the stream in the preceding autumn. She is now termed properly a baggit, and the male a kipper ; and the two, generally, kelts. , •. \, Before entering the salt-water, they linger awhile in the brackish water of the tide-ways, as they did on ascending the rivers, obtaining. SALMONIDA. 59 it is said, thereby a release from certain parasitical animals, gene- rated, these by the fresh, those by the salt water, at each change of waters. In Great Britain, the period of the Salmon's spawning varies from November to the end of January. They have been carefully watched during the whole process, as have the eggs after their deposition, so that the length of time which it takes them to attain to maturity is accurately known. This time has been .ascertained by Mr. Shaw, in a series of experiments, of which I shall have occasion to speak moro fully hereafter, to be about 1 14 days, when the temperature of the water is - - 36" •: 101 days, ------ 43*' 90 days, - - - - - - 45* ^ These experiments were performed in the open air, and in natural streams, liable to the ordinary influences of the atmosphere and weather. Dr. Knox, however, as is recorded in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, observed a pair of Salmon which completed their spawning, and covered up their ova with gravel, in the usual way, on the 2d of November. This was in one of the northern tribu- taries of the Tweed. *- On the 25th of February, or at the end of one hundred and sixteen days, the ova were dug up, and found unchanged. On being removed, however, at this stage, and placed in bottles of water in warm rooms, the eggs were matured almost immediately, and the young fry hatched. In this state they cah be preserved in the bottles, with the water un- changed, for about ten days, as during that time they are supported on the yolk of the egg which adheres to the under part of their bodies, as exhibited in figure 1 on the cut at the head of this article. On th3 23d of March, according to Dr. Knox, the ova began to change, and it was not until the 1st of April that the fry were found to have quitted the beds. > • ; c Mr. Shaw's experiments were, however, so conducted as to furnish data on which more reliance may be placed ; and as these arc of the greatest interest, and as from experiments similarly conducted, farther results of a different kind might be attained, of surpassing importance. I shall state them somewhat at length. 60 AMERICAN FI8HKH. A full account will be found, by those who desire to investigate the subject more thoroughly, in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal for July, 1836, and January, 1838. Mr. Shaw, it seems, caused three ponds to bo made, of different size, at about fifty yards distance from a Salmon river, the Erith, the pondn being supplied by a stream of spring-water, well furnished with the larvae of insects. The average temperature of the water in the rivulet «ras rather higher and less variable than of that in the river ; other- wise the circumstances of the ova contained in the ponds, and of the young fry produced therefrom, were precisely similar to those of tho spawn and fry in the river. These ponds were all two feet deep, with wcU-gravelled bottoms, the highest pond eighteen feet by twenty-two, the second eighteen by twenty-five, the third thirty by fifty. ; Observing two Salmon, male and female, in the river preparing to deposit their spawu, Mr. Shaw prepared in the shingle, by the stream's edge, a small trench, through which he directed a stream of water from the river, and at the lower extremity of the trench, placed a large earthenware basin to receive the ova. This done, by means of a hoop- net he secured the two fish which he had observed ; and placing the female, while alive, in the trench, forced her, by gentle pressure of her body, to deposit her ova in the trench. The male fish was then placed in the same position, and a quantity of the milt being pressed from his body, passed down the stream, and thoroughlv impregnated the ova, which were then transferred to the basin, and thence to the small stream which fed the upper pond, where they were covered up in the gravel as usual. The temperature of the stream was 40°, that of the river 36**. The skins of the Salmon were preserved, in order to prevent the possibility of doubt or cavilling concerning the species The male fish, when taken, weighed sixteen, the female eight pounds The result was, that the young fish were hatched, as I have stated in the scale above given. When first emerging from the membrane in which it had been enclosed, with the yolk adhering to the abdomen, the young fry is as it is shown in No. 1, of the cut referred to above. The yolk is absorbed in twenty-seven days, after which the young fish require nourishment. At the end of two months, the young fish has attained the length of an inch and a quarter, as represented at /■ SALMONIDJE. 61 Mo. 2 ; and at the age of six months, ho has grown to the size of three inches and a quarter, and, except in dimensions, -is exactly rendered in No. 3 of the above cut. From these facts we arrive at two consequences. First, that the growth of the young Salmon has been greatly overrated ; and, secondly, that at a certain period of its life the Salmon %% a Parr. The extent to which the growth of the Salmon has been overrated, will be per- ceived at once, when it is shown that Dr. Knox, in the paper from which I have already quoted, states that tho fry which emerged from their capsules on the 1st of April, were taken, on the 22d of the same month, in the same year, as Sniolts, with the fly, of the size of the little finger. It was also generally believed that the fry of the year descended to the gea that very spring, smd returned, in the autumn, grilse, varying from two to seven pounds weight. It is distinctly shown, however, by Mr. Shaw, that the young Sal- mon, which is called a Pink while in the state represented above, having perpendicular lateral bars or markings of a dusky gray color, which were once supposed to be peculiar to the Parr, docs not become a Smolt, or go down to the sea until the second spring, tarrying a whole year in the fresh water. Salmon Smolt, one year old. The fish here represented measured seven inches and a half ir length, and three inches and one-eighth in circumference. Its gill-covers were silvery, marked with a dark spot ; belly and sides, up to the lateral line of the same, silvery color ; back and sides. ta AMERICAN FIStIi:s down to tho latoral lino, dusky, incliuing to green ; sides above th« lateral lim; marked with dusky spots ; along tho latoral lino, and both a little above and a little below it, several dull obscure rod spots. Tho dorsal fin has twelve rays, marked with bv.vcral dusky spots ; the pec- toral fin has twelve rays of a dusky olive color ; tho vcntnil fin eight rays of a silvery white ; and tho anal fin tun rays of tho same color. When the scales were carefully taken off with a knife, tho obscure red spots became of a fine vormillion^ and wore nineteen in number ; and ten obscure oval bars of a dusky bluish color appeared, which crossed the lateral line. In a young fry which has not acquired the scales, these bars aro very distinct. The above cut and description arc both borrowed from Y"rrel's "British Fishes," the latter as quoted from Dr. Heysham's catalogue. To render these facts yet more certain, in tho autumn of 1835, Thomas Upton, Esq., of Ingmere Hall, near Kendal, began to en- large a natural lake on his property, and in the spring of 1836, some pinks from the Lune, a Salmon river in that vicinity, were put into it. This lake, which is called Lilymere, has no communication with any other water, by which the fish once introduced can get out, or any fry, from other waters, get in. The pinks, when put in, were certainly not above two or three ounces each in weight. Sixteen months afterward, a friend of Mr. Upton's being on a visit to him, caught with a red palmer fly two Salmon Peal, in excellent condition, silvery bright in color, measuring fourteen inches in length, and weighing fourteen ounces; one was cooked and eaten, the flesh pink in color, but not so red as those of the river, well-flavored, and like that of a Peal. In the month of July, 1838, eleven months after, another small Salmon was caught, equal to the first in condition and color, about two inches longer, and three ounces heavier. No doubt was enter- tained that these were two of tho pinks tiansferred to the lake in the spring of 1836, the first of which had been retained sixteen months, and the latter twenty-seven months, in fresh-water. Farther than this, it was found that, in the river Hodder, tho pinks in April are rather more than three inches long, and that at the same time smol' ? of six and a half are also taken, with the colors altered as above, and ready to migrate. In July, the pink measures five inches, and the smolts have then left the river. ■iS^JSK AALMONIDJe. 08 Dr. Knox ssems to have erred merely in supposing that the pinks, the siz3 of the little finger, were from the ova hatched in April, when they were prooably from an earlier hatching of fish, which spawned at a more remote date. It soema, however, to be clearly and certainly established by these experiments, that the smolt, or laspring, as they are sometimes called, which descend iho rivers every spring toward the middle of May, are a whole year older than the pinks, which are taken in the same waters, at the same time, and by the same fly. With regard to tl.«e later growth of the Salmon, I am not of opinion that the lake experiments prove much, if anything, either pro or con; since it is a known and established fact, that salt-water has a recupe- rative influence upon the mature fish which run down the rivers ex- hausted by spawning, and also a certain tendency to increase the growth of the young fish which descend the streams, smolts, as it now appears, in their second year, of six or seven inches length, and about as many ounces weight, aud return peal or grilse, varying from two to eight pounds. It must be observed herO; that grilse is the correct name of the fish on its return from the sea in its second season, and that peal is merely a fishmonger's terra for a small grilse not exceeding two pounds' weight. That the idi tical smolt of six or seven ounces do return, after two or three months' absence in the sea, as grilse of as many pounds' weight, is proved beyond all dispute ; smolts innumerable having been taken, maiked with numbered ti jkets of zinc attached to the rays of their dorsal fins set at liberty, t.nd recaptured grilse, varying from two to eight pounds, in the autui.in of the same voar. The same experiment, with the labels unremoved, shows that the same grilse, descending the stream of unincreased magnitude in the spring of his third year, returns in that third autumn a fish of sixteen, and upward to twenty-five, pounds' weight. I hold, therefore, that the argument is conclusive, so long as it is founded on a comparison between fish which, whether they be con- fined or at large, never visits the sea. Beyond that the analogy ceases. It remains to be seen whether the Salmon confined to fresh- water will ever attain the size of those which run to and fro, from the fresh to the salt ; I greatly doubt it ; and, with Mr. Yarrel, I think it 04 AMERICAN riBHKb. more than a dubioue point, whether the luh, ho Htoppud from migra- tion to the 8ca, will ever acquire power to reproduce their own spccios. It is a ningular fact, that the Salmon propagates its kind before it \m adult — the grilse, on its return from the soa in its second year, having tho roo and milt far advanced, and spawning that same autumn. The ova in tho grilse differ not in size, but in number only, from those of the adult Salmon of a year's later growth, and there is no known dift'oronoe between tho fry of tho young and full-grown fish. It will prove to bo the fact, 1 have no doubt, that in this country thesii Bsh spawn earlier in the season than in Great Britain ; indeed, they must do so, for in the month of January the head-waters of the rivers whicii they frequent are masses of solid ice ; and I presume it will be found that the ova are deposited and covered with gravel in the months of September and October, and in all probability that the parent fish return to the salt-water the same autumn, or early in tho winter, before the closing of the rivers. This is, however, little important. I now come to the second point, proved beyond all doubt by these experiments ; videlicet, that the Salmon, in tho first stage of his exist- ence, is, to all intents and purposes, what is commonly called a Parr. Most, if not all, of my readers, are probably aware that, in some particular streams of Great Britain, there has been found invariably a small fish of the Salmon family, never attaining to any considerable size or weight, and distinguishable from Trout only by the presence of tho bluish gray, or olive, transverse bands alluded to above, and figured in the cut of Pinks, at the head of this article ; as also again in the plate at the head of that on tho Brook Trout, Salmo Fontinaliif next following. Concerning this little fish, there has been a continual doubt, and a dispute of many years' standing, some persons maintaining that it was a distinct, and reproductive species of the Salmonidm, which they termed variously Parr, Samlet, Brandling, and so forth. Others, from its never being taken of any size, have believed it to be an unproduc- tive cross, or mule, between the Salmon and the common Trout, the sea Trout and common Trout, &c., &c. ; and others yet again, that it was neither more nor less than a young Salmon. In pr)i)f of this, it was adduced that Parr had been marked and retaken as Grilse .. . <( . SALMON IDA. 66 Bui in reply, it was Btatcd timt Parr had also boon marked and retaken aa Dull Trout, Salmo Eriox^ and Salmon Trout, Salmo Trutta ; whcnoo it was ar^uod that the fish marked had boon bo marked curelosHly and injudiciously, and wore not Purr at all, but Smolta, or fry of some of the other Salmoniila. Mr. Varrol admits that he has seen these vertical marks in the young fry of the Salmon, Bull Trout, Parr, common Trout, and Welch Churr ; but tttill maintains the existence of the Purr as distinct, principally on thj ground thut the Parrs are taken abundantly even in autumn, not exceeding five inches in lontrth, long after the fry of the larger migra- tory species have gone down to the sea. This is in the- body of the work, written previous to the experiments made by Mr. Shaw ; and this Mr. Yarrel there considers to bo a sufficiently obvious proof that the Parr is not the young of the Salmon, or indeed of any other of the larger Salmonida. The reason is of course annihilated by the proven fact, that the Pinks, which remain in fresh- water all the first year, are young Sal- mon, Parr-marked ; whereas the young Salmon-fry, Smolts, formerly supposed lo be the young fish of that year, all of which have gon s down the n'ver to the soa, are in truth the fish of the preceding year. Similarly is the question settled with regard to the existence of Parrs in streams of the Western isles which are never visited by Salmon, these being, in all probability, the Brook Trout in the Parr stage of its existence. • And so again the fact that there are lalces in the same islands fre- quented by the Salmon and soa Trout, in which Parrs are never foun:l — because the yo'ing fry, while in the Parr, or transversely banded, form, keep in the iiwift cold streams, and do not descend to the lakes. It now appears to be certain, or as nearly certain as anything can be, which is not positively proved, that every species of the Salmonida is at one period a barded fish, or Parr. This is known as .in authenticated fact of the Salmon, Salmon Trout, Bull Trout, and common English Trout, as well as of the Welch Charr, as admitt^ed by Yarrel. Mr. Agassiz has figured the Hucho, Salmo Hucho, and the conti- nental Charr, which he esteems identical with the northern Charr of England, Salmo Umhla^ vu the same stage — the other characteristics rt6 AMERICAN FISHES of the different fish beiug unmistakable and evident — with the trans- verse bars. The same distinoruished naturalist has taken the Grjat O Lake Trout, or Mackinaw Salmon, Salmo Amethystus, and the Brook Trout, Salmo Fontinalis, which abounds in all small streams, wherein it is bred, in this same form. ' Thei'e only remain to be accounted for some two or three species, the Great Gray Trout, of Britain, the Sea Trout, Salvia Trutta^ and the Silver Trout, Salmo LacustriSy of Continental Europe, and on this continent, the Siskawitz, Salmo Siskawitz, and the Lake Trout, Salmo Coiifinis, of Dekay. No especial search has been instituted for the fry of any of these fish last named ; so that the non-discovery goes no way to prove their non-existence ; on the contrary, all analogy goes to show that they will be discovered in time. • '-....'•(> >^ .• • As it new stands, of fourteen, the most strongly-marked, Salmonida, nine have been clearly traced to this form ; and the five missing species are either analogous, as the three European species, Or closely con- generous, as the two American LakeTrout, to one species Amethystus^ which is shown to be no exception to the rule. Every migratory species of Salmo is found in this stage ; and one of the five or six, non-migratory. All analogy, therefore, goes to .show that these species will be found, on research, not to deviate from the rule of their order. ' ■ ' ' - "{,••.«■ Mr. Shaw goes farther, and argues that no such perfect fish as the Parr exists ; and that all the fish so named by different observers are in truth the young of different species of the Salmon family. Against this fact, Mr. Yarrel reclaims; and justly remarks that " this is not conclusive evidence of the non-existence of a distinct small fish, to which the name of Parr ought to be exclusively applied ; it rather shows the want of power amrng general observers to distinguish between the young of closely-allied species, three or four of which arc indiscriminately called Parrs." ' .-/,.' ■ This is certainly true logic. ^ The fact that all the young of all the Salmonida are what have been called Parrs, is no proof that all Parrs aro young and immature fish. This matter, though, as it now stands, cleared of all the absurd ItALMONIDA. 67 thcorifiH concerning cross-breeding between Salmon, Sea Trout, Gray- ling, and Common Trout, being set aside, is of easy proof. It only rests to show the male and female Parrs full of ova, ready for spawning, and the question is scttl^^d. In connciction with this, it is fair to state, that Dr. Hcysham, of Carlisle, in England, who is said to have devoted particular attention to this finh, which is there called Brandling or Samlet, observes that " The old Samlets begin to deposit their spawn in December, and continuf; spawning the whole of that month, and perhaps some part of January, As this season of the year is not favorable for angling, few or no observations arc made during these months. As soon as they hav(5 spawned they retire, like the Salmon, to the sea, where they remain till the autumn, when they again return to the rivers." ' Aft(!r u number of farther observations concerning the young fry of the Hup*>osod Parr, their sizes, seasons, &c., he concludes by these words — " In short, we see Samlets of various sizes — ^we see them with milt and roe, in all the various stages, and we see them perfectly empty ; all which circumstances clearly prove that they are a distinct «pccit!H," Cbiarly, indeed ; if it appears that these circumstances can be authenticated; but this I, for the present, doubt — first, because if there had b.-jon visible facts, the theory never could have been started of their being unproductive mules. Second, because Sir William Jurdine, aftsr examination of the Parr of the Tweed, speaks of it as still uncertain whether it may not be the young of the common Trout, Salmo Fario ; and for this reason, that though he has found males full of milt, he never has seen females with the roe in an advanced state ; and, farthermore, distinctly avers, that " they have not been discovered spawning in any of the shallow streams or lesser rivulets, like the Trout." Sir William, however, still leans to the opinion that there is a distinct species, in which the -ansvcrse markings are permanent, which r(!produccs its own kind, and never grows to a greater size than eight or nine inches ; and this ho would retain under the title given to it by Ray, of Salmo Salmulus. Mr. Yarrcl is of the same opinion ; and has certainly shown decidedly that it is not a hybrid, or a species of which there are 68 AMERICAN FISHES. no females, as had been surmised ; since of three hundred and ninety- five Parrs, or Samlets, examined by Dr. Heysham, one hundred and ninety-nine were males, and one hundred and ninety-six females. The great point, however, is this, which is now, I think, perfectly clear, and which at once dispels all the mystery of the question — namely — that the young of all the Salmonidce — not several only, as Sir William Jardine and Mr. Yarrel state, but all — have, in their extreme youth, transverse bluish, or olive-colored markings ; that they have all been confounded with one another, and — if there be such a fish — with the Parr proper ; and that from this confusion, and the want of discrimination on the part of the observers, have arisen all the contradictory accounts of Salmon, Salmon Trout, Bull Trout, and Common Trout, raised from the veritable Parr. Whether there do or do not exist a very small, distinct species of Salmo, in Great Britain, which retains these marks to maturity, is a matter of little comparative moment, though interesting to the naturalist. The first question was of the greatest importance, as involving the whole subject of reproduction of species ; inasmuch as the facts, as asserted and formerly believed, were directly analogous to this, that from the eggs of a barn-door fowl, of one laying, were hatched bantauis, quail, guinea-hens, pea-fowl, and any other gallinaceous fowl you please. On this continent, assuredly, there is no distinct Parr, although undouLtodly it will appear hereafter, that like the young of every one of the family, like the true Salmon, the greater Lake Trout, and the Brook Trout, the other species without exception, have the Parr markings. On this topic I have dwelt somewhat at length, yet I trust not so long as to weary my readers, the great interest of the point at issue, and the almost interminable discussion which has been maintained on the subject, rendering me peculiarly anxious to adduce something new and to the point ; which, thanks to the kind assistance of my friend, Mr. Agassiz, I trust I have succeeded in doing. I may here venture to add that the distinguished gentleman I have just named, is inclined to incredulity as regards the existence of a distinct species of Parr. I shall now recur to the experiments on the ova of Salmon ; first. SALMONID^. 0d for the purpose of showing how they may be brought into direct practical utility, and rendered subservient to the pleasure of the angler, as a method of stocking inland waters ; and, secondly, of pointing out how easily experiments might be made in this modcf as to the hybridization of fishes, and the rearing new species of mules, or ascertaining that they cannot be reared, by the commixture of the milt and roe of various distinct species of the same family in small tanks, fed by running brooklets. It has been shown above, that the impregnated spawn of any two live breeding fishes of the same family, may be artificially hatched and pres3rvod in waters other than those in which the parent species are wont to live ; as even the Salmon in fresh- water. I shall now proceed to show that the same result may be obtained by the commixture of the melt and roe in aerated water, of dead fishes • recently taken. It is absolutely necessary that the water should be aerated, or highly supplied with oxygen. For it is for the purpose of finding water in this condition, that the Salmon, the Shad, the Bass, the Smelt, and all those fish which resort to fresh-waters, for the purpose of spawning, run to the shallow, pure, and swiftly-flowing brooks, to which their rapidity and frequent falls impart purity and vitality, by mingling them with the atmosphere. In the same manner, the fish of the sea resort for the deposition of their ova to the weedy shoals, where the vegeta- bles, in process of their growth, under the influence of the sno, distri- bute air through the waters around them. " The science required for this object" — that is to say, th; r^'ising foreign fishes for the stocking of home waters — thus spcuks Sir Hum- phrey Davy, in his delightful work, " Salmonia" — ^" is -^-^sily attained and the difficulties are quite imaginary. The impregnution of the ova of fishes is performed out of the body, and it is only necessary to pour the seminal fluid from the melt upon the ova in water. Mr. .facobi, a German gentleman, who made, many years ago, expcrimotits on the increase of Trout and Salmon, informs us, that the ova and melt of mature fish, recevtly dead, will produce living ofi"spring. His plan of raising Trout from the egg was a very simple one. He had a box made with a small wire grating at one end in the cover, fov admitting water from a fresh source or stream, and at the other ened and restocked with the delicious fish. There is no plausil'o reason why the pinks wliich should be trans- ported to the upper Hudson, and should there remain till they become smolts, should not return as grilse to tin scones of their chilc'bond. Nor do I see any good reason why they should not continue to breed ^ and to frequent any river into which th(!y should be so introduced. The cause of their desertion of those rivers is inexplicable. It has been attributed to steamboats, but that is ideal ; for the Tay, the Tweed, and the Clvde, and half-a-dozen other English and Scottish rivers, which still abound in Salmon, are harassed by more steam- boats, hourly, than are the Kennebeck and Penobscot now, or than were the Hudson and Connecticut at the time when the Salmon for- sook them, daily 72 AMERICAN FISHES. I think it, myself, far more probable that they were poisoned, and driven from the head-waters and tributaries, in which they were wont to spawn, by the sawdust, especially of the hemlock ; and that the stock which were used to run up these estuaries having become extinct, the traditional instinct is lost, and there are no fish left which know the way to our waters. If this be a true reason — and, the known instinct of the animal con- sidered, it is as plausible a conjecture as any other — it is certain that many rivers, whose waters a few years ago ran turbid with sawdust, and whose every tributary resounded to the clack of the saw-mill, now again run as I'u'jpid as ever, and arc guiltless of saws, as well as of the timber to sn;-'>)\ tliem. I contend, thei i^fore, that there is no analogy against, but much in favor of iht posi;i;jility of restocking the Southern rivers of the Mid- dle St .tes with '-^Mlinon, which should return, and breed in them, year after year. i Nor, looking to the vast profit directly arising from such fisheries, can I doubt, particularly when regarding the action of the New York Legislature in regard to a fish so comparatively worthless as the Carp, that, could such a thing be efi"ected as the rccolonization of our rivers with Salmon fry, some action of the legislatures would ensue for their protection, until such time as they could be fairly naturalized. Whether this be feasible or not, it is certain, that to every inland spring-lake, from the western lino of Pennsylvpnia to their easternmost and northernmost limits, every variety of Brook Trout and Lake Trout can be introduced with ease, and at a trivial expense ; nor these only, but the true Salmon likewise. And I strongly believe that, when the extreme simplicity of the method, and facility of the means, become generally known, the true Salmon will mc in' induced, at least, into the lakes of Hamilton County, as woii as into many other inland waters. In fact, running as he does n iW into Ontaiic, there is no reason why he should not be safely lodged, beyond the power of re- turning, above Niagara, and compelled to fill Erie, Michigan, Huron, and Superior with his noble race. A few years since, he found his way into Seneca and Cayuga Lakes, and if modern improvements — heavens ! how I loathe that word ! — have not excluded him, he finds his way there yet. and thence might \\ 8ALM0NID£. 73 be propagatod, ad infinitum^ through the whole region of the lesser lakes. The next point of great value to be attained by the use of experi- ments of this nature, is the ascertaining how far fish are capable of hybridization ; and possibly the creation of new and interesting varieties, besides the elucidation of sundry, now mooted, questions concerning the manner in which various spacios, noW dbtinct, have arisen, and whether in truth they are distir^t or no. Now, it is of course just as easy to commingle, in the manner here- tofore described, the melt and roe of two distinct varieties, as of the same species ; and the consequences of such an admixture would excite the attention of the whole scientific world. Anywhere in the northern and north-eastern part of the State of New York, anywhere in the northern parts of New Hampshire, Ver- mont, or Maine, it would be the easiest thing in the world to procure the common Lake Trout, Salmo Confinis, if not 'live, at least within a few hours after his capture, and the common B.ook Trout, dead or alive, in any desirable quantities. There is little if any diflforence in the spawning period of these two Salmonidce, so that it would require very little pains or attention to procure the males and females under the circumstances proper for the making of such an experiment, which might be performed precisely as I have described it above ; trying, in diflForent instances, the males and females of the two species alternately. There are thousands and tens of thousands of little tumblinir trans- parent rills, throughout that country — scarcely a farm without a doz mi such — which have nunxerous natural basins in their courses, each of which, with the aid of a few hours' work employed in raising a timber dam, and applying a grate at the entrance and egress of the stream, would constitute as perfect a store-pond for the making of such expe- riments as could be erected by the wealth of Croesus ; with the advan- tage, too, of liaving the fish requisite for the tests existing, in a state of nature, within a few miles, perhaps within a few hunired yards, of the scene of action. One place already made to hand, requiring no improvement or alte- ration, strikes me on the instant; and one familiar, I doubt not, to very many of my readers. I mean Barhydt's Trout-ponds, near 6 74 AMERICAN FISHES. Saratoga Springs, whoro the Brook Trout abound, in what parfectioo all epicures well know ; and where the Lake Trout could bo obtained, with small trouble, alive, from the wators of Lake George, and recently dead, without any trouble at all. Whether the latter fish is found in Saratoga Lake or not, I cannot say ; but I should rathor supposo it is ; if so, the matter would be yet further simplified. The apparatus described above, which could be madj at the cost of a few shillings, might be placed in the runway, bjtw3on the upper and lower ponds, so as to allow that beautifully clear and sparkling source to bathe the ova constantly, until hatched ; after which the fry should be kept in confined vessels until the yolks of the egg wore absorbed, when they should be transferred to one or other of the tanks fed by the streaiidet. , -. In the same manner, in many places, especially in Maine, near the west branch of the Penobscot, where it flows within a few miles of Moosehead Lake, the former a favorito spawning station of the true Salmon, the latter abounding in the large Lake Trout weighing some- times up to thirty or forty pounds, it might easily be ascertained whether a hybrid could be obtained between these two fishes ; and so, perhaps, in a greater degree upon the shores of the great lakes, where both these species are taken, eastward at least of Niagara. A similar trial might be made with the ova of the Salmon, and of the common Trout ; which could be done with greater facility than the other, from the fact that the two species are constantly found naturally coexistent in the same waters. Should any of these experiments result in the production of hybrids, another interesting question would arise, as to whether the males thus produced should be again capable of reproducing their own species. .Should this be the case, it would go very far toward the breaking up the whole theory of distinct species of this family, and proving them to be merely accidental varieties, casually produced at first, and hav- ing become, in process of generations, capable of transmitting their own peculiar type to their progeny — as is the case clearly with the va- rious breeds of dogs, horses, cattle and other domestic animals, which, so long as they are preserved unmixed, will produce tboir like ; but which, if inter-bred with other closely-kindred races, will produce a mon- grel, but not a hybrid — one, I mean, which is capable of reproduction. SALMON! D£. 75 Th\is Shetland ponies breeding together will produce Shetland ponies ; and blood-horses of the Arab stock, blood-horses. Intermix these, and you shall have a cross-bred offspring ; which is not, however, a hybrid, like the produce of a horse and an ass ; for it is capable of breeding again, with its own type, or with either of the parent races, or with any other pure horse. And so of hounds, setters, greyhounds, and all the varieties of domestic dogs, so long as they are interbred among themselves ; but the moment they are associated with the wolf, fox, jackal, dingo, or any of the congenerous though distinct races, they will breed with them, it is true, but the progeny will be truly hybrid and barren. If, therefore, it should be proved on experiment, that the variou. distinct species of the Salmonida, as they are now held to be, will, when interbred, produce young capable of reproduction, it would go very far to establish the fact that the distinctions are not distinctions, but merely varieties. I must not, however, be understood as saying that the success of experiments, and the establishment of such a result as I have supposed, would go at all to prove that such intermixture of varieties occurred, or such cross-breeds were produced, in a state of nature ; far from it. We know, that in vegetables, hybrids can be, and are, readily pro- duced by artificial means, which will not occur once in a century, per- haps never would occur at all, were the plants left to the operation of nature. Nature abhors monstrosities ; and the proverb that the " cat will follow kind" is of older wisdom than Will Shakspeare's. Man's freaks have raised mongrels between the lion and the tigress ; nature's, so far as we know, or can conjecture, never. And always in a wild state a hundred circumstances, such as difiFerent size, different habits, haunts, associations, and last, not least, fear — one species of the same family being habitually the devourer of his relatives — will prevent the occurrence of such admixtures between animals. It would require many and strong evidencos to make m3 believe that the Brook Trout of ordinary dimensions would trust itself wil- lingly within such distance of the Salmon, or Lake Trout, as would permit their ova to commingle in a single furrow. Nor, indeed, do I believe, myself, that the result of such experi- 76 AMERICAN FISHES. raents as tbeaa last-named would be success ; although I gather from a note of Dr. Bethune's, to his beautiful edition of Walton, that ho rather leans to the opinion that the various species of this family wcro more capable of intermixture, and more accustomed to interbreed, than I am disposed to credit. At all events, there would be groat interest and entertainment in the instituting such a series uf czpci iments ; and the result, whatever it should be, could not fail of importance. That those which I first mentioned are eminently practicable, is not to be doubted ; and there is strong reason for bolieving that this science was fully undf^rstood, and constantly practiced, like many other good things now forgotten, or, as we flutter ourselves, recently discovered, by the monks of old. That Carp were introduced from the continent to England, by the monks, is nf^arly certain ; this, however, could be accomplished with- out recourse to any artificial modes of producing or raising the young fry. There arc, however, many and powerful reasons for believing that thc> Grayling TAymallus Vcxillifer^ the Charr,&'a/wio Umhla^ the GvfymvL&yCoregonm Fera, and perhaps, also, the Vcndaco, Coregonus Willughbiijthe Polluu, Cc-rgonu!-. l^o/Jan, and the Powan, Coregonus Lacepedei^vfcre al^) introcuc.i! by tho same agency from foreign coun- tries. This belief is supported by the fact, that these fish exist only *"^ isolated, and often distant waters ; sometimes in ouly one of two •i)'i,'hboring rivers, whereof that which contains them is apparently ih: A«ast adapted to their habits ; but always in such waters as had many or distinguished monastic institutions on their banks. VVhilo England was Catholic, great attention was paid to the raising and fat- tening the choicest varieties of fresh-water fish ; an art which has sunk into neglect, partly owing, doubtless, to the abolition of fast-days, and partly to the great facility with which the finest sea-fish are trans- ported throughout the country. If the fish I have last mentioned were so introduced, it must have been by some such process as that which I have here described ; for they are all of so sensitive and delicate a nature, that it is with the greatest difficulty they can be kept alive for an hour or two after being captured, and that only by a constant change of fresh spring water; circumstances which would have made it utterly impossible n 6ALM0NIDX. 77 that they should have been transported from the continent, after they had arrived at maturity. Even to this day, in Austria, Illyria, and parts of the Tyrol, the grratcst attention is paid to the nurture of tlie most delicate fresh- water fishes in confined situations ; and Sir Htimphroy Davy states in his " Salmonia," that, " at Admondt, in Styriu, attached to the mag- nificent monastery of that name, are abundant ponds and reservoirs for every species of fresh-water fish ; and the Chnrr, Grayling, and Trout are preserved in different waters — covered, enclosed, and under lock and key." And now having at length come to the end of this so " disserta- tion on the breeding, growth, and specific generation o ,o Salmon, I shall briefiy consider his characteristics, distinguishing marks and habits, before passing to his nearest relation, in this country at least, the Brook Trout. The Salmon, Saltno iMnr^ of Linnaeus and all authors, is, I have observed before, a soft-finned fish of the abdominal division, his ven- tral fins being attached to the parietes of the belly. His head is smooth, his body scaly. His dorsal fins are two in number, the first supported by soft rays, the second adipose or fatty, without rays ; he has teeth on the vomer, both palatine bones, and all the maxillary bones. His branchiostegous rays vary in number, generally, from ten to twelve, but are irregular, and do not always coincide on the two sides of the head. The teeth on the vomer rarely exceed two in number, and there is frequently but one ; a sign which is thought to distinguish him from the Salmon Trout, and other connected species. The length of his head, to the whole length of his body, is as one to five ; the eye small and nearer to the point of the nose than to the pos- terior edge of the gill-covei The pectoral fin is two-thirds the length of the head, and has twelve fin-rays. The ventral fin lies in a vertical line under the middle of the dorsal fin, and has nine rays ; the anal fin commences about half-way between the origin of the ventral and caudal fins, and has nine rays ; the caudal fin, or tail, has nineteen rays ; when the fish is very young, it is much forked, but as it advances in years, the central caudal rays grow up ; and it becomes nearly square by the end of the fourth year. The first dorsal fin has thirteen rays, all of which, with the exception of the two first, are brancbed. .\! IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^0 1.0 I.I 1.25 l^|Z8 12.5 ■^ yi 12.2 li£ 12.0 i U 11.6 s , •» ^ib •/, /, f % Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 873-4503 78 AMERICAN FISHES. The body is long, and about equally convex above and b;low; tho lateral line dividing the body nearly equally, and, to a certain degree, parting the dark hue of the back, and silvery whiteness of the belly. The form of the gill-covers, shapes of the fins, and relative propor- tions of the whole fish, will be readily understood by reference to the plate facing page 54, at the head of this article, which will give a more correct idea than any written description. The Salmon is, to all intents, a fish of prey ; and to this end every part of his frame is adapted, in the most perfect manner, by the master- hand of nature. The elongated form of his body tapering forward and aft with the most gradually curvated lines, like the entrance and the run of some swift-sailing barque, enables him to glide through the swift water in which he loves to dwell, displacing its particles with the least resistance ; the powerful muscles and strong branched rays of his broad and vigorous caudal fin serve as a propeller, by which he can command an immense degree of momentum and velocity, and ascend the sharpest rapids. No one who has once felt the arrowy rush of a fifteen-pound Salmon, when struck with the barbed steel, will, be inclined to undervalue his strength, his speed, or his agility ; and the numeroiis and astonishing leaps which he is capable of making, to the height of many feet above the surface, either in attempting to rid himself of the hook, or in sur- mounting obstacles to hie upward passage, in the shape of dams, flood- gates or cataracts, prove the exceeding elasticity, vigor and strength of his muscular sj^stem. The prodigious power of sinew exhibited in the lythe and springy limbs of the quadrupeds of prey of the feline -order, is not superior in its degree to that possessed by this, the veritable monarch of fresh- water fishes; nor are the curved fangs and retractile talons more efficacious instruments to the lion and the tiger for the seizure of their victims, than are the five rows of sharp hooked teeth, with which the whole mouth of the Salmon is bristled, for the prohension and deten- tion of his slippory and active prey. Nor is he less bold, fierce, and persevering, than he is well provided with the means of pursuit and the instruments of destruction. Asa proof of tha strength and courage of this family, it is recorded by Mr. Yarrel, that a Pike and a Trout, put together in a confined / 8ALM0NIDJEE. 79 place, had several battles for a particular spot, but the Trout was eventually the master. The comparative size of these fish is not men- tioned^ but of course there was something approaching to an equality, as the Pike constantly preys on small Trout. It is very certain that, although great havoc is made among Salmon by the Seal and the Otter, there is no fresh-water fish which would venture on attacking them, not even the Pike, at his largest size. The Salmon grows to a very large bulk, though the average run is probably from eight to sixteen pounds ; and as is the case with many kinds of fish, the middle-sized, of twelve or fourteen pounds, are gene- rally considered the best in an epicurean point of view, and afford, commonly speaking, nearly as much sport when hooked, as tlxe mon- sters of the species. " The present London season, 1835," says Mr. Yarrel, speaking on this point, " has been more than usually remarkable for large Salmon. I have seen ten different fish, varying from thirty-eight to forty pounds each. A notice appeared in the public papers of one that weighed fifty-five pounds. Salmon, however, of much larger size have been occasionally taken. Mr. Mudie has recorded one of sixty pounds. Tn a note to the history of the Salmon, in several editions of Walton, mention is made of one that weighed seventy pounds ; Pennant has noticed one of seventy-four pounds ; the largest known, as far as I am aware, came into the possession of Mr. Groves, the fishmonger in Bond-street, about tho season of 1821. This Salmon, a female, weighed eighty-three pounds ; was a short fish for the weight, but of very unusual thickness and breadth. When cut up, the flesh was fine in color, and proved of excellent quality. " The Salmon of the largest size killed by angling, of which I have been able to collect particulars, are as follows : In the Thames, Oeto- ber 3, 1812, at Shepperton Deeps, Mr. G. Marshall, of Brewer-street, London, caught and killed a Salmon that weighed twenty-one pounds four ounces, with a single gut, without a lauding-net." Sir Humphrey Davy is recorded as having caught an immense fish, weighing about forty-two pounds, immediately above Yair-bridge, and K i o H < -n -JO ft* o o X r;* ^ ( — §^ H "ti' •»» ^. 1— iT -5 O'. O 5* -N, ;** ::d ^ s. -H ■<^ H X Si; C 1 X. > N.- — • •■"J* •^ r t-s. 5*: m 1 o > Cft & :« M l»^, / / # 86 ^^l^•|.•^^ \N I ■• * Brook Thoit. i«it» Vviir* P«t- ^.rMOMJ).!!. *■ lii'S'' t. THE nUOOK i UOV'T. TJIE ( (JMMOX •IKt.'i'T. — TH »' h.>l.. I'm; f.* ffi* Nkw York CiiAittt ; IJicIiardwi-.i — .'Ju/w F'mtiix^lu ; IVKuv. Li', '. Ibf wild antTiials of fbis Cdiitinent, !»li(«».'jit wul..^»it isxeeption, the 1 ro ii • i' Aifli.'tiya is a di.';{!a'ct spreies fS.m th«; R.4t of l:!uroj)i; ; altboagh, «^ ♦« iiitHj' i>th;'r inst mcos, tlu> j^Oiif.ral rrf'einbl.vji.'f ig so atrouff, Rn • *?'!« chamctcristifc (iifforcntu » so narrow, tU'i^' -n tha eyas <)( I coMDi.Au ■ W'Tvor, JD'igiug tVoiM uKMiiorf only, tl v :ipprnir to be '(.«.!.• t?port.j»Jt«r> . who havi bron in ih* Kftbit of liiliiu,'^ this bouri- tifisi £v'*i, both i^M 'iiis couiiti-y i),../ .a Kiircrpr*, avo imdor tho n«pii>K'' ■ (lint 1 • Ti(/ niuti.'i'i;^* -ijyijKSiTenoe ; but suoli i-i not, in traih, th- > ' , ■ 'vlth the s: t'", th'? t,val, tho widguoti, and main nth ^ »i t!u; ^ .\.m •!. th« (»harai.:li;n,stic marks of distif/'Miin, '■- c-igh feteiij , ■^v.rri.hiifev^d at fe"«t, bv n person iin:iO!|ii;»intoo * This uamo '■« <.{*plied to Ik* &*'*«rU»}« net the if»(il.• — CO m p^*' 41 V /^ SALMONID^. 87 with them, when once pointed out, cannot be readily mistaken, and, being both permanent and invariable, are quite sufficient to establish diversity of species. It is not in formation, moreovor, or appearance only, but in very many of its habits, that the Brook Tr( it, Salmo Fontinalis^ of Ame- rica, diflfers from his congener, the common Trout, Salmo Fario, of Europe. Still, in general, his manners, his haunts, his prey, and his mode of taking it, so closely resemble those of the European Trout, that as a general rule, the instructions given for the taking the one will be found successful as regards the other ; and the flies, baits, and general style of tackle, as well as the science of capturing, with some few excep- tions, which will be noticed hereafter, arc nearly identical, on the two sides of the Atlantic. As in Europe, so in America, although there are countless varieties of this most beautiful of fishes, almost indeed a variety for every stream, still, according to the opinions of ' what I deem the best authorities, there is but one distinct species. Endless attempts have been made in England to distinguish and define fresh species; but these have, in my judgment, all failed. According to Mr. Agassiz, whose opinion on this subject I consider paramount to all others, the Gillaroo, or Gizzard-trout, as it is some- times erroneously called by the Irish, and some of the Scottish writers, is merely a casual variety of the Salmo Fario. The distinction, which consists principally in the thickness and induration of the stomach, having arisen from feeding on shell-fish, in the first instance, in indi- viduals, has been gradually ingrafted on generations, until, in process of time, it has become a permanent type. Although this variety is not known to exist on tliis continent, I have a very strong suspicion, from many circumstances which I have heard, on good authority, concerning the Trout of the Marshpee river, in Mas- sachuscts, that on examination, it will be found to possess some of the leading peculiarities of this fish, particularly the indurated stomach. I have never had an opportunity of seeing the Trout of this river ; but I know that it has many peculiarities of habit resembling those of the Gillaroo, especially that of feeding on shell-fish, a friend of mine having actually succeeded in taking them with small white crabs, at a time when they would look at no other bait. 88 AMERICAN FISHES. I mention this, merely by way of suggestion, as offering an interesting subject of investigation for naturalists. Sir Humphrey Davy, in his Salmonia, rather leans to the idea that the Gillaroo is a distinct species, though he luavos it uncertain whether it may not be a permanent variety ; his principal argument being this, that he has caught small fish, not longer than the finger, with a fly, " which had as perfect a hard stomach as the larger ones, with the coats as thick in proportion, and the same shells within." In external appearance, the Gillaroo is said to differ from the com- mon Trout " very little, except that they have more red spots, and a yellow or golden-colored belly and fins, and are generally a broader and thicker fish." Again, Sir Humphrey admits that " in a clear and cool river, fish that feed much on larvae, and swallow the hard cases, become yellower, and the red spots increase so as to outnumber the black ones ; and these qualities become fixed in the young fishes, and establish a particular variety." This would seem, in plain English, to describe the existence of a fish in the direct process of change, from the ordinary form of the Trout to the Gillaroo, the feeding on the larva9 of winged insects, in their hard stony cases, being, as it were, a first step toward becoming shell-fish eaters, and the effect being indicated in the gradual change of color, though the causes have not been as yet sufficiently powerful to produce the induration of the stomach. In America, likewise, it has been attempted to draw a distinction ; and Dr. DeKay, a very accomplished and able icthyologist, although perhaps — ^with all deference be it spoken — rather too much of an in- door naturalist, and too much inclined to admit hearsay evidence, has designated a species as Salmo Erythrogaster^ the Red-bellied Trout ; which I confess I do not believe to be even a permanent variety, but merely a brilliant specimen of the common Brook Trout, in its highest season, taken, probably, from some very bright and sunny water. In this view I am fully sustained by Professor Agassiz, who has made some very curious experiments with regard to the colors of fishes, of the SalmonidcB especially ; and who has ascertained, beyond a doubt, not only that the Trout of different neighboring waters are affected by the color and quality of the water, but that the Trout of the same rivet vary in color accordingly as they haunt the shady or the sunny side of BALMONIDiE. 89 the stream. For it b a well-known fact, that the Salmonida^ although many of them are migratory at certain seasons, have their own haunts and hunting grounds to which they steadily adhere, moving but a short distance from one spot, in pursuit of their prey, and returning to it when satisfied. Thus, in a mountain-brook, you shall find, perhaps, that the pool between an upper and lower fall or rapid is occupied by two fish ; one of these will lie at the head, the other at the tail, of the pool, the more powerful fish selecting the spot which he chooses, and neither ex- changing places, nor hunting far from his habitual haunts. In still waters, in like manner, you will find that, day after day, the same large Trout will bo seen under this bank, by that large stone, or in the cavity formed by the roots of yon ash or alder ; and that he will not stray to any distance from it, but will seek his prey nearly in the same waters, and on the same side of the river, the opposite bank being probably held by a rival fish. That this will at first be deemed far-fetched and improbable, I think likely enough ; but the more we consider it, the more reasonable shall it appear ; for when wo weigh the great influence of light in the pro- duction of colors, and then think how much the transmission of light through different media, as, for instance, waters of different degrees of density, purity, and color, affects the light itself, we shall find the theory far less extravagant than it strikes us at a first glance. And here, I shall quote an anecdote, related in Salmonia, for the purpose of elucidating an entirely different point, which yet is so much to the purpose, in the present instance, that it is even more valuable in illustration of this, than of that for which it is quoted. '' A manufacturer of carmine," thus i <« the story, " who was aware of the superiority of the French color, ,, '; to Lyons for the purpos3 of improving his process, and bargained with the most celebrated man- ufacturer in that capital for the acquisition of his secret, for which he was to pay a thousand pounds. He was shown all the processes, and saw a beautiful color produced, yet he found not the least difference in the French mode of fabrication and that which he had constantly adopted. He appealed to the manufacturer, and insisted that he must have concealed something. The manufacturer assured him that he had not, and invited him to see the process a second time. He min- 7 90 AMERICAN FISHES. utely examinsd the water, and the materials, which were the same as his own, and, very much surprised, said, ' I have lost my labor and my money, for the air of England does not permit us to make good carmine.' ' Stay,' says the Frenchman, ' do not deceive yourself; what kind of weather is it now .^' * A bright sunny day,' said the Eng- lishman. *■ And such are the days,' said the Frenchman, ' on which 1 make my color. Were I to attempt to manufacture it on a dark or cloudy day, my results would be the same as yours. Let me advise you, my fri-^nd, to make your carmins on bright sunny days.' ' I will,' says the Eujjlishman, ' but I fear I shall make very little in London.' " Now this anecdote may be depended upon; for a person so distin- guished as a chemist and natural philosopher as Sir Humphrey Davy, would not have related a story in regard to the eflFect of light, which was contrary to truth, or which he did not directly know to be true. And if the effect of sunshine is so great on color, as that the in- crease or decrease of its brilliancy should cause a totally different result to follow from the combination of precisely the same chemical ingredients, it will readily follow that much more effect will be pro- duced by its excess in one cas3, or almost total exclusion in another, upon hues so changeful as those which glitter on the scales of a fish. That in a pure limpid rapid stream, rushing over a bright gravelly bed, through open fields, where no envious boughs intercept the sun- light, and in a dark turbid pond, the waters of which arc saturated with the draining of poat-bogs, or with the juices of decomposed vege- table matter, and overshadowed by thick evergreen umbrage, the light even of the most gorgeous noon will be transmitted in very different degrees, and produce very different effects both of color, heat and radiance, any person can judge, who will observe the sunbeams as they fall through a sheet of pure plate-glass, or a thick green bull's-eye ; and that the consequences may easily be as they are stated above, he will, I think, be satisfied. Now, in the first place, analogous to this, and in corroboration of this view of the subject, I will remark here, that one of the principal external differences between the American and the European Trout, is precisely as might be expected under the views taken above. The climate here being far more sunny, the atmosphere drier and more transparent, and the weather more constant and lightsome, we find that \ ^ f ■ / 8ALM0NID£. 91 the Trout of America h a lighter uolored, brighter, gayer, and more gor^^dous creature than his European kinsman. And, farther yet, yfs shall find that in the purest and most limpid streams, in the lakes which to the most transparent waters add the sunniest expanse, the brightest and most beautiful Trout are taken ; while in black boggy waters, or in forest-embowered rivers, the colors of the fish are rather dim and dusky. This is not, however, merely a matter of theory and analogy, for experiments have been actually tried on this point, and with perfect success. Mr. Agassiz assures me that he has repeatedly known very brilliant and gaily-colored fish, taken in clear and sunshiny waters, and transferred to neighboring pools or streams of totally different charao<- tor, to begin to fade and lose the intensity of their colors, Bousibly, within a very few hours, and after a few days or weeks, to be entirely undistiuguishable from the native fish of the place. This accounts, at once, for the facts so often stated, and seemingly so inexplicable, of two lakos communicating with each other by a com- mon channel, and containing two distinct varieties of Trout, one beau- tiful, and excellent upon the table, the other dark-colored and ill-tasted, the two varieties n over b3ingknown to intermingle, or to exchange from one to the other water. The explanation of this apparent phenomenon is, that the change pro- duced by passing from the dark and poat-soilod waters of the one lake, to the limpid element of the other, in the fish, is so rapid, that they assimilate themselves almost instantaneously, in outward appearance, to the fish into whose society they havD emigrated. •' . The lakelet, known as Stump-pond, on the northern side of Long Island, which, as its nam? indicates, is filled with thcbuttsof dead trees, and saturated with vegetable matter, has been for many years famous, or I should rather say infamous, for the ugliness, want of brilliancy, and indifferent quality in a culinary point of view, of its Trout, as com- pared with those of the bright and transparent mill-ponds and rivulets of the south side. No one, however, has ever thought of erecting them into a species, or of designating them as Salmo Stumppondiciis, seeing clearly the cause and effect ; and lo ! now of late years, as the cause is passing away with the process of time, the effect is also disappearing ; as the vegetable matter is decaying, being absorbed, and swept away. 93 AMERICAN FISHES and as the purifying influences of the springs are gaining upon the cor- rupt and stagnant qualities of the pond, the fishes are likewise becoming brighter and better. In the course of a few more years, it is probable that they will be scarcely distinguishable from the finely-formed and finely-colored fish of Snedecor's or Carman's streams, at Islip and Fire- place. Doubtless, other causes besides the influence of light, have their effect both upon the app3arance and the flavor of the Trout ; we have seen that their color is affected by the shell-fish, or even the larvae of flies, on which they feed ; we have also seen that they increase in weight, size, and fatness, according as they are nourished with worms, with small fry, or with water-flies ; and no one in his senses can doubt, I imagine, that if these fish which have obtained scarlet spots, and become golden-finned and golden-bellied by feeding on sh'ell-fish, or crustaceous-cased insects, were confined upon a regimen of dew-worms or May-flies, they would gradually relapse into their original coloring. Nor can it be supposed, I think, judging from all analogy, but that the Gillaroo Trout, kept permanently in situations where it could never find either shell-fish, or any hard edible substances, would gradually lose the distinctive hardness of its stomach, as well as its characteristic coloring. The probability is, that the young fry of a finger's length, spoken of by Sir Humphrey, would lose the distinction individually ; and I do not at all conceive it likely that the characteristic would sur- vive through two generations from the largest adult. While I am writing on this point, I will cite a fact, though it belongs with greater propriety to the hLotory of another fish, the Greatest Lake Trout, Salmo Ameihystus, vihen describing which, it will be noticed more fully. This is simply that in the same lakes, Huron and Superior, this same fish exists in three different states of color, so totally dissimilar, that it is supposed by the French inhabitants of the shores, to be three distinct fishes, and is known by three distinct names, according to the situations in which it is found, and by which ite coloring is evidently affected. Drawings of the fish in two of these stages are now lying before me, and will be presented to my readers under the proper head ; here, it will be sufficient to state that, but for the shape of the head and gill- covers, the form of the fins and the number of the fin-rays, things not J SALMONfDJr. 98 examined by the superficial observer, they would poM for different fish. These three varieties are known as the IVuUe de Chrhve, Truile de$ Batturesy and Truite du Large ; or, Trout of the muddy bottom, Trout of the rocky shores, and Trout of the open waters ; the first being a dull mud-colored fish, the second bright and handsomely mottled, and the last bluish and silvery, and resembling more » clean'rnn Salmon than aLake Trout. This is so fairly a case in point, that I cannot resist quoting it here, as it is perfectly evident that there is no real distinction whatever ; and if this be so of one variety or species, there is no reason for doubting that like causes will produce like effects, in the congenerous species. Again, it is not only possible, but in the highest degree probable, that the different chemical substances which are held in solution by the waters of various streams and lakes, may not be without their infiucncc on the coloring of their inhabitants. I think I have myself observed, both on this continent and in Europe, that the Trout in streams flow- ing from lime-stone formations are more lustrous, and more strongly spotted than those of duller and less lively waters. That the fish of streams rushing rapidly over pebbly beds, are supe- rior in all respects, both of appearance and quality, to those of ponds or semi-stagnant brooks, is confessedly notorious ; but this may arise not so much from any particular components of the waters themselves, as from the fact that rapidly-moving and falling water is more highly aSrated, the atmosphere being more freely intermingled with it, and therefore more conducive to the health and condition of all that in- habit it. Independently of DeKay's Salmo ErythrogaUer^ I find mention made in the " American Angler's Guide," of the Silver Trouiy the Common Trout j the Common Trout of Ma$taehutett$^ the Black Trout ^ the Sea Troutj and the Hucho Trout ^ although to none of these except the last, is any scientific name attached. I beg, however, to assure my readers, that there are no such distinc- tions existing in nature. The Silver Trout, which is stated to be found in almost all of our clear, swift-running northern streams, and to weigh from one to fifteen pounds, is in no respect a different fish from the common Trout of Long Island ; nor does that fish differ in any, the 04 AMERICAN FISHES. smallest, particular from the Trout of Masaaohusctts, or of any otlier place in the United Statss, where the Trout exists at all. I wish greatly, that the author of the " American Angler^s Guide *' had given some authority for his statement, that this fish is taken in this country up to fifteen pounds, or even up to half that weight. I have myself some slight suspicion that such is the case rarely, in the northern lakes — I do not mean the great lakes — of Now York and New England ; and that it is there mistaken for some new species, or a variety of the Lake Trout, from which it differs far more, in all respects, than it does from the true Salmon. I have, however, never been able to gain any authentic information of any true Brook Trout having ever been taken in Canada, or in the United States, above the weight of ten pounds ; and that size is of so rare occurrence, that when one is taken, it is regarded as a monster, and is heralded from one end of the country to the other, through the public press. I have myself seen a Trout, taken in the winter through the ice, in Orange county. New York, which lacked but a few ounces of six pounds. I know several instances, not exceeding half-a-dozen, of fish varying from four to five pounds, taken, some on Long Island, some in the interior, within twelve or thirteen years, but I have never beard it asserted that a fish of larger size has been taken in America. There is, I am arare, a tale that many years since, a Trout of eleven pounds was taken at Fireplace ; and a rough sketch of the fish is still to be seen on the wall of the tavern bar-room. I know, however, that this fish was considered at the time, by all the true sportsmen who saw it, to be a Salmon, and the sketch is said to bear out that opinion, though I do not mysDlf understand how a mere outline, not filled up, can convey any very distinct idea of the species intended. " SuflBce it, that it is not only not on record that any Trout of seven pounds or upward has been captured on this continent, but that old fishermen will assort positively, that they never grow to be above five pounds in weight ; and very coolly and civilly imply to you that you \ are speaking falsely, when you tell them that Trout from ten to twenty ' pounds are no great rarities in En^vland, and that they are taken even of a much greater weight. The fact, on this point, is, that Trout of ten or even fifteen pounds — I mean the common 8p:;ckled Trout, Salmo Farioy analogous to our Brook Tvout — are nioi'o common in 8ALM0NIDJS. 96 Boiuo of the large rivers of Englaud, and largo lakes of Irclr.nd, than fish of four pounds are here. There probably rarely parses a season in which ten or a dozen of these largo fish, exceeding ten pounds' weight, are not taken in the Thames. 1 do not think that here, on an average, one four-pound fish is killed annually ; and their rarity is abundantly proved by the fact that their capture is always recorded. The Bashers Kill, in Sullivan county, to which the Silver Trout is assigned, is a pretty Trout stream, but in no wise superior to a thou- sand others throughout the country ; and, like all mountainous streams, is far more celebrated for the number, than for the size of its fish. In both resp3cts, it is surpassed by many of the Pennsylvanian streams of the same neighborhood, falling into the Delaware from the westward ; and in the size and excellence of its Trout, it cannot sus- tain a moment's comparison with the fish of the Long Island streams on the south side. Its fish, it is needless to add, are in no wise dis- tinct. The Trout of Massachusetts are identical with the common Trout of New York ; the figure at the head of this article is from a specimen taken in Massachusetts. I have caught Brook Trout myself froiu Maine to Pennsylvania, and can safely rroiiounce on their identity. The Black Trout is merely an accidental variety ; the colors, taste, and habits of which arc affected by the peaty waters, and stagnant flow of the lazy streams in which it is found, and frc-^ which it obtains a corresponding dinginoss of hue, muddincss of flavor, and laziness of character. With regard to the Sea Trout^ as it is here called, I shall quote a few paragraphs from the pages of " Smith's Fishes of Massachu- setts, " although 1 cannot say that I esteem it a work on which much reliance can bo placed, as the author appears, from some of his statements, to be a writer of more rashness than discrimination, and more ready than qualified to give his opinion decidedly, and without appeal. These qualities are rendircd sufliciontly apparent by his indulging in a violent tirade against Dr. Mitchil, of New York, whom he accuses of vanity and presumption, in afiixing his own name to the Striped Bass, which he. Smith, asserts to be " a common table Jish, known from Ihne immemorial all over E'^irope.^^ ' •6 AMERICAN riSHCS. It is, I presume, at this day entirely unnecessary to state, that Dr. Mitchil was perfectly right as to the distinct character of the American fish, and its being utterly unknown, and non-existent in Europe ; and Smith is wrong in every possible particular ; the fish to which ho refers it, the Sea Bass of Europe, Lahrax Lupus of Cuvier, Perca Labrax of Linnieus, being altogether a different fish, though of the same family, perfectly distinct both in habits and appearance. Of the Sea Trout, Smith says : — " They are found, as may be inferred from the name, in the salt and brackish waters of tide rivers nnd inland bays, in various parts of this and the adjoining States. When taken from the salt-water early in spring, they are in high perfection, and nothing can exceed their pis- catory symmetry. The general appearance of the skin is of silvery brightness, the back being of a greenish and mackerel complexion ; the spots of a vermillion color, mixed with others of faint yellow, and sometimes slightly tinged with purple, extend the whole length on either side of the lateral line ; the fins are light in color and firm in texture, and, together with the tail, are rather shorter and more rounded than the common Trout. They have a firm compactness of form from head to tail, which accounts for the superior sprightlincss of their movement ; the head and mouth are very small, and the latter never black inside, like the common or fresh-water Trout; the flesh is even redder, or rather, we would say, more pink-colored than tho Salmon, to which, by many, they are preferred as a delicacy, having, like the Salmon, much of what is called curd, or fat between the flakes. " A fish of a pound weight measures about eleven inches in length. Their average size is considerably larger than the fresh-water, or Brook Trout — having been taken in the waters to which we refer — Waquoit bay, upon Cape Cod, and Fireplace, Long Island — of nearly five pounds' weight ; such instances, however, are rare, three pounds being considered a very large fish. We do not remember ever seeing a poor fish of this kind taken. They are invariably in good condition, let the size be what it may," &c., &c. I have quoted this passage, merely for the purpose of warning my readers, in a few words, that there is no such thing ; and that the whole of tho above refers merely to the Brook Trout. All the varieties and species of Salmoniday with the exception of w •ALMONIDJE. 97 Boniti of tliQ largo laciutrino ip^cios, aro migratory whenever it is in their power to bo so ; and run down to the sea, annually, for the purpose of rcoruiting thuinsolvos after spawning, whonoo they return, like the Salmon and Salmon Trout, in oxocllcnt condition, perfect symmetry, and in the highest stage of external beauty. The non-migratory habit of the largo lacustrine species docs not depend, in any degree, on their position or situation above impassable cataracts, or in waters without outlets, although they arc frequently found under such circumstances, for they do not run down to the sen, oven when they have it in their power to do so ; as, for instance, in Lake Ontario, whore they arc found abundantly ; nor, on the oth^r hand, do they proceed far up the rivers, for the purpose of spawning, being content to deposit thoir ova on the gravel beds of shoal water, at the margins of their lakes, or at the mouths of the brooks which diacharge into them. Of the migratory species, the Brook Trout is one ; and when it is in his power, ho invariably descends to the sea, and returns to perpetu- ate his species by depositing his spawn in the clearest, coolest, and most limpid waters which he can find. There can be, I think, little doubt that, like tho Salmon, ho returns to the streams in which he has been bred. There are, doubtless, hundreds of mountain brooks throughout the country, divided by impracticable falls, natural or artificial, from the sea ; and although thcso teem with hordes of Brook Trout, they never attain, in them, to any nho ; tho mature adults being scarcely larger than the young fry, while they are still marked with the transverse bandings of the Parr. Tho flesh of this little fish never attains the rich cherry-colored 'int of the Trout, in full season, but is of a pale yellowish flesh-color, and has neither the richness nor the flavor of the sea-run variety. That these swarms do not visit the sea, is not be- cause they lack tho will, but because they have not the power ; and it is possible that tho habit of running seaward being precluded gene- ration after generation, tho instinctive desire for it passes away in the process of time. But that tho degeneracy, both in size and flavor, is caused by tho inability to recruit their powers in the salt-water, is rendered evident by tho facts I have already quoted concerning the falling off of Salmon and Salmon Trout, both in size and appearance. V\ 98 AMERICAN riSilCS. when intentionally confined in frcHh-water lakes; cs well an by the enormous rapidity of growth niunifostcd in the Salmon HnioltH, which, having been a year and a half in fresh water, attaining a length of seven or Aight inches, and a weight of about so many ounces, after a visit of a few months to tho sea, return not only reinvigotuted in con- dition, but iucreasod in bulk to seven or eight pounds weight. This accounts v ;' readily for tho superior size of what Mr. Smith designates as a distinct species of Sea Trout, which is, in reality, only the Brook Trout on his return from tho sea. The circumstances of its condition speak for themselves. Who ever saw a Salmon fresh-run from tho sea, of whatever size or ago, othcrwis3 than in excellent condition and of rare beauty .' Who over took a spent fish, of tho sumo species, that was not ugly, lean, discolored and uneatable .' The silvery whiteness and tho bluish back of the Sea Trout, as described above, is peculiar to all fresh-run fish of this family ; and in Scotland a skilful Salmon-fisher will tell you, at a glance, how many tides a fish has been in the river, merely from seeing him leap at a fly or a minnow. All the other marks, cited by Smith as characteristics, arc merely signs of condition, ns the brilliancy of the coloring, the breadth and thickness of the fish, and the comparative smallness of tho head, which is produced by no alteration whatever of that portion of the body, but by the increase and development of the body itself, which at this sea- son and stage of the animal, is equal in its circumference to one-half its length. It is well known and undisputed in Long Island, that the Pond-fish and Creek-fish, as they are termed, pass to and fro between the fresh and the salt-water ; and although tho Creek-fish arc occasionally there called Sea Trout, it is by no means as implying that they are of a diflFerent species, but merely indicating the water in which thoy are taken. The fish to "which I referred above in my introductory remarks on the SalmonidcB, as being perhaps a distinct kind, analogous to the Salnw Trutta of Linnaeus, is by no means this Trout, but a very differ- ent animal, found only in the eastern and north-eastern rivers, which empty their waters into the Bay of Fundy or the Gulf of St. Law- BAI.MONIDAC. 09 renoo. Thin Trout U ftmnd only in thcs3 rivors, and m fur as 1 can learn, inHt iit w-^ui'i bo to call a Picl-jrcl, lUn't"- pr*jv»i'f!< \'''-;,^o (<-.;., .v<»'i fclm vitul ab-^s'ijoi' of n^al and ni- »i«i(K«} na0i««v «iJ" >i^' i'i-^yt.i. vii«»dvAii»ta/re, crtatijij^ .-xceswve conl'iu^ion, ?j»j j)*a»ftT»f! - *ja» i««'jL-ntific immrnli* It is mm-b to be '■otf*«-tt<'. ..; Ik- truly , aa it h-Mi ^sffr'i Vj Pi'-jf. Agasair with rogard to the Siika^vitz, n UiW lacn*- triire Twfrt, b.i doiio, or ho.v llie evil is to ha rejuo- died ; inj.l it is iv I'k' f'-arcd. that tht' Cvreironus of Otsero will rcmrin the :''*i*ego fijis- for tvvijr ; wt.ee 'althouiih nothing Ih easirr tlian to cxpl'».?t;, and wen to prove, that the fi.-'h iw i'.i no respect a Buhs] wheii hif wiio has been accuatonied a<) to call it, bnt '.rho \i' vjpei* lo eor.vic- tiv;i>, eni^uirc<» if 1 must not call i)iui 13as.«, what k. iiif name •' there is no answer to the tjuestior», 1 us 'Uitt lie i* a Cortigimw, of the baliuon tJamily. , ,- ■; ■ .,, ■. ', " • • i ' To retwrij, however, lo th*i (>reat*;*t Loke 'I'rnut, Miinkina\c Salmon, w INamayciLsh— it Ih also culled,, in cojumon with all the other huge Lake 'ltr.ul,8ahxion Trout ; but this Ih ^) absurd evea to be ridniitted '>j« a provincial Kyaonyme, siuce the Salii>>*ri Trout h a Se.n I'rout, and j> moreover found on the eastern (•shoroa of tliiH eontittf.nt. This is pro- bably the largest of the Salmon family io the knows ivorld ; hence, 1 kftve ventured on my own authority, to designate him a^ tlie (greatest Ijakff Trout, iu ordor to di.'iftin^uish him not only tV-on the Siskawitu and tho ^Sf Di'Kay, but also frmu Uu; eommon Trout, Satmo r'/viimlh, vrh«»n taken of large size in the hmall iidand lakes. The average w«i|^toi' th*!« nmnittrouH fi,>b in Lake Huron is stated by the fi^bei-men to b« sevenf'«.n;ti pounds, bnt they are eonstantly t iken of forty pouii»5;> wftij/ht, and J:nt fit all- imfreouentiy of ."ixty or syvonty. It is stat-d ]iv Dr Mitobil, that at Michllimaekinac, thi-y liave hogn known to attain the cnormsnuf vrtMght of one hundred and J r. » / ■mi •■■41 ^ O ^ 73 5 m > ,^ H Ob "< r- 5: Co >• > t>1 Of) ^ S pi o H O ^ CZ X _i o 0^ o <^ — ^ h Cb <>» C/i Z ■'^^ •ALMONIDJB. 107 twenty poundi, with which the dimensions of the same fish w> tirribed by La Hontan, in his Mem, de VAnuriquCy would seem to agree — '^ Lci pint groiut Truitetf" says he, " det lacs ont cinq pieds * demi de lon- gueur et un pied de diatnetre^^ — but at the present da^ , specimens of this gigantic magnitude are never seen, and seventy pounds may be taken as the limit of their ordinary growth. Even this, however, is a size to which the Sea Salmon has scarcely been known to attain. It is a bold, powerful and tyrannical fish, with which no other in- habiting the same waters can compote. The Gray Sucking Carp, Ca- tasiomut Iludtoniuty the Methy, a species of fresh-water Ling, Lota Maculosa^ and the Herring-salmon, Coregonus Artediy form the favorite food of this voracious fish, the stomach of which is constantly found crammed with them almost to repletion ; but he will bite raven- ously and fioroely at almost anything, from a small fish or a piece of pork, to a i*od rag or a bit of bright of tin, made to play rapidly through the water. In form, he considerably resembles the common Salmon, though he is perhaps rather deeper in proportion to his length. His head is neat, small, and well-formed, with rather a peculiar depression above the eye, and the snout sharply curved and beak-like. The head forms nearly a fourth-part of the whole length of the fish ; the skull is more bony than that of the common Salmon, the snout not cartilaginous, but formed of solid bone ; the jaws are very strong, the upper over- lapping by about half an inch the lower, which is strongly articulated to the prooperculum and to the jugal bone. The eye is midway between the snout and the napo, and twice as far from the hinder edge of the gill-cover as from the tip of the snout. Of the gill-eovers, the preoperculum is cuived and vertical, or nearly so ; the suboporculum is deeper than in the other Trouts, and is jointed at its inner angle to the operculum and preoperculum by a slendsr process concealed by those bones. Its edge forms fully one half of the border of the free gill-cover, and is finely grooved. The gill-rays are twelve in number. The dental system of the Mackinaw Salmon is very complete, and more formidable than in any other member of the family. The inter- maxillaries and labials, as well as the palatine bones, lower jaws and tongue, are armed with very sharp and strong conical curved teeth ; 106 AMERICAN FISHES. those on tho vomor oonsisting of a circular cluster on tbo knob of that bono, and of a double row oxtonding at least half an inch backward. Tho dorsal fin is situated in the middle of the fish, and contains fourtoen rays, tho eighth ray baing exactly central between the snout and tho tip of tho oontral caudal fin-ray. Tho second adipose dor- sal fin is small and obtusely formed, Tho caudal fin has nineteen, tho vontrals each nine, tho anal eleven, and tho pectorals each four- toon rays. The origin of the ventral fins is slightly posterior to tho centre of tho fish. Such are the principal structural distiuctions of this noble fish, and I have entered into these rather at length, since by them only can he bo distinguished from his lake congeners. I have already observed tho great differences existing in point of color and markings between fish of the same species found in difforent waters, throughout this family, and endeavored to show the impropriety of founding specific distinc- tions, or even pormanont varieties, by reference to these alono, without reference to structure. In tho Salmo Fontinalisy common Brook Trout, this is easy to be noticed, but in none of the Salmonida with which I am acquainted aro the difi'erenees of color and marking so broad and distinct as in diiferent individuals of this species. I have before me, as I write, three colored representations of this same fish, two water-color sketches, by Mr. Cabot, of Boston, and one, a colored lithograph, in Dr. Richardson's Fauna Boreali- Americana ; and thesi three I am certain would be pronounced by nine persons out of ten not accustomed to observe structural differences, three different fish. Indeed, I am informed by Prof. Agassiz, that by the French residents on lakes Huron and Superior, they are actually believed to bo three distinct fish, and aro known by three different names, from tho locali- ties in which they are found, viz. : — Truiie des BaitureSy Trout of the rocky shallows — Truite de GrevCj Tvont of tho muddy shoals — and Truite du Large, Trout of tho deep opon waters. Tho first of these fish is represented in the large plate facing this paper, and the second in the cut at the head of page 104. The third is thus described in Dr. Richardson's work named abov( " Tho head, back and sides have a dark greenish gray color, which when examined closely is resolved into small roundish yellowish ^ay spots on a bluish gray ground, which covers less space than the spots ; the latter are most evident on SALMON IDA. loa the fliduv, each of thorn inoludiag throo or four houIoh. Th ) un- oovorod portion of each scalo is rouudUh, and its convex ountru, having a grayish huo und silvory lastro, is surroundiid by a dark bord'jr of ininuto spots, which uro deficient or loss numerous on tho yellowish gray spots, and also on tho bluish whito holly. Tho dorsal and caudal fins havo thn greenish gray tint of tho back, and tho ven< trals und anuls arc muddy orange ; this color also partially tinzin, ■ . ;; 4,^,; BALMONlDiB /',^... * f'. THE SISKAWITZ. NORTHERN LAKE TROUT. Salmo Siskawitz • Agassiz. This fine fish, which is second only in size to that last described, was discovered so recently as last summer, during a trip to the upper lakes for scientific purposes by Professor Agassiz, to whose courtesy and kindness I owe the power of including it in this work, as it has not up to this time been described or figured in any book of Natural History. A journal of that tour is at this moment passing through the University press at Harvard, which will comprise a full account of this and several other previously nondescript fishes, together with acctirate and beauti- ful lithographic illustrations by Sonrel ; and to this for fuller informa- tion, and especially for accounts of several species which do not come within the limits of this work, I refer my readers, certain that they will derive both pleasure and profit from the perusal. The Siskawitz in its coloring and general appearance, as regarded by an uninstructed eye, bears a very considerable resemblance to the Mackinaw Salmon, or Namaycush, particularly to that accidental variety of it which I have described above as the 2^rmte de Greve ; and is found in the same waters with it, most abundantly in Lake Superior, a few in Lake Huron near the Sault St. Marie, but none in St. Clair, Erie, or Ontario. And, it is believed, in the smaller inland waters of New York and the Eastern States, it is unknown. The head, back and sides of the Siskawitz, above the lateral line, are of dingy brownish olive, with a greener gloss on the upper parts, irregularly blotched and clouded, rather than spotted, with lighter circular or oval patches of the same color. Below the lateral line the color is paler and more yellow, with clusters of the same spots /■ 8ALM0NID.E. 113 fading into a dnll (l3ad wbit3, which is the prdvailing huo of the belly, with a very slight silvery gloss on some of the scales. The dorsal and caudal fins are of tlie same greenish brown with the back, and like it are irregularly patched with lighter spots. The pec- toral, ventral and anal fins aro paler, but with the same markings, and with a very faint indication of dusky red on the margins. Altogether, the Siskawitz is a greener colored and less lustrous fish than the Namayoush, and far less distinctly spotted ; still there is so much similari^v, that by a person not accustomed to look for nicer and more pormanent structural distinctions, the two species might be very readily confounded. In form, the Siskawitz is rather shorter and stouter than the Mack- inaw fish, and does not taper nearly so much at either extremity. The hoad particularly, which in the other is very small, neatly shaped, and depresssd toward the snout, is short, thick, and very obtusely rounded, giving a coarse and clumsy profile, and distinguishing it de- cidedly from the kindred species. On the shoulders it is moderately broad, with the sides somewhat compressed. The length of the head is about one-fourth of the whole length of the fish, from the snout to the tips of the caudal. The skull is strong and bony, with powerful lower jaws. The porous lines and foramina of the bones, seen on the heads of several of the other Trouts, are very evident and distinctly marked in this, as are the radiating processes on the operculum and preopcrculum. The preoperculum is considerably rounded and almost vertical ; the posterior free margin of the gill-covers is nearly semicircular, much less acute posteriorly than in the Naraaycush. It has a very complete and formidable dental system, all the max- illary and palatine bones, as well as the lower jaws and either side of the tongue, being armed with strong, sharp, curved teeth, and the vomer provided with a double line extending along the whole length backward. The dorsal fin is situated nearly midway the whole length of the body ; the posterior dorsal is thicker and more clumsily shaped than in the preceding species. The caudal fin is deeply forked. The number of rays in the several fins I am, I regret to sny, unable to supply at present. ,; . , : . ;• . Neither in coloring nor in form therefore, does the Siskawitz equal \ p if nm r mmm 114 AMERICAN FISHES the Mackinaw Salmon or Namaycush; it is in all respects a clumsier and coarser fish. Its flesh is of the same nature, though much richer ; and when salted, it commands nearly double the price of the Namaycush. Its habits and haunts are almost identical with those of the other species, like which it is not migratory or anadromous, never entering the rivers either for the purpose of spawning or in pursuit of food ; although it approaches the shores, and visits the gravelly shallows of the lakes in autumn, in order to deposit its ova. It is taken by the French inhabitants and by the Indian hunters, with the torch and spear, occasionally with the scan, and also with the long line in deep water. It is said to strike readily at a piece of glit- tering tin, or mother-of-pearl, made to revolve and glance quickly through the water.* There is no doubt but that with good spinning tackle, baited with minnow, shiners, or the parr of the Brook Trout, which would proba- bly prove the most killing of the three, or with the deadly spoon, the Siskawitz might be angled for with great success, and would afford good sport, as it is a strong and powerful fish, growing to twenty-five pounds or upwards, although its usual weight does not exceed fifteen or sixteen pounds. Neither this fish, however, nor the Namaycush, nor, so far as I know, any other of the non-migratory Lake Trout, strikes with the same fierceness and avidity, springing out of the water to take the bait, and leaping far and frequently above the surface when hooked, as the Sea Salmon, the Salmon Trout, or any of the anadromous species of this highly interesting family. The motion of the great lakers is for the most part confined to a heavy lumbering rush in pursuit of the bait, and to a strong dead pull when endeavoring to escape after being struck. They will bore down desperately at first into the deep water, but do not fight with the swift energy or resort to the cunning arti- NoTE TO Revised Edition. — From personal observdtion, since writing the above, I am satisfied that these large Lake Trout cannot be angled for with success, ex- cept in very deep water, either with a drop- line, or by trolling from a boat with a plummet, and a cod-hook baited with any kind of flesh, flsh, or fowl. The forinor is the preferable mode. The Indians kill them with the spear, or with baits through •he ice, in immense numbers. Fresh, thefar flesh is coarse, oily, rank and vapid, •mt when pickled or smoked, they are very palatable. M — k ^ < "^ CO 5 ^ 00 Co ^ QC C/3 ^ O ^ • ^ • - k H N ZD 1- O < «0 ^ oc VI 1- ^ Ld C/O ^ ^ ^ 00 rtg'>vcr',-d th«.' Pinks, hotii of tliU and thu i^recodin^ t!!»^)i<:»s iu wiiut inny be t B'»"JOfi»;try to jv'vc* outs of til'*' fry, hn the fujfc may b«" r<;;r».ifd'-d h» ihoritu^ddy i'Sta1:)lish( '\ wid as- thft other clun.un.-.rijttl*;*! of tho;v* yojma: Liiko Trout an* .^j Iro^d aad illj'tim-f., that thij <;ou!d not hu ijimiiy nm. taken cdher for the yomijg of huy other tj^n'nm or for h distinct variety. The above description^, us wull ii« the rrtprwcjitati'-rti «r the annexed wood-C' it, are taken, by iieruu^s^'.oii, which i« hi'tf grutefiilly !\cknyw- led'.red, froui .i fipirite^i eolorcd hk<.'tch by Mr. Klliot Cabot, of Llostou, who iVocniDpunied l'>v,f;ts!«or Ag}i». i.iiy to puy a litth' niore attwntion to the wtruetural liiflFerenees of fV*h'>», i a» t-o lead to the di«cnvery of ni^w r-pecios, several of whieh, it can har My he doubted, remain Htil] nondescript in (he unfreqii'.'oted watev?* ot tiiis mighty )Mid,«ome good will ,have, been done tf) t!iB p-eat eanse of science. rf> ■■^'^W 'ii-:325.'l. -,,xi...v . NJ *r< C/D C/J O q:: ....I uu a:' X. \ •\ \ '".^ /• SALMOMIDJK. lis bees, of the Salmo Salar, Strong tackle, an eighteen foot rod, and a steady hand, will not fail to secure them, even with far less skill than ia req' ' .d to take a three-pounder Brook Trout iu a quick-run- ning river. I may add here, in continuation of the remarks made above, under the head of True Salmon, in reference to the young fry of all this family, that Professor Agassiz has discovered the Pinks, both of this and the preceding species in what may be called the Parr form, with dusky lateral transverse bandings. I have not judged it necessary to give cuts of these fry, as the fact may be regarded as thoroughly established, and as the other characteristics of these young Lake Trout are so broad and distinct, that they could not be easily mis- taken either for the young of any other species or for a distinct variety. \ ~ The above descriptions, as well as the representation in the annexed wood-cut, are taken, by permission, which is here gratefully acknow- ledged, from a spirited colored sketch by Mr. Elliot Cabot, of Boston, who accompanied Professor Agassiz on the tour above-mentioned, and from the notes of that gentleman. It is trusted that this notice, although brief, of an entirely new Salmo, will prove satisfactory both to the sportsman and to the natu- ralist ; and if the mention of its peculiarities may induce the gentle anglers of this country to pay a little more attention to the structural differences of fishes, so as to lead to the discovery of new species, several of which, it can hardly be doubted, remain still nondescript in the unfrequented waters of this mighty land, some good will.Jiave been •lone to the great cause of science. '■V • v--"^-- 116 AMERICAN FISHES. * : : -f - , -•'," ^ AllDOMINAL MALACOHTEUYOII. SALMON I D^. fV.f. 'rf .1^*. THE LAKE TROUT, fr^-. Salmo Confinia » DeKay. Not having been enabled this spring to obtain a specimen of this fish, which 1 was exceedingly anxious to do, for the purpose of com- paring it with the Siskawitz and Namaycush, I take the following account from the New York Fauna of Dr. DeKay, whose description of the fish is very complete. It is a very closely cognate species with the two last described, but I believe it to be clearly distinct, which in the first instance I was disposed to doubt. " Characteristics. — Blackish, with numerous gray spots. Body robust ; comparatively short in proportion to its depth ; caudal fin with a sinuous margin. Length, two to four feet. " Description. — Body stout, thicker and shorter than the common Salmon. Length of the head to the total length, as one to four and and a half nearly. Dorsal outline curved. Scales, small, orbicular, and minutely striated. Tho lateral line distinctly marked by a series of tubular plates, arising at the upper angle of the opercular opening, slightly concave until it passes over the base of the pectoral fin, when 8almonio;e. r? it prooocdM 8tral;^ht to tln! tail. ll.'aJ flattLiiiad batwoen the cyos. Snout pi'otrudoJ, uii*! in w^iHl individualM with a tuburcular cnlurgc- mont on Uh cxtroinity. ICyim liirgu ; tlio antcro-postorior diameter of tho orbitH 1 .5, and thoir dintanco apart 2.5 ; nostrils contigu- ous, patent ; tho anterior vertically oval, the posterior smaller and rounded. Under jaw shortest, and received into a cavity of tho upper. Tho transverse membrane over the roof of tho mouth exceed- ingly tough and thick ; the numerous curved teeth in the jaws partly concealed by a loose fleshy membrane. Tongue, long, narrow and thick, with a series of teeth along tho central furrow. Many scries of acute teeth along the vomer and on the palatines. " Tho first dorsal fin with its upper margin rounded, sub-triangular, arising somewhat nearer the snout than tho extremity of the caudal rays, higher than long, measuring 4.5 in height, and 4.0 along tho base. It is cotuposud of fourteen rays, the first two short, and imbed- ; ded in tho flesh ; tho fourth and flfth rays longest. Tho adipose fin 1.0 long, rounded at tho end, scarcely narrowed at the base, an inch long, and placed over tho end of the anal fin. Pectoral fins broad and pointed, five inches long, and arising slightly behind a line drawn from tho upper posterior angle of tho oporcle. It is composed of fourteen rays. Tho ventral fins, placed nearly under the centre of the dorsal fin, composed of nine rays, and furnished with a thick axillary plate. Anal fin quadrate ; its extreme height '4.4, and its base 3.0 ; composed of twelve robust rays. Caudal fin nine inches iu extent from tip to tip, furcate, with a sinuous margin. ' ^^ Color from a living specimen. All tho upper portion of the head and body bluish black, Sides of tho head, base of the first dorsal, of the caudal and anal fins, with numerous rounded u-owded irregular light spots. On tho baso of the dorsal and caudal, the spots are oblong light greenish ; chin brownish bronze ; pupils black ; irides Salmon color. , Tips of tho lower fins slightly tinged with red. " Length 31.3 ; of tho head 7.3. Weight fifteen poimds. " Fin rays, D. 14.0 ; P. 14 ; V. 9 ; A. 12 ; C. 21f " This is tho well-known Lake Salmon, Lake Tiout, or Salmon Trout of the State of Now York. Among tho thirteen species or varieties of Lake Trout, or Lake Salmon, so beautifully illustrated by Richardson, I cannot find this species described. It appears more ^ \ 118 AMERICAN FISHEB. nearly allied by the figure to Salmo Jloodii, but differs in very impor- tant particulars from this species. It occurs in most of the northern lakes of this State, and I have noticed it in Silver Lake, Pennsyl- vania, adjacent to Broome County, which, as far as I kuuw, is its southernmost limit. The figure illustrating this species was from a specimen taken at Louis Lake, in Hamilton County, of unusual size and vigor. The average weight is eight or ten pounds ; but I have heard fishermen speak of some weighing thirty pounds, and even more. There is, however, such a strong propensity to exaggeration in everything in relation to aquatic animals, that I refrain from citing cases derived from such sources. " They frequent the deepest part of the lake, and unlike most of their congeners, never rise to the fly. " The flesh is of course much prized in those districts where no oceanic fish is ever tasted ; but to mo it appears to possess all the coarseness of the Halibut without its flavor." This, with the exception of a few general remarks on its habits, is all that Dr. DeKay has recorded of this fish. ' I cannot, however, proceed, without expressing my great surprise at Dr. DeKay's opinion of its resemblance to the Salmo Iloodiiy known also as the Arctic Charr, the Mingan river Salmon, and the Masaraacoosh* of the Cree Indians. This is a decided long-finned Charr, beautifully colored, of a rich lake purple, with numerous bright golden spots, and the red belly of the proper Charr. It is, probably, an anadromous species, running up the swift rivers of the north, and descending to the salt-water to recruit. Its flesh is bright red. In shape, again, it differs entirely from the fish before us, being the longest and most slender of all the Salmonida of this continent, some- what resembling the German Hucho in shape. I can see nothing in which it can be compared to any of the Lake Trout, and least of all to this, which is the most worthless of all the non-migratory species. It is found I believe in Lake Ontario, below the Falls of Niagara, and certainly in all the New England lakes so far to the eastward as the State of Maine. In the British provinces, with the exception of Lakes Mephramagog and Champlain, I do not think that it exists. From a careful comparison of the cut in Dr. DeKay's work, plate •ALMONIUX, n» 38, fig. 123, as well as from his dosoription of its coloring, I iiuvo do hesitation in pronouncing it far more nearly connc'cd with the Si»ka- witz of Frof. Agassiz, than with any other of its congeners, although tho olungateJ head, the shupo of the fins, and especially the lube-liko formatiuu of tho caudal, clearly distinguishes it from this species. It is to bo regretted, however, that in tho work of tho niugnitudo and iinportanco of tho New York Fauna of tho State of New York, tho plates should bo, as they aro, so atrociously executed, ti.at for matters of scientiflo examination they are all but uscle while as pictorial illustrations, they are below contempt. Note to Reviikd Edition. — See Supplement. Art. Lnke Trout, Salmo Confinii. The quality of this fish differs entirely witli tlie different waters from wlilch it ia taken. In tlie New England watero, it ia generally bad. In Beneoa Lako« and tlie Ilainiiton County waters, unequivocally admirable, and exceeded neither by Sea Salmon nor Brook Trout. 120 AMERICAN FISHES. ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERYGII. SALMONID^. SALMON TROUT. SEA TROUT WHITE TROUT. Salmo Trutta; Yarrel. This beautiful fish, which is the Salmon Trout of the Thames, the Sea Trout of Scotland, and the White Trou^ of Wales, Devonshire, and Ireland, is found nowhere on the continent of America except on the eastern side of the Province of New Brunswick and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It must on no account be confounded, as it has boen by Dr. Smith in his " Fishes of Massachusetts," with the Brook Trout, Salmo F(m- tinalis, when they run down and remain permanently in salt-water, as they do, more or less, along the whole south side of Long Island, but especially at Fireplace, at Waqroit bay, on Cape Cod, and pro- bably at many other points along the eastern coast; for the fish arc totally distinct, as will be shown hereafter. " It is distinguished," says Yarrel, " by the gill-cover being inter- mediate in its form between that of the Salmon and the Bull Trout The posterior free margin is less rounded than that of the Salmon, but more so than that of the Bull Trout. The line of union of tho 8ALH0NIDJE. 121 operculum with the suboperculum, and the inferior margin of the sub- operculum are oblique, forming a considerable angle with the axb of the body of the fish. The posterior edge of the preoperculum rounded, not sinuous, as in the Bull Trout. The teeth are more slender as well as more numerous than in the Salmon or Bull Trout ; those on the vomer extending along a great part of the length, and indenting the tongue deeply between the two rows of teeth that are there placed, one row along each side. The tail is less forked at the same age than that of the Salmon, but becomes like it, square at the end, after the third year. The size and surface of the tail also is much smaller than that of the Salmon, from the shortness of the caudal rays. " The habits of this species are also very like those of the Sal- mon, and the females are said to run up the rivers before the males. Sir William Jardine says : * In approaching the entrance of rivers, or in seeking out, as it were, some one they preferred, shoals of this fish may be seen coasting the shoals and headlands, leaping and sporting in great numbers, from about one pound to three or four pounds in weight ; and in some of the smaller bays the shoal could be traced several times circling it, and apparently feeding. They enter every river and rivulet in immense numbers, and when fishing for Salmon, are annoying for their quantity. The food of those taken with the rod in the estuaries appeared very indiscriminate ; occasion- ally the remains of some small fish, which were too much digested to be discriminated ; sometimes flies, beetles, or other insects, which the wind or tide had carried out ; but the most general food seemed to be the Talitris Lomsta, or common sand-hopper, with which some of their stomachs were completely crammed.' " The largest adult fish of this species I have ever seen," Mr. Yarrel adds, " was in the possession of Mr. Groves, the fishmonger in Bond-street. This specimen, which occurred in June, 1831, was a female, in very fine condition, and weighed seventeen pounds." Never having myself seen this fish in America, although perfectly familiar with it in Great Britain, but having good reason for being sure that it existed in the great estuary of St. Lawrence, and in the bays of Gaspe and Chalcurs, I wrote, so soon as I decided on the preparation of this work, to a friend, Mr. Perley, in New Brunswick, Her Majesty's emigration officer at St. John, knowing that I might 122 AMERICAN FISHES. rely as well on his kindness in supplying me with any information he might possess on the subject, as on his skill and thoroughness as a sportsman and fly-fisher, and his science as an icthyologist. He obligingly replied to me at length, beside sending me a highly valuable report on the Fisheries of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, fully confirming my opinion of the existence of this noble and sporting fish in the Province. Without farther comment I proceed to lay his observations before my readers, premising only, that while they fully prove the identity of the New Brunswick White Trout with the Salmon Trout of Yarrel, Salmo Truttay and distinguish it from the Brook Trout, whether Eng- lish or American, Salmo Fario^ or Salmo Fontinalis, they show some remarkable differences in habit from the same fish in the British Islands. " You will perceive," says Mr. Perley, " that, under official orders, I have been compelled to go into natural history ; and that you may see the whole, I send some reports printed in 1847, including one on the Forest Trees of New Brunswick. I procured the second edition of Yarrel, when in London last year, and the beautiful supplement containing the plates of the Salmon, from the little Parr up to the grilse of two years, all of which I have been compelled to study. " The White Trout of the gulf of St. Lawrence, is precisely simi- lar to the Salmo Trutta of Yarrel. The drawing of Vol. XL, p. 77, second edition, is a very good representation of our White Trout. In June, when in the finest condition, they are somewhat deeper than there represented " — the cut at the head of this paper is a fac similie of the plate in Yarrel alluded to by Mr. Perley — ^" the shoulder is then exceedingly thick ; the head, especially in the female, is very small. I never heard of any weighing more than seven pounds. I have never seen a White Trout on this side of the province, or any- where except within the gulf. They are of delicious flavor when new- ly caught, the white curds lying thick between the bright pink flakes ; and they do not cloy like the Salmon. , " Many of the common Trout, Salmo Fario"*^ — Fontinalis ? — '* also visit the mixed water of the estuaries, and very likely go out to sea. They then acquire a peculiar silvery brilliancy, and their con- dition becomes greatly improved ; but they cannot be mistaken, even then, for the White Trout. They are a longer fish — their heads are W /• 8ALM0NID£. 123 larger — ^the color of the spots is more brilliant, and there are more of them ; and the tri-colored fins leave no room for doubt, as the fins of the White Trout are very pale, and of a bluish white. When first lifted from the sea, the backs of the White Trout are of a bluish green, just the color of the wave ; and the under part of the fish sparkles like molten silver." In a report of the fly-fishing of the Province, which Mr. Perley was good enough to enclose, I find also the following pertinent remarks on this fish : " It is to be understood," he says, " that the whole Gulf of St. Lawrence abounds with White Trout, from one to seven pounds in weight. They proceed up the rivers as far as the head of the tide in each, but they never ascend into the purely fresh water. In the salt- water they are caught only with the * Prince Edward's Island fiy,' so called, the body of which is of scarlet with gold tinsel, or of gold tinsel only, with four wings from feathers of 4)he scarlet ibis — the curry-curry ' of South America. " In the estuaries of rivers where the water is only brackish they take the Irish lake-fiy with gay colors ; the scarlet ibis seems the most attractive, however, in all cases. In the fresh- water the Trout are quite diflferent ; they are much longer, v«ry brilliantly colored, with tri-colored fins of black, white and scarlet, and numerous bright spots over the body. When the fish are in good condition these spots are nearly as large as a silver penny. They rarely exceed three pounds in weight, but are a very sporting fish ; they take most of the Irish flies, but the red hackb in all its varieties is the favorite. A brilliant hackle, over a yellow or fiary brown body, kills everywhere, all the season through. " The Sea-Trout fishing, in the bays and harbors of * Prince Ed- ward's Island,' especially in June, when the fish first rush in from the gulf, is really magnificent ; they average from three to five pounds each. I found the best fishing at St. Peter's bay, on the north side of the island, about twenty-eight miles from Charlotte's town. I there killed in one morning sixteen Trout, which weighed eighty pounds. " In the bays, and along the coasts of the island, they are taken with the scarlet fly, from a boat under easy sail, with a ' mackerel breeze,' and oftentimes a heavy * ground swell.' The fly skips from wave to 124 AMERICAN FISHES wave at the end of thirty yards of line, and there should be at least seventy yards more on the reel. It is splendid sport ! as a strong fish will make sometimes a long run, and give a good ohase down the wind." This clear, able and sportsmanlike account of this fine fish perfect- ly establishes the fact of its existence as a distinct species, intermediate between the true Salmon, Salmo Salar^ on the one hand, and the Brook Trout, Salmo FoiUinaliSj on the other. And it must on no ac- count be confounded with the non-migratory Lake Trouts, which have been just described, and which are sometimes erroneously and absurdly called Salmon Trout. They never quit the purely fresh-water — these never leave it. These are anadromous, those stationary. Those are a worthless fish, both to the sportsman and the epicure, comparatively speaking ; these are in all respects the most valuable of the species, with the exception only of the true Salmon ; and nei- ther in excellence of fiavor nor in sporting qualifications do they fall behind even him, although they are far inferior in weight and size. Mr. Yarrel states that the length of the head in this fish is as one to four to the length of the whole body, and the depth of the body to the length the same. The teeth, small and numerous, occupying five rows on the upper surface of the mouth, those of the central row, on the vomer, extending some distance along it, the points turning alter- nately to each side, one row on each side of the under jaw, and three or four teeth on each side of the tongue, strong, sharp, and curving backwards, well calculated to secure a living prey, or convey food to- wards the pharynx. The dorsal fin-rays are twelve in number, the pectoral thirteen, the ventral nine, the anal ten, and the caudal nineteen. When the Sal- mon Trout is placed by the side of a Salmon, it is in comparison darker in color in the body, but lighter in the color of the fins. It is with great satisfaction that I am enabled to present this beauti- ful and gallant fish to my readers, and to establish with certainty its identity with the Salmo Trutta of Yarrel, and its existence in the North American Provinces. This fiish has hitherto never been de- cribed in any American sporting work, nor I believe in any work of a scientific character, as an American species, with the exception of the Parliamentary reports of Mr. Perley. The f.sh described as the X SALMON I D£. 12A Salme TrvMa in the American Angler's Guide, and in Smith s Fishes of Massachusetts, is, as I have already observed, nothing resembling it, but the very Brook Trout described above, with the tri-oolored fin, improved by a visit to salt-water. I may here observe, en-patsantj that my distinguished friend, Mr. Agassiz, was not aware, a few months since, of the existence of this fish as an American species. It cannot fail to prove a great acquisition to the list of the American angler, as there is no bolder or better fish, and its haunts are of no difficult access. I learn that an English yacht is already fitting out, in order to take the field against the Sea Trout in the gulf this very summer ; and I doubt not that ere long some of our New York clip- pers will spread their wings in emulation of their brothers of the angle from the eastern side of the broad Atlantic. I can conceive no more delightful trip, no more exciting rivalry. Note to Rbtisbd Edition. — Mr. Perley writei me, under date of October 19, that during a racent visit to the bay of Gaape, he hat ascertained that the Salmon Trout pursue the Smelts into the rivers and harbors, and return to the sea as soon as the Smelt ascend tha brooks. It appears that they do not spawn or breed in America. 126 AMERICAN FISHES. ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERYGII. SALMONID^ THE MASAMACUSH. HOOD'S CHARR Salttto Hoodii; Richardson. This beautiful fish is given on the authority of Dr. Richardson, by whom it appears to have been first described, although discovered by Lieutenant Hood, in Fine Island lake, latitude 54°. It is not a little remarkable that this fish should have so long re- mained unknown, as it is stated by its describer " to be common in every lake and river from Canada to the northern extremity of the continent." Whether this includes the great lakes above the Fallsof Niagara, it ts not stated, although the language would authorise that interpretation ; no distinct mention is made of it, however, as having been taken south of the Mingan river, which empties into the estuary of St. Lawrence somewhere about the latitude of 50° ; all the other specimens described being taken in Winter lake, or in the waters of Boothia Felix ; it is scarcely possible, however, but that it must be found to the southward of this line, to justify the words of so accurate and correct a writer as Dr. Richardson. At all events, the Mingan river is in Canada proper, in the lord- BALMOtf lt>X. 127 ship of Mingan, and is constantly visited, for the purpose of Salmon fishing, by yachting parties from Quebec, scarcely a year occurring but one or more vessels arc fitted out for this wild spot, which b nearly opposite to the northern side of the inhospitable, and nearly if not absolutely uninhabited island of Anticosti, the sport amply repaying the time and trouble. I am personally acquainted with several very accomplished Salmon fisL rho are at home on thngQ waters, yet by none of these have I over i...,rd any mention o' Uiis fish, and I am well satisfied that although it must, I presume, have been taken by them frequently, it has entirely escaped their observation, being probably confounded, either with the Salmon, or the Salmon Trout, although entirely dis- tinct from either. It is remarkable as being the only Charr that is found in the inhabited portions of the United States or Canada, for although Richardson designates the common Brook Trout, Salmo Fontinalis, as the New- York Charr ^ I confess I am at a loss to per- ceive any grounds for so specifying it. One ot the marked charac- teristics of the Charr, the greater comparative height of the dorsal fin, which will be readily observed in the cut at the head of this paper, is entirely wanting in the Brook Trout, and although the vomerine teeth are disposed in a cluster in that species, after the manner of the Charrs, this alone hardly appears to me a sufficient reason for altering its nomenclature. The other varieties of Charr, the Angmalook, Salmo Nitidus^ and the long-finned Charr, Salmo Ji^ipes, are found in the small lakes and rivers of Boothia Felix, but as that far northern peninsula is utterly beyond the reach of the most determined angler, it is useless to give them more than this mere passing notice. The Masamacush is, on the contrary, within easy reach of rJl who are willing to travel distances, without incurring either risk or fatigue, in pursuit of their game, and b found, moreover, in the very waters which afford the greatest variety and the highest attractions to tho scientific fly-fisher, in their abundance of Salmon, Salmon Trout, and Brook Trout. It is also a bold and daring bit^r, voraciously seizing a bait of sucking carp, pork, deer^s heart, or the belly of one of its own species affixed upon a cod-hook. " We took many at Fort En- terprbe, in March, in gill-nets set under the ice," says Dr. Richard- ■IPNIMMli 128 AMERICAN FISHES. son, " in the neighborhood of an open rapid by which the waters of Winter lake were discharged into a river that remained frozen up until June. At that time their stomachs were filled with the larvae of insects. During the summer this fish is supposed to retire to the depths of the lakes, but it reappears in smaller numbers in the autumn, and is occasionally taken in the winter in nets, but seldom by the hook, except in the spring. The spawning season is in April or May, judging from the great development the spawn then acquires, though the spawning beds are unknown to us. The Masamacush attains a weight of eight pounds, but begins to spawn before it weighs more than two or three." Dr. Richardson does not state whether this fish will take the fly or not, but as it is not the general habit of the non-migratory Trout of the American lakes, or of the British Charr, to do so, it may, 1 think, be presumed that the Masamacush, where he exists in lakes, is to be taken by trolling in deep water with a small Trout or other fish upon a heavily-weighted hook, with spinning tackle. It is not distinctly stated, and probably is not ascertained, whether this is an anadromous or non-migratory fish. The Charrs, for the most part, are found only in the deepest parts of the lakes which they inhabit, and rarely enter the streams which feed or drain these but for the purpose of spawning, when they seek out the clearest and swiftest rivers running on gravel bottoms. The fact, however, that the Masamacush is taken in the Mingan river, a powerful body of water having direct communication with the dca, would go far to prove that he is an anadromous fish there, at least, visiting the sea, and returning to spawn ; although it is very probable that like many of this family, and like his own congener, the Angmaluok, he can exist indifferently in fresh or salt-water. Like all the Charrs, he is red-fleshed, and of delicious flavor. And from these facts, were it not that the Masamacush is said not to exceed eight pounds in weight, I should be vastly inclined to suspect his identity with the red-fleshed and bright-colored lake-fish, which is occasionally taken in the Hamilton County waters, as mentioned by Note to Second Edition. — I believe at present, from my observation in the Northern Lakes, that it is of no nee to attempt to take any of the Great Lake Trout on Claire with the fly ; and that they will rarely hook even at a trolled bait. Heavy lAfld and a lone drcp-iine iu sixty to one hundred feet wat^r «r>!i alone f«)ich ihem / 8ALM0NIDA. 129 Dr. Bethune in hia beautiful edition of Wolton^s Angler, at pago 138, in a note ; and as described to me by Mr. Webber, the author of a sories of very agreeable letters conoeining the fishing of that region, which were published in the columns of the New York Courier and Inquirer during the past summer. It is very unfortunate that, so far, none of the gentlemen who have been so lucky as to take this highly-colored and fine fish, have pos- flessed sufficient scientific knowledge to examine and record its cha- racteristics in such a manner as to allow us to decide upon its identity with any known species. The only thing which appears to be certain, is this : that it does not belong to any one of the three known species of the non-migra- tory Lake Trout. As it is said to have been taken by the President of the Piseco Club, a gentleman on whose authority perfect reliance may be placed, up to the great weight of twenty-four pounds, this must, in my opinion, be either an entirely nondescript fish, or merely a Brook Trout of gigantic dimensions. It is generally described as being square- tailed, with two rows of red spots, the ventrals and pectorals deeply tinged with vermillion, and the flesh of a bright glowing carnation, and a delicious flavor Now, this description coincides with no described fish of North America, though nearly agreeing with that of the great common English Trout of the Thames, and of the Irish lakes and rivers. But to return to the Masamacush, as it is known to exist in the northern waters. Its body, as will be observed in the cut, is more slender than that of any of the Salmonida heretofore described, and the head is about a sixth of the total length. The lower jaw, when the mouth is closed, projects beyond the upper one by the depth of the chin, and it appoai-s longer yet when the mouth is open. The teeth of the labials, intermaxillaries and lower jaw, are very small, short, conical, acute, and slightly curved — on the palatine bones there is a row of larger teeth mixed with smaller ones, and on the knob of the vomer, a cluster of six or seven. The tongue is armed with a single row on each side, which meet in a curve at the tip ; there are also two or three scattered teeth on the centre of the tongue. The rakers and pharyngeal bones are armed with short teeth 130 AMERICAN FISHES. like velvet pUe. Of the giU-oovers, the operculum is very narrow, its transverse diameter being scarcely half its height. The subopor- culum exceeds the half of its length in height. The Masamacush of the Mingan river, which is the fish in its normal form, according to Dr. Richardson, from whom this account is abridged, has ten gill-rays on one side, eleven on the other ; dorsal fin-rays twelve, pectoral thirteen, ventral eight, anal ten, and caudal nineteen. The back and sides of this fish are intermediate between olive green and clove brown, bestuddcd with yellowish gray spots as big as a pea. A few of these spots on the gill-covers. Belly and under jaw white ; the latter dotted thinly with bluish gray. The Arctic fish is brighter in color ; the back and sides being purple, the spots distinctly yellow, and the sides, below the lateral line, tinged with a flush of lake. Before proceeding to the Grayling, which, though of this family, is not a proper Salmon, but of the subgenus ThymaUus^ I will observe that the opinion which I hazarded in my introductory remarks con- cerning the existence of a distinct Salmon in Sebago lake, near Port- land, in Maine, known as the Sebago Trout, and which I proposed to designate as Salmo Sebago, is fully carried out by the information which I have received since writing those remarks, from a thorough sportsman, well acquainted with all the described species. He assures mo that the waters of that lake did contain a Salmon closely resembling the Salmo Salar, but which has in all probability become extinct. At the date of his writing, he was about to set forth on a visit to the lake, and should a fish be procurable, I shall receive it, although not in time to include it in the body of the work, at least in season to be embodied in the appendix. /■ SALMONIDit:. 131 AnnOMINAL MALACOPTEIITOII. BALMONIDiE. BACK'S GRAYLING. THE ARCTIC ORAYLING. Thymallua Sigui/er / Richardson, Cmltt.—Hewlook-powak ; IJsquimaux.— Poi«. »on Bleu ; Can. Voy. The exceeding beauty, and remarkably game qualities of this noble fish, have induced me to give him a place in these pages, to which his place of nativity hardly entitles him, as he is, I fear, to be found no where southward of the 62nd parallel of latitude, between Mackenzie's river and the Welcome. " Its highly appropriate Esquimaux title," says Dr. Richardson, from whose fine work on the Fauna of Arctic America J have borrowed both the matter of this paper and the cut at the head of this page, " denoting ' wing-like fin,' alludes to its mag- nificent dorsal ; and it was in reference to the same feature that I be- stowed upon it the specific appellation of Signifer^ ' the standard- bearer,' intending also to advert to the rank of my companion. Cap- tain Back, then a midshipman, who took the first specimen we saw with the artificial flv." I may remark here, that the European Grayling has the similar ap- pellation of VexiUifer^ or the " banner-bearer," in allusion to the same feature, althou^V ^e fin is greatly inferior in size to that of the fish 132 AMERICAN FISHES. ot which I am .«poakiDg. Tho allusion to Captain Back, then a mid- Mhipman, ia founded on tho fact, that midshipmen in the British nuvy, rauk 08 ensigns in tho army, and that Fronoh officers of the same grade, are styled enseigne de vaisseaUf in consequence of the same analogy. Dr. Richardson proceeds to observe that " it is found only in clear waters, and seems to delight in tho most rapid part of mountain streams In tho autumn of 1820, we obtained many by angling in a rapid 7f the Winter river, opposite to Fort Enterprise. The sport was excellent, for this Grayling generally springs entirely out of water when first struck by the hook, and tugs strongly at the line, requiring as mu'Ax dexterity to land it safely as it would to secure a Trout of six times the size. And this I&tter would be no small feat, since I find elsewhere that tho fish grows to five or six pounds weight, greatly exceeding his Eu- ropean congeaer in size, as he does also in vigor and brilliancy of coloring. " The charac(«rs by which tho Graylings are distinguished from the Trouts," continues Dr. Richardson, " in the rbgne animal^ are the smallncss of the mouth, the fineness of the teeth, the great size of the dorsal fin, and the largeness of the scales. The stomach is a very thick sac ; the gill-rays are sevon or eight in number." Tho color of this beautiful fish, is stated by the same author to be as follows : " Back dark ; sides of a hue intermediate between lavender purple and bluish gray ; belly blackish gray with several irregular whitish blotches. There are several quadrangular spots of Prussian blue, on the anterior part of the body, each tinging the margin of four adjoining scales. The head is hair brown above, the cheeks and gill covers the same, combined with purplish tints, and there is a blue mark on each side of the lower jaw. The dorsal fin has a blackish gray color, with some lighter blotches, and is crossed by rows of beau- tiful Berlin-blue spots ; it is edged with light lake-red. The ventrals are streaked with reddish and whitish lines i.*. the direction of their rays. " The scales are covered with a thickish epidermis, consequently having little lustre. " The body is compressed with an elliptical profile, the head, when salmonioa: 133 tho mouth in fthut, ending aoutoly, but when viewed from above, or ic front, tho snout is obtuse. Tho greatest depth of the body is searocl^ one-fifth of the total length, caudal included. The head is small, being one-sixth of the total length, excluding tho caudal, or one- seventh including it. Orbit large, distant half its diameter from the snout, and two diameters from tho edge of the gill-cover. Nostrils midway bctwoon the orbit and the tip of the snout. Mouth not cloven us far back as tho edge of tho orbit. Intormaxillarios longer than in the Coregoni, but overlapping tho articular end of the labials less than in the Trutta. Labials, thin elliptical plates, the posterior piece lanceolate, and as broad :8 the anterior oua. Under jaw tolera- bly strong and rounded at the tip. " The teeth are small, subulate, pointed , and slightly curved, stand- ing in a single series on the intormaxillr.i ios, in t ) rowe^^ on the pala- tines, and in clusters of six or seven on the vo: ^r. The tongue is smooth, but tho pharyngeal bones, and oartikginous rakers of the branchial arches are rough. " Of tho gill-covers, the preoperculi^m iids the form of a wide mo- derately curved crescent. The suboperculum is more than hal; t'v.) height of the operculum, not exceeding it in length. Interopcrculum, small, and acute-angled "Tho dorsal fin has twenty-three rays, the pectorals fifteen, the vontrals nine, tho anal thirteen, and the caudal nineteen. " Although this exquisitely beautiful and very game fish, is not, as I have previously observed, properly speaking, a native either of the United States or the British provinces, being found only in tho northern part of the uui : and I think it is scarcely to be doubted that, before many years have elapsed, the Swedish and Norwegian rivers being already overfished, the votaries of the rod and reel from either side of the Atlaniic, will be found whipping the yet virgin streams of the far Northwest. Political reasons, too, will have their weight in bringing about such a consummation ; for the disturbed state of the continent is already sufficiently alarming to deter the pleasure-seeking yatcher from visiting nis old haunts in the soft and sunny seas of southern Europe, while the stormier seas of the Western world offer him peace at least and hos- pitality, while on these shores he will find sport, whether he affect the rifle or the rod, far superior to what he has been used to enjoy on the KALMONIDJE 136 Eastern continent. I have heard of one yatch already fitting out by an enthusiastic English sportsman, with the intent of visiting this very season the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the bays of Gaspe and Chaleurs, and the wild shores of Prince Edward's Island ; and that good sport to his utmost wish may follow the adventurous owner, must be the prayer of every generous son of the gun or angle. NoTK TO Rbvisbd Edition. — Since penning the above, Mr. Perley, of St. John's, to whom I applied for information touching this fish, writes me that a brother rportsman informs him that he has killed them abundantly in the Hudson Bft]f waters. I thiuk it probable that they may bo found in Labrador. /^ 136 AMERICAN FI8HKS. ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERTGII. SALMONID^ THE AMERICAN SMELT. Osmerua Viridescena ; LeSueur, DeKay, Agassiz. This highly-prized and delicious little fish does not properly fall within the angler's catalogue of sporting fishes, inasmuch as it is ques- tionable, at least, whether it is ever taken with the hook ; I have heard it positively asserted that it has been captured, both with the fly and with its own roe, but I consider the fact doubtful, to say no more — the fish having probably been confounded with the Atherine or Sand-smelt, a small fish commonly known in this country as the Spar- ling, and much used as a bait fish. This fish, which a good deal re- sembles the true Smelt, both in appearance and flavor, is of a differ- ent order and family, being of the order Acanthopterygiiy and family Mugilidcc, bites freely and readily, and has probably, as I observed, been mistaken by the unscientific angler. My object in dwelling on this delicate little fish, is, firstly, to cor- rect a ^ ilgar error which I find still prevalent with many persons, that the true Smelt is identical with the Salmon smolt, and is, in fact, the fry of the Salmon at the commencement of his second year The absurdity of this is suflniently evident from the consideration that the Salmon smolt is an imnature fish, which runs down the rivers he inhabits in the spring, and returns in ths autumn a grilse, as has been related above ; whereas the Smelt enters the rivers perfectly ma- ture, and full of spawn, running up for the purpose of depositing its / * • V /■ SALMONIDA. 137 ova so soon as, or even before, the streams are clear from ice, and returning a spent fish in the autumn. It is a sub-genus of the genus SeUmo, true — but as distinct from it as a Roebuck from an Elk. My second object in devoting a page or two to this little fish, is to call the attention of scientific men to the fact that there are, in the United States, two distinct species of this fish : the Common Ameri- can Smelt, Osmerus Viridescens — ^which differs from the European Smelt, Osmerus EperlanuSy in many particulars — and a much smaller and more highly scented, as well as highly flavored, variety, which I believe to be identical of the European fish. Some years since, before I thought of publishing on this subject, 1 compared this smaller fish with the Eastern Smelt, Osmerus Virides- cens, of Le Sueur, and, although I have unfortunately lost the notes which I made at that time, and forgot the specific differences, except that the ventral fin in the smaller fish was considerably farther forward than in the common fish, I am certain of the fact that there were farther differences in the number of the fin-rays, apart from the extra- ordinary difference in size, which could not fail to strike the least ob- servant. This smaller fish, so far as I know or have heard, is never taken but in the Passaic and Raritan rivers ; and in neither of these is the large Smelt, common alike to the Eastern and the Southern States, ever seen. I have observed and examined many thousands, by bushel bas- kets-full at a time, and have never seen a fish exceeding seven or eight inches in length taken from the Passaic, the general run not exceed- ing six ; whereas it is notorious that the American Smelt is rarely taken less than ten or eleven, and thence upward to twelve and fifteen inches. Yarrel states of the European Smelt, that they are occasionally seen ten and eleven inches long, but that this is an unusually large size. '" ; ' He also describes their food, during their residence in fresh-water, as consisting of small fish, with crustaceous and testaceous animals. In the Tay they are said to feed principally upon the shrimp ; anid I have heard it asserted by persons of integrity, that they have been caught with the same bait near Belleville, on the Passaic. It was my full intention to have instituted a full examination and 10 135 AMERICAN FISHES comparison of these — ^which I am perfectly satisfied will prove to bo two distinct species — this last spring ; but unfortunately I was neces- sarily absent from home during the very few days of this season in which they were taken in the Passaic, and lost the opportunity of doing so. The run of them is becoming less and less numerous every successive season, and it is to be apprehended that ere long they will cease to visit us at all. I will remark here that the habit of the European Smeh in England is very capricious in regard to the rivers which he honors with his presence. It is said that in England the Smelt is never taken between Dover and Land's End ; on the eastern side of the island it is taken from the Thames and Medway to the Tay, and on the western, in the Solway, and so far south only as the Mersey and the Dee. A specific description of this well-known little fish would be useless, as I am unable to furnish data of comparison between the Smelt of the Raritan and Passaic rivers in New Jersey and the Osvierus Viri- descens. Before proceeding farther, I will merely observe that I am well as- sured that it is generally believed these different species of fish cannot be taken with the hook, merely for the reason that no one has ever attempted so to take them ; at least, with any bait at which there was the slightest probability of their rising. I know that the Shad and the Herring, contrary to all received opinion, can be taken with the fly , and I have had great sport myself with the latter fish, off the pier of Fort Diamond in the N.ew York Narrows, catching them with a gaudy peacock-fly, as fast as I could throw it in and pull them out. It would by no means surprise me to find, that, during the time when Smelt run up our streams, they may be taken freely, either with a very small bright fly, or with morsels of shrimp or pellets of their own roe, upon a number-twelve Limerick Trout-hook, and thrown like a fly, on the surface.* Should such prove to be the case, they would afford very pretty light fishing at a time when there is no other sport for the angler. * NiTE TO Revised Edition. — On this p«jiiit, see Supplement. Art. American Smelt ., , I ; ; f; -/ ■ : -' . \ -or ^" r, 8ALM0NID£. 139 ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERYGII SAl.MONIDiE. THE CAPELIN, Mallotus Villotus; Cuvier. Of this beautiful little fish, which inhabits the northern seas only, never coming farther south than the shores of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, I am unable to offer any representation to my readers, never having soen a specimen or engraving. He is very nearly allied to the Smelts, from which he differs princi- pally in the smallness of his teeth. He is stated in Mr. Perley's report on the Fisheries of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to be "from four to seven inches in length, the under jaw longer than the upper, the color of the back greenish, the under surface of the body silvery. Thoy usually appear about Miscon and in the bay of Chaleur early in May ; but sometimes not until nearly the end of that month. The Cod fishery does not commence until the arrival of the Capelin, which continues near the shores until the end of July." Mr. Perley proceeds to state that, in consequence of the " wanton destruction of the proper food of the Cod — Herring and Capelin — which are taken in immense quantities, not for immediate eating, or for curing, or for bait, but for manuring the ground," the Cod fishery is utterly declining, the fisheries going to waste, and the establishments deserted and going to ruin. " In a representation," he adds, " made to the Canadian Legislature by a fisherman of Gaspc, it is stated that this fisherman had seen five hundred barrels of Capelin taken in one tide expressly for manure ; and that he has also seen one thousand barrels of Herring caught at one time, and not taken away, but left to rot upon the beach." It is in this connection that I have here enumerated the Capelin ; for he cannot be taken with the hook, so far as I can learn, and there- fore is not game. Bui for Cod fishing, whether with the deep-sea line. 140 AMERICAN FISHES. or the bultow, as it is called, or set-line, it is invaluable as a bait. Whenever it can be obtained, no other should be used. It is an exceedingly excellent fish, however, for the table, possessing much of the flavor with the peculiar cucumber odor of the Smelt. This wanton and stupid destruction of all kinds of game, whether feathered, finned, or furred, really appears to be a distinct character- istic of all the white inhabitants of America, wheresoever they are to be found ; and it cannot be doubted that ere long they will most bit- terly regret the consequences of their rapacity and wasteful folly. In this case, the wantonness is the more remarkable, as well as dis- graceful, because, as Mr. Perley well remarks, " a bountiful Provi- dence has ^nished the shores with inexhaustible quantities of kelp and sea-wccd, and other valuable manures, whiih really enrich the s >il while it is admitted that the use of fish greatly deteriorates it. " The legislature of Canada has been strongly urged to make it a miHdemeanor, punishable by fine and imprisonment, for any person to to use either Herring or Capelin as manure, and such a measure would seem to be highly desirable in New Brunswick. To be eflfective, there should be similar regulations on both sides of the bay of Chaleur." Dioubtless this is all very true, but unfortunately the Legislature of Canada is much too busy in passing bills for the reward of notorious murderers and rebels, and the opposition to the ministry much too busy in combating them, and striving to get into office again, to think of anything that could lenefit the Province, or tend to the good of any one except themselves and their own immediate partizans. Their own bad passions, and factious partizanship, and no external causes whatsoever, are the bane and curse of the Canadas ; but, after all, I suppose, it matters mighty little whether the legislature pass such a law or no ; for no human being that I ever heard of in Ame- rica, whether British or of the United States, ever dreamed of obeying the game law, except exactly in so far as suited his own convenience. So I presume the doom of the Capelin, and ultimately of the Cod, may be considered sealed. , , \ i \ i»ALMONID^. 141 ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERYOII. SALMONIDiS. THE WHITE-FISH. ATTIHAWMEO Cotegonvt Albu$f Le Saenrt Corier. / This and the succeeding fish are the last two of the Salmon family, and the only two of their own peculiar snh-gcnus found within the limits of the United States and British Provinces, although there are several other species in the Arctic regions. In Europe they have several equivalents which are generally known as Lavarets ; of these are the well-known British species, the Gwyniad, the Vendace, and the Powau, of England and Scotland, and the PoUan of Ireland, all closely connected, and yet perfectly distinct from the analogous fish of America. Here, unfortunately, these fine fish have no names at all, save the trivial designations or absurd misnomers given to them by the first rude settlers of the regions in which they are found. The fish of which we are now speaking is probably the most deli- cious of all the purely fresh-water varieties — ^for such to all intents and purposes it is, as a table fish, for it is not found within the limits of civilization, except in the lakes above the Falls of Niagara, which preclude the possibility of communication with the sea. It is, how- 142 AMERICAN FISHES ever, found in the Coppermiuo, the Mackenzie, and other rivers which fiill into the Arctic sea, and can " probably live indifferently," as Dr. Richardson observes, " on fresh or salt-water, like several species of Trutta and Coregoni, that occasionally wander to the sea, although they are not strictly anadromous." It is claimed by the inhabitants of that portion of the State of New York that the finest White-Fish of the whole western country arc taken in Chatauque lake, a small mountain tarn situated some hun- dred feet above Lake Erie, and forming one of the sources of the Alle- ghany river. I doubt not the superiority of the ' .;tauque lake White- Fish to the same species taken in the shallow, muddy, and turbulent waters of Lake Erie ; but I entirely disbelieve in its being able to sustain comparison with that of the clear, deep, and cold waters of Lake Huron, where it is found of the greatest sizd, aod in, as I under- stand, the greatest perfection. '' It is," says Richardson, " a rich, fat fish, yet instead of producing satiety, it becomes daily more agreeable to the palate ; and I know from experience, that though deprived of bread and vegetables, one may live wholly upon this fish for months, or even years, without tiring." " In October," observes the same author, " the Attihawmeg" — this is its appellation among the Cree Indians, and it were most desirable that in the absence of any correct English nomenclature the aboriginal names could be adopted — ^*^ quits the lakes, and enters the rivers for the purpose of spawning. It ascends the streams in the night-time, and returns to the lake as soun as it has spawned. Dr. Todd informed me that it enters the Severn river from Lake Huron about the 25th of October, and retires to the depths of the lake again by the 10th of November ; but that in some rapid rocky rivers of that lake, indivi- duals are taken throughout the year. A few spawn in the summer It is a gregarious fish, and resorts to different parts of a lake, accord- ing to the season of the year, its movements being in all probability regulated by its supply of food. In winter the fisheries are generally established in deep water, remote from the shore ; toward the breaking up of the ice, they are moved near to the outlets of the lake ; and in the summer comparatively few Attihawmeg are caught, except what are speared in the, rivers. After the spawning period, the fall fishery, as it b termed, is more productive in shallow bays and on banks near W /■ SALMOMD^. 143 A the shore. I was informed in the far countries, that this fish preys on insects, and that it occasionally though rarely takes a hook baited with a small piece of meat. Dr. Todd found fresh-water shells and small fishes in the stomachs of the Lake Huron Altlhawmeg ; indeed shelly mollusca — Helix, Planorbis, Lymneus, Paludina, &c. — appear to he a favorite food of several Trout and Corcgoni^ both in Europe and America.'' The fact of the Attihawmeg feeding on shell-fish is greatly corroVo- ratcd by the circumstance of its dififering from all the other known Coregoni in the extraordinary thickness of its stomach, which resem- bles the gizzard of a fowl ; the same being the case with the Gillaroo or shell-fish-eating Trout of the Irish lochs ; and, I have little doubt, with the crab-eating Trout of tho Marshpee river in this country. 1 To tho excellence of the White-Fish, I can bear personal testimony when on the table, but I have never had an opportunity of examining it ; and I am indebted for the description below, to the Fauna Boreali- Americana, of the author I have already so often quoted. I am informed that this fish is occasionally taken by persons engaged in trolling for the Lake Trout, or throwing the fly for the Black Bass, Gristes Nigricans^ nor can I at all doubt that were his habits properly observed and carefully studied by a scientific angler, judging from what has been stated above in relation to his food, he might be taken with the hook with as much certainty as any other of the lake fish, unless, perhaps, the Black Bass, and he would assuredly show great sport at tho end of a long line, being both a powerful and active fish. The average weight of this fish appears to be three or four pounda^ but when very fat, it is often taken up to seven or eight •, and in par- ticular localities it attains a much greater size, having been caught in Lake Huron of thirteen or fourteen, and in Lake Manito, it is said, of twenty. One of seven pounds, caught in Lake Huron, measured twenty-seven inches in length. ' In form, the Attihawmeg is very deep in comparison to its length ; one of the ordinary siz3, taken in Pino Island lake, measuring as five to seventeen, exclusive of the caudal fin ; but when very fat, its depth is as one to three. The body is compressed, being much less thick than deep. Tho 144 AMERICAN FISHES. head is narrow above, with a moderately wide frontal bone, and form- ing one-fifth of the length, excluding the caudal. The eyos are large, and situated a little more than a diameter of the orbit "rom the tip of the snout, and nearly thrice as far from the edge of the gill-plate. The nostrils are placed midway between the orbit and the snout. The snout is blunt when seen in front, but its profile is more acute. The mouth has a small orifice, but when shut, its angles are depressed The jaws and tongue are furnished with a few teeth, which are too minute to be readily seen by the naked eye, and too slender to be very perceptible to the finger. The vomer and palate are quite smooth. Of thb ^ill-covers, the prooperculum is sharply curved, and rather broad ; its width, in the middle, equalling the height of tixe suboper- culum The operculum measures one-third more vertically than it does horizontally ; while on the contrary, the suboperculum ?s twice as long OS it is high. The interoperculum is triangular. The branchial arches have each a single row of erect subulate rakers, a quarter of an inch long, and rough on their inner surfaces. The pharyngeal bones are inconspicuous and toothless. The scales are large, irregularly orbicular, and about half an inch in diameter, with a bright pearly lustre. Color, in the shade, bluish gray on the back, lighter on the sides, and white on the belly, giving place to a nacry and iridescent pearly lustre in a full light. Cheeks, opercula, and irides, thickly covered with nacre. « Fins : branchiostegous rays eight, dorsal fifteen, pectoral sixteen, ventral eleven, anal fifteen, caudal nineteen and seven-sevenths. The adipose fin is rather large, and situated opposite the termination of the anal. The caudal is forked, and spreads widely. *It is, in short, a very beautiful fish, and no less useful than it ir beautiful and delicious, aflFording the principal subsistence to several Indian hordes, and being the main reliance of many of the fur posts for eight or nine months of the year, the supply of other articles of diet being scanty and casual. • Note to Revised Editio.v. — For many further particulars concerning this no- ble fish, See Supplement. Art. Attihawmeg. SALUONIDiC. 149 ABDOMINAL MAL4C01>TI£RY0II. SALMON m^ \ THE OTSEGO BASS OTSEOO LAVARET. / Cortgonu* Outgo i VtKay. — Salmo Otaego ; Demit CVmtnn. Through tho kindncsB of my esteemed friend, Mr. Cooper, of Coopcrstown, I havo had an opportunity, during this present sprmg, of carefully examining and dissecting this exceedingly beautiful and interesting fish, as well as of testing its qualities on the table. It is very closely cognate to the last-mentioned species, but is unquestionably distinct ; differing in size, form, in tho number of fin- rays, slightly in tho gill-covers, and so far us I could discover without a microscope, entirely in the distal system. Although a deep fi«h, it is not nearly so much so as the Attihaw- meg ; the finest specimen which I inspected measuring eighteen and a half inches in length, and ten inches in circumference at the origin of the dorsal fin ; the depth at the same point was a fraction under four inches, not being much less than a fifth of the whole length, including tho caudal. Tho gill-covers differed in form, in having the posterior free margin more curved, and less vertical, the operculmu less high in proportion to its length, and the suboperculum more so I I 146 AMERICAN I'ISIICfl. The snout was sharper and longer, and tho lubiul plates ahallowor in proportion to their length. Tho branchiostcgous rays wcro eight on one side, nine on tho other ; tho dorsal fin-rays thirteen, the pectoral seventeen, the ventral eleven, the anal eleven, and tho caudul twenty-two I examined tho mouth as minutely as I eould without tho aid of a glass, and neither by my eye nor my finger could I detect the ves- tige of a tooth on tho maxillarics, intcrmaxillaries, tongue, palate, or vomer, the latter parts being of a pearly whiteness, and as smooth as glass. The pharyngeal bones were also toothless, but the branchial arches were armed with erect rakers, precisely as described in tho last- named species. The colors of this fish were tho most beautiful, lustrous, and bril- liant, that I over witnessed — the back, of a rich iridescent blue, changing to greenish ; the sides, cheeks and gill-covers, glittering like mother-of-pearl, and the belly sparkling liko molten silver ; the fins, of a bluish green ; the caudal very deeply forked ; the lateral line nearly straight. This exquisite and beautiful fish, so far as is known, is found only in the Otsego lake, the head waters of the Susquehanna river ; but it would be very curious to compare it with the so-called White- Fish of Chatauque lake, a locale very similar to the Otsego, equally cut off from communication with other waters, and at about an equal eleva- tion above tide- water. I greatly suspsct that the Coregoni of these two mountain lochs would prove identical. The habits of the Otsego Lavaret are but little known. It is gre- garious, however, and rushes in vast shoals, early in spring, to all the shallow waters and shores of the lake, for a few days, during which he is taken in vast numbers ; after that time, he retires to the coldest depths of the lakes, and is seen no more until autumn, when he again makes his appearance for the purpose, it is supposed, of spawning, although the period at which the ova are deposited does not appear to be clearly ascertained, nor whether the spawning-beds are in the shoal waters of the lake, or at the mouth of its feeders. It is lamentable to think, though but too true, that through the wanton improvidence of the early settlers, who dealt with this delicious ac K' o fi: QC Uj LU 03 a. ^ ZD ki CO 5; UJ £» ^" < — 1 5 5: •^ X u >5f OQ UJ a: Q LlI CO c:. idi LlJ «i C_3 ^ o a_ o ^ Z ^3 1 i;:} cc X UJ 3: o LU • h- QC QC :3 O "^ z ^ h- :* < UJ >l. «1V yvy HHMBi ■?Ai.vnN.r).r M7 lish much !i^ tin:' l\i;\v Liiunnwickiirs lo wtih the CapeUii, litLTiiily. i bttli'jve, foediug tliou- i'.'s^.-i wi ''t tln'iUj they iiavi niread) vi.ii>nl7 wtliM'^f -huA delicious H-h. VVitli regard to tii.dr food, I can aaj, i>uihiug ii.-fe'''Jtd> ; the stoni- acbs of tho.sc which i i-xaiuinMd coniiu;, . ; i.!v;K;ijjr bat a blaokirih, earthy substanoc, whioli rosoivddod deeaywj 'tvytrt^M.h'w tuattcr, and some i?niall fVasmcuts of worms, or hr\ie of iiwcfttif, I fdisi'^rvi'd no thickeninir of the istoirincli, u^r ;iiiy but ;; tdiiic'" in^lanc** of ono ■■( thesei fiah being taT;on with a h'.'dt Tin' ily, hu'wi^vei', nnjijht po->ibij j»!T..ve nioro siicccsstnl. Thp v.u'ify, escfdlencii, and ptfuliarii) of tlio 'Jtsogo Lavarct, (;!;U- i\r- him to a place, as w(dl as the noblo race of which he is a mendxnv th'M'uh in Roino degree dcstitnfi^ of the c;unc qualities of his order. My p; Incipjjl oly-'ict, however, in introducing him in thi.> place, AVii-s 'first. 1- f^rcsont tue w hole f iniijv uf Ani;;v:iaii SahmnidiH t(> niv rcad- d'it, tt* • vf(«|dete as po'^riibl" ; and 8;,coiidly, to roelaim with all my rrdsjlit a^uin.'^; the absurdity of calliiig tlii.s tl-h a IJass, of tiie family f? .;••-'.*', lo wiiich it has a -ifchcr rosi^mhlanc ri^jr kindred 'J. h.--, »J>!»urdifcy, if pos^ibli;, is rendered inorfT! llagran tl ic fact that ttiri thi:', a8 po.'jsibl.', desig- uat."'d go Bass, thonirh it is ii;- Bass I'ither, bnt, a Cortina, of th»^ -.■.!«% S'«5»j-i«(cii|6, prdled also the Lake irdtecp's-Ifad, which, tVoui the S4»«vi*^^;!<4> «4* titfe, ir frequently confounded wiih thin ('V/' or L for tin t'gonuf •*j '.•s?,al«i> with the Black Bass v>f the ^St Lukm p.ce, w !i(;h w hieh i- not prop!".'ly a Ba.^s, Grilles IS'i./rricans, smd ■'i:^li the similarity of names, confnsei.' with the Sc.'ti Biiys, Bla«k Bnii A i.i>ri''OHs. wli" }i aiao umac rmgiy CM !bd ^!iv„' actuallv four fish :i,s difi'erent oi." t'l ;n) the otiicr «■* any f*n»f '^ksg*' '•«<%|»'-', all blundered up togetlier in con fusion wi.r^.' Co^ifniinlmf, owing' fr» ttie timidity of nt»turalis«t* \ tatiiig to alter % v,mii'hu-r 'irijpn.itin? in the igi:ioranoe >F tb. 4, ■•*■.! ^«(( 'm. /#. .^■ '^~ w ■■■■HA: SALMON! DiE. 147 fish much as the New Brunswickers do with the Capelin, literally, I believe, feeding theu' hogs with them, they have already visibly declined in magnitude, as well as decreased in number. They were formerly taken, weighing up to four pounds ; but now, the half of that weight is regarded as an unusually fine fish The specimen which I have described above weighed two pounds and three ounces, and was an uncommonly well-fed and delicious fish. With regard to their food, I can say nothing definitely ; the stom- achs of those which I examined contained nothing but a blackish, earthy substance, which resembled decayed vegetable matter, and some small fragments of worms, or larvae of insects. I observed no thickening of the stomach, nor anything which seemed to indicata their feeding on any shell-fish or molluscae. Mr. Cooper informs me that he recollects but a single instance of one of these fish being taken with a brit The fly, however, might possibly prove more successful. The rarity, excellence, and peculiarity of the Otsego Lavaret, enti- tle him to a place, as well as the noble race of which he is a member, though in some degree destitute of the game qualities of his order. My principal object, however, in introducing him in this place, was first, to present the whole family of American Salmonidce to my read- ers, as complete as possible ; and secondly, to reclaim with all my might against the absuribli, is rendered more flagrant by the fact that there is yet another fish as distinct from this as possible, desig- nated as the Oswpf"^ Bass, thougb it is no Bass either, but a Corvina, of the family Scicniru.-, cilled also the Lake Sheep's-Head, which, from the similarity of title, is frequently confjunded with this CorcgonuSy or Lavaret, and also with the Black Bass of the St. Lawrence, which, for the tnird time, is not properly a Bass, Gristes Nigricans, and which is again, through the similarity of names, confused with the Sea Bass, Ccntropristcs Nigricans, who is also blunderingly called Black Bass. So that we have actually four fish as different one from the other as any four things can bo ,. rll blundered up together in con- fusion worse confounded, owing to ihe timidity of naturalists hesi- tating to alter a misnomer originating in the ignorance of those who 148 AMERICAN FISHES. were naturally ignorant. The scientific name and characteristics of this fish are well established, as Coregonua Otsego, the English of which, being interpreted, is " the Otsego Lavaret." And now, why should not the stupid blunder of Bass be consigned to the oblivion which it deserves, and the true appellation be applied to the fish — an appellation which assigns to this, the last, not least, of the American >Sa//wont'rfflp, a local habitation and a name ? At the last moment, I quote from a very clever writer under the signature of the " Naturalist," from the Spirit of the Times, confirma- tory of my opinion with regard to the taking of this class of fishes with the fly: ^^ " Besides the Salmon and Spotted Trout, the Coregonus Albus, or White Fish, is abundant in the Chateaugay lakes. In the latter part of June and early part of July they take the artificial fly freely ; in winter, they may be often taken through the ice with the worm. I myself cauglit one of three pounds' weight, with a worm, Avliile fishing oflF the rocky shore, (the shores of both lakes are mostly rocky,) for the Speckled Trout." B80CIUJB 149 ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERYGII. EfiOCWM. ^'" This family, the EsocidcBy of which the true Pike, Esox Lucms, of Europe, is the type, is largely represented in the waters of the United States and the Provinces ; six or seven distinct species having been discovered, exclusive of the formidable Garpike, Esox Osseus, of the south-western waters, which, instead of scales, is cased in a complete armor of rhomboidal plates ; and which is held, by Mr. Agassiz and other distinguished naturalists, to be a connecting link between the animals of the present period and those contemporaneous with the Saurians, and other extinct races. The fish of this family are distinguished, generally, by the want of the second dorsal or adipot t fin, by the situation of the dorsal very far backward and opposite to tht anal fin, and by having the border of their upper jaw either formed sololy by the intermaxillaries, or by having the labials destitute of teeth, if they enter at all into its composition. The mouth is always large, and the teeth sharp and powerful, but the shape and proportionul length of the jaws vary greatly in the various species, as do the situation and number of the teeth, and the formation of the gill-cov'irs ; and by these particulars are the species distin- guished. The principal of these various species, are — The Mascalonge, Masqucallonge, Esox Estor, of the gre;it lakes ; The Northern Pickerel, Esox Lucioides^ of the same waters; The Common Pickerel, Esox Reticulatus^ of all the ponds and streams of the northern and midland States. The Long Island Pickerel, Esox Fasciaius, probably peculiar to Long Island, formerly Nassau Island, on the southern coast of New iTork. The White Pickerel, Esox Vittatus, of the Ohio, the Wabash, and others of the western waters. And the Elack Pickerel. Esox Niger, of Pennsylvania. Of all these species, the first two form the type, all the others fol- 150 > \ AMERICAN FI»HES lowing the formation of the head, which is remarked in one or other of these, as regards the comparative length of the snout, the formation of the lower jaw, the dental system, and the gill-covers. So marked is this difference, that in addition to the wood-cuts of the entire fishes, I have thought it well to give large representations of the heads of these two noble fish ; and by examining these with a little care, and comparing them with the heads of any of the smaller varieties, it will be easy to distinguish to which type any one of them belong. Thus, any person will at once perceive that the Common Pickerel, in the comparative length of the jaws, and the beak-like form and scanty dentition of the lower mandible, follows the type of the Masoa- longe ; while the Long Island species resembles, in the short obtuse snout, and extension of the teeth to the tip of tht- lower jaw, the North- ern Pickerel. The same thing will be found to be the case with all the other sub- species, although th'; differences between them are so trifling, and so purely technical, while their general resemblance is so great, and their habits so entirely similar, rendering it impossible to mistake them for fish of uny other family, that I have deemed it superfluous to multiply examples, or to give specific descriptions of more than the first four spe ^ies ; contenting myself with enumerating the others, and indica- ting the localities in which they are to be found, which will be alto- gether sufficient, in order to prevent confusion. Note to Revised Edition. — Another species of this voracious fish, Eaox Phale- retua, is laid down in some books, but it does not seem that any of the three, Niger, Vittatus, or Phaleratus, are very clearly made out as permanent and distinct va- rieties. Their habits, haunts, and manner of feeding are all nearly identical ; and until a more complete search of the western and southern waters has been made, it is uselesi t< atte r ;rv into minutiaa of this kind. It is a singular fact, as stated by Richar.i^n, that no Pike ci Pickerel has ever been taken in waters west of tho Rocky I'liountains. i \l ■t,>.-ri^*j.. «**. j§t-'-'^^S ■'''^ m "M 1 1 00 Ld < cc ^ o CD cc o !7. X . — ^ -Si en < 00 5» < 2 ^ esoiipa;. 161 AlALACOlTCIU'Cn. i:sc)Cii)it:. THE JSr ASCAT.ONGE. Masqufitlionge ; CnnR<]mn French. — fi^'-.i Kutnr; «/uvier, Ag.issiz. ■ , ' >* This »ri!if<:nifio: nt fisK, whu « is tin-. i\h- >', • ,: :4i iitui iwo»>t cxct'lltnit fooilof.ill tlie Piko fuiuily, is toiiiid only ii< tho jc,'>itt Uk.'^f JUifi VJat'.rs of' tho St. Liuvnrio'^ bai^in. not having Im •■») dii<«'ov(r"(| Im any uf t'!(.: rivors or UikiS mIjicU f^isv'har!.:i' tliem«!.>Ivos into Huvisou's Bay or thi; I'dhir Si-a, urti- yvt, su far us I have be^'.n abli; ii> uncorimn, in any of tiie pmallor lakes of Uie Uuitoi) States whioh ahe;i>viiin^ s','a.«''>n, it frcquonttj liu' .small rivors that fall into Lake Siuji.ioi;'" — which Hl^charges U,-<.'lf by thu iSfn-Tuu intu Lako Huron — and that it foed.s on finiall, goliitinou^, gre?n bulls, -ivhiiii fvow on the Hidt^s of lanlc!'' tmdar water, and on small tishe-i." Thi.s great Pike i.s said, by Dr. Ri'-hurdson, to attain \\i: fl' if^ht til" tnonty-cML'Ut pounds, but it um^uestionably grow^! to a very nnich lar^'or tiize, though [ cannot state, with precision, Hio greatest diincnsions tliat he has beou known to acqiiinv i)Y. DeKay wiys that lie ha.s been known to exioed four u-'t in h;ugth, whieh, 1 -jviug in view the breadth arid depth of tbi,-. fi.sli when in eondition, svoald yivf h proliable weight •■''' jiixty or oiglity pound'^:, wbicli I i)'.'liivc to approach las ni:i?,-imum. Hfe H* * bold and ini;st voraeioas fi«ij. Th' ffni *C(*-'nupaivyin£i: thi-i papiM', and the following de.S'-viption, are V »k)'n fr<»6' a .spticiuieu preserved in ?])ii its, in the poshessu)n of Proft:s»> '^''M^*, at" Harvard Univorsitr, vsiiicb measured about two feet awl '> ?rtl" ..•. Vi^^^'b; and wcnghed eliibtoen pound.«. TliR !or}p;th *f l^v<- t«i-!*»i ii' that of tlic whole bod\ w-i> a,s twc -to nine. The Rn'^tit, friflc u;«- wtn* «f the eve. forward, siiiaiukvlv cli r;<:at<»d and acnt..'. 'f h- iitteriur ei%!> M' tb^n orbit, midway bctwc:'n th-- tip of the snout an 1 the po.HU-rior margin of 'be ihx: irill-eover. 'J It:' bor- der of the upper y.\vf is fir'W.'d of tlie maxiliari ■» ulon ■, th.' etijj-.eis af ' .- . W*. ' ■ "■"Xt-'^' 'a...'-. ':'•■•*'.• ■- ■ T,. ■■? • 1: ■',' ['■ r ■■ .. ,. \ -•^^*''.s-**''.' .-.. . ■ .--Jij.. ■•(•7 S3?.. -^ *»%»v .^#h;-;^ ex. !.iJ .. ^ oc 1 ;'"'*> 9r •~:l — * o. «::_ t"." - ■ .^ r* s» UJ i.ij O >'. V' ..^. <;, j't " O UJ . Ij •'J "^I^ o h*. '-'';> •c < ^t :^ vj \ \> \ \ EMCIDJG. 161 / ADOOMINAri MALACUPTERYOn. EBOCID^. THE MA8CAL0NGE. Ma$qunallonKi ; ('nuadian French. — Eaox E$tor; Cuvier, Agufisz. This inagnifli; *t«h, which is tLe finest, largest, and most cxcolluut food of all the !'• ily, is found only in the great lakes and waters of the St. Jiawrcnoo basin, not having been discovered in any of tho rivers or lakes which discharge themselves into Hudson's Bay or thu Polar Sea, nor yet, so far as I have been able to ascertain, in any of tho smaller lakes of tho United States which shed their waters north- erly into tho St. Lawrence. It ia stated that " in the spring, which is its spawning season, it frequents the small rivers that fall into Lake Simcoe" — which discliarges itself by tho Severn into Lake Huron — and that it feeds on small, gelatinous, green balls, which grow on the sides of banks under water, and on small fishes." This great Pike is said, by Dr. Richardson, to attain the weight of twenty-eight pounds, but it unquestionably grows to a very much larger size, thougli I cannot state, with precision, the greatest dimensions that he has been known to acquire. Dr. DcKay says that he has been known to exceed four feet in length, which, having in view the breadth and depth of this fish when in condition, would give a probable weight of sixty or eighty pounds, which I believe to approach his maximum. He is a bold and most voracious fish. The cut accompanying this papar, and the following description, are taken from a specimen preserved in spirits, in the possession of Professor Agassiz, of Harvard University, which measured about two feet and a half in length, and weighed eighteen pounds. Tho length of the head to that of tho whole body was as two to nine. The snout, from the orbit of the eye forward, singularly elongated and acute, Tho anterior edge of the orbit, midway between tho tip of the snout and tho posterior margin of the free gill-cover. Tin bor- der of the upper jaw is formed of the maxillari^s alon3, the edges of IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 Jf"^ I 2.5 tii m I.I li^ 2.0 I Kiotographic Sciences Corporation 4 A.^ ^£^ ^ L25 III U. 1.6 < 6" ► 4(^ ^"^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSSO (716) 872-4S03 '9," .v^ (^ 152 AMERICAN FISHES. which are furnbhed with several rows of long, powerful, and exceed- ingly sharp, awl-shaped teeth, the points curving slightly forward. The vomer and palatine bones are covered with card-like clumps of spiny teeth, as are the base of the tongue, and the pharyngeal bones. The tongue itself is soft. . The lower jaw is considerably longer than the upper ; it is armed for something less than half its length with very powerful recurved fangs, the two largest being in front, a little posterior to the tip of the tongue. Beyond these, the lower jaw is toothless, curved upwards, with sharp, horny, beak-like edges ; and in these points, particularly, is it distinct from the following species. Of the gill-covers, the preoperculum is nearly vertical, and but slightly curved, the operculum much higher than it is broad, and nearly four times as high as the suboperculum, which is slightly round- ed posteriorly. The branchiostegous rays are eighteen in number. The body and head are quadrangular, flattened above, and much compressed at the sides. The dorsal fin is directly above the anal, the caudal powerful and deeply forked. The fins, according to Professor Agassiz' singularly precise mode of enumeration, contain — the dorsal, twenty-two fin rays ; anal, twenty ; ventral, thirteen ; pectoral, eighteen. The main part of the caudal fin is divided into two somewhat unequal lobes, containing, the upper, nine ; the under, eight fin-rays ; while above and below the two larger lateral rays there are nine smaller rays. In color, it differs from the Northern Pickerel in having the general tint of the body lighter than the markings. The back and upper part of the sides arc dark, changing from greenish blue to bluish gray, on the sides, which are irregularly dashed with darker spots and splashes. When exposed to a strong light, every scale reflects bright colors, which vary as the fish is moved ; but there is no fixed pale mark on the tip of the scales, as in the succeeding species. The Mascalonge, which owes its name to the formation of the head — masque allonghy long face or snout, Canadian French— -but which has been translated from dialect to dialect, maskinonge, muscalunge, and muscalinga, until every trace of true derivation has been lost, is said to bo much more common in Lakes Erie and Ontario than in the more northern waters of Canada ; but this will, I fancy, prove to bo / i ESOCIDiG. isa \- erroneous, as I know them to be taken of great size, and remarkable excellence, in Lake Huron. It is the boldest, fiercest, and most voracious of fresh-water fish; and there is none, unless it be the Great Lake Trout, that can offer any adequate resistance to his attacks. It is said that even the spiny dor- sals of the Percidce do not protect them from his ravenous attacks. He bites daringly at a dead bait played with spinning-tackle, or even with a simple gorge and troUing-hooks. He is, moreover, readily taken with that murderous instrument, the spoon, or even by a bait of tin or red cloth, made to play quickly through the water. Before passing to the next species, I cannot but pause to notice a strange error of nomenclature, in Mr. Brown's comprehensive little volume, "The American Angler's manual," to which I have alluded before, by which he transforms the term UsoXy the specific name of every member of the Pike family, as assigned by Linnaeus, into the Essex, which he appears to conceive a distinctive term peculiar to the Mascalonge, which he calls " the Essex or Muscalinga of our western lakes." I note this error, not from any desire to underrate a useful and valuable little book, but merely to guard against its adoption by anglers in general. Note to Revised Edition. — The Mascalonge is, as I presumed above, and have vended by personal observation, vastly more abundant, and infinitely larger, and in all respects superior in Lake Huron to those in the lakes below ; indeed the superi- ority of all kinds of fish in those cold, pure, deep waters, improving the farther you go northward, to those in the muddy shallows of Lake Erie, cannot be believed until it is learned by experience. 11 154 1 AM2RICAN FISHER ABDOMINAL MALACOFTERY6II. ESOCIbiE. GREAT NORTHERN PICKEREL. Etox Lueioidet; Aganiz. This great Pike, like the last, is peculiar to the basin of the St Lawrence, and was first clearly described and specified during the scientific tour to Lake Superior, which I have already mentioned, by Prof. Agassiz, who pointed out its distinctions, both from the European Pike, and the Mascalonge, to the former of which, Esoz Lucius^ it is by far the most closely allied, although it appears to have been con- founded with both — Le Sueur y who first gave a distinct specific name to the Mascalonge, having described it as the fish now under consid- eration, Esoz LucioideSy and not at all as Esox Estor. The Northern Pickerel is taken up to the weight of sixteen or seventeen pounds, but rarely, I believe, exceeds that weight. It is an exceedingly handsome fish, longer and slighter, in proportion to its depth, than the Mascalonge. Its body is four-sided, the back broader and fiatter than the belly ; the vertical diameter is equal to about one-seventh of the body, caudal included ; the transverse diameter is two-thirds of the vertical ; the body carries its thickness to the dorsal fin, and then tapers into the thin tail ; the sides are compressed and flattened ; the head is about one-fifth the length of the body ; the snout not nearly so long, and much more obtuse, than in the Mascalonge ; the under jaw does not exceed the upper in length nearly so much as in that fish, and is armed around all the f^re part with a single row of small, slightly- hooked teeth ; on the sides of the lower jaw are a row of larger awl- shaped teeth, implanted in the bone ; the palate bones, vomer, and pharyngeal arches, are all armed with bands of small sharp teeth, like carding machines, as In the former species ; the tongue is broad, and truncated at the tip. The gill-covers are n'^arly as they are described in the Mascalonge, •t '•,.. ':«,•.'< Esinj: Luri'/idr.i ; k{ra»,niz. '»> ■ii*gi*eat FJkfi, like 'tin; hist, is peculiar to tlio hn^'m of thi^ St r,'i,*rrt-.fic;f, >iti!!iciitific tour to l',!il^.■., fnthe Onrnor of whi< h, I^soj: Lucius^ it is by iUr i]f'' lao.st clos.iy alliirl, iiUho'igh it nppcars to have boon con- fomuled witlj both — L-<'. Sk^ii'-^ who first ifavf- u dipilnct epooifii' nmao to the INfascabuigi.'., having doscribtid it »» ihs lish now mxloi- consid- •Mutioti, Esox LiLcio'idn^ aii.i s/ot Ht all iw /.'.wr Es(vr. Tilt" Nortb.'rji Piok«rel is takon up i<> ib*' ^ Uf^bi of sixtocn or svn'ontf-ei* poiivids, but raroly, I bolii-ve, nxtfetwln tha' welcht. 1? is uvi oxt'ocdiusl^ bs-ttdKuaioJivli, long-n* ami •'li^^lite.r, id jjfop^vH'jin to ii.s di'pih, than th^ Ma.s:.,-i!.v.nijje, ]t.s body i;^ fo'i"-8itbvi, Hiin back bvoadei- Mn.l fiatter r,^( iuto the Mull tail ; tbo aidop nve ooii)prc8g«d a» 1 fiitkinod ; tb<^ bfiad u about on r-finh thf! bn'ith .;.f \\\o body ; rho enont not iif udy so lonu. and iHtocb Juor« obu>ft,», tban in tbo Mi»>jci»b>nfl^e i tbo under jaw docs not t'xe^p!■' fort; p:rt wl.th ft single row of small, sliv'btly- ' T lyb'M of ihv> Hm." But I have made up my mind to peaceful submis- sion, deeming it quite enough to have investigated the identity of what it aniUNeM itouthcm gentlemen to call " Trout," and Western New Yorkeri "Daw" and " Sheep's-Head," without troubling my head about more provincial barbarisms. I believe tho " Pompano " to be ot the Mookorcl family, and tho " Welohman," which is described as a bold biter at small fish, worms, and the like, to be a porcoid fish, anulogouM to Hock-Bass, Centrarchus ^neus, or perhaps a Corvina, analogous to tho Malashegane, or Sheep's-Head of the lakes. Tho Common Pickerel — to return to my subject — does not in gene- ral exceed ftvo pounds, and in most districts this is considerably above bi« average, which docs not, I think, go beyond two and a half or tbroo pounds, but they are occasionally taken in the smaller lakes, and in Momo few of the more sluggish streams, of infinitely larger •izo, oven so far, it is said, as to twelve and fifteen pounds' weight ; but such iostanocs are rare, even if they can be relied upon as facts — which 1 am somewhat inclined to doubt, thinking that they have probably been mistaken for some other cognate species. In tho year 1838, 1 myself took a Pickerel which weighed fifteen pounds three ounces, under Stillwater bridge, on the Hudson river, while fishing for Black Bass, Grisies Nigricans^ with a large gaudy fiy, and landed him, after a long and severe struggle, having only a light fly-rod, and neither gaff nor landing net, although I was fishing with a Salmon-reel, and one hundred yards of line. I was not at that time sufficiently conversant with minute distinc- tions to say positively to what species this large fish belonged, and 1 f CSOCIDX. 159 uufortunatoly took no notos at tho time. Aocording to tho best of my recollection, however, it was a longitudinally Hpotted 6nh, and if BO, was probably a stray Northern Pickerel, which had found his way down the canals, from the basin of the St. Lawrence, into that of the Hudson. And this, which would at first seem a highly improbable, if not impossible hypothesis, becomes at onco reasonable, when the fact is known that three, at least, of the fish peculiar to tho great lakes and to the waters of the St. Lawrence have found their way into the Hudson and iis tributaries since the opening of the various canals, and are now taken abundantly within the State of New York — these are tho greater Black Bass, Gristes Nigricans ; tho Oswego^not to be confounded with tho Otsago — Bass, Corvina Oscula; and the Rock Bass, CentrarcAus jEnem. Any of these species, in order to reach the Hudsou, must descend the canals, and take advantage of the moment when the boats are passing through the locks, and the gat3S opened — ^whioh, when we consider the commotion of the water, the splashing, hubbub, and con- fusion which occurs at such times, is in itself sufficiently extraordinary, and soems to go far toward proving that fish, except as regards feeling, are much less shy than is commonly believed, and toward abolishing the idea that they are driven out of their favorite rivers by craft or steamboats. If one species, however, can succeed in passing these numerous obstacles, there is nothing to prevent another from doing likewise ; and it is in no respect more difficult to believe that the Northern Pick- erel should so make his way to our southern waters, than that the varieties of Bass above-mentioned should — as it is well-established that they have done— introduce themselves as an indigenous fish in the same. From what I have personally seen, therefore, of the Common Pick- erel, Esox ReticulatuSy I am a good deal inclined to doubt the tales I have heard of its great size ; and, until I shall be satisfied, on personal examination, am unwilling to credit him with a growth exceeding six or seven pounds. This fish, as will appear from examination of the cut, follows the type of the Mascalonge, in the elongation of the snout, the curvature 160 AMERICAN FISHES. of the lower jaw, and the smallness, though not absolute deficiency, of teeth in the fore part thereof. It is easily distinguished by its having its cheeks and gill-covers completely cased in small scales, and by the brownish lines on its flanks, occasionally intersecting each other, like the meshes of a net, whence the name Reticulatm. , In form this Pike closely resembles the others of his family. His body is quadrilateral, the back broader than the belly ; the depth is to the entire length, including the caudal, as one to seven, the thickness is about two-thirds of the depth ; the length of the head to the entire length is as on 3 to four ; the posterior edge of the orbit is midway between the tip of the snout and the posterior margin of the free gill-cover ; the origin of the ventral fin is midway between the tip of the snout and the fork of the caudal ; the termination of the caudal opposite to the origin of the anal ; the gill-covers are nearly vertical, and very slightly rounded, except the margin of the suboper- culum, which is very short as compared with the operculum ; the brauchiostegous rays are nine in number, dorsal fin rays twenty, pectoral sixteen, ventral ten, anal twenty, caudal eighteen, seven above and seven below the greater rays. The back is of an olive green with blue refiections, the sides olive green fading into greenish yellow, with vertical lines of dull brown occasionally crossing one another, so as to form a sort of irregular network ; the dorsal and caudal fins are of an olive brown clouded with green; the pectorals and ventrals greenish brown, margined mth dull yellow; the anal dusky green; the irides golden yellow, the cheeks and opercula, which are covered with small scales, are olive green, with brownish marks and reflections. The snout brown ; the lower jaw and gill-rays white ; the belly white, marked with brown. This is the Common Pickerel of the Middle and Eastern states ; and is the fish intended, when the word Pickerel is used without the aid of any epithet or definition. It is rather a favorite fish ; and has been injudiciously introduced inio many fine Trout ponds and streams, which have in consequence lost all their attractions to the fiy-fisher, but now swarm with this coarser and comparatively worthless fish. He is a bold biter, and affords considerable sport when hooked ; but is coarse, watery, and of small value on the table. . i .JJ i J i l i iiL.g | L »Mg— BSOOIDiE. lei ABDOMINAL MALACOPTEEYOII. ESOCIDiE. '"V. THE LONG ISLAND PICKEREL. Eaox Faaeiatus ; De Kay. This, which is the smallest and most insignificant of the family, so far as its sporting or epicurean qualities are concerned, was first distin- guished and named by Dr. DeKay, of New York. Its principal characteristic is the very remarkable size of its scales, which, in most of the family, even in the enormous Mascalonge, are very minute and slender. In this little denizen of the running brooks and clear Trout ponds of Long Island, the- scales are larger than in any other of the family, so as to make it resemble, in that particular, some of the Cyprinidoi^ rather than its own tribe. In other respects, size excepted, it differs little from the other Pikej which follow the type of the Northern Pickerel, rather than that of the Mascalonge^ to which variety it belongs ; as is readily seen in the short snout, straight lower jaw, of this small fish, the latter carrying its teeth, of full size, quite round the fore part of the jaw. The Long Island Pickerel rarely, if ever, in those waters, exceeds a pound weight, and that is greatly above the average, which is proba- bly nearer one-half that size. It is less voracious also than the larger members of its family, and is said to be in no wise detrimental to the Trout, which literally swarm in the same waters. Indaed, its size would render it innocuous to anything beyond the small xry, as a 162 AMERICAN FISHES well-grown pound Brook Trout would bo considerably more than a match for any of these little Pickerel which have come under my ob- servation. In shape and general proportions, the Long Island Pickerel is not dissimilar to the species last described, the head alone excepted, which, allowance being made for the difFereiice of size, and the scali- ness of the cheeks and opercula, is, in all respects, similar to that of the Great Northern Pickerel. Its gill-covers do not materially differ from those of the Common Pickerel, except that the lower margin of the suboperculum is some- thing more oblique, giving the posterior edge of the free margin rather an angular form. The branchiostegous rays are four in number ; the dorsal fin-rays twenty-two, pectoral sixteen, ventral ten, anal eighteen, and caudal eighteen, seven above and seven below the greater rays. Its color is olive green, darker on the back, and fading into greenish yellow on the sides, irregularly barred with transverse waving bands of dusky brown, whence its designation of Fasciatus. The fins are brownish green, generally, without spots or bars ; the pectorals and ventrals the palest, and bordered with dingy yellow. Before closing this paper I would mention a very remarkable speci- men of this fish, which was kindly sent to me by my friend, Mr. William Pennington, of Newark, who perceived that it was a fish of unusual character, and knowing that I was engaged in this work, took some pains to procure me a sight of it. This individual was caught in a net in the salt-water, in the lower part of Newark bay, and at first sight I was inclined to believe it a nondescript species. It weighed something over a pound and a half, was unusually thick in proportion to its depth, and was in the finest condition. Its color, however, was the most remarkable ; for the back and sides, do^u to the lateral line, were of the richest and most lustrous copper-color, paling on the sides into bright brazen yellow, with the belly of a silvery whiteness. The cheeks, gill-covers, and fins all partook of the same coppery hue, and the whole fish was far more lucent and metallic than any of the family I bad before seen. There was not the slightest in- dication of any transverse bars or of any mottling ; nor was there any of that sea-green color which is so peculiar to the Pike family. ^ ESOCIDiE. 163 On a minute examination, however, of its characteristics, and espe- cially of the size of its scales, I was perfectly satisfied that it was nsither more nor less than an individual Long Island Pickerel, l^sox Fasciatus, which, having wandered into salt-waters, had thus entirely changed its colors, and grown to a weight exceeding its natural average, in the ratio of at least three to one, probably from the superiority and greater abundance of food which he found in his new hunting grounds. I did not myself taste the fish, but was informed that it was of very unusual excellence. I never saw a more striking instance of the effect which different waters have upon the coloring and condition of fishes, than in this Pickerel ; nothing was left unchanged except those specific characters on which alone permanent distinctions can be founded ; and without a knowledge of which, the quickest obssrvation is useless, so far as as- signing their places to any of the animal kingdom. In addition to the four species above described, there arc laid down in the books three others, beside the hideous Garpike, or Alligator Gar, Esoz Osseus, of the West. These are the Esox Niger, Esox Phahratus, and Esox Vittatus, of the western waters, all which are so closely allied, and so closely similar in habit, that there is no object in occupying space in their description, the rather as they are well known, and not liable to be mistaken for others of the same familv. Note to Revised Edition. — I have observed a statement of a correspondent to the N. Y. Spirit of the Times, that I have erred in assigning one to one and half pounds as the limit of growth to the Long Island Pickerel, because he had killed Pickerel of four pc nda and upward on Long Island. The common Pickerel, Esox Reti- culatua, which grows to five and even teveu pounds, "ken on Long Island, but is not, therefore, or for other cause, the Long Island i :rel, which was scientifi- cally distinguished from it by DeKay, on account of its diminutive size and large scales. The distinction has been allowed by Agassiz, and all eminent naturalists. 164 AMERICAN FISHES. ABDOMINAL MALACOPTEETGII. OTPEINIDJB. THE COMMON CARP. Cyprinun Carpio; Linneeus, Cuvier. Of this family, CyprinideBy the principal characteristics are a mouth slightly cleft ; weak, and generally toothless jaws ; pharyngeal bones strongly dentated ; one dorsal fin ; branchial rays few in number ; to which may be added large fleshy lips, and bodies covered with large scales. It comprises eighty or ninety well-known American species, not one of which is worthy of not\ce, as either a fish of sport or a dainty. There are in America no Carps proper, indigenous to the country — no Barbels — no CobiiiSj or loaches. Leucisci^ analogous to, though by no means — as stated by Dr. J. V. C. Smith, of Massachusetts — iden- tical with the Chub, Roach, Dace, and Bleak of Europe, are found in abundance under the above names, but still more commonly as Shiners. The genus AbramiSj Bream, has again several representatives in the waters of North America, but none, either of this or the last sub- genus, can attain to dimensions which lead the angler to trouble him- self about them, unless it be as bait for other fish, as Pike and Pearch, for which purpose several of these fish are better adapted than those of any other family, unless it be the young fry of the Salmonida^ while in their Parr form. /^ CYPRINIDJS. 165 In lier. of those genera, however, which exist in England and on the continent of Europe, but entirely lack American representatives, several prevail here which are totally wanting in Europe, as the genus Labeo, the genus Catastomus^ Suckers, or Sucking Carp, many varieties of which are found throughout the waters of the United States and Canada, from north to south, and many species of Hydrargyra^ ana- logous to the European Minnow. Several of these last species are of great interest to the naturalist, the Catastomif or Suckers, especially, from the singular formation of their mouths, which are situated far below and posterior to the tip of the snout, and furnished with crimped and penda,nt labials, adapted for the deglutition of vegetable substances and even of mud; but to the sportsman they are of no account, as they do not take the bait, and are worth little as bait themselves, while, by the epicure, they are justly held in utter scorn. The truth is, that nowhere under the canopy of Heaven are the genus Cyprinus worthy to be accounted sporting fishes, and nowhere are they eatable — ^not even excepting the Carp and Tench of Europe — ^unless with the aid and appliances of a most careful cuisine, and by dint of stewing in claret, with condiments and spices, garlic and force- meat balls, and anchovies, such as might convert a kid glove, or the sole of a reasonably tender India-rubber shoe, into delicious esculents. The shyness of the Carp in biting, the great size of the Bream and Barbel, and even in some waters of the Chub, induce bottom-fish- ing anglers at home to take some pleasure in their pursuit and capture, but that is invariably in such slow and sluggish waters as contain no gamer or more delicate fish ; and the dull, logy, watery fish them- selves, and the cockney punt-fishers, who aspire to take them, are held in about equal esteem, or disesteem, by those who know what it is to throw a long line lightly, with a cast of flies, for the vigorous-speckled Trout, or to spin, or even troll, with the Parr or Minnow, for the savage and voracious Pike or Salmon In America, none of the Leucisciy Chub, Roach, Dace, or Shiners, and none of the Abramis, Bream, exceed nine or ten inches in length and consequently are never subjects of more serious pursuit than the holiday crooked-pin and angle-worm fishing of schoolboys. They are 166 \ » AMERICAN FISHES. the detestation of the Trout bottom-angler, constantly nibbling away his bait, and tantalizing him with vain hopes of a bite. Of this family, therefore, so far as the true American genera are concerned, no notice need be taken in a sporting work, except as re- lates to two or three little fishes, to which I shall devote a few lines each, as being excellent bait for all the larger and bolder fishes. Within the last few years, however, two European varieties have been introduced, and have become entirely naturalized in some of our waters. The Gold Carp, Cyprinus Auratus of Linnaeus and Cuvier, or common Gold and Silver fish of China, in the Schuylkill, and in some streams of Massachusetts, and the Common Carp of Europe, whose title stands at the head of this paper, in the Hudson, especially in the vicinity of Newburgh. The former of these little fish is, indeed, unworthy of notice, except as an ornamental fish, to be kept in garden tanks and fountains ; but the other being much, though I must confess in my opinion unde- servedly^ esteemed in Europe, and having been deemed worthy of le- gislative enactments for hia protection, by the State of New York, I shall proceed to describe as a species, which, within a year or two at the farthest, will come within the American angler's list of game. The mode of this fish's introduction into American waters, is as fol- io tvs: — Captain Robinson, who has a fine place immediately on the banks of the Hudson river, containing some fine fish ponds, between Newburgh and New Windsor, imported some years since a quantity of Carp at considerable expense, I believe from Holland, where the species is very abundant and very fine in quality. His ponds were soon admirably stocked ; but in process of time a heavy freshet carried away his dams and fiood-gates, and a very large proportion of his Carp escaped into the Hudson. This fact being represented to the Legislature of the State, a penal enactment was passed, heavily mulcting any person who should take any one of these Hudson river Carp, at any season or under any circumstances, until after the expi-, ration of five years from the passage of the act. The provisions of this bill have been strictly enforced ; several per- sons have been fined, and the fish is now extremely abundant. I cannot here, in relating these circumstances, control myself, but > z' CTPRINIDJB. 167 must invoke tho contempt and indignation of every gentle sportsman, every reasonable thinking man, upon the heads of that ignorant, motloy, and destructive assemblage, which is entitled the Senate and Assembly of New York. For the last fifteen years not a session has passed without the strenuous and sustained attempts of the most edu- cated and most influential gentlemen of the State, both of the city and the agricultural counties, to induce the faineant demagogues of that assembly to take some measure to prevent the total extinction, within that very county of Orange, of some of the noblest species of game in existence, indigenous to that region, and once abundant, but already scarce, and within twenty years certain to be lost altogether, through the mal-practiccs of their destroyers, the errors of the ex- isting game-laws, and the difficulty of enforcing them in their present state. It is quite unnecessary to state that these efforts were wholly inef- fectual — that it was found impossible to induce those learned Thcbann to do anything to prevent American Woodcock from being shot before they are fledged, and American Brook Trout from being caught upon their spawning beds ; but that no sooner is a coarse, watery, foreign fish accidentally thrown into American waters, than it is vigorously and effectively protected, which protection was merely granted, I be- lieve, to enable " a facetious member of the legislature^''^ as he is styled by the learned Doctor Bethune in his fine edition of Walton's Angler, to draw a witty comparison between the naturalization of " scaly foreigners" and Irish voters. I dare say the facetious member was not devoid of hopes that the scaly foreigners would some day or other vote for him. It is impossible to feel anything but contempt for such unutterable blockheadism, while it is equally impossible to expect anything better, after their recent exhibitions in the legislatorial line, from such a body as the New York Houses of Assembly. Since, however, their wisdom has pronounced that henceforth the Carp is to be a game fish of America, I shall proceed to describe this " scaly foreigner," thus naturalized with a five years' exemption from liability to capture, in the waters of Hudson's river. The European Carp is one of the fish which has been the longest known and esteemed, being mentioned by Aristotle and Pliny, 168 AMERICAN FISHES. although thoy do not at that period appear to have attained their present celebrity. They are found in most of the lakes and rivers of Europe, but thrive best in the more temperate southern districts, degenerating when they are carried farther north. It is said that in Russia they are even now unknown. "Their growth," says Mr. Yarrel, " is, however, particularly cultivated in Austria and Prussia, and considerable traffic in Carp prevails in various parts of the Euro- pean continent, where an acre of water will let for as much yearly rent as an acre of land, and where fresh-water fishes, as articles of food, are held in higher estimation than in this country." — Mr. Yarrel means England, but the observation is even more applicable to the United States than to Great Britain. " Carp," ho continues, " are said to live to a great age, even to one hundred and fifty, or two hundred years ; but they lose their rich color — their scales, like the productions of the cuticle in some other animals, becoming gray and white with ago." The exact period of the introduction of the Carp to England is unknown, but it is mentioned in the Boke of St. Albans, by Lady Juliana Berners, printed in 1496, and the great probability is that it was naturalized from the continent, probably from the Low Countries, or Austria, previous to the suppression of the monastic institutions. The Carp thrives best in ponds or lakes, and in such parts of rivers as have a slow, lazy current, and a muddy or marshy bottom. " They are very prolific," I again quote from Mr. Yarrel, " breed- ing much more freely in lakes and ponds than in rivers. Bloc found six hundred thousand ova in. the roe of a female of nine pounds' weight, and Schneider seven hundred th'isand in a fish often pounds' weight. They spawn toward the end of May. or the beginning of June, depend- ing on the temperature of the water and the season ; and the ova are deposited upon weeds, among which the female is followed by two or three males, and the fecundation of a large proportion of the ova is by this provision of Nature effectually secured ; but they both breed and grow much more freely in some waters than in others, without any apparent or accountable cause." The Carp, and indeed the whole family of CyprinideR^ are the least . voracious of all fishes, and the least addicted to animal food, the larvae of insects, worms, the softer and more gelatinous parts of aquatic plants, and even vegetable mud, furnishing them with ample subsist- CYPRINIDA. 169 0D03. During tho winter, it ia believed that they eat littlo or nothing, and lie, half-torpid, in the mud. They are extraordinarily tenaoioua of life, and can be kept alive iu a cool place for many days, and even weeks, if placed in wet moss, and fed on bread steeped in milk. This peculiarity renders them very easy of transportation. They are slow of growth, not arriving at the weight of three pounds before their sixth, or ten before their ninth year ; they arrive, how- ever, ultimately at a very great size, having been taken up to eighteen pounds, at which ultimum they are nearly as broad as they are long, •.'easuring thirty inches in length by twenty-two or three in depth. " They are in season for the table," says Yarrel, once more, " from October to April, and are greatly indebted to cooks for the estimation in which they are held. " The mouth is small ; no apparent teeth ; a barbule or cirrus at the upper part of each corner of the mouth, with a second smaller one above it on each side ; the nostrils are large, pierced at the second- third of the distance between the lip and the eye. The eye is small ; the operculum marked with striae radiating from the anterior edge ; nape and back rising suddenly. The dorsal fin-rays are twenty-two in number, the pectorals seventeen, ventrals nine, caudals nineteen. I'he first dorsal fin-ray is short and bony, the second u,U\. bony and strongly serrated posteriorly. The first anal fin-ray is also bony and serrated posteriorly. The tail forked, the longest rays as long again as those of the centre. The caudal rays of the two halves of the tail always unequal in number in tho Cyprinida. The body covered with large scales, about twelve rows between the ventral and dorsal fins ; the general color golden olive brown, head darkest ; insides golden ; belly yellowish white ; lateral line interrupted, straight. Fins, dark brown." This fish is very well adapted for keeping in muddy stew ponds, when he will become very fat, and can be used with advantage when no other fish is to be procured. 12 170 ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERTOII. AMERICAN riSHBB. CYPBINID.£. THE AMERICAN ROACH. , , .,t, LEUCI8CU8 RUTILU8 • • ' ,* The American Roach is a pretty, lively little fish, common to most of the ponds and small running streams of the Middle and Northern States, and is closely analogous to the European fish of the same name, although it never approaches it in size. In England the Roach has been taken up to the weight of five pounds, in the United States it rarely exceeds five or six inches in length, and together with its congeners, the Chub and Dace, as they are generally termed, though none of them identical with the European species, are seldom taken except by schoolboys, and never put on the table except in remote country districts where sea-fish, and the better inland varieties being unknown, anything will pass muster, in this line, as dainties. The Roach is readily distinguished by his blood-red irides, and the ruddy tinge which borders his pectoral, ventral, and anal fins. His head is thick and obtuse at the snout, the labials coarse and fleshy The eye large, and situated midway between the tip of the snout and the ponrtcrior margin of the gill-covers. The gill-covers are mode- f, CYPRINID4:. 171 ratoly ourrod, forming an irrogular soniioirole. Tho pectoral fin has its origin immediately behind the edge of tho Buboporculuni. Tho origin of tho dorsal is midway between tho snout and origin of the caudal fin, and tho vcntrals vertically under it. The caudal fin is powerful and lunatod. Tho dorsal rays are ten in number, the pectoral sixteen, ventral nine, anal eleven, and caudal nineteen. This little fish is grcgariou.s, swimming in shoals, and feeding on worms and herbs. It is admirable as a bait for Pike, and for the larger va- rieties of Pearch and River Bass, being, I think, preferred by them to any other fish, as the Parr is by tho Sea Salmon, and tho larger species of lako and sea Trout. The Chub and Dace arc also good for the same purpose, but inferior to the Roach. As sporting fish it would bo a loss of time to describe them at length. The American Chub never exceeds ten inches. • Note to Revheu Edition. — Since penning the above, I hoar from wme cot' recpondents that in many of the Eastern water« they grow to a much larger b\m ; my viewB are. however, those of AgasBiz, DeKay, Smith, and Richardson. •/.!'•:'-"■ 172 AMBRIOAN PIflllRH. AHIMIMINAL MALACOlTKnYOII. OTPRINinA 1 • THE NEW YORK SHINER. Utillni Chnjtoleueaa ; Agaasiz. — Cyprinua Chrytoleueaa ; Mitchil. TiiiM boautiful littlo fish is common to almost ovcry pond and stream Uironghout the tompcrate regions of North America, from the waters (if Now England to those of Lake Huron. It is found associating to a oortttio dngroo with the species last described, and still more com- monly with the Sun-Fish, Pomotis Vulgaris^ and the Yellow Pearch, PerM FlfiveBcens, though it undoubtedly falls a victim to the voracious nppotitu of the latter fish, when it grows to a larger size. It loves li^AViiWy xhallows, on which it spawns, and is constantly to be seen fiportin;^ among the leaves of the large water lilies. Like the species last named, it is an excellent bait both for Pearch and Pike, and is often taken on spinning tackle by great Trouts, whether brook or lacustrine. It belongs to that group of Leucisci which have the dorsal fin far back, and in this rcspoct greatly resembles the subgenus Abramis, or Bream, Itii head is small, smooth, and depressed above The mouth ia Nmall, and destitute of teeth. The eyes are large, with yellow irides. Tbo body is very deep, being very nearly one-third of the length, Ascluding the caudal fin The branchiostegal rays are three in num- CYPRINIUA. 173 bcr, the pectoral Beyonu^on, yontral niDo, dorsal nine, anal fourteen, and caudal nineteen. The upper y irt of the lioad, bock, and niden, dark glossy green ; lower sides, and belly, silvery white, with golden reflections. Dorsal fin, brownish yellow ; poctorals, reddish buff ; ventruls, dull lake, anal and caudal, dull reddish brown, streaked with lake. Of this group, there are several species, all abundant, and nflfording much sport to schoolboys and young ladies. To the angler, except as bait, they are little worth, and to describe one variety, as a typo of the species, will be amply sufficient. 174 AMBRIOAN FISHES. ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERTGII. CTTRINIDA AMERICAN BREAM. Abramis Versicolor i Agaisia. The Bream of America, of which there are several inferior species, like most others of this family which I have enumerated, never grows to any size, and is very little accounted by the angler in general, though in some of the western waters, where they bite freely, they are sometimes angled for with the small red worm, and arc accounted a delicate pan-fish. They are distinguished from the other Cyprini, by the great depth of their bodies, by having the dorsal set very far back, behind the extremity of the ventral, and by the great length of the dorsal fin. The tongue is smooth, as well as the jaws and palate, but the lower pharyngeal bones are set with large teeth. Like the other Cyprini^ the Breams are among the least carnivo- rous of fishes. This is a beautiful species. The back is dark, of a hair-brown hue, varied with many colored changeable reflections ; the sides goL'on yellow, and the belly silvery white ; the dorsal and caudal fins brown ; the others yellowish, tinged with red f CYPRINIOiE. 175 The branchial rays are three in number, the dorsal fin-rays twelve, the pectorals twelve, the ventrals seven, the anal twenty-seven, and the caudal nineteen. A little fish, closely resembling this in form, is described and figured in Dr. Richardson's Northern Zoology, on the authority of Lieut. Col. Smith, who took it at the confluence of the Richelieu sni St. Lawrence. It is known to the Canadians as la Quesche. In form, it closely resembles this species ; and in color, the last described ; but it hnG one spiny ray in the dorsal, and one in the anal fin, and a toothed tongue, which would seem to divide it from the genus Abra- mis ; while the size of the anal divides it from the true Carps. It has, moreover, small scales, and barbels. \ •- 'I tjf- r 176 AMBRIOAN FI8HB8. ABDOMINAL MALACOPTEEYOII. OYPRINIDiE. MINNOWS. ■ ' *' , ■ ''' Hydrargyra; Auctorum. The Tdinnow proper of Europe, Cyprinus, LeuciscuSj Phoodnus, ib unknown to the waters of North America, but ad its equivalent, and analogous to it, we have innumerable species of the Hydrar- gyray or American Minnow ; which, in general appearance, habits and haunts, are very nearly assimilated to the European fish. Its food consists of aquatic plants, small worms, and minute prrtions of any animal substances. It bites boldly and readily at small red worms, gentles, or the larvae of any of the Phryganea^ known as cad- dis-baits, stick-baits, and the like, on the least Limerick hooks, num- ber twelve ; and is constantly taken by boys with a worm alone tied to a fine string, which the little fish swallows so greedily that he is pulled out before he has time to disgorge it. Under many local names this beautiful little Cyprinm is found in every swift-running stream with a gravelly bottom, and in the shallows of every pond or lakelet throughout the country. They arc generally CrPRINIDf. 177 kaown as Killy-fish, and arc an ezcoUcnt bait for fish of almost ovory kind that prey on other fish. As live bait for Pike, Pearch or Catfish, they are not to be equalled ; and in spinning or trolling, they are excellent for the noble Striped Bass, the Pike, the Salmon, the Lake Trout in oil its varieties, and for the Brook Trout — especially those which are found in the tide- creeks, where they are less willing than in other waters to take the fly. A more particular description of so common and well-known a fish would take up space needlessly, which is more required for other parts of my subject ; and the species are, I was almost about to say, innumerable. Three of the commoner varieties, and those most useful as bait, are represented on the preceding page. ' \ 178 AMERICAN FISHES. ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERTGII. CLUPIDiE. THE HERRING. Clupea HarenguB. . The common Herring, which visits both continents, runs into the mouths of all the northern and north-eastern rivers of North Ameri- ca, and is not only greatly sought for as an article of food, but really affords very excellent sport to the angler. In spring, when he enters the estuaries in full condition, and full of spawn, he leaps freely at any gaudy-colored fly — ^whether of the peacock feather, or, what is yet better, a foui^winged fly of the scarlet ibis and silver pheasant, on a scarlet chenil body, not unlike the fly used in Black Bass fishing, but of a smaller size. The best way to use it is with a single bb shot attached to the gut an inch or two above the fly, so as to .troll with it, as it were, slightly sunken below the surface. I have taken them in this manner, off Fort Diamond at the Narrows, almost as fast as 1 could cast and draw in the fly. ' The appearance of this fish is so well known that a very particular description is hardly necessary. The length of the head to the body b about as one to four, the depth to the length of the body as one to five. The upper part of the fish is a fine blue, with green and other reflections, when viewed in different lights ; the lower part of the side and beljy silvery white ; the cheeks and gill-covers silvery. Dorsal and caudal fins dusky ; the fins on the lower parts of the body almost CLUPID.E. 179 white. The lower jaw is much longer than the other, with five or six small teeth extending in a line backwards on each side from the an- terior point ; four rows of small teeth on the central upper surface of the tongue, and a few small teeth on the central surface of the upper jaw. Branchiostcgous rays are eight in number, pectoral sixteen, ventral eight, anal sixteen, dorsal nineteen, and caudal eighteen. The scales are large. The caudal fin deeply forked. Several other species of Herring are common to the waters of the United States, but this is the only one which is taken with the fly, or can be accounted as game to the sportsman i^. ynn ipiffiiii.iiwi nw ^ii ^ i 180 AMBRICAN FISHBS. ABDOMINAL MALAOOPTERTGII. OLUPID^. THE SHAD. Aloaa Prctatahilia ; DeKay. This delicious and well-known fish, which is by many persons es- teemed the queen of all fishes on the table, has been, until very re- cently, regarded as one that could be taken only with the net, and therefore of no avail to the angler. It is, however, now clearly proved that, like the HeiiAUg, the American Shad will take a large gaudy fly freely, and being a strong, powerful and active fish, affords great play to the sportsman. It is undoubtedly the fact that, until within the few last years, fish- ing in the United States, except of Trout, having been practised rather as a means of providing the table, than as a matter of sport, it has been taken for granted that many species of fish, which are easily captured by the sean, will not take the bait or the fly ; and few spe- cies have been pursued as game except those which are not easily caught otherwise than with the hook. Fly-fishing, moreover, having been a few years ago confined to a very few individuals, an 1 evt;a now being comparatively limited, it was attempted only with those families which could hardly be otherwise captured. Now, however, noua avons changi tout cela^ and opportunities for the practice of this delightful art are sought for so eagerly, that any person is regarded in some de- CLUPIDA, 181 groe as the sportsman's benefactor if he introduces to his notice a new species which will afford sport with the artificial fly. It is, as I have observed, indisputably true, that on his entrance into fresh-water from the salt, for the purpose of spawning, the Shad will readily take a gaudy fly, the more readily the higher he runs up into the cold and highly aerated waters in the upper parts of our large rivers, where also they are taken in the greatest perfection, as for instance in the Delaware, so far up as Milford, in Pike county, Penn- sylvania. The New York Shad, Alosa PrastabiliSj was, I believe, first dis- tinguished specifically by Dr. DeKay of New York, having been pre- viously confounded with the AUice Shad of Europe, Aloaa Communn^ of Cuvier, Clupea Alosa, Auctorum, to which it bears a very con- siderable resemblance, although I presume that the distinction can be fully made out. The body of this fish is deep and compressed, the thickness rather less than one-third of the length. The length of the head is to that of the whole fish as one to six ; the depth to the length as one to four. The scales are very large ; the tail long, slender, and d3eply forked. The dorsal fin-rays are nineteen, the pectoral fifteen, ventral nine, anal twenty-six, and caudal twenty. The greatest depth of the body is just before the ventral fin. The shad has no distinct lateral line, its abdominal edge is strongly serrated, especially behind the ventrals. The top of the head and back are dusky blue, with brown and green reflections in particular points of view. There is a single dusky spot behind the opercul sn. The irides, sides of the head and body, are of a silvery white, with a tinge of copper-color. The dorsal and caudal fins arc dusky, the pectoral, ventral, and anal fins, white. The flesh of the Shad is perhaps the most delicate of any existing fish ; and, though it lacks the lusciousness, as well as the glutinous fin of the Turbot, it is preferred to that fish by many judicious epi- cures, notwithstanding the drawback occasioned by its innumerable and sharply-pointed bones. From personal experience and success, I can assure the fly-fisher that he will find much sport in fishing for the Shad during his upward run in the spring, with a powerful Trout-rod, a long line, and such flies as he will procure in perfection at Conroy's, in Fulton-street, New York saoi 182 AMERICAN FISHES. ABDOMINAL MALACOPTEUTOII. SILUBIDifi. THE CAT-FISH. Huron Pimelode. Silurua, Pimeiodut, Canoms; Richardson This singular and hideous family of fishes is distinguished from th« others of the same order, by the skin being either naked or pro- tected by large plates, but always destitute of true scales. The inter- maxillaries are suspended under the ethmoid bone, and form the border of the upper jaw, while the labials are lengthened out into barbels, or are simply rudimental ; it has, also, a second adipose dorsal fin. First rays of the dorsal and pectoral fin spinous. This family contains twenty-five or thirty species peculiar to Ame- rica, which are generally known as Cat-fish, Bull-heads, Bull-pouts, &c. They inhabit the larger lakes and rivers, especially, but are found in all the waters of North America. The commonest and the largest species both belong to the sub- genus Pimelodus, and are well known as Cat-fish ; the ordinary kind measuring only a few inches in length, and never exceeding a few ounces weight ; the largest reaching a hundred or even a hundred and fifty pounds, especially in the great northern lakes, and in the western rivers. The great Huron Pimelode, or, as it is often called, the Chan- I! 8IHIRIDA. 163 nel Cat-fish, which is the largest of the family, is thus dcsoribed by Richardson : " Profile oval, tapering into the tail. Head broadly oval, forming two-ninths of the total length. Orbits small, and nearer to the snout than to the gill-openings. Nostrils situate some distance before the eye. A slender barbel, half an inch long, springs from their posterior mar- gin. Snout obtuse. Labials ending in a tapering barbel, which ia an inch and a quarter long, and reaches to the gill-opening ; there are also two slender barbels, one each side of the chin. Both jaws are armed with a brush-like band of short teeth. The palate and vomer are smooth. In this genus the suboperculum is wanting ; the preoper- culum is attached to the operculum by bone, and can be traced by its elevated ridge. The interoperculum cannot be traced through the skin. There are nine gill-rays. The gill-openings are rather narrow. The dorsal rays are — one spinous, seven soft ; second dorsal, adipose. Pectorals, one spinous, eight soft ^ ventrala eight, anals twenty-four, caudals seventeen. The skin is smooth, thick, adipose, and lubricated by a mucous secretion. The color is a dingy greenish brown above, and dirty white below. The flesh is very rich and gelatinous, and not dissimilar either in quality or flavor to that of the Eel. In some places it is esteemed a great delicacy. All the Cat-fish are greedy biters, and will take almost any animal substance as a bait. After being booked, however, although they are powerful fish, and pull hard for a while, it is yet a dead lug entirely, unlike the lively and fierce resistance of the Trouts and Pearches ; and they afford in truth very little real sport to the angler. Seven species of this fish are quoted by M. Le Sueur, as belonging to Lakes Erie, Ontario, and their tributary waters, besides many other varieties in the southern and western waters, where it grows to a yet more enormous size. There is, however, so little difference either in the appearance or habits of this filthy, mud-loving and hideous fish, that the description of one species must serve for all. The cut at the head of this paper represents the great Cat-fish, or Hurpn Pimelode. The Silurus Glanis, Sly Silurus, or Sheat-fish, is the largest fresh- mttmmSm 184 AMKRICAN riSHBIt water fish of Europe, growing, it ig said, to six feot in length, and attaining to three hundred weight. Dr. Smith includes this species of Silurus in the fishes of Massa- ohusotto, and Dr. Flint attributes it to the Ohio and Mississippi, both ovidently confounding it with the various indigenous Pimclodes, which it greatly resembles. It differs from the American Pimelodes in hav- ing the anal fin extremely long, extending almost the whole distance from the extremity of the ventral U the origin of the caudal fin '/ . "- ^ ■■%fi:; ^SS^K \ ANOCILLIDiC. APODAL MALACOPTERTOII. AXOUr ID^ THE EEL. Anguilla ; Auctorum. Although I in no respect regard the Eel as worthy of the notice of the angler, a volume on fish and fishing would be incomplete, had it not some allusion to this singular fish, which is, moreover, very excellent on the table. The family to which it belongs is of a different order from any which have been enumerated, that of the apodal Malacopterygiiy or soft-finned fishes, destitute of ventrals. They have slender and elon- gated bodies, without apparent scales, these being deeply imbedded in mucous skin. Gill-covers they have none, the gill-openings are small, before, and rather below the origin of the pectoral fins. The dorsal fin extends above two-thirds, and the anal above one-half the length of the whole fish, both united at the end, and forming a tail. The lateral line exhibits a series of mucous orifices. The general color is hair-brown, varying to glossy bluish green, 13 160 AMERICAN PISH£8. abovc« nnrl coppory-ycllow varying to silvor-whito below, nccordinjj to tho purity and brightness of the waters which they inhabit. Th»'y inoy bo taken with a hook and angle-worm, but it is a nasty, Jilimy bui«in(!HH, and affords no sport to compensate tho diHcgrceablo nature of tho labor. The Eel-epoar, tho set-line, or the Eel-pot, is the duo mode of taking them, and tUoir truo place is not in the creel of tUif g % and I shjill now proceed to tho Acantkopterygii, or spiny-finned fislic;-!, Atnong which arc several of our finest species, both of tresli and salt- wiitcr, both for sport in tho water, and excellence on the tabic PERCID^. 187 ACANTIIOPTEKYOII. rERCID.f:. t THE AMERICAN YELLOW PEARCH. Perea Flnveacena; Mitchil. This is r very common fish, widely diffussii, with small vnmtioD of siz3, 8hap3, form and color, through all the inland fresh waters of the whole United States, ranging through all the lakes and rivers of the country from the eastern part of Maine to the waters of the OJiio, into which it has gained access through the Ohio Canal, and whence it will undoubtedly ore long make its way into the Mississippi. There are several subordinate varieties of this fish, which differ in size, color, and slightly also in the number of fin rays, in different waters, and those have been created into distinct species, under the titles of tho Rou'rh Yellow Pearch, Perca Ccrrato Granvlata ; the Rough- hoad ?d Yellow Pearch, Perca Gramdata ; the Sharp-nosed Yellow Pearch, Perca Acuta ; the Slender Yellow Pearch, Perca Gracilis ; and the White Pearch, Perca Pallida. It does not, however, appear that thes3 distinctions are sufficiently broad or permanent to justify this arrangement ; and it is now generally held that thero is but on3 species of true fretiii-water Pearch in the United States, and that the forms which have been designated imder the above titles arc mere accidsntal varieties, similar to those which have been previously noticjd of the common Trout. Originally the Yellow Pearch was a 188 AMERICAN FISHES. northern fish, its range extending to about the fiftieth parallel, but it has lately, like several others of the same species, been much more widely diffused through artificial channels, as, for instance, the Black Bass, Gristes Nigricans^ and the Rock Bass, Centrarchus JEneuSy which have descended from the basin of the St. Lawrence, by the Eric and Whitehall canals, into the waters of the upper Hudson. The Yellow Pearch is a bold biteT, and a tolerably good fish on the table ; it frequents the same waters with the Pickerel, from the assaults of which it is defended by the sharp spinous rays of its dorsal fin. In color, its sides are yellow, varying in intensity from greenish to bright golden in different waters, and occasionally in tide waters to pale greenish white. Its back is banded with six or eight dark verti- cal bars. Its pectorals, ventrals and anal are golden orange — its dorsals and caudal greenish brown. Its body is compressed, elongated, with a slightly gibbous dorsal outline. The scales are small, the head, above the eyes and between them, smooth, lateral line concurrent with the line of the back. Head sub-depressed, and in the larger and older fish the rostrum is pro- duced, causing a hollow in the facial outline. The first dorsal com- mences above the base of the pectorals, the first ray much shorter than the second, the fourth, fifth and sixth rays are the longest, and the last the shortest — it has in all thirteen rays. The second dorsal has seventeen rays, the two first spinous. The pectorals have fifteen soft rays ; the ventrals have one spinous and five soft rays ; the anal, two spinous and eight soft ; the caudal is forked, with rounded tips. The mouth is of moderate size ; the preoperculum strongly toothed, the operculum serrated beneath, with a spine on its posterior angle, The irides are golden yellow — the pupils black. > It varies in weight in different waters, from a few ounces to four or five pounds. It is a bold, hardy fish — is easily transported from one water to another, and appears to thrive equally well on all soils. ft. is taken with the worm or small fish, used either as a live or dead bait, and affords very fair sport, pulling strongly on the line for a few minutes, but by no means requiring the same degree of skill as the Pearch to effect its capture. It is the favorite fish of rural anglers, where Pickerel do not abound, and is esteemed a great delicacy where Bca-fish cannot be obtained. PERCIDJE. 18G AOANTHOPTERYGU. PERCIDX THE STRIPED SEA BASS. Rock Fish; Bar-Fish; Richardeou. — Labrax Linealus ; Cuvier. This noble fish, which, after the Salmon family, is unquestionably the most sporting fish of this continent, has its geographical range from the Capes of the Delaware, in which river it is known as the Rock Fish, to the coasts of Massachusetts ; unless, as I think almost certain, the Bar-Fish of Richardson, which is taken in the St. Law- rence, prove to be merely an accidental variety. The Striped Bass is properly a sea fish, entering the rivers in the spring to spawn, at which time he runs as high up the courses as the depth of water will permit, and lies among the bushes where the chan- nels are narrow. They run far up the Hudson — are taken at the foot of the Cohoes Falls of the Mohawk in great numbers, and ascend yet higher up the cold, clear waters of the Delaware. In September and October they run along the coast in large schulls, entering the inlets, and being taken in great numbers between the outer bars and the beach by the sean. In the heaviest surfs of the Atlantic, on the outer ocean beaches, they are captured of great size with a bone or metal squid. They are a bold, ravenous and powerful fish, biting voraciously at almost every sort of bait, from soft crabs and clams, on a drop-line, to shiners or sparlings on trolling tackle. Shad-roe in rivers frequented by that fish in the spring of the year, and even the artificial fly of large size and gaudy colors, with which, at the end of a hundred yards of line, they afford great sport, being vigorous, fierce and active, nor succumbing until after a long and violent conflict with their captors. In winter, when the weather becomes cold and stormy, they again enter the estuaries of rivers, and imbed themselves in the mud of the brackish bays and lagoons, which possess the advantage of being calm and undisturbed by the tempests which vex the open sea. They attain to a very great size, even, I believe, to seventy or 'mmmm 190 AMERICAN FISHES. eighty pounds' weight, though I have never myself seen one of above forty-three ; the smaller sized fish, of seven or eight -pounds, are, however, by far the most delicate, and I think those not exceeding fifteen pounds give the best sport to the angler. In color, the Striped Bass is bluish brown above, silvery on the sides and beneath. Along each side are from seven to nine equidis- tant dark, parallel stripes, the upper series terminating at the base of the caudal, and the lower above the anal fin. These lines are occasionally indistinct, sometimes interrupted, and more rarely each alternately a continuous stripe and a row of abbreviated lines or dots ; this appears to be the form which Dr. Richardson has designated as the Bar-Fish of the St. Lawrence. '' The body is cylindrical and tapering. Head and body covered with large adhesive scales. Lateral lino obvious, running through the fourth stripe, and nearly straight. Head bluntly pointed ; eyes large ; nostrils double ; gill openings large ; lower jaw the longest ; teeth numer- ous on the maxillaries, palatine bone and tongue ; operculum armed with two spines on its lower margin, the preoperculum finely dentated. The first dorsal consists of nine spinous rays, of which the first and the last are shortest. A simple ray occurs between this and the «econd dorsal, which consists of twelve branched rays. The pectoral fins have sixteen rays ; the ventrals one spinous and five soft rays ; the anal three spinous and eleven soft ; the caudal, which is broadly lunate in shape, has seventeen bonded rays. The pupils are black, the irides silvery. Altogether it is one of the most beautiful, as well as the most excel- lent and sporting of American game fish, the flesh being very firm, white and well-flavored. There are two other species of Bass, the Lnhrax Rufus, and iMhrax Pallidus, or Ruddy, and little White Bass, which are better known, both to anglers and epicures, as the River Pearch of New York, and White Pearch. They are both taken in the brackish waters of tide rivers, and afford fair sport to the angler, as well as being a very deli- cate pan-fish "• Co ^' H 7 ■El . -o ^ a: •> - 5 m oo 190 ^ .'HX'AtX'KS fl'»Hi:^. f^^u ..viv ' vr- jjt'tiL, th«>!(gli 1 jiavc nvn'i )ny^f\i -f-ih '^■ui* ul above fMiirf- , :;,..i ;!iu%ll.;'r sized ti->Ii, of cf.'V;'!.- --r v>^lu '^/>wiir-,. anj, !i' ■ . -.ir tho >i](>?!t (Iclic-v)-, .'tu'l J think *ij<.»y' -!«»■'< ^.tftoi'iiiiij.' Id. •.\*4krii', the htj-i])')(l B:,i>» b bUurfli l)ro>Tij yb^VH, ;-jilTvi?» nv, tl>:; ■Mf^.'.* unci bcucrtih, Along each siile are fiuin sevou to r.Uu'. i.n •<« l.-vci-r Msnciriu, tJe- jireoperouKnn iin-.dy dentated. Tlie 1ir>«t dorsal consist!) '4' niuo sjiinous ray-, <.f wli'vh the fii'iit and the laot are jih-.frtii.st, A Muiple ra;y oceui^ ijei..w«:en this and the second doi.-.ii', wliicli con.tjijits of tn-lve l^.'Oelud raysi. The prevtral fins h.'ivo tjixtoen r'.\y.T , th- v^ntral-i Lroadlv biua(e iii (^hapv, has seventeen hranile<.1 ray.'^. lUe j.iind-* ure black, (he iride,« silvery. Altogetlier it js one ..f the niont beaulifu! ns •>. ;! as the most cxeol- 1 r,* Jini spovtia." "f American .frame fiyh, the flesh boinfc v>ry jbni, '.vhiti arid W(dl-fla vurcd. 'i.r Thci'f .Si r itvi) oth''^! ..p^ i^ N 1 r— I^ > 00 CO H >» ^ v-^ >< >^ -D \ s z m ^. m 3> o 00 3> ■>; ^" C/D N GO V >■ X ^ *-i > ?^ >J ^ ^ ^i ''mi,:: 'Mil' ' ''/"■"''•;,' I'll PERCID^. 191 Dr. DjKay also enumerates another fish of this genus, as the giuall Black Bass, Lahrax Nigricans^ which he describes as being found in various ponds of Queens and Suffolk Counties, Long Island, rarely attaining to two pounds in weight, being esteemed very good eating, and rising freely to the fly. I have never myself seen this fish, but have great doubts whether it is moru than a casual variety of the Black Bass of the St. Lawrence, the Centrarchus Fasciatus of DeKay, the Iluro Nigricans of Cuvier and Richardson, and more properly the Gristes Nigricans of Agassiz ; for, although this is improperly distinguished into two fishes by Dr. DeKay, it is in fact but one I have never heard, it is true, of tlr; existence of the St. Lawrence Bass in the waters of the State of Nov/ York south of Champlain, prior to the opening of the canals, but there is no doubt that, like the Pearch, it might easily be transported from one to another locality by artificial means. There is yet another variety, the White Lake Bass, Lahroz Alhidus^ which is taken readily with the hook in Lake Erio, and known at Buffalo, where it is much esteemed as an article of food, as the White Bass. None of these are, however, sufSciently important to merit more particular notice. 102 AMERICAN FISHES. ACANTHOPTEBTOII. PEBCID^. til! M. ,-, « THE YELLOW PIKE PEARCH. AMERICAN SANDRE. liHeioperca Americana ; Cuvier. THB OHIO PIKE, OLA8B-EYE, YELLOW PIKE, OHIO BALHOK This bold and voracious fish I have never seen, though it ta abundant from the western part of the State of New York to the waters of the Ohio, the great lakes and the rivers of the fur countries, up to the 58th parallel of latitude. It affords great sport to the angler, being readily taken with the hook, with almost any live or dead fish bait, though it is said to prefer the common fresh water Cray-fish, Astacus Bartont, according to Dr. DeKay, whose account of this fish I have taken the liberty of borrowing from his Fauna of New York : " The best time for fishing is in the dusk of the evening, with a great length of line, keeping the bait in gentle motion. The foot of rapids or beneath milldams appears to be its favorite haunts. In the heat of summer it seeks the deepest parts of lakes, or in streams in the coolest places under weeds or grass. It is esteemed one of the PERCIDA. 193 most valuable fishes of the western waters, in which it grently abounds, and sells rea^"^ i'ur a high price. It spawns in Lake Huron in April or May, and has been taken of the length of thirty inches. ^' Its color is yellowish olive above the lateral line ; lighter on the sides ; silvery beneath. Head and gill-covers mottled with green, brownish and white. Chin pale flesh-color. Pupil dark and vitreous, irides mottled with black and yellowish. Membrane of the spinous dorsal fin transparent, with a few dark dashes ; the upper part of the membrane tipped with black. Soft dorsal fin light yellowish, spotted with brown in irregular longitudinal bars. Ventral fins transparent yellowish ; pectoral fins yellowish olive, with brownish bars. Anal fin I I transparent yellowish, with a broad whitish margin ; caudal fin with irregular dusky bars. " The body is elongated, cylindrical and tapering. Scales of moderate size, lateral line straight from the upper edge of the gill- covers to the tail. Preoperculum serrated with a series of distant spines. Opercle with one slender flat terrinal spine, beyond which is a pointed membrane. Branchial rays, seven. Mouth wide extensi- ble, the lower jaws received into the upper. A series of acute re- curved teeth in both jaws, and on the vomer and palatines. Two very long and conspicuous teeth, resembling canines, in front of each ' jaw ; those of the lower received into cavities above. Teeth on the vomer minute. Tongue smooth, pointed, free. The first dorsal fin is composed of thirteen or fourteen long slender spinous rays ; the second dorsal has one short, simple, subspinous ray, and twenty-one soft rays ; the pectorals have fourteen soft rays ; the ventrals one stout spine and five branched rays ; the anal one spine and fourteen rays ; the caudal is deeply furcate, and has seventeen distinct, beside many accessory rays." This fish is a true Pearch, though its form, elongated mouth, and fiercely predatory habits suggest the idea of a Pike, whence Dr. De- Kay has given it the appellation of Pike Pearch, which is a translation of its classical name, in preference to the name Sandre, which belongs to the Canadian fish of the same species, and to the analogous Euro- pean fishes. 194 AMERICAN riBHkii. The Gray Pike Pearch, Ludoperca Gritea, would Beem to bo u pormanent variety of the above, if not a distinct species ; it differs from it in size, never exceeding ten or twelve inches, in color and iQvcral other important particulars. It is found in the same waters Vfith the preceding species, and is equally prized as an article of food. Richardson's Pike Pearch, the Canadian Sandre, Ludoperca CoTuidensiSf is another small distinct species, found in the river St. I<8.wrence. Its principal characteristic difference lies in the fact that the operculum has five acute spines on the lower margin. In color it is dark olive green above, and whitish beneath, with a few pale- veP.ow spots on the sides below the lateral line. It does not exceed fourteen inches in length. It is, like the others of its species, es^^emed .lb excellent fish on the table, and, being a free biter and hard puller, affords good sport to the angler. It is not, however, of so great im- oortaiice that I care to enter into a more minute description. This 18 the fish concerning which a controversy has been goirg on between " Dinks " and some Western fishermen, who insist oi cdling it a Pike, as distinct from Pickerel. It is a true Pearch, and hos no connexion with anv of the Pike family. ,f IBI do CO CO ^ ^ CO CO >-0. llCR((Dr.- Onhwehi-* l\t >■ iatuM : i*i>Koy. — (fritta \i/t,,ititnM: Tm*i is Olio nf tliM liac',<'t of tin* 'iu< ricau fr^•■>b-»•»^.•r tUhix ; it i> suipa.>>"l ity uono in Ivililnccfj f.f lutiUv', \n fierce nod »»<')-nt rt'»t.»'t«uci wlkfu haokc'l, .mil ])y :i v .-ry few only in . « npoa tho b'urd Peculiar DiiginuUy ti> the Uiwn i.t" ihn St I,:i\vjeu«»>, ii» wb»t;i» it- ttbouijili* fioui tho Falls nf .\i)»;»iiia .i.>Wiiwai'u, Ihrott'Jj fho canals. It, i.s said l»y l)i'. DcKnv to h^- t'ouiid jiiui'ruliy in tliM .suiiill l.iki-s lit" the Statf^» of Now York, but 1 ('rmoliKl(' that thi?' must I) > liuiit'd to tliosr wlii»;h coiamnnicati) witli tli ■ j^jviit Ittlics or the St. l,,awrouci'. It i.-t t;ikeu ubuu'luntly in Lako. I'hainphiiii, but it irt in tbi- .swift glancing wati-ns of tlio wSt. LawnnuM', among the. ('Xi|ui- silc .'•cen.ry of tli:^ Thousand Islands, that it aft'ords tbo greutast sport to the angler. It bites ravenously at a small fi.'»h or f«plnning-tn;klt(, or at the doadly and niurlerou-H .«poon, an instrum ntt S'^ lujrtaitily du.*itrucliv<' that the oso of it is properly di.scouragcd by all t.i'u aii/brrt. a.s poaching and unspo'-tsanianlike. 'l'!i!^ tin(wt sport c;iii bii had, liowt voi , .vith a louc U,!.fUt Salinon-liu;/, trcblL'-tvyi^t-vnl gut, lo df^fy it-i nunior"a« and osci'wtlingiy acute tooth, and a la'.tri l!> -.^riiii m ixidy of f^carlet oh' mi and four \viu;tr.s, two of th:- silv 'r pU..:n jatil Jvn I two tf the -'arlot ibis. A.s tin Rlitek IJa-s.** attains to the vtvl^jiit '^f'six or fiifht pound?*, an<. is rx'<'ll.il \u vittor, spi>od jitid agilityonly ov the Brook Trout, the Salmoii Tioiit ui i '\v- Trxi^ Sdaion, tlio Rport n-hioh he affords when thus hook .il <'.'.n b- Vi^ry r'\i»tion. In color, this li.sh i« of a du.sky blui;?h black, sou);>ti.");!S vtiih H.iiw»»:' ^Vf' ■<^ m.^ y cC 00 CO iXX fi) PERCID>K. 195 AOANTHOPTERYGII. PERCIUiG. THE BLACK BASS OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. Hiiro Nigricans; Cavier. — Centrarchua Faaciatua; DeKay. — Oriateo Nigricans; Agossiz. This is one of the finest of the American fresh-water fishes; it is surpassed by none in boldness of biting, in fierce and violent resistance when hooked, and by a very few only in excellence upon the board. Peculiar originally to the basin of the St. Lawrence, in which it abounds from the Falls of Niagara downward, if not through its whole course, it has made its way into the waters of the upper Hudson, through the canals. It is said by Dr. DeKay to be found generally in the small lakes of the State of New York, but I conclude that this must be limited to those which communicate with the great lakes or the St. Lawrence. It is taken abundantly in Lake Champlain, but it is in the swift glancing waters of the St. Lawrence, among the exqui- site scenery of the Thousand Islands, that it affords the greatest sport to the angler. " * It bites ravenously at a small fish or spinning-tackle, or at the deadly and murderous spoon, an instrument so certainly destructive that the use of it is properly discouraged by all true anglers as poaching and unsportsmanlike . The finest sport can be had, however, with a long light Salmon-line, treble-twisted gut, to defy its numerous and exceedingly acute teeth, and a large fly, with a body of scarlet chcnil and four wings, two of the silvor pheasant and two of the scarlet ibis. As the Black Bass attains to the weight of six or eight pounds, and is excelled in vigor, speed and agility only by the Brook Trout, the Salmon Trout and the True Salmon, the sport which he affords when thus hooked can bo very readily imagined ; nor can he be brought to the basket by any- thing short of the best tackle, and the most delicate and masterly manipulation. In color, this fish is of a dusky bluish black, sometimes with bronze 106 AMERICAN FISHES. reflections, the under parts bluish white, the cheeks and gill-covers nacrous of a bluish color. The body is compressed. Back arched and gibbous. Profile de- scending obliquely to the rostrum, which is moderately prolonged. Scales large, truncated. Sca,Ies on the operculum large ; a single series on the suboperculum, much smaller on the prcoperculum, ascend- ing high up on the membrane of the soft dorsal and caudal fins. Eyes large ; nostrils double. Operculum pointed, with a loose membrane. The lower jaw is somewhat longest. The jaws are smooth and scale- less. Both jaws are armed with a broad patch of minute conic awute reserved teeth. An oblong patch of rasp-like teeth on the vomer, and a band of the same kind on the palatines. Branchial arches minutely toothed. Pharyngeal teeth in rounded patches. The dorsal fin is composed of nine stout spines ; the second dorsal of one spine and fourteen soft rays. The pectorals have eighteen soft rays, the ventrals one spine and five soft rays, the anals three spines, and twelve soft rays, and the caudal sixteen soft rays. " *It is somewhat doubtful to me whether the fish known in the waters of Lake Erie and those generally above the Falls, as the Oswego Bass, is not distinct from this fish, though it is also occasionally called Black Bass. There is very evidently some confusion about the matter, as 1 am well assured that another fish of the same family, the Corvina Os- cultty is at times confounded with it, and called by the same name, though in truth it but slightly resembles it. Another fish of the same family is the Growler. * Note to Revised Edition. — During a tour, this autumn, through the great lakes, I had abundant opportunities of learning the habits of this fish, which sivarina in all the Canadian lakes, though not found north of them. It is taken in Seuera, Crooked, and Cayuga Lakes, and in the first is of rare excellence. I lean to the opinion that the differences between this and tlie Oswego Bass arise merely from difference of condition and feeding-grounds. This Bass has, I understand, been in- troduced into Lake Mohopach, Dutchess Co., N. Y. .11 ' I . ( PERCID^. 197 ACANTHOPTERVGII. PERCIDiG. THE GROWLER. Griatea Salmotidea; Auctorum. Thb White Salmon ; Smith's History of Virginia.- vincialism. -Thb Trout : Carolina Pro- Tiiis fish, in general form, closely corresponds with that last de- scribed. It has the same gibbous back, with the lateral line following the dorsal curve, and the same protruded lower jaw. Its teeth are set minutely in broad bands or patches. The operculum has two mode- rate points. Its color is deep greenish brown, with a bluish black spot on the poinc of the operculum. When young it has twenty-five or thirty lon- gitudinal brownish bands, which become effaced by age. The first dorsal fin has ten spines, the second thirteen or fourteen soft rays ; the pectorals sixteen soft rays ; the ventrals one spine and five soft rays ; the anal three spines and eleven or twelve soft rays ; the caudal fin, which is slightly lunate, has seventeen soft rays. There may, perhaps, be two distinct varieties of this fish. It hai? been taken in the waters of Western New York, in the Wabash in Indiana, and abundantly in Carolina, where it attains to the length of two feet, and is considered an excellent fish, passing, as well af< another fish of the same family, the Carolina Weak-fish, Otolithus Carolinensisj under the misnomer of Trout. I am inclined to believe that this fish is also known as the Welchman in the inland waters of North Carolina. It is also the Salmon of the Susquehannah. Before passing on to the next species I will observe that I consider the proper classical name of the Black Bass of the St. Lawrence deci- dedly to be Gristes — the genus Huro not having been by any means satisfactorily defined. For that of Centrarchus is distinguished by having many spinous rays to the ventral fin, while the genus Gristes has but three, Perca two, and Lucioperca only one — this affording a broad and clear distinction, and being that on which Agassiz founds the subgenus in question. 198 AMERICAN FISHE^. ACANTHOPTERYOII. PEROID^. i THE KOCK BASS. ' FRESH WATER BASS. ' Centrarchua Mneua ; Cuvier. This is another delicate and game fish, which, originally peculiar to the basin of the St. Lawrence, has made its way through the canals into the upper waters of the Hudson and the anastomosing streams. It is abundant in the great lakes, and Lake Champlain. It, like the Black Bass, is a bold biter, taking a small fish dead or alive very freely, but preferring to all other baits the Cray-fish, Asta-- cu$ Bartoni. The general color of this fish is a dark coppery bronze above, with green reflections, the head above dark green, gill-covers metallic green, with a dark spot on the posterior margin of the operculum. The sides golden copper, with several rows of oblong dark spots below the lateral line. The fins bluish green. The body is compressed, short and broad. The dorsal outline gib- bous ; the lataral line following the curve of the back. Head large, / \^ fSRCIDJE 199 \ with a concave outline. Gill-covers scaly ; the operculum with rudi- ments of a double angle on the posterior margin ; lower jaw somewhat the longest. Teeth small, conical, recurved, on the maxillarics, inter- maxillaries, vomer) palatines and pharyngeals. The dorsal fin has eleven spinous and twelve soft rays ; the pecto- rals fourteen rays ; the ventrals one weak spine and five branched rays; the anal, six spinous and eleven soft rays; the caudal with rounded tips has seventeen rays. The Rock Bass is excellent eating, and gives good sport to tiie angler, though it never attains to the size of the Black Bass, rarely exceeding a pound or a pound and a half, and consequently being far less difiicult to take. This fish, as well as the Black Bass and others of the family, might be transplanted with great ease into inland waters ; and as they are hardy, and defended from all enemies by their sharp and spiny fins would be sure to thrive, and would prove delicious additions to our lacustrine species of fi.she5. •"J mn^mmfmm 200 AMERICAN FISHES. ACANTHOPTERYGII. PEROID^ ji&/S/'. THE COMMON POND FISH. FRESH WATER SUN FISH Pomotia Vulgaris. — Cuvier. Th:s beautiful little fish has gained its provincial name from the ixtreme brilliancy of its colors when disporting itself in the sunshine The numerous spots on its body have procured for it the absurd name )f Pumpkin-seed in many States, and in Massachusetts it is known as Bream. It is valueless as an article of food, and equally so as ^« bait fish, its acute spines deterring any fish from seizing it. It is, however, a constant object of pursuit to boy and lady angleis. It has very many varieties, and a wide geographical range, being found from Lake Huron, through all the Eastern States, and along the Atlantic coast so far south as Carolina. Its color is greenish olive above, with irregular points of red and broader yellow or reddish brow:i spots disposed in Vi>ry irregular lines Ranges of brighter spots on the bluish operculam, and on the hindei prolongation of the operculum a black spot with a bright scarlet margin. Its body is much compressed, very broad, oval. Scales large and even. Forehead sloping ^o the snout. Lateral line concurrent with PERCIUA 201 the back. Eyen large, circular near the facial outline. Nostrilf double ; mouth small, with very minute thicknset teeth on the maxil<- laries, palatines and vomer. its dorsal fin has ten spinous and twelve soft rays, pectorals twelvo soft, ventrals one spine and five soft rays, anal three spinous and five soft, caudal seventeen soft rays. There is another weli-dofinsd species, the Black-eared Pond-fish, P(m. 'is idixy which is disti'-'"ii*«>he«'i by a largo lobe-like black proiv._gatiou .. the upper postcrioi agie of the operculum. 14 209 AMERICAN FISHES. ACANTHOPTERYGII. BCIENID^. THE LAKE SHEEP'S-HEAD. Corvina Oacula ; Cuvier. This is a very common fish in Lake Erie, and also below the Falls of Niagara, wliere it is readily taken with the hook, though it is in very small repute for its edible qualities, being commonly reported to be dry, lean and tasteless. It is in fact very rarely eaten. Its color is bluish gray on the back, darker on the abdomen and the snout. Abdomen and chin grayish white. In shape it considerably resembles the preceding genera, Griste* and CentrarcAuSy having a gibbous dorsal outline, and arched profile, the lateral line being also, as in these, concurrent with the curve of the back. The eyes are large, round and prominent, situated close to the facial outline. The teeth in the jaws are small, conic, and sharp, but the palate and pharyngeals are paved with large rounded solid teeth, well adapted for crushing its hard and shelly prey, such as the fresh- water clams and muscles, cyclas and paludina which constitute its principal subsistence. The dorsal fin has nine spinous rays, the second dorsal one spinous and twenty-eight soft rays, the pectorals nineteen soft rays, the ventrals one spinous and five soft, the anal two spinous and eight soft, the caudal, seventeen rays. Its air bladder is very large and simple. This fish, if 1 am not greatly in error, is very frequently confounded on the lakes in the vicinity of Buffalo with the Gristes Nigricans^ under the name of Oswego Bass* and in fact, though of a diff'erent family, Scienidce^ does bear something of general resemblance to that species. It is also found in many of the small inland lakes throughout the country. ' * It is more probable, however, that there is no true distinction between the Black and Oswego Bass, save in the difference of condition 1* % SCIENIDA. 2U3 AOANTHOPTEBYQIl SCIENID^ THE MALASHEGANAY. Corvina Richardaonii ; Cay'mt This, like the species la&t named, is an inhabitant of the upper lakes, though it is not found below Lake Erie. In Lake Huron it is known as the Sheep^s-heady and in the vicinity of Buffalo as the Black SAeep^s-hend. It affords very prood sport to the angler, and unlike its congener last described, is highly prized as one of the most delicious of the lake fishes. Its color is greenish gray, banded with dusky or blackish bars over the back, its sides are silvery, its belly yellowish. In form it closely resembles the Corvina Oscula, but its forehead descends in a more vertical angle to the mouth. The under jaw is somewhat the longer. The mouth is cleft back as far as to the middle of the eye, which is large and round. The teeth are very numerous and very small. The operculum has two lobes behind. The first dorsal fin has nine spinous rays, the second one spine and eighteen soft rays, the pectorals have fifteen soft rays, the ventrals one spine and seven soft rays, the anal one spine and seven soft rays, the caudal seventeen soft branched rays. There is yet another species of this family, the Corvina Griseaj known familiarly as the White Pearch of the Ohio, which is found in the waters of that noble river, but it is of little importance either to the angler or the epicure, and merits not a more particular descrip- tion. With this fish ends the list of those fresh-water fishes of the United States and British Provinces, which by the most liberal courtesy may be called game or sporting fishes. Hence I proceed to the shoal-water sea fishes of the same division, AearUhopterygii, and thence, and lastly, to the deep-sea fish of the order Sub-brachial Malacopterygii. WBWf gU I WI«. ' UMiJiaUMiWH-lw awr i- -< «1^>jlUi H 'M4 AMERICAN FISHES. SHOAL-WATER FISHES. 11 Ha VI NO now come to the conclusion of that, by far the most impor- tant, portion of my subject which relates to the fresh-water fishes, including those anadromous or migratory species which, although they make their abode during a part of the year at least in salt water, arc taken in sporting style in rivers and estuaries only, I shall proceed to devote a few pages only to these sea fish ; all of the division Acanthop- terygii, and all of five families, Percidce, ScienidtBy SparidcCj Scombri- da^ and Labrida^ which are taken in shoal waters at the mouths of large rivers, in bays and estuaries, and which not only afford much sport to the angler at particular seasons of the year, but furnish a delicious article of food. These are the Sea Bass, or Black Sea Bass, Centropristes Ni gr leans. The Lafayette, Leiostomus Obliquus. ' - The Weak-Fish, Otolithus Regalis. The KiNQ-FisH, Umbriim Nebulosa. The Silvery Corvina, Corvina Argyrolmca. " ^ ': The Branded Corvina, CorviTKi Oce/^ato. » : ': • The Big Drum, Pogonias Chromis. ■ The Sheep's-head, Sargus Ovis. ■ , / The Porgee, Pagrus Argyrops. The Blue-Fish, Temnodon Saltator. ' The Tautoo — Black-Fish — Tautoga Americana. W K SCIENIDA. 305 ACANTHOPTERYOIl. SCIENIDiE. THE SEA BASS. BLACK SEA BASS. Ceniroprittea Nigricant ! CuTier. ' • This is an excellent fish, and a very general favorite on the table It is with us a summer fish of passage, in the Northern States I mean, appearing on the coasts of New York during tue months of May, Juno and July, in which it is frequent in the markets, and readily taken with the baited hook. Its geographical range is very wide, extending from the coasts of Florida to Cape Cod, on the shores of Massachusetts ; abundant in the vicinity of Martha ^s Vineyard, it is rare in Boston bay. Properly a southern species, though it visits the waters of the Eastern States in summer, it invariably returns to the eastward in autumn. With the wonted stupid perversity of their order, the fishermen of our coasts have confounded it, by means of absurd misnomers, with two entirely different species, the Blue Fisii, Temnodon Saltatory and the Black Fish or Tautoo, Tautoga Americana^ calling it com- monly by both these appellations. The color of the Sea Bass is a general blue black, sometimes more or less slightly bronzed, the edges of every scale are much darker than the prevailing color, which gives the character of a black net- work on a bluish ground to the whole surface of the fish. The fins, excepting the pectoral, are pale blue ; the dorsal and anal more or less distinctly spotted with a darker shade of the same color. The body is oblong and compressed ; the scales are of an oblong form, covering the opercula and extending high up on the dorsal ; the preopereulum is distinctly toothed along its entire margin, the oper- culiun has c large spine on it, and another above ; the teeth are like velvet pile on all the bones, those on the outer edges of the jaws the largest. -1miU.:Kt^M.^4\ 909 ▲ M£1IICAN ri«HE«. Th« dorial flu hu ton low epinoui, and eleven much more elertted aofi ny»f the pectorali haye eighteen soft rays, the yentrala one •pine and five soft rays, the anal three spinei and seven aoft rays, the oaadal trilobed, ooniiiBting of eighteen soft rays. Thin fine fiah is known by a great number of provincial titles ; among others Dr. DeKay mentions the trivial names of Black Harry and IlanahiUi. It iff a bold and free biter, and is one of the principal objects of pnrsnit by those who join in steamboat excursions to what are called the sea banks, off the port of New York, in the process of whiol tbsy are often taken in considerable numbers. JOIBNIOJC. 907 ACAMTItOrTCRYGIL ■CI£NlDif: THE LAFAYETTE SEA CHUB. L«io$tomua OhUquuti Laoepede. This is a beautiful and exquisite! -flavored little f«h, which pro- perly belongs to the southern waters, being very cr niraon on the coasts of Florida, where it is much prized both nr- a s^^crting fish and as a delicacy. New York is probably its northern limit, and in th> New York waters it is a rare visitant, though it appears at times i ; extraordinary abundance. One of tde seasons of its most remarkable ^req'icncy happening to be simultaneous with the visit of Lafayette to America, it thus obtained its common name by general consent, it never having been observed previous to that date, and so taken for a new fish, though it had in truth been defined long before by Dr. Mitohil, who designated it Mugil Obliquus. Its color is grayish white, with fifteen or sixteen darker gray bars, more or less, pointing obliquely forward, those nearer the tail more verti' '■-_ AND THE BANDED DRUM. Pogoniaa Faaciatua ; Lacepede. Both of these fish are so constantly and commonly taken by the bait fisher in shoal salt water that it would hardly be proper to omit all mention of them in a work of this nature, although except the great size and difficulty of landing the former, and the rapid biting of the latter variety — if they be indeed distinct species, which I think Dr. DeKay has satisfactorily established them to be — they have little or nothing to recommend them. The geographical range of both these fishes is from Florida to New York, their northern and southern limits being identical. They have both deep compressed bodies, large eyes, lateral lines parallel to the dorsal outline, numerous teeth in card-like bands on the jaws, and the pharyngeals furnished with large hard grinders. They have both double dorsals, the former with nine, the latter with ten spines in the first — both with one spine and twenty-two soft rays in the second. Pectorals, respectively, eighteen and twenty ; ventrals of both, one spine and five soft rays ; anals, respectively, two spines, seven soft rays, and two spines, five soft rays ; caudals seventeen, and fifteen branched rays. The large fish is of a brownish bronze color, rather lighter below, with a strongly marked spot behind the pectorals ; scales silvery at the outer edges. The smaller fish is nearly of the same color, chocolate brown, or bronze intermixed with silver, but marked with four dusky bands, one coming down to the pectorals, the second crossing the first dorsal, and ■ llllllMlH 214 AMERICAN FISHES. the last two crossing the second dorsal. The pectoral fins arc yellow ish, the others dusky brown. The smaller fish has been by some persons s "pposed to be the young of the larger species, but this is, in my opinion, satisfactorily contro- verted by Dr. DeKay, who has seen them in September six inches long with all the characteristics of the adult. It is known by various popular names, as the Grunter^ Young Drum, and Young Sheeps-head, but is a fish of very small estimation. The larger species is rarely taken of less than three feet in length) and fifteen or eighteen inches in depth ; they weigh from twenty to eighty pounds, and although the large fish are very coarse, the young are considered by some persons delicate eating. They rarely go north of New York, but very rarely visit the coasts of Massachu-^etts. / • n. «... -\-_ SPARIDJB. 216 AGANTHOPTERYOIl. gPARID^ THE SHEEP'S-HEAD. Sargua Oeis; Auctorum. This fine and delicate fish must on no account be confounded wit!: the fresh-water Corvina^ ^vo of which pass by the same synonynie in the vernacular, and are peculiar to the great lakes. This is, on tho contrary, a purely salt-water species, never ascending rivers, although it enters all the shallow bays on the coast, so far as Cape Cod. It is a southern fish in its natural state, although during the heat of the summer it wanders to the northward, where it is taken along the shores from June to October. Its southern limit is the Mississippi, and the coasts of Florida and the Carolinas are its breeding-grounds. As a delicacy, it holds " the same rank with American gastrono- mers," says Dr. DeKay, " that the Turbot holds in Europe. I have frequently eaten of both, under equally favorable circumstances, that is to say, within an hour after being taken out of the water, and can assert that the Sheep's-Head is the more delicate and savory fish. The Turbot, I may here state — though I have heard the contrary frequently asserted — does not occur on the shores of America." I have quoted the above remarks for two reasons, first because I desire to register my assertion as against Dr. DeKay's, although such things are, after all, merely matters of opinion, that the Shecp's-Hcad, though a delicious fish, is not more delicate — savory neither of them are — than the Turbot, and that it is immeasurably inferior to it in lacking what constitutes the Turbot's chief excellence, the admirable gelatinous fins, which have been famous the world over from the time of Domitian and Heliogabalus, arch epicures of old, to the palmy days of Ude and Carenne. „ Secondly, I beg leave to state positively, that although the Turbot of Europe does not exist on the shores of America, a Turbot, and a very admirable fish too, as far superior to the Halibut as one fish can well be to another, does exist, and is constantly taken on the shores of Mas- 216 AMERICAN FISHES. sachusctts, although, like many other excellent species, it is strangely undorvalusd. But to return to the Sheep 's-Head : it is a timid and wary fish, very difficult to hook, and when hooked a fierce and hold hattler, exceeding difficult to land, and making a more desperate resistance than infinitely larger species. It is considered the greatest achieve- ment of the salt-water fisherman to master this king of the seas. It is occasionally taken up to seventeen pounds, though seven or eight pounds may he considered the average of largf ^-^b, hut like many, I might say most fishes, the smaller and middle-sized run may be generally set down as the most choice. The Sheep's-Head has a deep compressed body, a head sloping abruptly to the snout, and equally so to the chin and throat. Scales large and oblong, smaller on the gill-covers and throat ; the lateral line is parallel to the dorsal outline ; the preoperculum is broadly rounded, the operculum emarginate. In front of each jaw it has several large quadrilateral cutting teeth, and inside of these, both above and below, as well as on the pharyngeals, are many series of large-paved grinders. Its dorsal fin has twelve spinous and eleven soft rays, its pectorals fifteen soft, ventrals one spinous and five soft, its anal three spinous and ten soft, and its caudal seventeen soft rays. In color it is of a dull silver, with coppery gleams on the back, with five slightly arched bands of a darker color crossing the back and tail. The irides are brown, the pupils black, girdled with a golden ring. The fins are all deep brown or blackish ; the head and forehead black, with golden green refiections ; the chin marked with smutty, patches, from some fancied resemblance of which to a Moorland sheep's face, its trivial name is derived. Note to Revised Edition. — Since writing the above, I learn from the correspou' dent of n paper, writing hostilely, that the Sheep's-Head ranges even south of the MissiBsippi. I used the best authority I could coininauu, iiol Iiavkii^ visiied that country. I now gladly avail myself of his matter, though " I detest his manner." / SPA RID A. 317 ACANTHOPTERYOn. SPARID^. THE BIG PORGEE. Pagrua Argyropt ; Cuvier. This is a good and a handsome fish, and would be more valued if less common. It is a bold and free biter, and affords great sport to the salt-water angler, being, with the Sea Bass, the principal object of pursuit to those who affect steamboat excursions to the fishing banks. Its geographical range is from Charleston southward, to Cape Cod on the north, beyond which it has been found impossible to natu- ralize them. The color of the Porgee is a deep brownish black on the head and back, with green and golden reflections, especially about the neck and sides, which are silvery, with brazen gleams. A black spot marks the upper corner of the gill-cover crossing the lateral line, and there is another of the same kind at the base of the pectoral fin. The dorsal, anal and caudal fins are brown, the ventrals bluish, the pectorals light yellow. The body of this fish is much compressed, with a gibbous outline, nearly half as deep as it is broad ; the face arched ; the scales are large, and the lateral line corresponds with the curve of the back. , The jaws are largely furnished, as well as the pharyngeals, with alternating series of acute and paved teeth. The dorsal fin is com- pound, with one stout and twelve feeble spines, and twelve soft rays ; the pectorals are unusually long, with sixteen soft rays ; the ventrals have one spine and five soft, the anal three spines and eleven soft, and the caudal S3venteen soft rays. There are two smaller fish of the same family, one well known to all fishermen, especially on the Long Island shores, as the Sand Porgee, Sargus Arenosus ; and another far less common, described by Cuvier and others as the Rhomboidal Porgee, Sargus BAom- boides, which, though very similar to the Big Porgee, are clearly dintinct. 16 218 AMERICAN FISHES ACANTHOPTERYOn. SCOMBRIO^ •■!; I' THE BLUE-FISH. HORSE MACKEREL, GREEN-FISH, IN VIRGINIA ; SKIPJACK, IN CAROLINA ; SNAPPING MACKEREL. Temnodon Saltator ; Cuvior. A BOLD, fierce, :tud well-known fish t^'«, greatly sought after, and affording fine sport to the fisherman, and right-royally good to cat when quite fresh out of the water, split in two down the back, nailed upon a shingle, and roasted before a quick fire. It is a singularly erratic fish, sometimes swarming on the coasts, and again almost entirely disappearing. It occasionally runs far up rivers, and wc^ taken in the Hudson, so high up as the Highlands, in great quantities in the year 1841. It appears to have been entirely unknown on the coasts of New York before the year 1810, since which it has been, on the whole, gradually on the increase, while in like propor- tion its victims, the Weak-Fish and King-Fish, appear to be dying out. The Blue Fish is said occasionally to reach the weight of thirty-five pounds, but the average run is from three to eight. They generally frequent the coasts of New York from l\Iay until late in the autumn. Their geographical range is very wide, from Brazil to Massachusetts on the coasts of America, from New Holland to Madagascar, and from Amboyna to Egypt. The young fish abound in the mouths of our rivers from four to six inches in length, and even then they .will take the bait with avidity. The ordinary mode of catching this fine fish is with what is tochni- cally termed a squid, or piece of bright bone or metal, hurled out from the stern of a sailing boat, going with what is known as a " mack- erel breeze " in a sea-way, and drawn rapidly home by hand. There are many worse kinds of sport than this ; the swift motion of the vessel, the dashing spray, and the rapid biting of the fish, com- bining to create a highly pleasurable excitement. SCOMORIDiK. 219 Tho color of this fish is a light bluish gray, with deeper tints on the back, and greenish reflections on the sides, becoming silvery on the belly. The pectorals, dorsal and caudal fins greenish brown, the vcu- trals and anul bluish white. The body is oblong, cylindrical, compressed and slender, the facial outline gently sloping, the scales, which cover the whole body, the head, gill-covers, and much of the fins are of moderate size and oblong oval form. The lower jaw is longest, both maxillaries are well armed with sharp lancet-formed teeth ; the palatines, vomer and base of tongue banded with card-like patches of teeth. The operculum terminates in two indistinct flat points. The first dorsal fin is composed of seven weak spinous ray.s, the second of one short and twenty-five longer flexible rays. The pecto- rals have seventeen soft, the ventrals one spine and five soft, the anals one spine and twenty-seven soft, and the caudal nineteen flexible rays. Of the same family with the above are the well-known Spring Mack- erel, Scomber Vernalis, of Mitchil, and Fall Mackerel, Scomber Gre.r.. of the same author, as also the Spanish Mackerel, Scomber Colias, all of which species are excellent eating, and give good sport in the bays and inlets. They are, however, so common that they are rarely pur- sued for the sport, or taken except as an article of food and coramerce. I therefore pass them without farther notice than this mere cursory mention 1130 AMERICAN riBHEt. ACANTIIOPTERYail. LABRID^C. THE TAUTOG. The Dlank-Fiih of New Yot\ir-Tautoffa Americana ; DeKay. This, liko all tho fishes last described, is rather a general favorite among both sportsmen and epicures, though I confess my own opinion to be that he is generally overrated in both capacities. As a game finh ho is a dead, loggy, heavy puller on the hook, ofi'ering little resist- , (inc'c beyond the via inertire and dead weight, and on tho table his excel- l(;nco depends mainly on the cook. The color of the Black-Fish is indicated by his name, but varies con- Nidornbly from deep dull black to glossy blue black with metallic .'cflat, and hocoino naturalized. SALMON FISHING. 23A SALMON FISHING. Of all the piscatory sports, this is the first and finest ; and although it cannot now be pursued by the American angler except at the expense of some not inconsiderable time and trouble, still there is no land on earth in which it exists in such perfection as in this. Time was, when every river eastward of the Capes of the Dela- ware swarmed with this noble fish, but, year after year, like the red Indian, they have passed farther and farther from the sphere of the encroaching white man's boasted civilization, and perhaps will also ere long be lost from the natural world of this era. The Kennebec is now the western limit of the Salmon's range, and in that bright and limpid river he is yearly waxing loss and less frequent In the Penobscot, even to this day, he abounds ; but for some singular and inexplicable reason, whether it be from the sawdusty turbidness of its lower water?- or from some especial habit of the fish, he is rarely or never knowri to take the bait or the fly, within very many miles of the mouth of 'hid grand and impetuous stream. Far up the northern anc! li > -thwestern branches of the river it is speared constantly by the Penobscot Indians ; but the white residents of that wild region, lurrhcrnien for tliO most part, and sparse agricul- tural settlers, are guiltless of the ait of fly-fishing — the only method, by-the-way, except the use of roe-bait, whereof more anon, by which much success can be expected or obtained. To the sportsman, that great track of granJly-timbered and superb- ly-watered wilderness, which yet lies virgin almost and unbroken, from within a few leagues of the ocean to the groat St. Lawrence, and from the Upper Kennebec to the Aroostook and St. John's, is yet well nigh ter7-a incognita. Yet well would it repay the fisherman or the hunter, to pack his traps in the smallest compass, and set forth with rifle, shot-gun, and 226 AMERICAN FISHES. long Salinon-rod, via Augusta, Norridgewock, and the magnificent gorges of the Kennebec, for that land of the Moose, the Deer, the Trout, and the lordly Salmon, there to encamp for days or weeks, as his taste for excitement and his manly hardihood should dictate, floating by day in the birch-bark canoe over the bright transparent waters, sleeping by night on the fragrant and elastic shoots of the green hem- lock, winning his food from the waters and the wilds by his own skill and daring, and earning the appetite whereby to enjoy it, by the toil which is to him a pleasure. Such in fact is at present the only mode by which the angler can enjoy truly fine Salmon fishing, unless indeed he be a man of such liberally endowed leisure that he can fit his own yacht, and visiting the estuaries of those Salmon-freighted rivers, which, from the St. John's, round all the eastern and northeastern shores of New Bruns- wick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward's Island, to the vast mouth of the St. Lawrence, and up that splendid river and its great northern tributaries, the Mingan and the Saguenay, so far almost as the heights of Cape Diamond, oflFer the largest temptations to the adventurous angler. Within a few years, indeed, the rivers close around Quebec, the Montmorenci, the Chaudicre, and the Jacques Cartier, abounded with Salmon ; and a di-ivo of a few hours in the morning from the Plains of Abraham, set the fisherman on waters where he could confidently count on filling his creel, even to overflowing, before night-fall ; but latterly these streams have failed almost entirely, and a sail of many miles down the St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Saguenay or the lordship of Mingan, has now become necessary to ensure good sport. In the upper province of Canada, although Salmon run up the river into Lake Ontario, and frequent many of the streams falling into it from the northern shore, as the Credit and others, they are very rarely fished for or taken with the fiy, and it is said confidently that in the lake itself they will not take the fly under any circumstances. Within my own recollection, Salmon w.,re wont to run up the Oswego, and so find their way into all the lesser lakes of the State of New York ; but the dams on the river, erected, I believe, in order to the construction of the canal, have completely shut them out from these waters. I may here observe that it is very greatly to be deplored p / SALMON FISIU.NG. '2'ri 'iliac, ^5 is conipitllf J by law ia the Scottish juul Irish Salui<)n rivers, . II Miiall aperture is not left lu Iho rivoiH and dams, if tboy ho above twelve feet in hoisjlit, hy whieli the fish may iiscenH to the cool uiiu giavt'lly lieud-wat(rir, in which they dcpusit tln.ir ,sp:iwu. Such ui ap; rluic or viui-wii'), whirb hL>(!(l not b'.; of more than two or tlirec fcfit squar' , hmhiIJ not t>ocusiou auy iuat'.rial Musto of watov in livers of tl-aj vast volume and r?,pidily v»hjch are charactoiistic of all ihc American Siilieon rivvfy. vt:d, th»^'-.\^brc, would delract notljiug from 'ho Ttilify of ihe workf , vsijile, by ^'.ai^.Tinir tliiy lo >-t valnaiib; fiah to asocnd the course, a.r-'. fo r.) p.-opa^at*^ vh -.p»MM(»», it, wouid i-nstuo t/) the inbaldtants of tlio »<d. aud A.^roato anew an impurtant aniclo- of ..ornjafr?***-.. It Is .singidar that the Saliuon of the ]sik>'«^ >.-«p,i'r kiwf the great Catir.dian river, to the extreme arctic I'ecions, th;' Salmon is found in vast nunihors, und, togeth'.-r with the White-Firth, or Attihawni-'g, the delicious Aretic Grayiinp;, Baek's Charv, and th« Coiumotj Trout, afford their jnioeipal iubaistence. to the K^quimaus, and to the advt-uturous fur-trad'T-f. wh<>i»« pu::t.? ar'> d',st' inh'-spitabl.! countries. Ajiiaia, tbroughiiiu ■.ijk&^httlt.i of ihut bnsre territory lately vmrj v: !;1h? -iWi'rdV point, by ^h% ^-ustn, rnerji'- of yoouj; Anieriea. ft'^w '* ' • •rt^ncvatc eiiiidroii ■ f >A>i Sj; -ivii, 'iirou'i^lioui the ilritisli p-Ng.-.'!!. > %>' •■-■'■ -vyii ill tjiofio b?) northorn «hoi<'s whici» th.- Ri!»'sii>n Iv l-^.* ''^4.;, a*k itm^ '^mt ^" SALMON FISHING. 227 that, as is coropullcd by law in the Scottish and Irish Salmon rivers, a small aperture is not left in the rivers and dams, if they be above twelve feet in height, by which the fish may ascend to the cool and gravelly head-waters, in which they deposit their spawn. Such an aperture or run-way, which need not be of more than two or three feet square, would not occasion any material waste of water in rivers of the vast volume and rapidity which are characteristic of all the American Salmon rivers, and, therefore, would detract nothing from the utility of the works, wh le, by suffering this most valuable fish to ascend the course, and so to ^^ opagatc its species, it would ensure to the inhabitants of the inland shores a delicious variety of food, and create anew an important article of commerce. It is singular that the Salmon of the lakes are never known to enter the Niagara river, although they are constantly taken at its mouth. They might ascend it some sixteen or seventeen miles, to the foot of the Falls, but I believe it to be a fact that none have ever been taken within the stream. The cause of this is probably to be found in the great depth of the Niagara river, in its abrupt and wall-like shores, and in the total absence of gravel beds, or pebbly shoals of any kind, on which they can deposit their ova. Again, I am not aware that Salmon are ever taken in the Black river, the Rackett river, or any other of the fine streams, all abound- ing with the finest Brook Trout, which make their way from the romantic region of the Adirondach lakes and highlands, to the north- ward, into the basin of the St. Lawrence. Everywhere to the northward of the great Canadian river, to the extreme arctic regions, the Salmon is found in vast numbers, and, together with the White-Fish, or Attihawmeg, the delicious Arctic Grayling, Back's Charr, and the Common Trout, afford their principal subsistence to the Esquimaux, and to the adventurous fur-traders, whose posts are dotted down, hundreds of leagues apart, throughout those inhospitable countries. Again, throughout the whole of that huge territory lately won at the sword's point, by the Saxon energy of young America, from the degenerate children of old Spain, throughout the British possessions, and even in those tar northern shores which the Russian holds upon < •■^•v 228 AMERICAN FISHES. this western continent, the estuaries and courses of those waters which pour into the Pacific, can boast not only the true Sahnon, but many fine, distinct varictios. Many years will not probably elur ' ^, taking into consideration the incessant stream of immigration which is almost overflowing Northern California, and remembering the restloK^, enter- prising cnerp> of the Anglo-American race, before railroads, even to the Pacific, across the western prairies, and through the orges of the Rocky Mountains, will open this new world to the adventurous angler, and the dwellers of the Atlantic cities will make their trips to the Salmon rivers of the Pacific with less trouble, and in less time, than it took their sturdy Dutch forefathers to visit Albany, now reached with ease in a few hours. For the present, however, it is needless to discourse of those west- ern waters, since time must pass before any species of game will be pursued for sport on the shores of the Pacific, or killed except to afford subsistence to a population occupied wholly by the greedy race for ricLes. To the fisherman, therefore, the Eastern States and the north-eastern British provinces afford the only accessible Salmon fish- ing ; and I should strongly urge it upon those who are enthusiastic about this fine sport, not to waste time even in the Kennebec or the Punobsoot, but Ifi pack up their tra^s at any time between May and September, and set forth at once for the city of St. John? in New Brunswick. This town, which might be styled not inaptly the paradise of Ame- rican fly-fishers, may be reached with ease in a fev days via Boston, whence, if I am not mistaken, a stout and well-found steamer, the Admiral, takes her departure every Wednesday for New Brunswick. In St. John every requisite for the prosecution of the sport can be obtained, every information concerning the vast waters, and every facility for the procurement of guides, boats and the like will be gladly furnished, and every thing that hospitality can effect will be lavishly offered to the gentle angler. I venture here to mention the name of an enthusiastic and thorough fisherman, Mr. Perley, Her Majesty's emigration oflScer in the city of St. John, as one certain to do whatever in his power lies to forward the views and promote the pleasure of any who shall visit his part, of the world, led by the love of the gentle science ; and I take the same SALMON Fr Sill NO. 229 V rd le \\ opportunity of thanking him for the very viiluabl(> iiiformatinn ho h&n affordjd mo concornin:,' tho fij.: • lotto now in course iblication in C aham's cxccdlont maga/lnc, entitled Jasper St, Aui I do this not egotistically, nor altogether to save time and troub. out rather because it contains as correct an account of tho modo to be pursued in casting for the Salmon, hooking, playing and killing him in an English river, as I am capable of writing ; and bocauso the variety of the narrative stylo may possibly prove a relief to tho reader, after tho drier routine of more didactic writing. It is scarcely, perhaps, necessary to add that the mode of fishing for the Salmon in England and America are identical, the tackle and im- plements the same, and the same flies the most killing in all waters, of which singular fact, and other matters connected with which, I shall say more hereafter. Nor, I presume, need I apologise to my reader for the slight anachronism which has attributed to an ideal personage sup- posed to live in the age of the Second James all the modern improve- ments and advantages possessed by the angl-^is of the present day, and all the skill and science which were certainly not to be found at that time in any Salmon-fisher, not excepting even good quaint Father Izaak, whoso maxims on Salmon-fishing, and indeed on fly-fishing in general, savor far more of antiquity than of utility. " It was as fair a morning of July as ever dawned in the blue sum- mer sky ; the sun as yet had risen but a little way above the waves of fresh green foliage which formed the horizon of the woodland scenery surrounding Widecomb Manor; and his heat, which promised ere mid-day to become excessive, was tempered now by the exhalations of the copious night-dews, and by the cool breath of the western breeze, ^, ^w^ '^%.^. ^. > :> '^'!.^/ ^^^ ^ '/ /j!^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I lASlM |2.5 |50 *^™ nRflB 1^ ^ 12.2 ^ 1^ 112.0 11.25 WUI- U 1^ Kiotographic Sciences Corporation i % 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4S03 N 230 AMERICAN FISHES. which came down through the leafy gorges, in long, soft swells from the open moorlands. "All nature was alive and joyous; the air was vocal with the piping melody of the blackbirds and thrushes, caroling in every brake and bosky dingle ; the smooth, green lawn before the windows of the old Hall was peopled with whole tribes of fat, lazy hares, limping about among the dewy herbage, fearless, as it would seem, of man's aggres- sion ; and to complete the picture, above a score of splendid peacocks were strutting to and fro on the paved terraces, or perched upon the carved stone balustrades, displaying their gorgeous plumage to the early sunshine. " The shadowy mists of the first morning twilight had not been dis- persed from the lower regions, and were suspended still in the middle air in broad fleecy masses, though melting rapidly away in the increas- ing warmth and brightness of the day. " And still a faint blue line hovered over the bed of the long rocky gorge, which divided the chase from the open country, floating about it like the steam of a seething caldron, and rising here and there into tall smoke-like columns, probably where some steeper cataract of the mountain-stream sent its foam skyward. " So early, indeed, was the hour, that had my tale been recited of these degenerate days, there would have been no gentle eyes awake to look upon the loveliness of new-awakened nature. " In the good days of old, however, when daylight was still deemed to be the fitting time for labor and for pastime, and night the appointed time for natural and healthful sleep, the dawn was wont to brighten beheld by other eyes than those of clowns and milkmaids, and the gay songs of the matutinal birds were listened to by ears that could appre- ciate their untaught melodies. " And now, just as the stable clock was striking four, the great oaken door of the old Hall was thrown open with a vigorous swing that made it rattle on its hinges, and Jasper St. Aubyn came bounding out into the fresh morning air, with a foot as elastic as that of the moun^ tain roe, singing a snatch of some quaint old ballad. " He was dressed simply in a close-fitting jacket and tight hose of dark-green cloth, without any lace or embroidery, light boots of uu- tanned leather, and a broad-leafed hat, with a single eagle's feather SALMON riSUIIfO. 231 thrust carelessly through the band. He wore neither cloak nor sword, though it was a period at which gentlemen rarely went abroad without these, their distinctive attributes ; but in the broad black belt which girt his rounded waist he carried a stout wood-knife with a buckhorn hilt ; and over his shoulder there swung from a leathern thong a large wicker fishing-basket. " Nothing, indeed, could be simpler or less indicative of any parti- cular rank or station in society than young St. Aubyn's garb, yet it would have been a very dull and unobservant eye which should take him for aught less than a high-born and high-bred gentleman. **His fine intellectual face, his bearing erect before heaven, the graceful ease of hb every motion, as ho hurried down the flagged stops of the terrace, and planted his light foot on the dewy greensward, all betokened gentle birth and gentle associations. " But he thought nothing of himself, nor cared for his advantages, acquired or natural. The long and heavy salmon-rod which he carried in his right hand, in three pieces as yet unconnected, did not more clearly indicate his purpose than the quick marking glance which he cast toward the half-veiled sun and hazy sky, scanning the signs of the weather. " ' It will do, it will do,' he said to himself, thinking as it were aloud, 'for three or four hours at least ; the sun will not shake off those vapors before eight o'clock at the earliest, and if he do come out then hot and strong, I do not know but the water is dark enough after the late rains to serve my turn a while longer. It will blow up, too, I think, from the westward, and there will be a brisk curl on the pools. But come, I must be moving, if I would reach Darringford to breakfast.' " And as he spoke he strode out rapidly across the park toward the deep chasm of the stream, crushing a thousand aromatic perfumes from the dewy wild-flowers with his heedless foot, and thinking Kttle of the beauties of nature, as he hastened to the scene of his loved exercise. " It was not long, accordingly, before he reached the brink of the steep rocky bank above the stream, which he proposed to fish that morning, and paused to select the best place for descending to the water's edge. " It was, indeed, a striking and romantic scene as ever met the eye of painter or of poet. On the farther side of the gorge, scarcely a bun- 232 AMBRICAIC ?I8HES. dred yards distant, the dark limestone rocks rose sheer and precipitous from the very brink of the stream, rifted and broken into angular blocks and tall columnar masses, from the clefts of nrhich, wherever they could find soil enough to support their scanty growth, a few stunted oaks shot out almost horizontally with their gnarled arms and dark-green foliage, and here and there the silvery bark and quivering tresses of the birch relieved the monotony of color by their gay bright- ness. Above, the cliffs were crowned with the beautiful purple hea- ther, now in its very glow of summer bloom, about which were buzzing myriads of wild bees, sipping thoir nectar from its cups of amethyst. " The hither side, though rough and steep and broken, was not in the place where Jasper stood precipitous ; indeed it seemed as if at some distant period a sort of landslip had occurred, by which the summit of the rocky wall had been broken into massive fragments, and hurled down in an inclined plane into the bed of the stream, on which it had encroached with its shattered blocks and rounded boulders. " Time, however, had covered all this abrupt and broken slope with a beautiful growth of oak and hazel coppice, among which, only at dis- tant intervals, could the dun weather-beaten flanks of the great stones bo discovered. " At the base of this descent, a hundred ond fifty feet perhaps below the stand of the young sportsman, flowed the dark arrowy stream — a wild and perilous water. As clear as crystal, yet as dark as the brown cairn-gorm, it came pouring down among the broken rocks with a rapidity and force which showed what must be its fury when swollen by a storm among the mountains, here breaking into wreaths of rip- pling foam where some unseen ledge chafed its current, there roaring and surging white as December's snow among the great round-headed rocks, and there again wheeling in sullen eddies, dark and deceitful, round and round some deep rock-rimmed basin. " Here and there, indeed, it spread out into wide, shallow, rippling rapids,, filling the whole bottom of the ravine from side to side, but more generally it did not occupy above a fourth part of the space below, leaving sometimes on this margin, sometimes on that, broad pebbly banks, or slaty ledges, affording an easy footing and a clear path to the angler in its troubled waters. " After a rapid glance over the well-known scene, Jasper plunged [• / SALMON riSHINO. 233 into the coppice, and following a faint track worn by the feet of the wild-Klecr in the first instance, and widened by his own bolder tread, soon reached the bottom of the chasm, though not until he had flushed from the dense oak covert two noble black cooks with their superb forked tails, and glossy purple-lustered plumage, which soared away, crowing their bold defiance, over the heathery moorlands. " Once at the water's edge, the young man's tackle was speedily made ready, and in a few minutes his long line went whistling through the air, as he wielded the powerful two-handed rod, as easily as if it had been a stripling's reed, and the large gaudy peacock-fly alighted on the wheeling eddies, at the tail of a long arrowy shoot, as gently as if it had settled from too long a flight. Delicately, deftly, it was made to dance and skim the clear, brown surface, until it had crossed the pool and neared the hither bank ; then again, obedient to the pli- ant wrist, it arose on glittering wing, circled half round the angler's head, and was sent fifteen yards aloof, straight as a wild bee's flight, into a little mimic whirlpool, scarce larger than the hat of the skilful fisherman, which spun round and round just to leeward of a gray ledge of limestone. Scarce had it reached its mark before the water broke all around it, and the gay deceit vanished, the heavy swirl of the sur- face, as the break was closing, indicating the great size of the fish which had risen. Just as the swirl was subsiding, and the forked tail of the monarch of the stream was half seen as he descended, that indescri- bable but well-known turn of the angler's wrist, fixed the barbed hook, and taught the scaly victim the nature of the prey he had gorged so heedlessly. " With a wild bound he threw himself three feet out of the water, showing his silver sides, with the sea-lice yet clinging to his scales, a fresh sea-run fish of fifteen, ay, eighteen pounds, and perhaps over. " On his broad back he strikes the water, but not as he meant the tightened line ; for as he leaped the practised hand had lowered the rod's tip, that it fell in a loose bight below him. Again ! again ! again ! and yet a fourth time he bounded into the air with desperate and vifforous soubresaults, like an unbroken steed that would dismount his rider, lashing the eddies of the dark stream into bright bubbling streaks, and making the heart of his captor beat high with anticipation 16 234 AMERICAN FISHES. of the desperate struggle that should follow, before the inonstki should lie panting and exhausted on the yellow sand or moist greensward. " Away ! with the rush of an eagle through the air, he is gone like an arrow down the rapids — ^how the reel rings, and the line whistles from the swift working wheel ; he is too swift, too headstrong to he checked as yet ; tenfold the strength of that slender tackle might not control him in his tirst fiery rush. '' But Jasper, although young in years, wfs old in the art, and skilful as the craftiest of the gentle craftsmen. He gives him the butt of his rod steadily, trying the strength of his tackle with a delicate and gentle finger, giving him line at every rush, yet firmly, cautiously, feeling his mouth all the while, and moderating his speed even while he yields to his fury. " Meanwhile, with the eye of intuition and the nerve of iron, he bounds along the difficult shore, he leaps from rock to rock, alighting on their slippery tops with the firm agility of the rope-dancer, he splashes knee-deep through the slippery shallows, keeping his line ever taut, inclining his rod over his shoulder, bearing on his fish ever with a killing pull, steering him clear of every rock or stump against which he would fain smash the tackle, and landing him at length in a fine open roomy pool, at the foot of a long stretch of white and foamy rapids, down which he has just piloted him with the eye of faith, and the foot of instinct. " And now the great Salmon has turned sulky ; like a piece of lead he has sunk to the bottom of the deep black pool, and lies on the gravel bottom in the suUenness of despair. " Jasper stooped, gathered up in his left hand a heavy pebble, and pitched it into the pool, as nearly as he could guess to the whereabout of his game — another — and another ! Aha ! that last has roused him. Again he throws himself clear out of water, and again foiled in his attempt to smash the tackle, dashes away down stream impetuous. " But his strength is departing — the vigor of his rush is broken. The angler gives him the butt abundantly, strains on him with a heavier pull, yet ever yields a little as he exerts his failing powers ; see, his broad, silver side has thrice turned up, even to the surface, and thou'jh each time he has recovered himself, each time it has been with a heavier and more sickly motion. ii SALMON FISHING. 235 *' Bravo fellow ! his last race is run, his last spring sprung — no more shall he disport himself in the hright reaches of the Taniar ; no more shall the Naiads wreathe his clear silver rfcalcs with river-greens and flowery rushes. " The cruel gaff is in his side — his cold hlood stains the eddies for a moment — ho flaps out his death-pang on the hard limestone. " ' Who-whoop ! a nineteen pounder !' " Meantime the morning had worn onward, and ere the great fish was brough to the basket, the sun had soared clear above the mist- wreaths, and had risen so high into the summer heaven that his slant rays poured down into the gorge of the stream, and lighted up the clear depths with a lustre so transparent that every pebble at the bottom might have been discerned, with the large fish here and there floating mid depth, with their heads up stream, their gills working with a quick motion, and their broad tails vibrating at short intervals slowly but powerfully, as they lay motionless in opposition to the very strongest of the swift current. " The breeze had died away, there was no curl upon the water, and the heat was oppressive. ^ " Under such circumstances, to whip the stream was little better than mere loss of time, yet as he hurried with a fleet foot down the gorge, perhaps with some ulterior object, beyond the mere love of sport, Jasper at times cast his fly across the stream, and drew it neatly, and, as he thought, irresistibly, right over the recusant fish ; but though once or twice a large lazy Salmon would sail up slowly from the depths, and almost touch the fly with his nose, he either sunk down slowly in disgust, without breaking the water, or flapped his broad tail over the shining fraud as if to mark his contempt. " It had now got to be near noon, for, in the ardor of his success, the angler had forgotten all about his intended breakfast ; and, his first fish captured, had contented himself with a slender meal furnished from out his fishing-basket and his leathern bottle. " Jasper had traversed by this time some ten miles in length, follow- ing the sinuosities of the stream, and had reached a favorite pool at the head of a long, straight, narrow trench, cut by the waters them- selves in the course of time, through the hard shistous rock which walls 836 AMERICAN FISHES. the torrcp' on each hand, not leaving the slightest ledge or margin between the rapids and the precipice. ^ " Through this wild gorge of some fifty yards in length, the river shoots like an arrow over a steep inclined plane of limestone rock, the surface of which is polished by the action of the water, till it is as slippery as ice, and at the extremity leaps down a sheer descent of some twelve feet into a large, wide basin, surrounded by softly swell- ing banks of greensward, and a fair amphitheatre of woodland. " At the upper end this pool is so deep as to bo vulgarly deemed unfathomable ; below, however, it expands yet wider into a shallow rippling ford, where it is crossed by the high-road, down stream of which again there is another long, sharp rapid, and another fall, over the last steps of the hills ; after which the nature of the stream be- comes changed, and it murmurs gently onward through a green pas- toral country, unrippled and uninterrupted. " Just in the inner angle of the high-road, on the right hand of the stream, there stood an old-fashioned, low-browed, thatch-covered, stone cottage, with a rude portico of rustic woodwork overrun with jasmine and vivgin-bower, and a pretty flower-garden sloping down in successive terraces to the edge of the basin. Beside this, there was no other house in sight, unless it were part of the roof of a mill which stood in the low gi-ound on the brink of the second fall, surrounded with a mass of willows. But the tall steeple of a country church, raising itself heavenward above the brow of the hill, seemed to show that, although concealed by the undulations of the ground, a village was hard at hand. " The morning had changed a second time, a hazy film had crept up to the zenith, and the sun was now covered with a pale golden veil, and a slight current of air down the gorge ruffled the water. '' ,, " It was a capital pool, famous for being the temporary haunt of the very finest fish, which were wont to lie there awhile, as if to recruit themselves after the exertions of leaping the two falls and stemming the double rapid, before attempting to ascend the stream farther. • " Few, however, even of the best and boldest fishermen, cared to wet a line in its waters, in consequence of the supposed impossibility of following a heavy fish through the gorge below, or checking him at the brink of the fall. It is true, that throughout the length of th^ >i-*.J SALMON FISHING. 237 pass, the current was broken bj bare, slippery rooks peering abovo the waters, at intervals, which might be cleared by an active crags- man ; and it had been in fact reconnoitered by Jasper and others in cool blood, but the result of the examination was that it was deemed impassable. *' Thinking, however, little of striking a large fish, and perhaps desiring to waste a little time before scaling the banks and emerging on the high-road, Jasper threw a favorite fly of pcacock^s herl and gold tinsel lightly across the water ; and, almost before he had time to think, had hooked a monstrous fish, which, at the very first leap, be set down as weighing at least thirty pounds. " Thereupon followed a splendid display of piscatory skill. Well knowing that his fish must be lost if he once should succeed in getting his head down the rapid, Jasper exerted every nerve, and exhausted every art to humor, to meet, to restrain, to check him. Four times the fish rushed for the pass, and four times Jasper met him so stoutly with the butt, trying his tackle to the very utmost, that ho succeeded in forcing him from the perilous spot. Round and round the pool ho had piloted him, and had taken post at length, hoping that the worst was already over, close to the opening of the rocky chasm. " And now perhaps waxing too confident, he checked his fish too sharply. Stung into fury, the monster sprang five times in succession into the air, lashing the water with his angry tail, and then rushed like an arrow down the chasm. " He was gone — but Jasper's blood was up, an j thinking of nothing but his sport, he dashed forward, and embarked, w th a fearless foot, in the terrible descent. " Leap after leap he took with beautiful precision, alighting firm and erect on the centre of each slippery block, and bounding thence to the next with unerring instinct, guiding his fish the while with con- summate skill through the intricacies of the pass. " There were now but three more leaps to be taken before he would reach the flat table-rock above the fall, which once attained, he would have firm foot-hold and a fair field ; already he rejoiced, triumphant in the success of his bold attainment, and confident in victory, when a shrill female shriek reached his ears from the pretty flower-garden ; caught by the sound, he diverted his eyes, just as he leaped, toward 238 AMERICAN FISHES. the place whonoe it came ; his foot slipped, and the next instant he was flat on his back in the swift stream, whore it shot the most furi- ously over the glassy rook. He struggled manfully, but in vain. The smooth, slippery surface afforded no purohaso to his griping fingers, no hold to his laboring feet. One fearful, agonizing conflict with the wild waters, and he was swept helplessly over the edge of the fall, his head, as he glanced down foot foremost, striking the rocky brink with fearful violence. " He was plunged into the deep pool, and whirled round and round by the dark eddies long before he rose, but still, though stunned and half-disabled, he strove terribly to support himself, but it was all in vain. " Again he sunk and rose once more, and as he rose that wild shriek again reached his cars, and his last glance fell upon a female form wringing her hands in despair on the bank, and a young man rushing down in wild haste from the cottage on the hill. " He felt that aid was at hand, and struck out again for life — for dear life ! *' But the water seemed to fail beneath him. " A slight flash sprang across his eyes, his brain reeled, and all was blackness. " He sunk to the bottom, spurned it with his feet, and rose once more, but not to the surface. " His quivering blue hands emerged alone above the relentless waters, grasped for a little moment at empty space, and then disap- peared. " The circling ripples closed over him, and subsided into stillness. " Ho felt, knew, suffered nothing more. ' " His young, warm heart was cold and lifeless — his soul had lost its consciousness — the vital spark had faded into darkness — perhaps was quenched for ever." , , , , , , . i THE IMPLBMEIVTS Or SALMON riSHIITO 299 THE IMPLEMENTS OF SALMON FISHING. Time was, when every angler wag required to make his own instru- ments, from the rod itself to the artificial fly, but now, so general has become the love of this calm and gentle pursuit, and so multiplied and subdivided are all trades and professions, that there are few cities in the civilized world, of any magnitude, in which it is not easy, at any moment, to procure anything that is rcquisito for this pursuit. Of consequence, the necessity for skill in manufacture of imple- ments has passed away, and, comparatively speaking, but few anglers think it necessary any longer to be familiar even with the method of tying their own flics, the tackle-shops furnishing every possible variety, more neatly executed, it is probable, and consequently more killing, than any could be of private manufacture. Still, to tic a neat and taking fly is a very useful accomplishment to the enthusiastic fisherman, especially when he is in wild and remote districts, as frequently must be the case ; and at times some rare natural fly will be seen on the water, which it may be found expedient to imitate without delay. The art of tying flics is attained with greater readiness, and, in fact, is far less difficult, thuo is generally thought, or than would be imagined needful, from the beautiful delicacy of the manufacture in its perfection. Most works on practical angling contain long and elaborate directions bow to hold, and how to tie the feathers on the hook, but all these are, in my opinion, utterly valueless and futile ; nor do I believe that any person has ever learned either to tie a fly, or to cast it when tied, from the perusal of any printed explanation ; any more than the young sportsman has ever acquired the knack of shooting on the wing except by practice and experience. The best way to acquire the art of tying flies is to observe carefully the manipulation of some skilful operator, and to obtain from him, during the performance of the work, oral instructions on the subject. \140 AMERICAN riSHSS. From any good tacklo-makcr, a few IcBsons can bo obtainod at a very ■mall expense, and these will, in a very short space of time, render the novico aufait to the triek. The first thing to be considered in the angler's equipment, is the rod, and it is here well to observe that, for almost every sort of fish- ing, some different and peculiar rod is essential. That which is com- monly called a general fishing-rod, is, in fact, an abomination, and is useful only to the bait-fisher, and even for him is an awkward and ineffective instrument, it being impossible so to regulate the arrange- ment of the lower joints as to produce that regular and equable degree of pliancy alike with a stiff baiting or with a pliant fly-top. For the Salmon, the rod should not bo of more than eighteen, or less than sixteen feet ; the longer is apt to be a little cumbrous, and deftly to wield a double-handed Salmon-rod, during a whole summer- day, requires no small practice of the muscles. The best wood for the butt, which should be very stout and solid, is well-seasoned maple, which is both light and strong ; the second joint of ash, the third of hickory, and the fourth or top joint of equal parts of lance-wood, or split bamboo, carefully spliced together. Many experienced anglers prefer to 'have their Salmon-rods manu- factured without metal joints, but with meatly-cut and accurately-fitted scares, which are adjusted and .firmly spliced together with strong waxed-end when ot the river-side. The supposed advantage of •this method is the greater certainty of the rod's holding together during a severe struggle, in the course of which a jomt will sometimes be disengaged from the socket ; and a greater equability of pliancy throughout the whole length, from the butt to the end, which is supposed to be in some degree impaired by the metallic ferrules into which the heads of the ferruled joints are inserted. In the present improved state of the manufacture of all sporting articles, I must however admit that these objections are, in my opin- ion, very fancifiil, and that the trouble of splicing and unsplicing greatly exceeds 'the benefit derived from the practice. Nothing can be more beautifully regular and equal throughout their whole length, -(han the springy bend of the best English, Irish, Scot- tish, and American Salmon-rods ; and I may hero record it as my TilR IMPLEMENTS OF HALMON riSIIINO. 241 delibcrato opinion, that tin best rodH in tL? world arc now nmnufnc- tUi'ud in tlio city of New York, and that Cunrov is supi'rior, as a fly-rod nmkor, to cither Chovalicr or Martin Kelly, of uiiivurHol reputation. David Welch, too, has few equals, if supRriors. The reel should bo very large, capable of containing one hundred foot of twisted line, composed of hair and silk intcrniiriglcd, and tapering gradually from the centre to each end, whc.o it should bo noatly looped to a bottom of the best and stoutest Spanish silk- worm gut, as thick, if possible, as the 32nd of an inch, to which the hook- links of the flics should bo fastened. The hook-link for Salmon fishing should bo of the best strong gut. The casting-line, of the best Salmon gut, is to bo looped to the reel- line, and must taper thence to the hook-link. The loops must bo whipped securely on both sides with best waxed silk. The casting-line is to be three yards in length witliout tho addition of the fly -link. Every knot on the casting-line should bo what anglers term the water-knot, which is merely a common knot made by passing the ends to bo secured three times around each other ; tho ends to bo well whipped as before. The casting-line is to terminate with a loop, and the fly is to bo knotted with tho water-knot, to a link also looped, and secured by waxed lino, which is then to bo looped on the casting-line. One fly only should be used for Salmon fishing. The best method of attaching the hand fly and the second fly to tho casting line for trout-fishing, when three flics are to be used, as is often the case, is entirely different from anything hitherto stated. There is but one knot which will allow these flies to hang truly, and that is fully described with a cut at page 63. It is very desirable that the gut should by dyed, in order to deaden its silvery glitter, which is too conspicuous in the water, and often scares the fish. Tho best preparation for this purpose is dark green tea, which brings it nearly to the color of water, when slightly discolored by rain, at which time the fish are most apt to bite freely. Too much attention cannot bo paid by tho angler to the quality and condition of his gut-lengths, or to the proper adjustment of the knot's and loops by which it is fastened. These can scarcely, indeed, be too narrowly or jealously scrutinised, as gut is a material which is 242 AMERICAN FIRHES. ■'. ■! easily frayed and cut by its own friction, and the slightest imperfection will often cause the loss of a very heavy fish. The great beauty of gut is, to be correctly round and perfectly equal in thickness, which enables it to stand a strain which, if it were une- qual, would cause it to give way. The reel should be of brass, which I prefer to German silver, bushed and rivetted with steel. It should have a balance handle, and a click, which is of great use, as preventing more of the lino than is required from running oflF it while in the act of casting, before a fish is struck ; but a catch or stop must on no account be used, as it will frequently stop the line at the very moment when it should run the fastest. I had almost forgotten to add, that the simple reel is vastly preferred by all truly scientific anglers to the multiplier, which in fact is now almost exploded. The fly-hooks should unquestionably be of the Limerick bend, and even for spinning with the parr, or fishing with the worm or the deadly roe-bait, all of which are very killing to the Salmon, the same form is the preferable. The great size and weij^bt of the Salmon renders the use of the landing-net impossible, and it is, moreover, at the best, a clumsy and unportablo machine. For it, therefore, the angler substitutes the gaff — a sharp, unbarbed hook, of convenient size, which screws securely into the head of a stout ashen shaft, the butt of which may conveniently be hollowed so as to contain spare fly-tops, as it is inad- missible to subtract from the weight of the rod-butt by hollowing it. With this hook, so soon as the fish is sufficiently exhausted to be drawn within striking, held in the right hand while the rod is trans- ferred to the left, he gaffs the fish steadily and sharply in the solid portion of the tail below the abdominal cavity, which gives it a firm hold, and enables the lucky sportsman to pull out even a forty-pounder with but little trouble. "" ' -'. r It is not a bad plan to have a stout knife-blade, with the inner edge sharpened, hinged on the back of the gaff, which will often be found of use in cutting away any twig or other obstacle which may entangle the fly. A creel is of little use to the Salmon fisher, as in order to carry any number of these noble fish, one would be requisite of the siae of a /. THE IMPLEMENTS OF SALMON FISHING. 243 olothes-baskct ; and such is the weight of the fish, that, if you expect to be succ3ssful, an attendant is indispensable. With these instruments, then, a well-filled fly-book in his pouch, and perhaps a spare gut foot-length round his hat, the fisherman may deem his outfit perfect. A suit of plain dark clothes, a pair of stout nailed shoes, and heavy loose trowsers of the coarse Scottish plaid worn by the shepherdf?, is the best attire for the sportsman. India-rubber boots are an abomi- nation, unwholesomely confining the perspiration, and excessively uncomfortable from the intense heat which they create ; besides, an angler is hardly the sort of person to care much about wet feet or a soaked jacket. Having now equipped and rigged him, we will conduct him to the marge of limpid lake or rapid torrent, and see how best his scaly prey he may ensnare. *' .'• ■ i, - i, ,, .. In order to become a fly-fisher, I think that something of an especial genius is necessary — I mean a fly-fisher in the highest sense of the word, and regarded in the same light as the sportsman whom we can deservedly term a crack-shot. Still, although something of a natural and inherent aptitude is necessary, practice, experience, and a love of the art, go so far that no one who really desires to attain eminence in this skill need despair, for perhaps no one very keenly desires it who has not that aptitude, though perhaps latent, and even of himself unsuspected. To teach a man, as I have said before, by writing or even by oral instruction, unless coupled with active practice and example, how to make a fly, how to cast a fly, how to hook a fish, or how, when hooked, to kill him, is to my apprehension impossible. Yet without some instructions on this subject, a work on Fishing would justly be deemed imperfect, and perhaps even impertinent. After the first slight skill is attained which enables a fisherman to cast a fly at all without whipping it off the hook-length, the great points to be acquired are, precision in casting, and neatness in deliver- ing the fly. In Salmon fishing with the double-handed rod, all these things ara somewhat more diflicult than with the light twelve-foot Trout-rod, and more practice is requisite before perfection can be gained ; yet the au AMERICAN FISHES. mode is identical, and the instructions which alone can be given arc alike few and simple. The first thing to be observed is, that the rod must not be firmly grasped, but held with a loose and delicate play of the thumb and fingers, as a cue should in billiard playing, or a foil in fencing. Secondly, that in throwing out the fly, nothing like a jerk or snap should be performed, such as is done with a four-horse whip in flank- ing a leader. It is very difficult to explain, except by comparison, what that movement is; but it may perhaps be described as by a sudden checking of the propelling power, or as almost a retroversion of it at the moment of its greatest impetus, somewhat such as that which is termed spinning, or Englishing, a ball at billiards. The rod being held lightly in the fingers, the butt of it must be so moved in front of the person, with all the muscles of the arm relaxed, the elbow and the wrist free and pliant, that the tip shall describe a complete circle above and something behind the head, and it will be not amiss for the tyro to practise this motion without attempting to cast as yet any line. Secondly, it must be remembered, when the line and fly is brought into play, that by the circular motion of the tip, the whole line, with its cast of flies, must be made to stream out at full length, and to describe a semicircle, so that at the instant previous to propulsion, if we desire to throw directly forward, the flies shall be at the whole length of the extended line, exactly behind us ; when they must be thrown out by a direct and even motion, without any jerk, and yet must be in some sort checked rather by a gradual holding up or cessation of the impelling force, than by any sudden stop or retro- gression. , The mode of casting which I have endeavored to describe for a forward throw, must be used in all cases ; if to the right, the line must stream out, and the flies be extended at full length to the extreme left, and vice versa ; and this is the method by which accu- racy and precision in casting can be acquired, and by perseverance in which, with experience, the fisherman will ultimately succeed in throwing his stretcher, or last fly, with certainty into a smaller circum- ference than that of his own hat. This it is which we call precision. „. ,,_ , .j ;, THE IMPLEMENTS OF SALMON FISHING. 245 By neatness, we intend the knack of so delivering the line that each one of the cast of flies shall alight upon the surface of the water singly and severally, and as lightly as the thistle-down, without any portion of the foot-length, much less of the line, bagging or falling in a bight upon the stream. This delivering of the cast at the end of a perfectly straight, yet perfectly easy line, is the first great thing to be obtained. If we attempt to throw the flies, except after having made them describe a full semicircle in the direction opposite to the purposed cast, we shall throw them nowhere. If we fling out the whole line loosely, it will fall in a baggy bight upon the water, probably striking the surface in advance of the flies, and certainly making a splash and scaring away the fish which we desire to allure. If we check it too suddenly, or jerk it back at all, we shall snap off all our flies with a loud crack, and so remain disarmed and u.«(ele3ai for the nonce. In practising, the novice should use but a short line, five or six yards at the utmost, and a single fly — and when he can throw that with certainty into a space of a few feet in circumference, he may gradually let out his line till he has reached fifteen yards, which I regard as the extreme length that can be managed with certainty, neatness, and precision, and add to the stretcher his first and second droppers, more than which are wholly useless. Having said thus much of the mode of casting the flies, we will suppose our angler clad in the plainest and least obtrusive colors, at the margin of tlie stream, if it bo such as he can command with his double-handed rod, or wading it if not too deep, oi bis boat if it be too broad to be cast over successfully. First, he shall go down stream ; for the motion of the water will so keep his line taut, the benefit of which hereafter ; and he will also have fewer casts to make, and find less trouble in giving a natural and easy movement to the artificial insect, which he must keep ever floating on the surface. Furthermore, the fish are wont to lie, especially in swift waters, with their heads up stream, and will therefore perhaps take the fly most readily when cast down, and drawn gently over them. Secondly, he must on no account fish with the sun behind his back, 246 AMERICAN FISHES. for, if he do, the shadow of his body, with his arms thrashing the air, and the counterfeit presentment of his long rod vibrating aloft, will be thrown on the bright surface of the waters in such a manner as will undoubtedly alarm the fish ; which, however much doubt there may exist as to their powers of auscultation, no one will deny to be capable of quick vision. Thirdly, he shall not so draw his fly along the surface as to give it the appearance or reality of floating up stream ; for flies do not in nature float up stream ; nor do the Trout or Salmon, although they may never have studied logic, and are probably incapable of deducing consequences from causes, lack the ability to discern what is, from what is not, natural. Across the stream he may bring it gently and coqucttishly home, with a slow whirling rotatory motion, letting it swim down in the swifter whirls of the stream, and float round and round in the eddies, with this special observance, that he shall, in so far as he can, keep it ever at the end of a tight line, for so only will the fish hook itself, without any movement of the hand on the angler's part — an end most desirable to effect. •, :. , i ■ . ; ' v! • i.-j . ■,: •,;•!?>' ;; it j •' Both Salmon and Trout lie in wait for their prey, for the most part, rather than swim in pursuit of it in schulls or companies. They are often, I would say generally, found in pairs, and therefore, after killing one in any favorable pool or eddy, it will be well not too soon to desert the spot, even although it may have been disturbed by the bustle and hiirly of the first capture. The tail of swift rapids, where some large stone breaks the force of the current, and causes a lull, or, as one would say of wind, a lee, will always be found a likely spot wherein to cast ; and in pools, be- tween two rapids or cascades, the head and the foot, immediately above the one and below the other descent, will generally each hold a fish. Still clear deep reaches will again be found to contain many times the most, and often the largest fishes, especially of Brook Trout ; and these places require the neatest and the finest fishing, for two very sufiicient reasons j first, that the transparency of the water enables the fish clearly to discern the angler, unless he stand well back from the margin of the bank ; and, secondly, that its stillness allows all the / THE IMPLEMENTS OF SALMON FISHING. 247 iroperfectiona of the artificial fl; , and perhaps the gut to which it is appended, to uo discovered bj the intended victim. In nothing is piscatory skill more distinctly evidenced, than by tho instinctive accuracy with which, in whipping a stream, the practical angler will discern what places to fish closely, accurately, neatly ; which to pass over lightly — in other words, which are more and which are most unlikely to hold the objects of his pursuit ; and this skill, this power, like that of casting the fly, or even in a greater degree than that, can be gained only by dint of long practice and accurate obser- vation. As I had occasion to remark, not once, but many times, in my " Field Sports," aeteris paribus of eye, hand and nerves, on which almost everything depends, the closest observer of nature, the most diligent inquirer into the actions, the habits, the prey, the liaunts, the every-day life of the bird or beast which he is pursuing — in other words, the best naturalist — will be the best and most successful sports- man ; and so it is, and perhaps even more so, in the case of the angler. And, indeed, after years spent in this exciting and yet gentle pursuit, the angler will ever find that he has something still to learn, that he has gained something daily, if he keep his cars, his eyes, his mind open to the sounds, the sights, the beautiful provisions of nature. In large lakes, which must be fished from boats, the vicinity of the shores, the edges of shoals, and the holes in the close neighborhood of large rocks or boulders which cause eddies, and above all the entrance.<» or outlets of streams, brooks and rivers, are the likeliest places in which to find Salmon, but not reedy banks or weed beds, as is the case with the Pickerel and Mascalonge ; and such spots as these deserve the utmost care and attention of anglers. And now, I believe that I have said all that I can say about the casting of the fly, and the places into which it should be cast in order to ensure the first success, the getting a rise, I mean, from this noblest of fishes. Little is done, how- ever, in getting this rise, unless we know how to strike, and how to kill him when he has risen. On this head, perhaps, it might be said that the art of striking a fish, or so handling the rod that the barbed hook shall be buried socurely and quickly, or ere the fish has time to dis- cover that the gaudy bait is an unreal mockery, without substance or eavor, consists in knowing what is noi^ rather than what is to be done 248 AMERICAN FISHES. Very certain it is that the fly must noli be jerked or twitched away quickly, as is done by ninety-nine hundredths of novices, who thereby instead of fixing the bait in, flirt it out of the mouth of the Salmon and probably prick him in doing so, rendering him thereby shy of again looking at the bait, and teaching him a lesson, which he may not forget in many days. At two moments only, of the ordinary cast of a fly, is the fish nearly sure to hook himself — that is, when it first alights on the surface of the stream, and when it is in the very act of being withdrawn from it, for the purpose of making a fresh throw — for at these two moments only is it necessarily at the end of a taut extended line. When a fish strikes boldly at either of these two points of time, it is very sure to book itself without any exertion of the angler ; but if the line is in the slightest degree curved or baggy, unless there is a certain almost indescribable movement of the wrist, the fly will often be rejected, owing to the discovery of its quality, and the fish will so escape scot- free. This striking I have seen variously described, but never, in my opinion, comprehensibly. I consider that the great thing in fly-fish- ing is to keep the line always as straight as possible, never allowing any portion of it to float on the water, and to have the fly never sub- merged, nor yet skipping, but trailed evenly along the ripples, as if it were naturally floating down, at the end of a straight extended line. By this method, the chances of striking your Salmon, vithout any effort on your own part, will be hugely increased. If, howdver, it be found necessary to strike, this must not be done by a jerk or backward whip movement of the rod, but by the slightest possible turn of the wrist inward and downward — what that turn is, every angler knows, but it certainly cannot be described in writing, nor can it be, I think, very easily demonstrated — so exceeding slight it is — by example. More fish are, in my opinion, lost by clumsiness, and especially by over-violence at this moment, than at any other time ; the utmost caution, therefore, and delicacy of manipulation, are indispensable ; and at first, until he has killed some fish, and obtained some practical experience in the art, I confidently advise the novice to beware of striking ; to allow the fish, if possible, to hook himself; and rather to lose him from his not doing so, than from his own act by whipping tho THE IMPLEMENTS OF SALMON FISHING. 249 half-Hwallowed fly out of his iinporillcd jaws If strike he must, let him do it with tho least possible force or exertion. When first a large and lively fish feels the hook, he will not unfro- quontly, if checked suddenly, throw himself clear out of the water to the height of several feet, and so endeavor to cast himself across the tightened line, which, if he succeed in doing, he shall break it surely, and escape. The counter-movement to this dodge, which is often repeated many times in rapid succession, is to sink the top of the rod quickly, so as to slacken the line, and suffer the fish to strike it only wh 'n lying in a bight on the water ; but care must again bo taken hore to reel it in again quickly, lest it may become entangled by the fish rushing suddenly in towards the angler. Beyond this there is not much to say on the score of playing a hooked fish ; the great end and object is to keep him, with as heavy a strain as you can venture to support upon his mouth, with his head down stream ; for in that position the water enters his gills the wrong way, so that the vital principle of the oxygen cannot be separated from it by the branchial apparatus, and the fish naturally dies by suffoca- tion, or by something analogous to drowning. To eff'ect this, very much delicacy and nicety of touch are requisite ; tho rushes of the fish are sometimes of fearful impetus and velocity, and sustained for such a length of time as to take nearly all the line off the reel, and to compel tho angler to run at full speed, up or down the bank, as it may be, in order to avoid smashing his tackle. It is well here to observe, that it is in all eases the best plan to follow your fish as early in the game, and as rapidly, as you can, rather than to let off' too much line, as you thereby keep so much in hand for an emergency. The great principle Is, to make the fish pull as hard as possible without ceding line, and never to give him an inch that ho does not exact from you by force ; the knowledge of the exact amount of re- sistance which you may off'er, and of the when exactly and how much you must yield, is the grand proof of the Salmon-fisher's science. If he run for a rock, against which to smash your tackle, or for a cascade or cataract, over which you cannot pilot him with a hope of success, you must resist hira to the last, which is done by advancing the butt, firmly grasped, toward him, and bearing your rod backward over your 17 250 AMERICAN FISHES. right shoulder, thereby compelling him to strain out the lino, tho velocity of which you must regulate with the ball of your thumb, inch by inch from the reel, against tho whole reluctance and spring of the elastic rod. When the fish runs in, the rod must be hold nearly erect, and the line reeled in as quickly as possible. If tho fish turn sulky, as he will sometimes, and plunge down to the bottom, lying there like a stone or a lump of lead, he must be aroused and forced to run again by a peb- ble cast in as closely as may be to the spot where he lies, and then his run must be alternately humored and controlled, like tho whims of a pretty woman, until his resistance is overpowered, and, like her, he yields him to your will. The fiy is, as I have before observed, by far the most effective and killing bait for the Salmon, although it is very doubtful for what the animal mistakes it, since it has no resemblance in nature. The best are, in my opinion, combinations of peacock herl, and jay's wing, with : body of pink, blue or green silk twined with gold or silver tinsel ; there are, however, many other gay and gaudy feathers which are nearly equally killing, and every fisherman has his own favorites. The ac- companying plate contains at No. 1, representations of several varie- ties of Salmon-flies, and at No. 2 of Lake-flies for great Trout, which I know to be killing, as I know them to be beautiful — and which were . prepared especially for this work, to my order, by the Conroys of Ful- ton-street, New York, of whom I have already spoken as, in my opin- ion, the best rod and tackle maker in America, if not perhaps in the world. The Salmon, especially when quiiu fresh-run from the sea, will take the worm at times greedily ; for which mode he must be fished for with a stiffer rod, similar to that used for Bass angling, with a quill- float, and enough of slot on the gut to carry the bait down close to the bottom. The best worms are the large loh or rfci^-worms, and they should be cleanbed or scoured by keeping them for several days pre- vious to using them in a pot full of moistened moss. Two worms shoald be used, and they should be baited thus : Enter the barb of a large sized No. O, or No. 1 Limerick Salmon- hook at the head of your first worm, and bring it out at the middle ; run the worm quite up on the gut abova th? arming of the hook . THE IMPLEMENTS OP SALMON FISHING 961 again enter the barb at the middle of the second worm, and bring it up very nearly to the head. Draw down the first worm to meet the second, and the bait will move on the bottom with a natural motion. Paste composed of roe of the Salmon, taken out when freshly killed, washed carefully, and cleansed of all the impurities, the blood and fila- mentous matter, thoroughly dried in the air, salted with two ounces of rock-salt, and a quarter of an ounce of saltpetre to a pound of spawn, dried gently beforu a slow fire, or in an oven at a low heat, and then potted down and covered with melted lard or suet in earthen pots, is a most murderous bait both for Trout or Salmon. When a few weeks old, it will cut out of the pots like stiff cheese, and will adhere readily to the hook, though it is not amiss to bind it on with a slip of Salmon- colored floss silk. This will be found as efiFective for Brook Trout as for Salmon ; and it is not unworthy of remark that the roe of the melter will most surely take the female, and that of the spawner the male fish. It has been hence suggested that if people will fish on the spawning beds when the fish are in the act of breeding, by using the female spawn or roe, they will do much less mischief than by any other mode, though it is little probable that the gothic savages wlio resort to these practices at all will trouble themselves so far as even to en- deavor to do a minimum of mischief. Lastly, the Minnow, the Shiner, the Smelt, the Sparling or Athc- rine, and above all, the young Parr, are very killing baits, especially T^hen thei*e is a freshet in the stream, for the Salmon, upon spinning- tackle. A powerful long rod should be used for this mode of fishing ; the line and reel as before, but there should be at least two swivols on the line, and a small funnel-shaped piece of lead sliding upon the line. There should be one large No. 1 Limerick hook at the end of the gut, and two smaller, about 10 and 5, tied back to back of the larger one. The smallest above, at the full length of the bait, to hook into the lip, when the funnel will slide down upon the nose. The second hook should be passed through the back below the first dorsal fin, and the large hook entered in the solid part of the body beside the anal fin, and brought out at the fork of the tail, giving a curve to the fish, which causes it, when drawn rapidly through swift water, to spin and fiance beautifully, in a manner most attractive to this noble fish. All i 859 AMERICAN FISHES the fins should be cut off except the pectoral on the outer side of the curve, which will cause it to spin more certainly. Some persons use a second hook-length with three No. 7 hooks tied back to back triangularly, not entered in the bait, but suffered to play loosely around it : but I see no advantage in the addition. With any of these baits, with the art to boot, and a clear eye, a steady nerve and true hand, anywhere almost eastward of the Kenne- bec, and thence northward to the grand St. Lawrence, the adventurous fisherman is certain of such sport, as, once tried, makes all other fishing for over more stale, weary, and unprofitable. TROUT rUHINO. »63 TROUT FISHING. This charming sport, second only in its excitement to the hIcHI which it requires, and in the quality of the captive, to its elder nister, Salmon-fishing, cannot be enjoyed in any part of the known world in greater perfection than on the northern continent of America. Everywhere from the Arctic Circle to somewhere about the forty- fourth degree of north latitude, everywhere from the mouth of the St. Lawrence and the wild shores of Gaspe and Chaleurs to the far coasts of the Pacific, and the swift streams of Oregon, this beautiful and active fish is found abundant, in every spring-stream and fountain- nourished lakelet. Everywhere he is pursued eagerly, and esteemed a prize worthy of the sportsman's skill and the epicure's idolatry. To the northward and eastward he is, however, both the finest and the most plentiful. The rivers of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia swarm with Brook Trout ranging from half a pound to five pounds in weight. In the streams of Maine and New England they are equally abundant, although they are generally smaller in size, and are for the most part taken in the small mountain streams from which they rarely run down to salt water ; whence their colors are less brilliant, and their flesh inferior in flavor. In the State of New York they are of unrivalled excellence, and are found in vast numbers, especially in the streams of the south side of Long Island, in the lakes and rivers of the north-eastern counties which debouch into the basin of the St. Lawrence, and in all the streams of the south-western tier of counties which tind their way southwardly into the Delaware, the Susquehannah and the Alleghany. All the waters of Northern and Western Pennsylvania are likewise admirably stocked with this delicious and game fish, nor has any one need to seek better sport than he can find at Carman's or Snedocor's on Long Island. In the Marshpee river, on Cape Cod, famous as being 254 AMERICAN FISHES. the favorite fishing-ground of that good sportsman and groat statns- man, Daniul Wobstor ; in tho Callikoon and Bcavcrkill on the cast, and tho fino Ponnsylvanian streams on thn west of tho Delaware ; in the not-work of lakes and rivers which renders Hamilton County in New York tho angler's earthly paradise, or in tho swift Canadian streams which swell the St. Lawronoc, from the Michigan westward to the Sault St. Marie, and upward to tho head of Lake Superior, sport is certain. The implements of the Trout-fisher are similar, except in size and power, to those used in tho capture of tho Salmon ; but us less strength is necessary to subdue, so is, perhaps, even greater delicacy requisite to ensnare him. The Trout-rod should bo twelve feet long, and as pliant, almost, as a coach-whip, equally bending from the butt to tho tip. It should be composed of hickory, lancowood, or bamboo, with a solid butt of ash, at the extreme lower end of which should be attached u simple click- reel with a balance handle, but without a stop, capable of containing thirty yards of London made hair and silk line, tapering equally from the reel to the point. The bottom, or leader, as it is called generally in America, should consist of about five yards of round tapering silk- worm gut, and the flies should be three- in number. Plain rings should be used on a fiy-rod, and not tho new tubular metallic guides, which stiffen it too much, and prevent its equal curvature under a strain. For bait-fishing, spinning a minnow, or daping with a grasshopper, a stouter rod may be adopted, similar to that used for ordinary fresh- water, or shoal salt-water fishing. The best baits are the Salmon-roe, prepared as I have described it, common brandlings or dew-worms, and any small fish, and especially its own young fry, which may be used either dead on spinning tackle .such as is described above, or alive, hooked through the back under the first dorsal fin, and sunk with shot to within a few inches of the bot- tom. In this mode, the slightest possible qiull float should be adopted. The spinning is by far the more sporting and exciting method ; and in large streams running directly into salt water, where tho finest and greatest Trout are found, and where they do not willingly rise to the fly, none is much more killing. In addition to these, a grasshopper dropped deftly on the surface just before the nose of a fat, basking, lazy • :jM ■*. *iim< A"'. • ! f r ('. t^' ■ ('^"grrtwriJ ol" that fxtMni s. ■? stat^s- •t> ' 'vt ,'l:w*»« mm iK-a. --/.ivi-'i .,.4 i,u& *'»«<, ,,»3';.u ■v-'i' «;•■. PoiiLn.«vlvaiiii!»ft **■'«»«'!'■''' '>ft tli-". W'..'Ht ^f ;*<'• TWbwa*?^ :; in ■Ste** fti'-t-Wf>rk of hill.:':-; ami m'-rs whifili roudera lfuji;;:?i'8 €«i«*!*y in ,|i^ifs» York th.; rtrtgioy'* eartiily paradi-:!^, or in fk^ «<#f. tv^aliivn jAreams wbifh sw-ll the St. Lawrence, fioni the MwUigm ^mk^md to iho Saull St. Mai"5<^) uud upward ;.> tli-:^ head nf Lake Supfi'ioi-, sport is certaib. >;, *' , • 't'lu' itoplements of the Tront-fisher aro yiinil^ir. I'xr'.-pf m i^ize and power, to tiioso usL'd in thu capture 'jf the Salmon ; hut ;is li^sf* streiigtl) Is necessary to snhdin', so i'-, porhiips, oven en atf r d''licaoy ri rmisit^3 to cnsnaro him. 'i"he Tront-rod .shouM ho tsvdvo f(.'ot h)nfj:, and as pliant, ahiio.-jt, as ii coach-whip, equally liendiio^ from fho hntt to tho tip. It shouhl he, .{.•oinposid of hif'kory. lanc'wood. oi- )i;iml)0". wJl!; a ?o1id Imttof a:-h, ; ut the I'Xfi-oJ'ic Imv r i:iid of wImMj i-iimiid ]ie attachombt of obmt. fh-i' '.<%i'h of round tiipi'ring (^ilk- wwBfi giit. and tho HiK* .■*'t?:*uld ho thn*;*. jw luunlx'r. Plain rings should hi' iwjed m k %-rod^ and not thn w-^ tuhukr m*. t:aUif' Lnnil^?, which stiftV.n it too njucd), and pvi-viou it:^ s't^.v;!.! curvalJir,' ««d.if ?» ?!train. Ftyr hait-&httig, spiuaiug a )innnow, or (htpin,}!; wiih a grasshopper, a stout-r rod m>ay bs adopted, simih'.r i*.' thut usad for (u'dinajy fresh- water ' • ■dioal i^alt-wato) fjishing, Tlie )•« ■ ?»ait8 are tho Sahnou-roi^ proparod sr- I have de;-crihod it, i.'onnuon r; witlings <»r dinv-woruis, and any .suiall fish, asid o.*t po.s.sihle cpiill iloat slnmld ho adopted. The spintitfflaf Ulrj; jW" ^h«' nwr'.» sporthii.' and i'.'ceirima; luotliod ; and in largo Sslreami' ruunltig^roo dy in <:o j ■»tiiiiJm4iimtitmhlUMMtJi-iM*^.AtatMummjikA ^ 260 AMERICAN FISHES. " We have started from WilHamsburgh or Brooklyn, after an earlj dinner ; passed through Jamaica ; rolled over the plains towards Hempstead ; and, passing through it without stoppage, have turned suddenly to the right towards the bays, beyond which lies the beach, with the incessant surge of the Atlantic moaning in the deep monotony of its calm, or thundering in the hoarse fury of its storm, against its pebbly barrier. • "Now we are in the land of Trout streams, baymen, and wild fowl. * " The rippling dash of falling waters catches our ear, at every half- mile as we roll along, and every here and there, the raised bank on our left hand with its line of stunted willows bent landward by the strong sea-breeze, the sluice-gate, and the little bridge, with the clear stream rushing seaward under it, tell us that we are passing a Trout pond. " On the right hand, the salt meadows stretch away, a wide, waste, desolate expanse, to the bays, which glitter afar off' under the declin- ing sun, whence you can hear at times the bellowing roar of a heavy gun, telling of decimated flocks of brant and broadbill. * " Now we pass by a larger pond than any we have yet seen, with a mill at its outlet, and in a mile farther, pull up at the door of Jem Smith's tavern. " And there we will halt to-night, although it be a better station for fowling than for fishing, for we ar*^ sure of neat though homely accom- modation, and of a kindly welcome ; and here it is that the first essay is to be made of Long Island waters. " On this stream there are two ponds, both of which were formerly private property, and closed against all persons except those who were furnished with a permit ; they are now open to all persons indiscrimi- nately, and I believe without restriction as to the number that may be taken by each individual, or by a party. The consequence of this is, that these ponds have deteriorated very rapidly, and that, although they are well-stocked with small fish of fair flavor and quality. Trout are rarely taken of such a size as to remunerate the exertions of a good fisherman. Half a pound may be taken as a good average of the fish killed here. In the creek below, where the tide makes, there are, of course, fish, but I never have heard of much work being done in it ; TROUT FI8HIN0. 361 and, in truth, except that this is tho first southern pon«^ ' any note, I would hardly advise the angler to pause here. " About a mile and a half farther eastward is a large pond, and a fine house, both recently constructed at a great exponso by Judge Jonc« — the former exclusively designed as a fish-pond The place has, however, passed out of his hands, and the house is now kept as a hotel by one of the Sncdecors. The pond has hitherto been private, but is now open, though with a limitation. It is well-stocked with fish of a fair size. When I was last there, a fortnight since, a gentle- man had taken eight fish, weighing as many pounds, with the fly that morning. The largest did not exceed a pound and a half, but they were handsome, clean, well-fed fish, and, as the day was anything but propitious, easterly wind, and very raw and cold, I considered it fair sport. He had not been fishing above a couple of hours. I under- stand, however, that there are many Pike in this pond, and in the stream that supplies it ; and I much fear that this must ultimately prove destructive to all the fish in the water, although those resident on the spot assert that the Pike never grows in that region to above half a pound, and rarely to that weight, and that little, if any, detri- ment is observed to arise from his presence. " This, however, I cannot believe, for the growth of the Pike is usually almost as rapid as his voracity is excessive ; and I am aware of many instances, both in the United States and in England, whese ponds and streams, excellently stocked with Trout, have been utterly devastated and rendered worthless by the introduction of this shark of the fresh waters. " The house is well-kept, as is almost invariably the case on Long Island ; and I have no doubt that the angler may pass some days here with pleasure. " Some miles beyond this, still keeping the southside road, we come to Babylon, where there is an excellent house, under the management of Mr. Concklin, of whom all accommodation may be obtained, both as regards fowl-shooting in the bays and Trout-fishing in the neighbor- hood. There are several ponds and streams more or less well-stocked in this vicinity, but none of any particular note, eitiier for the size or flavor of the fish. " Such, however, is not the case with the next station at which we 2t52 AMERICAN FISHGI. nrrivo, Liif. Snedeoor^s — in whose pond the fish run to a larger siie than in any water wo have yet noted. The Trout here, both in the pond and in the etrcam below, are noted for their great beauty, both of form and color ; and although there is some debate among con- noisseurs as to the comparative flavor of Sncdccor's fish and those taken at Carman's, eighteen miles further east, the judgment of the best sportsmen inclines to the former. " The pond is of the same character with those which I have de- scribed heretofore, and can be fished only from boats. It is open to all anglers, but the number of fish to be basketed by each person in one day is limited to a dozen. In the stream there is no limit, nor indeed can there be, as the tide-waters cannot be preserved, or the free right of fishing them prohibited. The Trout here are not only very numerous and of the first quality of excellence — their flceh b^iriff redder than that of the Salmon — but very large ; the average pro- bably exceeds a pound, and fish of two and two and a half pounds' weight are taken so frequently as to be no rarity. " The outlet of this pond, after running a few hundred yards, opens upon the salt meadows, where there is no obstacle whatever to throw- ing a long line. It is broader and longer than any stream we have hitherto encountered, and is incomparably the best, containing fish even larger than those of the pond above, and, in my opinion, of a finer flavor. I believe it, indeed, to be an indisputable fact, that Trout, which have access to salt water, are invariably more highly colored and flavored than those which arc confined to fresh streams by natural or artificial obstacles. " There is no distinction, of which I am aware, in favor of pond or stream, for the use of the fly, the fish taking it readily in cither, although as a general rule they will rise to it earlier in the fresh, than in the tide-water. " At some distance down this stream there is a range of willows on the bank, nearly opposite to a place owned by Mrs. Ludlow ;- and under the trees are some holes famous for being the resorts of the largest fish, which affect here the deepest water and the principal channel. Here, as in the pond, fish of two and a half pounds are no rarity, and, in fact, such are taken here more frequently than above I should say that one would rarely hook a Trout in this stream under TROUT riSHINO. one and a half pounds ; and tho truo angler well knows that a well- conditionod fresh-run fish, from this size to a pound larger, on tho finest and most delicate tackle, will give hiui nothing of which to com- plain in tho way of exercise or excitement. " At a short distance from Sncdecor's is another sti cam, known an Green's Creek, which contains a peculiar and distinct variety of Trout, which is called in that district the Silver Trout. I have not seen this fish, but learn from good sportsmen that it is of a much lighter and more pearly hue than tho common Trout, the bright and silvery lustre of the scales prevailing over the buck and shoulders. It is crimson spotted, but the fins are less strongly yellow, and it is perhaps a slenderer fish in form. Tho flesh is said to be firm and well-flavored. The Silver Trout is rarely taken much over or nmch under a pound in weight, and rises to the fly or takes the bait indiscriminately. This stream has, I know not wherefore, of late years lost much of its cele- brity, and is rarely visited by the best sportsmen. At Ptttchogue, yet a few miles further, there is a very largo pond, which was formerly perhaps the most famous on tho island, both for the abundance and the size of the fish which it contained. They have, however, become latterly so scarce, that few persons from a distance think it worth their while to pause there, but proceed at once to Sam Carman's, at Fireplace, eighteen miles eastward from LifF. Snedecor's; thes3 two being in fact the par excellence fishing grounds of the Island, and the difference between the two rather a matter of individual pre- judice and fancy, than of any real or well-grounded opinion. " The character of the fishing at Fireplace is nearly similar to that at Islip ; the stream flowing from the pond is larger, and contains much larger fish, the njost beautiful, both in shape and ' , i^htness of color, of any on the island. In this stream, two pounds is a very com- mon size ; perhaps, fish are as frequently taken of this weight as under it, and upwards to four pounds. Their flesh is very highly colored, and their flavor, as I have observed before, second to none. Indeed, it is but a few years since Carman's fish were estimated by old sports- men the only fish worth eating ; of late, however, fashion — which rules in gastronomic tastes as otherwise — has veered a little in favor of the Islip Trout, and it remains at present a debatable point between the two. The course of Carman's stream lies chiefly through open salt 264 AMERICAN riSllCS. meadows, and tho bankii are entirely dcBtituto of covert, to that very careful and delicate fishing is noccsnary in order to fill a basket. Even with ground bait it is desirable to keep completely out of sight, walking as far from the bank as possible, and to avoid jarring tho water, so wary and shy are tho larger fish. It is also advisable to fish down wind. Trolling is very successful in this water, tho same pre- cautions being taken, and tho bait-fish being dropped as lightly on the surface, as if it were a fly, so as to create neither splash nor sound. The pond above is likewise deservedly belcbruted, tho fish averaging at least a pound in weight, and equal in all respects to any pond Trout in this or any other region. The fly-fishing here in season is probably tho best on Long Island, although of late, hero, aa every- where else, Trout arc becoming comparatively few in number ; so that it has been found necessary to impose a limit on sportsmen. " Not many years ago, a celebrated English shot and angler, who has since left this country, and who, I believe, was among tho first, if not tho very first, to use the fly on Long Island waters, took between forty and fifty good fish in this pond before dinner, and in the after- noon basketed above a dozen of yet larger size in the stream below. " This feat, the like of which will not, I fear, be soon heard of again, was performed with a fly, tho body of which was composed of hare's-ear fur, and the hackle of a woodcock's wings — a very killing fly, be it observed, for all waters, especially early in the season. " On the same stream with Carman's pond, and at but a short dis- tance above it, is another called Middle Island Pond, with a saw and flour-mill at the outlet, which contains a great number of fish, of very large and very uniform size, running from one and a half to two pounds weight. It is remarkable, however, that the Trout in the lower pond being esteemed the best, those in the upper should be tho worst of any taken on the south side of the island. Such, notwith- standing, is the case ; they are long, shallow, ill-fed fish, dingy- colored, and woody-flavored. They are not, however, black-mouthed, as are the fish of a pond which I shall liave occasion to mention here- after. " I remember that a fact of the same sort is rr oorded of two lakes, I think in the north of Ireland, connected bv a short stream running through a bog meadow. In the upper of these lakes the fish, as here, ^w TROUT riSIIINO. 2bS arc worthK'88 — in tlu- lower Huporlutivu ; and they ore nuvor known to int(>ruiiii<;lo. How tliH hHouIiI bo, cannot well bo oxpluincd ; for, gruntiiiu' tliut the czccUcnci' of the QhU arisog from the Hoil und food, and that the inferior fish iD)provuN on coming into the superior water, still tkor ' muHt bo a tranHition Htuto. " With this pond I shall close my notioo of tho south nidn wntcrn, merely addin;j; that at Moritches, and yet further cast, there are many streams and lukelots abounding in fish, though inferior to those of tho waters 1 have enumerated, both in size and (juality ; and thesu are, I believe, all opt>n without limit to all persons who det^ire to fish tliem. " It may bo worth while here to mention, for the benefit of Htrangers, that tho houses kept by Snedccor and Carman arc by no means country taverns, at which nothing can be obtained, as is often tho case in th» interior, but hard salt ham and tough hens just slaughtered. Being frequented by gentlemen entirely, they are admirable hotels in every respect. " I will now turn, for a moment, to tho north side, on which there are also many streams containing Trout, but none, with a single ex- ception, which can show size or numbers against the southern waters. That exception is S imp Pond, near Smitli town, now rented to a company of gentlemen, and of course shut to the public in general. The fish in this large sheet of water arc very numerous, and very large, but arc for the most part ill-shaped, ill-conditioned, and inferior in flavor — long, lank fish, with very large black mouths. I have been informed that in latter years the fish in this water have been gradually impr oving, but of this 1 cannot speak from personal experience ; it is, however, notorious, that occasionally Trout of very fine quality, both in appearance and flavor, have been caught here ; which is somewhat remarkable, inasmuch as the same feeding grounds rarely produce two diff'erent qualities offish. " With regard to weather, a darkish day, with a moderately brisk breeze, suflicicnt to make a strong ripple on the water, is the most favorable. It is somewhat singular, that in spite of the generally re- ceived opinion that southerly or south-westerly weather is tho only weather for Trout-fishing, few old Long Island anglers are to be found who cannot state that they have taken as many, some say vwre, fish during the prevalence of easterly winds, as in any weather. A friend 18 266 AMERICAN FISHES. of mine, on whose authority I can perfectly rely, and to whom I gladly record my indebtedness for many facts stated in this paper, assures me that he has never known Trout to take the fly more freely than dxiring a northeasterly snow-storm. Still, I must consider these as exceptions to the general rule ; and I at least would select, if I had my choice, ' a southerly wind and a cloudy sky' — always barring thunder — and no objection to a slight sprinkling of warm rain. " There is another peculiarity to observe in the Long Island waters — and, so far as I know, in them only — that Trout bite decidedly better and more freely, when the water is very fine and clear, than when it is in flood and turbid. Indeed, if there be a good ripple on the surface, the water can hardly be too transparent. ' " It has been suggested to me, that this may be accounted for by the fact that in flood the waters are so well tilled with natural bait, that the fish become gorged and lazy. I cannot say, however, that this is perfectly satisfactory to me ; as the same must be the case, more or less, in all waters ; whereas it is unquestionably the case, wherever I have fished, except on Long Island, that Trout are more easily taken in turbid than in fine water. " As connected with the foregoing remarks, I will here add, that, as a general rule, the minnow, with spinning or trolling tackle, is found to be more killing than ground bait in the ponds, and vice versa, in the tide streams — probably from the mere fact that the minnow is. the rarer in the one water, the red-worm in the other, and that each by its rarity becomes the greater dainty." Beyond this I have nothing to add, with respect to Trout-fishing, with the exception of a few very general observations on the moat likely times, seasons, and places in which to fish for the Trout, since the mode of taking them with the fly is in all respects the same as that already given under the head of Salmon-fishing, the modes of casting for, striking and playing these kindred fishes being in all respects identical. In the first place, I am clearly of opinion that for very early fishing in March and April there is no place on this continent at all compa- rable to Long Island, where all along the south shore thoy can be taken in numbers almost innumerable, in every pond, stream, and salt oreek, until the end of July, when they cease to bite freely. It is ( TROUT FISHING. 267 worthy of obscrvalion that very early in the soason the bait is more killing than the fly, but that from May to the end of the soaaon the fly- flsher will fill his creel when the bait-fisher will go empty-handed home. In the salt creeks the fish take the fly far less willingly than the bait ; and in Carman's Creek, which is very decidedly the best Trout river on Long Island, it is said that there is but one example of a fish being killed with the fly, by an old friend of my own, Mr. Luxford, formerly of H. M.'s Royal Dragoons, in whose eye, should this moot it, these words may awaken not unpleasant reminiscences of his visit to the United States, and of his many, many sporting rambles with Frank Forester. In Carman's River the largest fish in America are, I think it will be allowed, mostly caught, running often quite up to five lbs. weight, and I fully believe that if it were fished patiently and resolutely, espe- cially at the gray twilight, or in the shimmering moon-shine quite down to the bay, through the salt meadows, with a small Trout on good spinning-tackle with three swivels, or with a very large gaudy fly, sunk by means of a shot to several inches below the surface, fish might be taken of seven or eight pounds weight. After Long Island fishing is nearly at an end, commences, and continues quite until September, that in the crystal streams of the Southern New York counties, in the Pennsylvanian streams, jtnd even later in the waters of the Adirondach Highlands and later yet at the Sault St. Marie. The Juniata, the Wyoming, the upper Delaware, the upper Alle- ghany and the upper Susquchannah swarm with fish, as well as all theiv tributaries. The former rivers, and many another equally fine streams in the Alleghany and Blue ridges, are within easy striking dis- tance of Philadelphia; all the waters of the Delaware and Susquchan- nah rivers can be reached in a day from New York, by the Morris and Erie railroad ; nor is there any lovelier or more romant'c region, nor any waters dearer to the angler, than those which are now oponod to the world by that noble avenue which is already complete so far as to Ow3go, and which will soon link with its iron chain, Erie nnd all the uppor lakes to the Atlantic sea-board. , Hamilton County and its splendid fishing-grounds may be reached in many ways from New York, via Albany. Frcm Caldwoll's on Lake George, from Lake Champlain by the Saranac, from Schenec- 268 AMERICAN FISHES. taJy hy the Fish-house, and from the St. Lawrence it is accessible to the Canadians by the Black River or the Racket. These waters abound in the Brook Trout, and the great Lake Trout, whereof a word more hereafter, though he very little merits a word ; and good accommodations can now be obtained in many places through that of late inhospitable region ; but much of the pleasure of a trip thither is destroyed by the swarms of mosquitoes, and yet worse, of venomous acupuncturing black and sand-flies, which phlebotomize almost beyond endurance the hapless unacclimated stranger who ven- tures into their demesnes, between May and the latter days of August. Beyond this I will only add that the haunts of the Brook Trout closely resemble those of the Salmon ; that they lie lurking for their passing prey under great stones at the head or tail of swift glancing rapids, in the small deep pools between, beneath the roots of great trees which protrude from banks over swirls and whirlpools, in holes under weirs and sluices, and in no place more frequently than at the tail of mill-races The best and heaviest fish do not begin to feed until twilight, after which, for about three hours, they are exceedingly voracious, reposing again after that until daybreak is at hand, when they again feed for an hour or two, lying quite still, and oftentimes refusing the most tempting baits during the whole of the day-time I have been told lately, and see no reason for doubting the accuracy of the information, that great sport may be bad by baiting any well- ascertained haunt in a stream wi+h the common Cray-Fish, his shell being cracked to pieces for several days in succession, previous to fishing it with a fly. From the Brook Trout I pass on to his nearest relations, the various kinds of Lake Trout, Mackinaw Salmon, Siskawitz, and, as it is called erroneously, Salmon Trout of the lakes. Befc/e closing this article, 1 have judged it well to quote a few re- marks on Trout-fishing, from that admirable work, Hofland's Angler's Manual, inasmuch as they are in the highest degree appropriate to the Trout-fishing of America generally, while the observation on bush- fishing, dipping or dapping, will be found of great advantage to the angler for small Trout in the beautiful tumbling mountain-streams far inland, in our northern and north-eastern States. , r, f ■ f . - ■ ^ TROUT FISHING. 269 (( THE ARTIFICIAL FLY. " Fly-fishing is certainly the most gentlemanly and pleasant kind of angling, and it has many advantages over every other mode of fishing. In the firet place, your apparatus is light and portable ; for a slight rod, twelve feet long — or if wanted for a narrow and wooded stream, one of ten feet only would bo more convenient — a reel con- taining thirty yards of line, a book of artificial flies, and a landing- net, and you are fully equ •>pcd for the sport. In the socond place, it is the most cleanly ■ il the least cruel mode of angling, as you are not obliged to soil your hands by ground bait, or live baits, nor to torture a living fish, or insect, on your hook. Another charm in fly- fishing is, that you are never fixed to one spot, but continue to rove along the banks of the stream, enjoying, in your devious path, all the varieties of its scenery ; the exercise induced is constant, and not too violent, and is equally conducive to health and pleasure. I have already said that a one-handed rod should be ton or twelve feet long, and a two-handed rod from sixteen to eighteen feet ; to cither of which must be attached a reel containing thirty yards of twisted silk and hair line, tapering from a moderate thickness to a few hairs, at the end of which you arc, by a loop, to attach the bottom tackle. This should be made of round, even gut, and three yards long ; some persons prefer four yards ; but I think too great a length of gut increases the difficulty in casting the line. Those bottom tackles may be purchased at the shops in two, three, or four-yard lengths. These lines should also taper gradually, the gut being much stronger at the end which is to be attached to the line on the reel, than at the end to which the stretcher-fly is to be fixed. When you fish with only two flies, the second — or drop-fly — should be at a distance of thirty-six or forty inches from the bottom, or stretcher-fly ; but, if you use three flies, the first drop should be only thirty-four inches from the stretcher, and the second drop thirty inches from the first. These drop-flies are attached to the lino by loops, and should not be more than three inches long ; and, by having the gut rather stronger than for the end- fly, they will stand nearly at a right angle from the line. 1 recom- mend the beginner to cornmenoe with one fly only ; but, at most, he muflt not use more than two ; and, as for his mode of casting, or 270 AMERICAN FISHES. throwing his fly, now his tacklo is prepared, I fear little useful instruc- tion can be given, as skill and dexterity, in this point, must depend upon practice. I may, however, advise him not to attempt to cast a long line at first, but to try bis strength, and gain facility by degrees. He must make up his mind to hear many a crack, like a coachman's whip, and find the consequent loss of his flics, before he can direct his stretcher to a given point, and let it fall on the water lightly as a gossamer. When I come to speak of the diiferent Trout streams in the neighborhood of London, and elsewhere, I shall recommend the flies to be used for the place and season ; in the meantime, I shall attempt to describe the haunts of the Trout. " He is fond of swift, clear streams, running over chalky, lime- stone, or gravelly bottoms ; but ho is more frequently in the eddies, by the side of the stream, than in the midst of it. A mill-tail is a favorite haunt of the Trout, for ho finds protection under the apron, which is generally hollow, and has the advantage of being in the eddy, by the side of the mill-race, awaiting his food. He delights also in cascades, tumbling bays, and wiers. The larger Trout generally have their hold under roots of over-hanging trees, and beneath hollow bankb, in the deepest parts of the river. The junction of little rapids, formed by water passing round an obstruction, in the midst of the general current, is a likely point at which to raise a Trout ; also at the roots of trees, or in other places where the froth of the stream collects. All such places are favorable for sport, as insects follow the same course as tho bubbles, and arc there sought by the fish. After sunset, in summer, the large fish leave their haunts, and may be found on the scowers, and at the tails of streams ; and during this time, so long as the angler can sec liis fly on the water, he may expect sport. Unfortunately, when tho deepening shades of twilight drive the sports- man home, he is succeeded, on dark nights, by the poacher, with his night-lines ; and, I am sorry to say, that the north-country angler gives too faithful a picture of this night-fishing, which he himself practised. ' " And now, having told the young angler where to search for fish, I must strongly impress upon him the necessity of keeping out of sight of the fish, for, if once seen, not any kind of bait he can off'er will tempt a Trout to take it ; therefore, approach the stream with / TROUT FISHING. 271 caution, keeping as far from it as possible : first, fish the side nearest to you, and then cast your line so as to drop just under the bank on the opposite side of the stream, drawing it, by gentle snatches, towards you, always continuing careful to show yourself as little as possible. " Some persons recommend fishing up stream, and throwing the fly before them ; others walk down the river, and cast the fly before them. For my own part — after much experience — whenever I can do so with convenience, I cast my fly a little above me, and across the stream, drawing it gently towards me. If the wind should be against you, yon will be constrained to stand close to the water's edge, and make your cast close to the bank on which you stand, either up or down the stream, as the wind may serve. Avoid, if possible, fishing with the sun beliind you, as the moving shadow of yourself and rod will alarm the fish. The finer the tackle — particularly the bottom tackle — and the lighter the fly falls on the water, the greater will be your sport ; indeed, some anglers use only a single hair for their bottom tackle ; but when the water you fish is weedy, or much wooded, a single hair is very tlifiicult to manage ; but in ponds, or streams, free from impediments, it may be used by a skilful hand with great advan- tage. The winds most favorable to the angler are south, southeast, southwest, and northwest ; but in March and April this latter wind is generally too cold. A fresh br(5ezc is favorable, especially for lake- fishing, mill-dams, or the still deeps of rivers ; as the ripple on the water, caused by the breeze, has the same effect as a rapid stream, in preventing the sharp-sighted Trout from discovering the deception of the artificial fly. " In lake-fishing you can hardly have too much wind, if you can manage your boat comfortably, and keep your fly on the water. There are very few lakes, with which I am acquainted, where good sport can be had from the shore ; to ensure success, a boat is indis- pensable ; and if you can procure a boatman well acquainted with the water, and the management of his boat, the battle is half won. After sunset the fish seek the shallow water, and a lake may then be fished from the shore. I have found, from long experience in lake-fishing, that it is better to cast your line towards the shore, rather than from • me shore, or up or down the lake. The boat should be maintained, ii72 AMERICAN FISHEft. as far as possible, at a proper dieitance from the shore — that is, bo that your flies may fall where the water begins to deepen from the shore The boat should be allowed to drift with the wind, and the oars used as seldom as possible, and merely to keep it in a proper position and distance from the shore. The flies used in lake-fishing are larger than those for rivers ; and I have frequently observed that the winged flies answer better than palmers. Perhaps the cause of this may be, that many rivers and small Trout streams are bordered with trees, which overhang tnem, and from which drop the insects that the palmers imitate ; whereas the shores of the lake are generally rocky, or stony, and mostly denuded of ti oes, and consequently do not pro- duce this kind of food for their finny inhabitants." t( BUSH-FISHING, DIBBINO, OR DAPING. " One great recommendation to bush-fishing is, that it can be prac- tised with success in the months of June, July, and August, '/hen the river is low, and the sunshine bright, and in the middle of the day , at a time and season when no other circumstance would stir a fish, the largest Trout are taken by this method. The angler must be provided with a fourteen-feet rod, with a stiff top, and strong running tackle ; he will seldom have to use more than a yard of line, the bottom of which should be of strong silkworm gut. I recommend strong tockle, because, in confined situations, overhung with wood, you will not have room to play your fish, but must hold him tight, and depend on the strength of the tackle. "The size of your hook must depend on the size of your fly, from No. 7 to 9 for small flies and grubs, and, for beetles. No. 4 or 5, For bush-fishing, you should be provided with well-scoured brandlings and red worm, cad-baits, clock-baits, earth-grubs, beetles, grasshop- pers, and a horn of flics, or, at least, as many of the above as you can procure. A small green grub, or caterpillar, which may be got in June and July, by shaking, over a sheet or tablecloth, the boughs of an oak-tree, is a most killing bait for this kind of fishing. " Great caution is necessary in using your rod and line ; for, if there are few bushes or brambles to conceal you, the water must bo approached warily, as the large Trout often lie near the surface, ami. TROUT FISH I NO 273 if you are once seen, they will fly from you If the water should be Jaop, dark, and overhung with thick foliage, so that you can scarcely find an open space for your bait, your line must be shortened to half a yard, and sometimes less. " If your flies are small, use two of them at once, as they frequently fall into the water in couples ; when daping with the fly, if you sec your fish, drop the fly gently on to the water, about a foot before him, and if you are not seen, he will eagerly take it. When your fish is struck, do not allow him to get down his head, foi fear of roots and weeds, but keep him to the top of the water, where his fins and strength will be of little use to him ; and in this situation, with good tackle, you may soon exhaust him, and make him your own by a landing-nst, the handle of which should be two yards lonj, ; or he may be landed by a hook or gaff, with a long handle ; and this, in some situations, amidst close, thorny brambles, will be found more useful than a landing-net, which is liable to bo caught in the bushes. " When you use the worm, the caddis, or any other grub, you will require a single shot, No. 6, to sink your bait, for it cannjt sink too slowly, or cause too little disturbance in the water." _ No. 1. Mayflies, perfect, aud embryo. No. 2. Stonefly, perfect, aiid ombiyo. 2T4 AMERICAN FISHES. LAKE TROUT FISHING. These great, bad, coarse and unsporting fish, of all the three varie- ties, are very nearly similar in their habits, lying for the most part in the deepest parts of the great lakes, seeking their food in the depths, and very rarely rising to the surface, either for food or play. Of these the great Mackinaw Salmon is perhaps the liveliest, and the common Lake Trout, Salmo Conjinis, of DeKay, the heaviest and most worthless. They will scarce ever rise to a fly, and can rarely be taken even with a spinning minnow ; with a live bait, however, or a peacock-fly, submerged to a considerable depth, with a bullet at the end of two hundred yards of line, played from a stiff rod at the stern of a light skiff or canoe moved rapidly tlirough the water by sails or oars, they can be caught with considerable certainty. When hookod, however, they are but a heavy, torpid fish, bearing down with a sullen dead weight, and offering little more than a passive resistance. My friend William T. Porter, who constantly fishes in the waters of Hamilton county, informs me that he has been exceedingly and almost invariably successful with what seems a very strange and unsporting combination, a small fish namely, and a large fly on the same line, at about a yard's distance asunder. The commonest way, by far, of angling for the common Lake Trout is with a stout drop-line and a Cod-hook baited with a piece of salt pork, or the belly of a Yellow Pearch or Brook Trout let down into ten or fifteen fathom water. The fish bites, gorges his bait, for which you may allow him a few seconds' time, after which he is hauled in by main force. He is very indifferent eating, but perhaps the best way of preparing him when quite fresh out of water, is to crimp him to the bone after stunnning him with a heavy blow on the head, wrap him up in a cover of thick greased paper, and roast him without removing the V ,. f /■ LAKE TROUT FISHING. J76 entrails, which will como away at a touch when ho is cooked, under tho ashes of a wood fire. The greatest Mackmuw Salmou, or Namaycush, and tho Masama- cush, or Arctic Charr, tho latter a delicious and very voracious fish, arc both taken in the same manner, in very doop water, in the summer, and through holes cut in the ice in the dead of winter. Tho favorite bait for both these fishes, is the belly of the yellow or gray sucking Carp, or a piece of the raw heart or liver of a deer. The Mackinaw fish is, however, a far bolder fish than any of his race, and occasionally follows any shining bait or squid up to the very surface of the water, if it is sunk by means of a weight, and then trollod sharply upward and onward to the surface. A piece of bright tin, with a rag of scarlet cloth attached to it, is, I am informed, found to bo very successful and killing in the hands of tho Indians. If this bo tho case, of which I am well assured, there can be little or no doubt that the deadly spoon, as it is called, an implement shaped precisely like the bowl of a table spoon, of bright metal, silver-washvod within, and brazed without, attached by a swivel at the lower extremity to a stout triple hook, and at the upper to a piece of strong gimp — which is so murderously destructive to the Black Bass of the St. Lawrence and the Mascalonge — would be found no less effective with the great Lake Trout ; nor if any one should think it worth the while, would any harm be thought of his applying any invention, however slaughtering and poacher-like, to so base and caitiff a fish as the Lake Salmon. Of Back's Grayling it is almost unnecessary here to speak, so far north are his customary haunts, and so very diiBcult and expensive is it to reach the districts in which only he exists. This is the more to be regretted for that he is one of the finest, if not the very finest, of all the sporting fishes of America. He is the boldest of biters at a fly, taking all those flics which are most preferred by the Brook Trout, leaping many times out of the water in his efforts to extricate himself from tho hook, nor ever succumbing to his captor's will without a des- perate resistance and a severe conflict. His flesh is no less delicious, and his excellence at the board in no wise inferior to his spirit, or the beauty of his coloring. ^ Of the Attihawmeg or White-Fish of the great lakes, of the Otsego Bass, or as I should desire to have it hereafter called, the Otsego La- 276 AMERICAN FIAIIE8. I'' varct, and of tho littlo Smelt, which aro all members of this samu noble family, it needs not to make farther mention. They all hove boon occasionally taken with the fly, and will all undoubtedly bo often- times again so captured, but the certainty of their rising is by no means sufficient to warrant the fisherman in wasting much time in their pursuit. • , I may hero, before finishing this head of my subject, observe that in fact there is scarcely any fish which will not, apparently from some whim or other, take the fiy on the surface. I have myself so caught tho Striped Bass, the Shad, the Herring and tho Northern Pickerel with tho Salmon-fly. AH the family of the small Cyprinida, as the Roach, Dace, Bream and Chub, will at times bite freely. In the Black River a species of this family rises very freely, and gives good sport. It is there called the Chub, and is, I believe, identical with another of tho same division, known as the Wind-Fish in some of the streams of Duchess County, in the State of New York ; and a thoroughly good fisherman of the city informed me yesterday that he had even caught Suckers with a Trout-fly, a fact, which but for the very great respec- tability of tho source whence I derived the information, I should hardly have been inclined to credit. None of these unimportant little fish, however, give sport enough, or are sufficiently good on the table, to make them worthy the pursuit of others than boys, snobs, and the ladies, who must pardon me for tho company into which I have introduced them, certainly not accord- ing to their merits, on my estimation of them. Note to Revised Edition. — See Supplement, article Lake Trout, for some altered views and farther instructions in regard to the tactile and mode of taking this fish. I am more than ever satisfied that there are two distinct Lake Trouts in the New England and New York waters, apart from the Namaycush or Mackinaw Trout, and the Siskawilz. // I ! SALMON TROUT riSHINU Q77 SALMON TROUT FISHING. There is but oa3 regioa on this 03ntia3nt ia wlnok thb admirable spurt can ba enjoyed at all ; for, sin^ubr to say, thu fijli h found only in those rivers of Nov? Brunswick which fljw oastwardly into tha Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the Bays of Gaspt} and Chalours. As if to makj amonis, h3.V3VJr, for thi narrow limits of thoir geo- graphioilran^a, th3y absolutjly swarm, dni'in' th)ir sjason, in all the rivers which th3y fretjujnt, traversing th3 sja bays in onorraam schulls, and running up all the rivers to thi h^al of tidj watar, beyond which they do not ascend on those coasts. Why this should be the case it is not e'^sy to conjecture, since it would appaar te indicato a variation in the species from one of the normal habits of the race — that, I mjan, which dictates to the parent fish that they must run up into the aerated waters of pure fresh rivers, in ordar to djposit their ova. It may be, though I am net prepared to state that it is, the fact, that the ascent of all these rivers b:5ycid a certain peint is rond3red im- possible to the fish, by long rapids, or impassable cataracts, and that, perceiving the impossibility of arriving at the place of th3ir proper and natural d3stination, th3 fish them?elv33 cease to attempt it, and merely run up from the brackish into the fresh water, in ord3r to enjoy those altsrnations of temperature and feed, in which all this family would appear especially to rejoice. In the Scottish and English watars, th3 Salmon Trout, like the true Salmon, ascand quite to the head wat3rs .of the streams which they frequent, and deposit their ova precisely in the same manner as the other of their congeners. Here, it is evident, from Mr. Perley's re- ports to the British Parliament on the Fisheries of the Province, that they do nothing of the kind. In the St. Lawrence, I have never heard of their being takon above Montreal, and rarely above Quebec, although there is no obstruction of 278 AMERICAN FISHES. any sort to hinder tliuir running quito up to tho mouth of Ningara, as is thi! 01180 with tho true Suinion. One thin;;, however, it may bo observed in this connexion, is very evident — that wo know, comparatively speaking, almost nothing of tho nature of fishes* instinctA. That they possess exceedingly tenacious momorics, I cannot in the i least doubt ; and I have more almost than strong suspicion that these memories became hereditary, and arc so transmitted from generation to generation. In no other way can wo account for that extraordinary instinct which leads back tho young bird to tho nest in which it was hatched, tho grilse to tho river in which it hud its birth — since tho young birds are daserted by their parents at a period long antecedent to their return from their migration, and the fish never have the protection of their progenitors. Nor in any other way can wo explain tho fact that the true Salmon \ never enter tho Niagara River, although they run quito up to its mouth ; even if wo admit that its waters are entirely unfitted for the purposes of the fish, and that it contains no shoals suited for spawning- grounds ; for otherwise, we should expect that every individual fish would visit it at least once, in order to get a taste of its quality, and then finding it unsuitable, desert it ; whereas it is not on record that any fish has ever been taken of this species within its embouchure. It may be that this wonderful power is an especial gift of Provi- dence, preventing tho fish from wasting too much time in seeking out a haunt, and so losing the season for the propagation of its species, by conducting it truly, as tho needle to the magnetic pole, to the stream in which it was bred. Bo this, however, as it may, certain it is that in all the rivers which flow eastwardly from tho Provinces into the Northern Atlantic, with every flood-tide a horde of theso beautiful fishes run up until they strike tho junction of the salt and fresh water, usually at the foot of a fall or rapid, and there remain disporting themselves in the bright eddies, and throwing themselves quite out of their native clement, in pursuit of their scaly prey. In those places they will take very greedily any of the Scottish or Irish gaudy lake-flies, leaping out of the water to take and ssize them, f f*At.M()N THOUT riflMINO. 379 and rising ho voraoloiLMly ami nipMIy, that it Is found iinpos-Mihl'; to Rh\i with uhovo ono, or at thi! inoHt, two tiii>H; uh it is not nt all an " iumiiiI thinj;, If fishing with throe, to hook at thu Hani« nioiuent thrnu « vnrul fishos. InthoOI)scat'he, sovoral yoarM since, Mr. Perley, who visited th )«(• waters In his ofticial capacity, ucconipanied by Capt. Hgorton, of M. M. irM Mght Infiintiy, killed thrco hundred of these fine fish at the junction of the fresh and salt water, at the foot of a long glancing rapid, in a single tide ; and the fornjer gentleman writes me word, that one morning last season he killed, in uu hour or two, eight fish, which weighed forty pounds. This must be regarded, however, as an unusual run of luck ; for the average size of the Salmon 'i'rout does not Appear to exceed four pounds, although they are taken up to seven and eight. In the fresh water, within the rivers, they are taken exactly as the Salmon, or Brook Trout, with a double or single-handed rod indiffe- rently, and with any of the baits or flies which are killing to the others of the family ; but best of all, with a scarlet ibis fly, with a gold tinsel body, which it prefers even In bright water, to the best peacock herl and gay feather lak(!-flies. Although a fine game fish, a strong fighter, and hard dier, the Salmon Trout often comes In for a share of the Salmon fisher's maledictions, jumping incessantly at the deceits 'n- t'^ndod to fascinate a larger and more potent victor, and In fact, for insisting on being taken in lieu of its great congener. In the sea bays, <|uito out of sight of land, while roving along the coasts, in search probably of its favorite estuary, the Salmon Trout Is caught nearly as wo catch ISIackorel or Blue Fish, by trolling with the Ibis fly, above described, at the end of thirty or forty yards of line, from the stern of a sailing-boat, under all canvass, in a stiff Mackerel breeze. For this sport It Is necessary to use a reel, with not less than a hun- dred yards of line — as the largest fisli are taken by this method, and make a very violent resistance before they can be brought home. The fly is kept skipping from wave to wave, as the boat lavecrs, or beats to windward, and the fish throwing itself out of the sea to secure it with its beautiful bright sides flashing like virgin silver in the sun- light, and when struck, constantly dashing away with the whole of the 280 AMERICAN FISHES. line from the whizzing reel, and giving a long run down wind, there is perhaps no sport in existence more full of pleasant excitement and adventure. Nor when taken is the prisoner unworthy of the pains it has cost to kill him ; for although smaller, he is in all other respects nearly of equal excellence with the true Salmon, and occupies a place second to him alone, with the judicious epicure. Right well would it repay some of our gallant yachters, to turn the heads of their tight crafts easterly, and bear away, as the old song has it, with a wet sheet and a flowing sail, for the rock-bound shores of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, for once there, right hospitable would they find their welcome, and their sport right royal. ■ I ''- . if h PICKEREL FISHING. 281 PICKEREL FISHING. From the gigantic Mascalonge and its nearly equal congener, the great Northern Pickerel, to the small barred variety, which is found only in the waters of Long Island, the whole of this fierce and vora- cious family affords great sport to the fresh-water angler ; and where the Trout and Salmon do not obtain, they are considered as the kings of the waters. There are many modes of fishing for them, and the baits which they will take are almost innumerable, comprehending in their range almost the whole animal creation, fish, flesh, fowl and reptile. When of great size they are excessively destructive — not to other fish only, of which they are the tyrants, but to frogs, water-rats, and even the young of wild-fowl. They are taken either with trimmers, that is to say, small floating buoys with a rude reel attached, and a dependent live bait, with long set-lines ; or again, by roving with the live, or trolling with the dead bait. In the former mode, it is the better way to use two moderate- sized hooks, one passed through the lip, and the other through the dor- sal fin of the bait^ which should be sunk about two feet below the sur- face, with a large float on the line, and suffered to swim about at his pleasure. By this method, however, large Pearch are often taken instead of the proper fish, and trolling with the gorge-hook, or fishing with the snap-hook is by far better sport — especially the former — more legiti- mate, more exciting, and last, not least, more killing. Of these methods, Mr. Hofiand, in his British Angler's Manual, thus discourses — and although he is speaking of the English Pike, Esox Lucius^ not of the Mascalonge or Pickerel, as the fishes are of the same family, and the modes to be pursued in capturing them in all respects identical, I have not hesitated to extract his able and well- written description ; I must premise, however, that where he speaks 19 282 AMERICAN FISHES. of Dace, Bleak or Gudgeon for bait, we must substitute the Roach, the Minnow, the small Bream, the New York Shiner, or, which is deci- dedly th3 best and most killing of all, the young fry, or Parr, of the Brook Trout. Like Mr. Hofland, I infinitely prefer trolling with the gorge-hook, a representation of which is annexed below, to fishing either with the common snap, or with what is here called the sockdoUager-hook ; which last I regard as a great and dangerous humbug. The rod for Pike-trolling is well described below by Mr. Hofiand, but one of Conroy's best general rods with spare tops — ^which is, iu fact, the best for everything except fly-fishing, such as is used for Bass or Weak- Fish though with rather a stronger or stiflFer top — will be found all-sufficient. In my opinion, a large click-reel, such as we use for Salmon, and a stout silken line of a hundred yards or better, will be found preferable to the contrivances of which Mr, Hofland dis- courses. In casting the bait, the butt of the rod should be set against the right hip, with the point inclined to the left ; the bait should hang at the end of some ten or fifteen yards of line, and as many more should be drawn off the reel and held loosely in the left hand, the right hand grasping the butt about a yard above its extremity. The body should then be turned slowly to the left, and brought round again, with a quick jerk, to its original position ; the rod, as described before, will follow the same motion, and deliver its bait with greai velocity and accuracy, the left hand playing out the line and checking its motion gently, so as to drop the bait upon the surface al- most without creating a ripple, certainly without a splash, A little practice will soon enable the merest tyro to deliver a dead bait on a leaded gorge into the circumference of his hat at twenty-five or thirty yards ; and let him remember, that the longer his easts, the better and more like to kill. The bait, after being cast, should be drawn gently and gradually home, the left hand constantly giving out and retracting the line ; which, with the aid of one or two swivels above the gimp arming of the gorge-hook, will cause the fish to spin and glance beautifully in the water, and will render it a most attractive bait. ' Hofland's instructions for striking and playing this fine fish cannot PICKEREL FISHING. 283 be surpassed ; and paying due attention to the above, and giving heed to his instructions, the young angler will hardly fail of sport in any of the inland lakes or rivers of this country from Maine to Lake Supe- rior and La Belle Riviere, as the French designate the Ohio, and from the Atlantic coasts to the Arctic Circle. " I must here inform the novice in trolling, that little sport can be expected without a tolerably clear water. " Nobbs, the father of the art of trolling, speaks of April and May as the best months ; but, with due deference to so great an authority, I should say September, October, and November, are the best months, as the fish are then in prime season, and are worth taking, whereas in April and May they have not recovered from spawning, and although they may feed freely, they will be lank and thin, and in bad condition. " Early in March the Pike are often taken full of spawn, but at this season they will seldom gorge the bait, and are generally taken >y the snap. In the autumn, rivers and ponds begin to lose their weeds, which, in spring and summer, are so troublesome to the troller, and the fish then take to the deep holes, and their haunts are more easily found. The troller cannot be too early or too late at his sport, for during the middle of the day the fish seldom feed, unless it be cloudy and the breezs fresh. " The best baits for Jack and Pike are Roach, Dace, Bleak, Gud- geon, Minnow, small Chub, and Trout, or the Skegger or Brandling ; when none of these can bo procured, a small Perch, by cutting away the back fin, may be used. Indeed, in the lakes of Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite, and various places where other fish are scarce, and the small Bass or Perch plentiful, it is the bait in general use. It is of the utmost consequence that the baits should be perfectly fresh and sweet ; although a Pike might run at a stale bait, he will rarely pouch it, even at the snap : your baits cannot be too bright or fresh. " Many writers have recommended birds, mice, frogs, &c., as baits, but where small fish can be procured, no other will be wanted : of all the baits mentioned, I prefer a moderate-sized Gudgeon, more espe- cially for the gorge-hook, as the sweetness of the fish makes the Pike more eager to pouch it. 284 AMERICAN FISHES. " On a dark da;, and when tho water is not very clear, I should prefer a clean, bright, small Roach, Dace or Bleak, particularly when fishing at the snap. When your fish are not kept alive in a bait-can, they should be carried in a tin box, and laid in a little fine bran, oi pollard, and carefully washed before you bait with them. (( TROLLINO TACKLE. " The rod should be of strong bamboo cane, and from ten to twelve feet long, with a. tolerably stiflF top of whalebone or hickory ; the rings should be five in number and not less than three-eighths of an inch diameter in the opening, that the line may run freely. '' A strong winch will be required, which must hold at least forty yards of line, that is not subject to kink. Mr. Jesse recommends a trolling-Iine sold by Mr. Barth, of Cockspur-street, and I have seen a very good sort of line for this purpose, manufactured by Mr. Bazin, Duncan-place, Hackney. Some troUers prefer a rod twenty feet long, in which case your cast on the water is made in the same manner as in spinning the minnow for Trout, but with a longer line ; and the lighter your bait falls upon the water the greater your success. Mr. Jesse strongly recommends tho use of a wooden reel, one of about four inches and a half across, having the rim grooved for the recep- tion of the line. " ' These reels turn round with great rapidity when the cast is made, letting out a sufficient length of line, and are wound up again by turning them with the fore-finger. They are much to be preferred to the common brass reel, especially in fishing from a boat ; they avoid the noise and much of the trouble of winding up, and the line never kinks.' " A reel similar to this is used by salmon-fishers in Scotland, and IS there called a pirn. It will require much practice to enable the novice to cast a long lino when tho river is wide, but in small screams he will find little difficulty. Some anglers prefer fishing with tho gorge-hooks, others with snap-hooks ; but my own experience induces me to prefer the former as the best general mode of trolling ; and this kind of fishing I shall first describe. PICKEREL FISHING. 285 (( THE GORGE-HOOK. " Is either a double or single hook, fixed on twisted brass wire, and loaded on the shank with lead, to which is attached a piece of gimp, eight or ten inches long, at the end of which is a small loop. To bait this hook you must have a brass needle, about seven inches long ; put the loop of the gimp on the eye, or small curve, of the needle ; then put the point of the needle in at the mouth of the fish, and bring it out at his tail ; bring the gimp and wire along with it, the lead being fixed in the belly of the bait-fish, and the hook or hooks lying close to the outside of his mouth ; then turn the points of the hooks towards his eyes, if a double hook, but if a single one, directly in a line with his belly ; next tie the fish's tail to the arming wire very neatly, with strong thread. To the line on your reel you must attach a gimp-trace, twenty-four inches long, having a swivel at each end, and one in the middle. The spring swivel, at the end of your line, is to be hooked on the loop of your baited trace, and you are ready for sport. " When you are thus prepared, drop in your bait lightly before you, then cast it on each side, and let the third throw be across the river, or as far as you can reach — still letting the bait fall lightly on the water. In each case let your bait fall nearly to the bottom ; then draw it up gently towards you, and again let it sink and rise till you draw it out of the water for another cast. " I have before named the favorite haunts of the Pike, but when you are in a good water you should carefully fish every part of it, for you may often have a run where you least expect it : — weeds are a great annoyance to the troUer, and he will often bruise his bait, and injure his tackle, unless he is very cautious. At every new cast be careful to examine the bait, and clear it from leaves and weeds, as the Pike is very dainty, and will not touch a soiled bait. " The farther you throw your bait, if the water be broad — provided always that it falls lightly — the greater your chance of success, so that you are not interrupted by weeds, roots of trees, &c. ; and if the water should be very weedy, you will be compelled to drop your bait into deep clear openings. " When you feel a run, let your line be perfectly free, and allow 286 » ( AMERICAN FISHES. the fish to make for his haunt without check ; and when he stops give out a little slack line. By your watch, give him ten minutes to pouch the bait before you strike, which you may then do, by first gently drawing in your slack line, and then striking gently ; but should your fish move soon after he has been to his haunty give him line, and he will stop again ; but after this, if he move a second time before the ten minutes are expired, strike, and you will most likely secure him ; but if he has only been playing with the bait, you will have lost him. " When I have been so served once or twice, I generally resort to my snap-tackle. " If you have fairly hooked your fish, he cannot easily break away, and as your tackle is strong, unless he is very large, you need not give out much line, but hold him fast, and clear of the weeds ; giving him but a short struggle for his life. The gaff is better than a net for landing a large Pike, for he is dangerous to handle, and his bite is much to be dreaded. " When you are without either gaff or landing-net, seize the fish by putting your finger and thumb into his eyes. Half a dozen gorge- hooks may be carried in a tin box, with a little bran, ready baited, which will generally serve for a morning's sport. (( ANGLING AT THE SNAP. " I shall first describe the old fashioned mode, although it is now rarely practised. " The spring-snap was formerly much in use, and may be purchased at any of the tackle shops. It consists of three hooks, the upper one small, and the two lower hooks large. The spring confines the lower hooks, but the spring gives way, and the hooks spread out when the fish is struck, and hold him securely. '- ' " It is baited by introducing the point of the small hook under the skin of the bait, on the side, and bringing it out at the back fin. Mr. Salter gives the following directions for the double hook-snap, which may be used either with a dead or live bait : " ' This snap-hook is a double hook, or two single hooks. No. 6, tied back to back, on gimp ; to bait this snap, use the baiting-needle, having first placed the loop of the gimp to which the hooks are tied / /■ PICKEREL FISHING. 287 in the eye of the needle. Enter the point of the needle just ahove the gills of the fish, near the back, avoiding to pierce the flesh as much as possible, as it is only intended that the gimp should lie just behind the skin. Bring the needle and the loop of the gimp out near the tail, and draw till the hooks lie close to the part your needle entered, and are somewhat hid by the gills. The bait will live a long time after being thas hooked, and may be used in fishing with a float, by puttin? *hrt 'an shots on the g>'TiT> to keep it down : — always prefer a '.^ . Igeon this baiting, i ca^' uuis a snap, bscause, when fishing this way for Ja(!k, I strike immediately I perceive a run, and have met great success this way of snap-fishing. This snap may be baited with dead fish, and trolled with.' " Although I have quoted this mode of keeping a bait ' a long time alive on the hook,' I by no means recommend the practice to my young brothers of the angle, for I have long confined mysolf to the use of the dead bait ; and with the gorge-hook, and the snap used in the manner I am about to describe, the Pike-fisher will never want sport in a well-stored water. " I have before said, that by spinning the Minnow with the same kind of tackle as that used in spinning the Bleak for Thames Trout, I have taken many Jack, Pearch, and Trout ; but I have also fre- quently lost my tackle, by the gut being bitten through by the sharp teeth of the Pike. To remedy this evil, gimp may be employed instead of gut; indeed, the snap-tackle now generally sold at the shops is of this description, but with larger hooks than I use, and coarser gimp. " The ansler must now make his casts in the manner recommended in trolling with the gorge-hook, letting the bait partly sink, and then drawing it towards him by gentle touches, by which means the bait will spin freely, and look bright and glittering in the water. When you feci or see a bite, let the fish turn, and then strike gently, but still with sufficient quickness and force to make your hooks hold ; and now, with patience and perseverance added to these instructions, a complete disregard of cold and wind, and a determination never to lose his temper at trifling disappointments, the tyro may soon become a master." The best waters for Pickerel of all kinds are deep, slow, sullen, 288 AMERICAN FISHES. shadowy streams, with dark, creeping waters, and shores fringed with Pickerel-weed, water-lilies, and marsh grass ; and the best places in which to cast for them are the edges and openings of the floating weed-patchea, under the cover of which they are wont to lie expecting their prey. When the fish has taken the bait, the groat thing is to give him time enough to gorge it, and not to mar all by impatience in striking before it is time. Once hooked, a steady hand, and cool temper, will soon ensure his capture ; for though he is strong and fierce, his boldness and incautious way of biting permits the use of very strong tackle ; and though he fights hard for a while, he has nei- ther the arrowy rush nor the innumerable artful resources of the true Salmon. Pickerel fishing with trimmers on large lakes, as described under the head of Eel fishing, is by no means bad sport ; and if seve- ral large fish chance, as is very often the case, to be hooked at once, the sinking and reappearance of the gaily-paintod buoys, and their rapid motion through the water as the terrified fish rush away with them, offer an amusing spectacle, while the rapid chase with swiftly^ rowed boats is full of gay excitement. For this sport all the limpid ponds and lakelets of this abundantly- watered land are most admirably adapted, from the farthest regions of New England through all the Eastern States to the fine inland lakes of Northern Pennsylvania. But to enjoy this sport, or that of trolling, in perfection, the angler should visit the Great Lakes and the streams of the great basin of St. Lawrence, and that stupendous river itself ; in which, from the Thousand Islands, among which swarm both the Mascalonge and the Great Northern Pickerel, up to the farthest tributaries of Lake Superior, he will find sport, how gluttonous soever he may be of killing, which will not disappoint his wildest wishes. In the same manner as the Pike is the Pike-Pearch or Sandre, Lu- doperca Americana^ erroneously called the Ohio Salmon, and other absurd provincial nicknames, which is a very fine and delicate fish, as well as a very sporting one, to be taken. In the western waters he is the most abundant, and his favorite haunts are the tails of mill-races and whirling eddies under shady banks. / riCKEREL PI8HINO. 289 Him shall yon surely take by trolling with the Shiner or bottom- fbhing with the fresh -water Cray-Fish ; nor will you despise him taken and smoking on your board. The Black Baes and the Rock Bass, and the large Yellow Pearch may also bo taken by trolling ; but there are for these fish other and more appropriate methods, of which I sb»U treat under their proper heads \H„ itft as aoo AMERICAN riSUES. PEARCH FISHING. In every pond and river of America is this fish found, and none of the smaller and less vigorous biters are greater favorites with the angler. There is, in my opinion, but one distinct spoeios of the Yellow Pearch in Ameiica, although there are several strongly-marked, but I think casual varieties. In the salt-water bays, however, and the estuaries of tide rivers, there are two small and distinct species of the Bass, the little White Bass, Lahrax Pallidus, and the Ruddy Bass, Labrax Rufus^ both of which are constantly confounded with the Pearch, to which they bear a strong resemblance, being members of one and the same family, and are called by the New York fishermen Sea Pearch, White Pearch, and Salt-water Pearch. These brave and hardy little fish run from a few ounces up to a quarter, and occasionally half a pound weight, which may be considered their maximum. They swim in large shoals, near the surface of the water, and are a most delicious fish. The Yellow Pearch is found occasionally in company with them, although he rather afi'ccts fresher water, and I have thought that when taken in tide streams he wears a greener garb than his ordinary dress. The Minnow, the red worm, and at times small Shrimp will take all these varieties in the salt water ; and from the very earliest dawn of spring to the setting in of severe cold weather, it is rare but the angler can find some sport with these quick and lively biters. In almost every lakelet and pond from the sea-board to Lake Huron, the Pearch abounds, swimming in company with the Sun-fish, PomoHs Vulgaris, and the New York Shiner, Stilbe Chrysoleucas ; they run from half a pound up to three, four, and occasionally even five pounds weight. Saratoga Lake, the Greenwood Lake, in Orange County, New York, PBARCH FIHIIINO. 391 Hopatkong, in Sussex County, Now Jersey, Senoca Lake, and the Northern lakes, Huron more espocially, contain theso fish of tho largest size, and in tho greatest perfection, but every whore they may be caught almost at any time. In pond-fishing, the common ground-worm, on a shotted line with a quill-float, is perhaps the commonest bait ; in America pastes are but little used as bait, nor in truth have I any great faith in them, although they are recommcndod by many good anglers. Of late years, how- ever, I think they have lost repute. In tho days of old Isaac t];ey were esteemed almost sovereign. The Minnow, Shiner, or small Trout is, in this country, by all odds, the most taking bait. It should be affixed to tho lino by one or two small hooks, cither through tho lip or undor tho dorsal fin as lightly as possible, and being sunk with a shotted gut to within a foot or so of the bottom, should be allowed to swim about at his own will. I do not approve of tho frog for Pearch fishing, although when in the humor they will take this, or indeed almost any fish or reptile bait. The following is Hofland's advice as to tho mode of fishing for him ; and although the English and American spbcios are distinct, their habits are identical, and the rules laid down below cannot bo improved upon. The general rod will do well for taking Pearch, but a heavy one is not required. A reel and silk or grass-line with a gut bottom, or gimp, if Pike haunt the same waters, as is apt to be the cuse, will produce the desired effect. The same tackle and mode of fishing will capture, at times, the Pickerel, the Pike Pearch, the Rock Bass, and even the Trout, and it is therefore well, in Pearch fishing, always to be provided with the tackle necessary to secure larger fish than those which you actually expect to take, and to be prepared and on the look-out that you be not surprised unawares. " Tho Pearch loves to lio by the side of the stream, and under deep banks, or near beds of the water-lily, the eddies at mill-tails, and tumbling bays, near the old piles of wooden bridges, or old kemp sheeting ; the best baits for a Perch are, the Minnow, the Gudgeon, the red worm, and the Brandling. " A Minnow may be used by fixing a No 9 hook under the back I 292 AMERICAN FISHES. 8n, or by passing it througli his lips, with a cork-float, carrying shot according to the dopth of tho wator. You should fish within a few inches of tho bottom, and when a fish bitos, a littl " time should bo given before you strike, as tho Pearch is tender-mouthed, and, if not well hooked, is apt to break his hold. Tho paternoster is much used for Minnow fishing ; it may be had at all tho tacklo ahops ; it is sunk by a small bullet, and has threo hooks at diff'erorit distances, which may be baited in tho manner above described ; but my favorite mode of Poarch fishing is, by spinning tho dead Minnow, which gives me a chance, at the same time, of taking Jack and Trout. " The Gudgeon or ♦he Bleak may of course be used in tho same manner when largo Poarch are expected. " In worm-fishing, tho Brandling and the rod worm arc tho best ; a No. 8 or 9 hook may be employed, and the float must be suitable for the water. Some anglers prefer roving for Pearch in tho following manner : " Use a reel on your rod, and have bottom-tackle of three yards of gut, with a hook No. 8 or 9, with one or two shot-corns to sink the bait, which should be ono or two well-scoured red worms, and you must then cast your line across the stream, letting it sink, and drawing it towards you alternately, till you feel a bite, then allow a few seconds before you strike. You may also drop this bait into still, deep holes, as in Trout-fishing ; indeed, a practical angler — especially an old Trout-fisher — will prefer this mode of worm-fishing to the use of the float." After these apposite instructions there is little more to bo said ; but I cannot refrain from quoting a few lines in relation to the habits of the Yellow Pearch in the West, from the pen of an admirable writer, * * # * * ^ ^jjQ }|^ contributed very largely to our stock of in- formation concerning the fishes of the great lakes and Western rivers of New York, by his admirable articles formerly published in the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser. I shall have occasion to quote from him again, in relation to the Black Bass, the Oswego Bass, and the Lake Sheep's-Head, concerning which he has furnished us with the best information that we possess : " In the spring, as soon as the ice has left the streams, the Pearch begins running up our creeks to spawn. He is then caught in them I'EARCH riBIIINO. 203 ID great plenty. About tho luiddlo of Miiy, howovi^, ho sjeiiH to prcftT tho Niagara's clear current, and alniost entirely dcH'rtM the Tunawandu, and other amber waterH. Vou then find him in the eddies, CD the odgu of Hwift ripples, and often in tho swift waters, watching for the minnow. As tho water-weeds increase in height, he ensconces himself among them, and, in mid-summer, comes out to seek his prey only in the morning and towards night. Ho seems to delight e^pe- ciuUy in a grassy bottoia ; and when tho black frost has cut down tho tall water-weeds, and tho more delicate herbage that never attains tho surface is withered, ho disappears until spring, probably secluding himself in tho depths of tho river. " Tho back fin of tho Pearch is largo, and armed with strong spines, He is bold and ravenous. Ho will not give way to the I'iko or to tho Black Bass ; and though ho may sometimes bo eat(>n by ihom, hi.' .:om- rades will retaliate upon tno young of his destroyers. " Tho proper bait for the Pearch is tho Minnow. Ho will ake that all seasons. In mid-suramor, however, he prefers th,i «:(vm, at which ho generally bites freely. Ho is often taken with .bo grub, or with small pieces of fish of any kind." 1 may hero observe that the Pearch, like his congeners, the various tribes of Bass, will occasionally take the fly, though not so bnWly or freely as to justify its use largely. , ST- t BLACK BASS FISHING IN THE ST. LAWRENCE. From the Files of the BuflFalo Commercial I borrow the following description of the habits, haunts, and modes of taking the Black and Oswego Bass — if diflFerent they be, as I believe they are in the Niagara river. It is by the same distinguished sportsman and sound naturalist to whom I have before alluded in ray article on the Pearch. I prefer quoting him to writing of this fish myself; as although not unacquainted with his habits, I have never yet myself enjoyed the the th pleasure of catching him either with the fly, tne spoon, or shiner : " The Oswego Bass and Black Bass bear so strong a resemblance to each other, that not one fisherman in ten knows them as distinct en- tities. In form, color, weight, and habits, the two are almost pex*- fectly identical ; and yet their differences, though minute, are striking and essential. An Oswego Bass, when placed by a Black Bass of the same size, is readily distinguished by his more forked tail, his greater thickness of shoulder, his coarser scales, and, above all, by his mouth, which, when open, is nearly twice as large as that of the Black Bass. In Lake Ontario, the Oswego Bass is abundant, and the Black Bass comparatively rare. In Lake Erie, the Black Bass greatly predomi- nates, and it may be doubted whether the Oswegoaian — like certain citizens of the Ontario shore — ^is not an interloper in our waters, who has found his way to us from below, through some canal. However this may be, he is certainly right welcome ! " The Black Bass is our chief object of pursuit — ^his capture is our dearest triumph — his captive form our proudest trophy. When word first comes, in June, that the Black Bass bites in our river, what a stir there is among our anglers ! — what questioning as to the when. 302 AMERICAN FISHEB and the where, and by whom, and with what bait, and the number, and size ! — what an anxious inquiry after big minnows ! — what a rak- ing and scraping of pond-holes for soft lobsters ! — what a watching of the skies ! — and, if there be no wind, or a zephyr from the south or west, what bright and hopeful faces ! — but if the storm rage, or an easterly wind, however gentle, fan rubbor **, had much sweotness " i;^?*fe^: 308 AMERICAN FISHES. EEL FISHING AND TRIMMERS. With regard to the Eel, if I consulted my own tastes only, I sliould remain in utter silence, holding them totally below the contempt of the angler, although en matdottey or a la tartare^ on the table they certainly are not despicable ; there are, however, those who probably think oth'irwise, and who would regard it as an omission, perhaps a slight, if I were to pass over their favorite wriggling reptile. I there- fore quote from Hofland's British Angler the following, which com- prises all that can be said on the subject, and is no less applicable to the Eel of America, than to that of Great Britain : " " To angle for Eels, use a strong gut line, with a light float, and No. 9 hook, and bait with a large red worm ; or use a No. 6 hook, and bait with a marsh-worm, and let your bait touch the bottom ; but the most alluring bait I know of for an Eel is, Salmon-roe ; and when fishing for Trout with this bait, the angler will frequently take Eels, much to his annoyance, if, like myself, he detests their dirty slime, and serpent-like writhings. I shall say nothing of bobbing for Eels, or of sniggling, as they are practices below the angler ; but as the largest Eels are caught by night-lines, and this method is a necessary resort for the supply of the table, I shall give the instructions of Daniel on this point. "*It is of little consequence where they — i. e, night-lines — are laid, as they will succeed in streams, when the Eels are in search of food, as well as in the still, deep holes of rivers ; and they will take frogs, black snails, worms. Roach, Dace, Gudgeons, Minnows — which two last are the best — Loaches, Bleaks, and Millers' thumbs ;' a suffi- cient quantity of links, of twelve hairs, should be doubled — or use twisted gut, and a hook tied to each link ; these are to be noosed, at proper distances, to a piece of cord fifteen feet long ; bait the hooks by making an incision with the baiting-needle under the shoulder, and thrusting it out at the middle of the tail, drawing the link after it ; the £EL FISHING AND TRIMLIERS. SOS point of the hook should be upright towards the back of the bait- Gsh ; fasten one end to the bank, ov a stub, and cast the other into the water, but not to the extent of the line, as Eels will run a little before tlze gorge ; the lines should be taken up early in the morning ; such of the lines as have Eels at them will be drawn very tight. Dark nights in July, August, and September, are the best for this kind of fishing. ' " Hooks proper for this method of taking Eels may be purchased, either double or single, and are called Eel-hooks. When a double hook is used, I should say the following mode of baiting is better than Mr. Daniel's. Without a baiting-needle, enter the point at the fish's mouth, and bring it out at the tail, letting the two hooks lie close to the mouth of the bait, as described in baiting the gorge-hook for trolling. " Trimmers, baited with a live Gudgeon, are sure to be taken by Eels. The wire to which hooks are fixed should be strong and well tempered, as the Eel struggles hard to free himself. Very large Eels are caught in the lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland, by trim- mers, baited with small Trout or Pearch — there called Bass — with the back fin cut off. On Derwentwater — Keswick lake — it is a com- mon practice for parties to engage a fisherman, who provides twenty or thirty trimmers ; the tops being painted bright red and white, that they may be seen at a distance. The party should be in the boat by four o'clock, A. M., at the latest; the fisherman then baits the trim- mers with live Bass, small Trout, or Minnows, and places them at equal distances across the lake, spreading to the extent of from half to three-quarters of a mile ; and if there are two or three boats belonging to the party, and the Pike and Eels are on the feed, the great diversion is to see the trimmers carried off by fish, in different directions at the same time, when all becomes animation and exertion in the diC "ent boats ; all rowing towards the trimmers, and eager to seize on their prey ; and very large Pike and Eels are often caught in this manner." 310 AMERICAN FISHES. SHOAL-WATER SEA FISHING. ■'I This sport, which is pursued with great eagerness by many of our city anglers, has for its scene the various channels, bays, shoals, reefs and mud-flats of our harbors, the great land-locked lagoons along our coasts, and many places in the East river, and Long Island, as well as in the estuaries of all the larger rivers from the capes of the Chesa- peake to Massachusetts Bay. It is pursued in boats, which are rowed from spot to spot, and anchored over the various reefs and shoals, or in the vicinity of sunken reefs, about which these fish are supposed to abound, according to the state and variation of the tides. The fish usually taken are the Sque- teague or Weak-Fish, the Barb, or King-Fish, the Tautog or Black- Fish, the Striped Bass, the Sea Bass occasionally, the Sheep's-Head, the Big Poi'gee, and sometimes the Drum. For the Sea Bass, however, and the Porgee, longer excursions are generally necessary, as the best fishing for these is on the outer sea- banks, in the Atlantic, whither steamers and sloops occasionally pro- ceed with companies for a day's amusement. In these, however, there is most frequently more fun than fishing, although sometimes very good sport is had, and greater quantities of fish taken. For Sheep's-Head, again, boats are generally fitted out expressly, as this large powerful fish and heavy biter requires stronger tackle than is needed in the capture of any of the other species. The ordinary booty, therefore, of the shoal-water sea angler, is con- fined, nine times out of ten, to the Weak-Fish, the King-Fish, the Stri- ped Bass, and sometimes the Black-Fish, although this latter differs somewhat from the others in his accustomed haunts ; and for these, all of which may be taken with the same tackle, and nearly with the same baits, he constantly goes prepared. The best localities for this sport are so numerous, and so well known 8M0AL-WATER SEA FISHINC 311 to tlio guides and professional fishermon of cvory neighborhood, that it is needless to enter into a particular narrative of their whereabouts, since it is very little likely that a stranger would attempt to find thera unassisted by a guide, and to the practised and experienced angler of each region, they are of course well known. 312 AMERICAN FISHES. THE WEAK-FISH. The Weak-Fish is a very abundant species in the vicinity of New York, and is angled for with much success in ahnost all parts of the inner bay. The name is said to be derived from the weak mouth of the fish, which is so soft that it very frequently is torn by the hook, and so allows the fish to escape. It pulls fairly upon the hook, and when struck of a considerable size, gives considerable play to the angler before he can be secured. Many persons fish for this species, and the others which haunt the same grounds, with the drop-line, but this is a poor and unexciting sport, as compared with the use of the rod and reel. The best rod is a moderately stiflF general fishing-rod, with a reel, and from one hundred to one hundred and fifty yards of flax or hemp line ; a No. 1 Kirby hook will probably be found, on the whole, the most successful ; and the most killing baits are shrimp, shedder-crabs, or clams. The Weak-Fish occasionally runs up to c*»ht or nine lbs. weight, but the general average does not probably exceed two. When quite fresh out of the water, the Squeteague is a very tolerable fish not a little resembling the Trout in flavor, but it very soon becomes soft and flaccid. It is by no means so game or so good a fish, when taken, as the Striped Bass or the King-Fish, yet it is not without many votaries who pursue it with ardor. Immediately around the Battery, and even from the Castle Garden bridge, good sport is frequently had with this fish, as also on the flats off Communipaw, in Buttermilk Channel, off the Owl's-Head, as well as at Bergen Point, Elizabethtown Point, and many other places, both in the Kills, and in Newark Bay. It is said that ttc afternoon tides are the most favorable for taking the Squeteague, until a short time before sun-set, but that so soon as the peculiar drumming or croaking sound, which is ascribed to this fish, is heard, it is useless to fish longer, as he then ceases to bite. THE BARB, OR KINO-FISH. 3)3 . :) THE BARB, OR KING-FISH. This is, in all respects, a better and finer fish, both for the captor or the epicure, than the last. He is with us, at New York, a summer fish of passage, and is, it is much to be lamented, becoming yearly more and more rare. In Mr. Brown's American Angler's Guide, vt is stated that, " As a game fish, he is considered as giving more reai sport than the Trout, Bass, or Salmon. His name and whereabouts hai; only to be whispered to the New York angler, and he is off after sport that he has perhaps anticipated for years." Now, to this I must record my positive dissent ; for, though it may be, and is, very true that tho King-Fish is a great favorite with the New York angler, that he is a gamo fish, biting briskly in those sea- sons when he is found abunanntly in rhese waters, and offering resist- ance both longer and stronger than any other small salt-water fish — still no one — except those joMy old codgers who consider patience demonstrated by sitting still m.an anchored boat, and comfort evi- denced by the consolation of the inner-man with beef sandwiches and cold brandy-and-wator — ^would droara of considering it better sport to sit for hours, between Black Tom and tho .Jersey shore, with no hope save that of hooking a little fish, which rarely exceeds two pounds in weight, with a bottom bait and strong ground tackle, than to hook s, twenty-pound Salmon with a fly on the surface, and to play him for .\n hour before he can be gaffed. The one sport requires luck and patience — the other skill, hardi- hood, endurance, couragi^, long experience, quick eye, stout heart, fleet foot, and ready liand. How, then, shall these sports be com- pared r I do not desire, however, to discredit the King-Fish ; nor does he 21 314 AMERICAN FI&HE8. in anywise deserve it, as, both for durante vita and post-mortem ex cellcnce, he deserves all honor. He is to be caught most easily with the rod and tackle before de- scribed, under the head of the Squeteaquo, or Weak-Fish, except that a smaller hook should be used, the mouth of the King-Fish bein^ small. The best bait is the shedder-crab. ,• H '■' In a former portion of this work, devoted to the consideration of the natural history of fishes, I have quoted an anecdote, published in tlie New York Commercial Advertiser, of July 6, 1827, recording the capture of four hiivdred and twenty-two King-P^ish, by a boy and a man, in the space of six hours, in Jamaica bay, ofiF Rockaway ; and I find it stated in the American Angler's Guide, that twenty or thirty are often taken in a single tide. The first feat is unsurpassed, and probably never will be equalled ; the second is of most rare occurrence, so much so that now-a-days the angler justly holds himself favored by the marine deities, who kills his half-dozen King-Fish in a day. All this, however, may be changed at any moment; for the comings and goings of all migratory animals are more or less — and those of migratory fishes, most — irregular. Their visits are like those of angels, few and far between. The King-Fish, the Lafayette, the Blue-Fish, nay, even those scaly cus- tomers, the Prawn and the Lobster, will swarm this year, disappear entirely the next, and after an absence, longer, perhaps, than Jacob's double courtship, will again gladden the hearts of their lovers by re- turning ill numbers innumerable. In New York harbor, the flats from Bergen Point to Jersey City, within the fortified islands, and the big rock called Black Tom, and opposite Communipa^', , ,re cLe best waters for the King-Fish. But in the Passaic bay, vrnd off Elizabet!)< wn Point, and also in the lagoons of Long Island, they are taken often in great numbers. May they soon return to us as thickly as of yore, and remain au long as it suiteth them. They shall be welcome. jT THE SEA BASS. 315 V": THE SEA BASS. The Sea Bass is another gentleman among hia finny comrades, and he is sometimes taken by the rod-fisher while angling for the Sque- teaque, or King-Fish. He is, however, difficult so to kill, and is com- paratively rare in the inner waters. On the sea banks without Sandy Hook, in the lower bay, and in the Sound, he is very abundant, and affords great sport to those who are satisfied with quick biting and continual hauling in. Both for the Bass and the 3ig Porgee, stout hempen or flaxen drop- lines are the most successful, varying from ten to twenty-five fathoms in length, fitted with a single sinker of a pound weight, and three or four hooks on seniarate snoods, eighteen inches asunder, of various sizes, for various species of fish. For Porgees, the No. 3, round Black-Fish-hook, is preferred ; for Sea Bass, No. 1 or 2, Kirby. The only bait is the clam, and it is desirable to salt him for a day, which, hardening the flesh, renders it more difficult for the fish to abstract him. '^i ii i ^ .• i- : No skill is required for this mode of fishing, except that of keeping one's wits about him, striking very sharply the instant he feels a bite, and hauling in rapidly with a taut line ; for, if a slack occurs, the fish will often disengage themselves. Many people are very fond of this sport, but I hold it, after all, but heavy work, not the less so for being considerably laborioas, and for the fact that hauling in the small, cutting line, hand over hand, and the salt-water, are apt to make the fingers exceeding sore, if gloveless ; and to use gloves in angling, would be something like donning the upper Benjamin with fox-hounds. ■ - , * 316 AMERICAN FISHES. THE TATJTOG, OR BLACK-FISH. Of him Dr. Mitchil, not unsagely, nor unpleasantly, discourseth after this fashion. The facts of natural history, as herein recorded, are worthy of all confidence ; nor arc the maxims worthless to the angler : " The Black-Fish abounds in the vicinity of Long Island, and is a stationary inhabitant of the salt-water. He never visits the rivers, like Salmon or Sturgeon ; nor, on the other hand, deserts his dwelling- place as they do. He is fond of rocks, reefs and rough bottoms. He is taken through the whole course of Long Island Sound, Fisher's Island Sound, and in the neighborhood of Rhode Island. The Tautog was not originally known in Massachusetts Bay ^ but within a few years he has been carried beyond Cape Cod, and has multiplied so abundantly, that the Boston market has now a full supply, without the necessity of importing from Newport and Providence. The Black- Fish, however, does not confine himself to rough bottoms ; for he is also caught in the southern bays of Long Island, and on the banks of the ocean off Sandy Hook. He is considered, by the New Yorkers, as a very fine fish for the table. He grows to the weight of ten or twelve pounds, and even more ; but it is a fish of a good size, that equals two or three. " He may be kept for a long time in ponds or cars ; and fed, and even fatted there. When the cold of winter benumbs him, he refuses to eat any more, and a membrane is observed to form over the vent, and close it. He begins to regain appetite with the return of warmth in the spring. The blossoming of the dogwood, cornus Jlorida, early in April, is understood to denote the time of baiting Black-Fish. As soon as these flowers unfold, the fishermen proceed with their hooks and lines to the favorite places. If there is no dogwood, a judgment is derived from the vegetation of the chestnut tree castanca vcsca. The THE TAUTOO, OR BLACK-FISH. 317 season of baiting is reckoned very favorable until the increasing warmth of the Reason brings food enough to fill their stomachs, and they thereupon afford less pastime to the sportsman, and less profit to the professor. The people express this scntiiaent in these ooarM rhymes : ^ " ' When chestnut leaves are as big as thumb nail, Then bite Black-Fish without fail ; But when chestnut leaveo are as long as a span, Then catch Black-Fish if you CF 11.' " " The common bait for Black-Fish is the l >ft clam, nya. The soldier crab, or fiddler, ocypoda, will frequently tempt him when he refuses to taste the other. And he snaps very readily at the large finny worm of the salt-water beaches, nereis^ when used on a hook for him. . " " Some persons, who live contiguous to the shores where are sit- uated the rocks frequented by Tautog, invite the fish there by baiting. By this is meant the throwing overboard broken clams or crabs, to induce the Black Fish to renew their visits, and fine sport is pro- cured. " Rocky shores and bottoms are the haunts of Black-Fish. Long experience Is required to find all these places of resort. Nice obser- vations on the landmarks, in different directions, are requisite to enable a fishing party to anchor on the proper spot. When, for example, a certain rock and tree range one way, with a barn window appearing over a headland the other way, the boat being at the point where two such lines intersect each other, is exactly over some famous rendezvous. To insure success on such expectation, it is proper to have a pilot along, well versed in all the local and minute knowledge According to the number and distance of the rocks and reefs visited, will be the time consumed, from the duration of a few hours to a long summer's day. An opinion prevails, that the Black-Fish can hear very well ; and, for fear of scaring them away, the greatest stillness is observed. He is a strong fish, and pulls well for one of his weight and size. " At some places Black-Fish bite best upon the flood : in others, they are voracious during the ebb. Thunder accompanying a shower 318 AMERICAN FISHES h U an indication that no more of them can be caught. The appcarancfl of a porpoise infallibly puts an end to sport. Curious alorics are told of fiiih in the wells and ponds, floating in their native elemtjit. having been found dead, after sharp and repeated flashes of lightning. Dull weather, with an easterly wind, is generally the omen of ill luck. The exploits pcrl> .rmcd in fishing for Tautog, are recounted occasion- ally, with remarkable glee ; and they afi'ord a never-failin;^ theme of entertainment to those who are engaged in that sort of adventure. Though the hand line is generally used, the rod is sometimes employ- ed to great advantage. The Black-Fish is remarkable for retaining life a long time after he is taken out of water. He sometimes swims over even ground, and is caught in seans." * = ' "^ ' "■ A stout trolling rod, with a strong flaxen line, and a reel, are the best implements. The hooks should be those known universally as the Black-Fish hook, of various sizus, according to the angler's taste, ranging from three to ten. These should be armed — two being used, which is tlie proper number — on hook links of trcbiy-twiatcd gut, re- spectively, of twelve and fifteen inches, which links should be securely fastened to a small brass ring. This ring is to be looped to the end of the line to which ihe sinker is appended. This is ♦.he best arrungement of the 'noks for all salt-water shoal bait fishing. » ' • '" The Black-Fish is entirely a bottom fish, and is caught everywhere within his geographical range, in whirls and eddies, in the close vici- nity of rocks and reefs. Robin's reef, at the entrance of the Kills, is a favorite feeding- ground ; and some years since I had rare sport daily for many weeks, about the hull of the wrecked packet ship Henri Quatre, below the Narrows. The rocks off the well-known watering house, the Sachem's Head, on the Sound, and many other rocks in the bays and Sound of Long Island, are of equal reputation. . ^ He must be struck sharply, and pulled up without a moment's quarter. He is better in the pan than on the hook, and better on the table than in the pan. How you may cook him you shall learn hereafter. THE sheep's-head. 319 THE SHEEP'S-HEAD. ,er. This capital fish, which holds tlu; same repute in America which is held by the Turbot in Kurop 'jometimes hook' J by the rod-fisher while angling for the Barb, S(£u le, or Striped Bass ; but when this occurs, he generally beats .. icueat successfully, currying off with hiiu bait, bottom-lino and hooks together^ Still he is sometimes mastered by delicate skill and judicious ad- ministration of the reel, but then only by the .stoutest tacklo, manipula- ted by the best of fishermen. Drop-lines of .strong hempen cord, or the ordinary Cod-line two hundred yards long, with a heavy sinker, and a large stout Black-Fish hook, will, however, pretty cer- tainly bring him home. He frequents the vicinity of rocks, and loves to Ibito at the small rock-crab, and the soft-shelled clam. The best way is to bait with the clam whole and unbroken, burying the whole hook nearly to the arming in the neck of the clam. By doing this, the incessant and vexatious nibbling of the small fish i^j avoided ; and the shell of the clam is a mere nothing to the great paved round teeth, which line the palate of this strong, voracious fish. Where small fish are not frequent, the clams may be put on open, with success. The Sheep's-Head is becoming scarce in the harbor of New York, and those brought into the city come mostly from tho south bays of Long Island. No fish is better on the table, or more valued. He is the highest prize of the salt-water angler, and the idol of the epicure's adoration. Let him enjoy his reputation, he deserves it ; perhaps the know- ledge of his posthumous honors may be a consolation to him in his death-pang. % r 7: ^1^ j> '> '^'^•V!/' ^ ^.v^* ^ '% ^ ? ^ r IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 IA£IM 12.5 150 "^M ■■■ m L25 114 11 1.6 PhotDgraphic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. USSO (716)8714503 asM AMERICAN FISHES. THE DRUM. Neither to catch nor to cook the Drum, will I teach you, gentle reader mine, for he is not worth the hook which he will prohably carry away, if you strike him," nor the salt which you might waste in season- ing him. Unless in his vast size and great power, he has no merit, and in these he is surpassed by the Shark, the Porpoise, and the Whale, for which I should about as soon think of angling. ■.-^- \ BLUE-FISH FISHING. A. general favorite from his southern to his extreme northern limit, this great Mackerel is every where an object of pursuit, and deserves to be so, both for the fun of taking and the pleasure of eating him. When fresh from the water he is superlative. A very bold and daring biter, he is caught in great numbers in swift tide-ways, eddies and inlet mouths. In the Sound, in the Long Island South Bay chan- nels, in the inlets of the Jersey beaches, from June to August, he affords rare sport. Sail for him in a large cat-rigged boat, and the fresher the breeze, and the brisker the sea, the better. In large schuUs he swims i3°ar the surface, leaping at every living thing which crosses his track of devastation. When you have the luck to strike a schull, stick to it perseveringly, f BLUE-FISH ri8HI270. mi crossing it tack and tack, as fast as you can go about in the direction of its course ; and if the gods of the deep look with benignance on your labors, you shall kill a hundred at the least, in a tide. Thus fish for him : To a stout cotton line of a hundred yards, affix a squid of bright tin, or bone,armed with a good-sized Kirby hook, with a strong gimp hook-link. Make fast the end of your line to a cleet in the stern of the boat, then whirl out the squid to the whole length of your line, and play it with both hands alternately. The fish will strike itself, and is to be hauled in with a regular eten pull, never jerked, nor yet slacked for an instant, for if it be, the fish will dis- engage himself almost certainly. When you tack your boat, if the water be shoal, haul in your line, else shall you foul it in the sea-weeds. When you have hooked your fish, raise your squid with the hook uppermost, and a slight shake shall cast him into the bottom of the boat. Babylon, Islip, and Quogue, on Long Island, in Fire Island inlet, and Pine inlet, Shrewsbury, Squam-Beach, and Barnegat, in New Jer- sey, the estuaries of the rivers in Connecticut, and the tide-ways in Boston harbor, are all favorite grounds for Blue-Fishing. To conclude : there is no pleasanter summer day's amusement than a merry cruise after the Blue-Fish, no pleasanter close to it than the clam-bake, the chowder, and the broiled Blue-Fish, lubricated with champagne, learnedly frappee, and temperately taken, no unpleasant medicine. What adds most to the zest of such a day, is the presence of the charming sex, this being one of the few sports of field or flood in which they can femininely, and therefore fittingly, participate. For the rest, you may take Blue-Fish, say the philosophers, of thirty pounds weight, though I doubt it. Of four and five pounds you shall catch him surely ; if of eight, rejoice ; if of ten, sing pooans, — for that is a triumph. 't ? S2'2 AMERICAN FISHES. DEEP SEA FISHING. The Cod, the Haddock, the Whiting, the Hake, the Halibut, and the Flounder, may be caught every where north of Massachusetts ; and from Boston to the eastward, parties of pleasure are made constantly to take them. On the Great Banks they are most abundant, but in Boston Bay great sport is not uncommon, nor is it unusual for a single boat to bring in its fifteen or twenty quintals of these fine fish. The whole sport consists in the frequency of the biting, and the size of the fish, which, for the most part, varies from ten to fifteen pounds ; for though they are sharp and voracious biters, they require no play when hooked, offering only an inert resistance, and a dead heavy pull. Fifty yards of stout hempen line, two small-sized Cod-hooks, baited ^ith the mud-clam, the menhaden, or where it can be procured, the capelin, and a pound sinker, is all your apparatus. With this, in any eastern water, you may rest assured of returning home with a boat-load of fish, a set of very weary limbs, a pair of very sore hands, and an enormous appetite, of which, mejudice^ the first and the last alone are desirable. If you be content with these, fair or gentle reader, go out for deep- sea fishing when and where you will, provided you ask me to follow you no farther ; for here, once more we must part. Ere long, if the fates — and the booksellers — be propitious, I trust, to meet again, with undiminished satisfaction, each of us with the other. And so fare ye well, who have accompanied me so far on my ram- bling way; may all your pleasures, as you would have them, be both long and lasting ; and all your pains, as ye must have them, being mortal men, brief and transitory ; and so may fair fortunes be about ye. and kind thoughts toward Frank Forester. ^ /■ APPENDlA. /■ APPENDIX.-(A.) IHE ANGLER'S APPARATUS, Fh>m Hofland't BritUh Angler's Mannal. / It is impossible to become a successful angler, without such u com- plete and well-arranged assortment of tackle as will enable you to be prepared for all times, seasons, and circumstances ; and a true brother of the craft will find much to amuse him in the exercise of his inge- nuity in making and repairing lines, flies, &c., and in the orderly disposition of the materials of hi» art — of which the following is a list: Rods for Salmon-fishing, trolling, spinning the minnow and bleak, fly-fishing, and angling at the bottom. Jiines of hau:, silkworm gut, Indian weed, plaited silk and hair, and patent lino for trolling. Winches or reels for running-tackle. Hooks for trolling, on wire or gimp, for the gorge, the snap, &o. Bleak and minnow tackle, and baiting needles, of various sizes. Hooks tied on gut, from No. 4 to No. 12. Hooks tied on hair, from No. 10 to No. 13. ,. v Loose hooks of all sizes. ^ j^^ '- t1 Paternosters for Pearch-fishing. ,: ;,/ vf ; -. . ,,; > *. Shoemakers' wax and sewing-silk. ■%,,/. Floats of various sizes, and caps for floats. Split shot and plummets for taking the depth of the water. Disgorger, clearing ring, and drag. Landing-net, gaff, and kettle for live bait. Gentle-box, and bags for worms. A fishing-basket, creel, or game pouch. v1-- 326 APPENDIX. — A. A T>air of pliers, a pair of soiflsors, and a penknife. A book of artificial flies. A book of general tackle. RODS. Choice rods are of the utmost consequence to the angler's success, and various instructions have been given by different authors for selecting pioper kinds of wood for the purpose, and the method of making them ; but as excellent rods of every description are now to be purchased in almost every part of the United Kingdon, I shall recommend such as will be generally useful, and may be procured without difficulty at any of the fishing-tackle shops in London. In choosing a rod, be careful to examine if the joints fit securely, if it be perfectly straight when put together, and if it spring equally in all its parts, from the butt to the top, when bent. \ That which is commonly termed a " general rod " will be found most useful to the traveller who has not an opportunity of carrying more than one with him at a time, it being so contrived that it may be used either for fly-fishing, trolling, or bottom fishing, as the butt of the rod is bored, and contains several spare tops, i. e., one for the fly, one for spinning the Minnow, one for the float, and another for trolling — the whole being conveniently packed up in a canvas bag. Although this kind of rod will be found highly serviceable on many jccasions, I would by no means recommend the use of it when you lave an opportunity of employing separate and appropriate rods for ihe different kinds of angling. The rods used exclusively for fly- fishing should be as light as possible, consistent with' strength, and if for throwing with one hand, not more than from twelve to fourteen feet long, and if with both hands, not more than from sixteen to eighteen feet. Indeed, a rod shorter than either of these would be found very convenient in a narrow, closely-wooded stream, where it is frequently necessary to force your fly with a short line under over- hanging bushes I am acquainted with some excellent anglers in the north of Eng- land, who cannot be persuaded to use any other fly-rod than one composed of two pieces only, and spliced in the middle ; but this is APPENDIX. A 327 inconvenient to carry, and the jointed rods are now brought to such perfection, that I feel assured they will answer every purpose of the spliced' rods, besides being much more portable. The Irish fly-rods are screwed together at each joint, and are much more elastic than die English rods. THE TROLLING ROD Should be very strong, and not less than twelve nor more than sixteen feet in length, with large rings upon it, that the line may run freely. The rod for spinning a Minnow or Bleak should be of bamboo cane, and from eighteen to twenty feet long, with a tolerably stiflF top ; the rings should be placed at a moderate distance from each other, and be of the middle size. The barbed rod^ for angling with the ledger-bait, should have a stiff top, and be about eleven or twelve feet in length ; but for float- fishing it must be much lighter and something longer. The rod for Roach and Dace should be of bamboo cane, and, if for bank-fishing, from eighteen to twenty feet long ; but if for angling from a punt, not more than eleven or twelve feet. It must be very light, perfectly taper, and of a proper degree of elasticity, as the angler's success in Roach and Dace-fishing will depend upon his dexterity and quickness in striking when he has a bite. Many anglers never fish without running-tackle, that they may be always prepared to encounter a large fish ; but they must not hr j e to meet with the same sport in Roach and Dace-fishing as those do v tio use a light rod without rings, and a short line, when the chance of striking your fish is much more certain. , LINES. The host lines for running-tackle are composed of silk and hair, of different degrees of strength and thickness, according to the purpose for which they are intended. For Salmon-fishing, a strong winch or pirn, large enough to contain from eighty to one hundred yards of line, is requisite, and for Trout a brass reel, containing from thirty to forty yards of line, gradually tapering to a few hairs at the end, where a foot-link of gut containing the flies is to be fixed. > ' 328 APPEITDIX. — A. Silkworm gut lines are from two to four yards, and are used as lengths to be added to the line on the reel, either for fly or bottom- fishing. ' Lines for trolling are of several kinds, some of twisted silk, and others of silk and hair, but that sold by the tackle-makers, called patent troll ing-linc, is in most general use. A strong reel, and from forty to sixty yards of line, are requisite. Indian weed is a good material for bottom-tackle, but inferior to the silkworm gut. Eel-lines, night-lines, and trimmers, may be purchased ready fitted up. A winch, or reel, is used for running-tackle, and is generally made of brass, but I have seen them in Scotland made of wood, where they are called pirns ; the multiplying reel was formerly much used, but from its liability to be out of order, a plain reel, without a stop, is now generally preferred. Reels are of various sizes, containing from 1 twenty to one hundred yards of line. Bleak and Minnow tackle are of endless variety in form and con- trivance, almost every experienced angler having his own peculiar plan. The paternoster is a line used for Pearch fishing, made of strong gut, and should bo connected with a running-line by a fine steel swivel. It contains three hooks, the size Nos. 7, 8, or 9, placed at equal distances from each other; the first near the bottom, where a small plummet of lead is fixed to sink the line, and the others each from eighteen inches to two feet apart. The hooks are so contrived by swivels as to revolve round the line, and thereby give play to the live Minnows with which they are to be baited. FLOATS. Much care and judgment are required in adapting your float to the various streams or waters in which you angle. A deep and rapid river will require a float that will carry from sixteen to twenty of No. 4 shot. If the stream be deep and the current gentle, a float carrying one-half that number of shot will be sufficiently heavy ; and when the water is perfectly still, a very light quill-float, carrying two of No. 6 APPENDIX. A. 32ft ttliot, should bo used ; and I may remark here, that the smaller your float, the fowor the number of shot, and the finer your bottom-tackle, the greater will be your success. The tip-capped float is the best for pond-fishing and for gentle streams, as the line is confined at each end of the float by a cap, which enables you to strike at a fish with greater precision than with a plugged float, which has a wire ring at the bottom for the line to run through. In shotting the line, I prefer a number of small shot to a few large ones, as they make less disturbance in the water. Your line must bo shotted till not more than the cap of your float is seen above the water, unless it should be very rough from wind or a rapid current, in which case something more of the float must swim above water. The porcupine quill is a favorite float with some anglers, but for a moderate stream I prefer a swan's quill. f" \ . I THE LANDINO-NBT AND OAFF. The Innding-net may be purchased so contrived as to unscrew from a socket in the handle — ^which should bo four or flve feet long — and a gafT or hook for landing Salmon, Pike, and large Trout, may also be bought to screw into the same socket, and both the net and gaff may bo oftrried in your basket or creel till you reach the river side 22 APPENDIX.-(B.) THE PLY-FISHER'S APPARATUS. From HolUnd's Brittth Angler'i ManuiU. A COMPLETE fly-fisher will make his own flies, and will find much amusement in the practice of this delicate art. It will he necessary that he should provide himself with the following materials to enable i him to imitate the flies described heretofore : HOOKS. London, Kirby-sneck, and Limerick hooks, of all sizes. Of these, the Limerick hook is in the greatest general estimation ; but in the north of England, the Kirby-sneck hook is preferred for small hacklu Sies. FEATHERS. f Cooks' and hens' hackles, of all colors ; those chiefly in use are red, ginger, coch-a-bonddu, black, dun, olive, grizzle, and white ; the latter for dying yellow, &c. Peacock's herl, coppery colored, green, and brown. Black ostrich's herl. Gallino fowls' spotted feathers. The feathers of the turkey, the grouse, ptarmigan, pheasant — cock and hen — woodcock, snipe, dotteril, landrail, starling, golden plover or peewit, wild mallaj-d, bustard, sea-swallow, wren, jay^ blackbird, throstle, blue pigeon, argus and silver pheasant. Water-rat's fur, mole's fur, and hare's ear. Mohair, dyed, of all colors. V APPCNDIX. — B 831 Fine French sewingHiilk, of all colon. Flos silk, of all colors. German wool, of all colon. Gold and silver twist. Silk twist, cobblers' and bees'-wax. A pair of plien, a pair of fine-pointed scissors, a small hand slide- rice, and a fine-pointed strong dnbbing-needlo. Silkworm gat, from the finest to the strongest, and Salmon gut single and twisted Lengths of the white and sorrel hairs >f stallions' tails. \^ •OK APPENDIX.-(0.) ^^1 V A HOW TO COOK FISH THE SALMON -^ . Me judice, the king of fishes, is the best plain boiled. His richness is sufficient, his fla\ur so excellent, that, so far from being improved, his natural qualities are destroyed and overpowered, by anything of artificial condiment. MY OWN RECEIPT FOR BOILING SALMON. If you are ever so lucky as to catch a Salmon, where incontinently you can proceed to cook him, that is to say, in the wilderness, within ten yards of the door of your shantee, with the fire burning and the pot boiling — good ! Stun him at once by a heavy blow on the head ; crimp him by a succession of cuts on each side, through the muscle, quite down to the back-bone, with a very sharp knife, in slashes parallel to the gill-cover. Then place him for ten minutes in a cold spring, or under the jet of n water-fall. In the meantime, keep your pot boiling, nay, but screech- ing with intense heat, filled with brine strong enough to bear an egg. Therein immerse him, having cut out the gills, opened the belly, and washed the inside, and boil him at the rate of seven minutes and a half to the pound ; dish him, and, serving him with no sauce save a turecn- fuU of the water in which he has been boiled, proceed to eat him, with /^ APPENDIX. -C. 333 no other condiment than a little salt and the slightest squeeze of a lemon. I do not object to cucumber sliced very fine, with a dressing of oil, three tablespoons to one of vinegar, salt, and black pepper quantum mff ; but I regard green peas, or any other vegetable, with thb grand fish, as a cockney abomination. SOYER's receipt SALMON AU NATUREL. Clean and prepare as before ; but, if he be not fresh enough to crimp, scale him, and proceed as follows : " Put your fish in cold water, using a pound of salt to every six quarts of water ; let it be well-covered with water, and set it over a moderate fire ; when it begins to simmer, set it on the side of the fire. If the fish weighs four pounds^ let it simmer half an hour — if eight pouuds, three-quarters of an hour, and so on in proportion ; dish it on a napkin, and serve lobster or shrimp-sauce in a boat." soyer's lobster-sauce for salmon. Put twelve table-spoonsful of melted butter into a stew-pan ; cut a middling-sized hen-lobster into dice, make a quarter of a pound of lobster-butter with the spawn, thus : take out the spawn and pound it well in a mortar, then add a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, mix them well together, then rub it through a hair sieve ; when the molted butter is upon the point of boiling, add the lobster-butter, stir the sauce round over the fire, until the butter is melted ; season with a little essence of anchovy, the juice of half a lemon, and a quarter of a tea- spoonful of cayenne ; pass it through a tamis into another stew-pan, then add the flesh of the lobster. When hot, it is ready to serve where directed. This sauce must be quite red ; if not red in the lob- ster, use live spawn. soyer's shrimp sauce. Make the melted butter as for the last, but finish with the essence of shrimps, and serve half-a-pint of pickled shrimps in the boat with it If no essence of shrimps, the anchovy sauce may be served with shrimp'i in it as a substitute, if no essence can be had. 334 APPENDIX. — C. SALMON A LA BEYROOT Broil two slices of Salmon, in oiled paper, over a moderate fire ; when they are done, peel the skin from the edge, and lay them on a dish without a napkin ; have ready the following sauce : put one table- spoonful of chopped onions in a stew-pan, with one ditto of Chili vine- gar, one of common vinegar, two ditto of Harvey sauce, two ditto of mushroom catsup, and twenty tablespoonsful of melted butter ; let it reduce till it adheres to the back of the spoon, then add two table- spoonsful of essence of anchovy, and a small quantity of sugar, pour it over the fish, and serve it hot. ' • % ' ■■,■'■ HOW TO COOK TROrx My own Method. This is the method of the woods, and in the woods I learnt it ; but having learned, I practice it at home, considering the Trout one of the most delicious morceaux^ when thus cooked, in the world. It must be cooked, however, in the open air, by a wood fire kindled on the ground or by a charcoal fire in a small Boston furnace. Clean and scale your fish, open, clean and wash him internally ; take for a one pound fish two small skewers of red cedar wood, upon each thread a piece of fat salt pork half-an-inch square ; with these fasten the belly of the fish asunder, annex him by the tail to a twig of pliant wood, which suffer to bend over the fire so as to bring the fish oppo- site the blaze, place a large biscuit or a slice of thin dry toast under the drip of the gravy, cook quickly — for a two-pound fish, ten minutes will suffice — dish with the biscuit under him, and eat with salt and lemon-juice, or, if you please, with shrimp or lobster sauce, or a dash of Worcestershire or Harvey sauce, though I think these, for my own cheek, bad taste. TROUT AU NATUREL. , ^ A large Sea-Trout or Salmon-Trout is to be cleaned, cooked and eaten precisely as the Salmon in my first receipt. I conceive, myself, that any piquante or rich sauce overpowers the flavor of the fish, and APPENDIX. 335 should therefore be eschewed ; but those who favor such thintrs maj eat him with shrimp or lobster sauce as above. HOW TO COOK PIKE. ■■ ■■ " c**. Nobbs' Receipt for dressing a Pike. Take your Pike and open him ; rub him within with salt and claret wine ; save the milt, and a little of the bloody fat ; out him in two or three pieces, and put him in when the water boils ; put in with him sweet marjoram, savory, thyme, or fennel, with a good handful of salt ; let them boil nearly half an hour. For the sauce, take sweet butter, anchovies, horse-radish, claret wine, of each a good quantity ; a little of the blood, shalot, or garlic, and some lemon sliced ; beat them well together, and serve him up. " ' ' -^ Soy efs Receipt for Pike roasted. This fish in France is found daily upon the tables of the first epi- cures, but the quality of the fish there appears much more delicate than here. But perhaps the reason of its being more in vogue there is, that other fish are more scarce ; not being so much in use here — that is, in Loudon — but in the country, where gentlemen have sport in catching them, they are much more thought of, and to them, per- haps, the following receipts may be the most valuable. To dress it plain it is usually baked, as follows : having well cleaned the fish, stufl" it, and sew the belly up with packthread ; butter a saute-pan, put the fish into it and place it in the oven for an hour or more, according to the size of it ; when done, dish it without a napkin, and pour anchovy sauce round it ; this fish, previous to its being bakf- lUst be trussed with its tail in its mouth, four incisions cut on eacu side, and well buttered over. Pike d, la Chambord. The large fish are the only ones fit for this dish, (which is much thought of in France.) Have the fish well cleaned, and lard it in a square on one side with bacon, put it in a fish-kettle, the larded side upwards, and prepare the following marinade : slice four onions, one carrot, and one turnip, and put them in a stew-pan with six bay-leaves, 336 APPENDIX. six cloves, two blades of mace, a little thyme, basil, a bunch of parsley, half-a-pound of lean ham, and half-a-pound of butter ; pass it over a slow fire twenty minutes, keeping it stirred ; then add half a bottle of Madeira wine, a wineglassful of vinegar, and six quarts of broth ; boil altogether an hour, then pass it through a sieve, and pour the liquor into the kettle over the fish ; set the fish on the fire to stew for an hour or more, according to the size, but take care the marinade does not cover the fish, moisten the larded part, now and then, with the stock, and put some burning charcoal on the lid of the kettle ; when done, glaze it lightly, dish it without a napkin, and have ready the following sauce : put a pint of the stock your fish was stewed in — hav- ing previously taken off all the fat — into a stew-pan, with two glasses of Madeira wine, reduce it to half, then add two quarts of brown sauce, keep it stirred over the fire till the sauce adheres to the back of the wooien spoon, then add the rocs of four carp or mackerel — cut in large pieces, but be careful not to break them — twenty heads of very white mushrooms, twenty cockscombs, twelve large quenellings of whiting, and finish with a tablespoonful of essence of anchovies and half a one of sugar, pour the sauce round the fish, arranging the garni- ture with taste, add twelve crawfish to the garniture, having previously taken off all the small claws ; serve very hot. This dish, I dare say, will be but seldom made in this country, on account of its complication, but I thought proper to give it on account of the high estimation in which it is held in France ; I must, however, observe, that I have omitted some of the garniture which would make it still more expensive, and if there should be any difficulty in getting what remains, the sauce is very good without. Pike en matelote. Stuff and bake the fish as before ; when done, dress it without a napkin, and pour a sauce matelote in the middle and round the fish, and serve very hot. Or the fish may be stewed as in the last. Pike a la Hollandaise. Boil the fish in salt and water, in the same manner as Cod-Fish ; drain it well, dish it without a napkin, pour a sauce Hollandaise over it APPBNDIX.- 337 A\ -Fish; lover it Small Pi's d la MeunUre. Crimp a ^mall Piko, it must not weigh more than two pounds, but smaller if you can get it, and prooood exactly as for Solo k la meu- nidre, but allow it more time. Pike with caper tauee. Boil the fish as before, and have ready caper sauce made as follows : put fifteen tablespoonsful of melted butter in a stew-pan, and when it boils add a quarter of a pound of fresh butter ; when it melts, add two tablcspoonsful of liaison ; lot it remain on the fire to thicken, but do not let it boil ; moisten with a little milk if required, then add two tablcspoonsful of capers, and pour over the fish. Pike d la Maitre tVHdtel. Boil the fish as usual, and dbh it without a napkin ; then put twelve tablospoonfuls of melted butter in a stow-pan ; and when it is upon the point of boiling, add a quarter of a pound of mattre d'hdtel butter, and when it melts pour over and round the fish ; serve very hot. Pike d la Egyplienne. Cut two onions, two turnips, one carrot, ono head of celery, and onu leek into slices ; put them into a largo stow-pan with some parsley, thyme, bay-leaves, and a pint of port wine ; then have your fish ready trussed, with its tail in its mouth ; put it into the stew-pan, with the vegetables ; add three pints of broth, and sot it on a slow fire to stew, with some live charcoal upon the lid ; try, when done, by running the knife close in to the back bone ; if the moat detaches easily, it is done ; take it out, and place on a baking sheet ; dry it with a cloth, then egg and bread-crumb it ; put it in the oven, and salamander it a light brown ; then put twenty tablcspoonsful of white sauce in a stew-pan, with eight of milk, and reduce it five minutes ; then add four gher- kins, the whites of four hard-boiled eggs, and two truffles, cut in very small dice ; finish with two tablcspoonsful of essence of anchovies, the juice of half a lemon, and four pats of butter ; dress the fish without a napkin, and sauce over. Fillets of Pike en matelote. If for a dinner for twelve, fillet four small Pike ; egg and bread- 338 APPENDIX. — C. pnunb, and fry in oil ; dish them round on a border of mashed pota- toes, previously cutting each fillet in halves, and serve sauce matelote in the centre. FUlets of Pike d la MeuniirC' Fillet four Pike as above, cut each fillet in halves, rub some chop- ped eschalot into them, dip them in flour, broil them ; when done, sauce as for Sole k la meunidre. Observe, if you happen to live in the country where Pike is plentiful, you may dish the fillets in as many ways as Soles, or any other fish ; but I have omitted giving them here, thinking it useless to fill a useful book with so many repetitions ; we have several, ways of dressing Pike to be eaten cold in France, which I have also omitted, as they would be quite useless in this country. HOW TO COOK PEARCH. The best mode of cooking a Pearch, under a pound weight, is by I . broiling it. Small Pearch will serve to make water-souchy thus : Scale, gut, and wash your Pearch ; put salt in your water ; when it boils put in the fish, with an onion cut in slices, and seperated into rings; a handful of parsley, picked and washed clean ; put in as much milk as will turn the water white ; when your fish are done enough, put them in a soup dish, and pour a little of the water over them, with the parsley, and the onions ; then serve them up with parsley and butter in a boat. Large Pearch may be crimped and boiled in che same way. Soyer^s Receipt for Pearch d la HoUandai$e. Have three middling-sized fishes ready prepared for cooking ; then put two ounces of butter, two onions, in slices, one carrot, cut small, some parsley, two bay-leaves, six cloves, and two blades of mace in a stew-pan ; pass it five minutes over a brisk fire, then add a quart of water, two glasses of vinegar, one ounce of salt, and a little pepper ; boil altogether a quarter of an hour, and pass it through a sieve into a small fish-kettle ; then lay the fishes into it, and let them stew twenty or thirty minutes over a moderate fire ; dress them on a dish without a napkin, and pour a sauce HoUandabe over them. APPENDIX. — C. Pearch d la Maitre d'Hdtel. 33d Prepare and oook your fish as above ; then put twenty tablespoons- ful of melted butter in a stew-pan, and when it is upon the point of boiling, add a quarter of a pound of Mattre d'Hdtel butter, and pour the sauce over the fish, which dress on a dish without a napkin. Small Pearehea en izaUr touchet. Cut four small fishes in halves, having previously taken off all the scales, and proceed precisely as for Flounders en water souchet. Small Pearehea frits au beurre. Scale and well dry six Pearches, and make incisions here and there on each side of them ; then put a quarter of a pound of butter into a sautd-pan, season your fishes with pepper and salt, put them in the sautd-pan and fry them gently, turning them carefully ; when done, dress them on a napkin, garnish with parsley, and serve without sauce. In my opinion, they are much better cooked in this way than boiled or stewed ; large fish may also be done this way, but they require more butter, and must cook very slowly. HOW TO COOK CARP. Izaak Walton'a receipt. But first, I will tell you how to make this Carp, that is so curious to be caught, so curious a dish of meat as shall make him worth all your labor and patience. And though it is not without some trouble and charges, yet it will recompense both. Take a Carp — alive if possible ; scour him, and rub him clean with water and salt, but scale him not ; then open him, and put him with his blood and liver, which you must save when you open him, into a small pot or kettle ; then take sweet marjoram, thyme, or parsley, of each a handful ; a sprig of rosemary, and mother-of-savory ; bind them into two or three small bundles, and put them to your Carp, with four or five whole onions, twenty pickled oysters, and three anchovies. Then pour upon your Carp as much claret wine as will only cover him ; and season your claret well with salt, cloves and mace, and the rind of oranges and lemons. That done, cover your pot, and set it on a quick fire till it be sufficiently boiled. Then take out the Carp, and lay it with 340 APPENDIX. — C. the broth into the dish, and pour upon it a quarter of a pound of the best fresh butter, melted and beaten with a half-a-dozen spoonsful ol the broth, the yolks of two or three eggs, and some of the herbs shred ; garnish your dish with lemons, and so serve it up, and much good to you. Soyer'a Receipt for Carp en matelote. Have your fish ready cleaned, and make four or five incisions on each side ; then put two sliced onions, three sprigs of thyme and pars- ley, and half-a-pint of port wine in a Htew-pan, or small fi&h-kettle ; season the fish with pepper and salt, lay it in the stew-pan, add four pints of broth, and place it on a slow fire to stew for an hour — which will be sufficient for a fish of five pounds weight — or more, in propor- tion to the size ; when done, dress it on a dish, without a napkin ; drain it well, and serve a matelote sauce over it ; only use some of the stock from the fish, having previously taken off all the fat, instead of plain broth, as directed in that article. Carp d la Oenoise. Prepare your fish as above, and lay it in your fish-kettle, with two ounces of salt, half a bottle of port wine, two onions, two turnips, on 3 leek, one carrot, cut in slices, three bay-leaves, six cloves, two blades of mace, and a sprig of parsley, cover the fish with white broth ; stew it as before, dress it without a napkin, prepare a sauce Genoise and poiu" over it. Stewed Carp d la Marquise. Cook the fish as above, and when done, dress it on a dish without a napkin, and have ready the following sauce : put twenty tablespoonsful of white sauce in a stew-pan, reduce it over a fire until rather thick, then add a gill of whipt cream, two tablespoonsful of capers, and two of chopped gherkins ; pour over the fish, then sprinkle two tablespoons- ful of chopped beet-root over it, and serve. v Carp loith caper sauce. Cook the fish as above, and dress it without a napkin ; then put twenty-five tablespoonsful of melted butter into a stew-pan, and when 1' APPENDIX. — C. 341 nearly boiling add a quarter of a pound of fresh butter ; stir it till the butter melts, then add four tablespoonsful of capers, and pour over. This sauce must be rather thick. Carpfried, Open the fish down the back with a sharp knife from the head to the tail, cutting off half the head, so that the fish is quite flat ; break the back-bone in thre'3 places, but allow the roe to remain ; then dip the fish in flour, and fry it in hot lard ; dress it on a napkin, garnish with parsley, and serve plain melted butter, well-seasoned, in a boat. HOW TO COOK EELS. Eels fried. Cut the Eels in pieces about three inches long, dip them in flour, egg and bread-crumb, and fry them in very hot lard, dress them on a napkin, garnish with parsley, and serve shrimp-sauce in a boat. Eels d, la Tar tare. Cut the Eels and fry as above, have ready some Ta^tare sauce upon a cold dish, lay the Eels upon it, and serve immediately ; should the Eels be large, they must be three-parts stewed before they aic fried ; dry them upon a cloth previous to bread-crumbing them. SpitckcocJced Eels. Take the bones out of the Eels by opening them from head to tail, and cut them in pieces about four inches long, throw th^m into some flour, then have ready upon a dish about a couple of handiuls of bread- crumbs, a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, a little dried thyme, and a little cayenne pepper, then egg each piece of Eel and bread-crumb them with it, fry them in very hot lard, dish them on a napkin, and servo shrimp-sauce in a boat. Stewed Eels. Cut the Eels in pieces as before, and tie each piece round with pack- thread, then put them into a stew-pan with an onion, a tablespoonful of white wine, three cloves, three whole allspice, a bunch of parsley, thyme, and bay-leaf, and a little white broth, sufficient to cover them ; 842 APPENDIX. place them over a moderate fire, and let them stow gently for half an hour or more, if required — according to the size of the Eel — take them out, drain them on a napkin, dish them without a napkin, and have ready the following aauoe : put a teaspoonful of chopped onions into a stew-pan with four tablcspoonsful of white wine, and eight ditto of brown sauce, lot it boil gently for a quarter of an hour, keeping it stirred, then add a teaspoonful of essence of anchovies and a little sugar, and pour over your Eels. Eelt en matelote. Stew the Eels as above, dress them without a napkin, and pour n sauce matelote over them. They may also bo served with a sauce ii la Beyrout. HOW TO COOK SHAD. Broiled Shad. Scale, clean, out off the head and fins, split down the back, broil quickly over a charcoal fire ; broil the roe separately in the same manner ; serve on a hot dish, garnished with the roe and fried parsley. Eat with drawn butter, anchovy, or shrimp sauce. To Boil Shad. Scale, open, clean, and wash your fish ; boil him quickly, wrapped in a napkin, in boiling water ; serve upon a napkin, garnished with fried parsley ; eat with caper sauce. Sea-shore receipt for Roasted Shad. Split your fish down the back after he is cleaned and washed, nail the halves on shingles or short board ; stick them erect in the sand round a large fire ; as soon as they are well-browned, serve on what- ever you have got ; eat with cold butter, black pepper, salt, and a good appetite. ^ This is a delicious way of cooking this fine fish. [ HOW TO COOK TAUTOO. Glean, score, and broil your Black-Fish quickly ; lay it in a stew- APPENDIX. 343 p»u, with a bottle of port wino, two sliced onions, six or seven cloves and a few poppor-corns ; add an eschalot and some cayenne ; pour in a quart of weak veal-broth, stow gently for an hour. HOW TO COOK SqUETEAOUE. Boil when cleaned, and servo with shrimp sauce, precisely ns Salmon or Trout. HOW TO COOK SEA BASS. Boiled. Boil plain, as above ; serve with shrimp sauce, caper sauce, or parsley and butter. Broiled. Broil quickly over a charcoal fire ; serve with matelote sauce, as follows : ' Sauce Matelote. Peel about twenty button onions, then put a teaspoonful of powdered sugar in a stew-pan, place it over a sharp fire, and when melted and getting brown, add a pioco of butter the sizs of two walnuts, and your onions, pass them over the fire until rather brown ; then add a glass of sherry, let it boil, then add a pint of brown sauce and ten spoonfuls of consommd, simmer at the corner of the fire until the onions are quite tender, skim it well ; then add twenty small quenelles, ten heads of mushrooms, and a teaspoonful of essence of anchovies, one of catsup, one of Harvey sauce, and a little cayenne pepper. Serve where directed. . ,>>i/., -.:., ^p- '-■ -■i,,; HOW TO COOK KING-FISH. I Broil over a quick fire, serve plain, eat with anchovy or shrimp sauce. Fry in olive oil, serve plain, eat with salt and red pepper. HOW TO COOK sheep's-head. Rub it over with salt and lemon before putting it in the water. To every six quarts of water add one pound of salt. Boil a ten-pound 344 APPENDIX. — C. fUli about twenty minutes. Serve on a napkin, garnish irith p«rsley, eat with shrimp or lobster sauce. HOW TO COOK HALIBUT. Soyer'a Receipt for Halibut to boil. A Halibut must bo well rubbed over with salt and lemon before it is put in the water ; have ready a largo Halibut-kottlo half-full of cold water, and to every six quarts of wutcr put one pound of salt, luy the Csh in, and place it over a moderate fire ; a Halibut of eight pounds may be allowed to simmer twenty minutes or rather more ; thus it will bo about three-quarters of an hour altogether in the water ; when it begins to crack very slightly, lift it up with the drnincr, and cover a clean white napkin over it ; if you intend serving the sauce over yom* firih, dish it up without a napkin ; if not, dish it upon a napkin, and have ready some good sprigs of double parsley to garnish it with, an^ serve very hot. Halibut d la Crime. (^ook the Halibut as above, and dish it without a napkin — but be oaioful that it is well drained before you place it on the dish, and ab- sorb what water runs from the fiuh with a napkin, for that liquor would spoil your sauce, and cauao it to lose that creamy substance which it ought to retain ; this remark applies to all kinds of fish that is served up with the sauce over it ; then put one pint of cream on the fire in a good-sized stew-pan, and when it is nearly simmering add half-a-pound of fresh butter, and stir it as quickly as possible until the butter is melted, but the cream must not boil ; then add a liaison of three yolks of eggs, season with a little salt, pepper, and lemon-juice, pour as much over the Halibut as will cover it, and serve the remainder in a boat ; or if not approved of, dish the fish on a napkin, garnish with parsley, and serve the sauce in a boat This sauce must not be made until the moment it is wanted. ,, . ,,. • :, ,\ Halibut Sauce hotnard. Cook the Halibut as before, then take an ounce of lobster spawn and pound it in a mortar with a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, rub it through a hair sieve with a wooden spoon upon a plate ; have f APPElfDII. — C. 34A ready a pint of good molted butter nearly boiling, into which pat the rod butter, and soomou with a toaspvonful of cMonoo of anchovy, a Httlo Harvoy sauco, oayonne pepper, and amlt, thon cut up the flesh of the lobster in dice aul put in the sauuo ; servo it in a boat vory hot. Halibut d la Hoflandaiae. Cook the Halibut as before, and dish without a napkin ; thon put the yolks of four eggs in a stow-pan with half-a-pound of frosh butter, the juioe of a lemon, half a tcaspoonful of salt, and a quarter of one of white popper ; set it over a slow firo, stirring it tho whole time quickly ; when the butter is half-melted take it off tho firo for a few seconds, still kooping it stirred, till tho butter is quite molted, then place it again on tho firo till it thickens, then add a quart of molted butter, stir it again on the fire, but do not lot it boil, or it would curdle and be useless ; then pass it through a tammio into another stow-pan, make it hot in the bain marie, stirring all the time ; pour it over tho fish or serve in a boat. The sauce must bo rather sharp ; add more season- ing if required. Halibut d la Mazarine. Cook the fish as above, then have all tho spawn from two fine hen lobsters ; if not sufficient, got some live spawn from tho fishmonger's, making altogether about two ounces ; pound it well in cho mortar and mix it with half-a-pound of fresh butter, rub it through a hair sieve, place it upon ice until firm, then put it in a stow-pan with the yolks of four eggs, a little pepper, half a teaspoonful of salt, and four table- spoonsful of lemon-juice, place it over the fire, and proceed as for the sauce HoUandaiso, adding the same quantity of melted butter, and two teaspoonfuls of essence of anchovy, pass it through a tammio into a clean stew-pan to make it hot, dish the fish without a napkin, soaking up tho water in the dish with a clean cloth, and pour the sauce over it ; be careful the sauce docs not boil, or it will curdle. This dish is one of the most elegant, and is the best way of dressing a Halibut ; for I have always remarked, that notwithstanding its sim- plicity, it has given the greatest satisfaction, both for its delicateness and appearance, causing no trouble — only requiring care. 23 ->^ 346 APPENDIX.- Halihut en matelote Normande. • Procure a smallish Halibut, one weighing about ten pounds would be the best ; cut off part of the fins, and make an incision in the back, but- ter a saute-pan, large enough to lay the Halibut in quite flat, and put three tablespoonsful of chopped eschalots, three glasses of sherry or Madeira, half a teaspoonful of salt, a little white pepper, and about half-a-pint of white bi'oth into it, then lay in the Halibut and cover it over with white sauce, start it to boil over a slow fire, then put it into a moderate oven about an hour, try whether it is done with a skewer ; if the skewer goes through it easily it is done ; if not, bake it a little longer, then give it a light brown tinge with the salamander, place the fish upon a dish to keep it hot, then put a pint of white sauce in the saute-pan and boil it fifteen minutes, stirring it all the time, then pass it through a tamniie into a clean stew-pan, and add a little cayenne pepper, two tablespoonsful of essence of anchovies, two dozen of oys- ters, blanched, two dozen of small mushrooms, two dozen quenelles, six spoonsful of milk, and a teaspoonful of sugar, reduce it till about the thickness of buchamel sauce, then add eight tablespoonsful of cream and the juice of a lemon, pour over the Halibut ; have ready twenty coriltons of bread cut triangularly from the crust of a French roll, and fried in butter ; place them round the dish, and pass the sala- mander over it, and serve. HaHbut en matelote vierge. Boil a Halibut as before, dish it up without a napkin, and have ready the following sauce : chop two onions very fine and put them in a stew-pan with four glasses of sherry, a sole cut in four pieces, two cloves, one blade of mace, a little grated nutmeg, some parsley, and one bay-leaf; boil altogether five minutes, then add a quart of white sauce, boil twenty minutes, stirring all the time, then put a tammie over a clean stew-pan, and colander over the tammie, pass the sauce, take the meat off the sole and rub it through the tammie with two spoons into the sauce, add half a pint of broth, boil it again imtil it is rather thick, season with a teaspoonful of salt, one of sugar, the juice of a lemon, and finish with half-a-pint of cream whipped, mix it quickly and pour over the fish ; garnish with white-bait and fried oysters, that have been egged and bread-crumbed ; or if there is no white-bail, smelts will do. APPENDIX. 347 Halibut d la Religieuse. Dress thu Halibut as before, and cover with HoUandaise sauce; chop some Taragon chervil, and one French trufBe, which sprinkle over it ; garnish with hard-boiled eggs cut in four lengthwise and laid round. Halibut d la Cremi ; graline. Put a quarter of a pound of flour in a stew-pan, mix it gently with a quart of milk, be careful that it is not lumpy, then add two escha- lots, a bunch of parsley, one bay-leaf, and a sprig of thyme tied toge- ther, for if put in loose it would spoil the color of your sauce, which should be quite white, then add a little grated nutmeg, a teaspoonful of salt and a quarter ditto of pepper, place it over a sharp fire and stir it the whole time, boil it till it forms rather a thickish paste, then take it off the fire and add half-a-pound of fresh butter and the yolks of two eggs, mix them wall into the sauce and pass it througo a tamniie ; then having the remains of a Halibut left from a previous dinner, you lay some of the sauce on the bottom of a dish, then a layer of the Halibut, without any bono, season it lightly with pepper and salt, then put another layer of sauc3, then fish and sauce again until it is all used, finishing with sauce ; sprinkle the top lightly with bread-crumbs and grated Parmesan cheese ; put it in a moderate oven half an hour, give it a light brown color with the salamander, and serve it in the dish it is baked in. Halibut a. la Poissoniere. Boil a Halibut as before, and take it up when only one-third cooked, then put in a large saute-pan or baking-sheet forty button onions peeled and cut in rings, two ounces of butter, two glasses of port wine, the peel of half a lemon, and four spoonsful of chopped mushrooms, then lay in the Halibut, and cover with a quart of brown sauce, set it in a slow oven for an hour, then take it out and place it carefully on a dish, place the fish again in the oven to keep it hot, then take the hmon-poel out of the sauce and pour the sauce into a stew-pan, reduce it till rather thick, then add twenty muscles, (blanched,) twenty heads of mushrooms, and about thirty fine prawns ; when ready to serve add one ounce of anchovy butter, a tablespoonful of sugar, and a little 34S APPENDIX. — C. cayenne pepper, stir it in quickly, but do not let it boil ; pour the sauce over the fish, and serve very hot. Halibut a la Cr^me d'Anchois. \ Boil the Halibut and dish it without a napkin, then pour the follow- ing sauce over it and serve immediately : put a quart of melted butter into a stew-pan, place it on the fire, and when nearly boiling add six ounces of anchovy butter, and four spoonsful of whipped cream, mix it quickly, but do not let it boil; when poured over the fish sprinkle some chopped capers and gherkins over it. Small Halibut a la Meuniire. Crimp the Halibut by making incisions with a sharp knife, about an inch apart, in the belly part of the fish, then rub two tablespoonsful of chopped onions and four of salt into the incisions, pour a little salad oil over it, and dip it in flour, then put it on a gridiron a good distance from the fire — the belly downwards — let it remain twenty minutes, then turn it by placing another gridiron over it, and turning the fish over on to it, place it over the fire for about twenty-five minutes, or longer if required ; when done place it upon a dish and have ready the following sauce : put six ounces of butter in a stew-pan, with ten spoonsful of melted butter, place it over the fire, moving the stew- pan round when very hot, but not quite in oil, add a liaison of two yolks of eggs, a little pepper, salt, and the juice of a lemon, mix it quickly, and pour over the fish ; serve directly and very hot. The fish must be kept as white as possible. For the above purpose the Halibut should not exceed eight pounds in weight. Halibut d la gratin Provcncale. This dish is made from fish left from a previous dinner. Fut two tablespoonsful of chopped onions, and two of chopped mushrooms into ti stew-pan with two tablespoonsful of salad oil ; place it over a mode- rate fire five minutes, stirring it with a wooden spoon ; then add three pints of brown sauce, and reduce it one-third, then add a clove of scraped garlic, a teaspoonful of Harvey sauce, one of essence of an- chovy, a little sugar, a little cayenne, and two yolks of eggs, pour a little sauce on the dish you serve it on, then a layer of fish lightly APPENDIX. C. 349 seasoned with pepper and salt, then more sauce and fish again, finish- ing with sauce ; sprinkle bread-crumbs over it and place it in a mode- rate oven half-an-hour, or till it is very hot through, brown it lightly with the salamander and serve very hot. The garlic may be omitted if objected to, but it would lose the flavor from which it .'s named. HOW TO COOK FLOUNDERS. Soyer's Receipt for Flounder en matelote Normande. Cut the fins off a fine fresh Flounder, and make an incision down the back close to the bone, in which put some force-meat of fish, well seasoned with chopped eschalots and parsley, then butter a saute-pan very lightly, and put a teaspoonful of chopped eschalots into it Avith two glasses of white wine ; lay the Flounder into it and season with a little pepper and salt, then cover it with some bechamel sauce, and put it into a moderate oven for about twenty minutes or half an hour — but try whether it is done with a skewer — brown it lightly with the salamander ; then take up the Flounder, dish it without a napkin, and make the sauce as follows : put six spoonsful of white sauce in the saute-pan with six ditto of milk, let it boil, four minutes, keeping it stirred, then add one dozen oysters blanched, one dozen quenelles of whiting, one dozen mushrooms, half a teaspoonful of essence of ancho- vies, and four tablespoonsful of cream, with a little cayenne pepper and sugar ; pour the sauce over and round the fish, pass the salaman- der again over it, and garnish round with fried bread cut in small tri- angles. The sauce may be passed through a tammie before the gar- niture is added, if required. Fried smelts are frequently served as garniture around it. Flounder a la Poltaise. Trim a fine Flounder and make an incision down the back, clearing the meat from the bone, then melt two ounces of butter, and mix with it a teaspoonful of chopped eschalots, one of chopped mushrooms, one of chopped parsley, and a glass of sherry ; put the Flounder in a dish, and pour the butter, etc., over it ; sprinkle a few bread-crumbs on it, and put it in the oven twenty minutes or half an hour ; when done, pour a little anchovy sauce over it, and brown it lightly with the sala- mander. 350 APPENDIX. C. Flounder aux fines herbes. Boil a Flounder — if the Flounder is very fresh it may be put in boil- ing water, but it is best to let it only simmer — in sal t-aud- water, and dish it without a napkin ; have ready the following sauce : put in a stew-pan six teaspoonsful of chopped onions and a piece of butter, fry the onions a light brown, then add eight tablespoonsful of brown sauce, and let it boil at the corner of the stove ten minutes, then add a tea- spoonful of chopped mushrooms, half ditto of chopped parsley, one ditto of essence of anchovies, and the juice of a quarter of a lemon ; pour it over the fish and serve. This sauce must be rather thick, but not too much so. HOW TO COOK HADDOCK. Soyer^s Receipt for common Haddock, plain. This is a very serviceable, light, wholesome fish, and may be ob- tained, like Soles or Whitings, at any time of the year ; to dress them plain, put them in boiling water well salted, and let them simmer about twenty minutes, or according to the size, dress on a napkin, and serve shrimp sauce in a boat. Haddock a la Walter Scott. Put two tablespoonsful of chopped onions, one ditto of Harvey sauce, one ditto of catsup, one ditto of sherry, and twenty ditto of melted butter into a middling-sized stew-pan, place it over the fire and let it boil fifteen minutes, keeping it stirred, then have ready a good- sized Haddock, cut in four pieces, put it into the stew-pan with the sauce, place it over a slow fire for twenty minutes, or longer if neces- sary; when done, dress it on a dish without a napkin ; reduce the sauce a little more if required, then add a little sugar and essence of an- chovy, pour it over the fish and serve. " \ Fillets of Haddock a la St. Paul. Fillet your fish the same as a Whiting, dip the fillets in flour, egg, and bread-crumb, and fry in hot lard, or oil, in a saut6-pan, dress them on a napkin, garnish with fried water-cress, and serve with two ounces of anchovy butter melted, but not boiled, in a boat. APPENDIX. — C. 351 Fillets of Haddock d la Hollandaise. Fillet your fish as above, and proceed as for fillets of Whiting a la Hollandaise. HOW TO COOK WIIITrNGS. Soyefa Receipt for Whitings, to fry them. Every person knows the delicacy of this fish, and its lightness as food, especially invalids ; it is generally well received at all tables : to fry them well, dry them in a cloth, then throw them in flour, egg and bread-crumb, fry them in hot lard, observing the directions for frying Soles ; serve them on a napkin with shrimp-sauce in a boat, and gar nish with parsley. Whiting au gralin. Have the Whitings skinned, with their tails turned into their mouths ; butter a saute-pan and put in the Whitings, with a tablespoonful of chopped onions and four tablespoonsful of brown sauce over each ; sprinkle bread-crumbs over them, and a little clarified butter, and put them in a moderate oven half an hour ; take them out and dress them on a dish without a napkin ; then put twelve tablespoonsful more brown sauce into the saut^-pan, with a teaspoonful of chopped mush- rooms, one ditto chopped parsley, one ditto essence of anchovy, a little pepper, salt, and sugar, boil ten minutes, pour round the fish, and pass the salamander over them. Whitings broiled. Have the fish skinned and curled round, flour it, and lay it on the gridiron over a moderate flro ; it will take about twenty minutes ; dish it on a napkin, garnish with parsley, and serve plain melted butter in ii boat. Season when near done. Whitings boiled d la Mattre d^Hdtel. Broil the flsh as above, dish them without a napkin, have six table- spoonsful of melted butter in a stew-pan, put it to boil, then add two ounces ot maitre d'hdtcl butter, siir it till it is melted, but do not let it boil, and pour over the flsh. 352 APi'UNVlX. C. Fillets of Whilingt fried. Take the fillets of six small Whitings which have not been skinned, dip them in flour, egg, and bread-crumb them, and fry in very hot [ard ; garnish with fried parsley, and serve with sauce Hollandaise in a boat. Fillets of Whitings tL la Hollandaise. Fillet six Whitings as above, cut them in halves, then butter a saut^- pan, and lay in the fillets, skin side downwards ; season with a little pepper, salt, and lemon-juice, place them over a slow fire five minutes, turn them and place them again on the fire ; when done, dish them round on a dish, and pour some sauce Hollandaise over them Fillets of Whi 'ings d Vltalienne. Fillet and dress the fish as in the last, adding chopped parsley to tho seasoning, and raake the sauce as for Filets de Soles k I'ltalienne. Whiting d VHuile. Fry the Whiting in very hot salad oil, instead of lard, of a very light brown color ; dish it on a napkin, garnish with fried parsley, and serve shrimp-sauce in a boat r, SUPPLEMENT to FRANK FORESTER'S f i s I a 11 ir fishing. BY HENRY VVn-LIAM HERBERT. 1 „ ■^ .<■:. 9 ^ O '^ / WM' '^^ ^i§*b sX-^ § J -\ I> Ji \ X •-» P L A r K < ' V !•■ 1, 1 K .'S I \\V.\t i'.\l.viKW fU( Kt k. •2. PK\C0«;K ('.\!..,1! W HACkl.K. y. i!i,.\(:K '•it.Vh.H I vi-viKu. 4. YKI r.OVr ! \l,.MKH It \i V.\.%.. A UI,Ai,K I'ALMK.ll HA' M.l.. fl. HI, \CK. I'M,MV.IC lIAi Kr.K, Uilibci! 7. (iUl-.KN UKAKK, Oil MA^ fl.k. 8. (.HKY DHMvP,, Oil MAV KI.Y. fl. <<»VV 1)1 NG. II) IIKK 1-I.V II tlLACK (iNAT 1?. I1A1!!:'.'.S l.All 1.1. < IX. K TAII. 14. vvn!ui.iN«*' %.-^J .-^ INDEX TO PLATE OF FLIES I. RKD PALMEU HAt KLK. ■i. I'EACOCK PALMKR HACKLK. 3. BLACK SILVER PALMER. 4. YELLOW PALMER HACKLE. A. BLACK PALMER HACKLE. 6. BLACK PALMER HACKLE, Ribbcil with Gold. 7. GREEN DRAKE, OR MAV ELY. 8. GREY DRAKE, OR MAY FLY. 9. COW DUNG. 10. BEE FLY U. BLACK GNAT. 19. HAKES EAR. IX COCK TAIL. 14. WHIRLLNG DL N. 14. KLNGOOM FLY. 16. WHITE GNAT. 17. BLUE DUN. 18. RED ANT. 19. GOLD SPINNEK. aO. WHITE MOTH, ai. GOVERNOR. 33. MARCH BROWN as. STONE FLY. 34. WILLOW FI.Y INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Oiv coining to revise the body of this work for a new edition, it was found, as might naturally be expected in a book embracing so large a field, that some errors had crept in, of commission, but yet more of omission ; that some opinions with regard to fishes, unknown to the writer through his own observation, quoted from others, are, as verified by his own experience, incorrect ; and that some few things stated as facts, when tried by the same test, are incorrect. To set these right in the body of the work, would have rendered it necessary to reprint and re-stereotype the whole volume ; as, by the insertion of new matter, the paging would have been all thrown out of order, and many whole pages would have been entirely destroyed, merely in order to rectify a single word. 1 have therefore judged it best to throw what new information I have gained, into the form of a Supplement ; embodying therein the correction of all erroneous opinions which, through want of informa- tion, or misinformation, I have fallen into ; and adding farther instruc- tions with regard to the implements, and the art of angling. On Trolling for Lake Trout, and on Fishing with the Fly, very con- siderable additions will be found in this edition ; as well as a Table ex- plaining the seasons, bait, &c., of the principal salt-water fishes of our waters. 1 had hoped to have been able to insert some information concern- 368 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. ing the more interesting sea-fish of the Southern States ; but having waited as long as it was possible, for a number of specimens of which I had a promise from a friend in Charleston, South Carolina, 1 am very reluctantly compelled to go to press without that advantage, and am precluded from doing much more than naming what I learn to be the best and gamest of the southern species. In this Supplement, I shall adhere to the plan adoptod in the Vol- ume, of dividing it into two parts, one treating of the structure, habits, and classification of the fishes ; the other of the implements, the ma- terials, and the art of angling. The Salmon family will claim — as of the Volume itself, so of the Supplement also — the larger portion. Of this interesting group, the proper Salmons, I have herein inserted descriptions of six new species peculiar to the Columbia and other rivers of the Pacific coast, now growing into so great importance ; and of the sub-genus Coregonus, of the same group, I have two new varieties from the north-western lakes. Concerning the several varieties of Lake Trout, I have cause materi- ally to modify opinions expressed heretofore ; and have succeeded in collecting much new information as to their habits, quality, instincts, and the mode of capturing them. To the various friends who have assisted me with advice, informa- tion, and friendly criticism, I take this opportunity of again express- ing my gratitude, and of putting it on record how much is due to them of the increased value of this edition. I 1 , PAKT I. TUB GAME FISHES OF Inrtji Mmu. f jiB Samt fh^tn ni aninirn, ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERYUll. SALMONIDiG. THE SALMON. THE COMMON SALMON — THE TRUE SALMON. Sabno Salar; Auctorum. I STATED in the body of this work, that tho True Salmon was wont, in former years, to run up into Seneca, Cayuga, and others of the small lakes of central New York, and expressed a doubt whether it was not now prevented from doing so, by the obstructions in the Os- wego river. In the course of a visit to that interesting region, during the past autumn, I had an opportunity of verifying this doubt ; and I found, as indeed I cspsctcd, that tho True Salmon has ceased to exist in those beautiful waters. It is with great pleasure, however, that I lay before my readers an enactment for the preservation of that noble fish, just passed by the Supervisors of the county of Oswego, in conformity with the act of the State Legislature, committing the care of Game, and the passing of Game laws, to those Boards throughout the country. This act is precisely what it should be, and reflects the highest credit on the liberality, wisdom, and energy of the Board which en- acted it. I only regret that its provisions extend only to a single river ; but I trust that this defect will bo amended, and that the Os- wego River, and the Seneca, Cayuga, and other outlets will receive the same privilege, which would doubtless lead to the speedy re-establish- ment of the Salmon in those lovely and limpid waters : 24 862 AMERICAN F1SHE6. LAW FOR THE PRESERVATION OF SALMON. FUDLISIIED BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF 8UFERVIB0RB. < \ An Act for the preservation of Salmon in the Salmon River and Lake Ontario con* tiguous thereto: — Passed Dec. 12th, 1836. The Board of Supervisors of the County of Oswego, convened at Pulaski, in the Naid county, do enact as follows : § ]. It shall not be lawful for any person to fish for, catch, or take, any Salmon, With any net, st :ie, weir, of any kind or description, in any of the waters of the Salmon River in said county, or in the waters of Lake Ontario, within one mile of the mouth of said river, between il. ' first day of April and the twentieth day of Oc- tober, in any year after the passage of this act. And any person ofTcnding herciti, shall, for every such offVnce, forfeit ai.d pay the sum of one hundred dollars, to bo recovered by action, with the costs of suits, by and for the use of any person who will prosecute for the same before any justice of the peace in and for the said county of Oswego. § 2 And be it further enacted, That the .^almon so caught and taken in any of the v/aters aforesaid, in violation of the provisions of this act, together with any seine, net, weir, or traps so used or set for use, in violation of this ajt as aforesaid, sliall be forfeited to and may be immediately taken into possession of, and carried away, by any person who shall find said net, seine, weir, or trap, while so used or set for use as aforesaid ; and such person may and he is hereby authorised to keep, sell or otherwise dispose of the same for his own use and benefit, as to him may seem fit and proper. And any such weir or trap which shall be affixed to any dam or other obstructions in any of the waters of Salmon River, or which shall be set or secured to the bottom of said river or lake aforesaid, shall be, and the same is hereby adjudged a public nuisance, and may be abated by any person summarily without process of la v. other than the provisions of this act. § 3. And be it further enacted, That the owner or owners of mill or other dams which are now erected across the said Salmon River, or any branch or channel thereof, so as to obstruct the usual course of the Salmon in going up said river, who shall not, on or before the first day of June, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty, have altered such dam by constructing an apron or slope on the lower side thereof, extending from the top of said dam to the bottom of the river below, said apron or slope to be not less than twenty feet wide, with a smooth and even sur- face, and sloping at an angle of forty-five degrees with the horizon, and to be loca- ted in or as near to the main channel of the river as circumstances will permit, so that Salmon may freely pass into the waters above such dam, shall respectively forfeit and pay to the town in which such dam is located, the sum of one hundred dollars, twenty-five dollars of which to be paid to the complainant, and the remnin- ing sum of seventy-five dollars to be appropriated to the support of the poor of such SALMON.DJE. / 803 town, and to be received by the overseer or overseers of the poor thereof, in the mimner provided for in the first section of this act. And in case such dam siiali not have been so altered within the time above-mentioned, such dam shall be adjudged a public nuisance, and may be abated in the same manner as is provided in the second section of th s act. And further, that any mill or other dam which shall bo hereafter erected across said river, or any branch or channel thereof, ehull be con- structed with an apron or slope as aforesaid. And any owner or owners of such dam, which shall be hereafter constructed across said river as aforesaid, who shall neglect or refuse to comply with the provisions of this section, shall resptctively for- feit the same penally, to be prosecuted for, received and ap(.lied, as is herein before provided in this section. § 4. And be it further enacted, That it shall not be lawful for any person to fieh for, catch, or take Salmon, while passing over such aprons or slopes, or within the distance of four rods of said slopes, aprons or dam ; And any person ofi'ending herein, shall forfeit and pay the sum of twenty-five dollars, to be recovered and applied in the manner provided for in and by the first section of this act. § 5. And be it further enacted, That nothing contained in the first three sections of this not, shall be so construed as to prevent the fishing for, catching, or taking Salmon with a spear, in the waters aforesaid, by the owner or owners, lessee or les- sees, and their lawfully authorized agents of the lands over which the waters of said river flow, or adjoining the waters of Lake Ontario aforesaid. § 6. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect on the first day of January, eighteen hundred and fifty. A. L. Thomason, Chairman. ler dams channel rer, who Ihundred kver side low, said ,'en sur- be loca- ;rmit, so )ectively Ihundred remain - of such I earnestly recommend the passage of similar laws to this, by the Legislatures of the various Eastern States, especially by that of Maine, in reference to every river eastward, at least, of the mouth of the Ken- nebeck, as the only method by which the speedily approaching extinc- tion of the Salmon can be prevented. I have no doubt, however, that if the same law were passed by tho Legislatures of Connecticut and New York, with regard to the fin;^ river which gives name to that first State, and to the noble Hudson, coupled with an absolute prohibition to take or destroy the Salmon for the space of five years, that this, the king of fishes, might be re-intro- duced into those waters, by the adoption of the simple method des- cribed at page 60 et sequentes of this volume. And I take this opportunity of stating, that I have good hope of ma- king such arrangements as will enable me to procure, in this coming spring, such supplies of the Salmon fry, in the state which admits of 364 AMERICAN FI8HEC. their transportation from Nova Scotia, as will suffice to establish the possibility of the undertaking. It is my intention, should I succeed in obtaining any support or encouragement from the Legislature of New Jersey, to make the experiment in the tributaries of the Passaic ; and should it be successful, 1 can only add that it will give me but too much pleasure to assist any gentleman of spirit in procuring the mean? of restocking any waters on which they may resido, with this most :!auie and noblest of fishes. SALMONIDA. 366 AHDOMINAL MAIiACOPTERYOII. ^ALMONIDif:. THE BROOK TROUT. THE COMMON TROUT. Salmo Fontinalia; DeKay. With regard to this very beautiful and excellent fish, I have very little to add to what is recorded in the former part of this volume, at page 86 et seq. I have ascertained, however, as a fact, what I mentioned there as a mere surmise, that in some places and on some occasions the Brook Trout of America are taken of a very much larger size than is gene- rally imagined. At the Sault St. Marie, which I visited this autumn, although too late for Trout-fishing in its perfection, the average run of fish is ex- ceedingly large ; as also in the Garden River, which falls into the St. Mary's, a few miles below the beautiful rapid I have mentioned. Three and four pounds is by no means an unusual weight ; but the most important fact is this, that some years since, the commandant of the United States' Fort, at the Sault, oflFered a reward to any Indian who should bring in a Brook Trout of len pounds^ weight. The result was, that many were brought in of six and seven pounds and upward, and at last one monster which actually weighed eleven pounds and some ounces. There is no question about this fact, or of its being actually a red- spotted Brook Trout, as distinguished from the Namaycush or Siska- witz ; for the whole afiair originated from a desire to investigate and ascertain the fact of natural history, on the part of the distinguished officer in question, and the fish was submitted to a thorough scrutiny and scientific examination before the premium was awarded. The quostion may therefore be regarded as settled, that, in favorable situations and psculiar waters, the Brook Trout grows to a size much larger than is usually supposed to be its utmost limit, possibly even up 300 AMERICAN FISHES. to firteen or twenty pounds, though tho average of the fish is undenia- lly bolow a pound. There can, I aui now satisfied, bo no doubt that the very largo red- tpotted fish described by*Dr. Smith, under tho title of Jlucho, as ex- isting in ntany of the lakes of New England, is nothing more, as I surmised in the first instance, than an enormous and overgrown Brook Trout, very largo specimens of which are constantly brought into the Boston markets from tho interior of New Hampshire. The wonderful effect of different waters on the growth, coloring and flavor of fish has been already mentioned ; and I shall have yet more to say on thb sub- ject when I come to speak of the Lake Trout. 1 will only here farther observe, that on recent information from an undoubted authority, I have reason to believe that I have overestima- ted the average weight of the Brook Trout taken in Carman's Creek on Long Island ; a very highly accomplished angler, who fishes those waters constantly, having assured me that tho average is not now above three-fourths of a pound. There is no question, that in waters so assiduously whipped as those of Long Island, not only the number but the .size of Trout must necessarily decrease. For farther instruction on Fly-fishing, &c., I must now refer my reader to tho Second Part of this Supplement, where he will find, I trust, all that may be necessary to supply what was omitted above, both as regards doctrine and prac tice, art and implements, necessary for the gentle craft. SALMONID.E. 3U7 AUDOMINAL MALAUOlTEnVOII. SALHONIDiG THE GREATEST LAKE TllOUT. MACKINAW SALMON NAMAYCUSH. Salmo Atnethyttua; Mitchili DeKay. — Salmo Namaycuah ; Pennant, Richardaun. Op this fish — concerning which, in the body of the work, I wrote chiefly on the report of others— in the course of a recent tour to the upper lakes, I had ample opportunities of judging. I saw certainly hundreds of specimens, none below seventeen or eighteen pounds weight, and many up to forty and forty-five. They are so abundant on Lake Huron that the Indians sell them willingly for a quarter of a dollar each, without reference to size. The flesh of this fish, as an article of food, is exceedingly bad ; it iH coarse, flabby, and at once rank and vapid, when fresh, if such a combination can be imagined. On one occasion, a very large fish of this species having been served up boiled one day, and pronounced, by a large party of good epicurean judges, less than indifferent, a por- tion was dressed cold on the following day with salad, and was so insufferably rank, that it was incontinently sent from the tabic as un- eatable. When .salted and smoked, or preserved in salt pickle, it is somewbat bettor, though not at all equal to its sister fish the Siskawitz. I should be willing to assert that the average of this great fish is fully up to twenty pounds. I will here add, that I have reason to believe that thi opinion hazarded on report of others, that the Great Macki- naw Trout is the liveliest of his species, is entirely erroneous ; and that, from all the inquiries I made among Indians, hunters, and scientific anglers on the lake, I am inclined to disbelieve that this or the next described fish can be taken either with the fly or the spinning-minnow in trolling. If ever they are taken in either of these modes, or with the spoon or squid, it is contrary to their usual habit ; and may be con- fiidered a freak of the fish, and one of so rare occurrence as to render 308 AMERICAN FISHES. it a very unprofitable attempt for the angler to fish for thorn by any of those modes. A ooarso, heavy, stiff rod— a long and powerful oiled hempen or flaxen line — on a largo winch, with a heavy sinker, a cod-hook baited with any kind of flesh, fish, or fowl — but, best of all, with a piece of the belly of its own species, is the most successful if not the most orthodox or scientific mode of capturing him. Its great size and immense strength alone give him value as a fish of game ; but when hooked, ho pulls strongly and fights hard, though he is a boring deep fighter, and I think never leaps out of water, like the True Salmon or tho Brook Trout. «ALMOtflD£. 36i) AUDOMINAI. MALACOPTERYUII SALMONIO.V. THE SI8KAWITZ. NORTHERN LAKE TROUT. Salmo Sitkawit* ; AgHMis. This fish, liko tho former species, came frequently under my eye during my late northern tour ; and I rcjoioo in the possession of a barrel of him in his pickled state, which I proourod at the Sault St. Marie, on tho strength of which I can recommend him to all lovers of good eating as tho very best saltjish that exists in the world. He is so fat and rich, that when eaten fresh he is insufferably rank and oily ; but when salted and broiled, after being steeped for forty- eight hours in cold water, he is not surpassed or equalled by any fish with which I am acquainted. Since my return, he has been tasted by very many gentlemen of my ucquaintancss, and by no one of them has he been pvonouncud any- thing less than superlative. His habits closely resomble those of the Namaycush ; and like him I cannot learn that he ever takes the fly, or is over taken by trolling. I do not, however, believe that cither of these methods are often re- sorted to for his capture, although there are many scientific fly-fishers about the Sault, and the Brook Trout of those waters are principally taken with large and gaudy lake-flios. Tho average weight of the Siskawitz does not exceed four or five pounds, though he is taken up to seventeen. His excellence is so per- fectly understood and acknowledged in the Lake Country, that ho fetches double the price per barrel of his coarser big brother, thj Namaycush ; and he is so greedily sought for there, that it is difficult to procure him even at Detroit, and almost impossible at Buffalo. 1 believe none were ever brought to New York, previously to the bar- rel which I brought down with me from the Sault. I am now able to supply, from personal inspection, what I was compelled unavoidably to zio AMERICAir FISHES. omit above, the number of rays in the various fins. They are as fol- lows : First dorsal twelve branched rays, second dorsal adipose, pectorals fifteen, vcntrals ten, anal nine, and caudal twenty-one perfect, besides several rudimental branched rays ; in all of which it differs from the Namaycush. It is, I think, on the whole, a bluer and less distinctly spotted fish than the Namaycush. As a sporting fish, it is, I am of opinion, of small value ; but as an article of cuisine — he if valuable, or rather, and that not hyperboli- cally, invaluable. . \ 8ALM0NID.E. 371 ABDOMINAL .; MALACOPTERycil. SALMONID^. : " THE LAKE TKOUT. ! Salmo Confinia ; DeKay. ■. ■ *•• Concerning no fish have I seen occasion so greatly to alter my ex- pressed opinions — founded chiefly on the opinions of others, and, where original, formed from examination of fish taken in the waters of the Eastern States, and in Lakes George and Champlain, in none of which is it either a game fish, or in my opinion a good fish. I still doubt greatly whether there be not two distinct species of Lake Trout, one quite peculiar to the small lakes of New York. Cer- tainly I never saw or tasted any Lake Trout similar in appearance, or equal in fiesh and fiavor, to those which I ate at Geneva, and which were subsequently sent down to me in ice, by my friend Mr. Mande- ville, of that city. < The description of these fish exactly tallies with the account of the red-fleshed Lake Trout of Hamilton county, where I have never fished, being deterred therefrom by dread of that curse of the summer angler, the black fly, which is to me especially venoraoas. A letter which I insert below, from a capital angler, who has caught this fish in the far-famed Louis Lake, agrees exactly with the charac- teristics of the Seneca Lake Trout, but not with his habits ; as I have the best authority for stating that in Seneca Lake they are never taken either by the fly or by trolling ; although in Crooked Lake, immedi- ately adjoining it, they are constantly caught by trolling for them " with shiners strung upon the hook, and drawn head foremost, with a hook leaded to sink twenty to thirty feet." In Seneca Lake they are taken on set lines, varying in depth from twenty-five to four hundred feet, concerning which method more under the head of Lake Fisliing. The following is r.n accurate description of one of the fish sent to me from Seneca Lake. It diff'ers, as will be seen, in many respects, 372 AMERICAN FISHES. of structure, shape, and color, from the account quoted at page 117, from Dr. DeKay's Fauna of New York — almost widely enough, in ray opinion, to justify its erection into a separate species : Dental system. — A double row of strong hooked teeth on the labials and palatines of the upper jaw. The vomer perfectly smooth and toothless. In the lower jaw, a single row of strong hooked teeth on the labials, and a double row of smaller size on the tongue. Branchiostegous rays, eleven on the right side, thirteen on the left. Pectoral fin-rays sixteen, ventral ten, anal twelve, dorsal thii'tcen, caudal twenty-seven. In all these respects it differs from DeKay's Salmo Confinis. Whole length, nineteen and a half inches. Head, four inches to the lower ma^n of the interopcrculum. Eye, one inch and a half from tip of snout. Origin of the ventral fin, nine inches and a quarter ; of the anal, thirteen ; of first dorsal, eight and a half; of the seconcT dor- sal, fourteen, from the tip of the snout. u Depth of the fish at the origin of first dorsal, three inches and three- fifths ; breadth of back two inches. Curvature of the belly greater than that of the dorsal outline. Color of the head dark bluish black. Irides silvery, gill-covers silvery with nacrous reflections. Back and sides, above the lateral line, beautiful glossy caerulean blue, mottled with bright silvery spots of the size of large duck-shot ; below the lateral line the silvery spots are larger, and the ground lighter blue ; belly pure silver. Pectoral fins pale yellowish green, ventrals and anal greenish, very faintly tinged with red. First dorsal greenish transparent, veined with black ; second dorsal silvery grey, slightly mottled ; caudal greenish grey, mottled with black. A very beautifully formed fish, more tapering than the Namaycush or Siskawitz, with the small head, and much both of the form and lustre of the True Sea Salmon. Flesh rich orange buff, very firm, highly flavored and delicate. This fish, and another rather larger, but otherwise exactly agreeing with this, were eaten at my table by a party of six gentlemen, as good judges of good eating as any with whom I am acquainted, and were unanimously pronounced better than Brook Trout ! better than True Salmon ! the best fish in the world ! /■ SALMONID^. 373 Singularly enough, at the very time that my opinion was becoming changed with regard to this — I now think excellent fish, I received a long and most kind letter Arom the accomplished fisherman to whom I had applied for information in regard to Hamilton county fishing, dif- fering from the opinion given in the bulk of this volume, which I had just before discovered to be faulty. I have no hesitation in laying this verbatim before my readers, as I have no doubt it is thoroughly correct in all respects, both as to the habits and quality of the Hamilton county Lake Trout, with which 1 am satisfied that the Lake Seneca variety is identical ; the variation in the habits of the fish in the different localities being ascribable to the different qualities of the water which they inhabit. The average weight of the Lake Trout in Seneca Lake is much as is stated by my kind correspondent — that is to say, under four pounds, and they very rarely exceed seven. This letter was written at my request, for the purpose of pointing out, commenting upon, and correcting any errors of omission or com- mission which he had discovered in my work ; and I can only express myself equally obliged by the candor and kindness of the criticism. Had I permission to give the name of the writer, I am well aware tbat in every angler's opinion it would add immensely to the value of his remarks as authority ; but it will su£Q.ce that I should assert that he is, of my own knowledge, one of the best fly-fishers in the United States. ■• . ORIGINAL COMMUNICATION ON THE LAKE TROUT. " The average weight is eight or ten pounds." This is an extract from the New York Fauna of Dr. DeKay. Now, I venture to assert that Dr. DeKay never wet a line in the waters of Hamilton county, and that " the propensity to exaggeration in every- thing in relation to aquatic animals," induced his informant to make the above statement. I boldly assert that the average weight of Lake Trout is not four pounds. ' An eight or ten pound fish is considered an unusually heavy fish. 1 will give you my experience. In May, 1848, I spent eleven days in Hamilton county, in company with a friend, and that friend an old Hamilton county troUer. We faithfully fished in Lake Pleasant. 374 AMERICAN FISHES. Round Lake, and the far-famed Louis Lake. We killed about two hundred pounds' weight of fish. I killed one of sixteen pounds, one of nine pounds and a quarter, and two of five pounds each. My friend did not kill a single fish heavier than three pounds and three quarters, neither did I, save those just mentioned ; and I would and do say, that our fish did not average three pounds, the great majority being two pounders. At the same time two friends fished Piseco Lake and Rackett Lake ; the heaviest fish killed by them was eleven pounds ; and I do not be- lieve that they took another of greater weight than four pounds ; at all events, we beat them all to smash in weight and number. So much for the average weight. i' i . ^ ,"/' ' 'rr ■> --' j> The wholesale assertion on your 118th page, that they never rise to the fly, should be qualified. It is not correct that they " never rise to the fly." They frequently do. The nine pound and a quarter Lake Trout above referred to, was killed by me with an artificial fly. Tlie facts are these : — On the 28th of May, 1848, I was fishing on Louis Lake. I Avas using a trolling- rod and a small Trout-rod, casting with one and trolling with the other. Upon my troUing-leader 1 had two flies; and when my oarsman was in the act of pulling round a projecting elbow of wood, I reeled up, to avoid contact with a fallen tree, and just as my first fly trailed on the surface of the water, the fish broke or rather dashed at it ; I struck him instantly, and away he went, with so much velocity that I had hard work to keep my line from overrunning, not having a click-reel ; I fortunately thumbed the reel, and passed my Trout-rod to the oars- man, and then had fair play ; and I assure you I never had hold of a fish of the same size, that showed more game, power or endurance. He never sulked for an instant ; and the only diff"erence which I could discover in his mode of action from a Salmon, was that after bein^ struck, he did not show himself, or leap. Had I hooked this fish with my light rod, I would not have killed him under an hoar ; and, ind3ed as it was, he was not " half gone " when Cowles, my guide, put tho gaiF into him. This fish rose in about eight feet water, and took me. twenty-five minutes to kill him ; and I never worked harder in my life to secure a fish, for you may imagine that I was anxious to secure & Lake Trout, hooked as I have described. - SALMONIDiE. 376 On the sanio page, you quote from Dr. DoKny, that this Trout has " the coarseness of the Halibut, without its flavor ;" and subsequently assert, as your own opinion, " that this is the most worthless of all the non-migratory species." I think that you are mistaken — ray reasons presently. On page 274 to 270, you also usj the following expres- sions : '' Th3S3 great, bad and unsporting fish," &c., *' with a bullet at the end of two hundred yards of linj, run rapidly through the wa- ter." " He is very indiffurcni eating." I disagres with you. " Every man to his taste." " What's one luan's meat is another man's poison." I prefer a Lake Trout to the best Brook Trout — donH faugh I Now for my proof. To my know- ledge, Lake Trout are preferred at John C. Holmes', the proprietor of Lako Pleasant House, to anything you can lay on the table. The nine pound "and a quarter Trout to which I have before alluded, was eaten in this city, at the house of a mutual friend of ours, and was de- clared to be a glorious morsel, The sixteen pound and a half Trout was eaten at a friend's house in Hroadwny; s ivcntcon persons, myself among them, partook of it, and I never heard anything surpass the praise of all; and for myself, let mo say, that I never tasted a finer fish. He was boiled and eaten with plain drawn butter, or as house- keepers and cooks call it, I believe, " parsley and butter ;" and during my sojourn in the woods, my friend and myself invariably preferred and had the small Lake Trout cooked by our guides. If it be " very indifferent eating," then I am cosily pleased, and every person with whom 1 have spoken on the subject arc no judges of fish flesh. Have you fished for Lako Trout in Hamilton county .' I presume not, for most assuredly you labor under a mistake as to the " modtis operandi^ Your instruction on lines, 9, 10, 11, page 274, is incorrect, and tends to lead the novice a.ftray. Our friend of the " Spirit " is much nearer the mark, but the instruction is defective, as you have quoted it. 1 believe that no portion of your work was more anxiously looked for, than your views, direction and instruction upon fishing for Lake Trout. Hamilton county is becoming known ; and .(,'b )f Indians who live upon the banks of the Columbia, and it is known by the name of Quinnat, for one hundred and fifty miles from the mouth of the river. It attains a large size, weighing often from tliiity to forty pounds.' The Quinnat is evidently the ' Common Sji Imon' of Lewis and Clarke. These tra- vellers mention the first arrival of the Salmon at the Skilloot village, * In the map published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, the descent at the Kettle Falls is stated at twenty-one feet ; but Lewis and Clarke were of opinion that in high floods the water below the falls rises nearly to a level with that above them. 384 AMERICAN FISHES. below the site of Fort Vancouver, as having occurred on the 18th of April, in the year 1806. " * Color. — General tint of the back bluish gray, changing, after a few hours removal from the water, into mountain green ; sides ash grey with silvery lustre ; helly white ; back above the lateral line stud- ded with irregular rhomboidal or star-like black spots, some of them' occellated. Dorsal fin and gill-covers slightly reddish ; tips of the anal and pectorals blackish gray ; the dorsal and caudal thickly studded with round and rhomboidal spots, back of the head sparingly marked with the same. Whole body below the lateral line, with the under fins, destitute of spots. Lower jaw and tongue blackish gray; roof of the mouth tinged here and there with the same. Scales large. Teeth disapp \iring on the medial line of the upper jaw, one row on each palato' bone, a few small teeth on the fore part of the vomer, and two rows on the tongue. Form. — The greatest convexity of the back at the origin of the dorsal ; end of the caudal semilunar ; adipose oppo- site to the posterior end of the anal ; dorsal of greater height than length. Fins.— Br. 17; P. 16; V. 10; A. 16; D. 14—0; C. 19|.' " The specimen of this Salmon, though it is very soft, and has lost its scales, still retains its form, so that i am able to add the following particulars to Dr. Gairdner's description : — General form much like that of a Salmon Trout. The head is exactly one-fourth of the length, from the tip of the snout to the end of the scales on the caudal. The snout is cartilaginous as in S. Salar, and the length of the lower jaw rather exceeds that of the upper surface of the head. The edge of the gill-plate is an arc of a circle as in that species, but the sub- operculum is still more sloped off, having much the form of that of Salmo Scouleri. There are sixteen gill-rays on the right side, and seventeen on the left. Th( largest teeth are those of the under jaw, of which there are eleven in each limb, placed at regular distances, with some small ones in the intervals attached to the soft parts only. The labial and intermaxillary teeth are similar to these, and but little inferior i i size. The lingual teeth, considerably smaller than those in the jaw, are placed in two parallel rows, five in each. The palatine teeth are a little shorter than the lingual ones, and those on the vomer are the smallest of all, scarcely protruding through the soft parts in the recent specimen ; there are nine of them — two in front, the others SALMONIDf. 385 iu a single series, running upwards of half an inch backwards, or about two-thirds as far back as the palatine teeth. The gullet is armed with small teeth above and below. The jaw teeth are as big as those of the Salmon Trout. There are sixty-six vertebrae in the spine. The pyloric catoa, are very numerous, there being about one hundred and fifty-five of them ; and their insertions surround the intestines from the pylorus until it makes a bend downwards, below which they continue to be inserted for a short way on one side of the gut only." AS\ 886 AMERICAN FISHES. ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERYGII. SALMONID.V. GAIRDNER'S SALMON, THE QUEACHTS. Saltno Gairdnerii; Richardson. '' The specific name which I have given to this Salmon is intended as a tribute to the merits of a young though able naturalist, from whom science may expect many important acquisitions, and especially in the history of the Zoology of the north-west coast of America, should his engagements with the Hudson's Bay Company permit him to cultivate that hitherto neglected field of observation. " ' This species ascends the river in the month of June, in much smaller numbers than the Quinnat, in whose company it is taken. Its average weight is between six and seven pounds. "'Color. — Back of head and body bluish gray; sides ash gray. Belly white, 'i he only traces of variegated marking are a few faint spots at the root of the caudal. Form. — Profile of dorsal line nearly straight, tail terminating in a highly semilunar outline. Ventrals correspond to commencement of dorsal and adipose to end of anal. Teeth. — ^Jaws fully armed with strong hooked teeth, except a small space in centre of upper jaw. Vomer armed with a double row for two-thirds of its anterior portion. Palate bones also armed with strong teeth. Fins.— Br. 11—12; P. 13; V. 11 ; A. 12.' " In this species the gill-cover resembles that of Salmo Salar still more strongly tlian that of the Quinnat does, the shape of the sub- operculum in particular being precisely the same with that of Salar. The teeth stand in bony sockets like those of the Quinnat, but are scarcely so long. Those of the lower jaw and intermaxillaries are a little smaller than the lingual ones, and f omewhat larger than the pala- tine or labial ones. The tongue contains six teeth on each side, the rows not parallel as in the Quinnat, but diverging a little posteriorly. The pharyngeals are armed with small sharp teeth. The numbers of 8ALM0NIDJE. 387 the teeth, excluding the small ones which fall off with the gums, are as follow: — Intermax. 4 — 4; labials 21 — ^21; lower jaw 11 — 11; palate bones 12 — 12 ; vomer lost ; tongue 6 — 6. When the soft parts are entirely removed, the projecting under edge of the articular piece of the lower jaw is acutely serrated, in which respect this species differs from all the others received from Dr. Gairdner. There are sixty-four vortebraB in the spine " 388 AMERICAN FISHES. ARDOMINAL MALAUOPTERVOU. SALMONID.fi WEAK-TOOTHED SALMON. QUANNICH. Saltno Paucident ; Richardson. " This Salmon ascends the Columbia at the same time with the S. Gairdneriij and in equal numbers. It is taken in company with that spacies and the Quinnat, and has an average weight of three or four pounds. " ' Color. — Back of head and body bluish gray ; sides ash gray with a reddish tinge ; belly white. No trace of spots on the body or finef. Form. — Commissure of the mouth very oblique, approaching to verti- cal, doit^al profile quite straight, tail forked. Ventrals corresponding to middle of the dorsal, and adipose to posterior extremity of the anal. Teeth sparingly scattered and feeble on the jaws, only a few short weak ones on the anterior extremity of the vomer, and on the palate bones. Fins.— Br. 13; P. 17; V. 12; A. 17; D. 12—0.' " From the labels having dropped off, I cannot refer the fragments of any of the specimens to this species with certainty ; but I am in- clined to think that the spine, containing sixty-six vertebrae, belongs to it, and if so, the gill-cover is extremely like that of S. Scoulerij and the bones of the head have the same fibrous structure which we have noticed in the description of that species. None of the teeth have been preserved, but those of the lower jaw appear to have been fixed in cartilaginous sockets, which have separated from the bone, leaving a rough surface. The palate and upper jaw bones are lost. The union of the branchial arches at the root of the tongue is longer and narrower than in the preceding two species, and the gill-openings consequently are more ample. Either this species or the S. Scoulerij or perhaps both, are named ' Red Char ' by Lewis and Clarke." •ALMONIDA.. 389 ABDOMINAL HALACOPTERYUII. SALMONID.f:. THE EKEWAN. Salmo Seoulerif Richardion. ** ' The Ekowan, which averages thirty pounds in weight, ascends the Columbia towards the end of August and in the month of Septem- ber. Its flesh is paler and of inferior quality to the four preceding kinds.' From Dr. Gairdner's description of this species, i have little doubt of its being the same with the S. Scouleri of Observatory Inlet ; and I should, without hesitation, have referred to it the spinal column and opercular bones noticed at the close of the account of the prece- ding species, had not Dr. Gairdner mentioned that no specimen of the Ekewan was sent, as he had not obtained one small enough to be put in spirits. " ' Color. — Body abov3 m?dial lino smoke gray, passing on head and tail into bluish gray ; a slight reddish tinge at the root of the dorsal, and between it and the adipose. Fins bluish gray, and all tinged with red except the caudal, which, with the back, is studded with irregular semilunar and stellated blackish brown spots. A large vermillion red patch in the concavity of the vertex, and another on the preopercule. Body below the mesial line grayish white with a reddish tinge. Form. — A remarkable flattening over ^.itrcmity of snout, behind which a slight concavity to occiput, where the body rises suddenly into a hump, and continues rising as far as the flrst dorsal, this elevatad por- tion being accuiuinatcd into a ridge. A notch behind the point of the huout gives an arched outline to the commissure of the mouth. Lower jaw also arched upwards, so that the two jaws do not approach each other when the mouth is closed, except at the two extremities. Teeth . — Jaws fully armed with strong hooked tocth, except a small space in the medial lino of the upper jaw. Teeth moveable, from being imbed- ded in soft cartilaginous sockets. Two rows of strong lingual teeth, a single row on each palate bone, and a few rudimentary ones can be felt in a single row on the anterior extremity of the vomer. Teeth on 300 AMERICAN FISHES. the pharyngeal bones. Rays. — Br." 16 ; P. 16 ; V. 9 ; A. 16 ; D 12—0. " * This description applies to a female — ^the male differs in the up- per jaw being elongated into a proboscis, which projects beyond the lower jaw when the mouth is closed ; it is formed of a moveable carti- laginous mass articulated to the extremity of the nasal bones, and is furnished with teeth as well as the rest of the jaw. The lower jaw is narrower, and entirely received within the concavity of the upper one when the mouth is shut.* " 8ALM0NIDJG. 801 / ABDOMINAL MALAOOPTERYGII. iSALMONIDiE. THE TSUPPITCH. Salmo Ttuppiteh; " 'The Tsuppitoh ascends the Columbia at the same time with the Ekewan. I counted 1644 o^ in the ovary of a female. '' ' Color. — Back of body and bead studded with oval and circular spots ; sides and fins, including the caudal, destitute of spots ; back medially bluish gray, passing on the back of the head into blackish gray, and on the sides into yellowish gray, with a greenish tinge and silvery white. General color of the fins ash gray. Teeth. — Jaws fully armed with minute sharp teeth, a single row on each palate bone, a very few on the anterior end of the vomer in a single series, and a double row on the tongue. Form. — Head small, exactly conical, ter- minating in a pointed snout. Commissure of mouth very slightly ob- lique. Convexity of dorsal profile rising gradually to origin of first dorsal, and declining from thence to the tail. Caudal forked. Rays —Br. 13 ; P. 13 ; V. 10 ; A. 13 ; D. 12— 0.» " A spine containing sixty-four vertebrae, and an under jaw with ten curved teeth in each limb, are all the bones that I can with any ap- pearance of correctness refer to this species. The teeth are of equal size with those of S. Gairdneri, or perhaps rather larger, and are at- tached to the jaw-bone through the medium of cartilage. 392 AMERICAK riSHEb. ABDOMINAL MALAOOFTERYOU. BALMONlDiG. CLARKE'S SALMON. Salmo Clarkii ; Richardsun. " Dr. Gairdoer does not mention the Indian name of this Trout, which was caught in the Katpootl, a small tributary of . d Columbia, on its right bank. I have therefore named it as a tribute to the me- mory of Captain Clarke, who notices it in the narrative prepared by him of the proceedings of the Expedition to the Pacific, of which he and Captain Lewis had a joint command, as a dark variety of Salmon Trout. In color this species resembles the Mykiss of Kamtschatka, and there is no very material discrepancy in the number of rays in the fins. Vide Arct. Zool., Intr., p. cxxvi. " * Color. — Back generally brownish purple red, passing on the sides into ash gray, and into reddish white on the belly. Large patches of dark purplish red on the back. Dorsals and base of the caudal ash gray, end of caudal pansy purple. Back, dorsal, and caudal studded with small semilunar spots. A large patch of arterial red on the oper- cule and margin of the prcopercule. Pectorals, ventrals, and anal grayish white, tinged with rose red. Te):th. — Both jaws armed with strong hooked teeth, a single row on each palate bone, a double row on the anterior half of the vomer and on the tongue. Dorsal profile nearly straight. Ventrals opposite to the middle of the first dorsal. Fissure of mouth oblique. Extremity of caudal nearly even. Fins. Br. 11 ; P. 12 ; V. 8 ; A. 13 ; D. 11—0.' " There appear to have been two specimens of this species sent to me by Dr. Gairdner. In both the spinal column contains sixty-two vertebrae. The teeth, which are closely set, rather long, slender and acute ; and, in the older specimen, considerably curved, are in num- ber as follows : — Intermax. lost ; labials 28 — 30 ; palate bones 15— 17 ; vomer 13, two in front and the others in a single flexuose series, as long as the dental surface of the palalc-bones ; lower jaw 13—13 ; tongue 6—6, in two almost parallel rows The lingual teeth are the SALMONIDJE. 303 largest aDd most curved, thoso of the lower jaw are next in size, then follow the vomerine, palatine, and labial teeth, which are equal to each other. The pharyngeal teeth are also proportionally long, and there is an oblong palate, rough with very minute ones, on the isthmus which unites the lower ends of the branchial arches. This space is quite smooth in S. Salary in several, if not in all the English Trouts, and in S. Quinnatf Gairdneri, and in the imperfect specimen which I have referred to S. Scoukri. In the latter the surface of the arches is also quite smooth, but in the Quinnat and Gairdneri minute rough points become visible with a good eye-gladS. In all the Trouts the com- pressed rakers have their thin inner edges more or less strongly toothed. In one of the specimens of S. Clarfcii the spinal column b nine inches long, in the other six." 26 304 AMERICAN FISHES. ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERYGII. BALMONIDiC THE NORTH-WEST CAPELIN. Salmo {MallotuB ?) Paeifieuts Richardson.— Hub-oenui ^allotiM ; CuvierT " * The Indian name of this fish is Oulachan. It comes annually in immense shoals into the Columbia, about the 23rd of February, but ascends no higher than the Katpootl, a tributary which joins it about sixty miles from :t- mouth. It keeps close to the bottom of the stream in the day, and is caught only in the night. The instrument used in its capture by the natives is a long stick armed with sharp points, which is plunged into the midst of the shoal, and several arc generally transfixed by each stroke. It is the favorite food of the Sturgeon, which enters the river at the same time, and never has a better flavor than when it preys on this fish. The Oulachan spawns in the different small Si.eams which fall into the lower part of the Columbia. It is much prized as an article of food by the natives, and arrives oppor- tunely in the interval between the expenditure of their winter stock of dry Salmon and the first appearance of the Quinnat in May.' This fish is noticed by Lewis and Clarke in the following terms : — * The Anchovy, which the natives call Oltken, is so delicate a fish that it soon becomes tainted, unless piekled or smoked ; the natives run a small stick through the gills, and hang it to dry in the smoke of their lodges, or kindle small fires under it ; it needs no previous preparation of gut- ting, and will be cured in twenty-four hours ; the natives do not ap- pear to be very scrupulous about eating it when a little foetid.' " ' Color generally silvery white, passing on the back into a blackish tinge. Large irregular, but generally oval spots of yellowish white and blackish gray on the back. A bluish black spot over each orbit. Mar- gins of lips black. Back of head grayish white. Minute black dots on the silvery basis of the cheeks. Form. — Head small and pointed. Large suborbital covering the greater part of the cheek. Opercule terminating; in a thin rounded angb. Mouth opening obliquely up- wards, its fissure extending as far back as the anterior margin of the 8ALM0NIDJB. 890 orbit. Lower jaw projeotiDg beyond the upper one, and terminating in a rounded knob turned slightly upwards. Margins of upper jaw entirely formed by the intermaxillarics, on which there are a few mi- nute setffi in place of teeth. Lower jaw, vomer and palatines devoid of teeth. Tongue rough, and pharyngeals armed with teeth. Fins. —Br. 8 ; P. 11 ; V. 8 ; D. 11—0 ; A. 20. Adipose fin thin and con- taining little fat. Lateral line straight and continuous.' " Five specimens were sent to mn ^y Dr. Gairdner, but they were unfortunately all so much injured that I can add very few particulars to that gentleman's brief description. In the general form, the ap- pearance of the scales, the black specks on the head and body, the form of the anal and its attachment to a compressed projecting edge of the tail, the structure of the lower jaw and gill-covers, and in the shape of the head as far as it could be ascertained, this fish closely resembles the Capelin. On the other hand, the ascent of the species into fresh water to spawn, and perhaps its dentition, ally it to the Smelt. Head as in the Capelin, forming one-fifth of the length be- tween the tip of the snout and end of the central cau|^al rays. Caudal forked. Dorsal commencing a very little anterior to the middle be- tween the tip of the snout and end of scales on the caudal, agreeing, in this respect, more nearly with the Smelt than with the Capelin, in which the dorsal is farther back, 'its first ray being equidistant from the end of the snout and the extremity of the central caudal ray. Anal of one specimen containing twenty-one rays. Gill-covers thin, papery, and flexible, lined with nacre. In ilrying, the surfaces of the opercu- lar bones are marked with wrinkles parallel to their sides, as may be observed in the Smelt and Capelin, but not so conspicuously. These wrinkles are most evident on the square operculum. As the thin lining of the mouth and lips is mostly abraded, from the putrescency of the specimens, the dentition can be only imperfectly ascertained from them. In four specimens no teeth whatever can be discovered ; but in a fifth, a female full of mature roe, the lower jaw is armed with a single series of very slender, curved teeth, rather more distant, and longer than those of the Capelin. There is also a solitary tooth remaining on the vomer of the same specimen, occupying the place of the exterior vomerine tooth in the Smelt, and nearly as large. Tongue conical as in the Smelt, and not presenting an oval flat surface sur- 806 AMERICAN riSHES. roundod with tooth like tho Capolin. In all the spooiinons the upp n jaw waa so much injurod that its vtruoturo oould not bo asoortainud ; but it h probable that tho intormazillaries, boing Binall as in thu Cap- olin, woro not distinguished from the labials by Dr. Gairdnor, iu his examination of the reoont fish. Tho rakors of tho branohioo are long and slender as in the Smelts and Capolin. The stomach resembles that of the Cupelin ; the descending portion ends in a pointed sao, and a short branch which it gives off in tho middle terminates in tho pylo- rus. Tho intestine makes a bend, or rather twist, downwards at the pylorus, and runs straight to tho anus, its onlibre gradually becoming less as it approaches the latter. There are nine caeca, throe of thorn rather shorter than the others, close to tho pylorus ; the other six, in- serted in a single series down ono side of tho intestine, are oaoh half an inch long. In three specimens there are sixty-eight vertebrse in the spine, and in two sixty-nine. A male speoimon, with the melt half-grown, showed no traces of vi^/i, or altered scales, on the lateral line, though the skin was apparently entire in that place. Male Cape- lins, destitute of (he ridges of elongated scales, are occasionally taken in Greenland." MALMONIDiC. m ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERYOII. •ALMONIDiC. THE WHITE FISH. ATTEHAWMEO. Coregonut Albut. It is Tory worthy of remark, that this dolicious fish is taken abun< dantly, and of the very finest quality, infinitely superior to the fish of Lakes Erie and Ontario, and not inferior to that of Huron and Superior in the small inland lakes of Seneca and Cayuga. So far us 1 can laarn, the White Fish is nowhere taken with the fly, unless by pure acoidont ; and that it is uttofly unworthy of the angler's pursuit, OS a fish of game, cannot bo doubted. The Coreguni, in general, are the most vogotablo-eating of all tho Salmonida^ and rarely take a bait of any kind, although I learn that in Seneca Lake they are occasionally caught on S3t linos, especially with stale bait. I find it stated in Dr. Richardson's Fauna Boreali Americana, that the White Fish runs up tho Severn River from Lake Huron, in order to spawn, on the authority of Dr. Todd ; there must, however, be some error in this ; as having visited tho Severn this autumn, and canoed up it into Lake Simooe, I can answer for the fact that it is im- practicable to any fish ; and that having a purely rocky bottom until above tho great falls, it possesses no spawning grounds to tempt fish. At the very outlet there is a natural fall or rapid of above twelve feet, with an old Indian mill-dam ; at about twelve miles higher yet, there is a very powerful rapid of about fifteen, and at twenty-five from the mouth a superb rapid and fall of seventy feet descent in about a hun- dred yards of length. The Severn notoriously contains no fish except a few sucking Carp of diflFerent kinds, a few Rock Bass, and in the shallow rice lakes above the falls, goodly Mascalonge. The best White Fish are taken in the rapids of the Sault St. Marie, with scoop-nets; but they are also spDared by the Indians, and takes in vast quantities with the seine, by tho white settlers. 308 AMERICAN FISHES. ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERYGU. 9ALM0NID^. LE SUEUR'S HERRING SALMON. Coregonus Artedi ; Le Sueur. This fish is the Herring of Lake Erie and the Niagara River. It is not of much value as an article of food, and of next to none as a Bsh of sport. The meat is white and delicate enough, but rather dry and tasteless. > Richardson thus alludes to it in his fine work, so often quoted, on the Northern fishes of America : " This species having been taken in Lake Erie and the Niagara River, requires to be noticed in this work. M. Le Sueur says that it is locally known by the name of Herring Salmon, and is considered to be very delicate food. As it did not fall under our notice, we slall transcribe the description given of it by its discoverer. " Description quoted from M. Le Sueur. — Body subfusiform, a little elevated at the back ; head small, having an osseous radiated plate which is covered by the skin ; snout pointed. In form this species approaches the Scombri ; a section of it is oval. Head small and nar- row ; snout short, terminated by small intermaxillaries ; maxillarics wide, sharp-edged as in the Herring, edges entire ; mandibles carinate, producing inwardly a triangular pedunculate expansion ; very small conical teeth inserted in the skin of the lips at the extremity of the jaws : these teeth wjre sufficiently manifest in a small individual, but not visible in a larger one, a female, which came under my observa- tion . Rays in the osseous plate of the head tubular, and open at the exterior, some tending backwards, and others towards the end of the snout. A faint carinate line divides the top of the head in the dried specimen. Lateral line straight and near the middle; nostrils double, close to the end of the snout and articulation of the maxillaries ; scales round, approximated, easily falling off ; the base of the tail is covered with them. Color ash blue at the back, paler and silvery on the rest of the body, with yellow tints on the tail, head and dorsal ; iris whitish, 8ALM0NIDJE. 899 pupil black. Length ten to twelve inches. Fins. — Br. 9 ; ?. 16 ; D. 12—0; V. 12; A. 13; C— g. " M. Le Sueur, in comparing our Attihawmeg, or his Coregonus Al- busj with C. Artedij says that it has a less fusiform body, and the back elevaied from the nape to the dorsal. ' The C. Albus^ he further states, ' has more depth of body, a greater elevation of back, and much stronger proportions in its body, fins, and scales. The adipose fin, which is broad, appears to consist of delicate rays, much pressed, and in pairs.' A careful examination of the dried specimens of our C. Albus from Lake Huron, exhibited no rays whatever, nor any interspi- nous bones to support them, but the fin, in drying, splits in a fibrous manner." This is the Herring of Seneca Lake, now becoming very rare, but much prized, as the best and most killing of all baits upon the deep lake set-line for Trout, Pike-Perch, Eels, and Black Bass. 400 AMERICAN FISHES. ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERVGII. SALMONIDiE. LAKE HURON HERRING SALMON. THE HERRING. Coregonua Harengua ; Richardson. This fish is exceedingly abundant on the shores of Lake Huron, to which it resorts in enormous shoals in the spring and autumn, and con- stitutes a principal article of food to the Indians and white settlers. It is rather a dry and tasteless fish. It occasionally rises at the ily, but is rarely taken except by the seine. Richardson describes him thus. I have examined this and the last species, and am satisfied that they are distinct : " This fish is plentiful at PenetanguiShene, on Lake Huron ; but I am unable to determine whether it be the same with the C. Artedi of Le Sueur, which we have already noticed as an inhabitant of Lake Erie. Baron Cuvicr's remark upon our specimen was, ' Espece nou- velle voisine des Coregones.'' It resembles C. Lucidus very nearly ; its larger head, smaller scales, and a slight difference in the position of its ventrals being the principal distinctive characters I have been able to detect in the dried specimens. Having lost my notes of the dissec- tions which I made of O. Lucidus, and having examined the recent specimens of C. Harengus only cursorily, I can say nothing respect- ing any differences that may exist in their viscera. An argument against the identity of the species may be adduced from their habitats being upwards of twenty degrees of latitude apart. " The Lake Huron Herring Salmon is gregarious, like the Boar Lake one, and frequents sandy bays during the summer months. It spawns in April and May, and at that time is occasionally seen in rivers. According to Mr. Todd's observations, it is ' a timid fish, ap- pears to be in constant rapid motion, and associates in shoals in pursuit of the fry of the small fishes on which it feeds. As an article of diet, it is well tasted and wholesome, though much less rich and agreeable than the Attihawnieg. SALMONIDJE. 401 " The following is a description drawn up from notes made at Pene- tanguishene, aided by a re-examination of the dried specimens : " Color, in the recent fish, olive green on the back, silvery on the sides and belly, and blackish green on the top of the head ; the gill* covers, cheeks, and irides are whitish and nacry. " Scales of the same form with those C Lucidus, but only of two- thirds the size ; on the sides their transverse diameter is four lines, their longitudinal one rather more than three, and when in situ, eight are included within a linear inch. There are eighty-four on the late- ral line,* and twenty-two in a vertical row under the dorsal, of which nine are above th<} lateral line, and eight between it and the ventrals. The lateral line is straight. " Form. — Body compressed, back rounded, belly slightly flattened, the greatest thickness, however, being at the lateral line, which is rather nearer to the back than to the belly ; the he'^ht of the body, at the dorsal, is double its thickness. Profile like that of C. Lucidus, the head being, however, more acute.! The snout is obtuse, when seen in front or from above, and the vertex is smooth and rounded in the recent fish ; in the dried specimen the radiated tubular lines near the nape, the sagittal ridge and other eminences, appear as in C. Lu- cidus, but not so prominently. The length of the head is more than ona-fourth of the distance between the tip of the snout and end of the scalas on the caudal, and somewua*, less than one-fifth cf the total leagth, including the lobes of the cani..'. In the position of the eye, and the forms of the jaws anil opcrcil.u* boaes, this species scarcely differs from C. Lucidus. When !,U3 mouth is fully open, its orifice measures seven lines vertically, and five and a half transversely ; the under jaw, which is narrow, 1 nv, not iioute- then projects about four lines beyond the articulations of the labials. " Teeth, none en the jaws, vomer, or palate, but three rows of very slender ones on the tongue may be perceived by the aid of a lens. Rakers stiff, subulate, and rough on the margins, the middle ones of the first arch, which are the largest, measuring dve lines. * One specimen had only seventy-seven scales on the lateral line, but the same as the above in a vertical row. t The figure, which was taken from a dded specimen, jjK- dents a less elegant pro- tile than that of the recent fish. 402 AMERICAN FISHES. " Fins.— Br. 9—9 ; D. 12 or 13-0 ; P. 16 ; V. 12 ; A. 13 ; C. *' The ventrals originate under the sixth or seventh dorsal ray, but the structure and form of all the fins are nearly as in C. Lucidus. The adipose is not supported by interspinous bones, but it exhibits in the dried specimen a very fine, apparently fibrous structure, which en- tirely disappears when the fin is moistened. In one specimen the centre between the tip of the snout and end of scales on the caudal, corresponds with the first ray of the ventrals and thirtieth scale of the lateral line ; in another it is a little posterior to the first ventral ray, being at the thirty-third scale of the lateral line : in the last specimen the lateral line has seven scales more than the other." PERCIDJE. 408 ACANTIIOFTERYGIl. PERCID^. THE PIKE PEARCH. YELLOW PIKE PERCH, OR AMERICAN 8ANDRE. Lucioperca Amerirana ; DeKay. In speaking of this fish in the btdy of this work, not having then seen it, I borrowed both the description and the cut from Dr. DeKaj's Fauna of New York. The cut, 1 regret to say, is very incorrect, especially as regards the position of the ventral fins, which, as in the subbrachial Malacopterygii and the Bass group of the Percida^ are attached to the humeral bones, and situate immediately below the pectorals. The following is the description, with measurement, of very fine spe- cimens, sent to me by Mr. Mandeville, of Geneva : Head prolonged, snout-like, with a flattened depression above the eyes. Preoperculum nearly vertical, scalloped rather than dentated on the under margin. The op rculum has three flat ai ^lar processes, corresponding to a lino drawn from the snout through ti e centre of the orbit, and a pointed membrane beyond. Eye very large, nearly equidistant between the snout tnd the oper- cie. Dental system most forn,idable ; several powerful recurved canine tusks at the extremity of each jaw, those of the lower received into corresponding cavities of the uppc jaw ; a series of smaller hooked teeth on the labials, and a row of very long sharp recurved tusks on the palatines ; no teeth on the tongue or vomer. Whole length, 19 inches ; from snout to posterior angle of opercle, ly inches ; fron) snout to centre of eye, IJ inch ; to origin of the pec- torals, 4f inches ; of ventrals, 5|. ; of anal, 11^ ; of caudal, 16^ ; of first dorsal, 5 ; of second dorsal, 10^, Breadth, 5^ inches ; thickness, 2^. Branchiostpgous rays, 0. Pectorals thirteen Koft rays ; vnntrals on" npine five branched rays ; anal one spine twelve branclicJ iiiys ; caudal deeply furcate, nineteen 404 AMERICAN FISHES. rays ; first dorsal, fifteen spines, first three short, fourth and fifth long- est ; second dorsal, two short spines, seventeen soft rays. The ventrals are placed, as iu the subbrachial Malacopterygii, immediately below, and a little behind the pectorals. The dorsal outline is slightly curved, and descending abruptly to the snout, above the operculum ; the lateral line is nearly concurrent with the dorsal outline ; ventral outline much curved. The pectoral fins are golden yellow ; the ventrals and anal, ruddy orange ; dorsals, transparent yellowish green, mottled with blackish gray. Head, blackish brown above. Gill-covers, golden yellow, mottled with purplish gray. Back, above the lateral line, purplish brown, with a golden spot on the edge of every Rcale, giving it a beau- tiful dappled hue. The sides down to the pectorals, and in a lino thence to the anal, beautifully mottled with vivid golden yellow and purplish brown, running in irregular wavy diagonal lines, upward and backward. Belly pure white. This* is a beautiful fish, and as good and game as he is beautiful. In Seneca Lake these fish will rarely take the bait in trolling or spinning ; but in Cayuga they arc constantly so taken with Shiners, or by trolling with two hooks about two and a half inches apart, baited ;vith a frog, one hook through the lip, the other through the thigh, ■yhich, as the frog is drawn along, gives it a natural swimming motion. The Pike Perch fights hard and pulls very strongly. The same tackb as for Pickerel is the best. His flesh is delicate and delicious ; boiled, he is best with parsley and butter or egg sauce ; but in no way is he other than a good table PERCIDJE. 405 AOANTHOPTERYGII. PERCID^. SOUTHERN SEA FISHES. It is a source of much regret and disappointment to me that a num- ber of specimens, which I was promised from Charleston, have not come to hand in season for this edition ; I reliod on them wherefrom to draw figures and compile descriptions of several, to me, new genera^ which I can now only name by their provincial appellations, which, being incorrect and local, are not to be found in the books. The principal of these are the Cavalle, and Horse Cavallc, two fish of the Percoid family, s' jngly spined, which are said to be bold biters, and the former a very fine fish. Besides these, there is the Southern Black Fish, entirely different from the Tautog, or Northern Black Fish, and having a much larger mouth ; several varieties of Mullet, and the far-famed Pompano of Florida, a fish of the Mack- arel family. Of late years, the Tautog and Boston Bay Whiting have been intro- duced into the Bay of Charleston, and are said to be greatly thriving and becoming abundant None of these fish, as I am informed by my friend Mr. King, of Charleston, South Carolina, the keenest fisherman of those waters, are ever taken except with the hand-line, with a heavy sinker and clam bait, the rod and reel being ignored and voted useless by the anglers in the deep-sea line. I trust, at some future period, to procure more and authentic infor- mation touching these fishes ; but in lack of certain and positive inior- mation, I prefer silence to either theory or error. ij^^i. ^ T5v^^ PART II, THE FISHING Irara. SALMON FISIIINU 400 SALMON FISHING. On rcconsidoiing what I havi' written in the body of the work, I perceive that I have written vhat too rapidly, taking matters for granted which are granted witli , -hed angler, and therefore passing them over without coniiuent, w .lerc, perhaps, they need to a novice farther explanation. I shall therefore recapitulate, first, the implements, and then the modus operandi. THE SALMON-ROD AND TACKLE. My description of the Salmon-rod, on page 240, is nearly unobjec- tionable, so far as it goes. Experience makes the angler dread whale- bone ; I think that it should never be used in any rod, particularly on the tip of the top joint of a Salmon-rod ; it will curve, and by pressure cease to be elastic, or spring. I have seen the worst effects from its use. The stationary curve or bond of the extreme end of the tip will, despite of every precaution, cause the line to coil round the top, and then, " where are you .'" reel useless — tackle gone — fish gone ! Any- thing but whalebone. Split bamboo, spliced, is preferable to any other wood. Lance-wood is good — very good. All modern Salmon- rods are made with ferrules and cappings, each of which is received into a socket of metal, brass, or German silver, let into the receiving- joint. This is all very neat and convenient; but I never would think of throwing a fly for a Salmon, with a rod of this character, without loop -ties, as security against the joints loosening or flying apart. The continiiod use and action of a powtM'ful eighteen-fect rod, when Bubjccted to the constant tug and work of a Salmon, will loosen them, 1 care not how well made, or how closely fitted ; and even with the loop- ties, I have known the very best to shake, and make one also shake. 27 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // ^..^^ fe <:<^^^ ^ 1.0 i.i lA&lM 12.5 ■^ 1^ 12.2 m L25 lU IIIIII.6 71 v: "*> '.V "41'^ z!^ 7 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 410 AMERICAN FISHES. Scrowed joints are, I think, not lasting ; they very soon get worn and shaky, and make a man timid ; for in Salmon fishing, one should have tho most unbounded confidencs in his tackle. I cannot overcome my respect and reverence for the old-fashioned spliced rod ; with it one lias elasticity, firmness, and strength, combined with lightness. A modern ei^hteen-feet rod must weigh at least two pounds twelve ounces. The spliced rod, same length, will not weigh more than two pounds two ounces ; and ten ounces additional weight is no joke in a day's cast. Every Salmon-rod should be provided with a spike to screw into the butt ; it is all-important for many purposes, and every Salmon- fisher knows the use of it. The great fault in most Salmon rods is the imperfect and ignorant "ringing." The modern rods have too few and too small rings; too many are better than too few, particularly on the top joint. The very best rods now have sixteen rings. One hundred yards of line is abundant for the heaviest Salmon ; \ and I believe that no Salmon was ever lost owing to shortness of line, with one of this length on the reel. Every experienced angler for Sal- mon knows that a Salmon is, unlike the Bass, not a " run-away" fish. His run seldom exceeds fifteen or twenty yards, and even then, like a trotting horse, he requires a tight rein to make him " go." In Salmon- fishing it answers very well where you have eighty or a hundred yards of line on the reel, to have the taper gradual from the fortieth or fif- tieth yard, the centre of the line, to the reel end, and from the cen- tre to the fly '^nd ; and thtis, when necessity requires it, the reel end can be changed to the fly end, and the old fly end made the reel end. I have killed my share of Salmon, and I never had a fish take seventy- five yards from me, even in a large lake, where they had plenty of "sea-room." A friend of mine struck a very heavy fish on Loch Corrib, in the County Galway, in Ireland. The water was very rough, and he was standing on a projecting rock which ran out of a small island, opposite to the beautiful village of Ouchterard. He had light tackle, and not more than seventy yards of line on his reel. He killed the fish after about one hour's work ; and that fish did not run off fifty yards of his line. His weight was eleven pounds, much lighter than the angler expected when he first struck him. SALMON FISfllirO, 411 The use of two or more flies, when fishing for Salmon in a river, would be an experiment, I think, dangoroiu in the extreme ; and even in lakes I have never seen any man use even two flieM, when fishing with the rod. A true Salmon fisher should disdain and «purn the use of double gut. A friend, instructed by the best fisherman during his day, states that he never shall forget his direction, vie : — " Let your tackle be of the lightest kind, consistent with strength," lie never used double gut. I never have, and never will. The link on which the fly is tied should be finer and more slender than the link to which it is looped or knotted. The end of the casting-line, which is united to the reel-line, should be the thickest and strongest portion of the gut, and the whole should taper to the fly. Three yards and a half is the proper length from fly to reel-line. This instruction is all-important, as I hope to show, when speaking of Trout. THE CASTINO-LINE. The casting-line should be looped, for Salmon fishing, to the reel- line. The loops on both should bo securely whipped with strong and well-waxed silk. The casting-line, without the addition of the fly links, should be three yards, and no more ; and every knot on the casting-line should be the water-knot^ which is the simplest knot in the world, being the common tic-knot, with two or three turns round itself instead of one. For Salmon fishing three knots are necessary, though two are sufficient for Trout. Each knot should be well secured by whipping with waxed silk ; and at the end of the line a link should be made, and well secured as above. The link upon which the fly is tied, should be knotted with the wa- ter-knot, as described, to another link, upon which a loop should be made, also well secured by whipping. Thus, then, we have two links upon which the fly is tied. The loop then upon the fly-link is looped to the casting-line, and thus the cast- ing-line is about three yards and a half in length from reel-line to fly. By this mode, the dii^pdvantage arising from the double loop on the casting-line is partly obviated by having the loop removed a consider- able distance from the fly. 412 AMERICAN FISHES. This is my Salmon casting-lino, and experience and close observa* tion enables me to say, with confidence, that it is the proper one. On page 244, 1 have stated that " the mode is identical," that is, of casting the fly for the Trout and the Salmon. What I intended here to say is simply, that the effect to be aimed at is the same ; the mode of operation is certainly in some sort different. The wielding of an eighteen-feet Salmon-rod, as done with both hands, certainly differs from the handling with one hand of the light twelve-feet rod. The former requires more power, slowness and steadiness of arm ; and far more caution is needed to prevent the fly from cracking off. It is the most difficult thing in the world to describe motions of the arm, so as to be distinctly understood ; much more, motions of an im- plement so delicate as a fly-rod. With regard to the mode of casting or delivering the fly, I have nothing to add to the instructions given on page 246 oi the body of the work. I will, however, add, that in playing a heavy fish, hooked \ on a single gut, it is very well, " beside advancing the butt, and bear- ing your rod backward over your right shoulder," to lower the body by bending the knees as much as possible, or even kneeling down, as by so doing you diminish and equalise the strain on that most delicate of instruments, the long Salmon-rod. It is to be observed that a moment longer may be given to a Salmon, before striking, than to a Trout ; many good writers recommend allow- ing him to turn before striking, but with this I do not coincide. My own idea is like shooting on the first aim — always to strike, and to kill, with judgment, as quickly .ia you can ; never giving a moment of time, or an inch of line, which jou can avoid giving. On the subject of flies, it is not necessary to say more. All largo and gaudy flies, on Limerick hooks, will kill in some state or other of some waters ; and with a pretty good assortment, the angler has only got to change till he finds one to which the fish will rise, and then Htick to that. And so, adieu to Salmon Fishing. // TROUT FISHING. 413 TROUT-FISHING. THE IMPLEMENTS. With regard to the rod, as described on page 254, 1 have little or DO more to say. Different persons approve of different degrees of pliancy in rods, Irish anglers generally using one much more pliant than their English brethren. ' My correspondent referred to above, writes to me in reference to my description, thus : and his theory and practice are both so good, that I cannot do better than again quote him, as I agree fully with every word. THE TROUT-ROD. "A PLIANT Trout-rod, in the hand of a fly-fisher, is a comfort. Per- sons who use spliced rods can handle a very pliant one, but the great majority of anglers, as you are aware, use the jointed rods ; and it is almost impossible for ' an old hand,' who has for years used a spliced rod, to procure one sufficiently pliant. A rod can, however, be too pliant, even in the hand of the most ex- perienced. Every man who has used a very pliant rod, knows that when preparing for a fresh cast, the line will catch before it can be carried sufficiently back to make the forward movement ; and the effect is, that in the effort to obviate the threatened difficulty, a fly will crack off. Now, I use a very pliant rod ; but I am an Irishman, and learned my trade in that land of lake and river. You are an Englishman, and I suppose became master of your trade there. The English use comparatively stiff rods. A rod should not be pliant below the second joint It is no easy matter to describe one. Your length, twelve 414 AMERICAN FISHES. foet, is e::actly up to my notion The weight shou'i not exceed thir- teen or fourteen ounces ; and above all, it should not be top-heavy. In stormy weather, a very pliant rod, even in the hands of the best angler, is very inconvenient and laborious ; and when used in such weather, nothing short of constant care and exertion will save the flies from snapping off. " You omit to ment'on the necessity for a spike in the butt. Every fly-rod should have it. In case a new cast of flies is required, or any change, what a convenience to have the rod erect, and the line hang- ing down to your hand. How many rods get broken when stretched on the ground, by some careless devil standing on the tip ; or the tip being obstructed by weed or brier, in a sudden and careless lift. " You give no directions about the number of rings. A rod should have sixteen. Avoid whalebone tip. There should be no percepti- ble spring in a fly-rod before three and a half feet from the spike ; a spring below that will inevitably make the rod top-heavy. Three i yards is the length of the casting-line, but never more than three and a half. " You say 'the flies should be three in number.' Not always — there are exceptions, many exceptions. In confined streams, where there are bushes, weeds,. &c., one fly is as much as can be managed or used. Also, in streams where the fish are very numerous, one fly is plenty, particularly with the light tackle, which a gentleman and an anglei should use. In clear water, lakes and ponds, three flies are the proper number, " Now to return to the casting-line. On a casting-line no loops of any kind should be used, because they are unnecessary ; and every un- necessary bulk, or uneven surface, which may make a splash, or frighten fish, should be avoided. To the reel-line, splice a link of the strongest gut ; that is, proportionate with the tapering gut of the cast- ing-line, which is a fixture, until used up by constant cutting, when another is put on " Let the casting-line be nine feet, the largest and stoutest links at the top, graduating t:) the bottom. To the bottom or last link, knot the link upon which the tail or stretcher-fly is tied. Three feet from the end of tho casting-line, before the tail-fly is put up, or three feet eight or nine inches from the tail-fly, use this knot : V r TROUT FISHING. 415 Two feet from the first knot, have a similar knot. The ends of all the other knots, except the one which secures the tail-fly, tie neatly with waxed silk, as near the color of the casting-line as you can. I'he knot should be the 'water-knot.' Let the first dropper or drop-fly be tied on gut three and a half or four inches long, the second a shade longer. Upon the end of each link upon which the drop-fly is tied, let the knot be that in the cut. The slip-knot on the casting-line, as depicted in the plate, can be pulled open by catching the little projections on each side, and pulling them apart. I insert the knot end of the drop-fly between the opening or two links, and then pull the knot together, and the dropper hangs perpendicular. There is no more secure or neater knot ; every cast tends to increase its security ; and there is no con- trivance whereby the drop-flies can work, or hang so well. The reason why we whip or tie the ends of all the knots save those for the drop- pers and tuil-fly, is, that when fishing in stream or pond, if the projec- tions of the knots are exposed, the casting-line will constantly become foul and heavy, by every floating piece of grass or stuff", which will ad- here to the sharp projections of the knots. " Objections may be made) to knotting the tail-fly to the casting-line, and thus making it a fixture. The answer to this is, that the advan- tage is far greater than the disadvantage. One can in a moment slip out either or both his droppers, by drawing apart the knot, and in- 82rt other flies ; or he can, as every man should, when fishing, have a perfect mounted casting-line ' all round his hat ;' and it is only the work of a moment to cut the discarded casting-line from the stationary link attached to the reel-line, and tie on the substitute. Or one may 416 AMERICAN FISHES. out the casting-line in use close up to the knot which secures the tail-fly, and tie on another — the loss of gut is trifling — and when, by constant cutting, the link becomes short, he ties on a new one. " There is one other remark worth mentioning. The tail-fly should be the heaviest, the first dropper should be lesp :n size, and the hand- fly, or second dropper, less than the first ; and let the Angler be as- sured, that attention to these apparently minor matters tend to fill his creel and save his fly. This is the true idea of a casting-line. A man should be particular in his tackle, and he is as much entitled to credit for its neatness as for dexterity in its use. ON THE USE OP THE ROD. " Every angler should learn to use the rod with either hand ; and no man is a finished, safe, expert, or self-saving angler who cannot use \\ the left as well as the right hand. To say nothing about a sprained wrist, and consequent loss of sport during the season, or being obliged to cease fishing from the fatigue and weakness of one hand, there are certain winds, in some situations, when and where a cast cannot be made with the right hand. " Again, it is important to be able to throw a fly in the teeth of the wind, which, when done properly, often lifts the very best fish. It is not difficult, but it is a little laborious, and needs practice. It is not accomplished either by the double or single turn ; it is done by bring- ing the rod right up in front, avoiding, if possible, the wind taking the rod to the right or left. Now when the rod is almost straight, press the butt strong towards the body with the wrist, keeping the arm as close to the side as possible, until the tip comes about three-quarters straight against, or in the eye of the wind ; and then run the arm out directly forward, turning the wrist, during the forward action, outside, or towards the right side. By this mode, which is more easily done than described, the line, which should bo only of manageable length, will unfold, and display a pretty fair cast ; at all events, the waves, or turbulent state of the water, will conceal the defective fall of the flies " Every angler should tie his own casting-line ; no dependance can be placed on those purchased, for the reason that very few taekle-sel- TROUT FISHING. 417 hrs aro practical fly-iishsrs, and do not know tho necessity, and will not take tho pains, of making a tapering line. " A casting-lino will cost seventy-five cents at the tackle store ; made at home, they cost about eightocn cents. It is important then, on the score of economy, as well as success, that the angler should make his own casting-line. " It is therefore important that the proper knots should be known by name, and how to make them. " There are but three knots suitable for angling, to wit : the slip- knot, described in the cut above, which is only fit for the insertion of the drop-flies ; the water-knot, and the knot, or mode of finishing a knot, which might be termed the ' finishing-knot.' " The slip-knot need not be described — it is plain enough in the drawing. " The water-knot is the most simple of all knots. It is the ^eom- mon knot,^ passing or turning the ends to be united twice round each other, and then pulling them together. It is only necessary to pass thorn twice round ; it is enough, although some persons use three turns It is the smallest knot by which gut can be united. When the knot is pulled tight, then cut off the ends, leaving a little remaining for the whipping or fastening. The projecting ends should then be fastened with thin but strong silk, waxed with white wax. Every practical angler knows how to finish off, or secure the end of the silk. The silk is wound round the projecting and main gut, until within six or seven turns or rounds of the end of tl • p-ojecting bit of gut; then turn the point of the silk towards the kno^. and continue the winding around the end of the silk which has be'^':^ turned towards the knot, until the winding is finished, then pull the end tight under the whipping, and the fastening is secure and invisible." 418 AMERICAN FISHES. OF TROLLING FOR LAKE-TROUT Iir HAMILTON COUNTY, NEW-YORK (it a IPBOUL OOMBBirOUDBNT.) I PROPOSK, in this connexion, to treat of this fine and exciting sport, doscribiiig iMt, The rod ; 2Dd, The reel ; " ^ 3rd, The line, 4th, The leader, and train of hooks ; \\ 5th, The bait and flics ; 6th, The bait-kettle ; 7lh, The boat and oarsman, or guide ; 8th, The manner of striking the fish, when the bait is taken. And lastly, iHh, How to play, and gafi' the fish. 1st, Thk Kod. — A mutual friend of ours, who writes occasionally for the " »Sjw'n7,'* and who is a most skilful troller, wrote an article which appeared in the " Spirit " in the fall of 1848, signed " M., Maa- peth, Long Iwland," in which he gave a capital description on most of the abovd heads. I wish you had the paper, as it is all that is to be said on the subject. The trolling-rod spoken of by you on page 327, would answer, to wit : the barbed rod. * * * had two of the most perfect trolling rods I have scon ; they were made by Ben. Welch, of Cherry-street, and arc all bamboo cane. I had one made by George Karr, of Grand- street, which I like very much ; and I will describe it the best way 1 can, although it is no easy matter to describe on paper a rod of any kind :— L(;ngth from eleven to thirteen feet ; butt of ash, thoroughly siiason^td, about one and a quarter inches in diameter, or about as thick as an ordinary Bass-rod. The butt should be hollow, to contain spare: TROLLING FOR LAKE TROUT. 410 tips. Tho second, third and fourth joints should be bamboo, so that when tho rod is put together, it will be about twelve feet. The rod should have two spare tips ; one should be stronger and shorter than the other, to vary the fishing according to tho state of the weather, and circumstances. Tho fourth or last joint, tip, should bo about three feet, thinner, and more pliant than the spare tops which fit in the bored butt. The first spare top should bo two feet long, stiffer and stronger than the original top. The second spare top should bo about fourteen inches long, strong and stiff; and in heavy weather, this strong, stiff top will be the one to use. Rod-making has been brought to such perfection, it would be a waste of time to give further instructions ; but still I only know two men in this city who can make a true trolling-rod, viz : — Ben. Welch, of Cherry-street, and George Karr, of Grand-street, near Broadway. Rings should never be used on rods of this character. The ^' rail- road" through which the line travels, constitutes one of the peculiari- ties of this rod. Rings interfere with, and impede the line, and should not be used. The guides used by Welch are the only true ones — they are neat, light, with a thin flat shank, about one-fourth of an inch in length, which is firmly secured on the different joints. There should be very few guides on the rod — five, I consider sufficient, exclusive of the metal case at the top of each tip. This metal case should have a round3d surface, perfectly smooth, and sufficiently large to allow the line to run without the slightest obstruction or friction. Let me give one hint before I take leave of the rod. I recommend that all troUing-rods should have guides on both sides — that is, a guide on the opposite side of the other : not on the butt, but on all joints from the butt to the end ; and why ? In this kind of fishing there is power- ful pressure on the rod ; and the very best will, from hard work, be- come btnt, and remain bent, and thus lose its elasticity. To ob- viate this, turn round the joints, slip the line through the spare guides, and in a few hours the rod is " all straight." 2nd. The Reel. — To give an explanation of this to you, woiild be absurd. I will simply say, that No. 3 is about the proper size for a trolling-rod, without stop, click, or multiplier. The line cannot run 420 AMERICAN FISHES. off too froo. Acoording to my opinion, John Conroy can make tho boat rod in tho world. 3rd. The Line. — One hundred yards is abundant. Twisted silk is tho best lino for trolling. I know they kink, when new ; but very little use will put an end to it — id est, knock tho kink out of it. Plaited lines aro very good and cheap, and do not kink ; but they absorb the water, and do not run free from the rod. A mixture of hair in lines, is my abomination. It is tho most dan- gerous and uncertain stuff a man can use. You can never depend on it ; the hairs will give way with but little strain ; and when you hook tho heaviest fish, the greater danger is to be apprehended. I hate them. 4th. The Leader and Train op Hooks. — This wor*' "leader" goes against my grain. The old familiar English-Irish sound of " cast- ing-line,^' has a charm for my ear, equalled only by tho still, silent noise of " Ballynahinch or Coalello'i flowing waten." But let leader go for trolling. Most troUers use twisted gut for a leader, with a small swivel at- tached to one end. The other end is fastened to the reel-line, either by loop or knot, but a knot is by far preferable. The leader should be two yards long — some good and old hands use three yards. I never use twisted gut. I prefer a leader of good round Salmon-gut. The train of hooks ia attached to the eye of the swivel, at the end of the leader. The train is made of five hooks, and made on the very best and most perfect gut, single. The strand upon which the hooks are tied, is fastened by a knot to another equally strong and perfect strand, which is fastened by a loop to the swivel at tho end of the leader. Thus you have tho rod, reel, line, leader, and train of hpoks. Perhaps a sketch of the train of hooks will be better than an explana- tion. Here it is : A This train, you will perceive, is made of five hooks. The lip-hook TROLLING FOR LAKE TROUT. 491 should bo a HJzo or two smullur than tho tail-hookfl — nay No. o for tho tall, No. for tho middle, and No. 7 for tho lip. Thcso hooks are joined iiihank to Hliuiik, with the gut between them, and then firmly tied with waxed 8ilk. But I procured from Ireland a 8ct of hooks welded or united together, and they ure far superior to single hooks joined by tying together, for they frequently double up, and become very troublesome. George Karr, before named, can rig this kind of train better than any man in this city, as far as my experience goes. 6th. The Bait and Flies. — Tho proper bait is tho Shinor, which can be plentifully procured in uU tho lakes of Hamilton county. They are taken with the smallest kind of hook. No. 12, with worm bait ; and when secured, are put into tho bait-kettle, and preserved until used. Tho mode of putting the Shiner on the train is simple : put tho lip or single hook through the lip, the middle hook in the belly, the end hook in the tail. Unlike Trout-fishing proper, I loop on my flies when trolling. About thirty-six inches from tho Shiner I loop on tho leader — a large fly ; and thirty inches from that fly I loop a smaller-sized one, and then I am rigged to " throw out." ^ 6th. The Bait-Kettle. — This is a most indispensable article for the troUer — ho can't get along without it. It should be made of strong tin, painted green outside and white inside. The bottom should be wider than the top, but sloping gradually. Conroy has now in his store some very good and complete ; but there is one great improve- ment, to have the handle lie or fall inside the lid. I recommend a small gauze ladle, with a short handle, to take the bait from the kettle when required — it will save much trouble, and injury, if not death, to the " dear little creatures." The kettle should be replenished with water every hour ; and one unerring sign tliat the Shiner needs fresh water, is when he pokes his nose to the surface. When the fishing is over, sink the kettle in the shoal water, and secure it, so that it cannot be tossed about by " wind or weather." 7th. The Boat and Oarsman, or Guide. — Here you must trust to luck — "first come, first served." But any person going to the hou.se .422 AMERICAN FISHES. of John C. Holmes, at Lake Pleasant, will find good aooommodatioD) and " honest John" will sacure a good guide and a good boat ; and from experience I can safely recommend Cowles, Batchellor, and Mor- rell, of Lake Pleasant, as faithful, honest, persevering, Safe and skil- ful guides and oarsmen. Trolling is solely done from the boat. The troUer sits witli his faoo „ to the stern ; the oarsman in the middle, or rather near tbo bow, and rows slowly and gently along the lake ; about one and a half or two miles an hour is the proper speed. 8th. The Manner of Striking the Fish when the Bait is Taken. — Should there be much wind, thirty-five yards of lino is suf- ficient to run out — if calm, say forty-five or fifty. When a fish is felt, the tip of the rod should be eased off, or given to the fish, in ordor that he have time to take hold ; then give a good surge of the rod, and you will rarely miss striking him. Should you be fishing* with two rods, which is almost always the case, pass the other rod to tho oarsman Never give the fish an inch, unless by actual compulsion ; invariably kee^, him in hand — feel him at a distance, but still bo kind and gantlo, not rude or rough. Do not show the gaff until you know that the fish is " used up ;" if a small fish, run the net under him ; and if tho fish is spent or exhausted, he will fall into it ; but if he shows life, draw him over the net. If a large fish, use the gaff, which pass under him, with the point downwards ; then turn it up inside, and strike as near the shoulder as possible. I say shoulder instead of tail. W 1 believe that I have now done with this branch ; but lot mo soy, that no good troUer uses load or sinker of any kind. I have soon it used, but used to the destruction of sport and tackle. Sinkers carry the hooks to the bottom, and there you stick either to root or rock. When trolling, you take, on the average, more fin« Brook Trout than Lake Trout. I think that two to one is correct. One word as to the sporting quality of the Lake Trout. Tho nine pound and a quarter Trout, before mentioned, may perhaps bo an ex- ception ; but I do affirm, that the Lake Trout is a fish of game, S]>irit, and endurance. I have killed them from one to sixteen and a half pounds. The TROLLING FOR LAKE TROUT. 423 Hixtoon and a half pound Lake Trout was hooked by me, on a single gut I'jador ; from the time I struck him, till his capture, was one hour and forty-five minutes. During the first half-hour, he showed great bad temper, and kept the pors^uration fiowing off my head ; he did sulk for half an hour, but it was a moving and a dragging sulk, unlike the Salmon ; and during this sulk he took me along the lake for about a mile ; 1 became fatigued, and bore so heavy on him that I got him near the surface, and from that time until his death was one continued run and fight. He had not the vivacity of the nine and a quarter pound fuh, but still I had " my4iands full," and was effectually "used up" when he was gaffed by Cowlcs, my guide. ' There is another mode of fishing to which you have made no refe- rence, and which I have never seen described or spoken of in any work upon angling. I mean " cross-fishing," as practised on the large Irish lakes ; and although it affords great amusement, still it is a spe- cies of pouching, and should not be practised by the legitimate angler. The ci'OHS-line consists of one hundred and fifty yards of strong line, f»iiy thin whip-cord, seventy-five yards of which is wound on a card, similar to a card used in trolling for Blue fish, and the other seventy- five yards on another or similar card. In the centre of the line, a flat, square cork, about an inch thick, five inches wide, and of the same length, is secured to a loop in the middle of the cork, and made per- fectly stationary, but still so secured that the cork shall lie fiat and even on the water. To twenty yards, on both sides of this cork, the flics are attached — that is, three feet from the cork, loop on the first fly, and ho on, every alternuto two yards, until eight or nine flies are loop:!d on the lino, on each side of the cork. The flies should be the usual lnk^-flif?H, tied on twisted, or very strong, Salmon-gut of about two feet in longth. Two boats arc of course needed. One card is held by the person in one boat, and the other by him in the second boat. The line is then stretched out as the boats separate, until the hand-fly is distant about twenty yards from each boat. The boats are slowly rowed along, in parallel lines. The line should be kept taut, so that the flics skim or danci; on the surface of the water. Each angler knows his own fish by the cork, and the person holding the card on the opposite side of tho cork huH no right to kill the fish which has been struck on the side 424 AMERICAN FISHES. nearest to his friend. There is much art and tact necessary in this kind of angling. The friend who is not entitled to the fish has as much sport, and " work on hand,*' as the person in the opposita boat — he must play the fish with equal care — but the nicety is, in man- aging the flics. Suppose the fish has taken the fly next the cork — there are, then, say eight flies between the angler and the fish. Two modes can be adopted. Should the fish be small, when the hand-fly is drawn to the boat, it should be laid on the side, with the fly hanging about a foot outside the boat ; and so on with each fly, until the fish is captured. Should the fish be large,* this mode is dangerous ; for, should the fish make a violent run, the flies laid over the side might get fast in the wood, and play the deuce. To obviate this, all the flies can be run up on the line, towards the fish — that is, when the first fly comes to hand, run the loop along the line until it meets the second fly, and so on, until you have all the flies between you and the fish, in, as it were, a heap. After the fish is killed, a few moments will suffice to re-arrange the tackle. Upon Rackett Lake, Long Lake, Lake Piseco, and other large wa- ters; this mode of fishing would afford gi'eat amusement ; and the only objection to it is, that it is a deadly way of capturing fish. But it is not half so bad, and is in fact honorable and legitimate, when contrasted with the innumerable " infernal machines" used for the destruction of game of all kinds. There is an advantage in trolling which I have omitted. You can lay the trolling-rod on the stern of the boat, and use the fly-rod for casting, and thus " kill two birds with one stone" — troll with one rod, and cast your fly with the other. In this way, I raised and killed with my light Trout-rod many of my best and bravest Brook Trout. I will close this subject by stating, that from the 15th of May to the 15th of June, and from the 1st to the 20th of September, are the best seasons for trolling on the lakes in Hamilton county. The " black fly " seldom appears before the 1st of June — he is a most infernal tormentor ; but one consolation to the angler is, that, unlike the mosquito, he is a sound sleeper, and is never seen, heard, or felt at night. Every man going into the woods should carry a gauze net, sufficiently large to cover the hat and tie round the neck, to pro- tect the face, cars and nook from the black fly X, -*>■■;'. cm; 'dK TROLLING FOR LAKE TROUT. 425 SET-LINES FOR LAKK-FieillNO, I HAVE only to add to tho above complete, and, I think, perfect de- scription of lake trolling, the following account of tho manner used in Seneca, and many of the other small lakes, for taking fish with the set-line. It is not a sporting, but it is a very killing way of taking fish ; and there is some fun, after all said and done, in making a haul. First, the set-line is baited with live Minnows, Shiners, or — best — Lake Herring, Coregonus Artedi. Anchor one end of the line firmly near the shore, in fifteen feet water ; thcnco run directly out into the lake from a quarter of a mile to two miles, with a very strong hempen cord, having short whip-cord bait-lines, with hooks armed on gimp attached at every sixteen feet ; the depth rarying from twenty-five to five hundred feet. The same method is much used in Scotland, and off the coast of Newfoundland, for deep-sea fishing, and with immense success ; the bait there being the Herring proper, or Cupolin, and the depth from ten to fifty fathoms. In the British Provinces this deep-sea lino is known as the " bul- tow." Whether for lake or deep-sea fishing, this is a very dirty, laborious, unscientific, and unsporting mode of killing fish ; and there is nothing to recommend it but the immensity of pot to which it ministers. 28 ■ » 426 AMERICAN FISHES. ARTIFICIAL FLIES. (Soe Frontispiece to Sapplement.) The superiority of " fly-fishing" over every other mode of angling, cannot be questioned, even by the most ardent admirer of the float or ground-bait. The natural and acquired skill actually necessary, be- fore any man can throw a " neat fly," is only known to those who have made this method of angling their study and amusement. I believe that no man was ever made a " fly-fisher" from written instruction. The rudiments may be acquired from books ; but a practical know- ledge of the art can only be acquired by patience, perseverance, and good temper. All works on angling contain something on the subject ; and if my angling friends do not find sufficient instruction in my " Fish and B^ishing," they must be content to begin with old Isaak, and travel down to the last authority. * It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to present a correct and satisfactory list of artificial Trout flies. Every angler has his own favorite fly, particularly if he is in the habit of fishing in one particular pond or stream. The fly which may be found most killing on Stump Pond, may not stir a fish in the adjoining water. In 1848, the " ibis" was all the rage in Stump Pond ; it was wholly worthless at Speonk and Mauritchcz. The accompanying plate con- tains flies of acknowledged merit, and generally used in the waters of this State ; and I feel assured, from my own experience, as well as from the accounts of others, that no angler can be at fault when his book is supplied with flies of the character described in the drawing. I am indebted to Thomas Finnegan, of this city, for much valuable information in relation to the exact colors used in making the follow- ing described flies ; and indeed the greater number of them have been prepared by him, and the coloring arranged under his supervision. By turning to the plates, and number of each fly, the reader will, ARTIFICIAL FLIES. 427 from the following description, see the material of which it is com- posed, its color, quality and peculiar character. No. 1. Red Palmer Hackle. — Body — Dark red colored mohair, ribhed with gold or silver twist. Hackle — Of the red cock, worked with red silk. Hook — No. 5, 6, or 7. No. 2. Peacock Palmer Hackle. — Body — A full fibre of pea- cock herl. HacHe — Of a dusky red cock, worked with red silk. Hook— No. 5, or 6. No. 3. Black Silver Palmer Hackle. — Body— a fibre from a black ostrich feather, ribbed with silver twist. Hackle — Black, wrap- ped over the whole body with black silk for fastenings. Hook — No. 5, 6, or 7. No. 4. Yellow Palmer Hackle. — The body is made of white hackle dyed yellow. The hackh of yellow silk. Hook — No. 5, 6, or 7. No. 5. Black Palmer Hackle. — The body of black ostrich's herl, wrapped with a black cock's hackle. Hook — No. 5, 6, or 7. No. 6. Black Palmer Hackle Ribbed with Gold. — The body of peacock's herl, wrapped with a black cock's hackle, and ribbed with gold twist. Hook — No. 5, 6, or 7. The flies from No. 1 to 6, inclusive, which I style " Palmer hackles," are known to every " fly-fisher" as most eff'ective in taking Trout ; and as thoy are intended to represent the larva) or caterpillars of flies, as well as some of the insects themselves, it is evident that their siza and color may be varied. In angling vocabulary, the terms " black hackle," '' red hackle," &c., are almost invariably applied to all flies of the above character ; and it may be, that the above addition of the term " Palmer," may be deemed by many good sportsmen to be an innova- tion upon old-established angling phraseology. I know that criticism should be avoided in the use of fly-fishing terms, which every man knows cannot be justified by any literary rule ; but some angling terms are so glaringly absurd and contradictory, that it seems to me actually necessary to correct evident inconsistencies, when such corrections do not confound or mystify that piscatory learning which time has, as it were, authorised as an angling alphabet 428 AMERICAN FISHES. In several works upon angling, the term " haokle" is vaiiously ap- plied. We find it synonymous with " palmer," which expresses an artificial fly and a caterpillar. We find instructions to prepare the '* hackle" to make the fly ; and again, we arc instructed to fish with a "hackle" or a "palmer." Thus the angler is confounded. The " hackle" is at one moment a feather, and at the next a fly— the fly of one angler is the hackle of another ; a hackle is nothing more than the feather of a bird, and a portion of the material which composes the palmer. There is also some apparent inconsistency in the use of the term " palmer fly." The term " palmer," as I understand it, is only appli- cable when speaking of the " palmer worm ;" but as this worm is des- tined to become a winged insect, the term " palmer fly" or " palmer hackle" is, according to my notion, a more expressive term than " hackle" or " palmer" alone. The palmer is the insect represented —the hackle is the material to form the representation. U The foregoing few general remarks I have deemed necessary — not from any desire to infringe upon old and perhaps well-established names, but for the purpose of inducing others to examine the subject. A little research upon this apparently unimportant matter led mc into a labyrinth, from which I have with difficulty escaped ; and I am by no means assured that my views may not increase the mystification of our angling vocabulary. No. 7. Green Drake or May Fly. — Wings — The mottled feather of the mallard dyed yellow, to stand rather erect and divided. Body — Yellow mohair, ribbed with peacock's herl and orange silk. Legs — Red ginger hackle. Tail forked with two or three hairs. Hook—'Sio. 5, 6, or 7. There are other modes of dressing this fly, but I prefer the above. No. 8. Gray Drake. — Wings — The gray feather of a mallard, if not too dark, to stand erect. Head — A morsel of peacock's harl. Body — Fine down from a white pig, light gray camlet, or whitish gray ostrich herl, striped with deep maroon silk. Tail forked with two or three gray hairs. Legs — A grizzled hackle. Hook — No 5, 6, or 7. The green or gray drake is not, so far as I can judge, an American ARTIFICIAL FLIES. 429 fly ; still I have found both to be killing flies, from the middlo of May to the close of June. Every angler who has fished in England and Ireland knows of thair surprisingly attractive qualiti3S ; and that during the "green drake month" the Trout reject every kind of artificial and natural bait, for the "green or gray draka ;" and that at no period of the Trout season are the fish so powerful, vigorous, and fine-flavored as when this apparently luxurious and sanative food appears on the streams and lakes. If I am correct in saying that it is not an American fly, and conse- quently not an imitation of any existing American insect, and that it is still a killing artificial bait on American waters, then the position taken by some of the best anglers will hold to be true, that for the purpose of successful fiy-fishing, it is unnecessary to imitate the natu- ral insect. It is necessary to say a word in relation to the mode of casting with those flies. The green drake is thrown in the usual way ; but the action of the gray drake being entirely difi'orcnt from the green, the same mode of casting will not answer. Unlike the green drake, the gray drake does not rest on the water. His light on the water is mo- mentary — "no sooner on than o^." Therefore, the artificial gray drake should be thrown right over the Trout, and then lifted so as to imitate the rise and fall of the natural fly. No. 9. The Cow-dung Fly. — Wings — The feather of a landrail, dressed a little longer than the body, to lie flat on the back. Body— Yellow wool, with a little brown fur, to give the body a dirty orange color ; the body tolerably full. Legs — Ginger hackle, same color as the body. Hook — No. 6, 7, or 8. This is my favorite fly. As a standard and universal fly-bait for Trout, I think that the Cow-dung should stand "A. No. 1." It is not much known to American anglers, and is rarely used on American waters. The origin of the fly is not aquatic. It is found on the excrement of animals, particularly on that of the cow. In windy weather it is blown from the land to the water ; and no bait is more greedily seized by the Trout. In March and April I use it as a tail-fly ; in May and June as a dropper ; and in July and August as a hand-fly. I regulate 430 AMERICAN FISHES. the size of the fly according to the state of the wind and water. There are few flies so frequently murdered in dressing as the '* cow-dung ;" and there is no fly in the whole list which requures more care in shape and color. No. 10. The Bee-Fly. — WingS'' Feather, the pigeon's wing, dark. Body — Chenil of various colors, arranged in stripes in the following order : black, white, light yellow, white, black, white. Legs — Light black hackle. ^ No. 11. The Black Gnat. — Wings — Pale starling feather, or hen blackbird. Body — Black ostrich herl, or black worsted. Hook —No. 9, or 10. Thb fly is generally dressed short and thick, as represented in the plate, and is classed among the " midge flies." In summer, when the water is clear and low, it is a good fly. In cloudy weather it may be used through the day ; but in bright days, it is only useful in the morn- [ ing and evening. No. 12. Hare's Ear. — Body — Fur from a hare's ear. Wings — Feather of a starling's wing. Legs — Ginger cock's hackle. Hook — No. 6, 7, or 8. From the first to the last day of the Trout season, I have found this Hy to be a good killer and a favorite bait. It is not generally known to the American angler. Finnegan, before referred to, can tic this fly to perfection. I prefer to use it as a dropper. No. 13. The (^ock-tail. — Wings — The bright feather of a snipe's wing. Body — Yellow mohair. Legs. — Light black hackle. Tail ' forked with two long hairs. / Let the angler try this fly, and then judge of its quality. I in- clude it in the list, because a friend has given it a good character. No. 14. The " Whirling Dun." — Body — Blue fur and light brown mohair, wrapped with yellow silk. Wings — Snipe's feather, or the pale feather of a dun-colored bird. Legs — Blue cock's hackle. The tail of two hairs from a light-colored muff. This fly takes its name from the whirling manner of its flight. It ARTIFICIAL FLIES. 481 can be used with suoooss, from the middle of May to the first fortnight in July. With a good breeze, it is a killing fly. Wo. 15 The Kinodom Fly. — Wings — A woodcock's feather. Body — Whito silk, striped with green. Legs — Red cock's hackle. Hook. — No. 6, 7, or 8. No. 16. The " White Gnat." — Wings— A. small white feather. Body — White silk. Legs — Red cock's hackle. This is a dulioato fly, and will kill in the evening of the summer months. No. 17. The " Blue Dun." — Wings— From the blue part under the wing of a male widgeon ; to stand erect. Body — Blue fur from the water-rat or squirrel. Blue mohair may be substituted for fur, if the true shade of the natural fly cannot be procured. Legs — A very fine hackle, as near the color of the body as possible. Whisks — Two blue hairs. It is extremely difficult to procure the feather of the exact color of the natural fly, or sufficiently delicate for the wings of this midge-fly. It is a good fly early in the season. No. 18. The "Red Ant." — Wings — Li^;ht starling's feather Body — Peacock's herl made thick at the tail, " id a ginger hackle for legs. In warm, gloomy weather, without electric clouds, ant-flics arc kill- ing baits during the day ; but they are nearly useless as a morning or evening fly. No. 19. The " Gold Spinner." — Body — Orange silk, ribbed with gold twist. Wings — Starling's feather. Legs — Red hackle. From June to the middle of July, this is a good general fly. No. 20. The " White Moth." — Wings — The feather of a white owl. Body — White cotton, and a white cock's hackle wrapped round the body. This is a nijht fly, and should be used in a dark, gloomy night. It requires an experienced hand to fish successfully with this fly. The moment the rise of the fish is heard, the angler should instantly strike. 4sa AMERICAN FTSHES. Petwcen and 13 o'clock, ona night in the month of July, 1847, 1 took clovon Imndiiiornc fi^h vrith a *' whito moth." Care should bo taken in tli« meloction of your fishing ground. A position froo from oil obstruction in indixpRnmiblo, to insure cither pleasure or success. No, 21. TiiK "GovKRNoR." — Wings — A woodcock's feather. Body — A pottcock'm herl, tied with orange silk. Thiti iM u good fly in June and July. No. 22. TiiK " March Brown."— THji^s — Mottled feather from a partridge'* tail, net upright. Body— Light hair and red squirrel's fur, mixed. Legi — a grizzled hackle, l^ail Whisks — Two hairs, redditsh brown. ThiH fly, like a grcot many others, is known by various names. I believe that in Wales, it is called the " cob-fly." In Ireland, it is called the " cnughlan ;" and in that country it is highly prized as a superior fly. Some good anglers make the body of hare's ear and yellow wurHtcd. I have not found it to be a killing fly on Long Island, although in xomo streams in Conncicticut, it did good service in the month of April. No. 23, Tub Stone-Fly. — Wings — A mottled feather of the hen pheasant, or the dark gray feothor of the mallard, inclined to red — to be dressed rather long. Body — Dark brown fur, or the dark part of a hare's ear, mixed with yellow camlet or mohair. Legs — A few laps of a grizzliid cock's hackle ; and in the finishing, two dark hairs are frequently ussd for the antennae, or foolers. The angling history of this fly is full of interest ; but as I merely propose to givo a list of such flies as experience justifies me in recom- mending, together with a statement of the materials, colors, &c , of which thoy arc formed, I will in this place simply refer my readers to the account given by Cotton, of this fly ; but I cannot refrain from expressing my unqualified dissont from the remarks in the " North Country Angler," in relation to the natural history of this fly ; and it is to mo a matter of astonishment, that Mr. Daniel, in his great work which treats on fishing, has fallen into great error in reference to the stone-fly. ARTtFICIAL VLIC8. 488 No. 24. The Willow-Flv. — Wiilg$ — A dark grizzled cook's Imckle. Body — Bluo squirrors fur, mixed with yellow mohair. This fly appears very late in the ecason, and is a favorite with some good anglors. I have thus gone through the catalogue or list of flics in the colored plate, but I do not desire to be understood as intimating that this list contains a specimen of all the best killing flics. Every angler has his own peculiar notion in regard to the best fly ; and the difiiculty of presenting a perfect catalogue, will be very appa- rent, when it is considered that there are upwards of one hundred and twenty-five flies which compose the list of various writers ; and as the name of the fly of one writer bears a diff'erent name and description from that of another, it is more than probable that the name and de- scription of some of the flics in my list may not be in accordance with the views and opinions of many old and experienced anglers. It is a mooted question among the very best " fly-fishers," whether an exact representation of the living insect, is necessary to insure suc- cess in angling with the fly. The Scotch flies are not imitations of living insects ; and the best anglers in that country maintain the opinion that it is absolutely useless and unnecessary to imitate any in- sect, either winged or otherwise ; and 1 find that Professor Wilson ad- vocates the inutility of such imitations. Professor Rennie says that " the aim of the angler ought to be, to have his artificial fly calculated, by its form and colors, to attract the notice of the fish ; in which case he has a much greater chance of suc- cess, than by making the greatest efforts to imitate any particular spe- cies of fly." The opinion of such authorities tends to shake old settled notions ; and although I invariably endeavor, when dressing a fly, to imitate the living insect, still I have seen nondescript flies beat all the palmer hackles, and the most life-like flies that ever graced a casting-line. I shall leave the subject where I found it — in doubt — trusting that some more experienced hand, and lover of the art, will, ere long, en- lighten the angling community, not only upon this branch of the sub- ject, but upon the "fly" in general. Every distinct insect has a history full of interest and instruction ; and although some valuable 484 AMERICAN riSIIES. treatises have boon published, which depict the inNccts and their types in their natural colors, still a ootupilation of all that is instructive, with such additional information as research and oxporionoo may prouuru, woald make a volume of deep interest to the naturalist and the angler. DESCRIPTION OP SALMON AND LAKE TROUT FLIES. Plata to (Hm page 334— body of work. The Salmon Flies three in number. Upper row, from left to right. Largest Fly, No. 1. — Blue worsted head; bluck hackle body, with silver thread ; upper wings, speckled turkey ; broad wing, bright golden pheasant ; green peacock herls, blue>jay and rod hackle logs ; bird of paradise tail ; scarlet-dyod antennae. Middle Flt. — Red worsted head ; ruffed grouse hackle and blue- geai wings; green peacock herl; red hackle body; ruffed grouse hackle legs ; orange silk tuft ; bird of paradise tail ; blue macaw an- tennae. Third Fly. — Green peacock harl head ; speckled turkey and blue geai wings, with copper peacock's herl ; red hackle legs ; blue floss- silk body ; bird of paradise tail. ' ' DESCRIPTION OP LAKE TROUT PLIES. \ Plate to fiice page 234— body of work. Left-hand Fly, Lower Row, No. 2. — Black floss silk head; brown peacock's wing ; red hackle legs ; copper peacock's herl body ; orange worsted tuft. ARTiriCIAL rtlES. 48fi llu;iiT-ii AND. — Blu! worstod head; ruffod grouso upper wingn; gold n phoasaut un'l >r winga ; brown couk^s hucklo I'gn; pink Milk body, with goM twist; bird of parudiMU tail ; gruou p'jaoouk*8 horl an- tonii.' DESCRIPTION OF TROUT FLIES. To fiice |M|a U3— body of work. Upper Row, first Fly to left-hand. — Black cock's backlu, dark blue worsted body. Second. — Scarlet ibis wings ; scarlet silk body ; silver twist. Third. — Gioen peacock's herl wings ; ruffed grouse haoklc legs; orange silk body ; green peacock borl tuft. Fourth — Cock a bondbu hackle ; rod silk body ; silver thread. Fifth. — Cock a bondhu hackle ; green worsted body. Sixth. — White miller ; black silk head; white owl wings; white ostrich legs ; white chenil body. Second Row, first to the left. —Bee. — Gray pigeon wings ; black and yellow silk body. Second. — Green drake ; Mallard's speckled wing ; light brown hackle legs ; pale brown mohair body ; tail, three black horse-hairs. Third. — Black midge ; gray goose wings; black chenil body. Third Row, first to the left. — Brown turkey's wing ; cock a bondhu hackle legs; red worsted body ; speckled mallard tail. Second. — Snipe's wing; gray mouse body; ruffed grouse hackle legs ; speckled mallard tail. Fourth Row, first to the left. — Yellow dyed hackle wings yoUow worsted body ; silver twist. : Second. — Furnace hackles ; green worsted body. 436 AiMERICAN FISHES. <) I-) Pm o H '5 — ■^ ^? W 01 o"r3 on ^ M 09 M (s3 .2 c R E >% •a ,a ;t* p2 C S 2., Q I J K CO u Q H OS O H ^ O K en H pq CO H Pi W fl o w w H u K H en O H O « H § O s n M M C H O p VI Mi '3 OS u '3 OQ a* •c •a a* 'E •3 c 2 E 2 ■nx, «^ a a' •c *> «9 X Si c o GQ CJ B O 02 s- s o o 1 «2 !» o o I a O B o m « •c OS o Si S o o *^ o J. o .0 S o o o O) .o> o o a I o o o o ^ 00 a^' S e o I I )». ;/'•(■• TABLE OF TACKLE, &C. 437 PQ ~ » <£ .-«, o ^ ill 00 s a >> 1 • 2 oS r CO ,S' i !S ^ ^ ^ 01 o o © o CO O o l-l o o nhr c o cj I-H ^^ lO F^ ,t: fco C^ c s n a o o ^•^ t£2 P, il 1 = Cm 3 is 3 U (^ a; H S (i^ •F3 -g -s M 8 M M w. ■«*.» cc r!4 p; IS PQ S 12; ;z u CJ o o o(5 w g CC p r-c^^ ? S p c t5c, d w 'O 41 O O CJS •- s « sT o a i- o „ 'C c « S § 1 © c;s g S -« S. OS to J3 03 n = M GQ CC ;a t3 be te ., ;= ;= aT 41 i, i-S 2 rt Q ft be a 438 AMERICAN FISHES. u CO Q O CO I H pq & & <^ Q CQ ?<; O PQ u Q O Q O u S H n S Ph tn H m U n £ o &I IB ID a o B CO ■^ g es -g s « ?< O 1-^ .c is fcrf ^ .., &H-I o 5 S3 09 O S *^ S t! -a *^ . .S3 *a o -M S o *: f: ^ b rt = «-a « * J. -2 ? nS S « g S >,« s-.a ©"S S a b 53 ^ "^ be o ea 5 n s H H CO U n n M S s M H M S s? a < u 2 -^ T3 a J3 o 02 « ^ o Cudb ,a rs -a OQ s bn bn .3 hi ex. a. 02 02 020 .3 go < 00 < X be ^^ e Oi .3 kL > S ,5» •C of>H SEH.2S ©cSts 02 « « c R o O 12; ^ s s -'2 IS O J2 02 0! « i o § >»»< C3 o & tr 1 O 05 o a o 3 B bo c .fH hi 02 00 < .3 a. 02 ^ bo bo a, 02 a4 02 .3 .3 00 <1 00 <1 01 '-' jy C3 3 a GQ 1 f t -% a 1 of 1 43 -^ 1 bn e3 PQ -0. £f PL, M &• c ej « e3 1 S W Ol 02 43 02 3h 02 B I SO O c JS, ■«-> c o a a 3> 2*i »^e« o a> c bo 1I o o Ti -^ 3 •^3 01 s ea oc 7". A TREATISE OH F L Y - F I S II I N C> . BY "DINKS," 0Kiani4Li.v ririmiiiMKit rtm '" J'rank forester's ^i«^ anb Jis^ing; CONTAINING COMPLETB AND KLAKOIIATB I^IKKCTIOXM VWl BVKKV THING CONNECTBD WITH THK AIIT AKI> W.'IKXC'K (If IP L Y - F- I B IX I N < f , TUB MATEKIAL8, MODE OP TVIMO, COI/OBH, HKANONM, AN1> irXKN Of AU, TUB HOST KILUNO VARIKTIRD OP ABTIPK.'MI. fl.lKM; THK t'MK OP THE ROD. THR VARIOU8 METHODS (iP CAMTINd, TIIK HCAT POHMg in centre, bolted top and bottom on one side, locked on the other. The drawers i i have all shallow trays fitting inside them ; two in each are sufficient. The top trays of the top drawers arc divided into three compartments each; the one by two longitu- dinal strips of wood, the other by two transverso ones, thus. The transverse ones should have lids in. There you keep your hooks and tinsel, a ft / e is a movable top fastened with hinges at n n, to be turned over on to the doors .7 and h, lined inside with parchment. On this lid and the other half of the top of the box you place your feathers, &c., to dress your flics on. The lower figure represents the top opened out ; they do not quite touch one another when shut up, as a slight rim runs all around both boards to raise them. In this cavity you can always keep your mixed wings, or pieces of lead to keep the feathers from blowing away. At m or m, you fix your movable vice, taking it off when you shut 444 AMERICAN FISHES. up ; f7 «7 is where you lock it up. Chenille of various suhstance and colors is continually needed. The following is a representation of a very convenient and portable form of book to hold an assortment of feathers, «fec., for a short fishing tour. The feathers must be tied up in bunches, each sort by itself, and the quill end inserted into a compartment. The most convenient size is eight and a half inches long by five and a half wide, when folded up ; when opened, however, it is twenty-eight inches long by five and a half wide, not including the flaps. This is folded upj however, one turn over the other. It is best made of parchment, a h represent transverse slips of same material. These are stitched through the back at regular distances, to hold the feathers, and at the ends, c, is *M^-^ W f() w^ 3t;-^Aial FLY-FISniNO. 445 where each fold is. d d d, arc the ilaps to wrap over all when folded upon e, for convenience of holding hooks, tinsel, silk, etc. It is best to have a couple of pockets, one over the other, covering e. The mouth of one is represented at f. You can also, if requisite, have a pocket to each flap at the back of the four flaps, the opening being downward, as represented in the additional cut, which shows the first or lowest flap partly turned up on the second. In this book it is best to put the largest feathers in the bottom row of slits, and smaller ones in the upper row, as it does not matter if the larger ones hide the smaller ones. In the second row I have shown how the feathers arc stowed away. The lines c are merely to mark the turns over, as the above is only of one sheet of parchment, save the cross pieces and pockets. Of feathers you require an infinite variety. Wild Turkey tail and tail coverts, also the neck feathers, may be useful. The tail of the American RufFcd Grouse ; the neck and tail of the English Grouse; the yellowish-tinged neck feathers of the Ptarmegan ; the tail of cock and hen Phensant, neck of both and wing coverts of hen ; of the duck tribe you require the black, white, brown and white-barred feathers from under the wing of the Gray, Wood, Canvas-back, Mallard, Teal, and Widgeon ; of the Peacock, the neck and tail ; the neck feath- ers of various colored cocks (commonly called hackles), black, red, yellow, gray, marled, and white, for dyeing blue, green, plum, claret, brown, &c. ; also Woodcock, starling, and Landrail wings. Wren's tail, Guinea-Fowl tail, tail coverts and neck feathers. Macaw feathers of various colors, tail of the Macaw, blue and yellow under, blue and red under side; Cock of the Hock's neck; Golden Pheasant-neck toppins and tail ; Great African Bustard tail, tail coverts and neck ; Golden Plover rump coverts ; Argus Pheasant neck and tail feath- ers ; English Jay wings ; Parrot tails of every color, neck ditto ; also topknots of American Kingfisher, skin of English one ; tail and wing feathers of Capercailzie, those deeply and closely barred with white ; Guinca-Fowl feathers dyed green, orange, and claret colors ; Ostrich feathers, the thickest and best, of various colors ; tame Turkey tails of various tints ; Scarlet Ibis ; three or four barred feathers from the quail's tail ; tail of Long-tailed Thrush, &c. These arc all that at present occur to my mind. They are tolerably numerous certainly, but all extremely useful ; many of them every day. 440 AMERICAN FIBIIE8. Doubtlcfw many more might bo added from the birds of America, but thoNO are sufllcicnt for general purposes. HOOKS. llic liook requires particular attention. It is bad enough to make a good fly on u bod hook, but to lose a good fish in consequence, is far wurHe. The best hooks undoubtedly are O'Shaughnessey's Limerick, when to bo had. There are also the Kendal or Kirby Sneck, and Carlisle hooks, of some celebrity ; also Kelly's Dublin ; and Bartlett's, t>{ Hcdditch. D :^ KKMPAL OK »niU}% BX.ID. HOLIX>W I'OTNT LIMKRICE OK kellt'b hook. O SnAVOIIHIgSKT. 0'Shaiighnc««ey n«cd to make his hooks as here described : " They arc ut first small straight bars of the best iron, of the requisite length, with a rudo kind of head at one end. They are first barbed, sharp- ened and roimdcd with a file, and then bent with circular pincers to the proper degree of curvature ; they are next steeled by the applica- tion of firo and charcoal ; and then, after a little final polishing, arc placed on a smoothing iron heated to 580 degrees of Fahrenheit, and arc, lastly, immersed in grease to preserve them from rust." (See Anffler in Ireland.) Of these you require every size, from the largest to the least. Bartlett of Ucdditch manufactures the best now-a-days, as regards shape and temper, having more of the form of the real Limerick — now I believe no more, the original makers of them being dead. What were and are usually called Limerick hooks are very far from them in appearance. 3 XOtfJID HK9U CARLSLK KIIIBT BEND CAUU>LK. BABTLETT8. Of gut you require the very strongest for Salmon, and very fine for FLY-FI8HINO. 44 Trout, that is, whore you chooso to use a single-handed ' «nd sinaM flies. When, however, you use Salmon-flies for them, you luust ii*c Salmon gut and rod. Of tying-silks, you require yellow, red and orang , of three or four diff'ercnt substances ; for fine, the ravellings of a lady's dress will do ; for the other sizes, you can purchase small reels of required colors of China silk. Of tinsel, you require flat gold and flat silver of various sizes, atul ulso gold and silver twist. Some few flies require a crimped kind of flat, broad gold and silver. You now require a vice to screw on to your stand, to hold your hook flrm while you dress your fly, and a pair of tweezers to hold on to the end of fi hackle, thread, or silk, etc., while yon use your hand for any thing else; small flat pieces of lead, to prevent your feathers being blown away ; a pin or two ; cobblers' wax, and a bottle of copal varnish, or liquid wax still better. DIAGRAM OF TBI VICB ItbqUlKKD Here is the pattern of a portable vice : a is the frame which is se- cured on to the tabic by e ; b is a movaoie vice inserted into frame through square holes at c and d. The upright pillar b is squared so as to fit into and d ; f o is a screw running through the upper part so as to tighten the vice, the back side of which has a hinge unseen at i. H is the top of the vice showing the position in which the fly is held. TO DRESS A FLT. " The art of fly-trying requires the rarest combination of manual skill, judgment and fancy, and the happiness of invention with which these gorgeous deceits are often devised, and the neatness with which they 443 AMERICAN riSHEB. are executed have over greatly won my admiration." So writes tbo " Angler in Ireland." And hear again what the poet Oay has to say on the subject: " To frame the little animal, provide All the gay hues that wait on female prido ; Lot nature guide thee — sometimes golden wire The ahiuhig bellies of the fly require ; The peacock's plume thy tackle must not fail, Nor the dear purchase of the sable's tail. , Each gaudy bird some slender tribute brings, And lends the glowing insect proper wings. Silks of all colors must their aid impart ; <• And every tar promote tlio Hshcr's ar^ ; So tiio gay lady with oxtonsivo care Borrows tho prido of lond, of sen, of air ; * Furs, pearls, and plumes the glittering thing d{8pla}'.<<, Dazzles our eyes, and easy hearts betrays." EXPLANATION OF FIGURES ON OPPOSITE PAGE. No. 1 . Hook with waxed string, a, taking four turns round it. No. 2. Gut, 6, fastened on. No. 3. Hackle, c, fastened on with single turn round. No. 4. Tinsel, rf, fastened on, with another single turn round. No. 5. With silk, ef, showing position preparatory to wrapping it on; e being wound over/; kept in its place by a finger. No. 6. With silk body wound on, and fastened at <; by single turn of waxed end ; o, end of silk being cut off close. No. 7. With d, tinsel wrapped on, and confined at ff by single turn of 0. No. 8. With hackle c wrapped on, fastened at ff by triple turn of waxed end a, looped; h represents the triple row of hackle close together for shoulders, and i the legs. No. 9. With/, the wings in position, secured by triple turn of a; k " represents the stumps of wing not cut oft'. No. 10. Represents the fly all finished. No. 1 1 . A single loop. \ No. 12. The triple invisible : one end, a, being passed through loops bed, each being afterward tigblLnel. No. 13. A pair of tweezers. ' No. 14. Prepared hackle clipped at sides, at l. rLV-risiiiNu. 440 450 AMERICAN FISHKS. No. 14. No. 13. / x AYo will now, as well as we can, describe how to dress these different styles of flies, commencing with the easiest; and we would rocoininend the novice to practice at No. 1 until he can produce 8omcthiti^ pre- sentable ; for, for some time it will be any thing else, despite ]m buHt en- deavors to master the difficulty. Select a tolerable-sized hook, No. .') for instance ; fix it firmly point downward in the vice, which screw tight to the edge of a table placed in front of the window or under a skylight. Wax your silk well. To do this properly, you inu»t Mtick a pin in your trowsers knee ; take two or three turns of the silk round the head and point alternately to prevent its slipping; hold ii MUWiU round bit of wax, not much bigger than a pea, between finger and thumb; well wax every part, beginning at the bottom, taking care not to put your fingers on the silk, else it is apt to break. Take three or four turns along the bare hook some distance apart, to within a trifle of the head ; select your gut ; bite the thick end a little up anFWUINU. 463 Here are represented two ways of making a palmer. No 1 represents the body fSastened on m above (plate 1, No. 1); a being the waxed end, b the hackle, to be wound on, finishing o£f at c. N. B. — Palmers are made with very long, thick hackles. No. 2 represents another sort of palmer; two hooks are fastened back to back, as shown in example, u represents a Peacock's harl, or other substance, for the body to be finiMlied off at f, (a No. 2). c and D are two hackles set on the reverse way, i. e., quill end tied on first. B is wound along past hackle d, &8tcncd down at f. Ilackle c is wound a ig pretty closely, waxed end a being alongside, or a may be carried on to (/ with the harl and there left. Ilackle c is fastened down at ff and cut ofi" close, as also waxed end a. Hackle n then is wound on to f, where it is tied down by waxed end (a No. 2), ends all Cut oif close. EXAMPLE III. Example III. represents a real salmon-fly ; a b horns ; c head of ostrich ; d tail ; e gold tag behind the tail. This phte gives nearly the representation of a real Limerick (O'Bhaughncssey) hook. The above is pretty nearly a general fly, omitting only the head, which consists generally of a trail of ostrich turned round the head after the wings are clipped close, and two horns put on either outside or just under — the head lying on top of the wings. Tliere is what is called a buzzy fly and a palmer, represented in examples I. and II. Example III. is a perfect salmon-fly, and in these also directions are given. 464 AMERICAN FISHES. We trust that these directions will enable any one to manufacture for himself, after patience, practice, and perseverance. But we would particularly advise any one so beginning to take a few lessons from a practised hand, where he will see all the niinnte dodges wo cannot de- scribe. Finnegan of New York would doubtless give lessons in this beauti- ful art, and, to judge by his flies, no one is more competent to do so. They have that peculiarity about them that bespeaks them Irish, and are most neatly manufactured, though without any appearance of stiff- ness or eye-serving about them. Having described the method as practised by ourselves, we will for the present pass over the different sort of flies ih vogue, and show how your gut casting-line is to be made. Select for salmon eight or ten of the very strongest gut you can pick out, prove each link separately — one end between your teeth, the other round a finger ; pull till it breaks. Try it again, and if it resist considerably put it into a basin of water. Serve the rest in the same way, then take out two pieces of about equal thickness; place the thick end of one to the thin of the other, let them once lap an inch or two ; holding them so, take the short end of one, pass it over the other long end ; bring it underneath, and, passing it twice through, the loop is formed. The same with the other short end ; pull the knots tight and draw the two ends together ; this knot never gives. Observe the following figures : \\ Fig. 1. Flir. 2. Figure 2 is the single knot, but it is liable to slip. Keep adding to these two links, either thicker at one end or thinner at the other, till you get the required length of foot-line. To the thick end may be added two or three lengths of double and treble gu' , if you like it, it is rather better. To twist gut, you must wet it and put one or two in each quill, with a stick to keep it from slipping, then plait one over the other, drawing it out of the quills as you proceed. I have mentioned this, not because I thought it necessary — for I presume every school- FLY-FISHINO. 455 boy knows how to plait a line — but for fear I might meet with a little abuse if I did leave it out. T always buy my links already plaited, as they are better done by machine, and it saves much bother. Hair points for trout-fishing are also made in a similar way to the double and treble gut, by increasing or diminishing the number of hairs ac- cording to the substance required. The next article that deserves our attention is the line. It is a point of much dispute among fishermen, whether hair, hair and silk, or hemp lines are best for Salmon ; for all seem to agree that for trout- fishing proper (and I mean always in thus naming it, such as is carried on with suitable trout-flics and a one-handed trout rod), there is nothing better than a mixed hair and silk line tapered at either end, to reverse, in case of accidents. This is the best ; hair is next host. For Salmon, however, the case is different. You require weight to propel the line against wind, and also great strength. I have always used one hundred and fifty yards for a line, one hundred of which was hemp steeped in boiled oil, dried and well rubbed in, and fifty yards of heavy black or gray country hair-plait line, as being stronger and better than any thing else. I use it still ; it is infinitely better than hair and silk. I prefer it to all hair, as it reels up closer than hair alone would do. When last in England, there was great talk about new discoveries in the line way. I have never tried them, and consequently cannot vouch for the performance of them, but several friends of mine, who are by no means contemptible fishermen, spoke strongly in their favor. From the appearance, it is evident that they are dressed over with more than boiled oil, with the use of which as a preservative of hemp lines I have been long familiar; they present just such an appearance, and smell as ii mixture of boiled linseed oil and soluble India-rubber wo- I — and of that I doubt not the composition is made. The following receipt will be found to answer every purpose, with- out pretending, however, to be " the one :" Best boiled linseed-oil, four ounces (one-fourth of a pint), saturated s(tlution of India-rubber in naphtha, four ounces ; mix well together, rub with a brush over the line stretched in the open air; when dry, repeat the dressing, and leave exposed to the air till stiff. Care must be taken to rub it on thinly, yet evenly all over, and avoid touching it till dry. Lines thus prepared, they tell me can be thrown further than any 466 AMERICAN FISHES. other. If 80, of course they are the best, but I prefer the hair, know- ing that when wet it acquires such a weight that you can cover twenty yards with it readily. Wo now come to the consideration of reels, which we shall dismiss in a few words. There are only two sorts that are fit for use, the plain* and the click wkeel.\ The others are downright impostors, always getting out of order or getting you in trouble, whichever sort you have of them. For Salmon, the most convenient size is one four and a half inches diameter by one and a half inches wide inside. Bor Trout, two and a half inches diameter by three-fourths of an inch wide. They should have a long, flat brass base to fasten to the rod by means of slides, and arc more convenient with the new patent handle, the ivory knob of which screws and unscrews, allowing a hinge to work so that the knob can either be put inside and kept there by a notch cut m the rim of the outside plate, or else in the proper position for reeling up. REEL WITH PATENT HANDLE. A. Plate of wheel with cut in it. * The catch of a click wheel, unless well made and kept oiled, ia apt to refuse to work sometimes. Wlien it does this in running out, it overshoots the line and fouls. Take off the cap and give the steel dagger a blow with a hammer or any iron substance ; this generally corrects the defect unless the cogs are too much worn, in which case they must be renewed. f Never buy a plain or any other reel with a stop, 'tis the devil's invention, to cause you to lose many a fish, and thereby " swear a few." It constantly slips, and brings the line up taught, and snaps when running out fast. FLY-FISHINO. 457 D. Handle. 0. Pin to fasten in the other joint. D. Of handle. E. The ivory knob. The handle c, by means of the screw represented on d, is screwed down on to n, which keeps the whole in its place, and presents the same appearance as the common immovable handle, over which it pos- sesses the great advantage of freedom from breakage while traveling. We now come to the consideration of the material to be used for reels. Brass used to be thought good enough ; now Gennan silver, if not silver ones, are in fashion. As long as they work well, it is no great consequence what the material be. I have used brass for fifteen years and more, and as long as it acts as well as it has hitherto dont^, I must say that nothing need be better. THE ROD. The next article deserving our notice is the rod, on the goodness of which as much as any other part of the turn out, depend* our success. Some men never in their lives could make ti rod. An old fisherman makes the best always; he knows exactly where they shoulc be stitf, and where limber. There are various styles in rods to suit various tastes, and for the following purposes : No. 1. Twelve-feet single-handed trout-rod; two pieces spliced*, six feet each. No. 2. Fifteen-feot double-handed trout or salmon; three pieces spliced, five feet each. No. 3. Eighteen feet double-handed salmon-rod;, three pieces, one ferule, one splice, six feet each. No. 4. Twenty -feet double-handed salmon-rod; two' pieces spliced, thirteen and seven feet each. No. 1 is the most magnificent rod I ever handled ; it throws an extraordinary length of line, was made by Edtaundson of Liverpool, and cost ten shillings sterling. It is moderately limber, with heavyish top. No. 2 is at present on the stocks, and ought to be good ; if it is not, it will travel and let another take its place. No. 3 is a fair rod by the same maker as No. 1 ; cost thirty shillings sterling; but I fear the ferule; more are worse than bettei' than it. 30 458 AMERICAN FISHES. No. 4 is a country-made bottom, with an old Edmundson salmon- top; it is an extraordinary performer; very heavy and stiff; most inconvenient to carry about; consequently such a rod is not fit for other than those living on the river banks. I would never advise the construction of one except in that case. For most men twenty feet is too long and heavy ; if so, eighteen is the size for a salmon-rod for tlieni. Fifteen is only a double-handed trout-rod, but will kill a salmon if need be. For a moderate fisherman Nos. 1 and 3 will be quite sufficient. For an occasional one, No. .3 may serve. For your inde- fatigable man, twenty or twenty-one, three pieces spliced, is all he requires ; for your salmon-fisher seldom bothers the poor trout. Every rod ought to have a spare top, and any one going on any fishing expedition of more than three or four days' duration, should provide himself with a spare rod in case of accidents to the one he generally uses. Thus, for instance, a No. 1 and N«). 2 rod, and Nos. 3 and 4, or Nos. 2 and 3, would render a person indifferent to a breakage. We next come to consider the best wood to be used in the manufacture. Many makers use ebony or rosewood for the butt, to get the weight at the bottom. It is, to my mind, not necessary. The best rods I have ever seen were those made by country fishermen. They beat the best London rods to eternal smash. These rods were all of English ash, butts and middle pieces, and lancewood tops. TIks greatest secret in the making of a rod, is to get perfectly clean, straight-grained wood, seasoned for two or three years, and in the six-feet tops to make two splices glued and whipped over with fine, well-waxed silk. Another plan, also a very good one, for tops, is to glue four pieces of lance- wood together, and work the top out of the centre of the mass. Tops so made always spring back after using. They also have generally three splices in the top piece. , In a succeeding page I shall have to describe a method of throwing a salmon-line, adopted on the wooded banks of the Spey, for which a different kind of rod is required, so that I may as well describe it in this place. About half-way up tlie middle piece it fines off rather suddenly, that is to say, out of the proportion salmon-rods are built on , and again, half-way up the top piece, that is, thence to the point it docs not fal! off in the regular proportion ; this gives a great spring in the centre, and causes the top to appear too heavy, which, however, FLY-FISIKNO. 460 it is not. I trust, ere this plan is commented on — ns I know fiill well it will be, by those who pretend to know a great deal— it will be tried. I have " .1 and taken too particular notice of these rods to be mistaken, and have >seen these in a Spey man's hands send a line that would frigiiten most people to look at. These rods, when you have acquired the knack, will throw ten yards more line than a common rod ; and against wind they are superb. We ought to have stated that twenty feet is quite long enough fi»r this rod; it is also much stouter and heavier than an ordinary salmon- rod. To make ourselves better understood respecting it, we Mill sup- pose it to consist of three splices. These should be carefully and closely wrapped on arriving at your fishing ground ; and, if ciicum- stances admitted, might be kept so until leaving the place altogether. Divide this eighteen feet by four, and you get four feet six inches as the quarter. Thus, the third quarter, i. e., nine feet from the butt, is where the great play is in this rod, and which, as I said above, is reduced rather more than the proportion ; while the fourth quarter is not so much ; care, however, must be taken not to run into the oppo- site extreme, for a slight increase in the size of the top would naturally throw the play elsewhere ; and the slightest fining off of the next quarter confines the play there. So much value do I put on this rod, that I am writing to the banks of the Spey for a veritable one, the which I shall have great pleasure in submitting to any tackle-maker desirous of the pattern ; for of all rods in the -world it is the one best adapted to the uncleared banks of all our best salmon rivers, where frequently you are unable to get your fly in by any other method than as it is termed " switching." The great fault that most rod-makers commit, is not knowing where to make the rod give. This should be at a point below the first splice, according to the size of the rod, suflScient to keep the strain from it, and also to prevent the natural stiff'ness caused by the splice from interfering with the play ; again on the second splice, it must give from the foot, as far distant as the yield is from the top of the butt- piece ; and again about the same distance from its top. The top piece also gives at the distance laid down for the top of the middle piece. I learnt this from watching the play of a Blackwater rod, for which the maker was deservedly famous, so much so, that his rods sold for more (plain though they were) than Martin Kelley's salmon- 400 AMERICAK FISHEB. rodH. I hIioiiM not, however, advise any one to inako his own rods, unlfHH h(5 huM H ta»te tliat way, when probably, after spoiling twenty or thirty, W ho is n practical Hshurinan he might hit on the real thing. Th" limHt hIihvc too much will spoil the casting of a rod ; so that it is t'xtremc'ly difliiMilt to know when to stop. Another great secret in taking tho njont out of your rod, is to balance it well. Generally Hpi'ukiiig, rodn are made with a groove and sliding ring to pass over tUii foot of th(! rod ; this should never be fixed unless by actual ex- perimuiit you have ascertained the exact point where it best suits with thf rm\ and lino you mean to use. When you have discovered this Mpot, pin down one ring and cut your groove for the foot of the reel to fit in. Kor a beginner I would recommend a light rod — it will not futigue him nearly so much ; he will learn to throw a fly cleaner with it than the heavier one. The Whippy rods are far more difficult to iiHi; uitiMtically than the others, but for fine-weather fishing they are ulcgunt tooU. I trust I liave said enough on this subject to make myself underMtood. T(» one that knows nothing whatever ^n the subject, 1 huvu only to say — goto some respectable tackle-maker; ask for a good rod ; tell him you don't understand the matter, and request his iwlvico and choice ; fur his own credit as a judge he dare not give you a baid, at the same time, not to be too cumbersome. The flannel between each layer of hooks prevents rust. The trout-book is one of many years' standing, and T do not know a better one. k.\/ X X /\ /\ A "*• ^ y O \_ x_ A Fia. 1. EXAMPLE FOR A 8ALMON-FLV BOOK. Fig. 1 represents the leaves, which arc of parchment, with cross-bars of strong silk, knotted through at the point of intersection of the cross-lines ; the other side of the leaf presents the same appearance, the two folds of parchment being stitched together at the edges ; between each leaf is one of parch- ment incased in flannel — this absorbs the moisture and prevents rust. Size, eight and a half inches long by four inches wide, the outside case of Russia leather, on the one side, containing three capacious pockets to hold casting- lines, spare gut, «kc.; the other side, with a band of leather stitched across the inside to hold a pair of scissors, knife, gatf, and a spare place for any odd matter, as lancet, &c. Fig. 2 represents the plan of hooking in a fly, the barb of which is passed under one strand and brought down to the angle over the other strands; six or seven of these double leaves are ample. The one outside must have a wide flap reaching lialf-way down the other side and closed with a wide buckle and strap to fasten the hook by (kept in its place by two keepers on the flap, the other on the back). 1\ #^l * ^j/|ijfT[|:lt" X Fig 2. /■ rLV-risiiiNo. 4 on o %iiiHi«iiii««mMTW«***i«r«f*v< "'"111"" it u MlMUUl^ KX'AMPLB or A THOUT-FLY '/o cannot do unless it be to specify the materials and colors. We will divide our flies into three classes : trout-flics proper, white or sea trout flies of three sizes larger, and salmon-flies. To render these lists as plain as possible, we •will hero give a list of terms used : tarf, i. c, whatever is placed to- ward the heel of the hook outside the tail ; tail-bndy ; tinsel is flat gold or silver; twist is round ditto; hackle is whatever feather is fastened on at tho tail and wound b.eadward; le^s — these arc put on close to the head and under tho wing; they will not bo mentioned where tackle and legs are formed of one article ; winffs ; horns ; head. TROUT-FLIES. No. 1. Red Fly. — Body — Dark red squirrels' fur equal part claret mohair, most claret toward tail, worked round brown silk wings. Wood-drake's ginger-dun feather. Pea-hen has same-tinted feathers. Legs — Claret-stained hackle. To make it buzzy, a copper-tinged dun hacklo is wound on above tho body. Hook — No. 6. 't64 AMESICAN FISHES. No. 2. Red Spinner. — Body — Brown silk, ribbed with fine jf(»kl twist ; British officers' epaulet size. Tail — Two whisks red cock linckk*. Wini/H — Wood-drake's feather, as above. Hook — No. 0. No. .3. Great Dark Drone. — Body — Mole fur, or black oHtricli wound round. Leys and winys — Blue dun hackle. Hook — No. 5, No. 4. Cow-dung Fly. — Yellow mohair, or camlet, mixed with littlo dingy brown fur of bear left rough, spun on light-brown silk. W'in,ya Landrail wing. Legs — Ginger-colored hackle. Hook — No, 7, No. 5. Peacock-Fly. — Body — Brown peacock's harl, dresHcd with mulberry-colored silk. Wings — darkest part of starling's wing fttHthcr. Hackle — Dark purple (stained)^ appearing black, but when held up to the light of a dark tortoise-shell color. Hook — No. 0. No. 6. March Brown. — Body — Fur from English hare's face, ribbed with orange silk tied with brown. Tail — Two strands of KngliMJi par- tridge tail. Legs — Feather (tied on hackle fashion only close under wings) from back of English partridge. Wings — Under part hen pheasant's wing. Hook — No 6. No. 7. Sand-Fly. — Sandy-colored fur from English hare's neck Hpiin on same colored silk. Wings — Landrail made full. Lvgi — Light- ginger from hen's neck. Hook — No. 7. No. 8. — Stone-Fly. — Body — Hare's ear, mixed with yellow niolmir, ribbed over with yellow silk, and showing most yellow toward tail. Toil — Two strands mottled English partridge tail. Wiugn same nn March Brown. Legs — Hackle, stained greenish-brown. Harm — Two rabbit's whiskers. Hook — No. 11. No. 9. Raccoon-Fly. — Body — raccoon's fur (belly),wound round yel- low silk. Wings and legs — Landrail's wing, buzzy. Hook — No, 13. No. 10. Gravel-Bed. — Body — Lead-colored silk, wound on very fine wing — under side of woodcock's ' -ing. Legs — Blackcock's hnckh', rather long, wound on only twice round the shoulders. Hook — No, 11. No. 11. Yellow Dun. — Body — Yellow mohair, mixed with bliu* fur of mouse, or yellow silk, well waxed, to give it an olive tint. Wingt — Lightest part of the starling's wing. Legs — Light-yellow dun httcklo, ^00^— No. 6. FLY FISIUNO. 405 No. 12. Little Yellow May Dun. — Body — Pale-ginger fur from back of hare's ear, ribbed with yellow silk. Tail — Two whisks from dun hackle. Winr/K — Mottled wood-drake, olive tint. Leys — Light dun hackle, yellowish stain. Hook — No. 1. No. 13. Ji lack-Gnat. — Bodi/ — Black ostrich harl. Wiiiffti — Dark part of starling. Leys — Black hackle. Hook — No. 12 or 13. No. 14. Oak Fly. — Orange floss silk, tied on with ash-colored silk, showing at tlie tail and shoulders. Wings — Outside woodcock's wing. Legs — A furnace hackle, /. c, red cock's hackle, with a black list up the middle, and black tinge at the extremities of the fibres. This hacklo must be warped all down the body at regular distances, and the fibres snipped off till close up to wings, leaving enough for legs. Hwk No, 4 or 6. No. 16. Turkey Brown.- with purple silk. Wings Hook — No. 7. —Body — Dark-brown floss silk, ribbed and legs — Buzzy ; dark-grain hackle. No. IG. Little Dark Spinner. — Body — Mulberry- colored floss silk, ribbed over with purple silk. Tail — Two strands of hackle for legs. Wings — Starling wing feather. Ze^«— Stained tortoise-shell purple-tinted hackle. Hook—Jiio. 7. No. 1 7. Grannom, or Green-Tail. — Raccoon's belly wrapped on brown silk ; green tag at end of tail to represent egg-bag. Wings very full, from partridge wing. Legs — Pale-ginger hen's hackle. Flook—Vo. 12. No. 18. The Soldier or Fern-Fly. — Body — Blood orange floss silk. Wings — Darkest part of starling. Legs — Red cock hackle, or made-bnzzy with furnace-hackle on above body. Hook — No. 5. No. 10. The Sailor Fly. — Body — Dark-blue floss silk. Wings and legs same as above. Hook — No. 5. N(». 20. Alder-Fly. — Body — Peacock's harl, tied with black silk. Wing — Brown hen, or inside of woodcock's wing. Legs — Deep amber- stained liacklc, or black May ditto. Hook — No 4. No, 21. Green Drake. — Body — The extremities are of brown pea- cock's harl ; middle of pale straw-colored floss silk, ribbed with silver twist. Tail — Three rabbit's whiskers. Wings and legs buzzy. Wood- 466 AMBRIOAN FISHES. drake white bar clipped off, or mallard tinged olive, if in a state of rest, wings as above, legs pale-brown bittern's hackle, or partridge or ptarmigan feather. Hook — No. 3 or 4. No. 22. Gray Drake. — Body as above. Tail as above. Winr/n and leffs — Buzzy; mottled mallard stained faint purple; if at rest, wings of same colored mallard feather. Legs — Dark purple-stained hackle, wrapped over the above colored body, ffook — No. 3 or 4. No. 23. Marlow Buzzy (the celebrated cock-a-bonddu). — Body — Black ostrich harl twisted with brown peacock's hee\. Wings and legs — a furnace hackle, buzzy. Hook — No. 8. No. 24. The Dark Mackerel or Brown Drake. — Body — Dark- mulberry floss silk, ribbed with gold tinsel. Tail — Three rabbit's whiskers. Wings — Brown mottled mallard. Legs — purple-dyed tortoise-shell hackle. Hook — No. 4 or 5. No. 25. Pale Evening Dun. — Yellow martin's fur, spun on pale fawn-colored silk. Body — a fine-grained feather from starling's wing, stained rather iight-yellow. Legs — Pale dun hackle. Hook — No. 12. No. 26. July Dun. — Body — Blue mouse fur and yellow mohair mixed and spun on yellow silk. Wings — Dark starling stained darker with onion (vide receipts). Legs — Dark dun hackle. Hook — No. 12. No. 27. Wren-tail. — Ginger-colored fur, ribbed with gold twist — hare's neck will do. Wings and Legs — Buzzy wren's tail. Hook — No. 12 or 13. No. 28. TkED Ant. — Body — Peacock's harl, tied with red brown silk. Wings — Light part of starling's wing. Li^gs — Red cock's hackle. Hook—yo. 12 or 13. No. 29. Black Ant. — Body — Peacock's harl and black ostrich mixed. Wings — Darkest part of starling's wing. Legs — Black cock hackle. Hmk—^o. 12 or 13. No, 30. August Dun. — Bwly — Brown floss silk, ribbed with yellow silk. Tail — Two rabbit's whiskers. Wings — Feather of a brown hen's wing. Legs — Plain red hackle stained brown, made buzzy with grouse (English) wound on above body. Hook — No. 8. No. 31. Orange Fly. — Orange floss silk, tied on with biack silk. FLY-FIglllNO. 467 Legs — A furnace hackle. Win(j» — Hen blackbird or dark starling's wing. Hook — No 12 or 13. No. 32. Cinnamon-Fly. — Botly — Fawri-colorcd floss silk. Wings — American robbin's, or better the long-tailed thrush, buzzy. Grouse feather, or red hackle stained brown with copperas, on above body. Hook— 'No. 10. No. 33. Blue-Bottle. — Bright blue flo«n silk, tied on with liglit- brown silk, showing the brown at the head. Winf/s — Starling's wing feather. Ler/s — Black hackle wound on slightly from tail. Hook — No. 6. No. 34. Willow-Fly. — Bodt/ — Mole's fur, or blue mouse. Winf/s — A dark dun cock's hackle, strongly tinged a copper color. Hook — No. 8. ■ • ■ These are the best flies used in England. They are derived from " Ronald's Fly-fishers' Entomology," with colored plates ; a very ex- cellent work. The only variation I have made has been to substitute the feather of an American bird whenever 1 knew any suitable. Un- fortunately this is not the season for palmers or caterpillars ; and, not having the insect or patterns, I am unable to give as many as I could wish, as they are excellent trout-killers, especially after a flood. PALMERS. No. 1. The Red Palmer. — JBodi/ — I'caeock's harl, with red cock's hackle wound over it, tied with dark-brown floss silk; two hooks are used, vide plate of flies (Ronald's). No. 2. Brown Palmer. — Mulberry-colored worsted spun on brown silk, brown cock's hackle wound over it (Ronald's). No. 3. Black Palmer. — Black ostrifdi harl, ribbed with gold twist, red cock's hackle wound over it (Ronald's). No. 4. Yellow Palmer. — Pale straw-eolorcd worsted, wound on same-colored silk. Pale straw-tinted cock hackle over body. No. 5. Green Palmer. — Pea-green worsted on green silk body, hackle steeped in onion dye. No. 6. Fawn-colored Palmer. — Fawn-colored worsted on pale- red silk body. Fawnish-red hackle wound over body. 468 AMERICAN FISHSS. The following receipts are also taken from Ronald's works jilto\o mentioned, and are excellent. RECEIPTS. To DYE White Feathers a Dun Color. — Make a mordant, by dis- solving a quarter of an ounce of alum in a pint of water, slightly boil the feathers in it, taking care that they be thoroughly soaked with the solution ; then boil them in other water with fustic and cop- peras till they assume the proper tint. This for yellow dun — sumac and copperas for blue dun tint. The greater quantity of copperas used, the deeper will be the dye. To TURN Red Hackles Brown.— Put a piece of copperas the size of a half-walnut in a pint of water, boil it, and while boiling, put in the red feathers ; let them remain until by frequent examination they nrc found to have taken the purple color. To DYE Olive T)un. — Make a very strong infusion of the outside brown coatings of onions, by allowing it to stand twelve or twenty-four hours by a warm fire. If dun feathers are boiled in this they become an olive-dun ; if white feathers, they become yellow ; if a piece of copperas be added, the latter color becomes a useful muddy-yellow, lighter or darker, as may be required, and approaching a yellow olive- dun, according to the quantity of copperas used. To DYE Mallard Feathers for Green Drake. — Tie up the best white and black barred feathers from under the wing, in bunches of a dozen ; boil them in'the mordant, as directed in No. 1 , to get out the grease ; boil them in an infusion of fustic, to procure a yellow, and add copperas to the infusion, to subdue the brightness of the yellow. , To DYE Feathers Dark-red and Purple. — Hackles of various colors boiled (without alum) in an infusion of logwood and Brazil-wood dust, until they are as red as they can be made, may, by putting them into a mixture of muriatic acid and tin, be changed to a deeper red. As the solution is not to be a saturated solution of tin it must be much diluted ; if it burns your tongue much it will burn the feathers a little ; by putting the feathers, after the first process, into a warm solution of potash, they will become purple. FLY-FISIllNG. 460 To DYE FeATUERS VARIOUS SHADES OF ReD, AmRER, AND BrOWX. — Boil them in the alum mordant above, then in an infusion of fustic (tal>lc-spoonful to a pint of water), to bring them to a bright yellow . then boil them in a dye of madder, peach or Brazil-wood. To set the color, put a few drops of dyers' spirit (to be procured at any silk-dyer's) into the last-mentioned dye. To STAIN Gut. — Put the gut into an infusion of onion-coatings (ubove) ; when it is quite cold let it remain until it becomes as dark as may be. Gut may be stained in an infusion of cold green tea. A cold dye of logwood will turn it to a pale blue. After a little practice you will be enabled to do wonders with your feathers ; perhaps, also, with your hands, which, if you operate exten- sively on all the colors, will become quite a nondescript color. FLIES — CONTINUED. We inserted the foregoing receipts in this place in preference to the end of the trout-flies, inasmuch as, being copied from Ronald's work, and having reference chiefly to his style of tying flies, which, by the way, is the most correct, since he gives you a colored representation of the fly, and then below it a colored one of his imitation. To this list I have added thirteen more and three palmers, the raccoon being one, and the three last of the palmers, before enumerated, and the ten following ones : I need hardly observe that palmers are nothing more than caterpillars. Bodtj. Ifackle. Tinsel. Wings. . 1. Orange floss silk, Red twist, Silver, Woodcock out- side wing. 2. II II Black, " Gold, Partridge. S. II II Red " None^ Landrail. 4. Black " Red " Silver, Starting. 5. II 11 Black " II II 6. Yellow " II 11 None. 11 7. II II Red " Silver, Partridge. 8. II II Ginger " None, Landrail. 9. Rat's fur, Red " 11 Starling. 10. Mouse fur, None, Silver, Grouse buzzy. 11. Pale iron-blue mo- ) hair with pale yel- >• low mixed, ) (legs picked out of body.) None, None. Sea-swallow, 12. Green gosling mohair, Bed, (t Partridge. 410 AMERICAN FISHES. The foregoing lists are ample for all trouting purposes. Konnld's patterns are given with the addition of the number of hook ; and, I may add, these are full two sizes larger than English fishermen gen- erally use ; the dozen last enumerated may vary in size from No. 6 to No. 10, but of this more anon. We now come to the Sea-Trout Flies — from Nos. 1 to 4 we mav set down as the regular size for America, Nos. 2 to 6 bsing those in use in Ireland, where they most abound. They are made much more gaudy than trout-flies, and yet not so expensively as salmon-flies; bodies all floss silk : Body. Pftle blue, Yellow, Red orange, Orange, Tail. Tinsel Tag. JTackU. Wings. Head, J^'tS^- [Silver, Black ostrich, Black, Starling. IJ'- \ ant's neck, J" ' Bine parrot, CJuinea-fowl, Gold, Blue peacock. Gold, None. These below have fur or pigs'-wool bodies. Yellow and ) Pale green [■ " " " mixed, ) Red, Black, i I peacock. None. II Mixed brown, ,i Black, Mixed, Black ostrich. «t Tlie above are half-a-dozen of the very best flies used at the Bally- nahinch river, in Ireland — the best river in the world for sea-trout. I have given them here, confident that they will not disgrace the country where they were bred and born. I have only to observe further, that of all fish in the world they are least particular, rising equally well to salmon or trout flies. Before describing salmon-flies, it will be necessary to explain what is meant by mixed wings, and how they are made ; also, what is meant by a tag. A mixed wing, as its name implies, is one composed of vari- ous feathers, and also of various hues — at one time greenish, at an- other blue, at another red, &c. ; but still the basis and the method of constructing it are the same. Before commencing to tie your flies,it is better to assort the feathers for the wing. You take a quantity of brown mallard fibres, cut close to the hen, teal, drake, or widgeon, golden pheasant's neck, guinea-fowl, par- FLY-FISHINO. 471 rot, green and blue, cock pheasant's tail, bustard, wood-drake ; separate the fibres of one lot, laying them on your table, with a space be- tween each ; then take up another lot, and lay a fibre down on each of the others; and so on with each bundle, except golden pheasant, of which you use about one-half as much as the others ; and parrot, one- quarter, guinea-fowl three-quarters, English pheasant one-quarter. When all are sorted out, roll them into a bundle, and draw them out several tin - ^ between your fingers, to more perfectly blend them. This is y ordinary rich wing i < 'lihg can be more beautiful or better. Your Uy always wears an even appearance and not blotchy. When you require an extra colored tint to your wing, add more of the color, but take care to blend the fibres you add well with the stock color. A tag is whatever you wrap on the bare hook outside of the tail. And now we come to salmon-flies, of which we can only enumerate a few standard and well-known killers in the old country, and a few of this continent. We regret to say, for more reasons than one, that we have bad no experience in salmon-fishing in America; it is for this reason we crave the indulgence of our readers for the meagre lot of American standard flies; what we have given are well-known killers in many waters of the old country, and are the standard flies of many and various rivers. I have little doubt but that they will be found as effective in the new as they are in the old world. The first lot are all small flies, used in Ireland chiefly for salmon. They will, I doubt not, be effective here for sea-trout or river-trout. The size of hooks from which the patterns are taken vary from Nos. 2 to 6 ; on the smallest of them I have killed salmon ; they may, however, be made a couple of sizes larger. No. 1. Gold taff. Tail — Two fibres of hen pheasant's tail. Bodt/ — composed of fine red chenille, one-third; light bluish-green chenille, one-third; pale-yellow straw chenille, one-third; claret-colored cock's hackle for legs only, body being bare. Wings — Great African bustard, with four strands of green-blue peacock harl. Head — very long, of com- mon brown peacock's harl. (I state here, once for all, that I describe flies in succession from the tail end, whence they are connnenced in the making.) An extraordinaiy killer, tricolored chenille body, claret hackle, bustard wings. 472 AMERICAN FISHES. No. 2. Tail — Two fibres of brown mallard two of red parrot, fine Hinall turn of pale orange tloss silk, next these. JJody — Black floss silk ; the finest gold twist, wound on very close, i. e., eleven turns on No. 2 hook. Legs — Of red cock's hackle ; body bare. Wings — Very tliick, composed of sniall neck feather golden pheasant, and two fibres of the blue-green peacock above this brown mallard. Head — Black ostrich. Quite as good. Black body and red cock's legs ; gold tinsel. No. 3. Shanks — Black. Tag — Yellow floss silk. Tail — Two strands of pale-blue parrot ; the yellow floss tag is wound twice around beyond the tail quite close. Hackle — Gray cock. Body — The yellow floss run alongiiide of a black floss silk band. Legs — Partridge full. Wings — Teal drake. Head — Black ostrich. As good as the others. Shanks black ; partridge legs ; gray hackle. No. 4. The Foggy Flv. — Body — One-fourth green chenille, one- fourth pale yellow ditto, one-half purple ditto. A Marled Hackle — Root end first is wound over the body, the ends left projecting beyond the hook at least half an inch. Wings — Partridge tail. Head — Orange chenille. A very ugly but killing fly. » • No. 5. Gold tag. Tail — Teal drake. Red hackle — Gold tinsel. Body — Black floss silk. Wings — Mixed teal and mallard. Horns — Blue and gold macaw. Head — Black ostrich. Not bad. Black and red hackle. \ No. 6. Tag — Yellow floss silk. Tail — Mixed. Hackle Red — Silver twist, crimson floss silk body. Mixed wings, with golden pheasant- neck. Macaw horns. Head — Ostrich. ./ Very good crimson and red hackle. No. 7. Tag — Gold. Tail — Three golden orange parrot strands, tin- sel gold. Hackle — Blue. Body — Blue. Wings — small golden pheas- ant neck, two blue English kingfisher's feathers (blue-bird might do), a fibre or two of bustard, ditto teal drake. Macaw horns. Head — Black ostrich. . A lovely fly, blue body, ditto hackle, ditto wings. FLY-FISHING. 473 No. 8. Gold tay. Toucan golden tail, Silver twist blue liackle* Body — Two-thirds pale rose, one-third crimson floss silk. Wtnya — Mixed. Horns — Pale-blue parrot. Head — None. Great white trout-fly, rose and crimson or blue hackle. We now come to the larger class of salmon flies : No. 0. Broad gold tag. Tail — Mixed. Hackle — Red cock's, tin- sel gold. Body — Greenish yellow floss silk. Legs — English jay wing- coverts. Wings — Rich, mixed. Horns — Macaw. Head — Black ostrich. Green yellow body, red hackle and jay legs. No. 10. Tag — Fine gold twist four or five turns. Tail — Golden pheasant neck, tinsel gold. Hackle — Black. Body — Pale blue. Legs — English grouse or argus pheasant. Wings — Of golden pheasant neck, teal and brown mallard, American widgeon, argus pheasant, bustard. Head — Black ostrich. . Blue body, black hackle, grouse or argus legs. No. 11. Tag — Gold. Tail — Golden pheasant crest, then black ostrich two turns. Hackle — Long and black, tinsel gold. Body — Pale blue floss silk. Wings — Bustard on sides and teal drake in cen. tre. Head — Black ostrich. Blue and black hackle. yi^i. No. 12. Tag — Gold and two turns crimson floss silk. Tail — Mixed. Hackle — Crimson orange. Body — Blood orange floss silk, tinsel gold. Wings — Rich, mixed with extra gold pheasant tail and neck. Horns — Macaw. Head — Ostrich. Orange body, hackle crimson orange. ' No. 13. Tag — Broad gold. Tail — Mixed, gold, tinsel, and twist wound on side by side over. Body — Brown pale floss silk. Hackle — Red. Wings — Mixed, showing most guinea-fowl. Horns — Macaw. Head — Ostrich. / - Brown body red hackle. ' No. 14. Tag — Gold. Tail — Golden pheasant neck and pale blue parrot, gold tinsel. Red hackle, yellow, orange body. Legs — Of English jay-wing (blue). Wings — Rich, mixed. Head and horns as above. 31 >: 474 AMERICAN' FISHES. Vollowr orange body, red buckle, jay legs. No. 115. Tacf — (Jold twist. Tail — Mixed, gold twist (fine). Hackle — lllack. Hodi/ — JJlack floss silk. LecfK. — Dark guinea-fowl. Winya — Hiclily mixed witli extra guinea-fowl. Ilorm — Macaw. Head — IMuck oMtricli. lilack body, ditto backle, guincn-fowl legs. No. 10. Tay — Deep gold afterward orange silk. Tail — Golden pbeaMunt neck, and ditto red tail feathers, fine gold twist. Hackle — ' Long black. Bmly — Black (bluish tint) pigs'-wool or worsted. Wint/H — ^IJrown drake, guinea-fowl, with two or three flamingo fibres under wingH ; over the legs and shoulders a little orange mohair (least quantity). Head. — Brown peacock harl. Blue-black body, wool-black hackle. No. 1 7. Ta// — Gold, then crimson floss silk. Tail — Two fibres of mudillc'd parrot. Hackle — Red gold twist. Bodi/ — Brown worsted, iyip//*^— Partridge. Wint/s — Golden pheasant neck, guinea-fowl, teal drake, blue parrot. Macaw horns. Head — Red orange floss silk. Very plain but effective ; colors brown. No, 18. Orange floss silk taff. Mixed tail. Gold twist. Hackle — Ucd cock, JJodi/ — Pigs'-wool, crimson, little black and claret colors well mixed. Winr/ — Golden pheasant neck, blue (pale) parrot and teal drake. Head — Black ostrich. Ballynahincb, County Galway, fly. No, 10. Gold taff. Mixed tail, extra, golden pheasant. Hackle — Red cock'M, two fine gold twists, one each side, of bioad silver wound on a claret-brown worsted body. Leys — Grouse. Wings — Teal drake, brown tnbllard, bustard and golden pheasant nock, heavy. Harm — Macaw. Head — Black ostrich. Clarcty-brown worsted body ; red hackle ; grouse legs. No. 20. Tail — Golden pheasant crest, silver twist. Hackle — Long block. Body — Least bit yellow, then black one-half, then yellow the rest of pig'H wool or mohair. Winys — Golden pheasant crest, brown mallard, bustard, teal drake, and guinea-fowl. Block and yellow barred body ; black hackle. FLV'FISIIINO. •t A combination of English jay is one of the most effective flies in the world, as it can be put into as gay a fly as you please, and also into as plain a one as you like. The same observations hold good for Salmon as for Trout, regarding appearance of the weather and water. Do not foncy too large flies ; for certain am I the Salmon don't except when the river is in flood. I do not know the numbers of Conroy's hooks after No. 1, but two sizes larger than that what Bartlett calls his 3s. are large enough. Kelly puts on his B.B.B., large size Salmon hooks, about equal to Bartlett's 4s. Remember that in spring fish- ing this rule won't hold good, for you then have to fish with a thing almost as big as a mouse, if the waters are any ways high. I have given one or two patterns of these gaudy spring flies amongst the Salmon flies, and amongst the Pike-flies may be found three with blue bodies, which are used in the Ness, in spring, for Salmon. Salmon do not often lie in the middle of a very strong rapid, either at the tail or in the very head of it ; they are very fond of an eddy^ though it may be in the very midst of a boiling torrent. But I have as often had sport at the tail, especially when it ran into a deep pool, in which case I generally had a rise on each side of the stream in the back water. 11 FLY-PI8HINO. 485 In fishing a place of this sort, cast carefully over into the stream, at first only fishing the side you are on ; then, after that, wade in as far as you can, cast as far over as possible into the dead water on the other side of the stream, lifting your rod as high as you can, else the current sweeps away your flies before the fish have time to hook at them. I must not dismiss this part of my subject without saying a few words respecting the flies in use for Pike and Black Bass. For the former, the most successful fly I know of is made on a very large hook — Codfish c Lake Trout size. It has a mouse-colored fur body, with long, black, shiny hackle from the cock's rump, with two large eyes from the peacock's tail set on for wings. I have not the least doubt, however, that a fly tied to represent a young duck or gosling (if so be it can be called a fly) would be just as effective, to say nothing of one like a mouse or a small water-rat. You must, how- ever, use gimp instead of gut for them, and a shorter and stiffer rod. For Bass, the fifteen-feet two-handed trout-rod seems best adapted ; but I confess I have had no success in whipping for them, and there- fore do not speak very confidently respecting the best flies. My only chance for fishing for them has been where there has not been a sufficiency of current, which is a great desideratum, unless you have a strong breeze. White Bass, however, rise well at almost any moderate-sized trout-fly (proper), and at times — that is to say, when they are in full run — you may by this means take a large number. They are an active fish, and play well ; so that, with a light rod, you can have very finp rport. Old General Gates, who served for many years in Canada, has often said that the very best fly for them was composed of a strip of a sol- dier's scarlet jacket wound on as body, long scarlet hackle for legs and wings ; indeed, a feather from the scarlet-dyed plumes in the soldiers' shakos of those days was what he used. I have seen a very beautiful fly from Conroy's ; the body of beautiful rich crimson-scarlet velvet, with long fibre — or pile, 1 believe, the more correct term is. The wings, of four feathers, two on each side, red fla- mingo or scarlet ibis inside, and a very pale barred mallard feather outside. I have no doubt but that the following flies would also answer well : Golden pheasant crest, tail, broad gold tinsel ; scarlet or red hackle ; 480 AMERICAN FISHES. body tliick, of piijs'-wfiol — blood onuin;c a lialf, yellow a quarter, and red a (]iiartor, well mixed; wiiio;s, blue peacock, three or four strands, and two hcasant tail. Very good sport may be had in the rapids of the St. Lawrence with fly, in the months of Juno and July. I omitted to mention in the proper place 'at the only substitute of the golden pheasant crest, at all approacning to the mark, is a Billy-goat's beard dyed the ju-oper color, and that is perfect. I have seen it in a fly, and could not tell the diftorence. And now we have got through the poetry oi the art. Hitherto, things have gone happy as the nuirriage bell. I have cottoned to my subject con amove. What follows is decidedly against the grain. I unhesitatingly declare, and I confidently appeal to my brother angler, whether he, a fly-fisherman, does not feel similarly. To me fly-fishing is a labor of love; the other is labor — alone. But notwithstanding such arc my feelings, it by no means follows that every one else so fancies it. Every one to his taste. It is not given to each individual to be able to find the waters wherein to kill his Salmon or Trout ; and it cannot for a moment be supposed that, because the Salmon and Trout are not, he is to be debarred from joining in the pleasures of the flood. For this unfortunate class of people (I am at present one of the num- ber, and therefore, if I do slightly stigmatize the class, I trust, having placed myself in the same boat, that I may be forgiven) we will draw from the hidden storehouse of our mind sundry dark and dismal visions of things past. When, as a little boy, we delighted, with a hazle rod, float, and wriggling worm, to pull out many a perch, carp, tench, and slippery eel, our greatest delight then was to chuck them out, sans ceremonie, slap over our heads ; and now, at three times the age, our first fun in fishing is to catch minnow with a fine trout top and a pair of No. 17 hooks. We will, however, proceed ; and, to do this satisfactorily, we will divide this part into two sections ; one, trolling or fishing with arti- ficial bait ; the other, with natural bait, merely resting a moment or two to define what we mean by the term trolling. FLY-FIHUma. 487 Trolling, then, is of two kin*ls: one consists in letting a long lino drag after a boat progressing at a slow yet steady rate, either l>y oar, sail or paddle. About three miles an liour is most proper. An- other kind of trolling is practised, either from a boat at anelu»r or from the shore. The rod used is one about eight ()r ten fci't long, very stiff, with very large rings so as to eheek tie line as little as pos- sible. To nniko a east, the line is coiled down by your feet, say fil- teen yards or more, while only about four feet is left outside tli- rings. The rod is moved evenly two or three times backward and forward, with one hand either across the body if you want to make a cast to your right, or to the right of your body if to cast to your left, keeping your forefinger pressing your lino to the rod. Tlie motion must be even, eijuable, no jerking, else the cast will be a nndl. When you get sufficient impetus, withdraw your finger, as the rod top points in the direction you wish your line to go. Very little force is recjui- sitc, more depending on knack than any thing else ; now, allow the bait to settle down in the water a little, and connnence slowly dmwintr in the lino with your hand below the bottom ring, letting it fall in largish coils at your feet, and moving the point of the rod either up or down, according as you wish to direct your bait here or there. Wo shall now mention the various implements in use fur trolling, either with a line or dead bait, the natural or the artificud : IMPLEMENTS FOR TROLLING WITH EITHER LIVE OR HEAI) H\IT. No. 1.— TiiK KilL-I)i:vil.. a ^-^ i/ No. 2 — SbT I'K IIllUKS FOK A KlI,L-l)KVIL 4H8 AMERICAN FISHES. No. &— Olaw Uaix. No. 4.— Flexible Mihnow. No. &.— HfujN, WITH Cou-Fisu IlouK. No, 6.— Spbino-Sjjap BsruBE Setting. No. 7.— Spring Snap Set FLY-riSIIINO. 489 No. 8.— DountK Oorob Hook. No. 9. — Baitinu Nkedi.e. First, then, we will describe what is called a Kill-Devil, vide Fig. 1. This is made of lead, shaped out something fish-ways. At tlie thick end it has u loop of wire soldered into it ; at the fine end, another wire passed over a triangvilar piece of horn to form the tail. This wire is either soldered into the lead or firmly whipped to it ; a piece of broad silver tinsel, with largish silver twist on each side of it is now secured at the tail ; a very thick crimson floss silk is warped on closely over the lead ; the silver tinsel is then wrapped on with a silver twist on each side of it, and close to it. The whole is tied closely at the head, and your Devil is made. Now it only remains to attach the hooks to it. These are set on gut, as in No. 2. First, a and ft, being separate from the rest, three hooks back to back on 6, two hooks ditto on a. At c there is a small loop which is inserted into the eye in the head of the Devil d. a is shorter than b, and hangs below the Devil about the shoulders, p hangs on the opposite side, about where it is repre- sented, e is tied down just above the tail. / and ff are beyond it. The Kill-Devil is an excellent bait for Trout ; quite as good as a live Minnow. Strike the moment yoa feel a touch. No. 3 is an Artificial Flexible Minnow. It is composed of cotton wool cased over with India-rubber, and painted to represent a min- now. The hooks are precisely similar to the " Kill-Devil," and set on in the same way, except that the long gut, I, is passed clear through the body at a, instead of being fostened at the tail. This is an admir- able invention of late years, and a most undeniable killer. I have successfully used one against three men using the Live Minnow in the same boat, and come within three or four of the whole of them in a 32 400 AMERICAN ribllBS. day's fiHhing. Black Bass, Fiko, Rock Bass, Perch and White Bass sooin equally to like it. No. 4 is an Artificial Glass Minnow — a plate of fluted glass some three inches long by three-eighths wide, is set into a back of German silver, the tail of German silver, hooks used as in the others, only larger and sot on gimp instead of gut, tied down at the tail. It is extremely showy in the water, and well calculated for pike, which run at it greedily. No. 5 is a Spoon, with a large Cod-fish hook soldered on to it at the point, a hole being drilled through the shoulder end of it, to which usually a few links of chain are fastened. It is used with tolerable success for Black Bass, and also for Lake Trout. No. and 1 represent a Spring Snap-hook, set and unset. I do not value them at all ; they are liable to get out of order, catch in the weeds, and tear your bait, which is hooked through the lips with the small hook, a, and tied with a thread at b. No. 8 is the Common Double Gorge-IIook on brass wire, leaded at a. This is baited by inserting the hook end of No. 9, called a baiting needle into the loop-hole at 6, passing it into the mouth of the fish and out of the vent, drawing the hooks close up to the mouth. This bait is generally U8§d for night or lay-lines ; it will catch any fish almost, but is more particularly used for Pike or Eels. I have not thought it necessary to mention the common sort of Arti- ficial Minnow, because no one who can get the Flexible would ever use it. It is made of lead, and painted to represent the fish ; is very clumsy and not worth having. We have now disposed of the artificial baits, and come to natural ones. Of these we shall enumerate only five — the Salmon Roe, Minnow, Worm, Maggots, Craw-fish and Frogs. Pieces of fish we look on only as a substitute for the Minnow. Salmon Roe, one of the most killing baits for Trout, Eels, Salmon, and I may say, all kinds of fish, is thus prepared, according to Blaine : " A pound of spawn taken from a Salmon some ten days or so before spawning, at which time it is in the best state, is im- mersed in water as hot as the hands can bear, and is then picked free from membraneous films, &c. It is now to be rinsed with cold water and hung up to drain for twenty-four hours, after which put to it two ounces of rock or bag salt, and a quarter of an ounce of saltpetre, and again hang it up for twenty-four hours more. Now gently dry it be- W FLY-FIBIIINO. 401 fore the firo or in tho sun, and when it bocotnos stiff pot it down." It is bettor to use several Hinnll pots than one large one, since by letting in the air it '\n liable to damage. Each pot should have some melted mutton suet run over the roe, and bo closely tied over with bladder. If put into a dry place it will keep good for a couple of years." When you use this bait mould it up in your fingers. Use a little, just suffi- cient to fill up tho hollow of tho hook, and hide the steel, placing two or three sound grains of it on the point of tho hooks. This bait is most deadly wlien used in a flooded river, cither as tho water rises at its heiglit or as it clears ofi*. Of Minnow, in its common acceptation, there are three sorts — the Roach, tho Dace or Shiner, and the Stone Loach. Tho first lives tho longest; tho Shiner shows most while it lives, and tho Stone Loach is as hardy, perhaps, as the first, but is not so plump-looking a bait. Young Bass, Pike, Perch, &c., are sometimes used, but aro not nearly so good as any of the three above mentioned. These aro generally secured by putting the hook in tho under lip and out of tho nostril. If this bo nicely done, they will live a long time. This is supposing you use only a single hook which, however, I consider the best. ^ Natural Bait Tacklk. If you use the Artificial Minnow tackle, you kill your bait immedi- ately. One small hook for natural bait is made to travel up and down by two small loops of gut whipped on at a and b. This is hooked into the fish's lips, and one of the three hooks at c is stuck through the back by tho dorsal fin. Need I say how to put on a worm ? I fear I must. To do it artis- tically, you must begin at the head and work it on to your hook, if net too large, without showing tho steel at any point ; if it be, let a part hang down at the bottom of the hook, and a little of the tail may hang over as a tit-bit. The little red worm, called Brandling, is the best — found among old cow-dung manure. Worms are better kept awhile in moss moistened with a little cream. / 492 AMERICAN FISHES. Maggots (or as they are more geuteely termed, gentl'>8,) arc, as every one knows, the house-fly in its first stage after leaving the egg. They are plentiful enough all summer. ^^. piece of meat ncoi only bo left exposed and there will be plenty of them. They are a capital bait for Trout, used when the water is low, and best in a blazing hot day, poked on to a very small Trout-fly. Just mn tho hook through at the thick end of a couple of them, crossways. Before using your gciitlcH, put them in oatmeal ; it hardens and cleans them. A copper-cap box with fine holes drilled in the lid is a good receptacle for then), Lato in the fall, you must protect your breeding-box from frost, or cIho they all go into the chrysalis state. Always use the largest. Crawfish, also is a good bait for almost all kinds of fish ; hook them through the body and use them the same as a worm. Frogs are good for Pike, Eels, Trout and Perch. Do not use tho bull-frog, but the grass-green fellows. Use a moderate sinker, cIho you may find master froggy looking at you from the opposite shore, as I read in the " Spirit,''^ happened to some bright Waltonian, Fig. 1. Fig, 2, Fig. 3. For bottom fishing you require sinkers of various sizes, according to the strength of the current. These you can easily make for yoiiiMclf, by boring a hole through a bullet with a brad-awl, and hammering tho ball on some flat piece of iron till you get it to the shopo rt'(|uired. You must then pass a loop of some strong line through it double, splicing it sailor-fashion, and drawing the spliced part out of sight into the hole. With these you require a swivel ; but you may buy sinkers with a brass swivel ring at each end, which are by far tho best. FLY-FISHING. 403 Fig. 2 represents a trimmer already set. This is used in still water for Pike : a round piece of wood, white cedar or white wood or cork, painted red or some showy color, about four inches diameter, with a »tick stuck in the centre to hold the line fast when set. In this round wood there is a groove cut, represented at a, in which the line is wound when set all but a yard or two. This line is fastened in a nick at the top of stick h ; the bait of course is below it when set, and the stick above water. When a fish takes the bait the trimmer turns over, releases the line from stick h, and pays out from groove a. You must look sharply for your trimmer in and about the weeds, to which Pike, for which they are especially intonded, always make to bolt their prey. They are very effective. I have not said a word as yet about floats ; they are but seldom used nowadays; but some people like them who are too lazy to feel their lines all the time. They are usually made of cork, rounded at the top, and tapering to the bottom with a quill-top fitted into a stick run through them over the quill ; a small piece of quill is fixed to hold the line, while to the bottom of the wood a wire loop is tied also to pass the line through. The affair is then painted and var- nished. A swivel is a piece of twisted iron wire, or rather two pieces, con ncctcd together by a fine round small piece of iron fitted into the two holes. Its heads arc then hammered out. to prevent its slipping out of the holes, but allowing it to work round and round freely, {vide Fig. 3). A good substitute when hard set, is a common watch-key filed off close below the large circle. Now, I believe I have done ; all but a few words in extenuation of having presumed to write so far. Whether there is any thing new in the foregoing remarks, I cannot say. Whether the subject has been handled well or ill, it becomes not me to say, unless I may so far pre- sume as to regret its great deficiencies. Man and boy, for twenty-five years have I been fishing, during which time I have had to contend agaitist many adverse circumstances, and have been obliged to put my wits to work no small number of times, either to form some device or other or to repair some casualty. Under these disadvantages, I have had to learn how each and everything connected with the art was made, and oft had to put that knowledge to a practical test. The labor, time, trouble and annoyance that these delays occasioned 404 AMERICAN FISHES. me, induce mo to endeavor to make young anglers "aufait,^^ to every article they are likely to require. It may be urged against me, and probably will be, that I have sacri- ficed the bait-fisher to the fly-man. I honestly confess my sin, and have only to urge in extenuation, that I hate the former and adore the latter; but still, I have, I trust, not altogether forgotten the bait- man. I regret to say that I have had far more experience in America with all kinds of bait than with flies ; such, however, is my misfortune, but yet I would rather fish for shiners than not fish at all. I own a very strong predilection for the art, and I humbly lay this my tribute at the feet of my brother anglers, hoping for their praise, yet fearing much their censure. ^ . If I have been the means of conveying any information or instruc- tion on any of the practical operations of the art, I have done all I hoped to do. And, from the bottom of my heart, my beloved broth- ers of the angle, I trust you may each and all catch the biggest fish in your respective waters ; that you may enjoy much happiness the com- ing and for many seasons; that you may live at peace with all the world, but more especially with your obedient, humble servant, THE AUTHOR. K .^^Milll .»-*—. * - • yLY-vifniiaa. -i r ( , , NOTE BY THE EDITOR. 1 * * As nearly all the general teachings and maxims on fishing were originally derived from British authorK, based upon Irish or Canadian experience, American fishermen have been compelled, (by the necessity of adaptation to their large variety of lake or river fishing,) to make numerous alterations and improvemctitn in the getting up of tackle, etc. Some slight indication of these varieties will, it is presumed, bo acceptable to our young sportsnjen, while showing to our best local fishermen that American ingenuity is is expansive as our territory. First, then, we speak of R0D8. The General Rod, as it is aptly called, is of course the style most generally in use. These have five joints, mounted with either brass or German silver. The Trunk Trout, also has five joints, usually brass mounted ; va- rieties are more cxpensVely mounted and have hollow butts. The Bass, somewha: similar, but not so varied, unless made to order. The Extra Fiiiu Jfiy, or joints, German silver mounted, with extra tip, is a great favoriK. ixniong Bport.srnen. The Single Ferrule, four joint , brass mounted, with guide rings, and prepared for reelf--. The Bamboo, four joints, brass mounted, fitted with patent guides ; some have only guide rings. The Cane, with either three or four joints. Tliese have lancewood tips or not, guide rings or not, and are mounted for reels or not. The Walking-Stick, three or "our joints, with or without screw ferrules, brass heads, ash butts, or '.^ncewood tips. Some prefer the walking-stick style, when made entirely of metal and there are circum- stances which might justify the cvtrn expense. The party using the rod is the best judge. 1 f 406 AMERICAN FISHR8. Ihe Plain Four Joint, always good for general utility, needs no de- scription ; but the purchaser should make his selection from at least three varieties in quality, and a respectable dealer will always have on hand spare bamboo or reed poles, ferrules, guides, tips, etc. LINES. ^ The Best Linen, in coils of eighty-four feet each, five sizes ; and seven thicker sizes, varying from ten to one hundred feet each. The Best Linen Reel, two sizes, from one hundred to three hundred feet each. The Best Linen Hawser-Laid, six sizes, in coils of eighty-four feet each ; but Bank Fish or Sea Linos should be selected by the party going to use them, or else sond a sample. The Best Linen Blackfish, three sizes, not less than one hundred feet each. The Swelled-Hair, two sizes, usually ordered for twenty, thirty or forty yards. The Salmon-Hair, two sizes, length to order. ' The American Grass, in boxes containing one gross each. The Chinese Grass, in catty boxes, the contents various in size and number. The Best Hawser-Laid Cotton, (for cod-fishing,) thirteen sizes, in coils of eighty-four feet 'each. The Common Cotton, eighteen sizes, in thivty feet lengths. The Best Plaited Silk,-(sixteen-plait,) may be had from twenty to two hundred an«l fifty yards, according to order, and the Twisted Silk follows the same rule. The Patent Taper Fly usually ranges from twenty to fortj'- yards ; the ordinary Taper Hair, from twenty to fifty yards ; and the Relaid Grass, from fifty to two hundred yards. The nature of the service required should be explained to the dealers, who will furnish any of these lines with floats and hooks on gut ; or, if you wish to use ground bait, as if to catch Blackfish, of course hooks and sinkers must be attached. REBIjS* Bailey's Patent, and Deacon's Improved Patent, are both admi- rable, whether in brass or German silver. By pressing in or drawing FLY-FISHING. 497 O'lt the collar of the crank shaft, the wheels can be locked either in or out of gear in a moment. John Warrin's American Balance Handle, in brass or German silver, with or without steel pinions and agate settings, has become a great favorite. The Common Multiplying, whether of brass or German silver, has been much improved in manufacture lately, and the six sizes now in use are adapted for lines from ten to one hundred yards. The Click and the Plain varieties also partake of the general im- provement suggested by American varieties of requirement. HOOKS. The Superfine Salmon, fourteen sizes for isingle gut, and eight for double. The Royal Improved, eight sizes for single gut, and eight for double, is usually preferred for trout. ' The Limerick Trout, or O'Shaughnessey, nine sizes for gimp, seven for single gut, and eight for double. The Kirby Limerick Trout, seven sizes for single gut, and eight for double. ' The Kirby-bent Gravitation, sixteen sizc\ The Round-bent Gravitation, sixteen size\ The Kirby-snecked Fish, various sizes. The Virgin Id has twelve varieties, and the (/^lestertown ten. The Sockd(;!'^er, or Yankee Doodle, four varieties. The Cod, the u.^ual well-known, eight numbers. The Halibut, usually double, various sizes. The Limerick Pike, double or treble, various. The American Pike, biass wired, eight sizes for the single trimmer, and eight for the double. The Shark, various sizes, with or without chains. The Spring Snap, (described by "Dinks,") is now- made in four varieties. All the above are made with either flatted, ringed, or filed ends, as the purchaser may wish. MISCELLANEOUS. Floats. — Bound cork, egg or barrel shape, various sizes. Unbound cork, do. Hollow wood, do. Porcupine and fancy quill, do. 498 AMERICAN FISHES. AvtificiaU. — Fish, glass, leather, tinsel, or gutta-perchn. Frogs and mice, various sizes. Insects, great variety. Worms and Gentles, Dobsons, all sizes. Flies, for trout, bass, or salmon. Shrimps, silver- lace Minnows, and other bait. Swivels. — ^Brass or steel, seventeen sizes. Sinkers. — Bank, swivel, ringed, or hollow, various sizes and patterns. Spinning Bait. — Buel's patent, with improved flies and bobs. The Patent Spoon, suitable for either artificial fly or minnow. Kill-Devih. — -An immense variety. Squids. — Bone, lead, pearl, or tin, round or flat. Books. — Fly or Tackle, with flat reel-lines and hooks, suitable for general fishing. ' •y^t^^ INDEX. Abdominal Malacopterygii, 23. meaning of the term, 23. list of the fresh-water fish of .hat division, 23, 25. natural history of the, 34 to 184. the fishing of, 225 to 296. Acanthopterygii, 22. meaunig of the term, 22. list of fresh-water fidhes of that di- vision, 25. natural history of the, 185 to 224 the fishing of, 310 to 321. Adirondach Lake and Highlands, 256. /Eglefinis Morrhua, 31, 223. iEneus Centrarchus, 25, 198, 305. Agassiz, Professor, preface, et passim. Alosa PrsBstabiiis, 23, 180. Amethystus Saimo, 23, 104. American game fish, 17 Bream, 174. Haddock, 123. Shad, 180. Salmonidffi, 34 to 148. Sandre, 192. Sand-smelt, 298 Smelt, 136. Cyprinidee, 194 to 177. Esocidffi, 149 to 163. ClupidaB, 178 to 181. Siluridse, 182 to 184. Anguillidee, 180. Yellow Pearch, 187. Whiting, 224. Ammodytes Launcea, 32. Anguiilidte, 182 to 184. Angler's apparatus, the— appendix A — 325. Apodal Malacopterygii, 22, 185. Apparatus, the fly-fuher's, 330. Appendix A., 325. B., .330. C, 332. Argyrops Fagrus, 30, 217. Attihawmeg, 141. Atheriua Mcnidia, 32. Lake Sheep'e-Head, AuratuB, Carpio Cyprinus, 34. Bait, passim, under the heada of various kinds of fishing. Bars on the young Trout, 28, 97. Bar- Fish of the St. Lawrence, 190. Bass Black, 195. Rock, 198. Striped, 189. Otsego, 145. Oswego, or 202. Sea, 205. Little White, 190. Ruddy, 190. Striped Bass fishing, 297. Black Bass fishing, 301. Rock Bass fishing, 305. Sea Bass fishing, 315. Battures, Truite des, 108. Bay fishing, 310. Black-Fish, Tautog, 220, 316. Blue-Fish, Skipjack, 218, 32 ». Bottom-fishing, 2i. Bream, Americdu, 174. British Coregoni, 24. Brook Trout, 23, 86, 253. young of the, 86. of the Marshpee, 87. colors of the, 88, 91. the Silver, 93. the Common, 93. the Massachusetts, 93. the Black, 93. the Sea, 93. theHucho, 93. size of the, 94. of Waquoit Bay, 96. of Fireplace, 96. habits of the, 97. of Hamilton County, 101 . where they are taken, 253. the fishing of, 253. the rod for, 254. fly-fishing for, 255, 269. 608 INDEX. Brook Troutt anwcdotM of Mi'ing, 957. Long Iiliind fiihing, 360. inland fiahing, 367. buah'ffailiing, or dapiog for. S73. Broaniiua Vul|{sri«, .13. Cakolina Trout — misnomer — 93. Cann 34, 164. Common. 94, 1 64. <;o|. n, 34, 166. ('Hr|> fbhiiig, 394. CHHiii, i.m Cui Fi«ii,3i, IBS. Ctiiitrarchua JEnem, 35, 198, 305. Centr'>ori«Ua NiKrinana, 39, 305, 315. Ciiondroptnrygii, 33. Oiuwdar. 3U. CIihIi, 34. lh« Ma, 39, 307. Cliarr, tii« Arctic, 33, 136. riironiiK I'oKUMiaN, 39, 313. FaMsiatua, 313. Clam bake, 30. buit uii(l«r various bends of fishing, ('lupca VirRMcniis, 34, 180. CItiiM'idm, 34, 3«0. Cod. Fish, ;», 332, 338 Coiifinis, Hulmo, 93, lib. Coreifonus Albus, 9.1, 141. Oimmo, S3, 145. Corvina OscuIk, 909. Ricbiudacntt, 903. tbo ilrarhlfld, 311. t»)«t MJivft,-,v, 913. Arffvrolcu'iia, 311. ' ' Ocoiluta, 313. Cyprinidw, liU. CypriiiuM Carpio, 164, 394. AurulUN, 166. LeuciKCus Untilus, 170. Htilbo Chrysoleucas, 173. Abramis Versicolor, 174. IIydrar$[yra, 176. Conroy, tackle-maker, preface, and pas- sim. Cookery of fishes — appendix C— 339. Conroy « rods, 341. DKfOTATUS Pleuronectes, 33 313. Drum-Fikb, S9, 313, 330. Erl, 33, 185, 308. Erythrogaster, Halmo, 37. , Esocidro, 94, 149, 9S1. Esox. 34, Estor, 94, 151,981. Lucioides, 94, 154, 951. Esox Reticulatus, 34, 157, 981. Fascialus, 94, IGl. Niger, 163. Phaieratua. 163. VitlHius, 1«>1 I Osseus, 94, W Fario Salmo, 93. Faaciatus, Esox. 94, HI. Pogonias. 913. Fish and Fishiiii?, passim. game, of A, '^rica, 17. Black. 320. Blue, 218. Cat, 182. King, 209. Pond. 200. Weak. 208. Fishes, fresh-water, 34 to 303. shoal-water, 20 1 lo 922. deep-sea, 232 lo 225. Fishing, bottom, 21. deep-sea, 323. ground buit, passim, under f\a\\v% fresh-water, 225. et seq. lake, 274. 301. 308. fiver. 325. n al- water. 310. ^arp, 294. Eel, 308. Blue-Fish, 320. King- Fish, 313. Bass, Striped, 297. Bass, Sea, 315. < Tautog, 316. Drum, 320. Sheep's-He:;d, 319. Salmon, 925. Lake Trout, 274 Trout, 253. Pickerel, 281. Poarch, 290. Pike Pearch, 288. Buss, Black, 301. Bass, Rock. 304. Salmon Trout, 281. worm for Salmon, 250. worm for Carp, 294. Fish, how to cook — appendix C — 332. Fly- fisher's apparatus, the — appendix B —330. Fly for Salmon, 243, and seq. for Trout, 246. 2r 4, Black Bass. 303. Striped Bass, 297. Shad. 180. for Herrings. 178. i moGS. 603 Fly for all Bmall fiahm, 376. Salmon Trout, 377. Fonlinalii*, Sulino, 23, 86. Oahk fiHliPB of North America, 17. Garpike, "24, 163. Gold-Fi8h, 34, 166. Gill-covers of fishes, 46. Grayliii);, Racit's, 131. Great Norilioni Pickerel, 149. Greatest Luke Trout, 104. Grilse, under Salmon, 54, and passim. Gristcs Niericans, 3.1, If).'). Growler, 1!>7. (Jreve, Truite de, 10 < (iadidee, ^i. Griates Salmoides, 19' Haddock, the American, 323. Hshinsr, 333. Halibut. 'M, 333. Hake, 33. Hamiltou county oassim from 335 to 277. Herring, 178. Hippoglossus Vulgaris, 33. Hybridization of nshes, 69. Hooks — appendix A — 335. under the head of every kind of fish ing. IsL&ND, Long, Trout fishing on, 357. Trout peculiar to, 93. Pickerel of. 34, 161. Labridjb, 30. Labrax Lineatus, 35, 189, 397. Lafayette- Fish, 307. Lake Trout, species of, 36. the Greatest, or Namaycush, 33, 104. the Siskawitz, 33, 113. the Common, S3, 116. the Sebago, 33, 30. Lamprey, 33. LeiostomuR Obliquus, 39. Lucioides, Esox, 34, 154. Lucioperca, 35, 193. Americana, 193. Canadensis, 194. Grisea, 194. Masamacush, S3, 136, 374. Malacoptorygii, 33, 25, 39, to 184. Abdominal, 34 to 184. Apodal, 33 to 185. Subbrachial, 333 to 334. Minnows, 176. Mackinaw Saltr'on, 34, 86, 974 Mascatonge, 151 fishing, 381. MalaMheganay, 303. Menidia, Atherina, 39. MerlangUN Ampricaiius, 33, 994. Merlucius Vulgaris, 33. Morrhua Vulgaris, 31. 339. iEglefinis, 31, 333. Namaycush, Indian name of Macici'A:. r Salmon, 33, 104. fishing, 374. Nebulosa, Umbrina, 39, 313. Wigrieans, Qristcs, 35, 195, 301 Ceutropristes, 39, 305, 315. Obliquus Leiostomus, 39, 307. Otolithus Rexalis, 35, 308, 313. Carolinensis, 35, 36, 39, 308. Osculu Corvina, 303. Osseus Esox, 34. Otsego Bass, 33, 145. Lavaret, 34. Oswego Bass, 35, 303. difl^erent from the Black, 196 Osmerus Viridescens, 33, 136. Ovis, Sargus, 30, 3 15, 319. Paorus Argyrops, 317. Percidffl, 35, 187. Parr, passim, from 34 to 130. Pearch, the American Yellow, 95, 187 380. the White, 35. the Common, 35. the rough Yellow, 180. the rough-headed Yellow, 180 the sharp-nosed Yellow, 180. ihe f.lender Yellow, 180. the Silvery, 311. fishing, 380. Perca Americana, 35, 187. Pallida, 35. Fluviatilis, 35. Cerrato Grannlata, 180. Granulata, 180. Acuta, 180. Gracilis, 180. - Pickerel, 34. the Great Northern, 34, 164, 981 the Common, 34, 157, 381. the Long Island, 34, 161, 381. the White, of the Ohio and Wa. lash, 149. the Black of Pennsylvania, 149. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // ^o 1.0 I.I lAai2.8 150 "^" 2.2 1.8 IIL25 II 1.4 HI.6 II = II = lll^s ^ 6" ► ^ 7- ^ ^/ Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 873-4503 ? .<> ^ " 1^ •'t ^ 504 INDEX. Piekenl, the Garpike, 24. iuhing, 281. the rod for, 282, 325. the bait for, 283. the hooks for, 285. 286. . the tackle for, 284. Pike Penrch, 25. the American, 193. the Canadian, 194. the Gray, 194. Pleuronected Dentatus, 33. Pimelodes Huron, 182. Pogonias Chronii', 24, 213. Faaciatus, 213. Pond-fish. 200 Pomotis, 25. Porgee, the b'g, 30, 217. the Sand, 217. the Rhomboidal, 217. Roe-bait, Salmon, 251. Shad, 299. Rods — appendix A — 325. under the heads of each kind of fish- ing, for Salmon-Trout, Pickerel, &c., 239 to 325. Reels, under each kind of fishing, as above, 239 to 325. Salmonioa, 23, 34 to 145. Salmo, 23. Salar, 23, 34. Fontinalis, 23, 54. Amethystus, or Namaycusb, 23, 86. Siskawitz, 23, 104. Confinis, 23, 112. Hoodii, or Masamacush, 23, 126. Trutta Marina, 23, 120. Erythrogaster, 27. Sebago, 26. Thymallus Signifer, 23, 131 Qsmerus Viridescens. 23, 136. Mallotus Villotus, 139. Coregonus Albus, Attihavrmeg, 23, 145. Coregonus Otsego, 23, 145 Salmon, the True, 23, 54. the Mackinaw, 23, 86. the Great Lake Trout, 23, 104. Lake Trout, 23, 112. the distinctions of, 45, et seq. the migrations of, 63, et seq. the size cf, 79. the growth of, 60, et seq. the hybridization of, 73. the haunU of, 74, 225. Salmon, the habits of, 34 to 86. the generation of, 43, 54, 58, flt«e« how to propagate, 69, 71. thH fishing of, 225, 252. the rod, the flies, 250. the roe-bait, &c., 251 Pinks, 34, 63. Smolt, 61. Peal, 62. Parr, 51. Grilse, 63. Saltator, Temnodon, 30, 218, 320. Sargus Ovis, 30, 215, 319. Rhomboides, 217. ArenoBUs, 217. ScienidsB, 205 to 217. ScombridiB,218, 219. Sea Basa, 29, 205, 315. Striped Bass, 179,297. Sea Chub, 29. 209. Pearch, 211. Sebago Salmon, 26. Skip-jack, 30, 218. Silvery Pearch, 211. Corvina, 211. Smelt, 23, 136. Snap-hooks, 285, 286, 325. Shad, 180. taken with the fly, 181. roe bait for Bass, 299. Sheep's-head, the Sea, 215, 319. the Lake, 202. the Lnke Black, 203. Sparidse, 217. Subbrach'al Malacopterygii, 31, SSit tc* 225. Tackle — appendix A — 325. under the heads of every kind of fish. Tautog, 30, 220, 316. Tautoga Americana, 30, 220, 316 Trolling, see Pickerel fishing, 261 Blue-Fish fishing, 320. appendix A., 325. rods, as above. Trout, Brook, 23, 86. Greatest Lake, 23, 104, Siskawitz Lake, 23, 112. Common Lake, 23, 126. Sebago Lake, 36. Southern, £5, 26, 39, 208. Salmon or Sea, 120. description of the Brook, 86. young fry of the brook, 92, 97 I I /,' INDEX. 606 Tnint, size of the Brook, 100. fishing of the Brook, 233. Long Island fishiuw, 257. Salmon fishing in New Bruusnick 277. Lake Trout fishing, 274. Troutlet, the, 8b. Trutta, Salino Marina. 23, 120, 277. Turbot, 215 Umbkina Nebu'oaa, 29, 209, 313. VfRioEscBNS, Osmems, 93, 136. Vnlgari', Broamius, 32. Merluciiis, 32. Morrhua, 32. Vulgaris, Hippoglossns, 32. Poinotis, 200. Water, fresh, fishes. 34 to 2U3. fishing, 239 to 308. salt, fishes, 205 to 225. fishing, 310 to 322. shoal, fishes, 205 to 220. fishing, 310 to 320 Weak-Fish, 206, 312. White-Fish. 141. Whiting, 224, 322. Worm bait for Salmon, 250. for other fishes under the head ol each. 3:j f INDEX TO SUPPLEMENT. Abdominal Malacoptbrtoii, 861, 8C5, 867, 869, 871, 877, 879, 383, 896, 888, 889, 891, 892, 894, 897, 898, 400. Acanthopterygii, 403, 405. American Sandre, 403. Artificial Flies, 426 to 435 Attehawmeg, 897. Bass, 410. Dear Lake Salmon, 400. Bee-Flv, the, 430. Black Drum, 436. Fish, 436, 487, 438. Fljr, the, 424. Great Fly, the, 480. Palmer Hackle, 427. do. ribbed with gold, 427. Silver Palmer Hackle, 427. Blu" Dun Fly, the, 431. j Boston, 866. f Bay Whiting, 405r British Provinces, the, 425. Brook x'rout, 365, tt fiuaim. Biiltow, the, 425. Capklin, the, N. W., 894, 395, 396. Carman's Creek, L. I., 3^6. Carrier Indians, the, 381, 382. Casting-Lines, 411. Cavalle, 405. Caughlan Fly, the, 482. Cayuga Lake, 361, 897. Charleston, S. C, 405. Clarke's Salmon, 392. Cob-Fly, the, 432. Cock-tuil Fly, the, 430, 877, 888, 388, 889. Columbia River, 891, 392, 394. Common Trout, 365, tt passim. Connecticut, 363, 432 Corregonus, Albus, 397. Artidi, 398. Hnrengus, 400. Cotton, on the Stone-Fly, 432. County Galway, 410. Cow-dung Fly, the, 429. Cowles, Mr, 'the guide, 374, 423. Crooked Lake, 371. Cross-fishing, 423. Danikl, on Fishing, 432. DeKay, Dr., 865, 867, 371, 872, 378, 875, 408. Dease's River, 888. Detroit, 869. Drop-flies, 415. Drum Fish, 487. Double Gut for Salmon, 411. Eastkrk States, 363. Ekewan, 889. England, 429. - Fauna Boreali Americana, 379. of New York, 397, 372, 373, 408. Finishing-knot, the, 417. Finncgun, Mr. T., of New York, 426. Fraser Lake, 8S1. Eraser River, 379, 380. Fly-Fishing, 366, 420, et passim. Frontispiece, descriptions of the twenty- four flics in. 426 to 433. Fort Vancouver, 384. Gairdnkr's Salmon, 386. Gtairdner, Dr., 384, 387, 389, 392, 39C. Gunie Lawii, 361 Garden River, 365. Geneva, N. Y., 371. Gold-ribbed Black Palmer Huckle, 427. Gold-spinner Fly, the, 431. Governor FIv, the, 432. Grav Drake Vly, the, 428 Greatest Luke Trout, 367. Green Drake, or May Fly, the, 428. Greenland, 396. HARB's-ear FIv, the, 430. Hamilton Countv, N. Y., 371, 373, 375, 418,4-24. Harmon, D. W., 379. Hair lines, 420. Harmon's Travels, 382. Herring Salmon, 398, 399, 400. Holme.s. John C, 375. Horse Cavalle, 405. Hucho, 366. Hudson River, 363. Ibis, the, 426. Indian prize, 365. Ireland, 429, 432. Irish Lakes, the, 423. Kaatpootl River, 392. -^VB^ ■-»••' .■''muw'M* ■ ■ a-Maiaw .•• ntHi — '•»"• *>»» 508 INDEX TO SUPPLEMENT. Karr, Mr. G., of New York, 418. Kawulitch Kivcr, M'd. Kennebec River, 800. Kettle Falls, 383. King, Mr., of Charleston, S. C, 40.'). Kingdom Fly, 481. King Fish, 486, 487, 438. Laks Champlain, 800. Erie, 8«7, 8U8. George, 809. Huron, 367, 807, 400. Louis, 371, 874. Ontario, 897. Pleasant, 878. Piseco, 374, 424. Rackett, 874, 424. Simcoe, 897. .Superior, 897. Country, the, 869. Trout, 366, 871, 876. Pleasant House, 876. Trout flies, 434. Huron Herring Salmon, 400. Law for the preservation of Salmon, 862. Le Sueur's Herring Salmon, 398 Le Sueur, Mods., 899. Limerick hooks, 412, 847. Loch Cor rib, 410. Long Island, 306, 482. Lake, 424. Lucioperca Americana, 408. Lewis and Clarke, 388, 892, 894. Mauritcqbz, 426. Mackinaw Salmon, 867. Maimed Salmon, 882, 883. Maine, State of, 863. Mackerel, 405, 488. March Brown Fly, the, 432. Maudeville, Mr., of Geneva, N. Y., 403. Mascalonge, 397. Malacopterygii, Subbrachial, 404. Minnows, 425. Mykiss of Kamtschatka, 392. M'orrell, Mr., of Lake Pleasant, 422. Namatcush, 865, 367, 869, 370, 872. New Caledonia, 382. England, 860. Foundland, 425. Hampshire, 366. Jersey, 364. York, 361, 863. Niagara River, 898. Northern Black Fish, 405. North-west Capelin, 894. Company, 379. Nova Scotia, 364, 877. Okanagan River, 888. Ouchterard, 410. Oulachan, 894. Palmer Hackles, six varieti-^s, 427. Passaic River, 864, 878. Penetanguishene, 400. Percidif , 403, 405. Perlev, Mr., of St. John, N. B., 877, 878. Pike Perch, 403, 404. Pompnuo of Florida, 405. Porgee, 436, 437, 438. Pulaski, Oswego Co., N. Y., 862. QUANNICB, 888. Queachts, 886. Quiunat, 388, 886. Rackett Lake, 874. Red Char, the, 388. Red Ant Fly, the, 481. Rennie, Professor, 438. Rocky Mountains, the, 879. Round Luke, 374. St. John, N. B., 377. St Mary's River, 365. Sandre, American, 403. Sault St. Marie, 365, 369, 897. Sea Bass, 436, 237, 438. Sea Fishing, a table of Depths, Baits, and Way of striking for, 486. Tackle, and average weight of, for, 437. . Spring, Summer, or Autumn Baits, to suit weather or tide, for, 488. Sea Perch, 488. Trout, 377. Seneca Lake, 301, 871, 878, 897, 893, 899, 404. Severn River, Lake Huron, 897. Sheep Fish, 487. Sheep's Head Fish, 437, 488. Shiners, 404, 425. Silver-ribbed Black Palmer Hackle, 427. Sinkers, 437. Siskawitz, 365, 869, 872. Skilloot Village, 383. Slip Knot, the, 415, 417. Smelt, 378, 385, 886. Smith, Dr., 866. Snake River, 883. Snoods, 437. Southern Black Fish, 405. Southern Sea Fishes, 405. Speonk, 426. Spirit of the Times, N. Y., 875, 418. Stillas, New Caledonia, 381. Stone Fly, the, 432. Strait of Juan de Fuca, 379. Striped Bass, 436, 437, 438. Stuart's Lake, 379, 880, 881. River, 881. Stump Pond, 426. Sturgeon, 894. Supervisors of Oswego Co., N. Y., COl. Supplement, second part of the First, 86({ 407. fh INDKX TO 8UPPLBMKNT. 509 Tautoo, 405, 486, 487, 488. Todd, DFm 897, 400. Trolling for Lake Trout, 418 to 42.'>- Baft or Flien for, 421. Bait-kuttlefur, 421. Leader or Train for, 420. Line for, 420. Oarauian or Guide for, 421. Reel Ibr, 410. Rodfor,41el. Ways of Striking, Flaying, or Gaffing in. 422. Trout FishinK, proper, 418. Rod andTaoklo for, 418. Use of the Rod in, 416. Trout Flie* (Hoe also plate oppoiite page 258 in the body of the work), 48R. True Sea Salmon, 872. Tsuppitcb, 801. U. S. Fort at Sault St. Mane, 365. Walambt River, 888. WaleM, 482. Wttter-Knot. the, 415, 417. Weak-Fit«h, the, 486, 487, 488. Weak-mouthed Salmon, 88.S. Welch, Mr. B., of New York, 418. Whirling Dun FIv, the, 480. White Rsh. 880, 807. Great Fl>, the, 481. Moth Fly, the, 481. Trout, 877. Willow Fly, 488. WiUon, Professor, 488. Ykllow Palmer Hackle, 427. Pike Perch, the, 408. INDEX TO FLY-FISHING. ALDiR-Fly, 465. American Floats, etc., 407. H.^nks, 407. LiMes, 406. Reels, 406. Rods, 405. Tackle, 405. Articles tor Flies, 442. Assortine Feathers, 471. August-Dun, 466. Bait, Natural, 400. Baiting Needle, 4»9. Ballyuahinch Uirer Fishing, 481. Bartlett's Hooks, 446. Bellying, 482. Billy-Guat's Beard, 480. Black Bass, 485. Gnat-Fly, 465. Blackwater Rod, 459. Blue-Bottle, 467. Book, form of, for Feathers, Bottom-Fishing, 402. Garmblb Hooks, 446. Carrying Flies, 461. Cinnamon Fly, 467. Codfish Hook, 485. Conroy's Hooks, 484. Cow-dung Fly, 404. Crawford Bait, 402. Dark Prone-Fly, 464. Mackerel-Fly, 466. Diagram of Portable Vice, 447. Directions for Fly-making, 450. Dressintt Flies, 447. Dun-Flyj Pale Evening, 406. July, 466. Dyeing Featliers Dark Red, 468. Ofive Dun, 468. Mallard Feathers, 468. Red Hackles Brown, 468. Various shades, 460. . White Feathers, 468. English Jay, 484. Example ot Fly-making, 452. No. II., 452. No. III., 453. for Halmon-Flv Book, 462. for Trout-Fly Book, 463. FEATHKRa, Varieties of, 445. Fern-Fly, 405. Finncgun, 454. Fish Basket, 461. Fishing-Cuse, Plan of, 448. in Strange Waters, 484. Flexible Minnow Hook, 488, 480. Floats, 408, 407. Fly-Dressing, 447, 450. Fishing) 441. Fly-Plate, Explanatiou uf, 448. Fly-Tying, 442. Frogs for Bait, 402. OtAss-Bait, 488. Golden-Pheasant Crest, 485. Gorge-Hook, Double, 4sO. Grannom or Green-Tuil Fly, 465. Grav-Drake FIv, 466 Gravel-Bed Fly, 464. Green-Drake Fly, 405. Gut, 440. Gut Casting-Line, 454. Hair-Points, 455. Hooking in a Fly, 462. Hooks, 440, 407. Implisjiknts for Trolling, 487. Kendall Hook, 446. Kill-Devil Hook, 487, 480. Killing Trout, 461. Salmon, 461. Kirby-Bcnd Carlisle Hooks, 446. Landin6-Nbt Hoop, 460. Trout, 481. Length of Line, 483. Rod, 482. Lines, 455, 405. Limerick Hooks, 446. Maggots, for Bait, 402. March Brown Fly, 464. Marlow-Buzzv Fly, 466. Minnow Hoo^, for Trolling. 488. Natural Bait Tackle, 401. Trolling, 400. Note by the Editor, 405. • 512 Oak Fly, 466. Oningo Fly, 466. O'Shaughnessey Hooks, 446. Palmbm, 458, 467 Peooook-Fly, 464. Hike, 48.5. Plan of Fishing-Case, 448. Position of Body, 438. Rod, 4»2. Raoooon Fly, 464. Receipt for Linos, 465. Receipts, 468. Red Fir, 468. Spinner, 464. Reels, 496. Click wheel, 466. Plain, 456. Reel with Patent Handle, 464. Material^: for, 457. Rods, 457, 496. Rods, length of, 469. Position of 482, 488 Varieties of, 467. Wood for, 458. Ronald's Flies, 469. Round Bend Carlisle Hooks, 446 Sailor Fly, 465. Salmon-Bag, 461. Book, 462. Flies, 471. Fishing, 481. Haunts of, 484 Lines, 465. Rods, 457, 482 Roe, for Bait, 400. IKDKX TO FLT-riBHINO. Sand-Fly, 464. Sea-Trout, 481. Flies, 470. Selection of Flies, 480. Set of Hooks for a Kill-Devil, 487. Suckers, 492. Spare Rods, 468. Spoon, with Codfish Hook, 488. Spring Fishing, 484. Snap, before Setting, 488. Set, 488. Staining Out, 469. Stone-Fly, 464. Swivels, 498. TuROwiNo Flies, 479, 480. Lines, 458, 479. Tinsel, 447. Trolling, 486. Trout-Fishing, 479, 480. Flies, 468. Trout-Rod, 457. Turkey, Brown, 465. Tying-Silks, 447. ViOF, Diagram at, 447. Wbathir, State of, 480. Whipping, 480. Whippy Rods, 460. White Trout, 481. White Bass, 485. Wicker Pannier, 461. Willow-Fly, 477. Wren-Tail, 466. Yillow-Ddn Fly, 404. M M