The Migration of Eels

March

3, 1892.]

the bundle fromalimb byarope, inthedeep sbadeout ofreachofprowlingvarmints,and proceeded onourway.

Suchtroutand suchfishinghadonlybeendreamedofby us. Imagination

may

bave pictured such waters,but this

waT

thefirst fullrealizationofthose

dreamy

pictures

and waking

anticipationsoftroutandtroutwaterseither ofus badever experienced.

We

^need not have fished far,foradozen pools would have furnisheduswith all the trout

we

wanted, butnot

knowing when

anotherop- portunitymightofferfor the investigationofthe

Upper

Molalla,

we

pushed forwardasrapidlyas possible.

None

but anglers can appreciatewith

what

intoxicating bliss

we

appropriated nature'3 hidden treasures. Enamored, infatuatedwiththeweirdstream,

we

could hardlyresist thetemptationtogo on andlook further intothesecret recesses of nature's inner temple, even

when

^night, sweetnature'sduskymaid,had

drawn

hersablecurtains down.

"Harry,"'saidI,"letustake atumbletoourselvesand quit."

"Allright; justwaituntil

we

gettothecascadesinthe bend,"hereplied.

And

soon

we

wereat the designated spot

making

ourlastcast forthe day.

A

brightfiresoon crackledatthe

mouth

of anunfinished cave,ourcoffee

was

boilingand our trout frying in thebroiler,andour blankets

hung

near the carnpfire to dry.

Then we

sat

down

andate andchattedasonlyhungry,happyanglers caneatandchatafterahard day onthemountainstream.

We

cleanedour afternoon'scatch,wrappeditinfern,and putit

down

onthe cold rocksnear thewaterandturned in. Ofcourse thenight

was

uncomfortablycool,but ex- haustednature asserted her rightsand

we went

to sleep.

SeveraltimesI

was awakened

by old Mike,

who

seemed toberestlessandwatchful. It

must

have been shortly after midnight,

when

the dogs broughtus both toour feet

by

theirviciousgrowls.

As we jumped

upthe dogs, emboldened andwith hairbristling,dashed

down

toward thebundleoffishbythestream.

"A

coonmustbeafterourfish,"saidI.

"What'sthematterwithcougars

and

wildcats?" Harry suggested,andadded,"Thedogs wouldn't takeonsoover a coon."

An

^hour later Harry's opinion

was

emphasized byan infernal yellthat rang out horribly

somewhere

onthe mountain aboveandwhich waspresentlyanswered

from

near the stream below.

We

did not

know

whetherit

was

a cougar matinee ora

demon

pic-nic,butIassure you

we

kept our

camp

fireroaring the balance ofthe night and on untilit

was

broaddaylight. Suspending our bundleof troutand cacheingourluggage

we

fished upthestreamuntilnoonand thenretraced our steps to the

camp

ofthe previousnight.

Our

triphadterminated atan enormous boulder thatsatdefiantlyintheedgeof adeeppoolatthefoot ofalongrapid. Standingonthe rock

we

liftedeight trout outof the pool,noneofwhich weighed^lessthanapound;then,sadlyturned our backs tothehiddenwonders above, that appealed toussoal- luringly. I believethatthis

was

the onlytimein

my

life that I reallywantedwings. But

we had

doneas

much

ascould be expectedofmortalsand

we

feltgrate- fulfortherations ofhappinesswhich had beenassigned to us.

Another night

by

the stream,another day with its rapids and pools

and we

werewell

down

towardthe forks.

We

had passed the place atwhich

we had

de- scendedto the stream,hoping to find

some

easier

way

out,butnonehad presented itself,

and

here

we

were in theculde sac of the gorge. It

was

atrying positionto placetwoheavily laden,wearyfishermenin. Throughthe gorge,ahalf milewould putusonthetrail,while over themountain

—

anotherwretched night,another day of wearytoil.

"Let's try the gorge," said Harry,

and

I responded,

"It'sa go." So

we

repackedour fishandluggage;then

we jumped

up and

down

and yelled toloosenthesus- pended boulders that seemed tobe curiouslywatching our preparations from above. Like

two

cats

we

^crept along the narrowshelves,scarcelybreathing forfearof awakening somesleepingboulder thatmight grind usto dust.

Thetripthroughthatgorgewas themostentertaining to

my

nerves,fora short trip,inall

my

fishingexperi- ence.

Buthere

we

wereagaininthemellowhazeoftheopen valley, listening totheeveningcarolsofthehappybirds, themournfuldittiesofthesorrowingcricketsandclosing thelastchapterof

my

fronting experienceinthe lovely

Molalla country. S. H. Greene.

Poai'LAND,Oregon.

["JudgeGreene's Molallalettersaredelightful,"writes our contributor

"Von

W.," of Charlestown, N. H.,"I wishIcouldbewith

him

fora

week

thissummer." The appreciationandthewish must have been shared bya host of readers,

who

have followed these happily told relationsofanangler'soutingsinthe Noi'thwest.]

ANGLING NOTES.

STRIPED ^BASS

^are

now

being caught with nets in largenumbers, butitwillbe

some

timebeforethey canbetakenwithhookandline. Generally thefirstbaas or"rock

mh,"

as our Southern anglers call them, are taken aboutthemiddleofAprilin our waters,and I

am

surprisedtolearnfromaPotomac angler that they do not takestripedbass in thatsection before

May

1. I

am

inclined to think thatif theytried fishing for

them

a littleearlierwith patienceandperseverance and proper bait,theymightfindthe seasonopenbythefirstormid- dle of April.

Astothequestion,

"What

isthe properbait touse?" I hardly

know what

to say. Striped basswilltakeartificial flies,

phantom

minnows,live minnows, shrimp, crabs, clams, fiddlerIcrabs, lobster, menhaden, scpjid,

young

eels, etc., etc. So fromthisbill of farethe angler can selectwhichever he canbestobtain. Largestriped bass, I

mean

thebigfellows that aretaken along the Atlantic coast,preferthe

menhaden

to anyother bait, thougha lobstertailwillanswer

when

the mossbunker cannot be obtained. Near

New York

thefavorite baitsseemto be shedder-crab,shrimp and the red or white sand worm.

One

ofthemostsuccessful

ways

of killing stripedbassin our waters is to troll for

them

witha smallgangwell filledwith sandworms, above which a small metalor mottled p^arlspoonrevolvesasthefishermanrowsslowly over the ground.

No

sinkeris necessary,as the swivels areheavy enough,

FOREST AND STREAM.

Further south, the eel tail pulled overan8-0Sproat hookisusedfor trollingandisa very successfulbait.

Smallstripedbasswilltake theflyvery well at times in brackish water,and are verylivelyon a fly-rod.

A

shrimpcastinthe

same manner

isalsovery taking.

Large bass are very shy and require lightbutvery strongtackle.

When chumming

forthesefish theywill often rush

up

and take the smailbitsof

menhaden

in plainsight,but thenextinstantwill turn

away

fromthe most temptingbitof baitona hook. Forthisreason the bass fishermen of

West

and Pasque islandsandother clubs along our coast prefer9or1'3threadlines,evenif ratherlightfor 501bs.fish,experiencehavingtaught

them

thatunlessthewateris discolored,larger lines

show

too plainly.

Therodsusedfor this style of fishingshould be

made

inonepiecewitha short removablebuttforconvenience in traveling,and,of course, the reels,to withstandthe rush of these fish

must

be of the best quality.

The

knobbed O'Shaugnessy hooksarebest forlargebass,say Nos.8-0and9-0,andfor

medium

and small ^fishNos.40 to 6-0 sproat are generally preferred, Kirby bend hooks are not in favor

among

anglersfor striped bass.

On March

15theanglersof Cleveland,at leastthose

who

are so fortunate as tobelong to theclub, willopenthe trout seasonat Castalia,near Sandusky,O.

The

writer expects to be there if the weatherpermits,for inthe

month

of

March

the weatherisavery importantfactor

when

itcomesto fly-fishing,andthereisnotelling

what we may

have onthatdate.

The members

areoverhaul- ing their tackle

and making

greatpreparationsforthe occasionandfinesportisexpected. Scarlet-Ibis.

BOSTON PICKEREL FISHERMEN.

WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY

mightwell be called pickerel day,inthe

New

England Statesatleast.

It is not intended to intimate that theFatherof His Countryhad anythinglikea pickerel in hisnature,but rather that thetiredmerchantsand professional gentle-

men

inthecities,as well as the farmers and country boys,are coming

more

and

more

toregard thisasthe holidayforfishing through ,theice. Neverhas theday been

more

thoroughlydevotedto thispastimeby Boston anglersand sportsmen thanthisyear. Preparationswere

made

andparties

made up

daysbeforehand,andbest of all,theweather

was

propitious.

The Loringpartywas oneofabout thebest ofthe pick- erelpartiesthat

went

outfrom Bostonthedaybeforethe 22d. It

was made

upofR. T. Loring,ofthe

Chamber

of

Commerce

graintrade; C. A.Loring,ofthe

New York &

New

England Railroadfreight department;^E.Clement Holden,of the lumbertrade,and G,H. Holden,of tha clock trade.

They went

to Foster's Pond,inAndover, Mass.,anda splendiddaythey

had

ofit,

Before they

went

therewasa dealof discussionas to the relative merits of tomcodor shinersforbait. But finallythey decidedon tomcod,and they

came

backwell pleasedwiththeir decision.

They

foundthatthetomcod livedlongeronthe hooks,andthat they

made

atougher bait,the pickerelnot generallysucceeding inunbaiting the hook withoutgetting caught.

They

obtained their bait ofa

man

inLowell,

who makes

a businessofkeeping livebait forsale. But they found that theywere not aloneonthepond. Therewereover 500linesinthepond on that day,and the Loringboys expresssurpriseasto where so

many

pickerelcould

come

from,sincenearly allofthe fishermenhadmoreorlessofluck.

The

Loring party got16in.all,and two of their large onesweighed 101bs.,thelargestonebeing considerably overolbs.

The

boys weresatisfied,as tonumbers,and

much

pleasedwith theirtrip.

C. Claude Tarbox,also of theBostongraintrade,isa great lover of fishing.

He

had his

pond

ail selected before the 22d and

had

his baitwhere he

was

surehe could "put his

hand

onit"inseason.

He went

to Stet- son's

Pond

in Boxford, witha friend ortwo,andthey hadfinesport.

Another most enthusiastic fisherman is Mr. A.

W.

Tompkins,of

Waltham,

withFoster,

Weeks &

Co.,inthe Boston grain

and

produce trade. Mr.Tompkins, with his friends in

Waltham,

supports a good

camp

a

few

milesupinthe country,

and

theygo there both for ice fishingand

summer

fishing, drivingtipwithgoodteams, of

which

they areespeciallyfond.

On

the 22d Mr.

Tomp-

kins,with A. S. Hartwell,J.A.

Tolman

and"Skipper"

Somes went

toHerd'sPond,in Wayland. Itoughttobe mentionedrighthere that Mr. Somes's front

name

isnot

"Skip" nor"Skipper," but sowell is he

known

bythe

cognomen

that his real

name

isneglected. This party had remarkably good luck.

They

took 38 pickerel and 2 black bass,one of which weighed^21bs.and the other 2^-lbs.

They

usedshiners for bait. They had the bait caught and saved beforehand. Last fall they caught 2,000shiners at theOutlet, in Brighton,and theyhave bad

them

inreservefor pickerelfishing. Mr.

Tompkins

says that theyhaveused thelastofthem, however, and thatisconsiderable bait for onewinter. There were a great

many

lines in thepond,and allseemedtogetfish.

On

theSudburyRiver,at different points,considerable fishing

was

done onthe22d.

One

party,including

W.

W.

HartwellandJohn Jemson,

b^d

excellentluck.

They

caught pickerel on nearly every line,and they

had

a good

many

lines out. CharleyNicholswith afriendor two also had forty lines out on the SudburyRiver.

They

took a grpat

many

fish. Charley, or"Nick,"as heis better

known,

is oneof the greatestfishermenin hisneighborhood, andthatissaying agood deal.

He

goes asoftenasoccasionpermitsandhis linesare

among

themostsuccessful. RobertsPond,orthe oldCambridge reservoir,was linedwithpickerelfishermen on the22d, and some good hauls were made.

One

boy, [couldnot learnhisname,

came home

toBostonbytrainthat night.

He had

an enormouspickerelbythe gills. Itmust have weighedsix or seven pounds, and the boy'sface

was

radiant.

He

will beverylikely to visitthe oldreser- voir again onthe firstopportunity.

The

Commodore

Club,at theheadof Moose Lake, in Hartland, Me.,has lately beenvisited

by

a delegationof

some

30 ofitsmembers, withinvitedguests. The party wentfor fishingthroughtheice,and they hadfine sport.

Theparty includedsomeofthebest

known

loversofthe rod and linein Boston and vicinity. Several of the

members

of ex-Gov. Brackett'sstaff werein the party.

Among them may

be mentioned Col.H. T.Rockwell, Col. J.M. Hedges, Col. Buffington, Col.Fred M.Well-

Iington, JohnA. Lowell,H,

W.

Tenney,

Wm,

Gray,Dr.

199

Carter,

John

Lakin,Arthur

W.

Pope andFrancis Bachel- ler,and severalothers, all theaboveof Boston. Inthe party there

was

also

Mayor Frank

Harris of Pawtucket and Maj.Merrill, of Lawrence,State Insurance

Com-

missioner.

They

foundthe

Commodore

clubhousecom- modious as ever,and hospitableenough for

them

all.

These winter excursions to this famousclub houseare greatly enjoyed,andthereare reports ofgoodice fishing, thoughtheweatherisvery cold

up

there—almostalways 10or 12degrees colderthaninBoston,

and

perhaps15 to 20degrees colder thanin

New

York. Anotherpartyof theclub's

members

andfriendsisto startin aday^ortwo, ofwhichthe

Forest and Stream

shall haveanaccount.

As

a result ofthe fishing on the 22d agood

many

pickerel

came

into the Boston market,and yetnot as

many

as last year,noras

many

as might have been ex- pected, since theday

was

afineoneforthe sport offish- ingthrough the ice. But there is naturally a dislike

among

sportsmentowardseeing

game

fishinthemarkets, and hence

few

ofthefishcaughtbytheloversof fishing forthesakeof fishing find their

way

into the markets.

Thereisalsoanantipathy

among

lovers ofthe rodand

gun

toward

game

and fish that find their

way

into market. Thisis wellillustrated by an actualcircum- stanceconnected withpickerelfishing on Feb.22. Mr.

James

L.

Ray

bold,salesmanatthecommission house of

Hyde &

^Wheeler,hasprobablysold

many

tons of pick- erel,suchas

come

tomarket.

He

would neverthink of carryingone

home

^{for his}

own

table though rearedin theneighborhoodoftheAdirondacksandasdear a lover ofrodand

gun

asthere isin the world. But a friend went onthe22dtoa

pond "down

onthe Cape."

They

put out

some

"night lines"

and

hada nice,pickerel on nearlyeveryline.

The

friend

came

back.

He

visited thehouseof Mr.Raybold,andnot finding

anybody

in the kitchen,hehelped himselftoa platter on

which

he leftafine pickerel,nicelydressed. Thishe put intothe refrigerator,andleftwithout notifying the household.

But

inthe morning the fish

was

cooked,andMr.Ray- boldclaims thatit

was

one ofthe nicest fish he ever

tasted. Special.

THE MIGRATION OF EELS.

MR.

_Science^H.C.

^FIELD,

_forNovember,^{in the}

^New

^{Zealand Journal oj}

1891,gives

some

interesting notes

upon

themigration ofeelsin

New

Zealand.

He

says: "Thesefish

come up

fromthe sea inlarge shoals aboutthe

months

ofOctober

and

November,onlyabout

two

inches longandasthickasastraw,

and work

their

way up

the tributary streamsto very high elevations, large

numbers

livingin swamps.

They

surmount the waterfallsby wriggling

upwards among

the

wet

mossbe- sidethefalls;the Maorisassertthat eachfishtakeshold ofthetailoftheoneinfrontof

him

with hismouth,so that theyallhelpeachothertoascend. This

much

iscer- tain: Iftheheadofthecolumn is dislodged, the whole fall

down;

andtheMaoris takeadvantageof this tocatch large quantities ofthese'tunariki' (little eels),by hold- ingflaxbasketsbelowa

column

and then detaching them.

They

thendry

them

forwinterfood, just asthey do the whitebait,andthelittleeyeless fish ofthevolcanic springs attheheadofthe Roto-aire Lake. I

know

streams,trib- utaries ofthe

Mangawhero

and

Wangahu

rivers, which

swarm

witheels thathavesurmounted falls200 feet to 600feethigh.

Again

onthewestside ofthe

Wanganui

river,nearthe heads, there

was

formerlyalarge

swamp,

the surpluswaterof

which

trickled intotheriverover a flatofsand, severalchainsinwidth. In the

autumn

of 1856or thereabouts, agentleman

who

had been to the Station,wasreturninglate intheevening,founda great

number

oflargeeelswrigglingtheir

w

^ray^acrossthesand fromthe

swamp

totheriver,and broughtastring of

them

aslargeashecould carry,backto

town

with him. For several nights afterwards, severalof usvisitedthe spot andsecureda largenumber.

The

migration lasted for abouta week.

The

Maorisare perfectlywellaware that the largeeelsmigratetothe sea with the first

autumn

rains,andcatch great

numbers

of

them

withtraps atthat season.

The

rain,nodoubt, causes thewaterofthestreams andlakestorise,andsoincreasesthe pressureas to

warn

thefishtomigrate. It

was

probablyin this

way

that the eels ofthe

Chatham

Island lagoon,mentioned by Mr.

Smith,

knew

thattheir

way

tothe sea

was

open."

Thereare several lakes nearhere inwhichthereareno

eels,andany Maori wouldat oncetellyouthisisbecause these lakesdonotcommunicate withthesea.

Up

to1855 or1856therewere no eels inVirginialake. The

main

roadwas thenconstructednorthwardsfrom

Wanganui,

andtoenableittobecarriedalong the southern margin ofthe lakeatrench

was

dug throughthe lowestadjacent ground andthewaterwas loweredthree feet orso. In the followingspring,itissaid, eelsascendedtothelakein considerablenumbers,although theybad tosurmount a fallofabout twentyfeetin height. Several yearslater thistrench

was

deepenedinorderto increasethe supply ofwaterindryweather. Afterthis

more

eelsfoundtheir

way up

tothelake,

and

the runsof eelscontinued until the lake

was

utilized asasourceof watersupplyfor the town about1873,

when

theoutlet

was

closed. It

was

soon foundthat the lakecould notbereliedonasasource of watersupplyasitdrains no appreciable area ofland, andtherefore pipeswerelaid tobringinto itwater from another larger laketwomilesdistant. This lake is con- nectedwiththe sea

and

containseels,andevery

autumn some

ofthe largeonesendeavoringto migrate seawards,

come

throughthe pipesinto theVirginia lake. This is

known

for certain,astheeelssometimesstick fast inthe pipesandcause astoppageofthe water.

The

presenceof eels inVirginia

Lake

isno mysteryand andthey are certainly not bred there, as the

young

are never foundinthelake.

Very few

arecaught andthey areallof a sizeworthtaking, never-under21bs. weight, andashighasseven.

The Opah

in

California.—

In ourissueofOct. 31, 1889,

we

announcedthe captureofthefirstrecognizedspecimen oftheopahinCalifornia waters.

The

fishremainedun-

known

tothose

who saw

it,oracopyofthephotograph

made

from it, until its identification

by Forest

ani>

Stream. Thisexample,weighing70 or 801bs..

was

taken inOctober,1888, BolinasBay. Mr. C. H.

Townsend

has sent usa photographofasecond specimen,weighing

701bs.,which was captured by fishermen at Monterey.

The opah fromBolinas

Bay was

sent to Redding, Cal.

,

whereit

was

cut into steaks

and

pronouncedagoodfood fish.

A

descriptionofthisremarkably

handsome

species