The trout of Sunapee Lake

April

22, 1886.]

FOREST AND STREAM. 247

I asnotover fourorfiveincheslong, not

up

to thelaw- fullengthof six inches,

and

after carefullyextracting the

hook

he returnedittothe

water

with, "Shucks, yeaio'tbig

enough

for

good

bass bait; hie off

under

yer log an' stay theietillyegitbig

enough

to

make

a smellina fryin'pan."

He

took a couple

more

of about the

same

size

and

then

moved on up

stream muttering something about

"an

old

crank

a-ketchin'minners with a bass rod."

We

fished the creekforbalfamileormore, countingin the"kinks."

Ben

ahead

and

outof sight

most

of thetime

and found

itliterally

swarming with

trout,butofsmallsize.

Inonepool, however,

where

thewater

was

nearfivefeet deep

and

almost hidden

by

closely

packed

drift

and

logs, I

saw

fourorfive

good

sized

ones—

a half to three-quarters of a

pound

inweight perhaps

—

lazily fanning the gravellybot-

tom

withtheii fins, all unconsciousof

my

presence, forI

had walked

softlyouton oneof the treetrunks lying clear across thestreamto

where

I could see the

bottom

through theonly openinginthe

mass

of drift thatpromised

room

to lowerthe

hook"

into the water.

Moving

cautiously

back

a step or

two aad

"shortening"the rodI

dropped

the baited

hook

through theopeningtill it struckthe water,

when

it

was

instantly seizedwitha furious jerk that

made my

hair bristle,

and

inatwinklingI

had

a splendiddark

backed

fel-

low

halfoutofwater

through

the rift,buta flirtof his tail against the log tore the

hook

loose

and

he

went

outof sight inaflash. lie

must have

left astreak ofinformation after

him

ashe darted

under

the bank,

warning

hismatesof the

narrow

escape he

bad made,

for a half hour's patient

and

persistent fishing failed to"restoreconfidencein the pool."

A

^cautious look through ^theopening revealed nothingin sightbutthe crystalwater

and

1 took

my way up

stream after

Ben

inthe tangle

and

drizzlewith aheart

bowed down

with disappointment

and

defeat.

We

leftthe stream aboutthe

middle

oftheafternoon with fiftysix trout, a

few

of

them

quarter-pounders,

and we had

besidesputback inthewater nearlyas

many more

that

we

thought

were under

thelawfulsizeof six inches.

Irecall the score

from

the mentalnotebook: Hyperboler twenty-nine,

Hickory

tweniy-seven,but the chief gloryof theday'ssport restedwith Hickory,forhe

had

"lostthe big one."

A due

north course soon brought us outinto the road,

w

^litre

we were

shortly overtaken

by

a coupleof country ladsgoingafterthe

cows down

bythelake side,

and

in the cour-eof

atrouty

conversation with them,

Ben

gathered that theolder one

had

taken a nineteen-inchtroutwith fat

pork

baita

few weeks

before outof the stream near the point

where we had

justleftit.

There

areno doubt

many

good-sizedtroutin Maybert's Creek,although

we

got

none

of

them

in fishingitthreeorfour times whilein

camp. How-

ever,itisalivewith small ones,

and

if thecountfisher

and

thetrout-hogwillletitrestfor

two

orthree years,an honest angler could

now and

thenget a

day

of

"pure

delight"

with

rod and

worm

or plain side

meat

outofitsshadedpools,

and

thinknothingof thelossofa section of cuticle

from

hisshin or thelabor of

working

his

way

throughthe "bresh" along

itssinuous course.

But

itisidle to

hope

that itwillbeletalone.

The

trout-

hog and

the"resorter"

and

the

dude

fisherman

from

thecity, withknee breeches

and "mutton

chops,"will scentit

from

afar,

and

the native

mossback

will diligently"thrash its waters"witha total disregard of the beginningorendingof theclose season.

The

hog, the

dude and

the resorter will fishitfor

numbers;

the

mossback

formeat.

To him

a trout isa trout

whether two

inchesor

two

feet long,

and

repre- sents so

many

^mou'fuls,

more

orless,of "succulent susten- ance."

Verilythe daysofthewild Saheiinus (this will have to stand

good

for trouttill

some

aspiring half-fledged natural

—

istdigs

up

a

name from

the original

Choctaw

with

more

"priority" to it)are

numbered,

unless

some

better

law

is enforcedtogivethefingerlingsachanceto

grow

up.

But how

is oneto tellthe lengthofatrout in thewater

when

he takes the bait

under

a log

and

outof sight,

and how

are

you

toprevent thelittleones

from

takingtheflyor bait?

The Michigan law

says (Iwrite

from memory):

"It shallbe unlawful for

any

personto take trout

under

six inchesinlength" If

we

^takeone onlyfive

and

a halfinches long,

do we

satisfythe law by returningitto thewater? In

many

cases, in freeingthe

hook from

asmallfishit isuna- voidably

wounded

soitwill die even if returned to the water. If

we

keepit

and

take itto

camp, we

violatethe statute; if

we

putit

back

in thewater

dead

orhurtit soit will not recover,

do we

not break the

law by

complying:

withit?

yJ * Somebody show

us the

way

outof the fog.

But

afterallIdon't see

why

trout fishing istobeclassed asthe sport

par

excellencejor the angler,althoughthereisa fascinationinitnottobe accountedfor,

and

I

am

not ready to

admit

that a six-inch troutissuperiorin

game

qualities to a six-inchsmall-mouthed bass. If there is

more

sport in handlinga

pound

troutthan thereisin handling abass of the

same

weight

with

the

same

tackle

— and

1

deny

it

—

^it

must

besolelybecause heisa trout

and

notabass,

and

be- cause

he

has the"priority"overthe bassinthematter of a fighting record. Micropterusdot.(thelatest

name

outI be- lieve,butitisgettingatrifleold)isbuilding

up

a reputation, however,asa fighter of

many

parts,

and

he has

come

to stay.

And

whilein afightingveinit

might

be

mentioned

that a six-inch"blue gill"willkick

up

a fightwith greatcelerity,

and

to

my

notion isaboutas

tough

acustomertohandleas a trout of the

same

length,

though

notsolong-winded,

and when you have

taken one

you can

hold

up your

head

and

exultoverthe victory,

and

notfeelthat

you

areaculprit in the eyeof the law, as

you do

after

subduing

aflngerling trout.

Old Ben

says,"There's jest as

much

fun a flippin' out

good

bigchuhsan'shiners as thereisin ketchin'

them

little sucklin' trout;"

and

I

am

inclined tofallinwith Ben's

way

ofthinking,evenatthe risk ofhaving afigurativerockshied at

me

foranoldfogy

who

believesthereare

some

othpr

good

fish besides trout,

and

that plainbassfishing

with

fly,

and

even

minnow and

frog,is

"good enough

fortheJoneses."

As we

stepped

back

inthe boatto start for

camp Ben

tied the troutoverthe side to"freshen 'em

up

like," ashesaid,

and

after bailingouta

few

gallons of water

with

an old peachcan, saidwithhisusualgravity of speech,"Hickory, 'pears to

me

we've struck ontoa

new

kind o'trout in that crick.

What's

thematterwithcallin''em Sal-moinfantalis, an'gittin'

Jim

topublish itin his paper fura

new

species discovered byhisnibs,Professor Hyperboler Jones?"

And

thenthe oldbronzeJback scrapeda

match and

hovered over

jttokeep the

wind from

blowingit, chucklingto himself, I fancied, at the neat

manner

in

which

he

had

relievedhim-

selfofthis"fool notion"that

had

been

weighing him down

forthelasthalf mile.

"We found

the

happy

family

somewhat

outof sorts at the stateof theweather,forit still rained,

and

the

wind was

cold

and

raw,

and worse

thanall,thelake

was most

of the time too

rough

to fish, buta yell of"trout"

from Ben worked

a

magic change

inthe

camp.

Rain,cold

and wind were

for- gotten, asthegirls

came

troopingoutof the big tenttosee our "speckledbeauties"(abrand

new name

for trout thatit is

hoped

willcauseold"priority" totakea

back

seat)

where Ben had

spread

them

out

on

thetable in a

manner

to

make

thebestshowing,as

any

other conscientious angler

would

have done.

The

Editorlostinterestina

game

of cribbage thatold

Dan and

Muller

were

hotly contesting despite the chillintheair,relieved hislongsuffering

camp

stool of its

burden,

shook

himselftogether,

and came

in

under

thefly tocasta

mouth

watering glanceatthe spread out

and

give venttohisfeelings ina regretful,

"wish

I

had gone

with

you two

old lunatics this morning;"

aud

thenthePhilosopher

came

crawling outof the

"Knots"

tent,

where he had

been cat-napping,

and

expressedhis satisfaction at thecatch;

and

finally

from

thebigtent, in

measured rumble from

Muller,

"fifteen two,fifteen four,

and

a pair,"

and from

the old Pelicanina sort of"umpirish" tonethat implied a strong leaning to the "national

game"

even in matters of crib,

"game

called

on

accountof rain,let's

go aud

see the trout;"

and

atlasttheentireJones family

were under

the bigfly, all talking atonce

and

all talking trout,utterly

unmindful

of theweather

and

all happy,with

Ben and

the Skipper a couple of lengths ahead in the matter of

"complacent

serenity," notwithstanding

we were

"a trifle stiff inthe j'ints,"as

Ben

said, "an'

hungry

asa sucklin'wolf."

Bob and

Kit

were

atonce seized

with

a desire tocatch a trout,but

when

toldof thedifficultiesa

womau would

labor

under

iugetting through the"bresh" with skirts

and

the other

flummery

they areusuallyoppressedwith, theirardor cooled

somewhat,

but I

have

no

doubt had

not the

scheme

been discovered

and

the enterprisenipped inthebud,these

two

mischievous

madcaps would

have "sneaked outpapa's

two

old pair of extra breeches,"rigged themselves out for theoccasion

and made

a trip to Maybert's

Creek

or

some

nearerstream thevery first time I

was

outof

camp

for a

day

with thebass.

But

"the best laid

scheme

o'

mice and

girlsare oft

knocked

higher'n a kite" (slightly altered

from

Burns)

and

thetwinsareyetpining over thatlostopportun- ity todistinguishthemselvesastroutfishers.

The

trout

were

dressed

and many

of them, notablythe smallerones,

were found

tobefullofspawn,

and

this raised the question,

how

longwillthewildtroutlastin

Michigan

or

any

otherplace,if they areallowed to be taken duringat leasta

month

while the femalesare fullofeggs? Is it

any more

destructive to leave theseason

open up

tothevery

day

of

spawning? We

^{fish for trout} all

through

the

month

of August,tilldarknessdrivesus

from

the stream on the 31st day,

when

theseasoncloses,becausethe

law

allows it,but

we

don't

seem

to realizethat

we

killthe goosethat lays the golden egg every time

we

takea fish that is in

spawn, and

lessenour chancefor sport for each succeeding yeartillthe streamswillbeutterly barren.

But we

all

do

it,

and

will

keep on

doingit to the end,simply, perhaps, because itis

not unlawful,

and

yetI don't believethereisa solitary,con- scientiousanglerinthelandbutwill sayitis

wrong

to kill aflshthatis fullof eggs.

And

this

may

apply as'well to earlyspringbass fishing.

This little digression

may

be

something

for the honest anglertothinkover,but^itisnotintendedtoreachthe trout

hog and

thecountfisher,noryet thenative

and

the dude;

theywillflshinseason

and

outof season; they never

put

a fishbackinthewater,aliveordead;

some

of

them would

shootatimid

mother doe

with a week-old

fawn

pulling at theteat.

At

breakfast next

morning

the trout

were

so

toothsome

that

Ben was moved

tosay:

"Ef

there's ary fishthat has

more

ofa flaver toit than another, strikes

me

it

must

be a trout; beats side

meat

clean outo'sight,"

and

ashe deftly extractedthe

backbone from

hissecond one

and dropped

a sectionof the savory fleshintotheriftin hiscountenance,

he

added,with aglance

up and down

the table, "guess

James

Mackerelan' me'll

hev

toslip overan'ketch another mess o'

them

minners in a

day

or two,"

and

then, as Kit turnedto help

Mother Jim

to another

"minner,"

the old sinnerhastily gatheredall thefish bones within hisreach

and

furtivelydeposited

them

alongsideofherplate.

When

shefaced

around

to replace the troutdish (a tinpan), she discovered the

sudden

accumulationof bones,butaside

from

a flash of color inherface

and

aquick glanceatthe old cul- prit,she

showed no

sign ofanythingamiss.

Ben

stirred his coffee inan absent-mindedsortof

way, meantime

delighting little

Top

with a yarn about

"a famous

placejest

around

thepint,

where

he

would

take her

some

fine

day when

it quit rainin',

where

shecould

hev

dead loadso'

fun

with the sunfish."

As

theyarn

was

finished,

he

solemnly passedthe trout

pan

toKit with: "It's 'stonishin'

what Michigan

airan' a

few

days' campin'out'll

do

in the

way

o'creatin'an appytitefur fish in

some

gals.

Ef

Miss Kit keeps onthe

way

she's started inan'don'tgita backset,it'llkeep her

daddy

an'

me

ahust- lin' aroun'to ketch trout

enough

furher

from

the look o' that pileo'bones.

"

Top

clapped her

hands and

laughedingreatglee

(Top had

suddenly

become

Ben'sfastcrony

on

accountofthe

prom-

ised frolic withthe sunfish),

and

her

happy

laugh

seeming

tobeinfectious,the

whole camp

"jinedin," eventhe usual gravityofoldDan'sfacerelaxed_{into a}broad grin,

and

Kit

was

forcedto follow the

example

ofthe otherstohide her confusion.

A morning

or

two

after, however,

Ben

inadvertently sweetened his coffeewithsaltinplaceof sugar,

and

ashe

emptied

the

cup

behind

him

afterthefirsttaste,he lookedat Miss Kitty,

who

sat opposite,

and

remarked, without the twitchofa

muzzle

in hismirth-provokingold face,

"Must

a

some

o'

them

troutbones gotinto that coffee

from

thetaste ofit,

"and we knew

that retribution

had

overtaken

him

at the

hands

of Miss

Innocence

across thetable,

who was

de-

murely

stirring her coffee with a

complacency

_{that be-} tokened a

keen

satisfaction ingetting even with

"Hyper-

holer."

Miss

Top

feltither

bounden duty

tolaughataboutevery- thing

"Uncle Ben"

said,

and when

she bubbled over it started the others, olderheads

and

all,

and merriment and

hilarityreignedintheKlugfishers'

camp

despite the rain, thatkept

up

a steady,

monotonous

patter on the canvas overhead.

But

ittakeslittleto

make

onelaughinthe woods,

when

allthe cares

and

worriesof life

have

beenleftbehind.

A whole camp

willroar at

an

asinine

remark

that

ought

to bethedeath

warrant

of the perpetrator. Old, _stale jokes thathave been

worked

over

and done

service for years, that

have

lost all their edge

and

brightness

from

oftrecurring use,arebroughtforth

and

burnished

up

in thelightof the

camp

firetilltheyarealmostas

good

as

new and we

laugh at

them and

enjoy

them with

the

same

keenzestthat

we

did a score ofyears

gone

by.

Some

one hassaidallthis before,

and

Iquoteit, in effect, only because it is so true.

The camp

in the woods, too, is a greatequalizer.

The

clerk stands as high as his employer, the owner' of a block of bricks; the shover of the plaue sleeps

and

snores

under

the

same

blanket

with

the dignified judge; the undertaker cracks business jokes with the dispenser ofphy- sic; the

sun-browned

followerof the

plow

ranks equaltothe

M.

C.

"from

theflat-rock deestrick," and all partake with, equal relish of the

same

stew concoctedin the

same

old blackened

and

battered

camp

kettlethathas

weathered

half ascoreof

rough

campaigns. Inthe

woods

social distinctions arelostsight of; nolines of caste are there to

mar good

fellowship, albeit lines are oftencast,

and

all the certificate requiredforadmissionto thecircle

around

the

camp

fire is aloveof rod,

gun and

thewoods,

and

tobe possessedofthe instincts of asportsman,

which

arealways gentlemanly;

and

I

am

goingtorecordit thatIdon't take

any

stock in the termstruesportsman

and gentleman

sportsman,for Itakeit

a

sportsman

can be nothing butagentleman, however, a

gentleman may

not bea sportsman, but

"sportsman"

covers the

whole

ground,

whether

he be a respected

Governor

of a State or the

humblest woodchopper

inthepineries.

But

thetroutbones

have

led intoadigression.

Kingfisher,

CmotNNATi,Ohio.

THE TROUT OF SUNAPEE LAKE.

EditorForest

and

Stream:

Food makes

trout grow. After the interestingletterof Mr. LivingstonStone, inlastweek'sissue,itseems needless tociteinstances

from

theexperienceof pisciculturists,anglers

and

naturalists in this country

and England

to

prove

the above.

Abundance

of digestible foodisa condition

which Suuapee Lake

meets in its countless millions of smelts,

which

supplytheblack bass

and

thesalmonidm.

These

fish,

two

or threeinchesinlength, are tender-fleshed

and

easily disintegrate inthe

stomach

of thetrout,

and

there is prac- tically

no

limit toa trout's voracity.

Mr. Henry

R. Francis, intherecentpages of the

Badminton

Library, mentions a troutcaught

by

him,

weighing

alittle

more

than f pounds, that

had

"forty-six small

minnows

inits

maw,

theupper-

most

freshly swallowed, while those furthest

down were more

thanhalf digested."

The same

authorfurther instances a

brook

trout,

whose

stuffedskinisinthe possession of the Driffield Club, that attaiuedaweight of 17

pounds from

feeding

upon minnows

that

swarmed

in the neighboring

Beck aud

itstributaries.

It isevery

way

probablethat the oquassaitakenin

Sunapee

last fallattained theirremarkable proportions in six years,

Mr.

Livingston Stone seekstoaccountforfour

pounds more

than the steelyard proves.

The

largesttrout taken,accord- ingtothetestimony before us,

weighed

but6pounds; that there

were

10-pounders

on

the

spawning

bed

was

a guess.

Now,

accordingto Dr. Merriam, six

pounds

is not

an

un- usualweightfor oquassa}rapidlytoattain inthe salt waters of the

Lower

St.

Lawrence. The same

littledespised four-

ounce

"blue back," giveitan

abundance

ofappropriate food

and

the tonic effectsofa favorable

change

of waters, de- velops in the Godbout,the

Miogan and

the Trinity River, aswellas inSunapee, into a giant

worthy

of the angler's skill, in accordancewithnature's simplest laws. I fully agree with Col.

Samuel Webber

that our noble fish are

sprung from

his1879plant.

John D. Q0ACkenros.

ColumbiaCollege,

New

York,April14.

P.

S — ^{Permit me}

^to

^add

^the following postscript; in replyto

your

correspondent

who

has seen fitto enter this scientificdiscussion

under

the

shadow

ofa

pseudonym.

It is rather late in the

day

to speak offour ounces, as the

maximum

weight of the Salino oquassa, it having

been

repeatedly

shown

in the

columns

of this

paper

that

oquasm have

attained a weightof six

and

eightpounds;

nor

isit absolutely certain that the" blue-backs,"ofRangeley,

"do

not average a quarterof a

pound."

Let

me engage

our opponents for a

moment with

their

own

weapons.

They

gravely

inform

usthatmonster

oquasm

probably

make

their

home

ina

number

of

New Hampshire

lakes. It

would

not surpriseme,therefore, at

any

timetolearnthat there are in

Rangeley Lake

oquassa trout

weighing from

six to eight pounds.

The

"blue-backs^"

swarming

intheinlets

during

October

may

be the callow offspring of astutegiants that riseannually

from

fathomless watersto

spawn upon some

mid-lakeshoal

unknown

tothe

genus

homo,

and

aftera

few

days recede into depths

where no

lure

can

reachthem.

Assuredly, it is as probable that such

Solomons among Salmonidm have

eludedthe vigilanceofCaucasian

man

for a

few

decadesinRangeley,as thatthey

have

reproducedtheir speciesforacenturyin"

Sunapee

unmolested

by

the net or spear?

What

is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Your

correspondent does not

know

that these large oquassce

have

always beenin

Suuapee any more

than he

knows

they are not to-day actuallyinthe lakes ofthe

Rangeley

chain. If the latterbe a fact,thenthepresence in

Sunapee

of six

pound

fish

from

the1870 plant

would by no

one be regarded evenasremarkable.

The dime museum

analogyis so absolutely inapplicable as tobe undeservingof serious notice.

Once

more,the largest

Salmo

oquassataken

from Sunapee weighed

six,not^ten,pouuds.

To

quote CharlesF.Imbris,

when

the

weight

of a troutisin question,

"I would

rather believea poorpair of scalesthan

George Washington."

J.

D.

_Q.

EditorForest

and

Stream:

I

have

latelynoticedinthe

Forest and Stream remarks

onthe different species of troutin

Sunapee

Lake,

N.

H. I willsaytothereadersof

Forest and Stream, and

others, that I

began

fishing for trout in thatlakein 1857,

and have

fishedevery year since,

more

or less,therefore

am

able to state to,

you

the different varieties of trout inthelake.

When

1first

began

to fish for trout in the lake there

was

butonespecies of trout init

and

that

was

the nativespeck- ledtrout.

We have

at thistime fourdifferent varietiesof trout in this lake,viz.,the speckled trout,thewhitetrout, blue-back trout,

and

landlocked salmon.

The

speckled troutsometimes

weigh

5 or 6

pounds

; thewhitefishaverage alittle

more

than the speckledtrout; thelandlocked

salmon

average8 or10pounds,

and

theblue-back notso

much. As

to the white fish beinga species of the speckledtrout I should say they

were

not, but area species of the realSt.

John

Rivertrout.

These

four varietiesof trout arecaught

in greatabundance.

Jacob

R.

Hutchinson

Newport,N.H.,April0.