Notes and Queries 89 
not more than fifteen minutes I killed eight 
bass. I then put on your silver doctor and 
queen and cast for ten to fifteen minutes with- 
out getting a strike. I then thought of your 
pecularily made coachman and used it, and 
took six more bass within half an hour, show- 
ing the best record I have made. All the bass 
were over nine inches and three of them 
weighed 134 to 2tb each. 
‘“‘Last Saturday p.m. I took twelve more 
with the same coachman, when its wings were 
played out. Again last evening I stood at the 
Main street bridge, and took twoat the first cast, 
one on your lead colored fly and the other on a 
grey hackleI made. Both fish were over 1'%tb 
and one about 2b. Iwas through with casting 
about 7 o'clock, having been at it about ninety 
minutes, and had eight: bass, but I believe I 
could have taken more if I had kept on cast- 
ing.” 
We have given Mr. Sharp's letter in full, be- 
cause it reminds us of our old days on the 
Schuylkill, now twenty-five years ago, where 
with “Sculls” and Shipley we have killed 
many lordly bass on the fly. It was there we 
cast our first fly in running water for this 
great game fish, greater by far in streams 
than lakes, in every quality that constitutes 
gameness. Wealso give Mr. Sharp’s letter 
because there are yet many anglers who are 
entirely ignorant of the peculiar charm of fly 
fishing for bass under such conditions, and 
doubt that the bass can be so taken. We once 
heard an angler remark, and he was one who 
had been granted the pleasure of catching 
every species of fish from salmo, the leaper, to 
the tarpon of the Magnolia seas. 
‘«Give me,” hesaid, ‘‘aswift running stream, 
with alternate riffs and pools, a light rod and 
a turkey wing fly with which to catch black 
bass, and, as a daily diet of fishing, I prefer it 
to any sport that God has given unto man.” 
We agree with him. 
Can You Stay Away? 
The methods of booming western town 
plots are tame in comparison to those a Florida 
real estate dealer uses in sky rocketing a tar- 
pon fishing ground for the attraction of north- 
ern anglers. Here is what he prints: 
TO SPORTSMEN WITH HOOK AND LINE. 
Carrabelle harbor offers every attraction. 
The proprietors of the town employ a notary 
/ 
public, free of charge, to certify, under seal, to 
the catch of any party, by which the wicked 
fishy propensity to fabricate is avoided. It is 
no uncommon thing when sailing in the har- 
bor and you chance to run into a school of tar- 
pon, for one to leap into the boat. The heaviest 
yet landed in this way turned the scales at 
1643, pounds, Landing nets are always used, 
by which the largest fish, which always breaks 
the hooks just as it is being pulled aboard, 
cannot get away. Strings of fish can always 
be obtained at the landing (on the sly) by 
parties who have been unsuccessful. No part 
of the gulf coast can get away with Carrabelle 
on the size and quantity of fish and the suc- 
cess of sportsmen, particularly amateurs. 
Patent adjustable scales for weighing fish to 
bring them up to a respectable standard al- 
ways ready. 
Hybrid Trout in Wild Waters. 
In answer to ‘‘H. H. G.,’” we state that the 
only water known to us, in which hybrid trout 
are caught in fairnumbers, is in Lake Superior, 
near Michipicoten island, situated south of Otter 
Head, and 150 miles northwest of Ste. St. 
Marie. Here, these fish are said to take the 
artificial fly greedily, and range in weight 
from 1% to 4% pounds. They have never 
been taken over the latter named weight. 
Our informant states that their tails are nearly 
square,and they are without red spots, spawn- 
ing on the same beds as the lake trout. They 
are considered more game than the red spotted 
trout, fighting deeper, as arule, than foxtznalzs 
and do not sulk or seek the bottom persistently, 
as is sometimes the case with the lake trout. 
Whaling in Pleasant Waters. 
The Hatteras whale fisheries of North Caro- 
lina are prosecuted chiefly by New Bedford 
and Provincetown vessels, with most lucrative 
returns, as the example herewith given in 
illustration will show. The annual catch of 
oil is about 3,000 barrels. Fishing continues 
winter and summer, but the principal fares 
are taken in the mid-summer months of July 
and August. In these delectable months, 
with pleasant sea breezes blowing and a 
genial atmosphere, there is prosecuted within 
sight of land and in the very touch of coast- 
wise vessels, without special risk, an industry 
which has always been deemed extra hazard- 
