Notes and Queries 
tunate in landing on account of having a very 
delicate line. The news spread very rapidly 
to San Antonio, and on Saturday, May 11, 
the following party of gentlemen started for 
the tarpon grounds at Rockport and Aransas 
Pass, and aright merry party it was: Louis 
Frankel, William Hardie, Allen Irvin, general 
agent of theS. A. and A. P. Railway; E. C. 
Seng, E. K. Bixby, T. P. A., of the great and 
only Vandalia Line; Jacob Waelder (Honest 
Jakie), Fred. Dagget, P. Wooldridge, N. J. 
Goward, Ira N. Turner, J. A. McDonald, 
(Silent Jack), G. P. Spaulding, J. Hamer, W. 
Berry, J. C. Manghan, and L. F. Meyers. 
They expect to stay some time. 
Mr. Swearingen’s catch was his maiden 
tarpon, and he has grown at least a foot and 
several inches taller, and says that tarpon 
fishing beats practicing law. L. F. M. 
San ANTONIO, Texas. 

Ground Baiting in the Air. 
We have all heard of the efficacious effects 
of ground baiting, a practice more followed 
in England than with us. It consists in judic- 
iously throwing the natural bait, in more or less 
quantities, into the poois where the fish are 
in the habit of feeding. This is often done 
around a buoy, either in the night or early 
morning, previous to fishing the pool so baited. 
As we have stated, but few American anglers 
follow this practice, for by an unwritten law 
of the craft, it is considered rather ‘‘ off color,” 
though not illegal, and the objection made to 
it by the gentle rodster will find additional 
force after reading the annexed description of 
the vile effects of ‘‘ ground baiting,” which is, 
in a literal sense—feeding fish with catching 
intent. The laws forbid a part owner of a 
stream to corral the fish in his water, by the 
erection of obstruction to their free passage 
up and down stream, but this up-stream owner 
effectually hived the fish by feeding them on 
‘‘gentles,’’ otherwise maggots, which are the 
most killing lures for nearly every kind of 
fish. Of course such a man would be de- 
barred from the fellowship of any club in the 
country, and should be legally punished, but 
how to do it is the question, for the law can’t 
touch him, not having any provisions therein 
against ground baiting in the air: 
Out on Long Island there is a trout stream 
celebrated for the size and numbers of its fish. 
Year after year gréat broad-backed, red- 
spotted fellows have been taken from its pools, 
and any who gained permission to cast a fly 
203 
anywhere on its dimpled reaches was sure of 
a day’s good sport. But at the beginning of 
this season the angler with privileges at the 
lower end of the stream caught few fish and 
small. Every known fly and bait of all kinds 
were tried, but still fish were scarce. 
From the headwaters of the brook, however, 
came reports of great catches of large fish. 
The man at the lower end of the stream could 
not understand it, until last week he went pros- 
pecting. Far up the brook, and on the brink 
of a deep pool, he ran afoul of an awe-inspiring 
odor. After sniffing about a bit, he discovered 
that it emanate 1 from a cornucopia of oil-cloth, 
hanging from a twig that overcast the pool. 
About this oil-cloth buzzed a myriad of flies, 
and ever and anon beneath the swarm, a huge 
trout broke the still water of the brook with a 
splash. The curiosity of theangler was greater 
than his sense of smell, and he investigated. 
He found that the cornucopia contained the 
heart and liver of a beef-creature, dead many 
days. It was alive with fat grubs, and as they 
dropped one after the other into the pool, the 
trout arose and grabbed then. When the 
angler saw this, he knew why there were no 
trout in the lower end of the stream. He pros- 
pected further, and up the stream found a 
dozen similar devices. 
When he had located all of them, he tied a 
handkerchief over his nose, and stringing all 
the cornucopias on a stick, carried them below, 
where he set them up over his own waters. In 
two days alli the trout in the stream were feed- 
ing around the pendant hearts and livers, and 
when the man at the upper end of the brook 
turned up fora day’s fishing he found that his 
fish had vamoosed. He found, also, that the 
other had carted away the bait, and now the 
two don’t speak as they pass by. 
An Extraordinary Trout Score. 
At the moment of going to press we are in 
receipt of the following score of trout, made on 
one of the many grand waters along the line 
of the Chicago and North Western Railway: 
“Telegram just received from our agent at 
Antigo, Wis., advises that on Friday last Mr. 
N. C. Bruce and George Brown, of Oshkosh, 
caught six hundred brook trout in the Ever- 
green waters, near Antigo. This is the banner 
catch of the season, so far as we are advised.” 

Fishing at Cedar Lake, Indiana.—There is no place 
near Chicago where a pleasanter outing can be spent 
than at Cedar Lake, Ind., thirty-eight miles from Chi- 
cago, on the Monon Route. The fishing this season is 
better than ever before. Hotel accommodations are 
first-class in every respect. Good boating and bathing. 
Rest and recreation, health and pleasure. Elegant 
picnic grounds. At Shelby (Water Valley), Ind., there 
is excellent fly fishing for black bass. For particulars 
call or address the city ticket office of the Monon Route, 
232 Clark street, Chicago. 
