Among the Ciscoes of Lake Geneva. 249 
of Long Point, sixty-five miles west of 
Buffalo, where the marine charts indi- 
cate the deepest soundings. 
‘‘ Before the herring, however, takes 
his final departure for his long vaca- 
tion, he regales a few of the amateur 
anglers at Buffalo with excellent sport, 
as he takes almost as kindly to the fly 
as his near related cousin, the silvery 
mooneye. 
‘¢ When or where originated, the man- 
ufacture of a special fly for this only 
purpose cannot be definitely ascer- 
tained: but so far as I can learn, it was 
first employed by an old expert devotee 
of the gentle art known to all of the 
fraternity simply as Old Mitchell. He 
has gone long since to happier fishing 
grounds, and must have been a person 
of no ordinary powers of observation to 
devise not only the fly itself, used for 
the capture of the herring, but also the 
proper manner of its handling, since 
thisinvolves a correct knowledge of the 
habits of the fish and his food, which 
had, in the absence of all printed in- 
formation upon this subject, to be 
gathered alone from original observa- 
tions. The whole modus operandi, as 
practiced still by his disciples, is based 
upon the development of the imago of 
the common May fly, Ephemerts vulgate, 
from its aquatic larval condition. 
*% * * * k * 
‘¢When the time for the change of 
the sub-imago of the May fly into the 
true imago has arrived, it ascends from 
the bottom of the river to its surface, 
casts off the thin pellicule-like shell of 
its soft body, and enters upon the cul- 
minating stage of its erial life, which, 
as above stated, rarely lasts longer than 
a day, unless the insect is prevented 
from copulation. This brief epoch in 
its life history is an equally important 
one to the captor of its most voracious 
enemy, the lake herring, the fishing 
for which is then at its fullest height. 
‘* Although the herring is occasion- 
ally taken in April and May, by using 
minnows for bait, the new food supply 
demands now a change of tactics, and a 
novel stratagem is devised, by the em- 
ployment of which as much scientific 
sport may be had as any enthusiastic 
fly trout fisher may desire. When the 
imagos of the May fly rise by myriads, 
the herrings, attracted by them, are on 
the alert for this favorite food, with 
which, as shown by examination of 
their stomachs, they are fairly crammed. 
(“The ancler, inorder )to accom 
plish his purpose, and adopting the pre- 
cept of Father Mitchell, now uses a 
rough and ready imitation of the body 
of the May fly, in the form of a dull 
orange colored fly, very small, made of 
silk and feathers, tied upon a still 
smaller hook, and furnished with an at- 
tached sinker, to drag the line quickly 
down to the bottom. When this is 
struck the artificial fly is readily pulled 
up to the surface, in order to imitate 
the rising natural one, for which it is 
often enough mistaken by many an un- 
fortunate herring, who, too late, discov- 
ers his mistake, as the small fine hook 
is generally effective is securing him.” 
We have quoted the professor some- 
what at length, to show how marked in 
contrast are the tackle and methods of 
fishing of the Lake Erie cisco anglers 
and those of Lake Geneva. The latter 
catch them on the surface, or an inch 
or so below it, but generally skim their 
natural and live lures over the water, 
while those of Erie fish from the bot- 
tom up with an artificial fly, ‘‘ daping” 
it, as English anglers sometimes do, 
when fishing for trout in much-fished 
waters. 
It may be interesting to note what 
