i 
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-ed five pounds and ten ounces, 
HUNTING AND FISHING GROUNDS AND PLEASURE RESORTS. 
241 
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA RESERVOIRS. 
Connected with the aqueduct which supplies 
the cities of Washington and Georgetown with 
Potomac water, are two immense reservoirs, 
one of which is known as the receiving reser- 
voir, and the other as the distributing reser- 
voir. The first is used for the storage of water 
to supply the city in case of a freshet in the 
river, or when the water continues muddy for 
any length of time; and the other, located at 
the head of the pipe line, supplies the various 
mains leading to the twocities. Both of these 
reservoirs are filled with black bass, and afford 
rare sport. The fountain head of the water 
supply is at the Great Falls of ‘the Potomac, 
sixteen miles from Washington, and from this 
point a brick conduit, nine feet in diameter, 
brings the water a distance of about ten miles 
to the receiving reservoirs where it leads into 
Dalecarlia Tunnel, which connects the conduit 
above with the conduit below the reservoir, 
so the daily supply of water can be drawn di- 
rectly {rom the Potomac or the reservoir. 
From the receiving to the distributing reser- 
voir, a distance of two miles, the conduit is of 
the same size as above. The receiving reser- 
voir has been in use about fifteen years, and 
during that time the bass have increased and 
multiplied therein with great rapidity, besides 
the supply is annually increased by the young 
ones, which come down the conduit from the 
Falls, and easily get through the wire screens 
into the reservoir on account of their diminu- 
tive size. Many now in the waters of the 
reservoir have been there twelve or fourteen 
years, and in that time have attained a weight 
of from four to tive pounds. The largest bass 
ever known to be taken in this locality weigh- 
It was cap- 
tured early one morning in the reservoir, and 
fought Fravely before he was landed. This 
reservoir covers an area of forty-four acres, 
and varies in depth from two to fifty feet. The 
bait used for bass in these waters is live min- 
now, frogs, aud crawfish. They never rise to 
a fly in the still waters of the reservoirs, 
though they often take it in the Potomac in 
places where rocks abound, forming rapids 
and eddies. The bass undoubtedly spawn in 
the reservoirs, and for that purpose seek the 
headwaters in the Spring, where it is not so 
deep. As warm weather approaches they re- 
turn to the deep water. They have been fre- 
quently taken weighing from two to three 
pounds, and when a bass of that size is hook- 
ed in water fifteen or twenty feet deep, with 
no rocks, grass, or snags to catch the line, he 
affords delightful sport. Their favorite feed- 
ing time is early morning, and instances are 
on record where eight or ten fine ones have 
been captured from, sunrise to eight or nine 
o’clock, and after that time no bait, however 
attractive, could draw them to the hook. 
Trolling for them with minnow for bait is 
often very successful in these reservoirs, es- 
pecially in August and September, A permit 
from the aqueduct authorities is necessary to 
enjoy the privilege of fishing in these waters, 
but the courteous officers having charge of the 
work never refuse such permission to gentle- 
men whom they know will not abuse the pri- 
vilege. 
HOY’S WILDERNESS. 
Oakland, Maryland, on the line of the Bal- 
timore & Ohio Railroad, is the point where you 
leave the railroad. A team or teams can be 
found at this place to convey parties across 
the ‘ Backburn Mountain,” a distance of thir- 
teen miles; thence to a place called “ Shook 
Shop”—Abernathy’s, about eight miles thence 
to the ‘ Pine” region—Wm. Kitsmiller’s— 
about seven miles. This is as far as you can 
go with a wagon, but horses can be had at 
Kitsmiller’s to take you three miles further on 
to his brother’s Lloyd Kitsmiller, and you are 
at Hoy’s Wilderness. Lloyd is an old experi- 
enced hunter and fisherman, and always ready 
to give any information in this line, and also 
to act as guide. The old Dobbin House, a 
short distance from Kitsmiller’s, and in the 
very heart of the Wilderness, was built many 
years ago by a Baltimorian, for himself and 
friends to occupy during the hunting and fish- 
ing season, long since deserted, but left in 
charge of Lloyd Kitsmiller, is a splendid place 
for a party to stop. The house has plenty of 
room, with furniture and bedding and will cost 
the sportsmau nothing. Kitsmiller will pro- 
vide it with a cooking stove, and play the gen- 
ial host and guide, for a nominal sum (plenty 
of the extract of maize), for hunters are his de- 
light and a godsend in this out of tho way 
place. 
It is seldom one hears of a wilderness with 
