410 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



[Junb 23, 1881. 



right at home in the limpid waters of this little mountain 

 at ream. 



I should like to give the reader a faint conception of one 

 oT our trips. Tor many of my happiest hours are spent in fish- 

 ing fur bass. Tile facts shall ho given as a warp, hut the 

 woof of fancy must he interwoven hy the reader. 



A party of us take an early start for "Caldwell's Dam," 

 five miles from Lewisburg, and enjoy all the pleasures inci- 

 dent to a day's recreation on the water. Riding up the bank 

 to I he dam we often startle a "whopper" as he noses 

 around the edge for a breakfast, of crawfish or toads. A. rush 

 and a frothy furrow tell of "sickness at home." as he plows 

 for deep water like a miniature tug-boat under a full head of 

 steam. Sometimes we stop on the way and whip the still 

 water under the overhanging bushes and trees. The east i# 

 made, "flip!" echoes from the centre, of a circle of wavelets, 

 and we slink away from the tempting pool, minus a fly. The 

 "rise " was too heavy for the single leader! At the dam our 

 bridles are willingly placed in the hands of a friendly oak 

 that bends down and seems to plead for the privilege Of hold- 

 ing the animals beneath its welcome shade. The day is well 

 choseD. Kot a ripple breaks the surface of the eddy, "the 

 falling leaf forgets to float" and the bubbles creep by as 

 lazily as the boy in the corn-field that was overtaken and 

 strangled to death by the, tendrils of the pumpkin vines Oc- 

 casionally the reflection of a bird or a fie'cy cloud is seen in 

 the water as they flit across the summer sky. Tears ago 

 "Ichabod " was written upen the utility of the dam, and to- 

 day its ruins form a semi-circular causeway or stepping- 

 stones across the stream. Up the river from the bont-land- 

 inr:, glittering like a snow-tmak in the sunlight, a splendid 

 riffle whirls and dallies and dances at the foot of the moun- 

 tain, just in front is a long, smooth stretch of deep water 

 and below is a beautiful cascade as far as the eye can reach! 

 What angler could keep the thrills of joy from" chasing each 

 other up his back and creeping through his hair as he realizes 

 that scores of living jewels are eagerly awaiting a place in his 

 crown of piscatorial glory? 



Having decided to troll while pulling for the riffle, the boat 

 is untied and. with a spoon-hook or trolling minnow curling 

 beneath the surface many yards behind, we float slowly out 

 upon the glassy waters. As I do not happen to fall within 

 the orbit of Shakespeare's man who has no music in his soul, 

 and drinking deeply at the fount of Nature, I catch the in- 

 spiration of the birds aud bees and hum to the dip of the 

 oars— 



O wliat music, as wc listen 



TO the riffle's distant roar : 

 How r lie lirnl:rn wat'Ts glisten 



As i'ul-v ,i; : -h against tne snore ! 



" Ho'd on ! " The oars drop, and the light silk line slips 

 off the rod like greased lightning. The hall has been opened 

 by striking a five-pound bass, and the fun has coin inenced 

 in earnest. He is well hooked, and takes to the bottom, hut 

 presently jumps three feet into the air and shakes himself 

 all over. Bound and round, up and down, and in and out 

 he runs, aud finally wearies of the sport aud surrenders at, 

 discretion. My, O ! but he does look pretty out there, pre- 

 senting a broadside, and the bright spoon glistening in lus 

 mouth. A few more lunges and he is reeled close up Not 

 having a landing-net I catch the line near his nose, lift him 

 out of the water and gently pillow his head in the boat at 

 my feet. Yes, he does seem a little bit astonished A fish 

 that has be*n sleeping for teons of ages in the heart of a, 



.jii.- leaf could exhibit more signs of animation than our 



finny friend displays for half a minute or more. The lan- 

 guage of his silence seems to be, " Well, here we are ! but 1 

 little dreamed that snapping up that thing would place me 

 in such a pickle as this!" As a matter of course, a fl 'od of 

 comment is lavished upon the poor little fellow by my com- 

 panions. Before reaching our destination, however, several 

 move of i he "beauties" cease to wriggle about in their palaces 

 of running water, and arc placed beside the first trophy in 

 the canoe. 



The riffle is gained at last, aud I prepare to whip it from 

 head to foot. Those acquainted with flyfishing know by 

 happy experience how the waters of a good riffle boil, seethe 

 and wahz around over the rocky bottom, and how, too, that 

 right in the middle of each of the whirls a beautiful little 

 foam-flower gathers. The pulse quickens and the arm tingles 

 as the red hackles buzz, hy the ear, and one of them drops 

 exactly in the centre of the foam-sport. Days of Aladdin ! 

 The flower disappears in a twinkling, for the inagic touch of 

 the fly has metamorphosed it, into a lusty six- pounder, and he 

 "makes way for liberty" with all the patriotism of his na- 

 ture. Aud so the sport eoes on, uutil we weary of it and 

 start for home. The catch is a trifle, heavier than "the bur- 

 den of a dream," and is equal to a baud of music in drawing 

 the people of Lewisburg to the doors and windows. And 

 how- their mouths do water ! Yet we don't wonder at that, 

 for those who have enjoyed the dish can certify that a black 

 bass properly served up is indeed "a dream of delight," 



But here the pen must be laid aside. A fisherman never 

 knows when to stop talking on his favorite hobby, but I 

 Hhall place the final period at the end of the next sentence. 

 Header, whatever else may be iorgotten, remember the fish- 

 ing-tackle when starting for the mountains of West Virginia 

 this summer. M. W. Z. 



Lturkbury. June 6, 1881. 



Tkoct ik tub Rangri,k-.y8.— Phillips, Me.— The trout fish- 

 ing at the Rangeley lakes exceeds any previous year. Horse 

 loads of boxes of trout, packed in ice, come out daily e.n route 

 tor Portland, Boston, New York and other places. IVrson 

 Davis, 24 Canal street, Boston, has just returned and left for 

 Boston, this oth day of June, with a nice box of trout. His 

 party numbered in all thirteen gentlemen from Boston and 

 vieiiiilv, except Win. H. Cole, Esq., who came from Balti 

 more, Md. The most of the party were at the lakes less 

 than one week, though Mr. Davis was there from May 18 

 til! June 4. The party took in all nearly 1,000 trout, two of 

 which weighed, when caught, 6 lbs each, two 5 lbs each, and 

 out of one lot of eighty, ten weighed 40 lbs, or 4 lbs each oi 

 the average. The whole catch of the party was estimated t< 

 weigh upward of 600 lbs, salmon aud brook trout. Axel 

 Dearborn, president of the Broadway National Bank, Boston, 

 went, home this morning with upward of 100 lbs of trout. The 

 Major was a parly by liimself, and only spent one week at 



the lakes, but caught a goodly number of latge trout. The 

 above are only a small portion of what have been taken this 

 spring. Capt. William Lewis and two sons from New Bed- 

 ford, Mass., last, week caught one hundred trout from the 

 lake weighing 100 ibs, the largest of which tipped the scale 

 at over fi-| Ibs. Thev were there only thirty-six hours. Mr. 

 A J. Hewey, at. Bench Hill on the stage road to the lakes, 

 caught a year old bear list week. They are so plenty that 

 Mr. Hewey is obliged to fold his sheep every night. — S. P; 



WANTED— SOME ANGLE WORM^. 



WE are permitted to publish the following letter to the 

 T'Vh l ''■:■:! i])i r , ■ S : 1 1 ■ : ii ■ i ■ nt I, f,:i, VV'e SU;;:';i ,si. the on - 



portafion of angle worms, or, better yet, of teachers to teach 

 tie boys to use artificial flies, and "that to snare a trout is 

 murder iu the first, degree: 



Manoiiksteh, Iowa, March 21, 1881. 



Hon. B. F. Shaw— My Dear Sir: I have lieen viewing 

 the Spring Branch (rout. Before the thaw commenced the 

 water was as clear aB crystal, and the boys were snaring 

 them. Isn't ii astonishing that, trout can be snared. One 

 boy snared one of five lying on their spawning bed, above 

 the bridge at the milk factory, It was the smallest one and 

 weighed three pounds aud four ounces It could not turn in 

 a wash boiler. About four of the 1879 trout have betn 

 snared. There are no worms. Consequently wo who can- 

 not snare don't get any. A boy liviug on the stream sent me 

 one of the '79 fish snared by him, weighing one and one-half 

 pounds and thirteen inches long. 



I am satisfied that the "close season" must be extended. 

 All of the fish caught were full of spawn. They said the '77 

 fish contained a eupfull of ripe eggs. These trout don't 

 spawn in November nor until late m December. The law 

 makes November, December and January the "close season." 

 As they spawn up to April — most of them in the month of 

 March— it must be changed to November, December, Janu- 

 ary, February and March. This will save them. It is 1oo 

 bad to hive them killed on their spawning beds. 



Trout of '77 and '79 are all on the riffles, and from the 

 "blue hole" to the upper spring. 1 believe there are 8,000 

 of the '79 and from 000 to 800 t 

 ldid not see all these trout, hut I f 

 when they were leaving i heir beds, 

 boy that. I have employed to watch 

 morning he. would see from twent 

 the trout of '80. They hatched 

 hatching will be about the. first of 

 stream full of fish. The large on 

 and minnows. The water-cress is a great protection to them 

 and the stream is full of moss. If I get any of the trout of 

 '77 I will preserve one for you. Have you tried Prof. Wick- 

 ersheimer's preserving fluid ? It leaves the fish with all its 

 colors. 



1 am perfectly satisfied that 10,000 of the fish of March last 

 that were put in a spring stream at the headwaters of the 

 river are growing. The stream is just as fine as Spring 

 Branch. I will try and ascertain by the first day of May, 

 and if we fiud they are there wc will "endeavor to put in ten 

 thousand more. The spawning trout at Spting Branch from 

 all appearances will not be disturbed for a month, as the 

 wa!« will be muddy. Truly yours, S. G. Vananda. 



the '7 



7 trout. Of course 



w the 



wake of thousands 



d goi 



ig for cover. The 



hem f 



ays that en a clear 



to th 



rty on one riffle of 





April, 1880. This 





Lich will make the 



bavi 



taken the suckers 



THE FLY -CASTING TOURNAMENT. 



THE fly-canting at [he New York State Sportsmen's Con- 

 vention will tie called as tilts paper goes into the mail. 

 At a meeting held at Hotel Brighton, Coney Island, on the 

 20th inst., at which Mr. Fred Mather, the Director of the 

 Fly-Casting Tournament, Mr. James Geddes, the referee, 

 anil Mr. Lucius Moses, one of the judges, were present. 

 Ttiu following points were decided upon : The rule allowing 

 dis'ance for short rods will be adhered to. The b iss casting 

 will be done with a one-ounce weight instead of bait, all to 

 oust with the same weight. The judges wull consider style 

 of delivery of the fl'ns on the water, and accuracy, as wellas 

 distance, "and for this purpose the following scale of 100 

 points has I ce > adopted. 



f listaaoe across the wiud 30 



Di-taikiu with the wind 30 



Style of delivery of flies 25 



Accuracy . . , 10 



In single-handed fly-cas'ing class will be called first in 

 order to give amateurs winning in this class a chance to en 

 ter i.u the other classes. 



The extra prize of a salmon rod, given for extreme distance 

 with a single-handed rod, will be cast for last of all. Those 

 who have cast, in the other classes can enter for Ibis contest 

 free of charge. Other members wishing to cast for it will 

 pay the usual entrance fee. The rule for this contest will be 

 that any rod of twelve feet or under may be used, but there 

 shall be no allowance for distance given "for short rods. 



STONE LUGGERS. 



Svracuse, N. Y. 



DURING a recent visit to the Thousand Islands of the St. 

 Lawrence, I observed what I had nevei seen before, 

 and something unfamiliar rn most anglers. On the south 

 shore of beautiful Round Island two mounds were discovered 

 by a friend of mine situated say ten feet, from the water line 

 and in about three feet depth of water. They were built of 

 pebbles in the form of a pyramid. One must have comprised 

 a bushel or more of small stones, the other was uot so large. 

 Bv patient watching the fact was discovered that these 

 mounds were made by chubs, which could be seen carrying 

 the pebbles in their mouths from near the water-line to the 

 hillocks. They worked incessantly and perseveiingly, seem- 

 ingly unconscious of the pn seuce of spectators. If driven 

 away by dropping a stone upon them they would quickly 

 return and resume operations, always in nearly the same 

 plac -, going over the same line to the same place to find the 

 small stone. 



I have heard it said that bass build such mounds, but for 

 what purpose there seems lo be a diversity of opinion. I 

 have never seen anything of the kind before, nor have I found 

 an angler who ever" heard of chub becoming mound builders; so 

 the discovery was naturally very interesting to me, and has 

 excited the cm iosity of ethers. It is for this reason that 1 

 write you, feeling confident that if you will add to the letter 

 some remarks of your own, a great many of your readers 

 will thank you for 'them. Why and for what purpose was so 

 rniieli labor expended by the fish, aud what fish are prone to 

 such occupation ? D- H. B. 



The name "chub" is so extensively applied in America that 



it is not at all descriptive. We restrict it entirely to the 

 "fall fish," Szmotitis corporate and 8, bullari-, while in Vir- 

 ginia tiie name is even applied to the black bass. As the 

 English chub is a cypiuoid fish, and we. have fifty species 

 which are more or less like it, it gives great latitude to the 

 use of the name Some of th se fishes carry stones in their 

 mouths probably to cover their eggs. One, the Eviylosmm, 

 maxiltint/ua, of Rafmesque, is given the common name of 

 "s one toter" by Jordan, but it is impossible to say to which 

 genus your fish belongs. We wish we had a specimen. 



Trotviiso at Td.i Pond, Kfstis. Maine. — Mr. Jared 

 Goodrich, of Plainville, Conn., with his friend Seymore, two 

 weeks since, started on "round trip tickets" for the above 

 named now popular resort. They went via Boston, Portland, 

 Lewiston, Farniiugton and Kinafield. Mends hotei was 

 burned May 10th, also l lie stables, with Dau Clark and Son's 

 new stage coach. A large new hotel has been opened, of 

 vhich Mr. G spe ks veiy highly. Dau Clark & Son, with 

 isual enterprise, have on still another new conch with ex 

 cellent horses, sure to make lime. At Kennedy Smith's 

 cabins they found a party from Lewiston, one from Boston 

 and another from Waleotville, Conn The cabins and boats 

 were all in fine order, trout were in great abundance — in the 

 creel — and a new cook t laced them with various viands on 

 the table in a style to tempt more fastidious appetites than 

 those sharpened by exhiliaratiug sport and pure bracing air. 

 Mr. Goodrich repoi ts there has not been a large amount of 

 rain there this season, and that, the mountain streams are 

 not full, not enough water in the Carreyba«set River to 

 "run the logs" with ease. The nights were cool, and white 

 frost three mornings silvered (lie shores of the forest-dTaped 

 lakelet. Some of the guests look trips down Tim pond 

 Stream lo least on the beauties of iis foaming cascades and 

 lure the nimble trout f aim their dark pool homes. Another 

 company went to Beaver Pond, and from there on into 

 greater depths of the dark and vast wilderness to lakes ages 

 ago inhabited by the speckled charmers that so entice us 

 sporismen, and here they have dwelt unknown, save by a 

 few lumbermen visiting these secluded regions in winter in 

 pursuit of their vocation. And now Suiittfprepares the way 

 for the chosen ones to cast their silken lines upon these vir- 

 gin waters. I envy them their greai pdvilege But, more of 

 this anon. Mr. G. and friend turned their faces homeward 

 the 9th inst., arriving in Plainville the 11th, looking ten 

 years younger than when they started, having had the hest 

 (routing trip yet in their lives, though somewhat venerable 

 in years. They were allowed on their tickets to rei urn via, 

 Flagstaff, Lexington, North New Portland and North An- 

 son, when they came to the Somerset R. R. They speak of 

 the scenery by both routes as grand beyond description! from 

 Jsingfielrl to Eustis, and from Smith's farmhouse to North 

 New Portland, at which place they found a good hotel. 

 They speak of hearing partridges drumming all about the 

 cabins, and think they wintered unusually well. Mr Editor, 

 may you and I be there to see. In my last, when speaking 

 of flies, I should have named the "Mooschead" as made from 

 a description I gave to Win. Mills & Bens. It is one of the 

 best for Tim Pond and the Dead River region. — J. W. T. 



Pnoi'Eii OKSDiT— Syracuse, N. Y.— I am in favor of fair 

 play. I am in favor of giving credit to the party to whom 

 it properly and rightly belongs, 1 have just, ri ad the letter 

 of "Walton" in this week's Forest and Si -kkam (June 2), 

 and he therein makes a great mistake or a very glaihig mis- 

 statement. He is correct iu saying that the fishing in Onon- 

 daga Lake and Seueca River is better now than usual. I 

 know that there are more glass-eyed pike, yellow pike and 

 black bass now in the lake than for any year during ihe last 

 fifteen years. But he gives the credit of all this to the On 

 oudaga County Sportsman's Club. It does uot belong to 

 them. They have done very little if anything toward keep- 

 ing the nets and seines out of the lake and river. I do not 

 know that they have ever hired a man to patrol and watch 

 the lake or river, contributed toward the expense, or spent a 

 dollar for that purpose. 



The credit all belongs to the Onondaga County Fishing 

 Club, which every spring and fall for the last four years has 

 had four or five men in its employ for the purpose of pro- 

 tecting the fish iu the lake and river from poaching by 

 seines or other nets. These men have been paid by the Fish- 

 ing Club. All of the dues received fioui about two hundred 

 members have been devoted to that purpose. During the 

 last four years they have captured and destroyed a great 

 many nets of various kinds, have successfully prosecuted 

 nearly one hundred poachers, aud have struck terror among 

 the law breakers. Aud they propose to go rigid on with the 

 good work, but do not want their thunder stolen now by a 

 pigeon-shooting club. 



I have read and now possess a nearly complete file of 

 Forest and Stream, and know that you favor the right.— 

 " I Go a Fishing." 



Trout in the Adirondack*— Moira, Franklin Co., NY., 

 June 8.— Parties who have returned from the 10-mile level 

 siy they never saw the tiout fishing better than it has been 

 on the level during the past two weeks. They state that all 

 who came there had no trouble in catching all they wanted. 

 They caught many large trout, several weighing a pound 

 aud a pound and one-half. Two of them caught 20 good 

 sm d ones at the landing at the foot, the of level one evening in 

 less than an hour's time. The trout fishing this spring is un- 

 commonly g'Od in all the northwest parts of the Adiion- 

 dacks, They saw many deer along the level, often two and 

 three together, feeding along the banks of the stream in the 

 daytime', i >ne imm, who was iu a boat alone fishing in River 

 Pond, a small pond formed by an outlet from the river, saw 

 a large buck near the centre feeding on lily pads. Although 

 he had no gun, and nothing but a paddle, and fishing rod, the 

 man gave chase The water in the pond is very' shallow, 

 with a very muddy bottom, so every jump the deer made 

 le would siok into the mud nearly all over, and could not 

 get along very f »st, so that he came very near overtaking 

 him. But when both were near the shore, aud the man 

 gaining fast, the water suddenly became so shallow that he 

 cou'd uot propel his boat any further, and the buek. by hard 

 scrabbling, managed to work his way out of the mud to ihe 

 shore. When he struck hard bottom he soon was out of sinht. 

 And the man had a hard lime backing out Of the mud with 

 bis boat. At that same time the man ^vcut to the outlet of 

 the pond and caught two trout that, weighed by the scales 

 !5 lb. 2 oz , and many smaller from i to ^ lb. in weight. This 

 happened last week.— A. O. 



Shad in the Delaware.— The shad-fishing at Gloucester, 

 N. J., a few miles below Philadelphia, on the Delaware 



