Jul* 23, 1881. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



515 



and three servants, a formidable assortment of rods, flies, and 

 lauding nets, and very many of the good things of this life. 

 On to' Pocahontas ! was the' word. 



I shall not enlarge much at this time upon our trip. It 

 was a glorious one, though, in every respect. As for fishing 

 it almost ceased to be sport. For my own part for tlie first 

 time in my life 1 was satiated in a few hours. One of our 

 party, a youth who had fished occasionally in a Scottish 

 burn", killed 120 trout on Elk in one day, many of them be- 

 ing over a pound in weight and from 1 2 A to 14 inches loDg — 

 splendid silvery fellows. I took 65 iu the first four boufs, 

 killing in one pool four fish in two consecutive casts, aggre- 

 gating 2$ pounds. We were in camp four days, and, if 

 there"" had been any way of sending off our fish wc might 

 have easily killed "(wo or three times the number we did. 

 As rt was we put at least half we caught Lack into the water, 

 and still had more than seven hungry beings could cat, and 

 the best of trout, loo as pmk and firm as salmon. The En- 

 glishmen were delighted, not only with the sport, but with 

 the scenery, the climate, and the kindness and civility tbey 

 met with everywhere on the route; a pleasing contrast to 

 the surliness and extortion of the average hotel-keepers and 

 travel-mongers in general along the beaten tracks of Europe. 



Seventy miles from a railroad is a long way iu these days, 

 and fishing in such seclusion should be good. The constant 

 disappearance under ground of these lime-stone rivers only 

 to come up agaiu as cold and f're«h as spring water after their 

 subterranean course, is thought the real secret of their trout- 

 holding capacities. It is strauge to find in these old States 

 such a perfect wilderness as runs through a great part of the 

 counties of Nicholas, Webster, Kandolph and Pocobontas; 

 unpeopled, without roads, and almost if not quite untouched 

 by the asS. The entire extent of forest-covered mountains 

 west of the Porks of Elk seems entirely given over to deer, 

 bear and panther. E.xcellent and good-hearted people, too, 

 are the small graziers that for the most part occupy the 

 settled portions of the county, they themselves with quaint 

 vandalism, speak of the country as "Pokey." Some ill 

 feeling was caused there by gentlemen from some of the 

 Eastern cities salting up in barrels great, numbers of trout 

 and carrying them "part of the way home, when they were 

 found to be all spoiled. That is the kind of thing that is apt 

 to make the mountaineer ugly, lie has certain prejudices 

 which I think may be called reasonable. He rather enjoys 

 strangers coming for sport— but despoil his stream for the 

 purpose (as it is any rate to him) of feeding low country 

 folks or city men — once go into the shipping business, even 

 to friends, on a hirge scale, and you destroy those feelings of 

 harmony which otherwise would exist, and pave the way for 

 future difficulties such as the owners of streams, it must 

 always be remembered, have a right to raise. Keeping on 

 the soft side of the mountaineers is an art that it is necessary 

 for the Southern trout fisherman to acquire, or the trout 

 fisherman that visits Southern streams. It comes partly from 

 experience and partly is dependent on innate gentlemanly 

 feeling. It is no use "objecting or ridiculing the prejudices 

 of people who live far removed from the world. As they 

 own the fishing, and are becoming each year more perfectly 

 alive to the fact, it is as well to knock under to them, as they 

 are not by any means exacting. 



class, perhaps, except it • the. boei poor.de. of their kilid for u 

 Stranger sportsman, if he, treats them properly, to be thrown 

 among that could be found anywhere in the world. 



The constant work upon the Richmond and Alleghany R. 

 K. lias doubtless caused many thousands of bass and other 

 fish in James River to fall victims before the negro's hook 

 and pole. Great numbers of bears have been driven out of 

 the mountains through which the now railroad runs, and have 

 been hovering round in the near neighborhood even of towns 

 and villages. I do not think the partridges were much 

 damaged by the severity of last winter, in spite of your last 

 winter correspondent's assertion that the Piedmont counties 

 were almost denuded. I think there are, if anything, more 

 than usual, the breeding season having been specially favor- 

 able. 



- Squirrels are unusually plentiful. I have also seen great 

 numbers of young hares. Ringwoojo. 



BASSING IN GREENWOOD LAKE. 



New York, July 33, 1881. 



On June 30 my friend Lloyd and self took our passage for 

 Greenwood Lake, with rods and gun. On Friday morning, 

 July 1, at 3 a, M. we were out ; in a few moments we stmck 

 an "Owego" of 34 lbs. We returned for breakfast at 7:30, 

 and had ten fine "Oswegos." We started again, directly 

 breakfast was finished, and cast with live bait and took 13 

 black and Owegos, going up to 4 lbs — not under M lbs. 



A storm came down the lake; w T e made all snug and trolled; 

 took S3. Boat half full of water; blowing a gale; and such 

 sport as w T e never before experienced. Jim Ryerson, our 

 boatman, was pulled apart. 



We made our harbor, took on boatd a good supply of cold 

 toast and turned in, but not until we had done one-and-a- 

 half miles up the railroad to learn if we might get at some 

 woodcock in Manning. W r e did get at them ; took 17 to the 

 icehouse. We went again on the lake and worked the re- 

 mainder of the day, and put 18 bass in the "well." Sunday, 

 the fish did not, rise well. We tried all our arts on them, 

 and only took 13. Wo think they felt as we did, awful 

 gloomy, because of the sad news from Washington. 



By the way, why don't the Fish Commission of New York 

 and"]Sew Jersey restock Greenwood? It needs it sadly. 

 Croton Lake should also abound with the gamy bass.— J. T. 

 Esnoh. 



A PLEASANT FISHING RESORT. 



Kingston, Old. 



A FEW days since, business called a friend and the writer 

 out to the lit lie village of Baft ersca, which is situated on 

 Loborough Lake, about 10 miles from Kingston. This beauti- 

 ful sheet of water is of very respectable proportions, being 

 SI miles in length and from one-half to three wide, and is 

 one of the prettiest of our numerous inland lakes. Scores of 

 islands of all shapes and sizes dot its surface, giving it a 

 beautiful appearance. i 



After putting up at the Granite House (which, by the 

 way, is built upon a huge granite rock) the proprietor, Mr. 

 Vanalstine, very kindly invited us out for a row. Not 

 having our tackle wilh us we borrowed a troll, and started 

 out. A short pull of less than one-quarter of a mile up a 

 small stream, which serves as the outlet of the lake, and we 

 ■entered the lake proper. The view that met our gaoe was 



beautiful in the extreme. In every direction gorgeous 

 islands loomed up ; in the distance the opposite shores ap- 

 pear bluffy and irregular. Throwing out, the troll we were 

 soon convinced that its reputation for good fishing was no 

 libel. The black buss are abundant and gamey and of good 

 size ; five pounds are not. infrequently caught. Some very 

 large pike are taken also; large-mouthed bass are also plenty. 

 Our time being limited we were reluctantly compelled to 

 wind up and start for home. Mr. Vanalstine keeps a very 

 nice, clean little hotel, where the sportsman will find good 

 country accommodations. His charges .-ire very moderate, 

 being only $1 per day. Boats can lie had right at the door ; 

 and men to row and point out the best fishing grounds 

 will accommodate the lover of the rod at a very low figure. 

 A stage runs to and from Kingston daily, charging the pas- 

 senger the modest sum of 50 cents for the round trip. Mr. 

 V. is attentive and jolly, and will make the sportsman's sUy 

 pleasant, and comfortable. Altogether a, lew days could be 

 spent on Loborough Lake very pleasantly. Any further in- 

 formation will be cheerfully furnished by Mr. V. or Hie 

 writer. A. O. 



NEW YORKERS AT THE DOUTY PONDS. 



Monson, Me., July 18. 



Messrs. Broadhoad, Carter and others from the city of 

 New York, making a party of six gentlemen, have been for 

 a few weeks past camping between the two Douty ponds iu 

 this town, and on Friday, the 15th iust., Major U. J. House 

 and myself accepted an invitation to visit them. 



These ponds are about three and a half miles from this vil- 

 lage. We drive with a team to the farm-house of " Uncle " 

 John Douty, on the top of " Douty Hill," which is the high- 

 est, eminence in this town, and from thence we walk a dis- 

 tance of half a mile to the first pond, which is in the midst 

 of a dense forest, and is a beautiful sheet of wa'cr, covering 

 an area of about thirty acres. After crossing that we are 

 about one-eighth of a mile from the other pond, which is 

 also surrounded by woods, and larger in size than the first 

 one. 



The camp is by the side of Cold Brook, which runs from a 

 large spring of excellent water and empties into the farther 

 pond. It is one of the most delightful spots for a sports- 

 man's camp that I ever saw — good water within a few feet of 

 their door, an abundance of fire-wood, close at hand, etc. 



The only fish in these ponds is a beautiful spotted trout, 

 resembling the common brook trout iu outward appearance, 

 with red meat. We fished in the farther pond with angle 

 worms for bait, and secured about thirty in a few hours. 

 They weigh from one-quarter pound to one and a half 

 pounds, averaging perhaps three-quarters ef a pound in 

 weight. They will rise to a fly, as I have seen many hand- 

 some strings of these trout from both ponds which were 

 taken in this way. 



The prospect for grouse shooting when the season opens is 

 splendid in this vicinily. Those who enjoy this sport will 

 do well to try the great forests [a few miles to the north of 

 Ibis place. More anon. Pisoatok. 



tiioxit Fi.ijaa ron Colorado. 



PaGosa Simungs, Col., July, 1881. 



IHAVK noticed in your columns but few remarks on the 

 best flies for game/fish. I think that much profit, and 

 pleasure might be derived by anglers giving their experience 

 and interchanging their ideas as to flies, elc. So. to start the 

 ball a-rolling, I hereby send a list, of flies with which I have 

 recently caught, ninety-nine Rocky Mountain trout (tialmo 

 pleuriticus or 8. xjulurus). As soon each day as I had 

 caught all the trout I could use I Stopped, though many more. 

 could have been taken, as they are very abundant here, but I 

 do not care to imitate the practices of the "Great American 

 Trout Hogs," so well written about in Teceni, numbers of the 

 Fokkst and Stkbam. Here is the list of flies: 



Ply Psed. No. of Trout Caught. 



White coaehman 48 



BhicktVy 23" 



ISlaek hackle 15 



Brown " 14 



Bed " 1 



Total 98 



Two flies were used : About two- thirds of the trout were 

 caught on the stretcher and one-third on the dropper fly. 



The Rocky Mountain trout here did not seem to care for 

 red flies. The gray professor, a fly celebrated for these same 

 trout in Wyoming Territory and with which I have had good 

 sport there eight years ago, dees not seem to be a good fly ou 

 this river. I have never been able to get a rise at the fasci- 

 nator, a fly well spoken of for the Eastern brook trout (Sal- 

 mo fontiiiuUs). 



The white coachman is par cj-cdU-itce the fly for this river, 

 in all weathers and at all times. The fishing was done in 

 the Upper San Juan River, Colorado. The Rocky Mountain 

 trout, is not as handsome a fish as the brook trout, as it has 

 black spots instead of the red and golden spots of 8almu 

 fiuttinalin. They seem to love more the deep pools than the 

 "brook trout. They are a very gamey fish, afford splendid 

 sport, and are delicious on the table. 



Can you inform me of the best fly for taking the striped 

 bass (RyiWfW lincams) in the fresh water at the South, in such 

 rivers as the White and Ouachita of Arkansas ? They are 

 generally cuughl with a minnow, but with the fly they ought 

 to give even belter sport than the black bass. How far up 

 the Mississippi do they run? I have seen fine ones taken 

 from the Ouachita, but not as large as I he striped bass when 

 taken in the salt water of the Atlantic coast. 



Do they return to the Gulf each year ? P&koidj3. 



THE RED MAN AS A DIPLOMAT. 



THAT our red brother, ichthyologically considered, is not 

 a sardine, is a fact known so thoroughly by ethnologists 

 as to be unworthy of argument to prove. Ichthyologists 

 also know that he cannot be classed with the mtoHumi, or, in 

 other words, is no sucker. The C. & C. Railroad probably 

 are aware of these facts as thoroughly as the highest zoolog- 

 ical authority. The .Nevada Enterprise tells the following: 

 "The Indians of the Walker Lake Reservation feel very 

 happy since their victory over Mr. Yerlington and the Car- 

 son and Colorado Railroad. It. appears that when the rail- 

 road company treated for the right of way through the reser- 

 vation the Indians, agreed to receive in full pay $700 and 

 the right to ship free over the road forever any fish or other 

 produce which they might wish to bring to market between 

 Hawthorne and the Mound House. 



"Walker Lake is swarming with live trout, but the In- 

 dians did not find the fiude very profitable when the item of 



i.iii. po) tatlon began 10 be figured on. The catch, therefore, 

 was limited by the slim facilities for finding a market before 

 the fish spoiled. When the new road reaches 'Walker f.ake 



In 1 ndians will be the bosses of the fish market of the, .Slate. 

 The Indians say that if Mr. Yerington had known how 

 many fish they could catch in a day he would never have en- 

 tered into such a contract. The Indians laid their wires for 

 this thing long ago, and when Mr. Yerington vis, ted Walker 

 Luke they put up a job on him. They invited him to spend 

 the day fishing, which he did, and they gave him a bait 

 which fisli absolutely avoid. 



" Several of the bucks also fished with him, some of them 

 using no bait at all. The result of the day's toil was a small 

 whit'elisli and a half-pound (rout. The savages pretended 

 that the dav's sport had been very fine, and got up a big 

 dance iu honor of the catch, rcmai king that the fishing had 

 never been so good for years. In en unguarded moment he 

 Signed the fislf contract, and now they Bay they will be able 

 to keep the Carson and Colorado ears loaded down with fish 

 nil suiumer long, but not wishing to he too hard on the road, 

 will allow it to cany pay frieght and passengers during the 

 winter months." 



Caui' and Bass in Vihoisia.— Stirling, Loudoun County, 

 Va., Julv 38.— About three weeks ago 1 was invited to Mr. 

 Arthur Chichester's to see his carp pond drawn. He had 

 received from Washington 52 carp in January, '81, and the 

 water having, by accident, been cut off from his pond, he 

 thouirht the fish were all dead; but, upon drawing off the 

 water, he saved 47 carp, and put them in a temporary (lam 

 to rertx his pond. Five killed themselves by jumpirg out of 

 the pail. I helped to transfer them, and they weighed from 

 \ lb, to li lbs.— in my opinion nearly all over a pound— 1 am 

 sure. Wlienheput them iu his pond they measured about 

 a finger's length. 



I took two weeks ago at this place, on Goose Creek, about 13 

 lbs. of black bass with the lly and spoon, with rod and reel. 

 Since I have been here three bass have jumped in our boat 

 and been secured, one a Zwy-potmder. — T. W. 



"Halibut" FitAiios. — " A recent visit to Port Huron," 

 siys a writer in the Chicago Tribune, "let ub into the secret 

 of cheap "halibut." The river there teems with sturgeon 

 and these are caught in great numbers and confined in a large 

 pen by the river-side. Once aweekis "slaughter day,' when 

 thousands upon thousands of these mammoth fish are. driven 

 in and cut up. A friend gained ns admittance on one of 

 these slaughter days and it was a sight to see. The fish are 

 hung up to smoke in long rooms, like the hogs at market. 

 Thev are then dried, cut up and shipped abroad as first-class 

 halibut. A dealer told me that fully nine-tenths ol the meat 

 sold iu our inland markets is simply smoked sturgeon. Car- 

 load after car-load is weekly shipped away." 



Maink Notes.— The Fairfield Journal says that two fish- 

 ermen caught about twenty-four pounds of black bass in East 

 Pond the other day. Nine of the bass weighed fourteen 

 poamlu. These, tiek were placed in the pond six years ago 



and are now caught in large numbers A fine salmon was 



taken in a weir at V inalhaven July 2 — the first ever taken 

 there. 



Hokskhack Riding in Denvkk has become a craze. The 

 Tribune of that city asserts that "one can with a reasonable 

 degree, of certainly say that nine out of ten of the men who 

 have lived here "for six months know how to sit a horse. 

 St. Louis or New Orleans in their palmest days never fur- 

 nished the equestrian spectacle that may be seen any fine 

 evening in Denver, and it is an indubitable fact that the 

 Queen "City of the Plains is entitled to first place as the 

 greatest horseback riding city in the United States." The 

 approved step is the single- foot gait. "You see, this single- 

 foot is altogether a cultivated gait. You have to break the 

 horse Vo it. It is a peculiar step and a dislmct one, having none 

 of the characteristics of either a trot or a lope. Each foot 

 moves without any influence from the other three — much as 

 a man would move if he were to get down on his hands and 

 feet and crawl. 



Mosquito Pjckvuntivk.— Mixture of sweet oil, one part ; 

 tar, two parts. 



QUEER HABIT OP THE IUINBOW TItOUT. 



rpiiR ,„„lv imported trout from California, Sotnio irhka, seems 

 -L to be addicted (.... singular habits in Minnc-o!a. according to 

 the letter- written to Professor Band, which wo gii e below They 

 havo lieuu sent to uu for publication in the hope to rUmidato those 



if tins habit is common to them. We roll I.e. -lad to receive cjiu- 

 umaieatious on this subject, and hope that those having facilities 

 for observation will watch, them during the coming winter, and 

 report. The letters say : 



St. I'AVtii, Minn., June 15. 

 Son. S. T. Jiaird, 



TJ. S. Connie Fish and Fisheries, Washington, E. C: 

 Dr.Aii Slli : In reply to yours of June 11, and accompanying 

 blank, beg to state it is our intention to keep our California trout 

 for breeders, since «c vere not fortunate t nongli to get any living 

 eggs this year. Those hatched licm eggs wo hope to receive from 

 you hereafter we will distribute as soon as (Ley a.e .-.dvmccd 

 enough. Our superintendent. Watkius, has also written you abo.it 

 these trout, telling of their hiding and hybeinatiiig for thiee 

 mouths. I should like to know if the same behavior has been 

 noticed elsewhere, and anything yon may tell me of their habits 

 will bt> verv apprceiauiigiv received. — Very respectfully, E. O. 

 Sweeny (.Chairman Minn. Fish Corn.) 



JWuj^owBKooK HAicnr-KY, Near St. Paul, Minn., June 15. 

 Fpenva- F. Baird, 



H. S. Pish Commissioner. Washington, E. C. 



Eeab Sin : Youth of the 7th inst. is received. Iu reply I would 



say that none of the California brook trout have been distributed. 



We only had 2.0U0 eggs, and we now havo 1,900 vearhng trout. 



The Commissioners thonc.ht best to keep them for'breeders as it 



then' getting more eggs. We received 5,1)00 



•lit the 



,-• not ;: 



node 



; the 



m the 7th day of Jan. lilt. All of the Calif oi- 

 d and ue could not find one of them iu the 

 y8. I eonld discover no place for them to get 

 sue week I was examining the. ponds in the 

 night with a lantern, and by holding tho light near the water I 

 could see the fish coming out of the mud or sand in the bottom. 

 and did not, trouble myself any more about them. About the 

 middle of March they all made their appearance again, and are all 

 in nice condition.— Bespoctfully, S. S. Watkinb (Supt). 



