152 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Jus md §iver Jfufhiqg. 



FISH IN SEASON IN APRIL 



Speckled Trout, Salmo fontinalis. Land-locked Salmon— Salmo gtouerl. 

 White Perch, Movant Americatnis. Shad, Atom. 



For trout flies in April, s 



ir issue of March 39th. 



Fish in Mabket.— "We have to quote generally louver prices 

 for all description offish this week. North River shad are, 

 owing to the high -winds, not nearly as abundant as they 

 should he. Cod are very plentiful. We quote : striped bass, 

 18 cents per pound ; smelts, IS cents; salmon (frozen), 30 

 cents; shad (southern), 30 to 50 rents each; native, do. 50 to 

 75 cts. ; white perch, 15 cts. per pound; Spanish mackerel, 50 

 eta.; green turtle, 18 cts.; terrapin, $15 per dozen; f'rostfjsh, 8 

 Cents per pound: halibut, 18 cents: haddock, 8 cents; cod- 

 ; is: blackflsh, 15 cents; herrings, fi cents; flounders, 

 8 cents; sea bass, 20 cents; eels, 18 cents; lobsters, 10 cents; 

 BOeepshead, 20 cents: turbot, 20 cents; scollops, $2 per 

 gallon; whitcflsh, 15 cents per pound; pickerel, 15 cents; 

 Canada brook-trout, 25 cents; Long Island trout, $1; hard 

 shell crab, $3.50 per 100; red snappers, 18 cents; prawns, 

 $1.50 per gallon. 



Some Frau TnouT. — Some of the finest trout taken for years 

 on Long Island with the fly were captured last week at Lake- 

 side, the residence of Jno. "W. Masury, near Eastport. One 

 of them weighed full 2;| pounds, and the aggregate of six 

 fish was eight pounds six ounces. The gentleman who was 

 so fortunate us to make this fine catch is as well-known for 

 his modesty as his skill in all matters pertaining to flood and 

 in deference to his desire we refrain from making 

 his name public. "We do not know the name of the fly with 

 which the "big un" was taken, but believe it to have been a 

 "Palmer." 



— The St. Lawrence River is clear of ice at Clayton, and 

 the ferry-boats are crossing to Kingston. 



— Salmon are being caught with nets in St. Johns Harbor. 

 There will be very little rod fishing, however, in New Bruns- 

 wick before the 10th of June. 



Kew PattbbNs in Trout Flies. — Dr. A. H. Fowler, the rod 

 and reel manufacturer of Ithaca, New York, has a new black 

 bass fly which he claims is the most killing that be has yet 

 met with. It has a white body, scarlet ibis, and white wings, 

 and a scarlet tail. Reuben Wood of Syracuse, has a white 

 moth with grey wings (mallard) which ought to do good ser- 

 vice as an evening fly, or in cloudy weather. 



— Three pictures of trout, painted by Mr. T. Sedgwick Steele, 

 of Hartford, Conn., have all been accepted and hung in the 

 exhibition of the New York National Academy of Design. 

 This acceptance by the committee is a decided compliment to 

 Mr. Steele, whose pictures have now been hung by both the 

 Brooklyn and the New York Academy's committees. The 

 laTLjtr one of these three, entitled " The Best of the Lot," is 

 his most ambitious production; the other two are panel pic- 

 tures. In the termer there are four trout hanging up; a 

 tempting sight. The panel pieces are contrasting pictures, 

 i 1 1 1 -_r front and back views of three trout in each, so ad- 

 justed as to present two trout in contrasting positions in 

 each. 



YanMONT Ferrisbvrgh, April 6th. — Pickerel are beginning to 



play, and large numbers are being shot. I hear of one man 



turning up nine at a single discharge. The water is very low 



ison, and there is every prospect for an early spring. 



MiBsAOHOSBrra Sea Bedford, April ilk.— Our close season 

 . i 1 1st. and punctually on that day a variety of fisher- 

 men from the experienced old graybeard to the verdant youth 

 whipped the waters of our swollen streams with fly-worm and 

 minnow, but only a very few had anything but empty baskets 

 to exhibit. On their return a very few exhibited trout of 

 some six inches length, caught near the salt water; but these 

 Hrho tried ihe inland streams found the country completely 

 flooded, and not a trout could bo found green enough to be 

 caught on All Fools' Day. Concha. 



Fishing Movements.— The late unfavorable weather has 

 . with the curing of codfish, and the stock on the mar- 

 ket in shipping order is extremely light, and it is not easy to 

 iil! orders at once, although the call is very light for the sea- 

 son. The fleet continues to bring in light fares, and prices are 

 fairly maintained. The number of fishing arrivals the past 

 week has been 33—1 from Grand Menu., 3 from Grand Banks, 

 and 29 from Georges. The receipts have been about 600.000 

 pound- of Georges codfish, and 210,000 pounds halibut.— Cape 

 Ann Advertiser, April ~th. 

 u "Fenion'r" — ok "Ncituer Foub."— Who has not heard of 

 " '< Nuwlier Fintr," in the Adirondacks ? Our correspondents 

 often refer to it. Perhaps it will serve some of our readers 

 if we print what one of them, well known in reporting circles 

 to the northward, says of the place. Here lies our enthusi- 

 astic friend's apostrophe : 



•' Ob, how happy I hero's our leisure I 

 Oh, liow "innocent our pleasures ! 

 Oh, ye valleys 1 Ob, ye mountains I 

 Oh, ye graves, ami crystal fountains 1 



How Ii.iv,;., at liberty, 

 By turns to come and visit ye 1" 



Notwithstanding the almost resistless tendency to seek 

 I for angling that has possessed me for twenty 

 years, I find myself again, for the fifth season, drawn to- 

 iilon's," where 1 have already engaged quarters for 

 myself and family for the month of July. This is, how- 

 ever, not strange, as my many long trips* through various 



parts of our great "Adirondack Wilderness" e H , 



qualifies i a correct jud pae ■ ■ ■ a t ien '. ■ ' 



etui secure tie great at am rani >1 real pleasure. Ofcour.se, 

 in this I include rnj d tuily, srlio b$,ii been co-laborers with 

 me on many of these trips. Charles Fenton's Number 

 Four, Lewis 'County, alt hough quite in the forest, is never- 



!' I lei fro ei Louisville, on the ("ilea ami 



Black Elver Bailroad, and Mr. Fenton usually carries parties 

 to his place in about five hours. The buildings are. located 

 jn the centre of a large clearing, in full view of Beaver Lake 



t which is about a quarlcr of u mile off), and commands one 

 of the finest views that 1 know of in the woods. Fentoa 

 writes ine that he has deposited 20,000 salmon trout frv 



rtmsj in th.- lake, which will afford fa 

 those who do not care to work to catch flan. 



Speckled trout abound in every stream in this section, and 

 to my mind the pleasure is greatly enhanced by tramping 

 to some wild stream miles" awoy, or sailing through boiling 

 rapids, and casting deftly the delicate fly upon the water 

 and witnessing the leaps of the speckled beauties after the 

 tempting lure. 



Here, pure, sweet mill; is furnished as lavishly as the 

 water from the well, which, in the language of the lable on 

 the curbs, is "the best in the world.' 



Messrs. Editors, you ought to go there, as several journal- 

 ists, who, like yourselves, exert a good influence in the 

 world, are in the* habit of doing. lam confident it would 

 inorense your happiness, give additional length to your dayB 

 and power to your pen. Respectfully. 



W. W. Hill. 

 ^ » ■ 



WINTER FISHING IN "LAKE MICHIGAN. 



^ Bat Oris, Mich., March 16, 1877. 



Editor Forest and StriIAji, 



Having a leisure hour, I will pen you a letter from this 

 northern country. Bay City has a population of 10,000, and 



located on the e 

 from its mouth, where it empties into 

 has a large and increasing number of 

 turing a staple to which 'there, is no lin 

 vans Newfoundland in its extent, and : 

 Most of your readers have, no doubt, 

 City out in Saginaw Bay : foTthem wo 

 Standing on the shore of Saginaw Bay 

 tanee a large number of black dots on 

 proach to which will show a large villa' 

 ties. This is the Ice City. Few persoi 

 clous undertaking, wherein some 2,0(10 



>n the 



her to the latter end of Marc 

 of such a life. The readers 

 remember, that a few years 

 hardy fellows were carried 



., bjcel 



rf the F. 

 ago thr. 

 it to 



Elver, four miles 

 Saginaw Bay. It 

 works, inanufac- 



Its fish trade ri- 

 et in its infane; 

 . of the Fishing 

 give a few notes. 



see in the dis- 

 ice, the close ap- 

 f over 300 shan- 

 lalize the stupen- 



fishi 



to all the vicissitudes 



'KEST ANT) STBE.UI will 



e hundred of these 

 but fortune favored 



them with a change of wind, which brought them back next 

 day. These shanties are about six feet square, high em ugl 

 for a man to stand up in, and are made of undressed lum- 

 ber. Each is built upon runners, so that they can be moved 

 from place to place at will. The interior of all the shanties 

 are alike — a row of berths on one side, and on the other a 

 small stove, made expressly for these fishing-houses, and 

 which serves to keep the interior comfortable. The occupants 

 are four men, who work and watch. The mode of fishing is 

 as follows : In the centre of the shanty a square hole is 

 cut in the ice, about two feet each way, across which is ex- 

 tended a pole with a strong line attached ; as a bait a piece 

 of herring is fastened to the loose end of the string, but no 

 hook is used. One man slowly draws the string to fchi 



face, while the other sta 

 frequently two or three, 



striking distance are ha 

 Another way is, with thi 

 hooks attached and baited 



iih hei 



The fish, 

 . and when within 



an with (I 



with a number of 

 This is let dow 



tli rough the hole and left for six hours, then drawn up. It 

 usually gives a good return. 



The village is governed by strict regulations, and the laws 

 duly enforced. Over the door of a shanty Bomewhal I rgoi 

 than its mates we noticed the word " Saloon." Not far in im 

 this we found " The Fisherman's Home," whereample accom- 

 modation is found for man and boast. There are at the pres- 

 ent time over 2,000 men fishing in the ice. The fish are 

 sold at from i\ to 7 cents a pound in the bay, being pur- 

 chased by buyers who go out daily from the city, bring the 

 fish back, and pack them for shipment to all parts of the 

 world. It is said that an industrious fisherman, with good 

 luck, will take from 60 to 100 pounds of fish daily, This 

 mode of fishing seems to be peculiar to Saginaw Bay, and 

 was first practiced by the Indians inn. , -.ago ; but it 

 has been only a few years since it has grown into such 

 enormous dimensions. Boveh. 



[A year or more ago our correspondent, "Ichthys." in de- 

 scribing the ichthyc fauna of the Great Lakes, gave our 

 readers a clever description of the ice villages and the 

 methods of fishing through the ice. The above article is 

 none the less acceptable, however. — Ed. F. and S.] 



SPORTING REMINISCENCES— MY FIRST 

 REEL. 



EDITOR FOBEST AND STBEAJt. 



The first few warm days of spring como to us, and the soft south 

 wind brings a few stray blue-birds to toll us that troullng time will 

 soon be here. Bow every old fisherman begins to have a touch of the 

 piscatorial fever. The first symptoms are marked hy the getting out. of 

 the lllile trunk, and a general looking over of Hues aud iiies, repainug 

 old, putting on new, aud getting every thing iu readiness, BO ihat when 

 the snow-water has ceased running some favored brook may receive our 

 eurllesl attention. I have just been having my annual attack, although 

 it will many a day between now aud the time to wet a boon iu this snowy 



Occupying a corner of my fishing-box, enjoying a long rest, lies my 

 first reel 'out with what different emotions 1 now handle it from 

 1 i . mrienced the day it was first placed in my hands. It is a 

 small, single brass reel, with a atop. Then I thought it the "neplusvltra" 

 of reels. I was but a lad and had never owned a jointed rod— much 

 less a reel. How I proposed to astonish the other bnvH by its exhib- 

 tion, for reels were few in our neighborhood and only seen in the out-fit 

 of visiting sportsmen. It, together with a twelve-foot jointed bass rod, 

 was a present from a city Inend. It was in .September; I was ill at 

 the time, and I longed to try it . In these years little I knew of close 

 seasons; every spring in Jane 1 was accustomed to go and stay with 

 uncle Rate B: and fish the trout streams emptying into the w atert, at the 

 head of Lake George; and uncle Hata used to tell me, "(hat I ought to 

 come in the fall and try the 'fall trout' when the big ones run np the 

 streams after the first frosts," aud wonderful stories of the large ones 

 that could be caught, iu the lake at the mouth of the streams before 

 sunrise and after sundown. 



About October 1st I convalesced aud was soon established nt uncle 

 Nate's, anxious for a trial of the new rod and reel. The ni 



i i before daylight, with the stars s'parkling iu the 

 frosty air, I took my way acrosa the Old Fort Field, with mj 

 for service iu one hand, and a basin Of raw, lean i. at in BUI 



Chunks, Tor bail in the other, toward the mouth ol tl 

 day-brefll< I uftd the boat anchored, across the current from 

 atom, fifty feet from shore on the sand-bar formed by th' 

 commenced casting into the current and letting my line run out with it 



oat by 



until I had about eighty feet of line out, wher T lidai 

 the i i r -■' i on the polo T know I had a ■ ! 



Il the first impulse, whicd was to ■•yam" him b 

 main-strength, but I found that was one of the Impossibilit 

 feet of line ont, anil then, and not rum toen, I e, 

 with quivering fingers I grasped the handle, aud for a moment or two 

 tried to turn it without moving the atop, and after I had loosened it I 

 could'nt manage the thing at all. First I would turn one v,,c andavj 

 fingers slip off. and then 1 would trim the ol her, and ail the time old 

 Aalmo fontinalis. splashing and splurging about, seemed as big as a 

 whale. Fually I grasped rod and line tightly above the reel and leaped 

 over into the icy waters and Btopped not until I bad towed my tmnt 

 high up on the sandy beach. He was a three-pouuder, aud as with 

 chattering teeth I made tricks for nncle Nate's kitchen fire, I began to 

 coincide with his opinion expressed the night before, that "them new- 

 fangled concerns didn't amount to much," but the whir of that little 

 old reel has been the death knell of many a noble bass and trout since 

 its first christening by Ifnrrz. 



RANGELEY LAKES. 



YV Bakoelet, Me., April 2, 1877. 



Editor Forest akd Stream. 



I suppose your many readers will be interested in any news from this 

 place. It is expected that there will be a grand rush for the lakes the 

 coming summer. The new hotel at Bangeley Oily ia now ready for 

 the public. The former landlord of the old Bangeley Lake House, Mr. 

 Eben Hinkley, is to be found in the new house. The house is :J0x-iU 



with L 40x50, two stories in height, ail finished and fnrnishe ii 



best manner. Fishermen and those who desire a quiet, home-like 

 house in the midst of the best trout fishing in New England, would do 

 well to correspond with Mr. Hinkley for terms, etc., which will be run. 

 sonable. - The arrangements are completed for a ihrough stage direct 

 from Phillips to this place, arriving here in season for dinner the 

 second day from Boston via. Eastern or Boston & Maine Railroad. The 

 fine little steamer Molly cbnnkainonk takes parties from ben loan 

 parts of the Lakes. There is but little winter fishing. The law for- 

 bidding the setting of hooks protects the trout for the summer fiaher- 



The finely illustrated article on the Bangeley Lakes in Seribmr't 

 ilmthlu for February haB created a new interest in these lakes, ami us 

 they are so extensive that there ii perceptil 



or number of trout, they are sure to remain the favorite resort for fish- 

 ermen for a long time. I will from ue. . bear of any 

 news which will be of general interest to your readers from I i 



FLY-FISHING EXTRAORDINARY— PLAY- 

 ING A SNAPPING TURTLE. 



ring somewhat singular incident 



Editor Fobe3t and Stream. 



Perhaps you may deem the 

 worthy of notice in your columnB. 



In July last abrother angler aud myself had jnst broken camp on 

 Shohola after a week's sojonrn delightfully spent alon 

 Journeying back to v/'v: )qk E srei opped&t 'I <• -■■'■■ 



few large pools. I had already takon some J 

 in the act of drawing another of almost a p. 



liiii 



l im 



from the sedgy margin of the pool 

 once struck out for deep water, 

 turtle on an eight-oun co rod. Dei 

 film the butt," as our angling frier 

 ing to the strain he turned and in: 

 with bead above water carrying th 

 called to my friend, who was near 

 bank, seized a stout Btlok iu order 

 what I cousidered my 

 poaretl and handing him the club 

 •eprimand 



UutcU 



.auBted fiBh at 



A Bin-pound 



-{ r, 1 "showed 



ittle with this rude robber of 

 prey. Just then my friend up- 

 was about to admlnisle 



Bight. My flj iffl] ran i In 



finished hold of thefisliaud sank out of sight. M. : still 

 the treat's jaws aud drawing him to hand I fpm Ltfc - 01 tjuji 

 except a alight abraBiou just in uunt ol the dorsal fin, Rcoou I 

 the incident at Wostbrook's that night, I was interrupted by "old li-art," 

 who exclaimed, "Why in thunder didn't you catch urn by the tail i wn 

 could have had turtle soup tomorrow." I said I didn't care Coi Soup 

 much. But several times during the evening I heard the old man re- 

 gretting the loss of that turtle. B. 



AN OLD ANGLER ON NEEDLE-POINTS. 



V* tioDiiocT, Canada, February 17, 1877. 



Editor Foeest akd Stream. 



1 had oocasion to read a few days ago in ynnr paper some correspon- 

 dence about " needle points;" I therefore made up my mind to try thein 

 the first chance I could find, aud now give you the result. 



1 made some hooks with ihe smallest sized doriiing-ncedleB T could set. 

 giving them what I thought to be the rlghtbond, aomolhinglik, the Urn- 

 erick hooks. Everything else being ready I started with a companion 

 for a first-rate trout stream, which was soon reached. My companion 

 being as good an angler as I was, wc il.culed that we should both fish 

 for an hour, he to use the barbed hooks, 1 the needles. After a few min- 

 utes' fishing it was very clear that the needles would win the day, aud ut 

 the end of the hour the score «toott as follows: "Needles, th 



i : of nem over three pounds; barbed books. .- 

 size about the same." Now, the reason for this great difference (at least 

 in my opinion), was nut owing to the needles booking the fleh bi Iter, but 

 in the great saving of tame which they effected, as I was never obliged to 

 i y v, riggling off the hooks as Boon as landed. .My Wend, 

 on the contrary, hud to loso a great deal of lime iu taking the hook- eat ,.r 

 each fish- As some doubts had also been expressed about 

 lty of lantling a Balmon wiih a haroless hook, 1 decided to :r\ 



sorrytoaayle sld : « that respect, as I only saved 



one ont of four fi.-li hooked which 1 am almost sure would.nothave hap- 

 pened httdl used regular books. It seems to me (though 1 may be inia- 

 ,,,i.-„w, thai ihe most skillful angler cannot always keep a tight Un- „n 



god to no if 



using" n 



A.NOl.El 



[We regret that tlio letter ol' our correspondent Blioulcl have 

 been overlooked until Ltiis week.— En.] 



The Hortli Carolina Legislature bus just appropriated 



830,000 for the erection of a negro insane asylum in that 

 State, aud 810,000 a year to support it. 



— Capt, Boytoulia-. cTOBSBfl the Straits of Messina, passing 

 sneccs-fnih- through both Seyha and CbArybai during the 



one of the accomi: , i 



-Julius H. See., Li a*u± of Amherst Oc 



given all his salary in Congress to the town of Amherst, to be 

 expended in laying side walks. 



