130 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



fJVlABOH 15, 1888. 



to Oib last gasp, for life aud. freedom. Yet I do not know 

 thai lie is ever scientifically fishod for here, cither with the 

 artificial fly, which I have never known I o be offered him, 

 though Dr. Estea says he will take it (see "I hillock's GazCt- 

 teer"), oi with the minnow, whieh is the usual bait in those 

 waters. At Thompson's Point and Spit Rock, which are 

 tfafi most celebrated places for taking tbi.s fish with the 

 hook, and when the fishing is done entirely from anchored 

 Bouts, as far as I know only heavy, stiff rods, wilh coarse 

 lines are used. When the fish is struck the rod is laid aside 

 and the Hue hauled in hand over hand as quickly as possi- 

 ble, and the fish given no chance to fight if he would. I 

 believe the only aim is to make the biggest score among those 

 who congregate there to "camp out, "an they term it, in 

 perfectly comfortable and well-furnished houses. 



Of COUDSe such fishing is not sport; it is only fun. even 

 when the fish are biting freely, and when they are not il is 

 as stupid a pastime as sitting all day on n runway to which 

 no deer nor music of hounds come- " 



But light rods and tackle would make a different affair of 

 ii. giving the fish some chance of his lire and the angler 

 some opportunity to exercise his skill. With such Bear 1 

 remember having a tussle with a pike^perch, in "Suugfthnee- 



tull" While fishing for bass, which afforded me great sport 

 for ten minutes en- more, and 1 doubt, not as much to the 

 fish, barring the slight pain iu his jaw, till he lay "gasping 

 on the brink " 



In the latter part of May and in June the pike-perch is 

 trolled for with a spoon' in the streams emptying into the 

 lake, and affords more sporl than any olbcr iish" so taken 



here except the bass. At this time it is not uncommon to 

 lake them with worms ou a drop line. 



Our pike-perch seldom attain a greater weight than six 

 pounds, and this is exceptional, the fish in general running 

 lo three pounds. Perhaps the Western fish are too 

 Overgrown a nd \ a/l y to give much sport, or perhaps they are 

 so old thai they are tired of life, aud do not think it worth 

 lighting for. I do not pretend to know much about this 

 fish. and have only sel down this little concerning him iu 

 the hop:.' thai ii may draw something better worth rending 

 from those who know more of him. AWAHSOOSE. 



March Lt, IK 



[We repeat our call for further notes on this subject,] 



ANGLING AT LAKE COPAKE. 



r T"\HE weather has much to do with one's fever for fishing. 

 -I- After a summer shower, not copious enough to make 

 the streams roily, 1ml the least bit milky perhaps, Ihe angler 

 tells what, he feels, and says, "Now the Iish will bile," and 

 under the spell of this conviction he is off with bis rod for B 

 bout, flow glad Ihe country hoys are when the rain begins 

 to full, for the double reason that it affords them a respite 

 from hard harvest work, and an opportunity to go a-rishing. 

 It sometime happens that the fever seizes the old farmers 

 ol a neighborhood, and the net which has had long rest dur- 

 ing the busy summer, is unrolled, spread out upon the lawn, 

 inspected, and if needs be, hastily repaired, while others put, 

 the tea,ui lu the wagon to carry them to the river. They all 

 get their inspiration from the "weather. 



When our little parly of three started last, September from 

 the Central Depot, via the New York & Harlem Railroad, 



ioi Copake Lake, the gentle raiufail of the day before had 



so refreshed the varied landscapes by its grateful baptism 

 that our spirits were wrought up to a fever pitch. We felt 

 that we were journeying on to sure success, aud could hardly 

 COpres fgns of impatience al the slow progress of ihe train, 

 though it was running up to schedule time, in such haste 

 were we to be upon the lake, fishing, At last, as the train 

 slowed up, "Copake." shouted the brakeman. With a feel- 

 ing of sweet relief at reaching our journey's end, we seized 

 our gripsacks and fishing-rods and alighted. "Loup," who 

 has a modest dwelling on the lake shore, and who earns his 

 rent and something more boarding tramps like ourselves, 

 letting boats aud furnishing bait, had been apprised of our 

 coming, aud was wailing al the depot, with a spanking 

 team and commodious wagon to carry us to the lake three 

 miles away. The ride over, amid beautiful scenery, was 

 delightful; and grateful to our nostrils was the fragrance of 

 the meadows, after the satiety of tobacco fumes forced upon 

 them in "the smoker." Mrs. Loup received us cordially, 

 and with the gratifying announcement that dinner would be 

 ready soon. Meantime we jointed our rods, fixed our reels 

 and lines, and provided a good supply of bait. Dinner once 

 ready, it was soon dispatched, with right hearty relish, and 

 wc Wfirc upon the lake, enjoying the supreme moment, 

 about which we had talked many days, for which we rode 

 one hundred miles, and paid out half as many dollars. 



It was soon apparent that we had come at an evil time, 

 for as bad luck would have it, the lake was iu "blow" or 

 "blossom," as it is sometimes called, so that, the bass would 

 not take the fly, for the simple reason that they could not 

 see it,, and they could scarcely be enticed by the iiiO-4 hiring 

 bait. I never saw lake water in so forbidding a condition 

 for fishing. At some of the best fishing grounds the surface 

 was covered -with a dirty, greenish scum, such as is of ten 

 seen on a stagnant pool chiefly inhabited by bullfrogs and 

 snapping turtles. 



Thbttgb, when we returned at noon or night lo hcad- 

 ffuarteTS, we always had some fresh-caught bass for Loup's 

 large dealing creel, whieh he kept anchored near the shore iu 

 front of his house, yet during out stay of nearly a week we 

 added nothing lo our stoek of big fish stories with which to 

 entertain our friends upon our return home, barring the fol- 

 lowing about "mine host," Loup aud his neighbor, Coukliu. 

 Il, appears that Conklin was a rival of Loup's; therefore, at, 

 the opening of the season, to draw custom to his house and 

 boats, he purchased a handsome split bamboo rod, which he 

 offered as a prize to whomever might take the largest bas»; 

 each competitor for the rod, however, was to pay Conklin 

 fifty cents, the payment to be made before the lias-, was 

 caught, and when caught it had to be weighed on Cotiklin's 

 scales, in Conklin's presence, and the weigh I by him iv 

 corded. Loup paid the required amount and went to fish 

 ing wilh a will for the winning bass. Finally he caught a 

 noble fellow, which he thought would win the prize, but to 

 make sure of it he administered to the fish a regular allo- 

 pathic dose of shot. Loup then called on his rival neighbor 

 on the opposite shore with the bass and had him weighed 

 and entered, it being the heaviest by over a pound yet taken. 



No sooner was Loup out of sight of Conklin than he pro- 

 ceeded to disgorge the iish of the shot, making clean work 

 of it, as he supposed. Fortunately for the next, highest com- 

 petitor, but unfortunately for Loup, he gave the fish to a 

 farmer friend of his. whom he found waiting to see him at 

 bis house, whose wife, iu the process of cleaning it, disem- 

 boweling the fish, discovered a remaining shot that Loup 



bad failed to disgorge. She, of course, as any loyal wife 

 would, disclosed the fact to her husband, and he again to his 

 neighbor, and that neighbor to his, until it reached Conk- 

 lin, who at once erased Ihe record, and thus Loup forfeited 

 his claim. What added cream to the joke and chagrin to 

 Loup, was the fact thai his Iish, without the half pound of 

 shot, which in that doubtful and evil moment he had charged 

 him with, would have finally taken the prize at the end of 

 the season. Loup i.s a character. We called him "Old 

 Loup," not that he was old in years, but old in tricks. For 

 once, however, he held the winning card and played it, but 

 lost, the trick, and he will never hear the last of it so long as 

 he lives on Lake Copake. 



On another shore of this lake there lives a very numerous 

 family. Every day we would sec theyoung urchins playing 

 on the pebbly beach. One would actually suppose that the 

 district school was kept there. But Old Loud insisted that 

 one mother mothered them all. "Why." said he, "she has 

 got so many children thai one dav three of them ran away, 

 and Ihey were not missed until the next Sunday, when Ihe 

 mother laid out the Sunday suits for the family." 



The stories that Loup lo'ld in his dry, off-hand wav, when 

 the fish were not biting, helped wonderfully to beguile the 

 time that, we spent al Copake. Loup differs from bis rival. 

 Conklin, iu that ho is a joker, and a joker is good com- 

 pany iu poor fishing, better then than in good fishing, wdien 

 his joking jargon U too distracting. Ilix. 



BITS OF FLORIDA EXPER1ENCE.-IV. 



I HAVE followed Dr. Henshall in his coast, trip with much 

 interest and pleasure. Part of the wav 1 have been 

 myself, viz., considerable of the Indian River trip, and en- 

 joyed very much memories, as I read, of well-known points, 

 particularly St. Sebastian River, up which our party wenl 

 several very crooked miles fishing and shooting 'gators and 

 deer. And well do 1 remember the night I spent there, wilh 

 our boat tied under a ten-fool bluff. The air was full of mus- 

 quitoes. In fact there was very little air and mote mosquitoes, 

 more nil the time. We built huge smudges on the bluff, and 

 Ihey were a failure. We rolled ourselves iu blankets until 

 from lack of breath we were compelled to let the beasts at 

 us again. We smoked and talked, slapping vigorously the 

 meanwhile. We betook ourselves to the boat and tried to 

 protect on i selves with netting, but there were too many 

 cracks, and so the night wore away and nearly wore lis 

 out. It is seldom I hat a sportsman dbes not pay dearly for all 

 his, sport. 



We caught a number of sea bass and trout, and sharks from 

 the liar, making out from the south side at the mouth, aud 

 lost divers hooks in so doiusr. Sea bass do afford good sporl, 

 for a while, but it becomes labor ere long. As for the black 

 bass, Uiey do nol compare with the Northern bass for gami- 

 ness, and one who has played a three-pound fish in North- 

 ern waters, particularly of "the small-mouthed variety, will 

 soon tire of Soul hem' black-bass fishing. The big mouth 

 tires soon aud is willing to be led in. I have taken many 

 with the By when the Sporl is very good, but in many of the 

 most favorable spots a stiff rod w T as absolutely necessary to 

 keep the Iish out of the grass and bonnets. The most suc- 

 cessful mode was to float down stream tifteen or twenty 

 feet from shore and east in with a three-inch phantom min- 

 now. I rarely failed to obtain all 1 wished in this wav. 

 The negroes use a piece of bacon rind two or three inches 

 long by a half-inch wide, fixed so it will trail from the 

 hook, and are generally very successful. Those who have 

 done I heir first bass "fishing in Florida are as enthusi- 

 aslic as men can well be. Fish are waiting almost any- 

 where to be taken. There are 'bass logs," too, as well as 

 "trout hogs." Two or three years since I saw a man on the 

 St. Johns from Brooklyn, N Y , who was on the river 

 above Lake Monroe, every day when he could get out, and 

 his usual catch was from tifteen to forty. What could he 

 do with them! The St. Johns is a long river aud contains 

 innumerable fish, but many years will not elapse before 

 bass fishing there will be hard work with veiy poor sport. 



I have had good small sport catching bream with the fly 

 toward night, using the white miller. A black bass, al- 

 though a Mki-nptfriis, is not a bass at the South, but a trout. 

 But is what is called a bream there really a bream, or is it a 

 perch? These fish, although gamy for their size, consume 

 too much vegetable food to "be really toothsome, and this 

 habit, I should think, would detract, much from the good 

 qualities of the carp, f think I have enjoyed fully as much 

 sport with the blue cattish as with any other fish in Florida. 

 A leu pound eat, with a moderately heavy rod, will give a 

 person employment enough for a few minutes. 



I notice Di'. Henshall mentions the man-o'-w T ar hawk and 

 frigate bird synonomously. Is lie right? I have shot the 

 former, and "believe it to be entirely different in habitat as 

 well as form from the frigate bird of the ornithologists. 

 floes dot the lattei make his home in the Southern hemis- 

 phere? 



I am writing on Wiggins's day, or one of f.hcui. I 



we are having the heaviest snowstorm of the.season. How 

 different from scenes iu Florida to-day. They are play- 

 ing gardening aud Slate aud county fairs nowadays. It is 

 claimed by newspapers and real estate men that vegetables 

 can be raised all the year rhere. So they can in tin cans. 

 with a good many dollars. They do il this way sometime: 

 Send to Mapcs or Forrest ei\ or" Baker or Bowker. or some- 

 one else for a ton or tons of chemical fertilizers at $50 pel- 

 ton and raise vegetables or fruit to the amount of KM. 50 per 

 ton. It is claimed that the State is growiug wealthy. 



lu Ihe hot weather there, when f i-esh fruits aud vegetables 

 are absolutely necessary for health, none can be had. But, 

 thev can raise oranges' and don't have snow-storms, both 

 with limitations. It would tickle a Northern farmer all 

 over to see a display of agricultural products at a State fail- 

 there. 1 have heard most ludicrous descriptions. But the 

 people there fuss oyer it aud cuddle il, and go into more 

 ecstasies over it than a mother over her first baby, and really 

 think they are making a wonderful thing of it — and they 

 are. 



Here's my hand to "Nessmuk." A gun isn't all of life. 

 It's a pretty thing— a thing to spend money and time and 

 enthusiasm on— to worry over; to keep in order; useful at 

 times; costing too much generally; but "Nessmuk" and 

 others of us are getting along in life, when the glamour of 

 ihe Mm h.-./ius lo wane. We give a thought to God's crea- 

 iin , e.-i-ioniilly, and wonder if they are not entitled to 

 life as weli as We, except when we are pushed by hunger. 



Mahch tn. 1883. Bl 



[The man-o'-war hawk and the frigate bird are different 

 names for the same species (Tachypeka tiquilu*). It is uot 

 confined to North America.] 



STREAMS OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN. 



I ^AR be it from me to rail against an angler, or even at 

 r the peculiarities of one who loves The- pliant rod. bill 

 the letter of "Prairie Dog" is amusing to one who from year 

 to year has fished the Michigan trout streams. 



Wherever does "Prairie Dog" expect to find troul? Surely 

 not on a mud-flat under a burning sun. Nut undei d dense 

 growth of waving rushes, where his boat can bob and dip 

 under the influence of the light ripples on the water, where 

 be can sit ami lazily take his ease as the festive perch and 

 sometime a long-nose comes to worry his bait, and raise the 

 hopes of our friend to the highest patch as he queries what 

 the luck is going to be, where he can spin his minnow 

 attached to a treble flight of hooks and be sure of killing 

 every time he catches on. If "Prairie Dog" considers this, 

 fishing let him enjoy it, I want none of it. 



I would like to" see "Prairie Dog" on such a stream as 

 was my fortune to strike during last summer, a feeder of the 

 very Boardman River he writes of. A portion of the creek 

 ran through a swamp in which we had to jump from log to 

 log to secure a firm fooling, but in that little creek we 

 caught troul— pounders; as pretty as a picture, my boy said; 

 but the 'skeeters were there by' tens of thousands, Phew! 

 didn't, they lay on, and take their fill. When trout are biting 

 who cares for 'skeeters? 



I can imagine a tenderfoot in such a place. T have seen 

 a. young man go almost crazy until he used "djpe" to keep 

 them off hiui; then he laughed them to scorn. "Bite, you 

 little cusses, T am going to have trout anyhow, if you do 

 have some of my blood for it," 



Lovely Michigan! how disappointed fishermen rail at 

 thee, and condemn thy beautiful streams and lakes because 

 they yielded no fish food by the hundreds of pounds to sat- 

 isfy their ambition, but we who know thee, who for years 

 have visited thy streams to tempt the trout and black bass. 

 who enjoy a "life in the woods, because it gives Ihe weary 

 angler the respite he needs, and takes him from the busy 

 city life, who knows where the trout has his hiding plac-:. 

 ami seeks the home of the grayling under Ihe dense forest 

 growth, or to fling a fly for the lusty bass— we love thee be- 

 cause thy days are quiet and free from care, and thy sum 

 mcr nights 'perfection. The 'skeeters are not always as 

 vicious as depicted. 



"Prairie Dog," I can count anglers by the score who will 

 indorse these sentiments, both men and women. 



It has been my pleasure to meet a lady up Petoskey who 

 fishes in the chain of lakes you passed through who would 

 shame thee, man as thou art, when bass are biting. She cares 

 not for the dampness so dolefully depicted, but. slipping on 

 a rubber cloak she skilfully handles her rod and lands big 

 bass, often scoring finer fish than hei husband. If. pei- 

 •hancc, she gets a little damp, laughingly says, "Oh, I'm not 

 made of sugar, I'm too solid to melt." 



I fear it is a clear case. Ephraim wedded to his idols: 

 the mud flats of St. Clair River and the perch of the Detroit 

 River are greater treasures than the clear springs and beau- 

 tiful lakes of further north. 



He can rest, satisfied that if he seeks to avoid "skeeters" 

 he will never kill trout, for it is an axiom older thau either 

 of us, "When the 'skeeters' are biting then trout will rise to 

 the fly or take a bail." 



Michigan to-day can hold its own to satisfy the demands 

 Of the angler who is content to remain an angler and 

 not develop into the trout hog dear old -'Nessmuk" has so 

 graphically described. May the old gentleman bye to -ce 

 the dams of his loved fishing and cauoeing grounds blown 

 sky high by an outraged and indignant class of men whose 

 homes are turned info a desolation and themselves slowly 

 poisoned by a dank miasma that a corrupt and powerful 

 monopoly have generated by Hooding this once fair region. 

 F ' W. D. T. 



Chicago. 



A CHINAMAN TAKES A TROUT. 



SAM LUNG brought my shirts home one day lately, and 

 ._. after obtaining his trade dollar lingered as though some- 

 thing oppressed his mind. 



"What is it. Sam? Dollar no goode'.'" asked I. 



"Yes, dollal all litee, but want to talkee bout woodsee. 



"Woodsee? what's that, Sam'? Didu't I give you the right 

 change?'' 



"Change able litee too, allee same, but want to talk 'bout 

 Adilondacks. You been in Adilondacks, so Melican man 

 tellee me." 



"Yes, 1 have been in Ihe Adirondacks, but what do you 

 know about that place?'' 



"Know heap. I been Adilondacks too, catchee tlout on 

 siting, no likee in net. Likee thlow fly. tloutee bilec, fiookee 

 in jaw, pull him topside. Whoopee! I go washee by Blue 

 .Mountain Lake, big hotel, lookee for heap washee when 

 Melican ladee com.ee iu with whitee dless and nobby Meli- 

 can man come, plenty washee, plenty money." 



"Well, Sam, did you get rich there? Plenty washee and 

 plenty dollar?" 



"No washee. no dollal. Melican ladee blue dless, Melieau 

 man blue shift, wear 'em two, I Idee weekee, no wash. Paye 

 on lailload, walkec back. Catchee tlout alle samey fore jJO. ' 



"How did you get the trout, Sam? Tell me all about it." 



"Old looster stoppe in hotel. He say 'Sam come in boa! 

 for guide on lake, me give half dollal day.' So I get iu boat 

 with old looster aud go topside lake to see him BCOOPOT 

 tlout. He get out little bamboo stick and put ou stling aud 

 little flv. lie thlow fly but tlotrtee no eatee. Put on more 

 fly, putty fly on stling' when he sec tlout come topside, and 

 show tail way off. He thlow out and stick out hand, no 

 catchee. Leach out again, aud plunk he go out boat and 

 get all welte. Me no Teavee him, but pull him topside ii 

 boat. He flaid to go back to hotel cause boys laff, so he tell 

 me go shore make tire. Then I gottee old looster where 

 hair is short. I make fire and lie pull out, big bottle whisky 

 and get dly. I say 1 go scoope tlout so boys don't la If when 

 we come backside' hotel when no catchee. So I go out and 

 thlow fly. Think got big burgee on old slucker to get all 

 fun and half dollar, an' he sit by Are so sick." 



"So I thlow fly. alle same Melican man, and say me no cly 

 baby if get wettee, like old looster, you bettee you liver; so I 

 thlow and thlow and catchee big fish and thinkee I shakee 

 old looster, and go to hotel and showee tlout to Melican 

 ladee and bragge'e alle same Melican man. So I takee boat 

 and leave old looster on shore, lie yellee like fun, I no hear, 

 just hoe my own row, go on to hotel, takee fish on stling, and 

 show tine ladee big tlout. She laugh and say 'niece tlout,' 

 aud call Melican man. He lookee and say 'tloutee be Mowed. 

 you gottee haw n dace.' So 1 cuttee stick fore old looster 

 come 'longsidc hotel and kickee me topside stomach, andlhoof 

 jt down load twenty -five miles to lailload and stealee lide to 



