236 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



instead of the usual bull's eye and centre, the figure of a 

 man was painted on the regulation third-class targets, and 

 the competitors had to fire a shot every thirty or forty 

 yards, running in a ziz-zag direction for nearly half a miles 

 the time allotted being five minutes, and if they hit the fig- 

 ure of the man it counted four, while if the hit the other 

 part of the target it only counted two. The competition 

 also embraced the usual target firing, seven rounds at 200, 

 500 and 600 yards, Wimbledon conditions and no sighting 

 shots. The arrangements were under the charge of Capt. 

 Don. The following were the winners : — 



Yds. Yds. Yds. Skirmishing. Grvnd 



200 500 600 Tl. Men, Outers. Pts. Tl. 



1 Pte. G. Kilgur, 21 23 20 64 4 9 36 100 



2 Pte. P. Gilchrist 20 22 20 62 6 6 36 98 



3 Pte. T. Morris 19 20 15 54 7 6 40 90 



&£& %nd Miver 



FISH IN SEASON IN NOVEMBER. 



Coast Fish. Lakes. 



Bluefish, Skipjack. Horse Mackerel, Black Bass, (Jlici opterus nig 

 (Temnodon saltator.) and archiaan.) (two species. 



Weakflsh, Scpietaug (Trout) Otoli- Pickerel, (£lsox reticulalus.) 

 thus.) 



Bays and Estuaries. 

 Striped Bass, Rockflsh. (Labrax lineatus.) 



SOUTHERN WATERS. 



Pompano. Trout, (Black Bass.) Sheepshead. 



Snapper. Drum, (two species.) Tailorfish. 



Grouper. Kingflsh. Sea Bass. 



Rockfish, 



— We offer a line of the finest fishing rods to subscribers 

 to Forest and Stream. See advertisement. 



— All questions and facts that relate to the habits of the 

 speckled trout and black bass, wlmo fontinalis and grystes 

 ■ligricans, are so interesting that the subject will never be- 

 come trite so long as new generations arise to learn the 

 lessons that others have learned before them. Therefore, 

 although much has been said in these columns, they are 

 always open for any new light that offers. Our own opin- 

 ion as to the "fly" question in bass fishing is based upon 

 personal tests and investigations made in all our waters, 

 from Dacotah to Florida, and cannot be changed; yet 

 while we do not wish to appear .^obstinate or pedantic in as- 

 serting that opinion, we are nevertheless gratified to say 

 that it is confirmed b} r all authorities accepted as compe- 

 tent to decide. Therefore, to ourselves, as well as to those 

 of our readers who have taken part in the discussion, the 

 value of the subjoined testimony from an official source, 

 which unfortunately the writer wishes to be kept private, 

 will be felt and acknowledged: — 

 Editor of Forest and Stream : — 



Having observed an article in one of your papers ox a 

 late date under the head "Will Black Bass Take the Fly?" 

 and as I profess to have had some experience in that re- 

 gard, permit me to occupy a paragraph or two in your in- 

 teresting columns in the discussion of this subject, as I 

 may, perhaps, have it in my power to throw some little 

 light thereupon. 



Black bass will most certainly take the fly; but to a very 

 limited extent, indeed, in the waters of the Potomac or its 

 tributaries. This peculiarity in the habits of the Potomac 

 bass may appear strange or paradoxical to some of your 

 piscatorial readers; nevertheless, it is undoubtedly true, 

 and accords not only with my own experience, but also 

 with that of all of my angling friends with whom I have 

 conversed upon the subject. In a letter which I addressed 

 to the TurfFkld and Farm newspaper a year or two since 

 upon the subject of the bass in the Potomac, I took occa 

 sion to notice this circumstance, and to account for it upon 

 the supposition that the bass, being a new comer in the 

 waters in question, and finding a superabundance of food 

 therein, such as minnows, crayfish, etc., were, in conse- 

 quence, not necessitated to rise to the surface of the water 

 in order to seek their prey; but I observe by a letter in 

 your columns from a correspondent in Ohio, that a similar 

 reluctance to take the fly characterizes this fish in his 

 section, and inasmuch as the Potomac bass was originally 

 brought (by Wm. W. W. Shriver, of Wheeling, W. Va.), 

 from the Ohio river, I think it possible that the habit in 

 question may prove to be universal with regard to this 

 particular species of bass. A somewhat imaginative writer 

 (as I think) states in one of his profound icthyological 

 efforts, that a large number of bass were taken with the fly 

 near the village of Williamsport, on the Potomac. Being- 

 well acquainted in that vicinity, I made diligent inquiry 

 upon the subject, but was unable to gather the slightest 

 information concerning this rather remarkable exploit. 

 After repeated efforts, I have taken but a solitary individual 

 with the fly. This fish w T as captured with a Red Ibis fly 

 in the South Branch river— a tributary of the Potomac. 



In other waters, such as the lakes of Minnesota, the 

 rivers creeks and fresh water lagoons of Florida, I have 

 taken 'the black bass with the fly in immense numbers. In 

 Minnesota I employed the Red Ibis fly exclusively. I found 

 a warm cloudy day, the most propitious for this species 

 of amusement— "a warm but not too bright a sun," as 

 o-ood old Walton was wont to say, when treating of the 

 subject of fly fishing. I also preferred a gentle breeze, just 

 sufficient to throw the surface of the water into small 

 ripples as tending to conceal the movements and gestures 

 of the angler from the observation of his prey. # As well as 

 I recollect the fish rise best to the fly in that section during 

 the months of June and July. 



In Florida, also, I frequently used the Red Ibis fly, and 

 in the absence of this I was accustomed to make my flies 

 of the deep pink scapular feathers of the roseate Spoonbill 

 (Platalea ayaya), and found them a most seductive lure. 

 When the water was cloudy or slightly turbid, I frequently 

 mingled some feathers of the white heron with those of the 

 rare°and beautiful birds above named, the combinatiqn 

 answering my purpose^most admirably. I sometimes also 



improvised a good trolling bait by cutting off one of the 

 pectoral fins of the bass, including a small strip of the 

 yellowish or orange colored skin at its base. 



During the "Billy Bowlegs" war in Florida, a regiment 

 of the native volunteers co-operated w T ith the Regulars, and 

 I have frequently observed these natives (or "Crackers" 

 as they were jocosely called) rig a novel and outlandish sort 

 of a fly which they termed a "bob" made by attaching a 

 piece of deer's tail to three hooks tied back to back, and 

 with this contrivance they were quite successful in taking 

 bass (or black trout, as they termed them) upon dark, 

 cloudy days. 



In conclusion, permit'me |to remark, somewhat irrele- 

 vantly perhaps, that of all the 'freshwater members of the 

 family of the Tabridac, of which I think there are at least 

 four species or varieties of species within the confines of 

 the United States, the Florida bass is beyond all comparison 

 the most worthy of the angler's notice, being a bolder biter 

 and a much larger fish than any of his congeners that I 

 have ever angled for. 



Should this article prove acceptable, at some future time 

 I may have something more to say concerning the black 

 bass, as the subject seems to be at present something of a 

 questio rcx-ata among icthvologists and scientific anglers. 



W. 



• — We saw a muscalonge last week at the stand of Mid- 

 dleton, Carman & Co., in Fulton Market. It weighed 

 some twenty pounds. Probably it was the last one of the 

 season. As we surveyed his beautiful proportions, his pe- 

 culiar whitish complexion, and his massive and not greatly 

 elongated head, we wondered how anglers could ever con- 

 found him with the green, alligator-headed pike. Surely 

 those who have ever compared the two together, or eaten 

 of their flesh, could not make this error. "An overgrown 

 pickerel, " indeed! However, if there is difficulty in class- 

 ifying the mascalonge, there is equal confusion among the 

 savans in naming him, for Agassiz and Lesuer call him 

 eso-x estar, while Thompson and Gill insist that he is erne 

 nobilior. If there be anything in a name, the latter fits him 

 best, for in beauty of form, in game qualities, and in ex- 

 cellence of flesh, he stands at the head of the family; be 

 sides, he is the Goliah among them all. For some reason 

 unexplained, unless it be by reason of his nobility, he is a 

 rare fish. In the St. Lawrence, at the Thousand Islands, 

 and in the Upper Mississippi, both waters celebrated for 

 the muscalonge, one will not kill more than one of these 

 to a hundred pickerel. Sometimes they grow to an im- 

 mense size. The largest we have ever heard of is vouched 

 for by our correspondent C. S. Clarke, w r ho says that in 

 1840 he saw one at the mouth of the Calumet river, Mich- 

 igan, which had just been captured in a seine, that was six 

 feet long and weighed eighty pounds. The mouth would 

 have admitted a man's leg; it showed a perfect cheiiaux de 

 frise of teeth, the canines at least an inch long! 



— Maine papers report the land-locked salmon as very 

 plenty in the head waters of the St. Croix river this fall, 

 large numbers of them being caught in the pool below the 

 dam at the outlet. These fish are not in season now, and 

 we call the attention of the State Fish Commissioners to 

 this violation of the law. 



— A favorite correspondent writes as follows: — 

 Editor Forest and Stream: — 



In your first number a correspondent asks, "Did you 

 ever go fishing with a shot gun?" I have, and it was in 

 this wuse : 



In many Western lakes and rivers may be found a pe- 

 culiar fish, known to local anglers as the dogfish, mudfish, 

 or lawyer, the latter name being probably given it from its 

 rapacious habits. It is in general aspect something like a 

 large chub or sucker, but has a truculent and savage ex- 

 pression of countenance, and devours everythirg it can 

 master. Its jaws are extremely hard and long, so that a 

 hook penetrates them with difficulty; it fights long and 

 hard, and when caught is good for nothing, as they say in 

 those regions, "that even the hogs won't eat dogfish." One 

 use I found for it, however, and that was to cut a strip 

 from its white belly to troll with for pickerel. 



This fish, Amina calva, belongs to the order of Ganoids, 

 and is in scales, fins, and the force of tail allied to the ex- 

 tinct fishes of an older world, and it is curious that most 

 of these representatives of the earlier periods are found 

 only in Western waters— the garfish, the paddlefish, and 

 the mudfish. 



Well, this disreputable branch of an old family comes in 

 the spring into shallow waters to spawn, and one day, 

 manv years ago, being with a friend on the drowned prai- 

 ries to the south of Chicago in pursuit of snipe, which we 

 found not, we found hundreds of these dogfish on the sub- 

 merged prairie, and opening fire upon them we soon had 

 quite a number. Being hungry, we thought we would try 

 to eat them, in spite of their evil name. So we took them 

 to dry land, built a fire, roasted them in the ashes, and 

 really gave them a trial. I must add that even with the 

 sauce of hunger we found it impossible to make much of a 

 dinner. S. C. Clarke. 



Near the Little Falls of the Potomac, in an humble 



cabin, is now lying upon a sick bed, Josiah Payne. He is 

 said to be in the seventy-eighth year of his age, and has 

 been a hard- working fisherman for forty years. But more 

 than that, he has lived the life of an honest man, and has 

 always deserved the highest respect of his numerous 

 friends. Our correspondent, Mr. Charles Lanman, has 

 known and fished with Mr. Payne for twenty-five years, 

 and several years ago embodied in an imaginary letter the 

 leading facts and some of the experiences of his old friend's 

 life. Among the noted anglers who fished with Payne 



were Daniel Webster, 'Gen. Geo. Gibson, Governor Geo. M. 

 Bibb, and Hon. J. F. Crampton, the British Minister. Miss 

 Dix, the philanthropist and Miss Frederika Bremer the 

 authoress, also visited him on one occasion. 



— We have received from Mr. Albert A. Mowry, of Put- 

 nam, Ct., a very ingenious little contrivance for fishing; 

 through the ice in winter, w r hich is quite an improvement 

 upon the ordinary tilt or tip-up. It consists of an upright 

 and an arm, the line passing over the end of the latter down 

 into the water. When a fish bites, the line is cast off, the 

 arm falls, and at the same time automatically hoists a little 

 signal flag on the upright. We think we can readily re- 

 commend this, even without a trial. 



— Mr. Mowry also sends us the following poem in praise 

 of the bull-head or cat-fish. He calls it an "Ichthyc," which 

 is appropriate. "Pouts as big as your feet," is classic: 



''Some sing the praise of the toothsome shad, 

 Which maketh the heart of the epicure glad; 

 And say they're the best fish to be had. 

 Well, I'll own myself, they are not very bad. 



But talk not to me of shad or trout, 

 Or any other kind that are hawked about; 

 Put on my plate, if yon please, horn pout. 

 From the depths of Quadic, just caught out. 



To be sure, the color of his skin is black, 

 The curved lines of beauty he too doth lack, 

 And horns stick out from his sides and back, 

 As long and sharp as a twelve ounce tack. 



The skin, however, you do not eat, 

 But the flesh within which is white and sweet, 

 And cleaves from the bones so slick and neat; 

 Which fact alone beats the shad complete. 

 Especially if the pouts are as big as your feet. 



tachting mid Routing. 



HIGH WATER.. FOR THE WEEK. 





DATE. 



BOSTON. 



NEW YORK, 

 h. m. 



CHARL'ST'N 





h. m. 



h. m. 



Nov. 20 



11 49 



8 32 



7 49 



Nov. 21 



morn. 



9 21 



8 35 



Nov. 22 



35 



10 10 



9 24 



Nov. ^3 



1 24 



10 58 



10 16 



Nov. 24 



2 16 



11 54 



11 9 



Nov. 25 



3 9 



morn. 



morn. 



Nov. 2(3 



4 4 



51 



i 4. 



— Mr. Ashbury's steam yacht Eothen, owner in command, 

 was off the Port of Pernambuco on the 16th of October. 

 Mr. Ashbury is on a trip to all the navigable ports on that 

 side of the South American Continent, and from thence to 

 the Cape of Good Hope 



— The steamship City of Paris, which arrived at this port 

 on November 17th, reports speaking tl* yticht Enchantress, 

 N.Y. Y.C., Captain Fairchild, hence for Cowes, on the 14th 

 inst., latitude 41 54, longitude 58 14, with loss of foretop- 

 masl. 



— A party went from New Rochelle to New Haven, a few 

 days since, in search of a stolen sloop, found it, took on 

 board a good supply of wine, and started to return. Dur- 

 ing the night the wine vanished and a new light appeared, 

 and taking it for Fort Schuyler, they steered for it, and 

 kept steering for it, and the harder they steered the further 

 the light seemed away, but they regarded the phenomenon 

 as only an optical illusion. At length daylight came to 

 their relief, and they found themselves in Boston harbor. 

 Their Fort Schuyler light was a Boston steamer which they 

 had been following all night. By taking on board a new 

 skipper, w r ho don't like champagne, they managed the next 

 day to get home all right. 



Yale College, Nov. 18, 1873. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: — 



The fall regatta at Yale has been a success, and entire 

 satisfaction is expressed both by spectators and contestants. 

 We also have the pleasure of seating that both the style and 

 effect of the rowing displayed in our late races are superior 

 to that of past years, which is evidence that our principles 

 are good and that they are being taken up by our college oars- 

 men. Our principle drawback is the scarcity of coachers, 

 there being only one or two in the University to look after 

 the various crews. 



A new r addition to the entries of this year was the ap- 

 pearance of the two juvenile crews from Hopkins Gram 

 mar School and Gen. Russell's Military School. Both 

 crews pulled a plucky race, though their style was quite 

 defective from a lack of coaching. This was the first race 

 of the day, rowed in six-oared shells, their course being 

 two miles with turn, the Russells winning in 14 minutes 

 16£ seconds — Grammar School time being 15 minutes 23f 

 seconds. 



Wesleyan University, Middletown, Ct., Nov. 13, 1873. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: — 



The boating record of this college is short, having sent 

 our first crew to the annual regatta in '72. We were re • 

 presented in that regatta by a Freshmen Crew, which won 

 the victory in 17 minutes 7 seconds. At the last annual 

 regatta at Springfield we had a University Six, who were 

 only two seconds behind the winning crew. The boating 

 spirit still grows. We will have two crews at the annual 

 regatta of '74. 



Our aquatic sports ended for the season in a Scrub race on 

 the 25th of October, between three six-oared boats. The 

 '76 crew in gig, '75 crew, in old practice shell and the 

 University Crew. The University were to pull 3^ miles, 

 while the others were pulling 3 miles. The course was up 

 by the island and return. The current was exceedingly 

 swift, which made the great difference between the time 

 made and that rr ade over the same course last June. Some 



