-w 



FOREST AlND STREAM. 



but I would tie a very foolish follower of the geutle urt if in 

 this or aijy other idea 1 were not ready and anxious to have 

 the observation of other anglers, and quite ready to give up 

 my notion for good cause shown. 



But impressions from memory of how trout have risen to 

 our flies are not observation. Let anglers hereafter make 

 careful study of the motions of flab and give us their results. 

 There are several easy methods. Select a shallow spot where 

 young fish are plenty, cast three flies with hooks broken off, 

 and draw rapidly, watching the bobbers. Under such cir- 

 cumstances you may see a row of flashing tails thumping at 

 the flics and dashing water over them. Try the same cast 

 over a rough rapid in the early season when the fish are on 

 the rapids. Better still, sit in a boat and let another person 

 cast from another boat and draw rapidly near you. Again, 

 watch a large dragon fly, or any other large insect, in 

 a light breeze, flying near the surface, and observe 

 the attacks of successive fish. Better than all, use a good 

 binocular glass, while an experienced angler casts and draws 

 i field of vision. Notice with care what we call 

 the xwirl of a large fish. Is it a whirlpool, due to a swift, cir- 

 cular motion, of the fish ? or, is it a mere wave as he comes 

 up or goes down? Finally, if you are a good fisherman, and 

 rightly exercise your " wiist-knack" in "striking a fish," 

 note expressly whether your nerves do or do not sensibly dis- 

 tinguish between two sensations— the blow of the tail and 

 the instantly following grasp of the mouth. When you 

 hook a fish through body or tail, try to remember whether 

 you shuck him or he struck your fly If you struck him 

 you struck too hard ; don't do it again. It takes a hard blow 

 to drive even a sharp hook through a fish's skin; "wrist- 

 knack " ought not to do that. 



My opinion, based on such observations, is this : Trout 

 more frequently strike first with the tail, and. anglers often 

 strike an Instant too soon, mistaking the blow of the tail and 

 the dash of the water over the fly for the grasp of the mouth. 

 I have seen a, friend, the best fly fisherman I ever knew, act- 

 ing on this principle, take two dozen and more trout, when 

 fishermen, who did not believe the principle, casting 

 over the same water with constant rises, had only four fish to 

 both rods. 



T think some circumstances controlling the flsh arc these : 

 The tail-fly is more rarely struck with the tail than the bob- 

 bers. The rougher the water the more frequent the stroke on 

 the tail. The tail-fly is more frequently struck with the tail 

 in rapids. Large flies are more frequently struck by the tail 

 than small flies or gnats . The more rapidly the flies are 

 drawn, the more likely the stroke of the tail— in fact, the 

 general principle seems to be that where a fly is moving above 

 the surface of the water in such way that a sensible trout 

 thinks he is more likely to get him by dashing water over him 

 or bitting him with his tail, than by catching him in his 

 mouth, he attacks him with his tail, and then turns with a 

 swift, sharp turn like lightning and takes him in his mouth. 

 The movement is exceedingly beautiful. I have seen it a 

 thousand times. The only question is whether it is so com- 

 mon a habit as to be properly called a rule with the fish. As 

 I said before, I have no theory to sustain, and only trust that 

 this discussion will lead to careful observation and correct, in- 

 formation, for we all know that the habits of flsh vary in 

 various waters ; and I perhaps ought to add that in my very 

 limited experience in English and Scotch waters, I have 

 thought the attack with the tail less common, while in Switz- 

 erland and the Tyrol the fish behave much as in America. 



Respectfully yours, W. 0. Prime. 



38 Kast Twenty -third street, N. T., Jan. 30, 1879. 



V 



Editor Forest and Stream : From a long experience in kill- 

 ing trout in many of the streams of Northern Michigan and 

 the Eastern States, and study of the habits and actions of the 

 fish, it is my opinion that when the fly is taken in the vast 

 majority of cases it is done in one of two ways. 1st. When 

 the trout is seen on top of the water, rising behind the fly, he 

 takes it by describing a halt circle out of water and seizing 

 the fly from above as he descends. It is easy to see that. 

 this is altogether the easiest method lor the trout to pursue 

 when he is hungry and active, and it also accounts for the 

 frequency of his failures to get the fly. By dropping on it 

 head foremost with open mouth he has a very sure thing if he 

 don't miss it entirely. 2d. When the fly is taken from be- 

 neath the water where, the trout isn't seen, my idea is that he 

 rushes straight for it from where he is lying, and at a distance 

 of two feet or so turns over on his back, and in that position 

 seizes his prey. I think it conclusively proven from the fact 

 that in such cases the light colored belly of the fish is often 

 seen where the water is clear enough and the distance not too 

 great, and this would be impossible did the trout not turn 

 it uppermost and swim a short distance on his back before 

 taking the fly. There are several fish of other kinds which 

 are known to do this. A. H. Oakbs. 



Wat Buy City, A/ick., Jan. 23, 1870. 



Colorado— Jan., 1879.— I have wanted to laugh a little at 

 the peculiar acrobatic trout with which your columns have 

 been treated, piclorially and otherwise, lately, but it seems 

 like wasting space on a small subject. Admitting that cer- 

 tain favored localities have "speckled beauties" that turn 

 handsprings, perform on the flying trapeze, and shoot flies on 

 the Wing, which facts seem to be established by clouds of wit- 

 nesses, I am now only dying to learn whether they use 

 "choke" or straight-bore in the latter performance? We 

 have no such talented trout in this W estern country, but we 

 do have a dry land frog that has horns and flips flies into hia 

 mouth with his tongue. They are good to eat— the flies— the 

 frog thinks BO. QmuN Sabe. 



HOW THEY MAKE FISH-LINES. 



XN 1859, at Ltarlem, could be noticed an humble and unpre- 

 tending rope-walk, established by Mr. Henry Hall, who 

 had come to America to introduce an improved English, or 

 North of Ireland, style of linen and silk fish-line, so balanced 

 and interwoven bb to defy the large bass that then endeared 

 and decoyed to Hell Gate such men as the Hon. Dan'l Web- 

 ster, mine host Stetson, of the Astor, aud our old-lime, well- 

 known piscatory friends, Messrs. Richard T. Fosdick, Sam 

 Warner, Wm. F. Brougk, Henry Inman, N. A,, John Farren, 

 Sherman Brownell, Preston Hodges (the hoBt of old Carlton 

 Uouse), Tom Jerome, Henry Miner, Uncle Ben Raynor, Lick 

 Carman, Leff Snediker, old Uncle John Weeks, John Har- 

 low and Mr. John Evers (better known as the Fifth Ward 

 John's), with the gentlemanly Prime brothers. 



In 1861 the improvement then taking place at ye old Har- 

 lem compelled Mr. Hall to pull up stakes and remove to As- 

 toria, L. I., off the Shores of the once coveted bass fishing 

 ground, and to be within ear-call of his expert friends. These 

 true Waltonian disciples of ye old Lzaae had noised about in 

 their various piscatorial excursions to the mountain and wood 

 brook streams of the island, the South, North, East and States 

 of the W T est, the grand excellence of the Hall line— its won- 

 derful sway to and off the reel, and its gleeful freedom from 

 kink. Thence the predominating excellence of the Astorian 

 cord-winder's line soon got abroad. 



Hence the once small cord-winder of ye old North Riding 

 found it necessary to pull up stakeB once more. So, by the 

 advice of the late Thos. H. Bate and Mr. Clerke, he located 

 at Woodbury,on the little stream that skirts and divides at the 

 base of the Ramapo Mountain range of hills, thence mingling 

 its waters with the Beaver Kill, near Coffee's, on the Ramapo 

 River, close by the narrow pass in the hill range made notori- 

 ous by that revolutionary scoundrel, Claudius Smith, wke 

 made the road a terror to the traveler and gave Washington 

 no little trouble by capturing his forage parties— officers and 

 men— for whom he either demanded a ransom or took them 

 to the British headquarters of Gen. Howe, then located at the 

 old Nathaniel Prime House on Broadway, now known as the 

 " Washington Hotel," in commemoration of its once being 

 the headquarters of that genial sportsman, the father of 

 American liberty. 



The fish-cord winder continued to prosper, and soon the 

 goods manufactured by him became known to every fish- 

 tackle dealer in the States and Canada?, and finally gained 

 the distinction of being the best manufactured in the Union. 

 Boon it was found necissary to extend the faculties of the 

 establishment. Hence Mr. Henry Hall (like all good and wise 

 fathers) took his sons, James and Henry Hall, Jr., into busi- 

 ness with him and founded the firm of Henry Hall & Sons. 

 Now the goods manufactured by this old expert house not 

 only rival anything made in Europe, but stand at the head 

 of its manufacturing profession. 



This establishment, since its introduction of machinery, 

 and its transfer to more commodious quarters at " Highland 

 Mills," possibly turns out more goods than all others of a like 

 business in the State combined, and of such superior excel- 

 lence as to defy competition. 



The Henry Hall goods are made the standard by the trade. 

 Every sort, kind and description of fish line is made at this 

 now world-wide renowned factory, as the Hall goods swept 

 the deck at the Centennial Show', and wherever they have 

 come in competition with foreign goods of decided reputation, 

 the Henry Hall goods— cotton, linen and silk— have at all 

 times asserted their distinct superiority. 



In 1807 Mr. Henry Hall, Sr., went, to Europe and perfected 

 arrangements to have a certain kind of linen manufactured, 

 specially prepared with the utmost care for the winding of 

 their best lines. This article is Bent to them in its crude state, 

 the bleaching, dyeing, etc., being done at the American 

 factory. 



We would here say, in Mr. Hall's own words, viz.: "In 

 ordering stock from Europe, we will give instructions. For 

 instance, we want to make an A line, 3,600 yards, to weigh 

 so many ounces, just, and to have a given amount of twist to 

 the inch. Also to be spun from such a grade of flax, viz.: 

 One-third Dutch, to make fine and silky quality ; one-third 

 French, to give strength; with one-third Irish — this to be what 

 we call cut flax,' v i. e., buts and tips cut oft" 



The most of the fine lines sold to the trade in this city, 

 Chicago, St. Louis, St, Paul's, Detroit and San Francisco, has 

 its manipulating history within the spinners of this extensive 

 factory, from the braided silken thread, cat-gut finished line- 

 so fine in make as to defy the cunning of the most wary brook 

 trout— to that used, in the lakes to laud a sixty pound bass. 



Mr. Hall is an inventive genius, and has patented several 

 machines applicable to this business, which enables the firm 

 to successfully undersell all competitors. 



As we stand in converse, he has set in motion 100 braiding 

 mills, used exclusively to make the silk, linen aud cat-gut 

 finished lines for bass and trout. The capacity of these ma- 

 chines reaches a product of $12,000 per week. They have in 

 their factoiy a large run of machines for braiding every de- 

 scription of line known to the art, from the finest silk to the 

 heaviest linen and cotton. The machines are the outcome of 

 the ingenuity of the Hall brain, and the finer grades of goods 

 made by them are marvels of beauty, the braided silk iine 

 manufactured by them surpassing anything of the kind 

 hitherto manipulated or that we have previously seen. We 

 had no idea of the delicacy of finish with which these ma- 

 chines turn off the linen lines. These machines are very in- 

 genious, and do their work with the greatest precision. This 

 establishment has attached to it a walk four hundred feet long, 

 and the car machines that work into it are each capable of 

 turning out daily 60,000 yards of line. 



All the details of the busiuess are complete, even to the 

 manufacture of boxes, both paper and wood ; and creels to 

 Wind the line on arc prepared by men in this employ. Hence 

 all things leave this enterprizing establishment at its prime 

 first cost. This business presents to view a solid specimen of 

 what the patient and persistent labor of an expert will accom- 

 plish. Henry Hall, Sr., will be remembered after his death 

 by the national reputation of his flsh lines. 



p;3" We call the attention of anglers- to the advertisement 

 of the rentable salmon rivers in Canada, which the Dominion 

 Government annually offers through our columns. Some of 

 them are very desirable, and an early application is advisable 

 in order to secure them. The London (England) Fishing 

 Gazette, in copying from Forest and Stream its article on 

 Canadian salmon river leases, says : 



We think we are doing English anglers, who may be think- 

 iug of Canada for salmon Ashing, a good turn in publishing 

 the above article from Forest and Stream. We shall have 

 more to say on the subject of the Canadian rivers and fishing, 

 both salmon and trout. It is curious to see that the Amer- 

 icans think £60 a big price for the annual lease of a salmon 

 water. We were in treaty a few weeks ago with a gentle- 

 man for one season's trout fishing on a stream, not twenty-five 

 miles from London. There was not a mile of water, but we 

 could not get it for i'80 ; and on the Wandle as much as ilUO 

 is given for one hundred yards of trout water. — Ed. 



Movements of the Fishinq Fleet. — Twelve fishing ar- 

 rivals have been reported at this port the past week, 5 from 

 the Banks with 85,000 lbs. halibut; 1 from Brown's Bank 

 with 35,000 lbs. codfish ; 1 from Georges with 25,000 do., and 

 2,000 lbs. halibut; 3 from Grand Menan with frozen hetnng, 

 and 2 from Southern codfishing trips. Considerable quanti- 

 j ties of round codfish are received daily from the Ipswich Bay 



fishermen, The Newt, mi 'fleet for this season 



comprises eight vessels against twenty-six last year.— Gape 

 Ann Advertiser, Feb. 7. 



Seals on the Lono Island Coast.— Since the coming of 

 the severe weather many seals and sea dugs have appeared 

 upon the Long Island coast, in the vicinity of Atlanticville. 

 A number have been killed by the residents. 



Kentucky — Wkkwin, Jan. 25. — The disappearance of the 

 ioe and snow has brought forth the fishermen who have been 

 frozen out for several weeks, but are very busy now arrang- 

 ing nets, etc., ready for the salmon run. Shipments .have 

 been very light, mostly fingerlings caught in air holes. They 

 brought very good price owing to the scarcity of larger fish 

 Business will be lively before long, however. Yal. 



Tennessee — Nashville, Feb. 6. — Our market is well sap- 

 plied with all kinds of fish. Shad are plentiful and selling at 

 from fifty cents to one dollar each. Some magnificent red 

 snapper and grouper from Pensacola have been brought here 

 lately. Mr. Hillman told mc the other day thai some gentle- 

 men caught in the Upper Cumberland, 14 very fine bass. 



J. D. U. 



Mississippi — Aberdeen, Feb. 5. — "Red horse fish" are 

 now running in the river, and the exciting sport of "gigging" 

 them will soon be enjoyed to its full extent on the upper 

 waters of the Tombigbee and its tributaries, W. K. 



f The Detroit Fisheries. — We cannot have gas works, 

 glue factories, railroad tunnels and good fishing all at once. 

 A Detroit correspondent who scuds us his plaint of the de- 

 struction of fishing about that city writes : 



"I have often seen in your valuable paper letters from here 

 about game and those who go after it. There are a great 

 many here that go oft en, and huw much they get is a mystery, 

 as they have so many pockets in their coals they can hide 

 away a large quantity. 



I am not much on the game, but for flsh 1 go heavy, still if 

 we have for a few years to come as many detriments in the 

 way as has been for the three years past, there will not be 

 many fish iu Detroit River-, and as a great many depend on 

 their fisheries for subsistence, 1 think they will come short. 



First we have the coal tar from the gas works, which 

 covers the bottom of the river now for four miles, and is 

 stretching its way clear across ; before long it will be all over 

 the bottom of the river. Again, a nasty dirty lot of stuff is 

 poured in the river from the glue works. Again the sewers 

 are bad, but not so much so as gas tar and refuse from glue 

 works; but worse, than all is the blasting that is being done 

 near C. S. it crossing. I will admit that the deepening of the 

 channel at that point is of great benefit to navigation of the 

 Western lakes, but 1 as well as others think that it would be 

 more profitable to do the work in the summer season ; days 

 are long, weather warm, and men can work better at that 

 season than they can in the fall, when it is cold, heavy west 

 wind blowing vessels heavily loaded seeking the deepest 

 water ; and at that season the westerly winds blowing keep 

 the water lower— from eighteen to twenty-four inches— than 

 it is through the fore part of the season, Again, the blasts 

 will kill all the fish that may be within a reasonable distance, 

 I am credibly informed that the shock from the blKSbil 

 sensibly felt on Grosse Isle one and a half mile distant. 

 Now, such being the case, I would wish that the Govern- 

 ment would have the work done in the fore part 

 of tho season, say commence April 1 and Stop Oct, 

 1; that would allow us up the river to catch fish, if they 

 come up the river as is supposed. For Borne years past the 

 fisheries on Detroit River are almost a total failure, which, I 

 believe, is owing to the dirt and debris put iu the river here 

 and the blasting done below. Veritas." 



■ Shovel-nose Stckobons ■whiob sake Bl&±-'fflemtindin% 



Fla., Feb. 2. — In Forest and Stream for Jan. 2,) Dr. Estes, 

 speaking of the shovel-nosed sturgeon, says, "No instance is 

 known of their biting at the hook." In my boy-days I used 

 to go fishing in the Wabash and in the lower Ohio. It was a 

 very common occurrence to catch " shovel fish," as we called 

 them, and I have taken the hook from their peculiarly inex- 

 pressive mouth. We used a bait made of boiled Indian meal 

 dough, which does not dissolve readily in the water. This 

 bait was used in Ashing for the "red-horse" aud the "buffalo," 

 both of them suckers. The shovel-fish takes this, and worms 

 also— or UBed to. I preferred the shovel fish to the other two' 

 DEmed, as all Lis bones were on the outside, and every time 1 

 eat shad J wish they were gotten up on the same plan. I think 

 Dr. Estes will find on further inquiry that this sturgeon bites, 

 if it can be said to have the power to bite. In the language 

 of the elder Weller, they have " a werry good power o' suc- 

 tion," however, and go nosing about the bottom of the river, 

 feeding upon such small creatures and substances as can be 

 so taken up. MiLE3. 



This species of sturgeon shovels up the clay, mud, and slime 

 of the river bottoms with his long spude-like bill in search of 

 molusca, crustaceans, larva?, silt, or whatever may coma 

 within the line of his desire, just as the small boy turns ovtr 

 the earth with his spade in quest of angle-worms. He has to 

 mouth, but sucks them into his pipe-like orifice. It is not 

 unlikely that be would eagerly accept the dough bolus c£ 

 Captain Miles, though he would not he enticed by the Doc- 

 tor's minnow. His mouth is not adapted to the capture of 

 darting fishes. Bottom flsh will take bait of a certain kind 

 when they find it on the bottom. Gats will often suck eggs, 

 and goats and deer have been known to eat tobacco. Excep- 

 tions are common everywhere. 



M Baseless Hooks.— Rochester, Jan. 30.— There is a wrong 

 impression among fishermen in regard to a fish hook needing 

 a barb to hold the fish on. The fact is, the reason why so 

 many fish get off the hook is because the barb prevents the 

 hook from penetrating the flesh and does nol get bojd enough 

 to stop its being shaken out of the fishes mouth. Not only do 

 you take more fish that are hooked in I he mouth, but many 

 more that are hooked foul if the flsh strikes at the fly and 

 misses it, or discovers the deception and starts hack without 

 striking at it. If he touches the hook he is most sure to be 

 caught. Here is a fact which I think has something to do" 

 with the late discussion in regard to Ihe I rout knocking flies 

 into their mouths with their tails. A I least! think it is so with 

 artificial flies. The trout starts for the fly, and just before he 

 gets to it discovers the deception, turns and starts back, and 

 is caught either in the side or tail, and is then given the credit 

 of having tried to knock it into his mouth.* 1 got up the 

 needle-pointed hook aud have used it for yeare, aud am satis- 



