.P Ult-tL/ » 1 ASS U & 1 K& AM . 



if/ 



tea! Such a bill of fate ougLt to please the 

 must fastidious connoisseurs of viandes des moucliet. 



Fly- ! a Pacific Coast.— Wo understand 



that Messrs, Abbe}' & Imbrie, 4H Maiden Lane, have contract- 

 ed to make a large quantity oi the Holt clip fly-book for de- 

 livery at Knlatna, Washington Territory. These are very 

 handsome, capacious fly-books, adapted particularly for sal- 

 mon anglers. We described them rn a recent issue of our 

 paper I sale by Messrs. Abbey & Imbrie, who 



also have fly-books in great variety, to suit all requirements. 



— W". 11 Buckingham, of Plica, the ci-devant amateur 



bamboo fly-rod maker, lias become so much encouraged by 



access that he has entered into competition with the trade 



in company with Mr. Periie, for the manufacture of Ma 



superb rods. The firm, Buckingham & Perrie, advertise in 



o i umns. 



Litis Gkayi.inu.— It will greatly interest those who have 

 never seoo a grayling, dead or alive, to examine the beautiful 

 specimens in the tank at Eugene Blackford's stand, Pulton 

 Market. They will prove a most interesting study and a 

 great curiosity. 

 v( Canadian Salmon Biveks. — In commenting upon some re- 

 marks concerning the price of Canadian salmon river privi- 

 leges, winch we reprinted the other day from the London 

 Fishing Gazette, a New York correspondent very sensibly 

 observes : 



In regard to the low prices at which Canadian salmon 

 rivers are leased, as compared to the sums paid for fly fishing 

 privileges on British waters, I would draw attention to the 

 fact thai the season in Canada is practically from (he middle 

 of June uuiil the middle of July, after which good Ashing is 

 exceedingly doubtful and seldom had. British rivers have 

 mouths, and some still longer. Canadian rivers 

 are 1,000 miles off, and the expense of getting and remaining 

 there so heavy that very few anglers are rich enough to go, 

 while British rivers are near by and quickly and cheaply ac- 

 cessible to lessee and friends. These two facts — of only a 

 month's good fishing and heavy expenses prove— the appareut 

 cheapness of Canadian salmon fishing leases to be illusory. 



Manhattan. 



WEATnb— Foxerqft, Ft-b. 35.— I have just returned from a 

 ten weeks' trip up Mooseheud Lake. I was accompanied by 

 .Tuhu K. and Ben the. Frenchman, two as jovial fellows as 

 ever dropped ft line in Moosehead. Our object was to fish 

 through the ice for trout. We bad very good luck. I suc- 

 ceeded in bringing up n Lake trout that tipped the beam at 21 

 pounds. Deer and Caribou are very plenty in this viciniLy 

 this winter, with occasional sign of moose, owing to a sharp 

 crust that has recently been formed, making it impossible for 

 .lee i to nni, They are being slaughtered by men and dogs. 

 The men that are killing the deer are back hunters who kill 

 them for their own consumption. H. 



39AOHTJBKTTS— Boston, March 3.— During a recent trip 



of a friend and myself to the northern part of the State, we 

 went to a lake to Ash for pickerel, we were much astonisbed 

 to catch during the day three, trout, weighing together about 

 three pounds, and i. •!:■■! el. The water was only 



three feet deep and the icj two feet thick, with muddy bottom. 

 I never caught trout this way before, and think it a rare oc- 

 curence in this State. Of course the law is on the fish, but 

 as they were taken accidentally "and somewhat hurt we did 

 not return them. Bait was live fish. S, K. J. 



Movements of tub Pishing Fleet.— Twenty-eight ar- 

 rivals have been reported from Georges the past week. The 

 fleet, report rough weather and considerable losses of anchors 

 and c. storm, but fair fishiugwlien the weather 



would allow, lteceipls for the week, 560,0001bs. split codfish 

 and 'J-f.llOOlbs. halibut. The number of Bank arrivals has 

 been (.1, several of them bringing good fares, the receipts for 

 the week being 240,QQ01bs. halibut. Three arrivals have been 

 led from Grand Metian, with moderate fares of frozen 

 herring. i\ b >1 ai ruber of arrivals for the week, 37. — Cape 

 Ann A.dDeriiier, Feb, 36, 



Siiiii ' i . i -No fishing here at present, ex- 



cept with fykes, in which they take considerable num- 

 bers of flat fish, which are sent to New York market. These 

 are net-traps stretched over big hoops four feet in diameter. 

 Staked and anchored with stones in a depth of two or three 

 feet, of water. My two friends here have set out in the bay 

 some forty of them which they lift three or four times week- 

 ly, taking now about two barrels of the pike each time, But 

 later the fish are more numerous, and at times as many as a 

 barrel of I hem are caught in a single fyke. It is cold and 

 hard work, requiring a deal of rowing, and the water is freez- 

 'id willi ice, so thai (be money received for them from 

 the market meu is fairly earned. It is too early yet for the 

 pound-net men to begin their labors. McL. 



v( Two at a Time,— Mr. Editor : The freaks and capers that 

 are cut up with individual anglers, hunters, etc., are always 

 interesting. While up in the mountains last summer, on the 

 tributaries of West Canada Creek, we were encamped, four 

 b Bhores of, G Lake— Prof. Davis and Al. Stacy, 

 of Newport ; Sir. Church, of the Japanese Consulate, No. 7 

 Murray street, A'ew York, and myself. Advantage had been 

 taken of thee to stock-up with fish the empty 



larder. Prof. IX and Brother Church (he would laugh to see 

 the cognomen) were on a raft, out about fifty yards from 



: little farther up the lake, while I was almost 

 On shore, ne i g "pumpkin se< 



the fun of it. They seemed to be very thick, and on pulling 

 up my line once I found two fish hanging to my single small 

 hook, in the form, loo, of across. I called the attention of 

 the other party to it by a hearty laugh. I had caught one in 

 the mouth properly, and on coming out of the water quite 

 siniii' had caught near the pectoral fin of his 



I dioni ppsaiuJy he a contending for the 

 ... iad brought turn out, too, balanced at right angles 

 lo the other. At any rate, I had caught two fish al W 

 with a single hook— something 1 never expect again, even 

 eentyand with that special ob- 

 ject in view. C. J. 

 Mafa wrek l, 1879. 



A; A MlBSISatl ."<■, Ftb. 19.— 



Editor Pored and tit-ream; Country life in the swamps of 



lOUS, hut particularly so to the 



ladies, leidg hardy enough to indulge in the 



, settlements aud plantations are too far apart to admit 



of much social visiting, so their lives are anything but pleas- 

 ant. However, when the spring time arrives and the woods 

 become passable, one of the. favorite enjoyments in which 

 they all join is a grand fish fry. This character of entertain- 

 ment, is peculiar to the country, and jollier days I have never 

 passed anywhere than at several of them. Par and near in 

 the neighborhood preparations are made for the frolic days in 

 advance, and at the set time, ladies and gentlemen, boys and 

 girls, all meet at some agreed upon place on the banks of one 

 of tlie many creeks or bayous with which the country 

 abounds, and which arc, without exception, slocked with 

 quantities of black bass, and with perch, to say nothing of cat 

 and drum. Each party briugs along their hampers filled with 

 the good things from home, a few frying pans and condiments 

 for preparing the lo-be-eaught fish. Simple tackle is used, 

 and everybody goes to fishing ; the gentlemen baiting the 

 ladies hooks and taking off the fish, which are usually caught 

 he process of casting the line and drawing out the 

 game can be accomplished. In the meantime, the servants, 

 which each family brings along, have gathered wood, built 

 fires, cleaned the "fish, and are hard at preparing them for the 

 table, which consists of mother earth with a table-cloth spread 

 down. One who has eaten fish prepared under these cir- 

 cumstances can form an idea how delicious they are. The 

 repast through with, a dance is most sure to follow. A piece 

 of level ground is cleared away, and the ball-room is ready, 

 one or two darkies with fiddle and banjo to furnish the music, 

 which would puzzle Bernstein or Thomas, with their wonder- 

 ful orchestras to create more enthusiasm among the dan- 

 cers. Thus the day is passed, perhaps winding up with a 

 little more angling before going home. As it is the custom in 

 that country to never go from home without one's gun, the 

 scenes are often enlivened by the lulling of a 'gator or deer, 

 or perhaps a wandering bruin. J. D. H. 



if That Cueiols Hook. — Willis, Texas, Feb. 19, — By your 

 leave I v* isb to put in once more about the Edgar barbless 

 hook. Like every new-fangled thing, everybody is doubtful 

 of it and fault finding. When the breech-loading gun first 

 came out nobody would pick one up in the road : but how 

 changed now in but half a score of years! I cant see any 

 fault to this hook ; I have tried them on black bass, crappie 

 (white perch), catfish, etc., and I consider any hook that will 

 hold under all circumstances seven out of ten bass is good 

 enough for any reasonable man ; and, as to this hook, it will 

 hold and safely keep nineteen out of every twenty black bass 

 or any other fish that swims— I mean game. fish. " Unless the 

 hold tears out or the hook breaks the fish cannot escape. 

 Your Florida correspondent " R " finds one fault in putting on 

 a live minnow. Why, man, only press the keeper back, run the 

 hook through your bait, and then let go the keeper. This 

 hook does not lacerate the bait or the fish caught; with it. In 

 taking the barbless hook out of a fish's mouth always press 

 back the keeper or shaft and the hook is as easily withdrawn 

 as a pin-hook, and no tearing or lacerating the fish's mouth 

 or throat, as is inevitable with the old slylo hook. If you 

 bait with live minnow run the point of the hook iu the mouth 

 of the minnow, pass the point through one of its jaws or 

 under tip (but not through the gills, or back, or other part 

 of the body, or the little fellow will die), and the minnow will 

 live much longer, and your chances are doubled to hang your 

 bass, as he wiil swallow the bait head foremost, anyhow, and 

 will get the hook deeper into his mouth on the first seizure of 

 the bait : aud again, the hook is freer and less clogged or 

 filled with the fleshy portion of the bait. Another objection 

 I think I have heard alleged against the Edgar hook is that it 

 would not catch large fish. 1 think tins idea only can arise 

 from believing the hook would only catch in one way, viz.: 

 to pass entirely through the fish's jaw, and the keeper to 

 come up on the outside and affect the lock. Ah, yes! that 

 was my own belief at first until I tried them. I caught a cat- 

 fish (mud cat),. which weighed twenty-four pounds, with a 

 No. 5 Edgar hook. The hook fastened in the roof of his 

 mouth (as though for an experiment), to the thin membra- 

 neous lining thereof, aud seemed to slick and freeze there de- 

 spite all his efforts to get away. It look near three-quar- 

 ters of an hour to land blm to the boat's side. I find they 

 will seize on to any part of the mouth, lip, throat or outside, 

 and hold on. 



I have no interest in these hooks or their manufacturing, 

 only the delight 1 enjoy in being able to furnish Mr. Black 

 Bass something that will trump all the tricks he has played on 

 me for fifteen years, and to assure my fellow sportsmen 

 anglers that if they want to play their salmon, bass or trout, 

 and sit and smoke at the same time, gel a lot of those books. 

 and, without prejudice or bias, try them yourself, and then 

 let us all hear from you through this journal. C. L. J. 



HOW THE TROUT TAKES THE FLY. 



"We have several articles on this^subject from distinguished 

 sources which we cannot decline to print. Though the ques- 

 tion itself is trite to satiety, the information gathered by our 

 contributors will prove entertaining and useful. The near 

 approach of the trout season will give them additional zest: 

 Pokti.and, Oregon, Feb. 20, 1879. 



Mb, Editok— I have not seen all the articles in your paper 

 concerning this question, perhaps not the first, and may not 

 understand exactly what was claimed in regard to the "trick" 

 of the trout striking the fly with his tail before seizing it with 

 his mouth. If it is claimed that the fish tries to knock the 

 fly into his mouth, that is a statement that I am not prepared 

 to defend. But that lie often tries to kill it, or drown it, or 

 to see what sort of stuff it is made of, by a vigorous blow of 

 his tail before he ventures upon the more dangerous business 

 of closing his jaws upon it, can hardly be denied by a fisher- 

 man of much practice. I have seen it done times without 

 number, more frequently perhaps in smooth lake fishing. 1 

 think it is very often done iu a variety of places, when it is 

 mistaken for a veritable bite. And I think a lesson is to be 

 learned from this that many a time wiil tell in the weight 

 of the basket at the end of the day, When you sec a large 

 and startling splash in the water, and instantly " strike" aud 

 find to your disappointment, that you have nothing, all the 

 chances arc that it was a blow of the tail. My theory is that 

 the instinct of the fish leads him to do this first, for some 

 reason best known to himself, and then if ho is satisfied with 

 the result, instantly turn aud seize the. fly iu fiis mouth. Let 

 me advise your doubters to ny and accommodate themselves 

 to the trout's view of the case aud see if they will not have 

 their reward. Instead of striking immediately you see and 

 hear this tempting S] water, hold your fire 



half a minute, and bad will be your luck if your game is not, 

 back and last on your hook before the Other half of Che minute 

 is gone. Sometimes your trout will jump clear out of the 

 water and over the fly as if to take a top view of the situation, 



or else to whet your own appetite before he surrenders to 

 your skill, Don't be so foolish then as to jerk your fly away 

 from him before you have any advantage of his matured 

 judgment, but keep a steady baud, give him time to turn on 

 his game, and in a moment he is yours. 



I have sometimes seen the trout so much in this mood that 

 whenever one leaped over the fly iu this way I knew his enc? 

 had come, and four times out of five I knew aright. A single 

 ease may he given in proof of the tail-striking habit. On 

 one occasion I was fishing in one of the beautiful streams of 

 Washington Territoiiy, where my fly— a green drake— had 

 floated down the current to a lovely and tempting eddy above 

 a large log, when suddenly there was a startling splash, a 

 thrilling pull on the line and whirr ot the reel, and away went 

 trout, fly and all. In the pardonable excitement of the mo- 

 ment i could not search my book for just the same fly, and 

 tried a different one— once, twice, three times— all in vain. 

 With more patient search I at length found another green 

 drake. This I lot down with my best skill to the very spot 

 1 had my first splash aud puh, and lo ! in an instant I had 

 my victim just where I wanted him. The rod bent and the 

 reel spun, aud in another minute or two I had a beauty at my 

 feel, with one green drake in his mouth and the other well 

 hooked in his tail I With this experience I cannot laugh at 

 those who claim to have seen the same. Obkoos, 



Waterbury, Conn,, Feb. 19.— Mr. Prime says : " Surely no- 

 one doubts that a trout sometimes strikes a fly with his tail." 

 I certainly do not doubt it, but I venture to assert that when 

 he does so strike it is purely accidental. The mouth of a 

 trout is peculiarly adapted to seizing and holding his prey, 

 whether it be the swift moving minnow or the winged insect', 

 and is vastly superior to his slippery tail, even to bring his 

 food " out of the air into the water." 1 have great respect for 

 Mr. Prime from a literary point of view, but I must say that 

 I think his trout theory has grown out of " impressions from 

 memory," rather than "close observation and study." He 

 asserts that trout more often strike first with the tail to bring 

 their game to the water and then rapidly turn and take it in 

 their mouth. If so, I venture to assert that the trout would 

 as often be hooked in the tail as the mouth. The ''strike" 

 of the expert fly -fisherman follows the instant of the "break," 

 and if the tail of the fish were curved and his muscles rigid, I 

 see no difficulty in a sharp hook penetrating his skin ; and 

 yet not one trout in a thousand is caught hooked in the tail. 

 Mr. Prime says the object of the trout in striking his prey 

 with the tail in the air is to bring the fly to the water. Now, 

 the tail of a trout is almost his only propeller, and while in 

 the air he must wait the action of gravitation to carry him 

 into the water, he can get no leverage for his rapid turn until 

 he gets into his element. This takes time, and as the skilled 

 angler " strikes " on the "rise " he would probably miss the 

 mouth of the trout and hit the tail; even the tyro would get 

 his return cast half made before a trout could go through the 

 operation of coming head first at his prey, turning his tall into 

 the air, hitting the fly a rap over the head or flirt water over 

 its body, turn round and present his mouth to the bait. Why, 

 even a trout would know better than to splash water over a 

 fly in its perfect state to disable it. Most of the flies on which 

 trout feed first emerge from the water, and when transformed 

 into the perfect fly you may submerge them, and the instant 

 they come to the surface they can take wing. The May fly 

 [Jfeuroptera ephemera) when it rises to the surface of the water 

 in the pupa state is inclosed in a membraneous sae, which 

 cracks open on the top, serving as a boat to carry the insect, 

 while its wings are unfolding. While in this transition state 

 a splash from the tail of a vigorous trout would probably cap- 

 size its frail bark and render the poor fly an easy victim ; but 

 I have many a time sat in my boat watching the marvelous 

 change, and have seen repeatedly small trout rise and seize 

 this same fly in its mouth, but never to strike it with the tail. 

 In a distant State I well remember a deep pool many rods 

 across, formed by the side of a fall in the river, where within 

 the twenty years last past I have taken many hundred pounds 

 of elegant trout. 1 have observed year afteryear that the trout 

 invariably rise in a particular spot on the pool. An examina- 

 tion revealed the fact that the eddiug currents carried the 

 floating trout food to that particular spot on the pool and near 

 the shore. The trout lay in the deep water, and the moment 

 an insect floated to that spot a trout, one or more, would dart 

 for it, and I have seen times almost without number a trout 

 come to the surface with open mouth and seize its prey, this 

 too, at my very feet and under my eyes. A small, frisky 

 trout rises with a dart and is gone like a flash of light, even a 

 "binocular glass" would fail, to reveal its evolutions, but 

 large trout of two or three pounds might rise more slowly 

 and you can, if a close observer, see just how they do it. My 

 observations have extended over manv years, and my study 

 of the habits of the trout have been "very careful, and it is 

 strange if trout are addicted to such marvelous habits as Mr. 

 Prime attributes to them, that they have never practiced them 

 in my presence. Kespectfuhy yours, ^jy. 



Camp Howard, Mount Idaho, I. T., Jan. 38.— I know how 

 they do it in this part of the world ; if they have different 

 habits elsewhere I will not be held responsible for that. It 

 may he there is truth on both sides of this question, and because 

 of this bare possibility it does not become one to be dogmatic 

 It is very likely the trout (as well as the people) of the far- 

 West are not up to the best methods of doiug things, and you 

 must not be shocked when I assert most positively that out 

 here trout take the fly right in their mouth and get caught 

 because they don't know any better. I have watched hun- 

 dreds of them doing it ; there was no other gesture or motion 

 accompanying l he act on their part. This is the invariable 

 rule here, but trout do sometimes overleap the lure aud hook 

 themselves by other parts of their bodies. So much I am very 

 certain of, and 1 think it is iruu that sometimes trout do v l« v 

 With the lure, that is I am almost positive I have seeu inem 

 rush at the fly with their mouths closed, us though they had 

 a wish to make it rise or struggle. At such times I could not 

 take many fish. Then, again, here is a trait of trout that I 

 am sure of : they do sometimes, in still water, approach verv 

 near the fly aud then turn tail aud give the water a slap of dis- 

 gust, pretty much as the » You-can't-comc-it " signal of a 

 g.-ui.u is executed. Always in such eases that trout knows 

 a fraud, and will not rise again. It is my experience 

 and the experience of every fisherman I have talked with' 

 that huge trout are more wary ihan small ones. This would 

 seem to prove that t rout learn as they get older. Where there 

 are plenty in a stream the flngerlings strike at every floating 

 bit of bark or straw ; but let a grasshopper fall on the water 

 from some secluded place, and there rushes out a two-pounder 

 and Mr. Urasshopper will never gambol on the green a°nm I 

 have sat on the bank and watched these things many i and 

 many atone. W.Cxou, 



