FOREST AND STREAM. 



309 



Then there are some half-dozen others— mostly low country 

 formers, but more attentive to their business than the nrst- 

 Camed gentry— Who only put in an appearance in wet weather. 

 On holidays the entire population of the country, black and 

 while, turn out in force for a general onslaught on the finny 

 race— the result in this case is usually harmless— while oc- 

 casionally during the summer months merchants, doctors and 

 lawyers front the distant towns come along in Jersey waggons, 

 and with much tackle and more whiskey astonish the weak 

 minds of the grim and sallow beings who commune with 

 nature from beneath mud chinked hovels and force ragged 

 crops out of rugged mountain sides among the clouds. Spectral 

 looking individuals are these same unhappy beings, as bending 

 beneath sacks of corn they plod theirslow way downward to the 

 mill, unsympatbized with and uncaredfor, squalid and ignor- 

 ant, a miserable outgrowth of the unfortunate "institution" 

 that has left a great part of a noble country a blighted wilder- 

 ness. Enough, however, of moralizingand hackneyed truisms. 



The " boss " fisherman of this district is a terrible man on 

 trout. He sends the writer a challenge every spring to fish 

 for a new hat. I at once, however, throw up the sponge, and 

 have never presumed to contest with him his "wormy" laurels. 

 This worthy sportsman is by way of being a fanner, at least 

 he has a farm aud lives upon it and by it. How the cultiva- 

 tion cf said plantation is carried on 1 never learnt. If I were an 

 Ethiopian l.should like tohire to that very easy going individu- 

 al. If he happens to have gone up stream before you (which 

 will certainly be the case unless you have breakfasted the night 

 before) the water side population look as much amazed a* 

 they are capable of looking anything, that you do not at once 

 go home, as his mere presenue, his very shadow passing up 

 the water is supposed to leave a paralyzing influence behind 

 him on the trout. 



Most of the local fishermen are what are here called "dodg- 

 ers," I. e., they try to keep unseen aud ahead of any one they 

 find on the creek before them, for there is a curious belief 

 among them that it is useless fishing the same water as another 

 even hours after him. 



When, therefore, you catch sight of some shadowy form 

 gliding through the forest behind you with a fifteen-foot sap- 

 hag in his hand and half a pound of tobacco in his mouth, 

 bear in mind that that apparition's object is to keep in front 

 of you at all hazards, so resign yourself calmly to the situa- 

 tion. Make a feint of moving rapidly up stream as long as 

 the vision may be supposed to be in sight, and then return 

 quietly to your former position. If you, like most true 

 anglers, indulge in the soothing weed, charge your briar and 

 give him plenty of time to get on. He will be sure to go 

 a long way abead of you, and will then fish rapidly and care- 

 lessly, continually expecting to see you making a rush behind 

 him, and in fact will generally have a bad time of it. 



If you meet your friend in the course of a few days and 

 allude to the number of fish basketed by yourself, he will 

 promptly douhle and possibly even treble your bag and fairly 

 atiiu you with pounders and three-quarter pounders, though 

 they are in fact woefully scarce. This is all, however, an un- 

 derstood figure of speech, aud serves only to amuse the 

 initiated. The best way is to commit the " aborgine " to a 

 statement of his own performance and then pile it on regard- 

 less to your own account. 



Seriously speaking though, why are the angling fraternity 

 on both sides of the Atlantic, and for aught I know all the 

 world over, so gloriously inaccurate ? Sober minded, sober 

 judging men— men of unexceptional character, famous for 

 truth, integrity, uprightness and every other virtue under the 

 sun, seem powerless to resist the failing, and when they get 

 to the size of a salmon or the weight of a bass as often as not 

 lie away moat jovially. 



More license I think is indulged as regards weight than 

 numbers. Naturally so, perhaps, as there is more scope for it. 

 I have ever noticed that the brook trout seems to offer more 

 special temptations to the unconscious romancer. A quarter 

 of a pound one would almost suppose from listening to many 

 sportsmen casually conversing, is the minimun size a trout 

 can possibly exist at. Now a brook trout of a quarter of a 

 pouud is by no means to be despised, and in many famous, I 

 might almost say historic, trouting rivers in Scotland, Wales 

 and the West of England, your bag If it be a large one will 

 never average 4 oz. per trout. The White Adder (the largest 

 tributary of the Tweed) is considered one of the finest trout- 

 iug streams on the border. It is open to the public and sixty 

 fish would be a good basket, the total would weigh from ten 

 to twelve pounds. Again, as another instance, with an apology 

 for the digression, the passage in "Marniiou" may linger in 

 the recollection of some.of my readers, where, after riding from 

 Tautallon Castle, he 



■< Looks down npoc the Tyne. 



Aud lar beneath where bIjw they creep 

 Kroui pool >o eddy biitl and derp, 

 Wnere alders mow aud wttlowB weep, 

 He hears her uirtama repine." 



This of course is not the Tyne of coal and rowing celebrity, 

 but a modest river that waters the fertile plains of East 

 Lothian, and falls into the Firth of Eorth near the " Bass 

 Rock." It is closely preserved and most highly estimated by 

 anglers, while the peculiarity about it is that not only your 

 basket averages invariably four ounces to the fish, but that a 

 majority of the individual trout turn the scale exactly at that 

 weight, which is a very unusual regularity all the world over 

 for that style of fishing. 



Turning again to "half-pounders," that weight will, I think, 

 be found to do duty in numberless instances with novices and 

 " big talkers," for fish that weigh about three ounces. A 

 genuine half-pound brook trout will very oiten, if you are 

 fishing with as fine tackle as you ought to be in a brushy 

 place, give some trouble, and would under those circumstances 

 most assuredlybreak a great many of the ignorami who verb- 

 ally make light of him, while a bona fide pounder from a 

 mountain brook i3 a noble fellow aud not to bo despised by 

 all the salmon fishers that ever swung a rod. 



The " merry month " will soon be with us, when the sur- 

 roundings of our streams will burst Eorth in all their splendor. 

 The summer breezes will ripple in our faces over billowy seas 

 of leafy green. The calniia and the rhododendron will blaze 

 resplendent on every side. The poplar, the chesnut and the 

 oak will wave their leaves above our heads aud throw dark 

 shadows over the glistening waterfalls ; great yellow butter- 

 flies will sail dreamily over the sunless pools, and many color- 

 ed lizards scuttle over the rocks ; long-legged water spiders 

 will congregate in the back eddies, and as it to complete the. 

 picture as we find ourselves year after year treading the same 

 well-known paths, we shall unconsciously mutter with Brit- 

 ain's laureate the familiar hues : 



11 And here will sigh thine alder iree, 



Aud here ttnue aspen uaiver, 



And here ny thee will imiu the Deo 



For ever and tor ever." 



Cluirknwnt, Va, Rinswood 



Range of the Striped Bass (JfoceusUneattu). — Our very 

 observing correspondent at Beaufort, S. ('., " S. C. C," states 

 that he was told of the capture of a number of these fish in 

 March in Bull's River, with rod and reel, which ran up to 1.1 

 pounds. In April one of 20 pounds was caught in Black 

 Greek, Florida, and was seen by his informant, a Northern 

 gentleman, well acquainted with the species. As tbey are 

 known to occur as far north as the Bay of Ckalheads, their 

 range must be greater than almost any of our coast fishes. 



Abbey & Imbrie's Salmon Reels.— This |firm informs us 

 that they have more orders for salmon reels than they can 

 furnish for several weeks to come, notwithstanding the very 

 high prices charged, viz., $25 and $30. We have added two 

 of their latest patterns to our own collection, and hope to 

 prove-them on Canadian waters next month. One of them 

 is of German silver, and the other of German silver aud rub- 

 ber combined. They are beautiful specimens of workman- 

 ship. 



Ubekul to Amateurs and Experts.— In Mills & Son's 

 new catalogue of fishing tackle, which of itself contains much 

 valuable information for anglers, there is a list of outfits for 

 trout and black bass fishing, go graduated in quality and 

 price as to suit the purse and skill of all persons from the 

 clumsy tyro' to the veteran expert who " knows it all." This 

 list must be of great service to non-residents of this city, as 

 having full confidence in this long established house (succes- 

 sors to Bates & Co., 7 Warren st.,) they can order their outfits 

 as advertised without any trouble to themselves or preliminary 

 inquiry. For instance, they can furnish a 3-pieca trout rod, 

 lancewood tip, brass click reel, 2.5 yards braided oiled silk 

 l.ne, one dozen hooks on gut, one dozen flies and fly case, for 

 the amazingly low price of $5, or a superior outfit, including 

 all essentials save landing net, for $30. Their bass outfits are 

 $0.75 and §16. The Leonard reels are justly celebrated, as 

 we know from personal use of them, while the Leonard bam- 

 boo rods have a wide reputation. We handled one of these 

 the other day which has just been built for service in English 

 waters, where the fish are sby, and the streams exposed, and 

 rises only reward a long reach. It was 21 feet long and 

 weighed 3 lbs. 2] ozs. We are glad that there are English- 

 men over there brawny enough to swing it. 



Goodtbar Rubber Goods. — It is enough to delight the 

 angler's eye to examine the wading pants and other water- 

 proof goods exhibited by the Goodyear Rubber Company at 

 their large warehouse, corner of Broadway and Broome 

 streets. There are wading stockings of mackintosh, soft and 

 pliable, and wholly impervious to water, which fit the feet 

 like a glove, and over which wading shoes are to be worn. 

 These reach to the hips. Then there are wading pants 

 which cover one to the neck, like a Boyton swimming 

 suit, some made with boots attached and some with stock- 

 ings merely. The soles of the boots are made ol a mixture 

 of rubber and cork bo as to prevent slipping on the river 

 bottoms. The pants can be worn next to the skin if desired, 

 or put on over an ordinary suit of clothing. Those whose 

 limbs have stiffened in the ice-cold water of streams which 

 they have waded in ordinary trowsers, will appreciate the 

 comfort of these protectors from wet, cold, and rheumatism. 



The assortment of other rubber clothing, such as coats, 

 capes, ponchos, blankets, etc., which the Goodyear Company 

 exhibits, is really astonishing to those who have never ob- 

 served what an infinite variety of articles can be made 

 from rubber. Sportsmen should use rubber more than they 

 have done. By so doing they will not only add to their own 

 personal comfort, but strengthen their health and lengthen 

 their days. There never was an excursion made when rub- 

 ber clothing of some sort did not come into service. Rubber 

 blankets should always be used underneath, and over, in 

 camping at night, if one is sleeping al fresco in the open air, 

 to protect from dampness below and the dew above. They 

 should always be spread under one sitting at a blind in a 

 meadow, Bink box, or boat. 



The Goodyear Company has a down town store at the 

 corner of Fulton and Broadway. At either place one can 

 supply himself with a most complete outfit of all sorls of 

 articles, and when he has gotten all together, pack them in a 

 rubber knapsack or bag, to be had at low prices. 



An Angler's Fish Story. — Here is a little episode of an 

 angler's life which ought to be put in brackets. The narrator 

 is himself the hero of the adventure. 



It seems that one day last year, while Walter M. Brackett, 

 the noted painter of fish portraits was angling for salmon in 

 the river Marguerite, in Canada, he was seated in one end of 

 the boat, his paddle and gaffer in the other, and his wife 

 amidships. Walter was trolling artistically, gently drawing 

 in the fly preparatory to swinging for another cast, when, 

 just as he lifted the line clear of the water, a huge salmon 

 came lunging after it with that fierce rush which his species 

 are apt to rnskj when they see the long-time dallying prize 

 suddenly lift it self from the surface and dart away. Bo great 

 was the upward impetus of the fish that he leaped clear of the 

 water and describing a graceful circumambient arc, landed in 

 John, the guide's lap, grazing his arm with a heavy weight ns 

 he fell. After flopping awhde in the bottom of the boat he 

 was stunned by a blow on the head and made quiet. 



Then, if ever, salmo salar the •' leaper" earned the fame of 

 his sobriquet. It was truly a " leap in the dark," as Tom Palhe 

 described the exit from life unto death. It was worthy of 

 immortality on canvas ; and Mr. Brackett should thus apo- 

 theosize it. But it came near bringing dire disaster. Hud 



the salmon struck Walter on the head, or knocked the paddle 

 out of John's grip, or disordered Mrs. B.'s coiffure, or 

 thumped the boat on the port gunwale, or slid off tlie stern- 

 post on its ear, the boat would probably have been capsized 

 in very deep water, aud Walter would never have survived to 

 paint the finest salmon picture which ever decorated an easel. 

 At all events, the fish would have got away aud escaped an 

 ignominious death by a thump on the head. 



Those pictures which we saw a fortnight ago in Mr. Braek- 

 etl's studio, are studies of salmon and sea trout, and are 

 thought to surpass his celebrated quartette series of the 

 " Rise," "Leap," " Struggle," and " Landed," which he sold 

 to England for $4,000 or $0,000 some five years ago, and 

 which he afterwardB duplicated by permission of the owner. 



Walter talks of removing his studio from Boston to New 

 York. The latter place being the farthest from the river 

 Marguerite, there will be less danger of his being struck on 

 the head by a vaulting salmon ; though some sturgeon in the 

 bay may some day take a header for him. 



Maine — Foxcrofl, May 19.— Immediately after the ice was 

 out of Sebec Lake Wilson stream was besieged by anglers, all 

 anxious to get there for the first run of the wary land-locked 

 salmon . Mr. E. W. Bailey, a noted angler of this place, re- 

 tired with thirty very fine trout, the largest weighing ilbs. 

 Evaster generally succeeds in bringing them to the landing- 

 net. Charley Dana, an Indian, returned from Sebec Lake on 

 Friday. He brought back with him twenty-eight muskrats, 

 which he shot and trapped in one night. The skins are 

 twenty cents each. The ice in Moosehead Lake has not en- 

 tirely left yet, but probably before this reaches you the lake 

 will be quite free from ice. H. 



Massachusetts— New Bedford, May 15. — The numbers of 

 marine fish in our market constantly increase. The principal 

 feature of the market this week are the salmon taken in the 

 "fish traps," the largest yet; came from Menimpsha, Mar- 

 tha's Vineyard, yesterday, weighing 23 pounds. Our trout 

 fishermen have been having fine sport, Mr. A. E. Lucas being 

 high hook with sixteen fisu, weighing 21} lbs. CobohA. 



— The fishermen who frequent Coney Island Creek to cateh 

 the first run of striped bass have recently taken some very 

 fine fish, ranging from half a pound to a couple of pounds. 



— The fishermen of Long Island are having extraordinary 

 luck with the menhaden just now. The factory at Deep Hole, 

 near Sag Harbor, has received 1,935,450 fish within four days, 

 ecmal to 225 barrels of oil and 200 tons of scrap. The factory 

 hus five steamers and several sailboats engaged in fishing, and 

 the works are so arranged that two steamers can be discharged 

 at once of about 90,000 fish an hour. At the Promised Land 

 factory of George Tuthill, near Amagansett, 2,000,000 fish 

 were used within a week, making 300 barrels of oil. On 

 AVednesday sixty vessels were cruising off East Hampton, 

 twenty of them steamers, and one steamer sent ashore the 

 news that it has taken 900,000 fish in twelve hours. — Kngle. 



New Jersey — Kinzey's Ashley House, Barnegai Inlet, May 

 17. — No bluefi8h of any account up to date. Black fob, sea 

 bass and flounders very plenty; from 25 to 50 per boat taken 

 daily on slack water. Sea bass run unusually large. B. 



YififtOttA — Leesburg, May 14. — To-morrow close season for 

 bass begins. A good many good catches have been made of 

 cowl-sized fish. Rev. Dr. Elliott, from Washington, with 

 Mr. Murray, took SOlbs. in a few hours on Goose Creek. 



Florida. Fishing Notes. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 April 10 — Wind southwest. Thermometer at noon, 80 deg. 

 Fished three hours in deep channel under the bluff ; got BIX 

 cavalli, Trachynotus carolinus, from 2 to 4 pounds in weight, 

 one of the most active and vigorous of fishes, game to the last-, 

 but not valuable as food ; also four blacklist!, Oentropristes 

 atrarius. In these waters they seldom exceed one pound in 

 weight, but are well flavored and delicious on the table ; 

 taken in deep water on rocky bottoms ; and one mangrove 

 snapper, of 2 pounds weight. 



April 19— Wind northwest. Thermometer at noon, 75 deg. 

 Same ground as before ; fished two hours this afternoon aud 

 got three cavalli of 2 pounds each, six sailor's choice or ssup, 

 Hidnulon ijHitlriUtieatwn ; one snapper of 3 pounds weight, 

 Sevranus erytlwgaster. This is a shy and wary fish, and, al- 

 though numerous in these waters, few are taken with the 

 hook compared with other species ; therefore we consider a 

 large snapper— say of 5 or G pounds— something of a prizg ; a 

 hard lighter when hooked, and good eating. The river is 

 now full of catfish ; one species, of 1 or 2 pounds weight, 

 much resembles the catfish of fresh water; the other, the" sea 

 cat, grovrs large, sometimes weighing 10 pounds, and is a 

 handsome aud active fish. Neither is eaten here. 



April 21 — Wind southeast. Thermometer at noon, 70 deg. 

 W r ent to the Inlet and fished four hours in a shallow cove ; 

 got nine baas, from 4 to 10 pounds in weight, Sc'anops ocella- 

 ius, called redfish on the Gulf, red drum in Virginia. This 

 is our favorite game fish. It is abundant, grows to a large 

 size — say 50 pounds — and is a fair fighter, like the striped 

 bass, making long runs and affording excellent sport for the 

 rod fisher. Got one salt water trout of 4 pounds, Cynoaon. 

 regalia, a very handsome fish, much resembling the. lake trout 

 of the Adirondacks in form, color and marking; except for 

 the absence of the adipose fin, one would take it for one of 

 the salmons ; is allied to the weakfish or squetege, but is bet- 

 ter eating. Got also one cavalli of 3 pouuds. 



April 24— Wind southeast. Thermometer tit noon, 70 deg. 

 Crossed the Inlet into the Htllsboro River, and fished at. Mas- 

 sacre Bluff ; got a few whitiug and pigfish, also a lady fish of 

 about 2 pounds weight, Scomber est®, a very active creature, 

 leaping three or four times out. of the water when hooked, 

 like a grilse, which it somewhat, resembles in form and color, 

 though not in edible quality, being bony and tasteless. After 

 this, two or three sheepshead, which at this season often take 

 cut mullet bait, but as it is the spawning time with them we 

 turn them buck to the. water. Then I hooked three sharks, 

 one of which, about 3 feet long, was brought to goC ; the 

 other twn. being large, took away the hooks and escaped. 

 After this a Stingray of some 50 pounds, which, after some 

 fifteen minirtes play, went off with hook and sinker. Then 

 to the Cove, where in shallow Water I got two Olbbiss. 



Halifax Inlet, April 16. S. C. C. 



MiotrlQAH— Detroit, May 17. — George F. Robinson, clerk 

 of the Superior Court, caught thirty-two bass in half a day's 

 fishing at Saudwich, Thursday j and on the same day W. C. 

 Colbtirn caught twenty-seven bass at. Point Moycaux the re- 

 sort ol the " Big Eight" Sporting Club. 



