Terms, Five Dollars a Year. | 

 Ten Cents a Copy. J 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 1875. 



( Volume 5, Number 1. 



1 17 Chatham St. (CityHallSqr.) 



For Forest and Stream. 



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^tont nnd §>mgMng jf/r^rms off 

 Uchigmf. 



OUR party lias returned from its annual fishing excur- 

 sion, this time to the trout and grayling regions of 

 Michigan, about the northern terminus of the Indiana and 

 Grand Rapids Railroad, and the waters that empty into 

 Grand Traverse and Little Traverse bays. As this is com- 

 paratively a new "field of operations" for the trout fisher- 

 men, I send this pretty accurate transcript from my note- 

 book for the benefit of brother sportsmen who may feel 

 disposed to visit the waters we have just left — regretfully. 



June 15. — Left Pittsburgh at 2 P. M. on special car on 

 Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad. 



June 16.— Fort Wayne, 2 A.M.; Grand Rapids, 10 A. M.; 

 Mayfield, Michigan, C P. M. , where our car was run on a 

 siding and we spent the night ; previous to retiring we en- 

 gaged guides and conveyance to the Boardman River, 

 which we proposed to fish the next day. 



June 17. — A rainy morning, neverthless we started at 7 A. 

 M. iu a wagon, the bed of which was convertible into a 

 boat or scow, for the Boardman River, at a point some five 

 miles across the country. The rain continued and the 

 weather was chilly and threatening when we got to the 

 river, which we found to be a shallow, rapid, cold, clear 

 stream two or three rods wide. It afforded good wading, 

 but we found it convenient to have a boat along. There is 

 little or no cover for trout in the Boardman, as the bottom 

 is sandy or covered with very fine gravel, and the only 

 shelter the fish have is under the logs that lie along the 

 shores, and even these are worn and polished, and the in- 

 terstices between them filled with sand by the long con- 

 tinued log driving that has been done on the river. 



We fished down four or five miles with indifferent suc- 

 cess; our party, four of us, taking only about thirty small 

 trout, but I had the good fortune to catch a grayling, our 

 first and only one taken in the Boardman. So much has 

 been written about this fish that I will pass over any de- 

 scription of it ; suffice to say that I subscribe in all respects 

 to itsgameness and beauty; and though I went West pre- 

 judiced against it, and jealous of the growing favor which 

 the few fishermen who have caught them gave it, likening 

 it to the speckled trout, yet I may as well confess that I 

 fished for grayling ever afterwards during my stay at the 

 waters of its habitat: 



Our impressions of the Boardman River were not favor- 

 able for reasons that I have given. We were, however, as- 

 sured by the guides and others that our bad luck was an 

 exception to the rule and ascribable to the weather and a 

 south wind. 



June 18. — We determined to move to Boyne Falls . While 

 attaching our car to the r up train, a young man on it enthu- 

 siastically appealed to us to go to Torch Lake, if we would 

 have fishing. 



"The lake is full of them. Catch 'em from the dock." 



"Trout?" 



"Yes," "spotted ones." Jerome caught eight hundred." 



We were persuaded . The appeal in the name of Jerome 

 persuaded us. Plain Brown, or Jones, or even Robertson 

 would not have moved us, but Jerome did it. Our canny 

 Scotchman yielded to Jerome, and,, all agreed to go to 

 Torch Lake. If Jerome should ever see these notes about 

 him, I hope he will not be offended, for in our "subsequent 

 proceedings" we frequently heard of him and his "eight 

 hundred," and generally in the way of comparison, when 

 "comparisons were odious." The change of plans were 

 communicated to the conductor, our car uncoupled, and 

 the train and Jerome's man left us . Soon the other train 

 was signalled, stopped, our car attached, and at noon we 

 reached Traverse City. We learned that the steamer 

 would not go North till the next day, so we chartered a 

 fisherman's boat and spent the afternoon sailing on the 

 bay, visited his pound nets, in which we saw great numbers 

 of lake trout, whitefish, and herrings, and called upon a 

 small boy, though a big fisherman, who had twelve splendid 



lake trout in his boat, which he had just caught with a 

 hook and line, using a herring for bait. Our skipper esti- 

 mated their combined weight at over seventy pounds, and 

 bought them at the rate of five cents per pound. A fiuer lot 

 of fish we had never seen. On our return a nice laker of 

 four or five pounds was caught by trolling, which together 

 with a whitefish was served up for supper in a capital 

 manner by our chef du cuisine. At this place we were first 

 told about a wonderful "speckled trout" that was caught 

 in the Boardman near the city that weighed over five 

 pounds and measured twenty-four inches, (and grew to 

 twenty-six inches in an hour or so, we observed) . The out- 

 line of the monster was drawn "very carefully and accur- 

 ately" by a young lady and placed on exhibition, but she 

 had innocently given the drawing the deeply notched tail 

 the fish had certainly worn when it wandered up from the 

 lake. 



June 19, 7 A. M.— On steamer Van Raalte for Torch 

 Lake. Torch Lake is only a long half mile from the Bay, 

 accessible by a tram railroad, but we concluded to take the 

 long route to it, some forty miles, via a chain of interior 

 lakes, said to be remarkable for the beauty of their scenery. 

 Therefore we left the boat at Elk Rapids, dined there and 

 proceeded on board another steamer up Elk River, Elk 

 Lake, Round Lake, Torch River, and Torch Lake to 

 Lewis' Hotel, pleasantly located at the head of the lake. 

 It is a first rate house, well kept and comfortable. After 

 tea we caught some small speckled trout "off the dock." 



June 20. — Fished at the dock, caught more small trout, 

 crossed the lake to a stream where "Jerome had met with 

 great success." Found the stream almost dry, and were 

 driven back to the lake by mosquitoes. Here a man sent 

 us to another stream that had a "mill dam full of trout." 

 Jerome must have caught them all, w T e could not get a rise 

 Back, and fished the lake at the outlet; no fish. Then re- 

 membered it was Sunday, and we returned to Lewis'. At 

 the landing found the whole population of the village on 

 the dock fishing, occasionally capturing a trout, but more 

 frequently a perch, each capture creating much excite- 

 ment. They did not want us to carry away the few fish 

 that Jerome had left behind . 



June 21. — Chartered a tug to take us to Rapid River, 

 eighteen miles down the Lake, and employed a guide to 

 conduct us from the landing to the old bridge, a short dis- 

 tance up the river. The guide proved to be a blind guide, 

 led us a wild-goose-chase seven or eight miles across a 

 sand plain to a lone cabin, where he was convinced that 

 we had gone estray directly from the river. Tired, thirsty 

 and in an exhausted condition, we retraced our steps, and 

 at length found the river at an unknown place to the guide, 

 at a new bridge. The stream was deep and dark, covered 

 with fallen cedars and brush, the bottom composed of 

 vegetable soil and quicksand. Fly-fishing was impossible 

 on it, and bait-fishing difficult, though probably good, but 

 requiring the activity of a wild cat to climb over and 

 under and around the cedars, the skill of Blondin to walk 

 their half submerged and swaying trunks, and the 

 hide of an Indian to endure the incessant attacks of the 

 mosquitoes. As we were lost we struck lor Torch River 

 through the woods, and after a weary tramp reached it. 

 Here we rested and lunched. A settler took us to the old 

 bridge, where we fished and caught some handsome trout. 

 Rapid River from this point to its mouth is navigable by 

 small boats which are necessary to successfully fish it. It 

 doubtless affords excellent sport, as the specimens we got 

 there were large; and a string we saw in the hands of a 

 native aroused our enthusiasm. The largest weighed two 

 and a quarter pounds. But we were too tired to enjoy 

 more fishing that day, so we walked to the landing and 

 returned by the steamer. 



June 22.— Concluded to go to the Boyne River, via 

 Petoskey, to which place we telegraphed our car to be sent. 

 Loafed around all day, there being no steamer north. It 

 was a delightful day and we enjoyed the pure air as it came 

 to us over Lake Michigan. 



June 23. 1 P. M.— On steamer Van Raalte to Petoskey; 

 7 P. M. Petoskey; 8 P.M. train to Boyne Falls. At Boyne 

 Falls Mr. T., of Grand Rapids, joined our party. By his 



advice we reshipped our baggage and returned to Petoskey, 

 whore we spent the night. 



June 24.— Steamer Van Raalte again to Charleroix, took 

 dinner there, and employed guides and boats, and on steam 

 tug went up Pine Lake by south arm to Jordan River, 

 fifteen or eighteen miles and encamped opposite its mouth. 

 Storm with much rain during the night. 



June 25.— We feel this morning that our wanderings are 

 at an end. Mr. T. is at home, and we are not dependent 

 upon any one for directions or advice, At an early hour 

 all hands, each with a guide and boat, cross the lake, and 

 row and push up stream. Mr. T. and myself proceed 

 eight or nine miles, leaving the others scattered along the 

 river at convenient intervals. Going up I observed that 

 the Jordan is a deep stream of pure cold spring water and 

 a "hard road to trabble," with pools and rapids, and a few 

 places shallow enough for wading. It has hiding places 

 for the fish among the cedars and logs, and like all the 

 streams we have seen in this country, contains no rocks 

 and but little gravel, and the bottom is composed of sand 

 and quicksands, sometimes covered with a growth of water 

 weeds. It is a beautiful stream, protected from the sun 

 by dense forests, and wide enough for the longest casts. 

 Above Grass Island we began to fish, and for several hours 

 caught trout and some grayling to our heart's content, till 

 the sport grew monotonous and degenerated into labor, 

 and then we quit out of respect for ourselves as sportsmen, 

 and floated down to WebsteiV landing, where we tied our 

 boats, filled a bucket with trout and tramped through the 

 woods to his cabin, where we remained all night. 



June 26.— Started back to the river, pushed up a mile or 

 so, and again began to fish, till fairly tired of catching them 

 we pulled up our rods and swiftly floated back to camp. 

 At camp we were rejoiced to learn that other members of 

 the expedition had had good sport. We had more fish 

 than we knew what to do with, so a barrel was purchased 

 and the guides set to work to clean and pack them to take 

 home. In some of the boats that were provided with wells 

 that permitted a free circulation of water many fish were 

 preserved alive till the day we started home. 



The Jordan River nearly realizes the flattering descrip- 

 tion of it in the "Tourist Guide" of the Indiana and Grand 

 Rapids Railroad, and no one who visits it with proper 

 equipments will be disappointed in the number of trout it 

 contains, though they may not average as .large as some 

 would be led to expect in such a stream. There seemed 

 to be little choice in the selection of flies for this river, 

 though we found larger flies than we were accustomed to 

 use at home preferable, and here I found the red ibis a 

 killing lure, having always heretofore looked upon it as 

 only an ornamental feature in a fly-book. And now I may 

 mention that I lost my only red ibis fly on a large trout, 

 and extemporised an imitation with a piece of red flannel 

 cut out of my drawers, and with the nondescript immedi- 

 ately took three large grayling and many trout. 



June 27. — This morning we struck camp and moved 

 around the other arm of the lake to Boyne River. We 

 caught some fine trout in the morning. During the night 

 we had a heavy storm with much rain. 



June 28.— Boated up the Boyne River a mile or two, 

 fished, but caught few fish on account of the condition of 

 the stream, owing to the heavy rain of the former night. 

 On our return we got some black bass by trolling. 



June 29.— Fished again on the Boyne, took some trout 

 and several grayling, but the river being still out of condi" 

 tion returned to camp. 



The trout in the Boyne are fewer than in the Jordan 

 but they average much larger, and are of that dark color 

 with red and orange fins, which fishermen love so much. 

 The water of this stream, unlike the others we visited, ex- 

 cept the Rapid River to some exteut, is dark colored. It 

 is navigable only a short distance from the lake, but 

 above we were told there are miles of it that have never 

 been fished. 



This day we started home. We were surfeited with 

 trout fishing during the last few days, having taken upward 

 td two thousand, and on our arrival home we found w@ 



