p^ficfbl 



lMbesb 16, 1880.] 



FOKEST AND STEEAM. 



125 



day and fishing for dear life for a priza to be given for 

 the greatest number of fisli, paying an entrance fee and 

 going at it lilce a race-horse, a practice which seems to us 

 to be 30 foreign to the true angling spirit that we tliink 

 they should be called fish-killing conlests in place of 

 the present title. I^est any tliiiik we may have exagger- 

 ated what we speak of, we quote the following from the 

 FiMng Gazette, of Loudon, headed "Another Great 

 Angling Contest," which says : — 



Oa Mimriay 'last another of those g-reat angling contests, for 

 which Shellield is so noted, took place at Crowlo, neurThorne, 

 South Yorkshire. This \pa3 the lenlh autiual match got up b.v 

 • Mr. .lurvis .Sanderson, the host of the Crown Inn, Scotland street, 

 Sbellifiil, iind ibo house of nalivity for ShelBeld angling clubs. 

 Oji ihis uLvasion Mr. Samioraon offered fifty g-ulneas aad nearly 

 one hnnilrea otbrr pnz<;», tliL- ifif ts of hl.s friends, and from other 

 Bourcca. DeinK Ittiik Holiday there was a vaai: influx of visitors 

 totiiiaquin link: villimoon tho Keadljy Canal, the battle-ground 

 of »«o many like airaij s in days jfone by, and tho rendezvous, the 

 South Yorkshire lloloi, wa.s onoe more tho center of an un 

 equalled scene in angling, us it is generally understood. Some 

 TOUorSOO followers of ilie (?entle art wore gathered together, 

 mostly from .Shefflsld, but there were also many from London, 

 Bttrnaley, Doncaster, Wakefield, Hull, Peterborough and distant 

 towns, tho bulk brought by special train the same morning. Up- 

 wards of 370 paid the necessary entrance, three shillings, In order 

 to compete, and the ground taken up extended nearly five miles 

 from end to end, The weather, to begin with, was pretty favora- 

 ble, but during the afternoon a heavy thunderstorm passed over 

 • the district and douched the anglers not a little; but, like good 

 followersof old laaak, they stuck to their work as a rule, and 

 went gamely on. After llshing nearly four hours it was found 

 must of the takes were small. K. Brown, of Shellield, outdid the 

 Others with ave pounds and ihree fourths of an ounce : J.Rother- 

 hiim, of the same place, being at his heels with three pounds and 

 thirteen ouaceii, and H. Barber also got three pounds and two 

 ounces. The araalloess of the takes, however, was aeeouuled for 

 OS usual, by the flsh not lieing on the feed ; but it may be remarked 

 that a wag suggested that enough " ground bait " had bien thrown 

 Into tne water about here to take (he fish all the season to con- 

 sume. W hethin- 1 hat is so or not, it Is possible the flsh have got so 

 iised to lishing eonleats thai it is only the foolish ones that can 

 now he lured by ground or any other bait. There prevails a very 

 general opinion that the water contains ronch, bream, tench, chub, 

 perch and eels lu abundance; but the knowledge that pike is also 

 very plentiful causes some old hands to shake thehead dubiously. 

 At all events, large or small " takes" arc always welcome in a 

 match at Crowle, and It matters little whether the aggregate is 

 large or small. 



We dialilce fishing for count or brag in any shape ; dis- 

 like to fish with a person who braggingly refers to his 

 catch should it liappen to be the largtjst in the party ; 

 dislike to Itavc tlie question of beating come up in any 

 shape to show that there is any spirit of rivalry in the 

 company whicli, if composed of quiet, unobtrusive gentle- 

 men (this in contradistinction to tlie noisy gentlemen), 

 as it should bo, is entirely out of place, and it is ques- 

 tionable if it is good policy to publish the fishing score of 

 a party when its only object appears to be to show who 

 caught the moat. There are conditions when a score ap- 

 pears to Home advantage, as, when it shows that the fish- 

 ing is good or bad in waters little known, or which have 

 been recently stocked, but nothing can be in worse taste 

 thau to lish with a friend and then brag because you were 

 either more skillful or fortunate than he, by the brag di- 

 rect, speaking boastfully of it, or the brag indirect, pub- 

 lishing the score where your large figures make his small 

 ones hide their heads, while you appear to be merely 

 stating facts without the appearance of boasting. 



Oertaiuly the man who catches so many flsh in a day 

 that their number seems so great that one must apply his 

 arithmetic to ascerlaiu if it be po.^sible, or to learn how 

 many were taken in a minute, cannot have what an ang- 

 ler would call sport. The suspicion immediately arises 

 that he used co.ar8e tackle, and "yanked" or "snaked" 

 them out, both these expres-iiona are used by such peo- 

 ple, and an angler would prefer an hour's fight with a 

 sahnou or a proportionate time with a trout, according 

 to its weight, to the entire catch of the other, and we cry 

 sbaiue on the man who will kill his hundreds of finger- 

 ling trout or grayling just to brag of or " just to say that 

 1 killed them." 



Li ird Chesterfield's son appeared before him as hlack as 

 u chimney sweep, aad, in answer, said that he had been 

 down in a coal mine. His astonished parent asked his 

 reason for going into that dirty place. '• Just to say I've 

 heen there," answered the son. "And conldti't you say 

 SO without befouling yourself by going r" was the next 

 question. That is our idea ; if it i.s neces.sary to say bo, 

 We would have just as inuili iHspcct for Mr. Smalldutfer 

 if we knew that he lieJ uIj.jiu ii as « e would if we knew 

 that he had been criminally hoggish enough to actually 

 till hundreds of fingerlings which neither afforded sport 

 llor food, for we have passed that age when we can be- 

 lieve it possible for a man to kill 200 fair tTout 

 in a working day of ten hours, and do it in a sportsman- 

 like manner, Even if it were pos.sible, what it the use ? 

 unta to fish ten hours a day ? Our idea of angling 

 'rttion, and many a good day's en joyment is re- 

 ait.,,„ered when the catch amounted to little or nothing, 

 but the company and the sitrroundings were glorious, 

 ■when the secrets of the nutrorlden forest were in part 

 opened, and the wild duck led her doNvny young almost 

 Tipon the boat anchored just around the point, or the 

 muik was frightened at the sight of the infrequent man 

 hi LLspath. 



The literature of angling contains nothing on the aub- 

 j But of contests until withiu a few years, and all its tradi- 



tions are opposed to them, and unless a man is fishing for 

 market, we do not see wherein the size of his catch has 

 anything to do with his legitimate pleasure, unless he 

 shotdd catch an extraordinarily large specimen, when it is 

 perfectly regular to publicly announce it, thereby estab- 

 lishing a fact concerning the size which it is possible for 

 a fish to attain in a certain locality, but deliver us from 

 the angling contest gotten up to attract custom to the 

 bar of a public house. Our gorge rises at it. 



Game Protection in Wtomujo.— Advices from Wyom- 

 ing Territory give tis reason to hope that before long a 

 stop will be put to the reckless slaughter of 1 irge game 

 which has for years been going on there. Up to within 

 a short time there has been every prospect that Wyom- 

 ing would soon be as bare of large game as is a large 

 part of Colorado. But the formation of a game protec- 

 tive association, with some energetic men at its head, 

 now -seems to promise better things. 



We learn from one of the most prominent mem- 

 bei-s of this association that no efforts will be spared 

 to convict every man who can be found killing 

 game for any other purpose than to proctu'e necessary 

 food. We hope that this will be done, and if it is, 

 the slaughterers will have a bad time of it. It is true 

 that sonte who are innocent of any wholesale killing 

 may 8ufl:er with the guilty. But at all events such action 

 will tend to keep those who kill simply for the sake of kill- 

 ing, and to boast of their Imge bags, out of the country. 

 We understand that special efforts are being made to con- 

 vict a certain alien now in the mountains, and if these 

 attempts are successful, we shall be glad to announce 

 the fact. 



We have no doubt that special attention will be paid 

 by the game protectors in Wyoming to the skin hunter, 

 that curse of the frontier, that has depopulated so many 

 of the finest hunting grounds of the West of its hoofed 

 game. No punishment is severe enough for these scoun- 

 drels. 



The Game Fish of Texas.— We earnestly request our 

 angling readers to read Dr. Henshnll's letter with the 

 above title and paste it in thoir memories. We have 

 wept over the confusion of names of the fishes, and are 

 prejiared to weep again as soon as the onion crop is harv- 

 ested, over the persistency of local error. Dr. Henshall 

 deserves the thanks of all lovers of angling for his ef- 

 forts to set the nomenclature in the right groove, and we 

 hope that our readers Avill assist him by using tiiese com- 

 mon names. No matter if you have called a bass a trout 

 allyourlife and it comes awkward at first to caU it any- 

 thing else, you were wrong ; the usage of the civilized 

 vorld is ag.'jinst you and .says that no trout has spinous 

 rays in its fins. If we had not wept so much over this 

 subject we would try and wring a few tears out of oiu' 

 handkerchief over the pike perch that is called a "salmon" 

 in the Susquehanna, Mississippi, Ohio and other rivers, 

 but alas ! even the handkerchief has felt the efi'ect of 

 the drouth and we await the pungent onion. 



The Canadian Kennel Club.— We are heartily glad 

 to hear of the formation of the Canadian Kennel Club, 

 and have no doubt that it will, though young, attain be- 

 fore long a stout and vigorous growth. Certainly there 

 is no reason why it should not be in every way succosful, 

 supported as it is by some of the best sportsmen and 

 most prominent kennel owners of tho Province of On- 

 tario. We expect before long to hear more of the Cana 

 dian Kennel Club. 



The Habits of .Salmon.— We would call attention to 

 the very interestmg letter from Prof. Hind, on tliis sub- 

 ject, in another place. It is very evident that thei'e are 

 some people in the Dominion who di.slikc to have the 

 habits of salmon discussed, unless by some one who is in 

 entire accord with their own preconceived Anews. We 

 do not include in this category our own correspondent, 



'Stanstead," who respectfufiy differs with Prof. Hind, 

 and asks him for proof of the statements which the latter 

 has made. This is of course perfectly right, but it seems 

 that others have allowed themselves to indulge in the 

 silly practice of calling names, and personally abusing a 

 gentleman who dares to give his views upon the move- 

 ments of salmon, a course which never fails to injure 

 those who practice it. We have no opinion to express 

 concerning tlie merits of this controversy, and are not 

 only willing, but glad, to give both sides a fair chance to 

 express their opiniojis | merely asking that they do it in 

 a fair and gentlemanly manner. In fact, when a person 

 loses teinper in an argument, they r.ot only lose the 

 conlidence of the coniiuunity in the justness of their 



lause, but create a susx^icion that they have an object in 

 keeping the truth from tho public. 



Discussions on this subject tend to throw light upon 

 obscured points, and advance our knowledge of the hab- 

 its of our fishes, and no man has any right to take of- 

 fense at the expression of an opinion which dift'ers from 

 his. We do not pretend to understand the reasons which 

 make some of our neighbors over the line so jealous of a 

 discussion of a perfectly legitimate iBubjeot, 



— ♦ 



'-• ROUGH NOTES FROM THE WOODS. 



OAMPS IN THE WILDERNESS— HOW THEY ARE ORGANIZED, 



OWNED AND M.iNAOED — HOW THK OWNERS LIVE 



AND WHAT THEY LITE ON— GUIDES, OUID- 



INQ, BOATS AND BOATING — A WORD 



FUETHIiR OF HOTELS AND 



HOTEL KEEPERS. 



THE camps of the wilderness deserve a special notice. 

 Their name is legion and they are increasing at a 

 race that defies calculation. 



Let us start at the very foot of the Fulton Chain, not 

 at the Forge House, but below, at the huge dam, controlled 

 by the State, and used to draw off the lakes for publio 

 use, i. e., to feed canals, reseiwoirs and other State works, 

 as may seem good to those in power. Passing through 

 the marshy pond at the foot of First Lake, you enter the 

 channel proper, now one and a half miles, and pass In- 

 dian Rock, the spot where " Old Foster" shot his Indian 

 after a quarrel at the Arnold Place four miles lelovv. 

 Rounding the rock you have on your right evidence of 

 the effects of civilization and progress. Stretching away 

 to the dense green timber of- what is now the mainland, 

 there is a desolate waste of dead, decaying trees, lifting 

 their bare broken arms toward heaven in ghastly protest 

 against tlie arborean murderers -who tortured "them to 

 death by slow drowning. Motionless in the fiercest storm 

 they stand with their dead feet and legs in the dull 

 sedgy marsh. Almost imperishable, they have stood 

 there for more than a generation, and a generation 

 yet unborn will see the same ghastly sight. The sight is 

 such a picture of desolation that, paddling down the lake 

 by moonUght, I am careful to be always looking the. other 

 way. On the Woodhull lakes, on the Beaver, on the Os- 

 wegatchie and a dozen other waters, the same desolate 

 sight pains the eye of any tourist or lover of nature who 

 may chance to pass these wearisome " drowned lands." 

 But more of this anon. 



The line of dead "hop-poles," as they put it here, ex- 

 tends for about a mile, with a trend to" the southward as 

 you pass into the clear water of First Lake. Rounding 

 the bend of dead timber you see before you, across the 

 lake, a high pine-clad saiidy point with a flag flying above 

 the top of a tall thick pine. Below are buildings of some 

 pretension. Two well appointed log houses, one for the 

 guides, cooking aitd dining, and tiie other for the family, 

 men, women and children, to occupy. There is an e.x- 

 celleut boat-house ; another building "is a good storeroom 

 and ice-house : the whole'aiTair is well appointed, pleas- 

 ant, healthf id and costly. When I first visited "Camp 

 Stickney " Doctor Nk-Ik .is party were in possession. They 

 were employing three of the most experienced guides at 

 a cost of .$45 per week and board. They were not eager 

 anglers or hunters, but took their sport in a reasonable, 

 gentlemanly way, and their ice-house was never without 

 a .supply of trout and venison. 



Rounding the point on which Camp Stickney stands, 

 you see at your left, half way up Second Lake, a poplar- 

 covered sandy bluff. Passiiig this you come in sight of 

 the Eagle's Nest, the most noted landmark on the Fulton 

 Chain. The oldest guides could not tell me how long the 

 nest had been there. For several years the birds deserted 

 it, owing to tlie fusilade kept up by the cockneys of I he 

 Muggins tribe, who usually considered it the ^-orrecl 

 thing to empty guns and revolvers at the eagle's nest, oc- 

 casionally hitting a young eaglet. The thing is belter 

 ordered now. With one exception, no one lias fired at 

 iheiii this summer, and I saw them day after liay as 1 

 was watching for deer, standing on the edge of the'nV.^I , 

 flapping then- callow wings an.lscreaming for iisli, w hicli 

 the parents brought them in quantities that made one a 

 littlecurioustoknow just how many pounds of fish it 

 took daily to sui)pl3- llutt aerial camp. 



Piissing the Eagle's Nest, you have, on vour right an- 

 other of tho.se dreary wastes of drowned lands and dead 

 timber, of which the only good thing you can say is that 

 the dreary .spot is a good place to float for deer m sum- 

 mer, and affords duck shooting in autumn, lurn to the 

 left, leave the dead trees astern, and Third Lake Camp 

 or " Buell's Camp," is before you, a mile distant. It is 

 an old camp, known in the gmde books as the " Grant 

 Clearing." It has stood for many years ; has been oc- 

 cupied by more parties than I care to name, and is, to 

 my thinking, as iileasant a site as any on the Fulton 

 Chain. I made the ae(iua:ntance-of the present owner 

 A. G. Buell, at the Fui-e House. He had come in simply 

 to look after his ])i-oi). rty and go out again as soon as he 

 could make some business arrangeiuems. Ha was alone, 

 and lonely. He did not tike to cook ; thought of going 

 out in a day or two unless he coidd raise company to 

 stay with him. Now, I like to cook ; can do it well, and 

 I wanted a quiet place to lay ofl', paddle, fish, flo.at and 

 possess my soul in peace, lufeience is obvious 1 pad- 

 dled up to t:ie Third and became domiciled at But'll's 

 Camp. It is one of the pleasant episodes i shall not for- 

 get. But this is digressing. 



Every bout that passes up or down these lakes must of 

 course go up or down by inlet or outlet, and thev must 

 pa.sB directly in front of Buell's Camp. Passing "up the 

 inlet. It ia about eighty rods from this raui|j to' the foot 

 of Fourth Lake, and passing along the nonhern shure of 

 tins lake, roundmg a sandy pomt marked bv a solitary 

 lead pine, you come to the Snyder, or Cold Spring Camp. 

 This IS one ot the high-toned camps, already menitoned 

 Old to the southward, at the foot of ihe island r.pposif^ 

 sthe "CampCiiapui:" party consisting ot iwo vonng 

 uen from Roi-lie,ter, \\iili consumptivl- teiideiii-leo I 

 st<.piied there severaUimes, and fuund that iheir -nide 

 fred Rivet, was faitlitui m the perfurmanre ut ijisdoiies 

 so far as the supply of trout and vem.soji was ci inreiiuMi ; 

 but 1 'lid not detect any coughs or other evid.-nce of pid- 

 moaary diflicuUy. The vitals of the party seemed, to an 

 outsider, all right enough. But 1 notict-d a decitled con- 

 sumption of victuals, -with some drinlt. By the way, it 

 is claimed that the ti'ont, or salmon, are larger and of 

 better flavor in the Fourth than in the other lakes. And 

 I may mention that the Chapiu Camp guide stauda 

 "high hook 'on the Fourth, with a salmon weighing 

 twelve liounds as his record. 



But a word for the Little Moose Lake. The largest sal- 

 mon caught in th^e waters was caught on Little Moose, 

 by a Mr, Mdler. The fish weighed, by scale, twenty-five 

 and QUe-half potuids, and was of excellent flavor. 



