46 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[February 19, 1880, 



The mules left the road— in fact, made a new one with- 

 out the aid of a surveyor— and that alligator bounded in 

 the air as he never bounded before. Now arid then lie 

 would rap against a tree, but be scarcely touched the 

 ground, and I bad serious fears for a while that in his 

 anxiety to go ahead he might put a bead on me ; how- 

 ever, we. reaeln -d home at last, and the mules, completely 

 ■winded, stopped of their own accord. When we came 

 to sum up we found all the " run " taken out of the 

 mules, one tire gone, three spokes in another wheel 

 broken — in fact, the wagon a wreck ; my suit of clothes 

 torn to rags, and my person bruised, torn and bleeding 

 by the terrible whipping of the trees ami bushes over 

 Which we had passed ; and a fourteen foot alligator 

 with every bone broken and almost skinned by his con- 

 stant banging against the trees. More anon. 



Hair-trio; oek. 



FISHING IN THE GULF OF MEXICO. 



JUST as the sun was sinking in the West one June day 

 in the lowest of the Louisiana lowlands, the powerful 

 tow-boat Ocean steamed up to the wharf. Our party of 

 twelve or fifteen ladies boarded her. and with merry 

 music and song we ran out through the jetties, 



Do you remember how only a few years ago Mr. Eads 

 was criticised, and laughed at for proposing to hold the 

 grand river in -'Willow Walls;" how Congress reluc- 

 tantly granted him the privilege of operating, at his own 

 expense, on the smaller of the three passes, the one that 

 was useless for commerce, through which even the light 

 draught vessels that visited New Orleans could not pass- 



This vast river, which I have bunted and fished along 

 from its sources in the Rocky Mountains to its mouth, 

 brings down in solution with its flood an immense 

 amount of sand. At the broad lake, formed at the head 

 of the passes, where it separates into three mouths to 

 seek the ocean, it becomes sluggish. This causes the sedi- 

 ment to settle and form shallows, and the- same cause, 

 the rapid flow of the. fresh water beingdeadeued by strik- 

 ing the heavy wall of salt water, forms bars at the 

 mouths. After the Congressional permission was given 

 work was commenced. Vast quantities of willows were 

 - collected and interlaced into mattresses ; thousands of 

 tons of stone were brought from the Ohio, for wo have no 

 stone in these low lands, and with the stone the willow 

 mattresses were sunk, one on top of another, until two 

 long narrow lines were run through the swamps and out 

 into the Gulf. Dams and dykes were built at the head of 

 the passes to get the proper volume of water to run be- 

 tween these new banks. Wing dams were run out at 

 numerous points to narrow the channel, form eddies, and 

 to catch the sediment so that it would build banks against 

 the mattresses. Great cribs built of logs and ruled with 

 rock were sunk to protect the sea ends. Gradually the 

 current quickened, and what the engineers call the scour 

 commenced ; that is, tho current wore the bottom of the 

 channel away. It went on, little by little, and grew 

 deeper and deeper, and to-dav there is a clear channel of 

 twenty-eight feet' depth. The sediment settling in the 

 eddies of the wing dams has built a solid bank against 

 the mattresses on the river side, and the sand of the G all 

 has washed in against them on the outside and formed 

 reefs and great marshes covered with long grass and canes, 

 making a feeding ground and haunt for thousands of sea 

 birds and bay birds— a splendid winter sporting ground. 

 The jetties are now being capped with concrete. Towers 

 have been built on each end containing great iron cubes, 

 in which the concrete is mixed and emptied into a car 

 that is rim under it ; the car is then run out over a rail 

 track that extends along their top. Large plank molds 

 have been built, resting on the stone and willow ; into these 

 molds the concrete is dumped from the car and left to 

 harden into immense blocks of stone, some of which 

 weigh seventy-two tons. And now thewiilow walls that 

 so many laughed at are the solid banks of the river, the 

 new land forming on either side of them keeps them in 

 place, the current runniug through scours a deep chan- 

 nel, and the lateral current of the Gulf, running across 

 the ends of the jetties, will prevent any bar lonnation 

 there. The continuous parapet of concrete that is to 

 finish the top will form a solid mass of rock, against which 

 old ocean can lash himself to spray and rainbows. 



Steaming out on to the Gulf we reached the fishing 

 grounds. The music and the song ceased. Descending 

 to the deck we were soon engaged with tho lines and 

 bait that Capt, McClcllau bail kindly provided. 



Ku-st fish tor one of tha ladies, a beautiful sea trout, 

 Salmo trulta. Then a silvery ribbon fell, by another 

 lady. Amidst a splashing and screaming— for ladies will 

 scream when they go lishing— a red snapper was 

 drawn on board — a right noble fellow. We did not, ' 

 customary, '■ cut his throat to save his life." 

 is an inhabitant of deep water, and is so orgs 

 he cannot live in shallow, but smothers. Ileiie 

 is desired to preserve him alivn in tanks a ti 

 rim through his throat, cutting one of ins 

 With this pierced or cut, he can be kept, and 1 

 the surface a lc 

 history that cutt 



.Reader, are } 

 tasted red snappc 



sh 



d that 

 vhen it 

 steel is 

 d-bags 



natural 



be showed above water." At length he got a chance. A 

 quick lunge, and the boat-book was firmly fastened in 

 bis tough hide. Another hook was made fast, and he was 

 raised over the bulwarks, and added to the lady's pile. A 

 single switch of his tail, and where was that pile and sev- 

 eral others near ? lie scattered fish, chairs, men and 

 ladies in every direction, and we thought would hammer 

 the deck through with the terrific thumps of his tail ; but 

 the sailors soon showed their love for the family (Jar- 

 ehanas glancus by beating him to death with boat- 

 hooks. Another, but smaller one, was captured, and the 

 piles of food fish were augmented by catches from both 

 sides of the boat. 



The merry " Yo, heave alio," blending with the music, 

 song and laughter, reminded us that the anchor was 

 coming up for tho home run. Point A. L. Outre light 

 was seen to the east, and soon we were running in be- 

 tween the red and white lights that mark the mouth of 

 the jetties. The present lights are only temporary, but 

 it is the intention of the Government to erect two hand- 

 some towers, one. at the extreme sea end of each jetty — 

 structures worthy to mark the entrance to the conti- 

 nent's grand water way. 



Just as we passed in a great steamer passed out. Our 

 little tow-boat looked like a toy alongside of her, the huge 

 black hull, chimneys, shrouds and spars towering high 

 above us into the dai-kness, and we knew that she ex- 

 tended down into the wafer not less than twenty-five feet. 

 She bad come, over what had been the shoals at the head 

 of the passes, over places in the pass that three years ago 

 were covered by less than five feet, and was passing out 

 over a bar, on the turn of which at Southwest Pass the 

 Government bad spent years of time and millions of 

 money in an unsuccessful attempt to maintain by dredg- 

 ing a depth of fourteen feet, John A. Bioler. 



give the sheepsnead 1 

 niche one degree belo 

 this evening. We c 

 Tiie sheepsnead is 



j — the only 



lug's throat is a benefit. 



epicure? If S'l, have you ever 



from the brine, of the Gulf? 1 



place as a food Sail, but it is in a 

 nv. Both were biting right briskly 

 ould tell the species by the strike. 

 „ ^mparativelylazy, and not so gamy, 

 but the red snapper takes tho bail with a rush, and nghts 

 tj the end. . , 



We Caught small fry of all kinds, many of no value; 

 but one ul the ladies said, as she added a little cat to her 

 lot, -It's all lish that conies on my hook, and I am going 

 to take big and little to make my pile. t*«*ad hardly 

 finished speaking when she screamed and held back on 

 her line as if there was a runaway horse at the other end. 

 Oapt. McClellau, standing near, grasped the line and 

 called for a boat-hook; and now the tug commenced, 

 the gallant Captain and a pretty girl on one end and a 

 shark on the other. One moment the shark would seem 

 to be lmlhng them. overboard, the next the line would 

 c una slowly up. We all looked anxiously on, fearing the 

 line would Weak, or the Captain and the Judy be pulled 

 into the Gulf ; and 1 am Stub every sportsman will agree 

 with me that any result would have been preferable to 

 havms the hue break, One of the men stood by with a 

 boat-hook, as he said, " to give him aslomach-acho when 



THE LARGEST FISHING TACKLE ESTABLISII- 

 , MENT IN THE WORLD. 



V 



AND this is Alcock's 1 How familiar the name ! What 

 a host of reminiscences rise as we enter the doors — 

 '■ Round bend Kendall," " Kirby," " sneck bend," " Al- 

 cock's best ; '' all spring up like phantom forms. Through 

 the kindly courtesy of Mr. Alcock we were shown 



through the different apartments 

 manipulations the wire taken froi 

 until the delicately painted, japan 



the market. In one corner of a ri 

 pair of upright scissors ; with a qu 

 or more pieces of the required lei: 

 bundle of wire ; six to ten of th 

 iield firmly against an iron bar, : 

 with a sharp knife, for the barb. 



d saw the various 

 i the coil undergoes, 

 led hook is ready for 

 om there was a large 

 L-k snap two hundred 

 rth were cut from a 

 se pieces are taken, 

 nd an incision made 

 Next the filer takes 



each one separately with a pair of pliers, holds it 

 vise, and with a few deft movements of a file, the em- 

 bryo hook is pointed. Now they are bent on different 

 forms. This is the christening period. They come forth 

 Sproat, Limerick, O'Shaunnessy, Kirby, Kendall, Sneck 

 Bend, Hollow Points and Rounu Points. The hardening 

 process is the next in order. As we enter this depart- 

 ment cur nostrils are assailed by a fearful stench of 

 burning fish oil. We would like to retreat— an instant's 

 consideration — we decide to ignore the olfactory nerves and 

 keep on. Here we are shown rows of ovens, all filled with 

 pans of burning, blazing hooks. They are kept in this fiery 

 furnace from fifteen to twenty-five minutes, then taken 

 and thrown into the bath of oil. We were informed 

 they formerly used water for cooling, but now they con- 

 sidered oil the best. True to Yankee instinct, I queried 

 why. The workman did not enter into a learned discus- 

 sion on the molecular construction, or atomic properties 

 of steel, and the consequent differentiation of the parti- 

 les in cooling as a Boston girl might, have done, but 

 vith a wise nod and a firm pressure of the lips said, "The 

 >il is the best." I thought the oil wa3 used to keep visit- 

 ors from intruding. The hooks taken from the oil are 

 quite brittle. To remedy this they are reheated. During 

 this process, which lasts but a few minutes, they are 

 stirred briskly in sand. 



We next visited the scouring room. Here were eight 

 small barrels, all filled vith hooks and fine sand, revolv- 

 ing and turning round and round with a deafening clash 

 and clang. In this room the workmen escaped quizzing. 

 The noise was too much for me. Now for the finishing 

 touches— the japanning. The japan is a black, tarry liquid 

 made in Birmingham, the composition of which seems 

 to bo a trade secret, as I failed to learn it. Two coats of 

 japan is applied ; they are healed moderately in an oven 

 and thoroughly mixed after each heating. 



In the wareroom we are shown immense quantities of 

 hooks all sizes, done up in packages of thousands and lens 

 of thousands, ready to be shipped to all parts of the world, 

 Here is the small delicate hook for France, so diminutive 

 that the rude scale of inches has to bo laid aside and only 

 the French milimetre can do it justice ; hooks for 

 United States, Australia, and New Zealand ; 

 triple hooks, double hooks, hooks flattened, hooks ringed, 

 hooks headed, and hooks eyed, All kinds of hooks for 

 all kinds of fish. 



But the manufacture of hooks is only one depart- 

 ment of this establishment. In the ya'rd there are 

 stacks of cane and various wood seasoning for rods. The 

 rods an evenly tapered with a spring and action similar 

 to the Norris rod. We miss the delicate seven ounce 

 split bamboo that takes the precedence in the American 

 market. The flshermen on this side of the water are. so 

 enamored of their heavy double action rods that none 

 other suits, and the manufacturer must of course cater 

 to the demand, We were Shown a large variety of reels, 

 and lines of all kinds— the old-fashioned silk and hair, 

 dear to tho heart of a Scotchman. 



1 might admit the Hies were I he best made in Reddileh, 

 but I neither could nor would" grant they were equal lo 

 some made in i lie .Stales. A noticeable feature in the 

 improvements on fishing tackle are tlte artificial shrimp, 

 worms, frogs, beetles of various patterns, grasshoppers, 

 and a burly humble-bee; all remarkably life-like. The 

 spuming baits are legion in number and line in quality. 

 Their only drawback for the American market is the light 

 gimp and small hooks, a defect which can be very easily 

 remedied. 



Among the novelties for 1880 there is " the proper Col- 

 orado spoon." This is the result of a nigh Imam on the 

 arrival of the first Colorado beetle in Liverpool. It is a 

 long slim white ghost, with three arms ext»ading on each 



side ready to grasp— not the potato vines but the Gist un- 

 warv fish, On taking our departure Mr. Alcod; observes, 

 glancing around at all the paraphernalia of the craft, 

 " The. business is all a deception." Such is life. 



liedditch. Der.. f.V/i. SARA J. MlBkide. 

 * 



WitES to Stkike with a Fly.— Referring to 

 tions in your issue of 5th inst. in reference to the lime to 

 strike in fly-fishing, I think anglers will agree that I i 

 matter which, in the nature of things, decides ; 

 have no experience in any other fishing except that with 

 the fly in fluvial waters/and although 1 am, perhaps, as 

 keen-sighted as others I cannot remember any instance 

 in which I ever saw either a salmon or trout rising to my 

 fly in time to know whether it was in position to he 

 struck. " Frank Forrester" speaks of "the eye of faiih 

 and the finger of instinct," to which I attribute the suc- 

 cessful striking of either trout or salmon. It cannot lie 

 a matter of deliberation. You see the swirl made by the 

 salmon, or the " flip" of the trout, and you feel that you 

 have struck him with that instinctive movement which 

 we call the "turn of the wrist. " You may ma!:.:- the 

 casting and trailing of tho fly matters of careful and 

 scientific study, but~the strike is much more a matter of 

 the domain of " faith and instinct" than of sight and de- 

 liberation. D, G, Smith. 



Miramichi, N. B., Feb. 12th 



Fishkill Landing.— Feb. 16f7i. — In your issue of Feb. 

 5th 1 noticed an article headed " When to Strike in Fiy- 

 Fishing." Now without any idea or wish of changing 

 the theories of any one. or without claiming lb I E ■ 

 way is the correct and only one, T venture to gi; a 

 experience, and think perhaps in so doing I may induce 

 some of mv more skilled brothers to give their views 

 the subject, and in that way we may all obtain at least 

 one new idea. As a rule I have found'that the strike can- 

 not be given too quickly after the lish hn pjts He- water, 

 for the Instant a trout takes any artificial fly be deiec$ 

 the fraud and ejects it if not fastened. At times when 

 trout are not hungry and rise lazdy to the surface, they 

 do not come with h rush, but follow up the line and suck 

 it in. At such times the motion of the dorsal fin in the 

 water is often mistaken for the signal, and the strike is 

 given before the fish reaches the fiy. Anil then, again, 

 trout will leap clean out of the water and over the fly ; 

 at such times it is verv difficult to book them, but when 

 the fish are hungry and come straight for the. lure, strike 

 at sight, and more fish will be fastened than by waiting 

 to feel them ou the fly. For an illustration, think of some 

 evening when you have lingered on the stream for a few 

 more casts until it has grown so dark that you can no 

 longer see vour flies on the water, or your Bsh 

 the. only signal vou have is the splash as the old wily 

 trout darts from under an old log or rock where he has 

 passed the day in a dreamy sort of mood waiting for ev- 

 ening when he can come out and make his supper on the | 

 silver miller anil Other flies that are so unfortunate as to 

 drop on the water, At this time in the evening how 

 many more trout one fails to hook than when he can 

 strike at sight. That a trout will always hook himself, 

 as some maintain they will, is, I think, a mistaken ideal 

 although it is very often the case, and in my opinion 

 more of the fish" taken after dark hook Lhemselvfea 

 than are secured by any skill of the angler. What say ; 

 others. G. 



fft i{ jgww ift 



The New York Dob Show.— The committee of man- 

 agers of the Westminster Kennel Club have fixed upon 

 April 27th, 28th and 29th as the dates for holding their 

 fourth annual dog show in this city, and have leased the 

 Madison Square Garden (late Gilmore'si for that purpose. • 

 The premium list, which will be issued in a few 

 on a liberal scale, and in some respects an improvement 

 on previous years. For instance, EngUsh setters have 

 been divided into imported and native classes, and the 

 class for red and while setters, which caused so much | 

 confusion in previous years, has been done away with. 

 The show is also to last but three days, instead of four, a ! 

 change which will be hailed with joy by all exhibitors as 

 limiting the time that their dogs will be ou exhibition. 

 Mr. Chas. Lincoln has been reengaged as superintendent, 

 and takes possesion of his office at No. 141 Fulton street 

 (over Mouquin's restaurant) immediately The judges I 

 have not yet been fully decided upon. The CO 

 have written to Mr. Hugh Dalziet, Kennel Editor of the 

 London Field, inviting him to Come "\ or and judge the 

 imported classes, pets, etc. 



Perhaps the most interesting feature of this year's 

 show will bo the colly or sheep-dog trials, whichare to be 

 held in Central Park ou the sheep there on tho day fol- 

 lowing the last flay of the dog show. For these | 

 committee will give $100 in cash as prizes, and probably 

 other prizes will be offered. As there will pro] 

 no clog shows in Boston, Philadelphia or Baltimore this 

 year, the New York show promises to be on . 

 unusual magnitude. The names of the managers of this 

 year's show are C. DuBois Wagsialf, W. M. Tileston, H. 

 Waller Webb, R. C. Cornell and Louis B. Wright. 

 • 



National AMERICAN Kennel Club,— VW call special 

 attention to the notice in another column of Mr. Charles 

 II. Ravmond, President N. A. K. C„ v. ho, in his appoint- 

 ment of Mr. Charles De Rouge, of this city, as fe 

 has made an excellent choice. Mr. De R 

 mirably fitted for the position, being both a sticecssiid 

 breeder and an unusually fine handler of dogs. 



The conditions under which the first American Field 

 Trad Dolby will be run a j J ill our ad\'-rt ls - 



ing columns. Later on the dales and place will be an- 

 nounced, 



