AnarsT 25, 1881. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



71 



|i?a md §iver $inhin#. 



mfrnlmalU. 



tin* 



FISH IN SEASON IN AUGUST. 



FRKSH WATKK. 



Stizotetliium snwsn'canurn, S. 



;i,!*mM, etc. 

 •yellow Perch, Perm jtnviatilis. 

 Striped Bass, Ravens linmtus. 

 White Haas. Moccuh enri/nopt. 

 Rock Bass, Amblapliten. (Two 



Bpecles). 

 War-mouth, Chanobrj/ttusgiuom . 

 Crapple, Pamoxys nigramaautofyyi' 

 Bachelor, PomoxyH annutarin, 



Cllllll, .S'.:' r>l .■ ' rv' :'.'., i-'/r/Trrf.'., 1 ; ;. 



Shad, Aloaa eapidi:-^ 1 ;, •. 

 pike) 



8A.LT WATER. 



Weak-fish or Seiuetague,C.tmosq/on 



rcnaiin. 

 La layette or Spot, Liostomwiabli- 



Salmon. Raima salar. 

 BlMoR Trnill, .Silte'./l'tl 

 Kalnbow Trout, Salvia irtaea. 

 Dolly Vaiden Trout, ,sWiv.'i',,»k 



mat?, ,,. 

 Grayling, Tlfymaltus tricolor and 



■ ■ I 'a!, •• "; ',■,.." ,.,i|.i'.' 



and 3/ j"' 



, I- ■-. BaiW unhilior. 

 Pickerel, fc'Biu: «u.:titatoi. 

 Pil;e. or I'lelcerel, h*hs luc' 

 Pike-perch (wall-eyed 



li'lvllBll, Rm 



■.'. Ivlli Perch. Unr.m,' a mrrimna. 

 Bluetish or Taylor, PomatomUK 



gl 5p ..| P| i'.-I . (| |1 i»»MJS anjy- 



rojs. 

 Pnllni'k. I'ui<a,-lnu» r ri , hnnariiut, 

 fautog or RlacUrish, Tauloga 



nmtin, 

 Spani=ii Mackerel, Cyblum tiiaea- 



lai 



Channel Bass. Spot or Rednsh, 



Sqitsitops ocellatus. 

 Slieepshead, Archoamgw probato- 



cphalus. 

 KlngQsh or Barb, JUmtidrrus 



nebulo&u*. 



Ffitu-nop, certainly. Is a necessary qtiallflcatlon in an angler. In- 

 deed, I remember a Thames fishermen who, on my evincing some 

 dtsiura-.uiv at in it having the good sport he. promised me, very coolly 

 told me that I should never make a good angler 11 1 could not flsh a 

 whole day In a bucket of water without showing Impatience.— Ed- 

 wam Jesse. 



O.N KING'S LAKE. 



OUR c'ub, tho " Troy King's Lake Fishing and Hunt- 

 ing Club," has not. bo long a name, nor S3 large a mem- 

 bership as some, our constitution limiting our numbers to 

 seven, beside Wacosta, the cook, called "Coose" for short. 



We in: all business men residing at Troy, Lincoln County, 

 M<>. , a village of a thousand, more or less, situated iu the 

 midst of a splendid farming and grazing country and, by 

 the way, a point, well worth viHiting by any person desiring 

 to move. West from ike older States. Land is fertile, and 

 Chean. We We twelve miles from two railroads, with an- 

 other railroad grided to run through the town. Best advan- 

 tages ill the way of si.ciety, churches and schools; not a 

 Whisky ship iu [he town, and only three in the county. 



King'* Like lies in the eastern part of Lincoln County, 

 Mo., and is funned by tho widening of Bryant's (.'reek. It 

 is eigll miles lung, StiO yards wide at widest, and from five 

 to twenty feet deep. It empties into the Mississippi River, 

 Which at moderately high water backs into the lake, bringing 

 in vast quantities of tish, many of which run out when the 

 water falls. The St. Louis King's Lake Fishing Club have 

 a clubhouse on the eastern bank, one and one-half miles above 

 the foot of die lake, commodious aud well cared for. Their 

 members, bo far as we have formed their acquaintance, are 

 gentlemen, and our club is uuder many obligations to them 

 for favors shown. 



Camping out eacli year as we have done, experience has 

 taught us to reduce our traps to necrssaries, hence only two 

 wagons are requited for our transportation. Sunrise of eac-h 

 third Monday in October find us en route; 11 o'clock finds 

 one wagon with three men catching minnows in Sandy 

 Creek, seventeen miles from home and five miles from our 

 camp on ihe lake. The other wagon with four men and 

 O lOSfl lias gone on to c imp. By the time we arrive there at 

 three i ,'cloek, they wdl have the tents set up, aud will be gone 

 for a load of straw for our bed. The remainder of the even- 

 ing is used lip in fixing up for housekeeping, aud getting 

 fjs'h for supper and breakfast. 



We own i. wo lent", one of twelve ounce duck, fourteen by 

 sixteen feet, the other eight by ten. In the commissary de- 

 partment for our two weeks' supply we have fifty pounds of 

 home-mide bead, fifteen pounds of coffee, roasted and 

 grouud ; twelve pounds of butter, twenty pounds of sugar, 

 ten pounds of lard, ten pounds of bacon side, spices, pickles, 

 cakes, etc., quantum suf. All these are packed in a mess- 

 box, three feet squ re by two and one-half feet deep, with a 

 movable shelf half way down. We also own a dozen plates, 

 a dozen liu cups, a dozen knives and forks, a dozen tea 

 apo ms, p >ts, kettles and pans, axe, hatchet, saw, heating 

 stive, tish box, minnow box, minnow seine, etc. Our total 

 exp use for the last four years has been 8 03, which includes 

 the purchase money for our entire outfit. It also includes 

 $i5, which whisky cost us the first two years. The last two 

 years we have used no whisky, and find that we do as well or 

 belter with >ut it, hence have decided that we'll have no more 



of u. 



Tun* [ay morning finds ns all gone from camp, some hunt- 

 ing, some fishing. The fish we have are the black bass from 

 eight pcuuds down, striped bass from two pounds, and crop- 

 pie from eighteen inches down. The latter are the most 

 plentiful, and a good catch is about seventy-five per day for 

 each rod. As a matter of sport catching croppie don't re- 

 mind meof much. When they are biting free, all that is neces- 

 sary is to provide any kiud of a hook, line and pole, a two- 

 inch minnow, dead or alive; plump your hook down into a 

 brush heap, and you get bites fifty to the hour. The first 

 thing for the lyro is to learn how to drop a hook three feet 

 deep in a tangled brush heap, aud to get it out agaiu without 

 loosing a hook or line at every other drop. A half ounce 

 sinker helps the matter somewhat; patience and persever- 

 ance do the rest. When a croppie bites you lift biru in — no 

 kick — no run — no nothing, but to take him off and put him 

 in Ihe can. 



Catching bass is ft diffi rent kind of business, and much 

 slower from the fact that, a brush heap will only afford two 

 c r three, and you may be sampling round for an hour before 

 you find them. When one does bite you'd best "look a lit- 

 tle out," or you'll lose tish. line and all. Iu fishing for bas3 

 don't forget to have an open space so that you can run him 

 out of Hie brush or away from ihe log. Should you try main 

 strength and awkwardness on hira ten to one he gets av ay 

 Unless you sb n Id be fishing with tickle only becoming a pot 

 fisher. The striped hass of King's Lake la the handsomest 

 fish in these water?, and ihegaiuest. Oaeof a pound weight 

 Will llgtt equal to a black bass of a pound and a half, and 

 when you get him out he stares at you with his big black 

 eyes, ever) Bn erect and bristling, a picture of rage and defi- 

 ance. We have named Mm the "tiger." Four of our club have 

 reels, joint rods, etc. The others, making hunting more a 

 ,-, ii-li with the ordinary reed pole. I don't know but 

 they catch as many fish as we do, but for my part I don't en- 



joy fishing unless I can wind up short, or throw out long, as 

 fancy strikes me. and sometimes I want to put a hook way 

 under a brush heap where a. long line couldn't, go ; then too, if 

 I should strike a bouncer I'd have some show to get him. On 

 King's Lake we never tish with a fly. Firstly, the. water is 

 not suitable in color, and the fish would not rise to a fly. 

 Secondly, fish are only found in brush heaps aud drifts, or 

 under old logs, where a tiy could not get to the water. 



Getting back to our camp as the shadows fade, we find the 

 hunters all in, sitting around the blazing fire, toasting their 

 feet and recounting the adventures of the day. Hanging on 

 the adjacent trees, sundry bunches of mallard, teal, quail, 

 etc., attest that they have not been idle. Qrito and Fonto 

 lie sleeping under the wall of the tent ; Coose is turning the 

 croppies on the pan for the third time ; a fragrant aroma of 

 boiling coffee greets our olfactories, and we hasten to put off 

 our long boots, don our slippers and join the crowd. By 

 this ti i e the merry rattle of the gong (dish pan) calls us. For 

 ha'f an hour "the crackling of the bones, Kate, is all the sound 

 we heard." Supper over, a soothing pipe, while more tales 

 occupy half an hour, by which time the lamps have been lit 

 in the parlor, a good fiie made in the stove, the table spread, 

 chips counted out and we proceed to the business of the 

 evening. For three hours every fellow tries to win all the 

 money, the main point of the game being to break the Col- 

 onel. When this happens, which it does once in about two 

 years, the shouts and yells of laughter may be heard a mile, 

 while general handshaking aud congratulations pass all 

 round. At eleven silence reigns supreme, save the frogs iu 

 the ponds, the occasional paddle— paddle of a steamer going 

 up or down the river, a half a mile away, and the resonant 

 coffee mill grinding of Bonny and Jim. 



As goes one day, so goes the next — unless it rains ; and 

 then how cross every fellow gets, and how he wishes lie was 

 at home with the old woman, and wonders how he ever was 

 such a fool as to leave the comforts of a home to come way 

 down here to wallow and wade around in the mud ; we get 

 tired of reading, sleeping, playing, talking and tired of the 

 world generally. Supper is a drag, and dark finds every one 

 asleep or grumbling because his rheumatics won't let him 

 sleep. That's the way in most camps, but not so in ours. 

 We have rubber hip boots and overcoats, wide rim hats and 

 don't stop for an ordinarjr rain. Our tent is as tight as a 

 house, ditched and banked all around, aud we can be just as 

 comfortable as if we were at home. When Sunday comes 

 we shave, put on white shirts, some of us go over on the 

 bluff to chinch, some go up the lake visiting and some while 

 the hours away reading and sleeping. 



Our bed is of straw a foot and a half deep. Each man is 

 required to bring two blankets and a pillow After a day's 

 work this seems like a feather bed. Uncle Alex tried a cot 

 bedstead one year, but be became tired of bis cot in two 

 nights, and was glad to come, down aud bunk with us. 

 On our October Trip we have no mosquitoes. In warm 

 weather, when they are bad, we take our tent down during 

 the day, leaving the stakes standing. A Tier night falls we 

 put it up, climb under, raise the wall a few inches for venti 

 lation, and not a skeeter skects under, although outside we 

 hear their hmi like a swarm of bees. 



The question of one of your correspondents prompts me to 

 write a description of one of our boats. What we wanted 

 was a boat large enough to carry two with their plunder, so 

 constructed that il could be hauled across country twenty- 

 three miles without leaking, and steady, besides being cheap. 

 We took two dressed clear pine inch boards, twelve, feet long 

 and fourteen inches wide for gunwales, sloped the ends a 

 foot, leaving six inches face at ihe end ; fastened a half-inch 

 cleat four inches from the top for four seats to rest on ; 

 fastened a cleat at bottom for ribs to rest on ; cut 

 ribs, seats ard end boards thirty-four inches long. Ribs are 

 two and one-half inches in centre, sloped to one inch at 

 ends ; eight of them are enough to supp rt the false bottom 

 or floor, although we have eleven. The bottom of the boat, 

 is of canvas, 44 inches wide, waterproofed with beeswax and 

 tallow, melted or ironed in with a hot sad-iron. (The next 

 time I will lay on the wax and set it out iu the sun to 

 melt.) The canvas laps over and is fastened to the gunwale 

 by battens and screws at such distance as will stretch it tight. 

 Three iron rods, similar to the rods in end gate of a wagon 

 and made of quarter inch iron, tighten aud hold everything 

 together. The rowlocks are set, on a six-inch piece of inch 

 stuff and bolted to the gunwale with quarter-inch bolts and 

 project three inches above the top of gunwale. We use 

 seven foot ash oars. A mast twelve feet high carries fifty 

 square feet mainsail and a spinnaker of thirty square feet, 

 and with a fair breeze carries us about six miles per hour. 



When knocked down for transportation the seals, ribs and 

 rods are put in a two-bushel bag ; the canvas is rolled up, 

 aud gunwa'es and false bottom lie loose in the bottom of Ihe 

 wagon-bed. She weighs about 100 pounds; and cost, in- 

 cluding three coats or paint, §10.50. Can be taken down 

 or put up in about fifteen minutes. She floats like a duck, 

 and is as steady as a raft. Two men can carry her any- 

 where. She suits us exactly. 



The third Monday of October will find us there agaiu for 

 three weeks, three-quarters of a mile below the club house. 



Old Hioeoey. 



WORMS IN BLACK BASS. 



Jersey Suoes, Pa., Aug. 15. 



ABOUT seven years ago our river, the west branch of the 

 Susquehanna" was stocked with black bass. We have 

 been fishing for them for the past three years. They are 

 caught in reasonable numbers and of fair size, up to four 

 pounds in weight. But our sport has been considerably in- 

 terfered with by the discovery, within the last two weeks, 

 that the fish ar<; full of worms. The worm is about one- 

 quarter of an inch in length and one-thirty-second in diame- 

 ter, thicker at one end than the other, yellow in color, and 

 when taken from the fish are quite lively. Iu moving their 

 motion is similar to that of the common angle worm. 



The fish present a perfectly healthy appearance, both in- 

 wardly and outwardly. The presence of the worm is not in- 

 dicated by any sore spots or marks of any kind, but is found 

 imbedded in healthy meat, What wo would like to know is, 

 is it a common thing with this fish ! What is thec&OSor 

 And does it unfit them for eating? By giving us some light 

 on this subject through your paper, you would not only 

 oblige an old subscriber hut a whole community.— Feanr 

 Trump. 



Wilkbsbaeee, Pa., Aueust 21. — I am sorry to bother you 

 about ft question that you have written about in your paper, 

 hut I have not been able to find the certain number, It is 

 about worms in black bass. For the last week very many of 

 the bass caught here in the Susquehanna are infested wilh 

 -worms in the flesh, mostly in the back. I have not seen them 



myself, but a friend of mine and also my son describes them 

 as' resembling the woi ms found in chestnuts, but smaller. It 

 bus disgusted people with the bass Will you kindly ull me 

 turouih your paper whether the worms are likely to I. avo 

 the fish iu a short lime or how lung they usually remain in 

 the flesh ■{ Dou't tnink they are hurtful lo Ihe eat<-r, but the 

 Bight of them is, of course, enough to give up eating bass-. 

 The eels aie also said lo be full of worms just now. 



Ans. — ThiB question is coming in from all quarters. tfee 

 correspondence in this and last issue. Read article emitud 

 " Worms in Fishes." in issue of June 16, 1881, page 390. 



Every year these rejiorts come in. It i= natural for the 

 fish to have these parasites, and we eat lass, wurms aud all. 

 If you want the worms worked up, put a piece of the flesh 

 containing plenty of them in alcohol for a week, and then 

 take it out and wrap it in muslin wet wilh the same — or put 

 il. in a vial of glycerine. Box it and send it to Mr. F. W. 

 True, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C, advising 

 him at the same time, or to Mr. R. T. Morris, New Haven, 

 Conn. 



MY FIRST FISHING TRIP TO THE AU SAUBLE. 



MY first fishing trip to this river was made in 1874, 

 during the uionth of June. There were four of us in 

 the party: Geo. MacF., T. H. M., W. J., more often kto.^n 

 by the name of "Silas," and myself. We left Stratford 

 about one o'clock, and by dark were comfortably fixed up in 

 our tent on the rivi.r bank cooking our first meal snd en- 

 deavoring as well as we could to work, and kill the insect 

 population at the same time. After we arrived at Port 

 Franks we got three boats from old Adam Ki iitnedy, a 

 resident there, t hen hauled our baggage to the river b ink 

 aud having stowed it all away, we started d iwn the river. 

 About half an hour brought us to ourdestiuaton, a nice spot, 

 of high land in a small grove of poplars. The tent was, 

 soon put iu good shape, and then the before men ioued 

 supper followed. After this a game of cards and a smoke 

 pissed away the time before turning in. the list operation 

 before closing up for the night b.ing the fumigating of the 

 tent with a smudge built in a frying-pan to clear out the 

 mosquitoes, sand flies, el id genus omne. If this process 

 was well attended to, there was a chance of being able to get 

 a little sleep, but if it was not. it was war to the knife until 

 daylight. 



The river opposite our camp was about 150 yards wide, 

 and ran parallel to Lake Huron for about five miles, uoihing 

 but a range of low sand hills sepiraiing theiu, so we bad 

 nothing to do but. cross the rivi-r aud ruu over the neck of 

 sand about two hundred yards to gei the open lake for bath- 

 ing in. The river was very deep, without any current, and 

 fi bd in places wilh sand br.rs which were great places for 

 the bass in spawning time. The shorts were lined with 

 rushes and water plauts which gave cover to imny a Lrge 

 and hungry pike and bass, who here found a good hiding- 

 place. 



On the morning after our arrival I turned out at daylight 

 and, taking one of the b'iftts, floated down lill I came to the 

 foot of one of the sand bars which I thought was a pr imi-ing 

 looking place. Tieing the boat to astimp, I jointed my 

 rod ami began operations, and with such good success, that 

 by eight o'clock, when 1 returned to camp, I had nearly 

 sixty fine bass in the bottom of my boat. The others had 

 not. done to well, not being accustomed to bass fishing. I 

 first used worms, then five minnow, but soon changed to a 

 small silver spoon painted red inside. This I trolled with 

 the rod, and I seldom had to make two cas'B witho.it draw- 

 ing a prize. 



The rest of th" day was spent in preparing the fish to take 

 home and in rifle practice. I had brotulr, my twenty-' 

 two calibre rifle with me, and a plentiful supply of car- 

 tridges, so the time passed away pleasantly enough. Iu 

 the evening about sundown we tried the fishing again with 

 the addition to my score of about half the number caught in 

 the morning. 'I hen supper, and war or smoke again. This 

 night some sand fleas found us out, and they cared naught 

 for smoke, so it was out of Scyl a into Charyhdis. The 

 mosquitoes were driven out, but the fie is bit and held on. 

 After vainly trying to sleep, one of the parly took possession 

 of the only hammock, aud stringing it up outside, bravely 

 resolved to face all the mosquitoes in the c <u;try rather than 

 face other insect tormentors that could not be got at. In 

 parcnthises, I would say, when the aforesaid mernoer of the 

 pariy arrived home a week after, his friends anxiously in- 

 quired if he had the small-pox, so covered was he with bites, 

 so much for rtsolulion. 



We went daily to the lake and had a bath in its cool wa- 

 ters, which helped to cool down the inflammation of the 

 bites and clean the sand from our bodies. This sand was so 

 fine that it flew about in the sightest breeze like dust and 

 penetrated everylhing not cased in metal. Close your teeth 

 at any time and they gritted on the sand ; and cover the 

 provisions as may be still the sand showed up in the butter 

 and the bottom of teacups after drinking. On the third 

 morning 1 announced my intention of going some miles up 

 the river and fishing down during the day. " Silas' 1 volun- 

 teered to accompany me, so we put iu some lunch and started. 

 After pulling about four miles up we commenced fishing, 

 trolling with the rod, one from the bank aud one from the 

 boat. The luck was very evenly divided, each catching 

 some fine pike aud large bass. About two in the afternoon 

 a thunderstorm came up. It was then cut and ruu ; but it 

 was up m us before we went a mile ; so we ran up into ihe 

 oak woods and took off most of our clothes, which we put 

 under the bank to keep dry, and then sat, it out. It did not 

 last long, but was very heavy while it did come down. _ After 

 the siorin the sun came out very warm and the tish bit sav- 

 agely, so we had the consolation of taking back to camp the 

 finest lot fish that cam e in during the trip. 



The rest of the time was spent in much the same way as 

 these first days, and some of the parly became very good 

 marksmen in consequence, besides learning tlie art of catch- 

 ing a black bass with credit to themselves, as two of them 

 caught their first on this trip. Our largest ba-s weighed 

 within a trifle of 4j pounds and the largest pik^ 7{-. I c .light 

 one niaskalooge which stood the balance at about the same 

 as the pike. I must not omit to say that 1 secured numer- 

 ous specimens of the turtle tribe, from the size of a cent to 

 one about eight incnes long. To say that they were plentiful 

 conveys no idea of their numbers ; every small log in the wa- 

 ter nlistened wilh rows of them and many of l hem got upset 

 by collision with a .22 bullet. Of the size and weight of the 

 insects I know nothing; judging from their capacity for 

 drawing blood they ought to have been as large as eh phants, 

 for most assuredly they tormented one more than one of 

 these mammoths would. 



