FISH AND FISHING. 



225 



Bartlett, where I arrived in the afternoon. 

 This camp is about 50 yards from the shore 

 of King and Bartlett lake, and consists of 

 about 2 dozen log cabins. 



The fishing at King and Bartlett is ex- 

 cellent. I took about 10 trout a day, averag- 

 ing i]/ 2 pounds. One day I caught 20, the 

 lot weighing 27 pounds. I spent a day on 

 Spencer stream, and though the trout were 

 not biting freely I caught 100, weighing 

 from 2 to 12 ounces each, and returned 

 them all to the water except enough for 

 dinner. Under favorable conditions one 

 can take 100 trout an hour, from this 

 stream, often 2 and even 3 at a cast. 



The usual programme is a day at Spencer 

 stream, a few days at Big Spencer lake, 

 where togue or lake trout are abundant; 

 then, taking the trail to Parker pond, 

 where one can see deer galore.; thence to 

 Horse Shoe and Little King and Bartlett 

 ponds; and back to the main camp, with 

 several side trips. 



I was fortunate in having Douglas E. 

 Bloomfield as guide. He was efficient, and 

 a very pleasant companion. I saw 14 deer, 

 one fox, a loon, and several ruffed grouse, 

 with their broods. The grouse were so 

 tame one might have shot their heads off 

 with a rifle. To my regret it was the close 

 season; for I would have enjoyed this kind 

 of target work. I also saw several moose 

 tracks, but did not get a glimpse of the 

 animals. 



Near Gerard's camp, at the head of Big 

 Spencer lake, I had a 75-yard snap-shot at 

 a buck, with my 4x5 Premo, getting an 

 excellent negative. This being my first 

 photograph of a wild animal, in his native 

 haunts, it is a souvenir I highly prize. 



Three young men of Hartford were so- 

 journers at the camp. They are very en- 

 thusiastic over this region, preferring it to 

 the Adirondacks, where they have passed 

 several vacations. They saw 23 deer at 

 Parker pond, in about one hour. The day 

 before leaving they caught 5 trout, that 

 weighed 10 pounds, off the wharf. These 

 they took home with which to silence scep- 

 tics. One of the boys caught 3 trout 

 weighing 4 pounds, at one cast. 

 . After having experienced the excitement 

 of battling with gamy trout, and the ro- 

 mance of roaming through grand old for- 

 ests, breathing: aromatic odors of fir, spruce 

 and pine, I returned to my work with re- 

 newed zest. The good health I have since 

 enjoyed proves a trip to King and Bartlett 

 is a " bracer " that will keep one " braced." 



AFTER TARPON IN TEXAS. 



Galveston. Texas. 



Editor Recreation: Tarpon were never 

 so plentiful in these waters as during last 

 summer. Late in the evening they would 

 bite well on cut bait. The first day our 



party was at San Luis pass, we lost [8 

 hooks and any amount of line, while fish 

 ing for mackerel. We were using li^ht 

 tackle and live bait, so the tarpon had a 

 regular picnic, at our expense. When the 

 mackerel stopped biting, Stanley got out 

 his tarpon rig, and inside of 10 minutes had 

 a tarpon hooked. After playing him about 

 45 minutes he succeeded in getting the fish 

 into shallow water, where I went out. and 

 speared him. 



The next morning I waded into the pass, 

 to my waist, made one or 2 unsuccessful 

 casts, and was about to give it up, when I 

 had a hard strike. At the time my left 

 hand was clasped over the rod and line. 

 Before I could put the brake on with my 

 right hand, the fish rushed about 115 yards, 

 and the line burnt holes in my fingers. 

 This was all done in about 3 seconds. 



Finally I turned the tarpon and started 

 for shore, to gain more slack. At this he 

 made another turn and began to leap. He 

 would leap about every 2 minutes, but I did 

 not give him an inch of line. When he 

 came my way I reeled in slack and worked 

 toward shore. When he started out, I shut 

 down on him and followed him to deep 

 water. Several times I followed, up to my 

 shoulders; but always turned the fish, until 

 once, when out as deep as I could go, I had 

 to give a little line. He had to fight for 

 every inch he got. The line was nearly all 

 gone, so I decided to break loose rather 

 than lose it. I shut down on it and for- 

 tunately turned him. He made a rush to- 

 ward shore, and I could not reel fast 

 enough to take in the slack. Had he made 

 another outward run I should have lost 

 him. After nearly 2 hours of hard work I 

 landed my fish, with the help of one of the 

 boys and a gig. That was the hardest work 

 I ever did in 2 hours. My left arm ached 

 and the fingers on my left hand still show 

 scars, from the burn. 



Our party was composed of Stanley Sin- 

 clair, George Anderson, Victor Pichard, 

 Chas. Holt and me. During our stay we 

 caught, in the day-time, all the trout and 

 mackerel we could eat, and went flounder- 

 ing at night. Each of the boys caught a 

 tarpon and they could have caught more if 

 they had played them. Then the angler 

 would put on a new hook and make another 

 cast for trout or mackerel. The largest 

 mackerel taken was 32 inches in length and 

 weighed over 4 pounds, dressed. 



Any Northern sportsman wishing to 

 catch tarpon, pompano, trout, mackerel, 

 jack-fish, alligator-gars, sting-rays or green 

 turtles, should come to the Gulf coast dur- 

 ing May, June, July or August; he can 

 then catch all he wants. 



I would like to exchange game pictures, 

 unmounted, with some other reader of 

 Recreation. 



We have a shell road running 16 miles 

 down the island, and we do all of our snipe 



