FISH AND FISHING. 



TROUTING ON THE AU SABLE. 



Dearborn, Mich. 



Editor of Recreation: I have enjoyed 

 the articles in Recreation so much that I 

 give you here some notes of a 3 weeks' 

 camp, on a Michigan stream, which I trust 

 may interest some of your other readers. 



We left Dearborn in August, on the M. 

 C. R. R., toi Grayling, a small town in the 

 Northern part of our State, and went in, by 

 team, 12 miles to the Au Sable river. 



We camped on the banks of the stream, 

 among the jack pines, and were soon 

 among the trout. 



We were up with the sun, the next morn- 

 ing, and while the ladies were preparing 

 breakfast we went out again. The trout 

 will not raise to a fly in the latter part of 

 August as well as they do in June or July, 

 and we therefore fell back on the old reli- 

 able grass-hopper. These we found in 

 great quantities and with our scheme for 

 catching them it only took a few minutes 

 to get enough bait for the day. This 

 scheme consists of 2 pieces of mosquito net- 

 ting, about 15 feet long. Two of us take 

 one piece and 2 the other. Separating 

 about 30 feet, we keep the netting in an up- 

 right position with the one edge on the 

 ground. We walk toward each other and 

 on meeting double the nets and find we 

 have 100 to 300 hoppers. These we fish out 

 and roll in strips of cloth 2 inches wide. 

 We are now ready for business. 



My father and " Blackberry Jim " — so 

 named for his record breaking capacity for 

 blackberries — went up to wade down, while 

 " Art " and I got in at the camp and went 

 a mile or so below. We had excellent sport 

 with some large rainbows. Art struck 

 some white clay, on the bottom, right on 

 the verge of a big hole, and said he guessed 

 he would back out; but the swift current 

 carried him into the hole, out of sight, and 

 he came up some 30 feet down stream. 



He reported having seen some fine speci- 

 mens of trout, while scraping along the 

 bottom, which he intended to lay for on the 

 following day. We returned to camp, by 

 an old logging trail, and found the other 

 boys in with a good catch, which they had 

 kept alive and placed in a crib, for use in 

 case we should run short. By having a box 

 made of lath, about a foot square, with 

 open space through which the water can 

 pass, and a hole on top to put the fish in, it 

 is an easy matter to keep your fish alive by 

 letting the box float in front of you, held 

 back by a string about 4 feet long attached 

 around your waist 



After supper we had our pipes, arid en- 

 joyed the camp fire until a late hour. And 

 thus all the days passed. 



'We did not fish every day; but caught 

 only what we needed to eat, and if the crib 

 got over-stocked we laid off and went for 

 berries. 



The Au Sable is a pretty stream and is 

 full of trout, but has very few grayling. We 

 have camped on the Big and Little Manis- 

 tee, Sturgeon, Pine and Brule rivers; but 

 find the Au Sable better fishing than any of 

 the others. 



I am but a recent subscriber to Recrea- 

 tion but have found it the best sportsmen's- 

 journal I have ever read. If any reader 

 wishes any information about the streams 

 I have fished on I should be only too glad, 

 to give him what points I can. 



Lew Howe. 



THE REDFISH OF IDAHO. 



In the June number of Recreation there 

 was an interesting article by Lieut. C. B. 

 Hardin, in which, writing of redfish found 

 in Central Idaho, he says: "I have never 

 seen or heard of them in any other place." 

 In a foot note Prof. B. W. Evermann, ich- 

 thyologist, was given as authority on the 

 naming, etc., of this fish. 



We find redfish in several small inland 

 lakes in Western Washington. I think the 

 Professor is " off " in several of his asser- 

 tions regarding our salmon. I reside, dur- 

 ing the summer, on a lake about an hour's 

 drive from our city. About a mile from us 

 there is a body of water now called a lake. 

 It was originally a small, glacier-fed stream, 

 emptying into Puget sound. Years ago a 

 dam was built across a narrow place be- 

 tween the low hills. Since then this stream, 

 filling up between the hills, has become a 

 lake, deep in places, with trout and other 

 fish, since planted by the U. S. Fish Com- 

 missioners. 



Every September, for about 2 weeks, red- 

 fish appear in countless numbers, and af- 

 ford good fishing. They take worms or 

 other bait readily. They are, in color, red 

 on sides and back. The head and throat, 

 and close up to tail, are dark, with silvery 

 spots. The fish are scaleless. In shape 

 they are a duplicate of a salmon, and are 10 

 to 12 inches long. The flesh is red and free 

 from bones. Cut the head from one and 

 place it alongside that of a salmon — a sil- 

 ver-side female — and you would think it a 

 miniature duplicate. Old residents say it 

 is a landlocked salmon. We do not see 

 them during other months, for they are in 

 deep water. They cannot run up stream, 

 for an artificial trout-pond has been put in 

 at that end of the lake. 



Can the Professor account for this va- 

 riety of fish? He is greatly in error when 



308 



