290 



RECREATION. 



coming more limited every year. I have 

 had better fishing of recent years in neigh- 

 boring streams than I ever had in my 

 youth. For this I thank the State of New 

 York, whose well managed hatcheries have 

 stocked public waters with multitudes of 

 fry and even yearlings. Anyone who has 

 watched, through a series of years, the 

 rapid increase of a foreign breed of trout, in 

 any stream, from fry only, will never doubt 

 the efficacy of stocking even with fry 

 alone. With the improved methods now 

 in use, it is possible to release the fry much 

 later in the season than formerly, when 

 the streams have reached their normal level 

 and when, owing to the higher temperature, 

 there is far more food for the young fish, 

 insects, larvae, etc. The growth rate is 

 entirely governed by the supply of food 

 and that seems to be abundant in all the 

 brooks of any size which I have investi- 

 gated. I hear constantly of fine fish being 

 taken from water that has been entirely 

 unproductive for many years, and I am in- 

 clined to believe it pays best, on the whole, 

 to stock with the brown trout, because of 

 its rapid increase in size and numbers. It 

 is a good fish for the table. I advise those 

 who complain of the coarseness of the 

 large brown trout to have them boiled and 

 served as a salmon would be. If in good 

 condition, even large brown trout are ex- 

 cellent eating and are »ot bad when served 

 cold with mayonnaise dressing. 



Brown trout rise well, but require a fair 

 variety of flies. Color and size must be at- 

 tended to, though sometimes these trout will 

 rise at almost anything. I have taken some 

 large fish, one 3-ponnder, with the follow- 

 ing pattern : Tay, gold tinsel ; tail, grey 

 mallard ; body, pale yellow wool ; wings, 

 grey mallard ; legs, light brown or red 

 hackle. In fact, much the same fly as the 

 old reliable Professor, but the color of the 

 body can not be got with silk, which 

 changes more or less when wet. Natural 

 flies of this color may be seen in May and 

 June, as beautiful as the celebrated Eng- 

 lish May fly. 



I am told that on the other side of the 

 Atlantic anglers, in parting, instead of 

 wishing each other good luck, say "Tight 

 lines." I have seen this expression in 

 print, and it has always reminded me of 

 occasions when I have had tight lines 

 indeed, but they were forced on me ov 

 getting fast in old stumps or logs, or catch- 

 ing mv flies high in some sturdy tree. 

 Many flies and beautifully fine leaders have 

 been left to dangle hooelessly in the sum- 

 mer air, and remembering the effects of 

 such misfortunes on the temners of the 

 most amiable men, I will stick to the e-ood 

 old narting words. "(1^4 luck." leaving 

 "Tight lines," to our cousins of the "fast- 

 anchored isle." 



ANOTHER BUNCH OF MICHIGAN SWINE. 



The following clipping from a Michigan 

 paper was sent me by a subscriber: 



C. J. Wickstrom and C. O. Jackola, of Calu- 

 met, brought back from Lac La Belle, in Ke- 

 weenaw coumty, 200 pounds of fish. 



I wrote Wickstrom and Jackola as fol- 

 lows : 



I am informed that you and a friend 

 caught 200 pounds of fish on a recent trip. 

 Will you kindly tell me if this report is 

 true, and if so give full particulars. 



In due time I received the following 

 replies : 



It is true that my friend, C. O. Jackola, 

 J. P., and I went into the woods for a 3 

 days' fishing trip the first of this month. 

 We drove down to Lac La Belle and made 



3 trips on the lake. We fished with hook 

 and line, used worms for bait and in all we 

 caught 200 pounds of black bass, pickerel 

 and perch. 



C. J. Wickstrom, Calumet, Mich,. 



The information you have received is not 

 exaggerated. C. J. Wickstrom and I made 

 a fishing trip to Lac La Belle, in Keweenaw 

 county, about 30 miles North of Calumet, 

 and in 3 trips to the lake we caught 200 

 pounds of pickerel, perch and bass with hook 

 and line. This, however, is not an uncommon 

 occurrence. We have caught 600 pounds in 



4 successive hauls from the same lake, but 

 at that time we were 4 men in the party 

 and for 10 years past there had been little 

 fishing done in that lake. 



Charles O. Jackola, Calumet, Mich. 



There are several queer statements in 

 Jackola's letter. He says : "We have 

 caught 600 pounds in 4 successive hauls 

 from the same lake." This sounds as if 

 these men had been drawing a seine, or 

 possibly he means they hauled the fish 

 away from the lake in a hand wagon. Or 

 it may mean that they simply put in their 

 time hauling the fish into the boat with 

 hand lines, which is more probable. This 

 is the kind of tackle such measly bristle- 

 backs as Jackola and Wickstrom generally 

 use. Jackola intimates that this recent 

 great catch was possible because there had 

 been little fishing done in the lake during 

 the past 10 years. If these same shoats 

 had been going- to that lake every vear, they 

 certainly could not have caught so many 

 fish this year as they did. 1 wish someone 

 would invent a torpedo that could be set 

 and attached to wires leading around lakes 

 and along streams that are well stocked 

 with fish and that would explode when- 

 ever touched by a fish hog. Of course such 

 a mn chine would have to be equipped with 

 something like human intelligence, so it 



