FISH AND FISHING. 



LETTERS FROM A FISH HOG. 



Petoskey, Mich., June 30. 

 Dear John — I've been over on Walloon 

 lake most of the time for the last 6 weeks. 

 Greatest bass fishing I've had for a long 

 time. Not so many bass in the lake, but I 

 struck the spawning season. Water's so 

 clear you can see 'em right on the beds 

 and they'll take anything you throw at 'em. 

 Sometimes I got 15 or 20 in a day, and I 

 shipped several boxes down to my friends 

 along the G. R. and I. every week. Next 

 year I want you to come up with me about 

 the middle of May, and we'll get every 

 bass in the lake. Folks around here will 

 not squeal, so you needn't be afraid. 



Yours truly, J. Dixon. 



Boyne Falls, Mich., July 10. 

 Dear John — You ask me about the trout 

 fishing in the Boyne. It's a fair stream, but 

 you are too late in the season. I slipped in 

 here a week before the regular season 

 opened, struck the river a few miles down, 

 and fished it to within 2 or 3 miles of 

 Boyne. Got the biggest haul you ever 

 saw. Of course I didn't dare take 'em into 

 Boyne, so I hired an old farmer to box 'em 

 for me and haul me over to Clarion, and I 

 got out of the State with 'em in short or- 

 der. I'll give you a tip next spring and 

 we'll try it together. 



Sincerely yours, J. D. 



Allenville, Mich., July 25. 

 Dear Johnny — Been having the greatest 

 sport with pike and muskalonge you ever 

 saw. Brevoort lake is full of pike and they 

 are tame as pigs. Come right up to the 

 side of the boat and take your spoon under 

 your very eyes. It's no trick at all to get a 

 dozen or 2 on one trip, and big fellows, too. 

 I stayed 10 days and went out every day. 

 We just had to bury a lot of 'em in the 

 ground to keep 'em from stinking us off 

 the lake, for we couldn't eat 1-5 of what 

 we caught. I didn't bother with any reel, 

 for you don't have to cast any distance to 

 get 'em. I just took a big cane pole and a 

 heavy line, and when one got on I yanked 

 him up by the boat and knocked him in the 

 head with a club. If he jerked off I flung 

 out and hooked another. It's a regular 

 butcher shop. You must come uo with me 

 next year and we'll have grand fun. 



Yours as ever, J. D. 



Brevoort, Mich., August 8. 



Dear John — I was going South after 



writing you from Allenville. but I got on 



to something that I couldn't let slio. There's 



a little lake up in the woods from here 



where the deer are almost as thick as black- 

 berries, and if you stand in right with some 

 of the natives you can kill as many deer as 

 you please. I got a guide and went over one 

 night with a jack light. We got 2 deer in 

 less than 2 hours. One of 'em was a good 

 sized buck and the other a doe. We got 

 what meat we wanted and hid the rest. 

 The guide will keep the hides safe for me 

 and I guess I'll get 'em out this fall with- 

 out any danger. All I want now is a good 

 haul of trout from some of the streams 

 around here and I'm going home. 



Yours, etc., T. D. 



St. Ignace, Mich., August 10. 

 Dear John — I found my trout all right. 

 There was no one around to bother him- 

 self as to how I caught them. Sunday last 

 I got a lumberman to go out with me and 

 we netted 2 big holes. I am shipping you a 

 box to-day with 2 dozen big ones in it. 

 The law will not allow one to ship them 

 out of the State, so I can't send them di- 

 rectly to Toledo. I will send them to 

 Jones, at Alexis, which is over the Michi- 

 gan border, and you can drive out and get 

 them. Yours sincerely, J. Dixon. 



45S 



DISGRACE THEIR PROFESSION. 

 The following item appeared in the In- 

 land Ocean, of West Superior, Wisconsin : 



Professors E. W. Walker and C. A. Donnelly, 

 of the Normal school, returned from Pratt, Wis., 

 where they have been enjoying a few days' fishing. 

 They caught 410 trout during their trip and re- 

 port a pleasant time. 



I wrote these gentlemen for confirmation 

 of the report and received the following re- 

 ply 



Yes, it is true. Professor C. A. Donnelly 

 and I caught 410 trout recently. I do not 

 feel that the accomplishment is unusual, 

 however, as we spent 4 days in catching 

 them. Nor were they large. The largest 

 measured 13 inches in length. I had no 

 scales for weighing. The wonder is not 

 that we caught 410, but that we did not 

 catch twice that number. Expert anglers 

 would have done so. 



E. W. Walker, West Superior, Wis. 



So you averaged 50 trout a day and 

 boast of it ! You say expert anglers would 

 have caught twice the number you did. No 

 man who would take even as many as y©u 

 and your friend did is entitled to the name 

 of angler. That is synonymous with gen- 

 tleman, and you have by your conduct 

 ruled yourselves out of that class. So 

 does any man who slaughters fish as you 

 did and 33 you say expert anglers would 



