FISH AND FISHING. 



211 



our country in early spring. We dress 

 here as we do in midsummer at the North. 



The first day I arrived, Commodore 

 Munroe, of the Biscayne Yacht club, took 

 my boy Roger and I king fishing, in his 

 fast ketch rigged yacht. We went 14 miles 

 away, and just beyond Cape Florida, near 

 Fowey Rocks Light. We had excellent 

 luck, catching 15 king fish. All mine were 

 caught with rod and reel; but the people 

 here usually take them with hand lines. I 

 was fortunate in catching the second largest 

 taken this season — 25^ pounds. He went 

 out of water at least 10 feet when he struck 

 the hook and the merry sound which came 

 from the reel made me forget all else in life. 

 Roger caught one with hand line weighing 

 20 pounds. It was nip and tuck with the 

 little fellow to capture this big fish and at 

 times he could make no headway. But he 

 insisted on catching his fish alone and 

 finally did — all but the gaffing and lifting 

 in, which it was impossible for him to do. 



Since then I have made large catches of 

 red snappers and mackerel; have shot 

 ducks, quails and alligators and had no end 

 of sport. 



We are going on a 10 days' cruise among 

 the Keys, and possibly may go around Cape 

 Sable. We expect to have a glorious time 

 and obtain tarpon, red snapper, mackerel, 

 bluefish, bonyfish — the gamiest fish with 

 rod and reel that swims — crawfish, ducks 

 and alligators. 



F. H. Benton, Cocoanut Grove, Fla. 



quires no skill to be a hog. That's dead 

 easy for a man who is built that way. These 

 men seem to have a cinch on that kind of 

 qualifications. — Editor. 



SOME PENNSYLVANIA ROOTERS. 



Johnstown, Pa. 



Editor Recreation: I have clipped from 

 this morning's Johnstown Democrat, and 

 herewith hand you 2 items which will show 

 that the genus Fish Hog flourishes, even 

 on the foot hills of the Alleghenies. 



Your subscribers here would appreciate 

 it if you would kindly take " judicial no- 

 tice " of these 2 cases. Such notice would 

 no doubt have a tendency to restrict such 

 people to reasonable catches hereafter. 



Subscriber. 



Here are the records: 



D. R. Schnabel, of this city, and John Bryan, 

 of Ingleside, made a catch of 201 trout in a Somer- 

 set county stream yesterday. This is considered 

 a good haul, is a " dead square " fish story and can 

 be accounted for only by the fact that Dan traveled 

 to and from the fishing grounds on a lady's bi- 

 cycle. It was cruel to so deceive the trout, but 

 Dan abandons all sense of chivalry when he goes 

 fishing. 



It seems he also abandons all sense of 

 decency. 



James Boyer and James McMeans, 2 of Johns- 

 town's well-known young men, returned to the 

 city last evening with the biggest catch of fish of 

 the season. They were evidently at a good stream, 

 the locality of which they have not divulged, but 

 they brought back with them 304 trout as evidence 

 of their skill as fishermen. 



The reporter should have said, " as evi- 

 dence of their hoggish instincts." It re- 



INDIANA FISH LAW VIOLATERS IN THE 

 COURTS. 



Six violators of the fish law arrested at Lake 

 Wawasee the past few days, as a result of the work 

 of Deputy Fish Commissioner Earle, were to-day 

 arraigned at Warsaw. L. B. Whippy went to the 

 Kosciusko county seat to assist in the prosecution. 

 S. J. North of Milford is also engaged in prose- 

 cuting the offenders. 



It is known that several Goshen attorneys, who 

 have been asked to defend some of the violators, 

 have refused to render them any assistance and 

 have advised them to plead guilty and pay their 

 fines. The general feeling among local attorneys 

 is that all their aid should be given to breaking 

 up this pernicious practice. They favor stocking 

 the lakes with fresh fish, rather than devastating 

 them of what fish they now contain. 



Sheriff Kidder, Attorney E. E. Mummert and 

 A. E. Keith were at Lake Wawasee Tuesday after- 

 noon and report that not a fisherman, with spear 

 or net, has been seen on the lake for the past few 

 days; whereas they were previously so bold they 

 set their nets during .the day directly in front of 

 cottages or hotels. The heavy fining of a few of 

 these men will do more toward stopping this illegal 

 fishing than any other means that could be 

 adopted. Goshen, Ind., paper. 



That's right Commissioner Earle. Soak 

 them good and deep. Nothing gives a pot 

 fisherman so wholesome a dread of law as 

 to have to put up a lot of his ill-gotten 

 dollars as a penalty for his illicit work. 

 Editor. 



The fish hog can also be found in large 

 numbers in Southern California. Catalina 

 Island and some of the beaches near Los 

 Angeles furnish opportunities for them to 

 show what they can do. With 2 lines, each 

 having 6 or more hooks, they get in their 

 work in great shape. Some of them tell 

 about catching 275 or 300 rock-cod in half 

 a day, pulling in one line and then the 

 other as fast as they can bait. 



E. L. Stevenson, Pasadena, Cal. 



I have just returned from a fishing trip 

 in Minnesota and had a fine time. I caught 

 over 250 pounds of bass and pike. 



The prospects for good chicken shooting 

 in the Red river valley were never better, 

 the weather having been just right. 



Clint Smith, Fargo, N- Dak. 



Why did you catch so many fish? What 

 could you do with such a quantity? 



Editor. 



We had great sport last fall trolling for 

 salmon, mostly silversides, although a few 

 chinook were caught. One, a 40 pounder, 

 was caught by a boy 10 years old. My 

 wife and I caught 19 silversides in less than 

 3 hours, one day, and could have caught 

 more. Salt salmon is not so bad any time 

 in the year. We use a trolling spoon. 

 E. G. H., Coos River, Ore. 



