372 
muskalonge, bass, trout, or other game 
fishes, would send in accurate measurements 
and weights this would enable each angler 
to judge for himself, when he measures a 
fish, as to what it would weigh. It often 
happens that a man gets a big fish when he 
does not have scales with him, but he can 
always carry a tape measure in his pocket. 
—EDITor. 
DOES ANYONE KNOW THEM? 
I send you a clipping from one of our 
local papers. One of its owners and pub- 
lishers has been up North, where he did 
some fishing. 
I admire the way you go after the game 
hogs and hope you will roast this fellow 
to a turn. RECREATION is the best magazine 
I know of and I can hardly lay it down 
until I have read it through. 
H. G. M., Essex, Ia. 
The clipping referred to contains an ar- 
ticle, occupying nearly a page of the Shen- 
andoah, Ia., Sentinel, recounting the fish- 
slaughtering exploits of the mewspaper 
man and 4 Nebraska swine. 
’ Reininger says in reply to my inquiry re- 
garding this report, “The best 3 hours’ fish- 
ing in the Crow Wing lakes gave 2 of us 
21 big mouth black bass that averaged a 
trifle over 4 pounds.” 

This means over 90 pounds of fish for 2. 
men in 3 hours. 
Reininger goes down in the fish hog reg- 
ister as No. 1,009, and I regret that he 
did not give the full names and addresses 
of his 3 fellow rooters, so that I might have 
numbered them.—EDirTor. 

FISHING CLUB VINDICATED. 
Local anglers have been awaiting with great 
interest developments in the case of the Bellwood 
Rod and Gun Club against J. H. Sheehan, of 
Johnstown, who, claiming authority as deputy 
fish warden, recently invaded this county and 
summarily tore down printed notices which had 
been posted along Bell’s run proclaiming it a 
stocked and closed stream under the act of 1go1. 
The local officials of the Blair county branch of 
the League of American Sportsmen, at the re- 
quest of the Bellwood club, at once reported the 
matter to the State Fish Commission, and asked 
for a thorough investigation of the matter, in- 
cluding the insinuation made by Sheehan that 
Bellwood people had themselves fished in the 
stream, a fact indignantly denied by the latter, 
who claim to have held the prohibition absolutely 
inviolate. 
The requested investigation was at once set on 
foot by Hon. Meehan, president of the 
State Commission of Fisheries. After an ex- 
haustive inquiry into all the circumstances of the 
case, including the reported high handed and alto- 
gether indefensible actions of the Johnstown off- 
cer, the decision of the commission was announced 
this week. Deputy fish warden Sheehan’ was 
summarily removed from office, and the com- 
mission announced that they would send as soon 
as possible 20,000 trout fry to Bellwood free of 
charge to restock the stream, which had become 
depleted through the public action of the officer.— 
Exchange. 
I wonder if Sheehan does not think he 
was slightly previous in his action.—Ebiror, 
RECREATION. 
NIBBLES. 
A subscriber sent me a newspaper ac- 
count of the taking of 69 black bass in one 
day by W. A. Withmar, of Buffalo, N. Y., 
and C. J. Bellinger, of Watertown, N. Y. 
The clipping in question shows a _ repro- 
duction of a photograph of 69 black bass. 
The caption of the photograph reads thus: 
“Catch of bass made July 18, 1903, by W. 
A. Withmar, of Buffalo, and a Watertown 
newspaper friend.” 
Replying to my request for confirmation 
or denial of the report, Mr. Withmar says: 
Your information regarding the catch of 
bass is correct as far as I remember. 
Mr. Bellinger says: 
The fellow who informed you that a 
friend and I caught 69 black bass in one 
day is a fish liar without a conscience. 
The reader can draw his own conclusions. 
—EDITOR. 

The Des Moines river has been for years 
a muddy stream when at flood, becoming 
clear at low water. For 2 years past there 
have been extraordinary floods, and at no 
time has the water been clear; but the high 
water in the stream, muddy though it has 
been, has served to dam the little rivulets 
and creeks flowing into it, and these form so 
many ponds of clear water. Having ob- 
served bass lying in some of them I took a 
few live minnows and went to a place 
where I have always had good luck with 
channel cats. I took out a dozen bass in a 
little over an hour, the smallest weighing 
34 of a pound and the largest 3 pounds. 
Next morning I tried again, catching 15. 
Then a hard shower muddied the creeks’ 
and ended my fishing. Can any reader of 
RECREATION tell how to get bass to bite 
when the water is muddy? 
E. R. Harlan, Keosauqua, Iowa. 

I am captain of a 5,000 ton boat plying 
on the great lakes. While at Huron Har- 
bor, Lake Erie, one day last spring, Henry 
Damon and I fished from East pier, Be- 
tween 7.30 and II a. m. we caught 115 sand 
pike, 3 perch, 2 rock bass and a 15-pound 
German carp. The combined catch of 12 
other men, fishing within 50 feet of us, was 
less than ours. Our fish were 8 to 12 inches 
in length. As they furnished 2 meals for 
25 hungry men, we do not think we were 
hoggish in taking them. ~ 
The real fish hogs of Lake Erie are the 
market fishermen. Their pound nets ex- 
tend from both sides of the pier 5 miles 
out in the lake. It is said they skin their 
fish at the nets and by so doing are able to 
market black bass as perch. 
