4« 



RECREA TION. 



mending the article in question. Dr. Patti- 

 son's letter is the only one I have had ob- 

 jecting to my remarks on Mr. Fox. This 

 shows plainly the trend of public sentiment 

 on the subject of fish slaughter. 



I have fished in Delavan lake, and in 

 many of the other lakes in that part of Wis- 

 consin, and am well aware that a man sel- 

 dom has an opportunity to make a hog of 

 himself in that region; but when the fish do 

 bite as ravenously as they seem to have done 

 when Mr. Fox was there, a decent man 

 should be satisfied to quit when he .uets 15 

 or 20 pounds of fish. That is the way thou- 

 sands of other decent men have done, under 

 such circumstances. 



I trust my readers will respond gener- 

 ously, through Recreation, to Dr. Patter- 

 son's invitation, and tell him whether or not 

 he is wrong in defending Mr. Fox. 



HE SHOULD REFORM. 



Here is some correspondence that ex- 

 plains itself. 



New York. September 15. 1898. 

 Mr. Walter Momsen. Milwaukee, Wis. 



Dear Sir: I am informed that you recently 

 caught 25 bass in one day, in Golden lake. 

 Will you kindly tell me if this report is cor- 

 rect, greatly obliging, 



Yours truly, 



G. O. Shields, 

 Editor Recreation. 



Milwaukee, Wis., September 21, 1898. 



Dear Sir: Your letter of 15th inst. re- 

 ceived In answer will say that my catch 

 was 26 bass and one pickerel, in one-half 

 day's fishing. Three days later I beat that 

 record by landing 52 Oswego and black bass 

 and 3 large pickerel in one day's fishing, on 

 lower Nemahbin lake. One bass weighed 5 

 pounds; 12 weighed between 2^/2 and 4J/2 

 pounds. My age is 12 years and I have 

 fished ever since I was a kid. 

 Yours truly, 



Walter Momsen. 



Enclosed please find newspaper clipping 

 also a picture of the first catch. 



New York, September 26, 1898. 



My dear Master Momsen: You should 

 not feel in the least proud of the record you 

 have made. You caught at least 3 times as 

 many fish as a man should ever catch in one 

 day. A reader of Recreation sent me a 

 clipping from a newspaper containing your 

 portrait, and requested me to roast you, as 

 I do many men who so justly deserve the 

 name of fish hog. Your age. however, ex- 

 cuses you in a measure; but I trust you will 

 never again be guilty of slaughtering fish to 

 this extent. 



I mail you herewith several copies of Rec- 

 reation, containing criticisms on this kind 

 of fishing. These express not only my senti- 



ments, but those of all true sportsmen. I 

 get thousands of letters from all over the 

 United States and Canada, requesting me to 

 denounce certain men who have been guilty 

 of catching more fish than they should catch, 

 or of killing more game than they should 

 kill. I also get thousands of letters com- 

 mending Recreation for the fight it is wag- 

 ing against these game and fish hogs. This 

 large correspondence shows the trend of 

 public sentiment in regard to the preserva- 

 tion of fish and game. It is an unwritten law 

 that no man should catch more than 8 or 10 

 black bass or other game fishes in a day. I 

 trust you will see that you have been making 

 a mistake and, that hereafter you will quit 

 when you get enough. 



Yours truly, 



G. O. Shields. 



GOOD FISHING IN THE SOUND. 



Dosoris, L. I. 



Editor Recreation: Last fall I had the 

 most successful pleasure trip I have had for 

 years. On October 7th we left this place in 

 the cruising cat, Dosoris II, after working 

 nearly a week getting provisions on board. 

 I thought we really had enough supplies for 

 a dozen men, for 10 years. 



Our destination was a little creek on Ea- 

 ton's neck, about 20 miles East of here, 

 ' where there was a fine place to lay up. Our 

 shooting skiffs were in tow and we had a 

 fair wind. Everyone was happy, as it was a 

 small crew and all could be officers, or 

 rather each could hold several offices. The 

 owner was admiral and cook, the commo- 

 dore was also bartender, while I was both 

 captain and scullion. We stayed at our des- 

 tination a little over 10 days when, to our 

 amazement, provisions commenced to run 

 low. We had pleasant weather but hardly 

 any really good shooting weather. In fact, 

 we really only shot about 3^2 days. We 

 had, however, fairly good success while we 

 were at it. 



We visited the light house and the life sav- 

 ing station and saw the life savers drill. 

 Much of our good time was owing to the 

 kindness and courtesy of Uncle Sam's boys. 

 They helped us with our boats, gave us good 

 advice as to where to shoot, and brought 

 us mail from Northport. Among other 

 things they told us of the fishing that was 

 done at Target Rock last summer and we 

 only regretted we had not been in time to 

 get a little of it. One boat took 63 striped 

 bass in one day and another boat took 7 

 that weighed over 60 pounds altogether. 

 As striped bass had been conspicuous by 

 their absence in our district these tales made 

 us feel bad. 



Eaton's neck is an ideal spot for camping. 

 The little creek makes a good harbor for 

 boats, water is convenient and good, and 

 game and fish are plentiful. All land, how- 

 ever, is strictly posted and unless people 



