FISH AND FISHING. 



209 



Each of us caught 2 that morning, the 4 

 weighing 10 pounds. That night we got a 

 large mess of bull-heads. 



In this way we spent the entire week, 

 fishing only in the early morning and at 

 dusk. Robert C. Hobbie. 



PRESERVING TROPHIES. 



C. C. HASKINS. 



Frequently a fisherman or a hunter se- 

 cures a trophy which he would like to re- 

 tain, but not knowing how to preserve it, 

 he throws the specimen away. Yet even in 

 the wilderness there are ways of preparing 

 such things if one knows how. I have a 

 clean, white specimen — the head of a gar, 

 or fresh water bill fish, which I saved in 

 this way: I cut off the head, and from it 

 cut as much flesh as I could without injur- 

 ing it. I then put it in strong brine, where 

 it remained for 3 or 4 days. When ready to 

 leave, I dried it as well as possible with 

 bran (chaff or even dry sand will answer), 

 wrapped it in plenty of newspaper and 

 packed it with 'soiled linen. 



Arrived at home I put the head in a con- 

 centrated solution of lye. In 48 hours I 

 lifted it out with a bent wire, and dropped 

 it in a pail of water, washing it thoroughly. 

 Watching it this way, alternately soaking 

 and washing, in 3 or 4 days I had a hand- 

 some specimen. There are teeth in this 

 head as fine as those in a dental saw, sharp 

 as a needle, and numbering 40 or 50 to the 

 inch. 



I made a pretty paper weight, with a 

 young turtle — one of those little fellows 

 about as big as a 25 cent piece. 



Kill him as humanely as possible. If 

 you have no chloroform, stick a sharp, thin 

 bladed knife between his shells, just behind 

 the foreleg. This kills quickly and pain- 

 lessly. 



Now open him as you would a biscuit, 

 on one side only. Remove as much as pos- 

 sible of his internal economy, and fill the 

 space with plaster Paris, wet with gum ara- 

 bic or mucilage. If you can add a drop or 

 2 of carbolic acid, so much the better, but 

 this is not really essential. Close the shell 

 in a natural position and let it harden. 



Get a marble block, the proper size and 

 shape, and in this drill 2 holes slanting away 

 from each other, and in the lower shell of 

 the turtle, after it has hardened, drill cor- 

 responding holes up into his body. Two 

 small wires are next to be fitted, so that 

 when the turtle is on the block they will 

 not show. The holes are next filled with a 

 similar mixture of plaster and gum, the 

 animal adjusted on the wires and the whole 

 allowed to harden. The eyes should now 

 be carefully removed and a couple of small 

 white or yellow beads put in their places. 

 These should be fastened in with shellac 

 varnish, and this will give them a life like 

 luster as well as color. 



If now the little chap has been put on at 

 a slight angle to the sides of the block, 

 with his head twisted in one direction and 

 his tail in the other, a stranger, on seeing 

 it is apt to remark: " I think your little 

 turtle is running away! " 



A FOOLISH BASS. 



One morning in August during my last 

 vacation, my father and I went " skeeter- 

 ing " on Copake lake. In skeetering you 

 cast a frog or other live bait toward the 

 shore from your boat, dropping the lure 

 near a willow where the big fellows feed. 



We started from the house, each equipped 

 with a beautiful Bristol rod. Mine I re- 

 ceived, for a little hustling for Recrea- 

 tion, as a premium for 10 subscribers. 



I had just made my first cast, landing 

 beside a willow, when something made the 

 water fairly boil, and started to run with 

 my bait. After letting him have it for a 

 second, I struck. I had great sport getting 

 him toward the boat but when he was so 

 near that I could see his gleaming belly, 

 my line parted and the fish made off with 

 hook and sinker. I told the boy who was 

 rowing to put me ashore, and I went home 

 for another line. 



Returning to the boat I rerigged my rod 

 and we each caught 2 nice fish. Then, as 

 it was breakfast time, we decided to return 

 home. When about opposite the willow 

 where I had my experience with the 

 " whopper," I said to my Father, " I be- 

 lieve I'll skeeter that bush again " and cast 

 for the same spot. 



No sooner had the frog touched water 

 than something took it. After setting and 

 landing him imagine my surprise on seeing 

 my lost hook and sinker fast in the bass's 

 mouth; proving this was the fish I had 

 struck early in the morning. This time, 

 however, I had hooked him for keeps. 

 It was an Oswego bass weighing 3^ 

 pounds. 



R. H. Weller, New York City. 



ON THE GASCONADE. 



Heckman's mill, is located about 35 miles 

 from the mouth of the Gasconade river, in 

 Osage county, and is one of the most noted 

 places on that romantic stream. The river 

 abounds in black bass, jack salmon and 

 crappie, which are caught in great numbers 

 in the spring and fall. 



Just below the dam is an ideal place for 

 fishing, and there is something wrong when 

 an angler casting his hook in the rapids fails 

 to get satisfaction. If he tires of fishing let 

 him take his dog and gun and try his luck 

 among the quails, which are plentiful. The 

 woods near by abound in squirrels and 

 turkeys and a good deer range is within 

 a few miles. 



Captain W. L. Heckman, the veteran 

 steamboat man of the Missouri and Gas- 

 conade rivers, and the owner of the mill, 



