FISH AND FISHING. 



291 



and I were fishing for pickerel. I had a 

 little tip up, with a thread line, set for perch. 

 When we were called to dinner we left the 

 hooks set and on returning after dinner 

 found the perch line broken and the hook 

 gone; so I took another line and started 

 fishing for perch. I soon felt a strike and 

 on pulling up found a good sized pickerel 

 on my hook, and in his mouth was the hook 

 and part of the line lost in the forenoon. 



This is a good place for fishing, and peo- 

 ple from all over the United States come 

 here to fish and hunt. 



Mamie Ager, Briggsville, Wis. 



AN ILLINOIS CAT. 



The article in January Recreation, by 

 B. W. Evermann, regarding the " spoon- 

 bill cat," recalls an exciting time I once 

 had with one. I was fishing in a small lake 

 formed by one of the dams in the Illinois 

 river. There were a number of bayous 

 which run out from this lake, and I was 

 fishing for bass at the mouth of one of 

 these bayous. I was using a common 16 

 foot cane rod, with a No. 4 spoon for bait. 

 In casting near a large tree stump some- 

 thing struck at the spoon, but I failed to 

 hook him. I cast again, in nearly the same 

 place, and the " something " struck again 

 and got hooked. I was in a small canoe 

 and immediately found that I had hooked 

 a big fish. It circled around the mouth of 

 the bayou 2 or 3 times and then started 

 out toward the middle of the lake, towing 

 the boat along. After half an hour's work 

 the fish was tired out and I finally got it 

 alongside the boat and got my hand in one 

 of its gills. Then came the difficulty of 

 getting it in the canoe without upsetting. 

 After trying unsuccessfully several times to 

 get it in over the side of the canoe, I at last 

 got in the bow, on my knees, and after 

 churning the fish up and down several times, 

 fell over backward in the canoe, dragging 

 the fish in on top of me. It was a " spoon- 

 bill cat," which tipped the scales at 32 

 pounds. 



The fish had been hooked in the mouth, 

 but the hook had torn out, and when I 

 landed him in the boat I found that 2 of the 

 hooks of the gang had caught and held fast 

 about 2 inches from the end of the bill and 

 were so solidly embedded that I had to use 

 my knifht to get them out. 



I have known of several " spoonbill cats " 

 being caught with minnows, but never be- 

 fore knew one to take a spoon. 



FISH NOTES. 



The controversy anent steel rods and 

 Yawman & Erbe reels amuses me greatly. 

 I once owned a steel rod, and the first offer 

 for it — by a farmer boy in California — took 

 it quick. For bait fishing the " bamboo 

 derrick " seems to have a number of ad- 

 vantages over the steel rod; and for fly- 



fishing the average billiard cue certainly has 

 the advantage of not twisting and hooking 

 all the brush in the country. I have no 

 objection to steel rods in the abstract, and 

 like them hugely when in the hands of 

 anyone trying to hog a stream ahead of 

 me, with flies. 



The number of square, unrepairable snap- 

 offs I have seen steel rods do, make the 

 chances of a kill considerably in favor of 

 a good split bamboo or lance; while the 

 accuracy of the latter rods is of a different 

 brand entirely. The automatic reel is a 

 question of taste, and in all truth a legiti- 

 mate article of tackle. I use both kinds 

 and cannot see that I lose more fish with 

 one than with the other; but for an all day 

 trip with flies, over a difficult brook, what 

 a lot of trouble and work the automatic 

 saves! F. G. Warner, Hartford, Ct. 



My cottage is on the banks of Gun lake, 

 one of the finest lakes in central Michigan. 

 It is about equally distant from 3 cities — 

 Hastings, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo — 

 which form a triangle around the lake. 

 The nearest railroad point is Shelbyville, 

 about 5 miles away. Residents of Hast- 

 ings, Kalamazoo, Plainwell, Wayland and 

 Allegan have built club houses at Gun lake, 

 and there are also many cottages. Fish- 

 ing there is good. We were trout fishing 

 in June, on Little Manistee river, in North- 

 ern Michigan, where I have fished every 

 season for the past 5 years and always had 

 good luck. This year 4 of us caught 700 

 trout in a week, and could have caught 

 many more. They did not run as large as 

 usual, being 8 to 12 ounces in weight, while 

 other years, we have caught them as large 

 as 18 ounces. 



Frank D. Black, Hastings, Mich. 



Entirely too many. You should not have 

 taken more than 20 fish a day to each rod. 

 This would aggregate 480 trout. — Editor. 



One morning about 3 o'clock a friend 

 and I started for the Mohawk river with 

 rods and guns. We cast our lines along 

 shore, baited with the small sand pike. 

 Then I took the gun and went after snipe. 

 [ killed a snipe, then heard my reel buzz. 

 I hurried back to the rod and had a lively 

 tussle in landing a nice black bass weighing 

 4/ / 2 pounds. I stayed at the rod awhile 

 and landed 4 more, 2 bass and 2 pike. My 

 friend was below, and I saw him strike 

 several times and occasionally I saw a puff 

 of smoke. I knew that meant a snipe. The 

 fish soon quit biting, so I started for more 

 snipe. Then my friend came up the river 

 with 5 good sized bass and pike and 4 

 snipe. We then started for home with our 

 creels and game pockets both well filled. 

 We had a good bag and a day's enjoyment 

 with our Irish setters. B. Doyle. 



Rotterdam Junction, N. Y. 



