FISH AND FISHING. 



217 



ley, that good gut will not crack. I enclose 

 3 trout flies made in 1863 or '64, by Mc- 

 Bride, of Caledonia, N. Y., for my grand- 

 father, Wm. H. Hanford. I tested all 3 

 of these flies to-day, dry, up to 3 pounds, 

 and they stood it without a break. You 

 may keep them, as I have hundreds more. 

 Walter Hanford, Indianapolis, Ind. 



ANSWER. 



Your letter and enclosures are exceed- 

 ingly interesting. The flies and leaders are 

 certainly genuine curiosities, in the light of 

 the experience of many anglers of to-day. 

 I wish some manufacturer would make as 

 good an article of gut now as that which 

 you enclose. These 27-year-old samples 

 appear as good as they could have been the 

 day they left the factory. — Editor. 



WISCONSIN FISHING. 



All kinds of fish are biting now. Mr. 

 and Mrs. Howard Reed caught 2 muska- 

 longe and 7 large pike at Lake Thompson 

 one day last week. Charles Brown and 

 wife caught one muskalonge and 6 pike of 

 good size June 17th in the same lake. 

 Alex. McRae and I caught in 2 hours Sat- 

 urday 14 pike and one bass. The lot 

 weighed 46 pounds, all taken in Lake 

 Thompson. 



Tom Wood and B. Sawtelle caught a 

 fine string of bass and pike in North Peli- 

 can waters. Harry Ashton and party of 

 4 caught, at Tomahawk lake, Sunday, June 

 17th, 72 black bass, weighing an average 

 of 2 l /2 pounds apiece. Caught most of 

 them casting with flies. 



E. F. N., Rhinelander, Wis. 



NIBBLES. 



People along Squaw creek, Boise Coun- 

 ty, Idaho, pick fish as they would straw- 

 berries. The creek is alive with fish, and 

 hundreds of them get into the irrigating 

 ditches. Whenever a housewife wants a 

 mess of fish she takes her basket out and 

 picks them. The fish for the most part are 

 young salmon, there being few mountain 

 trout in this stream. In the fall thousands 

 of fish too small for use are killed by being 

 run out from the ditches on the meadow 

 land, which is irrigated at that time of the 

 year for early pasturage in the spring. 



More fish are killed in that way in one 

 year than the law saves in 10. There are 

 plenty of trout in the stream, and game 

 will be abundant this season. 



J. W. Konrad, Boise, Idaho. 



Last year the U. S. Fish Commission be- 

 gan a careful physical and biological sur- 

 vey of Lake Maxinkuckee, and the work, 

 which is under the direction of Dr. B. W. 

 Evermann, is being continued this season. 



The time this year is being devoted 

 chiefly to the vegetation of the lake and 

 the relation it sustains to the fishes. 



Lake Maxinkuckee is typical of the mul- 

 titude of small glacial lakes in the upper 

 Mississippi valley, but has in it more spe- 

 cies of fishes than any other that has yet 

 been studied. 



The results of the study of this lake, 

 when published, will prove most interesting 

 and valuable. 



Striped bass are more plentiful along 

 this part of the coast than they have been 

 for years. The average weight is about 

 14 pounds, although they range from 4 

 pounds to 48H- Mr. George W. Savage 

 landed the 4b l / 2 pound one this morning. 



The large numbers of sea clams account 

 for the numerous bass here, although 

 there does not seem to be much differ- 

 ence between clams and shedder crabs for 

 bait. The fish put up a great fight and 

 keep a man guessing until they are safe on 

 the beach. 



We have the meanest kind of hogs down 

 here, the kind who want no one to fish in 

 God's ocean but themselves. 



Lester G. Miller, Asbury Park, N. J. 



I like Recreation better than any other 

 sportsmen's periodical. I hope its circula- 

 tion will increase rapidly, and that it will 

 be the means of reforming the 40 000 fish 

 and game hogs, more or not much less, that 

 live in and around Elmira. The fish and 

 game protectors, if there are any here, are 

 very slack in enforcing laws. Thousands 

 of black bass are killed here every year in 

 the Chemung river, any length from 3 

 inches to 10 inches ; not many over, as the 

 small ones are killed before they grow. 

 Fred Scott, Elmira, N. Y. 



Some one put giant powder into Stony 

 lake, killing all the trout. Longabough 

 said it was a pitiful sight to see the large 

 Mackinaw trout rotting on the shore, 5 

 and 6 pounders, which the fiends did not 

 find. Longabough suspects the killing of 

 grouse last year due to the same fellows. 

 He has bargained for 50,000 trout for 

 restocking Stony lake. It is a small lake 

 below Price's lake, where W. Day always 

 used to catch so many. 



Dr. W. H. Cavell, Carson City, Nev. 



The season for striped bass was opened 

 on Memorial Day by William Rollins 

 landing a 38^ pound striped bass from 

 the beach with rod and reel. This is one 

 of the largest ever taken along this shore. 

 Since then there have been several others 

 taken, ranging from 8 to 20 pounds. Rol- 

 lins holds the record, and it is the opinion 



