FISH AND FISHING. 



43 



NOT GUILTY. 



I am a regular reader of your excellent 

 magazine and greatly admire your efforts 

 to prevent the slaughter of game. I en- 

 close a clipping from the Kansas City Star. 

 These men need a roasting. 



A S., Hiawatha, Kas. 



The clipping referred to says : 



C. B. Norton has just returned from a visit to 

 Walker, Minn. With him were Herman Schmel- 

 zer, the Rev. S. M. Neel, and his daughter, Miss 

 Edith Norton. "One day," said Mr. Norton, "we 

 caught 126 fish. Another catch figured at 112. 

 Dr. Neel is a good fisherman and few can equal 

 Mr. Schmelzer. My daughter also has a hook and 

 line record." 



I wrote these men, asking if the report 

 was correct, and received the following 

 answer: 



It is true my party and I caught 115 fish 

 in one day in Lake Neal, near Walker, 

 Minn., but there were 9 instead of 3 in the 

 party. We had 5 boats, 2 men to a boat. 



In the party were Rev. Dr. Neal, a prom- 

 inent minister of this city; Judge W. H. 

 Sandusky, Judge of the Criminal Court at 

 Liberty, Mo.; Dr. J. R. Rothwell, surgeon 

 of the C. M. & St. P. Ry. ; Standley Fields, 

 a retired farmer, living near Liberty, Mo.; 

 C. L. Chase, the genial landlord of the 

 Chase Hotel, Walker, Minn. ; J. A. Beasley, 

 Bowling Green, Ky. ; also the pilot, an en- 

 gineer of the White Swan launch and my- 

 self. I mention these names so you may 

 know that the party was not fishing for 

 the market. Our catch was as follows : 26 

 Oswego bass, 20 rock bass, 29 walleyed 

 pike, 40 pickerel. The last named fish is 

 known by the natives as a snake. No na- 

 tive will eat them. They are to the Minne- 

 sota angler what the German carp is in the 

 Central and Southern waters, a nuisance, 

 and kill the finer game fishes. 



I trust this letter will meet with your ap- 

 proval and not have the scent of pot fishing. 

 Herman Schmelzer, Kansas City, Mo. 



Your catch was not at all excessive. — 

 Editor. 



HARD WORKING BRISTLEBACKS. 



George Hubbell, Julius Hasmann and J. M. 

 Grasher, of Milwaukee, were here early in the 

 week on a fishing trip with Vital Boyere. They 

 returned home Monday evening, taking with 

 them 450 brook trout, which they caught in 2 

 days in the streams near here. This is one of 

 the largest catches of the season and the Mil- 

 waukee gentlemen were much pleased with their 

 success. — Milwaukee Papers. 



In reply to my request for verification of 

 this report, I received the following. 



The report about 2 friends and me catch- 

 ing 450 brook trout is correct, but not many 

 persons would go through the hardships 

 we did at the time, beginning at 4 in the 



morning and fishing until dark, despite 

 mosquitoes and deep water. 



J. H. Grasher, Milwaukee, Wis. 



It is not strange that you should have 

 worked hard in order to slaughter a large 

 number of trout. A 4-legged hog, when he 

 gets into a potato patch, works as hard 

 and as long as you and your friends did 

 on the trout stream, and the fact that you 

 suffered from mosquitoes and flies is some 

 consolation to the decent sportsmen whom 

 you have deprived of a share of the sport. 

 Your names go in the fish hog book in the 

 following order : J. H. Grasher, No. 1,057; 

 George Hubbell, No. 1,058; Julius Has- 

 mann, No. 1,059. — Editor. 



A REPORTED MONSTER. 



A big fish story comes from the City of 

 Mexico. It relates that a great flood in the 

 Rio Grande brought down so much mud 

 that it fairly choked the fishes and com- 

 pelled them to seek the shoal water along 

 the banks and in the bayous, to avoid being 

 choked to death. Thousands of fish were 

 picked up by the natives. Some were sim- 

 ply lifted out of the water by hand, others 

 were killed with clubs, pitchforks, etc. 



A native Mexican, named Pedro Sainz, 

 and his 2 sons found a monstrous catfish in 

 a narrow lagoon, in water not more than 2 

 or 3 feet deep. They built heavy brush 

 dams above and below him so he could not 

 get out and then went in after him. He 

 churned the water into mud so that it was 

 difficult to see him and he pounded the men 

 about in good shape as he rushed up and 

 down the narrow channel. He also cut 

 their legs repeatedly with the sharp, spiny 

 rays of his pectoral fins. The men were 

 unable to land him without implements, so 

 one of them went to town, borrowed a rifle, 

 and when the fish stuck his head up to get 

 air, shot him. He proved to be a monster, 

 and is said to have weighed 237 pounds. No 

 measurements are given, and while the 

 figures as to weight are probably excessive, 

 yet it is known that the catfish does grow 

 to 150 pounds in weight. 



NIBBLES. 



When the latest issue of Recreation 

 comes to hand I lay aside other business at 

 the earliest possible moment that I may de- 

 vote my time to reading it. from cover to 

 cover. The article entitled "Some Fly 

 Fishing Wrinkles," by E. E. Hickok, in the 

 issue for April, 1904, gave me information 

 I desired at that time and well repaid me 

 for the money invested in becoming a sub- 

 scriber. I thank Mr. Hickok for his "Wrin- 

 kles," so timely placed before his readers. 

 I trust he will continue to give us anglers, 



