458 



RECREATION. 



I have a bill before the present Legisla- 

 ture which I hope may have enough sup- 

 port from other anglers to secure its pas- 

 sage, and I trust it will stop this dirty- 

 work. 



Robert W. Carpenter, Foxboro, Mass. 



ANOTHER SPECIMEN OF THE MICHIGAN 

 BREED. 

 W. H. Barrett, Tas. Ryan and J. C. Decker re- 

 turned Saturday from a 5 days' fishing trip to 

 Long lake. They brought back 492 fish, the ma- 

 jority of which were striped bass. — Flint, Mich., 

 Journal. 



Here is what Barrett says about it: 



The report of our fishing trip is correct. 

 We caught 492 fish; 11 pickerel, 4 blue- 

 gills, one rock bass, one bullhead, and the 

 others yellow perch. The pickerel and 

 bluegills were taken with a spear, through 

 the ice. The perch were caught by cutting 

 holes in the ice and baiting with minnows. 



I have just returned from another 5 



days' fishing trip to the same place. J. C. 



Decker and I caught 313, all perch but 3. 



These were 2 pickerel and one black bass. 



W. H. Barrett, Flint, Mich. 



So you and your friends belong to the 

 great herd of Michigan swine. You are 

 a disgrace to your State, and it is strange 

 the decent sportsmen of Michigan do not 

 thin out your herd occasionally. 



I think Michigan has a law prohibiting 

 spearing, and she certainly has against the 

 taking of black bass in winter. I shall 

 send a marked copy of this to your State 

 game warden and I trust he will take you 

 into court and have you properly punished. 

 — Editor. 



REEL SIDE PLATE. 

 720,063. — Side Plate for Fishing Reels. Jo- 

 seph E. Pflueger, Akron, Ohio. Filed 

 November 21, 1902. Serial No. 132,- 

 241. (No model.) 

 Claim. — 1. A side plate for fishing reels, 

 consisting of a sheet of strengthening ma- 

 terial interposed between sheets of hard 

 rubber. 



2. A side plate for fishing reels, consist- 

 ing of 2 plates of hard rubber, having in- 

 terposed between them a strengthening ma- 

 terial, the 3 sheets 

 being united to- 

 gether. 



3. A side plate 

 for fishing reels, 

 consisting of a sheet 

 of strengthening 

 material interposed 

 between sheets of a 

 non-corrosive substance, the 3 sheets form- 

 ing a unitary article. 



my experiences are similar and more ex- 

 tensive. Our interior rivers swarm with 

 these fish, and I have heard many com- 

 plaints of their destroying duck feed as well 

 as salmon spawn. In spite of his faults, I 

 have found the carp game and exceedingly 

 powerful. I have had a 3 pounder take line 

 for 35 or 40 yards at the first run, and to 

 the end at the second, 50 yards in all. When 

 carp get heavier they lose their quickness,, 

 but gain in strength. In the interior rivers 

 and warm waters they are sluggish, but in 

 cold streams and lakes they maintain alt 

 their game qualities. I use chiefly worms 

 for bait, but I have caught carp on a spoor* 

 when trolling slowly. At times I have had 

 exceedingly good luck with a fly, filling my 

 basket in 2 hours. The fish averaged 24 of 

 a pound. The flies they took were large 

 gray and white ones. 



E. R. Preston, Sonora, Cal. 



NIBBLES. 

 You deserve all the backing you can get 

 for the stand you have taken in the inter- 

 est of real sport. After you publishing 

 "Another Bunch of Michigan Swine," how 

 could any one have the face to still further 

 display himself as did that Justice (?) of 

 the Bunch in your December number. The 

 "contempt and shame from every Ameri- 

 can" is theirs, not yours. They brought 

 their names into "disrespect and scandal ;" 

 you only brought their shameful work into 

 right. They admit their dirty business. 

 yet they cry shame ! It is not convincing. 

 They are mistaken in thinking it makes no 

 difference whether they caught one pound 

 or 100 pounds of fish. I should not wish 

 to live in Calumet if the people there are 

 of the class who sanction such brutality. 

 C. G. Adams, Springfield, Ohio. 



Was greatly interested in your Puget 

 Sound salmon story. When I was in Ta- 

 coma, in '94, the market fishermen used to 

 go up the Puyallup river in the evening 

 with nets, which they stretched across the 

 river and allowed to float with the current. 

 All salmon bound up stream, that did not 

 swim deep, would run into the net, be 

 gaffed, killed and taken on board. In this 

 way*a fisherman would take all the fish his 

 boat could carry. Will some Tacoma 

 reader say how it is now ? 



Samuel Rudy, Anaconda, Mont. 



THE CARP OF CALIFORNIA. 

 Having just rend an article in Recrea- 

 tion about carp and carp fishing, I find that 



The new Montana fish law permits seining any- 

 where in the Missouri river except in Lake Sewall, 

 in Lewis and Clarke county. The size of the 

 mesh of the seine to be used is fixed at '\ l / 2 inches 

 square. 



Under the new act any person who catches any 

 trout, grayling or black bass, or who removes any 

 eggs or spawn from any such fish for speculative 

 purposes? or who sells any of the trout, grayling, 

 black bass or spawn thereof is guilty of a mis- 

 demeanor. The new act prohibits absolutely the 

 sale of any of these. — Montana, paper, 



