FISHING 



167 



"I fear my stories arc all old to you," he 

 said. "You have heard them all, I think, but 

 I have just called to mind a novel way of 

 fishing that I saw once. I was on a fishing 

 trip near Bodine's Station, on the Northern 

 Central Railway, above Williamsport, Pa., 

 with a party of friends. 



"The early part of the day we had fished 

 the streams for trout, separating and trying 

 the different streams alone and agreeing to 

 meet at a millpond near by, later in the day, 

 and try for pickerel. 



"While on a small stream alone I had rath- 

 er a unique experience. 



"I had a good-sized trout on the hook, and 

 was playing him carefully, when a strange 

 kind of cough drew my attention to the op- 

 posite side of the stream, and there stood a 

 good-sized black bear looking at me with 

 great interest. As the stream was only four 

 or five feet wide, I concluded it would be bet- 

 ter for me to try some other stream, and I 

 left rather suddenly. 



I stopped for just a second to glance over 

 my shoulder, and found that the bear was 

 going quickly in the opposite direction, he 

 being evidently as much in fear of me as I 

 was of him, so I returned to the brook. 

 About noon we met at the millpond and soon 

 caught a few pickerel. 



"The mill owner came out to ask us, 'What 

 luck?' 



"We asked him if he fished; he answered, 

 'Yes,' and that he thought he could show us 

 a new way of fishing. 



" 'What do you use ?' he asked ; we told him 

 a spinner or spoon hook with worms, small 

 frogs, or other bait. 



"He asked for a couple of yards of line 

 and two hooks, baited with live minnows, and 

 rowed out in his boat to where a few geese 

 were swimming. He caught two of them, 

 fixed the lines to a foot of each and put them 

 in the water again. The geese swam off and 

 before long there was a splash from the first 

 goose, a flutter of wings, and we could tell 

 that a fish was on the line. In a few mo- 

 ments the other hook had one also. 



"Then there was a lively time ; the geese, 

 frightened, tried to fly, but the pickerel in 

 the water held them down. Then the fish 

 tried to dive, but the geese held them up. 

 The mill owner finally came to the rescue, 

 rowed out and caught the geese and took off 

 the fish. He came back, bringing two fine 

 pickerel of about three or four pounds apiece. 

 We were all expert fishermen, well up in all 

 kinds of fishing, bait, etc., but this was to us 

 a noyel way of fishing." 



City, N. J. The fish that are most often 

 taken are weakfish, kingfish, flounders, bass, 

 perch, Cape May Goodies; and, outside, in 

 the open, we get bluefish, weakfish and 

 croakers. 



We use for bait shrimp, shedder crab, 

 mussel, clam and red worms. Our tackle is 

 either a hand line or a light rod and reel. 

 We have plenty of boats for hire, the price 

 being usually about seventy-five cents a day 

 for a rowboat, and $5.00 for a small sailing 

 yacht, with a man to sail her. 



The Hotel Biscayne may be recommend- 

 ed, the rates being $2.50 and up. 



Herbert C. Smith, Ocean City, N. J. 



ALONG THE JERSEY COAST. 



Editor Recreation : 



Magnificent fishing may be had during 

 July, August and September at Great Egg 

 Harbor Bay and tributaries, near Ocean 



FISHING AT ST. CLAIR. 



Editor Recreation : 



The St. Clair Flats, "The Venice of 

 America," have long been known as the haunt 

 of the black bass. They are in lake St. Clair, 

 nine miles from the mainland. The flats are 

 reached from Detroit, Michigan, by steamer, 

 three times a day, the distance being twenty- 

 five miles. 



In order to achieve success as a bass fisher- 

 man it will be necessary to employ a guide, 

 or punter, as they are called ; these punters 

 formerly used a row or sail boat, but now 

 each is the owner of a gasoline launch, mak- 

 ing it very easy to reach the fishing grounds. 

 A punter charges for his services and use of 

 boat four dollars per day, and the start is 

 usually made at daylight or earlier. The 

 day's catch will depend much upon the skill 

 of the punter, as black bass are continually 

 moving in schools from place to place, and 

 it is only by long experience that one can 

 tell where to find them. In the spring they 

 are found only in shallow water, moving into 

 the deep channels about the end of August. 

 The best fishing at this time of year is on 

 the Canadian side of the lake, the open sea- 

 son beginning there on June 15th. In order 

 to fish in Canadian waters it is necessary for 

 an American to have a license. This will 

 cost five dollars, and can be secured from 

 the game warden, who will no doubt appear 

 on the scene just after one has started to 

 fish. The baits used for black bass are chubs 

 and shiners; the small craw is also used by 

 many fishermen. 



For those who do not care to indulge in 

 the more strenuous sport of bass-fishing, 

 there are perch, pike, rock bass, silver bass, 

 and pickerel. These can be caught in large 

 numbers. 



Punters are not required to fish for other 

 than black bass, as any one can give infor- 

 mation as to where they can be caught. 



There are many good hotels on the Flats, 

 and a telephone cable connects with the 

 mainland. Mail is delivered by steamer four 

 times a day. 



Harry C. McKee, St. Clair Flats, Mich, 



