March 16, 1883. 1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



131 



well hookerl through., what may be called, the calf of the 



leg. This makes a wound easily healed in case you find 

 him "not the h;iit" and release him. while it does not 

 seriously impair hia locomotory power. It is much better 

 ing the skin oil' his poor little hack by repealed 

 casts. ;;iid he will he quite as lively in the water, besides, it 

 in hooking lira " as though you loved him." Most anglers 



E refer to hook the crawfish through the second full joint 

 •om the body, and a minnow through the dorsal fin. Both 

 methods are good, hut perhaps with the latter bait, to put the 

 iiook through the lips is preferable. 



Thus far we have contined our remarks to still-fishing and, 

 with the exception of fly-fishing in its season, there is, in our 

 bumble judgment, no rarer sport, We are aware of the pre- 

 (iilection of some for Casting the minnow, but we are inclined 

 to believe that this mode of fishing is confined, with few ex- 

 ceptions, to Western waters and the St. Lawrence, and that 

 it b 'i With small favor from our Eastern anglers, and 

 with smaller success in QUI extreme Eastern waters. If we 

 are in error, remember this is an "experience meeting," and 

 do not leave us to "blush in ignorance." 



Speaking of (he "experience meeting," it seems we arc 

 doomed to have it out alone with the editor. WhUe "Ness- 

 ii I 'nl ''Kingfisher'' seem '-backward about coming for- 

 ward,'' we are comforted with the thought that it is perhaps 

 due to our labors thai the editor has "undergone a change" 

 on the question of "spitting on the bait." — Vide Forest and 

 SireaM, Feb. 2?., p. tU. 



We have tried the artificial baits — frog, grasshopper, grub, 

 hclgramifc. ete. — iu vain; indeed we cannot now recall our 

 having ever taken a single fish with any of them, while the 

 natural article has proved a most taking bait, We were about 

 tt) say that we doubted it any one has succeeded with them, 

 and, upon deliberation, we believe we will say so, for if there 

 is any place where a "lively doubt" may be expressed and a 

 fellow helped out, it is at an "experience meeting." 



With whatever bait one may angle, the old rule, "study to 

 be quiet," should be observed. In anchoring, let your anchors 

 go without a splash ; avoid making a threshing floor of the 

 water; remain in one position — either sitting or standing — 

 and enforce these rules with a companion, if you chance to 

 have one If there is an abomination to an angler, it is to 

 have a companion suddenly rise without cause, rocking the 

 boat violently iu so doing, and plunging your rod, if the tip 

 be near the surface, half its length under' water ; such a one 

 fishes with us — just once. It is, however, always better to 

 angle alone. 



In choosing the places for success in angling, much depends 

 upon the judgment, something on chance. We have our 

 favorite spots every year, and they change with each year in 

 the same lake. Year after year wc have found new places 

 where bass would take the bait lively whenever we cast; yet 

 within the range of six or eight years we have never fouud 

 the same spot a fortunate one in any but the first year. 



As a rule, it may he given that a gravely, sandy or rocky 

 bottom is a favorite resort for black bass. Upon such bottom 

 we unci them usually in a, depth of from eight to twelve feet 

 oi wate^ Often, particularly in a cold northeast storm, they 

 are found upon a weedy bottom, and sometimes upon a muddy 

 bottom adjacent to deep water, as upon the border of a chan- 

 nel. On a clear, windy- day a favorite haunt is a point of 

 rocks or the headland at the entrance of a cove. They are 

 rarely found in deep water — say over fifteen feet — although 

 we have heard of their biting, late in the fall, in exceptional 

 cages, al a depth of thirty feet. 



The two methods of still-fishing — mid-water and bottom 

 fishing — have each their advocates. In the former the bait 

 is kept, a foot or so from the bottom, while in the latter the 

 bait rests on the bottom. Iu either of these methods some 

 anglers prefer a float or sinker, some prefer both. It de- 

 pends much on habit, and some anglers lose half the pleasure 

 if Without a float, If a float be used, the smaller the better; 

 a small bottle cork is the best. Some anglers use neither 

 float nor sinker, and we think the tendency is to discard 

 both in lake fishing. This necessitates, in mid-water fishing, 

 the support of the bait by the rod. Mauy anglers permit 

 the bait — minnows excepted — to rest for perhaps a minute 

 on the bottom, then draw it slowly to the surface and again 

 casting, permit to sink as before, and repeating. This is a 

 good way. It is urged by very respectable authority in such 

 mailers that whether one should fish on the bottom depends 

 upon the kind of bait used. The helgramite and crawfish 

 often give trouble by crawling under stones or sticks, but 

 these are species of food which fish find upon the bottom, 

 and this annoyance must be endured. Bait should be pre- 

 sented as near as possible in the condition and locality^ in 

 which the fish find that particular kind, . 



We have said that the tendency is to discard both float and 

 sinker, and it is this which is causing more fishing to be 

 done on the bottom. It is perhaps as well to be restricted to 

 neither method, but to adopt the one fouud at the time to be 

 the most talcing. As an incident to the change that is taking 

 place this occurs to us i We were out for a day last summer 

 with an accomplished and veteran angler. We had pro- 

 ceeded to business, he with an eight-ounce rod without float 

 or sinker, we, as it chanced, with a small vial cork float. 

 After the first fish had been duly landed, which was done 

 by him. he observed, "You had better take off that float; I 

 know it is hard to come to it, but you will have to if 3'ou 

 catch any bass. I thought as you' do once." We assured 

 hiin that our habits in that regard were not confirmed, and 

 after he had taken two more we dispensed with our float and 

 then began to lake them. Of course the fish knew nothing 

 of the iin.it. and if affected them only iu this way: It was a 

 chilly, rainy day, and we were fishing in a depth of twelve 

 or fifteen I -el, and my friend's bait went to the bottom or 

 deeper than mine. The only objection to the use of the 

 float is thai it may prevent the bait from reaching the best 

 place. 



There is much of the- angler's outfit when he is prepared, 

 as he thinks, for black bass, that is purely notional and use- 

 less. It is easier to enumerate the essentials than the non- 

 e:--iifials. The former are few and simple. Much of the 

 pleasure of angling comes from the use of beautiful and deli- 

 cate tactile. There is a thrill which comes with the strike 

 upon your delicate roil, the rush, the leap and the play, 

 which," to Mm who angles with his hoop pole, is unknown, 

 or is but a sorry excitement. 



It is, perhaps, an ungrateful task, if not treading danger- 

 ous ground, to attempt to specify that which anglers are not 

 agree'! upon the I 'i'i Vet, outfit for black buss. Individual 

 tastes and preferences must be consulted, for each should 

 have that which wid most conduce to his pleasure-. The 

 rod should he light and nicely balanced, ranging according 

 to taste from eight to twelve ounces iu weight, and that 

 number of feet, in length. Some will prefer an additional 

 bunce OX two in weight, perhaps a trifle more in length. The 



perfect rod is to each different; it lies between these ex- 

 tremes ; consult your taste and that is perfection, so far as 

 your pleasure is concerned. Choose a true line, a neutral 

 tint, for instance, a taper enameled or sea, grass line with 

 a reel, also light, either click or multiplier, capable of hold- 

 ing thirty yards, Hooks' of the Sproat bend on single gut are 

 pbrhaps the best, and with a six-foot single gut leader which, 

 with the suell, should be of a neutral dint, complete vour 

 outfit. 



We are in doubt whether there is any advantage in a 

 leader, but prefer one of the "mist" variety for harmony's 

 sake. We have been as successful without a leader as when 

 using one. 



Many persons— we will not say anglers— will not fish with 

 less than three rods. They sit' in a boat bristling like the 

 "fretful porcupine," This sort of thing might be excusable 

 in one -who had a famishing camp dependent on his individual 

 exertions, but a sportsman, an angler, for shame. Rods used 

 with different baits, when the object is to find the right bait 

 for the time, are pardonable, perhaps, but this ascertained, 

 oh, gentle angler, forebear! your single rod will bring you 

 more pleasure" and as you exhibit your catch by the "camp 

 fire at night you won't feel like one who has "bought his 

 fish." 



It is a notion with some, and a mistaken one, that their 

 success will be the more certain if they can reach the spot 

 chosen /for their day's sport by the time the first rays of the 

 sun strike upon the water. Such are rewarded four- fold in 

 these early ventures, but not by the trophies of the angler. 

 Few pleasures surpass those attendant upon the long ride 

 along country roads, through fragrant meadows, past silent 

 farm houses, sleeping in the twilight of the dawn, listening 

 meanwhile to "the breezy call of incense — breathing morn," 

 across dim landscapes just beginning to resound with the 

 voices of the resurrection from "the death of each day's life," 

 until a belt of mist, stretching down the valley in front, 

 arouses new enthusiasm and fills one with eager anticipation 

 of the sport which is awaiting him upon the bright waters 

 now shrouded in its mantle. 



Stay, eager spirit, rest yet awhile, and mark those peaks 

 above you, how they "stand up to take the morning," and 

 those cloudw which crimson and gleam like banners across 

 the gateway of the day. Wait, and watch the pearls of dew 

 which now glisten over the herbage, along that pathway to 

 the landing, until they dissolve into a cup of Nature's brew- 

 ing, into a draught more precious than that in which she of 

 Egypt drank the health of the great Triumvir. Wait, your 

 journey is not to be in vain, nor has it alreadj r been without 

 profit. The morning has been a poem, and your being has 

 throbbed in unisou with its rythm. The clouds, the breeze, 

 the ripple, everything betokens good sport in store, but until 

 the sand has twice or thrice ruu its round, you will court the 

 black bass in vain. " Wawatahda. 



AMATEUR REEL-MAKING. 



THE manufacture of a reel, like the preparation of the 

 other equipments of the angler, as prepared by the ama- 

 teur, is often attended by vexations and disappointments. 

 Perseverance, however, usually crowns the attempt with 

 success. 



Let us suppose om- novice has decided to attempt a reel. 

 A hard rubber click reel, German silver bound, etc, one that 

 shall not he too-heavy for comfort and yet sufficiently large 

 to carry line enough for a large trout or a lively "hickory" 

 or scjuit, a sort of general reel, for since he may not build 

 but one, he would like that one to fit a variety of fishing 

 passably well. Among the reels of his friends he finds one 

 capable of carrying some sixty yards of line of proper size. 

 This he selects as his pattern and guide. Through his inti- 

 macy with a machinist he is allowed the use of a suitable 

 lathe, and also of the small tools usually found in a machine 

 shop. For stock he purchases hard rubber of sufficient 

 thickness to admit of the recess on the one side for click, 

 gear and spring, and for the score on either side in which the 

 spool shall whirl. German silver of the finest quality, some 

 in the sheet, of a thickness suitable for the rims and spool. 

 Two sizes of wire, one for the shaft and bushings, one for 

 the various screws necessary in the work; a little hollow wire 

 of which to make the five little posts which are to keep the 

 sides a proper distance from the spool. For that portion 

 which clamps to the rod he obtains a thick piece of metal. 



Our novice, having no pattern from which to have cast- 

 ings made,_is obliged to work all such parts entirely by hand, 

 thus entailing upon himself an additional amount, of labor, 

 but since it is a labor of love it does not matter. At the 

 bench he perhaps commences with the hard rubber, which 

 he forms into two discs of the proper diameter and drills a 

 hole through their centres, into which he forces the metallic 

 bushings in which the shaft of the spool is to revolve. From 

 his sheet metal he cuts two circular pieces of the same size 

 of his rubber pieces. Two narrow strips of metal of suf- 

 ficient length to encircle his metallic discs are then cut, and, 

 after a thorough cleaning, are bound to their edges and 

 charged for soldering. The ordinary blow-pipe does not 

 seem to work well for so heavy a job. He has then, per- 

 haps, recourse to the forge. Most likely he burns the first 

 one and has to arrange another. Eventually he will no 

 doubt solder them, after which he drills a hole through their 

 centres of sufficient size to permit of their being passed on to 

 a clamp arbor. He places them in a lathe, and turns their 

 faces anil edges true. Now, so much of their centres are cut 

 out as to leave only a, rim of the width necessary to afford a 

 firm seat for the screw heads which are to hold the posts and 

 Bides in position. A section of the rim which is to go on the 

 crank side should present, about the appearance of the letter 

 T, the click side that of the letter L. Each rubber disc he 

 then recesses on their edges to the extent of the thickness of 

 the rim stock, and in width equal to that portion of the 

 rim as shown by the perpendicular lines in the T and L sec- 

 tions. These pieces, with their rims, are finished, the click 

 side with flush edges on both sides. The crank pdate flush 

 on the spool side only, on the other the metallic edge is left 

 raised a little, inside of which travels the handle. 



He now, perhaps, turns to the spool and its shaft. To make 

 the spools he turns out a die of the proper depth and diam- 

 eter, strikes in it two pieces of his sheet metal, thus shaping 

 the cup pieces which form lie' sides of his spool. 



The stock for tin- shaft lie i entires and places in the lathe to 

 be shouldered in a proper manner lo receive the spool cups, 

 which are bored through their centres and forced on the 

 shaft, when it and the shoulders shall have reached a proper 

 shape, and there pinned and soldered to the shoulders. Re- 

 turning to the lathe he. finishes the spool so that it shall run 

 true with Ihe spindle. On one end of the shaft he faatensthe 

 click gear; the olher is prepared for I lie crank. 



To enter into all 1 he details of reel making, as pursued by 



our amateurs, would consume much valuable apace and, per- 

 haps, prove tiresome. 



Want of familiarity with the manner of using the tools 

 much increases his labors and, correspondingly. Ins mishaps. 

 He burned his first rim in soldering. 



In turning and recessing his rubber plates, perhaps by 

 feeding his cutter too fast, a" piece was dug out too large to be 

 overlooked, and thus this piece keeps company with the un- 

 fortunate rim. 



Of the dozen or fifteen screws necessary in the reel, several, 

 it is safe to say, would be twisted or broken ere their threads 

 were cut, In cutting the threads in the rods which hold the 

 two sides together, most likely one or two of the. little taps 

 used for this purpose would be broken. A number of holes 

 have to be drilled— some in the rim, some in the Shaft Most 

 likely the twist drill is dull. Now, if our novice is not care- 

 ful in grinding it, he will find he has made a somewhat dif- 

 ferent hole, than he intended. 



There is trouble in the reel bottom, which, for want of a, 

 casting, he is obliged to file out. In cutting the two slots in 

 which are to be soldered the little rods which are to hold it 

 to the sides, he will often find, when finished, that they are 

 not at right angles to the line of the piece. Again, when he 

 comes to solder them, as the borax begins to melt and run the 

 piece will commence to squirm and crawl. 



Here let me advise. It would be a good plan for him to 

 keep his borax iu his pocket, or some kind, solicitous friend 

 may substitute a piece of alum. I will warrant, if he uses 

 that, he won't succeed in soldering the first or second time he 

 tries, no matter how clean his work is. After all, the ama- 

 teur who really means reel generally completes one. It may 

 not have quite so good a finish, run quite so smooth and click 

 as musically as the professional "clicker;" still he has made a 

 reel, and it is all his own — most likely no oue else wants it. 



As the. elation of having been a reel maker wears, he begins 

 to look around and compare and examine the store reels. His 

 reel he finds to have taken about all of his leisure time for 

 three or four months, cost him about as much as the best 

 store reel, which is very likely far superior to his. Never- 

 theless, the fact remains that he has completed a reel which 

 will work, and thus taken another step in the march toward 

 the complement of home-made "traps." Ruoov. 



A LUCID FISH LAW. 



THENew York State Fish and Game Lawof 1879, with its 

 subsequent, legislation, general and local, having proved 

 utterly ineffectual, I beg leave modestly to suggest, as the 

 result of long experience and observation, the following sub- 

 stitute for all existing statutes. It has no merit but that of 

 simplicity, all essential points being embraced in a single 

 lucid paragraph, which any farmer's boy may read and 

 readily comprehend. It is based on the "Jonce Trammed 

 Compromise," (see "Harper" for January) in which old Mr. 

 Spiney ' 'had drawed the papers so close and particklar that 

 nary one of 'em couldn't find a place to pick a hole in 'em. " 

 But here is the text : 



"Be it enacted, that on and after July 1, 1882, and also 

 retroactively from July 1, 1881, all lawns' and parts of laws 

 conflicting with Section 20 of the Laws of 1879, and with 

 Sections 21 and 23 of the Laws of 1878, are hereby so far re- 

 pealed as to leave the latter unmodified but the former in full 

 force, which, however, shall not apply to the intervening 

 sections, nor to any other section except so far as to include 

 Otsego Lake and the Oswegatchie River with its tributaries 

 entering into said lake near its outlet, and no pickerel (except- 

 ing only sturgeon and catfish) shall be taken therefrom (that 

 is to say from the aforesaid) at any time or by any one what- 

 soever, saving only in the months above mentioned, which 

 applies to salmon, trout in their season, and to black bass at 

 all other times; but nothing herein contained shall be so con- 

 strued as to prevent intelligent adults from taking minnows- 

 with hook and line, or with seine or drag net, during the 

 month of December in each year ; and if any man be convicted 

 of violating this statute or any part thereof ' 'shoot him on 

 the spot," which the chairman of any Board of Supervisors 

 is hereby empowered to effect the same with a common shot- 

 gun or other suitable apparatus held in the hands of the resi- 

 dent game constable, or if not any such, by the county judge 

 of said county, unless the same shall have been elected 

 through party bias, but if not, then let him shoot." 



It may with propriety, perhaps, be added that the above 

 has received the unqualified approval of the Attorney Gen- 

 eral of the State, whose opinion is that it covers the" whole 

 ground and more too, especially the "Oswegatchie River and 

 its tributaries, which clause, he thinks, maybe subject to "con- 

 stitutional amendment." He also informs me, 'and it is a 

 piece of information which the public will be delighted to get, 

 that the heirs of Lindley Murray, the great grammarian, who 

 is said to have kicked lus coffin cover off immediately after 

 the passage of the Fish and Game Law of 1879, has' caused 

 the authors of that law to be indicted for murder— murder of 

 the King's English. And as the murder was most foul, the 

 remains even of the victim having been mutilated by the 

 bloody minded miscreants, all good" citizens will unite in the 

 prayer that their punishment may be. swift and condign. 



Eiiurj Phtxxey, Chairman Fish Committee. 



COOPERSTOTTN, N. T. 



TENNESSEE FISH NOTES. 



THE angling season is now near at hand, and our Walt- 

 onian disciples are already beginning to brighten up 

 their tackle, and getting ready tor the fray. Every class of 

 tackle, from the commonest to the most elaborate, is now im- 

 ported to this market, as an examination of the stock offered 

 by Paschal & Fall, Silas Marcy, and Charlev Griffith would 

 show. It is not unnatural that it should be so, when among 

 om- most enthusiastic anglers are found men of wealth, like 

 Col. Geo. F. Akcrs, Charles Hillman, Frank Furman Cant 

 W. Stockwell, D. W. Paschal, . I. P. V. Brown, arid Silas 

 Marcy. They devote several weeks, both in fall and Spring, 

 to the delightful recreation, and spare no expense or trouble 

 to procure every device and appliance which can add to their 

 pleasure, 



Hillman and Furman generally run together, and their 

 outfit is a museum of piscatorial paraphernalia. They gener- 

 ally go to Coney Fork or Buffalo. Col. Geo. F, A kefs 'lias a 

 decided preference for South Haspeth. I hough he is perhaps 

 better acquainted with the best fishing places of any one in 

 Middle Tennessee. Messrs. Paschal and Brown represent 

 the Cumberland Angling Club, and often make extended 

 trips, but now that they have stocked the club's ponds with 

 game varieties, they may confine their future campaigns to 

 them. Capt. Stockwell does most of his angling in the 

 Cumberland River, as his duties of chief of the fire depart- 

 ment compel him lo remain close at home, lie has ■ 



sport at times, his handsome creels are often the envv of pass- 



