July 27, 1882.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



509 



the gentle art. Walton is, of course, a mde mecum, and 

 may be supplemented by such others as the taste inclines to. 

 There are lulls in the best of fishing when some other than 

 the book of nature may be pleastint to read. On the morrow 

 we will bid adieu to these scenes and try a more promising 

 water, and we'll pray that the conditions so well expressed 

 in the following "canny" language may be ours and every 

 honest angler's then and alway : 



"When the southwest win' blows, 



And the clouds, as they pass, 

 Are varying the shade 



On the wide-waving grass; 

 When the ripplin' waters hurry 



Across the deep pool— 

 Ah! this is the time 



To be steady and cool. 

 And to wave the rod deftly. 

 Your flies mauna whistle, 

 But fa' on the streamlet 

 Like down on the thistle." O. W. R. 



SOUTHERN FISH NOTES. 



I OFTEN' wonder if all men are not. in their hearts, anglers! 

 Of course, there are dry, ascetic, bilious rupn who look upon 

 ali sport as a perversion of lime and a sacrifice to their God, 

 Mammon. Years ago. the idea of a sportsman was a blear- 

 eyed whisky bloated hanger on of village bar rooms, whose 

 antiquated tackle and primitive mode of fishing would have 

 made a modern angler stare, and immediately thereupon 

 commence a violent personal attack upon the m,n who 

 would dare to fish in his presence with such implements. 



That reminds me, Mr, Mather; in a late Forest and 

 Stream, asserts that a half-pound perch with light tackle, 

 will give more genuine sport than "a laker" weighing four 

 pounds. Right he is, and mentally 1 shake hands with him. 

 There is much false enthusiasm on the subject of timing for 

 large fish. When you can hook a three-pound bass in swift 

 water, with an eight-ounce rod, a fine silk line, a liabt reel 

 and no sinker that is the sugar of angling. No mountain trout 

 can compare with the thrilling rushes, the acrobatic feats of 

 that prince of game fishes. But how often do we accom- 

 plish this? Afraid of monster pike, we have a large line, 

 an ounce ball at the end of it and a No. 3 hook when we 

 should use No. 7. For the pike, that tackle is all right; but 

 for all other game fish, all wrong. 1 have caught with three 

 strands of "E'silk twisted into a line, bass weighing ten 

 pounds, with no reel. I"l guarantee that I can catch any 

 bass with the same tackle, given a light tapering bamboo 

 rod. I'll kill him, whatever his weight, in as many minutse 

 as he weighs pounds. 



And yet, there is no compai ison with perch fishing. As men 

 usuallyfish i or perch, there is no sport. A rod, weighing 

 three pounds, a large grass line, three or four large buckshot 

 on for a sinker, and you have the outfit. Look upon 

 that picture, then upon this. Get a light bamboo rod from 

 fourteen to seventeen feet long, and then trim off the ridges 

 with a file. Now twist black or green "A" silk, three 

 strands, into a line. Wax it well, and you have a line that 

 will catch a five-pound fish, and will give you more genuine 

 sport than any line that you can buy. I know nothing of 

 perch fishing at the North, but I presume that many perch 

 in that section of the country weigh fully a pound. Don't 

 "jerk" when one bites, but gently raise the point of the rod 

 and you wil agree with me, that there is no angling to com- 

 pare with it, though I, too, am a "fly" fisherman, and fish 

 "fine" on all occasions. A No. 9 hook, Pratt & Farmer's, is 

 best. In swift water use a small buckshot with no cork. 

 In still water use a light, cork with no sinker, and fish on 

 the bottom always. 



We have here in the South the red perch and bream, not- 

 withstanding that your fishing editor says there are no bream 

 in America. If they are not bream, what are they? They 

 average about one pound, and are as game to theirinehes as 

 any fish that swims. Many of them grow very large, some 

 few having been caught of the weight of two pounds. They 

 abound in our null ponds and in some streams. They are 

 very wary, and none but the finest tackle will capture them. 



The red perch are equally wary, but they live entirely in 

 swi ft streams, and are more easily taken. They, too, grow 

 exceptionally large — for perch — specimens having "been 

 captured by a gentleman in this place — in the Ogechee 

 River — that weighed, several hours after their capture, two 

 and one-half pounds. I have never caught them so large; 

 one and three-quarter pounds being the heaviest that I have 

 ever taken. They follow the natural law of all fresh-water 

 fishes; that the males must be the larger. The females 

 rarely exceed one-half pound in weight. They are as deep 

 a yellow as the males are a deep red. They are bold biters 

 and hard fighters, being almost tireless on the hook. They 

 bite at earth worms and Catalpa caterpillars; but, in fact, 

 they bite better at the Catalpa worms (Catawba worms in 

 the South), than at any other bait. The negroes believe 

 that they won't bile for them, but that is owing to their 

 coarse tackle. Cartes, none but an angler can catch them. 

 Owing to the great number of logs and brush in our streams 

 we cannot let them play as fully as so fine, active a fish 

 should be played. So muscular and active are they, that 

 they break a grass line if used on a stiff rod, and, indeed, 

 tney have broken my own line often; more especially iu 

 very swift water. They afford really fine sport, and will 

 take the fly, like the bream, us readily as any mountain trout. 



Go with me some still morning in September to the Ogee- 

 chee River. Faint, subtle odors fill the air; a perfume as of 

 violets now and then is wafted to you upon the gentle breeze; 

 that is the late autumn flowering weeds and water cresses. 

 See that willow bending over the water, kissing its current 

 with a few feathery sprays. Drop your worm just above 

 these, and the current will carry it down under the willow. 

 Take care! he had the end of your rod in the water! he is 

 gone! Try again. What an arrowy rush! To the end of 

 your rod and full strain; hold a tight line and you have a 

 fish that will require your utmost skil 1 for the next two min- 

 utes, and give you contented angling. 



Of course we have other fishing, but that is my favorite 

 style. Speckled perch, bass, jack and wawmouth and black 

 perch, all afford fine sport. Let not some fly-fisherman saj- 

 that I am no longer m the ranks, and rashly proceed to 

 ostracise me, If he were here he would do precisely as I 

 do— substitute a style of fishing as near like fly-fishing as 

 possible. 



Now, knights of the rod, lads of mettle and hearts of 

 gold, through the columns of our staunch paper allow me 

 once more to greet you. I read all that you write, and men- 

 tally grasp your hands. Long may you cast the delusive 

 fly is the sincere wish of St. Clatr. 



Wadly, Ga., June 19, 18SS. 



SOME FISH STORIES. 



I SUPPOSE there is nothing that delights an enthusiastic 

 fisherman more than to make a real, "bang-up" good catch 

 of fish— to this we must of course, add the pleasure of tell- 

 ing it to his listening friends. Now, these friends may be 

 good listeners, may take in the whole yarn, swallow it 

 greedily; but the question comes up very naturally, do they 

 believe it? In many cases I fear you will find they are 

 quietly nudging one another and exchanging sly glances, 

 and finally some hardened, unbelieving reprobate will so far 

 forget his good manners as to say, "Jim, that's a whopper ! 

 you don't expect us to swallow that, do you?" Of course 

 Jim gets on his dignity at once; don't blame him for doing 

 so. He has gone to a good deal of trouble in getting up a 

 real nice fish story, and even if he forgot to put in a little 

 truth, it is hard to 'find so little faith among those he is fill- 

 ing up. 



1 want to tell something about some messes of fish caught 

 up in Brown's Tract this season; and from the fact that I 

 did not catch any of these fish, but am simply telling of 

 what others have done, may I not reasonably hope that my 

 story will be believed, as it deserves to be, for it is true this 

 t ime. 



In the latter part of May two gentlemen from Philadelphia 

 with their guides went over to Lime Kiln Lake, but failed 

 to get the fish they expected, so picking up their- baggage 

 they made a move to an almost forgotten lake. I can't name 

 it, but guess I could get it if so inclined. On this lake they 

 fished one day, and this was the result— fourteen trout whose 

 united weight was thirty-three pounds, an average of two 

 pounds and five and one-half ounces per fish, and remember 

 these were all speckled trout. One fish was four pounds two 

 ounces, five of the others weighed fifteen pounds. Com- 

 ment on this day's work is needless. I might say, however, 

 iliac this lake be ng very hard to get to, had probably not 

 been fished for years. 



Another good catch was made about the middle of June 

 on Seventh Lake by Adolph Steinbrunner, of Constableville. 

 N. Y., and his guide Bart Halliday— this was all bait fishing, 

 and it was done around the only island in that beautiful lake, 

 and all in one day. They caught a lot of minnows, and cut 

 them up into small pieces, then scattered them around the 

 spots where trout are known to feed, and then they both set 

 to work fishing; and the catch yielded forty pounds of fish, 

 of a hich four were lake trout, the balance being speckled 

 trout. 



"Once more," as the good dominie said in closing, - "and I 

 have done." Henry Bristol, of Utica, and his guide Gus 

 Syphert, fished the South Branch of Moose River, making a 

 full day of it, Bristol using a fly rod and his guide a bait rod, 

 and they brought back thirty pounds cf dressed trout. If 

 you will let me add one more case I promise to stop. 



Early one morning — quite early and foggy, too, so much 

 so that the boat w r as steered by the compass, for no shore or 

 sky could be seen — a gentleman and his guide started out 

 from camp for a day's fishing on North Branch of Moose 

 River. B3 r the time the river was reached the black flies had 

 commenced skirmishing around for breakfast, and they made 

 it uncomfortably hot; then the sun came out "like a "strong 

 man armed, " and there was not a breath of wind. Have you 

 ever been caught just so ? A combination of circumstances, 

 which, for the time being, make that portion of one's life 

 anything but lovely. Would it not be a charity to ring 

 down the curtain right here? or cut off short and say "to be 

 continued?" But no, let the truth be told this time, too. 

 Well, the two men, good men and true, went to get fish, and 

 they did not propose to give up simply because of a few 

 black flies and a phew degrees of sun^ and to their work 

 they went; one waded the stream and used a fly rod, the 

 other fished from shore and used a bait rod— the net result 

 was two men boiled down to that serene frame of mind that 

 don't care a continental whether fish bite or not. and the 

 same two men so much and so badly bitten by black flies that 

 their nearest and dearest friends woul i skip around the cor- 

 ner to avoid being recognized by two such bloody, viilainous- 

 looking tramps, besmeared with tar oil and gore. And the 

 net result of their day 's fishing was about four pounds of 

 trout- Who dares say this is not: true? Call it a fish story, 

 put your fiuger to your eye and quaintly remark about some- 

 thing .green, and all that sort of stuff, but you cannot convict 

 me of telling an untruth this time, for I was there. 



J. R., Jr. 



THE ENGLISH FLY CASTING. 



SATURDAY afternoon I attended an angler's tourna- 

 ment, held at the Welsh Harp. This famous resort is 

 located on the banks of a beautiful lake three-quarters of a 

 mile in length and one-eighth of a mile wide, located within 

 about eight miles of St. Paul's Cathedral. This is the larg- 

 est body of fresh water, with the exception of the rivers 

 Thames and Lee, in the vicinity of London. It is kept well 

 stocked with pike, bream, chub and perch. Indeed while 

 we were there several large catches were made, among them 

 four bream, weighing together twenty pounds, and three 

 pike weighing respectively two, twelve and nineteen pounds. 



The bait casting was made from a stand placed in the 

 center of a beautiful green lawn. At distances regularly 

 marked off were broad stakes, the boundaries inclosed by 

 various flags, conspicuous among them and at the head of 

 the field in my honor, was floating the American flag. 



Some very fine casts were made. The peculiar styles of 

 some were quite interesting and novel. The fly casting was 

 made from a punt moored in the lake, my friend Mr. Mars- 

 ton still maintaining his position as champion of England. 



I suggested that at the international fishery exhibition to 

 be held next year in London, an international fly-casting 

 tournament be also held, which would certainly be one of 

 the most attractive scenes, and my friend Reuben Wood, the 

 American champion, will have an opportunity of widening 

 his reputation gained in this art. 



At the dinner which was held after the conclusion of the 

 programme at the Welsh Harp, I was called upon to reply 

 to the toast of the American anglers, and at its conclusion 

 was introduced to a large number of the most prominent 

 representatives of many angbug associations. 



On the evening of the 19th of July, by invitation of the 

 Gresham Angling Society, the largest and most influential 

 one in Great Britain, numbering over 250 members, I am to 

 speak again on the subject of black bass. 



The interest in the international fishery exhibition is in- 

 creasing every day, entries being made from all parts of the 

 world. 



As the time for entries closes on September 1, it wili be 

 necessary that any of our people who expect to be repre- 

 sented make application at once. Geo. Shefakd Page. 



London, England, July 11. 



LIGHT vs. HEAVY RODS. 



I HAVE no doubt that your readers are much interested 

 in the articles written by Dr. J. A. Benshalland Mr. G. 

 W. Van Siclcn, upon the merits of light and heavy fly rods; 

 and as every expert has his favorite weight of rod, go will 

 he naturally take sides in the pleasant controversy between 

 two gentlemen of such experience, and I do not expect to 

 change the views of either of them, but possibly what I 

 write may be of benefit to some one of inexperience in 

 buying a rod; also to show how much safer and easier it is 

 to kill a large fish with a good sized rod than it is with a 

 light one. 



My experience dates back nearly twenty years, and I have 

 tried to learn something about casting a tly and taking trout 

 properly ever since. 1 began with a seven-ounce greenhart 

 rod, and to-day I use a ten and a quarter-ounce split bamboo 

 of the best make. My reasons for the change are these: I 

 like to kill my fish quickly, for 1 take no delight in leading 

 around a three-pound trout half an hour before netting it. 



Another reason is that I can save many a large fish 

 that I would lose with a light rod. I can imagine about 

 how Mr. Van Siclen would look "and feel also" with his five- 

 ounce rod fastened to a seven-pound trout, that w-as rushing 

 for and under the apron of the Upper or Middle Dam at 

 Rangeley Ls?kes with hail' a dozen experts looking on ; my 

 opinion is he would sell out cheaply his light rod, if he was 

 using one, as he would lose his fish three times out of five. 



I well remember an incident that took place at Middle 

 Dam camp several years ago that completely weam d me 

 from "light rods." I was starting out of camp with my 

 friend, S\ W. P., of this town, when I discovered that he 

 had a very heavy rod, and I said to him: "Gilbert, don't — 

 for my sake— take that bean pole to fish with before all these 

 city fellows that know me. They will think you are awful 

 green." "Well," said he, "this rod goes with me; you can 

 go or not, just as you like." We went, and the result was 

 that he took about thirty fish to my ten, and while I was 

 trying to keep my trout "but of the bushes, and from going 

 under the boom, he was covering the bottom of the boat 

 with good-sized trout. The next day when we started out, 

 I had a rod that was as heavj r as the one he used. When he 

 saw how things were he said to me: "O, don't, Ed, take that 

 'bean pole' along; what will the city gentlemensay?" but we 

 went fishing all the same, with the heavy rods, and I never 

 have used a light one since. 



I also have in mind another chapter of experience that 

 took place at Trout Cove, just above the Upper Dam on the 

 same range of lakes. There was in camp a big six foot 

 Scotchman who sported alive-ounce rod; he hailedfrom New 

 York and was just "furious" when he was told he could not 

 kill a seven-pound trout in a half day with that switch. It 

 so happened that the very next day he struck and fastened 

 to an eight-pound trout, and it w 7 as soon known in camp what 

 was up, for the Scotchman "roared for help," but the boys 

 in camp said, "Let him sweat it out," and he fought his fish 

 long and well some six hours, and as darkness came on he 

 got desperate and actually drove the fish ashore and at last 

 killed him with a club. There was some loud talk when he 

 came into camp, but we noticed the next year when he came 

 up he brought in a ten-ounce rod, and used it. 



No doubt a five-ounce rod is :-.ll right to take small fish, or 

 "to play with," but for quick and safe fishing, nothing short 

 of a ten-ounce split bamboo will do for me, and if a man 

 can't handle a well balanced rod of that weight he had better 

 keep out of the Maine woods unless he goes in for his health. 



E. T. W. 

 Putnam, Conn., July 1C. 



I have just read Dr. Henshall's very capital letter and 

 cannot retrain from sending a few lines to thank him for 

 standing out against the aesthetic craze for toy rods which 

 has sprung up in America, and so will doubtless come over 

 here, but never to take root I feel sure. In this country we 

 only buy these effeminate toy rods for our wives and d aughters. 

 We consider the greatest "skill is exhibited in kilhn 

 fish as quickly as possible on the finest tackle, and I ask you 

 whether more skill is required to kill a two or three pound 

 trout on a nine or ten-ounce ten-foot rod in two or three 

 minutes, or in simply hanging on to him until he is exhausted 

 with a five-ounce bit of india-rubber, and "fool around" for 

 fifteen or twenty minutes? Why not tie a cat to your line 

 and "let her have line," and "give her the butt" until she is 

 exhausted? Quite as much "sport" would be afforded, prob- 

 ably more. What would be thought of a sportsman who 

 purposely used a weak shooting gun in order to get more 

 sport out of his game by haying to "pot" it repeatedly in- 

 stead of killing It as soon as possible? 



P. S. — 1 am trying to get up a club for the purpose of in- 

 troducing black bass~into this country. R. B. Mabston. 



London, England, July, 1882. 



Tennessee Notes. — The fishing in all our streams is 

 excellent at present. Captain Wm. Stockell caught nine 

 pounds of blue cats at the wharf the other day. iiermann 

 Buckholz, Charley Horn, and Jack Bentley had rare sport in 

 Duck River. They were camped out for a week, and every 

 day was better than its predecessor in quantity of fish caught. 

 Jack Bentley wishing to show his expertness as a diver, 

 jumped into the stream from the top of a high overhanging 

 tree and came near paying the death penalty tor the hazard- 

 ous undertaking. Dr. John W. Morton and a party of 

 gentlemen have, to-morrow for Harpeth River on a fishing 

 excursion. This is one of the few streams tolerably protected 

 from seiners and wholesale destroyers, and consequently fish 

 are abundant. T heard of the champion fish eater on yester- 

 day, he is said to have devoured ten pounds of catfish at one 

 sitting; this should entitle him to the belt. — J. D. U, (Nash- 

 ville, Tenn.) 



A Forty-two Pound Salmon. — New Fork, July 15. — 

 Early June salmon angling on the Restigouche this year has 

 been a failure. The backwardness of the season" has no 

 doubt been carefully recorded by those migratory visitors, and 

 but few made their appearance above tide-water before the 

 first week in July. Extraordinary and continuous high 

 water also worked to the anglers' disadvantage, and Ihe 

 scores were comparatively light. I have to record, h 

 one good fish — weight forty-two pounds, length forty-six 

 inches, girth twenty-seven, fresh run and in high condition, 

 handled in very strong water varying from seven to twelve 

 feet, current six to night miles per hour, distance traversed 

 from hook to gaff one riile, time one and bne-tjuaiter hours, 

 back fin up and game to tlie last, with a single leader. — As 

 Old Hand 



