July 17, 1884] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



487 



county lias civil jurisdiction, " one-half inch smaller than in 

 Other parts of th<s State, while in uets used in taking menha- 

 den no restriction what* ver is made as to size of mesh. This 

 discrimination was undoubtedly made to protect certain fish- 

 ing: interests in the county, perhaps to save some influential 

 man from the expense of buying a new net. If it has proved 

 to be a two-edged sword and now cuts on our side of the 

 blade, I don't see what we can do but grin and bear it until 

 the next mee+ing of the Legislature. Still there is a way of 

 getting at them. It unquestionably was not the legislative 

 intent that the fishing lor menhaden should Dfi used a>8 a 

 pretext for skinning our waters of the more valuable food 

 fishes, and if sufficient evidence is produced the Association 

 will he fflad to test the matter in the courts. Should you be 

 able to give me the names of these ostensible bunkermen but 

 actual destroyers of our food fishes, 1 think that we may be 

 able to raise the temperature to an unpleasantly high degree 

 for them. I trust that this letter of Commissioner Black- 

 ford's will be given a wide publicity through the press of the 

 county, so that all may he on the look-out to detect and 

 punish the offenders. "Thanking you for calling my atten- 

 tion to the matter. 1 am yours truly, Francis Endicott 

 (Clifton, Staten Island, July 10, 1884). 



Office of Eugene G. Bi,ackfoud, New Yoke State 

 Commissioner, — Mr Francis Endicott, President of (7w Game 

 /•nil Fish Protective Association qf Miahmond County, N. Y.: 

 Dear Sir — I am in receipt of a communication which was 

 forwarded to me, making complaints with regard to the men- 

 haden vessels seining weaklish and other food fishes along 

 the shores of Staten Island. If you will at any time send 

 me the names of the vessels, and if possible the names of the 

 owners, who are engaged in this outrage, I will take steps at 

 once which I think will prevent a recurrence. Respectfully 

 yours, E. G. Blackvokd (Commission of Fisheries. State of 

 New York, July 9, 1884), 



HIS FIRST BLACK BASS. 



OUR county is dotted with a great many small lakes, 

 there being about sixty-five, averaging in size from the 

 smallest covering three or four acres, to those coveiing two 

 or three thousand acres. Every summer, since commencing 

 with the proverbial "small boy" up to the present time, we 

 have spent from two to three weeks camping out among 

 these lakes. Of late years, however, having attained the 

 dignity of a family man, we have been obliged to abandon 

 the camp and engage quarters at a farmhouse near some of 

 the lakes, and so enjoy our "outing" with the family. 



Fish any? Oh. yes, ?ome. Any one who went to the 

 lakes was expected to fish, as a matter of course, and we 

 think this was the reasou that we fished, because it was ex- 

 pected of us, more, than from the real love of the spoit. 

 But a change came over the spirit of our dreams, and we 

 found that the trouble was not with the fishing, but with 

 the way in which we fished. We are willing to leave it to 

 any fair-minded man if he would consider if sport to sit for 

 half a day in a small boat, in the middle of a lake, under 

 the broiling sun. holding a pole with a line tied to it, and 

 baited with a lowly "wiim," waiting for a stray fish to 

 happen around and get caught? We think such "sport" 

 would have discouraged Job himself. But we will tell you 

 how tho "change" came o'er us. 



At the farmhouse where we were stopping this summer, 

 there were other boarders, and among tbem a gentleman who 

 was a most persistent angler. He used to invite us to go 

 with him on his fishing trips, but remembering our previous 

 experiences, we did not think the inducement sufficient. 



One bright morning, however, we told him we would row 

 him round the lake, but it was done more to "put in the 

 time," than from any anticipation of sport on our part. 



He was provided with a fine rod and reel, with the neces- 

 sary fixtures for bass casting. Rigging up his rod, and bait- 

 ing the hooks with minnows, he handed it to us, saying, 

 "Now make a cast right over there by that old fence 'close 

 up to the shore, and you will get a bass." We took the rod, 

 and after making two or three trials, managed to drop the 

 minnows in the neighborhood of the desired spot. Suddenly 

 there was a commotion in the water down by the fence, anil 

 sure enough, there was a hungry bass there waiting for his 

 breakfast, and he went for it. too. 



"Hold still, hold still," whispered our friend, "don't jerk, 

 wait till he runs with it." Timely advice, indeed, for we 

 were just getting up our muscle, intending to jerk the fish 

 out on the bank across the lake, for it felt and looked like a 

 whale when it captured our minnow. By this time the bass 

 made up it's mind that it had business somewhere else to at- 

 tend to, and started to do it. Zip! How the line went out 

 and bow the reel did hum! It was an experience we never 

 had before. Under the directions of our friend, who was 

 managing the boat, we checked the fish after it had run 

 about thirty yards, and when we brought him up, "he got 

 on his ear" about it, and jumping clear out of the water, 

 shook his head at us, and then started off again as lively as 

 ever. 



After making two or three dashes, he was working back 

 near the old fence, where we hooked him, when we felt an 

 extra jerk on the line, then it seemed as though our line 

 was hitched to the bottom of the lake, and the rest of the 

 inhabitants of the waters were trying to take that minnow 

 away from our fish. The water boiled and splashed, and 

 we could swear that that fish had fourteen fins and as many 

 tails, for we saw them. We tried to work him away 

 from the fence, for it was a dangerous place to get tangled 

 up in, but the pull was so heavy we were afraid the rod 

 would snap. Meanwhile the excitement in the boat increased, 

 at least on the part of oue of the occupants, and our friend 

 had his hands full trying to keep us from stepping over- 

 board or on bim. He said afterward that we danced all 

 around on the gunwale of the boat and kicked him several 

 times in the bargain. We don't believe this story at all, but 

 if he still persists in repeating it, as we hear he is doing, we 

 shall always feel glad that we did kick him. There seemed 

 to be a change of tactics on the part of the fish, and instead 

 of the long, quick runs, there was a heavy, steady pull, with 

 short jumps and dashes first one way and then the other, in 

 fact it. looked as though there was a difference of opinion at 

 the other end of the line. 



After playing the fish for a short time it gradually 

 weakened and we reeled in our line. When it neared the 

 boat imagine our surprise and delight when we found that 

 we had hooked two fine bass. When we saw two fish we 

 had another attack, but our friend reminded us that they 

 was not ours yet, or we would probably have lost thern after 

 all. We toon had them safely in the landing net and then 

 in the bottom of the boat. AVeren't they fine? There was 

 never such fish as those caught before, and they were ours' 



We caught them. Just think of it, two at once. They bed for $2.50. Got up at 3 A.M., took a boat and paid 

 were both laree-nioutl i black bass: one weighed three pounds fifty cents for use of Ham<'. Pint of shrimp cost forty 



two ounces and the other two and three-quarter pounds. 



We never knew before why anybody ever told "fish 

 stories" but found out then. We wanted to tell everybody 

 within four miles all about those two fish and how they 

 were caught, and all the other particulars. All our friends 

 in this locality have heard about it so often that they will 

 not listen any more, and we suppose this is the reason we 

 send it to you. We have been converted and have joined 

 the noble army of anglers. You will find us there any time. 

 Before closing we want to give in our testimony in regard 

 to our grand paper. We are glad that there is one paper 

 devoted to sportsmanship that can honestly be called a clean 

 paper, and by your success you show that there are gentle- 

 men sportsmen indorsing you. We have never seen the 

 necessity of a pocket-pistol attachment to the rod and gun 

 and we admire your nerve in attacking it. Cub. 



Chicago, HI. 



CHARMS OF SALT-WATER FISHING. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Your issue of July 10 contains an editorial to which I take 

 exceptions. I am well aware that an editor, like a clergy- 

 man, always has the floor, and. that any reader who makes 

 an issue with an editor in his own paper is quite likely to get 

 the worst of it in the argument. However, when I see what 

 I think to be injustice, it is my disposition to matce my pro- 

 test, let the consequences fall where they may. The article 

 I refer to is yours on "Salt water Fishing." You say : 



"There is a wide difference between the salt-water and the 

 fresh- water angler. The former is content to enjoy himself 

 in his own way and say no more about it. The' trout and 

 black bass angler, on the contrary, considers the fishing as 

 merely part of his pleasure; the trip, the scenery, the grand, 

 old woods, all inspire him to tight his battles o'er again. 

 There is nothing* of this in the saltwater angler, be he a mem- 

 ber of a swell bass club or an humble brother of the hand-line 

 committee who takes the Staten Island ferryboat in the morn- 

 ing and, with the patience of Job, goes to the rocks and oyster 

 beds for weaklish and with crab bait awaits a "tide-nmher," 

 as the big weakflsh are called iu his vocabulary. This sitting 

 on a hard seat all alone waiting for something develops a 

 reticence that the fresh-water angler seldom acquires. There 

 is no doubt that the surroundings influence the angler to a 

 greater degree than has been suspected, and the depressing 

 effect of the ocean is noticeable on those who angle in it. * * 

 We have yet to see the salt-water angler who possessed the 

 tire and enthusiasm of fresh-water fishers. It is possible that 

 there may be men who love salt water as the trout angler 

 loves mountain streams. If so we do not know them. * * * 

 The salt-water angler is seldom inspired by the beauties of 

 nature because there are no such beauties in the surroundings 

 to be inspired by," etc. 



Now, my dear sir. I must assert that you are not fully 

 conversant with that of which you write. In the first place, 

 you forget that such anglers as Genio C. Scott and Robert 

 B. Roosevelt, both notably salt-water anglers, have been 

 anything but "silent men," have never been lacking in in- 

 spiration or poetry of expression, and have been what seems 

 to me very happy in their descriptions of the beauties and 

 pleasures of salt-water fishing; and a score more I could 

 name of our devotees to salt-water angling, whose souls are 

 full of inspiration and sentiment derived from their associa- 

 tion with the shores, rocks and waves of the ocean, while 

 enticing its finny inhabitants with rod and reel, and even 

 with the despised hand-line, at which let no one cast a sneer. 

 Come with me, my dear sir, and stand on the ledges, near 

 which may be taken that royal fish, the striped bass, the 

 hluefish, or the gamy and obstinate tautoe, and let the 

 bracing breezes of old ocean fan your cheeks and fill your 

 lungs with the stimulus of pure ozone, while the breakers 

 dash over the rocks, fling their spray in your face and eddy 

 and boil around your feet, and as some noble fish dashes away 

 with your bait and tries your skill and tackle, and you 

 wonder whether the quarry is yours or whether fish and 

 elements combined are not more than a match for your prow- 

 ess, and with the voice of the booming waters in your ears, your 

 every faculty awakened and aroused by the grandeur and 

 beauty of your surroundings, come and you shall no longer 

 say there is no inspiration in salt-water angling, but you 

 shall feel the power of nature in your soul, and you shall 

 say that angling has resources far greater, grander and more 

 excitiug than you ever dreamed of in vour philosophy, and 

 you shall envy the salt-water angier in that he has been all 

 the while the possessor of joys such as had never before 

 come to your knowledge. You will no longer call the sea 

 "monotonous;" you will see that it is ever varying, ever 

 changing and ever and always a source of new beauties and 

 surprises and delights, and at the same time you will feel the 

 resistless power which dwells there and compels your ack- 

 nowledgment. I have stood on the brink of Niagara and 

 felt silenced by its awful presence. Similar sensations come 

 over one when he communes with nature in any of its 

 grander developments, and the ocean has, perhaps from its 

 very grandeur and force, tied the tongues and pens oi many 

 of Walton's disciples; but there have been, and are, many 

 who have described its delights and resources with a fullness 

 and eloquence that need not hlush beside the choicest efforts 

 of those who only sing the praises of the mountain stream 

 or woodland lake. The ink has long ceased to flow from 

 the pen of the gentle "Genio," but we have still a Roosevelt 

 and a Ward, aud many there be like them, and to these I 

 say, rise up my brethren and assist me in the defense of one 

 of our grandest and most favored sports— salt-water angling. 



C. T. HuKCKLEE. 



Boston, Mass. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Having been a reader and contributor of the Forest and 

 Stream lor a number of years, and seeing an editorial in 

 your last issue on salt-water fishing, I write you concerning 

 that sport. 1 am one of those who indulge in that kind of 

 fishing, aud would like to give some of my experience, or 

 rather inform those who love salt-wat«r fishing how 1 have 

 succeeded for the last three weeks. We all know that every- 

 body is not placed in a position to go fishing for three or 

 four weeks "at a lick," nor write long articles about it, and 

 some people don't believe in fish stories sent on by parties 

 hundreds of miles away, unless they put a little more salt 

 in them. 



I will give you an account of my sport and luck combined 

 that I have had lately, hoping others will do the same 

 Friday evening, June 20, a party consisting of myself and 

 two friends took the last train on the New York, Wood- 

 haven and Rockaway Railroad to Broad Channel, Jamaica 

 Bay (you can start from Hunter's Point. Bushwick. or Flat- 

 bush avenue as well). We stopped over night ; room and 



cents. Started at 3:30 A. M., tide running in, and 

 went east to the club house, or a little above it, 

 between the club house and a place they call the 

 "Pot," known to most, of our baymen, and dropped 

 anchor, rigged our rods and commenced to fish about 4:30 

 A. M. I was the first to get the line over, and soon hooked 

 a two-pound weaklish, and a hungry fellow lie was, for he 

 had my bottom book away down in his belly. We fished 

 until 6:80 A.M. The tide changing, fish stopped biting, 

 and to be sure we stopped fishing, put up our tackle, and 

 took a bite ourselves, which wc had fairly earned after one 

 hour and three-quarters of exciting sport, for fish at that time 

 in the morning bite fearful and almost take the rod and 

 reel out of your hands. ■ We counted our fish, in sizes run- 

 ning from one and a quarter to three and a quarter pounds, 

 and 129 was the number, all weakfish. Now if this don't 

 come up to your fresh-water fishing, I mean when you fish 

 for about five or six hours and catch thirty or forty fine 

 trout from five to six inches in length, or about six to the 

 pound, and instead of sailing to your hotel in a boat you 

 must walk from three to five miles and carry a heavy load 

 of trout, then I am greatly mistaken. We congratulated 

 each other, divided our fish, and by 8 o'clock we fastened 

 our boat to the float and took the first train for home. 



The following Monday, June 23, the same party with an 

 addition of two boys, one nine and the other fourteen years 

 of age, took the train for the same place, started out at 3 

 o'clock on Tuesday morning, my two friends in one boat and 

 the two boys in the boat with me. We took it very easy, 

 for the largest boy pulled my boat up to the fishing grounds, 

 the tide running in of course, and the two boats anchored 

 close together. My friends began to catch fish while T rigged 

 the boys with chop lines. The small boy on the start Tost 

 two fish, but the third one he pulled in with such a force, 

 slapping the fish on the side of my head that my bat 

 went overboard. He continued pulling in fish and caught 

 nineteen before he was tired out. Good for a boy of his age. 

 Fishing up to 8:30 A. M. we put away our tackle, counted 

 our fish, and had 86 and my friends 59, making a nice little 

 pile, 145 in all. We got back to the dock and took the 10:47 

 train for Bedford Station, got home, aud surprised our 

 friends with a grand mess of fine fish. 



July 7 the same party, the two boys included, started from 

 the float at Broad Channel for the fishing grounds at 3:30 

 A. M., the tide running in, water smooth as glass, and full 

 moon. It would cure a sick person to be out on the salt 

 water on such a lovely morning. You could hear the meadow 

 hens cackle for miles around you, now and then you would 

 hear "quack, quack" from large birds called by that name, 

 and bluefish, or snappers, as they call them, could be seen 

 breaking all around. We got on the grounds about sunrise, 

 and such a beautiful sight! The boys felt delighted. We 

 fished up to 7 o'clock. The two boys and myself caught 

 seventy-six and my two friends twenty-four, all weakfish 

 except one bluefish and oue blackfish. We started back for 

 the dock, took the 8:4? train for home with as nice a lot of 

 fresh fish as you want to look upon. Now, Mr. Editor, if 

 anybody doubts my word, I live at 715 Myrtle avenue, and 

 can prove this to be a fact. 



If some of the salt-water fishermen will follow and give a 

 true account of their luck or sport, you or your fresh-water 

 anglers will begin to think that there is a good deal of sport 

 and pleasure in salt-water fishing. Now where can you find 

 more exciting sport than there is in trolling for bluefish with 

 a seven or nine pound monster hooked on each of 1he four 

 or five lines out? Tt takes men with good nerve to stand 

 the excitement or they may get seasick or be pulled over- 

 board ' by a fish. If anybody would like to catch sheeps- 

 head, let him go to Holland's Station, Rockaway Beach. 

 Lewis Walton will furnish you with a boat, or tell you where 

 to go or take you out himself. They catch them under the 

 hotel dock or at the Neptune House wreck, and one or two 

 places under the trestle works. Besides there are plenty of 

 small fish in the bay and good sport for children. A friend 

 of mine caught a four and a half pound sheepshead near the 

 club house while fishing for weakfish, using shrimp for bait. 

 There is good weakfishing on the Rockaway side up the bay 

 on the oyster beds or "Silver hole," only bear in mind that 

 fish will bite only at certain states of the tide, and that is 

 the time you want to be on hand. This week I will try them 

 below the trestle works in the channel or at the "Runt," 

 where they often catch very large weakfish. Knebel. 

 Brooklyn. 



"NESSMUK'S" BREAD RECIPE. 



Editor Forest and Stream,: 



I received my copy of "Woodcraft," and find it extremely 

 good reading. 1 should know something of its subject, but 

 the extent of the information acquired by one who has really 

 made a study of the matter for a half century, is something 

 wonderful even to one who has often faced nature in her 

 wildest moods. I observe that "H. P. U." is disposed to 

 criticise a portion of the outfit recommended. I can stand 

 "NessmukV boots and cutlery well enough, but 1 am led 

 to ask further light upon his method of making bread. Upon 

 this subject I am not an authority. It would perhaps be 

 hard to find a man who has camped as much as I, and made 

 less bread. I found on page 93 of "Woodcraft," instruc- 

 tions for the use of three (3) tablespoon fuls of baking pow- 

 der to a quart of flour. I thought it a big dose, and asked a 

 member of my family, who said she thought the bread would 

 not be good. As I have been led to believe that she knows 

 the most of what is commonly thought worth knowing on 

 this subject. I was naturally confirmed in my opinion, 

 especially as the quantity named far exceeds that given in 

 any published recipe which I have seen. May it not be a 

 printer's error? [No.— Ed.] Inquiringly, Kelpie. 



Central Lake, Mien., July 0, 1884, 



THE 



Youth and maiden 



In a boat, 

 On a lakelet 



Flirt and float, 

 Maiden thinks the 



Water cool, 

 Puts haDd in it- 

 Little fool, 

 From her finger— 

 Heedless thing- 

 Loses pretty 

 Diamond ring. 



TALE OF A 



Maiden frantic 



Tears her hair; 

 Youth disgusted 



Has his swear. 

 Youth next morning 



Fishing goes, 

 Rod, line, bottle, 



Rubber clothes. 

 Yanks a fish from 



Out the tide, 

 Feels big lump 



ITpon its side, 



F. ST. '"_'. 



FISH. 



Wonders if the 

 Scaly thing 



Could have dined on 

 Darling's riogf 



Ho with great ex- 

 citement rife, 



Cuts fish opeu. 

 Big jack-knife. 



Mystery 

 To unravel, 



Finds? Well, no 



Bit of gravel. 



in Berkshire £?o#rW, 



