68 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Ato. 30, 1885. 



were thought to be the gamest species, but I could perceive 

 no difference in this respect. 



Tt has been asserted by some and denied by others that the 

 muscalonge inhabits the Eagle "Waters, as the numerous 

 lakes and "thoroughfares" at the head of Eagle and Wiscon- 

 sin rivers are called. It has been stated that tbe fish so-called 

 was but an overgrown pike or pickerel (Esox lucim), but the 

 true muscalonge (Es(?.v nobiJ.ior) has a local habitation if not 

 a name in these waters. I have a specimen of six pounds, 

 and the head of one that weighed thirty-eight pounds. 

 They are muscalonge without the shadow of a doubt. 

 Both of my specimens show eighteen branchiostegal rays, 

 have the lower half of both cheeks and gill covers naked, or 

 bare of scales, and have 150 scales along tbe lateral line. 

 They differ from the muscalonge of the St. Lawrence only 

 in coloration, not being black-spotted like the latter, but of 

 a uniform grayish coloration, darker along the back and 

 whitish on the belJy. It is, in my opinion, the same fish that 

 inhabits the Upper Mssissippi, -and a few rivers of eastern 

 .Kentucky emptying into the Ohio above Mayville, and I am 

 very desirous to see specimens from these localities. 



The pike or great Northern pickerel (E. litems) and the 

 pike-perch {S. vifreum) also exist abundantly in Eagle Waters, 

 and do not differ from those of other waters except in being 

 a little diiskier in color, owing to the darker water. The 

 black bass of Gogebic are also very dusky from the same 

 cause. Neither the pike nor the pike-perch are found in 

 Gogebic, but the streams emptying into the lake arc fairly 

 stocked with brook trout. 



The month of September is about the best in the year for 

 muscalonge fishing in Eagle Waters, or for fly-fishing for 

 black bass in Gogebic Lake. I can recommend both locali- 

 ties to the notice of anglers. The season for deer is also 

 open at that time at Gogebic (but not for Wisconsin), and 

 they are quite plentiful. Ruffed grouse are abundant about 

 the lake, and also a few spruce partridges. Messrs. Arnold 

 & Tarbell, proprietors of the hotel at Gogebic, Mich. . and 

 Mx. A. A. Denton, of the Denton House, Eagle River, Wis., 

 will cheerfully reply to all inquirers. Mr. Fred French, of 

 the latter place, is an excellent guide and perfectly reliable. 



James A. Henshax-l. 



Ctnthiana, Ky., August, 1885. 



ROD AND REEL ASSOCIATION. 



A MEETING of the Association was held in Mr. Black- 

 -^-3- ford's laboratory, Pulton Market, Aug. 11, at 3 P. M., 

 President Endieott in the chair. It was decided to hold the 

 next tournament ou Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 13 and 

 14, and that all prizes must be delivered to Mr. E. G. Black- 

 ford ou or before Oct. 1, in order that the prize list may be 

 mailed to members in time. A committee of arrangements 

 consisting of twenty-six members, of which Hon. Henry P, 

 McGown is chairman, was appointed. This committee then 

 went into session and the following sub-committees were 

 appointed: On grounds, Martin B. Brown, Francis Endi- 

 eott and H. P. McGowu; on rules, Francis Endieott, Samuel 

 M. Blatchford and Fred Mather: on prizes, E. G. Blackford, 

 Henry P. Wells and C. Van Brunt. 



It was recommended that any member who may have 

 suggestions to make regai'ding the rules, to make them in 

 writing to the chairman of the committee on rules. 



The following is the committee of arrangements: Hon. 

 Henry P. McGown, chairman ; James Beukard, E. G. Black- 

 ford, S. M. Blatchford, Dr. E. Bradlev. Martin B. Brown, 

 Henry F. Crosby, D W. Cross, Francis Endieott (President, 

 ex o-gido\ Chas. B. Evarts, James Geddes, W. C. Harris, Dr. 

 J. A. Henshall, Thatcher Magoun, Chas. H. Mallory, J. C. 

 McAndrew, Hon. Robert B. Roosevelt, Isaac Townsend, 

 James L. Vallotton, J. S. Van Cleef, C. Van Brunt, Henry 

 P. Wells, Edward Weston, Col. Locke W. Winchester, 

 Louis B. Wright and Rev. Henry L. Ziegenf uss. Communi- 

 cations may be addressed to the Secretary, Mr, Fred Mather, 

 Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y. 



THE BAREFOOT AGAIN. 



Editor Forest mid. Stream: 



Under the head "The Most KUling Fly," I have seen 

 many articles lately in Forest and Streak, and read with 

 pleasure "Sport's" opinions in the issue of June 4. To me, 

 a young beginner coached by an old trout fisherman, it does 

 appear strange to hear so much talk of flies, and see my old 

 friend always taking a quantity of trout with nothins; but 

 the common worm. Further than this, I often see lengthy 

 and pithy articles on this royal sport, wherein it appears 

 that only about a dozen, often less, completes the day's 

 catch, and our city sportsman, with his expensive rod, reel, 

 lines and leaders, does not take nearly so many trout as my 

 old fiiend Adon with his home-made tackle. Fux-thermore, 

 our city sportsman will go many many miles to catch what 

 few he gets, when here right close to Philadelphia, there are 

 three streams that I know of, well stocked with trout, and 

 probably will be until the railroad runs a little closer than it 

 now does to them. 



Only yesterday Adon and I took a grist to the mill to be 

 ground, and while they were grinding it we tied our hooks 

 to a three-foot line without leaders or even catgut, and cut- 

 ting sticks about four feet in length, dawdled down to the 

 stream and commenced, baiting with ordinary worms. On 

 the very first cast I hooked a fine trout, and by the time the 

 miller shouted that the grist was done we had caught ex- 

 actly a dozen, and had I been as expert as my friend, would 

 have had two dozen, but I am young at it yet and only took 

 four out of about twenty rises. On my return to Philadel- 

 phia this morning I took them into John Wirth's gun store 

 and found that the dozen weighed exactly tln-ee pounds and 

 three ounces. 



Now, taking all things into consideration, viz., catfish 

 hooks, no leaders or guts, no fancy rods, worm bait, and 

 only a couple of hours' time spent at the stream, and at the 

 outside only a half mile of the stream traversed, it does ap- 

 pear to me that if one of our literary sports could fish there 

 one day with good tackle, he ought to have enough sport to 

 write an article three columns long. Outside of the sport in 

 seeing the trout take the fly, I thoroughly enjoyed the time 

 spent on the banks of the stream, whose waters, so cool and 

 refresliing, run so swiftly, and to a lover of nature make 

 such sweet music rushing over the pebbly bottom. There- 

 fore I say, let our city cousins look around nearer home. 

 There is trouting to be had, and good at that, without going 

 so far to .so little puipose; and also let them examine for 

 themselves whether the country sport with home-made tackle 

 does not take more fish than themselves, who are so good in 

 theory but poor in practice. 



It is the same in shooting. The city sport has his D. B. 

 hammerless gun and finely bred setters with records as long 

 as your arm, gets little game, but invariably the countryman, 



with his old single muzzleloader and what they would call cur 

 dog, gets all the game it is comfortable to tote around. B. 



[Our correspondent is sadly in need of a missionary to 

 teach him that the mere killing of fish is not the end of ang- 

 ling. If he had used a seine he might have increased his 

 catch and saved time. If he will cut loose from his tutor 

 and learn to take a trout with a fly he will learn what trout 

 were made for. As he has some of the elements of a sports- 

 man in him there is hope of his emerging from his benighted 

 pot-fishing state under proper instruction.] 



GOGEBIC, ONTONAGON AND EAGLE.i 



PERSISTENTLY for three weeks during the pleasant 

 month of September, 1884, the writer struggled heroic- 

 ally in vain efforts to call from their damp depths a few 

 only a few, of the trout of the Rangeley Lakes. A hundred 

 flies in succession dangled from the filmy leader and went 

 dancing merrily over the foamy waters below the Middle 

 and Upper Dams. At sunrise, sunset, and even at high 

 noon the good work went on incessantlv and vigorously, b'ut 

 all to very httle purpose. During the" entire three weeks 

 scarcely a dozen fish came to hook, of which two were re- 

 minders of the good old days of yore— big, brave and brawny 

 fighters— of the good old days when every hour at the 

 glorious pool below the Upper Dam the angler was sure of a 

 five-pounder. Alas, those good old days have gone and the 

 big trout of those peerless waters are fast disappearing. It is 

 useless to conjecture, the facts are manifest, and the tourists 

 and anglers who continually send glowing accounts and big 

 records anent these waters to the press are simply spectacular 

 raconteurs or mayhap have met with accidental luck. 



When a man "chucks bugs" constantly and resolutely for 

 three weeks, exhausts an extensive fly-book, wears out his 

 leaders, tires his arm, and gets but a dozen infantile rises he 

 sort of liankers after inclement language and naturally turns 

 his thoughts to fresh fields and new waters. Many a time 

 and oft during years gone by the writer has safely passed 

 thi-ough innumerable heroic struggles with the tinted mon- 

 archs of these beautiful waters, and it grieves him to part 

 with his favorite fishing ground, but in the face of previous 

 ill-luck he gave them another trial this spring with the same 

 result— exceedingly poor fishing all round. But "suflicient 

 for the day" is all a man wants, and so, early in July, the 

 scribe packed up his duds and hied him hence into the north- 

 west to drop a Ime on the waters near the father of fresh- 

 water lakes — Superior. 



Lake Gogebic lies in Ontonagon county, in the peninsula 

 of Michigan, three hundred miles north of Milwaukee and 

 some fifteen miles from Lake Superior. It is surrounded by 

 a vast pine wilderness, is eighteen miles long by an average 

 width of two miles, has a mean depth of about fifteen feet of 

 clear,_ bhush water, and unquestionably affords the best black 

 bass fishing in America. Last summer these waters were 

 invaded by the angler for the first time, and the lake was 

 found overstocked with fish that were chronically hungry. 

 Since then tons of bass have been gathered in, or rather 

 gathered out, yet they seem as numerous as ever — "thick as 

 leaves in Valambrosa," as it were. On July 19 the scribe 

 took 165 small-mouth bass, returning thirty-five to the water 

 as being under weight— a pound and a half being the limit- 

 while the balance were brought to the hotfd to be cooked and 

 devoured by some six-ty angling guests. Of these, thirty-five 

 weighed over three pounds each. The lures for these fish 

 were minnows, worms and pieces of white flesh cut from the 

 fish. They were all taken without moving 100 yards 

 from our first anchorage. Another day's labor brought 125 

 fish, and an hour's fly-casting at evening resulted in seven 

 line bass, one weighing nearly five pounds, and a brook trout 

 of half a pound, a few of the.se inhabiting the lake. Fishing 

 in Gogebic will be good for years to come, and the location 

 wall be popular because it is easy of access, has excellent 

 hotel accommodations at moderate prices, plenty of good 

 boats and boatmen, and the fish are voracious and pretty 

 much always on the bite. The hotel and its six adjoining 

 cottages stand in the only cleai "ing on the lake and arc the 

 only buildings within miles. 



Small and large-mouth bass inhabit these waters, the 

 former predominating as about ten to one, while an occa- 

 sional specimen of an exceedingly thin species of the small- 

 mouth is taken, locally known as the "razor-back." I took 

 one of these with the anatomy of a three-pound fish that 

 weighed but little more than a pound, and who fought like 

 a tiger. This fish was submitted to my friend Dr. Henshall, 

 who was on the ground just pulverizing the Microjjtri'nn, 

 and on dissection its extraordinary condition was found to 

 be due to a well-developed tape-worm. So the secret of the 

 ' 'razor-back" is a secret no longer. 



There are several fine brooks emptying into Lake Gogebic, 

 where lovers of trout fishing can gratify their desires to their 

 hearts' content. One evening a gentlemen from Nashville, 

 Mr. Ben B. Allen, brought in a splendid creel of trout 

 weighing up to two pounds each, all taken with diminutive 

 flies in a brook but a short distance from the hotel. Mi'. 

 Allen, en passcmt, is a most enthusiastic and successful 

 angler, and the writer hopes to meet him again where the 

 festive mosquito meaudereth. 



The atmosphere at Gogebic is deliciously cool, and during 

 July when the city thermometer dallied about ninety, we at 

 Gogebic were sleeping deliciously under a pair of woolen 

 blankets, and to enhance our comfort not a mosquito nor 

 fly was seen. 



Ten days were delightfully fished away here, when the 

 Ontonagon River, some twenty miles distant, and one of the 

 grandest trout streams in the country, became our vantage 

 ground. Three days were spent on this lovely stream, while 

 one day's work resulted in 236 trout weighing 84 pounds, the 

 largest reaching two pounds, and all taken with hackles, 

 gnats and coachmen. Watersmeet is the railway station 

 from which the Ontonagon is scarcely half a mile distant, 

 and a good supply of mosquito food is requisite in fishing 

 this stream. The gunner will, in the season, find this a 

 grand countiy for deer, as in one day no less than nine ctime 

 in view. Less than two hours' journey in the cars, during 

 which the tourist passes through a wilderness of lakes and 

 streams teeming with game fish, brings us to Eagle River, 

 the center of the chain of thirty lakes known as Eagle 

 Waters, and which, for good fishing, cannot be stupassed ou 

 the continent. 



Black bass, pike and pickerel abound in great plenty, while 

 the noble muskallonge is found iu every lake in the chain. 

 The writer has taken the lusty trout in many waters of 

 Europe and America, and has landed big fish and little of 

 every species, but never until the month of July just passed 

 has he fondled the festive muskallonge; and he" is now quite 

 ready to confess that half his life has been wasted. Old 

 Moa^ nobUior is a "war horse from way back, a yard wide I 



and all wool," as the "thoroughbreds" of Texas are denoted. 

 I had a 12-ouuce spht-bamboo rod, 75 yards E size oiled silk 

 line, No. 4 Frankfort reel and No. 8 Skinner spoon, and on 

 this light tackle struck a 36-pounder. JYoMUor went into 

 the air like a shot, and just filled the sky plumb f idl of fish ; 

 then dropping into the water he made it boil like a geyser. 

 He pulled like a yoke of oxen, and it required all my strength 

 to hold up my end. After an hour's hard work, the boat 

 continually moving, he came to gaff, the gamest, grandest 

 fish that ever fell to my rod. and the monument he deserves 

 should have inscribed npon it— 



"Ths noblest Roman of them all," 

 We labored in nine lakes of the Eagle Chain, taking many 

 fish, among them seven muskallonge averaging twelve 

 pounds in weight, and each made a tremendous struggle for 

 liberty. _ On a lovely point in Long Lake, a log camp has 

 been built by a hunter named Blodgett, where accommoda- 

 tions can be had, and Fred French and Horace Foster, who 

 live at Eaele River, Wis., will afford good satisfaction as 

 guides. The fishing grounds named herein are all on the 

 hue of the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railway. 

 Leaving Milwaukee at midnight, Eagle River is reached 

 about noon, and Lake Gogebic about 4 P. M. of the day fol 

 lowing. Kit Clarke. 



Planting Ground Lake, Wis., July 30, 1885. 



THE TROUT STREAMS OF KLAMATH. 



WE are on Klamath Indian Agency, Oregon, nestled at 

 the foot of the Cascade range of mountains, and stir- 

 rounded by some of the finest rivers, lakes and mountain 

 streams to be found anywhere. Dense forests of pine, fir 

 and hemlock cover the mountain sides and fringe the banks 

 of the streams, which come rushing down from their loftv 

 home, through deep, dark caiions, to wind their way over a 

 broad, marshy tract to their resting place in the placid waters 

 of Klamath Lake. This whole region is full of beautiful 

 springs, which suddenly burst from some rocky ledge or 

 mountain crest and hasten to join their many companions 

 winding all through the woodland. 



Williamson River, rising in Klamath Marsh and flowing 

 south and west through deep gorges, forming cascades and 

 falls of rare beauty, along with its many tributaries, is the 

 home of various kinds of trout. Spring Creek, one of these 

 tributaries, rising from a number of springs at tbe foot of a 

 lofty ridge, and rushing and foaming over its rocky bed, its 

 banks_ fringed with willows and aspen, is the fisherman's 

 paradise. It broods the finest and gamiest variety of 

 speckled trout, and many a time have its fair banks been 

 pressed by the foot of the wary angler. In its romantic for- 

 est home it lies like a "thing of beauty and a joy forever" to 

 him who, laying aside for a time the cares and responsibili- 

 ties of a busy world, betakes himself to its inviting scenes to 

 revel in a feast of nature's wildest beauty and art's rarest 

 sport. 



It was the evening of a pleasant day of the early summer 

 that in company with our friend and fellow-fisherman. Will 

 N., we took an excursion to these fruitful fields. After the 

 labors of the day, as the sun was going down behind the 

 purple mountains into its bed of scarlet and ciimson and 

 gold, mounted on our fleet Indian ponies we started for an 

 evening's and morning's fish to the riifles of Williamson 

 River. Our way leads over a trail a distance of .six miles, 

 among the dark pines and through underbrush of wild plum 

 and cherry. We soon reach our destination. The evening 

 is calm, the waters clear and cool ; the trout are feeding. 

 Our fi.shing tackle, an eight-ounce lancewood rod with 

 simple click reel and medium-sized enameled silk line, is 

 soon put together. The query comes, what fly will they take? 

 From some knowledge of their preferences we pick out a 

 turkey wing, and fastening to a six-foot gut leader, throw it 

 out about forty feet into the stream. What! so soon, the 

 first cast, and the waters break around the skimming fly. 

 Zipp, splash, whoop, and the line glides along our fingers 

 and sends the reel spinning. No stop or drag for us. Let the 

 fingers of the same hand which grasps the pole be the sure 

 index to measure the amount of tension that is needed. 

 Now, the first sudden surprise ended, our helpless victim 

 becomes a passive subject, and we slowly entice him to the 

 shore. But no; stop, he thinks, as he sees himself drawn to 

 a certain death. Whoop! and his pink and speckled sides 

 gleam in the sunlight, and a rainbow follows his airy track. 

 He whirls into his watery home, only again to be ruthlessly 

 guided to an inevitable death. Such gamy qualities, such 

 heroic struggles, such fruitless efforts. Soon the mossy 

 banks are his winding sheet, and in the quiet ev^euing air his 

 life goes out. One being rejoicing over the death of an 

 inferior. Happy man, poor fish. But no sermonizing here; 

 we are fishing. 



The same fly again drops on the water and glides to the 

 shore. No .sign. The third time it skims the eddying stream. 

 Whoop! and eight pounds of dashing beauty grasps and 

 carries off the tempting fly. The waters boil and rave, the 

 rod trembles, the line is drawn to its utmost tension, the 

 reel plays a hasty retreat. All is excitement and expectancy. 

 The skill of the angler is taxed to successfully manage and 

 land such a trophy. It requires coolness, patience, tact 

 and judgment. But having met the same foe before, it is 

 simply a question of time when he lies powerless at our feet. 

 Thus all through the evening the same exciting sport con- 

 tinues. Only as the shades gather the turkey wing is replaced 

 by the wood duck or brown hackle with yellow body. How 

 pleasant the scenes. The sun has gone down behind the low dis- 

 tant range beyond the snowy peak of Mt. Pitt, Only the lofty 

 peaks gleam coldly in his last rays. All life is hushing into 

 the quiet repose of dreamland. Oh, such a picture! What 

 thoughts crowd upon us. The iirching sky above, the gloom- 

 ing mountains beyond, the primeval woodland all about, the 

 peaceful rest and silent reign of all nature. The spirit is 

 awed with the terrible stillness, the awful grandeur and the 

 enchanting view. The blinldng stars call us to repose. 

 Where shall we rest? No friendly habitation is near. The 

 cold, pitiless sky must be our only covering. One lone 

 blanket serves as a bed; darkness is upon us, and in the 

 frosty air our couch is made. Slumber is disturbed by 

 dreams of breaking waters, skimming fly and exciting chase. 

 As the first faint streak of morning dawn flushes the eastern 

 sky, the M. D. thinks of the sport of the previous evening, 

 and can rest no longer, but starts for the water's edge. 

 Will, not content with the night's rest, hopes to still obtain . 

 a good nap. But soon the loud familiar whoop of mingled 

 joy and victory breaks upon his ears. He cannot stand this. 

 He knows there is fun on hand, and hurriedly with toilet 

 only half made, comes rushing to the river bank. 



The air is frosty and ice forms on fine and pole, fingers 

 are numbed and throbbing with pain, but there is no time to 



