412 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[June 17, 1886. 



"Ole stub-an'-twist Knots, er I'm a loon !" shouted Ben, 

 and then five lusty yells, accompanied by the shrill soprano 

 of the girls to balance the harmony, went over the water in 

 an answering greeting, and as the boat came on, propelled 

 by the easy, practical stroke of a stranger who handled the 

 oars, preparations were made to receive him. 



Old Ben having in mind the threat against his scalp, and 

 having nothing at hand with which to "fill his ole hide chuck 

 full o' perforated holes," hastily collected a half dozen fair 

 sized boulders lying at the edge of the water and as they 

 came within casting distance these were heaved with a pre- 

 cision that dropped them at quick intervals close alongside 

 the boat, and as he could not get out of the way "Ole Stub- 

 an'-twist was treated to a shower bath, somewhat to his dis- 

 gust and the astonisment of the boatman who was perhaps 

 not used to this new style of welcome. 



When the boat was pulled up and relieved of its load of 

 "Knots," his old comrades surrounded him and he was put 

 through a course of hand shaking, and kicks and cuffs that 

 fairly knocked the breath out of him, and it was not until 

 he had removed the tompion from the muzzle of his (pocket) 

 pistol and fired a shot straight down brother Muller's throat 

 that a truce was called. The missile, however, had no other 

 effect on brother M. than to produce a temporary aberration 

 of mind ; it would require a whole battery of this sort of 

 ordnance to lay him out. Verily the ways of welcoming 

 a comrade to camp are divers and various. 



The fiurrry of the first salutation over, the well beloved 

 old "Kingfisher" was presented to the girls, strangers to him 

 except Kit and Mother Jim, the reception was over and the 

 camp resumed its wonted serenity. 



But the countenance of Knots was a sight to behold. In- 

 stead of waiting at Traverse. City for the afternoon boat, and 

 coming in by Sutton's Bay and arriving in camp about 5 

 o'clock as we had expected, he had started with the boatman 

 Meade, aud came overland in an open vehicle to the saw- 

 mill, and from there down the lake in a light yawl, slipping 

 up on us about 10 in the forenoon. Built on the thin- 

 skinned, light blonde order of architecture, the sun "had. a 

 skunner agin him," and bad poured its rays down on him 

 with such "sarchin' fervidness," assisted by the reflection 

 from the water, that his face was the exact color of a freshly 

 boiled lobster, and shone with the refulgence of a newly var- 

 nished red wagon. His face and the backs of his hands, 

 which were in a similar fix, were quite painful for a time, 

 but a few applications of a sunburn lotion and some fresh 

 cream brought relief, and in a day or two Knots was himself 

 again. But to day he had enough of the sun without trying 

 the lake in an open boat for a fish or two, preferring to loaf 

 around camp in the shade, doctor his burns and rest, that he 

 might be fresh for a fair start in the morning. There was 

 no'fishine: that day till the famous dinner had been disposed 

 of and the shadows had begun to creep and lengthen out 

 over the water along shore, the dinner having such a sopori- 

 fic effect that in half an hour after the big pudding pan bad 

 been scraped of its last spoonful, more than half the camp 

 were in a sound nap, and the others too lazy and "triflin' " 

 to draw a full breath. There was "some tall briigsun'," as 

 Ben said, over the dinner, that made the girls feel quite 

 stuck up at the part they had taken in preparing it, but as I 

 am writing this where none of them can get at me to pull my 

 hair, I may venture, with a shakv conviction that I am rais- 

 ins a breeze about my ears, that to the philosopher's care 

 and watchfulness in seeing that everything was not burned 

 to a cinder, was mainly due the success of that, feast. 



Toward evening the spirit moved old Dan and Ben 

 to take a boat and pull down the lake to the first point, 

 and as the sun went down they returned with fish 

 enough for breakfast, for which they received credit marks 

 as being the only two in camp with energy enough left to 

 lift an oar or wield a rod, even in the shadows of the de 

 parting day. But the night brought cooler air and refresh 

 ing sleep aud we were out betimes in the morning sniffing 

 the grateful odors of the woods and laying plans for the 

 day's sport. 



"We had promised Knots a trout supper for his first day in 

 camp, but his untimely coming in on us and the demonstra- 

 strations attending it, and the big dinner, and the broiling 

 sun of the previous day had combined to knock out of joint 

 the trip Ben and I had planned up Maybert's Creek. 



To-day, however, trout must be bad, and Knots was in- 

 vited to 'join in the intended slaughter of the innocents, but 

 he is noted for two things, his bump of caution iu unravelin"- 

 the mysteries of an unsupported fish story, and a rootei 

 belief that unwonted physical exercise is not good for the 

 general system, and these two "leadin' traits o' character" 

 moved him to ask about the lay of the stream, the density of 

 the "bresh" along its banks, the probable number of logs 

 and fallen trees he would be called on to straddle or crawl 

 under to the estimated lineal rod, the lowest figure we could 

 set on the number of skeeters to the square foot that would 

 be lving in ambush for him at every kink of the stieam 

 thirsting for his gore, etc. , and when all had been answered 

 to his satisfaction he straightway made preparations to go 

 out with Jim tor a day's plain bass fishing, as trout fishing 

 was a little too rich for his blood. We wished for old Dick, 

 right there, that he might lay him out with one or two of his 

 bur, six- jointed, ' side-achin' " words. 



Here was an old veteran— who had faced the music in the 

 trenches before Vicksburg and a half a score of other 

 places where bullets were thick as mosquitoes in the tangles 

 along Cedar River, who had earned his shoulder straps by 

 three honorable wounds— flaunting the white feather right 

 in the face of the enemy. And he had come up to see us 

 with the especial purpose in view of this time having a few 

 days 'trouting. but it may be noted that the "Old Stub-an'- 

 twist" has been promising himself the treat of a day^ with 

 the trout wherever we have made a camp for the past five or 

 six years, and goes always supplied with a hatful of the 

 most elaborate and killing tiles (with which he "hes heaps o' 

 fun with the sunfish an' goggle eyes), but when it has come 

 to a serious consideration of a trip up the Cedar, Cold Brook, 

 or other stream of like possibilities, his courage has, as Dick 

 says, "almost always invariably" oozed out, and he has gone 

 back to the easier and more comfortable kind of sport— plain 

 bass and pickerel fishing from a boat. 



Knots has yet his first trout to take, and if that particular 

 trout lives till Knots catches him, I have a notion he will be 

 a toothless centenarian with an inch of moss on his back 

 and his frame covered with barnacles. 



Ben lit the brier root, filled a small minnow bucket with 

 lunch, and when I had placed the rods and bait boxes in the 

 boat we made a bee line for the log road across the lake aud 

 Maybert's Creek, leaving the others to divide up and go 

 a fishing or stay in camp as the spirit might move them. _ 

 Our trip up the creek netted us over forty trout of fair 

 size, besides the little fellows that we returned to the water 



to help swell the count of the first dude that might chance 

 on the stream. The skeeters bit even better than the trout, 

 but Ben affirmed, after his fashion, that "skeeter bites was a 

 cussed sight more onsatisfyin' than trout bites," and we 

 were glad to get out to the road and back to the boat while 

 the sun was yet a couple of hours above the hills. 



A hundred yards from where we had left the boat the old 

 road passed through an open spot of an acre or two, on 

 which grew scattered patches of low, scrubby raspberry 

 bushes, loaded with luscious red berries, and while we 

 stopped to pick a few of the most tempting, Ben disturbed a 

 speckled frog in his meditations, and after a fine piece of 

 strategy he was "surrounded" and tranf erred to the minnow 

 bucket. Beating around through the bushes we "skeered 

 'em up," as Ben said, every few feet, and in a short time we 

 had the bucket nearly half full of the "speckled beauties" 

 (new name just dug up for this species of batrachian for "old 

 priority" to scratch his head over), and then we tried to fig- 

 ure out what attracted them so far from the water, away out 

 here in a raspberry patch, where there was little grass and 

 plenty of hot dry sand. Could it be that they had a "fruity 

 tooth" and resorted here to satisfy its craving by scooping in 

 a berry at every flying leap at the low bushes, or did they 

 come after the bees and flies and the various kinds of winged 

 aud wingless bugs that infested the patch? We gave it up, 

 and we didn't have sense enough to open one of thcm to see 

 what manner of sustenance he had concealed about his per- 

 son, or at least, we didn't think of it; and this "didn't think of 

 it" is about the main reason why so many of us go blunder- 

 ing through the woods without seeing or learning anything 

 that we can turn to account as a benefit to ourselves or others. 

 But every one cannot be a John Burroughs — may his eye 

 never grow dim nor his pen lose its charm. 



The" little raspberry patch was a mine of comfort to us, 

 for any day that we ran short of bait we could pull across 

 and in a short time "hive" three or four dozen of the choicest 

 speckled frogs, and the supply held out well on to the break- 

 ing up of camp. 



Back in the boat again we changed our trout hooks and 

 snells for bass hooks on gimp, and pulling out to the belt of 

 bulrushes, spent an hour in some fair sport with the bass and 

 long-snouts, and then across to camp, hurried a trifle, doubt- 

 less, by a vigorous tattoo on the bottom of a frying pan iu 

 the hands of the philosopher as a signal for supper. 



Knots and Jim came iu soon after we got to camp, a little 

 disappointed over their string of fish, but they had passed a 

 pleasant day in old time companionship, and they looked as 

 contented, as Ben made it out, "as a small boy with a pocket 

 full o' marvels an' a bran new kite." 



Supper over, the camp-fire was started on the same old 

 pile of ashes, and after entertaining the mosquitoes and goats 

 for a couple of hours and talking little Top into the land o' 

 nod, the council broke up and we went to bed with the plans 

 all mapped out for the morrow's campaign. Kingfisher. 



New Jersey Notes.— The Newark Cull, June 13, reports: 

 Budd's Lake, in Morris county, is one of the prettiest bodies 

 of water iu the State. It is only one and a half miles long 

 aud less than a mile wide, but it is surrounded by beautiful 

 scenery, is clear and generally calm and moreover teems 

 with fish. Bass, perch and pickerel abound and are easily 

 caught. The bass are chiefly small-mouthed, and it is said 

 that this variety are more numerous and much larger in this 

 lake than in any other New Jersey waters. Large-mouthed 

 bass were placed in the lake last year by the Fish Commis- 

 sion, and a one-pound specimen was recently caught by Mr. 

 Kazner, of Jersey City. A pickerel weighing four and a 

 half pounds, was taken through the ice last winter. Two 

 Newark anglers fished at the lake last week, and among 

 other fish caught a four-pound small mouthed bass in min- 

 now casting. The fish was caught among the lily pads with 

 an eight-ounce fly-rod, and the angler risked his rod in snub- 

 bing the frisky captive as quickly as possible and playing 

 him to and fro as close as possible to the boat. At the end 

 of three minutes the fish was almost ready to hand in, but 

 just at this critical moment the reel fell from the rod and 

 sank into the water. He gripped the line against the rod 

 and held the fish away from the boat, while his companion 

 recovered the reel by pulling on the line until the spool was 

 empty. Then putting: it back in the reel seat, he wound up 

 the slack line and said "Go ahead." The fish had mean- 

 while recovered his strength and was exploring the duck- 

 weeds and lily pads, but he was safely boated and brought 

 to Newark. The Forrest House at the lake was opened 

 yesterday and several Newark families are booked for the 

 season. ' Others have engaged accommodation at Budd's 



farm house Sheepshead are biting at Barnegat, and the 



bluefish season at the inlet has fairly opened. Weakfish are 

 being netted in enormous emantities, but are not taking bait 



with avidity The excursions to the Fishing Banks by the 



steamer Joanna will commence to-day and continue every 

 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday until further 

 notice. The Joanna has been greatly improved since last 

 season. The boat leaves Ripley's dock at 8:30. .. . Mr. John 

 C Roe, of Paterson, now stopping at the Lakeside House, 

 Greenwood Lake, caught 106 fish Wednesday along the 

 lower west shore of the lake. In his catch were 37 bass and 

 63 pickerel. Mr. George Wilson took 63 bass and pickerel on 

 the same day. Thomas Garrison, the guide at Lakeside, 

 caught 17 large-mouth bass in skittering on Wednesday 

 night, and Senator Griggs and his son had excellent success 

 in fly and minnow casting. Messrs. Samuel and Albert 

 Schoch were at the Fuller House Tuesday and Wednesday 

 and had fine sport in pickerel fishing, under the care of the 

 veteran oarsman, Bob Terhune. They also caught a few 

 bass. Henry Folsom, of Orange, who was als.o stopping 

 with Fuller, caught a large- mouth weighing 6i pounds, and 

 F. Koowland a 3* pounder, with thirty other small-mouths, 



. . .Black bass fishing has been pursued with but little sue 

 cess is the Raritan liver at Bound Brook and East Millstone, 



Fishing is reported to be very good now at Somers 



Point Manv sheepshead, drum and weakfish are being 

 caught with 'hook and line. While fishing with a net one 

 day last week Silas Boyle, of Somers Point, caught twe 

 sheepshead, a large drum and five hundred pounds of weak 

 fish at one haul. . . . A correspondent writes: "Seeing in the 

 (Ml last Sunday what strings of perch were caught at Green 

 Pond, Mr. J. B. Merrill and Mr. J. R. Sutton, of Mornstown 

 went up Thursday afternoon and fished in the evening and 

 early in the morning with great success. If anybody wants 

 to catch fish I know of no place where they will be sure ol 

 o-etting the number they will there. There is a nice hotel, 

 but it is so fixed in the landlord's lease— he cannot keep 

 fishermen nor hire out any boats. Visitors have to go 

 to a Mr. Clark, who will give the best accommodation he can 

 in an old log house, but everything is very clean and charges 

 very low." 



Landlocked Salmon in the Madawaska. — Editor Forest 

 and Stream: The first landlocked salmon known to have 

 been taken in this river was captured at this place a few 

 evenings since in a dip-net that was taking whitefish. This 

 fish is undoubtedly one of the 50,000 fry placed six years ago 

 by order of the Ottawa Government in Temisconatta Lake, 

 the head of Madawaska River, twenty-two miles distant. 

 Five thousand were placed at the same time in Baker Lake. 

 The size of this fish (8 pounds) shows these waters to be 

 favorable. Temisconatta has long been the favorite resort 

 of a few sportsmen for its splendid trout fishing. Doubtless 

 many salmon have been taken there in the past; if so, the 

 fact has been kept very quiet. Sportsmen can find a hotel, 

 guides and boats at the lake, and many routes may here be 

 taken on streams with plenty of trout and large game. Ed- 

 mondston is the terminus of the New Brunswick Railway. 

 From here the route is by team twenty-six miles up the Mad- 

 awaska, a fine drive amid beautiful scenes. P. A. Babiu, 

 Esq., of the Babin House, this place, will answer inquiries.— 

 Warpield (Edmondston, Madawaska county, N. B. , June 7). 



How to Cast a Fly. —Paterson, N. J., June 11. — Will 

 some of your readers kindly explain how a fly is tied? I 

 have consulted various angling books as to fly-tying but 

 could not comprehend them. In these books fly tying and 

 casting the fly are so treated that it only explains the authoi's 

 method, taking it for granted that you know something 

 about the subject. The only comprehensive article on fly- 

 casting that has been my good fortune to read appeared in 

 the Forest and Stream May 8; through the medium of 

 this article and the help of a coach I learned to cast a fly to 

 my own satisfaction.— G. A. M. 



Minnesota Fishing, — Pillsbury, Minn.— During the past 

 month fishing in our many lakes has been exceptionally fine. 

 Large catchers and large fish have been the rule. I went out 

 last Wednesday in compeny with W. L. Hall and O. M. 

 Langly, of Wadena. We left my house at 1:30 P. M., re- 

 turned before dark, and brought in 101 pounds of fish, mostly 

 wall eyed pike. We practiced still-fishing, using minnows 

 for bait. Excellent reports are brought in from Long Lake, 

 Big Swan and other noted resorts.— J. F. Locke. 



An International Pleasantry.— Mr. Billy Florence, 

 the justly celebrated and world-renowned actor, is a guest 

 at the Windsor Hotel. He is on his way to the R^stigouche 

 for a month's salmon fishing. He was seen by a friend buy- 

 ing a spade in the city, and on being asked the cause he said 

 he was going to test the right of the Canadians to prevent a 

 free American citizen digging his own bait! We wish our 

 genial friend a pleasant trip. — Montreal Herald. 



Shad in the Ohio.— New Albany, Ind., June 5.— Editor 

 Forest and Stream: Did the U. S. Fish Commission place 

 any shad in the Ohio River or its tributaries? For several 

 years the net and seine fishermen here have taken a few shad 

 occasionally and this season a number have been on the 

 market. Fishermen and others pronounce them Potomac 

 shad. If they are how did they get here?— Jap. [The U. 

 S. Fish Commission has for several years stocked the Ohio 

 and its tributaries with shad]. 



fishing, black bass, pike, pickerei, etc., being abundant, with 

 comfortable living at the hotel, located on the western shore 

 of the lake. See advertisement in other columns. 



Osakis, Minn., May 29.— Pike are now biting nicely iu 

 the lake, thirty to fifty being caught to a line in an after- 

 noon. Bass are also beginning to bite. Redheads and blue- 

 bills are nestiug in good numbers here this season. The 

 chicken crop also promises good. — S. W. S. 



Shrinkage of Weight.— Bridgeton, N. J.— A drumfish 

 weighed sixty hours after capture eighty-four pounds. What 

 was its approximate weight when landed?— F. S. J. C. 

 [Probably ninety to ninety-fivo pounds, according to the 

 state of the atmosphere.] 



So easy to row with Allen's bow-facers. Catalogue free. Oars 

 complete, $8 per pair. Fred A. Allen, Monmouth, IU. — Adv. 



$nswtr$ to §amspottdmt£. 



tW No Notice Taken of Anonymous Correspondents. 



L. M.— Reference to the dictionary will show you that falcon is 

 pronounced f aw-ku. 



E E A —You can procure steel traps from any of the dealers in 

 sportsmen's goods in this city. Write them for what you wish. 



G D S New York. — I have some 12-gauge paper shells which have 

 been made for more than a year. Do you think it dangerous to use 

 them? Aus. Not if loaded with black powder. 



Frank —See notice of Chateaugay Lake in our last issue. That wiil 

 t»robablv furnish a satisfactory reply to your inquiry, ior flies con- 

 sult "Juollara's" "Days With tbe Barmecide Club" in this issue. 



F S Toronto.— Can you tell what bait to use for trolling for rxiaske- 

 lonke'"' Ans. If you use live bait a sucker or chub is best the former 

 uVeierred because it lives longer when trolled. If dead tish are used 

 on a gang of hooks either fish mentioned will do. 



MosociTO.--For protection against insects use the preparation 

 recommended by ^vNessmuk" ('-Woodcraft,'- page ,22), which is as 

 follows: Pine tar, 3 ounces; castor oil, 2 ounces; oil of pennyroyal 

 1 ounce. Simmer together over slow fire and bottie for use. Kub it 



in LEw r °wfu!ow, Arkansas.-Do you require correspondents to sign 

 their real name after they have written tor you long enough so : ihat 

 vou know who tbey are? Ans. It is often a convenience w ™ »' 

 proper address be given, even by those correspondents witn whose 



with five drams of powder, weight of gun nine pounds twelve-gauge? 

 2. Don't the choke of a gun wear away faster m a stub twist that , in 



a Damascus barrel? 3. Is the gun as good as any other American 



mike? Ans 1 Yes. 2. No material difference. 3. Yes 



T s St Pa U -1 Please let me know in your next issue where I 

 can get a book on rules for dog fighting? 2. What is the best book on 

 cWcfen dog training? Ans. 1. Tuat is a subject on which wepossess 

 noTnformation 2. For training field dogs, Hammond's -'Training 

 Breaking" is the best thing in print. We can supply it, price $U 



N S G C Brooklyn.— In a sweepstake shoot, nve entries, muss 

 and out two prizes, one drops out in first round, the second on the 

 third "round and the third on the fifth round, only two remaaning u 

 S« shoX who are entitled to the stakes? Am. If fourth and fifth 

 shooters have scored five each, they may azree to divide the prizes, 

 otherwise they must shoot for first and second. 



M Hamilton, Ont.-I intend in July spending a couple of weeks in 

 the north trout fishing. Very large rrout are caught and 11 want to 

 cure some specimens to bring home for exhibition Can you give me 

 a recipe for drying or curing them? Last year I caught speckled 

 fSwr ^Munds in weight. Ans. Split the fish on the back and 



them on racks to dry in the sun or put a fire under them. Keep them 

 dry. 



