July W, 1805.] 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



7© 



BOSTON AND MAINE. 



Boston, July 18, — The fishing trips are not yet all over, 

 though the height of the spring season has gone by. Mr. 

 N. Gr. Manson, with a friend in the iron trade, have gone 

 to Mr. Manson's camp on Upper Richardson Lake, Me. 

 They are to be absent for eight or ten days, and will give 

 the fly fishing a good try. Mr. Manson is well posted on 

 the fishing in that part of the country, and is anxious to 

 try certain pools in la.te July. He expects mosquitoes and 

 black flies to some extent, though the worst season for 

 these pests is over. He has Camp Leather Stocking fully 

 fixed with window screens, so that the night time will be 

 endurable. It is the daytime that the gentlemen dread. 



Mr. Manson had very fair fishing at his early trip to his 

 camp, from which he returned three or four weeks ago. 

 On this trip he was accompanied by Mr. Ezra P. Howlett, 

 of Syracuse, N. Y., and Mr. Luther Little, of Boston. The 

 trip was a new one to both gentlemen and they were de- 

 lighted with the country and the surroundings, but not 

 especially pleased with the mosquitoes and black flies. 

 Mr. Little has about decided to build a camp on Richard- 

 son Lake, a short distance below Camp Leather Stocking. 

 But he is obliged to be in Europe a good deal of the time 

 this year, and that is likely to delay his camp building. 



Mr. H. A. Kidder, of the Boston Herald staff, with Mrs. 

 Kidder and Master Henry D. Kidder, will leave on Mon- 

 day for a vacation trip into the fishing sections of Nova 

 Scotia. They will visit Upper Stewdiac, where Master 

 Herbert L. Kidder has been doing his remarkable fishing, 

 as mentioned in the Forest and Stream last week. Mr. 

 Kidder and the boys are likely to find better fishing than 

 the city boy who does not get away can dream of. 



Mr. H. S. Kempton, also of the Boston Herald editorial 

 staff, is back to his desk again after a couple of weeks 

 at Winthrop, Me., where he has had a good deal of sport 

 with the black bass and pickerel. He was hindered from 

 his usual spring trip to Camp Steward, for trout fishing, 

 and he has tried to get even with the black bass. For 

 every trout he did not catch a couple of bass have had to 

 suffer. Not that he regards two bass as equal to one 

 trout, but perhaps the sport of catching the two may 

 compensate for each of the trout he did not catch. He 

 had all the bass fishing he cared for and took a good many 

 fish, some of the larger weighing 2£lbs. The wonder is 

 the amount of sport there is to be had in the fishing of 

 those ponds, where twenty years ago only a few pickerel 

 were to be found. Now sportsmen by the hundreds, 

 from all parts of the country, fish the ponds of Winthrop, 

 Readfield, Belgrade and Monmouth. To the credit of the 

 Main Fish Commission be it said that all of this fishing is 

 due to their exertions in restocking. It is a feature 

 worthy of note also that more trout are being taken in 

 nearly all of these ponds than was the case under the 

 domination of pickerel that existed fifteen or twenty 

 years ago. White perch have also fared better since the 

 ponds were stocked with black bass. Commissioner Stan- 

 ley has a theory that in time the bass will destroy all the 

 pickerel. 



July ^.—Better and better reports of black bass fishing 

 are coming from Lake Maranocook, Winthrop, Me., and 

 the adjacent waters. At Craig's Point, on that lake, there 

 is quite a settlement of summer cottages, besides a sum- 

 mer hotel, which is well patronized. It is a resort consid- 

 erably favored by theatrical people. Manager Harris, of 

 Boston, has a cottage there, and so has Manager Isaac B. 

 Rich. Mr. Harris has just returned from Craig's Point, 

 where he has been spending a vacation with his family. 

 Everybody he found enjoying the bass fishing. New cot- 

 tages are being built and steam launches put in. An 

 island in Maranocook, or in Anabesacook, the lake below 

 Winthrop, has become something to be desired. They 

 are rapidly being bought up and arrangements being 

 made for cottages. The sporting and summer cottage 

 interest is growing rapidly in Maine, but the one does not 

 flourish without the other. A pond or lake with the 

 finest of scenery is of no use without a fair chance for 

 fishing. 



Trout fishing in Lake Auburn, Me., continues. I have 

 seen a letter to-day that mentions the taking of several 

 fine trout from that lake; only the claim is that they do 

 not rise to the fly freely. Generally the expression is one 

 of surprise, with those interested in that lake, that the 

 fishing has held out till so late in the season. But there is 

 another and a worse matter of great surprise. The news- 

 papers are full of it, and I have seen a gentleman to-day 

 who is a good deal wrought up about the affair. The 

 shores of the lake, in some sections, have been lined with 

 fish for some days, dead and in a struggling condition. 

 The dead fish seen have been principally suckers and 

 perch, with a few hornpouts and occasionally an eel. The 

 theory is that some rascal or rascals is fishing with dyna- 

 mite; that the explosive is being put down into the water 

 and the fish killed. The trout and salmon are saved while 

 the poorer fish are not wanted and are suffered to drift 

 away, and by force of the wind and the waves they reach 

 the shore. This is the only reasonable explanation 

 offered, and a bad one it is, if true, for a lake that has 

 tngun to be of much value to those who are willing to fish 

 fairly. Lake Auburn is within a short distance of two 

 cities, and while a good deal has been done in the way of 

 restocking with trout and salmon a good deal has also 

 been done toward enforcing the fishing laws, and it is 

 possible that the lawless element has been offended and is 

 seeking revenge. 



The very latest dispatches say that Supt. Merrill, of the 

 Lake Auburn fish hatcheries, reports that the dead and 

 dying fish are the work of dynamite, and an investigation 

 is to be commenced at once. At first he thought that it 

 was disease, the ordinary fungus, that was killing the fish. 

 But he has made careful investigation and found no fun- 

 gus. Commissioner Stanley is reported as stating that there 

 is disease in other ponds in Maine, but on the dead fish in 

 and about Lake Auburn no disease is found. There is a 

 poaching element in many sections of Maine that is not 

 satisfied except with utter destruction of that which the 

 law attempts to preserve, that all may share it equally. 



Mr. Edwin C. Stevens is spending a vacation of two 

 weeks at Lake Dunmore, Vt., where he reports good sport 

 with pickerel and bass. Several good catches are already 

 set down to his account. 



A report from the Oquossoc Anglers' Association camps 

 mentions the taking of a big trout by Dr. Charles Had- 

 dock, of Beverley, Mass. The fish is reported to have 

 weighed lOflbs., to have measured 28-Ain. and to have 

 been lG^in. in girth. The report says that the fish was 

 weighed by C, W. White, of Boston, and Frank H. 



Lovell, T. A. Perkins and T. B. Mills, of New York. 

 These names ought to establish the weight of the fish and 

 satisfy those who every season profess to believe that the 

 big brook trout of the Rangeleys "exist only in the imag- 

 ination of untruthful fishermen." 



Mrs. R. W. Bartleman, of Boston, with her son J. G. 

 Bartleman, is at the Middle Dam, "Anglers' Retreat," 

 this year. It will be remembered that they have fished 

 for many seasons at the Mountain View. Special. 



THE BIG UN. 



I AM not quite done feeling good over it yet. I am not 

 much proud of it, but feel like shaking hands with my- 

 self once in a while and congratulating myself. "There 

 are others," lots of them, who could have done the 

 trick and a whole lot more who could not. But I cannot 

 find out that anyone ever did catch a trout weighing 211bs. 

 lOozs. with rod and reel and in northeast waters anyway, 

 not this year, 1 'Laker," says one. ' 'Togue," says another. 

 Well, say I, what is that? and. I do not hear anyone., 

 answer. He is a trout, a gray trout, nothing more or less. 

 Good to eat broiled as any trout, not so good fried or 

 baked. Not so handsome. Fights just as hard, but not 

 the same way. 



Now for the story. I started out fishing on what I call 

 a poor day, too much wind and too cold. Orrin Temple- 

 ton, my guide, had so little faith in our luck that he left 

 his fish box on T the wharf, We dawdled along, got a fish 

 or two of fair size, but not much sport. Orrin wanted to 

 go on shore and get a club for killing fish, which we did, 

 and while there I overran my tackle and put on a new 

 leader and a hook, No. 40 Sproat. We turned around Deer 

 Island, and about two miles down the back side was 

 moored a raft of logs. "We'd better go down there and 

 pick up one or two, and sometimes you get a big laker 

 here in Moosehead under logs like that," said Orrin. 



We went there and caught three square-tails. Then I 

 got caught on brush, and we moved out about two lengths. 

 "There," said I "caught again. No; coming up, big root 

 I guess." So I hauled away slowly, bending the trolling 

 rod sharply. Then out came that head, one big eye 

 toward us; like a flash he changed ends, showing a tail 

 like a palm leaf fan (ten inches wide). "Oh," shouted 

 Orrin, "there's the grandfather of all the fish in Moose- 

 head." Zee-e-e-e screamed the reel. Orrin tore in frantic 

 haste at the , painter made fast to the raft. "Hurry up! 

 Say, will you ever get after him ? " I yelled. I have seen 

 some canoe- whisk in my time, but that one flew, bow out a 

 foot every jump, rod bent all it could bend, thumb so hard 

 down it was sore for days after; and in spite of it all, 

 that whale • was going with the line; the metal of the 

 spool showed bright; my heart was pounding like a 

 drumming partridge; only four turns left of ninety feet of 

 line, when the tip flew up and I got a few turns on again. 

 Then slowly inch by inch until we were nearer him. 

 Down he went togue fashion, and he might have been a 

 log, a rock or any other inanimate thing for fifteen long 

 minutes. Then he started for the boom again, but played 

 out and stopped, and from that on it was a twenty yard 

 rush, a downward boring and a minute rest and another 

 rush, until the end came thirty-three minutes from the 

 first wild drive. 



Then came the problem; a small net, and no more, to 

 land him with. Orrin ran the giant's head into the net, 

 leaned far out, ran his arm under the tail and stood the 

 fish on its head inside the canoe, with about a washtub of 

 water with him. I met her on the roll, or we would have 

 gone over like a flash, and for once I was glad of my two 

 hundred pounds. Then I stood up and if I did not wake 

 the sleeping echoes from Mt. Kenio to old Katahdin it 

 was not my fault, for I tried to with all my heart and 

 soul. Pink Edg-e. 



IN CASE HE JUMPS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



As I am one who has always advocated dropping the 

 tip of the rod when a fish jumps, I may perhaps be per- 

 mitted to explain why, as well as to account for the 

 jump. 



Ichthyologists at least are generally aware that the 

 black bass has a parasitic louse Jin. long, which fastens 

 itself at certain seasons, varying somewhat with the lati- 

 tude, just abaft the gill rakers, and sometimes at the angle 

 of the j aw, and also at the base of the pectoral fins. I have 

 been led to surmise that the captive fancies the prick and 

 tentative annoyance of the hook in like situations to be 

 due to one of these persecuting lice, which he attempts 

 always to rid himself of by jumping clear of the water, 

 and he adopts the like tactics, too, in respect to the detest- 

 able water beetle so well known to all fishculturists. More 

 than this, the incentive to jump is abetted and accelerated 

 by the lift of the arching rod, which is bearing, all the 

 time that the fiah holds on to the water, a much heavier 

 strain than the dead weight of the fish, because the fish 

 is exerting its utmost muscular strength to break loose. 

 The bass holds hard until his strength is exhausted, when 

 he relaxes, of course,; whereupon he becomes immedi- 

 ately conscious of a diminished tension of the restraining 

 force, and forthwith takes advantage of the opportune 

 moment to leap into the air and endeavor to shake off his 

 tormentor. He will do this on a long line and straight 

 rod as well as on a short line and bent rod, but the arch 

 is an obvious power and encouragement. The shake may 

 come either before or after the leap. 



Of course the fish comes out of the water with his mouth 

 open, and my argument in favor of dropping the tip at 

 such a time is simply to lessen the strain on the line so as 

 to prevent the suspended dead weight of the fish from 

 breaking tackle or tearing the hook out, and not at all 

 with the idea of circumventing any little scheme of the 

 bass to cut loose by throwing himself on the line, which 

 is all bosh and quite on a par with the fallacy of a trout 

 slapping ephemera into its mouth by a flip of its tail. 

 When my tip drops I do not observe that my line slackens 

 sufficiently to make even a curve, though in conjunction 

 with the straining rod it is momentarily relieved of a 

 moiety of the weight as well as of risk to the tackle and 

 of the hook tearing out from a hold herhaps already 

 seriously impaired. 



All this little exegesis, I may say, is outside of the 

 recognized fact that bass not captive often leap from the 

 water for other reasons than to rid themselves of lice, for 

 they jump after hovering insects as well as for sport, and 

 they jump when pursued by larger fish, and I have seen 

 them leap the edge of a drag net by the score to escape 

 being caught. Charles Hallock. 



LEAPING BASS. 



East St. Louis, 111.— Editor Forest and Stream: What 

 a lot of cranks "we anglers" are, to be sure, and how we 

 do love to talk and read of our favorite sport tvhen we are 

 "chained to business" and can't get out on the lakes and 

 streams. Indeed, I more than half suspect that the pleas- 

 ure of thinking and reading and writing our experiences 

 over again is the principal reason why, when some one 

 makes a crack, as Dr. Ellzey has done, we keep at him 

 for weeks. And is it not a little strange that with all that 

 has been said on the subject of "leaping bass" not a single 

 witness has appeared to help the Doctor out, and assist 

 him to establish his "scared" theory? Can it be possible 

 that among the thousands of readers of Forest and 

 Stream there are none that think as the Doctor does? 

 Personally I am very sure that the Doctor is wrong in this 

 matter, as all my experience tends to contradict his 

 theories. To be sure, we can never know to a certainty 

 whether the hooked bass jumps from the water from 

 fright, or whether he does it from a knowledge that in the 

 air he is much more likely to be able to free himself from 

 the hook, because the fish is never able to tell us, 

 and we have got to draw our conclusions from the cir- 

 cumstantial evidence offered. But to me this evidence 

 has been presented in such a manner that it amounts to 

 almost an absolute certainty that the bass does not leap 

 from fright. 



Up on Lake John in northeastern Wisconsin, last Au- 

 gust, my friend Dr. McMillen, of Alton, and myself were 

 casting frogs for bass. We were in a boat on very deep 

 water, out some 70 or 80ft. from the lilypads and 

 grass that fringed the shore. I made a nice long cast, 

 landing my frog just on the edge of the lilypads, and a 

 slight raising of the tip dropped Mr. Frog with a pleasant 

 plunk into clear water. Instantly there was a strong 

 swirl, and a splash that I am sure I can hear yet when I 

 close my eyes and let old memory work, and my reel did 

 a merry tune and my line went for the bottom of the lake 

 as though a keg of nails was fast to the end of it. A 

 good stiff tug, however, seemed to have the effect of 

 changing the mind of the fish, and up with a rush came 

 a magnificent bass; and bringing with him a silver shower 

 of pearly drops, he vaulted clean and clear over a project- 

 ing point of grass and rushes, which I afterward noticed 

 came well up toward my shoulder as I sat in the boat, and 

 I feel safe in saying were all of 2ft. high from the surface 

 of the water. He then made a rush to the right into clear 

 water, and as I slowly reeled him in he made four suc- 

 cessive leaps above the surface of the water, and I as 

 plainly saw his mouth to be open as I see this paper before 

 me as I write, and I not only saw but plainly felt the 

 rapid, vibrating shake he gave to his head and body while 

 in the air. 



Close to the boat, perhaps 10 or 15ft. to the left, was a 

 detached bunch of lilypads, like a little green island, cov- 

 ering not over 4 or 5ft. square of water. As my fish came 

 up to the right of these lilypads he made a last jump, 

 freeing himself from the hook, and throwing it with the 

 frog 3 or 4ft. away. He threw it sideways toward these 

 lilypads, and not toward the boat, showing that it was 

 thrown by the force of his shake and not by my pull on 

 the line. And now the rather remarkable part of the in- 

 cident occurred, and that which proved to me that this 

 bass, at least, was not doing this jumping and shaking 

 from fright. Finding himself free from the hook, he 

 slowly turned his head to the weeds and then with a 

 quick dart shot down 5 or 6ft. and under the overhang of 

 this lilypad island. I was so chagrined and "riled" at 

 thus losing a beauty after having him almost to the boat's 

 side, where my companion stood ready with his landing 

 net, that I just sat limp for a moment, expecting and 

 hoping that the Doctor would kick me good from where 

 he sat behind me, and while thus sitting I let my hook 

 with the frog still on it slowly sink in the clear water, 

 never for an instant losing sight of either fish or bait, 

 when to my utter and never-to-cease surprise this bass 

 turned and pounced upon my frog like a flash of light, 

 and with every appearance of one who would say, "I'll 

 eat you this time if you are full of tacks." And this time 

 I landed him, and he weighed 51bs. and a trifle by the 

 Doctor's scales, and I sent the beauty along with a 121b. 

 muskallonge and a couple of dozen speckled trout to the 

 friends at home. 



Thus in one single incident I find refuted every premise 

 or proposition of Dr. Ellzey. My bass jumped two feet 

 from the water; my bass had his mouth open while out 

 of the water, and shook his head, and shook it so "fierce- 

 ly," if you please, that he drew the hook and bait several 

 feet from him; my bass was plainly mad and not scared, 

 for he deliberately turned and took my bait again, and 

 that too almost within arms reach — right under the tip of 

 the rod. A fish so frightened that he would leap out of 

 the water five times in a short struggle would, on finding 

 himself free, be very likely to make for parts unknown 

 without lingering. 



And if Dr. Ellzey can tell me how, with fifty to seventy 

 feet of line out, and anywhere from thirty to a hundred 

 feet of water under me, I can so play my fish as to keep 

 him on or near the surface of the water, he will certainly 

 confer a great favor. If the Doctor can do this he certainly 

 owes it to the guild to come forward and tell us of the 

 angle, just how it is done, as it will save to us many a big 

 one which would otherwise free himself among the rocks, 

 snags and weeds of the treacherous bottom. 



But I trust the Doctor will kindly let us rest in the delu- 

 sion that our matchless bass jumps, and shakes, and fights, 

 with a clearly defined purpose of out-maneuvering us and 

 freeing himself, and give us rather some of his experiences 

 with rod and reel, for he must have a good store of in- 

 teresting incident and information, having fished and so 

 carefully observed such a large portion of our country. 



Pottawotamie. 



The Forest and Stream is put to press each week on Tues- 

 ' day. Correspondence intended for publication should reach 

 us at the latest by Monday, and as much earlier as practicable , 



l REPORT YOUR LUCK 



With Rod or Gun 



j To FOREST AND STREAM, 

 New York City. 



