384 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



LNov. 2, 1895. 



like those of Presque Me Lake, I think there are more 

 bass in Katinka Lake than in any body of water for its 

 size I ever saw. They are not so large as in some lakes 

 we visited, but they make up in number and fighting 

 qualities. There is one very peculiar thing about this 

 lake: the water is of a blue tint and all the fish caught 

 out of it have a bluish or steel color. 



Going from Katinka Lake in a southwest direction, you 

 come to a portage of about 400yds. in length, which leads 

 to Pappnose Lake, the waters of which are of an amber 

 color. There is where we catch muscalonge, but being a 

 little early in the season we did not have much luck. This 

 lake cannot be called pretty, for in some places the water 

 is covered with lilypads, and in places the shore is grown 

 up with rushes, which also grow some distance out into the 

 lake; but that all goes to make good muscalonge fishing 

 ground. The banks of this lake have been marred by 

 fire and wind; one of the islands has been burned off 

 and left it covered with black stubs of trees and fallen 

 logs. 



From Pappoose Lake in a southeasterly direction lies Big 

 Lake, a very irregular-shaped body of water, hf-ving lots 

 of points setting out into it. It has very fine bass fishing 

 in it. Rice Creek connects it with Little Crooked Lake. 

 The creek must get its name from the amount of wild rice 

 that grows there ; it would be a great place for o" ucks, and in 

 fact a great many come in there; but the Indians go in to 

 get their supply of rice as soon as it is ripe enough, and 

 they keep up such a racket that all ducks stay away until 

 the Indians are through; then there is not much left for 

 the fowl. 



But to go on and try to describe all the lakes in this 

 section would take more time than I have, and I am 

 afraid it would tire the reader before he got through. 

 All the lakes we visited had good fishing — some have 

 nothing but bass, others a variety. In Pappoose Lake 

 tLere are muscalonge, wall-eyed pike, both small and 

 large-mouth baas, grass pike and goggle eyes. 



There are two islands in Presque Isle Lake. The lar- 

 ger covers several acres; the smaller is only about 150ft. 

 long and about half as wide. On it A. P. Brown has 

 pitched his tent and is living a happy life. He came in 

 there last sprinyr, and liking the looks of things went to 

 work and built an ice house, packed it full of ice, put up 

 his tent and prepared to put in the summer there trying 

 to regain lost health. We found him to be one of the 

 most obliging gentlemen we met on our trip. He is 

 authority on that section of the country; notbing was 

 too mucb for him to do for us. He puts in a great deal of 

 his time looking around. One day when on one of his 

 tours he discovered a lake tbat is not down on any map; 

 when he came back he told us of it and wanted us to go 

 in and fish it; he said he would blaze a trail and cut out 

 some of the brush so we could portage a boat in. We 

 went up there, took in a boat and fished about four hours; 

 caught two coffee sacks full of bass; they were all of the 

 big-mouth variety, weighing from 2 to 6lbs. each. We 

 did not catch these fish to throw away, for we had a 

 place to put them. The camp over the lake had several 

 men working clearing out the brush and cutting roads. 

 They had to be fed, and to them we gave all our fish and 

 they were very glad to get them, as they had no time to 

 catch them. Mr. Brown discovered another lake a few 

 days before we left, but we did not go into it to fish; some 

 of the bjys went aud looked at it and they pronounced it 

 a very pretty piece of water. The lakes are very numer- 

 ous and you cannot miss it by going to any of them. 



This country would certainly be the paradise of the 

 deer hunter, as it was almost a daily occurrence for some 

 of tbe party to see deer. On one occasion three swam 

 across a narrow arm of Pappoose Lake within a short 

 distance of where we were fishing; it would bave been no 

 trick at all to have rowed our boat up and killed them 

 with clubs. But not being a hunting party and the law 

 not being out, we contented ourselves with watching 

 them until they reached shore, gave themselves a shake, 

 looked calmly around and walked into the woods. 



I must tell you of a little incident that happened at 

 camp one evening. We had a tent 18x24ft., wbich was 

 our general living place; in front of that we had a fly 

 18x20ft., stretched to form a roof for our kitchen. At 

 odd times the cook cut tamarack brush and set them 

 around, to form a wall for the fly, and wove hemlock 

 branches in between, until he had a room as snug as 

 could be asked for. In one corner of this, close by the 

 stove, he had built a bench out of a cedar log split in two. 

 On the other side of the fly and at some distance from the 

 stove he had built for himself a rustic settee out of small 

 cedar poles. On the evening I speak of he was stretched 

 full length on this settee taking it easy, and the rest of us 

 were trying to keep the stove warm, for the evening was 

 very frosty. We were busy talking over the day's luck 

 and telling about the big ones that had got away, when 

 the cook jumped off his settee and came running up to me 

 and wanted to know, 'Are all the boys in? Are all the 

 boys in?" I asked what was the matter; he answered, 

 "Are all the boys in?" I answered that they were, when 

 he caught up a lantern and started out around the tent. 

 Tamarack, seeing by the wild looks and actions of the 

 cook that something was wrong, started out on the other 

 side. I took after the cook and caught up with him close to 

 the rear of thu tent. There he stood holding the lantern 

 above his head looking out into the woods. I approached 

 close to him and asked what he was looking at, when he 

 turned his head and looked at me; he was so excited he 

 could hardly talk, but he managed to stutter out, "Eheu! 

 did you ever see such a buck?" Then I looked ahead and 

 there stood one of the finest bucks I ever saw. He was 

 within 10ft. of the tent and not more than 20ft. from us. 

 When I stepped aside to get a better look at him he con- 

 cluded it was time to leave, jumped over a log and went 

 back of the tent, and in doing so almost ran over Tam- 

 arack, who was on the other side of the tent. I think he 

 was trying to sneak up and put some salt on the deer's 

 tail, but when it was put at him he denied it, and the 

 cook said that if he had had some he would have put it on 

 the tail of the deer, for if he had he knew he could have 

 caught it. 



There were lots of Indians around, aud the cook had 

 thought it was one of them prowling around trying to 

 see if they could pick up anything they could carry away, 

 but we were not bothered any with them. 



If any sportsman who happe ns to read this thinks I 

 could give bim any information that would be of any use 

 to him I am rtady to answer any and all who may apply, 

 for I am sure that any one who has the love for outdoor 

 sports such as there is in that country cannot be other- 



wise than pleased. There are some hardships to go 

 through, but there is more good to be derived from such 

 a trip than all hardships will amount to. When I went 

 into the woods I was not able to do anything; could 

 hardly row a boat, and when it came to portageB it was 

 all I could do to get myself over, but in less than two 

 weeks I was carrying my half of the boat and doing my 

 share at the table. J. W. McCrea. 



Indiana. 



CAMP BLAIR. 



Camp Blair, of the North Wakefield Trout Fishing 

 Club, Canada, found the keeper, cook and guides ready 

 to receive members and guests Sept. 14, and six of us 

 answered to roll call on that evening, and as we all had 

 brought our appetites with us we did ample justice to La 

 Roque's good warm supper. 



The night was cool and crisp, and the wood-fire in the 

 broad fireplace made the sitting-room brilliant and com- 

 fortable as we took our after-supper smoke, arranged our 

 tackle and laid plans for the morrow. Last season the 

 first week of our stay in camp was warm and very quiet, 

 extending to tbe lakes, the hills, the rocks and the trout; 

 and while very beautiful and entrancing to the brush of 

 an artist like Hart, did not pan out woTth a cent for the 

 rod and line with fly attachment. This year our first 

 week's fishing proved the best, as most of the nights were 

 frosty and a cool breeze by day. 



Our experience in those lakes is," that trout will not rise 

 to the fly, especially the large ones, in warm quiet days, 

 but that they seek the deep water, 20ft. and over, and 

 remain there as quietly aB their outer surroundings until 

 the temperature gets down to 40° or 50°, when they 

 seek the shallower water and are ready to take the proper 

 fly skillfully cast. During the warm days in the last week 

 of September some of our party succeeded in taking some 

 fine trout of 1 and 21bs. weight, with earth-worms and 

 minnows, from the deep water; but there was no sport in 

 it, for they took the bait like suckers, often swallowing it 

 before you knew you had a fish on your hook and then of 

 course could make little resistance to being "snaked" in 

 like a pound or two of salt mackerel. Of course this kind 

 of fishing was not followed closely or continued long. 

 Taking the two weeks together which we spent in camp, 

 we took a greater number of trout with less rods than last 

 season, though the fish did not run as large as last 

 year. 



One of our members who had spent nearly two months 

 in the Rangeleys of Maine, taking only two trout during 

 the time (and he is a skillful and persistent fisherman), 

 met us on his return at Rouse's Point and went into camp 

 with us, and the first morning's fishing gave him thirteen 

 trout that averaged over a pound each. When asked his 

 opinion between the two localities he said he liked to 

 catch the big trout of the Rangeleys, but, like the Ken- 

 tuckian, he said it was an awful long time between 

 drinks. I am sure my patience and purse would not allow 

 me to devote so much time to the catching of two trout, 

 even though one of them weighed 10 and the other 61bs. 

 We kept the table fairly well supplied with partridges, 

 though they were shy and les3 plenty than in previous 

 years. 



One of our members, a jolly whole-souled fellow, whose 

 toast is usually, "One flag, one country and zwei lager," 

 told one of the guides that if he would take him where he 

 could get a fair shot at a deer he would give him $10, and 

 if he killed the deer he would give him $15, The guide 

 went that evening and got a hound, and the next morn- 

 ing they started out and about a mile from camp the dog 

 started two deer which separated, one turning to the 

 right, which the dog followed, and the other taking 

 quietly to the left in the runway, where our friend and 

 the guide were stationed. Very sooh the guide's experi- 

 enced ear caught the sounds of the quietly approaching 

 deer, and whispering to our friend to get ready, the 

 next moment the deer stepped leisurely into the opening 

 less than 50ft. away and stopped. Did our friend shoot? 

 The guide says yes, but that he shot at anything but the 

 deer, pulling both barrels of his gun, loaded with buck- 

 shot, at the same time, when the deer bounded into the 

 dense forest unharmed. Whether our friend M. had the 

 "fever" or the "ague" perhaps can be determined by your 

 pleasant correspondents who have been discussing such 

 occurrences in "our family paper" recently; I am inclined 

 to think he had both in a desperate form; at all events, 

 when we returned from fishing we found him standing on 

 the porch of the club house with his coat tails raised say- 

 ing: "Gentlemen! go ahead, I am ready and deserve it." 

 After chaffing him awhile some one said: "Why didn't 

 you kill him?" With tones filled with vexation and 

 Bhame he blurted out: "How could I kill him? There he 

 stood like a big cow looking right at me!" Of course we 

 got no venison steak, but we had more fun over the fail- 

 ure than we should have enjoyed in the killing of several 

 deer. 



Our entire sojourn at camp passed very pleasantly— we 

 had an enjoyable company, an abundance of fish for the 

 table all the time — the air was invigorating and all "grew 

 fat and saucy." We heard nothing of the license fee for 

 non-residents while there, but since our return have been 

 informed that the authorities had made inquiries in re- 

 gard to our fishing there, and as Boon as known a com- 

 mittee was appointed to correspond with the Canadian 

 Government in regard to the matter. Of course if we 

 are liable under their law to pay the license we shall do 

 it; but as we own by purchase and lease our grounds and 

 lakes, which were purchased and leased of the Govern- 

 ment for this very purpose of fishing, we cannot think 

 we should again pay for the privilege. 



The most of our party were forced to leave camp be- 

 fore the season closed; only three of us, who had "en- 

 listed for the war," remained to fight it out to the end 

 and close up camp, and we were amply paid, for the last 

 three days' fishing gave our three rods about fifty fine 

 trout. Bat this was not all; there is a quiet, thoughtful 

 pleasure, tinged perhaps with a melancholy regret, not 

 unliise the "hail and farewell" of the mariner to some 

 bright isle of the ocean that has shed joy and sunshine 

 on his gloomy trackless way. Such are these outings — 

 they are green and refreshing bowera along the pathway 

 of life, which, "like a thing of beauty," are "a joy for- 

 ever." We regretfully left the camp, and yet thankful 

 for the recreative blessing of our two weeks' sojourn, and 

 with an earnest hope that another season may find us at 

 Camp Blair. A. 



Haddam, Conn. 



FISHING ON CAYUGA LAKE. 



Oct, 7 dawned fair and windy, and before a sou'wester 

 light scuds were flying as gulls before a gale. White-caps 

 as far as the eye could reach broke and disappeared only 

 to give place to others, while the good yacht Zitter, 

 owned by Mr. George Ogden, left Ogdens at 8:30, Capt. 

 Osgood at the stick, for a twenty-two-mile run to Union 

 Springs, our destination. Only those who love tbe water 

 can appreciate the sail we bad. Four of us, Capt. Osgood, 

 Tunis Osgood, Fred Pell and the writer, after a very de- 

 lightful sail reached the ship owned by H. H. Morse, of 

 Union Springs. But we were destined not to fish that 

 day, as the heavy sea on made it out of the question and 

 the thermometer was near 32°. We did not suffer with 

 the cold, thanks to that genial gentlemen, Capt. John 

 Carr, as he informed us that there was a good coal fire in 

 the cabin of the Wide Awake, and lure with hammocks 

 and chairs, we lounged and told tales of fishing (all 

 true). 



Tuesday, however, was fairly bearable, so we pulled out 

 for the Spring holes, and after nine hours' fishing we re- 

 turned to the dock; a pair of scales (tested) from my tackle 

 box told that Pell & Co. had 191bs. of pickerel and black 

 bass, and the Osgood Brothers 221bB. of the same varie- 

 ties. 



Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were very inclement, 

 so we did not venture out, but Saturday the "fever" took 

 renewed hold on us, and in a pelting rain we were after 

 them again. The rain stopped after a short time and an 

 ideal day for fishing followed. After eleven hours' fish- 

 ing we returned with the following : Pell & Co.,441bs.; 

 Osgood Brothers, 381bs. of bass and pickerel; total, forty- 

 four black bass, twenty-two pickerel and about fifteen 

 perch. Largest bass 4jlbs., caught by Pell. Largest 

 pickerel, caught by Abe Osgood, 3|lbs., with Tunis Osgood 

 a close second. Largest perch caught by Pell's oarsman. 

 Total, 1451bs. of fish. 



Ask Fred how large the bass was that he handled so 

 nicely, and just as he was about ready to net gave a jerk 

 and bade him adieu. No wonder he gave a groan, for it 

 was a whale. While memory lasts I shall not forget that 

 scene — joy turned to indescribable dismay, a Btudy indeed 

 and a lesson. 



But that was soon forgotten; the black bass needed our 

 attention, strikes were frequent and savage, and we were 

 kept busy taking them in while the boys at the Springs 

 were waiting for the weather to moderate. Sunday 

 morning we broke camp, spread sail, and after pleasant 

 farewells cast off before a dreary nor'wester with all reefs 

 in. We made the run in two hours and thirty minutes 

 and towed two boats. If you think this is a -fishy tale 

 wait and see the kodak pictures that were taken before 

 we left. Another year, when we hope to win fresh 

 laurels to our names as fishermen. Hector. 



The Salt-water Fish Supply. 



Asbtjry Park, N. J., Oct. 24.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: The query of Gonzola Poey under date of Oct. 

 18 in relation to the absence of school weakfish is per- 

 tinent to the arguments of advocates of protection to our 

 sea fishes. If Mr. Poey will refer to the Sept. 22,1894, 

 issue of Forest and Stream he will find I have mentioned 

 the same fact, although not in the nature of a question. 

 To the man who is on the grounds it is not a difficult 

 problem to locate the trouble. I refer to the large ocean 

 fishing pounds. While it is true that their catches of 

 marketable size fish this fall have been very meager, the 

 destruction of the small fingerlings of the weakfish has 

 been phenomenal. Sickness has prevented my usual per- 

 sonal observations; nevertheless reliable information 

 assures me that untold millions of these fish, too small for 

 any purpose save the compst heap, have met that igno- 

 minious fate the past four weeks. A larger size mesh would 

 obviate this trouble and save them to future usefulness. 



To the angler, ocean fishing since early in August has 

 been most discouraging. While weakfish have been 

 plentiful in the bays and rivers, the surf has been appar- 

 ently devoid of fish life; even the plaice or fluke, usually 

 so abundant, have been remarkably scarce. Various 

 theories are advanced to account for this fact. 



Still the knowledge that the increased net capacity of 

 the pound men for the season of 1894 was fully 100 per 

 cent, over that of 1893, and that the increased catch of 

 all manner of fish was but a trifle more than 10 per cent, 

 for the same period, leaves but little rcom for conjecture 

 as to the cause. Their reports to the Fish Commission for 

 the season of 1895 will be of interest. 



Now that the authorities have locked horns with the 

 menhaden people and secured convictions in the lower 

 courts, the results of the appeal to the Supreme Court is 

 most anxiously awaited. Unce the three-mile limit act is 

 sustained then seizures will follow in rapid succession, 

 as any citizen is authorized to make such seizure and pros- 

 ecutions run in the name of the State. Altogether the 

 prospects are not particularly rosy for either the men r 

 haden or pound fishers, as a merry war will beyond doubt 

 be waged against the last named in our Legislature the 

 coming winter. Leonard Hulit. 



Potomac Notes. 



During the week of October 14 to 19 a number of 

 anglers from Washington fished around the islands in the 

 vicinity of Seneca. Tuesday and Wednesday (15th and 

 16th) the wind was high and the fishing very poor. On 

 Thursday the weather was more favorable and the fish 

 commenced biting. Messrs. Tappan and Dow, fishing at 

 Edward's Ferry, took eight fine bass, the heaviest 4lbs. 

 weight, several 241bs. each. 



Messrs. Billings and Murphy arrived at Seneca on the 

 5th or 6th and remained there two weeks. For about ten 

 days their luck was bad, but during the two last days they 

 took bass by the wholesale. Murphy says he never knew 

 them to bite better. 



Mr. O. Belaski, fishing with the trolling spoon in the 

 river near Saneca, made good catches after the 18th. 



Two of our well-known anglers fished the Potomac from 

 Catoctin to Tuscarora one day early in the week, and not- 

 withstanding they had the best of tackle and choicest 

 bait, caught nothing, if we except two little bass returned 

 to the river. Bart. 



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

 day. Correspondence intended for publication should reach 

 U9 at the latist Monday, and as much earlier as practical) le. 



