106 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



f March 1, 1888. 



m and §iver Jffeking. 



Address aU mmmnni cations to the Forest and Stream Pub. Co. 



Angling Talks. By Geo. Dawson. Piice 50 cents. Fly- 

 Bods and Fly-Tackle. By H. P. Wells. Price $2.50. Fly- 

 Fishing and Fly-Making for Trout. By J. IT. Keene. 

 Prices 1.50. American Anglers' Book. By Thad. Norris. 

 Price $5.50. 



EAST FLORIDA WATERS. 



THE Halifax River in East Florida derived its name 

 I roni Lord Halifax during the English occupation of 

 Florida, 176ri-84. It is no river, but a bay or sound of salt 

 water, running parallel with the sea for thirty miles, the 

 inlet being about sixty miles south of St. Augustine. At 

 the same inlet comes in another similar sheet of water 

 from the south, called the Hillsboro' River. This Earl of 

 Hillsboro' seems to have been a favorite, for a river on 

 the Gulf Coast also bears its name. 



The Hillsboro' connects with Musquito Lagoon, and that 

 by a canal with the Indian River, and that again with- 

 other sounds and bays, forming an almost continuous 

 system of internal navigation from St. Angustine to the 

 southern end of the State. All tbese rivers, bays and 

 sounds are full of fish of many species, becoming more 

 abundant as you proceed south, till at Jupiter Inlet and 

 Lake Worth, many tropical species are to be found, even 

 in winter, and which do not appear in the Halifax until 

 April or May, such as the cavalli, lady fish, pompano, and 

 the tarpon. 



The shores of these rivers are being; settled with orange 

 groves, pine apple plantations and villages, most of these 

 with hotels of more or less merit, for the winter tourist. 

 Probably the best winter climate in the United States is 

 to be found on Biscayne Bay, near Cape Florida, in lat. 

 35°30'. As yet, however, there are few accommodations 

 there for visitors, nor is the region easily accessible. The 

 Halifax and Hillsboro' country is easily reached by rail- 

 roads from Jacksonville, and affords good fishing; there 

 are good hotels at Ormond and Daytona on the Halifax, 

 besides the cottage of B. C. Pacetti, near the inlet, where 

 anglers most do congregate. 



The Ocean House at New Smyrna, on the Hillsboro', 

 has long been known as a favorite resort of sportsmen, 

 and on Musquito Lagoon is the Atlantic House, built 

 especially for this class of visitors. 



With these remarks, descriptive of a region destined to 

 be the -winter resort of American anglers, we will intro- 

 duce the reader to the fishing grounds and their inhab- 

 itants. 



On a bright morning in February, the power of the sun 

 bringing the mercury up to 70°, P. and the ■writer, C, 

 pushed off from the landing of the cottage near Halifax 

 Inlet, where P. entertains fishermen and anglers. Our 

 skiff was about twelve feet long, fiat-bottomed, and broad 

 in the beam, admitting of free movement without danger 

 of capsizing. 



The tide being young flood, P. pulled up the river to- 

 ward the mouth of Spruce Creek, the largest tributary 

 of the Halifax, which comes in a little above the cottage. 

 We pass the small settlement on the left bank, consisting 

 of a store, post office, and half a dozen houses, with a 

 wharf for the use of the steamers plymg on the river 

 between Daytona and the Indian River. Until lately this 

 place was known as "Bob's Bluff," it is now called Ponce 

 Park, which name was given it by the late General Bab- 

 cock, who built the lighthouse near by, and bought land 

 here, meaning to lay out a winter resort, with a hotel. 

 But he was unfortunately drowned, with several others, 

 hi coming f rom a vessel anchored outside, by the swamp- 

 ing of a boat in the breakers, and there is as yet no park, 

 except on the list of U. S. post offices. 



Now, at the mouth of Spruce Creek, we come to shoal 

 water where P. runs his boat ashore on a sandbank, and 

 pulls off his trousers. Then he takes his cast net and 

 wades off looking for mullet, which we want for bait. 



Presently he stops, and with a dexterous whirl spreads 

 his net on the water. Hauling it in slowly, five or six 

 ghttering fish are seen in the meshes. These he puts in 

 the boat, and with another cast secures as many more 

 mullets, eight or ten inches long. "There," he says, "is 

 bait enough for to-day." 



We enter Spruce Creek, here a wide stream, and row 

 up on the tide for a mile, then anchor the boat in a deep 

 channel near the shore. I take the stem with rod and 

 reel — the rod, a bamboo bass rod nine feet long, with a 

 reel holding 100 yards of cuttyhunk line— P. uses a band 

 fine, which he casts out, baited with half a mullet, forty 

 yards astern. I bait in like manner, and cast astern also, 

 leaving the bait on the bottom. 



The land on both sides of the creek is a low marsh, 

 covered with coarse grass a foot liigh, with groups of 

 mangrove trees and bushes scattered through it. In the 

 distance a high hamak covered with wild orange trees, 

 magnolias aud five oaks. 



This word "hamak" is of Seminole origin, and signifies 

 the better quality of land, where hard-wood trees grow, 

 such as live oaks, wild oranges and magnolias, also the 

 cabbage palm, whose tall stem indicates from a distance 

 the hamak. This word is often spelled hammock, or 

 hummock, but the best authorities, I think, use the other 

 spelling. 



But to return to the business in hand — after our baits 

 had lain for ten minutes on the bottom, P. began to haul 

 in his line hand-over-hand, "A bass!" cried he, as he 

 played a big fish, which ran hither and yon for five 

 minutes, and then broke water fifty yards away. Soon 

 P. got it alongside and lifted it into the boat with the gaff 

 hook. "A fine channel bass," said he, "about fifteen 

 pounds.'" 



Up to six pounds they are usually called "school bass," 

 the larger ones "channel bass." 



Soon I felt a strong snatch at my bait, and a good fish 

 was running off. It gave me good play for a few minutes, 

 taking out some thirty yards of hue, and then starting 

 down the tide. I gradually wound up the line, forcing 

 the fish to the boat, when P. put the gaff into it— a bass 

 of about five pounds. Next P. got one of about the same 

 size as mine, and I presently hooked and secured a salt 

 water trout of about four pounds. "That," said P., "is 

 tie handsomest fish of these waters." It belongs to the 

 same family as the weakfish of the New York coast, but 

 is a better fish on the table, and very much resembles in 

 shape and color the lake trout of the Adirondack waters, 



except that it wants the adipose fin. It is quite a game 

 fish, and fights hard. I now felt a bite and striking 

 quickly, my line came back without hook or sinker, cut 

 off by the oystershells on the bottom , for this creek is a 

 great breeding place for that mollusk, and a fleet of 

 schooners could be loaded here. "Them small lines are 

 apt to be cut on the shells," said P., "but here is where 

 the fish are." 1 put on another hook and in ten minutes 

 I was fast to a heavy fish which took out nearly half my 

 line at the first rush. "You have got a good one this 

 time," said P., "and I am afraid that fine line won't hold 

 him." However, I gave the fish plenty of line, and in 

 ten minutes or so we had it in the boat, a twelve-pound 

 bass, of a bright copper color, derived from the fresh 

 water of the upper part of the creek. Those taken in the 

 salt water are of a lighter shade of red, or golden yellow. 



"Here's trouble," said P., as he tried to haul in his line, 

 which gradually moved away with a slow and steady 

 pull. I've hooked a big sting ray, we must up anchor 

 and follow it." So said, and done— the ray towed the 

 boat up against the tide, and it appears that the rays and 

 sharks always do this, while the good fish, like bass and 

 trout, run with the tide. After going one hundred yards 

 the ray stopped and sulked at the bottom, spite of all the 

 force that we could put on the line, which was a very 

 strong one. Then it started again up stream, towing the 

 boat. Fifteen minutes of this tires the ray, so that P. 

 was able to haul it alongside the boat, and to lioldits head 

 out of water, while with a heavy knife he gave it many 

 stabs in the throat. All this time the long whip-like tail 

 was striking about, but so much of the fish was under 

 water that it could not reach us, and the loss of blood, 

 wh ch flowed out as with the strokes of a pump, soon 

 weakened it. 



"Now, do you want the tail?" 



"No," I said, "I have no use for it." 



"Some people that come here carry away the tails and 

 stings for a curiosity," said P. ' 'Now the creature is dead, 

 and I will turn it adrift, and perhaps a shark will find it, 

 and then you will see pulling." 



So it floated off with the tide, and we resumed our 

 fishing, but got no bites. 



The ray was about six feet long including the tail, 

 which was nearly half the length, and perhaps four feet 

 wide;; flat, like a flounder, white beneath and dark green 

 or nearly black above, and must have weighed 100 pounds. 



Presently we heard a great splashing down the stream, 

 and soon a commotion in the water. "There," said P., 

 "the sharks have got that ray and are tearing it up." It 

 seems, that although the sharks and rays are nearly 

 related, the sharks do not recognize the family tie, and 

 lose no opportunity of devouring then cousins. ' "I think 

 we will have to move," said P., "the sharks have scared 

 away the fish." So we went up further and anchored at 

 the mouth of a small creek, where we took three or four 

 school bass, and then I hooked a shark about four feet 

 long, which, after some play, cut off my hook. 



By this time it was noon, and we took our lunch of 

 canned corn beef, bread and doughnuts, washing it down 

 with the juice of half a dozen oranges. Then we sought 

 a new ground, a wide piece of water with a bottom 

 covered with oyster shells, and here we found the bass 

 plenty and hungry. I had my line cut twice and P. his 

 once by the shells, but we boated eight bass from six to 

 ten pounds in weight. Then, having all the fish we wanted, 

 Ave returned home. S, C. C. 



A TALK ABOUT TACKLE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I was delighted with the phillipic of our friend "Ver- 

 itas," in which he gives a hit at the modern tendencies of 

 anglers to become connoisseurs and collectors of fine tackle 

 rather than observers of fish, of their haunts, habits, 

 tricks in catching them, etc. For it does seem nowadays 

 as if we had more varieties of tackle than of fish, and as 

 if we knew the points of the tackle rather than of the 

 fish. To hear modern anglers discourse, one would infer 

 that trout were not to be taken except with a split-bam- 

 boo or a reel with an arrangement of stops, clicks, drags, 

 etc., that is paralleled only by the gear of a racing canoe. 



Mind you, I do not decry good tackle, far be it from 

 me, but I do decry these endless discussions about reels 

 with click and two drags, or two clicks and one drag, or 

 drag, click and stop, or two stops and one click, or 

 whether the rod is to be 10ft. or 12ft., and if a bamboo, 

 round or octagonal, or four strips or twelve, or all lance- 

 wood, or lancewood and ash, and so on ad infinitum. The 

 fact is that tackle making has arrived at such a point of 

 excellence that there is very little choice any way. The 

 only development left in the rod is to develop making 

 them out of steel, so that we will have a rod that will 

 end ure bad usage, wet and heat, that will never get set, that 

 will always be in order, that an angler will never be 

 worried about having it gone over every spring, and that 

 will last a lifetime, so that we won't be continually think- 

 ing about getting another. In fact, so that when we 

 come in from one fishing expedition we can lay the rod 

 away without a thought more about it and have the com- 

 fortable feeling that when we go on the next one we can 

 pick it up and carry it off, knowing it is all right. 



I have tried many rods, and in the last four years have 

 used wooden ones, ash and lancewood entirely, and have 

 caught hundreds of trout with them Avith the utmost 

 satisfaction ; and these rods I have made myself. Now, 

 there are numbers of anglers who have the chance to 

 enjoy good fishing and who avail themselves of it, but 

 who are not able to afford the expense of a high-priced 

 elegant 6plit-bamboo, yet who have read about them and 

 seen them and have heard all this talk, which would 

 make a novice infer he could not possibly be a fine angler 

 unless he owned one, and who are thereby consumed 

 with longings. To these I would address a word of 

 caution and of comfort. If you have a good, honest, 

 well-made wooden rod, made on the principles that 

 govern scientific rod making and built for the work to 

 which you put it, you have an implement which is just 

 as good, practically (mind I say practically), as the costli- 

 est split-bamboo in the market. If you go' to a cheap and 

 flimsy maker you get a cheap and flimsy rod, just as you 

 would a shoddy suit of clothes if you paid five dollars or 

 so for one. If you go to a good holiest maker and pay 

 his x>rice you get a good honest rod that you may depend 

 on, and if to a famous maker and select the costliest rod, 

 you get your fine rod and also pay a large sum to have 

 that maker's name on the handle, just as if you bought a 

 suit from a fashionable tailor, These rules govern rod 



making and tackle making just as they do any otMl 

 business. 



I do not decry the split-bamboo. You can cast furth®! 

 with it than with any other rod, and this is only sayingl 

 that it is stronger and stiffer for the same amount ofl 

 weight. But these extreme casts are never used in RshM 

 ing, and you can cast as far and as well with a wooden! 

 rod that is made rightly as you will ever have need fdftl 

 And you will need to be far more careful in your treat* 

 ment of a split-bamboo than of a wooden rod.; there is] 

 also a vastly greater chance for permanent injury throiigjn 

 neglect of any little accident or wear: there is also a fajn 

 greater chance to have concealed flaws and defects,.! 

 through carelessness or accident in the making: it is now 

 near so easily mended if injured, and finally it costs onj 

 the average three times, if not more, than a wooden roll 

 of equal merit. And these are disadvantages which nm 

 talk nor sophistry can argue away. 



Every one breaks a rod now and then who travels anljj 

 fishes any to speak of. And no matter how rich you may 

 be, you feel far worse to break a thirty-dollar rod than 

 you do an eight dollar one. 



I have used a wooden rod, as I have said, for four yeard 

 past, and during that time I have caught a good manw 

 hundreds of trout, perhaps a couple of thousand, with it. 

 and I have never broken it nor had any accident happen^ 

 to it while hooking, playing or landing'a single fish. My 

 fishing with it was where trout were of moderate size, 

 and therefore it was light, G to 7oz. Several times it was 

 broken through some accident in traveling or riding in 

 wagons or in a boat, or losing a tip by catching on the™ 

 back cast in some thicket where I was a bit hasty or careffl 

 less; but in actual warfare it never gave way^ and this 

 fate is that of, or likely to be that of, any rod, whether | 

 wood or bamboo. But it had good stuff in it, and I knew 1 

 it could be depended on in a fight, for I made it myselj™ 

 I made it to suit my work and my casting, and with it I 

 could put a fly into a three-foot circle at forty feet nearly, I 

 if not quite, every time. And looking back I cannot se^I 

 that a fine costly rod would have done me any more ser*i 

 vice, or given me any more enjoyment or caught me anja 

 more fish. It was simply good enough for the work, an™ 

 what more could you ask? 



Last summer I made an extended pleasure trip fro™ 

 New England, through Canada to Sitka, Alaska, andtf 

 back. I fished in many waters far and wide, in tfta 

 rivers of British Columbia, among the Rockies in tha 

 Nepigon, the lakes of Western Ontario, and others, H 

 could not take much luggage and I decided to carry onljjjl 

 one rod. I did not want to take a fine split-bamboo, for-] 

 I might lose it, or it might break, and I have had mm 

 experience mending broken split-bamboos. I, therefore 

 for an all-round rod to do such trout and black bass fishfl 

 ing as I expected, bought of Chubb — for I did not havOT 

 time to make one — a iO^ft., lOoz. all lancewood rod. 9 

 got it rather heavier than I generally use because I din 

 not know how large fish I might meet, and I though™ 

 possibly in the Rockies I might have to use it for a light 

 bait rod, and in this I was right. It was a good rod and] 

 well made, and I used it everywhere with the utmost sa||l 

 isfaction, and brought it home without a scratch. It dJH 

 exactly what was wanted of it, and no rod could havsj 

 done more. And it was none too heavy either, for I c&a^ 

 assure you that a 4 or 51b. trout in the clear cold Nepigon , 

 with its roaring, rushing current is equal to an eightB 

 pounder in a still lake and more difficult to land. 



If I belonged to a fishing club and could take my rocH 

 from a shelf and walk down to the shore, step into a boat-i 

 and cast on a clear lake, I would use a bamboo and n« 

 other. If I was going on a trip, had to travel in all sorta! 

 of ways, fish in all khids of places and wanted to take - 

 only ond rod and make that red rough it, I would take a 

 lancewood rod. Others may differ from me, but this iS 

 the result of my experience. 



If a man has a good, well-made reel and wooden rod,. ] 

 as these are made to-day by reputable firms, he has as 

 good implements as he needs, and if he is limited, in thgf 

 amount of money he can spend , I for my part would 

 advise him to get these, and if he has any over abov3 

 what it would cost to get fancy tackle, let him put im 

 into say more flies and leaders and better ones, and the 

 best line he can get, and some of those many modem - ' 

 conveniences that every angler longs for but not every • 

 angler can afford. 



One reads of rods that make enormous casts a,t tournafl 

 ments. The rods that are all rod and no handle to ged 

 the most power with a given weight, and the heavy linefl 

 that are used for these purposes, bear the same relation tew 

 practical angling that racing yachts and canoes do to* 

 those built for cruising. What we want nowadays i*| 

 more energy directed to improving our tackle from thea 

 end of the line down; the rods and reels are durabla 

 and good enough* as they are, give us more durable anijl 

 better leaders and flies. 



Who has not had the misfortune of finding that a pan 

 ticular fly was the one the trout wanted in some locality* 

 of using up his stock of that kind all too qu'ckly, and non| 

 able to get more at the time, being obliged to'use some 

 other neither he nor the trout fancied? Didn't he wis™ 

 they were made of cast iron and would never use urn 

 then? It was this sort of thing that made me learn fly* 

 tying, and I never go away without some materials to do 

 it with. Who wants to carry two dozen of every kind ofj 

 fly if two would do? 



This is a problem worthy the attention of inventors inj 

 fine tackle. Give us flies made of such durable materials 

 and so well constructed I hat they will last four times a«4 

 long as they do now, and the gratitude and money or! 

 anglers will be yours. Percy val. i 



The Ixglewood (ok Musquash) Fish and Game Asso- 

 ciation.— Last Saturday about twenty-five gentlemen, 

 representing the LTnited States membership of this asso- 

 ciation, held a preliminary meeting at the Quincy Houses 

 Boston. Henry E. Cobb, Esq., chairman, and Ubert K„. 

 Pettingill, Esq., secretary. A committee consisting of 

 Messrs. L. S. Brown, H. C. Litchfield, George H. Rich- 

 ards, J. Russell, and B. F. Nichols was appointed to pre- 

 pare a set of by-laws to submit at next meeting. The club: 

 has leased about 40,000 acres, including lakes and streams, 

 in the counties of St. John and Kings, in the Province or 

 New Brunswick. This is considered one of the best loca- 

 tions for the landlocked salmon on this continent. After 

 listening to a graphic description of the picturesquenesa- 

 of the country by William Cobb, who has visited the 

 locality, the meeting adjourned, subject to the call of the 

 committee. 



