226 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



fAPML 12, 1888. 



AN ANGLER'S RHYME. 



T WROTE you, last Easter, a welcome to spring, 



When I opened my window, and heard the birds sine', 

 But alasl by the movable feasts of the Church, 

 The poor bluebirds this year are quite left in the lurch! 



I have seen one stray robin around the back door, 

 Looking lonesome, like "Oliver asking for more," 

 And a blue bird's reported, Imt then I must say, 

 That the neighbor,wbo spoke of it, thought 'twas a jay! 



I have heard but one bird song, and that from the kitchen, 

 And its notes were more piercing and clear than bewitching. 

 For they came from a bantam, who nearly got froze 

 In a lively March blizzard, which crippled his toes. 



The snow still lies deep on the valleys and hills, 

 And no voices arc heard from the "murmuring rills," 

 For the brooks in their fetters of ice are still bouud, 

 And all nature is sleeping in silence profound. 



Yet the daylight grows longer, the skies are more warm, 

 And brighter the sunshine that follows the storm. 

 While we trust the old promise, through ages proved sure, 

 That seedtimo and harvest shall ever endure. 



Though the rods in their closet still rest on the shelf, 

 With the fly-books beside them, well stored with their pelf, 

 The day will soon come, when their spring we shall feel, 

 And our ears shall rejoice iu the click of the reel. 



Old winter, good bye! please be off with your train, 

 Let us greet gentle spring with a welcome again. 

 When our feet by the brookside may wander at will, 

 While each leap of the trout to our heart sends a thrill. 



When the song of the birds shall enliven the hours, 

 And our eyes shall be blessed by the smile of the flowers. 

 While we wend our way home, as the daylight fades out, 

 With our hearts full of joy and our creels full of trout. 

 New Hampshire, April 1. a/on W. 



A PISCATORIAL ROUND-UP.-III. 



MONDAY night as we sat about the fire on shore we 

 suddenly resolved to make sad for Deseronto, get our 

 mail and go on to Hay Bay. Man proposes and the wind, 

 or the lack of it, disposes, when one is on a sailing- 

 yacht. 



Everything was put aboard in short order and we said 

 farewell to our good friends Messrs. Palmer, Foster and 

 Bruson, who had shown us every attention and kindness; 

 sails were hoisted and we moved slowly down the bay under 

 a light breeze which terminated in a dead calm two 

 miles from our starting place. When we turned in the 

 sails were so idle that Mr. Rantz would have protested, 

 had he been on board, but when we were awakened in 

 the morning we were at Deseronto dock. We kept twenty 

 bass of the catch of the day before hoping to send them 

 home from here, and after breakfasting at the Empress 

 Hotel, Mr. Jamieson took our fish, sent them across Lake 

 Ontario to Oswego on a tug and they reached home in 

 good order. After breakfast there was a fair wind for 

 our sail to Hay Bay, and the day was a delightful one. 

 We met the Saxon a few miles below Deseronto, and 

 hoisting the British flag we gave her a salute from the 

 gun en the deck of the Zaidee, I noticed some fisher- 

 men rowing in shore as though they were making for a 

 fishing camp which we could see, and told Joe to get 

 into his skiff and row ashore and if possible get a white- 

 fish for our dinner. Joe came back with a whitefish of 

 7i-lbs. caught that morning, and for which lie paid twenty- 

 five cents. We made the entrance to Hav Bay and got 

 well within Thompson's point when the" wind died out 

 and left us to whistle and scratch the mast in vain. By- 

 ington with one of the men and the cooking outfit put 

 out in a skiff for Codfish Island in the bay, and after 

 puttering along in the yacht for a mile. Cleveland and I 

 followed in Joe's skiff. Half an hour after we landed 

 the yacht dropped anchor opposite the island. Codfish 

 Island is an Indian burying place, or rather it Avas, and 

 the remains of Indian sarcophagi are thickly scattered 

 over the island. The tombs have been broken open and 

 torn more or less to bits by relic hunters, but one can 

 form a very correct idea of how they were made. A 

 shallow circular or oval shaped depression in the ground 

 —in some instances they looked natural depressions and 

 in others they seem to have been dug — was paved with 

 rough, broken stones, and the indications were that this 

 paving was neatly and smoothly done considering the 

 nature of the material used. The body or bodies were 

 placed in the paved basin, with perhaps some of this 

 world's goods, and over all was a cover of broken stones 

 similar to those in the bottom. These stone-paved basins 

 that remain are in size from six to fifteen or more feet 

 in diameter. The larger ones may have been for a 

 chief or possibly for a famdy, only I should imagine 

 from the construction that they were not disturbed by 

 the Indians after completion. The rock bottom and 

 cover seemed to be lime rock. Did the Indians know 

 that the sarcophagus of the Greeks was a limestone, 

 used for making coffins because it quickly consumed the 

 flesh of bodies placed therein? 



Our dinner in the Indian cemetery did not consist of 

 "funeral bak'd meats,'" nor did the spirits of departed rod 

 men interfere with ours. In my school days I was one 

 of a party of young men who" thought the Hoffman 

 House was the only place in the great city of New York 

 where a Spanish in.aCker.el was properly cooked; and 

 while maturer years have shown me how little I really 

 do know, I venture to say that Cattish Island. Hay Bay, 

 is perhaps not the best place in the world, but it is an 

 excellent place to broil a whitefish. if the whitefish is 

 perfectly fresh. Bymgtou proposed to fish about the 

 island for bass, and after dinner Cleveland and I started 

 down the bay with mascalonge spoons whirling behind the 

 skiff. The tackle as furnished by the boatman for this 

 kind of fishing consists of two short poles projecting from 

 either side of the skiff at right angles, with a bell at the 

 extremity of the pole, and a line without a reel. A sim- 

 ple tinkle of the bell means that your spoon has struck 

 grass or weeds; but a fire alarm on the bell while the 

 pole is bending as though struck bv a Kansas cyclone, 

 means a bite of a fish. We did not get beyond the bite 

 stage, so I cannot tell how a Hay Bay mascalonge does 

 act at close quarters, but I imagine a big one gives the 

 angler a swipe with its tail, upsets the boat and gets 

 away. Joe's bells were in such perfect tune that we used 

 his poles and left our trolling rods in their cases. A little 

 way from Catfish Island we came to a horse ferry across 



the bay; we had seen them in the Bay of Quinte, but this 

 one was wrecked while we watched it and it was more 

 interesting. At one end of the ferry boat is a wheel 

 operated by horse power (there is an illustration of one of 

 these boats in the Harper's Magazine for March), after 

 the manner of a. threshing machine. The conveyance 

 to be ferried is driven on board and the ferry horse 

 mounts the power and begins to climb; but on the occa- 

 sion referred to the horse had been climbing only long 

 enough to get the boat out into the bay when something 

 went wrong, and the boat drifted ashore on some 

 rocks. 



We met another skiff with anglers trolling, and were 

 informed that no mascalonge had been taken since the 

 Saturday before, because the "water was in bloom." If 

 all water would arrange to bloom in the spring it would 

 be a convenience to fishermen. There is no sense in its 

 floricultural arrangements; it blooms in June in some 

 places, in August in others, in October in Hay Bay, and 

 when one fishes for yellow perch through the ice it blooms 

 in January. In brief, the "blooming or Avorking of the 

 water" is conveniently at hand, to be hauled in by the 

 heels by native residents near all waters, to account for 

 the fish not biting. Hay Bay water, however, looks as 

 though it might be a perennial bloomer; it is a mass of 

 water weeds, seeds and grasses at its upper end, and one's 

 line has to be constantly cleaned of weeds or "bloom." 

 Pike (E. lueius) are annoyingly present, for no one seems 

 to care for them on the hook or on the table. There was 

 a steam yacht anchored in the bay, having on board a 

 party of sportsmen who combined fishing with duck shoot- 

 ing. The marshes about the head of the bay are pre- 

 served, and shooting is permitted on alternate days by 

 the club in control, for which privilege one dollar per 

 day is charged for each gun. Our yacht came down the 

 bay at nightfall and anchored, but Cleveland and I slept 

 at Spencer's, a house of entertainment near the shore, 

 where we f ound Dr. Eeese, of Albany, and his brother, 

 who had caught one mascalonge of about 181bs. during 

 their stay. Mr. Spencer has a comfortable house for 

 anglers or gunners, and he is in charge of the shooting- 

 grounds and issues shooting permits. The next morning 

 as we rowed out to the yacht for breakfast, which we had 

 on what I believe is an island in the bay, the fog was so 

 thick that we could not see a dozen boat lengths in any 

 direction, but the guns were booming on the marshes, as 

 it was a shooting day. 



We trolled faithfully all day without a strike from a 

 mascalonge; met Gen. Davies, of New York, on the 

 water, who, the week before, had taken the largest 

 "masko" — as the natives call them — of the season at Hay 

 Bay, the. fish weighing 3olbs. ; saw Dr. Reese's skiff take 

 a small mascalonge near the ferry, where the water is 

 comparatively clear, and at dusk came up with the yacht 

 near Catfish Island. Mr. Byington had been very suc- 

 cessful with the bass, and denounced "masko" trolling as 

 a waste of time. The moon was bright and there was a 

 fair breeze, and we concluded to take a small bite on 

 board and sail for Davy's Island, a summer resort nearly 

 opposite Stone Mills (Glenora), and get a late supper. As 

 we rounded Thompson's Point the breeze was fresher 

 and the sail to the island was delightful under the nearly 

 full moon. We found that the people on the island had 

 packed bag and baggage for a move to Napanee, the 

 winter quarters, but enough was unpacked to get us 

 supper and make a bed for Cleveland and me in the 

 parlor, into which we turned at a late hour fairly well 

 tired. 



In the morning Ave were awakened by a wet and muddy 

 spaniel which cavorted around the room and over the 

 bed, leaving muddy tracks on everything he touched. I 

 said, "Confound the dog! Where did he come from with 

 all the doors shut?" I jumped out of bed in a brisk and 

 chipper manner to put him out, but as I went toward 

 him with menace in the tone of my voice, he sat placidly 

 down on his haunches and showed me a fiue set of teeth", 

 upper and lower. I have seen dogs do that sort of thing 

 in fun, and again, I have seen them do it when they had 

 no intention whatever of being funny, and I suddenly 

 discovered that my night shirt did not "come quite to the 

 floor, and that it was of thin material instead of chain 

 mail; that my feet and ankles were shockingly bare for 

 purposes of interviewing a dog to which I had never been 

 introduced, and I said: "Cleveland, instead of a spaniel 

 this dog is a boarhound, and not an old smoothbore, 

 either; I vote to let him stay, as it is foggy outside." 



"Boarhound, thunder! I hope you are not afraid of 

 that little puppy." Cleveland jumped out of bed with 

 the same haste that I got in, and'started for the dog with 

 a "just-watch-me" air. Then he stopped. "Why, he is a 

 regular mastiff and altogether too big to be turned out 

 until we get our clothes on." 



"Yes, I discovered that it makes a difference how you 

 approach him; from the rear he is a spaniel, but his front 

 elevation is that of a Durham bull. When I get my shoes 

 on I propose to kick the spaniel end of him plumb across 

 the bay, if you will attend to his front end." 



Byington loomed up in the fog and finally admitted that 

 he put the dog into our room to call us. Cleveland said 

 his only fear was that the dog would jump on the piano 

 and ruin it, and I confessed that I had hoped he would 

 jump inside of the piano and that the cover would fall on 

 him and break his neck. There was a fishermen's camp 

 on the island, and we waited breakfast for the boats to 

 come in from the nets with wdiitefish. When we had 

 finished breakfast the fog had lifted and a breeze came 

 up. Byington said he would take a skiff with Captain 

 Bill and sail to the head of Amherst Island, and try bass 

 grounds that he had fished earlier in the season; and 

 Cleveland and I tried the bay back of the island, still 

 hoping for a mascalonge. We caught a lot of pike in the 

 bay, but no "maskos," and came in for an early dinner, 

 after which we sailed to overtake B. We went into the 

 upper gap, but found nothing of Byington until we got 

 opposite Bath, when he was discovered on the dock, and 

 he reported that he had not had a single bass bite on 

 grounds where in summer he had caught them in large 

 numbers; 



After supper at Bath, we concluded to take a moonlight 

 sail to Kingston, where we expected to arrive soon after 

 midnight. Before midnight we turned in with the yacht 

 becalmed only a few miles from Bath. I Avas awakened 

 by something that sounded like the centerboard striking 

 a reef, but which I located as the lifting and falling of 

 the boom in a heavy swell. I dressed and went on deck. 

 Capt. Bill made the darkness luminous at times by sul- 

 phurous remarks addressed to Eugene, who was in the 



rearmost of the three skiffs, rowing to keep them from 

 being smashed under the overhang as the yacht rose and 

 fell. We were in the big gap eight miles from. Kingston; 

 there Avas a heavy swell, but no wind, and the fog was 

 thick enough to spread on bread. Had it not been for 

 the fog it would have been daybreak, and I called Cleve- 

 land and asked him what he thought of trying to make 

 Kingston in Joe's skiff. As C. was game for "the proposal, 

 we called Joe and arranged with Byington that we were 

 to be found at the British- American in Kingston, or at 

 Boxton Harbor, depending upon the wind. We found 

 some trouble in getting into the skiff, for first it would 

 be about 6ft. below the deck of the yacht and next 6ft. 

 above it. With a pocket compass on my knee, we set 

 out to emulate the example of Lover's amusing character 

 Barney O'Reirdon, the Navigator, by stearing a "nor'- 

 aist coorse." We were thrown out a little at first because 

 Cleveland insisted upon steering by a blue flame, thought 

 to have been seen dancing around Capt. Bill's head (Capt. 

 Bill had predicted the night before that if we attempted 

 to make Kingston we Avould get stuck in the gap in a 

 dead calm) instead of by the compass. In about two 

 hours' time the fog lifted, and Ave found ourselves just 

 off of Kingston prison or penitentiary. A breeze came 

 Avith the sun and soon we were at the hotel and at break- 

 fast. 



After breakfast we left our luggage to be taken up by 

 the yacht, and in the skiff, with a spanking breeze, 

 started for Boxton Harbor, in the St. LaAvrence. We 

 made a quick passage and put out mascalonge spoons in 

 water that Avas clearer than in Hay Bay, but several 

 hours' trolling produced but a single bite of a supposed 

 mascalonge. The yacht came in and dropped anchor be- 

 fore we were satisfied with the fishing, and Avhen we did 

 get enough Ave went aboard and lunched, Avhile she cut 

 the water in the direction of Clayton. We had an hour 

 at Clayton to re-pack, and took train to Utica. On the 

 train we met Messrs. Harry Southgate, LeGrand Cramer 

 and George Bird, who had just returned from a trip up 

 the Ridean Canal, where they had fishing of a gilt-edged 

 order. We spent the night in Utica and the next after- 

 noon Avere at home, having had fishing that we could 

 think about all winter. 



In conclusion I wish to say that we attributed the large 

 number of large bass, for we caught no small ones, in the 

 Bay of Quinte that we fished, to the water being warmer 

 there than elsewhere in the bay, or even in Lake Ontario, 

 and that this caused the bas3 to gather in hordes. Around 

 Amherst Island, as I have already stated, Mr. Byington 

 did not find a bass in waters that afford good fishing in 

 August. 



Last July, 1887, Mr. Byington again went over places 

 Ave A'isited the previous October, and wrote me: "I was 

 determined to ascertain more certainly about the bass 

 fishing at this time of year up the Bay of Quinte, and I 

 tried our entire grounds up as far as the dock above 

 Northport. I fished all available, and all our old points, 

 with good weather and good bait, and the result Avas 

 three small bass. I do not believe the bass will turn up 

 imtil the last of September. You will remember that we 

 several times discussed the question of running into 

 Picton, and going across country to East and West lakes. 

 When I returned to Clayton from my trip just concluded, 

 I learned that a gentleman had been up there Avith the 

 usual last year's luck, and brought back a large quantity 

 of very large bass. So it seems they can be had there." 

 In September of this year, when Mr. Cleveland and I 

 Avere fishing elsewhere, Mr. Jamieson telegraphed from 

 Deseronto that the bass were again in the bay in numbers 

 and size as Ave had found them the year before. If one 

 strikes the fishing Avhen the bass are present, as Ave 

 found them in the Bay of Quinte, he will find a black bass 

 paradise. We found only the small-mouth bass, and the 

 only drawback to such fishing is that one cannot dispose 

 of a tithe of the catch. May it be many a year before 

 the bass are fished out of Bay bf Quinte as "they have been 

 from other waters. 



N. B. — Since I finished the above I looked up Capt. 

 Beardslee's article entitled "Hay Bay," in Forest and 

 Stream Oct. 14, 1886, and I find that the sketch map 

 Avhich accompanied that article sIioavs all the places 

 referred to above. A. N. Cheney. 



Glens Falls, N. Y. 



A Happy Fisherman.— The following account of a well 

 knoAvn angler in Washington, D. C.,from the Pittsburgh 

 Chronicle, might serve as a text for a long chapter on the 

 subject of contentment in life and to illustrate the vanity 

 of the pursuit of riches, and show how little a man really 

 needs in this life if he boils down his fancied Avants to his 

 actual necessities. We have not space for such a chapter, 

 but those who wish further specimens of simple life are 

 referred to Diogenes, Timon of Athens, King Lear, et aL, 

 for examples and opinions on this subject. The Chronicle 

 says: "There are few tastes so inveterate and tenacious as 

 that which makes a life-long angler of a man. There is 

 in Washington City an old man Avho Avas considered forty 

 years ago the best fisherman in Clermont county, Ohio, 

 who never did anything in early days but fish, and being 

 a quaint philosopher Avithal, attracted many able men to 

 his company. He was taken to Washington during the 

 Avar times by an Ohio official, and put in one of the de- 

 partments, but the charms of the Potomac river far out- 

 weighed the advantages of his salary, and he soon took 

 refuge at the Great Falls of that river, built a shanty 

 there, and there he lives to-day, occasionally dropping in 

 at Washington, where parties interested in him recruit 

 his slender purse. He lives on twenty cents a day, and is 

 hale and hearty and absolute! y satisfied that he lias 

 chosen the Avisest life and that the greater portion of the 

 Avorld fools aAvay its energies in vain pursuits. He is in 

 his Avay as interesting as Thoreau. The name of this old 

 angler is George E. Dyer; he adds to his name 'L. F.,' 

 Avhich is presumed to stand for Lone Fisherman, and 

 numbers among his friends several Senators and mem- 

 bers of the Cabinet. He says he has not been a success as 

 a financier, but claims to have led a happy life, and speaks 

 with beneA r olent pathos of those AA r ho fuss and fret about 

 Avorldly gain." 



^ Nets Damaged.— Greenport, L. I., April 3.— The fyke 

 fishermen in these waters have had great losses wi th their 

 traps, owing to the late blizzard snowstorms; and more 

 especially from the high Avinds, which badly tore up and 

 Avashed ashore their nets.— Isaac McLellan. 



