June 9, 188?.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



431 



WORMS VERSUS FLY. 



IF, as is said, "an honest confession is good for the sonl," 

 I propose to gain a little on the record book by making 

 of your columns a confessional and entering them as an 

 impenitent penitent. If I do not lay myself open to the 

 serious charge of being a complete renegade, it will be 

 only because, of my starting from a standpoint at the least 

 mugwumpian. 



I have abandoned one of the strongest planks upon 

 which nearly all trout fishermen who write up their 

 adventures, from those who simply record 



Date. Number. Weight. Largest. 



May 30. 4'Jl). 71bs. 3oz. 



to those who sprinkle profusely the ornamental phrases, 

 "speckled beauties," "sulked," "rushed," "music of the 

 reel" and "gave him the butt," stand as immovable as the 

 Colossus, and some of them beyond doubt stand as firmly 

 by the brookside as in print, and martyrs to a principle, 

 catch their trout with flics or not at all. The plank is a 

 slippery one when tested by actual work. Many when 

 in seclusion slip off, and I have often been a tumbler, but 

 I never before got such a fall as I have during the last 

 week. My footing never was very secure, but I'm a 

 goner now, and t».e next time I go trout fishing, if it be 

 in early spring, and my destination be the Adirondacks, 

 1 shall leave at home my split bamboo fly-rod, and all 

 that that implies, fit out with a stiff er bass rod, No. 1 to 

 1-0 sproat hooks, No. 8 and 9 ringed sinkers, and fish with 

 worms and "chunk bait." Now don't understand me as 

 starting in on the Don Quixotic windmill charging task 

 of trying to persuade or convince any "true" fishing 

 sportsman that worms, etc., are to be preferred to flies 

 under any circumstances. There are men, very good fel- 

 lows, sane on every other subject, who would write me 

 down crazy on this were I so foolish. 



My platform, or rather the plank in question, is this: 

 When you go afishing the prime object, aside from the 

 pleasure derived from the outing, etc., equal in either 

 case, is to catch fish in any fair, sportsmanlike method. 



The spring of the rod, the hum of the reel, the thrill of 

 the strike and the pleasure of final capture are not lost to 

 me because it is a minnow, a dobson or a crab that the 

 bass has taken: while my fly neighbor, casting in the 

 boat, experiences neither if the bass won't rise (and we all 

 know that there are more times that they won't than they 

 will) to the gang of flies with which he industriously 

 whips the warm surface. 



So it is with the trout. We travel many miles by rail, 

 stage, buckboard and on foot through very rough coun- 

 try, and it costs us a lot of time and money to get into a 

 good trout stream. When I get there I want to catch 

 something. (Change that I to we, for I know there are 

 lots of us.) I prefer a light rod and tackle and dies, but 

 my preference for the latter lure does not continue if I 

 find by the best of evidence that the trout prefer worms, 

 for that spring and hum and thrill, etc. , depend entirely 

 upon the fish. If they won't take your fly, why there's 

 the end of it; you might as well get into a more comfort- 

 able place than up to your hips in a brook, fighting flies 

 and mosquitoes with one hand and with the other thresh- 

 ing a stream, empty to all intents and purposes. 



Now all of us like the fun of catching them; most of us 

 like them on the table; most of us like to have a good 

 story to tell without padding it with lies; most of us like 

 to carry out a few big ones. If sticking to the flies gives 

 pleasure enough to any person to enable him to dispense 

 with all of these other things, well and good; let him 

 stick, and if he pleases whip the stream in vain; but to 

 him I would say — and I speak as a representative of a 

 large class — 1 'Because thou art virtuous, shall there be no 

 more cakes and ale?" If adherence to the fly under all 

 circumstances be praiseworthy, then the man who, for 

 virtue's sake, will content himself with occasional little 

 ones, while his companion — one of the wicked, with the 

 same gear, except as to bait— is having great success, and 

 is constantly engaged in tussles with big trout, is a mar- 

 tyr and deserves a reward of some kind. 



A friend once tried to convince me that it was as cruel 

 to deceive the poor trout by imbedding death in their 

 hoped-for food, as to poison a spring; and he drew a 

 pathetic picture of the feelings of the fish when he dis- 

 covered the fraud. All of this I admitted; but I must say 

 that the substitution of a 9ft. leader and set of flies for 

 the worms, with which, when he began his lecture, I was 

 fishing, was due, not to his sermon, but to the simple fact 

 that then and there, on a lake where the trout were bred 

 on flies alone, he was catching three or four to my one. 

 I wonder, if the case had been reversed, if he would not 

 at least have longed for the forbidden fruit. I admitted 

 the deceit and the cruelty, but claimed that in both the 

 worm fisherman was less guilty than he of the fly, for, 

 while of a dozen trout that spring for the flies, certainly 

 half is a fair proportion to bring to the basket, the other 

 half dozen get but pricked mouths; while of the dozen 

 that come for the worms, the greater part get them and 

 we don't get the fish; a trout for every worm would be 

 astonishing good luck. So with even 50 per cent, in each 

 case basketed; his others get nothing, mine then- break- 

 fast. On the time-honored principle "the greatest good 

 to the greatest number," worms are ahead. 



I have been airing my old ideas, and asl have confessed 

 my last trip has increased even their laxity. As between 

 the rural method by which, with pole and string and 

 sinker, the rustic snafls 'em with worms and the aesthetic 

 method of the experienced and well equipped angler with 

 split bamboo rod, tapered fine and flies, I have unhesitat- 

 ingly championed the latter. But my views have become 

 seriously modified; theoretically, I am still prepared to 

 defend the fly system; practically, I have within the last 

 week thrown it aside and adopted the rastic method, 

 worms and chunk bait, sinker and all included. I did, 

 however, adhere as a matter of comfort and as one con- 

 necting link between the present and the past to my rod, 

 a shorter and stiffer implement than those in general use, 

 and by so doing lost more than I saved of splendid fish. I 

 propose to submit my story and I wonder if among your 

 readers there will be those who will feel sure enough of 

 their virtue to come out and affirm that, under the cir- 

 cumstances, they would not have done as I did. 



Last autumn I was one of the many who spent a few 

 delightful days at one of the swell hotels of the Adiron- 

 dacks, strolled on its spacious piazzas, rolled ten pins, 

 watched lawn tennis and dancing, and made sundry 



efforts to add the amusement of fishing to my resources; 

 my only reward being a few medium-sized black bass. 

 To obtain these I had, first, to work hard to secure a few- 

 worms (as yet a very scarce commodity, although this 

 year they are growing more plentiful). After a four-mile 

 row to a certain spot in Marion River, where the voracious 

 bass had left a few minnows, I spent an hour or so in 

 taking a few of them. Then I went back into Eagle pi 

 Utowana Lake and devoted the little remainder of my 

 time, to the bass. The first time I employed a so-called 

 guide, a man faultlessly attired in a guide's costume, and 

 who undertook to have everything all ready, providing 

 all needed outfit, at usual wages, $3 per day and board. 

 Arriving at the minnow rocks we proceeded to bait hooks, 

 and found ourselves the possessors of three small worms. 

 This was bad enough, for the pumpkin seeds were more 

 plentiful than shiners, and great bait eaters; but when in 

 succession our guide lost one of the worms, then attempted 

 to convince us that bits of the salt ham of which our 

 lunch sandwiches were built were "jess as good as worms 

 to catch shiners," and that "punkin seeds were jess as 

 good as shiners to catch bass," our wrath arose, and my 

 companion, a gentleman of over eighty years, and for at 

 least seventy years an ardent and. successful angler, 

 "spoke out in meeting;" and I don't think that "guide" 

 will ever want us any more than we will him in future. 



I longed for a day with the trout, but everybody, espe- 

 cially the "guide," combined to convince, me that I was 

 sighing for the unattainable, trying to turn the past into 

 the present, But fortune favored me, for through acci- 

 dent I became acquainted with a lady vhose son had the 

 preceding day, under the guidance or one Henry Taylor, 

 made a most successful trouting trip. It is needless to 

 say that the next day I too was under the same guidance, 

 bent on the same mission. A five-mile drive on a buck- 

 board and a mile across country brought us to a large 

 brook, in whose spring holes Henry guessed "we could 

 tease a few of them out of the wet," and we did. We 

 fished four springholes; two drew blank; two others paid. 

 As it was the season for fly-fisliing and the location was 

 suitable we used flies. A large brown hackle and a 

 grizzly king were eagerly taken. We had seven or eight 

 fish, ranging from fibs, up, when I hooked a large one. 

 The ensuing fight, together with the necessary use of the 

 landing net, spoiled the hole, and this one, weighing 

 nearly 21bs., was mv last; even "chunk bait," to which we 

 finally resorted, failed to draw. That evening Henry and 

 I exchanged promises, his that if I would return in early 

 spring he would insure me some splendid fishing, mine 

 that, D.V., I would be on hand. 



Two weeks ago I f ound that other business made it 

 necessary that I should give up my proposed trip, and I 

 wrote to that effect. By return mail came a letter which 

 you have already published. It was full of glorious 

 promises, but as you remarked editorially, there were 

 "lions in the path." Obstacles so great stood in the way 

 that I was most reluctantly forced to decline. I had busi- 

 ness which demanded my time; pleasant as the trip 

 might prove, I ought not to go, and I wrote Taylor to that 

 effect. This was on Saturday morning, and for an hour 

 or two I felt that glow of comfort which comes to a man 

 who resists temptation and sacrifices pleasure to duty. 

 But then came a reaction. All of the obstacles which 

 seemed so high at first became gradually less formidable, 

 and I began to feel despondent and downhearted. A 

 member of my family, competent to judge, characterized 

 my mental condition as "cross and sulky." My courage 

 followed the example of Bob Acres, and the next morn- 

 ing, Sunday, I found it all gone. I showed my apprecia- 

 tion of my virtuous resolution by breaking it. My letter 

 to Henry was not posted, and on Monday morning I 

 started with a week at my disposal, of which three days 

 must be devoted to the journey to and fro. 



To reach Blue Mountain Lake one must be in Saratoga 

 in time to start by the 10 A. M. train on the Adirondack 

 Railroad; this brings you to North Creek (58 ) a little after 

 noon, thence on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays now 

 (every day later in the season), a thirty miles drive over 

 a good road in or on a Concord stage, brings you to Blue 

 Mountain Lake by 8 or 9 P. M. , stopping half an hour for 

 an exrellent dinner at Eldridge's, as North River is gener- 

 ally called. A buckboard can be lured on any day, but 

 this, while very comfortable, is an expensive luxury. One 

 with seats for 3 costs $12; for 5, $20; while the stage fare 

 is $3, and on a pleasant day well worth the money. From 

 the westward, on the New York Central, it is necessary 

 to go to Saratoga the day previous. I did, and spent the 

 night there sleeping part of the time and the rest fighting 

 mosquitoes, with which the town was well populated; 

 and curiously enough, in the courtyard of my hotel 

 there still lay a great pile of snow. Snow to make snow 

 water, and the insects thus encountered at the very out- 

 se'; of my trip argued poorly; but there was one comfort 

 in the woods, I could wear garments and tar oil, neither 

 of which were adapted to the city. The events which 

 thus apparently cast then- shadows before, did not come. 

 Once clear of Saratoga, I bade adieu to mosquitoes, seeing 

 not over half a dozen in the woods, and no snow except 

 in forest-sheltered swamps where, in holes, there still re- 

 mained snow and ice. Arriving at 9 P. M. , early the next 

 morning Henry and I started, and arrived at the large 

 pool under the dam. I could hardly wait to get at the big 

 trout that beyond question were lying in wait. 



Well, I exhausted my patience and my variety of suit- 

 able flies, with not a rise. Then came Henry, and drop- 

 ping his big hook armed with a chunk of chub, and out 

 came a beauty, then another, then chubs. We started 

 down, and my results were repeated, his were not. Think- 

 ing, perhaps, that I fishing ahead, and being out of prac- 

 tice, spoiled the stream for him, we exchanged preced- 

 ence, and he tried the flies, but, although a very skillful 

 caster, the result was the same, and Rock River proved a 

 failure. We afterward learned that but a few days 

 before the dam had been opened to drive logs, and thus 

 the fishing was spoiled. After an hour of failure, we 

 struck across the woods to another stream. Taylor, born 

 and brought up in the woods, and always a fisherman, 

 knew them all. At this we did better; we took a few- 

 small trout, 4 to 6oz., with the flies, one brown hackle 

 and scarlet ibis, in a long stretch of still water; then we 

 came to a deep and large pool with a heavy rift in it. 

 Both of us ca t the flies with no success. Then, deter- 

 mined to test the matter, I put on a large hook, a sinker 

 and worms. Hardly had my hook sunk before I had 

 hold of, I thought, a snag. Lifting gingerly to avoid 

 damage, the head and shoulders of a very large trout 

 1 made their appearance, just long enough to let me know 



the nature of my "snag" to excite hopes; then he unbit, 

 dived and vanished. After that, at every symptom of a 

 touch, I struck hard, determined to sacrifice my stock of 

 hooks rather than lose another trout. 



My second strike was a success and I saved a pound 

 trout, and during the day I saved quite a lot of good ones; 

 but I lost more than I saved, for the amount of strength 

 required to jerk the half -ounce sinker and heavily-baited 

 hook up the swift waters left very little to be expended in 

 setting the hook home. My rod is an 8oz., 9Jft., and un- 

 usually stiff for a split bamboo. I could strike and save 

 anything up to half a pound; fish larger than that gener- 

 ally got away. When, however, I did manage to get 

 good hold of a big one, the little rod did its work well. 



Our day's work brought us a good basketful of fine 

 fish. We improved on the 6-inch law and saved nothing 

 under ilb. 



That night I spent at Merwin's Blue Mountain House 

 and had the honor of being the first guest of the season. 

 This hotel, situated 200ft. above the lake, is a most com- 

 fortable resort when you get there; the 200ft. rise in a 

 fifteen minutes' walk from the lake is a pretty stiff pull 

 after a day's work. I made this my headquarters for 

 three days, finding the fare good, attentions and acc:m- 

 modations all that a fisherman could wish. Being in 

 advance of the season has, though, one disadvantage. 

 While your guide is admitted to the family table, you sit 

 in solitary grandeur the only feeder in a big dining room, 

 and at such epochs listening to chat and laughter, music 

 and children's plav, from which yom grandeur debars 

 you. The position of "Lone Fisherman" is very lonesome. 

 It is not the wo ids custom to give to outsiders a share of 

 domestic pleasures. 



As I had hut four days to fish I worked hard and much 

 of my time was waited. For instance: A drive of four 

 very long miles on the Long Lake stage ro ~.d took me to 

 Salmon River, two hours of hard fishing brought me two 

 small trout. The snow water was still in the river and 

 trout were not. At the south inlet of Raquette Lake 

 there are a falls and resultant large pool. I rowed fifteen 

 miles to fish that pool and caught two suckers, yet while 

 I sat there, ch itting with Mr. Durkee, superintendent of 

 the Adirondack Radroad, quite a number of large trout 

 rushed from the pool and through a 3in. water apron 

 which covered a sloping rock, 6ft. to the first resting 

 pool, then after a time went on and surmounted the falls, 

 yet in the still water above, they showed no sign. 



While all of the native fishermen agreed that too much 

 snow water was the trouble with the forest-sheltered 

 streams I fished, some held, and I think with truth, that 

 one great cause of failure was that the trout were bottom 

 feeding on sucker spawn. Never in my life, except in 

 the salmon rivers of Alaska, have I seen streams so 

 densely crowded with fish as were all of these with 

 suckers, ranging from 8in. to twice the length. And at 

 the mouths of the creeks a black converging mass was 

 visiblo way out to the deep water of the lakes. 



To obtain bait for our buoys or trolling we had but to 

 place a trap, consisting of a big bag with hooped mouth, 

 bent downward, from 10ft. to 15ft. above, and fill our bag 

 with from three to four bushels. This unending supply 

 of these otherwise useless fish is a godsend to these 

 waters, for living as they do in the deep waters and com- 

 ing on to the shoals to spawn before the bass begin to 

 feed, the food supply for t e lake trout is assured. 



Not so, however, with the bass, with which some years 

 ago the Raquette was stocked, and which have spread 

 into all of the lakes (Raquette, Forked, Blue Mountain, 

 Eagle and Utowana). They have cleaned the lakes of 

 shiners, chubs and all other minnows, and now it is 

 thought must live upon their own young, and such little 

 supply of troutlets as is left. Every spring young bass an 

 inch long are seen in countless schools, but the stock in 

 the lakes does not seem to increase, and very few fish of 

 any size are taken. Now and then a two or three pounder 

 is the best record I could get for them. 



At one stream only did we get first-rate fishing, and on 

 that for several hours it was sinrply perfect. This stream 

 ran through open country, there was no snow water, and 

 every hole of die rapids yielded a trout. On this stream 

 I again made a faithful effort with flies, and to insure 

 against failure through any want of skill upon my part, 

 had Taylor do the same. After a bit he got tired of it: 

 then following close behind me, kept lifting and saving 

 so rapidly that it was exasperating to me. Fish after 

 fish, none less than ^Ib., several up to lib., and a few of 

 twice the weight were buried in a co d-water swamp 

 that night — we had no ice. But Henry did not catch 

 them all, for again I yielded, and this time for good; and 

 fishing to get trout out of holes that held trout that wotdd 

 not take flies, I did it the correct way and got my share. 

 Next spring, if I live and can, I'll do it again, and as I 

 said in the beginning, taie with me my bass gear and 

 outfit. 



Every one in the woods was praying for rain; not only 

 was the fishing injured by the long drouth, but in all 

 directions the burning woods gave evidence of careless 

 fallow burning. From the Blue Mountain House (in the 

 view from which are included Eagle and Utowana lakes) 

 a dozen separate fires coidd be seen at once, and besides 

 the loss of timber many had suffered loss of buildings, 

 etc. On Thursday a very large fire seemed located on the 

 road in and where I went out on Monday; we drove for 

 miles through a burned, and in some places still burninr, 

 district. In one place the bridge over a stream was 

 gone, burned down, and we had to make a difficult detour. 

 Pleasant as it may be when all is right, the front top seat 

 on a high stage drawn by four horses is not pleasant upon 

 such detours; and on Thursday the driver informed me 

 he had to run his horses to get through. 



The lakers were taking the troll very well during my 

 stay, but I did not care to fish for them. I did spend a 

 few spare hours at the buoys, and caught several from 2 

 to 61bs. 



The flies made their appearance on Thursday (19th) but 

 did not seem to be hungry, or had not been educated 

 sufficiently, for it was not until Saturday afternoon that 

 I received my first bite. Tar and sweet oil probably had 

 its usual saving effect, but as we all know, there are times 

 when even that will not save us. I think that the ex- 

 treme dryness of the ah- kept them languid. There were 

 very few mosquitoes. I was more troubled by them in 

 my one night at Saratoga than during my stay in the 

 woods. The "puiikies" were not at all troublesome, and 

 except that the dry weather interfered with the fishing, 

 I could ask nothing better, and altogether I had a most 

 delightful trip. 



