886 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



fJrax tl, 1887. 



THE BASS OF OTTER. 



THERE are iniiuraerable small lakes in the northern 

 part of Frontenac county, Ontario, and none of 

 them are more prolific than Otter Lake, about twenty- 

 four miles north of Kingston. 

 What splendid expeditions we have made from our 



little Tillage of S , some eight miles nearer Kingston! 



What almost fabulous catches we have reported upon our 

 return! 



On one occasion five of us, two gentlemen and three 

 ladies, made an exceptional catch, and not a bit fabulous. 

 We started from home at 6:30 in the morning in a two- 

 seated democrat, drawn by a strong team — for the rocky 

 hills and valleys are something to be dreamed of. Our 

 boats had been sent out the day before, as anything bet- 

 ter than a leaky punt is a thing unknown in those regions. 

 We bad a glorious drive; lakes to the right of us, lakes to 

 the left of us: from the tops of some of the hills lakes 

 right beneath us, all fringed with tall maples, elms and 

 beeches; high masses of granite, almost mountains; the 

 outskirts of the Lauren tian range, with an occasional 

 clump of spruce or pine decorating then: inclines. 



Well, we got there, found our boats launched and 

 ready for us, and dividing our party we embarked, 

 Charlie and his sister in one boat, his wife, the doctor and 

 myself in the other. Then commenced the adjusting of 

 rods and leaders, screwing up of landing nets and pros- 

 pecting for good fishing grounds. Of course, we girls 

 threw the flies first. After skirmishing round a while, 

 bringing in some baby bass which the doctor invited to 

 return to their h ome and grow a bit, Charlie's wife gave 

 a scream and her rod a bend which nearly brought it tip 

 to reel; then the line began spinning out at a lightning 

 speed. "First blood," shouted the doctor. "A log," said 

 I, contemptuously. 



The little wife was too much excited to do any more, so 

 I came to her assistance, and reeling in as fast as possible 

 thought I would soon bring her snag to light. In an un- 

 guarded moment I let the line loose, when zip! away 

 went the line faster than I can say it, and it required all 

 my knowledge of fly-fishing, aided by timely instructions 

 from the doctor, to keep the rod from snapping (it is a 

 little jewel, weight, 8oz.). This maneuver completely 

 convinced me that it was no snag I had hold of, and 

 after careful' winding up and skillful use of the net by 

 the doctor, I succeeded in landing a olb. large-mouth 

 bass on the second fly, and a 21b. one on the first. There 

 must have been singular- unanimity in their start to have 

 sent the wheel round as they did. This was the best 



catch of the day, but when we got back to S at night 



after a beautiful moonlight drive, which was not the 

 least enjoyable part of the day to those of us of an artis- 

 tic turn, we reported a catch of 631bs. of fish, weighed 

 immediately after catching, and only two of these fish 

 were other than black or green bass, and they were Otse- 

 gos. If any one thinks this too fishy, just ask the doctor. 



Freyda. 



Sydenham, Ontario. 



ANGLING LITERATURE OF AMERICA. 



CONCLUDING his review cf the angling writers of 

 this country, Mr. Charles Hallock writes in the 

 London Field: * * * An attempt to mention every 

 writer of merit who has scratched his name with a fish- 

 bone on the illusive sand would make one tired; yet there 

 is an indefatigable collector, Professor G. Brown Goode. 

 the well-known chief of the U. S. National Museum, who 

 has been compiling a bibliography of American ichthy- 

 ology for the past ten years (!), and although the product 

 increases faster than he can garner, he hopes some day 

 to corral the entire lot. His collocation will bring out 

 prominently the names of noteworthy pioneers who are 

 inseparable from early efforts, like Seth Green, Mather, 

 Milner, Ainsworth, Hessel, Barnet Phillips, S. C. Clarke, 

 Redding, Atkins, Brackett, Hudson and a host of others, 

 as well as the busy and more enlightened systematic 

 workers of the present day, like Bean, McDonald, Ben- 

 dire, Earll, Ingersoll, Allen, True, et at to the end of the 

 long and distinguished list. 



"Zoology of the Northwest" (1878), prepared by Lieut. 

 Wheeler, is the title of the first of those ponderous vol- 

 umes prepared under the auspices of the Government, 

 and now being issued from year to year, which are to 

 render the labor of the future reviewer a pleasing task. 

 It is an illustrated quarto, covering ground in part which 

 had been imperfectly investigated by Dr. Suckley in 1855. 

 Gill's "Bibliography of Fishes" (1882), and his "Arrange- 

 ment of Fishes" (1883) are scientifically important, and so 

 is Jordan and Gilbert's "Synopsis of the Fishes of North 

 America," which gives the nomenclature and descriptions 

 of all known species of fishes north of the boundary be- 

 twe ">n the United States and Mexico. It has a compass 

 of 1018 pages, and describes 23 orders, 172 famihes, 487 

 genera, 1340 species, and over 2,000 varieties of American 

 fishes. Justly collossal, it stands like a mighty monolith 

 at the very vestibule of the majestic Temple of Ichthus 

 which is gradually taking form and dimension through 

 the combined efforts of trained artificers and master work- 

 men operating under the skillful direction of U. S. Fish 

 Commissioner Baird. 



This book of Jordan's is illustrative of a new era. It 

 forms a preliminary part of the great cumulative work 

 which it foreshadows and may perpetuate, and of which 

 such elaborations as Goode's "Fishing Industries of the 

 United States," illustrated with hundreds of plates, and 

 the pioneer merely of a forthcoming Series, and the 

 annual "Bulletins of the U S. Fishery Commission," and 

 Band's "Pacific Railroad Reports" and the "Fishes of the 

 Eastern Coast of the United States from Greenland to 

 Georgia," already stand out in conspicuous proportions. 

 Henceforth the philology of angling is relegated to the 

 poets, of whom the venerable Isaac McLellan, now living, 

 and still singing at the age of eighty-three, is almost the 

 sole American representative. He and "Nessmuk" may 

 chant their "Forest Runes" together in the porch of the 

 Temple, and dillettante authors hang their garlands on the 

 horns of its high altar, but science will henceforth be the 

 reigning god, and all the ichthyc offerings be made to him 

 alone. Knowledge is everything. No angler may catch 

 a fish without a Latin name, and all the arts, appliances 

 and methods of fishing will be contrived to that end. 

 Nature and science will plod perpetually hand in hand 

 over the classic boulevard , pari passu, trained to equal 

 steps, while high upon the architrave, over the porch, ap- 

 pears in bold relief the cabalistic legend, alike suggestive 

 of the impulse and incentive: Pisces in hoc signo vinces. 



A continuation of the angling bibliography may here 

 appropriately follow, concluding what has been begun: 



FiWngTourist, Hallock 1873 



I Go a Fish i ng, Prime 1874 



Camp Life in Florida, Hallock 1876 



Fishes of Maryland, Ferguson 1876 



Fish Hatching and Fish Catching, hy Roosevelt and Seth 



Green 1876 



Adirondacks, Wallace 1876 



Richardson and Rangeley Lakes, Farrar 1876 



Pleasures of Angling, Dawson 1876 



Fur, Fin, and Feather 1873-6 



Sportsman's Gazetteer, Hallock 1877 



Vacation Rambles in Michigan, Hallock 1877 



"Whitney's Pathfinder (Florida) 1877 



Adirondack Tales, Murray 1877 



Northern Michigan, Leet 1878 



On the Ebb, Hotchkiss 1878 



Adirondack Wilderness, Warner 1878 



How to Camp Out, Gould 1878 



Moosehead Lake, Farrar 1878 



Shooting, Boating, and Fishing, Warren 1878 



Canoe and Camera, Steele 1878 



Canoeing in Kanuckia, Habberton 187S 



Manual of Vertebrates, Jordan 1878 



Trout Culture, Seth Green 1878 



Zoology of the Northwest, Wheeler 1878 



Voyage of the Paper Canoe, Bishop 1878 



Four Months in a Sneak Box, Bishop 1879 



Flirtation Came, Van Dyke (California) 1881 



Book of the Black Bass, Henshall 1881 



Bibliography of Fishes, Gill 1882 



Arrangement of Fishes, Gill 1883 



Snort with Gun and Rod 1883 



Fish, Prouty 1883 



Wilson's Scientific Angler, Harris 1883 



Pacific R.R. Reports, Baird 1883 



Fishes of the Eastern Coast, from Greenland to Georgia 1883 



Synopsis of Fishes, Jordan 1883 



Bodines, Dr. Updegraff 18S3 



Fishery Industry of the United States, Goode 1884 



Camping and Cruising in Florida, Henshall 1884 



Woods and Lakes of Maine, Hubbard 1884 



Fly-Fishing in Maine, Stevens 1884 



Rod and Line in Colorado, France 1884 



Menhaden, Goode 1885 



Fly-Rods and Flv Tackle, Wells 1885 



Angler's Guide, Harris lass 



Bulletin of United States Fish Commission 1871-87 



American Salmon Fisher, Wells 1886 



Our New Alaska, Hallock 1886 



Fishing with the Fly, Orvls-Cheney 1886 



Fishing on the Brule, King (Wisconsin) 1886 



Fishing Tackle, Keene 1886 



Fly-Fishing and Fly-Making, Keene 1887 



Forest Runes, Nossmuk 1887 



Fishes of Georgia, etc., Jordan 1887 



In contemplating the varied brilliancy of the stars, I 

 sometimes see a luminary cross the field of vision which 

 is nearer and brighter than all the rest. It leaves a train 

 of glory in its transit, which seems for the moment to 

 eclipse all brightness, and while it blazes it excites the 

 admiration of stolid gazers who are wont to regard the 

 steadfast planets without emotion. Occasionally these 

 asteroids occur in bewildering showers, so that all the 

 firmament seems filled with scintillations of unwonted 

 genius, and modest mortals hide their diminished heads. 

 Then their light abruptly goes out, and the fixed white 

 orbs gleam steadily as before. And so it is with books. 

 The moral applies: Fame is a headstrong jade, and fickle. 



BIG TROUT. 



Editor Forest arid Stream: 



I notice in the last number of your paper (July 7) an 

 article by Mr. Hallock upon the subject of big trout. In 

 the summer of 1880 I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. 

 Henri Le Ronde, the Hudson's Bay Company factor at 

 Nepigon House, Lake Nepigon, and have since seen him. 

 Mr. Le Ronde is an intelligent, high-minded man, and no 

 one who knows him will ever have any doubt as to the 

 correctness of any statement he would make. 



In a series of papers commencing with the issue of Dec. 

 18, 1S80, I gave your readers an account of the visit of 

 several fishermen to Nepigon Lake and river, and there 

 noted some information obtained from Mi*. Henri Le 

 Ronde, his brother Alexander, and some of the Indians 

 about Nepigon House. By reference to these articles it 

 will be seen that trout larger than 121bs. have been taken 

 in Lake Nepigon. The largest in 1878 was 91bs. by the 

 Hudson's Bay Company's scales at Nepigon House. A 

 much larger one was taken two or three years bef ore that, 

 the weight being by the company's scales 171bs. This fact 

 was stated by both Henri and Alexander Le Ronde at the 

 time of our visit to Nepigon House and in the presence 

 of Rev. M. W. Reed (now of Denver, Col.) and my son. 

 As to the fact I have no doubt, for I have no reason to 

 doubt it other than that I have never seen so large a 

 trout. These large trout were not intentionally taken, as 

 I remarked in the papers referred to, but in nets with 

 other fish for the winter's supply for the post, along in 

 October, in sandy bays near there. I saw one of 4ilbs. 

 taken in July with a silver minnow — not trolled, but 

 gently moved by the drifting of the canoe — from close to 

 the bottom in 60ft. of water, a half mile from shore. We 

 were at the time deep-fishing by deep trolling for lake 

 trout. 



I believe Mr. Hallock is in error in thinking the trout 

 mentioned to him was taken at the mouth of the Agawa 

 River, as that iB a river emptying into Lake Superior. 

 The river was probably the Wabenoosh, which comes into 

 Lake Nepigon some twelve miles north or northwest of 

 Nepigon House. 



The White Rapids of Nepigon River are noted for large 

 trout. I think those of 7 to 81bs. are not less common 

 there than the same size in Rangeley Lakes, although I 

 have taken none so large as that. I am not so certain 

 about the 81 bs. as I am of the 7, but have reliable assur- 

 ances to that effect. Mr. Campbell's display, mentioned 

 by Mr. Hallock, would fix the "8-pound weight, however, 

 for the river beyond dispute. If the judgment of a fisher- 

 man is "of any account," I might tell of much larger ones 

 which carried away my tackle in the s^ift waters of the 

 Nepigon; but later on I almost invariably became con- 

 vinced that I over-estimated those that got away. 



C. C. H. 



From Trout to Striped Bass.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream : I went on to Phenicia, N. Y. , but the big Esopus 

 Creek, was high and roily, so no fish. I went on and tried 

 the two first brooks and got a heap of little ones, and a 

 dozen legal fish, all on worms, though I tried several casts. 

 The brooks are very small and a short stiff rod of about 

 8ft. is in order. They served me a lot of babies for 

 breakfast. I went to Walden after striped bass but pros- 

 pects were bad and so I returned to Hudson. On Satur- 

 day I went out to Wavecrest and tried for kingfish in Far 

 Rockaway Bay. Fished about two hours at high water 

 with shedder and got four, ranging four pounds and 

 a half down to one- third that weight. — Gray John, < 



THE CUSK. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Apparently the opinions of Forest and Stream readers 

 differ as widely concerning the edible value of the bowfin 

 as do those of people here, where there is a general preju- 

 dice against the bowfin, mudfish, cusk, lawyer, or what- 

 ever his name may be; but there are some who affirm 

 that he is an excellent food fish, as there are some who 

 will tell you that the ling is, and that there is no better 

 fish in our waters than our fresh-water sheepshead. As 

 to these two last, which I have tasted, their admirers can 

 never convert me to their belief until I .taste the fish 

 cooked in some very different fashion from what I have 

 ever seen them served, or I take with me to the feast more 

 than ever before of the Spartan sauce. But I must confess 

 so that great has been my repugnance to the bowfin that I 

 never yet have tasted him. Yet, though his looks are un- 

 deniably against him, he is really no more repulsive in ap- 

 pearance than the ling, nor than the bullhead, which is cer- 

 tainly one of our best food fish, and I admit that my 

 prejudice is unreasonable, as prejudices often ere. 



Perhaps it was inconsistent to make Antoine denounce 

 the bowfin in such unmeasured fashion, for probably 

 most of the bowfin eaters here are French Canadians, 

 but it so happened that he did not like them, just as it 

 happens that some Yankees do. It is said that some of 

 the old settlers here used to salt down barrels of them in 

 the latter part of summer, when great numbers can be 

 caught by any one who cares to fish for them in the 

 deadest of dead water, with stout tackle and a bit of 

 skinned frog for bait. 



If the feast of the Ichthyophagi (I'll bet I haven't 

 spelled it right) occurred in that season, I could send them 

 all the bowfins they would need for a thorough trial of 

 their edible qualities, and have the question settled — if 

 their judgment would settle it. Awahsoose. 



Febbisburgh, Vt. 



The Percy Summer Club.— Among the Clouds, the 

 Mt. Washington sky-top journal, of July 12, says: "A 

 story has lately gone the rounds of the New Hampshire 

 press of a fisherman who cast a line, to which he had 

 attached five flies, and hooked four trout and a landlocked 

 salmon. As his position was the top of a leaning cedar, 

 he was so unfortunate as to lose the salmon, but he 

 landed four trout, and at the very next cast secured an- 

 other salmon weighing 41bs. The scene of this exploit 

 was Christine Lake, perhaps the most beautiful sheet of 

 water in all the White Mountain region, although not 

 very well known because its situation is to the north of 

 the region frequented by tourists, and the lake has for 

 many years been protected by proprietors who maintain 

 here the most complete and thoroughly equipped fishing 

 resort in the country. Visitors to the White Mountains 

 are familiar with the Percy Peaks, two bare granite- 

 topped cones, rising to the height of 3,400ft., a few miles 

 north of the Pilot Range, which forms so attractive a 

 feature of the landscape from the valley of the Connecti- 

 cut at Lancaster. Christine Lake is situated in the 

 shadow of these peaks and covers a surface of 300 acres. 

 It is best approached by the Grand Trunk Railroad, the 

 visitor leaving the train at Percy station, in the township 

 of Stark, twenty miles north of the Alpine House, at 

 Gorham. The Percy Summer Club is a corporation or- 

 ganized under the general laws of New Hampshire, and 

 among its active members are the Hon. Ossian Ray, a 

 leading lawyer and late member of Congress from the 

 Granite State. The president of the club is Francis H. 

 Leggett, Esq., of New York. S. H. Kauffmann, president 

 of the Star Newspaper Company, of Washington, is also 

 a member, and other gentlemen from northern New 

 Hampshire and the city of New York make up the asso- 

 ciation. The club takes an active interest in local affairs, 

 contributing toward the support of the church and public 

 library of the inland town wherein it is situated, and 

 being besides one of the most considerable taxpayers of 

 the town, has the good will of its citizens to an unusual 

 degree." Mr. Geo. P. Rowell, of advertising fame, is sec- 

 retary of the club. 



The Diva Pays for the Trout.— Tannersville, N. Y., 

 July 14. — Mme. Fursch-Madi, whose dulcet voice used to 

 be the special property of the National Opera Company, 

 until she began to use some of its falsetto notes in one of 

 the periodical rows of that organization, has been a dis- 

 tinguished guest of our town for some weeks. She 

 brought with her her husband, who occasionally sallies 

 out in knickerbockers and velvet jacket with a nickel- 

 plated reel and other appurtenances of a fisherman for 

 trout. Yesterday, as he was engaged in an animated 

 encounter with a native of one of our mountain streams, 

 he was much gratified at the lively interest in his efforts 

 manifested by a rural-looking party on the banks. The 

 party permitted him to capture the trout and then cap- 

 tured the angler. He was a constable, the guardian and 

 legal angel of the stream, which was under the protec- 

 tion of the law, the inhabitants of it belonging to the 

 lord of the manor. The fisherman had disregarded the 

 posted notices. The unlawful trout catcher in the 

 Kaater skills corresponds to the horse thief in the western 

 communities. These disagreeable points were unfolded 

 to the fisherman, and the culprit was led back to his wife, 

 Mme. Fursch-Madi was aroused from her dolce far niente 

 in her hammock and accompanied her husband to the 

 place of justice. A messenger was dispatched for the 

 magistrate, who was enjoying the afternoon slumber 

 that follows a country dinner, supplemented by water- 

 melon. This functionary arrayed himself with deliber- 

 ate care in a linen duster, a palm-leaf fan and a pair of 

 gold-rimmed spectacles and responded to the call of duty. 

 After much deliberation the worthy justice fined the 

 lady's husband $25. Mme. Fursch-Madi remonstrated 

 in a lively recitative and her husband sang a solo of ob- 

 jurgations, but were not rewarded by any applause. The 

 fine was fished out of Fursch-Madi'spocket and paid under 

 the most solemn protest. Mme. Fursch-M di's husband 

 has wound up his reel until he is better "posted" on the 

 streams. — Correspondence Star. 



Small Catches of Menhaden.— The menhaden fishing, 

 upon which large numbers of persons in several of the 

 eastern villages of Long Island depend for their living, is 

 said to be a failure this season, the catches by the fteam- 

 ers being unusually small. The factories at Long Beach 

 and Promised Land, where the fish is converted into oil 

 and fertilizer, are running on short time. The loss will 

 amount to over $100,000. 



