382 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 30, 1889. 



FISHING NEAR NEW YORK. 



V.— LONG ISLAND SOUND. 



LONG ISLAND SOUND in the vicinity of New York 

 is a favorite fishing ground for many city anglers, 

 although for sport with rod and reel it can hardly be said 

 to rank with Staten Island and New Jersey waters, or the 

 bays on the south shore of Long Island. A great point 

 in favor of Long Island Sound, however, is the fact that 

 its resorts are within easy reach of the city, and the cost 

 of a day's fishing is comparatively small. The Harlem 

 River Division of the New York. New Haven and Hart- 

 ford Railroad, starting from the Harlem River station just 

 across the Harlem from the northern terminus of the 

 Second Avenue Elevated Railroad, runs along the shore 

 of the Sound to New Rochelle, where it connects with 

 the main bine of the same road (Grand Central Station at 

 Forty-second street) and runs near the shore through 

 Mamaroneck and Port Chester N. Y., and Greenwich, 

 Cos Cob, Riverside, Sound Beach and Stamford, Conn. 



On Long Island the trains on the Long Island Railroad 

 (north shore division) run from Long Island City to Col- 

 lege Point, Whitestone Landing and Great Neck. Take 

 ferries from James slip (foot of New Chambers street) 

 and from foot of East Thirty-fourth street. There are 

 also several steamboats which make regular trips to 

 points on the north shore of Long Island, but as most of 

 these boats run for the convenience of dwellers in the 

 Long Island towns rather than the denizens of New York 

 city, they leave their city piers in the afternoon, so that 

 a New York city passenger would be compelled to pass a 

 night at any of their ports in order to enjoy a day's hMi- 

 ing. 



Long Island Sound, especially between Hell Gate and 

 Mamaroneck, is the flounder fisherman's paradise. These 

 little fish are caught earlier in these waters than in any 

 other about New York; they run larger in weight, are 

 more numerous, and the season lasts longer. Striped 

 bass are also caught in considerable numbers in the same 

 waters, and in the fall they are of large size. Blackfish 

 are very plenty, and some big ones are caught on the 

 reefs and over sunken wrecks, a blackfish weighing 81bs. 

 or a little over being about the heaviest of which any 

 record can be obtained. The blackfish in g has begun now 

 near New Rochelle and in Pelharn Bay, and last week 

 there were some large catches of these fish at City Island 

 bridge and on the rocky shoals in the vicinity, weight run- 

 ning from |lb. to 5ibs. "Fiddlers" are the best bait for 

 blackfish, and after fiddlers hard clams ("rock clams" 

 they call them at City Island) are most generally used. 

 I 1 ish f or them near the bottom, with sinker below the 

 hooks. Weak fish are caught in Pelham Bay after July 1, 

 on shedder crab, shrimp and sandworm bait. Thev are 

 not so plenty here, however, as at Prince's Bay, *S. L, 

 Jamaica Bay, L. I., and Perth Amboy or Boyntoh Beach 

 (Sewaren), N. J. Bluefish do not run in the Sound any 

 nearer New York than Stamford, Conn., and those caught 

 there are small. Bergalls, tomcods or frostfish, bonitos 

 and porgies are also caught in the Sound. 



The trains of the Harlem River Division of the N. Y.. 

 N. H. & H. R. R. leave Harlem River station week days 

 at 12:10, 6:40, 7:50, 9 and 10 A. M.. and on Sundays at 7 

 and 9 A. M. and 12:01 P. M. Take the Second Avenue 

 Elevated road to the Harlem end of the route, then walk 

 across the bridge over the Harlem River to the station. 



The first stopping place for the angler is West Farms 

 (fare, round trip, 20 cent ), or West Farms may be 

 reached by horse car from Third Avenue and 130th street 

 for five cents. If the train is taken it is best to get off 

 when the legally required stop is made just south of the 

 Bronx River drawbridge, as West Farms station is several 

 hundred yards north of the drawbridge, and it is at the 

 bridge where boats must be hired. There is little fishing 

 here, however, except for eels, tommies and an occasional 

 striped bass in the river, but at the mouth of the Bronx, 

 a two-mile row from the drawbridge, there is good 

 striped bass fishing in season. 



At Van Nest station, the next stop (round trip fare 24 

 cents), stage may be taken for the "Iron Bridge" on West- 

 chester Creek, where some heavy and not particularly 

 substantial boats may be hired at 50 cents a day. (Stage 

 fare, both ways, 40 cents.) In the spring, if there are 

 striped bass anywhere, they may be found near the 

 mouth of this creek, but it is a two or three-mile row from 

 the iron drawbridge, and a nasty sort of a creek withal, 

 as I know from bitter experience, having been hung up 

 on its mud flats for hours waiting for a flood tide. There 

 are also flounders, eels and tommies in the creek. 



The best place of all for the angler to go along the 

 Sound is at Bartow (round trip fare 40 cents), from 

 which station all the fishing grounds of Pelham Bay can 

 be reached. Just before the train gets to Bartow station 

 it crosses Eastchester Creek, an arm of Pelham Bay, 

 which is an excellent spot for striped bass. Here for forty 

 years old Captain Lawrence has kept a fisherman's re- 

 sort. He has boats to rent at fifty cents a day on week 

 days and a dollar a day on Sundays (the prevailing rate 

 all along this shore), and the visiting anglers would do 

 well to take the Captain's advice as to the best spot to drop 

 a line. The Grand Yiew Hotel here (J. Elliott proprietor) 

 also lets boats, and meals and lodgings can be obtained 

 at reasonable rates. Both places always have bait on 

 hand. 



At Bartow station a line of horse cars connects with 

 City Island (fare 10 cents). About half way to City 

 Island on this route is M. Secor's place, where a dozen 

 boats are for hire. It is a long row from Secor's to the 

 best blackfish grounds, although striped bass are caught 

 within easy distance. 



At the western end of the bridge which connects City 

 Island with the mainland is Philip Flynn's place, which 

 has been running for eighteen years and is well known 

 to all Pelham Bay fishermen. Flynn has seventy boats 

 for hire, he says, and when I visited him one recent Sun- 

 day every one of them was out. Meals can be obtained 

 here, and bait. 



At the City Island end of the same bridge, which is 

 dotted for its whole length with anglers on Sunday, is 

 the well kept resort of the Stringham Brothers. The 

 principal hotel of the place (rates $2 a day and upward) 

 is close by Stringham's, and offers good accommodations 

 for lodgers or boarders. The Stringham Brothers have 

 forty good boats, al ways keep bait, and their cook knows 

 how to get up the right sort of clambakes and clam 

 chowder. 



A little beyond the bridge is the boat house of Pell & 

 May. Fifteen well-cared-f or rowboats are kept here for 



hire, and a staunch and pretty eatboat, the Maybe, can 

 be hired by sailing parties. Pell & May always have bait 

 on hand, and from them much valuable information can 

 be had about the fishing. Locust or Rodman's Point, 

 just opposite their boat house, is good. ground for striped 

 ba=s and weakfish in season. 



Paul Sell, just beyond Pell & May's, has ten good boats 

 to lent and is building more. He keeps bait on hand, and 

 serves a good clam chowder lunch. 



A little further along shore H. Walthers and J. Gruse 

 have thirteen boats, and keep bait. 



1 believe blackfish anglers would do well to bring with 

 them "fiddlers" for bait, as they are better than either 

 sandworms or clams, the baits supplied by the resorts at 

 City Island. The best places to go for blackfish are well 

 out in the Sound. The vicinity of Hart's Island is a good 

 place, or Rat I-land , between City Island and Hart's Island, 

 opposite City Island Point. Tom's Reef Rock and the 

 "Chimney Sweeps" are other good places, and there is 

 always a chance to do well at the Four Rocks, the Hog's 

 Back. Hoyt's Point (Twin Islands), and other places which 

 the boatmen will point out. 



On Sundays the Pelham Bay fishing grounds may be 

 reached by the steamers Baltimore or Philadelphia from 

 Now York to Citv Island bridge (round trip fare 40 cents). 

 They leave Pier 27. East River (foot of Dover street), at 

 7 A. M.; Thirty -first street, E. R., at 7:25 A. M., and Mor- 

 risania steamboat dock, 133d street and Southern Boule- 

 vard, at 8:30 A. M. 



A striped bass weighing 134lbs. was said to have been 

 taken by one Hop Heddy recently along the Eastchester 

 shore, but a thorough investigation which I made into the 

 matter proved that the fish was caught in a fyke and sold 

 to Mr. Heddy. Its weight was over-estimated, too, ac- 

 cording to those who -'hefted" it. 



At New Rochelle, the terminus of the Harlem River 

 branch of the N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R. (round trip fare 50 

 cents), horse cars (fare 10 cents) may be taken for the 

 shore of the Sound opposite Glen Island. The fishing in 

 these waters is like that at Pelham Bay, and there are 

 many favorite points for blackfish, striped bass, weakfish, 

 etc., which will be pointed out by either Thomas Odell, 

 who let} boats at the lower harbor, close by the Glen 

 Island ferry, or by Theodore Kissatn, who keeps a fisher- 

 man's resort at the Upper Harbor. Bait may be had at 

 both places, New Rochelle may also be reached by the 

 main line of the same railroad from the Grand Central 

 Station at Forty-second street (fare, round trip, 70 cents). 

 Trains runs every hour. 



It is not worth the angler's time to go further up the 

 Sound than Bartow or New Rochelle. "The fishing is no 

 better, and accommodations and conveniences are not so 

 ea c ily attainable. 



From the shores of Long Island there are few places 

 which the angler can reach in the Sound proper, because 

 the Long Island Railroad does not touch the north shore 

 except at rare intervals. If we may consider all the 

 waters beyond Hell Gate as Long Island Sound, however, 

 there are several place where a visit will pay, although 

 most of the Long Lland fishermen cross to the other side 

 of the Sound to do their fishing. 



The bass fishing in the waters of Hell Gate and vicinity 

 was fully described in the first of this series of papers, so- 

 il will be sufficient here to give a directory to resorts near 

 Hell Gate on the Long Island shore where boats may be 

 hired. 



The only place at Astoria where boats may be lured is 

 Dennis Hayes's, one block south of the ferry landing. 

 Take Second Avenue Elevated to Eighty-sixth street, 

 thence horse car to ferry at foot of East Ninety-second 

 street. Or steamer Morrisania from foot of Fulton street 

 at 11:30 A. M., fare 10 cents. 



Bowery Bay is near the bass grounds about Riker's and 

 Berrian's islands and Lawrence Point. There is also good 

 flounder fishing here. Take steamboat from Harlem 

 River Bridge at Third avenue every hour during the 

 summer for the excursion resort, Bowery Bay Beach, 

 where boats may be hired at >$t a day. It may also be 

 reached from East Ninety-second street ferry to Astoria, 

 thence horse cars to the beach. Round trip fare, either 

 route, 25 cents. Bring your own bait. 



In Flushing Creek there are flounders, tommies, eels, 

 and now and then a bass. And if the angler can find the 

 little fresh-water creek that empties into Flushing Creek 

 near its head, in the direction of Harry Hill's pavilion, 

 he will be able to catch good-sized striped bass off its 

 mouth or just within the "gut" at high water slack. 

 Take trains of the Long Island Railroad at Long Isla nd 

 City for Bridge street, Flushing (round trip fare, 35 cents). 

 Captain Bill Sands rents boats at the bridge near the 

 station at 50 cents and $1 a day, and will give valuable 

 points to his patrons. Captain" Bill always keeps bait on 

 hand. 



Another good place to go is Whitestone Landing, reached 

 by the same route (round trip fare, 60 cents). Blackfish 

 are now being caught near there, Sunday's haul being a 

 good one. Row to Fort Schuyler or to the "Stepping 

 Stones" beyond Fort Schuyler, or to the reef of rocks off 

 College Point. C- Watts has 11 nice boats for hire at his 

 boat house and restaurant, which is three minutes' walk 

 from the station, for 50 cents a day. Further along shore 

 boats may be hired at the same rate from Frank Boerum 

 or William Reilly. Bring your own bait. 



Weakfish are caught in Flushing Bay and all along- 

 shore, but they are never numerous. 



I have understood that a law is in existence to prevent 

 the dumping of oil and other refuse into the East River, 

 but I am sure the law is not enforced, as the water on the 

 Long Island side of the Sound from Hell Gate to Little 

 Neck has been thick with greasy filth for the past week, 

 and all the 'longshore people I interviewed attribute the 

 scarcity of fish to the condition of the water. Senega. 



Drum Fishing on the Virginia Coj st.— Exmore, Va., 

 May 'it.— Editor Forest and St ream: The steamer Man- 

 atee with Col. Quay's party arrived at Cbincoteague 

 Island May 14, and on the 15th went to the point of As- 

 satigue beach, where the party caught sixteen drum fish, 

 some weighing as high as55lbs.,the Colonel catching- 

 two at a time. The next morning being the 16th the Man- 

 atee started for Exmore station, where we took on board 

 Mr. Hamilton Disston, Thomas South and Sheriff Leeds, 

 of Philadelphia. I then took the steamer to the north 

 end of Hog Island beach, where the party had excellent 

 drum fishing and snipe shooting. If any of your yachts- 

 men want an elegant trip they can have it at this point. 

 — Capt. I. W. Stiles, Pilot of the trip. 



THE RANGELEY TROUT SUPPLY. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I was greatly pleased to see in your issue of May 9 

 an answer to the remarkably unfair statements in refer- 

 ence to the Rangeley Likes which appeared in that other- 

 wise pleasant little book, "Where the Trout Hide." 1 

 wish to add my protest. It has been my custom to make 

 a yearly pilgrimage to the Rangeley region for the past 

 eight years, and though I have never fished on the big 

 lakes myself, I have met many an angler who has. I 

 have yet to meet one, though, whose expeiience dons not 

 condemn Kit Clarke's absurd assertions. Why he should 

 misrepresent, as he most certainly does, this delightful 

 region, does not satisfactorily appear in his reply to your 

 correspondent which is containfd in the last issue of your 

 paper. On the contrary, his ill-natured remarks about 

 "gang-hooks" only strengthens the impression that he is 

 endeavoring to boom a region in which he has an interest 

 of some kind, at the expense of one which anglers have 

 hitherto at least preferred. 



One can spend a very pleasant hour reading his little 

 book about the Lake St. John country and finish it with 

 the impression that I did, that he has been reading about 

 a virgin country, a fisherman's paradise, and where the 

 skillful angler with his alluring fly is as yet almost un- 

 known. To such a person "The Land of the Winanishe," 

 Seribners Magazine for May, is a revelation. "Where 

 the Trout Hide" is conspicuously lacking in detail, but in 

 this article the authors give us a plain account of their 

 experiences at Lake St. John, before which, with their 

 statements of old-established fishing clubs and preserves, 

 our pleasant allusions of an angler's paradise painfully 

 fade away. 



Kit Clarke also paints in his book the charms of Lac de 

 Grand lies, and well he may, as I see by the papers that 

 a well-known fishing club, of which he is a member, has 

 either completed of is building at this lake an elaborate 

 club house for the use of its members. I venture to pre- 

 dict that the little inns of the Rangeley Lake region, so 

 dear to many a fisherman, will continue to be his accus- 

 tomed haunts from year to year, until the trout have as 

 nearly disappeared from Kit Clarke's Canadian paradise 

 as he alleges they have from the Rangeley Lakes. 



D. Ives Mackie. 



New Yokk, May 30. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The Rangeley Lakes are right here in the same place 

 they have been for years, and in spite of the misrepre- 

 sentations in regard to the fishing that have been quite 

 freely published in the Forest and Stream for two years, 

 the good old ashing of our boyhood days is here too. 



Those who have been here up to the present time have 

 had good fishing, catching more small trout than tbey 

 cared for, I mean fish running from 1 to 21bs. and not 

 your 6 or 8oz, fingeilings of the brooks. 



Among the visitors to this camp since its opening: have 

 been L. A. Derby. Will Lamson, S. H. Jones. E. A. Smith, 

 S. L. Sawtelle and E. W. Lovejoy of Lowell, Mass. Mr. 

 Smith while here caught one trout weighing 81bs., one 

 of 41bs., and numerous smaller ones. Mr. Derby caught 

 one of 8lbs., besides numerous others of fair size. Mr. 

 Jones caught one of 61bs.. one 4£lbs. . and one 44lbs., be- 

 sides a lot of smaller ones. Mr, Lovejoy caught one 

 weighing 3^1 bs.. and one weighing 4i-lbs., besides plenty 

 of smaller size. Mr, Sawtelle caught three trout weigh- 

 4£, 4| and 8|lbs,, a landlocked salmon weighing 6 Jibs., 

 one of the handsomest fish I ever saw, and plenty of 

 small ones. Sid speaks very contemptuously of lib. and 

 1-Mb. trout, and says he throws the most of that weight 

 back into the water, only keeping a few of them to eat. 

 This party left for home yesterday, going out across Um- 

 bagog Lake. 



Mr. Thorndike and wife of Boston, Messrs. W, Coburn 

 and F. Wellman of Lowell, B. B. Mitchell, W. C. Rowley 

 and A. King of Detroit, Mich., and T. King of Port- 

 land, Me., have been stopping at this house a few days. 

 D. B. Hempstead and Dr. Farnsworth of New London, 

 Conn., J, Flemming, A, Flemming and Geo. S. Clark of 

 Portland, Me., are among the more recent arrivals. 



Mr. Hempsted is not only one of the best fishermen who 

 come here, but is one of the veterans. Tins is his thir- 

 tieth year, having made his first trip in 1859, and he has 

 only missed one year during that long period, this being 

 his twenty-ninth annual trip. He has fished almost every- 

 where in this countiy, and in many places in Canada, 

 including Lake Edward and Lake St. John, and he says 

 that there is no place that he has ever visited that fur- 

 nishes as good fishing as the Androscoggin waters, or 

 that has given him the same satisfaction. A great many 

 of your readers are personally acquainted with Mr, 

 Hempsted and know that his statements may be relied 

 on. I give his opinion with his permission, and call the 

 attention of fishermen who are looking for an easily ac- 

 cessible place for good sport to it. His opinion is cer- 

 tainly more worthy of credence and respect than that of 

 the Bombastes Furioso, who takes every opportunity to 

 tilt his broken lance at the Raoigeley Lakes, and who has 

 recently been unhorsed by W. G. Stebbins in a late num- 

 ber of your paper. Mr. Hempsted has celebrated his 

 twenty -ninth visit to the. Middle Dam, in a modest way, 

 by capturing on his second day of fishing a trout weigh- 

 ing 6£lbs.,and he will no doubt leave his usual good 

 record behind him, as he takes many trout each trip. 

 Dr. Farnsworth, his companion, has taken one trout of 

 8 Jibs, since his arrival, but intends doing better before he 

 leaves. 



A well known angler of New York city who has fished 

 about, all the waters that are worth fishing in New Eng- 

 land and Canada, including tli3 over -puffed Lake St. 

 John and Lake Edward, whom I met within a year at 

 Young's Hotel, in Bost >n, told me that no place he had 

 ever visited for trout fishing would compare with the 

 Middle and Upper Dams of the Androscoggin waters. 



At this writing we are having a cold rainstorm, which 

 the boys say will stir up the trout, and I shall probably 

 be able to send you a record of more "big una" next 

 week. As Kit Clarke has asserted that all the large trout 

 that have been captured in the Androscoggin waters were 

 taken somewhere back in the middle ages, and that there 

 are no large trout in these waters now, I give you a list 

 of trout whose pictures adorn the walls of the office in 

 the camp, all taken within the part three years: One 

 trout caught by C. F. Chaney, June 1, 1886, weight 61bs.; 

 three trout caught by E. H. Foote, Aug. 17, 1886, weight 

 5flbs., 71bs. and 7Albs.; two trout oaughtby E. W. Curtis 

 first, Sept. 6, 1887, weight 8*lbs.; second, Sept. 11, 1887 



