July 26, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



7 



be, but through influence of much money sent by relatives 

 in England, and the law's delay, he escaped and fled the 

 country. When I heard of the' tragedy, I hardly doubted 

 that he had some such intention in my case, thinking 

 that probably I carried money on my person, as there was 

 no bank in the county at that time. At least I have 

 always been satisfied that, out of patience with his lack 

 of fulfillment of agreement, I refused to go with him. 



But to return to our fishing excursion. At three min- 

 utes after five o'clock we were under way for the lakes in 

 quite good humor with things in general and enjoying 

 the fresh cool ah" of the morning as we put the miles 

 behind us in a leisurely way, while George pointed out 

 occasionally a, favorite cover for woodcock, and again a 

 piece of woods where he usually got a squirrel or two, or 

 a good place for partridge (grouse) or a place where a 

 hundred or two years ago somebody's great or great 

 great grandfather shot, O, I won't begin to tell how many 

 deer in a day or year, I forget which. Some of the 

 farmers were just coming out of doors, looking as though 

 they wished they didn't have to at all that day, and the 

 cows were working up to the barnyard gate from the 

 pasture to get relieved of their milk. If I'd had a chance 

 and a pail I could have helped them considerably. Some 

 of the cornfields had dead crows swinging from poleB as 

 a warning to their Jiving thieving brethren to "look a 

 leedle out," and some had long lines of string stretched 

 this way and that as a protection to the corn. "What 

 train of thought or reasoning this induced in the black 

 pilferers I cannot imagine, but I can easily understand 

 how a bird as sharp as a crow should be suspicious on 

 slight provocation. How cool the shadows of the woods 

 were and how natural it was to expect to see an early 

 gray or black squirrel on the rail fences or whisking up 

 a tree as we drove by. But we were not gratified except- 

 ing by the sight of a red squirrel that had got on the 

 opposite side of the road from the woods and didn't dare 

 cross, but kept just ahead on the fence, evidently in 

 great trouble and perplexity as to how he was to dodge 

 that thing in the road that would keep along about as fast 

 as he did. He finally hid in the bushes on the lower rail 

 until we passed. A good part of our way was up hill 

 and we didn't put on much steam, but at seven we drove 

 into Mr. Turk's yard on the bank of the lake and our ride 

 was over. Mr. T., who has a very pleasant home, fine 

 picnic grounds adjacent, boats on the lake and ample 

 stable room, appeared. "Good morning. You must 

 have got an early start," and proceeded to assist in un- 

 hitching, which done and the horse put up we soon had 

 ourselves and traps in the boat and a trolling line out. 



It was a lovely morning for sport, cloudy, cool enough 

 and just enough wind to ripple the water nicely. We 

 took a turn around the lake and drew a blank. We 

 didn't expect much from the "pickerel," as the maskin- 

 onge is invariably called here, but did expect to interview 

 a few bass. So we drew to shore and proceeded to pros- 

 pect for minnows in a creek near by, but former fishers 

 had skimmed the cream, leaving none but inchlings or 

 so, of which we got a few and returned. All the fore- 

 noon we fished, here, there and all around, but not a bite 

 did we get, so I put a very small phantom on and with my 

 rod played it along shore at the edge of the lily pads, de- 

 ceiving two or three, little bass of half or three-quarters 

 of a pound each. Then the region below the belt began 

 to complain of neglect, so we turned the bow Turkward 

 and lunched under the beautiful maples, Mr. T. bringing 

 out ice for our lemonade. In speaking of lack of good 

 bait, he told us of a creek that emptied into the lake from 

 the swamp on the opposite side, where possibly we might 

 secure good minnows. So, having finished lunch, we took 

 boat again and crossed to a point where we landed and 

 began search in the dense swamp for the creek. George 

 carried his .22 Stevens rifle for any stray elk that might 

 have got lost, and I toted the minnow bucket and net. 

 The trees and bushes were dense, the breeze was else- 

 where, mosquitoes were on hand and hungry as we poked 

 around in search of that creek that we didn't find. We 

 found its bed, however, which it had left and gone off to 

 the lake to get cool and rid of the mosquitoes. Here and 

 there was a warm and uncomfortable pool in the bed, ten- 

 anted by nought but bugs and insects. This satisfied 

 us, and we hunted for the boat this time. 



Beaching the. point, and having failed to find the elk as 

 well as the minnows, we practiced on a target a while. 

 I was ahead on the first string, but George beat me badly 

 on the second, so my head ached and I didn't want to 

 shoot any more. Then we took the boat again and I 

 rowed while George put out his trolling line. Forward 

 and back, around and around, but no bid. Then he took 

 the oars and I waited for a call, feeling how good it was 

 to see him row. After a season of exercise he reluctantly 

 gave me the oars again, and shortly afterward shouted, 

 "I've got him," and began to haul in lively. I stood 

 ready with the gaff, for by the stretch of the line I saw 

 there was no fingeriing on the end of it, but there was no 

 time for gaff, for as he got him up to the boat, with one 

 fell swoosh he landed him inside, considerably astonished 

 and making things lively all round. It was our first 

 maskinonge, and was a beauty, weighing 5-Jlbs. that eve- 

 ning on our arrival at home. 



After killing him we got under way again, agreeing to 

 gaff the next one and prevent possible loss. Half way 

 across the lake the fine stretched again, and George ejac- 

 ulated, "B' George I believe I've got another," and pro- 

 ceeded to see. how much line he could stow away in his 

 end of the boat, but before he had got it half in he heaved 

 a melancholy "sough" and said, "He's off," and sure 

 enough he was. Then I took the line and George played 



Eropeller again, but somehow it was of no use when I 

 eld the line, the fish refused to catch on. After I 

 thougt George had exercise enough I took hold again, 

 and in less than ten minutes he had another fish fast and 

 coming to see us nilly willy. Along he came until we 

 could see him plainly, about the size of the first one, and 

 said I, "Easy now, lead him alongside until I introduce 

 the gaff to him." So he did, but the gaff was a little 

 dull, and as I put it under his neck and struck upward 

 he gave a flop, the gaff tore out or slipped off, or some- 

 thing or other, I shouted to George, "Let him go;" he 

 held on to the line, the fish turned a handspring, skinned 

 the cat, shook the hooks out of his mouth, and made his 

 adieu with considerable haste, leaving us standing gazing 

 speechless at one another. As soon as George could find 

 literature he exclaimed with some asperity, "Why in the 

 dickens didn't you jam it into him with all your might," 

 and then he groaned in agony, 1 told him that if it 

 would help things any I would see his groan and go 



several better, but 'twould save time if we went to work 

 for another fish. 



So we did. For a time no luck. Every once in a 

 while George would fetch a sigh from way down, and I 

 knew what he was thinking of. Then I took the line 

 and Ave worked around the lake, but 'twas a foregone con- 

 clusion that when I took the line George bad his labor 

 for nought so I said, "Here George, you catch another," 

 and took the oars. Hardly had he got the line out again 

 when it grew as taut as though it were made fast to a Jog. 

 Said I, "Is it a snag or what?" and answer came, "It's 

 a mighty lively snag or what, I tell you: here, you 

 handle him/' I couldn't refuse such a liberal proposition 

 as that, so I stepped aft and began to reel in. He came 

 hard. Now and then I could feel him shake his head 

 and attempt to go the other way, but my avoirdupois 

 was too much for him and steadily I reduced the inter- 

 val. As he came near the boat I played him a little and 

 then drew him up ready to gaff him, when he got in 

 some very lively work and came near getting the line 

 fouled around the oar, so I gave him fine and let him run 

 a little and then drew him alongside and gaffed him, 

 lifting him into tlie boat, when we both sat down on 

 him, a beautiful "lunge" that weighed eleven and a half 

 pounds that evening at dark. Then we didn't sigh or 

 groan or lament but straightway headed for the landing, 

 for it was time to start homeward. Beautiful in death 

 and the wagon those fish lay bedded in fresh grass as we 

 jogged homeward in the pleasant evening, and beautiful 

 and toothsome they lay in their respective platters the 

 next day at dinner, which being Sunday left plenty of 

 time to eliminate the bones. O. O. S. 



THE RANGELEY FISHING. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I understand that Mr. Kit Clarke says in the Forest 

 and Stream that the fishing in the Rangeley waters is 

 all played out. I think he is mistaken, for myself and 

 another man in seven hours' fishing caught 500 trout 

 weighing from £ to 41bs. 



These fish were all caught on the fly. I think we have 

 had as good fishing here this summer as we have had for 

 several years. " W. A. Robinson. 



RtCHAKDSON, Me., July 15. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have made inquiries about the catch which Robinson 

 handed me and which is inclosed. I think there is no 

 doubt that it is time, although perhaps it will sound like 

 a fish story to you. They tell me that 440 were put back, 

 an 1 that the sixty that were killed weighed 751bs. The 

 fishing on the Richardson, Mooselucmegtmtic, Cupsup- 

 tic and Rangeley Lakes surely has not been better for 

 many seasons past than it is the present one. This after- 

 noon a party of ladies and gentlemen who are stopping at 

 my camp went trolling on my small steamer; they were 

 out five hours and brought in thirty-four trout from i to 

 21bs. weight. F. C. Barker. 



Camp Bemis, Me., July 19. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I am very sorry to be forced into a controversy with 

 Mr. Clarke in regard to the fishing at the Rangeley 

 Lakes, for the reason that I have not the time to spare, 

 but since Mr. Clarke persists in his false statements, I 

 feel that it is my duty to continue to deny them, not only 

 in the interest of those of your readers who have not 

 visited the magnificent chain of lakes in question, but 

 also in the interests of truth. The readiness and ease 

 with which Mr. Clarke makes misstatements, is amply 

 illustrated in the article in your paper of July 19, signed 

 " Salmo Fontinalis," who seems to know quite as much 

 about Lake Edward as Mr. Clarke. But personally I 

 know nothing about Lake Edward, while I think I "do 

 know almost as much about the Rangeley Lakes as Mr. 

 Clarke. 



I think it hardly necessary to say that I do not " run 

 the steamer on the Richardson Lakes," as Mr. Clarke puts 

 it, nor have I done so for seven years. All the steamers 

 between the Upper Dam and Errol Dam are owned and 

 run by a company, in which there are between thirty 

 and forty stockholders, I being one of them. Since the 

 formation of the company I have found enough to do in 

 looking after the business, without running on the steam- 

 ers, except occasionally when some of our employees 

 were sick or away, but as most of your readers know of 

 my connection with the business at the lakes, it is need- 

 less to speak further upon it. 



Mr. Clarke cannot expect to make such statements as 

 he made in a former number of your paper, and which he 

 repeats under date of July 19, without having them con- 

 tradicted, unless he is really possessed of less sense than 

 I gave him credit for. He constitutes himself both judge 

 and jury, without any witnesses to back him up. It will 

 need something more than his bare assertion or supposi- 

 tious estimates to make any unprejudiced person believe 

 it. I very much doubt whether, if 2,400 persons fished 

 Lake Edward during the season, they could each catch 

 501bs. of trout, giving the enormous' amount of 60 tons 

 of fish, which Mr. Clarke expects the Rangeley Lakes to 

 furnish. Such figures are ridiculous. 



It is a well-known fact to all fishermen that in visiting 

 their favorite resorts sometimes they have good and some- 

 times bad luck. This is true of the Rangeley Lakes as of 

 other places, but that "good fishing at the Rangeley Lakes 

 is really a thing of the past" I deny, and there are plenty 

 of other people, both ladies and gentlemen, who can deny 

 it from their own experience if they choose. Will not 

 Mr. Clarke favor us with the name of the "enthusiastic 

 angler" who had such an unfortunate experience at the 

 Upper Dam, and let him speak for himself? 



It is true that "Special" says, "that the fishing is not 

 what it should be," but he follows up the statement with 

 an explanation, that it would be well for Mr. Clarke to 

 commit to memory. Farrar does not howl for the State 

 of Maine to stock the waters with large numbers of small 

 trout, nor did I state that the 1 ' waters are already crowded 

 with fish." What I did say was, "In my opinion there 

 are more trout in number and more larger ones taken 

 from those waters now than there were twenty years ago," 

 and I believe it. And my reason for that belief is that 

 where one person fished in those waters twenty years ago, 

 fifty persons fish in the same waters now. And the large 

 numbers of trout and landlocked salmon that have been 

 hatched and turned into the lakes almost every year have 

 made such fishing possible, and l.ave kept up the supply. 



I proposed for the Slate of Maine to appropriate money 

 annually to stock the Rangeley Lakes with trout and 

 landlocked salmon, not because. there are not plenty of 

 fish in the lakes now, but to continue the supply. And 

 this is what is being done at Grand Lake Stream, at Moose- 

 head Lake, also in the Megantic Lake district, and Mr. 

 Clarke knows it very well, and he also knows that in the 

 State stocking the lakes yearly, it is making a wise pro- 

 vision for tlie future, but he is ready to distort and 

 change every fact in connection with the Rangeley Lakes 

 for the purpose of bolstering up his mistaken opinions. 



Mr. Clarke's own acknowledgment of his "throwing 

 epistles in the waste basket" that were made in opposition 

 to his statements, shows how much honor or courtesy 

 there is in him, and if he had a particle of shame in his 

 composition he would not father such an act. It speaks 

 ill of his cause that he dare not allow the opposition a hear- 

 ing, and bears out what I said before, tha,t upon this ques- 

 tion he intends to constitute himself judge and jury. It 

 also shows the character of the journals which ho chose 

 to champion his rotten cause, for there is no respectable 

 paper in the country but what in a case like this would 

 give both sides the courtesy of a hearing. Still we should 

 not overlook the fact that the dailypapers Mr. Clarke 

 alludes to had received a large amount of advertising from 

 him at different times, as agent for variety shows, which 

 in a measure accounts for their one-sided action. 



If I had not a particle of business interest at the 

 Rangeley Lakes, I should still deny Mr. Clarke's asser- 

 tions, from my love of that region. I first visited it 

 when I was a young man, several years before I was at 

 all interested in its business, and some of the happiest 

 hours of my life have been passed at the lakes, and 1 

 love the country. Those romantic sheets of water, whose 

 ripples Mbs the base of the grand old mountains by 

 which they are surrounded, will ever hold a loving place 

 in the warmest corner of my heart, and they will be vis- 

 ited by thousands for their pure air and fine scenery, if 

 for nothing else, years after Mr. Clarke and myself have 

 gone to that bourne from which no traveler (or fisher- 

 man) returns. Cu as. A. J. Farrar. 



Jamaica Pt,atn, July 20, 1888. 



FISHING IN THE UPPER HUDSON. 



THAT the Hudson River is not as good a river for the 

 angler as most of the large streams of the Atlantic 

 coast is well known, but why this is so has not been ex- 

 plained. We fished the river in boyhood days, some 

 forty or more years ago, from the Troy dam down to 

 Castleton, a distance of about fifteen miles, and then con- 

 sidered 201bs. of miscellaneous fishes a good day's catch. 

 These, named in the order of their value as measured by 

 the boys were: Yellow perch, catfish or bullheads, mud 

 pike (Emv fasciatus DeKay), rock bass, eels, sunfish and 

 chubs. The black bass had come down the Erie canal 

 some years before, but were not plentiful and were so 

 rarely caught that they did not enter into the schoolboy's 

 calculations and were known by name to but few. 



The cream of the fishing then was to take striped bass 

 in the channel below Albany with sturgeon roe for bait, 

 and the fish would average half a pound. Rarely a two- 

 pounder was taken and its captor was the herb of the 

 hour. The changes in the character of the river of late 

 years have been great. The cutting off of the northern 

 forest has caused great freshets in the spring when the 

 snow goes off, and correspondingly low water in mid- 

 summer. To remedy the latter evil stone dykes have 

 been built to keep the water in the channel, and these 

 form comparatively still water behind them, which 

 should afford breeding places for some species, but do 

 not seem to be well populated. 



Why the black bass have not multiplied more than 

 they have is a question. They are there yet and can find 

 almost any kind of bottom or water, yet they are small 

 and not plenty. We have been led to these remarks by 

 a recent visit to the upper Hudson. At Troy we learned 

 that the net fishermen are taking striped bass of a pound 

 or lesB below the dam, while an occasional black bass is 

 captured among the perch and sunfish. Between Troy 

 and Mechanicville we saw a few boats out in the nine 

 miles of still water between the dams, and learned that 

 black bass were captured with hook and line, a fish of a 

 pound and a half being considered a big one. On Friday 

 last we took five black bass, three yellow perch and some 

 small fish between Albany and Castleton, the largest bass 

 weighing a trifle over a pound. And several fishermen 

 who saw the fish called it a fair catch, We tried several 

 flies without success, and to fairly test the fishing changed 

 to small minnows. There is a theory among the fisher- 

 men that food for the black bass is lacking. but the net 

 men say that suckers are plenty in the river and they 

 are good bass food. 



Bass Fishing in Canada. — A correspondent writes us 

 very enthusiastically from Brockville, Ontario, as to the 

 bass fishing on the line of the new Brockville, Westport 

 & Sault, St. Marie. R. R. He says: "I never had such 

 black bass fishing in my life as last Monday. I went to 

 Newboro on the new railway, and there had Massie take 

 me out on Rideau Lake with a steam yacht, anchored off 

 an island, and afterward rowed around it. I don't think 

 it an exaggeration to say that 1 saw a hundred large 

 black bass at one time around my boat. I brought "home 

 a box full that weighed about three pounds each," * 



Striped Bass off New Jersey.— These fish have 

 been taken along the New Jersey coast to a limited ex- 

 tent during the past week. At Asbury Park a gold 

 medal has been offered by Mr. Bradley, proprietor of the 

 pier at that place, for the largest striped bass taken there 

 this season. On Saturday last Mr. J. H. Birch, of Hobo- 

 ken, caught one which weighed 19flbs., and heads the 

 list so far. At Barnegat a few have been taken, but no 

 large ones. The fishing at Atlantic City has not been up 

 to the average this season. 



Lake Trout in Putnam County, N. Y.— Carmel, N. 

 Y., July 2d.— Editor Forest and Stream: Several anglers 

 have recently been fishing in Lakes Glenuda and Maho- 

 pac with leaded spoons and live bait for lake trout. A 

 dozen or more years ago the lakes were stocked with 

 these fish, but nothing has been seen of them until this 

 spring, when a nine-pounder was found dead in Lake 

 Glenuda. This has encouraged us to believe that they 

 have lived here, but so far none have been taken, — 

 Putnam. 



