VG 9, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



me active and anxious; a fisherman for trout among the 

 alders nepds a large supply Of care and patience; the reel 

 at last draws him reluctantly in; he makes a few more 

 spasmodic rushes, although evidenly very much tired, 

 and yet hangs heavy on the line; the Captain stands 

 ready with the landing net, and as t slowly and steadily 

 raise him to the surface, he dexterously passes the net 

 under him, and our first trophy is secure and safely 

 lifted from the water. Three pounds — I verily thought 

 he weighed ten, while he was tugging at my line! I 

 wiped the perspiration from my face, seated myself on a 

 hummock and partook of some refreshment. 



Onward again we wallowed through the swamp, wad- 

 ing through wet places or jumping from tuft to tussock. 



"Do you see that log?" asked the Captain. 



"Yes, I see the log, but the water looks shallow." 



"There's quite a cave under that log. Wait a moment." 

 He then produced two long spruce hoards, and extempo- 

 rized a bridge over the honey- pots. Advancing to the 

 end of this pontoon path brought me near enough to cast. 

 "Now drop your hook on the further side of the log," 

 said the Captain, "and when the fish takes it, play him 

 up yonder into shallow water. Don't let him get 'under 

 the log." 



1 did as directed, and a fish as large apparently as — 

 well, a very large trout broke water close to my fly, but 

 declined tlie tempting bait. 



Severe critics are ever prone to surmise that these large 

 trout that often escape 1 capture are, like our most valued 

 virtues, mythical conceptions. I will therefore build no 

 theories about that trout. I reeled in my line quickly, in 

 the meantime keeping very quiet until I thought the 

 rest of the company under the log had forgotten the cir- 

 cumstance just related, when I made another cast, now 

 a little nearer the log. This time there was no fooling, 

 either by myself or the expectant trout: he, made a furi- 

 ous dash, and, presto! I had him fast, but he made the 

 reed buckle and bend and the line sing merrily in his fran- 

 tic efforts to reach again his den under the "log. I man- 

 aged to baffle all his endeavors, and finally guided him 

 into shoal water where he made the mud and water min- 

 gle promiscuously. The Captain soon got his net under 

 hi to, and he surrendered a prisoner of war. After this 

 second successful encounter we again adjourned from 

 labor to refreshment, which was followed by another 

 floundering tramp over the treacherous marsh, but like 

 Van Buren I followed safely in the "steps of my prede- 

 cessor." We now approached a, field of flags and cat-tails. 

 The Captain removed the slender lancewood tip and bent 

 the line on to the stiff, unyielding end of the pole, substi- 

 tuting an angleworm for the artificial fly, saying: "Here 

 we must go back to old time customs and yank your fish 

 out hy 'main strength and stupidness.' It is not consid- 

 ered orthodox now, but in this case I agree with the 

 quaint old poet Chaucer: 



" 'It is wisdom, as it thynketh me, 

 To maken vertnc of necessitee.' " 



I could scarcely see any water, the flags were so thickly 

 matted together. A place was pointed out to me, into 

 which I dropped my worm. Quicker than a thought I 

 yanked out a speckled beauty that in size was nearly as 

 large as my previous captures. I freshened my halt and 

 tried the trick again and again, and three noble trophies 

 rewarded my victorious arm. One more deep pool in the 

 stream we visited, and our creel was full. It was then 

 high noon; regaining terra firma we made our way back 

 to the farmhouse, cleaned and fried our trout, for we 

 were keeping "bachelors' hall." After dinner we took 

 our siesta in the hay mow. We drove in the afternoon to 

 Brunswick village, made some calls on college friends, 

 and at ten were back and in our beds renewing in our 

 dreams the sports of the day. 



After twenty such holidays interspersed with partridge 

 shooting, fox hunting, ducking, visiting, boat sailing and 

 one most delightful Down East clam bake, I returned to 

 Boston with some 201bs. of trout sandwitched in ice for 

 my better half ; and she still insists, 201bs. added to my cor- 

 poreal avoirdupois. This twenty days' vacation at a cost 

 of less than five dollars, and with more piscatorial sport 

 and enjoyment than could be had in sixty days in the 

 Adirondacks at a cost of five hundred dollars, and all 

 within twelve easy hours of my home, is, I think, some- 

 thing to make a note of. W. H. C. 



MORE ABOUT LAKE EDWARD. 



NEWPORT, B. L, July 30.— In glancing over a copy of 

 Forest and Stream of 19th, the first I have seen 

 for a month, I notice two articles on Lake Edward. The 

 writer signing Kit Clarke is, I presume, the same gentle- 

 man who wrote the article in the New York Sun, under 

 date of June 22, which I read with great interest, and 

 with a mental resolve to visit that locality at the first 

 possible moment; and I went to bed to dream of catching 

 innumerable trout of the size that fishermen invariablv 

 lose. A few days later I set out well provided with 

 tackle, rods of various sizes, and a fly-book filled with the 

 most enticing flies. If the wiiter in the Sun had only 

 bethought himself to have given the sailing directions 

 from Quebec, I would not have lost a day there, in ascer- 

 taining something definite about the time-table of the 

 Quebec & St. John's Railroad. It is all easy enough when 

 you do learn how, to get to a place, but it is astonishing 

 how little the spruce young gentlemen in hotel offices 

 know of anything, except how to make out a bill for a 

 day and a half for one day's board. But I did find out 

 how to get to Lake Edward at last, and I got there, and 

 I found out several other things that the Sun man did not 

 mention, especially as to black flies. 



It was my first experience with them, for I had never 

 visited the Adirondacks. Most of my fishing of late years 

 has been on the mountain streams of California, where 

 such pests are unknown. My first intimation of the pres- 

 ence of Lake Edward flies was when I was about starting 

 out after dinner at the so-called hotel, when I saw a little 

 Frenchman daubing his face with some vile-smelling 

 liquid, and on inquiring for what purpose, he replied, 

 "Mouche. You not acquainted wid de mouche? No? 

 Veil ! you try dis." Accepting the proposition I followed 

 his example, and when completed fancied I was fly-proof. 

 It was a dose for me, and I said to myself, if any fly can 

 monkey around me now, lie must have a strong stomach, 

 for it nearly turned mine. 



From the accommodating agent of the railroad com- 

 pany I had procured a boat and a man to row it, a French- 

 man from Cork, whose brogue in either language settled 



the question of his nativity. I must give the railroad 

 company due credit for providing every facility for 

 sportsmen — good boats of various sizes, some of them the 

 Ernest modeled Canadian canoes, to carry one, two or 

 three persons, also camp outfit. Of course fly-fishing was 

 what 1 expected, and I was somewhat set back when my 

 guide asked me if 1 had brought any worms. " Worms? 

 Worms for trout fishing?" "Yis, sorr, them's the best 

 bait." "Great Scott!" said I, "have I (raveled 500 miles 

 to fish for trout with worms?" "Well, sorr, you must have 

 either worms or minnows." I learned that to get min- 

 nows involved several hours patient fishing along the 

 shores with a small, light rig. Tlie day was waning,- and 

 1 was too impatient to get out on the lake and begin work. 

 The guide said we must row about four miles to get to 

 the best fishing ground. I rigged my 8oz. fly- rod, putting 

 on a couple of my most tempting flies, and paying out a 

 matter of 50yds. of line, trolled the whole distance with- 

 out getting a rise. 



Reaching what seemed a favorable spot, a point of 

 rocks, I landed on a large outlying one, and for an hour's 

 casting was rewarded with a couple of little chubs. 

 Leaving the last one on my hook we started out again 

 trolling with the little fish still on my hook. We had 

 gone but a few hundred yards when I felt a strike, and 

 hooked a fish that felt like business. My tackle was of 

 course very light, and I found that all my skill would be 

 called into requisition to land him. For fifteen minutes 

 I was oblivious to the swarm of black flies that took 

 advantage of other uses for my two hands and sailed in. 

 They crawled down my back, up my nostrils, into my 

 eyes and ears. At times I had to release one hand to 

 clear my eyes of them to be able to see what rny fish was 

 about. At last I had him alongside, and having no land- 

 ing net had to be very wary, but the gentleman was 

 about used up, and the guide reached over and landed in 

 the boat the largest regular brook trout I had ever caught, 

 and the most beautiful fish I had ever laid my eyes opt. 

 It was no sluggish lake trout, but a fish to delight your 

 true trout fisherman, a deep, rich green on the back, 

 beautiful crimson spots and belly of salmon color, pink 

 at the fins — in fact, a most lovely specimen of the hack- 

 neyed term "speckled beauty." 



Butting on the other minnow, I payed out line again, 

 and it had hardly straightened out before I had a second 

 strike, and evidently from its force and the swirl, a still 

 larger fish; but alas! he took my only bait — I did not hook 

 him. 



By this time the breeze having died away the flies had 

 gathered in full force, saying, "Here's a tenderfoot with 

 no veil, no gloves, let's go for him," and they did. The 

 row back was the liveliest exhibition of fly flapping. 

 Their favorite point was the back of the head and neck, 

 and the present style of short clip is particularly favor- 

 able for flies and other biting varmints. By the time I 

 had reached the primitive hotel I was a beautiful object, 

 as may be inferred, and it being nightfall the black flies 

 retired to give place to myriads of midges. There was 

 some relief to be had from these little torments by the 

 smudges built out in front of the house; but it was after 

 going to bed that the fun really began, and between the 

 stings of the bites of the black flies and the midges, it 

 was impossible to sleep. There were other rooms and 

 other fishermen in them, and the atmosphere throughout 

 that domicile that night must have had an azure tint from 

 the profanity and cuss words emanating from every 

 room. It is a wonder that the roof was not lifted off 

 bodily. 



To go back to that trout. Hoav much did he weigh? 

 Well, now, I can't tell you, I only know that he made a 

 supper for seven fishermen who sat down to the table, 

 and each and all had a "quantum suff." Still, he was 

 not a whale. Honest Injun, I should say he weighed 

 between three and four pounds, and a more toothsome 

 fish I never tasted. The flesh was a deep red, about the 

 color of a brick, several shades darker than salmon, and 

 very solid. As I was so entirely unprepared for en- 

 countering the black flies, as enthusiastic a fisherman as 

 lam, I had to throw up the sponge and quit. It was 

 fishing under a species of torture that I had not contem- 

 plated. If the gentleman writing the article in the Sun 

 had only said, "Frepare for black flies," I would have 

 made due preparation, or what was better, deferred my 

 trip until later, when, according to programme, they have 

 left; but as I learned from a resident, when the flies go 

 mosquitoes take their places, but they are not so bad, and 

 moreover do not inhabit the middle, but mostly the 

 shores of the lakes. 



Summing up the pros and cons of this Lake Edward 

 fishing, there is this to be said in its favor: There is un- 

 doubtedly most excellent fishing; the fish are large, gamy, 

 and of rare quality and beauty; but they are not educated 

 to the fly. One reason for their not rising to the fly I 

 attribute to the great depth of the water. I was told that 

 at the lower end of the lake, at its outlet, they took the 

 fly with avidity, and it must be the case that wherever 

 there is running or shoal water good fly-fishing should 

 result, for these fish evidently are stream-bred trout. 

 The outlet of Lake Edward must be a large stream, and 

 there are innumerable smaller streams flowing in, teem- 

 ing with trout, but the forest is so dense that they are 

 inaccessible. The shores of this beautiful lake (for it is a 

 most beautiful one, fully twenty-five miles in length and 

 from a quarter to half a mile in width) are so steep, and, 

 as I say, so densely timbered, that it is difficult to find a 

 spot level enough to make a camp and pitch a tent. The 

 trees and undergrowth must be cleared to do it, anyway. 

 It goes against the grain for a fly-fisherman to come 

 down to bait-fishing; and worms — bah! But if you want 

 to be successful in Lake Edward you must either fish 

 with worms or minnows, unless you go to the outlet, 

 which is a long pull; and to camp out and be eaten up 

 with insects is not a pleasant alternative, although it is 

 done. The least of the evils is to troll with a minnow, 

 and a good many large fish can undoubtedly be taken in 

 that way. The feathered spoon, is not a success. I tried 

 that faithfully. An artificial mimiow might be effective. 



The railroad for miles runs along a large rapid river, 

 the name of which no one seemed to know. It must 

 abound in trout and would afford scope for fly-fishing, 

 but for a good deal of the distance is inaccessible, and 

 there are no stations and hardly a spot to camp. There 

 are lakes all along the course of the railroad, half a hun- 

 dred at least, from one to a dozen miles in extent, afford- 

 ing as good fishing as Lake Edward probably, but the whole 

 country is a wdderness as yet, and doubtless these untried 

 lakes will afford fishing for a hundred years. There is 



another grand prospect for the fisherman in Lake St. 

 John, the terminus of the railroad, a lake thirty miles 

 long and equally wide, where a tine hotel is now building, 

 and also a steamboat. At the outlet the new species (to 

 us) called the "winniche," or landlocked salmon, abound. 

 The fishing is said to be something wonderful, and they 

 say the black flies are scarcer. It is bound to be the para- 

 dise of the fisherman in that case. As the thing stands, 

 there is bound to be great fishing in this new country. It 

 will never be fished out; the black flies will see to that. 

 There are two great wants as yet, naphtha or steam 

 launches on Lake Edward, and an effective repellent for 

 black flies. The whole world seems to be going daft on 

 inventions. Where Is the genius that will find a remedy 

 for this fisherman's pest? There is a small fortune in it. 

 Show me the man or woman that will do it, and every 

 fisherman will take him or her to his arms. The present 

 advertised remedies are not effective. The hands can be 

 protected by gloves; veils and nets seem defective. Why 

 cannot a fine wire helmet and mask he made, with glass 

 eyes for sight and an opening for breathing and allowing 

 the fisherman to smoke? Here is a field for genius. 



Notwithstanding the warm reception the flies and 

 gnats gave me I am going to try this Canada paradise 

 again in September, extending my researches as far as 

 Lake St. John; meantime, shall devote time and atten- 

 tion to inventing some more potent defense from this in- 

 sect business than at present can be found. There is a 

 goodly lot of four and five pound speckled gentlemen 

 awaiting me up in that wilderness and I am bound to 

 make their closer acquaintance, black or any other kind 

 of flies to the contrary notwithstanding. 



I shall give time, too, to explorations and test the 

 question of fly-fishing thoroughly, and am sure to find 

 that these fish will rise to a fly whenever fished for in 

 suitable water?, I have never yet been able to raise trout 

 with the fly to the surface in water fifty feet deep. 



ft is evident that Lake Edward trout seek the deep 

 cold water during this season, at the lower end of the 

 lake, nearest to the outlet, and doubtless run down into 

 the. river to feed and back again into the lake. It is an 

 experiment worth trying, to fish the river. It will 

 be heavy missionary work to do it, but the good of the 

 cause demands the'effort on some one's part, and I sus- 

 pect I shall be the missionary. It will be a splendid op- 

 portunity to get in some big stories without fear of 

 contradiction. I shall want a good sturdy chum for the 

 expedition. Who shall he be? Podgers. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The writer does not intend to weary the readers of the 

 Forest and Stream, nor to disgust its editor by writing 

 one superfluous word about Lake Edward; but there con- 

 tinues to be so much enthusiasm — not to say extravagance 

 of statement— in its praise, that a sober, conservative re- 

 consideration of some of the statements referred to may 

 be of service to some anglers who may be contemplating 

 a visit to its seductive waters. Mr. Kit Clarke's com- 

 munications, and especially the one by Mr. Geo. F. Gale 

 in your issue of July 26, would lead one to believe that it 

 is the easiest thing in the world to take a large number of 

 large trout any day and anywhere in the lake. The latter 

 says "bushels, even boat loads might be taken with bait." 

 Now the writer and his friend were told by Mr. Walter 

 Hoolihan, the agent, that their catch (July 11) of twenty- 

 one, reported in the Forest and Stream July 19, wa,s 

 better than the average catch for the time thus occupied . 

 He spoke of some unusual luck recently enjoyed by a 

 party of three, who caught about a half a barrel of trout 

 at the lower end of the lake, camping from Saturday to 

 Wednesday inclusive. 



Mr. Clarke asserts that there are no guides at Lake- 

 Edward and that none are necessary. "After half an 

 hour's pull the angler drops anchor and goes to work. 

 Favorite spots in Lake Edward have not yet been discov- 

 ered, as one place is as good as another." I never saw 

 the body of water yet in which one place was "as good 

 as another" for fishing, and Lake Edward is certainly not 

 an exception to the general rule. I saw three anglers 

 who fished an entire day there with bait and caught just 

 three trout. They did not go far enough down the lake, 

 being only about six miles from the settlement. No trout 

 at all can be taken in July nearer than this; and we found 

 that it made all the difference between getting nothing 

 and having good fishing, whether we anchored here or 

 there, and bur boatman (if Mr. Clarke chooses to call him 

 some other name than guide) carefully selected his anchor- 

 ing ground by taking certain bearings, stating as his 

 reason that it was necessary for success. We tested his 

 judgment by trying other promising places without get- 

 ting a single nibble. Experienced "boatmen" of this 

 kind, with use of a good boat, are furnished for $1,25 per 

 day. 



Let no one go to Lake Edward expecting to enjoy fly- 

 fishing, for he will certainly be disappointed. We were 

 told that in the Basecon River near the outlet of the lake 

 trout about lib. weight and smaller can thus be taken in 

 considerable numbers. There are other minor statements 

 that challenge criticism, but I forbear. It is a long 

 journey, and one likes to have cold facts upon which to 

 make a decision whether he cares to go so far for that 

 kind of fishing. We went under misapprehension, and 

 while I am not at all sorry that I Avent — still I might not 

 have gone had I known the whole truth. My only object 

 in writing this and the former communication has been 

 to place the matter more in accordance with facts as we 

 found them, so that some brother of the gentle craft who 

 may have read the glowing descriptions referred to may 

 go to that beautiful lake and not be disappointed^ Any 

 true angler who enjoys bait trout fishing may feel certain 

 of getting a reasonable catch of good-sized trout if he 

 takes the advice — as to anchorage — of "half-breed 

 Charlie" or any of the approved boatmen. 



If any reader of the Forest and Stream desires any 

 further details, or to ask any questions concerning fishing 

 in this lake, the undersigned will be very glad to answer 

 any letters addressed to him on the subject. 



F. C, Barker, M.D. 



Morrtstown, N. J., Aug. 6. 



Tourists seeking rest and recreation din-rug the hot summer 

 months can obtain valuable information from the illustrated guide, 

 books entitled "A Summer Jaunt" and "Summer of 1888" issued bv 

 the Wisconsin Cen tral Line. These books are descril i ti ve of the sum- 

 mer resorts in Wisconsin and Minnesota, reached by the Wisconsin 

 Central Line, and will be sent free to any address upon applica- 

 tion to James Barker, General Passenger and Ticket Agent, 

 Milwaukee, Wis. — Adv. 



