Nov. 22, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



347 



lows in search of it. The favorite food of the lake trout 

 is the whitefish, but in the absence of the whitefish, perch, 

 sunfish and rock bass come not amiss to satisfy their hunger. 



In the latter part of April or first of May, before 

 the ice has entirely disappeared, there are sometimes 

 open places near the shores, in the channels or between 

 islands, and in them the lake trout may be seen rolling 

 at the surface, entirely out of reach of the angler. When 

 the lake is cleared of ice is the time for the lake trout 

 fisher's harvest, for then the fish may be all over the sur- 

 face of the lake, but generally at the surface over deep 

 water. They may remain "up" a month or six weeks, 

 and by up I do not mean directly at the surface of the 

 water, but somewhere between the bottom and the sur- 

 face. Ten days or two weeks is, I think, the limit of 

 time when they are actually at the surface to see and 

 take a bait trolled without a sinker. 



What brings the lake trout to the top of the water in 

 the spring? I think it is chiefly because their favorite 

 food is there at that time, and in addition to that perhaps 

 they like a holiday to roll in the sunshine after their long 

 imprisonment by Jack Frost, fill their maws with flies 

 that they do not get at the bottom, and celebrate gener- 

 ally but circumspectly. The matter-of-fact scientist will, 

 of course, say that the lake trout is not given to painting 

 the surface red even in a mild or hydropathic manner, so 

 we must fall back upon the food' question. When the 

 trout are up the whitefish are also up, and very interest- 

 ing the trout makes it for the whitefish. If the lake is 

 smooth, schools of whitefish may be seen disturbing the 

 surface in every direction, and occasionally a mighty 

 swirl in one of the schools indicates that Duke.Namayeush 

 hath dined. The whitefish are from two inches to fifteen 

 inches in length, and sometimes a dozen of the larger 

 ones may be seen in the air at once, and they may con- 

 tinue jumping for the space of ten to twenty yards, 

 which is an indication that Namaycush is hungry. The 

 smaller whitefish from one to two inches do not jump 

 from the water when pursued by the trout, and it would 

 almost seem as if they followed the example of "Brer 

 Tarrepin" who "sot and tuk it," for when a trout is 

 knocked on the head he may throw out a dozen of these 

 little fish. The members of a school of whitefish appear 

 all of the same size. If one is eight inches all are eight 

 inches; if one is fifteen inches all are fifteen inches. I 

 have never seen whitefish larger than what I called 

 fifteen inches (of course these are all eye measurements) 

 jump. Whitefish are much the best trout bait an angler- 

 can use, but they are only to be obtained from the belly 

 of a trout that has just swallowed them, or picked up 

 dead or injured on the surface. I will modify that. This 

 year a man went out trolling, taking his gun to kill a gull 

 for mounting; he caught no trout and finally blazed away 

 at a gull and brought it down. The gull threw up two 

 comparatively fresh whitefish, and Avith one of them this 

 man hooked two trout of about twelve pounds each. 



At times there appears on the water and in the ah* in 

 May a small black fly, and they come in swarms. I was 

 fishing one day when these flies covered everything; the 

 water, the boat, the oarsman, myself and everything in 

 the boat, and besides the air was filled. I caught several 

 trout, and in each case in removing the hook I noticed 

 that the mouths of the fish were fairly black with these 

 small flies. The lake was perfectly smooth, and as usual 

 I was watching in all directions for a trout to roll, thus 

 breaking the surface. I had not and did not see a trout 

 break the surface that afternoon and concluded as they 

 were feeding on the flies that they must swim just be- 

 neath the surface and suck the flies into their mouths 

 without disturbing the water in a manner to be observed 

 by the eye of the watching angler. 



The brown trout of Europe (S. fario) and our own 

 fontinulis have been credited on occasions with doing 

 this silent work on floating insects, but as every trout 

 fisherman knows it is not their usual way of taking a fly, 

 real or counterfeit. As to the modern tackle for lake 

 trout trolling I can do no better perhaps than to relate 

 the particulars of my last fishing in May of this year. 

 The best obtainable bait for lake trout is the gold shiner 

 or bream (Notemigorms ehrysoleueus — a name about 

 seven times as long as the fish), and by obtainable I do 

 not mean that they are as plentiful as blackberries. Each 

 year it requires a deal of hustling to get bait, but this 

 year a friend told me he had a thousand good shiners 

 and they were at my disposal. The ice went out of Lake 

 George, N. Y., this year April 29, but the following days 

 were so cold, stormy and Avindy that it would have been 

 unpleasant fishing, provided the trout were in the mood 

 to do their part. It was not until May 11 that I drove 

 out to get the bait preparatory to going to Lake George 

 the next day. I found the bait all dead because of a 

 storm two days before, which washed out a little dam on 

 this brook and left the bait box high and dry. It rained 

 while I was coming home and, altogether the immediate 

 .future was not promising for trout. 



That evening Judge Ranger, Ms son Mr. William F, 

 Ranger, and the writer held a meeting that was in har- 

 mony with nature, as it was stormy, and decided to order 

 the horses for the next day at noon, and "if the breechin' 

 held" we would sleep the next night on Ranger Island, 

 bait or no bait. The Judge was in poor health, and to 

 some men in his condition a drive of twenty miles in a 

 carriage, followed by a row of three in a boat, would 

 appear formidable, but what he lacked in health he more 

 than made up in courage of the ' 'pure grit" order. Before 

 we reached Bolton, where we took the boat, we encoun- 

 tered a rainstorm, but during the row to the island the 

 lake was smooth, the rain had ceased, and whitefish were 

 seen breaking in every direction, with an occasional 

 "boil" made by a robing trout. The outlook for good 

 fishing would have been fair had we been provided with 

 bait. Not a boatman in Bolton had bait, but one had 

 gone that day for shiners and we left word for him to 

 bring us some if he proved successful. The next day was 

 Sunday, and rainy, and while putting rods together on 

 the ample piazza of the cottage I heard the noise of oars, 

 and looking in the direction of Bolton saw a man in oil- 

 skin hat and coat rowing toward the island. I said to 

 Billy Ranger, "That is 'Wint' Finkle's stroke, but I don't 

 recognize the oilskins." 



It was "Wint" Finkle, and he had thirty gold shiners 

 for us, and our agony was over. I told "Wint" that he 

 looked more like a Gloucester than a Lake George fisher- 

 man, and he admitted that it was a fairly good guess, as 

 the oilskins had just been sent to him from New Bedford 

 by Mr. Julian, for whom Lake George trout hath a charm . 

 It rained most of the day, Sunday; the ©louds light gray 



and somewhat broken in the morning:, seemed to betoken 

 a change of some sort, and the change came with a ven- 

 geance at noon, when the wind came cold out of the 

 north, in fitful puffs, piling the clouds up in somber 

 masses and causing the waves to break on the shore in a 

 manner to send a shiver to one's marrow. With one 

 accord we sought the cottage stove. Two hours before 

 sunset we noticed an opening of deep blue in the dark 

 clouds above the hills in the west; from above downward 

 in this space radiated fan-like sprays of soft gray mist, 

 and we waited and watched for the' sun to descend into 

 the space that we knew was prepared for its presence. 

 At last it appeared full of fire and glorious, and when it 

 had slowly disappeared behind the hills there came the 

 afterglow. Shining purple, gold-edged, umbrella-shaped 

 clouds, singly and in masses, took the place of the orb of 

 day; the deep blue of the heavens turned to pink and 

 gleamed with promise for the morrow, while the dark 

 clouds north and south dissolved into innumerable puff- 

 balls. In the twinkling of an eye fantastic cloud fig- 

 ures and shapes in la vender and pink and gold and royal 

 purple., peopled and filled the space from hills to zenith, 

 and we watched, lost in silent admiration, until the cres- 

 cent moon of silver floated from behind the mountains, 

 and we knew that the jig was up; the sunset was over. 



Monday opened auspiciously, the sun was bright and 

 warm, the sky cloudless and the water smooth. I was 

 up early and made a breakfast of coffee and eggs, and 

 when Fred Dagles, my boatman, appeared I was ready. 

 Fred is the son of Anthony, and Anthony is the good- 

 natured giant who was introduced to the pages of 

 Forest and Stream not long ago in a sketch entitled, 

 "A Pond That Nobody Knows." My fishing outfit con- 

 sisted of two rods, reels, lines and a double gaff hook. 

 One rod was a split-bamboo 10ft. long and lOoz. in weight, 

 the other was a foot longer and an ounce heavier. The 

 reels were both multipliers and the lines were, one E, 

 the other F. Each line was furnished with a leader of 

 single gut Oft. long, and between the line and leader 

 were several swivels. To one leader was fastened a 

 metal sninner and to the other a minnow gang on 

 flight of hooks. The gang is composed of three treble 

 hooks and a Up hook, generally tied on single gut. The 

 gaff hooks, one large and one small, arc fastened back to 

 back on the same staff. The shiner is fastened to the 

 hooks of the gang so it will whirl in the water, and it is 

 sewed on with linen thread so it will not be lost when a 

 trout strikes it. The reason for the last named precau- 

 tion is that I have known gold shiners to co-=t fifty cents 

 each. The rods project from e^ch side of the boat and 

 at right angles until a fish strikes, when the engaged 

 rod is taken in hand. 



Monday morning Fred thought we would get about five 

 trout: when we came in to lunch at 1 o'clock I had not 

 had a strike, nor had the Judge, who, with his son Billy, 

 started out to fish two hours after I did. While we were 

 at lunch it began to rain, and after waiting a reasonable 

 time for it to cease, I put on rubber clothing and went on 

 the water. There was an hour's lull in the storm, at 

 which time I had a strike. As I have quoted from Mr. 

 Milner, the strike of the lake trout is a tug at the line, 

 but it is a vigorous, determined tug, and requires close 

 attention on the part of the angler with light tackle in 

 order to save the fish. The trout that struck me proved 

 to weigh SJlbs., and I hooked it on a lOoz. rod, and for half 

 an hour I had as much to contend with as if it had been 

 a black bass of tha same size, except that the trout swims 

 down and the bass jumps from the water. The most in- 

 teresting time in catching a lake trout of fair size is when 

 it is brought near the boat; then it is a give-and-tuke 

 battle; long runs and short ones, until the fish is gaffed 

 or it escapes. Scarcely was the trout in the boat when it 

 again began to rain and continued until daylight the 

 next morniiig. Two hours of cold rain without a strike 

 and I went to the cottage. Tuesday was clear, but cold, 

 and the water rough. In the morning I caught a trout 

 of 7-^lbs., and in the afternoon one of 4lbs. In the even- 

 ing I went out on the piazza to see what was promised for 

 the next day; the glow-worms were having a picnic in 

 the grass, Jupiter rose serenely above the mountains at 

 the south, there was not a cloud to be seen, and every- 

 thing was seemingly lovely. 



Wednesday morning the wind was howling, the ther- 

 mometer discouiaged, the Judge sick and there was no 

 pitch hot. Anthony came to row me in place of his son, 

 but not a boat left the island for fishing that day. At 

 4 o'clock in the afternoon the wind went down, and if 

 the Judge had not been so miserable I would have gone 

 out, and had I done so I would have hit it. for as we learned 

 later the trout were biting all over the lake from 4 o'clock 

 till dark. Two 151b. trout were taken that afternoon, 

 and that is a big trout for Lake George. It was decided 

 to return home" Thursday; the Judge stormed, said he 

 was well, that we need not worry on his account, that he 

 wanted trout more than he wanted a doctor, but there 

 were two against him and he came, but he did not yield. 



The number of trout taken last May to my own rods is 

 not a fair te->t of the capabilities of Lake George in the 

 way of trout fishing. Fishing parts of six days I have 

 caught thirty-two trout from 12ibs, down to 21bs. each, 

 and as many as eleven in one day. One year Billy 

 Ranger caught four weighing 351bs. in one afternoon. 

 Last year the Judge caught two within an hour weighing 

 13-1 and lOilbs. each. On another occasion I caught three 

 in succession, weighing as follows, and in this order, 12, 

 11 and lO^lbs. each. I think these specimen catches indi- 

 cate fairly good fishing for a lake" that does not grow 

 large fish,' lGlbs, being about the maximum weight of in- 

 dividual trout. 



There is not such a vast difference between the play on 

 the hook of the lake trout and the speckled trout. The 

 latter at the time of taking a fly will jump above the sur- 

 face of the water, which the former will not do in taking 

 a bait or subsequently, and the speckled trout swims near 

 the surface when hooked, while the lake trout bores 

 downward, but there is not sufficient difference in their 

 tactics when hooked to cause tne fontinalis to s-tand with 

 the elect an I the namaycush to herd with the goats. In 

 this latitude the lake trout fishing opens several weeks in 

 advance of brook trout fishing, and the impatient angler 

 is not slow to avail himself of the difference in time. 

 Legally the season for the two species of trout opens on 

 the same day, but while the trout of the lake are active 

 and vigorous at that time, the trout of the snow water 

 brooks have not overcome the lethargy of winter, and 

 there is little more sport in catching them than there is 

 in snaring suckers. 



One thing about trout catching I have omitted, and 

 that is the coup de grace, gaffing and thumping the fish 

 on the head. The fish should be killed while on the 

 gaff hook by a blow on the head with a short club. I 

 have mentioned that my gaff hook was double, a large 

 hook and a small one, for small trout must be gaffed if 

 a gang is used, because the ten hooks of a gang in a land- 

 ing net, agitated by a struggling fish, plays the dickens 

 with the net. Unless I have great confidence in my boat- 

 man I gaff my own trout, for they are often but lightly 

 hooked, and I put the gaff under the fish and draw up- 

 ward and boatward. This is easier to do for a man who 

 has but one hand disengaged than it is to strike down- 

 ward in the water, because in the first named method 

 the gaff handle extends under the forearm and exerts a 

 great leverage in lifting. ' Another reason is that a trout 

 at the eight of the gaff is apt to settle down in the water 

 and if the gaff is under him he cannot avoid it, whereas 

 if the gaff is over him he settles away from it. In my 

 humble estimation, possibly from an untutored palate, 

 the lake trout is much superior "to the brook trout, cooked 

 and on the table. I care not whether the brook trout are 

 6in. long or 31bs. in weight, if both species are fresh from 

 the water and in the best condition the lake trout is my 

 meat. Let no one judge the edible qualities of the lake 

 trout from the specimens found in the market stalls that 

 have been out of the water from one week to three 

 months, such an one is but a sorry caricature upon the 

 freshly-caught, well-conditioned fish. 



Occasionally there is caught in Lake George a trout 

 shorter and deeper than his fellows of equal weight, with 

 real salmon-colored flesh and with creamy curds between 

 the flesh flakes. Such a fish has devoted" his whole mind 

 to his diet, and good living has changed his appearance; 

 simply this and nothing more. 



One year I cut my fishing short to return home to an 

 entertainment under" the old roof tree. I had scarcely 

 got my traps into the house when my grandmother told 

 me that she must have a salmon for" the lunch the next 

 day. I showed that it was impossible to telegraph to 

 New York and get a salmon at the hour is was required, 

 and disappointment reigned. Among the fish that I had 

 brought home was one of these specially fed trout of 

 10 Jibs. I asked for the list of the expected guests, and 

 when I had read it I announced that I had a salmon that 

 I had until that moment overlooked, and I advised that 

 it be boiled and served cold, covered with mayonnaise 

 and garnished with parsley, and placed before me to 

 serve. Considering the occasion, 1 was only shaky 

 about one of the men, for I knew he had eaten salmon 

 from the Columbian River to New Brims wick, and he 

 might be critical even in a friend's house. The only one 

 who ever spoke of that fish to me was that very man, and 

 it was when we were at table together and actually eat- 

 ing salmon, and he compaied the real with the bogus, 

 and the bogus won by a throat-latch. A. N. Cheney. 



Glens Falls, N. Y. 



THE BIGGEST BASS IN LAKE GILES. 



THIS beautiful sheet of water is situated in the heart 

 of Pike county and is known as being the haunt of 

 very large black bass. The fish, however, are very hard 

 to catch, no bait having been found that will tempt 

 them to any great extent. They have been tried with 

 dobsons, helgramites, frogs, crickets, etc., with but 

 moderate success, and though once in a while a big- 

 one is hooked, the average catch will run from £ to 

 31bs. That the large bass are there is an undeniable 

 fact, for fish weighing 51bs. and over have been re- 

 peatedly seen swimming around the dock, but they seem 

 totally oblivious to all lures. 



On the particular morning in question my companion, 

 S , and myself were lying stretched out in the boat, lazfly 

 enjoying our pipes and still-fishing. We had had but 

 ordinary luck, our catch consisting of a half-dozen bass 

 weighing a pound apiece, but as we had energetically 

 waded a trout stream the previous day, we felt perfectly 

 contented to lie and watch our rods and the surrounding- 

 scenery. Our reverie was suddenly broken by S, spring- 

 ing to his feet and grasping his rod, which threatened to 

 disappear in the lake. As he was fishing with an eight- 

 ounce Chubb rod he gave the fish plenty of time before 

 striking. Upon his striking, the rod bent double, and I 

 laughed at him, telling him he had caught bottom. 

 "Have I," shouted he, as his rod began to perform all 

 sorts of curves, "I've got the biggest bass in Lake Giles." 

 For my part, I really thought he had a large fish, as the 

 line began to run off with great rapidity, but what sur- 

 prised me was that the fish did not break water; still, as 

 it was heading for the deeper water, I came to the con- 

 clusion that he had a big one and no mistake. 



At the end of about fifteen minutes' fighting, S. began 

 to recover line, and after several tremendous struggles, 

 during which I thought the tackle must give way, he 

 shouted: "I see him; he's almost four feet long. I said: 

 "Nonsense, you never saw a bass four feet long." But S. 

 was right, the fish was four feet, but ye shades of Izaak 

 Walton! what a fish! After S. got him within a few feet 

 of the boat, he yelled, "It's an eel!" And a madder, 

 more disgusted man could not be found in the entire 

 county. An eel it was, sure enough, about four feet and 

 a half long, as thick as one's forearm and weighing three 

 and a half pounds. I laughed at S. till I almost fell ever- 

 board, and by the time S. got the eel in the boat — and 

 the eel, rod, line, landing net and S. were mixed into a 

 regular Chinese puzzle — I could laugh no more. The 

 fun that S. had with that eel, or rather the fun that that 

 eel had. with S., was worth a small fortune to witness; 

 it seemed as if he never could kill it, and wdien after 

 about ten minutes S. held up the defunct eel in triumph, 

 be was a sight to behold. His beautiful white flannel 

 shirt was dotted with slime and blood, his line was in an 

 inextricable snarl, and his spirit was far from saintly, and 

 in fact the air had rather a sulphurous hue. S. vows to 

 this day that I thought it was a bass and that he knew it 

 was an" eel all the time, and he only did what he did to 

 fool me. I keep my own counsel, however, and think 

 there was too much stern reality connected with the kill- 

 ing of that eel ever to make me imagine S. was fooling. 

 Whenever the boys begin telling bass stories and S. 

 chimes in I always beg the boys to have him tell them 

 how he caught the biggest bass in Lake Giles, and forth- 

 with S. looks at me in such an imploring way that I have 

 never had the heart to relate his experience till the 

 present day. Jack, 

 New York. 



