Axsa 15, 1889. J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



69 



Entering the river at the foot of the lake a few rods 

 above the farmhouse, the boat was pulled in under over- 

 hanging branches to a famous spring neighbor Ruttle had 

 told us about, and I got out to slake my thirst, for I was 

 dry and hot, and a cool draught would help to soothe the 

 disappointment at the failure to provoke a battle with 

 the big maskinonje. Gushing out from under the roots 

 of a good-sized maple leaning far out over the water, its 

 branches sweeping the surface, was a vigorous little- 

 stream nearly on a level with the waters of the river, that 

 was so clear and extremely cold that had it not been 

 for the intervening miles of forest and lake, a slight 

 stretch of the imagination might easily have followed it 

 through some mysterious underground connection to the 

 great spring at the foot of Six-mile Lake in beloved old 

 Upper Michigan. Using the milk bucket instead of a 

 cup, a quart or two was dipped out of the little basin a 

 foot deep by a couple of feet across, and while quaffing 

 it with frequent pauses, for it was too cold to drink much 

 of at a time, fish and fishing were forgotten in the enjoy- 

 ment of this best gift of nature to thirsty man— sweet, 

 pure, cold water welling from the bosom of Mother Earth,. 



When the contents of one of old Sam's stone jugs had 

 "evaporated" (and with the aid of old Knots and the 

 Jedge the process was not a tedious one), the jug was 

 filled at the spring by some of the party on the daily 

 trips to the farmhouse, that we might have a drink of 

 pure water in place of the flat-tasting water of the little 

 trout stream, which was, however, much colder than the 

 waters of the lake; and it may be mentioned for the ben- 

 efit of any friend of the angle who may happen to wan- 

 der into the region of echoes (having brother "Wawa- 

 yanda" and his buttermilk specially in mind), that this 

 spring and another almost as good on the opposite side of 

 the river, in a swamp at the upper end of Ruffle's clear- 

 ing, are the only springs or streams of good, drinkable 

 water we found around the entire circuit "of the lake. 



Pulling across and down to a small pine log at the edge 

 of the water that stood for a dock, further progress was 

 stopped by the big mongrel house dog standing at the top 

 of the bank with bristles and tail up and a proclamation 

 of war in the surly growl that greeted me as I stepped 

 out and fastened the boat to a handy bush. Here was 

 another "category," but a few well chosen and concilia- 

 tory remarks at last convinced him of my peaceful in- 

 tentions, and I was allowed to climb the bank, where we 

 stood confronting each other a few moments, neither of 

 us quite decided what would be the next best move, when 

 a sharp rebuke from Mother Ruttle, who opportunely ap- 

 peared in the kitchen door, lowered bristles and tail, and 

 "Jack," with abashed face and sidelong glance, sneaked 

 around behind the woodpile, from where he eyed me 

 furtively till I reached the house, much relieved 'in mind. 

 A few minutes later he came tiptoeing up to the house 

 to see if bis mistress had recovered her good humor, and 

 noting that I appeared to be on friendly footing with the 

 family, the hatchet was buried with a few lazy wags of 

 his tail and sundry pats on the head, that ended in a 

 romp, and we were fast friends afterward. 



"When I got back to camp in the afternoon the other 

 boys were in with a dozen pickerel and a bass for their 

 share of the sport; rather a slim prospect for bass, hut as 

 there is always an excuse ready for fish not biting well, we 

 laid it to a feeling of rain in the air and other "signs'' 

 which are a never failing source of comfort to the true 

 disciple when the luck is poor. The old angler who goes 

 to lake or stream without a full assortment of "consolers" 

 to fit each case of failure, and an abiding faith in the 

 traditions and signs and omens cherished of the craft, is 

 a broken rod, a poor stick, and fails in his duty of setting 

 a good example to the younger fry of the brotherhood 

 growing up about him. 



"While sitting around on the dock after a late dinner, 

 smoking and discussing the advisability of trying the 

 fish again later in the evening, we sighted a boat coming 

 around the point some three miles below; and Knots got 

 out his glass to see if he could make out the phiz of 

 brother "Friz," of Detroit, whom we were expecting that 

 afternoon, but a long and careful scrutiny of the four in 

 the boat failing to "remind" him of anything, the glass 

 was passed over to the skipper for a look. 



When the focus had been adjusted and the glass 

 leveled a moment, his hat was swung in the air with a 

 "Hooray, old Dan, by the great horned frog!" and the 

 glass was passed around to the others and back to old 

 Knots, who had meantime sharpened his vision with a 

 few drops of "O. F. C." that he might the better pene- 

 trate the haze mantling the water and recognize his old 

 companion of many a camp, who sat perched on a bundle 

 containing his tent, fly and camp cot (we knew the make- 

 up of the bundle as well as if present at the packing), 

 facing the rower in the old familiar camp pose of elbow 

 on knee and chin in hand, the useless old right arm hang- 

 ing limp at his side, gazing contentedly out from under 

 the wide brim of the same old once white wool hat, that 

 had stood the pelting of many a rain and sheltered him 

 from the fervid rays of many another July sun in years 

 gone by— the same old Uncle Dan who had a place in all 

 our hearts. 



A second look by Knots brought the admission, "The 

 bald-headed old pelican of the Sangamon, sure!" And 

 then, not to let us lose sight of the knotty side of his 

 nature, the sunburned sinner laid the fault to the glass 

 by declaring that "the binocular must be out of fix, or 

 that he had been looking the first time through the 

 'theater' instead of the 'field' or the 'marine' lens." The 

 gnarly old bundle of perversity always found a knothole 

 to crawl through when cornered, and to use a slang 

 phrase, "It was a cold day when old Knots got left" in a 

 skirmish of wits, or failed to snub and squelch any one 

 audacious enough to differ with him in his clinched and 

 riveted opinions on matters terrestrial and otherwise. 



When it was settled that it was really Uncle Dan, a 

 combined yell of greeting went out over the water to our 

 grizzled old comrade, and directly a faint cheer came 

 back through the haze, proclaiming that the yell had been 

 heard and understood; and then Knots was suddenly re- 

 minded that it was a fitting time to celebrate, which he, 

 Sam, Charley and the Jedge proceeded to do, while Louis 

 was sent to the trout stream for a bucket of fresh water, 

 that "James Mackerel" might not be left out of the 

 festivities. 



Waiting patiently till the boat drew alongside the 

 dock, Dan was helped out and put through a course of 

 welcome in the shape of hand shakes and sundry mild- 

 mannered kicks and cuffs — the usual proceeding with a 

 Kingfisher who comes late to camp— that doubtless set 



his open-eyed companions in the boat to wondering if 

 they would have to go through a like ordeal as a sort of 

 initiation ceremony; but when we were through with 

 old Dan they got out and were duly introduced as Mr. 

 Guy Pi and Harry B., of Decatur, two young friends, 18 

 or 20 years of age, rigged out, we noticed, in high-toned 

 dudisii store clothes and jaunty stiff hats, whom he had 

 brought along for their first trip to the north woods, 

 while the one at the oars proved to be our friend Everett, 

 of whom we had hired the boats. 



Instead of meeting us at Richmond or Ft. Wayne, Dan 

 had at the last moment changed his plans and taken the 

 steamer J. Gould at Chicago and arrived at Sault the 

 night before, got the note left at the Chippewa House, 

 hired Mr. Everett the next morning to take them and 

 their traps in his big yawl to the camp, a matter of 23 

 miles; got his old once white wool hat out of the insep- 

 arable old leather trunk to preserve his complexion, lost 

 an hour or two hunting for the mouth of Echo River; 

 and here they were with the afternoon well gone, all 

 tired, leg-cramped and hungry, "and it behooved us," he 

 said, "to fly around lively "and get them something to 

 satisfy four howling appetites in about the time it would 

 take old Bill Schrall to land a ' suckermoojen.' " 



A pot of coffee was made and a bite set before them, 

 which was soon disposed off; and then the task of putting 

 up Dan's tent according to bis critical notions was begun, 

 a job that was turned over to the two youngsters that 

 they might learn something in the way of making a 

 camp, Dan was supervising architect, and before the 

 cots were hung and stretched to his pleasement on posts 

 driven in the ground, and tent in place over them, we 

 had a notion that the boys wished they had staid at home. 



A small level spot a few yards up the hill was selected 

 and cleared of some low bushes, but the soil was so rocky 

 that it was difficult to drive a stake; and to make mat- 

 ters more interesting for the youngsters the blackflies 

 began to come in from the bushes, and every few minutes 

 they would drop axe, hatchet Or saw with which they 

 were at work and make frantic swipes with both hands 

 over neck and face where the blood suckers were "get- 

 ting in their work." The pests had the supervising 

 architect at a great disadvantage, as he had but one hand 

 with which to defend himself, but a coat of Mother Rut- 

 tle's blackfly cream liberally applied by the skipper 

 caused them to leave him and redouble their attention 

 to the boys. They were advised to varnish themselves 

 with the mixture as we were, but they thought it too 

 "nasty" and continued at their work, until at last, when 

 they could stand it no longer, Harry meekly asked, 

 "Where is that smear, as you call it? I guess we'll have 

 to put some of it on or jump in the lake." 



They repaired to the warehouse and after a while sur- 

 prised us by coining out, one rigged in a baseball uniform 

 and the other gorgeous in a lawn tennis suit of stockings, 

 skin-tight knee breeches and shirt with marvelous and 

 bewildering stripes running athwart ships, and the hands, 

 face and neck of both well coated with the grease and 

 tar. This unusual spectacle, in camp was too much for 

 old Sam's nerves, who was moved to nudge the Jedge 

 and remark in a stage whisper, "another ep.sode." 



Working diligently with little bother from the flies 

 and guided by frequent suggestions and instructions from 

 old Dan, the 'boys after a while had the cots in good 

 shape, and then 'a couple of us helped put up the tent 

 over them. Owing to the rocky nature of the place this 

 was a matter requiring patience and tact, for every guy 

 had to be in exact line to suit the eye of Uncle Dan, (Sam 

 declared he got cross-eyed squintin' at 'em), a deviation 

 of a quarter of an inch raising a protest; but by much 

 driving and resetting of stakes the task was at last ac- 

 complished about supper time, much to the relief of the 

 two novices; and peace and good will reigned in the 

 camp. The elders of us had been there many a time be- 

 fore and never got flurried over the old pelican's peculi- 

 arities, for it was a pleasure to help him in his almost 

 helplessness, and note the expression of serene content 

 that took possession of him when the camp was made. 



Our friend Everett had decided to stay over night with 

 us and rest up for a fresh start in the morning, as the 

 long pull agaiust the current after getting into the river 

 would have run him well into the night before reaching 

 home, a wise conclusion, for we had a good bed for him, 

 and plenty to eat. 



After supper the cool air and the skeeters moved Harry 

 to change his gorgeous thin shirt and breeches for a 

 heavier suit of old clothes, and then around a big camp 

 fire the plans for next day were discussed and the "two 

 kids," as the Jedge dubbed them, were regaled with Knots' 

 ancient catfish story, old camp yarns and reminders — all 

 new to them — till everybody got to yawning and the cir- 

 cle broke up for the night. KINGFISHER. 



A Fish Epidemic— A Calcutta paper reports: The 

 large tank at the corner of the Esplanade and Dhurrum- 

 tolla st eet at daybreak yesterday morning, presented an 

 unusual spectacle to several hundreds of astonished pas- 

 sers-by. Some 5,000 fish, varying from 401bs. to over 

 801bs. in weight each, were seen floating and panting on 

 the surface of the water, unable to move, and evidently 

 suffering from some cause. Several of them were hand- 

 led by people near the edge of the tank, making no ef- 

 fort to get away, and 7 of them, which were evidently 

 dying, and which had floated on their sides, were taken 

 out of the tank. ' One fish, weighing 6tilbs. , with some 

 of the tank water, has been sent to the chemical exami- 

 ner to government for analysis. The police formed a 

 cordon round the tank to prevent natives from stealing 

 the fish, which seemed so exhausted that they could have 

 been lifted out of the water with the hand in thousands. 

 Strange to say, not a single small fish was affected, as 

 none were seen on the surface. After the lapse of a little 

 more than an hour the fish appeared to recover, and one 

 by one gradually sunk and disappeared. Few of the 

 thousands who daily pass and repass this tank could 

 have had any idea of the large number of monstrous fish 

 it contains, and those who witnessed the sight yesterday 

 morning will not readily forget the curious spectacle it 

 presented with these monsters floating about. 



St. Lawrence Association.— The annual meeting of 

 the Anglers" Association of the St. Lawrence was held at 

 Thousand Island Park Aug. 7. The following officers 

 were elected for the ensuing year: President, P. H. • 

 Warner, Rochester; First Vice-President, H. H. Chandler, j 

 New York: Second Vice-President, Jacob Hayes, New , 

 York; Secretary. W. H. Thompson, Alexandria Bay: 

 Treasurer, R. P. Groat, Clayton. t 



THREE RECKLESS TROUT. 



IT is a little late in the season for trout stories, and my 

 companions of the field who drop in at the office to 

 spend the evening nowadays have passed along to blue- 

 fish and bass, with occasional woodcock and curlew 

 variations; and on cool evenings a few early symptoms 

 of ruffed grouse distvu-bance are manifested in our con- 

 fabs. 



Last evening, however, there was a sudden atavism 

 to trout stories, and the question as to whether trout 

 would ever bite immediately after being injured by the 

 hook brought out the fact that every one of us had known 

 them to do so. I recalled one instance when, about four 

 years ago, I was fishing at evening at the mouth of 

 Eagle Creek inlet on the Fulton Lakes. A half-pound 

 trout struck the stretcher fly with a dash and a splash, 

 but failed to hold fast. In retrieving the flics for another 

 cast I noticed something clinging to the stretcher; and 

 on examination this proved to be a piece of trout skin 

 about the size of a three-cent piece. After making half 

 a dozen casts in other directions, the flies were again 

 tossed near the log under which the injured trout lurked, 

 and this time he used the right end of himself for hook- 

 ing purposes and was landed in the boat according to the 

 custom of the time. A bright red spot near the dorsal 

 fin showed where the skin had come from that was found 

 upon the hook a moment before. 



About two years ago, while fishing Avith bait in my 

 beloved old Poohtatook Brook, in Connecticut, I hooked a 

 large trout in very shallow water; and in his struggles to 

 get free, while I was obliged to hold him closely, he 

 splurged out upon a flat moss-covered rock, unloosed 

 himself, sprang back into the brook and ran down to a 

 shallow pool a couple of yards below, remaining in sight 

 all of the time. Not really expecting him to bite again, 

 I floated the worm down toward him, and it was imme- 

 diately pounced upon and with deadly effect, for I can 

 hear that old fellow flopping in my basket still. 



Last month, while fishing in Ashley Falls Brook, in 

 Massachusetts, a four-ounce trout was bound to have my 

 Reub-Wood fly ; but he had bad luck in his attempts, and I 

 sympathized with him to the extent that I offered it to 

 him several times in rapid succession. He hurled him- 

 self at it with might and main every time, and finally 

 was tossed out upon a big wet rock. I noticed that he 

 was strangely deformed , being decidedly humpbacked; 

 but that he had "angel's wings" concealed in the hump 

 there was no doubt, for he had no sooner spluttered off 

 from the rock and found himself in deep water than he 

 commenced jumping at the Reube- Wood fly again, and 

 was finally hooked and landed. Robt. T. Morris. 

 New Youk, August, 1S89. 



NEW ENGLAND FISHING. 



OOSTON, Aug. 12— The fishing season in the New 

 i ) England streams holds out later than ever this year. 

 Rain in abundance has given an unusual pitch of water, 

 and this proves to be favorable to trout fishing. Reports 

 show good catches, even to the August vacationists, who 

 usually find dried-up streams, and trout only in the 

 pools. Mr. Sotde, of Bradford, Thomas & Co., of this 

 city, has just returned from a two weeks' vacation in 

 VValdoboro, Maine, the home of his boyhood, where he 

 found the fishing unusually good in the streams that he 

 had come to look upon as about "played out." In his 

 score was one trout of l^lbs. weight, a very fine speci- 

 men for the brooks in that locality. But Mr. Soule was 

 greatly disgusted with mosquitoes, which he found to be 

 holding out unusually late in that part of the country. 

 Generally the middle of July brings them about to an 

 end for the season; but Mr. Soule found them "thicker 

 than mist," and that was thick the most of the time 

 when the rain did not pour, and they bit harder than in 

 June. The only way that the stream could be fished at 

 all was by the liberal application of pennyroyal and 

 other specifics. The weather has been remarkably warm 

 and wet, both conditions favorable to mosquitoes. 



Mr. Frank Dexter, of the firm of Dexter, Bros., of this 

 city, starts this week with his wife for Kennebago, to 

 spend the whole month of August. This is their usual 

 annual trip. Mr. Dexter has a hay fever, for which the 

 high mountain air of the Kennebago region is a perfect 

 cure. Besides, both Mrs. Dexter and himself are en- 

 thusiasts with the fly-rod. They catch trout legitimately 

 and for the pleasure of fly-fishing, and they live to enjoy 

 the mountains and the lakes, without desiring to kill 

 trout for the mere sake of numbers. They are among the 

 few who have learned that it is not all of fishing to fish, 

 nor all of an outing to kill trotit or game. Mrs. Dexter 

 tells a good story of a party of Boston vacationists— two 

 gentlemen. They hired a boat at Greenvale, and went 

 trout fishing. They were gone all day, and came in with 

 great luck. In fact, they had a boat almost full, of trout 

 — that is, they were trout, till some one who had spent a 

 few summers in that region pronounced them chubs. 

 The gentlemen had never seen a trout. Special. 



Towanda, Pa., Aug. 10.— Towanda is located on the 

 banks of the Susquehanna River, and in the neighbor- 

 hood of fine black bass fishing grounds. The season so 

 far has been one of small catches, or not any, on account 

 of muddy discolored water, caused by heavy and frequent 

 rains. One day the past week the fishermen who hap- 

 pened to be on the street saw a large 51bs. black bass 

 being taken to jail by a deputy sheriff. It was a gift to 

 the sheriff of this county, sent in by Attorney Califf , who 

 is in camp about three miles above this place with his 

 family. It is the second one of the same size and weight 

 captured by him this season. It takes from one-half to 

 three-quarters of an horn- to land one of those fellows, 

 Mr. Califf says, providing you have good luck. Our 

 other fishermen lose all their big ones. Everybody that 

 goes out hooks a big fellow in his imagination, but fails 

 to bring him home. This capture gave new blood to the 

 fishermen, and the water clearing up many boats were 

 out yesterday. All brought in fine strings, mostly black 

 and rock bass.— Sos. Q. Hannah. 



Lake Koshkonong. — Fort Atkinson, Wis. — An especi- 

 ally strong struggle was made last whiter in the Legisla- 

 ture to abolish fishing through the ice, but the measure 

 was defeated. Our lake, so famous for canvasback ducks 

 on account of its large wild celery beds, is four miles 

 wide and eight miles long, and is situated in the south- 

 eastern part of the State: and from our small lake alone 



