128 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Sept. 5, 1839. 



THE GAYLORD CLUB. 



[Concluded /row Lost Week A 



ONE very pleasant feature noticeable during the visit 

 at the Gavlord club house, in Wisconsin, was the 

 presence of a number of young folks who were spending 

 the summer there. Messrs. Charles and Lee Fargo, sons 

 of Mr. C. E. Fargo, a member of the club, bad neither of 

 them reached the age of sixteen, perhaps, but were both 

 good woodsmen and verv clever boys. In the same team, 

 too, was Mr. Charlie Hill, nephew of Mr. Gaylord, who 

 has had the honor of having a whole lake named after 

 him before he was fourteen, I should think. Miss Bessie 

 Shuey, daughter of Mr. W. H. Shuey, one of the direct- 

 ors, was acting lady of the house, and wisely finished 

 her collegiate education with the best of all degrees, that 

 obtainable only in the school of woods and water. This 

 young lady exulted in what was fairly a new life for her. 

 The time is slowly coming when parents will realize the 

 importance of something more than a bank and business 

 education for their children, boys or girls. There was 

 nothing on the whole trip pleasanter than watching 

 these civilized young savages. This shows, too, the ad- 

 vantages of a membership in a club like this. One can 

 send up his children for a summer outing where they 

 will be out of harm's way and directly in the path of 

 health and happiness. 



One day I went on a solitary exploring expedition of 

 my own. Rowing up the Inlet about three miles, I 

 should judge, I landed and walked over a little divide to 

 "Charlie Hill Lake,'' a beautiful little body of water a 

 mile or so across, which lies, like its companions, girt 

 about closely by the deep and solemn forest. I found 

 the lake full of bass, which were jumping continually 

 in the shallow water near the lily pads. I pitched a 

 frog to one and he took it while not 20ft. from me, wink- 

 ing jovially as he did so. He was a big fellow, and in 

 my excitement I struck him so hard that I hroke my 

 lancewood bass rod short off at the second joint. I saved 

 the bass however, and then sat down patiently by the 

 side of that leaping water and mended my rod. I built 

 a little fire and burned out the ferrule, but after that I 

 could not get the temper back in the ferrule very well, 

 and though I soused it red-hot into the lake, it remained 

 soft, and bent to nearly 45 degrees each time I landed a 

 fish.' 



1 had on wading trousers, and managed to get out 

 nearly fifty yards from the shore. Standing nearly to 

 the armpits in the water. I cast the frog well out with 

 the casting tackle, and caught my trout creel solid full of 

 bass in a short time with my crippled rod. Then I got 

 disgusted with bait rods in general, for it didn't seem to 

 give the bass chance enough, and I saw I could afford to 

 lose a few. So I waded ashore, walked a quarter of a 

 mile back to my boat and got my sweetheart, the split- 

 bamboo fly-rod, which I love more than almost anything. 

 I caught a lot of frogs, and having no better way to carry 

 them I put them in one of my stockings, which I knotted 

 at the end and tied to a button on the wading trousers. 

 Thus equipped I went back and waded out again, this 

 time with blood in my eye. The little rod would baely 

 carry a frog, but I found I could cast one far enough to 

 get to the bass. 



I do not think I shall ever forget the experience I then 

 had. Certainly I never saw such fishing before, nor do I 

 expect to ever again see such. I had bass run 50ft., like 

 a streak of light, and take the bait within 10ft. of me, in 

 plain sight. Twice I had bass run between my legs after 

 they were hooked, and I imagine my efforts to get a leg 

 over the line, standing as I was in the deep water, must 

 have looked very funny. None of the bass weighed less 

 than 31bs., I should say, and such fighters I never did see. 

 It was next to impossible to stop them short of the last 

 inch of line, and when they started for deep water they 

 made the longest runs of any bass I ever saw. They bit 

 with such ferocity, and made such savage runs and 

 twirls in the water as they struck, that several times I 

 was startled into backing away from them as they came 

 on. It was savage sport. I fished with a leader and a 

 No. 20 hook, and the way they smashed my tackle in the 

 lily pads was a caution. But if I ever got one clear of 

 the lilies, the little rod grew vicious, and usually bested 

 the fish in due time. Again and again I waded ashore to 

 empty my heavy creel. Two bass jumped out of the 

 creel and got away. A third I caught in my hands after 

 he had jumped out. There were two Indians, Pottawato- 

 mies, who came upon me as I was fishing, and whom I 

 chartered to catch frogs for me, as I had somehow lost 

 my stockingf ul. 



"Me ketchum muk-a-wa-qua (frog)" said the older- 

 Indian. ' ' You ketchum sha w-meek (bass). You give-um 

 me plenty sha w-meek ? ! ' 



" How much shaw-meek?" I asked. 

 " Me likum 'bout six," replied he, delicately. 

 " Get out, you beggar !" said I. "I'll give you two." 

 I did, however, finally give him his six bass. 



These Indians laughed at the idea of catching fish on 

 such a rod as the little fly-rod, but they paddled out in 

 their dugout, and at the first bass I hooked they were 

 entirely broken up, and came near falling out of their 

 canoe. Talk of Indian apathy ! I never saw two mor- 

 tals tickled more, and show it more unmistakably. They 

 laughted and shouted and crowded in close as I would 

 let them, and hailed the successful result of each fight 

 with as much delight as I, eagerly handing me out another 

 " muk-a-wa qua," and stroking the big " shaw-meeks " as 

 if they loved them. The coppery beggars quite won my 

 heart. They formed part of a rather unique spoiling 

 experience; I believe that, of all such I ever knew, these 

 three hours with the bass formed the very acme in my life. 



I caught my last six bass on the fly, and then upbraided 

 myself that I had used anything else at all. Mv last fish 

 was a 4 or 4^-pounder, I should think. As I hooked him, 

 there were two little boys from the Hamilton & Merri- 

 man lumber camp who came and stood on the bank, who 

 stood cn one leg each and exclaimed, "Oh, Gee!" as the 

 big fish boiled and whirled around and doubled the 

 sinewy rod down. I traded these boys fish for help in 

 getting my catch back to the boat. I saved in all twenty- 

 three bass, I could have caught a hundred, for they 

 were absolutely rising to every cast when I stopped, at 4 

 o'clock. The fish were all large-mouthed bass, but in 

 that cold lake they were gamy to an extent I never saw 

 equalled. This was sport somewhat different from pick- 

 ing trout out from under a log. I caught some big trout 

 on that trip, but they were duffers to the bass. A trout 



tries to spit out the bait, if he finds his timid bite has 

 hooked him. and tries to get away. A bass shuts his 

 mouth the tighter, and fights, unscared. The trout is a 

 prettier fish, but not to be spoken of with such bass as 

 these. Then, if for only once, I had perfect sport; I want 

 no better, and I know I shall never see any better. 



The Milwaukee & Northern Railway people— and its 

 officials are mighty nice men, genuine sportsmen, too — 

 have in the past two years and a half put in aearly 300,- 

 000 young trout in the waters along their line. That is 

 the kind of railroad they are. Now, if they will only 

 just believe that their iiberality is being tremendously 

 abused up there, and if they will get in good wardens 

 and try to keep their country decently treated, they will 

 deserve even more, as they now do very much, the sup- 

 port of our sportsmen. I have stated facts as they exist. 

 There is no trouble about getting sport up there, but the 

 privileges of a grand country have been abused. 



The "Soo Line" planted 60,000 trout on its line this 

 year. It needs to, if it is going to send out such parties 

 of officials as it did this summer. Still that is right 

 action and they can't plant too many more. 



Many of these trout plants were of young rainbow 

 trout, which we occasionally heard from. Mr. Gaylord 

 said he should favor the hatching of this trout, a8 it 

 grows more rapidly and becomes larger than the native 

 brook trout. In the magnificent Pike River, properly 

 stocked and properly treated, what fishing, what fishing- 

 there could be! 



We got to talking about different sorts of trout. I re- 

 ferred everybody up there to Forest and Stream's Trout 

 Supplement, of April 4, last spring. I do not see how 

 anybody interested in fishing can afford to be without 

 Forest am> Stream. There are so many things like that 

 to be learned in it, and it is so pre-eminently the fishing 

 paper of America. 



This rambling recountal, necessarily made up largely 

 from my own personal experiences, will serve to show 

 that Gaylord Club offers all the sport any reasonable man 

 could ask at trout, deer or bass, in spite of all past mis- 

 usage. Moreover, the club will plant wild rice in 

 the inlet swamp, and so cultivate its duck shooting, 

 of which it has a little now. But I cannot write of 

 that, and must stop, although I am sure I could write all 

 week and not say all I wish to say. Following is the list 

 of this novel, pleasant and thoroughly commendable little 

 club; President, M. M. Gaylord; Vice-President, W. W. 

 Auger; Secretary and Treasurer, H. C. Ilayt; Directors, 

 M. M. Gaylord, W. W. Auger, W. H. Shuey, A. C. 

 Soper and M. E. Dayton. Members: W. W. Auger, A. 

 A. Augustus, Francis Beidler, B. B. Botsford, H. C. 

 Buechner, G. K. Bulson, H. T. Burnap, F. P. Burnham, 

 W; J. Chalmers, G. H. Christy, Wm. Cuthbert. M. E. 

 Dayton, C. Howard Douglass, W. J. Edbrooke, Galusha 

 Emigh, C. E. Fargo, Wm. H. Fenuer, Jr., Erastus Foote, 

 Jr., M. M. Gaylord, H. T. Glover, G. M. Harvey, H. C. 

 Hayt, A. T. Hodge, E. H. Lahee, R. A. Shailer, R. H. 

 L'Hommedieu, C. W. Merriam, H. H. McDulfee, W. H. 

 Shuey, A. C. Soper, J. P. Soper, A. M. Thomson, W. 

 J. Watson, A. W. Wheeler and W. B. White. 



Chicago, 1<8 Monroe street. E. HOUGH. 



THE SUNSET CLUB.— V. 



"/"\NE of the niost important accomplishments and 

 \J characteristics of a true angler," said the presi- 

 dent, after the club was duly opened, "is that when he 

 makes an engagement his companion can count on it 

 being fulfilled. For instance, if 1 promise to meet one 

 of you at sunrise at a certain place, you will expect me 

 to be ther S and on time, and if I fail I kn,w how great 

 is your disappointment. A good fisherman is like a 

 prompt business man, both have patience, and then- word 

 can be depended upon. An experienced angler will sit 

 for hours at a time in one spot, the more secluded 

 the better, patiently waiting for a strike of a bass 

 or some other gamy fish, and if he does not get a 

 nibble not a sigh escapes his lips; he may 'wet the hole 

 in his mouth' for good luck, but he is as silent as an 

 Egyptian mummy. On the other hand, let a fellow 

 angler disappoint him in the early morning and nothing 

 can ease his mind; he is nervous, miserable, for the 

 brightest hopes of his expectations have fled. The cross 

 accidents of human life are a fruitful source of disap- 

 pointments, but none can compare to the defeated hopes 

 of a hook and line fisherman. I know there are many 

 here to-night who would like to give some of their ex- 

 periences relative iO this subject, but as I notice Hon. E. 

 D. Potter standing in the rear of the hall, and as he comes 

 at my invitation to say a few words to us about the black 

 bass and other fish of that family, we will postpone any 

 remarks until another time." 



Repeated calls were made for Judge Potter, but he 

 seemed earnestly engaged in conversation with Dr. James 

 A. Henshall, who had "dropped in" from his cruise with 

 Judge Long worth in the yacht Minx, and while they were 

 talking a member from the islands said: "Mr. President, 

 seeing Judge Potter in the hall reminds me of an incident 

 which may be of interest at this time. As the Judge and 

 Dr. Henshall are exchanging fish yarns I will relate it. 

 A few years ago the Judge planted quite a number of 

 Hudson River eels in the bay, and you all know from the 

 many reports received that they grew rapidly and that 

 very large ones have been caught, both with nets and 

 hook, showing that they not only find suitable food, but 

 are becoming quite plentiful and of enormous size. A 

 friend of mine who lives on the banks of the Ottawa River, 

 a clear stream tributary to Lake Erie, is so fortunate as to 

 own a well cultivated garden. In a meadow patch he 



Elanted quite a number of peas. They grew tall and 

 lossomed, and the vines drooped with the fruit. He 

 watched them with a great deal of interst, and when 

 they were ready for table use he set a day to pick them, 

 but as rapidly as they became ripe they mysteriously 

 disappeared. He was satisfied they were stolen in the 

 night time. Accordingly he laid in wait for several 

 nights, but he failed to see the robber, and the peas 

 began to grow less each day. Neighbors were accused 

 until they volunteered to watch the patch; but all to no 

 purpose; they failed to discover the thief. One morning 

 at the break of day the owner chanced to stroll a long the 

 beach, when he was surprised to see a large eel hastening 

 toward the water and en route spitting peas at the gard- 

 ener. This explained the mystery. Eels were stealing his 



peas. The same afternoon he went to the city, procured 

 a wagon load of sawdust, and after midnight, when he 

 heard the eels shelling the peas, he sprinkled the sandy 

 beach with sawdust, and in the morning he surprised his 

 family and the neighbors by showing them forty-three 

 eels of all sizes wriggling in the dust. He captured the 

 entire flock. I heard him say that if these were the kind 

 of eels the State of Ohio proposed distributing in the 

 waters of Lake Erie, be proposed entering a protest 

 against the introduction of foreign fish into the State." 



"That's nothing," said a brother from Massachusetts 

 who had cruised around Nova Scotia. "In Country Har- 

 bor, ninety miles from Halifax, the farmers can't raise 

 watermelons. Eels can clean a patch much quicker than 

 colored men can in Mississippi." 



As Judge Potter walked toward the rostrum the eel 

 question was dropped, although there were a dozen States 

 yet to hear from. After a few introductory remarks the 

 Judge said : 



"The Centrachida? family embraces bass and sunfishes 

 of the western waters, and are all gamy fish. The 

 family is known by the peculiarity of the dorsal fin, 

 which is situated centrally on the back and so divided as 

 to appear like two fins, while it is but a continuous fin 

 notched deeply in the middle. Of these there are sixteen 

 genera and upward of sixty species; but as I have not 

 time, or inclination for that matter, to go into a scientific 

 description of this numerous tribe, I shall confine myself 

 to that portion of them that are mostly fished for in our 

 Western lakes and their tributary waters. In my re- 

 marks before the club, in designating the different species 

 of fishes, I have used the terms familiar to ichthyologists 

 as well as the vulgar names by which they are known to 

 our fishermen, so there can be no mistaking of the fish 

 referred to. My apology for using the technical terms 

 known to scientists is that I observe your secretary tak- 

 ing notes with the design, I* have no doubt, of printing 

 them, and remembering that all the world does not speak 

 the English language, and knowing, too, that the reports 

 of your secretary, from their popularity, are very likely 

 to be read where our language is not spoken, I have 

 endeavored to use the common nomenclature of scientists 

 throughout the world. 



"To begin with, let us take the black bass; and here 1 

 must be allowed a word as to his name among scientists. 

 Cuvier and Valencienes call him Huro and Grystes. 

 Rafinesque calls him Mieropterus. I shaU adopt Lace- 

 pede in treating of this fish, for the reason that he has 

 priority in naming him. The large-mouth or cove bass 

 is known then as Mieropterus pallidus according to 

 Rafinesque, and M. salmoides by Dr. J. A. Henshall, 

 whose authority is entitled to credit. We will adopt 

 this name. He is sometimes called the Oswego bass, 

 and may be known by his large mouth; in color, 

 dark olive green, with a deep notch between the spine 

 and soft rays of the dorsal fin. He is found in 

 coves and sluggish streams where there are plenty 

 of aquatic plants, and is fished for along the margins 

 of ponds and streams, near the grass. In the autumn 

 he is taken with the live minnow or the spoon. 

 He is not a very gamy fish and soon yields to the rod of 

 an expert angler. He is found in all Western and South- 

 ern waters, and is probably more generally distributed 

 throughout the United States than any other fish. The 

 small-mouth black bass is called by Gill and Lacepede 

 Microptems salmoides, but Dr. Henshall proves very 

 clearly that he was first described by a Frenchman by 

 the name of Doiomieu,and very justly names him Mierop- 

 terus dolomiev, and by that name I shall introduce 

 him to the club. His color is a dark green, more or less 

 barred and spotted. The notch in the dorsal fin is shal- 

 low, the scales and mouth are much smaller than the 

 large-mouth bass. They are found in the great chain of 

 western lakes and streams and all the regions west of 

 the Alleghenies. They are common in New York, from 

 Lake Champlain west and south. They have been intro- 

 duced into some of the streams and smaller lakes of New 

 England and New York. They were, some years ago, 

 introduced into Otsego Lake, N. Y., but the' fishermen 

 there complain that although the "lake is full of them," 

 they cannot be induced to take the hook, except occa- 

 sionally. This is strange, for wherever found they are 

 vigorous biters and next, if not equal to, the speckled 

 trout in gameness. They take the spoon rapidly; the 

 live minnow in still-fishing, or the dead in trolling. Thev 

 take the fly, the black cricket being the deadliest lure I 

 ever tried. The fish beiriir mo.-tly found in clear, cold 

 water, is always a desirable table fish. 1 have taken 

 them with the "fly on the north shore of Lake Superior, 

 in Batchawanung Bay. weighing six pounds, and they 

 are mighty ugly fish to handle, requiring the utmost 

 skill to land them. I have played them there for twenty 

 minutes before I could get them in right, and then they 

 would spring two or three feet out of the water, open 

 their mouths, shake their heads, and ten to one cast the 

 hook clear of their jaws. In Lake Superior I have always 

 found their stomachs full of crayfish. 



"At this time I wall not speak of the rock bass, white 

 bass, speckled or strawberry bass of our native waters, 

 but will say a few words about the Roecus lineatus, the 

 marine striped bass which enters the biyson the Atlantic 

 coast. They are taken with seines in great abundance in 

 the Potomac River in the spring of the year. During the 

 summer and fall they are taken with hook and line, 

 baited with herring and other small fishes, and will not 

 refuse a crawfish, lobster or frog. They are vigorous 

 biters, and show all the game an angler may desire. 

 They were formerly abundant at the falls of the Poto- 

 mac, above Georgetown, D. C, where their average 

 weight was about 3 or 41bs., sometimes running as high 

 as 251bs. Mi - . Webster, Mr. Crampton, British Minister, 

 and Baron Stoeckel, Russian Minister, often resorted 

 thither for recreation. The last time I visited this place 

 the party consisted of Messrs. Juctice Nelson and Grier, 

 of the Supreme Court, and Gov. Seymour, of New York. 

 We took an early start, Dexter, of the National Hotel, 

 Washington, furnishing the supplies. Justice Grier was 

 an ardent fisherman. Justice Nelson and Gov. Seymour 

 preferred the shade surrounding a beautiful spring of 

 water, on the Virginia side of the Potomac, where our 

 headquarters had been established. I cannot brag much 

 on our success in fishing. I remember I hooked a very 

 large bass that took a sheer and entered the rapids, carry- 

 ing away upward of 50yds. of a very valuable line, which, 

 I have every reason to believe, he or she (whiohever it 

 may have been) carried to the ocean in a hurry, for the 

 fish was going at a rapid gait in that direction at last 



