July 3, 1890.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



47B 



guides do not like to see a rod held straight up or even 

 at much of an angle at any time, even when trolling; 

 they say the fish breaks away more easily then. I am 

 always willing to learn and have confidence in the fel- 

 low whose business teaches him. I could not in this case 

 help noting the difference between the guide's advice 

 and the canons laid down by the angling authorities. 

 For instance, I remember to have read the passage in 

 Dawson's "Angling Talks," where the writer speaks of 

 "instinctively dropping the tip of the rod when the fish 

 leaped from the water." Now, that is just what a 

 mascallonge guide will tell you instinctively not to 

 do. A mascallonge, or soine individuals of that 

 fish, may go out of the water as often as a salmon 

 and I don't see why it should be handled differ- 

 ently. Yet Bert told me to keep the rod bent in as much 

 of a curve as the fish would stand, and not to give line 

 except on a rush, always keeping the rod flat down and 

 close te the water. "When a 'lunge comes out of water, 

 he always shakes his head to throw the hook out of his 

 mouth, and if the line is the least slack, he'll do it, sure. 

 Now, if you keep the rod bent and the line lying close 

 along the water, the spring left in the curve of the rod 

 will keep the slack taken up all the time and hold the 

 hook tight. Some fellows get scared when a 'lunge jumps 

 out, and they let the rod go a little or slack down, and 

 right there is about where the fish gets off." 1 must con- 

 fess there seems a good deal of reason in this. We fol- 

 lowed the advice, at any rate, and I only lost one mascal- 

 longe, and that one barely struck the book and was gone. 

 Mac lost two in the same way; but after we once hooked 

 a fish we usually about counted on him. Another thing. 

 The guides do not believe in a gaff. They say it is apt to 

 tear out or straighten out in a heavy fish. They prefer 

 to coax the fish close alongside and shoot it with the re- 

 volver right between the eyes. This seems a brutal and 

 unsportsmanlike way of treating so noble a fish, one which 

 I cannot help respecting in the extreme. It is probably 

 the safest plan. At best, the guides say more fish are lost 

 than saved, after being hooked, by the average angler. 

 After being shot, the mascaJlonge gives a great flurry and 

 is then at once lifted into the boat, where subsequently he 

 may again take a fit of flouncing around. It requires no 

 marksmanship to strike the fish right, as the ordinary 

 distance is only two or three feet, and may be only two 

 or three inches. 



We rowed around Lake Julia— a beautiful sheet of 

 water it is, two or three miles in length — and every time 

 we went around we caught a mascallonge. This was the 

 best day Mac had had on the whole trip of two weeks, 

 and we felicited ourselves upon the happy result of his 

 staying over. We took six mascallonge that day, and a 

 greater fishing day, or one more truly enjoyable, I hardly 

 remember to have had. We had no fish heavier than 7 or 

 81bs., but if the angler's mind were not perverted by 

 hopes of the monster fish which are often taken in these 

 lakes, he would think the landing of a Gibs, mascallonge 

 a large slice off of heaven. There fell also to my rod 

 that day a monster wall-eyed pike, which two days later 

 weighed 6pos., which we thought at the time weighed 

 81bs. This fish made a tremendous, boring, pull-down 

 sort of a fight. These "pike" are rarely taken so large as 

 that on these lakes, they told me. Honors were easy on 

 the mascallonge question, for Mac and I each caught 

 three. Mac has been telling ugly stories here in Chicago 

 about how I strangled a mascallonge to death. I pre- 

 sume I ought to explain that. The fact was, the mascal- 

 longe turned two or three somersaults the instant he 

 discovered that the spoon hook was not good to eat, and 

 looped the line tightly around his neck, under the gills. 

 Since he made no fight, I thought it was only a pickerel, 

 and so unceremoniously jerked him in. It is a false ac- 

 cusation that I can't land a mascallonge without first 

 strangling him to death. Wait till I come to Mac's way 

 of killing a mascallonge. I'll get around to that after a 

 while, if the paper holds out. E. Hough, 



[to be coxtinued.1 



THE ELK CREEK REGION, 



WE were going to Wagon Wheel Gap, but the Sunday 

 before starting the mail brought Forest and Stream 

 of May 29, and with it "The Wedding Trip of the Ken- 

 nedys." Oh, no," said I, "we will try some other, nearer 

 region along the line of the Denver "& Rio Grande." So 

 we rode out of Denver into the darkness of night, not 

 knowing our destination and not caring, so long as the 

 scenery was fine and the trout rise well. 



Morning found us at Salida. Then came the slow 

 climb over Marshall Pass and the descent into the valley 

 of the Gunnison. West of the town of Gunnison we saw 

 several fishermen along the banks of the river, and what 

 was most to the point, we saw several strings of fine 

 trout. At length we came to a spot where several moun- 

 tain streams forced their way through the canon to mingle 

 their waters with those of the swirling, boiling, rushing, 

 white-capped Gunnison. One of these should be our 

 camping ground; so we alighted at Sapinero, the nearest 

 station. 



After dinner we secured a team and driver and went 

 up Elk Creek as far as it was possible to go. There, in a 

 beautiful canon, we pitched our tent, and "Camp Pino- 

 lita" has been our home for two weeks. We are only 

 7,800ft. above sea level, and only six miles from the near- 

 est log cabin; Ave have a bed of spruce, camp fare, cool 

 evenings, icy mornings, but we are happy. 



Oh, dwellers in cities, toilers by the great sea, this is the 

 place for inspiration and for rest! Every breath is per- 

 fume, every sight a picture, every thought a poem, every 

 sound a song. Yes, we have music; not the music of 

 organ or of orchestra, but the matins of thrush and warbler 

 awaken us, the sighing of the breeze in the pine tops rests 

 at noon, and at night we are lulled to sleep by the far- 

 away wail of the whippoorwill and the silvery murmur 

 of the brook. And the flowers! such flowers! Nature 

 seems to have dropped her basket right on this spot. The 

 sage-clad mesa, that stretches away to the bleak cliffs 

 and many-shaped peaks, is red and yellow and creamy 

 with the bloom of cactus and yucca. About us are roses, 

 hawthorn, moss pinks, gilias, lupines and scores more of 

 brilliant flowers about which live pixies and wood elves. 



We would be content without rod or rifle, but we 

 brought them and so they have to be used. The trees 

 about our tent are filled with squirrels, and mountain 

 hares are plentiful. In the mountains close by cinna- 

 mons and sdver-tips make then; lairs. Seven bears have 

 been killed within three miles of our camp in the past 

 swo weeks, Iu the quaking aspens and brushy canons 



that open upon Elk Creek, willow grouse are nesting, 

 and near the headwaters of the stream elk and deer are 

 breeding. It is a splendid place to study natural history, 

 but all hunters who are after venison in June ought to 

 return scalpless. 



The trout fishing is superb. When we reached here 

 the water was high and somewhat muddy. The fish 

 would take nothing but grasshoppers. Then, as the 

 stream went down, they took brown-hackles tipped with 

 fish eyes. Now they rise well to brown-hackles, gray- 

 hackles and coachmen. Local fishermen use live bait 

 for river fishing, but I have had first-rate luck with the 

 coachman and grizzly-king, tipped with fish eyes. In 

 every case peacock bodies should be used, but not gaudy, 

 highly colored flies. Of course, fishing will be better 

 next month than it is now, but we cannot complain. We 

 have taken all we could eat. What more could we ask? 



The small streams rush through canons in riffles and 

 cascades. Then they wander idly through level parks, 

 forming deep pools beneath the willows. In these the 

 fish run from | to ^lb. In the Gunnison the trout aver- 

 age lib., and sometimes a 3 pounder is reeled in. Never, 

 in the West, have I struck a region where the trout are 

 so wily and require so much skill in securing them. It 

 may be because the season is early, but the sport is all 

 the more enjoyable on this account. 



The only thing to destaoy the sweet spirit of my dreams 

 is the thought that vacation must soon come to an end. 

 Before it does, we are to have a grand bear hunt, of 

 which more anon. Shoshone. 



Elk Creek, Col., J une 16. 



Of the "Bridal Tour of the Kennedys" "Nomad" writes 

 from Leavenworth, Kan.: "I will venture the rash as- 

 sertion that no feminine hand ever wrote a word of it. 

 If I am wrong I am willing to stand corrected and to be 

 forgiven. It is certainly as quaint and concise an article 

 as has appeared in any issue of Forest and Stream that 

 I ever read, and I have perused the latter for years. I 

 must congratulate you upon your original acquisition, 

 and hope to hear more from the same source in your 

 future numbers." 



NEW ENGLAND WATERS. 



THE fishing trips are not quite all over yet, though the 

 great majority of those fond of the sport, and can 

 afford to indulge in it, have been on their annual trip to 

 the trout waters and have returned. Four of the mem- 

 bers of the Inglewood Club have just returned from the 

 club's preserve, and report an excellent trip. The party 

 consisted of Mr. Samuel Shaw, of the Murdock Pai-lor 

 Grate Co., the scribe of the partv; Mr. John Wetherbee, 

 Mr. Geo. W. Walker and E. Noyes Wbitcomb. The 

 club's preserve is in the southeasterly part of New Bruns- 

 wick, and now comprises some 70,000 acres, including the 

 recent additional lease of some 20,000 acres. Although 

 they started on the 28th of May, they found the roads 

 poor and the season very cold and backward. Mr. Shaw 

 reports the trout fishing excellent, he having taken over 

 fifty in one day, after having rejected and returned to 

 the water all under one pound. He is very enthusiastic 

 concerning the game on the club's preserve, and thinks 

 that the shooting this fall will be excellent. He staid 

 longer than the rest of the party to explore the recently 

 leased lands down the West Branch. With his guides he 

 passed many excellent salmon pools — to be, as this river 

 is t© be stocked with sea salmon. The club will let loose 

 this seasan 40,000 sea salmon and 55,000 landlocked 

 salmon. 



Thus far not many of the members of the Inglewood 

 have availed themselves of the spring fishing. Mr. Henry 

 Litchfield, the tackle dealer on Washington street, vice- 

 president and treasurer of the club, has been kept at 

 home by business, but he hopes to go later. Mr. Fred 

 Whiting, one of the proprietors of the Boston Herald, 

 was ready to go with the first party in May, but was hin- 

 dered at the last moment. He will make his trip later 

 and take in the fall shooting, which promises to be ex- 

 cellent. 



It seems that the club lately formed by Mr. Cram, 

 president of the New Brunswick Kailroad, has obtained 

 a lease of all the lands on the Tobique River, above The 

 Forks, and that that famous bunting and fishing section, 

 heretofore known only to the more venturesome, is to 

 become private property, and to be opened up to the club. 

 So they go. The lakes and streams in Maine and New 

 Brunswick, and even the woods and fields in Massachu- 

 setts, will soon all be leased to private parties, and the 

 public will be excluded. Why, there are two clubs now 

 forming, one to control the shooting on certain lands in 

 Dedham, Mass., and the other will try to lease both the 

 fishing and shooting of a certain tract in Bedford. The 

 farmers, who understand the matter, are said not to be 

 against the leasing of the fishing and shooting rights 

 of their worn-out pastures and meadows, and are 

 inclined to look upon the rental as so much clear 

 gain. But there is considerable opposition from the 

 boys, who have heretofore roamed these lands and 

 fished the waters as it pleased them, and .there are 

 some dire threats. Indeed they have already begun to 

 carry some of their threats into execution. In one case 

 on the Cape — I am requested not to publish the name of 

 the owner of the waters — a most diabolical revenge has 

 been carried out. The gentleman in question has a trout 

 pond that he has taken a great deal of pains to stock. 

 Above the pond is a beautiful stream, the source of the 

 water supply. Up this stream the trout are very fond of 

 ascending. Frequently the gentleman has invited friends 

 and sportsmen to fish this stream, with most satisactory 

 results to the invited, and rarely, in his good nature, has 

 he denied any one who has politely asked him, the pleas- 

 ure of taking a few trout from his waters. He is a very 

 genial gentleman, and one much beloved and respected 

 by all true sportsmen. But the poacher is the avowed 

 enemy of just such gentlemen, and our friend was 'not 

 exempt. One morning a few days ago he found that the 

 most of the trout in his stream were gone. Some mis- 

 creants had fastened a net across the stream, cutting off 

 all egress from the stream into the pond. Then they 

 had gone up the stream and thrown in lime, to the ex- 

 tent, I am told, that every trout had been driven down 

 the stream by the polluted water, and hence into the 

 seine. His trout were gone. The only solution to the 

 mystery is that it had been done in the night time and 

 during the very early June morning, by some roughs in 

 the neighborhood, to whom the owner had denied the 

 privilege of fishing the stream as much as they desired. 



There are still a few of the noted sportsmen at the 

 Maine lakes. Mr. Edgar W. Curtis, of Meriden, Conn., 

 has lately gone back to Richardson Lake, with a friend. 

 He has recovered in part from the illness that destroyed 

 part of the pleasure of his early trip. Good catches of 

 trout continue to be reported from Rangeley. The Stev- 

 ens Hotel and Excursion Co. of Boston is taking parties 

 up to Tuffts, Grindstone and Dutton ponds in Kingfield. 

 One party has been there ten days and report over 500 

 trout taken. Six more excursion parties are reported 

 for the camps there. The company has control of 3,100 

 acres about the ponds, and are intending to build a hotel. 

 C. W. Crane, of the Boston leather trade, with Dr. Pratt, 

 went on a fishing trip to Webster, Mass., the other day, 

 and took 12 nice trout, rejecting all not of a respectable 

 size. J. S. Richardson, salesman in the dry goods job- 

 bing house of Jackson, Mandell & Daniel, with a friend, 

 went on a fishing trip last Saturday to a strearn in Bed- 

 ford, and took 17 good trout. The streams in Massachu- 

 setts are turning out wonder strings of trout this year. 

 But up in New Hampshire the case is different, especially 

 in the White Mountain region. The streams have been 

 terribly stripped there already. 



A gentleman in the dry goods trade of this city has 

 recently been on a fishing trip into the region above men- 

 tioned. He hired a team at the railroad station and drove 

 several miles to what was once a famous trout stream, 

 and where in years gone by he might reasonably have ex- 

 pected a handsome string of good trout in point of size. 

 The day was fine. The season was just right. The gen- 

 tleman regarded himself as "something of a fisherman." 

 With a friend the stream was faithfully fished. They 

 were not absolutely "skunked," but they did catch one or 

 two fingerlings that they were ashamed to bring home. 

 They were disgusted. What was the trouble? They 

 learned at the hotel, on their way out, something that the 

 guide books do not mention. The boys in the neighbor- 

 hood made a practice every spring, just a day or two be- 

 fore the law is off, of going to this stream and catching 

 everything that will bite the smallest hook. There is a 

 wonder in the neighborhood as to "why the trout in that 

 brook are not so large as they used to be." The Boston 

 dry goods gentleman came back fully in favor of ponds 

 and streams controlled by clubs and parties of fishermen 

 who know how to treat a trout stream. Special. 



GREEN RIVER. 



BRATTLEBORO, Vt.— Friend Mel and I had agreed 

 early in the winter on April 29 as the proper day to 

 take our annual day's outing for trout, so the evening 

 before found us driving out of Brattleboro, destination 

 Greene River. 



We took along a liberal supply of provisions intending 

 to make our coffee and cook our meals beside the brook. 

 It was our idea to stop in a sugar house over night and 

 build a good fire in the arch, but after a drive of ten or 

 twelve miles, by which time we were nearly starved, we 

 found the house locked, and on application to the owner 

 he said it was full of sap buckets and wood, but that we 

 could come to the house and be welcome. This offer we 

 declined, as it was our intention to bunk by ourselves. 

 Friend Mel now bethought himself of a school house a 

 mile further up the road, so along we went only to find 

 it locked and no way to effect an entrance without break- 

 ing in, so we had to drive a couple of miles further along 

 and put up at the house of one of the men who worked 

 in a saw mill. Here we made our coffee and found a 

 bed for the night. Next morning we were out at 4. and 

 going down to a dam below the house Mel got four trout 

 and 1 one, not very large but a nice legal size. Then we 

 had breakfast, and our team being at hand drove up the 

 road two miles and struck in on a small brook running 

 into the river. This we fished down with fair success 

 until we were most to the river, when we met a party 

 coming up, who looked very much disgusted to see us 

 on the brook, as they had fished up the river with poor 

 success. 



Fastening up our lines we walked down stream without 

 fishing until we came to another brook running into the 

 river. We fished up this quarter of a mile and were do- 

 ing nicely until we met two fishermen who had got up at 

 3 o'clock to fish the stream before any one else came on it. 

 The look of disgust on their face as they told this can be 

 better imagined than described, but most likely it was 

 a reflection of the one on ours on meeting them. They 

 had fished down three miles and had a nice mess of trout, 

 so we turned and fished down to the river again. 



It was a lovely day and many times I would be lost in 

 listening to the drum of the partridge or the scolding of 

 a red squirrel, but when I wished to find Mel I had only 

 to look for a cloud of smoke rolling up through the alders, 

 for he does keep it hot when fishing, with that old brown 

 pipe of his. 



We finally struck back on the river again and walked 

 down to the dams, near where we lodged. Then we 

 fished down two miles further, and darkness coming on 

 warned us that we had a ten-mile drive before us, so with 

 the greatest reluctance we reeled up and started for the 

 team, and after a few hours drive over hills and through 

 valleys were back in Brattleboro, with a nice mess of 

 trout, part of which went to Albany; and when eating 

 them with the children at home, my twelve-year- old and 

 I planned a day's trouting of which I may tell at some 

 other time. Dexter. 



Some Sea Fishing. — A salmon weighing 241bs. was 

 caught in a trap at Lowell Island, Mass., about the mid- 

 dle of June. Salmon are extremely rare in this locality 

 and this was of unusual size. A salmon of IGtbs. was 

 taken in a trap at Salt Island, near Gloucester, Mass., 

 June 23. Seals are remarkably abundant on the Maine 

 coast and have brought disaster to the salmon fishery, 

 frightening the fish away from the weirs (for which the 

 angler will be truly thankful) and sometimes eating 

 half the salmon before they can be taken from the weirs. 

 Weakfish, striped bass and drum are reported plentiful 

 on the New Jersey coast at present. A great run of 

 striped bass has entered the Susquehanna River and the 

 fishermen's nets have been broken by their immense 

 numbers. Fishermen are catching codfish from the rocks 

 on Baker's Island, Mass. On June 17, two men took 

 over two dozen cod, weighing from 10 to 151bs. This is 

 a new experience for the anglers of Cape Ann. Along 

 the southeastern coast of Massachusetts good catches 

 have been made. Two men recently took 250 bluefish off 

 Sconticut Neck. Among the large] fishes taken in the 

 locality was a tautog weighing 9|lbs 



