July 17, 1890.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



616 



prestige of this beautiful sheet of water far above the 

 average yet obtained. A party of three brought home 

 one evening sixty-five most tempting specimens, averag- 

 ing lflbs., the largest being 541 bs. This is, however, ex- 

 traordinary luck. The same luck will reward the angler, 

 who, with the patience of good old Izaak, will await the 

 peculiar and untimely eccentricities of Mr. Trout. He 

 does not always take the fly here, but when he does there 

 is great sport. 



The Springfield Club has relapsed once more into quiet 

 and solitude since the departure of its late members from 

 Springfield. Many a pleasant narrative will be the result 

 of the grand sport experienced by these gentlemen on 

 their late excursion to their limits. They will soon be with 

 us again, however. 



The Q. and L. St. John Co. are doing a lively business 

 on their road, and every day sees the parlor car well filled 

 with anglers bound for the famous ouananiche. No less 

 than 50 to 100 guests are continually at the RobeA'al House. 

 Parties leave daily on the steamer for the Grande Dis- 

 charge, the Peribonca and Mistassini Rivers. The largest 

 ouananiche killed last week was by Dr. Chas. Parke of 

 this city, and weighed 51bs. The best tackle and flies to 

 use in our district I will give youin next itsue. 



FONTXNALIS. 



THE RED HOUSE CLUB. 



THE grounds of the Red House Gunning and Fishing 

 Club lie around the south end of Shelley's Island, 

 which is situated in the Susquehanna River just fourteen 

 miles east of Harrisburg, Pa. They are reached by the 

 Pennsylvania Railroad on the east, and the Northern 

 Central on the west side. The grounds extend from the 

 island to the north end or head of the Conewago Falls, 

 which are famous for bass and wall-eyed pike (pike-perch). 

 There are at present thirty members in the club, all from 

 Harrisburg. They have leased a small plot of ground 

 upon which there stands a one and a half story log house, 

 Weather-boarded and plastered, and one of' the oldest 

 houses of the country, having been built in 1787. The 

 house is well furnished. Carpets, easy chairs and beds 

 are in place, and there are plenty of comforts. There 

 are sleeping accommodations for twenty persons, but a 

 much larger number can be dined. A well of excellent 

 water is on the property, the bottom of this well is 

 chiseled from solid rock ill the shape of a basin. Dr. H. 

 says the water is so cold that it makes one's teeth ache. 

 A ' fine grape arbor, 30ft. in length, shelters the well. 

 There is a promenade leading south from the house to 

 the river, on the banks of which are stately elms, around 

 which have been erected two platforms having seats. 

 This forms one of the most attractive retreats of the 

 place, and is reached by a bridge. Great efforts are being 

 made to make the grounds about the house beautiful and 

 attractive. One-half of the property is converted into a 

 park, arbors have been erected, upon which pretty vines 

 are now growing. Walks have been laid out, flowers 

 and numerous varieties of fruit trees have been planted 

 and add to the natural attractiveness of the resort. The 

 balance of tbe ground is devoted to the raising of vege- 

 tables for the use of the club members and their friends. 

 With the present activity and enthusiasm this club is 

 making its retreat a very pleasant place, and it promises 

 to be one of the best in tbe State. There i6 a. good boat 

 house with room for twenty-five boats. The club has 

 now a number of canvas canoes, ducking boats and 

 dories. 



The fishing here is excellent ; bass and pike-perch 

 (' 'salmon") being the game fish of these waters. The Falls 

 of Conewago are noted for their fine bass and "salmon" 

 fishing, and anglers from other grounds and considerable 

 distances come here when, as they say, they "want to 

 catch fish." The river at this place seems to be 

 especially suitable for the bass and "salmon." In some 

 places the water is 18ft. deep, forming quiet pools; a little 

 further on it will be found shallow, rapid and turbulent. 

 Tbe most remarkable catch for one day that has yet been 

 made off Red House was that by Mr. N. Russ ill August, 

 1889, when he succeeded in landing 160 bass. Mr. R. 

 is said to be one of the most expert anglers in Harrisburg 

 and has been dubbed "professor" by his friends. Dr. 

 Hollingshead is credited with having taken on very 

 light tackle the two largest bass that have been caught in 

 this locality. Both were taken the same day and weighed 

 6 and 6ilbs. respectively. Besides these two monster bass 

 the doctor took twelve which averaged ll.lbs. each. The 

 tackle used by the members of the Red House Club is of 

 the latest and most approved patterns. Mr. Russ has a 

 simple, but convenient, way of carrying his flies when he 

 does not wish to be bothered with a bulky fly book. He 

 puts each fly separately into an envelope, which he is 

 careful to seal and plainly label, he writes on each paper 

 the name of the fly it contains and the number of the 

 hook. The envelopes are made two inches long and one 

 inch wide. These can be stowed away in the vest pocket 

 without danger of tangling or getting mixed up, and are 

 easily found when wanted. Mr. R. makes no charge for 

 the hint and only desires that anglers try his way of carry- 

 ing flies. 



The most killing baits used near or at Red House 

 are the stone catfish, helgramites and minnows. The last 

 mentioned are not much liked here. Bass and fall-fish 

 (Semotilws) are caught with the artificial fly. 



Another of the many attractions of the Red House is 

 the tine collection of stuffed birds gathered together by 

 Dr. Hollinshead. This collection consists of the follow- 

 ing game and other birds: Mallard, redneck, bluehead, 

 stiffey. whistler, wood-duck, black duck, teal, bluebill, 

 sprigtail, bufflehead, widgeon, Canada goose, sandhill 

 crane, woodcock, woodpecker, German stork, hawk, 

 quail, jay and others. Squirrels, rabbits and other stuffed 

 animals are also included. The Doctor is adding to this 

 collection and hopes to increase it largely. 



Stehman. 



Perth Amboy, N. J., July 11.— Trolling for bluefish 

 is all the go just now along the south shore of Raritan 

 Bay between South Amboy and Keyport. The fish weigh 

 from 3 to olbs. and give great sport. One boat took 19 in 

 about one hour this afternoon. Weakfish are biting also, 

 and porgies are numerous, while menhaden have ap- 

 peared in the most astonishing quantities. Several sloops 

 and steamers engaged in catching the latter in purse- 

 nets were caught last week by the police, and their cap- 

 tains and crews were arrested and fined for illegal fishing. 

 —J. L. Kearney, 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



CHICAGO, July 3.— Mr. Jack Cudahy, one of the 

 wealthiest of Chicago's young business men, is off 

 at Macinac Island with his yacht and party, and has 

 sent down for a lot of tackle suitable for fishing in Lake 

 Superior, whither he contemplates going. 



Mr. C. F. Hills, president of the Fox River Fish and 

 Game Protective Association, on having laid before him 

 the matter of the destruction of bass below Yorkville by 

 the "jumping" process described last week, remarked: 

 "It is clearly against the law. We will look into it and 

 prosecute promptly at the first opportunity. Our agent, 

 Mr. Buck, has lately passed through that section, but 

 heard nothing of what you describe. We have to report 

 now that every dam on the whole length of the Fox 

 River is supplied with the proper fishway. This we have 

 accomplished at the expense of much trouble and con- 

 siderable litigation.'' 



Mr. Hills told me that last week he had a good day 

 with the bass on Grass Lake, his boat taking fourteen, 

 and being then obliged to stop on account of a storm. 

 During that trip Mr. Hills met with a peculiar accident. 

 He pricked his hand slightly with a fish hook, thinking 

 nothing of it at the time. Blood poisoning set in, and 

 now he has a very bad hand of it. 



There have been comparatively few trout caught by 

 parties out of Chicago this season, for those who went 

 brought back discouraging stories of very high water 

 and unusual numbers of mosquitoes. It is probable that 

 the trout fishing will now be shelved till the cold nights 

 of August have made life and fishing in the woods take 

 on pleasanter aspects. Numbers of parties are out after 

 bass now, and the hundreds of trains that leave town to- 

 morrow will be crowded with anglers bent on celebrating 

 the "glorious" in a more or less moist or aqueous way. 

 If luck favors the writer, he will shoot his firecrackers 

 this year on the banks of Cedar Lake, Indiana, in com- 

 pany with a limited number of friends who prefer fish 

 to eloquence. But in front of all this there hangs a tale 

 which needs telling, since few tales ever were happier in 

 the happening. 



July 9. — Mr. J. E. Reddock, a fly-fishing resident of 

 Yorkville, 51 miles from here, on the Fox River, writes 

 me under date of July 8: "Good fly-fishing here now." 

 I do not believe a fly-fisher would make any mistake in 

 going down there now. Mr. Hoyt, of Aurora, informs 

 Mr. Loeb, of Spaldings, that some of their fly fishers have 

 lately had good sport on the Fox, both above and below 

 Aurora, baskets of 20 and 30 fish having been made. 



Mr. De Long, of Brooklyn, N. Y., was lately in this 

 city. He says that this paper last summer reported him 

 as having been fishing up in Wisconsin, when he had 

 never been there at all. The grade of Mr. De Long's re- 

 freshments must have resembled the quality of mercy. 

 Certainly he must know that if this paper ever said he 

 had been fishing, he must have been fishing, whether he 

 could remember it or not. 



July 12, — The anglers of Aurora, Oswego and other 

 towns along the Fox have had fine fly-fishing for small- 

 mouthed bass for the past week, the water being now in 

 good condition. A Mr. Kendall and his brother caught 18 

 bass that weighed 301bs. one day. The former gentleman 

 took fifteen bass on another day, and ten on yet another. 

 Brown-hackle, Gov.-Alvord, jungle-cock and ibis were the 

 flies used, and these were tied on No. 3 hooks. 



E. Hough. 



ANGLING IN COSTUME. 



A JOLLY party was in camp by Late Foley, no matter 

 where, having good luck fishing, catching black 

 bass, croppies and pickerel. Inasmuch as two barrels of 

 these fish were caught the last two days, some of the 

 bass weighing 51bs. and pickerel from 7 to lllbs. by the 

 scales, it may be accepted as proof of fine sport. 



One afternoon, when the boats were in and the boys 

 were constructing dinner, a carriage was driven up on 

 the little by-road and out stepped a gentleman dressed in 

 the altitude of fashion. He proved to be a friend of one 

 of the party and was cordially greeted, notwithstanding 

 his silk hat, swallow-tail coat, low cut vest, expansive 

 shirt bosom, kid gloves, patent leather shoes, silk um- 

 brella and a red pongee kerchief, cunningly showing 

 from a side pocket. The contrast, glancing from this 

 pleasing spectacle to our mud-stained apparel, slouch hats 

 and bronzed countenances, was severe, and there was 

 difficulty in restraining remarks. 



The gentleman explained without hesitation that he 

 was going to a wedding, at the railroad station four miles 

 away, and happening to hear that we were at the lake, 

 and having several hours to spare, he forthwith deter- 

 mined to come out. He was sorry to appear in polite 

 society in such incongruous rig, but hoped we would 

 pardon him under the circumstances. No one hated a 

 plug hat more than he did, he had frequently waked up 

 in the night for that especial purpose; but the demands 

 of society are inexorable, and he trusted, in spite of ap- 

 pearances, they would concede his intentions were honor- 

 able. 



"Say, boys, lend me some tackle and one of these boats," 

 will you?" 



The request staggered the community speechless for a 

 moment, then one who regained composure soonest ex- 

 claimed: 



"What! fish in those robes?" 



"Certainly; good enough, ain't they? There's some 

 aristocratic and lordly fishes out there, judging by these 

 strings of yourg by the platform, and I want to renew 

 my acquaintance with them— Colonel Bass, you know, 

 Sir John Pickerel, Admiral Croppy, not to mention Jona- 

 than Sunfish, ex-Senator Perch, and Rev, Mr. Pout. I'd 

 dearly love to take 'em by by hand and be sociable, I 

 love to mingle with the throng." 



"Mingle is good," said a voice in rejoinder, "and they 

 ai - e all there, even Major Eel and Sergeant Dogfish." 



The request was readily granted, and Leather Breeches, 

 our boy of all work, said he would take the gentleman 

 out. 



We sat down to our frugal dinner of baked mallard, 

 boiled pickerel, fried bass, broiled prairie chicken, with 

 mushroom sauce, claret de Maxinkuckee, and yellow- 

 jacket pudding, most of which was formulated by a rail- 

 road man among us, and served in a way that would have 

 made John Chamberlain sigh with enw. 



While we were attending to these articles the patter of 

 rain was heard on the roof, and. with thoughts of our 

 swallow-tail friend, the door looking out on the lake was 



opened. And there was an exhibition. Leather Breeches 

 was holding the silk umbrella over him, and the gentle- 

 man hauling in bass, taking the umbrella when a fish was 

 brought to the boat, while the boy unfastened and re- 

 baited the hook. 



It didn't rain much, and in the course of an hour our 

 odd friend came in with five bass, two croppies, and a 

 pickerel that weighed 71bs. 



"Returns all in — population not over-estimated — splen- 

 did showing — St. Louis nowhere — card reception' —he 

 went on blithely as he came up. ( "Gentlemen," he added, 

 brushing off the only speck of dirt on his evening toilet, 

 "I've got to catch the 6:30 train. I certainly am greatly 

 obliged for distinguished consideration. Fish always bite 

 best when it's raining. I'll tell the bride and groom I met 

 you. That pickerel came near getting into this shirt 

 front. I'd rather fish than be married. That's a nice rod, 

 action and balance perfect. There's my card, and if you'll 

 all dine with me at the Palmer next Wednesday evening 

 I shall feel honored." 



Then, thrilling Leather Breeches with a dollar, he took 

 his departure amid exclamations of "Come again!" 

 "Don't go!" and the like, in which the trees and the 

 breeze participated. Jerome Burnett. 



FISH NOTES FROM CAPE COD. 



C CODFISH continued plentiful in Buzzard'a Bay and 

 '' Vineyard Sound during May, large numbers of them 

 having been taken in traps and lobster pots — a thing 

 heretofore unknown in this region . A fish trap at Tar- 

 paulin Cove caught 500 at one haul, weighing from 5 to 

 lOlbs. each. Little cod, 3 to 4in. long, left the shore last 

 week ; we never catch them when the water gets above 

 60". Tautog are almost entirely absent from these waters. 

 A very few small mackerel have been taken in Buzzard's 

 Bay. Some large ones, measuring 18in. in length, were 

 caught south of Martha's Vineyard last week. One Span- 

 ish mackerel was taken last week. Kingfish are being 

 caught in larger numbers than I have ever seen before. 

 A few small weakfish or squeteague. averaging about 

 21bs. , have been obtained. John Vedder caught one that 

 weighed 151bs. dressed— a very unusual size. The run of 

 scup has been very small. No fish trap in Buzzard's 

 Bay has taken more than a twentieth part of last season's 

 catch, and that was not more than two-thirds of the 

 yield in 1888. I think no trap has secured 50 barrels. 

 The trap at Ram's Head, which took 1,000 barrels last 

 year, has caught 5 barrels this season, and those were 

 obtained this week; they did not get a scup in May. 

 The traps at Wood's Holl took most of their scup in 

 May. On May 19 lots of small scup struck in; they 

 were Sin. long and fifteen of them weighed lib. Some 

 roomings there were as many as 60,000 in each of the 

 traps about Wood's Holl. They continued plentiful until 

 last week, when thej r began to grow less and less, and 

 this morning (June 21) there were very few. These scup 

 are of the size usually taken early in November, when 

 the species leaves us. It seems that they must have 

 hatched somewhere South in December or January. 

 There is a run of these small scup every year, but only a 

 few of them, say from 100 to 300 a morning in the traps 

 for about a week, and then they are gone. Sea bass have 

 been scarce. One trap at Menemsha, on Martha's Vine- 

 yard, caught twice as many as last year, but I do not 

 think there is another that has taken one-half the usual 

 quantity. Very few bluefish have been taken anywhere 

 in this vicinity. Shad were scarce last month, but this 

 month they are plentiful; they have spawned some- 

 where, for they are spent and very thin. I went to Me- 

 nemsha last week and seined all along the shore and did 

 not catch a fish of any kind, not even a sculpin or a min- 

 now. This is an experience I have never before had any- 

 where, winter or summer. At the Wood's Holl Station 

 I have collected and hatched eggs of flatfish, four-spot- 

 ted flounder, sand dab, cunner, tautog, mackerel, sque- 

 teague, scup, sea bass, lobster and squid. Eggs of toad- 

 fish and skate have not yet hatched. We have liberated 

 large numbers of sea bass and young lobsters. 

 Wood's Holl, Mass., .Time 12. VlNAL N. EDWARDS. 



[Mr. Edwards has had 20 years experience as a collec- 

 tor at Wood's Holl and is naturally an expert in the field. 

 When he cannot find a single species of fish on a particu- 

 larly rich shore, where we have often taken 25 kinds at a 

 haul of the seine, the conditions must be unique, and we 

 would be glad to have an explanation of the phenomenon.] 



JUMPING BASS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Mr. Hough's information about "jumping bass," as 

 given in his last letter (and by the way his letters are 

 always interesting and informing), reminds me of a little 

 experience and considerable sport enjoyed by the writer 

 some thirty years ago on the Little Miami River near 

 Loveland, about twenty miles above Cincinnati. I was 

 stopping with a relative whose farm lay along the river, 

 and I was often in his boat bass fishing. One morning, 

 after a heavy rain the night previous, I went out in com- 

 iany with my cousin, but the water was so muddied that 

 ishing was a failure, and skirting the shore, keeping out 

 of the current, we spent the time "projeckin" around, 

 until the splash of the inshore oar caused a good sized 

 bass to leap fairly into the boat. We "caught on" to the 

 "wrinkle" at once, and going up stream quite a distance 

 floated down stream near shore, striking the water now 

 and then inshore until we had quite a number of bass 

 secured by this new, to us, mode of fishing. I have often 

 thought since that when opportunity offered I should try 

 the same plan to see if it would work as successfully, but 

 have never done so. In this instance I believed and still 

 believe that the fish were feeding in the roiled and higher 

 water, and not that they were asleep as suggested by Mr. 

 Hough's informant. Mr. Hough seems to think that it is 

 a disreputable or questionable method of securing fish, 

 but it is an open question whether it is worse to scare a 

 fish to death than it is to deceive him to the same end. 

 As a means of sport there is no room for debate. We 

 are both in the same lot. 



I notice the comment of I. L. S. concerning my experi- 

 ence in Toronto with scales, and am very much obliged 

 to him for enlightenment. I had feared that doubt and 

 uncertainty and nightly visions of scaly disappointment 

 were destined to dog my pilgrimage, but they vanish. It 

 proves anew the potency of the Forest and Stream in 

 disseminating light and happiness, Long may it wave. 



o, o. s. 



