FOREST AND STREAM, 



[Aug. 7, 1890. 



GREAT FALLS OF THE POTOMAC. 



WASHINGTON, D. C, July 30.— Water again 2, 

 which means just two points off from being as 

 muddy as it can get. I wheeled to the falls, not a sus- 

 picion crossing my mind that the water was anything 

 but clear .-condition 86— as all the way up the water 

 looked beautifully transparent; but when I crossed at 

 Dickey's Landing the water between the rocks below the 

 falls was very roily. This very sudden change in con- 

 dition was due to rains up stream. 



Black bass fishing has been poor at the falls ever since 

 the big flood (highest on record) of last year. It will be 

 remembered that this immense washout occurred just in 

 the spawning season of the bass, and the young and eggs 

 of that fish must have been destroyed in countless num- 

 bers. It is said that bass are not so plentiful now as they 

 once were, but there has not been clear water enough 

 during the past fourteen months to test the correctness 

 of this assertion. Just before the flood of 1889 some 

 enormous catches of bass were made at the falls. During 

 the autumn the fishing; there is best, if the conditions are 

 favorable. Last fall there were but a few days when the 

 water was clear enough for bass fishing; in fact the water 

 has been high and muddy as a rule since the spring of 

 1889. The Big Eddy, one of the famous places, is still 

 there, but at this writing it resembles an overgrown mud 

 puddle. Dickey says not to lay your plans for a fish be- 

 fore Sept. 1. He has now in hand several letters from 

 parties who desire to know when the fish commence bit- 

 ing. The fun may begin in a couple of weeks, but Mr. 

 D. puts little faith in the August fishing. Catfish and 

 eels are being caught now. 



The trip, to the falls is always a pleasant one. The road 

 is fine and the distance not too great for a good day's out- 

 ing. Notwithstanding D.'s gloomy predictions we shall 

 try for bass in the big eddy as soon as the water is again 

 clear. There is some hope now that the fish will bite 

 after the present showers. A few catches have been 

 made between the great and little falls; a 5|-pounder is 

 reported to have been taken at the latter place. There is 

 often trouble here to secure proper bait. 



The last trip of our friend C. was to Seven Locks, where 

 he found his guide, boat and a few small sunfish for bait. 

 Four small-sized bass were landed. Minnows and craw- 

 fish are very numerous near "Washington, In many places 

 and ponds near the south end of the Long Bridge the 

 former abound, and along the river in the small streams 

 of Virginia the latter are common. I have explored 

 whole villages of crawfish on the Virginia side of the 

 Potomac, between the Free Bridge and the Chain Bridge. 

 They are to be found in wet meadows; their mud nests 

 or mounds, from 3 to 5in. high, are very curious. While 

 the fishing has been discouraging at the falls, fishermen 

 have fared well at Georgetown recently. Several days 

 ago a man caught four mirror and leather carp at the 

 mouth of a small mill race that empties into the Potomac 

 just below the Aqueduct Bridge. One of the carp weighed 

 4lbs. The baits were common clams or quahaugs, and 

 pieces of fish. He took, also, a number of small striped 

 bass, scarcely more than 5in. long, and these he put on 

 "the string," without considering protection laws or the 

 laws of common sense; but then he is no worse than some 

 of the market fish dealers, who regularly expose for sale 

 baby striped bass and go unpunished. 



GEORGE AND I GO TROUTING. 



ALBANY, N. Y. — Editor Forest and Stream: Last 

 May, when I promised the boy to take him trout- 

 ing, there was no particular place in my mind near 

 Albany where there was any certainty of getting a 

 basket of fish; but finally, after repeated reminders on 

 his part, I decided we would try a point on the Boston & 

 Albany Railroad about forty miles out. On leaving home 

 Monday morning I instructed him to meet me there the 

 following Friday night, so we could be on hand early 

 Saturday morning and cook our breakfast by the brook. 

 I had previously taken a tomato can and melted the end 

 off, punched a hole in each side and put a copper-wire 

 bail in; this was to serve as our coffee pot, and could be 

 thrown away when we were through with it. 



He was on hand as agreed. We went to bed, taking 

 the alarm clock, as we were to get up at 3 o'clock. It 

 seems as if my head had hardly touched the pillow, 

 when he called me saying, "Papa. I think we are over- 

 sleeping; hadn't I better get up and see what time it is?" 

 So up he got, and lighting a match, found it was just 

 half-past one. Once more I was in the land of nod and 

 catching fabulous strings of trout, when the birds sing- 

 ing awoke me just in time to hear the alarm. Dressing 

 quickly, we were soon outdooi-3; and how nice it did 

 seem, day was just breaking, and it seemed as though 

 every leaf was a bird and each one was trying to sing 

 louder and faster than his fellow. How many people are 

 there who ever hear the wonderful melody of our birds 

 at daybreak? 



We walked down the road to the brook, and hastily 

 putting rods together were quickly at work, I going up 

 stream a few rods to wade down through some alders, 

 and the boy fishing down. The first hole I dropped into 

 there was a quick tug, and lifting him too quickly I saw 

 him drop back and make his way down to a hole below. 

 Casting into this I drew either him or his twin out; and 

 keeping down to the road took out two more, each about 

 Sin. long. This result rather surprised me, for instead of 

 having an outing for the boy with a few trout I seemed 

 to be doing a land office business. Having reached the 

 road I walked down to Georgie, who was busy fishing a 

 hole under some willows. I began to picture in my mind 

 how be would wilt when he saw my display. But he did 

 not wilt for a cent, but instead showed four almost as 

 large as mine. This is a little demoralizing, to raise up a 

 boy, and when he gets to be twelve years old have him 

 lay you out on the start. 



We kept fishing down stream perhaps a quarter of a mile, 

 and when I saw a swift, deep hole, fringed with drift, 

 held in place by a clump of low brush willow, I made up my 

 mind that that was the place to even up on the boy; so I 

 dropped in and took out a nice one only to have him drop 

 on to a little mud bank right on the edge of the water. 

 In my haste to secure him I stepped quickly, and my foot 

 striking a round stone, I sat down in a foot of water, fill- 

 ing my rubber boots and wetting me completely from the 

 waist down. Nothing daunted, however, I let my bait 

 float down into the hole again, and this time took out a 

 nice one. And right here the greatest indignity of the 

 day was put upon me, for while I was taking the fish off 



the hook, that boy slipped along behind me and dropped 

 into my pool; there was a tug, and then bis little 7-Joz. 

 rod began to bow and quiver. Bracing himself, he lifted 

 the fish bodily and threw him on the bank, just as we 

 did bullpouts in our early days. I forgot my dignity 

 then and rushed up the bank to examine the prize. And 

 how haudsome he did look— just llin. long. Not much 

 of a monster, you are probably saying to yourself, but 

 then he appeared so to us, who did not expect much; and 

 to see us shake hands and dance one would have thought 

 we were demented. But not so; we are only two fishing 

 and hunting cranks, father and son, who never want to 

 catch nor kill anything they cannot eat or give to friends. 



Trying the pool again with very poor results, we de- 

 cided to have breakfast. I made a fire and George took 

 a cup and went to meet a farmer coming across the field 

 with a pail of milk. He secured some, and soon the 

 breakfast was ready. Coffee, broiled ham, bread aad 

 butter and doughnuts. Don't it make you smack your 

 lips to think of it. eating out there amid the clover and 

 buttercups, with that brook singing at your feet? 



The boy in his eagerness never minded a big hole 

 punched in his rubber boot, causing him to fish all day 

 with it full of water, and to walk two miles after we 

 were through with never a murmur, but with a 51b. bas- 

 ket full of trout, most of which were caught before eight 

 o'clock in the morning. It is such days as these that live 

 green in our memory and bring father and son in closer 

 companionship than can be attained in the ordinary ways 

 of life. The boy is now away in the country, and I ap- 

 pend a verbatim letter: 



Dear Papa— Grandpa and I were pickerel fishing yesterday. I 

 caught two, we'ght Hb. each. Lost two. Had one bite besides. 

 Grandpa didn't have a bite. Love to mamma and ail, from 



George. 



For brevity and conciseness that must recommend itself 

 to newspaper men. Dexter. 



STUBBING AROUND HOME. 



THE untimely death of my dear friend and fishing 

 partner, B., last autumn, naturally broke up the 

 continuity of our June annual along the Loyal Sock in 

 Pennsylvania. In fact, when he died, it seemed to me 

 that it was my duty to reel up and never fish again, and 

 just subsist on the flavor of the piscatorial fruit gathered 

 during all those past years. But time, that wonderful 

 healer, willed differently. No sooner had the fleeing 

 months spanned the winter and unlocked the streams 

 again, than the same old feeling came upon me, and 

 the love I thought dead bloomed afresh along with 

 the arbutus. It was while gathering this flower along 

 Mill Creek that the music of the waters entered my soulj 

 and memories of days of happiness flooded my heart 

 with thoughts of rod and reel, and I resolved to fish 

 again. 



To stand "a ghost of a show" on the well whipped 

 waters of Mill Creek, one must be up in the morning. 

 The sluggard only gets the leavings. So when the 

 almanac showed the sign in "Pisces" for the morrow I du^ 

 my bait, got out my tackle and old clothes, set the alarm 

 for 8:30 and went to rest. With the first " whirr" of the 

 clock I was on the floor, and by 4 A. M. my coffee and 

 eggs were boiling. I had resolved to strike direct for the 

 railway bridge, two miles away, and so well did I foot it 

 through the gloaming that I was under the structure and 

 all tackled up when the 5:12 A. M. express train from the 

 East rolled across. The engineer leaning out of his cab 

 one hundred and fifty feet above me waved his hand in 

 friendly gesture to the lone fisherman; and daylight being 

 now fairly broken, my sport began. 



The short-winded fishermen from town who have not the 

 legs to traverse the length of the stream do most of their 

 work below and a short distance above the bridge; the 

 result is that the waters are kept rather barren, still I 

 caught a couple of very fair fish before reaching the 

 falls, and at the foot of the cascade I took in a very nice 

 one, getting drenched with spray in the operation. 

 Clambering on I reached the old mill and. here took 

 another. Having four trout I now felt justified in 

 plucking some fresh ferns and lining my basket, for the 

 sun that was just rising in a cloudless sky gave evidence 

 of a hot day and soft trout, unless care be taken with 

 the catch. 



I am no friend of early rising In my earliest 

 youth the relation who quoted to me the time-worn 

 couplet — 



" Early to bed, and early to rise 

 Makes one healthy, wealthy and wise," 



has not yet been able to shake himself free from my 

 contempt. 



But to be on a trout stream at 5 A. M., the first rod of 

 the day, breeds an exhilaration that it pays to cultivate. 

 Bird songs and rippling waters are doubly sweet just be- 

 fore sun up. The head is clear, the heart is light, and 

 trouble vanishes in the cloud of tobacco smoke you 

 roll contentedly toward the rising sun. 



I was now so far up stream, that like a fugitive who has 

 eluded his pursuers, I was content to take my fishing 

 more easily. The sands ahead of me showed no fresh 

 tracks, and I got down to business with that peculiarly 

 contented (shall I call it selfish) feeling that one has when 

 he feels certain he has the "drop " on the boys. Remem- 

 ber, these waters are nagged daily during the season, so 

 when I say that upon arriving at the cross road four miles 

 from town I had ten nice trout, please congratulate me, 

 as I congratulated myself, when I emerged into the sun- 

 light andf opened my basket. Right here Icame upon one 

 of our most skillful local fishermen, who was just start- 

 ing down the stream. He had driven to the upper end 

 (poor fellow) so as to have a clean sweep down the creek. 

 How I pitied him, " in a horn." 



It was now 9:30 and I had trout enough for the little 

 family, so I magnanimously told the fisherman that I was 

 going home, which I proceeded to do, taking the cross 

 road and tramping along townward toward the main 

 highway. I did not untackle, for a quarter of a mile 

 down the road crossed a little branch of the main stream 

 where in years gone by I had taken many trout. So 

 when I came to the little bridge, I adjusted a fresh 

 worm and from beneath a log that spanned the stream 

 when it entered the woods, I took one of the best trout of 

 the day. Encouraged I poked along down for half a 

 mile and took three more, all nice fellows, and at 11 

 o'clock I found my basket heavy enough for a reasonable 

 man; and with the trout still biting, stopped short after 

 untackling, and emptying my rubber cup twice at an ice 



cold spring started for home, where I arrived in time for 

 dinner. 



I have been twice since, taking at one time twelve and at 

 another eighteen, using only a half day each trip, and 

 enjoying the fact that no one but my clerk and family 

 knew where I was. The secrecy of the thing is half its 

 charm, and the secret of the luck is being like Washing- 

 ton, " First." 



I won't go to Pennsylvania this year. I don't care to 

 tread those old familiar scenes alone. The welcome 

 awaits me there, and the streams and the mountains and 

 the trout are at my service, but I must be content to stay 

 at home, and from my experience so far I find the trout 

 just as gamy, the waters just as musical, the air as sweet 

 and pure right around home as ever I found them abroad. 

 I have learned the lesson that one doesn't appreciate his 

 environment until fate conspiring to bring him face to 

 face with it shows up its beauties in a light he never 

 dreamed of. d, l. 



DANSViLMD, N. Y. 



FISH PRESERVATIVES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Replying to "Parson's" query in this week's issue of 

 the "old stand-by," I beg to say my experience with Rex 

 Magnus was similar to his own, only more so. In August 

 1885 I visited the Eagle waters in Wisconsin for the pur- 

 pose of securing one of its mascalonge. It will be re- 

 membered there was much argument regarding its being 

 a mascalonge, and I was requested to secure one for 

 identification by Prof. Baird. I had the good fortune to 

 catch a number, the largest weighing 361bs., and I en- 

 joyed more'n 47yds. of unadulterated fun during the 

 siege. A specimen of lOlbs. was put through the Rex 

 Magnus process, the directions being followed to the 

 letter; but the fish, after a four days' journey, reached 

 its destination in such rank condition as positively to 

 prohibit a close investigation. Although marked differ- 

 ently from the fish of the St. Lawrence region, I saw at 

 once that it was nobilior from center to circumference, 

 and a fighter from Fightsburg. 



As toPreuervaline, to be frank, I was suspicious regard- 

 ing it, remembering my former experience, but I was in- 

 doced to give it a trial this spring, because all the fish 

 which I sent home from Lac des Grandes lies last sum- 

 mer, although packed with ice, reached New York tee- 

 totally ruined. I made a solution of lib. of Preservaline 

 to 2gal. of water, and after cleaning the trout,, allowed 

 them to remain two hours in the solution, and packing 

 in moss, shipped them to New York. No ice was used, 

 and not a word was said about the use of Preservaline. 

 When I returned I made inquiries, and found they had 

 reached home in perfect condition, and nothing peculiar 

 in the taste of the fish was observed. My brother ex- 

 pressed surprise at their splendid condition, and particu- 

 larly drew my attention to the fact that "all the ice had 

 disappeared." Last year he paid $4.70 express charges, 

 and kicked over $18 worth. This year he took it all back 

 and said the excellence of the trout made up for last 

 year's offensive experience. T sent ten boxes of trout to 

 different parties, and have heard only words of praise 

 regarding their condition. I see the Preservaline Co. 

 have followed my advice by advertising in Forest and 

 Stream. They are wise in this, for in thus drawing the 

 attention of sportsmen to the article they win customers 

 who, after once using it, will never be without it. 



New York, July 31. KIT CLARKE. 



ANGLING NOTES, 



AFTER an absence of several years from our coasts, 

 the big striped bass have appeared again. Quite a 

 number have been killed at the various fishing clubs off 

 Newport, and one angler killed five handsome fish at the 

 Davis stand at Newport last week; the largest weighed 

 551bs. These large striped bass are wary fish and as shy 

 as Long Island trout. They will often take the chum 

 within sight of the angler, while they carefully examine 

 the choicest bait on the hook and leave it severely alone. 

 The fisherman should keep as quiet as circumstance will 

 allow and make as little motion as possible. It is better 

 to use an 9-thread line and commence with short casts, 

 fishing the water near the stand first before trying long 

 casts. The line should be carefully and constantly ex- 

 amined, for the sharp rocks soon chafe and weaken a 

 9-thread line. One does not often strike a 40 or 50-pound 

 bass, and when that does happen, there should be no weak 

 spot in the tackle. 



Black bass fishing on the St. Lawrence River is re- 

 ported as being poor for this year, but it can hardly be 

 wondered at, considering the army of people that flock 

 to that river. There is hardly a foot of water that is 

 not fished over every day during the season. The wise 

 angler prefers to cross over to Brockville on the Can- 

 ada side and try the Rideau Lake region, where the bass 

 are large and numerous. Messrs. A. V. Meserole and 

 Horace Waters, Jr., two well known anglers from this 

 city, report very fair fishing at Sudbury, Vt. They have 

 killed a number of Oswego bass up to olbs. in weight and 

 several black bass of 4lb3. At Lackawaxen, where so 

 many black bass were killed last season, the fishing is 

 very poor; what few have been caught were sickly and 

 in wretched condition. The people along that portion of 

 the river claim that the fish have been poisoned by the 

 refuse of some of the factories above Lackawaxen. 



It is astonishing what a number of hotels in the north of 

 England and Scotland make a specialty of advertising fish- 

 ing waters for both trout and salmon. They spend large 

 sums to Becure these rights, and of course it is a great 

 inducement to visitors to frequent such places. This 

 practice is coming into fashion here. The Hotel Robeval, 

 at Lake St. John, is an instance of it. They now control 

 about all the landlocked salmon fishing in that section 

 and furnish permits to the guests. 



Lake St. Catharine, near Wells, Vt., contains some 

 enormous pickerel. They have been caught there weigh- 

 ing as high as 18 and SOlbs. These savage monsters tear 

 ordinary tackle to pieces, and it seems almost impossible to 

 get spoons or gangs strong enough to hold them. There 

 are a number of these pickerel in Lake Sanford, which 

 belongs to the Adirondack Club. Senator Livingston 

 killed three there one day last season that averaged 17lbs, 

 each. 



