Stew. 4, 1890.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



iai 



rain hope of catching more wind. Finally the wind 

 failed entirely, and poor old Peter was left two miles 

 from the steamer in great distress. 



"While bemoaning hie kick and trying to think of some 

 expedient by which he could get his cargo to the steamer 

 before she sailed, be spied Toboga Bill ewimtning quietly 

 alongside lookingly knowingly up into his face. He had 

 been in the habit of feeding this shark on his trips across 

 the bay, and thought, of course, the monster had come 

 for a meal, so he proceeded to swear at him lustily for 

 .bothering him at such an inopportune time. Bill, how- 

 ever, didn't mind the oaths, but continued to look up into 

 the old sailor's face in a beseeching manner. 



Suddenly it dawned on Peter what his fishy companion 

 wanted, so he got a rope, made a bowline on the end of 

 it, and tossed it over the bow of the lighter. Bill took it 

 in his mouth, swam off a little way and stopped, again 

 looking knowingly in Peter's face, who divined at once 

 that he wanted more rope, and gave him thirty feet moi'e 

 slack. Bill then took the bowline in his jaws "firmly, and 

 started in a straight line for the, steamer, making the 

 lighter fairly whizz through the water. When nearing 

 the ship he let go of the line, sheared off, and let the 

 lighter run neatly alongside of the open hatches of the 

 steamer. 



Since the disappearance of Toboga Bill another large 

 shark has made his appearance, and though much smaller 

 than his illustrious predecessor, proves himself much 

 more of a shark in character. His name is Long Tom, 

 and many unfortunate men are said to have been eaten 

 bv him, two quite recently. Piscataqua. 



Portsmouth, N. H., September. 



m m\i $wqt fishing. 



FISHING NEAR NEW YORK. 



"C* OR practical and specific directions to reach several hundred 

 -*- fishing resorts within easy distance of New York city, see 

 issues of 18S9 as follows: April 18, April So, May 8, May 9, May 30, 

 June 6, June 13. June 20, June 27. 



THE CLUBS OF THE ST. CLAIR FLATS. 



THE morning of the second day's journey toward the 

 Flats broke clear and with a change of wind. No. 

 11 began to plow her way heavily but steadily up the 

 river. We passed the Peoria Club house well "along in 

 the morning, rounded the lighthouse point, and stood 

 away past beautiful Grosse Pointe, with its elegant build- 

 ings and drives. There is a large and showy club house 

 here, but Grosse Pointe Club is rather social than sports- 

 man in its make-up, and we need not linger in its descrip- 

 tion. The are numbers of cottages along this shore also, 

 the distance from town being just sufficient for a pleas- 

 ant drive. Afternoon parties, balls and fish suppers make 

 much of the programme here. 



The wind rose to goodish strength as we crossed Milk 

 River Bay. We ran past numbers of pound nets. Jack 

 Parker took the duck boat and ran over to the fishery, 

 where the boats were unloading their catch. He found 

 one mascallonge, a fish which it is unlawful to take in 

 pound nets. The fisherman said he was about to put this 

 mascallonge back in the water, but if he did it is doubtless 

 the first act of the kind for him. All the fishers along 

 have agreed that very few mascallonge, and those very 

 small ones, were now found in the nets, whereas ten 

 years or more ago they were numerous and large. No 

 definite news, of course, could be learned here of any 

 seining of black bass. The information was that most of 

 this work was being carried on over in Baltimore Bay. 



In the afternoon we left the land far away to our left 

 and stood out into the open lake, heading for a long 

 point which stretches out from the head of the bay. 

 There was quite a sea on, and the wind was not especially 

 favorable, but the skillful work of Captain Parker got us 

 well along before evening. A black storm was now 

 threatening, and it seemed wisest to anchor under cover 

 of the point, which we did, making everything snug and 

 shipshape that night in one of the creeks of the marsh. 

 That night we found, a little further up the channel, the 

 stakes where the wings of a fyke net had recently been 

 set. Doubtless this net had done its work well, and it is 

 a question whether the lone fisherman, whose hut we 

 saw on the point above us, ever bothered himself with 

 discriminations as to the fish that came to his net. 



Before the dusk set down, we could see from our 

 decks the long line of buildings far out in the lake, which 

 constitute the group of the St. Clair clubs proper. We 

 ate a hearty supper and passed a jovial evening aboard 

 that night, flattering ourselves that we would soon be at 

 anchor at the end of our journey. 



But on the following morning the wind was light and 

 unfavorable. We poled around the point, and spread 

 sail then to the best advantage, but in spite of all, we ate 

 our luncheon on board at noon, and it was 4 o'clock that 

 evening before we ran in under the lee of the "made 

 ground" at the long line of club houses and cottages, and 

 again made ready for a threatening storm. As we tacked 

 in for our last reach, we passed a boat containing four 

 damsels from the Rushmere Club House. These we 

 hailed after the manner of the country, and catching up 

 the line they tossed us, we gave them a tow of a quarter 

 of a mile or so, meantime gravely informing them that 

 we were pirates and smugglers, and that it was our in- 

 tention to take them out into the middle of the lake, 

 scuttle their craft, and carry them off into captivity. 



We came to anebor just back of the Rushmere Club 

 house, and from our position had a very good view of 

 what is really a unique scene. The "flats" of Lake St. 

 Clair are miles and miles in extent, but throughout their 

 extent there is not any land at all, unless an approach 

 thereto may be found in the marshy banks of some 

 channel. Even the deep channel of what is called the St. 

 Clair River has no banks, properly speaking, in that sec- 

 tion where we now were. On every hand the shallows 

 spread away for miles and miles, covered in many por- 

 tions with a regular wild-rice marsh, but showing little or 

 nothing of terra firma, except a low island or bo like the 

 one called Strawberry Island, which we passed in coming 

 up. Away off to our light, where we could see the black 

 smoke clouds rolling ,up^ beyond- the; two old lighthouses, 

 w&Ttlte ''ship' tfanuv which is simply a Channel dVedged 



through the shallow lake, the banks, which are built of the 

 dredged dirt,, being protected by willows thickly planted 

 along them. Following up any given pillow of smoke, 

 we could see it pass the big lighthouse at the end of the 

 canal, just beyond the first of the line of club houses, and 

 turn into the deep channel, or "river," whose edges touch 

 the docks on the American side. Then the big boat would 

 rush along past the buildings, hardly a stone's throw from 

 our craft, which lay quite back of the buildings. Past 

 these houses, and through this narrow channel of deep 

 blue water, all the traffic of the whole Great Lakes system 

 I asses, going and coming, up and down. How great, how 

 enormous that traffic is no one can know who has not 

 stood and watched the unending procession of noble 

 vessels which day and night glides by. Among these 

 vessels are the fastest inland steamers of the world whose 

 time card equals that of any freight train. Besides these 

 are countless sailing craft, odd and picturesque many of 

 them, and the whole scene is a stirring marine panorama 

 whose like is not elsewhei*e to be found. 



Just across the narrow channel, where all the boats 

 run, lies a low and marsh-covered shore line. This is on 

 the Canada side. Beyond that, miles and miles, nobody 

 knows just how far,' lies a. wilderness of marsh and 

 channel, which is all included in the claims of the 

 alleged "preserves" of the Canada Club. This club leases 

 its territory of the Walpole Island Indians, who were 

 supposed to have a sort of ownership of this region, no- 

 body knows just how. This shutting up of so great a 

 part of the marsh, including some of the best fishing 

 (although the latter, being largely in navigable channels, 

 cannot be stopped by right), is a matter viewed with 

 great disfavor by the American clubs, and the Canada 

 Club cannot be said to be in the least popular on this side 

 of the channel. Barring this claim at preserving all the 

 marshes and fishing beds of this interesting region are 

 open territory. A great many readers have doubtless 

 supposed that the wealthy clubs of the St. Clair Flats 

 must own great bodies of land as preserves. This is not 

 the case at all, and there is here no ground for the old 

 outcry against club preserves. Each club owns the 

 ground its buildings stand upon and that is all. Any- 

 one who has money enough can buy privileges equal to 

 those of the wealthiest club member, by the simple opera- 

 tion of digging up his real estate from the bottom of the 

 lake. That is just what all the clubs have done. They 

 have dug up their standing room. The preserves are 

 those of nature only. 



As far as we could see off to the left a thin and curving 

 ribbon of this "made ground" followed the ship channel, 

 clear around to the "Southeast Bend," and on this fragile 

 support of artificial earth stand all the club houses and 

 also an astonishing number of cottages, hotels and private 

 residences. 



The process of "making ground" is here not a very dif- 

 ficult or expensive one. The great dredging machines 

 simply tear the bottom out of the lake, which may be 

 only 8 or 10ft. deep, and pile up the results in a heap. 

 Where the bottom is thus robbed, the water is of course 

 very deep, and in this way have been made the innumer- 

 short channels or "cut-offs" which separate some of the 

 buildings from their neighbors. The price for such 

 "made land" is about $50 per front foot, I was told. Of 

 course the original appearance of this artificial ground is 

 very rough, the dirt having a bluish clayey look as it lies 

 in the huge piles fresh from the dredge; but the hand of 

 man knows how to smooth all this down, and you will 

 look far before you find much prettier lawns than some 

 of those which lie along the channel on the St. Clair Flats. 



There has of late been a sort of question raised as to the 

 title to this ground, much of which has now become very 

 valuable. Far above the spot which for the time consti- 

 tutes our point of view, lies what is known as Hersen's 

 Island. The Hersen heirs were many, audit has appeared 

 to their interest to be of the opinion that Hersen's Island 

 meant not only the island itself, but all the marsh, ail 

 the other islands and all the lake anywhere in that end 

 of the country. The chief reason for this belief of theirs 

 sprung from the fertile brain of one McQueen, of Toronto. 

 The latter gentleman claims to have quit-claim deeds 

 from about forty of the Hersen heirs, covering about all 

 of the lake where the made ground now lies. The heirs 

 were willing to quit-claim a little lake, more or less, to 

 him for almost anything he wanted to give them. Mr. 

 McQueen has also shown himself willing to quit-claim 

 cottage sites, hotel sites and the like upon much the same 

 basis, and he has really intimidated a number of recent 

 builders into paying him sums of money in return for his 

 "quit-claim ' to their land. In some cases these sums 

 have been as low as $20. In most instances McQueen's 

 demands hade been met with prompt and peremptory 

 refusal. It would seem about the best thing to do with 

 that gentleman is either to drown him or give him 

 twenty-four hours to leave the country. He is not 

 strictly necessary. 



We were now fairly upon our scene of operations. 

 Messrs. Parker and Wlierry began to cast about them in 

 their line of work, which was to secure a better system, 

 or a better possibility of a system, of fish protection on 

 the Flats. Of this I shall speak later. On the following 

 morning, the boys having very kindly loaned me the 

 little duck boat— which was the best all-around boat I 

 ever was in, for pushing, paddling or sailing, it being 

 double-end, beamy, well decked, light of draft and pro- 

 vided with the nicest little centerboard on earth — I set 

 out for a systematic trip among the club houses, begin- 

 ning at the first one on our right, the great St. Clair Club, 

 whose magnificent building is just above the mouth of 

 the ship canal. Thence, on up the river, each club was 

 visited in order, and in the writing will be taken up in 

 the same order; so that our little story will touch, first, 

 the St. Clair Club; second, the Mervue Club; third, the 

 Rushmere Club; fourth, the Peninsula Club: fifth, the 

 Delta Club; sixth, the Canada Club; seventh, the North 

 Channel Club. The latter olub is across the bay and 

 so me miles distant from the main body of the clubs; but 

 it is a strong and worthy organization, and properly to 

 be included in any account of the clubs of the Flats. 

 Now, each of these clubs is different from the others, so 

 that the story of each is interesting. E. Hough. 



175 Monroe St., Chicago. 



Forest and Stream, Box 2,883, N. Y. city, has descriptive Illus- 

 trated circulars of W. B. Lefflngwell's book, "Wild Fowl Shoot- 

 lng," wbica will be mailed free on request. The book is pro- 

 nounced by ".Nanit,." l ,'GJna»," "Diok Swiyeller," "8ybiUene"a»d 

 other oom'peient atrfeboritieB to be the best treatise on the subject 

 extant, 



SOME PLEASANT MEMORIES. 



T DON'T know when I have read anything, containing 

 JL a like amount of reading matter", that gave me at 

 much pleasure as did the perusal of the Bass Number of 

 Forest and Stream. I am not so successful in handling 

 the rod as the gun, but I have long since found that the 



Sleaeure derived from the pursuit of either game or fish 

 oea not depend upon numbers or pounds. And I think 

 that of all the different objects of pursuit "by field or 

 flood" the black bass has yielded me more real unalloyed 

 pleasure than any other. 



My first acquaintance with him began during that im- 

 pressible time of life covered by "the teens." Memory 

 carries me back to the lakes and ponds of Hillsdale 

 county, Michigan, where, a barefooted boy, armed with 

 ironwood pole, line, and hook to match, and seated, with 

 my elder brother or some other youth for companion, in 

 a poplar dugout, I watched the frog or minnow bait as it 

 "skittered" along the edge of the rushes and lily pads 

 that fringed the shore, and several rods behind the boat, 

 and I feel again the electric thrill that ran along the 

 rough pole and to every nerve of the holder, when with 

 a rush and a gleam the gamy fish left his hiding place 

 and seized the tempting morsel. 



Ah! I very much doubt if the older fisherman, though 

 armed with more elegant outfit of boat and tackle, ever 

 derives the same exquisite pleasure from that same elec- 

 tric thrill, as the barefooted urchin, with rough rig, but 

 with freedom from care. 



Later on I have tempted Mieropterus, under different 

 names, with different kinds of bait and varied success in 

 other waters, from the lakes and rivers of northern Min- 

 nesota to the lagoons and bayous of the Gulf Coast, and 

 have found him everywhere and in all places the same 

 gamy fellow, a fighter to the end. 



Along the Cypress Bayou, with its chain of lakes, from 

 Shreveport, La., to Jefferson, Texas, was once a favorite 

 resort of mine. In the late spring and early summer, 

 when the rain had raised the waters, the "trout" were 

 out in the overflowed land amid the grass, and following 

 up every little branch and inlet in search of dainty mor- 

 sels, and here they would readily take the bait. 



But of all the waters of my acquaintance, I think all 

 others must yield the palm to the streams of Arkansas, 

 among which the White River and the Washita take pre- 

 cedence. The Washita from Arkadelphia to its source 

 abounds in rapids and d^ep levels and meets the require- 

 ments of the black bass to perfection. White River is 

 famous for its fishing. Fly-fishing is not indulged in to 

 any great extent, although some local sportsmen in the 

 towns and some visitors sometimes use the fly, but min- 

 nows are the popular bait. Fishing parties from Little 

 Rock and other cities, both in and out of the State, often 

 visit both of these streams and seldom return disap- 

 pointed. 



I have just read Myron Cooley's "Two Days After 

 Bass," from Detroit, Minn., in your Aug. 7 issue, I have 

 fished many of the lakes he mentions, and a summer 

 spent in that neighborhood several years ago has fur- 

 nished many pleasant memories ever since. One red 

 letter day of that summer was spent on Graham's Lake 

 in Otter Tail county. My companion on that day was a 

 Mr. N. whom the Methodist Church had ordained to be a 

 " fisher of men," and whom I found to be a fisher of fish 

 as well. The day was delightful, the lake and surround- 

 ings beautiful, the company congenial, and the fishing all 

 that could be desired. During the middle of the day we 

 selected a grassy bank under the shade of the trees, ate 

 our lunch, and took a long mid-day rest. The fish bit 

 often enough during the early part of the day to keep us 

 well entertained, and during the last hour of our stay we 

 caught fish until we were ashamed to fish any longer as 

 we already had as many as we could carry away. 



We tried trolling and still-fishing with several kinds of 

 bait. The Rev. D.D. out-scored me in numbers by long- 

 odds, but I had revenge on him in taking the largest fish 

 of the day, more by accident than skill, I suspect. It 

 was taken by trolling, with minnow for bait; was a bass 

 and weighed two hours after 4f lbs, Not a large fish, but 

 good enough for "the Joneses." 



The fish we caught were bass, perch, sunfish, pickerel, 

 and wall-eyed pike. The most of the pickerel and perch 

 we put back into the lake as we had as many as we 

 wanted without them. Lew Willow. 



' Malvern, Ark. 



VIRGINIA TROUT AND QUAIL. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



That 1 have been busy you may imagine from the fact 

 that I have not wet a line this summer. I was on the 

 Shenandoah, near Elkton in Rockingham county, for a 

 few days in July and hoped to give the bass a trial, but 

 the river was swollen and muddy and so prevented me. 

 Trout with us are becoming very scarce. There are sev- 

 eral good streams near this place, about twenty miles 

 distant, but they are so closely fished that it is'hardly 

 worth one's while to try his luck. Further aw T ay, on the 

 headwaters of the Greenbrier and the Elk, in Pocahontas 

 county, West Virginia, there is still fine fishing: but the 

 new times that have come upon us, with ore washing to 

 befoul the streams, saw mills to sour them and timber 

 cutting to take the cool shades off them, have almost 

 done away with trout in Virginia. One thing in this 

 connection, which I think worthy of the careful attention 

 of men who have the means and a love of fishing and 

 camping in and along clear mountain waters, is that a 

 good many trout streams can be bought. Clubs might be 

 formed, houses erected, and care taken to prevent exces- 

 sive and improper fishing. Many an angler's paradise 

 might here be preserved to the delight and the preserva- 

 tion of health of many a man who now nits too long at 

 his desk. 



One branch of sport still flourishes among; ua; indeed, 

 under the operation of wise and well executed game law« 

 it growB better year by year. It is partridge (Bob White) 

 shooting. To this I am devoted, and ■pend many happy 

 day» in the fall and winter tramping over the windy 

 ridges and through the wide field* of our lonely valley; 



T. S. r>. 



Staunton, Va., Aug. 22. 



A Largke Carp.— The United States Commissioners of 

 Fish and Fisheries has received the following note from 

 Mr. Mark jS. Wood, of Barrington Center, R. I.: "Itook 

 from my three-quarter .acre, p'ond a carp weighing 1 fibs'," 

 We believe this Is the largest New England tftfrp', 



