■aw. 4, 1890.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



133 



ON THE KALAMAZOO. 



Master, I marvel, how the fishes live in the sea. 



Why, ap men do a-land: the great ones eat up the little ores. 



TTHRROO, hurroo, for the Kalamazoo," cried John 

 JUL amd 1, as we stepped from the train at New Rich- 

 mond, Mich, , and gazed upon the beautiful riyer, in whose 

 limpid depths sported untold numbers of huge bass wait- 

 ing for our coming. That is the way we felt, anyhow, 

 over the matter, whatever line of reasoning the bass may 

 have pursued. 



The Kalamazoo at this point is an inviting one for the 

 angler. With cool water, swift current, numerous dnep 

 pools and eddies, and with grassy and shaded banks in 

 long stretches of inviting green, it presented a picture to 

 the long-time city dweller sufficient to make him dance 

 and whoop for very joy, whether he caught any fish or 

 not. 



It was not long before John and Izaak, Jr., had their 

 traps toted to tne little hotel, and, although it was not 

 far from dinner time, with the angler's usual impatience 

 we had to try the waters at once, but with small success, 

 being rewarded with a couple of half-pounders, which we 

 triumphantly carried back to the hotel as a fore-runner 

 of the" big things to come. And this leads me to remark 

 that angling is the art of anticipation combined with the 

 science of realization. But lam bound to say the science 

 part cuts no such figure in the calculation as does the art 

 part. And it is well it does not, as there wouldn't be a 

 fish left in the waters big enough for a kingfisher — no pun 

 intended — to make a dive at. 



After our dinner we felt better, and concluded to spend 

 the rest of the day in a sort of experimental trip up and 

 down the river to get the "lay of the land," even if it 

 were water. As an experiment the afternoon was a 

 decided success. We found everything that could be 

 desired except the bass. True, we caught some small 

 ones, one even up to a pound, but that was not what we 

 wanted. We were after those lusty two and three 

 pounders which would churn the water into foam and 

 make the angler tingle from finger tips to toe ends. The 

 bass were there— of course, they were; for hadn't Sid. 

 Jones caught one a few days ago that weighed •'nigh on 

 to seven pounds," and Bill Smith seen one as long as his 

 arm ; and hadn't little Tommy Tucker caught one of six 

 pounds on a little hook while fishing for shinere? So said 

 the natives, and why should we doubt the statements, 

 seeing we wanted them to be true? 



The next day was Tuesday, and we decided to go up 

 stream to where the Rapids River made its junction with 

 the Kalamazoo. There we were assured was good fish- 

 ing; it was a place where the bass had a sort of camp- 

 meeting place, though we found that an adjournment 

 had taken place before we arrived at the spot. Reader, 

 have you ever had a day when everything went against 

 you, despite your utmost precautions? Well, Tuesday 

 was that sort of a day to us — a regular hoodoo day. 

 Everything went amiss. If we dropped our hook into a 

 likely pool, we would catch a snag. If we ran near the 

 shore, our lines would catch on the bushes. If we pulled 

 a frog out of our sack, he would give a kick and off he 

 would go. But why detail the miseries of that day? 

 Once, as our boat was rounding a point in the river, John, 

 had a bite which so excited him that he gave a vank suf- 

 ficient to land the fish in the next county, only the fish 

 took the frog, not the hook. Hastily pulling iuto the 

 bank, and grasping a log to hold the boat, Izaak, Jr., cast 

 out after the same fish, and proposed to show John how 

 the thing should be done scientifically. Scarcely had the 

 frog disappeared beneath the surface when there was a 

 good strike, a yank in return, and Mr. Bass was hooked. 

 He was a big one, too, and, after our run of luck, he 

 seemed to be a yard long. The tussle was a sharp one, 

 for no line could be given, or the fish would make for the 

 snags and be lost. So he had to be played in the smallest 

 limits. After some little time he came to the surface, de- 

 liberately stood upon his tail, turned a double back som- 

 ersault, and was gone. 'Where is your science now?" 

 said John; but Iziak, Jr., never argues under such cir 

 cumstance-'; he simply keeps still. In that pool we had 

 six bites, and lost every one. Cotdd anything be more 

 exasperating? And the same blasted luck followed us to 

 the end of the day. The only revenge we had was at the 

 supper table, when we cleared off the landlady's table as 

 would a flock of Kansas grasshoppers. John was so over- 

 come by the day's luck that he couldn't even wink at the 

 landlady's pretty daughter who waited upon us. Izaak, 

 Jr., himself was not very hilarious, but he was too old an 

 angler to grieve over one day's misfortunes. 



The next forenoon we fished down the river, with the 

 net result of a one-pound bass. But John had an ex- 

 perience. We were fishing from the bank, and I was a 

 few rods below him, and between us was a clump of 

 bushes. Presently, from John's direction came a tre 

 mendous splashing, and I knew something had been 

 hooked. Rushing through the bushes, I found John with 

 bis hat off , hair on end, teeth set, and eyes fixed upon 

 some critter he was trying to keep away from the bank. 

 One glance was sufficient to show what the trouble was 

 . — a big dogfish; and all anglers know they fight like the 

 very devil. John thought he had a bass as big as Noah's 

 ark, but when I said "dogfish" his heart broke, and so 

 did the hook, and the "lawyer" was gone. This wasn't 

 the first trip with me for John to catch a dogfish,, and if 

 he doesn't stop that sort of work I'll chuck him in the 

 riv^r some time for unsportsmanlike conduct. 



The outlook was so po >r that after dinner we had a 

 council of war, and decided that the next morning we 

 would go up the road ten miles to Black Lake, where 

 fishing was reported as good. So I wrote a note to Charles 

 the Hunter, at Holland, to have a boat for us when we 

 should arrive. A half day still remained to u s , and we 

 concluded to make another trip to the "Rapids" and see 

 what would come of it. As we came to the deep pool 

 where we had the bites of the day before we again tied 

 up, and, by the blue heron of the Kalamazoo! in less than 

 half an hour we had seven fine bass— three of 3ibs. each, 

 two one-pounders, and the rest scattering. How those 

 three-pounders did battle against the bamboo, but to no 

 f vii'H T'i" 'r^ vr^rp H n r> cmiii.ijj nth. and concerning 

 thi- il cus-j iii ui « ii o'l i- ui.-" nr.ne .vauif, tin 1 tvois.il- 

 inouilior large mouih. t ?hi n k i &*3 .iei d* on the water 

 (turrouu-ung. Here in the KaK>n .z >> River, with its . 

 swifr, current, th 3 fiUh have <o fitil tie lor a Jiving. They I 

 cau'l lay around and loaf like the bass in the lakes, but ! 

 must ho up and fuming, or get left in the struggle for ex- 

 istence. The difference between a lake bass and a river 



bass Is the difference between a spindle-shanked dry- 

 goods dude and the pitcher of a base-ball club. 



Our three days on the river bad a fair ending after all, 

 and yet, the next morning, as the train pulled us away, I 

 could hear John saying something that sounded like 

 "Shoo, shoo, the Kalamazoo!" — this because Izaak, Jr., 

 had caught all the large bass. 



The rest of the week we spent on Black Lake with very 

 satisfactory results. The white bass, or silver bass, found 

 abundantly in Lake Michigan, had this year come up 

 to the head of the lake and furnished fine sport to the 

 angler. They are a beautiful fish, gamy as the black 

 ba?s, and on the table cannot be excelled. They run in 

 weight from three-quarters to two pounds. Friday, how- 

 ever, was another off day in our outing, as we were wind 

 bound all day at Stick-in-the-mud Point on the north 

 shore of Black Lake. Thither we had gone early in the 

 morning, and the wind blew great guns all day, and it 

 was very rough in the evening when we rowed back. 

 John got pale around the mouth when the whitecaps 

 would slap him in the back; Charles the Hunter was 

 tickled; and Izaak, Jr., handled the oars. Saturday af- 

 ternoon, however, we had fine sport, and took a basket- 

 ful of fine fish— black bas-\ white bass and croppie. On 

 that day we had an example of old-time fishing methods. 

 A native was skittering for bass with a cane pole 21ft. 

 lain, long, and with a line about half that length. He 

 hooked a bass, and then we saw a funny maneuver; he 

 jammed that pole down through the water toward China, 

 until he couldreach the Hue, and then hauled in the small 

 bass hand over hand. We suppose it tickled him, and it 

 most certainly did us. 



Our week's fishing was over, and back to the city of 

 Grand Rapids we went, where I had left the good wife 

 and kid to engage in the joys of "visiting," at which 

 Izaak, Jr., is not an expert. But even a week's absence 

 had caused the kid to forget me, and she screamed with 

 fright when I sought to resume our old relations. 



But the joys of visiting soon palled upon my tastes 

 and a few days later I was again on Black Lake,' accom- 

 panied this time by Professor George. But a few years 

 ago this latter individual was somewhat disposed to de- 

 fine fishermen d la Carlyle, but he has been converted 

 into better ways through a son who is a great lover of 

 angling. Professor George may now be classed with the 

 fishing cranks, and has heea known to rise at 3:30 A. M. 

 so as not to miss the morning rise. Our success continued 

 remarkable, and in one afternoon and the next forenoon 

 we took 90 fish, all bass, except one big sheepshead, 

 which we didn't count. Why is there such a prejudice 

 against this fish? He is clean-looking, makes a good 

 fight, and— but is he good to eat? Some say no and some 

 yes. 



But the time for the final reeling in of the line has 

 come, t>nd the tackle is carefully and tenderly laid away 

 for a new resurrection the ensuing year. [Mem. — If 

 there is no angling on the "other side" some fellows will 

 have a mighty lonesome time of it.] 



It will he noticed that Izaak, Jr., in this account of his 

 outing has been chary in describing the beauties of 

 nature. He might have dwelt lovingly on the glory of 

 sunset on the waters; of the shimmering light falling 

 through the old forest trees; of the sweet songs of birds 

 — kingfishers and crows; of the hum of myriad insects- 

 most mosquitoes; of the beauty and grace of the clam- 

 bering vinet — generally poison ivy: of the bracing air 

 and glorious sumhine — which burned the skin off the tip 

 of his nose; of the pure and sparkling waters— full of 

 "frog spittle;" and of a great many other fine things 

 which anglers write about when they fail to catch fish. 

 But Izaak, Jr.. skipped all these, for his success in ang- 

 ling was a sufficient, theme about which to write. And 

 in the long weeks which must intervene before another 

 outing., the scenes and exploits of the present one can be 

 lived over again, which is the privilege of all faithful 

 anglers, and among them is he who signs himself 



St Louis, Mo. IZAAK, JR. 



Fish and Game in West Virginia.— Capon Springs, 

 W. Va. — Four miles from Capon Springs, and reached by 

 a beautiful drive through the mountains, are situated 

 Capon River and lake, where the anglers are now taking 

 fine black bass and perch with a rod and line, using live 

 minnows for bait, and sometimes substituting artificial 

 fl es. Yesterday I saw a bass weighing 4|los. which was 

 caught there. Capon Lake empties into Lost River, a 

 tributary of the Big Capon. Not far away is the lovely 

 valley of the Gipon, celebrated for its brook trout, which 

 are still plentiful enough to attract anglers familiar with 

 the region. Capon Springs is the center of a fine bunt- 

 ing territory. Woodcock are abundant, pheasants (ruffed 

 grouse), and wild turkey were never more plentiful, 

 although not yet in sea-on. Deer and bear are plentiful, 

 and the prospect for the first is unusually good at present. 

 — E. T. M. 



An Eel on the Fn,— Norfolk. Va.. Aug. 30.— An in- 

 cident occurred in tnis neighborhood some ten days since 

 which I think is worthy of record as being something out 

 of the ordinary; and I deduct from it that you can add 

 the eel to the fishes that take the fly. tUr. Joseph T. 

 Allyn, a prominent lawyer of our city and a devotee of 

 Izaak Walton, "may his tribe increase." spent a day at 

 Virginia Beach, and fished in Lake Holly immediately in 

 the rear of the Princess Ann Hotel. He used the fly, and 

 among bis catch of bass, strawberry and blue perch, 

 which all rose freely, he hooked and caught an eel of 

 noble proportions, which did some heavy lugging such as 

 an eel only is capable of. The hooking was no accident, 

 but was done "of malice aforethought" on the part of the 

 eel, anil he suffered the penalty of his act. — Reynard. 



A horde of noisy sparrows has chosen for a roosb a tree in 

 the yard of a citizen of Orange, N. J. For several evenings 

 he has been experimenting with a sparrow disturber, which 

 is at least a partial success. He has tied stout cords to 

 nearly every limb of the tree and gathered the ends at his 

 window When the sparrows settle down for the night he 

 goes to the window and jerks the string. The sparrows be- 

 come "rattled" and flit away in the dark. Another citizen 

 of Orange Las a fine growth of ivy on the side of his house, 

 and the sparrows have been inh&MtIng it through tout the 

 yi-ai'-uiit il n ec.-t'y. He hasdr'vpn them away by going into 

 the attic anu sifting Scotch sua" a;.d c^yu pqip.r down 

 through i he vine. ^ 



NAi*as a«d l-oRxnAixs of niiiu, 5 i*v.r»ton Truai.'Uu. A 

 book p*rt!fuUriy in' s -'eating to u>r ; f 'ta nse they ea: 



M-ni-fr v'Tho'i' qi«**"ih «.' t.i<a Anisr'esa ;a.ni' h'wlp whiet 

 rl>~v an- < OIjU, £?■! 4*s«*t pri-ja $2.50. For sits by FoBOB? 

 ahd Stream. 



MORE ABOUT TROUT CULTURE. 



DENVER, Col.. Aug. 24.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Mr. Milton P. Peirce affects much distress because I 

 do not reply to his statements. It quickly became apparent 

 to me in this controversy that Mr. Peirce did not desire in- 

 ; formation. In his own esteem, he already knew it all; no- 

 j body could teach him anything, hence there was only one 

 course left to pursue— adopt his own tactics, meet him with 

 his own weapons. For this I must beg the pardon of Forest 

 and Stream and its readers. Mr. Peirce has but one text 

 and sings but one song— "Trout culture is a failure. " True, 

 he introduces variations now and then and spices it with 

 Billingsgate. Yearly progress in trout culture, as reported 

 in Forest and Stream, proves that Mr. Peirce is wrong in 

 his belief, but nothing that I might write would change his 

 opinion. At least, he would not admit that it did. To the 

 public he has proved hut one thing— that he, Mr. Peirce, 

 tailed in trout culture (as I am assured he. failed in various 

 other undertakings), and that he is thereby convinced that 

 every one else must fail in he same way. 



I very earnestly concur in Mr. Peirce's desire that those 

 sufficiently interested will look back over the controversy 

 he has raised. In his latest and very labored effusion he 

 has endeavored to escape the real issue' much after the man- 

 ner of the cuttlefish, but he must not forget that he has 

 posed for years as a fishcultural critic, and has assumed the 

 right to abuse at will all who do not share his views, and 

 the time has come when he should make good his claim to 

 that eminence in fishculture which is so loudly proclaimed 

 in his own behalf, but which I have never known to be. 

 recognized by any one else. When Mr. Peirce can learn to 

 conduct a controversy in a gentlemanly manner and not by 

 charging all who oppose his views as either callow or with 

 unworthy motives "with an axe to grind," etc., etc, he will 

 receive proper courtesy no doubt and any amount of evi- 

 dence that he may desire to receive and discuss fairly on its 

 merits; but no self-respecting man, trout culturist or any 

 other, can afford to submit to his dogmatic and dictatorial 

 controversial methods. His intense egotism will not allow 

 him to treat an opponent courteously or fairly, as is evi- 

 denced by a perusal of the short-lived "Journal of Carp- 

 Culture and Rural Hydraulics," of which he was editor. 

 The only recourse is to meet him on his own ground, or to 

 treat him as one of those unscrutable inflictions of an All- 

 wise Providence, which must be endured with patient 

 resignation. Unfortunately this latter policy has already 

 prevailed too long in his case, and so it has become impos- 

 sible for any one having views at a variance with those of 

 Mr. Peirce to mention them without encountering his 

 charges of "self-interest." What has been the object of 

 Mr. Peirce's various schemes and "fads" if not for his own 

 self-interest? 



If, however, he ever succeeds in overthrowing the beliefs 

 and methods of such men as Spencer F. Baird, Marshall 

 McDonald, G. Brown Goode, H err von Behr, Max von dem 

 Borne, Sir James Maitland, E. G. Blackford, Fred. Mather. 

 Seth Green, Livingston Stone, and others, or impeaching 

 their honor or sincerity, he will do it by practical demon- 

 strations and not by abuse or charges of interested motives. 

 The recoil simply knocks Mr. Peirce down every time he 

 shoots. It is true he picks himself up, loads his blunderbuss 

 and picks his flint anew every time, but it is no use, it is 

 only a blunderbuss and it will kick. 



His conclusions and prognostications concerning shad and 

 whitefish culture have been in the same vein, though some* 

 what more indulgent toward the work of the IT. S. Fish 

 Commission, in that direction, treating it as being yet in the 

 "legitimate experimental stage." Here are some of his 

 opinions: "Wa have but little faith in the whitefish ex- 

 periments, and not much more with regard to the shad." 

 "Does any one suppose that one in fifteen of the plant of 

 young shad made in the waters of the Delaware last season 

 wdl ever be seen again by mortal eye? We have not the 

 faintest belief that one in one hundred of them survived 

 twenty-four hours after planting." How do these utterances 

 sound in view of our present, knowledge of the results in 

 these branches oE fishcultural effort? Mr. Peirce violently 

 condemns the catfish for cultivation, although it is being 

 taken up extensively for that purpose as preferable to the 

 carp. He says, referring to the Colorado Fish Commissioner: 

 "If the Commissioner had a practical knowledge of fish- 

 culture, he would let every variety of catfish severely alone, 

 and advise every one else to, as we now do " 



It is well known, I am informed, where he is well known, 

 and in fact a perusal of the meagre file of the late "Journal . 

 of Carp Culture and Rural Hydraulics," reveals the. fact 

 throughout that Mr. Peirce has all his fishcultural life been 

 tne "victim" of "jobs" and "antagonisms." He has been 

 suppressed and misrepresented, and there has been an 

 evident conspiracy throughout the fishcultural world to 

 refuse him th nt recognition of eminence for which he so 

 earnestly yearns, but 1 hope he will try, in the future, to 

 repress himself sufficiently to enlighten us as to what he 

 has doue to deserve such eminence, rather than as to his 

 personal entanglements, enough of which can be gleaned 

 from what he has previously written. Let us know some- 

 thing of the very "valuable experiments of ten years" at 

 Winona, upon which he bases his opinions, and also as 

 much furtner back as that "long, careful, systematic ex- 

 perience" in fishculture as he likes. Let us know when and 

 where he practiced trout culture. Let us also have some 

 hint of the great fishcultural establishments created by Mr. 

 Peirce, and the results, in tangible shape. Let us have the 

 name of the paper of enormous circulation to which Mr. 

 Peirce contributes, as I for one would be truly glad to sub- 

 scribe if it comes up to my expectations as a comic publica- 

 tion. I would like to hear, also, what paper it was which 

 said that Mr. Peirce was "generally acknowledged to be one 

 of the best known and most reliable authorities on the sub- 

 ject of fishculture." The allusion to the three great publi- 

 cations of enormous circulation could hardly have referred 

 to the. publications of the "Rural Publishing Co.," although 

 the late "Journal of Carp Culture and Rural Hydraulics" is 

 the only publication in which I have ever seen any reference 

 to Mr. Peirce as an "eminent authority" on fishculture. 

 Th« prospectus to that short-lived record of Mr. Peirce's 

 opinion's contained the following modest reference: "It 

 will be almost supi rfluous for the publishers to say to most 

 of those who will receive this prospectus that the editor-in- 

 chief engaged by them is one of the best known writers 

 upon fishculture, and is recognized throughout the civilised 

 world as a leading, and in most cases the leading, authority 

 upon carp culture. Fourteen editions, embracing several 

 hundred thousand copies of his writings upon the subject, 

 have been published and distributed in every civilized 

 country upon the earth." As Mr. Peirce was the "editor-in- 

 chief" of that paper during its very ephemeral existence, 

 perhaps he can tell who wrote it. 



In regard to Mr. J*eiree's boast as to the fishcultural estab- 

 lishments he has fitted up. I have ho doubt that his persist- 

 ent advertisement of himself as the great and only carp 

 culturist (on strictly moral principles), the deviser of the 

 " A-ii^'k-Mi system of earn culture and expert in rural hy- 

 drau'ics," ikss had its pfivctiu procuring him "jobs" through- 

 out tin- <•<>" itrv, and I am willing to add yet further to bis 

 fame by advi-rlbdug him here. It is a great pity the defunct 

 "Journal of C» rp Culture and Rural Hydraulics," which was 

 Ins personal advertising organ, having been devoted exclu- 

 sively to the extirpation of the "trout culture delusion," 



