May 7, 1891.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



311 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



CHICAGO, 111. , April 30.— Pistaqua Fishing Club officers 

 for this year are: J. L. Kinsella, Commodore; Thos. 

 B., Spence, Secretary; Nick J. Wilson, Treasurer. The 

 club makes its first formal trip to Pistaqua and Fox lakes 

 May 9. 



Within the past week the weather here has been warm 

 and clear. The bass fishing has loomed into sudden 

 prominence. A number of good catches have been made 

 in Sand Lake, Channel Lake, Grass Lake and others of 

 the Fox Lake district. Eight or ten heavy bass has not 

 been unusual, and I heard of one take of 21 good fish in 

 Grass Lake. Mr. Williamson, an artist sportsman of note 

 in Chicago, has had some good fishing. He says the bass 

 are taking flies now, as he learned by dropping insects to 

 them from a bridge below which some were lying. He 

 counsels a large black gnat or other dark fly. " Mr. Ben- 

 ner, a fly-fisher of the Wabash, Indiana, says that a 

 bucktail fl.y (or hackle made from the mottled hairs of 

 the deer's tail) is the be=!t fly they can use in the early 

 spring on that stream. The Fox Lake bass have mostly 

 been taken on the surface frog. The bass have not yet 

 begun to spawn in those lakes. I suppose it would be 

 better to wait till they have spaAvned, but that would 

 often mean till the end of July, as these fish seem to 

 have no sort of sharp season at all for that process in 

 these waters. 



Two of our well-known sportsmen will about the be- 

 ginning of June run the Kankakee by boat from Mak- 

 saw-ba down, being out a week or so. They want bass. 

 Mr, Strunk, of Momence, says that later in the summer 

 is better for bass, and that pickerel would make the chief 

 catch in May or June; but I am inclined to think a good 

 many bass could be picked up in early June. I sujipose 

 the best bait then would be the minnow, then live frog, 

 then spoon, then fly. The Donaldson and Ferguson, 

 though apparently very gaudy for so clear a stream, I 

 have found most successful on the Tippecanoe and Kan- 

 kakee in the summer. Theoretically I do not see why the 

 bluebottle, Governor-Alvord or Montreal should not be 

 better. Bluebottle is the leading fly for summer fishing 

 on the lower Fox River. At Aurora the jungle- cock has 

 a high place. I should think jungle-cock", bluebottle and 

 say Montreal would be about as good flies as any right 

 now on the Kankakee below Momence. 



A young man who fishes the Des Plaines, within fifteen 

 miles of Chicago, came in this week with what my in 

 formant called a lot of "croppies." I have reason to 

 think they were rock bass or "'goggle-eyes," from the fact 

 that my said informant called the rock bass we lately 

 caught on a little trip "croppies." He calls the crojipy 

 "silver bass." And so it goes. We need an act for the 

 proper nomenclature of common fishes. A friend asks 

 me if the rock bass will take the fly. I should say they 

 would, and so will croppies. Best in the evening. 



BiQy Werner, erstwhde known as caterer to the Pos- 

 sum Club, is to take charge of a restaurant on Dearborn 

 street, and the club is to have a big room for itself. It 

 is probable that a summer meeting vnll be held before 

 long. 



It is very likely that the Kankakee Protective Society 

 will be organized at a very early date. The boys are 

 moving slowly, because they don't want to make any 

 mistake. Prominent members of Mak-aaw-ba, English 

 Lake, Cumberland and Diana clubs have already de- 

 clared in favor of the movement, and it will in due 

 course be made I hope. A great deal of good can be 

 done along the Kankakee at a very low expense, and it 

 would be a shame if the gentlemen inlei'ested in that 

 stream did not combine for this purpose. 



I hear from men who saw it done that one of the Pad- 

 docks up above Fox Lake was shooting fish last week. 

 The Paddocks are summer-resort men. They take this 

 way of iuforming good sportsmen that they want their 

 trade. My informant does not know the particular Pad- 

 dock, but saw the act and saw the man, and was told it 

 was Paddock, He can perhaps identify the man, and I 

 shall see the Fox Lake Association and ask them to pros- 

 ecute if they can find a case. 



Pickerel have been running all over Cumberland mai'sh 

 and the club men have been spearing them in the ditches. 

 I don't see how they can say much agauist the natives 

 spearing legal fish then , do you? 



Mr. C. S. Burton, city passenger agent of the Big Four 

 road , snook oflf after trout last week not far away from 

 Chicago, and came back with nine, one weighing a pound 

 and a half. To publish the stream would be to ruin it, 

 and I will not give the name under the circumstances. 



Mr, J. L. Wilcox and Mr. Pariier last week were after 

 trout on the Kinnikinnicii, above St. Paul, and got 400, 

 sending some nice boxes down to theh friends. 



About those snipe; no one knows where they are. JSTo 

 one has killed any. A good many plover have appeared. 

 Frank Place and Turtle were out on the Say yesterday 

 after snipe and plover. Italian Joe has been shooting 

 plover somewhere down in Indiana for two weeks. 

 Percy Stone says the plover are flying around Wheaton 

 in good flocks now. Fred Donald killed sixty-eight 

 plover at Gilman, on the I, C. R, R. last Saturday, ajid 

 says if he had had decoys he could have bagged 200. 

 This is top bag, so far as I know, on the plover. 



This week Billy Mussey, Dr. Malcolm, L. R. Brown 

 and George Andrews were out after snipe on Mak-saw-ba 

 marsh, and they met a singular incident. Once before I 

 told in these columns of a jacksnipe which Mr. Mussey 

 saw alight in a tree. This same thing happened again in 

 the sight of Mr. Mussey and his friends this week. The 

 bird was flying over tlie timber, darting and "booming" 

 for several minutes and seeming to have perfect control 

 over itself. Finally it lit on the top branch of a A^ery 

 large dead tree. After watching it some time one of the 

 party started after it, when it flew, and shortly after that 

 alighted on another tree not far ofl". Again an approach 

 was made to it, when it pitched to the ground not far 

 off. When it arose Mr. Muasey killed it. On examina- 

 tion this bird was found to have lost an eye, probably 

 not very long before, for the cavity of the socket was 

 terribly fly-blown. Doubtless the bird was in agony and 

 it was a mercy to kill it, but whether this had anything 

 to do with its singular conduct is something which can 

 not be said. 



Numbers of our sportsmen have been down with the 

 prevalent malady, the "grippe." IsJs. R. B. Organ is just 

 recovering and looks badly. He is in poor shape to shoot 

 his race with Alex. Loyd, billed for an early date, he to 

 shoot at 100 birds and Mr. Loyd at 103. 



Pleasant days and warm weather here make it hard to 



think of cold and ice; yet it was within this month that 

 there happened near the boundary line of Minnesota one 

 of those terrilJe tragedies which may befall the frontier 

 hunter. Some weeks ago a hunter by the name of Mc- 

 Kinnon froze both his feet and was confined to his cabin. 

 Mortification set in and the poor fellow amputated both 

 his own feet. Alone and perishing, he Avas recently 

 found by two other hunters, who took him in to Winni- 

 peg, where his recovery is very doubtful. E. Hough. 



Forest and Stream Club.— BelleviUe, Canada, April 

 20. — Rumors of deer killing having been looked into by 

 Constable Sweet, who is an oiflcer of the Forest and 

 Stream Club of this city, led to arrest and the conviction 

 last Saturday of C. W. and N, Lake, who were fined 

 $16.20 each. This was a very important case, as it is 

 stated that about fifteen deer, forming a yard, were all 

 destroyed, and the majority being does and heavy with 

 young, neither the venison nor skins were of any value 

 at this season to the butchers. The annual meeting of 

 the Forest and Stream Club was held on Thursday night 

 last, when, after two new members had been admitted, 

 the following ofiicers were elected: President, Henry 

 Corby, M.P.; first Vice-President, W. H. Biggai-, M.P.P.; 

 second Vice-President, James Lowrie; Secretary, T. W. 

 R, McRae; Treasurer, Richard A. Davis; Directors, R. S. 

 Bell. Geo. A. Frost, W. P. Clarke, Henry Pretty, James 

 H. Mills, John Brasier, Wm. Ormond. A comprehensive 

 programme for the season was adopted. In trap-shooting, 

 Mr. Crosby offers a prize of $10 for the senior class, and 

 Mr, W. H, Biggar donates a like amount in the junior 

 class. The club gives second and third prizes of $5 and 

 $2 respectively in each class. In rifle shooting Mr. Corby 

 also offers |lO, divided into prizes of $5, $3 and |3 in the 

 match, and the club gives like figures for aggregate. 

 Trap shooting matches begin on Tlmrsday, May 28, and 

 will be held fortnightly. Rifle matches commence on 

 Tuesday, May 26, and will be held Aveekly. In angling 

 and trolling, Mr. A. H. Crosby oft'ers a handsome rod case 

 for largest black bass, Mr. Brrisier offei's a felt hat for 

 largest maskinonge, and Mr. T. Ritchie will give a prize 

 for fly-fishing. Season from June 15 to Oct. 1. Com- 

 petitions for money prizes Avill be held on Aug. 14 and 

 Aug. 22, the awards being for largest black bass and 

 largest catch of black bass on those days. The member- 

 ship of the club numbers 172.— R S. B. 



Ohio Game Prospects.— May 2— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: We have good prospects here for an abundance 

 of game this fall. Hundreds of quail being left over from 

 last season makes a better outlook than Ave have had for 

 many years. Unless the season should be extremely wet, 

 so as to interfere with hatching, Ave have nothing to fear 

 for sport, unless it should be failure to gain the farmer's 

 consent to hunt on his premises. Our State laws now 

 protect the fai mer in that manner, as well as the quail, 

 and in several townships last fall the farmers allowed no 

 hunting at all. I notice a few jacksnipe this spring and 

 a number of flocks of plover. Have not seen any of the 

 latter in this ^county for a good many years until this 

 spring. There was a ll-pound scale carp caught in the 

 Olentangy River at this point last week. A number have 

 been taken this spring from 5 to 71bs. They originally 

 escaped from- fish ponds. The river is A-ery small here. 

 The Liberty Gun Club is a new organization that promises 

 to be born soon. Long may it live, as its members will 

 chiefly be farmers, and when they are interested in the 

 preservation of game and sport in general, it includes 

 men whom we could not couut on heretofore. We have 

 a good game warden. Dr. Lee Wentz, of Delaware, but I 

 believe he is hardly strict enough.— Yoitth (Hyattville, 

 Delaware County). 



Ohio. — Cadiz, April 15. — Any amount of rabbits and 

 quail left over to replenish the stock for next season. I 

 have flushed several coveys lately Avith as high as ten to 

 a dozen birds in; and rabbits are A^ery plentiful; can start 

 them any day. My beagles have good runs two to three 

 times every week. As they run at will, hardly a day 

 jiasses but Avhat they have a short run, as the rabbits go 

 right to earth this season of the year. — S, C. G. 



John A. Steele, of Ohio, who, while on a hunting trip 

 in North Carolina, Avas accidentally shot in the knee and 

 was sent to Washington for treatment, died April 29. 

 He was the son of the late John Steele, one of the best 

 known of the prominent men in the early history of the 

 "Western Reserve" and the founder of the town of 

 Painesville, Ohio. 



Progress os" Lake St. John.— Lake St. John has become so 

 popiilar a 8umm(?r resort, that the hotel accommodation there has 

 oeen quadrupled during t he present Avinter. This has been done 

 by enlargening the RoberA^al Hotel by the addition of two immense 

 wings, so that the house now has accommodation for three hundred 

 guests, instead of one hundred as it bad previously. The building 

 commands a magnificent view of Lake St. John. It has a perfect 

 water system of us own, VA'ith baths and fire appliances, a very flne 

 dining-room and balconies, and will be lighted by electric light. 

 To proA'ide for the comforts of sportsmen, a fine new hotel with 

 accommodation for one huEdred guests has been built on one of the 

 islands of the Grand Discharge of Lake St. John, in the very centre 

 of the best fishing grounds for that celebrated and unique species 

 of fresh water salmon called by the Montagnais Indians "Otd- 

 naniche." This hotel will be worked by the staff of the Hotel 

 Roberval, and the fishing pi ivileges will be free to all giiests of 

 either liouse. A steamer will run daily between RoberA^al and the 

 Grand Disciiarge, a distance of thirty miles, in connection with 

 trains on the Lake St. John Railwaj^. At Lake Edward an excel- 

 lent hotel has been built on the border of that widely celebrated 

 trout lake, so well-known for its large fish. At Lake St. Joseph, 

 which is less than an hour's ride from Quebec, a new wing is 

 being added to the hotel, which will double the present accom- 

 modation of this fleliglitful summer resort. The train service 

 between Quebec and Lake St. John is also going to he much im- 

 proved.— Qwci-fc Morniwj Chiriuidc. 



West Shore Railroad.— The superhly built, magnificently 

 equipped, double track, steel trunk line to and from the West. 

 Three fast express trains daily in each direction. AVagner palace 

 sleeping cars and buttet sleeping cars attached. The only all-rail 

 route to the Catskill Mountains; with dravvingroom and bntEet 

 smoking cars run through without change between Philadelphia, 

 Jersey City, New York and Catskill Mountains. Saratoga limitf d 

 express trains during the summer season. Special trains for the 

 accommodation of travel to and from Lakes Mohonk and Min- 

 newaska, Shawangunk Mountains and all points in the Wallkill 

 Valley. Connection in Jersey City station witli Pennsylvania R. 

 R. tlius avoiding the long transfers through ^^ew V'ork. Tickets 

 Aia West Shore at all ticket offices of all competing lines. For 

 time tables and full information address C. E. LajIUERT, txeneral 

 Passenger Agent, 5 Vauderbiit avenue, N. Y. city. — A.dv. 



A Book Ajbout Indians.— The Forest and Stream will mail 

 free on application a descriptive circular of Mr. GrinnelPa book, 

 "Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-tales," giving a table of contents 

 and specimen illustrations from the volume.— ^du. 



The FiTLL TEXTS of the game fish laws of all the States, 

 Territories and British Provinces are given in the Book of 



the Game La ws. 



BOUND FOR MAINE STREAMS. 



AT this writing the ice has not left the celebrated 

 Maine trout lakes, the Rangeleys and Moosebead. 

 But the Sebago waters are clear; Weld Pond is clear, and 

 a few landlocked salmon are being taken. Still, I do not 

 hear that any considerable catches are being made. 

 Opinions differ as to when the Rangeleys will be clear of 

 ice, though this is a matter of a great deal of interest at 

 this time to the rod and reel sportsmen. Indeed, it is sel- 

 dom that the interest has been as gre.at. Sportsmen are 

 fitting out almost regardless of expense, and the tackle 

 buyers include men of Avealth and men tliat are not as 

 ricli. They buy everything, from cheap Avood rods and 

 cheap lines and reels to the very best otttfits that are to 

 be had in the tackle stores. Flies that cost .S4 the dozen 

 to import are not good enough for the salmon fishermen 

 this year. A well-known tackle dealer had in his hand 

 on Saturday a box, not bigger than the box that holds 100 

 shotgun shells, on which he had just paid duty at the 

 Custom House to the amount of over .$20. The box con- 

 tained Scotch flies. 



Btit as to the ice. Opinions now suggest that it will 

 leave the Rangeleys somewhere from the 8th to the 15th 

 of the month." Mr. Farmer, well knoAvn at PhDlips and 

 Rangeley. Avho has vratched the ice for years and rarely 

 failed in judgment, says that the ice Avill leave about the 

 1.5th. Mr. Marble, of the Rangeley Lake House, says 

 that it will go about the 8th. I'rom Moosehead the ice 

 will be likelv to go a day or two earlier than from the 

 Rangeleys. Boston sportsmen are ready. The telegraph 

 will announce tlie moving of the ice from this celebrated 

 trout lake, and the first train from the Hub will have a 

 number ot Moosehead sportsmen on board. The parties are 

 numerous and greater in point of numbers this year than 

 usual. The Linder party is made up of old hands at the 

 business. They will not follow closely the going out of 

 the ice, however. They prefer to wait a few days for 

 warmer water and Aveatber, with which fly-fishing comes, 

 They have one of the best steamers at Moosehead engaged 

 to meet them at Greenville, and this boat is at their dis- 

 posal during the entire trip. The pai-ty is composed of 

 Jlr. George Linder, of the firm of Linder & Meyer, his 

 partner, Mr. C. H. Maynard, Benjamin Hurd, well known 

 in the wholesale grocery trade, Mr. Geo. S. StockweU, of 

 the boot and shoe trade, and a son of Mr. SliotweU, for 

 many years the owner of the Boston Journal, and Mr. 

 Garret Schenck. 



There is another party which is anxious that the 

 Linder party shall be through with that steamer by the 

 10th of .June, or before, if the weather and the water is 

 warm. It is the Kineo Club, that has visited Moosehead 

 every year about the 10th of that month for several years. 

 The club contains some of Boston's first trout fishermen 

 and sportsmen. Mr. J. B. Thomas, of the Standard 

 Sugar Refinery, is commodore of the club. The members 

 are J. F. Nickerson, of the wholesale grocery trade; J. 

 Walter Sanborn, of the flour and grain trade: Frank 

 Wise, of the flour trade, W. S. Hills, of the flour trade: 

 Mr. Bsal, of the dry goods trade, and Mr. Lauriat, of the 

 book flrm of Estes & Lauriat. 



Another very jolly party is about ready to leave for 

 Moosehead and will go about as soon as the ice is out. It 

 is the Harry Moore party. It is made up of Harry B. 

 Moore, of the grain trade, Geo. C. Moore, a manufac- 

 turer of North Chelmsford, Mass., Harry Piatt, son of 

 Senator Piatt of New York, and of the United States Ex- 

 press Co., H. M. Stephenson, a well-known Boston archi- 

 tect, John A. Faulkner, of Lowell, and Calvin Austin, 

 manager of the Bangor & Boston Steamship Co. They 

 also charter a steamer and many are the adventures that 

 they pass through, Harry Moore's father was with them 

 last year and, doubtless, AA^ould be this year but for a 

 longer trip and visit to the West. He is over seventy and 

 yet is as fond of flshing as when a boy. It was he who 

 met with a little mishap at Moosehead last year. He got 

 wet. The boats used there to fish from, as well as those 

 at the Rangeleys, are not so very heavy, though counted 

 very safe for light boats. They are built "double-enders" 

 and" they scarcely weigh above 100] bs., though from 13ft, 

 to 16ft. in length and from 34 to 4ft. beam. One not 

 accustomed to them should "part his hair in the middle," 

 if he intends to fish as he would from yawl boat. They 

 ride like an eggshell over the roughest water, if the guide 

 and the fisherman both understand their business. Mr. 

 Moore was scarcely accustomed to a boat so particular. He 

 got along very nicely till about the third day. He had 

 taken several trout. The seat was hard and he was thed. 

 He thought that he Avould just stand up and stretch his 

 legs and light his pijje. He did so. The boat was in for 

 being tmloaded and out from under him in an instant. 

 He clung to the craft, however. The steamer was near, 

 and Hai-ry soon had his father on board and backed up 

 against the boiler to keep warm. The guide says that the 

 first remark of Mr. Moore was: "T declare, "l believe I 

 have lost my pipe, and the big trout is gone, as sure as 

 preaching!" 



Mr. Walter Hill and wife will go to Moopehead, as 

 mentioned in my former letter, but it may be added that 

 they will be accompanied by Miss Arnold, a lady friend 

 from Cambridge. This will be Miss Arnold's first trip to 

 the Maine trout waters, and the chances are that she will 

 be as much charmed as was Mrs. Hill with her initial 

 going-a-fishing. 



Among the many parties that will go to the Rangeleys 

 this season may be mentioned Mr. Bayard Thayer and his 

 brothers and friends of Birch Lodge, on Richardson Lake. 

 The Stevens party, made up of Mr, Stevens, his nephew, 

 Mr. Smart and Mr. Shattuck. They goto their own camp. 

 Camp Vive Vale, at Tlie Narrows. Mr. Shattuck has a 

 record of a 91bs. trottt taken at the NarroAvs. Mr. Stevens 

 is noted as one of the most successful fishermen that ever 

 visits the lake region, Mr. G. N. Smalley, with his friend 

 C. Z. Bassett, of the firm of Geo. B. Appleton & Co., in 

 the fishing tackle trade, will make a tour of the Range- 

 leys, starting about May 25. Mr. A. S. Foster, of Larakin. 

 & Foster, in the boot and shoe trade, with J. F, Rogers 

 and other friends will early visit the Rangeleys. 



A party of Lynn sportsmen are early booked for the 



