332 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



LMat 14, 1891. 



THE SEASON IN CANADA, 



THE icy fetters that for five or six months past 

 have bound the waters of Canada's northern lakes 

 and rivers have at length been shaken off, and native 

 anglers are busy assorting their fishing tackle, going 

 through their carelessly laid-away fly books and making 

 notes of the missing favorites, or of those damaged during 

 the course nf last season's campaign. It will be a few 

 days yet before these will be called into requisition, but 

 this by no means indicates that the finny inhabitants of 

 Canadian waters are remaining free from allurements of 

 the fisherman. All varieties of deep-water bait known to 

 early spring anglers are eagerly seized by Canadian trout 

 as soon af the spring floods partially subside in the rivers 

 and the ice disappears from the surface of the lakes. 

 Good catches of trout have already been made this month 

 in Lake Beauport, and also in Lake St, Joseph, on the 

 line of the Lake St. John Railway. The fish in the former 

 average between 4oz, and 1^1 bs,, and in the latter run 

 frequently up to 3 and 41bs, each. Messrs, Brewer, 

 Coates, and other members of the Springfield Fishing 

 Club, had excellent sport upon the lakes that form part 

 of their Metabetchouan preserve as early as the month of 

 March. They spent ten to fifteen days in the woods, 

 took through the ice a large quantity of very fine red 

 trout, and saw several caribou. 



Lake Edward, or Lac des Grandes Isles, has already 

 yielded a few fine fish this spring, but will reach the full 

 height of its season about the l5th inst. Thereafter we 

 may look for reports of amjjle takes of very large fish , 

 some of the handsomest trout taken along the line of the 

 Quebec & Lake St. John Railway having come from this 

 lake, which, it will be remembered, is also the head- 

 quarters of Kit Clarke's Paradise Fin and Feather Club, 

 of which Judge Gildersleeve, of New York, is president, 

 and Grover Cleveland an honorary member. 



The ice left Lake St. John, the home of the far-famed 

 ouananiche, early in April. The landlocked salmon of 

 this inland sea wUl not leave it for the Grande JDischarge 

 for two or three weeks to come. Daring the month of 

 May they are principally taken in the lake itself, and 

 especially along theEoberval shore, opposite the Roberval 

 Hotel and the present terminus of the Quebec & Lake St. 

 John Railway. The large influx of American anglers 

 last year into the country of the ouananiche, and the 

 consequent crowding in the height of the season of the 

 local hotels, have induced the proprietors of the Roberval 

 Hotel to so enlarge their house during the past winter 

 that its size is now quadrupled and accommodation pro- 

 vided for three hundred guests, while upon an island in 

 the Grande Discharge another house has been erected, 

 capable of accommodating a hundred guests. 



Lake St. John is thirty miles across from Roberval to 

 the Grande Discharge, and the crossing will be made by 

 two boats daily during the present summer, one of which 

 is a powerful new steamer with accommodations for 400 

 passengers. These steamers also make occasional trips 

 up the Peribonca, the Mistassini and other huge rivers 

 flowing into Lake St. John, of which some are over a 

 mile wide at their mouths. But few white men have 

 sailed irp these mighty streams, which are navigable for 

 steamboats in the spring time for twenty to thirty miles, 

 and in who?e waters are to be taken at any time during 

 the season large catches of both jjike and ouananiche. 

 Prof, Julian C, Janes, of Hartford, was the first Ameri- 

 can to ascend the Mistassini to the Falls, a wondrous cat- 

 aract, 21 miles from the mouth of the stream. Here, in 

 1888, he made a marvelous catch of ouananiche. The 

 month of June will be found the most favorable period 

 for the ascent of these rivers before the fall of their 

 waters. 



I will endeavor to keep you posted from time to time as 

 to the names and doings of American anglers who may 

 be visitors to Canada's great fish preserve, which stretches 

 away northward from Quebec for a distance of iOO miles, 



E, T. D. Chamers. 



QxjBBBO, May 6. 



THE MAINE ICE IS OUT. 



THE fever is on. Green trees and apple blossoms have 

 intensified it. Running brooks may cool its ardor, 

 but they must do it by direct contact only. The broad 

 lake, with the boat and the fly-rod for an accompaniment, 

 may bring a panacea, but it will come only after a season 

 of days on the surface and nights in camp. The gamy 

 trout must be brought to the creel, or at least the endeavor 

 must be made, before the fishing- fevered patient is well 

 again. It comes once a year, and the spring of 1891 has 

 witnessed one of the strongest attacks aboiit here on the 

 records of angling. The ice has been tardy about leav- 

 ing the great trout waters, and the waiting has only in- 

 tensified the peculiar mania. But the sellers of fishing 

 tackle have reaped a harvest from the waiting. Guides 

 and hotel people have desired the ice to leave early, but 

 the more astute of the tackle people have been ready to 

 bet that the lakes would be slow about clearing. The bet 

 was inspued by the wish, and they have had their reward. 

 Days about fitting out and waiting for the ice have sold 

 thousands of dollars worth of tackle that would have 

 waited in the stoi-es, possibly till another year, had the 

 ice departed by the first of May. Ar.d by the departing 

 of the ice I mean that in the great trout lakes of Maine 

 and New Hampshire; for where else does the angler go? 

 After all, even the guides and hotel people and camp 

 keepers will be the better off for the tardy movement of 

 the season. Before these lines are read by the anxious 

 sportsman the ice will doubtless have departed and larger 

 parties wdl be the result of the waiting, the talking, the 

 getting ready; the excitement is too much for the would- 

 be stay-at-homes and they are off. 



But the anglers have been impatient to intensity, as 

 well as the guides and camp-keepers. In several instances 

 their impatience has got the better of their judgment, or 

 at least their impatience has formed a judgment for 

 them, in some cages very misleading. They have reasoned: 

 "The ice must be out by Wednesday, or by Thursday. 

 We will start to-day and get there just in time." Such 

 reasoning has been the cause of nearly a week's waiting 

 at the dismal little hotel at the border town, with the ice 

 still in the lake as firm as .January. Mr. C, P. Stevens, 

 one of the Camp Vive Vale party, has been one of the 

 impatient waiters. But in his impatience there was a 

 method after all. His friend, Mr, Hayes, superintendent 

 of the Boston Rubber Shoe Co.'s works at Maiden, has 

 only a couple of weeks at his disposal, and that time was 

 BO mapped out that he must be away by the obh of May, 



and they started. They met ice in the lakes, with snow- 

 drifts in the Lake road, and freezing nights, with very 

 few fish. These were taken after a good deal of trouble 

 in the swollen brooks. 



The Clough party of Lynn was also among the im- 

 patients, and Thursday a week ago carried them off. 

 They met snow and ice, with a little poor fishing in the 

 borders of the lake, with frost and rather poor success. 

 Warmer weather and the ice out will bring them better 

 results. 



Mr. B, P. Kelley, the well-known builder of Catholic 

 churches, with his friend, C. J. Bateman, a celebrated 

 architect, will go to his old haunt, the Upper Dam, about 

 the first of June. Mr. Kelley is one of the greatest lovers 

 of angling in the whole list. He was a fast friend of the 

 lamented Fr. O'Brien, of Cambridge. They were anglers 

 together for many years. They annually visited the Upper 

 Dam in company, and two more genial and wholesouled 

 anglers were seldom met there. To hear Mr. Kelley tell 

 how he "gave that trout the butt of the rod" would amuse 

 a gathering of anglers around the camp-fire for a whole 

 evening. Mi-. Kelley is a lover of fly-casting, and his ac- 

 count of his tactics, his maneuvei"s, is as unique as it is in- 

 teresting. He earnestly desires a rod and reel association 

 in Boston, and will give the support that a gentleman of 

 his wealth can afi:ord to do. Where are the other mem- 

 bers? In life Fr. O'Brien once expressed the wish that 

 when he came to die, he might be buried near the trout 

 lake he so much loved. But the incident affords a striking 

 illustration of the great affection even the learned, the 

 professional, the religious have for tlie woods and the 

 waters, the reel and the rod. 



LATER, 



A dispatch from Andover, Me., on tlie 10th announced 

 that the ice was out of Richardson Lake. This was some- 

 thing of a surprise to the sportsmen, since that lake is 

 usually the last of the Androscoggin chain to clear. But 

 the sportsmen are off. They are all the more enthusiastic 

 for the long waiting. 



Mr Bayard Thayer, with Mi-, H, 0. Leeds, will go at 

 once to Mr. Thayer's Birch Lodge, at the head of Richard- 

 son Lake. Messrs. N. S. Simpkins, John Simpkins and J . 

 Otis Wetherbee, will follow to the same camp a little 

 later, Mr. Henry Hobart, of Bridgewater, Mass., will early 

 make a trip to the Pangeleys. Mr. N. N. Thayer and 

 wife are to go to the same lakes. Mrs. Thayer is an angler 

 not excelled by her masculine friends, neither in point of 

 enthusiasm nor of expertness, Mr. E, E. Ryder is an 

 angler only 80 years of age, and yet he will make the 

 angling season at the Rangeleys. It will be his lOth nea- 

 son there. He claims that he will not be done fishing till 

 he is 90 years of age. May he be right in that sco^^, as 

 he always is in his trouting record. 



J. W. Rogers and wife are annual visitors to the Range- 

 leys, and they will doubtless again catch their big trout 

 there. L, Coes, the famous wrench manufacturer, of 

 Worcester, Mass., will make his annual visit to the Range- 

 ley waters. B. D. Sweet, of Boston, will also go there. 

 Fletcher Abbot, a son of Judge Abbot, is getting ready. 

 Mr. Frank Potter, junior member of the boot and shoe 

 manufacturing house of Potter. White & Bayley, is get- 

 ting his flies ready. He will go later for flv-fishing. 



C. D. Sias, of the coffee firm of Chase & Sanborn, with 

 Mrs. Sias, will make a pilgrimage to Grand Lake Stream 

 for landlocked salmon. Right here it may be mentioned 

 that Mr. L. Dana Chapman, of Da.me. Stoddard & Ken- 

 dall, got away to the Sebago at the last moment, with 

 some of his friends, though his party was a little broken 

 up. He had a very fine show of landlocked salmon in 

 the store window of the firm he is with on Tuesday morn- 

 ing. Mr. H. C. Litchfield, also in the tackle trade, reports 

 a remarkably good trade this spring. He has no window 

 for showing trout, for his store is in the second story, but 

 he has had several offered already by his friends. 



Salmon fishing is a little better at Bangor since warmer 

 weather, but no big catches are yet reported. Special, 



VERMONT TROUT. 



RUTLAND, Vt„ May 4.— The opening of the trout sea- 

 son in Vermont May 1 was very auspicious. The 

 day was a perfect one, and the catches so far as reported 

 were good. Since the enforcement of the Gin. law larger 

 trout are taken. The trout have more opportunity to 

 grow and the sportsmen confine themselves to the larger 

 streams. I inclose a copy of an advertisement which the 

 Vermont Fish and Game League have inserted in the 

 weekly papers in various parts of the State. 



A St. Albans fisherman brought in a string of 60 trout 

 on the first. Rutland anglers were as a rule well re- 

 warded. T. H. Clifford came home from the Cbittenden 

 Meadows with a handsome lot, the largest measuring 

 14Jin. and weighing l^lbs. This fish had been hooked by 

 a companion, escaped with hook and leader and was 

 taken again, with the first hook still in his mouth. 



Chief of Police Woodward coaxed a fine basketful 

 from the Castleton. Rev. G. W. Phillips showed twenty 

 from '^^Tiipple's Hollow and George Tower was elated 

 over a fine lot of trophies from East Creek. Timothy 

 Wheeler, E. Northrtip, E. W. Liddell, Dr. E. H. /Arm- 

 strong, T. S. Sherman and others were out for the first 

 day and aU had something nice to show for their skill. 



Vermont, 



Franklin Falls, N, H,, May 8,— The weather has been 

 cold, rough and raw, so the fish have not been biting 

 well, only a few trout and salmon having been taken. 

 The largest salmon that I hear of is one caught by Frank 

 Sanborn, of this place, that weighed 10 Jibs. Trout 

 (namaycush) have been taken lai-ger than that. Many 

 fish are seen rising and whirling at the top of the water, 

 but evidently they are not feeding. Col. Hodge is going 

 up to-morrow to see about distributing fry from the New- 

 foimd Lake hatchery. He is likely to have a busy sum- 

 mer of it, as he has to build severafnew hatching houses 

 in different parts of the State. The lumbermen have de- 

 stroyed my old camp in the Adirondack Woods: they will 

 soon make us all say, "Good bye, Adirondacks." — W. A. 



A Fishing Dog.— The Klamath (Oal.) Star has an ac- 

 count of a dog belonging to D. W. Anderson, of Lost 

 River Gap, that catches suckers. The dog seizes the 

 sucker with his teeth "and with a rapid flh't of the head 

 flings the wriggling victim high and dry on the beach." 

 An oil of some value is exprefsed from these suckers, and 

 each fish yields nearly a pint, This may seem a large 

 quantity, but Califoraia suckers grow to an engrmous 

 si2;e. t 



KELLUP'S TROUT, 



"/""iH, Caleb, Why don't you stop wishing and worry-* 



\-J ing, but just take a day and go fishing. It would 

 do you good," said Susan. 



So Kellup got out the map and picked out a nice, lone- 

 some spot in South county, and opened negotiations with 

 a yonng man down there. Jake wrote back: "Will 

 meet you 8:30 train Thursday morning." 



He did. They shook hands. 



"Well, how'd you know me, Jake?" 



"Oh, I knew ye by the rig. Them rubber boots ain't 

 high enough. Where's your creel?" 



"Well, I forgot it. Tell the truth though, Jake, I 

 think my pockets '11 be big enough. Vest pockets may- 

 be." 



They struck across the lots by a path toward the house. 



"There's a brook over yonder but it's pretty well fished. 

 We'll go back a few miles. You go and set on the piazza 

 with the Old Man while I hitch up." 



The Old Man, small, spare, amiable, was getting 

 faded, getting bent— a man to stay near the house now 

 and do the bidding of the women. Glad of the company 

 beside him on the edge of the piazza, he pointed with his 

 pipe: "See that bird there, down on the lawn? Down 

 by the bushes!" 



"Where, whei-e!" said Kellup. "Oh yes, a bluejay." 



"No it ain't no bluejay. It's a pigeon woodpecker. 

 Purtiest bird they is." 



"Well, well, well. Well how many a one I've shot, 

 how many a one I've shot at and always thought it was 

 a woodpecker, a bluejay I would say. How do you tell?" 



"How? By the white. There 'e goes. See 'im fly! 

 See the white? See the white?" 



By and by Kellup says, "I see you had the ice storm 

 here last winter," pointing to a great oak tree down by 

 the gate. 



"Yes, had to saw them two big limbs. Hed a good 

 mind to chawp 'er all down, but they's a good many men, 

 good many old men, some on 'em that — well, they used to 

 be a schoolhouse 'cross the road "n' they played round 

 under that oak when they was boys, 'n' now they're all 

 growed up they 'low that oak better not be cut down, 

 Never played there m'self." 



"Jake digging bait?" 



"No. All dug. Soap box full in the cellar; dug last 

 fall. There he comes," and he got up to pluck a straw 

 from the chestnut's foretop. 



The rods were in, the lunch was in, the old coats and 

 things were in, and Jake was in, so Kellup clambered up 

 something loath. 



There was a good wholesome aroma about the old 

 man. He seemed to know things, too. It seemed to 

 Kellup at that moment a good thing to know the differ- 

 ence between a woodpecker and a bluejay; better than 

 all the short tables in interest. And then the fact that 

 bait would live all winter in a box of earth with a little 

 meal on top. 



After supper that night when Susan had got done twit- 

 ting him about the color of his nose, but never thinking 

 to mention fish, Kellup went to the inside pocket of his 

 game coat hanging up and produced first a handful of 

 damp moss and then laid tenderly on a, platter a lOin. 

 trout. It couldn't have been more beautiful. And every 

 night for a week after that he would run on to Susan 

 about that country road that wound through woods deso- 

 late but delight fid with undergrowth of rhododendron 

 and beds of arbutus, and rocks with fantastic designs of 

 lichen, and bars you took down and put back, and old 

 sheep and young lambs and a deserted farmhouse. And 

 then he took breath nnd went on about the many delight- 

 ful pools in Sunderland Brook, where he dropped a bait 

 with the conviction that here of all places would he 

 reside if /if" were a trout, and the trees that caught his 

 hooks high up, and the log that he played up from the 

 depths and the waterfall made by the brook running into 

 his boots "And, Susan, the trout I caught!" 



Jefferson Scribb. 



MRS. STAGG'S 205LB. TARPON. 



FORT MYERS, Fla., Mav 7.— Mr. and Mrs. Geo. T. 

 Stagg, of Frankfort, Kentucky, reports the Press, 

 are here in their naphtha launch fishing for tarpon. On 

 Saturday forenoon, May 2, Mis. Stagg hooked a tarpon 

 and after a hard a nd gallant fight of one horn- and twenty-r 

 five minutes, brought to gaff and secured a 205-pound 

 tarpon, the largest silver king ever caught with rod and 

 reel, or in any other manner for tliat matter. When the 

 news was first known our citizens hardly believed it, and 

 in this town, among our citizens where tarpon have 

 ceaeed to be a novelty, crowds were going and coming 

 all day to view the king. Its length was 7ft, Sin., and it 

 girted 4ft, li'm. Mrs. Stagg is justly proud of her achieve- 

 ment, and declares she will try and break her own 

 record. She may, from the fact that at this time of year 

 the tarpon are in belter flesh than earlier in the season. 

 This monster tarpon has been mounted in fine style by 

 our local taxidermists, MesE-rs. Wm, Jtffcofct and Geo. S. 

 Boyd, 



The largest tarpon caught with rod and reel heretofore 

 known weighed 184lbs. and was caught in 1888 by John 

 G Hecksher. at St. James City 



The Fort Myers tarpon record from April 26 is as fol- 

 lows, making note only of tliose caught with rod and 

 reel. The score is kept by the Fress: 





Ft.Tn, 



Lbs. 



April 26, .1. V. Fitzgerald . . . . 

 2;i, Mrs. ft. T.'Stapg... 



5 3 



104 



T m 





29, Geo. T. Staasc, 



5 101^ 



96 



80, H. J. H. Pl»tt 



6 « 





May 1, Mis, (4 T. yiagg. .. 



e 2}4 



7 3 



116 



2, Mrs. (x. T. Siat-'g 



205 





.5 



56 



2, Gen. T, Stags 



6 3 



134 



Z[ J. V. FUzEtevald 



6 3 



106 



3, H. J. H. Piatt 



6 (! 



1T5>6 



5, Mrf. G. T. Stagg ... 



fi 7 



125 



5, A. B. Curtis.. 



Ij 6 



UO 



5, H. J. H. Plar.r, seve 



1 laiprm, aveiaging 



105 



Previoiisly reported, 113; total, 13-3 to date. 



Angel and jew fish are getting plentiful in our water. 

 Many have been seen at the head of the wharves. 



Onr Moment, Plbase.— Do you contemplate risitlns Dubuque, 

 St. Paul, MmneapoliB, Marshalltown, Dea Moiues. St. Joseph, 

 Leavenworth, Kaunas City, or any puini Inihe Northwest, tlia 

 Puget Sound reuioii, The Jialtnv South or Southwest, or the busy 

 East? The Chicago, St. t^aul & Kansd.^ Cii.y Railway willfurnisU 

 you transportatioui etiabiiog you to t^al'i^iv. 'lulckly and comtort- 

 ably reach your destination. Its splendid eLiuipineat aud excel- 

 lent managemeut have made it a popular t'lvorite. F. B. Loan, 

 General Passenger and Ticket Agent. Chicago, 111.— Adv. 



