592 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[June 23, 1898. 



CALIFORNIA TROUT STREAMS. 



San Francisco, Cal., June 4.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: In the issue of your paper of April 7 is a com- 

 munication headed "California Fishing,'' signed C. B. 

 Willis, which does California a great injustice, especially 

 that portion of it which refers to our trout fishing. 



I am afraid Mr. Willis is not unlike some Americans 

 we know of who have been to London, come back and 

 write a history of England. I am quite sure this is so, 

 if Mr. Willis bases his conclusions upon his experi- 

 ences in the orly portion of our State where there is 

 scarcely any trout fishing, viz., Southern California. No 

 one in this vicinity would ever think of going to the 

 places he mentions for trout. Surely Mr. Willis did not 

 fish the Santa Inez, in Santa Barbara county, where 

 trout abound weighing as much as 4 or 5lbs. ; nor the 

 Carmel, in Monterey county, a beautiful wide, open 

 stream: nor the San Lorenzo, in Santa Cruz county, 

 where there is free fishing for twenty-five miles; nor the 

 Gualala and Garcia rivers, in Mendocino county; nor Eel 

 River, in Humboldt; nor the Klamath River. I have in 

 my ice chest at this writing two rainbow trout sent me 

 by a friand from that river, one weighing 3 and the 

 other 2 lbs. 



One of the deputies of the Fish Commission while on a 

 visit to the Klamath, within the last two weeks, in a few 

 hours caught with fly 23 fish, the largest weighing 

 3|lbs. and. the lot averaging 21 bs. Nor did your corres- 

 pondent visit the Trinity, nor the Feather, nor the Sac- 

 ramento, nor the McCloud, the home of the Dolly Var- 

 den. nor the Yuba, nor the American, nor the Stanislaus, 

 nor the Merced, nor the Kern, nor the King — all grand 

 big waters with big fish. In some of the streams I have 

 mentioned trout are caught with fly weighing 8 and lOlbs. 

 1 don't believe Mr. Willis fished in any of the hundred 

 or more streams north and east of San Francisco, nor in 

 any of the many beautiful lakes in the Sierras, such as 

 Gold Lake, Webber, Independence, Donner, Echo, Tahoe 

 and the Gilmore lakes. 



I am also quite sure that Mr. Willis did not visit any of 

 the many lagoons at the mouths of our coast streams, 

 when there was a run of grilse in, weighing from £lb. to 

 4 and 5lbs. I am equally certain that he never was in 

 Monterey Bay when there was a run of salmon in, when 

 with rod and line they can be taken weighing 251bs. and 

 upward. Nor did he go salmon fishing in the Salinas 

 River, Paper Mill, Sonoma, Salmon Creek, Russian River, 

 Humboldt, Eel or Nevaro, in all of which from say 

 November to March grand fishing is had with rod and 

 line, with fish weighing from 2 to lolbs., and often much 

 larger. In fact I don't think Mr. Willis had any trout 

 fishing at all in California, else he surely could not have 

 reached the conclusion expressed in his letter. 



Mr. Willis's advice that '-the best rig for trout is a 

 simple bamboo rod and Sproat hook No. 6," is, to say 

 the least, very amusing to our anglers. This kind of a 

 "rig" may do for Mr. Willis, but I assure our Eastern 

 friends if they expect to do any trout fishing in Cali- 

 fornia, they want to get as good tackle as, if not better 

 than, they use at home. Bring your Catskill, your 7 or 

 8oz., and your 6almon rod, you will find use for them all. 

 Bring also your best Mills F and G lines. Except for 

 salmon fishing you will need no bait hooks. No, you 

 need not bring any of those things here, for our tackle 

 shops are supplied with everything in that line which 

 the world produces. Our fish want the best there is in 

 the market, our anglers know it, and our shops can and 

 do supply them. I do not exaggerate when as proof that 

 we do not use No. 6 Sproat hooks I say that in the year 

 1891 not lees than 3,000 gross of flies were sold by a few 

 tackle shops in this city alone. If you come I will 

 guarantee to direct you to a hundred streams in our 

 State where you can fish day in and day out and never 

 snag your fly in the cast. Ramon E. Wilson. 



THE RED-EYED, GRAY BASS. 



St. Paul, Minn., June 13.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Mr. James Ridler being compelled to leave the city re- 

 quested me to answer your favor of the 8th inst. in regard 

 to the gray bass sent you on the 31st ult. The specimen 

 sent you is identical with the small-mouthed, red-eyed, 

 gray bass referred to in your issue of May 5. 



You also request an account of our fishing trip. Messrs. 

 H. S. Gilbert and J. Ridler had left on May 24, and Mr. 

 T. H. Campbell and myself were to join them. Our des- 

 tination was Alexandria, 142 miles from St. Paul on the 

 Great Northern Railway. This is a very pretty town, 

 in the famous "Park Region," encircled by the finest 

 chain of lakes in this State, which is noted for its beau- 

 tiful lakes. We arrived in Alexandria at 1 A.M. and 

 should have driven out to Lake Ida at once, but Jupiter 

 Pluvius was particularlv busy and we preferred good 

 accommodations at the Letson House to a six- mile drive 

 in the rain. Next morning it cleared up beautifully and 

 at 10 A.M. we started. The drive alone was enough to 

 recompense one for the journey. After the heavy rain- 

 storm the air was laden with fragrance and breathing 

 the exhilarating Minnesota atmosphere made one feel 

 that life was worth living after all. At high noon we 

 arrived at Hotel Bedman, on the shores of Lake Ida, a 

 log house whose exterior gave us evidence of the solid 

 comfort within (even the mattresses were solid). This 

 had been built for the benefit of disciples of Izaak Walton 

 and is close by Charles Bedman's farmhouse, where 

 meals are served. Here we found our friends. 



In the afternoon we set out with two boats and oars- 

 men, and were just getting down to business when a 

 heavy rainstorm set in and we were glad to take Bhelter 

 on shore. This afternoon's catch was only twenty black 

 bas3 averaging three pounds. Next morning, May 29, 

 we were joined by Mr. W. D. Blake (who caught the 

 gray bass sent you). This day we were more successful, 

 being out a good portion of the day, as we had our lunch 

 and frying pans to cook a fish dinner, along with us, the 

 fishing grounds being about three miles from camp. 

 This day's sport gave us sixty-five black bass, twenty 

 silver croppies and three pickerel, one weighing ten 

 pounds. These are called pike in the East, I think, and 

 what Northeners call a pike is a pickerel in the East. 

 The next day was very cold and stormy, but we got a 

 string of fifty-five black bass, twelve croppies and two 

 pickerel of seven and eight pounds respectively, but this 

 is a despised fish in this locality, not being very game, 

 and usually honored with the title of "snake." So our 

 tWO (lays' sport resulted in 130 black bass, thirty-two 



croppies and five pickerel; the bass ran from to 4|lbs., 

 as we put all small bass back in the lake. This was a 

 good catch under the circumstances, as the season was 

 fully one month behind, owing to a cold and wet spring. 

 For the same reason it was impossible to get the right 

 kind of frogs, and they would not rise to flies, but we 

 had fair success with minnows. 



Last spring Messrs. Gilbert and Ridler fished in this 

 section for ten days, from the 20th to the 80th of Mav, 

 and under more favorable circumstances caught 139 black 

 bass in one day's fishing in Lake Ida. 



The principal lakes are Miltona, Ida, Carlos, L'Homme 

 Dieu, Darling and Lake Mary. Then there are numbers 

 of smaller lakes, but with just as good fishing, such as 

 Lob3ter, Latoka, Andrews, Agnes, Winona, Geneva and 

 Lake Victoria. Some are on the outskirts of the town 

 and none more than six miles from town, except Lake 

 Miltona, which is about ten miles out. This lake and 

 L'Homme Dieu have the most gray bass, and it shares the 

 honors for pike fishing with Lake Carlos. Lake Ida is 

 celebrated for black bass. If anybody wants perch, they 

 can get them in Lake L'Homme'Dieu. H. S. Gilbert and 

 J. D. Sawyer caught 400 in one day in 1890, with no bait 

 except a strip from a red Cleveland bandanna. Mr. W. 

 D. Blake caught a gray bass in Lake L'Homme Dieu in 

 September, 1891, that weighed oflbs., which is the largest 

 one on record here. Wm. H. Kuhlmann. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



Saginaw, East Side, Mich.— I inclose you a letter from 

 Mr. Cristadoro, my friend in St. Paul with reference to 

 the bass. I informed him of your decision as to the red- 

 eyed, small-mouth, gray base. Of course he did not see 

 the specimen sent you. You are at liberty to publish the 

 letter if you deBire. However, the investigation will not 

 drop yet, for my correspondent seems to know what he 

 is talking about, and there yet may be a chance to dis- 

 cover a new game fish. I am trying to get away to-mor- 

 row for the Cascapedia for a week's salmon fishing. 



W. B. Mershon. 



Mi\ Cristadoro writes from St. Paul: "I did not send 

 the fish referred to so I cannot tell regarding it. I know 

 that in the Alexandrian Lakes are taken the large-mouth 

 bass, as well as the gray bass. I have caught the Eastern 

 small-mouth bass in Greenwood, N. Y., and Hopatcong 

 Lakes, but I have never seen any bass there in any par- 

 ticular to resemble the ."gray bass of Alexandria. The 

 color of the Alexandria bass is a very light brassy; the 

 shoulders and back of the fish are narrower than our 

 Eastern bass, and as to the red eye it is a distinctive mark 

 that I never have seen in our Eastern fish. 



"I go to Lake Ida, Alexandria, for a few days on the 

 4th, and I will mail a skin and head of a fish to you; it 

 will speak and look for itself. 



"In the Alexandria Lakes this fish haunts deep water, 

 10 to 15ft., and rarely is caught in shallow water with a 

 fly. They take frog and minnow, and those most suc- 

 cessful in taking them have done so by still-fishing. I 

 have still- fished for them with 7oz. split- bamboo rod, and 

 had no end of fun, striking tbem gently as I would a 

 trout and then getting the play out of them. They run 

 in pairs, when you catch one you catch a second; if you 

 catch a third, nine times out of ten you will have found 

 a school of them and will have your hands full. I have 

 struck them so that for an hour or two there has been 

 not a moment of let up, for I was striking, playing or 

 landing a bass during every moment of the time. 



"I do not desire to set myself up against such piscatorial 

 authority as the Forest and Streasi, but I simply say 

 that if the small-mouthed bass of Greenwood Lake, New 

 York, are standards, and I think they are, then there 

 seems to me a decided difference between the Alexandria 

 small-mouthed bass and the above mentioned. 



"Chas. Cristadoro," 



BOSTON AND MAINE. 



The return of the trout sportsmen is now about as 

 much in order as the departure. Most parties have been 

 successful, and the members return fairly satisfied from 

 the more distant trips, though early the weather was bad 

 and the season very late. Bronzed faces and hands are 

 now quite common and quite the thing among Boston 

 businessmen; the talisman that one has been a-fishing. 

 The Magee party of thirteen, the names of which the 

 Forest and Stream has already published, returned 

 from Baynes Landing last week. Both ladies and gen- 

 tlemen were fairly successful, though monster trout were 

 not the rule this year. 



Mr. Walter L. Hill, with John P. Squire & Co., is a 

 lover of the angle. He has just returned from his annual 

 trip to Moosehead. He took with him this year Mr. C. 

 W. Wilder, of Lowell, Mass. This was Mr, Wilder's first 

 angling trip, and he returns greatly pleased, and well he 

 may under the tutorship of an expert like Mr. Hill. They 

 had good sport, both with the fly and trolling. They 

 took trout up to 2-Ubs. on the fly. But their most re- 

 markable catch was after this wise: They were trolling 

 well out into the lake when Mr. Hill observed what he 

 took to be a boy's improvised fishpole floating on the 

 water. One canoe had already passed the pole, but Mr. 

 Hill is a close observer and concluded that he saw it 

 move, and at once he thought that there must be a fish 

 attached. He called his guide's attention to it, when the 

 canoe was paddled up and the implement grabbed as it 

 was floating quite rapidly away. It proved to be a large 

 fish attached, and a rather stubborn fighter. At last he 

 was brought to the net; a 61b. lake trout. There was 

 only about ten feet of ordinary line attached, with a 

 rather ordinary hook— evidently it was a boy's rig. The 

 fishpole and line were taken to the hotel at night, where 

 among the guides the rig was recognized as belonging to 

 a boy some five miles above, at the bead of the lake. 

 The pole had been carelessly left with baitf d hook in the 

 water, hanging over a wharf. The bait had evidently 

 been seized by the trout and the pole dragged into the 

 water. The most remarkable feature is that the pole had 

 been towed some five miles down the lake. But this is 

 not the first instance of the same sort in the same Jake. 

 Almost the same kind of a rig was discovered floating in 

 that lake last year with a fish attached, an account of 

 which was published in the Forest and Stream. 



Mr. Hill and his friends met the Linder party several 

 times. Mr. George Linder is a most enthusiastic lover of 

 fishing with the fly, as already noted. His party is en- 

 tirely composed of fly-fishermen, They are having; great 



success at Moosehead. One day they had taken over 60 

 trout when Mr. Hill met them. Mr. Linder's cast, de- 

 scribed in the Forest and Stkeam last week, is as suc- 

 cessful as ever. 



Mr. C. Z. Bassett, of the firm of George B. Appleton & 

 Co., with his friend, Mr. G. N. fSmalley, have just re- 

 turned from their fishing trip to Cupsuptic Lake, where 

 they were the guests of the renowned Billy Soule at his 

 Pleasant Island camps. They were very successful, 

 though they struck very cold weather early" in their trip. 

 But later the fishing was good and the weather fine. 

 They both made what are considered remarkable catches. 

 Mr. Bassett took with a seven-ounce rod and with a fly, a 

 trout weighing 41bs. lOoz. This trout was taken almost 

 in the middle of the lake, and nearly opposite Billy 

 Soule's camps. His catch attracted a great deal of atten- 

 tion among the sportsmen, since it is a remarkable thing 

 to take a trout in the middle of the lake, and especially 

 so early in the season. But the next day Mr. Smalley 

 took the mate to the first trout in the same way, weigh- 

 ing 4lbs. 8oz. To say that these two gentlemen are 

 pleased with that catch would be putting it mildly, They 

 brought the trout out with them in fine condition, and 

 for four days they have delighted the eyes of the would- 

 be anglers who have stood in crowds in front of Apple- 

 ton's window on Washington street. The next day after 

 the trout had been taken there was a big fleet of boats on 

 the spot in Cupsuptic, with the sportsmen all throwing 

 the fly, though without particular success. S)me sound- 

 ing has since been done, however, and there proves to be 

 a reef of rocks in the lake in some places, and esp cially 

 near where the trout were caught, coming near to the top 

 of the water. It is likely that a new fly-fishing ground 

 has been discovered at that point. 



The members of the Inglewood Club, with invited 

 guests, the departure of which for their spring fishing 

 trip the Forest asd Stream has already been duly in- 

 formed about, got back to Boston in two tquadson Satur- 

 day. The invited guests especially speak m the highest 

 term." of their entertainment and of the fishing. Mr. 

 Harry B. Moore is delighted. The party took a large 

 number of brook trout and a good many land-lock*; d 

 salmon. Mr. Harry Moore, who fished with his couwin, 

 George C. Moore, was particularly successful in taking 

 larger trout than the preserves of the Inglewood had 

 previously been supposed to contain. They trolled after 

 the Rangeley and Moosehead methods, with which both 

 sportsmen are very familiar, and they took large trout. 

 Mr. Moore took one monster, for those lakes, a brook 

 trout weighing 3f lbs. His cousin's line had become en 

 tangled, and the guide had backed the canoe in order to 

 enable George to disengage his hook. Harry was not 

 especially careful about reeling up his line, but instead 

 he drew it through the rings of the rod and laid it in roils 

 about his feet. He says Buch is a careless thing to do. 

 When his line was nearly all in he found that he had a 

 fish on, and a very obstinate one, too. There he was, 

 with the line in his hands and the rod not of the slightest 

 use. The trout became alarmed and began to fight, tak- 

 ing out several feet of line which had to be paid out lo 

 him, and then allowing a little slack to be drawn in. In 

 this way the sportsman was obliged to bother with him 

 till both fish and man were about tired out. At last, with 

 a lucky pull, he was drawn where the net was put under 

 him and he was in the boat in a trice. When in the boat 

 it was found that the lower lobe or half of the tail fin of 

 the trout had been completely bitten away. The guide 

 suggested that it was the work of an otter. But for this 

 disfigurement the trout must have weighed fully 4 lb'. 

 The natives and those familiar with the waters controlled 

 by the Inglewood Club are greatly surprised and pleased 

 at the capture of so large a brook trout in Sherwocd 

 Lake. 



On Wednesday, June 1, the annual meeting of the 

 Inglewood Club was held at their club house, and a suc- 

 cessful organization was reported. After the business 

 meeting the annual club dinner was sat down to by both 

 members and invited guests. At the tables were seated 

 Harry B. Moore, George C. Moore, Samuel Shaw, George 

 Leonard, H. F. Spairow, Albion H. Brown, E Noyes 

 Whitcomb, Leroy S. Brown, George E. Barnhill, Leonard 

 B. Knight, James Wing, Henry P. Brigham and Andrew 

 S. March. Seldom has a sportsman's dinner been more 

 thoroughly enjoyed, the surroundings and the menu both 

 contributing to the good will of the occasion. All the 

 persons named made after dinner speeches, and a good 

 deal of "latent talent" has been developed for such occa- 

 sions. When Boston business men meet in camp there is 

 sure to be lots of fun and good cheer. 



Governor Russell is out from his spriDg fishing trip, 

 with a browned visage and a good record of trout caught. 

 Anglers in his own State are particularly grateful to him 

 for his most reasonable veto of the Gilbert trout selling 

 bill. Like the true angler that he is his veto message 

 shows a thorough comprehension of the question, and 

 Massachusetts anglers are fortunate that he happened to 

 be in the executive chair when a measure so fraught with 

 danger to the wild trout of the State had passed hoth 

 branches of a legislature that is likely to go down into 

 history more noted for bribery and chicanery than honest 

 action. 



Senator W. P. Frye, of Maine, has left his camps on 

 Mooselucmaguntic, where he has been for a couple of 

 weeks enjoying the fishing, with Mrs. Frye. He fished 

 and fished, in spite of all the excitements of the Presi- 

 dential convention at Minneapolis, and he caught a big 

 trout. Accounts differ as to the exact weight of this fUb, 

 but it weighed at least 81bs., since this is the lowest ac- 

 count of its weight, Then he was ready to go back to 

 Washington. 



The Pickard party has had a most enjoyable trip to the 

 Rangeley Lakes, The party was made up of Edward L. 

 Pickard, of the leather house of N. W. Rice & Co., one of 

 the largest in the leather and hide trades; Mr. Roberts, of 

 the same firm, with Mrs. Roberts, and Mr. and Mrs. Liv- 

 ermore and little daughter. 



The Kineo Club left Boston Saturday for its annual fly- 

 fishing trip to Moosehead Lake. This is the first time for 

 many years that Commodore J. B. Thomas has not been 

 with the club. This year he is about to sail for Europe, 

 and hence does not go to Moosehead with his friends. He 

 is one of the largest owners in the American Sugar Re- 

 finery and one of the officers of the company. But he is 

 none the less a genial angler. The party is made up this 

 year of Mr. and Mrs. Frank W. Wise, of the flour trade; 

 Mr. and Mrs. Hnnnewell, Mr. and Mrs. Woodbury, and 

 Mr, and Mrs, W. S, Hills, and Mr. J. F. Nickereon. 



