June 30, 1898.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



618 



into a tub of water merely to keep them fresh . In 

 the morning when I went to the tub for the fish they 

 were all alive and swimming around. It seemed im- 

 possible after what those carp had passed through that 

 thev should etill be alive, but there they were." 



In a large tank, measuring 10ft. by 12ft., kept on the 

 roof of the west range of the Smithsonian years ago, for 

 the purpose of supplying the lower rooms with running 

 water, I once put a few gold-fish. The fish were quite 

 forgotten and had been overlooked for several years, 

 when I happened to examine the tank and found that 

 not only were the old fish there but that the tan k was 

 full of younger fish. They had multiplied wonderfully. 



May 30 I had a talk with ODe of our oldest handlers of 

 fish, Mr. Samuel Birch, who says that fifty years ago 

 large num bers of rock fish or striped bass were taken in 

 the Potomac just below Washington. Boat loads were 

 brought up to the city and often could not be disposed of 

 at any price. The fish would weigh from 51bs. to 1001b?. 

 each, and sell at 10 cents apiece when plentiful. Shad 

 and herring were caught in great quantities right over at 

 the Virginia end of the Long Bridge, and a great many 

 white perch were netted between the bridge and George- 

 town. The perch of course ran much larger in size than 

 they do nowadays. Then they sold for 16 cents a bunch, 

 the bunches being several times larger than they are now. 



Mr. Birch continued: This (1892) has been one of the 

 worst seasons for shad and herring on the Potomac 

 known. Just think of shad, hardly running half roes, 

 wholesaling for $18 per hundred and herring 50 cents a 

 hundred, in the height of the season, when there should 

 be a good supply of both of these fish. 



On the evening of the 15th I made a trip to the Four 

 Mile Run, Va., between here and Alexandria. There has 

 been some fair perch fishing there this spring. The 

 water is alive with minnows of all kinds. While there 

 a fallfish was taken with live minnow as bait. It is 

 wonderful how game these little toothless-jawed fish are. 

 In Maryland and especially in Virginia among the moun- 

 tains the fallfish reaches a very large size— as much as 

 22in. in length. 



Mr. E. S. Young, of Baltimore, made several trips to 

 West Virginia trout waters last month, but has nothing 

 to report except high and muddy water. 



The following clipped from the National Medical 

 Review for May is rather good: "That fish is especially 

 a brain food is no more true than that frogs' legs should 

 always be eaten before going to a hop." B. A. Bean. 



Washington, D. C, June IT. 



THREE BISHOPS AND A JUDGE. 



Seldom does such a reverend and venerable party take 

 to tarpon fishing as the distinguished quartette which 

 visited Charlotte Harbor, in Florida, last spring. The 

 narrative, as we find it in the Red Wing (Minn ) Repub- 

 lican, is told by the principal actor, Judge E. T. Wilder, 

 himself already eighty years old. Bishop Whipple, of 

 Minnesota, widely known on both hemispheres, who is 

 credited with a 124 pound tarpon, is seventy years old. 

 The two other clergymen, of distinguished reputation, 

 make up in energy what they lack in age. The event is 

 altogether so worthy of mention and remembrance that 

 we are fain to reprint it in Forest and Stream, especi- 

 ally that the narration comes from such high judicial 

 authority. Judge Wilder writes: 



"Our party consisted of Bishops Whipple and Gilbert 

 and the Rev. Dr. Kedney and myself. The field was the 

 CaloosaViatchie River, near Fort Myers, where, at tin 3 

 Henry House, we had very comfortable quarters. This 

 point is 150 miles north of Key West. The fishing is done 

 in boats, each sportsman having a boat and a guide. My 

 guide was a Spanish boy of eighteen years, Philip Bylaski, 

 a bright, reliable and plucky fellow. 



"The tackle required is a short, strong and slightly 

 elastic rod, a large reel holding at least 600ft. of No. 18 or 

 21 linen line, a large hook with snood 2^f c. long, made of 

 wire in links, or what is better, of woollen cord 'double 

 and twisted,' with one strand of flexible wire twined 

 around and fitting into the groove of the cord as thus 

 made. The bait is the tail end of a mullet and wpighing 

 a pound more or less. This is thrown far nut and left to 

 rest upon the bottom of the stream. The fish picks it up, 

 not when in a horizontal position, but standing perpen- 

 dicularly upon his head. His mouth and throat are so 

 hard and tough that he cannot be hooked unless the bait is 

 swallowed. He is permitted to run 20 to 50ft. before 

 'striking.' Whether hooked or not, the strike is instantly 

 followed by a leap high into the air in a vigorous effort 

 to disgorge the bait and the hook, often times success- 

 ful. 



"If hooked, the fight is on. The result depends upon 

 tackle and skill. Self possession and nerve are indispen- 

 sable. He runs like — well, for a comparison say — like a 

 current of electricity, four, five, six hundred feet. Your 

 reel literally smokes from the rapidity of its revolutions. 

 You can no more hold him than you can hold a tornado. 

 The first thing to be done after he makes this break is 

 for the guidp to raise the anchor, seize the oars and fol- 

 low him. You press your thumb (properly protected) 

 upon the line on the reel to prevent its overrunning 

 when the fish stops and to make all the resistance to his 

 flight that the exigencies of the struggle will justify. 

 Here, perhaps, is the most difficult part of the game. If 

 overdone, your line parts, and if you give him 'slack,' 

 the outcome is likely to be the same. 



"As a rale the leap into and struggle in air for liberty 

 is repeated several times, the of tener the better, for your 

 fish is not brought to gaff until he is completely ex- 

 hausted. 



"The largest tarpon ever taken by rod and line was 

 hooked and landed last year upon this ground by a lady 

 — weight 205 lbs. — time, two hours plus. Her husband, 

 who was in the boat with her, proposed after a little to 

 relieve her. The reply was suggestive: 'No, sir; you 

 touch this rod and I'll apply for a divorce.' 



"Even under favorable circumstances the virtue of 

 patience in this field becomes an active virtue. A gen- 

 tleman told us that last year he labored nineteen days 

 before securing bis reward. We were about a month in 

 advance of the best portion of the season. 



"The campaign opened with us on Thursday, Feb. 25. 

 Bishop Gilbert and I were armed with beautiful split- 

 bamboo poles designed for thi3 particular sport, kindly 

 furnished us by a valued friend. They proved to be 

 utterly worthless. The Bishop broke his in casting. We 



had not been upon the water two hours, when with a 

 whirr my line went out 50ft. Philip, who at the moment 

 held the rod, struck, and the pole broke square cff like a 

 pipe stem. He seized the tip and tried to make that 

 available, but failing, grasped the line in his bare hands. 

 In the meantime I had lifted the anchor. At this dis- 

 advantage the boy played our fish nearly or quite a half 

 hour (giving us a ride of nearly a mile), when the line 

 parted. Those who are familiar with these fish and who 

 saw this fellow as he threw himself out of the water, 

 said he would weigh 125 to loOlbs. 



"Having implicit confidence in the intelligent discrimi- 

 nation of the fraternity of anglers, I respectfully submit 

 to them this grave question. What in all human prob- 

 ability was the character of the compliments just then 

 showered upon the head of the manufacturer of that rod? 



"The time of Bishop Gilbert being limited, on Monday 

 morning he, accompanied by Dr. Kedney, left empty 

 handed, save that the Bishop had suspended from bis 

 belt the scalp of a shark. 



"On Monday, after a vigorous fight of forty minutes 

 and five leaps in the air, I captured my fish, weighing 

 631bs. and 5£t. 5in. in length. In beauty and symmetry 

 of form he is superior to the larger and heavier speci- 

 mens, still everybody is ambitous to take a big one. 

 Having secttred my game I referred the question of fur- 

 ther time to Bishop Whipple, who named Thursday of 

 that week as our limit. 



"Thursday morning came, bright and sunny, but with 

 a cloud upon the brow of our venerable friend, for this 

 was our last day and as yet his creel was empty. 



"At about 11 o'clock the cloud lifted. The whir of his 

 reel told the story. For a good hour up and down and 

 across the river a battle royal was raging, at the conclu- 

 sion of which a silver king of 1241bs. weight and 6ft, Sin. 

 in length rounded out for the present the Bishop's sport- 

 ing life. Please do not think me extravagant if I say 

 the hats of two old men went well nigh out of sight. 



"We left Fort Myers on Friday morning by steamer 

 down the river and on to Naples, thence up the gulf to 

 Fort Tampa and thence by rail to the Bishop's Florida 

 home. 



"Blessed with life and health and strength, the writer 

 will some day take his second lesson in this unparalleled 

 sport. E. T. Wilder." 



DEEP LAKE FISH AND GAME CLUB. 



Hannibal, Mo. — Deep Lake is a beautiful body of 

 water, covering about twelve acres and of unusual depth, 

 directly opposite the northern part of this city, in the 

 State of Illinois. It is separated from the Mississippi 

 River by a narrow strip of uncultivated bottom land, con- 

 taining the Sui E'Carte Levee, which protects over 

 100,000 acres of very fertile lowlands from the annual 

 ovei flow of the Father of Waters. The bursting of this 

 embankment at this point about ten years ago caused 

 the formation of our lake, and a more recent crevasse has 

 formed "Sand Pond," a very similar body of water about 

 one-third of a mile north, which promises to be equally 

 famous for angling. 



Both lakes are connected with the Mississippi River for 

 from one to two months every spring, during which they 

 are naturally stocked with indigenous fish, consisting 

 chiefly of the different breeds of bass, crappie, sunfish, 

 perch, catfish, pike, also buffalo, carp, dogfish and gar. 



During the remainder of the year they are fed by rain 

 and springs, and being in very sandy soil are remarkably 

 clear and cool compared with our neighboring fishing 

 waters. 



For this reason we are considering the question of in- 

 troducing some northern varieties of fish that are not 

 common to our warm streams. Some old anglers advise 

 us that they will soon drive out our present stock; but 

 my experience is that our black bass, dogfish, salmon or 

 pike are as voracious as any fresh-water fish. 



We are doing all we can to protect and propagate our 

 fish. Early last year we deposited ten hay-rack loads of 

 green brush in Doep Lake, which were immediately used 

 for spawning as well as for protection. Last winter we 

 employed five men and a span of big mules for three 

 days iii felling green trees, hauling them out on the ice, 

 filling them with brush, wiring them together, and 

 weighting them down with rock, so that they would 

 sink into the deep part of the lakes. 



The chief mistake of most of our Western clubs is that 

 they spend all their money in club houses and other con- 

 veniences for their members and leave the fish to take 

 care of themselves. 



Our lakes contain mud and rock as well as sandy 

 bottom, also aquatic }}lants, go you can see they are ex- 

 cellently fitted for growing a variety of game fish. They 

 contain considerable common fish, whose young supply 

 abundant food for the valuable breeds. 



With all these natural and artificial advantages we ex- 

 pect to have the finest sport in this part of the country. 

 The spring floods fill the levee barrow pits with young 

 game fish, which we catch in seines for stocking our 

 lakes. 



Our deep water gives us large fish — last month we 

 caught, with a spoon, a 71b. black bass, and last season I 

 caught a grass pike 37in, long, weighing I3^1bs. As the 

 latter was the largest ever taken in this section, I have 

 had it mounted and hung in my office. By the way, the 

 taxidermist found in the pike's stomach a toothed herring 

 8fin. long. 



Our crappie and sunfish also average considerably 

 larger than those in our neighboring shallower waters. 



Our club, which was formed a year ago. only contains 

 a limited membership, so it is easily managed. Any 

 sportsman is always welcome to fish or hunt with us, but 

 they must be accompanied by a member. Our preserve 

 is entirely ioclospdin a 1.000-acre bottom farm, owned by 

 our president, Mr, R. H. Stillwell, about one-half of 

 which is under cultivation, the remainder is covered with 

 timber or wild prairie grass, and is pretty well supplied 

 with duck, quail, snipe, etc. 



An uncle of mine, an expert angler, initiated me into 

 the pleasure of fishing when I was a boy of eight yearf — 

 nearly forty years ago — those good okl times when fish 

 were so plentiful and accommodating. 



I. only angle for recreation, and am confident that at 

 least one-half day's fishing per week will improve any 

 one — physically, mentally, morally and financially, 

 especially those who are subject to excessive brain work. 



I have always thought that ordinary boats were very 

 uncomfortable for this purpose, and therefore designed 



my boat and outfit last year just for my own use. Hun- 

 dreds of my friends used it during the season, all delighted 

 with its convenience for fishing and hunting, and a 

 number insisted on my building them copies, all of which 

 are giving the best of satisfaction. 



I think I shall make one more invention in this line for 

 the purpose of ridding our lakes of turtles. I am satisfied 

 they are our worst spawn destroyers. The obstructions 

 and depth of our water prevents their removal by seines, 

 so I have designed a trap which I am confident will do 

 the work, I shall test this apparatus in a few weeks and 

 post you as to the results, also shall probably send a 

 drawing of it. S. E. Worrell. 



TROUT OF THE "SOO." 



Satjlt Ste. Marie, Mich., June 21.— I have been here 

 a week now and during that time all sorts of weather has 

 prevailed, particularly cold, rainy and disagreeable. The 

 sun came out quite warm this morning as if it intended 

 to give us some sweltering weather. It would really be 

 very welcome, as I am quite tired of wearing an overcoat 

 so late in the season. Tne small boy also sighs for it, as 

 its continuance for a few days will bring the shad fly and 

 the herring simultaneously, the latter of which affords 

 him a world of pleasure. When the season is on the 

 banks of the canal are lined with the youthful anglers, 

 and it is no uncommon sight to see at one and the same 

 time a dozen of the little silver sides glistening in the sun 

 as they are describing an arc at the end of a line so vig- 

 orously manipulated by the ruddy-faced urchins. 



There have been some very good catches of brook trout 

 made this season at the "Soo" Falls, but the bait and 

 spoon hook did the murderous work. The time for the 

 artist angler has not yet fully arrived, for the cream of 

 fly-fishing on the great lake and the rivers that flow 

 therein is between the middle of July and August, though 

 some mediocre catches are made both before and after 

 that period of time. 



The violation of the law here is more flagrant than 

 ever, for trout are caught and sold in and out of season 

 without any attempt whatever at concealment. Last 

 year there was a game warden who made one or two 

 arrests for gross infraction of the law, but so disagreea- 

 ble was it made for him that he resigned his position and 

 no one seems to care anything about it, though there are 

 several verv ardent and expert fly- fishers here, but like 

 the resigned game warden, they don't care to arouse ani- 

 mosity for reasons best known to themselves. So the 

 poetic trout with his rainbow garments is speared 

 through the ice in the winter and trapped with the gill 

 net in the summer. There is no one to protest, and there- 

 fore the pot-hunter and purveyor of the market hold bigh 

 carnival and the indiscriminate slaughter goes boldly on 

 as if the beautiful tenants of the crystal water were num- 

 berless. I never come to this place but what my cheeks 

 are made to glow with indignation at the audacious vio- 

 lation of law. One day last week walking along the dock 

 I saw a sprightly young lad boxing up some twenty or 

 thirty fine trout where some fish dealer was actually en- 

 gaged in packing whitefish for shipment. Inquuing rel- 

 ative to the disposal of the trout I was informed that 

 they were to be given to their patrons. "Don't you ever 

 sell them?" I asked. "Oh, no; that's agin the law," the 

 cunning lad responded, and then he smiled in derision at 

 my interrogation. Next day I had offered me for sale a 

 couple of magnificent trout by the same lad, I thought, 

 tut declined purchasing, telling him that the sale of 

 them was illegal. "Well, everybody sells 'em and I'll do 

 the same, law or no law," was the defiant response that 

 came from his frowning lips and then he strode away 

 like a dime novel hero. 



And eo the work of decimation goes on, not only on 

 American but the Canadian side also. 



Alex. Starbttck. 



THE SUSQUEHANNA AT SUNBURY. 



In response to our letter Mr. A. F. Clapp, of the Sun- 

 bury (Pa.) American, has informed us that the quinnat 

 salmon which came ashore at Sunbury after the mighty 

 flood of June, 1889, was especially fat and elegant in 

 appearance, but too much decomposed for preservation. 

 He is well acquainted with the Atlantic salmon and 

 recognized the differences in the fins and shape of body. 

 Mr. Clapp notes that no other specimen of the California 

 salmon has been recorded from the Susquehanna, al- 

 though great efforts were made to introduce the fish, and 

 the upper waters are entirely suitable for trout and sal- 

 mon. Five dams and 200 miles from the sea made a com- 

 bination which even the quinnat — famous traveler that 

 he is— could not overcome, and failure followed all the 

 attempts to acclimatize this handsome salmon. Concern- 

 ing the local fishing Mr. Clapp wrote as follows: 



"Small-mouth black bass and pike perch are our prin- 

 cipal game fish, and it is not an unusual thing for a single 

 fisherman to take, in September and October, from off 

 and below the Shamokin dam in the river at this place, 

 from 25 to 751bs. in a day's fishing, while one fishing 

 party, in August of last year, caught 901bs. of Susque- 

 hanna salmon (pike perch) in one day in some deep water 

 about a mile below the dam. Our river is especially 

 adapted to the perches as indicated, the sunfish and the 

 smaller species of bass now being introduced more plenti- 

 fully are all thriving and affording fine sport to the rod 

 and fly fisherman, besides furnishing a welcome addition 

 to the food supply. Upon these fishes we shall have to 

 depend both for food and sport. I have abandoned the 

 idea that we shall ever restore the shad and striped bass 

 fishing in our upper waters in any material measure. 

 Even if we get approximately efficient fishways, the 

 greed of the fishermen below the dams will prevent the 

 passage of the fish in any large numbers. Perhaps a 

 sufficient number may pass the obstructions and reach 

 the upper waters to supplement artificial hatching, but 

 we shall have to rely mainly on the latter for the supply 

 of fish. The three varieties of carp are becoming quite a 

 factor in the river; they weigh from 2 to lolbs. and 

 many were caught in the spring with line and seine. It 

 is a great shame and outrage that our river fishing is 

 being destroyed so rapidly by pollution, more particularly 

 by the coal miners, as indicated in my paper read before 

 the Fisheries Society. We look for some steps to be taken 

 ere long to remedy this evil as far as possible, and proba- 

 bly our legislature may be asked to help us next winter." 



Sukbttry, Pa. A. F. Clapp. 



