Oct. 8, 1891.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



28S 



ers. weakfish and bluefiisli pass along and make variety 

 and interest. The croakers average 21b3. weight and 

 fight well. Weakfish average 4lbs., and bluefish the 

 same. Sometimes the skates (some as large as a card 

 table) are great pests, and flounders are taken up to 12 

 pounds. The fishing is interesting and exciting. 



A few from the aietropolis have found out Angiesea. 

 I tliink it is the best place for fishing in this country out- 

 side of the Gulf of Mexico. Two express trains run" there 

 from Philadelphia daily. One gentleman from New 

 York, I know, has fished theie every day since May. 

 The season will not close until November. 



On the bay side is equally good fishing for the channel 

 bass, with a large flavor of big sharks. The fisherman 

 should take stage from the com-t house, which is also the 

 junction for Angiesea, and go to Nathaniel Holmes's 

 house at Dyer's Creek. There is good board and lodging 

 at $1 a day, and boat, bait and boatman at^ $3 more. 

 Two persons can have the best of fishing at $2,50 per diem 

 each. 



I write this because I have been reading the pitiful 

 scores about New York, and especially the wonderful 

 luck of some New York angler (recorded in Fobbst and 

 Stream) who recently hooked a channel bass ofi' Long 

 Island, and "great 'miration'" (as Uncle Eemus would say) 

 was made over it. F. S. J. C." 



Mr. Henry S. Tappan and Mr. Chas. S. Higgina were 

 fishing off Fire Island last Sunday, when Mr. Tappan 

 hooked, and after a hard fight took into the boat, a chan- 

 nel bass weighing SiJlbs, 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



CHICAGO, III., -Sept. 26.— I believe I have said, and 

 certainly should have done so, that a couple of 

 weeks ago I was down on the Illinois River on the State 

 Fish Commission steamer Lotus, in company of Dr. B;irt- 

 lett, State Commissioner, If it were not for an early 

 October trip with President Cole over the same country. 

 I should like to make the patient column rules of Forest 

 AND Stream squeak with a longer account of this pleas- 

 ant voyage. Later it may be of interest to tell of the 

 way the work of reclaiming joung native fishes is carried 

 out, but now all must be brief. 



The Lotus is the pride of Dr. Bartlett's heart, and her 

 captain and crew are equally beloved. Captain Brown is 

 an ancient mariner of the great island waterways, and 

 without him the Lotus would be incomplete. With him 

 she has the best pilot on the river, and the kindest, gen- 

 tlest soul on earth. Captain Brown, Mr. Bower, the U. 

 S. Government foreman, with Charlie and Dan, engineer 

 and fireman, made up the boat party during Dr. Bartlett's 

 visit, and they were under orders to lay off and go up the 

 river from the Meredosia Station to Beardstown, between 

 twenty and thirty miles. We all stopped to fish at La 

 Grange Locks, but the water was muddy and but a short 

 stay was made. 



At Beardstown we met many friends of the Lotus. 

 Here is the hot center of marketdom. The fight between 

 the market fishers and the newly organized Beardstown 

 Rod and Gun Club has already received comment. It is 

 a war not fairly begun, but will be a bitter one. We met 

 Mr. A. A. Greene, president of the club, also Judge C. H. 

 Cummings and Prosecuting Attorney Hewitt, all bright 

 and able men. These Dr. Bartlett invited aboard, and 

 out of the ensuing conversation learned facts which wiQ 

 be of interest in the $5,000 damage suit which Smith, the 

 Beardstown market-fisher, has brought against him. 



"The men who make up our club," said Mr. Greene, 

 "are our best citizens. We are moving cajefully and have 

 won every move so far. We will keep up the work, and 

 will grow stronger and not weaker. We find that these 

 fishermen are very ignorant. They are just like children, 

 and we have to treat them as such, They always have 

 fished here unhind'cred, and they think they always 

 should. They cannot understand restraint." 



"I was shown that very amusingly," broke in Judge 

 Cummins, "not long since by old Garrison, the fellow 

 who didn't a,nte up his fish at the fishermen's free fish fry, 

 and who got thumped for not doing it, by the way. Garri- 

 son is ignorant to the last degree, and picayunish beyond 

 that. He wouldn't hire a lawyer, but he did come in and 

 borrow a lot of my law books, I question whether he 

 could read a line. He kept the books several days, and 

 then came into town looking wiser than a flock of owls. 

 He got a crowd of his sort around him. and laid down the 

 law to them, 'I tell ye, boys,' said he, 'them fellers kaint 

 tetch ye fur seinin' fish, an' I know it. I been lookin' up 

 the law, an' I read Webster. What does Webster say? 

 Webster sez, 'AH fish is free!' This exposition of a legal 

 authority seemed to satisfy the crowd. They will probably 

 go on seining until some one shows them that Webster 

 does not say 'all fish is free,'" 



The Illinois River is very low. Flats opposite Meredo- 

 sia, where last year 50 car loads of fish were taken and 

 distributed by the Commission, are this year enturely dry. 

 The work is now carried on in Meredosia Bay, a big bayou, 

 now very low and shallow. This work is carried on by 

 the U. S. Government, which fm-nishes cai-s and crews, 

 the State of Illinois getting a certain per cent, of the total 

 shipping. The Lotus is indispensable in this work. She 

 is ingeniously fitted up with a pump which forces fresh 

 water continuously through a series of stop cocks which 

 extends entirely around the deck. Under these cocks are 

 placed the fish cans, the pump is started, and that is all 

 there is to it. The sti-eam of fresh water is constant, and 

 if a fish is alive when it reaches the boat its safety is as- 

 sured. There is absolutely no loss of fish. The old dip- 

 ping system is done away with. This idea of Dr. Bartlett 

 is now also in txse on most of the Government cars. It is 

 most fortunate. No other invention ever helped fish 

 transportrtion in any degree compared to this. Its use 

 means safety to the fish, no matter how long the journey. 

 Of this, more in due course, and more the work in charge 

 of Dr, Bartlett, who, outside of his own State at least, is 

 valued as one of the highest authorities in the land on fish 

 preservation. It may not be generally known, but the 

 U. S, Government comes all the way out to the Illinois 

 River bottoms to get all the pike, bass, croppie, sunfish 

 and catfish that it distributes all over the Union. A more 

 prolific stream than the Illinois does not flow in all our 

 land. Illinois is recognized as the best field to gather 

 supplies, and the method of this gathering is that first 

 used by Dr, Bartlett, Again it may not be known, but 

 Dr, Bartlett is offered a fine salary to leave his State work 

 and g<? iiitg the Government fish work altogether. This 



he says he will not do, because he likes his State labors, 

 though he does not get a cent for his pains. So much for 

 the men who abuse him, and who think he is paid a salary 

 by the State, His only pay is his U. S, salary for this 

 work of reclamation of native fishes. 



"Did you know that carp will bite worms?" said Dr. 

 Bartlett to me. "They will bite freely and pull hard, 

 though that is the best I can say for them. Last month 

 a party fishing in Lamb Lake slough, twenty miles above 

 Quincy, caught 160 carp on worms in one day, some 

 weighing 4 or 5lb8, We have caught mirror carp" thus in 

 Qiiincy Bay, right in town," 



Protective work along the Illinois is rapidly extending. 

 The latest society of which I have notice is the Astoria 

 Protective, Of this Mr. A. A. Greene got for me the 

 following brief account in the form of a letter to him- 

 self: 



"Astoria, 111., Sept. 16.— Dear Sir: Yours of the 14th 

 received. Sept. 1 we organized the Astoria Game and 

 Fish Protective Association with about twenty-five mem- 

 bers and elected the following board of directors: John 

 H. Lutz, Chaf. Wilson, Harry Green, Henry Windherst, 

 Chas. Tohr, Jas. Turner, Harry Rockwell, Lon Grove, 

 Benj. Burgard and John Atkinson. The board elected 

 Chas. Wilson, President: John H. Lutz, Vice President; 

 John Atkinson, Secretary; Harry Green, Treasurer. We 

 have received our charter and are in good shape. We 

 used your by-laws with a few exceptions and additions 

 and will have them printed shortly. — John Atkinson, 

 Sec'yA. G, and F. P. A." 



Astoi'ia Club offers $5 reward for information that wiU 

 secure a conviction under the game laws. 



Beardstown Club numbers over 100. Sept. 25 the Lotus 

 was to be the scene of a mammoth fish fry picnic under 

 the auspices of this club, and I must thank Mr. Greene 

 for a neat invitation which I wish I could have accepted. 

 This gathering is simply to marshal more closely the 

 fighting clan, Astoria will follow, the Illinois Valley 

 Association will join, and all along the line we will have 

 some fun. This is the sportsman's year. To-day Mr. 

 John Stockton, of the Swan Lake Club, of Lake Senach- 

 wine, told me to call and see him as soon as possible. 

 Swan Lake Club is made up of Chicago men, but it wants 

 to fall into line to protect the Illinois River, and will give 

 money for that. It is all a mistake to say Swan Lake has 

 impeded any warden in his work. It wants to help the 

 work of protection, and the Illinois River Association 

 never had so good an ally as it will be. Get them all in, 

 .sll these clubs, every one, into the Illinois River Associ- 

 ation, and what splendid v^ork can be done on that splen- 

 did stream and its not less splendid tributaries. We'll 

 get results or we'll get reasons. We will see whether 

 "all fish is free." 



Sept. ^7.— Still magnificent sport with the bass at Mak- 

 saw-ba Club on the Kankakee. Billy Mussey 18, 15 and 

 13, three days; Jo Card 18, one day; Johnnie Madder 13, 

 one day. All small-mouths now. Mr. Mussey had one 

 small-mouth that weighed 4ilbs. Mi-. Card hooked a pike 

 that didn't exactly pull him out of the boat, but got him 

 just as wet as if it had, for he stepped out of the boat 

 while playing the fish, and w^ent in all over. "Gimme 

 that landiTig net, Teeters!" was the first thing he said to 

 his boatman when he came up. 



Col. Cooper and party are back from their mascallonge 

 trip to their new lakes. They kUled over 100 mascallonge. 

 The best fishing of the season, bass or mascallonge, is 

 from now on. 



A very "pleasant Indiana friend, Mr. Ed. Varus, writes 

 from Cedar Lake, on the Chicago & Erie road, that the 

 bass are biting splendidly there now. Mr. Varus's ad- 

 dress is Winona, Stark county, railway station is Ora. I 

 have fished most pleasantly and successfully with Ed. 

 Varus as boatman, on Cedar Lake. Some ducks and 

 snipe there also. 



Beardstown is just above Meredosia, where the State 

 and Government work of reclaiming young fishes is now 

 in progress. There would seem to be a good deal of 

 news in and around Beardstown in protective matters 

 just now, what with all these interesting legal fights on 

 hand and the struggle between the protective and de- 

 structive agencies in general. When you are after news 

 it is best to go straight to where the news is and see the 

 field. Furthermore, I have in mind Dr. Bartlett's long 

 time invitation to come down and see the State boat at 

 work. Thereforel shall start for the lower Illinois River 

 to-night, it being only about 250 or 300 miles run from 

 here to Quincy and periiaps 50 miles more to the east 

 from Quincy to Meredosia. 



State Fish Commission Office Boat, Quincy, EL, Sept. 

 10. — Fortunately I find Dr. Bartlett at home, he being 

 kind enough to meet me and take me over to the head- 

 quarters boat. This afternoon we will go over to the 

 State working boat, steamer Lotus, on the Illinois. 

 Quincy is on the Mississipi River, Quincy Bay, an arm of 

 the river, running right past the "Q." depot. It is on 

 Quincv Bay that the office boat is moored, and it is on 

 the office;boat that they take you in and entertain you 

 and have a lot of fun with you. All strangers, it seems, 

 are sent do^vn to the office boat to be "initiated." Every- 

 body that ever came to Quincy has been initiated there, 

 governors, generals, statesmen, politicians, sportsmen, 

 everybody. They initiated the county sheriff there yes- 

 terday. This is the stock joke of the" Illinois Fish Com- 

 mission, and if it wasn't too good to keep I'd never tell 

 it, for thei-e ai'e still other men who may visit Quincy 

 some day. 



The way they do that, or the way they did it in my 

 case, was this, Dr, Bartlett called up his foreman, whom 

 I will call BUly: 



'■Billy,'' said he, "this is a friend of mine who is a 

 fisher from away back, I've got to go up town for a 

 while, but you take care of him, get him some minnows, 

 and let him fish off the corner of the boat where they 

 have been catching all those croppies lately. I'll be back 

 pretty soon." 



While Billy was gone after the minnows, I sat down by 

 the door of the boat and thought I would do some writing. 

 When he appeared with the minnows I thought I would 



i'ust catch a fish or two, and then do some writing. When 

 e got the tackle out, I concluded I would just fish alto- 

 gether and let the writing wait. 



The office boat is abouc 50ft. long, with a house on it, 

 and a platform running about the house. Billy got me a 

 chair and stationed me at a corner. "Just fish right near 

 the corner,'' said he, "and you'll soon get a bite." And 

 after baiting my hook be disappeared around the corner. 

 1 I cast in my line according to directions, and in half a 



minute I was agreeably surj)rised to seethe enormous red 

 float with which they had provided me begin to walk off 

 and to finally disappear. I gave a yank on the long cane 

 pole, felt the usual tug of a fish, but finally brought away 

 the hook, empty. Again I baited, threw in, and hardly 

 had my balloon float settled when it began to gyrate 

 and finally went down with a jerk. 



"Holy Moses! I've got one of those big yellow cats," I 

 yelled. "Wait till I yank him." 



"Tliat's what you have," said a sympathetic bystander 

 (who had been initiated); let him have it, and then lift 

 him," 



1 let him have it, and I lifted him. Again the empty 

 hook came away, I could not understand it, but baited 

 up again and tried it once more. In half a minute the 

 red float went down with a surge, and with desperation I 

 snatched it up with all the strength of the cane pole. As 

 I did so I stepped forward a bit, and, as the hook again 

 gave way, I chanced to see a long cane pole come up, 

 floating on the water, and peering round the comer I saw 

 the face of Billy, convulsed and choking, 



' 'Well, about how much does this cost me?" I asked him, 

 calmly as I could, and as soon as he and the rest of the 

 crowd could talk they told me. Then I was initiated. 



The way the joke is worked is simple enough. They 

 always place the victim in the same chair, at the same 

 corner, and give him the same long cane pole, so that he 

 sits back quite a way from the corner. Then Billy goes 

 around the corner, and leaning over, thrusts his cane pole 

 into the water, of course out of sight, and works it around 

 until he ca,tches the sunken hook of the victim, who, of 

 course, from his position, can't see the least of what is 

 going on, A short looped string tied to the end of his 

 pole enables Billy to get hold of the hook easily, and long 

 experience has taught him how to pull as hard as he likes 

 and let go when he chooses. He can imitate a "bite" to 

 deceive the very elect, and many is the victim who has 

 been laughed at on the oflice boat at Quincy, LTsually, 

 or in special cases, they have a crowd of 50 or more back 

 on the bluff watching the fun, A man has been known 

 to fish for over an hour trying to catch that most decep- 

 tive fish, which constantly pulls that big red float under, 

 but which will not hook itself. Sometimes the effect is 

 varied by gently pulling the hook around the corner and 

 attaching an old bottle, a red herring or a little bell kept 

 for the purpose. In any event the whole thing is realistic 

 enough. This is the duly authorized and official joke of 

 the Illinois State Fish Commission. It is as old as Antony 

 and Cleopatra at least, as history and Shakespeare show, 

 but is just as good and just as practicable to-day as ever. 

 I hope I have not spoiled its future by telling about it 

 here. 



This afternoon an officer came down and wanted Dr. 

 Bartlett to settle a little judgment for an illegal net he 

 had confiscated. 



'•Nary settle," said Dr. Bartlett. 



"Then we will take your body," said the officer. 



"All right," was the reply, "but when you lock up the 

 servant of the U. S. Fish Commission you want to be 

 mighty careful, you know." 



The officer went away and left Dr. Bartlett with his 

 body. 



The Fish Commissioner's way is no flowery one. I have 

 been watching the oflice work to-day. The "daily mail is 

 very heavy, and two-thirds of it is solid kick. Men charge 

 the Commissioner with all sorts of things. A favorite 

 charge is that he takes money to leave certain offenders 

 alone. One fellow over at Havana to-day accuses him 

 openly of accepting a bribe, "an' so,'' the letter runs, "you 

 ellow'this ilegal fishing to Be Smugled in," 



"I'd have to go over and smash him once for luck, 

 Doctor," said I, 



"Pshaw, I wouldn't have time, there are too many," said 

 he. "I'll just write him and tell him to go to the d — 1 for 

 luck. I'm used to this. We have only so much money, 

 and can do only so much work, but we want to do and 

 are doing all that our limits will allow. Outside those 

 limits we dare not waste our time." 



"How about this |5,0GO damage suit by Smith over at 

 Beardstown?" I asked. 



"That will have to be defended, and that was all they 

 wanted. Smith has paid his lawyer $500. He wants me 

 to pay mine something. I will beat him. He can't collect 

 damages for being stopped in an illegal act." 



All in all, I should think times were not always 

 altogether dull on the office boat, 



"We will see a lot to write about, over at Meredosia," 

 said Dr. Bartlett. E. HouaH. 



RHODE ISLAND BLACK BASS LAW, 



THE following is the text of the Rhode Island law re- 

 lative to stocked waters and black bass fishing, The 

 question has been asked us whether angling for black 

 bass is permitted only on Thiu-sday, Friday and Saturday 

 of each week. The law is given, and any one interested 

 may interpret its meaning for himself, 'See. 11 was not 

 given in earlier editions of the Book of the Game La ws: 



Chap. 150.— Sec. 7. No person shall take or catcb flsh of any kind 

 from any of the inland waters of the State, set apart by the commis- 

 sioners of inland fisheries for the cultivation of fish, except at such 

 times and in such manner as is hereinafter provided. 



Sec. 8. The prohibition of the catching of fish bv hook and line 

 from fisheries stocked as hereinbefore provided shall extend and be 

 continued for and during the term of three years from and after the 

 time when such fishery was first established; provided, however, that 

 fish may be caught through the ice only, and mth hook and line only, 

 in those ponds set apart for the cultivation of black feass during 

 December, January, and February, imtil the expiration of the afore- 

 said term of three yeai-s. 



Sec. 9. After the expu-ation of said three years, no black bass shall 

 be taken in any of the waters of this State, except Sneach Pond in the 

 town of Cumberland, and Moswansicut Pond, io the town of Scituate, 

 between the first day of 5lareh and the fifteenth day of July, nor at 

 any time, except by hook and line as aforesaid. Every person taking: 

 any black bass during the time aforesaid shall be fined fifteen dollars 

 tor each black bass so taken, and possession by any person of any 

 biack bass during the time aforenamed, shall be evideace that such 

 black bass wis taken in violation of this chapter. 



Sec. 10 Afl^r the expiration of said three years, no fish shall be 

 taken by any person from any waters legally set apart by said com- 

 missioners for the cultivation of shad or salmon, within one mile of 

 the outlet of the streams so set apart, except from and after the 

 fifteenth day of April until the fifteenth day of July, or at any time 

 except by hook and hand line, or by not less than three-inch mesh 

 net or seine or seines. 



Seo. 11. No person shall take any flsu from any of the waters of 

 the State legally set apart for the cultivation of fiah, during the times 

 in which they are allowed to be taken by this chapter, except on 

 Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, during said term, except dur- 

 ing the months of December, January and February. 



A Book About Indians.— The Forest and Stream veill mail 

 free on applicatioa a descriptive circular of Mr, G-rinnell's book, 

 "Pavrnee Hero Stories and JFolk-tales," giving a table of contents 

 and specimen itLustratlons from the volume.— 4d». 



