408 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



I Mat 11, 1893. 



1,000 circular letters some days, and I reached every im- 

 portant fisherman in the world." 



Captain Collins then explained how his knowledge of 

 det iils in the iishing world had been of grea.t assistance 

 to him in arranging matters expeditiously and how lie 

 had outlined it all before he left Washington. 



He then made a running commentary in a general 

 way on the most important features of the different ex- 

 hibits. There were photographs of scenes showing the 

 methods employed in the menhaden fisheries. Pictures 

 illustrating the important stages in codfishing, from bait- 

 ing to unloading the cargo. There were models of nets 

 set for use. One seine was set and illustrated how a 

 school of fish Avere taken all at once. The boat in which 

 Ida Lewis performed her daring Ufe-saving act is on ex- 

 hibition. A catboat used in the scallop fishery and the 

 Implements of the occupation were next described. The 

 North Sea fisheries were represented. 



A large space was devoted to showing the city of 

 Gloucester, Mass,, in miniature, with its fishing industries 

 described and illustrated by text and picture. It is one 

 of the most interesting in the building. Around it are 

 several pillars, on the sides of which are interesting his- 

 torical and explanatory matter. One side of one post 

 bears the foUowing: "Exhibit intending to show the 

 chief industry of Gloucester, Mass., by models of different 

 types of her "fishing vessels from 1633 to 1898, reproduced 

 in miniature on a scale of a half inch to a foot, or one- 

 twenty-fourth of original size. Those of 1893 are from 

 models of late well-known designers of Boston, Edward 

 Burgess and D. J. Lawler, and by a Gloucester fisherman, 

 George M. McClain, each of them being prize winners in 

 their class in a fisherman's ocean race, sailed in a violent 

 storm in 1893, during the 350th anniversary celebration 

 of Gloucester. In the rear of the vessels are wharves, 

 fish-houses, marine railways, etc. , showing in miniatm-e 

 old and new methods of its business. In the rear of 

 miniature exhibit are shown fishing gear, seines, nets 

 and implements, outfits, fish packages, cmiosities of the 

 sea. wateri^roof clothmg, etc." 



The contrast between the model of the ketch, wrecked 

 on the coast of New England in 1633, and there buried 

 in the sand till two or three years ago, when it was 

 washed out of the sand and thus discovered, and the 

 modern fishing vessel is vast. All these matters are so 

 broad in scope that they will require special elaboration 

 later on. 



The installation has been greatly delayed by the difii- 

 cultj' in getting cars which are on the grounds, in place 

 to unload them. It is sometimes difficult to find them. 



B. Waters. 



909 Secumty Building, Chicago, May 6. 



ANGLING NOTES. 



The Fitch Creel, Girth and Strap. 



My reference to the improved creel strap caused Judge 

 Fitcli to write me an interesting letter concerning the 

 birth of the sti-ap which should in fairness bear his name 

 if it is to bear the name of any man as the inventor. He 

 says: "I have read Forest and Stream in which you 

 vmdicate my just claim as the inventor of the left shoulder 

 and girth strap. It led me to fix the precise date of the 

 invention if I could, not as a matter of vital importance 

 so much as curiosity, knowing that the investigation 

 would revive memories of by-gone days and of dear and 

 cherished friends who were with me at the time — few of 

 whom sm-vive. First I read an article in my scrap book 

 that I wrote in April. 1883, in which I describe the strap 

 and the circumstances attending the invention which 

 were substantially as narrated by you, and fix the time 

 as being "near the end of May, 1859. Two parties of 

 anglers numbering three and four-, respectively, all ac- 

 quaintances and worthy 'Yorkers,' spent two weeks on 

 the Beaver Kill." The parties were Wm. Adams, John 

 Gr. Sundberg and myself, constituting the first; J. Sprucer 

 Van Cleef , Wm. Black, Jr. (son of Wm. Black, of Ball, 

 Black 6k Co., the then leading jewelers of New York), 

 E. B. Monroe (son of one of the company, and now or 

 lately president of the Safe Deposit Company in the 

 Mutual Life Insurance Co. Building, New York), and Dr. 

 Daniel Kissam, the second party. We had met before at 

 the same place, and on this occasion by appointment. Of 

 all these attached friends, but three are living: Van Cleef, 

 Monroe and myself. In my fishing "score," collated in 

 the past ten years from old diaries and various memo- 

 randa, I put under score for 1859 this note: 



"On one day of May bout I caught 131 saving trout, 

 weight 35ilbs." That was the sti-ap's birthday. Next I 

 refei-red to two photogi-aphs, taken when the 'art was in 

 its infancy, and immediately after I caused to be made 

 the first strap of the kind of which I have any knowledge, 

 with a view mainlj- of showing the strap. I named the 

 pictures "Going Out" and "Coming In," and by attitude 

 endeavored, quite sviccessfully, to convey the idea sug- 

 gested in the names. One of these I inclose. You will 

 see in pencil on margin, "1858." The strap shown in the 

 picture was of webbing with leather loops where it was 

 attached to the rings. After a day's experience in the 

 rain 1 found the shoulder strap absorbed too much water, 

 so I had it covered with "aqua scutum," like that used in 

 the making of my fishing coat, which is not represented 

 in tlie picture. So I have not yet fixed upon the exact 

 year of its creation, though of the opinion that the date 

 on the picture is correct." It was quite natm'al that a 

 knowledge of the Fitch strap and girth should spread 

 among the fly-fishers who in that day followed the trout 

 streams of Sullivan, Ulster and Delaware counties, and 

 it was not long before a tackle dealer in New York made 

 the strap and gave it his own name, and as I recall the 

 incident, I think it was Judge Fitch himself, who, cm-ious 

 to see what kind of a strap Smith had invented went into 

 the shop only to find his own strap sold under another 

 man's name. 



Tacoma Fishing. 

 The statement of Dr. Beebe in regard to the hunting 

 md fishing about Tacoma, Wash., and the criticism which 

 /ohowed, and the data which followed the criticism, re- 

 minded me of a photograph of fish and the fisher which I 

 possess, taken in one of the streets of Tacoma. The fish- 

 erman is Dr. McLennan and his catch is the result of an 

 hom-'s fishing for salmon. I do not know the exact num- 

 ber and weight of the fish suspended on a pole between 

 Dr. McLennan and his boatman, but I can coimt at least 

 eiglit and as the Gsh are tied in two bunches, so it is not 

 gji easy matter to counc them, there may be more than 



eight of them. My brother sent the photograph to me 

 from Tacoma, not as a remarkable catch but to fill out 

 what Dr. Beebe's critic might call an assorted lot of fish 

 stories, which he told in a letter, and for every one of 

 them he vouched. Gen. Wm. Y. W. Ripley, of Rutland, 

 Vt., well known as a salmon fisherman on the salmon 

 streams of Canada, wrote me a letter from Tacoma, after 

 fishmg there for salmon, and spoke of the fish in much 

 higher terms than I expected from an old fly-fisherman. 

 If I mistake not. Gen. Ripley introduced the phantom 

 minnow as a lure for salmon, at any rate, he used it with 

 success in the watei-s about Tacoma. 



Hudson River Fishways. 



Chief Fish and Game Protector Pond called upon me 

 a few days ago for a social visit and we discussed sev- 

 eral matters pertaining to his department, one being the 

 fishways in the Hudson. It is probably known to read- 

 ers of this journal that the fishway in tlie Troy dam is 

 boarded over and useless, for I think I have mentioned 

 it once or twice, and such of the salmon as go above 

 Troy go over this dam during high water, as they 

 have been seen to do, or through the sloop lock in the 

 dam on the city side of the river, as they liavealso been 

 seen to do. The trouble with the Troy fishway is that 

 the dam itself gave way in a measure and threw the 

 fishway out of position, and no attempt was made to re- 

 pair the damage until two years ago, and fear of high 

 water then caused operations on the dam and fishway to 

 cease before the fishway could be repaired, and there- 

 fore it was boarded over to protect it, and it must so re- 

 main until a season of low water, but that is work that 

 comes under the department of public works. The next 

 fishway above Troy is at Mechanicsvflle, and without the 

 fishway the salmon cannot pass the dam. Major Pond 

 visited this fishway late last fall with Protector Kennedy and 

 found it filled with diftwood and gave directions to have 

 it cleaned and kept open. If this has been done the salmon 

 should be able to run to Fort Edward, for Mr. John A. Dix, 

 of Thomson & Dix, told me that he cleaned the fishway 

 in his dam at Thomson's mills last fall, and in the future 

 would keep it open, and that is the next fishway and dam 

 above Mechanic ville. Major Pond told me that he would 

 make every ett'ort to keep the fishways in order. I have 

 always found him to be a capable, energetic officer, and I 

 have little doubt that the salmon wUl be seen this year at 

 Fort Edward. I received a lot of salmon fry from Cold 

 Spring Harbor and planted them in Clendon brook April 

 35, as fine a lot of fry as I have received in the ten years 

 that fry have been planted in this stream. Superintendent 

 Mather was here at the time and we went to the head- 

 waters of the stream to plant the fry. I had a letter from 

 Protector Kennedy, from Hudson, dated April 30, in which 

 he said that no salmon had yet been caught in the nets hi 

 the Hudson that he had heard of, although he had no 

 doubt that some are cauglit below Hudson, but it was a 

 difficult matter to find out the fact, unless the netters were 

 honest enough to retm-n the fish to the water. Last year 

 Mr. Kennedy caught, as 1 remember, about a dozen 

 salmon in his own nets within two weeks' time, all of 

 which were returned to the river uninjured. 



Opening of the Trout Season. 



The legal season for lake trout fishing opened in Lake 

 George May 1, and the ice Avent out Ajjril 39, although 

 some portions of the lake had been open for a day or two 

 before. On the first day, Monday, there were plenty of 

 boats out in spite of the rain, and from that time until 

 the close of the week some remarkable catches ^were 

 made. On Wednesday a rough estimate of the fish in 

 the boats ui sight at one time from the Sagamore Hotel 

 dock weighed 3001bs., the figures being given by the fish- 

 ermen in each boat. Two trout of 151bs. each were caught 

 and one boat had a trout which had not been weighed for 

 lack of scales, but was estimated to weigh ISlbs., which is 

 about the maximum for Lake George. Mr. Eber Rich- 

 ards, of Sandy HiU, caught 501bs. of trout in part of one 

 day and had but five iish. The trout fishing in this lake 

 has improved very rapidly nnder the system of fetocking 

 by the Lake George Association; but this promises to be 

 the banner year, and the timit are at tlie surface. A boy 

 of six years, a son of "Wint" Finkle, a fisherman, caught 

 two trout weighing over 61bs. each. It is much too early 

 for trout fishing in the streams, as the brooks are high 

 with rain and snow water. A few, a very few, trout 

 have been caught in the brooks by worm fishing*, but it is 

 much Uke fislSng for suckers and will be for a week or 

 two more. A. N. Cheney. 



Later. — A lake trout of 191bs. has been taken on Lake 

 George; this breaks_,the record for the lake. 



ON THE NORTH SHORE.-III. 



THAT PREHISTORIC REEL. 



Editor Forrest and Stream: 



I think I can give you a little light on the history of 

 that "curious reel" that E. W. Raymond writes about in 

 last week's Forest and Stream, but not enough to trace it 

 to its origin, for I am of the opinion that it is one of the 

 first efforts of the Mound Builders to invent a "whanger" 

 to winch fish out of the water with the aid of a Ime. 

 Eight or nine years ago, as near as I can now recall the 

 time, B. K. Brant, then of Hamilton, O., and one of the 

 "Kingfisher" party, found it on a sand bar under the big 

 railroad bridge spanning the big Miami River above Ham- 

 ilton — rusty, corroded and weather beaten, as it now is, 

 and presented it to me as a curiosity in the matter of reels. 



As we went North that summer for tlie annual camp in 

 Michigan I showed it to "old Bfll Hess" (W. T. Hess) while 

 the train stopped a short time at Grand Rapids, and the 

 moment the fim-loving "ole critter" got his eye on it he 

 demanded it outilght to send to his friend, Tom Chubb, 

 as a pattern for his reels, which he said would be sure to 

 "boom his business." As none of the Kingfishers were 

 ever known to refuse or begrudge anything to old Bill 

 Hess, he got the reel and sent it to Chubb with, I have no 

 doubt, a very characteristic letter, and now it turns up 

 after these years to remind me of some very dear old 

 friends and some pleasant "episodes" of camp life. This 

 is the history of that crudely worked piece of iron as near 

 as I can remember it. However, whether fashioned by 

 the Mound Builders, or hammered out by some fishing 

 country blacksmith, who, from a "lack o' siller" was un- 

 able to buy a better one, I wiU be glad to see it at the 

 World's Fair (if I get there) for the associations connected 

 with it, if for nothing else. Yours very truly. 



Kingfisher 



The Return Trip. — III. 



[Oontitmed f rom page SSd] 



We were aroused early the next morning, and ever 

 anxious about elemental conditions, stuck ouv head out of 

 the tent before dressing. A smoky luiziness was observ- 

 able all around, while the sun came down with a tropic 

 glare, indicating not only a warm but a very hot day. 

 We, laowever, despite the heat, were exceedingly eager 

 to be afloat, confident, if the ripples held, that it would 

 be a red-letter day for us among the dandies of the scarlet 

 spots. 



Immediately after breakfast we took the boat and went 

 to the mainland, working along it mitil we reached some 

 grounds we had not yet fished over. We caught two 

 going there, and on striking tlie promising waters, Ned 

 made a double catch, wliicli gave him considerable 

 pleasure in their wild play, and after lia^^ing kiUed them 

 and brought them to the side of the boat, was fearful the 

 astronomical Emeiy, who had the net hi li.and, would 

 lose one or both. Ned instructed him how to operate, 

 but he did not catch on at all, so after getting one in the 

 net, he lifted liim in with the other dangling on the out- 

 side and endeavoring to struggle off. Ned was so hoF- 

 rified at the clumsy work tliat lie was perfectly speechless, 

 but owing to the kicking trout being so well hooked, it 

 also was dumped mto the boat. 



"That discounts anything in angling I ever saw," ex- 

 claimed the irritated Ned, after the fish were aboard and 

 he had recovered his speech. 



"A coup de maitre," I cried out, with a pain in my side 

 from merriment. 



"I got 'em. Aint they in the boat?" replies the aston- 

 ished astronomer. 



"Yes, you got 'em badly, too; but never more be natter 

 of mine," and with this he dismissed the subject, and then 

 commenced, with unusual vigor, whipping the waters 

 as if desirous of ridding himself of the pent up indigna- 

 tion that ]iossi;'ssr'd him. I laughed so heartily over the 

 amusing exhil)i(ion that Peter finally became infected 

 with it, and he also had to yell out. Emery's face was 

 now of a roseate hue, realizing, at last, liis blunder, but 

 while he could tolerate Ned's chafing, he was determined 

 his nephew should not indulge in the hilarity without a 

 protest, so the aroused astronomer went at him with such 

 a violent attack in French that Peter somewhat subsided 

 by way of mollifying the mortified reader of the celestial 

 highway. It was a very laughable incident, and ever and 

 anon when the uncle's back was turned, Peter would pan- 

 tomime the awkward dip to me, and then smile aU over. 



Emery may read the signs of the heavens and the zo- 

 diac, and "tell a hawk from a hernshaw," but he can't dip 

 a double catch even a httle bit. 



The farce of the dangling trout liaving concluded with 

 a roar, the tragedy of ' 'the trout and the fly" opened with a 

 persevering fidelity that promised glorious reward to the 

 dramatis personal. Ned, with murder most foul in his 

 heart, seeing a monarch of the Naiad realms sticking his 

 royal red nose out of his front door, for the puipose of ex- 

 amining a ruby fly that was passing by, pierced him with 

 a needle-pointed stiletto so fatally that he expired in a 

 short time in a frantic endeavor to extricate the subtle 

 weapon. This was the first act of the crimson tragedy, 

 and after a few minutes' intermission, the second act com- 

 menced with other murders of the royal family of fonti- 

 nalis, all of which were committed with a dash and 

 daring that evoked unstinted applause. To drop simile, 

 wiU relate that the brook beauties were out in great num- 

 bers, many of which met with a sanguinary fate. I 

 hooked one, which acted as if he would never surrender, 

 and began to think I had a foul hold on him. I let him 

 wander whither he would, imder a taut line, until patience 

 became a lost art, and then determined to see how the 

 gamy fighter was held. Pull and pull it was, but it was 

 futile, he being a deep dweller, and would not show his 

 colors to mortal eye under f orf eittu-e of hberty. After wait- 

 ing some time for him to manifest signs of departing 

 vitality, I realized a disappomtment, for it came not. Ned 

 ca,utioned patience once more, and then I gave him run 

 after rim, but he never wearied a bit, and tliis satisfied 

 me he was hooked foul, and determined me to bring him 

 to the top. It was hard work on that httle rod — a 

 Chubb— but he gradually came, inch by inch, and once or 

 twice I was compelled to let him shde in order to save 

 rod and line. 



After one or two more attempts, the stubborn and gal- 

 lant warrior, who fought under the mantling banner, 

 came far enough to the surface to show his spotted robe, 

 and then with one accord we declared the barbed steel 

 had pierced his side. Stfll I let him race again and again, 

 until every one announced his captm-e an all- day job. 

 Ned, in the meantime, while I was playing my athletic 

 prize, had caught one, and had been the last five minutes 

 endeavoring to persuade another to investigate his lures. 

 Word now went out from aU to bring up the fouled ti-out. 

 At it I went, and after divers attempts, fuially brought 

 him to the surface with his displaying almost as much 

 strength as at first. Peter, at an opportune moment, 

 made an adroit dip of the still strugghng fish, and when 

 he landed him in the boat, great was the siu:prise to ob- 

 serve that he Avas not snagged at all. He was a three- 

 pounder, and the gamiest habitue of the icy realms I ever 

 captiu-ed. I have regretted ever since that I did not jjlay 

 him under the rules, that I might ascertain his complete 

 fighting time. This I should have done had not the ver- 

 dict been in the negative. I verily believe that trout 

 would have fought fully half an hour, just twenty-five 

 minutes more than the ordinary fighting time of his class. 

 Ned at last called a halt in the slaughter, satisfied that 

 more captures would be wanton waste. Again to camp 

 we proceed with our ghttering spoils as admiring ob- 

 jects. 



Our outing that morning was one of unalloyed pleasure 

 that will ever lie in the "chambers of the brain," and 

 when we are relegated to the old arm chair, will again 

 flash out at command, and the dappled beauties in their 

 coats of crimson and gold reappear in battle as of old. 

 Tlie circling flies, the feathery fall, the skillful flutter, 

 the wolfish snap, the hum of reel, the bend of rod, the 

 frantic race, the lofty leap, tlie death struggle, the vic- 

 tory, the deep excitement and aU the minutiae, of the 

 pleasant pastime again return as vividly as ever and 

 "Rise to transports past expressing, 

 Sweeter by remembrance made." 



We went softly rippling along to the tvsdn isles, over 



