July 8, 1893.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



9 



member, is ascribed the feat of going out six consecutive 

 days and bringing in with tbem each day one or more 

 deer. This hap^jened two years ago. 



Schroon Lake is well supplied with hotels. Among 

 these are the Leland House, the Ondawa, the Taylor and 

 the Watch Rock. At the lower end of the lake is the 

 Pottersville Hotel, and at Chestertown, six miles furtlier 

 south, is the Chestertown Hotel, well and favorably 

 known to sportsmen. At these places the very best ac- 

 commodation may be had and first-class himting and 

 fishing. 



In Schroon Lake and neighboring sheets of water such 

 as Paradox, Pharaoh, Friend's, Loon and Brant lakes is 

 fine black bass and trout fishing. In Pharaoh Lake are 

 bi'ook trout, and in most of the others lakers and black 

 bass. There are also several trout brooks, and from one 

 of these a trout was taken this spring that weighed 31bs. 

 Partridge shooting is, however, probably the best sport 

 afforded by this section. There is probably no better 

 ground for this game in the State of New York. A few 

 years ago, when market-hunting was allowed by law, one 

 storekeeper by his own nai'ration shipped 300 pairs from 

 the town of Pottersville. Since the new law, which does 

 not allow their shipment, partridge have still further in- 

 creased, and a good shot with a good dog can make a re- 

 markably good bag. 



To the northeast of Schroon Lake stretches a tract of 

 40,000 acres of wilderness owned under one title. This is 

 an excellent game tract and contains many deer. Nine 

 miles north and east of Schroon Lake is Pyramid Lake, 

 on Avhich is a good summer hotel owned by Orrin Harris. 

 This lake claims the distinction of furnishing fine brook 

 trout fishing in connection with black bass and is also in 

 a good game country. It is one of the few places where 

 bass and brook trout live side by side. One can fish in 

 water up to fifteen feet deep for bass and then let out a 

 little more line and catch trout. That is stiU-fi^hing, 

 Whether the trout and bass fraternize on the surface and 

 take the fly equally well I am unaware. This lake is 

 very deep and to this fact is ascribed the unusual rela- 

 tionship existing between the trout and bass. Nine miles 

 north of Schroon Lake village is Root's Hotel, which is 

 a celebrated stopping place for hunters. There is also 

 good trout fishing in this neighborhood. 



Altogether this section is a very desirable one for those 

 fond of the rod and gun. The hotel accommodations are 

 of the best and the hunting for large and small game 

 better than many places deeper in the woods, and cele- 

 brated alone for their game. This country is, moreover, 

 very accessible to New York, and one can take a night 

 train and be on the ground the following morning. B. 



the flesh was weU protected, either by clothing or tar and 

 oil. Mosquito netting was a failure. The flies have 

 learned how to manage that. They get up above it, fold 

 up their wings and legs, make a dive downward through 

 the meshes and they are with their victim. Mr, Thayer 

 says that this is no fancy sketch; he actually saw them 

 going through the mosquito netting in that way. Tarltan 

 too thick to breathe through will stop them. 



Another drawback to the country, to the ordinary 

 Yankee, is the fact that the guides all speak French, and 

 it is not easy for one to make them understand unless he 

 has a fair command of the Canadian French patois. He 

 could make them understand well enough to get enough 

 to eat and go about, but if they came to a beaver dam or 

 any other curious feature of the wild region they were in 

 it was next to impossible to get any information about it, 

 though the guides are good woodsmen. It is a curious 

 feature that there are few or no deer in the region visited 

 by Mr. and Mrs. Thayer. They saw no signs of deer, 

 though caribou and moose must be plenty. It is explained 

 that years ago the deer were destroyed _ by wolves, and 

 that they have never been seen there since. Special, 



SALMON OF THE MERRIMAC. 



LAvmENCE, Ma.ss., June 38. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 It is with pleasure that the writer has the opportunity of 

 reporting to you the result of the untiring zeal of one of 

 Lawrence's citizens, who had the good fortune of hooking 

 and landing a 131bs. salmon in the Merrimac River last 

 Sunday evening. The particulars are given in the Eagle, 

 of Monday: 



In the window of Henry P. Doe's jewelry store was exhibited yes- 

 terday a very fine specimen of MeiTimac River salmon. It was 

 caught Sunday night about 6 o'clock by Patrick McCarthy, whose 

 reputation as an angler is not confined to these parts. Mr. McCarthy 

 cast for nearly three hours before makmg a strike. This salmon was 

 struck a few feet below Lewis' scouring mill, Mr. McCarthy making 

 his casts from the shore. When hooked, the fish ran out about 50yds. 

 of line and then shook like a terrier, rising out of the water fully .5ft. 

 Tills operation was repeated live times, until the salmon, tiring of his 

 exertions, permitted himself to be gently drawn by the skill of the 

 angler to a point near shore, when McCarthy handed the rod to a 

 friend and performed the last act of the piscatorial drama with the 

 gaff himself after a fight of about twenty minutes. 



The Lowell bridge and the south bank of the river were lined with 

 spectators during the struggle. 



The flsh was as gamy a specimen as ever was hooked. Not only did 

 it jump high out of the water and shake itself many times in its en- 

 deavor to escape from the cruel hook, but the fisherman found that 

 the salmon was one of those peculiar fish which nose down stream, for 

 with all his skill Sir. McCarthy found it impossible to turn its head up 

 stream. 



The fly used was a patren, the feathers being green and speckled. 

 The dimensions of the flsh are: Length, 2ft. Sin.; depth, 7in.; thick- 

 ness. Sin. It is the second flsh of its kind taken in local waters with a 

 fly, Mr. McCarthy having the proud distinction of landing both— the 

 first, a much smaller fish, a year ago this time. 



fourth weekly contest of the Chicago Fly-Casting Club 

 yesterday at the large pond of Washington Park, In the 

 first event, a trial of long-distance fly-casting, Wilkinson, 

 Isgrigg and Johnson were tied for first place, but in the 

 cast for the medal Isgrigg won by a foot, casting 71ft, 

 The score was: Johnson 67ft., Morrell 60, Wilkinson 68, 

 Davidson 59, Babcook 60, Isgrigg 71, Clark 55i. The sec- 

 ond event, for fly-casting for distance, accuracy and deli- 

 cacy, was won by Johnson, who scored SQi^ points out of 

 a possible 100. The score was: Wilkinson 65* points, 

 Davidson 79, Babcock 68|, Isgrigg 66*, Clark 76. The 

 last event was a trial of skill in bait-casting, Wilkinson 

 winning the medal by scoring 219| points. The score was: 

 Davidson 304^ points, Clark 182^, Wilkmson 219^ 



E. Hough, 



909 Securjty Building, Chicago. 



Tropical American Fresh-Water Fishes. 



We have received from the U, S. National Museum 

 a Catalogue of the Fresh-Water Fishes of Central 

 America and Southern Mexico, which was prepared by 

 Prof. Carl H. Eigenmann for volume 16 of its Proceed- 

 ings. The region covered by this catalogue includes the 

 fresh waters north of the Isthmus of Panama to the 

 Tropic of Cancer. 



Among the fishes enumerated are many that would be 

 recognized by our readers from similarity to our common 

 fresh- water forms. A lamprey is found in Guanajuato; a 

 blue shark in Lake Nicaragua; a bony gar in Mexico and 

 Guatemala; a square-tailed catfish and a fork-tailed 

 species resemble kinds familiar to us in the United States. 



A carj)-sucker is mentioned from Central America and 

 a red-horse from Guanajuato. Four representatives of 

 the minnow family are known in Mexico, and the waters 

 swarm with the toothed-minnows, which begin to occur 

 in our States only in Texas. A mud-shad, or gizzard- 

 shad is fotmd in Lake Peten. Mummichogs related to 

 some of ours are well distributed, and there are many 

 others unlike any in our territory. The so-called four- 

 eyed fish is among them. 



The rivers and lakes are densely populated by a family 

 of fishes closely related to the cunner and tautog of the 

 east coast, which furnish amusement for the angler and 

 an important part of the food supply. The list concludes 

 with a generous show of gobies, some of which extend 

 northward into the Gulf States. In these the bell fins are 

 modified into a sucking disk which enables its possessor 

 to cling tightly to rocks and even climb out of a bucket 

 in its efl:orts to escape capture. 



Four Quarts of Fingerlings. 



On June 25 I was at Port Henry, where I had been try- 

 ing the waters of Lake Champlain with indifferent suc- 

 cess. Not so, however, with a party who arrived at the 

 Lee House at about 10 o'clock that same evening after a 

 day's "fishing" on one of the neighboring trout streams. 

 This catch was brought to my room for my admiration, 

 and consisted of 100 to 150 fish in a four-quart pail. They 

 were all trout; the largest one visible was certainly not 

 over 6in. , while the greater portion appeared to range 

 from 3 to oin, many of them considerably smaller than 

 the minnows I had used on the lake for bass and pike. 



I have seen and read in your paper cases of the violation 

 of the fishing laws, but never such a wanton, hoggish 

 slaughter as on the occasion referred to. There was no 

 effort at concealinent; on the contrary, the approbation of 

 those they were shown to was eagerly solicited, I sym- 

 pathize with a gentleman of that same place, who, at a 

 sacrifice of time and money, had stocked several of the 

 streams in that vicinity, as stated by him in youi- issue of 

 June 15, Presumably these fingerlings were the result of 

 his labor, I heard of a case of dynamiting the lake at 

 Crown Point on the same day. I consider that fish an- 

 archist a sportsman as comf)ared to the murderers of the. 

 trout referred to. They are well known at Port Henry 

 and apparently fear no penalty. W. I. I. 



Onondaga and Oneida Lakes. 



vSykacuse, N. Y., June 30. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 This extract from a letter written by Game Protector 

 Hawn speaks for itself. Great work has been done here 

 by Chief Pond and his assistants, Plawn and Crossley. 

 Protector Hawn writes from Cicero: 



We returned from om- trip Monday, captured one trap net and two 

 pirates. Nets are very scarce on Oneida Lake. Seventeen of the 

 Oneida Club were in camf) on Oneida Lake, looking after nets. If 

 they had come out two 3'ears ago it would have been a great help to 

 me. A world of eel flies on the waters yet, stfll they are making great 

 catches of pike and pickerel. I have 130 cases to get ready for court, 

 which I shall put my immediate attention to, as ordered by the chief. 

 Skaneateles and Otisco people are behaving themselves well. I spent 

 sixteen nights there this season; found everything straight. Those 

 that opposed us at the first are now helping us openly. They see the 

 benefit of protection. 



The report of Special Protector Jackson, who has been 

 employed by the Onondaga Anglers' Association to enforce 

 the laws, shows that within the last three months he has 

 j)ulled eight fyke nets, five gill nets, three flat nets and 

 one trap and has made five arrests. It also shows that 

 150,000 muscalonge, pike and trout fry have been planted 

 in near-by waters since May 1, 



Fishing has not been so good in Onondaga and Oneida 

 Lakes within fifteen years, for pike and ijickerel. I took 

 601bs, of those fish in three hours from Oneida Lake last 

 week. Henry Loftie, 



A Frog's Scream. 



Waeren, R. I. — The panther scream season being over, 

 wiU you kindly permit me to submit a scream from a 

 somewhat lowher member of the animal kingdom? Last 

 Sunday I was fishing with a friend in a reserA'oir here, 

 and seeing a mammoth frog near the bank my companion 

 angled for, hooked him and pulled him up on the bank. 

 I grabbed his hindlegs and was about to "do him," when 

 he uttered a yell hke that of a cat in pain. He started 

 vdth a moderate yowl, and increased each succeeding one 

 until he was doing an act that a panther might be proud 

 of. A. B. 



Liake Merrill. 



Mk. Louis B, Akin, of Portland, Ore,, has established a 

 lodge for sportsmen at the south end of Lake Merrill, 

 Etna, Wash,, where, he tells us, the comers will find the 

 best of ti'out fishing, and after Aug. 15 good hunting 

 gi-ounds for elk, deer and bear. The lake is reached by 

 steamer from Portland, via Woodland. 



TROUT IN QUEBEC WILDS. 



Boston, July 1. — Many sportsmen have yet to find that 

 there is still a glorioas region in the North, almost unex- 

 plored, where trout are abundant, small game abounds, 

 and where moose and caribou, if not the red deer, are not 

 nearly exterminated. Take the map of the Province of 

 Quebec and look at the mmierous streams and lakes 

 north of the St. Lawrence in the valleys of the Saguenay, 

 the St. Maurice and the Gatineau rivers. The country, 

 up to nearly 200 miles north of the St. Lawrence, is 

 literally dotted with lakes and ponds, the home of the 

 trout and the salmon, while all these lakes and ponds 

 lead by the wildest and most picturesque of streams and 

 rivers down into the St. Lawrence. Much of the country 

 is broken, though no very high mountains are the result 

 But many of the lakes are several hundred feet, in half 

 as many miles, above the larger streams. But sportsmen 

 are gradually finding their way into these vaUeys and 

 considerable of the land is already under the control of 

 sporting clubs, both English and American, The Lau- 

 rentian Club is one of these. It is made uj) of some 250 

 members, including many New York and Boston sports- 

 men. It has control of a large tract of country, includ- 

 ing a great many lakes and streams in the valley and 

 the water shed of the St, Maurice, Its principal lakes, 

 ponds and streams are in the vicinity of Lake Edward, 

 and from 50 to 70 miles north of the St. Lawrence, It 

 has already a large number of club houses erected, with 

 trails completed from lake to lake, and around falls and 

 rapids to serve for canoeing. 



Mr. N. N. Thayer, of Barry, Thayer & Co., of Boston, 

 has just returned from a visit of several weeks to thLs 

 region, Mrs, Thayer was with him, a lady well known, 

 as an annual visitor to the Rangeleys, In fact Mr, and 

 Mrs. Thayer have been to the Rangeleys a great many 

 times, and have taken some remarkably large trout. They 

 encamped on their recent Canadian trip the most of the 

 time within ten or fifteen miles of Grand Piles, P. Q., in 

 the St. Maurice country. But they also visited other lakes 

 and streams more remote. They made one excursion of 

 some twenty miles to a la ke in the north , and the wonders 

 they saw would delight a sportsman's heart. They saw 

 live caribou and plenty of moose signs, convincing them 

 that big game was really plenty. Tiiey saw several 

 beaver dams, inhabited, and got sight of Mr. Beaver at 

 home. The jom-ney wiis made by canoe and carry, a 

 long part of the distance by carry, around rapids and 

 waterfalls. One waterfall Mr. Thayer says is a wonder 

 of the world, A river some 200ft. wide dashes madly 

 down a gorge and then over a precipice, falling, he esti- 

 mates, 100ft. at least. He wonders that more people do 

 not visit this fall, and believes that the neighborhood will 

 yet be famous with tourists. 



The trouting was all that heart could wish, though they 

 took no very large brook trout. Mr. Thayer says that the 

 ti'out remind him greatly of the trout taken at Kennebago, 

 in point of size, and the lakes and ponds nortli of that 

 famous resort. But the trout are generally far brighter 

 in color, and the flesh is a deeper red. He accounts for 

 this from the fact that the streams and ponds are simply 

 beds of rock, and almost entirely destitute of muddy- 

 bottom. Some good-sized togue, or lake trout, were taken 

 in some of the lower lakes. But the upper lakes and 

 streams, he beheves, will be forever free from any other 

 fish than the brook trout, for the reason that no other fish 

 can surmount the waterfalls and rapids that lead out of 

 these upper lakes. 



The greatest drawback Mr, Thayer experienced on this 

 trip was the presence everywhere of innumerable black 

 flies. Rangeley, in its earUest days, was never half as 

 badly afflicted as is this region north of the St. Lawrence, 

 Fly-casting was rendered almost a misery rather than a 



leasure from the fact that the black flies" must constantly 



e fought from the nose and the eyes, though the rest of 



The Merrimac River fiows through the center of Law- 

 rence, dividing the city into two districts, known as North 

 and South Lawrence, and upon the northern bank of the 

 river are some of the largest textile manufacturing con- 

 cerns in the world, among them the world renowned 

 Pacific Mills, which alone employ 8,000 operators, and 

 upon the south bank of the river are two paper mills, 

 worsted mill, commission dyehouse, machine shop, leather 

 board mill and a wool-scouring mill. I mention these 

 simply to inform your readers of the large amount of 

 refuse that must naturally be turned into this stream and 

 with all have salmon in the finest condition in the very 

 heart of these large industries. 



I remember five years ago when the gentleman in 

 question, Mr. Pat McCarthy, and myself and two others 

 were on our way to Moosehead on a trout fishing excur- 

 sion, we happened to stop ofl' at Bangor, and hearing that 

 a salmon had been hooked and landed by Mr. Fred Ayer, 

 it was suggested by Mr. McCarthy that we go to the pool 

 below the dam and try our luck at salmon fishing. The 

 result was that McCarthy hooked three sahnon that after- 

 noon and lost them all, owing to old and imperfect leader. 

 This was too much for Mac, so we continued om- journey 

 to Moosehead, and while there decided that we should at 

 once prepare for next season's salmon fishing at Bangor, 

 When the season came around it found us at the pool well 

 equipped , and to show that we were so our party hooked 

 and landed eleven beautiful salmon, not losing any, 



I forgot to say that this same gentleman caught' a lOlbs, 

 salmon last June in the same pool as the one caught yes- 

 terday, which is situated exactly opposite the Pacific 

 MiUs on the south side of the river and behind the E, 

 Frank Lewis scouring miU, Frank W. Lee, 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. * 



[From a Staff Con-respondent.'] 

 Good Fishing. 



Chicago, 111,, Jime 30,— The fishing season began late, 

 but it began in earnest. The fish are biting everywhere, 

 all over Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, except 

 where local conditions are temporarily bad. Parties back 

 from the trout lake region, Wisconsin, including W. H. 

 Haskell and Frank Grey, among others, report all the 

 mascallonge and bass any one could ask. Mr. Stewart, 

 who was at a new water, Pike Lake, is wild with en- 

 thusiasm over the sport he had. The lower Wisconsin 

 lakes are now ofl'ering better sport than was the case a 

 week ago. The small-mouth bass are biting well in the 

 Kalamazoo and Grand Rivers, ]\Iichigan south peninsula. 

 Sir, Ben, O. Bush, of Kalamazoo, writes that a few days 

 ago a party caught thirty-five smaU-mouths in a little 

 while, but tlien had the misfortune to break their stringer 

 and lose the entire catch. "This," says Mr. Bush sagely, 

 "shows that you don't always have anything safe even if 

 you have a string to it." 



For Grayling. 



j\j:chie Babbitt, a guide of the grayling country, south 

 peninsula, wi-ites as follows to Mr, .1, B. Battelle, of 

 Toledo, O., who is kind enough to hand me the letter: 



Yours of May 16 came to hand. I have been very busy and am five 

 mfles from a post-office and do not go out often and have so neglected 

 a reply. I would recommend the Au Sable as a stream for your 

 friend for fish, sceuery, etc. I cannot look after any parties. My 

 brother Walter, of GrayUng, would, I think, care for your fi'iend's 

 party. The wages of a guide are 83.50 per day and hoard. For a 

 j pai-ty of two or three no camp man would be needed, provided pai'tieB 

 did not flsh too many hours in the day. 



Mr. Battelle thinks the last two weeks of August about 

 I the best of the grayhng season. 



Casters Casting. 

 , The city press thus reports the last meeting of the Fly- 

 Casting Club: "Excellent casting was the rule at the 



