Oct. 14, 1893.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



of them were seen every day, as they came to the surface, 

 exposing the dorsal fin and part of their silvery sides. 



It seemed difficult to understand why some of the fish 

 were not landed, as our lines, rods and hooks were of 

 the best, but we had to record a failure, and went home 

 limping. Being in Nashville shortly after my return I 

 conferred with Benj. B. AUen, Esq., of that city, who is 

 a first-class fisherman and besides had had experience in 

 capturing tarpon at Charlotte Harbor. Our conclusion 

 was that the snoods used, which were only about 1ft. 

 in length, were too short, permitting the fish after swal- 

 lowing the bait to sever the unprotected line with his 

 jaws, like scissors; and I think this was correct, as the 

 line was invariably cut or broken not far above the 

 snood. 



We arranged to try it again, and on July 24 niy son 

 and I, accompanied by Mr. Allen, left for the scene of 

 our former failure, reaching the town of St. Andrews on 

 the bay at 12 M. on the 26th. Early in the morning of 

 the 27th we crossed the bay to Red Fish Point, provided 

 with a small schooner, and a small boat and sailor for 

 each of us. One of the sailora with a cast net easily sup- 

 plied us with bait. We strung out from 100 to 150yds. 

 apart, and anchored in water 10 or 12ft. deep, but near 

 the margin of a much greater depth. All of us had 

 strikes the first day, and after two or three leaps in the 

 air, the same old result would follow, the bait and hook 

 being thrown out with great force, and once or twice 

 with a noise loud enough to be heard at a distance of 

 100yds. The experience of the first day was repeated on 

 the 28th except that my son had one hooked so fast as to 

 make his capture appear certain, when the line broke 

 and he was lost. This fish kept leaping in the imme- 

 diate vicinity at intervals for an hour or two afterward, 

 the snood still hanging from his mouth. The last leap 

 came near throwing the fish into a small boat crossing 

 the bay and rowed by a black boy. 



On the next day we continued to get strikes and to lose 

 the fish, until late in the evening, my bait was taken and 

 the line began slowly to pay out. Suddenly a leap from 

 a tarpon not more than 40ft. away, coming straight to- 

 ward the boat with a snood visible in his mouth, followed 

 by another leap in the same direction, brought him within 

 10ft. of me, when he turned toward the open bay, and 

 I reeled up my line rapidly until I had a steady pull on 

 him. Meantime, Hawk, my sailor, had thrown over the 

 float attached to the anchor line and made steady and 

 rapid pursuit. I kept up the pull without relaxation (ex- 

 cept once or twice when the fish changed direction and 

 came toward me) as strong as I thought the tackle would 

 bear, and after towing me toward the middle of the bay 

 which is here a mile wide, the fish began to show signs of 

 weakening, and it was only a question of time when he 

 would give up entirely. The final act in the contest, that 

 of bringing the fish to gaff and getting it into the boat 

 with safety in water 20 or 30ft. deep required skill, cool- 

 ness and courage, with a fair share of physical strength, 

 aU of which Hawk possessed, so when the fish was led 

 alongside by the line the gaff was passed beneath and be- 

 yond it so that by a rajjid movement upward and toward 

 the boat the point of the gaff entered on the distant and 

 emerged on the near side, having a firm hold near^the 

 heart. This movement was continued and brought' the 

 brilliant beauty into the boat. This being the first tarpon 

 ever caught in the bay with rod and reel. Hawk gave 

 vent to his joy in a few fearful yells. Time required, 

 thirty minutes; length Sft. 3in., and weight 931bs. 



We remained until each of us had caught two tarpon, 

 all about the same size, satisfying ourselves and the 

 natives of the village that it could be done. 



The tarpon we caught had jjrobably spawned, as none of 

 them had any roe, and on examination, the contents of 

 the stomach showed crabs as the principal food. One day 

 while waiting for a bite, I had my rod in the holder and 

 was eating a watermelon when my line began to run off 

 slowly; in a flash a monster tarpon leaped within ti or Sft. 

 of the boat, splashed my end of the Uttle craft with a 

 shower of salt water, wetting me thoroughly, and by the 

 time I could seize the rod made a frantic leap right over 

 the bow of the boat, so close to Hawk as to touch his 

 clothing; another frantic leap followed, the bait was dis- 

 gorged and the fish was off. This fish must have been full 

 7ft. in length and was by odds the widest tarpon I ever 

 saw. 



There is an element of danger in tarpon fishing that 

 should not be entirely ignored, for if Hawk had occupied 

 his usual seat in the boat when the fish made its leap he 

 would have been struck squarely and imdoubtedly with 

 serious consequences. When the prick of the hook is felt, 

 or possibly when the fish realizes something out of the or- 

 dinary course from finding the snood in his mouth, a wild 

 craze seems to beset him and no one knows where he will 

 land or what he will do. 



Many would suppose that midsummer in Florida would 

 prove to be insufferably hot; but it was otherwise, the sea 

 breeze being so constant as to make the temperature not 

 only bearable, but most of the time pleasant. At night 

 we had no mosquitoes, nor were we troubled with flies in 

 the day time. We made no effort to take the smaller 

 fish, but jjompano, mackerel, etc., were seen in schools 

 around us daily, and fine sport could have been had for 

 [ the trial. Mullet, which seem to be the reliance for life 

 and growth of all the predaceous fish, are in wonderful 

 abundance, and were it not for the destruction by sharks, 

 tarpon, porpoise, etc., as well as by man, the water would 

 fce thick with them. As it is, with all the destructive 

 influences at work, their numbers are siniply marvelous. 



In fishing for tarpon, disappointments are liable to be 

 met with, as the shark inhabits the same waters with the 

 tarpon, competes with him for the same food, so, when 

 you have a bite there is the delightful uncertainty as to 

 wha t it is, which in case of tarpon is relieved by the. in- 

 varLvble habit of leaping out of the water. The mackerel 

 shar^c generally gives a leap after being hooked, but 

 always comes up in a side curve and not straight, as does 

 the tarpon. Another and disgusting nuisance is the cat- 

 fish, which damages the bait and destroys its atti'active- 

 ness, for the tarpon is fastidious and only takes clean, 

 fresh bait. We killed quite a nmnber of sharks, one of 

 which, caught by me, measured 7ft. Sin. in length. 



Should any of your readers desire to try St. Andrews 



or tarpon or smaller fish, full information can be ob- 

 tained from Capt. L. M, Ware, who resides there, or I 

 wUl take pleasure in answering any communication on 

 the matter. D. B. Clipfe. 



Krasrlin, Tenu., September. 



[As an illustration of the possible danger to be appre- 



hended from the leap of the tarpon as noted by Dr. Cliffe, 

 here is an item which was printed in the New York Sun 

 last week: "Velasco, Texas, Oct. 3. — ^WhUe a seine was 

 being dragged at Cedar Lake Bay yesterday, a tarpon 5 or 

 6ft. long jumped over the net, striking a negro in the 

 head and killing him instantly. Another negro was 

 stunned by the shock."] 



ANGLING NOTES. 



Autumn Fishing. 



Spring and summer is generally considered the halcyon 

 time of the contemplative angler, and the crisp days of 

 autumn are usually given over to recreations with gim 

 and rifle; but there is a golden time just before the rods 

 are put away for winter, and before the guns are fairly 

 warmed for their innings over stubble, that may be con- 

 sidered as a compromise season, that is as charming as 

 any time during the twelve months, and of which few 

 comparatively in the towns know anything about. The 

 summer visitor to the country has returned to the paved 

 streets and brisk walls, and the counter exodus to brown 

 woods and bare fields under gray skies has not fairly 

 begun. This is glorious, radiant October when the great 

 painter natirre inaugurates her annual art exhibition and 

 puts on view her choicest and rarest handiwork. It is 

 the time of Indian summer haze, balmy air, azure skies 

 and when the winds blow from the coast of the God 

 Cautantowit over ripened harvests. June is the angler's 

 month in the northern latitudes, but the poetic angler, 

 and what angler is not poetical in his soul? has a claim 

 upon hazy, lazy, dreamy October, which the gunner must 

 share with him. To be sm-e, at this season trout and 

 salmon no longer claim the angler's attention, for they 

 have other duties to perform at this time besides rising to 

 the fly, but there are other fish than those of the salmon 

 family that are not attending to family duties; and, after 

 all, what particular difference does it make whether fish 

 bite or not if one can only go fishing in October, when 

 the forests are painted and decked to be admired? 



I have a friend who is the most indefatigable fisherman 

 that I know, and he fishes to get fish, and will get up be- 

 fore day dawn and fisli aU day, and repeat day after day 

 as though he never heard that it's "not all of fishing to 

 fish." He went to Europe and I gave him a letter that 

 procured for him salmon fishing on the Tay in Scotland, 

 belonging to the Count of Paris, and when his fishing was 

 over the veteran Scotch river-keeper said that in all his 

 experience he never before saw a man who would cast a 

 salmon fly with an 18ft. greenheart rod from early morn- 

 ing to dewy eve, without ceasing, and repeat the next day. 

 This friend lives where the beauties of our autumn fohage 

 is unknown, and one year we were flshing for black bass 

 in October when the hiUs were in a blaze of color, and he 

 put his rod down in the boat and lighted a cigar and 

 seated liimself in the bow of the boat as though he had 

 come to a play instead to one of the best black bass lakes 

 in the coimtry. I asked if he were iU but he said, "No; 

 but how can a man fish when there is a boquet miles long 

 and miles wide spread out here to be admired." At last 

 his poetic natnre had risen above his desire to kill fish, and 

 above thoughts about the market price of cotton. We 

 fished that year until the trees were bare, and we did not 

 get any fish to brag about, either. The next year this in- 

 veterate black bass fisherman came North in October to 

 go fishing, at a time when black bass are turning their 

 attention to a long winter's dream in the waters of north- 

 ern New York; but we went to Canada, and as if to show 

 that October bass flshing when the trees are in fancy dress 

 is not to be despised, we caught more bass than ever before 

 in the same length of time. 



But autumn fishing does not consist entirely of looking 

 at the scenery, however beautiful and attractive it may 

 be. A few days ago a gentleman came to the town in 

 which I live, and as he had not seen Lake George he de- 

 sired to see the famous lake, and a friend went there with 

 him, and they decided to do a little autumn fishing. They 

 had but one 'day and engaged two boatmen at Katskill 

 Bay, Frank Harris and "Warr" Harris. JNIy friend de- 

 cided to try for pike, called here pickerel, on the grass, 

 and his friend wished for black bass, so went to rock 

 bottom in deep water. One boat got eleven bass and the 

 other fourteen pike. The largest bass weighed 3lbs. , and 

 the largest pike I6f lbs. , and pike from the cold waters of 

 Lake George at this time of the year are very good to eat, 

 as I can assure any one who doubts it. One example of 

 the actual fish taken in autumn fishing is sufficient, for, 

 as I have intimated, the fish may be omitted entirely 

 without destroying the pleasure of a day's fishing in 

 golden October. 



Fall Fishing. 



As a caption to the preceding note I had written "Fall 

 Fishing," when it occurred to me that it meant something 

 entirely difl'erent from what I intended, and therefore I 

 changed it to "Autumn Fishing. " There was a time when 

 "fall fishing" was practiced in Lake George, and it con- 

 sisted of baiting a- hook with a mass of earth woims, and 

 then wa' ! ing out into the lake at the mouth of a brook and 

 casting this ball of worms into the water where it would 

 be taken by ycung lake trout, locally called "silver trout." 

 This style of' fishing is obsolete, and I mention it only to 

 say that the enforcement of the fish laws covering the 

 time of spawning in the lake is alone what has made it 

 obsolete. A. N. Cheney. 



Striped Bass off New York City. 



New York, Oct. 4.— Striped bass are running very large 

 off Port Morris at present. James Dineen brought in a 

 string of eleven yesterday, the largest being a beauty of 

 91bs. lOoz., measuring 32in. Some good catches have been 

 made near PhilUps & Cannon's boat house, foot of East 

 138th street, varying from 1 to 51bs. , the writer having 

 hooked seven on Monday. Drive. 



The Texas Black Bass Record. 



Velasco, Tex., Oct. 2.— W. M. D. Lee and M. P. Mor- 

 rissey broke the Sabbath and the black bass fishing record 

 here yesterday, landing 76 in two hours, none under 21bs., 

 several over 3i, They were taken from a small lake near 

 Velasco. ' J^lcC. 



The Forest and Stream is put to press each week on Tues- 

 day. Oon-espondenceintended for publication should reach 

 Its at the latest by Monday, and as much earlier as pract icable. 



POTOMAC NOTES. 



Two GENTLEMEN well known for their enthusiasm in all 

 matters pertaining to fish and fishing called upon us the 

 other day. Mr. Murray, of the House, to show us a pair 

 of ova taken from the large black bass he caught in the 

 Potomac at White's Ferry, just below where the MonocaCy 

 empties its waters into the river. The bass weighed dilbSi 

 and is said to be the largest taken from the Potomac this 

 season. The ovarian sacs are 2in. long and filled with 

 well-rounded eggs. Mr. M. thought the fish might be 

 thinking about laying the eggs pretty soon, but after look- 

 ing up the matter in back numbers of FOREST and Stream 

 we concluded that these eggs would be carried over till 

 next spring, and that Mr. M. still remains innocent of 

 having killed a spawning bass. 



The other gentleman, Mr. William Sterritt, of Galveston, 

 was with Mr. Murray up the river. They took 15 good 

 bass; besides the S^lbs. one, one of 2ilbs. was taken. 

 Plenty of bass in the Potomac, these gentlemen say — just 

 go and pull them out. 



At McQuade's, Potomac below the Great Falls, a party 

 caught 31 bass during one of the last days of September. 



Mr. Sterritt claims that after a siege of muddy water 

 the better is the fishing, and the longer the muddy spell 

 lasts the better. He went up the river after a wet spell 

 this summer and caught a fine lot of good fat fish. Mr. 

 S. believes from what he has observed that the fish feed 

 greedily during the muddy stages of the water. 



Mr. Murray and some friends are going to Cedar Creek, 

 lower Potomac, soon for white pei-cli fishing. Great sport 

 is to be had with very light tackle, using hackles and 

 bumble bees. 



Mr. .Jesse Sarvis, of Washington, came up from Old 

 Point recently with a party of gentlemen, who took the 

 boat at Point Lookout where they had been fishing with 

 great success for what they called salmon trout. We 

 supposed, of course, that they were the black spotted 

 weakfish or salt water trout of that region, but Sterritt 

 holds that from the description Sarvis gives, they were 

 some other fish. At Galveston the plain weakfish are 

 known as sand trout, the spotted form as trout. The 

 best bait for them in Galveston Bay is shrimp. Mde 

 Sterritt. 



From a newspaper we learn that pompano have been 

 caught recently in the Baltimore harbor, or not far below 

 Baltimore. In the lower Potomac perch and striped bass 

 (rockfish) are thicker than fleas on a dog's back. There is 

 a theory, and a plausible one, for the presence of so many 

 fish in the fresh water and brackish estuaries. It is 

 claimed by some that the butcher of the sea, the blueflsh, 

 drives them in. Bart. 



Does Freezing Kill Fish? 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



A few years af ago I wrote you an article under the 

 caption of "Winter Killed Fish," which met with cavil 

 from some persons who affected to speak ex aithedra. 

 The position I then took is f uUy sustained by the results of 

 practical experiments made at New Haven, as set forth in 

 the subjoined statement published recently in the New 

 Haven Register: 



A number of live perch were secured and placed la water at the ice 

 manufactory, and the water was put in the process of crystallization. 

 It requires about 00 hours to freeze a ca.ke of ice, and during this 

 time the flsh were watched to ascertain the efifect of the intense cold 

 which surrounded them. They Icept alive and continued to swim in 

 the water until their confines were so narrowed that they had no space 

 in which to move. 



The ice in its freezing process begins at the outside and freezes 

 toward the center, so the space in which the fish had their liberty was 

 gradually narrowed down untO the fish were incased and the water 

 around them frozen, pinioning them tightly in its fold. 



Each flsh when the cake was completed was as natural as life, its fins 

 and tail being spread as they were while in the act of swimming. The 

 cake of ice containing the flsh was placed on exhibition, and numerous 

 bets involving several hundred dollars were made as to the outcome 

 of the experiment. 



The cake was left intact for a day or so and then cut open and the 

 flsh taken out and placed in water. They were left for some time, and 

 of the five fishes which were originally put in the cake none of them 

 exhibited a return to life so far as can be definitely determined except 

 one, and whether this one was indeed alive is open to conjecture. 



Of course I am pleased to be vindicated by testimony 

 so auchentic, and hope you will print. 



Charles Hallock. 



Dynamite is Dangerous. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



On Friday, Aug, 18, one David Christian, a day laborer, 

 living one mile east of Lynn, Pa., was killing fish by the 

 use of dynamite, in the deep pools along the Meshoppen 

 creek. Christian fixed his cartridges and lighted the 

 fuse and held it in his hands while waiting for a com- 

 panion to bimch the fish by splashing stones in the water. 

 Waiting too long, the thing exploded while yet in his 

 hands, blowing both entirely away above the wrists and 

 leaving the flesh from the elbows down hanging in 

 shreds. One eye was blown out and other parts of his 

 body badly burned. The quantity of dynamite used was 

 small, else the man would have been blown to atoms. 

 The following morning both arms were amputated just 

 below the elbows. At present he is out ai'ound the neigh- 

 borhood. The man has a wife and two children now in 

 destitute circxmistances. Bon Ami. 



Striped Bass in the Raritan. 



Perth Amboy, N. J., Oct. 4.— Striped bass have been 

 biting iinely in the Raritan Eiver since last Sunday, 

 strings of ten to forty being taken. Snappers of 8 to llin. 

 in length are caught in great numbers at the C. E. R. 

 drawbridge, J. L. K. 



To the World's Fair. 



All roads lead to— Chicago ; at least thej^ will this simimer, and wiU 

 continue to until next November. But, then, there's a great difference 

 in roads. Some people with time hanging heavily on their hands, and 

 unthoughtful of the comforts and conveniences of travel, may say: 

 "Any road so that we get there." To such we have nothing to say, but 

 address ourselves to the wide-awake business folks who have a true 

 estimate of the commercial value of time, an adequate appreciation of 

 the conveniences of modern methods of travel in their higbest develop- 

 ment, and are capable of knowing a good thing when they see it. To 

 such is commended the admirable route via the New York Central & 

 Hudson River Railroad. The "CentraFs" four-track, stone-ballast 

 road-bed, insuring almost perfect smoothness of motion; its superb 

 equipment in most approved and improved rolling stock; its admira- 

 ble service rendered by trustworthy and obUging attaches; its maxi- 

 mum of speed combined with minimum of risk, its route through so 

 many great centers of population, and so much of scenic attractions; 

 all justify its claim of being the route par excellence to "The White 

 City " Take the New York Central and be happy.— ^dv. 



