384 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Mat 5, 1894. 



the smelts were running up Pike Brook from the lake in 

 email numbers. He adds that on the opening day of the 

 trout fishing season in New Hampshire, from a small 

 pond near Sunapee Lake, a man caught a number of 

 speckled trout weighing from one to four pounds each. 

 They must have been caught through the ice. 



Perhaps, the most novel report, in view of the belief 

 that in order to catch trout one must now go to some 

 place remote from the towns, comes to me from Mr. H. 

 ». Bull, of Albany, who writes: "Went for trout Wednes- 

 day, the 18th. Left my house at 2:30 P. M., was back at 

 5:40 P. M. Never went beyond the city limits and 

 brought home four trout of above legal size." 



A Rainbow Trout. 



Saturday evening, April 21, there was a ring at my 

 door, and Mr. P. T. Ross, of Gansevoort, and a member of 

 the Gansevoort Fish and Game Club, came in with a rain- 

 bow trout which he had caught in Saratoga county, and 

 had driven eight miles to show to me. The trout weighed 

 2lbs. 9oz., and was caught on the 19th. It was 18iin. 

 long and Hin. deep, and was one of a lot of rainbow 

 trout planted by the Gansevoort Club in 1891. Mr. Ross 

 was naturally proud of his catch, as he had taken 

 personal charge of the planting of the fry. The same 

 species of trout have been planted in other streams in 

 Saratoga county than the one selected by Mr. Ross, and 

 have in nearly every instance disappeared after the second 

 year, as they have from so many other streams in other 

 portions of the State. 



Mr. Ross tells me that knowing of the peculiarity of the 

 rainbow trout in this respect, he selected Delegar Brook, 

 in the town of Wilton, in which to make his plant, as the 

 brook flows into Chase Pond, from which the fish cannot 

 escape down stream. Last year he caught from the 

 stream rainbows weighing 12 and 14oz. each, showing 

 that there was an abundance of food. He says that the 

 trout have spawned in the brook and are undoubtedly 

 there to stay. 



The Gansevoort Club caught some men netting one of 

 the trout streams this spring before the fishing season 

 commenced, and had them arrested and fined. The 

 netter is the curse of the country trout streams, and next 

 to him comes the baby trout fisherman. 



A Reminiscence. 



How the scenes of past trout fishing come back to us at 

 this season of the year! 



I was talking with a friend in my own house one even- 

 ing lately after a game of whist, and he described a 

 stretch of brook that had impressed him while wheeling 

 in the country that day. Instantly there came to my 

 mind a bend in Minerva Creek, in Essex county, N. Y. , 

 several miles above the village of Olmsteadville. The 

 stream used to be flooded every spring to drive out the 

 saw logs cut at its headwaters, and at one bend there was 

 a deep hole under a high bank, making the stream unap- 

 proachable from the bank side. The opposite side was low, 

 with a shelving, gravelly approach to the pool. The deep 

 hole had gathered drift of all sorts, but chiefly stumps of 

 trees with a mass of roots. Fishing down stream I cast 

 my flies on the water at the upper end of the pool, and 

 with a rush a trout came from the stumps and roots and 

 took the stretcher fly. It seemed to be about l^lbs. in 

 weight and for a few moments fought a fair fight in the 

 clear part of the pool. Suddenly it turned to find shelter 

 and safety among the roots, and I checked the rush when 

 the fish had almost gained the haven. There was nothing 

 to do but pit the rod and leader against the fish and the 

 current and the issue was fairly fought, as I held the rod 

 back and the butt forward. An extra spring of the rod 

 during a desperate struggle on the part of the trout would 

 carry it so near the roots that its tail seemed almost to 

 touch them. At first I expected the leader would part or 

 the hook give way, but as the seconds went on I gained 

 confidence in the tackle; and then all in a moment the 

 trout came to the top of the water on its side, and draw- 

 ing it toward the shelving bank the net did for him. 



Now, as I think of it with every detail as fresh as though 

 the fight occurred yesterday, I wish almost that I had put 

 the trout back in the water to live and perhaps fight 

 again. When this came back to me, like a flash, the 

 other evening, I could see it and feel it all, and when I 

 went to sleep I was fighting the fight over again, and it 

 was the best fighting I have had this year. 



Earl of Aberdeen on the Restigouche. 



Back in 1878 Mr. John Mowat, then a fishery officer of 

 Canada, received directions to take charge of a party of 

 royal fishermen and women on the Restigouche in New 

 Brunswick. H. R. H. Princess Louise, Lord Lorne, the 

 Governor -General, Duke of Argyle and daughters, and 

 Lady MacNamara were of the party. Messrs. Fleming 

 and Brydges had given up the river for the season to the 

 royal party, and Mr. Mowat fitted up Mr. Brydges's 

 famous barge Great Caesar's Ghost for the occasion. It 

 was during this trip that the Prince's Pool was named. 

 Mr. Mowat has told me how some of the party had de- 

 scended the stream, leaving Her Royal Highness, Lady 

 MacNamara and attendants with crew of the barge and 

 two Indian canoemen behind for the last fishing. Mr. 

 Mowat put one of the Indians out and took his place, 

 hoping to give the Princess the best fishing the river af- 

 forded. The fishing was in the present Princess Pool, 

 then unnamed. The veteran fisherman, after looking 

 over the fly -book of his royal mistress, put on her leader 

 one of his own flies, and she hooked and killed a 24lbs. 

 fish in eleven and a half minutes. The next was foul- 

 hooked and required twenty-two minutes and weighed 

 221bs. The next was a fish of 261bs., and the fourth and 

 last a 27-pounder, which Mr. Mowat gaffed from the 

 canoe. He then asked permission of Her Royal Highness 

 to name the pool in her honor, and as she consented he 

 named it Princess Louise Pool. 



The Restigouche Salmon Club has now asked his Excel- 

 lency the Governor- General, to be the guest of the club 

 for the salmon fishing in June, and Mr. Mowat has been 

 invited to take charge of the Earl of Aberdeen and his 

 party and show them where the big salmon lie, as he did 

 for the Governor-General sixteen years ago. 



grapher in the funny papers, but truth is more real than 

 fiction, and at this moment there is on my desk a vial in 

 which not only to carry bait, but in which the bait is 

 offered to fish. I have seen alleged bait bottles and pigs 

 portrayed in the comic papers, but they were several sizes 

 larger than the vial, which is wired to the shank of a hook 

 with silver wire, and in it an angle-worm is supposed to 

 be placed, then stoppered in with a cork and the whole 

 outfit offered to an unsuspecting fish. If the inventor 

 would supply eye glasses for the fish it is possible that the 

 fish might discover what the vial contained, otherwise 

 they are quite likely to take the vial and contents for a 

 long .22 cartridge. 



"Not All of Fishing to Fish." 



The Fly-Fishers' Club, London, has just issued its 

 Annual, after its tenth year of existence, and on its cover 

 is shown, for the first time, the 

 book plate for the club's library, 

 specially designed by Mr. Batch- 

 elor. The design is very attrac- 

 tive as well as appropriate, dis- 

 playing as it does a fish-basket, 

 or creel, of the stereotyped form 

 as made of French willow, with 

 cover raised to show that it is 

 filled with books instead of trout. 



The shoulder strap is wound 

 around the front of the creel 

 and bears the legend, "Fly Fish- 

 ers' Club Library." Under the 

 figure of the creel is the Latin 

 motto, Piscator non solum pis- 

 catur. Curved gracefully around the creel are two great 

 leaders, or casting lines, each terminating in an up-winged 

 fly, making the whole design in the form of a shield. 



Now, I have nothing but unqualified praise for this de- 

 sign, for it is well drawn and so "fetching," that it will 

 make a book-loving angler's eyes glisten as he looks upon 

 it; but on one of the pages of the Annual I read: "The 

 book plate for the library and its Latin inscription will be 

 found to embody the maxim of that celebrated American 

 angler, Thaddeus Norris, that 'it is not all of fishing to 

 fish.' " 



I would be the last man to rob "Uncle Thad." of any- 

 thing due to him or his memory, but I believe that the 

 Fly-Fishers' Club has credited the maxim to the wrong 

 man. Thad. Norris may have used the expression, that 

 it is "not all of fishing to fish," but his name has never 

 been associated with it over here, and I have just made an 



idea of even suggesting that Mr. Dawson was aching fcr 

 the time when he could take trout unlawfully, or in au 

 unsportsmanlike manner, for he knew him well and 

 knew that he was not a law-breaker; but it is also 

 evident that the writer was not an a»gler and was un- 

 familiar with angling terms, and in testifying to his lore 

 of angling used the wrong word. But there it stands to 

 this day, in the sense in which it is used, almost like a 

 confession on the part of Mr. Dawson himself. Here is 

 Mr. Dawson's own testimony: "The greatest enthusiast 

 soon wearies of bait and troll as lures for pike and 

 pickerel, or sunfish and perch. As coarse food palls on 

 the palate so the love of angling soon dies out unless it 

 reaches up to the higher plane of trout and salmon, lured 

 by the tiny fly, kept in check by the gossamer-like leader 

 and conquered by the skillful manipulation of the slender 

 rod, which curves to the pressure as gracefully as the 

 tall pine to the blast of the tempest. It is only in this 

 higher department of the art that the angler finds the 

 witchery of his vocation," A. N. Cheney. 



OUANAN1GHE AND TROUT. 



To commence with, I would strongly un-e all who desire 

 a literary acquaintance with the game qualities of the 

 ouananiche and the manner of taking him to procure a 

 copy of Mr. Eugene McCarthy's "Leaping Ouananiche," 

 so fully reviewed in your last number. My friend Mc- 

 Carthy's views on the natural history of the fish differ 

 from mine in some details, but that is naturally no proof 

 that he is wrong. But his exceedingly interesting, cor- 

 rect and vivid description of angling for ouananiche in 

 the summer and autumn — the seasons in which the enthu- 

 siastic and popular Syracuse angler and author has for 

 so many years matched his strength and cunning against 

 the finesse of his finny prey, cannot but prove helpful to 

 those who may contemplate their first trip to "the land of 

 the ouananiche" during the noming summer. It is a mis- 

 take, however, to assert that "before June 1 it is too early 

 and cold" for ouananiche fishing'. One of the best day's 

 sport that I ever had with the fish was upon May 23 or 24, 

 189:2, when in the course of a very few hours some dozen 

 or so of 3 and 41bs. fish fell to my rod in the pool at the 

 mouth of the Ouiatchouan, and excellent sport was had 

 on the same occasion by my angling companions, R. M. 

 Stocking of Quebec, Mr. Chase, president of the Water- 

 bury Watch Company, and Mr. John Wallace of Ansonia, 

 Conn. There are no flies to bother one in Canada in May, 

 and though the comforts of the Hotel Roberval may be 

 lacking, for it seldom opens before June 1, country board 



The Sheriff has no control over the Jury Lists, and cannot excuse any person from Jury Duty. 



Sir: 



You have teen drawn to serve as a TRIAL JUROR, and are required to attend at the 

 CITY COURT OF NEW YORK [Part ist], to be hgld in Room 20, Old City Hall, 

 in the City of New York, on Monday, the / 



189// at 10 o'clock .A. M., and there await the further orde: 



CHAINED TO BUSINESS. 

 He thought he was going fishing next Monday, but 



Sheriff. 



Bait in a Vial. 

 It strikes me that at some time I have heard or read 

 that a very few of the fishermen of the cave dwelling 

 period, or it may have been a few hundred years later 

 carried their bait in a bottle or jug. No doubt fishermen 

 generally of this day credited such allusions to the para- 



examination of his books to see if I could find reference 

 to it, and find nothing to indicate that he ever heard of it. 



The late George Dawson, editor of the Albany Evening 

 Journal, is the one to whom the maxim should be cred- 

 ited, and it may be in order for me to explain how I once 

 came to use it myself. When Mr. Dawson's "The Pleas- 

 ures of Angling" was published in 1876, I read in it, 

 "They are greatly in error who suppose that all there is 

 of fishing is to fish," and the expression took root within 

 me, and I came to say on all proper occasions, "It's not 

 all of fishing to fish." When "Fishing with the Fly" was 

 published, I used for a title to one of the chapters, "Not 

 All of Fishing to Fish," and did so without the least 

 thought that I was robbing Mr. Dawson of something 

 which belonged to him. Some time later I was told that 

 Mr. Dawson himself in a little book, "Angling Talks," 

 written for and published by Forest and Stream, had 

 used for a title to one of the chapters, "Not All of Fishing 

 to Fish," and then I began to have grave doubts about the 

 propriety of my action in using the expression without 

 indicating by quotation marks that it was borrowed, 

 although to this day I have not seen a copy of "Angling 

 Talks," nor do I know the date of its publication in rela- 

 tion to the date of publication of "Fishing With the 

 Fly," nor does it make any particular difference at this 

 late day, for I absorbed the expression from Mr. Dawson's 

 book, and to him is due the credit for it. "Fishing with 

 the Fly" contains the last paper upon fishing, "Fly-Casting 

 for Salmon," that came from Mr. Dawson's pen, as he 

 died quite suddenly very soon after writing the chapter, 

 the manuscript of which I retain, with the date on which 

 it was written, in the author's hand. The committee of 

 the Fly-Fishers' Club may like to know that Mr. Dawson, 

 whose words are quoted on their book plate, was born in 

 Falkirk, Scotland, in 1818. 



In Justice to Mr. Dawson's Memory. 

 Soon after Mr, Dawson's death in 1883 I received from 

 his son a copy of a memoir of the dead journalist and 

 angler, beautifully printed and containing a fine steel 

 engraved portrait of the subject of the memoir. One 

 sentence in it struck me as unjust to Mr. Dawson as an 

 angler and I wrote on the margin, "Correct this." Up to 

 the present time I have not done so, but tardy justice is 

 better than none. 



One beautiful tribute, written as I have always believed 

 by Mr. St. Clair McKelway, mentioned Mr. Dawson's 

 closing days, and among other things said: "There was 

 nothing to fight for or against. He ached for the time 

 when he could whip salmon and snare trout." The italics 

 are mine. 



It is quite evident that the writer had not the least 



maybe had in the village of Roberval, and for a small 

 party, at Ouellet's, within a stone's throw of the pool, and 

 near the famous falls of the same name. I would not 

 advise a visit to the Ouiatchouan, nor yet to the mouth of 

 the Metabetchouan, where the spring fishing is about the 

 same, before about May 18 or 20, though this year the 

 season promises to be somewhat earlier than usual, and to 

 friends that talk of reaching Quebec a week or so sooner, 

 I say that were I in their place I would stop over at Lake 

 Edward, half-way to Lake St. John, and enjoy a few days' 

 sport with the large and lusty fontinalis. Successful fish- 

 ing for these may be had from the time the ice leaves the 

 lake. Alt necessary supplies can be had at Lake Edward, 

 including guides, but Roberval has a Maine prohibitory 

 law, except in so far as the hotel is concerned, which, as 

 already mentioned, is not open in May. Large flies, 

 almost salmon size, are used for ouananiche in early 

 spring fishing at Lake St. John. The Jock-Scott, silver- 

 doctor and professor are nearly always successful. 



E. T. D. Chambers. 



Baits for Whitefish. 



Owosso, Mich. — Please inform me what kind of bait 

 will attract whitefish. A lake near here was stocked with 

 them several years ago, but none were seen until last 

 year, when a party of fishermen from this city surprised 

 some vags, who were using dynamite in the above lake, 

 and picked up several fine ones on the surface of the water. 

 The lake referred to is about 60ft. in depth. J. S. C. 



"Various baits have been used successfully. Seth Green 

 recommended small minnows about lin. in length and red 

 angle worms for Otsego Lake. Chas. Carpenter caught a 

 few at Kelley's Island, Ohio, with cockroaches diawn 

 rapidly through the water. Dr. Theodatus Garlick fished 

 in 25ft. of water at Copper Harbor, Lake Superior, and 

 caught several large whitefish at night, baiting with small 

 pieces of fresh beef. He took a few also with rod and fly 

 at the Sault St. Marie in the rapid water, at and about the 

 canal company's locks. Hon. Emory D. Potter saw a 

 great many whitefish taken at Sault St. Marie with a 

 hook baited with the June or soldier-fly, the bait resting 

 on the bottom of a deep, still pool, adjacent to the rapids. 

 Boys and half-breeds are said to catch a great many in 

 that way in 20 to 30ft. of water. 



Elihu Phinney has described the capture of whitefish 

 at Cooperstown, N. Y., as follows: "The fishing for 

 Otsego bass [a name for the whitefish] in our lake has all 

 been done within a quarter of a mile of the village in 

 water from I0 t to 40ft. deep. The fishermen's huts, some 

 fifteen or twenty in all, and about 6ft. square, are dark- 



