June '33, 1894. J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



preparations. Ten barrels of clams were bought, 300 lob- 

 sters, 200 chickens, 500 ears of green corn and 5 bushels of 

 potatoes, with a quantity of sea grass. To prepare all 

 these delicacies according to the rites of the most sacred 

 "down-East" clam-bakes, they had hired an expert from 

 an Eastern city. The professional failed to materialize 

 Wednesday morning. Nothing daunted, the members of 

 the committee had the hole dry and lined with stone upon 

 which several cords of wood were burned during the day. 

 About 7 o'clock the clams, etc. , were deposited upon the 

 heated stones in regulation layers. The funereal canvas 

 was placed over the savory mound — but they forgot the 

 covering of earth! 



The new moon looked down, upon ajglorious scene. 

 The summit of the land was crowned by historic old 

 Fort Niagara, where the Stars and Stripes waved defiance 

 to the cross of St George across the river. On the green 

 sward along the shore, bounded by lake and river on the 

 north and west, was a vast concourse of people waiting 

 to be fed. They were hungry, yet withal happy. Little 

 groups of fishermen, with rods in air as staunch as the 

 old lances of Lynwood, just in from the piscatorial fray, 

 conversed with their guests, soldiers from the fort and 

 civilians assembled upon their invitation from all over 

 western New York. The Twenty-fourth Regiment band 

 played "Hail Columbia," "Yankee Doodle" and other 

 patriotic airs. The church chimes across the way, sweeter 

 far than St. Smithin's, played "God Save the Queen." 

 "Home Sweet Home" proved a far more appropriate 

 selection later, as will deveiope. 



Bonfires were built, big fish stories, many of them 

 excerpts from Forest and Stream, were related and all 

 went merry. But the bake was not yet done. Nine 

 o'clock arrived and the report was that some of the lob- 

 sters were still alive, while the potatoes were hard enough 

 to furnish balls for the frowning guns of the fort. 



Ten o'clock came and the tables were still un graced 

 with the clams and chickens. Secretary Sweet brought 

 forth the "illustrated regrets" from Editor Reynolds, and 

 showing it again to some fellow anglers, remarked that 

 it was well the Forest and Stream man did not come, 

 only to be starved. The crowd was rapidly growing pes- 

 simistic. Here and there assaults were made upon the 

 sandwiches, radishes and coffee, all hope having been 

 abandoned for clams that night. At 11 o'clock a wild 

 stampede was made for the hotels at Youngstown and the 

 landlords requested to set out luncheons at short notice. 

 A squad of soldiers was left to guard the tardy clambake, 

 which was well spoiled by morning. The committee 

 brought up the rear of the retreat in a carriage, each 

 murmuring "Sic transit gloria mundi." As the sentinels 

 were passed one by one through the mile of territory 

 owned by Uncle Sam the challenge, "Who goes there?" 

 was always satisfactorily answered by the countersign, 

 "Clams." 



The sun rose in a clear sky next day and with it rose 

 the spirits of the disappointed fishermen. They forgot 

 clams in the excellent prospects for bass, much worthier 

 game. Expectations were largely realized, for the contest 

 the second day was much more exciting, the biting being 

 quite brisk. Jerome E, Emerson, cashier of the Farmers' 

 and Mechanics' Bank, early in the day made the ' 'reds" 

 jubilant by the capture of a 3£lbs. black bass. The lead 

 secured by the "reds" the first day could not be broken. 

 For the "blues," the old champions, Charles W. Hatch. 

 Judge David Miller, ex-Sheriff Nathan D. Ensign, Posti 

 master John A. Merritt, Alderman Burt Stevens, Alder- 

 man James McGill and Jacob Fisher did not seem to be in 

 good form. On the other hand, Archie L. Smith of the 

 "reds" was maintaining his reputation, coming in the sec- 

 ond evening with seven black beauties. Jerome E, Emer- 

 son captured six, D. A. Hixson and W. H. Upson four 

 each for the "reds." A tabulation of the individual scores 

 showed that the ' 'reds" had won the two days' fight by 

 3,210 points to 2,660 points for the "blues." 



The awarding of individual prizes by the judges, David 

 Millar and Jerome Emerson on the boat going home, was 

 attended with lots of fun. Claimants for the several 

 prizes often had their disputes settled by the scales, where 

 an ounce cut a very important figure. Subjoined are the 

 lucky members and their prizes: 



Largest small-mouth black bass (automatic reel, by M. N. Haskell), 

 won by Jerome E. Emerson with a bass weighing 3^1bs. 



Second largest (nickle plated filter, by Carter Filter Co.), won by 

 Joseph Dumville. bass albs. 5oz. 



Third largest (white vest, by Buddenbagen & Son), won by George 

 E. Emerson, bass 21 bs. 5oz. 



Fourth largest (split bamboo rod, by D. Or. McKim), won by W. W. 

 Stevens, bass 21bs. boz. 



Largest string of small-mouth black bass (Belial trout rod, by Theo- 

 dore Baldwin and gold badge by the club), won by Archie L. Smith. 

 7 bass. 



Second largest string (landing net, by F. K. Sweet), won by W. H. 

 Upson. 



First small-mouth black bass caught, W. E. Houston, two minutes 

 after the signal for fishing Wednesday morning, taking the club's 

 high hook banner. This will be held during the year, however, by J. 

 E. Emerson, wbo caught the largest black bass. 



Largest string of mixed fish (trunk-splint bamboo rod, by L. H. 

 Staats), won by C. W. Hatch; 19 perch, 2 black bass, 1 eel, 1 rock 

 bass. 



Second largest string mixed fish (floating bait-pail, by W. A. Will- 

 iams.), won bv H. C. Hulshoff ; zl perch, 3 rock bass, 1 white bass. 



Largest string of perch (tackle box, by 0. W. Hatch), won by John 

 Klopf ; 52 perch. 



Second largest string of perch (gold match-boy, by Geo. W. Weaver) 

 won by Will R. Smith; 40 perch. 



Largest string of herring (box of cigars, by Eddie F. Smith), won 

 by L. G. Holmes; one herring. 



Boatman whose party caught the largest number of fish (hat-rack 

 and stove-mat, by John E. Mack, won by boat No. 15, Mr. Todd row- 

 ing, Jacob Fisher and Will R. Smith. 



Second largest catch (501bs. sack of flour, by Griggs Bros. & Ellis), 

 won by boat No. 22, Fred Masher rowing John Buddenhagen and 

 Henry Hulshoff. 



At 9 o'clock last night the anglers returned bearing 

 precious burdens. Tanned they were and tired, yet 

 nappy with the pleasant reminiscences of two jolly days 

 stored against the days when troubles come. 



Reader, if you are a fisherman and enjoy good com- 

 pany, you should go with the Niagara County Anglers on 

 their next annual excursion and tournament at Youngs- 

 town. M. H. Hoover. 



Spanish Mackerel. 



MoREHEAD City, N. C, June 15. — Two of the guests of 

 the Atlantic Hotel went trolling yesterday and caught in 

 three honrs 140 Spanish mackerel. It is not an unusual 

 occurrence for parties of four or five to bring 300 mackerel 

 and bluefish in a few hours. Cero and pompano are 

 caught in quantities also. The shooting here is good — 

 snipe, willet and curlew, besides deer on the beaches. 



B. L. Perry, 



CANADIAN ANGLING NOTES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Reports have reached here of excellent fishing had on 

 the lakes in the St. Maurice region, which are reached 

 from Three Rivers by the Piles Branch of the C. P. R. and 

 from Quebec by the Lower Laurentides, a branch of the 

 Quebec & Lake St. John Railway. 



Mr. Brackett, of Boston, the eminent fish artist, left 

 here on Friday for his salmon fishing grounds on the 

 Marguerite. During the coming week he will be joined 

 by Mr. Henry Russell, general attorney of the Michigan 

 Central Railway, who is now fishing the Grande Discharge 

 for ouananiche, together with Mr. Robert E. Plumb, gen- 

 eral manager of the Michigan Peninsular Car Co.; Mr. 

 L'Homrnedieu, assistant general superintendent of the, 

 Michigan Central Railway; Mr. J. D. Hawks, manager of 

 the Detroit. Bay City & Alpina Railway, and Mr. Gardner 

 T. Lyon of Oswego, N. Y. These gentlemen came to 

 Quebec by special car, and proceeded on it to Lake St. 

 John, On the way they stayed over at Lake Edward, 

 and enjoyed good trout fishing. What havoc the} r have 

 wrought among the ouananiche is not yet reported, but 

 they are expert fishermen and must have had rare sport, 

 for the ouananiche are so abundant just now at the head 

 of the Discharge, that several cases are reported in which 

 from 60 to 70 fish fell to a pair of rods in the early part of 

 the present week. Mr. Plumb and Mr. Lyon are about to 

 fish the main branch of the Marguerite for salmon in 

 company with Messrs. A. L. Barney, Roland Mitchell, N. 

 C. Barney and W. B. Williams, of the St. Marguerite 

 Salmon Club. 



Mr. John C. Eno and his eldest daughter and Col. Wilson 

 of this city have been very successful in their struggles 

 with Lake St. John ouananiche this week. It is interest- 

 ing to note, as proving the absurdity of the story that the 

 ouananiche are landlocked and cannot get to sea, ^ver the 

 obstructions of the upper Saguenay, that a little over a 

 fortnight ago a number of these fish were taken by rod 

 and line in the mouth of the Chicoutimi River, within the 

 limits of the town of that name at the head of steamboat 

 navigation. Mr. Lyon also tells me that he, like Mr. 

 Brackett, has taken ouananiche at the mouth of the Mar- 

 guerite. The Chronicle of this city is out in a vigorous 

 campaign against the reported netting of ouananiche in 

 several localities at Lake St. John. 



Judge Kellogg of Waterbury, Conn., and a party of 

 friends, including Messrs. A. W. Reed of Baltimore, and 

 Rufus Hi Thayer of Washington, D. C, went up to their 

 trout fishing waters at Lake Bouchette a few days ago, 

 and Prof. Wm. G. Mixter of Yale University and other 

 gentlemen from Whitehaven left here to-day to fish at 

 Lac Commissaire, the headquarters of the Nomantum 

 Club. Mr. Geo. Lawrence, Jr. , of New York and a friend 

 left by the same train for the Grande Discharge. Messrs. 

 G. E. Hart and J. L. Atwood of Waterbury, Conn: Wal- 

 lace Duraud of Newark, N. J., and Miner Drake of Tor- 

 rington, Conn., returned home a little over a week ago, 

 after a stay of two weeks and a half upon their fishing 

 preserve on Lake Commissaire and neighboring waters. 

 In addition to splendid sport among the trout of that 

 region, some of which exceeded 51bs. in weight, they took 

 ouananiche up to 5iVlbs each at Lake St. John, and Mr. 

 Durand is the happy possessor of a splendid skin and head 

 of a Canada lynx, which he prizes the more highly that 

 it fell a victim to his own rifle on the shore of Lake Com- 

 missaire. 



Among the anglers who have enjoyed good sport in 

 Lake Edward this spring may be mentioned E. S. Herrick, 

 T. Henderson, H. C. North, S. D. Curtis and W. D. Hall, 

 Albany, N. Y. ; J. K. Barstow, A. G. Pierce, L. F. Lassill, 

 E. H. Shattuck, J. W, Jones, Van A. Nye and H. Nye of 

 Burlington. Many of the above took fontinalis weighing 

 from 8 to 51bs. apiece, mostly with bait, though good 

 fly-fishing is to be had up Rat River, one of the lake's 

 feeder's. E. T. D. Chambers. 



Quebec, June 16. 



IS THE FISHING GONE FOREVER ? 



Charlestown, N. H., June 12. — I am sorry my friend 

 "Mascomy" had such poor luck in Vermont; I kn^w the 

 region he visited well, 80 years ago, and have had great 

 success there, in Stratton, Winhail and Penn. 



Trout fishing in this region is a thing of the past, and, 

 I fear, with the destruction of the forests is gone forever. 

 I am glad I had a chance to enjoy it when I was young. 

 I went out a month ago to the old brook in which I caught 

 my first trout, more than 60 years ago, and fished a mile 

 of beautiful water without a nibble! Last week I tried 

 again and walked out three miles, three-fourths of the 

 way up hill, and the last one down, to a little brook where 

 I once was sure of a good string. The old gorge through 

 the hills, full of falls and rapids, once shadowed by old 

 trees through and under which it was easy traveling and 

 good fishing, was now choked with a dense growth of 

 young wood and underbrush through which it was almost 

 impossible to push my way with a rod, and quite so to fish, 

 and. I began at the foot of it, where the brook comes out 

 into an open pasture, with a few trees along the water. 



I got a 7in. trout at my second cast, soon followed by 

 one of 6in., and then lost another of 7, just as I reached 

 out my hand to draw him in, for the overhanging branches 

 had prevented me from hooking him fairly. I got one 

 more little one, and that was the end of it. I soon came 

 to tracks in the grass, where it was beaten down, as I got 

 into the more open meadow, and for the next mile, until 

 I struck the road, I only got hold of two more, and they 

 were neither of them 4in. long, and were soon swimming 

 off again. One of them was not even pricked, the well- 

 baited hook having come out through his gills! I agree 

 with "Mascomy," that fishing in our brooks in this part 

 of the State should be absolutely prohibited for the next 

 three years, if we are ever to have any more of it! 



When I reached a friendly farm house on my way back, 

 I was told that a young fellow from town had been out a 

 few days before, and got 62 trout, and I guess he got them 

 all 



?our Ithaca correspondent, "J. H. S.," seems to have 

 made his first acquaintance with the regular lake trout, 

 so-called Salmo namaycush. His forked tail is the 

 feature which distinguishes him at sight from the square- 

 tailed Salmo fontinalis. There is nothing peculiar about 

 them in Mill-Site Lake, they are all so. 



Mr. Starbuck and Mr. France make a pretty good 

 defense of "rodster," but I do not like the word; it might 

 be applied to a schoolmaster (of the old English type) as 

 well as to an angler. 4 ; 



Still it is far better than the modern English slang of 

 "chucking a bug," or that other piece of euphemism, in 

 which one of your correspondents indulges, of "stabbing" 

 a trout, which is horrible and indefensible. It calls to 

 mind a "Dago" and a dagger at once. 



The bass season opens June 15 and I may try the river 

 then. I hear of many large pike being taken. VonW. 



TROUT TICKLING. 



You may remember that three years since, if my 

 memory is faithful to her trust, I wrote you among other 

 things from near North Bay, Ontario, where I was having 

 considerable of an entertainment with some of Mr. Star- 

 buck's "dappled darlings of the wimpling waters," some 

 notes on this, to me, new methods of securing trout. How 

 one morning my German landlord laid by my plate seven 

 beautiful fish — beautiful even in death — as nearly alike as 

 seven peas, and on my questioning him as to where he 

 caught them, said: "I catch 'em mit my handt," and pro- 

 ceeded to describe "trout tickling." Of course I was a 

 "doubting Thomas" from the original family of Thomases, 

 and gently but firmly assured him of the fact that I was 

 aware that he was trying to gull me, but he "would none 

 of it." And maybe you remember how we went to the 

 mountain stream, icy cold in May, that he might give 

 demonstration of his powers in this line, but that there 

 was a complete failure so to do; he, however, still hold- 

 ing to the truth of his statement, and that further it was 

 a common mode of catching trout in Germany. 



Now comes your correspondent E. M. B., in yours of 

 June 2, and writes of the same matter, but has his in- 

 formation from second or third hands — "I vouch not 

 for the truth you see, but tell the tale as told to me." 

 He tells how a Mr. Rich worms himself or eels himself 

 into the water like unto a huge alligator, by impercep- 

 tible advance, and then elongating his electric arm inch 

 by inch, as doth the manipulator of the telescope, gently, 

 slowly, electrically, hypnotically charms the doomed trout 

 until "fust thing you know" he is just "tickled to death." 



Now, my German friend didn't lie down and gently 

 insinuate his body into the stream. I should have been 

 "tickled to death" to see him. He couldn't do it, for, in 

 the first place, there were no holes in that rocky moun- 

 tain stream large enough, and in the second he'd have 

 come so precious near freezing to death, the tickle would 

 all have been taken out of the performance. His pro- 

 fessed plan was to reach under the overhanging banks or 

 rocks, and trust to the acuteness of feeling in his fingers 

 to locate the fish, as if any old, mature, experienced 

 "roseate ranger of the rushing ripple" would calmly 

 await the advance of that "strangely moving spectacle" 

 from the outer world until it closed round him, and he 

 awoke too late to the fact that he had been mightily 

 tickled. Where is the man or men, reliable, with the 

 papers in this case? I don't mean the professors, but wit- 

 nesses competent to make affidavit. I will now wait, if 

 necessary, three years more. O. O. S. 



The Ozarks, Mo. 



The gentleman who inquired the other day in your 

 columns whether it is true that trout can be taken by the 

 hand, may set his mind at rest on that point. They can. 

 I first learned this fact from my father more than fifty 

 years ago, and in North Britain the practice is called 

 "guddling." Dr. William C. Prime, in a book called 

 "The Old House by the River," published early in the 

 fifties, says: "You may always take trout in this way." 

 If further information on this subject is needed, let your 

 correspondent ask Alex. Starbuck's "Ned" (Mr. P. E. 

 Roach), whether he did not get into trouble with the 

 authorities before he left England by experimenting in 

 the capture of trout after this method. Kelpie. 



Central Lake, Mich, 



He Growls to Sustain His Reputation. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



This is a funny fight, and I feel very much as the West- 

 ern woman did when her old man "fit the b'ar" — I don't 

 care which whips. Rodster may be a very good word — 

 like Sam Weller's ' ! circumwent" — but I think angler just 

 as good. Arguments are very good things when properly 

 used, but they are sometimes wasted. 



It is a well-known fact that a spider makes a web, but 

 that doesn't make a webster of him. 



Then, too, the farmers and some other fellows know 

 that a rooster crows, and to keep in that line of argument 

 he ought to be called a crowster. It may be that he is 

 called a rooster because he roosts; but then consistency 

 would say that a hen is as much of a rooster as her hus- 

 band. Besides, I don't think it would sound well in certain 

 cases. It won't do, and we may as well let him crow and 

 scratch under his old name. 



N. B. — This stuff is not argument, and as your space is 

 too precious to waste, I'm going to stop — when I get 

 through. A little thing like rodster is too small a bone to 

 fight about; but certain words occasionally occur in the 

 writings of even your contributors that are very afflictive 

 to rational men— "of which I am one of 'em" — and I 

 hereby give notice that if any rodster ever mentions 

 "speckled beauties" in my presence I'll shoot him on the 

 spot. As the editor of Forest and Stream once insinu- 

 ated in the "plain language of truthful James," that I was 

 an old growler, I have a reputation to sustain. 



There are many little things about Forest and Stream 

 that are not exactly to my taste, and if I were its mana- 

 ger I'd keep a hundred horse power press in the office and 

 whenever anything was handed in that might be put in 

 half the space, I'd give it a squeeze. Hunting and fish- 

 ing stories, to be interesting, should be told in the most 

 expressive language. 



If ray style were not already perfect, "Podgers" would 

 be one of my models. By the way, what's the matter 

 with "Podgers"? I believe he never was much of a gun- 

 ster, but as a rodster he's at home* and whenever he goes 

 on a fishing spree he always talks about it in an interest- 

 ing way. Stir him up. DrDYMUS. 



St. Augustine, Ela. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The papers in defense of the use of the word rodster are 

 scholarly, Shakesperian, and almost convincing; yet this 

 at least I'm free to tell, I do not like thee rodster, well. 



kelp ray 



