4§8 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[May 30, 1896. 
A PERE MARQUETTE RAINBOW TROUT. 
Saginaw, Mich, May 19 — Editor Forest and Stream: 
The East Saginaw Club last night was thronged with 
anglers. The reason was that Dr. O. P. Barber and Ed 
McCarty had just come down from a two days' fishing 
expedition on the Pere Marquette River from Baldwin 
and brought with them a rainbow trout taken last Satur- 
day afternoon by Jerome Van Valkenburg, a custodian 
of the Greenwood Club at Baldwin. It weighed 8lbs. 4oz. 
and was 26in. in length and girted 15in. The weight and 
measurements were made six or eight hours after the fish 
was captured. It was indeed a beauty. The head and 
mouth are small, more like a salmon than a trout. 
A great many rainbow trout are taken from the Pere 
Marquette River. The planting there done by the State 
seems to have been extremely successful. The mode of 
fishing and the way this one was caught is, I understand, 
to get far above the large holes in which these rainbows 
lie, gradually let out a line to which is attached a live 
minnow and let it gradually float down into the pool. I 
understand that Van Valkenburg, who is conceded to be 
the king bee on catching these big rainbows, frequently 
lets out from 150 to 175ft. of line in one of those angling 
maneuvers; at any rate he can well rest on his laurels, for 
this is undoubtedly the largest rainbow trout taken in the 
southern peninsula of Michigan yet. He was twenty 
minutes killing him, and even then would not have been 
successful had he not been rendered assistance by Mr. 
Waddell, of Grand Rapids, who heroically took a stand 
near some flood wood and prevented the trout from run- 
ning underneath it. 
The fame of the monster had spread to such an extent 
that at every station on the F. & P. M. R. R. crowds were 
awaiting yesterday's train to see the big fish. While this 
is indeed a fish story, there is positively no doubt about 
the measurement and weight. 
The Lower Michigan trout streams have never been in 
better condition than for the May fishing this year. Re- 
markable catches seem to have been made by everyone, 
and every stream has been in prime condition. The con- 
tinual stocking for years and the better observance of the 
game and fish laws have a good deal to do with it; then 
again May has been an extremely hot month, and the 
flies that ordinarily are not here until June have been on 
the water for some days. The catches at the Pere Mar- 
quette Club waters have been most satisfactory. I was up 
a week ago and in one day put seventy-nine brook trout 
in my basket, besides two grayling. These were all over 
7in. long, and of course taken with a fly. I stopped then 
simply because I was ashamed of myself, not because the 
trout were not still rising. The stream is literally alive 
with fish, many of them old whoppers, Baldwin Creek, 
the Little Manistee River and the Pere Marquette River, 
all streams easy of access from Baldwin, Mich., are full of 
trout this year, and what is better, they will take the fly. 
Baldwin is distinctly an angling town; strangers are wel- 
comed there and every attention will be accorded visiting 
anglers. New York anglers can reach Baldwin by taking 
New York Central train 6 P. M., leave Detroit via F. & P. 
M. R, R. 1:20 P. M., arrive Saginaw 4:35 and at Baldwin 
about 8 P. M. So you see it's only twenty-six hours from 
New York. 
Watts S. Humphrey and G. B. Morley, of this city, re- 
turned yesterday from a few days' outing at the waters 
of the Fontinalis Club. This club owns six or eight miles 
of as fine trout water as there is in Michigan. It is 
reached by a good woods road running six mile's from 
Vanderbilt, Mich., a point on the Mackinaw division of 
the M. C. R. R. The club is composed mainly of Datroit 
gentlemen, and I am told that the club house is a dream. 
Messrs. Humphrey and Morley brought down over 100 
trout, forty of them being over 12in. long — at least that is 
the Judge's version of it, and who ever heard of one of 
the Saginaw crowd being untruthful? 
W. B. Mershon. 
A Lake Trout Situation. 
Carmel, N. Y., May 6.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
Will Forest and Stream or some of its numerous cor- 
respondents please explain the following and also give 
some pointers and instructions about lake trout fishing: 
There is a lake within fifty miles of New York city, 
about one mile long, three-quarters of a mile wide and very 
deep, in some places from 75 to 125ft., and with not much 
shallow water except in one or two coves, covering per- 
haps five or ten acres, where the water is from 2 to 15 ft. 
deep, with some parts rocky bottom and others covered 
with eel grass. There are no streams running into the 
lake, which is entirely fed by springs in the bottom and a 
small rain water-shed, and it has only a very small out- 
let. The temperature of water in midsummer in deep 
water about 47°. 
The lake is pretty well supplied with black bass, white 
and yellow perch, pickerel, sunfish, etc. 
About thirty years ago it was stocked with 70,000 lake 
trout fry, ten years ago 80,000 more were put in. Since 
then (within thirty years) there have been but four of 
these fish ever known to be taken from this lake; two 
years ago two about 20in. long were captured while the 
fisherman was trolling for pickerel, and last year two 
more about 18in. in length. They have been trolled for 
and places have been baited for a week or two at a time 
but all to no purpose. 
Is it not reasonable to assume that there must be plenty 
in there, for otherwise where would these four young fish 
have come from, and if so then why are not more of them 
caught occasionally, and what is the best way to tackle 
them? Willi 4M Gray. 
[The lake trout in nature is an inhabitant of large, 
deep, cold lakes, and is to be found in the deepest waters, 
except in its spawning season, October to November, 
when it comes upon rocky shoals and reefs, in depths 
varying from 7 to 90ft. In Maine and New Brunswick, 
according to Hamlin, it steals forth in quiet at the ap- 
proach of twilight or at early mom to the shoals and the 
shores in quest of its prey. It is well known that fish 
which live habitually in deep water in temperate latitudes 
come into comparatively shoal water in Arctic or sub- 
Arctic regions. If the lake trout exist in the New York 
lake referred to, they are now probably in the deepest 
water and should be fished for on or near the bottom. 
There should be no difficulty about the choice of bait, for 
the fish is a voracious feeder, and has been known to take 
almost any kind of fish, raw potato, liver and green corn 
cobs. The trolling season is short and begins soon after 
the ice is out. Bottom fishing lasts much longer, and is 
more certain. The lake trout is a sluggish fish and lacks 
the dash and vigor of the brook trout. Sometimes the 
ground intended to be fished for lake trout is baited be- 
forehand and the fish are then caught with a bottom line. 
Again a bright-colored fly, a minnow bait or a spoon will 
prove killing. In some localities the fish give about as 
little play as a cod. The lake trout of Maine and New 
Brunswick, called togue or lunge, when young rise freely 
to trout flies in rapid water, and the adults can be readily 
taken in May and June near the surface. It should not 
be surprising if 150,000 fry have made little impression in 
a lake known to be well stocked with black bass, white 
and yellow perch, pickerel and sunfish. Trout fry are 
nuts and raisins to all of these voracious fishes. Again, 
the lake is not large enough to promise success with a 
species which loves elbow room, abundant food and 
great depth of water,] 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
The Merry Month of May. 
Chicago, 111., May 23.— The anglers of Chicago and 
vicinity are now enjoying the pleasures of the fishing sea- 
son almost without let or hindrance, the only State offer- 
ing restriction being Wisconsin, whose season does not 
open for a week yet. The month of May is the best one 
for trout and grayling fishing, though perhaps not so 
many anglers are out then as later in the summer. After 
warm weather sets in the trout begin their mysteries, the 
latter of a sort no man can fathom. They disappear from 
the waters where they were abundant a little earlier, and 
can be found nowhere within mortal ken. Some say they 
pass far up the heads of the streams and go into the lakes 
or deep upper springs to live, but a far more rational ex- 
planation seems to be that they leave the water entirely 
and go out into the woods and take to the trees. Any- 
how, the closest search will not reveal them in the waters 
of the rivers, or their tributaries or their sources. The 
merry month of May comes early enough to see the trout 
in their first activity after the long, dull winter times. 
They are enjoying a spring appetite and have a candor 
and frankness about them which they are soon to lose as 
the days of heat and flies approach. 
Chicago has many trout anglers who are even now in 
the woods, but as I have stated earlier in these columns, 
we have here no great rounding-up place of the anglers, 
such as the Rangeleys and other famous localities in the 
East. We read so much of the cut-and-dried fishing of 
the Rangeleys out here that it seems to us we know every 
corner of the Maine woods and waters as well as though 
we had all been there ourselves and gone through the 
system of check, ticket and tab which seems to be kept 
on the anglers there. We have no such eminent waters 
to focus our fishermen here — though we wish we did 
have — and the anglers of Chicago scatter very much 
when they go out after trout. I presume that the Nipigon 
and the Superior fishings represent as nearly as anything 
the Rangeleys of this region. Below that are many ig- 
noble and unknown streams in the Michigan peninsulas, 
in Wisconsin and in Minnesota. I believe that Minnesota 
is going to be the next great playground of the Chieago 
anglers. For years the lake region of upper Wisconsin has 
offered as prodigious fishing as any country that ever lay 
but of doors, not so much for trout as for muscallonge 
and bass. Thousands of anglers have there fairly 
glutted their thirst to kill, and the world of sport has 
never seen such slaughter as been carried on there since 
the 'lunge lakes opened. To-day there are not many new 
or unknown waters in that region, and many of the old 
reliable waters show the effects of constant and immoder- 
ate fishing. Complaints of poor luck have one natural 
sequence — a search for a place where the luck will be bet- 
ter. It is only a night further by rail to many waters in 
Minnesota where the rod has not been so common for the 
past ten years, and I am disposed to believe that that will 
be the next great angling region for the men who believe 
that all of fishing is to catch fish, and catch them first, 
last and all the time. Then Minnesota will fail in turn, 
and in the meantime Wisconsin will have profited by the 
rest, and her waters will have picked up again. By that 
time, let us hope, the fishing public will have learned the 
fact, which it seems so reluctant to believe, that no waters 
on this verdant earth of ours can stand perpetual and un- 
regulated fishing by all those persons who are willing to 
take not only their share of the goods of the gods, but also 
the other fellows' share along with it. 
Indiana Waters. 
Something of the force of the above remarks comes to 
one in reviewing the angling situation in Indiana. At 
one time the series of high lakes in upper Indiana offered 
as fine bass fishing as any waters of the country. Then 
they were fished out. Then they were forgotten. Then 
they stocked themselves up again. Now there is good 
fishing in many and many a one of these little lakes, and it 
will stay good until gradually the angling public will take 
advantage of the spreading news and have some sport 
again of the old-time sort. Yet the new history, let us 
hope, will not be the same as that of the past. The lakes 
and rivers of Indiana were not depleted bo much by the 
sportsmen as the natives of the State, who carried on the 
most destructive and illegal war against the fish that 
could well be imagined, and which has perhaps had in- 
frequent parallel in any other State of the Union. 
Netting and spearing and all sorts of foul methods 
were common for years and still exist in spite of 
all, while probably nowhere has more dynamiting 
been done. The river bottoms of Indiana had a class of 
population who came down from free-born outdoor men, 
the sort who made their living from the woods and 
streams and marshes, and it has always seemed hard for 
them to learn the painful lesson of restraint. It would be 
very glorious if neither they nor any of the rest of us 
need ever learn it, but the finger of fact is relentless 
in its pointing. The later timeB must bring later customs, 
and we have all reason to believe that the second crop of 
game fish in Indiana, as in Wisconsin, if we may so 
speak of it, will be far longer in the harvesting, thanks to 
the efforts of the State wardens, and of the good anglers, 
and of those whose vision is capable of penetration be- 
tween the rungs of a wide-geared ladder, At least, be all 
this as it may, there is good bass fishing now in northern 
Indiana, for several of my friends have been out and have 
told me so. The lakes of the south peninsula of Michi- 
gan, beyond St. Jo, have also been prolific. It is nearly 
time we began to hear reports from the Kalamazoo and 
Grand rivers of Michigan also, where sometimes the 
small-mouths afford magnificent sport. 
Decoration Day. 
Decoration Day, May 30, is a sort of opening day for 
Chicago bass fishermen, and they do not recognize as 
authoritative the chance days of sport offered before that 
date. The weather is nearly always warm and pleasant 
then, and on that day of vacation I presume five times as 
many anglers start out on camping and fishing trips as 
have done so on any one day of the season up to that 
time. A week from to-day there will be many merry 
parties leaving this city, some for the trout and grayling 
streams of Michigan, some for the bass waters of this 
State and of Indiana, and many for the lovely country of 
Wisconsin, where on the day following Decoration Day it 
will be lawful to cast a line. I know of several parties 
who will go to Waukesha county, in Wisconsin, next 
Saturday. Indeed, for a radius of sixty miles about this 
city the country will be filled with Chicago anglers, and 
a very jolly as well as a very proficient lot they are. 
In Divers Spots. 
The bass are biting along the Kankakee, and several of 
the members of the Maksawba Club are at this writing down 
there after them. W. S. Phillips (El Comancho) is back 
from a little lake he has discovered in Indiana, where the 
bass take the fly. He insists we must go there soon and 
see about it some more. J. M. Clark, of the Wil'iinson 
Co., goes to the Little Manistee in Michigan after grayling 
on May 30. H. L. Stanton and family, and F. E. Willard 
and family, go to Eagle Lake, Wis. , on the same day. The 
price of the striped meadow frog is to-dav very firm at 
30 cents, with a bullish tendency of the market. 
Bound North. 
A party of anglers will start North from this city to- 
morrow, bound North for Big Sand Lake, Wis., to make 
arrangements for a mascallonge trip as soon as the season 
opens. The party will consist of Messrs. C. D. Gammon,. 
Will Cribben and L. M. Hamline, of Chicago; R. R. Street, 
of New York; George Holland, of St. Louis, and Elmer 
Werk, of Cincinnati. There is to be a cottage built on. 
the lake, and Col. Alberger, one of the San Lake Club,, 
will next week put in a little steamer on the lake. Other 
gentlemen will go up to this famous sporting ground 
later in the month of June. About thirty mascallonge 
were taken in Big Sand Lake last season, and almost with- 
out exception the fish were very large, a great many 
going over 301bs. Commissioner Gunderson, of this city,, 
took one that weighed over 40 lbs., and on the same trip, 
killed a black bass that weighed 6j-lbs. 
Messrs. Higgins, Leonard and Gasfield, members of a 
certain angling coterie of this city, start in about ten days, 
for the mascallonge waters of Wisconsin. 
A New Club for the St. Francis. 
The Forrest City Gun and Rod Club, of Forrest City- 
Ark., was last week formed, being an association of 
anglers for the purpose of preserving and enjoying the 
fishing of that famous stream, the St. Francis River, 
once as fine a bass water as any of the land, but of late- 
years much fished for the market. It is believed that 
this club will take the most energetic steps to break up. 
illegal fishing and to restore the stream in its depleted 
portions as rapidly as possible. The gentlemen making; 
up the membership are of the proper sort, and the organ- 
ization of the body is a fact upon which the anglers of 
that region may congratulate themselves. It seems that 
there has been a sad state of affairs in that section of the 
river, and a correspondent to the Memphis Commercial/ 
Appeal states it as follows: 
"In the river from Marked Tree all up through the sunk 
lands, where the bass run to spawn, are placed hundreds; 
of nets, covering almost every runway of the game fish. 
These are shipped from Marked Tree, Oak Donic and' 
Hatchie Coon stations to the Memphis and St. Louis' 
markets. Last year there was a small steamer run ini 
the river from Marked Tree up, in the interest of St. 
Louis fish dealers, so I was informed, which gathered fish' 
from the different netters along the river and lake. For 
a long time after the non- netting laws were passed they 
were pretty well observed, but within the last two years, 
the fishing has been about ruined by the netters who 
have swarmed into the sunk lands. The great damage ia> 
done in Poinsett county, from Marked Tree up to the; 
Craighead line." 
Rods and Bicycles. 
Since last December the Western railroads have beem 
under agreement to charge a fee for carrying any bicycle 
or baby carriage under check, an arrangement which' 
caused a great deal of financial discomfort to many 
earnest young sportsmen who had become enthusiastic- 
over one or both of those vehicles. The pool held* 
together, however, until the present week,, when the' 
Wisconsin Central line signified its intention of withdraw- 
ing from it and hereafter devoting itself to the free car- 
riage of bicycles and baby carriages accompanied by the > 
owner of same. This step will meet with great popular- 
approbation among the thousands of summer folk who ■ > 
each season go up into the beautiful lake region of Wis- 
consin along that road. These go fishing,, but many wishs 
also to take along their wheels or baby carriages, and the • 
numbers of those so wishing are so great' that this road ' 
decided to accommodate them. If it breaks the deadly 
combine the others must follow its lead, and it is likely 
that after June 1 there will be no more class legislation of 
this sort, and one may feel safe in taking hie bicycle or his i 
baby carriage with him on hiB fishing trips. This is a. 
boon. Railroads do not always confer boons. 
Personal. 
Mr. Rollo O. Heikes, the celebrated trap-3hooter, is a\ 
very ardent angler, though perhaps not everyone knows", 
of this so well as of his skill in shooting. Mr. Heikes will I 
spend a month or two this summer doing some good hard t 
resting with his wife and family at one of the lower Wis* 
consin lakes, probably at Eagle Lake, in Waukesha , 
county. He states that he will then devote himself to the : 
fishing rod exclusively, and flee from anyone who men- 
tions to him the name of gun. 
Mr. Thomas H. Keller, of the U. S. Cartridge Co., was* 
in Chicago this week, on his return East from a success- 
ful business trip in the Pacific Coast country. Mr. Keller 
is enjoying his usual robuBt health and good spirits. 
Mr. Chase S. Oiborn, State Game and Fish Warden of 
