162 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. 25. 1894. 
A RED-LETTER DAY WITH THE TROUT. 
This was the trout fishers' ideal morning, warm and 
misty after a night's gentle rain. Every leaf and every 
blade of grass were laden with the pendant rain drops. 
With an ever changing tremulous motion imparted by a 
gentle breeze they glistened in the warm rays of the 
morning sun, which now and then gleamed through the 
drifting banks of mist. It was a morning to inspire one 
with those joyous feelings indescribable, but pleasant be- 
yond comparison, and it would be hard to find two beings 
with nature more susceptible to these feelings than 
Freezy and I, and in the exuberance of our spirits we 
were boys again for the while. "Well, old chum, if we 
do not fill our creels to-day, we are of no earthly use 
whatever," said Freezy, as we jointed the rods on the 
banks of as pleasant a trout stream as ever yielded up the 
spotted treasures. "We never will have a more favorable 
day anyhow, and I feel confident we snail gather them 
in," I made reply, "that is if you will only keep out of 
the deep holes." 
At this juncture Freezy put a stop to our raillery in an 
effective but pleasant manner, for at the second cast he 
opened the game with a half-pound trout, and I soon fol- 
lowed suit with another of the same sort. 
We were at the edge of an open swampy wood of maple 
and swamp oak perhaps a half-mile in extent. Here the 
stream flows quietly between low banks of black mucky 
soil, thickly set with the odorous skunk cabbage; the 
swamp is devoid of undergrowth, but the heavy soil 
makes travel rather laborious. ' The stream is a puzzle to 
the uninitiated, here flowing shallow and swift over beds 
of clay yellow soil, and there dashing into one of the 
countless bends and elbows, scooping a deep hole beneath 
the root bound-banks. It's so crooked that in many places 
one may stand in the U-shaped turns and fish the stream 
on either hand by short side casts; and there are good fish 
here as chum and I well know. At one of these bends I 
had an exciting but fruitless tussle with an educated 
trout. Happening along the stream a few days previous 
I had a fleeting glimpse of a big fellow at this bend. 
Judging that this was his private residence I thought I 
.would just yank him out to-day; but all the same he was 
not yanked (not that day). Stepping into a shallow just 
above, the current soon carried the bait down into the 
eddy and with a whirl it disappeared under the bank. 
In about a second I knew old speckled sides was at home, 
for the fact was well proven by sundry lively demonstra- 
tions at the other end of the line. The antics of this old 
veteran was in direct opposition to the well known tactics 
of trout in general. Instead of the high leaps and long 
runs usually indulged in, he hung in under the bank and 
just yanked and surgsd on that line; I being determined 
to pull him out and he just as determined to stay where 
he was. Presently the struggle ceased, but still the line 
hung fast to something; and upon investigation I found 
that the old rascal had disgorged the hook, fastened it to 
an old root and just swam off, chuckling at his own 
cleverness and my discomfiture. Now Freezy, seated on 
a log handy by, had watched the proceedings with inter- 
est, and at this unlooked for termination I was favored 
with a look of- compassion as he groaned out: "Well, 
great Scott! some folks have a deal to learn about trout 
fishing yet;" and as he arose and walked down stream I 
caught something that sounded like "champion root 
fisherman," or words to that effect. Good old chum, we 
know one another too well to care for this kind of banter, 
whjch we seldom fail to duplicate on one another at every 
opportunity. 
Upon regaining my wind, which was completely 
"knocked out" by Freezy and the trout, I followed on 
down stream. Rounding a bend in the stream, I came 
suddenly upon Freezy and a couple of pilgrims in close 
conversation- Their rods and general make-up proclaimed 
their pleasant occupation; and upon closer approach they 
proved to be a well-known character about town and a 
triend. With a strong passion for the cup that cheers, the 
old man was well "loaded," and his friend was but a little 
better off— truly a most deplorable condition in which to 
follow a trout stream. We decided to shake them as soon 
as possible,, but found this no easy matter, for they ap- 
peared, to us repeatedly, sometimes from the rear, now m 
the lead, always whooping, singing, crashing along the 
banks, and of course making successful fishing impossible. 
Freezy and I were well nigh in despair, when of a sudden 
came our relief. We suddenly struck one of the two con- 
tentedly sitting in water up to the armpits,, industriously 
fishing underneath a log, with not a vestige of bait on his 
hook. This was a little too much even for his friend, who, 
with a disgusted look, pulled the old man from the 
stream. We started them off to find the road,, and they 
faded from view. 
After this break in the day's programme we settled 
down to business again; and how the darlings did take 
hold. We had long since left the woods, and were ap- 
proaching choice grounds, choice because jealously guarded 
by the owner, a fiery, hard-fisted Irishman, who, never 
fishing himself, will never allow others the pleasure— a 
veritable dog in the manger. Now, Freezy and I usually 
manage to borrow a few good ones from this preserve, 
and to-day as chum slid over the wall and let his line 
down between the alders that, fringed the stream, I saw by 
the quick, firm grip of the rod and the eager, expectant 
flash of the eye that the churl would lose one good trout. 
Next to catching a fine trout myself,. I dearly love to see 
a friend take one; and here was the opportunity. He 
made that reel fairly scream as he started off at a Nancy 
Hanks gait; but when chum concluded' he had gone far 
enough, a strong pressure on the drag slowed him up. 
Finding he was thus balked, he made one strong rush for 
the surface; and as he shot into the air, Freezy pulled him 
over into the stream and kept him coming for shore. 
Several times he made a break for liberty, but a gentle 
reminder from the drag brought him back; and as- he 
came skating in. on his side, Freezy stooped and lifted, 
him out. Oh, how I wished for a Kodak as my companion 
held his prize up for inspection. "Good boy,'* said 1, as X 
viewed the dripping beauty. He was the largest, caught 
that day, weighing ljlbs. About this time there came 
floating on the still air certain unpleasant sounds from 
the vicinity of the farmhouse, and judging from the mar- 
shaling of forces in that direction, there was destined to 
be stirring times in that meadow shortly; so we concluded 
we did not want any more trout there, and so skipped 
along down below the road. 
We were now in a charming meadow with no one to 
interfere and - we just took solid comfort. We fished, 
lolled on the soft meadow grass, then fished some more, 
now and then creeling a fine trout; and so across the 
meadow down below the clearing, where the woodsman 
has effectually put a stop to all angling by filling the 
creek with brush. 
Down in the big woods is a fine large pool, where 
the overshadowing trunk of a huge buttonball silently 
guards the cool crystal depths. Now Freezy had always 
held to the belief that here was the home of some old 
giant fonlinalis, and to-day he went especially fixed for 
him. The day before he had taken no little pains to 
secure a young wood mouse, which in its callow state is a 
killing bait for big trout. He carried the little fellow in 
a warm nest of cotton in a stiff pasteboard box cut full of 
breathing holes. There was a tacit understanding be- 
tween us that chum should work the pool alone, and cer- 
tainly he lost no time in getting at it. He tried all the 
tricks known to the craft, offered flies, worms, bugs and 
grasshoppers; but no, he would have none of them; he 
just reserved his appetite for that mouse. "Never you 
mind," said chum, noting my quiet smile, "I have got 
something that will fetch him." Well, the proud moment 
came and the fisherman prepared for the grand struggle. 
The box was produced and the cover lifted ; first a hurried 
examination, a blank look, and then his jaw dropped. 
The mouse was dead. But chum soon regained his usual 
good temper, for being of a sunny disposition he took his 
disappointment as all good anglers do, like a man; but all 
the same he vowed that some time in the future he would 
have that trout, even if he had to start a mouse farm to 
doit. 
Well, all days come to an end, and soon the lengthen- 
ing shadows warned us that even this glorious day was no 
exception ; so only stopping at the old willow to make a 
few casts, long enough, forsooth, to extract two more of 
the beauties of the brook, we hurried along to catch the 
home train, our heavy creels giving substantial proof that 
the morning's promise was no idle boast that this was to 
be the anglers' ideal day. E. M. Brown. 
Connecticut. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
Habits of Smelts. 
One morning as I came in from a day's fishing at Suna- 
pee Lake, N. H., Col. N.Wentworth, Fish Commissioner 
of New Hampshire, and Dr. John D. Quackenbos were at 
the dinner table when I opened my mail and found a 
query from Panet Angers, Q. C, of Canada, an enthu- 
siastic angler, canoeist and yachtsman, who said: "We 
catch smelts here in the St. Lawrence twice a year, in 
April or May, and again in October or November. At 
both seasons they are full of spawn. How is this to be 
accounted for? Do they spawn twice a year, or are they 
not the same individuals that run up spring and fall?" 
My first thought was that there was an error about the 
fall smelt spawning but 1 could not say so in the face of a 
statement to the contrary. That very day we had 
gathered in a small dead aureolus trout less than 6in. 
long, and when the fish was opened it was found to con- 
tain spawn, which seemed for a moment to be remark- 
able, as this species does not spawn until October or 
November. 
A brief examination, however, showed that the spawn 
was so small that it would not be cast until late in the fall, 
and I jumped at the conclusion that the October smelts 
would not spawn until the next spring. Then I was 
dumbfounded by a remark from Col. Wentworth that in 
New Hampshire they had two runs of smelts, one in Jan- 
uary and one in May, but the January fish were not 
spawning fish, although they might have undeveloped 
spawn, as so many fish do have monthB before their 
regular season for spawning. Col. Wentworth has 
promised to get me full particulars of the habits of the 
smelts at Laconia station from the superintendent of the 
hatchery at that place, for it is there that the two runs of 
smelts are said to take place. At the' time that the letter 
of inquiry came I had for some weeks been cutting up 
smelts at Sunapee for trout bait, and if they had contained 
spawn I think I would have noticed it, although I was 
not looking for it, but Mr. Quackenbos, who has cut up 
hundreds of smelt for bait, tells me that he never saw 
spawn in one, and upon inquiry, he cannot find any man 
who has seen spawn until spring. So that I am led to 
the conclusion that, although smelt may run in the fall 
or winter, they spawn only in the spring. Trout show 
spawn all summer, but they do not cast it until fall. 
I have had a memorandum about smelts spawning 
which I have had on my note book since last May. 
When the Fish Commissioners of New Hampshire were 
seeking smelts last spring they went to Davies Brook. 
The eggs were fairly rotting in the brook presumably 
from lack of shade in the brook and the warm weather. 
One of the men fishing out in the lake near the mouth of 
the brook where the water was 45ft. deep caught a small 
stick of wood from the bottom and it was covered with 
smelt eggs in good condition, and it was the opinion of 
Col. Wentworth that the large smelts spawned in the 
deep water of the lake and did not run into the streams 
as the small ones certainly do. It has been considered 
that all smelts run up the streams in the night to spawn, 
but this seems to be an exception to the rule, and other 
exceptions may be developed when we know more about 
the fish. 
Knowing that Mr. Mather had hatched smelts more 
extensively for the N. Y. Fish Commission than any other 
man I wrote to him on the subject and he replied under 
date of Aug. 9: "I never heard that smelts spawned in 
the fall. They do not do so on Long Island, the only 
place that I have had experience with them. I think 
there are smelts in our harbor now from what I have 
seen from boats, but will try to catch some and see if 
they are smelts. They do not run into the fresh water 
and are probably only feeding. No doubt they have 
spawn started for the spring campaign. Will tell you 
more when I know more." 
Killing: a Salmon. 
Mr. J. J. McCormick, of Boston, went to Canada this 
year with the experience of having spent $5,000 to kill a 
sea salmon without success. Mr. Mowat tells me that 
Mr. McCormick came to him and related his experience, 
whereupon he was sent to the Metapedia and soon hooked 
a big fish and lost it when it was almost near enough for 
the Indian to gaff. Another salmon was hooked and 
gaffed and placed in the canoe, and in ten minutes this 
fish too was lost, and despair was in the heart of the 
fisherman, for it seemed as though Mr. McCormick was 
not to succeed; but after two days he made another at- 
tempt with his boys, and in ten minutes he hooked, played 
and landed a SOlbs. fish which was saved, and this was 
followed by six others— 30, 20, 17 and 141bs. being among 
the number. The guardian killed a 271bs. fish on Saturday, 
and one of 28lbs. on Monday. 
A gentleman from Philadelphia, whom I met recently 
on the cars told me that a few years ago on the Metapedia 
he had no difficulty in killing five or six fish in an after- 
noon. In fact, it was no trouble to kill salmon, but he 
did have difficulty not to kill too many when he fished, 
and of course he only fished in season, and then only in 
the pools nearest to his house. 
Two Incidents. 
My notebook gathers so many notes — on the water, on 
the trains, and in all sorts of places, that occasionally one 
gets lost for a time for obvious reasons, something that 
should not occur with a well-regulated notebook. This 
morning I made a search for the skeleton of a note which 
I knew must be there, for it made such an impression 
upon me that I knew well that I put it there and also that 
it led to a second note, and that also in reality made two 
notes of two different events, both about, as I have heard 
the old-fashioned toast-master say, "The ladies: God bless 
them." I was an actor in one incident and a witness of 
the other, and they prove that ladies can and do fish, no 
matter what the conditions of the weather may be. 
One morning last summer I asked a young lady to go 
a-fishlng in Sunapee Lake for Sunapee trout, which 
means, in July, sitting for a long time in the sun at a buoy 
which is baited with cut-up smelts to attract live smelts, 
which in turn attract trout, which are caught on a rod 
with a hook baited with live smelts. She declined because 
she said she would bring me no success, as she never 
canght a Sunapee trout, never expected to do so, and, 
besides, the sun being hot and the air still, the water 
would be like an oven. I told her nothing she said caused 
me to lose faith, and she consented to go with me. When 
the boat was fastened to the buoy I arranged her line for 
her, but it was only a short time before 1 wished that I 
had not invited her, for though she made no complaint, 
the sun was beating down in a very hot and uncomfort- 
able fashion. Soon she caught a trout of little over a 
pound, and I suggested going in to shore, but no. She 
was out to fish, and stay she did until her arms were 
burned to two great blisters, not a good, healthy, desirable 
brown, but blisters that caused considerable pain after. 
Under the circumstances it was a shame that I should 
catch a larger trout than any she brought to the net, for 
she showed great pluck and. determination, without the 
shadow of a complaint about anything, so that hereafter 
I would prefer to fish with her than with any man. Even 
when her arms were poulticed she made no murmur of 
complaint, but said she was ready to go out again. 
The other incident occurred at about the same place. 
With Eev. E. A. White I was fishing for the "white 
trout" at the same place, when a boat came out from the 
shore toward us and in the stern was a lady. There was 
a little sea on the lake and the sky was overcast. As the 
stranger boat neared us I discovered that the lady had a 
strike on her rod and she at once got on her feet and pro- 
ceeded to play the fish, and played it well, too, for she 
played it to the landing net. When the boat got up to us 
we found it contained Mr. and Mrs. C. F. Imbrie and their 
guide, and after a few moments of conversation they went 
on down the lake. In a short time thereafter a heavy 
thunder shower came up and every boat in sight made for 
some shelter on the shore, until we were alone. We had 
rubber blankets to cover everything in the boat, and rub- 
ber coats for our own backs, but after it had rained 
fiercely for some time we, too, decided to go to a cottage 
on the shore for shelter. When the shower was over and 
we were getting our boat ready to start, Mr. and Mrs. 
Imbrie came slowly rowing up to where we were. Asked 
if they found shelter from the storm they said no, as they 
had not tried really. Mrs. Imbrie said they had not 
thought much about it. The guide did go into a place 
where the trees sheltered them a little, but it was more 
for him than for them, and it was rather pleasant than 
otherwise, except the fish did not bite. 
The next day or so when we again met Mr. and Mrs. 
Imbrie, and I had some old broken flies in my hat, Mr. 
Imbrie, with a smile, said: "I am going back to New 
York to-morrow, and will tell them down there that I 
saw you here with a lot of flies in your hat fishing at a 
buoy with live bait for trout." I replied that if he would 
also say that the aureolus trout could be caught only in 
that way, I would not mind the balance. But as he gave 
me a box of very useful sinkers, a new thing, in the form 
of wire to be broken off at any length desired, and which 
I found very convenient at those very buoys, I really can- 
not find fault with anything he may have said. 
A. N. Cheney. 
Tennessee Indian Fashion. 
Clarksville, Tenn., Aug. 11. — The dove season opened 
in Tennessee Aug. 1, but the birds are scarce, no large 
bagB being reported. 
Several parties of campers have gone to White Oak 
from here this season fishing, and have had fair luck with 
small-mouthed bass. One party goes from here every 
year who catch fish in a novel way. They use nothing 
but old-fashioned bows and arrows and shoot fish Indian 
fashion. Some of them are very expert. Mr. Bennett 
can often kill four or five running without a miss. Jack 
Fulmer was with the party; but as he said, "I'm no In- 
jun," he took his fishing tackle, and the boys have been 
teasing him about catching a hog. It seems that Jack 
had set out his tackle near camp and was lying in the 
shade, when he heard the music of his reel and ran to in- 
vestigate, crying, "I'll bet that's a big bass." But it was 
not. In some unaccountable way a hog had run off all 
his line and dragged his rod down the creek. 
I suppose that in every community there is a man who 
is noted for telling tall stories; but of all I have met none 
are in it compared with our friend "Tarquin." The story 
of his musical reel and the 314lbs. cat reminds me of a 
man who was writing in another paper about being on a 
big quail hunt, then going to dinner where cantaloupes, 
watermelons and peaches were served. It seems to me 
that the bird season was a little early or the melon season 
a little late, I don't know which. Slippery, 
