208 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Sept. 8, 1894. 
Royal toast, I should say, is always most loyally honored, 
as the Prince of Wales is one of the patrons of the Thames 
Angling Preservation Society, and the Princess of Wales 
and other members of the royal family are followers of 
old Izaak themselves. At these gatherings the prizes won 
during the season are generally presented, and as the re- 
cipients rise to receive them they come in for much good- 
natured chaff. The annual dinner is also thought to be 
an opportune time to "open" a new prize list, when the 
company present again make promises of various articles, 
including the proverbial copper kettle. Some of the clubs 
here do not favor gross weight prize fishing, but give sil- 
ver medals instead for the best specimen fish caught dur- 
ing the season. Occasionally very handsome challenge 
cups ornament the chairman's table, and some of the 
prizes are of a very valuable description. During the last 
few years the reading of papers on subjects piscatorial 
has much increased at the clubs, and the Anglers' Paper 
Reading Society's lectures have been greatly in demand. 
The papers read at the Piscatorial and Gresham angling 
societies are afterward printed and placed in the library, 
and form very interesting and instructive reading. The 
Fly-Fishers' Club is looked upon as the society, but the 
members take little or no active part in London angling 
matters. They meet once a year to dine, it is true, and 
occasionally give a "smoker," but that is all one hears of 
them. The library in connection with this club contains 
many rare works on the piscatorial art, a remark which 
may also be applied to the Gresham and Piscatorial 
societies. 
In regard the competitions held over here, some of them 
turn out very big events. Only last March one took place 
up the Lea in which nearly GOO fishermen were engaged. 
This river and the Thames and Arun are generally selected 
for the competitions, and the following is a copy of one 
of the handbills issued in connection with a match got up 
by Mr. Eldridge, who runs the "anglers' train" every 
Sunday morning to Pulborough and Amberley on the Sus- 
sex Arun: 
OPEN ROVING FISHING CONTEST, 
(Starting from Amberly) -will take place on Sunday Oct. 8, 1893, 
For the following valuable prizes, given by Messrs. 
A. A. Eldridsre, "Rose and Crown," Goswell Road, London; Duke, 
"Houghton Bridge 1 ' Inn, Amberly: Cunningham, "George and 
Dragon," Houghton; Rogers, "The Cricketers," Amberley; Henly, 
"Black Dog," Bury ; and other friends. 
List of Prizes: 
■£ s.d. _£ s . d. 
First prize 1 10 0 Sixth prize 0 10 6 
Second prize 1 00 Seventh prize 0 10 6 
Third prize 0 15 0 Eighth prize 0 10 6 
Fourth prize 0 12 0 Specimen bream 0 5 0 
Fifth prize 0 10 6 Specimen roach 0 5 0 
Entrance fee 6d., which will be added to the prizes. 
ALL TO START ON SUNDAY MORNING. 
No live bait to be used. Jack eels, pope, dabs, bleak and gudgeon 
barred. Thames measure. No one to fish within 10yds. of another 
■without his consent. One rod only to be carried. Disputes to be 
settled by the Stewards present. Weighing to commence at 4 o'clock 
No fish will be received after 4:30 sharp. The weighing to take place 
at Mr. Rogers's, "The Cricketers," Amberly. All prizes will be paid 
to the successful competitors immediately after weighing in. 
All competitors must get their tickets stamped at "Tbe Cricketers" 
before starting, any one neglecting to do so will be disqualified. 
Ti2kets to be had of Mr. A. A. Eldridge only, at the ' Rose and 
Crown," 21 Goswell Road. Entries close at 11:30 P. M., Saturday, 
Oct. 7, 1893. 
Stewards wearing colored favors perambulate the banks 
while the competitions are in progress, and it will be seen 
from the above bill that the latter are carried out in a 
thoroughly businesslike manner. In some matches the 
fish are registered and measured as soon as caught. This 
duty devolves upon the steward, and if tbe fish are feed- 
ing at all well these* gentle men have a pretty warm time 
of it. No sooner is one fish taken off the hook, and the 
steward is in attendance, than the cry of "Steward!" is 
heard in another direction, and while the angler is play- 
ing his fish the man of the white and red rosette is called 
upon in yet another part of the competition boundary. 
When the big competitions are held the railway com- 
panies run special trains to the scene of operations, and 
the anglers sitting in the various compartments, with their 
rods and boxes slung over their shoulders, look, as the 
train rushes by, like a regiment of soldiers, minus their 
scarlet uniform. 
Before the competition commences it is often the prac- 
tice of the committee or stewards to overhaul the contest- 
ants' bags, baskets and boxes, to see that no fish are con- 
cealed therein. This operation leads to much good-natured 
chaff all round, and provides rare amusement for the on- 
lookers. Everything is closely examined, even to the 
parcel or cloth containing the day's provender. Small 
packages which perhaps only hold salt and pepper are 
even scrutinized, and when the fisherman's box has been 
stripped of its contents, and all is correct and proper, he 
is politely told he can put the tackle and the reels, the 
pepper and the salt, the beer bottle and the whisky flask, 
and the knuckle of pork or the piece of steak back into 
the box, and go to the place where the pistol will be fired 
when the match commences. It is only right and proper 
to say that I have never yet known a case during the 
searching of an angler's kit where fish had been discov- 
ered, which speaks volumes for the general honesty and 
sportsmanlike feeling prevailing among those concerned. 
A pistol is fired as the signal to start fishing. Long 
before this the competitors have assembled in one dense 
mass at a given spot, and the scene when the signal is 
given is of an intensely humorous and amusing descrip- 
tion. There is a wild rush along the banks to secure the 
well-known swims and "shops," and some of the fisher- 
men run for a mile or a mile and a half without stopping, 
so intent are they in being first at some favorite pitch 
where they hope to make a good basket, la a marvel- 
lously short time the rods are at work, and for miles, in 
one long row, up and down stream, sitting on the vari- 
colored roach boxes, are to be found followers of the man 
who leved Lea so well. There they patiently sit, it may 
be in the broiling heat of an August day, or facing the 
cutting east winds well known to those who go angling 
in the winter months. As the day wears on the villagers 
may be seen running up and down the banks with cans 
of hot tea, bread and butter, watercress, etc., which are 
speedily bought up by the fishermen. It is by no means 
an uncommon occurrence either to see an angler bring 
out a little spirit stove and kettle, spread a snow-white 
cloth by his side, and, while the kettle is boiling, cut up 
the bread and butter, and generally prepare for an 
alfresco tea, these roach baskets being of a very capacious 
character. 
Just now London anglers are feeling considerably exer- 
cised over the Thames Conservancy bill, and have peti- 
tioned the County Council to get a clause inserted whereby 
the swans and ducks which gobble up all the ova will be 
removed from the river and the speed of steam launches 
lessened, especially in the fence months when the fish are 
spawning. There are several preservation bodies, the 
Thames Angling Preservation Society, of which the ven- 
erable Mr. W. H. Brougham is the secretary, being the 
pioneer in connection with the good work now being 
carried on up the river. Many tons of fish of all kinds 
have been placed in the Thames, and it is estimated that 
the angling public and those interested in the river have 
spent something like £30,000 in preserving and protecting 
it from the wiles of the poaching fraternity. The pro- 
fessional fishermen who gain their living by taking 
anglers out in punts have in many instances been consti- 
tuted honorary river-keepers, and when the fish head up 
to the weirs after spawning they are sometimes out day 
and night, in order to see that no harm befalls them. In 
the matter of supporting the preservation societies, the 
London Club anglers might have been much more gener- 
ous, but I think in time they will see the error of their 
ways, and each club make an annual grant for the pur- 
pose of putting new blood into the Thames. The tide is 
steadily flowing in that direction, I fancy, for we now 
have a "fish preservation week" in London, and the clubs 
are individually responding more liberally to the appeals 
made by Mr Brougham. 
And now I must reel in, for the swim is full up. I hope 
I have given you some idea of what London piscatorial 
circles are like, and if that should prove the case, and if 
you have been interested in them, then my objpct will 
have been attained. I have now only to wish you 
fraternally "tight lines" and pleasant times when you 
take part in the nobie sport of angling, 
London, England. ARTHUR R. MATTHEWS. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
[From a Staff Correspondent.} 
Fox Lake Anglers Organize. 
Chicago, 111., Sept. 1.— When Mr. Geo. E. Cole, presi- 
dent and actuating spirit of the old Fox River Associa- 
tion, of Illinois, laid down his baton as leader of the 
protective forces, the work of the latter association was 
practically done, for it had accomplished about all it had 
set out to do. Its record was the most notable of any 
ever made by a protective association here, and Mr. Cole 
has never yet had an equal as an organizing and 
executive officer in such work. It seems, however, that 
no matter how well this work is done, it will not stay 
done unless the protective forces keep on at it. The 
waters of the great and prolific Fox Lake system again 
began to need a guardian's care, and some of the anglers 
recently resolved to organize again for protection. At a 
meeting held at the Mineola Club, Fox Lake, last week, 
an organization was formed for that and adjoining lakes, 
A vigorous prosecution of all violators of the fish laws 
was agreed upon and the following officers elected: 
Pres., Noah H. Pike; First Vice-Pres., Albert Mason; 
Second Vice-Pres., Allen C. Story; Sec'y and Treas. , D. S. 
Daly. Executive Committee: James Gardiner, Lewis M. 
Melander, Jr., John W. Lyke, Robert O. Boyle, J. L. 
Lindskog. Representatives were present from Fox Lake, 
Pistakee Lake, Petite Lake and Long Lake fishing 
clubs. 
The Best Yet to Come. 
The most enjoyable part of the angling season is yet to 
come. In the fall, until well on toward the end of Octo- 
ber, the bass fishing in this section is better than in the 
spring. The fish take bait better than the fly, it is true, 
and are taken in deeper waters, but they bite freely and 
play hard, and, moreover, one does not have the feeling 
that he is taking fish full of spawn. Last spring a great 
many heavy catches were reported from Wisconsin lakes, 
and many men boasted to me of the sport they had had. 
As a matter of fact the fish were taken on their spawning 
run. It is late June sometimes before the bass have fin- 
ished spawning— indeed in the northern lakes of that 
State they are not through before the end of July. After 
that they do not bite so freely but continue to go to the 
shallow water to feed in the evenings and to less extent 
in the mornings. In the fall their habits change, and bar- 
ring the fact that one too often misses the fun of seeing 
the strike at the surface, the bass give better sport on the 
rod. The Fox, the Kankakee, the Tippecanoe, and others 
of our bass streams are now or soon will be at their best. 
Further to the north the pine woods lakes will soon offer 
their best inducements to the mascallonge angler. The 
waning of the year approaches, but the angler's year will 
not be done for two months yet, unless the angler is also 
a shooter, as so many of ours are. E. Hough. 
909 Security Building, Chicago. 
Irish Lake Trout. 
The Irish lake trout has frequently been known to grow 
to an extraordinary size, and at one or two exhibitions of 
angling trophies the stuffed carcases of some very re- 
markable fish have been shown. The record trout, 
however, seems to have been taken in Lake Ennel, or 
Belvedere Like, Westmeath, by Mr. Meers, of Mullingar. 
The fish, which naturally afforded some capital sport, 
was taken immediately after capture before a Justice of 
the Peace in the locality. It is not to be supposed that 
the fish had committed any offence against the law, but 
there seems to be a tendency on the part of the world at 
large to require verification of an Irishman's story, espec- 
ially if it be an Irish angler; and the weight, girth, etc., 
of this extraordinary trout can be recorded for future 
generations with the legal stamp of genuineness attached 
to its record. The weight is returne i at exactly 261bs. , 2oz.. 
the length 34|in., the middle girth at 28|m., and the 
girth between the centre and the tail 20In., while the 
breadth of the tail is very remarkable, being 10+in. It 
must have afforded the fish enormous propelling power. 
It is pleasant to know that the skin will be preserved by 
a skilled taxidermist, and that it will be presented to the 
society which has charge of the preservation of the fish in 
the Westmeath lakes. — Bells Messenger {London). 
Trouting on the West Canada. 
The portion of the West Canada, Herkimer county, N, 
Y., which experience teaches me contains not only the 
most trout, but stretches of stream most conducive to 
growth as to individual size and increase of number of 
the fish, is the stretch between the outlet of Deer Lake, 
four miles above Northwood, the Roberts's cold bed, one- 
half mile below. At Hickley the milling operations have 
almost ruined the fishing, and between the points named 
and that one, long stretches will be found hardly worth 
casting into. In the spring trout can be easily taken 
along the stream, a common catch being 30lbs.; but when 
the warm weather comes on in July and August, it takes 
a man who knows the pools and rifts like a book to get 
the wily fish. In the cold beds you will find them by the 
hundred after four or five very hot days. But a corres- 
pondent of Forest and Stream, a great chum of mine, 
Ray Spears, and I have stood on shore at Fly Stream cold 
bed and caught enough trout in one hour to keep sevpral 
large and vigorous families in trout supply for two days. 
Sometimes as we journeyed homeward we would notice 
that the air was colder; we would say, "On the rifts to- 
morrow," and know as we said it that the cold snap 
would drive the trout into the rifts and rapids, leaving the 
beds, which to-day were alive with them, empty and 
without interest for the sportsman. 
We noticed last season that trout were dying in large 
numbers, and apparently from no disease. The peculiarity 
of the epidemic was that continued hot weather would 
usher in the devastation and then we would find trout, 
perhaps five or six to a pool, dead and swollen. Long in- 
vestigation and observation gave us a satisfactory explana- 
tion. We found that the bark of the logs coming from 
the camps up stream was accumulating in the still pools 
when the water was low, and the heat acting on it gen- 
erated a yellowish water which on three weeks' drought 
spread death among the fish. 
Notwithstanding the lumber trouble and continued 
seining by natives, the West Canada with some restric- 
tions is a fishing ground of splendid possibilities. The 
reins of restriction of trout destructors are held in the 
hands of certain residents of Northwood, and if the power 
be used in the future as it has in the past, 1900 will still 
find trout plentiful there. Robert P. Froebish. 
Adirondack Black Bass. 
Schroon Lake, Essex County, N. Y., Aug. 23.— The 
record for a large fish caught in the lake at this place this 
season is now held by Mr. Sidney F. Rawson, of Staten 
Island, a guest at the Grove Pines House. This afternoon 
Mr. Rawson and Prof, von Holy started out for a two 
hours' fishing trip and within that time caught and pro- 
duced at the hotel five pickerel, the largest of which 
weighed exactly 81bs. The others were good sized fish, 
but not worthy of notice alongside the larger one. The 
fish was lightly hooked, and contrary to the custom of Its 
kind, made a fierce fight. It was, however, well landed 
by Mr. Rawson and well gaffed by Mr. von Holy. The 
black bass fishing here is now fairly good, but no very 
large catche3 are reported. — 
Camp Franklin. 
Trout Lake, Wis., Aug. 25.— The following are scores 
of fish caught at Camp Franklin: Judge John Barton 
Payne of Chicago and his friend Chas. R, Murray, in nine 
days' fishing, landed four muskalonge weighing 18, 1(3, 15 
and 161bs. respectively, also 119 black bass. The Judge 
landed a black bass weighing 5£lbs. 
L. M. Brown of Chicago in six days' fishing landed four 
muskalonge weighing 20, 16 and two 121bs. respectively, 
and 76 black bass. C. J. C. 
Long Island Sound. 
Brigeport, Conn., Aug. 26.— Big strings of striped bass 
are bring taken at the mouth of the Housatonic River, 
Stratford, Conn. Mr. Jacob Huber of Bridgeport has 
caught several good-sized fish this month, averaging 151bs. 
each. 
Capt. Charles A. Deas, of the sloop Addie, while fishing 
near Bartlets Reef, New London, on the 11th of this 
month landed a sea bass weighing 61bs. The General. 
West Virginia Trout. 
Sweet Springs, W. Va., Aug. 29.— The trout have been 
very plentiful here this year, C. H. Witts caught 7 
weighing 3^1bs., the prettiest string of brook trout caught 
in this country for some time, not in number but in size. 
A few days later 6 more were caught out of the same 
stream almost as large. C. R. C. 
Massachusetts Bass. 
Baldwinville, Mass., Aug. 25. — F. D. Searle and H. A.. 
Perkins caught eight small-mouth bass in Philipston Lake 
yesterday which weighed 2 If lbs. The smallest weighed 
2£lbs. and the largest 31bs. 9oz. This is the largest string 
taken here this season. H. 
Moosehead Lake Fishing. 
Moosehead Lake, Rineo, Me., Aug. 28.— Mr. William 
Ziegler, well known in New York and Brooklyn, recently 
caught with fly hook twenty trout that weighed 691bs, 
They were all caught in less than four hours' fishing. 
' O. A. Dennen.. 
From the Adirondacks. 
Blue Mountain Lake, Adirondacks, Aug., 30. — I find 
fish and game in this region more abundant than usual. 
Random. 
Caledonia Brown Trout. 
The Caledonia Fishing Club has had on exhibition in a 
Rochester, N. Y., window two brown trout taken from 
Spring Creek. One weighed lllbs,, the other lOflbs. 
A Stray Shinplaster 
Comes to us once in a while for a copy 
of "Game Laws in „ Brief;" but shin= 
plasters nowadays are scarcer than Moose 
in New York; and 25 cents in postage 
stamps will do just as well. 
