840 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 20, 1894. 
TEXAS SALT-WATER FISHING. 
Several weeks ago I took a month's vacation, and with, 
my wife went down on the Texas coast at Aransas Pass 
on fishing bent. My varied experiences while there 
would make interesting reading in abler hands than 
mine, but I will try to give as much information as 
possible for the benefit of Forest and Stream readers. 
How we fished in the Corpus Christi channel for sting- 
arees and sharks as an additional attraction to the smaller 
fish; how we sat on the deck of our little sloop at night 
cracking crabs and eating their sweet flesh; how we en- 
joyed the surf bathing on Mustang Island, and how we 
gathered shells and coral beans on St. Joseph's Island 
were merely pleasant incidents of the trip. Fishing was 
what we went for, and fishing we had. 
The sport that I enjoyed more than all else was the 
surf fishing. To wade out as far as you can keep your 
footing, to where the breakers occasionally hit you in the 
face simply to show they are there, and then to cast your 
mullet far out into the white, foaming waters; to wait a 
few moments for the strike sure to come, and then to 
battle with a gamy redfish or trout, while struggling to 
keep your footing on the smooth sand, is an experience 
not soon forgotten. Here, too, the man with the rod and 
reel has the advantage of the heavier cast line, having 
more control over his tackle. 
The tarpon fishing was excellent. One morning, while 
fishing in the Pass, I saw five tarpon landed within an 
hour. Another day six were caught, and all these within 
plain view of the beach. 
Of course I tried to catch a tarpon. My outfit was 
good and I confidently expected success, but my hopes 
were shattered. Although I felt and saw them, none 
came within reach of the gaff. 
Saturday morning I started out, seated comfortably in 
the stern of the skiff with Wilbur handling the oars. For 
half an hour we trolled up and down the Pass, when all 
at once I felt a slight nibble at my bait, as though some 
small fish had struck it. The next moment the tip of my 
rod bent over and the reel sang a tune pleasant to the ear. 
Then I knew that I had a silver king. In an instant he 
was out of the water, shaking his head violently, with his 
mouth wide open. He failed to dislodge the hook and 
so jumped again and again. At last, when bearing with 
a steady pull I felt the line slacken, and reeling in, found 
the fish was gone. During the next half hour I had four 
strikes, but all escaped. At this point our fishing was in- 
terrupted by a heavy squall which compelled us to seek 
the shore, and after it had passed the fish ceased biting. 
It seems to me that this manner of fishing for tarpon is 
more sportsmanlike than still-fishing, as practiced in 
Florida. There is no chance for the fish to gorge the 
bait, and it is a question whether you will be able to land 
your fish or not. That it can be done is proven every 
day during the season. Perhaps the best feature of this 
fishing lies in the fact that there is no waiting five or six 
hours for a bite. You may feel confident of hooking as 
many fish as you care to handle if the weather conditions 
are at all favorable. 
I would advise brother anglers looking for genuine 
gport to try the fishing on this coast. It can be guar- 
anteed. And if any one should desire further informa- 
tion I will be pleased to furnish it. W. M. S. 
San Antonio, Texas. 
TROUT STALKING. 
THIS sport when the conditions are favorable may be 
accounted the most fascinating, exciting and artistic 
method of taking the speckled beauties. 
The season in the northern waters of Maine is Sep- 
tember when the summer heat is over, and when the cool 
days and nights have lowered the temperature of the 
surface waters down to 63° Fahrenheit, and below. 
The field that of a placid lake or pond where trout 
abound when the surface is entirely smooth, or agitated 
only by faint ripples. 
The afternoon is more favorable than the morning, 
although some days are throughout favorable. 
With the above conditions, and a light boat and com- 
panion guide at the stern who can skillfully propel the 
boat over the water with scarcely a ripple from the 
paddle s and with a light casting rod of good length, and 
a light leader and a No. 8 or 10 fly, and a landing net, one 
is equipped for the sport. 
It may be sunny or not, overcast or clear, it matters 
not if the wind is absent or light, but on a bright or 
sunny day the necessity of skillful work is more apparent 
than when the sky is overcast or dull. When the sun is 
shining or partially obscured, the boat should be worked 
between the sun and breaks, to the advantage of the fish- 
erman and the disadvantage of the trout. The effect of 
shadow is light compared with the advantages so gained. 
Many of the lakes and ponds in Maine where trout 
abound are favorable localities for this sport, although all 
are not, and there are usually quite a number of days in 
September when the temperature of the surface water 
and other features are entirely favorable. 
I will confess to have allowed some decades of fishing 
experiences to pass before I became familiar with this 
sport, which of late years I have looked forward to with 
much interest and expectation. 
The trout, which were plentiful near the surface from 
the going out of the ice until the middle of June when 
the surface water warmed up to a temperature of 65°, 
have sunk away to cooler depths, where they remain 
until the surface water again becomes favorable from the 
cooler weather of autumn. 
But in surface stalking one does not get so large fish as 
in spring trolling, for it is the medium sized fish that 
gives itself the frolicsome play of surface feeding, weigh- 
ing from i\b. to 2ilbs. in the waters which I frequent, 
averaging a trifle over fib. 
There are certain 'autumnal days when the conditions 
are favorable, when it would seem as if all the medium- 
sized trout in the waters were surface feeding. 
Not in an eager and conspicuous manner with splash- 
ing breaks and flashing swirls, but in a quiet sucking in 
from the surface of the varied ephemeron which plenti- 
fully abound, in a manner so quiet as to be observable 
only to the experienced eye. 
No minnow, however minute, can agitate the surface 
of the water more delicately than a lilbs. trout, if he wills 
it, and he does when so feeding, although the occasional 
more conspicuous break and swirl occurs in the presence 
of an unusually attractive lure, apparent to the most. 
Ordinary sight. 
Equipped, the boat is propelled deftly by its stern 
paddle over the feeding water. The fisherman is seated 
in the middle of the boat casting softly to the right and 
left with the progress of the boat, for the advantage of 
a possible surface trout that may be about. A delicate 
apparent minnow break is observed off to the right, per- 
haps 50, perhaps 100 or more feet distant, of which, as 
soon as over, nothing remains to mark the exact spot ex- 
cept a possible air bubble or two. The boat is propelled 
toward the side of it, to within 35 or 40ft., when the cast 
is given over or near the spot. Perhaps the fluttering 
fly is taken at the instant of its fall, for the trout may be 
directly beneath, but generally not, for the fly is almost 
always taken below the surface, which position the fly 
will assume on a long cast and a slow draw. 
The trout is likely to have moved 10 or 15ft,, perhaps 
more, but he is almost sure to be picked up in the neigh- 
boring area if he has not been alarmed by unskillful 
movements of the boat or its occupants. 
Often an active trout will be on the go as feeding, and 
by the time the boat has reached a position for casting 
over the first break, a second will be observed still beyond 
a possible cast, presumably from the trout which made 
the first break, and before the second break can be 
reached a third appears still further on, and sometimes so 
on, and 1 have often followed up and secured my trout 
which has carried me by a dozen breaks and fifty or sixty 
rods beyond the initial appearance. 
Ordinarily, if a break occurs within a few boatslengths 
distance, which can be speedily reached, the chances are 
more than half in favor of securing the fish. If within 
casting distance the fish is almost sure of being secured. 
Often breaks will occur so near the boat that nothing 
can be done but for the stern man and caster to remain 
motionless until the boat, if under a headway, may pass 
on, when the chances are half in favor of the trout being 
picked up in the rear. If the boat is still the chances of 
taking the trout are diminished, as the motions essential 
to shortening line and the proximity of the trout are 
likely to alarm the fish, and when alarmed he invariably 
strikes down. Occasionally the breaks are so plentiful 
that one may take half a dozen fish without moving his 
boat.. I remember an instance a few years ago, when 
accompanied by an English fishing friend whose experi- 
ence had been mostly in the dry fly drop of the Thames, 
where he had notable success, that we caught well out on 
the pond fourteen trout averaging nearly a pound in 
weight, without touching the paddle to the water, and 
my friend became exceedingly enthusiastic, which he 
well might be. 
This fishing must not be confounded with pool fishing, 
or that which we often find in isolated ponds which are 
unfrequented, and where the little chaps, entirely unedu- 
cated to the penalty of the hook and fearless, will crowd 
about a raft or boat until a hundred or more may be 
picked up. 
The fishing I refer to is the stalking of the fish in well 
frequented waters, where they are sought and followed 
up under the peculiar conditions which regularly occur 
where the trout are scattered over the surface, and not in 
schools, and must be sought for by their feeding breaks, 
a fishing distinctive in character, and which I am sure is 
not extensively practiced by all fishermen. 
It is not probable that localities favorable for this stalk- 
ing exist about all trout waters, but there are hundreds, I 
dare say, of lakes and ponds in Maine, where it can be 
most successfully followed. Molechunkamunk. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
Greetings from the Old World to the New. 
It is very well known that Mr. Eobert B. Marston, 
editor of the Fishing Gazette, London, founded the Fly- 
Fishers' Club in that city, or as Mr. Basil Field has said: 
"Francis Francis reduced it to words and R. B. Marston 
impreEsad it with life." Since the organization of the 
club Mr. Marston has served as its honorary treasurer and 
he perhap3 better than any one else understands how de- 
sirable it is that such a club should exist in a community 
of fly-fishers, and appreciates the good that may come to 
the craftsmen in t*« is country when drawn together into 
an organization similar to that in London. 
The following letter of greeting and good wishes from 
Mr. Marston, received by last mail steamer, will be read 
with pleasure by the fly-fishers in America who contem- 
plate banding themselves together for mutual benefit: 
"London, Sept. 28.— My Dear Cheney: I have noted 
with great pleasure in Forest and Stream that there is 
a strong movement on foot to form an American Fly- 
Fishers' Club (why not American and Canadian Fly- Fish- 
ers' Club, seeing that there is so much fine salmon and 
trout fishing in Canada). I am quite certain that if the 
right men get interested in it it is bound to be a success, 
and the fact that you are taking it up so warmly is a 
guarantee that your best men will join. 
"I must refer you to the annual reports of our Fly- 
Fishers' Club for particulars of the success that ours has 
been, but even they would tell nothing of that bond of 
brotherhood which has been created by the fact of mem- 
bers of our club meeting in all sorts of out of the way 
places and finding that they are members; it is, as Senior 
well said, a bond of sentiment which holds us together, 
but when that sentiment is love of fly-fishing and all that 
that means, I do not know where you will find one 
stronger. 
"I wish the new club success from the bottom of my 
heart. I am certain that it will mean a high ideal of 
sport for sport's sake only, and as the years roll on a power 
to enforce laws against illegal fishing, slayers of inno- 
cents, 'fish hogs,' et hoc genus omne. Yours ever sincerely, 
R. B. Marston." 
I * doubt not that my friend, William Senior ("Red 
Spinner"), to whom Mr. Marston refers,, and who suc- 
ceeded Francis Francis as angling editor of the London 
Field, and is one of the executive committee of the Fly- 
Fishers, wo. Id send greetings similar to those of his 
friend and colleague if he should see that such a club was 
proposed in this country, and thus we would have God- 
speed from the successor to the man who reduced the first 
Fly-Fishers' Club to words, as well as from the man who 
impressed it with life. 
Proposed Fly-Fishers' Club. 
Mr. H. S. Bull, who conducts the angling department 
of the Times- Union (Albany) has this to say in a recent 
issue of that paper: "Albany has a very large number of 
fly-fishermen who are not only enthusiasts but experts in 
the art. Not many years ago a fly-casting association 
was formed and on© or two tournaments held, but during 
the past fi^e or six years it has fallen into a condition of 
innocuous desuetude. There is a project on foot, how- 
ever, that will once more stir their enthusiasm, and per- 
haps as an indirect result lead .to a resuscitation of the old 
organization. Early in September Mr. A. N. Cheney 
very forcibly urged in the columns of Forest and Stream 
the formation of an American Fly-Fishers' Club, that 
paper heartily backed the suggestion editorially, and 
since that time letters have been received from prominent 
anglers all over the country favoring the proposition and 
offering assurances of co operation. I am very glad to 
be fully in accord with Mr. Cheney's idea, and the Times- 
Union may be counted as among the most enthusiastic 
supporters of the new association. Last week's issue of 
Forest and Stream has the following," etc., etc. 
Because of the reference to the fly-casting association 
in Albany which held tournaments, one should not get 
the idea that it is proposed to have tournaments or any- 
thing of the sort under the auspices of the Fly -Fishers' 
Club when it is formed, as I believe it will be. The Na- 
tional Rod and Reel Association was an organization 
purely for contests of this kind, but the Fly-Fishers' 
should be a social club only. 
Such a club, however, must of necessity in time exer- 
cise a healthy influence over game and fish legislation (I 
use the two terms fish and game because they seem to be 
inseparable in our statutes), if not by direct action as a 
body, then through an interchange of views and a focus- 
ing of sentiment favorable to the best interests of the fish 
upon those who make the laws for their propagation, 
protection and preservation. Such a club must also be- 
come an educational body, as it will centralize informa- 
tion regarding fly-fishing, and gather together the thoughts 
and experience of anglers from the various parts of the 
country represented, to be discussed, adjusted and dis- 
seminated after the wheat is selected from the chaff. 
Another feature Mr. Marston has already referred to in 
his letter, but it should not be within the province of the 
club to offer prizeB for fishing or fly-casting contests. 
Planting Landlocked Salmon. 
The first plant of fingerling landlocked salmon has been 
made in Lake George, New York, and all things consid- 
ered, it was very successful, more so perhaps than any 
previous plant attempted on the same scale. Heretofore 
it has been found a difficult matter to move a carload of 
fingerling Atlantic or landlocked salmon a longdistance 
as successfully as other species are moved, or as success- 
fully as the fry of the salmon may be moved; but experi- 
ence is a great teacher, and none are quicker to avail 
themselves of such teachings than the men of the United 
States Fish Commission, for they have the courage to 
admit failure, wholly or in part, and profit by it. I be- 
lieve the first carload, shipment of fingerling salmon was 
made in 1890, when car No. 2 started, from Maine with 
20,000 to be delivered at Glens Falls, N. Y., for the Hud- 
son River. The car came no further than Troy, when all 
that remained alive of the fish, 10,329, were planted above 
the Troy dam. 
On Oct. 4 car No. 4 left Green Lake, Maine, with 12,000 
fingerlings of the landlocked salmon. This car is not 
fitted as are three other cars of the Commission, with 
steam pump, circulator and injector, and large tanks 
holding sixty gallons of water each, and the fish 
were transported in 100 cans of the ordinary type. At 
Portland there was a delay of several hours, and when 
the car reached Albany it had to remain on a side track 
until the next morning, which was Saturday the 6th. 
From the time the fish were put in the cars until they 
were planted, something over forty-eight hours, the men 
on the car worked the cans night and day with dippers 
and siphons to aerate the water. When I met the car on 
the main line of the D. & H. R.R., Capt. T. 01 Pearce, in 
charge, said the fish were doing nicely, such as were left. 
For a moment I could not ask how many were left, but 
the loss figured up 1,946, far less than I had dared hope 
would be the result. The loss occurred almost entirely at 
Portland and Albany, where the car was side-tracked. 
From the time that I joined the car I never saw a better- 
behaved lot of fish, and not one died, as the conveyance 
was constantly in motion. At Lake George it was neces- 
sary to double up the fish in forty cans to go on the 
steamer and afterward in wagons to the streams. Even 
then, as a rule, the salmon remained at the bottom of the 
cans. Messrs. Britton and Sauerhoff , who went down the 
lake on the steamer with me, said that the salmon acted 
better than at any time since leaving Green Lake, and 
they attributed it to the Lake George air. 
The water in the cans at destination was 54°, and 
in the brooks it was 54° and 55°, The salmon were a 
strong active lot and when turned into the stream acted 
as though they liked their new home. If anyone should 
wonder why the salmon were shipped in cans when they 
might come with less loss in one of the other cars, I can 
say there was reason for it. When I notified the Com- 
mission that the steamer on Lake George would make 
her last trip on Oct. 6, and that the steamboat train 
would be taken off after that date, the other cars were 
not available and the fish had to come. The Delaware & 
Hudson R. R. and the Lake George Steamboat Company 
furnished free transportation for car, men, etc., and 
gentlemen at Lake George furnished teams on same 
terms to take the cans to the streams. 
Hudson River Flshways. 
The time is approaching when the New York Legisla- 
ture will be asked to provide means for building fishways 
in the Hudson . River to let the salmon up to the head- 
waters and suitable spawning grounds, and I welcome 
everything favorable to the success of this movement. 
In spite of the fact that it has been known for eight 
years that when salmon fry are planted in the stream 
they will go to sea and return as adult fish, as far as the 
obstructions will permit, we hear once in a while that the 
Hudson is not suitable for the fish. Expert opinions on 
this subject are of value. In a recent letter from Dr. W. 
H. Drummond, of Montreal, president of the St. Maurice 
Club, and one of the owners of the Godbout and Mistassini 
salmon rivers (not the Mistassini River which flows into 
Lake St. John, and noted for ouananiche, but a river on 
the north shore of the St. Lawrence), in which he com- 
mended most heartly the movement to organize an 
American Fly-Fishers' Club, he had something to say/ 
about the Hudson as a salmon river: 
