44 8 
curve properly, and then fell in a tangle on the water 
before him. Again I showed him, and he said I cast 
without apparent effort, while it tired him to cast five 
minutes. This was because he cast with his arm and his 
body, and not with the rod. Suddenly it came to him, 
and within an hour from the time he tirst took the rod in 
hand he was casting easily and gracefully over 50ft., and 
this without effort. On another day we went to the 
canal and he handled the rod like a veteran of many 
seasons. One measured cast was 63ft., and all his casting 
was done in a most workmanlike manner. In all my 
experience I never saw a man, green at the business, who 
handled a fly as he did in a few hours' practice. The 
moment he got the idea of proper time to be allowed for 
the back cast, and realize that the rod must be lifted with 
the tip inclined a little to the right and never carried 
back much beyond the perpendicular, then held in the 
same plane with the angler's figure and brought forward 
vigorously, as the fly straightened out behind, by the 
action of the rod itself, he was as much a fly-caster as 
though he had been practicing for years. 
The Stocking of Pieasant Pond. 
In Fobest and Strbam, Nov. 10, my friend Col. Webber 
refers to a note of mine in Forest and Stream of Oct. 12 
and says, "Now, with all due respect to Mr. Wentworth, 
I think he was entirely mistaken in supposing that he 
made the first plant of these fish (landlocked salmon) in 
Pleasant Pond/' I shall have to ask Col. Webber to read 
the note again, for I did not say, or even intimate, 
directly or indirectly, that Col. Wentworth supposed 
anything of the sort, and certainly in the extract from 
Col. Wentworth's letter which I quoted, the subject of 
who stocked the pond is not referred to in any way. As 
I was about to clear the matter up as best I could from 
the records I received a letter from Dr. J. D. Quackenbos, 
which tells the story in its entirety and makes the history 
of the stocking of the pond clear to all who may read: 
"Please call the attention of anglers interested in the 
growth of landlocked salmon in Pleasant Pond, New 
London, to the fact that Col. Webber and not Commis- 
sioner Wentworth is the one who is 'entirely mistaken' 
regarding the early plants in that charming little body of 
water. Col. Webber asserts in his letter of Nov. 2 that 
if his 'memory serves him right' his colleagues on the 
Fish Commission, the late revered Albina H. Powers, put 
a few hundred fry into this pond in 1879 or '80. Now, 
Commissioner Wentworth has never made any claim to 
the credit of having stocked Pleasant Pond with any- 
thing; the lake was stocked before he became Fish Com- 
missioner, by Lieut. Ransom F. Sargent, with the knowl- 
edge and approval of Commissioner E. B. Hodge. Trout 
and salmon fry from the Sunapee hatchery were placed 
in the tributary brooks in the spring of 1890, and these 
brooks were closed by a special act of the Legislature in 
1891. A year ago last fall, while I was at Sunapee, Mr. 
Sargent corralled in the mouth of one of the inlets some 
thirty landlocked salmon weighing from 5 to 61bs. each. 
As salmon were unknown in the lake previous to 1890, 
these fish have attained their size in three years and six 
months from the egg. Last September a four-year-old 
was taken weighing 121bs. 
•"Now as to Mr. Powers having abstracted salmon from 
the large lots sent to Sunapee in 1878 and the succeeding 
years, to smuggle into neighboring ponds without making 
any public announcement of the fact, I am extremely 
skeptical. 'Among ponds so stocked,' says Col. Webber, 
that is, stocked without public announcement, 'were the 
Compton Ponds in Sandwich'; but if the Colonel will con- 
sult the Report of the Fish Commissioners for 1879 he will 
find the Sandwich ponds named among twenty- three dif- 
ferant bodies of water that were stocked with landlocked 
salmon. So that argument will not hold water. Star Pond 
in Springfield, not far from Sunapee Lake, was stocked 
repeatedly by Mr. Powers. It was close to his home in 
Grantham, and he enjoyed fishing its cold, deep waters. 
His plants were successful, and many large salmon have 
been taken there, but I am sorry to record that many 
more have responded with their life's blood to the 
poacher's spear. There is a Pleasant Pond in Springfield, 
not far from Star Pond, and this Pleasant Pond was 
stocked by Mr. Powers with black bass. Possibly this ex- 
plains the milk in the cocoanut. If not to Col. Webber's 
satisfaction let me remind him that there is a third Pleas- 
ant Pond in Francestown, and this has been stocked and 
restocked with landlocked salmon until the fishing ought 
to be superb. There is no reason whatever to believe that 
A. H. Powers did anything underhand. Pleasant Pond, 
New London, is remote from his late home and favorite 
haunts. He had no interest in it, and he would never put 
salmon into it without my knowledge — he could not have 
done so without the knowledge of the residents of Scythe- 
ville. The 121bs. ouananiche that we had in the tanks 
is just 4 years and 6 months old, and for the sport of those 
anglers who are planning to fish these waters on May 1, 
1895, while they are still virgin, I hope he has many 
coetaneans of equal size and pluck." 
This simply confirms what I personally learned about 
the planting of Pleasant Pond when I was on the spot 
last summer, but it is very pleasant to have it confirmed 
in view of the fact that I have quoted the growth of the 
fish in the pond to those who contemplate stocking other 
waters, and in various other channels than Forest and 
Stream. 
October Black Bass Fishing. 
In this column I have said that if I could have my way 
I would close the black bass fishing in this State Oct. 1, 
although perhaps I did not mean on that particular date. 
My idea is to stop the fishing for bass after they have 
gathered together in winter quarters on the deep, rocky 
shoals. The fish at such times are not game as they are 
in summer, and I believe that those which are caught find 
their way to market, as a rule. 
Since I made the memorandum in my note book on this 
subject two large catches of black bass have come to my 
notice, made in the Bame lake, and both by professional 
fishermen, who know the shoals and winter quarters 
of the bass far better than any amateur, in fact, few 
anglers know anything about where to fish for black 
bass after they are in their winter quarters, for they 
have no occasion to seek them. The two strings of bass 
that I reler to consisted of very large fish; one of them, I 
think, far larger than any like number taken during the 
summer. The lake is one in which black bass fishing has 
fallen off to the point that restocking has been com- 
menced; and yet, if these two strings of bass had been 
left to spawn next spring the lake would have received 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
more benefit than it will receive from all the bass that 
have been planted within the past two years. Black bass 
are not a fish to be propagated artificially, and the supply 
must be kept up in any water by caring for the adult 
breeding fish. Over and over I have called attention to 
the fact that the present law in this State does not protect 
the black bass during their breeding season, and if the fall 
fishing goes on the candle will be burned at both ends. I 
do not wish to pose as an alarmist, but I firmly believe 
that to keep up the stock of our so-called game fishes, in 
some waters, if not in all, we must enact a law limiting 
the number or weight of fish to be legally taken in a day 
or a season. 
A case of over-fishing was reported to me recently. A 
| 'city sportsman" caught 601bs. of trout from Terrill Pond 
in the Adirondacks one forenoon, and at that time there 
were loOlbs. of trout in camp with only three people to 
eat them. When the man started out fishing in the after- 
noon the camp keeper (and I know he has not hesitated 
to take trout from their spawning beds for his own table), 
was so alarmed at the waste that he forbade fishing in the 
pond, and this resulted in a row which ended in rifle 
shooting on the part of the camp keeper and flight 
through the woods on the part of his guest. If camp 
keepers who have persistently violated the law in regard 
to taking trout out of season, and killed deer contrary to 
law as well, are alarmed at the number of trout taken 
legally by a so-called sportsman, is it not time for the 
sportsmen themselves to give some thought to the subject 
of over-fishing our waters by those who do it in a legal man- 
ner in the open season? Many complaints of this nature 
have come to me of late, and if the whole truth could be 
known it would occasion great surprise. 
Owls in the Fishing Business. 
Did any one know that owls did a right smart business 
in the fishing line when they had the chance? The Fish 
Commissioners of New Hampshire have discovered that 
owls have been stripping the spawning saibling off the 
beds in their State. Naturally the fishing is all done at 
night, and the water on the mid-lake spawning grounds 
being very low has given the owls the chance which they 
have improved. Quite likely the saibling expose some 
portion of their bodies above the water, and the noise 
they make in the water attracts the night birds, and 
every morning the spawn takers have found evidence of 
their visits. A. N. Cheney. 
ROMANCE OF TWO PONDS. 
I. Potter Pond. 
We love nature and believe in the true Apostolic suc- 
cession. Hence we were in the Adirondacks for vacation 
and when the Dominie said "I go a-fishing," the Scribe 
and the Professor each responded, "I also go with thee." 
We went. It was a magnificent day, but warm. Baskets 
were packed, fishing tackle looked over, the boat loaded 
hastily and we were off. A four-mile row down the lakes, 
and nearly opposite Ned Buntline's "Eagle Nest" the boat 
was drawn ashore and turned bottom up in the forest 
shade. Then a tramp of three miles, much of the way by 
a trail marked only by blazed trees, up hill, down hill, 
side hill, under hill, across swamp and through thicket, 
brought us "weary and heavy laden" to the pond. A 
hasty lunch, a little rest, and we put to sea with craft lit- 
tle better for our purpose than the caravels of Columbus 
were for his voyage of discovery. We also were dis- 
coverers, We discovered much that we did not antici- 
pate. The Dominie took one raft, the Professor and 
Scribe the other. Neither craft had sufficient buoyancy 
to keep the feet of the crew above water, and as for navi- 
gability, the floating debris of a sawmill pond would 
move about as quickly and as well. But we pushed off 
with the slow, majestic movement which belongs to gTeat 
bodies and great occasions, and which is the only digni- 
fied way of poling across a muddy pond. Arrived in 
water too deep for poling we "cast anchors out of the 
stern and wished for" — a bite. Attention was divided 
between fishing and keeping right side up. Catching was 
not yet. The trout were in springholes and we had not 
yet discovered them. The storm-swept Adriatic of Paul's 
memorable voyage was not more thoroughly sounded by 
the imperilled sailors than was that mountain pond by us. 
Suddenly the line, rod and nerves of the fishermen seem 
one. A strike! And as the rod bends despite the spinning 
reel, we realize that these are no ordinary trout we have 
come after. Yonder the Dominie is playing one almost 
large enough to tow the raft. A cheer goes up as he is 
landed. But thunder! Yes, just that, but far away. 
Shut in by forest and hills on every side, we scarcely heed 
the gathering advance of clouds till the batteries of 
heaven and the fountains of the deep seem at once con- 
centrated upon us in the fury of the storm. The black- 
ness was like the "All ashore that's going ashore," just 
before the boat starts for Albany, and night set in much 
quicker. We were ashore; we started a fire; it would 
not burn. We tried again; it went out; again and 
again, but everything was wet. The Scribe made 
shavings with a big knife; they were wet 
before he could put them on the fire and we could 
not get blaze enough to dry them. For two long hours 
in the darkness we fought the elements — the rain, to keep 
it from going in — the fire, to keep it from going out. 
Finally when despair was settling like gloomy night upon 
the camp, the Dominie's hat fanned the dampness out 
and the fire in. Exultant we heaped on fuel, and as the 
flames rose higher and higher our spirits rose with them. 
The victory was ours; so were the fish. We feasted, then 
lay down to dreams, principally waking. The extempor- 
ized bark roof and the roaring fire kept us dry — too dry, 
thought the Professor, who was next the fire. He and 
the Dominie changed places. A deer was heard walking 
on the hillside, and the early mists of morning dampened 
the locks but not the ardor of the watchful Dominie, who 
leveled his rifle at a log, but saw his mistake in time to 
save the cartridge. Hot coffee, more fishing, then break- 
fast and we start homeward; not by the trail, but the 
outlet stream. We fancy roaming the woods without a 
guide. We are bound to discover something; we do it. 
We find how easy it is to get lost. How did we do it? 
By leaving the stream and following a supposed shorter 
route. Then it rained. Shades of Noah and all his 
family (including the animals)! Forty days such raining 
might even drown the deluge. The sun is completely ob- 
scured. We can no more tell our direction than the 
Adriatic seamen, when during fourteen days neither sun 
nor stars appeared. 
[Nov. 24, 1894. 
The Scribe has a compass. Cui bono? He cannot read 
it. Long disuse has ..made him forget which end of the 
needle points N. The laugh is on him — the seriousness 
on all. Miles away are shelter, comfort, loved ones — but 
where? Every step in the bushes is almost like wading, 
and figuratively we are "out of sight of land." 
Wearily (those great trout have grown heavier since 
placed in the baskets) we turn to retrace our steps if pos- 
sible. Kind Providence interposes, and for one brief 
moment the clouds part sufficiently to show where the 
sun is. This gives direction, and within a mile the boat 
— dry clothing and tea at 6:30. Next morning the entire 
party enjoyed a trout breakfast. 
II. Sargent Pond. 
The Dominie and Scribe had been there, and like the 
spies in Canaan, "brought back of the fruits of the land." 
Fish and venison borne over the mountains seemed heavier 
than grapes of Eshcol. The ladies at the cottage said "It is 
not fair for you gentlemen to have all the sport. We are 
abundantly able to go up and possess the land." They 
set off in high hopes— five of them (five ladies — the hopes 
were five thousand) accompanied by the Scribe, the Dom- 
inie, his son and a guide. To most of the ladies it was 
their first experience in camping out. Arrived, some 
catch fish for supper, some arrange the camp, others 
roam the woods in that joyous sense of freedom found 
only in glad and reverent communion with nature. The 
evening quickly passed in campfire chat, song and story. 
The latter are appropriate to the woods and soothe the fem- 
inine nerves like a Thomas concert on the garden wall. 
Their Btartled imagination can almost hear a bear in 
every forest sound or catch the gleam of a panther's eye- 
ball in the reflected stars. A midnight tread arouses the 
would-be sleepers. 'Tis only the Domininie tramping 
around the fire, a frying pan in one hand, a fishbone in 
the other. He did not have enough supper and is vainly 
trying to make up the deficiency. Morning brings a glor- 
ious day, good spirits, water lilies, watching for deer. 
The ladies are taken to the island as the best "watch 
point." The Dominie and guide stay with them to do the 
watching and the shooting. The sun is watching too. 
The ladies try to escape his scrutiny by seeking shade. 
Alas for the coveted opportunity to see a deer! Just then 
one comes to water and boldly plunges in. The Dominie 
sees him — the guide ditto. Ladies are forgotten in the 
desire to secure that buck. "Hand me the rifle." But at 
the guide's first step in obedience the buck sees him and 
turning swims rapid y for the shore. No time is to be 
lost. "Throw in a shell and kill him yourself." Quick 
as thought the rifle is leveled, the range is short, the aim 
is true, the trigger finger pulls, and the deer swims 
on. The rifle is new, has a combination set and hair trig- 
ger — the guide does not understand it and with all his 
pulling there is no report. The buck mounts the bank 
and disappears withnot a single gun in honor of his es- 
cape. Then the ladies are called and politely shown 
where the deer was 1 ! ! The sun poured 
down his rays mercilessly, but that was nothing compared 
with what was poured upon that Dominie and guide. Yet 
the ladies all declared they had had a good time and 
wanted to go again. 
Hcec meminisse juvabit! J. C. Allen. 
Texas Tarpon and Bass. 
Mr. Frank Hatfield, of the Seaside Hotel, Ropesville, 
Texas, sends us some further particulars of the large tar- 
pon scores noted in our last issue. He writes: "Mr. H. 
M. Wallice had forty-eight strikes by tarpon and broke 
the record by landing five tarpon. Mr. W. M. Louis had 
twenty strikes, landed three. Mr. F. K. Bull had thirty 
strikes, landed four. This made twelve tarpon for three 
men in one day, with rod and reel. It breaks the record for 
this season. Mrs. F. K. Bull caught and landed fifteen 
trout and redfiah in one day; and Mrs. H. M. Wallice 
lauded sixteen redfish and trout, a very good average for 
our fisher wo men." 
San Antonio, Texas, Nov. 12. — A jolly party returned 
this morning from Rockport and Aransass Pass where 
they have spent a few days the past week tarpon fishing 
and doing a little Bhooting. The party consists of Messrs. 
James Barker and wife, R. W. Maguire, E. O. McCormick, 
N. W. Thomas, E. P. Rodgers and W. Q. Crush. Mr. 
McCormick led by catching the largest one, weighing 
2341bs. Mr. Maguire was not slow to follow with one 
tipping the beam at 1531bs. Next in line was Mr. Thomas 
with one pulling down the beam at 125Jlbs. Mrs. Barker 
brought in the same afternoon 48 very fine redfish, some 
as large as 121bs. Mr. Crush in three hours killed 160 
snipe, and in two days 251 ducks. Now where is your 
Florida boomer? What has he got to say to this and to the 
last week's catch made on these same fishing grounds by 
the three gentlemen of Racine, 12 tarpon in one day? If 
there are any more doubters, let them come to San An- 
tonio and we will take them to the bay and convince 
them that the big herring are at home every day. 
L. F. M. 
San Antonio, Tex., Nov. 16.— Messrs. Hardie, Allan 
Irvin, E. J. Coward, W. W. Wooldridge P. Wooldridge, 
A. W. Meek and E. Sengg, of San Antonio, made a 
pleasant party on the yacht Connie, off Aransas Pass. 
The party caught over 3U01bs. of fish in one day. Mr. 
James Mamer landed a fine 851bs. tarpon off Rockport. 
Mr. Cobolinn, the manager of the Union Fish House, at 
Rockport, has secured some fine and rare specimens. 
Among the lot was a sturgeon 8ft. long — an entire 
stranger in Southern waters. 
Great Bass. 
My last letter contained an account of a large catch of 
big bass at the hands of Messrs. Micheijohn, Diynowity 
Bros, and Dr. Hines. One of the party told some one else 
that the big fish were caught at the head of the San 
Antonio River, another pictured a beautiful scene at the 
mouth of the Medina, another sent a batch of ambitious 
fishermen on the Salado, and so the stories radiated in all 
directions save the right one. Murder will out. So will 
black bass catches. In an unguarded moment Jim Dig- 
nowity went fiahing. He took Galley Newton, who has 
just been elected to the judgeship of one of our district 
courts. Jim made the judiciary swear by the holy snood 
never to divulge the finny secret, and he took him to 
Elmendorf Lake, within fifteen minutes' ride of the center 
of San Antonio on a street car. There they caught 3 and 
