348 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 4, 1895. 
est manufacturers of silk fishing lines in the country, had 
gone into the hands of a receiver in consequence of the 
failure of the Hartford National Bank. As wrong im- 
pressions might go out from that, the facts should be 
stated. The Natchaug people finding themselves, through 
their dealings and relations with the bank, somewhat af- 
fected by the cashier's notions of meum and tuum, had 
the receiver appointed to give themselves a chance to stop 
a minute and look around to see where they were 
at, while the investigation went on to learn. There 
was no business failure at all, and meantime the mills 
will not stop a day, nor will any order be delayed. Mr. 
H. L. Stanton, Western manager of the company, tells 
me that the Natchaug Silk Co. will continue to manufac- 
ture nice silk dresses for the girls and nice silk fishing 
lines for the boys, as it always has. E, Hough. 
909 Skcubitt Building, Chicago. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
Walton's Memorial. 
In one of my last notes I mentioned the unveiling of a 
memorial window to Walton in St. Dunstan's .Church, in 
London. The last is3ue of Fishing Gazette contains a 
half-tone reproduction of the window, and a beautiful 
memorial it is. The window was presented by the 
Master of the Ironmonger's Company, of which Walton 
was a member. 
Mr. R. B. Marston, through whom the funds were 
raised to procure the memorial, described the window in 
his address as follows: "The center light of this window 
contains a full-length figure of Walton, being a copy of 
the charming statue by Miss Mary Grant in Winchester 
Cathedral, and a smaller panel shows him seated at h's 
library table surrounded by books and the trophies tf 
his art. The side lights enshrine portraits of men whose 
lives he wrote. At the top of the left hand light is Sir 
Henry Walton, with his coat of arms and a view of Etcn 
College, of which he was for some time Provost. Lower 
down is Bishop Ken and an elevation of Wells Cathedral. 1 
In the lowest panel is George Herbert, the poet, and his 
church at Bemerton is depicted on a shield. At the top 
of the right hand light is Dr. Donne, Dean of old St. 
Paul's, of which the west front is shown; beneath him is 
the 'judicious' Hooker and his delightful little church 
at Barham near Canterbury. The third panel depicts 
Bishop Sanderson and his cathedral at Lincoln. 
"Angels in the tracery hold scrolls of the virtues. In the 
two side quatrefoils are blazoned the arms of St. Dunstan 
and the Ironmongers' Company. The center quatrefoil 
contains the intertwined monograms of Izaak Walton and 
Charles Colton." Mr. Marston's address might be quoted 
in its entirety with pleasure and profit, and I hope the 
editor of Forest and Stream will in the near future give 
the readers of this journal the pleasure of looking upon a 
facsimile of the half-tone of the window, but I shall 
quote but one more paragraph from the address. He says: 
"I was fortunate enough to secure only last week a copy 
of the first edition of Walton's 'Life of Mr. Richard 
Hooker,' the author of the 'Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity,' 
published in 1665, I say fortunate, because this particular 
copy had been presented by Walton himself to Doctor 
Warmstrey, Dean of Worster; and what makes it more 
interesting is that the printed list of errata has been seen 
through by Walton in ink, and the whole of the errors 
have been most carefully corrected in ink by Walton 
himself. 
' 'Last Sunday evening I was showing my wife Walton's 
own handwriting in this little book, now 230 years old. 
We carefully compared the handwriting with divers bits 
of Walton's writing which have been facsimilied by 
editors of his works; there could be no doubt about its 
genuineness, and when, in answer to a natural inquiry as 
to what I had givpn for this little shabby volume, I men- 
tioned the price, my wife said: 'Well, I always thought 
you had Walton on the brain, but now I know it.' " If 
Westwood were only alive now to write a sonnet concern- 
ing Mr. Marston's recent purchase! 
Lake Trout in Brook Trout Waters. 
All sorts of items about fish and fishing cut from the 
newspapers are sent to me at one time or another by 
f rinds, who know that I am interested in these subjects. 
I am grateful to the friends who thus have me in mind, 
and once in a while I get a clipping that is of interest. 
I have such an one now. It came by mail, pasted to a 
half sheet of paper, with nothing to indicate who sent 
it. The type looks as though it were cut from the Troy 
Times, and this must be my acknowledgment to my un- 
known friend for his courtesy. 
The clipping states that "a United States fish car is ex- 
pected at Manchester, Vermont, with a quantity of 
brook and lake trout, which will be distributed under 
the direction of a veteran fisherman. The most of the 
lake trout are to be placed in what is known as Bowen 
Pond. The brook trout will be put in the brooks around 
Manchester," etc., etc. I hope this information is no more 
accurate than that contained in another slip now on 
my desk, which says: "The salmo fortinalis, whether 
American or German, is concededly the practical joker of 
the day." As there is no German salmo fortinalis, per- 
haps there is no truth in the lake trout part of the first 
item ; but, if it should prove to be true that Bowen Pond 
is to be stocked with lake trout, it may not be unchari- 
table to hope that the veteran fisherman will not reach the 
pond with his fish. 
I have in my notes frequently mentioned Bowen Pond 
as being very like Wilmurt Lake in New York, which 
contains no other fish life than brook trout, and in this 
respect these two ponds stood out separate from other 
trout water. Both are situated high on the tops of moun- 
tains and both furnished the finest flavored trout that it 
was possible to imagine, until in the case of Bowen Pond 
thoughtless fishermen who visited it in winter turned a lot 
of bait fish into the water. My first visit to Bowen Pond, or 
"Bourn Pond," as it is locally called, was made after the 
advent of the minnows, and the flavor of the trout had 
deteriorated inconsequence, my companion told me. So 
far as I examined the pond it was a shallow mountain 
pond, an ideal water for brook trout, but as unfit for lake 
trout as the basin of a city fountain, and to plant lake 
trout in it would be simply to waste the fish. 
Tournament Casting:. 
During the past few months Mr. John Enrigbt, maker 
of the famous Castle Connell rods in Ireland, has been 
making long casts with the fly in public and beating his 
own record until he is styled the "amateur champion fly- 
caster of the world." What the records may be is not 
pertinent to this note, but other fly-fishermen in Great 
Britain have objected to Mr. Enright's title as "champion 
of the world,'' and a number of letters have been written 
in the English papers about it. One writer says: "Tour- 
nament casting generally and the records of so-called 
champions have very little to do with angling. The whole 
business smacks somewhat of self-advertisement, and the 
performances are in no sense representative." Another 
correspondent claims that Mr. John James Hardy, and 
not Mr. Enrigbt, should be styled the champion, and this 
causes Mr. Hardy to write a letter to the Field upon the 
subject. Mr. Hardy is a member of the firm of Hardy 
Brothers, of Aluwick, rod and tackle makers, as well 
known in England as Mr. Enright in Ireland, and it must 
be assumed that he writes understandingly when he 
makes this strange admission as a reason for not meeting 
Mr. Enright in a contest, each to use rods of their own 
manufacture: "I do not see that there is anything to 
decide; besides which, my business arrangements utterly 
preclude any possibility of finding time for such prepara- 
tions as would be necessary. I may explain that special 
rods of enormous girths have to be made and tested to 
find their proper rig oi line, etc. It must be apparent that 
no fishing rods will carry or lift these long lines. This 
will explain the difficulty of J. G. D. B., who no doubt 
useB an ordinary fishing rod. I may add that the line 
must not be allowed to sink, as in ordinary fishing, or it 
cannot be recovered." 
Remember that this is the evidence of a rod maker and 
one for whom the title of champion is claimed, for in 
certain classes in a regular tournament he did beat Mr. 
Enright. It will be noticed that Mr. Hardy makes a 
distinction between a fishing rod and a tournament cast- 
ing rod. Commenting upon this frank admission of Mr. 
Hardy's the Fishing Gazette, London, says: "The letter 
quoted will make it clear to others, as it does to us, how 
some, at any rate, of the 'champion' casts of the last year 
or two have been made. * * * Of course, thtn, the 
ordinary 'regular' rod has no chance at all. * * * It 
is clear that these special thick casting rods are not fish- 
ing rods at all, and no record made with them ought to 
count or be compared in any way with such a cast as that 
made by Major Traherne, made with an ordinary salmon 
rod, one of bis own, which he used constantly in actual 
fishing." Several weeks have elapsed since Mr. Hardy's 
letter was printed, and I have seen no contradiction of 
this admission concerning the specially prepared rods for 
tournament casting. How this matter may be or may 
have been in this country I cannot say, only I do know 
that not all the rods used at the National Rod and Reel 
Tournaments have been specially made for the purpose, 
if, in fact, any were. I have handled rods used at these 
tournaments and they were, so far as I observed, ordinary 
fishing rods. I presume that some of our rod makers in 
this country will be glad to throw light upon the subject 
so far as their own rods are concerned. 
Lake Trout in Lake Champlain. 
Early in April a gentleman known to readers of Forest 
and Stbeam by his pen name of "Dexter" wrote me from 
Plattsburgh, N. Y.; 
"I saw a fifteen-pound salmon trout at Burlington, 
Vermont, Tuesday, that was caught in Shelburne Bay, 
Lake Champlain, by smelt fishers. Wonder if this is one 
of the lot put. in the lake in '85 or '86. Some claim that 
the initials A. N. C. were discernable on the back of the 
fish." I never had anything to do with planting lake 
trout in Lake Champlain, but plants have been made, 
and it is gratifying to know of this evidence of the suc- 
cess of the plantings. A. N. Cheney. 
WHY DO HOOKED FISH LEAP? 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In your issue of April 20 Dr. M. G. Ellzey writes: 
"When a hooked fish leaps into the air, it is caused by 
fright, as he thinks, and nothing more." 
Minnows and small fry when pursued by a bass or other 
enemy no doubt leave the water from fright, from an 
urgent call to get a hustle on and escape their pursuer, 
but toss a stick or stone near a bass and he darts away to 
hide somewhere in his own element, without waiting to 
leap into the air to shosv that he is scared. 
Why don't a catfish or a sucker leap into the air when 
hooked? Because, as I believe, they haven't got sense 
enough to know that it is easier to get rid of a hook in the 
air than in the water, and a bass has; he goes into the air, 
as I verily believe, to take advantage of a possibly slack 
line and shake out the hook, and not from fright. 
At the wind-up he says: "I do not believe anybody 
ever saw a fish leap into the air with its mouth wide open 
and shake its head savagely to shake out the hook. Men 
believe they have so seen, but I suspect they are mis- 
taken." I "suspect" from this that Brother Ellzey has 
caught vastly more eels and catfish than he has bass, else 
he would not make that kind of a statement. 
A big maskinon je that I took some years ago in Bower's 
Lake, one of the intermediate chain, in Antrim county, 
Mich., went straight up in the air at least twice his 
length — he was 4ft. 4.i'm. long — and shook himself vio- 
lently, but whether "savagely" or not I didn't have time 
to inquire, and the reason he didn't shake out the hook 
was, as I suspect, because it was buried out o' sight four 
or five inches down his throat. And his mouth was wide 
open too, so wide that I am not sure to this day that he 
did not die of lockjaw. 
At another time on Central Lake of the same chain I 
hooked a maskinon je of perhaps 251bs., and after a fierce 
fight of a few minutes he too went into the air in the 
same fashion as the other, and shook himself vehemently, 
if not savagely, and threw the hook and frog from his 
mouth fully 15ft. away. I may aver without spraining 
my conscience, that his mouth, too, was wide open while 
the shaking was going on. 
On both occasions I saw the performance distinctly, 
and I was perfectly cool, without a symptom of "buck 
ague" or any other disturbance of the nerves, 
When my struck fish leaves the water, I am usually 
looking right in that direction, and when I see him 
shake out the hook, with open mouth, I can't well be 1 
"mistaken." 
In about forty-eight years' experience as an angler for 
bass and other game fish, I have doubtless lost fifty fish, , 
likely more, by their leaping into the air and shaking out 
the hook, and I believe many a silver-haired, observant 
old angler might vouch for a similar experience. I 
believe that a bass, maskinonje, trout, grayling, or any 
other fish that leaps into the air when hooked, does so 
with the deliberate purpose of trying to get rid of the 
hook, and I have noticed that the fish that casts the hook , 
has always the mouth open. 
I might ask, with due deference to closer observers, 
how is a fish going to shake out a hook with his mouth 
tightly closed over the line? How else could he rid him- 
self of it, shake it out, only with open mouth? 
And it matters little whether he shake himself savagely 
or in good humor, like a dog when he comes out of the 
water — just so he shakes. 
These are only my individual notions and views, based 
on many years' experience in fishing for baas, maski- 
nonje, trout and grayling — all leaping fish — and although 
they are "creatures of a low grade of intelligence," I 
believe that any brother of the rod who "pays close 
attention to his fishin'," and uses his eyes, will find that 
they are a good deal smarter and fuller of resources than 
they are given credit for, notably the small-mouthed 
bass. (I am an old-time friend of Mister Bass with the 
small mouth; he's the smartest and shiftiest of them all 
when fighting for bis life at the end of a line.) 
Brother Ellzey closes with, "In angling, when the fish J 
leaps, I let him leap," which is about the most sensible 
way to do, for he couldn't prevent it if he'd try. 
To quote him, "Before I finish, allow me just to touch ! 
upon one other matter," that is the lowering of the rod j 
tip when a fish leaps into the air. 
My notion about it is, don't lower it. I never lower the 
tip when a hooked fish jumps out of the water, because I 
don't believe there is any reason or good fishing sense 
in it, 
I try to keep a taut line under all circumstances, but| 
sometimes a fish will go out of the water unawares, "on- 
beknownst to ye," as it were, and that is just the time one 
is going to lose his fish if he loses him at all, for the line 
is loose and slack for a moment or two, and it gives him 
the very opportunity he is looking for — to shake the hook 
out while there is no pull on the line to keep the hook ' 
firm in its hold. 
I take little stock in the notion that a fish tears out the 
hook by throwing himself across the line, a thing that 
don't happen, anyhow, once in a hundred times. If he 
does hit the line with his tail, it seems to me the jerk 
would be largely offset by the springy rod tip, and the 
pull on the hook exceedingly small, besides the slippery 
"after end" of a fish would hardly cut much of a figure 
on a wet line in the matter of tearing out the hook. My 
humble opinion is it is best to keep a taut line at all times, 
if you can, and you will lose fewer fish, whether they are 
in the water or out of it. Kingfisher. 
P. S. — I don't like to be turned upside down. In my 
screed in Forest and Stream of April 18 about "buck 
fever," count down nine lines from the top and at the 
right hand end of the line read "fever" instead of 
"ague;" and right under it, line 10, read "ague" for 
"fever." K. 
ClSCIJiNATI, 0. . 
NIGHT FISHING. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
My experience differs from that of Dr. Ellzey, so I 
will relate it. Some years ago I was at Grand Lake, < 
lying just west of Long's Peak, on the western scope of 
the main range. Trout were there in great abundance, 
but not one could we take all day. 
A hunter and trapper, locally known as "Judge Wes* 
cott," told me that if I would go out with him during the 
night we could get all the fish we wanted. The invitation 
was accepted. I went to his cabin and waited until 1 
o'clock, when we got into a boat and rowed across the 
lake and anchored in water 4 to 5ft. deep. The Judge 
had four very light pine rods with about 8 ft. of common 
linen line and a bare hook at the end. He put a very! 
small piece of sucker on each hook for bait and cast them 
all out. He was at one end of the- boat, which was a big. 
flat board concern, and I was at the other end with a like 
outfit furnished by the Judge. We let the baited hooks! 
sink nearly to the bottom and waited for some minuteel 
without any response, he explaining that it was a little 
teo early. We held the rods under our legs and across 
the edge of the boat; there was some starlight, but dark, 
not, however, pitch dark. Pretty soon I felt a peculiar 
trembling of one of my rods, about which I could not be) 
mistaken. Without any playing or fuss I lifted into the; 
boat a nice trout, probably weighing half a pound. Foi 
an hour we were kept busy, and took 158 trout. They 
stopped biting as suddenly as they commenced. TheJ 
Judge commenced pulling up the stone by the rope which! 
constituted our anchor, saying that it was useless to waitj 
I, however, kept at it some time longer,]throwkig outant'l 
trying to get another bite, but failed. I remember dia J 
tinctly his telling me that the time of biting was aboul 
an hour later each night. 
At the time I thought but little about it, except that i1 
was one of the unusual things that so often come to thf 
fisherman; but the present discussion in your paper brings 
it back to my mind, and so I give it for what it is worth. 
H. M. Orahood. 
Denver, Colo. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I read with some interest the article by M. G. Ellzey 
M. D., in Forest and Stream of April -M, and I have been; 
thinking since that he is a little "off" about some thingt' 
he touches on, which moves me, as old Ben Renshaw used 
to say, "to make a few amphibious remarks thereunto ap- 
pertaining." 
I have little to say about fish biting at night, for I have 
never done much night fishing, except for "cats." I havej 
taken only three or four bass after dark on bait, and! 
"quite a few" pike perch. I don't take any stock in night, 
fi jhing for game fish, for I always want to see my line, so 
I may know what 1 am doing; besides, it always seemed 
I could get about all the fishing I wanted in the daytime 
When I was a youngster I used to think a good deal a 
