FOREST AND STREAM, 
[July 18, 1896. 
delicately tinted and delightfully spotted fontinalis, and 
drink in the loveliness of the scenerv and bathe in the 
golden glow that crimsoned the whispering forest and 
brightened the tinkling ripples. 
Passing one of the islands where the Indians have chis- 
eled some rude figures on its siea front in their peculiar 
lines, I concluded to make a copy of them as samples of 
their artistic skill. These are about as attractive to them 
as would be the finest and most graceful figures from the 
brush of a Eaphael or a Tintoret. 
We caught two trout apiece as per agreement, and then 
laid our rods aside, as we dreaded any wicked waste of the 
golden fins. 
What a ptire delight it was to gently glide over the un- 
dulating ripples in such golden weather. What beautiful 
sky and landscapes greet the vision everywhere. Beyond 
we see the aspiring pinnacles and green waves of forest 
lands, where the sea runs out to the belted horizon, and 
INDIAN ROCK PI0TDEE8. 
where the blueness of the water met the blueness of the 
skies, radiant with all the marvels of its countless hues. 
The gentle south wind, with healing on its wings, and the 
perfume of tropic flowers softly stirred the murmuring 
water, filling the air with the ceaseless melody of its 
voices. The luster of a declining sun beamed upon it; 
the white foam curled and broke on the gray, curving 
rocks and crimson wooded inlets of the shore; innumer- 
able birds with snow white plumage floated or flew above 
its surface, thus reviving memory and giving us fresh ap- 
preciation of the passage from Bayard Taylor's "Hymn 
to the Air:" 
"What is the scenery of earth to thinef 
Here all ig fixed In everlasting shapes, 
But where the realms of gorgeous cloudland shine 
There stretch ater thy sun illumined capes, 
Embaying reaches of the amber seas 
Of sunset, on whose tranquil bosom lie 
The happy islands of the upper sky, 
The halcyon shores of thine Atlantides." 
Islands, bays and inlets, headlands, cliffs and slopes, 
and anon some wandering brook with its tuneful melody 
from the moimtain range, came in pleasing review. 
Wherever we drifted, for we hardly went faster, the 
tranquil beauty of the lake, the impressive grandeur of 
shoreland and the frescoed beauty of the skies charmed 
us so completely that we gave ourselves entirely up to the 
sweetness of unmeasured life. 
Having reveled hours in this delightful mood, we at 
last break the charm and send the little craft speeding 
o'er the ruflied surface on the return to camp. 
Ales. Starbuck. 
[to be continued.] 
TROLLING FOR A STEELHEAD. 
The preacher was expected at our house a few days 
since and there was no meat around except on foot, and 
I didn't want to kill that, for my yellow-legged pullets 
were all laying and this year's chicks weren't big enough 
unless I sacrificed two, and I didn't think I could stand 
that, so fish would have to take the place of flesh if I 
could make it. There are no woodchucks in this coun- 
try. 
Just after daybreak is pretty early at this time of year 
m this section, but I was out and moving about that 
time and on as pretty a morning as could be made to 
order. The air was moving also, gently, rippling the 
water just about enough for good trolling. There was 
the most delightful concert going on by the cock robins in 
a hundred trees you ever listened to, and old cock-a-doo- 
dle-do, from his perch in the hen-house, was showing 
what he could do in the way of noise. 
I had been catching salmon trout from time to time 
with rod and light spinner, but this morning I took a 
trolUng line and light spoon to vary the entertainment a 
little, and in a little time I had the boat afloat and 100ft. 
of hne trailing astern in water eenamost as clear as the 
air around me and through which the pebbly or weedy 
bottom showed deceptively, 
Down along shore I pulled for a few hundred yards in 
8 or 10ft. of water without a strike; then I swung out 
and around back again in deeper water up past the land- 
ing 300yds. in much deeper water, and was thinking that 
this wasn't the salmon trout's morning, when the line 
straightened out as taut as a bowstring, and I could 
almost hear it twang, for it was pretty nearly all out of 
water as the fish rose to the surface. I was considerably 
surprised, for no larger fish than a 2-pounder had come to 
hand since last winter, but here was something huckle- 
berries above any such persimmons, and realizing that I 
had business cut out, I rapidly took the oars and locks in- 
board and began to ham in on the line. Don't it feel 
good, though, to feel a lively log on the other end 
of a line stretched to almost its utmost! At first 
I didn't know whether the boat went or the fish 
came, but I got in line slowly until in the won- 
derfully clear water I caught the silvery gleam of a 
whopper of a salmon, and then I felt pretty well, thank 
you. When he had been drawn as close to the boat as he 
thought was safe, he refused for quite a while to make 
any closer acquaintance, but bored for the bottom or took 
wide sweeps, taking line as he pleased or as I thought 
judicious; for, as I said, the spoon was light, and I wanted 
that fish, for the preacher was comin'. 
Back and forth, time and again, from bow to stem of 
the little 10ft, boat I went to free the line as the gamy 
fellow swept under the boat, and time and agaiaa as I had 
him almost up to the boat and thought he was played out 
would he make a terrific rush and the line cut my fingers 
again. I had no gaff nor anything to knock him on the 
head with, so I had to play him completely out that I 
might lift him in out of the wet by the gills; and when 
finally I had done this after a good deal of ijretty fine 
work, and he lay in the boat gasping after a thump on 
the head with an oar handle, I thought he was about as 
beautiful Sl^in. of spotted-backed, silvery-sided steelhead 
as ever feel into anybody's hands; and when I took him 
to the house, ere yet the coffee pot steamed upon the fire, 
and saw him run the scale points r down to the 121b. notch, 
I remarked: 
"Now let the preacher come." O. O. S. 
State ov Washington, June, 18B6. 
BOSTON FISHERMEN. 
Boston, July 13.— The Bemet and Train party is at 
home after a very good fishing trip to Mooselucmaguntic 
Lake. Fly-fishing has been good in the vicinity of the 
Birches. The Williams party had good fly-fishing there 
from the 10th to the 31st of June, taking one 4lb. trout 
and one 3^1 bs. on the fly. The Parmachenee-belle seemed 
to be the favorite. 
The Wilson party, of Lewiston, had excellent fishing 
off Ship Island, in Molechunkamunk Lake, late in June. 
This is an island that only shows at low water, though 
before the flowage — 31ft. at high water — it was out of 
the water altogether. The trout evidently gather there 
to feed. The Wilson party took one trout of 4|^lb8. and a 
great many of from i to lib. The fly-fishing a part 
of the time, especially at the edge of the evening, was 
excellent. 
Mr. John G. Wright has an excellent report from the 
Commodore Club at Moose Lake, in Maine. A landlocked 
salmon was taken there last week some Win, in length. 
It was taken trolling with a red fly or Stanley spinner, 
near the middle of the lake. The taking of such a fish 
would be nothing remarkable in many another lake, but 
Moose Lake has been stocked with salmon only a few 
years, never with any sort of force till three or four years 
ago, and the above salmon is the first result of this stocking 
ever taken. It was an event for the members of the club 
present and the news was wired to the absent ones. The 
fish was handsomely dressed and cooked, with a blue rib- 
bon tied in the gills, labeled that it had cost the club 
$6,000. But all the same the club members are greatly 
pleased to make sure that their efforts are being rewarded. 
There were never any salmon in the lake till put 
there, and the surprise is that the one taken had 
grown so large in so short a time. At the present 
time the club has at its hatcheries, at the lowpr 
part of Tuttle Brook, 30,000 landlocked salmon 
and 50,000 trout, all hatched this year and doing finely. 
The little fellows will be turned out of the pools this fall, 
but are likely to be retained between two dams in the 
brook till they are larger grown. Along the brook sal- 
mon are quite plenty, evidently one, two and three years 
old. These figh do not yet seem quite ready to go down 
into the lake, and the club has never felt certain that 
there were any in the lake tfll the catching of the one 
above mentioned. Moose lake is well stocked with land- 
locked smelt, the natural food of the landlocked salmon, 
and the Commodore Club, made up of some of the first 
business and professional men of Boston and Maine, ex- 
pects soon to own the finest salmon-fishing preserve in 
Maine. The Castle Harmony Club is also located on the 
other side of the lake, and is doing good work at restock- 
ing. This club is also made up of Boston and Maine rep- 
resentative men. 
Mr. James H. Jones, of Faneuil Hall Market, has gone 
to Buckfield, Me., on his vacation and summer fishing 
trip. He will try the brooks in that section, and with his 
father make a trip to the trout brooks in Byron, camping 
out for a couple of days. His father fished those brooks 
as a boy, and will take great pleasure in trying them 
again. 
Mr. Geo. H. Cutting, of Andover, Me., writes us that a 
great many deer are being seen at the present time, even 
more than a year ago. He has been guiding at the 
Rangeleys for some weeks, and thinks that the deer are 
unusually plenty. The warm weather and the flies drive 
them out into the flelds and pastures, as well as down into 
the lakes and ponds. "Partridges," he remarks, "I have 
never seen so plenty, and if nothing happens to them 
there should be excellent shooting this fall." 
Messrs. M. Allen and W. A. Crocker are back from a 
black bass fishing trip to Long Lake, Bridgton, Me. 
They report excellent luck, with about all the bass they 
wanted. A bass weighing S^lbs. was received from them 
as a trophy by their friends at the store of the Carpenter, 
Morton Co. on Thursday. About all who return from the 
Maine bass waters declare that fishing has never been 
better. 
Late reports from the Northeast Branch of the St. Mar- 
guerite say that Walter M. Brackett is having "the great- 
est luck on record," In his first seven days' fishing he 
had taken twenty-nine salmon. Messrs, C, G. Sias, C, H, 
Olmsted and Geo. Talbot have the greatest of praise for 
the salmon fishing at the St. John, at Gaspe, P, Q., from 
which river they have lately returned. They made a 
record of fifty-eight salmon, Mr, Eichard O. Harding has 
been handsomely remembered by Mr. Olmsted. A fine 
salmon came in the other day. 
The Maine Newspaper Press Association is to visit the 
Rangeleys for its annual excursion vhis year. But little 
fishing will be done, however, the party stopping for a 
night at the Birches, at the Mountain View, and at 
Anglers' Retreat. The recent fire at Bemis, on the line of 
the new Rumford Falls & Rangeley Lakes R'y, was not as 
disastrous as at first reported. The log station at Bemis 
was not burned, nor Oapt. Fred's camps. The fire was 
confined to about 400 acres of woodland, and was got 
under control only by almost superhuman efforts by 
everybody. Sportsmen should exercise the greatest cau- 
tion about kindling fires. The only safe place is on a 
sandy or rocky shore next the water, with a pail or bucket 
handy; and even then the fire should be of the smallest 
proportions, and thoroughly extinguished before being 
left. Special. 
Game Laws in Brief. 
Thk Game Laws in Brief, current edition, sold everywhere, has 
new game and fish laws for more than thirty of the States. It covers 
the entire country, is carefully prepared, and gives all that shootere 
and anglers reaulre. See advertis^ent. 
A TROUT ENEMY. 
Lebanon, N, H., July 1.— Editor Forest and Stream: I 
inclose a very crude sketch of a fish taken from a hole in 
a partly dried up brook in this town. The party who 
caught it brought it to me for identification, and although 
fish warden of the town I was unable to give it a name> 
unless it might belong to the eel family and be what is 
called in local parlance a "chub eel." Its color was yel- 
lowish, with spots like those on a frog, with apparently 
no scales, eyes bulged out and well up on top of head, two 
large fanlike fins (one each side) The front upright fin 
on back was slightly pink on upper edge. The head on 
the fish gave the idea of a bullhead. Can you tell me 
through next FOREST and STREAM what It was? 
C. M. Hoffman. 
[There is scarcely a doubt that the sketch represents the 
miller's thumb, blob, muffle-jaw or bullhead of the Middle 
and Northern States. This belongs to the family of scul- 
pins and is known to be one of the worst enemies of trout 
THE miller's thumb. 
and salmon. Wherever fish of the salmon family are 
found this little pest in one or more of its various forms 
may be seen carrying on its work of destroying eggs and 
fry. Its small size allows it to burrow down into the piles 
of gravel and stones forming the salmon nest, and very 
few eggs escape its keen vision and rapacious jaws. 
It has been shown by experiments in Washington that 
a small miller's thumb will devour twenty trout fry in 
about a minute. When it is remembered that the small 
enemy of the salmon family is one of the commonest of 
the fresh-water fishes and occurs in all salmon and trout 
waters as far as heard from, the limit of its capacity for 
mischief will be readily appreciated. 
We learn from Mr. A. R. Fuller that there are at least 
two kinds of miller's thumbs in Meacbam Lake, N. Y., 
where they spawn in June. He says their eggs are 
attached to the under surface of stones in cone-shaped 
masses, and the newly-hatched embryo sculpins are about 
iin. long. 
For additional information on this subject see Forest 
AND Stream of July 31, 1893. Two of the Western forms 
are illustrated in Bulletin U, S. Fish Commission for 1894, 
facing page 803, The fish which we think is represented 
in the sketch above mentioned is shown in fisure 74, 
plate 35, of Dr, Bean's book on "The Fishes of Pennsyl- 
vania;" also in "De Kay's Zoology of New York, Fishes," 
plate 5, figure 14.] 
Round Mountain Lake. 
EasTis, Me., July 1.— Editor Forest and Stream: The 
camps at Round Mountain Lake are lively just now, the 
fishing of the finest. 
The party of gentlemen from New York who are here 
for the fifth year are enjoying the lake fishing. Arriving 
on Wednesday eve just before tea time, tried their luck 
at once and in less tban an hour hooked over sixty, saving 
some fine ones weighing fib. and lib. each, while some 
tipped the scales even heavier. They were much pleased 
with their success and pronounce the lake and its sur- 
roundings the finest in Maine. 
On Friday the party went to Blanchard Pond, on this 
same preserve, and were rewarded by catching some big 
ones with the fly-rods, proving the rule that Dr. Eastman 
insists is the right one: "Flies are the only things to fish 
with." 
Mr. Harding took the largest fish, weighing Silbs. 
The Pitman party is still here and having great sport. 
Even the fact of getting frightened by a bear while un- 
armed and alone does not dampen their ardor in the 
least. 
Mr. J. N, Gaorge, of Boston & Maine R. R., is here for 
a few days, and has made arrangements for a trip here 
with his family for September and part of October. 
The old camp-fire has been started, and that means for 
all summer, "No go out." Guide Moody has begun to 
relate his experiences and any who come do well to rival 
them. 
Parties are coming in now, although the weather is cool 
here. Round Mountain Lake is being favored with many 
of its old patrons and a good share of the new ones. X, 
Princes Bay Weakfish. 
Princes Bay, N. Y., July 13 —In the past few days 
large catches of weakfish have been fliade here in the bay 
with hook and line. Saturday, the 11th, three boats 
brought in ninety six fair-sized fish; that is doing remark- 
ably well for this place, as the menhaden fishermen are 
netting them by the bushel. Sunday morning, the 13th, 
A, F. Mack, of this place, caught thirty-six weakfish with 
a piece of salt pork and a small piece of red flannel at- 
tached. A. L, H. 
Barnegat Bay. 
Newark, N. J. — We caught in Barnegat Bay on July 
11, in three hours' fishing, twenty-five striped bass weigh- 
ing 3, 4 to Slbs. each, trolling with sooon and white 
worms. Capt. Edward Parker, of the Lafayette House. 
Forked River, N. J., is a reliable man to go out with 
There are any number of weakfish caught. 
A. F. Meisselbach & Bro. 
« ^ _ ^. 
Forest and Stream's 
Fishing Postals. 
•'DROP US A LINE" ON A POSTAL CARD. 
Pishing News, Place to Catch Fish, Fish Cau£:lif, 
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