-Jan. 9, 1897.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
29 ^ 
.FURTHER EXPERIENCE WITH RAIN- 
BOW TROUT. 
It ia ten years since when by the tindneea of Col. Mc- 
Donald, of the United States Fish Commission, I had a 
quantity of this fish sent me to stock one of our rivers 
here, the picturesque and bright Oullasaga, which means 
in English sweet or sugar water. By a mistake the fish 
^ere sent wrong, and I was not on hand to receive them, 
so they were dumped into the Tuckaseege, a tributary of 
the Tennessee, They soon spread and stocked the waters, 
getting into the French Broad and the beautiful Swanna- 
noa, near AaheviUe, where the natives soon discovered 
them, calling them salmon. To make up for this mistake 
I had another lot sent of 1,000, of which I got only 100, 
but since then I have had some thousands of eggs which 
1 planted and which seemed to come to maturity without 
any loss, for the pond and the river below soon became 
stocked and gave the visitors here abundant and most ex- 
cellent sport. The fingerlings were lOin. long the next 
year, and the third year one was taken in my pond by a 
young lady 20in. long and weighing 2i\hB. The fiah was 
BO lively when landed that the lady had to sit on it and 
•call for assistance to secure it. 
I soon found these fish crossing with the native trout, 
the fontinalis, and so reported to the Fish Commissioner, 
'but my statement was derided by the scientists on the 
ground that the spawning season did not match with that 
of the fontinalis. But having caught a hybrid, a genuine 
fontinalis in part and having the scales of the iridei. I 
rested for confirmation, which in time came by the dis- 
covery that in this southern latitude the spawning season 
of these later fish was advanced to permit this cross 
breeding. 
I have found that these fish will not stay in the head- 
waters of the streams, but make their way down the 
rivers, how far I have not yet discovered beyond the fact 
that they have got as far as the Tennessee; but there are 
a good many in my waters still, finding them in the deep 
pools among the rock of the rapids. They have been 
taken lately in these places in the lower Cullasaga. 30in. 
long and 7in. in depth, Thoy far surpass the fontinalis 
in fighting qualities, affording work for an expert fisher 
to bring them to the net; often half an hour is required in 
the rough places to tire them out. 
They are, I think, inferior to the fontinalis in eating 
quality, but they are good enough ; their deep-red flesh 
and fatness making them very desirable for the table, as 
well as their good siz?. By catching a few and bringing 
them back to the p"nd, they still keep up the stock in 
spite of exhaustive fishing. 
They have been charged with the crime of eating the 
smaller trout, but as I examine the stomach of every 
fish I take to study their feeding habits, and have never 
found a trace of fish in them, I fully acquit them of this 
charge. Their food consists of the minute animalculas. 
the case worms, of frogs, and the abundant newts. I 
have seen them take a good-sized frog under several times, 
and they evidently eat a good many crawfish. They are 
exceedingly fond of the empJiemera, the so-called May 
flies, which live so short a time and are very numerous 
here, almost covering the water when in full season. It 
is scarcely possible to get one then except with the white- 
miller. At other times I find the green -drake, the Mon- 
treal and the professor the best lures for them. They 
will take earthworms very freely, but the most taking 
bait I have found to be a piece of tin foil wrapped around 
the hook and a little above it. I don't think there is a 
more prolific fish existing, for with hard fishing of many 
visitors here every day in the season, from June to Octo- 
ber, they still abound in the waters. . 
But this reminds me, now I am in the vein for fish 
stories, of an adventure which gave rise to a snake story, 
which, in spite of the risk of my reputation as a truthful 
person, I feel I ought to give as an imique experience 
with snakes as well as a contribution to natural history as 
to the feeding habits of the rattlesnake. 
It was on a summer afternoon when my good wife 
thought she would like a mess of fish, so, as an obedient 
husband, I took my tackle and my little skiff and went 
up the pond in search of a trout or two. It was a charm- 
ing day in the Indian summer, when the gorgeous color- 
ing of the trees along the banks was reflected in the abso- 
lutely smooth, glassy surface, as if the trees belonged to 
another world below. Thinking more of the scenery 
as I rested my paddle than of fish, I heard a rise under 
an overhanging thicket of laurel. I threw my fly over 
the pool and it was instantly taken by a very small trout, 
which I let struggle to get off the hook, as I was not after 
fingerlings. Something glided from the edge of the 
water which I thought was a big fish, and seized the 
hook and the little fellow on it. I found I had hooked a 
snake of some kind, which was diving and wriggling to 
get away. But it was securely hooked and I drew it up 
and found I had a rattler fast. I tried every way to get 
Mm loose, but neglecting my rod, which was sprung con- 
siderably, the snake rushed to the boat and the spring of 
the rod lifted it over into it. Then there was something 
to pay, you may be sure. Such a tangle I the snake 
careering all over the boat and among my legs, finally 
getting loose, so that I had to rest my feet on the gun- 
wales. By and by the fellow rested at full length, and I 
considered what was to be done next. I took my paddle 
to try and throw him out. That set him to careering all 
over again, until again he rested. Then I tried to lift 
him out with the paddle again, but in the effort the paddle 
flew out of my hand and he still kept in the boat, run- 
ning all over as before. Then I watched a chance to 
crush him with my heel, as he rpsted almost under 
me. I made the attempt, but missed him, and he 
darted at my Ipg and struck into my overalls. Instinct- 
ively I seized him by the neck and got him safe, but my 
blood curdled and ran cold up and down my back, you 
may be sure. I tightened my grip and snatched him 
loose, tearing out the fangs from his mouth, these re- 
maining in the strong cloth of the overalls. I got the 
fellow in my basket, stopped the hole in it with my 
handkerchief, and finding I was uninjured I cut the 
fangs from my overalls and went to fishing, first paddling 
with the end of my rod until I recovered my paddle. 
Meanwhile I kept thinking what I should do with the 
snake. I thought I would send him to the editor of 
Forest a.nd Stream to keep company with the Apache's 
scalp I once contributed to the office museum, a souvenir 
which was sent to me by an admiring friend from New 
Mexico years ago; but" instead I took him home, and 
findin g hia fangs were gone I let him loose in my oflSce 
to act as office cat and catch the mice, which fed too 
much on my papers and nested among my books. I kept 
him there until he became quite tame, and were it not 
that he scared my casual visitors too much for their corn- 
fort I took his skin, which now hangs in memoriam of this 
curious and I think unique adventure, and as a proof of 
the truth of this snake story; for is not that skin hanging 
there a sufficient support of my veracity? 
H. Stewart. 
Macon Cootjtt, N. C. 
P. S.— I would not have told this story, but it is an off 
time for such true narratives, and it may come in time to 
warn other fishermen to look out for snakes themselves. 
I might say in further corroboration, as I now think of 
it, that more than fifty of my young ducks were taken 
one year off my pond by snakes, one of which I know 
was a rattler, as I pursued him ashore and killed him 
with the duck in his mouth, and I have his skin too, so 
that I can truthfully aver the rattlesnake will take fiah 
and young ducks in the water. 
MEN I HAVE FISHED WITH. 
XXVIII.-Charles Hallock. 
Just as you know your father ^nd your brother Sam 
without ever having been introduced to them by any one 
or on any particular occasion, so there are men who must 
have cut into your orbit at some particular time and 
place, but who, like the intimate relatives above men- 
tioned, seem always to have been within the circle of 
your limited range on this planet. Every man has many 
old friends whose acquaintances can't be marked down 
to date and place and I have tried in vain to recall where 
and when I first met Charles Hallock. In these sketches 
there has been an attempt to follow old chronos, and on 
CHABLES HALLOCK. 
From a pliotograpli In 1896. 
the back of a photo of Mr. Hallock, taken in 1896, is this: 
"To my esteemed friend of forty years' acquaintance, 
with blessing," etc. Taking the number forty, as biblical 
scholars do, to mean an indefinite number — such as the 
days in the wilderness and those when Jupiter Pluvius 
l«t loose the waters to drown all who did not seek shelter 
in the ark — the thing is plain. We have agreed, after 
passing many letters some years ago, to call it a draw; he 
fixing the date at a chance meeting on the woodcock 
grounds below Albany in 1854, which may have been 
true, but as I am telling this story on the basis of personal 
memory we will put it some years later. When he tells 
the tale he will not be contradicted. 
That horrid liver of mine which had acquired bad 
habits in the West was resisting all efforts for its refor- 
mation, and in the spring of 1860 I went to the seashore 
on Long Island to see if the heavy salt-laden air wouldn't 
press the kinks out of that rebellious gland. The fishing 
in Jamaica Bay and the sea food were novelties and 
opened a new field of interest among strange fishes and 
their different modes of capture. The early spring fish- 
ing for the flat fishes was very interesting, and the stories 
of the bluefish and others which would come later in the 
season promised much health-giving sport as the fisher- 
men's stories were heard. To walk the beach and pick 
up oysters and ruin a small pocket knife to open them 
and then — how delicious they were taken au natural. 
A bay man said: "Mr. Hallock is up at the hotel and 
we were talking about you and he wants to see you." 
Just who Mr. Hallock might be gave me no concern. He 
might be the sheriff of the county or only a town con- 
stable, it made no difference; he couldn't lock me up for 
misdemeanors done here, but what about Kansas? With 
this in mind I put on a bold front and met a man whose 
face was strangely familiar, but who was so cordial and 
who knew my old friend Ken King and other fishing 
and shooting comrades that we were soon on the footing 
of old acquaintance. He must be right! No man could 
go into such detail unless he had been there, and we let it 
go at that, Something was said about trout fishing, and 
I asked if there were trout on Long Island. 
Hallock looked up and asked: "Do mosquitoes live in 
New Jersey? Why, Long Island has more trout to the 
square foot than any other tract of its size on this conti- 
nent. I've been down here for a few days to visit some 
friends, and have an invitation to fish Massapequa I^ake 
from its owner, Mr, David E. Floyd- Jones, and the invita- 
tion includes a friend. Let's go to-morrow, what d' ye 
say?" 
I agreed, with the consciousness of being a very green- 
horn at trout fishing, but with a desire to find out just 
how those artificial flies were used which the fishing 
tackle dealers kept, but which no one bought, as far as I 
knew, and which HaUock had in a book. He showed 
them with an enthusiasm which was wasted, because it 
did not seem possible that any fish would nibble at such 
dry fodder as that, especially a trotit, which I had been 
told was the most wary and the best of all game fishes. 
In boyhood days I had taken a few on one occasion when 
fishing with my older friend, George Dawson, but we 
used worms in a small stream, and I was not then so 
thoroughly impressed with the importance of the trout as 
the game fish par excellence as a more extended acquaint- 
ance with a higher class of anglers had now brought 
about. I was on the point of telling Hallock that I had 
not brought down my fly-rod and flies, when my better 
self carae up and whispered to the effect that while I 
might know a great deal about bobbing for eels, shooting 
and spearing fish, and the use of most baits, it was cer- 
tain that it would be best to tell the truth. We all have 
certain ideals which we may flatter ourselves we fill to 
perfection, and no class of men are more prone to this 
than sportsmen ; but after a short mental struggle all feel- 
ing of this kind was banished, and I said: 
"I don't know the first thing about fly-fishing for trout 
and I haven't any rods or tackle for it. I'm anxious to 
learn how to fish for them, and with this confession of 
ignorance if you are willing to take me with you I will 
esteem it a great honor." 
That honest confession put me on a solid footing; I was 
an apprentice to a master hand. The flies that I switched 
off on the back cast and the awkward entanglements 
which a novice must make who has had no prpliminary 
instruction before he eesavs casting for actual trout we 
will not dwell upon. Suffice it to say that the casting of 
my companions and the landing of their trout opened up 
a new vista in the field of angling pleasures. Often when 
casting the flv I think of that day on Massapequa Lake 
when I had that p-pnial sportsman Charles Hallock for a 
preceptor. In 1863 T had a twenty day furlough from the 
army, and I tnet Mr. Floyd-Jones in the Apt^r House. 
H« was then Lifuten ant-Governor of New York, and 
offered to gpt all sorts of extensions of leave if I would 
only go down to Massappqua, Some stories that partly 
lingered in his memory needed retelling; but there were 
sterner duties. Hallock whs away, ard Massapequa's 
waters were not disturbed by me until a quarter of a cen- 
tury later, when they were again fished with other com- 
panions. 
While on Long Island the casting of the fly was prac- 
ticed with an ash and lancewood rod, and the other ne- 
cessities which Mr. John Conroy, then of Fulton street. 
New York, selected for me from his then most marvelous 
stock of fishing tackle; and in the intervals of crabbing, 
salt-water fishing and boating, the mystery was learned. 
In one of my frequent visits to Conroy's to replace the 
flies, which had then a bad habit of snapping off just as 
they were somewhere in the rear and were suddenly sent 
forward, I met Mr. Hallock, who invited me to visit and 
fish in a trout pond owned by his cousin, Mr. William 
Hallock Seaman, near Ridgewood, on the south side of 
Long Island, some twenty-five miles east of New York. 
It was early in the season, and the trout were in a rising 
mood on a most perfect day for fly-fishing, slightly 
clouded, but warm, with just enough wind to ruffla the 
water lightly, pnd bide all glint of rod and fall of every- 
thing but the flies. I had mastered the art of keeping 
the leader from cracking like a whip behind me when 
giving it the forward stroke, and had paid for the educa- 
tion in dozens of lest flies. Mr. Hallock noted the fact, 
and rejoiced that his advice had been of service. We 
each took half a dozen trout and stopped fishing. This 
was my first fishing in strictly private waters, and to-day 
I am not sure that I was then sufficiently educated in the 
etiquette of private fishing waters to have stopped at just 
six when the fish were triily asking to be caught; and it 
was such glorious pport to see the rise and the strike, fol- 
lowed by a miss or a capture, that I realized the fact that 
I had in early life taken the degree of Entered Apprentice 
in the East, of Fellowcraft in the West, and was now a 
Master angler. Of course the trout served at the hospitable 
table of Mr, Seaman were several degrees better than any 
trout that had ever been eaten before, and I doubt if they 
have been equaled since. 
The life of Charles Hallock has been an erratic one, full 
of change and adventure. A man of medium height, 
without an ounce of superfluous fat, he is to-day a 
tireless bundle of nerves and sinews; one of those men 
without apparent muscle who will tire out a muscular 
athlete in a day's rough tramp over hill and through mea- 
dow. He was trained for a journalist by his father, Mr, 
Gerard Hallock, who for thirty -four years was editor of 
the New York Journal of Commerce, and has followed 
literature as editor and author most of his life. 
He was born March 13, 1834, and is a graduate of Am- 
herst College, The cyclopedias say that his ancestor, 
Peter Hallock, came to America in 1640 and bought a 
large tract of land on Long Island near Moriches, part of 
which is still called Hallock's Neck. The family was dis- 
tinguished in the War for Independence, and during the 
War of the Rebellion a near relative. Gen. Henry Wager 
HaJleck, served with great distinction, Hia branch of 
the family had changed the spelling of the name, as often 
happens. Early in the 503 the spirit of adventure seized. 
Charles and he crossed the great plains with a wagon 
train over the Santa Fe trail, and wrote up his observa- 
tions of Indians and buffalo in Harper's Magazine for 
October, 1857, and next year took the old Red River trail 
from St. Paul to Pembina and wrote that up for the same 
magazine. It is recorded in my sketches that I was up 
there on that trail about the same time, but it was a large 
country, and my surveying party was off on the trail 
most of the time, and we did not meet. Charles was 
with C C. Andrews, aftpr'^^prd major-general United 
States Volunteers, and in '69-'76 Minister to Sweden, and 
in '82 was Consul-general for Br zil 
I had a letter from him late in 1860, after he had taken 
Dr. Elliott Coues and a party to Labrador in a sailing ves- 
sel, and brought back the first photcs of the interior of 
that country, as well as a large coUection of birds and 
