$10 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[APRtL 17, 1897. 
Proprietors of fishing resorts vnll find it proftiable to ndveriise 
thevi in Forest and Stream. 
MEN I HAVE FISHED WITH. 
XXXiX.-John A. FJsh. 
I J'OHSr is a farmer, now living at Honeoye Falls, IST. Y., 
ivhere he was born M'hen the century Was fairly young. 
Fishing and shooting with him was one of the pleasures of 
life, and I enjoyed his companionship while I lived near 
him. He was coeval and contemporary with Mort Locke, 
tvho was written up a couple of weeks ago. "When the 
huts bf gan to drop we three would meet without appoint- 
tnent in the store of William Downey, and after a general 
talk some one would say: "It's getting to be most time for 
ducks'*; the rest would assent in a manner that seemed as 
though they hadn't thought of that before, and we would 
wait for the first hard frosts and a word from some friend 
of John's on Cayuga Lake. 
Then came the happy days of anticipation; discussing 
the amount and kind of provisions to be taken, the furnish- 
ing of the camp with cooking utensils and with blankets, 
all to be recorded in order that nothing should be omitted 
and no duplicates carried. The evenings spent in con- 
sidering these important questions seem to-day to have 
been the most enjoyable part of the outing, because they 
covered about four weeks of anticipation wherein the 
promise of sport was only a week in camp. In some cases 
the pleasure to come was in excess of the experience, but 
when we really made a start, and the train actually moved 
eastward with our trunk of wooden decoys and our camp 
equipage, four adult boys looked out of the windows to 
keep their delight from being projected from their eyes. 
The pleasures of anticipation do not seem to have received 
their proper share of recognition among the pleasures of 
the sportsman, as I read their accounts of fishing and 
shooting trips, in which the size of the bag seems to be the 
measure of their sport. Yet most human pleasure is in 
his prospect, with a considerable amount in the retrospect. 
Pope, who closely analyzed humanity, wrote: 
"Hope springs eternal in the human breast: 
Man never is, but always io be blest " 
John's crops were secure, and the event of the year was 
to come. Mort Locke had his leave from the railway by 
paying for a substitute; Downey might get off for a few 
days if not crippled by rheumatism, and I looked for a rest 
from quarrying rock for the trout ponds which I had dug 
with pick and shovel. To hard-working men who could 
seldom get away for a full week it was truly the event of 
the year, and had been made to cover many wrecks before, 
as has been told. There is no rule by which we may meas- 
ure enjoyment as one might measure time or the distance 
to the moon. "We were like four boys let loose from school, 
only the boys experience that pleasure every day, and we 
had it only once a year. A man who can take a week off 
whenever he pleases knows little of the ecstatic feeling 
which we four had on that annual outing; he doesn't look 
forward to it and enjoy it in anticipation. Prince Hal says: 
"If all the year were playing holidays, 
To sport would be as tedious as to work." 
Canoga Marsh, on the west side of Cayuga Lake, was 
always our camping ground; and we hired boats at the 
head of the lake, and did our own rowing, camping and 
cooking. That is an ideal way to camp for young men 
who can do it. Later in life we prefer to have hired help, 
but there is a feeling of independence in camping that is 
pleasurable if— and here that little "if" looms up like a 
word of ten syllables — you have a party composed of the 
proper ingredients. Our party was so composed. Two 
could make fun and two could enjoy it; one could kill more 
ducks with his big 7-gauge gun than all the rest, taut he 
never bragged of it; one was a good cook, and another was 
willing to cut and drag firewood. Each fell into his (Jace, 
and it was as perfect a party of four as it seems possiljle to 
organize. 
flowing down the lake, there was a distress call from the 
rear boat, and Downey signaled to me to halt, for John 
Fish and I were the oarsmen of the two boats, and I turned 
back. Mort had essayed a cast when his spoon with a 
triple hook lay behind him in the boat, and the result was 
disastrous. Fortunately I had a pair of wire-cutters in my 
creel, and they snipped off the protruding barbs, and then 
the two imbedded hooks were withdrawn; but during that 
trip Mort preferred to stand or lie upon one side. John 
explained to Mort the nature and uses of fish hooks, and 
wrote a few verses commemorating the event. 
Did you ever see a loon sink without making a ripple? 
We did; and no doubt others have seen it, but I have no 
recollection of seeing it recorded. Our blind of brush and 
grass was as far out on Canoga Marsh as we could get it, 
and keep dry. The fleet of decoys bobbed at their anchors, 
some 30ft. outside the rushes. Downey and Mort had 
gone to the rear to thaw out and drink coffee, for legs 
would get stiff and fingers so numb that an hour in the 
blinds — enlivened by a jump in the boat to pick up the 
dead, or chase cripples — was about all the sport we wanted 
on one relief. John had just said: "Tkere goes a flock of 
bluebills up the lake, too far out to see our decoys; mebbe 
they'll swing around and come down our way — " He 
, touched my arm, and through the sedge I saw something 
rise from out the bosom of the lake, not clothed in white 
samite, nor mystic, nor wonderful, but just the head and 
neck of a loon, and then the back appeared among the 
stools. The bird did not get its body above water before 
its quick eye discovered that the fleet of decoys were not 
real ducks, and by the time John and I reached for our guns 
the sinking of the loon began. It takes longer to tell this 
than it did to act it, but that loon compressed itself and 
sank out of sight without making a ripple — not by a plunge 
«nd a dive, but by settling in the water before the two 
gunners could give him a welcome. 
Pop! Out in the lake, a quarter of a mile away, he came 
up and swam off with a backward look, as if he said: 
"Wooden ducks! Yes, there's a man with a gun always 
near them; it's safer out here ia midwater." 
John said; "That's an old fellow; he's been among 
wooden ducks before, and may have been tickled by a few 
shot. He's chucklin' to himself now how he fooled us. 
Did you ever see anything so slick as the way he squeezed 
himself together and sunk? Never turned until he got 
below the surface, for fear he'd make a ripple. There's no 
duck that can do that." 
"I saw a red-breasted sheldrake do nearly the same 
thing on the Mississippi River once; it didn't come up, 
like that loon, but it sank just the same." 
"A sheldrake may do it," said John. "I don't say it 
can't, but I spoke of ducks; now a sheldrake is no more of 
a duck than a goose is; nor a loon, for that matter; their 
bills—." Downey and Mort came into the blind, and our 
going to the rear to thaw out deprived the scientific world 
of the ornithological observations of John Fish pn the 
difference between ducks, loons and sheldrakes. 
On one of these trips Mort Locke was disappointed in 
not receiving a new breechloading gun, and left the shoot- 
ing to go to Rochester for it, and so lost two days. He 
had never used a gun of that kind, for 'they were not com- 
mon in the early 703, but he had the craze on, and really 
felt that he must get a change of gun to shoot against 
John's 7-gauge, which then was the most wonderful duck 
gun I had ever seen, and so off he went. John and I 
were alone, for Downey was to come back with Mort. 
"VVe had some ducks hung in the shade, and John had 
killed about a dozen muskrats at intervals when the 
ducks were not flying. "Ever eat a muskrat?" asked 
John. 
"Yes, among the Indians, where the unwashed son of 
the forest thrusthisunmanicm-ed hand into the camp-kettle 
and his guest could do the same or go hungry; but I was 
hungry, and it tasted good if there was an absence of nap- 
kins and finger-bowls." 
"Let's cook some for Downey and Mort. Put in only 
the hindlegs, which look enough like duck's legs to pass. 
What d'ye say?" 
When the hired boatman landed our friends at camp 
near sundown, he said he would "take a bite" and go back 
to Cayuga. Downey sniffed around and asked: "Got any- 
thing for supper? Haven't had a thing since breakfast." 
Mort was hungry enough, but confined his questions 
to the game killed, and so we sat down to the feast. 
"Have some of this stew of sawbills'* legs? The breasts 
are fishy?" asked John, "but the legs when stewed with a 
root of wild celery are a delicacy." 
Downey enjoyed them, and of course I did; for I was 
the cook. All went well until we were about to smoke, 
when Mort Locke thought it would be a pity to waste that 
last duck leg, and he fished it up. Alas! John had left the 
foot upon the leg, and it had evident claws! "Hello," said 
he, "what's this?" 
"There!" exclaimed John, "if we didn't cook that duck 
leg that had a claw on it. The other leg was all right, 
web-footed just like any duck's foot; but 1 meant to have 
had that bird stuffed." 
"It's a durned ole muskrat, that's what it is," said Mort; 
"but they were good, though. I wouldn't eat it now that I 
know what it is." 
Downey made no comment until long after our return, 
and then one day he asked: "What kind of a joke was 
John trying to play on Mort; trying to get him to eat a 
muskrat?" 
Central and western ISTew York has so many fine lakes 
that the smaller ones are unnamed upon most maps, if 
they appear at all. Ontario county has three — Conesus, 
Honeoye and Hemlock — all tributary to Honeoye Creek 
and the Genesee River, and a drive of some fifteen miles 
would bring us to any of them. It was the time when the 
bees were working in the apple blossoms, and we drove up 
south to fish in Honeoye Lake among the hills which lend 
a charm to this beautiful water. The only fish in the lake 
which might possibly rise to a fly was the yellow perch, and 
so our outfit of lures comprised small frogs, metal spoons, 
a can of minnows, and those first principles which are dug 
in the garden. John was a firm believer in first princi- 
ples, Mort in metal spoons, and I in minnows and frogs. 
The result was that John caught most fish, but only perch 
and bullheads; Mort took the greatest weight, all pickerel; 
while the frogs took some pickerel, and the minnows both 
pickerel and perch. Said John: "These perch keep biting 
as fast as I can take 'em off, bait again and throw out, and 
I don't see but I'm getting the most fun out of it, if you are 
getting bigger fish." And when the pickerel preferred 
rest to frogs, spoons or minnows Mort and I reverted to 
first principles for a while and toyed with the perch. 
On Cayuga Lake John knew a grand spot for lake trout. 
In the days that we fished the lake I knew the ranges up 
and down and across the lake, but have forgotten them 
now. Inasmuch as John still drops his line there occa- 
sionally, since Canoga Marsh has been bought by a club, 
and his great 7-bore no more can awake the echoes as it 
drops a duck at a distance that used to discourage Mort 
Locke and the writer, the ranges of this favorite spot 
would not be recorded here if remembered. We had been 
followed by several boats one day for hours, and John had 
kept off his favorite spot, but after they had rowed around 
us and got the ranges they left, and we then pulled out to 
the trout grounds. Next morning three boats were 
anchored near where we had first fished and caught noth- 
ing, while we kept away from them and from the good 
spot. The day after this we were not watched, and when 
we came ashore at Union Springs we had twenty fine 
lakers that might have weighed lOOlbs. in the aggregate, if 
a scale had been handy. 
The fish were carefully inspected by the crowd and pro- 
nounced a grand catch for two men. One fellow said: "I 
dunno how 'tis. I've watched John Fish many a time, an' 
he seems to have luck wherever he goes, but when I get 
the ranges and anchor on the same spot the fish don't seem 
to be there. I dunno how 'tis." 
A young man suggested that John had some new kind 
of bait. 
"No, he hain't," said an old man, "I've looked over his 
minners (minnows), and they're jess a same as we allers 
use; he gets 'em down at the foot of the lake, fer I seed 
him buy 'em once." 
"John Fish," said an athletic student from Cornell Uni- 
versity, at the head of the lake, who was training for a 
rowing contest, "I'll give you this $10 bill if you'll give 
me the ranges of the place where you always get a lot of 
trout." 
• In the local parlance of central New York the hooded mersranser 
is called the little sawbill to diatiuguisb it from the Urg^r aawbUis or 
sheldrakes, 
Said John: "Gentlemen, we will gladly give you any in- 
formation we possess about the fishing spots in this lake. 
But what little we know is not worth buying. My friend 
and I did not come down here to make money, so please 
put up your purse. We came to get a little bite of fresh 
air from this beautiful lake and a few bites from the fish 
in it. We have neither information nor fish to sell. My 
friend is a scientific man who has come into western New 
York to study the geological conditions that produced the 
Cardiff giant which was recently found in Onondaga 
county, and in following the trend of the hills atound 
this lake he pointed out the place which should naturally 
be the feeding ground of the lake trout; dnd he was cor- 
rect." 
' "That's all right," said the student, "and the Cardiff 
giant is a solid man, but what we want to get at is where 
this great fishing place is. You won't sell the secret and 
offer to give it to us and then give us a story about the 
Cardiff giant and the trend of the hills. I've put up my 
monev and you refuse it, I'll double it, if that's what you 
want." 
"My friend," said John, "please don't get angry, and 
please believe me that we are not after money. Like 
my scientific friend, I believe that knowledge should be 
spread broadcast, and I had begun to tell you how we 
found the best fishing place in the lake, and where it is, 
when you interrupted me. With your permission I will 
proceed." 
"My dear sir," said the student, "I had no intention of, 
offending, and I beg your pardon. We are sportsmen who 
do not count dollars when we shoot and fish, and I think 
I speak for the whole party when I say that we will 
appreciate your kindness in giving us the ranges of the 
spot where you anchor and always have such great success 
in fishing. Pardon me if 1 have offended you in any way 
in my anxiety to acquire knowledge of the fishing spots." 
"There has been no offense," said John, "because none 
was intended. You offered to buy what I did not care to 
sell. But I don't mind giving these ranges to all of you, if 
they are of use, as they seem to be. Row out into the lake 
iintil the white spire of the church in Cayuga is in direct 
line with that dead hemlock that you see on the hill away 
to the north of it, up above the sky-line. That's your 
range north and south." 
"Yes, that's good." 
"Then you see the flagstaff' on the hotel here?" 
"Sure!" 
"And that great hillside across the lake where that gray 
horse is feeding?" 
"Yes!" 
"Well, after you row out and get the cturch steeple in 
line with the dead hemlock, just move your boat up and 
down until you're exactly in line with the flagstaff and the 
gray mare's tail." And so they learned the ranges of the 
fishing hole. Feed Mather. 
THE BOSTON FISHERMEN. 
Salmon fishermen will be pained to learn of the death 
of William Andrew Browne. He has fished the Romayne 
for several seasons with Mr. E. C. Fitch, president of the 
American Watch Co., at Waltham. Mr. Browne was a 
Boston angler beloved by all who knew him. He died at 
Baltimore, March 26. 
The salmon anglers are now much interested in the 
salmon pool at Bangor^ Me. Several salmon have been 
taken, the season opening on Saturday, April 3, when 
Charles Bissell, of Brewer, took a salmon weighing 14^ lbs. 
Since then two or three more have been taken; the fourth 
fish being taken on Monday, and weighing ISlbs. Since 
that, time the heavy rain has filled the river with roil, and 
but little fishing has been done. The ice left the Penob- 
scot on the 6th, four days earlier than last year, and the 
trout fishermen are figuring that the Maine trout lakes 
are going to be open earlier than last year for that reason. 
The interest in that subject begins to be very lively. 
The Massachusetts trout fishermen have not continued 
to have the good luck that the season opened with. The 
"Wakefield party, consisting of E. H. Wakefield, Jr., Ed- 
ward Brooks and R. 0. Harding, who fished Mr. Wake- 
field's preserve on the 2d, Sd and 4tb, found the weather 
very cold. They caught an even dozen trout, however. 
Mr. Wakefield was to go down again to-day. He is de- 
termined to take more trout. No good catches of trout 
have been reported this week from the Cape, or anywhere 
in the State, for that matter. 
Good t)rant shooting is being reported at Monomoy. 
Mr, Warren Hapgood and Walter B. Hill, with Messrs. 
Craig, of West Medford; Hall; S. Fairbanks, of Winchester; 
G. R. Seward, of Boston, and Webber, of Lynn, have re- 
turned from that preserve. A great many brant were fly- 
ing, and when Mr. Hill left early in the week they had 
secured eight or ten, Mr. Hill getting his share, with Mr. 
Hapgood also among the fortunate ones. His shooting 
was very pleasing to all, by reason of his age. Later in 
the week the party secured brant enough to bring the 
score up to about forty — a very remarkable number for late 
years. What is termed the Boys' Party will leave for 
Monomoy on Wednesday of this week, and the five or six 
gunners go with great expectations. 
The landlocked salmon fishermen are getting their 
tackle ready. The Dry Goods Party will be in camp on 
Sebago Lake, Me., on the 19th, which is a holiday in this 
State. The fishermen expect to find the ice out by that 
time, though up this writing the lake is ice-bound. A year 
ago the ice left that lake April 24, having started somewhat 
the Sunday previous. This clearing was eight days later 
than the year before, when the ice was all out April 16. 
In 1891 the ice left Sebago April 6. Mr. E. H. Wakefield, 
Jr., R. 0. Harding and friends, will visit Dan Hole Pond, 
in New Hampshire, for landlocked salmon fishing as soon 
as the ice is out. Last year the ice went out of that pond 
April 24. This pond has a record of a salmon — taken with 
rod and reel in 1895— weighing IQ^lbs. Last year the 
sportsmen had poor fishing here, but they will try again 
this year. The fishermen are also getting ready to fish 
Lake Auburn, Me., as soon as the ice is out. This lake is 
well stocked with landlocked salmon and brook trout, 
and some excellent fish are taken. But the lake is within 
three miles, by electric cars, of the two cities, Lewiston 
and Auburn, and fishermen of ever^ grade throng its 
shores and waters. Hence many are disappointed, though 
the lake yields a goodly number of fish. Spbcia^, 
