Mat 22, 1897.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
409 
"Hello," cried the big, jolly ticket puncher. "Here are 
you fellows again. What luck, hoys? Bet you didn't catch 
a fish; told you chaps so. Knew T was perfectly safe in 
ofTering you 25 cents apiece." 
"Here!" cried the Judge. "Come, pungle down now. 
You owe us just $15. Here are our fish— just even sixty. 
Hand over that coin quick. What do you say, boys?" 
"Well, he's got to pay us and take the fish," we" cried. 
When the big conductor saw our magnificent strings he 
wilted. "Oh, I give in, boys; I take it all back; I apolo- 
gize," he said with a good-humored laugh. "I was only 
blufling. But, really, I should like to buy several to take 
home for my wife and the children. Xhey are very fond 
offish." . 
"You can't buy any of me," said the Judge, holding out 
his hand and giving the conductor a cordial shake; "but 
I'll give you six, just for luck." 
Charlie gave him three and I gave him three. So we 
had a jolly day's outing and our big conductor had a round 
dozen fish to take home. J. M. Baltimore. 
MEN I HAVE FISHED WITH. 
XLI.-Danlel H, FltzhuKh. 
No man's name was more prcminently connected with the 
discovery of the grayling as a new fish of the highest game 
qualities in America than that of the genial angler who is 
tbe subject of this sketch He was credited with being the 
discoverer of this fish in Michigan waters, but this he prop- 
erly disclaimed ; he merely sent some specimens to New York 
city, where they were the subject of a hot debate among 
the Eoglish anglers and epicures who frequented Sutherland's 
Cafe, where the fish were shown and served in 1872. He 
wrote 10 a New York journal that Dr. J. C Parker, of 
Grand Rapid.'!, Mich., had classified the fish some five years 
before in a letter to the late Prof. E. D. Cope, of Philadel- 
phia, to whom he sent specimens, and correctly diagnosed 
I hem as true grayling. 
Science is a cold-blooded thing, dealing in refrigerated 
facts, and is as much interested in a new chub as in a newly 
discovered game fish; it records firs, fin rays, and maps out 
the geographical sur^'ace into head, eye, number of scales, 
and souses the specimen into alcohol and has done with it. 
Thai's all right, and is all that science wishes to know about 
a fish, but not all that the angkr, it present, wishes to know 
from science. 
All this I read with that interest which was commonly 
given to passing items concerning fish and fishing, and 
having patted the item in my scrap-book it was as everlast- 
ingly disposed of as if science had entombed it, on]}' to be 
res .rrected by some future investigator. But when Mr. 
Fii Kbugh wrote an article telling how this new fish rose to 
the tly, and how gamy it was, the scrap-book was over- 
hauled, and an interest was awakened in the new game fish. 
One day early in 1874 Mr. Fitzbugli invited me to go to 
northern Michigin to try to get the spiwn of the new fish 
1 was then breeding tr' ut in wei-tern New York, and the in- 
vitation was accepted Arriving at his home in Bay City, 
we planned the campaign, and with his nephew. Frank 
Fitzbugh, and his favonle guide, philosopber and friend 
Len Jewell, we started for tne liitlo hamlet of Crawford, 
now Grayling, sou e ninety miles north, on a rickety railroad 
which ran a train up one day and down the next. The lime 
of spawing was uncertbio, and we had burned out five 
whisay barrels to take home some live fish if no spawn was 
to be had. We Itiuuched our boats in the Au Sable River 
on March 38 in a snowstorm, with the thermometer 
down to 17" Fabr 
To see Len Jewell pole a flat-bottomed scow down the 
swift current and over rapids was a revelation only equaled 
by seeing him pole the boat up-stream on the return. A 
prominent trait in the character of "Dan" Fitzbugh, as I 
soon learned to call him, was that his guest always was put 
in the best boat, given the best guide and was put in the 
most likely spots for fishing that he knew of. In after years 
when comparing notes with George Dawson, Thad. Norris 
:and others, who have made their final cast on earthly waters, 
this trait was one of the first things mentioned, and it may 
be taken as an index to the character of one of the kindest- 
hearted, whole-souled gentlemen whom I ever wet a line 
with. 
It was practically mid-winter on the Au Sable in early 
April and our bed of balsam boughs was made above 2ft. of 
snow, with a gum blanket between, and there was no sign 
of thawing under us when we left on April 3, with no eggs, 
but with 300 live fish for my ponds. Dan begged me to 
stay, but my word had been given to Prof. Baird that I 
would start for the Southern shad waters before April 10. 
Such days and such fishing! Flies frozen to the side of 
the boat at the slightest contact and snapped off with the at- 
tempt to cast; the line so heavily coaled with ice that it 
.would not reiider through the rings and a grayling weighing 
lib. out of water, pulling and boring for the bottom, and 
even when nearly exhausted turning his great dorsal fin side- 
ways to resist the strain of the rod. At a pause in the strug- 
gle Len would bile the ice off the line near the tip so that a 
few more feet could be reeled up, but if the fish was a small 
one he would bring it in by hand. Then he would bite the 
ice off the whole line down to the leader, which was compar- 
atively free from it because it was longer in the unfrozen 
, spring-fed river, but at times the reel line was as large as a 
lead pencil with ice accumulated by repeated castings before 
a fish struck. No matter if fingers were numb and ears 
tingled, there was that within us that voted the sport to he 
grand. 
This trip was a short one, and a failure as far as obtaining 
eggs was concerned ; but it was a glorious success in making 
the acquaintance of two such men as Dan Fiizhugh and Len 
Jewell. A full account of this trip will be found in Forest 
AJXD Stream of April 23 and May 31, 1874, covering nearly 
six columns, but only the fishing, the fish and the river are 
described, with no attempt to portray character. 
Len was frying some grayling for dinner, and had just 
entered the tent where we lay for salt, pepper, or some other 
thing, when Dan called my attention to a Canada jay which 
Wrt/nopping about the fire, Len had covered everything eat- 
able except the fish in the pan. 
"Bet a million dollars," said Dan, "that that jay takes a 
red hot fish out of that pan." 
"Go you ten millions better," said I, "he can't doit, for 
the rim of that pan is loo hot for his feet, and the boiling fat 
will take his toes off." 
Dan hadn't time eithT to taise or call me before the bird 
tiew up, poised ovtr ihepan to feee what was there, flirted a 
grayling out into the snow by some means unknown to the 
deponent, and when Len turned and saw the bird take the 
fish off into a tree, he made remarks highly derogatory to 
"venison hawks" and the whole tribe of jays, whether blue 
or gray, and I was indebted to Dan for a few millions of 
dollars. This debt was soon cancelled, for I won fifty mil- 
lions from him witliin half an hour on a bet that I would 
catch the next meat hawk that came into camp. This gray 
jay is very familiar. One perched on the toe of my boot, 
and looked us all over as I lay on my back in the tent. They 
would hop around camp, and carry off bread, pork, fish, or 
anything eatable; yet, like the familiar European sparrow, 
they ke( p a sharp eye on every movement. I placed a bit of 
pork on a slanting stick, and fixed a noose on a twig just 
below it; and when the jay flew up to the bait a twitch on 
the string lassoed it, and then such a screaming! In a minute 
a score of jays assembled to help their kinsman, and their united 
screams brought more. The bird was released, and although 
my winnings had enriched me "beyond the dreams of avar- 
ice," I sat down with Len and Frank, and ate fried grayling 
and drank coffee out of a tin cup on terms of equality just 
as we would at Casey's table d'hote; and I can recall ihat 
winter camp, and say of Len's fried grayling as Eugene 
Field says of Casey's "tabble dote": 
'•The very recollection of them puddin's 'nd them ries 
Brings a yearnin' to my buzzum 'nd the water to my eyes." 
And as I wiite there seems no way to express the longing 
for the days that can never return unless I again quote from 
the same poem, and mentally substitute the zVu Sable River 
for the mining camp, where Field says: 
"Oh, them times on Red Hoss Mountain in the Roclties fur away — 
There's no such place nor times like ihsin as I kia find to-day 1 
What though the camp hez busted? I seem >,o see it still, 
A lyin' like it loved it, on that big 'nd war y hill; 
And I feel a sort of yearnin' 'nd a chokin' in my throat 
When 1 think of Red Hoss Mountain 'nd of Casey's tabble dote!" 
Those days seem like a dream, or perhaps, as Tom Moore 
puts it, "hke the faint, exquisite musie. of a dream"; for 
the keen air, the morning mist on the spring-fed river, the 
JDASlEL H. FITZHUGH. 
novelty of taking a new and grand game fish, in the company 
of a most charming host, whose constant thought was to give 
his guest the best of the fishing and of everything else wilhin 
his power. There are men who believe that we will do all 
these things over again on the other side of the Styx, and 
keep at it as long as we like. If so, Len Jewell will fry 
graylina: while Dan B''ifzhugh and I will swap yarns while 
watching the meat hawks dodge Len's boot, and Len will 
chew the ice off my line before I make a cast. But, then, 
other people say there's no ice there; and just how we can 
rehearse those days without snow and ice is a problem. 
To turn from the realm of fancy to cold facts is some- 
times necessary to a truthful hislorian, and at the end of my 
first grayling trip a fine lot of ThymnUus were swimming in 
my trout ponds. Seth Green had declined Dan's invitation 
to get their eggs, but when a rival brought the fi?h so near 
him he came and looked them over, found that they had not 
spawned, and next day started for the Au Sable. He was 
too late; the fish had spawned, but he dug some 300 eggs out 
of the gravel, took them to his partner, Mr. Collins, who 
hatched the first grayling eggs in a trough that were so 
hatched in America; but none were raised from these eggs. 
The newspapers of the day had many items concerning the 
new fish and its future as an addition to our game fishes. 
Mr, Charles Hallock, then editor of Forest and Stream, 
had some sent by Mr. Fiizhugh and served at a dinner of 
the Blooming Grove Park Association, at Sutherland's, 
baked, boiled and fried, and the guests were loud in their 
praise of the grayling. Before I visited Mr. Fitzbugh the 
next year he had urged the Legislature of Michigan to pro- 
tect this fish during its spawning season, and failed. He 
then urged me to again attempt their salvation, although I 
told him that the adult fish in my ponds had not, and would 
never spawn. 
Next year I arranged with Prof. Baird to let me have my 
own time on the Au Sable, and so striking in between the 
dates when I lett the river and when Green arrived there, 
we got a fine lot of eggs. We struck Grayling on April 5 
and our party was as before, except that Dan took Charles 
Pie ce as his boatman, leaving the giant Len .Jewell to me. 
Our success last year had been talked of among the lumber- 
men, and when we arrived at the Grayling House the host, 
Mr. Hartwick, was anxious to have our rods unpacked in 
order that he might prove his statements that fish of 31bs. 
weight could betaken on "slim Jim switches." The spht 
bamboos were brought out and limbered for inspection. 
Pardon the artillerist's term, it's wrong, hut I don't know 
what else to call it; we unlimher a gun for action, i. e., de- 
tach the limber— chest and — hut when we put a rod together 
for action it must be "limbered," for it is assembled. 
The wood-choppers looked the rods over with ill concealed 
contempt; the artificial flies and gut leaders were handed 
around with smiles which broadened into grins until one 
young fellow, whose views of things had tieen temporarily 
istranged \>y backwoods whiskv, thought it necessary to 
show how weak such a slim rod tip was by breaking it be- 
tween his powerful hands while Len Jewell held the butt, 
and was telling of the beautiful workmanship necessary to 
build up such a rod. Quicker than thought Len had the 
man's hands in his grasp and he was as quiet as a babe. 
There was no row because most of the men were sober and 
knew that the fellow had done wrong, and then all knew 
Len Jewell, who was a "land looker" and constantly 
traveled through northern Michigan. Slill these lumbermen 
wanted to see how such slim "poles" could take a fish, and 
in the morning Dan and I went down to the railroad bridge 
and cast for nearly an hour before we tooli a ilb. grayling on 
an artificial fly. They were incredulous at first and we cast 
until hope had become hopeless, when at la'^t Dan had a 
strike and landed his fish. Blessings on that little grayling! 
To us it was a great victory. The light rod kills; the mild 
power cures and the victor can always afford to refrain from 
rejoicing. 
It was not as cold on this trip as on the one the year be- 
fore. There had h^en a thaw, and the river was a foot 
higher and somewhat discolored. There were no fish in the 
old places and we went down twenty miles before stopping 
to fish Len said the river had been netted and speared as 
far down as the market fisher could pole a boat in one day. 
We took one fish that had the marks of a spear on it, and 
thi<i in the breeding sea?o;i! The spawning beds were on 
shallows, but there were no fish on them; all that we caught 
were in the deep, dark pools. Suspecting that they were 
night spawners, we riyged up a jack-light and saw them on 
the beds. We released the unripe fish and only found four 
fully ripe females, and from these and half a dozen others 
that had partly .spawned I took 8,000 eggs home, besides 
giving a lot to Mr. Frank N. Clark, the well-known fishcul- 
turist, then running a hatchery in southern Michigan. This 
was the first lot of grayling eggs taken by hand in America. 
The spawning season was about over when we left the liver 
on April 11. A full account of this trip may be found in 
Forest AND Streak of May 13, 1875 Up to this time it 
was lawful to take grayling on April 1, but after several 
years of efl'orl Mr, Fiizhugh got the Legislature to change 
the date. 
Before I met Mr, Fiizhugh he wrote me a chaiacteristic 
letter. He said ; "You say you would like to go after gray- 
ling if it will not interfere with my business. I am quite a 
busy man, and never allow pleasure to interfere with busi- 
ness. My pleasure is to look after a lot of lumbermen, log 
drivers and others, keep account of the amount of lumber 
they get out and make out pay rolls. My business is fishing, 
shooting and vagabondizing in the woods, and pleasure is 
never allowed to intprfere with it. 1 am at your service if 
you come." And it was not to me alone that such an offer 
was made. He entertained Prof. James W. Milner, who 
wrote a monograph on the grayling for the TJ. 8. Fish Com- 
mission ; Thad. Nofris, George Dawson, Seth Green, and 
other lesser known anglers. His boats, guides and camp 
I quipage were not only at their service, but the party was 
litjerally provisioned by bim for his guests. His fund of 
anecdote and his peculiar gift of humor made him a most 
charming companion, and it came naturally, tor his coubin, 
Greene Smith, the ornithologist, was famous in this line, to 
the sorrow of his solemn father, Gerrett Smith, the famous 
abolitionist. Greene Smith could tell funny yarns for a 
week and never repeat, and Dan Fiizhugh was a good sec- 
ond. I may say, par parenthesis, that 1 believe myself a 
fair judge of that sort of ttiing. 
In December. 1877, he wrote me: "I have been on the 
Manistee three times this .=ummer, always with good success, 
but not such as we had a few years ago. We have to work 
harder, and it is more satisfactory. The vandals have in- 
vaded our pleasant waters with bait and all other devices to 
lure the gentle grayling. One party from Chicago took 
5,000 from the Manistee this summer— fish from loz. upward 
— salted them and shipped them home to count! Then they 
have dammed the river at Grayling, and are going to put 
dams in the Manistee next spring. I think I can see two 
more seasons of reasonably good fishing in those streams, 
and then, in my old age, must seek new fields. Is it not 
hard? Do try and come and go a fishing with me once more 
in the old holes." 
Again, in August, 1879, he wrote: "Have been to the 
Mainstfe once, with fair success. Mj last trip was poor as 
regards bag, but pleasant otherwise. * * * i have been 
trout fl'5hing. Had not fished for trout in ten j'ear.«i. Before 
that all my fly fishing was for trout, and I had an exaggerated 
idea of tue slaying qualities and resistance of the trout. 
Now, after mature deliberation and some experience with 
both, I believe the grayling of equal siz i has twice the resist- 
ance and all the staying power of his relative. I have never 
seen a trout come out and shake himself over two or three 
limes before surrendering, while it is common for the gray- 
ling to make half a dozen desperate leaps before he comes to 
grief." Yet men who have fished for grayling once have 
denied that it leaps from the water. It seems like a crime 
to let this grand fish become extinct. Mr. Fiizhugh paid all 
the expenses of a trip after grayling eggs for the State of 
Michigan, and Mr. Chase, the fishciilturist, got some eggs in 
1878 and sent them to the hatchery at Pokagon, but I nave 
no turther knowledge of what was done with them, I also 
think Mr. Frank N. Clark attempted to get eggs, but am 
writing from memory. 
In 1884 Mr Fiizhugh called me down for saying in ' Fish- 
ing with the Fly," that the grayling does not leap, therefore 
I am in with the others of small experience. H*' said : "You 
have made a grave error, which I do not attribute to your 
ignorance but to lack of experience. You assert boldly that 
the grayling never leaps from the water to take the fly. You 
were with me on what were probably the only trips for gray- 
ling you ever made, in what was almost the depths of win- 
ter, and you were right, as far as your experience went. 
They do then take the fly, as you say, just at or below the 
surface. But, take the grayling in the proper season it is as 
'leapin' ' a fish as any tiout. I have lost my end fly, and 
with nothing but the hand fly, when fish wtre rising, have 
trailed it some inches above the water to see them leap and 
take it, and have caught many in that way, hooked 6in. in 
the air. Moreover, I have never seen a trout leave the water 
over two or three times after being hooked, while 1 have seen 
the grayling leap six times, fur all he was worth, and Len 
backs me in this." The dear old soul! Doesn't he let m« 
down easy'i* 
I had another trip with Mr. Fiizhugh and Len Jewell, 
which I will relate in a sketch of Len^ Dan's constant and 
