jvm5,im POnizsrf and stream. 4Bt 
MEN I HAVE FISHED WITH. 
Xmi.— Fred E. Jones. 
Twenty years ago "The Great New York Aquarium; 
Coup & Reiche, proprietors," stood at the corner of Thirty- 
fifth street and Broadway, where a theater now stands. 
The building is the same, and but few changes have been 
made in the outside. One day Mr. Coup introduced me 
to Mr. Jones, who owned a large tract of land in Pike 
«ounty or in Wayne county. Pa., where 'pike of enormous 
size could be taken through the ice in great numbers, and 
Mr. Coup wanted a dozen or more. I had better go and 
get some. It was in January, and I well knew that the 
chance of getting pike was very slim, although Jones 
assured Coup that we could get all we wanted. 1 had no 
desire to go, but Mr. Coup insisted. 
Finding him alone, I said: "Mr. Coup, I have done con- 
siderable fishing through the ice as man and boy, and feel 
confident that the ice in the lakes in Pike county is novf 
about 2ft. thick, and a man can't cut holes enough in ^ 
day to amount to anything, and they will freeze up fastfer 
than he can cut them. Besides this, I fear I will lose the 
salmon eggs if I go away." I had 50,000 eggs of the chinook 
salmon to hatch for Prof. Baird, then U. S. Fish Commis- 
sioner, and this was my first trial of hatching trout and 
salmon in city water, and I did not wish to lose them by 
going off on what appeared to be a fool's errand, and then 
write an excuse. 
"Well, now," said Coup, "you go. Jones owns the lake; 
he says lie can get them, and he ought to know. You put 
wire netting over the salmon troughs, so that people can 
see the eggs, but can't handle them, and they will be all 
right when you come back; but don't stay over two weejeg, 
I can't spare you longer." > 
We went. I had done my duty in telling Mr. Coup, 
who had never caught a fish in his life, of the difficulties 
in the way, and was again doing my duty in obeying 
orders. Going up the Erie Railway to Hawley gave me a 
good chance to study my new friend — a man of perha-ps 
thirty years, tall, well built and carefully groomed. He 
was the editor or owner of some financial paper circula- 
ing in Wall street, and talked of things on an enlarged scale. 
He was to have the finest shooting lodge in America next 
year. At present he was occupying a cottage, which he 
bought with the place, not far from Blooming Grove Park. 
He was having a "drag" built for hunting, with refrigera- 
tor for game, gun racks and other conveniences, to cp^t 
$2,000. I was a little skeptical about this, until a rew 
days later, when he showed me the drag at a carriage 
makers, and talked about some improvements he wanted 
made. 
We waited at Hawley about an hour and listened to a 
grisly lot of old settlers telling of "b'ar hunts," around the 
frocery stove, until William drove up in a sleigh for us. 
t was a cold drive of several miles to the cottage, and 
there we found a hot fire and dinner. William and his 
wife were an old couple from Yorkshire, and they had 
only been a year in America, and one night in New York 
city, when Jones captured them and shipped them to his 
shooting box. All that could be learned of the pro§fli©ct 
for fishing was when William said, in reply to a question: 
" Yezzir, there's minners a-plenty, zir; I cotched 'em w'en 
you wrote as you was a-comin', zir, an' they're in the bait- 
box in the spring, all alive an' 'ealthy, zir, an' plenty on 
'em, zir." 
The wind howled all night and did not cease when 
morning came; but after breakfast we went out on the lake 
in front of the house, armed with lines and tip-ups, an/Rxe 
and an ice-chisel. The lunch basket was large and heavy. 
After reaching what Jones said was the best spot in the 
lake for "pickerel," as he called them, we began work. 
William cut some holes with the chisel while I made a 
wind-break of evergreens on the shore and built a fire, for 
a man would soon get numb in the keen wind. The ice 
was over 20in. thick, and by the time the old man would 
have one hole cut and we had dropped a baited line in it 
and set the tip-up, it would be blown full of snow and 
frozen over. 
Six holes had been cut and baited when the sun reached 
meridian and I had boiled the cofiee and then gave the 
dinner yell. Jones was more enthufeiastic than I, for he 
had, or pretended to have, faith in capturing some pike. 
1 had none, hence he could stand the blizzard out on the 
ice, moving from one hole to another, clearing out the 
snow and ice and freeing the lines, while I fussed about 
the fire in the more congenial work of boiling coffee and 
had William bringing in wood, for which he was very 
thankful. 
"William," I said, "are there many pike in this lake?" 
"Yezzir; I heerd Mizz'r Jones tell a gentleman that 'e 
killed un 'twas near two stone weight once in this same 
lake." 
"Two pounds is only a small pike, I don't think much 
-of that." 
"Hi said near two stone, zir, an' that's twenty-hate p'un', 
a big un in the hold country, an' a big un 'ere, as I 'ears 
'em talk. The fish might 'a' weighed summat like twenty- 
.four p'un', I forgets the hexact figger." 
"Did you see the fish, William?^ 
"No, zir, it was afore I coom; but I've 'eard of it many 
itimes." 
"Was that the only pike you know of being taken from 
the lake? You were here all last summer. Were any pike 
caught in the lake?" 
"Oh, blez you, zir, yezzir; there was Mr. Courtney, 'im 
as lives in New York with the black mustarche — of course 
you knows 'im — 'e took ten in the week 'e was 'ere an' 
the biggest weighed near a stone. Then Mr. Briggs kem 
np^you knows 'im — 'e as 'as the big liver an' white 
pointer an' the little red setter as is blind in 'er left eye. 
Well, 'e took three pike in a mornin' when the hexpress 
didn't bring hup some shells for 'is gun, as 'e 'ad bordered 
hexpressly for snipe, w'ile the hautom flight of woodcock 
'ad not come, an' Hi hagree with 'im that w'en the snipe is 
a-flyin' wild on a windy day one wants a little more pow- 
der be'ind 'is shot 'an he do in a close thicket for woodcock. 
So 'e sez to me: 'Will'um,' sez 'e, 'if there's any fish in this 
lake I'll try 'em,' sez 'e, 'for w'ile I don't care much for 
fishin', there's nothin' else to be done,' an' 'e tipped me a 
$5 bill. Oh, 'e was a gentleman, 'e was, an' I put 'im hout 
hin the lake among the weeds, an' 'is first fish weighed 
21b8. over a stone," 
"That was good; 161b3. is a fine pike. Did he get many 
iQore this day?" 
"No, zir, on'y two smaller ones; just at that Mr. Jones 
shot off a signal that the noon train at Hawley had the 
cartridges, an' Mr. Briggs said 'e'd 'ad enough an' would go 
in to dinner an' try the snipe in the hafternoon. Mr. 
Briggs is like me, zir; fijshin'll do w'en there's no shootin' 
to be 'ad." 
This conversation took plac6 before Fred Jones came in 
to luncheon, and it left me in the same condition of doubt 
as before. I did not know Mr. Courtney "with the black 
mustarche." nor Mr. Briggs with the remarkable dogs, but 
the hint that the latter gentleman gave William a very 
liberal tip and immediately caught the record pike, was 
not lost. Jones was coming toward the fire, and luncheon, 
but before he came within speaking distance I had thought 
the thing out in this way: "William, your-$5 tip from Mr. 
Briggs sounds like an intimation that a tip is not only a 
proper thing, but that a fiver is about the proper size of the 
tip, if a gentleman expects to be put in the way of taking 
many fish. William, you may be innocent enough to be- 
lieve that I know every man in New York who wears a 
'black mustarche,' or has a red setter with only one eye. I 
mistrust that you have created these charactera for my 
benefit, William," and I thought of Sairy Gamp and Mrs. 
Harris, but, by this time Jones arrived with his mittens 
held to both ears and his mustache frozen to his chin. 
After thawing out and eating a generous lunch and drink- 
ing a lot of hot coffee, the effect of the wind was seen in 
drowsiness, and soon Jones was asleep with his feet to the 
fire. 
Motioning to William we left him to visit the holes, which 
were frozen over to the depth of an inch or more, and 
overhauled the lines and put the tip-ups in working order. 
Four of the baits were there but two hooks were bare, 
which was encouraging; but the holes would freeze before 
we got around to the first one and I hadn't enthusiasm 
enough to stand out there and become frozen, like a hole 
in the ice, and the old man was glad when I decided to go 
to camp. We had been gone nearly an hour and Jones 
•^was still sleeping. We must have slept also, for when 
Jones awoke he was on his feet before we knew it, and the 
fire was low. We visited the lines, found the baits all 
alive and left them for the night, taking to the wooded 
shore to avoid the wind. 
Jones was annoyed by his disappointment, but we 
talked of other things until nearly bed-time, when he re- 
marked: "If the wind goes down to-night we may get 
some fish to-morrow; what do you think?" 
"Perhaps so; I hope so, but I'm not familiar enough 
with the lake to judge. Have you taken many pike here 
in the winter?'' 
"No; never tried it before, but there have been some 
good ones taken in the summer. My friend Briggs took 
one of about lOlbs., trolling, and I took one of about the 
same size, and many others have been caught here since I 
owned the lake." 
William's men were real, at least; and he had merely 
enlarged the weights of the fish. Doubts of William's ve- 
racity vanished. 
"Were we fishing in the deepest part of the lake?" I 
asked. 
"Yep; the most northern hole was over the deepest part; 
as near as I can remember, the water there is about 60ft. 
deep, and it shoals up to about 20ft. at the southern hole. 
That ought to cover the best grounds, hadn't it?" 
"As far as the north and south ranges are concerned, it 
should. But the fish may be in places east or west of our 
line of holes. Pike are very local, merely shifting to the 
weedy shallows in summer, where the food is to be found. 
In my opinion, it's too late in the season, and too cold, for 
pike-fishing through the ice." 
"Don't they feed all winter? I've been told they do, and 
in that case, how does the lateness of the season and the 
cold affect them? Tell me that." 
"That's an easy one. The pike does take food all win- 
ter, but not in such quantities as in summer. The late- 
ness of the season gives us ice so thick that it is a morn- 
ing's work for a man to cut six holes, and our lines froze in 
before a man could visit them and get back to the first 
one." 
"Don't you consider six holes in the best part of the lake 
enough?" 
"Pardon me, my boy, but you have evidently done little 
ice-fishing for pike, and — " 
"You're right! I never did any; the question was asked 
for information, and not for argument." 
"Then," said I, "permit me to say that we do not know 
that the holes were in the best part of the lake. Coming 
to a strange water, I brought tackle enough to fish 100 
holes; and if the weather was mild and the ice only 4 or 
5in. thick, we three men could have cut the holes in two 
hours and tried them for the best places, and after finding 
them, could have let a good portion of the holes freeze up. 
In such a case the skillful ice-fisher gets the ranges of the 
best places, and the next year he can fish the same spots 
without wasting labor on cutting holes where the fish do 
not range." 
'"Then you think we had better try new places to-mor- 
row?" 
'•That is what I would certainly do." 
The wind howled all night, and shook the house. The 
big stove in the best room tried its utmost to warm the 
cottage, but the walls were cold, the furniture absorbed the 
heat, for William and Betsy had only run the kitchen fire 
up to that time, and the furniture absorbed all the heat in 
the air. A country house, the main part of which is shut 
up all winter, can absorb more caloric in its floors, ceilings, 
walls and furniture, than is stored in seventeen tons of 
anthracite coal if burned in stoves in three days. Betsy 
had lighted the fires in the best rooms and the dining 
room about sundown. 
At supper, the warm plates were chilled before Jones 
had carved the roast beef, which he had sent from the city, 
and the tallow on top of the gravy was reminiscent of the 
sudden freezing of the fishing holes which we had left. 
Jones dropped the carver, and with a pitiful look, said: 
"Fred, if you don't mind, we will move our dinner into the 
kitchen where it will be warm. I dislike to ask yon to do 
it, but I think you'll agree that it will be the best thing to 
do." 
"Fred," said I, "that was the very thing I was thinking 
of. No apologies. The case is a clear one; it's a question 
of style or comfort, of a hot roast or a cold gravy, and the 
move will be a good ome." 
Betsey hustled around; whisked the roast into the oven 
while she heated the gravy. Gave the plates and vege- 
tables a turn at the fire, and in a short time we sat dowil 
to a good dinner, smoking hot, in a room where there was 
enough warmth to prevent mastication being interfered 
with by shivering. Of course there was a flavor of stndient 
tobacco smoke in the room, but it was so commingled With 
the odors of departed pancakes that did not exactly tee&li 
Tennyson's lines; 
"The woodbine spices are wafted abroad, 
And the musk of the roses blown," 
But it was just the every-day perfume of a Souhtry 
kitchen, where an old couple live through a hard winter 
and make it serve all the purposes of a city flat, I've 
smelled it before, and so have most sportsmen who have 
gone into the country or who live in the country in winter. 
The kitchen is the living room; and to air it is not to be 
thought of Fresh air is cold air, which requires much 
coal to heat, and neither William, Betsey nor the cat 
wanted too much of it. We mentally agreed with the old 
people that the kitchen was the best room in the house, . 
and there we stayed and played checkers, a game that 
Jones was expert at while I was a duffer. 
We listened to William's glowing account of the game 
and the guns of "hold Hengland." How he used to snare 
rabbits and grouse, the old poacher; and how he "never see : 
a gun in Hamerica as could kill a grouse at 100yds., like • 
was common in Hengland." And so we passed the even- 
ing, listening to the wind and to what William fondly 
believed to be facts concerning the superior guns and ! 
sportsmanship of a land where he had passed his boyhood; , 
but of the new world, in which he had lately arrived, hej 
knew nothing. 
The delights of a country house which has not been\ 
heated all winter have been faintly drawn in this sketchy, 
as far as the lower-floor. We took our lamps and went 
through the "SiberioOs" hall with shivers that no doubt; 
turned the roast beef gravy into tallow in our digestive^ 
organs; but of the awful plunge between sheets in the bed- 
rooms above, which had not been occupied in severali ^ 
months, my pen is incompetent to tell. Those who have$ 
experienced this torture are the only ones who can sym- 
pathize with the victim. No amount of bedclothing cam 
obliterate the semi-consciousness which usurps the placa 
of that gentle sleep so apostrophized by Sancho Panza^. 
The wind blew hard the next morning and I flatl(y die-- 
clined to go on the lake, even to look at the baited liiniesj, 
and told Jones that it was no use in trying toi fi&h while 
such weather lasted. I would stay and try it after the 
wind had let up; and he took me around to the wagon 
maker's, where I saw the drag, aforementioned, and then 
we went to Hawley for provisions and mail. As near as I 
could judge the same old fellows sat around the fire, killing 
deer and bear over again. But of the art of trimming 
whiskers they seenaed to be ignorant. As I drew near the ■ 
stove, one, whose sun-burned, matted and straggling 
beard resembled a wind-tossed wisp of hay, remarked:-; 
"Yes, an' I'll tell ye, 'tain't right fur these city fellers to . 
come up here an' fence in a big trac' o' land an' keep deer • 
shut up fur their own shootin' an' keepin' out folks that's ; 
born and raised here, an' has hunted them hills afore; 
they's born. They say some one broke their fence this: 
winter an' put the dogs through and got five deer. I dunno^ 
who done it, but if I knowed I wouldn't tell." 
This was evidently for my benefit, but the shot was: 
wasted. Another old fellow, with chin whiskers like rope- 
yarn, let fly a stream of tobacco juice at the head ofani 
eagle which was cast in relief on the stove, hit the mark, 
and essayed to follow his partner's lead when Jones came 
along with his bundles and we started for home. Relating 
this to Jones as the sleigh skimmed along, he told me 
that they were probably puzzling their heads to know if I 
was one of the Blooming Grove Park Association, or had 
come up to join him in making a new park. "The old 
fellow," said be, "who told of breaking the fence and get- 
ting five deer was the one who did it, according to all 
reports, but it's best not to interfere with them unless you 
have the strongest kind of a case, and then a jury of their 
neighbors will never decide against them." 
At sundown the wind lulled, but as bed-time approached 
a fear of those dreadful cold sheets appalled me, and I sug- 
gested that wt spend the night in chairs by the fire. 
"Did you undress and get into those cold sheets?" asked 
Jones. 
"I did, most certainly. If the bed had been my own I 
might have 'turned in like a trooper's horse, shoes and 
all,' but I observed all the proprieties in the house of my 
host." 
"Proprieties be blowed," said Jones, "those sheets Betsey 
put on for style; I pulled 'em out and slept between the 
blankets and supposed that you did the same." The hint 
was not lost and I "drifted gently down the tides of sleep,''' 
until "jocund day stood tip-toe on the misty mountain 
tops." 
The still morning, with a warm sun, was a welcome- 
change. We cut out the lines, but the baits were dead- 
New holes were cut on east and west lines, and while they 
skimmed over with ice there was no drift of snow to clog 
them and hasten the freezing. We had thirty lines in the 
water that were fishing by noon and had caught one yel- 
low perch of about a jlb., which, with a rabbit that I killed 
with a pistol in early morning, we cooked for dinner. The 
afternoon brought nothing, although we kept fresh baits 
on the lines and the holes open. 
The experiment had been tried, and at night I insisted 
on returning to New York in the morning, in spite of Jones's 
protests that now the weather was good we should try 
other partsof the lake. I had opposed thetrip, forreasona 
already given, and I did not believe that the interest of my 
employers would be served by a longer stay, and this is my 
judgment to-day, that fishing through ice over lOin. thick 
is not likely to be a success, unless you know the lake and 
where the fish congregate for the winter, 
Fred E. Jones was, and is, a puzzle to me. In this 
sketch there has been an attempt to introduce the reader 
to a man whom he never heard of, and to try and interest 
him in the man, as I knew him. Jones was not a frank, 
companionable fellow. He was a liberal entertainer, on 
this trip and after, but I never felt entirely at home with 
him. Perhaps the fault was not his. If he were living 
he might say the same of me. We are so prone to measure 
other men in our own bushel that we seldom pause to 
think how we would fit into their measures. I am writing 
of a dead man; he was always kind, couiteous and Iriendly 
to me; why should we say more? Yet there was a measure 
of distance between us that never allowed of that close 
