Jtjlt 3, 1897.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
9 
son a magnificent stream for trout. I aeked Mr, Mershon if 
this was a good place to go for the grayling, and he said no, 
but that he knew a much better place when I got ready to 
make the trip. When I inquired where Ms grayling stream 
was he replied with a smile that it was "Up north," for 
which vagueness I do not in the least blame him. There 
seems to be a general regret among Michigan anglers at the 
extinction of the grayling, nor is there any hope entertained 
that it can be restored to these streams. 
Sport on Klnne Creek. 
The morning of our day on Kinne Creek came off very 
clear and hot, so that before breakfast was over we were 
convinced that we should have poor fishing. Mr. Mershon, 
Mr. Brown, Mr. Merrill and myself made a brief trip to the 
headwaters of the stream, the beautiful little lake which I 
have earlier mentioned. This lake is the special fishing 
ground of Mr. Brown, who goes there once in a while with 
minnows and wages war on the bass, which abound in that 
water. It is the wish of the club to exterminate the bass, but 
this is now conceded to be almost an impossibility, since the 
big fellows hold their own with dogged tenacity, Mr. Bxown 
often has good sport taking bass on the fly in the lake, and 
often gets them up to 3^1bs, There are both large and small- 
mouthed bass and large brook trout in this lake, and while 
we were opposite the clear and shallow water of the outlet, 
we saw great droves of big bass, some of them, I should 
think, weighing over 41bs., sculling along in the transparent 
medium, almost as swift and fully as wary as the trout. 
They could see us perfectly, and at the least motion would 
dart away like lightning, the surface of the water being quite 
glassy and unbroken in the calm, hot morning. 
Mr. Brown took me in the boat out over the lake, and in- 
structed me to cast my fly over the black spots, which indi- 
cated the deep spring holes in the lake, where he often took 
some very heavy trout. This I did, though not expecting a 
strike when the water was so smooth, but suddenly and 
much to my surprise there was a swirl and boil, and though 
I struck very tardily, I found myself fast to a nice trout, 
which had swallowed the fly and started down with it. 
There was a yell from Mr. Mershon, who was standing on a 
float inshore some hundred yards away, and who saw the 
bending of the rod. We had a lovely tight of it, and I could 
see every motion of the trout deep down below us in the 
water absolutely clear. The fish showed all the tactics of 
its kind, but could do nothing against the supple rod. We 
could see all the gold and crimson of his rounded sides as he 
came in close by the boat, the screw of his tail working vig- 
orously, his head drawn a little to one side by the pressure 
of the rod. It was the prettiest trout picture I ever saw in 
all my life, and one with ideal surroundings. Our trout 
was what we call a large one in this country, weighing a 
little less than a pound. It was a beautiful specimen in every 
_ way. Meantime Mr. Mershon had taken a fine trout from 
the shore, whence both he and Mr. Merrill could see num- 
bei's of trout and bass swimming not far away in the bright 
water. 
It was about 10 o'clock and very bright and sultry when 
we four left the lake and started to try some of the stream 
fishing below. Then ensued an ideal day of pleasure, though 
not one ideally perfect for trout fishing. The full fascina- 
tion of this seductive form of sport was present. A lovelier 
stream never ran out of doors than this one. Icy cold and 
fed by innumerable springs, it broke and ran and rippled, 
eddied and swirled, lay placid or reached invitingly in all 
those fashions known on no stream save that beloved of 
trout. I found that the creek had been brushed out in a 
few places a little to make fly-casting more practicable, 
though all the wild cover remained untouched along the 
margins. Here and there a board was laid over a boggy 
spring run so that the path along the bank waa easy and 
accessible. Mr. Mershon and I thus lapped over each 
other in our fishing once in a while, going out and passing 
below the man then lowest on the stream, leaving him a strip 
of territory for himself. I confess 1 did very poorly on that 
morning's fishing, and Mr. Mershon seemed to have almost 
equally poor luck. Yet when we got down to where we 
met Mr. Brown on the stream, we found that veteran of the 
charmed fly with half a dozen fine trout in his basket. I 
discovered the trout in this stream to be educated in a high 
sense, and that the man who makes a good basket there 
must be a trout fisherman ia every sense of the word. 
How tVte Trout are- Raised. 
There are two dams and a number of vast pools on the 
upper part of this stream where numbers of large trout are 
taken, usually late in the evening. We stopped for a time 
at some of these pools and paid an extended visit to the club 
hatchery, which is a most interesting spot. Here we saw in 
one pen something like 300 or 300 big trout, each of which 
would weigh from 2 to 31bs. In another pen were some hun- 
dreds of trout a little bit smaller, and so on down to a pen 
full of yearlings. When we threw in bits of food the trout 
would fairly pile over each other in the rush to get to them, 
and this flashing and brilliant spectacle was curious and in- 
teresting enough to hold us for some time. Then Mr. Brown 
took a big dip-net and scooped out a dozen or so big trout 
for us to look at. I can think of nothing handsomer, unless 
it were a bunch of jacqueminot roses. 
This fortunate club has a Httle stream which it caUs its 
"nursery," a cold creek something over a half mile long, 
which rises in the sand and again disappears in the sand. 
Here there are no enemies to the trout, and here there are 
annually planted some 25,000 to 50,000 trout fry from the 
hatchery. At the end of the season there will be about 3,000 
traut left to every 25,000 of the fry placed in the stream. 
These 3,000 yearhngs are then placed in the stream, and 
there are also turned loose, at the close of each season, the 
big breeding trout of the upper pen, some 200 or 300 in num- 
ber, the trout in the next lower pen being advanced to take 
their place. There are about 1, 500 trout in the breeding pens 
all the time. This admirable system results ia a perfect sup- 
ply for the stream, which has more trout in it than any water 
I have ever seen. There is abundance of food in this stream, 
and of course no attempt is made to feed the fish artificially, 
except in the breeding pens, where the large trout are fed on 
liver. As the large trout are turned loose at the end of each 
Reason, and are not caught until the following year, their 
flavor is exactly that of tlie wild brook tiout, and better fi^sh 
than those of the Kinne Creek do not swim. 
About half-way down the four miles or so of fishing water 
there is a screen placed across the creek, so that the fish can- 
not escape down stream. This leaves considerable fishing 
water between the screen and the mouth of the creek in the 
Pere Marquette River. The latter is a good trout stream, and 
contributes its share of trout to the club preserves. Gentle- 
men who have seen the Castalia and Caledonia streams say 
that they are naturally not so good as Kinne Creek, which 
certainly is in a wilder country, and has a less artificial as- 
pect. Indeed , Kinne Creek is simply a wild brawling stream, 
the cast of a fly in width at places, and offering body of 
water and abundant food to give fishing to twice the men 
who now make up the club, and under conditions twice as 
destructive Clearly enough was in evidence here the differ- 
ence between open fishing and preserved fishing. If unpro- 
tected, Kinne Creek, lying close to the railroad as it does, 
would be cleaned out within a year. As it is, it will always 
have trout, though trout educated and wary enough to make 
their capture extremely diflicult. 
Along the bank at intervals I noticed little wooden signs 
giving the names of localities for the sake of identification 
for the purposes of lucid fish narrative around the club fire 
of an evening. Thus I remember that at the point called the 
Five Pines I saw a fine trout feeding and tried to catch him, 
but couldn't. At noon we all rounded up at the big pool 
happily named the "Glory Hole," one of the most noted 
waters on the stream, where a cold run empties into the creek 
from under an awning which has been put up for the shelter 
of warm and thirsty anglers. Near by here also is a little 
shed, put up as a road house for the hungry. Here, in some 
mysterious way, we were joined again by Bonney and the 
club team and the lunch baskets, and had a merry meal, with 
plenty of the best ice water on earth to drink, and the free 
spectacle of leaping trout. In the city it was hot, but here 
on^the trout stream all was fresh and full of pleasure. 
Expert Anglers. 
As I had taken no trout of any consequence myself, I sup- 
posed that no one else had done so, but in this I found that 
I was reckoning without any just premises. Dick Merrill 
and I had fallen into a red-hot nest of trout fishers, and for 
my part I lost any little conceit which I may have had linger- 
ing about me sincf my day on the Sable. Mr. Keena came 
in with a guileless look and a basket swinging down with 
thirty odd trout. Mr. Avery had good account to make, 
though he was not high man this time. Mr. Brown had 
fooled along and taken quite a smattering of tine fish. But 
Mr. Morley, one of the most skillful trout fishers of the club, 
was the lucky member. He modestly said tbat he had only 
taken thirty-seven, and so showed his basket nearly full of 
glorious fellows. Mr. Humphreys had, I was happy to see, 
somewhat the same luck as Mr. Mershon and myself. We 
learned that the Montreal fly was the one the trout were cov- 
eting most that day, and Mr. Morley said that he had left 
the stream with the trout rising very well. He advised us 
to fish up stream, as the trout were very wild, afld to use 
only the finest of gossamer leaders. 
After luncheon we separated and scattered along the 
stream, Mr. Morley and Mr. Avery going to the lower |"»art of 
the creek, and the rest of us clinging more nearly to the 
middle reaches not far from the Glory Hole. Toward even- 
ing the trout began to rise very nicely, and I found that it 
was as Mr. Morley had said, much easier to take them by fish- 
ing up stream than by fishing down. I got but a few fish 
over the size limit, however, nor did Mr. Mershon nor Mr. 
Merrill, as we three were obliged to leave the stream just 
about the time the fish were rising best, since Dick and I 
were obliged to take our train at 9 o'clock, and had to get to 
the car in lime to change into traveling dress. 
As we rode along the top of the bluii' toward home we saw 
Mr. Keena fishing in the stream below us, between the Glory 
Hole and the Five Pines. He called out good-bye to us, but 
shouted to us asking us to wait until he showed ua the big 
trout he had just taken. As he held it up he seemed nearly 
half as long as his arm, though he said he thought it weighed 
only about l^lbs. He said that he had taken this fish on the 
coachman fly, just above the Glory Hole. A little further 
we saw the burly form of Mr. Humphrey mid deep in the 
stream and patiently whipping away. He called out a hearty 
good-bye to us. And so we turned away reluctantty from 
this pleasant stream and its pleasant inhabitants, whether of 
finny or of human sort. 
Since our return home Mr. Mershon has written me, telling 
how the others came out on the evening's fishing after we 
left them. He says that Mr. Avery got a fairly good catch, 
two of them large. He had about thirty-five in all. Mr. 
Keena got yet another large one, nearly as large as the one he 
showed us. He took this in the swift water just above the 
hatchery, a spot which I know very well, as 1 had a vicious 
strike there in the morning which took away my entire cast, 
breaking the leader close to the line. Mr. Mershon says that 
IVIr. Morley still had his luck with him. and took in all sixty- 
eight trout. He is a very skillful fisherman Mr. Avery 
was taken sick on the stream and did not fish very late, 
though the trout were rising well in the best water by the 
hatchery, near the pond. 
This is the last word we have had from this fortunate 
country, though one may be sure it is far from the last 
thought one will have of it. And now comes Mr, Mershon, 
not content with giving us this treat on the trout stream, 
and says that MerriU and myself must come over and shoot 
grouse with him next fall, for that he knows a place where 
they are as thick as trout in Kinne Creek. Verily there is 
somewhat in this Michigan country. E. Hou&h. 
1206 BoYCE BoiLDiNO, Chicago. 
Chicaso Fly-castingf Tournament. 
Chicago, June 21.— Editor Forest and Stream: The Chi- 
cago Fly- casting Club will give an open-to the-world tour- 
nament to be held in this city Aug. 13 and 14, of this year. 
There will be six events, as follows: 1. Long-distance fly- 
casting. 2. Distance and accuracy, with rod not to exceed 
8ioz., at buoys 50, 55 and 60Tt. 3. Accuracy and delicacy, 
with rod not to exceed 5|oz , at buoys 35, 40 and 45ft. 4. 
Bait, with \oz. solid rubber frog, on the lawn in 30ft. court, 
5. Roll casting for accuracy, with rod not to exceed S^-oz , 
at buoys 40, 45 and 50ft 
A championship diamond medal wiU be given the contest- 
ant who has the highest average score of the six events. The 
club will offer as first prizes seven diamond medals. For 
the other prizes we will offer merchandise prizes of various 
values. Fishermen from New York to San Francisco have 
promised to be here and take part in the contests, and we 
feel certain that a large gathering of the most prominent 
ones in the United States will be the result. 
Geo. A. Muebbll, Sec'y-Treas. 
Bluefish Running. 
Good SIZED bluefish are now running in considerable num- 
bers in Great South Bay. Catches of from 60 to 100 per 
boat are reported. Boats can be procured at Sayville, Islip 
and Bayahore, 
NEW ENGLAND FISHING. 
Boston, June 36. — ^Fishing is good at Sebec Lake, in 
Maine, if reports are to be beheved. The lake was formerly 
stocked with landlocked salmon by the Commissioners, and 
now they are captured there in considerable abundance, 
weighing from lib. to Gibs. Recently Capt. McPherson, of 
a local steamer, caught thirteen salmon, trolling, while mak- 
ing his regular trips. 
Sportsmen who frequent Third Buttermilk Pond, in Pisca- 
taquis county, Me., are reported to be indignant at the order 
of the State Fish and Game Commissioners to destroy the 
colony of great blue herons there. The objectors say the 
Commissioners are wrong in supposing that the herons kill 
trout; that their natural food is frogs, snakes and lizards. 
They seldom kill trout; for they are in too deep water, and 
far too wary and swift for the heron to catch. The colony 
of herons at Third Buttermilk is one of the last colonies left 
in the State, a great atjjraction to the neighborhood, and well 
worth a journey to see. About sixty nests have been 
counted there of a season. The Commissioners are reported 
to have given the objectors a hearing, and to have taken the 
matter of destruction in consideration. 
Trout fishing at Lake Gobbosseecontee, Me., is better than 
my first report indicated. A good many brook trout are 
being taken there this year. Mr. Albert Fowler is reported 
to have taken one a week ago of 6ilbs,, and Mr. Frank 
Bartlett one of o^lbs. Mr. Atherton, of Lewiston, took five 
handsome trout in one day. The trout taken are identical 
with those found in the Rangeley waters. As already noted, 
Gobbosseecontee waters have for some time been given up 
entirely to black bass fishing, following the pickerel of years 
ago. But this year it is turning out that there are reallyflne 
trout there. 
Now it is reported that a good many salmon have been 
taken in the weirs in the lower Kennebec, below Augusta. 
It is certain that one fisherman has taken a good many in 
his weir, though he is particularly anxious that no noise be 
made about it, for fear that some restriction will be put on 
his fishing by the Commissioners, or that other people down 
river will be setting nets. It is known to a few that the 
Commissioners have put a great many young salmon into 
the Kennebec, each year for several years, and the wonder 
has been that they have not been taken before. It is well 
known that the Kennebec was once one of the best salmon 
rivers in Maine. I am acquainted with a lady whose great- 
grandfather was drowned while trying to land a big salmon 
at the Ticonic Falls at Waterville. It is possible that 
salmon fishing is to be restored, in part, to the waters of the 
Kennebec. A sportsman, living at Augusta, believes that 
salmon can be taken below the dam at his town, and he will 
try them as often as the opportunity offers. 
Mr. William J. Leckie is just back from a successful trout- 
ing trip with three or fohr friends. They went to the West 
Branch of the Penobscot, and thence to the lakes and ponds 
above. On several of these ponds, with exceedingly hard 
names, they found excellent trout fishing, the fish coming to 
the fly handsomely. But alas for the Maine woods in Junel 
The black flies and the "no-see'ms" were simply horrible, 
the gentlemen coming home blotched and bitten sufficiently 
to last them a lifetime. On most of the black fly pre- 
ventives they had with them the pests would actually feed. 
The minges they could keep away with a smoke, standing in 
it all the time. 
The water is reported to be falling since the fair and 
warmer weather, and better catches of trout are the result in 
many waters. At Middle Dam, Richardson Lake, Mr. 
Jones, who has been there on quite an extended trip, says 
that the flow of water below the dam is much lessened from 
what it was all the last of May and early June, and that the 
fishing has greatly improved. . A trout of lO^lbs. is reported 
to have been taken there, with another of Silbs. At Moose- 
head the fishing is better since the rain ceased, especially fly 
fishing. 
Good fishing is reported at Four Ponds, off from Hough- 
ton Station, on the Rumford Falls & Rangeley Lakes Rail- 
way. A Rumford Falls merchant, in Boston the other day, 
says that the sportsmen of his town are having great sport 
up there, but hardly want outsiders to know it. SPBCiAi. 
MAINE WATERS. 
KiNEO, Me. June 22.— Your Boston correspondent, in an 
interesting review of the spring fishing in Maine waters, 
credited the Maine press with doing "some tall lying" regard- 
ing successes met with by parties, and characterizes the fish- 
ing as anything but good. In his rather sweeping assertion, 
however, are embodied several paragraphs that show the 
sport at old Moosehead very keen, and indeed such it has 
been and is even to day. Old timers who have wet their 
lines in these waters every June, since the lake was reached 
from Bangor only by stage, say that they never have seen 
trout take hold so well, and as a result many have been here 
and many handsome catches have been recorded. The 
heaviest fish was a togue weighing 221bs. and one of the 
best individual strings twenty -two square tails tipping the 
scales at 341bs, Unvarying success has been with the nu- 
merous large parties that have visited the lake and their day's 
catches have run from 50 to J50 square tails and togues, 
aggregating a-j high as 3501b3. Live bait has been and is 
now the favorite, although there are those who have taken 
out good strings with the fly The water is yet quite high 
and is going down slowly. The West Branch is now open, 
and several parties have run down to Chesuncook Lake. 
There is, of course, lots of dissatisfaction expressed over 
the shortening of the season on moose and caribou, especially 
the former, and the Moosehead Guides Association has sent 
in a petition to the commissioners praying for an interpreta- 
tion of the law that may permit killing as heretofore. It 
has been said that one result of the change will be to drive 
sportamt-n into the provinces, but the interior sport there 
will probably prevent any considerable bolt. There has 
also been a deal of kicking relative to the law compelling 
guides to register, but that has had its run and now nearly 
every guide has sent in his name. 
Much interest is being manifested in the scheme to open 
up the region north of the West Branch by an electric line 
to Eagle Lake, and Manager Dennen is in receipt of many 
inquiries from prominent engineers and land owners relative 
to the same. Although no definite steps have been taken as 
yet this spring, it is expected that the matter wiU assume 
tangible form before eai-ly fall. QuiNsiSAiioND. 
The Forest and Strbasx is put to press each week on Tueeday 
Correspondence intended for publication should reaeft us at the 
test by Monday, and a« much earlier aa praetivable. 
