ISO 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[AvQ. 14, 1897. 
Ontario Fishing. 
BelletilI/E, Aug. 7. — For the information of Forest 
AKD Stream readers I send a few more notes of fishing in 
this district, taken from the Daily Intelligencer, with dates at- 
tached: 
Avg. 4.— Messrs. Bottum, Foy and Storlts sent to this city- 
yesterday from Bobcaygeon three fine maskinonge, the fruit 
of their first afternoon's fishing. They also caught a con- 
siderable number of fine bass — small-mouths. 
Aug. 5.— The Forest and Stream Club's second fishing 
competition took place yesterday afternoon. Eight boats 
went out, but only seven returned within the time limit — 10 
o'clock. Messrs. T. Purvis and J. Templeton made the 
largest catch — seven — and their three largest weighed e^lbs. 
Mr. William Ormond and Major Casswell, the veterans, got 
the largest fish, 21bs, 14oz. ; their catch numbered six. 
Messrs. A. Tisdale and J. Haslett caught five. Their anchor 
became fastened in a fissure in the rock bottom near Snake 
Island and could not be got loose, so they fished in one place, 
much to their disadvantage. The other boats got no bass. 
Among those who went out, but not engaged in the com- 
petition, was Miss Katharine L. Ward, of New York, and her 
father. Dr. M. D. Ward, Miss Ward caught a bass that 
weighed over 31bs,, the largest of the day. 
Aug. 6. — Messrs. Thomas O'Brien and W. Ward were fish- 
ing tor bass up the bay yesterday afternoon, and they took 
three that weighed over 31bs, each. The fishing seems to be 
better west than east of the city. 
Aug. 7. — Messrs. W. Ormond, Cap Robinson and party 
had a good day's fishing yesterday up the bay. Their catch 
of bass was twenty-six fish, which weighed 451bs. Their 
largest bass weighed 31bs. 13oz. The fish are very gamy at 
•present, and afford fine gpoit to the angler. Messrs, Joe 
Templeton and Dr. McKeown caught three bass and a num- 
ber of large pike yesterday. 
The record given is almost wholly of bass of the small- 
mouth variety. Cartloads of perch, rock bass, pike, sun- 
fish, bullheads, large-mouth bass, golden-eyes, sbad, eels, 
sheepshead, dogfish, chub and other fish are also taken, "and 
now and then" a maskinonge. R. S. B, 
On the Florida Shore. 
, StTmmbr Haven, Fla,, via St. Augustine, Aug. 2.— Editor 
Forest and Streain: This place is three-quarters of a mile 
south of Matanzas Inlet, conveniently located for bathing in 
the surf and for fishing in the Matanzas River. A man is 
lazy indeed who will not net shrimp or small mullet for bait 
and cg-tch sheepshead or striped bass for dinner, or dig clams 
or oysters between times. Mr. Jacob Spence, of Marion, 
Ala., and Mr, J, A. Vertrees, of Palatka, Fla., were fishing 
in the surf for bass one night two weeks ago, when an im- 
mense green turtle at least 4ft, long and wide in proportion, 
came out of the surf, much to Mr. Spence's alarm, who 
thought it a dead body come ashore. It crawled up the 
beach to the bluff above high water and proceeded to lay 
eggs. It was indifferent to tlie presence of men (only it may 
not be touched), and laid 138 eggs in its shallow nest, drop- 
ping some one at a time and some two or three at a time, not 
noticing Mr. Spence when he held his hand under it and 
caugbt some of them. When it got through it made its way 
to the ocean, carrying Mr. Spence, who weighs 2401bs.j 
on its back for about 50ft., and would have taken him into 
the surf if he had stayed on. 
There is some nice bay-bird shooting about here. The first 
seen was a bunch of twenty summer yellowlegs on July 10. 
When a boy, July 10 was the date for first flight of "sum- 
mers" and peeps. Last week, the 28th, I shot seven brown- 
backs (they are almost like Wilson's snipe, except for more 
brown on back and brown on breast), one winter, two grass 
birds, two willet (many willet breed here, they say), one 
beetlehead, two chicken plover, and eight "summers," on 
one tide, and very pretty shooting. They seemed all to be 
on a leisurely flight southward, and decoyed very well. The 
brownbacks were all fat and fine, the others rather thin. 
The last contribution from me, April 24, had an account 
of my shooting snipe in March, which is spring here, I cry 
"Peccavi," and will do so no more, I had been too busy to 
shoot at all for twelve years here till since the freeze, and I 
was behind the times, and have you to thank for very ablg 
and unanswerable articles this spring that should convince 
any one. Caftain. 
A Parmachene Belle. 
Two trout fiishermen were standing at the post office cor- 
ner yesterday afternoon, when a neatly-attired young lady 
happened to pass. 
"There goes a Parmachene belle," remarked one of the 
anglers, provoking a smile on the part of his companion. 
The remark was overheard by a young man who was pass- 
ing, and who at once approached the anglers and asked what 
remark had been made about the young lady. 
^ "I said she was a Parmachene belle," was the reply. 
"That young lady is my cousin ; now, I should hke.you 
to explain" what a Parmachene belle is, as 1 do not propose 
to have her insulted by any one," was the rejoinder on the 
part of the young man, who was evidently getting hot under 
the collar. 
It took the anglers a few seconds to explain that no insult 
had been intended. A Parmachene belle is a trout fly made 
of white and red feathers; the young lady was dressed alto- 
gether in red and white, and hence the comparison. — Pater- 
son (jy. J.) Ghronick. 
Iowa Fishing. 
Charles City, la., Aug. 2.— Upward of 300 black bass 
have been taken from the Cedar — both above and below the 
city — in July. In most instances live bait has been the 
attraction. We have been having excellent sport with wall- 
eyed pike — more properly speaking pike-perch. The com- 
bined weight of seventeen pike taken from the Cedar by 
Ben Dickman and myself the past eight days was exactly 
63ilbs. Sixteen caught by S. G. Pickett, two years ago in 
the same locality, weighed 52i^lbs,, taken with a phantom 
minnow with nine hooks — at present an unlawful bait — 
while this catch was made with the fly— one hook — and 
spinner above, as bait. Vaute Simmokds. 
German Carp in Erie Canal. 
LoCKPORT, N. J,, Aug. 7. — ^For the past few days there 
has been an unusual number of German carp caught from 
the Erie Canal in this city. On Thursday some boys were 
fishing at the head of the locks when one of them took a 
41b. carp. Shortly after another lad took one weighing 61bs., 
and durmg the forenoon more than a score were taken, weigh- 
ing nearly lOOlbs. When it got reported about the city that 
many big fish were being caught, the anglers turned' out in 
force, and during the afternoon over forty carp were taken. 
Yesterday Bert Murphy while fishing near Prospect street 
bridge took a carp weighmg lOjlbs. ^But the largest of this 
species was reported in the Union-Sun last week as taken 
from the wide water below the city, and weighing 27ilbs. 
It is thought that the dredging of the bottom' of the canal 
about three miles above the locks has disturbed these fish and 
driven them down the canal. Whether or not that is the case, 
never before has anything like the number been taken. 
J. L, Davison. 
The Nepijvon River. 
Port Arthur, Can., Aug. b.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
Fishing up the JSTepigon River ic at its height. There are 
quite a number of tourists this month visiting, among them 
Mr. Dabney ■ Carr, of St. Louis. A party of six, Mr. Geo. 
KsUog, Mr. John Kellog, Mr. F. R. Greene. Mr. W. K. 
Greene, Mr. D. W. Shuler, Jr. and Mr. H. 0. Chase, all of 
Amsterdam. N. Y., have just returned after spending three 
weeks of enjoyment and sport; they were up as far as Lake 
Nepigon, and have caught all the speckled trout they want 
this season, among them were some 5 and 61bs. weight. 
I am sorry to inform you that the first fatality for years . 
took place on Wednesday. Rev. Alex Grant and Mr. 
Archie McDougall, of Winnipeg, started up the Nepigon 
River in a canoe together without a guide, and in trying to 
ascend the first rapids, about seven miles up, their canoe 
upset and Mr, Grant was drowned. He leaves a wife and 
family to mourn his loss. John E, Newsome. 
Weakfish at Giffbrds. 
New York, Aug. Editor Forest and Stream: For any 
one fond of salt water fishing there is no bitter place to go 
than Giffords, on Princess Bay, Staten Island, where you are 
reasonably sure of a mess of fish. 
Mr. Fitzgerald has a large number of good boats to hire, 
and bait for sale (most of the time) during the season. At 
the hotel Mr. Gilles will serve meals at all hours and attend 
to the wants of his patrons in a satisfactory manner, Morris 
will direct you to the likely places, if you are not famiUar 
vpith the grounds. 
Saturday, July 31, G. W, Price and I spent the day there 
(as we have been in the habit of doing for several years), and 
had a pleasant outing. We caught sixty- four weakfish, 
thirty-one of which, being lightly hooked, we put back into 
the water uninjured. P, A, M, 
"That reminds me." 
CHARLES. 
Charles is a very good sort of a fellow. In many re- 
spects he is much like me, but his disposition is not quite so 
sweet as mine; in fact, it was his lack of a forgiving dispo- 
sition that finally caused a coolness to spring up between us, 
Not, however, upon my part, as I have never laid up any- 
thing against him, but of this, more hereafter. 
When 1 first met Charles, we were about ten years old. 
His family had juat moved into the neighborhood, and my 
mother gave me a big, red apple and advised me to go over 
and give it to Charley. Upon my arrival at the house, I in- 
quired for Charley, and was told bj his mother that there 
was no Charley at all, she had but one boy and his name 
was Charles. This struck me, and as Charles was close by, 
I remarked that the apple was sent to Charley, but as there 
was no such a boy here, I should have to eat it myself, and 
at once toot a big bite out of it. She went into the house, 
and Charles sidled up to me, and with a longing look at the 
tempting fruit, said that I could call him Charley when she 
was not present, if I wished. This set matters straight, and 
we were from that time the best of friends, until that unfor- 
tunatre coolness on his part rather put a damper upon our 
friendship. But of this, more hereafter. 
Both Charles and I were very fond of fun in almost any 
shape, and we managed to get a little amusement about 
every day, and some days we had enough to last any reason- 
able boy a week ; but we were not always reasonable, and 
did not wait a week before we had something else going. 
As time went on, similar tastes developed in Charles and 
myself that cemented our friendship, and we were almost 
constantly together, . 
Hunting and fishing were our delight, and innumerable 
trips in pursuit of our favorite sports occupied nearly all our 
time from early spring until late winter, and there was not 
a stream or covert within many miles of our home that we 
did not pretty thoroughly explore. We nearly always got 
along very well together, but as both Charles and I were oc- 
casionally given to practical jokes there v^ould once in a 
while a coolness spring up between us when the joke was on 
Charles, for, as I have before remarked, his disposition was 
not quite so sweet as mine. 
I well remember one day we were shooting in the Johnson 
cover, some three miles from home, and as we neared the 
end Charles proposed that I should go and get the team just 
below, while he worked out a run that ended near the road 
above, where he would meet me. To this I agreed, and went 
for the team and started toward the place of meeting. As I 
descended into a hollow that hid me from the sight of 
Charles an inspiration seized me, and giving the horse three 
or four cuts with the whip and shouting whoa at each stroke, 
we went through the hollow and up the rise past Charles 
upon a keen run, while I was apparentlj^ doing my best to 
stop, and Charles was laughing and having lots of fun at my 
expense. How long he enjoyed himself I never knew, as 1 
kept right on home, and when I saw him the next day he 
was so grumpy that I did not bring up the subject, but only 
grieved in silence that his disposition was not more like 
mine, for I was not put out in the least. It was this unfor- 
tunate disposition of his that finally caused a coolness to 
spring up between us, particulars of which I will give fur- 
ther on. 
Perhaps I may as well give the sequel to the runaway, epi- 
sode, when the joke was on me. About, a half-mile from 
our home was a beautiful cover, but it was on the other side 
of the river, and we had to go nearly three miles around by 
the bridge in order to get there. A few days after the run- 
away, Charles came over and proposed that we try this cover, 
saying that his uncle had gone away and left the key to his 
boat, which was nearly opposite the house, and by using it 
we could save the time and travel usually spent in getting 
here This suited me, and we were soon on the way. 
Whdh we reached the other side, we drew the boat ashore in 
a little cove, and hid the oars under a fallen treetop. After 
working out the grounds, we turned toward the boat. 1 no- 
ticed that Charles was walking rather fast, but thought 
nothing of it, and allowed him to get some little distance in 
advance, and he arrived at the boat some 50yds. ahead of 
me, when he at once pushed it into the water, and giving it a 
mighty shove he jumped in, and was some distance from the 
shore before I saw the point, of the joke. When I did catch 
on, I was unhappy for three or four seconds; but as I saw 
him rise in the boat and look for the oars my sadness fled. 
The expression of his countenance as he cast a furtive glance 
in my direction would have amply repaid me for three times 
the t};avel that he had forced me to take. I had to laugh, 
but as I did not wish to hurt his feelings, 1 lay down behind 
a bush and had a most enjoyable time; then I crawled to the 
oars and dragged them to another treetop for fear that they 
would not be quite safe so near the river. By this time 
Charles had drifted down stream some distance, and I fol- 
lowed on, keeping out of sight, taking solid comfort in wit- 
nessing his experiments in navigation. The momentum of 
that vigorous push had carried him nearly half way across, 
and as the current here set toward the other shore, he re- 
mained about in the middle of the river, in spite of his 
efforts to get back by using his gun as a paddle; but he was 
fast drifting down the river, and as I crossed the bridge I 
saw him just coming round the bend and noted that he had 
changed his tactics, and was pulling for the other shore. I 
went home and did not see Charles for two or three 
days, and as he appeared to be out of sorts about something 
when we met, I made no inquiries as to the outcome of his 
voyage; but when his uncle came back I went with him to 
get the oars, and he told me that Charles got ashore about a 
half mile below the bridge and found a bit of boa.rd, with 
which he paddled back to where we left the oars, but could 
not find tdem after a long search, and finally went home, 
arriving about 10 o'clock, very tired and, his mother said, 
very cross. 
Charles was grouty for more than a week, while I, the 
victim of his joke, did not display any temper, nor even 
have any hard feelings toward him. This will serve to 
show the difference in our dispositions, a difference that 
finally caused a coolness between us oq his part, but not on 
mine, the particulars of which I will now proceed to re- 
late. 
In our exploring expeditions we often discovered capital 
shooting grounds. ■ One of the best of these resorts was quite 
a large tract of woodcock cover, nestled in a quiet nook 
among the hills some twenty-five miles from our home. 
Upon our first visit we struck the bonanza just after lunch, 
and after an hour or two of capital sport we decided to look 
up a lodging and stay all night, and give the grounds a more 
thorough examination the next day. We were fortunate ia 
finding a farmhouse nearby, and still more fortunate in find- 
ing in the genial farmer and his pleasant wife a host and 
hostess whose cordial welcome made us feel at home at once. 
There was also a pretty girl — Charles said very pretty - of 
some thirteen or fourteen summers, who also welcojned us in 
a shy way that was very fascinating — to Charles. Now I 
was rather susceptible to female charms, not blindly nor un- 
reasonably so, but still I had in my heart a warm comer for 
the dear creatures, and to this day I like to sec a pretty girl. 
Charles was very like me in this respect, only a ^reat "deal 
more so, and while I worshipped at a proper distance, he, 
poor fellow, often fluttered near enough to get singed. But 
I am again wandering from my subject. 
For three successive years, early October saw us the guests 
of our worthy friends, but after this, owing to the afore- 
mentioned coolness upon the part of Charles, our visits to 
the place were not made in company. It was upon our last 
trip together there that the trouble arose^ that caused the 
coolness of Charles. 
Upon our arrival at the house, about sunset, we found the 
farmer and his wife all ligged out to attend a lecture at the 
village, seme two miles away, and in spite of their determin 
ation to stay and take care of us we insisted upon their going, 
and finally persuaded them to leave us in charge of the 
daughter that I have previously mentioned, and, after many 
injunctions to the young lady about our supper, they started 
for the village. Charles and I were both handy about the 
house, and we had quite a merry time getting supper and 
eating it. I could now see, without any coaching from 
Charles, that the girl was very pretty. What he thought 
upon the subject I could only guess at, and I distinctly 
remember guessing at the time that it would take a lot of 
adjectives to express his thoughts, for he appeared to be a 
goner, sure. He was very attentive, and was so prompt in 
assisting her to clear the table that I took the easy chair and 
just watched them. Charles clamored for a dish-wiper, and, 
as she handed it to him, I overheard the rascal stipulate for 
kisses in payment for wiping the dishes. "Come, come," 
thought I, "this is going a httle too fast and far." But, as she 
blushingly shook her head, I could plainly see that Charles was 
sure of his reward; so I just settled back in the easy chair, 
closed my eyes, and watched them. When the dishes were 
done she began carrying them into the buttery, while Charles, 
seeing that I was asleep, took the dogs' supper and started 
for the barn to feed them. Now, I had been woodering how 
and when Charles was to get his pay, as I was very much 
afraid that some one would drop in and spoil all; indeed, I 
had got quite worked up about this, and was in mortal fear 
that poor Charles would get left. Just then I was seized 
with an inspiration ; my friend should not be cheated out of 
his just dues. I would see that he suffered no wrong, so as 
she again went into the dark buttery I quietly followed her, 
and lightly whispered a demand for those kisses. She coyly 
retreated further into the dark, and as I followed she faintly 
intimated that I might take one. I took it, but as I had 
plainly heard Charles say kisses, I was not going to see my 
dearest friend wronged, so 1 kept on, and as I had no idea of 
the number justly his due, I still kept on, until she pushed 
me away with the rather irrelevant remark that there were 
not more than twenty or thirty dishes, anyway, and that I 
ought to be ashamed of myself. As she thought it was 
Charles, of course 1 did not feel it my duty to take the re- 
mark personally, and as I heard Charles shut the barn door 
I skipped back into my chair, and had just time to get sound 
asleep as he came in. When he entered the room our very 
pretty friend was jast disappearing through the buttery door, 
and before I had lime to tell him that his account was settled, 
he also disappeared through the same door. Just aq I was 
going out of doors I heard a resounding whack, coupled 
with a very energetic "Go along!" and 1 also heard, "Tou 
have already had more than twenty, and you sha'n't kiss me 
again." 
It was a beautiful evening and I wandered some distance 
enjoying the balmy air, the drone of the harvest fly and the 
