CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Chlcasro Fly-Casting Records. 
CJhicago, 111., Sept. 24. — Following taWe shows the indi- 
vidual season recordsof competing members of the Chicago 
Fly-Casting Club: 
Total. 
W.H.Babcohk 
I. H. Bellows.. 8:i"7j^- 
B. W. Goodsell SSi's^o 
E;D.Letterman 
C A.Lippincott 
CG. Ludlow... ^ei'Mjii-jo 
G. A. ]yiTirTeU..8i"3jaji 
H. A. JTewkirk , 
F. H.Peak;.. 
F. N. Peet 8935^8 
H G.Hascall 
M. D. Smith 
H. W. Perce 
LongDis- Distance Acc y and Bait Cast- 
tance atidAcc'y, Delicacy, ine, 
Fly, Ft. Per Cenc. Per Ceut. Per Oent. 
7% 
93M 
801 
75 
88"" 
oa-,0 
8^''>ao" 
80«^so 
8I3I3" 
75-%„ 
8;2s-",r" 
^3 
813^0 
78".o 
88.!i.j„ 
Holders ot medals are: Long distance fly, F. N. Peet; distance and 
accuracy, B. W. Goodsell; accuracy and delicacy, W. H. Babcock; 
bait-casting; F. H. Peak. 
Closing the Season. 
On Sept. 11 the Chicago Fly-Casting Club held its last 
contest, a re-entry event, held to allow completion of sea- 
son scores by members who had been absent at earlier 
contests. The day's records were as follows: 
W. H. Babcock, 
I. H. Bellows. 
J 9.5 
1100 
0. A. Lippincott -j 83 
a. A. Murrell 
H. A. ITewkirk . 
90 
(69 
J ti% 71 
180^ 7956 
! 
86J^ 
90^ 
84^ 
78% 
8£M 
88M 
78^, 81 
76^ 78 
(80^ 
"1 
90 96=6 
F. H. Peak 
F. N. Peet 
J. E. Strong. , . . 
H. W. Perce.... 
M. D.Smith..,. 
107 
85 
94^6 96 
9315 66 97^5 
9485 S6\ 
97 
1 74 ^'a 
1 7a<,, 
The club weeMy contests will be resumed May 15 next. 
Monthly club meets will be held during the winter sea- 
son, the members meeting at little dinners as they did 
last year. At the first of these meetings, Oct. ]5, the sea- 
son prizes will be awarded as per above record. Ttie record 
this year shows improvement over last year in casting. 
The club expects increase in membership before this time 
next year. 
Minnesota Muscallunge. 
Mr. R. B. Organ and wife are back from their visit to 
Minnesota, both looking well and happy. Mr. Organ, as 
I stated earlier, went up with Mr. M. Whitcomb, of Min- 
neapolis to try the muscallunge fishing above Park Eapids. 
They were out about twenty miles from Park Rapids, on 
Man Trap Lake, in camp, and fished only three mornings 
and two evenings, yet they caught thirteen muscallunge 
of the prettiest sort Mr. Organ ever saw — the famous "gray- 
spotted" muscallonge peculiar to that region. The largest 
fish weighed 201bs., two reaching that weight, and the 
smallest was 11 lbs. The fish were beauties, and fighters 
from away back. Man Trap Lake has a little matter of 
300 miles of shore line, and is the crookedest body of 
water on earth, so Mr. Organ thinks. It is in the heart 
of a great sporting country, lumbers of partridges were 
seen, but of course were not molested. More and more 
we hear of Minnesota as a sporting region. 1 have still 
more to say about it later in regard to moose. 
Mr. Organ calls to my attention an article printed a 
while ago in Forest and Steeaji complaining of the extor- 
tion in hotel charges and livery hire at Park Rapids. He 
says he cannot imagine how this idea got out. He found 
the Park Rapids hotel, the Great Northern, very comfort- 
able and not extortionate at all. They paid 50 cents a day " 
for boats, and $3 a day for a livery team with a driver. 
These rates are, if anything, below the usual pine woods 
schedule, especially the team hire. As to the hotel, it 
happened that while I was at St. Paul 1 met the owner of 
this hostlery, Mr. J. H. O'Neil, and was introduced to him 
by Warden FuUerton as being the right sort of people. I 
am sure he looked all right and acted all right, and didn't 
look in the least hungry himself. Neither Mr. Organ nor 
myself wouM hesitate about tackling Park Rapids the first 
minute we jot a chance. I would rather live there -than 
at my club, even though they may not have revolving 
round seats at Park Rapids. 
Wonders of Wisconsin. 
The wonders of Wisconsin as a fishing country are ap- 
parently inexhaustible, as I have occasion this week to 
remember through different reminders of the opening 
fishing season of the fall. My friend Mr. F. B. Htmting- 
ton, traveling auditor of the AYisconsin Central R. R., has 
been out for a fishing trip at Pike, Turner and Round 
lakes, parts of the grand Fifield chain of waters, and he 
says the place is ideal, offering pike, 'lunge, ducks and 
partridge as one prefers. He took a lOlhs. 'lunge in less 
than ten minutes after he began to fish, and all had good 
luck. Of the party were Messrs. C. E. Wilson, W. S. Tar- 
rant; W. 0. Mumford, G. P. Joachim, S. G. Brown and 
Eddie Cooper. 
From Eagle River, Wis,, Mr. H. Iv, Frost writes me most 
enthusiastically about the sport at that point. He says 
that at his stopping place fourteen fish ('lunge) were taken 
in three weeks, the smallest weighing lUlbs., the largest 
391bs. (I give his weights). "The lucky anglers," says Mr. 
Frost, ''were: F. B. Stone, Chicago, one; Joe Flanagan, 
Chicago, one; E. J. Wirtz, Chicago, four; Dr. and Mrs. Jl 
H. Low, Chicago, one each; J. H. Thompson, Benton, 
Wis., one; H. Deardorff, Kansas City, Mo., one; Mrs. R. S. 
Johnson, Chicago, three; Mrs. S. M. Zimmerman, Musca- 
tine, la., two. 
"One bass weighing over 61bs. was landed last week. 
Among the successful bass fishers are Messrs. Everett, 
Smith, Kennedy, of Chicago; Deardofl" of Kansas City; and 
Raum, of Peoria, 111. 
''The partridge season opened with a rush along the 
Eagle waters, D. F. Raum, of Peoria, 111., being as yet the 
champion. Ducks are not very plentiful, the weather 
being too warm, but everyone tells me they are legion 
when the season grows colder." 
Early in September General Passenger Agent James C. 
Pond, of the Wisconsin Central Lines, took up party of 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
friends to the Fifield lakes, and they had a great trip, all 
. taking fish to the limit of desire. Among the party were 
Col. C. A. Ware, of St. Louis; Col. H. E. Thompson, of St. 
Louis, general passenger agent of the Missouri Pacific; B. 
Wilson, of Chicago; Frank Scott, ticket agent at the Audi- 
torium, Chicago; Ban Johnson, president of the Western 
Baseball League; M. Lawrie, of Chicago, and G, K. Thomp- 
son, ticket agent of the Wisconsin Central, Chicago. The 
party had good luck with the rod and brought away 
plenty of fish. 
l^ast week a big Milwaukee party returned after a week 
on Crab Lake and Manitowish chain, and report taking 
250 bass, 150 pike and 33 muscallonge. The largest 'lunge 
weighed ISlbs. Among others were the following in this 
party: F. P. Eymen, commercial agent of the Chicago & 
Northwestern Railroad; W. D. Cantillon, assistant division 
superintendent of the same road; Charles Thompson, con- 
tracting freight agent; Conductor Michael White, J. L. 
Beals, Houston O'Neill, W. B. Simpson and W. H. Simp- 
son, of the Northwestern Fuel Co. 
Ex-Judge Lorin C. Collins, of Chicago, and M. H. Talbot, 
of Indianapolis, Ind., have just returned, after two weeks' 
fishing in the vicinity of Minocqua, Wis. They took 
twelve muscallunge, ranging from 18 to SOlbs.; the largest, 
47in., while not weighed, was thought to have run over 
SOlbs. 
Numerous catches of small-mouth black bass were made 
in Tomahawk Lake, and some large pike. In two days 
they caught thirty small-mouths, running from 1 to 3ilbs., 
four of the catch weighing 151bs, In Storm Lake they 
made good takes of bass and pike, two of the pike weigh- 
ing 8 and lOlbs. When the latter was hooked it was a 
question for several minutes whether or not it was a mus- 
callonge. 
The gamiest muski' caught by Judge Collins weighed 
221bs., and it took thirty-five minutes to land him. During 
the fight it snowed qtiite hard and the wind came in 
gusts, making the whole affair interesting from a meteor- 
ological, as well as from a piscatorial standpoint. 
The Largest Muscallonge. 
The largest muscallonge of which I have word this sea- 
son is oneof 361bs.,takenat Kabekona Camp, Minn., unless 
I credit the indefinite statement made above by Mr. Frost 
for Eagle Waters, in regard to which I should like further 
details. 
The Largest Trout. 
The largest trout of which word has been noted is the 
mountain trout recently taken by Mr. C. Brown in the Gun- 
nison River of Colorado, 121bs. even weight. This fish was 
taken on a No. 6 Coachman. The trout measured 28in. in 
length and 20in. in circumference. 
The Largest Whlteflsh. 
The whitefish is not a game fish, but a certain interest 
attaches to the capture of a whitefish so heavy as 13 Jibs,, 
the weight of one taken by James McCann in his lake 
nets near Charlevoix, Mich. Of late years the biggest 
whitefish have never been taken below Lake Superior or 
the less fished waters of some of the upper and less known 
lakes, such as the Rainy Lake or Lake of the Woods series. 
Violators. 
Ten nets, 1,000ft, in all, were destroyed by fish wardens 
Seaman and Jorgensen at the mouth of the Upper Fox 
River this month. 
At Kalamazoo, Mich., Warden Watkins secured con- 
viction against James Munson for gill netting in Paw Paw 
Lake. James Donovan and Geo. McGuire were fined for 
using set lines at an earlier date. Warrants are out for 
Sam Parrott, Will Lacoine and five others. 
Indiana Law Constitutional. 
The new fish and game law of Indiana has bad a test 
case, and has been decided constitutional by the Supreme 
Court of the State. The case was that of David Lewis, of 
Lake county, who was fined 675 for having in possession 
a gill net. Possession is, tmder the new law, held to be 
prima facie evidence of intent to violate the law. He was 
convicted im the Circuit Court, and took the case up. On 
Sept. 23 the Supreme Court handed down a decision con- 
firming the decision of the lower court, and setting at rest 
all question of the constitutionality of the law. It is hard 
not to be allowed to fish with a net in this land of the freo, 
and of course it does seem unconstitutional when we can't 
all do what we want to; yet, from now on, it looks as 
though Mr. Lewis would have to do as the rest of us do, 
and come down to plain worms and a sinker. 
E. Hough. 
12CB BoycE Building. Chicago, 
[Oct. 2, 1897, 
Boston Fishermeu. 
Boston, Sept. 25. — In less than a week from this date the 
open season on Maine deer will be on— Oct. 1. Preparations 
and expectations were never so great — all looking in that 
direction. Hundreds of gunners from Boston alone will visit 
that State. Some are to go early and others will wait until 
the leaves are off the trees, and others till snow comes for 
tracking. Mr. N. C. Mauson, with a party of three, is off 
for Camp Leatherstocking, Richardson Lake. He will 
doubtless get a deer the first day out. E. Frank Lewis, of 
Lawrence, with two shooting friends, wiU leave for the 
Maine woods early this week. He goes to a camp in Lee, or 
rather an abandoned farm there. He says that he would 
rather take the picture of a buck than to shoot it, though 
doubtless the party will lake a deer or two for camp use. A 
novel idea is used by him on his trips for camp beds. A few 
wool sacks are taken along. These are filled with straw, 
boiJghs or dried leaves, whichever happens to be the best 
and most available. Hence a good bed for every owner of 
a sack. 
Still the smelt fishers are getting good sport all along the 
coast, with plenty of smelt, for those who know the grounds 
and have boats and boatmen, Codflshing also gives a good 
deal of satisfactoiy sport and outing to many Boston mer- 
chants who have not the time for long fishing trips. Mr. 
W. Dodd is the champion cod fisherman among the Boston 
stock brokers, and has made a number of large catches this 
season. Mr. Mathew Luce is a lover of codflshing, and 
spends considerable time at the sport. He has an excellent 
boatman, and fishes off Cohasset. He says thatjthe season will 
soon be at its best, and he expects to make a good record. 
He fishes only for sport and recreation, and yet he has taken 
in all many thousand pounds of codfish, AH the fish he 
takes are saved, and what he does not want for his own use 
go to gladden the hearts of his many friends. 
The salmon fishermen are all at home from their rivers, 
Mr. D. H. Blanchard and his fishing friend, Keeler, are to be 
seen in Boston again, after several weeks on the Northeast 
Branch of the St. Marguerite. Mr. Blanchard took the big- 
gest salmon this summer he has ever taken — 381bs. — the 
largest by a ^Ib. that he has ever killed. But after all the 
fishing was poor, neither Mr. Blanchard nor his friends get- 
ting more than half the salmon they have generally taken. 
Too many nets in the river below are believed to be the Cause 
of the poor fishing. Mr. Blanchard's idea is that under the 
Liberals about everybody has been allowed to put in nets. 
He hopes for a change for the better. 
The coming Food Fair, opening in the Mechanics' Build- 
ing early in October, is to have a_ genuine log cabin from 
Maine, with real live guides. The hunting resources of that 
State are to be well illustrated, and a deer fresh from the 
woods is promised for about every day. Tenison and other 
game is to be served. Special. 
EARLY GRAYLING DAYS. 
Mk. Mather's sketch of Len Jewell, as among the intet- 
esting "Men I Have Fished With," calls up some memories 
of the past. 
1 knew Len Jewell in the 80s, having lived in Bay City at 
that time. Jewell boarded for a while at the old Campbell 
House, in which hostelry I yelled: "Front!" as i came to 
know him — not well, but in a way. Plain, reticent, preoc- 
cupied, he seemed to live alone in a world of his own. No 
one appeared to be on familiar terms with him, but all spoke 
well of, and respected him. He was a man who minded his 
own business, and evidently expected others to do the same. 
Mr. Mather's mention of grayling fishing on the An Sable 
reminds me. Early in the 70s I was in the employ of a lum- 
ber company whose operations were on that stream. My 
duties as scaler kept me at the "banking ground," or "roll- 
way," where the logs were rolled from the sleds into the 
rivtr. 
I knew nothing of the fish in the streams of that section, 
having lived before then in the southern part of the State; 
but my love of fishing and fish led me to investigate, .and I 
discovered the waters to be teeming with what the lumber- 
men called "Sable River trout." 
Although this was in midwinter and the mercury was well 
down to zero, owing to its swift current and tortuous course 
the river never froze over, unless it happened that the chan^ 
nel became clogged or jammed with logs, in which case the 
anchor ice would pack around it and freeze, and in time 
cover the stream. 
When I discovered these fish the question was how to get 
them, for I argued to myself that a few of those "trout" 
taken from that ice water would afford a much needed and 
desirable change from pork and beans, which constituted the 
principal diet of the shanty boys. 
My first attempt to secure them was quite successful. I 
found in the swamps a long, light cedar pole, just the right 
proportions for my purpose. 1 then fastened' a good-sized 
I)ickerel hook to the large end of it, and thus equipped crept 
carefully down to the water's edge, crawled out a third of 
the way across the river on a "wing jam," shaded my eyes 
with my hat and found I was right among them. 
When 1 slipped my pole in the water, the "trout" moved 
.olowly more to the other side (there were thousands of them), 
but after a few moments would return to the channel. 
Lying on my stomach, with rod jammed well on the bot- 
tom to keep it steady, I bided ray time. Soon a good-sized 
fish hovered a moment over the hook, a quick upward jerk, 
and he was impaled and landed. I stopped to examine my 
prize, and while 1 did not know_ then his true name, his 
long dorsal, clean cut, stylish markings and racy proportions 
proclaimf a him to be of royal blood. 1 added several more 
to the string, dressed them, and on my cabin stove fried 
them in pork fat to a turn, and then and there ate my first 
grayling; how delicious they were to an appetite sharpened 
by out-door work, youth and perfect health? 
The snatch-hook was a iuccess, but 1 longed to. feel one of 
those fish on a rod; so rigging up a slender cedar pole with 
line and hook and heavy sinker, and putting in my pocket a 
piece of fat pork for bait, I took my stand on a a bridge which 
spanned the stream a short distance above my camp. 
Through the clear water I could see several good-sized fish 
working slowly up stream near the bottom, and throwing in 
the line, I let the bait down carefully to their noses, and 
waited, hardly daring to hope it would be taken. However, - 
it soon disappeared. " I struck and hooked my fish. Against 
the swift current he threw his strength, and gave me all the 
sport possible with such crude tackle. 1 took three good 
ones, quite enough for my larder that day, and drew upon 
the same source of supply for several weeks with varying 
success. 
At that time there were countless thousands of grayling in 
the Au Sable. A few years alter that, and while I was liv- 
ing in Bay City, Fokebt and Steeam made mention of Seth 
Green and a party going to Germany to secure grayling 
for hatching purposes. Before the party left, however, some 
gentlemen from New York were up in the Au Sable River 
country and discovered that my "trout" were the true gray- 
ling. Immediately following that announcement there was 
a pilgrimage of fishermen to that stream from all parts of 
the count 3^ Large camping parties from Elmira and Bing- 
hamion went there, wiih the result that in two years the 
stream was nearly depopulated of grayling. One party alone 
shipped out l,5001bs. of the beautiful fish, so that for years 
thereafter where they once seemed inexhaustible, good 
strings could only be secured at the mouths of tributaries 
and other quiet spots known only to a few. 
The State passed a protection law, but too late lo stop the 
slaughter. 
I do not know what the situation is now, having long ago 
left those parts, but from friends of mine who fish there an- 
nually I learn that the fishing is reasonably good. 
B, W. Speery. 
North Qakolina. 
Delaware River Bass. 
DiNGMAff's Feret. Pike County, Pa,. Sept. /?2.— This 
morning Mr. J. D. Jais, a guest at the High Falls Hotel, 
caught a bass in the Delaware River weighing 61bs. 13oz., 
measuring 26in. in length. A great many large bass have 
been taken this summer. This beats the record. 
Philip F. Fxjlmeb. 
