FOREST AND STREAM. 
t March 19, 1898. 
shaded pools, coverts of rock, mossy banks and over- 
liangiug branches. * * * You have also the aid of 
the current in guiding your fly to each coveted spot after 
it toudies the vv'ater." 
These are fair types of dozens of authorities on both 
sides of this long waged and still unsettled controversy. 
And it never will be settled, because both are some- 
tinies right, depending on the conditions of water and 
wind. and sun; the character of the stream; the location 
of hiding places; the nature of the bottom; the trees 
upon the bank; and much on the skill of the fisherman 
himself, and his familiarity with the brook and its deni- 
zens. 
We fish this one down. We get off the train and walk 
home — »that is, to my friend's home, where we are sure 
of an angler's dinner — and it just makes a pleasant day's 
tramp of a half dozen miles. 
We always carry a dozen large black marshworms for 
this trii?, for there are sundry places we remember where 
in the tangled roots of some dead giant of the forest, fast 
set in pools a fathom deep, some of the largest chubs 
have their local habitation; and if we have been indis- 
creet, and frightened them, or they -were not happening 
on that particular occasion to be wandering from their 
own chimney corner, such a delicacy weighted with a 
single swan shot and dropped down into the lair will 
sometimes entice them forth; sometimes we leave them 
the hooks as souvenirs of the invitation, but that's all 
in the play. 
The worm is not perhaps aristocratic, but it will get 
some fish which no other known bait will, and it is an 
old proverb that "not all fish are caught with flies." 
Who docs not recall Irving's story, which is as old 
as Jonah, but which sounds so fresh in his breezy v,ein, 
and seems so real when he vouches for it with such confi- 
dence? "I recollect also that after toiling and watching 
and creeping aboitt for tlie greater part of a day, with 
scarcely any success, in spite of alt of our admirable ap- 
paratus, a lubberly country urchin came down from the 
hills with a rod made from the branch of a tree, a few 
yards of twine, and as Heaven shall help me! I believe 
a crooked pin for a hook, baited with a vile earth- 
worm, and in half an hour caught more fish than we had 
nibbles throughout the day." 
Frank R. Stockton had little faith in this hoary nar- 
rative, for he says of it: "That old story about the 
little boy with the pin hook, who.ketched all the fish,- 
while the gentleman avIio stood alongside of him kep' 
throwin' out his beautifiil flies and never got nothin' — is 
a pure lie." 
But if it was ever true, it might have been of Irving's 
crowd, for the boy was an artist, beside the painful ef- 
forts he describes. 
He retired early from the attempt, and lying on his 
back in the grass, building castles in the clouds, and lis- 
tening to some one else read Izaak Walton, he fell fast 
asleep— and the boj' fished on. 
On one of our later trips we took 150 chubs, hoping 
each one a trout, but returned to the stream all but a 
dozen apiece, which we brought home to show, and then 
placed them where they would do the most good. 
A mile below where we start in, at Glen Carlyn, the 
nin passes close to the station of Arlington, several 
miles in the rear of the old Robert E. Lee mansion. Not 
far from this a little tributary makes in from the north 
called Lover's Run. This flows through the estate, and 
the romantic name of Lover's Tr3'st is still given a 
pretty stretch along its banks, which legend has it was 
a once popular stroll, where Cupid's captives were wont 
to take the air. A couple of miles further down the 
little settlement of Nauk stands upon the site of what 
thirty-five years ago was Convalescent Camp. Remains 
of a rifle pit or two may yet be traced, and between that 
and the river, almost hidden in the post-bellum forest, 
are the ruins of a rather imposing mud fort — a grim re- 
minder to the present generation of the horrors of war, 
but still more interesting as suggesting the strides which 
the art of destruction has made since then, and the revo- 
lution in military methods which the next serious con- 
test will develop. 
The last pool before the rtin enters the marsh at its 
mouth was reached just at sunset on our last trip. The 
shadows were already deepening under the trees. Hastily 
tying on a pair of white millers on No. 6 hooks, three 
doubles, of ^Ib. each, were taken out in almost as many 
nn'nutes — a fitting closing to a glorious day. 
Henry Talbott. 
Moosehead Lake Streams* 
Report of the Commissioners of Inland Fisheries and Game. 
The Commissioners received a petition presented in 
conformity with Chanter 10, Section 76, of the Revised 
Statutes, as follows: 
"We, the undersigned, believing that it will be for 
the interests and protection of our trout, especially 'the 
smaller ones, that are found in great abundance in the 
streams flowing into Moosehead Lake, immediately after 
the departure of the ice. respectfully ask that your hon- 
orable board cause to be closed during the month of 
May, 1898, the mouths of all streams flowing into 
Moosehead Lake, the same to apply to rivers, and that 
all fishing shall be prohibited within twenty-five rods 
of the mouths of such streams and rivers." 
The petition was signed by many guides and resident 
land owners, hotel proprietors and merchants, livi:ig 
in the vicinity of the waters to be afliected. There was 
also a petition presented at the same time asking for a 
close season to be established in all of the inlets of the 
lake from Oct., i to June 10 of each year. 
The hearing, which was largely attended, with much 
earnestness manifested, was held at the Lake House, 
Greenville, March 8, 1898. There was developed a great 
T,"ariety of opinions^ as to what was wanted, some of the 
petitioners advocating a close time in the mouths of the 
twent3^-one streams (tributaries to the lake), extending 
twenty-five rods into the lake, till Jnne i of each year. 
There appeared to be unanimity of opinion as to the 
closing of all the inlets of the lake from Oct. i to 
June 10. 
While fully realizing the great importance of these 
inlets as nurseries to the lake, and being of the opinion 
that they ought to be closed to all fishing all of the 
time, we are of the opinion that no substantial benefit 
would accrue by simply closing them from the time the 
ice goes out of the lake in the spring until June 10. The 
fishing during this time is always good in the lake; and 
it is not until warmer weather, when it is more difficult 
to take fish in the lake,, that these inlets are resorted to 
by fishermen. 
We do not think the possible benefit to be derived 
commensurate with the necessary outlany, and therefore 
do not establish the rules and regulations closing these 
inlets. 
It is a matter of common knowledge that Moosehead 
Lake is the largest body of fresh water in Maine, and 
is resorted to annually by many thousands of people 
from this and other States for purposes of fishing, rest 
and recreation, 
The State annually expends a- very considerable 
amount of money for the purpose of restocking it with 
trout and landlocked salmon, in order to keep up the 
supply of these fish for the ever increasing drainage 
upon its resources. 
The petitioners introduced much testimony tending to 
show that as soon as the ice "went out" from the lak'e in 
the spring the trout, especially the smaller ones, gath- 
ered in large numbers at the niouths of these streams, 
and were taken in destructive quantities by steamboat 
parties and others, to the great injury' of the fishing later 
on in the season. It was claimed that the habits of the 
small trout are so universally known in this respect, and 
taken advantage of by such large numbers of fishermen, 
as to seriously endanger the future supply in the lake. 
The Commissioners, in view of the magnitude of the 
interests involved, and in view of the many earnest pro- 
tests received from citizens of thig State, conclude that 
we are not justified in granting the prayer of the peti- 
tioners to close the mouths of these inlets as prayed for 
by the petitioners. 
The State at large is deeply interested in this matter, 
to say nothing of the large number of non-residents who 
are directly interested therein. 
To close tAventy-one places in Moosehead Lake 
agaij^ist fishing, or indeed to close any portion of this 
great resort against fishing for any period of time in 
which it is now lawful to fish therein, involves the rights 
and privileges of so many citizens of the State that in 
our opinion it is a question that should be dealt with 
by the Legislature alone. 
Lerov I. Carleton, 
Henry O. .Stanley, 
Chas. E. Oak, 
Commissioners of Inland Fisheries and Game. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
The Leap of the Tarpon. 
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, I went fish- 
ing with two friends, and after an all-night journey 
on a sleeping car we breakfasted and changed to an- 
other railroad and rode for the best part of the forenoon, 
and then drove ten miles in a wagon to the water in 
which we were to fish. That, in fact, was about all we 
did do. except to come home again, for we caught no 
fish. We did fish, and we got tboroughly drenched in 
a rainstorm, a"'l the next day we had to take shelter 
from a windstcrm that threatened to swamp our boats; 
but Ave did not get a single fish. The people said we 
were too early for black bass, and that Avas the fish Ave 
Avere after; but that Avas not the real reason, 
for there was a hoodop on us, and the hoodoo 
was in the form of a dress coat and a bright 
red necktie, the latter Avorn by one of my friends, and the 
former packed (so my friend said) by mistake for a flan- 
nel shirt and a pair of fishing .shoes. LTad be Avorn 
his dress coat with his red necktie, I might not have been 
here this night at my desk; but as he only put on the 
red necktie, the hoodoo was fatal only to the fishing, 
and not to the fishermen. 
Little did I think, after that experience, that I Avould 
ever start on a fishing trip dressed in evening clothes; 
but I did, and I noAV write of it as a solemn Avarning 
to others — never, under any circumstances, go fishing 
in evening dress, if you expect to catch fish. If one has 
nothing but a dress coat to fish in, don't fish; and if one 
can only start on a fishing trip in evening dress, don't 
start. Stay where the CA^ening clothes are the vogue 
and have the best time one can, for the fish will not bite 
Avhen such a hoodoo is working. We — and we means 
Merrel N. Goddard and Shell Fish Commissioner 
Edward Thompson, _ both of New York, and the 
Avriter- — Avere entertaining the commanders of two 
of our torpedo boats at dinner at Tampa Bay Hotel, 
and a social function Avas to follow the dinner, so cA^en- 
ing dress was demanded. That was all right enough by 
itself, but we had been invited to go fishing the next 
day, some forty odd miles from the dinner and the 
function, and we had to get to the place before we 
could fish, and the only way to do this was to take a 
late special train from Tampa to Port Tampa, and at 
4:30 the next morning cross the bay on a steamer that 
Mr. Plant kindly offered to place at our disposal, and 
in this way catch a train that Avould take us to Avhere 
some kind-hearted gentlemen Avould be waitipp drive 
us to a point where we could catch Spanish n^js kerel, 
weakfish and redfish or channel bass. There Avas no 
question whatever about our catching the fish if we 
coitld reach the place. We held a meeting and discussed 
the situation. Should Ave attend the function after din- 
ner dressed in knickerbockers and golf stockings, or 
should we omit the function and just get ready 
for fishing in the regular Avay? Our guests would expect 
to attend the function, probably, and if so, that would 
settle that part of it The function AA'as too much of a 
function for us to appear in any but CA^ening dress; no 
excuse that we could dream of would condone the golf 
stocking, and each of the three knew in his heart that 
he was wasting time in proposing anything but a "half- 
tailed coat" and a society smile. Goddard solved the 
problem when he said: "There is but one thing left to 
do; we Avill dress for dinner and attend the function, 
and put our fishing clothes into a portmanteau and send 
it to the train; and after we have attended the function 
we will make a rush for the train at the last moment, go 
to Port Tampa, sleep if there is any time for sleeping, 
and change onr clothes there before we cross the bay." It 
will be readily seen that we did not bring the hoodoo on 
ourselves; it was thrust upon us, and really we should 
not have been held responsible when we reached the 
fishing ground for having a hoodoo secreted about our 
persons. There were people on the train that night that 
no doubt wondered what relation dress coats had to 
fishing rods; but if they did, we did not tell them. 
Our naval friends went aboard their ship shortly after 
■ I o'clock, and Ave went to bed to be called at 4 A. M. 
To this day I am not exactly sitre Avhether Thompson 
really had Eastern time,*and made a mistake, or thought 
tAA^o hours' sleep was enough; but he called us at 3 
A. M. and said he had made a mistake of an hour iii 
his watch. Now there was a watchman to do the watch- 
ing and the calling, and if Thompson had attended to 
sleeping and not to his Avatch Ave would have had just 
one hour's sleep when we needed it. We crossed the 
bay in the dark and got the train and ran up to Clear- 
water on the Gulf, where our hosts were waiting for 
us. Up to this point , we had no idea that the hoodoo 
was getting in its deadly work, and we Hstened to the 
stories of big catches of fish with undisguised joy, and 
for my part I secretly decided that I would not make 
a beast of myself simply because the fish were there in 
shoals ready to bite my hook, but would content myself 
Avith two or three good fish and stop the deadly Avork. 
There has been so much of fish slaughter in Florida for 
the purpose of making big scores that I was deter- 
mined to curb any inclination that led me in that direc- 
tion. We discussed this matter among ourselves finally, 
and all agreed that we Avould take only such fish as our 
friends could dispose of at their homes, and that we 
would take none of the catch back to the hotel. It was 
a pleasant drive from Clearwater to Bayview on Tampa 
Bay, through the pines, Avith doves flying up in flocks 
from the old fields, orange groves and pineapple farms — 
giving eAddence that frost had not visited that region. 
At Bayview a wharf extends far out into the bay, andv 
the members of the party were quickly posted along 
the Avharf, each one fishing as his desires inclined. I 
was baited for channel bass — anything over 2olbs. in 
Aveight — Avhile others fished for other kinds of fish. Our 
hosts told us that it Avas a pity that the wind was blowing 
so hard on shore, for it made the shallow water very 
roily, and that Avas bad for the fishing; but later the 
Avind would probably go down. I began to suspect 
something as soon as I got out on the dock, but I did 
not wish to confess that we had a hoodoo with us, and 
was silent Avhen the gentlemen began to blame the high 
win and roily Avater. Even Goddard and Thompson fell 
in with the wind and roily water theory, and up to this 
moment I am the only one of the entire party that knows 
why we got no fish that day; but it has become a burden 
to my conscience and I am forced to make a confes- 
sion, that the Avater and wind may no longer be held 
responsible. When I was fully satisfied that the hoodoo 
Avas actually at work I reeled in my line and went on 
shore. Goddard says I went ashore to take a nap; 
that he was no half-day fisherman, but Avould perch on 
that Avharf until the sun went doAvn. It was not in my 
heart to tell him the cold truth, and I let him fish on, 
hoping all the time he would not first fall asleep and 
then into the Avater. It is true that I did take-a nap, 
and it was a very good nap and quite refreshing after a 
Aveek of staying up o' nights; and after the nap I sat 
on the shore with one of our hosts watching a school of 
porpoises directly in front of us in the bay. The por- 
poises rolled nearer and nearer to the shore, and the 
gulls screamed overhead in a great flock, when sud- 
denly out of the water can>e a mass of silver in the form 
of a fish that glistened in the sunlight. My friend ex- 
claimed: "See that tarpon!" But I had seen the fish 
the moment it appeared. The jump was not a great 
one, but quicker than I can tell it the tarpon made a 
second leap, greater than the first, and almost instantly 
a third leap, and that Avas a corker. The first and sec- 
ond were simply to get in motion for the third jump, 
Avhich seemed to be like Reuben Leonard's cast at 
Madison Square Garden — a record breaker. That leap 
of the tarpon w^as alone worth all the night ride, loss 
of sleep, lack of breakfast, and other minor discomfotts, 
and it almost seemed as though the leap was made for 
exhibition purposes alone. As I sat on shore the fish 
was broadside to me, and those on the wharf saw him 
head on, but every one knew it was the silver king taking 
exercise. Well, that was all Ave got of fish— just a leap 
of a tarpon, nothing on our hooks. Goddard_ said if 
the water had been clear we might have hooked a tar- 
pon, but we would not have hooked a tarpon had they 
been there as thick as range cattle at a round-up. foV 
the hoodoo was safely packed in the portmanteau, and 
when he reads this he will for the first time know that 
the water and the Avind had nothing to do Avith our ill 
luck. Thompson did try to convict me of driving all the 
fish out of the bay by snoring when I Avas asleep, but 
this claim was not tenable, for I did not take a nap 
until after luncheon, and there were no fish in the morn- 
ing; and furthermore, as T can easily prove, I never 
snore CKcept when I sleep very soundly. No; I have 
given the only and true reason for our lack of fish— it 
was the hoodoo, and it is the only hoodoo (dress coat 
and red necktie) that I firmly believe in. 
Joe Jeffcrson^s Tarpon Rod. 
This is not written to be read by tarpon fishermen, if 
they are at all sensitive, but even to a man up a tree I 
think it will be admitted that a tarpon rod is not a thing 
of beauty when compared with a single-handed trout rod 
made for fly-casting. It is a sturdy, robust tool, all right 
enoup-h for what it is intended to accomplish; but to 
one who fishes chiefly Avith a fly for trout or salmon 
the tarpon rod always seems odd. Goddard and I Avere 
talking of fish and fishing Avith Joe Jefi'erson at St 
Augustine. Mr. Jefferson had just arrived -from the 
North, and we were about leaving the South for the 
North, and were having a little fish gossip about what 
Ave had not done and Avhat Mr. Jefferson expected to 
do, Avhen I mentioned the leap of the tarpon in Tampa 
Bay. The veteran actor and angler smiled and asked: 
"Did T ever tell yon about the tarpon rod Sandy sent 
me?" NoAV the Sandy referred to is a most accom- 
plished salmon and trout angler, and with Mr. Jeffer- 
son OAvns a portion of a salmon river in Canada. He 
has an abiding faith in the rods made by Forest & 
