FOREST AND STREAM. 
329 
A good run of salmon is looked for there, since some of 
the largest on record were taken and stripped last fall 
at breeding time. The Commissioners also noted a 
greater number than usual at that time on tlie spawning 
beds. Moosehead is expected to clear of ice early this 
year, to be in keeping with the waters of the southern 
part of the State, but still the woods are full of snow in 
that part of the country, with freezing weather nearly 
every night. 
Fishing at Sebago Lake has been even better than 
at fitst l-eported. On the whole nlofe salmon have been 
taken than ever before for the sAtne lettgth of time, and 
though there was a lull in the fishing for two or three 
days last week, still the persistent fishermen were getting 
two or three fair fish each day. The milder weather of 
to-day is expected to start the fishing again. The great- 
est success has been found at "The Bar," so called, not 
far from the mouth of Muddy River. Fully fifty fine 
salmon were taken there in one day — Tuesday last. Mr. 
R, P. Woodman, than whom there is not a greater sal- 
mon enthusiast, returned the other day with a score of 
seven handsome fish, the largest weighing Sj^lbs. He 
is greatly pleased with his success, but kindly attributes 
a good share of it to his guide of many other seasons, 
Kit Shaw. Mr. Woodman says that Kit will work 
all daj^ if there is a salmon ready to bite, and be very 
sure to put his man "on to him." Immediately on finish- 
ing for Mr. Woodman Kit was placed in charge of two 
more Boston fishermen,, at Mr. Woodman's instigation. 
They Will also stop at Crocket's, which point is proving 
to be the best for fishing this year. On his way out, and 
they on their way in, Mr. Woodman met the members 
of the Sebago Club already noted, fourteen of tliem. Mr. 
Fisher, of that partjr, asked him "What luck?" "Seven 
fine ones,'* answered Mr. W. Instantly his words were 
caught up with a shout by the rest of the party, and 
went through the whole car. 
Judge Hobbs. a former fishing friend of the late Judge 
Vil'gin, of the Maine Supreme Bench, has taken the big- 
gest salmon at Sebago so far this year; and everybody 
is glad of it. The Judge declares that the fish "pulled 
like a heifer and jumped pit. out of water several times." 
Dr. Brock, of the Maine General Hospital at Portland, 
has taken a lolb. salmon, and his friends are congratu- 
lating hitrl. 
The "specimen" sent to the Boston Athletic CJlub by 
Guide Douglas, of Kibby Valley Hotel, last week, proves 
to be a loon instead of a bear. The writing was mistaken. 
It got blurred somewhat, and it was easier to read "bear" 
than "loon." But the club is much pleased with the 
specimen, however. Special. 
-Two Thousand Miles for Three 
Days' Fishing. 
Baltimore, April 13. — O. K. Chobee's letter in your 
issue of April 9 reminds me to report to Forest and 
Stream. I left Baltimore with a friend Saturda))-, April 
2, for Florida, and we arrived at Fort Pierce on the In- 
dian River Sunday afternoon — 241 miles south from Jack- 
sonville. Fort Pierce is a short distance from Indian 
River Inlet, and here the best fishing on the river can 
be had. 
Monday rain interfered to some extent with our fish- 
ing, but as we had traveled 1,000 miles for a few 
days' fishing we didn't scare a bit for the rain. The 
wind blew a gale and the sea trout were hungry. The 
sailing and fighting the trout of 6 and lolbs. on an 8oz. 
rod were exciting, and the boat surging along over the 
whitecaps lent- additional zest to the sport. Tuesday 
and Wednesday were a repetition of Monday's catch 
with the exception that on Tuesday we went to the inlet 
and interviewed the red snapper, otherwise greased light- 
ning. 
This day my friend J. C. S. fastened on a channel bass 
of 2olbs., which seemed in the humor to carry away 300ft. 
of line, lod and reel. He, however, stopped the fish, and 
after a fight of twenty minutes brought him to gaff. My 
friend's efforts to stop him furnished me with much 
amusement, and I concluded I did not want any of that in 
mine. "Wait," said J. C. S. "He laughs best who laughs 
last." But the best of the fun that day was when he inter- 
viewed the red snapper. Whiz! sang his reel. "Stop 
him!" cried the boatman. "Stop the devil!" said J. C. S. 
"Can't stop greased Hghtning." And he didn't. The fish 
started shoreward, fouling the line on some mangrove 
roots and parting it. I didn't dare laugh, for he tips 
the scale at 2iolbs., and the water was too deep for wad- 
ing. 
Wednesday he had the laugh on me. We had been out 
but a short time, the wind blowing fresh west-nortla- 
-west, when I had a wicked strike. "Tarpon," said the 
boatman. Away he went, 200, 300ft. "Stop him!" 
"Can't do it; the line on the reel burns my thumb; see 
the smoke from it." I finally checked him so far as to 
•enable me to get control of the reel. "What is it?" I 
asked of the boatman. "Young tarpon," he replied. 
"Can't be," I said; "he did not leap when I struck." 
"Channel bass," said J. C. S. "You now have some of 
my meat. What are you mad about? Bring him to 
gaff. Don't fool away your time." 
Away he goes again, 200ft.; and Ave follow with the 
boat. I finally bring him to gaff after thirty- five min- 
tites of hard fighting— 27lbs. of channel bass and a ton 
of mad fish. "I don't think I ever saw you real mad 
before," said J. C. S. "How do you like it? Do you 
want more of the same?" 
Now I acknowledge I was a little "riled," because 
he had the laugh on me. "No," I said, "if I strike an- 
other steam engine I will cut my line if I can get hold 
of it." 
Half an hour later I had another fight with a 2oIb. 
fish of the same kind. The fighting quality of the chan- 
nel bass is not equal, pound for pound, with that of the 
sea trout. They make many fierce runs, and are diffi- 
cult to control with a light rod, like the one with which 
I was fishing, and with a sea in whitecaps, but taking it 
all in all I have never had the sport discounted in an 
experience of fifty years' angling. Remember too that 
this was my first experience in salt-water fishing. Here- 
tofore my angling has been confined to fresh-water brook 
trout and black bass (small mouth), with very few 
exceptions in ttty early youth. We returned home well 
pleased with our sport and success, with a new skin on 
cheeks and nose, especially the nose, and were rated 
as fishing cranks for traveling 2,000 miles to get three 
day's fishing. Well, well, every man has his hobby, and 
we took a long journey because we didn't want to ride 
our hobby to death. 
Now something of Fort Pierce. We were domiciled 
at the Fort Pierce Hotel with Mr. Frank M. Tyler, one 
of the best of hosts. Mr, Tyler will not only take espe- 
cial pains to make you comfortable and feel at home; he 
will feed you well and exert himself to have you provided 
with ^ood guides for hunting and good boatmen for fish- 
ing. Mr. Tyler is a fisherman for tarpon, and his prowess 
is evidenced in a mounted tarpon of Sft. 6in. and a regis- 
ter of many othets. There is a record of twenty or more, 
giving size and weight, as also by whom_ capttfred, dur- 
ing the season of 1897, which record is placed on a 
blackboard in the hotel office. 
The Gulf Coast cannot claim- all the sport, if sport it 
be, attending the capture of the "silver king." The 
method of capture on the East Coast differs from that on 
the Gulf Coast. On the East Coast they do not "still- 
fish." They troll, and the fish does not swallow the bait 
and hook, as is the case on the Gulf Coast; the fish is 
hooked in the mouth, requiring greater skill in bringing 
to gaff, and in consequence many more escape than 
are captured. Nor do they fish with Mr: Joe Jefferson's 
"billiard cue" (vide Brother Cheney). It seems to me 
the method employed on the East Coast is more sports- 
manlike and to be preferred to that of the Gulf Coast, 
premising that I cared to fish for tarpon; but I freely 
confess I haven't any hankering that way. I wouldn't 
like to be towed all over the ocean coast at night — no, 
nor in daylight — by a big brute of a fish. In such cir- 
cumstances I would cut and run. E. S. Y. 
Fresh-^Water Angling. 
No. in. — Brook Trout (Concluded), 
BY FRED MATHER. 
There is no fly-fisher who is so free from anxiety as 
the angler who is seated in a boat upon a lake. There 
are no overhead bushes to either detain or snatch a fly 
from his line, and but few sunken logs or limbs to look 
out for. Witli a freedom from anxiety there is also a large 
batch of personal comfort in the absence of wet feet 
and the other traditional features of fisherman's luck, 
as well as freedom from too much physical exertion 
which just suits a lazy man, such as I claim to be. There 
are many good people who revile a lazy man, but the 
lazy man usually finds it too much trouble to say, as 
I do, that a busy, bustling, nervous man, who always 
wants to do something when there is no need to do 
anything, is a nuisance of the first water in camp. To 
him action takes the place of thought, and he has no 
pleasure in contemplation of nature in her moods and 
tenses, and therefore has no poetry in his soul. The lazy 
man may not be the most successful hunter, fisher or 
business man, but his compensation comes in getting 
more enjoyment out of life than the hustler who is 
worn out before he has had time to reach middle age. 
Trouting from a boat on a lake is, to me, the very 
poetry of angling. It is a compromise between the al- 
most lethargic angling of the Waltonian school, which 
was content to sit all day in hope to see "his cork go 
down," and the ferocious fisher of to-day who seeks 
to break records and is willing to tramp through miles 
of streams to do it. Fishing records are a modern abom- 
ination; they are supposed to measure the amount of 
pleasure that an angler has had when he answers the 
question, "How many did you get?" or "What was 
the biggest fish you ever caught?" 
Conimuning with Nature. 
To the man who loves to commune with nature these 
questions do not enter into his calculations. Angling is 
merely his excuse for an outing, and the lazy man is 
the one who takes time for such communion and is not 
worried for fear that his catch will not be as great as 
that of some other man. He is not afraid, nor ashamed, 
to say that his catch was very light, but with the mental 
reservation that he had a most pleasurable day. The 
Apostle was not ashamed to say: "We have toiled all 
night and caught nothing." There is no disgrace in 
this. If the fish are not there, or are not feeding, the 
best of anglers cannot make a large catch, and the fact 
that the largest fish ever taken from a certain water was 
taken by you does not crown you as king of all the 
anglers, and is not a thing to boast of, for it was an 
accident. If you had not been there at that time the 
fish would have been taken a few days later by an- 
other angler, and you are entitled to no particular credit 
for taking the largest fish, and its captui-e does not 
place you on a pedestal where you are to, be admired as 
the greatest of anglers. Remember it was merely your 
luck. 
It is not all of Fishing to Fish. 
In my book, "Men I Have Fished With," I credited 
the saying, "It is not all of fishing to fish," to the late 
George Dawson. Its origin has been disputed, but the 
saying will live as long as it deserves to do. The busy 
angler who fishes from the time he can see in the morn- 
ing until he can't see at night may be fond of fishing, 
but misses the best part of it; he keeps count of every 
fish, and knows the exact number in his creel, but he 
does not see the wood duck go to her nest in the hollow 
tree, the mink prowling on the shore, nor does he 
hear the wood pewee nor the tap of the woodpecker; to 
him the fishing is all there is of it. 
Lake Fishing, 
Seated in a comfortable boat on a mountain lake is 
my favorite form of trouting. No boatman is needed, at 
least not by me; but with light oars which have an iron 
swivel, or dowel, which fits into a hole in the gunwale, 
so that the oars may be dropped and hang by the side 
of the boat when not in use, one can do the little rowing 
necessary while casting. 
In spring and fall, or while the water is cool, the trout 
may be found near the shore, and it's a good plan to rOw 
up against the wind and let the boat drift down, using 
an oar now and then to keep in or off shore, as needed, 
Keeping about 6oft. from shore and casting toward it 
at different distances, or wherever the trout are rising, 
is a good plan if the wind is not too strong to allow 
careful fishing. If the boat goes too fast, for it should 
drift gently, an anchor must be dropped while the water 
near and far is fished; then lift the anchor just clear 
of the bottom and drift into new water, steering with 
one oar or both. 
In this mode of fishing it is best to cast in semi- 
circles, beginning at 20ft. and casting up or down the 
lake, making casts loft. apart on the half circle and then 
reel off more line and cast 30ft., and so on until the 
water has been covered, imless you see where a trout 
is rising, when it is well to cast near that spot, not neces- 
sarily into it; within a few feet will do, for the chances 
are that the fish did not go straight down, and the 
angler may often see which way it headed and make 
the cast where the fish is supposed to be at the time. 
Spring Holes. 
Most lakes become too warm near the shores 
and on the shallows in May or June to be comfortable 
for brook trout, and then they do not care to go to 
depths of 60 or Soft., as the lake trout of the Great Lakes 
and the Adirondacks do. It is cool down there, and in 
the lakes mentioned it is my belief that the brook trout 
know that their monstrous relatives dwell in those cool 
depths and would take the largest of them in and out of 
wet if they only had a chance. At any rate they do not 
go there, but congregate about the springs which come 
into the bottom of the lakes in shallower water, say 
from 8 to 15ft. deep, where they find a temperature to 
their liking, food, and light enough to see it. 
To know the spring holes is to know the lake, for it 
is seldom that there is any surface indication of their 
existence. Usually the spring bubbles up in a hundred 
or more small boihng points, which just lift the sand 
and keep it clean, but with no central spout strong 
enough to ripple the surface. Here the trout must be 
approached warily. 
A "dry fly" would be useless in a spring hole. I 
doubt if a trout can see an ordinary fly and distinguish 
it as a fly, if it is looking up through isft. of water 
when there is a ripple on the surface. If it can distin- 
guish it the trbut will not rise to the surface for it. Pos- 
sibly the knowledge that the surface water is warmer 
may influence the fish, but I prefer to think it a ques- 
tion of vision, for a trout cannot see far, and by far I 
mean to say that it cannot see 50ft. straight ahead in 
the clearest water. True it will take fright at a splash 
in the water beyond that distance, but a splash may be 
heard or felt by the trout. Yes, a trout can hear a 
sound made under water, but can't hear a fisherman 
swear. I have no time nor inclination to go . into this 
question, which has been argued at length, and will let 
the assertion rest. 
Therefore spring-hole fishing for trout is an art by 
itself. Approach the spring hole carefully. Anchor to 
windward, so that you may drift down on it, but stop 
away off. If you know that this particular spring sheds 
its coolness over a circle of say 60ft., stop at about that 
distance from the circumference of the circle; cast to- 
ward it a few times, and if there is no rise move a few 
feet nearer by lifting the anchor and dropping it again; 
not by a plunk as if you were bobbing for eels, but as 
described above. 
If the spring hole is over loft. deep, put on a split 
shot just above the tail fly and cast, working the fly 
after it has sunk about 2ft. Cast to right and left, and 
if a fish is hooked keep it from getting to the center 
of the pool at all hazards. Lead it around to the other 
side of the boat and fight it where it will not disturb the 
others, and so proceed to fish the spring hole in a gyS'^ 
tematic manner. 
Never make a cast into the center of the pool until 
you have fairly circled it and picked off a few trout from 
the outside, because a trout that is hooked in the center 
of the pool, and fought there, may be the only one 
that you may get from it. To alarm a trout has the 
same effect as alarming any other animal; it becomes 
cautious. 
Split shot can be bought of all tackle dealers, and in 
different sizes. They are readily closed on a leader by 
the teeth or a tap with a pocket-Icnife. They are a 
necessity in fishing spring holes, but not in other trout 
fishing. I don't like them, but when trout are in deep 
water and will not come to the surface for a fly, it is 
the old problem of Mahomet and the mountain. 
The Number of Flies to Use. 
On a 9ft. trout leader we often start in with three 
flies of different colors, the tail fly and two droppers; 
the last one is sometimes called the hand fly, because 
it is nearest the angler. The tail fly is an extension 
of the leader, and while that is sunken and moved in 
the water like a swimming crustacean or water insect 
the droppers being pendant from the leader are playing 
on the surface like an insect occasionally touching the 
water to lay its eggs, a process known as daping. 
I have said that we often start in with three flies. Some 
anglers never fish with less; and many a night have I 
lain in camp and argued the question of one fly or three. 
My own choice is for only one, but it is fair to present 
both sides of the case, and we will. 
Years ago I fished and camped on an Adirondack 
lake with the late James Geddes, of Syracuse, N. Y., of 
whom I wrote as one of the "Men I Have Fished 
With" in Forest and Stream of Oct. 16, 1897, and he 
said: "I tell you that a dropper playing on the surface 
is more attractive to a trout than the drowned tail fly. 
It is more like what Reub. Wood describes as dry fly- 
fishing, which he practiced in England, than our ordinary 
fly-casting. The movement of the living insect is con- 
terfeited, and with the right colored droppers the trout 
prefer the droppers. Your old friend Nessmuk, whom 
we rescued from a watery grave last night*, had a worm 
on his tail fly, but none on the droppers, and I think 
that he is an authority on the subject, and that you don't 
know a little about it. Now what have you to say?" 
* Sep FoKEST ANp StrfAM of Sept. 25. 1897- 
