April 30, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
349 
are sold for this purpose with a camel-hair brush at- 
tached. Paraffin certainly does work wonders. A fly 
painted with it will float for hours even on a wet day. 
and require scarcely any drying in the air. I frequently 
fish without paraffin, and in fine weather, especially when 
using small flies, do not much concern myself about it 
one way or the other, but for May fly work it is a great 
assistance in bad weather. 
Perhaps, however, the chief difficulty of all — if we ex- 
cept that of inducing the terribly overeducated trout of 
chalk streams of this country to rise at all — is that of the 
wind. Accuracy, it must be admitted, is fat more im- 
portant in dry fly than in wet fly-fishing, and to put a 
fly lightly on a certain bit of water no bigger than a 
dinner plate when an adA'crse wind is blowing hard is 
most difflcidt. Some people profess to be abfe to cast 
a line in the teeth of a small gale; very likely they can, 
but all I can say is that I have never seen the feat satis- 
factorily accomplished, and feel certain that ninety-nine 
dry fly anglers out of a hundred will habitually fail at 
the first cast or two, and after that the trout will very 
likely begin to think that somehow there is too much 
l.ine and gut flying about the water to make feeding a 
safe and pleasant occitpation, and hence he will retire 
for a while. Accuracy is indeed to the vast majority 
of dry anglers a very hard matter in rough weather. The 
less wind the better is dry fly-fishing. A gale at one's 
back, it is true, enables one to get out a very long straight 
line, and to make the fly travel into the opposite bank 
of a broad stream, but I have known it to bring the fly 
straight back into my neck or cheek in a way "that has 
made me consider the advisability of giving up fishing 
for the day. Then, too, the fly, though it may travel 
straight out when the wind is behind it, will be inclined 
to fall on the surface of the stream like a little stone; 
and this is the reverse of attractive to the trout. No, 
depend upon it, the less wind the better for genuine 
dry fly work. 
Under these circumstances it is distinctly unfortunate 
that several species of the Ephemcridae family of insects 
should often hatch so freely on roaring days, and that 
trout should feed on fly so persistently at such times. 
If there is no wind there is quite likely no fly hatching, 
and consequently no trout moving at surface food. 
Peculiarities of Trout. 
ArROPOs of Mr. Mathew's argument in the April 23 
number of Forest and Stream, regarding the taking of 
flies by trout, T will relate an experience of my own. 
Some years ago I was fishing the Pocono Creek in 
Monroe county, Pa., and one hot noontime I .strolled 
into the deserted blacksmith shop which spanned a por- 
tion of the stream flowing through the village of Tan- 
nersville. I was guided to the place partly by the hos- 
pitality suggested by the open door, and by a desire 
for shade. As my eye roamed around the interior it was 
attracted by a knot hole in the floor, and knowing the 
.stream flowed underneath I got down to look through, 
in the hope of seeing something that would be of inter- 
est. To my surprise I saw five or six large trout lying 
quietly in the shadow, their fins gently moving. They 
seemed to be the embodiment of languor, intensified per- 
haps by the general heat prevailing. 
After watcTiing them for some time and until fully sat- 
isfied with the spectacle, the next thing, of course, was 
to stir them up. As horseshoe parings were plenty, I 
picked up a small piece and dropped it through the hole. 
As it touched the water every trout sprang into mo- 
tion. The first one to seize it turned and shot away, 
ejecting it at the same instant. As it zigzagged through 
the water, slowly settling, it was taken by another, who 
went through the same performance, then by a third, 
and so on until all had satisfied their curiosit}'^ by taking 
it in their mouths and voiding it. 
After Avaiting an interval I dropped a second piece. 
Again a trout arose, took the paring in his mouth, emit- 
ted it and SAvam away. Before it reached the bottom of 
the creek another vnvestigated it in the same manner, 
but the remainder took no further notice of it. After 
another interval a third piece was dropped. This time 
but one trout made a motion toward taking it; he ap- 
proached within a few inches of the morsel, then turned 
and languidly sailed to his former position. Further ef- 
forts in a like direction failed to arouse in them any 
more interest in the experiment. 
This portion of the stream flowed through the tan- 
nery grounds, and the trout were preserved, otherwise 
the experiment would have been carried further. In other, 
words, I would, after the first enlightenment, have tied 
a piece of the paring to a naked hook, and from a suit- 
able .spot made a cast under the building. I am morally 
certain I would have hooked a trout. 
On another day, during the same trip, I was on the 
meadow above the dam. The water there is quite deep, 
considering the size of the stream, say 3ft. or so, and 
the banks were lined at that time by a thick growth 
of alders. I had crawled through them to the edge of 
the stream, and as I lay stretched out, looking on to the 
water, I saw directly in front of me a trout lazily ma- 
neuvering around, but never moving far from a central 
point. He would move up stream a few feet, then, ap- 
parently, standing on his head at about an angle of 45 
degrees, slowly drift back. Then he would take little 
side excursions, but all in an aimless manner, as though 
imbued with the languor of the lotus eaters. As I 
watched him, admiring the flash of gold and crimson 
that was revealed at intervals, ^ when- he slowly turned,- my 
ear caught the sound of a slight splash on the water 
above. Glancing in the direction, I saw: a gang-of flies 
being lifted from the water; again came the cast, and 
from the masterly way in which the flies were dropped 
I knew that Milt Woodring, a native of the stream and 
the localitly, had hold of the rod. Now, thought I, is 
my opportunity of seeing a wild mountain brook trout 
take the fly. Slowly but surely down stream came the 
flies, 6ft. away, 3, 2, then directly over the trout, with as 
fine a cast as one could wish. The trout at that particu- 
lar moment was enjoying one of his drifts back while 
standing on his head, and was about a foot under water. 
Again came the cast, this time a trifle behind him, but 
they provoked no flurry, no excitement; they made no 
change in his movements; whether the surface of the 
water a few inches above him was being thrashed in 
streaks and little whirlpools by the restless flies, or gently 
ruffled by the passing wind, it was all the same to him. 
It was not until the immediate presence of the wading 
fisherman intruded on his domain that he moved away. 
I have been on the stream and seen trout, 20ft. away, 
scurry for their lairs as though the deil were after them, 
and again haA^e had them break all around with impunity 
when casting. 
I have passed the fifty-mile stone, and still lie awake 
nights pondering over the eccentricities of trout. 
R. K. B. 
Pennsvlvania. 
Fishing Up and Down the Potomac, 
Choppcwamsic. 
Choppevvamsic Creek is a little run which empties 
into a tide-water marsh a mile and a half south of Quan- 
tico on the Virginia shore. The tortuous channel of the 
creek, as it approaches the river, takes the course of a 
letter S with its perpendicular axis parallel with the 
shore. 
When the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac 
Railroad was built it followed this imaginary axis, and 
therefore crossed the winding channel three times in its 
short course OA'er the marsh. .'\s sand and wood boats 
occasionally passed up the creek with the tide, this Avas 
a navigable stream, and a drawbridge was placed at each 
crossing only a few rods apart. 
This arrangement was so expensive to the company 
in m,aintaining a man in charge at each bridge, and the 
delay to traffic on the road so serious, from the time 
required to operate the rude hand-power draws, and so 
annoyed and delayed the boats trying to make the pass- 
age, that the railroad company finally filled up the two 
upper crossings, and changed the channel of the creek 
to run directly through the last bridge. Thus the two 
fills cut off a horseshoe curve of the old bed of the creek. 
Into this the tide enters by a couple of foot-square cul- 
verts in the uppermost fill, and the result is an ideal fish 
pool. 
The culverts let in the pike, carp and bass from the 
river, and twice a day the tide pours in loaded Avith fish 
food. The Avater does not come directly from the river, 
but sifted by the vegetation of the marsh, is nearly always 
clear, so that fishing may be found here when no other 
stream, for the length of the Potomac, is in condition. 
The pool has long been noted for its pickerel, and as 
these north-country fish are lively in much colder Avater 
than bass, we have been in the habit of making our first 
spring trips here, beginning as early as February, but 
always till last year Avith the minnowf or spoon, fishing 
from the railroad bank and catching nearly all our fish 
at the culvert, on an incoming tide, as they gathered 
there to feed. 
Something over a year ago large-mouthed bass, with 
which the Fish Commission has stocked all the tribu- 
taries of the lower river in reach of a raihvay, were no- 
ticed in considerable number. 
Then we left our coarser tackle at home and made a 
raid with the fly. The bridge tender had a couple of 
gunning skiffs, and these we hired him to put over the 
bank into the pool. With a native colored boy to paddle 
we set out among the lily-pads and mossbeds. The 
boats were cranky as a racing shell, but we had spent 
many an evening on the Potomac in just such, and when 
they are well handled there is no better fishing ci-aft for 
the fly-caster, in quiet water. We found the bass plenty 
and hungry. They were in the shallowest water, and 
it Avas clear as crystal, so it became a matter of approach 
and reach, as fl3'--fishing mostly is anyway, but we were 
abundantly rewarded. 
Then we had a new experience, and a new delight, 
added to a cup already full. We found the pike taking 
our fly, and for short, sharp, vicious biting and fighting 
he has no peer. 
The older books on angling tell of catching pike Avith 
a fly, and several give cuts of the nondescript animal to 
be used — fully 6in. long — the body of a mouse, with wings 
nearly as large as those of a Mother Carey's Chicken, 
and built about a tarpon hook.. 
Such an engine may be necessary for the large pike 
of higher latitudes, but for the little" Reticulatus of these 
waters it would be of little service, and the finest bass 
tackle makes the best sport. 
Twenty-two inches is a good-sized pickerel here, 
though Ave have "seen signs" of some monsters that 
much exceed this, and 81bs. is the claim made for the 
record fish. A couple of our friends on one trip were 
using one of the boats, skittering a minnow; a :5^1b. 
bass had taken the bait, and was being helplessly hurried 
to the skiff, when it Avas seized by a large pike. After 
an exciting struggle, in which he ran about as much as 
he pleased, though almost netted in his rushes past the 
man with the paddle, he broke, leaving the bass thor- 
oughly crimped, and quite dead, to say nothing of the 
two men iti the boat. Since then he has made several 
demonstrations — enough to keep alive a hope that he 
will yet be ours. He is known as the Five-pounder, 
though of course that is pure conjecture. 
Our flies for bass are tied to No. 4 hooks, as any- 
thing heavier does not cast well from our light rods. For 
the pickerel two or three threads of Christmas tinsel 
tied to the head of the hook, we thought, made a fly 
more killing. This did not add appreciably to the weight 
or at all interfere with the cast, and made the fly much 
more showy, Avith the gleam of the minnov/ or the spoon; 
either we or the pickerel became educated past this rude 
device," and we could not fish finer or further off, for 
grayhng or trout, than we uoav do for this coarse'fish, 
and the sport is not to be despised, even after Nepigon 
trout. 
Few fish are more deliberate with a gorge bait than 
the pike; the general directions of most authorities are 
that nearly the only way to lose him is in failing to give 
him plenty of time to pouch. But on the snap few fish 
are his equal, and at the fly none his superior. This is 
a deliberate challenge. From his lair in the Aveeds or 
beneath the floating leaf he will rush sometimes for 20ft. 
on the surface of the water, open-mouthed, at the fly, 
not taking it with a gulp as does the bass, but Avith a 
vicious snap that threatens destruction to the hook and 
makes the angler glad there is a length of line between 
his hand and the fish. His mouth is bony, the mem- 
branes thin, and if not caught in the gills or tongue the 
barb must be set quite through the bone to hold, for he 
goes up in the air and turns such somersaults as earn 
and secure his freedom many more times than the an- 
gler would have, if he had everything for the asking. 
The teeth are sharp as needles, but round, and the gut of 
the fly is not badly Avorn, and never bitten as one Avould 
expect; it slips between the teeth. But the feather work 
of the fly is pretty badly demoralized after it has enticed 
three or four pickerel. Round almost as an eel, nearly 
as incorrigible a squirmer, and nearly as slimy, the pick- 
erel ceases to amuse after he is landed. The best plan 
to handle him, the Avriter found, is the key of a patent 
binder, Avhich opens like scissors, only different, and 
inserting this in his jaws and forcing them open, he is 
helpless, and as the jaws open very wide, the hook is 
easily extracted. This was not resorted to until a gentler 
effort resulted in one of the needle teeth piercing a finger 
nail like paper. 
As an article of diet, always a matter of taste, the 
pickerel with us ranks third — from the bottom. The 
chub last, then carp, then pickerel, and these are now 
the perquisite of the boatman. 
The record catch of pickerel here was solbs. to onCr 
angler, but this was Avith minnow, and before the place 
became so popular as to attract the net fishermen, who 
try each year to rake it clean, but so far have not suc- 
ceeded in getting them all. 
The marsh between the pool and the river is covered 
with a rank growth of cattails, which is usually burned 
off in the Avinter by some local hunter to make snipe 
grounds for the spring shooting. 
Very high tides occasionally come over this from the 
river, and on one of our early trips la.st year an unusual 
spring tide covered it to the depth of a foot or more. 
All over this great fish Avere splashing about, which we 
could hear and see for twenty rods. 
Curiosity drove us to investigate, and the boatman 
paddled out over the already sprouting bed of cattails; 
we approached Avithout difficulty, great carp swimming 
about in twos and threes, always close together, appa- 
rently excited, and sometimes making plunges that threw 
shoAvers in the air. They seemed at least of 2olbs. weight 
and hundreds in number; they Avere apparently spawn- 
ing, though the low tide left no Avater in these shallows, 
but they moved on too rapidly to be on the feed. The 
landing net was passed OA^er the heads of preoccupied 
couples as they passed, but the net Avas so small and the 
fish so large that it Avas not much more dangerous to 
them than to us. Their frightened plunges when thus 
disturbed in the shallow water so liberally sprinkled us 
that we were glad to desist. 
The bass here, like all those of the lower river, arc 
the large-mouthed, mostly from Illinois. The tide 
brings in minnows, perches and mudshad, and the bass 
take their places near the culvert, with the pickerel, and 
make alternate rushes for the passing schools. At any 
rate, if the pike ever get the advantage of them, it was 
never apparent to us. When of equal size they never 
seem the least disturbed by the other. The pike is the 
bully of the pool, but the bass is the policeman, with 
considerably more dignity and quite as fine a courage. 
One of our memorable trips here, and Ave have had 
many, we had taken the 4:40 P. M. train from Washing- 
ton, reaching Quantico at 6 o'clock. Sending our traps 
across to the hotel, Ave hailed a couple of boys for the 
boats, and started at a Avarm pace down the track fop 
our mile and a half walk to get the evening fish. 
When we were ready to begin operations it was nearly 
7 o'clock and sundown; an hours' daylight left. 'The 
evening is perfect; there is just the catspaAV of a ripple 
on the water, but plenty for this hour. The wooded hills, 
the dark Avater, with bass breaking up and doAvn both 
sides of, the pool, the soft summer evening haze; we feel 
all this, as well as see where 
The sun hangs low adown the westei-n sky; 
Its Icngth'nmg: shadows gloom the wrinkled pool; 
The chatteringf halcyon flits with nervous cry. 
Or hovers still — to shoot down bye-and-bye; 
Thus day by day he decimates the school. 
The cattails whisper still of Midas' ears; 
Flame-hearted mallows nodding to the night; 
The drooping lilies with their glit'ring tears. 
The modest symbols of a maiden's fears. 
In hammocks green — seem fairies, snowy white, 
The sentry rails are calling in the grass, 
The blackbirds quarrel ere they go to rest; 
A flock of crows, loud cawing as they pass. 
Are flying high, an inky, noisy mass, 
To distant roosts in mountains in the West. 
Beyond the pool a stilted crane stalks grim. 
And peers for frogs about the mucky mash; 
While high above, upon a blasted limb, 
A fish-hawk sits, with feathers sleek and trim. 
And screams defiance at intruders rash. 
A quiet good-luck as we arrange ourselves in the skiffs, 
with the net behind Avithin easy reach of angler or pad- 
dler and the bag of flies and comforts at our feet. We 
take the two sides of the pool, as the skiffs are pointed, 
and at the first cast outside the line of lily-pads a good 
bass takes the dropper; he has hardly warmed up to his 
work when a full-grown pickerel makes a break for the 
trailing tail fly and gets it; the little 5^20z. bamboo has 
its work cut out, and tlie "racing and chasing on Can- 
nobie Lee" was probably a tame exhibition to the merry- 
go-round performance of the next few minutes. It was 
not easy to net both; the pickerel doesn't seem to know 
when he's whipped, but both were finally saved. 
When, we packed up to tramp back to supper tlie after- 
glow of sunset was spent, and the dark was on us, but 
we did not care; one rod had taken twenty-seven bass 
and the other forty-tvyo. My friend had the larger score 
and had taken nine doitbles. We were to fish the next 
day, and only killed enough for breakfast — three each — 
and the others had been carefully returned. 
There are not many pleasanter walks than counting- 
ties on a dark night. This sounds absurd, and yet that 
evening's stroll to supper, up the railroad track, with the 
signal lights of the freight yard and the little village 
bright beloAv, and the spangled sky all bright above; the 
whippoorwills that come at your call, all abotit; the 
