April 30, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
3B1 
Where was It? 
Mr. C. H. Davis, of Superior, Wis., on April 19 caught 
in the Mississippi River a muscallonge 5oin. long and 
weighing 33lbs. The fish was taken on a trolling spoon. 
If this was a Wisconsin muscallonge it was legal, but if 
the "Mississippi River" was in the State of Minnesota 
it would seem to have been illegal, since the law of that 
State forbids the taking of food fish between March 1 
and May i. Anyhow it w^s a pretty good fish. 
Uncodstittitional. 
The Cedar Falls Rod and Gun Club, of Iowa, have 
been trying to get a fishway put in over the dam on 
the Cedar River at that point. The Fish Commissione , 
Mr. Delavan. says that he is not sure the right of way 
can be condemned, as last year Judge Dewey, of Os- 
kaloosa, . declared the fish law unconstitutional, and the 
Supreme Court has not yet passed upon it. Of course 
any law which prevents any man from doing what he 
likes ought upon the face of it be declared unconstitu- 
tional, and it is a poor court which cannot issue a de- 
cree to that ef¥ect. 
Distinguished Guests. 
The West Michigan Fly-Casting Association has in- 
vited many distinguished guests to be present at its tour- 
nament, June 8-9, among others Senator Teller, of Colo- 
rado; ej^-President Grover Cleveland, ex-President Ben- 
jamin Harrison, Hon. Chauncey M. Depew, Plon. Wil- 
liam Jennings Bryan and Mayor Carter H. Harrison, of 
Chicago. Mayor Harrison is a skillful fly-fisherman him- 
self, and was among the early anglers in the grayling 
days of the noble South peninsula, whose best streams 
he knows like a book. 
The Record Cast. 
On last Monday, at San Francisco, the famous long- 
distance champion, Walter D. Mansfield, broke even 
his own previously existing outdoor records and also 
the indoor record made by Mr. Leonard at Madison 
Square Garden last winter. Mr. Mansfield cast, out of 
doors, i20ft. 6in. It would appear that this record is 
very apt to stand for a time, as it beats Mr. Mansfield's 
next nearest cast by an even 7ft. 
"Would Steal the Fish Commission Next. 
On last Thursday officers from Ocpnto broke up a 
gang of gill netters who were openly plying their call- 
ing near De Pere on the upper Fox River. Still bolder 
was the conduct of a choice lot of fishers who have been 
fishing with spears at Gill's Landing on the Wolf River, 
within a stone's throw of the headquarters of the Wis- 
consin State Fish Commission, which collects its wall- 
eyed pike spawners at this point. Deputy Johnson, of 
Oshkosh, made the arrests. This is the biggest nest of 
spear fishermen caught in Wisconsin this season, and as 
proof of their success at their sort of fishing it may be 
noted that over soolbs. of pike were found and taken 
from them. ■ , , . , . 
Incidentally I observe a little mention this week in 
regard to the work of the Wisconsin Commission, which 
states that the Commission has had poor success in get- 
ting wall-eyes for its propagating purposes at Gill's 
Landing this spring. It would appear that the best way 
to get these pike there is to spear them at night with 
jack lights. At least that is what the above-named gen- 
tlemen were doing, and they had very good luck 
Hon. Nat Cohen, the energetic and irrepressible Presi- 
dent of the Illinois State Fish Commission, was in town 
this week, and paid the Forest and Stream office his 
always welcome visit. There are two things which I 
should like to see come to pass: first, Mr. Cohen's fa- 
vorite notion that it is wrong to fish under a dani in 
the spring run; second, my favorite notion that it is 
no good to compromise with fish dealers. I shouidn t 
wonder if Mr. Cohen would get his heart's desire a 
leetle ahead of me. 
Discrimination. 
We hear sometimes about the question of discrimina- 
tion in the matter of non-resident hcenses of one sort 
or another. Perhaps there may be some bearing upon 
this in the following note from the legal news: 
"Discrimination between the citizens of different coun- 
ties in respect to the right of fishing without a license is 
held, in State versus Higgins (S. C). 38 L. R. A. 561,. to 
be unconstitutional, as a denial of the equal protection 
of the laws." E. Hough. 
1206 BoYCE Building, Chicago. 
Wyoming Fishculture* 
The Wyoming State Fish hatchery, reports the Lara- 
mie Republican, was never in better condition than at 
present. All the upper ponds have been thoroughly 
cleaned, the buildings are in good condition, the troughs 
containing the young fish are as neat and clean as a 
new pin, and the fish, both old and young, have the ap- 
pearance of vigor and health. 
In the main building there are now 650,000 young 
trout, all of which will be ready for delivery in April. 
Of these 60,000 are the Von Behr, or German brown 
trout, 200,000 rainbow and the remainder Eastern brook. 
The brown trout and the rainbow are more suitable 
for the large streams of the State, such as the Big and 
Little Laramies, and the brook will be planted in the 
smaller streams. As they dart about the hatchery 
troughs the little fellows appear as healthy as they can 
be, and the loss amounts to almost nothing. 
The next Legislature should make an appropriation 
adequate to put the grounds at the hatchery in good 
shape. With plenty of stone near at hand the expense 
is very small to construct proper walls to beautify the 
grounds. ' The trees which have been planted in the 
years gone by are all doing well, but more are needed, 
and a new system of pipes inside the hatchery will be a 
necessity before long, as the present pipes are becoming 
badly rusted. It is estimated that $2,000 would make 
all necessary repairs and put the grounds in apple-pie 
order. There is not a single State institution out of 
which the people get so much for the money expended. 
In order to fully realize the great good the hatchery 
has done the State it is necessary for one to reflect back 
say fifteen years. At that time there was not a trout in 
the tributai-ics of the North Platte, and many doubted 
whether they would live in those streams. Note the 
change. Every stream in the State is populated with 
the finny tribe, and some of the tributaries of the Platte 
are among the finest trout streams on earth. Where 
can one go to find such fishing as on the Big Laramie, 
where the lordly rainbow sports on dashing rapids, or 
lurks in cool retreats? Aside from the immense reve- 
nue brought to the people of the State by tourists who 
delight in the pleasant pastime, thousands of pounds 
of health-giving food is annually taken from the waters 
of the State for the benefit of its people. As an in- 
vestment the State has no cause to regret the money 
spent for trout. It has been returned ten times over in 
food alone. 
The Republican would be pleased to assist the Wyo- 
ming Fish Commission in advocating the passage of a 
law which would furnish mutual protection to those 
people of the State who delight in the pleasures of an- 
gling and the ranchmen who dwell along the streams 
as well. The waters of the State and the fish are the 
property of the people, and some equitable way should 
be devised whereby the people can have the right to fish 
in the streams of the State, so long as they obey the 
laws in regard to fishing with hook and line, close sea- 
TWO OF THE GROUP OF FOUR ATLANTES 
surmounting the clock tower of the New York Life Building-, 
in which is the Forest and Stream oiEce, No. 346 Broadway. 
The colossal size is indicated by the figures of the men who were 
photographed with the Atlantes, as here shown, at the works 
of Mr. W. H. Mullins, Salem, Ohio, where the group was done. 
The piece ranks with the most artistic examples of exterior decora- 
tion in New York architcctru'e, and is one of the most conspicu- 
ous of such objects, both by day and when illuminated by night 
Mr. Mullins is well known to Forest and Stream readers as a 
builder of metal boats; and it is to be said for tire Salem estab- 
lishment that as the Mullins' boats sail every inland sea, so the 
Mullins' gods and demigods lift themselves against the sky from 
countless towers and pinrjacles throughout the land. 
son, etc. The rights of all should be made so plain 
that there could be no room for controversy. If the peo- 
ple of the towns can be driven out of the streams, and 
have no rights only through the sufferance of others, 
then the sooner they know it the better, that they may 
protect themselves by withdrawing the financial aid 
which they have so freely given in the past. What the 
people pay for in common they should be pei'mitted to 
use in common, without let or hindrance, and the rights 
of the people should be clearly defined by statute. 
Early in April the Commissioner will begin the dis- 
tribution to the various counties of the State, and this 
year's output will be as large as any ever made from the 
institution. 
California Ti*ottt Watets. 
Redlands, Cal., April 5. — Editor' Forest and Stream: 
The shooting season has closed for all but rabbits, on 
which there is no law, and which I am told breed all 
the year round. There are some who shoot rabbits all 
the time;. The dove season opens on July i. The fish 
law was out on the first of this month. The mountains 
are full of tourists and fishermen. J. L. Brown rode up 
to near the head of Alder Creek on Friday last, 
which was the opening day, stopping at convenient places 
to cast line in the limpid ripples. He took twenty-three 
nice trout and saw a man who had sixty. There is quite 
a lot of snow in the mountains yet. John saw one 
mountain quail and the track of a large mountain lion. 
He rode most of the way on his wheel and on the return 
trip I think rode all of the way. Most of the fishermen 
here use earth worms for bait. The trout are usually 
very small, but they form one of the chief attractions to 
the army of pleasure-seekers who invade the hills during 
the term of intense heat and dust in the valleys. 
I have been informed that twenty arrests were made 
on the Sunday preceding the opening of the trout sea- 
son here, all of which were duly convicted and fined. 
Reelfoot. 
To Catch the Large Trout or 
^^Bilers/' 
Wb have a law, passed by a most humane arid non- 
sporting Legislature, which prohibits the catching of 
any trout not exceeding 4in. in length. My hand is full 
4in, broad, and since the law was provided I have laid 
every little trout which came my way across the palm 
of my hand, and every one of them projected from side 
to side, so it may be said that this part of the law is in 
no great danger of violation. But there are natural 
safeguards thrown around the small trout that protect 
it better. They are too troublesome to clean and carry 
home. On our clear mountain streams the fisherman 
nearly always sees the trout before it takes the hook, aiid 
if it is not big enough to make a desirable addition to 
tlie day's catch, the hook is drawn out of its reach, much 
to the little fellow's disgust, I have no doubt, and another 
ripple or pool is tried, 
But there is a time when even 7 or Sin. trout are a 
drug in the market. For instance, our party has gone 
back in the mountains for a week's stay, at the forks of 
Cranberry, and our camp is ten miles by air line from 
the nearest mountain cabin. If the conditions are favor- 
able the fish are caught in too great quantities to be 
eaten, and a halt is called and camp life must be en- 
dured, lies swapped, novels and back copies of Forest 
AND Stream read, and such other amusements tried 
as may be indulged in at camp. Not that it takes a small 
number of mountain trout to do the four or five men 
and the black cook, who has made it a constant source 
of pride for about ten seasons not to let a fish go to waste 
at camp. But a few hours' fishing down the little river 
or up either one of the forks through the heart of a 
dense wilderness absolutely free from any of the en- 
croachments of civilization, will result in a basketful of 
trout which, added to the other lots brought in and all 
cleaned and sunk in a little pool, will make enough to 
supply the market for a day or two. 
These fish are fried aijd eaten with warm biscuits, 
baked in the old-time oven at the camp-fire, bacon, po- 
tatoes, onions, butter and colTee. About the second even- 
ing a great cry goes up for "bilers." They are looked 
upon as the delicacy of the trip. The large fish are taken 
and boiled until they are cooked through without the 
skin being broken. They are carefully removed to keep 
them whole, and the same sauce-pan and liquor is used 
to make the sauce by adding flour and butter mixed in a 
stiff dough, and lemons squeezed in or vinegar to suit 
the taste. The sauce should be the consistency of batter, 
and poured over the fish, which are served at once. If 
cooked properly, this makes the finest dish in which 
fish can be eaten, but if messed up the slightest it is the 
nastiest. 
Believing that there is really more enjoyment in catch- 
ing one good-sized trout from a deep pool than the 
ninety-and-nine that are to be taken half grown from the 
ripples, I have paid .some attention to the taking of the 
"bilers" or big bull trout from the deep water. Ordi- 
narily I use fiies in fly season, but you may whip the deep 
blue pools till you are deep blue in the face without get- 
ting a big trout to rise. Your big trout will all be 
' caught in shallow water, where they may be lying tem- 
porarily. It takes special study to work those big pools, 
where you know the big trout live in the shadow of the 
overhanging rocks. They have been "dulled" in dry 
season, but I never envied the man who caught them 
that way. Fishing worms are^of no use. It is possible 
to catch one middle-sized fish; but if you persist the 
minnows will eat up the bait. The most successful plan 
I have ever pursued was to use crawfish. A handful of 
these may be secured by turning up the rocks along the 
shore. On one occasion I was looking for a place to 
hunt for bait, when I came on a raccoon turning over 
the stones, looking for crawfish. He got out of my way 
slowly and stopped within thirty steps and looked at me 
and remained there until I threw a rock at him. I took 
up the work where he had left ofl^. After securing a 
handful I ground them into small bits between two 
stones and cast a handful of the pieces on the pool. The 
bait sinks, and I attach a piece of a defunct crawfish the 
size of a grain of corn to my hook. I have rarelj^ failed 
to take from the pool several fish by these tactics. With 
a little care in casting and fishing, if you can fish at all, 
you should be rewarded under these conditions by see- 
ing your line walk away soon, and striking in at the right 
time find that you have a fish whicli will give you some 
satisfaction to capture. 
After a minute or more of acute excitement a big red 
I2in. trout lies gasping on the strand, and you see by his 
sharp teeth, which punish your fingers so cruelly when 
you take him from the hook, that he has attained his 
full growth. I have caught as high as eight full grown 
trout from -a pool in a quarter of an hour. After this 
time their biting fury is apt to be over. It is 
supposed that the abundance of bait scattered broadcast 
over the water brings on their appetite for death. 
But I have never been able to fish the Shumate Hole 
with success but once. This is the longest, deepest, 
broadest pool in the river, and the popular belief is that 
trout live there which can break your tackle all to pieces. 
I have tried the crawfish racket time and again without 
results. One fish of ordinary size might be deluded into 
suicide. I have tried minnows and grasshoppers, and 
dozens of strange looking grubs from under the bank 
of rotten logs, but the magic would not work. One whole 
season I hardened my heart and passed this pool of un- 
known depth, and wasted no time on it. On the last 
trip I made there, however, in fishing down the stream 
with fly I noticed a "spotted minnow," such as is toler- 
ably common in the Greenbrier River, where I fish for 
bass. I cannot give its name, but it is a little fish about 
2in. long, something like a sucker, lies close to the bot- 
tom of the stream, has wonderfully tough flesh, and is by 
far the best bass bait known to me. It was an unusual 
thing to see it in this trout stream, and I was lucky 
enough to catch it by cornering it in shallow water. 
Being near the Shumate Hole. I determined to try it 
as bait, remembering that I had often caught bass with 
this minnow when they would take nothing else I had 
to ofTer them. I cut the minnow into six baits and I am 
certain that I was not ten minutes in catching six trout ■ 
