352 
FOREST AND STREAM 
a foot long. By the time they were on the bank I could 
not have told the time by my watch I was in such a whirl 
of excitement. I tried then the ordinary minnow and 
crawfish, but not another bite did I get from that pool. 
I resumed my fly-fishing and caught eighty trout before 
I got back to camp, "big enough to keep," but those 
six were the pride of the lot. 
If I should be so fortunate as to get back there this 
year, I shall keep my eye skinned for the "spotted min- 
now," and hope yet to catch an i8in. trout from the 
Shumate Hole. Andrew Price. 
Mapliktpn< W. Va. 
Trout Fishing and Trout Fancies, 
I HAVE just been reading in the Forest and Stream 
Mr. Fred Mather's Chapter No. i on Fresh- Water An- 
gling and brook trout, and was very much interested 
therein. 
I suppose it would be called rank heresy to have the 
temerity to dififer in views with such high authority, but 
in a few unimportant items I may be pardoned for so 
doing. 
I have been a fly-fisherman from way back, and my 
dear old Governor before me, anterior to the luxuries 
of split-bamboos, click reels and silk lines, in fact even 
jointed rods. My Governor's pet rod was a light flexi- 
ble bamboo with a lancewood tip; and I as a boy 
rejoiced in a light spruce that cost many a day's search in 
the woods; and when we started out, our rods carefully 
wrapped in cloth to prevent damage, projected beyond 
the Avagon, thereby advertised the fact to the neighbors 
that "the Squire and that vagabond boy of his were ofT 
again 'fishin' " — a pursuit by no means approved by the 
more serious portion of the rather straight-laced com- 
munity, who looked upon shooting and fishing as frivo- 
lous pursuits, unworthy the attention of respectable citi- 
zens. To see a man or boy with a fishing rod (or pole, 
as we were wont to call them in those days) was to elicit 
a prophecy that he would "come to no good." But I 
always noticed that the prejudice did not extend to re- 
fusal of a share of the "catch" distributed among the 
neighbors. 
In our county, in New York State, were trout streams 
galore, but still Ijetter ones were in the adjoininR- county 
of Delaware, and whenever I observed the Governor 
cocking his eye up at the clouds, followed by taking 
down the bamboo and an inspection of the saci'ed 
drawer where the tackle was kept, I went out, gave tlie 
horse an extra feed, and greased the wagon, dug a can 
of worms and made things ready for an early start next 
morning. Our destination usually was a creek appro- 
priately named Trout Creek, about fifteen miles over in 
Delaware county — a long distance in those days, over 
primitive roads and steep grades. 
Arriving at the creek at about noon, the horse \vas 
taken out and secured, and after having lunched the 
work began. My share of the sport was to carry the 
fish in a big bag or pocket attached to a belt around 
my waist, and my fishing was only when the driftwood 
in some deep hole prevented the use of the fly; then 
my turn came, and dropping my worm-baited hook down 
between the logs I landed the big fish of the day, and 
chuckled when I observed the Governor cast an envious 
glance at my capture. 
About the middle of the afternoon I returned to the 
wagon, harnessed up and drove down the road along 
the creek to the country tavern, put up the horse and 
walked up the creek to meet the Governor and relieve 
him of his heavy bag. The next morning we fished for 
a couple of hours and started home with trout enough 
to supply the whole village; and all this with the sim- 
plest tackle— a hair line and home-made flies. Even 
the flies were an innovation, and the wonder of the 
country granger, who looked over his rail fence to see 
the Squire "catching them fools of trout with nothing 
but a feather." In fact, fly-fishing was hardly known 
back in the country in those days. The trout, like the 
people, were unsophisticated. They always seemed to 
me to be surprised and to say: "Hello! what's this? 
Let's go for it." And they did. They were not fastidi- 
ous, not educated, as Mr. Mather claims they are m 
these days. No such thing existed in those days as 
tackle stores in villages remote from the city, and our 
flies were necessarily of home production and limited 
in variety. The barnyard furnished the feathers and the 
family work-basket the silk, floss and body material. We 
contented ourselves with the red hackle from the big 
red cock, the gray from a speckled hen, the miller from 
white owl feathers; and there we rested. Our trout were 
satisfied with that assortment and so were we. 
Lhave fished in many localities from Canada to Cali- 
fornia, in all the Northern States, and tried all varieties 
of flies; and from actual experience have settled down 
to less than a half dozen varieties: (i) The red hackle, 
with yellow bodies; (2) the same with peacock bodies; 
(3) the black; (4) the moth miller and (5) a green- 
bodied fly with black wings. 
I have had fly-books with every known variety, and 
have kept them until the moths reduced them to bare 
hooks, without a trial except occasionally out of curiosi- 
ty. For instance, I never have caught a fish of any_kind 
on a red ibis, not even a chub or a dace, which, by the 
way, afford fine sport in many rivers, as they bite at 
the fly as readilv as trout. In these days, when it is the 
proper thing to 'go loaded down with a hundred varieties 
of flies, patent reels, silk lines, hook extractors and ex- 
pensive rods, and to indulge in scientfic fish lore, an 
old-school fisherman stands in the background and has 
nothing to say. , , ■ , 
I agree with Mr. Mather that a good reel is a good 
thing and a poor one an abomination. As for rods, I 
can get as good and serviceable a rod for four or five 
dohars as I can wish for. I have one I paid $25 for, and 
have followed the market down to $2, and I see no es- 
pecial merit in my $25 over the $2; in fact I seldom use 
the more expensive one, as it is a double-action, and I 
hate it. Neither do I advocate the lightest. No 50Z. rods 
for me; I want to handle my fish, not he me. 
As for lines and leaders, I am partial to short leaders, 
say 3ft. In regard to lines I occasionally amuse myself 
going back to my boyhood days and make myself a hair; 
but my favorite line is the Japanese, made of native 
grass, Strong and light, colored variously. Some years 
ago I sent $5 over to Japan for as many lines as it would 
purchase. In return I received a bundle of lines of every 
size, from the finest to those for heavy fishing — enough 
to set up a tackle store — and notwithstanding the quan- 
tity I have given away I have still a stock to last me a 
lifetime. It is wonderful how strong they are, and how 
free from decay. 
Mr. Mather and myself present the two types of fish- 
ermen. He represents the latter-day, scientific, refined, 
educated disciple of Izaak, and I the old style, conserva- 
tive, matter-of-fact fisherman; but I claim that when 
it comes to the plain and primitive versus science, in a 
test of results I will not be very far behind. 
It may be an evidence of conceit to say that I have 
never yet fished with the scientific fisherman that he was 
one trout ahead of me. 
While I appreciate Mr. Mather's views in general, I 
have no envious feeling at his superiority in the science 
of fishing- and fisherman's lore. I have read his articles 
on the Aquarium with a great deal of interest, as I al- 
ways do all articles from his pen, and if he sets me down 
pityingly as one of the old fogy "has beens" I shall not 
feel the least annoyed; but I would like much to meet 
him on some good trout stream and test the question of 
the old and the new school, he to be armed with his 
Jock Scots, silver doctors, mandarins, etc., against a 
common brown hackle, and let us test the theory of an 
advanced intelligence that creates fastidiousness and 
greater daintiness to tempt the trout to rise only to the 
semblance to one of these imitations of nothing that lives 
on the earth or under the earth, or whether_ the fish 
has not still remaining some of the characteristics of his_ 
grandfathers, that were satisfied with a good old style of 
brown hackle. 
If trout are changing their natures, keeping even with 
the times, and becoming fastidious, we conservative old 
fishermen will have to seek the outskirts of civilization 
or ruin ourselves for outfits corresponding to the popu- 
lar idea of what constitutes present-dav essentials for a 
trout fisherman. As the alternate I think I should go 
further, on the principle that I could fare no Avorse. I 
think streams may be found where trout are yet un- 
sophisticated and are not educated to glance at the sun 
before rising to see if the color of the fly is the proper 
thing for that hour of the day, and where half a dozen 
varieties of fly will suflice and fill the bill for all hours. 
The question reminds me of the inquiry of an old friend, 
who did not shoot, but frequently accompanied me in the 
boat when duck shooting. Observing one day the dif- 
ferent numbers of my cartridges, he said: "What do you 
do when you see a No. 3 duck coming, and have a No. 4 
shot in your gun?" On the same principle, if you ob- 
serve an educated trout smiling derisively at you, look 
at your watch and say: "Beg pardon, old chap, for try- 
ing to fool you with a 9 o'clock fly at half past. _ No 
wonder you won't rise. Excuse me for my stupidity, 
whfle I correct the error." The moral of it is: If you 
are to fish in a stream containing the modern educated 
trout, my theory of half a dozen varieties of flies will 
not suffice; you must provide yourself with one for each 
hour of the day. . , , 
It must be this same principle that prevads m the style 
of costume apparently required for the different sports- 
one for bicycling, another for golf, another for tennis, 
etc. How mortifying it must be to be invited to a game 
of golf when you are in your tennis or bicycle suit; you 
are debarred, of course. It would be entirely inadmis- 
sible. The game could not be played in an unsuitable 
suit, no more than a young lady could go yachting with- 
out being decked in blue, with a broad collar wnth an- 
chors embroidered in the corners, and a sailor hat. She 
would sacrifice all prospects of a good time, stay at 
home, cry her eyes out in vexation, rather than be seen 
in anything but the swell costume fitting the occasion. 
And it is getting to be about as bad in case of the fish- 
erman, especially if he lives in the city, and is told he 
must be outfitted to suit the fastidiousness of the present- 
day trout— not omitting a book of flies of every hue of 
the rainbow, that would drive an old style of trout daft 
and make him fall back on worms for the remainder of 
his life. PODGERS. 
San Francisco. 
The Buffalo Fish. 
In the Journal of the Rev. John Ettwein, the Moravian 
preacher, who conducted a congregation of his people 
from Wyalusing on the upper Susquehanna to the Beaver 
River in the western part of Pennsylvania, in the summer 
of the year 1772, recently published in "Notes and 
Queries" in the Harrisburg Telegraph, we have some 
notices of the natural history of the region through 
which they passed in early times that are extremely in- 
teresting. For example, on July 25 his party encamped 
near the Mahoning, a tributary of the Allegheny, likely 
in what is now Armstrong county, where thej^ remained 
over Sunday. "At this place," says Ettwein, "enough 
fish were caught to supply the entire camp — large pike 
and salmon, but especially a large species unknown to 
us all, resembhng the sheepshead, in these parts called 
'buffalo fish.' In place of a skull they have two small 
white stones lying toward each other. The mouth re- 
sembles that of a sucker, but without teeth; instead in 
the throat it has two pieces of bone fitting one on the 
other, in the form of a large shoemaker's pincers, with 
which it crushes the mussels, its proper food. The meat 
is better than rockfish, and there are no fins." 
In the "Food Fishes of Pennsylvania," the State Re- 
port of the Fish Commissioners, 1892, I find described 
what is called the "buffalo fish," but I cannot identify it 
with the Mahoning fish, as described by Ettwein. If 
there everwas a fish in these parts answering to Ettwein's 
description, I should think it has long since become ex- 
tinct. 
In the same connection he says, "We also took an un- 
known species of tortoise, as large as a goose — with a 
long neck, pointed head, and eyes like a dove. The 
shell is hard above only along the back, and below in 
the middle, otherwise all around soft and liver-colored." 
This description of a tortoise, "as large as a goose," re- 
minds us of Dr. Johnson's famous description of a gi- 
raffe: "As big as an elephant, but not so thick," Ho\v- 
ever, this strange tortoise, with "eyes like a dove," 
seems to have accompanied its queer cotemporary, Ett- 
wein's "buffalo fish," iilto the shadowy domain of de- 
parted things, for quite sure I am that no such creature 
now inhabits the waters of the Mahoning. 
Game at that time in central Pennsylvania was fairly 
abundant, as the party in the course of their journey, 
which extended through a period of about two months, 
killed three bears and one hundred and fifty deer. Rat- 
tlesnakes were greatly in evidence; "I know," says Ett- 
wein, "that upward of fifty were kifled." These unwel- 
come customers invaded the camp itself, sometimes bask- 
ing between the fires after the travelers had all lain down 
to sleep. Yet no one was injured by them. 
T. J. Chapman. 
Pittsburg, Pa- ' 
Shad Taken on the Hook* 
Washington, D. C, March 14.— I have had consid- 
erable discussion as to whether shad could be caught 
with a hook. If you will answer this, naming the bait 
used, if any, in your next edition, I will deem it quite a 
favor. S. H. M. 
[A Washington correspondent wrote us a few years 
ago, under date of May 2: 
"While fishing with angle worm for white perch, 
about two miles above this city, in the Potomac River, 
we caught two large roe shad. My little daughter Mabel 
caught one which weighed 3J^lbs.; the one I caught 
weighed over 43^1bs. They were caught fairly in the 
mouth as though they had taken the bait. I have fished 
on this river for twenty years or more, and never before 
had a like experience, nor can I find any one who has 
had. I have always understood that shad could not 
take a bait of any kind, and when they come up stream 
to spawn they do not feed, as their stomachs are always 
found empty." 
Shad do not come into rivers to feed, hence they sel- 
dom notice any kind of bait; but in a few locaH- 
ties, notably Washington, D. C,, and Holyoke, Mass., 
they have been captured with small and light-colored 
flies, like white-mifler or white and ibis, dressed on 
hooks corresponding in size with No, 6 or 7 Sproat. In 
his report on the fishes of Lake Ontario, Dr. Hugh M. 
Smith, of the United States Fish Commission, notes the 
taking of shad with grasshopper bait in the St. La\<r- 
rence. The fish were supposed to have come from a 
planting of shad in Lake Ontario waters. He says: "In 
August, 1881, Mr. H. L- Matheson, of Oswego, N. Y., 
was fishing at that place for black bass. As an experi- 
ment he baited his hook with a grasshopper and cast his 
line from the shore of the island into the current, made 
somewhat mudd}^ by a strong westerly wind. The bait 
was promptly taken, and to his great surprise a 31b. shad 
was landed. More grasshoppers were secured, and fif- 
teen shad, weighing from 2^ to 3lbs., were taken in a 
few hours. On succeeding days, six, three and two fish 
respectively were caught. Several other parties took cfic 
or two fish each in the same way." Mr. J. V- Sharp re- 
ported in these columns that he had seen shad take the 
fly in the James River, Va., the fly of medium size and 
bright color; on one occasion five roe shad were taken 
in an hour.] 
Newfound Lake* 
Newfound Lake, Bristol, N. H., April 25.— The ice ' 
went out of the lake April 17. The past week has been 
mostly rainy and cloudy weather, but the salmon fishing- 
has been excellent considering the temperature of the 
water and high winds. 
Fishermen from Boston have carried home a num.ber 
of salmon averaging 81bs. each, and residents here have 
made good catches. A, Doloff, of Bristol, caught five 
the day after the ice went out. April 23 Frank Kirk at 
sundown hooked a large salmon, which refused the net 
for an hour; it was quite dark when the fish was finally 
landed in the boat; the weight was over islbs., the best 
of the season thus far. 
There has been the usual number of large ones (?:) 
that got away, but the losers are consoled with "It is 
better to have fished and lost than never to have fished 
at all." The lake trout fishing has not been quite so 
good as usual, only eight trout being taken as yet at 
this end of the lake. Landlociced Salmon House. 
A Possible Intei^ttption of Mt. Mathe/s Fishmg; 
Papefs. 
Brooklyn, N. Y., April 23.— -Editor Forest and Stream: 
I go to Albany to-morrow night to offer my services 
for my country. If they are accepted, I wall remain in 
Albany until the regiment being raised by Col. J. Meri- 
dith Read leaves for the front. I once said: "No man 
\vill ever shoot at me again with my consent;" but now 
that the war drums are beating, and my country needs 
men who have been under fire, I cannot remain idle and 
see the boys go off without wanting to go also. If for 
any reason I cannot go, I will sadlr resume my pen and 
tell how little I know of fishing. A week will decide it 
Fred Mather. 
Adirondack Trout. 
Saranag Lake, Y., April 25. — The fishing has been 
very good so far. On Thursday, April 21, a gentleman 
from New York, with Lowell Brown as guide, caught 
four nice lake trout; the largest one weighed rij^lbs. ; 
they were caught in Lake Cobby, a small lake about 
three-quarters of a mile from Saranac Lake village; On 
Friday, April 22, Mr. Pemberton Pleasant caught in 
Lake McKenzie, a smaU lake about two miles from this 
village, a brook trout measuring I7^in. in length. April 
22 a prominent lawyer from New York caught in Little 
Tuppers Lake sixteen brook trout, weighing from 541b.. 
to 3lbs. ; the average was i^lbs.; these trout were 
caught by trolling. E. E. Sumner.- 
Pennsylvania Trout, 
Thornhurst, Pa., April 23.— Trout fishing is excellent 
this season, and trout streams are in fine condition. Mr. 
J, G. Bailus caught one in Lehigh River below Thorn- 
hurst, weight 2lbs., length 2rin. Large catches were 
made in Delawaniia Lake on iVpril 15 and 16 by George 
Waddell, of Wilkes-Barre, and others. Mr, Stark, of 
Pittston, caught one in the lake, id^^in,, weight ij^lbs. 
