May 14, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
387 
If the game wardens of Illinois' who are located near 
St, Louis will keep their eyes open on Sundays they 
may be able to bag a lot of netters who make a practice 
of going across the river on Sundays and seining the 
creeks, which are easily reached from this city. It is to 
be hoped that these parties will be caught and heavily 
fined. Aberdeen. 
St. Louis, May T. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Loss of a Landmark. 
Chicago, 111., May 2. — The burning of Maksawba Club 
house in Indiana on last Sunday afternoon, as briefly 
wired to Forest and Stream, is the second calamity of 
the kind to occur to sportsmen of this vicinity this 
spring. In the case of Poygan Club house, of Wisconsin, 
it is very likely that the fire was tlie work of incendiaries. 
The Maksawba fire was pure accident, and occurred in 
broad daylight, while a number of the members were 
in the building. The club keeper, Ira Pease, came into 
the gun room and hastily told the members there to grab 
their belongings, for the building was on fire and was 
sure to go. The fire started in the old structure back 
of the main building, and was never vmder control. 
About $6,000 insurance is collectible, and out of this a 
new building will no doubt be put up. The old building 
was not an architectural wonder, but with it went the 
treasured associations of over twenty years, and in its 
loss the wide marshes of the Kankakee lost one of the 
landmarks long known of all the shooting craft of this 
region. There has never been a more popular or more 
comfortable shooting club among our shooters here, and 
perhaps no Chicago club has grounds offering even to- 
day so great a variety of sport. Ducks are not so abun- 
dant now as they once were, but snipe, rail, woodcock, 
quail, grouse, rabbits, some small fur, and any amount 
of fine pike and bass fishing, are still among the attrac- 
tions fortunately not injured by the fire. 
Mr. Kinney lost a shotgun, and Mr. Organ lost a 
light gun belonging to his wife. The keeper lost a 
valuable lo-gauge Scott gun given him years ago by 
Mr. Cox, one of the members. A number of members 
had their lockers full of clothing, boots, ammunition, etc., 
all of which was a total loss. 
Among others present at the time of the fire were 
Mayor Carter H. Harrison and ex-Mayor Hempstead 
Washburne, Messrs. Graham H. Harris. Jack Wiggins, 
John Watson, W. H. Haskell and John C. Harkell. 
None of these was able to do much toward saving any 
property. John Watson declares that he was innocent, 
some members having suggested that, as he had that 
day fired his last shot for the season on snipe, he prob- 
ably had thought it best for everybody else to end the 
season at the same time! 
Plover. 
The jack snipe had pretty much left this latitude by the 
first of this week, but the golden plover are just coming 
in. Italian Joe, the great plover sharp of this section, 
killed 114 golden ^plover last Saturday near his favorite 
hunting grounds "at Summit. The Graham boys, who 
live at Long Lake, north of Chicago, on the Wisconsin 
Central road, say that yesterday there were hundreds of 
golden plover working on the fields in that neighbor- 
hood. Not a great many of our shooters hunt plover, 
but for those who do this week should offer sport. 
Ended. 
Last Sunday ended the legal duck season in Wiscon- 
sin, which seems to have been prolific both of ducks 
--and duck shooters. Upon the subject of spring shoot- 
ing the Milwaukee Sentinel thus voices a growing beUef: 
"This spring the slaughter of ducks in Wisconsin has 
been mercilessly prosecuted, some Milwaukee hunters 
having brought home as many as 150 birds as the result 
of a week's shooting. On Lake Koshkonong thousands 
of canvasback ducks have been killed by market hunters, 
on Poggan, Winneconne and Puckaway lakes bluebills 
and redheads have been chased off their feeding and 
breeding grounds, and in Waukesha county the ducks 
have scarcely had an opportunity to breathe freely, so 
sharp has been the pursuit of the hunters. 
" A law should be passed at the next session of the 
Legislature prohibiting spring shooting,' said a Mil- 
waukee sportsman yesterday, while discussing the effect 
of killing ducks during the breeding season. 'Every fall 
the complaint is made that the duck shooting grows 
poorer and poorer with each succeeding year, but the 
hunters seem to fail to recognize the fact that they can- 
not eat their cake and have it too. If the birds are mo- 
lested in the spring they are driven elsewhere if not 
killed, and that is why I argue against shooting in the 
early part of each year.' " 
Death of Mr, Shofb. 
In an Ohio paper I read this week of the death of E. 
H. Shorb, of Van Wert, O., a member of the Eish and 
Game Commission, and in charge of the State pheas- 
antry, in which position his work has attracted much at- 
tention. Mr. Shorb was in feeble health when I last saw 
him in Chicago last February, but we had no hint that 
his ailment was so serious. His successor is A. J. Haz- 
lett, of Crawford county, E. Hough. 
1206 BoYCE Building, Chicago, 
Sprmgf Bay Bitd Shooting. 
Chincoteague, Va., May 2. — Bay birds are getting 
quite plenty at Chincoteague Island, with the best pros- 
pect of an abundance from May 10 to June i — the indi- 
cations are that we -will have a good supply. T. G. E. 
The Yellowtail. 
AvALON, Santa Catalina Island, Cal., April.- — It may be 
rank heresy for an old New Yorker who has spent 
most of his fishing years on the St. Lawrence among the 
black bass, and many years in the haunts of the gray 
snapper and tuna in Florida, to set up a claim for far- 
away California as a paradise of the game fish hunter; 
but I confess, after ten seasons at Santa Catalina Island, 
I am tempted to do it. 
Within the past ten years California has become famous 
as a tourist resort; and gradually those who come West 
are beginning to learn that California is not a winter re- 
sort alone, but that the summers along shore are more 
comfortable and delightful than those in almost any 
other section of the country. It is this feature which 
gives an especial charm to the ocean fishing at the isl- 
ands off shore. There are seven or eight of these, some 
beautiful and abounding in picturesque features; some 
are low and broken; others as Santa Cruz, rise like 
a huge mountain with lofty cliffs; while others again, 
as Santa Catalina, are a combination of all. The last is 
famous for its game fishes and their vast numbers, and 
is the only one having fine hotels, cottages, and a town 
connected with the mainland by a daily line of steamers. 
Avalon is on the bay of that name on the southwestern 
coast, thirty miles from the mainland, and three hours 
and a half from Los Angeles. It is one of the pictur- 
esque spots in California, and has earned a remarkable 
reputation for the variety and number of its game fish 
and the sport that can be had from April to December. 
The bay of Avalon is about half a mile across, forming 
Gardner, Arnold Hodson, Chris Ringsen, and others, 
any one of whom the stranger can trust implicitly to 
give him a day's or a week's sport. The boat stands 
and the boatmen are features of Avalon. The boat 
stands are strung along the beach, skirting the main 
driveway, which follows the sweep of the bay, These 
are places of interest, and each boatman has his especial 
champions, and at night it is the correct thing to stroll 
from stand to stand to compare the catches, the size of 
the rods, and other points of interest, while in the 
morning the stands are filled with anglers, who are never 
weary of comparing tackle and discussing the big fish 
they have caught. 
We have made arrangements for a day's fishing, and 
at 4 o'clock are down on the beach. The Venetian fish- 
ermen or bait catchers are just hauling the seine, and 
have beached half a ton of sardines, out of which our 
boatman is making his selection. The bait boxes being 
filled, we shove off. The boat is rather heavy, but a 
good rower, broad of beam, and I'igged for three; the 
oarsman, who baits and "gaffs"; then in front of him 
sits a fisherman in a comfortable armchair, facing his 
companion in the stern, or the two may face the stern 
and fish on opposite sides. The equipment is two rods, 
weighing about i8oz. The reels are big Vom Hofe rub- 
ber affairs, holding 6ooft. of wet 18-strand cuttybunk 
line. The hook, a bi'onzed tarpon hook, is attached by 
a 6 or Sin. piano wire leader. The bait is a big sardine, 
6 or Sin. long, tied upon the hook so that it will run 
naturally and not twist, as anything approaching a spoon 
or its motion is a dismal failure. The fish must run 
along in a natural manner or like a sardine in distress. 
Sometimes a pipe sinker is used, if fish are lying low, 
but usually the start is made on the surface. About looft. 
of line is unreeled, and with finger on the brake we are 
ready. The brake is an important feature, and, curiously, 
all reels are made without one. Some fishermen use a 
YELLOWTAILS OF SANTA- CATALINA ISLAND. 
One day's catch by two men with rod and reel. 
The FoBEST AND Stream is put to press each weeh on 
Tuesday. Correspondence intended for publication 
should reach us at the latest by Monday, and as much 
earU&r as practioable. 
a perfect crescent, and guarded by rocky sentinels. The 
town skirts the shore, the houses climbina: the hills 
and dotting the landscape here and there. The town is 
in the mouth of a deep cafion. which almost cuts the 
island in two here, and from the hills on its sides a 
scene of great beauty stretches away. One looks down 
on the blue ocean and hundreds of lateral canons winding 
in every direction; 100 miles away the snow- 
capped peaks of San Bernardino, San Jacinto, and 
others; and in the immediate foreground the vineyards 
and orange groves of Los Angeles and other counties. 
Santa Catalina is about twenty-two miles long and 
seven or eight miles wide at the widest point; a moun- 
tain range rising from the sea, cut and bored into strange 
shapes and breasting the sea with bold and lofty cliffs, 
which give it a grand and impressive appearance to the 
angler who rows along on the placid water beneath 
them. The shores of the California mainland are char- 
acterized by rough water, but here is a region of calms, 
where one drifts along the edge of the kelp a few 
feet from the rock, in water from 50 to 200ft. deep, re- 
minding one, so far as the scenery is concerned, of some 
of the islands of the St. Lawrence, though the rocks here 
are vastly higher. A more peculiar fishing country one 
could hardly find. The seasor., roughly speaking, is from 
April to December, though fif-h of various kinds can be 
taken at all times; but this is the best time for yellow- 
tail, sea bass, black sea bass, and tuna. During these 
months at Avalon one never sees a storm — that is, hard- 
ly ever — ^and from June until October or November the 
fisherman can positively count on clear, pleasant days 
without rain or squalls. In many seasons I have never 
seen an uncomfortably warm day here, the climatic con- 
ditions being fairly ideal; and when it is said that the 
roses bloom at Avalon in winter, and the island is cov- 
ered with wild flowers after the first rain, some idea of 
this curious island climate may be had. 
The game fish par excellence of Santa Catalina is the 
yellowtail (Seriola dorsalis), a gamy creature which 
runs up to 60 or 7olbs., and possibly larger; but 61 is 
the largest I have weighed; while our largest catch 
weighed 45lbs.; but the 27 and 3olb. fish are delight- 
givers of Santa Catalina. Oiie of the first weight I took 
on my 8oz. split-bamboo, much to my astonishment and 
that of the rod. I worked an hour or more ever the 
fish, which towed my boat a long distance before I 
brought it to gaff. 
The fishing at Santa Catalina is in the hands of as fine 
a lot of boatmen as one will find anywhere. Among 
them are Billy Sarnow, Harry Elms, Mexican Joe, Jim 
leather pad, and this with variations constitutes the 
brake. 
The boatman turns to the south after we have passed 
out of the bay of Avalon and pulls leisurely along a 
pebbly beach, against which the waves roll musically. 
You are taking in the beauty of it all — the lofty moun- 
tains, the clear water, the garden beneath the sea — when 
suddenly an electric shock rushes up your arm and 
the reel utters a loud, sharp shriek, followed by the 
z-e-e-e! z-e-e-e-e! so delightful to the ear. Something 
has taken your bait on the run and walked away with 
it in a mad rush. If you are an old hand you know 
whether it is a sea bass, a yellowtail or a barracuda. 
Whatever it is, 50ft. of your line is away, despite your 
efforts, and your rod is bending in a way that is testing 
its every fiber. Lunge after lunge the fish makes, with 
such force that I have seen such a fish give a green hand 
so bad a case of "buck fever" that he almost dropped 
the rod. It is only after five or ten minutes, during 
which the boatman keeps you stern to the fish, that you 
gain a foot; then comes the fight, and for twenty or 
thirty minutes it is give and take; a series of rushes 
that soon wear a novice out. Finally you gain, and 
looking down you see a burst of silver in the deep blue 
water. In he comes, on the multiplier, fighting every 
turn, and a moment later is at the surface, swimming 
hard around the boat while your boatman feels the 
point of his gaff and waits with flushed cheek and 
sparkling eye for the word. It is a beautiful sight — a 
fish nearly 4ft. long, with a belly of molten silver, its 
back green and blue and iridescent, the median line 
tail and fins a dazzling golden yellow, shaped almost 
like a salmon, with twice its strength. 
Such is the yellowtail that the gaffer now lifts with a 
struggle into the boat and holds up to your admiring 
eyes. "Thirty-eight pounds, sir!" comes a moment later, 
and all trembling and shaking with the hard work you 
drop back into the seat, satisfied and filled with delight. 
It is possible for a party to go out at Santa Catalina and 
take forty or fifty such fish by trolling with hand lines, 
but with the rod fishermen are satisfied with five or six 
a day, and when it is remembered that each fish usually 
requires half an hour for its capture it will be seen that 
this is an ample string. When I first visited this spot 
ten years ago there was not a rod on the island, and I 
was laughed at for presuming to catch a yellowtail with 
a rod. At that time these magnificent game fish were 
jerked into boats and upon the beach on hand lines 
which would have held a shark, and the slaughter was 
something terrible to contemplate; but to-day even the 
