May 21, 1898.] 
its_ perfection as a fly-fishing water. Many streams of 
Wisconsin and Minnesota have plenty of trout in them, 
but can riot be fished with the fly. The best place to 
strike the Kinnikinnick is at Little Falls, Wis., on the 
Chicago & Northwestern road, thence driving up about 
eight or ten miles. Anyone having leisure for a trout 
Irip this spring will do very well to keep this stream in 
mind. It is a water much affected by anglers. I have 
heard of it a great many times, but have never person- 
ally tried it. I offer it as one of the best tips for the 
season. 
Wisconsin Bass. 
Bass , and pickerel began biting last week all along 
Lake Winnebago and adjacent waters, according to an 
Oshkosh newspaper, some very fine strings of bass being 
taken up the Fox River by still-fishing. In Lake Win- 
nebago the bass are taking the spoon and the catch aver- 
ages very good in size. It appears that the anglers are 
reaping the benefits of the hot fight waged against the 
netters by the wardens under Capt. Johnson, details of 
which have many times been printed in'thcse columns. 
I should be still" happier to print this news about the 
bass fishing if it were not for the fact that the bass sea- 
son does not open in Wisconsin until May 25. Can it be 
possible that the wardens need also to look after the 
wielders of the rod as well as the netters? Or does the 
rod fisherman believe that he can do no wrong? 
Illinois Bass» 
We have no bass law in Illinois so far as hook and 
line fishing is concerned, except the law forbidding ice 
fishing. Already some good catches of bass have been 
made in the lakes along our upper tier of counties, in 
Fox, Grass and Marie lakes, all waters very familiar to 
Chicago anglers. The latter will not be pleased to learn 
that spearing of bass has for two weeks been going on 
openly in all the above mentioned lakes. A little later 
the thrifty country farmer will have open his "summer 
resort" and will be bidding for the dollars of the city 
man, whom he has robbed in advance and wants to rob 
some more. My advice is to leave such a country alone 
and go on to some place where it is known the resi- 
dents insist on the enforcement of the laws. That is 
the way to treat a certain class of summer resort places. 
This week I was on the Prairie River in Wisconsin, and 
while there made the usual inquiry as to the prevalence 
of market fishing. I was pleased to learn that the farm- 
ers have a club, and look strictly after the enforcement of 
the fish laws, allowing no illegal fishing. I asked if 
anybody was in there fishing for the market. 'T should 
say not!" was the indignant answer. That is the sort of 
place to go to with your custom and your money. Let 
tile former market fishermen keep their lakes, o.r wake 
up and see that they are protected. 
Poaching, 
Two market fishermen, Peter Hughes and John Wei- 
mer, working for the large firm of Bartson & Hurley of 
Peoria, have been arrested for setting nets on the terri- 
tory of the Duck Island Club, whose preserves run along 
the Illinois River. They were using trap nets, and the 
market fishing firm above named holds that such nets 
are not forbidden by law. Of course they are not! 
Everything ought to go with this concern. It is repay- 
ing very well the courtesy shown it by the Illinois State 
Fish Commission. Give them the Avhole river, and per- 
haps they would be satisfied, until they saw a part of the 
rest of the earth and wanted it included in the "conces- 
sions." 
Ohio Bass. 
The bass have begun to run the Pelee Islands in Lake 
Erie, and several members of the Pelee Island Club have 
gone over for a try at the sport. The Quinnebog Club, 
on Old Hen Island, sent a party of eight anglers last 
week and they expect to meet good sport. 
The record bass for Ohio, and very likely for the entire 
West, has been taken very early in the season this year. 
It was a small-mouth, weighing y^lhs., and was taken 
two miles east of Westerville, O., by Charles Alexander. 
It is said that this fish has been known for several years, 
having its home in a deep pool below Boehm's bridge on 
Walnut Creek. The old fellow was too shrewd to be 
taken for a long time, but at last fell a victim. Probably 
he was so old that he had grown tired of living where 
he was and wanted to see more of the world. 
Fly Casting Records. 
When Mr. W. D. Mansfield, of the San Francisco Fly 
Casting Club, is not feeling very well he goes out and 
breaks a few records before breakfast. Two weeks ago 
he broke all his own breaks by casting 125ft. 6in., but last 
week he gave other people hope by falling back to Ii6ft. 
He beat out all competitors with this cast, though hard 
crowded by W. E. Bacheller, iiSft, and Dr. Lowry, 
114ft. It surely would seem that the glorious climate of 
California holds some quality very nourishing to the 
wrist and forearm. 
California Yellowtails. 
They catch yellowtails by the cord along the lower 
coast of California these days. A rope, a wagon and a 
plaster for a tired back are portions of the equipment. 
Washington Salmon, 
The salmon are still taking the spoon in the harbor 
of Tacoma, according to late reports. A catch of half a 
dozen to a dozen daily has not been unusual. The Pacific 
salmon has not yet reached that stage of its unrollment 
when it takes the artificial fly in company with its Eastern 
brother, but it is a very delightful fish even in its present 
lower plane of life, where it prefers tin to feathers. 
Uneasy, 
The war troubles Jiave naturally caused a certain sus- 
pension of interest in sport this spring, but now that the 
issue bids fair not to join immediately many men who 
find themselves coming out of a Chicago winter wearied 
and pulled down are beginning to get uneasy, and some 
of them are snatching time from the bulletin boards and 
are stealing away for a day or so outside of town. The 
season in upper Wisconsin continues rather slow, being 
FOREST ANt) STREAM. 
about ten days or more behind the season here, but 
around Chicago everything is now fresh and green, and 
if we had peace we should have fishing. It is not ignoble 
to go fishing, even though we are at war with another 
nation, and it need not be asked whether or not the 
sportsmen of the country will go to the front when the 
time comes. They will go then. Meantime, with the 
-superb American calm, they will go fishing. One of the 
elevator boys of the building in which the Forest and 
Stream office is located has gone with the militia to 
Springfield, and writes back gleefully that he has passed 
the examination and been mustered into the United 
States Army. He used often to talk to me about going 
fishing some day, when his two weeks of vacation should 
come. I hope he will have the vacation safe and sound. 
E. Hough. 
1206 BoYCE Building, Chicago. 
Home Notes from Maine* 
Cornish, Me., May 9. — Cold weather and high water 
have given way to more favorable angling conditions at 
last. Although plenty of fishing had been done up to 
within a few days no good catches were made. Now 
we have reports of many strings of from twenty-five to 
one hundred, and one, at the head in point of numbers 
at least, of nearly 300 good trout, taken by a party of 
two in one day's fishing. There have also been a good 
sprinkling of catches small in number, but including 
beauties of from half a pound to over a pound. My- 
brother and I had the good luck to secure forty-four 
fine trout yesterday afternoon in the rain. Wet skins 
went with them, but we were satisfied. 
Most of the big trout here come from Little River, 
a stream rising among the hills to the southward, and 
uniting with the Ossipee near the village. Early in the 
season a young man who had occasion frequently to cross 
a bridge on this stream often saw a big trout lying in 
the shadow of the bridge. Day after day heHried to 
catch the fellow, but without success, until at last he 
bethought him to tie his line to the bridge and leave it. 
Upon returning he found the fish safely hooked — a beau- 
ty, weighing nearly a pound. 
Then a village lad took a I2in. trout from this same 
stream. He insisted that he had got hold of a larger 
one at the time, and verified his claim by returning to 
the spot and landing a trout 2in. longer than the first. 
But perhaps the best luck on this brook was that of a 
young man who visited it for a short fish after supper 
and took three trout from a single pool, two of which 
measured 11 ^in. each, and the other over I4in. No 
faking about any of these either. In the last-named case 
the lucky fellow called at my house with his prize to show 
for themselves. 
At Kezar Falls, four miles further up the Ossipee, a boy 
of eleven took a I2in. trout, and another was caught 
of iSin. Yet strange to say, a trout is never taken from 
the Ossipee at this point. 
Game hereabouts is believed to have wintered well, 
though a few partridges are reported as having been 
caught by foxes. I myself in sundry rambles on the crust 
have found the remains of several of reynard's feasts. 
Deer are getting surpriisingly plentiful, owing largely 
no doubt to the special protection they have enjoyed in 
this and a few adjoining counties for several years, and 
which expires, I believe, in '99. 
Last fall a man living almost in the shadow of the high 
school building heard a loud cackling among his fowls 
just back of the house, a»ad on going to the spot found 
that a fine doe was the cause of the clamor. A short 
time ago two boys. May flowering, saw a deer in a 
swamp just across the river, while yet another man 
came upon two quietly feeding by the road. They 
showed no alarm at his approach, and as he passed by 
he saw a third in the bushes. 
W. E. Blake, one of the best known hunters in this 
section, who has hitherto been forced to go to the wilder 
portions of this State and New Hampshire for his deer 
Jaunting, thinks he may soon be able to get a few saddles 
nearer home. Blake visited the country about the West 
Machias last fall, returning with a good stock of pelts 
and small game, besides his quota of deer. He repoi'ted 
the woods there as being full of hunters. Templar^. 
Pennsylvania Trout. 
Canadensis, up in Monroe county, Pa., has had its 
share of rain during April, and the famous trout streams 
about the Spruce Cabin have been little more than touched. 
The sun for the past week, however, has once more 
gilded each ripple on the streams, and the trout are 
jumping to catch their share of its radiance, and as a 
business end of it, the long sap bug and the gray- 
winged May fly. Catches on old Brodhead, Stony Run 
and Spruce Cabin Run have been numerous and heavy 
during the past few days. A trip to Stony Run by two 
newspaper men on Saturday resulted disastrously for 
twenty-eight beauties averaging loin. in length. The 
largest of the catch was I3in. and the smallest pj^in. 
in length. The actual fishing time on the stream was 
one and a half hours. This paradise for the trout fish- 
erman was reached in a half hour's drive by buckboard 
from Spruce Cabin Run. The wood road was rough, 
but almost unscathed by the woodsman's axe and lovely 
beyond description. 
The streams at Canadensis have been practically un- 
fished this year, and a rise in every rifiie rewards the fly- 
caster who doesn't mind a bit of walking to reach the 
haunts of the tront. 
W. H. Parsons, Jr., and E. B. Holden and their 
wives, all of New York, are at the Spruce Cabin Inn, 
and both gentlemen have made successful catches. 
Preston Parton, of Scranton, went home with an 
"even basket" 011. Saturday night, and H. A. Widdi- 
field, Arthur Moore and John E. Hanifen, of Philadel- 
phia, have brought in to the pan a steady supply of fish. 
Never before have the fish in these streams more liberally 
rewarded the man who knows how to catch trout, and 
the fish seem to run heavier tltian has been known for 
many years. This is probably due to the mild winter and 
early spring, which have been all in favor of the trout. 
iVs usual the fish which have been lost this spring have 
been the biggest, but many of those actually landed 
have run over 12'm., ^nd a pound fish is an every day 
4lS 
trophy. The weather is at last settled fair, and early 
fishermen are reveling in the loveliness of the woods 
and the prolific yields of the streams, B. 
Trout Waters and Trout Weights* 
PouGHicEEPSiE, N. Y.— The streams in this county are 
largely meadow streams, few containing swift water, as 
compared with m.ountain streams, and as the result the 
trout in this county have been known to grow to a 
weight of 4lbs. or a little over. In the ponds in the Cats- 
kills they commonly grow to a size of from 2 to 3lbs., 
and one was taken by James Murdock in the fifties out 
of a lake near his place for P. T. Barnum which weighed 
5lbs. 20Z. 
In the swift mountain streams, however, trout of lib 
and upward are not very often taken with a fly. There 
are large trout in these streams, but they generally have 
their haunts m some deep pool or under a mill dam, and 
they are very seldom taken except with bait. 
As I have already told you, I took in one year, about 
J 859, three trout, two of which weighed lib. each, and 
one lib. 50Z, 
About that time I commenced fishing with a fly ex- 
clusively, and have taken quite a large number of trout 
weighing isoz., but none tipped the scales at lib 
Judge Fitch, after fishing the Beaverkill with a fly 
for about forty years, told me that he had never taken a 
trout in that stream with a fly that would tip the scales 
at lib., and I know that he never took one of that size 
in the Rondout with the fly, for I was with him on 
every trip. He also gave me the same report as to his 
two companions, Messrs. Adams and Smedburgh, ami 
tliey also told me the same thing. 
What Judge Fitch did in the Neversink I do not know 
as he never told me, but I do know that in a noted pc.oi 
m the East Branch of the Delaware a mile or two above 
Margaretville, and which contained many very large 
trout, he took quite a number with the fly, the largest 
accoriling to his statement, not exceeding 2lbs. 
The trout in this pool were long since destroyed by the 
black bass in tlie river. 
If there is any poirit to this story, it is simply this: 
ihat trout are not apt to attain the same size and weight 
m rapid mountain streams that they do in more sluggish 
waters; and also that nature is wise in the distribution of 
her favors, for it is really more sport to handle a 150Z 
trout in the rapid waters of a mountain stream than one 
of twice or three times its size in a lake or pond. 
. J. S. Van Cleef. 
New Jersey Coast Fisliing* 
AsBURY P.'VRK, N. J., May 14.— From a source which 
I regard as entirely reliable I am informed that the blue- 
fish have put m an appearance oft" Barnegat. While this 
IS not earlier than they have been known to appear in 
the years gone by, still it is much earlier than has been 
their custom of late. If warm weather prevails we should 
have them with us in the very near future. The sea is 
fairly swarming with menhaden, and that fact no doubt 
accounts for the presence of the blues. No bass as yet 
has been taken along the beach, although some earnest 
endeavors have been made. The calico crab is now 
abundant in the surf, and that is usually a sign that the 
striped fellows will soon be along. They will receive a 
royal welcome at sight. 
Enormous numbers of ling are taken every day nOw 
from our piers, so great are the catches that it becomes 
difficult at times to dispose of them. In a short time last 
night I took twenty-one very large ones. While they 
are in no sense a game fish, still to the ardent it means 
something, and breaks the monotony of the long, wait to 
which we are accustomed. Plaice are being taken in 
the pound nets in fairly good numbers, and will soon 
be in the inlets of our streams, and they are always 
looked to as the beginning of our summer fishing. Slug- 
gish though they are, still when taken on light tackle 
from a boat and in a strong tide-way they are not to be 
despised; a man can easily be in worse company. We 
will be relieved this season from many of the pound 
nets, as the serious reverses of last year have worked a 
cure that no other logic might. Leqnard Hit lit. 
FisHmg Near New York. 
East Rockaway, L. -L, May r6.— Weakfish appeared 
in the bay on Thursday last for the first time this season. 
The net fishermen from Atlantic Dock brought in sev- 
eral hundred pounds, and hook and line fishermen .at 
once started for Broad Channel and Wreck Lead. The 
cold stormy weather and heavy sea made the fishermen 
who came down on Sunday uncomfortable, but they filled 
their baskets with fish, mostly flounders and fluke, and 
returned to the city as happy as possible. A macadam 
road will soon be completed to Long Beach, when fish- 
ermen can go directly to Wreck Lead on a wheel. From 
Wreck Lead they can go to the Fishing Banks in yachts, 
or to the fishing holes in the bay in small boats, or fish 
from the railroad or boulevard bridges. G, 
Acres of Dead Sea Catfish. 
A LETTER from Swansboro, N. C, dated May 2, says- 
that tens of thousands of dead salt-water catfish have 
been found floating in White Oak River and Bogue 
Sound during the past few days, and farmers are utilizing 
them to manure their land. Mr. G. E. Watson gathered 
2,000 in half a day, all of them catfish. The cause of the 
mortality is not known. C. H. 
St* Louis as a Fishing Center, 
St. Louis, April 26. — Missouri has not had any great 
reputation as an angling region hitherto, but a booklet 
just issued, entitled "Outing with Rod and Reel," shows 
that nearly every railroad running into St, Louis has 
good fishing along its line within an hour or two of the 
city limits. i;*ilsijiil'ji4 
New Hampshire Fish and Weather, 
Charlestown, N. H., May 10. — It has been very raw 
and cold here since May i, but is warming up this after- 
noon, and I hope to have a try for a few trout in a day 
or two. There were some few good ones caught Sun- 
day, May I, but I do not hear of any since. VoN W. 
