466 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June ii, 1898. 
and back we went again. I beat him to the point, and 
standing well out gave him a strong swinp and brought 
him round without a pause, and up the other side we 
raced. The sun was hot on that bare point, and bj^ the 
time we ended this heat I was somewhat blown. When 
the line tightened up the bass sounded and sulked, and 
altliough I should not have allowed it in a fight where I 
was not handicapped, I gladly gave him a moment's 
rest, while I recovered my breath and wiped the perspira- 
tion from my eyes. When ready for the next heat I 
swung my rod over and drew him strongly back down 
the course, and fortunately for me he was headed right 
and of¥ we went again. The turn was made safely at the 
point, and again at the upper end of the other side of 
the course, and again we went up and back, around the 
point and up and back again at a pace I felt could not last 
much longer on my side. And now I began to turn and 
swing my fish with less strain and in less fear of broken 
tackle. I was fast learning the art of playing a fish with 
all the slack in knee action; but devoutly hoped I'd 
never have to practice it again in such hot weather and 
under such a hot sun. 
After about ten or twelve heats had been run I be- 
gan to wonder, between gasps for breath, if it was not 
possible that I might devise some way of landing the 
bass, provided he did not entirely exhaust and pull me 
in before he reached the landing stage. Dripping with 
perspiration, panting like a lizard, and with arms all but 
powerless from the continued strain, I raced up and 
down, round and round, until, as appeared later, I had 
worn a well beaten path over every foot of the course 
traveled. I became so exhausted that I thought each 
round must be the last I could possibly go. 
Money, honors, or fame could not have kept me going. 
Only what I was after, the finest bass I'd ever hooked, 
could have gotten the last few heats out of my tired 
frame. 
I finally noticed that when we swung around the 
point we struck shoal water, and as the bass began to 
tire he showed a disposition to drag over this shoal and 
muddy the water, and as the water grew muddy he passed 
through it more slowly, and finally began to pause and 
show a disposition to sulk there. Taking advantage of 
tliis tendency, I began to shorten my runs, turning him 
back as soon as I could after crossing the point, and 
taking him back and forth over the point as often as I 
»ou]d, and a little closer in each time. 
Finally I stood on the point swinging him back and 
forth across the shoal until the water was quite muddy 
on the point, raising my rod higher and higher each 
swing, until I had him close in to the shore. 
Then dropping on one knee in the water's edge, I 
swung my rod back over ray shoulder, bringing the line 
within reach of my hand, and taking a good, firm hold 
o£ it, just as the game old fellow^ tilted over on one 
$ide from exhaustion, I made one more run straight 
back, and before he could gather for another struggle 
Idad ignominiously dragged him 15ft. out on the bank — 
and he was my fish. Lewis Hopkins. 
Days on the St. Lawrence.— III. 
From unpublished manuscript of S. H. Hammond, author of 
"Wild Northern Scenes." By courtesy of Mr. Hammond Van 
Vechten. 
We rowed to Carlton Island after the shower had 
passed away, and it was something to glory in, the re- 
freshing coolness, the balmy breath of the wind, 
that swept over the water in the afternoon. We 
anchored outside the little bay frorfting the "old 
fort" opposite the lower point, in the south chan- 
nel. The bass congregate about the ledges some 
twenty rods from the shore, where the water suddenly 
deepens from 15 to 30 or 6oft., and a busy time we 
had with them for an hour or more. It will not do, my 
excellent friend, to lift a 4 or sib. bass bodily from the 
water into your boat while lying at anchor. Much less 
can you safely calculate ttpon lifting a lolb. pickerel right 
Up into the air, trusting to the strength of hook, line 
and rod for the issue. Such feats have been accom- 
plished, but they require a degree of experience, a nicety 
of calculation, which your neophite can scarcely be 
presumed to possess, and it is asking too much, in a 
common w'ay, of your tackle to stand such a strain. If 
you start your bass or pickerel right, and can make him 
perform a sort of parabolic curve, as the mathematicians 
say, one end of which terminates in your boat, all well — 
but ii it falls short, or goes beyond that, your fish is 
certainly gone, and with him in all probability your 
hook and a considerable portion of your line. Better 
play him with 3'our reel a little, give him head, and use 
a. landing net. There is plenty of time and room on the 
St. Lawrence. There is no need of being in a hurry. 
Better do things in a legitimate and scientific wa}' than 
i"educe the noble art of angling to a mere contest of 
animal strength. Besides, unpleasant accidents some- 
times occur. On this subject I can speak feelingly, and 
from experience. The first bass I hooked this afternoon, 
while riding at anchor, was a S-pounder. I started him 
beautifully, lifted him clear of the water, on a curve that 
I calculated would land him at my feet. But I was 
never more mistaken in my life. The fish came like a 
catapult square against my head, jamming my hat down 
over my eyes, and lajnng me over backward from the 
seat into the bottom of the boat. The bass glanced off 
into the water on the other side, and tlie last I saw of 
him he was going toward Lake Ontario Avith my hook 
in his jaw, and some dozen feet of my line attached. If 
meets with no accident, and keeps up the steam with 
the same pressure as when he started, he will be at 
X^ewiston by 12 o'clock to-night, making the whole 
distance in about seven hours. So you will perceive tliat 
I lost my fish, my hook and a portion of my line by 
this vulgar mode of proceeding, besides getting a severe 
"punch in the head" and being laughed at into the bar- 
gain. 
We had fine sport with the bass — caught all we desired, 
and ceased only because — but let me tell you how it was. 
I had put on a fresh minnow, lively as a cricket, removed 
the buoy and sinker from the line, and let it float away 
down the current. "There," said I, "one more cast for a 
lolb. pickerel or a 2olb. muscalunge." Well, I sat 
patiently, unreeling slowly, as the current drifted the bait 
down stream, maybe iSoft. I noticed after a little that 
the line seemed to be moving across the channel toward 
the opposite shore, as if something bound in that direc- 
tion had it in tow. So I reeled in until the line became 
taut, when I found there was something mighty strong 
and obstinate, though not very active, at the other end. I 
reeled in, but it was simply a dead pull, a holding back 
like a mule on the one hand, and a mere effort of strength 
on the other. There was skiving here and there, no run- 
ning this way and that, but simply and only resistance, 
inertia, and unwillingness to move my way. "Why," 
said I, "I am fast to a sunken log that is loose in the 
water, and I am towing it this way," and I kept on reel- 
ing deliberateh% expecting eyery moment that my line 
would part. After a while I got sight of a white thing 
away of? in the clear water, wriggling and twisting like 
a gigantic angleworm, tying itself into a hard knot, roll- 
ing together into great kinks, and then unwinding again, 
coming sometimes one end foremost and sometimes 
the other, and sometimes in a coil, in a way that showed 
it to be anything but dead. "Boatman!" I exclaimed, 
"look there! I've hooked an alligator, or an anaconda, 
or a boa-constrictor, or the sea serpent, or a brother to 
the silver lake snake, or the dev — " "A monstrous eel, 
by thunder!" shouted the boatman. "My eye!" he ex- 
claimed, "but he's a whopper! Handle him carefully! 
Tow him this w^ay! Gently now!- — There! — Here she 
goes!" — and he lifted an eel into the boat that, on my 
veracity as a fisherman, was less than 50ft. long. Truly 
he was a patriarch of his tribe. But I am against eels in 
a general way. I do not like eels. They are too near 
akin to snakes, and they go wrigeling and twisting, and 
writhing and squirming about in a way not at all like 
the gymnastics, the free ground and lofty tumbling of 
trout or bass. This was the first and only eel I had ever 
taken, and by my consent it shall be the last. "Take 
the hook from his jaw and toss him overboard," said I. 
"Why," replied the boatman, "he's among the best fish 
of the St, Lawrence." "Pshaw!" I exclaimed, "eat such 
an animal as that! A rattlesnake might make a passable 
meal for a hungry man, but such a wriggling, slimy ser- 
pent as that! Get out!" I shouted, as he writhed and 
twisted himself my way. "Get out, you vile beast ! Heave 
him overboard! Cut his acquaintance! Let him slide, 
as Banks said of the Union," and the boatman, making 
a lever of his oar, hove him into the river. "There," 
said I, "having come down from muscalunge and bass 
to the level of eels, we had better hoist anchor and go 
home." So we took in tlie anchor and headed our little 
craft toward Cape Vincent. 
I said you have xia such thing as sunrise in the city, 
and I now say you have no sunset. True, the sun even 
of the city goes down out of the sky and darkness fol- 
lows, but it is a simple change from the glare and blaze 
and heat of the burning sunlight to the stagnant, somber, 
smothered swelter of a cheerless night. No brightness 
and glory light up the glowing west. No floating clouds 
radiant with silver, rimmed and circled with gold, hover 
above the horizon. No minarets and towers of light 
flash up from beyond the old woods, the hills, or the 
shoreless waters. No mantle of woven sunbeams lingers 
on the mountain peaks, in beautiful contrast with the 
gathering twilight of the valleys. No bright stars steal 
silently out into the sky, to sparkle and glow through 
all the night, holding their quiet watch during the still 
hours. No pleasant breeze comes dancing over the 
fields, bearing the odors of flowers, the freshness of the 
forest, and the fragrance of new-mown hay. You have 
day and night, sunlight and darkness, but the glorious 
sunrise and the more glorious sunset you do not have. 
Angling in Canada. 
Quebec. June 4.— Mr. Waggoner, of the New York 
Sun ; Mr. J. W. Burdick, of Albany, general passenger 
agent of the Delaware and Hudson Railway, and Dr. 
W. H. Drummond, of Montreal, author of "The Habi- 
tant," have returned from a delightful outing among 
the trout lakes of the upper St. Maurice region, and re- 
port splendid sport, including a number of 4 and slb. 
fish. Mr. W. H. Parker, of Lac a la Peche, was in town 
to-day from the St. Maurice on his way to Lake St. 
John for ouananiche, where he expects to get about the 
earliest fishing of the year in the Grande Decharge. As 
a rule this fishing only opens about the 12th or iSth of 
June, but as the season is fully ten days earlier than usual 
all over Canada, there is little doubt that the fi'esh-water 
salmon in the Discharge is now on the lookout for insect 
food upon the surface of the water. The water of the lake 
has fallen considerably, and the fish have left the mouths 
of the Ouiatchouan and Metabetchouan rivers, where, up 
to about a week ago, very large catches have been made 
ever since the ice left the surface of the lake. Mr. F. G. 
Gregorj^ of Syracuse, accompanied by Messrs. T. D. 
Wilken, A. T. Brown and L. C. Smith, returned from a 
most successful fishing expedition to the Triton Tract on 
Wednesday night. They spent a delightful holiday at 
Lac des Passes, where Mr. Gregory has a private camp. 
Their fly-fishing on this beautiful lake yielded them trout 
in abundance up to between 4 and slbs. apiece. Mr. A. 
N. Cheney fished there with them for a few days, ac- 
companied by his party of friends, Mr. Goddart, Mr. 
Hewitt and Mr. Walter Witherbee. Then they visited 
Lake Batiscan. The plb. trout caught in this lake a year 
ago has not yet been duplicated there this season, but the 
party took some that were rather over 61bs. in weight, 
and a number pf fish up to 4lbs. took the fly greedily in 
the Lightening' River, the outlet of Batiscan Lake, and in 
the lower Avaters of the Moise. The upper waters of this 
river, where Mr. Cheney had such a phenomenal take 
last autumn, were not visited by him on this trip. Mr. 
Cheney returned here last night, and left a few hours 
afterward for the Restigouche, accompanied by Mr. Bur- 
dick. They will fish for salmon at Runnymede. 
The annual meeting of the Triton Club was held in the 
Chateau Frontenac here on Wednesday night, when Mr. 
Gregory, of Syracuse, was re-elected president. The whole 
of the membership shares of this club — 150 in number- — 
have now been taken up. Dr. Porter and friends returned 
last night from Kiskisink, delighted with the sport yield- 
ed so far this season upon their club limits.. They 
found medium size fish quite plentiful. 
Mr. Foland, of Philadelphia; Andrew Allan and Chas. 
Hope, of Montreal, and Veasey Boswell and Edson 
Fitch, of Quebec, left on Thursday night on board the 
steamer Lord Stanley for their salmon pools on the 
Moise. This valuable property has been divided into 
shares of $5,000 each. The Trinity River has been leased 
for this season by Mr. Morton Paton, of New York. 
A splendid specimen of fontinalis w-eighing s^lbs., and 
caught in the Montmorency River, was brought to town 
a few days ago. Dr. levers has been re-elected presi- 
Gen. W. W. H enry, U. S. Consul, has been re-elected 
dent of the Montmorency Fish and Game Club, and 
president of the St. Bernard Club. 
Dr. Webb and Mr. Vanderbilt passed through Levis, 
opposite Quebec, this morning, en route for the Resti- 
gouche Salmon Club's headquarters at Metapedia. Mr. 
Harry Hollins and other friends preceded them by a day 
or two, and Avithin the next fcAV days all the salmon 
fishermen are expected to be upon their waters. The 
run of salmon on the north shore is already quite large, 
and the prospects are that the season Avill be a much bet- 
ter one than last year's. 
Several members of the St. Marguerite Salmon Club, 
mcluding Mr. John P. Elton, of Waterbury, Conn., will 
go doAvn to their pools next AA'eek. 
E. T. D. Chameees.- 
Several Kinds of Men in a Boat. 
A SAGE once wisely remarked that to knoAV a man 
you must fish with him out of the same boat. And no 
doubt many can look back upon fishing jaunts and safe- 
ly 
say that there is much truth in the Avise man's state- 
ment. Fishing, like politics, sometimes makes strange 
bed-fellows. 
Take the fisherman, for instance, who hurries not to 
turn out at daylight, but calmly sleeps on and awakes" 
at his usual hour. He steps outside his cabin, breathes 
in the ozone already tempered by the morning sun, gazes 
with gloAving countenance upon the rippling surface of 
the lake, and scans the Avood-crested line of shore, find- 
ing pleasure and natural beauty everywhere and in every- 
thing. He expatiates upon the loveliness of all nature, 
and quafifs the air and absorbs the scenery as if imbibing 
so much champagne. His breakfast finished, he smokes 
his cigar and enjoys it like one to Avhom the weed has. 
long been denied. He takes his seat in the boat, after 
first methodically placing his rod and impedimenta safely 
under the seat, and we are swiftly propelled through the 
dancing Avater by the brawny arms of the oarsman. 
The cry of a distant loon awakens a flood of memories 
in our friend, of former trips on Maine and Adirondack 
waters. The same old mocking, maniacal laugh that re- 
peatedly has broken the forest stillness of the placid, 
moonlit lakes in times that are past. 
Here comes a school of hurrying, scurrying minnows, 
chased by a hungry bass. They dart here and there, to 
the right and left and up in the air, anywhere out of the 
reach of the voracious fish, Avhose fin cuts the Avater like 
a knife as he snaps them up under full headway. This 
sets our friend unconsciously fumbling Avith his fly-book. 
As we boAvl along he discourses upon the habits of the 
bass and trout, compares their methods of striking and 
fighting, and gives what might be termed a lucid disser- 
tation on game fish and their habits. 
We are nearing the chosen ground and preparation 
for casting begins. Before our friend settles upon his 
cast of flies he gives calm and weighty consideration as 
to the Avind, brightness of the day, state of the water, etc., 
and only selects his flies Avhen he comes to the conclusion 
as to their perfect adaptation to all the circumstances and 
surroundings. He is in no hurry, although the surface 
at no great distance from the boat shows good-sized 
ripples now and then where a bass has come to the sur- 
face to suck down a struggling fly. 
Flis deliberateness Avould prove exasperating to an im- 
petuous novice were he to witness such methods. The 
leader, after patiently soaking, he tests again and again,, 
examines the knots critically, sees that there is no give 
to the jointure made by gut and line, carefully smooths 
out his flies, and then with a practical ttrrn of his Avrist 
and sweep of his forearm sends the flies floating out 
throuaih the crisp air to alight temptingly upon the water. 
A rise, a strike and a miss. He recovers his line, but 
does not cast again hurriedly OA^er the spot Avhere the 
fish went down. No. He takes the line in his left hand, 
carefully examines the flies as he dries them one by 
one on the flannel folds of his j:oat until they are fluffy 
and natural looking once more. 
Again he casts with the same method and delibera- 
tion, and this time sets the hook. From the start the fish 
seems to have it all his oAvn way, so slight and delicate 
is the strain that is put upon him. The bass dashes here 
and there, to the right and to the left, now deep down 
toward the bottom in search of some friendly snag or 
jutting rock, now again up into the air glistening in the 
morning sun like a miniature silvery meteor. And all 
this time our angler quietly and deliberately meets every 
turn of the gamy fish, passing comments on every move 
that the fish makes, and his reasons for making it as 
Avell. 
It is a bass that will go but perhaps a little over 2lbs., 
but he is handling it on a Soz. rod, and with such care 
and delicacy that a full quarter of an hour goes before he 
brings it to net. And as he holds it up to vieAV he notes 
its beautiful color, markings and outlines, and calls at- 
tention to the difference between this small-mouthed 
bass and his cousin, the lazy, big-mouthed variety, all 
of A\'hich to the novice seems out of place and not to 
be classed as legitimate fishing. A Avaste of time, Avith 
the fish underlying the water around the boat and hun- 
gry for the flies. Why does he not loosen the fly from 
its jaw, set it on the string and again get down to busi- 
ness? But he counts this as being a great part of the 
fishing; in fact, with him the actual playing and landing 
of the fish are mere incidents of and by no means all of 
the fishing. In due course he dislodges the fly, strings 
the fish, lights a fresh cigar, scans the scenery as he com- 
placently rings the air with smoke, and catechises the 
boatman on the varying depths of the lake, nature of 
the bottom, spring holes, etc.. and Avhen he thinks his 
flies are sufficiently sun-dried he casts again; and so it 
goes. 
When dinner time comes, as the guide prepares the 
