468 
[June ii, 1898. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Minnesota Fish Laws. 
June 4. — A little bit of official correspondence has jvist 
come under my notice, in which the State Fish and Game 
Commission of Minnesota goes after Mr. H. G. Mc- 
Cartney, proprietor of Kabekona Camp, on Woman 
Lake, Minn. President Timberlake, of the Minnesota 
Commission, addresses Mr. McCartney the following let- 
ter, which at least shows that the commission is good 
and alive to what is going on, though perhaps there may 
be some misapprehension of unintentional nature in some 
regards : 
"St. Paul, Minn., June 2. — H. G. McCartney, Esq., 
125 J\[ichigan Avenue, Chicago, 111.— Dear Sir: The at- 
tention of this commission has been called to the fish- 
ing point near Leech Lake, in Cass county in this State, 
known as "Kabekona Camp," whei'e it is said little atten- 
tion is paid to the laws of this State regulating the tak- 
ing of fish. We are informed that fish are taken there 
by the different guests of this camp in large quantities, 
and very few of them are utilized; furtlier, that the catch 
of different parties is away in excess of that allowed by 
law each day. It is more than probable that these viola- 
tions of the law are through ignorance on the part of 
the gentlemen who use this privilege. I have before me 
a prospectus of this place wherein is printed as an evi- 
dence of the remarkabljr good fishing there, that two 
gentlemen from New York and Boston caught 313 bass 
in one day. The law of this State permits only the tak- 
ing of fifty fish each day by one person. Furthermore, we 
are informed that attempts have been made to ship fish 
out of the State from this point. This is also contrary 
to the law. 
"I hand you hercAvith a copy of the game and fivSh laws 
of this State, and w'ould suggest that in order to save 
trouble or annoj^ance to the guests of this camp, that 
information in regard to the laws be generally distri- 
buted. Yours very truly, 
W. S. Timberlake, Pres't." 
To this letter Mr. McCartney has made the following 
reply : 
"Chicago, June 4. — Mr. W. S. Timberlake, President 
Game and Fish Commmission, St. Paul, Minn. — Dear 
Sir; Your letter of the 2d inst. in regard to Kabekona 
Camp just received. In answer I wish first to show my 
position in this matter. I have been, and am now, one 
of the strongest belicA^ers of game and fish protection. 
At the time I opened this place I had cards printed 
giving the game and fish law as given in book enclosed 
with 3'our letter to me. Also a personal request to all 
guests to return to the water all fish that they could not 
use, or that could not be used by the camp. This card 
you Avill find posted on the door of every room at the 
camp. Now, as to the result: With a list of 125 visitors 
last year, I had no trouble to enforce this rule, and if 1 
had found any one who did not wish to respect my 
wishes in this matter, he woiild have been given to 
understand that his patronage was not wanted in the 
future. Take the catch of Mr. Raisbeck and Mr. Hef- 
fron, which you mention as having seen in my folder. 
Out of the 313 bass caught, only six were killed, and 
they were not wasted, for they were used at the camp. 
You very much mistake these gentlemen if y^ou for a 
moment believe the}' would be guilty of such a wanton 
destruction of fish. Mr. W. W. Leonard, 1102 Lumber 
Exchange Building, Minneapolis, who knows both these 
gentlemen, knows the aboA'e to be the facts and Avill glad- 
ly say so if you call to see him or write him. Then 
again, I will enclose one of my folders, and mark note 
at the end of page 3. Perhaps jou have overlooked it, 
or perhaps i'ou did not believe the man who Avrote it. 
Should the latter be the case, you are much mistaken. 
If you will stop to think that a fishing resort without fish 
would be a failure, you can at once see that it is to our 
interest to keep the fishing as good as it is now, and 
for as long a time as possible. 
"As to shipping fish out of the State, your law allows 
fifty fish to be taken by any one person, if he has caught 
them for his own use and accompanies them. This has 
been the only Avay fish have been sent, and the only way 
they will be sent from this cam]). You will notice in 
Section 29 that the law says "the killing" of more than 
fifty fish in one day b}'- one person. I admit the catching 
of more than fifty fish by guests, but not the killing, and 
as long as I can control this camp no such thinar will be 
permitted, and if done, will not be repeated the second, 
time by the same person. Y'our information of this- 
camp and its policy has been furnished you by some one 
who either does not know the facts, or knowing them 
mistakes them, Avishing in this Avay to make trouble. 
"Hoping this Avill place myself and the Kabekona 
Camp in the right with you, and that I may hear from 
you again in this matter, I remain yours truly, 
H. G. McCartney." 
I do .A&t know what construction the Minnesota Com- 
mission intends to place upon the term "taking" of fish, 
but I do know, and I am sure that Mr. Timberlake Avill 
be glad to hear it, that Mr. McCartney ahvays has and 
always will liA"e up to AA'hat the commission decides is 
the law. When Mr. McCartney first started his camp 
out in Minnesota, it was largely for his own personal 
pleasure, he being free of need to make it earn expenses. 
He came into the Forest and Stream office, and Ave 
both agreed upon the wisdom of establishing the custom 
among the guests of returning to the water all the fish 
not capable of use at the camp or legitimate carriage to 
the home of the angler. This Avas spoken of as the 
only sportsmanlike and the only Avise thing to do, for the 
remembrance of the Avilful waste along the early Wiscon- 
sin muscallunge waters w*as ever present. There is not 
and never will be any fish "graveyard" around Kabe- 
kona Camp, and the chief interest taken in that resort lies 
in the fact that the distinct effort at that place, far beyond 
the average custom in such places, has been to live up 
to the law,' and not to ask for customers Avho Avisli 
to break the law. Last summer one of the guests killed 
t\A'0 faAvns illegally, and he.receiA^ed such a talking to 
about it that he will accept the invitation never to come 
there again. This season I know that Mr. McCartney 
has told more than one intending guest here not to carry 
a rifle into camp at all, as he docs not Avant any shoot- 
ing or preparations for shooting. You can not get up a 
secret summer deer shining party at that camp as you 
can at many others in the pine AA'ood country. Mr. Mc- 
Cartney freely admits the number of fish taken, but does 
not think the fishing Avas thus injured, since probably 
90 per cent, of the fish Avere returned and are alive 
to-day. All this is of interest in that it .goes to add a 
word of commendation to an enterprise which has been 
conceived on sportsmanlike lines, and I do not think 
there will ever be any quarrel betAveen the owner of this 
place and the Minnesota State Commission, because they 
both want to observe the laAv and preserve the fish and 
game, and this without reservation or pretense. I per- 
sonally knoAV Mr. McCartney is all right on this mattei, 
and will guarantee him to the commission. If the laws 
are broken after he kiiOAVs the ruling of the law, it Avill 
never be by his connivance or consent. I have rather 
taken interest in this camp because it is rim most strict- 
ly in this regard. The hogs and the destroyers are not 
wanted there, and arc asked not to come again. Under 
the care of the State Commission and of the OAvner of the 
resort, I hope that it Avill be many a j^ear before the 
great angling resources in this last great muscallunge 
country are exhausted. It is to be hoped that every re- 
sort, in Minnesota or Wisconsin, will follow the example 
set at Kabekona, and have the surplus fish returned to 
the Avater and never Avasted. If the commission sets the 
limit for "taking" at fifty fish, the limit of fifty fish will 
be tacked on the Kabekona doors and Kabekona 
creed. Mr. McCartney thinlcs that a fish is tiot "taken" 
Avhcn it is left alive in the water. 
"Wisconsin Bass are Biting. 
Bass fishing in the lakes of the OconomoAvoc group, 
Wis., has been uniisually good for the past week or more. 
Dr. Morgan, with his friends, E. Holstein and Wallace 
Kellogg, on May 29 landed a pike weighing 261bs. 
Mr. W- O. Holstein, Avith tAvo friends, E. E. Olson 
and John Gallagher, caught sixty-three pickerel in 
Okaucliee Lake, and in the same Avater tAventy-five good 
bass Avere taken by Messrs. Harry BroAvn, William Nash 
and Ed. Butcher. Messrs. Joseph Toussaint and John 
Schleuter, of Watertown, caught a good string of bass 
on May 26 in Lac La Belle. Messrs. James NcAvbaum 
and Ffenry Meyer caught forty-three bass last Thursday 
in OconomoAvoc Lake. Messrs. August Zinn and Brad- 
ley Young caught fifty bass on the same day in Lake 
Okauchee. Messrs. F. H. Flill and Hiram Parker, of 
Chicago, caught forty-two bass last Thursday in Ocono- 
moAvoc Lake. In Beaver Lake Mr. C. G. Fox, of Mil- 
waukee, caught fourteen bass duting the afternoon of 
last Thursday. In Pine Lake, on the same day, Mr. 
Henry TornoAv, of Milwaukee, caught thirty-one bass. A 
great many small-mouth bass Avere included in the above 
fine catches. 
On May 29 Messrs. O. HartAvright and Fred Peters, of 
Chicago, took tAventy-five bass and pickerel on Nashotah 
Lake, Wis. 
Personal advices from Fox Lake, Wis., state that the 
fishing there is better than it has been for a number of 
years. The black bass are taking the frog in great shape. 
Dr. Hitchcock took ten nice bass, by l5ait casting, last 
Wednesday afternoon. 
The angling about Lake Winnebago, Wis., is now in 
full progress, and reports come that not for many years 
have so many bass and pike been taken. These are big 
waters and it requires, of course, an expert knoAvledge of 
the feedinp grounds in the lake to meet the best suc- 
cess. I remember that once in fishing Winnebago Lake 
myself, we had to feel around nearly a]l_ day before Ave 
finally located the bass, but when we did so the sport 
Avas very pretty. 
Lake Geneva, Wis., comes forward with a pretty good 
fish for the beginning of the season. Mr. Charles Lull, of 
Milwaukee, on May 30 caught a great northern pike in 
that lake Avhose weight was 22lbs. The fish measured 3ft. 
5in. in length. All the lakes above mentioned, Avith ex- 
ception of Winnebago Lake, are located in the lower 
part of the State of Wisconsin, on about the same latitude 
as the celebrated Waukesha county chain of lakes. There 
is no lovelier country out of doors than that Ijdng about 
these Avaters, and the latter are fished persistently season 
after season" by the thousands of summer people Avho 
flock thither from the cities. Yet the bass fishing is 
still good at times, and neaidy every year we hear of one 
or two of these big pike being taken here or there in 
some one of the scattered but not yet exhausted Avaters of 
this pleasant region. 
Wisconsin Muscallunge. 
Mr. Fay L. Buck, of ManitOAAnsh, Wis., writes me that 
the muscallonge have begun taking the spoon in good 
shape in the Manitowish and Turtle Lake chains. Be- 
.ginning May 25, Mr. Cathcart, of Sidill, 111., in four 
days' fishing took fifteen muscallunge, the largest 
weighing gibs. In one day he caught fortjf-five black 
bass avering 2^.\hs. in Aveight. Mr. Flarvey Prest, of 
the MilAA'aukee Normal School, Avith a party of three 
friends, caught twenty muscalhmge in four days, the 
largest fish Aveigliing 23lbs. They caught Avall-eyed pike 
in any number, and took twenty bass, the largest of 
Avhich AAreighed 4^1bs. Mr. Ericsson, of Mihvaukee, 
caught a muscallunge Aveighing 261bs., and tAventy mus- 
callunge have been reported Avhose AA'eight ran over 10 
and I2lbs. These fish Avere taken by guests of the resorts 
of George W. Buck and son, on the Turtle and Manito- 
wish Avaters. From all the above it may be seen that the 
fishing season is noAV on in full force for Wisconsin, and 
no one need delay his fishing trip any longer, 
Illinois Fishing. 
In the lakes of the Fox Lake system, in upper Illinois, 
both bass and pickerel haA^e been biting in great shape 
for the past Aveek. In Sand Lake a i2lb. pike Avas taken 
and several pike running oA'er lolbs. In Fourth Lake 
one bass was taken last Aveek Avhose Aveight AA^as S341bs. 
In Slough Lake a 5J/2lb. bass was taken. Good strings 
of smaller fish have also been numerous. If you are 
chained to business, read Forest and Stream, but if 
you are not. go fishing. 
In the Grand Calumet River, on May 30, Messrs. 
Houston and Ferguson, of the Calumet Heights Club, 
took several nice pike, the largest weighing Sj^lbs. 
The Largest Wisconsin Trowt. 
Mr, EdAvin F. Daniels, president of the Tolleston 
Club, of Chicago, writes me a personal letter and raises 
my biggest Wisconsin trout 8oz. He will allow me to 
use his letter, Avhich reads: 
"I notice that in a late issue of Forest and Stream 
you mention a Mr. Merryman as having caught a sib. 
rainbow trout in Iron River, and you add that it is the 
largest trout you have heard of having been taken in that 
vicinity. 
"I joined the Gaylord Club something like two years 
ago, but had my first experience there at)OUt the ist of 
May. We were a Httle early; the fish were not rising 
very Avell to the fly. On the first day of our arrival, 
which was Saturday, April 30, one of our party, Mr. R. 
A. Shailer, caught in Trout Lake (the location of which 
I believe you are familiar with) a rainbow trout which 
tipped the scales at Slbs. 8 oz. strong. We were all in- 
credulous when the Aveight was first announced and we 
did not fully accept it until it had been proven by three 
different scales. This being a little bit better in weight 
than the one you mention, I thought I would call your 
attention to it. 
"I saw on the register of the club that you had been a 
visitor there in the not very distant past. One memo- 
randum showed that on a certain day you had caught a 
number of bass (I Avill not expose you by giAdng the 
number) in Moon Lake. Your notation also stated that 
it was 'fun, fast and furious.' " 
I remember my trip to the Gaylord Club very Avell, and 
my recollection is that I caught twenty-five bass in the 
course of my fishing one afternoon on Moon Lake. 
That Avas the time the tAvo Indians thought my fly-rod 
would break if I caught a big bass, yet it did not, and 
the bass were more eager to strike at the fly at that 
place than I think I have ever seen them in my ex- 
perience. They were plunging and splashing around at 
the edge of the lily pads in perfect schools. It is- great 
fun to catch big bass on a little rod. 
Michigan Bass. 
Early advices state that PaAV Paw Lake, a famous bass 
Avater of the lower part of the southern peninsula of 
Michigan, is going to be exceptionally good this season, 
and all those Avho go beloAV the head of Lake Michigan 
for their bass fishing aviU do Avell to keep this Avater in 
mind. I should be very much obliged if Michigan read- 
ers of Forest and Stream avouIcI give me reports of 
angling waters in that State, where I have not traveled 
nearly so much as I should have liked. It is a wonderful 
angling countrJ^ 
Tarpon Club of Texas. 
There Avas organized at Dallas, Texas, on June i the 
Tarpon Club, of Tarpon, Texas. A contract has been 
given for a club house, which Avill be built on the Gulf 
coast, near Rockport, Texas. This magnificent sporting 
mansion will he thrown open next September. Member- 
ship of the club will number 300, too of whom are Texas 
residents. Dispatches to the daily press state that the 
Avealth of the membership of the Tarpon Club reaches into 
the hundreds of millions. Among the members are Presi- 
dent McKinley. ex-President Grover Cleveland, United 
States Senator M. A. Hanna, of Ohio; Senator MattheVv 
Stanley Quay, of Pennsylvania; Richard C. Kerens, of 
St. Louis, and others of equal distinction. The Board of 
Directors chosen here to-day for the first year is com- 
posed of the folloAving fishermen: E, H, R. Green, of 
Texas; Banker Van Blarcom, of St. Louis; State S&nA- 
tor E. H. Houston, of San Antonio; ex-Mayor W. C. 
Connor, of Dallas. 
It Avould appear that the tarpon fishing of Aransas 
Pass, Texas, A\diich has been so often mentioned in 
these columns as the best found anywhere in the country, 
has at last attained the social recognition Avhich it de- 
serA'es. 
E. Hough. 
3206 BovcE Building, Chicago. 
Fishmgf in Noftliefn New York. 
Essex, N. Y., May 28. — Editor Forest and Stream: The 
summer angling season in the cleep Avater portion of 
Lake Champlain, around Westport and Essex and north- 
Avard, is just beginning. A fcAV Avall-eyed pike and 
pickerel have been caught in looft. of Avater off Split 
Rock, and small catches of perch are commonly reported. 
These perch run large, and a little later Avhen they begin 
biting freely they Avill furnish lots of fun to ordinary 
anglers, and possibly a thrill or two to the expert. 
Old Joe Gardiner, a local celebrity at Whallon's Bay, 
Avho moved to Vermont a year or tAvo ago, reported the 
fishing in Little Otter Creek good a week ago. 
The creeks warm up sooner than the deep waters of 
the lake, and the earliest fishing is generally in or about 
the mouths of these streams.. 
In the Eastern x^dirondacks there were some good 
catches of trout the first Aveek of the season, but the 
frequent rains have hurt the fishing since then. _ The 
Giant's WashboAvl, tAVO miles from the head of Keene 
Valley. Avhich was stocked by guides six or eight years 
ago, has produced some remarkably fine trout this 
spring. Scarcely more than a stone's throw aAvay, but 
i,oooft. nearer the sea level, is Chapel Pond, from Avhich 
good trout are also taken. 
While in Keene Valley the other day. I heard that 
early in the season some California trout Avere seen 
on a spawning bed in Beede Brook, near its juncture 
Avith the Au Sable River. These trout averaged ij/^lbs. 
in Aveight. The local fishermen kncAv of their presence, 
but no one could catch them, as they refused the various 
kinds of bait offered, and fortunately no one kncAV of the 
one infalhble Avay of taking spaAvnin,g fish. 
Finally a young man, ignorant of the fact that he Avas 
breaking the law, shot four of the trout. His innocence 
of evil intent Avas conclusively shoAvn by the fact that he 
exhibited the fish afterAvard, and boasted of the manner 
in Avhich he had killed them. Wlien he Avas told that 
he was liable to a heavy fine he Avas very much taken 
aback. The number of persons he had told made it cer- 
tain that the news of his exploit Avould reach the ears 
of Game Constable Fletcher Beede, and with native 
shrewdness he did the best thing that could be done 
