492 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[June i8, 1898. 
New England Fishing* 
Boston, June 10. — The interest in New England fish- 
ing does not subside in the least, though it is getting 
to he exactly in the midst of the worst time of all the 
year for mosquitoes and black flies. From the loth of 
June to the 4th of July these insect pests are at their 
worst in northern and eastern New England. On the 
4th of July last year they had about all disappeared at 
the Rangeleys, and were very nearly done at Moose- 
head and in Aroostook count3^ 
Messrs. W. J. Leckie, G. W. Brown, Hall and another 
friend are out from a successful trouc fishing trip to 
some lakes and ponds not far from the west branch of 
the Penobscot. Tliey have built a camp in that vicinity 
and speak very highly of the fishing. They took this 
year all the trout they wanted. Still Mr. Leckie thinks 
that next year he will go later in June, and endure the 
black flies. Mr. G. N. Smalley is out from a very 
pleasant fishing trip to the Rangeleys. His fishing 
friend, C. Z. Bassett, of Appleton & Bassett, was pre- 
vented fi'om accompanying by the illness of R. O. 
Harding, head salesman of that house. Mr. Harding 
is reported to be on the mend. Mr. Smalley took some 
trout on the fly in the neighborhood of Billy Soule's, as 
he almost always does. 
The fishing at Lake Auburn, Me., has not been 
especially satisfactory, according to reports, though Mr. 
Haskell, the champion fisherman of those waters, has 
taken salmon of 7, 8 and lolbs. Commissioner Stan- 
ley himself is reported there, though with what success 
it is not mentioned. 
The Megantic Club must be prospering. Mr. L. 
Dana Chapman, corresponding secretary, has just re- 
turned from his spring trip, and is otu with a hand- 
some year book, in which the illustrations are especial- 
ly fine. The club's full limit of membership, 300, is full. 
It controls 250 square miles of territory, three lakes, 
twentj^ ponds, six rivers, eight streams, and eight bogs. 
It has, besides its general club house, twenty-three public 
and fourteen private camps. Mr. Chapman says that fish- 
ing is good. He took several salmon and plenty of trout. 
He is particularly pleased with the growth the salmon 
are making. One has been taken of 26%\n. in length 
this spring, thovigh the stocking has been done but a 
few years. From Big Island Pond thirty salmon were 
taken in three days, from igin. in length to the above 
large one. As the fish were ' not killed, they were 
measured instead of being weighed. 
The salmon fishermen are getting ready, some of 
ithem having already gone, in fact. The Barnes party, 
including Mr. C. B. Barnes, Miss Barnes, Mr. Lyman 
Nickols and others, are at Grand Cascapadia. Miss 
Barnes made a most remarkable record the first day, if 
the report is correct. She took five salmon, the average 
weight of which was 35lbs. Mr. C. Watson, Mr. Crock- 
er, Mr. Minot and Mr. Moses Williams are going to 
the southwest branch of Miramichi for salmon fishing. 
Messrs. Olmsted, Cias, Parlin and Talbot are taking 
the June fishing at the St. John, Gaspe, this year, while 
Mr. John Fottler and party will be there in July. 
Special. 
Maine and Canada. 
Boston, June 13. — Fishing at Moosehead Lake, Me., 
has more than continued good. Sportsmen lately re- 
turned speak in the highest terms of the fly-fishing. 
Mr. Walter L. Hill has returned from his annual fishing 
trip to that "inland sea," where he has been for sev- 
eral days, in company with Messrs. Murphy and Kirk. 
They took a good rrnny brook trout on the fly up to 
3lbs., and a good share of lakers trolling. Mr. Hill got 
hold of "The Father of Lakers," he thinks, and had 
him at the end of the line for over half an hour. 
Obstinately the big fish clung to the bottom with great 
persistence'. Once or twice he was brought up in sight, 
through sheer power of the rod. Three feet long, if he 
was an inch, and thick enough to weigh 3olbs.! But he 
went to the bottom again witli mighty thuds of the big 
jaws. At last the line came up with a jerk. The big 
fish was free, the hook having been torn out or jerked 
out. 
The fishermen at Kineo have had the pleasure of a 
novel sight. A young cow moose has been seen in that 
vicinity for some time. The other day she came down 
to the lake and out into it. Immediately she was sur- 
rounded by guides and sportsmen, in boats and canoes, 
quickly improvised. Very skilfully she manasred to elude 
the most expert of the guides, who tried to seize her by 
the ears as she swam. Mr. Dennen shouted for the pur- 
suers to desist, as the moose might be drowned. As 
soon as the boats parted the moose swam for the shore, 
landing near the hotel, jumped the wire fence into the 
garden, then out again, disappearing in the woods with 
a few bounds, such as only a frightened moose can make. 
Messrs. Eugene Lynch and M. H. Curley, of Boston, are 
at the Upper Dam, Me., for a few weeks' fishing. Fly- 
fishing is reported good. Mr. Lynch caught two trout 
on the fly there the other day, both of slbs. weight. 
Mr. L. O. Crane, with Mrs. Crane, at the same place, 
considers it one of the most remarkable fishing locations 
in the world. He has landed some big trout on the fly. 
Mr. Charles Davis, of New York, has just taken ten 
trout, fly-casting, the largest weighing slbs. C. H. Bark- 
er, of Lynn, Mass., has taken a slb. trout from the Lower 
Pool, on the flv, and three others, the largest weighing 
61bs. Mr. E. Bartlett, of North Oxford, Mass., has taken 
a trout of 61bs. weight, and one of 4>^lbs. 
At Bemis the fishing is reported good. Master George 
Storer is the champion boy fisherman of the season. 
Only ten years of age, he has landea three trout of 
3j4lbs. weight each. H. H. Bates and V. W. Bates, ot 
New Haven, Conn., have taken ten good trout, the larg- 
est weighing Slbs. In a few hours. G. H. Johnson and 
George Stanley, of Canton, Me., took three trout, the 
other day, of 354, and 3^41bs. W. D. Abbot, of Bos- 
ton, and Freeland Abbot, of Houghtons, Me., m one 
day's fishing took seven trout, some of them up to 4lbs. 
weight. Mr. C. E. Guild and D. E. Adams, of Boston, 
are at Bemis; their second fishing trip this season. Again 
they have had excellent luck, taking before breakfast 
one morning four trout, from to slbs. weight, with a 
number of others, which they returned to the water. T. 
J. Scannell, of Portland, Me., has taken three trout, in- 
cluding one of 3^1bs. R. E. Swain, West Leeds, Me.; 
E. Stanley. Roxbury, and R. W. Trask, Byron, have 
taken twenty trotit in one day's fishing, the largest weigh- 
ing 61bs. . 
At Rangeley Lake the fishing is good, witb a good 
many salmon being taken. Among the recent catches 
may be noted the following: H. O. Higgins, 3j41b. 
trout; C. W. Varney, SJ^lb. salmon; W. C. Downes, 
3541b. trout- W. B. Damon, 7lb. salmon; Mrs. W. F. 
Sturtevant, 7lb. salmon and 3>2lb. trout; Francis Hen- 
wood, slb. and 31b. trout; C. P. Lamb, 4lb. trout; W. F. 
Sturtevant, slb. trout; A. B. Gilman, slb. salmon; S. O. 
Lunt, g and 4lb. salmon; A. I. Bill, 61b. trout; Mrs. W. 
M. Breed, 4j41b. salmon; C. F. Pierce, 4j^lb. salmon; L. 
O. Crane, 3^1b. trout. 
^Reports just received from the American Consul, 
Gaspe, P. Q., say that a great many salmon of un- 
usually large size are being taken at Gaspe Bay. Over 
$4,000 worth had been shipped from that point up to 
Friday. So great a run of salmon in the bay promises 
good fishing in the rivers above. Mr. John Fottler, Jr., 
is anxious to be off for his river, the St. John, Gaspe, 
his tackle having been ready for some time. The Olm- 
stead and Sias party got away Saturday, and they ex- 
pect great sport, during the rest of June, on that river. 
Special. 
Still Another Style of Minnow 
Casting. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
With tliousands of others, I have counted myself ex- 
tremely fortunate in having a seat among the scholars 
in Mr. Mather's primary class in bass fishing, and only 
wish that the lessons had been more extended. It must 
be something more than twenty-five years ago that I 
made my first foraj^ against this gamy representative of 
the finny tribe, and every year since I have met him in 
some of his favorite haunts. The result has been that 
the more protracted and diversified the acquaintance, the 
less I seem to know about him. 
Some of us had been hoping that Mr. Mather would 
say a word or two regarding a style of fishing quite 
popular in our Western waters (at least in this locality), 
a style that is a variation on the method of minnow 
casting usually laid down in the books. The rod used 
is from 9 to lo^ft. in length, with a stiffish tip and con- 
siderable backbone, practically a heavy fly-rod, the reel 
being located below the hand, as in fly-fishing. The reel 
is whatever style the fancy of the fisherman prefers — 
single action, multiplying or automatic. In casting the 
minnow is not brought up to the tip of the rod, but is 
c^st almost the same as the fly, except that when the back 
cast is made the minnow is allowed just to touch the 
water. This relieves the strain on the rod, whose elas- 
ticity, assisted by the wrist of the angler, lands the min- 
now on the desired spot, in the forward cast. "Shooting 
the line" is practiced in this style of casting to fully as 
great an extent as in fly-fishing. 
It may be added that this style of handling a minnow 
seems to prove particularly desirable in stream fishing for 
bass, in water where, for any reason, the use of the fly is 
not practicable. In delicacy and accuracy it is far ahead 
of casting from the tip of the rod, although it may not 
be able to compete with the latter in distance. In "our" 
method the minnow is placed just where it is wanted, a 
decided advantage in our rocky, rapid streams that in 
the autumn especially are clear and shallow. Here the 
bass lie close, and the difl^erence of a foot in ihe plant- 
ing of the minnow is often the difference between fish 
and no fish, or rather between rise and no rise. In sav- 
ing of time, casting the minnow with a long line has 
the decided preference; you do not have to reel up after 
every cast, and you cover the water more thorotighly be- 
cause you begin with a short cast and lengthen it gradu- 
ally as you proceed. This kind of fishing, it is needless 
to add, has no use for either "bob or sinker," and for that 
reason you get the utmost possible play of your minnow, 
which is always hooked up through the lower jaw and 
out through the nostril, never through or under the back 
fin. A minnow hooked in the latter Avay would go 
through the air broadside, just as he would be dragged 
through the water after he had struck it. Once fastened 
to the further end of 2Syds. of F or G braided silk, tap- 
ered with a 6ft. leader, a 2lb. bass is worth more than he 
will ever be again, alive or dead. Meantime you are 
standing in water anywhere from knee to wai^t deep; 
such streams will not tolerate a boat. 
Both Dr. Henshall and Mr. Mather have decided that 
the big-mouth bass is as gamy as his small-mouthed 
cousin, and it might not be in good taste to question that 
decision. If it were not for that fact, I should like to 
direct the attention of the readers of our paper to the 
pictures of the two fish published recently in connection 
with Mr. Mather's articles, and to ask them to com- 
pare the frontal outHnes. If I dared, I would say that, 
compared with the small-mouth, the other is a soft fish, 
so far as his flesh is concerned, and that his nerves and 
muscles have a corresponding lack of tonicity. That he 
is a surface feeder, and as such he affects shallow water, 
where he stews and simmers in warm weather, and 
where, because he is a surface feeder, he is more timid 
and more easily frightened. That when he is hooked, he 
usually opens'his jaws to their widest capacity, and goes 
into a state of collapse, in which he flounders rather than 
fights. That I have never known him to inhabit a 
rocky, rapid stream, the kind in which the brook trout 
and the small-mouth bass do most delight. But, of 
course, all this would be heresy, and therefore I do not 
say it. 
In his paper published under date of May 14 Mr. 
Mather says: "All talk about fish biting at certain times 
of the moon, clear or cloudy days, east wind or other 
wind * * * is sheer nonsense." Doubtless the 
proposition is true enough so far as it pertains to deep 
water fishing, but in the streams and shallower lakes it 
will possibly bear modification. When our bass streams 
are clear it is little or no use to try to fish them on a 
bright day, unless the angler has more skill than the 
ordinary mortal. Some sort of wind is usually better 
than no wind, but (in the fall particularly, and in the 
month of May in this latitude) a south or southwest wind 
makes all the difference between poor and good bass 
fishing. If Mr. Mather means that we are to go ahead 
and take the poor with the good, that is ouite in accord- 
ance with the true piscatorial spirit, but if he means that 
we are not to choose our weather when we can, and 
that intelligent choice does not make a very decided 
difference in the net results, then we shall have to ask 
him to write a postscript to his admirable papers. 
Jay Beebe. 
Toledo, O , June 2. 
Oneida Lake^ Fishing* 
Syracuse, N. Y., June 8. — There is now reason for 
hoping that such protection will hereafter be given to 
Oneida Lake as will eft'ectually preserve it from the de- 
predations of men who for years have cast seines in 
almost every part of it, to supply various markets with 
fish. This lake is thirty miles in length and of varjnng 
width, and is widely known as the best fish-breeding 
water in central New York. It is situated northeast of 
Syracuse, its nearest shore being twelve miles from the 
city. With the seine removed, it would at once become 
a paradise for anglers and a supply reservoir of great 
value. The act passed by the Legislature last winter 
which offers a bounty for the capture of nets is likely to 
effect the best results throughout the State, and particu- 
larly in central New York, where there are so many 
lakes and rivers. Henry Loftie, of Syracuse, is the father 
of this law, and already his expectations as to what it 
would probabl}' accomplish are being in good degree 
realized. 
Mr. Loftie also mainly deserves the credit for the estab- 
lishment of a hatchery at Constantia, on the north shore 
of Oneida Lake. He pushed the project for several 
The Constantia Hatchery. 
years, and expended considerable money in travel and 
invitations to both State and national officials to visit 
the locality and examine its advantages. The Fish Com- 
mission at last acted wisely, and last year established a 
hatchery costing some $4,000 and embracing seven acres 
of land. There were hatched last year 165,000,000 pike, 
the fry being widely distributed. Ponds are also being 
built for hatching bass and for increasing the age of pike_ 
before distribution. This may be regarded as being of 
equal importance with any hatchery which the State 
possesses, and ought to be the means of vastly increasing 
the food fish product. It is under the superintendence 
of Mr. Hill, whose home is at Clayton. 
The public applauds every practical effort which is 
made for the increase of fish food which is made ac- 
cessible to the angler and protected from the pirate. All 
the people pay the cost of propagating and protecting 
fish food, so that there is no justification for permitting 
the few — and those, generally speaking, non-taxpayers — 
to rob the many with the use of nets. By the bounty 
law every citizen is constituted a fish protector, with 
good pay for his services if he chooses to exert himself 
m the work of annihilating nets. 
Accompanying this is a view of the hatchery above 
referred to and from which so much is expected. 
X. Y. Z. 
Fishing Near New York. 
Inner Island, Long Beach, L. I., June 13. — Weakfish 
have come into the bay in large numbers, and there has 
been no lack of sport for those who have the necessary 
tackle and bait. Mr. Nemphries and his eleven-year-old 
son caught twenty-six, the boy catching nine of them. 
George Kessler caught fifty-three. The Day is full of 
crabs and other food for the fish, and good fishing may be 
anticipated. 
Blackfish are plentiful, and an occasional kingfish or 
sheepshead is caught. The best fishing is off Long 
Beach, either to the Fishing Banks or the wreck of the 
Iberia; but fishermen who do not care to go out of 
the inlet have had good sport in the holes and deep 
channels of the bay at Wreck Lead and Nick's Beach. 
Mr. Beard's Yellowtail Record. 
Santa Catalina Islajjd, June 7. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: I owe my good friend, Mr. Beard, an apology 
for inadvertently using his fish and the wrong fisherman 
in my article on the yellowtail. It struck me at the time 
that the name did not exactly fit the fish, but it was 
the only fish picture available, so I used it; and am very 
glad to know that it was a catch of a brother sportsman 
who is a champion of champions in the yellowtail field. 
This is the fish which, not excepting the salmon, has no 
peer Avhen taken in shallow water with the lightest 
tackle. • Mr. Beard's record is still quoted on the island 
and his memory is still green in the hearts of all rod and 
reel fishermen. Senor X. 
The Forest akd Stream is put to preesea<;h week on 
Tuesday Corre^ondence intmded lor pxibllcaVor^ 
should reach us at the latest hy Monday, and as muoh 
