30 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July g, 1898. 
Fresh-Water Angling. 
No. X.— Other Fishes, North and South, 
BY FRED MATHER. 
I n ave already said that we have many good game 
fishes in our fresh waters, both north and south,' that 
would have gladdened the heart of Walton or of any 
other old-time angler. John Dcnnys, who wrote the 
"Secrets of Angling" in 1613, said: 
"Let me live harmlessly; and near the brink 
Of Trent or Avon have a dwelling place 
Where I may see my quill or cork down sink 
With eager bite of perch, or roach, or daoe; 
And on the world and my Creator think ■ 
While some men strive ill-gotten goods t' embrace. 
And others spend their time in base excess 
Of wine or worse, in war or wantonness." 
I confess to a liking for that kind of fishing as well 
as for the more modern athletic form of fly-castW, bait- 
throwing, wide-awake sport, which we moderns' have 
made of it. Walton called angling '"the contemplative 
man's recreation," and usually practiced it alone; but the 
modern angler is rarely contemplative. He rushes off 
by rail, counts his minutes, hustles out and works like a 
blacksmith in order to have sport. The angling of 
Walton, Dennys, Berners, and others of a century ago 
still have attractions for thousands who go a-fishing and 
say nothing about it. These men are mainly philoso- 
phers, who find angling to be an excuse to get" into com- 
munion with nature and away from man. That this was 
the case is shown by Byron's lines: 
"And angling too,- that solitary vice, 
No matter what old Walton sings or says; 
That quaint olti cruel coxcomb in his gullet 
Should have a hook and a small trout to pull it." 
The quotation is from memory] this for the benefit of 
some scholar who might discover a word or a comma 
out of place. Byron evidently did not care for angling 
and is only quoted to show that in his day, some ninety 
years ago, angling was a "solitary vice." There was no 
companion, not even a boatman," to disturb the quiet 
WHITE BASS. 
of one's thoughts, and I confess to a liking for that 
kind of fishing to-day. It brings one near to nature; the 
birds and beasts pursue their vocations and their avoca- 
tions in presence of the silent immobile figure with rod 
in hand on the bank. With this by way of classing 
anglers we will proceed to consider certain of our fresh- 
water fishes which are not rated as first-class fishes by 
American anglers, but which afford sport to those 
who may be classed as "contemplative anglers." 
Here permit me to inject a paragraph to say that in 
my early life I laid a foundation for observation of the 
habits of such animal life as might be seen on lakes and 
brooks by this form of angling. It made me an observ- 
ant field naturalist without the advantages of a 
scientific training, and if I had a bov under twenty 
years old I would let him take the same course of 
angling study that his father had, before he was allowed 
to go to the distant trout streams. I would do this 
on the principle that he should be fed on simple, nourish- 
ing food while growing, and not get an appetite for such 
stimulants as Worcestershire sauce, tabasco, tobacco, 
foreign cheeses and wines until he arrived at man's 
estate. He would not then be a blase angler at thirty who 
must have a terrible fighting fish at the end of his line, or 
there was no enjoyment. He would first of all have 
learned to love angling merely as an adjunct to a com- 
munion with nature, or in other words: "It is not all of 
fishing to fish." 
I am so much of an old-fashioned angler that if I had 
to decide between the sedate man pictured by Dennys 
and the athletic fly or bait-caster, I would to-day cast 
my lot with the former, because I love nature more than 
I love either exercise or a string of fish. The young 
man and boy needs exercise, I do not; let him tramp ten 
miles away to the lake and bring in a string of perch 
and I'll greet him as a conqueror. He will remember 
the day and the greeting years after he has taken salmon 
on the Restigouche and in Alaska, and look back upon it 
as one of the brightest days of his existence. The mill 
pond and the nearby streams are a paradise to the boy. 
and after all his triumphs with bigger game he will 
look back with delight on the days when he could see 
his "quill or cork sink down with eager bite," and 
will in his older days go back to the methods of boy 
hood and become a "contemplative angler." 
Lake Trout. 
An angler who fishes in the Adirondacks writes that in 
this series the lake trout, which he and anglers in north- 
ern New York miscall "salmon trout," has been skip- 
ped, and he loves to fish for it. I so seldom angle lor 
this fish that I overlooked it. The species is the S. 
namaycush of authors. It is essentially a lake fish, never 
migrating, but requires colder water than our Northern 
brook trout, and therefore retreats to waters of 60ft. or 
more in summer, although it will take the fly near the 
shores as the ice goes out. 
It is found in all the Great Lakes, Lake Cham plain and 
Otsego Lake, in New York; New Brunswick to Mon- 
tana, British Columbia and Alas'*i. It is a char with an 
extreme northern range. I b< e that Otsego Lake, 
KOCK BASS OR REDEYE. 
1RESH-WATER DRUM, SHEETS HEAD OR GASl'ERGOU. 
war mouth. 
Jllfes 
BLUE SUN HSU. 
N, Y., is its extreme southern range. A so-called 
variety known as ciscowet is found in Lake Superior, 
but its separate identity is a matter of doubt. 
Lake trout have been taken that weighed over ioolbs. 
It is known as togue or tuladi by the Maine lumber- 
men, and is also called "lunge," while it is known in 
Michigan and Wisconsin as "Mackinaw trout." They 
vary much in color in different waters. They consume 
great numbers of whitefish. ciscoes* and other fishes 
which live in deep, cool waters. 
While I rank this fish higher than the brook trout 
for the table. I seldom care to fish for it. If you troll 
a spoon or minnow 10ft. behind albs, of lead it is sug- 
gestive of grappling in the interest of the coroner. Your 
sinker is a "tracing" one, i. e. the line runs freely through 
it and is stopped from getting down to the bait by a knot. 
The fish can run off with line without taking the sinker 
along, but when you reel in .there is always a doubt if 
the trout is there until the lead gets near the sutta.ee, tor 
the 'is.h is uot very gamy. 
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