July 16, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
49 
"Below the main lake they have another, with a large 
receiving box sunk at the lower level of the drain in 
the bottom. In this lake is placed all the spawn imme- 
diately upon its maturing sufficiently in the upper lake 
to allow of carriage to the new quarters, where they are 
safe from being devoured, atid where they can grow un- 
molested to complete maturity, or to a size of self-pro- 
tection. Then they are transferred to the upper or main 
lake. This is done by draining the pond down to the 
level of the big receiving box, in which all the fish are 
to be found, thus giving a good opportunity to expel 
everything objectionable that may have accumulated. 
The upper lake also is arranged to drain in the same 
manner, if at any times sunfish, catfish and the like should 
make their appearance. 
"The Rod and Gun Club of Richmond should be 
congratulated upon the success of their efforts to estab- 
lish a genuine fishing resort. Although beset in the 
beginning, years ago, by the most discouraging troubles 
in the shape of washouts, overflows, etc., they have a re- 
treat now from business cares that will make glad the 
heart of every sportsman that visits the club. The writ- 
er has been pretty well over the world, and has seen 
many fine angling nooks, but never in his life did he 
see such a beautiful sight to the 'lover piscatorial' as he 
was privileged to witness at this lake near Richmond." 
Would Fence the Earth. 
Last week a Kankakee angler was plying his art on 
the Kankakee River, at Beebetown, when he made a 
little discovery that may cast light upon the fishing at 
points above Waldron on that stream. This discovery 
was that some parties unknown had planted a wire net- 
ting clean across the river, cutting off entirely all chance 
for a fish to get above that point. Add to this the 
fact that the dam at Waldron has no working fish lad- 
der, and it may be seen that the fish have little opportu- 
nity to get up as high as the once famous point of Mo- 
mence. The enterprise of the man who sunk the wire 
fence is commendable, and no doubt he would, if he 
could, like to put a fence around the earth. 
Carp. 
One morning this week Deputy Ratto, of Chicago, saw 
a plain, unvarnished wagon jogging along the country 
roads south of Chicago, and he gratified his idle curiosity 
by looking into it and discovering nearly a ton of fish, 
mostly carp, which A. P. Neilson was hauling up to 
market. They were fish netted contrary to law, and 
hence the warden took them and gave them to the 
poor. It's pretty tough to be poor and to have to eat 
carp. 
In the Kern River, California, so say papers of that 
State, the falling waters have left stranded tons and tons 
of huge carp, which were trying to get up stream to 
some place where they could earn an honest living. The 
carp have been dying in large numbers all along the 
shallow and dried up reaches. 
Manitowish Matters. 
Mr. Fay L. Buck, of the Buck resorts on the Turtle 
and Manitowish chains, owned by Geo. W. Buck & 
Son, writes me in regard to the current weights of 
muscallunge noted by themselves and guests. He calls 
attention to the statements regarding weights of Wis- 
consin 'lunge made in a recent issue of Forest and 
Stream, and does not think the average weight is de- 
creasing from year to year. He says: 
"We have had this season at our resorts about thirty- 
five guests, and there have been fifty fish landed that 
weighed over I4lbs. each, the largest 32lbs., and about 
twenty weighing from 18 to 24-lbs. People do not un- 
derstand that we are in reach of 120 lakes. To average 
the catches made, I should say they are as heavy this 
year as they ever were. Folks don't come up here to 
ship fish to market to pay their expenses, but keep what 
they want to eat arid let the rest go. July is considered 
a poor month for muscallunge, but on the first two days 
of July Mr. Laws and wife, of Chicago, got muscallunge 
weighing 12, 14, 18 and 25ms. , and plenty weighing from 
3 to gibs. Pike can be caught by the hundreds, and I 
can myself take a man on a week's fishing trip and 
land from 50 to 75 bass each day." 
Lower "Wisconsin Waters. 
The bass fishing in Lake Winnebago and the Winne- 
conne waters has been and still remains very good this 
season, and in the lower waters of Wisconsin, such as 
the Waukesha county lakes, the sport has been beyond 
that of several years past. At the prolific Mukwonago 
"millpond," one of the best breeding grounds for fish I 
ever saw, and a place which I first broke into with big 
success two years ago, great strings of big bass have 
been caught within the past three weeks. At Phantom 
Lake, our old camping ground years ago, the big hotel 
is proving a worse hoodoo this year than ever, having 
comparatively few guests, but the fishing was good there 
this summer. At Lulu Lake, near the corner of Wal- 
worth county, but few anglers have been out this season, 
and not many bass are reported. On Lake Beulah a 
local summer hotel entertained over 500 guests on July- 
4, to say nothing of the hundreds of cottagers who fled 
from the cities at that time. Naturally, not the finest of 
fishing should be expected of a water so popular, yet I 
hear that some good takes have been made. 
The Glorious Climate. 
The glorious climate of California always produces 
things a trifle bigger than can be raised in any other 
land. Already, as see late issues of Forest and Stream, 
the State is claiming for itself the biggest and hardest 
fighting fish that can be taken on rod and reel, so that 
Florida and her tarpon may hide their diminished heads. 
Now comes Redondo, California, with the story of a 
fish fry at a mild sort of Sabbath school picnic in which 
over a ton of fish was cooked for the multitude. I have 
heard that there is a State somewhere down East known 
as Rhode Island, and that it is chiefly famous for its 
clam bakes and fish fries, but where is Rhode Island's 
proudest achievement when stacked up against Redondo's 
ton of fish, fried at one clatter? 
For a Thoughtful Man. 
The carp is the fish for the thoughtful, peaceful man of 
quiet habits. Down on the Mississinewa River, in In- 
diana, they have carp, and consequently not much else. 
Yet I read that two plain, unvarnished Belgians, whose 
names I cannot pronounce, last week caught a two-bushel 
sack full of carp, using for bait nothing more pretentious 
than cold boiled potatoes. I have never tried cofd boil- 
ed potatoes as a bait for trout, muscallunge or bass, but 
I have spent much time and gone to great trouble in 
procuring such things as I supposed most likely to tempt 
those fishes, and I can see the objections to such whim- 
sicalities on their part. 'Now, in order to take cold boil- 
ed potatoes for bait, one does not need a minnow seine 
nor rubber boots. He needs no frog bag nor fly book, 
nor any perforated tin box for his cherished worms. He 
does not even need a garden, if his neighbor has a 
garden. A spade, a wife, a pot and a stove are all the 
angler needs for his simple equipment in pursuing this 
hardy and intelligent animal. A few moments of simmer- 
ing of the bait, which latter is as good for one's children 
as it is for carp, and the matter is concluded. What 
man hath not expent $4.13 for luxurious spotted frogs, 
and carried an umbrella over the same lest they acquire 
sunburn, and yet after many days of ardent exercise hath 
had no two bushel sack of fish? Why should one waste 
tissue in overexertion when for the thoughtful there is at 
hand the carp, and likewise the cold potato which he 
craves! 
Sportsmen Promoted. 
Among the brave fellows at the front in Cuba, where 
all the good men of America ought to be, and where 
about all of them want to be, are hundreds of sportsmen 
whose presence is missed in many parts of the United 
States. To-day, a most singular state of affairs to re- 
count, the great daily papers of Chicago did not appear. 
A strike of the stereotypers has tied them up, and all 
day and to-morrow we will be in ignorance here in this 
great city, so far as Chicago papers are concerned, of 
the work of the American rifles in front of Santiago. 
That it has been accurate far beyond the possibilities of 
any non-sporting people is to be considered matter of 
course. The people of the old world will learn something 
of the stuff used in the manufacture of American soldiers 
— a material which has never yet failed to stand against 
the best of old world, troops and make them ultimately 
turn from the American firing line. In these times of 
anxiety one feels interest in personal friends who may 
be with the troops in Cuba, or about to be, and this in- 
terest is perhaps shared by readers of the Forest and 
Stream. Thus I note with pleasure the fact that both 
Mr. Calvin S. McChesney and Mr. Geo. B. Harrison, of 
Troy, N. Y, whom I mentioned as soon to tell us the 
story of their sheep hunt in the Rockies, have received 
military promotion in the Second New York Volunteers, 
Mr. McChesney to be lieutenant, Mr. Harrison to be 
quartermaster sergeant. Oscar Guessaz, of Texas, has 
already received mention in these columns as being a 
captain in rank. There will be new names before the 
people when this war is done, and among these will be 
many names of sportsmen. E. Hough. 
1200 Boyce Building, Chicago, 111. 
A Ride on a Locomotive. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I have just laid down a copy of a recent issue of your 
always interesting and instructive paper. In reading 
the experiences of sportsmen I often find them similar 
to my own. Mr. Hough describes shooting partridges 
with the help of a railroad train as a vehicle of con- 
veyance, reminding me of a fishing trip I once took. 
Three seasons ago I stopped for a week in Plymouth, 
N. H., and while there was invited by Dr. H., the fat and 
jovial practitioner of the town, to go trout fishing with 
him. By agreement we met at the depot in time to 
take the train running up the Pemigewassett Valley 
along the bank of the river by that name. The Doctor 
had planned to fish in this stream at a point about eigh- 
teen miles from P., where I knew there was no station, 
and I wondered how the Doctor would make out car- 
rying his 23olbs. of flesh from the nearest stopping 
place, some four miles, to the grounds; but soon I 
learned he had no intention of walking, for as the train 
came up to the station I saw him in earnest conversa- 
tion with the engineer. "The Doctor and I will ride 
on the front of the engine and when I see a good place 
to fish I'll swing my hat for you to stop." 
This we did, and how the air cut our faces as we flew 
along the rail. It was my first experience, and it was 
full of excitement, sitting on the iron platform in front 
of the boiler, holding on by the hollow iron post which 
is used to place the signal flag. Objects appeared dif- 
ferently from that point of observation than from a car 
window. I saw a culvert in the distance coming toward 
me with frightful rapidity, and as it shot under me I 
dodged, as it looked as though it would strike me. The 
Doctor kept his eye on the river, and when he got 
where he wanted he took off his hat and the train came 
to a standstill. 
We soon got into the river, and succeeded in catching 
a fair lot of trout, among which was one that actually 
weighed a pound. I was the lucky one to capture him. 
Along toward sundown the Doctor, after consulting 
his watch, said it was time to make a move, and we got 
up on the track again. I expected surely to walk to the 
nearest station, but the weighty M.D. sat himself down 
upon the rail, saying he "guessed Jo (the engineer) 
would not run over him." Sure enough, he guessed 
right, for soon the train came in sight, gave three 
sharp whistles, then slowed up, and we climbed into the 
baggage car and shortlv we were in Plymouth again. 
Doctor. 
San Francisco Fly-Casting Tournament. 
San Francisco, July 2. — Editor Forest and Stream: At 
a regular meeting of the club held June 28 it was re- 
solved. 
"That under existing circumstances of war our pro- 
posed tournament for 1898 be and is hereby abandoned, 
and the secretary be instructed to notify the papers.!' 
Horace Smyth, Sec'y. 
About Dark Flies on a Light Day. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In the editorial contained in your issue of to-day un- 
der the title "Adirondack Fly Casts," you refer at the 
close to "the well-known rule that dark flies should be 
used on light days and light flies on dark days," and I 
know that this is generally regarded as the rule, but is 
it a correct one? 
When I began fishing with the fly between thirty and 
forty years ago one of the first rules given to me for 
observance by old anglers was the one which you have 
quoted, and it was many years before I was inclined to 
doubt its accuracy, but some fifteen years ago I visited 
in the latter part of May a small lake in the Catskills : 
abounding in trout of large size, and on the first day of 
my stay was greeted with a cold, sour northeast storm. 
I went down to the lake, however, to cast the fly, more 
for the purpose of going through the motions than with 
the expectancy of taking any fish. 
For a long time I fished exclusively with light flies, and' 
not a single fish arose to the service. I then changed 
my flies, using very dark ones, and immediately had quite 
an abundance of rises, and took several very fine trout. 
I need hardly say that this experience shook my faith 
in the rule in question, and since then I have tested its 
correctness on a number of occasions, with the result 
that I am inclined to think that trout are quite as apt, if 
not more apt, to take a dark fly rather than a light one 
on a dark day. 
Is it not a fact that light flies generally abound on a 
bright day, and that on a dark day such flies, if any, as 
are brought into being are generally of dark or somber 
hue, and if it is true that trout are most apt to take 
flies which resemble or are similar in character to those 
abounding for the time being on the stream, is it not 
reasonable to believe that they would be quite as apt, or 
more apt, to take a dark fly as a light one on dark 
days ? 
I think that I can give further reasons for the correct- 
ness of my view, but do not care to enter into a discus- 
sion of the matter at the present time at least, lest I 
may stir up the' imaginary cynic referred to in your 
editorial. 
J. S. Van Cleef. 
New Jersey Shore Fishing-. 
Asbury Park, N. J., July 9. — Never has striped bass 
fishing been more gratifying than at the present time. 
All along the coast results are most pleasing. Particularly 
is this true of Deal Beach and vicinity. All along the 
ocean front an enormous mussel reef extends, and it is 
fair to presume that this has much to do with holding 
the striped fellows there. It would be most gratifying 
were it possible to have an accurate list of the fish 
taken the past month at the above point. They have 
been taken at all hours of the day and night, and at all 
stages of the tide, but, of course, night has given the 
best results. W^akfish are taking the hook in the surf 
now, and that adds to the sport, as they .are in no manner 
to be despised. Kingfish have apparently almost entire- 
ly deserted the ocean, and are in the bays and rivers, at- 
tending to spawning. 
I spent a night recently in Barnegat at that most 
pleasant pastime, weakfishing, and I found the yellow 
finned fellows there in great abundance, and crad in their 
best fighting garb. That bluefishing will soon be at its 
best in the bay is to be inferred from the fact that the 
waters are literally alive with menhaden; in all my exper- 
ience there, never have I seen them so abundant. From 
Harvey Cedars the reports continue to be of the best. 
Mr. Walter Davis spent the Fourth there, and landed 
eleven red drum or channel bass, aggregating 24oHlbs., 
besides a fine lot of bluefish, a most remarkable fact, the 
drum were taken on the squid casting from the beach. 
Altogether the prospects are of the best all along the 
line. Leonard Hulit. 
44 Webster Chowder." 
Our correspondent, Jim Mack, who writes to-day of 
trout fishing in Washington, is like Daniel Webster, in 
that he can catch fish and cook them too. Webster was 
not only a devoted and skilled fisherman, but a cook 
whose chowder was famous". The art of chowder making 
was perhaps shared as a common inheritance among the 
farmers of the Massachusetts coast, who were the great 
statesman's neighbors. The farmers, we are told, "were 
in the habit of coming seven or eight miles across the. 
country for a day's fishing in the sea. It was customary 
on their return to the shore to have a chowder cooked. 
Webster had a stable near his boat house on the beach, 
which the farmers were allowed to use for their teams. 
Harvey relates an anecdote of Webster sending fish 
from his house to a party of these excursionists who 
were urisuccessful in their sport, that they might en- 
joy their usual pot of chowder." 
In a letter from his home, July 29, 1 851, Webster so 
wrote: „ . .'I 
"We went a-fishing yesterday and brought in a good 
fare; but we did not catch a halibut, nor did we see or 
hear of a single haddock; there are a few mackerel in 
the bay, of an uncommonly large size, and we have 
just had one for our breakfast. Mrs. Webster is making 
us a nice chowder for our dinner to-day out of a cod- 
fish, very large and gray, which Mr. Blatchford took 
yesterday at a quarter past 2 o'clock." 
From this it has been inferred that Mrs. Webster was 
the chowder artist, but there is abundant evidence that 
to Webster himself is due the credit for the dish which 
bears his name. This is the recipe as he wrote it for 
a large fishing party: 
"Cod of 10 or I2lbs. well cleaned, leaving on the 
skin, cut into slices of ij^lbs. thick, preserving the head 
whole, i^lbs. clear, fat salt pork cut in thin slices; do 
the same with twelve potatoes. Take the largest pot you 
have, try out the pork first, take out the pieces of pork, 
leaving "in the dripping; add to that three parts water, a 
layer of fish so as to cover the bottom of the pot, next 
a layer of potatoes, then two tablespoonfuls of salt, one 
teaspoonful of pepper, then the pork, another layer of 
fish, and the remainder of the potatoes; fill the pot with 
water enough to cov>.- *he ingredients, put it over a 
