Jul* 30, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
91 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Another Chance. 
Camp Forest and Stream, Wisconsin, July 15.— J". B. 
H. and I have come back once more to our little "lake 
and our hill and our oak trees. The tent pins of the 
little tents are in the same holes they held last year 
and years before. This is the tenth annual camp of J. 
B. H. and myself, although it does not seem so long 
as that since we began to explore this country about 
Mukwonago. This year is much as the other years. 
The small axes stick in the same tree, the same nails 
support the dish cloth, and the gridiron and the lantern, 
the same aluminum frying-pans glisten in the sun, and 
the same little black coffee pot docs not glisten at all, 
but leans its fat body against the same log which has 
for four years served us for a seat. The little lake is 
not changed, but is beautiful as ever, and our spring is 
as clean and cold. The sun sets red and big as it did 
the first time we came here, and the lake is as empty 
of summer resorters as it ever was. Not a cottage 
holds a duck-trousered dude to bother Us; not an oar 
wrinkles our lake; not a tent, shows in all the circle 
of green about it except our own. We might go 
further and fare worse. We have fishing and resting 
as much as one may need, and it is not for us to break 
records. Nowhere have we seen a prettier spot, or 
one more free from resorters, mosquitoes and other 
insects. Why then should we long, or why wander 
blindly on beyond the comforts of living? In this 
I agree, and think with him that our camp is perfect. 
For J. B. H. no daily mail and no telegrams cause 
distraction from the simple routine of preasure, and he 
cares not that we have no place for writing in all our 
camp. I have tried our table, but it is too low. There 
is not a box about the place, and only one chair, which 
appertains to J. B. H. exclusively. The best make- 
shift for a writing table I have yet found is the bottom of 
our biggest frying-pan, the latter held upon my knees. 
Thus I write, now and again looking out from our hill- 
top, whence f can see J. B. FI. in our red-painted punt 
at anchor on the bar in front of our camp, his straw 
hat now and again rising and bending over as he puts 
some small fish in the live box. It is the very picture of 
contentment that he makes. He had four fish when 
last I heard from him, and wanted to know when I 
was coming out. Alas! if frying-pans were type- 
writers ! 
It is ten years since we first came to the country, 
and now J. B. H. is growing old. The years show their 
mark too plainly now. Once 6ft. tall and more power- 
ful than it is given many men to be, he now is thin 
and stooped, and his feet are heavier, which chafes 
the spirit of him, which still is strong. The path of 
the face of our hill is too steep, so we have engineered 
a double Z, on which he takes his time, bearing never 
any burden now. Yet his eye is keen, and he casts 
a decent line, and would stay here all summer if I 
could be in camp so long. We take our time in all our 
sport, and not the least of our pleasure is the hour 
about the fire; for. though the day may be hot and 
lazy, the night is always cool. 
We talk, and speculate, and philosophize, wishing we 
might be with the army at the front of the war; wishing 
that the war were over; wondering why there is any 
war in the world, and wondering at the smoothness 
ot the world after the losses of all its wars. In our 
fire sometimes fly myriads of gnats, nameless, incom- 
putable; and these we liken to the hundreds of thous- 
ands slain in the wars told of in the Scriptures, hundreds 
of thousands, nameless, uncomputed, leaving the world 
smooth and careless, spinning on just the same. I tell 
J. B. Ft. that it does not matter, man or gnat, but he 
thinks it does. He says that every man has another 
chance,_ some day, somewhere, where his mistakes are 
not weighed forever and ever against him; where per- 
haps he has wings — not wings such as we see given 
angels in books, perhaps, but wings sufficient to bear 
him up above the things of no avail. When I tell him 
I can sec only the war of life, and nothing to indicate 
that weakness will ever mean strength, or that failure 
will ever grow into success, he picks from his sleeve 
the winged fly which has come up out of the grub 
in the water. This, he says, is and was not, and has 
lived in three elements — air, earth and water — life en- 
during with it always, until now it has become a creat- 
ure beautiful, care free, with wings tenderly brilliant, 
such as may carry it far from the broken husk it has 
abandoned. For this reason J. B. H. thinks those who 
have fallen in Avar or in the unchronicled fight of life 
may some time have another chance. Nearing four- 
score now, and with limbs that lag, J. B. H. has never 
preached, except silently. Yet this was what he said, 
by the fire, and as in his life he has cheered many, per- 
haps what he says may cheer some who are weary, and 
who may one day see the imago that has risen from 
below. 
Vicissitudes, 
We have had some vicissitudes of a mild sort in our 
angling. It is too late for frog-casting in the shallows, 
so we pursue the bass in deep water. Making a trip' 
through the crooked channel which connects our lake 
with Eagle Fake, where Billy Tuohey's hotel offered 
fresh bread and eggs for our larders, we observed that 
there were some good bass in the deep bends of the 
creek. One bass I saw which I thought would weigh 
over sibs., and thinking to capture Billy's gold medal 
for the biggest bass we went back the next day and 
made overtures with a frog about as long as your arm. 
This the bass promptly took and carried back some 
yards under the floating bog, whence we never could 
evict him. In preparation we had put on a brand-new 
line, with a swivel and a No. 3 girnp sproat, the line 
so strong that one could not break it in his hands." Any 
one finding the above concealed about his person will 
please return it to the Western office of Forest and 
Stream. The bass wrapped the line around the grass 
roots and twisted it off in some way, and though he 
twice rose for us in later days, we never got him into the 
net, and Billy still has his medal. But we caught four 
other bass in the creek one day, one that weighed 
3^1bs., not a very large one from the standpoint of 
Camp Forest and Stream. 
Our crappie bar we discovered to be in the same 
place this year, and it has proved good for all the : fat 
crappies^ that we need. Fishing here one day with 
small minnows, in about 15ft. of water, wc struck some 
heavy fish that seemed bound not to come up to see us, 
and preferred to dig into the weed beds, J, B. H. 
much bemoaned my lack of skill in this bout; but half 
an hour later the opportunity fo» redemption came. 
Apparently the same fish struck again, and this time 
the light rod lifted him till we could see he was a pike 
of goodly size. On the pocket scales he weighed but 
5lbs., but J. B. H. said the scales were obviously and 
glaringly wrong, as any one could see the fish would 
weigh 81bs. at least! ' 
Conveniences. 
At' Camp Forest and Stream all things are ready at 
hand when needed. A little pond in the woods near 
by yesterday yielded us a dozen nice t>ait frogs, which 
we took on the fly, not bothering to net them. A 
sandy beach near at hand on our lake shore always 
has a big school of minnows swimming up and down 
waiting for us to come and catch them. At first we 
caught them a score at a haul in our minnow seine, but 
then they grew wise, hugging the bottom and dodging 
under the lead line most exasperatingly, so that often 
we got none at all after a careful draw. We have rein- 
forced our seine with mosquito bar, and meditate plant- 
ing side wings to impound our prey the more readily. 
At times we need minnows badly, as the other day 
when wc had invited seven guests — cottagers from Eagle 
Lake — to dinner, and when they arrived before we had 
the fish caught for dinner. Yet fortune favored us so 
that wc fed all abundantly on crappie that evening, to 
the pleasure of those who had never before eaten of 
skinned crappie. We have discovered this summer that 
it improves our fish to skin them, and We no longer 
scale fish, but skin them. It is a very easy operation. 
A double rip from head to tail on each side of the 
back fin, and a similar cut along the belly, and the 
skin pulls off in two halves, taking "O'ff all back of the 
pectoral fins. These latter fins no one can eat, but for 
many generations fish mongers have sold them and 
servants have cooked them. We just leave them for the 
turtles in Camp Forest and Stream. 1 Moreover, when 
you have taken off your two halves Of your fish skin, you 
can begin at the back end of your back fin and pull it 
it out whole, with the bones which project down front 
it into the best part of your fish. "When you have 
thus prepared your fish it has shrunken to one-third its 
original size, but you have thrown away nothing which 
is useful to you, and the remainder is sweet and free 
from muddy or fishy flavor. Bass should alwavs be 
skinned, and we so prepare pickerel, perch, crappies, 
rock bass and all other sorts of fish that ' fall into our 
hands. What with catching our minnows, catching our 
fish and cooking them, we manage to put in, the greater 
part of the day without any trouble. If we. happen 
to get any big fish, we carry them to neighbor 
Schwartz, who has a family larger than ours. Some days 
we do not fish at all, but fix things, or make --stools, or 
mend the table. One way or another the days glide by 
very easily and quickly, so that already we see; the; un- 
welcome end approaching. We build our table and 
our stools so that they may be here next -year. 
Last night the wind fell at sunset, and- the lake was 
absolutely still, mirroring all the green hills about- it 
and all the rosy clouds above it, so that our boat floated 
in a wondrous medium, surrounded by wondrous things, 
intangible and unreal in their beauty, as must seem the 
things of the new world into which arise creatures 
abandoning the imperfect bodies of an earlier sphere; 
American Fisheries Society. 
Chicago, 111., July 23. — The twenty-seventh annual 
convention of the Fisheries Society met at Omaha, Neb., 
in three days' session, July 20, 21, 22. No evening ses- 
sions were held, members preferring to spend the time in 
the enjoyment of the beauties of the Omaha Exposition. 
The following members were present at the. opening 
day: Messrs. George F. Peabody, Apple-ton, Wis.; Sey- 
mour Bower, Detroit, Mich.: J. J. Stranahan, Put-in- 
Bay, O.; J. E. Gunckel, Toledo, O.; F. N Clark, North- 
ville, Mich.; James Nevin and Prof. E. A. Birge, Madi- 
son, Wis.; C. Spensley, Mineral Point, Wis.; President 
Lew May, Omaha; Secretarv Hcrschel Whitaker, De- 
troit, Mich., and J. A. Dale, York; Pa. 
The programme for the reading of papers was estab- 
lished as follows: 
First Day.— Dr. H. B. Ward, professor of zoology, 
University of Nebraska, "Aquacultural Experiment Sta- 
tions and Their Work"; James Nevin, superintendent 
Wisconsin Fish Commission, "The Propagation of 
Fish"; Livingstone Stone, superintendent U. S. Fish 
Commission Station, Cape Vincent, N. Y, "The Origin 
and Infancy of the American Fisheries Societies." 
Second Day, Morning Session. — Hon. J. W. Titcomb, 
Commissioner of Fisheries and Game, A^ermont, "De- 
sirability of State Organizations for the Promotion of 
Fishculture and the Passage of Legislation by the Sev- 
eral States for the Propagation and Protection of Food 
and Game Fish"; J. J. Stranahan, Superintendent U. S. 
Fish Commission Station, Put-in-Bay,' O., "The Micro- 
scope as Practically Applied to Fishculture"; Dr. H. C. 
Bumpus, professor of zoology, Brown University, R. I., 
"The Identification of Adult Fish that have been Arti- 
ficially Hatched." 
Second Day, Afternoon Session. — Dr. J. A. Henshall, 
Superintendent United States Fish Commission, Boze- 
man, Mont., "The Artificial Culture of the Grayling"; 
Hon. F. B. Dickerson,. Commissioner of Fisheries of , 
Michigan, "The Protection of Fish and a Closed Sea- 
son"; Jacob Reighard, professor of animal morphology, 
University of Michigan, "How Can Biological Investi- 
gation of Fresh Waters be Made of Most Value?" J. E. 
Gunckel, Toledo, O., "Fish and Fishing." * 
Third Day, Friday, Morning Session. — F. N. Clark, 
Superintendent United States Commission, "Notes in 
Connection with the United States Fish Hatcheries in 
Michigan"; Prof. E. A. Bi-r-ge, dean of College" of Let- 
ters, and Sciences, University of Wisconsin, "The Rela- 
tion Between the Areas of Inland Lakes and the Tem- 
perature of the Water"; Flerschel Whitaker, Commis- 
sioner of Fisheries of Michigan, "Some Popular Errors 
Needing Correction"; Dr. Bush rod W. James, Philadel- 
phia, Pa,, "The Protection of the Pacific Coast as Related 
to its Food Supply"; Seymour Bower, Superintendent 
Michigan Fish Commission, "The' Justice of a License 
Fee for Commercial Fishermen and for Anglers." 
Western Season Waning. 
The Western angling season is now about at its worst. 
The coming of the grasshoppers will mean good fishing 
for large trout on some of the better streams, but the 
bass and muscallonge season is now at low ebb. In 
August the fishing will improve and remain good until 
cold weather. Some big-mouth bass continue to be 
caught in the lakes north of us, and I hear of one very 
fine string of bass taken by Mr. F. R. Bissel, of Chicago, 
at La Crosse, Wiss. These were small-mouth bass, and 
the catch was fifty-five in two hours, certainly a fine one. 
Mr, Carter, chief engineer of the Northwestern R. R., 
tells me that he is going to try the Mississippi between 
La Crosse and Winona next week, and he expects fine 
sport for bass. For the most part, the lake bass fishing 
is not so good, having been marked this season by ex- 
treme patchiness. The bass in lower Wisconsin spawned 
all the way from April into July, and the fishing has 
been good and bad alternately. At Billy Tuohy's place, 
on Eagle Lake, Waukesha county, Wis., there was some 
bass fishing a week ago, a Mr. White, of Chicago, taking 
on one day nineteen bass, and on another twenty-three. 
This was by skittering a frog. I have not heard a great 
deal from the Wisconsin muscallonge country. The 
last word from the Minnesota muscallonge country, at 
Kabekona Camp, stated that muscallonge had quit bit- 
ing. On June 28 Mr. A. B. Proctor, of Kansas Citv, 
killed a 241b. lunge, and Frank S. Proctor took one 
weighing 2oHlbs. On June 29 Mr. and Mrs. E. F. 
Hunter, of .Chillicothe, 111., killed two fish weighing tjji 
and I2lbs. On the tame day Mr. A. B. Porter, of Evans- 
ton, 111., caught in Baby Lake a muscallonge weighing 
3olbs: When Billy Mussey came back from that coun- 
try he brought one muscallonge with him weighing 
3i'bs., and had others weighing \4\hs., i61bs., etc. 
Reports from the Nipigon country of Canada state 
that but few parties have as yet appeared, though there 
will be more on the stream in the month of August. The 
largest Nipigon trout of which I hear thus far this sea- 
son is 4Klbs., taken by Mr. Ward Ames, of Duluth. 
I.™ t, ". ' E. Hough. 
1200 Boyce Building, Chicago, 111. 
Boston and New England. 
' Boston, July 25.— A large party from the Boston 
Young Men's Christian Association is camping on the 
shores of Sebago Lake. They are fishing to some ex- 
tent, but there is not yet any particular record of catches. 
Mr. R. O. Harding has been absent for some weeks, by 
reason of illness, but late reports are encouraging. Pie 
has been stopping at Ossipee, New Hampshire. He 
writes E. H. Wakefield, Jr., that the boys are still trying 
Dan Hole Pond for landlocked salmon, and that a couple 
of them, from a town in that section, took a salmon last 
week weighing over iglbs. They also hooked on to an- 
other big one and lost him. Richard is in for trying the 
pond again, though it is very late, and Wakefield is 
tempted. 
Codfishing off the south and north shores is now in 
order, and Boston merchants and business men get a 
good deal of pleasure out of such fishing, when they 
might be unable to get away on longer trip's to the troui 
and salmon waters. Mr. MathcAv Luce, with his boat- 
man, Johnson, is at it .again this year, and taking a good 
many pounds of fish. He fishes purely for the love of the 
sport, while the fish are invariably saved and well cured 
They go to Mr. Luce's friends and where they will do 
the most good. Bluefishing trips are still in order to 
Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. The capture of a big 
swordfish off Nantucket Shoals the other day gave some 
Boston bluefishermen a taste of that sort of big fish 
game. The smelt fishermen are also getting some good 
strings down- the harbor. The owners of steam launches 
and other craft have several points where they go for 
early morning smelt fishing. 
A letter from Mr. John Fottler, Jr., yesterday at his 
place of business stated that his first salmon this 
season had just been taken on his river, the St 
John, at Gaspe, Quebec. Messrs. John E. Devlin, L. B 
Dana and son are with Mr. Fottler. The weather has 
been dry and made the fishing poor for some days, but 
a good run of salmon is expected since the rains. 
Mr. E. C. Stevens has just received, from Lake Dun- 
more, Salisbury, Vt., the king pickerel of the season. It 
was sent him by a friend at that point on a fishing trip. 
It was almost upon a level with a man's arms extended 
and weighed I4^1bs. This lake is noted for its big 
pickerel, one having been taken there formerly weighing 
up into the twenties of pounds. 
Now, the other fishing resorts are all reported to be 
green with envy— or foliage— since Belgrade Mills, Me' 
is expecting Grover Cleveland and Joseph Jefferson to 
help take the black bass and white perch. This report 
may not be correct, but the Maine papers are sending 
it broadcast. Those renowned sporting gentlemen could 
scarcely find a better location for bass fishing if recent 
reports are to be credited. Bass fishing all along the 
Belgrade and Winthrop chain of lakes is reported to con- 
tinue good. 
The Maine papers are shouting the praises of Miss 
Lenora Jordan, of Blue Hill. She, with a number of lit- 
tle girls— so one paper has it— went the other day into a 
woodland pasture after raspberries. The girls had been 
in the woods but a short time when they came upon 
two cubs, which the litfle girls mistook for. woodchucks 
till they run squealing up a tree. The children's shouts 
brought Miss Jordan, who was picking berries at some 
distance, and also the mother, bear. The young woman 
screamed. Then catching her breath she uttered another 
volley: "Run, girls, run! .Run, girls, run! A bear 1 A 
bear-r-r! Oh-0-0-0! Run, girls, run!" 
They did run. So did Miss Jordan, and so did , the 
bear. But they nut in different directions, " 
