130 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. 13, 1898, 
Vice-President, Hon. Charles R. Skinner, Albany; 
Secretary, W. H. Thompson, Alexandria , Bay; 
Treasurer, R. P. Grant, Clayton; Executive Com- 
mittee, A. C. Cornwall, Col. O. G. Staples, Walter Fox, 
Alexandria Bay; George C. Boldt, New York; George 
H. Strough, G. M. Skinner, John Foley, Clayton; Col. 
W. M. Griffith, Utica; F. A. Gillespie, Pittsburg, Pa.; 
C. G. Emery. New York; R. H. Pullman, Baltimore, 
Md.; Hon. G. R. Malby, R. E. Waterman, Ogdensburg; 
Charles E. Britton, Gananoque. 
On motion of Mr. Grant the executive committee was 
authorized to act on any questions of legislation that 
might come up during the year. 
It was stated that the executive committee last year 
applied for 2,000,000 muskallonge fry, and that 750,000 
were received and distributed in the St. Lawrence River 
between Clayton and Alexandria Bay. The fry were 
from the Chautauqua Lake hatchery. 
Mr. Thompson "said good results had already been 
observed from stocking the St. Lawrence. He did not 
think it best to make any more requisitions for wall- 
eyed pike, however. 
" Mr. Heath said the largest muskallonge he had ever 
seen caught in the river weighed 35'bs. 
G. M. Skinner said he recently had the pleasure of pre- 
senting a 351b. muskallonge to the wife of Vice-Presi- 
dent Hobart while at Alexandria Bay. 
Mr. Britton invited the Association to meet in Ganan- 
oque next year. He said they had taken a step in the 
right direction on the Canadian side during the past 
year, and had secured an overseer of overseers. On his 
motion it was decided to recommend to the president of 
the Association that the next annual meeting be held in 
Gananoque. 
The propositions to have copies of the minutes printed 
and circulated, to have official buttons made and to 
make a slight change in the by-laws, were referred to the 
executive committee. 
The Association concluded its business shortly after 
1 P. M.. and by invitation of Col. Staples the members 
repaired in a body to the dining room of the Thousand 
Island House, where an elaborate banquet was served 
with the compliments of the genial proprietor. At the 
plate of each guest was a little silk flag, the Stars and 
Stripes covered with a network of silver thread and at- 
tached to a long pin. Underneath the network was the 
inscription, "1,000 Island House." The menu cards, got- 
ten up expressly for the occasion, very appropriately 
bore the official design adopted by the Anglers' As- 
sociation for use on its stationery. The long table at 
which the guests were seated was beautifully decorated 
with flowers and contained also an artistic centerpiece, 
the chief feature of which was a mammoth salmon. 
The anglers extended a unanimous vote of thanks to 
Col. Staples for his generous hospitality. 
W. E. Wolcott. 
Utica, N. Y , Aug. 4. 
"Doctor," I replied, "I can only say that 'this beats 
all my goin' a-fishin.' I've seen both species leap from 
the water when hooked, but 5ft! Gee whiz! That's 
nearly as tall as we are; no, I never saw a black bass 
reach up 4ft. into the atmosphere." 
"Having admitted so much, did you ever see one of 
these fishes leap 3ft. when hooked?" 
"The fact is, Doctor, that when it has been my fortune 
to hook a black bass, it has been on the end of a line 
'so long that I could not get out a rule nor tape to 
measure the leap, but if your object is to extract from 
me what I would be willing to make affidavit to, why, I 
would put ift. as the average leap and add half that 
distance as the maximum." 
"Just my figures, and I have fished for black bass in 
all parts of the Union where they are found ; have talked 
with anglers and fishermen, but never heard of such 
leaping before." 
"All right, Doctor, after we get down to the club 
house and have dinner let us compare notes on bass 
flies. Our friend Mr. Bacon is fishing up this way, per- 
haps to suggest that we work down stream and prepare 
for dinner." 
There were other statements made by Rob Roy which 
His Views on Bait-Casting. 
When the National Rod and Reel Association was 
alive and holding annual tournaments in Central Park, 
New York city, the Doctor was anxious to have a con- 
test in bait-casting from the reel, and formulated a set 
of rules for it, and sent them to me, as secretary of the 
Association. They were not adopted, for two reasons: 
There were not prizes enough for another class, and if 
there had been prizes there would have been no en- 
tries, because the "Henshall style" was not practiced in 
the East at that time. Many Eastern anglers cast a min- 
now that way now, i. e., by dropping the tip of the rod 
below the elbow and checking the reel with the thumb. 
We had two classes for salt-water striped bass casting 
which differed only in the matter of weight of the sink- 
er, and the casts were made by reeling up to about ift. 
and casting over the shoulder. The Doctor was in- 
dignant that his favorite cast should be left out, and 
wrote me a sharp letter under date of Oct. 9, 1885, but 
as I knew that he was right, but a little in advance of 
the Eastern anglers, whose committee did not make a 
class for black bass casting, for reasons already given, 
the letter did not disturb our friendly relations. 
Men I Have Fished With. 
LXHL— Dr. James A. Henshall. 
In Forest and Stream of a fortnight ago, p. 70, there 
is an article on the grayling by Dr. Henshall, in which 
he claims that the grayling of Michigan and Montana 
are the same species, which he calls Thymallus lewisii. 
He fails to say who described the fish under that name, 
but claims that it is "in accordance with the law of 
priority," which may be true, but he gives no references. 
Years ago I fell so deeply in love with the Michigan 
grayling, when it bore Cope's name of T. tricolor, that 
I do not long to see the name lost; in fact, few of us like 
to accept new names in place of the old. A few years 
ago Dr. Henshall made researches in Paris which 
showed that American scientists had gone astray on the 
nomenclature of the two species of black bass, and they 
opened their eyes, wiped their glasses, examined the 
evidence and accepted the Doctor's conclusions, and the 
matter was straightened out, and will remain straight- 
ened. Remembering this, I will wait for "more about 
the gravling" before risking an opinion about that fish . 
until we know what the Doctor may have up his 
sleeve. 
How Black Bass Leap. 
If there is any fish that he loves, it is the black bass, 
and he loves both species equally. In the long ago we 
were guests of the Castalia Club, and were trouting in 
the waters of that gigantic Ohio spring, and the trout 
were doing their part to perfection. My friend had just 
unhooked a lusty trout, but his mind turned in an in- 
stant, for he asked: "Did you see what Rob Roy said 
in Forest and Stream about the leaping of the black 
bass?" 
"No doubt I did, for I read the paper carefully, but 
make no pretension .of committing it to memory, nor 
of arguing at length with a man who differs with me. 
How long ago was the article published to which you 
refer?" 1 , ' 
"In the latter part of 1884 or early the next year, can t 
place it exactly; you must have seen it." 
"Very true, but, my dear Doctor, if you -will release 
your mind from the fly which you hung up in that bush 
and are trying so hard to recover, and will concentrate 
it on what Rob Roy said about the leaping of black 
bass, I will not only regard you as sane, but will con- 
sider, cuss and discuss the leaping powers of black bass 
with you, as far as I am able. At present I am ignorant 
of the question before the house." , 
The Doctor gave an impatient yank, leaving the fly m 
the bush, intimating that he had lost more time than 
a fly was worth, and as he selected another lure to replace 
the lost one looked up and said: "Why, Rob Roy says 
the big-mouth never leaps after being hooked; that is 
simply nonsense," 
"Certainly, 'it needs no ghosL, my Lord, to come from 
the grave to tell us this.' even 1 know better than that. 
Any more?" ' „ . , . , 
"Yes in his effort to elevate one fish by running down 
another, which is equally as good, he says that the 
small-mouth leaps often, and to a height of 3, 4 and even 
5ft, What do you think of that?" 
■ 
DR. JAMES A. HENSHALL. 
the Doctor promised to discuss, but the show-down of 
trout and the dinner banished them all, and as we 
smoked we talked with our friends on almost every 
subject except the leaping powers of black bass, and 
there the subject dropped. 
Book of the Black Bass. 
A sketch like this cannot be turned into either a ful- 
some obituary notice nor a book review. It could not 
be an obituary because the Doctor is still living in a 
most vigorous manner, and two years ago was ap- 
pointed superintendent of the U. S. Fish Commission, 
in charge of the hatchery at Bozeman, Montana. 
But his book, "The Book of the Black Bass," will be 
all the monument and "obituary" that any man might 
crave. It is the most distinctively American of any 
fishing book ever published. It deals with a grand 
pair of American game fishes which had received scant 
attention from angling authors; not more than had been 
accorded to the perch and similar fish until Henshall 
made the declaration that: "Pound for pound, the black 
bass is the gamest fish that swims." Then Americans 
began to regard these fishes in a new light and Hen- 
shall was dubbed "the apostle of the black bass." 
The book covered over 460 pages, and went into so 
much detail of nomenclature, habits, tackle, baits, flies 
and all that pertains to these fishes that we anglers 
thought that the subject was exhausted, but in the same 
year 1889. he gave us 200 additional pages in another 
volume, entitled "More About the Black Bass," as a 
supplement to the first volume, and with the Queen of 
Sheba we found that not half had been told. Dr. Hen- 
shall put the black bass among our gamiest fresh-water 
fishes, and properly labeled it "the game fish for the 
million," for the trout waters are not so accessible and 
the trout are not as plenty. His book at once set fish 
commissioners at .work stocking suitable waters with 
these fishes, and when the lands are denuded ot timber 
and the trout streams have dried up a future genera- 
tion of anglers will rise up and call the Doctor blessed 
for booming two neglected fishes into the first class, 
where they rightfully belong. _ , r , 
Having read his book several times, the only adverse 
criticism I would make is on the title, which should 
have been: "Book of the Black Basses," thus clearly 
indicating that there were two species.. 
Dr. Henshall said: "I was about to start for New 
York, but the postponement of the tournament knocks 
me out, as I had an engagement to fish the 'sunken 
lands' of Arkansas, and also to do some ducking for a 
month, beginning Oct. 20. * * * My regret is some- 
what modified, however, at the action of the committee 
in altering the rules of the black bass minnow casting so 
as to allow 'overhead' casting. Was this to combine 
black bass and light striped bass casting? A poor 
economy, I should say. It is well enough to leave out 
the latter altogether, as the contest for heavy bass cast- 
ing is sufficient and is characteristic. Angling for small 
striped bass is done in a variety of ways, and the black 
bass rules should not have been changed in the man- 
ner noted. Throwing a bait overhead is the mode used 
by every boy and negro in the South, who do not use 
reels. I am afraid that the committee do not under- 
stand black bass fishing as well as they ought." 
The Doctor was merely a little "previous." This cor- 
respondence occurred over a dozen years ago, when his 
excellent mode of minnow casting was practically un- 
known to the anglers of the effete East, while to-day 
hundreds of the brethren from New York to Maine use 
it. Henshall was a missionary, confident in his own be- 
lief, but impatient of a delay in its acceptance by others 
who heard it for the first time. To-day he can see that 
the tree which he planted has borne fruit, if it did not 
do so on the next year after he planted the seed. _ As a 
rule young men do not plant trees, they have no time to 
wait; the Doctor was younger then and wanted his seed 
to become a tree and bear fruit at once. He is older 
now and can look back with a pleasurable pride at what: 
he has done in the way of placing black .bass fishing on 
a higher plane, and can realize that it took only a dozen 
years to do it. 
A Happy Man. 
It has been said that a man's happiness lies withirf 
himself, and the genial, jolly subject of this sketch proves 
Ft, for he has a keen sense of humor, a fund of anecdott, 
and not onlv loves music, but can "do it." When at my 
Long Island home he mentioned some old darky song! 
which I had forgotten, and went to the piano and rem' 
dered it as Luke West or "Old Dan" Emmett might 
have done when we were boys. He took to fishing ( 
shooting, sailing and canoeing as recreations from th*< 
arduous routine duties of a physician, and later took ut 
