230 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Sept. 17, 1898. 
early, and getting his share of the partridges. With 
some Brickfield friends he will make a trip up into Byron 
and Roxbury, an excellent partridge section. 
Shore bird shooting along the New England coast 
would be better in cooler weather, and the gunners all say 
that a storm will be sure to bring a big flight of birds. 
Harry Moore and C. H. Tarbox were down to Plum 
Island the other day, with result of very few birds, the 
weather being terribly hot. But they had lots of sport. 
Harry took his twin nephews, the Richards boys, with 
hfm; youngsters of fourteen, just beginning to "be crazy 
to shoot." They had little Flobert rifles with them, and 
with watching they were allowed to shoot sparrows off 
the telegraph wires. To the surprise of both the older 
men, the boys were able to pick off the sparrows, scarce- 
ly missing a shot. Next came the desire to trv the shot- 
guns of their seniors. They were warned beforehand 
that they might be kicked over by a 10-gauge gun, heavily 
loaded, but this did not dampen their ardor in the 
least. One of them — they look so much alike that Tar- 
box could not tell which it was — fired Tarbox's gun, 
made a good shot, killing three or four sparrows. Then 
came the turn of the other boy— bound to beat. With a 
good raking shot along the wire he pulled away with his 
Uncle Harry's gun. There was a big crack with the 
boy nearly kicked over, and eight sparrows came down. 
All hands wondered why the gun had kicked so badly, 
but this was explained when it was found that the 
youngster had pulled both barrels at once, in order to 
beat his brother. The same party will visit Plum 
Island again when there is a better prospect for birds. 
Special. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
In Indiana. 
Chicago, HI., Sept. 3. — I am told that the private 
soldier of the U. S. Army in the West has a rather 
bitter feeling against some , of the pictorial representa- 
tions which pass current as his portrait in the illustrated 
papers. He protests that he is not a freak, but a man. 
I have heard also, and more than once, that the famous 
and kindly poet, Mr. Jas. Whitcomb Riley, of Indiana, 
has incurred the enmity of certain citizens of his native 
State, more especially the real estate men, who say 
that his dialect poems have done more to convey a wrong 
impression of Hoosierdom-than the whole State can ever 
do to set right! The people of Indiana, or some of them, 
say that they do not all of them all the time talk in dia- 
lect, but that some of them, some of the time, speak 
with correct and collegiate accent, and that the State, 
as a State, has the best public school system in the world. 
To all of which I imagine the popular artists on Western 
topics, and the famous poet of Indiana, may answer 
with a smile. 
I do not know why Indiana should be such an un- 
known land, or why all sorts of lawlessness and ignor- 
ance should be ascribed to it, but somehow it has al- 
ways been the fashion to think that in Indiana the game 
and fish laws were dead letters. To a certain extent 
Indiana does now and then show a bad state of affairs. 
Thus Judge Elliot, of Marion county, says that in his be- 
lief the dynamiting along the Indiana streams will in a 
few years render it impossible to catch any game fish at 
all. Upon the other hand, and this is what I want to 
get at, there has really been progressing all the time, in 
spite of the popular apprehension on such topics, a very 
steady and useful work toward protection, under the 
care of the Indiana State Commission, sadly hampered 
as it is by a scanty appropriation. Deputy Commission- 
er Earl has been doing a great deal of good this very 
summer along the White River, one of the best bass 
streams of the State (and a very fair fly-fishing water at 
one time). He has begun now to close in with his 
cases, and has set things moving by fining Rufus Cald- 
well, of Brooklyn, for seining. He will next take up 
the cases of John Parker, of Centerton, and Jas. C. Greer, 
of Green township, and after them several other cases 
which he has been working up of late. The law is apt to 
gain in respect in that community. Over near Anderson, 
Ind., Deputy W. Moore has also been at work, and he 
has succeeded in creating a reign of terror among the 
illegal fishers. He arrested Perry Hull and Jack Foster 
on Fall Creek, and found a net in their possession, 
which he confiscated, and the news of this has sent all 
the nets and spears in the neighborhood into hiding, and 
there is a great stirring up of things. There is protection 
in Indiana, and there would be more protection if the 
intelligent citizens of the State would make a larger 
appropriation for its fish and game commission. This 
might be a good advertisement for the State, and it 
might in a measure offset the damage which is done it 
by Mr. Riley, who, as I understand it, is not guilty of 
any malice aforethought, and only writes poetry as a 
spring runs water, because it can't help it. 
In Illinois. 
Deputy Warden Ratto, of Chicago, has been doing 
a lot of work in fish cases in Illinois this summer, as 
many handlers of short fish in Chicago may testify. 
This week Mr. Ratto idly strolled down to Bloomington 
and got among the fish dealers there. He said he was 
hungry, but not so very awful hungry. What he really 
needed was a little fish, just a small fish, about so long 
on his hand. Several dealers were able to dig up such 
a small fish or so out of their barrels. Then the fun 
began, and each of the dealers was fined $20 and costs. 
Now comes the odd side of the story. The retailers came 
back on the wholesalers, the big market fishing firms 
along the Illinois River, who have been handled so 
gingerly by the State Commission. The latter dealers 
were asked to liquidate these fines inflicted on the men 
who had retailed their short fish. One Beardstown out- 
fit refuses to do anything to help out the retailers" who 
got fined. Let me see, it was said in favor of the 
Chicago retailers, who for a time were not pushed much 
for a "first offense," that they "could not- help it if the 
wholesale firms sent them short fish," and that they 
ought not to be punishad for the sins of the market net- 
ters. Now, it appears, the latter do not agree to be 
responsible for the sins of the retailers. All of which 
is just about as it might have been supposed to be. 
Leniency ia protection has its drawbacks. 
Tarpon Club's Building. 
Rumor comes from Texas that the club house of the 
big and wealthy Tarpon Club is not yet forthcoming. 
The harbor company at Aransas Pass wants too much 
for the privilege of building on Mustang Island, near the 
channel. Live Oak Point is suggested as a good point, 
though a long way from the fishing. This latter is true, 
but I should think that so lovely a site as this bold head- 
land would be better than the sands of any of the keys 
near the channel where the tarpon run. A sail of a score 
of miles is not much, and on those lovely landlocked 
waters would be a pleasure. There is no locality near 
the pass where so sightly a building spot can be had as 
at the Live Oak headland. 
Biggest Nepigon Trout. 
Report has it that the Lake Superior trout fishing 
has been exceptionally good this year, the south coast 
of Isle Royal having turned out exceedingly well. The 
Nepigon River record runs heavy, and this year brings 
out the heaviest trout ever taken there, with one excep- 
tion. The heaviest Nepigon fish was taken three years 
ago, and weighed a trifle over gibs. The biggest trout 
of this year weighed even 7lbs., and was taken by a 
Peoria, III, angler, whose name I did not get. Another 
trout was taken to Duluth by the lucky captor, and was 
found to weigh 6}41bs. 
Heavy Bass. 
The angling country about Kabekona Camp, in Min- 
nesota, continues to produce. Last week Mr. Win. G. 
Newby, of Fort Worth, Texas, caught two grand bass 
at that point, one weighing 6}4lbs., and the other 61bs. 
Harold du Charme, a twelve-year-old boy from Detroit, 
Mich., was the luckiest muscallunge angler. He caught 
two 'lunge, one weighing 2olbs. and the other 23 l / 2 \bs., 
and was naturally a pretty proud boy. The biggest fish 
has been sent to Chicago for mounting. 
Deep Fishing ior Bass. 
Dr. E. W. Moyer, of Waterbury, Conn., writes in- 
quiring something about deep-water fishing for bass. 
"1 read your article," he says "('Ben Dick's Big Bass'), 
in current issue of Forest and Stream, and was much 
interested. Kindly instruct me how the minnow is 
fastened, and if any species of bait is preferable, also best 
way of anchoring boat in waters of such depth. 
"I visit a lake near here that is full of small-mouthed 
bass, but for some reason only a few of them are caught. 
"I have just returned from a week's outing there, and 
in that time only succeeded in getting about a dozen, and 
they were all small. I used helgramites, crickets, craw- 
fish and frogs for bait. I have always had an idea that 
they could be caught' by fishing in deep water; how- 
ever, I have never tried it." 
I do not know much about the bass of the Eastern 
States, but their habits are apt to be much like those of 
our Western bass. In the lakes with which I am, 
familiar, the best time to catch bass is in May and 
Tune, when they are running in the shallow water. 
They are then sometimes upon the spawning beds, but 
after they have spawned they very often come out into 
the shallow waters to feed in the early morning or in 
the evening. After the very warm weather begins, these 
fish drop back into deep wafer. In the Wisconsin lakes 
the frog is used a great deal for the shallow-water fish- 
ing, but the minnow is better for the deep-water work. 
We usually bait the minnow by passing the hook through 
the lips, as it will swim better so and live longer. Usu- 
ally bass will bite best at the edge of a shoal coming up 
out of the deep water, but I have on rare occasions 
taken them very deep down, and on frog bait at that. 
I can not say whether Mr. Dicks was at anchor when 
he caught his big bass, as sometimes one may drift and 
fish deep successfully, not trolling. If one has to anchor 
in deep water it might take a lot of line, but sometimes 
this can be done by anchoring on a bar and fishing out 
on the deep side. 
When the small-mouth bass wants to bite, it can be 
caught on any of the baits mentioned above, though 
the cricket, helgramite, or even the crawfish I should 
fancy more for rock bottom or rapid-water fishing than 
for deep still-fishing, where I think I would rather pin 
my faith to a good lively minnow, one rather longer than 
one's finger. I have fished all day on Lake Winnebago, 
a good bass water for small-mouths, and tried all sorts 
of baits, but when we finally got these finical fellows 
started it was just plain angle worms they wanted, and 
they would not touch anything- else. Once I stood on a 
bridge at midday and saw fifty grand small-mouth in a 
hole in the Fox River, Wisconsin, and they would not 
touch minnow, frog, cricket, fly, or anything else, till 
we by chance tried the dragon fly, killing some of these 
big insects with our landing net. Then we caught 
seventeen fine bass in a little while. This was in shallow 
water. I can not do much more for Dr. Moyer than this, 
but suggest that he keep on trying till he finds the deep, 
rocky-bottomed spot where his epicurean small-mouths 
are very likely lying. If he can locate them, and will 
stay with tbem, after' a while he will get them coming, 
his way. They have to eat, and they do eat. They will 
be more apt to begin doing business with him after a 
frost or two in September. 
Big Bass. 
Chicago, 111., Sept. 10. — At the store of A. G. Spald- 
ing & Bros., this week, Mr. A. Hirth, of- the tackle de- 
partment, showed me. a splendid bass which had just 
come down to him from Eagle Lake, Wis., caught by 
the redoubtable angler, Billy Tuohy, who runs the hotel 
at that point, This bass was a big-mouth, and it weighed 
61bs. 5oz. It was a very thick, chunky, heavy-built fish, 
and was the biggest bass I have seen this year in this 
part of the country,- though I believe Lake St. Clair is 
still ahead with the record. Lake St. Clair is a big 
water, but Eagle Lake 1 , Wis., is ashallow, pretty pond of 
water'' backed up into the tree-dotted meadows by means 
of a dam. It has floating bogs and strips of heavy weeds, 
and all in all is a- good place for big mossbacks such as 
this old fellow. ' Oddly enough, there was at the same 
store at the same time a mounted bass which was caught 
at the same place, Eagle Lake, by John Fannin of this 
city. It seems that Billv Tuohy's medal has called out 
some of the old-timers from under the bogs of those 
storied waters. 
On the Mississippi. 
I have more than once spoken of the grand fishing 
for small-mouth bass in the Mississippi River at points 
near La Crosse and above that point. It will please a 
great many anglers who are beginning to become ac- 
quainted with the sport of that locality to learn that the 
wardens are doing somewhat to keep it good. Last 
week they arrested a wholesale lot of market fishers at 
Prairie du Chien, and burned up 1,000ft. of seines, 300ft. 
of trammel netting, and three fishing boats which had 
been in the illegal trade. That much of an outfit would 
clean out a lot of bass in a year. 
Trout and Bass. 
Mr. Edwin G. ,Taylor, of this city, is just back from 
the Rocky Mountains, where he has had fine sport with 
the trout of the Pecos and the Rio Grande. He fished 
the latter stream near the Wagon Wheel Gap, and got 
4olbs. of trout one day on the fly. It now appears to 
him that he requires a little big-mouth black bass fish- 
ing to make him happy, and this week he went to Lake 
Marie, in upper Illinois, after some of those fish. He 
should take all one would want, as the fall season is now 
well under way, and the fish are biting better than for 
some time. 
Big Pike. 
Eddie Bingham and a friend from the East were up 
at Lake Koshkonong, in Wisconsin, last week, and 
caught 54lbs. of pike ("pickerel," as they are common- 
ly called m this country), one of which weighed over 
I3lbs. E. Hough. 
1200 Boyce Building, Chicago, 111. 
A Big One that Got Away. 
On Sept. 3, at Belmar, N. J., a fishing party started 
out on the ocean to fish for sea bass. The party con- 
sisted of Mr. Wm. M. Duff, Mr. Jno. L. Lequin, of the 
Hazard Powder Company; Masters Jno. L. Lequin, Jr., 
and E. Gerard Lequin, all of East Orange, N. J., and 
the 15ft. boat was in the hands of Messrs. G. H. New- 
man and son, boatmen. After fishing for an hour or 
so, and getting a nice lot of bass, Mr. Lequin, using a 
rod and reel, hooked on to something large, which, after 
a delightful play of some twenty minutes, turned out to 
be a blue-black man-eating shark. The monster ex- 
posed itself within 40ft. of our row boat by jumping at 
least 12 to 15ft, out of water, taking some 50ft. of line 
with him and thus escaping. 
Our boatmen, one of whom has fished this surf for 
over thirty years, said that this was an occurrence he 
had never before witnessed, while his son turned paler 
than the masters in the stern, who were seasick. 
Mr. Duff declared that he would not have missed the 
sight for a gold eagle, while Mr. Lequin considered it 
apropos, as it was his birthday. 
The shark was considered by Mr. Newman to have 
been, conservatively speaking, at least 10ft. long, and 
would weigh 350 to 40olbs. 
It was a sight that occurs only once in say thirty 
years, hence we jot it down and subscribe our names 
hereto in commemoration of the event. 
W. M. • Duff, 
Jno. L. Lequin, 
Jno. L. Lequin, Jr. 
E. Gerard Lequin, 
G. H. Newman, 
Edward Newman. 
Maine Fishing* 
Boston, Sept. 12. — Returning sportsmen from Maine 
continue to report good trout fishing in many parts of 
that remarkable State for sporting interests. Mr. S. H. 
Johnson has recently returned from a trip to the Seven 
Pond region. He was there during the very hot weather, 
Aug. 22, 23 and 24, and the fishing was very poor. But 
when the cooler weather of that week came the fishing 
was immediately better, and on Friday he made a fine 
catch of trout. Mr. A. TV Waite, of the Boston Herald 
staff, has iust returned, with Mrs. Waite and Master 
Courtland Waite. from a most enjoyable trip to Billy 
Soule's Pleasant Island camps, in Cupsuptic Lake. They 
had good luck with trout, Mrs. Waite landing one of 
2>41bs. on the fly, with numerous other fish. 
Mr. Gardiner Chapin has just returned from his vaca- 
tion trip to Aroostook county. Me.., where, with his son, 
the fishing of Portage Lake was taken in. The wafer 
was warm in the lake, and" the fishing was not very good. 
The water was low and warm in the streams that they 
tried, but they caught a good many trout, and greatly 
enjoyed the outing. The Ganong party, consisting of 
Mr. and Mrs. Frank N. Ganong, Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer 
Fawcett, and Mr. and Mrs. Geo. N. Richards, has re- 
turned from bass fishing and camping at Lake Cobbos- 
seecontee, Me. The weather was terribly hot a part 
of the time, and the bass fishing not all that they ex- 
pected. The fish ran rather small, the largest not be- 
ing over two pounds. Pickerel fishing was poor and un- 
satisfactory. Special. 
A Vermont Black Bass. 
Editor Forest and Stream: , .'•=*# 
Having -just returned from a fishing trip iri Vermont, 1 
wish to report a good catch made by me two weeks ago, 
as follows: ,. . - „. , 
■ In .Burr Pond.- near Sudbury, Vt, in about. 8ft. of 
water, still-fishing early in the morning with worms for 
bait, I caught a 5%lb. small-mouth black bass on a 
7V2OZ. pole. - , , . ,- 
The fish- was weighed at Hyde Manor before a large 
number of people.' and is. being mounted by Conger at 
Burlington. I also got' the mate ten; minutes later, but 
after a few runs he broke my hook while jumping. 
. Howard S. Hadden. 
The Forest and Stream is put'to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at the 
latest by Monday, and as much earlier as practicable. 
