FOREST AND STREAM 
[Oct. 22, iS|& 
netting for market, which has heretofore been practiced 
during the cold weather of the fall. 
In a recent letter to me from State Fish Warden Bur- 
ford, he says that he has had over 500 convictions since 
he took the office, and mostly at his own expense. The 
Missouri Legislature made no appropriation for game 
and fish warden, and petitions are now being gotten up 
to send to the next Legislature, asking for 'an appropria- 
tion and also for changes in the present laws. Among 
the changes desired, the following clause is one which it 
is desired to have stricken out: 
"Provided, That nothing in this section shall be con- 
strued to prevent any person from catching fish with a 
seine, with meshes not less than 2in. in size, m any 
stream of water flowing through or bordering on lands 
belonging to such person: Provided, that such person 
shall not use said seine for more than two hours m 
any one day. Approved March 24, 1897." 
This gives the market fisherman a loophole which 
he has not been slow to grasp, and netting for market 
is going on in defiance of sportsmen and fish wardens. 
It is certainly a shame that the great State of Missouri 
should not properly protect its fish and game, and I 
hope that the readers of Forest and Stream will agi- 
tate the question until protection can be had. 
Aberdeen. 
An Idyl of the King. 
Two parallel wooded ridges and a deep, narrow pond 
between, waving rushes, lilypads, where little frogs 
skipped and spattered, minnow-haunted shallows and 
dark shadowy pools. This was the kingdom of Prester 
John; and his throne was in the shelter of a large hem- 
lock, which years ago, narcissus-like in love with its own 
reflection, had leaned over more and more until it 
splashed headlong into the watery depths, a victim to 
egoism and a haunt for the wily bass. 
Now Prester John was a bass. A small-mouthed, 
large-brained, black bass, with many pounds of weight, 
many degrees of shrewdness and many years of experi- 
ence. And the reason of his name was the reason of his 
ways; for mighty as he was, yet he was but a myth, the 
inspirer of weird legend and the suggester of exaggera- 
tion. He was sought for, sighed for and schemed for by 
many, but his existence was reputation, not knowledge, 
and his kingdom was one of shadows and mystery. 
Hence was he named for the fabled sovereign of the 
mirage kingdom of the deserts, Prester John, the mystery 
of the middle ages. 
In this watery kingdom of his were many subjects, 
well-favored, high-spirited fellows, who from time to 
time succumbed to the blandishments of rod and reel; 
but of the king could no man say it that he had ever 
sniffed or tasted of bait, fly or spoon. But there is a day 
for all tilings; and so it proved with Prester John, For 
one day came the Professor and said unto the scribe: 
"Come, give over the consideration of switchboards 
and jars of battery and lines and cables; gird up thy 
rod, and let us together seek the kingdom of Prester 
John and dally with the king." And so it came to 
pass; and with good store of flies, crabs and minnows we 
embarked. 
The Professor, in his courtesy, insisted that I should 
begin; so while he managed the paddle I stood in the 
bow and dropped three members of Seth Green's "Big 
Four" in the vicinity of likely-looking snags and rafts 
of lilypads. The first ten minutes gave me excellent ex- 
ercise in casting, but no other results. "Bill," said I to 
the Professor, "ferry me near that submerged brush 
heap." Whish! went the. line. Snap! "Pooh! nothing 
but a rock bass. Wouldn't you think he'd have the 
sense to know he wasn't wanted? That's a good place 
for a big fellow, though. I'll try again. Ah! I've 
hooked the King. Back water, Bill; if he gets in the 
brush he's gone." 
But it wasn't the King by several pounds; and as the 
Professor with the landing net lifted him into the boat 
he remarked: "A good lusty fellow, but only a peer of 
the realm." 
Then I took the paddle and the Professor the rod. 
Now the Professor was a man skilled in the ways of 
fish and fishing. He knew how many fins and how many 
scales a fish should own, and what he was when he 
had more or fewer. He knew the length, breadth and 
thickness of their scientific names, and said these names 
were changed frequently for other reasons than merely 
to cause confusion. But more than this and better, he 
was skilled in the cast, wary with enticements and 
patient of results. For many years he had wet his line 
in the waters of the St. Lawrence, and the lakes and 
streams of Maine and the Adirondacks. In short, he was 
such an one as was truly fitted by nature and experience 
to dally with the King; and therefore I placed him where 
he might reach the waters that bordered the throne of 
the mysterious Prester John. Then carefully and skill- 
fully dropped the flies upon the water — governors, doc- 
tors, premiers, grizzly kings and coachmen — all classes, 
colors and professions. But nothing resulted save the 
circles in the water that spread and widened and made 
wavy lines in the tree pictures reflected in the pond from 
the shore. Then crabs were lowered enticingly into the 
depth and dangled beneath the log, and finally a large, 
plump minnow was sent to try his charms. This caused 
a sensation. A shadow moved on the bottom: and then 
slowly, majestically, a huge form glided up through the 
waters, and pausing _ within a foot of the minnow re- 
garded the whole situation with sardonic composure, 
lie looked at the fish, the ,v -bing tackle and the fisher- 
man as fhouHi to sav, "Who ;irc you that with your 
transparent deceits ard idle slashings disturb the medi- 
U'icrs of the King." Then turning solemnly he re- 
t -.rrcd to the shadows whence he came. He was magni- 
ficent. 
"By the beard of the Prophet and the whiskers of 
Peffer, I'll have that felkw if it takes three moons, si- 
dereal lime." quoth the Professor. 
"Und ich audi," I replied in the language of the 
Kaiser. 
And then we moved on to ease our nerves with lesser 
fish. We met with fair success, taking several of about 
slbs. weight, and at divers times we sought the King, but 
he vouchsafed us not another glimpse. 
About an hour before sundown we landed and held 
a council of war. We resolved, first, that the unap- 
proachable must be approached, the uncatchable caught, 
and the unidentified identified. Second, we discussed 
all the bait that we had ever tried, read of or heard 
of, and lastly we started on a tour of investigation. I 
soon came across an old stump, and thinking to find some 
grubs, kicked it a hearty kick, thereby shattering it into 
many fragments, and at the same time destroying the 
shelter of a brood of half-grown field mice. 
"Bill, here's an idea. Let's try him with one of these 
little sinners. I don't believe old Prester John gets 
fresh meat very often, and it may tempt him." 
It was a new idea anyway, and with two of the mice 
we sought the pond. Again we approached the well- 
known domain of royalty. 
The sun had set, and the gray shadows were just be- 
ginning to creep out from the woods over the water. 
Bats fluttered here and there, and now and then a swal- 
low dipped and left a streak of silver in the dusky pond. 
The occasional quawk of a heron or deep bass of a frog 
made the ensuing silence more impressive. As silent as 
the shadows we moved on. The Professor had tied a 
mouse to his hook; and as we neared the old log he 
cast. Once, twice; only the splish of the bait and the 
faint, tinkling drops from the line. Thrice. Splash! 
Smash! Dash! "I've hooked him. Back me out quick. 
He'll break the line or pull me in. For Heaven's sake, 
pull out into the middle." The Professor was wild. 
"Keep cool, Bill, likewise a tight line. We're all 
right." 
And so we were; for I had backed out well into the 
middle, and there was open water on every side for the 
King to play in. x\nd how he did play. He rushed and 
dashed and tugged. He fumed and sulked. He came 
for the boat like a Spanish tauro; and shot away again 
like a submarine projectile; and twice he leaped clear 
from the water, falling again with a mighty splash that 
told of his weight and proportions. 
But the line was strong and the hand was firm; and the 
rushes grew weaker and less frequent. Little by little 
he was brought nearer and nearer; slyly the landing net 
was pushed beneath him; thump! and Prester John the 
King had left his kingdom to please the appetite of 
man and be no more feared of fly or frog or minnow. 
"Who-o-o-o?" queried a little screech owl from the 
woods on the hill. "Who," quoth the Professor. "Who 
but the King, and if he weighs not more pounds than 
five, may I go supperless to my nightly cot." 
And then we paddled to shore and disembarked, and 
the spring scales — with the aid of a match — said "five 
pounds and six ounces." 
"It is well," said the Professor. "He reigned long, and 
his life was good and his death was- mighty. He fought 
a good fight, and he died as a King should die — in the 
thick of battle in all his might and glory." 
May his throne be soon filled by one as bold as he. and 
may we know his successor as well as we know him; 
and finally, in the words of the fickle French, "The King 
is dead— long live the king," J. R. B. 
Utica, New York 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Large Muscallonge. 
Chicago. 111., Oct. 15. — Several good-sized mttscal- 
lunge have turned up this season in Wisconsin and Min- 
nesota, as I have from time to time had occasion to re- 
port. I think I have heard of but three that went over 
4olbs. each. To-day I learn of another one that was 
caught the first week of October by Charles E. Lewis, of 
Minneapolis, near Hayward, Wis. This fish weighed 
40^2lbs.. and is entitled to go among the records of 
heavy fish, as it is rarely that a muscallunge is reported 
from these waters which weighs over 4olbs. 
Run of Rock Bass. 
For some reason best known to themselves, the rock 
bass make a fall run up the St. Joseph River, of Michi- 
gan, usually in the month of October. Last week this 
run of rock bass reached the neighborhood of Buchanan, 
and some very heavy catches were taken, it being stated 
that one fisherman would catch nearly three bushels in 
one day's fishing. I recollect that some twenty years 
or so ago, on the Skunk River, in Iowa, we used very 
often to see these large runs of rock bass (which in that 
country we always called "goggle-eyes), but this run was 
always in the spring and not in the fall. There used to 
be a dam at what was known as Reed's Mill, near New- 
ton, a very famous fishing place at that time. There was 
no fishway in this dam — indeed, so far as I know person- 
ally, there has never been a fishway in any Iowa dam — 
and, of course, the fish could not get up anv further, ex- 
cept in very high stages of water, when the dam was 
nearly submerged. As they moved around below the 
dam in big schools, we would catch long strings of black 
bass, wall-eyed pike (which we called salmon), catfish 
and goggle-eyes. I never saw a yellow perch in that 
stream, and we rarely ever caught any crappies. When 
the word got out that the goggle-eyes were in, we drop- 
ped all other business and went to the Reed's Mill dam. 
These fish would lie in schools along the bank below the 
dam, and would bite as fast as we would pass a piece of 
minnow to them. It was nothing unusual to catch a pail 
full of them in a little, while, and I remember this, even 
to-day, as one of the keenest sporting pleasures of mv 
boyhood life. T do not understand why this run of rock- 
bass should go uo the St. Joseph River in the fall, as 
->p fish spawns all through the season, from spring to 
fall. 
Iowa Fish. 
Speaking of Iowa fishing. I notice that matters are 
better out there now than they were when T was doing 
my boyish fishing there. Commissioner Dc'c\an has 
been doing for the Iowa waters as much as his limiie ! 
appropriation will permit. He has been planting most! / 
bass and crappies, with some wall-eyed pike. I notice 
with regret that the carp seems to have run from the 
Mississippi River into a great many Iowa streams. 
When I lived out there the State gave 50,000 majority 
each year to the same political party, and there were no 
carp. 
Pollution of Streams* 
A nitro glycerine concern, on the banks of the Wabash 
River, in Indiana, has been flooding the river with refuse 
of a poisonous nature, and as a consequence the fish 
life of that stream has been destroyed for a long dis- 
tance. Residents along the Wabash are protesting 
bitterly against this state of affairs. 
At White Pigeon, Mich., a paper manufacturing com- 
pany emptied a great vat of chloride of potash into the 
St. Joseph River, and killed a great quantity of fish. 
The concern will be prosecuted. 
Dirty Devil. 
The fish warden of Utah is having trouble in Wayne 
county with a reservoir built near the head of Dirty 
Devil Creek, where 2,000 acres of back-water has been 
formed by a dam of great size across the creek. A simi- 
lar reservoir has been built on East Canon Creek, also 
without provision for the passage of the fish. What, with 
the reservoir and the irrigation ditch problems com- 
bined, the fish and fish wardens of some of the Western 
States have a hard time. 
Meshes of the Law. 
During the month of September, State Warden Os- 
borne, of Michigan, made thirty-two arrests and secured 
twenty-seven convictions. Fifteen arrests were for viola- 
tions of the game law, and seventeen for violations of 
the fish law. The sum of $308 was collected in fines. 
E. Hough. 
1200 Bovce Building, Chicago, III. 
A Half-Column of Appreciation. 
New York. 
Little Falls, N. Y. — I have read Forest and Stream since I 
was old enough to read at all, and have always been one of its 
most honest admirers. J. R. B. 
Massachusetts. 
Boston, Mass. — I have tried all summer to get time to write 
to ycu. I wanted to send you the best word I knew how to 
write anent your splendid anniversary number. I never saw any- 
thing equal to it. You manage to put up the best paper ever 
heard of. * * * What splendid papers Mr. Burnham has writ- 
ten on Alaska. They are the best things I have seen on that 
part of the world anyway. I wish I knew Mr. Burnham. I 
have a half-written report, cr series of papers, on my last fall 
Maine woods excursion, but I fear it will never be finished. I 
mean to go again this fall if it is possible. It is my life pre- 
server. C. H. Ames. 
Pennsylvania. 
Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 1— Say to Mr. Mather that his "Louisi- 
ana Lowlands" keeps his well-known and now famous crest "full 
high advanced." It is at his best. If I were a little more of a 
"sport" I would enjoy "Confabulations of a Cadi," but the real 
brightness of these Cadi sketches touches and warms the cockles 
ui' my heart. 
Germantown. — Please continue on with your most useful paper, as 
it is one of the fixtures of the house, R, P. 
California. 
Oakland, Cal.— That the Fobest and Stream could not fail to 
prosper under a management as able as its present goes without 
saying, and "that it may always be as well conducted is the 
earnest wish of your old-time correspondent', 
Forked Den. 
Massachusetts Again. 
I was a New Hampshire boy, born near Lake Winnipiseogee, 
with Ossipe Mountain for a northern limit to the world, and can 
and do appreciate old county folks and speech like those in Mr. 
Robinson's chapters. I am one of the unfortunate class that can't 
go fishing, but I can read, and have read the paper for twenty 
years, and hope I shall be able to read it twenty years longer. 
C. E. N. 
Canada. 
Montreal. — I am sure that Mr. Mather's sketches ' have been a 
source of great pleasure to me, in fact your whole publication 
(Forest and Stream) has been to me for I think now twenty-five 
years. I think I am a subscriber since almost the Forest and 
Stream was started. J. C. W. 
Michigan. 
Detroit, Mich.— The journal improves each year, and is a credit 
to American enterprise. W. P. M. 
Connecticut. 
Enclosed please find $10 for Forest and Stream for three years. 
Hoping that some of my descendants will duplicate this sub- 
scription for a like term a hundred years from now. I am 
fraternally, G. E. W. 
Another from California. 
Please send the binder by mail. If there are any extra charges 
I will remit same, / ftcr taking Forest and Stream six months 
it seems like an old friend, and I can't get along wit"! — -t it. 
E. B. S. 
Minnesota. 
Benson, M inn.— Forest and Stream is a paper every sportsman 
and lover cf nature should keep, and it is a pity there are not 
more t-ne rpoiirnnn to learn the principle which it advocates. 
If ever..' si 1 briber wo.H.d jru 1o work and strictly keep within the 
bonus *,f I! c law, ..mil see that his neighbors and friends did the 
F:.:r.o, J believe the game would soon multiply, but as the matter 
stands now. itb amount of legislation will help unless the laws 
are obeyed. K. O. K, 
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