1S2 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Feb. i8, i8gg. 
attractive lure, while the beautiful English imitations of 
flies (some with their fish-scale wings, so real as to be 
practically indistinguishable from the true article) must,, 
if dissociated from a line and gut, deceive any trout; still 
I think this new method, or rather tliis old one, is Avorthy 
of careful consideration. 
Numerous points in favor of the Japanese method sug- 
gest themselves to me. 
The absence of disturbance in the water by gut.or line 
seems a very important thing, at least we know it is in 
our crystal streams. 
The struggling motion of the fly seems as if it must 
tease a trout which is supposed to be a bit "touchy" and 
combative. Mr. Taylor thinks he "teases them out" ; andl 
I have seen a Japanese fisher tease out a fish which E 
believe to be one he had actually touched at an early cast,, 
and after a dozen more casts finally land him. In watch- 
ing an expert Japanese I have been almost irresistibly 
tempted to seize a stone and kill the teasing struggling 
fly. I have had frequent experience of fish coming out 
after dozens of casts had been made in the same spot. 
I find that I have not mentioned tliat important point, 
the strilce. This, in the Japanese style, is sharp and very 
quick; but what I wish to claim is that the line being al- 
ways taut enables the strike to be given most quickly, 
while the motion being down stream and the rod invari- 
ably below the fish puts the fisher in the best position to 
hit a fish rising, as I think they do, from down streann 
up at the fly, which is losing ground at about the speed 
of the current. This is a point which the fisher in this 
style must carefully practice, viz. : to have his fly always 
going down stream, or but slightly across, and not to 
have its speed much if any above that of the current. It 
must struggle to escape, but continue to be swept down 
stream. 
I wish also to submit a few theories and guesses at 
concealment in fishing. I have seen, and doubtless all 
anglers have, a wary trout dart frightened from a pool 
even when approached from behind a huge rock, and 
with the sun directly in front of the fisher, so that almost 
no shadow could touch the pool even from the extended 
rod. In such a position I have had a startled trout dart 
to within a few inches of my feet at the first slight 
movement of my rod in the air, showing that he observed 
the least motion, but was unaware of the direction of 
the maker ; on the contrary I have, within a few minutes, 
taken three fair fish in succession from a rock in mid- 
stream, on each occasion floundering across the stream to 
the shore to land my fish and having my shadow as weU 
as that of my rod go right across the pool. 
/Amenca.n and J'a^ 
Oonveofioho-t and 
dt.|aici~'On of Flij/if". 
These things seem rather contradictory, but I have a 
theory which brings them somewhat nearer to agreement 
than at first seems likely. , ■ r , ■ 
I have noticed, by cxpermientmg on gold fish m a 
globe, that the first sudden motion alarms the fish greatly 
and they dart quicklv about ; the next motion of the same 
kind alarms fewer fish, and finally, if the same motion 
i"? kept up, the fish gradually cease to notice it at ah ;. 
lying quiet. Now if the motion be changed, say from: 
a quick movement of the hand to a sharp tap on the globe, 
the same process is again gone through with. I have 
tried this trout in a pool. On a hot, still day, with 
the water like glass, I have carefully worked my way 
close above a fine pool, in the "still deeps" of which were 
lying some twenty or thirty trout of all sizes. The first 
cast startled every fish, and a f^w of the very largest left 
the pool. The next cast alarmed the fish less, and finally 
all ceased to move as my fly lit on the surface. It was a 
hot, still day, with not a fish feeding, all lying m the 
deeps ; the water below me was as clear as air. I stood 
perfectly stiU in plain view of the fish, which I could 
see perfectly clearly, and kept on casting ; finally a finger- 
ling grew interested in my fly, followed it once or twice 
and at last made a shy snap at it. ^ , . , . , 
I detail this at such length because I think it bears on 
the subject of concealment and "teasing." Whfle perfect 
concealment is undoubtedly the best of all modes to throw 
the wary trout off his guard, he is so very quick and cun- 
ning that it is very difficult to get into a position of com- 
plete concealment. , . ui 
Now while I have little doubt as to the teasable na- 
ture of a bold trout, I think that, aside from his com- 
bativeness, he gets used to a frequently repeated move- 
ment of a not too violent nature, and that a fisher stand- 
ing perfectly still (of course, taking all possible pains as 
to sun and shadows, background, etc.), can by a series of 
casts made with as little motion of the arm and rod as 
possible, and each movement as nearly as possible^ alike 
accustom a trout to the movement— interest him in it and 
if his fly is well worked and has a lively natural look, at 
last tempt him out. • a u ^. „ 
Probably the largest and most knowing fish often run 
away but I have several times found they only sank well 
out of sight under some cavernous rock and were at last 
tempted out to take the fly within IS to 25ft. of the fisher- 
I^have spun out a length of yarn which will, I fear, ex- 
ceed even your ideas when you told me to write you at 
lent^th but you know the enthusiasm of a brother of the 
anf?le and will be lenient, or cut as you see fit. 
I wsh the season of my short stay in this country was 
such as would permit me to have a day with you on our 
iiome waters, where we could practice a bit together, and 
give me a chance to test our "snaggling, as we call it, be- 
side your skillful work in the orthodox mode; but that 
day must be postponed for a while. It shall come though 
■one of these days. 
I must add in closing that while using the Japanese 
method of casting, their fength of rod, line and leader, 
with the single fly, I have put line guides and reel seat on 
my long Japanese rod, and thus take the advantage 
of the many delights and benefits of using the reel as in 
the usual method of fishing. 
I feel that I have imperfectly explained this method 
and should be glad to answer any questions which may 
occur to you on reading my letter, to the best of my, as 
yet, rather imperfect knowledge; but I must say that my 
success, the great similarity between the Japanese and 
the Taylor style, together with the unvarying good re- 
sults observed in the practice of these modes of fishing, 
give me great confidence that the method which I should 
like to call "snaggling" (in imitation of a devoted brother 
of the angle and dear friend) has points worthy of the 
best thought of our thoughtful fraternity. 
J. O. AVERILL. 
Asks for Trout Waters. 
Mr. J. F. Stickel, of Helena, Mont., writes me the 
following letter about Michigan and Wisconsin trout 
waters, and the proper flies to use in that district: 
"I am not a regular subscriber of Forest and Stream, 
but I buy it nearly every week at a newstand here, and 
greatly enjoy your department. I return to Chicago in 
March, and it' is my plan to spend several weeks next 
season on some good trout water in Wisconsin or 
Michigan. Will you please advise me of the names of 
any good trout streams you may know of in the territory 
named, together with dates as to best fishing them, that 
is. are they early or late streams? 
"I have never caught a trout in Wisconsin, and am 
making up my fly order by Mrs. Marbury's 'Favorite 
Flies.' Will these carry me through: plain, leadwing 
and royal coachman, professor, grizzly king, Seth Green, 
black gnat, yellow May, red. black, brown, yellow and 
gray hackles, cowdung, Montreal, with a few silver Dr., 
R. Ibis, W. Miller, March brown on the side. If you 
know of any certain fly which is especially taking on par- 
ticular streams wovild consider myself greatly indebted 
to you for such information." 
I" do not blame Mr. Stickel for enjoying my depart- 
ment. It is an awfully good thing! He ought to read 
Forest and Stream not part of the time, but all of the 
time, and then he would not need to ask me where to go 
fishing. If he will go to Baldwin, Michigan south penin- 
sula, any time in June, he will be near any one of a half- 
dozen good trout streams, to which he can get local 
direction. Later in the season is better for the rainbow 
trout in that district. He may take fish up to 3 or 4lbs., 
rainbow trout. I presume, however, that the Au Sable 
River reached at Grayling, Mich., is the best trout 
•^trearn of the State. This is the once famous grayling 
water It is now becoming almost equally famous as a 
stream for rainbow trout. I presume Mr. Stickel could 
not do better than to visit it. , , • • t^- 
\s to Wisconsin, I would recommend the f rairie Kiver. 
via Merrill, Wis., late Mav or early June. For flies on the 
Prairie River I would advise Seth Green, coachman, cow- 
dung brown hackle. For Michigan the same selection 
would do. and I should add professor, queen of the ^ 
waters and leave out the Seth Green, All the other flies 
are nice, but with those T have named I would not be 
afraid to go out either in Michigan or Wisconsin. T 
would not wish, however, to be drowned m a trout 
stream with a red ibis or a silver doctor fly fastened in 
"^Mr^'^b G. Henry, of Grand Rapids, Mich., deputy 
warden and president of the Game Fish and Dog Pro- 
tective Association, writes me an interesting letter, which 
T beg leave to quote in full. I have not yet received the 
old fish net which he mentions, but expect soon to add 
to my other trophies, and shall value it very much^ 
Air Henry's schedule of weights and measurements ot 
brook trout is something very well worth cutting out 
and pasting In the fly book. He writes as follows: 
"I send you to-day the fish net I promised you. Ihis 
net was taken with some others out of the Pere Mar- 
quette Lake in December last by myself, and the fish- 
ermen arrested and served thirty days each in jaib— two 
of them This net is hand-made, as you can see, and 
was used by a class of men that give the department more 
trouble than any other of our northern fishermen. Ihey 
think we are oppressing them. They serve their term m 
jail, make more nets and go at it again. They are learn- 
ing' slowly to obey the laws of the State. _ 
"I also send you a scale of lengths and weights _ of 
brook trout, as compiled by me. I based my conclusion 
on weighing several fish taken from different waters, 
such fish of the same length, and then striking an aver- 
ao-e They don't vary as much as one would suppose, and 
I'^find them a great deal more uniform in weight than 
I had supposed before I commenced the test. This scale is 
for the square-tailed brook trout taken from the northern 
waters of Michigan, and this is about as near as I can 
get to the weights of the different L 
Length. 
7in 
Sin 
gin 
loin 
nin ■ 
i2in 
i3in • 
I4in 
iSin 
i6in • ■ ■ 
Maine Legislation. 
Boston Feb 13.— Generally the attempts at special 
legislation on fish and game matters, in Maine are qui- 
etfv being given the cold shoulder by the Committee on 
Fisheries and Game at Augusta. Several petitions for 
special privileges to take fish from certain lakes and ponds 
in winter time have been quietly put on the list marked 
"leave to withdraw." It seems that a sensible committee 
has the initiatory features in charge there this winter. 
Commissioner Carleton still believes that the $6 Sep- 
tember special license deer shooting measure will be 
Weight. 
2^ 
4oz. 
4 
oz. 
5 
oz. 
7 
oz. 
9 
oz. 
11 
02; 
14 
oz. 
16 
oz. 
20 
oz. 
24 
oz. 
E. Hough. 
tacked on to the bill the commission is to propose, but 
it comes from pretty reliable sources that the measure 
will meet with extreme opposition. The measure to pre- 
vent hunting partridges with dogs at all times was killed 
before the comm.ittee last week. The proposition of cer- 
tain farmers to be permitted to kill partridges in close 
season, when found budding on their apple trees, never 
got further than a ridiculously small petition sent timidly 
to Augusta by a member who doubtless never presented 
it. A gentleman just from Augusta tehs me that the 
proposition to reimburse certain backwoods farmers for 
damage to crops by deer is likely to be laughed down 
before it gets through the committee room, 
Special. 
Hints for 1899 Trouting* 
EdmundstoNj N. B., Feb. 3. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Many inquiries are made of me as to the trout 
fishing in this vicinity, and probably there are many of 
your readers who would like to know of a good place to 
come for an outing, where good sport can be had in 
trouting, where health reigns, scenery is grand, with 
bright, clear, cool water, lakes, rivers and streams filled 
with trout. 
I will just briefly describe one of the many routes that 
can be taken by the tourist. 
Fourteen miles up the Madawaska River, with a carry 
of four miles over a good wood-road, Beardsley Pond 
is reached. Running down the outlet, which is a small 
brook, just large enough for canoeing, half a day is 
needed to reach the main stream (which is a beauty) ; 
down this two miles Squatook Lake is reached. This 
lake is nine' miles long, three-quarters of a mile wide. 
Parties if so minded can stay all summer here and have 
good sport every day. The outlet of this lake is four- 
teen miles to the west. In places on this river the water 
runs quick, making a ride very exciting to the novice. 
In the spring months there is very fine fishing all the 
way. A log jam bars the river, where a carry of looyds. 
is made. 
Sugar Loaf is now the lake we enter, so named from 
a mountain of this shape which overhangs the lake, and 
from the top of which a fine view is obtained, well 
worth the labor of the climb, The lake is three miles long 
by a half mile in width. A week or more can be very 
pleasantly passed here. 
One mile of river and a lake of four miles is passed, 
with trout all along; one mile of river and a large stream 
enters from the right- If we go up this half a mile this 
stream forks; the left is Eagle. Half a day's poling to 
Eagle Lake, three miles long, half wide. There, is only 
one place on this lake where trout can be taken. 
Horton Lake, on the right fork, is more difficult of get- 
ting to. It takes tliree days of hard work to reach the 
desired spot, but there is the best of fishing all the way, 
and the lake is filled with large trout. This lake is al- 
most new to the sportsmen. There is not a party once 
in five years to visit this great trout lake. 
But we will start from the main forks down a large, 
easy-flowing river, the scene constantly changing as we 
wind round the many crooked turns of the nine miles 
of its length. At the mouths of brooks trout can be 
taken. Tuladi Lakes, ten miles, do not amount to much 
as fishing lakes, but with a guide who knows where 
brooks are plenty of trout and good fishing may be had. 
I was here with a gentleman from New Haven a few 
years ago. At the mouth of a breakwater about 3ft. we 
saw hundreds of monster trout. We thought there were 
enough to load a car. Some of them, looked to be 3ft. 
long. Tuladi River, the outlet of these lakes, is a rapid 
piece of water of four miles, and all through the month 
of June there is good fishing. 
Lake Temiscouata, the basin of all these waters, which 
here empties about midway of the lake, is thirty miles 
long by one and a half wide. I have been with parties 
thirty days at a time and had excellent sport every day. 
Mr.- Joseph B. Townsend, a lawyer of note from Phila- 
delphia, took this lake for his recreation for six annual 
trips of from twent>' to thirty days each, never leaving 
it nor desiring any better water for sport than he found 
here; and he knew what good fishing was, as when he 
first came here it was his thirty-eighth annual fishing 
trip. He pronounced the fishing better than the Moose- 
head or Rangeley, even in their palmiest days. 
Down the lake we go, taking fish all the way, to the 
mouth of the River Madawaska, down which it is eight 
miles to our starting point. This makes nearly one hun- 
dred miles, all down stream, through nature's wilderness. 
There are many lakes in this country quite easy of ac- 
cess where the artificial fly has yet to be cast for the first 
time. I expect to see many new faces here this season, 
and hope they will not all be hke the most excellent gen- 
tleman previously mentioned. When he was praising 
up our fishing I asked him if he would tell his friends 
about it when he got home. "Ah, no; when I find a good 
place like this it's a secret. No one knows it from me. 
Let them find out for themselves." 
S. J. Raymond. 
Frogs and Friendsliip in New Jersey. 
Paterson-, N. J., Feb. 7. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
I noticed a libel on New Jersey in your last issue, and 
hasten to correct it. Mr. Mather, on the authority of 
somebody in Plainfield, declares that there is no such 
place as Friendship in New Jersey. I know of two such 
places, one in Burlington county and the other in Cumber- 
land county, the latter not far from Bridgeton. As to the 
raising of frogs there for the market, I had heard of such 
a thing, and when I saw Mr. Mather's insinuation that 
we have neither Friendship nor frogs in New Jersey, I 
wrote to Warden Harry R. Dare, of Bridgeton, for in- 
formation. I have just received the following reply: 
"I reply to your letter of the 2d, I would say in regard 
to the frog pond that instead of at Friendship it is near- 
er Carmel, but in the same township. I have seen the 
pond many times, and understand that the owners have 
sold between $500 and $600 worth of frogs from it. We 
have a number of smaller ponds in this vicinity, where 
they are experimenting with frogs. The ponds are en- 
closed with fine wire at present, as the frogs are buried, 
I shall let you know Tater on of the success." 
CHA.S, A. Shriner, 
