12 
FOREST AND STREAM'. 
Fishing Waters of Northern Iowa. 
It may not be kaown to the general reader that up in 
the northwestern portion of loAva, in Dickinson county, is 
to be found one of the prettiest clusters of lakes an angler 
could wish to cast a line in. IMost of our trap-shooting 
readers are aware that there is such a place as Spirit 
Lake, la, due to the fact that this is the home of the 
famous shot, Fred Gilbert, and no doubt all surmise that 
there must also be a lake of this same name from v/hich 
tile town derives its name. In addition to Spirit Lake 
there are also a number of others in the immediate vicmity 
of the town, all of which just at present afford the finest 
of fishing. 'While the fishing has always been good on 
these lakes during the spring and early sunnier it has 
never been quite so good as at present, I am told. Uatcnes 
of loolbs. a day are regular occurrences, and even the 
veriest novice finds it an easy matter to catch big strings 
everv dav. When I inquired of the natives to what they 
attribute' this change of conditions, they told me that it 
was due to the increased amount of water now" m the 
lakes. For three or four years past the water m the lakes 
had receded in a marked degree, so much so, m fact, that 
a number of the smaller lakes went dry, it being unusually - 
dry in tliis section of the country during this period. 
However, during the past six months considerably more 
rain fell, and this has restored the water to somethmg like 
its former stage, though there is yet much room tor tfn- 
proven^cnt in this respect, I am told. Notwithstanding 
this, however, the fishing was never better than at present 
and this is what will interest not a few of the readers 
Those who are contemplating a trip could hardly go any- 
where else and improve on the sport. True, it inight be 
possible for them to improve on the size, as most oi the 
fish caught in these lakes range from to 2lbs., though 
not a few are caught that will weigh 4 and 5lbs- 
The fish cohsist of pike, pickerel, bass black and silver, 
cranpie and perch, also bullhead, or what is commonly 
Siown ih the South as catfish. The principal lakes are 
Sp™East and West Okoboji, and Center Lake while 
there are also a number of smaller ones, such as the Gar, 
Lakes and several others. Spirit Lake is the largest, being 
about five miles long and at the broadest part four and a 
half miles wide. As a rule the fish caught in this lake 
run larger than in the others. . 
West Okoboji is the prettiest, and the water is mi^^eh 
rlearer bein"- of a greenish cast, and so clear that the 
bottor^'can be seen to the depth of 10 or 12ft. This lake 
is also very deep, at some places 150ft. O^ng to t. 
o-reat depth the fish are not bitmg very good m this lake 
vet as the weather is still very cool, but on the other 
hand I am informed that the fishing is good here even 
during the hottest weather, though one must of necessity 
fish r^uch deeper. The lake is five miles long and its 
greatest breadth two miles. This is the most beautifu 
fake of all the cluster, as a great part of the bank is 
frinoed with trees, which impart a romantic appearance 
to it! while there are also stretches of sandy beach so de- 
sirable for bathing. East Okoboji is really ^ P^^t of the 
same lake though connected only by a very na low 
st"ait The water is not so clear, and the surroundings 
are not so pretty. These lakes lie in the shape of a horse- 
shoe and are connected at about the center by a very nar- 
row strait. Their aggregate length is nearly seven een 
miles. There are not many black bass m these lakes 
Slough the fishing for these should be good m Center 
Lake and many have been caught there recently. Per- 
^Xent efforts Je being made to stock all these lakes with 
bass, and for several springs past the Fish and Game War- 
den Mr Geo. E. Delavan, has planted a large number ot 
fry 'in all of them, which must in due course give some 
""^The State of Iowa owns a fish car "which the^railroads 
transport from place to place free ot charge. The black 
bass fS are taken from the bayous that empty into the 
Mississippi River, most of them in the vicinity o Sabula. 
iowa county. Iowa is particularly fortunate m having a 
warden who is energetic and zealous and keenly alive to 
5.e fish interest of his State. A practical demonstration 
of this occurred early this spring, when he was notified 
that the fish had begun running m Gar Lakes, and prompt 
prtion wras nece^-ary for their protection, but a sudden 
drop in the temperature drove them back to deep water, 
St was not uStil the first week of Aprd that they agam 
showed signs of activity. Then the game fish attempted 
to nSs to the larger lakes, but were prevented from domg 
so by the ice and lack of water. This resulted m them 
uacking in the channel by the thousands, and it at once 
LcaiS?evident that unless immediate steps were taken to 
relieve them most of them would perish. Deputy War- 
den Henry Miguel, of Okoboji, was notified of 
th? situation and set at work to save the fi.h. 
The method he pursued consisted iil taking, the 
fish whh a seine, and placing them in barrels containing 
water and transporting them in wagons a distance of 
Tmile and a quarter, and liberating them in West Okoboji. 
Mv nformant tells me that in all twenty wagonloaas were 
aken from this one lake and that each load consisted of 
five barrels The fish were from 12 to i8in. long, and the 
nimber thus saved is estimated by thousands What is 
S^he more remarkable about this is that aj f/^! 
were taken from one ot the smaller lakes The transtei 
was only possible through the combined efforts of nearly 
a dozen people, and several teams. Not a few who as- 
si4d hi thS^work absolute!" refused to accept any com- 
pensation for either their own services or the use ot their 
teams When first discovered the fish were packed bO 
■closely in the opening as to enable hundreds of them .to be 
caught with the naked hand. In the light of such.reports 
it is not at all surprising that the hshmg xs good m these 
^^TwJhTies of railroad run into Spirit Lake-the BurHng- 
ton and the Chicago. Milwaukee & St. Paul; these I 
heHeve are at present making excursion rates to this 
point: It is only a night's ride from Chicag-o, and about 
the same time from Des Moines, Omaha and Sioux City 
Accommodation is to be had at any of the lakes, whi e 
boats and bait can also be procured at a very reasonable 
nnce The customary charge for the use of a boat is ^So 
cents a day, which includes the use of two hnes and rods. 
Minnows sell at, 10 cents a dozen, though if one has a 
net enough of these can be caught in a few casts to last 
all day. Should one desire the service of a guide and a 
mm to row the boat, these can be procured at 25 cents 
per hour, which includes boat and bait. There are steam 
launches on all the large lakes, and their charges are 
nominal. Live minnows are the principal bait used, 
though spoons and spinners are good. 
In addition to being good fishing water, these lakes are 
a great resort for waterfowl in season, while at present 
more blue-winged teal are nesting on these lakes than 
for years past. Then, too, this is a fairly good chicken 
country. The prospects are encouraging for good shooting 
here this fall. ' Paul R. Litzke. 
Fishing Up and Down the Potomac. 
Opening the Season. 
"June had crossed the borders. * * * In the depths 
of the woods, where no man's eye could see, the elder 
was waving her creamy banners in honor of June's com- 
ing, and where no man's ear could hear the pink and 
white bells of the azalea rang out melodies of w;elcome." 
Craddock saw them in her mind's eye and their sweet- 
ness was not wasted. 
Life is not all beer and skittles, not all salmon and 
sunshine, and half its pleasures are in the long hours of 
the waiting dark, when memory and anticipation have 
their frolics. The flowers that blush unseen are those 
which come to us in dreams, and the angler who waits 
with ill-concealed impatience the coming oi the open sea- 
son, and his opportunity, crowds the flowers of the year 
into his landscapes. His trees are all a-bud and bloom 
and in fruit at once like the fabled orange. 
In the pictures of his waking trance are the beauties 
of all the seasons, of all the lands he has visited or cre- 
ated. Along his favorite waUc the arbutus and the san- 
guinaria peep from the deep shadows and the goldenrod 
and .daisies riot in the open. 
The hopeless loves of the palm tree and the pine find 
only here their just reward, and the mingle their sighs 
with every passing- breeze. Above a grove of maples, all 
gold and red, a eucalyptus rears its flaunting crest, fit 
spire for so grand a temple, from whose domes there 
conies a "concord of sweet sounds." The linnet and the 
nightingale are there, the grosbeak and the whippoor- 
will, and all the other songsters of the woodland. The 
hour and the place are nothing. It may be noonday on 
the asphalt, but "him who in the love of nature holds 
communion with her visible forms" she woos when she 
wills One mav not hold a coal "by thinking on frosty 
Caucasus." but" one may and does enjoy many a happy 
moment in unlikely places, in the contemplation of the 
has-been and the will-be. . 
But June is here. The May fly about the electric lights 
waves her dying signal to the angler that there is rare 
sport afield; to hie him hence -if he would not be too 
late. , , 
That deadly earnestness with which the angler makes 
his preparations, the fantic haste to be by the waterside, 
is all pretense. To Avatch him, without sympathy, con- 
veys tlie impression that if he should be an honr late 
not a fish would be left in the wide, wide world ; but if he 
can just get there in time, the next fellow wilh have little 
left to fish for. There's nothing in it. At least, it is not 
fish that's in it. It is nostalgia. It is the craving to 
be again at the breast ot Mother Earth. The fable ot 
Antteus is repeated with us with every springtide, and 
thousands die every year (and no one knows the why) 
that a fishing trip would save. 
But it must not be forgotten that anghng. like every 
other good thing, is used as a cloak for excesses and sins 
that have no sort of relation to the real good. One may 
go fishing on salt water— and catch some fish— with a 
steamboat and a brass band. One may go to a stream 
or lake with a limited mob and shout by day and hold 
two pair by night, and call it fishing, and yet reap more 
tares and injuries to health than if he had pursued the 
e\ en tenor of his way between hot walls. 
But none of these are anglers, except they he caught 
by accident, or the design of learning how the other halt 
^'^The deilght of angling is the call of the wild turkey 
from the distant hillside pines, to surprise a brood of sum- 
mer ducks and watch them scurry to the shelter of the 
grass— to see the jealous perch hovering over its nest 
of pebbles, or the wild flowers, dew-spangled, opening 
wider to the rising sun, and incidentally to catch a fish. 
The last is least, yet stands for all. Just as two bits ot 
wood at right angles stand for all that is good and pure 
in the present — all we have of hope hereafter. 
Come with us for our first day's outing. We are two, 
for company's sake; more is a crowd, as on some other 
occasions, but the reader shall be our honored guest to- 
day Not many fish are to be expected, for the water and 
the fish are to be learned over. New pools, new logs, 
new moss-beds, new fish, and it will take a trip or two to 
find where the big ones hide and feed, and that is half 
the sport and half the science, too, of taking fish. 
The Weather Bureau has phophesied rain for our day 
on the pool but as we take our early morning way 
through the path on the edge of the forest, every leaf is 
covered with a dew so heavy that the tiny globules on the 
liairs of the leaves stand out thick and white as a hoar 
frost and this means no rain. Better still, the dewy nets 
of the spiders are set ah about, fresh and celan, spun 
over night and these little signal service peoples do not 
waste their labors, and fresh webs in the morning will 
keep the rain away till nightfall. Then, as the boat makes 
its first round close to the edge of the pool, to find m 
the grass some great pike or bass lying m. wait lor an 
early breakfast, the cat-tail and the sedge m serried ranks 
lift their green blades straight in air, jeweled with crystal 
drops that sparkle in the level sun like new-cut diamonds 
and we know that another glorious day is beiore us, an.f 
that not even a shower will drive us from the lake or in- 
terrupt our holiday. - r 1 • • 
W a rule in the lake the very early morning fishing is 
not profitable to the man with a fly; the bass and pike 
seem to do little surface feeding before 10 o clock. It 
mav b- that the cool weather has retarded the hatching of 
the flies and that the fish are not attracted to the surface 
until the noonday sun has warmed the Hies co lite and 
sent them dancing over the water a . . ■ 
With minnow fishing it is different, and our hrsl trip 
for the pike this year was an unusually warm day m 
April. We took a dozen or so in the early morning while 
the sky was overcast. Then the sun came out bright 
and hot and the pike disappeared as if by magic, appar- 
ently retiring to the shades of the moss beds and weed 
patches, from which we could do nothing to entice them. 
With the fly. our best hours in this pool have been from 
noon to 2 o'clock, and from 5 to dark. This has been 
true of the pool bass for three years, though favorable 
hours- with wind and warmth and fleecy clouds just right 
have given us good sport at times, outside of these regu- 
lar periods. 
Tn the stream fishing, where the bass are hunted in their 
rocky haunts, lying in wait for what the winds and cur- 
rents may bring them, the feeding hours have not been 
so marked for us, and we can hope for some response at 
any time when we can drop the lure before the nose of a 
hungry bass from dawn to dusk. 
There is a railroad drawbridge herie bver a channel 
some 20ft. deep. When the tide is half in or out, and the 
current swift, the white perch gather here m schools, 
lurking in the shadows and hiding under the scum caught 
by the cross timbers, and shoot out from cover to catch 
insects and other food on the approaching surface be- 
fore it strikes the foam and is lost. 
Dropping No. 10 flies in front of this has always been 
an easy way to secure all the small perch we wanted, but 
when we were here ten days since, though the perch were 
more numerous than ever, and feeding as busily, we could 
do nothing with them. Instead of feeding abo^-e the 
scum, they were in plain sight in the clear water below 
in constant commotion, snapping and sucking with a 
noise that one could hear rods away, apparently feeding 
on invisible midges on the surface. 
Again we tried the 10 flies, but they seemed only to 
frighten the fish to deep water. The only small &es we 
had were a hah dozen red ibis, usually one of the best 
for sunfish or perch, though of little use for bass. For 
this trip we have brought some midge flies tied to No- 
16 hooks. Watch how eagerly they take the yellow and 
the gray, but refuse the black. 
Now notice the water closely; it is fairly alive with 
tiny fry that we have not seen before. Little fellows about 
lin long, almost transparent, with an abdomen like a 
silver thread, invisible from above. The dip-net, thrust 
down among" them, brings up dozens clinging like threads 
to the coarse meshes. We are too poorly equipped sci- 
entifically to determine the species, but from their general 
appearance, the great run this year, and their numbers, 
they are probably herring, coming down out of the spawn 
beds in the creek. When the sun strikes among the 
shadows of the bridge, where they hide, the light resolves 
the nebulous swarm into countless points, and millions 
only will express the impression, without conveying 
much idea of the actual conditions. But, feeding as they 
are on the fry, it is some satisfaction to have proven these 
perch will take the artificial bait, by catching a couple 
of dozen in a few minutes, and it is evident, if one desired, 
that thousands could be secured, as three can be taken al- 
most as easily as one, and there seems to be no limit to 
their number. Of course they are small and not attract- 
ive when anything better is within reach. 
The great black and green dragon fly is very busy on 
the pool, flving all about the surface, trying to find, suit- 
able places to deposit its eggs. It is not easy, as usual, to- 
day The moss beds have grown up pretty solid, and the. 
islands of moss make a safe resting place for the dragon, 
where she can rest for a moment while she places the 
egg on a twig of moss just under the .surface of the 
water, but two or three high tides have raised the water 
in the pool 10 or 12 in., the solid banks are submerged, 
and only floating fronds and extra long plumes of the 
feathery moss come to the surface,, and when the dragon 
hovers too closely or too long there is a rush and a snap 
of a hungry bass, and if Mr. Fly does not go up quickly, 
he goes down. This is going on all over the moss beds, 
but those we watch, mostly get away. One, however, 
not 6ft. from the boat, was fluttering above a single 
spray of moss, with the ovipositor bent down 
dipping and hitting the twig with its single whit.- 
blossom, when out of the depths, straight up, shot 
a bass at the dragon; he caught it fairly and bit it in two, 
and the trunk, -with its four wings almost large enough tc 
cover a plaving card, was left rudderless to flutter on the 
water It clung to the oar blade, but we could do noth- 
ing for it and it is dropped back. We have hardly gone 
3 or 4yds. when there is another splash, announcing its 
untimely end, and there is no more to mark its having 
been than we can find of those which lived before the 
^°The wind is blowing a moderately stiff breeze, but 
under the lee of a grass patch an attempt is made to cast 
against it. , j t-. i- -i. 
With rather coarse tackle, a Qoz. rod and a D line, it 
was not hard to get out fairly well, and the ripple was 
heavy enough to obviate the necessity of icxtraordinary 
casts A bit of moss catches the dropper, checks the re- 
trieve makes the back cast low, and though an extra ef- 
fort does get the line out, both flies fall m a heap. As 
they touch the water a lib. bass rises and seizes both, lie 
is brought close enough to the boat to see he has the 
dropper in his upper lip and the stretcher in his mouth. 
Suddenly the hold of the fly broke and he started away 
with a rush, and the rod flew back; but the stretcher 
cau<-dJt on, and again he was checked, but only for a 
moment or two, for at his first leap from the water he 
shakes himself free. The wonder ds, not that he is lost, 
but that he ever rose to the flies in a bunch. 
We hear the plash of a large fish not far from the boat, 
and as we turn see a great carp rise in the air, flounder, 
awkwardiv forward, half turning, and showing the red, 
on his under side, and fall broadside with a noise out. 
of proportion to his 2olbs. This is a new leap for the 
carp, which usually jumps almost perpendicularly up- 
v-ird and drops back tail first. 
When evening comes our basket is not filled to over- 
flowing, but we are satisfied, and as we trudge homewardi 
in the gloaming, tired and happy, there is not much talk, 
for the mind is busy in the dark room developing and fix- 
ins- the many pictures we have secured m the long, per 
feet June'day. ^ JIenry Talbott. 
The FOBBS* AND Stream is put to press ^ach week on "l^isesdaj 
Cortespondence intended for. publication should reach us at th. 
^iett by Monday md as amcb earher »s practicable. 
