270 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 6, igoi. 
the blazing sun, without a leaf of shade, and only decent 
standing room for one. He imagined it must be a 
dream. However, he made his way to the lake, and 
there, sure enough, was the Judge, like Prometheus of 
old, bound fast to the rock oi fate. When he arrived to 
relieve the Judge, the scene that ensued is more easily 
imagined than described, and I shall not attempt it. 
Suffice it to say, in after years, whenever the old Judge 
related his experience, he could not enter into the joke 
so heartily as his hearers. 
Edison B. Fraleck. 
New England Fishing. I 
Boston, April i.— The legal open season for trout in 
this State began to-day. Considerable preparation had 
been made early last week by the anglers, but the hard 
freeze of Friday and Saturday took away their en- 
thusiasm. Ice formed of nearly an inch in thickness both 
mornings, with the mercury below freezing Sunday morn- 
ing; not favorable condiaons for outdoor trout fishing. 
.Still some of tlie Boston anglers are off for the streams 
and preserves on the Cape, and in that part of the State. 
Some of the members of the Tihonet Club started 
Saturday evening, and others went down j^esterday. Gen. 
Stevenson has planned to be one of the first at the Monu- 
ment Club. F. G. Simpson goes down early to fish a 
stream of his own, though the cold weather may delay 
him for a couple of days. The cranberry bog streams 
in the vicinity of Dennis will be thoroughly fished early. 
Most of these srreams are either controUed by leases or 
agreements to private parties, or the owners charge a fee 
for fishing a given length of time. The streams in the 
northern and western portions of' the State are still too 
foil of ice and ice water for trout fishing. 
A display of trout in Appleton & Basset's window, on 
Washingion street, has attracted considerable attention 
for some days. Even friends have walked into the store, 
with indignation depicted on their faces, and asked the 
proprietors: "Don't you know that it is close time?" 
"Are you not aware that you are liable to prosecution 
" for showing trout before the first of April?" In response 
the firm have answered quietly, and called for the 
trout to be brought from the window. Behold, tliey are 
' china; a good imitation of half of a brook trout, and a. 
part of the plate. So well is the painting and firing done 
that, with the aid of a little parsley laid around the 
pseudo fish, even some of the more ancient anglers have 
hedn deceived. In the same window a couple of mounted 
albino wild, or Canada, geese were shown for some days 
recently. They were grayish-white all oyer, except a 
black spot on each side of the head. They are the prop- 
' erty of Mr. C. H. Munroe, and were shot at Silver Lake, 
late in February. - Mr. Munroe is proprietor of a fine 
hunting lodge at that lake. 
' It is too early for prognos'tications as to the departure 
•of the ice from the Maine fishing lakes, but great prepara- 
tioris for guests are being made by hotel and camp pro- 
prietors. Improvements are in progress at nearly every 
important point. The Kineo House and surroundings, at 
Moosehead, are being much improved. At ihe Rangeleys 
great preparations are being made. Capt. F. C. Barker 
is making repairs and improvements. It is understood 
that 'he will have a number of new cottages at Haine.s' 
Landing, or just below, on the Decker lots, whh a land- 
ing of liis own. The steamer Capt. Farrar, sunk at the 
Upper Dam, will be raised and again run on Mooseluc- 
rnaguntic Lake. Steam launches are growing to be more 
and more a feature at both the Rangeleys and Moose- 
head, and a number of new ones are to be put in for 
renting to sportsmen and camping parties. The same 
is true of Sebago Lake and Lake Auburn. One or two 
Boston parties are already planned for Sebago as soon as 
the ice is out. The ice sometimes goes out of that lake 
in April, but oftener early in May. Speciat.. 
The Scarlet Ibis* 
Canandaigua, N. Y.j March 29. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: A list of bass flies is before me. and 1 find in- 
cluded therein both red ibis and scarlet ibis. Is there a 
difference, and, if so, wherein does it lie? Up to last 
August I was, to put it mildly, quite indifferent to the 
fly i have known as the scarlet ibis. 
It came about in this way. Some years age we formed 
a fly-fishing club here, with a membership of nine impe- 
cunious and irresponsible souls. We have fished to- 
gether upon every possible occasion for ten or twelve 
years. Our fishing has been almost exclusively with the 
fly, and. has been confined, with few exceptions, to the 
waters of the outlet of Canandaigua Lake, where occa- 
sionally a good small-mouth bass is taken. Our knowl- 
edge of the art has been acquired wholly from one another 
and from individual experience, and T doubt if any one 
of us ever saw a fiy-rod in the hand of an expert. So 
that a, great deal of our work is necessarily crude, and 
some of 't perhaps grotesque. 
. Nevertheless, we all mean to live up to and encourage 
the laws for the protection of fish and game, and we have 
by degrees estab'ished an unwritten code of ethics of 
our own which we in most instances respect and apply. 
And one of the propositions that has become axiomatic 
among us is that it would be a lasting disgrace to our or- 
ganization for one of its members to use or to be pos- 
sessed of a scarlet ibis fly. And it was formally resolved 
that if a prototype of the said scarlet ibis fly ever did 
actually exist it was the unanimous opinion of the club 
that it never had any valid excuse for it. 
I remember that two of us once met an angler of some 
repute from a neighboring countv. We heartily ac- 
corded htm the hero-worship which we considered bis 
due. until he exhibited to us his fly-book, which contained 
one wh'te miller, one Gov. Alvord. one dark Montreal 
and eleven husre and s-orgeous soecimens of the scarlet 
ibis. He informed us that he often fished with three of 
these ®n his leader at the same time, and the disenchant- 
ment was comnlete. We hurried home and reported to 
the inner circle, and we unanimously and without dis- 
cussion classed the gentleman as a savaee. 
But time went on and some of us devoted six days 
of ihe last week of August, ipoo, to fly-fishing for bass. 
Before going T had been reading of the virtues of the 
scarlet ibis, and in a spirit of lawlessness, and forgetful 
oLtf^e solemnity of my unsworn vow, I surreptitiously 
and feloniously tied up a couple of misshapen and hideous 
imitations of that unearthly fly, and in the darkness of 
thd night secreted them in my book. 
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I fished 
faithfully and le^timately, using the old tried and re- 
spected flies, but did not take a single fish which I could 
put in my basket. 
Then, on Friday afternoon, with a feeling of guilt in 
my bosom and a frightened look over my shoulder, I 
attached one of my flaming monstrosities to the leader. 
After a few terrible minittes, observing that the bottom 
still remained in the stream and that no hills had fallen 
on me, my confidence returned, and inside of two hours 
I had taken four good bass, and, wonderful to relate, the 
largest three, including two two-pounders, had succumbed 
to the charm of the ibis. 
The^ next afternoon I went back to the old flies. I 
worked hard, but could get nothing. Then I put on the 
remaining ibis, and within a half hour I had taken on 
that fly a bass that weighed 2 pounds and 15 ounces 
several hours afterward. 
I did not make another cast. Perfect happiness was 
mine. I felt no remorse because such a noble bass met 
so Ignominious a death at my hands. It was plain that 
I had fallen in the estimation of my, brethren, but I bore 
it cheerfully and manfully. 
Henceforth that scariet ibis (or is it the red ibis) shall 
have a peg in my fly-book, and at times a loop on my 
leader. 
But, oh my! oh my! I wish its color could be tampered 
^^''f'l- F. A. C. 
At Mississquoi. 
Ovid, N. Y March 23.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
in the ?prmg of 1899 I went to Mississquoi Bay Vt for 
a day s pike fishing, leaving the train at Alburg on the 
western side of the bay. My experiences on that day 
vvere varied and as thought of now were extremely 
pleasant, although some of them did not so impress me 
at the time. Shortly after the ice leaves the bay the 
H^a l-eyes go in procession up one side of this arm of 
Laice Lhamplain and down the other side, biting stead- 
ily at everything biteable, although small tender min- 
nows are preferred. In clear water the schools can be 
seen moving easily along near shore. This continues for 
a few days and then the run is over, the pike having re- 
tired. It is beheved, into the deep waters of the lake 
While the peregrination lasts, school doesn't keep on the 
shores of Mississquoi Bay. Old graybeards, strong men 
and tender striplings have but one duty— to take as many 
as possible. 
I reached Alburg at 8 A. M., with ^ bucket of lively 
minnows caught by my own hands in the cool waters 
of the Chazy River. Who would be able to take more 
pike than I with my old bass rod, fine silk line and 
leader? W^ould it be difficult for so skilled a fisherman as 
myself to show these plebeians how to do it? "Pride 
goeth" . 
As I left the train the baggagemen were lifting large 
strings of pike into the car. There were fifty or seventy- 
five fish on each string, and there were six or seven 
strings. At least half a ton of pike was loaded. You 
can imagine the rise in my expectations. 
The landlord gave me his only remaining boat. I 
soon knew why it was his remaining boat. Throwing 
out the anchor a iew rods from the railroad bridge, I 
baited the hook with nervous fingers and — the boat was 
half full. She was a beautiful creation, built on the St. 
Lawrence model, but she leaked in bow, stern, middle 
and_ both sides. I barely reached shore. After such a 
beginning, I should have considered myself a victim of 
the gods and quit for the day. But when my head be- 
came cool — my feet were already so — I went out on the 
bridge with the crowd and cast in with them. 
Soon there was a sharp tug, the old rod did its ac- 
customed work, and a 4-pound pike came to surface 
thrashing around. I, 8 feet above him, watched him 
thrash. No landing net, no gaff, no spear, no gun, no 
•way to kill him. After a time he departed, and was prob- 
ably caught a few minutes later by some boy with a pork 
hook, a clothesline and a tamarack tree. Fall No. 2. 
After this my eye fell on a boat nearby not entirely 
filled with men. I tried with offers of liberal stakes to 
secure a place in it. The owner was a callous man, and 
he calrnly, suavely refused. Then I fell from grace, being 
much irritated by his manner, and assured him of my 
belief in several flaws in his ancestry. Feeling safe by 
position, I was very candid with him. When I finished 
ray estimate, his countenance was no longer serene, nor 
liis tones suave. This was my only successful operation 
during the day. 
Then some good Samaritans appeared. Two gentle- 
men from St. Albans pulled up to the pile on which T 
was sitting and thanked me for the able manner in which 
I had risen to the occasion just past, and gave me a 
place in their boat. How they did catch pike! I saw 
them lift eighty fish from 2 to 5 pounds weight, while I 
could not, and did not, catch one that day. 
After a time I became resigned, and took pleasure 
watching the rest do it. There were a dozen boats 
within a few rods, and I was kept busy. One old gentle- 
man of ministerial garb and bearing, dubbed "Grandpa" 
by the crowd, tried to play the pike as one does bass. 
He usually lost the fish and caught the ha-ha! 
Soon a rustic called to him, "Say, Grandpa, you want 
to do it like this!" He explained by a mighty lift on 
the long lever in his hands, whereupon a huge pike hur- 
riedly left the water some 16 feet away and described 
a parabola toward and into the boat, Rusticus adroitly 
ducking to avoid the blow. 
Then Grandpa tried it. His fish left the water just as 
hurriedly, but instead of falling into the boat it swung 
lik(p a pendulum to the extremity of its arc. came back, 
struck Grandpa on the shoulder and caromed away into 
the water. The laugh which went up set those calves of 
Lake Champlain, the bullfrogs, a-bellowtng. 
When train time came, I went ashore, had some small 
dealings with a smafl boy, took m.y string of fifteen pike 
and went proudly, on the exterior, back to my home, 
explaining how wonderfully the fish bit. 
Bent. E. BinGE. 
Newfotind Lake. 
Newfound Lake, Bristol, N. H., March 30.— The re- 
sources of our New Hampshire lakes will be in evidence- 
to visitors at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, as 
the State will have an exhibit of game fish. Among them 
will be lake trout from this lake and Sunapee trout from 
Lake Sunapee, and other fish, it being the intention of 
Gen. Crofts, New Hampshire's commissioner to the ex- 
position, to see that we have a good representat'on of our 
inland lakes. Seven lake trout have been taken from 
here and under the supervision of Mr. Ed Rike- taken 
to the U. S. hatchery at Nashua, there to be kept in 
tanks, fed and cared for by Waldo F. Hubbard, U. S. 
Superintendent, until the exposition shall open. 
Fish Commissioners Wentworth and Hughes, accom- 
panied by Mr. Waldo F. Hubbard were at this lake 
March 26. and thought they would try their luck at 
bobbing through the ice for the elusive trout. The Com- 
missioners drew a blank, but Mr. Hubbard hooked on to a 
big (?) one, but the U. S. official did not have "pull" 
enough to land that trout in Buffalo. 
The trolling season is expected to commence about 
April 20, as tlie ice is not so thick this year, and signs 
are of an early breaking up. As the lake is kept well 
stocked by the Commiss-oners, there is every indication 
of the season being beneficial and in.structive to fi-her- 
men who annually visit these waters for trout and salmon. 
, S. H. 
Chfcagfo Fly-Casting CI«b. 
The last indoor meeting of the Chicago Fly-Casting 
Club for the season was held on the evening of March 
21 at the Hotel Bismarck. In view of the interest 
shown last season in team contests, it was decided to 
devote three of the six contest days the coming season to 
team contests, to divide the club into three teams, under 
the direction and instruction of Messrs. Bellows, Has- 
call and Peet. The advantage claimed was that the 
members wovfld thus receive the benefit of the experience 
of their respective captains and mutually assist each other. 
Club action was also taken in the direction of raising 
the plane of lure-casting nearer to that of fly-casting in 
scientific angling by instituting an event in practice con- 
tests, in which a ^-ounce rubber frog is to be used in- 
stead of the iJ/2-ounce. The innovation met the approval 
of all members present. 
Instructions were given to the Executive Committee to 
prepare suitable resolutions relative to the departure of 
the Rev. C. A. Lippincott to Flint, Mich., and charter 
member J. M. Clark to Kansas City, Mo. 
During the evening the members were entertained with 
a rousing song by Mr. Perce; an interesting description 
of a' winter fishing trip by Mr. Orr, who has just returned 
from the South; a sketch of the development of bait-cast- 
ing rod, from the old 16-foot bamboo to the present 
5-ounce 6j^-foot gem of rod construction, by J. M. 
Clark, and also the speech of the season on "The Lottery 
of Scientific Angling," by President W. T. Church, 
Carp m Toronto Bay. 
Toronto, Canada, March 25. — Toronto Bay is now full 
of carp of from 4 to 8 pounds in weight. They may eat 
all the wild celery and rice from the ducks, but the}' arc 
better than no fish at all. I have much fun spearing them 
in the summer time. Taking a spear about 15 feet long 
and donning a bathing suit, I enter the water at any oM 
place. Then thrusting the spear in the water ahead of 
me and drawing it back without splashing, I soon see 
a single file of carp on the way to investigate. I hit 
one, and you would laugh to see the rest of them get. 
They never come back after once smelling blood. They 
are cunning, bramy beggars. Hit them hard, for their 
scales are large and hard. The leather species are those 
which have had their scales injured; they then shed 
the remaining scales, and the skin is a little tougher. 
What do I do with the carp I spear? Why, as a joke. I 
give them to those who ask me for them. As the song 
goes, "They never ask again." Have you ever eaten 
flannel ? 
Here is a German recipe for cooking boarding-housf 
carp : Boil in one quart of lager beer, in which is dropped 
a bit of cheese; the carp will emerge white, firm and free 
from bitterness. But the liquid will be so bitter that it 
would be rejected by the thirstiest bunco-steerer that ever 
roamed the plains. Another receipe is Jewish : Stuff 
with bread crumbs and egg, onions and garlic, salt, pepper, 
etc, and bake in the oven. G. H, Corsan. 
Not Too Dangfetous. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
On page 249 of Forest and Stream for March 30 your 
compositor makes me say that the salmon pool at the west 
entrance of the St. Augustin River is so full of rocks 
that two or three fishermen who had tried the river lost 
their lives promptly. I have fished some pretty dan- 
gerous waters but none that is quite so bad as that. If 
your compositor at work with my simple handwriting 
makes "lives" out of "lines" it makes me skeptical about 
the accuracy of archaeologists' translations from more 
■ancient hieroglyphics. . Robert T. Morris. 
New York, March 28. 
Striped Bass in the Htjdson. 
. Ossining, N. Y., March 28. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: They are soaking the striped bass up here, the 
several nets catching a ton a day. There have been three 
caught that tipped the scales at 38, 39^/2 and 40 pounds. 
As soon as the silt gets down on the bottom where it be- 
longs — first warm spell — the hook and line fisherman will 
have some rare sport. C. G. B. 
**The Striped Bass." 
The paper under this title in our issue of March 30 
should have had the signature Herbert N. Curtis, instead 
of Robert N. Curtis, as printed. 
Thomas A. Edison is tarpon fishing in Florida, 
