April zj, 1901.]) 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
this one scaled pounds and was taken July 18, 
1900. This fish was taken in 150 feet of water on a silver 
spoon and 60 feet below the surface. From its shape and 
markings one would say it was quite an old fish. The one 
taken at Hammondsport was a much younger looking fish. 
As both were in fine condition and well grown, and as- 
suredly of different ages, it stands to reason that they have 
been successfully breeding in Lake Keuka, and that the 
lake is well stocked with this king of game fishes. 
We noticed several times during our last trip fish rising 
in water 150 feet deep, in which we were catching lake 
trout at the same spot within a foot or two from the bot- 
tom. Asking our guide what these rising fish were, his 
answer was "Trout." They certainly were not lake trout, 
as lake trout at that time were close to bottom. We 
never took a lake trout on a fly, and have never heard of 
Hotel and about a raile up into the West Branch, 
This deep water is an exceptionally good piece of 
ground, and when the trout are not biting on the Flat the 
angler can often come here and make a good catch. If we 
were going to fish exclusively for landlocked salmon we 
should select this deep water and run our baits pretty 
near the surface. 
Rainbow Trout, 
These trout during 1900 were taken all over the lake, 
sometimes on the Flat and again in some water 30 or 40 
feet deep near the shore. They appear to be on the in- 
crease both as regards numbers and size. During 1900 
many were taken (trolling with minnows). They scaled 
6, 8 or 9 pounds. 
Hauling Gear'* on the Sou Vest 
Ledge* 
The most doleful tooting that ever startled the ear of 
man awoke me. I't was pitch dark outside, for the sky 
was overcast and the earth but one degree blacker than 
the arch above. I lay perhaps half a minute (it seemed 
much longer) trying to imagine what had broken in 
upon my sound slumber. 
"Too-te-too-to-o-ot !" 
I bounded out of bed and thinist my head out of the 
open window. Was this a new kind of serenade, or was 
it Gabriel's warning trump? If the latter, why had he 
chosen Block Island as the scene of hi? first operations 
in raising the dead and the sleeping? 
"f. TlVC SPOTS VyKERS LflM!3"L{jCK Salmon «AV€. ftEtN TAKt 
X ^ K j< SAis. Pickerel Ceroh w-atiks- 
■B i t 
LAKE KEUKA. 
N.Y. 
SHOWINe Al. FISHING SROUNDS. 
one being taken in this manner; the fish we saw were 
rising to flies or bugs of some sort. We therefore came 
to the conclusion that they were landlocked salmon, and 
regretted that we had not the proper tackle wherewith to 
tempt them. 
Great Lake Trout. 
During the early part of the season, just after the ice 
has gone out, two exceptionally good spots for lake trout 
are Branchport'Bay, off the mouth of the inlet in 100 feet 
of water, and Hammondsport Bay, off the mouth of 
Black BaS 
Black bass are found all along the different shores. Our 
favorite grounds are: The western shore of the lake 
from Urbana to Branchport, the eastern shore from Grove 
Springs Hotel down to Keuka Point. An exceptionally 
good spot in this run is just off the dock below the Club 
House, Out and out the best spot in the lake is around 
Bluff Point in water running from 15 to 40 feet deep over 
a clean, hard, rocky bottom. The limit of this water is 
from the dock on the eastern side of the Point to the 
dock on the western side, a little less than half a mile. 
Pleasant Valley Brook in 60 feet of water. But during 
this season of the year the fish are near the surface, say 
from 6 to 30 feet below the surface only. During 
the latter part of July and through August our favorite 
spot is the Flat - in 70 feet of water. The Flat is 
about two miles long and about one mile wide, and is 
bounded on the west by the Bluff, on the east by Keuka 
village, on the south by the Bar, and on the north by the 
points jutting out into the lake below Keuka. In other 
words, the Flat commences at the mouth of the East 
Branch and extends up into the Branch for a distance 
of two miles. The bottom of the Flat is composed of 
streaks of sand and mud, with here and there a few 
small boulders. The Bar, above mentioned, is composed 
of a sand bank in about 75 feet of water, and runs from 
the Bluff to the point above Keuka. From the Bar the 
water drops to 100 to 200 feet — this deep water extends 
from tl^e Bar to -a point a little above tb| Grove Spring? 
Bass act differently in Keuka from any other waters we 
have ever fished. They bite 'well from the opening of the 
season up to the middle of July, then they disappear but 
come on again with renewed vigor about the first of 
September. From this time on the grandest of catches 
can be made. It is nothing uncommon to get a big string 
running from 2 to 5 pounds each, the latter- not at all un- 
common. 
Pickerel and Perch. 
Pickerel and perch are found along the shores, es- 
pecially where it is weedy. A first-class spot for these 
fish is along the eastern shore from the point above the 
Grove Springs Hotel to Keuka Point, and again in the 
little bay just around Keuka Point. It is not at all un- 
common to get perch scaling 2 pounds, and even those 
^Y^ighing 3 pounds have b?en taken. 
" ' " /ame;§ Churchward, 
Suddenly 'way out upon what would have been the 
horizon, had it been defined, a light flashed out. It was 
old Montauk" and I began to get my bearings. Imme- 
diately a voice reached me out of the chaotic blackness 
below the chamber window. 
"Mornin', sir! Th' old man said you wanted to go 
out an' see us haul th' gear to-day an' he sent me on 
ahead to wake ye." 
" 'Morning!' " I repeated, with considerable empha- 
sis. "What time do you call it?" 
'■ 'Bout ha'f after one. We gotter hurry. There'll be 
a breeze b'fore sun i:p. The elder goin'?" 
"So he said last night." Then with a wicked desire to 
have company in the misery of being awakened at such 
an ungodly hour, and by such an ungodly instrument 
as a battered fishhorn, I added: "Go around and toot 
under his window, Phil. I'll dress." 
The mournful notes of the horn sounded at the other 
end of the house while I groped for my garments, and 
when I descended to the kitchen the Elder was getting into 
his most disreputable coat. He looked a good deal as I 
felt. We glowered surlily, each blaming the other in his 
heart for ever expressing any interest in the lobster in- 
dustry, but neither had the pluck to back out of the trip. 
Young Phil gave an admonitory toot on his horn, and 
we pulled on our rubber boots and went out. I never 
remembered seeing such an utterly black night There 
had been a heavy fog earlier and this had now risen 
and blanketed the sky, so that not a star was visible. 
As we set out in single file to cross the higher shoulder 
of Beacon Hill (I simply knew by intuition where we 
were going, for the path we followed was invisible to 
my eyes — I could but see the outline of the Elder's figure 
ahead). I noticed lights in the windows of several houses 
on the island. The fishermen were rising in expectation 
of the breeze which Young Phil declared was due, though 
there was no warning of it to a landsman's mind. 
Montauk light blazed regularly, and as my eye swept 
the half circle, I noted the beacons on Fisher's Island, 
Watch Hill, Sand Point (the upper extremity of Block 
Island itself), and Point Judith at the entrance to Nar- 
ragansett Bay. But these lights simply twinkled through 
an otherwise impenetrable gloom; even the sea was in- 
visible, though its voice sobbed quietly where the gentle 
swells washed the west beaches. 
"John-Ed. 's been hillm' up his potatoes," Young Phil 
remarked; as we tumbled over a fence into a mysterious 
place which, as far as I could see, was as likely to be a 
bottomless pit as a potato field. 
"Where's your boat lying, Phil?" the Elder asked, 
and I hoped he would back out even at the eleventh hour. 
But if it was in his thought he did not suggest it, when 
Young Phil replied: 
"Cormorant Cove. We'll hafter to stop for Cap and. 
Lawyer. They'd never git up if the old man 'n' I didn't 
wake 'em." 
He strode on tirelessly. For a breed of short-legged 
men these fishermen are the most wonderful walkers I 
ever met. Pounding away through plowed ground 
in heavy gum boots seemed nothing to Young Phil; but 
I was getting winded when we struck into the New Har- 
bor road. Down this, and across other planted fields, 
and through pastures where the sheep, huddled together, 
were just visible as we passed, and finally into a door- 
yard littered with broken pots, a drying seine, and other 
maritime lumber. Our guide routed out the skipper and 
the fourth member of the crew, Levi (pronounced "Law- 
yer" by the islanders), and we all descended la^^ 
