448 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
QxTOE 8, 1901. 
Canadian Angling 'Notes 
If last year was an oJ season for isl ling in Canada, 
anglers are having their compensation this spring. From 
all sides come reports of splendid sport. A party of 
Connecticut men who passed through Quebec a few days 
ago on their return home from their lakes alongside the 
line of the Quebec & Lake St. John Railway, and who 
have fished the waters of the Metabetchouan Fish and 
Game Club for the last ten years, told me that the fishing 
had never been so good in their waters as it was this 
spring. Both at the head of Lake Kiskisink and also 
in the rapids at the outlet, as well as in that portion of 
the Metabetchouan which flows through the club limits, 
the trout have proved most abundant, and some of them 
have run over three pounds in weight. Mr. and Mrs. W. 
C. Bryant, of Bridgeport, went up to the club house on 
Tuesday last, and among others now upon the limits are 
Major Hincks and son, and Mr. F. Benham, all of 
Bridgeport. Messrs. C. P. Peets, of New Haven, and 
Samuel Dodd, C. P. Bradley, Messrs. Coe, Stevenson, 
Chamberlain and Fay, of Meriden, Conn., returned home 
this week. Congressman Russell, chairman of the Ways 
and Means Committee, has had some excellent sport this 
month as a guest of the Metabetchouan Club. 
. On the adjoining territory, controlled by the Bostonnais 
Fish and Game Association, good trout fishing has been 
enjoyed by Dr. Porter, of Bridgeport, and Mr. Lincoln, of 
Pittsburg. 
Mr. and Mrs. C. Grant Lafarge went home last week 
after having excellent sport on the waters of the Lauren- 
tian Fish and Game Club, 
Lake Edward has been again yielding some of its heavy 
red trout, a number of the specimens brought to Quebec 
last week having exceeded five pounds in weight. The 
water in the lakes is still so cold that the large fish are 
rising quite well to the fly. The number of fish being 
taken on the fly in Lake Edward this spring is much 
larger than usual, while really excellent sport has been 
enjoyed on the Vermillion River — a little to the north and 
west of Lake Edward — during the last few days. A num- 
ber of three and four pound fish were among those taken 
on the fly last week on these waters by a party of Quebec 
anglers. 
Ouananiche are still being taken in large quantities in 
Lake St. John. During the last ten days they have risen 
freely to the fly in and about the mouths of the Ouiat- 
chouan and Metabetchouan rivers, but the water is too 
high for them in the Grande Decharge. The fly-fishing 
there ought to be good this year by June 12 or 15. 
Salmon fishermen are already commencing to arrive, 
and no doubt some of them will be upon their rivers 
before this letter appears in print. The fish have been 
about the mouths of the rivers for some time, and ought 
now to be entering them. A steamer arrived from the 
north shore of the Gulf here yesterday with a cargo of 
salmon from the nets at the mouth of the Moisie. 
Dr. Johnson, of Cornell, has been here for some days 
making ready for a trip to some of the north shore rivers, 
and no doubt there will be good sport on the Labrador 
streams, as well as on the Ristigouche, by about the loth 
of the month. E. T. D. Chambers. 
Quebec, Canada, June 1, 
Unreliable Traditions. — L 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
It requires not a little boldness for any one to claim 
that the traditions which have become almost household 
words in the home of the angler are not always to be 
relied upon, and certainly no one should attack them 
without good cause. They are helpful to the young 
angler, but he should not rely upon them without a per- 
sonal test on his part, as opportunity offers. Traditions 
are guides for what they are worth and not rules to be 
followed without question as to their soundness. 
I will give you a few traditions which are very old and 
which, upon a full test, have been found by many vet- 
eran anglers to be quite unreliable. 
1. Many years ago it was quite usual for anglers to 
arrange their trips so as to be on the stream during dark 
nights in the belief that the trout were in the habit of 
feeding during light nights, but a test of over twenty 
years, made long ago, showed that there was no per- 
ceptible difference between light and dark nights so_ far 
as the day's catch was concerned. 
2. There was another which worked in the opposite 
direction. I have known many anglers to time their 
trips so as to be on the stream during moonlight nights 
on the ground that there is usually an excess of storms 
and rainfall during dark nights, but an actual test and 
record shows that there is really no difference whatever. 
A few years ago the German Government published a 
record of the rainfall f»r thirty-six years, by which it 
appeared that during the first eighteen years the rainfall 
on dark nights, as compared with light nights, was in 
the proportion of 19 to 18, and during the last eighteen 
years it was 18 to 19. 
3. It is quite a common belief that the earlier an 
angler can get upon the stream the more sure he is of 
sport with the fly, but after awhile he discovers his mis- 
take. The fish will not rise readily until the flies are 
warmed into being by the sun, which is rarely before 
about 8 o'clock. By that time the trout begin to leave 
their haunts and get upon the reefs, where they lie m 
the little pockets watching for the natural flies, and they 
will travel many hundred feet for this purpose. 
That veteran angler, Judge Fitch, rarely went out be- 
fore 8 o'clock, and often later, and his first effort was to 
find out whether the fish were yet on the reefs, for there 
'he always found his best sport tacklin^g his fish in swift 
water, though, of course, he also fished the pools where 
the large trout are generally found. 
4. There is another tradition which is almost univer- 
sally believed, and that is that bright flies should be used 
on a dark day and dark flies only on a bright day, but 
any one who will make a careful test of this rule will 
find that it is far from reliable. 
Some twenty or more years ago I visited a small lake 
in the Catskills, where we had a club house, and, although 
the afternoon was dark and rainy, I could not resist the 
temptation to "wet my line." 
I tried sU my bright flie.5, Wt got HQ nse, It then 
occurred to me that nature brought out the dark and 
ugly flies on such days, and as soon as I put mj"- darkest 
flies on my leader the trout rose quite freely. 
My experience since then has been quite in line with 
my success on that afternoon and several anglers to 
whom 1 related the above incident have told me since 
that they have frequently had greater success with dark 
rather than with light flies on dark and rainy days, and 
this simply means that there is no force in. the above 
tradition, and that every angler must rely upon his own 
judgment and experience. 
5. There is an old tradition, which I heard in my boy- 
hood, and which is very commonly believed to this day, 
and that is that making a loud noise, or even talking 
on the stream, disturbs the fish, but there is no trtith 
whatever in this claim. Fish are sensitive to the slight- 
est concussion, but they cannot hear any sound emitted 
above the water, however loud it may be, and this I can 
state most positively from actual personal tests. 
In 1856 I caught in one day quite a large number of 
pickerel through the ice in Lake Horicon, in Wisconsin, 
with the aid of a fishing box, which was then allowable, 
and m\' companion and [ talked in our usual tones dur- 
ing the entire day withotit the slightest perceptible effect 
upon tlte fish, which were frequently within two or three 
feet of the surface of the water, but the slightest pound 
on the ice, which produced a concussion, ^ scattered the 
fish immediately. 
Many years ago Mr. Cornelius Van Brunt, who is well 
known as one of our oldest and most skillful anglers, and 
to whom I had related this circumstance, while on one 
of the streams in Canada filled with trout, found by 
actual test that the trout could not hear and were not 
disturbed in any way by any sound uttered above the 
water, and this was supplemented by both of us a 
number of years ago in a way which is of sufficient inter- 
est to mention quite fully. 
We had on the shore of Lake Willewemoc a tank of 
considerable size in which the water was between one 
and two feet deep, and in it we had placed some seventy 
or eighty large trout. On one occasion we removed the 
cover and each leaned over the tank, remaining perfectly 
motionless, until the fish became absolutely quiet, and 
with our mouths not over two feet above the water we 
talked and shouted without disturbing the fish in the 
slightest degree, but the moment the slightest movement 
was made, which in this case was the simple raising of 
a finger, all the fish became frantic with fright. 
There are two or three more traditions which are open 
Lo citicism. but to incorporate them in this article 
would make it too long, and I will reserve them for a 
further corainttnication. 
Of course the above views are given for what they are 
worth and as the result of my own personal experience. 
J. S. Van Cleef, 
Mav 29. . 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Fishing Season Begins. 
Chicago, HI.. June i.— To-day there came a little burst 
of sunshine aftd a little rise in the temperature and a little 
hope that we may possibly have more decent weather. 
The result on the angling trade was at once apparent, and 
the counters of the retail stores were crowded all this 
morning. There will be a big exodtis of Chicago fishdom 
north bound this afternoon and to-night. 
Within the last few days the trout season has come 
on apace, and probably the best fishing of this spring will 
be found within the next few days. The members of the 
Gaylord Club, whose fine preserves are on the south 
fork of the Pike River, Wisconsin, have gone up almost 
en masse to the club this week, and all those who have 
not already departed will start out this afternoon or to- 
night. The Gaylord Club is one which experienced almost 
an entire change of membership and management a few 
years ago. Its president is Mr. F. M. Stephenson, of 
Menominee, Mich., and its membership now includes some 
of the wealthiest and most expert fly-fishermen of Chicago 
and the Middle West. 
Mr. William G. Beale has outfitted to-day and started 
for a trout trip along the Pike in Wisconsin. Mr. Walter 
L. Lee, of the Republic Iron and Steel Company, goes 
north to-night, but he stops at Minocqua and is looking 
for muscallunge rather than trout. 
Mr. A. G. Holmes and friend, of Green Bay, Wis., this 
week took twenty-six trout in a day's fishing along some 
streams near the latter city. 
Dr. Boettscher and a friend or so, of Chicago, start for 
the Prairie River to-night, going in at Merrill. Mr. E. J. 
Dressier goes to the same place. By the way, I hear that 
the north fork of the Prairie River is this summer panning 
out better than the main stream, which has been much 
more steadily fished. The advent of a new railroad with 
a station close to the banks of the Prairie would seem 
to herald the doom of that pretty little river, of which a 
few of our Chicago fly-fishers have always been so fond. 
The Watersmeet streams are reported good for trout 
this week, and several of our fishermen are going p take a 
try in that region, more especially watching the upper 
waters of the Ontonagon River near that point. 
The Castalia Clab. 
The Castalia Club, of Ohio, was never in more flourish- 
ing condition than it is this season, and the famous little 
stream has been offering magnificent sport to all the club 
m.embers. There are some members of this club who live 
in Chicago, and of these Mr. Robert Forsythe, Vice-Presi- 
dent of the Illinois Steel Company, and Mr. R. P. H. 
Durkee, also prominent in capitalistic circles, leave to- 
night for some further adventures on the Castalia trout 
waters. 
Muscallunge. 
Mr. Harry E'. Goebel, agent of the Hartford Biiilding, in 
this city, and an awfully nice young man, in spite of the 
fact that he has a habit of collecting rent every once in a 
while, goes to-night with his friend, Mr. C. B. Cleveland, 
to Watersmeet, Wis., where he will fish for muscallunge 
and bass rather than for trout. Mr. Goebel nearly always 
manages to tangle up with a good fish or so before he 
comes back. 
The rouscallunge season Jjas turned put nothing of Qon-- 
sequence thus far excepting near Minocqua. Mr. C. H. 
Lester, who has been fishing there this week, has taken 
two or three fish, and yesterday telegraphed down that 
he had got a nice one weighing 18 pounds. Ten years ago 
this would not have been news, but to-day it is worth 
chronicling. 
Mayor Harrison went in at Minocqua, but crossed to 
Squirrel Lake, and the success of his party has not yet 
come to light. The general impression is that it is just a 
trifle early for the muscallunge fishing, but in common 
with the trout and the bass fishing season, the season 
for the muscallunge will come with a rush when it does 
begin. 
Bass. 
The backbone of Chicago's angling sport is, of course, 
the splendid bass fishing which is so readily accessible 
from this point. That the bass fishers are getting busy is 
evidenced by the fact that one firm. Von Lengerke & An- 
toine, have been selling about 200 dozen live frogs for 
bait daily. To-day they sold 203 dozen, and this was 
before noon. Each bait-caster who goes out takes on an 
average of a couple of dozen bait frogs with him. This 
saves him the wear and tear on boots, trousers and temper 
which he would otherwise have to undergo in chasing 
the elusive frog around through the lilypads of his bass 
waters. 
The biggest take of bass recorded for the past week was 
at the Lauderdale lakes of Wisconsin— seventy-three bass, 
taken by Mr. Salter and his friend, Mr. W. I. Blackman. 
I have not see either of these gentlemen, but the report 
of this take comes apparently well authenticated. It is 
very large for these days. 
Among those who go up to the Fox Lake chain this 
afternoon are Messrs. J. E. Schall, Charles Oik, M. P. 
Ripley, Alex Friend, Charles Lawrence, J. W. Lowe, J. F, 
Hastings, Julius Rosenburgh, W. E. Rowe and H. Green- 
wood. 
On Thursday, Decoration Day, Mr. Fred Gardner, one 
of our best known Chicago bass fishermen, took eighteen 
very nice bass at Cedar Lake, Ind., which water he fancies 
and fishes frequently. 
Wisconsin Law Is Working. 
That the Wisconsin law regidating the shipment of 
fish from that State is in prime working order this sea- 
soti is witnessed by the fact that on May 28 Game War- 
den Tracy, of Milwaukee, seized shipments of fish arnount- 
ing to 15,415 pounds, the largest amount ever seized at 
one time within the limits of the State of Wisconsin. 
When you come to think what a pile of fish 15,000 pounds 
comes to and when you come to think also that this is but 
one lot, all seized on one day, the fact is brought home 
that it may pay a State very well to look after this part of 
its public property. 
Inquiries continually come up as to the Wisconsin law 
forbidding the bringing out of more than 20 pounds of 
fish from the State. Anglers want to know whether this 
law is going to be enforced. The only way to regard any 
game law is that it is going to be enforced, and that it is 
right that it should be. Quite outside of this way of look- 
ing at the matter, the facts seem to indicate that these 
Milwaukee wardens are mighty good people not to fool 
with. They know their business and are looking after it 
in rather a hair-raising fashion. All the consignors of 
the above contraband fish will be prosecuted at once. 
Huron County Association. 
Mr. George F. Titus, of Norwalk, O., is secretary of 
the Huron County Game and Fish Protective Association, 
and he writes this week that his friends have every reason 
to hope that they will be able to accomplish some work 
for better game laws than are now on the statute books of 
Ohio. He says that the results aimed at by the Associa- 
tion are, first, a hunting license; second, no spring shoot- 
ing; third, an open law on quail from Nov. 10 to Dec. 
15. and on all other game Sept. i to Dec. 15; fourth, no 
marketing of game. It would seem that the Forest and 
Stream Platform Plank is becoming a more stable affair 
every year. The Huron County Association has fifty 
metnbers now, and expects to reach a membership of 200. 
E. Hough. 
Hartfokd Building, Chicago, 111. 
Event 
Event' 
No. 1, 
No. 2, 
Distance, 
Accuracy, 
Event No. 8,- 
Feet 
Per cent. 
Acc. i 
Del. * 
Net^ 
101 
83.4 
85.4 
72.6 
78.11 
-ton Ill 
93.4 
85.4 
71.8 
78.7 
Is 102 
87 
D1.8 
78.4 
85 
105 
95 
104 
92.4 
104 
86 
• 91 
71 
85.4 
79.2 
82.3 
90 
80.4 
96 
78.4 
87.2 
83 
77 
96 
80.10 
88.5 
91 
89.4 
95.4 
82.6 
88.11 
91 
92.4 
91.4 
65.10 
78.7 
91.8 
90 
81.8 
85.9 
98 
92.4 
89 
83.4 
86.6 
89.8 
88.8 
78.4 
83.6 
San Francisco Fly-Casting: Cltib* 
Medal contests, series 1901, Saturday, re-entry No. i, 
held at Stow Lake, May -25. Wind, southwest ; weather, 
threatening : 
Event 
No^4, 
—X Lijre 
Edwards 
Grant 
Grant 
Grant 
Mocke 
Reed 
Reed 
Reed 
Reed 
Young 
Young 
Young 
Judges, Edwards and Mocker; referee. Brooks; clerk. 
Smyth. 
Medal contests, series 1901, Saturday, contest No. i. 
held at Stow Lake, May 26. Wind, north ; weather, warm 
and hazy: 
Battu 
Battu 
Daverkosen . . 
Daverkosen . . . 
Haight 
Huyck 
Heller 
Heller 
B Kenniff 
B KennifE 
Mocker . . . 
Mocker .... 
Reed 
Reed 
Reed 
Grant 
Judges, Mocker and Reed; referee, Battu; clerk, Smyth, 
83 
87.8 
90 
70.10 
80.5 
86 
87.4 
89 
74.2 
81.7 
105 
94 
91.8 
73.4 • 
82.6 
87 
83 
73.4 
78.2 
79 
82 
80.4 
62.6 
73.11 
78 
94 
84 
60.10 
72.5 
67 
95.8 
94 
74.2 
84.1 
86.8 
84 
92 
82 
67.6 
74.9 
85 
86.8 
81. S 
66.8 
74.2 
85 
88 
89.4 
68.4 
78.10 
71 
86 
87 
63.4 
75.2 
64 
79 
83.4 
60 
71. S 
92 
87.8 
73 
61.8 
67.4 
90 
90 
76.8 
77.6 
77.1 
81 
96 
82 
68.4 
78.10 
80 
92.8 
88 
63.4 
75.2 
82 
88 
95.8 
66.8 
81.2 
91.8 
75 
83.4 
