June 29, 1901.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
509 
drive on our way home to Chester Station, a distance of 
about three miles, We pass through a brol<en country up 
hill and down dale, through clumps of woods, and rich 
rolling meadow lands, .and here and there skirt flat, black 
lands, locally known as onion patches, but which are_ in 
reality extinct lakes. These have been filled in during 
the pa.st thousands of years by vegetable growths. How 
many thousands of years it has taken to thus obliterate 
these lakes geologists can best inform us. Many valuable 
and interesting remains of antediluvian animals are 
periodically unearthed in the cultivation of these peat 
lands. Probably the largest specimen remains of the 
giant mastodon ever brought to light was taken from one 
of these dark swamps, but a few miles distant from Glen- 
mere Lake. As one looks over these dark fields, now 
under the control of human hands, one's mind naturally 
pictures the time Avhen these grim antediluvian animals 
roamed supreme over these fair lands of Orange county. 
And when one thinks of their immense size and strength, 
it is easy also to picture the terrible pitched battles that 
were fought between them and other equally terrible mon- 
sters. Century upon century, thousands upon tliousands 
of years have elapsed since the roUing lands of Orange 
county felt the heavy tread of the mastodon's foot. After 
the mastodon, man became the supreme power. Century 
upon century thousands upon thousands of years rolled on 
• over the head of this newer and more perfect animal, who 
during these long periods was constantly changing and 
developing, until we come down to yesterday, when history 
steps in with its pages of print and paper to give us a 
little light on a few past hours of earth's existance, taking 
the place of tales told by water-worn pebbles, fossils, 
bones, stone implements and rude carvings. 
Upon the arrival of the white man upon this contment 
the red man was found in possession and power. Again 
battles fieree and bloody were fought between the two 
races for supremacy. Once more it became the survival 
of the fittest. -The red man with his fierce, cruel nature 
was supplanted with the gentler paleface, who with his 
intelligence and science remains bringing forth from the 
bowels of the eartli nature's great treasures, which have 
been lying dormant since the Creation. But we must 
leave these fair hills, with their wooded slopes and green 
pastures; we must hie away from these -dark swamps with 
their bonv movements of bygone ages, for we are enter- 
ino- the sun glare of civilization, which dispels the shadowy 
mfsts of the past. Jamks Churchward. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Unsatisfactory Western Angling Season. 
Chicago, HI., June 21.— Still we have only gtaotii aiid 
despail- in this corner of the world. From cold and bleak 
cast Winds and chilly nights wc have sprung all at once 
into a season of torrid midday temperatures and of all 
sorts of atmospheric vagaries. As a coUsequeiiGe, our 
trout have taken to ihe tall timber and have not send Ward 
of their whereabouts. Bass fishing, it is true, runs along, 
for there is no more obliging gentleman than your black 
bass. . As to the muscallunge, the situation is about the 
same as that of the troUt, Nobody has caught any trout 
worth mentioning. I have already told uf the 22-pound 
fish which came down from near Coiiover. Wis., from 
Mr. Wheelock's party, and this still remains the largest 
fish reported for the season, and it would certainly seem 
as if the State of Wisconsin had gone entirely barren of 
muscallunge. Lake Vieux Desert turned out five good fish 
to the rod of Mr. Peck, of Chicago. He is of the opinion, 
as is general with anglers who are familiar with Lake 
Vieux Desert and its vicinity, that the lake does not con- 
tain many muscallunge, but when you do make a strike it 
is generally a very good one. " ... 
Mr. Harry Gobel, of the Hartford Building, this city, is 
one of the most patient of our muscallunge anglers who 
annually make a northern pilgrimage in the early sum- 
mer. Harry went up to Lake Vieux Desert last week, but 
he came back without his 'lunge. He had some good 
bass fishing, but he did not care for bass. He got only 
one strike of any consequence, and caught a glimpse of the 
fish, which missed the spoon in some way, although it 
struck at the line and carried the spoon down into the 
water with it. This was the- only fish of any size which 
Mr. Gobel saw during the trip. 
Minocqua seems to be the best water, all things con- 
sidered, for muscallunge this spring. I hear of one party 
who took six 'lunge at Carroll Lake this week, which 
water is just below Minocqua. The fish were not of any 
size, however. 
Mr. H. L. Stanton, who, with Mr. Frank Willard, of 
this city, intended to take a muscallunge trip, probably 
in the Manitowish country this week, was, the last time 
I saw him, standing on one foot looking disconsolate and 
hopeless. "I always thought Willard was a thorough- 
bred," said he, "but here he is throwing me down for the 
first time in his life. He says he isn't sure he would get 
any muscallunge or he would be glad to go. Talk about 
being sure I It seems to me the only way he can get any 
muscallunge is to go out and try for them." 
I advised Mr, Stanton to go alone, even if he had to 
walk every mile of the distance and fish by himself all 
the time. "This business of trying to get together a party 
of anglers is one of the most heartbreaking experiences 
one can have. The only thing to do is to set a time for 
starting and then start on that date, rain or shine, whether 
the rest of the party are there or not. In this way yo'u 
Avill always get what you start after. 
Mr. Stanton, by the way, has returned from St. Louis 
to stay here permanently. Chicago is his first and only 
love, and he will join the ranks of anglers very gladly, nor 
could any man possible to be named be more welcome 
among them. He ought to put a "want ad." in the Forest 
AND Stream inquiring for a new fishing partner. I am 
sorry to hear of this about Frank Willard. 
For the Mississippi River. 
"Wr. W. H. Comstock, whom I have from time to time 
mentioned in these columns for the past ten years as one 
of the first and most successful of our Chicago fly-fishers, 
came into the office this week looking for a good bass 
country. He said that he and a friend connected with 
the C.. B. & Q. Railway wanted to z<s wliere they could 
get some really good fly-fisliing for bass. This was easy. 
I advised him to get on a Q. train, go to Alma, Minn., and 
float down the river to La Crosse, Wis. This is not the 
time of j'ear locally accounted to be the best for. Mis- 
sissippi River fly-fishing for bass. Yet it is almost certain 
that they will get fish enough to give them enjoyment. I 
have called attention to this fly-fishing for bass on the 
upper reaches of the Mississippi before now. It would be 
a revelation to a fisherman who has had all his experience 
upon the smaller streams of the Mississippi Valley. I 
trust Mr. Comstock and liis friend will have an enjoyable 
time and believe that they will meet success. 
Mr. Avery's Rainbow. - 
From an envelope this morning fell the following news- 
paper clipping: . . ■ , . . ^ u 
"The mind of the imagmative fishernian cannot stretch 
a story beyond that which Waldo A. Avery can tell and 
substantiate, says the Detroit Journal. On exhibition in 
front of Joseph A. Marks' store on Woodward avenue is 
a rainbow trout, the largest seen in this town for years, 
and by some claimed to be the largest ever shown here. 
The fish measures a trifle over 23^ inches from end of 
tail to tip of mouth, and is a trifle short of 6 incehs through 
in the thickest part. 
"This trout was caught Saturday in the Au Sable River 
with a 4-ounce Leonard rod and with a No. 0 Cahill ily, 
and the weight, dead, is 4.34 pounds. The feat of land- 
ing such a heavy fish with such a light rod and slender 
hook can be appreciated when it is remembered that the 
wire used in a No. 6 hook is only about the same size 
as that used in the common house pin. and the whole 
hook could easily be laid upon a man's thumb nail. The 
fly — a mottled brown one — is hardly as big as a common 
house fly." 
The above inclosure came with the following letter from 
Mr. W. B. Mershon, of Saginaw, Mich., and it certainly 
would seem to indicate that Mr. Avery has had one of 
those great streaks of luck which is better than finding a 
pot of gold under the end of the real rainbow. A weight 
of 4^ pounds is something of a staggerer even for the 
rainbow in Michigan. This little feat calls again to mmd 
the increasing importance of the rainbow trout in all the 
angling plans of lower Michigan. It has come to stay, and 
it will as surely supplant the brook trout there as the lat- 
ter did the grayling. Mr. Mershon wrote : 
"The inclosed clipping from a Saginaw paper certainly 
explains itself. The remarkable feature of it is the size 
of the rainbow trout taken in the day time on a fly. I 
know there have been a great many far larger rianbow 
trout than this taken from some of tiie Michigan streams, 
but I always have understood that these large fellows 
have been taken either with a worm or a minnow, and 
generally at dusk or late into the night. But this one that 
Mr. Avery killed was taken on a Ily. the paper says a No. 
6, but I looked at the Cahill pretty carefully, and I should 
have said it was a No. 8, but that is immaterial. It was 
jdiout 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and it was taken from a- 
deep pool below all old abandoned dam on a little stream 
that puts into the North Branch of the Au Sable. He 
made a gallant fight, and I stood by and finally netted 
him for Mr. Avery, while George Morley looked on and 
admired the performance, so you see here again were 
three members of the Saginaw Crowd strictly 'in it. 
"1 have not had any tremendous trout fishing this year. 
All of Mav was stormy, cold and disagreeable, with only 
an occasional day for decent fishing, and June has come off 
hot. We spent four days in camp last week and had a 
grand time. We got very few trout during the day, but 
jiist at evening for about three-quarters of an hour the 
rainbow trout would be jumping, and during that time 
we would take from four to ten, and that would end the 
day We had several weighing from i to 2 pounds, but 
found very few fontinalis on the North Branch. I do not 
think it is a stream that it pays to fish late in the season. 
Of course the new law limiting the size to of 8 inches is a 
grand one, and every one seems to take kindly to it, and it 
is saving the fish. •. t 
"I have missed my salmon fishing this year,_ but 1 
understand the run of fish is very poor, and no fishing has 
been done yet worth speaking of." 
Trout Fishing with a Steam Launch. 
Mr C. Gus Brommer, of Chicago, wants a bit of ad- 
vice as to where he and his friends can get some good 
trout fishing from their steam launch. His letter reads as 
below : • ■ it 
"I am one of a party of three young men comprising the 
Trio Cruising Club. We have a 16-foot launch which 
contains a reliable motor and has unusually large locker 
'^pace. One of the features is two large lockers, which are 
built one on the forward and the other on the after deck 
and IS inches high, which have a storage capacity equal to 
two small trunks. In short, we have had the launch re- 
modeled to meet our requirements, and have embodied 
many conveniences not to be expected in a small boat, all 
calculated so as not to detract from its seaworthiness or 
spoil its lines. It is loaded with three guns with plenty of 
ammunition, a complete fishing outfit for three, a camera 
and sundries, besides a camping outfit, including a 7 x 10 
tent, a camp cook kit, some provisions and many other 
little useful trifles. 
"Now you have some idea of the extent of our outfit. 
But the real object of this communication is to advise you 
of our destination, which is northern Wisconsin and 
Michigan via Green Bay. Our aim is to run up some one 
of the larger rivers that empty into it. Which one shall 
we choose? We favor the Menominee River, but we are 
told it abounds with falls and rapids and we want to 
avoid them as much as possible, yet we anticipate them 
and expect to portage it around such obstacles when the 
portage required does not exceed more than a hundred 
feet or two, hence the abbreviated boat. 
"We have plenty of time and wish to camp and fish at 
our leisure. What we want is good fishing, particularly 
for trout, a navigable stream for a craft drawing 2 feet 
of water, and we want to get as far into the interior as 
possible, and of course pleasant camping grounds, com- 
paratively sanitary." , . . , . . 1 , 
I should think that Mr. Brommer and his friends would 
find the Menominee River too full of rapids and falls for 
navigation. The Escanaba River, the Ontanogon, or in- 
deed almost anv of those Northern trout streams, accord- 
ing to my understanding, would in afl likelihood be apt to 
oflPer similar inconveniences to a craft drawing 2 feet of 
water. There might be many reaches where the boat 
would do nicely, but there would surely be shallows and 
falls in parts of the streams which would render naviga- 
tion impossible. I should think that the Flambeau River, 
the Chippewa or the Wisconsin, though not offering trout 
fishing, would present more attractions for a trip of this 
kind. They would offer excitement enough in certain pas- 
sages of their rougher waters and woidd provide very 
interesting sport with wall-eyed pike, bass and even an 
occasional muscallunge. 
He Reported His Luck. 
All sorts of people come into the Forest and Stream 
office and ask for information on all sorts of things. They 
learn where to go fishing, then they do go fishing, and 
perhaps they come back home. Perhaps they never do 
come back ; at least, in nine cases out of ten there is no 
further information to the effect that they ever have re- 
, turned. They nearly always fail to report their luck at 
the same place where they got their tip. 
Mr. E. J. Pressler, of this city, is an exception to this 
ordinary rule, and I am glad to offer his note, which he 
leaves, mentioning his trip to the Prairie River: "I went 
in at Merrill," he says, "and stopped at Dudley's. The 
water was very low and clear, and low down on the river 
there is scarcely anything to be had now. You have to go 
^away up and fish up stream. There are any cpiantity^ of 
small fish, but I kept nothign under 8 inches. I think 
I took in the four days I was there 250 fish, and out of 
this number I killed less than 60 — I think 58. The 
water was very cold." There were a few warm days 
and a lot of flies then, and this probably gave us what good 
fish we had. One day I had been working up stream and 
had worked out a couple or three -fish, when I heard a 
big native come tearing over the brush. He had a bait 
can tied around his neck, and had a dozen or fifteen big 
fish in his bag. This was the only bait-fisherman I saw, 
and he stopped at Bates'. 
' ■ "The Prairie River is the most beautiful trout stream I 
ever saw. It is a perfect stream for fly-fishing. Major 
Daniels, of Denver (who is the same Major Daniels who 
first went up to the Prairie River on the Forest and 
Stream recommendation) and Mr. Stevens, of Harvard, 
are making a scientific study of the fly hatches and trying 
their own flies in imitation to ascertain, the effect. In- 
deed I would not have had any fish at all had it not 
been for the g:enerosity of Mr. Stevens in offering me 
some of his flies. • ; 
"I just let you hear from me to prove that tliere is one 
man who would come back and report his success in re- 
turn for information." E. Hough. 
Hartford Building, Chicago, III. 
New Jetsey Coast Fishing. 
AsBURY Park, N. J., June 22. — Anglers arc having a 
second season's unusual experience with a run of very 
large bass. While my personal observation is not quite up 
to my past experience, still I am on the groimds everj'^ day 
and keep in pretty close touch with the fraternity ; and I 
very much doubt if ever a day gave better results than 
yesterday. Omitting names of captors, the weights of 
the large fellows were 20j^, 10, 23, 23, 27, 44- 35, 22, 20, 
besides a host of fish from 4 to 8 pounds each. This 1 
believe will be regarded as a record day for large fish. 
The favorite bait is the skinner clam. And thereby hangs 
a secret, which, by the way, has become an open one. The 
past two years our beach has been fairly deluged with the 
clams, and the bass seeking them as they are broken up in 
the .surf became a comparatively easy prey. Kingfish are 
very scarce, owing no doubt to a very cold prevailing 
current. A few weakfish are in our bays and rivers, but 
as yet are not biting freely. Fluke and plaice are plenti- 
ful,' and can be taken in abundance everywhere. 
Leonard Hulit. 
Bayville, N. J., June 20. — ^Weakfish are biting slowly, 
but we expect them on full of moon. Were quite a supply 
of bluefish in the bay this week. Herb. 
Exposition of Fisheries at St. Petcfsbttfgf. 
Consul- General Guenther sends the following from 
Frankfort, May 8, 1901 : 
The Imperial Russian Association of Fisheries will hold 
an international exposition in FebruaiT and March, 1902, 
at St. Petersburg, for the purpose of showing the con- 
dition of the fresh and salt water fisheries of the world. 
The expense of the exposition will be defrayed by the 
Association, the Crown, the municipal government, private 
contributions, and by charges for exhibition space and for 
the admission of visitors. Premiums will be awarded in 
the form of gold, silver and bronze medals, diplomas of 
honor and money prires. The exposition will have nine 
departments, as follows: .(i) Fisheries in general: ('2) 
.salt and fresh water fisheries ; (3) implements used in the 
fisheries industry; (4) products of the fisheries; (s) man- 
ner and means for preserving fish; (6) arrangement of 
fish hatcheries ; (7) fishing sport ; (8) aquariums and their 
inmates; (9) scientific researches concerning the lives of 
fishes, etc. 
Chicago Fly-Casting Clwb. 
Long Distance Bait Casting. Delicacy Bait. 
Fly. Feet. Per Cent. Per Cent. 
I. D. Belasco... 85 87 7-10 95 1-5 
I H Bellows lOO 84 9-10 04 2-3 
H. Greenwood.. 85 86 2-5 89 1-2 
H. G. Hascall 107 95 1-5 97 1-6 
N. C. Hasten 80 96 1-S 94 1-6 
.G. A. Hinterleitner 84 1-5 95 
F N Peet 104 87 1-2 98 1-6 
C. B. Robinson 79 1-5 71 1-3 
G.W.Salter 93 9-10 841-3 
Lake Pleasant. 
Johnstown, N. Y., June 19. — ^We are in receipt of a 
telegram from Morley' s, at Lake Pleasant, stating that 
John Uhlinger, of this city, had landed a I7J4' pound 
salmon yesterday. This is the largest trout captured this 
season on this lake. The fishing has been good for brook 
trout and quite a few landlocked salmon have been taken 
trolling during the past ten days. C. M. R, 
