Aug. 24, 1 90 1. 1 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
14 7 
two cents a pound, and turned them into money fast at 
the price. When he got his stock of fish cleaned up, how 
much do you think he made out of it? asked the fellow 
who was telling the story. Some of our party guessed 
$1,000 or so. 
" 'Ho ! ho !' laughed the old fellow, 'that shows how 
good you are guessing on fish — why, he made just $7,000. 
And he put the money into a steamboat and went sailing 
up and down the river here, and the first thing he knew 
his money was all gone.' 
"I could hardly believe that story, and I made it a point 
to investigate it down at Peoria, not long afterward. I 
went everywhere — into the saloons and stores, and talked 
to women and children, and every last one of them told 
exactly the same story. Now, there is proof enough for 
you. No, sir; people now have no idea of how plenty 
fish were in the early days." F. L. Purdy. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Chicago Fl7-Ca£Ung Club, 
The following are the scores of the Chicago Fly-Cast- 
ing Club on Aug. 10. The next meet will occur on Aug. 
24, which will be the last meet of the season, with the 
exception of the re-entry day, Sept. 7. Members who 
have not filled out their scores should be present on Aug. 
24, and work off all re-entries possible, so that there will 
not be left too full a programme to bring off on Sept. 7. 
Long 
Bait 
Distance Fly. 
Casting. 
Feet. 
Per Cent. 
86 
83 
W. T. Church 
93 7-10 
, 96 
96 1-10 
; 101 
H. G. Hascall " 
109 
9B 2-5 
N. C, Heston 
85 
83 
94 2-5 
F. N. Peet 
Ill 
97 4-5 
89 1-5 
93 3-5 
96 3-10 
T'. S. Smith 
85 1-5 
Winning scores: Long-distance fly, F. N. Peet, ill 
feet; bait-casting, F. N. Peet, 97 4-5. 
Great Bass Fishing at Star Lake. 
Mr. John D. McLeod tells me that his friend Mr. Hib- 
bard, general manager of the Chicago Telephone Com- 
pany, has been having some good fishing at Star Lake, 
Wis. Mr. Hibbard writes that in all his experience he 
never ktiew anything to equal the bass fishing there. On 
one clay he and a friend from Chicago caught ninety 
black bass, sixty of them being caught by Mr. Hibbard. 
Star Lake is about fifteen or twenty miles from Minoc- 
qua, on the C, M. & St. P. Railroad. It lies a little to the 
east of Plum Lake. I remember personally spending a 
few days in the neighborhood of Star Lake some years 
ago, when out in camp with some trappers. At that time 
the little settlement of Star Lake was just starting in, and 
all these people fished industriously summer and winter, 
early and late. It is surprising that there are any fish 
at all left in that lake, for there was every reason to 
believe that it would be exhausted. These Wisconsin 
lakes which lie along to the south of the northern line of 
the State were perhaps originally as wonderful fish waters 
as ever existed on the face of the earth. It is gratifying 
to have good proof as this that they are far from de- 
pleted. There are many lakes where one can get good 
bass fishing. As to the muscallunge fishing, that is be- 
coming scarcer all the time. 
Fishing in Arkansas. 
in a letter from Little Rock, Ark., our old friend, Joe 
Irwin, tells about the dift'erent forms of sport, notably 
bass fishing, in the neighborhood of that very good sport- 
ing citj'. 
"I have had a very busy year," he says, "and have not 
had my usual amount of sport. I stumbled on to some 
fine bass fly-fishing just this side of the ferry where you 
and I crossed that morning to old man Pemberton's 
on the east side of the Arkansas River proper. I can 
drive there in one and one-half hours in the afternoon 
and take from eight to fifteen bass in the evening, and be 
back home by g :30. I have often shot ducks on this 
water, but have not investigated it for bass until this 
season, and it was right under my nose. 
"I intended making my third year trip to Colorado, but 
find too many fishermen going there now, and may try 
the tarpon again the last of August, unless I run over to 
Chicago and get j^ou to send me to good bass grounds. 
I want a change of air, and where I can fish or shoot to 
am^use myself. I can't be content to loaf and play cards 
and that kind of thing. Quail crop will be good, I think, 
this season. Hope to have more time for them coming 
season. I find I haven't the energy to get up at 3 A. M. 
and drive twelve or fifteen miles for a little sport as I 
did year after year. Getting old and losing my grip for 
the hard side of the gatne. We did not have much duck 
shooting last year until late in the season. They were 
there all winter, but went out long distances to feed, and 
were late getting back. We finally got an overflow in the 
Pin Oak flats, and then we had fun for a few days only. 
I heard the boys after wood ducks last night while I was 
fishing, but I have not tried them as yet. Flight is short 
and the drive long and sandj-^ and other excuses." 
Going West. 
Mr. Carl Von Lengerke. sales agent of the American 
E. C. and Schultz Gunpowder Co., was in Chicago this 
week on his first trip to the West in the interest of his 
firm. Mr. Von Lengerke goes from here to St. Paul and 
Minneapolis, then, dropping to the south, takes in Omaha, 
Kansas City, St. Louis and other Western towns. As he 
will be in this part of the world until the opening of the 
Western shooting season, it is to be hoped that he will 
take advantage of the invitations which will, no doubt, be 
offered him by Western sportsmen. Mr. Von Lengerke 
has never before been in the West, and will perhaps be 
surprised to see that there is quite a patch of country west 
of the east shore of New Jerse.v. As he is of a keen sport- 
ing family, he will enjoy a whirl at our big prairie 
chickens. He reports business very good, indeed. 
Docks and Chickens. 
The C, M, & St. P. Ry. has recent reports from its 
stations in Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota, which 
show fine prospects for duck and chicken shooting. On 
the James River division in South Dakota the chickens 
have increased in numbers, since the game laws have been 
rigidly enforced for several years. As the sloughs are 
filled with Avater, they are alive with mallards, redheads, 
canvasbacks, etc. The open season, it should be remem- 
bered, begins Sept. i. E. Hough, 
Hartford Building, Chicago, III. 
Tarpon Fishing. — IV. 
(Concluded front j>age 129.) 
Handling Tarpon. 
As soon as the hook is set, the main thing for the sports- 
man to do is to hold on to the brake with either his whole 
force or as hard as the capacity of the line will permit, 
never giving an inch of line unless forced to, either be- 
cause of want of strength or because he fears that the 
tackle is being endangered. Of course, as before stated, 
when the fish jumps, one should dip the rod to it so as 
not to have any strain on the line when the fish is in the 
air, for this is just what the creature wants — something 
to pull against when shaking his head. But just as the 
fish falls back into the water, the line should be tautened. 
The probability is that it will make three or four jumps in 
a few seconds, during which time the boatman should do 
nothing except to brace himself for a hard pull, and as 
soon as the first flurry is over, let him start rowing and 
get the fish in tow. If it be possible to prevent it, the 
fish sliould never be allowed to tow the boat, because it is 
then master of the situation, and can thus either increase 
the duration of the fight several fold or else take out so 
much of the line as to get some slack and escape. Unless 
a tarpon be unusually well hooked, an instant's slack line 
will be all that it needs to save itself. 
At times a big fish will take out line in spite of all the 
sportsman's efforts; in such cases the boatman should 
back water while the reel is manipulated, so as to shorten 
the line as rapidly as practicable. 
The nearer one keeps the fish to the boat, the sooner 
will the fight be over. Of course there is some danger 
of the animal jumping into the boat, but this can be 
avoided by careful watching and easing up of the strain, 
I often keep my fish so close to the boat as to be drenched 
from head to foot before it is landed. 
While the tarpon is in the first flurry, the rod should 
be held crosswise, or nearly so, as in trolling, with the 
tip raised considerably; but the instant it settles down the 
butt should be slipped beneath the front edge of the 
cushion or in the leather socket, if the sportsman be using 
one, after which the rod should be kept as nearly vertical 
as practicable. ■ '^ 
To bring a big fish near the boat, "pump it up" by rais- 
ing the rod slowly and steadily to the vertical, then drop- 
ping it suddetily to near the horizontal, at the same time 
reeling in rapidly. By keeping this up a short time, the 
fish will be broitght as close as desired. However, this 
is an easier thing to talk about than to accomplish, for 
the fish is liable at any instant to make a run and take out 
in a few seconds line that it has required as many min- 
utes to reel in. When this occurs, the only thing to do is 
to stop the run as soon as possible and repeat the pump- 
ing process. 
To tire out a fish, tow it with all the energy of the 
oarsman's arms, and keep on towing until it turns belly 
up, when it is about time tO' think of either beaching or 
landing in the boat. I often tow a fish with the line reeled 
up so that the end of the snell is at the tip of the rod. 
There is danger in such close work as this, and I don't 
advise tTie novice to try it, but to content himself with 
about a dozen or fifteen feet of line and snell between tip 
and fish. 
In order to beach a fish, head, for the nearest shelving 
shore and run the boat on it till she grounds ; then, if the 
fish has not made a run («s it is sure to do, if it be a big 
one and not too tired), let the boat jump intO' the water, 
grasp the snell with a piece of gunny sack or something 
of the kind to protect his hands from injury by the sharp 
ends of the wire, and drag the fish high and dry. Then 
let the sportsman make his measurements quickly, and 
have the boatman turn the fish back into the water care- 
fully, so as not to injure its scales, thus giving it an oppor- 
tunity at some future time to afford some other sports- 
man an exciting quarter of an hour, unless, perchance, the 
fishermen wants to have it mounted, in which case, cruelty 
notwithstanding, it should be left to die slowly, because 
clubbing woitld injure it for mounting. A skillful boat- 
man, though, can stab it with his sheath knife in the 
spinal column, keeping the flat of the blade in the medial 
plane of the fish, and thus not injure it, barring perhaps 
getting the scales bloody. 
If the fish be a big one or an unusually hard fighter, it 
will be necessary for the boatman, when he jumps into 
the water, to take with him the gaff, set it into the 
fish, and drag the latter ashore by the gaff instead of by 
the snell. When the boatman has hold of the line and the 
fish makes a run, he should let go, and allow the fisher- 
man to fight it out with the rod until the fish is again 
drawn into shallow water. 
Before landing a tarpon in the boat (unless the fish be a 
very small one), it is well to shoot it, otherwise there 
would be no foretelling the amount of damage that might 
be done to both boat and outfit, or even to the occupants. 
A live. 6-foot tarpon in a boat would certainly raise Hades 
there for five or ten minutes. To shoot a fish, draw it up 
as close as possible, press the line hard with the left thumb 
(guarded) against the forward brake, reach over quickly 
with the right hand, grasp the revolver, and. without wait- 
ing to cock it, shoot instantly at the fish's head or spinal 
column near the back of the neck. If the shot be not 
fatal, the fish will make a run in spite of all the pressure 
that the thumb can exert. And just here comes in one o£ 
the principal advantages of the oiitgoing drag, in that it 
prevents the reel from overrunning and the line from 
fouling thereon while the fisherman -is putting the 
revolver back in its place on the rear seat. An ordinary 
click is not strong enough to do this, consequently in most 
cases the sportsman has to be pretty spry in dropping 
the revolver and. resuming control of the reel. 
After the fish is dead, or nearly so, no time should be 
lost in gaffifig it and getting it into the boat, _To get in a 
big one, especially when the water is rough, is a job re- 
quiring care, skill and sometimes nerve. The head of the 
fish should be drawn over the side of the boat amidships, 
the latter being canted over as far as is safe, and the fish 
pulled slowly in, the boat being allowed to right gradu- 
ally by the fisherman's manipulation of his own weight. 
If this be done carelessly, the boat is liable to ship much 
water or even capsize, and the boatman is liable to be 
thrown overboard, possibly into the maw of a hungry 
shark. As soon as the fish is in the boat, if not already 
quite dead, the boatman should pound it on the back of 
the neck with his club till it is out of the question for it 
to do any damage, after which he should proceed to clean 
up the mess a little, put another bait on the hook, and go 
for another fish. 
There is a difference in the manner in which small, 
medium-sized and large fish should be handled. In case 
of a small one, let it jump itself tired, the closer to the 
boat the better, then lift it in with the snell. With a 
medium-sized fish, get it up close to the boat as soon as 
possible, tow it a little till it turns belly up, and either 
shoot it and gaff it in, or beach it, whichever is the best 
way when everything is considered. But with a large 
fish, as soon as the first flurry is over, settle down for a 
long, hard tow, and keep at it until the fish is exhausted. 
In landing a fish from the shore, the sportsman, as soon 
as practicable after striking the fish, should put the butt 
in the belt socket and fight it out that way, or else he 
should sit down on the ground and shove the butt be- 
tween his legs and into the earth. 
This is hard work, and is by no means as pleasant or 
satisfactory as fishing from a boat. 
There is quite a little art in gaffing a fish, and each new 
boatman should be taught it at once. In beaching, a fish 
should be gaffed, if possible, by inserting deliberately the 
point of the gaff behind the gills and running it up into 
the mouth, but sometimes the fish is too lively to permit 
this, so then the gaff should be set in wherever prac- 
ticable (the nearer the neck the better), by putting the 
hook beneath the fish with the point up, and surging back 
hard on the handle. It is not good practice to gaff a fish 
with the point of the gaff down. 
In gafiing from the boat, a dead fish may be hooked in 
the gills, but a live one should be struck from beneath, as 
just described. The blow should be given quickly and 
vigorously, and any tendency on the part of the boatman 
to do the work gingerly, or as if he were afraid of getting 
hurt, should be "nipped in the bud." 
Measuring and Weighing Fish. 
A tarpon should be measured when lying on its sides 
with its mouth closed, the length being taken from the tip 
of the lower jaw to a transverse line joining the extreme 
points of the tail, and the circumference at its maximum. 
The product of the length in inches by the square of the 
maximum girth in inches, divided by 800, will give very 
closely the weight in pounds. Nevertheless, it is well 
occasionally to weigh a fish or two so as to satisfy one- 
self that the formula still applies, although this gives a 
good deal of trouble and occupies valuable time that might 
be devoted to fishing. 
One really needs a small block and tackle to weigh a 
big tarpon conveniently, besides either some high beam or 
an improvised gallows or tripod. 
Photographing, 
The photographing of leaping tarpon should be a pur- 
suit of the deepest interest to any amateur photographer, 
for it is enticing even to those who, like myself, know 
absolutely nothing about photography. The gun-camera, 
designed by me and manufactured by Dr. H. W. Howe, 
ought to be duplicated by every tarpon fisherman who is 
also anything of a photographer. The apparatus has been 
described briefly in a previous issue of Forest and 
Stream, nevertheless I shaU again explain it here for the 
convenience of those readers who didi not see the first 
description. 
Manufacture out of i^-inch plank a little wooden gun 
about 3 feet 6 inches long, put a sight on the end of it, and 
attach a trigger at the customary place. Then suspend 
and attach rigidly to the gun, just in front of the trigger, a 
good film camera, and hy a simple system of levers make 
the trigger operate the shutter. Of course the axis of the 
gun and that of the camera must not only lie in the same 
vertical plane, but must also be parallel. 
To use the gun, set the shutter catch, place the gun to 
the shoulder with the left hand beneath the camera and 
right forefinger on the trigger ; then watch for the fish to 
jump, point the gun at it, and pull the trigger. 
Next move up a new film, set the shutter catch and 
make ready for another shot. The apparatus works like a 
charm, and it is probable that ere long something of the 
kind can be bought at the photographic supply stores. 
With it birds can be caught on the wing and animals on 
the run. It can be used also for stationary pictures to 
great advantage, because it obviates the necessity for 
emplo3'ing the tell-tale. 
Snap shots at leaping tarpon can be taken by a photog- 
rapher located in the bow of one's boat or in the boat of a 
companion. The sportsman could not well take a picture 
of his own fish, and the boatman could not be well spared 
from his regular duties for this purpose. In the case of 
the pictures of my catch, illustrated previously in Forest 
AND Stream and in Modern Mexico, my companion took 
them from another boat, and as he was always- fishing 
when I got my strikes, he missed the first two or three 
jumps of the tarpon, which are nearly always the best 
ones they make. 
If a photographer were in the bow of one's boat, one 
could shout to him upon the first indication of a strike, and 
give him time to rise to his feet, get his balance and aim 
the gun before the fish would be out of the water. A 
series of pictures taken thus would be of the greatest 
interest to the fishing fraternity. 
General Remarks. 
The time required to land a tarpon will dtepend upon 
a number of conditions, among which the following are 
the principal ones: 
1. Size of fish. 
2. How it is hooked. 
3. Conditions of wind and tide. 
4. Experience of the fisherman. _ 
