Sept. 28, 1901.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
2B1 
assembled. Messrs. T. B. Stewart. R. N. Parish and 
E. S. Osgood are there, and thev mav be considered as 
the most earnest and successful trio of fly fishermen to be 
found in this country, or any other, ii the size of the 
trout taken has anything to do with success. Each has 
a record of big ones, and a good many of them — up to 
/. 8 and 9 pounds, all perfect Saliiw foiitinaHs. Other 
fishermen of note are there, including Mr. J. F. Leech, 
of Washington, D. C; Mr. and Mrs. T. L. Barber, of 
South Framinghan', Mass.; Mr. and Mrs. George P. 
Bearse. of Lewiston, Me.; Mr. and Mrs. L. A. Reese, 
of Philadelphia; W. W. Seymour, of New York, and 
many others. Mr. Seymour is another old-timer, and has 
taken one of the largest trout so far this season — one of 
714 pounds. Mr. and Mr.-:. I.. O. Crane, of Boston, have 
visited the Upper Dam for several seasons, and the 
teniptation is too great, both being great lovers of the fly- 
rod and lure, and they are off for the Upper Dam. It 
may be noted that the number of trout taken thus far 
Ironi the Great Pool this season is greater than last, but 
the size is not up to former seasons. Nothing under ,3 
pounds goes on record, and every fish recorded 
must be weighed by Landlord Chadwick, and with the 
same scales. He will permit of no "buncomb" about the 
weight of fish on the Upper Dam record. Special. 
A Week's Vacation in Jersey. 
Philadelphia, Pa. — Ediior Forest and Stream: Ever 
since the first warm days of spring we all have wished 
for the time to come when we could get away from the 
I noise, heat and hustle of the city, and repair to some 
. favored spot in the country with rod and reel and settle 
down to solid enjoyment with the bass and trout in the 
lakes and streams of New England or along the shores 
of old ocean. 
Last summer it was my good fortune to spend two 
weeks at Webster Lake, in New Hampshire with my 
son for a companion, and while we did not make large 
catches we laid in a good stock of the health and energy 
I that country affords, and we enjoyed that trip greatly. 
This year I longed for something different, and a short 
time ago I had an opportunity to take a rather odd trip 
for a week with a friend and neighbor. 
I Leaving this city one Sunday evening we were soon 
flying shoreward, our destination being Cape May. I 
fancy I hear some of my readers saw. How can any one 
have any sport at that famous resort? That place is 
only intended for the people with time on their hands 
that they do not know what to do with; to idle away on 
hotel porches or in the surf, with a round of hops and 
. board walk promenades. But we discovered something 
else there, or rather a short distance seaward, and as the 
funny man says in the show, "Just listen and I will tell 
■ you all about it." Having a mutual friend in Capt. John 
Rooney, we had notified him to be on the lookout; we 
were not to be disappointed, for he was on hand at the 
station to meet us. A short walk took us to his home, 
where we passed a very pleasant evening with the jovial 
captain and his wife. Very early the next morning, 
breakfast being disposed of, we made our way to the 
' beach, taking along our dufifle in a push cart, such as is 
used by all fishermen along the Jersey coast. At the 
beach we found the captain's boat, a staunch Seabright, 
new last season. The captain gave a squint at the horizon, 
letting his eye travel slowly around until it reached 
southwest, and said, "By the looks of things, we will 
try McCreis," which is a small shoal located southwest 
from Cape Maj^ about ten miles. There was very little 
surf, and with a light breeze and an ebb tide we were 
soon on our way. The breeze died out early, and then 
it was a white-ash one to the bell buoy, which we 
reached about 8 o'clock, when we anchored in eight 
fathoms of water, and proceeded to bait up with men- 
haden or mossbunker which was a little ripe for sensi- 
tive nostrils. Our lines had scarcely reached bottom, 
when there was a series of sharp tugs, and in a short 
space of time all hands had all the}^ wanted to attend 
, to. The fight- was on in earnest, and the way the Sea- 
tright was filling up was all that could be desired. There 
► was the usual demand for the knockout clubs for the 
dogshark or skate; but the sea bass, flounders and big 
■porgies were getting their work in in spite of them; and 
. after about lour hours of good sport and hard work we 
started in for home with a good, stiff Avind. Two of us. 
the captain's man and friend Pettit, busied themselves 
cleaning a few fat flounders for supper as we came along. 
Now there is something in the dressing and cooking 
of a flounder that was a revelation to me, and as Capt. 
Rooney says, it is the only way. and as I have alwa.vs 
found him a man of truth, and have tested more than 
one flounder after his receipt, 1 have come to the con- 
clusion that he knows what he is talking about. Here 
I is the receipt: First, scale and remove the head, whicli 
will also remo\e the ,stomach. Then lay the fish with 
the white side down, and witli a sharp knife follow a 
line down the backbone. Now lift the left hand upper 
rorner of flesh and trim out to side fin, leaving that fin 
attached to ribs and backbone. Then proceed in the 
.same way with the right side. Then turn the fish over 
and proceed in the same way with that side. This 
gives four steaks without a bone. Next prepare an egg 
and cracker dust batter, and have plenty of hot fat in the 
kettle, the whole being well seasoned, and you have 
a dish that will make you wish you had known how to 
prepare it long ago. The captain's wife can testify that 
we appreciated her efforts in the culinary line. 
After supper we set out to obtain fresh bait for the 
morrow. This is procured with a small seine, by sur- 
rounding a school of mossbunkers, packing them on ice. 
and all is ready. The next morning we left the beach 
with a good breeze, and steering south-southeast about 
■ twelve miles, where there is an old wreck which had 
been buoyed with a small stick with a rag fluttering 
from it. But it was like looking for a needle in a hay- 
mow to sight such a small object, and a haze was 
spreading over the water, almost obscuring everything. 
But this finally lifted, and we were able to discover the 
alco-vapor launch Rest-a-While at anchor at the wreck. 
The wind had died out, and it was flat calm. We rowed 
up alongside and anchored in about four fathoms, with 
a shell-and-mud bottom, the ideal home of the bass and 
flounder. As it was the last of the tide they were not 
taking the bait readily, and for about an hour time was 
passed in loitering and yarn spinning. Then the young 
flood began t.o come, and with it the fish. Suddenly 
there js a sharp tug on the captain's line. "What is it. 
Cap.?" 
"A big bass — a monster!" 
He is hauling in -by liberal reaches. The fish is a long 
way down, and is doing its best to shake loose. The 
fish suddenly ceases resistance, and coming near the 
surface, is seen swimming in large gyrations through the 
clear water, nearly belly uppermost. It is not a bass 
by any means, but a shark about 6 feet long and striped 
like a tiger. As it comes to the surface it is being drawn 
toward the boat, when suddenly it takes it into its head to 
seek bottom again, giving a fierce snub to the line, but 
is eventually brought alongside, and by the aid of the 
club and gaff is dispatched. In the meantime the boat 
is filling up with the strange sea creatures, their un- 
graceful mouths parted and dull eyes staring in the 
semblance more of sorrow than aiiger, but decidedly 
more in anger than with sorrow to begin with. Each new 
arrival seemed the occasion of protest from those al- 
ready domiciled there. The sun shines out hot, and as 
Capt. Hand, of the Rest-a-Whilc, kindly offers us a tow 
m. we go aboard and proceed to fulfill the launch's 
name. She takes us in in about two hours, and is withal 
a very handy boat. This closes the day's work, and we 
retire to .sound and restful sleep. 
Our trips up to this time have been accompanied by 
bright skies and light airs; but on this day we have a 
change. We are at the wreck early, and in a calm until 
about noon, where there is a fresh breeze from the north- 
east, gradually increasing in force until the captain says, 
"Boys, we must be moving."- Then it is up anchor and 
makt sail, and awav we go in a mad race for the shore, 
with a strong flood tide under us. There is a thick haze 
that obscures the well-known light and objects ashore, 
and for a while we are taking chances — also barrels of 
water over the bows. We are drenched to the skin in 
a minute, with the wind still freshening. Suddenly 
the captain shouts, "In with the jib!" But before the 
order can be executed the jib has carried away, and we 
fall off in the trough of the sea, which bv this time 
IS running high. Finally the jib is secured, and on 
we plow. We arc chilled to the bone, but , the boat is 
making good weather of it, when an extra hard pufi^ 
strips the mainsail from the mast; and after a deal of 
slatting and banging, it is secured, and we anchor, while 
Rooney proceeds to repair damages, which he is able to 
do, and we proceed under a lugsail. But the haze has 
not lifted, and we know by the way the tide is carrying 
us that we must be nearing the Crissy Wick Shoals. 
Will we clear them? The little skiff is as high in the 
wind as she will go, with the peak slatting and banging 
and making a terrible racket. Suddenly tlie haze that'has 
obscured the light lifts, and we can make it out, also the 
shore line. We have cleared the shoal by a few lengths; 
and now as we are nearing shore we down sail and out 
oars, and go through the surf without our usual caution 
about getting wet, for we are drenched. 
This ends our vacation, and we pack up a large basket 
of the fish to give to friends who have not been able 
to get away, and say good-by. hoping to be able to return 
soon and enjoy it all over again. 
H. L. Shaw. 
Plaster Casts of Fish. 
^ I WILL describe as well as T can how to take a cast of a 
hsh in plaster, to show one side only, or what is called a 
one-piece mould, so that it may be hung against the wall 
I have never attempted casting a heap of fish— that is a 
dithcult job, and nnist be done in gelatine, which I have 
never handled. 
Apparatus required : A pail, a quart basin, a tablespoon, 
a Hat ^4-inch bristle ppint brush, a gill of linseed oil a 
gill ot spirit polish, a piece of 34-inch board unplaned 
(about 2 inches longer and 2 inches wider than the fish) 
some strips of millboard 2 inches wide, some tin tacks and 
superfine plaster, and some soft clay ; get these ready and 
work near a tap if possible, as a great deal of water is 
required, and do not forget to put on a large apron 
JMr.st catch your specimen fish, then well oil the snr- 
tace of the board using the brush, then place the fish on 
it hll up the angle between the fish and the board with 
c ay slightly raising the head, fill the mouth level with 
the hps, block up the dorsal and ventral fins, then, when 
the hsh is m the required position, tail the millboard 
round the outside edge of the board, to form a flange so 
hat the plaster shall not run >)ver, and vou are ready for 
the plaster; then place the pail under the tap and let the 
water run about half fill the basin with vvater, take a 
spoonful of plaster and shake it into the basin, repeat this 
tour or five times, then pour off the clearest part of the 
water and stir up the mixture quickly— it should then be 
about the consistence, of cream, not thicker, take a spoon- 
tul and pour it quickly ov«r the top of the fish, then blow 
It about smartly, take another spoonful and blow that into 
all tlie crevices, and repeat until the fish is covered with a 
bm coat; wash the basin out. mix some more plaster and 
adie It over quickly and evenly, and repeat until fish and 
board are covered to the thickness of about H inch then 
flatten the plaster slightly on the top so that it will 'stand 
firm when turned over. In about ten minutes it will be 
sufficiently set, then strip off the cardboard, turn the mould 
upside dmyn and lift off the board, easing where necessarv 
witli a thin knife; you will then have the fish half em- 
bedded m plaster; take out the clay, and you should then 
be able to lift out the fish. If it does not come awav easily 
""llu^Tl *''i ^l^rf^ ^dge, the' mould 
should then look hke this; 
some plaster as at first, and do fiot forget to blow it well 
about. When the mould is covered the plaster may be 
poured out of the basin and spread even with the spoon 
until it lies about half an inch thick on the mould. Let it 
set, and then the cast ought to come clean out of the 
mould; if it catches at the edges, it is because you have 
not cut away enough at the part marked A in the diagram, 
cut away a little more of the mould till the overlapping 
part is released. When the cast is got out successfully it 
should be touched up with the point of a penknife, and 
the part corresponding to the clay cut away with a chisel. 
If it is to be colored, give it a coat of the polish when 
quite dry, and paint with tube colors thinned with Mac- 
guilp, 
I hope I have made myself sufficiently clear, and that 
these directions will be of assistance to those of your 
correspondents who asked for them.— W. T. Lawrence in 
London Fishing Gazette. 
Now for the cast. When the mould has been made 
about an hour brush out the inside with soap and water, 
then brush it over carefully with the polish, which will 
stop all the pores; then oil it thinly, but carefully, mijf 
The Illinois Fish Law. 
^^vmn,V B '''"^■'c'''?''"^" bv Commissioner Nat H. Cohen to 
iieymoui Bovver, Secretary of the American Fisheries Society. 
iT niay be of interest if I convey to you some idea of 
the improved situation under which we expect to find 
ourselves under the operation of the amended law in 
Illinois. To begin with, the law will now empower the 
Commissioners to compensate the tvardens when on 
errands of duty. But above all. the new law has an 
ample provision for the seizure and destruction of such 
' devices for taking fish as are declared by the act to be 
unlawful. This will have a most salutary effect on all 
violators of the law. Hitherto it has been a practical 
impossibility to secure convictions in our river towns 
Local sympathy ran almost uniformly with the fishermen 
m consequence of Avhich justices, juries and State's at- 
torneys seemed impelled to ove;-ride evidence, and the 
result was that the rights of the people were ignored and 
the statutes practically nullified, so that the destruction 
ot the fish supply went on almost vi^ithout let or hin- 
drance. This exasperating state of affairs naturally 
demoralized the warden service. It was useless to send 
a warden to make an arrest, because the failure to im- 
pose and collect a fine merely operated to bring the law 
still further into contempt. The Commission was, 
therefore, constrained to abandon prosecutions in local- 
ities where conditions such as these existed. 
These exigencies inspired the Commission to seek a 
remedy m the Legislature by having introduced a new 
measure, the one to which I have already referred as 
coming- into efl^ect July i, prox., a measure much better 
calculated to cope with the situation. After convincino- 
the members of the utility of and the necessity for such 
legislation as the measure asked, but little difficulty was 
experiended in securing its passage, to take effect as al- 
ready stated. One of Its wisest provisions in my opinion 
and the one that will yield the best result, is that which 
prohibits fishing within 400 feet of any dam between the 
15th day of April and the 15th day of June. I mention 
here a sing e instance that came under my personal ob- 
servation, illustrating the destructiveness of the practice 
which this provision is intended to cure. It was at the 
VValdron dam, m the Kankakee River, where one rod in 
a single day took 135 bass, most of them females. Can 
there be anything in the way of protective legislation 
more productive of good results in the perpetuation of 
our game fishes than the positive prohibition of this 
barbarous method of taking the parent fish while on their 
journey seeking a place to propagate their voung^ We 
are simply endeavoring to bring the law to the assistance 
of tnese pretty and useful denizens of the water in their 
ettorts to perpetuate their species for the benefit of 
niankmd The destruction of game fish bv indiscriminate 
angling from April to June 15 below dams is the fruitful 
cause of the depletion of many of our inland streams In 
a word, it is the paramount evil that has retarded the in- 
crease of game fishes in our waters. 
Fish leave their winter quarters, ascend the streams 
early in the spring, and find their progress retarded 
by various obstructions, dams being the chief and most 
formidable. Before these obstructions the fish congre- 
gate by thousands, unable to proceed further A few 
succeed m getting ahead by means of fishways where 
such provisions are made; but the great body of them 
are at the mercy of the unscrupulous angler, who never 
leaves. the spot so long as a poor, helpless, hungry 
denizen of the water will consent to be landed in his creel 
We goes home with his enormous catch, and ignorantly 
gloats over the destruction of millions of fishes which 
tuture generations ought to enjoy. He is unable to see 
an inch ahead ot his nose, and to recognize the fact that 
he IS taking out of the water the multiplied and multi- 
plying progeny of these helpless creatures, the stock 
which nature is striving to supply for the years to come 
1 ought to mention that the stipulated limitation here 
noted— the sixty days between April 15 and July 
15— is a compromise. It was the desire of the Commis- 
sion to- make the limitation cover the entire time from 
April I to July i, but the opposition was so determined 
that It was deemed expedient to agree to the sixty -day 
limitation, rather than incur the risk of having the bill 
defeated m toto. It is wise to recognize the fact that 
measures ot a drastic character must be brought before 
the people by degrees. 
Another feature of our new law which we regard as of 
vital miportance is the provision which prohibits the 
taking of bass with any device other than hook and line 
thus making the angler the sole beneficiarv of this 
species. 
Presumably, if the sportsmen of Illinois could have 
the opportunity to legislate upon the question of the use 
of nets or seines, there would be a practically unanimous 
vote m favor of abolishing their use entirely But what 
would be the result of that? In Illinois there are thou- 
sands of people who earn their bread almost entirelv by 
taking the coarse fishes that the angler despises These 
people would be practically thrown out of employment 
and many of the river towns would feel the effects of 
losing a considerable portion of their population Thou- 
sands of dollars that are invested in tackle and boats 
would he and rot on the banks, and vast sums of money 
that come from Eastern markets in the purchase of these 
