May 24, 1903.J 
FOREST AND SlJrCKAM. 
407 
New EnglandlFishing. 
A Cold Season. 
Boston, May 17.— Though the fishing season opened 
very early at all New England waters, it is doubtful if 
much time has been gained by the sportsmen. The 
weather has been remarkably cold and blustering. Ac- 
counts from the returning sportsmen show that they 
have suffered much from the weather. The Harry Moore 
party to Spring Lake, Flagstaff, Me., had anything but an 
enjoyable time, after the worst weather begun. In the 
party were such veteran anglers and experts as Harry 
B. Moore, Dr. J. O. French, Leroy S. Brown, and Henry 
C. Adams, of Boston, and George C. Moore, of North 
Chelmsford, Mass.. but the weather was too much for • 
them, Thursday the wind blew a gale that drove them off 
the lake. Friday morning the weather was so cold that 
they started for Boston. The mercury registered 22, 
with ice formed in every watering trough, and icicles 
hanging down. To add to the winterish aspect, several 
squalls met them. They had enough of early fishing, 
though they had some luck with salmon before the cold 
weather started in all its fury. It was too early for trout. 
Several drowning accidents resulted from the gale of 
those terrible three days. Melvin S. Page, of Fort Fair- 
field, Me., was drowned at Beaver Pond, one of the Seven 
Ponds, twenty-seven miles above Rangeley, The canoe 
was upset. Two men, Trueman Tracy and Richmond 
Conners, were drowned in Tunk Pond, not far from 
Bangor. They were out fishing for salmon. The wind 
was blowing a gale and the boat capsized. Two other 
fishermen, Rufus Young and Capt. John Lyman, were 
fishing not far from them, and hastened to their assist- 
ance, but .both men were drowned before they could 
reach them. At Moosehead the fishermen were all driven 
in, and escaped serious results. 
,Now that the bad weather is over, the anglers are 
starting again in good numbers. Two parties of promi- 
nent business men left Boston Thursday evening. The 
Inglewood Club spring fishing party was one, including 
Hon. Henry E. Cobb, Charles Brigham, George H. ■ 
Rimbach, E. Noyes Whitcomb, Samuel Shaw. Mr. Fitz, 
and one' or two others. These gentlemen are leaders 
of that association, and enthusiastic anglers. They 
reached Westfield, N. B., Friday at 11 A. M., and thence 
three or four miles to the club house, on Musquash River. 
The other party was composed of Boston and Hartford 
anglers, including George P. Bullard, of the Massachu- 
setts House of Representatives; C. E. Roberts, W. H. 
Allen and G. H. Brown, of the Hartford Boiler Inspec- 
tion Co.; C. S. Hills, of Flartford; and W. F. Lunt, of 
Boston. This party went to Grand Lake and Grand 
Lake Stream, Me., for salmon fishing. Busy men that 
they are they can be absent only till Wednesday next, 
but they will put in all the more enjoyment of the outing. 
Spring Shoottcg. 
Spring shooting has not attracted the usual amount of 
attention from Boston gunners this season. Still, there 
are some devotees of such shooting left. A party has 
recently returned from Spring Point, near Biddeford 
Pool, Me., where coot shooting has been the sport. In 
the party were Hon. James, of Buffalo, N. Y.; M. E. 
Cook, of Boston; James Davis, of Qumcy; Ex : Mayor 
James Gould, of Chelsea; Dr. Green, of the same city, and 
T Addison, of Charleston. These gentlemen are all crack 
shots and 78 coot fell to their score. They say that they 
shot all the coot they cared for, and had a grand good 
outing for tired business men. 
"Fishin' Feaver." 
The spring circular, just issued, announces the opening 
of the Megantic Preserve May 15. The ice is out of _ all 
the ponds, with everything in readiness. As a caption 
the secretary issues the following from the Ohio State 
Journal, with the title, "Fishin' Feaver:" 
Like tew drop my wurk an' go 
Tew a fishin' hole I know ; 
Reckon I would miss my guess 
Ef I c'uldn't ketch a mess; 
'Pears tew me they ort tew bite; 
• Sun an' sky and air seems right; 
Ef I jes' cu'd hev my pick, 
I'd be down erlong the crick. 
Like tew drop my wurk an' go 
Tew a fishin' hole I know; 
Like tew go an' fish away 
Jes' th' hull endurin' day; 
Like tew fish awa/ an' hear 
Worter singin' in my ear; 
An' I'd go, I calcilate, 
Wuzzent jes' for diggin' bait. 
Salmon at Bangor. 
At the Bangor pool salmon have been rising some dur- 
ing the week, with large fish taken by Howard Peavey, 
Edward Buck, Samuel Buck, Samuel Drinkwater, C. P. 
Hodgins and William M. Munroe. These gentlemen are 
expert anglers at the Pool; while it is stated that the 
novices have had no luck. Some very good catches of 
trout have lately been made at Belgrade Lakes, Me. 
Charles A. Peeling, of New York, has caught two in one 
day that weighed almost thirteen pounds; Louis Pills- 
bury, of Augusta, Me., has caught fourteen that have 
averaged four pounds, the largest weighing 6^4 pounds; 
Harry L. Boyd, of New York, has caught fourteen trout 
in three days' fishing, the total weight being fifty-six 
pounds; Lester M. Monks, of Brookline, Mass., caught 
there last week four trout that weighed VjYz pounds, the 
largest 6Y2 pounds. 
Maine Anglirg. 
At Haines Landing, Mooselucmaguntic Lake, the 
women have been leading as anglers in the way of large 
fish. Up to wi hin a few days Mrs. A. W. Tedcastle, of 
Boston, has enjoyed the honor of catching the largest 
fish — a salmon of seven pounds. But Mrs. N. N. Thayer, 
also: oi this city, eclipsed the record on Monday by land- 
ing two salmon, one of four pounds and another of 7% 
poftridg, Arthur Connor uul F. A. Nichols, of Boston 
fishing at Haines Landing, in company, made a big 
record last year, and this year they have landed a seven 
pound fish. The gale of last week played great havoc with 
wharves, floats and boats on that part of Mooselucma- 
guntic, but sportsmen staid indoors, and there were no 
serious accidents. At the Upper Dam there has been a 
touch of winter and poor fishing till within a few days. 
The Hon. Albert Daggett, of Washington, D. C, has 
been fishing there, and has landed a salmon of g}4 
pounds. This he forwarded to Washington, and rumor 
has it that it went to the White House, since Mr. Daggett 
is said to be a personal friend of the President. Mr. 
Daggett, drawn to that section from having charge of the 
big contract for postal cards, being made and printed at 
Rumford Falls,, is said to have expressed regret that he 
has never fished at the Rangeleys before. Guides and 
others who have the good of the Rangeley system at 
heart, are making bitter complaint of the many boxes of 
trout being sent out by fishermen. They say that the 
weight is up into the hundreds of pounds day after day, 
and that it is impossible for the fishing to stand up under 
such a drain. Sportsmen should be satisfied with coming 
to the Maine fishing resorts and taking what trout they 
want for the table, with a few to take home. The law 
permitting boxes of trout to be sent out by paying $1 is 
a mistake, especially in the case of sportsmen who spend 
many weeks at the resorts, sending all the fish they catch 
out. " It is as bad as sending them to market. Sportsmen 
should let the fish they do not want themselves go, after 
weighing, as some reasonable sportsmen do. Mr. F. S. 
Newcomb and son Richard, of New London, Conn., have 
been fishing at the Upper Dam with considerable success. 
They caught fifty pounds of fish, the largest a salmon of 
y]/ 2 pounds. At Black Point Camps, a short distance 
above the Upper Dam, L. A. Derby and T. J. McDonald, 
of Lowell, and J. H. Parker, of Boston, are having good 
fishing. This is a new camp, built by a party of gentle- 
men last year, Messrs. Derby and McDonald being prime 
movers. Fishing at Bemis has been remarkably good al- 
most ever since the ice went out. Frank J. Lang took a 
fine trout of seven pounds right off the wharf there 
Wednesday. At Cupsuptic Lake the fishing begins to 
be very good indeed. Mr. and Mrs. J. Converse Gray, of 
Boston, have had good success. Mr. and Mrs. C. I. 
Thayer, also of Boston, have secured, among other fish, 
a trout of dfiA pounds. Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Bliss have se- 
cured a 2,% pound salmon, a four and a zYz pound trout. 
R. H. Rines has caught a five pound trout. At Moun- 
tain View the largest fish registered thus far is a salmon 
of 7J4 pounds, to the credit of P. E. Montamus, of 
Springfield, Ohio. Mrs. J. P. Morse, of Brockton, Mass., 
has caught some good fish. 
At Winnipesaukee the fishing has continued remarkably 
good. Hunderds of pounds of fish were shipped from 
The Weirs last week. These were principally togue, of 
good weight, taken by trolling. J. J. McKinnon and 
Maj. E. E. Beede, of Boston, Franklin P. Rice, of Wor- 
cester, Mass., and Z. P. Jones, of New York, have been 
having good success. 
Postmaster Hibbard, of Boston, has just returned from 
a Maine fishing trip. He encountered cold weather and 
caught some fish, but does not have much to say about 
the matter. 
Honorables Go a-Fishing in Maine. 
Hon. F. E. Timberlake, of Phillips, State Bank Exam- 
iner, opened his camp, Marsquamosy, on Rangeley Lake, 
Friday His invited guests included Ex-Governor Henry 
B. Cleaves, Hon. Charles E. Oak, Judge W. P. White- 
house Judge A. W. Savage, Hon. Oscar F. Fellows, Hon. 
J. H. Drummond, Jr., and Hon. S. W. Carr. These gen- 
tlemen are all anglers. Special. 
With the Saginaw Crowd after 
Trout. 
The trout are rising in the lower peninsula of Michigan, 
04- at least were doing so the middle of this week. I 
never had a better trout fish in my life than I had on last 
Wednesday, nor do I ever expect to put in a day under 
more ideal conditions. 
It was all on account of the "Saginaw Crowd. ' Once 
in every two or three years it is my privilege to join this 
peculiar and peculiarly excellent body of sportsmen on a 
fishing or shooting trip. This year it was a fishing trip, 
the second expedition of the good car W. B. Mershon, and 
its able body guard. The party was not a very large one 
this time, being made up of Mr. Mershon and his friends, 
Messrs. C. H. Davis, George B. Morley, Watts S. Hum- 
phrey, Major Farnham Lyons, James B. Peter and G. M. 
Stark. According to the schedule, we were to round up 
at Saginaw on Tuesday evening, May 6, destination un- 
known to this writer, but prospects reported to be good 
and success practically certain; for above all things the 
Saginaw Crowd knows where to go, and there is no one 
tolerated on the car who does not know the sporting 
game in something better than its rudiments, whether the 
game imply the use of the rod, the rifle or the shotgun. 
I took the Michigan Central R. R., having formulated a 
shrewd guess in my own mind that this time the car was 
to go north over the Michigan Central, and not over in 
the Baldwin neighborhood. The surmise was correct, for 
when we rolled into the Saginaw depot there stood the 
car, all the party on board and everything ready for the 
start out of that depot in the course of an hour or so. 
It surely was like old times to see the car again and 
likewise its occupants, most of whom were known to the 
writer, and all of whom are known to the Forest and 
Stream. 
Some of us went to bed early that night, and some of us 
did not, but early in the morning we all reached Grayling, 
Mich., which is chiefly famous as being the home of 
George L. Alexander, one of the best-known anglers of 
Michigan, and certainly one of the best fellows in the 
world. Mr. Alexander came on board the car before 
breakfast, and it must have taken a stout heart on his part 
to refuse all the importunities offered to induce him to 
join us for the fishing trip, which it seems was to be 
made further up the road, in the heart of that famous 
fishing region tapped by the Michigan Central. 
We now left Grayling, went up to the head of the 
J.ewiston branch, of tile Michigan Central, and side- 
tracked out in the middle of the pine country at a place 
which is surely the jumping-off place of the world. Here 
we were in the center of a magnificent angling region 
north of the big Au Sable, within touching distance of 
the Black River, and within a few miles of as nice fishing 
for trout as the writer has ever had the good fortune to 
enjoy. It hardly need be said that we hurried up old 
John, the cook, and Harry, the porter, with their break- 
fast arrangements. 
The old car itself, which is beginning to seem very 
homelike to me, was well supplied for this trip, as for any 
of its other diverse expeditions. There was a new camp- 
ing outfit on board, several sleeping bags and a whole lot 
of things which looked like war. 
"We are going down the river about ten miles or so, to 
camp out for a little while," said Mr. Mershon, "and 
there can only four of the party go. If you want to be 
one of the party you are welcome." 
I explained that I had to be back home in Chicago, by 
Friday at the very latest. "You mean Friday next week," 
said he. "You did not suppose we were coming up here 
to stop for two or three measly little days' fishing, did 
you? If you come along with this crowd, you ought to 
come to stay through. Telegraph your folks that you are 
sick, dead, absent and unaccounted for. Telegraph them 
anything, but don't come in here and then turn around 
and go back as quick as you get here." 
Now, there you are, and that is the trouble of going 
fishing, and having to go back again. After much mental 
agitation I concluded to set my departure one day further 
ahead, but firmly resolved not to be gone from civilization 
bevond Friday. There was demurrer at this, of course, 
for no party likes to have deserters, but it is a far cry 
from Chicago to Lewiston, and not even the best trains 
could make it in less than a day and a half, or rather a ■ 
night and a half day. 
"Well, if you can't stay longer," said Mr. Mershon. 
"you will have to work all the harder now that you are 
here." Saying which he took me under his care and we 
started out down the stream early on Wednesday morn- 
ing. The sun was shining just warm enough to be 
pleasant, yet not too glaringly hot; the breeze was just 
light enough, but not too faint. In short, prospects 
seemed good, and as there had been many catches of trout 
reported from that part of the State from the Au Sable, 
Manistee, etc., we felt pretty sure that we were going to 
do some business with them. Mr. Davis was the man 
placed furthest down the stream, going with the wagon 
some two miles below the car. Mr. Mershon and I were 
next, above its Mr. Morley and Mr. Peter. Major Lyon 
and Mr. Stark, with Mr. D. R. Brown, a visitor on the 
car from Grayling, fished some miles further up the 
stream. Mr. Humphrey was not able to get away from 
the car more than half a mile or so. As it was, his 
performance was the most remarkable of any of the day. 
A Game Sportsman. 
It was something like eight months or so ago that Mr. 
Humphrey had the misfortune to fall and break his ankle, 
as mentioned in the Forest and Stream at about that 
time. Mr. Humphrey met with this accident while out 
hunting alone, some miles from the car. He crawled on 
his hands and knees for nearly a mile before he could 
reach help. His injury received as soon as possible the 
best surgical care, but the ankle has never yet been en- 
tirely well. Mr. Humphrey is a lawyer by profession, and 
a mighty good one. Since his accident he has many a 
time pleaded a case in court when he could not bear his 
weight on his leg, and when the limb was swollen to 
twice its natural size. It is so swollen even to-day, and 
the sufferer is obliged to go about with a crutch and a 
cane. To show how thoroughbred a sportsman he is, and 
how game clear to the backbone, I may say that Mr. 
Humphrey went out trout fishing on this pleasant spring 
morning, hobbling along on his crutch and his cane. There 
was a little canvas boat fished out from some corner of 
the car, and Harry the porter agreed to be head navigator 
as soon as they reached a part of the river where the 
boat could be operated. Into this then went the cripple, 
and in that teetery little boat and on this shallow little 
river, which would not always float them both, these two 
made what I considered to be one of the most remarkable 
essays at trout fishing I ever saw. Mr. Humphrey landed 
nine beautiful trout of the legal size that day, and came 
into the car that night perfectly radiant with happiness, 
and if his leg hurt him he did not say so. Perhaps he 
did not hear what one of the other members of the party 
overheard from the lips of a native who saw him going 
by. his crutch under his arm and his rod in his hand. 
"There's a dead game sport," said the onlooker, and I 
reckon he was about right. 
As for the others, they all had a good time, and they 
all caught trout. Major Lyon, himself a gentleman sev- 
enty-three years of age, though he does not look more 
than three-quarters of it, got into his waders and kept in 
the ice water all day like the rest of us. He put four- 
teen handsome fish in his basket and came in happy as 
a schoolboy. Mr. Start took nine legal fish that day. Mr. 
Brown came in with twenty-one, Mr. Peter had eleven 
beauties, Mr. Morley twenty-two, Mr. Davis twenty-s x, 
Mr. Mershon twenty-six, while the writer was lucky 
enough to land twenty-nine. Mr. Mershon could have 
caught a great many more fish had he not spent so much 
time hunting out the best places on the river for me. We 
two fished in company, and we had a simply delightful 
day. 
Good Fishing, 
The fish did not begin to rise very eagerly in the morn- 
ing, and as usual we fooled around a little b t for the 
proper flies. I tried, a Cahill, royal-coachman and 
Montreal, knowing that the latter fly is sometimes very 
good early in the spring on the wilder streams of the 
lower peninsula. I did take some fish on the Montreal, 
had very poor luck with the royal-coachman and finally 
switched to the Cahill, gray-Palmer and Wickham's-fancy. 
Mr. Mershon used a Cahill, a Mershon and a W'ckharn's- 
fancy, alternated with gray-hackle. We_ found these flies 
to be about the most killing ones. 
Now there was - occasion to note what I have often won- 
dered at, namely that every stream demands a different 
style of fishing. Our stream, which Mr. Mershon gravely 
ipformerl me Was called the Icicle River, because it was so 
