June 7, 1902.I 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
449 
ments at Lake St. John, in the artificial reproduction of 
the fish. It has been clearly established that the ouan- 
aniche are quite as late spawners as the brook trout, and 
anglers are of opinion that the Dominion law should be 
so changed as to allow them to fish for the former men- 
tioned to the end of the open season for trout. 
On the other hand, there is no doubt that the close 
season in Canada for lake trout (namaycush) and white- 
fish, commences too late, and that in consequence there is 
a great loss of spawn. In Ontario much attention is now 
being directed to this matter. Fishery Overseer Terry of 
Queensville, writes : "I call your attention to the needed 
change in the close season for lake trout. The principal 
part of the spawning is done during October, and nearly 
all the eggs are deposited before the first of November, 
when the close season begins. This season should ex- 
tend from the 10th of October to the 1st of December. 
As the law now stands, trout filled with spawn are ac- 
tually sold during the month of October and it cannot 
be prevented, persons having them in their possession 
claiming that they were caught by trolling." 
In regard to whitefish, Fishery Overseer J. K, Laird 
reports as follows: "I would strongly urge the shorten- 
ing of the fishing season in the fall, for the reasons that 
the close season is at present no protection at all to 
whitefish and herring. I have stated in former reports 
that the whitefish had not done spawning by the end 
of November, which is the close season for these fish. 
In fact, last year very few of them spawned in that 
month. Spawning fish were caught as late as December 
20, and as the herring spawn about the same time, I 
should say that it would be a better protection to these 
two important fishes if no fishing for them was_ allowed 
from the 10th of November until the 1st of April, in the 
following year." 
Basing his recommendations to his departmental head 
upon these representations, Mr. S. T. Bastedo, the effi- 
cient Deputy Commissioner of Fisheries for the Province 
of Ontario, is urging that steps should be at once, taken 
for the prevention of a portion at least of the serious loss 
of spawn caused by the present inadequacy of the close 
seasons. He admits that in Lake Superior the Lake trout 
begin spawning about the 28th of September and finish 
by the 10th of October, and that therefore the spawn 
of all ripe fish taken previous to the 1st of November is 
a total loss. He urges very strongly the adoption of the 
method pursued in some of the neighboring States, 
where, during the gravid period, men are placed upon 
the fishing tugs to take the eggs of all the female fish 
captured and to impregnate them with the milt of the 
male. The eggs are then carefully p'.anted on the natural 
spawning beds, while the fishermen return their nets to 
the water. After citing the Wisconsin law on the sub- 
ject, which provides severe penalties upon those fisher- 
men who fail to save the spawn of all the fish they 
take and to return it to the water after proper impregna- 
tion, Mr. Bastedo very reasonably claims that the fisher- 
men might well be expected, in their own interests, to 
adopt these very necessary precautions for the mainte- 
nance of the present supply of fish in the Great Lakes, but 
with a due regard for the innate selfishness of human 
nature, he wisely points out that his department might un- 
dertake the comparatively small expenditure of placing 
an experienced man on each fishing tug for a period of 
a fortnight or so each year. The action of the Ontario 
authorities upon Mr. Bastedo's admirable suggestions will 
be looked for with deepest interest by people upon both 
sides of the international dividing line, who are interested 
in the preservation of the fish food supply of the Great 
Lakes. Unless this action be prompt and favorable, it 
will assuredly be the duty of the Federal authorities to 
revise the present duration of the dose seasons for fish 
in Canada, 
A Big Trout. 
One of the largest, if not the largest speckled trout 
known to have been taken out of Lake Edward, was 
brought to town this week. It weighed over seven and a 
half pounds and was taken by Mr. Dussault, of this city. 
The fishing has not yet been at all good in the lakes 
along the line of the Quebec & Lake St. John Railway, 
and only within the last few days have the trout risen 
at all freely to the fly. There had been a few very 
large catches as reported last week, but bitter cold 
weather has prevailed almost ever since with heavy rains, 
which brought down a large quantity of snow water from 
the woods, and raised all the lakes to an abnormally high 
level. There is, consequently, every reason to believe 
that the best of the spring trout fishing, which is usually 
had here in the latter part of May and beginning of 
June, must be looked for this year in the middle and 
latter part of the present month. Numbers of American 
anglers returned home last week disgusted with the 
weather and the condition of the water, and some of them 
will wait a month before returning here. 
E. T. D. Chambers. 
An Ancient Salmon Angler. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I called on Walter M. Brackett, the Boston artist and 
noted painter of exquisite salmon portraits, at his studio 
at No. 41 Tremont street, on last Wednesday, and found 
him apparently as vigorous and full of "git" as he was 
when I called on him forty years ago or so. He has 
occupied this same studio for forty-four years.and is now 
disturbed because he must vacate for a "sky-raker," 
which is to go up immediately on the old site. He had 
four inimitable salmon pictures on view when I called, 
of Which one was on the easel, awaiting finishing touches. 
His age is seventy-nine years and he never misses a 
season on his favorite river, the Ste. Marguerite, which 
is a tributary of the Saguenay. He says he can handle a 
salmon with as little fatigue as he ever could. He is 
anxious now lest his change of domicile shall prevent 
his going to Canada this year, but if disappointed, per- 
haps he may be able to go ten years hence. Quien sabe? 
It will be remembered that Mr. Bracket's famous 
quartette of salmon pictures entitled "The Rise," "The 
Leap," "The Struggle" and "Landed" brought $4,000 
from an English gentleman in 1879. Both the artist and 
his studio are Boston landmarks, which will be missed 
when they pass away. Of the two, we note now the sur- 
vival of the fittest, anyway, C. Hallock. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Decoration Day Exodus. 
Chicago, 111., May 30. — The regular Decoration Day 
angling exodus was very much in evidence here to-day, 
and not in many years has the number of outgoing ang- 
lers been so great as it has been this week. It is impos- 
sible to tell just how many of our anglers took trains 
for the north, south, east or west to-day, but some ink- 
ling of the extent of their operations may be gathered 
from the fact that one firm sold to-day 405 dozen 
frogs for bait. This breaks even the record which was 
made a week ago and reported in these columns, and is 
perhaps the greatest number of bait frogs ever sold in 
one day, or rather one-half day in this city. When we 
remember that a great many fishermen do not use frogs 
for bait and that a great many others depend upon 
catching their frogs upon the ground, so to speak, we 
may form some idea of the extent of the angling traffic 
upon a day like this. The weather has been beautiful, 
just warm enough, bright, inviting, in short, the very 
sort of weather which makes one long to lay down his 
tools and books and take up his fishing tackle. There 
was many a good man to-day who had $2 saved for new 
shoes for the baby and who went against the tackle case 
this morning and lost his $2. 
Among others who started for different points to-day, 
mostly for the better known localities in the Fox Lake 
Chain, were the following: Messrs. H. A. Newkirk, L. 
D. Morse, L. H. Babcock, N. D. Soper, G. Laugguth, 
W. H. Haugh, Sid Wright, O. A. Lewis, Henry Doyle, 
John Nahser, H. Miner, Charles Lawrence, T. Ambrose, 
J. T. Hastings, and their friends Anderson, Browning 
and Du Bois. H. C. Calmer and his friends Boomer 
and Lincoln went to Camp Lake. 111. 
Chicago Fly-Casting Club. 
Among the members of the Chicago Fly Casting Club 
who started for the scheduled trip to the Lauderdale 
chain of lakes on the Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad, 
were Messrs. Peet, Chadwick, Letterman and Salter, all 
of whom outfitted for both bait and fly fishing. These 
gentlemen ought to strike it about right and will no 
doubt have a highly enjoyable trip. 
After the Big Mascallunge. 
The report printed tentatively in these columns a cou- 
ple of weeks ago. stating that a 102 pound muscallunge 
had been taken by the Wisconsin State Fish Commis- 
sion in Minocqua Lake and an 80 pounder in Toma- 
hawk Lake proves to be entirely true, and the fact that 
both of these fish were released in their native waters 
has started out all sorts of parties who are bent upon 
catching these big fish once more. Among those who 
outfitted to-day for Minocqua are Mr. Oswald Von 
Lengerke and Byron Veatch. They express confidence 
in their entire ability to lure out even the big 102 
pounder, which is the record fish of Wisconsin. By the 
way, this is the record muscallunge of the West, so far as 
I am advised. I once saw the head of a St. Lawrence 
River muscallunge which was stated to have weighed 84 
pounds. I have never heard among all the _ guides of 
Wisconsin of any muscallunge which really weighed over 
55 pounds. There seems to be no doubt at all of the 
authenticity of the story of this big fish taken by the 
fish commission. It surely was a monster. 
Good 'L'mge Fishing r 
There has been fairly good muscallunge fishing in the 
neighborhood of Minocqua during the past week. Mr. 
C. H. Lester, who has been fishing there, sent down 
word that in one day he caught fifteen muscallunge and 
thirty black bass. Although he had no muscallunge 
weighing over fifteen pounds, he might perhaps be stated 
to have enjoyed a very decent day's sport. Mr. Lester 
adds that the weather was cold at his writing and that 
he hopes the fishing will be better pretty soon. 
After Trout. 
My regular invitation comes down from Mr. John D. 
McLeod, of Milwaukee, to join him and Mr. Miller at 
their preserve on the Pine for a couple of days at the 
week end. Mr. McLeod reports the prospects excellent, 
the water at the right stage and the weather promising 
to be good. Two days would be good, but one day is 
better than nothing, and perhaps I may mix up with some 
of the trout on the Pine for that length of time. Mr. 
McLeod states that the last time they were up on the 
Pine the water was very high, the stream going out of 
its banks, so that the anglers had. to wear rubber boots 
in fishing from its bank. This unusual state of affairs 
might have been supposed to ruin the fishing, but upon 
the contrary, it started the big fellows out of their accus- 
tomed haunts under the logs and banks. Mr. Miller, very 
much to his own surprise, made a splendid basket, almost 
altogether of heavy trout. Score one more item in the 
never-learned lesson of the habits of the brook trout 
This is the stream where I caught ten beautiful trout in 
the middle of a snowstorm. Mr. McLeod adds that they 
had a novice out from Boston one day recently on the 
stream. He had never been trout fishing in his life, and 
about the first cast he made he caught a seventeen-inch 
trout. It seemed a very easy game to him to catch big 
trout, and as a matter of fact he landed one or two more 
of a similar size before he got through. 
Mr. C. H. Davis, of Saginaw, and party are back from 
a successful trouting trip in Northern Michigan. They 
took 170 nice trout between them. 
Salmon, 
Mr. W. B. Mershon, of Saginaw, 
Tom Harvey and two sons, start for 
ing on the Cascapedia River next 
weeks' trip. 
Mr. C. H. Davis and Mr. Watts 
the same time for the Little Pabos. 
lers, these Saginaw gentleman, and if 
the way of a good time getting past 
to be aware of it. 
Mississippi River Bass. 
I heard this week of a few bass being taken above 
La Crosse on the Mississippi River, but am disposed to 
believe that it would be better to wait until about the 
middle of June. Mr. Albert Brunning, at present of the 
Julia Marlowe Theatrical Company, with his wife, will 
spend the summer months on Lake Minnetonka, and 
among the side trips which Mr. Brunning proposes is 
one to the fishing grounds of the Mississippi River, in 
which latter he shows wisdom. 
Wants Muscallunge Fishing. 
Mr. H. S. Bacon, of Minneapolis, wants a lead pipe 
cinch on muscallunge, preferably at some Wisconsin 
locality. I have sent him to John Hebden's place on 
Squirrel Lake, not far from Minocqua, where my friend, 
H. L. Stanton, and Frank Willard have usually been 
able to take muscallunge in all their trips. The full 
there do not seem to run very heavy, but there was no 
trouble in doing business with 'lunge up to ten, twelve, 
or fifteen pounds. Of course, every fisher understands 
that this is subject to wind, weather and caprice on the 
part of the fish, E. Hough. 
Hartford Building, Chicago, 111. 
with his friend, Mr. 
Mr. Mershon's fish- 
Monday for a two 
Humphrey start at 
Very fortunate ang- 
there is anything in 
them, no one seems 
Taking Bass with a Skipjack. 
There are those who use a rod and gun, few however, 
as they may be, who will use any means, fair or foul, to 
bag more game and take more fish than their neighbor 
sportsman. The satisfaction to them orbeing high count 
is so great as to.make any means of securing that end per- 
missible. To come home with a gunny sack crammed 
full of bass, while others had but meagre strings of two 
or three to show, simply demonstrated on the surface that 
one man knew how to fish and where to fish better than 
the others. And the men who had little to show would 
wonder and wonder still why skill and luck should be 
the combined lot of any one fisherman above all the rest. 
Like the jug that goes too often to_ the well and gets 
broken, so has the secret of the way it was done at last 
leaked out, and here it is: The reader can judge for 
himself and decide as to whether it should go under the 
head of angling or pot-fishing: 
A pine board 3 feet long and 8 inches wide and 1 
inch in thickness. This is sawed in twain — crosswise — 
and a pair of strap-hinges put on and a small bolt on the 
opposite side. This strap-hinge idea is simple along the 
lines of portability. Into the side edge of the board 
f^-auger holes are bored and into same molten lead is 
poured. This is so adjusted as to sink the skipjack, for 
so it is termed, about 3 or 4 feet under water. Two 
lines or traces run from the board to a main line, which 
main line may be 30 to 100 feet long, the loose end ter- 
minating in the "sportsman's" boat. Rigged upon this 
main line are short lines and baited hooks to any desired 
number. 
The skipjack deposited in the lake and the hooks baited 
with frog or minnow, the line is tied to the boat and the 
oarsman steadily pulls his boat, the skipjatk keeping 
pace and the line of baited hooks covering a great area. 
On the approach of other boats assiduous rod casting, 
of course, was kept up, and no matter how hard a 
freshly hooked bass tugged at the skip-jack line no at- 
tempt' was made to haul him in until the coast was clear. 
The submerged board and trot line were unobserved by 
the others who might pass that way, and nothing took 
place to mar the phenomenal catch being made._ And 
when train time approached, the line was drawn in, the 
skip-jack lifted up, folded and securely tucked away in 
the bow of the boat, and with rod^ and minnow pail, in 
one hand and heavy string of bass in the other, the fish- 
erman would step upon the landing stage the envy of 
a score of less, far less, successful fishermen. 
This one can imagine to be a simple and successful 
method to be employed _ by a» market fisherman, but to 
secure a catch of fish this way and pose as a rod fisher- 
man at the same time, is akin to getting fish under false 
pretenses and transgressing the law at the same time. 
To know a thing is one thing, to prove it is another, and 
I presume the skip-jack fishermen will ply their trade un- 
til caught red-handed by a fish warden and then will 
the reputation of the man with the rod vanish forever, 
coincident with his being fined in the police court for 
illegal fishing. Charles Cristadoro. 
San Francisco Fly-Casting Club. 
Medal contests, series 1902, Saturday, contest No. 6, 
held at Stow Lake, May 24. Wind, west; weather, 
cloudy: < <] *.! 
Event Event Event 
No. 1, No. 2, No. 4, 
Distance, Accuracy, , Event No. 8. > Lure 
Feet. Per cent. Acc. % Del. % Net % Casting % 
W. Mansfield... = .. 95.8 92.4 85 88.8 
T. Brotherton...l30 90.4 88.4 79.2 83.9 92.9 
W. E. Brooks... 98 89 84 78.4 81.2 
T. C. Kierulff... 74 89.4 83 78.4 80.8 
E. A. Mocker... 93 89 81 79.2 80.1 71.4 
G. C. Edwards.. 92 93.4 78.4 76.8 77.6 93.8 
P. T. Tormey 89.4 .. .. 93.8 
H. Battu 92 90 78 80 79 87.5 
H. E. Skinner 89 86.8 75 80.10 
Reed 91 90.8 80.8 73.4 77 
Judges, Battu and Brotherton; referee, Brooks; clerk, 
Wilson. 
Medal contests, series 1902, Sunday, contest No. 6, 
held at Stow Lake, May 25. Wind, southwest; weather, 
cloudy. 
P. J. Tormey.... 70 86 .. ».fl 
C. G. Young 93.8 93 82.6 87.9 
F. M. Haight.... 87 87.4 84 74.2 78.1 
C. R Kenniff....l02 88.8 88.4 74.2 81.3 96.5 
C Huyck 93 93 80.8 75.10 78.3 
t'B Kenniff 115 95.8 85.8 71.8 78.8 90.4 
T. C. Kierulff... 75 89.4 80.8 75 77.10 
H. Battu ....... 95 92.8 88.4 73.4 80.10 84.7 
F. Reed 92 89.8 83 75 79 
E. Everett .....118 90.4 87 79.2 83.1 
F. Daverkosen..U3 88.4 84.8 76.8 80.8 
T Brotherton... 117 94.4 92 78.4 85.2 92 
W. E. Brooks... 103 96.8 85.4 76.8 81 
E A. Mocker... 95 89 88.4 76.8 82.6 86.1 
A M. Blade..... 72 70 81 76.8 78.10 
W. Mansfield.... .. 96.4 86.4 83.4 84.10 
Judges, Brotherton and Daverkosen; referee. Kierulff; 
clerk, Wilson. 
