June 14, 1902.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
469 
not stand much harder hammering than it is having al- 
ready. The White is not a great river. As seen from the 
car window it appeared to be not more than thirty feet or 
so in width, 
For Colorado. 
Mr. Wm. H. Bartlett, of this city, goes this week to 
Lyons, Colo., heavily outfitted for a trout fishing trip of 
some duration. 
For Michigan. 
Mr. Everett Sisson, business manager of the Interior, of 
the city, starts to-day for a trout fishing trip with some 
Saginaw friends, and I had the pleasure of helping him 
select his outfit, as he is going to fish a stream with which 
I am familiar, and where he may hope to have very good 
sport, unless it has been hit too hard within the last 
two weeks or so. 
For Minnesota. 
Mr. and Mrs. Albert Bruning, of New York, theatrical 
people and late members of the Julia Marlowe Co., start 
to-day for Lake Minnetonka, Minn., where they will 
spend the summer at the cottage of a friend. Mr. Brun- 
ing has always gone into Quebec, Ontario or New Bruns- 
wick for his summer outings, and he may think the fishing 
of Minnesota a bit tame after the grand sport with brook 
trout which he has enjoyed, yet he may find the black 
bass of the streams of Minnesota comparing very favor- 
ably with their congeners of the Eastern waters. 
Will Back the Law. 
In the year 1898 one Muel was arrested for having 
five fish in his possession in violation of the law. He 
was fined $20 and costs in the Circuit Court of Cook 
county^ HI., and took the case up to the Supreme Court, 
where it came up this week in the filing of a motion for a 
supersedeas in the case of Muel vs. The People. His 
attorneys attacked the constitutionality of the game and 
fish laws, on the ground that the law deprives the Gov- 
ernor of the^ power of pardon. On June 3 the Illinois 
Fish Commission held a meeting at Springfield, and 
instructed all their wardens to stand on the constitution- 
ality of the law and to enforce it to the letter. This is the 
latest chapter in the history of our famous Illinois fish and 
game laws, which do not protect quail or woodcock, and 
which, in the opinion of some of our friends, are not to be 
held to protect anything. We trust it is not so bad as 
these latter gentlemen would have us believe. 
For Wisconsin. 
Mr. John G. Mott, of Michigan City, Ind., writes: "I 
am going to the divide between Upper and Lower Turtle 
lakes. Wisconsin, with W. H. Matthews, of Chicago ; Mr. 
E. W. Abrams, of Menard, 111., and Mr. E. B. Hatcher, of 
Columbus, O., on Saturday night, to be gone about ten 
days. Our man writes me that the bass have begun to 
bite in fine shape, and that we will probably have a very 
pleasant trip." 
Successful at Lauderdale Chain. 
The members of the Chicago Fly-Casting Club who 
went up to the Lauderdale chain of lakes, via Elkhorn, 
Wis., on the Milwaukee & St. Paul road, on Decoration 
Day, report very good success during their rwo days' stay. 
They averaged twenty-five bass to the rod for the two 
days, which means a very good catch these days, as any 
angler will agree. 
Luck at Pelican Lake. 
Mr. Louis Kumpfer, just back from Pelican Lake, Wis., 
states that he had fine sport there, taking one 'lunge 
which weighed 14^ pounds, and a lot of bass and pike. 
Mr. Kumpfer says that the residents of the Pelican 
country are paying but little respect to the deer law. He 
was told that no one hesitates to kill a deer whenever he 
felt like it, and on one night saw five men of Pelican 
starting out to shine deer. The men who have hotels 
thereabouts are divided, but at least one resort keeper 
wants a game warden up there, and wants him quick — one 
who is not afraid to make an arrest, and who will not 
be bluffed. It should not be difficult to get plenty of 
evidence there. I can advise a warden where to start in 
if he really wants to make an arrest. 
Luck at Mukwanago. 
Mr. Jas. Maloney came into town the other day with two 
baskets of bass. One basket was full with only four 
bass in it, and of these one fish weighed five and three- 
quarter pounds, and the smallest went over four pounds. 
His other basket was full of smaller fish, one to three 
pounds. He took these fish at my own old fishing ground, 
Mukwanago Lake, Wis., the mill pond where I think there 
are more big bass than in any water of Wisconsin. I 
fished these waters for eight years with a very dear com- 
panion in the past, and we always managed to get the 
heaviest fish brought down 'the road. This is via the 
Wisconsin Central road, eighty-five miles from Chicago, 
and in a country which would long ago have been ex- 
hausted but for the great fertility of that water as a breed- 
ing ground. 
Starting Out To-Day. 
Among the Chicago anglers who are starting out to-day 
•for the Fox Lake chain are Messrs. S. W. Adams, C. 
Jarvis, C. C. Ingraham, W. P. Riley, A. D. Wiggins, T. 
Ambrose; all good men and true, who are not afraid, 
.even though it does look a little like rain this afternoon. 
E. Hough. 
Hartford Building, Chicago, 111. 
Take inventory of the good things in this issue 
of Forest and Stream. Recall what a fund was 
given last week. Count on what is to come next 
week. Was there ever in all the world a more 
abundant weekly store of sportsmen's reading? 
I 
I 
I 
Blacfc^Bass^ Fishing. 
The open season for black bass is near at hand, as it 
begins Monday, June 16, in all the waters of New York 
State which are not governed by special acts of the Legis- 
lature, and there are comparatively few such. For a por- 
tion of Salmon River and a part of St. Regis River the 
season began May 2, and in the St. Lawrence River and 
the waters of Jefferson county, bass fishing will be legal 
on and after next Tuesday, June 10, whereas in Lake 
George and Schroon Lake the season does not open until 
Aug. r. The black bass fishing in this State is rapidly 
improving, and it is from year to year growing in im- 
portance as a means of furnishing sport for the angler 
and food for the people. The bass are not only making 
their appearance in waters where they have hitherto been 
unknown, but are multiplying very fast and increasing in 
size at a surprising rate. As a rule comparatively little 
attention is paid by fishermen to the laws which relate to 
the size and number of bass which can be taken, but the 
provisions are unquestionably wise, and should be lived 
up to. The game laws state explicitly that black bass less 
than ten inches in length shall not be intentionally taken, 
and if taken, shall without injury be immediately returned 
to the waters where taken. No person can legally take 
more than twenty-four black bass in one day, and when- 
ever two or more persons are angling from the same boat, 
they are not permitted to take more than thirty-six bass in 
a day. On the St. Lawrence River no person is allowed to 
take more than twelve black bass in one day, and when- 
ever two or more persons are angling from the same 
boat, they cannot take more than twenty-four bass in a 
day. 
Although it is believed that a century ago no black 
bass existed in any of the interior waters of New York 
State, it is probable that at the present time every county 
has certain lakes or streams which contain them. In 
nature's apportionment of black bass, the State of New 
York was evidently left out, save so far as the waters 
having connection with the Great Lakes or the St. Law- 
rence River were concerned. When the Erie Canal was 
constructed, however, the bass found their way through it 
from Lake Erie to various waters in the central part of 
the State connected therewith, and eventually to the Hud- 
son River. From the latter river black bass were taken 
to Saratoga Lake, which afterward became a kind of 
distributing locality, from which the fish spread well over 
the northeastern portion of the State. The Black River 
Canal, which joins the Erie at. Rome, contributed its full 
share toward spreading bass through Oneida and some 
of the neighboring counties. Black bass from Saratoga 
•Lake were planted in Effner Lake, Saratoga county, and 
from there they were subsequently taken to Schroon 
Lake. From the latter point they spread to Paradox 
and Brant lakes, and the upper Hudson River. The fish 
have long been known to exist in Lake George, where it 
is believed they found their way from the St. Lawrence 
River via Lake Champlain, at a very early period. Long 
Pond, otherwise known as Glen Lake, Warren county, 
now one of the best bass waters in that part of the State, 
was "stocked with thirteen little fish, which were carried 
there from Lake George in a bait pail. 
Between thirty and forty years ago sixty adult black 
bass were placed in Raquette Lake in the Adirondacks, 
from which point it is understood they subsequently 
spread to Big and Little Forked lakes, Shed Lake, Brown's 
Tract ponds, Utowana, Eagle and Blue Mountain lakes, A 
few years since bass made their debut in the Fulton Chain 
of lakes, greatly to the disgust of trout fishermen, and 
they have multiplied with great rapidity. It is said that 
an old woodsman, who was displeased because somebody 
complained of his having trout or venison in his posses- 
sion out of season, brought some bass from Raquette Lake 
waters in a pail and placed them in one of the Fulton 
Chain lakes, from which they spread to the others. Black 
bass weighing from 1^2 to 3 pounds were taken in Fourth 
Lake last season. Many waters have been stocked with 
bass supplied by the State Commissioners, including the 
Hudson, Mohawk, Genesee, Canisteo, Delaware, Che- 
nango, Allegany, Chemung, Cohocton, Otsego, Oswegat- 
chie, Walkill, Hoosick, Little Salmon and Unadilla rivers ; 
Saratoga, Schroon, Paradox, Schuyler, Seneca, Big Tup- 
per, Hemlock, Sand, Cattaraugus, Mahopac, Crooked, 
Loon, Cassadaga, Bonaparte, Pleasant, Henderson, Sil- 
ver, Arbutus, Trout, Lathrop, Glen, Luzerne, Orange, 
Bashaw, Monagan, Mud, Cooper, Echo, Cuba, Round, 
Highland, Rockland, Madison and Cazenovia lakes, Lake 
George, and numerous other lakes, as well as ponds and 
streams. 
It is a lamentable fact that wherever black bass are 
introduced the trout fishing suffers, and in most instances 
is eventually ruined. This being true, too much care 
cannot be exercised in guarding against the introduction 
of the fish in waters inhabited by trout, for when they 
once become established in a lake or stream, they are 
there to stay, and there is no way of getting rid of them. 
It is not only extremely injudicious to place bass in any 
lake or stream where there are trout or in those having 
connection with trout waters, but there are men who are 
well up on fish matters who assert that it is unwise to put 
them in waters in which it is desired to perpetuate any 
other kind of fish, even though it be pickerel. 
On the St. Lawrence River black bass are found every- 
where along the rocky reefs or rocky, sandy bottoms. 
There are thousands of such places, and of course the 
guides know just where they are. Some of the biggest 
catches of black bass recorded have been made on the St. 
Lawrence River, The best localities are in the vicinity 
of Cape Vincent, Carleton Island, Grindstone or Wolfe 
islands, or around the lake at Pillar Point. At Hender- 
son Harbor, Ray's Bay and other points on Lake Ontario 
splendid fishing is to be had in season. The fact is well 
known to anglers that two species of the black bass inhabit 
the waters of this State, the small-mouth, which loves 
clear water, gravel or rock bottom, and the large-mouth, 
erroneously called the Oswego bass, which is fond of 
weeds, and tastes and smells of the muek. The former 
excels as a game fish, having superior fighting qualities, 
while the latter attain greater weight. 
The following outfit has been suggested as a desirable 
one for black bass fishing: An 8-foot rod, weighing from 
S to 6 ovttms; 50 yards of Cuttyhunk bass line, No. 12 
thread ; an? K>rt of reel that the angler may be partial to ; 
half a dozen 3- foot leaders of salmon gut ; 2 dozen crystal 
hooks, No. 4, and a few sinkers. Other anglers prefer 
a io}A or 11 foot rod, weighing 8 or 9 ounces, and there 
are some who like a rod which weighs from 10 to 15 
ounces. Minnows are largely used for bait, as are also 
crayfish, and a bit of pork rind surmounted by a small 
spoon, is excellent for occasional casting. Grasshoppers, 
crickets, small frogs, angleworms and the larae of in- 
sects which live under the water before they are trans- 
formed into flies, also make good live bait. 
Early in the season black bass sometimes rise to arti- 
ficial flies and afford great sport for the angler. As a rule 
they show a preference for large flies, and the latter 
should be tied on No. 3 or 4 hooks having good sharp 
points. Among the flies which have been found suc- 
cessful in taking bass are the following: Montreal, silver- 
doctor, grizzly-king, professor, scarlet-ibis, royal-coach- 
man, orange-miller, Lord-Baltimore, Governor- Alvord, 
Seth-Green, shad-fly, white-miller, Henshall, polka, oriole, 
premier and king-of-the-waters. The dark flies are best 
for bright days and clear water, the brighter ones for dark 
days or high water, and the lightest ones, such as the 
coachman, premier, white-miller and ibis after sundown. 
Ordinarily the best time for fly-fishing is from an hour 
before sunset until dark, though bass will sometimes rise 
to the fly at almost any hour of the day. The angler 
should keep out of sight of the bass and not allow the 
fish to see his shadow or that of his rod. It should be 
remembered that bass will rise to the fly only in com- 
paratively shallow water, rarely where it is to exceed six 
feet in depth. Not more than two flies should be used, 
and they should be allowed to sink beneath the surface 
of the water. 
Black bass like to rest on the rocky bottom in water 
of some depth, and when the angler is using bait there 
is the place to seek them. But their feeding grounds 
when in pursuit of small fish and insects are in shallow 
water along the shores, on muddy; bottom, and among the 
sedges, rushes and lilypads. It is well to fish for them 
after sundown and at twilight along the edges of rocky 
reefs and close to the lilypads, also along a shore where 
the water is shallow and overhung with bushes, casting 
well toward the bank and drawing the fly rapidly away. 
When you succeed in hooking a fish, do not be in too big 
a hurry to land it, but keep the line from becoming slack 
and treat the captive ' gently, but firmly. It is expected 
that there will be excellent bass fishing this season in 
the waters of central and northern New York. 
W. E. Wolcott. 
UflcA, N. Y., May 6. 
The Guide and the Fish. 
Boston, June 7. — There are accounts of excellent bass 
fishing in Lake Cobbosseecontee, Me. Mr. Howard 
Wade, with some Boston friends, including C. F. Riordan, 
were fishing there last week, and caught about all the bass 
they cared for. Mr. Wade tells of an enormous bass 
taken, and one or two that got away. He is particularly 
pleased with the location, because it is so easily reached 
from Boston by boat at night to Hallowell, at a fare of 
$3 for the round trip. Thence they go by team to the 
lake, at a cost of 50 cents for a most beautiful drive. The 
entertainment at the lake is good, at the moderate cost of 
$1.50 per day. Belgrade bass fishing also begins to be 
"cracked up," and the fishing of that sort in the Belgrade 
lakes is truly excellent. A bass, weighing five and a half 
pounds was shown in Dame, Stoddard & Co.'s window on 
Wednesday, caught by Miss Anna Held, the actress. Re- 
turning sportsmen also say that they have had good bass 
fishing at Annabessecook Lake, Winthrop, Me. 
Salmon fishing at Sebago Lake is proving rather un- 
satisfactory to Boston fishermen, though Portland and 
local fishermen occasionally get a strike and land a good 
fish. Richard O. Harding, whom almost everybody knows 
as manager of the fish exhibits at the Boston Sportsmen's 
Show, with Edward Brooks, J. M. Grosvenor, Jr., and 
A. M. Stickney, has just returned from a fishing trip to 
Sebago, They trolled three or four days, under a broil- 
ing hot sun, and caught no fish. Other parties have had 
about the same luck. Lake Winnipesaukee continues to 
furnish good fishing. The season is turning out to be a 
remarkably good one, in fact. John Segur, of Somer- 
ville, came home the other day, from that lake, with 
seven handsome lake trout, the string weighing thirty- 
five and three-quarter pounds. Willoughby Lake, Vt., is 
being noted for its lake trout fishing this season. W. C. 
Mentzer, of Boston, was up there last week and caught a 
couple good ones, with very little trouble. He found 
other fishermen having good sport. Lake Dunmore, Sals- 
bury, Vt., is turning out a remarkable showing of lake 
trout for those who know how to angle for them. Felix 
Taussig, E. C. Stevens and Edric Eldridge, of Boston, 
went up to Dunmore last week and had remarkable suc- 
cess with the big fellows. Mr. John E. Cloise, of Sals- 
bury, fished with them a part of the time, and knowing 
the lake well, much of their success may have been due to 
their guide. They brought home a string of twenty-eight 
lake trout, the largest weighing six pounds. The trout 
were displayed in the Broad street window of Messrs. 
Taussig & Stevens' office, and attracted a good deal of 
attention from merchants and friends. 
Mr. James R. Gormley, of Boston, who has fished at 
the Upper Dam, Me., for many seasons, brings home a 
good salmon story, and one that involves something of 
the relations between guide and fisherman. Monday 
morning the fishing was not up to expectations, and the 
gentleman who was employing the guide in question left 
the Upper Dam by the 11 o'clock boat. This left the 
guide at leisure, and he said afterward that he was un- 
der pay to the gentleman till night. Mr. Gormley was 
alone, his fishing partner being out on the lake with their 
guide. As the guide whose employer had left was going 
to troll up to the head of the lake, Mr. Gormley suggested 
that he get in the boat with him, expecting to pay him, 
though no definite statement to that effect was made. The 
guide was agreeable, and they started, trolling out around 
the mouth of the river, below the Pool, the guide rowing, 
with his own rod braced over the side of the boat beside 
of his feet. Mr. Gormley had a strike and landed a five- 
pound salmon, at which he was much pleased. After 
netting the fish the guide commenced baiting Mr. Gorm- 
ley's hook, that gentleman holding the guide's rod, to 
