June 21, 1902.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
489 
A Little Brown Boy with a Bent Pin Hook. 
I am looking out from my Broadway tower, 
Over the lofty, crowding hives of trade; 
Where hosts are striving for financial power, 
Where fortunes are lost, and fortunes are made. 
But my thoughts are not on the broken skyline, 
Nor yet on the course "the market" took; 
I'm once more afield in the land of the pine — 
A little brown boy with a bent pin hook, 
The Broadway noises surge up to my room — 
The rattling and banging on the stony street, 
The clanging bells and the motor's boom. 
The forti and piano of the newsboy's greet. 
But I'm not now trying these sounds to translate; 
I hear naught but the music of a dear old brook. 
Singing 'mid the hills of the Pine Tree State, 
To a little brown boy with a bent pin hook. 
Oh, he loved that brook, and each feature well knew, 
From its source among the clusters of rush and flag, 
Where the heron waved welcome with its pinions blue. 
And the little green frog and the tadpole played tag, 
Down through the pasture and meadow and wood, 
Singing as it raced for each quiet nook, 
Till it lost itself in the river's flood, 
"I love the little brown boy with the bent pin hook," 
The hills seemed less rugged when that boy was afield. 
And all the wild blossoms surpassingly fair; 
The big red oak, his favorite pool to shield, 
Drooped its wide branches with special care; 
The silvery minnows and all their kin, 
Discerning his footsteps, came up for a look, 
And waved a welcome with tail and fin, 
To the little brown boy with the bent pin hook. 
The inquisitive squirrel, "at parade" on the wall, 
Chirrupped a greeting ere it whisked off in play; 
The kingfisher softened its piercing call, 
And transferred its business to a pool far away 
The swallows, swift in their erratic flight. 
And all the denizens of bush and brook, 
Seemed in glad unison their friendship to plight, 
To the little brown boy with the bent pin hook. 
I've fished many waters, on hillside and in dale; 
With delicate bamboo and whirring reel; 
Had many a fight with the great square tail. 
And caught monsters of the deep with chain and steel; 
But though many more beauties shall gladden my heart, 
And many a fighter be brought to book, 
I'll doff my hat to that lover of the gentle art: 
The little brown boy with the bent pin hook. 
April, 1902. Jaigh Aigh. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
High Water »n the West 
Chicago, 111., June 14. — During the last few days we 
have had extraordinarily, heavy rains over a great part of 
Lhe West and Northwest, and at present the waters are 
out all over the country, so that fishing is not much good 
at this writing, and a great many anglers are remaining 
at home who would have gone out to-day. 
Mr. Charles Cristadoro, of St.. Paul, paid this office a 
visit this week, and he says that the Mississippi is prac- 
tically out of its banks, and will probably continue thus 
for a week or ten days. He says it is not the time now to 
go to the Mississippi for bass fishing, and thinks one 
should wait until the water has sunk below the tops of the 
Government wind dams, in which case he says the fishing 
will be good again. Indeed, it ought to be better than 
ever, for it is notoriously the case in our Western streams 
that it takes high water to make good fishing. 
A number of the regulars who go up every week to the 
Fox Lake Chain of Illinois for their bass fishing, report 
now that the lakes extend clear out into the sloughs, and 
that sometimes they have taken bass actually among the 
bushes. It is a well-known habit of big-mouthed black 
bass to feed in shallow waters among the rushes and 
grass, well on into the month of June, according to the 
nature of the water and the forwardness of the season. 
They feed in this shallow water on frogs and naturally 
get as near the edge of the water as possible in the pur- 
suit of their prey. Hence the unusual situation of prac- 
tically taking bass in the alder thickets and tall timber. 
The water is very roily, and the bass fishermen say that 
the sport is on that account not so good as it ought to 
be. The exodus to-day, although a considerable one, as it 
is bound to be at this season, no matter what the condi- 
tion of the weather, is not so great "as it would have been 
had the fishing prospects been reported better. 
Good Tip. 
As a good tip I would suggest Hamlin Lake, near Lud- 
jngton, Mich., as a place well to keep in mind. A party of 
anglers who have been over there recently have reported 
very good sport with bass, and the place is not so in- 
accessible as to put it out of the running. 
Wolf River Ron is on. 
More than ten days ago the white bass were beginning 
to run in the Wolf River. They were then just leaving 
Winnebago Lake, and the run ought now to be well in 
progress. I would suggest Gill's Landing on the Wis- 
consin Central line as a good place to try for white bass 
•or black bass either. Even should one not hit the run of 
white bass, he can nearly always get some black bass there 
if he has the right bait, and if the fish are in a biting 
mood. I saw an angler who fished at that place recently 
when the white bass run was on. He did not want white 
bass, but their bigger and darker brothers, and he said 
that "when he could get his bait through the layer of 
white bass" on top of the water, down to where the black 
bass were lying, he could nearly always get a good small- 
mouth. The fishing on this stream is at times very highly 
.exciting. r _ _,.:^:\t 
The Resort Business. 
The summer resort business is a growing one in our 
Western wilderness country, so-called, and since in these 
good times, a great many city men are spending at least 
a part of their summer in the woods, one hears of more 
and more resorts going up on lakes which sportsmen have- 
known for a long time. Some of these resorts are good, 
and a good many of them are not. I was about to -call 
the worst those which are mosUpretentious. These hotels 
in the woods appear to the ease-loving class rather than 
to the hardier element of sportsmanship which wants 
something different in the woods from what it finds at 
home. Personally, it is no argument for me to know that 
I can sleep on a hair mattress and springs in the summer 
hotel, or that I can have iced lemonade for lunch, and 
hot and cold water in my room. I would rather depend 
upon fly dope and such cooling springs as I can discover, 
and still remain willing to make my own bed out of the 
materials offered by the woods or prairies. It seems to 
me that we get the clearer qualities of sportsmanship un- 
der the ruder conditions. If some one will tell me of a 
lake or a stream which has not a hotel within a thousand 
miles of it, I think I, with a few select friends, would like 
to head in that direction. Temporarily, we could cut out 
the hair mattress and the hot and cold water and perhaps 
would be the better for it. This is getting to be an ease- 
loving sort of a nation, and I should regret to see even 
our leading citizens learning to sleep too high off of the 
hard ground or being too much afraid of the caresses of 
the open sky, not to mention the caresses of a few inno- 
cent and harmless mosquitoes here or there. Commend 
me to the Klondike camping of my friends, the Saginaw 
Crowd. We had a whole wagon load of stuff and we left 
it mostly on the wagon. It's a good place for it. 
About Ontario. 
Mr. F. L. Brown, of Cincinnati, O., writes: "The 
writer, in company with four other gentlemen and a 
guide, has laid out a trip from Ahmic Harbor, Ontario, 
down the Magnetawan River to Byng Inlet North. Can 
you give us any information or data on this subject, stat- 
ing whether the trip is a feasible one, and whether it can 
be made in clinker built boats or whether it will be neces- 
sary to use canoes?" 
Will some one well posted on the sporting country of 
Ontario be good enough to advise Mr. Brown through the 
columns of Forest and Stream, or by personal letter to 
myself? 
Ought to be Strong Enough. 
I notice a writer in the current issue of a monthly sport- 
ing magazine who remarks that his leader was "tested to 
the weight of 100 pounds." That to the ordinary ob- 
server would seem to be sufficiently strong for almost any 
ordinary fishing; but will the author of that somewhat 
remarkable statement kindly advise us where he is able 
to secure these somewhat remarkable leaders? 
Got the Hackles. 
In the course of my scientific investigations along the 
lines of tying artificial flies, I needed some different 
colored hackles, and wrote to my friend Warren Powel, 
down in Taylorville, 111., knowing that he had a fine col- 
lection of fighting chickens whose whiskers are pretty 
much all the colors of the rainbow, I did not hear from 
Mr. Powel until yesterday, when I got about 4 pounds of 
assorted chicken whiskers from the gentleman. "I did 
not send these before," said he, "because I got some of 
them from a cock which I was training for a special pur- 
pose. We accomplished the special purpose, and it was 
worth a couple of hundred, so that I feel the old fellow 
could afford a clean shave in your behalf. I am mighty 
strong in the chicken business this summer." The hackles 
in question are a sort of golden ginger color, and con- 
sidering all the circumstances involved, they surely ought 
to prove winners. I shall see what can be done with 
them. 
Good Wrinkle for a Fly-rod. 
My friend, Mr. McLeod, of Milwaukee, sends me a 
little contrivance of his own. It is a flat steel spike, dull 
pointed, but strongly made, built with a screw to be 
screwed into the butt end of a fly-rod. One who has 
never used a rod with one of these spikes, and especially 
while fishing along a meadow brook, can hardly appreciate 
the usefulness of the spike. Suppose your fly catches 
in a weed stem or thistle top back of you. You simply 
thrust your rod, spike downward, into the ground and go 
back and release the fly. When you turn about you can 
see your rod at once, and run no danger of stepping upon 
it as it lies in the grass. In meadow fishing, as we get it 
in some parts of the West, especially late in the summer 
time, when the grass and weeds have grown high, this 
little wrinkle is one very much worth keeping in mind, as 
it saves annoyance and may upon occasion save a rod. 
Another little angling implement which my good friend 
sends me is a pair of cutting pliers, which he had made 
at his own factory. Not long ago I spoke of two or three 
accidents from fish hooks and my friend has had no less 
than two more accidents of that kind since I wrote. 
Armed with these pliers, he now simply cuts off the barb 
of the hook or breaks it down so that the hook imbedded 
in the flesh can be taken out backward without the trouble 
of cutting off the feathers. A pair of pliers of this kind 
does not take up much room in the pocket and it may save 
one an hour's time on almost any day, to say nothing of 
the annoyance of cutting a hook out. 
What is the Right Weight for a Fly-rod ? 
I wish some good rod builder or rod user would tell me 
what he thinks are the right dimensions of a proper fly- 
rod for use in general fishing of mid-range distances, say 
up to 40 or 45 feet. I got two heavy rods this spring, one 
of 654 and one of 5^4 ounces. I sold the latter rod, as it 
seemed to me too much similar to the heavier one, which 
was of itself a splendid tool. I want a rod which will be 
an easy fisher all day long, about 4% ounces in weight. 
Now, how long ought it to be? Surely over eight feet, 
probably about nine, I should think; and in the product 
of the very best selected cane, perhaps just a little over 
nine feet if the reel fittings are built very light. Before 
I go and lose another bunch of money, I wish some one 
would come to my rescue with a suggestion based upon his 
own experience. 
If one is to use only one good rod, I would counsel 
his getting one somewhere in the neighborhood of six 
ounces, as that will do for long distances and big fish, and 
make a fair showing op short-range work and small fish. 
It is to cover this latter equation that I am anxious (o get 
another rod for my battery. I want to practice William 
Wood's style of fishing, with the flies altogether on 
the surface of the water, and I find that a heavy rod 
makes one a little careless in that matter along about 
half-past three in the afternoon. 
A Good Buck Tail. 
A good buck tail shown the other day is made out of 
red and white hairs from the Virginia deer. The red or 
darker hairs are arranged something after the fashion of 
wings, the white serving as the hackle. The designer says 
that he has found this the best bass fly he ever got hold of, 
and he has enthusiastically ordered several dozen more 
for his sport this month. I do not know how this would 
do for river bass, and am disposed to think that they 
have been tested mostly on large-mouthed bass of he lakes 
of Wisconsin. I propose to try this fly on the Mississippi 
River presently. 
I hardly need remind the attentive readers of this paper 
that the accepted fly for the small-mouth fishing in the 
Mississippi is the Onondago pattern, tied on double rein- 
forced gut on a hand-forged O'Shaunnessy hook of square 
wire, in size about four o, the whole fly being about as 
long as one's little finger. These flies cost pretty near 
six bits apiece, and I don't blame the anglers of that 
stream for wanting to attach them to a good stout line and 
by means of twisted salmon gut. One can afford to lose a 
bass, but to lose a bass with a 75-cent fly attached to 
him is something to give one pause, as they say in literary 
circles. E. Hough. 
Hartford Building, Chicago, III. 
New England Fishing. 
Boston, June 14. — The salmon anglers are starting for 
their rivers with promises of a good season, although 
the weather in the back country has been exceedingly 
wet and cold. It is suggested that the salmon will be 
slow about ascending the rivers, and the fishing may be 
late. Mr. John Fottler has gone to the St. John, Gaspe, 
P. Q., his salmon river, for a stay of six weeks. Some 
changes have taken place among the salmon anglers. 
Mr. David Blanchard, whom the Forest and Stream 
readers will remember as having done so much to re- 
strain salmon netting at the mouths of the several sal- 
mon rivers some years ago, has been compelled to give 
up his river, the northeast branch of the St. Marguerite, 
on accotmt of all health. He has sold out to Mr. Wind- 
sor, of the Philadelphia Steamboat Co., and Mr. Wind- 
sor holds out a pressing invitation for Mr. Blanchard 
to again fish there whenever he may feel able to bear 
the journey. Mr. Blanchard has been down to Lake 
Hebron, Monson, Me., his favorite lake, for his spring 
fishing trip. He found a deal of cold and wet weather; 
bad for a' well man even to be out. But he did land a 
togue of 9 pounds, and some smaller fish. Mr. C. D. 
Sias has also been compelled to give up his salmon fish- 
ing by reason of ill health. Mr, George P. Bullard, 
who went down to Grand Lake salmon fishing a week 
or two ago, with the Hartford party, was really high 
line, though this is but the second year he has fished. 
He caught 38 fish in all, including three trout, several 
togue and about 30 salmon. The salmon run small in 
Grand Lake and Grand Lake Stream. 
Late reports from the Megantic Club show that mat- 
ters are making good progress. Secretary L. Dana 
Chapman has just received a letter stating that the fish- 
ing in Spider Lake is the best for years. Dr. Kellogg 
has caught two trout weighing 7 pounds, one of 45! 
pounds, and one of 3 pounds. The arrivals for the week 
ending May 31, the opening week, were H. G. Holcomb, 
Conn.; S. F. Johnson, W. A. MacLeod, Benj. Phillips 
and J. R. Livermore, Boston; George L. Turton, Brook- 
lyn, N. Y.; Herman Heidelberg, New York City. Since 
that week there have arrived Charles E. Curtis and 
Charles W. Whittelsey, New Haven, Conn.; Dr. A. B. 
Kellogg, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel M'orrell, Mrs. S. D. Fair- 
bains, J. O. Davis, O. H. Thrall, D. J. Morrell, L. B. 
Norton and A. H. Whitman, Hartford, Conn.; George 
H. Payne, D.D.S., L. D. Seaver, C. A. Phippen and 
Charles G. Wells, Boston. 
Mr. Richard Rowe, of Boston, is back from his spring 
fishing trip to Grand Lake Stream. This stream has 
been closed to all fishing for some time. The close time 
expired June 1. Mr. Rowe was there and about forty 
other fishermen, all ready. The fishing was simply great 
for a week, with about 400 salmon being taken. Then it 
was done. Mr. Rowe is of the opinion that the close 
time has amounted to but little, since the reserve fish 
are evidently all caught out again. His idea is that some 
restriction should have remained. He landed doubles 
once or twice, which gave him great sport. Mr. Frank 
F. Dodge, of Boston, has made his usual spring fishing 
trip to his camps at Lake Bario, Nova Scotia, accom- 
panied by _ Mrs. Dodge and their eldest son. They had 
good fishing, but much cold weather. Mr. Dodge's 
guide wrote early that the ice was out and the season 
early. They were off the first days of May, but had to 
break ice in boats and water buckets to pay for their 
early start. Mr. Dodge says that he is never going so 
early again. Two friends were with him a part of the 
time, but had to leave early. Mr. Dodge took them 
"down the rapids" a short cut, on their way out, and 
they had great fishing, taking over fifty trout on the way 
down. There seemed to be a trout in almost every eddy 
ready to rise to the fly. Mr. Dodge himself had great 
sport in the pool below the dam. Mr. Wm, C, Harding, 
of the Boston Herald, is back from his spring fishing to 
Lake Cobbosseecontee, Maine. He fished five days, but 
caught no trout. He says that trout are scarce in that 
lake, and others agree with him. He caught quite a 
plenty of bass of good size, but wanted trout. A fine 
string of perch were more satisfactory than the bass to 
bring home. 
Boston, June 16. — Mr. A. S. Woodworth, of Boston, 
has had a good fishing trip to the Rangeleys. He fished 
on Mooselucmaguntic. Lake at first with good success 
trolling. With his friends he had good success fly-fish- 
ing at Stony Batter and at other points. One tvarm day, 
after the cold snap of late in May, Mr. Wood worth's 
friend took ten fine trout on the fly, with four to the 
credit pf Mr. W. himself. They went to Kennebago and 
