4S0 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 30, 1903. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
The Bass Fishing Season. 
Chicago, III., May 23. — Warm weather, slightlj' over- 
cast, offers good promise to the bass fishers of Chicago 
to-day, the week-end being the great time of departure 
of these clans. Some scores, went out last week, most 
of them to the lakes of upper Illinois, but thus far 
no very great catches have been reported. A half 
dozen big-mouths or less w^as about the average for 
each party. The lakes of the Fox Lake chain seem to 
hold out remarkably well, in view of the tremendous 
drain upon them at the hands of the Chicago contin- 
gent. 1 suppose there are actually thousands of ang- 
lers who fish these waters every summer, but, although 
extremely heavy takes are not common, nearly every 
expert bait-caster who goes up into the better districts 
can report some sort of success on his return. 
It is the belief of most of the boys that the best 
bass fishing has not yet come, and it certainly is the 
case that the season is not yet at its zenith in regard 
to the numbers of anglers going out. From time to 
time I offer the names of some of the anglers who 
go up into the Fox Lake country, but it is impossible 
to get at the personnel in full of this Chicago bass fish- 
ing aggregation. In all likelihood it runs into the hun- 
dreds every Satuiday in-good fishing weather like this. 
The Milwaukee & St. Paul, the Wisconsin Central and 
the Northwestern roads, on Saturday afternoon and 
evening, carry actually hundreds of bass fishermen, 
some of them expert, some of them merely enthusiastic, 
many of them ignorant, but all anxious to get out of 
doors. 
These men carry all kinds of equipment, but of late 
it has become the custom for them to secure their live 
bait here in Chicago. It seems something of a para- 
dox to say that Chicago is a better place to get live 
frogs than the country, yet such is unquestionably the 
case. More than one bass fisherman has gone up into 
the Illinois and Wisconsin country in expectation of 
catching his own frogs, only to find that soma scores 
or hundreds had been ahead of him with the same in- 
tent, and cleaned out this line of speckled beauties. The 
tackle stores now carry live frogs in quantities and 
sell them in little baskets especially prepared for the 
purpose. One firm here in Chicago had, before 12 
o'clock to-day, sold a little over three hundred dozen 
bait frogs to bass fishermen. This was Von Lengerke 
& Antoine, and this firm will have on hand for next 
Saturday five hundred dozen frogs. When it is remem- 
bered that this is but one of the several concerns which 
handle live bait frogs, it may be seen what dimensions 
have been attained by the frog industry in this city. 
We have not yet reached the dignity of handling 
worms over the tackle counters here, but I notice that 
the first-class dealers to-day carry preserved shiners, 
preserved frogs, etc., nicely done up in glass and look- 
ing as good as some of the preserves mother used to 
make. As to the virtue of these pickled goods I cannot 
personally speak, but should think that the little pickled 
minnows would be very good for those who care to bait 
fish for trout early in the season. It is an open secret 
that some of the largest catches, and of the largest 
trout taken in Michigan early in the season are on 
salted minnows. A minnow packed in salt, however, 
becomes brittle and hard to handle. These preserved 
baits are perhaps better. 
Tips on Bass. 
I offer as tips on bass waters this week the Lauder- 
dale Chain of Wisconsin, reached via Elkhorn, on the 
Milwaukee & St. Paul -Road; also Gun Lake, Michigan, 
earlier mentioned, as an excellent bass water. One of 
the largest black bass ever displayed in a Chicago 
show window was taken in Gun Lake some years ago, 
and reports say that water is good in early summer. 
The Wautoma District. 
I have had something to say recently regarding the 
Wautoma district of Wisconsin, and whether due to this 
fact or not, at least one party, that of Mayor Harrison 
and his friends, have within a few days been up in that 
country, this being the point chosen by the Mayor last 
week, by aid of the Northwestern Railroad people. The 
party did not do anything extraordinary in the way of 
fishing; in fact, seemed to have picked out the worst 
rivers in the neighborhood. The Mayor and his friends 
put in one day on the McCann, with slight results. They 
had few trout, not over half a dozen to a rod, 
and very small. They went too far down on the stream, 
going in at Dakota, instead of eight or ten miles above 
that point. They agree that the McCann is a beautiful 
river, but that it would be a much better trout stream 
if it had some trout in it. Without doubt there are 
some big rainbows there, but it is not sufficiently well 
stocked to offer good fly-fishing at this time. 
The party seem to have struck on Straw Creek, 
which is sometimes called the south branch of the 
White River. So near as I can tell from the descrip- 
tion of Mr. Harris, who was with the party, they fished 
Straw Creek above White RiA^er and down to the lat- 
ter stream. Here Mr. Harris got thirty-five trout in 
one day. the others coming in with smaller numbers. 
Mayor Harrison, who fished with Colonel Bill Haskell 
as his steadfast companion, had moderate success, and 
perhaps he was served with poetic justice, for he in- 
flicted great personal pain upon Colonel Bill, in that 
he compelled the latter to fish with a fly all day long. 
Anyone who knows Colonel Bill Haskell must imagine 
his going out and being forbidden to drop a fat worm 
into certain likely pools. It is reported, I wot not 
with what accuracy, that Colonel Bill Haskell actually 
took four or five trout on the fly. Just fawncy! At- 
any rate the party got enough trout to eat, although 
they did not eat them, but brought them home. I think 
they would have done better had they gotten in on 
Willow Creek, Chaffee Creek or Hall Creek, which are 
further away from the railroad and less fished. 
Uppef Wisconsin. 
The reports on that famous stream, the Prairie 
River, are all in at this date, so that one can give a 
pretty good estimate of the fishing there. The season 
has shown a great number of trout taken, and from all 
appearances the stream is holding its own with last 
year, some anglers thinking it is better and some be- 
lieving it not quite,so good. Mr. Charles Antoine, who 
has been on the stream for three weeks this spring, 
thinks he did not catch quite so many trout as he did 
last summer, but he had five or six days of splendid 
fishing, taking a great many half-pound trout and a 
few over a pound. He sometimes got a couple of 
dozen, on one day 39, on another 47, and once he and 
Mr. E. G. Taylor brought in 63 between them. He 
sent down some very pretty trout. ' 
Among other Chicago men in at Bates' place, on the 
Prairie, with Mr. Antoine, were Messrs. Andrews and 
Simmons, with Mr. Warder, Superintendent of Lin- 
coln Park, and Mr. Ludlow, of the Chicago Fly-Casting 
Club. Dr. Miller and Dr. Carson returned home last 
week from the Prairie. 
Mr. T. G. Ryan and a couple of friends from Apple- 
ton, Wisconsin, were out at Dudley's place on the 
Prairie, the middle of this week. My friend Mr. Neal 
Brown, of Wausau, spent a day earlier in the week 
at Dudley's, returning to Wausau Tuesday morning. 
Mr. E. G. Taylor fished at Bates' for some time, and 
then dropped down to the stream below the Dudley 
dam for one day, among the bigger fish. He took four- 
teen trout during the day, which weighed a little over 
8 pounds altogether. The trout were coming well at 
the time, and his basket was a very pretty one indeed 
for this country. 
I dropped in at Delos Cone's place on the Prarie, 
Monday afternoon of this past week. At the time a 
thunderstorm was just brewing, and for about an hour 
before the shower the trout came better than I ever 
saw them do on tl>at river. All the big ones were mov- 
ing about in midstream, and there were more of them 
than one would have believed were in the entire river. 
Chester Cone and I took fourteen that afternoon, and 
wc had five which came in between ^4 of a pound and 
I pound. I found the McGinty fly the best for the big 
trout at that time. The next day it rained very hard 
all forenoon and after the rain nothing rose at all, ex- 
cept the stream itself, which crawled a foot higher up 
its banks. Of course this ruined the fishing, and the 
following morning coming off cold and windy, the most 
diligent whipping of the waters failed to get any re- 
sponse, Chester and I, in five miles of fishing, scarcely 
taking a dozen decent trout between us. 
Trout Before a Storm. 
This is the third time that I have happened to catch 
the big trout coming freely just before a thunderstorm, 
once last year in Michigan, once on Lunch Creek, Wis- 
consin, a couple of weeks ago, and this time on the 
Prairie. There must be something in the atmospheric 
conditions which induce the big trout to go on the 
feed just before a storm. Perhaps in their philosophy 
they know that there is going to be a rainy day when 
they will not want to go out of doors, and hence load 
up while things are propitious. Yet the high water 
is supposed to bring down abundant feed. I give this 
up, along with all the other trout problems, which have 
never been solved by the scientists from Sir Isaac 
Newton down. It is a pity Sir Francis Bacon was not 
a trout fisherman. 
As to flies in upper Wisconsin, Mr. Antoine found the 
Captain, black silk body and white double wings, and 
the double-wing hare's ear and woodcock his best 
killing flies. He tried McGinty for two days and did 
nothing. Mr. Taylor left word for me to use grizzly- 
king and professor, which I did not find killing. Ches- 
ter Cone used the cow-dung, and I found McGinty and 
Abbey my best killers. It would be hard to establish 
any rule of action from such data, though personally 
I am beginning to believe a great deal in the Hon. 
Watt Humphrey's pet fly, the McGinty, for stirring up 
big trout when nothing else will do it. It is a freak fly. 
and on its first appearance on a stream the trout will 
hail it with joyfulness. At least, perhaps, they will. 
Speaking of the numbers of anglers on the Prairie 
River, brings one face to face with the fact that there 
is not trout fishing for all the trout fishers. On last 
Sunday there were thirty -five anglers at Bates' place 
on the Prairie, of these about twenty-five being Mer- 
rill fishermen, who came up by team, some twenty 
miles. About 200 trout were taken from the stream 
that day. Nothing could save even this prolific water 
except the continuous stocking, which is done above 
Dudley's place. 
The Single Fly. 
The cult of the single fly is growing in Wisconsin. 
Henry Dudley, the veteran keeper of "Dudley's" on the 
Prairie, tells me that he has not fished with more than 
one fly on his cast these last five years. Chester Cone, 
although but sixteen years old, is an angler always 
safe to bring in trout. He scorns worm and never 
uses more than the single fly, This is the fashion em- 
ployed by Mr. E. G. Taylor also. It is the index of a 
semi-dry style in trout fishing. For whipping about 
in the air and flicking at a definite spot the single fly 
is much sweeter to fish than two or three. One who 
tries it will find that he saves much time in freedom 
from disentanglements. Three flies together on the 
same cast have a great way of getting fond of each 
other's society, even with the most careful handling, 
and even when the wind is not high. The average trout 
fisher, however, will perhaps long cling to the triple 
fly, on the theory that when one has three different 
patterns up he can the sooner discover what fly the 
fish are taking. In seven cases out of ten it will be 
the stretcher, no matter what the others may be. 
Amateur Fly Tying, 
The height of skill which can be attained by the 
amateur fly-tier is evidenced in one of the noon-day 
Wishininne stories to-day. It seems that Mr. Ed 
Ellicott, city electrician, while absent with the Mayor's 
party at Wautoma. Wisconsin, constructed an artificial 
fly of such exceedingly lifelike appearance that when 
it was placed upon the table it took wing, rose and 
flew put of the window This story is vouched for by 
no less an authority than Colonel Bill Haskell. The 
same story is also vouched for by that doughty angler 
of yore, Kit North, in Noctes Ambrosianae. 
Decoration Day. 
There will be the usual annual exodus of anglers on 
Decoration Day, hundreds in all. Among those to 
leave Chicago, May 29, will be a majority of the Chi- 
cago Fly-Casting Club, who will repeat last year's 
trip to the Lauderdale lakes. Wis. This trip will be of 
two or three days' duration, as the participants may 
prefer. The party will leave Chicago at 3 o'clock Fri- 
day afternoon and may return Sunday evening, leaving 
Elkhorn at 5:30 P. M., or Monday morning at 6:28 
A. M., which latter will bring the members back to 
Chicago at 9:30 A. M. The expenses for this trip, in- 
cluding 'bus. railroad fare and hotel bill, is onlv $6.50. 
This certainly puts bass fishing within the reach of all. 
The Chicago Fly-Casting Club begins its season of 
club events at Garfield Park this afternoon. May 23. 
Subsequent dates will be June 20, July 25 and Aug. 22 
for the competitions in distance and accuracy, bait and 
fly-casting. In delicacy with bait and fly, the following 
are the dates: June 6, July 11, Aug. 8 and Sept. 5. 
Easier Now. 
A personal letter from Nate H. Cohen, president of 
the Illinois Fish Commission, expresses gratification 
at the recent improvements in the Illinois game and 
fish laws. 
"After July i," says Mr. Cohen, "when our new law 
goes into effect, providing for three paid wardens at 
$900 a year and expenses, it will be much easier to con- 
trol enforcement of the law, as these wardens will be 
immediately under me, and when these violations occur 
I can send one of them to investigate. The way the 
law is now, it is almost impossible to get any convic- 
tions, as they depend upon fees. In most instances 
there is not sufficient evidence to convict, and the war- 
den gets nothing." 
"Western Man Goes East. 
Senator John C. Spooner, of Wisconsin, has bought 
an extensive estate in northern New Hampshire, which 
he will use as a game and fish preserve. ~ The property 
formerly belonged to the late David Blanchard, of 
Pittsburg, N. H. The Spooner preserve will be a dis- 
tinct addition to the large estates already used as game 
preserves in different parts of New England. 
E. Hough. 
Hartford Building, Chicago, 111. 
Tarpon and Tuna. 
Which Is the Hardest Fighter? 
A KECENT article states that the tarpon and tuna are 
recognized as the two great game fishes, but that the 
tuna is "but the wind that blows," compared to the 
doughty tarpon. 
This is at such variance with my experience with 
both of these fishes, that I am inclined to believe that 
some "catfish" angler is trying to get a rise from 
among the sea anglers, and that he has never seen a 
tuna, much less a tarpon. The relative game qualities 
of these two fishes will doubtless always be a question 
for dispute, and it is mainly a matter of individual ex- 
perience; but when it comes to the question of fighting 
qualities there can be but one view. The tuna is the 
king, and I say this, well knowing the struggles some 
anglers have had with the tarpon. I have caught both 
fishes, and both have so many splendid qualities ap- 
pealing to the angler that I would, in a just and fair 
summing up on points, place them on a par; but the 
tarpon is a herring, while the tuna is the king of the 
mackerel. You may see the tarpon lying in some snug 
corner or under mangroves like a garfish or pickerel. 
No one ever saw a tuna at rest; it is the prototype of 
action and restless energy — always rushing or moving — 
a hunter par excellence. 
I shall never forget my return to tarpon fishing 
after several seasons of the tuna. At first I was 
amazed at the ease with which I managed my catch. 
None of my fish were under five feet, and none took 
me over fifteen minutes to land — with an 85/2-foot 
rod — and in no case did I push the fishing. If I had 
ten minutes would have seen the quietus of every tar- 
pon. And this is no reflection on this splendid game 
that went into the air like a bird, a dazzling, blazing 
glory of the sea — to fire one's blood with the desire for 
conquest along this line — without end. 
Certain long, slender tarpon have been known to 
fight for several hours. One towed a party of New 
England anglers several hours at night. Another 
towed a boat three hours out into the gulf, and the 
experience of a single season of tarpon in Florida and 
Texas would make a book; yet, I have never heard of 
a tarpon that could equal the fight made at Santa 
Catalina, in which Mr. Woods, of Chicago, was fought 
for seven hours, the rod being then taken by his 
boatman, who played or fought the fish seven hours 
more; and then the fish escaped after showing about 
a foot of its broad tail that suggested an 8-foot fish. 
Neither has Judge Beemishe's play, during which he 
was towed 20 miles, been equaled; and it should be 
mentioned that nearly all tarpon are caught and played 
from light boats that no angler would think of hook- 
ing a tuna from; 18 or 20-foot four horse-power 
launches being used in all these contests, the boat 
alone being a very heavy pull for the fish. 
The two fish are noble jumpers, but the tuna does 
not leap when hooked, and here the tarpon scores 
against it, but the tuna gives spectacular displays when 
feeding, and has been known to jump over the boat 
of an angler. The tarpon is caught mainly in shallow 
water, hence does not sulk to any marked degree, un- 
less it is taken in the deep channel or reaches deep 
water, when it outsulks the king of the sulkers, the 
salmon. But the tuna is a blue water fish, and will 
often plunge down, though some of the best fish that 
have been taken have plaj'ed near the surface. The 
tarpon varies — some are very gamy, others ^tc poor 
