FOKEST AND STREAM. 
IJTuNE 6, 1903. 
the deepest parts, and then, casting it as lightly as I 
could, allow it to drift down stream. In this way I 
picked out 6 or 8 very nice trout, all about the 8-inch 
class, not to mention a dozen little fellows, which I 
put back into the stream. 
The Big One. 
It was on this afternoon, while I was using the little 
gray-winged fly, and after I had lost several trout 
which the tiny hook failed to stop, that I had my ban- 
ner experience of the trip. I hope I am too old a 
fisherman to talk about the big one that got away, but 
that is what I must do. The wonder is that so noble 
a trout could live in this little, out-of-the-way stream, 
harried as it ' is by bait-fishermen, and open and un- 
reserved as it seems to an observer. I was not so 
anxious to catch trout as to cast a fly, and observing 
a nice place along the bank where I could lay out a 
good line and try my new fly-rod, I measured off per- 
haps so feet, reaching out, cast after cast toward a 
certain likely looking black place under the bank. At 
last I thought I had the line lengthen to the right 
gauge, and as fortune would have it, I dropped the 
little fly into precisely the spot I would have chosen. 
I was almost frightened at what then ensued. With a 
rush and a splash and a flame of color the big old 
fellow, who lived there, came out into the air. He 
struck in a semicircle, his belly toward me, and again 
I saw the spectacle known only to the trout fisher — 
the deep, shaded spot of black water, the somberness, 
the shadow^ — all at once lit up by a flame of red and 
orange. You cannot paint that and you cannot de- 
scribe it, but you see it once in a while if you follow 
the game of the fly and the trout. Naturally the old 
fellow hit his object, and as he went down I felt a tre- 
mendous pull at the other end of the line. He went out 
again three times, and I saw him plainly as I journeyed 
along and went down closer to him. I tried my best 
to get him to go up stream, where there was some 
open water, but this he refused to do. A few rushes, 
and he showed me that my new rod was not powerful 
enough to stop him, even had I dared to put much 
strain on the tiny fly. Then all at once there came 
that dead stop which every angler who uses three flies 
at a time will recognize. The trout had fouled me. The 
middle fly was stuck in a snag in the stream. I worked 
for several moments trying to free the fly, but fearing 
to put too much strain on the line. I had a tele- 
graphic connection still with the trout, and at length, 
after four or five minutes' fighting him in this way, con- 
cluded I would have to wade down and try to free the 
entangled fly. As I stepped into the stream I saw the 
old fellow lying there over the white sand. He was a 
fine trout for so small a"water, no four or five-pounder, 
but a trout that I suppose would have weighed 1^4 
pounds on the scales, about what you call a 2 or 3- 
pound trout. As he saw me he immediately ran out. 
Once more the rod proved too flexible to stop him. 
He was off into a rushing little channel which passed 
over a bushy bed, in a flash he was tangled up once 
more. Once more I waded in up to my hips, and 
kicked loose the fly, which this time was holding him. 
Alas! the hook came back free, in its bend a little piece 
of brush not so large as a small lead pencil. I imagine 
that old fellow deliberately rooted his head into that 
brush pile until he got leverage sufficient to work out 
the little hook. 
After this, not grudging my trout his escape and feel- 
ing pretty well satisfied withal, I went on down stream 
and went home in the darkness, with a dozen nice ones 
in the basket. 
Other Streams. 
At Wautoma I heard of several other streams which 
must be duly looked into at a later date. One of the 
best of these is Willow Creek, a stream which Wm. 
Wood, the keeper of Mr. Miller's preserve on the 
Pine, has told me about before now. Willow Creek 
is something like 12 miles from Wautoma. It is for 
the most part brushy, but they tell me that there are 
places where meadows run down to the banks, and the 
story is that the stream has not been fished this sea- 
son and should be worth investigating. 
Yet another stream is Chaffee Creek, which is re- 
ported to me as a little larger thstn Straw Creek. This 
must be something like ID or 12 miles from Wautoma. 
It is said to contain places where one can cast a fly, 
and in earlier seasons has been the scene of some very 
heavy catches. We must see about Chaffee Creek 
one of these days before long. 
Still another stream is Hall Creek, over in the same 
country, east of the Northwestern R.R. Willow Creek 
runs into Lake Poygan, and these streams seem to 
have a southeasterly course, paralleling the direction 
of the Pine River, which is the capital trout stream of 
this district. 
I met an Oskkosh fisherman, who told me Willow 
Creek can be reached by way of Oshkosh. One takes 
a steamer and goes up the river to Tustin, thence tak- 
ing rig to the Pine River village, or Poysipi village, 
the latter being near Willow Creek. The lower reaches 
of the Pine River can also be fished from these villages. 
Thus you will see that you can enter either irojn the 
east or from the west quite a good-sized trotit coun- 
try, which has streams open to the public, and streams 
which hold very decent fish. My own trio was too 
short to fully explore all this country, but I consider 
it one of the most interesting discoveries that T have 
made in quite a while. 
The Maia Rivet. 
At the village of Wautoma there runs the main Wau- 
toma Creek, which a little lower down meets the Straw 
Creek, sometimes known as the South Branch of the 
White River. Below this point is the White River. 
Benjamin's farmhouse being only about S miles down 
stream from Wautoma. I started for Benjamin's place, 
but got side-tracked, as above described. Either from 
Benjamin's or from Wautoma one can reach all these 
streams which I have mentioned. Three miles below 
Benjamin's is the village of Neshkoro, which may be 
called the southern limit of the trout fishing of the 
White River. From Neshkoro the White runs thi-bugh 
meadows offering most tempting opportunity for fly- 
casting. They usually fish it with a boat, but I am 
sure that a boat is not in the least necessary. I have 
heard of a couple of dozen fine black bass being taken 
in a day by the fly-fishermen on the White, below 
Neshkoro. 
As to the trout fishermen, Benjamin's place this 
spring was well patronized by anglers, many from 
Oshkosh, some of them from Indianapolis, and one 
or two from Milwaukee. Mr. Hooper, of Oshkosh, 
and his son, had been in a couple of days when I saw 
them, but they took only about a dozen trout, the best 
day's fishing they had. These trout were very hand- 
some fellows. They tell me that one hardly need ex- 
pect to get very many trout there now, but is safe 
upon getting a good one if he gets any at all. The 
stream here is crooked and deep, and it takes a fisher- 
man to do business, as the trout are pretty well edu- 
cated. I have heard of rainbows as heavy as three 
pounds being taken in this part of the stream. A 
speckled trout weighing over three pounds has been 
lately reported on this same stream. I presume there 
are more big trout in these heavier waters than in 
any of the streams I have mentioned, and a man who 
is satisfied to fish all day and get one or two good 
ones might do well to stick to this water. If he wants 
a little more rambling and a little brushier and .smaller 
water he can patronize some of the streams which I 
have mentioned, on nearly any of which there will be 
occasional stretches of meadow fishing, where there is 
good opportunity for casting the fly. I found all of 
these streams stocked with trout, which rise freely to 
the artificial fly. Indeed, I did not use a bait of any 
description during my trip, nor did my companion, 
Arthur Bean, try bait-fishing very much of the time. 
The streams are cold spring water, overgrown enough 
in long reaches to offer protection to the trout, and 
they seem to have been regularly stocked by the fish 
commission of the State of Wisconsin. The practice 
of taking yearlings ought to be discountenanced. An 
8-inch limit on Straw Creek, for instance, would make 
of it a magnificent fishing stream. It is literally alive 
with small trout to-day. These streams all seem to 
reseinblc the famous Pine River in their abundance of 
natural trout food. The hatch of fly was not abun- 
dant in the cold weather during my stay, but the 
streams are full of larvae. I took one trout on my last 
afternoon which seemed distended almost to the point 
of bursting. I killed and opened this fellow, and 
found his stomach to be literally crowded with what 
seemed to be. black mud. This was no doubt made up 
of caddis cases in great part, but the greedy fellow 
seemed to have taken in a good deal of alluviam along 
with his larvae. 
I cannot say how fishing may prove later in this new 
district of mine, and presume, of course, that the first 
warm days of the season are the best; but I intend to 
look at some of the larger streams a little further from 
the railroad at a later date, and shall, of course, be 
glad to advise any inquirers of the proper sort in re- 
gard to later discoveries which may be made. This 
district is about 200 miles north of Chicago. Leaving 
Chicago at 3 o'clock in the afternoon one reaches Wau- 
toma at 8:40 in the evening; not a bad schedule, as it 
leaves him free to open his fishing operations on the 
following morning after a full night of sleep. 
E. Hough. 
Hartford Building, Chicago, III. 
Maine Fishing. 
Bangor, Me., May 30. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
The drought continues, and throughout the State there 
is still the same dry condition that was referred to in 
previous letters, resulting in frequent forest fires. 
While this drought worked greatly to the benefit of 
the anglers for several weeks, it now appears that it 
is beginning to have a disastrous effect on the sport in 
some localities, although in others the fish continue to 
bite eagerly. In still others, there have been so many 
winds during the week that it has been, most of the 
time, impossible to fish, and even if one was venture- 
some enough to go out, the fish could not be prevailed 
upon to take the lure. Yet, as intimated above, this 
has not been universally the case, and some parties 
have enjoyed phenomenal success. 
Probably none have surpassed the Thompson party 
of this city, made up of J. A. Thompson and wife, who 
have just returned home from a novel combination 
trip. They went to Katahdin Iron Works by rail, 
thence drove to Long Pond, where they fished in West 
Chairback, one of the most delightful trout ponds in the 
State; then journeyed by canoe and afoot to Lake 
Onawa, whence they returned to the shore of Long 
Pond by way of the Canadian Pacific to Henderson, 
the B. & A. to the Iron Works, and afoot via Houston 
Pond and over the Chairback range to West Chairback 
Pond for a day's fishing; finally arriving at Long Pond 
with all the trout they could carry. It was a great 
trip, and Mr. Thompson, who has fished in that section 
of the fish country for thirty years, never saw better 
sport than he had in three different days' fishing on 
this pond of the Chairbacks, one of the highest trout 
ponds in the entire State. 
Judge John Howard Hill, of the municipal court, 
Portland, and Frank O. Haskell, of the same city, 
have been at Lake Onawa, enjoying the fishing there 
and at Long Pond with marked success. Some hand- 
some salmon were taken by them at Long Pond, and 
the best trout fishing they ever saw was had at West 
Chairback Pond, which they visited one day. 
Oliver W. Shad and Orin A. Barnard, of Boston, 
have been at Camp Houston, Katahdin Iron Works, 
enjoying some splendid sport among the trout of Little 
and Big Houston ponds. 
Edgar Mowrey and Henry Lincoln, of Providence, 
R. I., are at Chairback Mt. Camps, Long Pond, where 
they are enjoying some magnificent sport. At latest 
accounts they were doing their best to break the fa- 
mous record of the Chairback ponds, east and west, 
and had made a trip to Hedgehog, where in one day 
they caught 60 trout. 
Although there ar? some lakes that are not holding 
up well, Dobsis, of the famous St. Croix system, is 
not one of them, and this pond, which is perhaps the 
best of the system, commonly referred to as the Grand 
Lake system, because of the fame of Grand Lake and 
Grand Lake stream, is continuing to furnish some 
great sport. Among those who have been there may 
be mentioned A. D. and Charles Warner, of Wilming- 
ton, Del., and Byron Eldred, of Boston, who took 44 
salmon and 2 trout during their stay of three days, 
only half of which time could be devoted to fishing be- 
cause of weather conditions; G. B. Freeland and his 
friend, Mr. Bird, of Boston, took 12 salmon of an 
average weight of 3 pounds each, in but one day; 
E. B. Burgess, of Somerville, and C. H. Smith, of 
Cambridge, are still there and are having grand sport. 
Frank D. Parsons, of Millinocket, and a party of 
friends, some from Millinocket and others from New 
York, spent a day recently at Mud Pond, another 
tributary of Millinocket Lake, and caught a most un- 
usual lot of handsome brook trout. 
At Moosehead the past week has been one of mingled 
joy and disappointment, as the fish were very willing 
to bite when the lake was not too rough to fish. Still, 
in spite of windy weather and other drawbacks, some 
excellent strings have been taken by those who know 
how and where to fish in the big lake at such times. 
Arthur J. Bigelow, of Worcester, Mass., who is an ex- 
pert on Moosehead angling, is at the Outlet for his 
spring stay and is having good sport. 
Dr. C. P. Thomas and E. J. Mwrch have returned to 
this city from Moosehead, where they spent but two 
days, with such good success that they brought home 
36 nice trout and several good-sized lakers. 
A jolly crowd has been at Kineo for the past week, 
and is having great sport according to a member of 
one party, who was obliged to go home ahead of his 
friends. In the list are Frederick S. Parker, wife and 
daughter, of Bedford, Mass., who have a steamer all 
to themselves and are cruising all about the lake, and 
getting great sport whenever they chance upon a spot 
where the fish are taking hold well. Others on another 
steamer include E. S. Farmer, of Arlington, Mass., 
who is getting all that is coming to him in the way 
of trout; F. X. Fitzpatrick, of Cambridge, Mass.; 
W. F. Perkins, of Derry, N. H., who is getting some 
exceedingly nice square tails, weighing as heavy as 
4^ pounds, and lakers up to a 9j/2-pound limit. Miss 
Helen M. Locke is the champion of this party, having 
not only taken a dandy string of trout, but gotten near 
enough to a cow moose and calf to have taken a fine 
photograph if she had been supplied with a camera. 
In Duck Cove she saw the moose, and whiled away 
the time by catching 3>4 and 3^-pound trout. F. E. 
Thompson, of Arlington, who was making his initial 
trip to Moosehead, had the trip of his life, and is 
forever wedded to the life of the angler, for he took 
about two dozen fish during his stay, some as heavy 
as 3!/-2 pounds. 
E. M. Stannard, of Racine, Wis., was in the city 
j^esterday on his way from Moosehead Lake, where he 
fished for a day or two and caught the banner strings 
for the West Cove anglers, taking ten or a dozen trout 
during the time he was there. One square tail weighed 
4^ pounds, and there were ten togue in the lot. 
Among the Kineo anglers, Fred S. Lufkin, of 
Gloucester, Mass., and H. A. Giddings, of Hartford, 
Conn., have led all comers with record fish, the former 
having taken the largest salmon of the week, an 85/2- 
pound fighter, and the latter leading with the best 
square tail of the week, and, so far as fight goes, one 
of the best of the season, a 5>4-pound trout. But these 
were not all the fish taken, nor all that these two en- 
thusiastic fishermen secured. Mr. Lufkin took one of 
the finest strings seen at Kineo in many a day, includ- 
ing seven trout that weighed at least 2^ pounds each, 
and three togue of 14, 8 and 6 pounds. Mr. Giddings 
has taken a large number of average trout, two of 
the best weighed syi pounds apiece. 
Several of the popular fishermen's clubs, annual vis- 
itors to Maine's great inland sea, are on hand for 
some of the sport that the others have been enjoying 
during the last fortnight. None will have a better time 
or leave a record of larger fish taken than the well- 
known Mohawk Club of Haverhill, which, for many, 
many years has been coming to Moosehead or some 
tributary waters. In the partv this year are President 
C. W. Arnold, Chas. H. Davis, D. T. Kennedy, George 
L. Emerson, A. P. Jacques, D. T. Dudley and Walter 
C. Lewis, of Haverhill, Richard E. Traiser, George 
Waterman, Jacob Mosser and P. B. Heintz, of BostoiT. 
and it is a question which are more striking, their arti- 
ficial flies or their uniforms, as this club has, through- 
out its existence, come to Maine adorned with scarlet 
waistcoats. A new club this year is under the direc- 
tion of one of Moosehead's most ardent admirers, who 
has been coming to the lake from Boston for many 
years, but never before as the president of a sports- 
men's club. C. M. Harriman has always had good suc- 
cess, and will live up to his reputation this time, while 
his fellow clubmen will do their best to beat him. The 
other members are A. C. Wharton, H. A. Blackmer, A. 
W. DeWolE and H. F. Carson, all of New Bedford, ex- 
cept Mr. Harriman. 
Walter Wesson, of Smith & Wesson, Springfield, 
Mass., is entertaining a party of iriends at his camps 
on the Moodies, and visiting the good fishing points in 
Mr. Wesson's handsome new steamer, built last year. 
In his party are Nathan D. Bill, Frederick Harris, 
Samuel J. Fowler and James W. Kirkham, of Spring- 
field, Mass. , „ , 
Grand Lake Stream advices are to the effect that the 
fishing there is a bit slack just now, as it is between 
the trolling s.eason and the fly-fishing, although there 
have been about 200 successful visiting sportsmen there 
during the month just closing. Fly-fishing begins June 
I, and after that date Grand Lake Stream will bp a 
busy place for the fly-casters, who invariably get a good 
catch there as soon as the fly-fishing begins. Early 
fishing does not touch this stream, since it is closed 
to all but casters of the fly, and is open only from 
June I to October i of each year. In this stream, which 
is really the west branch of the St. Croix River, there 
are these special regulations as to fi.shing, and this not 
