48 
[July 19, 1902. 
classes cannot have their innings all the timfe. it ie noth- 
ing but fair that each sliould have them a part of the 
time. 
So far as my own inclination goes, I vastly prefer fly- 
fishing to any other — and am willing to take my chances 
with it if fairly suitable conditions obtain. 
Of course, fly-fishing for trout and for bass are two 
quite difYerent things, and I never have felt the same 
degree of enjoyment with the latter that I have with the 
other. There is an almost indescribable difference be- 
tween the^ which I have no doubt most anglers have 
noticed. 
Trout fishing appeals to the aesthetic sentiment which 
bass fishing does not stir, but which, on account of the 
greater fierceness of the struggle, arouses the combative 
instinct instead. It is almost precisely the same feeling 
that one has when fishing with light tackle for 2 or 3- 
pound bluefish; there is nothing poetic whatever about 
It, it is simply a fight from start to finish. It has its 
attractions, however, and provided the fish will rise it 
gives good sport, which is often exciting in a high de- 
gree. 
Th ere is almost as great a variety of bass flies as there 
IS of trout flies, but a half dozen kinds will as well 
meet all requirements as fifty would. 
I have an almost endless and varied etock which were 
mostly tied by father, who was an amateur fly-tier of re- 
markable skill and good taste; but I have never used 
more than two or three of the kinds; beautiful pieces 
of handiwork they are, and I treasure them and caress 
them as elegant souvenirs of an enthusiast's untiring 
and painstaking industry. But if I were now to buy 
an outfit I would confine myself to not more than four 
or five kinds. 
li IS to be premised that one cannot rise a black bass 
with a fly in a considerable depth of water, and when 
a fish does come it will rise to almost any fly, provided, 
of course, that a judicious selection is made with refer- 
ence to the condition and depth of water and the de- 
gree of light. 
My best success on dark water, or at morning or 
early evening fishing, has been with that remarkable 
all-round creation, the "Tomah-Jo." which was orig- 
inally tied in honor of an old Indian guide on Grand 
Lake, of that name. 
1 first learned its merits when fishing for "land-locks" 
on Grand Lake stream in Maine, when I found that it 
was the most killing fly by all odds, that I had in my 
book. 
I later proved it to be wonderfully successful with 
ouananiche, which are the same fish as the other; and 
have often killed salmon and sea trout with it. In fact, 
I have one in my book which I treasure highly for the 
reason that I have taken with it three salmon anjd sev- 
eral good-sized sea trout. Of course, it showed the 
scars of battle, but it is yet good for one or two fish if 
it is oflFered them. 
Whenever I have used it in black bass fishing it has 
been successful, and before all, others, too. On one oc- 
(^asion with several other anglers, I was fishing in a 
small lake in Massachusetts which was famous for its 
stock of bass. The sky was slightly overcast and a light 
ripple was on, thus making it an ideal day for sport. 
The water was of no great depth for twenty rods or so 
from the shore, and either still or fly-fishing, therefore, 
was practicable. As we had an abundance of small frogs 
and helgramites we started in with them, but with only 
moderate success, for our bait was taken from the hooks 
as fast as we could put it on, and we soon voted that the 
baas had been educated to steal bait or some other fish 
were quicker to get it than they were. The mystery 
was soon solved by the discovery that a large number 
of "horn-pout," a fish similar to the catfish and with 
a sharp horn on each side of the head and one on its 
back — were the greedy transgressors. The quickness 
with which they took the bait from the hooks was as- 
tonishing and they proved so insatiable that we were 
forced to shift our anchorage ground, but this prQ,ved 
futile, for no matter where we went the horn-pouts were 
there and they seized the bait before a bass could make 
♦up its mind to go for it. A good many were hooked, of 
coarse, but as they were valueless for the creel there 
was no satisfaction in taking them, and they were 
thrown back into the water as fast as they were pulled 
out. I am aware that this seems a good deal like a fish 
story, for the horn-pout is usually regarded as a slug- 
gish fish addicted to angle worms at night if they can 
be obtained, but that it should be a quick-moving, ag- 
gressive diurnal species, one that would dart for a mov- 
ing bait and strip it from the hook before a bass could 
get it seems quite incredible, but such was the fact. 
At length we abandoned bait-fishing, moved our boats 
again and began to cast the fly. My friends had a va- 
riety of ordinary bass flies which they offered to the 
dusky beauties, while I had with me none but trout and 
salmon flies, which I disliked to use with such rough 
fighters. 
I finally put on a Tomah-Jo and threw it out. 
I had hardly made three casts when I rose and hooked 
a 3-pounder which, after a lively fight, was successfully 
landed. A second and third fish were taken on the same 
fly before my friends got a rise, and, of course, their in- 
quiry soon was, "What fly are you using?" I showed 
them, and as I had a half dozen or so in my book, I 
distributed them among the party, and subsequently we 
all made a fine catch. 
Now, I do not claim that no other fly would have b^en 
as successful, but we certainly found none among our 
books that was. I would suggest if any of my readers 
are about to have a number of these killing flies tied 
that they give the tyer instructions to make the yellow 
Jiackle a little more full than is usually done, and that 
only pure silver tinsel is used on the body. 
Another bass fly that I have had good success with 
on dark water is the "Ilenshall," and the "Cheney" fly 
has also been a very satisfactory lure. 
For bright days, if there is a ripple on, the professor 
lhas done good work. 
Trolling for Bass. 
f While bait-fishing and fly-fishing are most genefHtly 
employed in the capture of the black ?)ass, trolling is a 
4?tvQrite rnethod virith many anglers, The lim^s ijSei? jre 
either a live minnow hooked so that it will spin, a phan- 
tom minnow, or a spinning spoon. 
Probably in no other section of Attlefica has the 
practice of trolling attained the degree of a high art, if 
such an expression may be used, as it has on the St. 
Lawrence River. It is followed in western waters a 
good deal, but in nothing Hke the degree it has there. 
My experience in troUing for bass has been some- 
what limited, for the reason chiefly that 1 pl-efet- the 
more active sport of fly-casting, but I once utilized a 
trolling rod and spoon to good advantage. The dam of 
a large mill pond had gone out in a heavy freshet, which 
permitted a large number of fine bass, which the mill- 
owner had been treasuring for several years, to escape 
into the Charles River, neat Boston, into which the mill 
stream emptied about forty rods from the mill. Of 
course, as soon as the escape of the bass became known 
among the local fishermen, they all busied themselves 
in trying to discover where the fish had located them- 
selves. They were not successful, however, for a very 
few fish rewarded their efforts, and the belief became 
general that the large stock of big bass that the pond 
was said to have contained, was largely mythical. I 
knew better, however, and bided my time. The river 
was about ten rods in width at the point where the mill 
brook emptied and its depth varied from 4 to 8 or 10 
feet. 
One morning bright and early I rigged up a rod and 
trolling tackle^ and with a boy to row the boat I began 
a systematic investigation. 
Coursing back and forth and covering the water thor- 
oughly, I moved down the river an eighth of a mile, and 
then returning pursued the same course up the river 
about the same distance. No bass were found, and 
save a stray pickerel or two, no fish were taken. 
At length a ledge of rocks, together with a number 
of boulders partly showing above the surface, was dis- 
covered, and passing these at a distance, which was safe 
for my trolling tackle, I felt a strike as my minnow 
came abreast of the ledge, and in a twinkling a 2-pound 
bass was scurrying about and leaping above the water 
as if he had entered a jumping contest. 
It did not take long to bring him to the landing net 
and prepare for a fresh encounter, which soon came, and 
I was then convinced that the abiding place of the 
fugitive bass had been found. 
To say that I had most excellent fishing for a week 
or two afterward is superfluous. 
Dropping my killick at the edge of the ledges I de- 
voted two or three hours of the early mornings to the 
sport, and with minnows, helgramites — which were 
scarce in those days- — and flies I captured at least twen- 
ty-five fish, and enough were left to stock the river plen- 
tifully. In fact, it was from the fish that escaped from 
the mill pond, which I did not capture, that the great 
numbers of bass which are now found in the river orig- 
inally sprang. 
Edwaed a. Samuels, 
[to be continued.] 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Foafth a Failure. 
Chicago, 111., July 8. — Most of the angling parties 
who went out on the Fourth of July for a trip into the 
angling districts have now returned and they nearly all 
report the Fourth a failure so far as fishing was con- 
cerned. We have had a great deal of rain this spring 
and the waters are high and roily. Our lakes are from 
a foot to two feet higher than ordinary, and the dis- 
turbed condition of the waters have played havoc with 
the sport for the past week. 
Among those who went up last Friday to the Lake 
Villa district were Messrs. L. D. La Parle, John Thein, 
L. Walch, James Hastings, Wm. Du Bois, P. Ambrose, 
Alex Friend, Dr. Friend and W. L. Beason. These 
caught a few bass, but they do not speak very enthusi- 
asticalljr of the sport the past week. 
Bass at Lake Geneva. 
Mr. James Keely, managing editor of the Chicago 
Tribune, returned from a week or so at Lake Geneva, 
where he faithfully tried the bass fishing, though with 
very poor .success. That lake is much patronized by 
wealthy Chicago residents, and the shore line is prac- 
tically built up with handsome villas. These summer 
residents understand the value of good fishing, and the 
lake is annually stocked with many thousands of small- 
mouthed bass, and without doubt there are many bass in 
the water. Everything comes high at Lake Geneva. Mr. 
Keely, feeling the need of expert advice as to the fish- 
ing grounds, undertook to charter a local fisherman 
reputed to be exceeding wise in the matter of small- 
mouths. He found that it cost him the pretty penny of 
$8 a day to associate with this gent, and owing to a mis- 
understanding as to who was running the boat, the fish- 
ing came pretty near being nil. This ancient angler is 
proud and haughty in his ways. He knows how to 
catch bass, but will not agree that anybody else knows 
how. A spoon hook he abominates, a frog is anathema, 
and anything but a good live minnow excites his deep- 
seated ire. I believe Mr. Keely likes to have a spoon 
hook above his minnow upon occasion, and hence the 
misunderstanding which brought him in at night fishless 
and eight-dollarless. 
The same gentleman reports seeing a large school of 
bass in the shallow water, but they abso'utely refused 
to pay any attention to any sort of lure which he could 
devise for them. It is likely that they have gone on one 
of their sulky spells and for some days will not do much 
business. One would hardly exnect bass fishing out in 
the shallow water at this time of year. The bass have 
done spawning and have doubtless moved out into the 
deep water. The thing to do now is to find a bar or 
reef running up out of the deep water. Here is where 
the gass lie during the summer months. All of which 
is much easier said than done. 
Bass Bars. 
Speaking of bass bars, reminds me that at Lake 
MlnnefcPpka la^T ^§'ek I sacw a gentl^an whose ifaine 
I 5o not know, who had as fine a string of big-moiithed 
bass as I have seen for some time. He . Caine to the 
depot at Spring Park after a morning's fishing otit ill 
the bay, which runs in close to that station on the east 
side of the taiifOad. He had eight bass which weighed 
33 pOUhdS, tWo or three of them running over 5 pounds. 
He caught eleven in all that morning, and caught theni 
all fishing deep along the edges of a bar, Whif.h WaS 
shown to him by a youthful boathlah, who was the best 
oarsman he could find that morning. It was a cloudy 
and yety foligh day, just the kind of a. day which stirs 
up the big mouths and sets them on the feed. This 
angler did not anchor his boat, but poked around over 
the bars, fishing with the frog in 8 to 12 feet of water- 
His string of bass was a very good onei 
Peealfafiti^S o! Fifeh, 
1 pfesuWe thei-e will be no end to the disctission of 
the whims, moods and fancies of game fishes. The 
salmon anglers tell us of the moods of the salmon which 
will set them on the rise all at oiice, although for hoUrS 
and days they may have been proof agkinsl all wiig&. 
Evety one knows the whims of the small-mouthed blaclc 
bass and of the brook troUt. To-day at the Wishininne 
Club several of the membets were talking of these 
things Mayor Harrison was present and went on t6 
describe a little experience which he had on the Salmon 
Trout River with a toad and a trout. He said that he 
stopped at a pool where he and his boatman saW a 
number of good trout w»hich for a long time resisted 
all kmds of feathered fascinations. The boatman catight 
a big toad on the bank, and just for the fun of it. Mr. 
Harrison threw it in among these trout. They let it 
alone for some minutes. At length a big trout begail 
edging its way toward it slowly, as though half a mind 
to take it in. As this big fdlow did so, another fish 
back of him made a lightning-like dart and swallowed 
the toad, moying off like a flash. This fish was landed 
and weighed 3^^ pounds. Shortly after, as the guide 
and angler sat at lunch, Mr, Harrison threw his toad, 
which was now dead and much disfigured, into the 
pool, more to keep his leader wet than in the hope of 
catching any fish. While they were eating, all at oflCe 
the line began to run out again, A second trout had 
taken the toad, by this time dead and not attractive. 
This fish was lost by the patting of a leader when the 
strike was made. 
Mr. Harrison related an incident on somewhat similar 
lines m regard to a bass whoSe moiinted skin adorns 
his boudoir. "1 caiigrht this bass below a dam on the 
Sturgeon RiVer," said he. "The water was not very 
deep find was clear, and looking down into it, we could 
See numbers of bass there. They would not touch aiiy 
kind of fly or lure, do the best We Cotiid. At length I 
took a live frog and placed a heavy bullet on the line 
so as to sink the bait dbwn to the bottom where the * 
fish were Ij'ing. The sinker was so heavy that Mr. Frog 
could not pull it, so he concluded to sit down quietly 
on the bottom, and did so, directly in the middle of the 
bunch of bass. They looked at him indifferently, once 
m a while a big fellow taking a sort of circle around 
him lazily, as though to get a better look. None of the 
bass made any attempt to strike at the frog for several 
minutes. I lay there with my face close to the water 
for perhaps 7 or 8 minutes or so, when I saw the head 
of a. big bass project from under the apron of the dam. 
He seemed to be looking at the frog. At length he 
came out, slowly and deliberately walked up to the frog 
as though he would smell of it, turned around and went 
back under the dam. He did this once or twice, but 
seemed to take no more interest in the frog than any 
of the other bass had. All at once, for no apparent rea- 
son, he came out from under the apron like a streak of 
greased lightning, and both grabbed and swallowed that 
frog in one motion. In about one more motion I had 
him on the bank. The incident seemed to me so pe- 
culiar that I had the fish mounted." 
Here is proof enough of my often advanced conten- 
tion that you can make almost any trout bite if you keep 
on hammering away at him, even with a fly. What the 
motive is which induces a fish at length to rush at a 
bait in this way is something left for science to dis- 
cover, but that they will do so much as above described 
is easily established from the experiences of many an<^. 
lers. ° 
Back from Wisconsin. 
By the way, the two gentlemen above mentioned ac-' 
companied by Mr. Wm. ElHcott and Col. Bill Flaskell. 
recently enjoyed a very pleasant trip on Manitowish 
range of Wisconsin. Mayor Harrison was fortunate 
enough to get one muscallunge of 18 pounds, with others 
smaller, 9 pounds, 8 pounds, etc. This only after fish- 
ing several different lakes. Mr. Harrison d-d some bass 
fishing and reports a delightful time. Col. Haskell dis- 
tinguished himself by capturing a live muskrat, which 
he calmly picked up by the tail after wading out into 
the water where the rat was disporting itself. Had this 
fact not been witnessed by gentlemen of approved char- 
acter, this story would have been laughed to scorn as 
that of one seeking only to add to his already resplen- 
dent reputation as a gentleman of inventive turn of 
mind, 
Atligator in Chicago River, 
Whether the saurians of the Mississippi Delta have 
taken advantage of the waterway now existing between 
Chicago and New Orleans is a matter not fully estab- 
lished. Yet day before yesterday a couple of gentle- 
men saw an alligator swimming in the Chicago River. 
It was captured after an exciting adventure, in which 
one of the discoverers got a soaking in the river. The 
creature was about two or three feet long. There is no 
place which surpasses Chicago as a big game center, as 
I am sure a close study of these columns for the past 
few years will have convinced any reader. 
Muscallunge in 'WiECoosiQ, 
The muscallunge game grows more and more of a 
specslative nature every year. Nb one can depend on 
catdiing a 'lunge any more. The Turtle Lake region 
has produced six 'lunge this year, each of which weighed 
over 30 pounds. I have already mentioned the little St. 
Germarine fish weighing 4? pounds, caught twd wfefeks 
