JVLY 19, 1902.J 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
51 
captured and set tip as a horrid example of greediness. 
Therefore, let yottr spoon of minftow he in proportion to 
the game which you expect to get. This is something 
which the heginnet must learn, and perhaps there is no 
better way than to Consult a first-class tackle dealer, hut it 
is better to err on the side of snlallness. whether of- 
Spoon or minnow, 
In trolling from a hoat, use an ordinary trout or hass 
bait rod— a fly-rod is hatdly the thing if the fish are 
large. Row slowlj', with just^ enough motion to spin 
the spoon well, and you can judge of this by putting 
it over the side and watching it. The slower the better, 
if the spoon spins and glitters well. 
These remarks apply to all of this family, and therefore 
there is no need of repeating them for the pike and 
mascalonge. Having fed all these fishes in the confine- 
ment of aquaria, and watched them take live minnows, 
it may be pardoned if I say just how all the pike family 
approach and take their prey. When they are very 
hungry the}^ will make a sudden rush from below and 
seize the living minnow and then retire with it to con- 
sider the next move. Then, if it has been taken cross- 
wise, or tail first, it is ejected and turned so as to be 
taken head first. Avhen the fins and scales lie in the 
proper manner to slip down easily. 
If, however, the pike or pickerel is nOt hungry, but 
would take a little something if it looked tempting, the 
tactics are different. There is no sudden rush ; the game 
is pointed as a setter points a woodcock. There is no 
motion of the body, nor of that propeller which we call 
a caudal fin, but a wary motion of the dorsal and anal 
fins sends the fish slowly ahead, while its eye glitters with 
suppressed excitement. The distance is gauged, there is 
a rush, a flash, and the minnow or spoon is engulfed. 
If using a spoon the angler knows whether his game 
is hooked or not, and that the fish cannot eject the bait 
if it would ; and then, after a short struggle, the fish 
yields. In describing how a pickerel, which is not hun- 
gry, approaches a fish, the only object is to warn the 
angler not to row too fast and thereby pass too quickly 
from the field in which a pickerel or other member of 
the family wishes to approach its prey. 
There is a gang on gut or gimp, consisting of a lip 
hook for the minnow and a hook to be carried over its 
back and inserted under the dorsal fin, and then one of a 
triplet is hooked into the tail in a way to bend the min- 
now and thereby give it a semi-rotary motion. It is a 
most murderous combinati-on, but none too severe for this 
cannibalistic family. 
A stiff cane is used for this work, and should be from 
18 to 20 feet long in order to cast 30 feet, and then 
"skitter" a minnow on the surface of the water. I have, 
used a ringed Limerick hook, size 4-0, but do not know- 
why this has been preferred further than that it was the 
first hook I used for the work, and so to use it has be- 
come a habit. To-day, if a change was made, it would be 
for the more modern turn-down eye Pennell hook of that 
size, or of a size larger. A foot of gimp or of piano wire 
should connect the hook with the line. The minnow or 
frog should be hooked through both lips, and it is merci- 
ful to pierce the brain with a knife, because the bait is 
as good dead as alive, and it is cruel to kill it by such 
lough usage as skittering. 
From the shore the bait should be cast into open places 
among the weeds, but from a boat the angler should stand 
in the bow and cast ahead into unbroken water. 
A good bait rod and reel are the proper . tools, and a 
live minnow hooked just under the dorsal fin, or a frog 
hooked firmly in the muscle of a hindleg, near the back- 
bone, is the best of baits. If a float is used it should 
allow the bait only three feet to go down, unless the water 
is over ten feet deep, because all of this tribe seek prey 
that is above them, as is denoted by their lower jaw 
being longest. A float is a nuisance when a reel is used, 
but is one of those evils which we sometimes term 
"necessary." 
When a pickerel seizes a spoon hook it is either well 
hooked or lost at the moment of contact, as the fish 
knows at once that it has made a mistake, and will get rid 
cf the combination of steel and other ingredients if 
possible. With a minnow or frog it is different. The 
pickerel may take it crosswise in its mouth and run to 
cover with it. Let him run and have time to gloat over 
his prize, eject it, and take it head on and pouch it. 
This may consume some minutes, during which there is 
no sign of life at the far end of the line. Wait. After 
the bait is fairly down the pickerel moves and finds itself 
fast, and then the angler may begin the fight with no 
danger of drawing the bait away and alarming its game by 
a premature movement. 
Pifce Fishfng. 
The same methods are used for pike as for pickerel. 
Their habits are mucb the same, and they are found in 
similar waters. For the larger fish we must use larger 
hooks and baits. Where pike of ten pounds may be 
looked for, a 7-0 hook or larger is the right size, and the 
minnow should be five or six inches long, frogs in propor- 
tion. Spoons are made in so many shapes (and the 
makers have a scale of sizes of their own) that the angler 
must work out this problem of size. 
There are spoon- baits in great variety, and all of them 
will catch weeds, some more than others, and the angler 
must reel up occasionally to look for weeds, since a bit 
of green weed on spoon or minnow tells your game that 
it is an undesirable morsel, for the fish knows that no 
living minnow or frog drags weeds with it. 
Both pike and pickerel are taken through the ice with 
live baits, and this is the only winter sport of the fresh- 
water angler. Many holes are cut and , the lines are 
attached to "tip-ups," which signal the fact that a fish 
is hooked. 
MascaloDge. 
It is in the Great Lakes where this king of the pike 
family grows to its greatest size, but with an increased 
population they do not live long enough to attain their 
maximum weight. The clear waters of the Thousand 
Islands, at the head of the St. Lawrence River, is a 
famous place for them, but their numbers have greatly de- 
creased in late years. It is a gamier fighter -than its 
relative, the pike, and coming from clearer waters it is a 
better table fisfi. 
It is mainly caught by trolUng the minnow or the 
spoon, with an eight-foot bait rod, a multiplying reel, and 
too yards of goocl cuttyhunk bass line. The best seasons 
for mascalonge are in June and again in September and 
October. All fish weighing over ten pounds should be 
gaffed ; the landing net is too light for them. 
Maine and Elsewhere. 
Boston, July 11.— George J. Raymond, J. J. Munroe, 
S. R. Raymond and F. N. Ganong recently made up a 
Boston fishing party to Sunapee Lake. They caught 
about thirty bass; all on the fly; none were very large, 
but "it was rare .sport to catch the gamy fellows." They 
also caught a number of the aureolus trout, for which 
Sunapee Lake is celebrated. They describe these trout 
as very beautiful and weighing from ^ of a pound to 
3 pounds. The fishermen were much pleased with boat- 
man I. P. Rawson. who took them out. They found 
him a boatman or guide worth having. This is written 
to give other guides a hint, if they desire to please their 
patrons. The boat was large, roomy and very steady; 
painted pure white and most scrupulously clean. The 
whole inside was lined with stout canvas. The seats 
were armchairs, with legs sawn off and mounted on 
springs, with spring bottom und»r the cushions. In 
the lockers that were under the seats Was to be found 
everything to make the sportsman happy. Rubber cloth- 
ing was ready in case of a storniv One of the boys sug- 
gested that he wished he had brought a straw hat, as 
the sun was hot. Behold the locker came open and 
there were straw hats. All softs of fishing tackle were 
on the boat; rods, with neatly arranged rod rests, for 
trolling. Guide Rawson was suggestive, but not ofii- 
cious. If the fish did not take a certain fly after a fair 
trial, he would say: "Now let us try this fly." Then, 
if the fisherman was agreed, he would deftly make the 
change. For all this service, boat and alt, ^yith four in 
the boat, his charge was the very moderate one of $3 
per day. Verily, it is in the power of the guide to make 
the sportsman happy. 
Mrs. Frank L. Hosmer, of Baldwinsville, Mass., has 
just made the champion bass catch of the season — a 
beauty of 4 pounds w;eight, from Queen Lake in Tem- 
pi eton. At the Upper Dam Mr. L. A. Reese recently 
landed in one and a half hours 43 pounds of fish: three 
trout and the balance salmon, fifteen fish in all, includ- 
ing one of over 5 pounds. Mr. Eugene Lynch, of Bos- 
ton, is back again from the Upper Dam with a record 
of ten fish, all taken on the fly. J. S. Doan, of Boston, 
and J. C. Morgan, of Norwich, have both made good 
records. 
Mr. N. G. Manson and Mrs. Manson, of Weston, 
went up to Camp Leatherstocking, Richardson Lake, 
last week, where they make their summer home. About 
the first morning in camp Mr. Manson rose at 4 o'clock 
to look at the weather. What was his surprise to see a 
big bull moose, not 75 feet away, quietly nibbling the 
grass and twigs in front of the camp. Watching the 
ungainly beast did not seem to alarm him in the least, 
and all hands were aroused and had a good look. Mr. 
Manson writes that "he looked the property all over 
leisurely, with the suggestion from his big eyes that he 
might come again. Then trotted quietly awaj^ and into 
the woods." 
Boston, July 14. — Mr. Felix Taussig, a Boston 
fisherman who lives at Sharon, fished Lake Massapoag 
on the Fourth, and as the result took over to the store 
of his firm four bass, one of 2^^, one of 31/^. one of 414 
and one of sJ4 pounds. Mr. F. A. Perry had his Fourth 
of July fishing at Black Brook, Lake Road, above An- 
dover, Me. Sportsmen who formerly went into the 
Rangeley region by way of Andover, will remember 
this brook as one of the best trout brooks in Maine. 
Though in the deep woods, it is near to the Lake Road 
for nearly eight miles. Large and full of pools and deep 
gorges, it is naturally full of trout, but excessive fish- 
ing had reduced it to almost utter depletion, till up to 
six or eight years ago, when it was legally closed to all 
fishing for all but three days in a week. This amount 
of protection has seemed to partlj'- restore the trout. 
Mr. Perry fished from the Bridge up to the Devil's 
Den, about three miles, and took thirty-five handsome 
trout. Some were up to pound weight. He hears of 
trout being taken from that brook this year_ of over 
I pound, and a good many of them. But Andover has 
a good many trout fishermen, beside a country for miles 
below, from which fishermen drive with teams in great 
numbers. Even the women of that section are fishing 
the brooks. One Andover woman has a record of 1,000 
trout taken at different times this year; mostly from 
Sawyer Brook, which comes into that town. Mr. L. O. 
Crane and Mrs. Crane, of Boston, at the Megantic 
Preserve, write that the fishing is good, though the 
water is stifl high from constant rains. At L Pond Mr. 
Crane had a catch of thirty trout at one trip, nearly 
all of which were returned to the water. 
The Maine Sportsmen's Fish and Game Association 
spent the most of last week in a session at Kineo, 
Moosehead Lake. The most important feature of the 
session was the meeting of Monday evening when the 
question was discussed. "How Shall Money Be Raised 
for the Protection and Propagation of Fish and Game?" 
This opened the hunters' license question full blast, and 
nobody was there to say much in opposition to the im- 
posing of such a license. The Hon. J. F. Sprague read 
a paper in which he pointed out all the necessity of 
more money and what seemed to him to be the utter 
impossibility of raising any more from taxation. He 
then attempted to show how admirably a system of tax- 
ing outside sportsmen would work. He forgot to sug- 
gest that it is optional with a sportsman, who does not 
live in Maine, whether he goes to that State for hunt- 
ing or not; that already the tax is tremendous on those 
who have been in the habit of going there; that thou- 
sands are now kept out of that State by the cost; that 
the imposition of a further tax, especially in the form 
of an obnoxious license, that must be paid whether the 
hunter is successful or not, will tend to keep thousands 
more away. He seemed to forget that the great ma- 
jority of those who have heretofore gone to Maine to 
hunt are not bondholders and aristocrats with "money 
to burn." If he could be thrown among sportsmen 
outside of Maine as I am thrown among them, through 
meeting them in a bu.siness away almost every day in 
the year, he would soon learn that the only sportsmen 
^f that class who favor a license system in Maine are 
the few who happen to have wealth and are willing to 
pay for a license to hunt themselves in order to keep the 
rabble of hunters away. He did not touch upon the 
fact that Maine's worst enemies of her fish and game 
dwell within her borders, whom he does not propose 
to touch with his license system. What would Mr. 
Sprague think of a Boston dry goods store that should, 
with a body of keepers at the doors, attempt to tax 
everybody who came in to look at goods, simply be- 
cause through mismanagement or otherwise, the store 
was not paying? He would say, better by far let every- 
body come in freely and get the needed money from the 
goods sold; that is, tax the sportsmen, residents of the 
State, not living in the immediate locality, as well as 
non-residents, for the game actually obtained. If 
Maine wants to get revenue from her big game, for 
greater protection, then let her go about it in a business- 
like way. Lgt her great men look thoroughly into the 
license .systems of other States and see that as a system 
for producing revenue they have proved almost an utter 
failure. 
It is a curious fact that the proposition discussed 
somewhat at the Kineo meeting, to make a law not 
permitting the carrying of firearms into the woods in 
close season did not meet With favor. One man argued 
that a rifle is just as necessary at a camp as a frying 
pan or water bucket. Necessary for what? 
The summer boarder and tourist are more in order at 
many of the Maine fishing resorts now than the fisher- 
man. Still, there are reports of good fly-fishing at 
Moosehead. Some good catches are being made at 
some of the Rangeley resorts. At Bald Mountain 
camps and at the new camps on the Decker Purchase 
there are a number of expert fishermen. Mr. C. A. 
Robinson, of South Windham, formerly a devotee o£ 
Sebago salmon fishing, has built a fine. cottage on that 
purchase this year. His last record was two salmon, 
one of syi and the other 5 pounds. He has also a trout 
record for the same days, four, from 2f4 pounds to 4 
pounds. Mr. E. B. Newton, of Boston, has a camp 
there, built this year. His trout and salmon record is 
good. Mr. L. A. Reese, of Philadelphia, has lately made 
another fishing record at the Middle Dam, Richardson 
Lake: Trout, 2 and 3% pounds; salmon, 2, 3^, 3, 2%, 
2. 2, 2}i and 4 pounds. Other fishermen are making 
good records there. The Pond-in-the-River is proving 
a good fishing ground with the present high water. 
Special. 
— — 
Some Canine Epitaphs. 
Here are some epitap)is and elegies of departed dogs. Otliers 
will be given in later issues; and the series, as indicated by the 
present installment,, covers a wide range of time and pla*;e; 
I. — The Dog's Grave. 
Soft lie the turf on those who find their rest 
Here on our common mother's ample breast. 
Unstained by meanness, avarice and pride. 
They never flattered and they never lied; 1 
No gluttonous excess their slumber broke, 
No burning alcohol, no stifling smoke. 
They ne'er intrigued a rival to displace. 
They ran, but never betted on a race; 
Content with harmless sports and moderate food, 
Boundless in love, and faith, and gratitude. 
Happy the man, if there be any such. 
Of whom his epitaph can say as much. 
— Lord Sherbrooke. 
II —Bosh. 
In memoir of a true friend, pure and honest, an example to 
humanity, more honorable than the Star or Garter, a simple canine 
whose remains are interred at the root of this maple trees, by its 
owner, G. F. Dyer. 
Here lies a dog that was almost a man, murdered by a man who 
was almost a brute. This faithful dog— 
"Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been 
So clear to his that his virtues ; 
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against 
The deep damnation of his taking off." 
His name is Bush, a dutiful companion of his owner, murdered 
by a Fien-d 
July 26th, 1889. 
The Dog was superior to its Assassin. It had a Pedigree. 
G. F. D. 
Ill —Poor LUtlc Boxer. 
In the pets' cemetery of Marlborough House, where are buried 
several of the pets of the King and Queen : 
A true friend! Man or dog, what name 
Could more win love or more enhance his fame? 
Through burning desert and the midnight fray, 
Where his fond master led the glorious way, ] 
He bravely followed, and with mtite caress : 
Cheered both his labors and his idleness. 
A miscreant slew him, none were near to save; 
Let kindly tears bedew his honored 'grave, ' 
And fairest fingers twine his funeral wreath; ' 
A faithful comrade is at rest Jaeneath. 
IV.— At the Barial of a Dog. 
Small friend, of faithful heart and liquid eyes, 
We give thee to our Mother Earth again. 
And thank thee for thy friendship. We are men 
Who pride ourselves that we are very wise; 
We throw our glances upward to the skies. 
Yet cannot tell what death is. Even when 
Thy little spark of life escapes our ken. 
We're left to grope in sad and blind surmise, 
Dear dead companion, would that thou couldst know 
What human tears are shed above thy grave! 
How human-like We felt thy love to be! 
How much to us thou wast, in weal and woe! 
Thon merry, curious, willing little slave, 
Hfllf human, wondrous, wond'ring mystery! 
—Arthur Ratisom, 
