890 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Nov. IS, igo2. 
soon had a good breakfast prepared, which we felt sorely 
in need of. The three squirrels, a pot of mush, and the 
grapes were all eaten up clean before we had enough, 
and again we were compelled to take up the questicn 
of something to eat. ' Lewis Hopkins, 
[to be continued.] 
Fish and Fishing. 
Eaglfsb Fishicg Bafts. 
While the art of flj'-fishing. and particularly that 
branch of it relating to dry fly-fishing attains to no higher 
perfection anywhere than in England, it is astonishing to 
many American readers of British angling literature to 
note the vast araovmt of attention and space devoted 
therein to the subject of angling for coarse fish. Of 
course there are thousands of British lovers of the gentle 
art, who have no possible opportunity to indulge in the 
luxury of angling for what are known as sporting fishes, 
and to these the catching of chub and carp and barbel is 
sport indeed. But there are some fishermen, even among 
those who have occasional access to trout streams, who 
pride themselves upon their skill and success in luring 
the silvery roach and dace and chub to their baited hooks. 
Fully as much discussion is indulged in as to the relative 
value of different kinds of paste for bait, as one hears 
on the banks of a Canadian salmon river in regard to the 
killing qualities of the various flies which adorn the fisher- 
man's books. There are pastes made directly from flour 
and others from freshly baked bread. There are some 
mixed with honey and others with cheese. Some are 
flavored with one drug and some with another. In some 
cases cotton wool is mixed with the paste to prevent it 
from washing too easily from the hook. Some anglers 
use the maggots from a wasp's nest and others those 
known as gentles, which are obtained by leaving a piece 
of meat out of doors to be blown upon by flies. Others 
fish with cherries, and some again with haws and other 
berries. To those who have not been accustomed to the 
different baits employed by British anglers in their coarse 
fishing, the various reports in the sporting papers of the 
relative success obtained by these different baits must 
prove very amusing reading. 
Tickliog Tfoot. 
I very well remember, when a small boy in one of the 
midland counties of England, the sense of admiration 
which I entertained, in common with a number of youth- 
ful fishing companions, for an old man — I suppose now 
that I should be justified in calling him an old poacher — 
who captured large trout from a brook by quietly taking 
them in his hands from their usual haimts beneath over- 
hanging roots or rocks. He told us that all we had to 
do was to tickle the trout and that they would make no 
effort to escape. The trouble with we boys was that the 
trout never waited around to be tickled by us, and of 
course the old man smiled atour lack of success, but never 
initiated us into the secret of unobtrusively approaching 
the wary fish from behind, while keeping thoroughly con- 
cealed from their view. We practiced upon minnows, 
with which we became somewhat successful, so long as 
they were cornered in a minute bay of very shallow water ; 
but when it came to the turn of Sahno fario, we were 
simply not in it at all. Since that time I haVe heard and 
read many descriptions of trout tickling, none of which, 
however, "are more practical than one at present j^efore 
me, in a new book entitled "Sport Indeed," from the pen 
of Thomas Martindale. Speaking of trout tickling in the 
River Wear, in Durham, he says : "This is how the 
tickling is done. The fish are watched working their 
way up the shallows and rapids. When they come to 
the shelter of a ledge or a rock it is their nature to shde 
under it and rest. The poacher sees the edge of a fin or 
the moving of a tail, or maj-be he sees neither ; instinct, 
however, tells him a fish ought to be there, so he takes 
to the water very softly and carefully and stands up near 
the spot. Then he Jcneels on one knee and passes his 
hand, turned with fingers up, deftly under the rock until 
it comes in contact with the fish's tail. Then he begins the 
tickling with his forefinger, gradually running his hand 
along the fish's belly further and further toward the head 
until it is under the gills. Then comes a quick grasp, a 
struggle, and the prize is wrenched out of his natural 
element, stunned with a blow on the head, and landed in 
the pocket of the poacher." Salmon, as well as trout, are 
tickled bv poachers in some of the north country rivers, 
and as neither tackle nor tool of any kind is employed by 
them, it is often difficult to secure their conviction. 
The practice of trout tickling was not unknown to 
Shakespeare, who makes mention of "groping for trouts m 
a peculiar river," and causes Maria to exclaim m "Twelfth 
Night, "Here comes the trout that must be caught by 
tickling." So Beaumont and Fletcher, in "Rule a Wife 
and Have a Wife," written about 1624, place m the mouth 
of one of their characters this line, "Here comes another 
trout that I must tickle, and tickle daintily." Both Oppian 
and .Elian refer to the snaring of trout by tickling them 
with the hand, as practiced in their age. .^lian's ac- 
count of the proceeding is that "men wade m the sea 
when the water is low, and stroking the fish nestling m 
the pools, suddenly lay hands upon and secure them. 
Oppian's description is as follows: 
"The fish in careless ease supinely laid, 
The grappling fingers of the swain invade. 
Up from the deep he springs, and bids the prey 
■Recant his error in aerial day." 
Fish Planting in the Great Lakes- 
It is doubtful whether any expenditure by the Govern- 
ments of the United States and the Dominion of Canada 
is attended by so large a return as that made for the 
purpose of maintaining and replenishing the fish life of 
the Great Lakes. When the Joint Commission of the 
United States and Canada on these fisheries, which re- 
ported in i8g6, was appointed, over-fishing in the lakes 
and a disregard of the close seasons, had done their deadly 
work to such an extent that the commercial fisheries, 
which have been estimated by a recent writer to exceed 
n\ value the importance of these waters as a vast highway 
of traffic, notwithstanding that the volume of freight 
passing through the canals at the Soo exceeds twenty 
niilUons of tons per snnwm, were in danger of totgl 4?- 
struction. Those who are interested in the details of the 
great work which has been done by the National Govern- 
ment during the last six or seven years, for the preserva- 
tion and improvement of these fisheries, will find them in 
the annual reports of the U. S. Fish Commission; but in 
reading a magazine article the other day by Mr. W. S. 
Harwood, I was much struck with one of the illustrations 
furnished by him of the vast returns derived from the 
work of the Commission. "During last season," he says, 
"the Commission deposited 19,000,000 trout and 326,000,- 
000 whitefish in the Great Lakes. The average cost per 
million for gathering the whitefish, as shown by one of 
the principal hatcheries — at Put-in-Bay, O. — was $I3.Q5- 
Allowing this figure for the entire whitefish collection 
would bring the cost vip to $4,500. I do not suppose any 
one can give any accurate estimate of the number of these 
healthy fish — for only the strong and healthy ones are 
distributed — which Avill survive, but should one-half of 
them reach a si.x-pound maturity, their value at low cur- 
rent prices will be $ioo,ooo,@oo." From what other sowing 
may such a harvest — an increase of over twenty thousand- 
fold—be reaped? E. T. D. Ch.^mbers. 
Stray Notes in Fishing. 
The man who knows all that can be learned about 
fly-fishing has yet to be born. 
We have met a few anglers who thought they knew 
it all, but. these have ustially been sages of one season. 
A, fisherman who has passed a long life on one trout 
river may become wonderfully expert in luring its 
finny inhabitants, bitt will occasionally learn some new 
wrinkle foreign to his experience. . 
Eye hooks are slowly making their way in this coun- 
try. If the eyes of all that are imported were properly 
made they would probably be more popular. 
The eye of the Pennell hook, which is intended for 
the jam knot attachment, should be just large enough 
for the gut to pass through freely, otherwise it is not 
really a safe fastening. 
When hooks with large eyes are used the gut should 
be passed through twice and a 'single knot made round 
the main line. If the gut is not perfectly soft it is 
sure to be chafed in slipping this knot down to the eye 
and pulling it tight. The old figure of eight knot used 
for salmon flies is perhaps a better attachment. 
Some of the Hall turned-up-eyed hooks are made of 
fine wire, and in the larger sizes are apt to spring. We 
remember losing several good fish through this fault, 
and are not reconciled yet to the loss of one of these, 
a noble rainbow trout. 
We found many of the eyed hooks called long May's 
— they are made for May flies — over-tempered and 
brittle. Three were broken in fish on one occasion, 
when we were using the dry fly over a school of very 
shy trout. It was one of those hot humid days when it 
takes all j'ou know to get a rise. 
Eyed hooks are certainly best for dry flies, buf it is 
questionable whether they fall as lightly on the water 
as flies tied on tapered shanks. It is easy to tie flies 
on them, and the body can be made very neat and slim. 
We have found the true Pennell excellent for hooking 
and holding.' 
It seems impossible for hook makers to stick to ex- 
actly one form in any brand of hook. Three years ago 
we thought that we had got perfect Sproats at last. 
Each year since the shanks have been made shorter, 
until now many hooks in each box are useless. The 
bend has also been changed a trifle every year. 
Many hooks are too cheap to be good. We have 
seen good-looking Sproats for sale as low as fifteen cents 
per box of 100. Competition must be very keen in 
the business of making fishing tackle of all kinds, but 
nearly all anglers are willing to pay a fair price for re- 
liable articles. 
Fond as we are of sport, very few Americans make 
it the first object in life as we hear is done on the other 
side of the big sea water. The seasons on various 
rivers over there run in such a way that salmon can be 
fished for nine months in the year, and some men do it. 
It would be delightful to spend spring, summer and 
fall in the United Kingdom and take in all the fishing 
resorts of which we have read or heard, The chalk 
streams of England, the lakes and rivers of Scotland and 
Ireland. The latter must have been quite a sportsman'% 
paradise not so many years ago. 
It is quite possible to have fishing too good. We 
experienced something of the kind in Maine many years 
ago. We found on our arrival at the first lake that the 
camp keeper had buried a large quantity of trout that 
morning. We dragged a floating box about after that 
and in reeling up would take a look at the fish, then 
return them to the water. Trout were served to us 
three times a day for weeks, and we have seldom eaten 
one since. At a hotel in Wisconsin, situated near cele- 
brated fishing, we saw nearly half a ton of fine black 
bass going to waste. So many were brought in daily 
that they could not be used. 
High up on the Asiatic shore of the Pacific are 
many rivers so crowded with salmon and other migra- 
tory fish that they are crowded out on the shores and 
shallows in thousands. The stench of decaying fish can 
be smelt four miles away.. (See the "Cruise of the 
Marchesa," a book well \vorth reading, we may be al- 
lowed to observe.) 
Sport does not necessarily consist in taking great 
numbers of fish. If trout in any water run small, for 
instance, the excitement is in getting many rises and 
skill is shown in striking. A few fish of good size on 
a shy water will satisfy any angler of a reasonable tun; 
of mind. 
That is one benefit, at least, that we have derived from 
the introduction of the brown trout (Sahno fario). We 
catch larger fish and the/average is much better than it 
was in the days of exclusive brook trout. 
The prejudice that certainly existed against fario at 
one time appears to have passed almost entirely away. 
This fish grows very rapidly and seems to thrive every- ' 
where, not only in this country but in Australia and : 
New Zealand. _ We have seen some very large speci- ] 
mens, and its size seems to be only a question of water 
and food supply. This is largely the case with all trout, ] 
but monsters of this species are sometimes found in 
small brooks. 
Nearly every one has heard of the big fish that had • 
its home in the abutment of a bridge near Big Indian j 
Station in the Catskiils. We have been favored with 
many estimates of the weight of this fish from 4 to 7 • 
pounds mostly, and have had notice of his death many 
times, recently that he had been shot. We have often 
watched this fish when out of his hole, and can bear 
witness that he was an ugly, blacky big headed brute. 
There were other fish there, however, one not so large, , 
but a real beauty. ; 
These big trout haunt the same pool for many years 
ar.d are quite safe if they have a retreat at hand under 1 
great rocks, the abutments of bridges, the aprons of old 1 
dams and other inaccessible places, otherwise they are ' 
sure to be foully dealt with, as there are always some 
persons whose covetousness is so aroused by the sight 
of any fish of unusual size, that they will resort to un- 
lawful measures to possese them. | 
If the Avater is perfectly clear and smooth, large trout 
n;ay be actually run down or hunted to death even in 
pools of considerable size, if they have no hole to slip 
into. They become blown or lose their heads com- 
pletely, and will lie at last like stones upon the bottom. 
They are then easily snared. This may be doubted by 
niany persons, but we saw the thing done many years ago 
in a large pool in the Neversink River. 
This is one of those "white" water streams, and clear 
as possible. Two farmers were snaring suckers, Avhen 
they discovered three large trout, which they determined 
to have. When we saw them they were beating the 
v^atcr and chasing the trout from one end of the pool to 
the other. There was but one place under shelving rocks 
where the trout could really hide, and this was not deep 
enough to prevent their being poked out. We passed 
on to our fishing, never dreaming that these fish were in 
real danger. On returning to our quarters that night we 
learned that three great trout had been captured. These ' 
were from the first planting of brown trout, about 1886. 
We believe that trout can observe a strict fast for 
lengthy periods of time. Black bass are said to fast more 
and more freely as the temperature of the water rises. 
The habits of trout are different, warm water having an 
enervating effect. We have seen them apparently glued 
to the bottom for many days in summer, the movement 
of the gills being so slight as to be scarcely perceptible. 
A good deal of minnow fishing has been practiced of 
recent years, and some very large trout have t)een taken 
with helgramites. Early in July this season, several big 
fish were taken under the dam at Henryville, Pa., with 
this bait. 
Trout become very timid when the water is low, but 
if a freshet causes them to effect a change of base, they 
feed freely and may be readily taken. When a big fish is 
strong on the feed he becomes very bold and loses his 
usual caution to a considerable extent. We have had trout 
of over six pounds take the fly within fifteen feet of our 
position. 
Our native brook trout is not in the habit of leaping 
v,'hen hooked; rainbow trout do so constantly, and are 
one of the gamest fish in the world. If the water is warm 
brown trout are apt to be sulky; no fish is more exasperat- 
ing than a trout that will not fight. It is very apt to 
escape, as it preserves all its strength imtil the last mo- 
ment. Brown trout show great spirit if the temperature 
of the Water is fairly low. We used to think that they 
did not leap, but have since had days when nearly every 
fish left the water at least once. Many anglers think 
that this fish plays more tricks than the brook trout. It 
is surely a game adversary. 
It is said that if brook and brown trout, of the_ same 
size, are cooked together, there is no difference in the 
flavor. A blind-folded person will enjoy one as much as 
the other. We think that big trout should be boiled. 
Some of these are almost equal to salmon, cooked and 
served in the usual way. 
Fly-fishing affords an endless .field for speculation, ob- 
servation, and study. We are always learning something.' 
This is no doubt the reason why it rarely loses its fascina- 
tions for us, even in old age. Christopher North (Pro-; 
fessor Wilson) had his fly-books brought to him when on 
his death bed. and he would wade and fish when he could' 
walk only with the assistance of a cane. 
Sir Humphrey Davy's greatest regret was that he had 
not learned the art of flj'-fishing until after he reached 
the age of fifty. 
We wish that anglers generally were more interested in 
entomology than they are. When trying to make a good 
imitation of a particular fly we have frequently sent several 
-different shades to friends for trial. They are usually so 
much interested in taking fish that they fail to note which 
fly is most successful, or use it until completely worn 
out. We have heard that the water flies of the far Westi 
are peculiarly interesting, some species being very abun-' 
dant at certain seasons of the year. 
