FOREST AND STREAM 
[April 29, 1905. 
Mi»IMMISI!M]nKf(B 
Log of the Mystery t 
{Concluded from Page 817.) 
Thursday, Feb. 2. — Partly cloudy; warm; wind very 
light, southwest. Left Shark River before breakfast. 
Up coast; stopped Pavilion Key, 20 miles north, for 
clams. Tide too high. Bay full of big drum fish, show- 
ing fins above surface. Roberts speared three, 20, 10 
and 8 pounds. I shot at two, but did not fetch them. 
Kept on north. Saw great flocks of pelicans on sand 
bars and reefs, touched on shoals off Cape Romano, but 
did not stick. Reached Marco channel about 5 P. M. 
Stuck on bar outside. Got off and made entrance all 
right. Grounded again in river, pulled ofif and dropped 
anchor off Marco P. O. Half a dozen houses and good 
sized hotel and store. Mailed letters, and were given 
New York papers to Jan. 30, and invited to sup- 
per, but declined; clothes not good enough for ladies' 
society. Shot at flock of ducks, but , got none. Shall 
get a few supplies and may stay here for a day if fishing 
and shooting good. Mailed letters. No mosquitoes. 
Good night. 
Friday, Feb. 3. — Fog at sunrise. Light showers once 
or twice during morning. Caught fiddlers on point; 
great droves of them there. Went up creek and caught 
three red drum (channel bass) about 2 pounds each. 
Struck a great sheepshead hole. Caught a dozen, from 
3 pounds to I, and stopped because I wouldn't catch 
more. They are very light biters, and great bait 
stealers. Trask caught half a dozen and stopped. We 
gave all we could not use to. hotel. Got some fruit, 
beans, etc. Roberts grained a whip ray, about 2ft. 
across. Started for Punta Rassa, noon. Pelicans and 
porpoises all the way. Many dead fish floating— mostly 
catfish. Near Sanibel passed a loggerhead turtle close 
by, 6ft. long. Trask wanted to shoot him and Roberts 
to grain him, and the turtle woke up and dived while 
they were discussing. Saw a great devil fish jumping 
near the light. He went clear out six or seven times. 
Was eight feet long at least, and much wider than that. 
Anchored at Punta Rassa at sundown. Got letters and 
telegrams at hotel. The threatened northwest storm did 
not materialize. Starry night. 
Saturday, Feb. 4.^Partly cloudy; east wind,, light; 
cool, but pleasant. After breakfast sailed to Fort Myers 
for supplies. Sixteen miles up Caloosa River. Shot 
at many ducks, bluebills; bagged one, and had my 
glasses kicked off into the river. Got supplies, waited 
until morning for ice. Nothing doing. Caught two 
snappers off dock at Punta Rassa, small. B'luebill ducks 
in Myers Harbor amazingly tame. Shooting is pro- 
hibited there, and the ducks know it. They are wild, as 
usual, a mile away. 
Sunday, Feb. S- — Foggy; easterly wind; fairly warm. 
Ice late in coming. Left order to send it to Punta 
Rassa and sailed 9 A. M. Stopped to fish for trout. 
Caught none. Shot two bluebill ducks, and picked a 
bushel of oysters off bar — excellent. Caught a 5-pound 
sheepshead off dock at Punta Rassa, and Trask caught 
a 6-oounder. Great sport for our light rods. 
Monday, Feb. 6. — Fair; light- southwest wind; warm. 
Ice came 9 A. M. Sailed to Sanibel Light, 9:30. Picked 
up many and large variety of shells on beach, and 
caught four or five sheepshead, 4 pounds each, off dock. 
Sailed for Marco, 10:15 A. M. On beach at Sanibel 
many dead fish, killed by the late freeze. Men at Punta 
Rassa say that about all fish caught in shallow water 
were killed. Three dead sharks and a dead porpoise 
on bar. A beautiful run to Marco; light southeast 
wind. Long swell from gulf. Got to Marco at 4 P. 
M. Took in gasolene and caught fiddlers. 
Tuesday, Feb. 7. — Fair; light southeast wind; warm; 
a perfect morning. Got up before sunrise, dressed and 
rowed to shore for fiddler crabs, caught about four 
quarts in a few minutes. They covered the ground so 
as to make large brown patches on the edge of the 
mut flats, but scattered in a very lively way when ap- 
proached. It was a muddy job, but rather good fun. 
Started at 7:30, following a launch that was to make 
the run through Big Marco River, a tidal channel 
through a multitude of islets, hard to distinguish and 
follow and to find good water, for most of it is quite 
shallow and the channel swerves perplexingly from side 
to side. We scraped several times, it being dead low 
tide, but got through all right in about two hours. 
Saw many herons, ibis and ducks, and a very few of 
the rare roseate spoon-bill, called "pink curlew" here. 
A big bald eagle sat on a mangrove just as we came 
out into the open. The mangroves grow down to low 
water mark, their trunks being raised to high tide level 
on a cluster of spider-like roots. Branches and pen- 
dant roots hang to the water and are often encrusted 
with oysters, always small and not eaten where the 
bigger and better kind, which are always water-covered, 
can be had. Reached Pavilion Key about noon! I 
fished for drum with no results; could hear their croak 
all around us, but they would not bite. Grained a big 
fish in 5ft. of water. He raced around with the pole 
for two or three minutes before I got .hold of it; then 
surged mightily against my pull, and finally worked 
loose and got oflf. Must have been a 40-pounder, proba- 
bly a big drum. Grained a big stingray and lost him after 
ten minutes. Trask went out with Roberts, who grained 
four sharks and lost them all. Was pulled overboard 
by one of them. In the evening went wading for clams 
by lantern light on the big flats, left bare, or nearly 
so, by the tide. A very weird and queer experience. 
Got a few clams only. 
Wednesday Feb., 8.— Fair; warm; light easterly 
breeze. Whole crew went after clams after breakfast, 
and kept us waiting three hours, which might have 
]y&en muph better employed in running south, J 
.tramped the beach with shotgun, missed a big hawk, or 
rather failed to stop him, and saw Jiothing else. Tide 
very low, and a striking difference in the appearance 
of the island. Got under way about 9:30 for Cape 
Sable, and beyond if we can get there. 
Pleasant run to Sandy Cay. Arrived 4:30 P. M. 
Anchored one-quarter of a mile south. On shore with 
gun. No' game. Saw thirty or more great white and 
blue herons perched on one tree, and two bald eagles 
on a dead stub. Shore swarming with large horseshoe 
crabs, in clusters of from three to twelve. Trask 
MYSTERY AGROUND.' 
caught one catfish off yacht and stopped fishing. Quiet 
night; warm. Slept without a blanket for the first time. 
Thursday, Feb. 9. — One mouth, from Cleveland; 
twenty-four days from Miami. Fair, bright and very 
warm; wind southeast, light. Started at 8 A. M., for 
Indian Key. Run is among sand banks, not reaching 
the surface, the sea being entirely open, except for 
some small cays to the north, and the deepest water 
being 7ft. to 8ft. only. Passed fleet of spongers. Went 
through a narrow channel between sand banks, and 
anchored off Lignum Vitas Cay at' 2 P. M. Hunted 
crawfish in the rock holes along shore, speared 119, 
mostly big ones, and salted them down. Anchored off 
Indian Cay about 4 P- M. Caught a lot of runners 
and jacks, nothing else; very strong fighters, but worth- 
less on the table. Threw them all back. One pound to 
two. Very hot night. Slept without covering and with 
all windows open. All very restless. 
Friday, Feb. 10. — Wind S. E., light; very warm. 
Fished off boat before breakfast. Caught only run- 
ners. Saved a few for barracuda xbait. - To Alligator 
Reef after breakfast. I caught three: barracuda, 10, 15, 
18 pounds, and three Spanish mackerel, 7, 7, 4 pounds. 
Trask caught two barracuda, two groupers, one 
mackerel, about the same size, and a 2-pound parrot 
fish, green and yellow. I fished under the light for 
^PEARJNG CRAWFISH. 
snappers and hooked a good one, who instantly ran 
under one of the iron braces and broke my line. An 
impossible place. Saw a lot of them outside, but they 
wouldn't look at a hook. Sharks began to appear, so 
we rigged a shark line, baited with a chunk of bar- 
racuda, hooked and lost a 6-footer, and caught a 10- 
footer, whom Trask quieted with his big rifle. Three 
remoras were attached to it, each about 2ft. 6in. long. 
We speared them. Roberts dived for a lot of sea fans 
and a starfish — he is a great swimmer and diver. He 
hit a gray snapper with the spear, but it failed to hold. 
Back to Indian Cay about 4 P. M. I fished to-day with 
my medium-weight rod and a No. 12 line, until a big 
barracuda made a tremendous rush, and my reel over- 
ran and snarled the line. He kept quiet just then, 
and by backing the yacht I managed to reel in a lot of 
line and save him. In his last rush he again snarled 
the line, but was too far gone to break it. This 
trouble was caused by the pad brake on this reel not 
being clamped tightly enough to the bar, so that it 
fell back every time I reeled in, and required some 
time to get into service when the fish made a rush. 
Very hot all day. The big fish made us work very hard, 
so we suffered. Fishing to-day was much inferior to 
that of our former day at the same place, which was 
evidently exceptionally favorable; we saw great num- 
bers of fish, but they were not inclined to bite. Half 
a dozen barracuda often followed our baits for a long 
distance before one could summon up pluck enough to 
strike. Clouds banked up in the north this afternoon, 
which preceded a sharp blow from the north and north- 
east, rising about 7 P. M., and increasing to quite a 
gale. Captain rowed out and set the second anchor, 
and we are riding easily, being protected from any 
sea by the shoal water on a bank just north of us, bare 
at low tide. It is much cooler, which is a pleasant 
change. We fished in channel here after returning from 
light and caught only hard-tail runners, all of which 
we threw back. High wind and heavy rain in showers, 
continued all night. 
Saturday, Feb. 11. — High wind, due east, working to- 
ward the south during the day. Fair; partly cloudy. 
Yacht lay at anchor in channel all day. Water grew very 
cloudy. I tried to fish, but the boat kept swinging about 
60 degrees, going nearly across the channel with each 
swing, so I gave it up after awhile. Nothing doing 
all day. 
Sunday, Feb. 12.— Cloudy; brisk S. E. wind; too high 
for us outside. Shall try the inside course north. Had 
a rough sea for a mile, getting round outside to the 
channel. Ran back of Lignum Vitse Key through nar- 
row channels of blue water winding through broad flats, 
brown and yellow, with here and there a young man- 
grove stem, and saw flocks of white herons, ibis and 
other waders. Came out into a sound several miles 
wide, beyond which we got through a crooked pass 
in a sand bank, just wide enough for the boat, drag- 
ging her skeg through the mud to do it. Crossed an- 
other sound several miles wide but, on sending out a 
small boat and sounding, found we could not cross the 
bar beyond it. Ran several miles north for another 
crossing but, owing to the wind and sea having made 
the water muddy, missed the channel and got hard 
aground. Couldn't get off with the engine or poles, so 
ran an anchor out, put the small boat on the fore deck 
and filled it with water (to bring the bow down and 
the stern up). The Captain and Roberts got over- 
board and hoisted;- Walter worked the engine; Trask 
and I hauled on the anchor cable, and we got off. 
Roberts_ found channel, and we got through into an- 
other big sound. Ran seven of eight miles through 
this, passing three flamingos feeding on a bar, brilliantly 
scarlet against the green water. There was quite a sea 
running, which once bumped us very hard on a high 
place and started a small leak astern, but did no serious 
damage. Got into Boggy Creek all right, dragging a 
little, but grounded hard at the other end, and had 
quite a time getting off, repeating our earlier per- 
formances in all details. Finally did so, ran through 
the new sound to the mouth of Jewfish Creek and an- 
chored outside of it. All hands were pretty tired, and 
we_ served out drinks from our only bottle of whiskey, 
which were much appreciated. 
Monday, Feb. 13.— Partly cloudy; wind S. W.. light; 
warm. Had a fine plunge over the side before break- 
fast. At that meal Trask sat on the side of the table, 
where the movable leg is, and, on getting up, knocked 
the leg out, precipitating half the contents of the table, 
including my unfinished breakfast, to the floor in a 
grand smash. Ran through Jewfish Creek, a narrow 
channel bordered by mangroves, with shoals at en- 
trance and exit and deep, dark water inside. I trolled 
with a No. 8 Skinner spoon, and half-way through saw 
the break of a good fish as he rushed and missed it. 
Let the rod go back, and he struck heavily. Everybody 
happened to be forward, so I let the reel run as "much 
as necessary, held the fish in the center of the channel 
and yelled like a wild Indian. They thought I had 
fallen overboard and all came rushing back, stopped the 
engine, and I finally landed a 12-pound grouper, a very 
strong and hard fighting fish, though rather slow in 
his rushes. 
We went through another sound. Then through 
Steamboat Creek, crossed;* Barnes' Sound and down 
through Angelfish Creek to the sea. Got aground at 
head of Angelfish, but were off without much trouble, 
-.an up outside of the keys to Cape Florida, and an- 
chored in Bear's Cut at abo_ut 4 P. M. Caught several 
spot, grunts and groupers off the boat with light rod. 
Hooked something big, but lost him at the first rush 
Tuesday, Feb. 14.— Wind shifted to north during the 
night. Partl]^ cloudy and cooler in morning, with N 
E.. wind. Think it will be very rough outside, and th^ 
