274 
“He’s played that game on more’n five hundred,” cried 
the boy, “Them divers got so sassy we had to shoot 
about a dozen ; but nobody ’d touch ‘Billy.’ ” 
Ten, fifteen minutes passed, then there came a rush, a 
scattering of the millions of young mackerel beneath, and 
Reggie’s reel spun round as if a five hundred horsepower 
electric motor had been hitched to it. 
“It’s a whale, Reggie! It’s a whale!” screamed the girl. 
“I saw him plainly.” 
“It’s a black bass,” cried the boy, “and a 250-pounder. 
Play him, mister, play him.” 
Again the cry of “Yellow-tail, yellow-tail,” was raised, 
and the crowd surged over to watch the conflict. 
The young fellow was game. Out spun the silken line 
until it neared the end, when he checked it and began 
slowly to wind in. Slowly, foot by foot, the bass came 
in until feeling the shortening line it made another rush, 
and away would go the reel nearly to its limit, to be fol- 
lowed by the reeling in process again. So for half an 
hour, then the bass began to show signs of weakening, 
and the general cry was “Reel him in, reel him in.” 
“Where’s the gaff?” cried some one as the bass drew 
near, showing its silvery side. 
Tad Caldwell had it, and stationed himself with two 
or three more on the lower deck within a foot or two of 
the water. Now was the crucial moment. The big fel- 
low drew near, half bottom-side up, all his strength and 
spirit gone, was cleverly hooked in the gills, and half a 
score of willing hands lifted him on to the pier — a big 
fellow estimated to weigh 200 pounds. 
“That’ll do us for to-day,” said Reggie, proud and 
happy as a king. As for Gladys, she bent down and 
slipped a quarter into the freckled-faced boy’s willing 
palm. C. B. T. 
Where to Fish for Black Bass. 
The object of this paper is not to give a description 
or even a list of the numerous lakes and rivers rvhere 
the black bass is found. Such a description or list 
would be interesting and useful; but its purpose is to 
present a few suggestions to help the black bass angler, 
ignorant of the “good spots” of a lake or river, to make 
an intelligent surmise of their location. Of course 
even the tyrO' knows that it makes a vast difference in 
catching fish where the angler drops his fly or bait. 
Now, it is true that at many of our summer resorts, 
and winter, too, in the south, there are guides to con- 
duct him, for a consideration, to the fishing grounds, 
and right good fellows most of these guides are; but 
there are not a few lakes and rivers where the black 
bass flourishes and where the angler must depend upon 
himself to discover his whereabouts. And then, too, 
even where guides are obtainable it often gives a cer- 
tain zest to a day’s sport to rely solely on one’s own 
judgment as he hunts in. unknown waters for the finny 
quarry. 
But there is a sort of half-way course between 
having a guide and depending wholly on one’s self, 
which it is wisdom to follow sometimes. Many years 
ago, when I was just getting the black bass fever, I 
went tO' a cozy little hotel on the banks of one of the 
most charming of the smaller lakes of New England. 
The first morning after my arrival I was standing at 
the wharf chatting with my landlord, and enjoying great- 
ly, the beautiful river upon which my eyes rested, when 
two gentlemen came down from the hotel with rods and 
landing net and bait bucket. They quickly unmoored a 
dainty little rowboat, and were soon gliding out upon the 
shimmering waves. “After bass?” I queried of mine 
host. 
“Yes,” he answered. 
“Where are the good spots to fish for them?” I asked. 
He smiled blandly, and with a gesture of the hand 
meant to be graceful, swept over the whole three or 
four miles of the lake’s length. I made no comment, 
but his character, from the point of courtesy, had not 
risen in my estimation. 
Two or three years later I was summering at an- 
other of New En, gland’s beautiful little lakes, also 
stocked with black bass. My landlord had been show- 
ing me about a lovely park, in which I had rented for 
the season one of a number of attractive cottages; and 
now we were seated in a rustic summer house over- 
looking the lake. “I have brought my fishing tackle, 
of course,” I said to him, “and mean to land some of 
your bass.” 
“I trust you will,” he said genially, “and find here, 
too, the recuperation you need after the arduous duties 
of your profession.” 
I thanked him and asked: “Do you know the good 
spots for fishing? I understand there are no guides 
here.” 
“They are scarcely required,” he replied, and taking 
from his pocket a pencil and a letter, from which he 
tore a blank sheet, said, “See here, I will draw you a 
rough sketch of the lake, marking the chief places 
where the bass are usually caught.” He was an ex- 
cellent and rapid draughtsman, and in five minutes laid 
in my hand a very accurate and serviceable fishing 
chart of the lake. 
A little boy (the story is true) had a winsome sweet- 
heart and kept a diary, intO' which his mother would 
occasionally secretly take a peep. One day she read 
the following: “To-day I had the chance and kissed 
Mabel. Mabel’s mother saw me and only laughed. My 
mother found it out and spanked me. What a differ- 
ence in mothers!” 
What a difference in landlords! And yet it must be 
granted that the woods are full of landlords whose de- 
light it is to make the angler comfortable and happy, 
doing all in their power to assist him in quest for 
health and fish. And I would say anent mine host of 
the bland smile and sweeping gesture that I found 
later that he had many fine qualities, and he and I 
became fast friends, and are such to-day, so good friends 
that I think if re read these lines he will laugh heartily 
and send me a letter well worth the reading by guests 
that pester long-suffering landlords with all sorts of ill- 
advised questions. 
Now, not infrequently black bass are found in large 
puinbers where the angler would little suspect, be- 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
cause there is nothing to indicate to him the character 
of the bottom of the lake or river, and, further, be- 
cause there are ways of fish simply past finding out. 
Such spots are generally discovered accidentally. One 
morning I was trolling with rod and line in Lake 
Mashapaug, Conn., and caught, at a certain place^ a 
fish weighing close on to four pounds. The following 
morning I had a similar experience, with the exception 
of the large size of the bass. That afternoon 1 rowed 
to that spot, dropped overboard the anchor, and threw 
out my line baited with a lively minnow. Well, it Was 
not long before I had a creel full of fish. That Spot 
has proved to- be as good as any on the lake for bass, 
though there is nothing to indicate it as such. 
In casting the angler often hits upon their unexpected 
gathering-places, for as he casts here and there he 
wisely does not confine himself wholly to throwing his 
lure where the appearance suggests the presence of his 
quarry. But, as a rule, the black bass is found where 
the predilections of his species are quite apparent. He 
likes, in spring and fall, to be close to the bank. Sand- 
bars, submerged rocks, lily-pads, old stumps and sunken 
trees attract him. In hot weather he prefers deeper 
water. He will seek, if there is a depth of eight or 
twelve feet of water for him, the close proximity of a 
shallow place where little fish congregate, preying upon 
any that may foolishly venture into deep water, oc- 
casionally swooping down or rather up upon the little 
fellows by no means safe in the shallows. When I have 
run out of bait 1 have caught, on one' side of my boat, 
minnows with worms and, on the other, bass with the 
minnows thus obtained. 
To troll successfully the angler needs to know com- 
paratively little of the “good spots,” as he covers large 
stretches of the lake or riven He should not, as a 
rule, fish very far from shore, unless the water is very 
shallow, or the temperature hot, when he must troll 
deeper. The caster needs to be more particular; but 
it is chiefly the still-fisher who must exercise discern- 
ment. This is quite evident. He does not move from 
place to place constantly, but, having chosen his ground, 
casts anchor, and must wait some time, ordinarily 
fifteen or twenty minutes at least, to be at all certain, 
if he has had no strikes, that he would better try some 
other locality. He should scrutinize the shore and the 
water. The sandbar, the submerged rock and the like 
mean everything to him. But in a lake or a river, where 
the bass are at all plentiful and when they are biting 
freely, he will succeed as well as the caster, and with 
less exertion, which by the by is generally no advantage, 
and he will succeed better ordinarily than the troller 
and more scientifically, unless the troller uses a rod. 
I have been taking it for granted that the still-fisher 
uses a boat, which, when practicable, is the better 
course. But I have seen large catches made from the 
shore both by the still-fisher and the caster. 
Almost always it is better to fish where there is a 
ripple. The reason for this is, probably, because then 
the fish cannot so easily see the angler. But now and 
then the glassiest surface does not seem to interfere 
in the least with the biting. I have made large catches 
where there was not a sign of a ripple. It should 
never be forgotten that the black bass is an altogether 
whimmy fellow, not over dainty perhaps in his choice 
of food, but freaky, now biting seemingly indiscrim- 
inately at worms, frogs, minnows, crawfish and whatnot, 
anon making a selection of his food without any reason, 
so far as the angler can discover, a little later refusing 
absolutely to bite at any lure he may be proffered. And 
this puzzling behavior does not apparently sometimes 
have much, if anything, to do with the conditions under 
which he is angled for. Where yesterday he was fairly 
vicious in attacks on the bait cast to him, to-day, though 
a like day, one will use, in vain, every device to entice 
him. 
Still, he is well worth angling for. Few kinds of fish 
equal him in gameness and edibleness ;_ and, indeed, his 
very whimminess adds a charm to his capture. The 
successful black bass angler must know_ where to fish, 
and then he must know how to wait patiently upon the 
mood of the wily, wary warrior he would meet in 
deadly combat. Cornelius W. Morrow. 
The St* Andrew’s Adventures. 
A DERELICT whale is the latest danger reported lurking- 
in the middle Atlantic, directly in the course of trans- 
atlantic trade. Last Wednesday the tramp steamship St. 
Andrew, of the Phoenix Line, ran into a flathead whale, 
measuring eighty or ninety feet, and cut off ten feet of its 
tail. This portion of its anatomy is what a whale needs 
for steering apparatus, and, deprived of it, the whale 
that so unfortunately met the St. Andrew was left float- 
ing without ability to steer itself away, a great living 
carcass. The St. Andrew was not injured by the en- 
counter, but the mutilated whale, according to the cap- 
tain, will probably float there like the derelict of a ship, 
and prove a menace to smaller craft. The ship brought 
a cargo of a hundred stallions, and a lot of goats and 
golden pheasants, all crowded together on one deck with- 
out any sense of social distinctions. But the most inter- 
esting part of its cargo was a bird that it did not start 
with from the other side. It was a large and rare speci- 
men of osprey hawk, which flew out of a fog that cov- 
ered the water one day, evidently lost, and lighted on a 
spar. One of the men climbed up and captured it by 
throwing over it a canvas bag. — New York Evening Post 
Sept. 23. 
A Pair of Muscalonge. 
Mr, E. a. Pettibone, of Chicago, sends us, with the 
query “can anyone beat it,” a record of two muskies 
caught by him on Sept. 9, weighing 40 and 45 pounds. If 
anyone has a one day’s score to top this we would be 
..glad to record it. - 
THE MANY-USE OIL. 
Coating on guns, reels and all metals; keeps rust off, — Ady,. 
[Sept. 30, 1905. 
Fish and Fishing. 
Trout Fishing in Northern Quebec. 
The trout fishing season has ended very satisfactorily 
for anglers in the greater part of northern Quebec, The 
open waters, especially those of Lake Edward and the 
immediate vicinity, have been very much frequented by 
visitors from the New England States, and while no 
catches of extra large fish as Compared with the spring 
fishing, have been reported, the fish have been plentiful, 
and, as a rule, fishermen have had good sport, The 
weather has not been altogether pleasant for camping out 
during the latter part of September, owing to the large, 
amount of rain. There were fewer guests at the TritOil, 
and some of the other American clubs this autuniU than 
in former years, but at the Nonamtutti and Metabet- 
chouan clubs both members and guests wtre numerous, 
and some excellent sport is reported. MCssrS. Taylor and 
White, of Waterbury, Conn^, and Mr. Benham and party 
have had very fair fishing in the vicinity of Lake Kiski- 
sink, the trout having risen well both in Briggs’ Pool and 
also in the outlet of the lake among the lily pads. The 
portion of the Metabetchouan River, which flows through 
the limits of the club of that name, has also afforded good 
fall fishing. Dr. George R. Porter and Dr. Civilioh 
Fones, of Bridgeport, did very well on the Bostonnais 
waters, and Mr. Nathan D. Bill and party, of Springfield, 
Mass., went home a few days ago, after a delightful 
camping trip on the Iroquois Club limit, where Mr. Bill 
has a very pretty permanent camp. In addition to some 
very good trout fishing Mr. Bill was fortunate to get a 
couple of very good trophies in the shape of a moose and 
a caribou head. While this is certainly exceedingly, good 
luck for one trip, yet it is by no means surprising, for it 
is doubtful if big game has ever been so plentiful since the 
building of the railway as it is at the present time in the 
Quebec and Lake St. John country. The work of pro- 
tection inaugurated there a few -years ago is now bearing 
excellent fruit, and the whole country from a few miles 
north of Quebec, right up to Lake St. John is so full of 
moose and caribou that specimens of one or the other, and 
sometimes both, are reported as having been seen by 
hpnting parties almost every day. 
;Mr. Smith, of New Haven, got a good caribou head on 
the Nonamtum Club limits only a few days ago,' and on 
both the Triton and Tourilli preserves, big game is re- 
ported very plentiful. Caribou have already been killed 
this season a few miles north of Quebec on the coloniza- 
tion road running from Stoneham to the vicinity of Lake 
Jacques Cartier, out of which body of water a number 
pf very large brook trout have recently been taken. 
. Several sportsmen, who came for both the hunting and 
fishing, are staying around here now that the fishing is 
over, awaiting the fall of the leaf for better shooting. In 
addition to big game, partridges are fairly abundant this 
fall in the northern woods. 
' Though the “Fish and Fishing” column may not be the 
lace to write so much about big game, my excuse must 
e that the sport is being now looked for by many anglers 
who came here before the close of the trout season to 
endeavor to have both shooting and fishing. To all who 
come to the Province of Quebec for shooting it is of in- 
terest to know that there have been some slight changes 
ipade by the new Minister of Colonization, Mines and 
Fisheries, the Hon. Mr. Prevost, in the regulations con- 
cerning hunting licenses. No more hunting license is 
issued by the day ; the lowest price at which the license 
can be obtained, even if only for a single day, being $25. 
This license, however, is good for the season. All non- 
residents of this Province, whether they be honorary 
irjembers or guests of clubs, must provide themselves with 
one of these licenses before hunting here. The only ex- 
ceptions are active members of clubs, duly incorporated 
apd holding a lease of a hunting territory in this Prov- 
ince. They must, however, be provided with a certifi- 
cate of membership signed by the president and secretary 
of; the club, and such certificate does not confer the right 
t6j hunt outside of the territory leased by the club to 
which they belong. 
' ; O jananiche and Salmon. 
The success obtained by the planting of salmon in Lake 
St John, as illustrated by the taking of several adult fish 
during the present season both in the lake itself and also 
in some of its tributary waters, has encouraged Mr. 
Beemer. the proprietor of the Roberval hatchery, to con- 
tinue the good work, and he has made .application for an- 
other lot of spawn from the Government hatchery at 
Tqdoussac. Preparations are also being made for secur- 
ing a large supply of ouananiche spawn. Mr. Marcoux, 
thb manager of the hatchery, reports a very large run of 
fish in the Metabetchouan River, which is entirely set 
apart as a nursery for spawning fish. Here upon the 
spawning grounds immediately below the third falls, the 
parent fish are easily secured and stripped in the month 
of October. Mr. Prevost visited the locality the other 
day to inspect the place and also looked very minutely 
into the hatchery and its furnishings. The fish still rise 
very freely to the fly, and quite a number of them were 
taken out of the water with rod and line during the day 
that the Minister spent there, all of them, of course, being 
returned to the water. One of the fish so taken was 
nearly 8 pounds in weight. A small salmon, some 3 
pounds in weight, was among the fish so taken out of the 
water and immediately returned to it. 
Lake Trout aod Bass. 
In many Ontario waters, and also on the Quebec side 
of the Ottawa River, a good deal of interesting fishing is 
enjoyed by anglers after those of Quebec have put away 
their rods and lines till another season. When the trout 
and ouananiche fishing closes on Sept. 30, Quebecers, and 
even Americans who do their fishing here, seem to care 
for no other kind. Farther west anglers are now having 
a good deal of sport with the small-mouth black bass,- and 
the lake or salmon trout, as it is popularly though im- 
properly, termed. Hereabouts the gray forked-tail trout 
are very abundant, but fishermen, too often think them 
only worth killing upon night lines or when taken in- nets. 
It is strange that more of these people do not try the sport 
of trolling for the lakers with rod and line, A 20-pounder 
at the end of a fod and line is not to be despised. In 
