Sept. 13, 1913. 
FOREST AND STREAM 
323 
Sport in Australia. 
BY H. K. ANDERSON. 
The Baramunda (Scleropages leichhardti). 
Among our indigenous fresh water fishes 
there are certain kinds that are peculiar to one 
or two rivers and their tributaries. One of these 
is the baramunda, called by the blacks “thokoin.” 
It inhabits only the waters which flow into the 
Fitzroy River, Central Queensland. The bara¬ 
munda is a surface feeding fish, extremely shy, 
but a bold feeder, and will come readily to a 
large salmon fly or spinner of the halcyon type, 
provided the angler can present the bait without 
showing himself. The plan usually adopted is 
to use a stout fly-rod. The modern tournament 
rod would fill the bill nicely, with about fifty 
yards or more of strong salmon line. The angler 
takes up a position behind some bushes whence 
he can watch the water without exposing him¬ 
self, and it will probably not be long before a 
ripple may be noticed, caused by the dorsal fin 
of the baramunda cutting through the water as 
he swims along just below the surface. Some¬ 
times his whole length can be seen, and as these 
fish grow to about three feet and are hard 
fighters, such a sight sends a thrill of excite¬ 
ment through the angler. As the baramunda 
approaches (they usually peregrinate singly) a 
cast is made, the fly or spinner falling three or 
four feet ahead of the fish, and almost certainly 
the water will be churned by the powerful strokes 
of the fish as he dashes in pursuit of the skill¬ 
fully worked lure. The fish closes his mouth 
on the bait with a resonant snap, and nothing- 
short of gimp will withstand his sharp teeth 
set in an extremely hard pair of jaws on which 
the hook can make no impression. 
Unless hooked in the tongue or palate or 
in the side of the mouth, the baramunda will 
usually get away, but provided the hook holds, 
he will put up a fight equal weight for weight 
to that of any fish the writer has ever caught. 
If the fish happens to be of fair size, say eight 
or ten pounds, his first rush will probably take 
twenty or thirty yards of line under a heavy 
pressure on the brake, and he will repeat the 
performance again and again until utterly ex¬ 
hausted. Once a baramunda has been hooked 
and played around a stretch of water, it will 
be an hour or more before another will show 
himself within fifty yards or so, and it is always 
best to move along to another likely spot, well 
away from the place where a fish has been 
fought. 
Bush anglers use a hand line with a lump 
of beef or a young bird for bait and throw it 
out in front of an advancing baramunda, which 
will seldom wait to inspect it, but charge at 
once, when he is usually pulled in hand over 
hand without a chance of escape unless the hook 
breaks or tears out of his mouth. 
No record is available of a baramunda being- 
caught in any other river of Australia, but they 
are found right up to the head of the tribu¬ 
taries of the Fitzroy. Little or nothing is known 
of their habits, spawning season, etc., but they 
are exceedingly game, and it may be possible 
at some future date to artificially hatch and dis¬ 
tribute them. 
During the navigation season a boat aver¬ 
ages to leave Chicago harbor every forty-eight 
minutes. 
GOOD HUNTING 
Moose and deer more numerous than 
for many years. Plenty of bear. 
Finest of partridge and duck shooting. 
Take a hunting trip THIS SEASON in the 
MAINE WOODS 
Nothing approaches it east of the Rockies. 
Nearly 15,000 square miles of wild, beautiful 
hunting country. 
Permanent camps as comfortable as your 
own home. 
Glorious air, glorious appetites, glorious sport. 
Three days of it will make you over. 
Open season on deer, Oct. 1 to Dec. 15 
Open season on moose, Nov. 1 to Nov. 30 
You can leave New York at night and be in 
camp next day. 
Send for full information—where and how to go, and 
list of guides. 
Address 
VACATION BUREAU 
Room 1301, South Station, Boston, Mass. 
The World's Greatest Sportswoman. 
Frenchwomen, says a writer in the Strand, 
have the honor of counting among their num¬ 
ber one who, they say, has a right to claim 
the title of “the finest sportswoman in the 
world,” Mile. Marie Marvingt. 
Indeed, the sporting life of Mile. Marvingt 
is of a most extraordinary kind. Swimming, 
cycling, mountain climbing, ballooning, flying, 
riding, gymnastics, athletics, fencing — 'there 
is not a single sport in which she does not 
shine. Where coolness, courage and skill are 
required, in the aerodrome, on the mountains, 
in the sea, in the fencing school, she is al¬ 
ways to be seen in the front rank. 
Not only is she expert with the foils and 
with the sword, but she is a first rate shot. 
In 1907, at the International Shooting Com¬ 
petition, she carried off the first prize at a 
range of 300 metres. On the same occasion 
she also won the first prize for shooting with 
the Flobert carbine. 
Three years ago, on March 15, 1910, the 
Academy of Sport honored her by decreeing 
her, as a singular and most exceptional mark 
of esteem, the large gold medal for distin¬ 
guished skill. 
Here’s How We Like To Have Them. 
Laconia, N. LL, July 5, 1913 .—Forest and 
Stream: Gentlemen—Enclosed find remittance 
to pay my subscription for two years, to Jan. 
1, 1915; and good luck to you. 
George A. Quimby. 
