826 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Live Notes From The Field 
Caught in the Dark—A New Species of Trout 
Jimmie and Sir William had been fishing a 
week when I caught the afternoon train for Big 
Indian. 
They were coming back the next day and I 
was going up to spend one night, even if my 
week's trip had been broken up by business. 
Herman, of the Mountain House, met me with 
the faithful Stoddard and, as we drove the three 
miles from the station, told me Uncle George, the 
Fish Hawk of the Esophus, had been with Jimmie 
and Sir William all week and were getting fish. . 
About a quarter mile from the house I heard 
an “E-O-ah” and, hustling my boots out of the 
grip, I deserted Herman and splashed through the 
river to greet the fishermen. And, Jimmie, to 
show what good manners he had, hooked a fish 
as I arrived, pushed his rod into my hands, and 
I landed a small but lively brown trout—my first 
for 1914. 
Now, Jimmie and I had discovered the Esophus, 
and Uncle George, the Fish Hawk, a year before. 
Uncle George knows the telephone numbers of 
every fish in Esophus Creek and had planned to 
show me some big fish this spring when I came 
up, but here I was on hand, too late for the 
afternoon fishing; the weather promising a hot, 
bright day for the morrow, and a train back at 
3U5. 
He was very quiet when we started back for 
the house, but told Jimmie in a mysterious way 
that he wanted to borrow his rod after supper. 
Uncle George thinks Jimmie’s rod is a very 
superior rod. We all asked, “What for?” and 
Uncle George said carelessly, “Well, we had 
marked down an old trout in the pool up the 
road and the lad (Author) had come up for only 
a few minutes, he thought he deserved to see 
how they caught a big fish.’ ” Supper stopped our 
questions of “How can you fish in the dark?” 
Shortly after the meal we all sat on the steps and 
smoked—it was as dark as the inside of a barrel. 
Uncle George showed no signs of starting anv- 
By R. K. Hay. 
thing and we began to think he was “kidding” 
when he produced his fly book, carefully selected 
two flies—large black nat—asked for a lantern, 
and out we all went—Uncle George in the lead, 
the three skeptical men in the rear. 
About fifty yards up the road a bridge crossed 
the stream and here Uncle George told us to 
stay back while he climbed down to the river bed. 
We were then told to turn down the light until 
all was dark. Here we stood hanging over the 
rail, listening to the swish of the rod as Uncle 
George cast. Sir William started to make sar¬ 
castic remarks, when “Slap,” we heard a fish 
jump. Much excitement in the gallery; but Uncle 
George told us to keep quiet, that the fish had 
missed. Five minutes of silence, and just as Sir 
William began to get sarcastic again, “Whee,” 
went the reel and we all jumped. “Is-he a big 
one?” from Sir William. “He isn’t a small one,” 
came back from Uncle George, and, turning up 
the lantern, we hustled over the bridge and down 
to the edge of the pool. 
Hoarse whispers from Uncle George made us 
hide the light and stand back while he played his 
catch for ten minutes. He worked from the head 
of the pool down to the shallows and, by this 
time we three watchers were up on our toes with 
excitement. Jimmie could hardly keep from 
rushing down with the lantern, and I was frankly 
shaking like a setter dog. I even suspect Sir 
William was slightly shaking. He has fished sal¬ 
mon and refuses to show excitement over trout. 
“Now, bring down the light and jump on him 
when I land him, boys!” in a proud voice from 
Uncle George. The boys ran to the water’s edge: 
“Look at the rod!” from Jimmie, and it sure was 
bent double. “Watch out!” and back-stepped the 
Fish Hawk. Something flashed in the lantern 
light and I almost went into the water—I was 
going to jump on that fish so hard he would not 
have a chance to get away—when “Tinkle, Tinkle, 
Tinkle.” went said fish over the pebbles. Some 
one flashed the lantern on Uncle George’s catch 
—a Twin Oaks Tobacco Can! 
The leader was caught in the open lid and 
Uncle George had played that can for ten minutes. 
We heard him do it, yes, and he heard us tell 
him we heard him do it. 
[Can it be, after all, that troutfishing, like 
smoking in the dark, is all imagination? Editor.] 
RECORD CATCH OF SQUARE TAILS. 
The record catch of squaretailed speckled 
trout in Maine was made last week by four 
well-known Boston anglers, namely, Allan H. 
Wood, C. A. Hardy, II. G. Simmons and F. E. 
Wilson guided by Messrs. Clayton and Chester 
Sweat. 
As will be seen by the accompanying illustra¬ 
tion, the catch was remarkable, not only in the 
size but in the uniformity of the fish, eight of 
the speckled beauties weighing 43 lbs., the largest 
weighing 6V2 lbs., the smallest 4% lbs. They 
were caught in the locality of Upper Dam, at 
the head of Moolycunkamunk Lake. 
PENNSYLVANIA CORRESPONDENCE. 
Hazleton, Pa., June 2.—It is reported dogs are 
killing hundreds of rabbits in the woods around 
Hazleton. Many sportsmen in strolls through 
the brush have come across the bodies 
of the bunnies. The hunters of this region have 
made up their minds to organize a party and go 
gunning for the killers. The rabbits that have 
been killed are almost all young ones and have 
evidently been chased until exhausted by the 
dogs. 
To capture a fox with a fish hook is a feat 
accomplished by some boys at Hill Farm, near 
Dunbar. While searching for mushrooms they 
saw a young fox run into a hole. They had meat 
with them for lunch and this they affixed with 
a fish hook to a piece of string. They dropped 
the bait into the hole and when they felt a tug 
dragged out a gray fox, aged about two months. 
The hook had caught in its lip. They took their 
prize back to the farm and the animal now is so 
tame it follows the boys like a dog and seems 
found of its domesticated life. 
A trout weighing three and one-half pounds 
and measuring twenty-one and one-half inches, 
was caught out of the Wild Creek, near the 
Lehigh River, by Miles Rickert, of Lehighton. 
Isaiah Weaver, a fourteen-year-old-boy from 
Wilkes-Barre, captured a brook trout that meas¬ 
ured 18 inches in length. This is the biggest 
that has been hooked around Bear Creek this 
season. 
Hazleton, Pa., June 10.—Co-operation of all 
fishermen in the Berwick section has been asked 
by the Grinders’ Club of Berwick, which has 
placed in the Susquehanna River twenty cans of 
perch. They were the best ever received from 
the state hatchery, running from two to six 
inches in length. Nineteen cans of salmon were 
put into the stream and forty containers of bass 
