1036 
came the huge bulk of the fish through the twigs 
an 3 falling like a huge log on the water under¬ 
neath. Already in her mind’s eye, Mrs. Jones 
was prepared to feel the sudden strain that would 
indicate that the line was caught upon a branch, 
and was, as one might say, resigned to the sure 
loss of the quarry. But the strain didn’t come— 
neither the snapping of the line, rather the line 
was slackening rapidly and she came to herself 
again just in time to realize that by a miracle the 
line had escaped entanglement, and that the fish 
was at last coming directly toward the boat. 
Hurriedly she reeled in the slack, but what is 
this? the fish is going slow; then he stops alto¬ 
gether, and again forward slowly. A great shout 
from Mr. Jones: "He’s ‘winded’; play carefully 
and you’ve got him.” 
It was true. The big fish had been fighting his 
fate for more than an hour, but even big fish 
cannot hold out forever and the bigger the fish 
the more strenuous the exertions must be, and 
he was now exhausted, almost too tired to swim. 
He was drawn slowly and carefully to the side 
and his final struggle successfully combatted. A 
moment later a deft thrust of the gaff and the 
largest tarpon ever recorded as being captured in 
American waters was landed and dispatched. 
* * * * * 
Although the last two years have seen each a 
successive break in the tarpon record, the present 
catch by Mrs. Jones far overtops them all. 
The return trip to Ft. Myers was uneventful 
and as the shades of night were wrapping the 
landscape from view a happy party disembarked 
well satisfied with the result of the day’s sport. 
***** 
An application of the tape line gave the follow¬ 
ing results: 
Length . 7 ft. 5 inches. 
Girth . 3 ft. yy 2 inches. 
And the scales gave : 
Weight . 210 pounds. 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Photo of Mrs. Ashby Jones, and Her Big Fish, 
Weight 210 Lbs., Caught April 24, 1916. 
Caught in the Caloosahatchee River, Lee Co., 
Fla. 
Rod used: Greenheart. 
Reel used: Julius Vom Hofe, No. 6. 
Line: 21 thread E. L. Evans. 
Lure: No. 7 Wilson spoon. 
Caught by Mrs. W. Ashby Jones, Gloucester, 
Va. 
Guide: Chas. Capling. 
Time of play: Over i hour. 
Although not a member of the Ft. Myers Asso¬ 
ciation, in recognition of the record fish, Mrs. 
Jones has been presented with an honorary mem¬ 
bership in the Association, and wears the gold 
button of the club—the highest distinction pos¬ 
sible to a tarpon fisherman. 
The estate of the late William C. Whitney, 
known as October Mountain, which includes 
property in the towns of Lenox, Washington 
and Lee, Mass., has long been regarded as one 
of the best tracts of land in Massachusetts for 
the propagation of wild game—elk, moose and 
deer—and for several years it has been under 
the control of the Massachusetts Fish and Game 
Commission as a game sanctuary. Through re¬ 
cent litigation it has been brought out that Mr. 
Whitney spent $272,902 in developing this estate 
which during his life was a center of interest to 
tourists visiting western Massachusetts. The 
City of Pittsfield has recently taken over 652 
acres of this land for a system of reservoirs, 
which will be three miles long and a third of 
a mile wide. 
Reports from New River Inlet (N. C.), state 
that channel bass fishing this season has been 
excellent. Three members of the Onslow Rod 
and Gun Club, Dr. R. N. Freeman, T. C. Elling¬ 
ton, and John Rowe recently landed 18 fish that 
totaled 536 pounds, giving an average weight of 
very close to thirty pounds each. 
WHERE ONE MAY BE HIS OWN PATHFINDER 
A LAKE FILLED COUNTRY NOT INACCESSIBLE THAT 
AWAITS THE FISHERMAN AND THE CANOEIST 
D URING the last few years most American 
canoeists and fishermen have heard some¬ 
thing of eastern Canada’s great reserve, 
the Algonquin Park of Ontario. The writer 
had the good fortune to spend part of the sum¬ 
mer of 1893—the year in which the reserve was 
set apart as a playground for the people—in this 
district, and has fished its waters and paddled 
over its lakes each succeeding year. 
The regularity with which its “old-timers” 
return year after year is one of the best indica¬ 
tions that the park has attractions out of the 
ordinary. To deal with all its points of appeal, 
however, would require more space than is 
available, so I must content myself here with 
describing some of its canoe routes. 
While it is a maze of lakes, there being over 
fifteen hundred within the park’s area of 1,754,- 
473 acres, you can cruise throughout the dis¬ 
trict without a guide and encounter no par¬ 
ticular difficulties. You must, of course, be 
prepared to tackle the portages. But these are 
not severe, and, in fact, for the most part the 
lakes are joined by streams affording ample room 
for the paddler. If you want them, good guides 
are obtainable. Their charges in the park are 
three dollars a day, including the canoe. If you 
prefer to go without a guide, maps depicting the 
territory make it possible for you to find your 
way easily from lake to lake, and from one 
good fishing ground to another. 
Cache Lake, at Algonquin Park station on the 
Ottawa division of the Grand Trunk—within 
eight hours run of the City of Toronto—is the 
best place in the park from which to start on a 
cruise. The outfitting store and the inn are situ- 
By Seneca. 
ated there, and complete outfits can be hired at 
reasonable charges. 
One of the best trips is the southerly one, pro¬ 
ceeding first westward through Cache Lake, then 
along a branch of the Madawaska River, navi¬ 
gable for some little distance, into White’s Lake, 
a beautiful body of water. This is crossed to 
the first portage, a short trail which leads to 
Beaver Pond. A quarter of a mile paddle across 
the pond brings you to another portage, one hun¬ 
dred yards long, at the end of which lies Little 
Island Lake, lovely in its natural beauties and 
picturesque in all its surroundings. A mile 
paddle across the lake brings you to a quarter- 
mile portage to Smoke Lake, quite large in com¬ 
parison with other lakes in the district. It is 
about four and a half miles long, with a width 
averaging from a third of a mile to two miles 
in some places. The bosom of Smoke Lake is 
beautified by islands, and the shores of the main¬ 
land are high and well wooded. Fishing is good, 
and magnificent camp sites are scattered along 
the shore and on the islands. 
Smoke Lake offers a good location for a per¬ 
manent camp site or one for a few days. The 
log-cabin hotel camp of the Grand Trunk, “Nom- 
inigan,” is here, and many trips of not more than 
a day’s duration can be made from camp. From 
Smoke Lake, one interesting and profitable trip 
is south into Ragged Lake, thence into Porcu¬ 
pine Lake, Bear Lake, the three Bonnechere 
Lakes, Crooked Lake, Lake Louisa, Boundary, 
and Head Lakes into Cache Lake, the starting 
point. 
The most enthusiastic fisherman will find sport 
here to his heart’s content. From Ragged Lake 
there is a quarter-mile portage into Porcupine 
Lake, over a lumber slide—which makes the task 
easy, especially when you know that at the slide’s 
end, where the rivulet leads from one lake to 
another, capital speckled trout are caught in 
goodly numbers. 
Ragged Lake itself is very beautiful, and, as 
its name suggests, the contour of its shores is 
irregular and made up of innumerable bays and 
inlets. Good salmon trout fishing is its at¬ 
traction. 
North from Smoke Lake, the canoe route is 
through the headwaters of the Ox Tongue River 
(which flows from this watershed into the Lake 
of Bays) thence into Little Tea Lake, and 
through another small stream into Canoe Lake. 
Canoe Lake is about three miles long and three- 
quarters of a mile wide, with pretty bits of 
scenery at the south end. There are some very 
good fishing districts to the southwest of Canoe 
Lake, easy of access. At its north end, a small 
stream is navigable for canoes to Canoe Lake 
station on the railway. Parties going into the 
region can leave the train at this point. 
The waterways constituting the natural canoe 
route leading to the lakes of the northern por¬ 
tion of the territory, are connected by a narrow 
stream called Joe Creek, which passes under the 
railway about half a mile east of Canoe Lake sta¬ 
tion. A short paddle from this point brings one 
out on Joe Lake—the next gem in this necklace 
of pearly lakes, of which Joe Creek may be 
called the thread. Many of the little ponds are 
so small that they go unnamed. 
Proceeding for two miles across Joe Lake the 
explorer finds a small stream which leads into 
