180 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July 29, 1911. 
President Beck’s letter follows: 
Milwaukee, July 13, 1911. 
H. Wheeler Perce, President, N. A. S. A. C., 
911 Security Building, Chicago, Ill: 
Dear Mr. Tearce—Your letter of July 8 was 
duly received and referred to the council of the 
Anglers' Club for action. 
You will find enclosed a copy of the minutes 
of the meeting of the executive committee, a 
reading of which can hardly fail to give the im¬ 
pression that, so far as the Anglers’ Club of 
Milwaukee is concerned, the incident is closed— 
barred from further consideration. 
Our members feel that their intelligence has 
been trifled with, and, on this account it is hard 
to blame them for the very definite action re¬ 
corded in the minutes. 
Yours respectfully, 
M. A. Beck. 
Jersey Coast Fishing. 
Asbury Park, N. J., July 17.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: Striped bass fishing, which should 
have been at its best the past few weeks, has 
not developed to the liking of the vast fraternity 
now assembled here. It is safe to assert that 
never before have more enthusiasts been on the 
grounds, and few indeed have been the seasons 
when the game has been so scarce. Not more 
than twenty fish in all have been taken and the 
heaviest twenty-two pounds, the average size 
being from five to twelve pounds, and not really 
first class in condition when caught. 
Whether food scarcity is the cause of the 
almost total absence must of course be left to 
conjecture. Certain it is, however, that their 
favorite surf food, the skimmer clam, is very 
scarce, and it is generally charged to that ac¬ 
count by the knowing ones. August has occas¬ 
ionally, however, given us fine bass fishing and 
we are all hoping for that happy outcome. 
Kingfishing, on the contrary, has rarely been 
finer. Catches of from twelve to twenty at a 
tide per man is not unusual. This in a measure 
appeases the majority, but your truly exclusive 
bass fisherman is hardly content therewith. An 
occasional weakfish is being taken and have 
been in evidence the past month, which is early 
for them. They are fine as to size and condi¬ 
tion and are^very welcome. 
Bluefish are plentiful offshore and occasionally 
break in on the beach and take bait readily when 
on. The best catch so far was made on July 4 
by Thomas Martin, Jr., fourteen fine ones off 
Shark River Inlet taken with a squid from the 
beach. This seems like old time sport, and is 
heralded with joy' as no finer sport with rod and 
reel is to be had, although it is laborious work 
as the squid when once out has to be retrieved 
rapidly with the reel and the continual endeavor 
is exhausting. 
Plaice are plentiful. They are met with at all 
points in both surf and tideways and are ever 
welcome to many who cannot enjoy the more 
arduous work of beach fishing and resort to 
the rivers and bays. 
Already the quest for the mighty tuna is on 
and results are not entirely lacking. Several 
fish have been struck and four landed, although 
they are of the smaller run in size, thirty-eight 
pounds the heaviest in weight. Of this, and 
other fishing, more anon. Leonard ITulit. 
Dolly Held On. 
Stanford University, Cal., July 10.— Editor 
Forest and Stream: This story of the Dolly 
Varden trout, which is a trout similar to the 
saibling of Europe, may be of interest to your 
readers. It is written by A. C. Bassett, of 
Menlo Park, California, one of our clever ang¬ 
lers : 
“On my trip down the McKenzie River in a 
rowboat, at a point thirty-five miles east of 
Eugene, Oregon, on June 19, I struck two rain¬ 
bows at one time, having two flies on my leader. 
We were just entering a rapids of about 400 
feet in length. Soon after the first dash for 
liberty made by the two trout, I felt an un¬ 
usually heavy drag and was compelled to fol¬ 
low down the rapids, stopping at such pools 
below rocks as gave me hope to land the fish. 
While halting in one I could see that a Dolly 
had taken the rainbow—about ten inches in 
length—which was on my bottom fly. He had, 
as I believe is his usual course, taken the rain¬ 
bow directly across the middle, both ends of 
the rainbow showing plainly beyond the jaws of 
the Dolly. 
“The contest continued for some eight to ten 
minutes, ending at a pool at the foot of the 
rapids. I had no thought of landing the Dolly 
until I saw that his whole attention was given 
to the rainbow, showing not the least fear of 
us or the boat, but doggedly hanging on to his 
prey. As I drew them near the boat the boat¬ 
man very neatly pushed the landing net under 
the two and dumped them into the boat, when 
for the first time Dolly released his hold of 
the rainbow, which showed some very large 
tooth marks on both sides and was nearly dead. 
The other rainbow escaped. 
“The Dolly weighed a little over thirteen 
pounds and was in fine, fat condition, and 
stomach well filled. It was drawn near the 
boat several times and did not once change his 
hold of the rainbow.” David S. Jordan. 
Fishing in the South. 
New Orleans, La., July 18. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: A peculiar sheepshead was landed at 
the Rigolets from the waters of the Mississippi 
Sound by a fisherman who is generally known 
as “Bill” and a brother-in-law of J. H. Lleinick, 
proprietor of a club at that place. The fish had 
two separate and perfectly formed tails and two 
distinct fins on his back. This sheepshead 
weighed about a pound. “Bill” stated to several 
who saw this curious fish that he had never be¬ 
fore seen a fish like this one, and that he ex¬ 
perienced considerable difficulty in pulling him 
in with his rod and line. The fish was seen by 
a number of well known men who vouch for 
the correctness of the description. They say 
they never saw anything like it before and this 
phenomenon would have been preserved and 
sent to the Game Commission in New Orleans, 
but no one had any alcohol convenient, and it 
could not be sent. 
Fishing at the Rigolets, Chef Menteur, Lake 
Catherine, Bay Adam, Waveland, Bay St. Louis, 
North Shore and other fishing resorts was- ex¬ 
ceedingly good Sunday and during the week, 
and large numbers of striped bass, sheepshead, 
speckled trout, green trout and other species 
were caught. Shrimp are plentiful enough for 
bait, although shrimp cannot be caught for mar¬ 
ket purposes and sold at the present time. The 
heavy daily downpours of rain during the past 
two weeks have interfered to a considerable de¬ 
gree with the sport and lessened the attendance 
at the various fishing clubs on Sunday and Satur¬ 
day afternoons and holidays. On the whole this 
summer has been an excellent one for the fisher¬ 
men, and salt water fish appear to be more 
abundant during the last three weeks than usual. 
Trout, croakers and redfish have been especially 
abundant. A large number of business men are 
spending their vacations at the several fishing 
resorts, and the interest in the sport continues 
to grow daily. F. G. G. 
Not Much Left. 
Fort Dodge, Iowa, July 21. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Fishing in this vicinity has been rather 
poor this summer. The Des Moines River, our 
only water of any importance, has been very low 
all the season with the result that the fish have 
been compelled to seek the deep holes and have 
been literally “fished to death.” 
The decadence of black bass fishing in the upper 
Des Moines River marks the passing of a sport 
that to me is unequalled. Years ago this was one 
of the finest streams in the Northwest. Clear 
water, swift current, rocky bottom, a succession of 
swift riffles, deep pools and broad weed patches 
gave the black bass ample opportunity to breed, 
feed and flourish. At that time the surface of 
the country adjacent to this beautiful stream was 
to a large extent unbroken prairie. Heavy rains 
did not find their way to the river until their 
waters had filtered through the grass of the 
prairie, and settled in the broad sloughs and 
ponds until these overflowed, leaving all mud 
and sediment on the bottom. The result was 
that though the river often rose to a great 
height, there was no mud brought down by the 
freshets, and black bass deposited their spawn 
on the gravelly beds which this fish prepares, 
and no mud or sediment came to cover and de¬ 
stroy. 
Now a heavy rain of an hour brings the black 
mud from the vast cornfields into the river with 
a rush that will in a few minutes cover fish 
spawn with a coating of mud and slime, fatal 
to the life of embryo black bass. The once deep 
pools have filled with sand as the action of the 
water separates this from the black mould of 
the prairie soil, and the current at high water 
throws the lighter soil to the edge of the river, 
where it is deposited in huge mud banks. Not 
a weed grows in the river; the swine of inland 
waters, the carp, has been introduced, thrived, 
become numerous and a nuisance, and the palmy 
days of sport with the black bass are gone. 
At the confluence of the East and West forks 
of the Des Moines a short distance above this 
city, a few good strings of wall-eyed pike have 
been caught, some of the fish of large size, eight 
and a half pounds being the largest I have 
heard of. Numerous channel cat have also been 
caught, but these furnish poor sport. 
At lakes Okoboji and Spirit large catches of 
wall-eyed pike, croppies, pickered and perch were 
taken at the opening of the season, but the ex¬ 
treme heat of the last few weeks has driven the 
fish to deep water. 
There is not much left here for the man who 
loves black bass fishing for the sport of it, but 
to seek new waters for the exercise of his favor¬ 
ite pastime. C. A. Bryant.. 
