Oklahoma Game Fish Waters. 
Christie, Okla., March 6. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: In a previous article I believe I de¬ 
scribed Barren Creek, a small, spring-fed 
stream having its source in the extreme north¬ 
western part of Arkansas, in the foothills of the 
Boston Mountains, and, flowing in a general 
southwestern direction, emptying into the Illi¬ 
nois River, which adds its flood to the Ar¬ 
kansas. On several occasions last §hmmer I 
had made myself acquainted with picturesque 
(inappropriately named) Barren Creek to the 
extent that I was seized with a call from the 
wild. I purchased a few acres of land on a 
high blufif overlooking the creek and built a 
one-room house, very comfortable in this com¬ 
paratively mild winter climate. With this 
alluring combination available, it was no great 
mental feat to decide that my health demanded 
these very accessories; no greater, in fact, than 
to realize after a few months of it that an 
elastic, even an accommodating health is a 
great blessing and a greater convenience. 
The months of September and October were 
ideal both from a weather viewpoint and a fish¬ 
erman’s. Solid yellow and all white artificial 
minnows were my favorite lures up to about 
December first. Each day was not a banner 
day, and the efforts of a few days were fruitless, 
but success was neither to the extreme of 
satiation nor yet withheld to the point of dis¬ 
gust. In November I landed in. an afternoon 
fourteen bass, varying in length from nine to 
fifteen inches. I deem it supurfluous to add 
that I put back all except three or four. The 
largest of the more common kind of fish I 
have yet landed measured seventeen inches. It 
was what I call a yellow or rock bass. Ap¬ 
parently there are few black bass in the stream. 
. 4 mong the few of this kind that I have reeled 
home was only one as good as eighteen inches 
long, caught in December, and it seemed at 
the time that I would not get home in time to 
hang up my sock for the following Christmas, 
so determined was that bass to remain where 
he thought the going was good. 
A large percentage of the catches were 
striped bass, a fish which, as I have found it 
here, is of excellent flavor, but mediocre game¬ 
ness. A large number of crappie in stock are 
placed in the stream annually by the Wahillau 
and the Ozark clubs, located about twenty-five 
miles further down stream, but for reasons 
which the expert leisure class can figure out 
for themselves, but few are caught. 
As the colder months approached there was 
a marked difference in both the quality and 
quantity of fishing. In ratio with their scarcity 
they increased in gameness and this fact was ac¬ 
centuated by the necessity for longer casts in 
order to get strikes. During the latter part of 
December, all of January and most of Febru¬ 
ary, I believe, I have not had a strike when the 
lure was less than fifty feet from the reel. 
February 22, however, was an exception in this 
regard, as well as in the number of fish caught. 
because I do not wish to convey the impres¬ 
sion that this spot is ideal for angling during 
the two coldest months. The bait casting en¬ 
thusiast just now—and that’s me, because I am 
the only one here—must work hard and im¬ 
portunately for his limited luck. The 22d, as 
stated, was the exception. Maybe because it 
was an exceptional day—to patriotic Americans. 
Perhaps the spirit of revered patriotism has so 
permeated the land that the fish-. What? 
Then, why did nine fine bass fall a victim to a 
red and white wooden lure? And the wind, 
which by all rural experts is considered an 
absolute deterrent, was blowing the surface 
of the broader stretches of the creek into mini¬ 
ature whitecaps. 
The striking and subsequent landing of each 
fish would be a story in itself. With large, flat 
SUNFISH CAUGHT AT PALM BEACH, FLORIDA. 
(See page 421.) 
rocks to stand on and a fair sized pool in which 
to operate, a good rod and reel which are so 
familiar that they feel like a part of oneself, and 
a two-pounder sixty feet away, well hooked 
and—well, you know how it is. If you do not, 
you are not all human. Anyway, I shall not 
display my lack of descriptive vocabulary by 
trying to tell you. 
If you feel sufficient interest in this story 
to warrant your trying to locate the place of 
its origin, do not attempt to do so by ordi¬ 
nary methods, but employ postoffice inspectors 
or the secret service. Christie is shown on 
Government geodetic and topographical maps 
only. It is a place which has reached, ancl 
stayed, at that stage of minority where it is de¬ 
scribed by section,' range and township. 
I have repeatedly attempted to make snap¬ 
shots of my favorite spots along the creek, but 
as I eventually discovered and was also told 
by a photographer in Muskogee, atmospheric 
conditions in this part of the country will not 
permit of instantaneous exposures during the 
winter months. It appears a permanent haze 
or mist or a piece of cheese cloth decreases the 
sun’s power, so that success will result only 
from time exposures or the use of a stop much 
larger than that with which most cameras are 
equipped. 
I want to extend to you an invitation, but it 
is with the understanding that you do not look 
upon it as a merely perfunctory one of empty 
and insincere phrases. It is on the square. 
When spring has come to stay it would be all 
my pleasure to have you come here for a visit 
for as long a lime as you like. No limit. If it 
should so happen that at the time I may be in 
Muskogee, you can have the key to the house 
and everything else I own there. It is a mere 
jaunt from New York here. Simply grab the 
Southwestern Limited, leaving Grand Central 
each afternoon, arrive at St. Louis next after¬ 
noon, leaving there about 8 P. M. over the 
Frisco, arriving at 7^45 next morning at Fay¬ 
etteville, Ark., where you change cars to a 
branch of the Frisco, leaving at 8:15 A. M., and 
arriving here at 10:40 the same morning; Pull¬ 
mans all the way to Fayetteville. Do not deem 
or feel that a second reference by me to the 
matter is necessary. When the time is ripe 
and you are ready, address me care P. O. Box 
74, Muskogee, Okla., my permanent address, 
and you will be as welcome as the dogwood 
blossoms in March. Paul H. Byrd. 
Sale of Angling Books. 
In the Merwin-Clayton auction sales of books 
from the collection of the late John G. Heck- 
scher, held in New York city last week, some 
rare books on fishing were disposed of. 
A first edition of Rafinesque’s “Ichthyologia 
Ohiensis” was purchased by Charles Scribner’s 
Sons for $253. The same firm paid $264 for a 
copy of William Scrape’s “Days and Nights of 
Salmon Fishing in the Tweed.” 
John Richardson’s “Fauna Borealis Ameri¬ 
cana,” London, 1829, brought $60. 
Thomas P. Lattry’s “The Angler—A Poem in 
Ten Cantos,” London, 1819, sold for $116. 
“A Booke of Fishing with Hooke and Line,” 
Leonard Mascall, London, 1590, sold for $100. 
Dean Sage’s “The Restigouche and its Sal¬ 
mon Fishing,” was sold for $180. 
A holograph document of Izaak Walton sold 
for $65.20. 
“The Genteel Recreation; or the Pleasure of 
Angling,” a poem by John Whitney, London. 
1700, brought $351. 
Other books that had at one time been a part 
of Walton’s library, or had been given by him 
to friends, brought from $50 to $80. 
Pearl Fishing in Mexico. 
In the Gulf of Lower California there is in 
operation the largest pearl farm in the world, 
where the cultivation of pearls has been taken 
up as a practical industry. To harvest the an¬ 
nual crop requires the labor of i.ooo people, in¬ 
cluding the modern pearl divers.—New York 
Fishing Gazette. 
