ioi8 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June 26, 1909. 
tations. As I did not know the time had arrived 
for freaks, I suggested we start at 9 o’clock. 
My new acquaintance said he had been able to 
catch trout here at an earlier hour both in spring 
and autumn, and in the goodness of his heart 
offered to arrange my cast for me. When I 
saw his arrangement—coachman and gray hackle 
on No. 4 hooks, points concealed by large mag¬ 
gots and three feet of his leader wrapped with 
sheet lead—I became proud and told him I pre¬ 
ferred a single fly. 
We started shortly after seven, an almost un¬ 
heard of hour in that locality. From a pool 
near the house, which had been fished all sum¬ 
mer by anglers in starting and returning, he 
took three fish of one pound each. He would 
cast to the further side of a pool, with a splash 
intended to arouse the dead, and then draw the 
sunken device toward him. I was astonished 
and followed him a good part of the day to see 
that he did not change his method. My pride 
flew away when he had caught twenty-seven 
weighing nineteen pounds and I but eleven small 
ones. In all of this there is not only a moral, 
but considerable food for anglers who fish at 
either the beginning or close of the season. Ed 
intends trying the scheme on some of the mon- 
archs at our lake. 
In the vicinity of the Meadows are several 
private lakes, notably Mason’s on South Clear 
Creek and two belonging to Mr. Hosslecus on 
a mesa 2,000 feet above Jackson’s. We had only 
time to visit the latter which were said to hold 
some seven-pound trout. 
Unless we could show some of that size we 
would be at a great disadvantage when trading 
yarns with our previously mentioned antedelu- 
vian friends, and while we did not intend to 
say anything about the location of our lake, we 
did want them to know that sucli a place really 
existed outside of the Himalayas. There would 
be great fun in misleading them when they tried 
to follow our trail to our fishy emporium. But 
we did not know that Mr. Hosslecus charged 
fifty cents a pound for his fish, and judging him 
by the law of contraries to be some secluded, 
amiable philanthropist, had Mr. Jackson drive 
us up there. The distance is about one mile 
straight up from the valley or six by a very 
unpoetic road. 
We first rowed over the lakes to locate the 
schools of seven-pounders, and finding them not. 
helped ourselves to a few weighing two. How¬ 
ever, such disappointments being common to ran¬ 
sackers who follow the big-story trail, we looked 
elsewhere for compensation and found it when 
the hour of settlement arrived. 
Mr. Hosslecus has a private hatchery at some 
other nearby place and is making money from 
the sale of his fish. His lower lake, of about 
sixty acres, is stocked to the limit, a large weed 
bed in the middle concealing thousands of one 
and two-inch fish, and the deeper water thou¬ 
sands running up to two pounds. He told us 
there were some seven-pounders there and said 
he would locate them for us if we would come 
again. Ordinarily we object to paying three 
dollars and fifty cents per fish- for the sole pur¬ 
pose of making the other fellows envious. It 
is more satisfactory, if less practicable, to spend 
ten times that sum in trying to find one a little 
larger and then fail. 
On our last day on the river we met two gray¬ 
haired veterans whose hearty greeting and con¬ 
tagious enthusiasm was good to see. When first 
noticed, one was stretched full length in the 
grass of an overhanging bank, engaged in still¬ 
fishing a pool ten feet below. As nearly as 
could be told from a distance he had about half 
of one eye over the edge of the bank and his 
hat was masked by grass stuck under the hat¬ 
band. The other was nearly waist deep in water, 
intently and persistently casting at a point in a 
fine pool formed by the entrance of Weminuche 
Creek. As I neared him for a little chat I 
chanced to hook a good sized trout, whereupon 
he waded across to see, as he expressed it, the 
great medicine fly. He was much pleased with 
the Cahills I gave him and said he would make 
some of them. Presently his companion joined 
us and we passed a very interesting hour. 
Among other things they said they had spent 
twelve successive Septembers on the Rio Grande 
and hoped to see as many more. 
May their hopes be realized and all their re¬ 
maining days filled with September memories. 
Somehow, when the long roll shall beat for the 
two veterans, I fancy them stepping up briskly 
to give the password, and with no sense of 
shame, because of their fishing rods and homely 
garments. 
Trout in Northern New York. 
Indianapolis, Ind., June 6 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have just returned from my fishing 
trip in the Adirondacks. Much to my surprise 
I found the fishing—bait fishing—better than at 
any time within my recollection, and I have 
made many trips to the same stream in quest 
of trout. I fished on Grasse River, on the pre¬ 
serve of the Grasse River Outing Club. 
Grasse River has been fished yearly for thirty 
or more years. It never has been stocked. 
Thirty years ago it was fished for the market. 
Despite the steady drain upon it, it still offers 
as fine trout fishing as can be found anywhere 
in the country. This fact is due, beyond ques¬ 
tion, to the protection afforded the spawning 
beds and the stream by the club which I have 
mentioned. During my stay of over two weeks 
they would not take a fly at all. I tried several 
times to lure them with the feathers and coaxers, 
but succeded in landing only one comparatively 
small trout. We found it necessary to use trout 
fins and worms with buckshot sinkers in order 
to reach the fish at the bottom of the pools. The 
cool, cloudy weather no doubt was responsible 
for the deep-lying conduct of the trout. Once 
we succeeded in lowering our bait to their depth, 
however, we succeeded in making fine catches 
of trout above the average in weight and length. 
During my stay I saw but two trout break water 
of their own volition. 
Some time ago I saw the suggestion from a 
, Forest and Stream correspondent that the 
forest fires of last year would probably materi¬ 
ally affect the trout fishing this spring. The 
drainage of the ashes of the burned woods, it 
was thought, would contaminate the streams and 
kill or drive the trout away. There were disas¬ 
trous fires on both sides of Grasse River, on and 
off the Grasse River preserve, but the fishing 
surely was not affected by them. The trout 
were there, on and off the preserve, in as great 
quantities as ever, it seemed to me; in fact, the 
fishing at the point of my visit was far better 
than that of last year, with the exception of 
the fly-fishing. Thus, in one section at least, 
it is true that the forest fires did no damage to 
trout. All the streams that I saw were bankful 
of water and we had but two days of clear 
weather, but it was not difficult to obtain all the 
trout we needed for food. 
It might be of material benefit to the woods 
and to the whole State of New York to take the 
Legislature on a junket to Long Lake West and 
show the members the price of neglect and wan¬ 
ton destruction that stretches away for miles on 
either side of the railroad. As far as the eye 
can reach at that point there is barely a living 
shrub or tree standing, and even the soil is 
gone, leaving the bare, stained and forbidding 
rocks to teach the lesson that the State must 
learn and learn well, right now. 
F. L. Purdy. 
In Mississippi Waters. 
New Orleans, La., June 9. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: New Orleans fishermen report only 
fair luck Muring the past few days at the Rigo- 
lets. Lookout, Lake Catherine, North and South 
Shore, Chef Menteur, the Barataria section and 
other fishiiig points. The heavy rains made the 
waters too high and muddy for successful fish¬ 
ing. Good catches of sheepshead, green trout, 
redfish, striped bass and croakers were reported. 
The successful fishing season is later than usual 
this year. 
Quite a few families have gone for the sum¬ 
mer to Waveland, Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, 
Gulfport, Pascagoula and other places, and a 
great deal of fishing will be done in Mississippi 
Sound, Lake Borgne, Lake Catherine and Lake 
Pontchartrain. 
Several sportsmen have joined a club which 
recently had made to its order a handsome spe¬ 
cial car which is attached to the Louisville and 
Nashville train leaving here each afternoon for 
the various coast cities. This car is handsomely 
fitted up with all conveniences including a cafe, 
card tables, large storage places for fishing rods, 
guns, etc. The car is extensively used by many 
who make the trips daily. F. G. G. 
Rhymes of the Stream and Forest. 
Linville Falls, N. C., June 16 . — Editor Forest 
and Stream: Frank Merton Buckland’s “Rhymes 
of the Stream and Forest,” in its unique and 
happily conceived dress, has come to me here 
to accompany the music of Linville River, as it 
rushes through the rapids, over the falls and 
down the narrow gorge to join the Catawba. 
Mr. Buckland leaves no room for doubting that 
he is a true angler and that he is on intimate 
terms with nature. His verse is alive with the 
music of the reel and the fierce charge of the 
game fish, though it has also that restfulness 
that goes with the gentle art of fly-casting. In¬ 
spired by the idyllic scenes in which his favorite 
pastime is cast, this new poet has sung songs 
that will be keenly appreciated by every angler. 
“The Moose,” a longer and more ambitious nar¬ 
rative poem, shows some promising ability. 
“Night’s Witchery” is a really beautiful gem, 
while “The Old Man’s Story” will recall sweet 
memories to all who have the true enthusiasm 
of the rod and fly. And these are not all. 
Frank W. Bicknell. 
