FOREST AND STREAM 
847 
The Manistique and Walloon Lakes 
A Michigan District for Those Who Don’t Want to go too Far Into the 
Real Wilderness 
By E. S. Whitaker. 
S OMETIMES the angler takes much satis¬ 
faction in looking over and replenishing 
his used outfit, thinking of what it has 
brought him in days that are past, and of the 
pleasure he will have with it in the days of his 
coming outings. Here and there are favorite 
flies that have done their full duty, are frayed 
and useless now, but kept as reminders of some 
noted capture, and recall to mind the incident 
with such startling vividness that it is almost 
as keen as the original. So, as the days ap¬ 
proached the first day of August, and I was get¬ 
ting my house in order for a three months’ so¬ 
journ in northermost Michigan, and noting what 
was needed, many bright days were recalled 
when my prized seven ounce Wheeler fly-rod 
that I have used for thirty years did such excel¬ 
lent service. This nine foot leader with its three 
bass flies was trolled slowly through the deeper 
part of a little spring fed pond, in the heart of 
the Adirondacks, and much to the surprise of 
my guide caught twenty-two trout, the smallest 
weighing iJ4 pounds and so on to the largest 
that weighed 3 Y2 pounds; the nicest string of 
trout he or I had ever seen. And that sadly 
mangled old Coachman was in the jaw of the 8V2 
pound pike that kept me busy last year for at 
least thirty minutes until brought to my landing 
net with but little of his masterful fighting capac¬ 
ity left. And that Professor proved the entic¬ 
ing morsel that enticed a gamey and active three 
and one-half pounds small mouth black bass to 
capture, and made a splendid fight to get away 
from, but couldn’t, and the little rod got full 
credit for its splendid work when at last he 
reluctantly came to boat. 
And so over many years my thoughts are car¬ 
ried, and many pleasant faces are brought to 
mind, by simply looking over my tackle box; and 
although most of my associates of earlier days 
have passed to the great beyond, yet they bring 
pleasant days back to my mind as thus one by 
one recalled to active memory. The old rod was 
a present from two of these old friends, one now 
no more, and each of us caught bass with it the 
first day it was used. 
A Mr. Wheeler who had a little shop at Ver¬ 
mont and made hand made split bamboo rods 
was its maker—and truly he did good work. 
Whether now living or not I do not know—but 
certainly good was his work. Mine is the only 
one of his make that I have ever seen, but I 
shall be glad if there are any who possess one 
of his old timers will give their address to Forest 
and Stream. “By their works we shall know 
them” is very applicable to a first class rod maker. 
When the time came I went North and across 
the Straits and on to McMillan where I was 
met and taken to Manistique Lake by Gilbert 
Fyrie with his automobile in time for a good 
dinner at Fyrie’s Resort, where I was cordially 
greeted and made to feel at home. In a few days 
I had my 11 foot canvas boat upon the lake and 
daily when not raining took a longer or shorter 
row and a tramp through the woods. The few 
cottages in the vicinity were occupied as also a 
new one built for Dr. Bon, and two families 
were in tents on the lake front. During the 
season a number of former patrons as well as 
some new ones were visitors at the lake, and en¬ 
joyed their stay as well as the weather permitted. 
Many wall-eyes and perch were caught, and a 
few pike, but the bass were few. The usual time 
for the “bloom” to fill the water is during Au¬ 
gust, but this year it lasted far into September, 
and, after it had cleared up and one could ex¬ 
pect bass to be “ on their feed,” heavy winds and 
much rain kept those who would otherwise be 
looking for them at home about the fire where 
it was far more comfortable. Killing frosts oc¬ 
curred as early as the latter week of August, and 
but very few really pleasant days occurred dur¬ 
ing September and October. 
The Leap of the Black Bass. 
Late in August the Fyries received a telephone 
call from Newberry requesting them to serve a 
fish supper for about seventy (70) on a cer¬ 
tain evening. They caught in two days over one 
hundred pounds of wall-eyes and large perch, 
and on the evening specified served an elegant 
supper which was enjoyed by the Masonic fra¬ 
ternity and invited guests from various parts of 
Michigan, who had been engaged in laying the 
corner stone for a new temple and drove out 
sixteen miles from Newberry in automobiles, and 
expressed themselves as much pleased. 
The amount of wall-eyes, perch, and pickerel 
that were taken out and sent to Chicago by the 
local fishermen during the early season reached 
many thousand pounds, at sixteen cents per 
pound. Happily this is now over, as a law pro¬ 
hibiting the catch for sale went into effect dur¬ 
ing the latter days of August. 
There are many fish in the lake and they will 
now have a chance to increase. 
A friend asked me to make a visit at Walloon 
Lake and as I had never been there I went to 
Petoskey and by suburban train to this lake and 
spent three or four days there, and was pleas¬ 
antly surprised. A small steamer making a trip 
over the greater part, I took passage and having 
a fine day was well repaid in seeing all the re¬ 
sorts and beautiful shores that are plainly shown, 
and very interesting. The outline looks like 
five separate lakes bunched together with small 
passages between. Nestled among the surround¬ 
ing hills, and with principally wooded shores, it 
is quite picturesque and during an ordinary sea¬ 
son when the numerous cottages and summer re¬ 
sorts are full it must prove very attractive. The 
head of this chain is only a short distance from 
Lake Michigan, and many go over the trail for 
a day’s outing. As Petoskey is only thirty min¬ 
utes’ ride from the foot of the lake it daily gets 
its share of excursionists for pleasure and for 
shopping. Indeed Walloon is almost considered 
as a suburb of the city. The name is of Indian 
derivation and while signifying great bear most 
of the people believe that this lake was known 
as Bear Lake. The water is quite deep in many 
places, and has the beautiful greenish blue color 
of the ocean. There are a number of nice re¬ 
sorts. 
On my return to Manistique I made exhaustive 
inquiries as to the derivation and meaning but 
locally could find nothing authoritative. I ques¬ 
tioned Judge Fead who was sure I would be 
successful if I wrote to Judge Steere of the Su¬ 
preme Court, but this was the reply: “I held 
court at Manistique in Schoolcraft County for 
a number of years and, as in your case, my curi¬ 
osity was aroused upon the subject, but what 
superficial investigation I made failed to result 
in anything definite or satisfactory. The name 
was first known to the whites as applied to the 
river flowing through that country and entering 
into Lake Michigan (the outlet of Manistique 
Lake). It was, however, called Monistique and 
so appears on all the earlier maps which I have 
examined. When they came to incorporate the 
village which grew up at this mouth of the river 
this name of Manistique was adopted, and has 
since been applied to the river, village and lakes 
of which you make mention. I was not success¬ 
ful in finding any explanation or definition of the 
name in any books available, and, resorting to 
the “oldest inhabitants” both Indian and French, 
got nothing satisfactory. The French said it 
was an Indian name, and the Indians said it was 
a French name, neither being able to give its 
origin or meaning. It would be my impression 
that it is probably a distorted Indian word with 
French spelling. I then appealed to W. E. Barn¬ 
well of the Public Library of Cincinnati, who 
gave this reply. “In regard to ‘Manistique’ au¬ 
thorities differ. The usual definition is ‘Vermil¬ 
lion River,’ others give ‘Lost River,’ and ‘Island 
in the River,’ so you can take your choice. The 
word is Indian with French spelling.” The Uni¬ 
versity of Michigan could throw no light upon 
the subject. Personally I could find no reason 
in giving it the name of Vermillion as it ap¬ 
peared to me to have more of a yellowish ap¬ 
pearance. I trust that some reader of Forest 
and Stream may give information more definite. 
Late in September and during October is my 
favorite time for bass fishing, but the weather 
was so disagreeable I fished very little. A three 
and one-half pounder was the finest I caught and 
gave me much genuine sport. When the woods 
were dry enough I enjoyed walks through them, 
but there was an absence of animal and bird 
life very noticeable. I saw a few deer tracks 
but no deer. Partridges were only occasional, 
the heavy rains appear to have destroyed the 
broods. The red squirrels were very plentiful. 
