FOREST AND STREAM. 
4>9 
WHERE CLAMS ARE FOUND. 
our little conical tent, a matter which pleased us 
Sept. 12, 1908.] 
of hours you are pulling the fish in. Try to time 
your arrival at low tide, then you will have time 
J to gather the bait and begin fishing on the flood. 
The plan to follow at first in seeking good 
localities is to ask advice of the people who hire 
you the boat. Try the places they recommend, 
but do not stay there long if things are slow. 
You will see small groups of boats wherever 
the fish are known to bite and by a little ex¬ 
perimenting and a close watch on your neigh¬ 
bors you will soon be able to tell for yourself 
where the best holes are.' Then mark them by 
taking your bearings from easily recognizable 
spots on shore. 
Blackfish haunt the neighborhood of rocky 
ledges by preference, though sandy bottoms 
seem equally sought by them. Not infrequently 
it is advisable to land on a rock and cast along¬ 
side of it. If its sides rise abruptly from the 
bottom the fishing is generally very good. 
There are several ways of getting to the locali 
ties most likely to yield a good catch. The 
northern side of the Sound should be chosen, 
for it is rocky all along, while the southern 
shore is mostly sandy. People who do not mind 
the expense of a few dollars may possibly do 
better by taking the main line of the New York, 
New Haven & Hartford Railroad to one of the 
stations between Larchmont and New London, 
Rye—Stamford and Bridgeport by preference— 
but those economically disposed will probably 
fare just as well ofif City Island and New 
Rochelle. Both these places are reached by the 
Harlem branch of this railway which has a 
shuttle connecting with the trains at the 129th 
street station of the Third avenue elevated. The 
shuttle leaves at ten minutes before the hour, 
every hour. For City Island one goes to the 
station at Bartow, and from there a horse car 
or carriage takes one to the boat houses. As 
to New Rochelle one may get there for twenty 
cents by elevated and New York, New Haven 
& Hartford; ten cents by subway and trolley, 
and eight cents by elevated and trolley. On the 
subway one changes to the surface line at the 
177th street station of the West Farms branch 
and on the elevated at the Bronx. All trolleys 
go to the New Rochelle loop and here free 
transfers can be obtained for either the Glen 
Island or Hudson Park cars. By going to the 
| end of either of these shuttles (a five minutes’ 
ride) one will be in the center of the boats-to- 
let district. A half mile row from either place 
will take one to the nearest grounds, but it will 
be worth while to go a little further and make 
Pine, David’s, Huckleberry or one of the many 
other islands in the neighborhood where bait 
can be gathered within a few yards of the 
waters one fishes in. 
Blackfish make fine eating, and broiled over a 
wood fire directly upon being caught, they are 
as tasty a morsel as epicure could wish for. 
There is every *opportunity to cook them, too, 
for one finds frequently on the Sound pretty 
little islands or convenient beaches where one 
may go ashore for meals. 
So here is a good day’s sport for you, hard 
working man of the city, within your means and 
time limitations. Give it a trial; you will not 
regret it. L. H. 
All the fish laws of the United States and Can¬ 
ada, revised to date and now in force, are given 
in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
A Morning with the Pike. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Of the three pike native to Wisconsin Esix 
lucius deserves the first word of praise, not that 
he fights the battle the lordly muscallonge does, 
but simply because he is common in all our lakes 
and is always ready to put up a fight that will 
do the angler’s heart good. At times he grows 
to an enormous size, weighing, the authorities 
say, 40 pounds or more, though the largest I ever 
took weighed a few ounces over 21 pounds; how¬ 
ever, as I was using a 7-ounce rod he was heavy 
enough. In no sense is Esox lucius a “boy’s 
fish.” In fly-fishing for pike one should use the 
“skittering’’ motion, allowing the fly to sink to a 
depth of a foot or 18 inches. 
The Merchant and I were camping on the 
shores of one of the many little lakes tributary 
to Wolf River. The lake was surrounded with 
gently rolling sand hills, covered with groves of 
scrub-pine and black oak, making an ideal camp¬ 
ing ground. A meandering highway passed near 
our camp, but so dense was the undergrowth that 
the few chance passers-by rarely ever discovered 
much. 
The first morning we were out of the blankets 
and out on the lake as the “early bird” whispered 
of returning day. The first thing we did was 10 
row straight across the lake, just to relieve our¬ 
selves of the exuberance which comes with the 
first taste of freedom, and to get the blood to 
circulating; for the early morning air was chill, 
even though it was mid-July. 
Day was breaking. 
“Well, Merchant,” said I, “which is it going 
to be to-day, bait or spoon?” 
“Spoon by all means,” he promptly replied, 
“and I will take the first trick at the oars.” 
“Very well,” I returned, “you row once around 
the lake, then we will change places and I will 
row you once around; and so on till the fish 
cease to bite.” 
I attached a No. 7 fluted spoon to my line and 
cast in toward the weeds which lined the shore 
as the Merchant gently urged the boat along. 
Again and again I cast, but without result; then 
letting my line out some 80 or 100 feet I trailed 
the hook along until I fouled it in a bunch of lily 
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