The Willowemoc. 
Sullivan County, N. Y., July 31 .—Editor 
Forest and Stream: Frost on the Fourth of 
July! How ridiculous it sounds, yet such was 
our experience on the night of that glorious 
anniversary, and low temperatures ruled for 
some time thereafter. The growing crop of 
buckwheat turned brown in one night and potato 
plants were killed. The greatest damage was 
done in the valley, as I hear that some of the 
hill farms escaped. The farmers will feel the 
loss of their buckwheat severely, as flour made 
from this grain forms one of the food staples 
during the greater portion of the year. For six 
weeks very little moisture was precipitated, but 
since the 20th of July we have had copious show¬ 
ers and the streams are in good order again. 
Sport was good from the 8th of May on all the 
streams in Ulster and Sullivan counties. Many 
anglers of experience enjoyed the best fishing 
they have had in many years. The Beaverkill 
and Esopus were alive with trout and good 
baskets were made at times upon the Never- 
sink and Willowemoc. Never will I indulge in 
pessimistic prognostications in regard to the trout 
season again. Several old fishermen claim that 
during the season of 1910 we will feel the effects 
of last year’s drouth and destruction of small 
trout, but everywhere I have been, small trout 
were numerous. In the Willowemoc tiny native 
trout have always swarmed, but the fishing has 
greatly improved since the introduction of the 
brown trout. This river also holds a small stock 
of rainbows, the result of a small planting of 
fingerlings about eight years ago. 
The fact that large trout may be caught makes 
sport far more interesting, and it will usually 
be found that even those who are strongly preju¬ 
diced against the foreigners do their fishing 
where most of these are to be found. I have 
known these waters for more than thirty years 
and must admit that I have had better fishing 
during the past fifteen years than in the old 
days when the native trout alone were in pos¬ 
session. Our recollections of sport in youth are 
apt to be tinged with romance, but if we get 
down to the facts, a large proportion of the 
trout caught were too small to make much fight 
for their lives. It may be fun to take hundreds 
of tiny fish on the fly, but it is not sport in the 
true sense. In all my experience of these waters 
I have seen but one sixteen-inch fontinalis, and 
that I killed on the Neversink in 1898. 
Men past middle age, who have fished these 
streams from boyhood, have few recollections 
of large trout and never saw a two-pounder. 
Since the brown trout arrived these men have 
had many a fight that thrilled the nerves with 
fish up to three pounds in weight and occasion¬ 
ally even larger. Many of the brown trout hail 
from England, as the eyed ova were shipped by 
R. B. Marston, of the London Fishing Gazette, 
to Fred. Mather. The name Von Behr trout or 
“Dutchmen,” formerly applied to these fish, is 
a misnomer, as this trout is the common Euro¬ 
pean species. The yellow variety, known as yel¬ 
low trout in Scotland, is much the handsomest 
and bears comparison with our own lovely fon¬ 
tinalis. They differ from the ordinary brown 
trout only in coloration and will be found where 
the water is peculiarly clear and bright. Many 
have been taken from the Neversink and Beaver¬ 
kill. 
I like to say a good word for the fario, be¬ 
cause it gives best results in our streams as 
they are to-day, and because the prejudice 
against this game fish has been so strong. Iri- 
deus also is a good sort, perfectly formed and 
a crazy fighter from the moment it is hooked. 
It fights in the open and has none of the crafti¬ 
ness of an old brown trout. That is the chief 
objection to fishing at night. The trout do not 
see you and rarely put up one-half the battle 
they are capable of in daylight angling. Only 
the other day a brown trout gave me an extra¬ 
ordinary run for my money. I dropped a midge 
fly at the tail of a small pool and in a moment 
the reel was giving tongue for all it was worth. 
The. fish rushed on until nearly all the line was 
exhausted, as it was impossible to check it with 
the fine-drawn gut I was using; also, I saw no 
danger ahead. At last a halt was called and 
I- wound up line as I slowly waded up stream, 
no deep water anywhere, until I came to a flat 
rock about three feet in diameter. Against this, 
under a sharp fall of water, leaned another and 
much smaller stone and the gut was wedged 
fast between. Procuring a couple of sticks I 
poked under the big stone and was astonished 
to find how extensive was the cavity underneath. 
It was the home of a big trout, one of the real 
old corkers which had selected this apparently 
unlikely stretch of water to pass the summer in. 
There was good feeding ground in the little 
runs and pools below, and on the least alarm it 
could bolt into a safe haunt where no one would 
think of looking for a big trout. 
Twice afterward, within an hour, the same 
trick was played upon me, but the fish were 
much smaller and were poked out before they 
could get a dead pull and break away. 
There are few things more fascinating than 
fishing with a single small fly with fine tackle 
on dead low water, but you will earn all the 
trout you catch. By the way, a trout weighing 
full two and one-half pounds was killed by 
Arthur M. Taylor, of Brooklyn, last Thursday 
evening. This fish was i 8-)4 inches long, a well- 
formed handsome specimen. I believe this to 
be the best trout killed on the Willowemoc this 
year. Fish of about the same size have been 
taken from the Beaverkill and Neversink and I 
heard that a brown trout of four pounds was 
caught on the Neversink in June, but am with¬ 
out particulars in regard to its capture. The 
others mentioned were taken in fair fly-fishing 
■—not raked out by any unholy device, nor min- 
nowed. It is a great mistake to kill off the 
largest trout in a river by unfair methods. Two 
of these big fish will deposit and fertilize a con¬ 
siderable quantity of fine healthy ova. The fry 
hatched out from these will grow rapidly where 
the food supply is satisfactory, but the most im¬ 
portant consideration is that the known presence 
of a few “busters” in a stream adds vastly to 
the pleasure of our sport. We know that any 
day we may hook one of these and have ten to 
twenty minutes of glorious uncertainty and ex¬ 
citement which will be remembered all of our 
lives. 
Do not believe the statement that trout over 
two or three pounds will not rise to the arti¬ 
ficial fly. They will do so when on the feed, 
even when actively engaged in catching min¬ 
nows. They may take a small trout occasion¬ 
ally, but the damage done in this way has been 
greatly exaggerated. If trout have an abund¬ 
ance of food, the loss from cannibalism . will be 
extremely slight. The small fry and yearlings 
are in the shallow ripples and tributary stream¬ 
lets, while the big trout seek the deep water and 
a safe hiding place. Much good holding water 
has been spoiled by floods and heavy ice, but 
many stretches could be much improved without- 
a large expenditure of cash. A good team and 
stone boat, with three or four men armed with 
crowbars and under proper direction, would 
soon put a mile of water in good shape to hold 
fish of fair size. Of course a portion of the 
work might be undone during the following 
winter and early spring. 
Theodore Gordon. 
[Our cover picture shows one of these famous 
streams, the Beaverkill, during a heavy drouth.— 
Editor .1 
- _ . 
Death of Dr. Kenworthy. 
Dr. Chas. J. Kenworthy, one of the very 
early Southern correspondents of Forest and 
Stream, died at his country place at Tyron in 1 
the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, 
July 30. He was eighty-six years old. | 
Dr. Kenworthy formerly resided in Jackson- y 
ville, Fla., and a generation ago, when Florida 
was comparatively little known to people of the 
North, he contributed many letters and articles 
to these columns and did much to inform the 
Northern public about his State. He led sev¬ 
eral exploring expeditions into unknown regions 
of Florida between 1870 and 1880. He wrote 
under the name of “Alfresco” and for years all 
questions about Florida, which could not be 
readily answered in the office, were referred to 
him. 
Twenty-six years ago, with the veteran angler 
S. C. Clark, Dr. Kenworthy was instrumental 
in bringing to the notice of sportsmen the value 
of the tarpon as a game fish. At this time the 
tarpon was but little known, and the statement 
that it could be taken with rod and reel was 
laughed at by most anglers, some of whom 
backed their opinions by offering prizes to the 
one who should first make shch a capture. 
Dr. Kfenworthy’s interest in angling, shooting 
and natural history were very keen and con¬ 
tinued unabated until a month before he died. 
His standing in the community was of the high¬ 
est and his life was largely devoted to doing 
good to his fellow men. 
