338 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. 28, 1909. 
which point or higher I judged the water to be 
where the car was; that they would get into a 
temperature that suited them, if possible; that 
the old, big fellows were down deep in the lake, 
as the deepest water is the coldest; that they 
would go until they found the right tempera¬ 
ture, if it was not so deep that the water pres¬ 
sure made them uncomfortable; that the largest 
ones were where some spring bubbled up way 
down under the water. 
This theory was in harmony with one fact I 
had noticed; that in fishing through the ice the 
fish always averaged much larger than when 
caught near the weeds in July and later. I was 
also certain that the fish caught in the weeds 
were small enough to be eaten by the whoppers 
in deep water, which were so large that they did 
not see any others large enough to eat them. I 
admitted that an occasional big one, urged by 
hunger, would look through the weeds for a 
meal, but thought they did not go there often 
or stay long. The fact that there were small 
ones in the weeds was proof that there were 
large fish in the more pleasant places, otherwise 
the railroad spike kind would go there, too. I 
was forced to admit that if there was only a 
small percentage of the area in weeds and a 
large percentage of deep, clear water, it might 
be a long hunt to find the big ones, but reasoned 
they were around the under-water springs and 
in the hard, stony or sandy bottoms. We could 
get some data by either going in diving or by 
using a self-registering thermometer and a 
sounding line. I have often struck a streak of 
very cold water when diving when a boy. I 
had a notion, and have it still, that forty-five 
feet is not too deep to find them, and that thirty- 
five feet is about right, and it seemed good 
sense to go to the thirty-five-foot depth nearest 
the best weed bed or shallow weedy bay in the 
lake. I deplored the fact that there was no 
brook handy where we could get some brook 
minnows. 
Then George asked me if I had ever heard 
of brook minnows going visiting in a lake, or 
did I have a notion that the pickerel went up 
the brook. “Don’t your intelligence ever tell 
you that they never meet under ordinary cir¬ 
cumstances? The pickerel eats the fish in the 
lake and a sunfish or perch is quail on toast to 
them and quite as good as brook bait, and fur¬ 
thermore we can get them. We will try them 
in the morning.” 
Next morning, full of resolution to put our 
theories to the test, we lazily got up about 7 
o’clock, prepared breakfast, got out the seine 
and went after bait. We got some likely look¬ 
ing perch and sunfish and started about 11 
o’clock to fish. I put on a three-foot double 
leader with a 1/0 sneck bend hook and a quar- 
ter-ounc'e sinker at the end of the line, let out 
about sixty feet of line and rowed the boat 
very slowly so I could feel the sinker hit the 
bottom once in a while and rowed toward the 
center of the lake and then kept parallel to the 
shore, but 100 yards beyond any weeds. The 
lake is about twenty-two to twenty-five feet deep 
all over the deepest part. I had a yellow perch 
five inches long hooked through the lips. 
We had not gone fifty feet in the deep water 
when I had a strike and could feel him hogging 
the bait for some time before I struck. I was 
using a 5k2-foot medium weight bait-casting rod, 
very strong and powerful for its weight. When 
I had let the fish have it long enough I struck 
and it felt as though I had a scuttle full of 
coal on the hook. I held him with all the power 
of the rod and could not get him to come a 
foot, but could feel him slamming around as 
though he had something on his mind. This 
kept up for fully a half minute when I felt the 
hook pull out and I reeled in the perch bait. 
It was a sad looking wreck. I made a few well 
chosen remarks suitable to such occurrences and 
put on a sunfish. In two minutes I had another 
strike and the performance repeated. I put on 
another sunfish and got another bite before I 
had gone fifty feet. I boated him with very little 
effort, a 2l4-pound pickerel. Another fifty feet 
and another heavy strike and the hook pulled 
out. Further on I struck still another heavy fish. 
I let him swallow this one, but again the hook 
pulled out. I got out of bait then and George 
did not get a bite at all. I wish he had got at 
least one. for I feel confident he would have 
landed one if he had. 
I have blamed myself many a time for losing 
those fish. But this is a plain, unvarnished 
record of actual facts. I was not a good enough 
angler to get them. They were big and felt 
like codfish at the fishing banks, and T was ac¬ 
customed to hold the cod and big blackfish and 
fluke so hard that when that kind of a strain 
came, I pulled the same as I was accustomed to 
pull on them with my heavy rod. It was in¬ 
stinctive and not. the result of reason. 
When we reached camp we ate dinner and 
went for more bait and had bad luck getting it, 
but it was then after 5 o’clock and we could not 
get a bite. It was cloudy and dark. We wanted 
to stay another day, but a team was to meet 
George at his station and we had eaten all the 
food in camp, so we reluctantly left, determined 
to learn more about it at some future time. 
My old friend, Ed. Shepard, of Newark, N. 
J., went to Temagami, something over a year 
ago. When he arrived he found the fishing very 
poor and after hiring a guide for the first day 
and having no luck he went without a guide 
and put a large sinker on a trolling line and 
used a 1/0 spinner he happened to have handy. 
He did not know how far he let it down, but 
thinks it ran from thirty to seventy-five feet 
deep and he caught about all kinds of game fish 
in the lake. He caught lake trout and returned 
a lot of good fish to the water, as he exceeded 
the legal limit. He fished the deep water only. 
If I were to write anything further along the 
above lines about catching my friend, the pick¬ 
erel, I should go from the realm of the actual 
into the speculative field, which does not go in 
Forest and Stream stories. 
N. E. Spaulding. 
Bass Fishing. 
Where loud resounds the surge along the shore 
Of Assawampsett’s lake, and wildly swell 
Its billows—there full often in his shell 
Piscator sits, regardless of the roar, 
And moves his pliant rod with watchful eye 
To mark the strain that draws his float adown; 
And when it comes each hair upon his crown 
Will stand on end; for well he knows some sly 
And hungry bass has found the minnow out, 
And means to bolt it whole without a qualm; 
But striking just in time, Piscator sets 
The barbed hook within his maw. Though stout 
He may resist, the reel his courage frets, 
Until he yields to his proud captor’s arm. 
Henry D. Atwood. 
A New Florida Law. 
Cedar Knoll, Penetanguishene, Can., Aug. 19. 
—Editor Forest and Stream: I take pleasure 
in inclosing a clipping from the East Coast Ad¬ 
vocate of Titusville, Florida, which gives the 
new fish law recently passed by the Florida 
Legislature. 
Section 1. It shall be unlawful for any per¬ 
son, firm or corporation to take or catch any 
fish with haul seines or drag nets in any or all 
of the salt or fresh waters of the counties of 
Brevard, St. Lucie, Palm Beach and Dade, situ¬ 
ated within twenty miles west of the Atlantic 
coast and north of Biscayne Bay, in Dade 
county. 
Section 2. It shall be unlawful for any per¬ 
son, firm or corporation to use, set, put, float, 
drag or maintain any haul seines or drag nets 
in any of the waters described in Section 1 of 
this act. 
Section 3. Any person, firm or corporation 
violating any of the provisions of Sections 1 
and 2 of this act shall be punished by a fine of 
not less than $50 and not to exceed $500, or 
by imprisonment in the county jail for not less 
than one month and not to exceed six months 
or by both such fine and imprisonment. 
Section 4. ’ Any haul seine or drag net, set, 
put, floated, had, found or maintained in or 
upon any of the waters described in Section 1 
of this act is hereby declared to be and is a 
public nuisance, and may be abated and sum¬ 
marily destroyed by any person, and it is here¬ 
by made the duty of each and every sheriff and 
game warden of Brevard, St. Lucie, Palm Beach 
and Dade counties to seize and remove and I 
forthwith destroy the same; and no action for 
damages shall lie or be maintained against any 
person or for or on account of any such seizure 
and destruction. 
Section 5. This act shall go into effect imme¬ 
diately upon its passage and approval by the 
Governor. 
Approved May 17, 1909. 
If the law is enforced the angler may again 
visit Indian River with a fair chance of success.' 
W. H. Gregg, Sr. 
Bass Food. 
Raleigh, N. C., Aug. 7. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: On June 12, of the present year, while 
fishing for large-mouth bass in a creek near 
where the estuary of Neuse River joins Pam¬ 
lico Sound, two fish were caught that had in 
their throats varieties of food that were new 
to me. One, a three-pounder, had swallowed a 
good sized hard blue crab, one claw, with part 
of the body attached, showing in the fish’s 
throat, when taken off the hook, with other 
crab remains in the stomach. The other one, a' 
three-quarter-pounder, had started to disgorge 
a partly digested gartersnake some twenty-four 
inches long. The water in which both of these 
fish were caught was somewhat brackish and 
very weedy, but there was nothing unusual 
about the surroundings, nor did the food supply 
seem to be other than adequate. These foods 
may be usual with the black bass, but they are 
new to me. H. H, Brimi.ey. 
All the fish laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, ore 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adr 
