540 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 2, 1909. 
*S 
S ’ 3 
.la 
The Land of Lakes. 
Minneapolis, Minn., Sept. 18. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: Did you ever wake up in the 
early morning with a sigh as the sun came 
sneaking in underneath the window shade, 
stretch and wish that you did not have to go 
to the office to-day, and then, while you were 
thinking about the grind of work, catch a sniff 
of a breeze blowing directly into your room 
from a placid lake and catch an oder of frying 
fish and boiling coffee and the scent of the 
woods and the indescribable delight of a morn¬ 
ing in the country? Then did you jump out 
of your bed with the very gladsomeness of the 
thing and the thought that you were away from 
cares and worries of the hot city? If so, you 
must have been spending your vacation at one 
of Minnesota’s lakes. Do you remember how 
you used to jump into the lake for your morn¬ 
ing plunge and then sit down to table and eat 
like a whole tribe of wild men, devouring fat 
little sunfish, fried golden brown, great piles of 
wheatcakes and quantities of good coffee with 
sweet cream? 
A number of families from the Twin Cities 
wend their way to one or another of the lakes 
of Minnesota in summer. Launches are taken 
along, fishing tackle and that tired feeling of 
months in the city. The launches and the fish¬ 
ing tackle will be brought back when the folks 
return in the fall, but the weariness and disgust 
of life will be left far behind. In their stead 
will be the tan and healthy color of an outdoor 
life and the addition of a few pounds of solid 
weight. 
Lake after lake has Minnesota. There is fish¬ 
ing in nearly every one. There are accommo¬ 
dations for the citified folks and there is the 
outdoor existence which any doctor will recom¬ 
mend. The attractions of the Minnesota lakes 
are sufficient to draw visitors from far beyond 
the borders of the State; in fact, swarms of 
men from over half the States come here each 
year to fish. East, South and West yearly send 
many rest seekers and pleasure hunters to the 
resorts of this State. Included within the State 
and exclusive of Lake Superior, there are 5,600 
square miles of water, and it can be put down 
as no wonder at all that thousands of visitors 
annually flock to the lake region for their sum¬ 
mer’s outing. The fishing of course brings 
many and there is no better fishing preserve 
anywhere than the Lake Park region. Bass, 
both large and small-mouth, pickerel, perch and 
pike are plentiful. The gamy muskellonge is 
also an attraction to the sportsman looking for 
something to really give a test to his fisherman 
ability. 
Bemidji, Minn., is the center of a large area 
of fine hunting and fishing country. A number 
of small lakes are located near the town. These 
contain black bass and “muskies” in large num¬ 
bers. Leech Lake is a favorite resort for those 
who prefer health and genuine pleasure to the 
round of frivolities at more fashionable resorts. 
Leech Lake is very large with an extensive shore 
line which is for the most part high and well 
timbered. This makes it particularly desirable 
and well suited for those who desire to camp. 
At nearly every one of these lakes there is 
good fishing. Sam F. Fullerton, State fish com¬ 
missioner, has been to the mouth of Ramey 
River collecting spawn for the State fish hatch¬ 
ery at St. Paul from the wall-eyed pike. He 
states that the mixing of the species of pike at 
the present time in Minnesota waters will im¬ 
prove the species. Over 16,000,000 eggs have 
been collected from Gull, Whitefish and Pine 
lakes in the vicinity of Brainerd and other lakes 
in the State, and these are now hatching in the 
St. Paul hatchery. 
Rice Lake has been reported as being a 
promising field for September fishing. It might 
be added that this lake lies in a country which 
always yields a fair bag of chickens to the care¬ 
ful hunter, and that by October it will offer 
good duck shooting. Altogether it is an ideal 
location for the fall camp of the man devoted 
to both rod and gun. 
Only part of the black bass fry taken by the 
State game and fish commission from the 
sloughs along the Mississippi River in Wabasha 
county will be replaced. At a conference be¬ 
tween the game and fish commission and the 
Wabasha county officials it was agreed that a 
part of the bass fry and all the other fry taken 
in the Mississippi in Wabasha county be planted 
in the county. Wabasha county officials wanted 
all the bass fry taken from the county replaced. 
Rivals of the famous Bates pearl have been 
found by D. A. Boardman, a local clam fisher, 
operating on the Vermillion River, a few miles 
above Red Wing. Recently he brought two 
gems, one weighing 72 grains and the other 42 
grains into Red Wing. The pearls are of bril¬ 
liant luster and are almost perfect in shape. 
Mr. Boardman has been engaged in clam fish¬ 
ing but a few weeks. 
The fancy price paid for clam shells by button 
manufacturers prompted him to engage in the 
industry. He had worked but a few days when 
he found the large gem. The pearl weighing 
42 grains was found a few days ago. The 
lucky clam fisher states that prominent buyers 
from the East who examined the pearls offered 
him $5,000 for them, but he refused the offer. 
R. P. Lincoln. 
A Fishing Invitation. 
Shawneetown, Ill., Sept. 21. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: Having been a patron of your 
valuable journal for ten years, during that time 
I have read hundreds of articles from campers, 
hunters and fishermen of their catches, etc., but 
have never heard of as fine strings of fish as 
we catch here and at such low cost that any 
laboring man may enjoy this sport as well as 
the rich one. 
We have eight fine lakes in a radius of five 
miles, and these lakes are not run for a profit, 
but anyone can enjoy his sport for the hire of 
a boat. Parties are allowed to camp on the 
shores of all, and hunters are all welcomed 
after getting their licenses. If parties going to 
the Northern lakes could see the fish taken from 
Big Lake and Round Lake here every day in 
the year they would certainly visit Shawnee¬ 
town. I have no interest in these lakes and 
have nothing to sell, but being a sportsman I 
desire brethren, as well as myself, to have some 
of this sport. To any brother desiring to come 
here I will personally see that he finds the 
right crappie hole and the proper bass haunts. 
Yesterday afternoon in one hour and thirty- 
five minutes I caught 101 crappies in one sunken 
treetop. The big-mouth bass range from 3*4 
to 7 J 4 pounds. J- W. Quick. 
Big Trout. 
W. B. Mershon, of Saginaw, Mich., has sent 
11s a clipping from one of the Saginaw papers 
relating how R. T. Newberry, of Chicago, 
captured two big trout in the Sault Ste. Marie 
rapids. One of these is a rainbow trout said 
to weigh fourteen pounds; length, 30^2 inches; 
depth, 8 inches; girth, 21 inches. The other, a 
speckled trout weighing 6 % pounds, taken in 
Michigan waters. Mr. Newberry is quoted as j 
follows: 
“Ideals attained are few and far between, but 
this summer of 1909 I have attained mine by 
catching the great rainbow trout of the great 
rapids of St. Mary’s River, between the ‘Soo,’ 
Michigan, and the ‘Soo,’ Ontario. I have 
caught and landed sharks weighing 100 pounds, 
have caught salmon, muskellunge, and black 
bass, but never did I enjoy a battle as I did that 
which resulted in the capture of the great rain¬ 
bow in the frothy waters of St. Mary’s. 
“These rapids for fish and proper fishing 
scenery are the greatest that I have ever known 
A seven-pound rainbow trout in these brawling 
waters strikes like a thunderbolt, leaping cleai 
of the water three or four times, and rushing 
down stream when struck with a force that test: 
the strongest of tackle. Then follows a figh 
that lasts up to forty minutes; and a seven 
pound fish is only half as large as the monstei 
that satisfied my ideal. There is no other fish 
ing that can compare with this. Salmon fish 
ing seems like hooking pike compared to fight 
ing the rainbow in the rapids. They are mad< 
of steel, these fish, and they grow in size—wel 
the fourteen-pounder was the largest I’ve eve 
seen taken on hook and line, but I hooked am 
lost several that I knew weighed over twenty 1 
It is probable that there are rainbows in thes^ 
rapids that weigh thirty pounds. 
“The fourteen-pound rainbow was taken nea 
the Ontario ‘Soo’ on Aug. 30. The 6^-poun 
speckled trout I caught on the Michigan side i 
June. This is a noble fish, too, a wonder foj 
the speckled trout, but after all—there is no fis 
to compare with the rainbow as it grows in th 
rapids.” 
Fishing at Catalina Island. 
Avalon, Cal., Sept. 20 .—Editor Forest an 
Stream: Forty-four tuna have been registere 
on the Tuna Club’s books since Brode brougl 
in the first one Aug. 19. C. Irving Wright an 
H. E. Rice each landed one, weights being ic 
and 130 pounds respectively. 
The latest exploit of C. G. Conn was th 
establishment of a new swordfish record. Whi 
inshore about half a mile north of Avalon Ij 
saw a swordfish and succeeded in hooking hir 
beginning a batt'e that lasted an hour and a hal 
The fish was ten feet seven inches long, foi 
feet spread of tail, weighed 339 pounds and w: 
a magnificent specimen. It will be mounted ai 
sent to Conn’s home. 
Sept. 9, C. C. Perkins, of Pasadena, landed 
9J/2-foot swordfish of 146 pounds’ weight. 5 
vigorous is the battle offered by the swordti: 
that he is rapidly becoming popular with b 
fishermen, many of whom declare the variei 
is better sport than tuna. 
Sept. 4, L. P. Streeter got his tuna, weighin' 
136 pounds, and the fight lasted four houi 
Geo. E. Pillsbury got another, 109 pound 
