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700 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 30, 1909. 
our friends, whom we found fishing when we 
arrived at the lake, and they made a hit with 
11s and proved their worth, as they were both 
hard workers. We took a chance on their be¬ 
ing hungry, and the promptness with which 
they accepted our invitation proved that we had 
made no mistake. You know how pleased you 
are when your guests drop naturally into the 
eating habit. 
The broker and I were delighted and much 
gratified. At last we had found two men who 
could eat as much as we could. Butz took 
every thing he could reach and yelled for more. 
Chief praised the coffee so loud and often that 
the guide raised the price, but what was the 
difference, he perhaps needed the money. 
The many portages and the long row back 
was where we got even. The millions of 
mosquitoes which the last portage stirred up 
(they followed us for half a mile on the water), 
the stately, dignified smile and the “I told you 
so” from E. Percy, who did not accompany us, 
and last, but not least, the very pleasant re¬ 
minder from Silas, ‘‘That we ought to have 
gone to Olsens,” put a proper finish to a very 
strenuous day. Kit Carson. 
What One Man Can Do. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In Crawford county, Pennsylvania, about eight 
miles from a railroad, a farmer, seventy years 
old, purchased about fifteen years ago four acres 
of land on the hillside through which a natural 
spring traveled down through the valley and 
emptied into French Creek. Here he built a 
series of small ponds and commenced in a crude 
manner to cultivate black bass. This man knew 
absolutely nothing about the habits and neces¬ 
sary conditions which surround bass in their 
native state, yet by dint of hard wdrk and prac¬ 
tical study he succeeded after a few years in 
raising quantities of healthy fish which he dis¬ 
posed of to parties owning private preserves, 
his principal customer being the owners of 
Canandonta Lake, about two miles from his 
hatchery. Without any book-learning he studied 
the bass in all its phases and managed to make 
a comfortable living out of his small holding, 
and at the end of the fifth year was getting an 
income of twenty-five hundred dollars. He re¬ 
cently sold his hatchery for five thousand dol¬ 
lars. The original cost of the land was two 
hundred dollars. A. H. G. H. 
Australian Fly-Casting Championships. 
I he last mail from Australia contained a re¬ 
port of the second annual fly-casting champion¬ 
ship meeting, held the last week in September 
in Centennial Park, Sydney, Australia. The 
chief interest was centered in the trout fly-cast¬ 
ing for distance. Last year two of the most 
consistent casters, dissatisfied with their equip¬ 
ment, ordered rods built like those used in tour¬ 
naments in the United States, and these we had 
the pleasure of inspecting after they had been 
made ready for shipment last spring by a well- 
Known New York firm. Both are eleven feet in 
length and weigh about ten and a half ounces. 
The heavier one of these rods has been used 
by Dr. H. L. Maitland, president of the New 
South Wales Anglers’ Casting Club. In July he 
cast 107 feet with it, but because of some dis¬ 
pute over the measurement, he did not claim 
the record. In the recent tournament, however, 
he cast 112 feet 1 inch, both he and C. H. Gor- 
rick, who scored 106 feet, exceeding the best 
previous Australasian record. A feature of this 
casting is that every cast, to count, must be 
made within two buoyed lines, each six feet 
from the measuring line. With a head or cross 
wind the difficu'ty in keeping leader and fly 
within the lane is a material handicap in long 
distance work. F. L. J. Thomson, who was 
third, cast 100 feet 3 inches, and the next two 
men cast 97 and 95 feet. 
The competitions which closed on Sept. 25 
had extended over several weeks’ time, with 
Dr. Maitland leading and C. H. Gorrick second, 
but in the finals Mr. Gorrick gained and stood 
high man at the close with 23^2 points, winning 
the Australasian fly-casting championship and 
the Usher cup, which he has held for a year. 
Dr. Maitland and H. K. Anderson tied for sec¬ 
ond place with 22 points; H. J. Ackland, 8)4 i 
F. L. J. Thomson, 8. The events were: Dry- 
fly for accuracy and delicacy, wet-fly for accu¬ 
racy and style, and distance trout fly-casting, 
the best all-round score to count. 
Mr. Gorrick made his best cast with the 
lighter one of the two American rods men¬ 
tioned, and both he and Dr. Maitland used 
American rods in all contests. 
The Sydney anglers have begun to devote in¬ 
creased attention to bait-casting, and are equip¬ 
ping themselves with American rods and reels. 
Effects of the Tornado. 
New Orleans, La., Oct. 20.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: The resumption of operation of 
the Louisville and Nashville railroad between 
New Orleans, Chef Menteur, Rigolets, Lake 
Catherine, Pass Christian, Bay St. Louis, Gulf 
Port, Biloxi and various places located on Lake 
Borgne, Lake Catherine, Mississippi Sound and 
other waters has resulted in a renewed activity 
among the fishermen and hunters. During the 
past few days some of the largest fish of the 
season have been brought to this city, principally 
red snappers and sheepshead. Quite a number 
of beautiful speckled trout have also been 
caught. Those who are familiar with the sub¬ 
ject say that the fish just now are more plenti¬ 
ful than they have been for some months. This 
is in part attributable to the effects of the Sep¬ 
tember tornado, which caused the fish to seek 
deep waters for many days, and returning to 
comparatively shallow waters they were quite 
hungry and were as a consequence easily landed. 
Most all of the little fishing club houses were 
demolished by the recent storm, and it will be 
some time before all of them are restored. 
These houses in the main were insecure and in¬ 
expensive, the majority of them being one and 
two room frame affairs on small posts for foun¬ 
dations. They were used principally as storage 
room places for small boats, fishing tackle, gaso¬ 
lene and similar articles. There were, however, 
a few rather attractive club houses of a sub¬ 
stantial nature where dinners and spreads are 
given and rooms occupied by the sportsmen, but 
these are the exception and not the rule. 
F. G. G. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
Minnesota Bass. 
Minneapolis, Minn., Oct. 20.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: Not long ago a party from Min¬ 
neapolis struck a lake about fifty miles from 
the city that had never been fished to any extent. 
The shore line is owned by two or three farmers 
who refused to allow anglers the use of the 
waters, and according to the report received the 
lake fairly teems with bass. Four members of 
the party caught the limit each and had to turn 
a number loose. The lake is less than a half 
mile in length and has a width of about three 
blocks, so the fishing was easy. They found 
bass under the lilypads and in the rushes, while 
many were taken in deep water. The bass were 
taking frogs and crawfish and a number were 
caught on spinner minnows. This little lake 
has a depth of sixty-five feet in one p’ace and 
the bass are very gamy, as the waters are kept 
cool throughout the summer by numerous large 
springs. 
The fishing there shows what can be done in 
the conservation of bass by careful management. 
The farmers around the lake occasionally give 
permission to friends to use their boats, but are 
careful to see that no one takes more than the 
legal limit of bass. Although in a section that 
is pretty thoroughly fished out, the sport is first 
class and will remain so as long as the owners 
continue their guardianship. 
One of the best lakes for fishing reported is 
Lake Miltona, which is full of gray bass that 
run in size up to six pounds and the average 
fish taken is well over two pounds. Late in the 
season the grays lie along the bars and in deeper 
water and do not take to casting very well, but 
are caught with small frogs. The moment a 
gray takes the bait he starts for deep water and | 
the fun begins. Gamier far and more active ' 
than his large-mouth brother, he is out of the 
water the moment he feels the restraining tug 
on the line and fights like a demon as long as 
he has a kick in him. Tired at last he is brought 
up to the boat, landed carefully with the net,' and 
if the hook has not caught in the gills he is re¬ 
turned to the waters if undersized. Occasionally 
large-mouth bass are caught, while large sun- 
fish, croppies, pickerel and Northern pike abound, 
although the latter is not so common as at other 
lakes of the section. 
Lake Ida is connected with the former lake 
by a small creek. In this lake the gray bass ■ 
fishing is not as good as in Lake Miltona, but 
the sport would be considered first class in this 
beautiful body of water. Ida is a large lake 
and contains not only grays but many big-mouths. 
The large-mouth bass in these lakes are much 
lighter in color than those of the majority of 
Minnesota lakes, undoubtedly because of the 
entire absence of mud. Nothing but sandy bot¬ 
toms are found and the Alexandria chain thus 
undoubtedly contains the cleanest lakes of the 
State. 
Great Northern pike and wall-eyes also abound, 
especially the latter. Some very large ones have 
been taken in the chain and are to be found in 
all the lakes. Sunfish run to a nice size, while 
croppy beds are numerous. Pickerel are quite 
plentiful. No dogfish are encountered. 
Big-mouth bass begin to bite well just as soon 
as the cool nights come and they are better 
fighters then than at any other time of the year. 
They seem to know that frog time is arriving 
