622 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 18, 1908. 
New England Angling. 
Boston, April 11. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
The coming of spring is bringing back to 
Massachusetts many sportsmen who have been 
passing the winter with rod and gun in the 
South. Mr. John F. Cook has just reached 
home from a two-months’ rest at his winter 
home near Mohawk, Florida. Fie has much to 
say in praise of the fishing he has enjoyed, 
mentioning particularly the sea trout or weak- 
fish which he caught in large numbers with 
light tackle. During his absence he was in¬ 
itiated into the pleasures of bait-casting by a 
New York friend and he returned north much 
impressed with the possibilities of a method of 
fishing about wtiich he knew little or nothing. 
Mr. Cook has a comfortable camp in the 
Dobsis Lake region in Maine and will go down 
for the summer as soon as the ice leaves the 
lakes. 
Fishing with very light tackle for heavy fish 
in Florida waters appeals wonderfully to Mr. 
G. H. Braybrook, of Taunton. He, too, has 
just come back with an interesting story of 
many hard fights with barracouda and channel 
bass. 
W. If. Sturgis and A. A. ^Vest, of Allerton. 
Mass, like to take their winter rest in the 
South under canvas, and pitched their tent this 
year near Oak Hill, Florida. They are just 
back and report the very best of fishing during 
their stay of two months. 
W. J. Clemson, another Taunton angler-, is 
still down in the vicinity of Miami, getting the 
best of the April run of tarpon. He visits this 
locality every year and is credited with many 
heavy catches. J. M. Sears and his friend 
Joseph Bigelow are also tarpon fishing on the 
gulf coast, and before returning home will visit 
the Pacific coast with the intention of devoting 
several weeks to fishing and shooting in Oregon 
and California. 
For correct information regarding matters 
pertaining to game and fish do not apply to the 
newspapers. Many times they seem to know 
less about it than anybody else, even though it 
is not hard to get reliable information. This 
was easily shown by an article in one of the 
prominent Boston dailies on April 2, which 
said that for the first time trout fishing in 
Massachusetts would open this year on April 
15 and close on Aug. 1, the open season formerly 
beginning April 1 and ending Aug. 1. As a 
matter of fact the change from April 15 to 
Aug. 1 began last year. Previous to that the 
open season for many years ran from April 1 
to Sept. 1. The outlook for successful stream 
fishing at the beginning of the season seems 
exceptionally bright this year. There is no 
snow anywhere about eastern Massachusetts, 
and unless there are heavy rains during the next 
ten days, the brooks will be in normal condition. 
The past winter has been very favorable for the 
fish and reports from the Cape and up the State 
indicate that many of the streams are showing 
more trout than usual. 
Near Onset Junction on the Cape Mr. Outrain 
Bangs has one thousand acres of wild land 
mostly grown to brush. A comfortable and 
commodious camp is situated on this preserve 
s x miles from the railroad. Through this 
property runs one of the best trout streams on 
the Cape, and when one considers how good 
most of the brooks are, that is saying a great 
deal. Dr. John C. Phillips leases four miles of 
this water'and some of the best known anglers 
of the city make annual pilgrimage to Onset 
at the opening of the season. The trout have 
the delicious flavor only found in those taken 
from tide water streams. They run to good 
size, two and two and one-half pound fish be¬ 
ing not at all unusual. Such a length of water 
provides room for a number of rods, and sev¬ 
eral Boston men will meet there April 15 to 
try their fortune. Three wardens are kept on 
the preserve to keep off poachers, every effort 
being made to keep the stream up to its present 
excellent condition. PIackle. 
The First Tarpon on a Rod. 
Bozeman, Mont., March 30. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: Mr. Charles Stillman, in his in¬ 
teresting paper on “Angling in Florida,” in your 
issue of March 21, says that his informant - , Mr. 
A 22-POUND RAINDOW TROUT. 
Caught in Kootenay I.ake, near Kaslo, B. C. Photo by 
John P. Babcock. 
William Hood, “caught the first Florida tarpon 
upon a hook and line.” He does not give the 
date. 
In the special Florida nunT cr of Forest and 
Stream, Jan. 9, 1890, I made the following state¬ 
ment : 
“The tarpon has achieved a notoriety as a 
game fish within the past five or six years, prin¬ 
cipally through the writings of Dr. C. J. Ken¬ 
worthy, and Mr. W. H. Wood has received 
credit, generally, of killing the first tarpon of 
over 100 pounds with rod and reel in March, 
1885; but justice compels me to state that the 
first event of this kind occurred in the winter 
of 1880-1, when Mr. Samuel H. Jones, of Phila¬ 
delphia, killed a tarpon of 170 pounds on ordi¬ 
nary heavy striped bass tackle in the Ft. Pierce 
channel of Indian River Inlet. I was at this 
locality the winter following and learned the full 
particulars of the extraordinary feat from Mr. 
Thomas Paine (son of Judge Paine, of Ft. Cap- 
ron), who was - the boatman of Mr. Jones on 
the occasion referred to. Afterward I received 
a full account of it from a son of Mr. Jones 
who was also present and witnessed the capture 
of the immense fish with striped bass rod and 
tackle and a trolling spoon for bait. Mr. Jones 
was two hours in securing the fish. Honor to 
whom honor is due. Mr. Wood has glory 
enough in being the champion tarpon slayer of 
1885, and has an enviable record. He was the 
first to make known through the sporting press 
how the thing could be done. I was at Punta 
Rassa in March, 1886, and saw him bring in 
from Estero Bay his famous 146-pound tarpon 
with two others weighing nearly 100 pounds 
each.” These were hung up and photographed 
by my shipmate, Judge Nicholas Longworth. 
The tarpon record is as follows. Mr. Walter 
Mann, 151 pounds; Mrs. Thomas Stagg, 205 
pounds; Mr. Edward vom Hofe, 211 pounds; 
Mr. N. M. George, 213 pounds; Mr. Samuel FI. 
Jones, 170 pounds. 
Mr. Stillman speaks truly when he says: 
“Tarpon weighing from ten to thirty pounds are 
caught in the numerous streams of brackish 
water upon the artificial fly * * * and will—to 
the unbiassed sportsman—put up a fight in no¬ 
wise inferior to that of the gamiest salmon.” I 
fully indorse this, and in my article referred to 
I say: “Tarpon of from ten to forty pounds 
run up the streams to brackish and fresh water, 
where I have had grand sport taking them with 
a large, gaudy artificial fly and a heavy fly-rod.” 
I fished with the fly for small tarpon as early 
as 1878, and for eight winters subsequently, and 
now repeat that, “I have had such sport with 
tarpon of these weights that the hooking in the 
gullet of the giants of the bays pales before it 
as the morning stars before the rising sun.” 
James A. Henshall. 
[Mr. Stillman intended to give the weight of 
the largest tarpon killed on standard tackle at 
210 pounds. The printer made it 240 pounds.— 
Editor.] 
Newark Club Growing. 
An enthusiastic meeting of the Newark Bait- 
and Fly-Casting Club was held in Newark, N. 
J., recently at which George A. Endersby was 
re-elected president and Fred T. Mapes was 
again chosen secretary. Arthur J. Neu was 
elected treasurer and A. Jay Marsh captain. A 
set of by-laws was adopted and plans discussed 
for the coming season. 
Arrangements were made to conduct club 
tournaments on April 25, May 23, Aug. 29 and 
Sept. 26. A tournament open to all comers will 
also be arranged later on for another date in 
September. The membership of the club is 
rapidly increasing - and now numbers nearly fifty. 
All the fish lazes of the United States and Can¬ 
ada. reznsed to date and now in force, are given 
in the Game Lazes in Brief. See adv. 
