8 9 8 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June 6, 1908. 
feet of the surface. Some are two hundred 
yards long and fifty wide. Upon these gather 
hordes of immense trout and channel bass. Both 
take a fly greedily; the bass are of considerable 
size, a io-pound fish is not unusual, and a 7- 
pounder quite common. A fish for each fly used 
will average half the casts made if conditions 
are favorable. But in using more than one fly 
care must be exercised in fashioning leaders or 
a dozen will depart in a few moments. If one 
fly is used then salmon gut tapered into good 
bass will do, but if these fish are to be caught 
two or three at a time, then twisted salmon gut 
with dropper loops of similar character must 
be used. Two fish pull against each other, not 
against the line. The sudden, violent darts in 
opposite directions impose a momentary strain 
upon the leader that is very severe, and often 
the leader is chafed by the two long sharp teeth 
in the trout’s mouth and parts. 
The fly most adored, under all conditions, by 
both trout and channel bass, is a 2/0 or 3/0 
cracker. But any similar sized salmon fly that 
carries a topping of the golden pheasant is almost 
as good. Of these the silver doctor, by reason 
of its metallic body, is best. 
If skittering, sight bewildering sport is desired, 
then, with three flies of smaller size, cast for 
the skipjacks. He is a slender, piratically built 
craft designed for fast sailing and quick action. 
A game fellow, too, and one of four pounds 
upon a light rod will hold your undivided atten¬ 
tion while he leaps from the water a dozen times 
in half as many seconds. I have had three in 
the air at the same time. 
Gamiest of all in a sullen, dogged way is the 
cavalli. These run from one to twelve pounds. 
One of six pounds upon anything less than an 
eight-ounce rod will consume thirty minutes of 
your time and you do not feel safe until he 
reaches the net. Though this is the golden pom- 
pano and a first cousin of the black variety, it 
is not regarded as edible, and is sought only for 
the fracas that follows. 
For the bottom fisherman the sport runs 
equally well. If, in particular, he likes the gamy 
sheepshead, theft he can safely count upon an 
average of 150 pounds per day. In order to put 
the situation more concretely, and, therefore, 
in a more unbelievable shape, let me say that 
four constant fishermen in twelve days fed 
twenty-two men three times each day, and for 
three days put back into the river all fish caught 
except such as were needed for food. 
The hunting is of equal weight and fineness. 
Deer, ducks, turkeys and quail abound. If a 
bear is wanted it is easy to get him. 
Here is the wash list for our Christmas din¬ 
ner: Fruit—grape fruit, oranges; venison— 
fried, broiled and stewed with rice, tomatoes, 
etc.; ducks—baked in oven, roasted in ashes, 
giblet stew; fish—fried, roasted in ashes, chow¬ 
der; wild turkey, baked; squirrels, fried; marsh 
hens, baked; ham and bacon; tomatoes, rice, 
corn, fresh sweet potatoes, onions, boiled and 
fried; hard store-bought biscuit, big oven bis¬ 
cuits, corn bread, ash cakes, pancakes with cane 
syrup; fruit cake, nuts, raisins and coffee. 
Twelve days of absolute rest and peace, free¬ 
dom from mail, telegraph and telephone, a com 
fortable boat, good cooks, excellent beds, peer¬ 
less fishing and hunting, dreamless sleep—a rest, 
a peace, so complete, so absolute that ofie is 
startled with the first contact of civilization. 
Now, when night comes with its temporary re¬ 
spite from the treadmill, the mind unconsciously 
goes home to this strange, silent, perfumed river, 
and, as the memories cluster and take shape, 
there is a nameless tugging at the heart, a dull, 
shapeless want. Who has never felt it that 
knows and loves the wilderness? 
Chas. T. Hopkins. 
Indian Fresh Water Sharks. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I was fishing at Balaghat, C. P., in a large tank 
there for carp. It had been a very hot day, and 
toward twilight I noticed several faint shadows 
upon the water in different parts of the tank. 
They looked like the catspaws of a summer 
breeze, but were too local. Besides that I knew 
there was no such thing as a summer breeze 
just then; not a leaf was stirring anywhere, and 
the whole of the tank, with the exception of 
the few shadows mentioned, was like oil. For 
some time I did not know what they were. Then 
I saw one closer to me and I heard a faint 
metallic tinkle as of a handful of small shot 
thrown on the water. They were shoals of small 
chilwa fry being hunted by the fresh-water 
sharks. Many times since then have I located 
one of these larger fish feeding by the far off 
shadows on the water made by the fry re-enter¬ 
ing the water after their jump. It seemed to 
me that before dark the monsters take the sprats 
well below the surface, as there was seldom a 
ripple to show what was happening. After 
dark, however, a loud splash could be heard as 
they charged a shoal, followed by a tinkle of 
falling fry. 
It was on this tank that I had a strange “hunt" 
one afternoon in May. I had fished all day and 
had lunched at the waterside. Afterward, while 
smoking a pipe, my eye fell on an empty bottle. 
I girdled it with a piece of twine and attached 
three old bits of gut trace. Then I caught three 
chilwas, and having killed them, mounted each 
on a single hook to each of the gut ends. Then 
I corked the bottle and hurled it as far out into 
the tank as I could. 
At tea time, as I was going across to the dak 
bungalow, I noticed a native youth who had been 
much interested in the fishing, and told him to 
watch the bottle, and if anything happened to 
it to let me know at the bungalow, for which I 
would reward him. While at tea in the bunga¬ 
low the youth dashed in saying that the bottle 
was possessed by a “shaitan” (devil) and was 
leaping and diving all over the tank. I seized 
my gaff and legged it for the water, followed 
by a small crowd of the usual hangers-on of the 
bungalow. There were two boats and a home¬ 
made punt moored to some steps at the bund. 
I jumped into the punt, followed by the youth, 
and cast off. I took the pole and told the hoy 
to direct me to where he had last seen the 
bottle. I poled out about a hundred yards and 
hove to. There was no sign of it, and I had 
just handed over the pole to the hoy when he 
exclaimed, “Woh, hai,” (there he is), and 
pointed. There sure enough was the bottle, 
making about six knots across our bows. We 
were soon alongside and I gaffed a small “shark” 
of four pounds. He had taken the largest of 
the chilwas and had impaled himself on both 
the other hooks in his efforts to escape. 
Starlight. 
The Fish Wonders of Alaska. 
It is doubtful if there is another section of 
water in the world inhabited by so large a finny 
population as the bays and inlets of southern 
Alaska. The spring and summer runs of fish 
are so phenomenal, and the methods employed 
by the fishermen, the natives, the birds and the 
beasts, to catch them, are so interesting, that 
it is well worth a visit to this wonderful coun¬ 
try if for no other purpose than to see the fish. 
A resident of the Eastern States naturally 
shrinks at the thought of such a long trip, but 
the dining car service and Pullman accommoda¬ 
tions on the railroads, together with the grandest 
scenery to be found in the United States, makes 
traveling a pleasant pastime. 
At Seattle you may wish to stay over a few 
days to look about the city before starting on 
your northern water trip. If not, you probably 
have made arrangements to connect with one 
of the tourists’ boats, the Cottage City, Queen, 
Seattle or Spokane, any one of which will afford 
you as much comfort as a Hudson River boat. 
The route taken by these vessels is not over the 
rough open sea, but through Prince William 
Sound, a sheet of water so clear and smooth 
that no one need fear being ill, and every one 
can enjoy the beautiful island and water scenery 
on one side and the wooded mountain scenery 
on the other. 
The steamers usually stop at Ketchikan, 
Wrangel, Sitka, Juneau, Skagway and other in¬ 
teresting points to give the tourist an oppor¬ 
tunity to fish, to see the glaciers, to visit the 
salmon canneries or to watch the vast schools 
of salmon ascending the streams to their spawn¬ 
ing grounds. At every landing natives and 
whites, perched on the quays, pull out flounders 
as fast as their lines can be dropped to the bot¬ 
tom and drawn up again. At Killisnoo you are 
given a chance to try your luck at halibut-fish¬ 
ing, and soon thie sides of the vessel are lined 
with fishermen, each one anxious to catch the 
first fish. Of course they are not all successful, 
but the huge size of the fish and the excitement 
and confusion caused when a hundred-pounder 
is hooked, and after tangling all the lines on 
that side of the vessel is finally landed, helps to 
satisfy the unlucky angler. 
But you do not really enter the fish-infested 
waters until you are well along on your trip. 
As the vessel enters the harbor at Skagway, the 
peculiar streaked appearance of the water causes 
you to comment and to look closely. Then it 
is that you discover that each of these streaks 
is a herring about ten inches long. Billions 
probably would not be an over estimate of their 
number. The mass divides before the ship’s 
bow, then closes behind her, and after she has 
been warped up to the dock they crowd about 
her sides. The fishermen, in small craft that 
have made way for your coming, now draw 
near, giving you an excellent opportunity to 
study their methods of fishing. 
The fishing fleet is composed in the main of 
dugout canoes and small skiffs manned by 
natives, civilians and soldiers from the military 
post, who are after fish for the mess. Each 
boat contains a paddler and a man who sits in 
the bow to fish, if the peculiar method of secur¬ 
ing fish about to be described can be called fish¬ 
ing. He faces the bow, holding in his hands an 
instrument which for convenience sake we will 
