THIS MONTH IN THE OUTDOORS 
APRIL USHERS IN THE DAYS OF OUTDOOR RECREATION 
AND THE ANGLER COMES INTO HIS OWN ONCE MORE 
Trout Time 
A pril trout time in practically 
all the states where hrook, 
brown, rainbow, lake, steelhead, 
cut-throat and other species are 
found. Regardless of weather condi¬ 
tions, the first day of the open season 
finds anglers along favorite streams be¬ 
cause of habit or the urge that must have 
sway. Fly-casting for trout, the highest 
art in fresh water fishing, still continues 
after hundreds of years to hold its place 
in the spring in the outdoor magazines 
and in newspaper articles on trout; its 
popularity is growing with the years. 
Probably there have been more books 
written on trout than on any other fish, 
although Doctor Henshall has remarked 
that the black bass is “inch for inch and 
pound for pound, the gamest fish that 
swims.” 
Jersey Trout Flies 
-A NORTHERN New Jersey reader, 
'**■ who fishes the Musconetcong River, 
incidentally the best trout stream in 
Northern New Jersey, suggests to this 
department that the best flies to take on 
a trout fishing trip during the open sea¬ 
son in New Jersey are the following 
dozen: Beaverkill, Cahill, Coachman, 
March Brown, Stone, Royal Coachman, 
Black Gnat, Catskill, Cowdung, Hare’s 
Ear, Queen of Waters and Wickham’s 
Fancy. 
Trout Kings 
“I WAS very much interested,” writes 
* Beaverkill, “in the story in the 
March issue of the ‘King of Speckled 
Beauties’ landed by Dr. J. W. Cook of 
Fort William, Ontario, a brook trout 
that weighed 14% pounds. Can you also 
give the records of rainbow, lake, steel- 
head, cut-throat and brown trout ?” 
The largest rainbow trout known to 
be taken by rod and reel, so far as the 
knowledge of this writer is concerned, 
weighed 26% pounds, the fish being 42 
inches long and 27 inches in girth. It 
was taken by A. A. Cass on July 12, 
1914, in the Skycomish River, Washing¬ 
ton. 
The Lake of the Woods, Ontario, 
Canada, on May 16, 1919, yielded on rod 
and reel the largest lake trout, a fish of 
35 pounds, 4 ounces, 42 inches in length 
and 26% inches in girth, the fish taken 
by E. D. Calvert. Jordan and Evermann 
report a lake trout of over 60 pounds, 
but there is nothing to indicate that it 
was taken by angling methods. 
The Ro gue River, Oregon, in August, 
1911, yielded to C. E. Duffield, a steel- 
bead trout of 14 pounds, 34 inches in 
length and 16 inches in girth. This was 
taken by rod and reel. The United 
States Fish Commission has a record of 
a 30-pound fish taken in the Columbia 
River, Oregon, but not by angling. 
The largest cut-throat trout taken by 
angling weighed 12 pounds with a length 
of 30% inches and a girth of 18 inches. 
It was captured July 14, 1911, by George 
W. Collier, Jr., in the Lake of Two 
Rivers, Algonquin Park, Canada. 
The largest brown trout captured in 
American waters by rod and reel, 
weighed 10 pounds and was 27 inches in 
length with a girth of 16% inches. 
Harry Ackley captured the fish in the 
Forest and Stream conducts this de¬ 
partment for the purpose of telling 
sportsmen where to go and what to do 
throughout each month of the year. It 
is not a mere directory but is intended 
to be a newsy department of interest to 
men who fish and hunt. 
It is compiled by Alexander Stoddart, 
who was Rod and Gun editor of the 
New York Press, the Sun, and the New 
York Herald for the twenty years from 
1900 to 1920. 
Mohawk River, New York. It might 
not be uninteresting to state that the 
brown trout, introduced in New Zealand 
waters, has produced a specimen of 28% 
pounds, which New Zealand exhibited at 
the World’s Fair in St. Louis, 1904. 
Angling Brings Longevity 
nUHERE is no doubt that “the gentle 
pastime,” as Isaak Walton termed 
fishing, leads to longevity. Of course, 
not indulging in excesses too much and 
living the simple life with a fishing trip 
as often as possible, which, in most cases, 
is as often as convenient, leads to long 
life. Isaak Walton himself lived to be 
90 years old. Other anglers, who 
reached 90 and over, though not so 
famous, included Thomas H. Roe, 100; 
Charles H. Haswell, 99; Thomas 
Storms, 98; Walter M. Brackett, 95; 
H. H. Thompson, Samuel C. Clarke and 
Isaac McLellab, 94; W. H. Venig, 93 
and L. PI. Smith, 92; and Dr. Henshall 
is still going strong at 87. 
Well-known anglers, who reached be¬ 
yond four score years were, J. U. Greg¬ 
ory, Theodatus Garlick, Alvah G. Dun¬ 
ning and Alex Shewan, 89; William C. 
Kennerly, John Bartlett and F. E. Spin¬ 
ner, 85; Jay Cooke, George D. Alex¬ 
ander and Kit Clarke, 84; Charles Hal- 
lock, William H. Gregg, Charles F. 
Orvis, Joshua Cooke and William C. 
Prime, 83; Andrew Carnegie, Hamilton 
Busbey, Benjamin C. Milam and Alex. 
Starbuck, 82; W. N. Haldeman, Com. 
L. A. Beardslee (“Piseco”), Col. F. G. 
Skinner, W. T. Dennis, Genio C. Scott 
and T. R. Warren, 81. 
Among prominent anglers who have 
gone beyond the three score and ten 
years, are George W. Winage, Allan 
Gilmour, Thomas A. Logan (“Sloan”), 
J. H. Walsh (“Stonehenge”), Gen. J. H. 
Smith, T. S. Van Dyke, R. B. Roosevelt, 
Charles Fenno Hoffman, George B. 
Raymond, Charles E. Whitehead, Charles 
Lanman, George W. Sears (“Ness- 
muk”), Joseph Jefferson, Gen. John 
McNulta, William C. Harris, L. B. 
Prance (“Burgeois ”), Henry Ward 
Beecher, William E. Simmons, Andrew 
B. Hendryx, Henry Thorpe (“Walton”), 
L. H. Smith, Dr. B. M. Briggs, Julius 
Vom Hofe, Seth Green, Daniel Webster, 
John Wilson (“Christopher North”), 
Gen. Lew Wallace and Alfred B. Street. 
Frederick E. Pond (“Will Wild¬ 
wood’), who is close to the three score 
and ten class but who keeps the youth¬ 
ful point of view, who edited three 
volumes of Frank Forester's works, 
Isaac McLellan’s “Poems of Rod and 
Gun, Charles Hallock’s “An Angler’s 
Reminiscences,” and who has written 
half a dozen books including “Handbook 
for Young Sportsmen” and “Life and 
Adventures of Ned Buntline,” has re¬ 
cently been appointed editor of the “Rod 
and Gun” of the New York Herald. 
First Spring Fisii 
jVTOW is sucker time. It is the first 
1 ^ spring fish. In New England when 
the ice breaks up, the run attracts the 
small boy and his sister and often pa 
and ma. Sucker time begins really when 
the days grow longer and the sun begins 
to grow warm at noontime; then the 
“B-o-o-m!” tells of the ice breaking. 
I hen it is that the old three-tinned spear 
comes from its hiding place. The 
“Pap’s” pet lantern is filled with oil, dip 
nets overhauled, gunnysacks hunted up 
and all is ready for the spearing of 
suckers. When the suckerin’ is good, 
groups of men and boys go nightly and 
mother’s frying-pan is kept busy for 
some time thereafter. 
Flounders—Sign of Spring 
r T , 0 the salt water fisherman, the biting 
of flounders is a sign of spring. 
They are the first fish to he taken after 
the long winter months in the bays along 
the North Atlantic coast. The flounder 
is a fish of personality, full of rascality, 
although he is fashioned like a pan-cake. 
Because of his popularity, he has been 
given such distinctive names as fluke, 
splaice, the latter an evident corruption 
of plaice, the proper name for “fluke”; 
eel-back flounder, slippery sole, peacock 
flounder, whiff, diamond flounder, hog 
choker, soft flounder, carter, lemon sole, 
merry sole, dab, rough and smear dab. 
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