Florida Sea Angling 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
ALF a mile west from the seashore 
of Palm Beach is Lake Worth, and 
across the lake is West Palm Beach 
where we are located. The latter is a 
regular city. Lake Worth is 15 miles 
long and about half a mile wide and is 
connected with the Atlantic by an inlet 
three miles from our wharf. The 
drainage canal from Lake Okeechobee 
empties into Lake Worth and conse-' 
quently the water is almost fresh, but 
there is good fishing in the lake when 
the weather does not permit going out- 
side. The finest sport in the fishing 
game is found right outside the inlet 
at Palm Beach. People from all over 
the world come here to enjoy the fun. 
It is better than anywhere else on 
either coast of Florida. The most com- 
mon fish at present are the king fish, 
of the mackerel family. They run from 
three to forty pounds and even the 
smallest are the greatest fighters you 
ever saw. The average fish weighs 
about 8 lbs. 
The king fish work north in the 
Fall and then come back and locate off 
this coast in December and stay here 
until March. 
The tackle used is a. heavy linen line 
about 200 ft. long with a lead 20 ft. 
from the end; then at the end of the 
line is a swivel to which is attached a 
12 to 15 ft. fine steel wire or leader 
which is almost invisible in the water. 
The hook is covered with a strip of 
bright shiny meat, cut from the belly 
of the king fish or mullet. When the 
boat is moving as slowly as the engine 
will turn over or at a speed of less than 
one mile an hour against the Gulf 
Stream the bait resembles a small fish 
swimming 15 or 20 ft. below the sur- 
face. The king fish bites with a wicked 
yank and sometimes jumps high in the 
air with the bait in his mouth. 
It is surely some thrill and a tough 
tug to get that boy up to the boat. 
But after you have pulled him in 
straight ahead and then start to change 
his course upwards, he takes a differ- 
ent notion about being hauled out of 
the water and then the fight begins. 
IT know now where they get the expres- 
sion “as mad as a horse mackerel.” 
You will have no trouble in getting him 
up to the side of the boat, but then he 
may pull 20 ft. of the line out of your 
hands three or four times before you 
can get him out of the water and swing 
him into the boat. And if he is a big 
one, you are very lucky to land him at 
all, even with the gaff. 
They have a double row of teeth like 
a saw blade and sometimes they strike 
at the line and cut it as clean as a 
knife. We have caught several that 
354 
weighed 18 lbs., and I got one weighing 
24 lbs. Then Dad came along with a 
28 pounder and it took both of us to 
land him. He was nearly five feet long. 
Once I got a big fellow and when he 
came alongside there was nothing on 
the hook but his head. A shark had 
taken the whole fish with one bite. An- 
other time I got a small one and a 
shark chased him right up to the boat 
and the little fish was swimming as 
hard as he could with the hook in his 
mouth to escape the shark. As fast as 
I could pull the line I could not keep 
it taut and the shark (fully a ten- 
footer) was following that fish just like 
a snake gliding through the water. Dad 
jumped up on the stern deck and beat 
on the deck with the gaff hook and 
yelled at the shark like he used to cuss 
his old Dolly cow around. I got the 
fish in before he was devoured, but the 
shark came within two feet of the boat 
in the chase. 
We hooked two sail fish since we 
have been fishing, but they broke the 
hooks or lines before we could land 
them. They weigh from 40 to 75 
pounds and when they raise their sails 
(dorsal fin) which are about a foot and 
a half wide, nothing can turn them in 
the water. The way to get the sail 
fish, they tell me, is to use rod and 
reel with a 300 ft. line. Then you can 
play the fish until he is exhausted and 
lift him aboard with the gaff. 
Pp. A. HATTON, 
West Palm Beach, Fla. 
Woodchucks—Their Habits and 
Ways 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
HAVE read a lot on the hunting 
of woodchucks in your magazine 
and will also say there is nothing in 
it that I don’t read. Every word is in- 
teresting, from the first to the very 
last. I was born and lived on a farm, 
until I was nineteen. Every time I 
could get away from work I was in the 
woods with my gun. 
As for hunting woodchucks, it is 
surely a good pastime during the sum- 
mer months. Owing to the damage they 
do to the meadows, the state of Michi- 
gan used to pay a bounty for their 
scalps. I do not think a woodchuck 
travels very much at night, but in the 
morning as soon as it is warm and the 
dew is off the grass, you will see them 
coming out to feed. During the after- 
noon, from four o’clock until sunset, 
you will find them out feeding again. 
I always found them to do their travel- 
ing during the day and have killed many 
of them this way. If you see one that 
is traveling, if you try to get him, the 
first thing he will do is climb a tree 
. out making them show fright. 
or any object that will take him out of 
your reach. I have even known them 
to swim, something which I could not 
believe at first; but since, while fishing 
in the Muskegon River, I saw one going 
past me downstream. He went about 
20 rods and then crawled out on the 
bank. Since that time I have seen sey- 
eral of them swim. 
But hunting them is more fun. If 
they have not been shot at much, some 
of them will sit up on their hind legs 
and watch you until you get within a 
hundred or seventy-five feet of them 
and then you are almost ashamed to 
shoot them, but when you think of your 
fields that they dig up, you don’t waste 
much time. Others that have been 
hunted more will sit up and watch for 
a minute. Then they will go in their 
den. But this is what interests me, 
If you will go up real quietly, look at 
the den to see which hole or entrance is 
used most (they always have three or 
four), the one that he travels most is 
the one you want. See the way it runs 
in the ground. Then take a position 
so that Mr. ’Chuck, when he comes out 
to look around, will have his back to 
you. ¢ 
I always used to sit about six feet 
from the entrance. Asa rule, you won't 
have to wait more than fifteen minutes, 
but you will have to watch the entrance 
carefully and not make the least noise. 
First you will see just his nose and he 
will be scenting all the time. He will 
move forward slowly. SoI used to wait 
until just about enough of that nose 
came in sight so I could aim right 
even with the edge of the hole and hit 
just ahead of the eyes. I have killed 
many of them and have got a good 
many just this way. I also have omg 
them and seen them get into the ground, 
where, when digging out the hole, you 
will find your woodchuck dead. Unless 
you are a good hand: at digging them 
out, it is foolish to try it for an old 
‘chuck will dig a new hole and fill it i 
behind him so that it is impossible t 
tell where he is. I have lost several 
them this very way myself, but the 


















eighteen inches. I have known them to 
go down four feet in sandy land whet 
water would not get in their nest. A 
for trapping them, a number 1% trap 
is as small as you can expect to hold a 
full grown ’chuck with and make sure 
that it is well fastened, for a wo 
chuck is as strong an animal for it 
size as any animal I know. In places 
where they are not hunted, you ¢ r 
walk within.a couple rods of them with 
Od: 
GEORGE PEACOCK, 
Chicago, II 
