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FOREST AND STREAM. 

[Ocr. 26, 1907. 

coat of varnish is put on in a few days, this 
one should bring out all the beauty of the 
grain and the bright silk of the windings, and 
your rod, which seemed to be ruined, will be 
little the worse for this heroic and perhaps 
unworkmanlike treatment. We are not all ex- 
perts, however, and few of those who love to 
“tinker at rod building” have the right sort of 
workshops and tools; but a little “horse sense” 
has saved more valuable property than a fish- 
ing rod many a time. 
One of my favorite bethabara_ bait-casting 
rods was changed as to taper, in order to make 
it light enough to cast a quarter-ounce lure. I 
reduced both butt and tip in diameter, re- 
wound it, and varnished it at home. Intending 
to suspend it from a brad driven in the out- 
side casing of a window, I stood it in a corner 
while opening the window, and my wife pass- 
ing by without noticing the rod, her skirt 
touched the fresh varnish and upset the rod, 
which rolled over two or three times on a rug. 
[ picked it up with difficulty. A fuzzier rod 
I have never seen. It had suddenly grown 
whiskers of every hue. Apparently it was 
ruined as to appearances, but I let it dry just 
as it was, then polished it as best I could, and 
to-day it shows few effects of the accident. 
Perry D. FRAZER. 

Massachusetts Fish and Game. 
THE following circular has been sent out to 
the affiliated clubs by the Massachusetts Fish and 
Game Protective Association: 
You are aware that the time is near when the 
clubs ought to be prepared to present to the in- 
coming Legislature such changes in the present 
laws as they may desire. 
We believe provision should be made for the 
liberal stocking of the trout streams with finger- 
ling or yearling trout. The destruction of fish 
by the severe drouth of the past summer makes 
this especially important. Two ways suggest 
themselves for accomplishing this result: 
First: By urging our Congressmen to secure 
an appropriation for the establishment of a trout 
hatchery in Massachusetts by the Federal Gov- 
ernment, such as several of the New England 
States have had for a number of years. 
Second: By securing an appropriation. from 
the Legislature for the establishment of a hatch- 
ery in some place in the State where there is an 
abundance of water of such a temperature as to 
render it possible to carry the fry through the 
summer and rear them to the fingerling or year- 
ling stage on a large scale. 
Why should not the Government provide for 
the restocking of the trout streams of Massachu- 
setts as well as those of Vermont, New Hamp- 
shire or Maine? It has not done so because it 
has never been urged to do it. The first step is 
to secure an appropriation from Congress. By 
individual effort combined with club action every 
Congressman in Massachusetts may be aroused 
to take decided action in view of the wholesale 
destruction of our fish by the unprecedented 
drouth of last summer, and the imperative de- 
mand for fingerling or yearling trout which the 
State is unable to supply. 
In reference to the establishment of another 
hatchery by the State, objectors may urge that 
much money has been expended in providing and 
maintaining the four we now have, at Winchester, 
Adams, Hadley and Sutton. 
There may be ground for the views of an emi- 
nent authority who writes in one of the sports- 
men’s magazines that it may be “doubtful if the 
outcome has proved commensurate with the ex- 
penditure of labor and money which has been in- 
curred.” No doubt in some instances the choice 
of location has been unfortunate and there may 
have been other errors, but be that as it may, the 
sportsmen and the public at large should demand 
that the fishing in our streams be kept up regard- 
less of past mistakes and partial failures. Every 
intelligent angler knows that under favorable 
circumstances and with proper management, trout 
may be raised as easily as chickens. 
There is one private hatchery in the State 
which can raise a million fingerlings yearly. 
In the present advanced stage of the science 
of fishculture mistakes may be and should be 


avoided. The universal demand is for trout of 
some size—not fry. : 
The other subject which we would suggest is 
that of securing the enactment of a law which 
shall require resident hunters to take out a 
license. f 
We recommend that these subjects be dis- 
cussed at an early meeting of your club, and that 
your secretary report the general sentiment of 
the members upon them, and any action they may 
take. 
Henry H. Krmpatt, Sec’y. 
WILLIAM Brewster, Pres. 




RAIL. 
said the Captain, as he 

’ 
“WerLL, Commodore,’ is 
joined the circle around the camp-fire, I’m 
told you lost a big fish this morning. 
“T surely did,” I replied, as I hitched my 
camp stool a little more into the circle around 
the cheerful blaze. “I came within an ace of 
making the record catch for this camp, up to 
date: ‘ 
“It’s always the big fish that gets away,” said 
Billy, as he threw another billet of driftwood on 
the fire, sending a shower of sparks whirling 
and dancing up into the night overhead. , 
“Well, there's more truth than you'd think 
in that old saw,” I replied. ‘“‘It takes a whole 
lot more skill, coolness and patience, along 
with a liberal sprinkling of luck, to land a big 
fish than a little one, unless you’re using tackle 
that’s hog-tight, horse-high and bull-strong; 
and that’s just what I wasn’t doing. I lost that 
fish by getting one strike too many.” 
“T can’t imagine myself getting one strike ‘too 

many, when I’m out for strikes,’ put in the 
Captain. ; 
“No more can I, usually,” I replied. “But I 
certainly got one strike too many this: morning, 
and lost the biggest fish of the trip in conse- 
quence. I had walked several miles up the 
river, and reached a section that had not been 
fished over. The river, as you know, is a small 
stream, the water low and very clear, and the 
bass we have been catching are not particularly 
large, running from half a pound to not much 
over a pound; consequently I was using tackle 
that was quite delicate for bass fishing. My 
rod and line were all right, but I was using a 
light single gut six-foot leader, with two No. 6 
trout flies, with light single snoods instead of 
the regulation double-snood bass flies. More- 
over, my flies were several years old, and none 
too trustworthy, and I had lost one or two 
fish from the rotten snoods giving way just 
at the head of the hook. Consequently I had 
none too much confidence in my tackle, and was 
obliged to be cautious in landing my fish, even 
the smaller ones requiring to be taken out with 
care. 
“The bass were plentiful, and struck freely, 
and although they were not large, they were a 
little the fiercest and gamiest I have ever seen, 
and I had rare sport. I stayed nearly an hour 
at one pool, not 200 yards long, and took fifteen 
fish out of it, besides missing several strikes. 
I never had finer sport. There was an over- 
hanging bush at the edge of a steep bank, 
which cast a little. cool-looking patch of shade 
over a particularly inviting piece of rather deep 
water close under the bank and I felt sure that 
if there wasn’t a big fish there, that there cer- 
tainly ought to be; so I sent in a nice, suc- 
cessful cast at long range. I saw the bass as 
he sailed in a dignified manner out from under 
the bank, and took my lower fly, and he looked 
to my astonished eyes at least a yard long. He 
struck that fly a regular sledge-hammer blow, 
and shot off down the river. I saw that I was 
in for the fight of my life, if I succeeded in 
landing him, and I went cold all over. as ] 
thought of my untrustworthy tackle, 
“When he started for the Potomac, I made 
no attempt to hold him, but let him take the 
line right off the reel, checking it as much as 
I dared by letting it slip through my fingers.| 
I began to recover as soon as I could, and soon| 
had him well in hand, constantly keeping all the} 
strain I dared put on him; my only chance, of 
course, being to wear him out before attempt- 
ing to land him. He broke water frequently, 
jumping his length straight up as he attempted], 
to shake the hook out of his jaws; and I dol 
not exaggerate when I say that I could havel! 
stuck my fist into his wide-open mouth. Also}! 
I could see him clearly, all the time, in his}! 
rushes through the water, and he was a big! 
one, and no mistake, probably going some four 
or five pounds. F 
“After about fifteen minutes play he begant 
to show signs of exhaustion, and I worked 
him out into shallow water, with a view to) 
realizing on my investment. He had slackened!’ 
up somewhat in his rushes, and I had worked?" 
him into shallow water, and in a few minutes). 
more I would have had him safely landed, when?! 
just at this critical juncture a fish of about al 
pound and a half shot in out of the deep water} 
and took my dropper. He made a great com-/! 
motion in the shallow water, as well as a sudden 
and violent strain on my rod, relieving the big f 
fish on the tail fly of all strain, thus giving him® 
plenty of slack. The hook dropped out of his 
mouth, and before you could snap your fingers, ™ 
he was gone! And that’s how I lost him.” i 

“That was tough luck!’ chorused several ® 
voices. fo 
“It was indeed,” I replied. “It is by nol 
> p . 
means unusual to catch doubles in fly-fishing; | 
but they are usually both struck at once, or! 
nearly so; and both being equally fresh, they 
fight about equally, and generally divide the ff 
strain, and usually both are landed. But in| 
this instance the big fish had about quit fight- 
ing, and was being towed sullenly and heavily tt 
in, and when the fresh and fairly heavy fish re-}s 
lieved the tired fish of all strain, and, by this| 
time the cartilage of his mouth having become}! 
worn into a considerable hole, the hook fell¢ 
Outs. ef 
“What did you do, Commodore?” asked 
George. t 
“Well, there was nothing to do,” I replied. 
“I yanked the newcomer ashore with scant cere-1 
money, being too disgusted to care whether thea 
tackle brought him in or not. I felt like throw-in 
ing that fish down on the gravel and kicking ii 
him back into the river, where I certainly In, 
wished he had stayed.” In 
* kn 
Not long ago I related a story about a mouse|r 
that made a nest from paper on which verses, | 
bear stories, etc., had been written, and another 
one somewhat like it comes from the letters of| 
the late R. S. Hole, Dean of Rochester. Here 
at isis 
“When the Church Conference was held at! 
Newcastle, Hole told a story of a young curate| 
who was preaching in a strange church from! 
which the rector was away. He preached a very| 
short sermon, and in the vestry afterward the| 
church warden remarked upon its shortness, and | 
the curate told him that a pup at his lodgings | 
got into his room and ate half his sermon, where- | 
upon the church warden said: ‘I should be much| 
obliged if you could get our rector one of the 
breed? ” | 
k * Ox 




















| 



Mr. Marston gives still another classic to the 
angling world in the following yarn: | 
“When fishing with Mr. W. F. Booth recently, 
he told me an amusing anecdote, for the truth 
of which he can vouch. An angler was return- 
ing in the train after a day’s fishing, when a 
chatty, cheerful country woman asked him what 
sport he had had. The angler modestly admitted 
having caught some roach and perch and a few 
eels. A minister of the Stiggins type, who was 
sitting opposite, said, unctuously, ‘It would be 
better for you, sir, if you fished for souls.’ ‘Yes,’ 
said the country woman, ‘that’s what I allus says, 
I can’t abide they fresh water fish.’ ” 
Grizz_y Kine. 



























