236 
FOREST AND STREAM. 

instead of the usual bull’s eye and centre, the figure of a 
man was painted on the regulation third-class targets, and 
the competitors had to fire a shot every thirty or forty 
yards, running in a ziz-zag direction for nearly half a miles 
the time allotted being five minutes, and if they hit the fig- 
ure of the man it counted four, while if the hit the other 
part of the target it only counted two. The competition 
also embraced the usual target firing, seven rounds at 200, 
500 and 600 yards, Wimbledon conditions and no sighting 

shots. The arrangements were under the charge of Capt. 
Don. The following were the winners :— 
Yds. Yds. Yds. Skirmishing. Grond 
200 500 600 TI. Men, Outers. Pts. Tl. 
1 Pte. G. Kilgur,....... 21 23 20 64 4 9 36 100 
2 Pte. P. Gilchrist..... 20 22 20 62 6 6 36 98 
8 Pte. T. Morris....... Oe 20N 1b be cnn | Coen 40 90 


Sea and River Fishing. 
FISH IN SEASON IN NOVEMBER. 
Coast FisH. LAKES. 
Bluefish, Skipjack. Horse Mackerel, Black Bass, (Mic) opterus nig 


(Temnoden  saltautor.) and archigan.) (two species. 
Weakfish, Squetaug (Trout) Ofoli- Pickerel, (Hsox reticulatus.) 
thus.) 
Bays AND EsTUARIEs. 
Striped Bass, Rocktish. (Labrax laneatus.) 
SOUTHERN WATERS, 
Pompano. Trout, (Black Bass.) Sheepshead. 
Snapper. Drum, (two species.) Tailorfish . 
Grouper. Kingfish. Sea Bass. 
Rocktish. 
ree ee 
—We offer a line of the finest fishing rods to subscribers 
to ForEsST AND STREAM. See advertisement. 
—All questions and facts that relate to the habits of the 
speckled trout and black bass, salmo fontinalis and grystes 
vigricans, are so interesting that the subject will never be- 
come trité so long as new generations arise to learn the 
lessons that others have learned before them. Therefore, 
although much has been said in these columns, they are 
always open for any new light that offers. Our own opin- 
ion as to the ‘‘fly” question in bass fishing is based upon 
personal tests and investigations made in all our waters, 
from Dacotah to Florida, and cannot be changed; yet 
while we do not wish to appear-obstinate or pedantic in as- 
serting that opinion, we are nevertheless gratified to say 
that it is confirmed by all authorities accepted as compe- 
tent to decide. Therefore, to ourselves, as well as to those 
of our readers who have taken part in the discussion, the 
value of the subjoined testimony from an official source, 
which unfortunately the writer wishes to be kept private, 
will be felt and acknowledged :— 
Epriror oF ForEST AND STREAM :— 
Having observed an article in one of your papers of a 
late date under the head ‘‘Will Black Bass Take the Fly?” 
and as I profess to have had some experience in that re- 
gard, permit me to occupy a paragraph or two in your in- 
teresting columns in the discussion of this subject, as I 
may, perhaps, have itin my power to throw some little 
light thereupon. 
Black bass will most certainly take the fly; but to a very 
limited extent, indeed, in the waters of the Potomac or its 
tributaries. This peculiarity in the habits of the Potomac 
bass may appear strange or paradoxical to some of your 
piscatorial readers; nevertheless, it is undoubtedly true, 
and accords not only with my own experience, but also 
with that of allof my angling friends with whom I have 
conversed upon the subject. Ina letter which I addressed 
to the Turf Field and Farm newspaper a year or two since 
upon the subject of the bass in the Potomac, I took occa 
sion to notice this circumstance, and to account for it upon 
the supposition that the bass, being a new comer in the 
waters in question, and finding a superabundance of food 
therein, such as minnows, crayfish, etc., were, in conse- 
quence, not necessitated to rise to the surface of the water 
in order to seek their prey; but I observe by a letter in 
your columns from a correspondent in Ohio, that a similar 
reluctance to take the fly characterizes this fish in his 
section, and inasmuch as the Potomac bass was originally 
brought (by Wm. W. W. Shriver, of Wheeling, W. Va.), 
from the Ohio river, I think it possible that the habit in 
question may prove to be universal with regard to this 
particular species of bass. A somewhat imaginative writer 
(as I think) states in one of his profound icthyological 
efforts, that a large number of bass were taken with the fly 
near the village of Williamsport, on the Potomac. Being 
well acquainted in that vicinity, I made diligent inquiry 
upon the subject, but was unable to gather the slightest 
information concerning this rather remarkable exploit. 
After repeated efforts, I have taken but a solitary individual 
with the fly. This fish was captured with a Red Ibis fly 
in the South Branch river—a tributary of the Potomac. 
In other waters, such as the lakes of Minnesota, the 
rivers, creeks and fresh water lagoons of Florida, I have 
taken the black bass with the flyin immense numbers. In 
Minnesota I employed the Red Ibis fly exclusively. I found 
a warm, cloudy day, the most propitious for this species 
of amusement—‘‘a warm but not too bright a sun,” as 
good old Walton was wont to say, when treating of the 
subject of fly fishing. I also preferreda gentle breeze, just 
sufficient to throw the surface of the water into small 
ripples, as tending to conceal the movements and gestures 
of the angler from the observation of his prey. As well as 
I recollect the fish rise best to the fly in that section during 
the months of June and July. 
In Florida, also, 1 frequently used the Red Ibis fly, and 
inthe absence of this I was accustomed to make my flies 
of the deep pink scapular feathers of the roseate Spoonbill 
(Platalea ayaya), and found them a most seductive lure. 
When the water was cloudy or slightly turbid, I frequently 
mingled some feathers of the white heron with those of the 
rare and beautiful birds above named, the combination 
answering my purpose}most admirably. I sometimes also 















improvised a good trolling bait’ by cutting off one of the 
pectoral fins of the bass, including a small strip of the 
yellowish or orange colored skin at its base. 
During the ‘Billy Bowlegs” war in Florida, a regiment 
of the native volunteers co-operated with the Regulars, and 
I have frequently observed these natives (or ‘‘Crackers” 
as they were jocosely called) rig a novel and outlandish sort 
of a fly which they termed a ‘‘bob” made by attaching a 
piece of deer’s tail to three hooks tied back to back, and 
with this contrivance they were quite successful in taking 
bass (or black trout, as they termed them) upon dark, 
cloudy days. 
In conclusion, permitZme Jto remark, somewhat irrele- 
vantly perhaps, that of all the fresh water members of the 
family of the Zabridac, of which I think there are at least 
four species or varieties of species within the confines of 
the United States, the Florida bass is beyond all comparison 
the most worthy of the angler’s notice, being a bolder biter 
and a much larger fish than any of his congeners that I 
have ever angled for. 
Should this article prove acceptable, at some future time 
I may have something more to say concerning the black 
bass, as the subject seems to be at present something of a 
questio vexata among icthyologists and scientific anglers. 
W. 
—We saw a muscalonge last week at the stand of Mid- 
dleton, Carman & Co., in Fulton Market. It weighed 
some twenty pounds. Probably it was the last one of the 
season. As we surveyed his beautiful proportions, his pe- 
culiar whitish complexion, and his massive and not greatly 
elongated head, we wondered how anglers could ever con- 
found him with the green, alligator-headed pike. Surely 
those who have ever compared the two together, or eaten 
of their flesh, could not make this error. ‘‘An overgrown 
pickerel, ” indeed! However, if there is difficulty in class- 
ifying the mascalonge, there is equal confusion among the 
savans in naming him, for Agassiz and Lesuer call him 
esox estor, while Thompson and Gill insist that he is esox 
nobitior. If there be anything in a name, the latter fits him 
best, for in beauty of form, in game qualities, and in ex- 
cellence of flesh, he stands at the head of the family; be 
sides, he is the Goliah among them all. For some reason 
unexplained, unless it be by reason of his nobility, he isa 
rare fish. In the St. Lawrence, at the Thousand Islands, 
and in the Upper Mississippi, both waters celebrated for 
the muscalonge, one will not kill more than one of these 
toa hundred pickerel. Sometimes they grow to an im- 
mense size. The largest we have ever heard of is vouched 
for by our correspondent OC. 8. Clarke, who says that in 
1840 he saw one at the mouth of the Calumet river, Mich- 
igan, which had just been captured in a seine, that was six 
feet long and weighed eighty pounds: The mouth would 
have admitted a man’s leg; it showed a perfect chevaua de 
Jrisé of teeth, the canines at least an inch long! 
—Maune papers report the land-locked salmon as very 
plenty in the head waters of the St. Croix river this fall, 
large numbers of them being caught in the pool below the 
dam at the outlet. These fish are not in season now, and 
we call the attention of the State Fish Commissioners to 
this violation of the law. 
—aA favorite correspondent writes as follows:— 
Epitor Forest AND STREAM:— 
In your first number a correspondent asks, ‘Did you 
ever go fishing with a shot gun?” I have, and it was in 
this wise: 
In many Western lakes and rivers may be found a pe- 
culiar fish, known to local anglers as the dogfish, mudfish, 
or lawyer, the latter name being probably given it from its 
rapacious habits. It is in general aspect something like a 
large chub or sucker, but has a truculent and savage ex- 
pression of countenance, and devours everythirg it can 
master. Its jaws are extremely hard and long, so that a 
hook penetrates them with difficulty; it fights long and 
hard, and when caught is good for nothing, as they say in 
those regions, ‘‘that even the hogs won’t eat dogfish.” One 
use I found for it, however, and that was to cut a strip 
from its white belly to troll with for pickerel. 
This fish, Amina calva, belongs to the order of Ganoids, 
and is in scales, fins, and the force of tail allied to the ex- 
tinct fishes of an older world, and it is curious that most 
of these representatives of the earlier periods are found 
only in Western waters—the garfish, the paddlefish, and 
the mudfish. 
Well, this disreputable branch of an old family comes in 
the spring into shallow waters to spawn, and one day, 
many years ago, being with a friend on the drowned prai- 
ries to the south of Chicago in pursuit of snipe, which we 
found not, we found hundreds of these dogfish on the sub- 
merged prairie, and opening fire upon them we soon had 
quite anumber. Being hungry, we thought we would try 
to eat them, in spite of their evil name. So we took them 
to dry land, built a fire, roasted them in the ashes, and 
really gave them atrial. I must add that even with the 
sauce of hunger we found it impossible to make much of a 
dinner. 8. C. Cuarxe. 
—Near the Little Falls of the Potomac, in an humble 
cabin, is now lying upon a sick bed, Josiah Payne. He is 
said to be in the seventy-eighth year of his age, and has 
been a hard-working fisherman for forty years. But more 
than that, he has lived the life of an honest man, and has 
always deserved the highest respect of his numerous 
friends. Our correspondent, Mr. Charles Lanman, has 
known and fished with Mr. Payne for twenty-five years, 
and several years ago embodied in an imaginary letter the 
leading facts and some of the experiences of his old friend’s 
life. Among the noted anglers who fished with Payne 









































were Daniel Webster, Gen. Geo. Gibson, Governor Geo. M. 
Bibb, and Hon. J. F. Crampton, the British Minister. Miss 
Dix, the philanthropist and Miss Frederika Bremer the 
authoress, also visited him on one occasion. 
—We have received from Mr. Albert A. Mowry, of Put- 
nam, Ct., a very ingenious little contrivance for fishing 
through the ice in winter, which is quite an improvement 
upon the ordinary tilt or tip-up. It consists of an upright 
and an arm, the line passing over the end of the latter down 
into the water. When a fish bites, the line is cast off, the 
arm falls, and at the same time automatically hoists a little 
signal flag on the upright. We think we can readily re- 
commend this, even without a trial. ; 
—Mr. Mowry also sends us the following poem in praise 
of the bull-head or cat-fish. He calls it an ‘“‘Ichthye,” which 
is appropriate. ‘‘Pouts as big as your feet,” is classic: 
“Some sing the praise of the toothsome shad, 
Which maketh the heart of the epicure glad; 
And say they’re the best fish to be had, 
Well, I'll own myself, they are not very ‘bad. 
But talk not to me of shad or trout, 
Or any other kind that are hawked about; 
Put on my plate, if you please, horn pout. 
From the depths of Quadic, just caught out. 
To be sure, the color of his skin is black, 
The curved lines of beauty he too doth lack, 
And horns stick out from his sides and back, 
As long and sharp as a twelve ounce tack. 
The skin, however, you do not eat, 
But the flesh within which is white and sweet, 
And cleaves from the bones so slick and neat; 
Which fact alone beats the shad complete. 
Especially if the pouts are as big as your feet. 
Pachting and Boating. 
HIGH WATER, FOR THE WEEK. 








DATE | BOSTON. | NEW YORK. | CHARL’ST’N 
h. m. h. m. h. m. 
NOY: 20S ose acon 11 49 8 32 7 49 
Nov. 21s; Maeideur morn. 9 21 8 35 
Noy. 22.. 0 35 10 10 9 24 
hae Ps Biase fan Ra 1 a | 10 os 10 16 
OV: dese ee 2.1 | 11 5 11,9 
NOY. 25; Ti esacerat op yaar) | morn. | morn. 
NOV. 204.0 soma ate Nee 4 4 0 St 4 

—Mr. Ashbury’s steam yacht Eothen, owner in command, 
was off the Port of Pernambuco on the 16th of October. 
Mr. Ashbury is on a trip to all the navigable ports on that 
side of the South American Continent, and from thence to 
the Cape of Good Hope. 
—The steamship City of Paris, which arrived at this port 
on November 17th, reports speaking the yacht Enchantress, 
N.Y. Y.C., Captain Fairchild, hence for Cowes, on the 14th 
inst., latitude 41 54, longitude 58 14, with loss of foretop- 
mast. 
—A party went from New Rochelle to New Haven, a few 
days since, in search of a stolen sloop, found it, took on 
board a good supply of wine, and started to return. Dur- 
ing the night the wine vanished and a new light appeared, 
and taking it for Fort Schuyler, they steered for it, and 
kept steering for it, and the harder they steered the further 
the light seemed away, but they regarded the phenomenon 
as only an optical illusion. At length daylight came to 
their relief, and they found themselves in Boston harbor. 
Their Fort Schuyler light was a Boston steamer which they 
had been following all night. ~ By taking on board a new 
skipper, who don’t like champagne, they managed the next 
day to get home all right. 
YALE CouLEGE, Novy. 18, 1873. 
Eprror Forest AND STREAM:— 
The fall regatta at Yale has been a success, and entire 
satisfaction is expressed both by spectators and contestants. 
We also have the pleasure of s‘ating that both the style and 
effect of the rowing displayed in our late races are superior 
to that of past years, which is evidence that our principles 
are good and that they are being taken up by our college oars- 
| men. Our principle drawback is the scarcity of coachers, 
there being only one or two in the University to look after 
the various crews. 
Anew addition to the entries of this year was the ap- 
pearance of the two juvenile crews from Hopkins Gram. 
mar School and Gen. Russell’s Military School. Both 
crews pulled a plucky race, though their style was quite 
defective from a lack of coaching. This was the first race 
of the day, rowed in six-oared shells, their course being 
two miles with turn, the Russells winning in 14 minutes 
16% seconds—Grammar School time being 15 minutes 233 
seconds. 
WESLEYAN University, Middletown, Ct., Nov. 13, 1873. 
Epitror ForEst AND STREAM:— 
The boating record of this college is short, having sent 
our first crew to the annual regatta in '72. We werere. 
presented in that regatta by a Freshmen Crew, which won 
the victory in 17 minutes 7 seconds. At the last annual 
regatta at Springfield we had a University Six, “who were 
only two seconds behind the winning crew. The boating, 
spirit still grows. We will have two crews at the annual 
regatta of "74. 
Our aquatic sports ended for the season in a Scrub-race on 
the 25th of October, between three six-oared boats. The 
76 crew in gig, ‘75 crew, in old practice shell and the 
University Crew. The University were to pull 3} miles, 
while the others were pulling 3 miles. The course was up 
by the island and return. The current was exceedingly 
swift, which made the great difference between the time 
made and that wade over the same course last June. Some 

