The trout of Sunapee Lake

Mat

^fl, 1886.]

FOREST AND STREAM. 287

kind

ofaside

winder on

him,an'I'll astonish,

him

so he'll forgitallaboutthat

patch

o'musratgrass he'sa^steerin'fur,"

and

astheboat

was yanked

inthe desired directiontheside

winder changed

hiscourse

up

thelake,

and under

astubborn pull

be was

gradually

worked up

towithin reachof thegaff.

"Ef

it aiut a

durned

snake"(one of several

names

for pickerel), said

Ben

in disgust, "but^it's

good enough

fur the Joneses,speshally

when

they're about out o'meat,"

and

as

he was

ledalittlenearera well directed stroke of thegaff lifted

him

in the boat,

and

^{a scientific}

whack

with the

"pickerelclub,"administered

by Ben with

aprecision ac- quired

by much

practice,putan

end

tohis "proclivitiesfur sunfish," as

he

putit. It

was

^a

handsomely marked

fishof near seven pounds, but atriflelackingin

game

qualities,

and Ben

didnotfeel

much

glorifiedoverthecapture.

Fifty yards further along the grass belt he astonished another smaller one

by

"unjintin' hisjaw,"

and

ashe

smote

his

head

with the club

he remarked

gravely,

"More

brain foodfortheJoneses,"

and

as the

hook was

released

with

a

dextroustwitch,

"We

kinstan'a

heap

ofit."

"Curious,"

he went

on, astie passedhis

hook

carefully throughthe

jaws

of a freshlive frog,

threw

it overboard,

and

let fiftyor sixty feet ofline

run

offthereel, "that

some

people

hev an

idee'that eatin'plentyo'fish

makes

brainsfur

"cm.

Now my

notionisthat sichpeopleas

them

don't

hev much more

brainsto start

with

than a

mud

turkle,an' the

more

fishtheyeatthelessthey

know.

I rasseled

with

afish dietmyself a

good many

yearsagotillthe scales

begun

to sprout out

on me

an'then1let

up on

itfurfear I'dturninto asuckermoojen, butI'vebineatin'

more

orlessof 'em ever sence, an'Idon't see that

I'm

a

durned

bitsmarter'nI

was

beforeI cornered the fishmarket. Ieat fish

now

'cause I like'em, butIdon't take

any

stockin'em as brainfood.

An'

besides," here

he

turned the click

on

hisreel,laidthe rodcarefully

down

withthe tippointing overthe stern,

and

after

some

difficultyin lightingthebrier root,repeated, "an' besides, there's plentyo'

grub

that's

more

sustainin' than fish,sich asbeansan'cornedbeef,an' taters an'side meat, et settery;an'speakin' o'plain vittels

—

^that

^was

^{a daisy}

batcho'corn bread

Al baked

furusthismornin'."

Afteralong pause,during

which he

puffed meditatively at his "sourceo'comfort."

and

gazedabstractedly atthebelt ofbulrushesalong

which we were

passing,

he

faced

around

with,

"Whenever

I eatcorn breadit

reminds me

ofa'coin- cidence'

—

as blessed old

Dick M. would say—

that

happened

to

me

once

away down

inTexas,an' efyedon't

mind

hearin' it, anillet

me

spell

ye

awhileatthe oars,I'lltellye about itjesttokilltimetill

we

finda

more

fishylookin'streak o'

water

thanitisalonghere."

Kingfisher.

Cincinnati,

Ohio

*^th£ trout of sunapee lake.

EditorForest

and

Stream:

I

have

been

much

interested in reading theletterslately publishedin

your

valuablepaper regarding thelarge trout of

Sunapee

Lake,

N.

H., and, whileI

do

not pretendtoexplain thelarge sizeor variety,

would beg

to say a

few words

in thematter.

The town

of

New London,

lying

on

onesideof

Sunapee

Lake,

was my

birthplace,

and my home

for

some

twenty-fiveyears. I

was

for a time

engaged

in acountry store atGeorge'sMills,

and

quitewellacquainted

with many-

people living at

Wendel

Harbor,

both

places beingatthe

upper end

ofthelake;

was

alsoacquainted

with some

ofthe peoplelivingalongthe lake shore,

and

Ican well

remember

of hearing

from

parties at these placesaboutthe large troutthen being taken

from

the lake.

The

timeto

which

I refer

was now some

thirtyyearsago.

Ithinkatthattime

and down

the lake

from

George'sMills trout

were

takenof

weight from

six to tenpounds. It is quite clear to

my mind

that verylarge trout

have

always lived in

Sunapee and

alsoinvery

many

of thesmallerlakes, orponds,as

we

usedto call

them

in those days.

A

^{case in}

point.

In New London and

within a quarterofa mileof

my home was

a

most

beautiful sheet ofwater,called,

and

rightly,Pleasant

Pond.

Itisabout

two

mileslong

and

about one mile wide.

At

the

upper end

threesmall brooks

came down

through thehills

and

enteredthepond.

These

streams

were

atcertainseasonsquitewellsupplied

with

brooktrout,

some

ofvery

good

size.

We ^used

to see

sometimes up

the largest of these brooks inthe fallof the year

some

very large trout,

and were

told

by

theolderpeoplethat there

were

in the

pond and had always

been, troutof

immense

size,

One July day

whilecrossing the

pond with

a friend,the

water

being

smooth

asglass,

we had

gotabouthalfthe

way

across

and were

resting,our attention

was

called to the swallowsafter theflies

on

thewater,

and by

seeing

one

of the birdscaught

by something and

taken below. Icanre-

member

that

we

then thoughtit

must

beabigtrout that

had

caught thebird,

and we

then decidedthat

we would

before theicebroke

up

next springtry for trout indeep water

with

livebait, Iwell

remember

the

day

in

March

following,it

being the

day

oftheannual springelection.

My chum and

myself, instead ofgoingto

"town

meeting"

with

alltherest, started to tryforour trout.

Having

arrived at

what we

thought aboutthe right place,

we

cut a holetodetermine the depthofwater;

found

itabout

twenty

feet; put

on

a

good

lively

minnow and

fixed line tobush"set inthe ice,letting

down

about fifteenfeetof line.

We

then proceededtocut holes

and

set

some

four

more

lines,

when on

lookingat the first one1

saw

the

bush was down, and

it being a

warm,

still

day

Iconcluded

we had

better see

what was

the matter.

I

went

tothehole,

and

looking

down saw

the line

hanging

straight

and no

motion.

Taking

holdofitI

found

there

was

a

heavy

weight

on

it,

drew

it

up

carefully,

and

into the hole

came

the

head

ofabigtrout;reached

down and

got hold

with

both

hands and

threw

him

out,then

threw my

cap

and

shouted loud

and

long.

My companion coming up we

helda

grand war

dance

around

ourcaptive,

and

decided toleave the linesset

and go up town

to

show and

brag about ourfish,

and

it

was

somethingto

brag

about, as

he weighed

5f pounds,

good

honest weight,

and was

in every

way

a

most

splendidfish. It

had

so completely playeditself out beforeIgot to the line that there

was

nota

motion made

until after I

had him

out

on

theice,

and

then but verylittle.

We

^leftourlines untilthe next day,

and on

cutting

them

out took^off onetrout of about2

pounds and

a

chub

of Im-

pounds

weight. I

have

it

from

those stilllivingnearthe

same pond

thatalmost every season theyget

some

trout of verylarge size.

Now

without

having

anything to say abouttheparticular species of the

Sunapee Lake

trout

under

discussion,I

do

not

doubt

butthat verylarge trout

have always

existed,not onlyin Sunapee, but invery

many

of the

much

smaller lakes

and ponds

in

New Hampshire, and

that atthe propertime,withall conditions favorable, these

same

large 6 to10

pound

troutcould

have

been takeniD

Sunapee

forthelastseventy yearsormore.

"Watertown.Wis. S.S.

WOODARD.

THE OPENING OF THE TROUT SEASON.

NOT

^{withinthirtyyearshas theice left the}

^Adirondack

lakes as early asithasthis spring. Gen. R. U. Sher-

man

^reported the ice off the

Bisby Chain

nearlya

month

ago. Mr. P. A. Walters, superintendentofthe

Adirondack

hatchery of the

N. Y.

Pish

Commission,

reports that the oldest inhabitants

do

not

remember an

earlier season. Mr.

A. R. Fullerreports

Meacham Lake

clear of ice

and

fishing

begun on May

1. All this

may mean

a longer season for

good

fishing,

which

usuallybeginsinthe

Adirondacks from May

15 to

June

1.

Prom Maine we

learn

from Major

Lovejoy,ofthehotel at Bethel, thattheiceisoutof

Umbagog ^Lakes and

Richard- son

Narrows, and

willbe outof the"South

Arm

before the 10th,

and

that fishermen are going to

Middle Dam by way

ofBethel

and Upton,

while the steamer will

move by

the 4th.

Now

that

New York

Statehas

two opening

days, one for

Long

Island

and one

fortherestof the State, therehas been

no customary

displayin the markets.

The

dealers all

had some

^fish

and

Mr. Blackford

had

a

few

flowers

and

trim- mings, but nothinglike

what

he hastreatedthepublicto in previousyears,

when he

has given

up

his

whole

business to

show

trout

from

all parts of the country

and

even

from

Europe.

He had

alot of sixty live trout

from

aprivate

pond on Long

Island,twelveof

which

averaged

two pounds

each.

At Washington

Market, Messrs. Knoll

&

Prichard

had an

exhibit of trout

and some

paintingsoffish

by

A.

Wy-

derveld.

At midnight

before

Saturday

there

were

10,000

pounds

of trout

coming

intothecity

by

express.

They were mainly from

thepreservesof

Long

Island

and Rhode

Island,

with

a

few

frozen

Canadian

fish.

The

dealers in fishingtackle arevery

busy

fittingoutang- lersforthe

woods and

infillingordersforcountry custom- ers,

and

allthingspointtoalargecatchoftrout this season.

FISHING AT NIPISSING.

"

H.,"

Birmingham,

Conn., writes for information

\J

^• about fishing in vicinity ofPembroke,' Ont.

We

were up

^that

way

last

August on

afishingtrip,

and

while

we

did not trythe fishing there, tojudge

from

our experience further

up

^{the lineof the}

Canadian

PacificRailway,

we have no doubt

that the fishinga little

back from Pembroke

is good.

The Ottawa

Riverisseveralmiles

wide

there,

and

is calledAllumette Lake.

Pembroke

are quitea

lumber

depot,

and

a placeofconsiderablebusiness.

There

areabout 3,000 inhabitants,

and

thisisaboutthe last place that containsa

bank

(and postal

money

order office)

on

the C.P.linetill

you

get to

Winnipeg.

We went

directly to

North

Bay, on

Lake

Nipissing,

and

putinpartofone

day

fishing there.

Not

very successful, however,

but we "sampled"

the pike,bass

and

"pickerel,"

thelatterbeingin realitypike-perch.

There seem

tobe

none

ofour

common

pickerel there,

and

pike-perch takethat

name

in that locality. Nipissing is alarge lake, forty to fifty mileslong

and

fifteento

twenty

wide.

There

is

good

fishing in thislakein the right season,butaguidetothebest places isnecessary.

North Bay

hasfiveor six

hundred

people

and

isgrowing.

The

stores therearevery

good and campers

can get almost everything requisite,

and

atreasonable prices.

Prom North Bay we went back

four

and

one-halfmilesto Trout Lake,

where we went

into

camp. Trout Lake

isone oftheloveliestlakesI

was

everon. Itistwelve mileslong, with veryirregular shores,

making

innumerable bays

and

coves.

The

water is clear

and

deep,

and

there are

many

islands ofallshapes

and

sizes.

We engaged Dick

Jessup, theonlysettlerliving

on

the lake, as guide,

and went down

the lake seven miles

and camped on what

iscalled

"Big Camp

Island."

We came

for

good

fishing

and we found

it.

And why

shouldn't it

be good?

It isthenatural

home

of bass,trout,maskalonge,etc.,

and

ithas never beennetted or fished to

any

extent.

We ^were

^{injusttherighttimeforblack}bass,

and

introll- ing

we

could catchall

we had

a

mind

to.

We were

sure of a strikeevery

few moments, and

as

one

or

two

fish

were

all

we

couldeat ina day,

we

calledtherest

"lucky

dogs,"

and

after

weighing

them,

threw them back

for

some

oneelseto catch. After a

few

days

we

did

most

ofourtrolling

with

a small spoon, fine silk line

and

fly-rod,

and though more would

get

away,

the sport

was much

better.

With

large tackle thebass

would run from two

to five

and

six pounds,

and

plentyofthem.

Maskalonge

are there,butin

August you

onlygeta stray one

now and

then.

We

caught eight, the largest fifteen

pounds

(forty-twoincheslong),theothers

between

five

and

fourteenpounds. I caught

two

or threesmall maskalonge, five

and

six pounds,

on

afly-rod(withsmallspoon),

and

it

was

great sport

with

such light tackle.

We

alsocaught pike, plenty* of pickerel (pike-perch),the latter

were

the

most

plenty nexttothebass.

Lake

trout

were

plenty,but

were

in deep water while

we were

there.

The

largest

we

caught

weighed

ten pounds.

Dick

called

them

"salmon,"

and

theyare a beautifulfish

and good

eating.

Brook

trout

were

plentyinthe smallerstreams, but

were

small

and

darker coloredthan thosehere.

We

caught

a

number

of

what

theycall "ling,"a

new

fishtome.

They

looktobe a cross

between

a catfish

and lamprey

eel, a very repulsive-looking creature.

These we

did noteat.

We

enjoyed fishing for bass

with

afly

and

livebait in a rockyriver.

Bass

took the flythere betterthan

anywhere

elss. I

hooked

alarge size green frog through oneof his hindlegs

and

tossed

him

intoa deep poolin this river;

he

satthere serenely a

moment, and

as Iglanced

away

there

was

arush

and

aswirl,thefrog

was gone ami

I

had

a large fish hooked. Notwithstanding I handled

him with

the utmostcare Idid not save him,for

he

bitthewire

gimp

off

above

the

hook and was

gone. I

do

not

know what kind

of fishit

was

as Idid notseeit,butit

was

alarge one.

As

for hunting,itis

good

inthefall; the

law

isoff Oct.

15,Ibelieve.

Deer and moose

are quite plenty.

We saw

places

where

thetracks

were

asthickas in a

barnyard

;also

saw

tracks

and

signsof bears.

A few weeks

before

we were

there

some

Indians

were encamped on

alittleislandnear our

camp, and

they got

two moose and

three deer, probably

by

floating,as

we saw

theremainsof theirjackaswell as the hoofs

and

bonesof the

moose and

deer.

They smoked

the

meat and

"portaged" it out.

We

think

any

one goingto that locality

would

finditavery enjoyabletrip.

They

will find the

Canadian

Pacificpeople pleasant gentlemen,willing togive

any

information

and

to

do

allthey canto

make

their journeypleasant.

One

ofthe

most weighty

reasonsforour goingtoNipissing,

which

isdirectlynorthof the celebrated

Muskoka

region,

was

thefactthat

you

can reachthere

from

New York

city or almost

any

point in

New England by

losingbut one business day; for instance,leave

New York

city

on

Montrealtrain afterbusinesshours(4:30 P. M.)

on

a Saturday

and

arrive atMontreal about9

Sunday

morning.

Leave

Montreal

Sunday morning

about9

and

train reaches

North Bay

latethatnight

and you can go

into

camp

Tues- day.

At North Bay

stop at Snyder's hotel,

which

is the best.

Do

not expect too

much

ofa

town

but

two

yearsold, but

you

will find the peoplejovial

and

pleasant. This re- gion

was

alla wilderness about

two

yearsago,

and

settlers arenot very thick yet. R. B.Jessup,of

Trout Lake

(his postoffice is

North

Bay),has boats

and

canoes, tent blankets, etc.,

and

could probably be

engaged

as guide.

B.

AND H.

TARPON FISHING WITH ROD AND REEL.

EditorForest

and

Stream:

The

tarpon, or silver

king

as itis

commonly

called,

may

justly

be

describedasatropicalfish,

though found

inasemi- tropicalclimate

and

waters. Insubstantiation of thispropos- ition, I

may

state the fact,

whieh came under my own

observation, that thecoldsnap of last

January which

didso

much damage

throughout the

South

to thefruit, also killed or

was

the

immediate

causeof thedeath of thousandsof thesefish. Ididnotvisitthesceneof thisdevastationuntil about

March

following;butat that timeIcounted

hundreds

ofthecarcasses of thisfish

upon

nearly every

beach

I visited, stripped of theirflesh

by

the buzzards,

hawks,

coons

and

otheranimals

and

birds thatseek theshores for their food.

The

tarponare

found

in nearlyall thewatersof

Southern and

Southwestern Florida

and

the keys

and

wateTsofthe

Gulf

of Mexico,are

found

in the

more

southerly portions thereof,

where

the waters are warmest,early in thespring orthroughoutthe winter,

and

migrateintothe

more

interior waters as the

warm

weather approaches,

and

in

summer swarming

inalltherivers

and bayous

of the

Gulf and

Flor- idacoast.

Thisfish is said to

grow

toaverylargesize,

though my own

experience did not carry out the fables told of

them

as tosize

and

weight. I

had

the experienceofcapturing

some

eight

and

ofseeingnearlyas

many-more

captured

by

others,

and

ofseeing

and

estimatingfor myself

some

ten ortwelve others

which

I

hooked

but did not capture;

and

asaresult of thisobservationI

am

led tothebeliefthat

from

sixtoseven feet is about their

maximum

length

and

that about 150

pounds would

be their

maximum

weight; bothof

which

should,

and

probably

would

,bequite satisfactory to

any

of

our

expert striped-bassanglers if they could but see,as I

have

seen,

and

feel,asI

have

felt,

them hooked on

theordi- narytackle ofourstriped-bassfishermen.

The

tarpon,

though

cautious

and wary,

is nottimid,

and with

ordinary care can easilybeinducedtotake the bait;

and any

oneat all familiar

with what

isnecessaryin cap- turing the striped bassof ourEasternwaters,canreadily

hook

as

many

as

he can

safely take care of,provided

he hooks them

well,

and by

his skillprevents

them from

get- ting

away. The

objectof

my

triptoFlorida

was

to

demon-

strateifthesefishcould be captured

with

theordinarytackle used

by

our Eastern club fishermenin theirpursuit ofthe striped bass,

and

toseeifpatience,skill

and

perseverance could be

made

successful as againstweight,activity,

power and

endurance. ThisI

have

successfullyaccomplished,for, whileI

haye

taken

some

eightofthesemonsters,I

have

used nothing but

my

striped-bass tackle,

which

isof the lightest

kind used by any

ofthe bass fishermen, consisting of

Nos.

9

and

12basslines,theordinaryfull-sizebassreels,a lightsix- footsplit

bamboo rod weighing

fourteen ounces,

and

10-0

knobbed

hook, increased

one

sizefor convenience, simply to

accommodate

an increasedsizebait.

The

mulletused for bait are

much

largerthan our

men-

haden,

and

areusedinexactlythe

same way, and

1

made

a successof

chumming

asin stripedbass fishing,

and

theonly

drawback

thatI

found

in thecapture oftarpon

was

in a proper

and

suitable snell tostandthe action of their iron

and

shear-likejaws. Closeexamination

shows

the

head

of this fishtobe acuriosity.

The mouth, when

closed, resembles the eagle's

beak

reversed,

and

one

would be

led to suppose thatit

was

very small, as

compared

to the size ofthefish;

butitpossesses

a

sort of folding power,

and when

fully

opened

it presentsa

monstrous

cavity, quite sufficient to takeinaman's head.

The

gills are of

immense

size

and

capableofgreatdistention,

and when

thefishleaps

from

the water,asit

always

does

on

being hooked, itpresentsa spec- tacleatonce

grand and

imposing,

and

thecontinuation of thoseeffortsduring the time he hasthe

power

to

make

them, renderthis fish

and

its captureat once

an awe and

delight.

He

leaps

from

thewater

when

hooked,

and

with

mouth open and

gills distended shakes himselfasI

have

never before seen

any

livingobject do, to ridhimselfof thehook,

and

in amajorityof cases,sooneror later succeeds.

1

have had

them,as I supposed, securely -hooked, and, afterhnlf

an

hour'stussle,

when

Ithought

them

nearlycap- tured,

have had them make

a rush

and

takeline

enough from me

to get sufficient

headway

to leap

from

the

water and by

oneofthose

tremendous

shakes

throw

line, bait

and hook

ten feet intheair

and

thengracefully

move away. In some

cases I

have had them

leap

from

the water,

from

one to.sixfeet clear,thirteentimes before theylost

power

to

do

so,after

which many

attempts to leap

would end

in their gettingonlypart

way

outofthewater.

The

brilliancy of thespectacle of thisfish,

with

a

head

completely covered

with

acoat of the

most

brilliant pearl,

and

the sides

from

thegill

down

coveredwith frostysilver, leaping six feet out of thewater,far

enough

toallow the turningof acompletesomersault,

and

repeatingthis

momen-

tarily,

must

be seen to

be

appreciated, for it cannot be accuratelyor effectivelydescribed

—

^it is awe-inspiring

and

sublime.

The

notion

which

is entertained

by some

English sportingjournals,thattocapturefishof

more

than

two and

a half pounds'

weight

to the

pound

of tensile strength of line,hasin thisexperiencebeenentirelyexploded;for in

my

capturesafish

weighing

125

pounds

has been captured

by

a line

having

a tensilestrengthoflessthan

twenty

-five

pounds

;

thisisfivetooneinstead of

two and

one-halfto one.

Punta

Rassa,Fla,,

and

theadjacent watersofthe coast of

West

Florida,

were

thefieldof

my

operations,

though

other watersof theGulf

abound

with thesefish.

To

reach the watersof thisbeautiful giant ofthedeepisnotdifficult,

and

the

accommodations, though

in

most

places plain, are

com-

fortable,

and where

I

had

the

good

fortuneto

go

I

found

the attendance good.

The

fishingis

done from

boats,

and

innot verydeepwater.

The

fleshofthe tarponis

good

toeat,

and

I

am informed

that in

some

casesthebeautiful scales are

manufactured

into very

handsome and

pleasing jewelry ornaments.

A

^pre-

servedspecimensofthe largest of

my captoes can

beseenat

Edward vom

Hofe's,97

Fulton

street,

New

York.

Biixy Bowlegs,

PuntaRassa,Fla.,April1?.