ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York State Colleges OF Agriculture and Home Economics AT Cornell University THE GIFT OF SWLLARD A. KIGGINS Cornell University Library SH 441.Y16 Angling. 3 1924 003 435 991 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003435991 THE OUT OF DOOR LIBRARY THE VOYAGEUR TYPE V- THE OUT OF DOOR LIBRARY ^ ^ ^ ^ ANGLING LEROY m': YALE A. FOSTER HIGGINS J. G. A. CREIGHTON ROBERT GRANT A. R. MACDONOUGH ALEXANDER CARGILL CHARLES FREDERICK HOLDER CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS T897 360807 Copyright, iSg6, bv Charles Scribner's Sons- typography BY C. J. PETERS Si SON. PRINTED BY BRAUNWORTH, MUNN St BARBER. CONTENTS I PAGE Getting out the Fly Books i By LEROY MILTON YALE, M.D. II The Land of the Winanishe 27 By LEROY M. VALE, M.D., and J. G. A. CREIGHTON. Ill Nepigon River Fishing 85 By a. R. MACDONOUGH. IV Striped Bass Fishing 123 By a. foster HIGGINS. V The Haunts of the Black Sea-Bass 161 By CHARLES FREDERICK HOLDER. VI Tarpon Fishing in Florida 179 Bv ROBERT GRANT. vii VII PAGE American Game-Fishes 219 Bv LEROY MILTON YALE, M.D. VIII iT^aah Walton 261 By ALEXANDER CARGILL. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Getting out the Fly Books — The Voyageur Type Frontispiece Headpiece P(fge 3 A Quiet Spot 11 Tailpiece 23 The Land of the Winanishe — Headpiece ...... Lake St. John — An Early Start . Reeling in . . . . . The Head of the Vache Caille Rapid In the Lodge The Carcajou Pool .... The Point of lie Maligne The Mouth of the Ouiatchouaniche River The End of Canoe Journey Tadoussac — Low Tide . Foot of lie Maligne Portage Foot of Grande Chute Tailpiece 27 29 33 36 41 51 55 57 62 67 71 n 82 Nepigon River Fishing — Headpiece . . , . . . , . . '85 Camp on the Nepigon 89 Near Pine Portage 95 West Falls . 99 Centre Falls 103 Big Canoe Landing , . 109 Great Falls 1 1 1 Split Rock Carry 117 Lisi of liiuilratious Striped Bass Fishing — The Cast . Page 123 The Horseshoe at the West Island Club, near Newport, R. I. . 127 '■^ By George! I ''ve got him'''' . . . .129 These loads of eager men ...... 1 33 Good Water 136 Striped Bass , ......... 140 The Fishing-stand at Cuityhzink, Mass. . . . 143 Mr. Davis''s Standi Brenton's Reef^ Newport., R.I. . . 146 " What does he weigh, Tom ?" . ... 149 Fishing-stand at Pasque Island . . . ' . "152 Tailpiece . . . . . ."'■.- ."' . 157 The Haunts of the Black Sea-Bass — Hauling ashore the Black Sea-Bass " Three Hundred and Forty-two and a Half, Sir '. " Tarpon Fishing in Florida — 163 169 Hotel at St. James City 1 79 The Reel . . . 183 The Cast . . . .... 185 Scale of Tarpon {actual size) . ... 1S9 Ready to Gaff 193 He was six feet long, and weighed one hundred and thirty-two pounds . 201 Hook . . . . . . 205 Saw Fish on the Pier at St. James City ..... 209 American Game-Fishes — Headpiece ..... Brook-Trout . . . . Trout-fishing — A Strike Pompano and Striped Bass Gaffing a Striped Bass . Large-mouthed, or Osivcgo, Black Bass A Striped-Bass Fisherman^ s Siand Trolling for Bluefisk 225 229 237 241 245 l.isi of Ilhtsiraiions I^aak Walton — E7itrance to Dovedale, looking up the Valley . . , Page 263 Ancient Houses in Fleet Street^ includiyig the Residence of Izaak Walton, 1624 ... .... 266 Portrait of Izaak Walton 269 The Izaak Walton Inn at the Entrance to Dovedale . . 273 The Angler's Song, with the Original Music .... 275 The Church at Dovedale .... ... 277 The Old Mill at Dovedale 281 Charles Cotton^ Walton^s Adopted Son , ... 285 Cotton's Fishing Cottage, Beresford Dale . , . 289 Facsimile of the Title-page of the First Edition . . . .290 Pike's Pool, Beresford Dale ....... 293 Reynard''s Cave. Dovedale 297 GETTING OUT THE FLY BOOKS Bj> Leroy Milton Yale ^HEN spring seems still afar off, when nights are sharp, and patches of snow lie about, in spite of the frost the maple feels the sweet juices in all its fibres. The same nameless influence touches the angler. His blood moves; he has no more choice than the budding tree. He must see his fly-books. Every article of his outfit — creel, hob- nail, or rod — has its charm to rouse memory or quicken imagination ; but in the book is hidden the subtlest spell of all. Move but a fly from its folds, and up swarm the recollections and the dreams — recollections of a past in which all joy is fresh, all disappointment forgotten; dreams of a future filled " much more Gelling Out Uk Fly Booki abundantly." Not dreams alone. To the observant angler, running brooks have in- deed been books, and their stones have preached him sermons, the notes whereof lie in the pages of these same fly-books. Said a w^itty friend : " It is extraordi- nary with what contempt your true angler looks upon any method which will really catch fish." The wit pierces near the heart of the matter. Any method which will only catch fish? Yes. The true an- gler is not he whose pole is but the weap- on of his predatory instinct. The love oi the art must be above the greed of prey. With the boisterous fisherman and the picnicker with a fishing-rod, we have no concern. But among actual sportsman- like anglers the manifestations of the en- joyment ot the recreation are as various as temperaments. Each exaggerates some of its pleasures; but he best realizes them whose rod is a divining wand, who has the widest sympathy with the outer world — whether it touch him through his scien- tific insight, his artistic sensibility, or that nameless poetic feeling which longs for the sunshine, the wind, and the rain. We may for a moment envy him who tells of great game taken from some far-ofFIake, but our hearts go out to him who bids us share his Getting Out the Fly Books little brook "when the Sanguinaria is in bloom." It is curious to observe how surely this note of sympathy with nature was struck four hundred years ago, by Dame Juliana Berners, and how it reappears as a leading motive in the best of angling-books all the way down to our day, whether Wal- ton discourses to his scholar or Norris is "fly-fishing alone." Curious, too, is the vein of moralizing which runs through the elder English writers on angling, whether from the fashion of the time or from direct imitation of Dame Juliana, their model in so many things else. Although criticism denies the authorship of "The Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle" to the Dame, one cannot doubt as he reads it, that it is the work of some ecclesiastic, who, nat- urally, would give first place to the only field sport permissible in those days to the cloth. It was almost an inspired foresight which placed the work in such connection that it would be read only by "gentyll and noble men," and kept out of "the hondys of eche ydle persone whyche wolde desire it yf it were enpryntyd allone by itself ... to the entent that the forsayd ydle persones whyche sholde haue but lytyll mesure in the sayd dysporte of fysshyng s Getting Out the Fly Books sholde not by this meane utterly dystroye it." The words in which the duties of an angler are expressed are as serious as, in our day, are deemed suitable to a marriage ser- vice or the installation of a pastor. Would that they all, from " I charge and requyre you in the name of alle noble men" to the closing benediction, "And all those that done after this rule shall haue the bless- ynge of god and saynt Petyr, whyche he theym graunte that wyth his precyous blood vs boughte," were burnt with the "plumers wire" into the memory of every greedy and ill-mannered angler. An evidence of the solace that is found in angling is the fact that out of the troublous times of King and Parliament have come down to us at least three works on the art. Walton, who mourned his " monarch slain," Venables, whose disastrous West India campaign brought him to disgrace and the Tower, and the Cromwellian trooper, Richard Franck, wandering abroad, all consoled themselves with the rod and writing of its joys. Per- haps the chastening of sorrow joined with the gentle art to sweeten that charming letter which the Royalist Walton prefixed to the book of the Roundhead ^'enables. Charming books both have written \ and 6 Getting Out the Fly Books one wishes that the same could be said of Franck, for he was a better naturahst and "all-round" fisherman than either of them. But whatever may have been in his con- troversial heart, there is little of "sweet- ness and light " in his style. Now to the fly-books. There is no rea- son why the fly-fisher should contemn his brother of the bait-rod. Often quite the reverse, if real angling skill be laid in the balance. The angler's circle is quite wide enough for every one who fishes in the true spirit, whether he casts his fly over the costliest of salmon pools, or anchors his punt across the head of a gudgeon swim. But there is room, also, for a proper regret that he who uses bait alone has never had opened to him all the delights of his pas- time. Many places cannot be really fished with a fly. It is a legitimate matter of choice to decline to fish such places ; but let the refusal be really from love of sport, and not from priggish aflFectation. There is good ground for Francis's hint that the degree of Master in Angling should be given only to a proficient in all its branches. The advantages of the fly are obvious enough. It is always ready; bait must be procured for each occasion. " I wish," 7 Getting Out the Fly Books said a lady one day, " that you would teach my husband to use the fly, for I observe that when you desire to go a-fishing, you go ; but he raises the whole village for four days to collect his baits." Besides, it is a gratification to avoid giving pain, even if slight, to living bait. A still greater prac- tical advantage is that the fly does not mor- tally wound any fish, and such as (by reason of size or for any other cause] are not wanted for the basket may be returned to the water unharmed. Unharmed? Prob- ably entirely so. In bait-fishing many an undesired fish is basketed because wounds of its gills or gullet make its survival im- probable if it were returned to the water. But a fly is not swallowed unless a bait has been added to it. It goes no farther than the mouth, and — by trout at least — is instantly recognized as a deception; and if it has not been fastened at the moment of seizure, is immediately rejected. That the presence of a hook in the mouth of preda- tory fish causes little, if any pain, becomes more probable the more their behavior is watched. Their mouths being their only prehensile apparatus, we should expect these parts to be but slightly sensitive to pain ; and such seems, from observation, to be really the case. Such fish often seize 8 Getting Out the Fly Books and swallow others so protected with spines that the angler handles them with great caution. Most anglers of experience have seen a fish take a fly repeatedly, or take a second while still struggling to be free of the first ; so that it was, perhaps, landed by two anglers at once. I have knowledge of a bluefish taking off three large hooks, baited for striped bass, and coming to gafl?" on a fourth, when all four were recovered from its mouth. For ex- periment's sake, the writer once caught, unhooked, and returned to the water, the same trout, four times within a few min- utes (it being plainly visible all the time), and finally drove it out of the pool with a stick, lest it should swallow the bait and be destroyed, if it were allowed another opportunity. It may be said that in these two instances hunger overcame the fear of pain. But what shall be said of another experience of the writer, when, after play- ing a grilse for some minutes, and losing him, another cast brought to the fly a fish which proved to be the same one. The fly was fast in his lower jaw, while in his upper jaw a fresh and bleeding tear, half an inch in length, showed whence it had just broken away. To the negative advantage of pain 9 Getting Out the Fly Books avoided we may add the positive one that fly-fishing is, for many reasons, the most interesting form of angUng. Fish take the artificial fly best when feeding upon the natural insects, which diet (as has been shown experimentally, for trout, at least) gives weight and strength more rapidly than any other. They are then more in- clined to "sport," they fight harder, and, it may be added, are more valued for the table. The gratification is enhanced by the greater delicacy of tackle made pos- sible by the flexibility and elasticity of the rod necessary to fly-casting; and it is certainly a greater pleasure to outwit the game by a clever imitation of a fly than by an actual gross lump of food. But the essential charm, we think, lies beyond the mere use of a fly; for trolling a fly is scarcely less lethargic than any other troll- ing, while minnow-casting is nearly as delightful as fly-casting. The gentle but continuous activity of fly-fishing gives it interest; the endeavor to put the fly accu- rately and delicately just where the angler would have it, makes it as absorbing as any trial of marksmanship. The fascinat- ing suspense of waiting for the rising fish ! (There is one under the azalea bush!) Out goes the fly toward the marked spot. Gttting Out the Fly Books A Quiet Spot Getting Out tlie Fly Books (A yard more, and gently, or it is hung up.) The breathless seconds as it sweeps down over it, the restraint of the space of a heart's beat before the turn of the wrist, and then the struggle. These are the charms of fly-fishing the bait-fisher cannot share. There must always be differences of taste as to what kind of fly-fishing is the highest branch of the art. In England and America trout-fishing has generally been put into the first place. Certainly nowhere can the skilful angler more fully bring into play all his resources. The game is small compared to a salmon, for instance; but the trout of much-fished waters becomes possessed of a knowledge, a cunning, and a wariness which are wor- thy of all respect, and the overcoming of which adds a mental exercise to the many other charms of this variety of angling. On asking an experienced friend which he thought the more enjoyable, salmon- or trout-fishing, I got the answer, "They cannot be compared. Trout-fishing is like a symphony — all is harmony. One can enjoy the sky, the air, the trees, the water, the tackle, and the fish; but when one is fast to a salmon, it is 'circus' all the time." This answer touches the essen- 13 Getting Out tht Fly Books tial difference; the gentle exercise typical of angling is replaced by a more laborious occupation, and the calm enjoyment by a struggle. To me at least, no such strug- gle has left such charming memories as have some hours of trout-fishing (what pictures they are!) when the capture was of so little moment that only the choicest fish went into the creel. The expression "Salmon-fishing spoils one for everything else" has often a truth beyond the speak- er's intent. Any fishing which makes the capture of the fish, or of any particular fish, important, is so far "spoiled" as a recreation. Besides, the planning and the commercial details essential to securing salmon-fishing go far to remove it from the domain of sport to that of business. Here, side by side, lie the book of salmon flies and a box of tiny duns and spinners for dry-fly fishing. In themselves they embody the contention of theories: up-stream or down-stream fishing, close imitation or "colorology," sunk-fly, or dry-fly. Warm discussion, earnest dis- putes, hot words, almost (strange accom- paniments of the "gentle art"), have been stirred up by them, and all needlessly. The dissension is more about names than facts. Under the one title of fly-fishing 14 Getting Out the Fly Books have been confused fly-fishing proper and what, for the sake of a name, I have called feather-baiting. In both, the lure is simi- lar as to materials and structure; but the latter method in its principles and prac- tice resembles fly-fishing proper no more than it does minnow^-casting. In fact, the "fly-minnow," or "Alexandra," would serve very well as a type of this style of fishing. Between the two styles are many intermediate shades, but typical examples only are taken for illustration. By fly-fishing proper I mean the method of the purist as practised, let us say, upon a Hampshire chalk-stream, with water clear and fine. As nearly as painstaking search for materials and exactness in tying can avail, his flies are reproductions in size, shape, and color of the actual insects usu- ally found upon the stream to be fished. They are indeed marvels of delicate imita- tion. Upon the finest of casting lines he places usually but one fly, in order that it may float down stream in the most natu- ral manner possible. Nor will he indulge in any aimless casting, any " chuck-and- chance-it " work, as he would style it. Patiently he awaits the rising of a feeding fish, marks its place as accurately as he can, gets well below, and casts his fly, still 15 GtUing Out tht Fly Books dry, as lightly as he is able, above the point marked, and allows it to float with- out tug or strain jauntily down stream until it passes over the fish. If it is not taken, it is dried by a few casts in the air, and again put over the fish. If it is taken, there can be little doubt, not only from theory, but from comparative experiments, that it is taken for the natural fly of which it is the avowed counterfeit. This is, I think, fly-fishing in the strict sense of the term. In such streams, with fish made wary by long experience, to use coarse flies, to cast carelessly, or even to fish down stream, would probably put every neigh- boring fish off its feed, or drive it to the shelter of its hold. In our wilder waters, such nicety is not yet necessary, and may even be less successful than less exacting methods. But where it is applicable, the writer can testify that it adds to the other pleasures of fly-fishing the charm that al- ways attends delicacy of manipulation and certainty of aim. Note the differences between this kind of fly-fishing and the "feather-baiting." Take a salmon-fly, for instance. It is a combination in a conventional shape of colors — the result of experience or exper- iment — which resembles nothing that i6 Getting Out the Fly Books the maker ever saw in nature; and if, as some maintain, it is taken by the salmon because it has seen something Hke it, that something was certainly not a natural fly. The salmon-fly is usually cast — as accu- rately and delicately as may be, of course — across the current, and swings in a curve down to the fish, half or wholly submerged. Coming in such a manner, it may possibly be taken for a larva, hardly for a fly, whatever be its color. What is true of the salmon-fly is at least equally true of all large flies which are intended to be worked "sink and draw." While this method cannot in strictness be considered fly-fishing, there can be no doubt of its success. Trout are often so wild as to have no suspicion of guile, when they will seize any object which attracts their attention. If the water is big, turbulent, or turbid, only a large and showy lure will be visible. There were some pools in the Nepigon in its less frequented days, where the best success attended, not salmon-flies even, but bass-flies of extraordinary gaudiness, and of a size to merit Foster's name of "the American half-ounce." What they took the fly for, if for anything in particular, may be a matter of doubt ; probably sim- ply as a prey which might furnish food. 17 Getting Out tht Fly Books More recently, an acquaintance has told me, that in a season of low water, when disappointment had been universal, he had good success in this river with the use of midge-flies and light casts. This question, why the fly of the salmon- fly type is taken, has been much discussed in connection with salmon-fishing. For- merly, the belief that salmon never fed while in fresh water complicated the in- quiry. The contrary being now well es- tablished, it is altogether probable that the fly is seized for examination as possible food. There is a curious difi^erence be- tween the ordinary behavior of a trout and a salmon. As a rule, a trout which takes a small fly, apparently in mistake for a liv- ing insect, rejects it almost instantly, if it can. The salmon, on the contrary, usu- ally starts for his hold with the fly in his mouth, to examine it there, possibly be- cause of a habit acquired while feeding upon Crustacea in the sea. Whether a fresh-run fish takes a fly, or any given fly, on account of its resemblance in the water to some kind of food known at sea, is one of the open questions. But after the fish have been some time in fished water, they become usually much more wary. It is interesting to watch their behavior, which Getting Out the Fly Books seems sometimes to be the result of simple curiosity or possibly, of a halting between hunger and a timidity born of experience. For instance, casting over a pool in which the fish were easily seen, I have had a pair lying near each other rise cautiously, to inspect each new fly ; rarely would they come twice to the same one. The keen- eyed gaffer, in his wrath, as they circled around each and retired, exclaimed, " Con- found them! They don't mean to take it ; they start from the bottom with their mouths shut." After a fish has run the gantlet of a score or two of pools it be- comes very knowing, and few flies will move it. I recall a success with a fly tied with the avowed purpose of presenting an outre combination which would certainly be unfamiliar. It is hard, as has been said, to be sure whether, in such cases, it be curiosity or chastened greed that excites the fish. In some cases it must certainly be the latter. For instance, for a week the many and tantalizingly visible occu- pants of the "Hospital" pool — ill-omened name — resisted all the blandishments of my friend and myself, when, one evening, unexpectedly, they began rising very cau- tiously, following the fly as it went down stream, and only touching it as it was be- 19 Getting Out the Fly Books ing drawn up for the back cast, as if the evidence of its departure excited them ir- resistibly to embrace a last chance. But whatever this motive be, it probably ac- counts for multitudes of instances in which somebody's "fancy," tied on the spot, brings up fish, after all the standard favor- ites have proved worthless. This success of the aforesaid fancies is too often " for this occasion only." But there again are instances which lead to the belief that the fish sometimes rises through anger, aversion, or a desire to at- tack and drive away the fly. Here it is possible that a resemblance is seen to some- thing which has elsewhere been an annoy- ance. Sometimes the reason of the anger is evident, as when a heavy male salmon makes open-jawed rushes at the casting- line which holds his mate captive. But ordinarily the reason of the attraction or annoyance excited by a fly must be merely a matter of conjecture. A friend of the writer, a very skilful and observant angler, relates the following instance : On one of those depressing days in which salmon are very abundant, plainly visible, and ab- solutely indifferent to the angler's solici- tation, he laid down his rod, and, for experiment's sake, dragged or floated over 20 Gttling Oui the Ply Booh the head of an accessible fish, various salmon-flies fastened to a cord. One fly after another passed, apparently unnoticed, certainly unheeded, until the "Jock Scott" was used. Then the fish seemed to be un- easy. The experiment was repeated several times, and as often as this fly came over him his ordinary indifference gave place to disturbance ; he would move himself, often turning his head away or moving sidewise, until the fly had passed. Whether this dis- like was due to a resemblance of the fly to something else, or to a recollection of an unpleasant struggle with such a fly, can only be guessed. The sporting of salmon with leaves which float down stream, and with the appearance of which they must be quite familiar, seems to be due to pure frolic, like the circling " walk-arounds " of leaping trout, sometimes seen in an eddy. About special flies this article has noth- ing to say. Out of the enormous list of special patterns of salmon-flies pertaining to various rivers, a certain peerage of "gen- eral " flies has been gathered by the suf- frages of universal experience, and to it, from year to year, others are elevated. But the steady way in which these standard pat- terns displace the special ones from their Getimg Out the Fly Books own strongholds forces one to believe that the latter had usually little else than tradi- tion and local pride in their favor. Ex- ceptionally, some peculiarity of light and w^ater will give a real advantage to a local favorite; and when this advantage is asso- ciated with some singularity of color or structure, it is quite possible that the fly may resemble something known as food, or as an enemy to the salmon. But if one takes a dozen or twenty approved standard patterns, he cannot fail to notice that every one has some peculiarity — as brilliancy, striking color, or strong contrast — that makes it an object likely to attract atten- tion in the water. The pleasures of fly-fishing are not con- fined to those who have access to trout brooks and salmon rivers. The widespread black bass readily takes the fly; and many humbler fish, such as chub and sunfish, give good sport if the tackle be suitably light. Indeed, almost any fish that feeds near the surface will take the moving sunken fly, whether in fresh or salt water. The resources of the fisherman are much increased in the South by the use of the fly in shallow bays, harbors, and lagoons. Game fish of large size and excellent quality are thus taken in abundance. In Getting Out the Fly Books the North the pollack, the various her- rings, shad, and white perch are among the most interesting of the fish to be so taken. Young bluefish in tideways give excellent sport ; but their teeth are so de- structive that a material stouter than feath- ers — such as bright-colored flannel — is needed to form the lure, if it is to last. The fly-books are still full of untouched "heads of discourse," yet let us close them with but this remark : that he who ties his own flies, and makes his own rods and tackle, will have a keener personal inter- est in his pastime, and give it an addi- tional pleasure which he may enjoy in the long winter evenings, when the weary man craves a light amusement. 23 THE LAND OF THE WINANISHE 'By Leroy Milton Yale and J. G. Aylwin Creighton ra.yt:i f^f^"*'^'/- ■ ■J' „: BOUT one hundred miles nearly due north from Quebec lies Lake St. John, some twenty- six miles long by twenty wide. It is of no great depth, hence its Indian name, Pikouagami, or, " the Flat Lake," which expresses well the appearance of its shores and its function as a settling-basin for the silt of a dozen rivers which pour into it the waters of a tract the size of the State of Maine. Fed by innumerable lakes and streams, most of these rivers are large. Three of them — the Ashuap- mouchouan, " the river where they watch the moose," the Mistassini, or "river of the great rock," and the Peribonca, " the cu- rious river" — come from great lakes on the summit of the watershed between the St. Lawrence and Hudson's Bay, receive 27 The Land of the tVinatiishe large tributaries, are from 200 to 250 miles long, and are over a mile wide at their mouths, which are close together at the north-western end of the lake. The Ashuapmouchouan, the smallest of the three, is sometimes erroneously marked on maps as the upper part of the Saguenay; but this name really belongs to none of them. This immense volume of water, which raises the lake at times twenty-five feet, has but one outlet, divided for the first eight miles into two branches by Alma Island, at the foot of which the Grande Decharge, after a circuit of twelve miles in miighty rapids, unites with the Petite Decharge — straighter, and held in check by dams for the safe passage of timber — to form La Decharge du Lac St. Jean, a mighty stream, which, after a turbulent course of some thirty miles more, wrenches asunder the syenite at Les Terres Rom- pues, seven miles above Chicoutimi, and expanding into fjord-like reaches, becomes the Saguenay. Near the lake the scenery is tame ; but beyond the boundaries of the prehistoric sea, which probably discharged by the St. Maurice instead of by the Saguenay, there is a land of mountain and forest, lake and river. The ranges are low, except up the 2S The Land of tk* Winanishe Peribonca and to the south, where the Laurentians are massed; but every stream cuts its way in falls and rapids of great size, beauty, and endless variety. This region was better known to the French colonists two centuries ago than it is to the average Canadian to-day. Tra- ders had their eyes on the supposed El Dorado as early as Roberval's ill-fated ex- pedition in 1543 ; and as soon as Cham- plain established La Nouvelle France, the post at Tadoussac attracted the Indians from the upper Saguenay. The " Rela- tions des Jesuites " for 1647 and 1652 give accounts of Pere De Quen's voyages to Lake St. John. In the Relation of 1658, the various river routes to Hudson's Bay are described with much greater accuracy than in the would-be discoveries of sensa- tional writers of the present time. In 1 661, Fathers Gabriel Druillettes and Claude Dablon, in " the first voyage made toward the Northern Sea," got as far as Lake Nikoubau, at the head of the Ashu- apmouchouan, where a great trading-fair was held annually by the Indians. But for fear of the Iroquois, who were then on the war-path, they would have anticipated Pere Albanel's journey to Hudson's Bay in 1672. In 1680 an adventurer named Pel- tier had a trading-post at Nikoubau. 31 Tlic Laud q/ ttie IVhianUhe It was not till 1842 that the expiration of the lease of the King's Posts to the Hud- son's Bay Company, the successors of the Northwest Company and of the farmers of the Domaine du Roi, ended two centuries of monopoly which had represented the region to be an Arctic desert. But the energy of the Prices, " the Lumber Kings," and of colonization societies formed in the counties along the lower St. Lawrence, among the descendants of the Normans and Bretons, who gave English blood its strongest strain of adventure, has filled the triangle between Ha Ha Bay, Chicoutimi, and Lake St. John with thickly settled parishes, and strung out a chain of settle- ments round the south and west shores of the lake to 1 20 miles from Chicoutimi. Except the missions and posts which connected Tadoussac with Mistassini and Hudson's Bay, there was not a settlement on the Saguenay till 1838. Ten years later the colonists were at Lake St. John, and in 1888 the population was over 40,000. Protected from the cold winds of the Gulf, with a climate and winter better and shorter than at Quebec, and a soil in which the long hot days of the brief Northern sum- mer bring to quick maturity such semi- tropical products as maize, melons, hemp, 32 The Land of the Winanishe tobacco, etc., the region has de- veloped slowly, because so isolat- ed. To get to Quebec there were the Saguenay steam- ers in summer, or a long round over the moun- tains by roads impass- able for weeks in au- tumn and spring, and running through a hun- dred miles of wilder- ness. But whatever value the region may have for the settler, or charms for the eye of the tourist, it has for the angler an unique attraction, — it is the land of the winanishe. And what is a winanishe ? 33 The Land of the U'lfuimsJte The winanishe — or ouinaniche, accord- ing to French spelUng — is a fish, and a fish of great interest to both naturahst and angler. The etymology of the name, which is said to be Indian for " saumon de I'eau douce," * is untraceable in either Monta- gnais or Cree : the most probable derivation is that which assigns it to an Indian attempt to pronounce " saumon," with the addi- tion of the well-known diminutive "ishe." This exactly describes the fish, — the little salmon, — for to the naturalist it is simply an Atlantic salmon of small size, which is not anadromous ; that is, does not periodi- cally run up from the sea. The same fish is found in parts of Maine, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and known as the land- locked salmon, and is probably identical with the land-locked salmon of Sweden. Salnio salar, variety Sebago, is its scientific name, the latter part of the appellation com- ing from a lake in Maine where it attains its greatest size. The identity of the winan- ishe with the Salmo salar is quite settled by its anatomy. Size and color, always * The meaning here assigned to the word winanishe is proba- bly erroneous. In a later article Mr. Creighton thinks it " prob- ably derived from the Cree root ' wan,' to lose or mistake, applied either to the fish having lost itself, or being taken for a salmon." In Ojibway, a closely allied tongue, umiii in composition always means mistake or error; and uin umniiiisltia would mean, I go around, or by a circuitous route. Whether there is any real ety- mological connection, however, is hard to say. — L, M. Y. 34 The Land of the M'inanishe uncertain and variable characteristics in the Salmonidce, are affected by locaHty ; and the habits of a fish are adapted, if possible, to surroundings. The real problem in each case of" land-locking" is how it happened, which cannot be discussed here. In the Saguenay there is no reason why the fish should not go to the sea ; in fact, they do descend to the tideway in large numbers every spring with the heavy floods, but whether they remount is as yet unde- termined. The falls and heavy rapids may be insuperable even for their activity and strength, but we are inclined to think they return to spawn in the Decharge. Stray individuals have been caught in the Sague- nay Rivers, at Tadoussac, and even in the St. Lawrence above the Saguenay ; but they are the exception which proves the rule that the winanishe is peculiar to Lake St. John and its streams.* In the lake itself they are abundant in spring. When the high water begins to fall they approach the shores, and are taken in great numbers at the mouths of the rivers. In June the great body of the fish seem to descend into * This statement must be now modified. In 1889 Mr. Creigh- ton observed them in the Musquarro and other Labrador streams, and more recently it has been found to be pretty generally distrib-' uted through that peninsula, especially in streams which empty con- siderable lake areas. They have been found even in the Hamilton River, above the Grand Falls. — L. M. Y. 35 The Land of the Winantske the Grande Decharge, — before the bar- ring of the Petite Decharge they descended it also, — and are found feeding on flies and small fish in the great eddies, a {&\n lying among the rocks along the rapids. So far their movements correspond ex- actly with Mr. Atkins's observations at the Schoodic Lakes. But it is uncertain whether, as there, they reascend and come down again in October to spawn. Part probably do go back to the lake, and part spawn in the Decharge. In September they are found in the rivers running into the lake, and spawn in October on the Tfie head (if the Wiclw Caille Raf'td. 36 'Die Land of the lVma?tishe gravelly shallows of these rivers. Besides those to which Lake St. John is the sea, there are winanishe which seem to live and spawn in the upper waters of the large rivers, and in the lakes from which these flow. They are of much larger average size in these lakes, but refuse the fly at all seasons, and can be taken only by bait or trolling. In all probability the fish has a wide range to the north, but confu- sion of nomenclature, the rare opportunity for skilled observation, and the difficulty of getting reliable information from Indi- ans and lumbermen, leave a good field for investigation. Now let us see what points the winan- ishe has for the angler, who regards the look and ways of a fish rather than its bones. In appearance a fresh-run salmon and a fresh-run winanishe do not differ much more than salmon from different riv- ers. The back of a winanishe is greener blue, and in a fish just out of water can be seen to be marked with olive spots, some- thing like the vermiculations on a trout ; the silvery sides are more iridescent ; the X-marks are more numerous and less sharply defined ; the patches of bronze, purple, and green on the gill-covers are larger and more brilliant, and with them 37 The Land of the Wifuniislie are several large round black spots. As the water grows warm, the bright hues get dull, and toward autumn the rusty red color and hooked lower jaw of the spawn- ing salmon develop. As the winanishe, unlike the salmon, feeds continuously, and in much heavier and swifter water than salmon lie in, it has a slimmer body and larger fins, so that a five-pound winanishe can leap higher and oftener than a grilse, and fight like a ten-pound salmon. The variety of its habits, which are a com- pound of those of the trout and those of the salmon, with some peculiarities of its own, gives great charm to winanishe- angling, and opportunity for every style, from the "floating fly" on tiny hooks to the " sink and draw " of the salmon cast. It takes the fly readily when in the hu- mor, though wary and capricious, like all its relations, and fights hard, uniting the dash of the trout with the doggedness and ingenuity of the salmon. In railway and hotel prospectuses, the winanishe weighs from five to fourteen pounds. In Lake St. John and the De- charge, the average is two and a half; four-pounders are large, and not too plen- tiful, while six-pounders are scarce. The winanishe is, however, much longer than a The Land of the IVinanisJte trout of the same weight ; a five-pounder, for example, is twenty-five inches long, twelve in girth, and looks like an eight- pound salmon. Now and then solitary fish of great size are seen, old habitants dating from " les premieres annees " when " 9a en bouillait. Monsieur, des grosses comme des carcajous " (it just boiled, sir, with ones as big as wildcats) ; but they are intensely wary, and carefully guarded by the demon of ill-luck. Oh, the ago- nizing memory of that winanishe which, after a two hours' fight, made even tough old Theodose lose his head and — the fish ! Mr. David Price is credited with an eleven- pounder, — the Prices always did things on the largest scale, — but among some thousands we have seen only one seven- pounder. With a rod of eight to ten ounces, one gets almost the excitement of salmon-fishing — without its hard work and vexation of spirit; for the number and gameness of the fish make up for the smaller size. They are unfortunately de- creasing fast, both in number and weight. In the Grande Decharge, where, on ac- count of the winanishe's peculiar ways, the pools were always few in proportion to the extent of water, there are but a few places now where a day's sport is certain, 39 The Land of the Wiiianishe and these are in private hands. Settlement and netting in the lake have had a great effect, and the opening up of markets by the railway will hasten the extinction of this beautiful game fish. Until recently the Decharge could be reached only by the way of Chicoutimi. There the traveller had a choice of routes. To the angler who finds more joy in the haunts of fish than in fishing, the ascent of the Saguenay by canoe is well worth the time taken from his angling ; but the man who dislikes rough water and rocky portages must take a tedious drive of sixty miles via Hebertville. Last year the com- pletion of the Quebec and Lake St. John Railway as far as the lake afforded a new route, which we took, partly to see the country and partly to make sure of being on the water before the winanishe, which, as becomes a fish peculiar to so French- Canadian and devout a region, makes a point to spend the national feast-day, St. John the Baptist, with his expectant friends ; or, failing to keep this tryst, that of St. Peter and St. Paul, which for obvi- ous reasons seems the more appropriate time. Early on a mid -June morning — if in- deed in that latitude and season any hour 40 The hand of the Wlnanishe can be called early — we met at the rail- way station at Quebec. The first fifty miles of the road sweeps off to the west through a fairly settled farming country. As there is nothing of especial interest without, we turn to that solace of the traveller, the time-table and map. All roads led to Rome, all new railways run to the " Sportsman's Paradise." As he reads the old familiar tale, our reac- tionist — who envies the Jesuits because they got here before him, and died before railways were known — says something about " beholding heaven and feeling hell " and " sportsmen's curse." But per- haps he means the mosquitoes, black flies, and sandflies ; they are plentiful. So are trout, and big ones too — in due place and season. The prospectus, however, is judiciously reticent as to these details, leav- ing the stranger to learn them for himself, along with colloquial French and the ways of Indian guides. But what an epitome of Canadian his- tory is this little list of stations ! Here and there an Indian name survives, telling of the original inhabitants. Valcartier, Roberval, and Stadacona carry us back to the first bold but fruitless attempt of the sixteenth century, while Hebertville is a 43 The Land of the l^'ntantshe monument to the Cure who led the set- tlers of Lake St. John, and incidentally to the fecundity of the first habitant of the New France of Champlain. Dablon and De Quen now stand side by side on the railway-table, as those names did once in the roll of the Societas Militans. And how are the old trapper and to-day's man of business confronted in Lac Gros Visons and Skroder's Mills ! From the Riviere a Pierre to De Quen is a stretch of more than one hundred miles which, except for the railway, is an unbroken wilderness. Occasionally the train halts for a sportsman whose canoe waits at the lake beside which we are running. The valley of the wild river Batiscan leads up to the head of Lac Edouard, where we dine and are told tales of wonderful trout-fishing to be had for the asking, as the lake is leased by the railway company. At the end of the afternoon we arrived at a cross-road, which at that unfinished state of the line was " nowhere in particular," '•' but presented the only feasible way of getting to the highway which, skirting the lake, gives * The road has since been completed; and the region, with its railway, its tiny boats on Lake St. John and adjacent waters, its hotels and rush of summer visitors, is now about as sophisticated as the Adirondacks. But the winanishe still survives. 44 The Land of the Winanishe access to the parishes east and west. Pas- sengers and luggage were deposited upon a rocky bank, at the foot of which, in a slough, were gathered a goodly number of quatre roues, — the buck-boards of the locality, a seat in the middle of a plank, with a rude and jointless chaise-top above. After a due amount of haggling, we found transport through two miles of hub-deep mud to the village of Pointe aux Trem- bles, one of the many of that name in the province, and were left at " Poole's," " le vrai hotel pour les Messieurs," a freshly made log house hurried up by the energy of the proprietor, who had for some time moved along with the railway. It was an evening's work to find con- veyance to St. Joseph d'Alma on the Petite Decharge, within which parish our fishing lay. If an arrangement were concluded, it would then turn out that half a day was wanted to mend the wagon, or to send for a set of harness. The little crowd which always gathers on such important occasions was so actively and volubly interested that it was hard to get in a word of our own. The claims of rival candidates were warm- ly discussed by their respective friends. " It is not everybody who should pretend that he is capable of conducting Messieurs, 4S The Land of tlie WijianUhv who, as one easily sees, are truly des Mes- sieurs." Everybody, however, was " ben greye " (well-rigged). One driver had a buck-board and great experience : " It is he, sir, who drove un grand Monsieur de Baston, two years ago," and perhaps he could get a neighbor's horse. Another had one of the finest mares in the parish, but it was keenly debated whether her foal could make the journey. A third could borrow a quatre roue, " a fine one, all but the wheels; " but then one always risks some- thing, and what easier than for the Mes- sieurs to hire another on the way if some accident arrives: it is not as with poor men, par exemple, who must look at five cents. However, we got off in good time next morning. As we passed the village church the congregation was gathering for the weekly gossip before service, discussing the notices which the huissier (bailifi^ and crier) was affixing to the church doors, and — there was an election coming — anticipat- ing the political orations after mass, which afford keen excitement for the argumenta- tive and voluble habitant. The road lies pleasantly near the border of the lake, and its course can be traced right and left, round the oval contour, by the slender white thread of houses on the 46 The Land of the Winanishe slopes that lead from the broad sand beaches to the low hills which close in the land- scape on three sides. At intervals the sparkle of tin-covered spires shows where the churches bring the wide-scattered par- ishes to a focus. To the west a snovvy patch, visible from all round the lake, like the topsail of a ship hull down, marks the three-hundred-feet fall of the Ouiatchouan ; He des Couleuvres and He de la Traverse appear only as stripes of lighter green against the dark forests of the mainland ; Roberval is high enough, on its slaty bed studded with corallites and madrepores, to be seen as a cluster of white dots ; but Pointe Bleue is a mere bank of indigo cloud on the far horizon, and only an In- dian's eyes could distinguish the Hudson's Bay Post and the buildings on the Indian Reserve from the crests of the waves which even a light summer breeze raises so fast and high. An outpost flash from the church of St. Prime just indicates where, at the mouth of the Ashuapmouchouan, Fathers Druillettes and Dablon started "on the road to enter for good and all into the lands of Sathan ; " but northward there is nothing but water and sky, for the sand dunes and savannes of the unsettled north- ern shore are far below the horizon. East- 47 The Land of t/te U'inanishe ward the long curve of yellow sand, banded red and black with beds of iron ore rich in garnets, ends in the low blue bluffs and rocky islets that guard the mouths of the Decharges, and is backed by the wooded ridge between the lake and the Saguenay, over which rise the distant peaks that bor- der the Shipshaw. The houses differ little from the ordi- nary French- Canadian farmhouses of other sparsely settled districts. Built of squared logs well calked with the beaten bark of the white cedar, or with oakum, they are frequently sheathed with large pieces of birch-bark held in place by hand-split laths of cedar, while the curved-eaved roof, in default of shingles, is covered in the same manner. The barns are often thatched with straw ; but the outbuildings frequently present a greater appearance of thrift than the houses. One picturesque outbuilding always catches the eye, — the oven. That altar of weekly burnt-offering which was the glory of the New England kitchen, is here set up out-of-doors, as if to give it the sanctity of isolation. On a substruc- ture of logs the oven is built of stones plastered over with clay ; over all, if the family can afford it, is a pent-roof of boards. 4S The Land of iks Winanishe Galloping up and down the short, rough hills jolted us smartly, and a bag of angler's valuables was missed some miles on our way. Thereupon ensued a wordy war be- tween the carter and the passenger whose command of habitant French was most nearly equal to the occasion. " It does not do to offend the Bon Dieu," said the carter solemnly ; " this has come of not hearing mass before starting." His oppo- nent maintained that the loss was due to the most patent carelessness in tying. The bystander was impressed by the frequently recurring " Sacre bateau," probably an in- vocation of the original "vessel of wrath ; " but he was presently left with the luggage while the disputants drove back to search for the bag. When the returning vehicle was visible through the mosquito-cloud, it was evident that the search had been suc- cessful ; and as it drew near, the conversa- tion had softened down from an interchange of " gros mots " to a discussion of respon- sibility and criminal negligence. The vehicle reloaded, the discussion was resumed ; and the carter, finding his legal footing very insecure, as his adversary was a man of law, shifted to moral grounds. Turning his back upon his horse, whose pace was an entirely safe one, he proposed 49 Tlie Laiid of the Wiitanuhe to argue the matter out, with the by- stander as the judge. Proposition first: There is one God, for rich and poor, for Protestant and CathoUc ahke. Accepted without objection. Second: It is the duty of all to worship him. Therefore the bag fell off because the driver had not assisted at mass. Here the advocate demurred. " If you neglected the mass it was of your own free will, and the responsibility abides with you." — "Nay," responded the carter, " I am poor ; I must have bread for my wife and children. God grants this lib- erty to the poor, and the responsibility recoils upon the rich who offer to hire me, and who can afford to wait." And so the debate waged till the steep bank of the river Metabetchouan brought it to a close. The rope ferry took us across, and a few miles more brought us to a belated dinner at St. Jerome. The afternoon wore away without incident, while the road took us across La Belle Riviere, that old high- way of the Jesuit missionaries, and by St. Gedeon. The rustic mind seems everywhere to have a common trait, — an inability to give accurate and clear information concerning the road you wish to travel. If we asked the distance to any point, one responded, 50 The Land of the WinanUke "Di (deux) lieues;" another, "Troislieues et encore ; " and the third, " Trois pipes," the time required to smoke a pipe being a measure of distance. As everything in that country is governed by the inexorable " coutume," it is possible that the size of pipes and the quality of tobacco are suffi- ciently uniform to be thus used. On one occasion only did the group questioned agree, and then they sent us several miles out of our way. Finding this out, we debated turning back, when a passer-by directed us to proceed, and to cross a cer- tain bridge which would bring us back to our road more quickly. On nearing the bridge we were warned that it was impas- sable from the high water. Our inform- ant further insisted that we should return several miles, as M. M , the proprietor, no longer allowed passing across his fields, and had that day so announced from the church steps ; and, as the tenant of M. M , he was bound to obstruct us. Despite his shrill remonstrance, we per- severed in our trespassing. As we crossed the farm, our carter was moved to a flight of eloquence. His wrathful thought went back to the old man who had sent us down to the bridge. " What liars they are, gentlemen, in this parish ! Why did that S3 The Land of the iVinanishe old man send us to the bridge ? To ingulf us, gentlemen. I assure you, gentlemen, it was such as he who crucified our Lord." Instead of the expected angry remon- strances, we received a warm welcome from M. M , who claimed acquaint- ance with the advocate, on the strength of an altercation about a fishing-license some eight or ten years before. Some parish politics were discussed; but our names were not on the voting-list, and we were soon bidden good-day. But we were already descending the Petite Decharge within hearing of its roar, and soon we had come into the village, had spoken with some of the handsome black-eyed boys, one of whom assured us that " les ouinaniches sautent," and had called on the postmaster. Two miles farther brought us opposite to the great Vache Caille Eddy, across which, on the point of Alma Island, stands the end of our journey, Alma Lodge, the home of the Saguenay Club, a well-built log house, with all that is necessary to the comfort of a real angler, and free from the vexatious non-essentials of " fancy " sporting-clubs. A signal brought a canoe, and we were presently safely across before daylight had gone. We had been twelve hours in doing thirty-five miles ; but then, 54 The Land of the Winanishe as our driver remarked, " One can only do one's best ; the Bon Dieu has not made a horse to trot al- ways." Next morning we start for our fishing with a "bonne chance, Messieurs," from the guardian's pretty wife, a black-eyed, olive- complexioned girl of sixteen. The house- keeping and cuisine of the lodge attest The Point of Ik Maligne. 55 Tke Land of the Winanishe the practical teaching of the UrsuHne Convent at Roberval ; the accompKsh- ments appear in wonders of silk embroid- ery on hunting-shirts, and in the trained voice which enlivens her work with chansons. We have to walk to the head of the Vache Caille Rapid, which runs in front of the lodge. Two of the canoemen, putting their canoes oh their heads almost as easily as their hats, have gone on ; their mates wait for the rods and traps. A fine quar- tette they are, French-Canadians all, of the voyageur type, with all the skill of the Indian in woodcraft, and ten times his courage ; brown and strong from trapping and lumbering all their lives ; grave and serious looking, but with a keen vein of humor ; shrewd and hard bargaining, but thoroughly honest ; unable, perhaps, to write their names, but with a genuine polish of manner which compels respect by its dignified deference. One can make companions and friends of such men as these. Their costume is simple enough. Home-made trousers of the home-woven gray woollen etoffe du pays tucked into the wrinkled legs of the long moccasins tied below the knee, which, in contradistinc- tion from town-made " bottes fran^aises," 56 The Land of the Winanishe are known as " bottes sauvages;" a flannel shirt, with a gay kerchief in a broad fold over the chest; a soft felt hat of Protean shapes and uses, with a cherished fly or two stuck in the crown, — perhaps, if " la blonde" is near her "cavalier," a feather or a wild-flower in the band. The volume of the rapids, the swiftness, complexity, and heavy swirls of the cur- rents, make canoeing most exciting, and at times a little dangerous, on these waters. They are too deep for the use of setting- poles, and everything depends on strength and skill with the paddle. Mounting the Grande Decharge, when it is fifteen feet above summer level, and running like a mill-race, is hard work. But, taking ad- vantage of every eddy, gripping rocks with hand and paddle, handing along by the tops of the submerged alders, passing be- tween branches of overhanging trees un- dermined by the current, by sheer dint of hard paddling we get up a mile and a half. Now for the traverse. The canoe sweeps down and across in a beautiful curve, head up stream, with the paddles flashing like lightning, except when a tour- niquet catches her and spins her half round a circle, while Joseph with a sidelong sweep decapitates a wave which threatens 59 The Land of the Winanishe to lop over the gunwale. " Un animal d'un tourniquet," he says, pointing to the funnel-shaped whirl swiftly gyrating down stream, the air-bubbles hissing through the yellow water like the bead in a glass of champagne. We are nearly half a mile down when the canoe swings with a sharp shock into the up-eddy on the opposite shore. " C'est la place de peche, Monsieur," says Narcisse, easing off the grip of his teeth on his pipe ; and Joseph, having fin- ished drinking out of the rim of his hat, remarks that " on a coutume de prendre des grosses ici." Winanishe, like trout, are of the fair sex in French, and are roughly classified into "petites," "belles," and " grosses." This is the famous " Remou de Caron," or Caron's Eddy. The big white waves surging round the rocky island, which later on will become a point covered with bushes, are the tail of the Caron Rapid, a crooked and dangerous one, because of the height of its waves and the size of its tourniquets or whirlpools, which suck down sawlogs as if they were chips, casting them up a couple of hundred yards farther down, to be caught in the eddies and swept again and again through the wild 60 The Land of the Winaniske rush of water, until the ever-changing set of the current tosses them on the rocks, or carries them off down stream. Pool, in the angler's usual understanding of the term, there is none ; for the deep river, over a quarter of a mile wide, is totally unlike a salmon or trout stream. At first he is rather bewildered by the interlacing currents running in every direction, bear- ing along streaks of froth, which gathers in patches as dazzling as snow, that re- volve slowly for a minute or two, then suddenly dissolving, go dancing in long white lines over the short ripples. "^a saute. Monsieur:" no splash marks the rise, but a broad tail appears and dis- appears where a winanishe is busy picking flies out of the foam ; then another and another still. They are " making the tour " round the whole system of minor eddies and currents, sometimes staying a minute in some large patch of froth where the flies are thick, sometimes swimming and rising rapidly in a straight current line, and finally going out on the tops of the long glassy rollers at the tail of the main eddy into the white water of the main current, which carries them back again to the other end of the remou. The fish when fresh-run make these feeding- 6i TJte Lajtd of the Winanishe The End of Canoe Journey. tours rrequently during the day, but only in the morning and evening when they have grown fat and lazy and the water is warm. At other times, when on the feed, they rise as the patches of broue float over their lairs. Except in swift and shallow water, where they are seldom found, or when coming with a rush from the bottom of a deep hole among the rocks, they do not leap for the fly like trout; they take it like salmon, on the downward turn, gently and deliberately. The salmon-cast, with a medium-sized salmon-fly, is therefore the most effective. Jock Scott, Curtis, Popham, Silver Doctor, and Donkey are all good flies, the first named being always a stand-by. Yellow and black seems the favorite combination ; gray comes next, but red meets with little favor. The silver-bodied flies are best at 62 The Land ^ 140 Striped Bass Fishhtg a fresh bait, or for any other purpose, will be the cause. Dear reader, if you aspire to be a bass fisherman, religiously examine your reel before casting, always and in every case ; and unless you see and know that it lies firmly and regularly on the reel, never hesitate, but at once unreel it and lay it on carefully, and thus you will save yourself many an impatient word and action. At last we have a beautiful cast ; the bait has shot out at least 150 feet, and fallen gently into the water ; the slack has been gathered in, so that you feel the bait, and know that each movement of the reel moves it slightly ; and now comes in the trait of a true fisherman, — patience. That kind of patience which does not lose heart, even though, for days in succession, bait after bait is cast out without return, until the fisherman feels as if he is only feeding blackfish and " cunners," with which the water abounds, and which will eat ofl^ the bait sometimes before it is fairly settled in the water. Our chances this afternoon are rather slim, still there is a freshening southwest breeze blowing from Gay Head, and the swash of the surf begins to be heavier ; but on looking over the side of the stand, the bottom, with its folds and 141 striked Bass Fishing waving ribbons of yellow seaweeds is too plainly visible, and as you look down you see a huge eel slowly glide from one rock to another, and schools of green cunners chase a little atom of bait the tide has brought back. " By George ! I've got him," exclaims our friend in the chair ; and as we hastily look up, he is seen apparently fighting to keep his rod erect, whilst something at the other end is convulsively dragging it down- ward, with such jerks as threaten to part the line or break the rod. The reel is whizzing in a threatening way, and our friend has a hard time to keep his thumb on the barrel of the reel, and at the same time avoid having his knuckles rapped and torn by the rapidly revolving handle. His left, as yet, grasps the rod above the reel, and forces the socket into his groin. " Bring out that belt, Tom," he yells ; and Tom comes jumping down the rocks, in one hand his gaff-hook, and in the other a leather belt with a short round pocket sewed on its centre. This Tom hastily buckles about the waist of the fisherman, when, carefully shifting the pole, he places the butt in this pocket, and is thus pro- tected from possible injury, which the great leverage of the fish's pulling on the 142 Striped Bass Fishing The Fishing Stand at Cutiyhunk, Mass. top of the rod can easily produce. The fish, in the meantime; has succeeded in getting away, say three to four hundred feet now, and shows some hesitation. Our friend has carefully kept a pressure on the reel, whilst indulging his majesty in imaginary freedom of running, but which he begins to realize as "uncanny;" and as our eyes follow the slender thread of the line in its distant entry into the water, it is seen to rise, and presently, with a whirl of his tail, the fish shows himself, looking then to our unskilled eyes a very monster ; and as he again disappears we unhesitatingly pronounce him full six feet H3 striped Bass Fishing long. "Oh, no!" says our friend in reply to our exclamation, "he is not over a thirty-pounder, but he is a good one — see him fight! " and the victim tugs and tugs, with a desperation born of a foresight of his calamity ; but in vain, and in another ten minutes he loses heart, and sheers in towards the shore, when our friend is put to all his skill to check and reel him in before he reaches a huge rock inshore for which he heads — just in time! The next wave moves him bodily this side of that rock, and the road is clear to warping him in. This is done by forcibly elevating the pole and keeping it as far over the shoulder as control will permit ; then rapidly reel- ing and lowering the pole until nearly horizontal, and continuing to repeat the process, thus avoiding the terrible strain on the reel itself, which any attempt to reel his dead weight inshore would pro- duce. And now he is slowly dragged to- wards the stand, and his beautiful color and stripes are plainly seen ; but he still strives by ineffectual runs, first to one side and then the other, to avert his fate, though all in vain, as Tom is now bending low down from the outer end of the plank with his sharp, shining gaff-hook ex- tended. 144 striped Bass Fishing " A little more to the left, sir," he says ; and as the fisherman inclines his pole and turns the fish's head, his gaff is extended down, under and across the fish's body ; a rapid jerk upward and backward, and it sinks into his silver belly. He is raised from the water, convulsively hugged by Tom, who reaches for the rod, and all of us hurry inshore to inspect and gloat over him. " What does he weigh, Tom ? " And with judicial eye Tom measures and lifts him. " I say, thirty pounds." — "Well, I think thirty-five," says the fisherman, the inexperienced looker-on being under the conviction that he should weigh fifty, at least, and impressed with a sense of awe — his huge mouth and head when seen for the first time thus aff^ecting one. It is now too dark to be worth while to fish longer, and we are in fact a little eager to get home and exhibit our catch. So Tom puts him in the basket, covers him care- fully with fresh seaweed, recklessly throws all his cut-up bait for chum, and we start for the house, Tom gladly lugging his heavy basket for the glory and triumph he will have on exhibiting him. The " chummer " becomes part and parcel of his " boss," participates in all his excite- ments, honors, and disappointments, and 145 Striped Bass Fishing constitutes no small element of comfort or discord, as his temper and capacity turn out. As we arrive at the club-house, win- dows go up, heads are thrust out, eager questioning follows; men and ladies turn out and go to the fish-house to admire the beauty and guess his weight. After the solemn ceremony of ascertaining his exact weight has been performed, he is carefully packed away in the ice-box, to be sent to your most valued friend, or disposed of by the club steward. It is now the judgment of connoisseurs that the flesh of this fish is improved by being kept on ice two or three days at least. Such are the general features of this noble sport, but subject to great variation. lilr. Davis's stand, Brenion^s Reef, Nclvport, RJ, H6 Striped Bass Fishing Another day a "cloudy sou'-wester " is prevailing ; and the dull roar of the surf, with its heavy pounding, and the crash of the cobblestones rolling downward on the beach as the sea recedes, is plainly heard. On looking from the club-house, over at the point of Naushon, one can see the successive waves rolling on shore, and the " white water " is plainly seen extending hundreds of feet from shore. " A superb bass day ! " is the greeting from one to another. And both the wagons are brought into service to take out the fisher- men to their respective stands. A novel and exciting scene it is to see these loads of eager men. Some who, in their varied and important stations in life and business, have been wont to look upon financial panics and disturbing causes unmoved, are now excited and anxious about stands and bait, and rods and " chummers," as if their living depended on them. Down we all go ; and all the stands on the South Shore are quite sure to be manned that day. Altogether different is the scene and also the work to-day. As the tide and sea rise, the huge breakers get heavier, until finally they dash over the stands ; some of the more daring still stick to their chairs, and with oilers and rubber-boots defy the 147 Striped Bass Fishing waves, being excited with the momentary expectation of catching a huge fellow. But this by no means follows, even the most propitious conditions ; nor do the most adverse state of wind and weather always work adverse results. The most remarkable catch of bass ever made at Pasque Island was with the water as clear as crystal and perfectly smooth. There happened in a school of huge bass, and they were very hungry, and took the bait without hesitation for more than twenty- four hours after arrival ; and one member, comparatively inexperienced as a fisher- man, caught nine fish in one day, aggre- gating 170 pounds. Nearly, if not quite, all bass fishermen agree in the opinion that the steam men- haden fishermen have greatly injured the bass-fishing — both by depriving them of the food they most eagerly seek, and also by driving them off their feeding-grounds by their huge nets. A few years ago, from the first of July to the first of November, one could rea- sonably expect any day to hook a large bass at any of the noted places. Now they can rarely be caught, even where syste- matically chummed. But there are many enjoyments in the 148 Striped Bass Fhking ' What does he weighs TontV^ Striped Bass Fishing surroundings. The delicious, exhilarating, health-giving air from these pure sea- waters, the soul-inspiring scenery, and varying panorama of vessels constantly moving, create in all frequenters of these islands a real love for them. If you doubt it, come and try it. I recall one occasion — when on visit- ing the Club, I learned on arrival that no bass had been caught for three weeks past — on which, with the eagerness invariably accompanying even the sight of the stands and shore, I proceeded with little loss of time to one of my old haunts. The bait had been duly cast, when, on settling my- self in the chair and looking about me, to study the water and its indications, I saw in the slightly lapping surf about thirty feet below the stand, what appeared to be the tail of a fish slowly waving in response to the movement of the waves. With an exclamation of surprise, my " chummer " was summoned in conference, and we con- cluded it was a fish of some kind ; and both of us rushed ashore, down the beach, and out on the rocks, and in a few more minutes into the surf, where by aid of the gaff-hook we slowly hauled ashore a su- perb bass, which on examination showed Striped Bass Fishing Fishing Stand at Pasqtte Island. by his pale gills that he had literally " fainted away." A scrutiny of his body soon brought to light the cause. One of his side fins was found bitten off nearly in its full size, close to his side. He had ev- idently been chased by a shark, or some other voracious fish, which had bitten him in this manner; and in desperation the poor fellow had rushed into the shoal water, where, stranded and almost lifeless, he lay when I saw his tail. After being ashore for fifteen minutes the color of his gills slowly returned to their natural brilliant scarlet. Of course a comparatively short, because unsuccessful, sojourn on the stand sufficed, and we returned to the house in triumph, to experience not the least of 152 Striped Bass Fishing the pleasures oi the sport in the congratu- lations and rejoicings of fellow-members. The fellow weighed 42 lbs. ; and the face- tious secretary of the Club in solemn voice announced that he "had been appointed a special committee of six, to invite me to immediately leave the island, as for any member to come down and catch a 42- pounder within a few hours, when all hands had been fishing three weeks with- out results, was not to be borne ! " I pleaded in extenuation that I thought when the circumstances of the catch were narrated, I might be pardoned ; and then told to the wondering group the story, and showed the damaged fin. I was graciously ac- corded the pardon of the Club, and the record-book was made to duly recount the incident. Each day some different state of the water required the change of bait from menhaden to lobster tail or small eels. All vary the sport, and furnish the endless nar- ratives with which a group of old fisher- men beguile the placid hours spent in the sitting-room and on the long piazzas. They tell of the enormous fellows they have lost ; how this one ran nearly the whole line off his reel, when it was cut off by a bluefish; how that one was so great, '53 striped Bass Fishing that the utmost pull on the line could not stir him after he had run to the bottom and "sulked," and finally how the line parted, by being chafed off against a rock. A third tells you how his fish sulked, and then pounded his head on the bottom to "spring" the hook out, and succeeded. A fourth tells triumphantly how, when having seen his fish, and knowing him to be a " good one," on his taking to the game of sulking, he had sent his " chum- mer " back to the house, obtained a boat and another man, rowed outside to the stand, carefully followed the line out until over the fish, and thus secured him. The scarcity of fish is discussed ; and every ima- ginable cause is carefully weighed, — steam menhaden fishing, " night seiners," scarcity of " fry," change of feeding-grounds, etc. I was once favored with a scene that in- delibly printed itself on my memory, and furnished a yarn for one of these councils. A strong northwest wind had been blow- ing all night, and a lively, brisk sea was setting on the North Shore. I had been fishing for some hours without success ; and as the now large waves rolled in, my eye followed them in, commenting on their remarkable clearness and transparency. I made a new cast, and sat down, when on 1 54 Striped Bass Fishing my left, heading for the bait which I had just thrown out, was a beautiful bass, his stripes and silver side plainly visible, his brilliant eyes staring at me, precisely as mine were fixed on him. The wave rolled him up until he was in bold relief against its green depths ; and had he been arti- ficially held there, the picture could not have been more perfect nor animated. His impetus and intention both carried him as far as the bait ; and he took it into his mouth, but only held it for an instant. His terror was too vivid to admit of for- getfulness ; and I in vain reeled in, and threw again and again. Another time, I had hooked and suc- cessfully sustained the run of a large fish, had turned him, and had warped him in, until he was within fifty feet of me; quite a heavy surf was running, of which I was availing myself to aid in bringing him in, when my " chummer " called attention to the seaweed which was running in on the line and threatened to choke up the tip. Hardly had he spoken, when it jammed the line so that I no longer had the slightest control over the fish. The next wave moved him about ten feet inshore, and on the other side of a huge sunken bowlder ; and as the line became taut, al- I5S Striped Bass Fishing though I tried all I could to extend the rod, and give it play, it parted as if a thread, and there I stood, stamping with vexation, utterly helpless, the heavy surf forbidding any attempt to get to him, and looking on his huge majesty rolling from side to side, nearly drowned, and quite un- able himself at the moment to make any exertion ; but gradually he gathered power, and a sudden conviction that he was no longer a prisoner, and I had the comfort of seeing him slowly glide about, and out to sea. My feelings were much added to by having one of the fair sex sitting on the bank above me, watching the whole opera- tion, and perhaps more amused at my dis- comfiture than distressed at my loss. Such are the prominent and prevailing features of the sport. Each locality, how- ever, has its own features and advantages or disadvantages. There can be no doubt that of all the places, the advantages af- forded by Brenton-Reef are supreme, espe- cially when aided by the long and strong stands erected by Mr. Winans, now owned by Mr. Davis ; and next may be classed the rocks at Narragansett known formerly as " Anthony's." The east end of Mon- tauk has also developed well, and we hear 156 iitriped Bass Fishing good reports of " catches " made there. At Block Island also, and at " No Man's Land " at times, remarkable catches have been made, and even down at Cape Cod and Nantucket ; but all of them are sub- ject to variation, and the true sportsman finds his enjoyment in all the surroundings more than in the fish itself, or even its capture. IS7 THE HAUNTS OF THE BLACK SEA-BASS By Charles Frederick Holder Tht! Haunts of the Black Sea- Bass T is said that when the purchase of the northwest coast was con- templated by the United States Government, an old English raconteur and fly-fisherman re- marked, " Oh, let the Yankees have it ; the salmon won't rise to a fly ! " Southern California might go by default in this way, as fly-fishing, compared with that of the East, is not to be had, though the San Gabriel, Arroyo Seco, and other canons have many pools where gleams of light and color flash, telling of the liv- ing rainbow lurking in the shadows. If Southern California is deficient in black- bass streams and salmon pools, it possesses the finest marine fishing in North Ameri- can waters ; not only in the size and gamy qualities of the fish, but in the variety of forms which follow each other as the sea- sons advance, adding new and constant zest to the sport. The striped-bass fishing has its proto- type here in the gamy yellow-tail, seriola dorsalis, which attains a weight of forty or fifty pounds, and is as rapid in its move- ments as the tarpon. An important per- sonage is he who lands a yellow-tail on an ordinary striped-bass rod, reel, and line. Equally gamy as the yellow-tail is the sea- i6i Tlu Haunts of the Black Sea-Bass bass, ranging up to sixty pounds, while the barracuda, tuna, albicore, and others afford the sport esteemed by blue fishermen in the East. From the Santa Barbara Islands to the Coronados, and beyond, is the field of the Southern California Walton ; the islands of the Santa Barbara channel, Santa Cata- lina and San Clemente, being particularly famous in the piscatorial annals, and the Mecca of lovers of this sport, winter and summer. The island of Santa Catalina is the principal rallying-point, being the largest, possessing the small town of Ava- lon, a popular summer resort, with numer- ous bays and harbors protected from the inshore wind that blows in beneath the steady trade. An ideal spot it is, — a series of mountain ranges, from one thou- sand to twenty-six hundred feet, rising green-hued from the blue waters of the Pacific, and extending twenty-two miles down the coast, and an equal distance from it. From the slopes of the Sierra Madre, forty miles away, the island appears formed of two lofty peaks, sloping gently to the ocean ; but standing upon its highest summit, I looked down upon range after range, cutting the island into a maze of canons that wound in every direction to 1 62 The Haunts of the Black Sea-Bass the sea. Near its northern portions two harbors extend in from opposite sides, the island evidently at one time having been separated, the isthmus, as it is called, being but a few hundred feet across ; from this it widens out to six miles or more. The island is really a gigantic mountain range projecting from the ocean. The cliffs are majestic, beetling, rising sheer from the sea, broken into strange forms, and tinted with folds and splashes of color. The only beaches are at the mouths of the canons, or perhaps where the continued falling of rocks in land-slides caused by the winds have formed a vantage-ground for waves. On the west coast the sea assails the cliffs with sullen roar, and the inshore wind whirls up the cations, beating the fog against the rocks, and bearing it aloft, where it is dissipated by the radiating heat of the mountains. On the east the water is calmer, often like glass, affording favor- able conditions for boating and fishing. The air of this island in the sea seems redolent with romance. Three hundred years ago Cabrillo, a Spanish adventurer, cast anchor in one of its harbors, and named it La Victoria, after one of his vessels. In 1 602 Viscaino visited and gave it the present name of Santa Catalina. 165 Tlie Haunts of the Blaek Sea-Bas$ Father Ascencion, who accompanied him, describes the inhabitants as sun worship- pers, one of whose temples he found near the two harbors. In these early days the island had a large and prosperous native population ; every well-watered canon had its village, and I have found evidences of them on some of the highest ranges. One of my first visits to Santa Catalina was for the purpose of opening some of the ancient graves of these people ; and while thinking the matter over with " Mexican Joe," who has lived thirty years on the island, I took out an old bass- rod that had seen service on the St. Law- rence, and began looking it over. "What you catch with that?" asked my companion, with a curious look on his strong Indian face. " Bass, black," I answered noncha- lantly, whirling the reel, and listening to the music. " What! " retorted Joe, laughing ; then, " How much he weigh ? " " Five pounds," thinking of a certain afternoon on the river. " Oh ! " continued Joe, " I thought you mean black sea-bass." " Well, how much does he weigh ? " I asked. 1 66 The Haunts of the Black Sea-Bass " How much he weigh ? You want catch with that ? " said Joe, pointing to the rod with scorn. " Why, man, he weigh five hundred pounds. Yes, black sea-bass run from seventy-five to five hun- dred, seven hundred pounds." I ran over in my mind the various heavy- weight tackles, — the tarpon, striped-bass, salmon rods, — and came to the conclusion that a flag-staff^ with a donkey-engine reel attachment might do ; yet decided, then and there, to take a black sea-bass, if it was among the possibilities. I announced my determination interrogatively to my guide and oarsman. " Of course you catch one if you know how. I show you where he live. It take patience sometimes," was the reply. I was well supplied with this necessary, and a few days later found myself gliding away in the deep shadows of the rocks, headed for one of the haunts of the deep- sea bass. The water here was so clear objects forty feet below could be distinctly seen, glances into the depths showing an almost tropical condition of things. Bright-hued fishes, yellow and orange, darted by, disappearing in patches of wiry seaweed that gleamed with blue and iri- descent tints. In the watery space fairy- 167 The Haunts of th^ Black Sea-Bass like medusa moved lazily about, rising and falling, while here, there, and everywhere flashed a veritable gem in red, gold, blue, green, and amber, the minute crustacean sapphirina. When off a point which juts boldly into the sea, the keeper of the fortunes of the black sea-bass ceased rowing, cast anchor, and we swung in the current that ran along the rocky shores to the north. The tackle produced by my oarsman was not aesthetic. The line was almost as large as that em- ployed in the halibut fisheries of the East, while the hook was perhaps twice as large as a tarpon-hook, arranged with a well- working swivel. Live bait, a whitefish which we soon caught, was attached, with a sinker sufficient to carry it down. The line was then dropped over, and that pa- tient waiting which makes all successful fishermen philosophers begun. Three hundred — yes, one hundred years ago, a boat could not have dropped anchor here without being the object of hundreds of eyes, and the news would have been flashed from hill-top to caiion to the vari- ous camps ; now the only observers were the shag that flew along near the boat, its long, snake-like neck extended, startling the flying-fish into the air in fright, and 1 68 Tiie Haunts 0/ the Black Sea-Bass " Three hundred and /oriy-two and a half, sir I The Hauttis of the Black Sea-Bass a wondering pair of eyes that stared at us, telling of a sea-lion making the grand rounds; while the leaping forms near the shore were seals, bound for their rookery around the bend. The whistle of plumed quail came softly over the crags from the neighboring canon, and the gentle, musi- cal ripple of the waves lulled us to fan- cied repose. I had been watching the interesting face of my Mexican guide, wondering at his life, when I noticed his eyes suddenly grow large ; then he lifted the line gently with thumb and forefinger. It trembled, thrilled like the string of a musical instru- ment touched by some player beneath the sea. Slowly it took his fingers down to the water's edge. A bass ? Yes. No snap, no sudden rush, no determined break for liberty as I had seen the black bass make. I was disap- pointed ; a simple drag. But the Mexican smiled, and passed me the line, arranging with the other hand the coil in the bot- tom of the boat. " He's a young one," he remarked. "Pay him out ten feet, then jerk, an' stan' clear the line." These instructions took but a few sec- onds, yet the line was now gliding through 171 The Haunts of the Black Sea-Bass my hands like a living thing — four, eight, ten feet. Suddenly it tautened, and for a single second the tension hurled the sparkling drops high in air ; then, leaning forward, I jerked the line with all my strength. I have watched the silvery form of the tarpon as, like a gleam of light, it rushed into the air, shaking, quivering be- fore the fall, and have handled large fish of many kinds ; but I was unprepared for the deep-water tactics of this king of the bass. For a brief period there was no response, as if the fish had been stricken with surprise at this new sensation ; then a smoke, a succession of snake-like forms rising into the air — nothing but the line leaping from its coil. " Ah, he only a young one," said Joe; " take hold." In some way I had lost the line in this rush. Watching my opportunity, I seized it again, and by an effort that thoroughly tested the muscles, brought the fierce rush to an end. Then came heavy blows dis- tinctly given, as from the shoulder, evi- dently produced as the fish threw its head back in quick succession. "Take it in ! " said my companion ex- citedly ; and bending to the work I brought the line in, fighting for every inch that came, when the Mexican shouted a warn- 172 The Haunts of ilte Black Sea- Bass ing. Whizz ! and the coils leaped again into the air. Nothing could withstand the rush — a header directly for the bot- tom and away. The anchor had been hauled up by the Mexican at the first strike ; and now, with line in hand, we were off, the boat churn- ing through the water, hurling the spray over us, and bearing waves of gleaming foam ahead. " Take in ! " cries Joe, who stands by the coil ; and again, slowly fighting against the dull blows, the line comes in. Ten feet gained, and, whizz-eee ! as many more are lost. In it comes once more, hand over hand, the holder of the line bending this way and that, trying to preserve a bal- ance and that tension which would pre- vent a sudden break. Now the fish darts to one side, tearing the water into foam, leaving a sheet of silvery bubbles, and swinging the boat around as on a pivot. Now it is at the surface — a fleeting vision followed by a rush that carries the very gunwale under water. This, followed by a sudden slacking of the line, sends despair to the heart ; he is gone, the line floats. No, whizz ! and away again, down. All the tricks of the sturdy black bass this giant of the tribe indulges in, except the 173 Tlie Haunts of the Black Sea^Bass mid-air leaps which gladden the heart of the angler. Quick turns, downward rushes, powerful blows, mighty runs, this gamy creature makes, fighting inch by inch, leaving an impression upon the mind of the fisherman that is not soon forgotten. With a large rope, and by taking turns, the fish could have been mastered, but such methods were not considered sports- manlike here. It must be taken free- handed, a fight at arm's-length, and being such, the moments fly by ; it is half an hour, and we have not yet seen the out- line of our game. Gradually the rushes grow less, the blows are lighter, and what is taken is all gain. " It take your wind," said Joe, with a low laugh. So it had ; and I stood braced against the gunwale after the final dash — a burst of speed — to see a magnificent fish, black, lowering, with just a soup^on of white be- neath, pass swiftly across the line of vision, whirling the boat around end for end. " You've got him," from astern, is en- couraging, yet I have my doubts ; an honest opinion would have brought the confession that I was in the toils. But the flurry was the last. Several sweeps around the boat, and the black sea-bass lay along- 174 The Haunts of the Black Sea-Bass side, covering boat and men with flying spray with strokes of its powerful tail. " It is a small one," ejaculates my man, wiping the spray from his face. Imagine a small-mouthed black bass enlarged, filled out in every direction until it was six feet long, and plump in proportion ; tint it in rich dark hues, almost black, with a lighter spot between the pectoral fins ; give it a pair of eyes as large as those of an ox, pow- erful fins and tail, a massive head, ponder- ous, almost toothless jaws, and you have the black sea-bass, or Jew fish — the best fighter, the largest bony fish in Pacific waters. Too large to be taken into the boat, it had to be towed in ; and finally, after being stunned with an axe after the quieting method applied to muskallonge in the St. Lawrence, we got under way, the huge body floating uncomfortably be- hind, materially retarding the progress. The entry to Avalon Harbor was one of triumph, as at that season the capture of a black sea-bass was a new thing to visitors ; and as the magnificent creature was hauled up on the sands by willing hands, the en- tire population gathered about to listen to the details of the sport. Then came the weighing. " Three hundred and forty- two and a half, sir," said a Mexican youth 1 75 Th£ Haunts of the Black Sea-Bass who had triced the fish up; "better than the average." Glory enough for one day. During this summer, at Santa Catahna, about twenty of these fish were caught, ranging from eighty pounds to three hun- dred and fifty. All were females, ready to spawn, and had come in to Pebble Beach for this purpose, depositing their eggs in August and September. This locality has always been a famous place for them, and ten thousand pounds were taken there in a single day four years ago. At that time there was a systematic fishery, the meat being dried, and — tell it not in Gath ! — sold as boneless cod. My oarsmen in- formed me that the bass had been fright- ened off. These fishermen killed the fish on the spot, throwing the heads overboard ; and so the bass left, only comparatively few having been seen since. This is a native version. The fish un- doubtedly migrate, going into deeper water during the winter, or possibly to the south. It is often said that there is little pleas- ure in taking deep-sea fish ; but to capture the black sea-bass, free-handed, play it fairly, and bring it to the gaff, is an ex- perience that well compares in sport and excitement with hand-line tarpon-fishing on the Gulf coast. 176 TARPON FISHING IN FLORIDA By Robert Grant Hotel at Si. James Ciiy. T is likely that to ninety-nine persons out of every hundred, even though piscatorially in- clined, the terms " tarpon " and " tarpon-fishing " will convey no meaning. Twelve years ago no one could boast of having taken a tarpon with rod and reel ; and although the sport is now tolerably familiar to devoted anglers, the average individual who counts on get- ting away for a fortnight in the course of the year to kill something in the fish 179 Tarpon Fishing in Florida, line is still likely to inquire, "What is a tarpon ?" The tarpon is a fish, known to natural- ists as Megalops thrissoides, ranging from fifty to two hundred pounds in weight, and from four and one-half to over six feet in length ; not unlike a cross between a huge herring — to which family it belongs — and a huge bluefish in its general pro- portions, with large, protuberant eyes and an ugly mouth that opens on the fish's nose, so to speak, covered on either side with a hard, bony, semicircular flap that gives the effect of a jowl. Behind, and contiguous to the dorsal fin, is a sort of bony bayonet called the " feather," some eight or nine inches long, that protrudes into the air in the direction of the tail, forming an acute angle with the line of the back. The body is covered with brilliant argentine scales, which give the fish the effect of having been laved in sil- ver, and which have won for it the title of the " Silver King." These scales, which are circular and slightly scalloped on the part of the edge that is overlapped, vary from one inch to three inches and a half across. The silvery epidermis covers only the exposed portion, which is about one-fourth of the circumference. The 1 80 Tarpon PUhing in Florida remaining surface is a slightly yellowish- white, not dissimilar in hue to mother- of-pearl, though without its iridescence ; translucent, but not transparent, and shiny on the inner side. They are hard, thin, and of shell-like fibre. After being re- moved from the fish and dried, they curl up so as to remind one of a Saratoga chip, but will, if moistened and compressed, re- gain, at least for a short time, their former shape. The extreme brilliancy of the sil- very portion becomes tarnished by degrees, inclining either to yellow or black ; but the permanent color is still beautiful and astonishing. The back of the fish is black, and the silvery effect gradually begins at a line well above the eye. Some anglers have seen fit to perpetu- ate their triumphs by having specimens of these monsters mounted on a panel, which is accomplished by splitting the fish in two, leaving an ample margin at top and bottom, and treating the necessary half with arsenic and other condiments prized by the taxidermist. They form magnifi- cent trophies for the hall or dining-room of a large house ; and when gazing at a hundred-pound tarpon, which is certainly rather below than above the average weight of the fish, one finds difficulty in believing Tarpon disking in P'lorida that it has been captured with rod and reel. Beside it the lordly salmon seems to sink into insignificance. They are sometimes eaten, but not with avidity by those who have tried them before, as the flesh is coarse. In a book on fishes, published in New York in 1884, appears the following state- ment : " Imagine a herring-shaped fish five or six feet long, with brilliant silvery scales the size of half a dollar, in schools of a dozen or twenty, leaping from the blue sur- face of a summer sea. This is all that the angler usually sees of the tarpon. Some- times one of these glittering, rushing mon- sters takes the hook. What follows .? The line runs out with great speed till it has all left the reel, where it parts at its weak- est point, and the fish goes off leaping seaward. When hooked on a hand-line similar results follow. No man is strong enough to hold a large tarpon unless he is provided with a drag or buoy in the shape of an empty keg attached to the line, which may retard or even stop the fish after a while. Aided by a buoy, the tar- pon is sometimes taken with a harpoon or seines." Since this declaration was made, evidently in full sincerity, probably no less than one hundred tarpon have been killed 182 The Reel. Tarpon Pishing tn PlorUtL with the rod and el, to say noth- ing of the un- scientific hand-Hne. To Mr. W. H. Wood, a New York gentleman, belongs the honor of having been the first to cap- ture one with sportsman's tackle ; an event to which the London Observer of Aug. 25, 1886, refers in the following enthusi- astic language : " Here, at last, there is a rival to the black bass of North America, to the Silurus glanis of the Danube, to our own European salmon, and possibly even to the sturgeon, were that monster capable of taking a hook and holding it in its leach- like sucker of a mouth. Sportsmen may yet go to Florida for the tarpon, as they now go to the Arctic zone for the rein- deer, walrus, and musk-ox." (By the way, why does the Observer claim for Europe sole proprietary rights in the salmon ?) Up to the present date the largest tarpon taken with rod and reel was one killed by Mr. John G. Hecksher of New York, 183 Tarpon Fishing in Florida which is recorded on the score-book at St. James City as weighing one hundred and eighty-four pounds. Somewhat larger fish have been taken with the hand-hne and in seines, but there is no authentic testimony that they exceed two hundred pounds. The field of battle is the seacoast of southwestern Florida. The tarpon, or tarpum (for the fish is known popularly by either name), has its habitat (according to the valuable compilation " The Fish- eries and Fishery Industries of the United States," 1884) in the western Atlantic and in the Gulf of Mexico, ranging north to Cape Cod, and south at least to north- ern Brazil. It is somewhat abundant in the West Indies, and stragglers have been taken as far to the eastward as the Bermu- das. It is the " Silver-fish " of Pensacola, the " Grande Ecaille " (large-scale fish), or " Grandy Kye," as it is pronounced, and sometimes spelled, and the "Savanilla" of Texas. Those interested in the fish from the angler's standpoint have con- fined their attention to the waters of Char- lotte Harbor on the Gulf of Mexico and southwestern coast of Florida. Here the fish are found in comparative abundance, though the same is unquestionably true of that coast still farther to the south from 184 Tay^M Plsklng in Fterida The Cast. Punta Rassa to Whitewater Bay ; for the sport is still in its infancy, and compara- tively few fishermen have made investiga- tions on their own account, being content to try their fortunes where others have been successful. There seems every rea- son to believe, however, that although the tarpon is known on the eastern coast of Florida, its favorite waters are the Gulf of Mexico ; and whoever wishes to catch it is likely to fare better there than if he goes to Jupiter, Lake Worth, and the other points on the southeastern coast so deservedly famed for fishing of many other kinds. At present there are two recognized tarpon fishing-grounds, or rather fishing- i8s lArpOit Fishing in Florida camps, — for the waters fished by the fre- quenters of each are adjacent, — St. James City and Punta Rassa. Looking at the map of southwestern Florida, you will no- tice, at some distance to the southward of Tampa, Charlotte Harbor, lying between the 26th and 27th parallels of latitude, which extends no less than thirty miles from north to south, and varies from ten to fifteen miles in width. It is protected on its westerly side by the islands or keys Gasparilla, La Costa, Captiva, and Sanibel, which form a sort of natural barrier against the storms in the Gulf of Mexico ; and within these comparatively peaceful waters is situated Pine Island, fourteen miles in length, and from two to four in breadth, on the southerly end of which is St. James City, so called, a village that owes its pres- ent flourishing condition to the enthusiasm of tarpon fishermen. Opposite to it, to the southeast, on the mainland, and but a few miles distant, is Punta Rassa, the other resort. Excepting yachtsmen who live on board their vessels and cruise along the coast, persons desiring to kill a tarpon have hitherto made their headquarters at one of these two places. At St. James City, which is moderately tropical in its vegetation, — and which is 186 Tarpon Pishing in Ptorida. rapidly being made more so by the trans- plantation of baby lime, lemon, pineapple, banana, guava, cocoanut, and other plants calculated to inspire the interest of North- erners, — there is a comfortable hotel maintained by Northern proprietors. It is a delightful spot from the angler's point of view ; the winter climate is perfect, and the fishing of all kinds is excellent, including a large variety of fish able to offer not too stout resistance to the rod and reel — to say nothing of sharks, Jew- fish, and other monsters only too ready to carry off all one's line, and disappear with- out showing themselves above water. La- dies can accompany their husbands and brothers without risk of being otherwise than very comfortable, or even of being bored, unless it is by the everlasting dis- cussion as to the habits of the " Silver King" and the proper mode of capturing him, which goes on incessantly. Punta Rassa has equal advantages in the way of climate and facilities for fish, and is fre- quented by many of the most successful tarpon fishermen. The " Tarpon House " there is distinctly a sportsman's resort, as the accommodations, though comfortable, are as yet primitive. To reach either of these places you take 187 Tarpon Pishing in Piortda the train from Jacksonville to Punta Gorda by way of the Jacksonville, Tampa & Key West, and the Florida Southern Railroads, a twelve hours' journey. Punta Gorda, which is the terminus of the railroad, is at the head of Charlotte Harbor, and con- sists of possibly a dozen shanties and a fine hotel with accommodations for five hun- dred people. All the rooms are built on one side of the house, to command the water view. A long pier runs out from the hotel, off which all kinds of fish ex- cept tarpon are taken in abundance. Tar- pon could undoubtedly be caught within a few miles of Punta Gorda, along the Myakka River, and elsewhere, if one were to make a study of the fishing-ground ; but anglers prefer to push on in the little steamer Alice Howard, which starts from there three times a week, a five hours' trip, to St. James City, and slightly longer to Punta Rassa. The company interested in the development of St. James City ex- pect to run a steamer daily another season, and there is talk of a railroad later. Arriving at the San Carlos Hotel, at St. James City, early in March of the present year (1889), I was greeted by the unwelcome information that tarpon were very scarce, owing to the coolness of the 188 Tarpon Fishing in Florida weather. Unless the atmosphere and water are warm, they are not disposed to bite. Heat causes them to run in from the Gulf to cruise along the coast, pre- paratory to mating and spawning ; but a " norther," or " cold wave," drives them back into deep water. They are caught as early as January, and from then the fish- ing gradually improves as the weather grows warmer. Tarpon fishermen have Scale of a Tarpon {actual size). 189 Tarpon Fishing in Florida begun to realize that just at the time the Florida hotel-keepers close their houses the fishing becomes very good ; and in- stead of going south in January or Febru- ary, they are disposed to defer their trips until the end of March, or, better, until April. Of course many will prefer to take the chance of getting fish at a season when the Southern climate is most agree- able, and our Northern winter most se- vere ; but purely from the standpoint of sport, there is no doubt that the later one goes the more liable one is to catch tarpon. To be sure, the flies may then be disagree- able, and the weather uncomfortably warm; but, on the other hand, it will not be ne- cessary to pass days of anxious waiting for the wind to change and the water to rise to a proper temperature. Let it be added that, though the hotel at St. James City has hitherto been closed early in April, Mr. Schultz has his " Tarpon House " at Punta Rassa open all the year round. I found that up to my arrival, on March 14th, only nine tarpon had been taken this season at St. James City, and not quite so many, according to report, at Punta Rassa. Of these nine, five had fallen to one rod. There were about twenty fish- ermen in the house, several of whom had I go Tarpon Fishing in Florida been there since early in January. One gentleman had fished for three successive seasons without landing a tarpon. The sport is still so thoroughly in its infancy that I found a variety of theories as to tackle in process of being tested. I had been advised at home to bring with me an ordinary eight-and-a-half-foot ash sea-bass rod in three pieces ; but I was very shortly convinced that a rod in one piece is much more trustworthy, as the strain upon the joints while playing a tarpon is, at times, very severe. The choice of the wood is largely a matter for individual preference or caprice, though I believe that a well- tested bamboo cannot be excelled for this kind of fishing. Some of the rods were composed of a short butt and one long joint, which is preferable to the three- jointed rod, but less effective than a single piece. The length varies from seven to eight and a half feet ; those anglers who aim to kill their fish in the shortest possi- ble time use as near an approach to a stick as the sportsmanlike spirit of the locality will tolerate without demur ; but the am- bition should now rather be to increase the length and suppleness of the rod, so as to adopt as nearly as may be the dimen- sions of the salmon-rod, which has never 191 Tarpon Fishing in Florida yet, I believe, been successfully tried on the " Silver King." One needs a large multiplying-reel that will hold comfortably tvv^o hundred yards of line, and is furnished w^ith a click that can be turned on and off at will. Even if the socket in which it is set contains a pin, the reel should be lashed on, and a leather drag should be securely stitched to one of the inner bars of the reel, whether one uses a thumb-stall or not. It will also be found convenient to have the handle long enough to protect one's fingers from contact with the side of the reel. I used a fifteen-thread linen line, which is strong enough — though most of the fishermen at St. James City were supplied with eighteen and twenty-one thread ; and for a hook one cannot improve on a lo/o Dublin bend, Limerick forged and ringed. The serious point of controversy, and the one which still remains to be solved, is as to the material of the snood or snell con- necting the line with the hook. The tarpon has a bony mouth, in which no hook will take firm hold ; and it is there- fore absolutely necessary to let the fish gorge the bait in order to have any chance of securing him. Moreover, although the tarpon has no teeth, its lips, or the flaps 192 Tarpon Fishing in Florida which clothe either cheek, and which at the corners become veritable "scissors," are so excessively hard and corrugated that the ordinary line would chafe off or be snipped off in a very short time. It is necessary, therefore, to supplement the line with some sort of snood, about twenty- seven inches long, in order to allow for the gorging of the hook. A variety of devices has been tried. It was thought that small chains would answer the pur- pose, until it was demonstrated that sharks and kindred pests, which are just as likely to take the bait as a tarpon, cannot be got rid of without cutting the line, whereas they will immediately bite off any softer substance than metal. It is said, also, that the tarpon is apt to feel the chain, and to throw out the bait before it is gorged. At any rate, experienced anglers have dis- carded them. The present judgment is in favor of a laid cotton line that is practi- cally a cod-line of |-inch or even ^-inch diameter. This, it is claimed, will endure the action of the tarpon's lips for a long period, and yet yield instantly to the teeth of a shark. But while it has proved fairly satisfactory, I was advised by the gentle- man who had landed five out of the nine tarpon taken this season, to wrap my g-inch 195 Tarpon Fishing in Florida snood with fine copper wire. This I did, although some of the other fishermen shook their heads, declaring that a shark would not be able to cut the wire ; but my ad- viser was of the contrary opinion, though he was inclined to believe that a -f^-inch cod-line, tightly laid, ought to be stout enough to render wire unnecessary. The snoods which he had of this kind were very hard, and unlike those generally in use, which being loosely laid had the effect of being soft and yielding. I was disposed to think that his were the best, in spite of the fact that they would offer more direct resistance while chafing. One or two other anglers thought they had solved the difficulty by incasing the snood with rubber, on the theory that thus there would be no chance for friction ; but there was evidence that this contrivance had not proved particularly efficacious. Indeed, the whole question of snoods is in embryo. It seems desirable that the cotton snoods should be blackened a little, so as to be- come, when soaked, as near the color of the water as possible. As tarpon are shy fish, one cannot be too careful of frighten- ing them. I was called with the rest, on the morn- ing after my arrival, so as to be able to 196 Tarpon Fishing in Florida get away from the house at about seven. There is said to be no advantage in an early start, except that the first boats off obtain the choice of grounds ; tarpon are more hkely to bite on the flood tide than at any especial time of day. Each angler has his man and boat, an ordinary lap- streak row-boat about eight feet in length, such as is commonly used at seaside re- sorts. There is, of course, a considerable choice in guides ; and it is important for a novice to get a skilful boatman, who knows the grounds. The hotel is about one- third of a mile from the wharf, and for the convenience of everybody a wag- onet and pair makes trips perpetually for a trifling remuneration. The pier, as at Punta Gorda, jufs out several hundred yards, and from the end of it sheep's-head are taken in profusion. Only a few days be- fore my arrival a large leopard shark had been hooked and landed from the same place. The tarpon grounds lie anywhere from two to eight miles from the pier. My boatman — a white man, as most of the boatmen at St. James City are — advised our trying the nearest, Matalacha Pass, as it was called. The best places for fishing at this season are on the points of the 197 Tarpon Fishing iit Florida oyster-bed bars in the shallower water on the edge of the channel. The fish come in with the tide, and follow the winding channel, which runs close to the bars. The whole harbor is intersected by these oyster-beds ; and there are many sand-keys and numerous islands completely covered with mangrove bushes, which seem to spring out of the sea, so deeply are the roots immersed. The mangrove is ex- tremely prolific, and is largely in excess of all other growths in this neighborhood. I anchored by chance not far from the gentleman who had killed the five tarpon, and very soon another angler took up a position some two hundred yards in my rear. There was good fishing for all three boats, my guide said ; but it is an unwrit- ten law that when a tarpon is hooked, the other boats on the ground shall be kept out of the way of the fortunate man. I observed that each of my rivals had two rods in use, one of which was tended by the boatman, although the process of tend- ing is a very simple one until a fish takes hold. Some one has well described the waiting experience in tarpon-fishing as "sitting in a Turkish bath looking at a string." You bait your hook with a collop of mullet, and Tarpon Fisking in Florida cast just as you would for striped bass, let- ting the bait sink to the bottom. You give a little slack, and then you have noth- ing to do but sit still until something hap- pens. You may sit still the whole day without anything happening. I did : not a single genuine bite did I have from half- past seven until half-past four ; and though it was not particularly hot, my man Pierce said that it. usually was, and that I should do wisely in supplying myself before start- ing out again with a broad-brimmed Pan- ama hat, such as every one else wore. At first it was rather interesting. My reel unfortunately was without a click, and the action of the tide made the line run out a little, unless I kept my finger firmly on it; so that, as I had been told that a tarpon begins by stealing off quietly, I had numerous false alarms, thinking every now and then that something was trifling with my bait. In the meantime my boatman was cutting up mullet, and throwing it overboard to attract the fish to our neigh- borhood. Mullet is the only bait they are known to take. He also suggested put- ting out a hand-line, as I had only one of my rods with me ; but this I forbade, not wishing to diminish my chances of land- ing a tarpon with rod and reel. Forty- 199 Tarpon Fishing in Florida eight hours later, as it happened, two gentlemen who were using a hand-line in addition to three rods, had their only strike of the day on the hand-line, very much to their disgust. With the excep- tion of changing the bait about once an hour, as it becomes water-soaked, there is nothing to do but be patient. Instead of a tarpon, one may hook a shark, a large channel bass, or a grouper. Small fish are not apt to bite on the tarpon grounds, but sharks are often very troublesome. During the present season a gentleman who was fishing with his rods chanced to hook simultaneously a tarpon and a shark. Although the tarpon jumped out of the water, he was for some moments unable, owing to the crossing of the lines, to dis- cern which fish was on which, so as to cut off the unwelcome visitor. A tarpon in- variably reveals himself by jumping out of water as soon as he feels the hook. More tarpon are lost by premature tension of the line than through any other cause. The novice is properly cautioned by every- body to let a tarpon carry off some half a dozen fathoms of line before checking him in the least. Usually the fish hooks himself, and is only too apt to feel the hook before the bait is gorged, in which Tarpon Pishing in Florida He was six feet lojig; and weighed one hundred and ihirty-two Pounds, case he leaps out of water, and shakes his head violently in attempts to get rid of it — attempts which are sure to be suc- cessful in case the barb be not well lodged in his gullet. After forty or fifty feet have run out, one may safely strike, and drive the hook home into whatever the prize may be. If nothing shows itself, and the line flies out at a terrible rate, you have probably got a shark, which, unless very large, you can doubtless drown if you wish, if the disagreeable customer does not relieve you of his presence by biting off Tarpon Fishing in Florida the hook. As a matter of practice you will be likely to cut the line yourself without further ado. A large channel bass of twenty or thirty pounds also will occasionally take the bait, or a grouper — a delicious fish of the perch family, that makes very stout resistance for its size, which does not exceed fifteen pounds. The tactics of the grouper are to get into a hole or cave, from which it can be dis- lodged, if at all, only with great difficulty. My neighbor of the five tarpon hooked two groupers in the course of the fore- noon, and preferred in each instance to cut his line rather than waste time in trying to bring them to terms. While we were fishing for tarpon, the wife of this same angler was trolling with a light rod in the near distance with great success, taking every few minutes one of the many lively fish, channel bass (redfish) " sea trout " (squeteauge or weakfish), cavalli, and oth- ers with which the water of Charlotte Har- bor abounds. Later in the day her example was imitated by both of my companions ; but I was advised by my guide to remain at my post, for the reason that a tarpon might take hold at any moment. He in- timated that it was too much the custom for sportsmen, after having fished for tar- L L Tarpon Fishing in Florida pon two or three nours, to be willing to sacrifice the chances of big game to the paltry satisfaction of filling one's boat with ordinary fish. I was Spartan enough to act upon his counsel, even to the extent of eating my luncheon in the boat with my finger still on the line, without going ashore. About one o'clock, when the tide turned, I shifted my position to an- other ground about a mile distant, where Pierce thought we should be more likely to hook fish returning with the ebb ; and there I remained until nearly five o'clock, without getting a bite of any kind. It was hardly inconsistent with good- fellowship that I did not feel any keen regrets to find, on reaching the hotel, that no one of the fifteen other fishermen had fared any better than I as regards tarpon. The landing-stage at the wharf was cov- ered with small fish, of from two to ten pounds weight, but no one could boast of having even hooked a " Silver King." The general verdict was that the atmosphere and water were still a little cool for good tarpon-fishing. The next morning dawned warm and beautiful. I was up betimes, with the intent of visiting a more distant ground known as the "Six-mile Rookery," where 203 Tarpon Fishing in Florida I again found myself in company with the champion fisherman of the season, whose wife, by the by, had the ill-luck, in the course of the day to lose a twenty-pound channel bass, through the clumsiness of her boatman, just as it was ready for the landing-net. When not far from the ground, we noticed numerous shoals of mullet, which is a favorable sign ; and pres- ently those in the boat ahead signed to us to be still, and pointed to the water, on which the fins of a troop of tarpon were plainly visible. We anchored in hope, in spite of the consciousness that fish in shoals do not take the hook as readily as when travelling alone or in small detachments. We fished diligently without the least suc- cess for some time, and then shifted our ground a little farther on, as we had been lured by the sight of the tarpon on the surface to make fast, at first, somewhat short of the usual place. Our new an- chorage was, as on the day before, rather less than a fourth of a mile from shore, and in water not more than ten or twelve feet deep. Here let me add that later in the season, when the weather has grown hot, tarpon are taken in the shallow water close to the shore as well as on the edges of the oyster-reefs. I had two rods with 204 TarPoit Fishing in Florida me on this day, so as not to throw away any chances, and suggested to my man the advisabiUty of lashing on my reels ; but he scoffed at the idea. Out went the hooks well furnished with fresh mullet, arid again we abandoned ourselves to waiting. Again, too, we waited in vain ; waited in the hot sun, for it was warm at last, and I was glad to don my new shade-hat. We had no bites ; and yet the situation was tol- erably exciting, from the fact that every now and then a tarpon would spring out of water on one side of us or the other, and fall back with a grand splash, never very near to us, and yet sufficiently so to fill us with hope of better things, although, 2PS Tarpon Fishing in Florida as an old salmon fisherman, I knew that jumping fish are not apt to bite. Still it was a great deal to be sure that they were there. Three hours passed, and it was luncheon-time again. Rather despond- ently, I must confess, did I masticate the sandwiches, doughnuts, hard-boiled eggs, grape-fruit, and bananas which my din- ner-pail contained. Just as I had finished, there was another splash. A tarpon had jumped behind us not more than two hun- dred yards away. My companion almost immediately pulled up his anchor ; but instead of moving to where the fish had jumped, as I expected, put his boat to- ward the shore. " He has gone ashore to fish for mullet," said my man. Where- upon I recalled that he had expressed the intention of spending the early part of the night on the ground, for tarpon will bite by moonlight ; then the tide would be at the flood again, for now it was beginning to ebb. His guide had a seine with him, with which he was able to snare bait from the shoals of mullet by wading knee-deep and casting it over them. However, although the outlook was not promising, we shifted our anchorage to where the last tarpon had made his splash, and put out our hooks again. 206 Tarpon Fishing in Florida It was unrefreshingly hot, and just about slack water, scarcely ebbing at all ; and there we sat for another hour, until, rather wearied at the monotony of the thing, I began to practise casting, in which I was not very proficient. The other rod lay between me and my boatman, under his supervision. I was reeling in my line after a short, abortive cast, when suddenly Pierce made an exclamation, and I turned to see his line running out rapidly; so rap- idly, in fact, that the handle of the reel knocked a piece out of his forefinger. He reached me the rod; and just after I had seized it, taking care to exert no pressure, a large silvery mass leaped out of water straight into the air and fell back again. "A tarpon, and a big fellow!" cried Pierce. In considering any statement as to the height a fish jumps out of water, it is im- portant to know whether the narrator has included the length of the fish in making up his figures. That is to say, if a fish is six feet long, and leaps from its native ele- ment so that the tip of its tail is two feet clear of the surface, good story-tellers will claim that it has jumped eight feet out of water. Others will take oath to only two. It is sufficient to state that the tarpon in .207 Tarpon Fishing in Florida question jumped either two feet or eight, according to the individual preference of the reader. At that time he had taken out with velocity about fifty yards of line ; the leap terminated his first rush, and I had an opportunity to reel in about a fourth of the amount before he started off again. Meantime my man had hauled up the anchor, and we were in process of be- ing towed by the big fish, whose frantic efforts to escape were making the reel re- volve at a famous rate. From long expe- rience with salmon, I knew enough to keep the point of my rod as high as possi- ble consistent with the heavy strain; and the moment the rush diminished in inten- sity I clapped my finger onto the leather drag, and resisted stoutly, reeling in every inch of line that I could recover. But before long he was off once more in mad career, and out of water, viciously shaking his head in determined efforts to spit out the hook. His failure to do this after a series of endeavors showed that he had swallowed the bait, and that my chief concern now should be as to the strength of my tackle. His first two rushes were the fiercest, and he did not at any time during the en- counter carry out over one hundred and 208 Tarpon Fhhitig in Florida fifty feet of line; but after checking him, while it was com- paratively easy to hold him steady on a taut line, al- 1 o w ing him to tow us quietly Saw Fish on the Pier at St. James City, along, I found serious diffi- culty in getting him nearer the boat. The result of bearing on him with the rod, or, in fishing parlance, giv- ing him the butt, was to start him off in hot haste. I have since been informed that experienced tarpon fishermen force the fighting from start to finish, never allowing the victim to rest, but inducing him to exhaust himself by constant ex- cursions. Moreover, they gain on him inch by inch by lowering the point of the 209 Tarpon P'ishing in Florida rod toward the water when the line is taut, and then raising it again with energy, reeUng vigorously at the same time. Such a proceeding with a salmon would be apt to snap the gut casting-line, or break the tip ; and I was afraid to indulge in it in this case, not knowing what my tackle would stand. Consequently, my progress in gaining ground on the monster was slow. Nevertheless, after half an hour I enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing him come to the top of the water, putting up his nose at first to blow, which is a custom with them, and at last showing his fin. Within a few minutes more he was fairly on the surface in some distress ; and vig- orous reeling on my part brought him within ten feet of the boat, where he lay rolling his huge tail from side to side, fol- lowing the channel, and dragging us after him. At this time, one used to tarpon- fishing would probably have got him within reach of the gaff, and perhaps I should have succeeded in bringing him within reach of a long handled one; but unfortunately that which my man had with him was fastened to a very short handle. Straining as much as I dared, I could not force him to a spot where Pierce could get a fair thrust at him. His Sil- Tarpon Fishitig in Florida very Highness evidently w^as alarmed by the boat, and avoided it as much as possi- ble. At last Pierce, in desperation, struck at him, and missed him ; and in a mo- ment the line was flying out again, and the point of my rod was being dragged down as the tarpon plunged into the depths again, and by another glorious rush regained all that I had won. Then en- sued a long up-hill fight, which I can compare only to a hand-to-hand tussle with a wild beast. Again and again did I get him up to within ten feet of the boat, and again and again would he thwart my efforts to draw him nearer. The thumb and forefinger of my right hand, where, owing to the shortness of the han- dle, they came in contact with the screws and side of the reel, were without skin, and bleeding profusely. I had not realized the importance of gloves or thumb-stalls, hav- ing always fished for salmon with bare hands. Had it not been for the leather drag, I could not have held him ; and yet this, at the point where it was sewed to the bar of the reel, served to clog the line, owing to the lack of room for the line, when unevenly wound, to act freely ; and only by reeling desperately hard could I wind at all the last ten yards. One should 311 Tarpon Fishing in Florida take care to have on one's reel only so much line as will work entirely smoothly under the bars, making due allowance for the expansion caused by soaking. I tried to be very careful not to let my line be- come tangled, and to apportionate it evenly over the surface of the reel. I found it convenient to hold the line against the rod with my left thumb, while the fish was steady, as it relieved the pressure, shifting it to the drag when he began to run. After the struggle had lasted about an hour and a half, I was appalled by my reel suddenly falling from my rod to the bot- tom of the boat. The rings which held it in place had slipped out of position. The same misadventure had twice hap- pened to me while playing a salmon, so that I was not so much fluttered as if it had been a virgin experience ; but I must confess that my heart sank within me. Having hastily picked up the reel, taking care not to twist the line, I told Pierce, who was standing behind me, to step aft and slip the rings into position after I had fitted it into the socket. Fortunately, the tarpon did not make one of his rushes during this ticklish proceeding, which was successfully accomplished. My hands were now becoming very Tarpon Fishing in Florida cramped and weary, owing in a measure to the stiffness of my reel caused by the clogging of the line to which I have re- ferred. The big fish seemed to have got his second wind ; and though his rushes were less frequent, he showed a disposition to keep down in the deep water about thirty feet ahead of the boat. In the first two hours'he jumped eight times, I should say, in addition to a series of five or six consecutive skips along the surface — a very pretty performance, and one which indicated that he was growing weaker. We had made three fruitless attempts to gaff him, each of which might have been successful had the gaff-handle been of proper length. It was curious to note how well the creature knew the channel ; he pursued his winding way with admira- ble precision. My position was in the stern, on my knees, which were doubled under me, with the butt of my rod em- bedded between my thighs. My boat- man sat at the oars in the middle of the boat, facing me, and his duty was to back water so as to keep the stern always toward the fish, in order to prevent him from pulling us sideways, and thus possi- bly upsetting us, or from getting under the boat. In my experience with this 213 Tarpon Fishing in Florida fish, in contradistinction to the salmon, I observed that he always kept the line taut, and never ran directly toward the boat so as to double on us, as a salmon always does — which is one of the most interest- ing phases of that exciting sport. I have since been informed by others that my experience in this respect was not the normal one, and that a tarpon will often make a bee-line for his tormentor, even so far as to run under the boat. I am not, however, entirely convinced as to the truth of this. After another quarter of an hour I had the creature on the surface once more, wallowing in manifest distress ; and, hav- ing drawn him almost to a proper spot for gaffing, was induced by my own weari- ness to urge Pierce to try another thrust at him with the hook. This time he struck him, but the iron only slipped off the monster, who glided under the stern, giving, at the same moment, a swirl of his tail that drove an avalanche of water in my face and all over me. One beautiful scale lay before me on the thwart as a memorial of what had happened. I was just able to make sure that my line was not entangled, and then handed the rod for a moment to my guide, in order to re- 214 Tarpon Fishing in Morida cover my dazed senses. This momentary respite was a great refreshment ; and when I took the rod back again, I felt that I, in my turn, had got my second wind. I was determined now to try more strenuous efforts ; and I began to adopt the forcing process, of which I have writ- ten earlier, by means of which I was en- abled to reel in more line, and compel my victim to approach nearer the boat. We had, however, another half-hour's earnest tussle before I could put him alongside the gunwale, where Pierce could have a deliberate blow at him. Before this mo- ment arrived I had to undergo the disa- greeable emotions resulting from getting my line wound once round his body, to free which required care and cautiousness on my part. It is necessary, when the fish is nearly exhausted, to be constantly on one's guard that the huge swinging tail does not come in contact with and cut the line, as it readily will do. As a final horror I discerned, when my line was becoming short, what looked like a large knot midway between the reel and the ring of my tip. I realized that if it were one, unless it would pass through the ring I should probably lose the fish, and I felt very apprehensive. It proved, 215 Tarpon Fishing in Florida. however, to be only a bit of dark green seaweed, which did not become an obsta- cle. A few moments later Pierce plunged his gaff into the water, and brought it up into the breast of the noble fighter. "Sit still, sir," he said to me, anticipat- ing, doubtless, my anxiety as to how he could get such a mammoth creature into the boat ; then he canted the gunwale ever so little, and slipped the "Silver King" over it as neatly and easily as possible. The poor fish was nearly dead, and made but a single flap with his great tail. He was six feet long, and weighed one hun- dred and thirty-two pounds. It had been ten minutes of three when I hooked him, and it was now seven minutes of six, and he had towed us three miles. As he lay on our way home, and that evening at the wharf, with the moonlight resting upon him, he was by far the most beautiful specimen of the fish creation I have ever seen. As a tarpon had not been landed for ten days, some interest was occasioned at St. James City by his arrival; and the gentleman who had fished for three sea- sons without taking one said: "I do not wish to disparage your skill, but really you were very lucky." I quite agree with the gentleman; I certainly was. 216 Tarpon Fisking in Florida Tarpon-fishing is, in my opinion, the most magnificent fishing-sport in the world. I understand that veterans at it now refuse to take up the anchor after hooking a fish, preferring to part com- pany rather than not to bring him up to the boat by force of rod and reel only. As compared with salmon-fishing, the vast difference in the size of the two fish is a vital factor on the side of the "Silver King." Anglers with but slight expe- rience have at least an even chance of saving a salmon, but what accomplished fisherman expects to land more than one tarpon in three ? If a salmon were equal to a tarpon in weight, and still retained proportionately its activity, it might be a more formidable antagonist ; but forty- pound salmon are rare, whereas one hun- dred and twenty pounds is not much more than the average weight of a tarpon, which shows the futility of such an argu- ment. The manner of fighting is prac- tically the same as regards running and leaping ; the tarpon does not sulk, as the salmon is so fond of doing, nor, so far as my experience goes, does he double on the angler, which of course is an interest- ing trait in the salmon. Nor, indeed, are the surroundings of a tarpon fisherman to 217 Tarpon Fishing in P'lorida be compared with the beautiful scenery and picturesque Ufe on a Canadian salmon river. Bait is a dirty substitute for the trig fly, and the monotony of listless waiting palls on one accustomed to repeated cast- ing. But, all the same, any one who has hooked and landed a tarpon can well af- ford to smile at the enthusiasm of any other fisherman in creation. Try it for yourself and see. 218 AMERICAN GAME-FISHES "By Leroy Milton Yale DEFINITION of "a game-fish " could hard- ly be made to suit all fishermen, or even all anglers. The essential idea is that the fish shall be caught for game or sport, and not for food or gain ; and one may accept the opinion that game-fishing is " fishing of every kind requiring skill and carried on humanely and for enjoy- ment." Angling-books, from Walton and Venables to Francis and Norris, speak of the gudgeon or " sunny " as w^ell as the trout, the eel as well as the salmon. If a more restricted definition be attempted, 221 ^ tncrtcan Game-Flshes each restrictor notes those characteristics of a game-fish which give him sport ; and the result is rather an analysis of the pe- culiarities of the angler than of any defi- nite group of fishes. Two very good essays at a definition, by Dr. Browne Goode, may be combined, and from them the following characteristics selected. A game-fish should have beauty, sapidity of flesh, and a certain degree of rarity, to excite the desire of the angler, as well as courage, strength, nimbleness, and cunning to test his skill in a contest rendered the more even by delicacy of tackle. It so happens that game-fish do usually possess beauty of form or color, some far more than others, it is true ; but sapidity of flesh is a more important quality, since no true angler seeks a fish that is not, at the least, good food ; nor will he consent to the slaughter of any which is not dan- rerous to man or to better fish, unless there be a pretty sure prospect that it will find a welcome upon some table. Adhe- rence to this rule s'ometimes cramps sport in remote regions where fish are large and abundant and human mouths few ; but the self-denial is as nothing compared to the disgust at the waste of fine fish. However beautiful or sapid a fish may be, few would A merican Game-Fiskes continue to seek it for pleasure did it not avoid capture by its cunning, or resist it by its strength or activity. In fact, to many anglers, perhaps to most, this fighting ca- pacity is the main characteristic of a game- fish, as it might be in a pugilist. That it is not the only one is shown by the con- tempt in which some hard-fighting but worthless fish are held. Whatever quali- ties be accepted as essential, certainly that fish which possesses the most of them, or in the greatest degree, will be entitled to the highest rank. Each angler will place his own estimate upon the relative value of individual qualities ; but if we are ever called upon to settle a point of contested precedence, that fish, other things being equal, whose habitat is the most interest- ing, delightful, and sequestered, and whose capture involves the most refreshing exer- cise, shall be placed first. All of the elements that go to make up this " gameness " in a fish vary greatly according to various circumstances, and none 'more than wariness and activity. The same fish may at one time be agile in the extreme, at another quite lethargic. But the change of mood as to shyness or cunning is even more striking. The shy- ness of the trout is proverbial ; yet I have, 223 American Game-Fishes after a fruitless hour of fishing, had a trout dash more than once between my very knees at the lure dangling in the water, while I was adjusting my disarranged cast- ing-line. Probably no fish better exem- plifies this variation than the bluefish. At some seasons hunger or excitement seems to deprive them of all caution ; and they will contend with insane eagerness for any lure — be it white rag, pine stick, or what not — which may be dragged after a sail- ing-boat. A week later, perhaps, the most appetizing morsels which the angler's ingenuity can devise tempt them in vain, if the water be clear enough for them to see the line. Every experienced angler for striped bass can tell remarkable tales of the cunning with which the bluefish seizes every piece of chum that is meant for his betters, but absolutely refuses to touch a baited hook unless he can first bite off the line. I have again and again had this fish — a synonym for senseless voracity — in plain view pick the bait piecemeal from my hooks. This increase in wariness greatly enhances the sport. Trolling or " drailing " for bluefish is an exhilarating frolic ; but matching and outwitting their cunning with fine tackle is really game-fishing. 224 American Game-Fishes It is interesting in this connection to note how quickly wariness is born of ex- perience. As it is developed in much fished waters, it might seem to be the re- sult of observation or of individual suffer- ing ; but, in some cases at least, it evidently comes from information received. For instance, it is often noticed that if a fresh run of sea-trout is encountered, they may "ft Brook-irout. be taken apparently without stint so long as none escape after hooking. If, how- ever, one manage to free himself, the sport with that fly, and often for that day, is ended. His companions seem unalarmed by his struggle, but are warned by some- thing learned from him after his escape. The same has been observed of other fish. 225 A merican Game-FisJtes But the gameness of a fish, being meas- ured by the sport his capture gives, may- be modified by circumstances quite outside of the fish itself, — the angler's mood, his tackle, and many other things. The salm- on fisher, for instance, may to-day abhor the splendid sea-trout as " vermin," not from any affectation, not even from the spirit of purism which led to the colored brother's contemptuous rejection of the fine pike because he was " a-catting," but because it has interfered with the pursuit of the salmon, or has been found in the pools or on the spawning-ground of the nobler fish, where it may do great dam- age. To-morrow, properly equipped, he will gladly go to meet the trout at the head of the tide. The possibility of getting sport from a fish is especially dependent upon the method of fishing. If one anchors his boat in ten fathoms of water, and sinks his stout hand-line with a lead as heavy as any fish he may reasonably expect to take, he will not much value the gameness of the prey he hales from the depths. But if he study the habits of that fish, and search for his hiding-places in the rocky tideways, or his feeding-places on the shallows, and " angle unto him " with 226 American Gante-Fiskes light tackle, suitable to his weight, he is changed from an acquaintance of low es- tate into a respected and admired antago- nist. And it may in general be asserted that any fish is most game when fished for in that way which gives it the great- est chance of resistance and of escape, and which demands the greatest skill and deli- cacy on the part of the fisherman. Deep fishing, whether bottom fishing or deep trolling, demands heavy tackle, if only to carry the necessary weight of lead. Save for the largest fish, such tackle at once destroys any chance of finesse. The fish being well hooked, any force which will not mutilate it enough to loosen the hook may be employed. For such fishing the rod has little advantage over the hand- line, as only the stoutest rods can stand the strain. In shallow water, or where fish are sought not far from the surface, more or less delicacy of apparatus is practicable ; and it would be hard to find a better standard of the gameness of a fish (i.e., its sport-giving power) than the degree of delicacy that is permitted, and of skill de- manded, in its capture. Yet not until rods are constructed to register ergs or foot- pounds will anglers agree as to the rela- 227 Atnerican Game-Fishes tive fighting ability of their favorites, and discussions thereof are generally futile. Doubtless it is the element of delicacy which has given fly-fishing its pre-emi- nence in the estimation of anglers. No greater skill is demanded to excel with the fly than in minnow-casting, or in casting the worm in " North Country " style ; but with the delicate rod and tackle called for by fly-casting the angler derives more pleasure, or at least more kinds of pleasure, than in any other way. And it is for similar reasons, no doubt, that those fish which are known as reliable risers, at least in certain seasons, are those by which most store is set. Locality, opportunity, and personal pre- dilection make specialists of anglers. In our great country one who does not make an occupation of his pastime can practi- cally know but a few of the enormous number of fine fishes in its fresh waters, or along its shores. The limits of a mag- azine article will admit only a part of those which have given the writer pleas- ure in his occasional holidays. Some of these occupy, by common consent of anglers, places of honor ; others are less known or more slightly esteemed ; but since they are, if properly fished for, truly 228 A merkan Game-Fishes game-fish, they are recommended to the sincere " brother of the angle " who can- not command the time required to enjoy the pursuit of those more vaunted. " For by cause," says Dame JuHana, " that the Samon is the moost stately fyssh that ony maye angle to in freshe water, Therefore I purpose to begyn at hym." Stately indeed he is, and all that attends his capture has something of state about it. His beauty triumphs over the adverse surroundings of the fishmongers' slab. Look at a bright spring fish, note his graceful rounded lines, his small head, his gleaming sides, with almost impercep- tible scales, and with here and there a black X worn as jauntily as the patches of an old-time belle. Imagine him living, strong, agile, and alert, and you cannot wonder that the acclamation of anglers declares him king of sporting fishes. The Atlantic has but one salmon, the Salmo salar ; the Pacific coast of our country has at least five, all belonging to the genus Oncorhyncus. The salmon of commerce comes from that coast ; several species, especially the Quinnat, or King, Salmon, being taken in enormous num- bers to meet the world's demand. Some of these kinds are equal as food, under the 231 American Gatne-Fiskes same circumstances, to the Atlantic fish, and probably would be his peer as a game- fish if they could be persuaded to rise to a fly. As it is, they generally are trolled for in bays and estuaries with hand-lines and tackle so robust that even their gal- lant fight can avail little. Such noble fish deserve fairer handling. The supply has seemed inexhaustible, but the unre- strained destructiveness of nets and wheels is beginning to tell. The experience of the Eastern States and still older countries ought easily to show our quick-witted Western brethren where the trouble lies, and where the cure is found. Let us go back to our Eastern fish and our Eastern rivers. Probably the yield of a season would be counted a poor day's haul on the Columbia, but the taking of each fish is an event. Long before the snow-water on his gills wakened in the fish the recollections of his native stream the angler had made his plans for the encounter, and arranged the details of his preparations with loving care. At length he is upon the river. That alone would be an experience worth the pains, but for the haunting expectation of that salmon's rise. Out of the forest on the flanks of the low mountains comes the stream 232 Awgncan Ganie-Fishes Pompatio and Striped Bass. twined of the threads of countless brooks. Over falls and through chasms, of which the gaffers, who are loggers in winter, will tell by the evening fire, it finds its way to the broad pool beside which he has set his camp. Behind the camp, a little way up, is a cool spring among the rocks ; higher yet on the sides of the cliff are spruces, cedars, birches, maples, and all the multi- tudinous foliage of early summer. Across the pool the rocky wall rises nearly per- pendicularly to its crest of trees. The bed of the strearli, too, is of rock broken into steps, with patches of gravel where, through 233 A mericaii Qavie-Fi sites the uneven water, he is able to make out the resting-place of a fish quite dispropor- tioned to the shallow, clear stream. His soundest leader and his most taking fly are put out. He watches its curving journey down the pool. Foot by foot he length- ens the cast, until he knows the fish has seen the lure. One after another he offers the most enticing wares of Kelso or of Sprouston, and adds thereto bizarre crea- tions of his own without effect. The fish has run the gantlet of scores of pools, and knows the contents of the fly-book as well as its owner. The angler's arm, soft from the winter's disuse, begins to tire. The fly falls with less grace, and sidles down the water as if it were as discouraged as he ; when around it what a swirl, as half a bronze-black head shows for an instant above the surface ! What wonder that many a novice is paralyzed by stage-fright. It is well if his gaffer sets up his rod in time, and brings him to his senses. He will need them all. The struggle need not be told, — the runs, the retrieval of the line, the leaps and sulks, and all the devices of the ex- cited fish ; nor yet the counter-manoeuvres of the angler and his surprising rushes with rod high in air over places through which «34 American Game-Fishes a little before he painfully clambered with the gaffer's aid. It is an experience the angler never forgets, but to another it has little meaning. The trout of Europe, the trout of Wal- ton, does not exist in our country, save in a few places, mostly preserves, where it has recently been introduced. But when our English forefathers came to New Eng- land they found a fish which so resembled it — although more beautiful — that they called it the brook-trout ; and brook-trout it ever will remain, although the strictness of science says it is no trout, but a char. But, as Jordan remarked, " Nothing higher can be said of a salmonoid than that it is a char ! " The determining distinction lies in the formation of one of the bones of the head, and would escape any one but an anatomist. There are in our country, however, real trout. Such is the Rocky Mountain, or red-throated trout [Salmo mykiss),z. good fish, and much more worthy of introduction into new waters than the rainbow trout (5. irideus^, which a few years back was quite extensively placed in Eastern streams and lakes. The latter is not the peer of our own fish. What a lovely creature is this brook- trout ! Stouter than most chars, he is still 235 American Gante-Fishes lithe and very muscular. The water and the soil about him vary his color, but in the dullest mill-pond he is not ugly. In bright, cold water with clean bottom, how he gleams, be he the fingerling of a ro- mantic stream in his first nuptial garment or the six-pounder of a Nepigon reach. From his olive back, vermiculated like the damascening of an old sword-blade, and his spotted side, to his ruddy belly, and fins barred with black and gold, he is a beauty. Beautiful, too, are all his haunts. In mountains and in lowlands, in rushing riv- ers and in quiet lakes, where the springs gush out beneath the roots of the ever- greens, or where the salt tide forces back the flowing streams, he is ever the same lover of clear, cold water. Not even hun- ger will take him where it is foul or warm. It has been my good fortune to know this lovely fish in many brooks and streams and in larger waters, from the Bay of Heats and the Saguenay to that great river whose rapids were Niagara's training-school ; and everywhere he has led me to pictures of abiding beauty. But in memory none is lovelier than the streams where I first fished, and which I still visit. Come to one of them. In the springy meadows of the uplands, 236 Avierican Garne-Fishes between the sparsely wooded hills, are its well-heads, where the darting fry heed not the drinking cattle. Their joining runnels make a brooklet, and when its sis- ter joins it from the northward already there is water worthy of fishing. Better leave it. Here are small fish trying their strength. If you startle a good one she is here on an errand which shall increase your sport by and by. We will leave the road where it crosses the brook the second time, and enter a wonderful shade of oak and beech and maple. This brook would give Meander a sense of rectitude. Amid bowlders, beech-roots, and boles, mossy and dappled, making little promontories cov- ered with bracken, maidenhair, and shade- loving plants, it winds about with a tiny pool and rapid at every rod. There is no room for a cast here, but there is fascinat- ing fishing if you dape your fly, or let a worm whirl in the eddies. Ah, that one is not full eight inches ! Put him back, and come down to an exquisite deep pool which has eaten itself out of the high bank from which the maple hangs. Go to the bottom of the pool on the farther side, where the bank is low, and you will have a short cast up stream over a good fish. A little below is a pond full of fish, but not 239 A niericajt Game-Fiskes large ones. Pass it : the stream below is better. Its right bank is wooded ; but on the other you may come to it across the meadow, and screen yourself behind tall grasses, clethras, azaleas, and other brook- side things. One fish picked up here gives more pleasure than a dozen from the swampy pond. There is one pool below (still with its steep side and its meadow side, for the stream has clung to the curve of the low hill) which I should like to fish myself, for old time's sake. In the pond below you will find abundant good fish. Take what you will, and then I'll show you the way home. One dislikes to pass by the grayling, " the lady of the streams ; " but in our country its habitat is relatively so restricted that it must remain, even to most anglers, a book or aquarium acquaintance. Its re- pute as a game-fish varies greatly. But it should be borne in mind that those who know it best hold it highest ; and it seems altogether probable that the slight esteem of others is due to their having fished for the grayling in summer. It is in full sea- son only in autumn, after the holiday time for most busy men is over. Whatever may be thought of its fighting qualities, there is no dispute about its beauty. Its 240 A merican Game-Fishes V^ . - . . ..,_^^ Large motUfiedy or Oswego, Black Bass- dark back is olive-brown or purple-black, its sides are purple and silver, glinting like nacre as it turns in the light, which makes its spots now black, now purple. These are the noblesse of game-fishes, and they are game for the few as well. They multiply and grow, in fresh water "at least, so slowly that unprotected they soon disappear from thickly settled regions. To seek them in their remote and seques- tered homes demands an expenditure of time and money proper only to the relatively few. The personal preservation of fishing- waters jars a little our democratic notions ; but without such care the game cannot 241 American Game-FUhes exist. It is no question of sport for the many or for the few, but of sport for the few or for none. Fish-preserves do not (as has been charged against great game- preserves) hinder any man's successful bread-winning. They simply demand that the flow of water be free and unpolluted, and that the owner have the same right to the fish he raises that his neighbor has to his poultry. With the disappearance of the trout, and perhaps because of it, the black bass (or rather the black, basses, for there are two of them) has become the most gen- erally popular of our fresh-water game-fish. For ourselves, we cannot put it beside the game salmonoids ; but these being hors con- cours, it (meaning the small-mouth spe- cies) is all in all better than any fish of its weight found in fresh water. Its habitat is naturally wide, extending — both species included — through the basin of the Great Lakes and the upper part of the St. Law- rence, the Mississippi Basin and the South Atlantic States, including the Florida pe- ninsula. East of the Appalachian chain, down to and including the Potomac, they seem to have come only by man's help. The earlier anglers of the Eastern States did not know the fish ; but throughout that 242 A inerican Game-Pishes immense region which goes by Central time, it has been a favorite since its settle- ment, and has become such where intro- duced. It has been sometimes put into waters from which it would more wisely have been excluded; but, on the other hand, it has made good fishing-grounds of many a sheet of water which before scarcely yielded a day's sport. While it does best with good spring water, if there be but food enough it will thrive and grow rapidly under conditions which would be fatal to such a fish as a trout. Hence bass of a pound weight are probably as easily found as is a trout of one-fourth of that. Many things contribute to the survival and growth of the bass. In the first place, the parent is not, like many anadromous or late-spawning fish, driven away by winter from its ova before they are hatched. The nest is fiercely guarded as long as the young stay in it. Then, as cold weather ap- proaches, it hibernates in the mud or some safe place where the winter poacher can- not find it. When active it has a vora- city equal to a pike's, and is even better able to gratify it. Naturally, then, where it is found at all it is usually reasonably abundant and of good size. Remarkable strength is evident from its heavy build, 243 Avierican Game-Fiskes but the secret of its agility must be hid- den within its brain. In mild climates it spawns rather early in the season, and is looking for food at the time when the " average citizen " is taking his holiday. These qualities are enough to secure pop- ularity. The two species of black bass have had many scientific names, and a good score at least of popular ones, the most generally used being " small-mouthed bass" for Mi- cropterus dolomei,2indi "large-mouthed bass," or " Oswego bass," for M. salmoides. The former is generally considered by anglers to be much the better fighter. Dr. Hen- shall, who speaks with authority founded on special study and large experience, claims that, weight, water, and surround- ings being the same, the fish are equal in strength and method of resistance. We may leave this point open, and say simply that the black bass is a very game fish in- deed. He fights very hard and fights long. He tries various tactics, leaping high and frequently shaking his head in the air, as if to dislodge the hook, suddenly boring down, darting from side to side, "jigging," and taking advantage of any rock or sunken log about which he may tangle and break the line. His vitality is such that he sur- 244 Ji.7nerican Game Fishes A Striped Bass Fiskerman^s Stand A -tierican (jatne- Fishes vives capture a long time, and even the merciful blow upon the base of the skull sometimes is not sufficient to make him "stay killed." The bass is taken in all sorts of ways, and with a great variety of lures. Still- fishing, trolling, minnow-casting, and fly- casting are all employed. The still-fisher's outfit is generally the most ample, as the bass is noted among fish for the catholi- city and variability of his taste — minnows, shrimps, crickets, grasshoppers, helgram- ites, dew-worms, and what not. Pretty certainly, if the angler has depended upon a professional fisherman for his bait, he will find himself overstocked with what the fish were taking day before yesterday, and scantily sjipplied with what they wish to-day. Even with all the baits known to the fisherman, he may fail to find the fish in his favorite places — a fact which has led some to suppose that they make circuits of the sheet of water they inhabit, staying but a short time in one place. It is possible to fish a well-stocked pond often without finding the fish at all. Minnow- casting and fly-fishing are, after all, much the more satisfactory methods of fishing. They have much the same kind of inter- est: by them both a great deal of water 247 American Gatne-Fishes can be investigated without unreasonable delay or labor, and the situation of the fish ascertained if they be in the humor for either lure. Fly-fishing for bass has noth- ing peculiar in it, save that the flies used are usually large and show^y, and the rod, line, and gut proportionably heavier than for trout-fishing. The fly is ordinarily used with success only in moderately shal- low water, and perhaps the same might be said of minnow-casting; and in using them early in the season, it is wise always to make sure that the places where rises are frequent are not the resting-place of some belated spawners. The fly will have done no real harm if you put the fish back, but the minnow-hook may have done irreparable damage. In case of doubt, it is better to sheer off into deeper water, and come again later in the season. The pike family, which in Europe con- tains a single species [Lucius lucius^, is rep- resented in our own country by at least five, of which three are commonly con- sidered game-fish ; namely, the common green pickerel of the Eastern and Middle States (Z,. reticulatus) ; the pike, the same as the European fish ; and the maskin- ongy, meaning, in Algonquin, great pike (L. masquinongy^, which is found chiefly in 248 American Game-Fishes the basin of the Great Lakes, and is the finest fish of the group. The maskinongy is often cautious, and not easy to entice ; and after hooking, its weight, strength, and alertness make it a worthy antagonist. In waters about the Thousand Islands it is considered a prize. The pike, if large, often gives nearly as good sport, especially if for the sake of plunder it has left its favorite lakes or slack water, and dwells a while in a rapid current of cold water. But, on the whole, I have not found it a very interesting fish. It sometimes makes one or two good runs soon after hooking, and, failing to break away, then comes home. Its admirers speak of it as game to the last, but I have not seen this pecu- liarity. It surpasses all other fish in one thing, — the number of incredible tales of which it is the subject. At the begin- ning of the Christian era, the manufacture of the legend of the mighty and voracious pike was well established. The industry is still continued, thrives without protec- tion, and no trust as yet restricts its out- put. Nor is the common pickerel a fish to excite much enthusiasm. Yet in ponds and streams not stocked with better fish, it is an object of consideration. In cold, 249 A merican Game-Fishes clear streams, and in lakes after the au- tumn chill has settled upon them, it loses its muddy flavor, and becomes an accep- table table-fish. Even when the lakes are frozen, it gives sport to those who like to use the spear, or to skate from one " tip- up " to another. But when the trout is out of season, and the bass is in the mud, the pickerel still gives a few days of real angling before the rods are put away for the winter. Best of all, to our taste, is it to seek him in the lake shallows, or in the still reaches of the streams, when the au- tumn haze tempers the glory of the leaves, when the white frost makes the bents crisp under foot, and our pockets shall be heavy with hickory-nuts, even if our creels be light. There is another fish, sometimes called pike or pickerel (and salmon, too, for that matter), which is no pike. It is the wall-eye, or pike perch. It is inter- esting ichthyologically ; it is an excellent table-fish when fresh, and, if caught in quick water (I have known it only in the Nepigon and the Grande Decharge), a good fighter. The delights of angling are by no means, in our country, bound up with the capture of a few kinds of fish. It is one of the evidences of the enormous re- 250 Atnertcan Gatne-Fishes sources of our anglers that so many kinds, the taking of which would in England (the country par excellence of angling liter- ature) be considered well worth describ- ing, are here airily waved aside as " boys' fish," If such they be, there is a good deal of boy left in some veteran anglers. The chubs and their kindred, the race of sunfishes and all the lesser basses, and even the yellow perch (good risers at the fly all, in their season), have been thus slightingly characterized. Now, take this perch, for instance. He is dear to the boy's heart because of his gregariousness and his courage. If he be found at all, he is usually found abun- dantly; and, unless age or hard experience have cooled his ardor, he is not alarmed at the disappearance of his comrades, but follows the caught one to the last, and is ready to try his luck on the next bait. But large perch are not so easily taken. It requires fine tackle to deceive them and sound tackle to hold them ; and fish of three-quarters of a pound or more, or even of half a pound, give excellent sport, and there are few better table-fish taken from fresh water. Not the least of its excel- lences, to the angler's mind, is the fact that it can be caught late in the season, 251 American Gatne-Fisfies generally as late as it is comfortable to sit in a punt. Sea-fishing attracts or repels according as the charms or discomforts of the sea the more impress the fisherman. The draw- backs of deep-water angling have been mentioned, but there is ample field for angling in salt water without these. Shore- fishing is often exceedingly satisfactory if one but have the skill to make a fairly long cast ; while estuary- and harbor-fish- ing have much the same charms as lake- fishing, with the great abundance of game which the sea afl!brds. Around New York the opportunities that salt water affords for skilful and delicate angling are widely ap- preciated, and the advantages gained both as to sport and to success by the use of fine tackle are more and more recognized. Among the delights of salt-water angling is the variety of fish that may be taken, even in a single day's sport. It is impos- sible to even enumerate those ordinarily sought for. Those denizens of the two oceans and the Gulf familiar to the readers of angling journals must number a hun- dred or more species. Quite a large num- ber of them, not generally recognized as anadromous, push their way, in search of food or for other reasons, into brackish or 252 American Game Fishes Trolling /or Blue Fish American Game-Ftshes even into fresh water, affording the angler some of his choicest opportunities. At a single point, about forty miles up the Hudson, the writer has taken the striped bass, the bluefish, the weakfish, the hick- ory shad, and the Lafayette, — all sea-fish, — amid scenery as beautiful as that of a Highland loch. Even the enormous tar- pon, which may outweigh his captor, is sought for in shallow harbors or estuaries. The capture of the Striped Bass, how- ever, is most satisfactory, as the "setting" seems most appropriate, — in the break- ers or in the rocky tideways of the coast. Whether or not the tarpon shall yet oust him from his place, the bass has hitherto been facile princeps among the game-fish of salt water. The admirers of " the salmon of the surf" have even challenged the supremacy of the river king. Beauti- ful, strong, active, and cunning, his taking is a triumph t& the angler and a gratifi- cation to the gourmand. There are few more beautiful fish than a bass. His col- ors are more brilliant before he reaches the grandest size; and fish of medium weight — ten to thirty pounds — are gen- erally thought to be the most active. But the same is true of most fish. There is one particular about the fight of the bass 255 American Game-Fiskes which is never forgotten, the straight-away rush after it feels the hook. As he sees score after score of yards of line disappear from the reel in spite of all the pressure of thumb that the rod will bear, the anxiety of the angler is intense. Sometimes the fish is turned (or rather he changes his mind) only when the despairing fisherman thinks he can count the remaining turns on the 200-yard spool — and sometimes he does not change his mind at all. It is rather remarkable that right within the limits of New York City has been the school, if one may so say, of bass-angling. Hell Gate, with its ledges and eddies, was an ideal place for the fish ; and the found- ers of the great bass-clubs were largely trained there. Of late years the constant passing of steam and sailing craft, the pol- lution of the waters by the sewage of a metropolis, not to mention the senseless and lawless taking of tiny fish, have im- paired the fishing, so that fish of above five pounds are rarities ; yet in one week during the last summer, after a hard blow, the East River trollers took a number of larger fish. The surf fisherman fishes from the shore, making long casts — fifty yards or more — from the reel, or throwing the hand-line with the skill born of practice. 256 American Game-Fishes The platform "stand," so much in vogue at fishing-clubs, we cannot help thinking a mistake. To give so wary a fish the opportunity to silhouette the fisherman against the sky cannot be conducive to success. A shorter cast from a less con- spicuous position, we believe, would take more fish. In shallow water, rivers, estu- aries, and the like, the bass will take the fly ; and the method is well worth the trial. There is an humble kinsman of the bass which has been one of our lifcvlbng friends, a game-fish of far more merit than many a higher praised one, — the white perch [Morone americand^. When young he is the victim of his appetite, and falls the prey of any fisherman with any tackle ; but as he becomes of ripe age he is shy enough. Large ones often are taken by the ambushed angler on the lightest of fly- tackle, when the bait-fisher had abandoned the water as hopeless. Here is the mem- orandum of an afternoon's fishing in early June of last year : Let us row up the creek as far as we can. The ebb is well spent, and it is hard to keep the skiff afloat ; so we land and haul her up, taking the shrimp-seine. A few sweeps in a favorable place give us 257 American Game-Fiskes bait enough. Upon the finest of drawn- gut leaders we put a couple of dark midge- flies, and as a stretcher a small hook of fine wire (No. 6 Aberdeen is about right). Bait this with the smallest of shrimps ; for the herrings are still running, and are likely to be along with the perch. Your fresh-run herring is dainty ; no coarse tackle nor large baits for him. A strong southwest wind has blown off the hot mists of the morning, the sky is clear with snowy cumuli, and the sun bright ; but we need not, after all, throw off our coats. The broad meadow is encircled with rich-colored oaks of small size, and on one side the pasture-land slopes up above them. Through the green the creek wanders, as if determined to stay within it as long as possible. Here and there a straight branch shows that at some time man has tried his hand at topography, and sends us a long way around. Not too near the bank, now. Or, if you cannot cast up against the wind so far, crawl up and cast kneeling. Not here to-day ! These little migrations are among the charms of this fishing. Many usual haunts may be tried fruitlessly before the fish are found, but if found they are likely to be in force ; they are social creatures. 258 American Game-Fishes Ah, we have found them ! There is a good perch at the shrimp. How he makes the dropper dance ! And now a herring has that, and is out of water in an instant, showing his broad silvery side, and then, making this same breadth serve him, he sways and surges at the leader like a boy's kite in a flawy sou'wester. For a few minutes they take freely, and then are gone; and we go too, meeting them or others again and again at the bends and the reaches. Now the creel is full enough, and the westering sun suggests that we are waited for at home. We cut across a large bow of the creek, looking to find something more dainty to offer than the contents of the creel. Here it is, — the sweet-scented arethusa. How abundant it is! Around this rosy centre we put a feW blooms of the great blue iris and but- tercups. That will suffice. Well ! This is an odd place for the checkerberry, but here it is, out in the meadows by the salty creek ; red berries and ruddy young leaves ("drunkards" the children call them), hot to look at, hotter yet to taste. So along to the place where we hid the net beside the dike, and then to the skiff. She floats free with the risen tide. When we shoot the bridge, down flat and save 2S9 A liter ican Game-Fishes your head ! That's safely done. Here's the eddy where we used to take the scup- paug with trout tackle. Do you remem- ber that twilight ? They will be there again at the end of the summer, as game and as toothsome as ever. What a pity to inflict the indignity of a hand-line on the brave little fighters ! Now for home and supper. 260 IZAAK WALTON By Alexander Cargill Entrance to Ijdvedale, Looking up the Valley. " Sir, when I go a-fishing, an' the Fates decree that I get no fish, then am I still a gainer; for, God's body! I get flesh!" 'HERE is a peculiar irony in the fact that a man who himself succeeded in re- cording, with satisfying amplitude of detail, the lives of no fewer than five of his contemporaries, should have left so little record of his own career, that nearly fifty years of it might be ade- 263 Izaak IVjUtotl quately epitomized in half as many lines. Yet such is the case with Izaak Walton, the patron saint of the great confraternity of anglers, who was born into the world a little over three hundred years ago, whose fame is as fresh as ever, yet of the greater part of whose life we know almost nothing. To most students of literary bi- ography, and especially to the followers of that prince of anglers and good fellows, genuine interest in the man and his deeds only begins with the period of his retire- ment from active life. Indeed, it is no discourtesy to his memory to go further than this, and say (for Walton loved the truth more than sunshine) that, in its per- manent value to posterity, the life of the author of The Complete Angler began only with his sixtieth year, and when that fa- mous work was first sent forth to the world. The tantalizing paucity of facts as to a character that must have been most in- teresting, — a character of whom it has been said that he possessed all the virtues of a typical squire, unblemished even by the shadow of a vice, is almost as notable as in the case of the greatest life of all, with its quiet beginning at Stratford-on- Avon, not a hundred miles from Stafford, where Walton was born. Stratford and 264 Izaak U^alton Stafford ! great indeed is the glory that belongs to these two fair midland towns. If one is the birthplace of the king of English poets and dramatists, in the other the patron saint of all true anglers first beheld the light of day stream down from the many-tinted, ever-changing English sky, under whose canopy he, as boy, youth, and man, delighted so much to wander at his own sweet will, in all sea- sons, with his honest heart as full of love to God and man as was the old-fashioned pannier on his back brimful of trouts from the Lea or Dove ! As with Shakespeare, so with Walton ; tradition has ventured to fill up the spaces which an unregarding destiny had left void. Her finger has pointed to the house and street — even to the very room — in Stafford town where Walton was born ; and we can only believe or discredit ac- cording to our measure of faith. Happily, there is no doubt whatever respecting that event itself, which took place somewhere within the Parish of St. Mary's on Aug. 9th, 1593. The register of the church of that name states that : — ' September 1593 : Baptiz fuit Isaac Filius Jervis Walton, XX° die mensis at anni predict." 26s Izaak WaltOft Ancient Homes z?i Fleet Street, including tJte Residence of Izaak IVaiton, 1620. Very little is known respecting his par- ents. What profession or status his father, the aforesaid Jervis or Jervaise Walton, held, no record exists to show. From the fact, however, that he " took to wife " a lady who was a descendant of Archbishop Cranmer, of Reformation fame, it is be- lieved that he belonged to a goodly Eng- lish stock, and occupied an honorable 266 Izaak IValion social position ; so that in respect to his parentage, at all events, Izaak Walton may be held to have been fortunate. " Not a vestige of the place or manner of his edu- cation has been discovered," Walton sen- ior died when Izaak was but two years old. From his mother Walton probably inherited his strong attachment to the Church of England and his Royalist predi- lections ; and it is only gallant to suppose that he derived from her also that gen- tleness and nobility of disposition which, as his writings abundantly testify, formed so pronounced a trait in his character. To his father he may have been indebted for the foundation of that physical strength and endurance by which his life was pro- longed to its ninetieth year. Walton's own temperate living, and his long-con- tinued open-air habits, no doubt helped very materially to his attaining such an old age. But what he owed to his parents for his moral and physical endowments he has himself acknowledged, though perhaps indirectly, in more than one reference in his works. Whatever the unrecorded story of Wal- ton's boyhood and youth (imagination might freely and delightedly fill in the details !), it is quite certain that he was in 267 Izaak Walton London seeking fame and fortune some time about his thirtieth year. There he established himself in business as a linen- draper, or sempster, a lucrative business even in these days. His " establishment " at first wds, situated in the upper story of the Royal Exchange, or Bourse, on Corn- hill, erected by Sir Thomas Gresham, and consisted of a small compartment, " seven feet and a half long and five wide ; an economy," according to Sir John Haw^- kins, one of Walton's earliest biographers, " that w^ould scarcely allow him to have elbow-room. Yet here did he carry on his trade till some time before the year 1624, when he dwelt on the north side of Fleet Street, in a house two doors west of the end of Chancery Lane. It further appears that the place was in the joint occupation of Izaak Walton and John Mason, hosier, from whence we may conclude that half- a-shop was sufficient for the business of Walton." This conclusion has, however, been dissented from by later biographers, who incline to the opinion that the " half- shop " was merely an office, while the business itself was carried on elsewhere. In December, 1626, when in his thirty- third year, Walton married his first wife, a Miss Rachel Floud or Flood or Floyd, 268 Izaak Walton Portrait of Izaak Walton Izaak Walton by whom he had seven children. No incident of his married life with this lady is anywhere recorded ; but that he had much sorrow to put to the test his nat- ural sweetness and cheerfulness may be gathered from the fact that he not only lost all the offspring of this marriage, but at the end of fourteen years had likewise to mourn her death. Childless and a wid- ower, Walton was now in his forty-seventh year ; and it was probably to direct his mind away from his domestic afflictions that he essayed to publish the first of his famous lives, viz., that of Dr. John Donne, Dean of St. Paul's, along with a collection of the sermons of that well-known divine and poet. Three years later, though only arrived at what many regard as the merid- ian of life and effort, Walton relinquished business, and, with a fair competency, ac- quired, we may rest assured, honestly and diligently, left London to reside near Staf- ford, his native place. During the period of his London life, Walton must have fore-gathered with not a few notable and worthy men. He ap- pears to have had a special genius for form- ing friendships with men of really high and representative character. The attrac- tion was perhaps as much on his side ; and 271 Izaak Walton indeed we are told by one chronicler (Dr. Zouche) that "such were his manners and deportment, that he classed among his friends the first and most illustrious of his contemporaries." Nor was Walton less fortunate in his social connections. The times in which he lived were times of gloomy suspicion, of danger and distress, when a severe scrutiny into the public and private behavior of men established a rigid discrimination of character. Walton's life and conduct were, of course, exempt from the slightest hint of distrust, and untouched by the merest breath of suspicion. His worldly prudence was but on a par with his devout piety and austere simplicity ; and he joyed and jogged along the foot- path ways of life, — if, haply, now and then with a grave and thoughtful brow at the aspect of affairs around him, generally with a mind at peace with itself, and with a heart buoyant with sincere love towards God and to man, and to all creatures and things whatsoever of good report. He must therefore be allowed to have pos- sessed a peculiar excellence of disposition. The singular circumspection which he ob- served in the choice of his acquaintances has not escaped the notice of Mr. Cotton, who says : " My father Walton will be 272 fzaak Waiton ?fe=nM^Jik iiiilluliii The Izaak Walton Inn at ike entrance to Dovedale> seen twice in no man's company he does not like, and likes none but such as he believes to be very honest men ; which is one of the best arguments, or at least of the best testimonies I have, that I either am, or that he thinks me, one of those, seeing that I have not yet found him weary of me; " a testimony otherwise amply con- firmed and referred to later on. While, on the one hand, there are these credible data respecting Walton's success- ful career in London, to the angler, who is eager to know something, outside of tra- dition and beyond mere surmise, of the 273 Izaak Walton master's doings by his beloved Lea, whither he often repaired in the intervals of busi- ness, history is, on the other hand, most illiberal. We can only believe that he pursued his favorite pastime with all dili- gence ; for he acquired that expertness in it which subsequently made him so fa- mous. His proximity to the Thames and its upper waters afforded to a man with such ardor for fishing all the opportunities essential for becoming a successful sports- man and reliable guide. In those days, as indeed to some extent even yet, the higher Thames and the many feeders of that royal river — notably the Lea at Wareham, some twenty miles from London, which claimed the particular patronage of Wal- ton — formed the chief resort of anglers from the metropolis. And when we re- flect on the fact that most of the wayfar- ing then had to be done on foot, the knights of the gentle art, with their varied and oftentimes burdensome paraphernalia, must have been, to tramp that distance, liberally endowed with patience and endur- ance. These qualities at least were con- spicuous in Walton, and, in all probability, more highly developed in him during his meanderings between Fleet Street and the Lea than at any other time. The grow- 2/4 Izaak Walton THE ANGLEK's SOXG. m Sot -liy 'BJ.xif^t ' 'm •■Uiiiut ii^ lit hul -rrrT" i;.7of 'tii fui^eet: to ^ (^ "■ - nnf, o/u/ ■t/iiint a I ; Par 'lit mlffrct ta bubbl'TiM a. ing inspiration of T"/^^ Complete Angler was no doubt, often present within him on those days of travel ; but it was only after the close of his London career and his retiring from active life that we may sup- pose its idea actually to have developed. " I confess," he says, in the opening pages of the work, " my discourse " (as he calls it) "is like to prove suitable t o my recrea- tion, calm and quiet" — blessings more likely to be found in the green lanes of Stafford- shire than anywhere else. The neighbor- hood of his native town was not only admi- rably adapt- ed for pro- The Angler's Song, with the Original Music. 275 Izaak Walton viding suitable calm and quiet in the prep- aration of his " discourse," but afforded the very best opportunities for the practise of the art on which he now began to descant. Within a limit of twenty-five or thirty miles of Stafford, he had the choice of at least half a dozen first-rate streams in which to practise. There were, for in- stance, the Soar, the Tame, the Sow, the Idle, the Derwent, and last, but not least, the ever-glorious Dove. It was, indeed, a fortunate matter for posterity that the buy- ing and selling of his linen stuffs on Corn- hill did not by one jot abate Walton's youthful enthusiasm nurtured amid such opportunities. But when or where The Complete An- gler was actually conceived, planned, and written, can only be surmised. Possi- bly the work had been taking shape in his fancy for many years, to be saved for his leisure on the small estate which he bought near Stafford on his retirement in 1643, where we are told "his compan- ions were some friends, a book, a cheerful heart, and an innocent conscience." What a change from London to a man of his temperament ! That city he declared, after he left it, however, to be " a place dangerous for honest men;" and no doubt 276 Izaak WaiioH The Church at Dovedale Izaak IValion ' he was glad to turn his back upon it, since, according to a biographer, "his loyalty had made him obnoxious to the ruling powers." Whatever the circumstances of the actual writing of The Complete Angler, that occupation did not prevent Walton's marrying for the second time. That event took place about 1 646 ; the lady he -then wedded being Anne, the daughter of Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells,* one of the seven bishops that were sent to the Tower, and who at the Revolution was deprived of his bishopric, and subsequently died in retirement. In 1653 the work was published in London, and, as shown on the title-page, a facsimile of which is here produced, was printed by " T. Maxey for Rich. Marriot." No doubt this was the event of Walton's life, and, along with the publication of Hobbes's Leviathan, was probably the literary event of that year. In what a quarrelling and fighting time was this most peaceful book brought forth ! What a noise and tumult then filled all England ! Four years previously. King Charles I. had been executed, — a tragedy which, in the words of John Richard * Two children only were the issue of this union, — a son and a daughter. 279 Izaak Walton Green, " sent a thrill of horror throughout Europe." Then followed the proclama- tion of the Commonwealth and Crom- well's invasion of Scotland. The battles of Dunbar and Worcester, in 1650 and 1 65 1 respectively, and the outbreak of the Dutch war in the following year, were events enough to turn the minds of men from contemplative themes and peaceful recreations. Strange, therefore, that this quaint book, with its suggestive sub-title, should have been hatched and given to the world in such a time of clangor and clashing of swords ! Stranger still, that it should at once have found such general favor as to make necessary the publication of a second edition two years later. Yet such was the fact, testifying, surely, to the immediate recognition of its rare literary worth, its sterling descriptive beauty, and its compelling fascination. Something of the immediate popularity of The Complete Angler was of course due to its subject, apart from its intrinsic quali- ties. It was the first really serviceable work on angling ever published in England, Not, indeed, the first " practical " treatise, not even the first " contemplative " book, on the subject of angling ; for the honor of the authorship of that unique literary cu- 280 Izaak IValion riosity belongs — here it, ye gallant knights of the angle ! — ^ to a lady ! This per- sonage was none other than the Dame Juliana Bernars, or Berners, the austere Prioress of the nunnery of Sopwell, near St. Albans. This doughty dame flourished more than a century before Walton's time, and from all accounts was as celebrated for her delight in all true English sport as for her learning and piety, — a female Ad- mirable Crichton in many respects. Of this singular production, called. The Trea^ tise of Fysshing ivith an Angle, or, as it came to be more popularly known after- ., »• .♦-•-■«v.v ■- W'SMiSmivi. The Old Mill at Dovedak. 281 tzaak lValto7l ward. The Book of St. Albans, space will not permit more than a brief extract, as a taste of its quality, and as a sample of her ladyship's kindly views on the sub- ject of the gentle art. In a chapter deal- ing with the many excellences of fishing as compared with other popular sports of the time, our noble authoress saith : " If in fysshing his sport fail him, the angler atte the leest hath his holsom walke and is mery atte his ease, a swete ayre of the swete savoure of the meede floures that maketh him hungry : he heareth the me- lodyous armony of fowles : he seeth the young swannes, heerons, duckes, cotes, and many other foules with theyr brodes : whych me seemeth better than alle the noyse of houndys, the blasts of homes and the scrytt of foules that hunters, fawkeners and fowlers doe make. And if the angler take fysshe, surely, thenne, is there noo man merrier than he is in his apytyte." How much Walton was indebted to Dame Berners's Treatise, it is impossible to say, but from one or two correspondences between the two writers, it is obvious that Walton must have been familiar with the book. A well-known work entitled The Expe- rienced Angler, or Angling Improved, written by another famous expert. Colonel Robert 282 Izaak tValtatl Venables, has sometimes been referred to as having been " drawn upon " by Wal- ton ; but this could not have been the case, as The Complete Angler w^as w^ritten at least ten years prior to the publication of the other. This erroneous supposition may have obtained because of the fact that a conjoint publication of The Complete Angler and The Experienced Angler vs^as issued under the title of The Universal Angler, to which, in a preface, the initials " I. W." were appended. At all events, Walton's book, with Cotton's contribution embodied, had passed through several edi- tions before the name of Venables was heard of as a writer of authority on the subject of the Gentle Art. Up to the time, therefore, of the publi- cation of The Complete Angler, there was really no work in existence to serve as a vade-mecum for those whose favorite sport was "to take fysshe," and for whom "the blastes of homes and the scrytt of foules " were but — " As sounds that sting the tender sense With their discordant revel, That bid no pain or passion hence, But only raise the devil." There is no wonder that the book was so quickly resorted to on its publication. As 283 IzcKik Walton originally issued in 1653, The Complete Angler was wholly the work of Izaak Walton, while the next three editions of it, which were published respectively in 1655, 1 66 1, and 1668 (so rapidly did it find favor) received additional chapters from the same pen. " Auceps," one of the brotherhood of the Conference, was not in the first, but was admitted to the sec- ond edition. To the fifth edition (1676) a second part was added, the writer of which was Walton's adopted son and brother angler, Charles Cotton, whose personal worth to Walton, on his own tes- timony at least, has been referred to. Cotton's addition to The Complete Angler added very considerably to the value of the work, especially because in its " In- structions how to Angle for a Trout or Grayling in a Clear Stream," much prac- tical tuition in the art of fly-fishing is given to the reader. Walton himself, it is said, had but little proficiency in that branch of the art. As an imitation of his "most worthy father and friend's" literary accomplishment. Cotton's contribution left nothing to be desired ; and so the two friends became closely linked together in a renown that will last while rivers run. How suggestive of this is the simple me- 284 Izaak Walton Charles Cotton, Walton^ s Adopted Son Izaak Walton morial of their friendship, in the quaint interlocking, lover-like, of the initials of their names ! Their book was now " com- plete " in the most literal sense; and no further changes were made upon it by either Walton or Cotton, the former being then in his eighty-third year. Few Eng- lish classics have passed through so many editions as The Complete Angler. Appealing, as it does, to but a limited class of people, the book has had a most unique success since the first edition was published by Mr. Marriott nearly two hundred and fifty years ago, rivalling, in a way, the Faerie ^eene and the Pilgrim's Progress in the departments of poesy and the higher life. Not a year passes now but there are at least several fresh editions or facsimiles of it given to the world ; and, as I write, I hear of other editions in preparation. "The cry is, 'Still they come!'" thus tes- tifying to the popularity of a work as pure and good in style and manner as ever any- thing written by an English author, and an author, moreover, whose ordinary occu- pation had been concerned with bales and invoices and the distracting et ceteras of commercial life in the heart of London ! Izaak Walton's title to an honorable seat among the immortals of English lit- 287 Izeiak Walton erature was long ago recognized as clear and undisputable. Lord Byron, it is true, sought in his own cavalier fashion to oust the kindly old man from this dignity, and viciously wrote of him that — " The quaint, old, cruel coxcomb, in his gullet Should have a hook and a small trout to pull it!" Even the redoubtable "great Cham" took the pains to grunt a dissent to the claims of " the gentle art," as being adapted for only " simple " — i. e., stupid — folks. Dr. Johnson's bark was, however, often more to be feared than his bite ; and one edition at least of The Complete Angler — that published in 1750 — was due to his sympathy with the book. But what have the Byrons and John- sons et hoc genus omne to do in an apprecia- tion of this kind ? Both were inherently deficient in more than one important quality necessary to make a true angler ; and so they discredited a pastime for which the one man had no patience, and the other not over-much of that true Waltonian gentleness that ever shrinks from the jostle of Fleet Street. Unques- tionably, " Old Izaak," as his followers delight to call him, has won the regard and reverence of many generations of an- 288 Izaak Walton Cotton's Fishing Cottage, Beresford Dale, glers throughout the world, not so much because of the literary merit of his book, though that is great, as because of the influence of that rare, restful, humanizing spirit which so largely pervades it. It is for this that The Complete Angler occupies, and will in all likelihood continue to do so for many and many a day to come, a unique place among the best of our Eng- lish literature. One of Walton's earliest biographers (Dr. Zouch) wrote of it : " In this volume of The Complete Angler, which will always be read with avidity 289 Izaak IValton even by those who entertain no strong rel- ish for the art which it professes to teach, we discover a copious vein of innocent pleasantry and good humour. The dia- logue is diversified v^^ith all the charac- teristic beauties of colloquial composition. The songs and little poems which are oc- casionally inserted will abundantly gratify the reader who has a taste for the charm of pastoral poetry. Above all, those lovely lessons of religious and moral instruction which are so repeat- edly in- culcated through- o u t the whole work, will ever re- commend this ex- quisitely pleasing perform- ance." To all lovers Being a Difcourfe of FISH ana FISHING, Not unworthy tKepernfa] orrooft 4ngltn, Wi. Simon Pelrr/atJ, J go a fiJHing ; ml ga -mith tiet. John ai . j. tonJfln, Printed by 7: JAixry for RicM. M-ARRlOT,in S.Dui>fia>iS Chutti*.y«A Fl*rtfK«t IfijJ. Fa£-simile of the Plate-Page of the First Editunt, 290 Izaak IValion of angling, at any rate, it will never cease to be a classic, or to body forth the de- lightfully unalloyed personality of the writer. Of course few learners have con- sulted the book for practical guidance. Compared with a really modern handbook of angling, like Stewart's or Pennell's, or that of Francis, The Complete Angler is, perhaps, to the followers of that art what, say, the Book of Tobit might be, in these days, to evangelical " fishers of men " of the school of Wesley or of Spurgeon. "A quaint and curious volume," in all truth, to be read rather at the fireside than on the road to Loch-Leven or to the Tay. Just imagine a New Brunswick angler harking away over the hills to the Resti- gouche, expecting, by the help of its lore, to tackle and extract from that prime river a beauty of thirty pounds ! Few anglers with these ambitions filling their breasts would ever dream of consulting that ven- erable volume, with all its kindliness, to know how to fulfil them. The quaint dialogue form of The Com- plete Angler, by means of w'hich the stu- dent is admitted to the secrets of that art, was, perhaps, the best that Walton could have chosen for the exposition of his theme. But, to present-day readers at all 291 lauik Walton events, the Conferences between " Pisca- tor," "Venator," " Auceps," and the in- teresting countryfolk they encounter, are at times just a trifle prolonged and tedious, and rather over-weighted with philosoph- ic and sentimental saws. Moreover, they oftentimes lack that spirit or "go" which so distinguishes that capital companion- work to The Complete Angler, viz., the Nodes Ambrosiana of Christopher North, our Scottish Walton, one of the keenest and most daring anglers that ever " footed it " over mead or heather, and as ardent a lover of mountain air and the glorious license thereof as ever breathed.* Yet there is a quality in Walton's writ- ing that overcomes all drawbacks ; a qual- ity to which surely no better testimony could be offered than that of Washington Irving in the Sketch-Book : " For my part I was always a bungler at all kinds of sport that required either patience or adroitness, and had not angled above half an hour before I had completely ' satisfied the sentiment,' and convinced myself of the truth of Izaak Walton's opinion, that ' angling is something like poetry — a man * An illustrated article on "Christopher North, the Scottish Walton," by Mr. Cargill, was published in the Pall A/ull Maga- zine for November, 1895. 292 Izaak ] I' alt on Pikers Pool, Beresford Dale Izaak Watiotl must bfe born to it.' I hooked myself in- stead of the fish ; tangle(i my line in every tree ; lost my bait ; broke my rod ; until I gave up the attempt in despair, and passed the day under trees re9,ding Old Izaak ; satisfied that it w^as hi§ fascinating vein of honest simplicity and rural feeling that had bew^itched me, and not the passion for angling. . . . But, above all, I recollect the ' good, honest, w^holesome, hungry ' repast which vft. made under a beech-tree, just by a spring of pure, sv^eet water that stole out of the side of a hill; and how, when it was over, one of the party read old Izaak Walton's scene with the Milk- maid, while I lay on the grass and built castles in a bright pile of clouds until I fell asleep." As the more lasting value of Walton's literary achievements belongs to The Com- plete Angler, so, in all probability, will the great mass of his admirers prefer to asso- ciate his angling exploits with the Dove rather than with the Lea, or with any other stream which he has made classic. Yet it is both true and strange that in his own part of the pastoral he refers but twice to the Dove, and that quite inciden- tally. The reason for this is apparently (first), that the locale of the pastoral was 295 Izaak WaitoH. away in another part of England, and (sec- ondly), that up to the time of the actual writing of The Complete Angler, Walton's familiarity with the famous Derbyshire stream was but little to what it became on the commencement of the friendship between himself and Charles Cotton. It was reserved for Cotton, the writer of the second part of the book, to introduce the unrivalled beauties of the Dove to the notice of the reader, and for him to whet the appetites of generations of anglers for a taste of its pleasures. Cotton was born in 1630, and was thus just forty-three years the junior of Walton. His father was a man of estate and un- common mental accomplishments. His mother belonged to a well-known Derby- shire family, which included among its possessions the estates of Beresford and Euson in that county, the former being in close proximity to the quaint old town of Ashbourne (Dr. Johnson, it is said, wrote his Rasselas here), and near to the river Dove. Young Cotton was sent to Cam- bridge about the usual age, where, we are told, " he did not betake himself to any lucrative profession," and, on returning home, " addicted himself to the lighter kind of study, and the improvement of a 296 Tzaak Waiiopi Reynard's Cave, Dovedale. talent in poetry, of which he found him- self possessed." To a youth thus precariously equipped in the matter of profession, and with a love for the Muse, it might readily be im- agined how strong were the allurements of such a romantic stream as the Dove, with its manifold and varied windings and picturesque pauses, that added such a charm to the family acres. Here, surely, was ample enough inducement to encourage his " talent." Whatever his actual accom- plishment in that line up to the time of his twenty-sixth year, viz., in 1656, there can be no doubt of the fact that in that 297 Izaak IValton year he believed himself to be fully able to maintain a wife ; for he then married, albeit " he had neither patrimony nor vis- ible means of subsisting." The lady he espoused was Isabella, daughter of Sir Thomas Hutchison, of Owthorpe, in the county of Nottingham. The death of his father, which occurred about two years afterward, put him in possession of the family estate. From this time forth Cot- ton appears to have followed a literary vein, the product being chiefly pamphlets, trans- lations, poems on sundry topics, and last, though by no means least, his famous con- tribution to The Complete Angler. But for this last-named accomplishment, the other writings of Cotton must have been long ago forgotten, except, haply, by the antiqua- rian or relic-hunter. A sample of his skill in verse-making (lines addressed to Aphra Benn, the dramatist) is here given : — " Some hands write some things well, are elsewhere lame, But on all themes your powers are tlie same : Of buskin and of sock you know the pace And tread in both with equal skill and grace. But when you write of love, Astrsea, then Love dips his arrow where you wet your pen. Such charming lines did never paper grace, Soft as your sex, and smooth as beauty's face." This is surely quite in the style of writers of the time of Charles the Second. 298 Izaak Walton WJien and how Cotton and Walton first became acquainted is only a matter for conjecture, but it was most likely after the publication of the first edition of The Complete Angler. The fame of that book had, we may be sure, spread quickly to Derbyshire ; and the Beresford family would be among its first readers and warmest admirers. Perhaps the author himself was already known to the elder Cotton, who was then still living ; or per- haps an invitation to partake of the Beres- ford hospitalities — including, of course, a trial of skill on the Dove — had already been proffered and accepted. Be that as it may, Walton's peregrinations to and from this unrivalled angling resort contin- ued at least up till his eighty-third year. Admitted to the full liberty and privacy of that superb stream (a fishing-house was built on its banks expressly to commemo- rate the friendship of the brother anglers), as it coursed its way through the exten- sive Beresford demesnes, we can well im- agine Walton's thankfulness and delight. Here, mile on mile he might wander, tak- ing as he goes on — " Here and there a lusty trout, And here and there a grayling," his eyes every now and again lighting upon 299 Izaak Walton ome new bit of scenery, such as have made the Peak and its surroundings so famous. At " Pike Pool," for instance, a favorite haunt, w^e can fancy how young Cotton would venture (a day in April) to give Master Walton a wrinkle or two in the art of fly-fishing, which the latter would receive with all meekness and grat- itude. While the old master himself would, in turn, expatiate with gentle but insisting garrulity on the all-important theme " How to angle for a trout or gray- ling in a clear stream." But an imagi- nary following in the wake of the two worthies of the rod and reel would require an entire idle midsummer day. The high praise that is the due of The Complete Angler cannot be extended to Wal- ton's other writings ; though his Lives of Dr. Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, Richard Hooker, George Herbert, and Bishop San- derson are, as might be expected from this generous-minded man, models of their kind in point of tenderness of regard and intensity of admiration for their respective subjects. It is only fair to say, however, that this biographical undertaking was in no way the deliberate design of Izaak Walton, but was thrust upon him by a 300 Izaak Walton mere accident, which, according to Major, happened thus : — " Walton became an author by chance. Sir Henry Wotton had undertaken to write the Ufe of Dr. Donne, and had requested Walton to assist him in collecting mate- rials for that purpose ; but Sir Henry dying before it was completed, Walton under- took it himself." Indeed, it appears, according to the authority of Izaak Walton himself, that Wotton also may have been connected with the suggestion of The Complete Angler. " Sir Henry Wotton, a dear lover of this Art, has told me that his intentions were to write a Discourse of the Art, and in praise of angling. And doubtless he had done so, if death had not prevented him ; the remembrance of which hath often made me sorry : for if he had lived to do it, then the unlearned Angler had seen some better Treatise of his Art, — a Trea- tise that might have proved worthy his perusal, which, though some have under- taken, I could never yet see in English." Such is the modest confession of our author as contained in his dedication of The Complete Angler, "To the Right Worshipful John Offley, Esq., of Madely 301 Izetak Walton Manor, in the County of Stafford, My Most Honoured Friend." The claims on the regard of posterity of such men as Dr. Donne, Richard Hooker, and George Herbert will, no doubt, al- ways be held in remembrance ; biit with respect to men like Sir Henry Wotton or Bishop Sanderson, however highly es- teemed these were by their contempora- ries, even Walton's pleading can do no more than make us admit all that has been placed on record, both as to their learn- ing and personal worthiness. With Dr. Donne, and when that divine was Dean of Saint Paul's, Walton was on terms of close friendship ; and it was possibly on that account that Sir Henry Wotton be- queathed to Walton the unaccomplished task of writing his life. Besides having been a prolific sermon-writer (many of whose " discourses," it may be supposed, were heard by Walton when resident in London), Dr. Donne was the author of a Discourse on Suicide, a volume of verse distinguished more for the author's piety and erudition than for poetical force and originality, etc. His merits were such as to have called forth the high encomiums of George Herbert, between whom and Dr. Donne a long-abiding friendship ex- 302 Izaak Walton isted. But with all his accomplishments and opportunities, Donne'nevertheless con- tracted an unhappy marriage, which broke his spirit, and brought his career all too soon to an end ; for he was only fifty-eight when he died, when Walton was in his London heyday. The name of George Herbert needs no recall to all lovers of true religious poetry. The possibility of an association of the writer of " Sweet Day, so cool, so calm, so bright. The bridal of the earth and sky ! " with the devout and contemplative author of The Complete Angler, is strikingly sug- gestive. And yet, in his introduction to his Life of Herbert, Walton admits that he never knew that " saintly writer " per- sonally, and indeed " only saw him once." For his being included in this remark- able biographical quintette of English wor- thies, Richard Hooker, the author of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, is indebted entirely to Walton's admiration for that powerful work, and not, as in the other cases, to any regard for, or personal friend- ship with, the subject of the Life. Hooker died iri the year 1 600, when only in his forty-seventh year, and when Wal- ton was but a boy of seven, 3P3 Izaak Walton Taking these Lives together, they form a worthy monument of Walton's untiring industry and patient diligence, even in a department of mental activity to w^hich he was but accidentally introduced. The picture of the hale old man, with the more active period of his life left far behind him, yet still finding a zest for existence in the undertaking of these literary engagements, is most interesting. In addition to these writings, brief mention must be made of Walton's ventures in versification (for they were little more, and were chiefly dedica- tory "lines" or epistles). His stanzas on the death of Dr. Donne are perhaps the best example of his skill in this depart- ment, though they were written when in the full vigor of his days, as were also his " Verses to the author of the Synagogue, printed along with Herbert's Temple, Verses in prefacing the poems of (i) Alexander Browne (1646); of (2) Shirley (1646); and (3) of Cartwright (1651). His last effbrt was a prefatory poem in praise of the author of Thealma and Clearclues, a pas- toral history in smooth and easy verse by John Chalkhill, Esq." Even as the pro- duction of a person of almost nonagenarian age, it is a very creditable performance : coming from the pen of good old Izaak, 304 Izaak Walton it is, of course, most worthy of regard. One needs to follow his career but a little farther, and note — in his Last Will and Testament — that he has at length (Aug. 9, 1683) arrived at his ninetieth milestone on life's highway, fast nearing his jour- ney's end, but still blest with "perfect memory, for which God be praised." A few months later his steps falter and fail altogether. His death took place at Winchester, on the 1 5th day of December in the same year, while he was staying with Dr. Haw- kins, prebendary of the Cathedral, within the precincts of which his remains were buried. The following is the inscription, on a large black flat marble stone, to his memory : — HERE RESTETH THE BODY OF MR. ISAAC WALTON WHO DYED THE I5TH OF DECEMBER 1683. alas! he's GONE BEFORE GONE TO RETURN NO MORE OUR PANTING BREASTS ASPIRE AFTER THEIR AGED SIRE, WHOSE WELL-SPENT LIFE DID LAST FULL NINETY YEARS AND PAST BUT NOW HE HATH BEGUN THAT WHICH WILL NE'ER BE DONE CROWNED WITH ETERNAL BLISS WE WISH OUR SOULS WITH HIS. VOTIS MODESTIS SIC FLERUNT LIBERI 305