The Project Gutenberg eBook of Game Fish of the Northern States and British Provinces, by Robert Barnwell Roosevelt.

the head of the stretcher-fly. Moreover, the flies must not be allowed to sink, but must be retrieved immediately in order to get the line well out behind, which is the great difficulty in distance-casting. In actual fishing the angler is considered an expert who alone and unaided can strike, play and land a five-pound trout or a fifteen-pound salmon. Those are tests of skill that far exceed casting ninety feet in an open pond with a top-heavy rod.

Reels have kept up with the march of improvement in fishing tackle, and are now made much lighter and stronger than in days gone by. Hard rubber has taken the place of metal to a great extent, making the reel very much lighter. Aluminum has been tried, but, though very hard, it is a metal of poor texture, so that the screws do not hold, and the reels soon get loose and shaky, while at the same time it is expensive. There are several patented trout reels for getting large barrels to wind the line on quickly, or to expose it to the air so that it will not rot. Most of the fine reels are made of German silver, and with works as carefully constructed as those of a clock, for the striped bass reels must run with absolute perfection. A valuable invention of Messrs. Abbey & Imbrie provides for the adjustment of the bearings, so that any wear can be readily taken up, and the reel kept in good condition without expense. It consists of the use of steel-screw pivots easily adjusted, which reduce the friction to a minimum.

There is an endless variety of spoon baits now made for the angler to select from; among them the most admired are the “fluted spoons” and the “mottled pearl,” including the new Florida pearl spinner, with a body of white pearl, combined with a mottled revolving spoon. But the old-fashioned revolving silvered plate in its various forms is by no means superseded by these modern mysteries.

The introduction of black-bass throughout the country has created a large demand for artificial baits. Live minnows are often difficult to obtain, and the market is now well supplied with artificial minnows, frogs, dobsons, crickets, beetles, and grasshoppers. Of these baits, the “fairy” is the most successful. It is made of fish-skin, and has the scales of the real minnow preserved. It is as soft and flexible as the live bait, and will kill black-bass and pickerel when every other artificial bait fails.

Of minnow gangs there is also a great variety, the latest and one of the best being the “St. Lawrence” gang. This has a thin baiting needle, which allows the most delicate minnow to live for hours, and has not the usual great number of treble hooks to make it troublesome and unsightly for delicate fishing.

INDEX.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] These periods do not refer to the game laws.

[2] If he is alive at this writing.

[3] Since that was written, many of these waters have been depleted, and Long Island has been so thoroughly preserved that there is hardly a free pond or stream from one end to the other of it.

[4] Since then passed away. Peace and happiness be with him.

[5] The old Stump Pond trout has of late years wholly disappeared.

[6] A fine hotel has been built at Tadousac.

[7] License is now required for fishing in the British Provinces anywhere.

[8] Hon. Wm. F. Whitcher, late Superintendent of Fisheries of the Dominion, and as skillful an angler as ever handled rod or wet a line.

[9] This is changed. There is no free salmon fishing in the Provinces.

[10] The best river now is the Restigouche.

[11] See Post as to modern fishways.

[12] Probably at least a year later than this.

[13] Travelling in the Dominion has been much improved since the foregoing was written, and the hotels are better. The expenses of living are higher than they were, but still much cheaper than in the United States.

[14] Mr. Dominy has gone, but Mr. Royal Sammis keeps a large and fashionable hotel at Fire Island, which every sportsman should visit at least once in his life.

[15] The finer qualities of carp, the “leather” and “mirror” carp, have been introduced into America by Mr. Spencer F. Baird, the scientific and enterprising Commissioner of Fisheries of the United States, and have proved a success.

[16] Prepared lines are sold now at all the fishing-tackle shops, and linen lines are made so fine, beautiful, and strong, that for bass-fishing nothing better is needed. For surf-fishing use a nine-thread line.

[17] It is now generally accepted as the scientific conclusion that the Oswego bass, the Southern black-bass—there called the chub—and the big-mouthed bass, are one and the same. I know, however, that the Southern black-bass, the Grystes salmoides, is a much finer fish on the hook and on the table than his supposed compeer, the Oswego bass, and takes the fly as freely and fiercely as the true black-bass. The latter is now generally called the Small-mouthed bass, that being his distinguishing peculiarity.

[18] For thorough instruction in the details of the artificial cultivation of all varieties of fish, the reader is referred to a work entitled “Fish Hatching and Fish Catching” written by Seth Green and Robert B. Roosevelt which exhausts the entire subject.

[19] Some of the illustrations in this volume have been furnished us by Messrs. Wm. C. Harris, and Abbey & Imbrie.