er, plenty of
1/2-lb. perch. The nearest respectable sport for the fly or minnow man
is with black bass, in the smaller lakes and connecting rivers within
two or three hours' railway journey; and there are six or eight other
percoid forms such as striped, calico, and rock bass, and several of
the sunfishes, all of which take a fly. The game is not of high repute
all the same, and they are somewhat slightingly spoken of as "only pan
fish." But they run from 1/2 lb. to 3 lb., and rise voraciously. The
next best sport with black bass, which is the game fish most sworn by
in this district, is in Northern Illinois and Indiana, fifty miles and
more by train from Chicago. Farther afield still are the streams and
lakes of Wisconsin, which may be brought into a day's work by starting
early. In Northern Wisconsin there are trout in the streams, and
muskalonge galore in the lakes. Altogether it is a very fly-fishing
state, and heavy creels can be made from the streams falling into Lake
Superior. The Michigan and Montana streams enjoy the distinction of
holding the indigenous grayling, which take the fly freely, and have
their enthusiastic admirers, who protect and cherish them. They are,
however, decreasing in numbers and their establishment in other states
was still problematical. A 2-lb. Michigan grayling is the maximum, so
far as the experience of native observers can fix it. A pound is an
honest sample for the creel.

The black bass, as I have said, are prime favourites in the angling
resorts of the interior. They spawn any time, according to locality,
between April and July; but there is a brief spell of smart fishing
before they get on the shallows. This happens during what is called
the "spring run"; that is to say, when they are moving from the deep
waters of their winter quarters (some think that they hibernate) to the
sandy shallows (if they can get sand) of the streams and lakes. Before
this, however, the pike-fishers have been having sport, if the waters
allow it, in March. The winters here are often open, that of which I
saw something, with a snow tempest of three days, being the exceptional
season of ten years at least. Sometimes the enthusiasts are piking
even in February, getting fish from 2 lb. to 20 lb., which Dr.
Henshall, the well-known author and naturalist, pronounces true Esox
lucius. This is the fish we often read of as the pickerel, and it is
taken with a local minnow some 3 in. long, or o