1895 Fishing — ‘Another good fish story’

It was not the greatest catch, but it made for a good story.

“Another good fish story is at hand,” the Fort Ann correspondent reported in The Granville Sentinel on Aug. 30, 1895. “Two of our experts went down the canal fishing. One of them pulled one in that weighed near two hundred pounds, but it turned out to be the other fisherman that in some way got in the water, and this in a temperance town at that.”

In other 1895 fishing news collected from historic newspapers of the region:

• “Albert Clements of Iowa, William Clements, William Winchip and Mr. and Mrs. James Clements of Queensbury spent Saturday and Sunday at Assembly Point, guests of C. W. Clements,” The Morning Star reported on Aug. 23. “A chowder, in which a five-pound bass figured as one of the main ingredients, , was served.”
• “James Ahearn of Albany caught a nice string of bass yesterday,” the Lake George correspondent reported in The Morning Star on Aug. 29. “Dr. Sanderhusen of Brooklyn and J. J. VanDorn, guests at the Grove Hotel, also brought in a fine string.”
• “Spencer Hill of New York, who has been occupying the Idylwild Cottage at Lake St. Catherine caught a five-pound bass one day last week. It is said to be the largest bass taken from the lake this season,” The Granville Sentinel reported on Aug. 30.
• “Charles Kimball exhibited at The Star office yesterday a speckled trout sixteen and a half inches in length and weighing a pound and three-quarters dressed. It was caught by Mr. Kimball in the Clendon Brook,” The Morning Star reported on Aug. 30.
• “J. J. Platt of Troy, a guest of the Ondawa, caught a ten-pound pickerel yesterday,” the Schroon Lake correspondent reported in The Morning Star on Aug. 31.
• “Who said that woman’s sphere is not enlarged? Mrs. Kalbflersch, a guest at The Palisades at Brant Lake, is one of the most successful anglers at that popular resort,” The Morning Star reported on Sept. 7. “On Wednesday she captured a seven-pound pickerel, and the aggregate of her catches would surprise most of the old fisherman.”
• “Gardner Crandall and Melville Hyde of Glens Falls had a good day’s fishing in the (Lake George) Narrows on Wednesday. In their string were five pickerel, each weighing about four pounds,” The Morning Star reported on Sept. 20.
• “A seventeen-and-a-half pound pickerel, one of the largest taken out of Lake George this season, was caught at Dunham’s Bay Thursday by Frank Shutliff of this village,” The Morning Star reported on Sept. 21.

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