The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-12-11
ALTON FAVOR|TE
 REGION ON COAST FOR FISH AND GAME
Hiden Writes of Remarkable Varieties of Sport in Gulf
 Section East of Pensacola
Bx RoBERT c. HIpEN

Few places within comparativelwi eazS access of Birmingham afford better fishing and hunting than the region round about Camp Walton, Fla Several hundred Birmingham people go there during the year. And the number of visitors Is steadily increasing.
 have been there once or twice a year for nearly a decade. have tried out nearly every kind of fishing fresh water as well as salt water not to speak of duck shooting, and I know of few places where there IS so great variety of outdoor sport.
 Bob Gilks, scouting genius for the New York American Baseball club, who spends five or six months fish ing. hunting, camping and motor boating around Camp Walton every year, recently said coming up from Pensacola: There's no better place anywhere for a sportsman between October and May. You have 40 miles of sound, with comparatively quiet waters; innumerable bayous, where the water Is always quiet. within few miles by motorboat; several fresh water streams within two or three hours; the gulf, with a roaring surf, scarcely half & mile away, unsur- passed forest and field nearby--in fact. everything. A man can take a dip in the gulf before breakfast dur ing nine months in the year; catch from a dozen to S5 speckled trout: pick up half dozen good-size rei fish, 20 or more sheephead, kill dozen quail, knock down as many ducks. gather all the oysters ne wants, and bring in a turkey, deer and frequently bear, all in one day. With small motorboat and skill of his own he can spend most of his time running around Camp Walton, camp ing, cooking his own fresh fish. shooting and the like at small ex. pense. It's an Ideal place, where the variety of fish and game Is simply wonderful. The weather is seldom too cool to be on the water. Any fellow who knows how to handle a rod or gun can get all the fish and game he wants around Camp Walton in half 6 day"
 Must Knew the Game.
 Gilks Is right. Of course, your city chap who can neither cast mln- now or point a gun usually accom- piishes little down there. The fellow who knows anything of the game nearly always takes enough fish to feed 90 people in a few hours cast ing or trolling.
 Camp Walton is a struggling vil- lage on Santa Rosa Sound, 40 miles east of Pensacola. It Is reached by motorboat three times a week, or from Crestview, two hours beyond Pensacola, on the Louisville and Nashville, by daily jitney S2 miles
 The trip by motorboat across Pen sacola bay and down Santa Rosa Sound is made in about five hours. &. Uardq wide al the village Santa Rosa Island. extend ing from Pensacola to Choctohatchie Bay, 42 miles, is scarcely quarter of a mile wide, and separates the sound from the gulf. The trip from the village to the gulf ie made in Il motorboat, skiff or canal in three minutes, with another three min utes walk across the island for dip in the gulf. There is no finer beach or surf on the Atlantic coast. Two Weeka' Sport
 On a recent stay of two weeks at Camp Walton took specieied trout from one to five pounds with ordi- nary casting rod and dowagiac min nows, both floaters and sinkers. un- til the process of reeling them in became monotonous. Frequently 20 to 80 were taken in less than two hours. Some of the fishing is in the sound within 10 minutes or the Vli- lage by motorboat. Across the sound, 50ofyards, within two hours 1t was comparatively easy to take 12 to 20 sheephead, from two to four pounds, using either rod and reel or old fashioned cane pole. In either event you fish on bottom with half ounce sinker, casting out some dis tance from the boat. small white crab the size of large pecan. and dug from the soaked sands on the gulf make the best bait.
 Many speckled trout and red fish are caught In the sound and bayous