The Trout of Los Laurelles 91 



the cool, purling waters and then slowly unreeled for the 

 cast down stream. 



Forty feet went the alluring " Coachman," In a little rif- 

 fle where the waters boiled and bubbled around a sub- 

 merged rock; as the fly dropped, out of the chaparral at 

 my shoulder came the ca-ca-kou ca-caa-kioii of a plumed 

 quail, startling in its intensity, and then a dazzling swirl, 

 the whipping of the resilient split bamboo, and something 

 was racing away across the pool, then up into the air, toss- 

 ing vagrant sunbeams which seemed to change to silver; 

 up again, and down stream with a rush, forcing me to give 

 line, as the four-ounce rod bent frantically. 



Perhaps you have played a two-pound Carmel trout fresh 

 from the sea — a hard fighter at its best, and know all about 

 its devices, its resources and cunning. If so, there is little 

 for me to say, but I fancy the solitudes of Carmel, as 

 charming as they are, have as yet not lured many anglers ; 

 it is a joy to come, something in anticipation, and so I may 

 linger on the battle of this fighter, as he shot across the pool 

 to accomplish my undoing. I turned him gently after the 

 second leap, and he came in on me like a big rainbow ; came 

 so fast that I could not reel in the slack, then dashed down 

 stream, taking me along to save the line; and then with a 

 wild leap into the air, tossed my fly at least eight feet up- 

 ward; in fact, the bend of my supple rod brought it that 

 distance over my head, leaving me stunned, appalled, at 

 the suddenness of the disaster. 



When the trout first leaped, I was convinced that he was 

 a /ze/o-pounder, of rich color and due proportion ; but as I 

 now contemplated the scene, with retrospective indulgence, I 

 saw that he must have been at least a ^z^^-pounder, a sort of 

 Dios tutelar de rio; certainly there was no one to dis- 

 pute it. 



I had been fishing with light flies, and at my next cast 

 in the pool, two trout rose, and snapped at the little " Coach- 

 man." The big fellow missed — how often it is thus — but 



