8 



llic Avic7'icaii .liiglcr 



rather mistaken gratitude toward the 

 German professor who first sent the 

 fish to America, to make this classic 



Camping in the Park. 



trout appear, even under such a distin- 

 guished alias. 



After reaching the Thumb on Yell- 

 owstone lake, I left the lumbering 

 stage, and took the little steamer for 

 the run of twenty-one miles up to the 

 hotel above its junction with the Yell- 

 owstone river. In this stream, a short 

 distance below the lake, the trout are 

 exceedingly abundant. Seven parties 

 started out immediately on the landing 

 of the boat, accompanied by a large 

 thunder-cloud in the west. It being 

 rather late in the season, the fish were 

 said " not to be rising much. " Most of 

 those who went out, judging by their 

 eccentric motions, I fancy had never 

 interviewed a fly-rod before, and they 

 found the report of the disinclination 

 of the fish quite correct. A pious 

 father of the Tuck variety, with a 

 friend, close bj^me, went home fishless. 

 Others who had whipped a stream be- 

 fore, were more fortunate. After tak- 

 ing twenty-five, weighing in the neigh- 

 borhood of 30 lbs., in less than two 

 hours, and, in the meantime, getting a 



thorough drenching from the cloud 

 that accompanied us, I returned. 

 Though the fish are of good size, they 

 are not in good condition, and their 

 fighting qualities, much below the 

 standard. They are too plentiful and 

 rise freely ; in fact, it is too easy. 



I have no doubt that earlier in the 

 season, it would require but patience 

 and endurance for an average angler to 

 load a boat. 



The guide books describe them as 

 salmon-trout. 



I found two varieties: The cutthroat 

 5. viykiss^ which is indigenous to the 

 waters, and the rainbow, probably S. 

 gairdneri shasta, which has been intro- 

 duced. The color of the latter is most 

 extraordinary, being of a dirty brick 

 dust red, and in great variety of the 

 same tint. Their condition is poorer 

 than that of the cutthroats, nor are they 

 so strong upon the rod. They are said 



Scene in the Park. 



