SUCKLEY MONOGRAPH OF THE GENUS SALMO. 133 



comes almost drj in summer. It is full of trout; bow they ever "ot 

 into it is a mystery. Here, seated ou a half-submerged log, we have 

 caught mauy a flue bunch of "speckled bellies." Flies do the best 

 there, especially late iu the afternoon, and untd it becomes so dark in 

 the evening that the angler cannot see his fly break the water. After 

 '•■ this time, unless he has artiflcial white moths, the fly must be put aside, 

 j and then the anal fin, or a piece of the belly of a fresh-killed tish 

 gently trolled near the surface, will frequently hook "big ones." 



Steilacoom Creek, below " Chauibers's ^lill," is an excellent place for 



trout iu Jaiuiary, February, and March. Here the waters rise and fall 



j with the tide, and are fresh, brackish, or salt, all within the space of 



half a mile. The writer has there caught several male trout, weighing, 



two hours after killed, over two pounds each. The two largest were 



i killed in February, 1854, with a large, unnatural, gaudy salmou-fly. 



i Fish of large size are rarely taken in this place later than March ; after 



I that they are replaced by vast quantities of small ones, rarely excced- 



: ing 7 inches in length, which, although excelleutfor the table, certainly 



I aflbrd no sport. 



j Although there are other good si)ots, such as the Turn water Falls, near 

 f Olympia, Clark's Creek, near the Puyallup, and many more that could 

 be mentioned, the writer will confine himself now to the consideration 

 of but one more good fishing-ground, and then bid the geographical por- 

 tion of the article good-bye. This last place is McAllister's Creek, situ- 

 ated about eleven miles from Fort Steilacoom, and niue from Olympia. 

 It affords the best trout-fishing we know of in the Territory. Perhaps 

 there are no more fish here than in many other similar water-courses in 

 . the neighborhood, but it has the advantage of having good banks, only 

 moderately shaded, from which casts can readily be made. The best por- 

 ' tion of the fishing-ground extends from the old mill-site to a point about 

 three quarters of a mile below. This is all subject to tide iufluence, but 

 ' the water is fresh for the greater part of the tract, and even at the lower 

 : end is but slightly brackish at high water. The best time for fishing in 

 this creek commences about an hour and a half before high water, and 

 . lasts three-fourths through the flood-tide. In one day's fishing in Octo- 

 ; ber, 1Sj6, the writer caught, at this place, thirty-eight fine trout the ag- 

 I gregate weight of which, six hours after death, was fifteen pounds. The 

 bait used on that day was principally salmon-roe, one-third dried, but 

 ■ we have frequently taken many fish, in the same place, with artificial 

 flies, grasshoppers, meat, and most of the other ordinary allurenu?nts. 

 To such of our readers as may probably condemn the unsportsmanlike 

 . practice of fishing with salmon-roe, meat, or grasshoppers — to those who 

 ; have no patience with any other mode of trout-flshing, except by the 

 1 scientific whippings of an artificial fly — we must apologize by saying that 

 \ our only fly-rod was irretrievably broken, our flies were gone, and it was 

 nearly a thousand miles to the nearest fishing-tackle store. 



In the streams near Fort Steilacoom there are i^robably many in- 



