The Kejimkujik Monster 



AS far back as 1902, stories began to drift into the 

 / \ settlement about him. Some fishermen claimed 

 A JL to have seen him, and several claimed they had 

 hooked him, but lost their fly and leader as a result. Some 

 wise old fishermen on their first trip had the temerity 

 to infer that it vi^asn't a trout at all, but a mud-turtle 

 or an enormous eel. For the next few years accounts 

 of him were consistently sprinkled through a great 

 number of narratives told by various peregrinating fisher- 

 men from all parts of the world. Since all true lovers of 

 the rod and reel, sooner or later, drop their fly in Nova 

 Scotia trout streams, tales of the monster were naturally 

 spread from coast to coast. Talking one day in Van- 

 couver with the editor of a sporting magazine published 

 in Chicago, I heard again the yarn with expected varia- 

 tions. This was in the winter of 1908. I remember 

 the date well, as it was the year our camp was built near 

 the mouth of the Kejimkujik River, on Lake Rossignol. 

 The Chicago editor's story so impressed me that I re- 

 solved to make some careful inquiries of the Indians and 

 guides in the Rossignol district as soon as we could get 

 out to camp for the spring fishing. 



Upon my arrival in Caledonia, I asked Old Joe and 

 Darce, Frank, Tom, and others what they knew about 

 it. They had all had experiences with him or had 

 guided " sports " who had either hooked or raised him. 

 Although, generally speaking, guides are notorious 

 fabulists, these men seemed to be perfectly sincere in 

 their belief that there was a monster trout in the lower 



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