WESTERN TROUT-FISHING 269 



it appeared. But in course of time I rose a fish, 

 obviously a trout ; then hooked something strong and 

 lively, and played for five minutes or more, and finally 

 landed a beautiful five-pound rainbow-trout, a perfect 

 picture of a fish in shape and colour. 



A day or two after the capture of my first rainbow- 

 trout, I learnt that there were heavy fish in the Platte. 

 Jim Deacon, the factotum at the Pick Ranch, had 

 somewhere picked up an old ' Jock Scott ' salmon-fly 

 with a length of gut attached, and pressed me to try 

 it in a deep pool under the cliffs about a mile above 

 the ranch, and below an old dam, which had originally 

 been built for the purpose of supplying water to an 

 irrigating ditch. 



I thought the fly too large, but Jim insisted that 

 heavy fish had been caught higher up the river on 

 similar flies, and so I took the first opportunity of 

 trying it in the cliff pool. The result was that half- 

 way down the stream I felt a draw, raised my hand, 

 and the next moment my little cane trout-rod was 

 bent double, while a heavy fish, playing like a salmon, 

 ran up and down the pool. I never saw him, and 

 presently the old gut-cast parted. But I felt satisfied 

 that this was a considerably heavier fish than anything 

 I had yet hooked. 



I have since taken many a good trout out of the 

 North Platte River, whose reputation for good fishing 

 is now thoroughly established in the West. It is the 

 custom for parties from Denver and Colorado Springs 

 to visit the Platte Valley south of Saratoga in Wyo- 

 ming during the months of July and August for 

 camping and fishing picnics, when good bags of trout, 

 some running up to 12 pounds in weight, have been 

 frequently obtained. 



