100 ANGLING FOK OUANANICHE 



had in the Decharge in the spring of the year; that 

 is to say, of course, the angling to be had in the rapids 

 of the rivers and at the foot of many of the chutes. 

 The most important of these fishing-places will be 

 described later, as well as the lakes in which are found 

 the large, dark-colored fish known to the Indians as 

 "ouchachoumac" or "salmon" instead of ouananiche, 

 and almost invariably taken with bait, phantom min- 

 nows, or the spoon. 



Before closing the description of the sport afford- 

 ed by angling for ouananiche, let us hear what the 

 Eev. Dr. Van Dyke, and Messrs. Creighton, Murray, 

 Myers, Kit Clarke, and McCarthy have had to say on 

 the subject. 



Creighton, in American Game Fishes, thus admira- 

 bly describes the fight of a fairly large fish : 



" Presently, while quietly reeling in an excess of line, down goes 

 the rod-tip with a smart jerk ; there is a terribly long pause of 

 about half a second, then the reel sings, and thirty yards away a 

 silver bar flashes through the air three or four times in quick suc- 

 cession, for it is a fresh-run fish hooked in a tender spot. You re- 

 cover a little line, then out it goes again with more pyrotechnics. 

 At the end of ten or fifteen minutes he comes in meekly, with an 

 occasional remonstrance, and you think it time for the net. The 

 leader shows above the water and the rod curves into a semicircle, 

 but no strain you can put on raises the fish farther, which circles 

 slowly around. A sudden dash under your feet drags the rod-tip 

 under water, but is foiled by a quick turn of the canoe. Then a 

 telegraphic circuit seems to have been established through your 

 tired arms to your spine. The fish is standing on his head, worry- 

 ing the fly like a bull-dog, and slapping at the leader with his tail. 

 All at once the rod springs back and you are heavily splashed by a 

 leap almost into your face. This occurs half a dozen times. He 

 may jump into the canoe, perhaps over it : I have seen a wana- 

 nishe caught in the air in the landing-net, after it had shaken the 



