"LA GRANDE DECHARGE" OF LAKE ST. JOHN 173 



just come up to him when there was a swirl in the 

 water, a whir-r of the reel, and two rapid leaps in 

 quick succession, the second of which freed the fish of 

 the hook. The loss of that splendid specimen was the 

 one mortification of the trip. It was, in the opinion 

 of all the guides, a fish of at least eight or ten pounds 

 in weight. Its handsome sides must have been fully 

 six inches deep, and in length it could not have measured 

 much, if any, less than thirty inches. I know not when 

 I shall look upon his like again, but I know, with Mr. 

 Creighton, that the largest ouananiche are carefully 

 guarded from the angler by the demon of ill-luck. 



Some distance below Isle Maligne we passed some 

 fishy-looking pools, covered with oily-looking water 

 and occasional patches of foam, and could, undoubt- 

 edly, have drawn from them some beautiful fish. But 

 we learned from our guides that we were now in the pre- 

 serves of the Saguenay Fish and Game Club, and suc- 

 cessfully resisted temptation, and, as we were nearing 

 the end of our afternoon's journey, rods were taken 

 down and put up for the night. The fishing-grounds 

 of this club are highly spoken of, but they must be 

 good indeed if they can excel those of Isle Maligne ; and 

 the guardian of the club-house, with whom we camped 

 for the night, informed us that the largest fish killed by 

 a member of the club that season weighed five and a 

 quarter pounds, which was, probably, not much more 

 than half the size of the beauty we had hooked and lost 

 near Isle Maligne. The club-house, which is reached 

 by a short portage from the landing immediately above 

 the famous rapids of the Yache Caille, overlooks the ex- 

 treme southern point of Alma Island and the reunion 



