THE GAME FISHES OF THE WOELD 



"be amazed at the material accumulated before Walton, who en- 

 deared himself to the anglers of the world by presenting his more 

 than delightful philosophy of angUng, teaching men that it was 

 the gentlest of arts, a pastime for gentlemen and gentlewomen. 



If I were to wish a trout lover good luck I could not do better 

 than to wish he were with me as these lines are written. From 

 a, commodious log hunting lodge at Eagle Eidge I look down on 

 the crimson surface of Klamath Lake just over the California 

 hne in Oregon, America. Silver trout are leaping everywhere. 

 I cannot raise my eyes that I do not see one, or the swirl of circles 

 ^s he comes down, and the crash and smash on the water is 

 constant. The lake is wide and shallow, nearly thirty miles 

 long, with extensive snipe, curlew and duck marshes through 

 which run beautiful little rivers which rise in springs of great 

 size and coldness. The little spring-fed streams, as Odessa, 

 Crystal and Spring Creek, are radiant in beauty of foliage ; 

 beside these there are several rivers, as the Williamson, Wood 

 and Sprague, which flow into the lake and abound in charms which 

 unfailingly appeal to the lover of nature. 



Away on the northern horizon is that wonder of the world, 

 the hanging lake of Mazama, a liquid sapphire over a mile in 

 a,ir, the home of rainbow trout, reaUy a vast crater filled with 

 water ; a crater as perfect to-day as when made in the past. 

 All this region is famous for its big rainbow trout. 



We pushed off one morning, the launch towing the small 

 boat, dropping me and my boatman about ten miles up the WH- 

 Eamson, a winding river famous for its fly casting and scenery. 

 Kever was a Eoyal Coachman or Klamath fly cast into such 

 glories of colour, tint and shade as here. On the third cast there 

 came a response ; a stiffening of the line, a quick bending of the 

 resilient rod, and the game was on. I was using an eight-ounce 

 «plit bamboo rod and tapered oiled-silk line, and was filched of 

 one hundred feet in the first rush of this unknown, which went 

 into the air, hurling the spray, to come down with a crash that 

 ^woke the dormant echoes, and brought out a half cheer from an 

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