AMERICAN 



SPORTSMAN' 



NEW YORK THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 7, 1878. 



For Forest and Stream and Rod and Gvn. 

 LAID UP. 



WEAK of limb and dim In eyesight, 

 Mourns the sportsman old and worn ; 

 Sighing itumcs he of the Ume-Blglit, 



And the hardens he lias borne. 

 Gazes on his store ot trout-rods, 



On bis guns and tackle all ; 

 Thinks of when and where he used them, 

 Every summer, spring and fall. 



Thinks of those who with him hunted, 



Io their loyal sporting prime ; 

 How they dropped the antlered monaroha, 



How o'er hill and crag did climb ; 

 How on lakes of silv'ry water 



Sped their birchen bark canoe ; 

 How they gatnered in the gloaming 



To the camp, the tried and trae. 



Thinks of those who have been gathered 



To the Hunting Grounds above— 

 TLoao who loved the Stream and Forest, 



Shaded glen and liiied cove ; 

 Those who worshiped God In temples 



Never made by mortal hand ; 

 Those who gloried In nis greatness 



With their Rod and Gun In hand ! 



— Nbd Bdntlinb. 



For Forest and Stream and Hod and Gun. 



I WAS "weary waiting" for the summer vacation before the 

 boys came from college, and had the home preparations 

 complete. Our guides had been secured by letter, and after 

 reaching Sault Ste. Marie we had nothing to do but purchase 

 our bulkier provisions and wait for the Silver Islet steamer. 

 F. and I being old campaigners— he on the North Shoie and 

 I there and elsewhere— had reduced our " plunder " to the 

 limits of necessaries and such luxuries as would become 

 necessaries in so long a trip as we were to take. But supplies 

 for a month for seven men, with Superior appetites, made no 

 small store. The barrels of hard-bread, potatoes, onions and 

 pork ; the hams, flour, sugar, coffee and tea ; the boxes of 

 canned goods, together with the camp equipage, made heavy 

 loads tor two boats during the first week or twa of the trip. 



At the Sault we took the fine steamer Ontario, of theSarnia 

 line, and under the charge of her excellent captain, Robinson, 

 we reached Silver Islet within twenty-four hours, notwith- 

 standing a dense fog and several ministerial passengers, a 

 combination of circumstances full of threatening to our safety, 

 if we could rely upon the opinion of one of the steamer's 

 hands, who said he was " ready to bet something would hap- 

 pen before reaching port with them ministers aboard." 



We found at Silver Islet we had to have our goods duly 

 entered at the Custom House and duties paid ; but as we had 

 most of the original bills of purchase, and the customs officer, 

 Mr. John Livingston, was a gentleman, as indeed most Do- 

 minion customs officers are, wc were detained only so long as 

 was necessary to transact the business. 



We left the port in our boats at about five o'clock in the af- 

 ternoon. The sun shone upon Thunder Cape and Pic 

 Island, and the scene, wilh breaking fog out on the lake and 

 the bold heights of the cape and islands to the south, was a 

 magnificent one. To the norLheast were rocky islands and 

 mountains, showing a varied aDd beautiful coast. 



We camped that night, July 12, 1878, on the banks of a 

 little inlet which we thought should be named Fly Harbor, or 

 Mosquito Bay. The long twilight kept the grand mountain 

 of Thunder Cape in view till late in the evening. We rigged 

 our tackle and tried the rocks for a rise, but without success. 

 The next morning we started early, hoping for a breeze to 

 take U3 past Black Bay. We tried a few rocks as we passed 

 along, but avoided the streams emptying into the bay on ac- 

 count of flies, which we were told at Silver Islet were very 

 troublesome. We caught no fish, however, and, a breeze 

 springing up about 11 o'clock, we pushed on at a spanking 

 pace. Stopping at a rocky island, we got some specimens of 

 gull and duck eggs, and could have captured many young 

 gulls if we had been so disposed. After dinner the breeze 

 freshened, and, keeping within the outer line of islands along 

 the coast, we made fast time for an hour or two, one stretch 

 of eight miles (by the chart) being made in forty minutes. 

 Just before reaching Hawk Island, and for several miles along 

 there, we were in very heavy seas, and the buoyancy of our 

 Mackinaw boats was pretty thoroughly tested. About 5 

 o'clock we Bought a safe landing, and, finding a sheltered 

 cove on an island near Lamb Island light-house, we settled 



for a Sunday camp. The rocks rose a sheer precipice to the 

 height of three hundred feet to the west of us, and a point 

 jutted out to the east into the lake, so we were secure from 

 the swell. After the wind quieted, as it almost always does 

 as the sun goes down, F. and I went out on the reef to try a 

 cast. The sea was still high, too high for comfortable fish- 

 ing, but we took three trout, of one-half, one and a half, and 

 two and a half pounds respectively, and one lake trout of 

 about three pounds. I had a strike from a big trout which 

 carried away two flies and a leader— being an old leader quite 

 worn. While F. and I were fishing Morton had laken the 

 rifle, and we found him with a brace of rabbits on our return. 

 Indeed the island had a dense rabbit population, and on Sun- 

 day they invaded the camp— at least some did. I don't re- 

 member who fired the first gim in defence of our altars and 

 fires, but another brace was contributed to the Sunday even- 

 ing meal. We didn't hunt nor fish on Sunday, but only acted 

 in self-defence in that case. 



Monday morning we tried the rock-fishing again, but, meet- 

 ing with no success, abandoned our project of coasting the 

 south side of Isle St. Ignace and started north for Nepigon 

 Bay, with a fresh following wind. Fishing at one or two 

 brooks which emptied into the strait, we picked up a few 

 small trout, and stopped for dinner at a little stream Louis, 

 our chief guide, said he had fished when in the coast survey 

 service. It was a most unpromising place, with only a little 

 pool not more than seven by ten or twelve feet, and studded 

 with brush and logs, which, with the overhanging branches, 

 made casting impossible : so, winding our lines to within 

 three or four feet of the tips, we dropped the flies in as we 

 could. Trout were there in abundance, and the rush of the 

 speckled beauties to the surface was beautiful to see. There 

 was no room to play, and we had to rely on main strength 

 and awkwardness. These served as fairly, and in a few 

 minutes we landed some twenty-eight of varying weights 

 between six ounces and two pounds. We left behind us 

 when we sailed after dinner a few flies and leaders attached 

 to roots and branches, to mark the spot for some future fisher- 

 man. We steered almost due north through Nepigon Bay, 

 passing between islands of great wildness and beauty. The 

 forms of some showed distin ct outlines of lions at rest, as 

 clearly as Lion Island on the California coast. 



Not intending to visit the Nepijjon this year, we steered 

 for a river marked on the chart, about five miles east of Eed 

 Rock, and went up its dead water for about two miles with- 

 out finding any signs of rapids. The country for several 

 miles beyond appearing low and level, we rowed back to find 

 a camp on the shores of the bay. 



Tuesday afternoon we had no wind, and the men took to 

 the oars. About six o'clock we made a little river — all streams 

 from tbe wonderful Nepigon and the stately Pic down to the 

 veriest tumbling brook, are rivers on the North shore— that, 

 from the sandy islands about its mouth, we judged was pow- 

 erful in spring freshets. We pushed over the bar and went 

 up the dead water until stopped by the logs, when we saw 

 some fine trout, which determined us upon making camp 

 there. While supper was preparing F. and myself went up 

 the brook. Except at the pools, one could jump across it 

 anywhere. We saw hundre '• of trout, mostly small, and an 

 occasional splash gave signs of the presence of larger ones. 

 For some time they Beemed reluctant to take the fly, but just 

 as the call to supper resounded through the woods they be- 

 gan to rise freely, and, starting down, we got into camp with 

 some twenty-five averaging three-quarters of a pound each. 

 We found Morton busy, too, right at camp, with his rod, and 

 a display of six two-pounders was not dispiriting. While we 

 were washing for supper he landed two more even larger. 

 Next morning Morton and myself went up the stream at sun- 

 rise and returned to the breakfast call in an hour or so with 

 as many as we could well carry, making our total catch there 

 of eighty-five averaging a full pound each, the largest about 

 two and a half poun is. Having now a supply for nearly two 

 days — two pounds of fiah per man at a meal, with pork, pota- 

 toes and the other accompaniments, is my experience with 

 North Shore appetites— and never killing fish for mere sport, 

 we left camp, intending merely to test the coast and streams 

 as we sailed. We found little in the two days to tempt us. 

 We could get no rises off the rocks, and 'he rivers were 

 sluggish and warm, at least near their mouths. We visited 

 Pago Plat River, ascending it to the first rapid, finding no 

 sign of trout. We passed some Indian villages, at one of 

 which we spoke to the first white man we had seen for days — 

 a Scotchman, who said he owned a house we had seen on the 

 Paxe Plat Eiver. He had two or three good looking Macki- 

 naw boats, and seemed to be a resident among the Indians. 



The second night we camped at Black River. The scenery 

 along the coast had been all that day of the finest description. 

 Abrupt hills rising often into grand mountains : rocky and 

 wooded islands with stretches of quiet and of breeze-touched 

 water between, and a fair, following wind most of the time, 

 made a perfect day. And when we rounded the point at the 

 mouth of the river and saw the foam of the falls in the dis- 

 tance between the mountains, the delight we felt at ending 

 such a day in such a spot, with enough trout we were sure of 

 catching to supply us to the next good fishing ground — for 

 the guides said it was always spoken of as a good stream — 

 was that, as fishermen , we had nothing f urther to ask. The 

 stream was magnificent and promising. The water was just 

 of that color which holds the most beautiful of trout, and 

 which, when in pools, is sure to hide the liveliest of fish. All 



along up the river on the west side were deep, dark pools 

 against a clean, sometimes abrupt, sometimes shelving shore), 

 the east side growing gradually shallower in the sand to the 

 water's edge. A.t the foot of the falls were two glorious 

 eddies with their circling islands of foam. If fishermen ever 

 imagined a more beautiful place for their royal sport, they 

 must have more gifted imaginations than ours. Soon reliev- 

 ing the boats of the freight, we pushed up to the foot of the 

 falls, and all was excitement to see who would kill the first 

 fish. Getting out my line with two or three preliminary casta, 

 down dropped my brown hackle and silver doctor just where 

 I would have them - on the outermost edge of a big apron of 

 foam close under a fall. Carefully I drew them toward me, 

 when a trout struck, and as 1 struck at the same time, de- 

 termined to hook him, back came trout, flies and all clear be- 

 hind me. I needed no landing net. He measured a good 

 four inches, and the blow killed him, or I would never have 

 told this part of the story. I believe we took six or seven- 

 no ; tbe log, which imports as absolute verity as a court 

 record, says eight— such trout in two hours' industrious 

 whipping of that stream. Below, on or above the falls, it 

 mattered not Bites we had, but from flies, not fish. We 

 supposed when we first looked at the river that it took its 

 name from the color of its water. Bat the two hours' fishing 

 convinced Morton, and we had lost by that time all energy of 

 contradic ion, that it was named from the flies. 



We made Blackbird River the next day for dinner. It was 

 an unpromising stream at the entrance, of considerable width, 

 with dark water. The pool below the first rapid showed 

 large pike lying lazily on the bottom, and we hardly expected 

 to take any trout. There was a beautiful pool at foot of the 

 second fall, in which we saw some fine trout, but we could 

 get no rise. Pushing through the thick underbrush a few- 

 rods, we came to a rock which overhung the swift and noisy 

 brook some seven or eight feet above it, and a careful look 

 over into a little pool, hardly holding a half barrel of water, 

 brought into view forty or fifty beauties. There was no such, 

 thing as casting, and reeling in our lines so the fly— for we 

 could use but one— was within three or four feet of the end 

 of the rod, we gently dropped it above their noses. There 

 were rushes, flashes and struggles, the unhooked dispersing 

 up and down the stream, to return with a minute's quiet, so 

 that in as many minutes we had twenty-four. They were not 

 large, but of a beautiful color and full of life. The catch 

 would average over a half a pound each. We saw some 

 larger ones which we judged would weigh two and a half or 

 three pounds, but a pound fish was the largest we could get 

 to rise. Dinner was called, and we went back to the landing. 

 The fishing done was done under such difficulties that I 

 mourned a broken tip, and we lost at least a half dozen 

 flies. They would catch in the brush in spite of us, and a 

 stiff but variable breeze did not make fishing any easier. We 

 had a hard pull out of the deep bay that afternoon, and a 

 head wind until within a mile or two of Mountain Lake 

 River, which we reached about six o'clock. The water was 

 warm, but it seemed clear and beautiful, like the Agawa, the 

 lower banks of whicb we were reminded of. But poling up 

 and casting for a half mile yielded no results but a few small 

 trout not worth the trouble. There is quite an extensive 

 clearing at the mouth of this river, and signs of a large Indi- 

 an encampment during the fishing season (which with the 

 Indians is the fall run of fish, and in the winter), as the nu- 

 merous piles of fish bones indicated. We noticed some trout, 

 but a very much larger proportion of lake trout bones, judging 

 from the characteristics of the head bones. There were some 

 pike and whitoflsh bones also. Soma of the wigwam poles 

 were standing, and other signs showed an occupancy of the 

 place the last winter. 



Saturday's sail was a lively one. The sea was heavy, so 

 that we could not land at some rivers we had intended to 

 visit, and those we touched at happened to be small and unin- 

 teresting. By noon we made the mouth of Little Pic River, 

 over the bar of which the rollers were breaking ; but, watch- 

 ing our chances, we dashed in and went up stream. To the 

 right for nearly a mile the formation was alluvial, covered 

 With a growth of fine timber. To the left the mountains rose 

 in sheer precipices for eight hundred feet. The scenery waa 

 magnificent, After sailing a mile or so up the river, the 

 mountains were to be seen on both sides, and the river 

 changed from a deep and placid one to a bio id and shallow- 

 current, between large boulders, up which it was impossible 

 to get our boats. There were few inviting pools, but being 

 determined to test the stream, we waded for a quarter of a 

 mile, and brought back a few "magnificent'' fish, which, 

 however much ihey would be thought of in New England fish- 

 ing, did not add anything to the charms of Little Pic. We 

 descended the river, and not liking the sand bar for a Sunday- 

 camp, and finding the wind had shifted, carefully crossed the 

 bar and had a fine but rough sail for a few miles to the mouth, 

 of a little stream opposite Pic Island. The sea had been such 

 as to wash up the sand at the mouth of the brook and make 

 quite a pond, out of which, and a few yards above, we took 

 twenty-four small trout before supper. 



Sunday we had a glorious day. There was just enougk 

 breeze to keep off the flies, and the scenery was charming. 

 In front of us were the wooded heights of Pic Island, and te 

 the right and rear the mountains of the main land. Hot bis- 

 cuits, plum pudding, and various other delicacies which tha 

 hurried camps of the week day did not give ua time to pre- 

 pare, graced our Sunday board. 



