FISH AND FISHING. 



IS THE OUANANICHE A FRAUD? 



Quebec, Can. 



Editor Recreation: I have just come 

 down from Lake St. John, the home of the 

 ouananiche. I read about that chap 15 years 

 ago, and now that I have had him on deck, 

 and had it out with him, I am going to tell 

 the truth (paradoxical as it may seem, in 

 a fisherman) about him. 



First, it costs $7 a day to fish for him. 

 Second he does not rise to the fly. Let 

 any man deny that if he can. No jump- 

 clean out-turn over-and come down 

 again-knock it with his tail-or get it 

 any way, about him. He just opens his 

 mouth and sucks it down. You never see 

 him grab the fly; and after the reputation 

 of rod smashing, jumping, wild horse tac- 

 tics, he has, he was a sore disappointment 

 to me. 



I got 2, several times, and got them in 

 swift water; fish that weighed 2 pounds 

 apiece — not guess weight but actual weight. 

 I had them both in the net and never lost 

 one, in 3^2 minutes by the watch, using a 

 7}/2 ounce rod. 



Out of 20 fish only one jumped out of 

 water. Gentle friends of the angle, it's my 

 humble opinion, and that of the 4 friends 

 who fished with me, that this chap is a bit 

 overrated. One of these friends is an 

 American who has fished the Nepigon and 

 many other famous waters. Another is a 

 Scotchman who owns waters and who 

 fishes for salmon and trout, in this country 

 and in Europe. So you see they are com- 

 petent judges. 



I am no sore-head. I have been fishing 

 and hunting most of my time for 12 years; 

 and you catch more ounaniche trolling 

 your fly than by casting it. His food is in 

 the swift water, not on it. He won't and 

 can't " Jomp quinze fit hagh! " as the fat- 

 pork-and-sundown French guides say he 

 can. 



Four pounds is a big ounaniche; and 

 when you spend the time, and money (and 

 it takes lots of both), you will think of the 

 story of Hank White's beans, i.e., " He 

 didn't git so many beans on that piece of 

 land as he expected to, and he didn't ex- 

 pect he should when he planted 'em." 



There are, as nearly as I can learn and see, 

 about 5 or 6 miles of the Grand Discharge, 

 and not one-fourth of that can be fished, 

 because it is too rapid. The water was 

 leased by Mr. Beanwar, of the Roberval 

 hotel, the upper part I mean — and the 

 lower by a trusted employee, Mr. Scott. 

 Now there is friction and the water the 

 hotel has is small in quantity and, in my 

 opinion, sadly overfished. Railroad and 

 steamboat connections are nil, before the 



summer trains are put on, and 7 simol- 

 ions per diem rather stiff when 6 men do 

 not break a tip, lose a leader, nor catch a 

 fish weighing over 4 pounds; when one 

 and all declare the fish do not rise like a 

 trout, or a salmon, and that they are not 

 so good to eat, by any manner of means. 



Had I been alone I might have swal- 

 lowed some of the yarns about 6 pound- 

 ers, later; but when I heard Mr. Cox's 

 story I was certain Ananias's seed was not 

 extinct. Six meant 2 ana 4 meant V/2. 



Mr. Cox is here and I am going to ask 

 him some questions, when he comes to 

 lunch. There are 4 others behind him and 

 he was high line while there. More than 

 that another Johnny has just gone up 

 and is going to fish the best water. I 

 will collar him when he comes down; for 

 to take the hotel people at their word the 

 fishing, this year, should be at its prime 

 right now. 



The foregoing is matter of opinion and 

 I claim a right to mine. I have been there. 

 True, I did not stay long; neither did any 

 one else I saw, and I had a chance to see 

 the catches of others, and to get their ver- 

 sion of things in general. I believe the 

 thing overdrawn. Having fished in many 

 waters I carry a large bag of salt, and find 

 it comes handy. 



Mr. Cox has just come in and I asked 

 him how he caught his ouananiche. 



" All by trolling; none on the cast. My 

 big basket was 19 fish, weight 30^ pounds. 

 Largest fish 3 pounds. The guides said 

 that would be the largest taken, as there 

 were but one or 2 better last year. I be- 

 lieve them, and not the record book in the 

 hotel. 



" All my fish took the fly below water. 

 Same thing in Metabetchuan, where I 

 fished 3 l / 2 days and did not see a fish take 

 the fly above water; nor did I see any one 

 who did see it. The largest fish I saw up 

 there weighed 4 pounds." 



Now, there you are, just as we saw it. 

 Use these letters as you please, so you get 

 in the facts. J. C. French, M.D. 



KING AND BARTLETT LAKE. 

 W. D. GRUET. 



Leaving Hartford on June 20, 1896, 1 spent 

 the night at Portland, Me. The next morn- 

 ing the journey was resumed, and at Dead 

 river station the, stage was taken, for Eus- 

 tis. About 3 miles from the station I saw 

 my first wild deer. He was grazing, across 

 the river, not over 150 yards from the road. 



At 10 o'clock in the evening we were at 

 Eustis. The next day's orogramme was a 

 buckboard ride of 15 miles, to King and 



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