FISH AND FISHING. 



IS THE OUANANICHE A FRAUD? 



EUGENE M'CARTHY. 



I returned in September from my 

 eleventh annual visit to Lake St. John for 

 ouananiche, thoroughly satisfied with the 

 number of fish I killed, and with their fight- 

 ing qualities. In quantity there may be a 

 diminution, from a decade ago; in fighting 

 action none. Akin to the salmon, the ou- 

 ananiche does not vary in its manner of 

 taking the fly, or its action when hooked, 

 from its illustrious progenitor. From a 

 yearly experience during the length of time 

 above mentioned, I believe myself capable 

 of defending the " little salmon " against 

 the unfavorable charges made against it in 

 an article headed " Is the Ouananiche a 

 Fraud?" in September Recreation. 



Some 7 years ago a well known salmon 

 fisherman made himself heard in 2 sporting 

 journals, bitterly denouncing the ouanan- 

 iche and its fighting qualities. Result — 

 such a flood of indignant replies that in the 

 end, he stated he had not given the fish a 

 fair trial, and would again do so, and ad- 

 mit his error, or otherwise, as the facts 

 warranted. He has remained silent since. 

 A friend of mine was once invited to a sal- 

 mon preserve. Within a week — his limit 

 of time — he killed 3 or 4 medium sized sal- 

 mon, none of which fought very hard. He 

 at once rushed into print, stating that sal- 

 mon fishing was decidedly over-rated. An- 

 other friend came to try his first bass fish- 

 ing in Oneida lake, at my invitation. He, 

 unfortunately, struck a bad time, and re- 

 sults were poor. His deduction was that 

 bass fishing was no good. Shall we con- 

 demn salmon and bass fishing as a conse- 

 quence? 



There is no fishing that does not have its 

 good and bad days, and seasons. Suppose 

 the man who tries it for the first time hap- 

 pens to strike the bad season, or a run of 

 small fish, shall his condemnation libel the 

 fish? I do not believe so, when thousands 

 of anglers, who seek the ouananiche year 

 after year, agree that it is the gamiest of 

 fresh water fish. Individual success or non- 

 success is a very poor argument, against 

 the experience of hundreds of anglers. 



Not over %. to possibly y 2 of salmon 

 killed, take the fly other than under water. 

 The others will break water or jump en- 

 tirely out for it. The same rule holds good 

 for ouananiche. It is immaterial to me 

 whether they take the fly below, on the sur- 

 face^ or above; there is just as much skill 

 required to hook, play, and bring them to 

 net. 

 _ I must therefore deny that they do not 

 rise to the fly. Just as large a percentage 

 do, as of salmon themselves. Only a cer- 



tain proportion of trout, bass, or any game 

 fish will jump out of water for the fly. The 

 ouananiche compares more than favorably 

 with that proportion. In speaking of the 

 way the ouananiche takes the fly your con- 

 tributor says, " He just opens his mouth 

 and sucks it down." The ouananiche 

 rarely, if ever, hooks otherwise than in the 

 lip, indicating a strike, not a suck, and gen- 

 erally lightly, as does the salmon. A trout 

 or bass usually gorges the fly, hooking well 

 back in the mouth or throat. Not over one 

 in 50 or 100 ouananiche will ever hook back 

 of the lip. 



Let me relate my experience. In 2 days, 

 on the third pool of the Metabetchouan, 

 during September last, I killed 16 ou- 

 ananiche; none jumping less than 6 and 

 the majority over 8 times. These fish 

 weighed 3 to 5 pounds. My average time 

 taken to bring them to net was 12 to 18 

 minutes. This season's fishing was in no 

 way an exception to those preceding. I 

 have never, at the Grande Decharge, Meta- 

 betchouan, Ouiatchouan, Ashuapmouch- 

 ouan, at the fifth falls of the Mistassini, or 

 at any of the 11 falls of the Peribonca river,, 

 and lake Tschitagama beyond, found the 

 fish to vary much in size or action from 

 what I have stated above. 



Trolling with flies perfectly represents 

 the impatient fisherman. He naturally 

 covers more ground in so doing, but while 

 he may catch more fish they are as a rule 

 smaller. The true angler, imitating Isaac 

 Walton in patience, locates himself at a 

 good pool, and casts his fly until success 

 rewards him. Success not so much in num- 

 bers, but in hard fighting, large sized fish. 

 He who so fishes cannot truthfully say, the 

 size and action of his fish are not satis- 

 factory. 



I am willing to admit that the ouanan- 

 iche are not so plentiful as they were sev- 

 eral years ago. Enough remain, however, 

 to thoroughly satisfy the true angler. Mr. 

 Beemer, the lessee of all the ouananiche 

 waters, will have a hatcherv in, full working 

 order another year, that will quickly restock 

 the waters. 



Ouananiche fishing, like all other kinds, 

 depends much on time and place. Every- 

 one seems to seek the Grande Decharge 

 at about the same time. As a result, it 

 is over-fished, and far from satisfactory 

 luck is had. Seek the other rivers, at the 

 times I have set forth in my previous writ- 

 ings on the ouananiche, with sufficient time 

 for success, and no complaint will be made. 

 As to the price charged for ouananiche 

 fishing, I have nothing to say, except that 

 it is worth it. If salmon, the king of salt 

 water fishes, are worth $50 each, the aver- 

 age price it costs to kill them; its de- 

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