58 



RECREATION". 



scendant, the fresh water salmon, king of 

 fresh water fishes, is worth one hundredth 

 part, 50 cents, as the average catch per day 

 will cost. 



Ouananiche fishing is sui generis, as is 

 salmon killing. Preliminary fishing in the 

 Nepigon, in Maine, the Adirondacks, Scot- 

 land or any other section, is of little value, 

 no matter how long practised. This fish- 

 ing, at the proper time and place, demands 

 that one almost learn fishing over again 

 to be successful. His former trout or bass 

 experience is of little value, and his judg- 

 ment is but little better than an amateur's. 



" Four pounds is a big ouananiche." I 

 must disagree with this statement. I con- 

 sider it a medium or rather an average 

 weight. Six or 6 x / 2 pounds are large ones, 

 and are frequently taken. It is heavy 

 for trolling, not for casting. I must also 

 submit that the unknown adjectives applied 

 to the guides, and their quoted French, 

 have nothing to do with the argument, un- 

 less to bring out the proper claim that no 

 better guides or canoemen exist anywhere. 

 As for Mr. Beemer's preserve on the 

 Grande Decharge, it is nearer 12 miles in 

 length than 5 or -6. The number of good 

 pools contained in it would run into the 

 hundreds. Certainly not a very limited fish- 

 ing ground. His other territory covers 

 over 1,000 miles of ouananiche fishing 

 waters. 



It can be guaranteed that when one fishes 

 properly for ouananiche, and secures them 

 as they can be secured, not only rods, but 

 tips and leaders as well, will be smashed. 

 This is the experience of hundreds of 

 anglers. As to the eating qualities of the 

 fish, that is a matter of taste. The concen- 

 sus of opinion is that it is equal in every re- 

 spect to the salmon, excelling it in that it is 

 not so oily. 



The letter given in your September num- 

 ber " is a matter of opinion," but if an opin- 

 ion is radically wrong, it is subject to crit- 

 icism. Individual opinions are allowable, 

 but should not be advanced against the uni- 

 versal opposite opinions of the multitude. 



The moral to be deduced, is to never con- 

 demn any especial sport at sight. This your 

 correspondent has done. An old member 

 of the St. Marguerite salmon club not long 

 since said to me that they occasionally 

 hooked a ouananiche on their preserve. 

 His final remark was, " I would just as soon 

 kill a ouananiche as a salmon, as it will 

 outfight and outjump a salmon of twice its 

 weight." How does this coincide with what 

 your contributor states? 



In conclusion, I would add that just as 

 large fish, and as satisfactory fishing, have 

 been had this season at Lake St. John as 

 at any time in some years past. Not every 

 day but as a whole. This I learn from 

 'fishermen who have been* there, not from 

 " the record book at the hotel." I will 

 only ask your correspondent to again try 



ouananiche fishing properly, and I will 

 guarantee he will become an enthusiastic 

 convert to the sport, as have many others. 

 I will gladly advise him personally when 

 and where, if he so desire. 



FISHING THROUGH THE ICE. 



COL. FRED MATHER. 



In the November Recreation the editor 

 asks for some points on fishing through the 

 ice, for pickerel, which request recalls the 

 days of youth, when winter sports were dif- 

 ferent from those of the same season to- 

 day. The change has not been in the 

 sports. No, it is in the man. Half a cen- 

 tury ago (I love to count time by centuries 

 now) we boys, just like the boys of to-day, 

 cared nothing for the blasts of winter. A 

 frozen ear, or toe, while skating or taking 

 pickerel through the ice, was a mere inci- 

 dent not to be considered seriously, so long 

 as it was incurred while engaged in any 

 real sport. 



Mark the change which comes with 

 years. Now the main charm of winter con- 

 sists in sitting by the fire and rehearsing the 

 sports of other days; or in " good com- 

 pagnie " to discuss the venison and currant 

 jelly; the roast grouse and a bottle of Bar- 

 zac, or a canvas-back, au naturel, and a 

 champagne, if you will; or, better, one of 

 the wines of Burgundy, into which the sun- 

 shine on the hills of Cote d'Or has been 

 preserved in bouquet. 



" To this complexion must we come at 

 last," as Hamlet says. And so an old man 

 gradually shifts into " the lean and slip- 

 pered pantaloon, his acts being 7 ages." 



With this as an apology for writing about 

 a sport in which I have not recently par- 

 ticipated, but which is just the same old 

 sport that it was, and ever will be, we will 

 take a look at it, as we boys loved it. 



Said Garry Van Hoesen; " There's goin' 

 to be ice enough to bear us on the lake to- 

 morrow, an' we'd better git out and have 

 the first whack at the pickerel, in the morn- 

 in'; 'cause if we don't the ice '11 be thicker 

 nex' day an' we can't fish as many holes." 



" To-morrer's Friday," said John At- 

 wood, " an' I've got to go to school. Make 

 it Saturday." 



" All right," said Garry, " but the ice '11 

 be 2 inches thicker an' the holes harder to 

 cut. In 4 inch ice we can cut 30 holes in an 

 hour; but if it's 6 inches you cain't do 

 more'n half the number. I tried it once 

 when the ice was over a foot thick, and it 

 took all the morning to cut 3 holes; an' 

 we ought to have about 50 holes for 3 of 

 us." 



And so we boys went to the lake with an 

 axe, an ice chisel, lines and a lot of live 

 minnows, in 2 buckets, which the cold 

 water kept alive until we could make a 

 change of water on the way. The ice was 



