SALMON FISHING IN LABRADOR. 



Col Charles E. Fuller. 



Several years ago I made a trip 

 to the Natasquhan river, in Labra- 

 dor, in company with five enthu- 

 siastic anglers. It was predicted for us 

 by Mr. Spurr, of St. John, N. B., who 

 had fished the river, that it would be the 

 grand fishing trip of our lives, and so it 

 proved to be. 



We left Boston on the 30th of June, 

 and at Quebec took the steamer for 

 Gaspe, where we had previously engaged 

 a schooner and six guides (some of them 

 Indians), to take us across the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence to the mouth of the river. 



Our trip across the Gulf was made in 

 good weather. We saw flocks of ducks 

 in the water, miles and miles long, near 

 the Labrador coast, and millions of wild 

 fowl of every description nestling on 

 the numerous islands that skirted the 

 4< North Shore." When we arrived at 

 the mouth of the river a heavy gale had 

 set in and breakers at least six feet 

 high were running across the channel, 

 through which two Esquimaux pilots 

 paddled out to us in a short high birch 

 canoe. It was interesting to see them 

 piloting our schooner over the bar 

 through the very crooked channel at its 

 mouth, one of them standing on the tip 

 end of the bowsprit waving his hand 

 first one way and then another, which 

 was responded to by the one at the 

 wheel. We had a pretty tough time 

 going up the river in our canoes. 



The river was very wide and at a 

 low stage of water, with numerous 

 long and narrow sand banks in the mid- 

 dle, which we tried to walk upon to 

 relieve our heavily laden canoes, but the 

 clouds of dry sand, blowing, made it 

 tedious walking. We tried the banks 

 of the river, but found them covered 

 with fallen trees, originally 15 to 20 feet 

 high, but now broken in two, near the 

 middle, by the heavy snows of winter, 

 and so interwoven by brush and briars 

 that we could not go five feet without 

 cutting our way with an axe. 



Mr. Joseph Peabody and myself made 

 the camp just before dark, the other 

 four canoes and the schooner's long 

 boat, with our tents and supplies were 

 strung along, miles in the rear. We 

 were very hungry, supplies not yet in 



sight, so Mr. Peabody set up his rod, 

 made a few casts, hooked and landed a 

 fine salmon, which we split and cooked 

 before an open fire We ate it without 

 butter or salt, but it was delicious. A 

 salmon never tasted so good to me 

 before nor since. There were four 

 pools near our camp, two at the 2d fall, 

 one mile up the river, and one magnifi- 

 cent pool at the 3d fall, 3 or 4 miles 

 away. The river at this point is divided 

 by an island at the top of the fall and 

 the river looked like a miniature Ni- 

 agara — solid green water on one side of 

 the island and white water on the other 

 side. This is one of the finest pools in 

 the world for salmon. When the pool 

 is quiet, and there has been no fishing 

 there for a few days, you would be sate 

 in making a bet that you could raise a 

 salmon on the first cast and repeat it, 

 after landing your fish, at least for half 

 a dozen casts. Mr. Long, of Boston. 

 Mr. William Muller, of London, and 

 myself, made three simultaneous short 

 casts in the square pool, 3d fall, stand- 

 ing on a rock, within ten feet of each 

 other, and each one of us hooked a 

 salmon. We had some quick work 

 changing positions and passing our rods 

 over and under one another, but we were 

 all successful in landing our fish — Mr. 

 Muller landing his, without a gaff, by 

 the tail, English fashion. At the third 

 fall we could see one or more salmon in 

 the air all the time. They were jump- 

 ing a small fall of four or five feet below 

 the main fall, up which they swam alter 

 resting in a small pool behind a large 

 rock. Here we could see the fins ol 

 the salmon as thick as sardines in a box. 

 From this half-way pool they made con- 

 tinued attempts to swim up the main 

 fall and were generally successful. In 

 the bright sunlight we could see the en- 

 tire form of the fish in the thin, foamy 

 white water as they swam diagonally up 

 the fall at an angle of about 70 degi 



The fourth fall being too far away 

 from camp to go and return the same 

 day, we too-k our tents and camped 

 there, three at a time, so as to equally 

 divide the fishing. Owing to the con- 

 tinued low stage of the water in the 

 river, the salmon of the previous year 



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