THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



Seaside visitors, and the famous Nekanakum. The latter is prob- 

 ably more fished than any other stream in the Pacific States. 

 Thousands of visitors fish its waters every summer, and the nu- 

 merous and persistent anglers of Seaside are at it all winter long 

 with spoons and salmon eggs. It is a wonder there are any trout 

 left in it, and the angler in midsummer is apt to believe there are 

 none. I have tramped miles in an August day, half way from its 

 source to its outlet, and fished faithfully without a rise from a 

 legal fish; yet a week later, not two miles above Seaside House, 

 have had good sport. There is no more beautiful stream than 

 this, methinks. To one who knows the Nekanakum well, and loves 

 it, as all who know it must, the catching of a great creel full is 

 not altogether necessary to an enjoyable day on its waters. 



The fish of this river are fully wise. There are large, deep 

 pools, sometimes several hundred yards long, in which the fish 

 congregate, and from which at most times no lure will entice 

 them. On these very pools — given a cloudy, breezy day — big 

 trout will occasionally come to the fly like hungry wolves. Pos- 

 sibly the Nekanakum produces more fish in the aggregate than 

 any stream of similar size, to the angler, in this state. It is of all 

 others the stream to test the skill and patience of the finished 

 sportsman, and there's a triumph in taking a dozen good trout 

 from its waters that rarely comes to an angler elsewhere, for he 

 knows he has earned them dearly. 



Eight miles south of Seaside (the road following Nekanakum 

 four miles), across a ridge running east from Tillamook Head, 

 is Elk Creek, with a couple of hotels, open summer and winter. 

 This stream is much less fished than Nekanakum, and about half 

 the size. It furnishes good sport, and is a delightful region, 

 its sea beach close at hand being studded with magnificent rocky 

 pinnacles, and the sandy shore clean and hard and delightful. 

 There is good sea fishing from these rocks. The road to Elk 

 Creek is fine for auto, wagon, saddle horse or footman, and the 

 walk is perhaps the pleasantest way of all to travel thither. 



Pag-e six 



