THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



can have enough of that sluggish sport by taking the morning 

 train west and returning the same night. 



There has been good fishing at Westport, on Plympton Creek, 

 in the past. It is rather a small stream but very pleasant fish- 

 ing, and if Dave West's hotel were "running" I should chance it 

 very often there; but for some years the accommodations have 

 not been attractive and the stream is too far away for a single 

 day's outing. 



Farther west again, at Knappa, is a lovely stream, the Tillas- 

 qua, ignorantly known as "Big Creek" — a name which all honest 

 anglers should discourage, preferring the good old Indian title. 



Go down on an evening train, arriving at Knappa about 9 :30, 

 and walk up through the darkness or by the lantern light to the 

 hotel on the hill. It is a unique old place, its. like nowhere else 

 on the river, standing on a beautiful little peninsula overlooking 

 the broad Columbia and its green, wooded islands, and the fine 

 mountains on Washington shore. You will sleep there in a 

 silence that will almost make your ears ache, in a hotel that once 

 was populous but now rarely has a half dozen guests, always 

 anglers. An early breakfast — not too luxurious — and then tramp 

 either by the county road or a trail south over the ridge a 

 couple of miles, and you strike Tillasqua at a point where its 

 whirling flood swings around a semi-circle below the road. You 

 will probably insist on beginning then and there, and that will 

 be right, too ; but I like to go a couple of miles farther up the 

 canyon and then fish down. In my few visits to Tillasqua I have 

 never been disappointed, though never have made any great 

 catches. It is a fine stream for winter fishing for steelheads. 

 The garden of the old hotel is a delight, and the landlord usually 

 allows his patrons to bring home an armful of old-fashioned 

 flowers, as welcome to "the folks" as a basketful of trout. 



(Note: Since the above was written things are changed 

 sadly for the worse on the Tillasqua. In the spring of 1912, 

 certain fishermen passing through fields and farms along the 



Pag-e seven 



