BRISTLEBACKS IN THE YOSEMITE VALLEY. 
It remained for a trio of anglers, Claude Shafer, 
Gus Gobel and Harry Edell, the Jatter a well 
known sportsman of this city, to shatter one of 
the traditions woven about the trout fishing in 
the Yosemite Valley. 
For years sportsmen have seldom caught more 
than one or 2 trout a day in the valley, but Messrs. 
Shafer, Gobel and Edell were equipped with a 
knowledge of woodcraft and with skill as ang- 
lers. The trout were not rising to the fly during 
their recent visit, but they soon found what bait 
would tempt the shy fish from the deep pools. For 
2 weeks their daily catch averaged more than 8o0 
fish. These ranged in weight from half a pound 
to 2 pounds. After supplying their own table 
the remainder was distributed among friends who 
caught, as the streams were whipped to 
death by anglers for miles all through 
the valley. The water was clear, which 
made the fish shy. The enclosed picture 
shows you our last day’s catch. 
Harry Edell, San Francisco. 
It would be interesting to know just how 
these men really did get their fish. If the 
stream in question was whipped to death, 
as Edell states, and if other men were get- 
ting only 2 or 3 trout a day, how could these 
chaps possibly make an average, in any 

GUS. GOBEL, HARRY 
were enjoying a visit to the valley.—San Fran- 
cisco Call. 
To my inquiry regarding the truth of this 
report I received the following letter: 
San Francisco, Cal. 
We had great sport in the Yose- 
mite valley and it is true that we caught 
an abundance of trout, although we met 
any number of anglers with not over 2 or 3 
fish as the result of a day’s work. We fished 
about 6 of the 10 days we spent in the val- 
ley and averaged over 80 a day, or over 500 
in all. We had to work for every one we 
EDELL, CLAUDE SHAFER, SAN 
FRANCISCO. 
legitimate way, of 80 fish to each man for 
the 6 days? I have no doubt they got the 
fish, but every honest man who reads Edell’s 
letter will wonder how they got them. Men 
who will slaughter fish at such a rate and 
then string them up and be photographed 
with them, would not hesitate to use a net 
or even a stick of dynamite occasionally ; 
and although these men parade their fly 
rods and their fish baskets. in the picture, 
suspicion will lurk in the mind of every 
reader of RECREATION. 
Shafer’s number in the fish hog pen is 
969, Edell’s 970, and Gobel’s 971. 
Aspiration + perspiration = inspiration.— 
Life. 
200 
ae 
