82 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



the glassy water, as it were between earth and sky. For two 

 hours we fish with good success, then a lovely sunset. The 

 shadows are peaceful ; the silence of night lulls to repose the 

 lake, which, like another sky, seems to contain its own lumi- 

 naries of moon and stars. But, soft I The twang of oarlocks! 

 Passing yonder, in the strip of silvery light, is a belated swain 

 reluming to Chandler's Landing, bis lady love singing in time 

 -with the dip of the oars, as their skiff moves through the 

 scattering rushes. 



"When we take the train for the East, we feel that one who has 

 Buffered a two-years' imprisonment in a busy city office, sur- 

 rounded by stone walls and breathing an atmosphere of smoke 

 and dust, may be excused for his enthusiasm over the at- 

 tractions of this sheet of water, bluff-guarded, rill and spring- 

 fed, forest-girdled, wide-winding, with its many coves and 

 grassy banks : its pure air, green pastures and still waters;— 

 beautiful Devil's Lake ! 



For Forest and Stream and Mod and Gun. 

 MY FIRST SALMON. 



FOR several years I have been satisfied with the different 

 kinds of fishing to be found in New England waters, 

 salt or fresh, but for the last year I have been growing dis- 

 satisfied with the opportunities offered here, partly through the 

 stories I have read in your columns and elsewhere, but more 

 particularly by the stories I have heard from such salmon ex- 

 perts as our good brother Bracket of the Anglers Association 

 and Fred Curtis, Esq., of our city, the lessee of one of the best 

 salmon streams in Canada, the Dartmouth. Bo some three or 

 four months ago I determined that I would take my first 

 salmon this year— if I could. "With the assistance of the last- 

 named gentlemen and John Hicksen, Esq , the courteous ward- 

 en, I was enabled to get the refusal of what is called the rough- 

 waters of the Nepissiquit River, emptying into the Bay of 

 Chaleur at Bathurst, N. B., from the 25th of June to the 3d 

 of July inclusive, an excellent time in the season. 



My party was soon made up and consisted of A. G. Hills, 

 of the Boston Journal, J. S. Ames of Norfolk, Va., "Walter 

 R. Adams of Ashburnham, Mass., and myself, all great lovers 

 of the piscatorial art, but all like myself novices in the salmon 

 branch of it. 



Upon our arrival at Bathurst we were informed that the 

 lessee of the Pappana district in this river would not in all pro- 

 bability fish this season, and as it was thought our chances for 

 securing fish were much better in the upper waters than in the 

 lower or rough waters, where it was arranged we were to get our 

 sport, weplaced ourselves in communication with him and were 

 fortunate in securing this part of the river. At Bathurst we secur- 

 ed the necessary outfit, such as tents, potatoes, pork, flour, a 

 French cook, etc. , depending upon our rod and line for the luxu- 

 ries. Sunday was spent in Bathurst in a quiet way. This town is 

 situated upon two hills or bluffs overlooking the bay, which is 

 rather the outlet of the River Nepissiquit. It is a very pleasant 

 seaport town; its cool, bracing atmosphere quickly restores 

 to health and vigor the weary, careworn business man. Fish 

 and lumber are the great exports of this section. Just outside 

 of Bathurst Bay may be seen a lobster canning establishment 

 with large ships always in attendance during the season. In 

 the town several artificial freezing houses have lately been 

 erected, so that salmon, mackerel, linnett, etc., can be frozen 

 immediately after being caught and kept, almost any length 

 of time. It is almost unnecessary to say that arrangements 

 were made for freezing a large quantity of salmon— to b« tak- 

 en by our party. 



Monday morning we left Bathurst for camp, our road fol- 

 lowing the windings of the river to the Grand Falls its termi- 

 nus. The latter part of this road could more properly be called 

 a path, and it is extremely difficult to travel with horse and 

 ■wagon. It was nearly six o'clock in the evening before we 

 succeeded in getting anything to eat after our long and tire- 

 some journey through a dreary and almost unbroken wilderness 

 of spruce and pine. It had been an exceeding warm and sul- 

 try day, just such a one as those in which black flies, mosqui- 

 toes and their larger brethren the moose fly, delight to prey 

 upon the helpless humanity which ventures into their domain. 



"We fished but little for salmon that day, giving our attention 

 to trout, which were wanted for camp duty. Supper over, 

 the work of the morrow was laid out. It was decided that 

 two of us should go up the river from camp, and the other 

 two down. Our camp was pitched at what is called " Chain of 

 Rocks," in about the centre of our fishing district. The great 

 questions, who would get the the first salmon ? who the largest 

 one ? were to be settled. "We expected on the morrow all of 

 course would get some, but alas ! there are uncertainties even 

 in salmon fishing, for two of our enthusiastic brothers came 

 into camp at night without their first salmon, tired, sore, sun 

 burned and hungry ; there were flies and mosquitoes, millions 

 of then', where they had been. The other two came into camp 

 as fresh as they went out; to be sure they were hungry and a 

 little sore and they had seen a fly or two, but what cared they 

 for those little things,the first salmon had been taken. They had 

 taken more than one, four was the score of one, and two that 

 of the other. They had seen the promised land, and it is said 

 that after taking bis second salmon which proved to be the 

 largest one taken by our party, weighing over 22 pounds, oue 

 of the two expressed himself as supremely happy ; didn't want 

 to fish any more, was willing to go home satisfied. 



The feelings of one with his first salmon upon his line (if 

 he is a lively fish) are not easily described. Your fishing 

 tackle is much larger and stronger than that used for trout or 

 bass. You strike a fish that spins your large reel and your 

 ieavy oiled silk line, making a mere toy of it ; then you for 



the first time gaze upon what looks like a live block of silver, 

 some four or six feet in the air, aud perhaps two hundred 

 feet away from you, and are told that that fish is upon your 

 fine ; and after six of these leaps and as many more doubles 

 he gradually shows his weakness ; comes to the surface ; turns 

 upon his back; is finally brought to gaff, and you are assured 

 that he cannot escape. Here is your first salmon before you, 

 a fifteen-pound fish, conquered with your own hands, and with 

 a little fly hook. If you do not call him the handsomest fish 

 ever made ; if you do not indidge in some lively expressions 

 of joy and thankfulness that you were permitted to accomplish 

 all this, then I pity you. There is some mistake, you are in 

 the wrong world ! The writer has enjoyed some Tittle experi- 

 ence in taking many kinds of fish, but he must say there is a 

 satisfaction, a fullness in bringiug to gaff a salmon, such as he 

 never experienced in taking any other kind of fish. There can 

 be no question about it, he is the king of all fish and all 

 other fishing pales before this. Never have we seen any 

 testimony to the contrary. Let a sportsman once get a taste 

 of this kind of sport, and if he have the time and means you 

 will find him every year casting his " silver doctor," "silver 

 gray," "fairy" or some other favorite fly fifty, sixty, seventy 

 or perhaps one hundred feet just where he knows a salmon lies 

 in the pool. 



Salmon fishing has its drawbacks ; it is very difficult to get 

 an opportunity to fish in a good river during a desirable time 

 in the season or when fish are running. It is quite an expen- 

 sive pleasure, as each fisherman must have two men for his 

 canoe. Salmon rivers are a long distance away, it takes time 

 and money to reach them, and after you have reached them i l 

 sometimes happens there is no run of fish. Then.too, you must 

 suffer more or less those pests, the flies. "We had in our posses, 

 sion six different kinds of mixtures, each one recommended with 

 the highest testimonials, and none of which were worth carry- 

 ing into the woods. The only thing we found of service to 

 us was a simple gauze net with an elastic at each end attached 

 to our hat and running over the brim down to and under our 

 shirt collar. This effectually kept the flies away from our 

 faces, and the contrivance for our hands consisted of a linen 

 sleeve commencing at the elbow with an elastic to keep it in 

 place, covering the hand, leaving only the thumb and fingers. 

 An improvement upon this we think would be to have the 

 sleeve form a part of a glove covering the entire hand. "We 

 were indebted to our friend, Mr. Curtis, for the veil and 

 sleeves. 



But to return to our fishing. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thurs- 

 day and Friday we had varying success, changing about, now 

 up, now down the river until each had caught his first salmon. 

 After the hard day's work away from camp, we found a din- 

 ner and supper all in one upon our return; then the exploits 

 of the day were told over and over again around our great 

 log fires and smudges. The novelty of these circumstances 

 made us forget our hard work and gave a pleasant interest to 

 our enjoyments. Two of our guides brought with them their 

 violins. Imagine, if you please, four fishermen "balancing 

 corners, right and left," around two large camp fires, whose 

 bright lights cast fantastic shadows and shapes all about us ; 

 the forest all around us, not a habitation for miles, no note 

 excepting that of the night hawk above us and the rushing of 

 the water over the chain of rocks below us, and you may see 

 us as we were encamped upon the banks of the Nepissiquit. 



The study of the habits and peculiarities of fish of auy kind 

 must be very interesting to the student, but there are many 

 simple facts interesting to all which are noticed by the lover 

 of this sport as he is in pursuit of his game. 



Salmon commence their annual ascent of the rivers where 

 they were born about the first of June. Generally they make 

 the journey, resting in the deep pools on the way, until they 

 have completed the distance in about one week. Occasion- 

 ally a school will make a journey in twenty-four hours. It is 

 an established fact that these fish always return to the stream 

 and place in the stream where they were born. Here the 

 female with her nose digs a hole in the ground in shallow and 

 swift running water and lays her eggs. She watches over the 

 eggs until they are hatched and the young parr are able to 

 care for themselves. She does this persistently, often show- 

 ing so little regard for her own safety that she is easily speared 

 or caught in other unlawful ways at this time. She never 

 rises to a fly during this season. 



Having completed their work they return to the sea and 

 remain — in what part of it nobody knows — until another year 

 rolls round. It is said a fish goes down stream head against 

 the current, and that salmon return to the sea in the same 

 way. The young fry remain in their native streams two 

 years, when they too proceed to the sea, only about one-half 

 returning to the river the fourth year, the other half the fifth j 

 that is, some are absent one year, some two years. 



There are always interesting incidents in connection with 

 fish and fishing which only men who follow fishing as a busi- 

 ness or pastime ever learn. One of the guides tells of a 

 struggle between a large salmon and an eagle, of which he 

 was an eye-witness. The story ran thus : "When returning to 

 camp one evening in the fall they noticed a large eagle hang- 

 ing quite low over the water at no great distance from them. 

 They at once knew that he was fishing for salmon, and waited 

 in hopes to secure the fish after it had been caught by the 

 bird. The eagle finally dropped upon his fish, but did not 

 rise as usual, and thereupon commenced a fearful struggle in 

 the water. At one time the eagle would be entirely sub- 

 merged, and again he would appear out of water, spreading his 

 large and powerful wings to fly, but all in vain. Below he 



would go again, in and out, until he was finally drowned, 

 both salmon and eagle being killed in their efforts to escape. 

 It was found the bird had fastened his talons so deeply into 

 the flesh of the large fish that he could not extricate them. 



Saturday morning, June 30th, it was decided to break camp. 

 After an early breakfast, and stowing away our camp utensils 

 in our canoe, we commenced the descent of the river. In my 

 canoe were placed the fruits of my previous day's sport, 

 viz.: eight salmon weighing respectively 8, 13, 13, 12$, 12, 13, 

 8 and 10 pounds each, making 88£ pounds of fish for one day's 

 catch This was regarded as a remarkably good day's work 

 for this stream, as the fish here are small compared with those 

 in some other streams in Canada. Fish of this size afford, it 

 is said, more sport in taking than the larger one?, as they are 

 much more lively, and oftentimes make a half dozen leaps 

 out of the water before showing signs of weakness. Of the 

 fifteen salmon taken by myself upon this trip, an eight-pound 

 fish afforded me more sport and harder work to bring to gaff 

 than any other one I landed. The largest one I caught, weigh- 

 ing twenty pounds and upward, never left the water after he 

 was hooked, and I did not see him until a few moments before 

 he gave out and was gaffed at my feet. 



We were to fish down stream, and as the " high line" of our 

 party, on the first day, had not taken a fish since, and it was 

 known that two more fish were needed to fill his cup of hap- 

 piness, the best chance for securing them was given him at 

 " Middle Landing," and strange as it may seem, our knight of 

 the quill caught bis two fish there. They were also the only 

 fish caught that day, although several were hooked and lost. 



Sunday found us again in Bathurst, in the land of civiliza- 

 tion once more, at the comfortable Hotel Wilbur, out of 

 the haunts of black flies and mosquitoes. Here we had the 

 pleasure of meeting our friend F. Curtis, Esq., of Boston, who 

 had just returned for a few days rest after some remarkable 

 fishing upon the Bestigouche. 



This fine river, probably the best in America, is rented in 

 two divisions ; the lower to Sanford Fleming, Esq., of 

 Canada, the celebrated engineer and angler j the other to Hon. 

 J. C. Brydges, of Montreal, Genl. Director of Govt. Rail- 

 ways. It was placed at the disposal of the Fishery Commis- 

 sion exclusively as long as as they desired to occupy it. Sir 

 A. T. Gait, of Canada, British Commissioner ; Hon. E. H. 

 Kellogg, of Pittsfield, Mass., American Commissioner; Hon. 

 "W. F. "Whitcher, Fish Commissioner of the Dominion of 

 Canada; Fred Curtis, Esq., solicitor and counsel in patent 

 cases, Boston, Honorary Secretary ; and Mr, John Gait, pri- 

 vate Secretary to Sir A. T. Gait, composed the party, accom- 

 panied by Mr. John Mowatt, the genial and able Fishery 

 "Warden of that section. Sir A. T. Gait, Mr. "Whitcher and 

 Mr. Curtis had fine sport. Mr. Kellogg, although fishing for 

 salmon for the first time, was very successful, killing some 

 fifteen large fish in six da w vs, but the score of Mr. Curtis for 

 one day is probably unprecedented in fishing annals ; it was 

 thirteen salmon, averaging twenty-four pounds each, three of 

 the number weighing over thirty pounds. 



The partj-, after leaving the Restigouche, revisited the Mata- 

 pedia as the guests of Mr, Geo. Stephen, of Montreal (the lessee 

 of the stream), universally known throughout Canada as an ac- 

 complished angler, and large hearted and courteous gentleman. 

 "We also had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Kennedy, of Bos- 

 ton, and his friend Col. Pierce, of Springfield, Mass., who were 

 bound for a few days fishing at Papana Falls, some seven 

 miles up the the river, upon the Nepissiquit. The uncer- 

 taniiies of fishing were exemplified by an exceedingly un- 

 fortunate accident which happened to Judge Souther, of 

 Erie, Pa., who had the misfortune, after having made the 

 entire journey from Perm, to the Chain of Rocks, and before 

 he had thrown a fly, to suffer a severe ankle sprain which in- 

 capacitated him for any sport. 



Early Monday morning we were at the rough waters of Ba- 

 thurst, and during the forenoon I landed three salmon, one 

 grilse and several large sea trout. While poling up stream in 

 our canoe and in quite shallow water, the man forward sud- 

 denly cried out, " Mon JDvsu, wyez salmon!" and struck with 

 all his force at something in the water. Taking in the situa- 

 tion at once, I jumped up from my seat in the centre of the 

 canoe, dropped my rod and cried, ' ' Where is the gaff ?" at 

 the same time seizing it. In the meantime the fish had gone 

 down and was struck at by the man in the stern and turned 

 under the cance and up stream, where a moment after he was 

 taken from the water by the waiter with his' gaff and landed 

 safely inside the canoe. It was a fine fish, weighing just 

 twenty pounds, and was a sight in the shallow and rough 

 waters, trying to find the channel which he had for some rea- j 

 son lost. 



One word in reference to packing our fish. Every other 

 day we sent them to Bathurst and had them frozen, and at the 

 last moment carefully packed in snow (much better than ice) 

 and expressed upon the train with us upward of thirty 

 fish and weighing about 400 pounds. Tuesday morning, July 

 3d, we joined our friends at that desolated city of St. John> 

 and after breakfast took the only regular eastward train in 

 twenty-four hours over E. & N. A. R. R. This is a long and 

 tedious day between St. John and Bangor, where we arrived 

 about six o'clock in the evening. Here we took car for Bos- 

 ton, and upon the anniversary of our Independence, amid the 

 ringing of bells and firing of cannon, we arrived home. 



I wish to tender for our party our acknowledgments r. 

 W. Nicholson, Esq., of St. John, for the great prh 

 which he accorded us as his guests upon the Nepissiquit, of 

 which he is lessee. 



