448 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Dec. so. 1886. 



RISING TO A FLY IN ALASKA. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



I have often seen it questioned in youi- paper whether 

 certain trout will rise to a fly. If not, why not? Will a 

 duck swim? Will the Hon. Chauncey M. Depew rise to a 

 toast? Will a Congressman rise to a point of order? As 

 Pat says, "What's to hinder? 



It is asserted and contradicted that the trout of Alaska 

 will not rise to a fly, and my name has been referred to 

 as authority for the statement that they do. I take occa- 

 sion, therefore, in view of the general interest involved 

 and manifested, to depose that I have caught Alaskan 

 trout— four of them — "on a fly." I took them with a 

 small blue-professor in a pretty stream, which was the 

 outlet of a fresh- water lake lying a half mile back from 

 the soa. Moreover, three other gentlemen, who were 

 voyagers with me, took several specimens of two varie- 

 ties, black-spotted and red-spotted, from a lake on Calvert 

 Island — all with a fly. My object in writing, however, is 

 not so much to substantiate testimony as to exijlain why 

 the question should be raised at all. The absence of such 

 a distinguishing trait of the Salmo family would indeed 

 be peculiar. The trout of the streams which empty into 

 Puget Sound rise to a fly, for I have taken them there 

 myself in that way; and why not in Alaska? They take 

 a fly in the streams of British Columbia and why not also 

 in Alaska? Some of the varieties are common to these 

 several localities. There must be some extraneous cause 

 operating upon what is known to be an inherent trait of 

 the entire family, namely, the disposition to rise to objects 

 moving on the sturface. 



It may be pertinent for me to say here that I learned 

 the art of fly-fishing in 1847 and I have used a fly ever 

 since, from preference, whenever the character of the 

 water and its siuroundings would permit. I commenced 

 on trout and I have extended the practice to a great 

 many other kinds of fish, fluvial and marine, until the 

 list will i)ossibly reach some thirty in niunber, including 

 whitefish, codfish and pollock. There are no less than 

 thirteen varieties of fish known to take the ai-tiflcial fly 

 on the Gulf coast of Florida. Why should these rise to 

 the fly and not the trout of Alaska? This disposition of 

 all fishes, other than strictly bottom feeders, to seize ob- 

 jects moving on the surface, is surely sufficiently well 

 proven. Some do it habitually and others on occasion. 

 Much depends upon circumstances, often purely acciden- 

 tal. Even with trout and sahnon, which are the most 

 habitual surface feeders, circumstances govern to such a 

 degree as to afford rules of guidance in anghng. Experi- 

 enced fishermen have learned this. From first to last 

 I have never thought to question whether any of the 

 salmon family would rise to the fly. I take it for granted 

 that they will. It is their conspicuous trait. I never 

 heard the question raised tmtil the Pacific sahnon came 

 under the notice of anglers, some fifteen years ago. If I 

 do not svicceed in taking them at the first trial I attempt 

 it again and again imtil I do succeed. I offer my lure 

 with equal confidence to bass, grayling, pike and the Kke, 

 while witli other less ambitious varieties of fish it is 

 always an interesting expei-iment to discover whether 

 they will rise or not. I have taken trout while fishing 

 for salmon in Canadian rivers and I have taken a salmon 

 wliile fishing for trout. As a rule, however, trout wiU 

 not take a fly when salmon are in a river. No doubt 

 they are disconcerted by the movements of the salmon. 

 The salmon themselves will not at all times take a fly 

 when they are running, and the barren days in the course 

 of a season are many. 



On the Pacific coast the movements of salmon are vastly 

 more intricate and their caprices much more inexplicable. 

 The fish are there in remarkable variety as well as incal- 

 culable numbers. The seasons vary. There is a different 

 i-un for nearly every month of the year. At times the 

 estuaries and fiords are so packed that the fish can scarcely 

 move. At such times it would be as reasonable to expect 

 a salmon to take a fly as bees swarming to sip the flowers 

 or cattle on a stampede to salt lick; and as for any small 

 fish mixed up in the melee — well, they have something to 

 think of besides subsistence. 



It may be suggested in refutation of this view, that 

 salmon take a spoon in the Bay of San Francisco, and at 

 the mouth of the Columbia River, which is very true, but 

 there they have ample sea room. And if it be asked why 

 they also do not take a fly, it may pertinently be asked if 

 Atlantic salmon were ever known to take a fly in the salt 

 water of the East coast ? I suppose that if salmon swarmed 

 into the rivers of Canada and Maine in such enormous 

 multitudes as they do on the Pacific, fly-fishing would be 

 impossible and unknown. But on the coast of south- 

 eastern Alaska, where observations have been made only, 

 there are but two rivers, the Stickeen and Taku, so that 

 the fishing there is not fluvial fishing at all, but is con- 

 fined to the salt water. I suppose if experiments were 

 made in the upper waters of the rivers named, or in those 

 of the Yukon, they would be as successful, at proper 

 times, as they are in the Atlantic rivers. 



It will be presently perceived that what I am saying 

 about the salmon is not at all U'relovant to the main 

 question at issue as to whether trout will take a fly, but 

 it is intimately related to it. The salmon of Alaska are 

 practically our estuary fish, and so are the trout. I mean 

 those trout which we have under consideration. I do not 

 understand that the trotit of the interior are to be regarded 

 at all, for observations have necessarily been limited to 

 the tide-water aspects of the archipelago of the south- 

 eastern coast. All the little trout streams are peculiarly 

 insular. The streams of the mountainous and abrupt 

 mainland are uniformly glacial outflows in which no 

 trout live. The insular streams are very short, often 

 heading in small lakes. Very few of these have been 

 ascended to a point much above tide water, so that miless 

 a person has tried the upper wat-ers he is not competent 

 to decide the question whether the trout will take a fly or 

 not, for in the lower streams, in which the tide I'ises 

 eighteen feet, are either jammed with salmon or glutted 

 with spawn at the very time when angling is attempted. 

 In the absence of spawn I have no doubt the trout will 

 take a fly, and I am equally confident that there are 

 certain periods of the year -o-hen fly-fishing can he suc- 

 cessfully prosecuted in Alaskan streams. The proof of 

 my confidence is that they do sometimes take the fly 

 under conditions which are most unfavorable. 



_ I wish to say here that I have observed the same pecu- 

 liarities as to the indifference of trout to artificial flies on 

 the coast of Labrador, where codfish stages axe estab- 

 l!i»hed» Stages aire room& built on sciaffold$ over the 



water along shore, where codfish are dressed and cleaned. 

 The offal, which is dmnped by the ton into the water 

 underneath, affords a luxurious feeding ground for 

 sculpins and shore fish; and whenever these stages are 

 located near the mouths of streams, they are invariably 

 resorted to by trout, which run down from above and 

 gorge themselves. I have fished several of these streams 

 at such times and found them quite depopulated. At 

 least I found no evidences of trout there, neither bait nor 

 fly inducing any results. 



My conclusions are, that at proper seasons the upper 

 streams of Alaska will yield as good sport to the fly-fisner 

 as trout streams in any other regions do; but I would not 

 advise anglers to go there in berry time, when bears are 

 abundant. ' Cel^.rles Hallock. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Once more a few lines on the subject of the Alaskan 

 trout and I think that the wide differences that at first 

 existed between the views of Dr. Streets and my own will 

 be reduced to a minimum, the only question now at issue 

 seeming to be the correct nomenclature of a trout which 

 he calls and I call clarkii, purp. As I obtained my in- 

 formation from Dr. Bean, who, sitting at my table in 

 Sitka, overhauled and classified my many jars of collected 

 fish, and wrote labels, which I pasted on to the bottles. 

 I felt quite sure that I was correct, barring one som-ce of 

 possible error, I might have misplaced a label. So on 

 reading Dr. Streets' letter in your issue of 16th inst., I at 

 once wrote to Dr. Bean, who has very kindly comphed 

 with my request, and written me as follows: 



United States Nationai. Museum.— b'nder direction, of ilie 

 Smithsonian Institution.— Wasliiugton, Dec. 20.— ilea?- Conmavdcr: 

 Your note of the 17th came to-day and I will at once reply to it. 

 The blacli-spotted, purple-banded trout which inhabits Piseco 

 Lake, Alaska, and adjacent waters is Salmo pui-vuratiis, for which 

 Salmo darkii is a later name. Purpuratm and darldi are there- 

 fore synonyms. There is another black-spotted trout in Alaska, 

 known as Qaxrdner's trout, Salmo gairdncri, and the rainbowtrout 

 of California is not speciflcally distinct from this although it has 

 been carried along in the books until recently as a ful] species 

 under the name Salmo irklcus. The red-spottecl trout of Alaska 

 and of the rest of the Pacific slope was once called spec.tabiUs., but 

 is now down in the books as SalveMnus malma. If any one Jias 

 seen a red-spotted trout which is different from vialma, be has 

 seen a species which is not to be found in any collection of west 

 coast fishes; this you may be sure of. The "cut-throat" trout, de- 

 scribed by Dr. Streets in Forest and Stream, July 8, is Salmo 

 purpuratiK, the crimson or scarlet color on tlie chin is perfectly 

 characteristic of pui'puratim and is absent in other black-spotted 

 species.— Cordially, T. R. Bean. 



As I thought likely, the letter shows that neither Dr. 

 Streets nor I were wrong, and it ttirns out as I prophesied 

 that "he was right and I was right," and now we are all 

 right, and all of us (except Dr. Bean) know more about 

 Alaska trout than we did in the beginning. I am glad 

 that the doctor has made so sti-ong a defense of our mtitual 

 friend and has carried his case, for "low down" as I 

 thought their habits, the trout there were my friends and 

 furnished me with lots of pleasure. In Alaska one learns 

 not to be too partictilar, and I do know but one man 

 among my angling friends who will steadfastly, under all 

 circumstances, even when fishing for cunners, stick to the 

 fly. Fred Mather wiU know who I mean. PiSECO. 



LiTTiii! Falls, N. Y,, Dec. 23, 1886. 



SOME FLORIDA SEA FISHING. 



LAST winter I was advised to stop work for at least 

 three weeks. This prescription could not be strictly 

 followed in my office, and besides, it involved too much 

 explanation with clients and others, and the dullness and 

 ennui of a loafer in a small town is maddening, as well 

 as inexpressible. 



So when a request came from an invalid relative to 

 escort her to Florida for the sake of change of aii- and for 

 recreation, I gladly welcomed it, as giving me cessation 

 from the forbidden employment, an escape from the un- 

 told nastiness of late winter and early spring in South 

 Jersey (the only season which reduces the average of this 

 center of the horizon to near that of other climates), and 

 a grand opportmiity of testing that wonderful fishing and 

 shooting of Florida which has been borne in upon me main- 

 ly (I think) by the wildcat ijrospectuses of Edens there, 

 which litter niy office, butpartly by the charming sketches 

 (too rarely appearing) in Foeest aitd Steeabi. 



The bitter weather of the past two weeks has, by con- 

 trast, called up those halcyon daj's which extended from 

 Feb. 22 tmtil a like date in March, and which, saving one 

 night of mosquitoes on the Indian River, were unalloyed 

 comfort and enjoyment. 



So, on Washington's Birthday of this year, our party 

 left Broad and Walnut sti'eets, Philadelphia, via Penn- 

 sylvania Paikoad and Atlantic Coast Line tor Florida. My 

 intention was to see as much as possible of the State in a 

 sojourn of a month or less and at the same time to catch 

 some fish, both black bass and sea fish, success in taking 

 which was, by yotu- journal and others, assnred to me. I 

 took with me a gxm and ammunition, but my trophies 

 from their use were limited to a couple of pelicans, a cor- 

 morant and a half-dozen smaller birds, so the chronicle of 

 the gun may be dismissed. 



I had no tackle suitable for my purposes when I started, 

 so I purchased in Philadelphia a cheap stout rod, and 

 trusted to supply myself further down. At Jacksonville, 

 availing myself' of the assurance contamed in some back 

 number of Forest and Stream, I called on Dr. Ken- 

 worthy (the charming "Al Fresco" who used to write so 

 well, and now not at all, in your journal), and after he 

 was satisfied that I was really a seeker after the trtith, 

 and had unloosed his protective austerity, received from 

 him full advice and kind instruction as to how^nd where, 

 in a time necessarily limited, to take the most and best 

 fish. He showed me three beautiful rods made by B. F. 

 Nichols, of Boston, recommended by him as ijerfcct for 

 Florida fishing. I have dmlng the past summer profited 

 by his advice, and now own two of that make. He also 

 took me to the stores upon the sandy main channel of the 

 town, and I was there equipped with a 900ft. Abbey & 

 Imbrie tarpon line, some stout hand lines, a large and 

 cheap Abbey & Imbrie reel, and some big knobbed 

 O'Shaughnessy hooks. Sheepshead hooks I was already 

 provided with. The Doctor strongly advised Punta 

 Eassa, saying that the Indian River on the east coast, and 

 all of the Gulf shore north of the point ho named, were 

 bai-e of fish, on account of the extreme and unusual cold 

 of the earlier part of the season. 



At the Plant House, Tampa, we found Colonel Kcw, of 

 Pennsylvania, with his usual attendant from Atlantic 

 City, en route for the same destination with ourselves. I 

 had kaSwB tllo Colojielby reputatiojcroidy as, Ito myaeif , 



an enthusiastic, persistent and successfitl pursuer and 

 captor of large, strong-pulling and poweriul salt-water 

 fish and a contemner of the rye straw and patent thread 

 pursuit of minnows in puddles and brooklets, which fills 

 the colums of sportsmen's journals to the exclusion of 

 more strenuous recitals. The landlord of the Plant House 

 who said he had fisJied off the whai'f at Tampa the previ- 

 ous summer sixty consecutive days (Sundays and holidays 

 excepted) and so had earned the right as a fisherman to 

 consideration, was a very pessimist as to our proposed 

 expedition to Punta Rassa on accoimt of the previous cold 

 weather, and advised us to take the fii-st train back. Col. 

 Kew being appealed to did not agree with him, however, 

 and said that if we could be content with sheepshead he 

 had no doubt we would find plenty. The Colonel said he, 

 with the assis tance of his man to bait and talie otf fish, had, 

 in a former year, in one hour, taken at Summorltn's wharf 

 at Ptmta Easea, sixty-four sheepshead. He didn t think the 

 residue had disappeared. As a catch of two a day of those 

 handsome and vigorous fish is considered excellent suc- 

 cess with us at home, I concluded not to be tiu'ned back. 



After a delightful night's sail over the waters of the 

 Gulf we entered Charlotte Harbor after sumlsc, and by 

 neon were safely established at the boarding house of 

 Mi's. Zii^hrer. at Summerlin's wharf, Punta Rassa. I was 

 somewhat su.rprised to find that village consist of only 

 two houses, both given up to the accommodation of 

 guests. A large hotel was being constructed at Pine 

 Island, across the bay, and I suppose it is now filled with 

 guests, as it should be, from its location. Tlie new (paper) 

 settlement surrounding it is called, I undei-stand, St. 

 James City. 



After dinner Hereford (my companion) and I chartered 

 a man and boat and sailed over toward Pine Island to fish 

 for redfish (channel bass), but aU we secm'ed before night 

 were two or three large spotted trout and some wretched 

 dog sharks. Wlien we returned to our wharf we found 

 that the ladies had not been idle, but had taken there 

 about a dozen sheepshead. 



If was not fairly light the next morning before Here- 

 ford and 1 were out in om* shu-t sleeves peering along the 

 shore before the house to get fiddler crabs for bait. These 

 fiddlers are what we call in New Jersey "pink," or 

 "china," or "beach" fiddlers, and we found we could 

 gather a hundred within fifty yards of oiu' fishing j)lace 

 in five minutes, at any time, and at some times of the 

 tide we could get a bushel iu as short a time, by pressing 

 the children of the boarding house into service. So the 

 bait question, so far as sheepshead were concerned, was 

 solved. 



The two houses at Pimta Rassa are very odd old barns, 

 raised on stilts or pilings ten or fifteen feet above ground. 

 They are partitioned ofl' inside into all sorts of rooms, 

 nooks, corners and hide-and-seek places, and are both 

 most comfortable, as well as picturesque. Mr. Schultz 

 and his wife (from Newark, New Jersey) have the lower 

 house, in which is the telegraph station, and in front of 

 wluch is liis private wharf, with a number of good sail- 

 boats anchored about it; and Mrs. Zi]3hier, a native, keeps 

 the upper house at Summerlin's cattle wharf. Mr. 

 Schultz had no room for us, so we called on Mrs. Ziphrer, 

 who made us very comfortable. The only other boarder 

 was Mr. W. H. Wood, who was having his annual quest 

 for tarpon. He had been at it for two weeks, and had 

 had three bites from tliat fish during that time, and ex- 

 hibited some badly twisted and mashed chains in evi- 

 dence. He had found some consolation, however, in big 

 sharks, two or thiee of which he killed daily, and, true 

 angler that he is, he had discovered that the sharks in a 

 particular channel where he fished were much mere 

 vigorous and savage than anywhere else, and he was 

 getting some compensation otit'of them for the scarcity 

 of tarpon. He reported tiiem as the only shark of his 

 acquaintance which would leap clear of the water. By 

 a pubhshed account, a copy of which he sent me, I 

 learned later that he captured his first tarpon (I think I 

 recollect aright) on March 22, and he took altogether 6, 

 the largest 64ft. long, weighing lOOlbs. 



I examined liis tackle with interest, and from what I 

 saw of tliat and the fish itself, and what I have read and 

 heard, I make this siimmary and appraisement of tarpon 

 fishing. The fish himself is a wonder of strength, beauty 

 and activity. He has no equal combining these tliree 

 qualities. He is the embodiment of grace, power and 

 speed. His jaws would coin tenpenny nails— put the 

 proper grooves in them. At a leap ho could clear any 

 sailboat that navigates his waters, or by his powerful im- 

 petus crush its occupant. The "spring of the rod" cuts 

 no figure with him, Mr, Wcod had -i short, stiff rod, not 

 above five feet in length, as I recollect, lein^^; only a long 

 reel seat, and there Avas no play or elasticity to it. He 

 simply hooked his fish and allowed the latter to tow the 

 boat about, until, after the lapse of many minutes, or a 

 few hours, the splendid vitality succumbed. A handhne 

 wottld produce precisely the ssme result, and, witliout ihe 

 "spring," wherein is the rod superior to the line alone? 

 A tarpon amused himself at my expense, but was kind 

 enough to leave me my line intact. From my momentary 

 experience I am satisfied tliat the towing boat and notthe 

 rod is the death of the "Silver King." I do not believe 

 that any one can stand on tlie ehorc, or on an oyster reef, 

 and with a rod and reel, handline, or anything else 

 (dvnainite excepted), kill a taiTon. They are chain 

 lightning, and they don't stay in a ten acre lot either. 



After our fiddlers wore collected we adjourned to the 

 end of Summerlin's wharf, and from the cattle schooner 

 anchored there, cast our first fine for shee]ishcad. The 

 sun was just showing himself f.bove the horizon as I felt 

 the lu-st "draw." and hooked and landed the first sheeps- 

 head. At breakfast time we had about a dozen, and after 

 our meal we gave the rest of the day to conscientious and 

 careful taking of my old wary adversaries of Atlantic 

 City and the Jersey coast below. I wanted to gut a niv- 

 feit of sheepshead and I got it. The rod played a part for 

 a while, but was not quick enough, and the hand line suc- 

 ceeded. My friend and I caught nearly two hundred in 

 two dave. 



At the high water we would go out to an oyster reef 

 near bv and fish for channel hasB. Hereford took some 

 fine large fish there, but although I hooked a half dozen, 

 I saved none. 



That evening Col. Kew invited me to go with him next 

 morning to kill a devilfish in the large inlet between Sani- 

 bel and'^Estero. I declined, partly tecauec I thought the 

 expedition would be a failure, and mainlj^ because I 

 wanted to visit the Government wharf at Sanibel Key, 

 1 where Bhe^&k<3«,dB were said to be more plentiful tliaa 



