198 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



But in the fourteen years following, I never forgot the 

 trip and often longed to get back and test the success of 

 our venture. 



In 1904, Mr. Jenkins, whom I met in Berkeley, told 

 me he had just returned from Lone Pine, and that he 

 heard reports that big fish had been seen in the L.'ikes. 

 In 1905 the Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries was 

 issued with an article by B. W. Evermann on the ''Golden 

 Trout of the High Sierra," in which a fairly complete 

 account is given of the stocking of the Lakes fourteen 

 years before. Here the statement is made that fish of 

 over five pounds' weight are now caught in the lakes. It 

 goes to show that all a trout needs to increase in size is 

 more space in which to grow and plenty of food. During 

 the summer innumerable caddis worms are to be found 

 along the bottom of the creek, and these themselves 

 furnish a bait that can scarcely be improved on, I am 

 sure that artificial flies will prove a success, as we often 

 used the ventral fin of a fish, which, when spread on the 

 hook, looks much like a gaily colored fly or a butterfly. 

 In fact, we frequently could make a good catch with but a 

 couple of bluebottle flies or a beetle to start with, and 

 the use of the fins after the start was made. 



There are two ways to reach Cottonwood Creek, either 

 from the West, where one may start from Visalia, and 

 follow the Kaweah River up to its South fork, and along 

 this until one reaches the end of the road some forty 

 miles from the railroad. Here at Camp I, as shown on 

 Le Conte's map, one takes the Hockett trail and following 

 it, has opportunities en route to fish in the Kaweah and 

 Kern Rivers and to try for the big fellows in Kern 

 Lake a mile below the river crossing; thence the route is 

 up the tributary called V olcano Creek, where the brilliant 

 Golden trout, named Salmo roosevelti by Mr. Evermann, 

 is found; then across the divide to Mulkey Meadows, 

 from which the waters drain to the East. All of these 

 streams contain the different forms of Golden trout. A 

 little beyond, one reaches Cottonwood Creek. Following 



