494 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[June 30, 1887. 



"That reminds me." 

 219. 



TMAGINE a camp in the mountains, three newspaper 

 A men and two guides lying on the ground by the fire, 

 smoking and relating incidents of tortuous careers. 



"Truth is stranger 'n friction," said Jerry, solemnly, 

 "I heard a preacher say it onct, and I believe he knowed. 

 'Fore I left Pike county I went huntin' one day after bear, 

 where I seen signs, and 'fore half an hour I found one, 

 while I was lookin' over a bee-gum right at the bottom 

 of an old oak tree. He was a big one, too, and mostly 

 hid behind the tree so 't I couldn't get a shot at him. I 

 just kneeled down on a bunch of dry leaves and rotten wood 

 and took a good rest on the gum, and waited for a plain 

 sight 'fore I pulled. The bear was nosing some acorns 

 and wasn't movin' in sight much, but I knowed he'd 

 come. "While I was waitin' I see a settlement of yaller- 

 jackets bilin' outen the leaves where my knees was, buz- 

 zin' round and comin' fur me savage. In course I couldn't 

 move, not with that bear there in twenty yards and likely 

 to get mad if lie found me out. You betcher life it was 

 a stirrin' place. The bear didn't come in range and I 

 was anxious, the yallerjackets drivin' into me like bee- 

 martins into a crow. I must 'a' staid there nigh on to ten 

 minutes, almost afeared to wink, 'fore that bear showed 

 up right, then I turned the old gun loose and the bear 

 rolled over quiet. The cur'ous tiling was that all the 

 yallerjackets was dead as well as the bear." 



No one spoke up promptly to ask the reason of the sin- 

 gular phenomenon, or showed any vehement desire to 

 know what destroyed the pugnacious injects. Jerry 

 relighted his pipe and smoked thoughtfully. Finally 

 Sunday, the other guide, unable to restrain himself 

 further, asked what was the matter "with them air 

 wasps." 



"Well, you see, I had an old buckskin suit that was 

 harder 'n a brass kittle, and that saved me." 

 "Yes, it saved you, but — " 



"When a yallerjacket hit it, it just druv' his stinger 

 back into him and killed him. See?" 



"Truth crushed to earth may rise again,'' said the his- 

 torian, "but it must be a painful effort," while Jerry 

 patted the bowl of his pipe with his forefinger and pre- 

 served a calm demeanor. J. C. B. 



We regretted deeply leaving the Little Chute. We had 

 become very much attached to the little camp to whose 

 welcome roof we had returned so many nights after a 

 good day's sport, but the almanac told us that we must 

 push on up the Severn and so out to civilization and the 

 railroad. 



Up the Severn we found even better fishing. The bass 

 were not so plentiful, but much heavier, ranging in weight 

 from 3 to 4jlbs. In the Severn channel cat have been 

 taken weighing 151bs. I took one of these fellows on a 

 rod in a pool below the Big Chute that weighed 71bs., and 

 gave me some logy fishing, although at times he displayed 

 a great deal of power. 



Thirty miles up the Severn, over log jams and hard 

 portages and up rapids, brought us to the fine of the 

 Muskoka region and into Sparrow Lake. Along the shores 

 of this lake lie scattered a few primitive farms, settled by 

 the French Canadians and Indians. These were the first 

 settlements we had seen since leaving Waubaushene. 



The Severn continues as the outlet of Sparrow Lake, 

 which is some six miles long, and winds in a stretch of 

 still water, bordered by wild rice beds and willows, eight 

 miles to Severn Bridge. 



We killed no maskalonge on the trip, although Sparrow 

 Lake is supposed to be the limit of the lunge region. The 

 truth of the matter is they have been fished to death by 

 the Indians. 



At Severn Bridge the long canoe that has held us and 

 our duffle for so many happy days is laid in the baggage 

 car of the Northern & Northwestern R. R. , and taken off 

 and transferred to the Midland at Orilla; and that night 

 she and her owners found themselves back again at Wau- 

 baushene. I can but add that I know of no country where 

 you can obtain better bass fishing or will be more hospit- 

 ably treated by the Deople. F. Berkeley Smith. 



mid §iver ^string. 



Address all eommunicatinm Co tfic Forest and Stream Puh. On, 



A MONTH UP THE SEVERN. 



ALONG the Midland of Canada, on Georgian Bay, is 

 situated the town of Waubaushene with its settle- 

 ment of white houses and its lumber mills. It was from 

 this point that in the early part of last July the Colonel and 

 myself started for the mouth of the Severn River, intending 

 to follow up that wild stream and its tributaries for a month 

 of fishing. We engaged as our guide a native Canuck. 

 In this country there are no regular guides to be found, 

 and if you happen upon a native who would prefer the 

 comparative 1 uxury of cam p life to the m ore laborious work 

 of the lumber camp, you may consider yourself in luck. 

 This individual demands $1.25 per day to paddle and cook. 

 The wise fisherman pays him off in full when he is through 

 with him. The Colonel and myself recall regretfully how 

 one Almakook took French leave of us once at Waubau- 

 shene when we had returned for provisions. 



And now a word or two about the country, for T doubt 

 if you could find one rougher of its kind. It is a trackless 

 wilderness of superb timber, through which flow innum- 

 erable streams, forming the many lakes with which the 

 region abounds. So well watered is tlvis lumber country 

 that from some of the w r eather-beaten tops of the low line 

 of "hog-backs" that seem to stretch out in every direction 

 the region appears to you a labyrinth of mad rivers and 

 picturesque lakes. 



At Little Chute, fifteen miles from Waubaushene and 

 just where the Severn empties into Big Lake, we built the 

 camp which served as headquarters for the better part of 

 two weeks. Here for a beginning we found a couple of 

 log slants that had sheltered some hunters the previous 

 fall. It was an ideal camp. Six Mile Lake lay but a few 

 rods away, and the wild rapids at its outlet came tearing 

 down just on the other side of the ridge and glided out 

 into the exquisite stretch of water on whose thickly 

 wooded shores we had made our camp. One could not 

 have wished better fishing or more of it. The only hard 

 part about it was — when to stop. In these waters we killed 

 the very gamiest of black bass, all of them the hardest 

 kind of fighters, and where the bass were there were pike 

 and pickerel. There is very little choice of waters in this 

 immediate region, one place seems as full as another. 

 One might say, fish anywhere except through a log jam. 

 These fish are not at all particular. Fly, spoon and bait 

 to them are synonymous ; the choice of lure lay at your 

 discretion. 



Yes, the flies in July and August are bad, but with 

 your fly medicine you can keep well protected and finally 

 you begin to forget them. In the early dawn, just as the 

 loons commence to laugh and chatter away upon the 

 lake, the flies lie on the water in great swarming patches. 

 As the sun grows hotter they rise and go to the coolest 

 parts of the woods, where they stay until twilight begins 

 to settle, when they return to the water, where some 

 hungry or sportive old bass with a plash and twist of his 

 tail swallows tliem up. A "few" get away and find a 

 corner out of the way of the smoke and blaze of the camp 

 fire, and just under the roof of your slant camp. As you 

 roll yourself up in your blanket after a good day's fishinj 

 they begin to be sociable, and then you reach over am 

 from under the corner log extract the old bottle— tar oil 

 of course— uncork it, and are soon asleep. As the hem- 

 lock brush fits into your shoulder blades you doze away. 

 Again you give him the butt, and as his big tail swirls 

 the surface, he zigzags his way across the rapids, drives 

 his stubborn old nose among the rocks and — snaps your 

 leader, with a start you awake to find the sun pouring in 

 on you, and the pork fat enveloping your bass having a 

 hot dispute with the Canuck. And so the days glide by. 



MAINE SALMON AND TROUT. 



THE latest reports from Bangor, Maine, state that the 

 "second rim" of salmon in the Penobscot has begun, 

 and the fishing is excellent, though the fish are smaller 

 than they were in the "first run." A private letter from 

 Fish Commissioner E. M. Stilwell yesterday says that 

 "there has been an excellent run of salmon," and that 

 "the fishing continues good." It is also understood, from 

 other sources, that there have been more fish caught in 

 the Penobscot with hook and line this year than last, 

 while the capture down the river by the market fisher- 

 men has far exceeded last season. It is only reasonable 

 to conclude that there has been a wonderful increase in 

 salmon in that river — one that had nearly played out — 

 and that this increase is the result of protection and pro- 

 pagation. There are numerous reports of the capture of 

 landlocked salmon in the upper Androscoggin Lakes; 

 particularly Rangeley Lake. The catches of trout are 

 sprinkled now and then with a salmon or two. But I 

 have heard of none in the lower lakes of that chain this 

 season. 



The reports say that the fly-fishing in Moosehead is un- 

 commonly good this season, or has been up to date. The 

 Kineo Club, a party of eight or ten Boston merchants and 

 professional gentlemen, has just returned from its annual 

 trip to this lake, and the members are more pleased than 

 ever. Some of the names of the happy fishermen were : 

 J. B. Thomas, of the Standard Sugar Refinery; Walter 

 H. Sanborn, of the flour and grain trade; W. S. Hills, of 

 the same trade; Leroy S. Brown, of the grain and provi- 

 sion trade; W. F. Nickerson, of the wholesale grocery 

 trade. Mr. Lauriat, well-known in the book trade of 

 Boston, was intending to be a member of the party, but a 

 summons to Europe sent liim across the water only two 

 days before. Mr. Walter Sanborn is particularly pleased 

 with his fishing trip. He is a sportsman who fishes with 

 the fly only, but he made a score in nine days of 89 trout, 

 With none less than fib., and his largest weighing 3^1bs., 

 a very respectable trout for that lake. He took two 

 doubles and had a treble on his line. Mr. Thomas, also a 

 reasonable sportsman, who can find as much pleasure in 

 catching a few trout on a fly as the trout hog finds in his 

 lumdreds gobbled up with bait, says that the Kineo Club 

 is made up of gentlemen who are above the taking of 

 trout to be wasted. They fish for the pleasure of skillful 

 capture and not for killing trout. It is a rule of the club 

 that the trout shall all be used at the hotel, or, at least, 

 none are allowed to be thrown away. The club charters 

 a little steamer to take its members to the fishing grounds 

 each day, and if at any time the catch is so great as to 

 indicate that there is danger of a waste, the order goes 

 forth to stop fishing. Still, not all the members of the 

 club are above taking a trout with bait, if trout are to be 

 had in no other way; but the feeling of a majoiity of the 

 members is that fly-fishing is the proper method, and 

 bait-fishing is generally discouraged. With the steamer 

 the club is able to reach the more distant fishing grounds 

 easily, and the cost of the boat is assessed on the members 

 for the entire trip, no matter if a member cannot be pres- 

 ent during all tne time planned. Respectable strangers 

 may be taken in, however, if there happens to be a 

 vacancy, and charged pro rata, which income goes into 

 the general fund. The largest trout taken on the fly by 

 any member of the party this year was 51bs. 



A Mr. Woodward of the party had a curious experience, 

 which rather set at naught such a thing as the selection 

 of the "most taking fly." He fishes with two rods, one 

 fairly heavy, weighing some 7oz., the other light, not 

 over 3£oz. He usually has both with him. and after 

 throwing the fly with the heavy rod until his arm is tired, 

 he rests his hand by a turn at the little rod. He had three 

 flies on each cast on the day in question, with no duplicate 

 of style and name except in one case. He commenced to 

 take trout, and each time he took one on a different fly 

 till he had gone over the three on the little rod. He then 

 took up the heavier rod, this time covering more ground 

 than he was able to do with the little rod, but the selection 

 by his trout of a variety of flies continued. He took each 

 trout on a different fly till he came to the fly which was 

 a doublet of the one on the rod, when no trout would take 

 it. He had caught five trout, and each one on a different 



Ay- 

 Mr. Harry Moore, of the firm of E. S. Soper & Co., in 

 flour and grain trade, has just returned from his annual 

 trip to the Maine waters. This time he spent his well- 

 earned vacation on the lower Richardson Lake, with a 

 party of six, one of wdiom wrote in the Forest and 

 Stream last week that pleasing letter from the same lo- 

 cality. Mr. Moore took a 74lb. trout. He has a photo- 

 graph of this fish, hanging against a tree, also a dozen or 



more other views of that lake and incidents of the trip. 

 He showed them to his friends at the Chamber of Com- 

 merce yesterday, and it was rather amusing to listen to 

 the guesses of the weight of the big trout. It strikes me 

 that Boston merchants have never drawn more real pleas- 

 ure out of the fishing in Maine than this year, and many 

 of the Boston merchants are true sportsmen. Next come 

 the vacationists, and the stream-strippers who fish for 

 numbers. Little fingerlings must go to make up these 

 numbers, for the vacationists could not tell a lie. He must 

 have trout, and a trout is a trout to him. But he will 

 never know the real pleasure there is in trout fishing till 

 his spirit rises above the mere name of catching a certain 

 number of fish, and until he gets him away to the lake at 

 the season when the real trout are to be caught, and there, 

 with improved tackle, he succeeds in landing one of the 

 fishes that fall to the lot only of him who is a worshiper 

 of the trout in his size and might. Special. 



MY WIFE'S VACATION. 



AN ARTICLE in the Forest and Stream by "Special," 

 dealt with the advisability of sportsmen taking the 

 lady members of their families with them upon their 

 camping out expeditions. Another article closed with 

 the query why this is not of tener done. I suppose some 

 wretches will reply that it is because they go for pleasure. 

 I propose to tell you my experience. 



In 1885 I promised my wife she should go with me, but 

 later she agreed to wait a year if I would certainly take 

 her then. So I went with a party of fellows, had a good 

 time, and on my return told her I thought she could stand 

 such a trip. Last winter I took her out with me on one 

 of my trips to fish for pickerel through the ice. The fact 

 that I never before sa w her in such good spirits as on that 

 day led me to think that there might be as much "Indian" 

 in 'her as in me. But as another year came around, I 

 dreaded for her the eight days of travel by rail, stage 

 and buckboard which the round trip would 'necessitate, 

 and I represented the tediousness of it to her in a manner 

 which made her weaken. 



One day in the early part of August, 1886, I went out 

 to a neighboring village a few miles from here to see 

 a friend with whom I have spent many happy hours in 

 quest of sport and health, and when I returned I had con- 

 cluded arrangements with him to camp out during Sep- 

 tember in the eastern part of Maine, close to the scene of 

 the late deer warden tragedy. At the dinner table that 

 day, I told the "party of the second part" of my plans; 

 and I thought they were received with rather an omin- 

 ous silence. I felt quite sure of her opinions next noon, 

 for when I came home she notified me that I "might 

 make my plans to go to Maine, where I promised to take 

 her last year, as soon as I pleased, for she was going." That 

 seemed to me to settle the whole business, and I so re- 

 marked. 



I was more than pleased with the idea of having her 

 with me though, and I knew that once there, all right, 

 she would enjoy such a vacation, better than any other, 

 but as she had never been strong I dreaded the experi- 

 ment. There seemed to be a pretty good prospect, how- 

 ever, of settling the question. 



We started Aug. 29, stayed that night in Boston and 

 the next day went via the Boston and Maine road to King- 

 field, Me., arriving there very late. At the Portland 

 transfer station I counted over twenty men with guns or 

 rods. 



We stopped at the new hotel which had been erected 

 during the past year, and found accommodations quite in 

 the modern style. I kept close watch upon Madame, but 

 to my surprise she said she was not tired in the least.. 

 The next day we took the stage for a thirty-niile ride up* 

 into the Dead River country. A light rain was falling, 

 and the fog had settled into the valleys, so that the fine 

 views of Bigelow and other mountains were wholly ob- 

 scured. Still the ride was enjoyable and the passengers 

 all proved to be charming company. What lots of fine 

 fellows we meet when cruising around in this way. One 

 of our party was a New Yorker, a Mr. Beck, who was: 

 going into the woods from Eustis for a month's "solitary 

 confinement," except for the company of his guide, it 

 being his seventh successive yearly trip to this p ace. At 

 night Madame declared she had had a splendid ride, and 

 was in perfect order. I could not quite see how this 

 could be, for at home a walk of half a dozen blocks was 

 liable to tire her out. All right, my lady, you may 



Eretend to me that you are as good as new, but I 

 now of a seven miles buckboard ride for to-morrow 

 that will surely lay you out, or I am no prophet. 

 Although it was now cold and raining hard, and only 

 an hour or two before dark, she was for going on at once; 

 and only strong resistance on my part, and'good advice 

 from some ladies who knew what such a ride in such a 

 storm meant, induced her to change her mind. I had 

 walked over the road several times, but had never ridden. 

 The next morning I thought I would ride a short distance., 

 and when she had become accustomed to this style of 

 locomotion I would get off and walk. Before we had 

 gone ten rods I had one arm around her and was holding 

 on "for all I knew how," or she would have been thrown 

 off as fast as she could get on again. It was an awful 

 road. At one time three wheels would be in the air and 

 one in a hole, and perhaps in a minute this order would 

 be reversed. But all things generally come to an end, 

 and so did the road. This was the point at which I was 

 to carefully lift my exhausted wife from the buckboard 

 and help her into a camp. But I didn't do it. She was 

 off before I could shake myself together, and my word 

 for it, I never was so surprised in my life as I was then to 

 find her not in the least tired or lame, but in every re- 

 spect in as good condition as myself. Although it made 

 me out a false prophet, it was very gratifying. We found 

 a good dry camp and a bed of boughs, the best an expert 

 could make, and with sheets on it too. Think of that. 



We spent two weeks here in solid happiness, fishing 

 perhaps a couple of hours a day, and reading, resting, 

 gumming and rowing about the lake, or passing time in 

 any manner that suited us best. Madame saw lots of 

 things that were new to her, such as ducks, loons, rabbits, 

 etc., and one day she w T as lucky enough to see a deer 

 while she was sitting in the door of the canip. She will 

 not admit that she was disconcerted except once, and 

 that was one night about midnight, when a tremendous 

 "hooter" came close to camp and awoke every one in it 

 with his dismal crying. 



All who have ever been in this region will remember 

 Kennedy Smith, at least by reputation. A week before 



