376 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Nov, 37, 1890. 



took a practical sportsman and a man of nerve, he said, to kill 

 deer on a runway, and there were very few hunters who could do 

 it. He believed that ten times more deer were killed by still- 

 hunters than l>y bounding. He favored the law prohibiting the 

 killing of deer at any time, holdirg that such a provision would 

 tend more than any other to increase the number of deer. Ke- 

 ferringto the Curtis law of 1S85, which prohibited hounding of 

 deer for one year, he said that Paul Smith and other tiotel keep- 

 ers in the woods could testify to the fact that their business 

 receipts were decreased mote than 8100,000, c-crnse nsny.ie 

 not go up into the woods if they could not enjoy hounding, 'the 

 most manlv and sportsmanlike manner of killing deer." _ 



William L. Fowler and Frank C. Wolcott, representing the 

 Black River Game and Fish Protective Association, were both 

 opposed to deer hounding and asked the Commission to recom- 

 mend that the season for the killing of deer be shortened. 



Scudder Todd and Charles Smith, from Lewis county, opposed 

 hounding or the killing of deer in the water. Mr. Smith stated 

 that nearly all the deer were killed in the water, being cornered 

 after a hard run in front of the hounds. _ 



Mr. Kellogg said it was an utter impossibility to detect or con- 

 vict persons who hound deer contrary to law, and there should be 

 a change of boundaries to make them as simple as possible. He 

 favored a. law prescribing a heavy penalty for any person who has 

 a hound in his possession in the prescribed territory during the 

 close of the deer season. 



R. J. Richardson, Lowville, advocated shortening the present 

 law that allows hounding for fifty days (Sept. 1 to Oct. 20) to thirty 

 days, expressing the opinion of woodsmen and sportsmen. All 

 killing of does should be prohibited, which need necessitates the 

 prohibition of jacking, for a man shooting at night must run his 

 chances on killing a doe. 



.Tas. F. Tracer, of Albany, said he thought after fifteen years 

 experience in the woods that hounding and jacking were destruc- 

 tive of deer. He favored an act making the hounding season as 

 short as possible, but not tjie time for other methods of hunting 

 deer. Jacking he was not adverse 1o, but he advocated prohibi- 

 tion of killing does. 



Chris Goodsell, a guide for fifteen years on the Fulton chain, 

 thought no does or fawns should be killed; jacking was a destruc- 

 tive practice. The hounding season should he shortened to at 

 least thirty days instead of fifty. This summer be found one fawn 

 and sis deer floating or on the shores dead on the various lakes. 



Charles J. Smith said he found two bucks and three does in the 

 latter part of October on the shores of Smith Lake, where they 

 had been driven by hounds at a time when the water was so chilly 

 as to cause 1 heir death. None of them had been shot. 



It was argued by some of those present that a new commission 

 should be created, to have special charge of game and fish protec- 

 tion, relieving the Commissioners of Fisheries of their present 

 responsibilities in this field. 



OF INESTIMABLE SERVICE. 

 TJUBLIC sentiment In reference to the protection of birds and 

 -*- other wild animals, mostly known as game, has become 

 healthier in tone and spirit in the past few years. The necessity 

 of throwing some guards around them to prevent extinction is 

 apparent to the most stupid, also to the most selfish. It is a mat- 

 ter of the greatest importance, and cause of gratitude, that the 

 States and Territories have passed laws that are more or less 

 beneficial in this regard. A compilation of these acts has been 

 made by Mr. Charles B. Reynolds, the weD-known editor of 

 Forest and Stream, and published by the Forest and Stream 

 Publishing Company, 318 Broadway, New York. Now, every 

 earnest observer of the law, who loves to fish and hunt, and every 

 man or woman who has an interest in the preservation of birds 

 and all other animals that are entitled to life, liberty and the pur- 

 suit of happiness, has the means of knowing what tne laws are. 

 The compilation is in good shape, is prepared for quarterly issue 

 and will be of Inestimable service.— Piiblie Opinion. 



A Map of the United States.— A large, handsome map of the 

 United States, showing North and South Dakota, mounted and 

 suitable for office or home use aud issued by the Burlington Route, 

 will be furnished responsible parties free on application to the 

 undersigned. Playing Cards.— For 15 cents iu postage you can 

 obtain a pack of best quality playing cards on application to 

 the undersigned, P. S. Eustis, General Passengei and Ticket 

 Agent, C, B. & Q. R. R., Chicago, 111 — Adv. 



The full tests of the game fish, laws of all the States, 

 Territories and British Provinces are given in the Book, of 

 tlie Game Laws. 



TROUT FISHING IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



VERY few Northern trout fishermen know much about 

 the streams in western North Carolina, I think, and 

 perhaps if I should tell all of ray experience in that region 

 people would say that some of my < 'yarns" were decidedly 

 ''fishy," I will, in consequence of that, confine this article 

 strictly to facts. 



I went to the city of Asheville last May, to find some 

 place where speckled trout could be caught in sufficient 

 numbers to make ihe sport interesting. I went to the 

 headwaters of the Big Pigeon River, 4.0 miles west of 

 Asheville, and found trout in unlimited numbers. Took 

 a train on the Murpby branch of the Western N. C. R. R., 

 and stopped at Pigeon Valley station, 35 miles from Ashe- 

 ville, thence by wagon up into the mountains over 15 

 miles of the roughest road I ever rode over, found a 

 farmer who agreed to keep me, and the next day the 

 former and your servant gave the "speckled beauties" our 

 attention. 



There are three or four good creeks in that region, 

 besides the river. We fished Crawford's Creek the first 

 day. Crawford's Creek is quite a large stream. It rises 

 up under Cold Mountain and nearly its whole course is 

 through dense woods, over big ledges, and hundreds 

 of deep, dark pools are found which fairly swarm 

 with trout, many of which are of very good size. The 

 best fishing on this stream is the first two or three miles 

 from its mouth. About three miles from the mouth of 

 the creek it divides into two forks and some good strings 

 are caught in both of them, but as I could get all the fish 

 .[ wanted without going up the fork, I did not fish them. 



Our first day on the creek was a very satisfactory one, 

 and when we reached home, about sunset, we had 171bs. 

 of as handsome mountain trout as I ever 3a w. Old man 

 Crawford, who owns the creek, charges all who fish it 

 18 cents per pound for all they catch, I fbhedit eight 

 times while I was up there, for fish for my own use, and 

 paid him something more than eleven dollars, and did 

 not keep any fish that would measure less than 6in. in 

 length. I fished that creek in company with men who 

 came up from Asheville, and other places, and I think 

 they paid him at least ten dollars more. You can under- 

 stand by this, I think, how abundant trout were in that 

 region last summer, 



When I started for the mountains I provided myself 

 with such files and tackle as I had been in the habit of 

 using on the trout streams in New England and northern 

 Michigan, but when I came to use those flies I found that 

 those N. C. trout didn't fancy them; the result was I used a 

 cinnamon-hackle, and baited the hook with a red worm; 



with that contrivance I could catch those trout until I 

 was tired. 



About two weeks after my arrival at the fishing 

 grounds, the stick worm became plentiful and then we 

 gave up the red worm; we also began using a lemon- 

 colored hackle. 



The stick worm is either white or a light lemon color; 

 it is about three-fourths of an inch in length, and when 

 put on to the hook it makes a very attractive-looking fly 

 (?), and the average trout will rise to it when he will not 

 to anything else. 



The trout catcher cannot fish from the banks of those 

 mountain streams to any considerable extent; they flow 

 between steep mountains, through dense growths of 

 laurels and rhododendrons, and the fisherman must take 

 to the water. It is because of this state of things that 

 scientific fly-fishing is impossible. 



My second trip up Crawford Creek was made a few days 

 after my arrival, 1 went alone; the day promised to be a 

 good one, sun was bright and warm, and everything 

 seemed favorable for a successful day's sport. 1 started 

 into the stream at eight o'clock A. M. The water was 

 as cold as ice, and the trout "bit" ravenously for about 

 three hours; then they stopped. I was then on the bpst 

 part of the creek and the rain had commenced falling; it 

 looked as if my clay's sport was at a,n end, but I had a very 

 large string and did not feel badly discouraged. I Sat 

 under a large rock and ate my lunch of corn bread, fried 

 pork and ginger bread, and waited for the rain to stop. 

 At the end of about an hour the sun came out, and I left 

 the creek and went up to a little clearing, about half a 

 mile, where Crawford had a little cornfield; it was one of 

 the rockiest oornfields that I had ever seen, and I thought 

 I would rather own one of the sand barrens in Florida 

 than such a field as that, but the creek could be fished 

 from the bank through the clearing and I expected to get 

 a dozen or two big fellows in going through it. There 

 are no very deep "holes" through the clearing; it is a 

 gentle ripple all the way, with many rocks with dark 

 nooks under them, overhanging low banks and bushes, 

 and very good ground for fly-casting. 



After reaching the clearing I tied on a fresh cinnamon - 

 hackle with a red body, cast over to the opposite side, the 

 fly struck the water by the side of a large rock; there was 

 a splash and a rush down stream to the first of the ripples, 

 and at the end of about two minutes I landed my prize; 

 it was a prize, indeed, and would weigh at least three- 

 quarters of a pound. 



Another cast at the extreme lower end of the ripple, 

 and another rise, and another good half-pounder was 

 landed. Things began to look brighter, except some 

 heavy, black clouds could be seen coming down through 

 the gap about half a mile away, and that promised to give 

 me a wetting unless I sought shelter in Crawford's old 

 shanty up in the cornfield. 



1 kept on fishing until I reached the clearing and then 

 made the best time I knew how to for that old shanty, 

 but % was pretty well soaked when I reached it. Craw- 

 ford and his boys were there; they had a big fire in the 

 old fire place, and after a "nip" of old North Carolina 

 "mountain dew," I sat down by the fire and dried my 

 clothing. At three o'clock the rain stopped, the sun came 

 out bright and hot and I started for home, three miles 

 from where I was, over a cattle trail, and after having 

 accomplished about half the distance the rain began 

 to pour; there was no shelter to get under, and I com- 

 menced whistling to keep up my courage. In five min- 

 utes after the storm began I was as wet as I could be, 

 and a temporary shelter would have been of but little 

 use if I could have found one. 



When I reached Crawford's house I was wet, tired and 

 about famished with hunger, and while. Madam C. was 

 weighing the fish I devoted my best efforts to a big apple 

 pie which the old lady set before me. The pie was made 

 of dried apples, and 'it might not have been considered 

 one of the daintiest ones that ever was made by a Yankee 

 housewife, but it seemed just at that time to be the best 

 one I ever ate. 



About the time I had filled up with pie and paid for my 

 trout, my landlord, farmer Osborn, cameuponmuleback; 

 he was going up the creek to look for me. It was my 

 first trip alone, and he and his good wife had become 

 alarmed at my long absence. 



Osborn said he was afraid I had fallen down some one 

 of those big ledges and broken a leg or two. I told him 

 I was all right, had had no bad falls, but had seen lots of 

 good ones, and could not get a rise from any of them in 

 the deep, dark, wooded portion of the creek. Osborn 

 said those "holes" were full of them, and that we would 

 catch them after the water became a little warmer. There 

 had been no warm rains up to the time of my arrival, the 

 streams were low and but few trout had commenced run- 

 ning, 



I had mounted the "mule brute" while we were talking 

 over the events of the day, we were three-fourths of a 

 mile from Osborn's and if it hadn't been for that "mule 

 brute" I do not believe I could have reached home that 

 night; every bone in my body ached. 



Supper was nearly ready when we reached the house. 

 I washed, changed my clothing, took a good stiff "horn" 

 of "old rye" and proceeded to the supper table, where I 

 found a surprise awaiting my coming. ' Osborn had been 

 fishing a few of the deep holes in the river during the 

 afternoon and had caught eleven beauties that would av- 

 erage at least half a pound each. Six of them laid on a 

 platter before me, fried to the most beautiful golden 

 brown you ever saw. I was just hungry enough to lay 

 away two of them, and I did it, without making many 

 remarks about it either. 



The rain fell heavily all that night, and the next morn- 

 ing the creeks and river were torrents; no fishing could 

 be done that day, and I did not care much about fishing 

 for one day at least; I was pretty stiff and sore; my old 

 cowhide boots had made my corns tender and I was glad 

 to rest. I had some fine Scotch hooks, tied to a hair 

 snell, but without any fly on them; and after a breakfast 

 of fried trout, fried pork, cornbread and milk I got one 

 of the boys about the place to catch an old white rooster 

 that was strutting around the barnyard. I plucked some 

 of the long fine feathers from his neck, found some lemon- 

 colored dye about the house and dyed them. After they 

 had been dried I took several of those little hooks and 

 tied them with my yellow feathers, using white silk and 

 gold tinsel for bodies and made some very fair looking 

 flies. And they beat all the "store" flies I ever used or 

 sa w used during the three months of my visit in that 

 region. 



My yellow flies did not come into general use until 

 after the middle of June, when the stick worm had 

 hatched out. 



I forgot to mention that I paid Madame Crawford for 

 231 bs. of trout the day I fished the creek alone. I had at 

 least a dozen, which would have tipped the beam when 

 caught at ilb. each. 



There were a dozen good hearty appetites to appease in 

 Osborn's family, and even that big string of fish would 

 not be wasted. 



About the only fly that can be used in North Carolina 

 is a species of the Phri/gamdm, familiarly termed cad or' 

 caddis fly and in those wilds "stick bait." The females 

 lay their eggs upon the leaves of the overhanging bushes^ 

 to which they adhere until they are hatched, a process, 

 which > in warm weather, soon takes place. The eggs 

 produce little sixJegged larvae, which fall in the water 

 and immediately set about constructing for themselves 

 tubelike cases in which to reside secure from their 

 numerous enemies, especially the brook trout. When 

 seen at the bottom of the water these cases appear like 

 short bits of stick, but they will be found on examination 

 to be regularly and beautifully constructed of various 

 materials, some of pieces of reed, grass and the like, and 

 many of fine gravel and sand, which are strongly cemen- 

 ted together with a kind of glue, which the larvae pro- 

 duce, and which completely resist the action of water. 



After having passed sufficient time in the larva state 

 to arrive at a proper degree of maturity, the insect fast- 

 ens its case to the stem of some water plant or to the 

 under side of a rock, and closing it at each side with a 

 kind of grating, through which the water necessary for 

 breathing flows, it turns to an inactive pupa. 



In a few days it issues from its outer case, rises to the 

 surface of the water, and bursting its pupa skin appears 

 in its last and perfect form of a beautiful fly. 



I did not observe more than two kinds of these flies 

 when I was in the North Carolina mountains; those were 

 the white and yellow ones. After those flies came trout 

 would not readily take the few worms we were able to 

 find; but about the time the stick worms were hatched 

 we could find plenty of "yellow jacket's" nests, and 

 where we cculd not cast our flies we used the "yellow 

 jacket's" grubs; no feather upon the hook, and the trout 

 could not possibly resist that bait, and we took many big 

 ■ fellows with that grub. 



Several parties of city fellows came up there during 

 my visit. They generally brought dozens of gorgeous 

 flies, laughed at our rude tackle, and when they Vent 

 home carried big strings of trout which Osborn and I 

 caught for them with our home-made flies, stick worms 

 and hornet grubs. 



I used much smaller hooks in those mountain streams 

 than I had ever used before. About the smallest kind 

 of Limerick is the proper kind to use. Most of my flies 

 would not measure more than f of an inch in length. 

 With such hooks I caught a good many trout of a pound 

 weight each; if my snell and leader held I had but little 

 fear of losing them. I believe 1 did not break six hooks 

 during the entire time I was there. 



The second day after my last tramp was Saturday; the 

 river was at about the right fishing' stage, and Osborn 

 said we would go down and fish the big pool, at the 

 mouth of "Hungry" Creek, That pool is about 150yds. 

 in length, about 30yds. in width, and from 2 to 6ft. deep 

 when the river is at the proper fishing stage. The current 

 is slow, and on the east side there is a ledge from 150 to 

 200ft. high. The side of the ledge is covered with a dense 

 growth of water maples, rhododendrons, vines and blue- 

 berry bushes, and it is impossible to fish it on that side; 

 the west side is lined with small willows, which offer 

 little or no protection from the sight of those keen-eyed 

 old settlers who live under the ledge, and in order to fish 

 there successfully one must go there just before dark. 



So after sunset we mounted our mules and rode down 

 there, fished a few holes above the big pool while waiting 

 for the last rays of daylight to disappear, and then went 

 to the foot of the pool, waded in until we had reached 

 about the middle, and began casting. I used a white- 

 coachman, one that I had made that day; Osborn used 

 a yellow-hackle with gold body, and his first cast brought 

 a big fellow to the surface. In a moment I got a rise 

 and landed one of a pound weight. This was a pretty 

 fair beginning, I thought. After I had killed my first 

 one the trout commenced rising all around us. I think I 

 could count a dozen at a time. I had not seen anything 

 like it before, and at the end of twenty minutes we had 

 bagged nine big ones; they weighed illbs. We could 

 catch no more that night, owing to darkness; we could 

 not see where to cast, and those "old settlers" had stopped 

 rising. We caught about fifty large trout from that pool 

 during my stay there. I do not think anybody but Os- 

 born and myself caught a fish out of that place during 

 the entire summer. 



The next day was Sunday, and no fishing was to be 

 done. Those mountain farmers all attend church on 

 Sunday, and if a stranger would stand well with them he 

 must abstain from labor on that day. 



After the family had all gone to church, I called the 

 dog, a splendid collie, took my pipe and went after flow- 

 ers down the road by the side of the river. That road ends 

 at Osborn's house; it is a lovely road to travel on on foot 

 for a short distance on a bright, warm evening. It is 

 well shaded with large chestnuts, oaks and hemlocks, 

 and on that delightful morning the laurels, white azaleas, 

 Indian pinks and many other lovely flowers lent their 

 beauty to the scenery and filled the air with their fra- 

 grance. I gathered great clusters of them , all that I could 

 carry, to take to the house. 



Upon reaching home Mrs. Osborn brought out two 

 large jars, arranged the flowers and stood them upon the 

 mantel in my room ; they made a lovely appearance and 

 filled the room with the sweetest perfume, Every nook 

 and corner was filled with lovely flowers after the first of 

 June, ana about the middle of June, when the rhododen- 

 drons came into full bloom, the sides of these steep banks 

 along the stream presented such a sight as a lover of 

 flowers would never forget. It was a sight that cannot 

 be described on paper; one may go there and see it as I 

 did, 



Is it any wonder that the Salmo foniinalis is an aristo- 

 crat, as well as the best food fish that is found in fresh 

 water? His home is in the clearest and purest water: he 

 feeds upon the daintiest of food, and is surrounded by 

 the most beautiful scenery, and I think that all true 

 lovers of the gentle sport of angling will agree with me 

 that he is, indeed, the king of fresh-water fishes. 



