66 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Aug. 13, 1891, 



"That reminds me.'' 



THE BOYS A-FISHING. 



I HA-D just arrived in tlie town of L., and being a 

 stranger I was lost for the want of amusement. Hav- 

 ing finislied one cigar, I might have smoked another to 

 while away the time, but that was against my principles. 

 So I started for the river, which was about 200yd3. in 

 front of the hotel in which I had taken my lodgings. As 

 I neared the stream I heard some one say : 



"Bill! Billl I've got a bite. I tell you it's a big fellow 

 too." 



The voice, I perceived, was quite near, so I directed my 

 steps thither and took a path leading around a knoll. I 

 followed it and soon came in sight of two fishers. It was 

 a pretty sight. Nestled among the trees was a rustic 

 bridge, and leaning far over it were two boys tugging 

 away at the fishing line, their clothes bespattered with 

 mud and water, but their faces all aglow with the pros- 

 pects of carrying home the big fish that was just then 

 giving them so much trouble. I stood looking on, while 

 many instances of my boyhood days were called to mind 

 and the many times I was flagged for wearing my Sun- 

 day clothes on my fishing expeditions (of course I did not 

 soil them). Pretty soon I heard one of the boys say: 



"Here he comes! pull hard! ' 



The pull was loo hard for them. Over they went, one 

 falling head first into the water. I ran to the bank, and 

 by this time the little fellow had recovered himself and 

 swimming vigorously for the shore. He came up the 

 bank blowing the water from his face. I expected to 

 hear him cry, but he looked at me winking and blinking, 

 trying to get the water from his eyes, and said so seri- 

 ously, "Well, Mister, tha,t was a big fool!" 



It amused me considerably, as also the boys, to find 

 that the hook had only caught in some bushes which held 

 it fast. S. C. M. 



Denver, Col. 



'm mfd ^iv^r fishing. 



The ruLL texts of the game fish laws of all the States, 

 Territories and British Provinces are given in the Booli o1 

 the Game Laws. 



A FISHERMAN'S SONG. 



Dedicated to adl those who Love the Forest, Lake and 

 Stream, 



fT^HE deer from his red coat the night dew is shaking— 



Fisherman, up and away 1 

 The hirds in the forest with glid songs are waking— 



O, fisherman, why will you stay? 



The sun o'er the hilltops is timidly peeping— 



Fisherman, up and away! 

 Arise O thou fisherman why art thou sleeping? 



O, fisherman, why will you stay? 



Through mists of the moraing the wild duck is flying- 

 Fisherman, up and away! 



In the depths of the lake the black bass is lying— 

 O, fisherman, why will you stay? 



The bright sun in the east the night clouds is flushing- 

 Fisherman, up and away! ' 



O'er their wild rocky beds the clear brooks are rushing- 

 O, iisherman, why will you stay? 



O there is more joy in the forest, on billow- 

 Fisherman, up and away! 



Than man ever found on soft bed or pillow— 

 O, fisherman, why will you stay? 

 Fremont, Mich. Da. John W. McNabb. 



RAINBOW TROUT OF THE McCLOUD. 



Edit or Forest and Stream: 



Your correspondent "Scarlet-Ibis," in number of June 

 11, mentions the Dolly Varden and rainbow trout. 



A x)erusal of his article recalls most agreeably the two 

 weeks spent by the writer and Nat. B. Harmon on the 

 famous McGloud River in Siskiyou county, California, in 

 June. 1887. Leaving San Francisco the evening of the 

 17th we take the sleeper of the Portland train at Oakland 

 Mole, and the next morning finds us at Sisson, 250 miles 

 north, and at the headwaters of the Sacramento, here but 

 a meadow brook. 



While eating our breakfast at Sisson we interview the 

 landlord regarding the best fishing places, and he refers 

 us to the driver of the FaU River stage, which leaves in 

 twenty minutes, "Wall^ ye git in with me an' I'll set ye 

 down over on the McCloud." We ask him how far he pro- 

 poses to take us, and learn that the nearest stopping jjlace 

 IS Downing's Ranch, 18 miles east, at the southern base of 

 Mt. Shasta, which looms up l4,440ft., bright and gleam- 

 ing with eternal snows, a prominent landmark for a hun- 

 dred miles in any direction. Having come to this point 

 simply on the reputation of the McCloud to furnish trout 

 of remarkable size and vigor, and with no definite desti- 

 nation in view, we quickly place our traps and ourselves 

 in the open spring wagon, and hugely enjoy the ride in 

 the fresh, crisp morning air over Squaw Slountain, and 

 noon time brings us to Downing Ranch, a two-roomed log 

 house, a stable of "shakes" without roof, and a sheep 

 corral. 



The driver introduces us to the ranch people, who con- 

 clude they can take care of us; so after a hasty lunch and 

 rigging up in our fishing gear, we ask to be direeted to 

 the most likely place on the stream, which we find at its 

 nearest point" is some two miles away. Only the old 

 people were at home that day, and they du-ected us to 

 the Upper Fall, some distance up the stream. We found 

 a fall of some 90ft., at the foot of which was a swirling, 

 eddying stretch of water, with dark, deep cavernous 

 holes among the rocks that looked the very home of the 

 famous beauties we had come so far to interview. 



A word as to our tackle. My companion, an ardent 

 lover of the royal sport, a veteran angler, :s just now 

 about to test the qualities of a new split bamboo from 

 the hands of some noted maker, and I have an humble 

 rod of ash with lance wood tip, light, strong, and of that 

 Ifhiplike flexibility and perfect baJanpe so pleafiurab.§ fcf 



feel. Our flies, a varied assortment of the commoner 

 kinds, the hackles in grays, browns, ginger, etc., pre- 

 dominating. We are each supplied with 6ft. leaders, 

 lines of lightest silk, in color darkest green, and small 

 multiplying reels, and ample room m our creels for all 

 that may come to our hooks, which, by the way, are 

 No. 8. 



Thus equipped, we fearlessly make our first casts, and 

 for some time are successful; but as the shadows lengthen 

 small trout of 6 to Sin. begin to take the fly, and at sun- 

 set we count a total catch of 104. Wending our way 

 over the trail to the ranch, we discuss the situation , 

 which, considering the largeness of our expectations as 

 to size of the fish to be found in this stream, seems dis- 

 couraging. 



At our supper of fried trout and corn bread we meet 

 the young son of our host. Will, a stalwart youth of 

 seventeen, who laughs at our catch of "little uns," and 

 says he can show us where we can see "some whoppers 

 jumpin','* but in rather a sarcastic vein remarks that we 

 "can't get 'em with them little bits of poles." In fact, he 

 had "got on" numerous big ones, hut they had either 

 broken his "pole," the line or the hooks, and he looked 

 with contempt upon our slender tackle. However, Will 

 proved extremely good-natured, and after breakfast at 

 early dawn of the next morning we follow him to the 

 hole at the big springs, some two miles below the scene 

 of the previous afternoon and much nearer the house. 



We find the river down in a narrow canon, with rather 

 precipitous banks of two or three hundred feet, and the 

 hole a somewhat turbulent pool of good length and 

 breadth, between immense springs, the waters of which 

 issue from the rocks a hundred feet above our heads, and 

 came leaping, tumbling and cascading down and mingling 

 with the waters of the McCloud. 



These feeders or springs, of which there are many in 

 the short course of the river, find a channel under and 

 through the lava beds all the way from the snow line of 

 Mt. Siiasta, a veritable nature's ice house, and afford an 

 abundant and constant supply of the purest and iciest 

 water to the stream below. The space between these two 

 big springs — the largest on the river— is about lOOyds., 

 and ill the pool between, according to Will, the big trout 

 lurked. 



The morning is glorious, the sun just peeping through 

 the tops of the giant sugar pines, and wuile we eagerly 

 joint our rods and tie on our most taking casts a gentle 

 breeze, drawn up the mountain gorge by some invisible 

 force, slightly sways the bushes on the banks, and directly 

 we see hundred of June flies, dislodged from their retreat 

 under the leaves, fly fluttering with damp and heavy 

 wing over and near the water's surface. Talk about rain- 

 bow trout. They began their breakfast right then and 

 there. Dozens of 2-pounders could be seen at a glance, 

 as they leaped high, their beautiful sides gleaming in the 

 morning sun, ICin. sections of the most brilliant rainbow. 



A thrilling sight, truly, and we hastily change our flies 

 for the gray and ginger hackles, as most nearly approach- 

 ing in color the drab and dun of the natural fly, for which 

 the trout so plainly manifest their liking. After two or 

 three short casts to get the leaders straightened, I reach 

 out a little further and softly drop my cast just over 

 where but a moment before a grand specimen had shown 

 me his whole length, when the hungry fellow, as if to 

 dare me to battle, again leaps clear from his element and, 

 with a saucy flip of his tail and a most graceful summer- 

 sault, disappears with my gray hackle. A slight and 

 quick motion of my wrist, and 1 know that I have hooked 

 my first rainbow. 1 have held a plow behind a yoke of 

 unruly steers, and it seems an apt though prosaic com- 

 parison to the wild rush of that trout through the swift 

 waters of the pool. When first struck he vaulted 8ft. or 

 more into the air, and with a vigorous shake tried to free 

 himself from the hook: then, with zigzag and erratic 

 course, down the stream he headed for a rook half hidden 

 by a growth of watercress that partly dammed the 

 channel at the foot of the pool, making the reel sing as it 

 paid out the line. 



With some effort I checked his mad charge, and shorten- 

 ing the line with every yielding turn, glanced about for a 

 place to land my prize, for I have no net. Suddenly 

 the tension upon rod and line is eased and I fear the game 

 if off, but quickly reeling in, as he leaps again and again, 

 and soon showing the first signs of lost vigor, I have him 

 turning up his gleaming sides in token of defeat and ho 

 comes a weary captive to the ready hand of Nat, who, 

 standing by, has watched the gallant fight of this gamy 

 fish. Time, 13 minutes. "Will, who has cut a pole in 

 the brush near by, and has seated himself on a rock while 

 making fast the small "clothes line'* he has been wont to 

 fish with, drops his work and wide-eyed and open- 

 mouthed, is speechless from start to finish; but with the 

 fish safely in hand he gives one wild yell and a jump to 

 where I stand with thumb under the gill of my captive. 



"That's my trout, my trout," he exclaims, and points 

 to a wire snell hanging from the mouth of the fish, where 

 sure enough I find a No. 2 hook firmly caught through the 

 cartilage of the nose, Will recognizes this hook and snell 

 as his property, which more than a week before he had 

 baited with a grasshopper and cast upon the waters. It 

 had been seized by this same trout and in attempting to 

 land it in the good old way, by a vigorous jerk of the 

 pole, the trout objecting to such violent methods, had 

 kept part of the tackle in protest. This magnificent 

 PI)ecimen of the rainbow trout weighed, when caught, 

 3ibs. 9oz, Will had hooked and lost so many in this same 

 pool that he had come to believe that short of a good- 

 sized sapling for a rod and a lin. hawser for the line, 

 nothing could induce them to leave this, their favorite 

 haunt. While I am telling all of this Nat has not been 

 an idle listener, but has hooked an almost exact duplicate 

 of my prize, one as full of fight, game to the last. 



Here let me mention and comment on the fly-taking 

 propensities of the rainbow as we found them. We con- 

 fined otir fishing for the next ten days mostly to this 

 pool, and in this time took from its dark waters with 

 the fly over 500 trout, all rainbow, that would average 

 21b8. each. The last day's fishing was as good as the 

 first, with no apparent decrease in numbers or voracious- 

 ness. There seemed to be no small fish here, and their 

 even size and wonderful vigor were most remarkable. 

 M;iny were the repetitions of the scene describing the cap- 

 ture of the first fish, and occasionally, when two of these 

 gallant beatities were struck at one cast, the long and ex- 

 citing contest can be better imagined than described. We 

 lost but few fish, as they rose to the fly with no uncer. 

 taia rush, and we always game the imimt ot \ 



the rise, the fish invariably leaping clfar of the water. 

 Standing equarely facing across the stream, a long cast 

 directly to the front would drop the flies well out, and 

 the hackles, dry from their course through the air, would 

 fall soft and light as a bit of down upon the swiftly-flaw- 

 ing waters, and floating airily while the slack of the line 

 lasted, formed the most seductive lure. The good qual- 

 ities of hackles, from the fact that they dry quickest 

 while casting, were here firmly impressed upon me, and 

 since that time their use in many of the mountain 

 streams and lakes of the Northwest has confirmed my 

 first impressiona, 



I have not since that time found another place where 

 all the elements were so perfectly combined as we found 

 them on that trip to the McCloud— no mofquitoes, no 

 black flies. The weather pei-fect and the hungriest and 

 gamiest trout it has ever been my experience to deal 

 with. 



We found no Dolly Varden unless a trout captured by 

 Nat at the foot of a fall some eighty rods above the hole 

 could have been one. Here at high noon the sun's rays 

 penetrated a deep, still pool, and here we could see some 

 large fish almost motionless near the bottom. They 

 would not notice our flies, but a No. 4 hook baited with 

 a piece of trout belly, a dotible gut leader, and a .44cal. 

 cartridge for a sinker, had the desired effect, and Nat 

 had the liveliest kind of a time in very ci-amped quar- 

 ters for 25 minutes. 



This trout had the appearance of being a very old and 

 overgrown rainbow, weighed 5^1 bs. and measured 24-|in. 

 from tip to tip. In color one cotild imagine seeing where 

 the brilliancy and beauty of the rainb iw once existed, 

 but now dulled and gray with age. I carefully and rev- 

 erently scraped the moss from his venerable pate, fully 

 expecting to find the initials "B. C." thereon, but he had 

 outgrown all reliable evidence of his certain years. 



Words are inadequate to describe the full measure of 

 our enjoyment on this memorable trip. I have not since 

 then visited the McCloud, but my lines have been cast in 

 other places where the trout, if not so gamy, have atoned 

 ill size and numbers. Some time, if agreeable, I will tell 

 you of the sport to be found in the waters of western 

 Washington, the trout in the streams and lakes, and the 

 salmon in the sound. Geo. E. Miller. 



Seatile, Wash^ 



ANGLERS OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 



THE Anglers' Association of the St. Lawrence River 

 convened at Clayton, N. Y., Aug. 6. Those present 

 were C. G. Emery, Brooklyn; H. H. Warner, Rochester; 

 Wm. P. Esterbrook, Rahwav, N. J,; Frank P. Mathews, 

 Pots.dam; H. S. Chandler, p-hil. Luther, New York; Dr. 

 E. L. Sargent, Watertown; Geo. Sawyer, Syracuse: W. 

 H. Thompson. A. C. Cornwall, Walter Fox, Alexandria 

 Bay; H. S. Barker, Dr. Liddy, G. M. Skinner, R. P. 

 Grant, John Foley, G. H. Strough, Clayton. Secretary 

 Thompson, of Alexandria Bay, read the annual report: 



I have to report a year of hard work and many perplexities. 

 We have, with the aid of our State game protector, tecuied the 

 capture of a large number of nets. The exact nuoiber 1 am un- 

 able to stale, as the protector did noi. report the numner caKen. 



The State Fish Commission has been very liberal to our associ- 

 ation in granting us a protector for the river. We felt at the 

 time Chief Drew was superseded that the service would suffer, 

 and with that feeling we sent a delegation to New York to wait 

 on the Commission and urge Mr. Drew's reinstatement, bu' failed. 

 We were assured that it was done in the interest of protpcilon, 

 and I a in glad to say that we have a very efficient and willing 

 helper in our present chief, Mr. J. W. Pond. He has in hand 

 some suits for violations in tlie county, and has emplo\ ed Mr. 

 ■51on R. Brown, a very eflicient. and competent attorney, to prose- 

 cute for t.he State. T learn that Attorney-tTeneral Tabor Vila the 

 chief to push the suits to asuccesssul termination, and will render 

 the necessary aid. Two indictments wore brougi.t against J'^seph 

 Hazelton and Porter Holden. They were tried and acquitted. 

 Since their acquittal they have brought suits against Protector 

 Starring, Michael Haas, H. W. Visger, John 1. Cornwall and my- 

 self. Otu- cnief has employed E. K. Brown to put in a defense. 

 We have had delegations at Albany in favor of tae game law re- 

 ported by the codification committee, which bill failed to become 

 a law. The railroads have shown a willingness to do anytuing in 

 their power to aid in the protection of the river from netters.— 

 W, H. Thompson, Secretary. 



A letter from Attorney- General Tabor was read, in 

 which he writes; "I am in entire accord with the object 

 of your association and pledge you my hearty co-operation 

 in any undertaking you may have in view in furtherance 

 thereof. In behalf of all the anglers of the Slate who 

 are true lovers of the sport, I desire to convey the thanks to 

 which yourself and yottr association are entitled for the 

 good work already done and which I know you will con- 

 tinue to do in the future." 



Treasurer R. P. Grant reported a balance of |5o5.71 on 

 hand. Messrs. Strough, Emery a^nd Cornwall were made 

 a committee on nomination of ofilcers of the association. 

 Upon their report the secretary was instructed to cast a 

 ballot for the association, and the following officers were 

 declared elected for the ensuing year: 



President, H. H. Warner, Rochester, N. Y.; First Vice- 

 President, H. S, Chandler, New York ; Second Vice-Presi- 

 dent, Jacob Hays, New York; Secretary, W. PL Thomp- 

 son, Alexandria Bay, N. Y. ; Treasurer, R. P. Grant, Clay- 

 ton, N. Y. Executive Committee: A. 0. Cornwall, 

 Alexandria Bay, N. Y.; J. H. Quimby, Albany, N. Y.; 

 Jas. T. Story, Albany, N. Y.; G. T. Ratt'erty, Pittsburg, 

 Pa.; A. D. WiUiams, New York; G. H. Mckinley, Clay- 

 ton, JN. Y.; F. H. Taylor, Philadelphia, Pa.; C. W, Cross- 

 man, A exandria Bay, N. Y.; David Stevens, Syracuse, 

 N. ¥.; G. M. Skinner, Clayton, N. Y.; W. P. Esterbrook, 

 Rah way, N. J.; J. B. Wistar, Alexandria Bay, N. Y.; J. 

 R. Stebbins, Dr. E. L. Sargent, Watertown, N. Y.: W. J, 

 Cassard, New York; H, R. Heath, Brooklyn, N. Y.; C. A. 

 Johnson, New York; W. 1. Baecom, Alexandria Bay^ N. 

 Y.; W. W. Byington, Albany, N. Y.; C. A. Ellis, Dr. A. 

 Bain, Clayton, N. Y. 



The chair appointed Messrs. Strough and Chandler to 

 draft resolutions in respect to deceased members. 



A series of resolutions was adopted, after debate, as 

 follows: 



ResoTued, That the Anglers' Association of the River St. Law- 

 rence appoint a committee of three, besides the president, to co- 

 operate with the State Sport^^men's Assoc'ation for the Protection 

 of (Jame and iTish to secure active legislation for further protec- 

 tion 01 the sr. Lawrence. 



Resolced, That a committee of four he appointed to confer with 

 the Oanaiiian Msh C^mmls^lou with a view to securing their co- 

 operation in the protection of the frontier. 



The chau' appointed G. H. Strough, G. M. Skinner, 

 Clayton; J. L Luckey, of Rochester, and Henry Folger, 

 Kingston, as such committee. 



RmlveAy That the president of this Association appoint a com- 

 mittee of two BiejBbers at each of the following placft--: Cftpa 

 Vinc«at, Oi&yton, Bound iel^ad. P»f1c, gi'boueftad Island Park m 4 



