July 38, 1892.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



78 



DOC. 



What rare f oltune it is to meet a kindred spirit on your 

 trip to the woods— one who loves nature and all her chil- 

 dren and is as keen after sport as yourself, and who counts 

 the day not a total failure if the game bag be light and 

 the creel contains more ferns than fish. Such a one was 

 Boo, and moreover Doc was a woman. 



The first time I saw Doc— that is after she had been 

 reconstructed, so to speak— be came walking into the 

 dining room of a small house in a big wilderness in Penn- 

 sylvania. His curly head, which had a pronounced sun- 

 set tone, was covered by a little blue cap. Rubber boots, 

 a black neglige shirt, and my pair of best Sunday trousers 

 cotistituted his make up. He was rigged out for troutiog 

 on one of the wildest streams of the State, where the 

 underbrush, drifts and tangles would discourage the 

 average man before he had traveled 100yds. It was 

 trying work for the aforesaid trousers, and it is safe to 

 say that I selected the most open paths for them, 



Ten minutes previous to Doc's appearance I had hung 

 my offering of the trousers upon the doorknob of Miss 



's bedroom. She desired to go trouting and skirts 



were simply out of the question on such a brook. I 

 christened her Doc after a most beloved chum. How 

 could I say Miss to a pair of 

 trousers. So, with two lunches 

 stowed away in the pockets of 

 my hunting coat and an ample 

 supply of worms, Doc and I 

 started for the stream, I did 

 not think Doc would stick to 

 it long, and insisted on a very 

 pmall lunch for myself. That's 

 where I made a most serious mis- 

 take, as I discovered later. But 

 It lunch time Doc caught me 

 syeing his piece of cake so wist- 

 fully, "just like a hungry dog," 

 IS he remarked afterward, that 

 oe insisted on dividing with me. 

 How could I resist? 



We slid into the brook from a 

 teidge a mile below the house 

 and fished for nearly two hours 

 without a nibble. We floated 

 worms 30 or 30ft. ahead under 

 bushes, by the sides of half sub- 

 merged logs, and let the strong 

 black eddy at the head of drifts 

 isuck them under, but all to no 

 purpose. Doc was making ex- 

 cellent progress for a beginner, 

 much better than some men I 

 liave seen at the work, and de- 

 veloping an amount of patience 

 and perseverance that really 

 astonished me. Sometimes be 

 waded the stream and again 

 walked the bank, or at my sug- 

 gestion (as I thought of those 

 jrousers) made a short detour to 

 avoid the top of a fallen tree or a 

 clump of thick bushes. Once 

 when my line got badly tangled 

 on a limb Doc heard me running 

 the scale on a few choice cuss 

 words that I use only on that 

 particular stream, and wanted 

 to know what I was saying. 

 "Nothing much," said I, "it's 

 only a habit I have of talking to 

 myself." But Doc, who had met 

 with much of the same aggravat- 

 ing experience, smiled sympa- 

 thetically, as though he had him- 

 self felt the need of something a 

 trifle stronger than "goodness 

 gracious." 



My first fish was a xMckerel. I 

 promptly broke his neck and 

 threw him away. They have a 

 wonderful appetite for young 

 trout. A few yards further down 

 I took a trout, and then two more 

 before we reached the clearing. 

 Doc's head began to ache and I 

 was afraid he would say "let's 

 play something else" if he didn't 

 catch a trout very soon. At the 

 edge of the meadow I selected a 

 likely spot and told Doc to run 

 his line through it. He did so 



and pulled out a fish in short order. As he sat admiring 

 his first wild trout, with such thoughts as any old fisher- 

 man can recall, I asked about the headache. "It is much 

 better," says Doc, and so it was. It was not the first ache 

 a fish or head of game has cured. Another trout soon 

 fell a victim to Doc's rod, who was improving with suc- 

 cess, but no more until we reached the end of the 

 meadow, where he missed a nice one that rushed out 

 from under a log, by pulling too quick. 



We stopped in the edge of the woods and partook of 

 lunch seated upon the trunk of a fallen tree. After 

 lunch Doc walked back to try again for the one under 

 the log, but could not induce him to take hold. Here 

 was where I made my only bad break. I pulled out a 

 little rainbow trout about Sin. long, and wishing to show 

 it to my companion before returning it to the water, I 



called out, "Look here. Miss , I've caught a rainbow." 



Just at that moment a woman walked down from a barn 

 above the bank, and from the sharp glance she bestowed 

 on Doc I knew she smelled a mouse. But what cared 

 re. 



Before we quit Doc caught two more trout and I took 

 one— just four apiece— making our total eight. Not a 

 record-breaking event by any means, but Doc had ob- 

 tained the experience he sought and we were not return- 

 ing empty handed. On the way home I stopped at a 

 bridge, saying I thought there was a trout under it, just 

 to test Doc's gameness. He promptly demanded bait and 

 began fishing. It was a hot day and we had been out 

 nearly five hours tramping over the roughest kind of 

 ground, so you must not wonder that I felt inclined to 

 slap Doc on the back and say "Good boy." The experi- 

 ment had proved a brilliant success all around. Doc was 

 pbarmed with his outfit, and several timeg that day had 



I noted the smile of triumph light up his face as he 

 straddled the trunk of some fallen tree, or rested for a 

 moment upon the top rail of a fence, just like a sure 

 enough man. 



Trouting was not the only fishing Doc and I tried. We 

 wet many a line together after the black bass iu the lake 

 near by, and some right interesting arguments we had 

 with that noble fish. On these occasions Doc wore skirts, 



and it was always Miss from me, except in moments 



of intense excitement, as when a bass was doing the 

 circus act on the other end of the line. However, I 

 sha.ll continue to call her Dnc on paper, and when she 

 reads this issue of Fobest and Stream I shall be too far 

 out of the woods to be snubbed for my temerity. 



Doc was a very fair ha,nd at the paddle and could lay 

 as straight a course as any man, provided the wind was 

 not too strong, and could do ffood casting with the min- 

 now, both accomplishments havi:7g been acquired during 

 her stay at the lake this summer. 



Even as late as the middle of July spinning or casting 

 with shiners was more efi'i^ctive than any other method. 

 We tried trolling and still-fishing with shiners, sunfiah, 

 percli and frog?, but with poor success. We made a rule 

 of these strikes and out, or one fish and out; that is, the 

 fellow who got three strikes in succession, or boated one 



CHAINED 



to Business .> Can't Go Fishing ? Make the 

 Best of it. Read FOREST AND STREAM. 



fish, whatever size, species or previous condition, had to 

 yield up the rod and do the paddling. Often it was an 

 8 or 10 -inch bass or a perch or small jpickerel that made a 

 fellow sit down just when some favorite spot was almost 

 within reach. In such an emergency I have known Doc, 

 I am pained to say, to be mighty slow in taking up slack 

 line on a small bass. Every bass under lOin, was thrown 

 back unless too badly injured. 



One afternoon while fishing a piece of the lake where 

 we seldom struck anything but pickerel, Doc landed his 

 shiner within a foot or two of the shore and right along- 

 side of a bunch of grass. The minnow had scarcely 

 touched the water before a bass grabbed it with a rush 

 that meant business. He made a break toward the boat 

 for deep water and I yelled to Doc to take in the slack. 

 Out of the water he came with a shake of his head that 

 sent the spray flying and made me groan, for I expected 

 to see the rod straighten up when he fell back. But no, 

 down he went, and the rod curved and bent until Doc 

 cried out, "Oh! it will break; I know it will." It wap a 

 light fly-rod and Doc was hanging on with both hands, 

 but I knew its quality and feared not. Out he came again 

 with another spiteful shake and then a dive that took 

 more line. Doc began to recover some of the line and at 

 the third break I was feeling that we had a mortgage on 

 him. A few more curves and twists and bis broad sides 

 were showing, a sure sign of distress. The net was soon 

 under him and he was safe in the boat. Doc sat down 

 and chewed furiously on his wad of gum , actually too 

 happy to speak. I weighed him by the "eye scales" for 

 at least two pounds, and was very much surprised when 

 reaching the house to find that one and three-quarters 

 was his exact weight. 



On another occasion Doc fastened to a bass, and at the 



same moment a red ant made his debut on the end of 

 Doc's nose and started up to investigate her bangs. Ex- 

 amine a red ant and you will observe that he has very 

 small feet, but when one is walking over your nose it 

 feels as though he wore No. 13 shoes filled with spikes. 

 Both of Doc's hands were on the rod. She would make 

 a claw at the ant and the bass would pull down her 

 hands. Another claw that fell short by half an inch, and 

 then Doc tried to wobble her nose, but it was such a 

 small nose that it wouldn't wobble, and the ant fell off 

 after biting her under the starboard bang. Doc was not 

 one of your summer girls, else I should have had to fish 

 that rod out of the bottom of the lake. What's more she 

 landed that bass and then equelched me for daring to 

 laugh. Old Man. 



EXPERIENCE WITH RAINBOW TROUT. 



I HAVE previously mentioned some points of interest 

 in regard to the so-called California or rainbow trout, 

 but now, after six years' experience with these fish, I am 

 in a position to say with some positi^eness what may be 

 of vspecial interest to the readers of Forest and Stream. 



Six years ago I procured some fingerlings from the TJ. 

 S. Fish Commission, and planted a hundred, all the sur- 

 vivors of a thousand which were 

 sent to me, at Highlands, N. C. 

 This locality is the highest in- 

 habited locality east of the Rooky 

 Mountains, and its climate and 

 its abundant cold , sparkling water 

 that pours down the mountain 

 sides, renders it a most favorable 

 home for the trout. The com- 

 mon brook trout has existed 

 abundantly there for many years, 

 some of the natives say they 

 were always there, and others 

 say the streams were stocked 

 artificially. This may be so, for 

 all the water that flows from the 

 mountains goes either to the Gulf 

 of Mexico or to the Atlantic 

 below Cape Hatteras. The rain- 

 bow trout therefore had a good 

 chance to show all their best 

 qualities. 



The fingerlings were put in the 

 water in one of my ponds near 

 Highlands in the summer of 1885. 

 The next spring one was taken 

 lOin long, and he made a gallant 

 struggle for his freedom. He 

 was at once returned to the 

 water. But I heard of others 

 being taken by poachers and sold 

 in the village that summer, half 

 a poimd weight. The next year 

 one of Slbs. was taken and garn- 

 ished <he table. I need not de- 

 scribe its beauty, or its gameful 

 resistance to capture, but only 

 say that its flesh was all that 

 could be wished by the piscatorial 

 epicure. The color of it is a deep 

 red, almost as deep as that of the 

 salmon when fresh from the 

 water. It is firm, and full of 

 flavor equal to the best brook 

 trout. 



The next year one was hooked 

 by a young lady in one of my 

 ponds, in which it was placed 

 three years before. There was 

 an exciting battle between the 

 lady and the fish, in which the 

 issue was very doubtful for some 

 time. But the fish was landed, 

 and coming loose from the book, 

 the fight was renewed on land 

 for fifteen minutes longer, before 

 the biggest fish ever taken in 

 North Carolina waters was finally 

 secured. The lady was, of course, 

 as all young ladies are now, an 

 amateur photographer, and trans- 

 ferred the fish and her own in- 

 tensely pleased countenance to a 

 film, a copy of which is laid be- 

 fore the editor in proof that it 

 (the fish, not the countenance) 

 was 23in. long and weighed over 

 31bs. The lady's name is not 

 Victoria, although her face has a victorious expression. 



The same year other fish were taken down the river, 

 where they had migrated from the pond and stocked 

 another pond five miles lower down, but as the lower 

 pond also belongs to me I was able to protect the fish 

 to some extent. But a large number were taken from 

 the stream by poachers in spite of all my efforts. Some 

 of the original one hundred, however, still remain, proba- 

 bly more than half of them, and it is probable will re- 

 main, for those who have been hooked smash the tackle, 

 and showing their tails insultingly, leave the fisherman 

 without saying good bye. Some of my friends who have 

 experienced this bitter disappointment aver that the fish 

 are over 3ft. long and must weigh at least 71b8., which is 

 quite a reasonable conclusion considering the early 

 growth which is safely known. The big fish are mostly 

 in the deep holes under the waterfalls or between the 

 recks, or in the deepest parts of the ponds. The increase 

 is enormous. In the early summer the little shallow 

 pools near the banks of the stream are black with the 

 young fish, and many fish of a pound, or two pounds, 

 and less, are taken. They breed well and grow fast, and 

 are more gamy than the common fontinalis. 



I have the best reasons to believe that the two breeds 

 have met and crossed. Three years ago I saw a male 

 rainbow on a spawning bed with the brook trout, and 

 his pugnacity against the waiting brook males was ridic- 

 ulous. When one of these approached, its rival darted at 

 it and drove it off, and like a flash returned to his duty 

 again. I saw him two days in succession, and since then 

 some fish having every appearance of being hybrids have 

 been taken. The iridescent scales are plain upon them 

 as is also the darker back, buit they are not pure rainbows. 

 Last year I tried to get a specimen for examination, but 



