160 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Feb. 23, 1893, 



ON THE NORTH SHORE.-Vll. 



The Trip Up.-VII. 



[Contintied from page lAO.J 



The east wind, bi-ight sun and gentle breezes were the 

 introductory openings of the dawn, and the triij to Grand 

 River was decided upon as the most promising. Long be- 

 fore we were up we laeard our boatmen in converse with 

 some party aboard a passing sailboat. It was, the boys 

 informed us at breakfast, Mr. John Schilling, a Hudson 

 Bay agent stationed at Aguawa, who was returning 

 with liis party from a visit to Michipicoten. He had just 

 engaged with the company for three years' more service 

 and was considered one of the best ofiicials of the half- 

 breeds employed. He is the one we spoke of in our last 

 letter on the' "North Shore" as having the tkree hand- 

 some daughters, who are so much admired, particularly 

 by the young bucks of the Chippewa tribe. Peter, who 

 was a widower, was very elaborate in sijeaking of their 

 charms, and it looked to me as if he would like to la,y 

 siege to the heart of the tall beauty of the raven tresses 

 and sparkling eyes, who — 



"Looks as clear 

 As morning roses newly wash'd with dew. " 



Breakfast over we started for Grand River, of which we 

 had heard so many marvelous tales of the trout therein, 

 and therefore were exceedingly anxious to make the in- 

 vestigation on om- own account. On ascending the sinu- 

 ous stream we found one thing to be a fact, and that was 

 a party of half-breeds from Michipicoten has been there 

 the day before and gleaned the river near the mouth of 

 nearly the entire finny tribe that had previously dwelt 

 there in fancied security. We saw their rude forest poles 

 on the shore a,nd the embers of their smouldering fii-es. 

 They had doubtless left early in the morning. 



After going up as far as we could with the boat, we 

 landed and then took a tramp through the thick bushes 

 for the first rapids. I was in the lead, but getting my 

 line badly tangled in the overlapping bushes was com- 

 pelled to stop and release it, and while doing so Ned and 

 the boatmen went by me witli a rush as if they were bent 

 on catching everything at the pool before I got there. 

 The haste was unnecessary, for Ned caught only one 

 lilliputian trout, which had doubtless strayed from its 

 mother's watchful ej^e. while I did no better, when I put 

 in an appearance, for my trophy was an exact facsimile 

 of his. We went up a pace further, as much to see the 

 sparkling stream as it came cheerily along with its melody 

 of ripple over the rocky shallows as aught else. A light 

 tumbling fall or two, a stretch of murmuring rapids, a 

 pool yonder, another there, and all glowing under the 

 tints of the sun with weird touch of f ohaged shadows and- 

 the carol of some woodland warbler, comxjleted the pretty 

 little landscape of a flowing river tha,t 



"Came tumbling from the height, 

 And struggling into ocean as it might. 

 Its boundless crystal frolicked in the ray, 

 And gushed from cUft" to crag with saltless spray 1'' 



We fingered a while along this lovely stream, which 

 had given us such poor returns for our toil, and endeav- 

 ored by way of compensation to revel in its sylvan fascin- 

 ations until we felt the account balanced. Ned was not so 

 much taken up with its poetic beauty as with the daintily 

 winged butterflies Avliich fluttered from flower to flower. 

 They were silver, purple, roseate, lustrous-eyed creatures 

 of woodland waters and blossoming forests, and just 

 the thing to nestle in the flowing curls of a peerless 

 beauty. 



Noon saw us still idling our time along this mellifluent 

 stream, when some one feeling the lack of nourishment, 

 suggested a move to the boat and lunch. The word went 

 along the line of pale-faces and half-breeds, and then the 

 speed was accelerated, and poetry took its flight to make 

 room for the hungry nature, which dominates in man and 

 beast. We took the river route, and when we could not 

 get along dry shod, plunged in the cold waters and waded 

 like genuine trouters—that is, Ned and the boatmen did, 

 for I made a pack horse of Peter, who carried me on his 

 back when necessary. The lake being the only resource 

 for trout of respectable size, we tried it after lunch with 

 great expectations, as everything was very favorable for 

 the angle. 



I had a silver-doctor for mj^ dropper and a brown-hackle 

 for my stretcher, and when I came to the first inviting 

 ground where I thought some hungrj'^ trout lay poised, I 

 let them sail to the water with as light a hand as I could 

 and then fluttered and danced them along in hopes of a 

 response. This I repeated fuUy a dozen times before 

 attracting attention, and then in the next cast an arrowy 

 gleam and a wicked splasli came, and ever alert, the 

 twitch went out from wrist, and a red-coated dandy made 

 the reel sing the tune of delight. He was a fighter and a 

 strategist of the first water, and held me to a gallant fight 

 vvl\icli was long in doubt. After he had completed his 

 repertoire of tricks, I thought it high time for an uncon- 

 ditional surrender, and commenced coiling in line aroimd 

 the silver spool until he was immediately under the net, 

 and then Peter encircled him with the meshed twine and 

 lifted the pride of the icy lake into the boat. He wa.s a 

 full four-poimder, glowing in richly tinted colors that 

 would rival the skill of tlie painter. Ned, who was quite 

 ambitious for a share in the lovely spoils, began to grow 

 a little uneasy, and wondered after all if his flies — the 

 careful handiwork of hours— had no attraction for the 

 painted fins. He persevered, however, and soon a broad 

 glow illumined his bronzed countenance as an old patri- 

 arch in faded spots made for one of his choice lures. He 

 struck in good time, and the second grand battle of the 

 day was on. Everj^ desperate rush and plimge of that 

 wilj- old trout was skillfully met by the active rodster. 

 Ned was a patient waiter, and let the stricken fish have 

 all the braided line he wanted, but when he came to vault- 

 ing and somersaulting he, for a moment, felt a little trepi- 

 dation, and then was again the meriy manipulator of rod 

 and reel. Finally, after a gallant struggle, he killed the 

 fish by a sunple adherence to the artistic rules which gov- 

 ern every gilt-edge angler who prizes one fish so captured 

 to a hunclred in the greedy tactiCvS of the pot-hunter. One 

 is an art and an honor, the pther maladroitness and a 

 degradation. 



The waters we were now going over we had never be- 

 fore fished, and tliey looked as if they were a fine habita- 

 tion for the radiant trout; The shore line was composed 

 of high bluflE banks, and notwithstanding their almost 

 perpendicularity, a small forest of balsam, spruce, etc., 



had sprung from the clefts. The walls, like mighty but- 

 tresses, ran up hundreds of feet, and with the bright sun 

 gleaming upon them and the shadows that lingered around, 

 it was a grand and impressive picture which nature had 

 finished in her own way. In looking at this towering 

 pile, tipped and edged with gold under a declining sun, 

 the music of the good old abbot's evening meditation, in 

 Longfellow's "Golden Legend," floats into our memorj^: 



"Slowly, slowly up the wall 



Steals the sunshine, steals the shade; 

 Evening damps begin to fall. 

 Evening shadows are display^. 



"Round me, o'er me, everywhere, 



AU the skj"^ is grand with clouds, 

 And athwart the evening air 

 \ATieel the swallows home in crowds. 



•'Shafts of simshiue from the west 



Paint the dusUy windows red; 

 Darker shadows, deeper rest. 

 Underneath and overhead. 



"Darker, darker, and more wan 

 In. my breast the shadows fall, 

 Upward steals the light of man 

 As the sunshine from the wall. 



"From the wall into the sky, 

 From the roof along the spire; 

 Ah, the souls of those that die 

 Are but sunbeams lifted higher." 



In my meditative mood, as I gazed at this towering 

 and massive grandeur, I had lost sight of the gentle art, 

 but was recalled to it when I heard a terrific splash that 

 fell around one of Ned's seductive flies. It came from 

 another hungry warrior that had lain for years under the 

 shade and shimmer of the creviced chfCs and flinty rocks, 

 and who doubtless in this isolated place had never before 

 been made acquainted with the duplicity of the angler. 

 He had now an emphatic introduction, and was striving 

 with frantic fury to solve the mystery of the Uttle braided 

 thread that held him so fast and was so rapidly causing 

 him the loss of so much vital force. To think that such 

 a tiny thing should bring him all this worry, when, if he 

 could only get a square strike at it with his broad tad, or 

 even a wild dash or two with an unrevolving reel, it 

 would assuredly separate and he again be a free rover in 

 the great lake. He tried both methods, but the rodster 

 above was always ready to foil him. He finally grew 

 desperate, and raced and jumped and cavorted around at 

 random; but do what he would that slender thread clung 

 to him with a tenacity that was driving him to destruc- 

 tion. The angler, who now felt the quarry secure, had a 

 glow of supreme delight radiating his rugged face. He 

 was richer than a barbarian king, for happiness was his. 

 The freckled warrior of the rocky blufE had now made 

 his last struggle, and went into the net as slain by a 

 crafty angler with a braided thread and whiplike wiUow. 

 He Avas a shade over 41bs. , and was not weighed in his 

 own scales, as some wit puts it, as a check to elaboration 

 of the avoirdupois. 



We fislied along these tinted masses of declivitous and 

 scarified rocks till we had lain in state two more of the 

 daintily-hued dwellers of the aqueous realms, and then 

 reeled up, and started with an increased speed for the 

 camp. 



Ned for the past few days has been annoyed with a 

 bruised leg, which he severely hurt by endeavoring to 

 fracture some granite with it. It proved too hard for 

 him, and as a consec^uence the leg sufi'ered. 



A sailboat, with a party of anglers, is seen to enter 

 Sand River just as we arrive at camp. I don'c think 

 they will remain long if they intend to angle there, 

 for they will catch nothing but a hmited amount of very 

 small trout. 



The Sim that evening sank in a rift of leaden clouds, 

 while it rose the next morning Avitli anything but un- 

 clouded joy upon its rounded face. A cold east w^ind 

 came along with it. that gave the waters an ugly and 

 foreboding look, while the waves had an unpleasant moan 

 suggestive of ugly weather. 



The prevailing Avind giving us a fair lee on the east side 

 in the adjacent waters, Ave concluded, despite the dismal 

 aspect, to try our fortunes there. It was cast, cast, cast, 

 from the time of departure till we reached the jutting 

 point, and only one Httle trout Avas raised to the surface. 

 Turning into the bay the waters improved, and soon one 

 of 2lbs, paid forfeit of his life in endeavoring to investi- 

 gate the character of my sih^er-doctor. _ Ned had a rise 

 immediately after, Avhich he impaled, biit which got off 

 with its first break for liberty. Of course he Avas a "big 

 fellow," as those are the ones that generally disappear 

 from your hook. Arriving at the Titanic rock we 

 had fished before, Ave got ashore and commenced an 

 industrious search with om- feathery conceit for the 

 radiantly dotted and brilliantly-dyed fontinalis of the 

 genus Salvelinus. I made a few casts and then left Ned 

 monarch of the giant rock, as I preferred the ragged shore 

 further down the bay. I caught one within sight of him 

 that Avas a good a-pounder, and a moment after I saw Ned 

 busily engaged Avith another of the tribe. It swiftly 

 dashed some 50yds,, and then leaped high in air, shaking 

 the beaded spray from its golden sides, and, on striking 

 the Avater, desperately breaking away with the fly as a 

 souvenir of the event. I listened to hear tlie angler's loud 

 lament, and it soon weUed forth, and I think all the fly- 

 makers in Clu-istendom, good, bad and indifferent, came in 

 for a questionable blessing that was in language lurid and 

 highly emphatic. This was the second trout that had 

 played him the same daring trick, but the fault was 

 altogether his, as he was using some old flies he had had 

 for years, and which, of course, Avere impaired just where 

 the shank of the hook ended. The fish was of noble size, 

 for I saw his lordlj^ proportions as he vaulted from his 

 element and escaped. The loss of that particular trout 

 was Ned's theme the remainder of the day, Avith some 

 echoes of the same the day following. 



My path by the shore Avas over a tumbled mass of huge 

 and scraggy rocks, Avhich required sure footing, or, as a 

 failure, a slide into the lake. Having my rubbers on I 

 was quite secure along the route, and every foot of water 

 that I could reach found my flies dancing o'er its .surface. 

 The trout Avere not rising savagely nor abimdantly, and 

 the result Avas a hmited score. I kiUed two along here 

 that w^ere a shade over :^lbs. and then, as it w^as near 

 meridian, hurried to Ned ai}d the boat. He had secm-ed 



the same number, though he stated it took very hard 

 work to entice them. Back to dinner we went, it not 

 being over 11 miles to camp. The weather still had a 

 bad look and the wind was shifting around to the west, 

 which would give us, if it breezed heavily, a pretty rough 

 sea in the bay. Our prophet, who had not ventured an 

 opinion about the elements for the past tAvo days, now 

 stated that there would be no fishing that afternoon and 

 that the big combers would be rolling in Avith an appal- 

 ling violence ere nightfall. We accepted his report in 

 good faith, being inclined that way ourselves. 



After dinner Ned scanned the horizon, Avhich displayed 

 dark and dingy clouds slowly breaking and drifting along, 

 while vapory masses were forming, as if to soon shower 

 the earth. Despite the ominous signs, Ned was for 

 another trip to the bay, which I Avas confident would be 

 of short duration. We aU, however, good-naturedly 

 boarded the boat and Avere soon breasting through the 

 little white caps, that were just beginning to show their 

 snowy feathers. 



Our flies were in constant work as we progressed, but 

 nothing disturbed them but the foaming spray as it spite- 

 fully broke. Once more on the famous rock where Ned 

 lost that noble fish, and again went the flies in the teetli 

 of a head wind. It was diificult casting, and as I had 

 never been taught that art of Avhipping against such a 

 wind, I compromised by sending them out at right angles. 

 This was a decided improA^ement and so I adlaered to it, 

 I saw at once that the fishing was to be a failiu'e as the 

 sea Avas beating the shore heaAdly and with a force that 

 would militate against the spore. I at last succeeded in 

 catching a herring that Aveighed near a pound, and Avhich 

 fought fiercer than any trout of that size I had ever 

 caught. It seemed the little fellow would never strike his 

 colors, and wdren Peter netted him he was still full of fight. 

 The silver-scaled and slender fish of bones innumerable, 

 was returned to the waters that he might relate his Adsit 

 to another element, and then I returned with my beach- 

 man to Ned and asked him if he had had enough of fniit- 

 less casting. He answ-ered in the aflSrmative, and declared 

 the "liAdng rainbows" Avere not to be tricked that after- 

 noon by any artfully arranged feathers. We head for our 

 quarters at once and over a sea decidedly lumpy. On the 

 way Ned complained of great pain from his bruised and 

 inflamed linrb, and declared that he must remain in camp 

 for a few days and give it complete rest. 1 had advised 

 this com-se several times, but his inveterate love of trout- 

 ing Avould not permit it, nor did I think his assertion of 

 remaining in camp of any weight whatsoeA'er. When I 

 started for the quarry he Avould undoubtedly follow, tliat 

 I w^ould Avager. 



The next morning was a i oyal one; a cloudless sky, west 

 Avind, bright warm sun, and a clear, exhilarating atmos- 

 phere were the elemental greetings. The efl'iflgent sum- 

 mer lias at last practically come upon the great lake. It 

 is here Avith its "fanning breezes," its snowy clouds and 

 its light mists: it is here Avith its droAvsy smell of flowers, 

 its white sweet clover and its stately golden rod; it is here 

 Avith its hum of bees, its carol of birds and its locusts' tune; 

 it is here Avith its rustling trees, its grateful shade and its 

 symphony of peace; it is here Avith "its air sweeter than 

 wine," its morning brightness and its simset shadows. All 

 nature proclaims it with its melloAv trampet from a thous- 

 and hiUs, in the valleys and in the seas — 



"From brigbt'ning fields of ether, fair disclosed 



Child of the sun, refulgent Summer comes; 



In pride of j'outh, and felt thi-o' natm-e's depth. 



He comes, attended by the sultry hours, 



And ever-fanning breezes on his Avay." 



Having had much delightful sport of late, Ave are not 

 so eager for the knights of the reefs in their sunset colors 

 as when we first sought them. The silken edge has 

 been someAvhat frayed, but still the pleasure of coaxing, 

 impaling and kiUing these finny scions of royalty re- 

 mains, and AviU so continue to the end. We now go upon 

 our raids Avith a luxuriant ease and nonchalance, but give 

 more attention to the esthetics of the gentle art than for- 

 merly. To my surprise, Ned has ceased his architecture 

 of flies and is noAv using some of those daintily-con- 

 structed conceits Avith wliich I presented him, and Avhich 

 every trout Avith an eye for the beautiful struggles to 

 possess. 



With such a glorious morn it Avas impossible to with- 

 stand the temptation of seeking the finny breed, and 

 therefore the Avord Avent out to embark and once more 

 seek the home of the iridescent beauties that 



"In tbe waters wildest play 

 Lie in wait for floating prey." 



We went to the west side of the camp and fished as 

 high up as Blind River, succeeding in catching only 

 three — two of Avhich Aveighed 31hs. each — and in missing- 

 two magnificent rises, which we thought a severe reflec- 

 tion on our accomplishments as anglers. 



Trout as a table attraction is now beginning -to pall 

 upon the appetite and such delicacies as Ave have in store 

 are being draAvn upon to tickle our fastidious jaalates, as 

 "The same state A'iands serv'd up o'er and o'er 

 The stomach nauseate." 



After dinner there Avas the Ioav lullaby of a scarcely 

 audible surge, a bright sun and a sky with its noonday 

 blue, all foretelling of an unruffled surface for the lake 

 and mdolent trout, that the very ekef-cV ceuvre of a Im-e 

 could not attract. Of course, AA'ith such conditions 

 angling was out of the question, so Ave lay around camp, 

 like veritable lotus eaters, and whiled aAvay the after- 

 noon Avith our books and cards, and a defensive attitude 

 toAvard the mosquitoes, sand flies, etc, , which the warm 

 weather had brought around us in dense clouds. 



ToAA^ard evening a half-breed with his family, Avho were 

 passing in a canoe, stopped at the camp to chat with the 

 boys. He stated to them that the party of fishermen we 

 had seen entering Sand River a day or two ago had a drag 

 net, and the probabfiity is the pot-hunters used it. It 

 may be as weU to st^te while on the subject that as we 

 crossed Pan Cake Bay going up we saw a half-breed put- 

 ting down gill nets for trout Avihout as much as an at- 

 tempt at concealment. Of com-se where there is such 

 lax administration of laAvs on this lake there is no fear. 

 This, too, when there Avas a deputy oflicial belonging to 

 the Fisheries Department employed, so our boatmen in- 

 formed us, at the very fishing station where these illegal 

 ti-out are generally purchased. I have Avritten heretofore 

 on this subject, taut it received no attention, and I sup- 

 pose it never will until some efficieiit supervisor has charge 

 of 1^. I is shameful, veiy, but I don't propose to w^ary 



