Junk 16, 18W4.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



618 



SALMON NOTES FROM CAMP ADAMS. 



Boston, Mass. — Last year was nay eighteenth consecutive 

 season of salmon fishing and the most enjoyable one of my 

 life. It was spent on the St. John Kiver, at Gaspe, P. Q., 

 and I am now in the delights of anticipation of this year's 

 sport. I have for months been counting the weeks, and 

 now the days when I shall once more drop the cares 

 of business life and seek the rest and recuperation which 

 to me more than all else camp life affords. 



I have made the taking of salmon with a fly something 

 of a study in a practical sort of way during these years. 

 I have long entertained the idea that the particular kind 

 of fly used was of comparatively little consequence in 

 killing salmon, but I had never had the courage to risk 

 my catch during an entire season in the employment of 

 only one kind of fly until last year. That season I fully 

 made up my mind I would make this trial, and with the 

 following results. 



I selected as my fly the Jock-Scott, a fly familiar to 

 all salmon fishermen.^ and with the exception of a change 

 in s'ze depending on the state of water, clearness, etc., 

 all my fish were caught with this fly. I believe that at 

 any time during my outing of over three weeks I could 

 not have taken a single additional salmon with the use of 

 a different fly, which I could not have taken with this fly 

 pqually as well. 



I also met with my usual success and killed my share of 

 the fish. I am therefore satisfied that the kind of fly in 

 use is of very little consequence in taking the Salmo- 

 salar. 



The temperature, the clearness of the water, the tem- 

 perature of the atmosphere as well, the ability to place a 

 fly lightly upon the water so that this king of all fly-fish- 

 ing can readily take it, tend more to success than the fly 

 cast. 



I am willing to go further and hazard the opinion that 

 I should have met with equal success had I made my 

 casts with any one of the leading salmon flies now in use 



years I have occasionally landed my fish without using even 

 a landing net. Last yea,r I went still further and abso- 

 lutely "tailed" or beached all my fish. But of course it is 

 a necessity that the fish be thoroughly ' 'tired out" before 

 -you lead him to the shore, as you do, "head on" where 

 your man stands ready to quietly and surely take him by 



BIO CHAIN POOLS, NEPISIQUIT. 



Belonging to Messrs. Adams and Sampson. 



the tail and push him out of the water, when he soon 

 receives his coup de mort—a, proud moment in the life of 

 a salmon angler. 



The gaff has always seemed to me a cruel and unsports- 

 manlike method of landing a half -spent fish, or any other, 

 for many times the salmon comes within reach of the 

 gaffer when he is only half killed, and the struggles of 

 this powerful fish at such times rends and tears his beau- 

 tiful sides, seriously marring his beauty. Besides, one 

 ' loses, as it seems to me, the delight 

 and satisfaction of watching his final 

 struggles almost at one's feet. This, 

 to my mind, is the most delightful 

 and satisfactory moment in the whole 

 role of fishing. 



I suppose it is now generally con- 

 ceded that salmon in fresh water 

 take little if any food. I have never 

 found in their stomachs the least in- 

 dication of food. Yet I believe they 

 rise to a fly for the sole purpose of 

 tasting the dainty morsel prepared 

 for them by the fly-tyer and deftly 

 placed within their reach by the 

 angler. 



I am quite well aware that in salt 

 water estuaries and in rivers, and 

 even where the water is brackish, 

 salmon feed, but in purely fresh 

 water I believe the food taken is 

 infinitesimal. 



Henry Sampson. Tom, Cook. Roma, C'n. Ivers W. Adams 

 Jack, Canoeman. Ned, Canoeman. John, Canoeman. 



CAMP ADAMS. 



Bough Waters, Nepisiquit, at Bathurst, N. B. 



instead of the Jock-Scott; such as the silver-doctor, black- 

 dose, fairy, popham, Curtis, Hanson, or any of the thirty 

 odd different flies which I always take with me on my 

 salmon outings. 



During my salmon experience I have kept a record of 

 the number of fish taken, their weight, pools taken in, 

 and the flies they were captured with. I have always 

 kept a daily record of the temperature of the water and 

 three times a day of the atmosphere — morning, noon and 

 night. Also any other interesting facts, such as the run- 

 ning of salmon, the date of their arrival in fresh water, 

 the coming of grilse, which in some rivers are quite 

 plenty, particularly in the Nepisiquit, where I have fished 

 for a great many years; also the arrival of sea trout, and 

 other details. I have found when the temperature of 

 the water is 60° and above, that it is hardly worth the 

 while to cast for salmon, unless it is in a pool where the 

 water is very rapid, broken or rugged in its flow. 



I have also made it a point to do little if any casting a t 

 such times, particularly if the sun is shining upon the 

 pool; even if the temperature of the water is right I avoid 

 casting when the sun shines, as much as possible. I be- 

 lieve also that it is unwise to make more than two or three 

 casts over the same fish. If the fly is properly placed and 

 the salmon is in the mood to rise, he will do so at the first 

 cast. 



I am also of the opinion that it makes little difference at 

 what hour of the da the casting is made, if the sky is 

 overcast or cloudy; and I believe that the early morning 

 fishing is not productive of better results than that later 

 in the day, say eight o'clock in the morning, and for 

 evening fishing, five to eight, or even half -past eight. 

 Last year I hooked a salmon after nine o'clock, Quebec 

 time. And I have frequently hooked and killed salmon 

 so late in the evening that it was impossible for me to see 

 my fly as it dropped upon the water. I simply knew that 

 the direction was right, and was careful (as I am always, 

 for that matter) to keep my line and cast straight or taut 

 in the water, that my fish, if he rose to the fly and took it, 

 would hook himself. 



The salmon angler, who has never 

 found in his river the beautiful grilse 

 (or three-year-old salmon), or only in 

 very limited numbers at least, has 

 missed some very rare sport. For I 

 do not believe that for its weight, 

 say from 3 to 51bs., there is to be 

 caught in fresh water a more gamy 

 fish, a more stubborn fighter than this "chicken salmon" 

 as he is sometimes called. I say "he," for I have 

 never known nor seen a female grilse; and I have ex- 

 p mined personally and instructed my cook to do so several 

 hundred of these beautiful fish. The Nepisiquit, at 

 Bathurst, New Brunswick, is a noted grilse as well as 

 salmon river. And the opportunity for making a study 

 of the grilse here can not he excelled in American waters. 



CAMP DUFFERIN. 



St. Johns, Gaspe, P. Q. 



I very rarely strike a salmon; it is only when I feel the [ n 8ome se ™°™ th ^ ^ nW&«S t^l W 

 tug of the fish that I set my hook firmly and surely into kn T own a 8m S le rod to klli in % d *Z 8 ^mg twenty-five. 

 Sfh portion of his mouth Jit may have^aught-I do this 1 J^S^K^f 1 T^tttT^ ZlTZim^ 

 perhaps more decidedly than most fishermen, as I prefer 7 ater of these fish, I am surprised to note how little dif 

 to lose - a lightly hooked fish at once, rather than later in I ference e » from to year. Supposing the first 



ihft ficrtrr ' one caught to be among the hrst arrivals, July 1 is the 



average date, and two days either side make the ex- 



the fight. 



For quite a number of years in landing my salmon I 

 have used a landing net made especially for that purpose. 

 This net is made of common 18-thread twine, 3 or 4in. 

 mesh and about 3ift. deep. It is the same size at the 



tremes. 



Very much has been said and written regarding the 

 return of salmon from the sea to their spawning grounds; 

 bottom as at the top, and is attached to a bent ash, and if they return annually; if each river has its own peculiar 

 when rigged is egg-shaped and about 3ft. in diameter, all fish; if the parent fish return practically to the same loca- 

 well fastened to a stick about 6ft. long. This is large tion in the river. 



enough and strong enough to hold the largest salmon. I In the Nepisiquit, where I have fished for many years, 

 I discarded the gaff years ago, and during the last few 1 1 believe they return every year. I am also one of those 



who believe they return to the same location in the river, 

 and use the same spawning bed from year to year, if their 

 lives are spared. 



I believe it is now generally admitted that each river 

 has its own distinctive fish. There is no mistaking a 

 Nepisiquit salmon.- For several seasons I have fished in 

 the different rivers emptying into Gaspe Basin, the St. 

 John, the York and the Dartmouth. The fishermen, 

 guides, buyers and handlers of fish, who have lived here 

 all there lives, refer with great unanimity of opinion to 

 the distinctive features of each river's fish. 



Another remarkable fact in this connection may be 

 mentioned, that although for quite a number of years 

 there has been planted a large number of young fry in all 

 three rivers from the Government hatchery upon the 

 Dartmouth, and taken from fish caught in that river 

 which average in weight many pounds heavier than 

 those caught in the St. John, yet the St. John fish at the 

 present time average about the same weight as those 

 taken in years past. There has been no appreciative in- 

 crease in weight. The natural conclusion, I think, would 

 be that the planting of the progeny of a family of larger 

 fish would increase the average weight of the fish so 

 planted in a river where they run smaller in weight. 



What does it prove, if anything? Do these fish after 

 they go to the sea return to the river in which they were 

 hatched, or, what is more probable, never go to the sea 

 at all? In other words, that artificial propagation does 

 not accomplish the great results claimed for it in these 

 rivers. I say natural conditions are the best. Neither 

 would I discourage the effort to restock depleted rivers. I 

 have little doubt that it can be done — is being done, but 

 it needs the hearty co-operation of all mill owners, land 

 owners, sportsmen, fishermen, and favorable action and 

 assistance from both State and National governments. 



I have no doubt that the distance which the salmon are 

 obliged in some rivers to traverse, like the Restigouche, 

 before reaching the spawning grounds, influences their 

 annual return. In such rivers many kelt or spent fish are 



CAMP ADAMS. 



Bough Waters, Nepisiquit. 



caught. Undoubtedly these fish remain in fresh water 

 over the winter. In the Nepisiquit I have never caught 

 or seen but one such fish. I hope that in the near future 

 this question may be definitely settled. It spems to me it 

 could be without much difficulty by simply tagging a cer- 

 tain number of spawning fish; and at the same time other 

 important facts could be determined. 



I should hope, however, that some care would be exer- 

 cised in the use of tags attached to each fish, giving year 

 and weight, and not as the story goes, when one of our 

 fishculturists, finding himself short of tags, made use of 

 a small tin whistle; this fish is recorded as having returned 

 the next year to his native river, not, however, increased 

 in weight, but the tin whistle had grown to a fog horn. 



There has of late been some discussion regarding the 

 distance from tide water, salmon will* or will not rise to 

 the fly. In my experience I have found they will take 

 the fly when and wherever there are resting placeB or 

 pools suiting their purpose, and the temperature of the 

 water sufficiently low. 



As I have before remarked in this article, sixty degrees 

 is the high limit and I do not think that distance from 

 the sea has anything whatever to do with it in our 

 Atlantic coast" fisheries. 



Some of our pools up on the Nepisiquit at high tide are 

 influenced by backing up of the fresh wa/ter, and it fre- 

 quently occurs that as the water recedes salmon are left 

 in these pools and readily take the fly. 



Let the conditions of the water be favorable, let the 

 salmon angler know how to cast his fly, and unless salmon 

 have been for a long time in fresh, water the angler will 

 be rewarded with a rise, no matter how far from the sea 

 his lordship may have traveled. 



This leads me to refer to the time that is taken in the 

 ascent of salmon rivers by these fish. I suppose the 

 flow of water and its temperature determine to a great 

 extent the rapidity with which salmon pass up to their 

 spawning grounds. If there is high water they climb 

 along much more slowly, resting longer in the pools and 

 the sides of the river. Then again, the ascent is much 

 more difficult in some rivers than in others. 



The Nepisiquit, for instance, is a very difficult river for 

 salmon to climb. It has many falls, carries, or portages, 

 as the guides call them. It requires, at some seasons, 

 several days for these fish to arrive at the Grand Falls, 

 so-called, which are located some twenty miles from tide 

 water. Yet I have killed at these falls salmon so lately 

 from the sea that attached to their sides was the Pediculus 

 marinus or sea louse. It is claimed these insects leave 

 salmon after having been in fresh water not over two 

 days. I do not, however, believe that salmon in this 

 river make the ascent usually with anything like the 

 rapidity which such a theory would indicate. 



One thing is certain, a fish just from the sea affords 

 much greater sport than one in the river any great length 

 of time, and I have found that fish caught in rivers where 



