Sept. 3, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
187 
travel and smaller rocks, and in these pools the trout 
ieemed to fairly swarm. Two and three trout at a 
:ast was a common occurrence, the flies would some- 
times be taken before they reached the water. Two 
)f us fished from 7 A. M. until 3 P. M., and took 467 
rout, ranging from 6 to I5in, in size. 
I generally fish with a short line, 5ft. leader, and 
:ast the fly over the pool several times in quick succes- 
,ion before allowing it to alight, then I allow my fly to 
ouch the surface of the water lightly several times, al- 
ways keeping the leader and line from striking the 
ivater. After repeating this performance a number of 
imes, I allow my fly to alight on the water, always a 
ew feet up stream from the point where my previous 
:asts have been made (as described by Mr. E. Hough 
n the edition of May 28 of Forest and Stream), and 
-illow the fly to drift slowly down stream, thus it passes 
>ver the previously agitated water, and this is the most 
dlling way to fish for large trout. I evolved this style 
if fly-fishing from a long and careful study of "dry fly- 
sasting," and have tried it on hundreds of trout streams 
hroughout the country, with the same results, always 
itching large trout by this method of fishing. 
Several men from St. Louis, Mo., were fishing on the 
ower Pecos River, and they had many trout ranging 
rom 6 to Sin. each. I asked them why they did nor 
:atch some larger trout, and one of them replied: "The 
rout seem to run small in this part of the river," 
"I can soon convince you that the trout run much 
arger than you gentlemen have been catching," I re- 
plied. 
They laughed, and I began to make a number of 
'crazy casts," as they termed them; in a few minutes I 
looked a large trout, and secured four trout from a 
)ool which had been whipped, not more than ten min- 
ites before, by these men. Then these doubters began 
0 try to imitate my new style of casting, and they 
vould slap line, leader and flies violently upon the sur- 
ace of the water, which was a most comical and amus- 
ng sight. For this style of casting cannot be learned in 
1 day. I have been five years studying and mastering 
t, and here four men were expecting to learn it in a 
riinute. But artistic fly-casting surely brings good re- 
iults, and cannot be acquired only by long and careful 
practice. . 
We go to fish the Rio Grande River, in Colorado, in 
1 few days, and I will write about those waters later. 
Edward G. Taylor. 
in 
Canadian Salmon Rivers. 
New York, Aug. 22. — Editor Forest and Stream: Re- 
ferring to the letter concerning salmon, anglers are be- 
ginning to send me more detailed information in rela- 
tion to the poaching in particular rivers, as I had hoped 
would be the case. And as the facts are furnished in 
relation to each river, I have begun forwarding them 
n the shape of separate letters to the Fishery Bureau 
if the Crown Lands Department. 
The record shows, as was anticipated, a fnghttul 
neglect of what might be a very valuable asset of the 
Province of Quebec, and incidentally of the States of 
Maine and New York, since Lake Champlain and its 
discharge into the St. Lawrence were once prolific of 
salmon; as also, curiously enough, the interior waters 
of this State— every river of any size which communi- 
cates with Lake Ontario and the lakes from which 
they run being formerly stocked with salmon. I sup- 
pose that it would astonish many of your readers to 
know that with decent protection of salmon in Canada 
(and also, of course, necessarily here in the State of 
New York), the St. Regis, Raquette, Grass and Oswe- 
gatchie rivers in St. Lawrence county, the Black River 
in Jefferson county, the Oswego in the county of the 
same name, and the Genesee in Monroe county, would 
all again be salmon streams. Canada does not now al- 
low any salmon to get as far as Lake Ontario; if she 
did they would be in all these rivers, and in such lakes 
as these rivers communicate with (provided there be no 
impassable falls— say anything over 14ft. of clear drop). 
So you see that we are incidentally interested 111 the 
preservation of the Canadian salmon. Of course, prill 
dams in the rivers I have mentioned would need fish- 
ways. However, this is somewhat beside the particu- 
lar'matter which I intended to ask you. I enclose you 
a copy of a letter to Mr. Joncas (referred to above), con- 
taining information which has been supplied to me as 
to one river; and if you think that its publication, as 
a sample of the class of information which is desired, and 
an evidence to others that some anglers are taking 
sufficient interest to supply the facts, would assist to- 
ward the general result, I should be glad to have you 
print it. . ^ 
Chas. Stewart Davison. 
Aug. 19. — L. Z. Joncas, Esq., Superintendent Bureau 
of Fisheries and Game, Department of Crown Lands, 
Forests and Fisheries, Quebec, Canada. — My Dear Sir: 
Referring to my letter to you of the 16th of August, giv- 
ing you the details of the illegal netting and poaching 
during 1896, 1897 and 1898, in the Olomanosheebo, with 
as a resultant the complete ruining of that river, I now 
have to lay before you the facts in relation to another 
river in the vicinty of the former. 
The Washeecootai. This river was visited by an 
angler in 1896 who arrived there on the 16th of July. 
On that date there were five salmon nets in the 
estuary. 
The statement is confidently made to me that but two 
of these nets could be lawfully set. 
Of these five nets four were set in pairs opposite each 
other from the two sides of the estuary, at its narrowest 
portions. 
The four nets were so set in pairs opposite each 
other as to reduce the distance between the ends of 
the nets to certainly not more than 150ft. 
The fifth net was set just below the first falls from 
the east bank, entirely obstructing the only channel 
which, from the general configuration of the river and 
falls, was available to salmon for ascending. 
These five nets were in charge of Placide Blais. of 
Romaine, who was employed to tend them by Michaud 
Blais and Adolphe Guilinette, both of Romaine. Pla- 
cide stated that in his opinion the upper net wa§ so. 
placed as to catch every salmon which sought to enter 
the upper waters of the river. Appearances seeming to 
bear out this statement, the angler paid him a sum of 
money to remove this net. 
A careful examination being made of the pools in the 
river, abundant evidence of poachers was found there 
in the presence of stakes and suitable boulders arranged 
upon either side of each pool between the first and second 
falls, and each between the second and third falls, bearing 
silent testimony to their use for the attachment of nets at 
these several points on the river bank; also stones were 
found with the cords still attached to them, which had 
been used to weight the lower edge of the nets, the 
current being somewhat swift in places. 
Inquiry developed the fact that the people from more 
easterly rivers, notably from the Kegashka, were in the 
habit of netting the pools of the Washeecootai every 
season. 
The exact method of arranging the nets in each pool 
was explained by one Antoine, who came there from 
Musquarro, while the angler was on the river. Placide 
Blais stated (in 1897) that during this season (1896) 
the nets at the mouth took in all eight barrels. 
1897. The same angler again visited the Washeecootai 
in the year 1897. On that visit he was informed by Mr. 
William Forman, of Kegashka, whom he met at Ro- 
maine, that the day after his departure in 1896 the river 
was visited by whites from Musquarro, who took 
eight barrels of salmon from the pools. Mr. Forman 
saw a pile of salmon roes upon the rocks when he 
came there on the day following (being the second 
day after the angler's departure), and they were so 
fresh that he cooked some of them for his supper. Mr. 
Forman did not state the object of his own visit to the 
river. 
Early in 1897, intending to visit the river, this angler 
paid Michaud Blais and Adolphe Guilinette what he 
described as "an exorbitant price" not to net the estuary 
until after he had finished angling. He arrived on the 
15th of July, and on his arrival there Avcre no nets in 
the estuary, but the agreement did not appear to have 
been respected, or else others had illegally netted the 
estuary, for he found evidences of recent netting along 
the banks of the estuary, and many of the fish already 
in the pools at the time of his arrival bore net marks. 
The river, however, is a late river, and most of the 
fish enter it even after July 15 or so, it is stated, so 
there was probably not very much netting in 1897 (at 
least until after he left), and yet fish were less numer- 
ous in the pools than during the previous season. 
1898. The Mr. McLoughlin who visited the Olomano- 
sheebo in 1898 also visited this river the same season 
With his friends, and states that he found all five of the 
nets above referred to in operation, but that only three 
and a half barrels of salmon were taken during this 
season. 
Mr. McLoughlin further stated that the pools in 1898 
were almost empty of fish, the angling in the river 
amounting to nothing. 
The river may be therefore looked upon as now sub- 
stantially depleted, and it needs rigid protection for 
several years to restore and maintain its character as a 
salmon river. Should this be afforded to it by the 
Provincial Government, it would be in the future, as 
heretofore it might have been, a valuable asset for the 
Province. 
The characteristics of the river are such that it can 
be readily guarded by one honest man. The mouth of 
the river is uninhabited. All the pools are within sight 
from the first falls, and a daily visit to the estuary (in- 
volving a row or sail of about six miles each way) would 
be enough to insure the protection of the river. 
The suggestion is further made in relation to this, as 
all other rivers, that the guardians should be strangers, 
not local residents. Chas. Stewart Davison. 
New York, Aug. 25.— Charles Stewart Davison, Esq. 
—Dear Mr. Davison: Your very interesting letter in 
the Forest and Stream upon the necessity of doing 
something to protect the salmon in Canadian waters 
recalls to my recollection how twenty-five years ago, 
spending a summer on* Penobscot Bay, I used to go 
out with a neighboring fisherman to visit his salmon 
pond. I believe we never returned empty handed, and 
usually with several fine fish. This trip was made twice 
a day at each low tide; and so far as I can remember 
every house along the shore had a salmon net running 
out into the river in front of it, and a smoke house 
near the water edge to cure the fish. All this is now 
changed, I am told, and the dwellers along Penobscot 
Bay have to do without the salmon their short-sighted ' 
predecessors enjoyed. The man that killed the goose 
that laid the golden egg was fired with a laudable de- 
sire to make a scientific investigation, yet he has been 
held up to ridicule and contempt for all succeeding 
generations. But the Canadians, have no such excuse 
in the case of the salmon. They have seen the process 
of extermination carried through all its stages in this 
country, and it requires no great intellectual develop- 
ment to comprehend what the result of leaving things as 
they are must be. In this country we have exterminated 
the" beaver and many other fur-bearing animals. We 
have cleared our forests away to the extent of seriously 
affecting our climate in many places. Our Canadian 
neighbors insist upon exterminating the seals. Why 
should we continue to multiply instances of folly, to 
build monuments to our inability to do what we clearly 
see ought to be done. If it is worth while to found 
libraries and colleges, and to tax ourselves for the pro- 
tection of infant industries in order that posterity may 
enjoy the fruits of our self-sacrifice, why not devote a 
little sense and effort to preserving what nature offers 
to cast uprto us out of the sea for all time, if we but 
enforce a few simple police regulations, entailing no 
greater restraint on present enjoyment than is shown 
by the farmer when he saves enough from his crop to 
olant the next one, and prevents his neighbor's cattle 
from trampling it down while it grows. If you are suc- 
cessful in your effort to induce the Canadian authorities 
to take up this matter, which they have so long neg- 
lected, you will have repaid to the waters a thousand 
fold for each fish your rod and fly have taken from 
them, Very truly yours^ • 
Henry pe Forest Baldwin, 
The Towing Tuna. 
Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, Cal. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: In a late issue of Forest and Stream. Mr. 
Houston, of Aransas Pass, expresses a desire to know 
the line used at Santa Catalina, where boats arc towed 
by the tuna against the oars of the boatman, as described 
in my letter in your issue of July 2. It is called a yellow- 
tail line, but is a 21-thread cuttyhunk line. The line I 
used was a 2T-thread cuttyhunk, and I had 900ft. on the 
reel. In my experience the 21-thread is more satisfac- 
tory than the 24-thread. 1 do not know the name of 
the manufacturer, but whoever he is, I give him the 
credit of making a remarkable line. Many fine lines and 
so-called tarpon lines, costing more money, which have 
been brought here, have failed on the tuna. 
Mr. Houston's lines break possibly because his boat- 
man fails to get the boat under way. In our fishing, if 
towing behind a launch, the boatman has his oars ready, 
and at the strike casts off the painter, seizes his oars, 
which are in the row locks, and backs water violently, so 
that (if he understands his business) the boat has good 
stern way by the time the fish has taken 200 or 300ft. of 
line. If this is not accomplished, the line breaks at 
once, or is entirely unreeled. After or between its furi- 
ous rushes, when, of course, nothing can stop it, and the 
angler merely plies his brake, the tuna is always towing 
the boat; the boatman, by holding his oars overboard 
or fixed in the water and pulling carefully against the 
fish at times, thus aiding in stopping it from going 
out to sea. The line mentioned is quite equal to this if 
it is carefully watched. If the line is dry on the reel, it 
will burn off; if it is knotted, it will saw off; if it is held 
in one position, it will chafe off at the tip of the rod. 
When Mr. C. R. Scudder. of St. Louis, had played a 
tuna four hours, and both oarsman and angler were 
weary, I was put aboard their boat from Mr. E. L. 
Doran's yacht Narod, and took the oars from Jim 
Gardner, and served as boatman for three hours longer. 
I was constantly engaged' in keeping the stern of the 
boat to the fish, and held my oars on the. water all the 
time to prevent the fish from towing us further off 
shore, as a heavy sea had picked up and we were out of 
sight of Avalon, six or seven— perhaps eight— miles off 
shore. The fish had been hooked within 200yds. of the 
island early in the morning, and seven hours later I sug- 
gested that as the fish would evidently tow us all night, 
and Mr. Scudder had done his whole' duty on the pre- 
mises, that wc end it. It was impossible at this time to 
move the fish, which was in a fit of the sulks; so Gardner 
took the line in his fingers and lifted gently hand over 
hand for possibly 100ft., in this way bringing the fish, 
which was found to be foully hooked, within reach of 
the gaff. When the tuna was taken in it hammered the 
boat in a manner that suggested that we had caught a 
tartar. So far as wc could judge, the fish was as strong 
as at first. It was estimated that: he had towed the boat 
twenty miles, and I believe he would have towed it 
twenty more. 
In my catch of a fairly hooked 1831b. tuna I could see 
no difference between the last rush, when it shattered 
the gaff, and the first. The fish was no doubt weaker, 
but it certainly seemed to me that it gained in strength 
as the fight went 011. I was so interested — indeed fas- 
cinated—by the tactics of the fish that I did not notice 
the sea, but at the finish, when the fish was towing the 
heavy yawl against the sea, Gardner, my boatman, who 
was doing his best to stop the run with his oars, told me 
that he expected every moment to see a sea come in 
over the stern and fill the boat, yet the boat, with two 
men (a heavv, wide-beamed yawl at that), was being 
towed at a good pace, the two launches following — the 
trace of this active steed being a 21-thread cuttyhunk. 
I believe this is the experience of the twentv-four mem- 
bers of the Santa Catalina Leaping Tuna Club— that is, 
each one has been towed by the tuna against the oars 
of the boatman, who is not, of course, rowing desperately 
against the fish, but backing water, and holding the oars 
and rowing carefully, as occasion offers, against the fish. 
Chas. F. Holder. 
Maine Fishing;. 
Boston, Aug. 26. — There are yet some good reports 
of black bass fishing in Maine. The weather was dry 
and excessively warm during July and early August, but 
since that time abundant rains in some sections have 
evidently set the bass to rising. Many good catches 
have been made from the ponds in Sabatis, but mostly 
by Maine fishermen. The new electric railroad from 
Bath to Lewiston passes those ponds, while the steam- 
ers run from Boston to Bath almost daily. 
The Belgrade ponds are affording a great deal of 
sport for the bass fishermen this season, and the sea- 
son is holding out wonderfully. There is a little steam 
launch on the best of those ponds, that takes out the 
fishermen dailv, from Belgrade Mills. Some days a 
week ago she took out fifteen boats at a time, with the 
parties to fish from them. At nightfall she picks up 
the fishermen — frequently fisherwomen this season. One 
lady, a Mrs. Clark, has become a good deal of an ex- 
pert' at fly-casting for black bass. She tells a good 
story in one of the Maine papers about the sport of one 
day. The little steamer took twelve boats out to the 
fishing grounds that morning. Soon the sport began. 
Very frequently the fishermen had on doubles. Twice 
in succession Mrs. Clark landed doubles. At one time 
she counted nine fish hooked and being landed, and 
nearly all the time somebody was unhooking a fish and 
throwing him back, or into the tub to be cooked. 
It is sad to chronicle the passing away of a fisherman, 
but all too often it comes. Henry C. Sanderson, of 
Brighton, passed over the Great River on Wednesday. 
Though only twenty-four years of age, he had acquired 
a great love for angling, and visited Belgrade ponds 
every season. The love of fly-casting had become al- 
most a passion with him. Studious and scholarly, he 
was a great lover of angling literature, and particularly 
the Forest and Stream. 
Special. 
The Forest and Stream is put to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at the 
latest by Monday, and as much earlier as pra.cticat)l«. 
