AtTG. 26, 1899.] 
FOREST AND STRKAM. 
169 
Pacific Salmon ^Take the Fly* 
San Francisco, Aug. 10. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
I see by the Forest and Stream of July 29 that Mr. A. 
N. Cheney discourses on the question of whether the 
sahnon of the Pacific Coast will or will not take the fly 
and gives judgment that they will not. I call for a re- 
hearing of the case and beg to submit my testimony on the 
question. I have given my version of the subject in old 
issues of the Forest and Stream, which I presume Mr. 
Cheney never saw, and for his enlightenment will again 
give my experience on this mooted point. 
For many years in succession I have been in the habit 
of going up the coast in the month of October to the 
Navarro River for salmon, as about that time we get our 
first rains, and thereafter the fish enter the river prepara- 
tory to running up the stream as soon as the succeeding 
rains have caused 'a freshet ; and during the period of a 
month or so, while awaiting it, the salmon enter the tide 
water at the river's mouth in great numbers. On my 
first visit, by invitation of a gentleman who owned a saw- 
mill located about a mile from the mouth of the river, as 
we drove along the road on the opposite bank of the • 
stream to cross a bridge near its mouth, I noticed that 
fish were jumping and making swirls at a great rate. I 
said to my friend, "Harry, what are those fish?" "Sal- 
mon." "By George ! we will go for them !" "Oh," said 
he, you can't catch them. They won't bite. No one ever 
caught one of them with a hook, The seine is the only 
way to get those fellows." "We will see about that," was 
my reply. 
I had no tackle with me but an 8oz. fly rod and a fine 
silk line with single gut ordinary flies. Nevertheless, 
after lunch we adjourned to the sawmill, and rigging up 
my tackle I pushed off in a skiff to the middle of the 
.river- — about a hundred 3rards wide. As I did so Harry 
sung out, "I pledge myself to eat raw all the fish you 
will catch witli that flimsy tackle, or any other, if it is 
salmon you are after." "Salmon are just what I am . 
after," I told him. 
As it was noontime the mill hands were off duty eating 
their lunch and were chuckling and having lots of fun 
at the idea of that city fellow catching a salmon with that 
minnow rig. 
My flies were the ordinary brown hackle. Rigging one 
of those on the line, I shoved oft' in the boat and made 
a cast or two with no result. At that moment a fish made 
a swirl near the boat and I landed my fly right on the 
spot. "Whiz!" went the reel, and the little rod made a 
courtesy and a half circle that tested its merits in a way 
that it had never experienced in its long history of the 
thousands of big trout it had handled. The way that 
salmon jumped was a caution, and an acrobatic exhibi- 
tion. I saw that I had business to attend to if I wanted to 
hold the fish and save my tackle. ' He felt like a whale. 
My reel was small and contained just sufficient line to 
reach either bank of the stream, and the way the fish 
scooted across the river, backward and forward, was a 
trial, bringing up on either bank, which was perpendicu- 
,lar and rocky, and must have damaged his nose. I felt 
sure if he would keep that up and not run up or down 
the stream to exhaust my line, I had him,, He must 
have crossed and recrossed at least twenty times, but finally 
showed signs of weakening, and I began to tighten on 
hitn. It took nearly an hour to get him alongside the 
boat. Then, reaching down, I got my finger in his gills 
and lifted him into the boat and pulled ashore with the 
hook still in his upper lip. My friend Harry all this time 
was sitting on a log smoking a cigar and watching the 
performance. x\s I landed and laid my fish on the wharf, 
I said, "Here is your dinner. Come, sail in. You are. to 
eat him raw, you know." He looked at the fish, the hook 
and the line with wonderment, at last saying, "Well I'll 
be dogged ! If my own father had told me he had caught 
this big salmon with this tackle and I had not seen it with 
my own eyes, I would have told him he was telling a fish 
story." "And probably got a licking," I added. It was 
not a very big fish for a salmon, but it weighed I2j41bs. 
and was quite as heavy as I wanted to handle with an 
80Z. rod. 
I caught six more the next day after strengthening the 
gut by doubling, and of course lost several, but the catch 
averaged about 81bs. I could have caught dozens with 
appropriate tackle, but it required so much longer time 
"with such light rig that it used up most of the day. 
The next season I went prepared and was able to han- 
dle them in much less time. I caught thirty-five on that 
trip, all with the fly. The third year I could not raise 
one with the fly, and fell back on the feathered spoon, 
which they took greedily. Since then I have had varied 
success. Some seasons they would take the fly and others 
they would not, and it was beyond me to divine why they 
would take the fly one season and not another. I have 
not visited the Navarro the last three seasons and cannot 
therefore say how they feel now about taking the fly; 
but fishermen generally make no attempts with the fly, it is 
so much less trouble to troll with a feathered spoon and sub- 
stantial rig. Of course, the scientific fisherman repudiates 
such matter-of-fact fishing, but it has its excitements, for 
a 151b. salmon on your hook makes himself manifest to a 
remarkable degree with his leaps and runs. He is a very 
gamy fish under restraint of any kind. 
To see a school of salmon playing, jumping and com- 
ing to the top of the water, one would notice that their 
action was precisely that of trout when going for insects 
at the surface; but I am convinced that insects were not 
their object, as there were no insects on top of the water. 
It seems to be matter of play and amusement solely. 
I have dissected many, and never found an insect in 
their crops, and seldom anything ; in fact, to find any kind 
of food is exceptional. I am. going to make my usual 
trip to the Navarrp this fall, and shall give the question of 
flv-fishing close attention. Judging from the avidity with 
which they take the feathered spoon, seemingly attracted 
by its brightness, it has occurred to me that a bit of tm 
foil wound around the body would have a similar effect. 
Summing up the evidence, pro and con, I am willing 
to admit that as a general rule the Pacific Coast cannot 
be relied on for much sport with the fly, and that in- 
stances of their being so caught are rather exceptional. 
They are evidently of a different character from the sal- 
mon of the Canada waters. They can be taken quite 
numerously at the head waters of the Sacramento River 
with salmon roe bait, fishing in the pools and rapid 
water. I have heard of several instances of their being 
taken in Humboldt Bay with the fly, but not commonly. 
I have not fished in those waters, my experience being 
confined to the Navarro River, as I have described; but 
thousands are caught all along the coast below, especially 
in the Bay of Santa Cruz, with the feathered spoon. 
I give my experience with a view to set at rest Mr, 
Cheney's doubts as to whether salmon have really been 
caught with the fly on this coast, although I do not pre- 
tend to assert that' it is the rule, but rather the exception. 
I will give the results of my next trip to the Nayarro, 
as I will give my mind to the question of how the fish 
feel about it this coming season. Podgers. 
Grants • Pass, Ore., Aug. 10. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Mr. Kipling is mistaken in saying of the Pacific 
salmon and the fly that "those brutes won't rise to it," as 
I have caught a Rogue River salmon on the fly, and I 
send the photo of my catch on that trip by this mail. 
The first week in October, 1897. fishing near Bj^bee 
Bridge on Rogue River (twentj-^-five miles above Grants 
Pass), I caught a fine lot of salmon trout, and one male 
salmon weighing between 3 and 4lbs. These fish were all 
caught with the fly in one afternoon and one morning. 
Last year my brother, fishing three miles below Grants 
Pass, caught a I2lb. salmon on the fly. the struggle lasting 
upward of an hour. The Rev. Robt. McLean, now of 
Portland, has caught several salmon on the fly, and I 
know of others. As a rule the salmon will take only the 
spoon, which is shown on the photo of the four salmon. 
The salmon of Rogue River are identical with the Chinook 
of the Columbia River, and are now "running" to the 
spawning beds. They are accompanied by the salmon 
trout, which feed on the salmon spawn during the spawn- 
ing season, and will take the fly from Tuly t to Nov. i. 
Theo. p. Cramer. 
Canadian Angling Notes* 
Quebec, Aug. 12. — The latter part of the salmon fish- 
ing season was better this year than the first. In the St. 
Anne des Monts River there was a fine run of fish, and 
in the Grand River of Gaspe the fish were unusually 
large, Mr. L.' Z. Joncas getting one of 461bs. The sport 
on the Ristigouche remained poor all the season. 
Trout fishing has been very good of late for the mid- 
summer months, though, strange to say, the far-famed 
Montmorenci River was well fished bv two efficient 
anglers — Col. Wilson and Col. G. R. White — last week 
without yielding them anything better than lib. fish. 
The fishing on the lakes in the Lake St. John country, 
on the contrary, has been quite good. Some splendid 
catches of 4 and 5lb. speckled trout have been brought to 
town from a lake in the territorv of the Tourilli Club. 
These all rose to the fly. Equally fine fish have been lately 
taken out of Lake Edward, but these latter were caught 
on trolls. Portages and camps have been made through- 
out the territory west and southwest of Lake Edward, 
and as there is understood to be a practically unlimited 
supply of fly-fishing to be had there in the proper season, 
an unprecedentedly large number of campers are ex- 
oected here next month. The plague of flies, which has 
been particularly severe during July and the first ten days 
of August, has now largely subsided. 
Gov. Roosevelt has been invited to fish next month in 
the St. Maurice district, and Mayor Carter Harrison and 
partv. from Chicaaro, are expected at the Tourilli Club. 
At the Triton Club several large parties are expected 
up in September, both for hunting and fishing, the indi- 
cations for a good caribou season being very favorable. 
The Vermont Fish and Game League wiU meet in Que- 
bec on the 28th and 29th inst. and from 150 to 200 sports- 
men from the Green Mountain State are expected here 
at that time. All the arrangements for their reception 
have been carefully made in advance by Mr. Titcomb. the 
president. The annual dinner will be given at the Cha- 
teau Frontenac. The privileges of several fish and game 
clubs in the district will be extended the visitors and 
many of them are expected to accept the invitations that 
will be open to them to fish for ouananiche and trout. 
Some of the regulations of the Fish and Game Depart- 
ment will probably be suspended in favor of the visitors. 
Gov. Smith, who will accompany the party in his pri- 
vate car, will probably continue on in it to Lake St. John. 
Among other well-known anglers now at Lake St. 
John after ouananiche are Lieut.-Col. Haggard, D. S. O.. 
of England, and Mr. Sam Ehrich, of Ehrich Bros, and 
Wall street, New York, who has a large party with him. 
Col. Haggard has brought me from New Foundland a 
number of ouananiche skins, showing the fish found there 
to be identical with those of Lake St. John. 
The fishing in the Grande Decharge continues wonder- 
fully good, and the ouananiche are exceedingly plentiful. 
A remarkable incident in connection with the angling for 
this fish is that a couple of American fishermen went out 
on Tuesdav last to fish for them in Lake St. John, imme- 
diately in front of the village, of Roberval, and caught over 
twenty of them.. In fact, they seem to be abundant every- 
where this year in their chosen waters. The ease with 
which they are taken in the Discharge has doubtless pre- 
vented many parties from ascending the feeders of the 
lake this summer, although they, too, would certainly 
yield good sport at this season. 
^ ^ E. T. D. Chambers. 
Bass and Socket at Once. 
Carbondale, Pa., Aug. 16. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
While out fishing on the East Branch of the Delaware 
River I caught a good sized bass and a silver sucker at 
the same time. Old-time fishermen said that they had 
never seen or heard of anything like it, and of course my 
word was doubted. Now the most remarkable thing is 
that the man who doubted me went fishing with me the 
next morning, and in the same pool I caught a largei 
bass and a good sized sucker at the same time. So my 
companion, who was a New York sportsman, claims that 
I did something that has never been equaled. This fish 
story can be attested to by the New Yorker and Drs. 
Meaker and Jenkins, of this city. Jas. Rutherford. 
Indiana's Obnoxious sFish^ Law. 
Williamsburg, Ind, — Editor Forest and Siream: The 
last Legislature enacted a law permitting seining from 
July I. The result, as might have been foreseen, was the 
extermination of all but the smaller game fish in the creeks 
throughout the State in less than a month after the seining 
law opened. The seines started at daylight or before on 
opening day and swept the creeks day after day, until there 
was nothing left to seine for. The fruits of fifteen years of 
protection and restocking were wiped out in two weeks. 
Before the seining there were a thousand miles of creeks 
that were reasonably good bass fishing; now there are 
hardly a thousand bass. A thousand people who found 
occasional recreation and rest from the worries of life now 
find they might as well fish in the bath tub as in the 
creeks. The seiners, of course, claim that they have as 
good a right to fish in their way as the anglers have to 
their way, but no man or set of men have a right to ex- 
tci-minate any of the good things that are nature's gifts 
to the people. Below we give the expressed opinions of a 
few of the fishermen in widely scattered parts of the State. 
We have a whole lot more just like thetn, and could get 
a thousand- O. H. Hampton. 
Brookville, Aug. 7. — It is the worst law that was ever 
enacted in our State, and it is ruining the game fishing. 
I. A. PeppeRj President Battle Point Fishing Club. 
Bloomfif.ld, Aug. 7. — We fishermen think that the new 
law kills all the good there is in the May and June closed 
season, and it gives the rod fishermen little to hope for. 
J. E. S. 
TirrONj Aug. 6. — We think that the new seining law is 
depopulating the streams. They arc being thoroughly 
seined with all kinds of seines. It is an outrage, and 
radical steps should be taken to change the law. This 
feature of the statute is a great blunder. 
Ike Booth. 
Marion, Aug. 7- — All of the anglers of this section are 
thoroughly disgusted at the ignorance of our Legislature 
and the seeming incompetency of our Fish Commissioner. 
In a short time we will need no fish law, for a very 
obvious reason — no fish. 
Frank H. Rigdon, Sec'y Marion Gun Club. 
Wabash, Aug. 7. — I am going seining this afternoon, 
but do not have much hope of catching anything, as the 
river has been emptied. Bad luck to the fish law, for it is 
a great failure. W. E. Bent. 
Liberty, Aug. 7. — The local rod and line fishermen think 
the present law an outrage and a fraud. 
George W. Pigman. 
Newcastle, Aug. 7. — The local fishermen say the new 
seining law is an outrage and should be knocked out. I 
have spoken to several and they all object to it and say 
that it is no good. J. B. Landwer. 
Washington, .A.ug. 7. — ^I tell you there is but one senti- 
ment on the seining question, and that is that the law is a 
monumental blunder. F. I. Sepit. 
Muncie, Aug. 7. — Local rod and line fishermen of this 
vicinity are utterly opposed to the fishing law enacted by 
the last Legislature. Line fishing is believed to be a thing 
of the past. H. R. Williams. 
Logansport, Aug. 7. — About ten out of fifty think the 
law is all right. They are men who never fish with rod 
atld line, only with seines. Our true fishermen think the 
law the worst we ever had and say they ought to tie a 
can to Sweeney and get a good man in his place. I have 
not heard of one case where carp have been caught with 
seines. John Hilderbrandt. 
Brom^nstown, Aug. 7. — Seining should be stopped. 
F. M. Miller,. 
Lawrenceburg, Aug. 7. — ^We all fish in God's country 
(Kentucky) where they have no laws. 
A Fisherman. 
Elkhart, Aug. 7. — The fishermen here seem willing to 
give the new fish law a trial. A. B. Witt. 
Vernon, .Aug. 7.— -The rod and line fishermen are in 
favor of the new seining law. Nearly aU of them here 
indorse it. Louis Eitel. 
Kendalville, Aug. 7. — Our fishermen don't think at all 
about a law that will in any way countenance seining or 
netting — we just swear. All true sportsmen here favor 
a closed season from December to July i. Don't want 
fishing of any kind during that time. H. A. Moyer. 
Noblesville, Aug. They say it's no good. 
Reube Ireble. 
Ft. Wayne, .Aug. 7. — Our fishermen don't care to catch 
fish by the wholesale with a seine. We would like to 
with rod and Une in May and June. C. H. Miller. 
Jeffersonville, Aug. 7, — ^We do not like the new sein- 
ing law. We think that seining and dynamiting should 
be strictly prohibited. As far as we can see seining should 
not be allowed under any circumstances. 
Ch.as. E. Poindexter. 
Where Napoleon Might Have Fished. 
The St. Helena anchorage literally swarms with fish, 
and the evening following our bonito fishing I caught over 
a 'hundred mackerel and a fish resembling him, called the 
kingfish, on a hand line. There is little else to attract 
the sportsman to St. Helena. A few pheasants, partridges 
and rabbits I am told are to be found, but the walking is 
"errible and sport to be obtained hardly worth the 
aouble. — ^Asian. 
I 
