I 
Nov. 4, 1899.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
871 
experience I cannot sft^ why it should not, the fishing 
will furnish sport of a new charEicter, and the fish will 
furnish a table luxury not to be excelled bv anv fresh- 
water fish that swims, and in the autumn the whi'tefish is 
at its best when cooked directly after it leaves the water, 
as it is one fish which loses its dehcatc flavor when trans- 
ported any considerable distance from the water where it 
IS caught. N. Cheney. 
Pacific Salmon and the Fly. 
Portland, Ore.. Oct. 2i.~~Editor Forest, and Stream: 
Having noticed several articles on Rudyard Kipling's 
salmon story and your comment "that it was up to some 
other angler" as to catching .salmon with a fly, I will 
endeavor to explain what I know about it. 
In the year that Mr. Kipling caught the salmon in the 
Clackamas River, which he says was with a spoon, the 
conditions at that time were such as might not happen 
again for some time. 
In the first place the Government has a Iiatchery at 
the point where the fish were cauglit and had built a rack 
across the river to stop the chinook salmon from ascend- 
ing the stream, as tliey do every fall, seeking the head- 
waters to deposit their spawn on the shallow rapids or 
rilfies, where the female fish digs a hole with her nose, 
and turning on her side, with a vigorous movement of 
the tail, endeavors to deposit the eggs in the hole, and is 
followed by the male, which does likewise with the milt. 
This is nothing new to anglers who have fished on the 
streams of the Pacific Coast, and is simply an explana- 
tion for those who have never been out liere. The rack 
stops all fish ascending or descending the stream. The 
fish naturally become very plentiful below the rack, and 
the employes of the hatchery go out with a net and catch 
what salmon they need, atrip them of their eggs, and re- 
move them to the hatchery and proceed with the hatch- 
ing. 
Now as to the fish which Kipling caught with a spoon, 
and which the writer of this article and Dr.- F. Cauthorn, 
ex-president of the Multnomah Rod and Gun Club; Mr. 
Harry Eldridge, C. F. Sliter and numerous others have 
caught with a fly, I will explain that they were not 
chinook salmon, but were spent steelheads (Salmo gaird- 
neri). They had been up the stream, had evidently de- 
posited their spawn and were on their way back to the 
ocean, where they are supposed to seek salt water to 
recuperate. Getting back as far as this rack, they were 
held there, and naturally became actually starved and 
would take anything; and I believe that a red rag on the 
end of a hook would have answered the purpose as well as 
anything else. 
The conditions were very fine for a man landing them for 
there is an island just above the rack and the stream runs 
very swiftly on each side, the island terminating about 
20oft. above the rack. A person hooking a fish could run 
up and down the island, the fish only going up against 
the swift water any distance when he was desperate, and 
could only go down as far as the rack; and a man with a 
'good long line would have a chance to rest when they 
would go down that far and balk. 
But I do not mean to belittle the sport, for spoft indeed 
it AVas, The fish were from 2 to 3Hft. in length and 
weighed from 15 to 4olbs., and it took a person from 
twenty to forty minutes to land one it he was lucky 
eil'ough to do so. I landed six and lost eight the same 
day, and, it is needless to say, was completel}' tired out 
after it was all through, although not at the time being 
conscious of fatigue. Cauthorn landed four, and how 
many he lost is not definitely known, because fisherm.en 
are apt to exaggerate some. Another one of the party 
hooked eleven and failed to land any, once having his 
line snapped off at the reel. He got disgusted and went 
up stream and fished for trout a while, but could not 
resist the temptation and came back and tried it again, 
this time hooking a large one, and after playing it for 
about thirty minutes lost it. He threw down his rod, 
vowing that he would not fish another minute, and he 
kept his word. 
The fish that were caught were in my opinion not fit 
tp eat, being too poor, but a person not used tp fishing 
might think they were all right. 
I trust that this may answer your query and fully ex- 
plain the conditions as they existed that year and have 
not since, as regards full grown salmon, although a great 
many have caught young salmon at the falls at Oregon 
City with a fiy^ Thurston L. Johnson. 
.San Francisco, Oct. 18. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
111 re.R,ding Forest and Stream of Oct. 7 T noticed an 
article on "Pacific Salmon and Fly" over the signature 
of Steelhead, in which the writer refers to my previous 
communication to the Forest and Stream giving my 
experiences in fishing for salmon in the Navarro River, 
^nd suggesting that what I called salmoJi were steel- 
heads. After reading his experience in fishing for 
salmon in the waters of California, I think it is quite 
possible that his conclusion is correct. The distinction, 
he explains, is not generally noticed, as we are so much 
in the habit of calling the fish salmon without investi- 
gating the points of difference in the varietj'. To the 
non-scientfic fisherman this nice point of difference does 
not detract from the sport of catching them, for they are 
fully as gamy and afford as much sport as would result 
from capturing the bona fide salmon. 
But when it comes to a question of Pacific coast 
salmon taking the fly, I am willing to admit that 
Steelhead has apparently the best of the argument, and 
that is the question under discussion. Steelhead's ex- 
perience is certainly greater than mine, as I have fished 
for salmon only in tlie Navarro and the St. Cloud rivers. 
In the latter I only used salmon roe for bait, never having 
tried the fly there except for trout. Whether the so- 
called salmon I caught in the St. Cloud were real salmon 
or steelheads I am not sure, since reading Steelhead's 
article. Whether it is the salmon proper that I have been 
catching can be easily settled by acting on his suggestion 
and submitting a specimen to Dr. Jordan the next time I 
visit the Navarro, if I be successful, i am curious now 
jmyself to learn what variety J have been catching. Not 
that it will detract from tlte sport if 1 find that my salmon 
are proven to be steelheads, for I shall enjoy the fishing- 
just as much, and it is only the question under discussion 
whe*:lt<^ tfiip P^f-tfir gjjirnbn do or do not take the flv 
From Steelhead's experience I am beginning to waver in 
my belief that they do — ^at least only in exceptional in- 
stances. 
We hear often of the hook-nosed salmon. Are they 
steelheads or salmon proper:" 1 have caught them witli 
the spoon, but I do not remember to have caught them 
with the fly. A prejudice seems to exist against the 
hook-nose, but why I have never discovered. I noticed 
that when the seine had been hauled on the Navarro, 
and the wives of the saw mill hands came down to the 
beach to purchase their Friday dinner, they universally 
spurned the "hook bill." and one day when I landed with 
my catch a lot of little hoodlums guyed me, and ex- 
claimed, "Come here, Jimmy, and sec the city feller; 
he's got an old hook bill." It occurred to me that I 
would try the experiment of having him cooked for 
dinner. He proved to be as sweet and nice a fish as I 
ever ate, and I made up my mind that the prejudice was 
all nonsense, and unjust to the fish. 
By the way, it rather takes the starch out of a fellow 
after fishing all day, and coming in with half a dozen 
10 or 15 pounders, to sec a seine hauled and ai wagon 
load landed, and see the laborers' wives come down and 
each select one of the finest and pay 10 cents for it. At 
least such was the case last time I fished in the Navarro. 
But recently they have found a market by sending them 
downi to San Francisco; at that time there were no facili- 
ties of doing so. 
As a matter of curiosity, I would like to ask Steelhead 
whether the fish caught with spoon and trolling off Santa 
Cruz are steelhead or salmon; everybody calls them sal- 
mon, but since reading Steelhead's article 1 begin to 
doubt there being the real salmon. 
In all my fishing T have given little heed to the scien- 
tific question of variety or the differences between twee- 
dledec and tweedledum — as grtat a shock as the confes- 
sion must be to the scientific sportsman. I don't mean to 
admit that I don't know the difference between a chub 
and a trout; but when I hook a lolb. steelhead and he is 
giving me lots of fun I do not lose my interest in him 
by stopping to consider whether he is a real salmon or 
only first cousin of the aristocrat. He has all the habits. 
He fights as well, eats as well, and I stand up for him, 
even if he may he considered a little off color by the 
scientific iisherman, who scorns to fish with anything but 
a Leonard rod and a $12 reel, and babbles of the Ris- 
tigouche as the fisherman's Mecca. There is a good deal 
of good fishing outside of the Ristigouche, and good rods 
that Leonard did not make, and good flies that have not 
high-sounding names; and here, too, is where I am going 
to shock the scientific fisherman by declaring that I 
never want a better fly nor any other variety than a red 
hackle with a peacock bod}^ and a miller, for all-round 
work. I have tried all the fancy varieties, and settled 
down to these, and I never get left. 
I remember reading in the Forest ANfo Stream an 
article anent salmon fishing, and suggesting that a larger 
fly would perhaps be an inducement to them. I tried 
that dodge. I had Conro.v make me up a lot of large 
flies, assorted, and with as great an assortment of colors 
as you see in a woman's bonnet, but although I tried 
them all I never had a rise. All the salmon (I beg Steel- 
head's pardon for so calling them) were caught with 
the old teliabie brown and red hackle, and I bless the 
man that invented ihem and the chanticleer that grew 
the hackle The time was when I spent money on a 
gorgeous array of flies, and expensive fly-books, but I 
have discarded the lot and left them to the moths. In 
all books of flies there is one or more of the red-ibis. I 
have heard fishermen say they have caught fish with 
them, but in thirty years' fishing I haAre never caught 
a fish with one, and likewise with many of the other 
fanc}' flies, the like of which are never seen in nature, and 
which trout look upon with wonder and omit the experi- 
ment of trying them. All of those beliefs will of course 
shock scientific fishermen, who will set me down as un- 
worthy to, be called a true sportsman. Nevertheless, I 
manage to bring home a basket pretty well filled without 
a financial transaction with the small boy with the pro- 
verbial tow string and pin hook, or without calling at the 
market on my way home. Podgers. 
For the Single Hook. 
Dr. Johnson'.s plea for the single hook in Forest 
ANiJ Stream under date of Oct. 21 strikes a responding 
note in the hearts of all true lovers of the angle. I use 
the words "true lovers" advisedly, referring, of course, to 
sportsmen who fisli con amore, and not to the fish hog or 
pot-hunter. The man who uses the barbarous devices 
one sees advertised, and that are to be found on the 
shelves of all fishing tackle dealers, wdien three or four 
gangs of hooks, like grappling irons, hang from the end 
aiid each side of the bait, is not in our opinion a sports- 
man. 
Our idea of piscatorial sport is killing fish when all 
the skill and good judgment on the part of the man 
holding the rod is called into action. We have heard of 
men dumping a half-barrel of handsome trout on the 
manure heap behind the barn, and on reaching home 
have boasted of their great achievement, as if quantity 
was the factor by which the prowess of the angler was 
measured. Would that men who handle rod or gun could 
be educated to feel that there is something grander, and 
iiiat will contribute more to the pleasure of their angling 
and hunting hours, than the mere "slaughter of the 
innocents." When they become imbued Avith this senti- 
ment there will be less need for legislative enactments 
for the protection of our fish and game, as every man 
will become a law unto himself. There is little pleasure 
in the easy achievement of any purpose, and to kill a 
bird or a fish with all the odds in our favor, and when 
no skill or good judgment is called into play, is certainly 
not a very praiseworthy achievement. If "■meat" is all 
we are after, why not procure it at the market and save 
tlie expense of a trip to the woods? No mari is worthy 
the name of sportsman who w-ill kill a deer with a handful 
of buckshot, or a trout with a dozen hooks attached to a 
single line, the opinion of others to the contrary notwith- 
standing. The lordkv salmon, plucky trout, gamy black 
bass, warv grouse and swiit-flying little Bob White are 
all, with fair play, capable of talcing care of themselves, 
9n4 to kill any o'nfe of th^se: in s spbrt-smgnhke manner 
will produce sensations that will linger with us long 
after We have returned from our vacation and to the 
roiitine of every-day business life. 
The rod and gun hanging on the wall of our "den" 
in close season, when the game is safe from honorable 
pursuit, awakens many fond reminiscences of pleasant 
hours, provided they recall no mercenary or shameful 
recollections. 
Our vacation this season was spent in the Moosehead 
.Lake region. Maine. My friend and I killed fifty- 
seven trout that weighed from i to 3 6-i6lhs. These 
were square tails, and were all taken on the fly, except 
five, and those on a single hook. One day when the 
fish would not rise to the fly I put on to my leader a 
single-hook trolling device, and let it spin on the swift- 
running water below the dam. In about a minute I saw 
a large trout dart out from under the foamy water that 
tumbled over the dam. I struck, and away he went down 
stream to the merry music of the reel. When I com- 
menced to reel him in I saw to my surprise that the 
fish was coming up against the current broadside, in- 
dicating that when he struck he had mis;^ed the bait, 
but in turning the hook had hit him amidships, half-way 
between the head and tail. This was a case where the 
fish had the advantage, and to land him called for very 
careful manipulation and skill on the part of the angler. 
He was an ele.gantly shaped male fish and weighed 
3 3-i61bs. I know there are 'men who go into the 
countrv with rod and gun who see nothing beyond the 
game they are in pursuit of. To us it is not all of fishing 
to fish, or of huntins? to kill. The green fields, bright 
sunshine, autumn foliage, mountain, lake and river — all 
contribute to the pleasure of the hours we soend by 
stream and afield, and we rejoice in a love for the beau- 
tiful. Geo. H. Burtis. 
Worcester, Mass. 
Trouting in Nova Scotia. 
It was August — a good' time to be out of the city; 
moreover, it was vacation time — we could go. Where? 
Momentous question! Everything depends on the an- 
swer. It is soon decided, and Nova Scotia is the objective 
point. _ We go to Portland and thence along the Maine 
coast in steamers that permit a "stop-over" at different 
j)laces. Eastport is the home of the herring-sardine in- 
dustry. The canning factories are a revelation — to over- 
sensitive stomachs they are more — an abomination. But 
city epicures like the product with a French label. 
In landing at St. John, N. B., we went down 8 or loh. 
from the steamer to the dock. Next morning we went 
down about the same distance from the dock to the 
steamer. The tides are phenomenal.. The harbor is mud 
at low tide. At Cape Blomidon the tide has been known 
to reach 8ft., and a tide of 40 to 60ft. is frequent. 
We have passed the bold, rocky and picturesque isle 
of Grand Manan, so attractive to artists and all lovers 
of nature, and in crossing over from St. John to An- 
napolis Basin, N. S., we find more attractions of the 
same sort. We go through Digby Gut for two miles, and 
on either side the cliffs rise from 400 to 6ioft. in height. 
The current is fierce and the passage full of interest. 
Thus, as so often in the voyage of life, we enter a 
smooth and beautiful haven — in this case Annapolis Basin, 
All the way now we are on historic ground. The Basin 
witnessed a naval engagement between British and 
French as far back as 1707; the surroundings of the har- 
bor bristle with military interest, and the railway from 
Annapolis Royal to Halifax passes through Evangeline 
Land. Here two things specially rouse the traveler's in- 
terest — the towering crops, attesting the enormous fer- 
tility of the soil, and the many dykes to protect those 
crops from ocean tides. It is a beautiful, attractive scene, 
but over all like an autumn haze rests a tone of melan- 
choly from the fact underlying the poet's immortal work. 
At Middleton a stop was made, and inquiry for trout re- 
vealed a local sportsman ready to close his store for a 
day to show the Yankee stranger the best sport the adja- 
cent streams afforded — that might not be much, how- 
ever, as the season was really over. The courtesy was 
appreciated, but the opportunity was not taken. 
Reaching Kentville, we found a place remarkable for 
two things: Natural and picturesque beauty of location 
for almost every home, and an almost universal neglect of 
these natural advantages, giving the whole place an un- 
kempt appearance. The people were very cordial; in- 
deed, with their simple habits of life, we found all Nova 
Scotians ready to bestow time and courtesy upon thc 
stranger. Nor was it for gain, as the question of re- 
muneration did not often come up, and when it did the 
charge was as modest as the maker. After the manner 
of the Eastern form of request, the people seemed to 
"delight themselves" by serving us. 
But this writing was to describe a trouting experience. 
That must be given or readers will accuse us of plagiar- 
izing the joke of the American humorist who lectured 
on "The Babes in the Wood" and only stated his sub- 
ject occasionally, that his hearers might know what it 
was. 
Kentville is the best place from which to reach Gas- 
peraux Lakes. They afford fine fishing in season, and 
sometimes late in the season. We found it so. The best 
guide of the region was engaged, a quiet, gentle man, as 
became a true disciple of Walton. The guide was hon- 
estly doubtful, 'but would do his best.. That was satis- 
factory, for this region' was the best accessible from the 
railway, and time did not permit extensive wanderings. 
A long row of a dozen miles in a heavy logging boat, and 
then we fished, not like the Galilean fishermen, "all night 
and caught nothing," but till night with the same result. 
The next morning other places were tried, and still no 
trout. The guide said "We'll try one more place, and if 
that fails we'll give it up, for we can't get them anywhere." 
For a long time we tried this place with no respon.se. 
Finall)', when we were just about to start for home in 
despair, a brook trout w^eighing ^Ib. surprised us all by 
coming aboard at the end of my line, "'i guess we'll stay 
'here a while lon.ger!" An hour's more of fishing gave 
us several povtnds of beautiful troutj and Vve were satis- 
fied. 
"Herewith I enter the lists as the champion of Nova 
Scotia," wrote Charles Hallock in 1873, and in humble 
following- ■such illustrious example .so no^v .subscribe-i 
him-self ^lA-^yji?^. 
