Dec 30, 1899.1 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
633 
Tenting at Ragged Rapids. 
In the vicinity of Pittsburg there is a happy trio who, 
with wives and families, have spent many sacred days in 
the Muskoka and Severn River regions. Ihe other day 
the leader in all our wildest adventures, when he heard 
we were wasting time playing billiards, swimming in the 
natatonum and doing ether silly and trivial things, as he 
thought, expresed his disapproval. "Why will you waste 
time on imitations when the real sport may be had afield? 
Don't you know gray squirrels are frisking among autumn 
leaves.-' Don't you know rabbits, quail and pheasants 
are ripe for the harvest? Come with me and Doc 
Walker. Follow our good dog Don, and find out for the 
first time what real sport is. If there is one drop of 
the real thing in your sluggish veins it will be set tin- 
gling as a princely grouse goes out with a rush and a roar 
that would scare a Boer. Doji't you know, Jim, I'd 
rather fire at and miss one of those noble birds than 
haul in the gamiest 25-pound muscallonge that ever 
fought to a finish his last battle in those chilly, North 
Country waters?" 
Ah, George. I am afraid you are veTy like the Dutch- 
man who, when called upon to decide which is better, beer 
or wine, said, "Vich you got most of." I i-emember your 
supreme delight when camped on the tranquil Severn 
River. Don't you remember the thrill that came when 
you hooked that 15-pounder at the foot of the roaring 
Ragged Rapids, and you and I as well saw the princely 
fish swing himself fully 5 feet out of the water; and the 
iridescent sheen of silver and gold flashed and scintillated 
in the August stmlight, and when he came down with a 
resounding crash your smoking reel screamed as exult- 
ingly as the eagle that carries to the beetling crags 
choice morsels for the waiting eaglets? Don't tell me 
that you would have dropped that rod and fish to have 
gone 25 feet back in the woods to shoot a barnful of 
pheasants, each one of the size of an a-batross. That 
lusty 'lunge still carries his coat of mail through the 
foaming waters of the Ragged Rapids; but the look that 
came to your face when a straightening bamboo an- 
nounced a lost cause was one born in the very triumph of 
defeat. I think that you would still turn your footsteps 
aside from a cover wherein grouse and quail frequent 
to do battle with this Goliath of the Ragged Rapids. 
Has George forgotten the daj" when half-way between 
Rat Island and the East Shore he ran on a snag in the 
way of a is-pound muscallonge, that dashed in and out 
and up and down and came into the boat vanquished 
but fighting still? and the triumphant yell that came from 
the fisherman's throat may find its echo running around 
those encircling bays yet, if it has not since died away in 
silence. To emphasize the bigness of the fish he gave it 
to his small boy to carry home, that its great forked tail 
might trail on the ground, while its head played hide 
and seek over his left shoulder. There are other tricks 
than those of "Ananias' art" in the angling trade. Does 
George remember when the wear arid tear of those 
Laurentian rocks wore away the leather soles so that 
his feet fell through his shoes, and like the braA^est hero 
at Valley Forge he went forth daily to do battle vyith 
bass, pickerel and muscallonge, and never a complaint? 
For the delights of this Severn River region are very 
seductive, and few who visit there are not ensnared by 
LONGING FOR A 'LUNGE. 
its manifold charms. Don't you remember the good- 
natured Rosselle, and how days spent with him were en- 
joyed? and days bereft of his kindly companionship 
seemed lost days. When he first arrived in this delight- 
ful angel land'he said to me, "You know that I don't 
care anj^thing about fishing; don't care anything about it 
and don't care to learn. I'll lounge around and rest and 
read while you fellows fish." I am reminded of Gold- 
smith's swains: 
"Truth from his lips prevail'd with double sway, 
And fools who came to scoff, remain'd to praj'." 
I felt sure that if some old-time blackened and bronzed 
bass would get at one end and this selfsame Doctor at 
the other end with the gentle tie that binds a light silk 
line and slender steel rod— the electric thrills would 
come trooping up that line and down the rod, and on 
dowm his spmal column, and a glorious conversion would 
follow, and it did. He first tried his hand at angling 
where the murky waters of Grass Lake pour a wealth of 
worms, bugs and other marine life into the lap of the 
Severn River. Where the fish came to feed we came to 
fish. I soon saw that a bass was nosing around Rosselle's 
bait, and in due season he struck, set the hook, and the 
battle began. The line fairly twanged with the strain 
the fish telegraphed himself through the water, and 
the reel fairly screamed as if afraid the prize would not be 
taken. With a wild riish the fish dashed 2 feet clear of 
the water, and we saw for the first time the princely 
proportions of the gamy bass. Here is where the Doctor 
was converted. He yanked that struggling bass into the 
boat with the same zest that a hungry goat munches 
tender celery tops. From this time forth the Doctor went 
after the fish hammer and tongs, wisely concluding that 
if he had a life a little longer than Methuselah's he 
might waste some vacadon days in his declining years 
in reading, especially when too old and rheumatic to 
get into a boat. That night he entertained us all with 
the triumphs of the day, and as he bade me a cheery 
good-night he added, "If j^ou're waking, call me early." 
At an hour so early that it seemed to me the middle 
of the night, he ruthlessly dragged me from a warm, 
comfortable bed down over grass, every blade heavy with 
dew and every weed and branch a shower bath. When 
I sat down on the boat seat I fancied I sat on a watering 
trough. As we moved from our mooring a white, silvery 
inist muffled the landscape a mile deep,' As we rovved 
up the river the coming god of the, .day sent his dutiful 
daugnter Aurora to weave with yello'w mesh a gauze of 
'iX WAS A LIKELY LOOKING PLACE. 
shining gold around every floating gossamer of dew and 
with dett fingers she cast the shuttle of light forth and 
back, changing the hue from yellow to gold and from 
gold to crimson and purple, and the big pine tree at 
Bowers Bend stood bedecked with jewels and ornamented 
as for a Christmas for the elusive sprites of the woods. 
From behind this curtain of crimson and gold smiled 
forth as lovely a landscape as any angler may ever hope 
to see. The contour of the river and rock came up 
through the mist and we watched the charm of its 
coming as eagerly as the photographer watches, the out- 
lines on the dry plate after the developer is on. The 
river bends itself into long reaches of gentle curves, and 
at the big bend, where long lines of overhanging trees 
adorn cither side, the river , slips under the bridge and 
glides away only to lo.se it.self in the softly pictured wood 
where Monahan's big pines stand like giants silhouetted 
against the sky. What a peace came to us that morning 
as we basked and dreamed in the quiet of the river. 
Gentle reader, yoii of disturbed rest and troubled life — 
you upon whom the burdens of life rest heavily — you 
who are weary of hand and heart and brain, why don't 
you seek some lonely Canadian River and let its gentle 
spirit of rest and quiet be upon you, and you will ex- 
perience a freedom from worry and care that the "lotus 
eaters" never knew. 
Amid such charms T admit it would have better 
harmonized with our finer feelings to have loosed the 
captive fish in our livebox. and to have given the fish 
food and drink, but nay, verily, we had brought along a 
basket full of succulent worms packed in moss, and we 
picked out them of most tempting figure for our first 
cast. At home we are wont to despise the worm, but up 
here where bass govern the Dominion and supreme courts 
adjourn in his honor, blessed, yea thrice blessed, is the 
man who has brought along a barrel of them. He will 
have every angler for his dear friend with whom he is 
willing to whack up his worms. For be it known that a 
big, fat, juicy worm with a rich, red belt around the 
waist is the bait par excellence for Ontario bass. We 
trolled up and down a swift current and found the sport 
fine. In the swiftest water we got the pickerel, and in 
the eddies below found plenty of waiting bass. Again 
and again we hooked bass and pickerel, getting some and 
losing more, for in swift water you must strike quick, and 
in so doing lose many fine fish. 
I caught two pickerel all scarred and cut, and so 
weakened that there was very little fight left in them. 
Some of the wounds were a good half-inch deep. I have 
taken many pickerel in this region with old-tin-^e scars 
and a dozen or more with fresh ones. I once saw a very 
large 'lunge chasing a belated pickerel, and fancied this 
was the cause of many ©f the scars; for the muscallonge 
is the shark among other fish, often attacking bass as you 
haul them in. Just above this current I hooked a fine 
bass of a pound or more, and hauling in, a musky dis- 
puted luy right to this fish, and as a result I added a lOj^- 
pound 'lunge to my list of prizes. 
As we float down the current, Rosselle suggests break- 
fast: but I hate to neglect duty "when bass are jumping 
crazy for the fly."' Lusty-lunged Lige with a big conch 
shell chased echoes up this river for two miles, an- 
nouncing breakfast, and the supreme pleasure reflected in 
Rosselle's face showed that in imagination he was already 
feasting on ham and eggs, hot cake."^ and fried bass, but 
all at once that pleasure was changed into joy as a big 
brotizcd bass galloped away with his bait and he and 
the bass were at it again hammer and tongs, and with 
chances of triumph equally divided. Go to breakfast! 
If I hadn't fairly dragged him from the spot he'd be 
'there still. ' 
Of all the glad days we spent there last season, the 
most _ aelightful were in camp at the eastern end of the 
Ragged Rapids partage, some twenty miles down the 
Severn River in a region of utter loneliness. There is- 
not a house after we leave Sparrow Lake. We carried 
a 12 by 14 wall tent and a very meager camper's outfit. 
Five of us carried cups with the handles off and other 
two flourished handles with the cups broken off. We 
pitched our tent a hundred yards or more from the beaten 
trail, in a little valley hidden away that we might escape 
notice of marauding Indians. So far away from civiHza- 
tion, we didn't relish the idea of having any of our scanty 
store stolen. ' 
We pitched our tents near some OA^erspreading pines, 
then made our beds, gathering plenty of the aromatic 
sweet fern. A bed of this 18 inches deep, with the last 
3 inches of pine tufts and balsam twigs, makes a very 
comfortable place to sleep, soft and springy enough; but 
there is more dampness in the fern than in pine and 
balsam; for this reason we were too cold for comfort 
the first night in camp. 
There were in the party Dr. Rosselle, of Homestead; 
Dr. Montgomery and Paul M. Collier, of Oakmont, Pa. ; 
R. M. Davis, cashier of the Pennsylvania National Bank ; 
Jacob T. Schellhaas, of Allegheny, Pa. ; and chief among 
ten thousand, George Hamilton, an up-to-date youth of 
twelve summers, eleven and three-quarters of them spent 
in innocent mischief, and lastly, the writer. Roselle, 
Montgomery and I are no light weights. When we step 
on the platform, the scales groan. This condition has 
its advantages in this climate. No use coming here to 
fish unless you're big and strong — just can't pull the big 
ones out. Now with Collier and Davis it was different 
— entirely difi^erent— light. So light that both of thera 
stuffed in a crack two-ply thick wouldn't keep injurious 
rays out of a photographer's dark room. Angling is no 
gentle art up here at the Ragged Rapids. To do any 
good at all these twain had to sort of splice themselves 
together and the rear splice carried heavy boulders as 
ballast, and then were able to drag out only middling 
sized ones. When you saw Davis' hat dance up and 
down like a flying jigsaw, his arms fluttering like a Dutch 
windmill and his slender body bent and twisted like a 
hickory sapling in a tornado, then we knew a big old 
bronzed bass bearing the battle scars of twenty years 
had come upon Davis alone and avvay from his Collier 
splice, and had started in for some fun, and you can bet 
there was high jinks in bass town then. When the fish 
was tired playing Davis, he lightly flipped out of the 
water, turned his forked tail up to his nose after the 
fashion of the impudent urchin in a back alley, winked 
his fishy eye and was gone to tell the joke to a waiting 
school below that clapped their fins and laughed for joy. 
Davis came up the beach "with melancholy step and 
slow," muttering, "I juchesl.if I'd only weighed a pound 
and a quarter more I could a-fetched it to." and whispers 
were heard of a monster windlass, and with this the 
brownies were going to fetch them home. But all jokes 
a«ide. the clear heads, sound judgment, kind hearts and 
willing hands of this slender twain were the sheet anchor 
of the party, and we never even crossed a wide stream 
without consulting their wishes. 
After dinner the first day Montgomery, Davis, Schell- 
haas and Hamilton fished down along the shore of the 
rapids, selecting little circular bays and eddies, and what 
an afternoon for fishing it was. No one waited over a 
minute or so for a bite. All were kept bu-y baiting 
hooks, fixing reels and lines and unfastening the lines 
from sunken timbers and rocks, and begrudging every 
second taken to change hooks, put on bait and make re- 
pairs. Big catfish would occasionally make off with the 
bait, and though they are as game a fish as may be found, 
still we wanted bass and were disappointed when pickerel 
came struggling into the landing net. Occasionallj' a big 
muscallonge would grab the bait and then there was sport 
BAITING FOR BASS. 
royal, but these usually broke away from us in this swift 
w^ater. Dr. Rosselle and I took our boat a mile up the 
river to McDonald's Rapids. On our way up we ran the 
nose of the boat on a sunken rock; It was a likely looking 
place. Twenty feet away there was a bay filled with wild 
rice and rushes. We jointed our rods to try results. We 
had brought along a basket of large dew worms a friend 
in Toronto had sent, and this bait suited the bass that day. 
I cast off first and immediately hooked a 2-pounder near 
the edge of the weeds; and Rosselle cast just below and 
our lines crossed, but his fish swam back and unloosed the 
tangle, and we drew thern in together. A piece of twine 
tied to a piece of pine shingle made our stringer. In an 
hour we took probably twenty-five bass. The first six 
we strung; but the struggles of the last loosened the 
stringer from the gunwale of the boat and we saw them 
wabbling off through the water, pushing the pine shingle 
with them. W^e calmed our conscience by concluding 
they would eventually free themselves. We loosed anchor 
and trolled up and down in some weedy bays that fringe 
the left-hand shore going down, with the hope of taking a 
monster muscallonge. Although many heavy fish have 
been taken here, the best we could do wa'^ one «;mqll one. 
We then .rowed up to McDonald's I?apids and fished in 
circular bays, where .the waters rusji round and round, 
and here again we found the fishing splendid. When 
