Dec. 6, 1902.3 
P^dRfest ANb Sii^kEAM. 
Camping on Old Capon. 
The Rod and Reel Club of this city, which has hereto- 
fore camped on the Shenandoah River, changed fishnig 
grounds this year and pitched their tents on the banks of 
old Capon. The Shenandoah is all right when it is clear, 
but the trouble is you so seldom strike it in that condi- 
tion. 
We left old Winchester towh about 2 o'doCk Monday 
morning in a hay wagon. None of us will ever forget the 
ride, or the walk, as some of the fellows called it. There 
were eight of us in the party, and after we had packed 
our provisions, tents, etc., on the wagon, there was little 
room for anything else; so we had to take seats around 
on the boxes, on the minnow barrel and any old place 
where we could get a hold. After we passed Whitacre 
the road was something fierce, and every now and then 
you wonld see some one slide off and try it afoot. But 
we finally got to Break Neck spring, and by 6 o'clock had 
the camp in order and some fish for supper, too, having 
detailed several of the camp to try their luck, while the 
rest put up the tents. We were all tired and worn out 
when we sat down to supper, but I tell you everything 
tasted good. Judge Hodgson can't be beat at making 
coffee and frying fish, and we all owe him^ debt of grati- 
tude for acting in this capacity while on Capon. 
After supper the judge proposed a game of pitch, and 
Claude Ryon, the youngest and gayest soul of the party, 
soon had tlie cards out of one of the boxes and soon 
two games were going. At 10 o'clock Quartermaster 
Yeakley made the announcement that it was bed time, 
and we were all soon sleeping on our beds of straw at 
the foot of the mountains along old Capon, far from the 
madding crowd — with naught to disturb our slumbers 
save the musical murmuring of the \vater as it gently 
glided past us on its never-ceasing journey. 
The water was a little too muddy for bass fishing the 
first two or three days, but it soon cleared up, and then we 
got down to work. For some distance, both above and 
below us, there were riffles of the finest kind, here and 
there deep pockets and eddies, just the places to run 
across old Mr. Bass. 
It was a sight to do one good to see the venerable 
Judge Hodgson wading waist-deep in the tumbling water, 
gracefully casting here and there into the pools and 
THE CAMP ON OLD CAPON. 
around the rocks, and to hear the sweet music of his reel 
as the fish goes out. The judge calls a halt and gets 
down to work, and the game fellow at the other end 
throws himself clear out of the water in his efforts to get 
away; but the judge has him fast and he is soon in that 
veteran angler's fish basket. Most of our party were fond 
of fishing, and the little dam we had made just below 
Break Neck was nearly always full of fish, and", after be- 
ing cleaned, would keep there as well as if in cold storage. 
Looking down the river most any morning you could 
see Cap Clowe balancing himself upon a rock in the riffles, 
every now and then throwing into a different place, and 
later on, if you were in no hurry and out for a morning 
walk, you could see him .suddenly raise his rod and be- 
come deeply interested in something cutting through the 
water, and there see a sbiring object flash in the sunlight 
and later slide down his fish string. "Cap" is an ardent 
follower of my friend Walton, and is never happier than 
when looking for fish in the riffles. 
Charley Brown, you might say, was one of the most 
enthusiastic anglers of the party. Possessing plenty of 
patience and good staying qualities when he knew the fish 
were there (and he generally knew where to find them), 
he always had a good string to his credit when the even- 
ing shadows became too thick for him to pursue his favor- 
ite pastime any longer. He and my fisherman friend, 
Billy Flemister, generally went together and always 
brought in their share of the fish. 
Dick Hodgson and myself (my old fisherrnan com- 
panion) could every morning be seen strolling down to 
some favorite resort below Auntie Hatfield's, and not un- 
til the dusk of evening had fallen and the faint call of 
Quartermaster Yeakley was heard in the distance, would 
we turn our faces toward camp. Mr. Yeakley always 
• says he doesn't care to fish much, but one day, while com- 
ing up Water Street he saw something cutting through 
the water, and jerking a line some of the boys had left 
l ied to the bank He couldn't resist the temptation to see 
what it was, so he got hold of the line and commenced 
to pull it in, but the thing at the other end was game, and 
before that gentleman got through with him he acknowl- 
edged to himself that there was sport in fishing after all. 
A trip was made to Cawd3'^'s Castle several days before 
we left Capon. From the top of this immense pile of 
rock, rising out of the mountain, can be had one of the 
most magnificent views in that section of the country. 
You can look far, far away to other lands that seem fairer 
than this — where the fleecy clouds bend down to kiss the 
hazy slopes of other mountains — but after looking around 
you closely you will come to the conclusion that there 
could hardly be lands fairer than this along old Capon. 
It is about 700 feet from the bed of the river to the top 
of the castle, and the climb up is both picturesque and 
dangerous. Just before you reach the top you have to 
climb up a little ladder about 10 feet long, and you don't 
want to look down, either, for if you do you might lose 
your nerve, and then it would be all up with you. I will 
have to confess that I vvas glad when I got off that lad- 
der on to the top of the big rock and gladder still when 
I got dovra from there altogether. Cap Clove, Billy 
Flemister and Claude Ryon raced around over the top of 
the castle as if they were trying to beat each other to 
some favorite fishing place below Auntie Hatfield's. 
Cawdy's Castle is visited every year by a great many 
people. Just before you I'each the top there is a room-like 
apartment in the rock about 6x6 feet, and as you approach 
the entrance you make a short turn. The path right here 
is very narrow, one side of which slopes down almost 
perpendicular. Cawdy was an Indian scout, and when- 
ever pressed too hard he would go to this little cave, and 
when his Indian pursuers would round the curve at his 
retreat he would push them over the path down into the 
depths below. 
Many good times we had at camp at night playing 
cards. Judge Hodgson is very fond of the game, and we 
boys co«Id not cheat him, either. The night betore we 
left we had a farewell game, and the judge and Cap 
Clowe, and Billy Flemister and Claude Ryon were at 
one table. Suddenly Claude Ryon made the startling an- 
noimcement that he and his partner had made high, low, 
Jack and the game. The judge looked up and said, 
"We'll just count you for game." At the end of the 
count Claude made the discovery that he had counted 
two too many, and then some one yelled from the other 
table: "It's all in the count, judge." 
We were all sorry when the time came to leave old 
Capon, for we had all grown to love the picturesque sur- 
roundings of Break Neck and the walk down "Water 
Street." You could notice the judge, just before leav- 
ing, looking longingly down over the sparkling riffles be- 
low us, when his whole soul was at the moment wishing, 
no doubt, for just one more wade in the tumbling waters. 
His reverie was interrupted by Driver McFarland calling 
out "All aboard," and we were soon leaving Break Neck 
far behind us. Alf. Cline. 
Winchester, Va^ 
Fish and Fishing. 
More About Troui Tickling- 
A COUPLE of letters which have reached me within the 
last few days, and Mr. Titcomb's note in Forest and 
Stream of the 22d inst., illustrate the interest taken by 
anglers in the recent references in this paper to the sub- 
ject of trout tickling. One of my correspondents inquires 
whether the practice is known to be followed to any ex- 
tent on this side of the Atlantic, and if so, where. I have 
only known of it being done by way of experiment in 
.\merica, and indeed there is no reason why it should be 
resorted to at all in countries where trout can be so much 
more easily obtained by lawful means. Those who tickle 
trout in the Old Country are generally men who dare not 
be seen on the banks of a stream with rod and line. 
Another reader of this paper writes to ask whether 
guddling for trout is not what is generally known as 
tickling. Of course it is, and a good example of the use 
of the term is furnished by Ian Maclaren in his "Beside 
the Bonnie Briar Bush," where he makes the doctor say, 
with reference to his youthful experiences, "Guddlin' wes 
a graund ploy. A' think A'm at aince mair, wi' ma sleeves 
up lae ma oxters, lying on ma face, wi' naething but the 
eyes ower the edge o' the stane, an' slippin' ma hands 
intae the caller water, an' the rush o' the troot, an' grip- 
pin' the soople slidderin' body o't an' thrown' 't ower yir 
head, wi' the red spots glistening on its white belly; it 
wes michty." 
What Do Salmon Flies ReprcseDt, 
A friend draws my attention to the definition of fishing 
with the fly contained in one of the newest and hand- 
somest of the works on American fishes advertised in the 
columns of Forest and Stream . Fly-fishing is there de- 
scribed as "the art of presenting to a fish a bunch of 
feathers tied to a hook in such a manner that the fish will 
believe that the aforesaid bunch is something edible and 
become 'permanently attached' to it." My friend asks me 
a difficult question when he inquires what special edible 
a salmon fly represents. Major Fisher, in his "Rod and 
River," says that it is the general opinion that salmon 
take the artificial fly for some living thing, probably a 
shrimp ; but he admits that whatever they suppose it to be, 
it most certainly is not like anything which lives above the 
surface of the water. He therefore concludes that the 
term "fly" is a misnomer. The idea that the salmon litre 
is taken for some living thing or other would seem to be 
borne out by the fact that it is greedily taken by trout 
when they are known to be on the feed, and are eagerly 
devouring natural insects and other food. And the English 
experience, which shows that natural shrimps are some 
of the best killing of salmon baits, doubtless encourages 
the belief of British sportsmen that the fish take the arti- 
ficial fly for a shrimp. Whatever the Atlantic salmon of 
American and Canadian rivers take the salmon fly for, 
however, it is certain that they do not take it for a shrimp 
or any other natural food, for they invariably refuse the 
genuine article ; and as no kind of undigested food is ever 
found in their stomachs when the fish have been taken 
from fresh water on this side of the ocean, many anglers 
have jumped to the conclusion that they seize the fly to 
which they rise in North American rivers, either in sport 
or in anger. The salmon in these waters have certainlj'- 
not been taken with any other kind of either natural or 
artificial bait than the ordinary fly, though there are 
stories of solitary specimens having taken live bait in the 
brackish waters of estuaries. 
The Color of Trout. 
Commodore J. U. Gregory, of Quebec, one of the few 
remaining survivors of the original subscribers to Forest 
AND Stream, was talking in the Garrison Club of the 
ancient Canadian capital the other night, about the differ- 
ence in the color of the flesh of trout caught in different 
waters, and called my attention to certain circumstances 
which seemed to him to knock out the pet theory that the 
deeper pink or red coloring of the flesh of some of the 
SalmonidcE is due to the abundance of the crustaceans 
which form a large proportion of their food supply. The 
Commodore fished last September in Lac Trois Saumons, 
a fine body of water, reached by way of the Intercolonial 
Railway, running in an easterly direction from Levis, op- 
posite Quebec, along the south shore of the St. Lawrence. 
The lake is swarming with Crustacea of various kinds, 
chiefly small crayfish, with which the stomachs of the fish 
opened by Mr. Gregory were found to be well filled; yet 
the flesh of these trout is exceedingly light in color, es- 
pecially, in comparison with that of Lake Edward trout, for 
example, which is always a deep red, though these latter 
fish live principally upon the minnows and small gudgeon 
which abound in the waters in which they are found. 
Cheney, Agassiz and Lanman have all pointed out how 
largely the rich red color of the flesh of the brook trout 
is contributed to by a crustacean diet, yet here is a notable 
exception, which seems worthy of record. Shall we say 
that this is only another instance of the exception proving 
the rule, or is tlie evidence strong enough to shatter our 
faith in preconceived opinions of the matter? 
Striped Bass and Smelt. 
It is not often that striped bass are taken so high up the 
St. Lawrence as the port of Quebec. Last week, how- 
eViCr, one measuring nearly thirty inches in length was 
captured off the mouth of the St. Charles in the middle of 
the harbor, by a boy who was fishing with bait for tom- 
cods. The nearest point to Quebec where striped bass, 
or bar, as they are called by the French-Canadians, are 
taken in any nimibers by anglers, is below the Island of 
Orleans, in the vicinity of Madame Island. Even here, 
however, the size of the fish taken has very much de- 
teriorated in recent years. There was a time when such 
fish as that above described were by no means uncommon. 
Now they are very seldom seen at all in the St. Lawrence. 
The reason is not far to seek. In the weirs or wicker net 
traps along the shoi-es of the river, the market fishermen 
take fish of all sizes, and it is no uncommon thing to see 
striped bass of not more than four inches long brought 
by them to market. This matter is to be brought to the 
early attention of the Minister of Fisheries. 
The arrival of the autumnal run of smelts in the St. 
Lawrence, in the vicinity of Quebec a few days ago, was 
quickly followed by that of a number of porpoises which 
remained for some days disporting themselves in front of 
the city. The unusual visitors were apparently in pursuit 
of the toothsome little smelt, and the latter were appar- 
ently aware of the fact, for during the time that their 
monster enemies remained in the neighborhood they were 
conspicuous by their absence, and the smelt fisher fished in 
vain. Since the disappearance of the porpoises, the smelt 
have been on the feed as ttsual, and large numbers of them 
are being taken at the various city wharves at every tide, 
the anglers being quite content to stand the biting cold of 
the November frost and sleet and cutting wind, for the 
purpose of enjoying the sport. 
Net Fishirg of Lake Nepigon. 
Lake Nepigon, the source of the famous Nepigon trout 
river, is to become the scene of one of the most important 
"commercial fisheries of the continent. This is to be pros- 
ecuted by a newly incorporated joint stock company, call- 
ing itself the Canada Fish Company, with a capital of a 
million dollars, which has obtained important concessions 
from the Government of Ontario. The company secures 
an exclusive privilege for net fishing for a term of twenty 
years, but is forbidden to take bass or speckled trout, two 
game varieties for which the region is famous, and no 
angling rights are in any way to be interfered with. In 
return for this privilege the company will pay a bonus on a 
graduated scale, ranging from $2,000 to $20,oco a year, in 
addition to the usual license fee, based on the amount of 
apparatus or plant in use ; and they undertake to build a 
railway connecting the Canadian Pacific, which crosses the 
Nepigon River close to Lake Superior, with the shores of 
Lake Nepigon, forty miles away to the north. It is pro- 
vided that no nets shall be set on spawning grounds, nor 
within a mile of the mouth of any river or stream, nor 
within a mile of the outlet of the lake into the Nepigon 
River. The catch of fish is limited to 500 tons a year for 
the first three years, and to 1,000 tons a year for each sub- 
sequent year of the term. The vast quantity of enormous 
lake trout and whitefish inhabiting this lake makes its 
fishery wealth of great importance, but its commercial 
value has, in the past, been practically nil, owing to the 
lack of railway facilities. By the new arrangement, the 
Government secures the building of the road, and insures a 
large annual revenue to the province, without in any way 
impairing the value of the huge commercial fishes, some 
of which do not hesitate to make a meal off a good brook 
trout whenever the opportunity presents itself, and which 
are noted spawn eaters as well, ought to improve the fly- 
fishing in the river rather than injure it. The taking of 
all necessary precautions in this direction was only to have 
been expected of the minister who made the concession 
to the company, for the Hon. Mr. Latchford. the gentle- 
man in question, is not only a sportsman himself, but also 
the president of the North American Fish and Game Pro-, 
tective Association. 
Another Salmon Difficulty. 
Canadia:^. salmon fishermen on the Pacific coast are 
claiming another grievance against their American com- 
petitors. Whatever the character of the western ocean 
may be, it is pretty clear by this time that the international 
relations of those engaged upon its shores, whether in tak- 
ing seals or salmon, are anything but pacific. Mr. Todd, 
representing one of the largest canneries upon the British 
Columbia coast, has lately had an interview with the Min- 
ister of Fisheries at Ottawa, to urge that the Canadian 
regulations be amended so as to provide that traps may be 
used for catching salmon. Hitherto, though extensively 
operated within the limits of the American fisheries, these 
traps have not been permitted in Canadian waters. Mr. 
Todd pretends that the American fishermen have so ar- 
ranged their traps as to intercept the fish after they have 
passed in from the ocean through the Straits of San Juan 
de Fuca on their way up to the Eraser River. It is 
claimed by the Canadian fishermen that this condition of 
affairs is calculated to deplete the salmon fishery, but as 
the Dominion cannot prevent it, Canadian canners claim 
that the use of traps should also be permitted on the Cana- 
dian fishing grounds, so as to give them the same advan- 
tage as that enjoyed by their business rivals. They claim 
that if traps are advantageously placed off the so-uthern 
coast of Vancouver Island, no salmon at all would reach 
the fishermen in United States waters. Something would 
be apt, however, to reach the authorities at Ottwa, in such 
a case, and a knowledge of this fact may perhaps have had 
something to do with the delay of the Canadian ministers 
in acting upon the demand of the canners. 
E. T. D. CHAMBERS. 
