Dec. 20, 1902.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
493 
Reminiscences of an Octogenarian. 
pdf t ni. 
BY THE OLD ANGLER. 
{Continued from fage 463 ) 
"Let us to the ancient woods; I say, let us value the woods. 
They are full of solicitations." — Thoreau. 
"Doubt not, sir; but that angling is an art, and an art worth 
your learning; the question is rather whether you be capable of 
learning it." — Izaak Walton. 
Fifty years ago anglers in the Provinces were a very 
small brotherhood. The officers of the regiments sta- 
tioned at Halifax, St. John and Fredericton Avere the 
envied exemplars of this sport, and did much to spread 
the love of it in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. In 
the early forties of the last century the Thirty-fourth 
Regiment formed the garrison at St. John, with a de- 
tachment in Fredericton. The officers of this regiment 
were enthusiastic sportsmen. Some had their fast horses 
and were always ready for a race on the sands with 
George Gilbert, Hugh McMonagle or the first Roland 
Bunting, the father of the turf in New Brunswick. If 
the Octogenarian's memory has not failed him, a captain in 
this regiment was Lord Hill, whose great hobby was his 
horses. There may be some readers of Forest and 
Stream in the Provinces who will remember both him 
and Larry Stevens, who kept a livery stable and ran the 
daily mail between St. John and Fredericton. Larry was 
a typical Irishman, with all an Irishman's humor and 
love of sport ; he Avas, beside, a lover of horses and a 
good judge of their points. He was one of Nature's gen- 
tlemen, notwithstanding his unpretentious avocation, and 
Was on easy terms of acquaintance with the sporting offi- 
cers of the garrison, After repeated defeats on the 
sands, where Hill's blooded stock was too fast for Lar- 
ry's best roadsters, he bet the officer twenty guineas that 
he would start from Fredericton with a pair of his stagers 
and take them into St. John ahead of Hill's fancy team 
with long pedigrees. The bet was accepted, and a great 
deal of interest was felt in the match. Hill started in a 
light sleigh, with costly robes, gold-plated harness, and 
what was then a novelty in St. John, the present web 
lines, and called "tapes." Larry had a light mail bag in 
a strong "pimg," better known nowadaj^s as a "cutter," 
with strong, plain, domestic-made harness and a buffalo 
skin. The road was in excellent condition, and for the 
first 20 miles the thoroughbreds led, then kept together, 
the drivers laughing and joking, each making occasional 
spurts, until Douglass Arms was reached, 50 miles from 
Fredericton. Here a hot meal awaited them, and each 
saw to his horses. After a rest of two hours they started 
on the last stage, which is about 18 miles from St. John. 
Hill's horses, totally unused to such work, soon fell be- 
hind Larry's more seasoned team. This was just what 
Larry had calculated on, and bidding Hill a sarcastic 
good-by, he soon left him far in the rear. When within 
five miles of the city one of his horses fell and broke his 
neclc, which almost broke Larry's heart, more for his 
good horse than for the loss of his bet. When his lord- 
. ship overtook Larry he found him with a fresh team, and 
they drove to town in compani'-. When his friends blamed 
I.arry for not putting the dead horse on the sled and 
driving in the single horse, which would have won the 
bet, as he might easily have done with the lead he had, 
Larry slapped his knee, opened his eyes wide, shook his 
head sadly and said : "May the divil admire me, why 
didn't I think of that?" Hill offered to consider the bet 
off, but Larry insisted on paying, and Hill declared him 
the truest gentleman he had met in his travels. 
Several of the officers cared more for fishing and shoot- 
ing than for racing, and every day of leave they could 
obtain was spent on the rivers or lakes or in the woods, 
which in those days were better stocked with fin, fur 
and feather than they are now. Moose, caribou and deer 
then went in large herds; bears were more common, 
while geese, ducks, woodcock, snipe and partridge were 
found within easy reach of the city. Sachem Gabe was 
then in his prime, and no better hunter ever guided 
- sportsmen to their quarrj-- in the forest, or more skillfully 
propelled his birch canoe on river, lake or stream. The 
surroundings were strange and the woods had all the 
charms of novelty. Eating al fresco, with an appetite 
that only hunters know, sleeping under the stars, wrapped 
in his blanket, on a bed of fragrant fir boughs, with his 
feet to the fire, was a new experience to men fresh from 
English cantonments, and they reveled in the change. 
Many of them soon became expert in the canoe and on 
the trail. Some could handle a pole or paddle or_ lug 
his pack in a fashion that surprised their Indian guides. 
One officer in particular, was said by Gabe to be "great 
hunter; good man in woods; same as Indian in canoe." 
At this time the Schoodic Lakes and land-locked sal- 
mon were all but unknown to the little coterie of ang- 
lers in St. John. Roads were rough; travel difficult and 
the angling nearer hotne — at Loch Lomond, Mispeck 
stream. Beaver and Ball's lakes — was good enough, and 
the trout large enough to satisfy the most greedy fisher- 
man. In those days it was much more difficult to lug 
home the basket than to fill it with trout running from i 
to 2 pounds. Consequently, there was no inducement to 
go further afield in search of sport. In 1862 the Fif- 
teenth Regiment was quartered in St. John. Among the 
officers were Capts. Dashwood, Farquharson and Coven- 
try, ardent sportsmen all, wild to explore that Canada 
of whose game resources every returned officer had told 
them marvelous stories. After having explored all the 
lakes in the neighborhood of St. John, these officers rnade 
a trip to the Schoodic Lakes, and their report of the fish- 
ing and of the game qualities of the land-locked sal- 
mon in Grand Lake Stream and the lakes above set our 
little coterie wild. In company with the late Sheriff 
Harding, well known to hundreds of readers of Forest 
AND Stream, the Old Angler made his first visit to these 
lakes, and had such sport as induced many subsequent 
visits in after years. 
In his charming "Chiploquorgan, or Life by the Camp 
Fire," published after his return to England in 1872, Cap- 
tain (now General) ^ Dashwood has given us the best 
guide books to sporting in the Maritime Provinces and 
Newfoundland that the Octogenarian has ever seen. He 
makes the following remarks about the Schoodic saltnon: 
"\ liet« ssy a ^f^of^ t|ie species q\ tfee ifl 
these lakes, as it has been a matter of much controversy 
between American naturalists, some of whom affirm that 
they are pent-up salmon. * * * For my part, I do not 
for a moment suppose that these fish are salmon. In my 
opinion the idea is absurd, as there is nothing to prevent 
these fish going down to sea ; and when the river was 
first blocked by dams, surely the fish then in the river 
would have followed their natural instincts and returned 
to salt water." 
In opposition to this opinion. Prof. Agassiz, America's 
great naturalist, had pronounced these Schoodic trout 
to be degenerated salmon. In a sketch, describing these 
fish, printed in T869, some ye^ars previous to the publi- 
cation of General Dashwood's fascinating book, the pres- 
ent writer said, after a long discussion with two Ameri- 
can gentlemen then camped on Grand Lake Stream, who 
were very intelligent men and fine anglers, one of whom 
suggested that Iwbridity might offer a soltttion of the 
difficulty : 
"Scarcely, eveii if the hybridity of fish, which natural- 
ists deny, were admitted. As both salmon and trout go 
to salt water, it is hard to suppose their mixed progeny 
would be averse to it. If these fish were known in the 
lakes before the dams were erected, that fact would be 
fatsl to the degeneration theorj'." 
"Why so?" asked Mr. R. "I do not see that conse- 
quence." 
"For this reason. Before the dams were built on the 
river there was no obstacle to the free passage of the fish 
up or down, and they would spawn in the main river be- 
low Princeton as well as here in this stream. As we 
know the St. Croix was a fine salmon stream before the 
dams were built, we should have to admit that the per- 
fect salmon and the degenerated salmon frequented the 
same stream, and that, under precisely similar conditions 
they had very dissimilar habits. This, I think, would 
constitute a distinct species. On the whole, I incline to 
the opinion that the supposition of a distinct variety pre- 
sents the least difficulty." 
Since this was written, that close observer, fine writer 
and keen angler, Mr. E. T. D. Chambers, has given us his 
splendid book on "The Ouananiche and Its Canadian En- 
vironment," in which he exhausts the subject and goes 
far to prove that the ouananiche, or fresh water sal- 
mon, is the true parent of the Salnw salar, "which has 
acquired the habit of wandering from the crystal Eden 
in which it was created, into the salt wilderness of the 
sea, by its acquisition of a taste for the flesh-pots of the 
briny deep." The copious quotations from foremost 
American and English naturalists and observers go far 
to prove that Mr. Chambers' theory, if not the correct 
one, is that which best fits all the facts, so far as these 
are known to the scientific world. The Old Angler has 
great pleasure in calling the attention of brother anglers 
to this most instructive and entertaining book, published 
by Harper & Bros, in 1896. No more competent authority 
and few such fascinating and instructive writers have 
added their quota to the literature of fishing; no more 
delightful reading can the disciples of Father Izaak de- 
sire. 
Since "Chiploquorgan" was written, General Dashwood 
has many times crossed the Atlantic and renewed his 
acquaintance with the forests and rivers of New Bruns- 
wick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. His last visit was 
in 1900, when he was somewhat stouter than of yore, 
but as vigorous and active as ever in his pursuit of big 
game. AVhether he still holds to the opinion stated in 
"Chiploquorgan" that there is a sea trout in the Provinces 
distinct from foniinalis, the writer cannot say; but he has 
often wondered that so acute an observer could write 
as follows : "Sea trout frequent, more or less, all the 
rivers in North America. In some seasons they are so 
numerous at the commencement of the run as to be a 
positive nuisance to the salmon fisher." That Capt. Dash- 
wood should have fallen into this error, is not strange ; 
hut that so competent a naturalist, and an angler of such 
experience as Mr. Charles Hallock should have perpet- 
uated this error, is somewhat surprising. The Old Ang- 
ler's experience of the rivers of New Brunswick and 
Nova -Scotia extends over a period of 65 years ; 22 of 
these he was an officer of the Fisheries Department of 
Canada, and his duties took him to all the rivers in both 
Proviitces. He is convinced that there is not, in the 
rivers of Nova Scotia or New Brunswick, any trout dis- 
tinct in appearance and habits from fontinaJis; until he 
sees and handles such a fish, he is forced to retain his 
present belief, the grounds of which he here prcsetits to 
his brother anglers and those naturalists Avho read For- 
est AND Stream. 
As a schoolboy on the banks of the Miramichi — -the 
best river for so-called sea trout in the Provinces — the 
Old Angler caught these trout through the ice in the 
tideway from December until ]\'larch, when they left the 
upper tideway for the estuaiy and mouth of the river to 
meet the first run of smelts. The larger trout in the upper 
reaches of the river also descended to meet the smelts 
as they came in to spawn in the smaller streams and large 
brooks that empt}'' into both sides of both branches of 
this noble river. In the month of June large numbers of 
these so-called sea trout are found at Indiantown on the 
southwest branch, just below the confluence of the Ren- 
ous River. In his boyhood both Indians and white set- 
tlers resorted to the mouth of the Renous to fish for 
these sea trout, which linger there for the last straggling- 
runs of smelt and afford the finest sport for anglers, as 
they will greedily take almost any fly oflFered. Every 
season angling parties from St. John still resort to Indian- 
town for these sea trout, and find good sport; few of 
them think any more of the matter. But mark, now, the 
facts : When the last of the smelts disappear, so also do 
the sea trout from Indiantown; but their course is up- 
ward to the headwaters, not downward to the sea. This 
fact is proved by their being caught in the gaspereau 
nets from Indiantown to the head of the Settlements, 
above Boiestown, some 50 miles distant, and afterward 
by salmon fishermen, still higher up, and thence to the 
headwaters of the river. No fewer than four times has 
the Old Angler crossed from St. John waters to the ex- 
treme headwaters of the Southwest, and in his downward 
course has caught these sea trout weighing from i to 2^^ 
pounds so plentiful that, for want of salt to save them, 
he and his companions have liberated as many as twenty 
in the course of a few hours' fishing. This was before 
the gettle^Ti^JtJt^ QJ^ssy^ll? Be^yfgrt, which h^v^ 
seriously depleted the headwaters and consequently re- 
duced the numbers resorting to the tideway. 
These remarks are strictly applicable to all the rivers 
on the north shore from Restigouche to Shediac, and! 
from Nouvelle to Gaspe. The so-called sea trout, instead! 
of coming from the sea into the river, go down from the 
upper waters to the mouths of rivers for the better feed 
to be found in their estuaries. Every considerable river 
on the north shore has its sea trout; but there is one fact 
that should settle the question forever in the tninds of all 
competent observers. The sea trout of the Restigouche, 
the Nepissiguit and the Miramichi, are not to be dis- 
linguished_ from those of the smaller rivers, except in 
point of size. In these three rivers alone do they reach 
the weight of 3 pounds, and these are rare. From i>2 
to pounds is the usual weight of sea trout in these 
three rivers; but the numbers of the latter weight have 
sadly fallen off since the writer caught them in his boy- 
hood. The smaller rivers all along the cosat have their 
sea trout, but none so heavy as those in the larger rivers, 
though in all other respects identical in appearance and 
habits, and all spawn in the upper waters of their re- 
spective rivers. The Nepissiguit furnishes demonstra- 
tion of the utter fallacy of the sea trout cult. The mouth, 
between the Capes, is narrow. In the boyhood of the Old 
Angler the trout from the river came down in spring in 
large numbers to meet the smelts coming in to spawn. 
Many were taken in seines used for the purpose of catch- 
in smelts, which were taken in vast quantities, and there 
being then no means of getting them to a market, they 
were used as a fertilizer on farms in the neighborhood. 
Since the I. C, R. has furnished a means of reaching 
Provincial and U. S. markets, frozen smelts have formed 
a large export from all the Northern Counties. Last 
year the aggregate shipments from New Brunswick 
amounted to 7,863,000 pounds. Return we to sea trout. 
After the .smelts have disappeared, the trout returns to 
the upper waters whence they came, and intense is the 
annoyance of salmon anglers at Rough Waters, Round 
Rocks, Middle Landing and the falls pools to find his 
most artistic work interrupted by the greedy grip of a 
sea trout, sometimes as large as 2^4 pounds, but only a 
nuisance when the cast was made in the hope of raising 
a salmon that was surely within reach. How often has 
the writer cursed the splendid trout which, under other 
circumstances, he would have blessed, that took his fly 
at mid landing and by his rumpus effectuallj' destroyed 
all hope of raising that salmon which yesterday nosed his 
fly on the surface and sank back behind the white stone, 
Avhose glint could be seen within easy cast. 
Ay de mie ! How the old time comes over me ! Again 
am I on the Nepissiguit — paradise of anglers 1 From the 
head of tide to Grand Falls is only 20 miles. But in this 
distance are displayed, on a small scale, all the features 
of a great river. There are long stretches of deep and 
quiet water, placid as a pond ; rough reaches of roaring 
rapids with huge boidders standing high above the 
crested waves ; rocky ridges OA-er which the Avaters, pent 
up by the narroAV gorges through which they roll and 
roar, seethe and swell, rush and Avrestle till they reach 
a smoother course, when the}' spread out into broa^ shal- 
lows Avith pebbly bottoms, over which they laugh and 
dance at their recovered freedom. At length is reached a 
miniature Yosemite, into which the Avhole volume of 60 
miles of riA'er pitches over a short perpendicular fall, and 
then cascades doAAm a gorge inferior only in size to 
America's great spectacle of the sublime and beautiful ! 
The shore is as A^arious in its aspect as the stream. In 
some places woods grow to the very edge and overhang 
the water; in others a smooth and grassy strand delights 
the angler; here steep and frowning banks almost forbid 
access to the stream ; there a sandy beach offers fine foot- 
ing, Avhile sometimes a SAvampy shore makes passing diffi- 
cult. Several small tributaries add their waters ; the most 
important is Gordon's Brook, which takes its rise not far 
from the northwest branch of the Miramichi. In spring, 
Avhen the water is high and cold, to fish from a canoe 
such places as cannot be reached from shore, is more con- 
venient ; but in sunnner, when the Avater is warmer, there 
is scarceli' a good cast on the whole stream that cannot 
be reached by wading knee-deep. And, O dear ! There 
is not a cast on the whole 20 miles of this delightful 
streajn from Avhich the Old Angler has not brought his 
salmon to gaff ! When "Dominie Gilmour" spent his an- 
nual two months in camp at Pabineau or Grand Falls, and 
Avas joined by his old crony, Bob Tanneliill, who regu- 
larly made the Aveary journey by stage from St. John to 
Bathurst to foregather Avith his old chum from the 
Tweed, and enjoy such sport that even the Tweed could 
furnish no better, who can blame them if, under the 
genial influence of a qiiaigh of guid Glenlivet after a 
day's rare sport, they felt Avith their immortal country- 
man and brother angler that "worldly men and worldly 
cares might all gang tapetterio?" Dear old Thad Norris ! 
How, at Rough Waters, on a previous visit, did he gloat 
over his first salmon! But, there — surely old age is gar- 
rulous 1 I had quite forgotten the sea trout in following 
him to his proper habitat. Revenons a nos moutons. 
From Rough Waters to Grand Falls these sea trout are 
found all summer. After spawning the largest descend 
to tideway, where they spend the Avinter, and are not 
found at the Capes until the following spring. Grand 
Falls are impassable for both salmon and trout, conse- 
quently it folloAvs that if any trout are caught above the 
falls, they cannot be sea trout. The Avriter has tAvice 
canoed from Grand Falls to Nepissiguit lakes, Avhich are 
the source of the river. All along its Avhole course, in 
suitable water, he has taken trout identical in shape, color, 
markings and weight Avith those beloAV the falls, while in 
the lakes they ran still heavier; along the river they 
varied from i pound to 2^ — those in the lakes often 
reached 3 pounds. Crossing the short portage into Nictor 
Lake, the source of the Tobique, precisely similar trout 
were caught, but these were not so large, running from 
54 to I ^ pounds; these never go to salt Avater, which is 
some 140 miles distant. Surely these incontestable facts 
should settle the question as regards all other rivers on 
the North Shore. From Shediac, in Westmoreland, 
through Kent, Northumberland and Gloucester to Dal- 
housie on Restigouche, CA^ery river has its sea trout iden- 
tical in every minute particular Avith those in the three 
larger rivers, except in weight, and this varies as the 
rivers are larger or smaller. In the Charlo and Jacquet 
tl^? §?a trout ar^ nearly «S Urg? ^% thQ^e in Restigouche, 
