B04 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
[June i8, 1904. 
either that morning or the night before. We would soon 
reach Tom's Town, and we had no moose. The moose 
of the White River Valley are practically a thing of the 
past. We had been in the bush three weeks, and had 
seen only one. Two young men that were camped on 
Wendigo Lake while we were in the bush came out 
without one. The party our guides brought out the week 
before we went in got no moose, yet Sam and Bob had 
never failed to get moose for their hunters in this dis- 
trict before. The White River Valley is , being settled. 
The moose are being killed in season and out of season, 
and are being driven back. We could find no fault with 
our guides. They had worked faithfully and well, doing 
everything they could to get us a moose and make us 
comfortable, and Sam could cook as well, if not a little 
better, than ever. 
Among Leaping Ouananiche. 
Embosomed among tlie great Laurentian hills, and 
nearly two hundred and fifty miles north of the old 
historic city of Quebec, lies what might, without exagger^i- 
tion, be termed a great inland sea. This magnificent body 
ot water, which is over forty miles in, length, and from 
ten to thirty miles in width, is the receiving basin of a 
watershed of upward of forty thousand square miles. 
Some idea of the volume of water it annually receives 
may be formed when I state that several of the great rivers 
v/hich empty into it bring down the overflow from many 
large lakes hundreds of miles a-vvay in the far north, the 
Peribonca being navigable by boats and canoes upward of 
six hundred miles from its mouth. This great lake finds 
an outlet at the point at its lower extremity called the 
Grand Decharge, Anglice Discharge, which is the head 
of that most wonderful river, the Saguenay. 
Sirange and wonderful it is, for it resembles no other 
river on earth ; the water descending from this outlet of 
the lake has a fall of about 350 feet within the limits of a 
very few miles, and is therefore at that point a series of 
f-'tupendous, angry rapids ; but further down it becomes 
quuv, and ovv'uig to its' great depth seems of inky black- 
ness, and is, therefore, almost somber and awe-inspiring. 
High, rough cliffs tower above the stream, and their ap- 
pearance indicates that in long past ages,' by some great 
convulsion of nature, the rocky hills were rent asunder 
to permit the water to descend through the chasm. 
There are many places in this river in which soundings 
have revealed a depth of over 1,000 feet, and where it 
iiows by those gigantic sentinels, the headlands, Capes 
Trinity and Eternity, which rise perpendicularly from the 
water, the lead has been dropped, according to Hallock, 
almo.st a mile, and no bottom was found. 
Lake St, John, with its tributaries, is the home of one 
of the gamest fish that swim ; it is called ouananiche by 
the habitans, and winninish by the Montaignais Indians, 
by whom it has been pursued for many generations. It is 
found everywhere in this great water system, having been 
caught in lakes and connecting streams of the Peribonca 
and other rivers a great many miles from the lake. 
. In the spring, after the ice has gone out, the habitans 
capture it in great numbers along the shores of the lake 
with bait, using a strip of pork rind or meat, and some- 
times a piece of red. flannel rag; the fish are then hungry, 
and will come to almost any lure, but as the spring wears 
on the Grand Discharge is the locality in which they con- 
gregate in the greatest numbers. Like other species of 
the Salmonida; to which they belong, they delight in "live 
water," and this is found in perfection at that point, for it 
v/ould be difficult to find anywhere such another series of 
whirling eddies, fierce and foaming rapids, tumultuous 
and boiling whirlpools, as there are in this gigantic water 
gateway. 
The ouananiche, one of the so-called landlocked salmon, 
is a salmon pure and simple, and is not in any sense land- 
locked, for there is nothing to prevent it going down the 
Saguenay if it is so inclined. It does not, however, 
descend below the Discharge, and if its ancestors in by- 
gone days came from the ocean, the present race have- lost 
tJieir anadromous habits entirely. It is identical in every 
respect, such as form, color, markings, habits, etc., with 
the landlocked salmon of the Schoodic and other Maine 
lakes. 
In live water it is the most gamy of all the varieties, and 
in the tumultuous rush of the Grand Discharge a 3-pound 
fish gives the angler a battle royal, which once fought 
will never be forgotten. 
If the ouananiche found as great an abundance of food, 
fresh-water smelts, minnows, etc., as the landlocked sal- 
mon obtain in the Maine lakes, there is no reason to doubt 
that it would grow to the great size attained by the 
others ; but it now rarely exceeds 4 pounds in weight, and 
in a day's catch the angler is fortunate if his fish overrun 
an average of 2 poimds. 
The activity and dash of this fish, its wonderful leaps 
and spirited runs, are identically the_ same as those of a 
o-rilse fresh run from the ocean; it is true that the sal- 
mon angler plays his grilse ordinarily in a pool, but if one 
eould be hooked in such a maelstrom as this, I doubt if it 
would give quite as fierce a battle as does the ouananiche ; 
Tom's Town had been growing while we were in the 
bush. A new store had been started, and the foundation 
had been laid for a sawrnill. On board the Geisha we met 
Mrs. Hunter, the captain's wife, and had a very pleasant 
trip down the river. We found Captain Hunter always 
courteous and accommodating, and we wish him success 
in the White River Valley. 
The rain was pouring down when we landed at Hailey- 
bury, and we hurried to the hotel, changed our clothes, 
packed our trunk, and got everything ready for an early 
start, as the Meteor, on Lake Temiscaming, was due 
at the dock before daylight. The wind was cold and very 
high in the morning, and it was so dark we had to have 
a lantern to go from the hotel to the dock. 
On the Meteor we met two gentlemen from Ohio, one 
of them a doctor. They had gone to North Temiscaming 
for the form of the latter is more robust and muscular, 
the tail is broader, proportionately, than is that of the 
other, which affords a stronger resistance to the water. 
I have taken great numbers of. the landlocked salmon 
in Grand Lake-Stream, Maine, and they were as plucky 
as the others, but they had not the strength and endurance 
that the ouananiche possesses. 
Before the Quebec and Lake St. John Railway was con- 
structed, the lake was reached only after a long, tedious, 
and uncomfortable journey, and therefore was but little 
known to anglers ; but now one may enter a comfortable 
parlor car at Quebec at 8 A. M. and arrive at Hotel 
Roberval on the lake at about 6 P. M., from which point 
he can take steamer or train for the Grand Discharge at 
his option. 
I first became acquainted with the merits of the ouan- 
aniche as a game fish in 1887, at which period the railway 
I Iiave named had just been completed, but. only to the 
lake, the extension to the Saguenay not then having been 
begun. My old friend. Dr. PL, who had been my com- 
panion on a number of outings on various Canadian sal- 
mon waters, was with me on this occasion. 
Considerable comment had been made in sporting publi- 
cations in relation to this fish, and we were more than 
anxious to ascertain for ourselves whether the glowing 
reports that had been sent forth of the exciting sport it 
furnished were exaggerations. 
We arrived at Hotel Roberval one evening in early 
June, where we passed a comfortable night, and on the 
following morning we took passage on the steamer Peri- 
bonca, which at that time plied up and down the lake, 
for the Grand Discharge. Arriving at our destination, we 
there made arrangements for canoemen and canoes, and 
in a short time we were ready and "eager for the fray." 
Our canoes were strong, substantial afi;airs, and remark- 
ably steady for craft of their make; they were not nearly 
as cranky as are those made by the Micmac and the Pas- 
samaquoddy Indians; they were so stiff, in fact, that both 
the Doctor and I had no difficulty in keeping on our feet 
while we were casting, although the buoyant craft was 
sometimes in very rough water. In each canoe was two 
guides ; fhey were Indian half-breeds, rather short in 
stature, but very muscular and active, and they handled 
the birches with wonderful dexterity. 
Both the Doctor and I on this occasion used eight-ounce 
trout rods, preferring these to the salmon rods that manv 
anglers used at this place, the strength of the fish and 
heavy pull of the water seeming to require a more power- 
ful tackle ; but we both had killed many a grilse and good 
sized landlocked salmon on rods of this weight, and we 
believed we could conquer the ouananiche with them. 
The guides placed the canoes in favorable positions ju-it 
above the verge of the upper rapids, and they held us in 
place wonderfully well with the paddles alone. Although 
our rods were light for such work our reels contained a 
good hundred yards of line as a provision for the great 
runs these fish were said to make when hooked. As soon 
as we were placed within proper distance of the upper 
eddies, we began casting — i. e., throwing our feathered 
lures with rod and line in different directions upon the 
surface of the water, and moving them in the manner 
usually practiced by salmon anglers, each using but a 
single fly. The Doctor was an adept in the use of the rod, 
his fly being dropped with wonderful lightness upon 
patches of water so distant that the lure could hardly be 
seen when it alighted. Of course, I imitated him to the 
best of my ability, and I now and then caught expressive 
glances which passed between our ^-rides, and heard their 
murmur of approbation in the scfi ^tois of the French- 
Canadian. 
Great numbers of May flies, or lace-winged flies, as they 
are often called, were in the air, and as they hovered 
over the water many of them dropped upon the circling 
eddies, and as they fluttered and struggled to regain their 
flight they furnished tempting morsels to the fish that 
lurked below the flecks of foam which were scattered over 
the surface of the water. These flies pass the larva stage 
in the water, from which they rise perfect insects ; in this 
form they live but a very brief time, hence their name, 
ephemera. We had noticed the abundance of these irsects 
and in consequence chose for our first casts flies which 
closely resembled them. We had offered our lure= but a 
on the steamer the day we went to Haileybury. They 
got guides at North Temiscaming, and had hunted on 
Fish, Lizzard and Eel lakes, about ten miles northeast 
of where we were, and they each got a moose. The head 
the doctor got had a spread of 54 inches, but the other 
one was smaller. The doctor and his friend stopped at 
the Bellevue for a few days' deer hunting, but it was 
time for us to go home. Our hunt was over. 
Moose hunting was hard work, and I got very tired, 
but I hope we may continue to hunt, and fish,:and cruise, 
until we have crossed the Divide, made the last portage 
into eternal silence, and entered 
"The low green tent 
Whose curtain never outward swings." 
A. W. C. 
few times When they Were accepted, and we were both fast 
to fish whose strength and activity quickly put our light 
rods to a _ severe test. Cree-e-e our reels were merrily 
made to sing as the fish darted about in runs of fifty or 
sixty feet at a stretch; ever and anon one of them leaped 
high in the air, his body shining in the rays of the sun like 
burnished silver. In darting up from the water they en- 
deavored to shake the hook from their mouths, almost 
after the rnanner of black bass. Both were good sized fish, 
nearly 18 inches in length, and their strength, dash, and 
endurance were wonderful. For nearly ten minutes they 
absolutely refused to yield, no matter how severe a tension 
we put upon them, and their runs and leaps were con- 
tinued to the very last ; they had all the speed and activity 
of the grilse, their leaps w^ere fully as high as his and their 
fighting strength was much greater. 
While our contest with the ouaninche was in progress, 
the guides had quietly worked the canoe up in to still 
water and close to the shore, thus enabling one of them to 
lay aside his paddle and hold the landing-net in readiness 
for its aflotted work. 
The steady strain of the rods at length brought the 
gamy fish into subjection, and both were- successfully 
landed. "Vera nice feesh,'' exclaimed one of the guides, 
as he held aloft the silvery captive. "Oui, grand poissons," 
assented the other ; "grand poissons and bon fortune, 
what you call ze good luck." 
"Well Doctor," said I, as the two beauties were laid out 
before us, "we've killed a handsome brace for a starter; 
good three-pounders each of them, and as silvery as fresh 
run salmon. How do you like ouananiche fishing, any- 
way?" "I'm quite delighted with it," he replied. "Every 
inch of them is gamy, and their strength is something 
wonderful. Well, boys," he added, turning to the guides, 
"we'll try for another pair, but I doubt if we can equal 
these." 
The canoe was again deftly moved out into the rapid 
witer, and when our former positions were reached we 
offered our lures as we had done before. The ouananiche 
were evidently disposed to be amiable, for neither of us 
had made a dozen casts before we both rose and hooked 
our fish; beauties they were, and they seemed to be try- 
ing to outdo each other, both in the long runs they made 
and in their saltatory efforts. Well named are these fish 
—"the leaping ouananiche," for hardly any other species 
can vie with them in this respect. 
While the Doctor was busily engaged with the fish he 
had hooked, I met Vv^ith an accident which cost me a good 
casting line and a fine Durham-ranger fly. As I was 
standing in the canoe endeavoring to check a fierce' run 
that the fish was making, the buoyant craft was caught by 
a whirling eddy, which shifted it around so quickly that 
I lost my balance, and, before I could steady myself on 
my feet again, the fish started down the rapids, as if it 
had a hurried errand to the St. Lawrence. 
My reel screamed discordantly as the line was drawn 
out with lightning rapidity, and the prospect seemed good 
for the whole of it being carried away. Of course check- 
ing the fish, even in a slight degree, would be impossible, 
for its own great strength, assisted by the heavy pull of 
the rushing water, would have required a stout cod-line 
to hold the fugitive. I saw at once that quirk action only 
on my part could save a portion of my tackle, and so, 
pressing my thumb firmly on the whirling reel, I threw 
the rod upward sharply and held it firmly with all- my 
strength. This sudden and severe tension caused the line 
to break, fortunately for me, at the point where it was 
attached to the casting line with which, as a trophy, the 
fish hurried awaj^ "You were lucky not to lose your line," 
exclaimed the Doctor. "I expected it would all go in that 
strong water." "Yes," I -replied, as I prepared a new 
casting line and fly, "I thought for a moment that every- 
thing would be carried away; no tackle could hold that 
f.sh when he got started." 
Attached to my new casting line were two flies, a silver- 
doctor and a gray-drake, one of which I should have re- 
moved, but owing to the excitement of the moment I 
neglected to do so, even after I had begun casting. My 
thoughts were more on the fish that escaped than they 
were on the work before me, and it was only when I 
found that two' fish had accepted my lures that I realized 
the situation. Playing a single ouananiche in live water 
