[July 23, 1904. 
Listlessly I reel in, down upon a big stone I sink, 
and am thankful that the darkness covers the tears 
coursing unbidden down my cheeks. My heart flutters, 
I am spent with excitement. He of the wooden leg 
says Words intended to be consolatory. But they con- 
sole not. 
The remainder of my stay is uneventful. I get my 
share of small fry, and my Denver friends are well 
provided for. But never another strike from a "big 
one." 
When I returned from Gunnison this fall I shall 
dangle the scalp of one of those old lunkers from my 
belt or know the reason why. I have been studying 
the Gunnison "rainbows," and the more I study them 
the more I am convinced they are not rainbow trout. 
Judge McDougal, who has given the matter much 
study, says they are nothing more nor less than Salmo 
irideus, steelhead salmon of the Shasta in California. 
Without going into the merits of the case, which would 
spin this paper out entirely too much, allow me to 
say, that I have killed several rainbows since coming 
to Colorado (one a seven-pounder in the North Platte, 
where they are reputed to be great fighters), and the 
difference between a Gunnison rainbow and the other 
kind is the' same difference one would expect between 
a gentle coach dog and a full blood bulldog. I would 
respectfully refer those seeking technical information 
on this subject to Judge McDougal, of Gunnison. The : 
latter says that long before rainbows* which are rather 
sluggish fighters, were introduced into the waters of 
the State the Gunnison teemed with these ferocious 
fellows. Then they all suddenly disappeared from 
causes never explained, reappearing later and quite 
as inexplicably. 
Comparing the rainbow with the native of the 
Mbngaup or the Never sink, in Sullivan County, M. Y., 
is an affront to the latter. There is more steam and 
ginger in a one-and-a-half pounder taken from the 
latter ; streams than in a four or six-pounder of the 
rainbow variety. The native Coloradoan, or mountain 
trout, is a game "little fellow; he fights viciously; the 
Gunnison teems with millions of these, and they rise to 
fly quite readily. One may fill his creel to the legal 
limit any afternoon. 
But it is of the Shasta trout or steelhead that I 
write. The natives will tell you they prefer live bait, 
Marty strangers try for them with fly, but truth to 
tell, very few are taken in that manner. 
"You just throw away your time with flies," said one 
of the oldest and best guides in the town. "Some of 
the best anglers here will tell you they take their big 
ortes with fly; it is absolutely untrue in nine cases out 
of ten. Occasionally I have taken a big fish with fly. 
But it was when angling for small fry, and the thing 
occurs so infrequently that it may be called an acci- 
dent. The fly is all right for two and three-pounders— 
but when you get into the heavyweight, class you want 
live bait, good tackle and a knowledge of what to do 
when you get am engagement. I am not surprised at 
your losing your big one— guess he'd have played the 
same trick on me, too. But come back next September, 
bring a pair of wading breeches, a good minnow tackle, 
and you shall have the greatest sport in the world. 
Personally I, too, prefer fly-casting, but if you want 
the heavyweights, you must use the lure they will take. 
If you Want to be dead swell and get no run for your 
money, use flies." This mart confesses' to having killed 
eight or ten trout in a single day's work that would 
fill a sugar sack and tip the scales at eighty or ninety 
pounds. Dividing his catch among a number of 
wealthy clients,- the latter manufactured pleasant little 
stories to take back home with the stuffed skin. Dead 
fish tell no tales. 
• If you are going to fish the Gunnison, brother angler, 
your reel should hold forty yards of the best enamel 
line; it should be capable of very rapid work, because 
these fish are quick fighters, probably the quickest and 
trickiest on earth. Most Coloradoans advocate a bam- 
boo rod of eight or ten ounces and ten feet long. On 
that point I differ, though nearly every angler tells 
me that anything but bamboo will perish quickly, on 
account of our dry climate. Doubtless most cheap 
woods do soon perish here, but I have a willowy affair 
of selected DiGama and lancewood that is as good 
to-day as when it was first made. It has stood the test 
of four years of Colorado climate, and is still perfect. 
It is a Mitchell, a most beautiful creation, weighs less 
than five ounces, and is six inches short of ten feet. 
Your leader should be of a strength equal to the best 
Bangor salmon, mist colored. Much depends on the 
care with which the leader is prepared. Join two such 
three-foot leaders in the center with a swivel. Attach 
your leader to the line with another swivel. Avoid 
anything cheap. To save thirty cents you may lose 
a ten-pound Jim Jeffries of the Gunnison. You will 
require leaden shots of varying weight, according to 
the velocity of the water in which you are casting, to 
carry your bait beneath the surface. The shot should 
be placed just above the middle swivel. This arrange- 
ment' "allows the minnow to twist around or whirl in 
the water when trolled; the swivel prevents kinking or 
snarling., , V 1 ' „ ,' .^ )tsi : , 
Don't tr^^d c fec6nomize on hooks; use an O Shaugh- 
nessyr'a PermelPor a Sproat. No. 00 will prove most 
satisfactory. In baiting it is absolutely essential that 
nc? part of the hook shall show outside the mmnow, 
therefore, the shank should be not more than half an 
^ch long above the bencL ^ . 
You may wish to try ths fly; these should be mounted 
©n No. 2' hooks, same as above, named. A- dozen each 
of plain coachman, with junglecock wings; gray^ 
hackie, with peacock body; gray-hackle, with cream 
yellow body; dusty-miller, silver-doctor, Alexandria, 
will be sufficient. The best are none too good or 
strong. During some parts of the day the fly may be 
the killer; experience will decide this. \. " 
Such rnen as judge McDougal, Mrs. McDougal— 
who was high line last summer, with an eleven-pounder 
to her credit— and Guide Thompson, only cover two 
or three pools in a day's fishing. "Pick out -a good 
pool and stay by it till you have learned what the fish 
will take," is a good motto. You will find at the bot- 
tom of one pool a covering of small, smooth and nearly 
round boulders, well polished. Such pool's are the 1)es£ . 
Somewhere through the length of all pools a narrow, 
deep channel extends. In this trough lie the large 
ones, watching many yards up stream for their prey. 
Ihis channel is usually some distance below Idle . head of 
the pool where the current flows swiftly. One must wade 
frequently till the water takes him under the armpits 
before reaching the "striking point," which is usually at 
the head of the trough. Again, one must frequently plant 
himself in very swift water at the head of the pool, where 
few but heavy-weights can hold their footing. But it is 
absolutely essential that one place himself in position to 
make a faultless cast of from 35 to 45 feet, easily cover- 
ing the striking point. Make as little display of waving 
arms as possible. Cast as far distant as you can, and 
after each cast move a short step into new ground. It is 
waste of time to repeat faultless casts over the same spot. 
These wary fellows, lying in the deepest waters, make 
long runs of many feet to strike, returning at once to 
their lairs when hooked. They will not strike fly or min- 
now at .their quarters., The gaudiest .fly passed in the 
most faultless manner before one of these old stagers 
will not tempt him. Rub his nose with the swellest min- 
now, and he will treat it- with contempt. These trout 
are well fed — never hungry. They are daring, dashing, 
full of sport, seemingly bent on outvieing each other in 
athletic prowess. They seldom come near the surface, 
even when enticed with natural flies or minnows thrown 
upon the water. But begin to cast, and you need not be 
surprised to see one jump three feet out of the water, 
and twice or thrice that distance across it. . Many be- 
lieve it is- the love of sport alone that leads them to 
strike. For myself, I am convinced they make wagers 
among themselves to see who will do the most reckless 
stunts, knowing full well that inside each live bait there 
lurks a barbed hook, which may mean death to him who 
fails to "make good" and take the bait off. 
Having encased yourself in wading breeches and taken 
an advantageous position up stream you feel your way 
carefully by faultlessly casting over every foot of the 
approach. If you make a kill, do not fail to start at the 
beginning and go all over again. 
The ideal minnow is four inches long, two inches in 
girth, and is far best if "bleached." An old sock, half 
filled with ice will "bleach" them in a few hours— make 
them look discolored and spotted. Run the hook down 
the mouth into the maw, bringing the point out through 
the thick part of the minnow's back in front of the 
dorsal fin. Hooked thus ; the minnow will stand out 
straight when thrown into the water and the shank of 
the hook is completely hidden. In case large minnows 
are not to be had, two, or even three, small ones may be 
used instead, putting the first on as directed and sliding 
it up the snell. Bring the hook out through the back 
of the last, slip the first down and run the hook through 
it. Often a big fellow will take the bunch thus made 
up more avidly than he would a single minnow. 
Kinder seems to think it is a new game for his special 
delectation. But sometimes he seems to divine the trick, 
and the way he shaves those little minnows off without 
touching the hook would lead one to suppose he carried 
a safety "razzer" in his vest , pocket. If he does this 
twice, don't be discouraged, don't swear, but change your 
tactics. Hook the first and second minnow on just as 
before. Now take a very small minnow and string it on 
the hook just as you would an angleworm. Be sure to 
conceal the point of the hook completely within the tail, 
and slip the others down. Now try again. If he proves 
adept at this style of grafting be of good cheer, and 
think what an old "ltinker" he will prove to be when 
he finally flops on the sand at your feet. Now, put on 
the largest minnow you have, take the eye of the last 
trout you have killed, imbed the point of the hook in it, 
slip the minnow down to the eye, and think of Bruce and 
the spider. Strike him good and hard — if you can — if 
you can't, recollect that a soft answer turneth away 
wrath. 
Minnow-casting is, a more difficult art than fly-casting. 
And after learning to east scientifically, you must acquire 
the art of keeping your lure under the water close to the 
bottom. At times it is best to bring it to the surface, 
then drop it down again, but always void allowing it to 
hang on the boulders. Keep the minnow moving at the 
bottom with a dodging-like motion. Those who have 
fished for big small-mouth bass in the Shenandoah 
know what this means. 
Long casts are necessary. In order to achieve them, 
retrieve your line in the left hand in loops of about two 
feet each. When you make your cast, the line will glide 
off your hand easily and rapidly, running through the 
guides smoothly. Cast the minnow with an underhand 
throw or pitch. If you are with a person who under- 
stands the art, watch him fifteen minutes, and then go 
in with the determination to do or die. You won't die. 
The cast should be made with little splash or injury to 
the minnow, and no alarm to the fish. Until this thing is 
well understood, minnow fishing is an expensive luxury. 
It is easy to throw away minnows unless they are 
properly cast. A half hour's experience is worth more 
than a month's book study. But any bright fellow can 
get the "hang of the thing" in a little while. After that 
practice is the only requisite. Its kinder like making 
love — awful hard the first time, but so easy when you 
know how. 
Each time you cast let out a little more line, till you 
have reached the limit of your capacity to cast_ faultlessly. 
Above all things, ayoid trying to cast your line directly 
off the reel by means of the weight of the minnow. 
Your reel is almost certain to overrun, and should a big 
one strike at this juncture — as often will happen — it will 
be crash and smash, and you will wonder how you came 
to "cash in" so soon. If you want to enjoy the sport and 
get all that is "coming to you," you should be able to lay 
your minnow on the water with precision and silence at 
least forty feet away. Some experts can even do better 
than this. Often it is unnecessary to cast your minnow— 
the current does the work after you launch the bait. 
This is where you can get directly up the stream and let 
your minnow drift down. By "sawing" the waters right 
and left you can readily cover the ground at least a hun- 
dred feet away. Some experts claim that they can kill a 
trout to a minnow on the average and lose no tackle dur- 
ing an entire season, save' when the reel has fouled the 
line or the line has become looped, preventing pa§sage 
through the "guides, --• 
Always keep four or five feet of slack line in the left 
hand, arid when you get a strike, give your victim this 
slack in a hurry. Your rod should be kept at almost 
perpendicular up to the point of a strike, but the moment 
you receive telegraphic notice that there is "something 
doing," drop your.: rod froth" perpendicular to horizontal, 
thus making no resistance. This is the critical point; 
Y <jnr _ friend in> the water makes a rush for his lair, 
throwing open the vent at the gills and causing the water 
to carry the minnow down to the swallowing point If 
you let him have his own way just at this juncture, he 
will swallow both bait and hook. It is important that 
ryou make no resistance at this point. After he has 
swallowed, all you have to do is to "set" your hook 
well' in the^maw and then keep a clear head. Once a big 
one /is well hooked, it takes very little experience to make 
an easy landing. Keep the rod at the butt almost per- 
pendicular at all times; don't allow it to lean either 
backward or forward. Should you be compelled to 
make a horizontal pull at times, keep your butt at right 
angles to the fish. Whenever he becomes quiet for a 
moment, just you hold steady, and all the time keep 
VGur eye on the spot you have selected for beaching him. 
At every opportunity get a little nearer to this point, 
and when the time comes for decisive action, back away 
from the water fifteen or twenty feet. When you have 
him at the edge, lying on his side, do not relax. That 
would be fatal — to your hopes. Keep a tight line on 
him, and reel up as fast as you can. Walk nearer, and 
when he begins another of his struggles for life your 
taut line will cause him to "walk out on dry land just 
like he had feet." A landing net is a distinct disad- 
vantage — often causes loss. Under no circumstances try 
to land your fish by taking hold of the line. Your hand 
offers so rhuch resistance ■ that he easily tears the hook 
out and .escapes. But a flexible rod offers only sufficient 
resistance; to keep the hook well set and prevent your 
catch from returning to his native element. 
Do not Jiug the delusion that you will have a fight of 
half an hour when you. hook a big one, Tt will most 
likely be a fight of five to ten minutes, but it will seem 
like a certain' benedict's description of married life— a 
very long, period. "Huh !" says someone, "six minutes !" 
Y~es, and it will -be the liveliest six minutes since you 
had that heart-to-heart interview with dad and a barrel 
hoop in the basement. It isn't a really long time, but it 
seems so, you know. When two real fire-eating athletes 
go at each other hammer-and-tongs, it .is a good fight, 
but inevitably they are "all in" in short order. So, too, 
with the king of the Gunnison waters. Either he is 
yours inside of ten minutes or you are his'n. 
A word- about the selection of pools. A beautiful 
Indian maiden in quest of a husband was once told that 
she might walk through a cornfield and select an ear of 
maize. According as she selected the corn would her 
husband be worthy or unworthy. Well, she passed car- 
loads of full, ripe ears, and finally selected a little, 
worm-eaten nubbin that a Rocky Mountain jackass 
would have elevated his upper' lip over. So of the man 
who tries, to cover too much ground in a day. Select 
a nice inviting pool and give the inhabitants all you have 
in the way of inducements to do business, till you get 
them interested. Sooner or later you will find what they 
want. Then give it to them. You may spend an hour 
before you get a strike. Devote your entire time to three 
or four pools. There are more old timers in either of 
them than you will take in a year. They will respond 
about as well in one pool as in another; the difficulty 
you will find is in getting acquainted. Kinder pet 'em, 
rub your bait across their noses, and shave their whiskers 
with your leader. They don't care for strangers — par- 
ticularly tenderfeet- — but once get 'em coming your way 
and they will furnish you the sport of your life. Once 
you persuade one to try conclusions with you, it's a sure 
thing others will follow. 
In conclusion let me admonish you that if you have 
struck your quarry in the lower jaw he will run off to 
some spot and at the bottom will shake violently and rub 
against the stones; if in the nose, he will make some 
violent breaks out in rough water, but will come to shore 
soon and easily; if in the roof of the mouth, he will go 
skywards, and lunge and pitch, roll on top of the water, 
and cut all other antics imaginable, finally breaking the 
hook off at the barb, most likely; if through or behind 
the lobe in the corner of the mouth, he will give you 
the hardest fight of your life, and stay a long way off 
from you longer than if you had struck him in any other 
p'iace ; when you think he is coming ashore all right he 
will cast his weather eye at you and go for deep water 
again and again; but be patient, as you are sure of your 
hold, and he will submit after a while. With a little ex- 
perience one can tell in a few seconds after the strike 
just where the hook is planted, with the exception that 
it takes longer to determine in bait-fishing whether you 
have him in the corner of the mouth or down in the 
maw. He will give up much sooner in the latter event. 
DlLWORTH CHOATE. 
Miss Sullivan's Big Fish. 
The Buffalo Evenning News of July 12 reports; ; and 
Mr. W. P. Dawson sends us the paper: A half hour's 
battle between a frail young girl and a monster maski- 
nonge was witnessed by at least a score of people yester- 
day afternoon on the Niagara River off the foot of On- 
tario Street. Nineteen-year-old Lillian Sullivan and Wil- 
liam Goss, an old-time river man, were trolling for 
maskinonge in about the middle of the Niagara, between 
Mutz Bros.' boat house and the head of Strawberry 
Island. Miss Sullivan said, "Stop rowing, Bill, I'm 
snagged," and a second later cried: "Pull, Bill,- pull ! T'm 
not snagged ; I have got a strike !" 
"Oh, quit your fooling," said Bill, "and let out some 
line or you'll be pulled overboard." 
"No, no," said Miss Sullivan,- "I'm not fooling. I tell 
you, Bill, I have got a strike !" 
Bill looked at the girl. He saw by the way the line was 
running through her hands that she had a sure enough 
strike, and thought that she must have hooked a young 
whale. Bill always knows just what to do in an emer- 
gency. *He rowed gently Or strong as the occasion re- 
quired. "He realized that there .was a big fish on Miss 
.Sullivan's ^ook^ ^nd endeavored to gufde the boat so the 
