116 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. 6, 1904. 
Trout Fishing on the Nipigon. 
The best speckled .trout fishing in the world to-day is 
to be found in the Nipigon River, in western Ontario. 
Its waters are clear as crystal and ice cold, the rapids are 
numerous, and all the other conditions which go to make 
an ideal trout streat are there. And the trout are there, 
too. Not only are they plentiful, but they are of un- 
usually large size. Speckled trout weighing as much as 
ten pounds have been caught in the Nipigon, and those of 
five and six pounds are common. 
Besides the speckled trout, the river also contains lake 
trout, white fish, wall-eyed pike, suckers, sturgeon, and 
pickerel. The pickerel are a great scourge. They have 
insatiable appetites, and devour the young trout and the 
spawn. The Canadian Government is very wisely mak- 
ing war on them. Last year thousands of pickerel were 
caught in nets and destroyed. If this were not done, in a 
few years there would be no trout left in the Nipigon. 
A trio of Amsterdamians set out for the Nipigon on 
June 22 with the intention of despoiling that stream of 
some of its largest fish, and, incidentally, of enjoying one 
of the finest camping trips imaginable. Going to Mon- 
treal, we took one of the Canadian Pacific Railway's fine 
transcontinental trains, and after a delightful journey of 
925 miles westward through a- wild and pretty country, 
arrived at Nipigon station, near the mouth of the Nipigon 
River. 
Here is located one of the oldest posts of the great 
Hudson's Bay Company. For more than two hundred 
years the Ojibway Indians from the region to the north, 
even as far as the Albany River, have come down to 
trade at this post, with their birch bark canoes loaded 
with valuable furs, which they barter off for supplies. 
This traffic still continues, though in a less degree. The 
wants of the Indians are simple, their supplies consisting 
principally of flour, sugar, tea, and pork. It is no wonder 
that the Hudson's Bay Company has grown rich, for it 
makes a good profit on the furs which it buys from the 
Indians, and another profit on the supplies it, m turn, 
sells to them. . 
As our train pulled in at Nipigon station, we found our 
eight Indian guides perched in a picturesque row on the 
railing along the station platform. We had hired them m 
advance, through the Hudson's Bay Company. Our head 
man was Joe Bouchard, one of the best guides on the 
river. His brother Jimmy was our cook, and the tooth- 
some meals he prepared for us over a camp-fire in the 
open air were good enough to tickle the palate of an epi- 
cure. Among our other guides was Francois Kekek, the 
best hunter in the Nipigon country. 
We had arranged with the' Hudson's Bay Company 
by letter for our camping outfit and supplies, and the 
company's efficient and obliging manager, Donald Mac- 
Donald, had left nothing undone. Tents, blankets,- tables, 
chairs, cooking utensils, provisions, in short everything 
necessary for a comfortable camping trip of three weeks, 
were in readiness. . 
We spent the night at Nipigon, a settlement of three 
stores, a hotel, and about a dozen houses, and early the 
next morning started by canoe up the river. ^Nipigon. 
River is the outlet of Lake Nipigon, some forty-five miles 
to the north, and flows nearly due south into the north 
part of Lake Superior. A line drawn north from Chicago 
would pass a little to the east of the Nipigon. It is a 
beautiful river, broad and deep. Swift rapids are numer- 
ous, and there are many wooded islands. In several places 
the' river widens out into lakes, which have little or no 
current. Virgin forests line its steep banks, and stretch 
unbroken for many miles, a paradise for the hunter. 
Moose, caribou, and deer abound, and each year they are 
growing more plentiful, as nobobdy hunts in this vast 
wilderness except a few scattered Indians, who kill only 
enough to supply their table. . ' 
Our fleet of four birch bark canoes presented a pleasing 
picture as we proceeded up the river, each canoe having 
a crew of two Indians, one rowing at the bow and the 
other paddling at the stern, while we reclined luxuriously 
on comfortable seats, with nothing to do but smoke our 
pipes and enjoy the splendid scenery. • 
At the end of twelve miles we came to a swift rapids 
and falls, around which it was necessary to make a port- 
age of two and a half miles. This is known as Long 
Portage," and used to be the hardest part of the trip 
up the river, but now a man keeps a team and wagon 
there which can be hired to convey the outfit across. 
Taking advantage of this, it was not long before we 
were ready to embark again at the head of the falls. 
Here the river widens out into what is known as Lake 
Jessie the upper end of which we reached before night 
came 'on Everything was at once unloaded, ; and the 
manner in which the Indians pitched the four tents and 
established camp would do credit to a . circus. Meanwhile 
the cook and the "cookee" had the fire going, and soon 
we were served with a nicely prepared meal. Nor was 
the appetite lacking. . 
After a good night's rest we continued our journey, 
and having made two short portages around some rapids, 
ramped for the night at the lower end of Pine Portage. 
In front of our camp was a rapid, a good place to fish. 
Next morning, while the Indians w«r* carrying ovif out* 
ft Qyfl the milp. I ft$< 9f ft« WTti|f, W9 9f W WH 
out in a canoe and trolled, using phantom minnows. Soon 
there was a violent tug on one of the lines. It seemed 
too strong for a fish, so it was decided that the hook was 
fast on bottom. The canoe was accordingly backed by 
the obedient Indians, and the line reeled in. However, a 
series of sharp jerks soon told us that we had hooked 
our first Nipigon trout After a sharp fight, the guide 
at the stern scooped him in with the landing net, remark- 
ing as. he did so, "pungee," which is the Indian for 
small. We did. not agree with him, for we found we had 
landed., a beautiful speckled trout weighing 3^ pounds. 
'..H-PWe&er, . 'w;e,fh#d : not fished many days before we, too, 
• go'tiioiicegard jajjj^-pounder as "pungee." In fact, several 
: tirne^'.we- caught so many trout that we threw back some 
..weighing as much as 4^ pounds. We continued to fish 
at 'Pine Portage for half an hour, during which time two 
■ more trout were landed, one weighing 3^2 pounds and the 
other 4 pounds. 
In the middle of the afternoon we arrived at Camp 
Victoria, about thirty-two miles north of Nipigon station, 
and. here we made our permanent camp. It is an ideal 
Scamping place, being a smooth, rocky point that extends 
. out into the river, catching every breeze, and conse- 
*qu'ently being almost entirely free from mosquitoes, black 
flies and gnats, which at some places on the river are a 
source of- great annoyance. 
We were now on the best part of the river for fishing. 
Directly in front of our camp was a rapid which afforded 
excellent fishing, and above us, all the way to Lake 
Nipigon, almost the whole course of the river was fine 
fishing ground. 
We soon learned that the trout would not rise to a fly 
this year, and that the best bait was live minnows. These 
were easily scooped up in nets near the shore, and were 
used either on Archer spinners or on two regular hooks 
tied together, one above the other. We used six-foot 
leaders. 
Many, no doubt, think that on a stream like the Nipi- 
gon, where the fish are so pletniful, all one has to do is to 
cast in his bait and haul out a trout every time. This 
is far from being the case to-day. Ten years ago the 
fly-fishing was excellent, and doubles were frequent. In 
those days a piece of red flannel on a hook would catch 
a trout. There is no doubt that there are just as many 
trout in the Nipigon to-day as there ever was, but the 
stream has become so famous that it is visited annually 
by a large number of fishermen, and consequently the 
trout have become shy and wary and only strike at a 
lure that is handled with some degree of skill. Flies they 
will not touch. However, the fishing with live bait is all 
that could be desired, and we were at all times easily able 
to supply the eleven hungry mouths of our camp with all 
the trout they could eat. And when it comes to eating 
trout an Indian can outdo a white man every time. This 
year the fish are very fat and the flesh very firm. A large 
fat trout stuffed, rolled up in brown paper, and baked 
beneath the coals, made a most tempting repast. We 
also had them fried, broiled, and boiled. 
For twelve days we enjoyed camp life to the fullest ex- 
tent at Victoria, fishing nearly every day, and having ex- 
cellent sport. Some days we caught more trout than we 
could use, and threw back those that were not badly in- 
jured by the hook. The largest speckled trout caught 
tipped the beam at a trifle over seven pounds, and a num- 
ber were landed that weighed considerably over six 
pounds. 
There were some deep pools where we could lean out 
from the bank and, looking down, see a large trout lazily 
fanning his fins. Then came the interesting experiment of 
trying to catch him, and it often happened that when a 
fat and tempting minnow was carefully allowed to float 
down past him, he would rise out of the water with a 
mighty rush and seize it. Then the fight was" on. Such 
a trout would usually be a large one, "the master of the 
pool," and his struggle was apt to be a game one, with 
many fierce rushes, and much consequent letting out and 
reeling in of line, before his lordship finally yielded to the 
landing net in the skillful hands of the guide. 
It may easily be concluded that our stock of fish stories 
is a large one, but we will resist the inclination to relate 
them here. We might tell about the large lake trout that 
had eaten a young rabbit, to say nothing of some two 
dozen minnows; or we might mention finding a thick 
stone two inches square inside a brook trout; and then 
there is the large trout, deformed by a lump on his side, 
which was caught, thrown back, and later caught by an- 
other one of us; or we could tell of the cast that caught 
two large trout on a single minnow- impaled on two 
hooks ; or last, but not least, of the 10-pound brook trout 
(weight estimated), the granddaddy of them all, which 
got away after being hooked and_ played for twenty min- 
utes. But from all this we refrain. 
At Victoria the nights were quite cold, with an occa- 
sional frost. Several times the northern lights were 
plainly visible. The days were for the most part cool and 
delightful. There was only one day when it was uncom- 
fortably warm, and on it we screwed up courage enough 
to go in swimming.' It was like a plunge into a tank of 
ice water, -but it was refreshing,'- though, op cqrnjng out 
pur bodies were of a fine purple color, 
W§ "etleuvflted. the Fourth W tinpjji a -mftfniftesnt 
fififj o'f wW?h % ii^-peufi4 Wk ffWfo In 
evening a point of land along the river near our camp 
suddenly became brightly lighted up with a large number 
of birch bark torches. The Indians had remembered that 
it was a great American holiday, and had quietly prepared 
this illumination as a surprise for us. It is needless to 
say that we were very much pleased, and we responded 
with cheers and the shooting off of rifles. 
Francois Kekek, the captain of my canoe, is acknowl- 
edged to be the best hunter in the Nipigon region. One 
day he and I went out with the idea of getting a look at 
some moose or caribou, if possible. Leaving the river, 
we climbed a steep cliff to a fairly level plateau. It was 
not long before Kekek discovered some fresh tracks. 
"Three moose, two big, one small, pass to-day," he an- 
nounced, though how. he could tell was a mystery to me. 
Then came an exhibition of tracking that was truly re- 
markable. He followed unerringly tracks that to me 
were invisible, and for several miles we proceeded cau- 
tiously through a splendid virgin forest, fighting off 
swarms of bloodthirsty mosquitoes as best we could. A 
cloud of these pests constantly surrounded us. At last 
we came to a marshy pond, and disappointment was in 
store for us, for the tracks we were following showed 
that the moose had evidently heard or scented us, and 
had broken into a run. "Moose gone," said Kekek. 
Coming to a small brook, we boiled tea and had lunch. 
Game signs were everywhere in' evidence, and Kekek 
soon took; up a fresh caribou trail, which we followed 
up for some time and finally got within range of the 
game, a large bull. The Indian, being ahead, fired, but, 
much to my surprise, missed. It was now time to start 
back to camp, so this ended our hunting, which, though 
unsuccessful, afforded a wonderful exhibition of Indian 
woodcraft. 
We paid two visits to Lake Nipigon. It is a beautiful 
body of water about 100 miles long and So wide, studded 
with a great many pretty wooded islands. A number of 
Indians live here in the primitive manner we read about 
in the story books. Their habitations are crude birch 
bark wigwams, some of which we inspected. One family 
in particular seemed to- be fond of pets. They had a 
bear cub, with one foot missing, a cat,, and at least a 
dozen dogs running about. A papoose, strapped to a 
board swung from above, was peacefully sleeping. In the 
center of the floor of the wigwam a fire was burning, the 
smoke escaping through a hole left in the top for that 
purpose. Outside some moose skins were tanning in the 
sun, and a white rabbit skin robe was airing. These 
Ojibway Indians are a simple, good-natured people, and 
we pleased them greatly by taking their photograph. 
We met a party of engineers crossing the lake, bound 
for the work of surveying for the Grand Trunk Pacific 
Railway. This great transcontinental road will pass eight 
miles north of Lake Nipigon. The line runs for hun- 
dreds of miles through an unbroken wilderness. It is 
expected that this eastern portion of the road will be 
completed and in operation in about two years, thus mak- 
ing accessible for the sportsman a vast hunting and fish- 
ing region, many of whose lakes and streams are not On 
the map, and have never been fished. 
We had our Indians mount the skins of several of our 
largest trout on birch bark, framed with spruce with 
the bark on. This they ; do very cleverly, and the result 
is a handsome trophy, which can be used to prove some 
of the fish stories which are bound to be told during the 
long evenings of the coming winter. 
On Sunday morning, July 10, we broke camp, and with 
much regret turned our backs on Camp Victoria. That 
night we camped at The Narrows, and Monday afternoon 
found us back at Nipigon. Tuesday morning the guides, 
dresed in their best Sunday clothes, came to the ; hotel to 
say good-by, and entertained us with some of their In- 
dian dances, to the music of a fiddle played by ''Jimmy, 
the Cook." At noon we boarded the train for Montreal, 
and were soon back in civilization once more, with noth- 
ing but pleasant memories of the good old Nipigon, 
"" Gard iner Kline. . 
Herb's Big Trout. 
Sutton Junction, Quebec. — The previous day had been 
sizzling hot — a typical July day ; showers during the night 
had cooled the air so that the morning was uncomfort- 
ably cold, with a suspicion of mist and a light wind blow- 
ing that Would just ruffle the surface of the 'water, mak- 
ing it an ideal day for fishing. 
We had in our family an automatic reel ; also a little 
finger with a* constant itch to "do it," or, as the owner 
of that finger, I felt it my duty to go fishing ; so persuaded 
my wife to drive me about three miles up the mountain 
road, where I expected to get either Art or.Hib td : accom- 
pany me to Long Pond, a nice little, body of water where 
we transplanted some brook trout a few years .-previous 
and had not paid'it a visit since, but had heard rumors of 
one or two good catches the present Reason. . ... 
[Tib was not at home, bul Art was ' there, aKo his 
brother-in-law, Herb, a kid with a fish-hook nose, ;? liKlicr-- 
jnan himself and the son of a fisherrnan,' We tofd hiiii we 
were <jue to leave in twenty minutes, and, like !iivu> and 
tide, wc,«Ul wait for pp bm\ ' He ftad. half "a. tn]lv,i£ WvM; 
%\m an spppvpiini (whkH ik\ 'mi epa$) j& -W^ h\% 
father' mn the WW fPwi I* * "If barn; but he wa$ 
