366 FOREST AND STREAM JULY, 1920 
A bass camp on Saranac A go-light camp All he took was a one-pound tent 
PITCHING THE FISHERMAN S CAMP 
IN ORDER TO GET THE MOST OUT OF VARIOUS KINDS OF FISHING TRIPS A 
SPECIAL CONSIDERATION OF TENTS AND OUTFITS IS WELL WORTH STUDYING 
Ey LIEUT. WARREN H. MILLER, U. S. N. R. 
I T might seem that any old camp would 
do for a fishing trip, and, within cer- 
tain narrow limits, this is so. But 
really it is a case of fitting the tool to 
the work, so to speak, for as soon as we 
study the proposition, three different 
kinds of camps begin to loom up, each 
particularly adapted to their own stage 
on which the fishing trip is set. These 
three would roughly divide into the trout 
trip, where numerous miles of stream are 
to be taken care of; the bass and pike 
foray, in which a lake or several of them 
will largely figure; and the salt water 
safari, where windy open beaches and 
sand dunes form the background. 
While one particular tent, and that 
the owner’s favorite, may do for all 
three of them, in order to get the most 
out of all three kinds of fishing a spe- 
cial modification of the outfit is well 
worth studying over. I take it that the 
nomadic, go-light outfit, easily carried on 
the back, will give the most results on a 
trout trip. One can establish a base 
camp in some favorable grove and fish 
from there each day, but the trip will 
not be half so full of change of scene and 
trouty experiences as if one were able to 
camp there, say, two days and then move 
on some ten miles to another part of the 
same stream, or to a different one flow- 
ing through some other valley. And, if 
your particular stream chosen for the 
holiday proves out of sorts, with water 
too deep or roily, or poor in fishing com- 
pared to its usual standard, one packs up 
and moves on, and the holiday is saved. 
I have known times when a move of but 
seven miles up the same stream put me 
in good fishing water, when the old fav- 
orite spots were in that doleful state 
where anglers look at one another ques- 
tioningly and wonder why the fish are 
not rising. But they weren’t, and that 
was all there was to it; yet, seven miles 
up the stream, they were hungry. And, 
to be able to wander freely through the 
hills, of a brisk June day, to explore and 
camp where fancy wills, is a matter of 
much joy to the true woodser. 
Such an outfit should not weigh more 
than twenty to thirty pounds all told, to 
carry without discomfort. My own fav- 
orite is the stretcher bed tent, described 
in Forest and Stream in the article, “In 
the Footsteps of Nessmuk.” It weighs 
two pounds, and consists of a light tent 
fly, 6x9 feet, weighing a pound; a net 
canopy weighing six ounces; and a 
stretcher bed, 6' x 22" wide, weighing 10 
ounces. When I want to make camp, I 
cut two long, slender maple poles about 
twenty feet long, and cut a butt off each, 
seven feet long, for the sides of the 
stretcher bed. The rest of the poles are 
then halved to make two pairs of shears. 
These are set up, and a tent rope twenty 
feet long pegged down and run through 
their crotches. The bed poles are then 
slipped through pockets on each side of 
my stretcher bed, and are lashed fast to 
the legs of my two pairs of shears. I 
now have a bed, raised about 16" above 
the ground. Over the rope is thrown the 
tent fly, its rear edge tied to stakes be- 
low the back of the bed, and its front 
edges guyed out to neighboring bushes 
at a good rain slant. The sleeping rig 
is thrown on the bed, over an inch or so 
of browse, and the net canopy is hung 
from the rope overhead at the head end 
of the bed, and its draperies are held out 
from my face by a withe, bent into a 
circle some 16" in diameter and tied in 
up near the peak of the canopy (which 
is six feet square, by the way). I have 
often set this rig up in a pouring rain 
Good dry-fly water 
and enjoyed three days of rainy camp- 
ing, cooking on my folding wire grate in 
under the fly, and faring forth between 
showers and in showers to catch trout 
for the larder. If the wind is driving 
the rain, I generally build a browse 
screen at the end where the rain threat- 
ens to come in. One could add some four 
ounces weight by sewing small ends to 
completely enclose this tent, except at 
the front. To have a decent bench to sit 
on out of the sun and rain, while fixing 
tackle or cooking, is a great comfort, and 
this the little outfit described gives one, 
in addition to a good comfortable bed at 
night. 
I 
O N a trout trip, one must go provided 
against cold nights, rain and thun- 
dershowers, insects and cold feet 
from wading. In a nomad trip the waders, 
or rubber boots with hobnailed sandals, 
give way to good cruiser moccassins, six- 
teen inches high, well greased and pro- 
vided with stout hob nails or screw calks 
in tap and heel. They will leak more or 
less water, but a couple of pairs of wool 
socks inside prevent this from really 
chilling your feet and legs. For tackle you 
will need your rod, reel, landing net, fly 
box, dry-fly oil, bait box with angles and 
minnows, a packet of leaders, and a book 
of snelled flies if you are fishing in a 
narrow stream where hang-ups are fre- 
quent. The rod and landing net will go 
in your canvas rod case. The reel and 
bait box in the pack, and the rest dis- 
posed about your clothes. The bulk of 
the pack will be made up of your sleeping 
rig, the tent cloths, dry poke containing 
night socks and night toque, food bags 
and tins, a folding candle lantern, a small 
tin medicine box, comb, toothbrush, soap 
and towel, a small pillow, two pairs of 
extra socks, can of boot grease, reserve 
match box, tobacco bag, and a canvas bag 
for carrying trout, for a creel is rather 
a nuisance on such a trip. Outside the 
pack goes a light camp axe, and on your 
belt a good hunting knife. 
The outfit will divide in weight for a 
week’s trip as follows: Tenting, 2 lbs.; 
bedding, 7 lbs.; grub, 10 lbs.; miscellan- 
eous, 5 lbs.; axe, 2 lbs.; cook kit, 2 lbs.; 
total, 28 lbs., which makes a light pack 
that one hardly notices in carrying. 
