May, 1921 
FOREST AND STREAM 
203 
FOUR DAYS ON THE! ^COWASSELON 
FISHERMEN MAY WHIP THIS LITTLE STREAM IN MADISON COUNTY, NEW 
YORK ALMOST ANY DAY OF THE SEASON AND BE SURE OF FINE SPORT 
By EDWIN T. WHIFFEN 
T HE English angler, like his 
brother American, enjoys his sport 
as fashioned by the limitations of 
the environment. Most of England is 
practically cleared land, as must needs 
be, when the population per square mile 
is fairly large. Many of its fishable 
streams have little, if any, tangle to 
overcome, and possess a current only 
moderately rapid. 
In those circumstances, the angler 
can and must throw a line fine and far- 
off ; otherwise his game, with senses 
sharpened by centuries of instinct and 
experience, is easily alarmed. The ab- 
sence of tangle frees him correspond- 
ingly from the worry of being hung-up 
on the back cast, and enables him to 
work out the necessary length of line. 
In many of our eastern states even, 
on the contrary, the word trout in con- 
nection with stream-fishing conjures up 
visions of alder swamp and covert so 
tangled that the fly-fisherman is tempt- 
ed to despair. Through a regretable pol- 
icy, now happily being reversed, the 
nearby waters, with clear banks, have 
been denuded of their game fish ; so that 
a trouting expedition must be under- 
taken with great difficulty. 
In the East, the angler plans a trip 
which will take him off in the wilds, so 
distant from civilization that he must 
carry “his own" with him, — that is, if 
he measures success in sport by a fairly 
full fish - creel. 
In the West, 
one may luckily 
live near good 
fishing territory. 
But though fish 
are more plentiful 
here than in the 
more settled East, 
a trip usually 
means a string of 
burroes and a 
journey of days. 
Reports coming in 
would indicate 
that the spirit of 
commercial greed 
is rapidly strip- 
ping the West 
also of its fish 
and game. 
After two 
months, then, of 
Adirondack fish- 
ing, it was with 
pleasure that an 
invitiation to 
spend a few days 
on a “civilized” stream was accepted. 
The giver of this invitation was Mr. John 
N. Milnes, president of the Kenwood 
Rod and Gun Club. Jack, as he is called 
by those fortunate enough to know him, 
is a good hunter, and an enthusiastic 
angler. Largely through his efforts, the 
suitable waters of Madison County, 
New York, are thoroughly stocked every 
year, so that, when spring brings in the 
opening of the angling season, the fish- 
erman is sure of getting “something.” 
The number of trout — brown, speck- 
led, and rainbow — in the Cowasselon, 
Oneida Creek, and Chittenango Creek is 
large enough, so that the fly fisherman 
may whip these streams during almost 
any part of the season with but a slight 
probability of drawing a blank. 
O F these streams, the Cowasselon, 
running with many windings and 
turnings, nearly due north, is the 
most pleasurable to fish, partly because 
of the topography of the land through 
which it flows. Though but a mere 
brook, under twenty feet wide in most 
places, it contains an almost unbeliev- 
able number of fish, some brown trout 
running up to five pounds in weight. Of 
course, in a stream fished so assiduously, 
the fish are shy and difficult to catch, 
but that merely adds to the sport. 
Partly by accident, and partly by de- 
sign, the alternate tangle and open of 
the brookside furnish an environment 
ideal for the continuance of good fish- 
ing. No fly-caster is ambitious to at- 
tempt the tangle, with certainty of an 
interrupted back cast and danger of 
smashing tackle. Rather he looks for 
the open banks, where he may throw 
a long line without danger of accident. 
A fish taken in one of these places 
leaves a vacancy which is only tempor- 
ary, as it is soon replaced by one from 
the nearby tangle. 
You leave Oneida by the state road 
running south, which you follow 
through Merrillsville, — no longer by a 
“state” road, — up to within a mile or 
two of Siloam. The stream rapidly gets 
smaller above this latter village, so that 
from Siloam down one has about seven 
miles of fishable water. 
Naturally, the larger and perhaps less 
frequent fish are found in the lower 
reaches. Most of us who fish have a 
canny weakness for getting fish, and so 
would be likely to try the upper stretch- 
es, where there are more' trout, but 
smaller ones. 
The brown trout grow more rapidly, 
and consequently are able to have their 
choice of locality on account of greater 
size and strength. They seem to prefer 
the deeper waters of the lower stream, 
and the brook trout are relegated to the 
shallow portions of the upper section. 
The rainbows are of comparatively re- 
c e n t planting 
and are conse- 
quently still 
small. They are 
found scattered 
throughout the 
entire course of 
the brook. It 
will be interest- 
ing to observe 
how well this va- 
riety may be able 
to hold its own 
with the brown 
trout, when, a 
few years permit 
a more thorough 
observation. 
A t least i n 
summer, when 
the stream is low 
and the water 
clear, best re- 
sults are prob- 
ably obtained by 
fishing up- 
( CONTINUED ON 
PAGE 22 1 ' 
A quiet pool on the Cowasselon 
