Nov. 24, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
829 
whom I encountered seemed to think the charges 
made by Mr. O’Connor at his different hotels 
for the furnishing of guides are excessive, but 
when you come to consider that the guide rows 
you 10 to 15 miles in the course of the day’s 
fishing, and, of course, cooks your lunch during 
the noonday hour, and cooks it well, the hotel 
furnishing all the materials except the fish, there 
seems no cause for complaint. O’Connor is 
practically the pioneer of this part of the coun¬ 
try, and has gone to the expense of furnishing 
sportsmen with first-class fishing and accorn- 
moditions. I do not think fault should be found 
with him. In my intercourse with him, I have 
found him courteous, gentlemanly and ex¬ 
tremely anxious that his patrons should be 
pleased, and I think we are warranted in be¬ 
lieving, as the years go by and sportsmen be¬ 
come more and more in the habit of going into 
this country and the facilities of civilization are 
better established, prices will probably be lower. 
There is no reason why I should recommend 
Mr. O’Connor, apart from the fact that he 
treated me with great courtesy and furnished me 
the best fishing sport I have had for many a 
long day. 
Visitors from the United States must be pre¬ 
pared to pay for a fishing license to the game 
wardens, but as the cost is only $2 _ for four 
months, no one should complain in view of the 
splendid sport afforded. 
The manager at the Lady Evelyn Inn, Mr. 
Lawrence, was particularly polite and gave us 
the very best of care while we were with him. 
H-. C. Yarrow. 
Another Letter of an Angler to an 
Angler. 
Philadelphia, Sept. 22.— My dear Mr. W.: 
Being now at home, and not forgetting your 
kindness to us while at Bay of St. George, I 
take this opportunity of thanking you and giving 
you a short account of our experiences. 
We found both of the guides all that could be 
expected; they were efficient, very attentive, 
good-natured and industrious. The first day we 
camped on the Wachanjees pools, and about 4 
o’clock in the afternoon hooked a good-sized 
grilse with a Jock Scott. Owing to my inexperi¬ 
ence, and the fact that the line was improperly 
run from the reel, I lost this fish. About 5 
o’clock we hooked and killed a grilse of about 
four pounds. Our supply of Jock Scotts was 
very limited, and, unfortunately, they were at¬ 
tached to very thin, delicate snoods, and most 
of them were snapped off in Tom’s endeavors at 
long casts. I think the weight of the long line 
was too great for the delicate snoods, and here¬ 
after shall use hooks without snoods. These 
pools seemed to be quite full of fish. The sec¬ 
ond day, about noon, we killed another grilse of 
about the same weight, on the upper pool, also 
with a Jock Scott. On the third day we pro¬ 
ceeded down the river, and at a pool above the 
Dump pool hooked a quite good-sized salmon, 
on a silver gray fly, but after a considerable 
fight, when he was beginning to show white, he 
got behind a rock and succeeded in throwing 
the hook from his mouth. This pool was also 
quite full of large fish. On the Dumn pool, about 
noon, hooked and killed a 7-pound salmon, also 
on a silver gray fly. In the afternoon, about 5 
o’clock, hooked and killed a salmon which the 
guide said weighed about 13 pounds. This was 
also caught with a somewhat dilapidated, non¬ 
descript fly, which looked something like a Jock 
Scott. The'next day, about 5 o’clock, Ross suc¬ 
ceeded in catching a larger salmon, about 15 
pounds, in the lower pool, which I believe was 
also on a silver gray. These pools were well 
supplied with fish. 
On the succeeding day we pulled up stakes and 
started for your camp, arriving there in the 
afternoon. Your pool was simply full of fish, 
and some very large ones. In the morning it 
was raining very hard, which nrevented our tak¬ 
ing a picture of the camp as Ross had promised. 
About 9 o’clock landed a grilse weighing about 
4 or 5 pounds, also on a silver gray. By that 
time it was raining so hard that we were com¬ 
pelled to give it up, and as it did not have any 
appearance of clearing, we started down the 
stream. On our way down Ross landed a small 
salmon, in what I suppose is called New Pool, 
the one at which you took your lunch and caught 
a grilse the day we first met you. 
Coming down the river we saw a farmer who 
had hooked a fish in one of the lower pools, but 
after a long fight lost it. 
We enjoyed the trip very much, thanks to your 
kind suggestion and advice, and felt perfectly 
satisfied with our experience. I suppose it might 
be called our primary lesson in salmon fishing, 
and I now feel sure, after having had the practi¬ 
cal experience and having conversed with your¬ 
self and other fishermen on the subject, that I 
could make a success of it another year, which I 
fully intend to do. I was rather surprised to 
find that the fish really did rise better about 
mid-day than any other time. I watched them 
very closely, and, with one or two exceptions, 
in the Dump Pool, I did not see any movement 
on their part to indicate that they were in quest 
of food. On dissecting the fish, your statement 
as to the absence of anything substantial was 
verified. I have not the slightest doubt, had we 
had the proper flies, we would have caught quite 
a number of fish. They seemed to want a small 
dark fly. I think a black dose would have been 
successful. After what observation I could make, 
I am not yet prepared to relinquish my view that 
the fish rise to the fly in at least an attempt to 
procure food. It is a very interesting and pleas¬ 
urable pastime, and I hope to be able to pursue 
it more thoroughly in the next few years. 
C. H. Guilbert. 
Light and Heavy Rods. 
At one of its meetings the Piscatorial Society 
of London listened to discussions on light' and 
heavy trout fly-rods. Mr. A. C. Poole’s defini¬ 
tion of a light rod was one which could be used 
for a hard day’s fishing without straining the 
hand or wrist of an average man. Rods which 
weighed between 4 ounces and 8 ounces might 
be designated light. Anything over that weight 
he considered heavy. Mr. R. C. Blundell said 
he could do as well with his 534 ounce rod as 
many others could with heavier rods. Mr. J. G. 
Chatterton preferred a light American rod. Mr. 
H. T. Sheringham, angling editor of The Field, 
said the south country trout had become so highly 
educated that he had been compelled to use very 
fine gut, and while breakages when using this gut 
with heavy rods were frequent, this was not so 
much the case when light rods were employed. 
Mr. W. M. Colles was sure a 13J4 ounce rod 
was not heavy for fishing rivers like the Test in 
strong northeast winds. He fancied a 10V2 ounce, 
10ft. 3m. rod, which he wielded all day without 
fatigue. Mr. G. E. M. Skues, after six years’ 
experience with light rods, preferred them, and 
he asserted that a light rod would cast, hook, 
hold and kill as well as a weighty one. Mr. 
Kemp said he liked a rod to suit the hand and a 
line to suit the rod. Let the fly-fisher make a 
balance for himself, and know where that balance 
lay; then he could do a day’s fishing with a 13 
ounce rod as well as with one weighing one- 
third that weight. 
New Laws for Vermont. 
Vermont legislators are to be asked to pass 
laws calculated to enhance the interests of her 
summer resorts, railways and other enterprises 
whose success depends largely on the summer 
visitors, who are not content with the attractions 
of certain regions unless trout and bass fishing 
are included. Efforts are being made to win back 
a part of the patronage lost to or at least en¬ 
joyed by the Adirondack resorts, and the Ver¬ 
monters interested claim that while their waters 
are well stocked by the Government and Stato, 
the pollution of streams and the laxity in the 
observance of the laws call for vigorous reform 
measures. 
Commissioner H. G. Thomas, of the Depart¬ 
ment of Fisheries and Game, informs us that 
“several bills have been introduced during the 
present Legislature. The joint committee on 
fisheries and game will recommend that a bill be 
passed prohibiting the dumping of sawdust into 
our streams. There is a very strong sentiment 
against such a law. The lumbermen oppose it 
as well as others. There' is a bare possibility of 
getting the bill through; however, the chances 
are against 11s.” 
Anglers’ Club of New York. 
To-day, Nov. 24, beginning at 1 o’clock P. M., 
there will be a bait-casting contest for accuracy 
on the Pool, in Central Park, this city. The 
event will be open to members only. Half-ounce' 
weights will be used, and there will be no re¬ 
strictions on rods or lines. The distances will 
be 60, 80 and 100 feet, casting at a target in the 
water, the method of scoring being the usual one, 
as follows: 
Five casts will be made by each competitor at 
60 feet, then the target will be moved and all 
will cast five times at 80 feet, then at 100 feet, 
1 or 2 preliminary casts being allowed. A perfect 
cast is scored when the white buoy is struck; 
within one foot of the buoy counts 1 demerit; 
2, feet, 2 demerits, and so on. The sum total 
of demerits divided by 15 gives the demerit per¬ 
cent:, and this, deducted from 100, gives the ac¬ 
curacy per cent. 
There will be three fine trophies for first, 
second and third prizes, and it is hoped every 
member who can attend will take part. 
Fishing Notes. 
The fishing steamboats that leave New York 
city every morning for the banks off the Long 
Island and New Jersey shores have been coming 
in at night with a few choice specimens of cod¬ 
fish taken with rod and reel. These weighed 
from 15 to 30 pounds and were highly prized 
by the anglers who caught them. The old say¬ 
ing that the proper time to eat a fish is im¬ 
mediately after it is taken from the water and 
cooked is particularly true when applied to the 
codfish, as anyone will attest on eating one fresh 
from the water when accustomed to the cold 
storage fish. 
Anglers who have fished the Delaware river in 
November inform us that stream was found in 
good condition and that the black bass were still 
taking live bait, although casting for them was 
not an altogether comfortable occupation because 
of the frosty air and cold wind. 
Election day anglers in the Hudson river com¬ 
plained that the frostfish (tomcods) were still 
conspicuously scarce and very small. Usually 
these fish come in with the advent of cold winds 
and water, but they are very late this season. 
The Elk Rapids Fishing Club was organized 
in Elk Rapids, Mich., Oct. 16, and the follow¬ 
ing officers elected: President, F. S. Wilson; 
secretary, M. E. Butts; treasurer, Thomas Mit¬ 
chell; trustees, PI. B. Morse, F. Robert Williams 
and C. B. Carver. The club’s fishing grounds 
are on the Rapid river at Rugg station, and a 
lodge will be built there. Mr. Wilson informs 
us this is one of the best streams in Michigan, 
and it has been stocked with both brook and 
rainbow trout. 
It seems that the anglers of London are to 
devote more attention in the future to sea fishing 
with rod and reel than they have in the past, and 
the membership lists in the sea angling clubs of 
that city are increasing in length. The British 
Sea Angling Society has done much to popu¬ 
larize the sport and to furnish information for 
its members, and the outlook is bright for a still 
larger increase in the number of salt water 
anglers next year. 
A correspondent writes us that the run of 
salmon into Alsea bay and river, ninety miles 
south of Portland, Ore., in October, was so large 
that about thirty-five fishermen, equipped with 
drift and set nets, supplied the local cannery with 
an average og 15,000 salmon a night. 
Pelican Lake, in Washington, has a reputation 
for big lake trout. A correspondent informs us 
that the record trout for that lake weighed 22 
pounds, and that R. R. Flint, of Sacramento, and 
I P. Liopincott. of Portland, Ore., caught one 
during the recent season which weighed only a 
pound less and was 32^4 inches in length. 
