706 
bearing on transportation in interior Alaska that 
it has given rise to a general recognition of two 
seasons—the “closed season,” when the Yukon is 
either filled with floating ice or frozen over, and 
the “open season.” The break-up of the ice usu¬ 
ally occurs about the middle of May, after which 
the river is open to transportation for five or six 
months, or a little longer. The break-up is not 
only an event of great economic significance to 
the inhabitants in the interior of Alaska, but it 
presents features of great dramatic interest as 
well. One who has not witnessed it can hardly 
A few years ago while in Germany I spent sev¬ 
eral weeks at Bad-Lauterberg, Hartz Mountains, 
a beautiful and picturesque hamlet nestling at 
the very foot of a mountain and completely sur¬ 
rounded by other mountains. About two hundred 
feet in the rear of the hotel where I was stop¬ 
ping and directly at the foot of the mountains 
flowed a good sized, fairly swift and clear, but 
shallow stream. On my first afternoon here, 
while walking along the bank of the stream, I 
noticed quite a number of trout were jumping 
and I observed that they were feeding on what 
appeared to be a small, 'brown fly. After walk¬ 
ing along for half a mile and seeing lots of 
trout I determined to fish this stream, no mat¬ 
ter what the cost; and upon my return to the 
hotel I hunted up the landlord, a jovial Ger¬ 
man, and quizzed him about my chances of 
fishing aforementioned stream. I was rather 
agreeably surprised when he informed me that 
a stretch of three hundred feet of the stream 
belonged to him, or to be more correct, that he 
had rented this part of the stream from the 
town for the sole use and benefit of those of 
his guests that cared to indulge in the gentle 
art of angling. Here was luck, indeed, and as 
I had brought several rods and the necessary 
tackle, I made up my mind to try my luck the 
next morning. When I told my landlord of my 
intention he said that he too was going; said we 
would fish together, to which I readily consented. 
Next morning, after early breakfast, we walked 
through his garden to the bank of the stream. 
I observed that my landlord was carrying a 
large water pail but no rod or anything that 
looked like fishing tackle, but I made no com¬ 
ment. I was in for a surprise, but did not know 
it. Arriving at the stream I began to assemble 
my rod, while my host sat down on the grass, 
removed his shoes and socks, then stood up 
and rolled his trousers to above his knees, shed 
his coat and rolled his shirt sleeves up as far 
as possible, whereupon he entered the stream. 
I then asked him what he was about and he 
replied, “I am ready to ca*ch trout,” said I, 
“Where is your rod?” I thought maybe he had 
the rod hidden somewhere under the bank, like I 
used to do when a boy, but he answered, “Rod 
nothing, I am going to catch trout with my 
hands, and I’ll bet I catch more that way than 
you will with all of your fancy tackle!” Not 
knowing my companion well enough, I said no 
more but sat down on the bank to watch the 
FOREST AND STREAM 
imagine the impressiveness of the spectacle. From 
bank to bank the surface of the river is a solid 
mass of huge moving ice cakes, which are con¬ 
stantly grinding and disintegrating with an awe¬ 
inspiring exhibition of resistless force. 
The freeze-up is less spectacular. With the 
increasing cold of the autumn slush ice forms 
in the river, and as the cold becomes more in¬ 
tense the ice increases in volume until finally it 
is sufficient to bridge the entire stream. This 
means the termination of navigation on the 
Yukon until the following May. 
proceedings. We were on the right side of the 
stream, opposite the mountain, and this side was 
poorly wooded. The previous afternoon I had 
noticed that along the right side of the stream 
were a good many likely looking holes and odd¬ 
ly enough, most of these holes extended part 
way under the bank. It was toward one of these 
holes my companion was making, splashing a 
great deal as he went. After wading through 
the hole and when close to the bank he reached 
under with both arms and kept his arms moving 
back and forth in the water under the bank. 
Pretty soon he shouted, “I have got one and a 
big one, too,” and with that his hands re-ap¬ 
peared over the water clutching a big, brown 
trout, easily a two-pounder, which he threw upon 
the bank requesting me to place it in the pail, 
which he had previously filled with water, ex¬ 
plaining as he did so that he always kept his 
trout alive till he got home, so that he could 
use their blood as part ingredient of a sauce 
served with boiled trout. I was more than sur¬ 
prised to see a man catch trout in the above 
described manner, but failed to see where the 
sport came in. Well, I saw my companion catch 
two more trout when I thought it was time for 
me to get busy, and walking away up-stream I 
selected a marsh brown and coachman for 
my first try. After several casts I got a rise 
but missed him as I did the next one, but the 
third one I hooked and away he went up stream, 
and then followed as pretty a fight as one could 
wish for. After he had gone up stream aways 
I managed to turn him about and as he sped 
by, jumping several times, I saw I had hooked 
a good one. Not having boots or waders I 
fought my fish from the bank, but still the 
chances favored me too much because there were 
absolutely no obstructions of any kind in the 
stream, such as one encounters in the average 
trout stream. Up and down and from side to 
side he raced but after a ten-minute struggle I 
had him coming in on his side and selecting a 
convenient place I beached him because I had 
no landing net. What a beauty he was and how 
I gloated over him, the biggest brook trout I 
ever caught; he measured a trifle over 14 inches, 
was dark brown in color, and what a broad 
back he had. No wonder he fought so well. Not 
being an expert angler I have ever since won¬ 
dered how I ever managed to land him. While 
not so handsome nor of such graceful lines as 
our speckled beauties he nevertheless was a fine 
fish. During the next hour I landed three more, 
all of them smaller than the first, ranging from 
8 to 10 inches, when I was disturbed by my land¬ 
lord who, very inconsiderately, splashed toward 
me- His pail contained five lusty trout, ranging 
from 7% to 15% inches. He by his method had 
caught five trout to my four; but I wonder 
which one of us had the best sport and 
enjoyed himself most? I presented my catch 
to my landlord and at dinner (noon) I was 
served with trout done to a nicety and they 
tasted great. At supper, the same day, I was 
served with boiled trout, served with a sauce, 
and I don’t believe I ever relished anything more! 
Next morning again found me at the stream and 
like the previous day the weather was ideal. I 
fished from seven till ten A. M., but was reward¬ 
ed with but three trout, and from four till six 
P. M. I caught two more, and they measured 
from 7 to 9 inches respectively. During the af¬ 
ternoon I had for spectators several natives and 
half a dozen tourists, and one of the latter, an 
Englishman by the name of Mr. Jarrett, pro¬ 
claimed himself as a member of the angling 
fraternity and he advised me to try Wiesen- 
becker Teich (Lake) ; said he had had some 
good results there and that the distance from 
Bad-Lauterberg to Wiesenbecker Teich was five 
(English) miles, a mere stroll over nice roads 
and through beautiful woods. Mr. J. proposed 
that I make one of a party of ten or twelve, 
that contemplated taking this walk on the fol¬ 
lowing morning, leaving from his hotel and, of 
course, I gladly assented. With the next morn¬ 
ing broke another ideal day, and the appointed 
hour found me at Mr. J.’s hotel. At 7.20 A. M. 
our party, five ladies and six men was on its 
way to Wiesenbecker Teich. One of the ladies 
and four of the men carried fishing rods while 
every one of us carried a mountain stick. It 
certainly was a merry party, everybody was sing¬ 
ing and laughing. After leaving the village our 
way led up a long and pretty steep hill on the 
side of a mountain and one of our party, a man 
of vast avoirdupois, was more than glad when 
the hill was behind us and we were again on 
level ground. This fat gentleman came in for 
a great deal of good-natured banter, but he did 
not seem to mind it in the least, he was the per¬ 
sonification of good nature. Our way now, for 
three miles, led through a grand forest of beech, 
elm and spruce trees. The atmosphere was won¬ 
derfully fragrant, due to a rain the night before. 
The different song birds—there are a great many 
in that section—were doing their best, the woods 
rang with their song. While strolling along, one 
of our party drew my attention to different trees 
that had a narrow stripe of red painted around 
their trunks, at about five feet from the ground, 
and he explained those trees had been so marked 
by foresters and were due to be cut down in 
the fall. At short intervals, all along the way 
we found rustic benches, put there, I was told 
by the county, and subsequently I learned that 
this condition exists all through the Hartz Moun¬ 
tains. No matter at what town or village, in 
the Hartz Mountains, a tourist stops, or at what 
hotel or boarding house he puts up, the pro¬ 
prietor of the hotel or boarding house is by law 
compelled, after you have been there two days, 
to notify the authorities of your arrival, and on 
about the third or fourth day after your arrival 
you receive a notice from the authorities stating 
Trout Fishing, Landlord Style 
How a Jovial German Used a Bucket as Trout Lure 
By Henry G. Plate. 
