Where Barefoot Boys Look for 
Trout.—Ill. 
As we follow along by the side of a roaring 
rift, the first impression is that of absolute chaos. 
The water seems to be pitching and tumbling 
entirely without plan or motive, but examine it 
a little closer and you will see that every dis¬ 
tinctive feature is just as permanent as any other 
part of the surrounding landscape, and the 
chaotic appearance is produced by the constant 
yielding and recovering of these features. 
Look at that particularly high wave over yon¬ 
der. This instant it is passing down stream, but 
before we fairly comprehend it, it reappears in 
its original position. That gaunt hole where 
the water seems to have been scooped out, will 
fill for a second and then be scooped out again. 
That bed of foam starts down stream, but be¬ 
fore it has even dissolved, a precisely similar 
bed has taken its place. And so it will continue 
until the stage of water changes. 
Perhaps no one peculiarity is more distinct 
than the step-like appearance of many rifts. 
Often at a little distance they look as though 
one might walk up them as on any easy flight 
of stairs. This is caused by the manner in which 
the boulders have lodged, one being stopped by 
contact with another until they have formed a 
succession of leaky dams over which the water 
flows in a series of low and ragged cascades. 
The filling of these dams makes level looking 
spots which the trout recognize at once as com¬ 
fortable homes. 
In a wide stream it is often difficult to reach 
these places, but the more of them that the 
young angler can find his way to, the better his 
prospects of a full basket. Fish are not so easily 
scared in such rough water as they are in more 
quiet stretches, and one may stumble around 
considerably in getting within casting distance, 
without entirely losing his chance of a rise. 
Probably no two of these tread-like or level 
spots can be whipped from the same direction, 
but one should try to get in a position so that 
his fly will float with the current and have the 
least possible cross stream movement. 
Last season I had an experience which illus¬ 
trates the fishing upon these little rift dams very 
nicely, and also throws light upon a brown trout 
peculiarity which has already been mentioned. 
About midway of a rift near our stopping place 
was an interlocking chain of boulders. The ob¬ 
struction was sufficiently tight to make the water 
flow over it. Some twenty feet up stream from 
this wall was a similar collection of rocks which 
was also in the damming business. The result 
was that the water on a level with the top of 
the lower wall set back to the foot of the upper 
one. 
On a previous occasion I had raised a big 
trout about midway between these barriers, but 
had failed to hook him. I imagined there must 
be a hidden stone at this point under which he 
was lurking, and I marked the spot for future 
reference. On the morning in question the sun 
had just come up over Tice Teneyck, and its 
rays were at such an angle that it showed the 
bottom of the stream distinctly. Generally speak¬ 
ing, this indicated that my position was a bad 
one, for the light was at my back. However, it 
was the only position I could get, and the trout 
waived his right to be scared. 
Dropping a Cahill at the foot of the upper 
wall, I watched it float with the current. When 
it had traveled a part of the distance down the 
pool, I plainly saw a big brown trout dart from 
the lower dam and meet the fly half way. 
This was a case where one would have seemed 
correct in saying that he raised the fish just 
below a boulder, meaning the stones in the upper 
wall. I imagine many would have felt certain 
that the trout had been watching by this wall 
and followed the fly down stream. I should 
have been tempted to believe it myself, had I 
not seen the whole movement and learned that 
it was a brown trout at his favorite trick of 
lying on the up-stream side of a rock. I sus¬ 
pect it happens very often that the brown trout 
we think we have taken below a stone has really 
come up-stream from some other hiding place. 
Be that as it may, this particular fish got 
caught, and after he had led me a chase down 
the rift to the still water back of the boarding 
house, we fought it out for a half hour before 
he was finally landed. When I had unhooked 
the fly and was estimating the length of my 
catch, I was startled by a voice from behind me. 
“Now, don’t overwork your imagination. 
Bring him here and have him officially meas¬ 
ured.” 
I looked through the brush and there, hunched 
up on a stump like a chipmunk, sat Robert 
Bruce, shivering in the cool morning air. He 
had nothing but slippers on his feet, but his 
ever-present pipe and mechanic’s rule were in 
evidence. He had heard me go out, but he could 
not quite muster the courage to get into his 
wading boots before breakfast. Neither had he 
sufficient mental poise to lie quietly in bed with 
fishing going on so near at hand. He applied 
his rule and the trout turned out to be a plump 
nineteen inches, so I felt well repaid for my 
spasm of early rising. 
Frequently there will be on a rift some level 
looking places called “suck backs.” They are 
caused by large boulders dividing a swift cur¬ 
rent so that the natural tendency would be to 
leave a waterless space below them. These 
spaces are filled by up-stream currents which 
usually begin at the first obstacle below the big 
boulder. Such spots are the most likely fish¬ 
ing ground we find upon the rifts, but the pecul¬ 
iar movements of the water make them difficult 
to whip. If the fly is cast from a point at right 
angles to the suckback, the rapid currents on 
either side will grasp the line and give the lure 
an unnatural movement or draw it away from 
the spot entirely. In waters where brown trout 
abound I believe it is better to try for an up¬ 
stream position and first cast clear below the 
big boulder to the spot where the eddy begins. 
That gives a chance to find the brown trout that 
may be hiding above the obstruction which starts 
the eddy without a line or leader going over him. 
If, on the other hand, native or rainbow trout 
are looked for, try to reverse the position, but 
cast to the same spot, letting the eddy carry the 
fly up stream to the big boulder. If neither of 
these positions is available, get a fly on to the 
suckback from some direction, even if you have 
to draw squarely across it. These are certainly 
choice spots for trout and should never be passed 
untested. 
There is still one other place that may be 
looked for on a rift, which is often fruitful. 
Sometimes a very large rock stands where it is 
at perpetual war with the current. Being un¬ 
able to move this rock, the water attempts to 
bury it by a process of undermining, with the 
result that a deep, dark pocket is generally 
formed, beginning under one side of the rock 
and extending down stream some distance. 
These places are frequently good fishing and 
one may expect a strike, not only under the 
rock itself, but well toward the lower edge of 
the pocket. 
As you are going down the rift, if yoii find a 
place where the water looks shaded and deep 
bordering on a mossy, rooty bank, try it. When¬ 
ever you chance upon a submerged log or drift 
of brush, no matter whether it is on a rift or 
in other parts of the stream, pick all around it 
with your fly just as gingerly as you know how. 
And now let us go to the foot of the rapids. 
Here we find that by the deflecting action of 
stones and banks further up-stream, the water 
has to a great degree concentrated itself into a 
pitching, tumbling mass which is flowing through 
a comparatively narrow channel. There may be 
a bigger trout somewhere in the creek than the 
one which is watching in this channel, but there 
will not be a bigger one that is in a better mood 
to rise to a fly than this one. When any of us 
feel the need of a particularly fine trout — and 
it is a very common need — we look for just this 
kind of water. It takes a large, rugged fish to 
conduct much of a fly-catching business in such 
a torrent, and you will find him worthy of your 
steel. 
On a wide stream there is very little danger 
of scaring a fish that is lying in this channel. 
I imagine it is not much easier to see out of 
than it is to see into, so one may take about 
any position that will allow him to float his lure 
naturally. 
During the months of May and June we have 
found a long-bodied Cahill tied on a No. 6 hook 
to be Jhe most acceptable fly in these stretches 
of wat^r. Of course in more quiet places such 
a creature would scare the fish clear up on to 
the shore. Here, however, they appear to be 
looking for a full meal at one plunge, so do not 
be stingy with either body or plumage. And 
what is more, do not get discouraged; cast fifty 
times if need be over this same spot. But be 
careful of your snells — I have a tale of woe. 
One season a friend of ours was coming from 
New York to fish with us. He was to arrive 
late in the afternoon and I was anxious that he 
should have a good big fish for supper. I also 
