20 -^ 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Feb. 17, 1912 
lation I succeeded in transposing the metric 
system into the more familiar English and 
learned that eight inches would be safe. We all 
know the effect of any such standard. It pro¬ 
duces a run of fish just one-half inch under the 
lawful requirements. I have observed this in 
Pennsylvania, where a six-inch trout is ordained 
by an all-wise Legislature to have reached 
years of discretion and in other places where 
seven- and eight-inch standards have been 
adopted. 
This recalls an incident when fishing for mus- 
kalonge when the law required all fish under 
thirty inches in length to be returned to the 
water uninjured. Now a musky of twenty-six 
or twenty-eight inches in length is a rather 
formidable object with which to deal. He will 
weigh six or seven pounds, and is gifted with a 
splendid row of sharp teeth and an equally sharp 
temper. The only logical and unfailing argu¬ 
ment to use with him is a stout club. This, 
when employed by the guide, rendered the en¬ 
forcement of the law rather difficult. The em¬ 
barrassment was relieved by the Indian guide, 
who cut off the first six inches of the yard stick. 
After that they all measured thirty inches in 
length. 
After donning my apparel, Herr Fritz and I 
started for the trout stream. The Wutach is 
a small river emptying into the Rhine near the 
celebrated Rhine Falls. Like the Oos, it is 
shut in by walls of masonry which make in 
uniform in width and depth. The water was 
too high for wading and the fishing was there¬ 
fore from the banks. This could readily be 
done, as there was not a single bush or tree 
upon either bank which would impede the cast¬ 
ing. Mine host showed me how to start and 
soon landed a lively fellow about a foot in 
length. The heavy black spots showed a marked 
difference between him and our own native. 
Left to my own devices. I was soon industri¬ 
ously fishing down stream. I hate to confess 
it, but I rarely fish up stream when I can fish 
otherwise. The only thing which will tempt me 
to do it is a strong up-stream wind. 
It was some time before I got a lawful fish. 
One Or two “near ones” tempted me, but they 
were carefully returned. I was afraid the whole 
German army was watching me. At last the 
silver Alexandra, a favorite of mine in strange 
waters, lured one to his undoing, and after a 
few minutes of misgivings and doubts, I slipped 
the net under my first European trout—a short 
stocky fish of three-quarters of a pound. After 
a short time spent in admiration I resumed my 
fishing, but it was quite a long interval before 
I was again successful. This time the coach¬ 
man was taken. The trout were not rising 
freely: occasionally one would make a half¬ 
hearted attempt, but could not be coaxed to 
repeat the performance. When I did succeed 
in getting another fish, a glance at my watch 
showed it to be after eight o’clock. I had no 
idea it was so late, being completely deceived 
by the long August twilight. I hurried home 
only to wait nearly an hour for my dinner. 
The Goldene Ochsen is worthy of special 
mention. I had been told bj^ Mr. Thackera, our 
Consul General at Berlin, that it was good, but 
I was unprepared for such comforts as I ex¬ 
perienced. The proprietor is a fisherman him¬ 
self, and includes among his guests many Eng¬ 
lishmen, who come each year for the fishing. 
He was extremely kind and solicitous as to my 
welfare. 
The ground floor of the hotel contained a 
room which was the bar, eating room for the 
towns people, and general gathering place of 
the neighborhood. On either side was another 
eating room, rather more pretentious, where 
the process of eating was conducted with more 
ceremony by the lodgers. I was impressed 
with the late hour at which everything was 
done. My dinner was served at nine o’clock, 
and when I had finished I found the assembly 
room filled with people eating and drinking. 
The proprietor being a sportsman, made the 
hotel a rendezvous for all kindred spirits. Many 
were accompanied by the sedate little dachshunds, 
considered necessary to reduce the game of 
the country to possession. The grotesque little 
beasts with their long low bodies and short legs 
suggested gargoyles on an old church. But 
they are exceedingly good-natured and well-be¬ 
haved. Like all Germans, they take themselves 
seriously. Perhaps the weight of the vast stand¬ 
ing army, which, we are told, crushes all Ger¬ 
many, has produced their depression of spirit 
and legs. 
An inspection of my fly-book was in order. 
The fishermen seemed much pleased with my 
American flies, but unanimously voted my gut 
too heavy for snells. My old flies had been tied 
on ordinary gut suitable for No. 12 flies, and I 
had sent to England for the finest undrawn gut 
to use as points for the eyed flies. 
Herr Fritz came to my rescue with some fine 
drawn gut. so frail that great care had to be 
exercised in tying on the fly. I doubted the 
ability of this gut to hold a decent fish in that 
fast water. I had seen a 2k2-pound trout which 
had been taken that day, and wondered what I 
would do with a like one. However, the gut 
proved sufficient. True, I lost a couple of fish 
by the gut breaking when striking a fish, but 
when once hooked the fish never parted it. The 
largest fish I got weighed just over a pound, so 
I did not have a chance to test the strength 
with anything heavy. 
The next morning the first fish I caught was a 
grayling. Fishing near the mouth of an irrigat¬ 
ing ditch, I saw a swirl near my flies. Resting 
him for a short time. I was ready when he rose. 
When I struck, a bar of silver more than a foot 
long jumped into the air. Humoring his rushes, 
I worked him out of the fast water while he 
jumped several more times. When I got him 
near enough to attempt to land him, the large 
dorsal fin showed almost red in the water. In 
my eagerness to use the net, I neglected to 
watch my footing, and down I went, striking 
heavily on my right elbow. Fortunately for me 
I held up the rod and the fish was too tired to 
profit by my awkwardness. I slipped the net 
under him just in time, for the Montreal came 
away as the fish struck the net. 
At a safe distance from the river bank I sat 
down tO' rub my bumps and make a critical ex¬ 
amination of the fish I made the trip to catch. 
Longer and lighter in build than a trout, with 
fine black spsts, it resembled a young salmon. 
The crowning glory was the extremely high 
dorsal fin, which when held toward the light 
showed many hued as the rainbow. Never have 
I seen such a beautiful fish. It did not require 
a prophet or a son of a prophet to tell me what 
I had caught. 
I shall not attempt to give all the details 
of my three or four days’ stay at Tiengen. My 
catch was a modest one, so far as numbers 
were concerned, but I could always get a few 
without much effort, and after all, that is the 
best fishing. 
In Nova Scotia I have caught twenty or 
thirty trout without moving and left them still 
rising. But that is too easy. It reminded me 
too much of the fishing in a well known stream 
in Pennsylvania a few years ago. Just before 
the season opened the club stocked it with eight 
or nine-inch liver-feds. The silly fools stayed 
just where they were placed and rose to any 
sort of a fly. The unskilled angler could get 
the club limit whenever he struck a school of 
them, but the wise ones left them alone to 
fish for bright fish. 
It rained intermittently on a couple of days; 
enough to dirty the water and prevent a very 
determined effort at fishing. Once when I went 
out for a short time I took a small German boy, 
who spoke English. I.spoke no German. He 
was to carry the net and act as guide. The first 
fish I caught produced a diversity of opinion 
as to methods. He made frantic jabs at the 
fish, trying to catch him on the wing, while I 
was imploring him to hold the net still. This 
he finally did, but out of the water. Meantime 
the fish, a grayling, had exhausted himself and 
I took the net from the boy and landed the 
fish safely. He learned very quickly, however, 
and landed several others without again incur¬ 
ring my wrath. 
The expense of the trip was extremely 
moderate. The license for a week’s fishing 
cost about five dollars, including everything: 
absolutely no tips or gratuities of any kind and 
no one to watch one’s movements. 
The hotel, the Goldene Ochsen, was capital, 
and the price moderate. The proprietor, Wil¬ 
helm Fritz, speaks English and helped me in 
every way. He did everything in his power to 
make my stay successful. 
I could see no difference between the fishing 
in this river and any other well fished water in 
this country. There were trout there in plenty, 
but they required careful fishing to get them. 
They rose equally well to the wet or dry fly— 
not fished in the style of the English purist, but 
allowed to float over likely places. 
I tried American flies, too, and found my old 
friend the Montreal acceptable to both trout 
and grayling. At first the even banks and uni¬ 
form depth of this water suggested fishing in 
a canal. There were no holes scooped out 
under the banks, no fallen trees or ragged, 
rough rocks to furnish hiding places, so eagerly 
looked for by us. It might well have been a 
river of “Spotless Town.” 
Following our friend Van Dyke’s example, I 
have added to my list of “Little Rivers,” the 
Wutach. 
Real Service. 
King George has the proper conception of 
modern hunting, and we are glad to hear that 
his expedition after tigers was equipped with 
electric lights and automobiles. But for real 
service commend us to the typewriter, camera, 
fountain pen, khaki suit and special wire suc¬ 
cessfully employed in a recent African campaign. 
—Evening Sun. 
