1128 
FOREST AND STREAM 
for the discomforts of the chemin de fer. The 
sixty miles are made in four hours and after 
crossing the Grand Cascapedia on a long trestle 
bridge the station called Cascapedia is reached, 
nineteen hours from Montreal. From here a 
picturesque drive of five miles along the river 
road brings us to our final destination in the 
heart of the fishermen’s colony. 
The fishing privileges for miles above salt 
water are controlled by half a dozen gentlemen 
from the States including Mr. W. B. Mershon of 
Saginaw, Michigan, the Messrs. Spaulding of 
Boston, Messrs. Bonbright of New York and 
Mr. B. Douglass, Jr. of Llewellyn Park, N. J. 
All have attractive cottages or bungalows occupied 
during the fishing season, that of Mr. Douglass 
being particularly noteworthy, not only by reason 
of its many comforts 
and conveniences, but 
from its commanding 
site on a bluff one hun¬ 
dred feet above the river 
affording a fine view of 
the stream for two 
miles. From its piazza 
some five or six good 
salmon pools are visible 
and almost hourly dur¬ 
ing the day one can 
witness therefrom the 
whole operation of play¬ 
ing a salmon from the 
“strike" to the gaffing. 
About a mile above 
this point begins the 
reservation of the Cas¬ 
capedia Club and there 
its club house is located. 
The Club preserve ex¬ 
tends up the river for 
thirty miles and the 
seven members consti¬ 
tuting the Club, doubt¬ 
less realize that they 
own one of the good 
things of earth. They 
are American million¬ 
aires and their names 
are all in Who’s Who. 
The tales they could tell 
of their experiences with 
the king of fish would 
fill a folio, but into 
those mysteries we will 
not intrude. 
Their waters are held on long lease from the 
Canadian Government and were formerly re¬ 
served for the Governor General. It was a 
favorite resort cf the Marquis of Lorne and his 
wife Princess Louise. One of her favorite 
pools still bears the name of the Princess Pool. 
In 1891 when the writer made his first visit to 
these waters, Lord Stanley the then Governor 
General was fishing on the reservation, accom¬ 
panied by the Duke of York, now King George V 
of England. On several occasions the writer saw 
the Prince passing up and down the river in his 
canoe and well remembers his courteous and un¬ 
affected demeanor. 
Some fifteen years ago the Government with¬ 
drew the privilege from the Governor General 
and offered the whole reservation for lease. The 
Cascapedia Club was formed, took over the lease 
and succeeded to all the rights enjoyed by the 
Governor General. 
The spawning beds of the salmon are at the 
head of the Club preserve, and a series of 
rapids and high falls prevent further ascent of 
the fish up the stream. Some miles above, the 
river separates into two forks which are narrow 
turbulent streams. One of the forks arises in a 
beautiful lake which is said to swarm with trout, 
but owing to its inaccessibility it is rarely visited 
by others than lumbermen. The extreme length 
of the river from its farthest source to its 
mouth is some ninety miles. From the club 
house to the bay the river maintains an average 
width of about three hundred feet, flowing 
through a narrow valley at the base of densely 
wooded hills with a current of six or eight miles 
per hour. Occasionally is seen a primitive cabin 
or cottage in the center of a small patch of culti¬ 
vated ground, generally homes of the guides. 
The agricultural possibilities of the Gaspe penin¬ 
sula are however extremely limited as frost 
occurs in every month of the year except July, 
and potatoes, oats and grass only thrive. 
The water of the river is clear as crystal and 
cold and delicious to the taste. Perhaps a hun¬ 
dred years hence the residents of New York may 
drink it from their taps when the Croton and 
Esopus are creeks of sewage. 
The fishing of 1916 during the month of June 
wao 1 the best in recent years. The ice went out 
early in May and the freshets carried down the 
logs of the lumbermen in the last week of that 
month so that when the season opened on June 
1st the river was free from logs and the water 
much lower than usual at that time, favoring 
conditions for the first run of fish. This river 
is now one of the few in which the use of nets 
at its mouth has ceased. The netters have sur¬ 
rendered their rights for a term of years in con¬ 
sideration of a cash payment by the Club and 
private owners of preseryes, and not a net is 
now spread in the bay at New Richmond to in¬ 
tercept the salmon seeking this stream. Many 
hundreds were taken in nets annually and the 
supply in the river greatly diminished. With this 
obstacle removed and with the favoring condi¬ 
tions mentioned, the first run of the fish was 
unusually large. The weather continued gener¬ 
ally clear and warm up to the 19th, no rain falling 
except on the 4th and nth, and the fishing was. 
in general most successful. The latter part of 
the month was however more or less rainy and' 
in ten days the water rose two feet. On two 
days the fog on the river was so intense at times 
that the shores were almost hidden from the 
fishermen, and if there is one thing that a salmon 
will not do it is taking the fly in a fog. For 
these reasons the last ten days of June did not 
show the average results of th: earlier period. 
The writer is only qualified to speak of the 
results obtained by his own party where but two' 
rods were fished and the time spent in casting 
was never more than six hours a day: from 9:30- 
to 12:30 in the forenoon and 3:30 to 6:30 in the 
afternoon. Twenty-nine salmon were killed in 
twenty-three days of 
fishing weighing in the 
aggregate seven hundred 
and seventy-one pounds 
or an average of twenty- 
six and one-half pounds 
per fish, the following; 
being the individual’ 
weights; one of forty- 
two pounds; one thirty- 
seven ; two thirty-five; 
two thirty-four; one 
thirty-two; three thirty;, 
two. twenty-nine; four 
twenty-seven; two twen¬ 
ty-three ; one twenty- 
two ; two twenty; one 
eighteen; one sixteen ;. 
one twelve; one nine. 
Other parties had much 
larger results as far as 
quantity is concerned 
but the average weight 
would probably run the 
same. One party of four 
rods took one hundred 
and twenty-five fish and 
others probably did as 
well but they generally 
devoted ten hours or 
more a day to fishing. 
The above statement ‘of 
weights gives a fair idea 
of the size of the salmon 
in this river. The large 
fish far outnumber the 
small ones and grilse are 
rarely caught by the June fishermen. 
As is usually the case many of the largest 
fish escaped. One, after one hour and ten 
minutes of glorious fighting, during which he 
avoided the gaff twice by just a foot, and was 
apparently in the final stages of exhaustion, 
caught his would-be captor napping for an in¬ 
stant, and availing himself of a slack line es¬ 
caped the fate awaiting him. Judging from the 
size of his tail, which would compare favorably 
with that of a porpoise, the two guides placed 
his weight at sixty-five pounds, while the fish¬ 
erman’s arm was so paralyzed by the strain it 
had undergone that it was an hour or more be¬ 
fore he could resume casting, and also his equa¬ 
nimity. 
The biggest fish ever taken in the annals of 
the Grand Cascapedia was killed by R. G. Dun 
and weighed fifty-four pounds. Many of fifty 
pounds weight have been taken and the late E. 
W. Davis of Providence, R. I. is said to have 
captured one of fifty-two pounds and there is 
a shadowy old tradition of an Indian having 
speared one many years ago that weighed seventy 
pounds. 
