FOREST AND STREAM 
1129 
Douglass Cottage on the Grand Cascapedia. 
Looking South From Douglass 
The largest in the June records of this year, 
within the writer’s cognizance, was a forty- 
eight pounder taken in Club waters. 
The sweetest sound in the world is the singing 
of the reel when the hooked salmon makes his 
first mad rush for liberty. The reel whizzes and 
the line runs out with lightning rapidity. Often 
the startled fish springs into the air and his 
silvery shining body is seen for an instant at 
full length. Now he rests for a moment or two 
while the fisherman plys the reel vigorously until 
the strain on rod and reel cause him to desist 
and with all senses keenly alert he awaits the 
next movement of the victim. If the fish starts 
to go down stream and the current is swift 
there is no choice left but to follow after and 
take him into smoother water. Frequently a fish 
is gaffed one or two miles below the pool where 
the fly was taken, but often he can be held in 
the one pool. The cardinal maxims to be ob¬ 
served in every contest are “keep the line taut” 
and “give him the butt,” and are deviated from 
only when the salmon springs into the air, 
at which time the rod tip must be lowered. 
Should the fish in dropping back after the jump 
allow his weight to fall upon a tight line, smashed 
tackle would result, and some slack must be 
given to avoid the catastrophe, but the tip must 
be raised immediately after lowering. At all 
other times the rules are absolutely necessary. 
After the fish has rested a minute or two the 
pressure of the galling hook impels him to make 
another run and merrily hums the reel while the 
line runs out dangerously near the limit of its 
length. Then another brief period of rest and 
more reeling in of the line until the fish objects 
strenuously and exerts his weight and strength 
against it, or makes another run or jump. If 
the fish is well hooked and does not try extraord¬ 
inary stunts the contest may last anywhere 
from ten minutes to an hour. Gradually his 
runs become shorter and less vigorous and the 
fisherman draws him nearer to the boat where 
the guide stands with gaff in hand waiting to 
complete his part in the drama. Sometimes 
when within fifteen feet of the boat the salmon 
may make another desperate run to the center of 
the channel perhaps, and the process of reeling 
in is again repeated. But his powers of resis¬ 
tance are now near their limit and by degrees he 
is brought within reach of the gaff and the con¬ 
test ended. But not always. The gaff sometimes 
misses the fish, or perhaps slightly wounds him 
without holding, in which case a sudden mad¬ 
dened dash and a possible slack line may restore 
him to liberty. In fact one is never sure of his 
fish until it is in the boat and the coup de grace 
administered v/ith the small club. 
A big fellow fresh from the sea often puts 
Cottage. 
up a tremendous fight making many long runs 
and jumping half a dozen times or more out 
of the water. 
The novice playing with his first salmon, when 
he feels the terrific pull exerted on the rod and 
reel expects every instant to see the whole outfit 
smash, and wonders how the light line and leader 
can stand the Strain put on them by a thirty 
pound fish. If his rod were a hickory club twelve 
feet long, six inches thick and weighing ten 
pounds he would understand the problem for at 
the first pull the line would- certainly part. But 
with a good split bamboo fourteen feet long and 
eighteen ounces weight and perfectly handled, 
the biggest salmon that ever swam the Cascapedia 
cannot exert sufficient strength to overcome the 
Salmon Leaping Falls (Reproduced From Photo 
by Dr. Robert T. Morris). 
play of the rod. For it is built on scientific 
principles and the results of long experience and 
today has reached perfection. Of course rods 
are frequently smashed even in the hands of 
experts but not from the strain or weight of 
the fish. With a perfect fisherman, perfect tackle 
and perfect guides a fish if well hooked, very 
rarely escapes. The proportion of losses with 
experts is considerable however, owing to the 
latter proviso. The tackle may do its worK 
beautifully but after a hot fight of fifteen min¬ 
utes or so, an insecure hook may tear out of the 
jaw and against this there is no provision, and 
only blame can be fastened against the salmon 
for not possessing stronger flesh tissues. Some¬ 
times the line is cut by a jagged sunken rock, 
and plenty of other causes exist to aid a salmon 
in escaping and to save the fisherman from too 
much explanation. 
A word should be said about the sea trout. 
They are plentiful towards the end of the month, 
the first run coming about June 20th. By the 
fishermen they are usually considered a nuisance, 
for the process of playing and landing a big 
trout is sure to disturb the pool to a greater or 
less degree and when one is after a thirty pounder 
it is small consolation to put up with a five pound 
trout instead.. Like the salmon they are very 
large in this river, and six and seven pounds are 
frequent weights. One catch of thirteen 
weighed forty-four pounds. Last year Mr. 
Douglass took one of eight and a half pounds 
which was twenty-eight inches in length. They 
are identical with the brook trout species, but 
spend half the year in the sea, coming into the 
river in June and July for spawning purposes. 
In proportion to their size they are more gamy 
and active than the salmon. It would be a 
source of keen- delight to play a six pounder on 
light trout tackle but it is rarely attempted, for 
the chances of a salmon being hooked are too 
great and few trout rods could survive such a 
contest. Nevertheless it has been done for Mr. 
Mershon Successfully played and landed a thirty- 
seven pound salmon on a seven ounce trout rod 
on one occasion. But among salmon and trout 
fishermen Mr. Mershon stands in a class by him¬ 
self, as your readers probably know, and we 
should not advise the ordinary man to imperil 
the safety of a favorite trout rod by making 
the attempt; 
In ascending the river to the spawning beds 
the salmon travels only in the night and rests 
in day time in the various pools. These pools 
are of varying excellence and have distinctive 
names. There is no finer one on the river than 
Rock Pool on the preserve of the Messrs. Bon- 
bright. It is very deep in places and the pres¬ 
ence of some large rocks on the bottom offer 
most congenial resting places to the salmon after 
their night’s toil up the river. They lay on the 
bottom with their noses up stream and shelter 
themselves behind the rocks to avoid the full 
force of the current, and there they lurk in the 
daytime. The pool rarely fails to yield one or 
more trophies at every fishing. Whenever the 
guides in passing down the river come to this pool 
they invariably stand up in the boat and count 
the salmon on the bottom, the water being so 
transparent that every pebble on the bottom at 
a depth of twenty feet is clearly visible. It was 
the favorite pool of President Arthur who was 
an annual visitant at the Woodman Cottage for 
several years. 
(Continued on page 1166.) 
