Feb. 9, 1907.] 
22 1 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Gulf of Georgia Salmon Fishing. 
About 125 miles northwest of Vancouver, B. 
C., the Campbell River runs into the Straits of 
Georgia on the eastern side of Vancouver Island. 
Report being to the effect that in the strait near 
the mouth of this river was the best salmon fish¬ 
ing on the Pacific coast, a party, of which I was 
one, left Denver Aug. 1 last, to try it. 
Our route from Seattle was by a large steamer 
to the city of Vancouver, thence by a smaller 
one to Lund, on the mainland, and thence by a 
small tug across the strait to the Willows Hotel 
on Vancouver Island near the mouth of the river, 
where we arrived Aug. 8. 
The fall run of salmon had just begun. The 
cohos were plentiful, but the big salmon run was 
yet light and but few were caught the first week, 
although there were eight or ten fishermen at the 
hotel, which is much better than one would ex¬ 
pect in so new a country. 
The Siwash Indians, who live on Vancouver 
Island, call the big salmon the Tyee, which is 
Siwash for King, and the white fishermen have 
generally adopted that name. This salmon there 
ranges in weight from 20 to 80 pounds, averaging 
about 35 pounds, and while it makes a hard and 
long fight, it is not so picturesque as that of the. 
Coho. I used a 7 foot, 2 piece split bamboo, 12 
ounce tarpon rod and multiplying reel with 
thumb-brake, but the Englishmen who were there 
used greenheart rods about 12 feet long with 
large, heavy non-multiplying reels of English 
make and without a brake. They land the big 
tyees with great skill with these rods, but occas¬ 
ionally break one. 
August 12 the tyees became more plentiful 
near the mouth of the river, and from that date 
until the 21st, when we left, about 80 were 
caught, the largest 51 pounds and the best catch 
by one man being nine in one day. It is a matter 
of ten to thirty minutes’ work to bring one to 
gaff. 
Boatmen, except Siwash Indians, are rather 
scarce. The Indians use canoes altogether, which 
are a little cranky for persons not used to them, 
and the Indians are more cranky. They know 
very well where to fish, but they do not seem to 
care whether you catch any, and as to keeping 
their word about time of starting, they are sure 
to be an hour and frequently a day late, arrd 
sometimes do not show up at all. 
The tyee is a magnificent fish and takes the 
spoon well, and it seems that the bigger the 
spoon the bigger the fish. He is frequently seen 
rolling on the surface of the water and occas¬ 
ionally leaps out in play, but after being hooked 
seldom leaps, and after a few rushes will sound 
and stay on the bottom if you let him. Various 
kinds of spoons are used, probably the best being 
about six inches long, silver on one side and 
copper on the other. These may be obtained in 
Vancouver or at the hotel. They are all, how¬ 
ever, rather light and frequently get so twisted 
in landing one tyee as to be useless for another. 
A heavier spoon can be had in New York. T 
used a large Wilson shape German silver tarpon 
spoon part of the time and it worked well. It 
is a wobbler, not a spinner. I put on a small 
spoon, such as is used for cohos, just ahead of 
the tarpon spoon, and the combination I believe 
was an improvement. 
A hundred feet of 24 thread trolling line out, 
with a 4-ounce sinker 15 feet ahead of the spoon, 
is deemed the proper thing. The idea there is 
that the sinker frightens the fish and should not, 
therefore, be near the spoon. I doubt it after 
experiment both ways, but the spoon should sink 
deep, twenty feet or more below the surface for 
the tyees, but the cohos will take it best when 
near the surface. A sinker fifteen feet ahead of 
the spoon interferes with landing the fish, as in 
reeling in the fish the sinker strikes the end of 
the rod before the fish is brought near enough to 
gaff. Several devices are recommended to avoid 
this, but in all I have seen the sinker is fast¬ 
ened with a small string, so that it is detached 
and lost whenever a fish is hooked. A hard 
strike, hooking a strong bunch of sea weed, or 
a rock bottom, will also detach the sinker when 
so fastened and may mean the loss of a dozen 
sinkers in one day. 
The best plan, I think, is to have an oblong 
sinker with a ring at each end through which 
runs the line; tie a ‘piece of very light cotton 
string three inches long to the upper ring of 
the sinker and with two or three hitches fasten 
it around the line above. In reeling up, when 
the sinker strikes the end of the rod, the string 
breaks and the sinker runs down to the first 
swivel on the leader and does not interfere with 
landing the fish. Of course if the tip of the rod 
is very light the string may not break, but the 
sinker is not lost in any event. 
As to time, Aug. 15 is probably early enough 
to go to the Campbell River for a two weeks’ 
stay. 
The coho salmon, which range from 5 to 20 
pounds, averaging about 6 pounds, are plentiful 
and a few hours’ fishing morning and night -will 
result in a catch of 4 to 20 for each fisherman. 
They take almost any spoon and make a good 
fight; in fact, the greatest rough-and-tumble fight 
of any fish I know of. They will leap out of the 
water, hunt for the bottom, rise again and again, 
and when finally brought near the boat, will roll 
over and over and wrap the leader and line about 
them until sometimes there is almost as much 
line on the fish as on the feel, and they will 
even bend an ordinary spoon by their strength 
of jaw. On account of this rolling habit, which 
coils the wire leader, the latter is not popular 
among the fishermen there, most of whom use 
twisted gut or dispense with a leader entirely. 
With an eight ounce rod and line to match, a 
coho of 10 pounds will keep one real busy for 
that many minutes. We did not try the fly, al¬ 
though some of the other fishermen did and re¬ 
ported catching one or two only. 
The Campbell River rises in the Vancouver 
Island range. For six miles up from its mouth 
it is about 100 feet wide. Above that it is in 
a canon for some miles. It is said to be the only 
river entering the straits up which the tyee sal¬ 
mon, and in great numbers, regularly go to 
spawn. 
The spawning takes place early in September 
and for two or three weeks prior they congre¬ 
gate in the strait near the mouth of the river. 
We saw quite a number in the river six miles 
up, but they seemed to be lying in the deep pools 
awaiting the spawning period when they would 
proceed to the spawning grounds well up the 
river. They do not bite in the fresh water. This 
river is full of rainbow trout ranging from 1 to 
10 pounds or more, and so far as fishing is con¬ 
cerned, is practically virgin water, there being 
little or no trail up it further than three miles. 
It is swift and clear, the bushes are so thick 
along the bank as to be almost impenetrable, and 
the river is so deep that it is difficult to fish it. 
About five miles up we found several good 
pools easily accessible where we made some 
good catches of rainbows up to five pounds. For 
unsophisticated fish, however, they seemed able 
to curb their curiosity remarkably well, especially 
the larger ones; due, doubtless, to plenty of feed 
and the wonderful clearness of the water. They 
took the Colorado spinner trout spoon and the 
royal coachman if the cast was long enough and 
the water rough; otherwise, they would simply 
flirt with the fisherman. 
About fourteen miles below the Campbell 
River the Oyster River, a stream not quite half 
so large as the Campbell, also rises in the island 
range and runs into the strait. We found no 
good trout fishing within two miles of its mouth, 
although it is said to be good five or six miles 
up, but we did not care to take the time to try 
i f . as it could not possibly beat the Campbell 
River. At its mouth, however, were congregated 
thousands of hump-back salmon awaiting the 
time to go up the river to spawn. This is also 
said to be the only river in the strait up which 
the hump-backs go in large numbers to s^awn. 
The hump-backs average about five pounds, and 
until near spawning time do not acquire a promi¬ 
nent hump. They will not take any lure or bait 
so far as known. They are hooked by the 
natives with a squid, by jerkiner it after a boat. 
We saw bear, deer and grouse within two or 
three miles of the hotel, and learned that moun¬ 
tain lions had also been seen and that up in the 
mountains there were plenty of elk. It is also 
said, and is doubtless true, that a little later, 
when the tyee salmon are thick in the river, the 
bears and lions are numerous along its banks, 
clawing out and feeding upon the salmon, at 
which time one with a rifle could easily make a 
great killing. The density of the undergrowth 
is such that in most places where there is no 
trail one cannot make a mile an hour and can 
see but a few feet ahead, so that hunting gen¬ 
erally is out of the question in that part of the 
island. 
Five miles above the mouth of Campbell River 
are the Seymour Narrows, through which the 
tide ebbs and flows with tremendous velocity. 
The Strait of Georgia is the inside passage to 
Alaska, and steam vessels are daily passing 
through it. but none of them can stem the cur¬ 
rent when at its height either way in these nar¬ 
rows, but most await its subsidence. The Grand 
Canon of the Colorado and other mountain 
canons are deeper cuts, but the volume and 
velocity of the tide water through the Seymour 
Narrows is swifter, more majestic and impos¬ 
ing. The sight is worth the trip from the hotel, 
and should not be missed by any visitor. 
On the Vancouver Island range, the highest 
peak of which is but 6,800 feet above sea level, 
and not over twenty miles from the sea itself, 
is the eternal snow, and the nights on Vancouver 
Island at sea level are cool in summer. 
D. C. Beaman. 
Denver, Col. 
Pennsylvania Fishing Prospects. 
Doylestown, Pa., Jan. 23.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The Bucks County Fish Protective As¬ 
sociation, which was organized at Doylestown, 
Pa., on May 25, 1894, held its thirteenth annual 
meeting on Jan. 17, when the following officers 
were- elected for 1907: President, James M. 
Shelly; Vice-President, Dr. Frank B. Swartz- 
lander; Secretary and Treasurer, George Mac- 
Reynolds; Warden, Frank A. LeFevre; Chair¬ 
man of the Executive Committee, H. W. Atkin¬ 
son. 
The day prior to the meeting Warden LeFevre 
was appointed by the Fishery Commission of 
Pennsylvania a.special deputy warden for Bucks 
county. He will be the first commissioned State 
warden the county has ever had. Warden Le¬ 
Fevre is a fine sportsman, has long been a foe 
to the illegal fishermen and proposes to leave no 
stone unturned in his efforts to compel obser¬ 
vance of the State fish laws. 
The association will this summer plant 3,000,- 
000 pickerel and about 3,000,000 yellow perch in 
the streams of the county. These fish will be 
furnished by State Commissioner of Fisheries 
Meehan. Hon. George M. Bowers, Commissioner 
of the Bureau of Fisheries at Washington, has 
also assured the association a supply of brood 
fish, the species to be small-mouth black bass, 
pickerel and crappie. With the fish received 
from the State the association proposes to bounti¬ 
fully restock Pine Run, once famous pickerel 
water. 
The outlook for the angler in this section the 
coming season is very good. Last year was an 
unexceptionally favorable one for bass fishing in 
the Delaware River, and barring heavy freshets 
this spring, the outlook will be even better for 
the coming season. R. 
Fishing Rod Ferrules. 
An eminent English authority writing of fish¬ 
ing rod ferrules, says these should be fitted with 
a lock fastening, which “is very superior to the 
old way of tying the pieces to prevent them 
from coming loose.” 
This may seem curious to anglers in the United 
States, accustomed as they are to the excellent 
ferrules supplied by our own makers, but the 
fact is that English ferrules of brass, while 
beautifully made and finished, are ineffective. It 
is by no means unusual, while casting with an 
English rod, to have a tip or middle joint thrown 
out because of loose ferrules, whereas with 
American German silver ferrules it often re¬ 
quires some skill and no little strength to take 
the rod apart after use, for the ferrules fit tightly 
and give no trouble. 
