Oct. i, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
539 
the swift water carried us to Forks Falls, a 
French settlement, where we found a scare about 
some contagious disease and thought best not to 
land in case we might be quarantined. At the 
Gridirons, where large trout are sometimes taken, 
it was not our large, trout day; in fact, where we 
had 'the highest expectations we generally had 
the poorest luck, and the reverse was equally 
true, some spot blundered on and unnamed, gen¬ 
erally giving the best sport. But that is the chief 
charm of angling, its glorious uncertainty. We 
fish in more ways than one; much of the sport is 
in finding the spot. I pity the poor fellow who 
thinks the size of the catch is the whole of fish¬ 
ing; he has no place on the Tusket, where the 
infinite variety of quiet lake, flowing river, and 
rushing rapid; here a vast depth, there a rocky 
shoal, always clothed about with glorious ver¬ 
dure, wildflowers everywhere, birds whistling to 
you — make a paradise beyond my power to ade¬ 
quately describe. 
The dark waters prevent your locating fish by 
the eye, and you must feel for them or mark 
their risings. The lower waters of the river 
form a series of lakes, connected by stream 
stretches of varying length, each stretch with one 
or more rapids. Altogether it forms an ideal 
refuge and hatchery for game fish. In the fifty 
or sixty miles we covered there is more good 
fishing ground, more acres of piscatorial pleasure 
than in any river of twice or three times the 
length that I know of. A hundred fishing clubs 
with their camps could be lodged on its banks 
and islands and they would be literally lost in the 
woods. Unfortunately, the river is netted and 
poached shamefully, but of that more anon. 
From the Gridirons we passed a lake-like 
stretch known as East River deadwater, then 
Wilson’s Lake and bridge; Bennet’s Lake, which 
narrows down to Long Falls, at the head of 
which we camped on an open grass spot and did 
full justice to trout, beans, eggs, bread and tea. 
Here was one of the few farms we had seen 
on the journey, and we stocked up on eggs and 
milk. Another glorious sunset right down chan¬ 
nel in the split in the woods made by the stream 
which here bends sharply to the west. Lying on 
the balsam with the stars blinking at us, the river 
Sang lullaby as mothers do. 
Herewith they bring thtir babes to rest. 
And lullaby can I sing, too, 
As cunningly as do the rest. 
Yes, beautiful river of New Scotland, with 
green sward under and green leaves over, you 
carol as sweet a song as ever ear listened to. No 
wonder slumber came quickly and refreshing. 
Though we fished Long Falls carefully, wading 
or casting from shore, never a salmon could we 
get, but trout came and my first “grayling,” and 
great sport lie was, jumping often and pulling as 
hard for his inches as any fish I ever hooked. 
The natives say “grayling”; I am not sure of 
his identity, but there is no doubt of his pluck. 
We crossed Gable’s Lake to Gable’s Falls, 
where we hoped for salmon, but lumber men 
were driving logs through. I got trout and 
grayling on a salmon rod and salmon fly in the 
pool above the bridge. Charlie carried around 
the falls while I fished, and then into Lake Van, 
or Vaugn, a handsome sheet of water, with 
islands, into which flows the West Tusket River 
we had been running down the east branch. 
Then came Hurlbut’s Falls, a small lake and the 
last rapids of all, Tusket Falls, at the foot of 
which tide water backs up, though it is still ten 
miles to the sea. Here the guide left me to get 
back home by rail to Weymouth and start out 
with another party the coming week. 
At Tusket Falls I loafed four days, well 
sheltered by kindly folk. Two men. from the 
States, who have a camp near by and visited here 
MR. PARKER FISHING THE UPPER TUSKET RIVER. 
for many years have had a few salmon this sea¬ 
son, but they are few and far between and are 
not large, running seven to fourteen pounds per¬ 
haps with a' very few of the larger fish. Most 
of the salmon obtained hereabouts are netted or 
dipped by the fishers who sit by the sluiceways 
and eternally dip their tools, shaped like a huge 
round-mouthed landing net, and at least twenty- 
THE FLOATING COOK-HOUSE OF A LOGGING CAMP. 
five inches across. The chief catch is alewives, 
or herring, excellent eating, but largely sold for 
bait to deep-water fishermen or salted for the 
West Indian trade. In the good old days one 
man has netted as high as six thousand alewives 
in a day, but this harvest of the sea has been 
thin for several years, and last year in particular 
the catch was very small. The dippers dip down 
stream in the sluiceways built into the rapids 
during low water, and the fish running up stream, 
suddenly find themselves in the net, so it comes 
about that occasional shad, trout, grayling or 
salmon are taken with the alewives. and though 
the law requires the return of the salmon to the 
water, custom decrees that all is grist that comes 
to the mill. 
All dipping stops Friday night to give the fish 
a chance to run up Saturday and Sunday, but I 
fear the set nets, many of them extending clear 
across the river, are never rested while fish are 
running. 
At a hotel we blundered upon an argument be¬ 
tween the hotel keeper, who owns some camps 
and is intelligently interested in anglers gener¬ 
ally, a lumber mill owner and the county in¬ 
spector of fisheries. There was some very plain 
talk, loud complaint being made that the down¬ 
stream fishermen, especially the builders of weirs, 
fished the stream so hard that not enough salmon 
and other fish were allowed to get up stream to 
spawn and keep up the natural supply. The 
down-stream men responded that logging dams 
and eel weirs up stream were so numerous and 
tight that the young fish could not get down to 
the sea. Evidently, the government must step in 
and as the impartial friend to all, so protect the 
fish as to increase this rich harvest, while giving 
to each class of fishermen its just share of the 
fishing and the trade. 
This was a delightful trip. I would gladly 
go over it a^rain, and in a more leisurely fashion, 
for one could easily stay in one camp for sev¬ 
eral days and not exhaust the neighborhood. 
Three-fourths of the trip is through primeval 
wilderness, much of which even the logger has 
not yet touched. If I owned a canoe there I 
should fit it with a small mast and leg-o’-mutton 
sail of heavy muslin, say six feet above the gun¬ 
wale and five feet on the boom. The whole thing 
could be lifted out by the bow man on a moment’s 
notice, and with a favorable wind it would be a 
great help and the motion delightful. I have used 
such a sail* and know it is safe and practicable. 
Good-bye, Tusket, till I come again. 
The Deckhand. 
Fishing on the West Coast. 
San Francisco, Cal., Sept. 20 .-—Editor Forest 
and Stream: The run of salmon in the bay of 
San Francisco has been very heavy during the 
past two weeks, and some very fine catches have 
been made by anglers. The best success has 
been met by those who went outside the heads, 
but this is not necessary in order to make 
catches. Clear warm weather has prevailed and 
this makes the sport very enjoyable for those 
who go outside the heads. From ten to twenty 
boats have been on the grounds almost every 
day for the past two weeks and the crowd of 
local anglers has been supplemented by outsiders 
who have come here to join in the Native Sons’ 
festivities, and who have grasped the oppor¬ 
tunity. to enjoy some fine salmon trolling. Il 
Santa Cruz Bay the run of salmon has been 
large and some are now reported from the Eel 
River where the fishing will soon be good. 
Salmon have not been attracting the entire 
attention of fishermen, however, as the crowds 
at the sloughs, where striped bass are to be 
found, will testify. At San Pablo the fish have 
commenced to make their appearance, and at 
Wingo also some good catches are being made. 
At the former place, however, the fish are very 
small, and out of a catch of 150 all but twenty 
had to be returned to the water, being under¬ 
sized. 
