Recollections 
of a 
Nova Scotia 
Salmon 
Angler 
LAURIE D. MITCHELL 
By CAPT. 
"LL wager that about this time 
| some of the boys at Mill Village 
and Charleston are overhauling 
their salmon tackle in preparation 
for the opening day of the salmon 
season in early spring. I can 
visualize Harry Lockwood tying up 
two or three flies for the early fish- 

A twenty-pound trophy 
Valuable Notes 
on 
Salmon Tackle 
and 
Angling Methods 
in 
Nova Scotia 
and usually where the current was 
slow. There was one “pool” be- 
low the Village Bridge in tidal 
waters, where old Joe Manthorne 
—now dead and gone—used to 
catch salmon on the fly, with the 
sea-lice still on them. I remem- 
ber taking one there myself many 
ing on those long-shanked Limerick seasons ago and the fish was 
hooks. The old pattern we always up and down the bank of the river quite lively for that time of the 
used — tail, Golden Pheasant crest; waiting for the sun to come up. All _ year. 
body, yellow pig’s wool; hackle, orange; the early fish were taken between This early fishing will never become 
wings, Golden Pheasant tippets 
with long Jungle Cock; cheeks, 
Blue Chatterer. Many a one 
have I tied for the boys—yes, 
thirty years back! 
I wonder if Bill Greenlow will 
have to saw the ice out in order 
to fish his favorite pool opposite 
his neat little home? Bill was 
always lucky in the early fish- 
ing, nearly always getting the 
first fish of the season. Then 
there was our “guid” Scotch- 
man, A. A. Buchanan, a fine 
fisherman and sportsman, who 
still goes to the Medway for his 
salmon fishing, and, like many 
of his countrymen, he loves to 
spin with a silver Devon or a Phant 
along about the middle of March 
that beautiful’ reach below 
Falls. He gets them, too. 
Another lure, used success- 
fully by Lester McKinnon, 
an inveterate fisherman, is 
the “Wagtail.” 
ESTER has taken -some 
good big fish on Salters 
Falls in the “pool” half 
way up the Falls. I can 
recall a half dozen keen 
fishermen of the old days 
who always showed up on 
the opening day, weather 
permitting, who would take 
their stand sometimes by 
daybreak to hold an espe- 
cially good “pool,” or walk 
Glodeo 
HUSUENUIUUOTOUVEETCURIUEOEY UU 
ILLOUTIILUUU 
In the picturesque Medway river flowing 
through beautiful Nova Scotia, good salmon 
angling is obtainable. Captain Mitchell 
has spent many years on this stream and 
from his fund of salmon lore. he has 
written this article which will prove in- 
valuable to those who contemplate taking a 
trip to the north in quest of this lordly fish. 
' an PUITITITTTTTATTTTTTTATTTHTATTTTTATATTTATTTTATT TTT TNTTTTTTTTTT TTT a 
UUVUCTUTHRUULULATURNGSOUU LLU HTTEUUULLUTHPPOEUELUAHHEULULVUTHEOUUUELUHPHOPUPLOLCT OOOH HAACOCUVLUAHATOUULAAHOUUU TAC 
Salters Falls Bridge and Mill Village 
Bridge, about two miles of river and 
in water about 6 to 7 feet in depth, 
om see 
on 

Sun-splashed riffles ’mid rugged forest-clad banks 
with the every - day 
sportsman. It is altogether too 
strenuous and cold. Only the 
native, who is out after the 
dollars it brings him, will flog 
the waters all through February 
and March, often without get- 
ting a single fish. Talk about 
patience! 
popular 
RACTICALLY all the rods 
used by the natives are 
made of seasoned ash, 14 to 15 
feet long, and all spliced. Saul 
Newell, an old Micmac Indian, 
was a famous rod-maker, and 
one of the best casters I ever 
knew. It was a pretty sight to 
that line going out straight as a 
rush, with never a fault. 
It is a well-known fact among the 
natives that there is a run 
of salmon up the Medway 
as early as January and 
during the cold months they 
lie in the deep and easy 
water. As the weather 
gets warmer they draw up 
into the faster water, some- 
times choosing to lay behind 
or ahead of large rocks or 
ledges or in an easy run of 
gravelly bottom, and thus 
they continue to work their 
way on, up to the spawning 
beds. The spawning in the 
Medway continues through- 
out the late Fall. Two of 
the largest spawning beds 
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