A Unique Way to Land 
ing for ouananiche, the leaping 
salmon of the Grande Descharge 
in the River Saguenay, Quebec. While 
in that quaint old 
city I met my old 
S EVERAL years ago I was fly fish- 
Northern Pike 
Bye L.O UTS. R HEAD 
made of, even if loaded with the abun- 
dant means I lacked. So we were known 
throughout the trip as Sammy and 
Louis. While very enthusiastic, he was 

the Great 
the quieter waters after the pike—more 
suited to his genius as a pike and bass 
expert as he was. 
He dug out from his kit a spoon, one 
of those enormous 
curved .pieces of 

tmend, 1. D. T. 



shining metal 




Chambers, who 
advised me to se- 















cure, before I 
went on the trip, 
those two little 
double hook 
champion flies, 
Silver Doctor and 
Jock Scott. I have 
every reason to 
respect Brother 
Chamber’s_ valu- 
able hints, for no- 
body knows better 
than he where to 
go and what to 
use in any part of 
that vast fishing 
region known as 
the Canadian 
Wilds. Chambers 
ought to know, for 
he has “coached” 
(Fred Shaw’s fa- 
vorite term) all 
the foreign “big 
wigs’ — royal, 
noble and other- 
wise—in the mys- 
teries of the craft. 
Well, I got to the 
place by the aid 
of two Montaigne 
Indians and a 
birch bark canoe, 
landed safely on 
the rocky island 
after some shaky 
feelings while 
crossing the 
seething, roaring and rushing waters 
just below the falls. Even in the sun- 
shine of leafy June it is a gloomy, 
lonesome place and I was always glad 
after fishing was over to start back for 
the hotel through the tangled silent 
trail of the forest. The rocky island 
was already tenanted by a gentleman 
from Boston whom I shall refer to as 
Sammy—a friendly appellation he re- 
quested on further acquaintance. I 
could do no other than return the com- 
pliment, though I found later that he 
was a millionaire and very democratic 
and just the right stuff true anglers are 
Page 649 




a poor fly caster and, as everybody 
knows, long casts are essential because 
the floating mass of foam, sometimes 
twenty yards in extent, is continually 
on the move, forced back and forth by 
the surging waters. In this mass of 
foam, millions of flies are trapped thus 
to furnish a never ending supply of 
food for the salmon who rise up from 
deep water to feed. 
Sammy was much disconcerted to 
watch me landing fish after fish he could 
not reach and he got tired of waiting 
for the foam to drift closer, he desired 
the Indian to launch the canoe and try 

adorned with red 
feathers that cov- 
ered a liberal 
sized _ triangle 
hooks | Sialan i, 
“What do you ex- 
pect to get on 
thavething 27 at 1 
don’t know ex- 
actly,” Sam _ re- 
plied, “but if any 
fish gets on it, he 
is fast for cer- 
tain.” So thought 
I, myself. After 
wishing them 
good luck, off 
they started 
across to the 
shore side where 
the rocks rose 
clean, straight 
above the water, 
which was in that 
place several hun- 
dred feet deep. 
The Indian guide 
had stripped him- 
self naked to the 
waist and hatless 
except a feather 
plume picked up 
One) toeeet O Cass 
which he stuck in 
his long’ black 
hair. It made a 
picture worth 
painting as he 
plowed the pad- 
dle through rough 
water to reach the rocks. They did not 
paddle more than 500 yards before I 
heard a combined yell which signalized 
success with something, and by the 
bending rod I could see it was some- 
thing big. Why they did not get the 
fish in the canoe was afterward ex- 
plained; they forgot the essential gaff 
or net so necessary to tackle a large 
fish in a place where they could not pos- 
sibly beach it. Just afterwards the In- 
dian turned the canoe with the inten- 
tion of paddling towards our island rock 
for us to net the fish for them. As 
(Continued on page 690) 
