JUNE 9, 1906.] 



A Modern Knight. 
The lance and shield in days of old 
- Were emblems of the warrior bold, 
Who for his love grim death would feel; 
But now we have an era new 
When landing net and split-bamboo, 
With fly-book, line and reel, 
Will better please a maiden coy, 
And fill her gentle soul with joy, 
And often bring her heart to creel. 
J. CHARLES 
Fish and Fishing. 
One of the judges of the Superior Court of 
the district of Quebec has just rendered a very 
important judgment affecting a salmon river. 
The river is the Murray, which runs into the St. 
Lawrence at Murray Bay, and is of special value 
because of its accessibility. Leaving Quebec by 
steamboat in the morning, the tourist reaches 
Murray Bay in the middle of the afternoon, in 
time for the evening fishing. The salmon pools on 
the river are reached by a drive of less than an 
hour from the hotel or the cottages of the sum- 
mer residents. Some years ago the fishing in 
the Murray River, which had been badly netted 
for a long time before, was almost destroyed. 
After the planting of young fish for a number of 
years from the government hatchery at 
Tadoussac, and the careful protection of the 
stream, the salmon fishing again became excel- 
lent. The owners of the principal pool in the 
river recently brought action against a lumber 
company, for $10,000 damages, claiming that they 
had injured their salmon pool to that extent, by 
blasting operations in the bed of the river. 
The evidence. conclusively proved that. the 
blasting operations had changed the bed of the 
pool, and the weight of evidence as to the effect 
of the change was that the salmon had been 
very much less plentiful there than before the 
blasting was resorted to. 
. As those who are accustomed to salmon fish- 
ing very well know, it is the simplest thing in the 
world to cause the fish to desert their ac- 
customed haunts, even when they still ascend 
the same river. The movement of a rock, which 
slightly changes a current or removes a shadow, 
the action of the ice, or even of a flood, in 
filling in a deep hole or changing a shallow one, 
or even the removal of an overhanging tree, 
will often suffice to destroy a salmon pool. 
Sometimes it is easy to account for the action 
of the fish. At others it is not, for why they 
should select certain holes or pools in a river 
for resting in while on their way to their spawn- 
ing grounds, and invariably pass by others which 
appear to the angler to be equally inviting, is 
one of those things which it is difficult indeed 
for a fisherman to understand. 
Summoned as an expert witness in this case, 
the present writer could only state the broad 
facts, that changes in a river bed, caused by 
blasting, etc., were certainly of a nature to cause 
salmon to desert the pools in which they were 
previously accustomed to lie, and that similar 
results had been observed by himself and also 
by Mr. J. Willis Bund, one of the leading Eng- 
lish authorities, and the author of “Salmon 
Problems,” etc. 
The court decided against the lumbér com- 
pany and assessed damages at $1,000. The de- 
fense had not only denied the allegations of the 
plaintiffs regarding the effect of their blasting 
of the bed of the river, but had set up the plea 
that the Murray being a floatable river, they 
were justified in removing obstacles to the float- 
ing of their logs. The court held that the river 
was not what the law recognizes as a floatable 
one, and, moreover, that the blasting had dam- 
aged or destroyed the salmon pool in question, 
which they had no right to do. It will thus be 
seen that the case is one oi the createst im- 
Davis. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 



pa | SEA AND RIVER FISTING! 
portance to proprietors and lessees of salmon 
rivers, but the end is not yet, for the defendants 
have given notice of appeal to a higher court. 
American Anglers in Canada. 
Mr. C. H. Simpson, of New York, is settled 
for the season at his fishing lodge at Lake 
Carolus, in Northern Quebec. On the day the 
ice left the lake, Mr. Simpson went out to do 
some fishing. In short time he had killed three 
trout, the largest of which was over three pounds 
in weight. Then he stopped fishing. Mr. Fred 
Simpson, his brother, Mr. George Hard, presi- 
dent of the Chatham National Bank, New York; 
Hon. Mr. Prevost, Minister of Colonization, 
Mines and Fisheries of the Province of Quebec, 
and General Henry, U. S. Consul at Quebec, 
are at present the guests of Mr. C. H. Simpson. 
Fully a dozen other American anglers, includ- 
ing Mr. C. H. Wilson, of Glens Falls, N. Y., and 
Mr. Charles Burhans, of Warrensburg, are .at 
present fishing the waters of the St. Bernard 
Fish and Game Club, at Saccacoma Lake, where 
they are about to be joined by the president of 
the club, General Henry and party, and where 
the annual meeting of the club is to be held on 
Monday, June 4. 
Remarkable Ouananiche Fishing, 
In a recent letter, speaking of the remark- 
able ouananiche fishing enjoyed this spring by 
the residents of the Lake St. John country, be- 
fore the ice had completely left the body of the 
lake, I suggested that if there were any one to 
try them with the fly, they would no doubt take 
it almost as readily as they were taking the 
countrymen’s worms and pieces of pork. The 
correctnes of the supposition has now been fully 
demonstrated. The village doctor at Roberval has 
been surprising his fellow-townsmen by success- 
fully fishing for ouananiche with the fly from the 
steamboat wharf in front of the hotel. - Both 
there and at the mouth of the Metabetchouan, 
the doctor has taken these fish with the arti- 
ficial fly at the rate of several dozens a day. A 
number of local anglers have gone there to try 
their luck, and will doubtless return with good 
catches, for the sport is crainly by a great deal 
the best which has been known at Lake St. 
John at this particular season for many years 
past. 
There is very little doubt that this condition 
of affairs is largely due to the total suppression 
of netting this season by the Minister, both in 
Lake St. Jolin and in all its tributary waters, the 
fish being thus able to reach the mouths of the 
rivers without having their way barred by nets. 
The water is still very high in Lake St. John, 
and I do not expect that there will be any good 
ouananiche fishing this year in the Grand Dis- 
charge of the lake before the 15th or 20th of 
June. In the bays and mouths of the rivers it 
has been good since about the 8th of May, and 
against another spring comes around I venture 
to assert that the earliest sport with the fish, 
and that, too, where they are most accessible, 
will not be left entirely to the habitants of the 
country. 
Trout Fishing is Backward 
The trout fishing season is as late as the 
ouananiche was early. The spring is still phe- 
nomenally late. When the first Quebec anglers 
of the season went out trout fishing this spring, 
whatever little water there was in their boats 
froze into solid ice while they fished. It was 
almost impossible to coax the fish to look at 
the fly at all. Almost all the fish brought in for 
the first ten or fifteen days from northern waters 
were taken with bait. The water in Lake Ed- 
ward and the other lakes is still very high, but 
since the 26th inst. there has been a change for 
the better in the weather, and the higher temper- 
ature ought soon to bring the fish up to the 
surface. 
The camps at Lake Edward and the various 
club houses along the line of the railways, 
especially the Triton, the Tourilli, the Stadacona, 
the Laurentides and the Metabetchouan are 
rapidly filling up, and within the next few days 
there is little doubt that we shall be in the thick 
of the spring trout fishing in northern Canada. 
E, T. D. CHAMBERS. 
Sullivan County Notes. 
NEVERSINK, N, Y., May 31.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Heavy rain in the first two days cf last 
week brought down quite a spate and made the 
water decidedly dirty. The sun came out on 
Tuesday, but it was only cold with a piercing 
north wind. Decoration Day was very fine, 
although the wind was still quite sharp, and I 
trust that the host of anglers who were out on 
the upper reaches and smaller streams had an 
enjoyable day. I know what it is to have but 
one day’s fly-fishing during the- year. How 
hard one works, and how frequently we are dis- 
appointed. If we have good sport and can re- 
turn to the city with a fair basket of trout, we 
mark that one day with a white stone and hold 
it in grateful memory. 
Hereabouts the river was still too much dis- 
colored for really successful fly-fishing. I did 
not go out myself, nor did I see many fisher- 
men on the stream. I am becoming more and 
more interested in the natural flies, and if my 
friends would only remember to carry a tiny 
bottle of alcohol] in their vest pockets, as a re- 
ceptacle for insects, instead of crushing the 
flies in paper, they would assist one materially. 
It takes time to imitate a natural fly successfully. 
The insect must be studied and many patterns 
dressed before one can hope to satisfy the 
critical eyes of the trout. 
I fancy that the dry fly frightens the fish more 
than the wet fly. Our friend the trout has just 
taken several tasty natural flies and sees another 
sailing down upon his nose. He rises with the 
greatest confidence, and the supposed insect 
grabs him ferociously, nearly, pulls his head 
off and sticks a needle in his jaw. No wonder he 
goes wild with fright and races all over the 
river. If the really big fish were as wild as the 
ones of half a pound to one pound, I do not 
know how we could handle them with much suc- 
cess. I hooked a trout of about one pound last 
week that I would have sworn was at least 
double that weight, until I saw it. This fish 
fought like a maniac; and if unseen, would prob- 
ably have been reported by me as one of those 
busters that so often get away. It had such 
pluck that I was not really displeased when the 
hook lost its hold in a pool way below the one 
in which it was hooked. 
June is the loveliest month in all the year, but 
the fishing is apt to be more difficult than in 
May. The trout have secured quite a good 
education in flies and baits by this time, and are 
in better condition. They are not ready to rise 
at anything resembling a fly, but will often allow 
everything to go by untouched, except the 
natural on the ‘water at the time, or an artificial 
fly of the same color. I do not think any one 
can fish these streams regularly without becom- 
ing convinced of this, and of the great advantage 
of imitating this natural insect and carrying a 
well stocked fly-book. If a man fished one 
river all through the season he would know just 
about what was required, and would not need 
a great many patterns; but when he is a lover 
of variety and change of scene in his sport, it 
is hardly possible to have too large an assort- 
ment, particularly of small flies, duns, yellows 
