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[Ocr. 12, 1907. | 



THE FOX RIVER NORTH OF ELGIN, ILLINIOS, 
Where the Fox River Valley 
Pelican, the duck, snipe, bear, deer, geese and 
rainbows. 
The bay is about a mile long, a quarter of a 
mile wide, and fed by big springs at the head 
of several little rivers which flow into it through 
a tule and wocus flat abounding in ducks and 
snipe. Up these little rivers and along the base 
of Mount Pelican the best fishing is found. 
Nearly every foot of the charmed region is 
named, as Elliot’s Port, Beebe’s Point, Meyer’s 
Run, and many more commemorating the mighty 
deeds of fly-fishermen with trout ranging from 
four to twenty pounds. My friend Beebe, a 
notable fly-caster, who introduced me to these 
beautiful waters, and confided to me the secrets 
of its famous pools, told me it was his custom 
to toss back anything under two pounds. Ye 
gods and fishes! Was it possible, or was it a 
dream of some angling Utopian? 
Would I ever land such a fish, I, who all my 
life had been satisfied with six-inch rainbows or 
brook trout? But it is the unexpected which 
happens. The good luck of many happy fishing 
grounds pursued me clasely. The next day my 
companion, whose faith was greater than mine, 
rowed me in the rain, a propitious time for trout, 
to a certain Field’s Point, and with the camarad. 
erie of the true angler placed me in possession 
of all the choice angling secrets he had been 
a decade in learning. Then he aroused all my 
dormant enthusiasm with accounts rich in de- 
tail, of the mighty ten-pounders he had taken 
there. 
According to him on ordinary days Field’s 
Point was like any other place; it might be fished 
and fished again, without avail, but when the 
wind was from the west, blowing inshore, when 
the ripple was heavy as it was to-day, and pro- 
nounced, then, ah—just then it happened, as the 
unexpected always does. Talking and rowing 
gently my companion permitted the light skiff 
to drop in within eighty feet of the magic point, 
and aided by the wind, I, a very indifferent 
manipulator of the  fly-rod, began to cast a 
March brown fly in the direction of the point. 
I was standing in the stern and wore a heavy 
rain coat, as a storm had suddenly burst upon 
us. As the fly dropped something swirled vio- 
lently beneath it, and as I struck, into the air 
went a giant rainbow, whirling over and over, 
tossing corruscations of silver and other tints in 
every direction and with them the fly. My com- 
panion caught the sienal of the bending rod as 
soon as I, and gave a mighty pull off shore, 
which it seemed was the correct thing to do, but 

as I had not heard of this I went down and 
nearly dived into the pool of the rainbows. 
“Is he off?” asked my friend in suppressed 
tones. 
I said nothing. It was one of those cases 
where plain words could not do it justice. He 
was off, and there was no more casting for us 
in that pool, so we faced the pouring rain and 
pulled mournfully in, 
Bait-Casting Club held one of its tournaments. 
“Great Scott! but he was a sockdolager,” said 
my friend, trying to make it pleasant and com- 
fortable for me. 
“T wenty-pounder ?” 
worst. 
“N-no, not twenty, but seven, sure. 
it’s happened to me many.a time,” 
My companion was a member of many clubs, 
the Light Tackle, the Tuna, and the Ananias. I 
am sure he spoke then as a member of the latter, 
as my miss, at least to my despairing mind, was 
inexcusable. I did something, or did not do 
something which ought to have been done, and 
then to add’ to the bitterness of our sorrow, an 
hour after we landed, another pair of anglers 
came in. They had cast in the pouring rain and 
laid out in front of the lodge a seven-pounder 
as rosy as the dawn, three, five and six-pounders 
and a “job lot” of three and four pounders; they 
had tossed back the two-pounders, all taken with 
a fly. 
The rain turned to snow at night and Sept. 
12 the peaks were white with snow. With Mount 
Pitt behind us, a giant icicle against the clear 
sky, we again rowed out, now beginning near 
the deep pool at the entrance of the little river, 
rowing along shore, casting in the shadows, and 
Over water clear as crystal. No more fascinat- 
ing region for fly-casting could be imagined. 
Rainbow trout could be seen rising everywhere. 
Standing up to cast, I saw columns of trout, 
platoons of individuals of heroic size and comely 
shape, moving slowly out of the way, a fascinat- 
ing, inspiring spectacle. We were in the shadow 
of Pelican mountain and its forest, so a royal 
coachman of large size was used, 4 “regular 
pigeon,” my companion remarked as I sent it 
whirling through the air and dropped it, dry 
fashion, as near a swirl as I could. I had made 
perhaps ten long casts, when I dropped the fly 
into a little snug harbor beneath a big quaking 
aspen, and according to angling ethics here, per- 
mitted the fly to lie a second, then began to move 
it toward me, when the water broke in a violent 
swirl. There was a flash of gleaming silver, the 
rod bent violently as I instinctively struck, then 
a dazzling, radiant vision went whirling into the 
air and I, with quivering nerves, was_ playing 
my big rainbow, or was it playing me? Here 
is a very fine point. How it came at me, how 
it went repeatedly into the air, how T nearly fell 
overboard are matters of personal history which 
need not be dwelt upon; but for the first few 
seconds that rainbow, which went dancing over 
the little river on its tail, throwing impossible 
aerial swings and leaps, filled a large space in 
my imagination. I fully expected a repetition 
of my first fiasco and could not believe that the 
big fly would not come whizzing at me through 
the air. Again and again the rainbow leaped, 
dropping back to dash about the boat, then came 
in with a rush faster than I could reel, to stop 
and balk, and protest high in the air. 
Nearly all these rainbows have 
I asked, prepared for the 
Oh, well, 
a trick of 
charging the boat, so my companion had pulle| 
lustily for the open water where I played th 
rainbow, brought it to the quarter; then my cor 
panion dropped the oars and stood by with th 
big net. But not yet; the sharp-eyed fish wa 
outfought, but not caught. It balked at th 
deadly thing and made a splendid rush away an 
tugged and resisted, testing every inch of lin 
leader and rod with sturdy hammering blow: 
Again I reeled it in; again it broke away. The 
after fifteen or twenty minutes’ of fighting 
brought it in, and my companion netted it i | 
gallant fashion and lifted it in. You have per}. 
haps never seen a big rainbow fresh from th}, 
icy pools of its choice. Know then that thil: 
seven-pounder, which I held up on the scales) 
was a thing of beauty and a joy forever beyoni; 
dispute. ; 
This was luck of a specious quality, and tak|: 
ing the “oars” I pulled in shore back to th] 
deep shadows and held the skiff while my com 
panion cast, giving a notable exhibition of clever 
ness and _ skill in i 
where he wished, seventy-five or eighty fee; 
away. No line or leader struck the clear wate |, 
here first. Only the gentle dropping of the lure i 
imitating the dash of some insect, which befor, 
it could rise, would be seized by the rapaciou:, 
rainbow that almost invariably went into thi, 
air in protest. Anything but fly-casting seemec® 
profanation in these clear silent pools and dells ,, 
and there should be an unwritten law among ¢, 
anglers to fish for trout with flies alone. Worms » 
spoons and similar engines of death are per, 
missible when trout for food are necessary, 01. 
a specimen is needed which cannot be taket 
otherwise, but for sport the fly alone should be 
employed. Indeed, the big spoon used here, anc 
upon which a twenty-two pound rainbow has| 
been taken, according to Mr. Alfred L. Beebe) 
an expert, is fatal to the sport, taking all the 
fight out of the fish which becomes either from| 
fright or despair the antipodes of a fish of simi-\f 
lar size taken with the fly. th 
Back into the shadows we rowed and again Jh 
took the rod and successfully landed the game ‘tl 
and so, alternately, we fished the points ancl, 
nooks at the foot of the mountain with varying}y 
success. & 
We cast over all the pools, up the little river. 
and came casting, drifting down Crystal River, 
sometimes with luck, again failing to secure a 
rise, hooking monsters which always got away, |, 
bringing others to the net that fought and}, 
leaped until in the meshes. Sometimes we}, 
trolled when casting did not avail, and one}, 
afternoon when sky and lake were clear and}, 
still, we pulled out into the great lake, rousing}, 
gulls, dicks and big white pelicans which were), 
floating like big ships, for such they seemed in}, 
the mirage. I was facing the bow, a preposter-| 
ous position in trolling, and the powerful surge 
on the eight-ounce split bamboo literally brought), 
me up standing in time as I turned, giving line i 
under my thumb to see a big silvery body rise}. 
and roll over at the surface, a premonition of 
big game. My companion bent to the oars, be- 
lieving that the fish would rush at the boat, a 
clever trick common in this tribe of rainbow, |, 
but nothing of the kind occurred, the fish mak- |), 
ing a clear dash the other way, taking yards of|, 
line despite my pressure on the reel and forcing r 
the not unwilling conclusion on my mind that he 
I had hooked an unusual fish. Indeed, the I 
veteran at the oars whispered behind me, “Saints " 
and sinners, but he’s a corker! Don’t lose him 5}, 
go easy with him.” [ 
It came to the surface and rolled over. It}, 
was too big literally to jump. Then it thrashed]. 
about, dashed from side to side, plunged down- h 
ward to rise and bear off, making the rod bend 
and groan in spirit, putting it to the severest Fe 
test it had 
1 
placing the large fly exactls; 




























ever had, almost forcing me to ; 
the conclusion that it was outclassed. Thirty | 
minutes passed before I could safely reel the 

fish to the quarter, where, as it surged ahead, 
we could for the first time see its full propor- 
tions. Then seeing the boat, recognizing the}, 
enemy, it plunged and I was forced to give fifty 
feet of line. Then I rounded it up again and 
slowly reeled in, and again had the fish on the 
quarter while my comrade manned the net and} 
I endeavored to lead the game into its toils, 

























