ON THE KESTIGOUCHE. / 'UK r,:.:Ji:llt^ TOIJHIST: i^t ^iri'?, yMNCE BOOK. I.:. 'M.. .i'"f UTsOlfi,* ■ v7 i** MM nti ft* %i* «<*»»^ '•wAjt u: s' ^ Y o R K • ilOaiiilinniiii i ■ /"» -^ J «^& ■^ fH. M 'S*'''*^- * "JP^/5^''^ ov THi, / THE Fishing Tourist : ANGLER'S GUIDE po REFERENCE BOOK. BY . CHARLES HALLOCK, SECKETART OF THE " BLOOMINO OROVB PARK AgSOCIATrOI-l/ ' Ab flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport."- Shak. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE. 1873. f . Entered, according tc Act of Congress, in ttie year 1873, by HARPER & BROTHERS, In tlie OflQce of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. % KING OF GAME-FISH, , ■'-■■■■'" ",■"*■ "■ ' . ; ■ ■ - /Ais^-e. j>etfj. ^^ed ^^ 4.-e4.A'ei:-^^^^^ ^?VJ^' e: PREFATO RY. I HAVE been frequently requested to collate my various sketches of travel and adventure which have appeared from time to time in Harper's Magazine, and publish them in book form for the information of sportsmen. But, as these cover a period of seventeen years, and much of the material has passed out of date, I have thought it better to issue a work more comprehensive, to serve as a sort of Reference Book for Anglers and Tourists. This volume presents in a concise form all the informa- tion necessary to enable gentlertien to visit successfully every accessible salmon and trout region of America ; though of course it has not attempted to specify each neighborhood locality. Observation is confined exclusively to the Salmo family, because I regard them as the only frenh-water fish, excepting the black bass, worthy the name of game-fish — the earnest pursuit whereof leads where much substantial infor- mation can be gathered, with benefit to mind and body. Since the ancient days of Pliny and Ansonius, the " trout in speckled pride " has been the undying theme of pastoral poete and sentimental anglers ; and a fulsome rhapsody here would only pale before the light of their diviner fires. Ped- ants in piscatory lore have so often classified the Snlmo family, and described their characteristics and minutest points of diflFerence, that I asEume the scientific world is sat- isfied that nothing remains to be said on that head ; hence I offer no supplementary essay. Fly-fishing as a fine art has VIU PBEFATOUY. been expatiated upon till it has become a worn-out leaf in books. I forbear to delegate myself instructor in a brancli of study which can be thoroughly mastered only by diligent and intelligent practice. As for the " beauties of nature" which environ the haunts of the angler and so infallibly inspire the author's pen, are they not painted on the clouds, written on the leaves, and limned in rainbow tints upon the dashing streams ? It is evident that any eflfort of mine in this direc- tion, however ambitious, has been anticipated. Neither will I attempt to rival the retailers of big fish stories. The field is already fallow. My province is simply to write an Angler's Guide without embellishment ; to tell where fish are to be caught, and when, and how ; to show the sportsman the shortest routes to pleasure, the best means of conveyance, the expense thereof, and the secrets of the commissariat. With a few notable exceptions, our sporting literature is composed of technical scientific treatises on fish and fish- hooks, which may possibly interest a club of veteran anglers, but which only bore and mystify the general reader ; or else the books are mer'> recitals of personal exploits, supp' )mented by sentimental apostrophes to nature, and rounded off with high-flown periods. What does it matter to the neophyte, or what does the casual reader care, whether an artificial fly is whipped with the real yellow mohair, or with the rayed feathers of the mallard dyed yellow ? What do they know of the mechanism of rods and reels ? How can we stir enthusiasm in hearth-rug knights, or instil into their compo- sition a love for field sports by confusing their minds with ich- thyological abstractions ? Why daze the novice by turning all at once upon his unaccustomed eyes the full effulgence of the Sportsman's Paradise ? A service more meritorious and long needed, would be to furnish some plain, wholesome fare of wise instruction, comprehensible to common minds ; some healthy and vigorous photographs of real life, which will assert their truthfulness by instantly reviving kindred experiences of days gone by ; with a judicious touch of light and shade in the coloring that shall make the profession and PJiEFATOKY. IX field uttractivo and not discouraging by a pedantic display of its mysterious paraphernalia. A taste for out-of-door sports must be nurtured carefully. Its growth cannot be forced. Gradually and completely can we wean our families from the dissipation, late hours, and unhealthy conventionalisms of fashionable watering- places. By degrees we shall teach our wives and daughters to participate in the favorite pastimes of their husbands and sons ; for do they not always take a warm interest in any- thing that affects us ? Do they not sympathize with our views and plans, and mould their tastes to ours ? Why, then, should not a sporting literature be provided which our women may read with pleasure, and our children with profit ? More suitable or healthy light reading could not be put into their hands for perusal in the summer days. Not vain enough to suppose that the material of these pages meets this requisition, nor intending to write a book upon such a model, I nevertheless indulge the belief that it answers in many essentials the public demand, and that a cordial welcome will be extended to the Fishing Tourist. THE AUTHOR New York, Febmiary 1, 1873. f^:: •'.,<< . .*■ J CONTENTS. PART 1 . PAQC Early Lessons— Fly-fishing as a Fine Art— Trout and Salmon- lishiug compared— Game-fish — The Salmo Family — Natural History oi' the Salmon — Ascending the River to Spi^wn — Trout and Trout-rods — The Outfit — The Sportsman 15 — 54 PART J i . CBAPTEH » FAGB I. — Long Island 57 IL— The Adirondacks 67 in.— The AUeghanies 80 IV.— New England 89 v.— The Schoodics 10() VI. — Nova Scotia Ill VII.— Cape Breton 131 VIII.— New Brunswick 134 IX.— Baie des Chaleurs. 149 Xll CONTENTS. CHAFTEB PAGE X. — The Lower St. Lawrence 160 XL— The Saguenay 170 XIL — Labrador and Newfoundland 190 XIIL— Anticosti 183 XIV.— Tlie Ottawa District 196 XV.— The Superior Region 198 XVL— The Michigan Peninsula 306 XVIL— The"Big V^oods" 210 XVIIL— The Pacific Slope 217 XIX. — Blooming Grove Park 224 XX. — Natural and Artificial Propagation 230 ilUfll Sulmo, a salmon, probably from salio, to leap." — Lexicon. L 'V-lf"^ ■>^. ND why not " probably ?" Is not the leap the nota* ble characteristic of the whole Salmo family? Is '1^ it not the marvelous leap over the counterscarp of ^ J y dashing falls, and that more desperate leap taken ^ '^ at full tension of lengthened line and straining rod, which marks the courage and nervous strength of the salmon ? Is it not the leap at eventide, out from the depths of shadowy pools, that baptizes him with showers of glitter- ing spray the embodiment of grace and beauty ? " For often at night, in a sportive mood. He comes to the brim of the moonlit flood, And tosses in air a curve aloft, » Like the silvery bow of the gods, then soft He plashes deliciously back in the spray. While tremulous circles go spreading away." Answer thine oAvn heart's impulse, oh, enthusiastic devo- tee to sports of forest and stream ! Does it not quicken the pulse and thrill the nerves, and make thine own heart leap too, in magnetic sympathy, to see, aye, even to remember, those magnificent leaps of the wonderful salmon? And 16 SALMONID^. wherever the ^almon or the trout disports himself, there Nature likewise hfts up her voice and lier hands in joyful harmony and accord. The leaves dance to their own whis- pered cadences ; the cascade leaps to the music of its fall ; birds and insects take frequent wing ; and the bounding deer snuflfe the air, vital and laden with woodland perfumes. Surely it is the leap that designates the salmon. Let us, therefore, accord to him and all his royal family that he- raldic device and motto which justly belong to their noble line, and which have ever been recognized where Nature has held her court — Salmo the Leaper ! Just here, npon the inspiration of the occasion and the theme, it would be natural to give my pen an impromptu flourish, and describing a graceful parabola over my shoul- der, secundem artem, drop my line deftly into the swift cur- rent of my subject, just where that salmon splashed but now. I forbear only through fear of personal criticism from some old sportsman whose hair is more gray than mine. Yet, as- suredly a quarter of a century devoted to study of the gentle art should exempt me from a charge of presumption in at- tempting to instruct, or of egoism in simply narrating some portion of manifold personal experiences, quorum par.s fui. It is now twenty-six years since I cast my first fly among the green hills of Hampshire county, Massachusetts. I was a stripling then, tall and active, with my young blood bound- ing through every vein, and reveling in the full promise of a hardy manhood. My whole time was passed out of doors. I scorned a bed in the summer months. My home was a tree-embowered shanty apart from the farm-house, and crowning a knoll around whose base wound and tumbled a most delectable trout-brook. Here was the primary school where I learned the first rudiments of a sportsman's educa- tion. In time I came to know every woodchuck hole in the township, and almost every red squiiTel and chipmunk by sight; every log where an old cock-partridge drummed; every crow's nest, and every hollow tree where a coon hid 8ALM0NIDJE. 17 away. I heard Bob White whistle to his mate in June, and knew where to find liis family when the young brood hatched out. I had pets of all kinds: tame squirrels, and crows, hawks, owls and coons. All the live-stock on the farm were my friends. I rode the cows from pasture, drove a cosset four-in-hand, jumped the donkey off the bridge to the detri- ment of both our necks, and even trained a heifer so that I could fire my shot-gun at rest between her budding horns. I learned where to gather all the berries, roots, barks, and " yarbs " that grew in the woods ; and so unconsciously be- came a naturalist and an earnest student of botan} . As to fishing, it was my passion. There ■•vere great lakes that re- posed in the solitude of the woods, at whose outlets the hum and buzz of busy saw-mills were heard, and whose waters were filled with pickerel : and, most glorious of all, there were mountain streams, foaming, purling, eddying and rip- pling with a life and a dash and a joyousness that made our lives merry, and filled our hearts to overflowing with pleas- ure. Fly-fishing was in its infancy then. It was an art scarcely known in America and but little practised in England. The progressive school of old Isaak and Kit North had but few graduates with honor. We boys, my cousin and I, had little conception of the curious devices of feathers and tinsel which we afterwards learned to use ; and to the angling fraternity the artifices of Thorndyke, Stickler and Bethune were as mysterious as the occult sciences themselves. We used sim- ply a wattle and a worm, and whipped the trout out by hun- dreds ; for the streams fairly teemed with them. And it re- quired some little skill to do it, too — much knowledge of the haunts of the speckled beauties, much caution in creeping up to the more exposed pools, where a passing shadow would have dashed our hopes in an instant ; and no little dexterity in dropping the bait quietly out of sight under the bank, where we knew a waty trout was lurking. What a thrill there was when the expected tug came ! and when we had 2 1& . SALMONID^. him hooked, we pulled him out vi et armis. No time for grace or parley. It was purely a test of strength between tackle and gill^ AVe did not understand "playing a trout" And yet we were the best anglers in the village. No boys could hjld a candle to us. We caught bigger fish and more of them. We knew every good place in the stream. There was the old log just at the edge of the woods, the big hole where we used to bathe, the bridge that crossed the road, the rocky ledge at the pond where there was a little mill, the crossing-log in the ten-acre pasture, the eddy at the lower falls, and so on from point to point, through devious wind- ings and turnings, away down stream three miles or more to the grist-mill — the same which the old " Mountain Miller " used to " tend " in days gone by. Ah I those were halcyon days. No railroads disturbed the quiet seclusion of that mountain nook. The scream of the locomotive was not heard within twenty-four miles of it. Twice a week an old-fashioned coach dragged heavily up the hill into the hamlet and halted in front of the house which was at once post-offico, tavern, and miscellaneous store — an " omnium gatherum," as our friend Ives had it in our college days at Yale. One day it brought a passenger. A well-knit, wiry frame he had, and features stolid and denoting energy and kindred quahties. He carried a leather hand-bag and a handful of rods in a case. The village quidnuncs said he was a surveyor. He allowed he was from Troy and had '^ come to go a-fishing." From that stranger I took my first lesson in fly-fishing. As he stood upon the tavern-steps he gazed across the bar- ren waste of ground to the meeting-house opposite — the same meeting-house where my revered grandfather ministered with grace for forty years — a meeting-house quaint and ancient, rooster-crowned, with its horse-block and horse-sheds at hand, and its square pews inside, its lofty galleries and pul- pit, its deacon-seats and its sounding-board, long since things of the past. He gazed and seemed to meditate, then shook SALMONID^. 19 his head and remarked, " To-morrow will be Sunday. I shall have to wait till the following day. Sonny, can you tell me if there is any trout-fishing about here ? " Trout-fishing ! to me there was magic in the sound. Of course my Sunday- school lesson lapsed next day. Appetite deserted me — I even refused the golden gingerbread that my aunt supplied at noon from the family lunch-basket. But you should have seen that stranger fish on Monday ! It was not that he took so very many fish, but the way in which he did it. In the first place his rod Avas so constructed in difierent pieces that he could joint it together, and it was nicely varnished too, and stififer and more supple than our long hickory poles. I did not see what kind of bait he used — I didn't see him use any — but he gave a flourish of his arm, and tossed his line every time, far, far beyond the most ambitious attempts of ours ; and nearly eveiy time a fish took his hook. Big fellows they were, too, I can tell you. We always knew they were out there in that deep water under the alders, for wo had seen them break there, often. We never tried to fish there ; we could not reach them from this side, and upon the other the bushes were so thick it was useless to attempt it. All day long, while fishing with him, I employed my nicest art. I took only a few big ones — any dozen of his would have out- weighed my whde string. It aggravated me awfully. He said I was an excellent hait fisher, but thought I would learn to prefer a fly. Before he went away he gave me some instructions and a few flies. Since then I have always used a fly, except in certain contingencies. II. Some gentlemen, by no means pretentious or opinionated, dehght to assert that since they became recognized anglers they have never taken a trout or a salmon except with a fly. I doff my hat in reverence to the sentiment; it is the honest utterance of a justifiable pride. It is the spirit 30 SALMONID^. * « of the sangre azid, which dignifies the cultivated sports- man above the mere fisherman ; the man of honor above the assassin, the Herod among the small fry, the filler of pots and defier of close seasons. Nevertheless, I cannot ad- mit the implication that the man who habitually uses bait is consequently a creel-stuffer, or deficient in the scientific accomplishments of the craft. Fly-fishing and bait-fishing are co-ordinate branches of the same study, and each must be thoroughly learned to qualify the aspirant to honors for the sublime degree of Master of the Art. ■ Grant that fly-fishing transcendently illustrates the poetry of the gentle calling : is it becoming or wise to despise the sterner prose, the metaphysics of the more practical school ? The most dazzling accomplishment, that one which most enhances individual charms, is not necessarily of the great- est practical or substantial worth. Each method of fishing has its advantages ; one may be made available where the other is wholly impracticable. The deftly-tossed fly, taking wing on the nerve of a masterly cast, will drop gracefully far out in the stream where the heavier gear of the bait rod would never aspire to reach. On the other hand, the bait must supersede the fly on densely overgrown streams, and wherever the locality precludes proper casting-room. More- over fish do not always prefer the same dipt. They have their times to eat and their choice of food, whether red worms, small fry, maggots, or flies. They will take bait when they will not rise to a fly. The red worm is notoriously the most acceptable food of the lordly salmon. The Salmo fam- ily do not feed upon insects and flies : they make no hearty meal of such. These are merely the souffles and whipped syllabub of their table d'hote — their superficial dessert, which they gracefully rise to accept. Has it become the law of Piscator that professional anglers shall pander to the pam- pered epicure alone ? that they shall never tempt the trout or salmon except when in his most fastidious mood? I might even strain a pomt in favor of the bait-fisher, and hold that, v' SALMOJTID^. 21 inasmuch as fishes, Hke men, have their five senses, and since in fly-fishing the sense of sight alone is tested, such kind of Jingling is a mean imposition upon the creatures' credulity, and not fair play at all. • • •• » .• • • I utter no plea for the bait-fisher who angles stolidly from boat or stump ; there is neither sport nor science nor sense in his method. But to the man who can handle his rod properly and with successful result in an impetuous river or tumbling mountain stream (I care not whether he uses fly or bait), I must in justice concede a claim to high rank in the angling fraternity. A thorough knowledge of the habits of the fish is requisite in either ease; and without that knowledge which the practiced bait-fisher must acquire of their haunts and breeding-places, their exits and their entrances, their food and times for feeding, and the seasons when they are in condition, no man can be regarded a per- fect angler, no matter whether he handle his fly with the skill of Arachne herself (Joke intended.) Exhausted with my attempt to legitimate the habitual bait-fisher into the family of sportsmen (for which he will doubtless thank me), I am fain to assert that the acquisition of the artificial fly to the angler's portfolio has measurably increased the charms of his sport. Fly-fishing gives more varied play and greater exercise to the muscles ; it bestows a keener excitement ; it intensifies the perceptive faculties ; it requires nicer judgment than bait-fishing, quicker and more delicate manipulation, and greater promptness in emergen- cies ; it is more humanizing in its influences ; it is beautiful in its associations, and poetic in the fancies it begets. Light as a thistle's down the little waif of a fly flits hither and yon, dancing upon the ripples, coursing over the foam, breasting the impetuous current, leaving its tiny trail where the sur- face is smoothest, but always glancing, gleaming, coquetting like the eye of a maiden, and as fatally ensnaring. It woos no groundlings; it is not "of the earth earthy"; it is all n SALMON ID^. ethereal, vitalizing, elevating. There is nothing groveling in fly-fishing — nothing groaa or demoralizing. But bait-fishing? Well — it is cruel to impale a minnow or a frog. It is vulgar and revolting to thread a worm. Worms! bah! let them goto the bottom. I drop my line just here. I have gained a temporary vantage Tor my bait- fishing friend. If ho loses the campaign, he deserves to bo beaten with his own rod. For myself, I boldly avow an un- qualified preference for the fly in all cases where its use is practicable. I have said as much already. Let it be re- corded. III. Upon one other point I shall make issue with those ang- lers par excellence — this select coterie of soi-disant profes- sionals;, not because they are not really the experts they as- sume to oe, but because of the very complacent manner in vdiitfh they fold their arms upon the tip-top pinnacle of cumulative knowledge, and superciliously look down upon their fellow-crafts below. These eminent gentry affect to despise trout-fishing. " Oh ! " they say, " we never trouble such small game. We've got past that sort of thing. All very well for those who have never had a hack at a salmon — very decent sort of sport, you know : but as for us, we couldn't look at a trout when salmon are running." "But, sir, consider — " i * . " My dear fellow, it's no use talking, you never can have an idea of real genuine sport until you get hung of a forty- pound salmon!" Such positive assurances, coming from such high author- ity, ought to be convincing and conclusive. Sir Oracle's estimate of sport is evidently as between a half-pound trout and a forty-pound salmon, all other conditions being equal. Now, in truth, the quality of sport is in the ratio of the delicacy of the tackle to the strength and play of the fish. .BALMONID.E. A foiir-ppunil trout on an 8-oz. rod is equal to a sixteen- pound salmon on a 32-oz. rod. " But," urges tlic sulmon- tisher, " tlio nobler the game the nobler the sport." Granted, provided the relative conditions are maintained — not other- wise. If forty-pound salmon are to be hauled in hand over hand on a cod line, or if whitling trout are to be whipped out on a twenty-feet salmon rod — if size and weight alone are to determine the quality of the sport, and the value of the captive as a game fish, why, one might as well troll for Mackinaw trout, or drag the East River for dead bodies. I have had more positive, continuous enjoyment with a three- pound trout on a one-handed Andrew Clcrke split bamboo (I never drop a fly from any other rod) than I experienced from the biggest salmon I ever took in the Ilestigouche. It was in the East Kiver, near Chester, Nova Scotia. But espe- cially shall I remember the chase a lively gi-il^e led me on that self-same day. The larger salmon had stopped running for the season, and the chances were so small of taking on my delicate trouting cackle any description of fish other than the trout I angled for, that I felt little risk in casting my line over the waters where salmon would be likely to lie. I had just recuperated from my laborious contest with the big trout ; and when the grilse struck the hook smartly, I had reason to believe that I had my trout's big brother in hand. But I was undeceived " in a jiff) '' The instant the fellow felt himself hooked, he shot up a rapid with my whole seventy-five feet of line, and when he was snubbed leaped a boulder three feet high, and ran back again to the pool he started from, where he stopped to consider the situation. Doubtless he felt it to be ridiculous. I certainly so regarded my own position. I was standing on a slippery shelf, which I had attained with difficulty in order to get a decent cast, with a dense thicket of alders over my head and an inky pool of unknown depth directly below my feet. I had hooked the fellow just at the foot of the pool beside which I stood. The angler will appreciate the situation. I had % ■f* 24 SALMONID^. cither to break tackle, lose fish, or perchance drown myself. The rapid return of the fish made a frightful sag in my lino, and I was "taking in slack" as rapidly as possible, when the extra strain of the lino drawing down the current wakened up his ideas ; and, giving a short leap clear of the water, ho darted down stream like a rocket. How the hook kept fast in his jaws all this time was a mystery. Zip went the reel with a velocity that almost struck fire ; into the water leaped the rod, following the fish ; and after tlic rod floun- dered I, still clinging to the but. I did not say my prayers, but I had just time to think how much it would cost to re- pair my Baguelin watch, when my feet touched gravel at the head of the rr.pid, and one risk was canceled. If you had seen me follow that fish down stream, you would have been delighted at my good fortune in circumventing obstacles. The river was full of boulders, and there was great and imme- diate danger of getting my lino fouled. But I presently got control of my game, and gave him the but handsomely— and after that he didn't run faster than I wished. The fellov/ liad me at a disadvantage, and the wonder was how I ever got him at all ; but when I emptied the water out of my long boots, I* felt glad that I had bagged that fish. But I have always worn low shoes since, when fishing. Doubtless there is an exultant, pulse-compelling pride in landing a monster salmon of indefinite weight, which docs not pertain to ordinary or extraordinary trout-fishing ; but as to the comparative merits of the two species, it is a (piestion in my mind which should be voted the nobler game. Their habits, haunts and characteristics are identicaVin many respects ; and excepting in size, one may be justly regarded the i)eer of the other. This single difference may be adjusted, as I have shown, by a proper adaptation of the tackle emi)l()yed to capture them. It is certainly rougher work to kill a salmon, and vast- ly more fatiguing: and at times the sport is positively dan- gerous. As respects collateral pleasures derived from natural surroundings and associations, it may be. remarked that trout SALMONID^. 25 streams arc generally more romantic than those localities where salmon are caught ; hccauso being tributaries of the larger rivers, thej are situated higher up among the mount- ain sources ; they are farther from the salt air of the ocean, and in a rarer and purer atmosi)here ; they are generally more accessible to civilization ; and they traverse region more hosj)itable, where game is found in greater variety ana abun- dance, whore the forests are denser and teem with bird and insect life. And finally, as regards those ambidextrous ex- perts who affect to regard trout-fishing as the inferior art and beneatii their attention, I will sim])ly revenge myself by quoting from Francis Franciis, the astute observer, who says : "A good trout-fisher will easily become an expert at salmon- fishing: but a very respectable practitioner with the sal- mon-rod will often have all his schooling to do afresh, should he descend to trout-fishing, before he can take rank as a mas- ter of the art." IV. 'J'here are some kinds of fish, comely in appearance, bold biters, and rather successful torturers of fine tackle, which are styled (jamc-Jlsh and angled for as such, but which by no means deserve the name and re[)utation. Such customers may possibly "pass in a crowd," as the 8habl)y genteel fre(pient- ly do among the masses of human society. But the superior ([ualities juid attributes of the true game-fish are readily de- tected. J)c^\nc ma a (lonneman and I Avill define you a "game" fish ; "which the same" is known by the company he keeps, and recognized by his dress and address, features, habits, in- telligence, haunts, food, and' manner of eating. The true game-fish, of which the trout and salmon are freciuently the types, inhabit the fairest regions of nature's beautiful domain. They drink only from the purest fountains, and subsist upon the choicest food their pellucid streams supply. Not to say 8f SALMONID^ that all flsli that inhabit clear and sparkling waters are game- fish : for there are many such, of symmetrical form and deli- cate flavor, that take neither bait nor fly. But it is self-evi- dent that no fish which inhabit foul or sluggish waters can be "game-fish." It is impossible from the very circum- stances of their surroundings and associations. They may flash with tinsel and tawdry attire ; they may strike with the brute force of a blacksmith, .or exhibit the dexterity of a prize-fighter, but their low breeding and vulgar quality can- not be mistaken. Their haunts, their very food and manner of eating, betray their grossness. Into the noble Neepigon which rolls its crystal tide into Lake Superior, sluggish creeks debouch at intervals, whose inky waters, where they join the main river, are as dis- tinctly defined as the muddy Missouri is at its confluence with the Mississippi. In the limpid w^aters of the one the silvery trout disport ; among the rushes that line the oozy shores of the other, gaunt pike of huge proportions lie mo- tionless as logs, and wallow in the mud and sunshine. Sure- ly mere instinct should decide our preference between the two species of fish, even if nature had not so plainly drawn her demarcating lines. By the comparison the pike must yield his place in the category of game-fish, even though he be a bold biter and voracious. His habits are offensive, and he feeds not on such food as make fish noble. Trout and sal- mon cultivate the society of no such " frauds " as he. They mingle voluntarily with none but the select coterie of their own kith and kin, and carefully avoid the contamination of groveling bottom-fish. They will not thrive in confined and muddy waters, but die eventually, crowded out by their brutish companions : or they become altogether demoralized, losing their activity, their brilliancy of color, beauty of foim, and delicacy of flavor. On nothing does the flavor and gen- eral appearance of a trout or a salmon dopena so much as the character of the water in which he lives. There is no flesh of fish so rank and repulsive to the taste as that of a trout BALMONIDiE. f^ inhabiting a muddy pond where pickerel, hull-heads and slimy eels do congregate, and whose food are the slugs and decaying animal and vegetable deposits on the bottom. Even in waters which flow through cedar and tamarack swamps or bo-^o-v meadows, the flavor of the trout is much impaired. No matter in whatsoever locality he may abide, unless it has the gravelly bottom and the clear cold water of the secret spring or dashing stream, the trout will become degenerate, and bear the traits and marks of the evil company he keeps and the unhappy place he calls his home. It is these varying mai'ks of body and tints of flesh, produced by extraneous causes, that so greatly confuse the attempts to determine and classily the apparent varieties of the Salmo family. That very cautious and well-informed student, William H. Herbert (Frank Forrester), speaking of the results of careful scientific investigation, covering a period of many years, remarks that " many varieties of Salmonidse which wer^ formerly supposed to be truly distinct, have been ^proved to be identl ;al, and many new species discovered. * * ♦ Even in so circumscribed a territory as Great Britain, every water of which has been explored, and, it may be presumed, almost every fish submitted to the examination of scientific men, great doubts yet exist concerning mar forms, whether they are absolutely distinct, or merely casual varieties, inca- pable of reproduction." Since these words were written, twenty-two years ago, very little additional light has been shed on the subject, and little information gathered, excepting as regards the newly explored territory of our new Northwest and the Pacific coast. In this latter region the number of supposed distinct varieties is as- tonishing. Vast numbers of fish differing in anatomical pe- culiarities, species, and color, and changing much with age, 28 SALMONID^. sex, and condition, season of the year, or quality of the wa- ter, appal by their number and confuse with their variety, rendering it almost impossible to classify them. Prof. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institute, writes, November 1872 : " I do not think there is any one living who could do this at present, especially in the absence of a scries sufficiently extensive to I admit of the necessary coniiarison. I am using every effort to bring together the necessary specimens in order to have this work done. The published literature of thfe subject is entirely incomplete and unsatisfactor3% We have taken for granted certain resemblances that did not actually exist, and we must fall back upon an entirely new investigation, based upon large numbers of specimens from many localities, and represented by individuals of every age and sex." The elementary principles of comparative anatomy are so simple that a child may understand them. In respect to ilsh I the species are distinguished from each other by the structure of the fins, the shape of the gills, and the system of the teeth. Any permanent or unvarying difference in these, coupled to other varieties of color, form, habit, or the like, which might seem casual, are held sufficient to constitute a distinct species. The teeth.of fishes indicate as clearly their habits and mode of feeding as do the teeth of quadrupeds inform the natur- alist whether they are carnivorous, graminivorous, or rumi- nating. In the same family of fishes the difference in the ' dental system is often very marked ; but in the absence of reliable data as to age, sex, and other conditions necessary to a comparison, the naturalist may well despair of making a perfect classification. Under the great generic divisions known as the Abdominal malacopterygii, or those which have their fin-rays soft and flexible, is classed the family of " Salmonidae," which are characterized by an adipose, second dorsal fin. " No other family has it " except the ^aZwriVZfl?, or catfish. Of the "Sal- monidae " there are endless varieties and sub-genera — migra- tory, non-migratory, and anadromous — which include those SALMONID^. do designated as the Salmo, the Coregonus, the Thymallus or Grayhng, the Mallotus or CapeUn, and the Osmerus or smelt. The genus Coregonus includes the Attehawraeg or whitefish, of delicious flavor, -which abounds in all the great lakes of the Northwest, and is also found in Seneca and Cayuga lakes ; the herring of Lake Huron ; the herring salmon, found in Lake Erie, the Niagara Kivcr, Seneca Lake, and throughout the great northv/est, and generally known, as the scisco of commerce; and the misnamed " Otsego Bass." The Thymallus signifer, or Arctic Grayling, is spoken of by one or two authorities as a superb game-fish. Its average weight is six pounds. It is found in the AVinter River (62d parallel) and the waters that flow from the Great Slave Lake into the Arctic ocean. " The whitefish is sometimes taken in Lake Champlain, in the month of August, with what is known as the shad-fly. This curious fly is lead-colored, about an inch in length, and makes its advent in swarms like unto the flies of Egypt. It covers the surface of the lake, and is washed upon the shore in wind- rows three inches deep. The whitefish, or " shad " as they are called by the local fishermen, take them with great avid- ity. I have known this fish to take the fly in other locali- ties. However, of the varieties named none arc considered " game-fish," or known to the sporting world as such. Prac- tically they are of no value to the angler. The Salmo alone merits his attention ; he is an opponent worthy of his met- tle, and the angler who would entej the lists with him must prepare to undergo hardships and toil that will test his man- hood and powers of physical endurance. His geographical range is included within a belt of thirty degrees width that girts the entire northern hemisphere. It Kes between lati- tudes 40° and 70°, and extends through Russian Asia, the whole of Europe, and across the entire North American con- tinent. He delights in cold water, and will thrive only where the temperature is beloAV G0° Fahrenheit. As has been remarked, the variety of his specieS is remarkable. Not 30 SALMONIDJE. to mention other countries, we find no less than nineteen varieties upon our Pacific coast alone. Dr. Suckley, TJ. S. A., in his official report (1855) on the surveys for the Pacific Railway, gives a list of seventeen, peculiar to the waters of Oregon and "Washington, which is appended herewith, with their scientific synonyms, their local or vernacular names, and the season of year when they run up the rivers to spawn : SciKNTirio Synonym. Vkknacular. Time of Running. Salmu Quinnat. Puucidens. Spring Silver Salmon. Weak- toothed " April and May. •i May and June. iu Tsuppitch. White September. ii Argyreus. Autumn. hi Truiicatus. Square-tailed " Mid-winter. It Gairdnerii. Spring Black -spotted Salmon Trout. May and June. ii Gibbsii. Not Anadfomous. 4i Confluentas. June. 4b Scouleri. Hooked-nose Salmon, September and October. >l Gibber. Hump-backed " Sept. and Oct. in alt. years. H, Canis. Dog, or Spotted " Red-spotted Salmon Trout. Novciaber. Spectabilis. Aurora. Clarkii. Midsummer and Autumn. 4k Brook Trout. 44 44 Stellatus. Lewisii. 44 44 Missouri " Not Anadromous. Thalcichthys Paciflcu8. Eulachou. - To the above should be added the Salar iridea, or brook- trout, the silver-trout, and the Ptyclioclieilus grandis, sal- mon-trout — these varieties peculiar to California. Of the so- called varieties of salmon, it is probable that several are identical ; nevertheless, the best-approved authorities place the number of distinct species at not less than half-a-dozen.' The Salmo quinnat is esteemed the finest on the Pacific — often weighs 30 or 40 lbs., and sometimes 75 lbs. ; the Sal- mo scouleri will average 30 lbs. Magnificent as these weights are, they have been equaled in eastern waters in years gone by ; but of late our fish have greatly diminished in size, both in the average and in individual specimens. When the Northern Pacific Railroad is completed, the rod- fisherman will find this Paradise of the Pacific easily access- ible ; at present he must confine himself to Canadian waters. There is not a river in the eastern United States that afibrds SALMOIflDiE. 31 good fly-fishing for salmon, unless it be the Dennys River, in Maine, which heads in Medeybemps Lake, and empties into Passamaquoddy Bay. ■ • Next to the lordly salmon, the common trout {Sa^nio /on- tinalis) ranks highest in the esteem of anglers. He is so widely known that further specification is unnecessary. The "land-locked salmon" {Salmo gloveri), is a game-fish of great repute, found only in the St. Croix, Schoodic, or Grand Lakes, which divide Maine from New Brunswick ; in the Union River, Maine, which lies between the Penob- scot and St. Croix ; in the northern waters of Maine gener- ally ; and in the Upper Sagucnay. Of the thirteen species of Lake Trout given by Dr. Rich- ardson, none are considered game-fish, as they seldom rise to a fly ; but they afibrd good sport for trolling, etc. The best- known varieties are the toag of Lakes Pepin, Moosehead and St. Croix, the tuladi of Temiscouata and waters of northern New Brunswick ; the common lake-trout {Salmo confinis) of NcAv York and New England ; the Ciscovit of Ontario ; and the Mackinaw salmon of the great lakes of the west and northwest. The last-named {Salmo amethystiis or Salmo naymacush) is the largest of his race, often attaining a weight of seventy-five pounds ; his range extends far into the Arctic regions. The Ciscovit {Salmo siskoivitz) attains a weight of twenty-five pounds, and with his congeners, the Scisco and Mackinaw salmon, constitutes a very considerable item of Canadian export from the Province of Ontario. None of the lake-trout possess that delicacy of flavor which pertains to most other varieties of the Salmo family. The Sea Trout or Tide Trout {Salmo trutta) is a superb gam'e-fish, and is taken all along the coasts of Labrador, the River and Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the maritime Prov- inces. Some of the bays of Prince Edward's Island are famous as its resorts. It is generally, though not always, taken in salt water, and near the mouth of rivers. The Sebago Trout {Salmo sebago) is a monster trout with 89 SALMONID^ all the marks and characteristics of the common brook-trout, but much thicker and more " chunky "' in proportion to his length, and often attains a weight of ten pounds. It is found in Lake Richardson, Sebago Lake, Moosehead Lake, and in Lakes Umbagog, Rangely, and other feeders of the Kennebec and Androscoggin Rivers in Maine, and is direct- ly allied to the Salmo confinis. In the Neepigon River, which empties into Lake Superior, are two distinct varieties of trout, one of which closely resembles the Sebago trout, and the other the ordinary brook-trout. Both are of extra- ordinary size, and afford superlative sport to the angler. In Loch Lomond, near St. John, New Brunswick, there is a fish known as the white trout, which differs in many re- spects from its kindred, and is generally believed to bo a dis- tinct variety. The list herewith given comprises nearly all the known or recognized varieties of Salmouidaj in America. VL Were the earnest seeker after knowledge to critically exam- ine all the learned disquisitions on SALMOisr that have been put forth since the days of Pliny by the best recognized authorities, he would utterly despair of ever learning any- thing. The whole subject — the habits of the salmon, his food, his habitat, even his personal identity — would become as much a mystery as the question of revealed religion, vexed by the theologians of eight hundred sects. " Confusion worse confounded " has always attended the controversies of these learned doctors, who seem inclined to make, the sub- ject a mystery, in order that out of its hidden depths they may exhume and unfold to an admiring world the golden results of their own profound investigations. And still the great conundrum, " Wlieu is a salmwi not a salmon ? " hes open for solution ! • SALMONID^. 99 • To ordinary minds, under the light of mere common sense, unaided by bookish wisdom, the sahnon appears to be amenable to tlie same natural laws as other fish. Its species are affected by food, temperature, etc., which govern its migrations, its various seasons for spawning, and the time it takes for the eggs to hatch. The simple student of nature gathers his knowledge from wilderness streams or the arti- ficial breeding-works of the pisciculturist — practical schools where truths are learned, and fallacies set at naught ; where dogmas of would-be scientists are overset by ocular demon- stration. He recognizes in the salmon a creature, whose existence, like man's, is divided into four periods — infancy, youth, manhood, and ripe old age — and he designates these several stages of fish-life ])y the names of Parr, Smolt, Grilse, and Salmon. Observation has taught liim that one portion of this existence is passed in salt water, and the re- mainder in fresh ; that in salt water he feeds and grows fat, and in the fresh expends his strength and vital forces ; that these conditions are the necessary precedent and natural sequence of procreation ; that many of his species die in the attempt to reach their spawning-grounds, and many in the act of spawning ; and that these arb the ordinary phenomena of reproduction throughout the animal creation. It is also evident that salmon must vary in size and general appear- ance according to their ages; that adults maybe as dis- tinctly and as variously marked as the kine on the lea, and still belong to the self-same species. Along the coasts of Nova Scotia old fishermen pretend to distinguish the fish that belong to difierent rivers — it being a well-known fact in the natural history of the salmon that they almost inva- riably return to their native streams to spawn. After they have ascended to their spawning beds, it re- quires ten or twelve days to fulfill their mission, and they then go back to the sea. It takes the ova three or four months to hatch, according to the temperature, 45° being perhaps the most favorable. In two months after the young » % 84 SALMONIDiE. fry leave the egg they have grown to an inch and a quar- ter in length ; in six months to three inches. At the end of fourteen months one half the family have completed their parr or infant stage, and go down to the sea as smolts, much changed in their general appearance. The other half of the family follow at the end of the second year, though a few will remain until the fourth year. The smolt, in the nourish- ing waters of the briny ocean gains a pound in weight per month, and toward the close of summer returns to his birth- place in the blue and silver livery of a giilse, and very like a salmon in appearance. The grilse tarries in the upper river until the following spring, and then returns again to the sea a full grown salmon — three years being the time re- quired to reach his maturity. The season of the year at which salmon spawn varies ac- cording to geographical locality and temperature of water. For instance, in the Port Medway river. Nova Scotia, salmon are taken with a fly in February when the ice is running, while in the lower St. Lawrence they are not taken until af- ter the middle of June. The time of spawning often varies in the same river, and is determined by the period at which impregnation has taken place. It is a pecuhar fact that the salmon propagates its kind before it is adult, the males only, however, attaining sexual maturity. A portion of the " run" therefore, being riper than others, spawn sooner, and having fulfilled their mission, return at once to the sea, while their less fortunate kindred must continue their pil- grimage, perchance to head- waters ; for so long as their great work remains unaccomplished, they will press on until stopped by insurmountable obstacles. Where the rivers are short, the salmon return merely emaciated and reduced in weight ; but in the Columbia, which, with its tributaries, ex- tends for hundreds of miles, they die by milhons, worn out and exhausted by their incredible journey. Such as reach the upper spawning beds arrive in a mutilated condition, with their tails and fins worn off", and their heads crushed SALMONID^. 86 and almost shapeless. Fortunate are those which have vital- ity enough left to bo able to return to the sea. Indeed, so great is the mortality that it has been generally believed that they never retuni at all. Salmon do not cat while on their travels ; or if perchanco they do feed at long intervals (as setting hens do when they come off their nests betimes), they digest so rapidly that nothing has been found in their stomachs in quantity suffi- cient to determine what constitutes their favorite bill-of-fare. It is only when resting in the occasional pools that they take the angler's lure. At mouths of rivers, however, on the very threshold of their departure for the upper waters, they will take bait and red worms with avidity. ^ VII. Anxiously docs the fisherman await the salmon's advent. Twice a day the tide flows in and fills the bed of the river for half-a-mile from its mouth, and when the ebb has followed ho r;^ carefully scans the water as it flows limx)id and fresh from its fountain-head. In the clear depths where the cuiTont has worn a channel or hollowed out a trough, close to the bottom he descries an object, motionless and scarcely distinguishable from the oblong stones on which it lies. If he toss a bait in there gently, just above it, ten to one he will hook a salmon ! The fish has not yet lost his appetite for substantial food ; cast a fly over him, and it is doubtful if he even rises. Pitch a stone at him, and he Avill quickly change his base, a little surprised — perhaps move a rod further up the channel ; but he will not run. He feels somewhat strange ; he has just come in from a tour of the Atlantic, and is not yet accus- tomed to his new quarters. He is unsophisticated — they don't throw stones or skitter flies down in the recesses of the Atlantic. He has never heard of the treasons and strata- gems that beset the journey of the river. Well, he will learn betimes. We will give him a lesson to-morrow, further up 80 SALMOKIDiE. stream ; or at least wd will pay our respects tj his conirades, for wo perceive that the "run" has fairly coninienced. Should there bo a heavy niiu to-night to raise the river, wo can promise fine sport. There is nothing like a freshet to help the salmon on their way. It lifts them over the ine- qualities of the bottom, and makes their rugged path smooth. It lessens the difficnlties of the falls, and conceals their move- ments from inqnisitive enemies. On a bright day like this, Avith a medium stage of water, it requires some caution and wary approach to insure tlie angler success. Let US follow lip the stream a mile or two. The river is narrower here, and more broken into alternate pools and rapids ; the pools are black as ink, and the rapids run shal- low. Pcl)bly bars, strewn with boulders, make out from tlio hither shore, and force the greater volume of water into the contracted channel which the current has worn under yon precipitous bank. It runs like a mill-race there. Ha ! did you see that salmon shoot up those rapiuo? No! look — there's another ! Ah ! I perceive your eye is unaccustomed to the "water. One of those Indians we saw down stream could almost count the fish as they run by. Let us walk up to yonder pool ; it is not deep, and we may see some big fel- lows resting above the chute. Cautiously, my friend ! our salmon has learned to be sly. There ! do you see those three lying there in the middle of the pool, drawn up in line equi- distant from each other, heads up stream, with the middle one a little in advance of the others ? Whew ! off they go like a flash, and half way up the next rapid by this time. Did you ever see such yelocity ? They say a salmon travels thirty miles a day when ascending a river ; but if he always makes as good time as that just now, he ought to do it in an hour. ... En, avant ! Above here the river widens into a noble pool which forms a little bay on this side. "We used to camp on the bank there, and the grass has covered the old site with a beautiful sward. By Jove ! there's a canoe — under those SALMONID^. 37 bushes I Indian Joe's, I vow I Confound tlic rascal I lie's gutting ready to set his nets in the pool here. Yes, and there's his buoy out there, just at the edge of the quick water. I had no idea the lish had been running, but you can't beat an Indian at his own game. I shouldn't wonder if the scoundrel was hidden in tlie brusli hereabouts somewhere. " Halloa ! Ilal-loo-oo ! Come out of that, you Joe I it's no use skulking I Ah ! there you are, are you ? Come here ! I say, Joe, salmon running ? " "Dunno — mebby." " Tried the river yet ? " "Yes— try urn." "Catch anything?" " No catch 'em — break 'cm fly -rod." "Where's 8am?" "Dunno." " Sam up river ? " . " I suppose." "Dipping?" "I dunno." " What you doing here ? " " Mend um canoe — ho broke too." " Here, Joe ; try a little whiskey. There ! how do you like that? good?" "Yes— good." " Now see here, Joe. This gentleman wants to buy a sal- mon — give plenty good price,— you know ? " "Eh?" " Sell um salmon — get money — understand ? " " I suppose." " Now, Joe, there's no use fooling. Tell me — have you got any salmon ? » • • . " Yes — got salmon." "How many?" • "One."-:'- -■• ^ • " • " .:■.'. V ; "Where you got him?" • ' , '. , 38 SALMONID^. "Up here." "Let's 800 him. IIo, hoi Sol you rascal, where did you get these good half-dozen 'i Now, look hei-e, Joe, you can't fool uio. JJo you BOO this mark around those lishos' siioul- ders — and their tails split, too. You've been netting, you scoundrel ! I'hero's your stake-buoy out yonder, and your canoe here as sound as a nut, and not a hole in it. I've a notion to bring you before the warden. If I catch you again, I'll do it. Two dollars line or ton days' jail — do you hear? Now, I'll take one of these sahnon along just to keep my tongue (piiot. (Jood day, Joe; look out for your- self." Plague take these Indians. If they Avere not watched, they'd destroy the river — stretching their nets across the narrowest i)laces so that iiot a lish can pass up. Dipping is bad enough, but netting is ten times woi'se. Up here at "Kill Devil Hole" I'll show you how they dij) salmon. I'll wager Sam is there now. Ah ! here we come to a long roach of still water — fully a mile. See those salmon loai)ing — one — two — three! AVhat somersaults they turn! I had no idea they Avcre running \\\\ like this. The season is ten days ear- lier than usual. It's of no use to throw a ily over them. They won't take a fly Avhon they are jum])iiig. There is no more rod-fishing until you get to the next pool above. See! away up the river, whore it narrows so ? Don't you i)er- ceivo the foam dashing through the gorge? That's "Kill Devil Hole." I've seen a doxon Indians dijjping there at onco, and fortunate was the salmon who could jjass the gauntlet. There's Sam at it now! You see him standing on the ledge, up to his ankles in the loam, steadily plying that long-handled scoop. He dips it into the water mouth downward, and the force of the current caiTies it on, and gives it an impetus which enables him to lift it out without much physical exertion. As the passage is narrow, and the mouth of the net wide, the chances of the salmon escaping are very precarious. SALMONID/K. 30 Now, if you aro not too fatigued, wo will paws on to tho falk It is tho most romantic i)oint on tho river. Thero is nothing more exciting to tho novice than a school of salmon ascending practicable falls, where tho waters aro churned into foam as they tumble through the ujirrow gorge. Leap- ing upward, over, and through tho seething current, turning desperate llip-llai)s, diving preci|)itately into the foam, they vanish and reapi)ear, gaining kidge after ledge until tho as- cent is surmounted. At newly-erected dams, which are m high as to l)o impassable, they collect in such vast (puintities as to be scooped out with nets, each new arrival swelling (he numl)crs already on the ground, and in their turn vainly and repeatedly attempting to leap the cruel obstacle. Where passes or lish-ways are ^jrovided, as they now are over all tho principal dams of the New Dominion and a few in the United States, the sahnon instinctively use them, and go on their way rejoicing. Should Ave i)ass on above the falls to head-waters a few days hence, wo can easily observe the process of s])awning in all its various stages. Wo can see the female lish in tho rapid current of tho mid-stream, holding on with nervous grip to tho pebbly bottom with her j)ectoral fins, and writh- ing for a few moments in tho pangs of parturition ; then lying motioidess, wilh muscles all relaxed, and shedding her spawn into tho gravel which sho baa beaten loose with her tail. Then tho males pass alongside of her, so near that their bodies touch, and precipitate their milt to im|>regnato tho spawn ; and wIkmi tho great work of nature is com- pleted, the force of the current gently floats tho loosened gravel over tho mass and covers it. Novices will suijjjoso that tho trough, which sho has hollowed out with her tail to loosen the gravel, contains the 8[)awn, whereas it is the little mound just below that hides the precious treasure. Hence- forward time alono must carry out the work of procreation. Tho incipient germ gradually develops into a vigorous life, and a new generation of nurslings succeeds to the i)aiTa* 40 SALMONIDiE. • estate, while the latter have passed to the degree of smolt, and now for the first time begin to feel the monitions of that instinct which will presently direct thera to the sea. To the naturalist and the angler the habits of the salmon afford a study which never wearies, but which renews itself in brighter colors and more glowing attractions with the advent of each returning spring. As an article of food and commerce the value of the sal- mon can haraly be appreciated, though much more now than in those earlier days when they sold for a penny a-piece on the Tay, or in the latter century, when laborers on our own Connecticut were wont to stipulate that their landladies should not give them salmon rations oftener than twice a week ! It is only when we enter into investigations of the statistical information on record, that we begin to conceive its magnitude. In the United Kingdom the salmon production is stated to be over 2,000,000 lbs. per year, equal to 400,000 lbs. of mutton. In the Dominion of Canada the production for the year 1871 was nearly four million and a half of pounds, divided between the Provinces as follows: New Brunswick, 1,608,496 lbs. ; Nova Scotia, 1,286,979 ; Quebec, including Labrador, 1,425,200. The salmon fisheries of Newfoundland constitute a very considerable item in the general account. On the Pacific coast the production of salmon for export is a comparatively new branch of industry. The annual yield is enormous, and forms the principal food and support of all the Indian tribes of the coast and the in- terior bordering the water-courses. With the extension of the Nort.hern Pacific Railroad to Puget's Sound, this quan- tity will be multiplied many fold, and doubtless legal restric- tions will be instituted to protect the fisheries of the entire Pacific region, and prevent the enormous waste that now re- sults from direct and natural causes. The export returns, actual and estimated, for the past year, show a total of 100,000 lbs., and a commercial 'value of $40,000. SALMOKID^. 41 VIII. Although trout {Salmo fontinalis) are found in all streams frequented by salmon, save in rare exceptional cases, their habits are in some respects so dissimilar as to require -brief separate mention. The trout is not anadromous ; neverthe- less, in streams which flow into the ocean, he is not averse to occasional trips to the brine, where he grows fat and improves in flavor and beauty. This is the case with the trout of Long Island. On the coasts of Nova Scotia and Labrador I have taken the common trout at the mouths of rivers side by side with the sea trout, with identity so positive as not to be con- founded with them. In one instance, in Labrador, I found a small stream absolutely deserted by its tenants, and al- though I plied my rod through all its length to its source, I got no rise except at its mouth; yet I had previously taken, and afterwards took them in quantities above. For the most part, however, the foraging grounds of the trout are in the fresh and limpid waters of his nativity. There he feeds upon whatever the bottom or running stream supplies, or whatever chance may cast upon its surface — feeds often to repletion. Some anglers wonder why a trout will bite at one time and not at another. They expect always to find a well-fed trout at the point of starvation, and eager to swal- low the first bait offered, no matter how glaring the fraud. The well-fed trout is not only suspicions of traps, but nice in his diet. Hence the necessity of discrimination in the selec- tion of flies in anghng. I have seen a school of trout darken- ing the bottom of a stream with their numbers, and refusing every description of natural and artificial lure — fly, minnow, grub, womi, and gi-asshopper in their turn, and finally rise to a light green bud of pennyroyal, trolled athwart their fastidious noses. At the same time the angler, wading cautiously in mid- stream, might almost stir them with hisboots I There seems to be no positive rule for the selection of flies, although the most 43 SALMONID^. infallible lure is an imitation of the natural jBy last seen upon the surface. The angler's true expedient is to change his cast until haply he tickles the fancy of the fish he wooes. One should possess skill enough to tie his own flies in cases of emergency, and judgment to select his patterns ; but it is better, as a rule, to leave this branch of the " gentle art " to the delicate manipulations of professional fly-dressers. It is probable that the present method of dressing a fly with the hook entirely exposed to the keen vision and suspicious scru- tiny of the fish which it is expected to deceive, will be ulti- mately superseded. That accomphshed scholar and ardent angler, John Mullaly, Esq., of the New York Board of Health and late editor of the " Metropolitan Eecord," has contrived a plan by which the lure is made to more nearly resemble the natural fly. That monstrous appendage, the harled tail, which exists in no species of fly, or of anything living or dreamed of except the Devil, is hidden from sight and con- cealed between the wings. At the same time the balance of the hook is perfectly preserved, and the fly kept in its proper and natural position upon the w^ater. If it be that fish are so nice in their discrimination as to detect the slightest difier- ence in the anatomy and color of the artificial or natural fly, as some experts would have us believe, this innovation in tying certainly gives the angler an advantage over his noble opponent which he has not hitherto enjoyed ; and the salmon will have to be more liberally handicapped than ever. Gierke & Co., I know, regard this improvement Avith great favor. I have also a little contrivance of my own which can be used only in very rough water, and was so intended to be used. It is merely a fly dressed in the ordinary Avay, with a bright metal whirligig or swivel around its neck, which revolves spoon-fashion in the current, and attracts attention. It is very effective in the Grand Lake stream and the rapids of the Upper Saguenay. Trout are nomadic in their habits. Large fish are not found at the head of a stream. As they grow in size, they constantly SALMONID^. 43 shift tlieir places, moving down stream from time to time, and leaving their old habitats to the smaller fry ; just as generation after generation of men pass aAvay, and yield their places to posterity. They have always theit favorite holes and haunts. Catch them all out of this hole to-day and others will sup- ply their places to-morrow. Colder water in this spot, or a mineral spring of agreeable properties in that, may decide their preferences; or the chemicals held in solution may have the opposite effect, and repel fish from holes which to the angler seem unexceptionable. There is little to be said of fish and fishing that has not been repeatedly told in books. It is vain to attempt a new varia- tion upon the old tune. Still, a few hints gathered from long experience may assist in the selection of a proper outfit for a holiday cru ' ^e. Setting aside all the minutiae of flies, fly-books, creels and tackle, I cannot refrain from expressing an opinion as to what a rod should be — a perfect rod — which is the first requisite and great desideratum of the accomplished angler. So many improvements have been made of late years in the construction of rods that old stand-bys are laid on the shelf, while rod-makers who long stood pre-eminent, are compelled to yield a modicum of their prestige. I can reverence the old sportsman who still swears by his Martin Kelly or Chev- alier, or the superb implement of Bowncss & Bowness, of London. Doubtless they are the best rods made in Great Britain. Possibly they are superior to those made in this country. Dingey Scribner, of St. John, New Brunswick, makes a grecnheart rod which is held in high repute by Cana- dians. The Michell Conroy and Terhunc rods, manufac- tured in New York, are famous, and have long been deserv- edly esteemed. Robert Welch used to make an excellent rod. Probably the best Conroy is as perfect an implement as can be constructed by the old-time materials of ash and lance-wood. But of late years new materials have come into use. The mahoe-wood or " blue mahogany " of Cuba, has 44 BALMONIDJa. been found to combine all the qualities of toughness, strength, and elasticity in a remarkable degree. Of it the springs of volantes are constructed. But the material par excellence is the bamboo sawed longitudinally, with the separate strips so nicely adjusted and fitted together as to form an apparently sohd piece. A " split bamboo " rod, such as is manfactured by Andrew Gierke, of New York, possesses equal power with any other rod, and is from thirty-three to fifty per cent lighter. Now, the creation of a perfect arch is the true philosophy of rod manufacture, just as the management of this arch in motion is the essence of scientific angling. The elastic pro- perties of a rod should be evenly distributed and maintained throughout its length from tip to but, so that when the rod is bent, no variation from a perfect arch can be detected. Metal ferrules, being stiff and unyielding, interfere with the proper formation and play of the arch ; hence manufacturers have sought to obviate the difficulty by making their rods of three or even two joints, instead of four, as formerly. Some have connected the middle joint and tip by a splice, while others dispense with the ferrule altogether. The Scrib- ner rod is made with a screw ferrule for the but and a splice for the tip. The screw device renders loop-ties unnecessary, while the femile prevents the joints from becoming shaky by wear. Uniform elasticity being secured, the second requi- site is stiffness — that peculiar power or force which, combined with the elastic properties of the wood, produces a certain yielding resistance which prevents the fish from exerting his full strength on the hook, the leader, or the line ; for from the moment a fish is hooked until he is landed, the arch of the rod, either longer or shorter, should be persistently main- tained ; the fish should be killed on the rod, not on the litie. A horse cannot exert his strength to advantage with elastic traces ; neither can a salmon overcome that mysterious force which, ever yielding, never breaks. The third requisite of a perfect rod is lightness. In this respect, all other things SALMONID^. 45 being equal, the Andrew Gierke split bamboo of six splices asserts and proves its superiority ; for, while an ash or green- heart rod of the ordinary length of seventeen or eighteen feet will weigh 2 lbs. 13 oz., a bamboo of equal length will weigh but 1 lb. 8 .oz. This is no trifling advantage to the angler who has a whole day's work before him. As every veteran knows, each additional ounce tells painfully in the long nin. That the merits of the Gierke rod are reasonably appreciated is shown by written testimonials from English professionals, including the veteran Frank Buckland, of " Land and Water," who have laid their prejudices on the shelf, and now regard the split bamboo as a sine qua non. For myself, I have used no other material for fly-rods for five years past ; and I have had the satisfaction of hearing the best Ganadian authorities assert that my salmon-rod is the finest they ever saAV. Single-handed trout-rods of split bam- boo measure 11;t feet, and weigh from 6 to 8 oz. So light and delicate are they that one would think them hardly capa- ple of lifting a minnow, and yet I have seen them kill a four-pound grilse ! These rods, it may be remarked, are ex- pensive ; but so are first-class guns, for which sportsmen are willing to pay as high as eighty or one hundred guineas. Best ash and lancewood or greenheart rods can be had for $20 to $25, while a bamboo trout-rod costs S40, and a salmon- rod not less than 175. Scribner, of St. John, sells his salmon- rods for $12. Salmon-rods of 21 feet are ponderous aflairs, and now almost obsolete ; a man can do all necessary execu- tion with a 17-foot rod. The only advantage of extra length is, when a fish is hors du comhat, to lift the line more easily over rocks and boulders. I have seen a Gierke rod throw a measured seventy-six feet. Ordinarily forty-five feet of line is enough for any cast. It is of great service, when making an unusually long cast, to count the time for your back-line, as singers do their rests in music, before bringing the rod for- ward. One comes to do it instinctively at last. It prevents tangling of the line or snapping off the flies. In raising a 46 SALMONID.T!. long lino from the water, especially in a quick cun*ent, it is of the greatest importance to first bring a gentle draft upon it, to start it, and then withdraw it for the cast. It prevents the rod from breaking. Another hint to beginners — invari- ably look out for your back line. See that you have suffi- cient casting-room before you raise your rod ; it will save you the trouble of climbing trees, and lessen your premium for Accident Insurance. Always have an extra cast around your hat, ready for use. Don't forget your whiskey-flask ; it keeps out the cold. * •• IX. In making up an Outfit for a summer campaign, I have found the articles named in the list annexed very useful, and most of them quite indispensable : Kods, reels, lines, flies, bait-hooks, trolling-tackle, gaffs, *landing-net, *bait-box, *floats. Woolen and rubber overcoats, felt hat, extra ' pants, socks and flannels, old shoes for wading, rubber leggings, extra boots, *slippers or moccasins. Hatchet, knife, pistol and cartridges, screw-driver, awl, pliers, *gimlet, *emery, Avhetstone, twine, *vvire, *rope, *leather straps, ^tacks. Needles, pins, thread, wax, *scissors, *paper, *pencil, *rub- ber. . ■: Compass, matches in a bottle, *fuse, *candles, *spring bal- ance, *corkscrew, *pocket-pistol, *field-glass. Soap, towel, comb, *sponge, *looking-glass, *goggles, *linen and flannel rags and raw cotton, to be used for cuts, wounds, cleaning guns, mending, &c. Pipes and tobacco, *card8, *maps. Diarrhoea mixture, cathartic pills, *salve, court-plaster, *ammonia, sweet oil, *fly and insect preventive. Wire gridiron, coffee-pot, frying-pan, tin cup, salt and pep- per box, tin plate, ' . SALMONIDiE, 47 An india-rubber bag to bold the "kit" is a desirable addi- tion to an outfit, as it makes a portable package, and keeps its contents always dry. In summer a canvas camp-stretcber, tbree feet by six, -with hems on each side for inserting poles, to rest on logs or crotches at any required height from the ground, makes a bed preferable to hemlock boughs. It is cooler, gives better circulation of air, and is a protection against creeping insects. Moreover, it can be used as a wrap- per for the rubber bag, to prevent its being torn. Now, hero are some eighty different articles, conducing greatly to the comfort of camp life, which can be packed up in small compass and carried on the back. Of course the sportsman will be governed in his selection by the length of his campaign. If he desire to travel as light as possible, and has knowledge of woodcraft available, he can dispense with those marked with an asterisk (*). Ho can even forego the luxury of cooking and table utensils, saving the frying-pan and coffee-pot. Birch-bark will supply him with fresh, clean plates and cups at every meal, Avith no trouble to wash them; he can broil his meat on a stick, and bake his fish and bread in the ashes. Cedar-roots will furnish him with twine and rope ; he can tear up his shirt for towels and handkerchiefs, and use his coat-skirts to make seats for his trowsers. He might even forego soap, and leave his hair unkempt till civil- ization dawned again upon his semi-savage mood. But knife, compass, matches and his pipe — these are wholly indispensa- ble. Upon them his existence, comfort, and happiness de- pend. What! forego the luxury of a pipe ? Not much. Would you ask the sportsman, after he has dragged himself into camp, fatigued by an all-day tramp, drenched by soaking rain, a-hungered, and thirsting for something hot to drink, sitting alone in tlie sombre fastnesses of a pitch-pine soli- tude, with ardent longings for the blazing hearth of home, and vain regrets that he had ever wandered — would you, could you ask him to forego the luxury of a pipe ? Would 48 SALMONID^U. you dare, then and there, taking him in his ascetic mood, read him a liomily on the noxious properties of tobacco and the vice of smoking, and urge him to put out his pipe for- F over ? Ah ! there is something in a pipe that provides a sol- ace for miscellaneous woes, and smooths the path of daily discontent. My briar-wood pipe is my warmest of friends, Its heart is aglow and its excellence lends A solace and joy to my innermost soul, As the incense floats otF from the ash-cinctured bowl. In the smoke-wreaths circling upward little waifs of philoso- phy hover with shadowy form, and smiling benignantly down, bid us be patient, and help us to endure. In the selection of provisions one must be governed by cir- cumstances. Tea or coffee, flour, ham, salt pork, soda pow- der, salt and pepper, in quantities required, are all that is absolutely necessary. Potatoes and onions or pickles are an i excellent relish ; and a city-bred man can hardly do without butter. It is well to avoid overloading, even when traveling on horseback or with a canoe. Much time and inconven- ience are thereby saved, especially where portages or " car- ries " have to be made. Rubber boots are a nuisance, and should be left at home. Experience will convince the ang- ler that hob-nail shoes are far more serviceable, if either must be carried. For myself I prefer my cast-off shoes for wading and for general use, if supplemented by a stout pair of tight cowhide boots mth broad soles. I also prefer warm cast-off clothing to fancy suits of velveteen, corduroy, or frieze. One has this advantage, that he can throw them away when he has done with them, or give them to his In- dians or voyageurs, and thus go home light, with little to carry beside his kit and the suit on his back. The expense of a cruise will seldom be less than three dollars per day. Indians demand from a dollar to two dollars a day and found. Their services include the canoe. Canadian wages SALMON ID^. 49 are higher, and the cost of a "shallop" varies according to the conscience of thd owner. It is cheaper to buy a horse and sell him again than to hire one, that is, if you wish to use him several weeks. In Nova Scotia and New Bruns- ^vick wagons can be hired at $1.50 per day. Adirondack guides demand $2.50 per day and upwards. The best preventive against black flies and other noxious insects is a mixture of sweet oil and tar in proportions of four to one. It is perfectly effectual and not unpleasant or nasty, as many persons imagine. Ammonia alleviates pain, and removes the poison of insect bites. Camp-sites should be selected for their access to wood and water, and immunity from insects. Sandy beaches pr grav- elly points are liable to swarm with midges or punkies, and the thicker woods with musquitoes. Points where a breeze draws up or down the river are the most desirable. Black flies do not molest between sunset and sunrise. The camp- ground being chosen, duties should be as equally divided as possible, and assigned. The first duties are to fix the shel- ter, cut wood, and " get the kettle boiling." The person who cooks should never be required to cut the wood. Tents are a great comfort when they can be conveniently carried, or when the camp is to be frequently changed with- out making long stages ; as, for instance, when fishing the successive pools of a salmon stream. However, a good artist, with hatchet and knife, will put up in one day a permanent camp that will be storm-proof. As for temporary make- shifts they can be made of birch or hemlock bark (when it will peel) or brush, laid on crotch poles; or, for the matter of a night, a screen of spruce boughs to windward, or the canoe turned over to protect the chest and shoulders from dew and morning fogs. The lee of a projecting ledge, with a brush screen, is a dry and comfortable camp, even in cold weather. I prefer it when I can get it ; otherwise, the canoe, or a half-tent made of my rubber blanket. I have slept out three months at a time,' and have never used a canvas tent 4 50 ' 8ALM0NIDi«. in ray life. Ono who knows how cun always make himsell comfortable in the woods even in mid-winter. In traveling throngh unfamiliar districts, it is important to turn fre