.^'^fi 
 
 1 1 1 -f --r--r-t-p|.-» 
 
 :::&1 I 
 
 ^ \'^-'- ___^..,,^|TlK'»«'J«Ct^ 
 
 t- 
 
 .( It f 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOEOID 
 

THE SPECKLED 
 
 BR©-QK 
 
 Ykou% 
 
 / (Sal-uelinus Fontinalis) 1 
 BY VARIOUS EXPERTS WITH ROJ 
 ND REEL EDITED AND, 
 ILL USTR ATED 
 BY LOUIS RHEAD 
 V WITH / 
 
 AN INTRODUCTIOM BY^ 
 HARLl 
 
 RHRUSSELL NEWYORK 
 
Copyr?'ght, igo2, by 
 Robert Howard Russell 
 
f?Y 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THE extreme popularity of the Brook Trout 
 has been fully proved by the host of anglers 
 who fish for him, and it can scarcely be nec- 
 essary to solicit their favor toward a vol- 
 ume embellished with pictures reproduced in later and 
 better methods than any that have hitherto appeared, 
 and with contributions by different experts well known 
 in departments of the art of angling. 
 
 The Editor originally intended to issue a series of 
 volumes under the title of "A Library of Rod and 
 Gun," and still may do so should a kindly reception be 
 given this volume by lovers of nature and of angling. 
 
 The first object of this work is to supply general 
 information on the Salvelinus fontinalis. It is hoped 
 that it will also prove of interest to amateurs as well as 
 to expert anglers, who will add it to their list of books 
 to take on their trips to read and re-read at odd times — 
 
 iVi3G3360 
 
PREFACE 
 
 not too bulky or crowded with technical terms or mat- 
 ter of little interest to the average fisherman who is 
 interested in angling only as a sport or pleasure and 
 change from the activity of city life and business 
 cares. 
 
 So much has been written and still remains to be 
 written, an Editor's greatest difficulty is to condense 
 matter pertaining to this particular fish when articles 
 are contributed by a number of writers, but, for the 
 generous assistance (in many small details) of two 
 veteran editor-authors, Charles Hallock and Wm. C. 
 Harris, who have for more than half a century cast the 
 fly and used the pen, the Editor's incompetency would 
 have been more apparent. 
 
 My thanks are due to Mr. Annin for his article on 
 " Winged Enemies of Trout; " again to Mr. Hallock 
 for his delightful poem ; and to the memory of the late 
 Nelson Cheney, who but a short time before his sud- 
 den death cheerfully gave me permission to use, and 
 promised to add matter to his article on " Trout 
 Propagation" from the State report; to Mrs. Mary 
 Orvis Marbury for her selection and arrangement of 
 the colored sheet ot flies, made especially by her for 
 this volume ; indeed, to all the authors who have con- 
 tributed their best efforts and whose friendly interest 
 made the labor most agreeable, and lastly to Mr. Rus- 
 sell, who has in every way been lavish, not only in 
 expenditure but in many little artistic details which 
 have made all his books so choice. 
 F 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In behalf of the Publisher, I wish to acknowledge 
 indebtedness to the courtesy of Harper & Brothers tor 
 the use of an article written thirty years ago by Charles 
 Hallock in "The Fishing Tourist," and to ■toic/i 
 ■Top/rs for the use of parts of an article on the old and 
 the changed Adirondacks. 
 
 Louis Rhead. 
 
 
 
 I^^P 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 
 ^rv^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 ^Ct^iT^^-^ 
 
 
 
 \j]Jv )J:%^v^^^^^^-<^^x^ 
 
 v^^:^Tv"Y-y.v-^ 
 
 ^\^ 
 
 8=^^^^^^^^S 
 
 ^^^^^^^&^^ 
 
 iT^^^^^ 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 .^-^<=^^S 
 
 ^^^^^^^^5 
 
 (1^^^^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 j^?^<C^^^^^^ 
 
 ^^^^ 
 
 ^^ 
 

 CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 Preface E 
 
 Baptism of the Brook Trout . Charles Hallock . M 
 
 General Description of the 
 
 Trout Family Charles Hallock . i 
 
 Big Trout of the Nepigon, 
 Lake Edward, Lake Batis- 
 CAN, Etc E.T.D. Chambers 2i 
 
 The Habits of the Trout . . irm. C. Harris . 49 
 
 The Old Adirondacks .... Charles Hallock . 67 
 
 The New Adirondacks 91 
 
 An Angler's Notes on the Bea- 
 ver kili Benjamin Kent . 103 
 
 1 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 Winged Enemies of Brook Trout J. Annin^ Jr. . 127 
 
 Trout Propagation J, Melson Cheney 141 
 
 Some Notes on Cooking Brook 
 
 Trout Louu Rhend . .155 
 
 Along a Trout-Stream . . . L. F. Brown. . 165 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 The Speckled Brook Trout, Colored Plate . Fromiipiece 
 
 Opposite 
 Page 
 
 The Willowemoc 4 
 
 Casting in the Shallows, Photogravure 8 
 
 " Rising to the Natural Fly " 14 
 
 " Evening Firelight Stories " 30 
 
 "Dashing Down Stream " (Beaverkill) 58 
 
 " Taking the First Rush " 62 
 
 V. C. Bartlett's Sportsmen's Home, Saranac Lake, 
 
 New York, in 1873 76 
 
 Paul Smith's in 1873 80 
 
 Trout Flies, Colored Plate no 
 
 "Softly Creeping, Lightly Dropping" 114 
 
 A Cool Spot in Leafy June, Photogravure 122 
 
 " The End of a Stiff Fight " 144 
 
 The "Mongaup" at De Bruce 150 
 
 " Ready for Cooking " 160 
 
 " Tired of the Struggle " 170 
 
 "A Pool where Big Fellows Lie Low" 178 
 
 K 
 
BAPTISM OF THE BROOK TROUT. 
 
 I AM Salmo Fontinalis, 
 To the sparkling fountain born, 
 And my home is where oxalis, 
 Heather bell and rose adorn 
 The crystal basin in the dell, 
 (Undine the wood-nymph knows it well,) 
 That is where I love to dwell. 
 
 There was I baptized and christened, 
 
 'Neath the sombre aisles of oak, 
 Mute the cascade paused and listened. 
 Never a word the brooklet spoke : 
 Bobolink was witness then, 
 Likewise Ousel, Linnet, Wren, 
 And all the brownies joined " amen." 
 M 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 Noted oft in ancient story. 
 
 Erst from immemorial time, 
 Poets, anglers, hermits hoary 
 
 Confirm my vested rights sublime. 
 All along the mountain range, 
 " 'Tis writ in mystic symbols strange : 
 '' Naught shall abrogate or change." 
 
 Thus as Salmo Fontinalis 
 
 Recognized the wide world o'er,* 
 In my limpid crystal palace, 
 Content withal, I ask no more ; 
 
 Leaping through the rainbow spray, 
 Snatching flies the livelong day. 
 Naught to do but live and play. 
 
 * But scientists have changed this most appropriate designation to 
 o. iialvelinus, more's the pity ! 
 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE 
 TROUT FAMILY 
 
GENERAL 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE 
 
 TROUT FAMILY. 
 
 As Old as the Hills. 
 
 ]k CCORDING to Dr. Shufeldt, an eminent and 
 /^L trustworthy authority, the Sahnonidifi date 
 J % back to the Tertiary Period. He thinks 
 it probable that at the opening of the 
 Glacial Epoch the fresh waters of North America 
 swarmed with various Salmonoid fishes. At the close 
 of that epoch, all the streams and basins which had 
 been subjected to its influence were gouged out and 
 destroyed, and their ichthyic tenants summarily dis- 
 possessed. One direct result was to drive a portion 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 into the sea, notably the salmons and the sea trout, 
 which there became habilitated. 
 
 The effect of the ice-blanket which so long over- 
 laid the earth was to cool the earth's heated and plastic 
 crust, thereby causing shrinkage, which in turn created 
 fissures, both superficial and subterrene; and these 
 served as conduits for the fluvial output from the dis- 
 solving glacial sheet, and as passageways for the 
 salmonidse. 
 
 'Distribution. 
 
 Throughout subsequent ages subterranean streams 
 have played a very important part in fish distribution, 
 especially in affording passage under mountain eleva- 
 tions and high table-lands, which would otherwise 
 have proved insurmountable obstacles to superficial 
 transit. Of the existence of a subterranean fluvial 
 system co-extensive with the continental area, and 
 having intimate connection with the ocean, we have 
 abundant manifestations. The remarkable fresh-water 
 ebullitions in the Gulf of Mexico, the fathomless sink- 
 holes and mammoth springs in the adjacent peninsula 
 of Florida, the re-entering " zanates " on the coast of 
 Mexico, and the copious gushes of oil, gas, and water 
 which break out of the sands and rocks all over the 
 continent, are striking and familiar attestations. So, 
 also, sudden changes are occasionally observed in the 
 quality and color of interior ponds, with metamor- 
 phoses of their bottom floors, and of the living organ- 
 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
 
 isms which they generate and nurture ; and there are 
 intermittent ebbs and flows in the Great Lakes, after 
 the simiHtude of tides. Many lakes do not diminish 
 by outflow, evaporation, or absorption, in the hottest 
 weather, nor overflow in the wettest seasons, remaining 
 always at a uniform stage. Others suddenly lose half 
 their volume, or drain off altogether. Some swarm 
 with fish at times, and again are apparently barren. 
 All of these phenomena are easily accounted for on 
 the hypothesis of underground connection and in no 
 other way. 
 
 As a matter of fact, there is a far more copious and 
 extensive fluvial system under the earth than there is 
 on top of it, any engorgement thereof forcing the flow 
 to the surface, where it finds vent and manifestation 
 through crater cones, geysers, sink-holes, artesian wells, 
 and intermittent springs ; also throwing out fish, not 
 eyeless cave-dwellers, but wide-awake, lusty and well- 
 formed specimens of whitefish, sunfish, goggle-eyes, 
 mud-cats, blue-cats, suckers, eels, bass, and pike-perch, 
 as well as lizards and sea-shrimps. We do not find 
 trout represented in the list because it is a primitive 
 species, the subterranean streams having accomplished 
 their general distribution ages ago, under the dispensa- 
 tion of the period. Blind fishes are not thrown out, 
 because they are committed to the lock-up for life, 
 segregated in underground pockets which have, per- 
 haps, no available outlets. At all events, the eyeless 
 fishes which we find in the Mammoth Cave of Ken- 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 tucky and elsewhere, have become so adapted to their 
 environment and to acquired methods of procuring 
 subsistence, that they seem content and attempt no 
 exit. It is not assumed that the hard lethe-Hke waters 
 of the deeper fluvial veins take any part in this econ- 
 omy of fish distribution, for assuredly no life can exist 
 therein, impregnated as they are with salts and base 
 solutions. Surface water, too, imbibes the impurities 
 of the earth or soil over which it passes, and it is only 
 when it has been filtered by percolation through sand 
 and gravel beds that it becomes as pure as when it 
 first descended in rainfall. In such pellucid fluid, 
 drawn fresh from the bosom of mother earth, the trout 
 thrive best, and in its vivifying arteries, borne under- 
 ground, the salmonidse have been passed from one 
 antipodal locality to another, at various depths, accord- 
 ing to the lay of the land. 
 
 Distribution by other than subterranean waterways 
 is various. The presence of alien species in landlocked 
 waters is often due to overflows, freshets, and cata- 
 clysms. Transportation by migratory birds and even 
 by insects, and precipitation by cloud-bursts and water- 
 spouts, are of frequent occurrence. There is beyond 
 all an accepted theory of aerial incubation of fish ova 
 which are held in suspension in the upper atmosphere 
 until the hatched-out fry drop to earth or convenient 
 water spaces in some rainfall. One most potential 
 factor in mechanical distribution is the sturdy pelican, 
 whose range of habitat is of great extent, reaching 
 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
 
 from the Gulf of Mexico to the sub-Arctic regions. 
 In his capacious pouch he will carry quantities of as- 
 sorted fish, alive, over long distances, often sitting down 
 beside some lake or pond to feed upon his catch, and 
 spilling the overplus into the water. 
 
 In current years, human agency is scattering broad- 
 cast, populating new streams or rehabilitating those 
 which have become barren. Indeed, the presence of 
 trout in a large majority of amorphous locations can 
 be historically accounted for. For instance, s. fontinalls^ 
 which is now diffused all over the Appalachian Ridge 
 in Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, and 
 even in Northeastern Georgia, often attaining a weight 
 of two pounds, was introduced by General Wade 
 Hampton some fifty years ago, and only last summer 
 I saw him at Sapphire, at the age of eighty-seven, en- 
 joying the fruits of his providential forethought. The 
 speckled trout of Castalia, O., were planted by the 
 club which appropriated that famous spring and con- 
 verted it into a fruitful stream a quarter of a century 
 back. The monster rainbow trout {s. iridius)^ of 
 Macon County, N. C, were planted at Highlands 
 twenty years ago by Henry Stewart, of New Jersey, 
 and the Sapphire Lake trout, of the same species, by 
 the Toxaway Company, who are chiefly Pittsburg 
 gentlemen. Some of these introduced rainbow trout 
 have been caught weighing five pounds, and even 
 more. The rainbow trout of Cumberland County, in 
 central North Carohna, were planted at my request by 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 D. C. Ravenel, of the United States Fish Commission. 
 German trout (s. fario) and Loch Leven trout (j, 
 levenetnis) have been introduced from abroad into 
 many locations never before occupied by any of the 
 Sahiio family, and are found to thrive. In fine, the 
 brook trout of North America and his congeners, large 
 and small, not only " use " in mountain-streams, but 
 in the wide rivers and lakes, as well as in salty estu- 
 aries, and along the sea-shores. They occupy the 
 whole of British America except the continental mid- 
 way and are included in no less than thirty-nine States 
 and Territories. Trout of some sort are found in the 
 six New England States, New York, New Jersey, 
 Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, 
 North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, 
 Kentucky, 0}uo^ Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Min- 
 nesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, New Mexico, Colo- 
 rado, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, 
 Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, 
 Arizona, Chihuahua, Texas, and Alaska. It is not 
 native to any of those italicized, and is found in very 
 limited portions only of New Jersey, Maryland, South 
 Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Texas. 
 Since a century ago we have discovered and enumer- 
 ated the most of them and, at last, dios gratios ! affixed 
 a nomenclature (more or less trinomial) which it may 
 be hoped will stand as long as men fish and trout 
 swim ; or at least during the lifetime of the present 
 generation. 
 
 6 
 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
 
 Species and Farietks. 
 
 In making these traverses from one geographical 
 division to another, and from one quality of water to 
 another, as affected by impregnation of salts, oxides, 
 and what not, the trout creation must have undergone 
 those physical modifications and changes in habits, 
 and perhaps in markings and coloration, which are 
 conspicuous throughout the family ; thereby estab- 
 lishing from time to time new species, as well as vari- 
 eties not recognized by scientists as species. These 
 find taxonomic expression in kaleidoscopic body-pat- 
 terns (like the orchids and begonias), as well as in 
 form, size, weight, tint of flesh, and rapidity of 
 growth. Thus we have the diminutive blue-back of 
 the Rangeleys, seldom exceeding four ounces in aver- 
 age weight; the gigantic lake trout {jiMnaycusli)^ at- 
 taining lOO pounds ; the sea trout of British America, 
 a purely marine fish, ranging coastwise from Maine to 
 Alaska, feeding along shore, spawning in the estuaries 
 at the head of the tide, and seldom running up more 
 than a mile or two into the fresh-water streams ; the 
 red-spotted Dolly Vardens of California ; the rainbow 
 trout of the Rockies ; the red trout of Idaho ; the 
 black-spotted varieties of the Continental Divide ; the 
 steelheads of Oregon ; the olivaceous trouts of our 
 Eastern lakes ; the black togue of Maine ; the silvery 
 trout of the Penobscot Basin ; the white trout of Loch 
 Lomond in the Province of New Brunswick ; and, best 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 known and most attractive of all, the radiant brook 
 trout of New England, with its spangles of crimson, 
 blue, and orange, its mottled upper fins and vermicu- 
 lated back, its crimson pectoral fins edged with black 
 and white, its varying weights, its gameness on the 
 hook and off it, its bravery in the ring, and its all-round 
 vigor and beauty — all of which give to it an individu- 
 ality which has made it conspicuous in song and story 
 since the day of its advent. The Messenger Brothers, 
 of Boston, once put an equal number of black bass 
 and trout of different sizes in a large aquarium to dis- 
 cover the survival of the fittest, giving no food, but 
 leaving them to prey on each other ; and in spite of 
 all the sharp spines and protecting scale armor of the 
 bass, the trout had equal honors ! Out of two even 
 dozen four of each survived. 
 
 As long ago as 1748, the Russian naturalist, George 
 Stellar, made known the salmonidie of the Pacific 
 coast. In 1804, Lewis and Clark, American explorers, 
 added some Rocky Mountain species. In 1855, Dr. 
 Suckley, of the Pacific Railway Survey, gave a list of 
 seventeen peculiar to the waters of Washington and 
 Oregon. " Hallock's Gazetteer " enumerated and de- 
 scribed some twenty or more recognized species in 
 1877; at which date ichthyology was hardly out of 
 kindergarten. Since then, immense strides have been 
 made in the pursuit of this science, chiefly under the 
 tutelage of the inimitable United States Fish Commis- 
 sion, with its manifold equipments; so that it has been 
 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
 
 able to discover and classify not only the trouts, but 
 all the salt and fresh water genera of the continent. 
 
 A recent official summary of American trout, pre- 
 pared for me by courtesy of William C. Harris, author 
 of " North American Fishes," gives thirty-eight species, 
 besides three introduced from Europe, and not includ- 
 ing the sea trout (s. Canadensis and immaculatus), which 
 was recognized as a distinct species by Smith, Storer, 
 Scott, Hallock, and other early ichthyologists, in con- 
 travention of the present standard of differentiation, 
 which is based on anatomical structure entirely : 
 
 Summary of American Trouts. 
 
 Salmon Grouts. 
 
 Cutthroat or Rocky Mountain Trout — Salmo Clarkii. 
 
 Yellowstone Trout — Sahno Clarkii /£'cc;/j/— sub-species 
 represented in the tributaries of the Columbia 
 River by Salmo Clarkii gibsii — sub-species. 
 
 Lake Tahoe Trout — Salmo Clarkii Hensha-usi — sub- 
 species. 
 
 Utah Lake Trout — Salmo Clarkii virginalis — sub- 
 species. 
 
 Rio Grande Trout — Salmo Clarkii spilvrus — sub-species. 
 
 Colorado River Trout — Salmo Clarkii plenriticus — sub- 
 species, 
 
 Waha Lake Trout — Salmo Clarkii howceri — sub-species. 
 
 Green-back Trout — Salmo Clarkii stomias — sub-species. 
 
 9 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 Yellow-fin Trout — Sal mo Clarkii Macdonaldi — sub- 
 species. 
 
 Silver Trout of Lake Tahoe — Sulmo Clarkii tahoenensis 
 — sub-species. 
 
 Salmon Trout of Lake Sutherland — Salmo Clarkii de- 
 divifrons — sub-spec i es. 
 
 Spotted Trout of Lake Sutherland — Salmo Clarkii 
 Jordani — sub-species. 
 
 Long-headed Trout of Lake Crescent — Salmo bathoe- 
 cetor. 
 
 Steelhead Trout — Salmo gairdneri. 
 
 Kamloops Trout — Salmo gairdneri Kamloops — sub- 
 species. 
 
 Blue-back Trout of Lake Crescent — Salmo gairdneri 
 beardsleei — sub-spec ies. 
 
 Speckled Trout of Lake Crescent — Salmo gairdneri 
 crescentis — sub-spec ies. 
 
 The Rainbow Trout — Salmo irideus. 
 
 The Rainbow Trout of West Oregon — Sahno irideus 
 masoni — sub-species. 
 
 The Rainbow Trout of McCloud River — Sahno irideus 
 shasta — sub-species. 
 
 The Kern River Trout — Salmo irideus gilberti — sub- 
 species. 
 
 The NissuU or No-shee Trout — Salmo irideus stoneri — 
 sub-species. 
 
 The Golden Trout of Mt. Whitney — Salmo irideus 
 aqua-bonita — sub-spec i es. 
 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
 
 Char -trouts. 
 
 The Great Lake Trout — Cristivomer namaycush — rep- 
 resented in Lake Superior by Cristivomer namay- 
 cush siscotwet — sub-species. 
 
 Eastern Brook or Red-spotted Trout — Salvelinus 
 fontinalis. 
 
 Dublin Pond Trout — Salvelinus fontinalis agassizii — 
 sub-species. 
 
 Dolly Varden Trout — Salvelinus parkei. 
 
 Dolly Varden Trout of Kamchatka — Salvelinus Kund' 
 scha. 
 
 Saibling or European Char — Salvelinus alpinus. 
 
 Long-finned Char — Salvelinus Alpinus Alipes — sub- 
 species. 
 
 Greenland Char — Salvelinus Alpinus Stagnalis — sub- 
 species. 
 
 American Arctic Char — Salvelinus Alpinus Arcturus 
 — sub-species. 
 
 ^\ix\2iipttlLXOwt— Salvelinus Alpinus Aureolus — sub-species. 
 
 Blue-back or Oquassa Trout — Salvelinus Oquassa. 
 
 The Naresi Trout — Salvelinus Oquassa Naresi — sub- 
 species. 
 
 The Lac de Marbre Trout — Salvelinus Oquassa Mar- 
 stoni — sub-spec ies. 
 
 Introduced Salmon "Grouts. 
 
 German, brown or Von Behr Trout — Salmo fario. 
 Loch Leven Trout — Salmo Levenensis. 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 Etlihs of the II 'ouch. 
 
 Has anyone ever thought of the trout as a great 
 moral agent, a conservator of human welfare, as well 
 as a contributor to sport ? If not, why not "? 
 
 Let us consider: Has not this universal favorite 
 among game-fishes posed for decades as an economic 
 factor to increase the revenues of States and replenish 
 depleted exchequers? Has he not led the prospector 
 and explorer up the unmapped defiles to the crown of 
 the divide and discovered rare plants, timber tracts, 
 precious ores, and water-powers ? Has he not stimu- 
 lated a love for nature, made men good, virtuous, and 
 humane ? Given occupation to idlers, lured loafers 
 from demoralizing environment, filled libraries with 
 poetry, hcllcs lettres^ and an angling bibliography as 
 unique as it is entertaining ? Has he not, in fact, 
 been a potential instrument to distribute population 
 over the wilderness places, and so filled up the Arca- 
 dian recesses of the Catskills, the Adirondacks, the 
 White Mountains, the Appalachians, the Rockies, and 
 the Cascades with cottages, parks, and summer hotels, 
 where the worker and wage-earner may rest from their 
 labors and the butterflies of fashion find a healthful 
 and uesthetic elysium ? 
 
 Reflecting in its piebald garb the iridescence of 
 the gauze-winged ephemera and parti-colored flowers 
 which bespangle its sequestered haunts in the leafy 
 month of June, it inspires poets, generates good-fellow- 
 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
 
 ship, soothes the sullen moods of hermits, and makes 
 good comrades of us all. It is associated with nature 
 in her most winsome phases, and none can cultivate 
 its acquaintance without becoming the better man. 
 With a good supper at hand in a rustic camp, after a 
 tiresome day, orisons and benisons rise spontaneously. 
 
 Insects as Food. 
 
 Oh, leafy June I animate with countless insect forms! 
 Beneath each maturing leaf bursts the opening chrysa- 
 lis. Upon the flux of the eddy floats the empty cad- 
 dis boats, their whilom tenants already translated to 
 the upper ether. Fleets of gnat-rafts, tossed about and 
 broken up by the tumbling foam of the cascades re- 
 lease the myriads of inexorable midgets, which pursue 
 the angler through the summer months and vex his 
 waking hours. Gaunt mosquitoes wriggle out of their 
 swaddling clothes to pipe their resurrection-song and 
 range afar in quest of blood. Wherever we turn, 
 whether on land or water, under this decaying leaf or in 
 that rotten log, in the folds of the alder leaves, trees, 
 and willows which overhang the streams, among the 
 succulent weeds which carpet the ponds and river-bot- 
 toms, within the mosses which cling to the trees, and 
 in the corrugated bark wherever it grows, we shall 
 find in this month of June an infinite variety of beetles, 
 flies, moths, grubs, larvie, aphides, worms, chrysalides, 
 etc., which comprise the main food supply of the brook- 
 trout and his congeners of lake and river. Insects 
 13 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 and trout are the principal tenants of all forested areas 
 where water spaces occur. When forests disappear 
 the trout disappear, because their food supply is cut off. 
 The same law applies to the salmon. All salmon 
 streams head in the forests, but the incidents of civili- 
 zation have depleted most of the rivers on the Atlan- 
 tic coast. The Hudson, the Connecticut, the Merri- 
 mac, the Kennebec, the Penobscot, and the Aroostook, 
 all salmon streams erstwhile, and many Nova Scotia 
 rivers also, became barren long before artificial or nat- 
 ural obstructions barred their ascent. This postulate 
 of food supply would seem, then, to settle the much- 
 discussed question whether salmon eat in fresh water 
 while on their way to the spawning beds. Insects are 
 their chief sustenance in the sylvan streams, and they 
 eat there to live. It would be inexplicable, indeed, if 
 salmon alone of all creatures were not required by 
 nature to fortify and strengthen themselves for the su- 
 preme work of procreation. It depends, however, 
 upon the length of rivers whether they feed. If the 
 rivers be short, like those of Nova Scotia, Labrador, 
 and Alaska, the run is short, and the necessity of eat- 
 ing minimized ; but in large rivers, like those of New 
 Brunswick and the Pacific side, it is different. 
 
 Other ^rout Food. 
 
 There are some localities like the Great Lakes 
 where insect forms are replaced by other kinds of food, 
 because they are prevalent. Flies are therefore disre- 
 14 
 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
 
 garded, though the instinct of pursuit being dominant, 
 some trout are taken with flies. For the same reason, 
 salmon roe is the preferred bait on the Pacific coast, 
 comprising as it does the principal food of the river 
 trout during the spawning season of the half-dozen 
 kinds of salmon which frequent them. In semi-arid 
 foot-hills of the Rocky Mountain chain, grasshoppers 
 are the choice. In New England wasp-grubs and lob- 
 worms are favorites. In Maine lakes the smelt is a 
 dainty bait. In Pennsylvania " curly jukes," or water- 
 shrimps, are attractive. On the Jordan, in Michigan, 
 a bug contrived of a lump of squirrel meat with trout 
 fins for wings made an effective lure in lumber days a 
 quarter of a century ago. At other times and places 
 cut bait, trout eyes and fins, pennyroyal buds, and bits 
 of red flannel will catch fish. All the same, artificial 
 flies are killing wherever one goes, and will move a 
 trout at one time if not at another ; so that it is beg- 
 ging the question to say that in such and such waters 
 they will not rise to the fly. Early morning and even- 
 ing is the best time to make the test. The best lure at 
 all times is what they seem to be feeding on, or are accus- 
 tomed to feed upon. This is an axiom. In forest pre- 
 cincts flies are naturally the most attractive in summer. 
 
 IVhy Trout Chase Flies. 
 
 The instinct of quest, therefore, prompts the trout 
 to pursue and seize all objects moving in his native 
 element which attract his attention. Nothing comes 
 15 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 amiss, large or small, be it chipmunk, mouse, frog, 
 minnow, bug, miller, grub, grasshopper, worm, or fly, 
 without regard to contour or color, though the more 
 familiar forms are the most attractive, especially in the 
 season of the year when they propagate and multiply. 
 Such being the case, it has always puzzled me to know 
 why the water-sprites {fiepida) and whirligigs (gyrm- 
 /da), which skip and gyrate all over the eddies at the 
 foot of waterfalls and dams, are so singularly exempt. 
 I have never detected a trout in an attempt to seize 
 one of these long-shanked and steel-clad harlequins, 
 and the insects in question seem to have no fear of 
 the trout. Why is this thus *? Are the things poison- 
 ous, or indigestible? or are their toenails sharp, like 
 the Irishman's humming-bird *? 
 
 Bait and Fly. 
 
 Some professionals delight to declare that they never 
 fish for trout except with flies, as if that indicated the 
 thoroughbred. Well ? I grant that fly-fishing is the 
 kindlier, gentler, and cleaner practice, though I think 
 the advantages of the two methods are about equally 
 balanced, if one is to consider conditions, seasons, and 
 opportunities, and the other incidentals outlined in the 
 books. One will often carry where the other fails. 
 It is not beyond depth to say that if the soi disant fly- 
 caster sticks doggedly to his high perch, despising the 
 other, he will some day have to depend on his camp 
 companion to feed the frying-pan. There are lots of 
 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
 
 fake anglers, especially at the tournaments. There 
 are prize-winners at the score who are dunces on the 
 riverside. 
 
 But what is fly-fishing in esse ? I am always shy of 
 the angler who talks of the advantage of shotting his 
 fly and letting it sink a foot or two. That man is not 
 a fly-fisher in fact. Why? Well, what is a fly*? Is 
 it an insect which dives, lives under water, and sinks 
 to the bottom like a corpse over the ship's side at sea ? 
 Oh, no I A fly is a creature of the upper air, now 
 touching the surface of the water, anon soaring aloft, 
 here an instant and gone the next, restless as a hum- 
 ming-bird, and seldom still. Why, the shotted fly 
 has not even the attributes of a beetle, or grasshopper, 
 or any other clumsy insect which happens to have 
 wings. It has no buoyancy or life. It cannot rise or 
 even maintain itself on the surface unless the current 
 be swift. It is inanimate and dead. Fly-fishing in- 
 deed I Why, man alive I fly-fishing is an art which 
 brooks no compromise. Cross it with other methods, 
 and you have a nonentity, if not a sterile hybrid. In 
 the same category I place all automatic devices and 
 combination baits. Such mechanical "jacks-at-all- 
 trades" simply demoralize the true angler and kill 
 genius. They are inventions of necessity and not of 
 sport. Now, may the reader pardon me I as this paper 
 was not intended to be a dissertation on angling tech- 
 nology, but a general description of the trout family, 
 and his idiosyncrasies. Summarily, the essence of the 
 
 17 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 art called gentle is to know how to find the trout first, 
 and then to present the lure as naturally as possible, 
 without occasioning alarm. The sequence comes with 
 the play on the line ; the reward with the heavy basket. 
 
 FisJiermaits Luck. 
 
 Questions repeatedly present themselves to the craft 
 in this wise : Given an abounding trout stream, why 
 does the catch vary so much with equal experts % 
 And why do not all the likely places on a pond or 
 stream pan out alike ? Why do we catch a dozen fish 
 in one hole and only one or two, or none, in another 
 equally promising'? Why will one angler whip a 
 stream successfully and his partner come home light? 
 Or, of two men in a boat, why will one take ten fish 
 to the other's none '? Is it not because the laws of as- 
 sociation govern the streams, as well as the forest and 
 field, or even human communities ? Accordingly, we 
 find hermits, guerillas, wayfarers, and coteries among 
 trout, as well as communities and schools. Trout 
 have their social sets and their upper ten. There are 
 royal nibs on every stream who appropriate the choic- 
 est feeding-places and the securest holes under the 
 bank, dominating the smaller fish and keeping them 
 upstream in the shallow waters. If your angler hap- 
 pens to strike a school or a Newport set, he is O.K. 
 Again, in lakes and ponds it makes every difference in 
 the fisherman's luck whether his end of the boat or raft 
 lies over the ledge, or off it, or over its edge, or whether 
 
 i8 
 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION 
 
 he drops his line in the clear cold spring-holes where 
 the assembled trout wave their fins contentedly, or 
 casts his lure over the mud bottoms and weedy flats. 
 
 With these few hints, I leave the unsophisticated 
 reader to his reflections, and the wiseacres to kindly 
 criticism. It is never well to crowd a stream ; for 
 crossed lines never cement good-fellowship. 
 
 19 
 
BIG TROUT OF 
 THE NEPIGON, 
 LAKE EDWARD, 
 LAKE BATISCAN, 
 ETC. 
 
 lONTEMPLATIVE men 
 
 who love quietness and virtue 
 and to go a-fishing, attain to 
 such famiharity with the works 
 of Nature, that it would indeed be 
 strange if each succeeding generation 
 of anglers did not make some advance 
 from the previous store of scientific 
 knowledge pertaining to the interesting 
 subjects of fish and fishing. For it is 
 as true in our day as in those in which Walton wrote 
 and fished, that angling is " so like the mathematics 
 that it can never be fully learned ; at least not so 
 fully but that there will still be more new experiments 
 left for the trial of other men that succeed us." 
 
 Indefatigable industry and rare, ripe scholarship have 
 been devoted to its literature, and though the art is 
 23 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 not to be taught by book, yet it teaches many things 
 itself which are not so easily learned in any other 
 school. And since many men of great wisdom, learn- 
 ing, and experience now practise this art, scientific 
 accuracy demands that I should modify the title of 
 this little treatise, at least to the extent of frankly 
 avowing, even at the risk of a solecism, that neither 
 big trout, nor little trout, nor trout of any kind what- 
 ever are to be found, either in Lake Edward, Lake 
 Nepigon, or Lake Batiscan ; or, for the matter of that, 
 in any of the meres, or lakes, or rivers, of which it is 
 my pleasant recreation to converse with the brethren 
 of the Angle. 
 
 The ever-beautiful fish of these waters, whose sci- 
 entific name is Salvelhms fontinalis, has been called a 
 trout, it is true, ever since it became known to the 
 first European settlers of its environment. It came by 
 its vernacular name, says Professor Prince, through the 
 Pilgrim Fathers; who, when they first saw it in New 
 England, mistook it for the same fish which they had 
 known in their own Devonshire streams, and which 
 it resembles in size, form, and other characteristics, 
 although materially differing from it in structure, and 
 especially in the essentially distinguishing trait of the 
 arrangement of teeth upon the vomer. The new- 
 comers were evidently delighted to think that the 
 rivers in the new land, like those of the old, were 
 trout streams, and they gave the fish found in them 
 the name that most nearly reminded them of a form 
 
 24 
 
BIG TROUT OF THE NEPIGON 
 
 which existed in the mother country, notwithstanding 
 some external differences, such, for instance, as those 
 in the coloration of the spots. 
 
 The fact that this charming so-called trout of Amer- 
 ican waters is not a true Salmo, but a char, need not, 
 it has well been said, occasion any sorrow to the angler 
 or to the lover of the attractive fish, since all the mem- 
 bers of this group of salmonoids are noted not only 
 for their beauty and grace, but also for their game 
 qualities; and an eminent ichthyologist has declared 
 that " no higher praise can be given to a salmonoid 
 than to call it a char." 
 
 Whatever disappointment may be caused the Amer- 
 ican disciple of the gentle Isaak, by the knowledge that 
 the trout of the "Complete Angler" is a different fish 
 ivomfontinab's, it must not be forgotten that Walton 
 pays quite a compliment to the char, testifying to its 
 " high esteem with persons of great note." The dear 
 old Master Angler was wrong in his supposition that 
 this special Salvelinus was only to be found in Lake 
 Windermere, for it is now known to exist in many of 
 the other lakes of the British Isles, and the same vari- 
 ety is said to have been recognized in some of the 
 waters of continental Europe. Though an exceedingly 
 handsome fish, like our own fontinalis^ Walton's char 
 neither attains to the size of its close congener of the 
 New World, nor yet affords as good sport to the 
 angler ; only rarely taking the fly, and being usually 
 caught by trolling with a minnow, on a long line, sunk 
 25 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 deep in the water. Our own beautiful char may 
 never succeed in throwing off its domestic appellation 
 of speckled trout, or American brook trout, and since 
 this is so, and that a rose by any other name smells 
 just as sweet, I shall, for convenience sake, make use 
 of such common name, as many others now do, who 
 have no more intention or desire than I have to inti- 
 mate that this favorite fish is really a trout, or anything 
 more or less than a char, and one of the most elegant, 
 most gamy, and in every way most desirable mem- 
 bers of that highly favored species. 
 
 Sir Humphry Davy has left us a description of the 
 leading type of the European char, from which we 
 may glean some idea of its brilliant coloring, though 
 British testimony is not wanting to establish the fact 
 that, in the richness of its livery, it still falls short of 
 the glorious apparel of the American brook trout. In 
 fact, no purely British fish, says the author of a paper 
 in Blachcood's on " Fontinalis in Scotland," can boast 
 the hues which deck the fontinalis. Never, he says, 
 have we seen such gorgeous and brilliant coloring in 
 any finny creature, excepting, perhaps, in some ot 
 the quaint tropical varieties from the Caribbean Sea^ 
 which are shown to the traveller by negro fishermen 
 in Jamaica. 
 
 Sir Humphry Davy had no personal knowledge of 
 our American brook trout, and it is therefore not sur- 
 prising to read that he had never seen more beautiful 
 fish than the European char, " which, when in perfect 
 
BIG TROUT OF THE NEPIGON 
 
 season, have the lower fins and the belly of the brightest 
 vermilion, with a white line on the outside of the pec- 
 toral, ventral, anal, and lower part of the caudal fin, and 
 with vermilion spots, surrounded by the bright olive 
 shade of the sides and back." Those who have been 
 
 privileged to examine the brilliant flaming red bands 
 upon the lower part of the sides of some of Canada's 
 Alpine char, in the spawming season, and especially of 
 the newly named Scilvelimis Oquassa Marstonii^ will see 
 that there is a close resemblance between the appear- 
 ance of some of the American and European chars, 
 though beautiful as all of these are, no other one of them 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 that has yet been described is arrayed in such shades ot 
 oHve and purple and crimson and gold, as the large 
 specimens ot" fontinalis found in the cool, clear waters of 
 Northern Maine and the Dominion of Canada. 
 
 Let us carefully examine a newly caught specimen 
 of the Lake Edward trout, fresh from the rapids of the 
 River Jeannotte — the outlet of the big lake — where its 
 monster fish descend in the latter part of August, in 
 search of their spawning-beds. During the heat of the 
 midsummer months we angle in vain for this beautiful 
 creature upon the surface of the water. After the man- 
 ner of his near kinsman, the char of Windermere and 
 Geneva— &z/iv///;^/j- Alpinus — the gay cavalier seeks the 
 cool depths of the spring-fed lake, whence the most 
 deftly cast flies fail to attract him. Minnows compose 
 his daily menu, and with a cool summer-resort and 
 plenty of good food, he has no inclination to trouble 
 himself with what is disturbing the surface of the water. 
 In the comparatively swift rapids of the picturesque 
 discharge, fontinalis, finding no minnows upon which to 
 feed, is successfully tempted by the fluttering fly to 
 " spring from the deep and try aerial ways." Here the 
 giant specimens of the Lake Edward char, which attain 
 a size rarely to be met in running water, rise freely to 
 the artificial lures which were cast in vain over the 
 bosom of the lake. Here, too, as in the Nepigon and 
 the Montmorenci, at this season of the year, the Ameri- 
 can brook trout is found in his most gorgeous apparel. 
 His whole being is aflame with burning passion and 
 
BIG TROUT OF THE NEPIGON 
 
 nuptial desire, which reveal themselves in the fiery 
 flushes of deepest crimson upon his shapely sides and 
 lower fins. The creamy white margins of the pectoral, 
 anal, and ventral fins distinctly mark the course of the 
 fish in the dark water, and form a striking contrast to 
 his olive-colored and vermiculated back and dorsal fin. 
 Here, he has caught the varying tints of the submerged 
 rocks, and of the forest-clad mountains which form the 
 basin of the lake, and in the brilliant brocade of his 
 spotted sides he reflects the gold of the setting sun, and 
 the purple sheen of the distant hills. The partner of 
 his spawning joys and sorrows lacks much of his flaming 
 indication of sexual ambition, but is shapely and jewel- 
 bedecked and beautiful beyond compare. If even Sol- 
 omon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these 
 richly colored spawning males, the female fish, with the 
 brilliant silver of its burnished sides, marked with 
 orange and purple spots — their centres often dotted with 
 crimson — is the very embodiment of grace and beauty. 
 
 Unlike some of the fickle fair amongst the fishes of 
 Oppian's Halieutics, the big trout of these northern 
 lakes are always found in couples upon the spawning- 
 beds, and so closely attendant are they upon each 
 other's movements, that the spouse of a hooked fish 
 may often be seen swimming around the struggling 
 captive, as though anxious to aid it to be free, and has 
 sometimes been taken in the same landing-net. 
 
 During the latter half of August and the whole of 
 September, these large fish rise very freely to ordinary 
 29 
 
J5 ROOK T R O U T 
 
 trout flies in the Jeannotte, and have been taken there 
 over seven pounds in weight. Fish from two to five 
 pounds are quite common in all the upper pools of the 
 river at this season, and sometimes the angler may enjoy 
 the sport of playing two or three of them at the same 
 time. They are extremely gamy, and often break water 
 several times before being brought to net. In spring 
 and summer, not one of these large fish is to be found 
 in the stream, though there are plenty of fingerlings 
 ready to seize the angler's flies. The big fellows are 
 all in the big lake. They grow big because of the 
 large extent of spring-fed water in which they roam, 
 and also because of the abundant food supply furnished 
 them by the innumerable shoals of minnows. 
 
 The lack of much insect food for fish at Lake Ed- 
 ward is perhaps responsible for the habits of its trout. 
 At all events, the large ones are not to be seduced by 
 insect lures until they withdraw to the shallower water 
 of the spawning-beds in the stream below. In spring- 
 time they often come pretty near to the surface of the 
 lake, when they chase the vast shoals of minnows into 
 somewhat shallow water. The frightened little fish 
 fly by thousands in front of their pursuers, and as they 
 spring into the air and fall back into the lake, the splash 
 that they make resembles the sound of a heavy fall of 
 hail. A live minnow is a good bait, and catches of 
 four and five pound fish are of daily occurrence here 
 in the spring of the year. Worms and other ordinary 
 bait are used with good result, and so are mice, frogs, 
 30 
 
^ 
 
 l*J 
 
BIG TROUT OF THE NEPIGON 
 
 and even pieces of pork. Trolling, either with the 
 spoon, the phantom minnow, or a dead-fish bait, is also 
 very successful. These monster char will readily take 
 a very large size pike-spoon, and will not even refuse 
 to make a meal of the young of their own species. 
 
 In all probability there are larger fish in Lake Ed- 
 ward than any that have been taken out of it, and if 
 reliance can be placed upon the stories of the big ones 
 which have been hooked and lost there, the size of its 
 speckled trout is not exceeded in any Canadian stream 
 or lake. 
 
 Throughout the northern part of the continent there 
 are a series of favored waters where gigantic specimens 
 o{ Sahelinus fontinalis, at least equalling those caught in 
 Lake Edward, in size and gorgeousness of coloring, and 
 sometimes exceeding them in gameness, are still to be 
 found. These lakes and rivers are situated, for the most 
 part, amid the mountains of the Laurentian chain, which 
 extends from the north of Lake Superior to the sea-coast 
 of Labrador, though some of them occur on the north 
 of the water-shed dividing the waters of Hudson's Bay 
 from those of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Much confu- 
 sion has been caused by the application of the name 
 " trout," as well to the namaycush or christivomer as to 
 Satcelinus fojithialis, and many reports of large trout in 
 northern waters have been found, upon investigation, to 
 refer to the so-called gray or lake trout, or namaycush. 
 Speckled trout of three to nine pounds in weight are 
 reported, however, to have been taken in nets in Lake 
 31 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 Wahwanichi, a beautiful mere about the size of Lake 
 Edward, namely, twenty miles long by one to three 
 wide. 
 
 In the Hamilton River, above the Grand Falls, in the 
 interior of Labrador, there is, according to Mr. Low, the 
 well-known explorer, the finest trout-fishing in Canada 
 — all large fish, none under three pounds, and from this 
 to seven pounds, and plenty of them in all the rapids. 
 
 Several of the rivers flowing from the north into Lake 
 Superior also contain very large trout. Professor Ram- 
 say Wright, of the University of Toronto, is authority 
 for the statement that specimens of Salvelinus fontinalis 
 have been secured in the Nepigon up to seventeen 
 pounds in weight. Accessibility to an abundant food 
 supply and a deep cold-water habitat contribute very 
 materially to the rapid growth of all the trouts and chars, 
 and the Nepigon River and the lakes by which it is fed 
 contain large quantities of whitefish, while the water 
 is so cold that its average summer temperature is not 
 much above forty degrees. The fish have therefore no 
 reason to keep down in the lowest depths of the river, 
 and they consequently rise freely to the angler's flies. 
 The best fishing is to be had there from the middle of 
 July through the months of August and September. 
 The river is rather more than thirty miles long to the 
 Great Lake Nepigon at its head, and is broken by fit- 
 teen chutes or falls, at the foot of all of which there is 
 excellent fishing. The average width of the river is 
 two hundred yards, but it has several large lake expan- 
 32 
 
BIG TROUT OF THE NEPIGON 
 
 sions, and its depth is from twenty to two hundred and 
 fifty feet. Fontinalis has consequently ample scope 
 here for the display of all his fighting qualities. Pro- 
 fessor Wright's estimate of the size of the Nepigon fish 
 is probably based upon reports of several years ago, 
 when none but Indians fished the river, and there are 
 many modern authorities for the killing of nine and ten 
 pound brook trout in its waters. The standard flies for 
 the Nepigon are the professor, queen of the water, 
 grizzly king, gray and green drakes, Montreal, silver 
 doctor, coachman, and hackles. Even Nepigon has its 
 off days for the fly-fisher, however, and upon these the 
 phantom minnow usually does good work, though it is 
 a question whether the use of any other lure than flies 
 should not be prohibited upon this magnificent stream, 
 which has already become considerably deteriorated. 
 
 The Michipicoten, the Jack Pine, and other streams 
 in this neighborhood are probably but little inferior to 
 the Nepigon, and it is by no means uncommon to take 
 brook trout in all of them up to five pounds in weight. 
 
 Not only in the country north of the St. Lawrence are 
 large brook trout to be found. Six and seven pound 
 specimens have been caught in some of the rivers and 
 lakes of the Squatteck country, in the vicinity of Lake 
 Temiscouata, which is not far from the boundary of 
 New Brunswick ; while others, nearly as bulky, occur 
 in the preserves of the Megantic Fish and Game As- 
 sociation, on either side of the Maine and Quebec 
 boundary line. 
 
 33 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 What was supposed to have been a record fish, at 
 the time, was assigned the place ot honor in the de- 
 partment of Fish and Fisheries at the Centennial Ex- 
 hibition in Philadelphia. After it had been some time 
 
 dead it turned the scales at ten pounds. Professor 
 Spencer F. Baird and Professor Agassiz are both said 
 to have given it as their opinion that when freshly 
 taken this trout weighed at least eleven and a half 
 pounds. It measured thirty inches in length and 
 eighteen in circumference, and was caught in October, 
 
 34 
 
BIG TROUT OF THE NEPIGON 
 
 1867, in one of the Rangeley Lakes, in Maine. Some 
 old anglers, and many younger ones who are ac- 
 quainted with the literature of the subject, will recall 
 the excitement which broke out in the angling world 
 of America in 1863, when Mr. George Shepard Page, 
 of New York City, returned from a trip to the Range- 
 leys, bringing with him eight brook trout weighing 
 from eight down to five and a half pounds each. 
 Scores of letters were sent to the papers which had 
 presumed to call these fish brook trout — some of them 
 interrogative, more denunciatory, others theoretical, 
 and some, again, flatly contradictory. The Adiron- 
 dacks had never yielded a brook trout which weighed 
 more than five pounds, and that, therefore, must be the 
 standard of brook trout the world over. But Mr. 
 Page had foreseen the violent scepticism which was 
 sure to manifest itself, and had sent one of his seven- 
 pounders to Professor Agassiz, who speedily replied 
 that these monster trout were genuine specimens of 
 the so-called speckled or brook trout family, and that 
 they were only found in large numbers in the lakes and 
 streams at the headwaters of the Androscoggin River 
 in Northwestern Maine. The big trout of Lake Ed- 
 ward, of the Nepigon, of Lake Batiscan, Lake Jacques 
 Cartier, and other Canadian waters, were evidently un- 
 known to Professor Agassiz at that time, or he cer- 
 tainly would never have attempted to so limit the 
 occurrence of the monster char. Many of the heavy 
 trout killed in the same waters during the next few 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 years were caught upon trolling lines, though some 
 very large ones rose to the fly, and Mr. Henry O. 
 Stanley, of Dixfield, now and for over thirty years past 
 one of the Fish Commissioners of the State of Maine, 
 has a record of several hundred brook trout taken with 
 the fly, and running from three to nine and a half 
 pounds each. 
 
 Lake Batiscan, which is noted for its large trout, is 
 about midway between the city of Quebec and Lake 
 St. John, and only a few miles distant from the line of 
 the railway. Dean Robbins, of Albany, N. Y. ; Dr. 
 Robert M. Lawrence, of Lexington, Mass., and a num- 
 ber of friends secured twelve brook trout in Lake 
 Batiscan in 1895", whose aggregate weight was sev- 
 enty-two pounds. The dean caught, by trolling, an 
 eight and a quarter pound trout, and another of the 
 party one of eight and a half pounds. The latter was 
 twenty-six inches long and seventeen in girth. The 
 Hon. W. B. Kirk, of Syracuse, N. Y., has to his credit 
 a nine-pound trout taken from the same lake. Mr. 
 Alfred Harmsworth, proprietor of the London Daily 
 Mail, saw a number of seven and eight pound fish 
 from this lake at the Garrison Club, in Quebec, in 
 1894, and guessed their average weight at ten pounds, 
 as related at the time by the late Mr. A. N. Cheney^ 
 in the columns of Forest and Stream. Almost all the 
 waters of the Triton Tract, in which Lake Batiscan is 
 situated, are noted for the large size of the fontinalis 
 which inhabit them. The late Colonel A. L. Light 
 36 
 
BIG TROUT OF THE NEPIGON 
 
 killed fourteen trout in one hour on the tract in 1892, 
 their total weight being forty-five pounds. Mr. Che- 
 ney and Mr. W. F. Rathbone, of Albany, took twenty- 
 five speckled trout in the Moise River, on the fly, in 
 September, 1897, which weighed in all 101 pounds. 
 Ten of Mr. Cheney's fish weighed forty-five pounds 
 and ten of Mr. Rathbone's forty-one pounds. 
 
 Except in the fall of the year many of the heaviest 
 trout caught in lakes are undoubtedly taken upon 
 the troll. Even those that are killed upon a fly 
 often seize it as it is trolled behind a boat. One of 
 the flies used in angling for these heavy fish is the 
 coarse bunch of hair known as the moose-tail fly. It 
 is usually trolled some distance under the water. 
 
 The Lake Batiscan trout are exceptionally hand- 
 some fish. They are almost always in good condition. 
 So, too, are those of the Montmorenci River, which 
 are among the most gamy specimens known to Can- 
 adian anglers. They feed and fatten largely upon in- 
 sect food, and hence grow strong and lusty as well as 
 bold and gamy. All fish-culturists know how supe- 
 rior in coloring of flesh, in flavor, and in gameness are 
 those trout and chars which feed upon flies or Crus- 
 tacea. 
 
 Mr. Stoddart, in his " Art of Angling as Practised 
 in Scotland," mentions an interesting experiment made 
 with trout, some years ago, in the south of England, in 
 order to ascertain the value of different food. Fish 
 were placed in three separate tanks, one of which was 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 supplied daily with worms, another with live minnows, 
 and the third with those small dark-colored water-flies 
 which are to be found moving about on the surface 
 under banks and sheltered places. The trout fed 
 with worms grew slowly, and had a lean appearance ; 
 those nourished on minnows — which it was observed, 
 they darted at with great voracity — became much 
 larger ; while such as were fattened upon flies only, 
 attained in a short time prodigious dimensions, weigh- 
 ing twice as much as both the others together, although 
 the quantity of food swallowed by them was in no- 
 wise so great. 
 
 Lanman has stated that one principal cause of the 
 great variety in color of the brook trout is the differ- 
 ence of food; such as live upon fresh-water shrimps 
 and other Crustacea are the brightest ; those which 
 feed upon May-flies and other aquatic insects are the 
 next ; and those which feed upon worms are the dull- 
 est of all. Trout which feed much upon larvae (Phry- 
 ganidi£) and their cases are not only red in flesh but 
 they become golden in hue and the red spots increase 
 in number. 
 
 Professor Agassiz has said " the most beautiful trout 
 are found in waters which abound in Crustacea ; direct 
 experiments having shown that the intensity of the 
 red colors of their flesh depends upon the quantity of 
 Gajnmarida (fresh-water shrimps) which they have 
 devoured." 
 
 Mr. Cheney once wrote that " fishes are probably 
 38 
 
BIG TROUT OF THE NEPIGON 
 
 creatures of habit as well as man, and if they are sup- 
 plied only with food which is found at the bottom, 
 they will look to the bottom for it and not look to the 
 surface, where the angler casts his flies; so the food 
 question is one that relates, more than anything else, 
 to the condition of the fish, as their habits may be 
 changed by a change of food that causes them to look 
 up for it rather than down." 
 
 This constant looking down for their food in the 
 depths of Lake Edward no doubt accounts for the 
 general refusal of its trout to rise to surface lures. 
 
 In the Montmorenci, some twenty to thirty miles 
 above its famous falls ; in the Ouiatchouan, the stream 
 which carries the surplus waters of Lake Bouchette 
 into Lake St. John ; in La Belle Riviere, and in other 
 northern waters that might be mentioned, fontinalis 
 feeds largely upon insect food, and six and seven 
 pound specimens have not infrequently fallen victims 
 to the fly-fisherman's skill. 
 
 Space forbids lengthy reference to the huge trout of 
 the great lake Jacques Cartier, a splendid body of 
 water now hidden in the almost impenetrable depths 
 of the Canadian forest ; but those familiar with the 
 works of Mr. John Burroughs will recall the story, 
 in "Locusts and Wild Honey," of the six-pounder 
 taken by him at the very source of the Jacques Car- 
 tier River, when there was then a passable road for a 
 buckboard from Quebec to the lake. Since the build- 
 ing of the railway to Lake St. John this pathway has 
 
 39 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 become so deserted that it is in parts quite overgrown 
 with shrubbery, while many of its bridges have en- 
 tirely disappeared. 
 
 A pack-horse may get through to the big lake, and 
 here, in its discharge, and in Lac des Neiges, only a 
 few miles distant from it, are to be found some of the 
 best waters still open to anglers in which the big red 
 trout of Canada may be fished for, and may be caught, 
 too, if good luck wait upon the angler's efforts. The 
 autumn fishing is surer, here, than any other, and Sep- 
 tember is the best month to go. But the lakes men- 
 tioned, as well as all the upper course of the Jacques 
 Cartier River, are comprised in the Government pre- 
 serve known as the Laurentides National Park, which 
 occupies much of the interior of the country between 
 the Saguenay and the Quebec & Lake St. John Rail- 
 way. The Government guards this preserve itself and 
 charges $i per day for the right of fishing its waters, 
 and $1 for the use of canoes and camping equipment. 
 Guides cost $1.50 and $1.25 per day each. Owing to 
 the rapid nature of the Jacques Cartier River in the 
 upper part of its course, and to its extremely wild, pre- 
 cipitous cliffs, it is dangerous and well nigh impossible 
 to ascend it to its source, but good trout-fishing may 
 be had in some of the waters that may be reached by 
 canoes. A drive of thirty miles from Quebec over 
 good country roads brings the angler to a farm-house, 
 where he may obtain lodging and guides, close to the 
 boundary of the park, and a few hours' poling up- 
 
 40 
 
BIG TROUT OF THE NEPIGON 
 
 Stream brings him to good fishing grounds. The after- 
 noon of the second day should find him at pools where 
 three and four pound trout have been taken, and if he 
 prefers a shorter trip he may enjoy good sport in the 
 Sauteriski, one of the tributaries of the Jacques Car- 
 tier, which has yielded five-pound trout in the month 
 of September. Licenses to fish in the park, which 
 covers over a million and a half of acres, and all other 
 information respecting it may be obtained from the 
 Department of Fish and Game, at the Parliament House 
 in Quebec. Fair fishing may be had in the rapids of 
 the Jacques Cartier River in the latter part of May and 
 the first part of June, and though the largest fish do 
 not always rise to surface lures in spring-time, trout of 
 a good size are plentiful, and many anglers prefer to 
 fight fontinalis in rapid water, even though they may 
 not secure the biggest fish. Smaller fish may be had 
 all through the summer in the Jacques Cartier rapids, 
 but the insect pests of the Canadian forests detract 
 largely from the sportsman's enjoyment there during 
 the month of July and the early part of August. The 
 open season for trout in the province of Quebec com- 
 mences on May 1st, though it frequently happens 
 that the ice does not leave the surface of the northern 
 lakes until several days later. In some seasons the 
 fish rise as early as the 5th to the 8th of May ; in others 
 there is not much fly-fishing before the 15th of that 
 month. July is an off month, except for small fish, 
 or for trolling and bait-fishing ; and neither the last ten 
 41 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 days of June nor the first ten or fifteen days of August 
 are as favorable to the sport as earUer and later dates. 
 The open season ends on September 30th. 
 
 Many of the best fishing waters already mentioned 
 are entirely controlled by private clubs. The angling 
 in the Jeannotte belongs to the Orleans Fish and 
 Game Club, and that in Lake Batiscan, the river and 
 lake Moise, and numerous other lakes and streams, to 
 the Triton Fish and Game Club. The Stadacona and 
 Laurentide Clubs, of Quebec, own waters containing 
 very large fish, within easy reach of the Quebec & 
 Lake St. John Railway; the magnificent angling in 
 the Ouiatchouan is leased to the Ouiatchouan Fish 
 and Game Club ; the Laurentian Club, which contains 
 many New Yorkers in its membership, owns much 
 good water, supplied with heavy trout, in the valley of 
 the St. Maurice, while the fishing of the Nepigon is 
 the property of the Government of Ontario, which 
 charges a license fee of $5 to residents of Canada, and 
 of $10 to non-residents, for the right to two weeks' an- 
 gling. The fishing in Lake Edward is virtually free to 
 everybody, for it is leased by the proprietor of the 
 hotel there tor the accommodation of his guests, and 
 visiting sportsmen have no other place to stay at the 
 lake than either the hotel or some of the camps on the 
 lake shore controlled by its management. Charges 
 for hotel and guides are quite reasonable. 
 
 Outside of those of the Laurentides National Park, 
 all unleased waters belonging to the Province of Que- 
 
BIG TROUT OF THE NEPIGON 
 
 bee may be fished by the people of the province, and 
 by any non-resident who pays the h'cense fee ot $i 
 per day, or $io for the season, which is required of all 
 those non-resident anglers who are not themselves 
 lessees of Government fishing waters, or members of 
 fish and game protection clubs holding one or more 
 such leases. 
 
 The angler for the big brook trout of Canadian 
 lakes and rivers may make choice of a great variety 
 of tackle. I have had sea-run specimens of fontinalis 
 no larger than those I should love to kill on a five- 
 ounce rod seize the fly with which I was endeavoring 
 to raise a thirty-pound salmon. How spitefully have 
 I dragged them by main force with my salmon-rod 
 and tackle on the sloping beach out of the water that 
 they were so ruthlessly disturbing ! At other times, 
 and under different circumstances, I should have con- 
 sidered that I had drawn a prize out of the pool. On 
 a seven to nine ounce rod these freshly run sea trout 
 give splendid sport. Many anglers kill them with 
 grilse rods, and enjoy the fun, too. 
 
 The big trout of inland waters may be killed none 
 too soon for some fishermen with just such tools as 
 those already described. When lighter ones will do 
 the work I have no use for the heavy rods. One ot 
 nine ounces, short and stiff, is not too heavy for troll- 
 ing purposes. For bait I recommend the use of one 
 of seven to nine ounces ; rather longer than the troll- 
 ing rod, and not necessarily quite so stiff. Even for 
 
 43 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 fly-fishing in heavy rapids I have used a nine-ounce 
 lancewood rod, ten teet long. My favorite weapon tor 
 this work, however, is a split bamboo made by that 
 prince of good fellows and of" amateur rod-makers, Mr. 
 
 Graham H. Harris, chairman of the Chicago School 
 Board. It weighs seven ounces, is a beauty, and has 
 four or five pound trout to its credit. A five-ounce rod 
 will do the work equally well, but may take longer 
 about it. Though I have never handled such large fish 
 on a tool of this size, I have killed one of three and a 
 
 44 
 
BIG TROUT OF THE NEPIGON 
 
 half pounds on a rod that weighed only as many ounces, 
 and that is very much the same thing. 
 
 A light reel, holding not less than thirty to thirty-five 
 yards of fine waterproof line, with six to nine feet of 
 good single-gut casting and a few patterns of the stand- 
 ard flies already mentioned, will complete the angler's 
 outfit. Neither the large variety of artificial flies nor 
 yet the fineness of workmanship on the part of the tier, 
 recommended by most angling authorities for use in 
 the small-stream fishing of the Eastern States, is neces- 
 sary to the taking of the untutored, uncivilized fonti- 
 nalis of the heavy waters of Northern Canada. Flies tied 
 upon No. 3 and No. 5 hooks are usually not too large. 
 Often the fish rise to salmon flies. If the water is clear 
 and the weather warm, and the smaller sizes are neces- 
 sary to tempt them, there need be no anxiety on the 
 score of the hook if a heavy fish is struck, providing 
 the quality and the temper of the steel are good. I 
 have seen Mr. George E. Hart, the well-known Water- 
 bury angler, kill a thirty-pound salmon upon a fly that 
 would not be considered large for a fingerling trout. 
 
 Every part of the tackle should, however, be thor- 
 oughly tested, for a four, five, six or seven pound trout 
 is a wanton warrior. He is not unlikely to break 
 water, though his leaps as a rule are less frequent than 
 those of a smaller relative. As a matter of fact, there 
 is no rule at all by which to judge of the probable 
 nature or outcome of a fight with fontinalis. His 
 rushes, when he feels the hook, are long and violent ; 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 he rapidly changes the scene of the struggle from the 
 bottom of the water to the surface and back again to 
 the bed of the river or lake, neglecting no opportunity 
 of entangling the line about stones, or bushes, or weeds, 
 or fallen trees, and of cutting it upon the rocks. If the 
 fish be too much forced, the hook may readily be torn 
 out of his mouth. If he contrives in the course of his 
 rushes toward the angler to gain the slack of the line, 
 he may shake the hook out of its hold and go free. 
 Not infrequently the fisherman is handicapped by a 
 second and even a third fish seizing one or other of the 
 remaining flies of the cast, and in the see-saw game 
 which follows he is fortunate indeed if he preserves his 
 tackle intact, no matter whether he succeeds or not in 
 saving his whole string of fish. 
 
 The huge sea-going specimens of fontinalis which 
 run down out of Canadian rivers into the salt water, 
 to fatten upon the flesh-pots of the briny deep and to 
 burnish their mottled sides till they shine with a silvery 
 polish rivalling that of a freshly run salmon, are worthy 
 of a chapter to themselves. They are caught up to 
 eight and ten pounds each, and when impaled upon 
 the hook of the angler offer just as good sport as that 
 afforded by grilse, played and taken under similar cir- 
 cumstances. Many claims to a distinct variety have 
 been made for some of these sea-run specimens, but 
 Jordan and Evermann have not yet been persuaded of 
 the incorrectness of their present classification. For 
 further details respecting these and other Canadian 
 46 
 
IG TROUT OF THE NEPIGON 
 
 salmonoids the reader is referred to the 
 present writer's monograph on "AngHng 
 in Canadian Waters," in the sumptuous 
 new work of Dr. F. M. Johnson now 
 in press. 
 
 Whether taken out ot brackish water 
 in the estuary ot some Eastern sabnon 
 river, clad in silvery sheen, or from the 
 deep water of some large lake, where 
 the fish is found in its darkest of dark 
 green and olive and crimson apparel, or 
 from the rapid of a clear, cold stream, 
 where its coat of many colors rejoices 
 in the brightest and most brilliantly 
 tinted spots, the angler who feasts his 
 eyes upon the newly caught monster 
 char of Northern waters will readily 
 admit, that, though God might have 
 made a more beautiful object than the 
 American brook trout, yet doubtless 
 God never did, and his heart will be 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 filled with gratitude that such splendid sport is within 
 his reach. 
 
 And when the hour comes to fold up his tent and 
 lay away his fishing-rod and flies, he might well wish, 
 like Walton's scholar, for some somniferous potion to 
 force him to sleep away the intermittent time until he 
 enjoys such sport again— which time would pass away 
 with him " as tediously as it does with men in sorrow " 
 — were he not a philosopher and an honest man, who 
 honors philosophy by his virtuous life, and merits the 
 friendship of those who are lovers of virtue, who trust 
 in Providence, who study to be quiet, and who go 
 an-angling. 
 
 48 
 
THE HABITS OF 
 THE TROUT. 
 
THE HABITS OF THE TROUT. 
 
 MOST prominent among the trouts — in fact, 
 of any of the American fishes which the 
 anglers of this country prize as a quarry — is 
 the brook or red-spotted trout, Salvelinus 
 fontinalis. These technical appellatives are derived 
 from Salvelinus, said to be the old name of the char, 
 and fontinalis, " living in springs." Unlike many 
 other game fishes, it has but few common or popular 
 names and is known among anglers simply as the 
 " brook, speckled or red-spotted trout." 
 
 It is a pure char and the most beautiful of our 
 fresh-water fauna, the more so from the mantle of rose 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 and violet which it wears, the mellow diffusion of 
 which from gills to base of caudal at once suggests 
 the descriptive phrase so often heard among anglers, 
 "the bloom of the trout." Nor is our admiration les- 
 sened as we examine his clipper-built form, the bright 
 vermilion dotlets with their dark - blue areola^ the 
 strength and symmetry of his paired fins, and the broad 
 sweep of his truncate tail, and when we have him 
 hard and fast upon a barbed hook and a springing 
 rod, we cannot fail to appreciate his knightly qualities, 
 his sturdy resistance, and keen intelligence in his ef- 
 forts to escape from the steel. 
 
 Premising that an angler will recognize on sight 
 this brook beauty, aptly and poetically known as " the 
 pride of the rills " wherever he is taken on a light rod 
 and a dancing fly, we will now look into his home life 
 and take note of his habits, habitat, and idiosyncrasies, 
 for he is not without a few odd traits and actions. 
 
 Fontinalis — " living in springs " — is without doubt 
 the most amply descriptive, specific name that ichthy- 
 ologists have ever bestowed upon a fish, for take a 
 trout from its native and highly aerated home and it 
 will die if placed in water of a higher temperature ; 
 put him in a large aquarium tank and ice it as you 
 may, and his life is only a question of a few months ; 
 the solstice season ends it. At the New York Aqua- 
 rium, where every appliance for the preservation of fish- 
 life is at hand and intelligently used, the brook trout 
 can seldom be kept from season to season. 
 52 
 
THE HABITS OF THE TROUT 
 
 Living thus in pure waters, the habits of the trout 
 naturally partake of the character of its environment, 
 if we except the fact that he seems to be somewhat 
 of a gormand. We have frequently taken them on 
 the fly when the head and shoulders of a half-swal- 
 lowed minnow was sticking from their mouths, which 
 would seem to indicate a tremendous gorging habit ; 
 but, on the other hand, even this trait would seem to 
 show their eagerness of pursuit for the most delicate 
 entree of their water memi^ the insects of the pools, 
 hence all anglers with whom to decry their brook 
 beauty is to blaspheme nature, would be disposed to 
 call him a gourmet rather than a glutton. 
 
 But be this as it may, when a brook trout is hungry, 
 he is very much like all other creatures of the earth, 
 air, and water, including the human family — he will 
 eat what he can get, his own spawn-child, minnows of 
 all kinds, earthworms and grubs, crawfish and dobsons, 
 all living things of the water-bottoms, and insects of 
 the air that fall upon the surface of the pool. But he 
 is, without doubt, one of the most energetic and per- 
 sistent foragers for food that our waters contain. We 
 find him dashing over and through the shallows in 
 chase of frightened minnows ; breasting the wild 
 waters of the rapids while awaiting the drifting bug 
 or other surface-washed food, and then again we find 
 him leaping for hours into the air, particularly in the 
 gloaming, for the midges, the no-see-ums, or the mos- 
 quito fry, born and fledged by the rays of a single 
 
 53 
 
ROOK TROUT 
 
 day's summer sun. He has been charged with nasti- 
 ness of appetite because small snakes are eaten by 
 him. Why not eat them V The Chinaman loves his 
 puppy pottage, the Mexican Indian his grasshopper 
 pudding, and the Southern negro his carrion buzzard 
 stew. The trout will not eat carrion food of any de- 
 scription, yet the French Creole of Louisiana is said 
 to hang his wild duck outside the kitchen walls un- 
 til the atmosphere is soaked with the fowl's decaying 
 odors, before he cooks and eats it. Again, I very 
 much doubt if a trout could be tempted to nibble at 
 a thread of boiled sauer-kraut or even a crumb of a 
 Welsh-rarebit, at Limburger cheese or a Spanish olla- 
 podrida. Delicacy of taste and appetite, per se, are 
 seldom, if ever, correlative, but both are strongly, and 
 often strangely, individualized in all creatures of this 
 world's habitat. 
 
 The habits of the trout being born of the springs, 
 with an environment, the beauty and almost kaleido- 
 scopic condition of which, changing with every glint of 
 a sunbeam through the foliage, are, as has been noted, 
 in touch and quality with its habitat. He seeks the 
 purest portions of the home stream, loving the white- 
 capped aeration of the strong currents, and the mouths 
 of the little rill-like tributaries which not only bring 
 down food for his well-developed appetite, but a fresh 
 supply of oxygen for his arterial system. When- 
 ever he is found in a pool of quiet water, a long stretch 
 of which often exists in large trout-streams, he is less 
 
 54 
 
THE HABITS OF THE TROUT 
 
 forceful in action, lazily and leisurely taking the sur- 
 face lure, and robing himself with a more subdued 
 coloration, which latter, however, seems to illuminate 
 the vermilion spots on its body and deepen the glow 
 of the blue areola around each dotlet tinged with a 
 scarlet hue. 
 
 Among the fly-fishermen for trout we often hear 
 these characteristic phrases : " He is a slow striker," 
 or " a quick striker," and these qualities when applied 
 to the methods of an angler seem to satisfy his brethren 
 of the craft as to the reasons for success, or the lack of 
 it, in the rodster under discussion. Experience has 
 shown, however, that slow or quick striking on the 
 part of the angler has much less to do with success in 
 scoring than the well-established fact that trout of dif- 
 ferent waters, even of the same waters where the phys- 
 ical conditions are changing with nearly every rod of 
 its downpour, have varied ways of taking a fly when it 
 is deftly thrown to them. In long, quiet pools over- 
 hung with alder growth from which insects are falling 
 constantly the trout has the habit of coming leisurely 
 to the surface, lazily as it were, taking the fly in its 
 mouth in a manner indicating a duty rather than a 
 physical necessity, closing its jaws slowly upon the 
 feathers and then quietly turning tail and returning to 
 its lair below. Now, such fish are a glory to the " slow 
 striker " ; he will creel every one of them that rises to 
 his flies. But, then and again, taking the same stream, 
 just above this quiet pool, where a strong rapid is boil- 
 
 55 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 ing and foaming over the rocks in mid-stream, and 
 " the slow striker " is all afield. A quick eye with the 
 nerves all aglow, an instantaneous turn of the wrist 
 when the slightest swirl in the water is seen, or the 
 faintest pluck at the feathers is felt, are the only assur- 
 ances of a successful outing. 
 
 Much discussion arose, some years ago, as to the 
 trout flopping its tail at a floating bug, in its efforts to 
 disable or drown it and thus render its prey more easy 
 to capture. In rapid or turbulent waters this never 
 occurs ; in a large quiet one it has been my good fort- 
 une to witness it nearly every day for about a fort- 
 night. This delightful experience was awarded me on 
 the Ontonagon River, some fifteen miles from Waters- 
 meet, Mich. The trout, averaging about half a pound 
 each, lived in a pool with but little current, nearly 
 300 feet in length and fifty in breadth, the banks of 
 which were densely grown with large alders, the 
 branches overhanging some six or eight feet on each 
 side of the pool. The trout seemed to be loitering 
 expectant under the shadows of the alders for falling 
 insects, which now and then would drop into the 
 water. There was no rush, no flash in the pool of a 
 velvet-robed, red-dotted arrow, but a sluggish coming 
 to the surface of a sombre fin with a sort of aristocratic 
 leisure, self-satisfied and confident of success, but a 
 seeming indifference as to the result. It would open 
 its relatively ponderous jaws, gulp down the insect, and 
 leisurely turn tail for the bottom. At least one out of 
 56 
 
THE HABITS OF THE TROUT 
 
 every five of these trout, as if more lazy or less hungry 
 than its congeners of the pool, would rise nearly to the 
 surface and flop its tail over the floating bug, seldom 
 if ever missing its aim, and so far as I could see, the 
 insect being under water, secured its prey at every 
 sweep of the caudal fin. I noted that the fish with this 
 habit were always, seemingly, the largest trout in the 
 swim, hence their sluggish, lazy way of "taking things 
 as they come," even food or anything else of material 
 value in the economy of fish-life. 
 
 Since the days of old Juliana Benners of i486, who 
 wrote the first printed book on fishing, writers on an- 
 gling have described the trout as a leaping fish when on 
 the hook, with acrobatic efforts to free themselves from 
 it. No angling outing could be described or a mono- 
 graph written on this fish without an allusion to his 
 rapid, aerial, and ofttimes successful gyrations to escape. 
 In a trout-angling experience of about half a century 
 but one instance of a trout, when hooked, leaping into 
 the air, on a slack line, has occurred to me. True, this 
 fish, when tightly held, will come to the surface, with 
 its head and part of its body out of the water, and 
 sometimes with the entire body at length on the sur- 
 face as it fights frantically to escape, but the angler's 
 rod held tightly and upward causes this ; given a slack 
 line and the trout will surge deep. On the one occa- 
 sion when the exception above noted occurred, the 
 trout was struck in the middle of a small pool, and a 
 bowlder protruded its head from the surface on the left 
 57 
 
BROOK T R O U T 
 
 side about six inches with a breadth of two feet. 
 Holding tightly, the fish surged deep to the left, and 
 when within a foot of the rock, and unable to go 
 around its lower side because of the strain of the line, 
 and tearing still more its human enemy in front, the 
 fish suddenly leaped into the air on a slack line, and 
 over the top of the bowlder, but this unusual strategic 
 action did not save him ; in a few moments he was in 
 my creel. 
 
 The size of a trout at its different stages of growth 
 depends upon the area of the water in which it lives, 
 the food therein, and vigor and health of the individual, 
 hence this fish and all other species show characteristic 
 and personal physical traits : some are large and vigor- 
 ous for their age ; others are stunted and feeble, in fact, 
 the natural law of the "• survival of the fittest " is su- 
 preme among the fauna of the world, whether of the 
 air, the water, or the land, extending, as all know, to 
 the genus homo. Hence it is somewhat difficult to 
 decide upon the age of a trout from its size, weight, 
 coloration, or specific fotm, but, as a rule, the average 
 growth of a trout is about one ounce for the first year, 
 eight to ten ounces in two years, and one pound in 
 three years. These sizes are naturally and relatively 
 increased where their habitat is fully supplied with 
 food and where the water is of higher temperature than 
 in the pure spring streams. For instance, the trout of 
 the Range ley Lakes in Maine grow to the weight of 
 ten pounds or more; they are pure Salvel/ni/s fojitmalis. 
 

 ;'.::!'«»' 
 
 ^fcl tiVU' )/ifl /l^^if '^' /'iJ 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^.\^^X,J 
 
 . ^i. ^ <l^' '.'.Mil 
 
 I .;! 
 
 'I' 
 
 Q3 
 
THE HABITS OF THE TROUT 
 
 a classification which some anglers have been disposed 
 to doubt. These trout have become acclimated in the 
 Rangeleys, and, doubtless, their scions from generation 
 to generation and tor thousands of years have trans- 
 mitted to those of the present day the constitutional 
 aptitude to adapt themselves to the higher temperature 
 of these lakes, where food is plenty and constant for- 
 aging for it not imperative, as it is in smaller mountain- 
 streams and other waters. 
 
 On the approach of the spawning season, which 
 usually occurs in September, October, and November, 
 but is dependent upon the latitude and temperature of 
 the stream or pond, the trout makes its way upward 
 nearly to the sources of the clear, cold spring water 
 brooks, giving preference to those that flow rapidly 
 over gravelly bottoms. Here it selects a spot near the 
 bank and the female flops with the tail the sand from 
 her nest and uses her nose to push the gravel aside, 
 thus forming a slightly concave hollow, in which she 
 deposits her eggs, and the male emits the milt upon 
 them almost at the same time. The parent trouts 
 leave their nests immediately after the act of spawning 
 is completed, giving no parental care to either the ova 
 or their young, a trait so beautifully exhibited by the 
 black-bass, the sunfish, and the lowly "catty." In 
 about an average of eighty days, qualified by the tem- 
 perature of the water — 125 days in that of 37° F., and 
 fifty days in 50° F. — the young are hatched and the fry 
 thenceforth take care of themselves as best they may, 
 
 5Q 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 the food-bag, or more properly the umbilical sac, 
 which is attached to their bellies, sustaining lite tor 
 thirty to forty days. It is estimated that not more than 
 five per cent, of the young trout hatched in native 
 waters escape from their enemies and attain maturity ; 
 by fish-culture methods, to which we are indebted for 
 the perpetuation of the trout, a percentage of eighty to 
 ninety per cent, is ordinarily reached. 
 
 In studying the trout physiologically, we find that its 
 senses are not more acutely developed than those of the 
 other so-called game fishes, in tact, not as much so as 
 those of the small-mouthed black-bass, a fish as quickly 
 alarmed or as " skittish " as the trout, but with more 
 varied and intelligent resources for escape from the 
 hook. There is no question, however, as to the high 
 development of the senses of sight, taste, and hearing in 
 the trout. He is always on the alert for food or ene- 
 mies, with his head up-stream, poising in silence and 
 beauty of form, and, at times, as motionless, seemingly 
 ossified, as a brook-pickerel, which of all fishes is the 
 most statuesque in repose, and one of the swiftest in 
 action. Every angler is aware of the danger of having 
 the shadow of his body, his uplifted rod, or that of his 
 line thrown across a quiet pool ; instant alarm and 
 speeding to his home lair, like a thread of fire, is the 
 result. We have seen a trout shy and dart downward 
 at the shadow of a butterfly fluttering over the water, 
 and a low-skimming swallow will send this brook 
 beauty of ours frantically up and down, or crosswise 
 
THE HABITS OF THE TROUT 
 
 the pool. No Other fish, to my knowledge, is so af- 
 fected by shadows on the water. 
 
 The sense of taste in the trout is more fully attuned 
 to nicety than that possessed by many other fishes. If 
 the lure used to entice him be dead, it must be fresh 
 and sweet ; he touches nothing that is not pure and 
 clean. If the artificial fly is thrown to him in swift 
 waters, he quickly recognizes the gritty impact of the 
 steel and spits it out at once, hence the value of 
 " quick striking " in rapid streams. 
 
 The sense of hearing in all species of fish is a matter 
 of concussion on the surface of the water. Sit motion- 
 less in a boat, and you may sing " I Won't Go Home 
 'Till Morning," or any other gala song, to the extreme 
 high limit of your voices, and the trout or any other 
 fish will remain undisturbed, but scratch your toe 
 upon the bottom of the boat and, presto I the pool is as 
 dead and barren as a burned prairie. Approach a pool 
 from over the bank with a careless tread, and when 
 you reach it the trout are gone, none know where. 
 Crawl to the pool noiselessly on all-fours and you will 
 find your trout reposing without fear of danger. The 
 avoidance of concussion is the great factor on a trout 
 pool or stream in getting a satisfactory creel; slide, 
 rather than step, in wading and your success will be 
 greater. 
 
 Trout feed at all hours of the day and night, yet 
 it would seem that in many waters their hunger ap- 
 proaches a maximum as the dusk of the day gathers 
 
 6i 
 
ROOK TROUT 
 
 on the stream, or it may be, and doubtless is, that as 
 the shadows fall their sense of security increases. It is 
 at this hour that insect life is most abundant, partic- 
 ularly the moths and mosquitoes, and trout will often 
 be found jumping for the latter and puzzling the an- 
 gler, who is at a loss to account for the feeding fish 
 ignoring his feathers. This is easily explained. The 
 trout are busy feeding on tiny "skeets," and nothing 
 but a gray-midge fly tied on No. 18 or 20 hooks will 
 lure them. We have taken trout with such flies up 
 to midnight on both dark and moonlight nights. 
 
 The accepted rule that a white miller or other very 
 light-colored flies are the only ones that will attract a 
 trout as the night falls is subject to modification, for 
 this fish is excessively fond of crickets and grasshop- 
 pers and lie, perdue, at night along the banks of the 
 stream, where bushes grow thickly close to the water, 
 to feed upon these creatures. Hence when fishing in 
 the evening it would be well for the rodster to vary 
 the dressing of his flies to that of the black hackle or 
 dark Alexandria. We have taken trout of large sizes 
 and in quantities at the foot of a dam where the water 
 was falling and churning into foam by casting a black 
 fly upon the white area. 
 
 All of us have seen trout, particularly as the dusk 
 grows, leaping into the air and apparently frolicking, 
 for no lure will entice them. Doubtless, this fish, as 
 black-bass and sometimes yellow-perch certainly do, 
 indulge in such antics from causes unknown to us. 
 62 
 
THE HABITS OF THE TROUT 
 
 Perhaps it is from hygienic reasons, or it may be that 
 our brook beauty enjoys a romp nov/ and then just for 
 the " fun of the thing." In nine cases out of ten, how- 
 ever, when these fish are rollicking, as it were, they 
 will be found feeding on minute winged insects that 
 are floating in the air from two to six inches above the 
 surface of the pool, as the newly born mosquito is apt 
 to do, or fontinalis may be pleasing his palate by a 
 feast on the no-see-ums, which the angler can feel to 
 his discomfort but cannot see. 
 
 At night we have seldom found trout feeding in the 
 rapids ; in the daytime they will be frequently found 
 there, even when the water is shallow and the sun's 
 rays are reflected from every pebble on the bottom of 
 the stream. This practice of feeding in rapid water 
 is exceptional among the so-called game fishes of our 
 inland streams. The black-bass lies occasionally in 
 the eddies at the side of rapids, but seldom, if ever, 
 ventures into the current except, perhaps, for a dash at 
 a victim, and then a quick return to the relatively quiet 
 eddy. The perches and the sunfishes, which include 
 all species of fresh-water basses, are never found in 
 rapids, and the modest chub, ubiquitous as he is, only 
 seeks strong waters to escape the ravenous jaws of the 
 black-bass, impelled to do so by his reasoning instinct 
 that the black-bass does not enter such waters to feed. 
 So we must assign to the trout the quality of muscular 
 activity and vigor of search for food in turbulent wa- 
 ters beyond that possessed by any other fresh-water 
 
 ^3 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 fish. The wannanish, or ouananiche, of the Grande 
 Dcscharge of Lake St. John, Quebec, a kindred con- 
 gener of the trout, is the most striking example of this 
 quality. In this tempestuous water large rocks lie 
 hither and yon and close together and the boiling cur- 
 rent dashes in volume and foam through and over 
 them at times at least fifty feet at race-horse speed. 
 In such a habitat the wannanish is at home, and in 
 keeping with the character of it shows game quali- 
 ties beyond those of any other member of the salmon 
 family. 
 
 The environment of a mountain trout-stream is ele- 
 vating to the nature and mood of anyone who reposes 
 on the banks of the brook or wanders along its shores, 
 yet we have been told that fishing is a lazy man's 
 idling, and the saying has become somewhat of an 
 axiom with those who do not angle or value a knowl- 
 edge of the natural history of the water fauna of the 
 country. Fascinating as this study is, as it is taught 
 in books, it becomes doubly so when associated with 
 an angler's life on the stream, where the phases of ani- 
 mated nature are ceaselessly changing and with every 
 change unfolding a new delight. It is not an idle hour 
 to study the self-containment and posing of a patri- 
 archal trout, in his knot-rooted home-pool, or the wild 
 enjoyment of the giddy troutlets, just out of school, as 
 it were, who seem to be playing a game of shuttles 
 with their tails as battle-doors among the fluttering and 
 falling insects of the stream ; to watch the frightened 
 64 
 
THE HABITS OF THE TROUT 
 
 minnows on the shallows, the poise of expectant and 
 hungry yearlings, or the busy spawners on the gravel- 
 beds ; to be charmed by the kaleidoscopic color flashes 
 as the sun rays or shadows fall and shift upon and over 
 the rifts and pools ; to note the sedate and overhanging 
 alders, under which the lazy veterans of the reaches 
 listlessly rise to the dropping bugs ; to repose in a 
 moss-bedded nook of verdure and watch the curling 
 lips of tiny eddies, or the wild rush of mountain- 
 waters; to enjoy the placidity of hill-environed lakes 
 or to hear the innumerable and mysterious utterances 
 from out of the hollows, from the hill-sides, and from 
 the hurling waters and the depths of the forest. 
 
 65 
 
THE OLD ADIRONDACKS. 
 
THE OLD ADIRONDACKS. 
 
 LAST summer the New York l^ijnes published 
 an article deprecating the "ruinous public- 
 ity" given by Rev. W. H. H. Murray to 
 the sporting attractions of the Adirondacks, 
 and lamenting that this exceptional region should have 
 " fallen from that estate of fish and solitude for which 
 it was originally celebrated." Railroads, stages, tele- 
 graphs and hotels, it says, "have followed in the train 
 of the throng who rushed for the wilderness. The 
 desert has blossomed with parasols, and the waste 
 places are filled with picnic-parties, revelling in lemon- 
 ade and sardines. The piano has banished the deer 
 from the entire region, and seldom is any one of the 
 countless multitude of sportsmen fortunate enough to 
 meet with even the track of a deer." The writer re- 
 joices, and with reason, that Canadian forests are yet 
 undesecrated, and are likely to remain so, " unless some 
 
 6q 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 malevolent person writes a book upon the subject, giv- 
 ing to the indiscriminate public the secrets that should 
 be reserved tor the true sportsman and the reverent 
 lover of nature." 
 
 It is not without a careful consideration of the ques- 
 tion in all its aspects that I have ventured to publish 
 my Reference Books. Jealous as I am, in common 
 with all sportsmen, of sportsmen's secrets, and re- 
 strained withal by the instincts of self-interest, I should 
 hesitate to reveal them, were it not that concealment 
 is no longer a virtue. The considerations that permit 
 publicity are these : 
 
 In the first place, the several great railway routes 
 that have been recently completed or are now in prog- 
 ress — the Intercolonial, the European, and North 
 American, and the various Pacific roads — are opening 
 up to tourists and sportsmen regions hitherto inaccessi- 
 ble. Civilization and its concomitants inevitably fol- 
 low in their train, and hidden places become open as 
 the day. What would the negative force of silence 
 avail to hinder or prevent*? 
 
 There is not much danger of the mosquito swamps 
 and inaccessible fastnesses of the Adirondacks being 
 invaded by " good society." The crowd comes only 
 where the way is made easy, and because it is easy. It 
 follows the natural water-courses and avoids the tedious 
 "carries." It halts where the sporting-houses invite, 
 and selects those which provide the most abundant 
 creature comforts. 
 
THE OLD ADIRONDACKS 
 
 Murray's book attracted its crowds, not because a 
 legion of uninitiated sportsmen and ambitious Amazons 
 stood waiting tor the gates of some new paradise to 
 open, but because it presented the wilderness in new 
 aspects and fascinating colors. It showed how its 
 charms could be made enjoyable even for ladies. It 
 was a simple narrative of personal experience and 
 impressions, written con a?nore^ with a vigor and fresh- 
 ness that touched a sympathetic chord in the hearts of 
 its readers. It aroused a latent impulse and provided 
 a new sensation for those who had become surfeited by 
 the weary round of watering-place festivities. And it 
 has accomplished much good by encouraging a taste 
 for field-sports and that health-giving exercise which 
 shall restore the bloom to faded cheeks and vigor to 
 attenuated valetudinarians. 
 
 What though the door-posts of Adirondack hostel- 
 ries be pencilled o'er with names of those who fain 
 would seek renown among the list of mighty Nimrods ; 
 what though the wilderness blooms with radiant para- 
 sols, and pianos thrum throughout the realm; there 
 yet is ample room for the sportsman, and solitude suf- 
 ficient for the most sentimental lover of nature. The 
 very contour of the land makes roads impracticable. 
 It is everywhere broken up into mountain ranges, 
 groups, and isolated peaks, interspersed with innumer- 
 able basins and water-courses, nearly all connecting. 
 These are the heads and feeders of numerous rivers 
 that flow to every point of the compass, and after 
 71 
 
ROOK TROUT 
 
 tumbling down the lofty water-shed in a series of 
 rapids, tall into the lakes or ocean. These are the 
 sources of the Hudson, the Oswagatchie, Black River, 
 Raquette, Saint Regis, Ausable, and Saranac. It is only 
 where a valuable iron deposit makes it pay to surmount 
 the natural obstacles that some solitary tramway pene- 
 trates into the heart of the mountains. The few fertile 
 districts and tillable spots are likely to remain unoccu- 
 pied forever for lack of highways to a market, unless, 
 perchance, the growth of succeeding centuries drives 
 an overflowing population to the very crags of this 
 American Switzerland. 
 
 It has been proposed to make a national park of this 
 grand domain, and dedicate it forever to sports of for- 
 est, lake, and field. Why not ? Here is a territory 
 of 3,500,000 acres, or 5,000 square miles — larger than 
 the State of Connecticut. Let the disciples of the rod 
 and gun go up and possess the land. Let the girls 
 romp. Let the pianos thrum. Let the wild-wood ring 
 with the merry laughter of healthy women — real flesh- 
 and-blood women who will make wives too good for 
 the sour ascetics who would fain frown them out. 
 Precious indeed in these cloudy times of irksome servi- 
 tude are the holiday hours we snatch, sparkling with 
 dew and sunshine, from the beatitude of the better 
 day. And what more genial warmth can the sports- 
 man find than the female welcome that greets him 
 from the long piazza when he returns from his exile in 
 the woods I 
 
THE OLD ADIRONDACKS 
 
 The borders of the Adirondack Wilderness are ac- 
 cessible at various points by tolerable roads which 
 branch off from the main thoroughfares of travel. Dr. 
 Ely's Map, published by Colton, 172 William Street, 
 New York, gives minutest information as to distances, 
 interior routes, " carries," hotel and stage accommoda- 
 tion, etc., and no tourist should be without one. I 
 have found it remarkably accurate in all its details, 
 though slight corrections are sometimes necessary. 
 For immediate reference, however, the subjoined di- 
 rections will prove useful and reliable : 
 
 From the southwest the approach is via Boonville, 
 on the Utica & Black River Railroad. A wagon-road 
 (so-called) leads directly to the Fulton chain of lakes, 
 in the very heart of what is known as " John Brown's 
 Tract " ; but it is practicable for wheels only for about 
 fourteen miles, or a little beyond Moose River. Thence 
 to Arnold's old sporting-house, eight miles, the success 
 of the journey must depend upon one's ingenuity in 
 surmounting obstacles. The difficulties of the way 
 are graphically portrayed by the pen and pencil of T. 
 B. Thorpe, in the nineteenth volume of Harpefs Maga- 
 zine, though the road has been considerably improved 
 since the article was published. Some few bowlders 
 have sunk into the mud, and trunks of trees that then 
 crossed the road have rotted away, so that it is no 
 longer necessary to go around them. Consequently 
 the distance is somewhat shortened, and the road made 
 more level. From Arnold's there is a navigable water- 
 73 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 course all the way to Raquette Lake, a distance of 
 thirty miles, broken by three portages or "carries," 
 whose aggregate length is two and three-quarter miles. 
 Indeed there is a continuous water-course by way ot' 
 Raquette Lake, as will presently be shown, all the way 
 to the northernmost limit of the Adirondack region. 
 This " John Brown's Tract " is about twenty miles 
 square and contains 210,000 acres. As is well known, 
 it was once the seat of very considerable iron-works 
 which afterward failed in the fulfilment of a promise 
 of lucrative profit, and were abandoned. Arnold's 
 house is a relic of those ancient improvements. It is 
 one of the finest fishing and hunting grounds in the 
 whole section, though here, as elsewhere, the sportsman 
 must turn a little aside from the main thoroughfare if 
 he would find reward commensurate with his endeav- 
 ors. The adjacent country is hilly, though not strictly 
 mountainous; but there is an isolated peak called 
 " Bald Mountain," which is everywhere the most promi- 
 nent feature of the landscape. From its summit there 
 is a panorama of magnificent extent. Fourth Lake 
 with its green islands occupies the central position, 
 stretching away for six miles through an unbroken for- 
 est whose farthest limit is a blue mountain-range deli- 
 cately limned upon the horizon. There is a comfortable 
 house near the foot of the mountain where parties 
 proposing to ascend can find an abiding-place. 
 
 From the west there are entrances to the Wilderness 
 via Lowville and Carthage, stations on the Black 
 
THE OLD ADIRONDACKS 
 
 River Railroad, by tolerable wagon-roads which con- 
 verge at Lake Francis, a distance of eighteen or twenty 
 miles ; thence by road and stream twenty-two miles to 
 Beach's Lake, and thence nine miles to Raquette Lake. 
 This route is not much travelled, and the sport will not 
 pay for the hardships of the journey. Boonville is the 
 better starting-point. 
 
 From Potsdam, on the north, there is a very good 
 winter road all the way to " Grave's Lodge " on Big 
 Tupper Lake, whence all parts of the Wilderness are 
 accessible by boat. The summer route is from Potsdam 
 to Colton, ten miles by stage; thence by good wagon- 
 road twelve miles to McEwen's on the Raquette 
 River ; thence six miles to Haw's, with a very short 
 portage ; thence six miles and a half by road to the 
 " Moosehead still water " ; and thence fifteen miles 
 by water to the foot of Raquette Pond, from which 
 there is water communication with Big Tupper and all 
 other points north and south. From McEwen's to 
 Raquette Pond the river is broken by a succession of 
 rapids and falls, around which boats must be carried. 
 Notwithstanding the frequency of the portages, and 
 the vexatious changes from wagon to stream, this is a 
 favorite route for sportsmen, for the adjacent country 
 abounds in fish and game. Visitors to this section do 
 not, however, generally go through, but camp at eligible 
 points, or put up at Pelsue's, Haw's, Ferry's, and other 
 houses below the Piercefield Falls. On the other hand, 
 visitors from above seldom descend as far as Piercefield. 
 
 75 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 Entering from the north at Malone on the Ogdens- 
 burg & Northern Railroad, after a fortnight spent at 
 Chazy and Chateaugay Lakes, the route is by the east 
 branch of Saint Regis River to Meacham Pond, famous 
 for its trout and its beautiful beach, and thence by 
 stream through Osgood's Pond, with a half-mile carry 
 to Paul Smith's, on the Lower Saint Regis Lake, the 
 preferred and best-known starting-point for the interior 
 Wilderness for all visitors from the East. It is the 
 easiest and shortest route, and affords fine fishing the 
 whole distance. There is also an excellent wagon- 
 road from Malone to Martin's, a favorite hotel on the 
 Lower Saranac — distance fifty miles. 
 
 From the northeast there is a railroad twenty miles 
 long from Plattsburg to Point of Rocks, Ausable Sta- 
 tion, on the Ausable River, whence lines of Concord 
 stages are run daily over excellent roads to Paul 
 Smith's and Martin's, diverging at Bloomingdale, the 
 post-office nearest to either point. The distance by 
 stage is about forty miles. The same stages also run 
 from Port Kent, on Lake Champlain, through Keese- 
 ville to the railroad terminus at Point of Rocks, a trip 
 of thirteen miles. By this route a great deal is saved 
 in distance ; but thirteen miles of staging are added, 
 and nothing is gained in time, as the stages all connect 
 with the railroad trains. Whether the tourist leaves 
 the steamer at Port Kent or continues to Plattsburg, 
 he will have to remain at a hotel over night. The 
 Wetherill House, and Fouquet's Hotel, at Plattsburg, 
 76 
 
Co 
 
 -Ss 
 
THE OLD ADIRONDACKS 
 
 afford the traveller every luxury, and at the Ausable 
 House, Keeseville, there is excellent accommodation. 
 Both places are reached by steamer from Whitehall 
 and Burlington, and also by railroad from Montreal. 
 Tourists often take the Keeseville route in order to 
 visit the celebrated chasm of the Ausable River, a 
 magnificent mountain-gorge of most romantic effects 
 and picturesque scenery. There is also a route to 
 Saranac Lake from this point, which passes through 
 Wilmington Notch and skirts the base of " White- 
 face Mountain," and thence continues on through North 
 Elba, where may be seen the tomb of John Brown, of 
 Harper's Ferry renown. There is a road to the top of 
 " Whiteface," whence can be had an illimitable view 
 of the Wilderness. This route altogether affords the 
 most remarkable and varied scenery to be found in 
 the Adirondacks ; and a visit will well repay those 
 lovers of nature who have never yet " wet a line " or 
 " drawn a bead on a deer." 
 
 By the other route there is a romantic bit of scenery 
 at the Franklin Falls of the Saranac; but its natural 
 charms are disfigured by one of those utilitarian im- 
 provements, a saw-mill. Here is the " half-way house," 
 where passengers for Smith's and Martin's dine. Two 
 seasons ago, while indulging in a post-prandial cigar, I 
 took the trouble to count the names on the little hotel 
 register, and found that they numbered 1,500! and 
 the season was only half over. These, however, in- 
 cluded those going out as well as those going in. 
 77 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 (When a man is headed for the Wilderness, he is said 
 to be "going in.") 
 
 There are two other routes from the east, namely, 
 from Westport, and from Crown Point, on Lake 
 Champlain. Both of these take the visitor into the 
 heart of the mountains, the birth-place of winds and 
 the nursery of snow-fed sources. Here old ^ Boreas 
 Mountain " dwells ; here is Boreas Lake, the fountain- 
 head of Boreas River. Here also are Lakes Sanford, 
 Henderson, and Delia, which are often resorted to by 
 pertinacious sportsmen ; but as these are most accessi- 
 ble from the south by the old Fort Edward stage-route, 
 or the Adirondack Railroad, which is now extended to 
 North Creek Station, sixty miles from Saratoga, the 
 above-named routes are seldom used. 
 
 The Fort Edward road leaves the Saratoga & 
 Whitehall Railway at the station of that name, and ex- 
 tends to Long Lake, a distance of seventy-five miles, 
 touching Lake George at Caldwell, Schroon Lake at 
 Potterville, and passing within easy access of Lakes 
 Delia, Sanford, Henderson, Harris, and Catlin. 
 
 From the south access is had to Round Lake and 
 Lakes Pleasant and Piseco — the well-stocked waters of 
 the famed " Piseco Club " — by a good wagon-road 
 which leaves Little Falls or Herkimer on the New 
 York Central Railroad, The distance from Herkimer 
 to the head of Piseco Lake is fifty-two miles. 
 
 The foregoing make up a list complete ot all the 
 highways into the Adirondack Wilderness, with two 
 
 78 
 
THE OLD ADIRONDACKS 
 
 exceptions. One is a road to "Joe's Lake" in the 
 lower part of Herkimer County, which leaves the town 
 of Prospect, on the Black River Railroad; and the 
 other a boat-route from Clarksboro, on the Grasse 
 River, to Massawepie Pond at its head. Clarksboro is 
 an iron region at the terminus of a branch of the 
 Watertown & Potsdam Railroad. Massawepie Pond 
 is within striking distance of the Raquette River, near 
 Piercefield Falls, and is visited by old hunters who 
 mean business, and are not afraid to camp out or follow 
 a blind trail through the woods. There are plenty of 
 deer and trout there for those who will hunt them in 
 their season. Massawepie is accessible also by the old 
 Potsdam wagon-road to Tupper's Lake. 
 
 The "circumbendibus" route generally taken by 
 ladies and gentlemen who purpose " doing " the Adiron- 
 dacks thoroughly, is from the foot of the Upper Sar- 
 anac Lake, three miles over the " Sweeny carry " to 
 the Raquette River ; thence through Big Tupper Lake 
 and stream, v/a Round Pond, to Little Tupper Lake; 
 thence through a series of little ponds and connecting 
 streams, with one three-mile carry, to Forked Lake ; 
 thence carry a mile and a half to Raquette Lake, the 
 southernmost point of the tour. From Raquette Lake 
 into Long Lake, with three short "carries," thence 
 through Raquette River, Stony Creek, and Stony 
 Creek Pond, with a mile " carry," back to Upper Sar- 
 anac Lake. From thence visitors for Martin's Ferry 
 carry over at Bartlett's through Round Lake to the 
 
 79 
 
ROOK TROUT 
 
 Lower Saranac; for Paul Smith's, they continue 
 through the Upper Saranac to Big Clear Pond, with a 
 forty-rod "carry"; thence carry a mile and a half to 
 the Upper Saint Regis Lake, and thence through Spit- 
 fire Pond to head-quarters on the Lower Saint Regis. 
 
 There are several routes that diverge from the main 
 route at various points, those most in favor being from 
 Raquette Lake fourteen miles to Blue Mountain Lake, 
 the most beautiful of all the Adirondack waters ; from 
 Big Tupper Lake, with a three-mile-carry from Grave's 
 Lodge, to Horseshoe Pond, Hitchins' Pond, and a 
 labyrinth of lakes and ponds of greater or less extent ; 
 and from the Upper Saranac through Fish River to 
 Big Square Pond ; thence, with a half-mile carry, 
 through a series of small lakes to Big and Little Wolf 
 Ponds, Raquette Pond, and Big Tupper; and thence 
 return by Raquette River to Upper Saranac. The two 
 last-named regions are equal for game and fish to any 
 in the country, and the Hitchins' Pond district is per- 
 haps the best. 
 
 Boats from Paul Smith's can traverse 160 miles of 
 lake and stream. 
 
 Paul Smith's has been very appropriately styled the 
 " St. James of the Wilderness." It has all the " modern 
 improvements " except gas. A telegraph-wire connects 
 it with the outer world. It has commodious lodgings 
 for nearly 100 guests, and in the height of the season 
 will accommodate many more than it will hold. Sofas 
 and tables are occupied, tents are pitched upon the 
 80 
 
THE OLD ADIRONDACKS 
 
 lawn in front, and blankets are spread on the floor of 
 the immense guide-house, itself capable of lodging 
 some sixty or more guides. And each guide has his 
 boat. Beautiful crafts they are, weighing from sixty 
 to eighty pounds, and drawing but three inches of 
 water. Most of them carry two persons, some of them 
 three. A guide will sling one of them upon his back 
 and carry it mile after mile as easily as a tortoise car- 
 ries his shell. When the carries are long, wagons and 
 sleds are in readiness to haul them from landing to 
 landing; but few are the guides that will refuse to 
 back them over for the price of the carriage. 
 
 Great is the stir at these caravansaries on the long 
 summer evenings — ribbons fluttering on the piazzas ; 
 silks rustling in dress promenade; ladies in short 
 mountain-suits, fresh from an afternoon picnic ; embryo 
 sportsmen in velveteen and corduroys of approved 
 cut, descanting learnedly of backwoods experience ; 
 excursion - parties returning, laden with trophies of 
 trout and pond-lilies; stages arriving top-heavy with 
 trunks, rifle-cases, and hampers ; guides intermingling, 
 proffering services, or arranging trips for the morrow; 
 pistols shooting at random ; dogs on the qui vive ; in- 
 valids, bundled in blankets, propped up in chairs; old 
 gents distracted, vainly perusing their papers; fond 
 lovers strolling; dowagers scheming; mosquitoes de- 
 vouring; the supper-bell ringing, and general commo- 
 tion confusing mine host. Anon some millionnaire 
 Nimrod or piscator of marked renown drags in from a 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 weary day with a basket of unusual weight, or per- 
 chance a fawn cut down before its time. Fulsome are 
 the congratulations given, manifold the acknowledg- 
 ments of his prowess. He receives honors with that 
 becoming dignity which reticence impresses, and mag- 
 nificently tips a $20 note to his trusty guide. The 
 crowd look on in admiration, and vow to emulate the 
 hero. After supper there is a generous flow of cham- 
 pagne to a selected few upon the western piazza, and 
 the exploits of the day are recounted and compared. 
 The parlors grow noisy with music and dancing; 
 silence and smoke prevail in the card-room. This is 
 the daily evening routine. 
 
 At early dawn of morning camping parties are astir. 
 With much careful stowage and trimming of ship, the 
 impedimenta of the voyage are placed in the boats. 
 Tents, blankets, cooking-utensils, provision-hampers, 
 rods, guns, demijohns, satchels, and overcoats are piled 
 up amidships. A backboard is nicely adjusted in the 
 stern for the tourist, who takes his seat and hoists his 
 umbrella. The guide deftly ships his oars, cuts a 
 fresh piece of tobacco, and awaits orders to start. 
 Singly, and by twos or threes, the boats get away ; 
 cambric adieus are waved by the few receding friends 
 on shore, and the household of St. James is left to fin- 
 ish its slumbers till summoned to breakfast at eight 
 o'clock. Delicious and vivifying is the pure morning 
 air, grateful as a mother's lullaby the long sweep of 
 the oars, enchanting the shifting scenery and ever- 
 82 
 
THE OLD ADIRONDACKS 
 
 changing outline of shore. In a dreamland of listless 
 and " sweet do-nothing " the hours lapse away. Cigar 
 after cigar melts into smoke. Lunch is leisurely eaten 
 meanwhile. Through the outlet of one lake into the 
 next, winding through many a tortuous stream, glid- 
 ing past many an islet, with one boat ahead and an- 
 other astern, and the mechanical oars dripping dia- 
 monds of spray that flash in the sun — what can be 
 more deliciously pleasant — what freedom from anxiety 
 and business cares so complete I 
 
 " Halloo, guide, what's that '? Struck something ? 
 Good gracious, you ain't going to stop here in this 
 sedge-grass ! Why, the pesky mosquitoes are thicker 
 than lightning. Whew ! I can't stand this ! They'll 
 eat us alive." 
 
 " Got to carry over here, mister. It's only a mile 
 and a half" 
 
 A mile and a half to tramp through woods, mud, 
 and mosquitoes. 
 
 Ah ! the lake once more I This is bliss I What a 
 relief to get on the water again, and away from the 
 mosquitoes I How clear it is I What beautiful 
 shores ! Anon into the noble Raquette, with trees 
 overarching, current sluggishly flowing, still waters 
 running deep. Just here the current is swifter. Toss 
 your fly in, where it breaks over that rock. A trout ! 
 Play him well — a large fellow, tool Well landed — 
 no time to stop long — we'll pick them out as we pro- 
 ceed. The trout always lie among the rocks, in the 
 83 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 quick water, at this season. A fortnight later they will 
 be at the mouth of the cold brooks that flow into the 
 main stream. Look ! boats coming up — So-and-so's 
 party — been camping down at Long Lake. What 
 luck ? Report us, please. Ah I whose house is that ? 
 Stetson's. We'll stop when we return. The Saranac 
 at last I What a magnificent sheet of water I What 
 beautiful islands ! See those tents ! Why, I can count 
 a dozen along the shore. I had no idea so many were 
 camping out. Bartlett's, at last I We tarry here to- 
 night. What a place for trout I Two years ago, just 
 in there, above the dam, where you see that rock in 
 midstream, I hooked a lake trout on the tail-fly of an 
 extraordinary long cast ; they say a lake trout won't 
 rise to a fly. He did, though, and took it handsomely. 
 I never had better sport in my life. He amused me 
 for half an hour, and when I had him landed, he 
 weighed four pounds and a half I was proud to kill 
 that fish on my eight-ounce bamboo. 
 
 Pleasant is the voyage around the route. Each 
 day's experience differs from the last. New scenery 
 constantly opens to view. Friendly parties and fa- 
 miliar faces are constantly met. And one need not 
 camp out at all if indisposed. The guide will arrange 
 to stop at a hotel each night. And what rousing fun 
 there is in these wayside hostelries when parties meet I 
 What blazing fires, what steaming venison, what pun- 
 gent odor of fried pork and bacon, what friendly aroma 
 of hot coffee ! 
 
 84 
 
THE OLD ADIRONDACKS 
 
 Here I would fain indulge my wayward pen, 
 and in fancy go over the ground once more. Per- 
 haps, however, it is better to leave something to the 
 anticipation of those who may seek a new experience 
 
 in this enchanting region. For the benefit of such I 
 will say, briefly, that the best fishing is in May. The 
 ice breaks up about April 25th, and the fish are then 
 
 85 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 scattered over the lakes and streams. The monster 
 lake trout, which often weigh sixteen to twenty pounds, 
 can be taken by surface-trolling with a "gong" or 
 " spoon," and sometimes with a fly. The season, how- 
 ever, is cold, and lacks the attractions of leafy June ; 
 but there are no flies or mosquitoes to annoy. In June 
 the trout lie in the quick water of the streams where 
 bowlders make an eddy or divide the current. Later 
 they are found at the mouths of cold brooks, prepar- 
 atory to spawning. 
 
 The necessary expenses of the tourist are about $3 
 per day, whether he stops at a hotel, camps, or takes a 
 guide. The charge for boat and guide is $2.50 per 
 diem; hotel fares from $1.50 to $2.50. 
 
 I was most impressed, in my trip through the Adi- 
 rondacks, with the beauty of the forest in and around 
 Childwold, the solitude of Long Lake and the Fulton 
 chain, the view from Lake Placid and over Mirrcr 
 Lake, with the peaks of Mount Marcy and its fellows 
 in the south, with the vistas of woods, lakes, and 
 streams along the line of the Webb railroad, and par- 
 ticularly with the superb prospects from the Chateau- 
 guay road as it climbs Lyon Mountain, which recalls 
 the scenery of the Blue Ridge. I found much of in- 
 terest and information in the talk of the guides of the 
 region. The older guides are, as a rule, pessimistic as 
 to the future of the woods, and groan over the change 
 from the old sporting days. They do not care for the 
 tourist business and the hanging round the hotels, even 
 
 86 
 
 I 
 
THE or. D ADIRONDACKS 
 
 if they make $3 and $4 a day, or double the wages 
 of a decade ago. The younger guides, who knew not 
 the early days, and did not fish and hunt with W. C. 
 Prime, Kit Clark, and their fellows, find the present 
 conditions advantageous, and welcome the increasing 
 bands of tourists. But they spend less and less time in 
 hunting and fishing with their patrons and more in 
 rowing the latter tamely around the lakes, perhaps ac- 
 companying them on a day or two's journey through 
 the lakes and over the " carries." In the more remote 
 districts there is still fishing to be had, and the deer 
 are still fairly abundant. I was told, however, of 
 many instances of flagrant violations of the game 
 laws, and it is evident that the woods are not ade- 
 quately supplied with or patrolled by guardians. 
 Hounding and "jacking" for deer, while forbidden, 
 are still practised, and the remark of a guide on Long 
 Lake, when questioned as to some infraction of the 
 game laws, that " there never was any law on Long 
 Lake," emphasizes the situation. 
 
 But while the Adirondacks are changed and are 
 changing, they will remain for many years to come 
 the great natural mountain and lake resort for the 
 larger cities of the eastern seaboard. They are to our 
 generation what the Catskills were to our grandfathers 
 and even to our fathers in youth, and if your true 
 sportsman must now seek the far Canadian woods for 
 big fish and big game, he cannot take with him or 
 away the life-giving air and the exquisite scenery of 
 87 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 the Adirondack hills and lakes. He loses, but his loss 
 is the gain of thousands and thousands of less fortunate 
 beings, to whom the woods and hills bring relief from 
 the heat of summer, renewed life and strength, and a 
 keen realization of the old saying that "man made 
 cities, but God made the country." 
 
 Lakes George and Champlain, which are always 
 associated with the Adirondacks in the public mind, 
 have undergone comparatively few changes during the 
 past twenty years, and so do not require more than a 
 passing allusion in this sketch. Lake George is still 
 the same beautiful sheet of water, set in a frame of 
 forest-clothed mountains, as when the first French ex- 
 plorer gave to it from its azure depths the name ot 
 Saint Sacrament. There are more villas on its shores, 
 more boats upon its waters, a new hotel here and 
 there, or an old one restored, but summer after sum- 
 mer the lake calls to its lovers to return to its beauties 
 in such a way that they must respond. Lake Champ- 
 lain now has the fine Bluff Point Hotel, just below 
 Plattsburg on its western bank, to add to its attrac- 
 tions, and the tourist, even if he or she is familiar with 
 both lakes, should not fail to again traverse them. 
 Their beauties never fade, and whether one sees Lake 
 Champlain from the slower and comfortable steamboat 
 or the fine rushing trains of the Delaware & Hudson, 
 which traverse its entire western shore, or steams 
 through Lake George, one cannot tire of the infinite 
 variety of water and landscape which both lakes afford. 
 
 ! 
 
THE OLD ADIRONDACKS 
 
 September is the month of all months to rightly see 
 and appreciate the air and scenery of our Northern 
 lakes and mountains. Now come 
 days filled with sunlight which does 
 not oppress, cooled as it is by the 
 home wind of the northwest, and 
 now succeed nights whose frosty airs 
 give to the woods and lakes a clear- 
 ness of outline and to the skies a 
 splendor that summer never brings. 
 
 89 
 
THE NEW ADIRONDACKS. 
 
 THE Adirondack Mountains of northeastern 
 New York affords a striking evidence of the 
 changes which advancing civiHzation has 
 wrought along our eastern seaboard. There 
 can be seen the development, almost within a decade, 
 of a wilderness into a great summer and autumn resort, 
 dotted with luxurious modern hotels, and traversed by 
 stage-routes and railways. 
 
 The sportsman, whether he be hunter or fisherman, 
 familiar with even a portion of the Adirondack Moun- 
 tains, more poetically termed the North Woods, fifteen 
 or twenty years ago, and who now revisits the scenes 
 of his youth, will find such visit a dream dispelled, for 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 his is the memory of their former wildness and beauty, 
 of trout rising on lakes and streams, of deer roaming 
 the dense woods and drinking from quiet waters, and 
 of a strange, wild life. With this memory, he now 
 finds a large part of the woods region peopled for three 
 months of the year with the votaries of fashion, with 
 steamboats puffing on the lakes and engines shrieking 
 through the forests, with prosperous villages here and 
 there, and the old wild life gone never to return. 
 
 I open as I write, an old and well-worn book, dear 
 to all older American sportsmen, written by William C. 
 Prime, and published in 1873, entitled "I Go a-Fish- 
 ing," and I turn to two chapters respectively entitled 
 " The Saint Regis Waters in Olden Times, i860," and 
 the "Saint Regis Waters Now, 1872." Would that 
 the venerable author, now I believe a very old man, 
 and long since unable to handle the rod and gun, 
 could revisit the Saint Regis waters and paint us their 
 scenes of to-day. The twelve years which elapsed be- 
 tween his first and second visits seemed to him to have 
 brought many changes, the most marked ot which was 
 the expansion of Paul Smith's first little house, built 
 in 1858, and holding not more than eight people, to 
 a large hotel, capable of accommodating 150 guests. 
 On both occasions Mr. Prime had to drive into Paul 
 Smith's from Port Kent, on Lake Champlain, a dis- 
 tance of fifty-five miles. The rare old fisherman and 
 lover of nature, floating in his canoe on the Lower 
 Saint Regis in i860, wrote as follows: "The day 
 94 
 
 I 
 
THE NEW ADIRONDACKS 
 
 had died most gloriously. The ' sword of the sun ' 
 that had lain across the forest was withdrawn and 
 sheathed. There was a stillness on land and water and 
 in the sky that seemed like the presence of an invisible 
 majesty. Eastward the lofty pine-trees rested their 
 green tops in an atmosphere whose massive blue seemed 
 to sustain and support them. Westward the rosy 
 tints along the horizon deepened into crimson around 
 the base of the Saint Regis hills and faded into black 
 toward the north. No sign of life, human or inhu- 
 man, was anywhere visible or audible except with- 
 in the little boat where we two floated ; and peace, 
 that peace that reigns where no man is — that peace 
 that never dwells in the abodes of men — here held 
 silent and omnipotent sway. Then came the wind 
 among the pine-trees. The gloom increased and a 
 ripple stole over the water. There was a flapping of 
 one of the lily-pads as the first wave struck them ; and 
 then as a breeze passed over us, I threw two flies on 
 the black ripple. There was a swift rush — a sharp 
 dash and plunge in the water. Both were struck at 
 the instant, and then I had work before me that forbade 
 my listening to the voices of the pines. It took five 
 minutes to kill my fish — two splendid specimens. 
 Meanwhile the rip had increased and the breeze came 
 fresh and steady. It was too dark now to sec the op- 
 posite shore, and the fish rose at every cast. When I 
 had half a dozen of the same sort, and one that lacked 
 only an ounce of being full four pounds, we pulled up 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 the killeck and paddled homeward around the wooded 
 point. The moon rose, and the scene on the lake now 
 became magically beautiful. The mocking laugh of 
 the loon was the only cause of complaint in that even- 
 ing of splendor. Did you ever hear that laugh?" 
 Again Mr. Prime well says: "One who has informer 
 years lived in the woods forms a stronger attachment 
 for that life than a man ever forms for any other. The 
 affection which we have for the companions of our 
 solitude is very strong. Hence, when I find myself in 
 the woods the old sights and sounds come back with 
 such force that I cannot tear myself away." 
 
 I have given Mr. Prime's charming picture of the 
 Saint Regis waters forty and twenty-five years ago so 
 that I might the better, in my feebler way, sketch them 
 to-day, and by this contrast emphasize the difference 
 between our Northern lakes and mountains of the 
 middle and the end of the century. For the change 
 that has transformed the Saint Regis country from a 
 wilderness and the delight of sportsmen to a fashion- 
 able summer resort, has also taken place throughout 
 the North Woods, except in a few portions, and will 
 not be long in taking place there. I reached Paul 
 Smith's on a recent September evening by a walk of 
 four and a half miles through a settled country and 
 over a macadamized road from a brick station on the 
 main line of the Adirondack division of the New York 
 Central, which runs from Utica to Montreal. Dark- 
 ness had fallen before I entered a strip of woods through 
 96 
 
THE NEW ADIRONDACKS 
 
 which the road runs for a mile before it reaches Paul 
 Smith's, and cherishing the memory of Mr. Prime's 
 picture, as I neared the Saint Regis waters I Hstened 
 for the laugh of the loon and the wind among the 
 pines. So listening I suddenly stepped from the dark- 
 ness of the woods into a blaze of light which flashed 
 out from the countless windows of an enormous 
 wooden hotel, and which were reflected far out on the 
 waters of the lake. There was no laugh of the loon, 
 but the sound of oars in the rowlocks of numerous 
 boats, and of men and women's voices " with fashion, 
 not with feeling, softly freighted." Gone in an instant 
 was Mr. Prime's picture — vanished the dreams of the 
 sportsman — and I turned with a sigh to the comforts 
 of civilization and the atmosphere of New York or 
 Newport in the season. 
 
 I had heard of the " camps " on the Saint Regis 
 waters, and rising soon after daybreak the next morn- 
 ing, I engaged a guide and was rowed by him in an 
 Adirondack boat across the Lower Saint Regis through 
 Spitfire Pond and around the beautiful wooded shores 
 of the Upper Saint Regis. The morning was very 
 beautiful. Far to the west the Saint Regis Mountains 
 lifted their pine-crowned peaks into the hazy blue, 
 while the sun, just risen, made the dancing ripple of 
 the lake seem like ridges of burning gold. The wind 
 blew soft and cool and there was that vigor and life in 
 the air which one only finds in the mountains at sun- 
 rise. A procession of boats laden with supplies for the 
 
 97 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 *' camps " plied between them and the hotel, and two 
 naphtha launches puffed hither and thither. I saw the 
 "camps" of Henry L. Hotchkiss, Whitelaw Reid, 
 Charles A. Barney, H. McKay Twombly, Anson 
 Phelps Stokes, P. H. McAlpin, a son-in-law of William 
 Rockefeller, and others. They are, for the most part, 
 really villas, with sea-walls, summer-houses, and every 
 appliance of comfort and luxury. The guide told me 
 that in some of these " camps " there was hot and cold 
 water, and in one electric lights, and it all seemed to 
 me like playing at roughing it, and as if the title 
 " camp " was the only link that connected these modern 
 summer villas with the old free life of the woods. Why 
 does not some modern essayist write of and on " the 
 millionnaire of the wilderness"? One finds strange 
 things in the woods, but the sportsman and true lover 
 of nature can find no stranger bird in the North Woods 
 than the modern millionnaire. I believe that the first 
 of these " campers " on the Upper Saint Regis went in 
 about fifteen years ago, to the astonishment of the guides 
 and natives, armed with a hair-mattress, an air-pillow, 
 and a nameless article of domestic utility. Now he 
 brings electric lights and naphtha launches. It is un- 
 necessary to say that there is little fishing in the Saint 
 Regis waters to-day, and a report that a deer was seen 
 near there this year is not generally accepted. So was 
 my dream dispelled. 
 
 But if Paul Smith, with the Saint Regis region, is 
 now solely a fashionable resort, what shall be said of 
 98 
 
THE NEW ADIRONDACKS 
 
 Saranac Lake, and especially Lake Placid'? I had 
 heard much of both places, and I visited both. At 
 the former I found a large village and a hotel — the 
 Ampersand — the most modern, most luxurious, and 
 most pretentious house in the Adirondack Mountains, 
 under whose electric lights and in whose dark wooden 
 halls and rooms one feels as if in town in midwinter, 
 and at the latter I saw a continuous village surround- 
 ing its lower end, four or five barn-like wooden hotels, 
 and golf, croquet, and tennis in full force. They have 
 golf-links, by the way, at or near all the Adirondack 
 hotels now. There is, however, a portion of the 
 North Woods where the man or woman who, whether 
 or not in search of fish and game, loves the sense of 
 remoteness and the feeling of the wide woods around 
 can still find sport and an idea at least of primeval 
 wildness. I refer to the southwestern and far western 
 sections, and to that central district which lies west of 
 Port Kent and Port Henry. In the former lie the 
 Fulton chain of lakes. Long Lake and Lake Massa- 
 wepie, on whose wooded shores, after a six-mile drive 
 through the virgin forest, I found the best kept and 
 most comfortable hotel in the woods, that of Child- 
 wold. In the latter region are Blue Mountain Lake 
 and a series of lakes and mountains which are still 
 sportsmen's resorts, and from which the railroad is still 
 far distant. 
 
 There are two stand-points from which to view our 
 Northern lakes and mountains to-day. I have treated 
 
 99 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 them thus far from that of the sportsman and lover 
 of the woods. The other stand-point from which 
 to regard them is that of the student of the develop- 
 ment of our summer resorts, and of the believer in the 
 march of modern improvements. There are five men 
 whom I hold chiefly responsible for the transformation 
 of the Adirondacks from a sportsman's paradise to a 
 fashionable summer resort, and these are in order of 
 precedence : Paul Smith, who entered the woods 
 from Vermont as a guide in the early fifties ; the late 
 Thomas C. Durant, who projected the Adirondack 
 Railroad, built from Saratoga to North Creek in the 
 early seventies ; Le Grand Cannon, who projected the 
 narrow-gauge Chateaugay Railroad, which was first 
 built from Plattsburg to Dannemora in 1879, and 
 completed by successive stages to Saranac Lake and 
 Lake Placid in 1889 and 1890; "Adirondack" Mur- 
 ray, whose ephemeral but flashing pen-pictures of the 
 " North Woods " first drew public attention to them 
 and gave him his nom-de-phime twenty-five years ago, 
 and lastly. Dr. Seward Webb, who finally carried 
 out his long-cherished plan of building a trunk-line 
 through the heart of the wilderness from Utica to 
 Montreal in 1891. I should perhaps add to this list 
 the names of Drs. Loomis, Trudeau, and others who 
 first directed attention to the Adirondacks as a resort 
 for consumptives and a natural sanitarium, but I find 
 that the hotel proprietors and many others interested 
 are not anxious to have this feature of the mountains 
 
THE NEW ADIRONDACKS 
 
 emphasized. With the building of the railroads and 
 the consequent bringing of the mountains within easy- 
 access of the cities, and especially New York, the old 
 boarding-houses and small hotels scattered here and 
 there, and which are comparatively few in number, 
 have been enlarged or have given place to fine and 
 expensive structures. Paul Smith's has grown upon 
 and around itself from a little frame house accom- 
 modating eight people to an immense building, with 
 spacious piazzas and hallways, which can hold nearly 
 1,000 guests and is a city in itself Then comes the 
 Ampersand, a handsome house on Saranac Lake ; and 
 then in succession the fine and well-situated Wawbeek 
 Lodge, at the foot of the Upper Saranac ; Saranac 
 Inn, at the head of the same lake, and the cluster of 
 large hotels at Lake Placid, beginning with the White 
 Face Inn and including the Ruisseaumont, Lake 
 Placid, Grand View, and Stevens Houses. Scattered 
 here and there throughout the mountains there are also 
 fine or comfortable houses, such as those in the Keene 
 Valley, St. Hubert's Inn and the Chateaugay, Chazy 
 Lake, and Loon Lake Houses on the lakes of those 
 names. 
 
AN ANGLER'S NOTES ON THE 
 BEAVERKILL. 
 
AN ANGLER'S NOTES ON THE 
 BEAVERKILL. 
 
 T'he Beaverkill. 
 
 IF there is one stream more than another that de- 
 serves the title of a perfect trout-stream it is 
 the Beaverkill. Rising in the high western 
 Catskills and continuing along the high western 
 plateau, having an elevation of from 1,500 to 2,500 
 feet, winding and twisting along between high hills 
 and under deep, shady banks and having frequent 
 deep pools, it possesses that first requirement, a cool 
 105 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 temperature of the water. Excepting in those rare 
 years when all nature languishes in drought, the stream 
 is broad, deep, and copious. To the tiy-caster it is the 
 ideal stream, as he can — after the spring " fresh " is 
 over — wade the entire stream, excepting at two or 
 three very deep pools and at the falls. And the wad- 
 ing, too, is comparatively easy ; after one has attempted 
 some of the Adirondack or Maine streams, strewn with 
 great square blocks of granite, the Beaverkill seems a 
 veritable boulevard. The water, naturally, is as clear 
 as crystal. John Burroughs says " there are no streams 
 having the brilliancy of the Catskill streams." The 
 stream, indeed, seems to possess every requirement 
 that a trout-stream should have. The bed of the 
 stream is generally broad, thus facilitating easy fly- 
 casting. The entire stream is a constant succession of 
 rifts and pools, following each other with singular reg- 
 ularity and affording a never-ending source of interest. 
 The head-water of the Beaverkill is Balsam Lake, over 
 on the western slope of Balsam Mountain. I imag- 
 ine it is a very wild country up that way, as it is 
 entirely out of the way of all travel. One day while 
 hanging around Bill Hardie's, waiting for the buck- 
 board to take me down stream, I fell in with a native 
 from that region. He had some things done up in a 
 bandana handkerchief and was tramping home ; he told 
 me it was " purty quiet and lonesome up there, and 
 considerable unhandy for getting things in and out, but 
 he felt that someone had to live up there, so he made 
 
 io6 
 
AN ANGLERS NOTES ON THE BEAVERKILL 
 
 up his mind that he would." Weavers is about as 
 far as most anglers go ; the stream there is small, but 
 having the same rifts and pools that characterize it 
 lower down. From the falls to where Alder Brook 
 " comes in " the Beaverkill is only a mountain-stream, 
 but from Alder Brook the bed of the stream widens 
 and the mountain-stream becomes a " little river," and 
 from there on down the fly-caster generally has plenty 
 of room for his back-cast. It will matter little to the 
 fly-caster where he starts in, he will surely find beauti- 
 ful water to whip his flies over. 
 
 Changes Caused by Floods. 
 
 The great rush of water that flows every few years 
 in the Beaverkill causes many changes in the bed of 
 the stream. One of these big " freshes," as they are 
 called, occurred about the year 1895 and it made great 
 havoc, especially between Shin Creek and Ellsworth's. 
 Just below Shin Creek there was a large pool on Abel 
 Sprague's land that we called the swimming-hole ; this 
 was completely filled up with stones and a flat rift 
 above was hollowed out into a deep pool. At Voor- 
 his's great changes took place, the big pool called the 
 " Second Docking," one of the most enchanting places 
 for fly-fishing, was entirely turned about, the pool filled 
 up, and a new channel formed back under the hill-side. 
 " Little Pond Brook," another pool, beloved by all old- 
 timers, was ruined. At the " Big Bend," about midway 
 between Jersey's and Ellsworth's, there was a great up- 
 107 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 heaval of rocks and stones, piled up fifteen to twenty- 
 feet high, and the entire character of the stream was 
 changed. I fear that many a lusty trout met his death 
 in that same " fresh," for I know the fishing was very 
 poor all that spring and summer. 
 
 ^he Izaak Walton of the Beaverkill. 
 
 All those old-timers who fished that part of the 
 stream about Shin Creek knew Mr. Theodore In- 
 galsbe — " Uncle Thee " we called him. It was my 
 good fortune to fish many days with Uncle Thee, and 
 my mind teems with a thousand reminiscences of fish- 
 ing-trips with him, up and down the stream. Uncle 
 Thee was the acknowledged crack fly-fisherman of the 
 Beaverkill. He always caught fish ; he used a ten-foot 
 rod, and, as a rule, put out from forty to sixty feet of 
 line. He was by far the longest fly-caster I have known 
 on the Beaverkill, and the dexterity with which he 
 kept that long line from " getting up trees " was a 
 sight worth seeing. I shall have more to say of 
 Uncle Thee later on. 
 
 Varieties of Trout in the Beaverkill. 
 
 The New York Fish Commissioners have from 
 time to time put a variety of foreign trout in the 
 stream ; just why I cannot explain, as the native 
 trout is far superior to all others in every respect. 
 This was well illustrated by a fish commissioner of a 
 neighboring State, who remarked that " one might 
 1 08 
 
 I 
 
AN ANGLER S NOTES ON THE BEAVERKILL 
 
 as well try to paint the rainbow as to improve on our 
 native trout." For a time good sport was had with 
 some " California " trout — as they grew to a large size, 
 they added greatly to the sport — but in a few years 
 they entirely disappeared. I once had an exciting 
 time with one of those big " Californias." One June 
 afternoon Uncle Thee and I strolled down to " Da- 
 vidson's " Eddy. We were about to start in when 
 Uncle Thee discovered that he had forgotten his land- 
 ing-net. I insisted upon his taking mine. When I 
 was about half way down the eddy and Uncle Thee 
 was near the lower end I hooked the big fellow. I 
 had on a No. 1 2 Cahill for a second dropper and the 
 " California " took it with a rush that made my blood 
 tingle. I immediately shouted to Uncle Thee to 
 bring the net. Just opposite a lot of drift trash 
 had caught and toward this the trout made frantic 
 rushes. I was using a nine-foot four-ounce rod. In 
 some way Uncle Thee had entangled the elastic at- 
 tached to the net in such a manner that we could not 
 undo it, so I told him to net the trout for me. I then 
 began to reel up, the big fellow rushed and tugged, 
 but the little rod was true and the snell was one I 
 had tied myself, so I kept up the pressure and he soon 
 came along. Uncle Thee made a sweep for him but 
 missed him, and away he flew for the drift trash. 
 Again I reeled him up, and that time Uncle Thee 
 slipped the net under him and we carried him on 
 shore : he measured over nineteen inches and was very 
 
 log 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 broad and deep, shaped somewhat Hke a bass. I have 
 never caught a native as large as that in the Beaver- 
 kill, SO cannot compare the gamy qualities between 
 the California and the native. I have since caught a 
 brown trout that measured over twenty-two inches that 
 did not begin to " put up the fight " that the Cali- 
 fornia did. For a time a few rainbow trout were 
 caught, but they soon ran out. Then we occasionally 
 saw a trout that for a better name we called " hy- 
 brid," a pretty, bright-colored fish with small red 
 spots ; they also disappeared. Then, with a rush, came 
 the brown and German trout; I say with a rush be- 
 cause they have multiplied so fast that they now out- 
 number the native. Comparisons are generally odious, 
 but they are especially so when you compare a brown 
 trout to a native. In appearance the brown is scaly, 
 flat, greenish-yellow, irregular in form, bad eye, home- 
 ly all over. In the native the scales are invisible ; he 
 is gold and silver, round and symmetrical, and as 
 beautiful an object as lavish nature produces. In a 
 sporting way, the brown rushes at a fly and impales 
 himself and then holds back hard and dies limp and 
 wilted. The native, with a gleam and a glint, darts 
 for the fly, and unless the angler's eye and hand are 
 quick, he has taken the fly in his mouth, found it is 
 not food, spit it out, and is off, all in the twinkling of 
 an eye. When hooked he darts about, turns over and 
 over, is here, there, and everywhere. When netted, 
 he is still fighting, and keeps on fighting and kicking 
 

 
 :■%, 
 
 
 No. 
 
 I. Professor 
 
 No. 2. Coachman 
 No. 5. Equinox Gnat 
 
 No. 3. Grizzly King 
 
 No. 
 
 4. Scarlet Ibis 
 
 
 No. 6. Camlet Dun 
 
 No. 
 
 7. Green Drake 
 
 No. 8. Grasshopper 
 
 No. 9. Fin-Fly 
 
 No. 
 
 10. Brown Hen 
 
 No. II. Beaverkill 
 
 No. 12. Brown Hackle 
 
 No. 
 
 13. White Miller 
 
 No. 14- Black Gnat 
 
 No. 15. 
 Pale Evening Dun 
 
 No. 
 
 16. Soldier Palmer 
 
 No. 17. Abbey 
 
 No. 18. Jungle Cock 
 
 TROUT FLIES 
 
(H:d somewhat like a bass. I have 
 ive as large as that in the Beaver- 
 iiinot compare the gamy qualities betwecri 
 . lornia and the native. I have since caught a 
 anikU'-?iy)^i^'o^ mea.^|^^i,B'3be^l3Vfnty-twQoW3«ls« thm 
 d not begin to " put up the fight " that the Cali- 
 ii>rnia did. For a time a few rainbow trout were 
 i aught, but they soon ran out. Then we occasionally 
 iw a trout that foP'!? "ifmS^ ffe?ffe we called '' hy- 
 ^ ifit^'jsftn^fff^fit.i'Vi bright-colored fish wirfidiSrtiafl? -fe*??^ 
 s 30ts ; they also disitppeared. Then, with a rush, came 
 tie brown -' ^ -i trout; I say with a rush be- 
 
 cause the ed so fast that they now out- 
 
 run!' i sons are generally odious, 
 
 lut ' ' :n vou compare a brown 
 
 rfit, V: ' (-ye, home- 
 
 in ' visible ; he 
 
 al. and as 
 .. -^ .uices. „In a.- 
 
 aWacHawoia .£i .oM IMisv^sQ .ii.oM nsH nwoiB .01 .oM 
 
 '■• ml; v-iv. tin brown ri> iifs at w tly and impales 
 
 : dies limp and 
 d a glint, darts 
 
 uth, found it is 
 
 ;ne twinkling of 
 
 ioi>ut, turns over and 
 
 ■uTc. When netted. 
 
 .51 .oM ^ ""i<^S^ iBiiOSMi'%i.o'Vt 
 
 aaij-q TU05IT 
 
AN ANGLER S NOTES ON THE BEAVERKILL 
 
 to the bitter end. The brown is more of a cannibal 
 than the native ; in fact, most brown trout that I have 
 opened have contained trout, some of which have 
 been a fourth as long as themselves. As food, the 
 flavor of the brown becomes " weedy " after the mid- 
 dle of May and is decidedly unpleasant to the taste, 
 though early in the season he is not so bad. The 
 native is sweet and delicious as long as the stream is 
 up. All talk now about the brown trout is futile; 
 they are there to stay and will remain as long as 
 there are trout in the stream. 
 
 Flies. 
 One of the peculiarities of the native trout is that 
 they will seldom rise, in the daytime, to a fly that has 
 much red in its composition. The most successful 
 flies are the dull, modest-colored ones. The following 
 list is as complete as needed : Cahill, Marston's 
 Fancy, Drab Wing Cowdung, March Brown and 
 Ginger March Brown, Whirling Dun, Black Spinner, 
 Coachman, Black Gnat, Orvis's Red Fox, and Yellow 
 May or Green Drake on No. 12 or lo hooks. My 
 preference is for a Sproat hook. I like a long, slender 
 point and a fair-sized barb. The O'Shaughnessy is 
 the best hook for big flies, but is too clumsy for any- 
 thing less than a No. 8. The Cahill fly should have 
 light-brown speckled wings; they are often tied too 
 dark. In my opinion the Cahill is the best fly on the 
 Beaverkill ; it was the best when I first fished the stream, 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 and it is the best to-day. It would be difficult to say 
 why this fiy has remained so killing when others have 
 had their season and then have proved worthless. Of 
 course, the angler may increase the above list a hun- 
 dred fold ; he may use a Hackle, a Professor, or a Queen 
 of the Water with occasional success, but in my ex- 
 perience the cast that kills is a Cahill tor a stretcher 
 and a Marston's Fancy and a Drab Wing Cowdung 
 for droppers. The Marston's Fancy is tied in various 
 patterns, but the one I have found the best is that 
 shown in Mrs. Marbury's " Favorite Flies." But that 
 book must not be a guide to the Cahill, as Fig. 1 2 1 in 
 "Favorite Flies" is a very different fly. Fig. 118 is 
 more like a Cahill ; possibly it is a typographical error 
 in giving 121 instead of 1 18. The body of the Cow- 
 dung should be a light greenish-yellow, not a cinnamon 
 color. The Yellow May and Green Drake are used 
 in May only, when the May fly is on the water. The 
 Coachman and Black Gnat are used in the evening, es- 
 pecially in June and early July. Uncle Thee always 
 used a Coachman for a stretcher; he was frequently 
 criticised for this, but his reason for doing so, as he 
 confided to me, was simply that he could see it better. 
 A No. 10 fly, fifty or sixty feet away and partly under 
 water, is not a particularly conspicuous object at best, 
 and the white wings of the Coachman were probably 
 more so than the usual drab wing. Orvis's Red Fox is 
 a good fly, so also is the Whirling Dun. The March 
 Brown and Ginger March Brown are to be depended 
 
AN ANGLERS NOTES ON THE BEAVERKILL 
 
 upon, also the Black Spinner. The Orvis's Red Fox is 
 also the correct pattern for the Beaverkill fly, which is 
 tied in a score ot" different ways. 
 
 A brown trout will take anything from a Parma- 
 cheene Belle to a brass button. I met a fisherman last 
 year who was greatly exercised over a brown trout he 
 had caught under the bridge below Joe Cammer's ; he 
 thought it looked mighty big and had opened it and 
 found a snake eighteen inches long inside. That was 
 a good story, but not half so good as the famous one 
 told by Jerry Durgin, down in Maine. Jerry was out 
 with a " Sporter " when they " hooked a trout that only 
 measured twelve inches but weighed two and one-half 
 pounds ; they cut him open, when out jumped a mink ; 
 they caught the mink and took it home and put it in 
 a cage, and by and by it had two little minks." An old 
 friend of mine who lives on the Beaverkill told me 
 with considerable excitement of a fisherman down be- 
 low Rockland who had taken three trout that weighed 
 over three pounds apiece. " Did he get them on a 
 fly *? " I inquired. " Yes," he said, " on a fly, or grass- 
 hopper, or something." 
 
 One Sunday in the spring of 1899 ^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ bridge 
 at Craig-e-clare, watching the trout rise to the natural 
 fly on the water. I observed that the smaller ones 
 jumped clear out of the water for the fly, but noticed 
 also that the big fellows never came q?/He to the top, 
 but moved about freely, apparently feeding on the 
 sunken flies. The idea occurred to me to use a small 
 
 "3 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 14 or 12 fly as a stretcher. I tried it the following 
 day and have done so very often since and with excel- 
 lent result. The sunken fly is much smaller than the 
 fly on the surface of the water. 
 
 Casting a Fly. 
 
 In casting, I believe in using all the line the width 
 of the stream will permit ; the point is to keep as far 
 out of sight as possible. Never cast directly across 
 from you, as the fly will float back toward you and 
 leave a slack line, but by casting a trifle below, the fly 
 floats away from you. Don't neglect the side of the 
 stream you are on, nor the middle of the stream ; cast 
 out your flies light and easy, being careful to cover the 
 entire pool, even the very shallow places, for trout, es- 
 pecially in early spring, will run into shallow water to 
 sun themselves. If you have a rise and miss the trout, 
 don't cast back immediately, but wait a minute and 
 then cast with the utmost care over the spot where the 
 trout arose. Don't put your flies too near each other, 
 they should be from two and one-half to three feet 
 apart. Always try to keep the second dropper on the 
 top of the water, there is more sport in hooking one 
 trout on the rise than a dozen underwater; in the 
 former you feel that you have fairly earned your fish. 
 If you are a novice in the gentle art, try counting 
 three. One, you pick the flies quickly from the water. 
 Two, you allow the line to lengthen out behind. 
 Three, you make the cast ; if the cast is a long one 
 114 
 
I< 
 
 -^ 
 
 
 
AN angler's notes ON THE BEAVERKILL 
 
 count two and three for the back cast and four for the 
 cast. Use your wrist chiefly and don't be afraid of 
 your rod. Take hold of it as though you could whip 
 a horse with it, give it life, put force into your cast; so 
 long as your wrist makes the cast the rod will not be 
 injured. Remember to take time between the back 
 cast and the cast ; there must be an interval, otherwise 
 your flies will not lengthen out behind or above. 
 When you make the cast send the flies out, not down ; 
 cast as though you intended to make the end fly strike 
 some imaginary object three feet above the water. 
 The philosophy of the science is simply to make the 
 rod bend — that's all ; if the rod bends to and fro the 
 line will follow. Try your rod before you run out the 
 line and see how the snap of your wrist does the work. 
 Switch it back, pause a moment, then switch it for- 
 ward. Use your wrist all you can ; your arm simply 
 follows in obedience to the movement of your wrist. 
 Keep your rod perpendicular whenever possible ; in the 
 back cast the rod should be a trifle to the right, but 
 the forward cast is from the perpendicular. Put your 
 thumb up the rod and directly back of it ; this will 
 prevent the sweep from going too far back ; in the cast 
 the thumb is still at an angle, never lengthened out. 
 The tip of the rod covers about one-half of a semi- 
 circle. Look at your watch; let the hours 9 to 3 
 represent the semicircle ; the tip of your rod covers that 
 part of the semicircle represented by 1 1 and 2. Be 
 careful to get all your line and leader out straight and 
 "5 
 
ROOK TROUT 
 
 taut ; your flies will then drop lightly on the water ; that 
 is the object to be attained, to have your flies light nat- 
 urally on the water, and at the same time to have your 
 
 ii6 
 
AN ANGLERS NOTES ON THE BEAVERKILL 
 
 line and leader taut from the tip of the rod ; you are 
 then all ready to strike when you have a rise. Re- 
 member, the wrist does it all, makes the cast and 
 strikes the fish. Don't wave your arm as though you 
 were signalling the Empire Express. 
 
 Rods. 
 
 In fishing from a canoe on still water I prefer a 
 light, whippy rod, but in fishing the Beaverkill, espe- 
 cially when the water is high, a rod can hardly be too 
 stiff. The water carries the flies along rapidly; the 
 trout darts out like a flash; now, if your rod is long 
 and whippy, the tip, when you strike, will dip a long 
 distance toward the water before it sweeps back to 
 hook the fish, and an appreciable amount of time is 
 thus lost ; with a stifl" rod you save that time and are 
 therefore more likely to hook your fish. // is hooking a 
 fish on the rise that is the cream ofjiy-fishing. My favor- 
 ite rod for the Beaverkill, especially in the spring, is 
 a six-jointed split bamboo, that measures nine feet and 
 weighs four ounces. That style of rod is frequently 
 used on rapid streams; the short joints add to the stiff- 
 ness of the rod. A rod of that style, in order to stand 
 the strain, should not only be hand-made but should be 
 made by an expert, and should cost from $30 to $50. 
 Very often a rod that is too whippy can be stiffened by 
 taking a couple of inches from each joint. There is 
 nothing more heart-rending to the fly-caster than to 
 have trout rise to his flies and not be able to hook them. 
 
ROOK TROUT 
 
 Landing a I'rout. 
 
 When you hook a good-sized trout in quick water, 
 never try to reel him up to you, but keep a taut line 
 and gradually work down below him, reeling in as you 
 move along; then lead him back of some rock or in 
 some part of the stream where the water seems less 
 swift ; then reel up all the line excepting about six or 
 eight feet; this you take up inch by inch in your fingers 
 until you judge the length of line and leader is such 
 that you can reach your net under him ; then take the 
 rod in your left hand and hold the line between your 
 fingers and thumb — you will thus be ready to give him 
 line in case he makes a rush ; then lead him toward 
 you from the side, not from above or below, or move 
 over to him, raise the tip of your rod until the trout is 
 near enough, and then slip the net under him. Kill 
 him at once by striking him a sharp blow between the 
 eyes — never let a trout die in your creel ; then, finally, 
 take the hook from his mouth, and if you have induced 
 him to take your fly on the surface you can feel that 
 you have done a good stroke and fairly earned your 
 trout. If the trout is a big fellow you may be obliged 
 to lead him down to the pool below, but it's always a 
 bit more sport to land your trout in a rift, if you can. 
 
 Leaders. 
 
 The leader is the most important part of the fly^ 
 caster's outfit ; the length must be guided by the length 
 
 ii3 
 
AN ANGLER S NOTES ON THE BEAVERKILL 
 
 of the rod ; it should reach, after the end fly is attached, 
 from the reel to within three inches of the tip ; the 
 color should be a light blue, commonly called mist 
 color; the strength should be equal to the strength of 
 the largest trout you expect to catch ; this you must 
 decide by putting your leader to a severe test ; after 
 first soaking it well, hook one end over some conven- 
 ient object, and then pull — don't be afraid of it, pull 
 hard ; if it breaks you can easily tie it again. Don't 
 continue to use a leader too long; it is wise to give it 
 a good test two or three times a day. In attaching the 
 droppers, I preter, for stream-fishing, to put the fly di- 
 rectly on the leader and not on a loop. The object to 
 be obtained is to keep the fly from whipping around 
 the leader. My experience has taught me that the fly 
 stands out better when fastened directly to the leader ; 
 this is done simply by looping up an inch or so of the 
 leader just above a knot and then slipping the loop of 
 the fly over the leader, then putting the fly through the 
 loop and pulling it taut; the snell of the fly must, of 
 course, be previously well soaked. In putting on the 
 fly be sure to have the point tozuard you, otherwise it 
 will float on its back. This is an important matter 
 that you cannot be too careful about ; watch constantly 
 to see that your flies float naturally and not upside 
 down. I do not like drawn gut, it is too brittle ; it 
 seems to dry very quickly, and when dry breaks with 
 a snap. 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 Sazvdijst. 
 
 There are two subjects that sadly need the attention 
 of the Fish Commissioners on the Beaverkill — the ques- 
 tion of sawdust and " posting." The saw-mill at V^oor- 
 his's has ruined all that part of the stream from Voorhis's 
 to Ellsworth's for fly-casting ; the bait fisherman may 
 be able to catch fish by sinking his worm, but the fly- 
 caster cannot catch trout when his flies float on saw- 
 dust or a piece of scantling. Unfortunately for the 
 fisherman, the saw-mill people and the commissioners 
 had a legal set-to, in which the commissioners did not 
 secure their point ; this was virtually a victory for the 
 saw-mill. Prior to that lawsuit the sawdust was carted 
 over on the bank, but afterward it was dumped into 
 the stream, and especially so when a luckless fly- 
 caster happened that way. It is sad to think of the 
 beautiful pools that are now ruined — all that lovely 
 stretch of water above and below " Pappy " Dumond's 
 and along by and below Mr. Jersey's place. A move- 
 ment was once started to induce the saw-mill people 
 to put in a " blower," but it fell through. Something 
 should be done, 
 
 Posi/ng. 
 
 This is a vexed question. Some fishermen pay the 
 twenty-five or fifty cents; others refuse, and go right 
 along and " talk back " at the farmers. Some farmers 
 refuse all overtures to " fish over them," and threaten to 
 
AN ANGLER S NOTES ON THE BEAVERKILL 
 
 shoot, etc. All this is very unfortunate. It would be 
 a good thing for the fishermen if all the farmers from 
 Flint's docking to Voorhis's would form an association 
 ,and charge a fee to fish over the entire stretch, so much 
 per day or week, and in return for this the farmer 
 should build small ponds to keep the fry furnished by 
 the State for a year or so, and then run them into 
 the stream. 
 
 A Limit. 
 
 If that old Frank Forrester law, in force once upon 
 a time on Long Island, could have been made general 
 and enforced, what a blessing it would be to the angler 
 of to-day I What slaughter there has been I Two men 
 killed 700 trout in one day, one man killed 250, another 
 200, and so on. One Decoration Day, at Sprague's, 
 enough trout to fill a wash-boiler were brought in. It 
 was then that Uncle Thee proposed that we all agree 
 to kill only eighteen trout a day hereafter. The sea- 
 son is too long; April 16th to August 31st is unreason- 
 able. July 15th should end it. How nice it would be 
 if one stream in New York was set aside for fly-casting 
 only, the same as is frequently done in Maine. To 
 think of the Beaverkill freed from sawdust and 
 reserved for fly-casting only. How ecstatic I It is 
 almost too enjoyable a day-dream to permit yourself to 
 indulge in. 
 
BROOK. TROUT 
 
 'T^he Month of May. 
 
 May is the fly-casters' month; the stream then is 
 generally at a good height for wading; the flies are 
 on the water and the trout are on the rise ; the birds 
 are flying north and all the air is filled with the melody 
 of their song; the mountain-sides are painted in their 
 exquisite tints, not the gorgeous reds and yellows of 
 autumn, but the pale tints of early spring : the mauves, 
 the steel-grays, the lemon-yellows and pink and soft 
 purple and blue — all those light impressions — with 
 only here and there a bit of red maple or green hem- 
 lock to heighten the color. Then to start in at some 
 part of the stream that you have decided upon the pre- 
 vious evening ; to feel the rush of water about you and 
 the constantly moving pictures of nature ; to breathe 
 in deep the pure, cool mountain-air ; the excitem.ent of 
 casting your flies and the constant expectation of a 
 lusty trout — here is a life worth living. How the 
 hours fly by I You look at your watch ; it is two 
 o'clock ; you say to yourself, " What have you done ? " 
 " Where have you been *? It seems but a moment ago 
 that you started in ; how the time does fly I " What a 
 joy it is to be entirely alone with nature — to feel that 
 you are a part of all that is going on; that the birds 
 are singing for you, the flowers are blooming for you ; 
 the lovely violets on the edge of the water, the great 
 splashes of white blossoms on the "shin-hopple," the 
 rich red of the wake-robin and the white and red flowers 
 
AN ANGLERS NOTES ON THE BEAVERKILL 
 
 of the trillium — all for you I And then, again, to reach 
 the pool that is your especial delight, the pool that you 
 dreamed of all winter. You wade in carefully and take 
 your stand from where you can cast your flies over all 
 the favorite spots, every one of which brings back a 
 memory of some former visit when you had landed a 
 beauty. Ah, that's the life ! to feel that you are a part 
 of Nature, and that your love for her is the one great, 
 absorbing theme of your existence. Love and caress 
 Nature, and she will repay you a thousandfold. She 
 will always prove your true, steadfast friend, always 
 trying to be a pleasure and a comfort to you, growing 
 dearer to you and more lovable to you as the years 
 roll by. 
 
 Cutting Sticks. 
 
 On Sundays, Uncle Thee and I were accustomed to 
 stroll along the border of the stream and ramble through 
 the wooded sides in search of walking-sticks. Did you 
 ever hunt for a good stick, one that was straight and 
 strong and having a good handle ? Such a stick is 
 hard to find, hence the fascination of hunting for one. 
 It's curious how few sticks are straight to begin with, 
 and if you find a straight one, the handle is imperfect, 
 and so you go poking about in the woods with a never- 
 ending delight over the pursuit. Incidentally, on these 
 trips, we also kept our eyes open for some big trout 
 that might rise and disclose his "■ home," possibly be- 
 hind some big rock or under some bank or other hid- 
 ing-place from where he could dart out for a passing 
 
 12.3 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 fly. When we reached Davidson's Eddy we were 
 sure to see some evidences of big trout. Davidson's 
 Eddy is probably the most celebrated pool on the 
 Beaverkill. The stream along there runs in a southerly 
 direction, and just at the eddy there is a high hill on 
 the western side that shades the pool most of the after- 
 noon. It is shallow along the eastern bank, and deep 
 under the wooded banks on the western side, the very 
 conditions that a fly-caster especially loves. It is thus 
 a particularly interesting pool for afternoon and even- 
 ing fishing. At Davidson's Eddy we would sit down 
 and watch for the trout to rise. Uncle Thee was more 
 or less given to sentimentalizing on these Sunday ram- 
 bles. One of his favorite hobbies was that time-worn 
 subject, "• things always adjust themselves," and many 
 were the stories he would tell to illustrate this, some of 
 them highly interesting and not a few quite dramatic. 
 Uncle Thee insisted that if you transgressed against 
 the laws of God and Nature you suffered, and if you 
 lived up to them you were repaid. " That every man 
 carried about in his own heart a heaven or a hell, the 
 one always ready to please and exalt him if he did right 
 and the other to depress and torment him if he did 
 wrong." Uncle Thee's religion was a very simple one ; 
 he had turned against all creeds, he said. " As I grow 
 older my faith and belief in an Almighty Being grows 
 stronger. I find that all the religion I need is the im- 
 plicit belief that my Woe for God grows deeper and 
 stronger, and that my faith and love shall remain stead- 
 124 
 
AN ANGLERS NOTES ON THE BEAVERKILL 
 
 fast to the end." The expression of his face showed that 
 his words were true, always kindly and loving, quiet 
 and sincere, faithful and true, and with all a childlike 
 simplicity that won all hearts. Even Bill Hardie 
 allowed him to fish " over him." 
 
 "H^ kept his soul 21ns potted 
 
 As he went upon his -way" 
 
 '"''He had time to see the beauty 
 
 I'hat the Lord spread all around ; 
 He had time to hear the music 
 
 In the shells the children found. " 
 
 A Hobby. 
 
 The idea of a hobby is at least interesting to all 
 men, to have some diversion to fill your leisure hours 
 and to look forward to, to dream over on dismal win- 
 ter days, and to divert your mind when cares annoy. 
 What hobby can be more interesting, more captivating, 
 more satisfying than the hobby of fly-casting ^ There 
 are a hundred and one features to it — you can tie your 
 own flies, make your own rods, mend, fix, adjust, always 
 some delightful things to " tinker " over or with, arrang- 
 ing your flies and all that, and then the " art " itself 
 Nothing can be more enjoyable than to wade a stream, 
 to feel the rush of water about you, the constant excite- 
 ment, the forgetting of all other affairs, the out-door 
 125 
 
ROOK TROUT 
 
 life, the health and appetite, the meeting with other 
 anglers and the telling over of the day's sport. Here is 
 a fascination that will last you all your life, and be a 
 delight to you in extreme old age. Let me warn you, 
 my reader, if you are not a lover of Nature and out-door 
 life you are missing one of the greatest blessings this 
 world affords. 
 
 126 
 
WINGED ENEMIES OF BROOK TROUT. 
 
WINGED ENEMIES OF BROOK TROUT. 
 
 SOME idea of the serious loss of fish and fish- 
 eggs caused by myriads of enemies in and 
 about the waters is conveyed in a paragraph 
 of Dr. Day's book upon the British and Irish 
 SalmonidiZ. He says : " So enormous is the loss which 
 occurs among the eggs and young, that in such a river 
 as the Severn the annual produce of salmon and grilse 
 at the present time (1887) consists of about 20,000 
 fish. Were all the ova of one female salmon of about 
 twenty pounds' weight to be hatched and attain ma- 
 turity, they would suffice for keeping up the stock to 
 its present condition." The Severn is 2oo miles long 
 and receives five principal tributaries. 
 129 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 Chief among the destroyers of fish are certain birds 
 and winged insects. The common crow, the crow 
 blackbird, hawks, bluejay, some owls, grebes, gulls, and 
 terns, have the reputation ot poaching to some extent, 
 but their depredations are much less in our State than 
 the ravages of such birds, for example, as the herons, 
 kingfisher, certain ducks, loons, and fish-hawk. Chief 
 among these is the 
 
 Night-hcrou. 
 
 In the report of the Pennsylvania Fish Commission 
 for 1897 Dr. B. H. Warren publishes some interesting 
 notes on the destructive work of the black-crown night- 
 heron. In a small pool at Westchester, Pa., twenty- 
 five goldfish were placed. Two night-herons caught 
 all but one of them before the following morning. A 
 night-heron killed near a branch of White Clay Creek, 
 in Pennsylvania, had the tail of a common sucker of 
 about twelve inches long projecting four inches beyond 
 its bill. The head and shoulders, except the bony por- 
 tion, were eaten away by the gastric juice of the stom- 
 ach. Dr. Warren examined the stomachs of about 
 twenty ot these herons which were shot in June near 
 their breeding-ground, and found fish remains in all 
 of them. 
 
 In July, 1883, ^^- Rudolph Hessel shot a night- 
 heron containing the heads of seventy-eight young 
 carp. This bird is sometimes called blue heron, and is 
 also quite generally called a crane, but this is erroneous. 
 
ENEMIES OF BROOK TROUT 
 
 It is found in large numbers, and in the breeding 
 season forms rookeries which are a serious menace to 
 the fishing waters of the neighborhood. It is extreme- 
 ly shy and cautious, fishing chiefly at night or early 
 in the morning. It stands perfectly motionless in the 
 water until a fish comes within reach, when it strikes 
 with its long, sharp, heavy bill, which deals death to 
 any of the fish kind. 
 
 They have been caught in steel traps set in ponds 
 within twenty feet of a hatchery building. The traps 
 are set in shallow water, taking precaution to secure 
 them so as to prevent the bird flying away with them. 
 When a heron is captured in a trap, he should be killed 
 at once with a long club or a load of shot. Great care 
 should be taken to keep out of the reach of his mur- 
 derous bill. Once I had the misfortune to be struck 
 by a wounded heron, and I am sure that if his bill had 
 struck me squarely on the hand, it would have gone 
 entirely through. As it was, the blow was a glancing 
 one, striking me on the knuckle, but it stripped off the 
 flesh to the very bone. I have sometimes heard a great 
 flopping and disturbance in the waters of our Caledonia 
 trout-brook at night, and upon going to the place in 
 the morning found heron tracks in the mud, and some- 
 times a trout from one-half pound to two pounds in 
 weight, and occasionally larger, with a hole in its back 
 or side, into which you could put your finger. I 
 always supposed the fish escaped on account of its 
 being too strong and lively for the heron, although 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 mortally wounded. I have seen as many as a dozen 
 six-inch trout in the throat and stomach of a heron 
 killed in the early morning hours. 
 
 In Germany, and elsewhere in Europe, herons work 
 great injury to the fish-culturists. In the government 
 fisheries the regulations prescribe that they must be 
 killed and their roosts destroyed, but in spite of these 
 measures their numbers are seriously large in many 
 places, and owners ot ponds trap them with steel traps 
 baited with fish. 
 
 The small green heron and the bittern are also in the 
 list of fish-destroyers, but they are less destructive than 
 the night-heron on account of their smaller size, but 
 their presence about fish preserves is not at all bene- 
 ficial and they should be killed. 
 
 Kingfisher. 
 
 The kingfisher is one of the most active, impudent, 
 and persistent of the enemies of fish wherever found, 
 and it is only too abundant for the good of angling. 
 According to Dr. Brehm, the common European king- 
 fisher on the average destroys daily ten or twelve fish, 
 each about as long as a man's finger. In fourteen 
 years a German fish-culturist caught upwards of 700 
 kingfishers near his trout-ponds. The bird is equally 
 abundant and quite as destructive in New York, and 
 may be regarded as one of the pests afflicting the fish- 
 culturists. 
 
 I have known of upward of 180 kingfishers being 
 132 
 
ENEMIES OF BROOK TROUT 
 
 destroyed on one-half mile of Caledonia Spring Creek 
 in one season ; they were shot and trapped. 
 
 In 1884 I rented an old mill-pond in Genesee 
 County, N. Y., posted it with a view of making a 
 trout-preserve, as the pond was fed by cold spring 
 brooks and contained nothing but trout. I visited the 
 pond on an average once in two weeks, with a few 
 friends, for a day's sport. Noticing that the kingfish- 
 ers were quite numerous, I suggested to the farmer's 
 son, residing near by, and who also watched the ponds 
 for me, that if he would trap and shoot the kingfishers 
 I would give him ten cents each. This was followed 
 up until I found it most too expensive, as the young 
 man produced the heads or bodies of from ten to thirty 
 kingfishers every time I visited the place. 
 
 The clattering notes of this bird are heard from early 
 in the spring until cold weather, and even before the 
 spring season is open, as if impatient for it to come. 
 He is never satisfied, being on the lookout from day- 
 light until dark, and is ever ready for a plunge in the 
 water at sight of his prey. He can take as many fish 
 as the average sportsman. 
 
 In the article of Dr. Warren above referred to are 
 some accounts of the destruction wrought by the belted 
 kingfishers. Mr. C. K. Sober, of Lewisburg, Pa., found 
 thirteen small brook-trout in one of these birds which 
 was shot on Baker Run. An acquaintance of Dr. War- 
 ren some years ago had a large number of goldfish in 
 a pond. Two pairs of kingfishers built their nests in a 
 133 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 sand-bank near the pond. In one summer these birds 
 destroyed nearly all the small-sized fish in the place. 
 Out of thirty-eight of these birds taken about streams 
 and mill-ponds, thirty-six contained nothing but fish 
 remains. 
 
 Kingfishers can be successfully captured in traps 
 fastened at the top of stakes driven in the bank about 
 trout-ponds or along trout-streams. The stake or pole 
 should be from ten to fifteen feet long. If the top of 
 the stake is not sufficiently large to support the steel 
 trap, nail a small block of wood on the end of the pole. 
 The trap is set, but not baited. When the trap is set, 
 the little plate that springs the trap when disturbed is 
 the highest point of the trap. The trap must be se- 
 curely fastened to the stake by a cord, small wire, or 
 chain. The birds on visiting the ponds or streams will 
 invariably fly to one of these stakes, light on the high- 
 est point and be captured. I have found a small, 
 round steel trap (one without the shank or tail-piece) 
 to be best for this work. One of these traps captured 
 twenty-five kingfishers at a trout-preserve in Cattarau- 
 gus County, Of course, the pole and trap should be 
 set up near a fishing-ground, where the bird may think 
 it is a splendid spot for observation. 
 
 D^ycks. 
 
 Domestic ducks as well as geese are great destroyers 
 of fish, and should never be allowed on trout-waters. 
 I have seen a tame duck capture and devour a trout 
 
 »34 
 
ENEMIES OF BROOK TROUT 
 
 seven inches long. They also feed on the natural food 
 of the fish. Wild ducks of some species are equally 
 troublesome, and especially the mergansers, saw-bills, 
 sheldrakes or fish-ducks. 
 
 The merganser is very destructive at all times, but 
 particularly in winter, when most of the streams and 
 lakes are frozen over. They often congregate on small 
 streams or ponds that do not freeze on account of their 
 uniform temperature. These waters are invariably 
 trout-waters. During severe winters this fish-duck 
 sometimes remains on Caledonia Creek for a month at 
 a time. At such times it is very shy, and it is almost 
 impossible to get a shot at them or keep them away 
 from the stream. Trout spawning-beds are also tempt- 
 ing spots for the fish-duck to congregate and feed. I 
 have sometimes found red-flannel flags, placed on poles 
 stuck in the bank along the stream, useful for scaring 
 the ducks away. 
 
 Loons. 
 
 Dr. Warren examined the stomachs of sixteen 
 loons, three of which were the red-throated species, 
 and found remains of fish in thirteen. Fall-fish, suck- 
 ers, carp, catfish, and also a brook-trout seven inches 
 long were found in the stomachs of loons killed in 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 On the inland lakes of New York these birds sub- 
 sist chiefly upon fish and destroy a great many. In the 
 counties of Chester, Delaware, Clinton, and Lehigh, Pa., 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 the stomach contents of seven loons captured during 
 the winter months consisted entirely of fish-bones and 
 scales. 
 
 Loons are sometimes caught alive in pound-nets set 
 by the fishermen of the great lakes and on the sea- 
 coast. They are very dangerous to handle, on account 
 of" the strength and sharpness of their bill and their 
 savage disposition. 
 
 Grebes. 
 
 The grebe, known also as hell-divers and water- 
 witches, feed upon fish, frogs, aquatic insects, especially 
 beetles, and water-plants. They nest in streams, lakes, 
 and ponds, usually building among reeds or rushes, 
 and lay from six to eight eggs of uniform color. They 
 are distributed all over the world, and are everywhere 
 known as expert divers and swimmers and generally 
 destructive to fish. 
 
 The horned or crested grebe lives principally upon 
 small fish. These birds are so exceedingly cautious 
 and swift in their movements that it is quite difficult to 
 shoot them, but by persistent watching it can be accom- 
 plished, as many duck-shooters know. One of the best 
 ways to reduce their number is by taking their eggs 
 from the rudely constructed nests in the reeds and 
 thickets close to the surface of the water. The eggs of 
 the horned grebe are greenish. 
 
 136 
 
ENEMIES OF BROOK TROUT 
 
 Fish-hazvk. 
 
 The depredations of the fish-hawk are more frequent 
 along the sea-coast than on inland waters, but the birds 
 are often found along our large rivers and over large 
 lakes and ponds. They are usually solitary in spring 
 and fall, but sometimes hunt in pairs, and will remain 
 about mill-dams and fish-ponds a few days at a time if 
 not driven away. 
 
 I have known of their taking trout of one-half pound 
 weight from my private trout-ponds. 
 
 Dr. Warren examined the stomachs of twenty-three 
 and found nothing in them but fish remains. Fish- 
 hawks are quite common throughout the Adirondack 
 region. Goldfish-ponds are particularly liable to attack 
 from fish-hawks, owing to the bright color of their oc- 
 cupants. 
 
 Bald Eagle. 
 
 The national bird usually plays the role of a fish- 
 thief, his victim being the fish-hawk, but occasionally 
 has been seen fishing in shallow parts of small creeks 
 on his own account. 
 
 Audubon states that he saw a bald eagle capture a 
 number of red fins in Perkiomen Creek, Pa., by wading 
 briskly through the water and striking at them with 
 his bill. On the Island of Kadiak, Alaska, according 
 to Dr. Bean, this eagle is actively engaged in fishing, 
 137 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 and is most abundant around the salmon-lakes and 
 shallow bays. 
 
 Many of the observing guides of the Adirondacks 
 will tell you how they have seen a bald eagle attack a 
 fish-hawk in the air, and make him drop the fish he 
 had just captured from the lake below, and before the 
 fish could strike the water the eagle would swoop down 
 and catch it in his claws ; but the eagle is so very 
 scarce in New York that it hardly seems right to 
 recommend their destruction, even if the law would 
 permit it, which it does not. 
 
 Barred Owl. 
 
 Although this bird is commonly credited with the 
 destruction of fish-food, such as snails, caddis larvae, 
 and crayfish, it has sometimes been accused of catch- 
 ing fish. An instance of the capture of a large brook 
 trout at the State Hatchery at AUentown, Pa., by a 
 barred oivl was reported several years ago, and Dr. 
 Warren was informed by residents of Florida, in 1885, 
 that the bird frequently caught fish in that State, se- 
 curing them by dexterous movement of the foot while 
 sitting close to the water's edge. 
 
 The common hoot-owl, or screech-owl, quite often 
 causes trouble. I have caught them in traps set for 
 musk-rats four inches under water. They were after 
 the fish-food of the stream, such as caddis larvj£, cray- 
 fish, shrimp, etc. I have seen two or three quarts of 
 the caddis-larvifi cases in a pile that had been collected 
 138 
 
ENEMIES OF BROOK TROUT 
 
 from the water by a screech-owl, the larvue being 
 pulled trom the case and devoured by the owl. 
 
 Injurious Insects. 
 
 The damage to fish-eggs and young fish caused by 
 insects and the larvjE which pass a portion of their ex- 
 istence in water, is less noticeable than the injury done 
 by the birds, but it is much greater than one would 
 suppose without investigation. 
 
 The larvjfi of the dragon-flies, and the great water- 
 beetles and water-bugs are well-known enemies of fish. 
 
 Several kinds of water-beetles, particularly the rapa- 
 cious dytiscus, devour fry in enormous numbers, and 
 the great water-bug, called helostoma by entomologists, 
 is also injurious in trout-waters. Both the beetles and 
 their larvae completely devour eggs and little fish 
 measuring several inches in length, while they often 
 eat holes into larger fish. This large water-beetle 
 often leaves the water, perhaps for a little exercise. 
 Whether they fly during daylight I cannot say, but I 
 have seen and secured them near an electric light lo- 
 cated within a short distance of a stream. 
 
 We do not see and therefore do not know the full 
 extent of the depredations continually going on around 
 us, but when we stop to realize the fruits of our labor 
 and patient expectation, we are astonished by the 
 scarcity of fish and often inclined to place the blame 
 where it does not belong. Nature's checks upon over- 
 production are sometimes more effective than man's 
 
 ^39 
 
ROOK TROUT 
 
 most ingenious devices tor the legitimate capture or 
 legal destruction of fish, but at the present state of the 
 fishing waters in New York, it is safe to say that we 
 could get along without Nature's checks. 
 
 J 
 
 140 
 
TROUT PROPAGATION. 
 
TROUT PROPAGATION. 
 
 THE artificial propagation of fishes, that is, 
 taking the eggs, impregnating and hatch- 
 ing them by hand, is reduced practically 
 to an exact science, so far as the eggs of 
 most food-fishes are concerned; and after that the 
 rearing of fry to yearlings or older in the hatcheries 
 is chiefly a matter of cost of food, water supply, and 
 care of the young fish by skilled men. Most fish, too, 
 of all ages are now transported without loss worth 
 mentioning, so the work of actual hatching, rearing, 
 transporting, and planting food-fishes can be planned 
 in advance and carried out as successfully as the rear- 
 ing of warm-blooded animals. Beyond the point of 
 planting strong young fish in wild waters, the work 
 may be a success or failure, depending upon the condi- 
 tions existing in the water itself It may not be an 
 entire success nor an abject failure, but the fish-breeder 
 cannot always foresee which it will be with the cer- 
 
 1-43 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 tainty that he can foretell the results in his hatchery. 
 Wild waters are always presenting problems to be 
 worked out, to insure the success of fish propagation 
 in them, because the conditions are not always constant 
 in any particular water, and conditions change with 
 different waters. In planting fish in a territory so ex- 
 tensive as is comprised within the boundaries of the 
 State of New York, it is a most difficult matter to de- 
 termine in advance what conditions exist in all waters 
 that the State is called upon to stock. 
 
 Streams that were once natural trout-streams may 
 have become unfit for trout, through lack of shade and 
 the drying up of the fountain-head during a part of 
 the season, caused by lumbering operations. A stream 
 well shaded by forest growth may provide water of a 
 temperature for trout, and when the axe has opened 
 the stream to the sun, the temperature of the water 
 may rise to such a degree that trout cannot live in it. 
 Not one applicant in fifty who asks for trout-fry gives 
 the temperature of the water to be planted with any 
 positiveness. A stream that is a roaring torrent in the 
 spring during the melting of the snows, and is after- 
 ward a mere thread of warm water, is not a proper 
 stream for trout of any kind. As a matter of fact, I 
 have seen a brook absolutely dry in the month of Au- 
 gust that was planted with trout the preceding May, 
 and probably it was planted in good faith by the per- 
 son who applied for and obtained the trout from the 
 State. 
 
 I 
 
The end of a stiff fight.' 
 
TROUT PROl'AGATION 
 
 The State hatches a greater number of fish each suc- 
 ceeding year, but the appHcations for fish more than 
 keep pace with the increase, and the applications have 
 to be sifted and examined carefully that the best results 
 mav be obtained by the Commission in planting fish 
 only in suitable waters, judging from the information 
 furnished. If this information is defective or unrelia- 
 ble or the exact condition existing unknown, the result 
 of fish-planting may be disappointing. 
 
 To show what may be done in the way of stocking 
 a pond intelligently with trout-fry, Mr. W. C. With- 
 erbee, of Port Henry, obtained 5,000 brook-trout fry 
 from the State and planted them in a small pond in 
 Essex County. The pond had once contained trout, 
 but was so thoroughly fished out that no one thought 
 of fishing it at the time. It contained an abundance 
 of fish-food, with a fine inlet stream, spring-fed, and an 
 ample supply of water. In fact, all the conditions 
 were favorable, as the result shows. The fry were 
 planted and allowed to grow for several years, and the 
 pond was not fished, for there was no boat on it and it 
 was not generally known that it was restocked. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Witherbee, concluding that the pond had had 
 time to recuperate, went there for a day's fishing and 
 caught five trout, the weights being four and one-half, 
 four, four, four, and three and three-quarter pounds 
 respectively, or a total for the five trout of twenty and 
 one-quarter pounds. The pond was, of course, public 
 water, and at once it was fished without ceasing. One 
 145 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 trout of over eleven pounds was taken from it, taken, 
 too, without regard to the ethics ot fair anghng; and 
 it is more than suspected that even a larger trout was 
 taken from the inlet stream at the spawning season, a 
 trout of thirteen pounds and three ounces. Here are 
 other conditions to be considered. After a pond is 
 stocked with fish, and well stocked, water, food, and 
 temperature all being suitable, what rules can be en- 
 forced to insure that the pond will be fished with mod- 
 eration in season and not at all out ot season '? But 
 that is a matter for the lawmakers, game-protectors, 
 and the consciences of the anglers, rather than for the 
 fish-breeder; therefore, let us consider a little further 
 the question of temperature of water suitable for trout. 
 Waters that already contain trout that do well in them 
 can be planted, as the fact that trout thrive in them is 
 -prima facie evidence that the waters are suitable for the 
 fish. In extending the range ot trout, or in planting 
 streams that have been fished out, and in which the 
 conditions may have changed, it is safe to plant in wa- 
 ters that never exceed a summer temperature of 70° F. 
 Rainbow and brown trout still thrive in waters of 
 higher temperature than are suitable for brook trout, 
 and brook trout will live in well aerated water above 
 70°; at the same time water of 70.5° has killed both 
 brook and brown trout, probably because it lacked 
 vigor, which comes from force and aeration. Trout 
 grow little, if any, when in water below 40°, and to be 
 at their best they must have, during a portion of the 
 146 
 
TROUT PROPAGATION 
 
 year, water that ranges from 62° to 70°, as this temper- 
 ature hatches the insect life, which constitutes a hirge 
 part of the food of trout. While food is all-important, 
 trout must have room also, in which to grow. It is 
 selt-evident that if trout are planted in numbers to ex- 
 haust the food supply, they will not thrive; but aside 
 from that trout must have space to be at their best, for 
 it has been demonstrated that a given number of trout 
 in a certain number of cubic feet of water will do bet- 
 ter than the same number of trout in half the quantity 
 of water, both lots of trout being fed the same amount 
 of food. 
 
 How far trout may be acclimated to water of higher 
 temperature than that to which they are ordinarily ac- 
 customed has not yet been fully demonstrated. In 
 South Africa the brown trout has been hatched in 
 water as high as 79°, and in this country the rainbow 
 have been found to thrive in swift, well-aerated streams 
 that reach 85° F. The experiments of Dr. Davy 
 (" Physiological Researches ") to determine the tem- 
 perature fatal to trout are of interest, and aside from 
 the question of temperature, as they show how trout 
 try to escape when the water becomes too warm. He 
 placed a common European trout (fario), or brown 
 trout of this State, of about a quarter of a pound 
 weight, into a good volume of water at 62°, which was 
 pretty rapidly raised to 75° by additions of warm water, 
 when it became very active and tried to leap out. In 
 an hour the water was increased to 80°, and after a few 
 147 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 minutes more to 85°, when it became convulsed, and, 
 although transferred to cool water, died. When the 
 water had sunk to 70° a smaller trout and a minnow 
 were put in, and although the next morning the tem- 
 perature had sunk to 67°, the trout was dead, but 
 the minnow had not suffered. A par of the salmon, 
 about four inches long, was similarly treated, the wa- 
 ter in half an hour being raised from 60° to 70°, and 
 now it tried to escape. The water was raised to 80° 
 and it became torpid and convulsed ; at 84° it seemed 
 to have died. A char of about the same size had the 
 water gradually raised to 80°, when it appears to have 
 succumbed. The trout tried to escape by leaping 
 out of the water, while the char kept to the bottom 
 with its head downward, as if seeking for a cooler 
 locality. 
 
 The common brook trout of this country (fontinalis) 
 is a char, and undoubtedly acts as did the European 
 char in the experiment, by seeking cooler water down- 
 ward in a pond when the surface water becomes 
 warm, and searching out spring-holes in streams, so 
 they may be left to their own devices to find the cold- 
 est water provided in any stream or pond in which 
 they are planted; but unless the stream or pond con- 
 tains the cool water for them to find—/, c, below 70°, 
 and 65° would be better — it is useless to attempt to 
 propagate brook trout in it. There are other condi- 
 tions which operate against the maintenance of trout 
 in a stream. The fish must have gravel in which to 
 148 
 
TROUT PROPAGATION 
 
 make their spawning-beds. Even with gravel but a 
 small percentage of eggs deposited naturally are 
 hatched, but if deposited in the soft bottom they may 
 be lost entirely. During the past season I examined a 
 trout-pond at the request of a committee of gentlemen 
 who had stocked it, and found there was very little 
 gravel where springs boil from the bottom, and trout 
 had been in the habit of spawning, and that little had 
 been covered by vegetable growth. I suggested that 
 spawning-beds be provided by hauling gravel on the 
 ice in winter, spreading it over the places where the 
 springs came from the bottom, and when the ice 
 melted the gravel would settle evenly over the vegeta- 
 ble growth and provide the only thing which appeared 
 to be needed to make the pond suitable for the propa- 
 gation of trout, for the water was pure and cool, and 
 there was an abundance of fish-food. Streams that are 
 subject to sudden and severe freshets may have not 
 only the spawning-beds ripped up and destroyed, but 
 the food of the fish may be washed out of the stream 
 and will need to be replaced artificially. 
 
 Suckers are very destructive of trout-spawn, but 
 after an examination of several small Adirondack lakes, 
 that are natural trout-waters, but from which the trout 
 have become practically exterminated, I am of the 
 opinion that bullheads are to be charged with the de- 
 struction, more than any other one thing, men always 
 excepted. Bullheads have not, perhaps, the general 
 reputation for destroying trout-spawn that the sucker 
 149 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 enjoys ; nevertheless, they are one of the most destruc- 
 tive agents to be found in the water where trout exist. 
 
 In the lakes referred to I found that the bullheads 
 fairly swarmed, to the exclusion ot all other fish, except 
 a few big trout. They had not only destroyed the 
 trout-spawn, but had destroyed all the tood ot the 
 trout, and were themselves dwarfed and starved until 
 they were unfit for food. In other waters the bull- 
 heads would have sought tor food, and fishing would 
 have kept them down, but men, as a rule, do not go 
 into the Adirondack Wilderness to catch bullheads, 
 and consequently all the fishing had been for trout, 
 and the bullheads had multiplied unmolested until they 
 monopolized the water to the exclusion of everything 
 else. In one little lake the bullheads were like a solid 
 carpet of fish suspended in the water under the boat, 
 and with a piece of meat tied to a string about 2,000 
 were caught in a tew hours, as many as seven being 
 lifted into the boat at one time. They were from three 
 to four inches long, and the largest taken was five and 
 one-half inches long, too small to pay for dressing, even 
 had they been fat, which they were not. 
 
 On the spawning-beds of lake trout in New Hamp- 
 shire, bullheads were found so gorged with trout-spawn 
 that they were lying helpless on their sides, and one of 
 the Commissioners who witnessed the sight told me 
 that he was firmly of the opinion that the gorging 
 would have proved fatal to some of the bullheads if 
 the hatchery men had not anticipated the result. 
 150 
 
Q 
 
T R c:) L r PROPAGATION 
 
 In waters that do not contain brook trout the bull- 
 head is a most desirable food-fish, and it grows to good 
 size and is always in demand. The waters of" the State 
 furnish about 200,000 pounds of bullheads annually, 
 so far as returns have been obtained, more than of any 
 other fish except the shad. 
 
 The bullhead is a prolific fish and broods its young, 
 and in trout-waters where it is not sought as food it 
 has only to breed and multiply, barring such casualties 
 as all fish are subject to in a state of nature. 
 
 In trout-waters such as I have mentioned, where 
 bullheads have driven the trout to the wall, if fisher- 
 men would devote a little time to catching bullheads 
 there would be fewer to devour the spawn of trout and 
 consume their food. There is another remedy for this 
 condition of things, but it is one that can be applied 
 only by the Fisheries, Game, and Forest Commission 
 or its agents. 
 
 Every little while it is discovered by someone that 
 trout contain ova in the summer, and there is a de- 
 mand that the closed season be shortened. The last 
 complaint of this sort that I have noticed was printed 
 in a paper in the northern part of the State. The 
 writer of the complaint found ripe eggs in some trout 
 he caught in August, and he desired that the law 
 should close the fishing on and after August 1st. This 
 gentleman simply made the mistake that others have 
 made, for the eggs were not ripe. If he had examined 
 trout in June or before, he would have found spawn 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 in the females, but it would have been undeveloped 
 ova, the same as he found in August, except that the 
 latter was further advanced. In this State brook trout 
 spawn in October, with some variation, depending upon 
 the water, for the colder the water the earlier they will 
 spawn. 
 
 At the Adirondack hatching-station of this Commis- 
 sion, in Franklin County, they begin to spawn about 
 October 1st; at the Caledonia station, in Livingston 
 County, they begin to spawn about October i 5th, and 
 eggs are taken as late as the following March, and 
 have been taken as late as April 19th ; at Cold Har- 
 bor station, on Long Island, they begin to spawn the 
 last of October, but the height of the season is from 
 November 10th to 30th, although a few fish come on 
 in December and as late as January. 
 
 In running streams the temperature of the water 
 would follow closely the temperature of the air, and 
 the spawning would be early if the season were cold, 
 except in streams that were largely spring-fed, in which 
 case the temperature of the water would not fall so 
 rapidly and the spawning would be prolonged. 
 
 Trout spawn when they are " yearlings," but a year- 
 ling is more than twelve months old. All brook-trout 
 eggs are hatched in the spring, and the period of incu- 
 bation varies with the temperature of the water. The 
 eggs taken the first of October in Northern New York 
 may be 150 days hatching, while the eggs taken on 
 Long Island the last of November will be only about 
 
TROUT PROPAGATION 
 
 sixty days in hatching. Say that trout are hatched on 
 Long Island in March, during the following summer 
 they will be fry, and in the fall they will be fingerlings, 
 seven or eight months old. The next season they will 
 be yearlings, and as they spawn in the fall of the sec- 
 ond season, they will actually be twenty months old at 
 spawning time, although from custom they are called 
 yearlings. Consequently, a yearling brook trout at 
 spawning time is from eighteen to twenty months of 
 age, dating from the time it left the egg. A yearling 
 trout may yield from fifty to 250 eggs, the eggs being 
 one-sixth of an inch in diameter, quite different from 
 the mustard-seed eggs which the fisherman found in 
 the fish he caught during the summer months of the 
 open season. A trout but four inches long has been 
 known to yield forty ripe eggs. Many yearling trout 
 in wild waters are not six inches long, and where the 
 six-inch trout law is observed numbers of trout will 
 spawn before they can be legally killed. If there 
 were no six-inch trout law, it would be possible to kill 
 the trout before they spawned once, and the stock 
 would have to depend almost entirely upon artificial 
 propagation, with but slight aid from natural processes. 
 A " yearling " trout in one of the State rearing-ponds 
 is quite a different fish from a wild trout of the same 
 age, for the State rears yearlings (seventeen months 
 from the egg) that are ten and one-half inches long. 
 Two-year-old trout may yield as many as 500 eggs, 
 and older fish as many as 1,500. 
 153 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 To maintain fair fishing, even in a trout-streann, such 
 work as the State may be able to do in the way of 
 
 phmting the water 
 
 should be supple- 
 mented by all the 
 fish that may come 
 from natural repro- 
 duction, and the 
 trout should have 
 every possible op- 
 portunity to spawn 
 unmolested. 
 
 C 
 
 154 
 
SOME NOTES ON COOKING 
 BROOK TROUT. 
 
SOME NOTES ON 
 COOKING BROOK TROUT. 
 
 THERE are two ways to test whether a fish is 
 fresh or stale ; first, if the eyes are bright and 
 glossy, it is fresh ; if sunken, dull, and discol- 
 ored, it is stale; second, if the finger be 
 pressed on the fleshy part and it is solid and elastic, it is 
 fresh ; if the pressure leaves a mark, it is stale. This 
 applies to salt as well as fresh water fish. It has been 
 said that a trout is not fit to eat twenty-four hours after 
 being landed; in that short time the flesh not only 
 loses color, but solidity. No fresh-water fish so quickly 
 changes. Five minutes after death we notice the rich, 
 deep, lovely colors growing paler and duller. In 
 taking a brook trout from the water it will be seen 
 that a thick, slippery, gelatinous substance covers his 
 entire body, particularly the head, shoulders, and tail. 
 When laid on the river-bank in the sun for a few 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 minutes, this substance will cake, and if wet again 
 will moisten as before, but in a few hours, even if 
 it be placed on ice, this jellied substance entirely dis- 
 appears, leaving the skin thin, soft, and colorless, the 
 flesh insipid, the delicate color gone, and it is in this 
 condition that city people have their trout cooked 
 and served. An angler while feasting his happy and 
 fortunate friends on the trout he brings from his favor- 
 ite stream, sits and watches them enjoy what he will 
 not touch, for still lingering on his palate is the feast 
 of fresh-caught fish his guide prepared the day be- 
 fore in a clearing of the forest beside a rippling stream. 
 Many guides prefer to prepare trout (up to ten 
 inches) without being washed, dexterously tearing out 
 the gills, the inside being drawn at the same time, 
 leaving the head, body, tail, and fins intact. For 
 larger trout, the gills should be cut from the lower 
 jaw and back of head, a slit made from the head 
 along the lower body to the fin. On the gills being 
 pulled it will draw the inside away. If done with care, 
 a perfectly clean inside is the result. In all fresh fish 
 the blood is encased in a thin skin close to the back- 
 bone, and ought to be pulled entire. A fish so treated 
 can be prepared without the use of water. The case 
 is different if the trout have been carried some dis- 
 tance, the creel at intervals laid down on a sandy beach 
 or covered with grass or ferns and little pine leaves, 
 from the bed of the basket. After being cleaned and 
 prepared, they should then be placed for a few minutes 
 158 
 
NOTES ON COOKING BROOK TROUT 
 
 in clear cool water ready for the pan or broiler. An- 
 glers should be careful to thoroughly clean the creel, re- 
 placing new terns or grass every day. It often happens, 
 after long wading, large flies will creep in the basket, 
 and leave fly-blows in the mouth or gills of the trout. 
 
 Much depends on the length of time an angler wishes 
 to stay in the woods, and how large his outfit, and also 
 the place he chooses for his camp, the place to build, 
 and method of preparing a fire. An old hand, or 
 guide, can do much even with the primitive two logs, 
 a large stone, with only a small broiler and frying-pan 
 without a handle. Taking for granted that the trout are 
 prepared for cooking and all necessary utensils at hand, 
 the first requisite is a number of square pieces of birch- 
 bark newly cut. Lay the cleaned fish on the inside of 
 the bark, scattering some roasted bread-crumbs or rolled 
 toast mixed with sufficient quantity of salt and pepper, 
 each from small tins kept for the purpose, and the 
 crumbs will adhere to the fish. Then lift them by the 
 head and tail, laying one by one softly into the pan of 
 bubbling fat, either of salt pork, lard, butter, or olive 
 oil. Small brook trout fried quickly in oil, with or 
 without crumbs, is a delicate morsel. If crumbs be 
 fine mixed with a beaten egg, the trout browns and is 
 crisp in a few minutes. To test if thoroughly cooked, 
 place a fork in the flesh. If done, it will sink easily 
 to the bone. Nothing is more distasteful than under- 
 done or unsalted fresh fish. If brook trout are fried 
 with a three-inch slice of good bacon to each fish, 
 159 
 
ROOK TROUT 
 
 the fat is absorbed, and gives the fish a very agreeable 
 taste. When the bacon is partly lean, less salt will be 
 required. But the richest and most delicate dish is to 
 quickly and sharply fry the trout in plenty of good 
 butter, with a bay-leaf dropped in the pan while 
 cooling. The fish cuts up a golden orange, with a de- 
 cidedly agreeable taste. Even the smell creates a long- 
 ing for the dinner-bell announcing that it is time to 
 fall to. 
 
 In preparing small trout for broiling, two flat stones 
 should be placed to rest the broiler on, and the coals, 
 though hot, should not blaze. Skewer a piece of fat 
 pork or bacon on the top of each trout, and place them 
 on the broiler. The heat will soon melt the fat, partly 
 dripping in a blaze and the rest soaking in the fish. 
 Before turning, take off the fat and skewer it on the 
 other side as before. This will be done easier and 
 better if the broiler is removed from the fire. The 
 outfit is more complete when provided with a bunch 
 of small toothpicks to use as skewers to hold the bacon 
 on and to bind together the opening of large fish. To 
 broil a large fish, it should be cut open along the 
 back, clean by the bone ; open carefully and remove 
 the inside. The backbone can be removed by hold- 
 ing the head and shaving the flesh away to the tail. 
 Make small incisions to allow the heat to get through 
 and melt the fat on top. The entire fish is ready to 
 be cooked, the cut-skin side being cooked first, which 
 enables the fat to soak well in the flesh. When 
 
 i6o 
 
" Ready for cooking.'' 
 
NOTES ON COOKING BROOK TROUT 
 
 ready to turn over, lay a clean piece of bark on the 
 top of the fish, lifting the broiler over, leaving the 
 fish on the bark, repeat the turn-over on another piece 
 of bark, and from that bark to the broiler. By that 
 method the fish is properly turned over without break- 
 ing. The double or clasp broiler is useless either for 
 small or large fish, as in turning over they slip out on 
 the coals. To bake a two or three pound fish, it should 
 be cleaned, and the tail and fins cut off, the inside 
 stuffed with pork or butter and a small raw onion, 
 and the skin carefully pinned together with small skew- 
 ers. It is then laid on a dish or Dutch oven. Scatter 
 a little flour mixed with salt and some pieces of ba- 
 con arranged along the top with half a cup of water 
 to moisten the fish, which can be basted after the fat 
 melts. In a very hot fire it will cook in forty-five 
 minutes. 
 
 Another method is to bake the fish in a hole two 
 feet deep. Build a good hot fire till the charcoal 
 ashes are red. Spread enough green grass or ferns on 
 the ashes and place the fish thereon. Then another 
 layer of ferns. Put on some small dry sticks and let 
 it burn well and build it entirely over with small logs. 
 By the time it is burned through the fish will be 
 baked. This method is not always a success, unless 
 done by an experienced hand, there being no chance 
 to test if the cooking is complete. 
 
 A very primitive way to bake a fish is to cover it 
 (undrawn) with clay two inches thick ; place it in the 
 
 i6i 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 hottest part of the fire. The clay hardens almost 
 instantly and the fish in its rough oven bakes through, 
 retaining also its juices. The clay is then poked out 
 of the fire, cooled with a dash of water, and a sharp 
 stroke with a stick separates it from the fish. The 
 skin peels off with the clay and it is ready for serving. 
 If clay is not at hand, wrap the fish evenly in thin 
 buttered tissue-paper and bury this in some wet brown 
 wrapping-paper. Then bake same as the clay. The 
 easiest and quickest way of all to bake a fish is to 
 split, cut off the head, tail, and fins, then season, pin it 
 to a board by wooden pegs, and prop the whole up 
 before a smart fire of hot coals. 
 
 To fillet a trout, use a keen, sharp knife, cut off the 
 head and fins, split the back, shave clean along the 
 backbone to the tail, then open the fish flat, and take 
 away the inside. Lift the backbone at the shoulders, 
 and shave the other side. There remains two fillets of 
 boneless fish. Wash in fresh water and dip the fillet 
 in beaten egg and crumbs. Scatter a little fine- 
 chopped parsley and roll up in a ball. Then place a 
 piece of butter on top, and it is ready to bake or fry. 
 
 The most sumptuous dish for camp is baked, stuffed 
 trout. This can be accomplished better near a tarm 
 or store where materials can be secured. Only a large 
 fish is worthy of being cooked in this manner. Begin 
 by slitting the lower part, take out the gills and inside ; 
 wash thoroughly; cut incisions two inches apart along 
 the sides, and skewer pieces of fat bacon in the cuts. 
 162 
 
NOTES ON COOKING BROOK TROUT 
 
 To prepare stuffing, chop separately a piece of suet or 
 fat pork, some sprigs of green parsley, four small 
 onions, the yolk of a hard-boiled egg, and a little 
 dried sage. Take three cups of rolled bread-crumbs, 
 add a few cloves, mix thoroughly together, and moisten 
 with a cup of white wine. Put the stuffing in lightly 
 and skewer the fish securely. Place it carefully in the 
 bake-kettle, pour in half a pint of white wine or hot 
 water to prevent the fish from adhering, lay on the fish 
 some pieces of butter, and place the kettle in the hot- 
 test part of the fire. Baste at intervals. It should be 
 cooked in fifty minutes. 
 
 To cook fish properly, as in everything else, requires 
 some experience and practice, and a novice should 
 only attempt the simpler methods. More attention 
 should be paid to the proper preparation and cleaning 
 of fish. A work on camp-cooking says : " It is sup- 
 posed that everybody has known how to clean fish ever 
 since he was a school-boy." A greater mistake was 
 never made. Few men understand properly how to 
 clean and cut up fish ; fewer still know how to cut fish 
 served to eat when cooked. A small fish should be 
 slit down the back, the flesh stripped off in one piece 
 from the side. With the left hand, take the head, lift 
 it slowly (a fork holding down the other half), and it 
 will pull along with the backbone the ribs from the 
 flesh, leaving practically two filleted and boneless 
 pieces ready to be eaten. To carve or cut a large fish, 
 it should be first slit down the back, then cut crosswise 
 163 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 every two inches, and taken away from the backbone 
 in pieces. When the first half is cut away, disjoint 
 and lay aside the backbone, leaving the head and tail, 
 cutting the lower halt" as before. Use a keen, sharp 
 knife for cleaning; a dull, broad fish-knife for cutting 
 when cooked. Many guides use their jack-knives and 
 are always slovenly. In preparation for meals, even 
 in camp with few utensils, it is possible to prepare 
 dainty dishes in a dainty way. This can be proved 
 whenever a capable housewife camps and directs the 
 cooking; the results are entirely different. In a thou- 
 sand ways, everything seems to be more agreeable to 
 a dainty palate. Rough-and-ready methods become 
 habit through constant use of trying to escape extra 
 trouble. Camp-cooking can be just as enjoyable in 
 the preparation as the joys of angling. Hurry, impa- 
 tience, and loss of good temper take away much from 
 the keen delight and pleasure of camp-life. 
 
 164 
 
ALONG A TROUT-STREAM. 
 
I 
 
ALONG A TROUT-STREAM. 
 
 " // i's a spot beyond imagination 
 Delightful to the heart — where roses bloom 
 And sparkling fountains fmirmiir ; where the earth 
 Is gay with many-colored flowers!' — Firdausi. 
 
 jA N ill man is walking down Broadway to his 
 
 /^ office. Overworked for months, he shrinks 
 
 / ^ from the hard, practical duties of rushing 
 
 modern business. The half-grown foliage of 
 
 late May is on the trees in Bowling Green and Battery 
 
 Park. Robins are calling to each other there. He 
 
 167 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 joys in the fresh wind, and the gulls soaring above 
 North River I 
 
 How green the grass is ! And there, peeping 
 through, he sees several wild violets, blue as the sky 
 at which they gaze. Presto I the jaded and listless 
 look is gone from the man's face ; his heart leaps and 
 hope comes strong and welcome ; for before him, 
 summoned by memory, are the violets and the vistas, 
 the thorn-blossoms, robins, pheasants, arbutus, and lil- 
 ies along the chattering flow of his favorite trout- 
 stream I 
 
 Trinity bells are pealing " Rock of Ages " ; but the 
 echoes of those peals sing another song to him in his 
 need of rest. It is : " Only two weeks more I I'hen you 
 shall be fish/ ng for trout on the little Slagle River ! " 
 
 How slowly the fortnight drags by I But a morning 
 comes when, before three o'clock, he is actually wading 
 that stream. At last ! Since midnight all the jewels 
 of the skies of June have been shining keenly. It is 
 wild, remote, with even the camp a mile away. He is 
 at the entrance to the Lower Glen. Over the high 
 banks are thickets of thorn-bushes, their wealth of 
 snow-white blossoms filled with dewdrops which have 
 caught and hold the starlight ! 
 
 Through that sweetest of all earthly things, wild- 
 flower air, comes the far hooting of owls in lonely 
 nocturne. There are whiffs of mint scents, faint smells 
 of fragrant birch and pine-balsam. The slight stir of 
 a sleepy breeze wakes a low whisper in some of the 
 
 i68 
 
ALONG A TROUT-STREAM 
 
 tree-tops, while the stream sings to the sleeping forest, 
 
 with 
 
 " the still sound 
 
 Of falling waters — lulling as the song 
 Of Indian bees at sunset^ when they throng 
 Around the fragrant Nilica^ and deep 
 In its blue blossoms, hum themselves to sleeps 
 
 " In the night the great old troutes bite very 
 boldly," said Isaak Walton : so the angler is wading 
 the stream at what the roused camp-cook has called an 
 " unearthly " hour. Far better, he is here to drink in 
 the beauty of the sylvan environment as the mystic 
 hour runs from gold of stars to gold of sunshine. 
 
 The stream is wide enough for casting flies v/ithout 
 trouble from the white thorn-bushes. Fifty teet below 
 him is a deep pool, just beyond the wraith of foam at 
 the foot of short rapids. Gloom and mystery lie over 
 and in it ; he can see the white of foam slowly eddy- 
 ing over its black water under two leaning pines. He 
 moves slowly, then pauses with rubber-clad feet on the 
 white and golden gravel, covered with two feet of 
 rushing water. 
 
 Poising the pliable lancewood rod, while the left 
 hand pulls the line from the reel in unison at each pass 
 of the rod back and forth above him, he extends the 
 line with its leader and flies until forty feet of line are 
 in motion. Then, true as bow from arrow, light as 
 down, fluttering as if alive, the White Miller lures 
 169 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 go Straight to the centre ot' the pool, and kiss the 
 water. 
 
 A flash, gleam, flying spray as a large trout darts 
 from his home under the bank I It is an experience 
 that has often thrilled the real angler. The fish has 
 jumped at and missed the leading fly I 
 
 But the next cast is successful. An even fiercer 
 rush, and the angler, with the well-known turn of the 
 wrist on the rod, has the fish hooked I Straight down 
 stream flies the quarry, the reel screaming and the 
 heart of the angler beating hard and fast 1 A long 
 struggle follows. Almost in the landing-net twice, and 
 yet the trout makes savage rushes for liberty I Soon 
 the prize is secured ; joy of possession as a wild, 
 twelve-inch king of the jewelled coat lies on the bed of 
 fern-leaves in the bottom of the trout-creel I For this, 
 and for the gladness of returning health among some 
 of earth's fairest scenes, the angler has journeyed almost 
 1,000 miles. Already he is mastered by the spell of 
 the remote, wild life, with its mystery and music. 
 
 Three beautiful trout are taken from the pool while 
 the starlight dies and the sky grows lighter. Then, 
 startling the ear of earliest dawn, a solitary bird fills 
 the forest with its first note, clear, pure, and thrilling, 
 as if Heaven itself had sent its own winged messenger 
 to herald the coming day ! Then another bird takes up 
 the song ; then another and another, until all the woods 
 are vocal with melody — now near and joyous, now far 
 and sweet, like "the horns of elf-land faintly blowing." 
 
I 
 
ALONG A TROUT-STREAM 
 
 "■ Skir-reee ! " cries a scared chipmunk as he darts 
 away. A gray squirrel, with tail well cocked, barks 
 and scolds at a safe distance. From far down the 
 stream comes the low drumming of a partridge. 
 Across the bend is a sudden splash, followed by the 
 rattling cry of a kingfisher, who has had his first dive 
 of the day for nothing. A screaming hawk sails away 
 from the dry tree that tops the high bank. " Up all 
 night? " inquires a quail. 
 
 The hypnotism and delight of it to the man escaped 
 from a busy city office are beyond all expression in 
 words 1 Blessed hours of recreation ! 
 
 In the air is the faint odor of smoke, and of boiling 
 coffee. The cook has gone farther down the stream 
 with a heavy lunch-basket, has put six big potatoes 
 before a kindled camp-fire on the brookside, and then 
 has caught five larger trout from a deeper pool ; break- 
 fast there is nearly ready. The roasted potatoes are 
 done to a turn — how well the cook can prepare them I 
 And out from the little frying-pan come the five trout, 
 swimming a half hour ago, and now garnished with 
 tender water-cress from that bank of it close at hand. 
 Abundant coffee, cream, toast, butter ! The breakfast 
 is served on two snowy napkins spread over a mossy 
 knoll ; the dishes are pieces of freshly cut birch bark, 
 the seat is a birch log. Peerless dining-room — a June 
 sky curved in azure benediction above a wild pine- 
 forest filled with sough of the wind through its aisles — 
 with bird-notes, with the voice (so glad I) of the soul 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 of the wilderness — the talking stream whose rapids re- 
 flect the early sunlight down one of the long aisles, 
 and cause it to dance on the foliage. Not all the 
 chets and banquets in the cities of the round world 
 could produce such a meal as this, with such a 
 breakfast-chamber ! 
 
 For the wealth of beauty is everywhere. Laurel 
 and rhododendron blossoms are around him — wild 
 lilies, trailing arbutus, and white strawberry blossoms I 
 Finally, the forest rises above a blue carpet of violets. 
 How the angler loves them I He stops the cook from 
 plucking them for a boutonniere. He almost wishes, 
 as he lies beside a thick cluster of their blooms, that 
 he might strike hands and feet in the kind earth, take 
 root himself beside his favorite flowers, and nevermore 
 abandon the happy companionship. The little, nod- 
 ding, blue comrades I He feels that they are sentient — 
 know and are grateful for his love and insight. He is 
 charmed by their wild, shy life. As he lies prone and 
 drinks from the spring below the bank, one of them 
 takes advantage of a sudden gust of wind to actually 
 nod at him several times I 
 
 " // is just a little violet on the hank above the spring ; 
 
 Just a little point of blue that nods before the saucy air : 
 And as he notes the beauty of the zvee and icinsome thing. 
 
 He feels that it is glad to see him back and drinking there." 
 
 And now comes proof that the angler sees and 
 knows the beauty of his environment. For he is not 
 
 172 
 
 \ 
 
ALONG A TROUT-STREAM 
 
 fishing. He could talk for hours of rods, lines, leaders, 
 and reels — of camping, guides, tents, pack-horses, ca- 
 noes; of the various flies to be used according to sea- 
 son, location, lights, hours of day or night, on a dozen 
 widely separated streams. He has fished on the Peri- 
 bonca in Quebec, the best salmon-streams in New- 
 foundland, the far-famed Nepigon, and the fierce 
 waters of a dozen rivers in British Columbia that are 
 guarded by black mountains whose bases were green 
 with foliage ; while their peaks, sometimes two miles 
 high, carried snow-banners in every high wind. He 
 knows Pennsylvania's best trout-streams ; and the wa- 
 ters of the Muskoka Region ; besides the Au Sable, 
 Shuswap, Two Medicine and St. Mary's Lakes in 
 Montana, and Square and the Sourdnahonk Lakes in 
 Maine. Trout from the Margaree in Cape Breton, 
 from the Tabusintac and Bartibog Rivers in New 
 Brunswick, and the Morell Stream on Prince Edward 
 Island, have been brought to his creel by hundreds. 
 The best cruising for edible salt-water fishes — that 
 around Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds — is familiar to 
 him. But Jiozchere else exist such wildness, remote- 
 ness, wealth of sylvan enchantment, such flavor to 
 trout, such health and life in air and water, such music 
 in a stream, as along the peerless little Slagle River I 
 
 He is realizing this, and is happy to the point of 
 
 fear. He could easily fill his creel with trout ; yet he 
 
 does not cast the flies. For he is in a hypnotized 
 
 state. He will not even light his morning cigar; its 
 
 173 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 smoke would pollute the air of a place which has 
 " become religion." And he would sooner take a drink 
 of whiskey before St. Peter, the ancient fisherman who 
 now guards the gates of Paradise, than here, right in a 
 Paradise upon earth. 
 
 The rod is laid on the half-submerged log where he 
 sits, with his rubber-clad feet in the water. He really 
 hears and sees I 
 
 What a contrast to the scenes he beheld last sum- 
 mer along Granite Creek, which flows into the head of 
 St. George's Pond in Newfoundland ! There, the hill- 
 sides were yellow with ripe bake-apple berries ; barrens 
 were gray with Arctic moss; caribou grazed in plain 
 sight on many hills. Moose-birds, tame by reason of 
 their ignorance of human presence, roosted on the ends 
 of the little logs on the camp-fire before the tripod 
 tent. Marsh-hens called and fluttered ; and at night, 
 from far above, could be heard the quacking of ducks 
 and the thrilling " honk ! honk ! honk ! " of the stout- 
 hearted old wild ganders, each winging his way 
 toward Labrador at the head of invisible wedges of 
 night-flying geese. Great trout were in the pools of 
 that stream ; and the steel-gray color of its gravelly 
 bed was very beautiful. And yet, even among such 
 scenes, the angler had longed for the music, the flower 
 and bird life, foliage and mystery of the Slagle ! Its 
 waters flow around his legs now I And they seem to 
 talk to him as they rush : 
 
ALONG A TROUT-STREAM 
 
 " Where have you been^ my drcotee ? 
 IVhy have you roamed so far from me? 
 thrice -welcome back to my fair shore! 
 Noiu learn to love me more and more'' 
 
 He sees the flash of the body of a brook trout as he 
 leaps from the brook, in pursuit of a butterfly, wander- 
 ing too near the water's surface for safety. The line 
 and flies have drifted from the log. Flash ! a trout 
 strikes one of the lures, pulls the rod into the stream, 
 and the owner scrambles after it. Now he is casting 
 again, and filling the creel. Nearly every effort brings 
 some response. In pools, behind rocks, on the ripples, 
 here by the bank, there beneath those logs, yonder in 
 the foam of the rapids, and in places where least sus- 
 pected, glittering in beauty, crimson-spotted, always 
 ready for a bait, lurk and play the wild brook trout. 
 The wild trout is the ideal fish, the fish of the 
 poets and the sportsman, who often feels that the 
 breeding-pond is the half-way house to a fish-stall in a 
 market. 
 
 And so he wanders down the brook, happy, filling 
 his hours with best recreation. Steeper, higher, wilder, 
 in lordly, many-colored scenes, grow the banks of the 
 Glen. Great trout lie in the waters which eddy, 
 rush, and glance in silvery wilfulness over an intaglio 
 of white and golden gravel that beautifies the swift 
 current. 
 
 Thus, all too quickly, passes the angler's day. The 
 175 
 
ROOK TROUT 
 
 late afternoon light is over all as he again stops, and 
 looks, and listens. 
 
 To his right is a high knoll, mottled with moss- 
 growths, its base sandalled with the white star-points 
 of wild strawberry blooms, and the tiny pale-blue 
 flowers of forget-me-nots. Beyond, is the brown, far- 
 spreading carpet of the forest, splashed by blue of vio- 
 lets, white of lilies, yellow of daffodils I The whole 
 left bank is a mass of dark wintergreen growth, edged 
 at the water with mint and cress. Yonder is a little 
 slope exquisite with the pale pink flowers of the anem- 
 one. Buds of wild honeysuckle are opening down 
 there on the little island. Blossoms of laurel, rhodo- 
 dendron, trailing arbutus I Forest odors, bird-notes, 
 whispering stream, murmuring foliage ! Mottled 
 patches of sunlight and shadow dance under the great 
 trees where, last night, the strident calls of the whip- 
 poorwills were ringing. A mother partridge is trying 
 to coax her brood of chicks across that log over the 
 stream I Beautiful ! No wonder the gray-haired an- 
 gler loves it all. " The infinite Night with her solemn 
 aspects. Day, and the sweet approach of Even and 
 Morn, are full of meaning for him. He loves the 
 green Earth with her streams and forests, her flowery 
 leas and eternal skies — loves her with a sort of passion 
 in all her vicissitudes of light and shade : his spirit 
 revels in her grandeur and charms — expands like the 
 breeze over wood and lawn, over glade and dingle, 
 stealing and giving odors. Nature is to him no longer 
 176 
 
ALONG A TROUT-STREAM 
 
 an insensate assemblage of colors and perfumes, but a 
 mysterious Presence with which he communes in un- 
 utterable sympathies." 
 
 So this angler looks, listens, and feels more and 
 more. 
 
 Every water-curve is full of grace, fantasy, and ease 
 of motion, like a wind-swayed flag. And he studies 
 the currents, full of color, clearness, mantlings of shad- 
 ows, prismatic lights running over the white gravel of 
 the bed, or darting through the foam-fire. And at still 
 pauses is as much in the water as above it — boughs, 
 foliage, blue sky, drifting clouds, all softened and 
 etherealized by reflection. 
 
 " Siaeet views which in our world ahorce 
 
 Can never well he scen^ 
 Are imaged by the zvater's love 
 
 Of this fair forest green. 
 And all is interfused beneath 
 
 With an Elysian glow ; 
 An atmosphere without a breathy — 
 
 A softer day below." 
 
 This effect is heightened by the music of the water- 
 flow. Old anglers have ears trained to nicest sense of 
 sound in the music of running water, and will know 
 the physical conditions, even when unseen, which 
 cause many of the notes of sound in a trout-brook. 
 
 1/7 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 The impact of the hurrying water on the air causes 
 vibrations that determine the notes of the hquid 
 oboe. 
 
 When deflected from a bank in mass, the water has 
 the swishing sound of swift volume — crisp and full of 
 life. Confined and made rapid in a little canon or cut, 
 its tone is deepened and becomes sonorous. 
 
 Or it falls over a half-buried timber and deepens to 
 a low roar, which is slashed with purling dots of sound 
 as drops fall singly into the current. From underneath 
 this shell of swift water come echoes of partly drowned 
 notes from the back-current below, and purls from 
 roots and boughs around which the turned stream hur- 
 ries. Gurgles ensue — the compressed air below vary- 
 ing in density with the varying volume of the water- 
 leaps, the tones of the back-flow struggling through, 
 with the whisper of air intermingled as it comes from 
 the breaking bubbles with which the boiling pool is 
 brightly opaque. 
 
 Or a fallen tree with its hundreds of boughs and 
 twigs forms obstructive points of sounding current — 
 tiny, but the whole furnishing a low, droning com- 
 plaint. All these notes are varied by the width of 
 stream, volume, depth, speed, angles of obstruction, 
 character of the bed, kind, amount, and density of foli- 
 age, incline and height of banks, changes in echoes 
 and resonance being endless, and even being affected 
 by the dryness or humidity of the air, and the ming- 
 ling of foliage sounds as winds are light or strong. 
 
 178 
 

 " J pool •where hig fellows lie low." 
 
ALONG A TROUT-STREAM 
 
 Up the stream is a broad shallow where the brook 
 flows over partly submerged rocks, spread evenly, with 
 a slumberous sound, like a steady wind moving through 
 thick woods. Falling over the even edge of a wide 
 dam the water has much the same sound. Unob- 
 structed on inclines, rapidly flowing water in small 
 volume has the inimitable purl, so exquisite that even 
 in music the sweetest sounds are called liquid, like a 
 tinkling rill. And the notes that blend from different 
 water-tones are always in concord, never in dissonance. 
 Flowing under many conditions, meeting multiform 
 obstacles over even a single rod of its course, these 
 notes combine and make a certain " tone " or pitch of 
 musical sound. Put a log across the brook, choke it 
 with rocks, or remove those already there, and all the 
 minor sounds are changed — also the general tone and 
 pitch of the water-music. Or the stream will part with 
 some portion of its water volume, which will run into 
 still nooks and limpidly go to sleep. 
 
 Thus the tone, volume, and blended orchestral ef- 
 fects of the water along a rushing trout-stream are 
 endless in variety and beauty — but all perfect. And 
 the feeling of the hearing, sensitive student will be 
 played upon until some echo of that music will be 
 roused in his own spirit as he studies it all in its light 
 and gloom, sunshine and shadow, storm and peace. 
 So in all ages the best poets have studied and sung of the 
 sound of flowing water, and have peopled their musical 
 brooks with singing nymphs and wraiths of water-sprites. 
 179 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 Wild life, hypnotism, the home of Health I The 
 true angler sees much, but will realize that as com- 
 pared with what is about him, he sees very little. 
 
 Pluck a single leaf and look at it carefully. Even 
 a skilled artist must keep it before him as a model, to 
 mimic the delicate veinings and exact shape. Break 
 a bough from a maple-tree, and try to see it. Some 
 of the leaves are mere lines to the sight — edgewise; 
 others are foreshortened ; many are shaded by com- 
 panions. Through them reigns an intensity of reflec- 
 tion and brilliant semi-transparence acting upon and 
 through surfaces extremely complex in shape, curve, 
 and relative position. The light is in among the 
 leaves and alters the appearance of the bough from 
 within as well as without. Turn it, hold it in any 
 position, and it is perfect ; yet not another bough in all 
 these miles of forest is just like it ! Multiply the 
 woods until they are a wilderness swayed by wind or 
 quiet in unity of rest — flecked by driving cloud- 
 shadows or flooded with moonlight or sunshine. Man- 
 ifestly, we cannot see them. Only a few of even the 
 subtle and weird patterns woven by ferns and mosses, 
 and flowering grasses and plants, on the floor of the 
 forest can be noted or understood. 
 
 Above all. Mystery reigns. The stream drowses 
 under long, partly seen roofs of foliage, or under lov- 
 ing, interlacing boughs of a water-tunnel whose portals 
 and winding sides are a tapestry of leaf and twig, 
 misty with rain, unearthly as they shine in the wan 
 1 80 
 
ALONG A TROUT-STREAM 
 
 smile of dying sunlight; even more real and divine in 
 ghostly semi-darkness at night ! Opaline lights play 
 through still lagoons in deep glades where the twin 
 sisters of Silence and Twilight keep noonday watch, 
 and "all the cheated hours sing vespers," Foliage 
 melting away in distance to mystery of banks and 
 masses, softest shadows deepening into black gloom, 
 lonely stretches of the stream covered with Nature- 
 Glory in their remote windings I Yet over each small 
 section of such a scene is the mystery of color, form, 
 interlaced shade. Here is what a man of sharpest 
 sight has said of it : 
 
 " I'he stones and gravel of the banks catch green reflec- 
 tions from the boughs above. T'he bushes receive grays and 
 yellows from the ground. Every hair-breadth of polished 
 surface gives back a little bit of blue of the sky or gold of 
 sun. This local color is again disguised and modified by 
 the hue of the light., or quenched in the gray of the shadaiLS." 
 
 But over and in all reigns the deeper Mystery of 
 Life. Visible forms and their beauty are not the 
 strongest attractions of the trout-stream. Grant that 
 mystery of soft depth of gloom, grace of motion in 
 water, and of greatest delicacy of color are before the 
 angler. What enchantment is there in even all this 
 lovely environment to create such fierce longing for it, 
 such content when possessed '? Blue sky-fire may burn 
 like a steadfast sapphire through emerald foliage ; the 
 
 i8i 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 pride of fern-plumes may wave and rustle in their green 
 refreshment, — gold and pearl may throb in clouds whose 
 shadows wing their way over mountain, glen, and for- 
 est, — all through a sun-shafted fantasia of gold-dusted 
 wine-air which is perfumed by arbutus, lily, violet, and 
 forget-me-not, — the blossoming life all in a tangle of 
 fragrant day-dreams. Fairy tints may dance and 
 quiver through that baby of prismatic mist, the tiny 
 rainbow as it spans the cascade. All the glamour and 
 riot of wild freshness may dwell in the mysterious 
 woods, waters, sky, as a June breeze makes the whole 
 a harp of whispering leaves, purling crystal, and curv- 
 ing blue. Place the angler in closest touch with it all, 
 as he wades the stream with ears, heart, and spirit recep- 
 tive and alert, — foliage near, rushing water about him, 
 changing, intermingling light and shadow over him as 
 it falls in dancing fretwork. Yet even all this does 
 not explain his great love. What causes it? 
 
 It is because in this Nature about him is a Mystery 
 of Life. An evasive, sleeplessly unwearied living prin- 
 ciple dwells in the leaf he may pluck and crush, and 
 is forming its colors, shaping its forms. Fern and 
 flower, traced with life-streaming veins, specially text- 
 ured, with hues that blend and part again, substantially 
 present, possessed, yet hold a secret of living being and 
 growing life that forever eludes his search, and always 
 will. Life even more mystic than the spirit that he 
 feels in himself is present before him, inscrutable, reg- 
 nant, locked and barred away from his knowledge. 
 
ALONG A TROUT -STREAM 
 
 Thus for him Nature wears a double aspect — that of 
 substantial presence and infinite remoteness. She 
 dominates him with love of possession and of unat- 
 tainable desire. He looks with mortal eyes upon her 
 material features ; yet he may gaze forever upon the 
 veil that hides her invisible secret of life, and she is 
 yet Isis — a Magnet of Mystery. Therefore he kneels, 
 a rapt, glad, and humble devotee, before the closed 
 gates, the thin wall beyond which are the secrets of 
 her vivifying existence. Besides, she stands, like him- 
 self, between an Eternity of the Past and one of the 
 Future, seeming to call and beckon from a fathomless 
 Abyss whose depths his eyes will never pierce. She 
 is fairest of the fair in visible forms; yet in her mys- 
 tery of life she is unseen and unapproachable even in 
 closest communion. So he loves her with unutter- 
 able love. 
 
 But he knows all is benign, and the vital import of 
 the power that has created. But how, and by what 
 facts and mysteries of life? No answer comes. He 
 will not fathom the secrets ; but he will realize more 
 and more the divine wisdom in making so much un- 
 known as all is borne forward. He will be sure that 
 it is inconceivable that all is not of holy import and 
 being — sure that all the mystery is blessed. Half- 
 read messages and tones of sphere-music will come to 
 him as he wonders at the Earth, and at himself, stand- 
 ing there with her, both between two Eternities. And 
 thus his faith is satisfied, and his love is crowned! 
 183 
 
BROOK TROUT 
 
 The result is inevitable. With bowed and reverent 
 head the angler hopes that when he has crossed the 
 Delectable Mountains, and, one poor thread in the 
 web of universal history, has waved back his mute 
 farewells to his favorite trout-stream before he enters 
 the Unknown and is swallowed by Oblivion, a merci- 
 ful and loving Heaven may furnish to him the coun- 
 terpart of this brook. Will he not find a heavenly 
 stream on that Other Side ? Will not its waters sing 
 as with a new song, its forests whisper, its flowers en- 
 chant? Yes, for there stands the message of Holy 
 Writ, the last words of John, Seer and Prophet — 
 words of inspiration and promise: "And he shewed 
 me a pure river of water of life." 
 
 184 
 
RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 
 
 lOm^ 202 Main Library 
 
 LOAN PERIOD 1 
 HOME USE 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 
 
 1 -month loans may be renewed by colling 642-3405 
 
 6-month loons moy be recharged by bringing books to Circulation Desk 
 
 Renewals and recharges may be mode 4 days prior to due date 
 
 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 
 
 
 nm ^ ^ 'Ti 
 
 
 
 REC,CW.«W^^^ " 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 FORM NO. DD 6, 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 BERKEL 
 
 CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY 
 EY, CA 94720 
 
W UcboG