The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-05-24
BIG FISHING IN CANADA.
An Indiana Izaak Walton On the Salmon
and Trout in the Dominion.
The Fishes and Fishing of Eastern Canada
Taking the Trout with the Fly in the
Dark Waters of the Saugenay.


streams is disposed of by auction, ard brings In
considerable revenue.
One of the best of these, the Metapeda, has
been IBID Off at the sales, for several years,
by Mr. George Stephen, general manager of the
Canadian Pacific railway who, with select
company of friends, spends portion of every
summer upon its banks, in the delightful and ex-
hilarating sport of salmon fishing Last sum-
mer Lord Lunde Downe and suite, were Mr.
Stephens guests as well as several other dis
tinguished menfrom various parts of Canada, who
were attracted partly by the excellent fishing and
partly by the resence of the vice-regal party.
Judge Brooks, of the Superior Court of this
city, was of the number, and, upon his return,
looking almost as brown and weather beaten as
an Indian, reported himself as having had
the finest and best sport that he had ever en-
joyed with reel and line The Judge says that
if any disciple of Izaac Walton wishes to fully
comprehend what lively fishing means he should
seek one of these rapid rivers near the coast and
manage to hook fifteen pound salmon just in
from the sea, and full of the life and vigor that
belongs to him in his briny home. There is all
the difference he AYERS, between the salmon as
you find him there and as you see him when he
has arrived in the head waters of the great
rivers, farther inland by two or three hundred
miles. that there is between the fresh roadster,
active and eager to be up and away and the
iaded and worn animal that plods YEARLY to
the end of a long journey.
The salmon is the gamiest of all fishes and it
requires both endurance and muscle to land him
after he has been hooked. 1t is his character as
Ell. L.
that puts the salmon always at the head of the
list. Add to these the symmetry of form and
delicate beauty of marking which are character
istic of this prince among fishes and there is no
room left to wonder at the popular favor in
which he is held. To the man worn
and weary with the labors of an
Office or store or suffering from other
sedentary employment, a few weeks of the lively
racing along river banks and the muscle-making
struggles that belong to salmon fishing are worth
more than all the doctors stuffs in the drug
stores.
Next to the salmon, as a game fish, comes the
brook trout, and, as pan fish, think the trout
outranks him. Originally, every rapid stream
in Eastern Canada and Northern New England
was the home of the trout. But he has so many
enemies that he disappears rapidly. Saw mills
that choke the streams with dust and dirt, fac
tories and mills that poison the water with col
oring matter and slops, the wholesale fishing
with seines and nets, the introduction of piekere
dory and perch, all combine to kill off the trout
and rob the country of it's best fish. both for
section of much deeper color than those of
the northwest. At least | arrive at that con-
clusion. by comparing them with some fine speci-
mems of Western trout shown at the Chicago ex-
position last fall. The general outer surface is
darker and the red spots deeper and mores dis
tinct. The flesh of some that we caught last
year in the Chaudiere river where it fowsout of
Lake Megantic, was almost as golden in tint
havoc to which the trout have
been subjected there are yet many streams and
lakes in eastern Canada where the angler can
find excellent sport And just over the line, in
northern Maine, along the line of the Interna-
tional railroad, are numerous streams and pools
that have been heretofore so little known that
they are said to be still fairly alive with the
speckied favorites.
The government has now taken the matter in
hand, and is endeavoring to protect its fish and
game. Every lake and stream has it's fish war
den, whose duty it is to look out for nets and
report those who catch fish out of season. OF
course, all genuine anglers and sportsmen second
as far as practicable the efforts of the authori-
ties to put end to illegitimate and destructive
methods of fishing. The State of Maine has
also taken hold of the matter in earnest for the
protection of both fish and game, and citizens of
the 'Pine-tree State" tell me that as result of
on the increase for the past two or three years
Most anglers use flies in fishing for trout though
all agree that they bite equally WE'LL if not bet
ter when bait is used-the ordinary angle-worm
being the best of all bait for them. But it does
not require so much skill nor afford so
much sport. as fishing for them with fly and
reel Somehow there is a thrill aud tinge about
it when a trout rises to your well-cast fly, that
does not belong to ordinary angling with bait at
all. He comes up with flash, snaps your fly
whirs himself over with "a splash, and is off like
a shot. Then all your tact and fsherman's
skill required to play him gently to shore
and land him safely without tearing out the
slender hold that your little fly hook has upon
his tender mouth.
Lower down the st. Lawrence are numerous
good trout streams. A friend of mine fished
last year in little lake, reached from a station
on the Inter Colonial railroad, hundred miles
or so further to the east than River DuISoup.
He found the trout there Ill such vast numbers
that he could catch them as fast as he could
throw in, and SO fat, that they would suffer
themselves to be lifted out almost as supinely
as the Western mud cat. North of the St Law
renee and in the streams tributary to the Sag
uenay and Lake St John, trout said TO fairly
swarm, and hundreds of adventurous tourists 60
into the wide forests Of that vast, rough country
every summer in search of sport, which they
never fail to find, if they have the necessary
courage and perseverance.
In addition to trout and salmon, eastern Can
ada produces such excellent fish as the black and
rock BASS, the salmon trout, called also the
lunge, the black or land-locked salmon, the pick
erel-pike or pike-pickerel, called also mucalunge
or maseanonge, the dory or Lake Erie pickerel,
and the long nosed or true piekerel.
All these varieties of fish are numerous, but
seldom exist together in the same lakes or
streams The salmon trout is found in the deep
lakes, like Champlain and Mempnremagog 1t is
seldom caught in less than thirty feet Of water
and oftener found at a depth of from fifty to
seventy five than otherwise.
l,1w1< sr 1o1- sfx.1 All
grows to DE very large, specimens weighing from
twenty-five to forty pounds being now and then
captured. The black salmon is a similar fish,
orly darker in color. One of these latter, caught
under the ice in Lake MassaWippi, this spring
weighed nineteen and half pounds.
There is reason to believe that both these fish
originally sprang from the salmon. The size
and shape are those of the latter fish but the