The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-08-11
BIG GOLD TROUT.
A Fish Story That Beats
Them All.
SKATERS TRIP.
Mount Whitney Was Scaled by q
Local Poet and PiscatOrial
Artist-A Possible Result.

There are choice LOT of fish stories float
ing about town these days. but none of
them equal in voracity or veracity those
brought back from the wilderness Of
Kern County by Colonel William r.
Shafter. U. S. A.. and party.
There were seven in the party-Wesiey
Kyle of this city, William II. McKittrick
of Bakersfield, two regular troopers from
Colonel Skaters command at Angel
Island, the hired man and the guide.
They went to the top Of Mount Whit
ney, the highest peak in the United States.
and lived on golden trout for nearly a
month. They came back to San Francisco
on Wednesday, and the size and number
of the fsh they caught have been growing
steadily ever since.
1t was one of the biggest fishing trips
that has been taken for many a day.
and Colonel Shafter has in his desk at An
gel Island the diagram-taken from life
OF the largest trout caught on the whole
trip.
1t measures twenty inches in length. and
was caught in the Kern River Many 9TH
ers only an inch or two less in length were
taken from Big Trout Creek and other
streams. The entire PARTY is unanimo US
But be the fish stories of Colonel Shaft
er's party never So fanciful. the route
they took and the streams they iShed from
were certainly calculated to form some
sound basis for them. If not at an eleva-
ton of 1900 feet in Kern County, where
else in all the world can big fish be caught
plentlfully?
About month ago the party took the
steel trail as far as Caliente. Here began
a wagon ride OF 100 miles through Walkers
Basin up the south fork Of Kern River.
Then for 122 miles over mountain trail
the route led to the very base Of Mount
Whitney.
''Al. along the route the fish were very
plentiful" says Colonel Shafter. In Big
Trout Greek were the largest number OF
Big trout caught. In Fish Creek and
Whitney Greek we caught hundreds Of
golden trout eight and ten inches long.
They were very easy 10 catch, though
quite gamy when hooked.
''One has but TO throw line in there.
and often two fish will be caught on the
same line. so plentiful are the fish and so
voraciOusIy do they bite.
The best 81 e Killed. trout we found were
in Kern Lake, body of water formed by
a mountain sliding into the river and
damming it up. At one time two Of the
party caught twenty-six Of these beauties
in one afternoon, tho fish averaging two
pounds in weight.
I'VE thought that was big catch. and
still think so"
And as Colonel Skaters accOmplces in
that fishing expedition corroborate the
size and number of those fish, even when
Interviewed separately, it must be So.
The two who went to the top OF NJ ount
Whitney, MIR. McKittrick and the poet
Kyle. feel more han repaid for their long
and hard climb, by the glory the feat has
Won for them. Few men ever attain such
heights in this lille. And the path IS dan
gerous and d fficul. few of the mountain
GERS OF those parts ever daring to make
the ascent The poet of sport experienced
an citation of soul when on the lofty sum-
nit that Is c0nfdentially expected to break
forth very souD in manifestations Of verse
far beyond the ken of the average intell-
gent compassion TO put into cold words.
Colonel Shafter staid below while the
poet and the Bakersfield man went on
above the clouds. His genial proportions
are not of the kind most conducive to
elasticity of step whore the trail leads
straight up, and his fame was complete
when he reached an elevation Of 11,000
feet
The colonel says the country thereabouts
is remarkably well watered, but fed as
bare as the roadway by large herds of
sheep which are on the land in violation
Of the law.
If you want to hear good fish story go
to a member of this party. Ii you don't
g corker there. then there are DO big
fishes In the world and no big catches.