Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1894-11-15

L
Tribe Contain Forty or Fifty OF
the liot-Tailed Insects.
Il was reading in a New York news.
paper the other morning" said a
western prospector, who is stopping
at one of the down town hotels.
of the finding of big trout dead
IN Canada stream. There were no
scars on its body or signs of injury,
but when 1t was cut open there was
found dead bumb2bec. The theory
was that the bee had retained enough
vitality after being swallowed to in
tiict a vital sting.
Now stlngS must bother Canadian
trout heap more than they do our
ROCKY Mountain fish for that story
to be true. Just before | came East
TINS trip an incident came under my
notice which that newspaper article
recalls. | was stopping at the cabin
OF miner in a gorge near the border
line between MiSSoula aud Flathead
counties. 1T IS wild spot, about
thirty miles from the nearest settle
ment, Libby, station on the Great
Northern Railroad. The day before
came away old man Logue said:
Les give ther trout in Their Big
Cherry one more try. E.ts kinder
iAZy en- they'd ortcr bite good!
'Of course | was ready. 50 we sad
died our cayuSeS. 1t l"E us an
hour 10 reach The cJuEty road to
Libby, well beaten and fairly level,
and on that we made good time till
we came to where the old abandoned
Thompson's Falls trail crosses. We
turned then and after Il half hours
rough ride-for the underground was
thick and high--wc rra he'd the ban
of the Big Cherry. This is a main
branch Of Libby crock. and it is u
crystal and cold as ice, rolls smoothly
beautiful stream. Water as clear as
over the bright sralrl beds and
here and there tumbles over a Steep
fall or down rocky glen. 1t is only
three or four rods wide and not over
five feet deep In most places, and It
Is the greatest trout stream in all
the Rockies
Just at this place where the old
trail crosses is a shallow ford, and
below it Il deep, dark pool, with o
circular ledge of gray granite perhaps
twenty feet along the northern bank,
nearly enclosing the holes A point
Of stone iutted out over tlia waters
edge at about the middle of this we'll
and as we rode out upon the south
hauk old Hutch held up his head.
Ssh" he whispered. 'jis look at
them trout
Sure enough. The whole pool was
alive. There was not square yard
by the movements Of feeding fish.
They lraped and tumblcd and
splashed like harlequins. A man
could wade many weary mile of
brook in this country and never see
so pretty sight as those big pink
bellicd trout We're, playing in the sun
light The center OF the excitement
seemed to be directly under a point OF
rock that jutted out over the water
and Just now met with the spray
from the jumping fish Not until the
old mans keener eyes uad Spied II
out and he had pointed to 1t did l
notice that huge hornets nest as
large rs peck basket hung from
this stone point As we drew nearer
! could see even across the creek the
swarm of busy insects coming to and
going from their round gray nest.
Every now and then yellow jacket
would circle too near the water in
crossing the creek and an active trou'
would seize it in IN instant. Some
times two hornets would get to fight
ing and drop struggling to the sur
face. Half dozen hungry pairs OF
jaws would snap at them as they
fell
The flies did not resemble these in
sects, but we each tied on two orange
duns. and with them for the next two
hours had grand sport, We did not
80 over hundred yards from the
ford altogether up and down the
stream. but from under uplifted
rocks, Sunken stumps and roots,
dragged nearly eighty good sized
trout, the largest weighing two pounds
and n half Several times | landed
two together. one hooked on the
dropper and the other on the trail
fly, and saw one or two more follow
ing the flies when these bit. Alto
gethcr, it was the best bit of sport |
ever enjoyed on any waters.
when we got back to the cabin we
dressed some of the trout for supper.
and every one that was opened had
dead hornets In its stomach. One
fish must have had At least forty OF
the hot tailed insects in its belly, and
l remember l wandered II the stings
did not hurt their threats.
~ 'spects, said old Hutch. that
them trout gifts tired er ordinary
spiders en- bugs en- flies jes same's