The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-09-14
A F!SHERMAN'S BATTLE ROYAL

A FISHERMAN'S BATTLE ROYAL
Two Big Trout on HIs Leader In a Rocky
Mountain Stream and No Landing Net.
'In all my angling" said a well
known fisherman the other day, II
think the exploit that pleased me best
occurred during my last summers trip
to Colorado. Our party was camping
on the south branch of the Conejos
river In the San Luis park, and on this
afternoon while the other boys went
up the mountain side for game l took
my rod and fly book and climbed down
into the canyon below the camp to try
the trout did not take along a land
ing net for the fish we had caught
thus far had run SO small that 1 felt
safe in depending on split bamboo rod
and light tackle to lift outright any
trout that was likely to offer.
1.-THE canyon was shut in by high
rock walls on either side, and at its
bottom brawled the stream, sucking
between boulders, tumbling over
lodges, and ripping in shadows,
feather white most of the way, and
never at rest The fish were slow to
rise to the fly, for the bright sunshine
came directly down into the canyon,
but here and there below some great
rock where a water whirl had washed
out a hole, making little pool. har-
vested q small trout or two, until had
captured perhaps dozen. 1 came to
large boulder in the middle
of the stream, and, standing upon
and eddy below. just as did SO the
sun went behind a mountain peak and
the shadow fell across the canyons
bottom The flies settled upon the
water, there was little swirl and the
leader Strengthened down and the tip
of the rod bent hard with the pull OF
fish that I knew by the feel was q big
one
"a second later the tip was bending
harder, the smell to my second fly was
drawn taut as a fiddlestring and /
knew 1 had two big trout to land or
lose. To handle two such fish at once
would not have been much of trick
in lake or smooth current, but in this
little patch of swift, rough water, filled
with rocks, and running into a shall
low ripple dozen yards below, re-
quired work as fine as silk, and the
chances were critical at every stage.
One thing in my favor was that the
trout pulled against each other as they
tugged and circled round in the eddy;
If they had both been of one mind, and
had started together down the stream,
my leader wouldn't have lasted min
ute among the rocks.
Tho two fish kept me so busy hand
ling them that 1t was not until an hour
had passed and they were pretty we'll
tanned down that had time to think
how should land them. With land
ing net could have saved them as easy
as you please; but with the rocks and
high banks all around, to try to lift
them ashore by the leader would have
been to lose them the instant they left
the water.
81 played them a while longer. Night
was coming on and the shadows were
deepening in the canyon. With dark
ness knew should certainly lose the
fish, and besides that have no end Of
trouble in getting back to camp As I
shifted about trying to find out some
way to save the trout I stepped from
the bowlder to another rock and from
that saw something that gave me hope.
II was a'little bar of sand among the
rocks about a dozen yards below. just
at the lower edge of the pool, where
the water began to shoal and ripple.
This tiny beach was in shape seq
ment, about five feet long by perhaps
three feet wide In its broadcast part,
and it shelved sharply to the water.
There was my one chance to land
the fish. / did some hard and careful
climbing in the next fifteen minutes
1t would have been none too easy work
for an unencumbered man 70 get to the
sand bar, and / had, besides, to keep
the two trout well in hand and not let
them gain slack line for an instant
But started to get there and followed
round the edge of the pool, taking to
the water wherever it would help my
footing, scrambling and crawling
among the bowlders-even rolling
round the shoulder of one big rock
where a misstep would have plunged
me into deep water-and all the time
dividing my attention between the tip
of my rod and my footing. / waded
the last five yards of the distance and
reached the little sand strip with the
two trout still stretching the leader.
at was clear sailing after that. though
it required patient work to coax my
fish into the shoal water. Two or three
times when thought had them head
ed for the beach all right, one or the
other would make rush away and 1
would have to give them line. But at
last / got them both coming on to-
gether, and when their noses were
within two feet OF the sand gave them
the butt of the rod until 1t bent almost
double, and on the beach they came
Topping, game to the finish. In mo-
ment had jumped between them and
the water and the battle was mine.
81 was still on the sand bar bending
over my prizes, stringing them on
forked willow shoot that l had cut
after ending their struggles with a tap
on the head.
"'What lucky came down a call from
Ned Watson, who had just appeared at
the brink of the canyon locking for me.
For answer l lifted to his view two
handsome black-spotted mountain
trout. one of which weighed two
pounds and the other a pound and
three-quarters-and l yelled like a
Comanche. just once. because couldn't
help tn. Y. Sun.