The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-05-12
and THINGS ABOUT TROUT
Uuy. DO THEY FEAR 4 NAN But
NOT A MOOSE?
And wh, VIII They Let a Bear Catch Them
WIN lis PawS?-TrOut That Will Elite
At Anything; Others Are Shy OF Every
mimi Horses and Trains and Trout

sIvt a wear AGO this very day, sara
"a NJ them, Il saw the prettiest sight
:, nv life. was loafng about a lak up
T.. yomininioue. The fish we're not rising
~ell and / made my way ,acro=s to the
sugar Loaf Hill and lay down to get q
rsst before trying a cast on the little lake
at its foot.
81 suppose ] fell asleep, for all Of a sudden
I heard a splashing. and looking between
tbe bushes | saw a magnificent moosestand-
inc knee deep in the water. He was in a
dnen study over the rising Of innumerable
trout all around him.
GREAT big fellows most OF them, they
rera perfectly wild over the flies, which
I suppose had just begun 10 come out.
C,Asr Of the water they sprang. coming
doyn with a decided flap. some OF them
right under the moose's belly.
Now and then he lifted a big forepaw
md struck at a big splash inquiringly.
Once A fish seemed to rise at his big muzzle,
nrobabry TO catch a fly. He got mad at
hat and made a dive with his clumsy
antlcr al the water.
THE trout we're literally in thousands
and learned then what is meant by the
EXPRESSION in the old fishing books Of the
,,o,t coming on the rise All of a sudden
il struck me, Why don't | get into the pict-
IRE; reached for my tackle and Of course
made a rustic. which sent of the bull moose
instantly,
81 was out for trout, not moose, and
was not long in making up a cast OF a
black nudge, a tiny red hackle and a little
silver doctor. | made no secret Of my
intentions, since the fish appeared to be 80
hold with the moose. but marched right
into the water with the sun at my back
until there was room enough behind me
for the back cast, and / stood where l
could see the marks OF the moose's hoofs
under me.
But something told those trout ! was
no moose nor anything 30 harmless, ]
stood there for over half an hour and not
A ripple showed on the water near me.
Some good fish took the smallest fly on
long casts, we'll out Of sight, but the trout
generally made no secret Of their suspicion
Of my intentions regarding them.
They didn't appear to mind the splash
ing Of those / played a bit. 1t was l they
we're afraid Of. l have been ever since
wondering why. Certainly they had never
known what it is to be hooked, and 1t was
not because Of my size, for the moose must
have seemed quite as tall as did. How
did they know
well, for one thing, it is not natural
for trout to be afraid Of men, said n Of
the others. when ] was up beyond Cobalt.
over the height Of land. l fished In lakes
full Of trout, where all you needed was a
good Ay, six feet OF line and three feet
Of pole.
with that outfit | once got enough trout
for a supper for u whole party Of ten
men in about half an hour. My first fish
took the Ay from between my feet before l
cast at all.
'Another time l sat on a ledge of rock
and with a bit OF string and a big bass hook
with pork for bait, caught fourteen splendid
three-quarter pound red trout without a
rod at all. ! was bathing my feet at the
time and the fish actually came up and
examined ami, Sh my legs, leg az at Dlo oom aua ar where the
waters had been fished years before we
had to keep out of sight and act as cautiously
as possible II We wanted sport. ! cannot
understand It,"
Its heredity, / suppose said the other.
But how a creature OF such low inteligence
as a fish is supposed to be oan distinguish
between men and the larger animals, l
cannot imagine.
q once saw a bear throwing out fish
from a little narrow bit Of water. where a
lake passes into another. he sat right in
full 6 ght OF the fish and every now and
then made a scoop into the water with his
great paw and flung out fish over his shout
der until he had enough for dinner.
u sat there myself a~fterward, but not q
trout passed by that even a bear could
catch. They either went at lightning speed
or backed out and turned tail as soon as
they came into sight OF me.
And yet | could not have nulked so
largely as the bear did. IL is evident II 10
not a matter Of eize altogether
On my fathers old place in Devonshire...
said the third man, there was a beautiful
big trout stream. 1t was a tradition that
some monks had held the property some
time in the dark ages, and had probably
stocked and preserved the river.
There we're very big brook trout In II,
and occasionally a bull trout. which is
white scaled and more like a salmon than
a trout, would be found. But they were
awtully hard 10 get.
Our flies we're tied to the tinlest OF min
now hooks. We we're taught TO use a single
horsshair instead Of gut. Our rods were
fairly long, for we had TO cast lying on the
grass, right out Of sight Of the water.
Even so, the least mistake in letting the
ny aight was fatal to success. You could
hardly imagine anything harder to get
e. VI wan WV ~ 'cN
chalk stream.
And vet we used 10 see trout rising all
around the horses as they stood knee deep
10 the water, even taking h fiee they
shook Of their bodies. One great day ] got
two three pound fish by standing close
behind an old white pony,
Then I tried fishing from his back, and
mad splendid sport until the old game
Keeper stopped II on the ground OF Its being
had sport, Probably during the centuries
mat had gone to the education OF those
trout such a combination as a mar on a
horse had never had any terrore for them
There was something similar on the Lake
q; John line" remarked another. a
cylinder head blew out Of an engine just
ppnere the track passes cloee to the Batiscan
fisherman got out his tackle and hshed right
He caught several trout and furnished
iot Of fun to the passengers until the re-
nevlng engine came along. The trout had
never learned to associate danger with the
laiiroad train, | suppose"
Evidently, the fish have some power OF
inparting precise information broke In
me first speaker. 1.-THE fear OF man lie not
dfvays the result Of heredity.
There is a little lake back In h woode,
sone fifteen miles from the Pickanock
.llaee on the Gatineau. We used to get
uuout ranging from two 10 pounds
mere by bottom fishinR after the first frost
" the fall. No one ished there but our
u'.e crowd Of three or four.
though we had no better bait than salt
mesl and a fsh's eye or fin, We used TO get
Ssagks Iull OF them standing right over their
ION a rude raft. But after the first two
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