The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-04-21

The smaller streams perhaps Yield
more sport than the rivers. There is
peculiar satisfaction in fishing a
small trout stream, carefully scanning
the water for likely places, wriggling
through brush, crawling along the
bank where to stand upright might
cast a shadow that would brighten the
fish, exhausting the lore of the craft
in the effort to secure the small hut
agile and fierce beauties that lark
where the crystal current may bang
food to their hungry maws.
One of the best breeding streams
in the State is the Naysmith brook
in Plainfield. Never stocked, it yields
year after year strings of trout to
delight the angler. 1t is moody
stream, however, and only when con-
ditions are just right can one depend
on a good catch. Like the Naysmith
brook, the Mallory brook has been
for years a wonderfully prolific
breeding stream and when it was
open to free fishing large numbers or
! trout might be seen at any point,
though they were fished so hare aud
fl equently that they were very shy.
! rhe trook has been stocked in re-
,rnt years and posted for practically
! its entire length and it is doubtful il
finer trout stream of it's size can to-
day be found in Vermont.
The Camp brook, just below Mont
pelier, though small stream, has
kept up the supply of trout in a sur
prising manner. 1t was stocked four
years ago and for two years after.
ward the trout were plentiful, but the
drouth of the last two years killed off
most of the fish and it will be some
years before the stream regains it's
former standing.
There are two brooks IN Worces
ter, two in RoXbury, several in CAL
ais, Woodbury., Mortified, Waitsfield,
Warren and Fayston, one or two in
Cabot and Marshfield, where there are
trout of good size and in consider
able numbers But it must be re-
membered that where the streams are
fished so much as they are here more
, skill is required to take them than in
waters where a line is seldom cast.
Most of the fishing waters in the
county are open and free, out occa-
sionally a brook is stocked Oy the
owner and fishing is restricted 1t
will pay the man who is anxious to
bring home a basketful of fish 10 pur-
chase the privilege of fishing one of
these streams if the owner will per-
nit, for where water is heavily stock
ed, either from short food supply or
/ from some other cause, the trout are
likely to bite ravenously. Such Ash
I ing calls for little skill, but it nre-
duces bountiful results.
There are also some ponds main
tanned as private preserves. Most
notable is that own for many years
| by Carroll P. Pitkin pond construct
ed few years ago by Joseph Yatter
and one owned by Charles H. 'errin.
Though smaller in area, these ponds
furnish to the owners as good fish
ing as Darling's Pond or the pre-
serve of the Lake Mansfield Trout
Club in Stowe.
Niggerhead Pond in Marshield is
open water and good catches are TAX
en- there every year. Those who are
interested in it put in severalt thousand
fry every year so that the supply OF
fish is kept up. The pond is qlite
free from observation and there is
small doubt that poachers often take
advantage of that fact to take trout
with nets.
Fish in this vicinity suffer less from
the depreciation of resident foreign
ers than does the game. Italians snt
Spaniards seem to be born hunters
and with their dogs and guns they
have killed off or frightened away
much of the game about the county
while it is generally believed tina
some of them make a practice o
shooting song birds for food. Bu
they have less knowledge of fishing
1t is no unusual thing to see an 1t
, allan resident on holiday sittln.
coLtentedly beside stream, deligent
ly drowning worms in place wher
there is not the slightest posslbilt.
of taking a fish, and their genera
familiarity with fish seems insufficient
to enable them to distinguish be
, tween those that furnish sport an
those that are usually conside:e
worthless.
The trout is esteemed, and oerhap
justly, the finest fish for sport an
table, produced in this section. Til
, waters of Washington county ar
well stocked with native brook trou
rainbows, steelheads and Germa
brown trout.
4 Black Bass Plentiful.
@ After the first keen edge of III
r trout fishing has been aiken o
n comes in the black bass, called h
. DR.. Prime, inch for inch and poun
o for. pound the gamest fish in tn
: world" Says James A. Henshall g.
- 10 among tho possibilities in ~