The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-06-25
peaceful. so beautiful, so fascinating, an cin.a ia tha haar. na.nra

peaceful, so beautiful, so fascinating, so close to the heart of nature.
 Within short distances of Fair field Lake. a perfect dream of water fed from a lovely fall and nesting between walls of rock and forest, towering a thousand feet above the fourmile shore lino a dozen or more streams that can be easily waded are alive with brook and rainbow. They are all on the Fairfield properties, which embrace 75 miles of waters distributed in a game preserve of 2S,O00 acres. Within radius of ten miles are 50 waterfalls, ranging in height from so to 37o feet. All the waters on this vast preserve have
 been stocked with rainbow or the peerless brook trout. Some of the streams aftording the best sport are: Toxaway. Horsepasture, Thompson, Whitewater and Tuckaseisse rivers, Mill Deep Ford. Bear Wallow. Big Hogback, Little Hogback. Logan, Chimney Top, Panthertown and In- dian creeks. There are few places in the country with surroundings and conditions more enticing than Toxa- way, Horsepasture and Tuckaseigee n ease and are of sufficient width for casting flies to the limit of the art Twenty fish for each caster are per mitted and seven inches Is the min imum size. It Is comparatively easy to take tho limit in two to thre0 hours when a fellow knows the wad- ing and casting game and hppreci- ates the importance of changing flies according to seasons. time of day, lights and shadows and other details he studies in connection with
 possibilities. Two of us nearly all ways took the limit around Fairfield In few hours at most. Our catches provided luscious luncheons broiled to a. turn on a rock beside some rumbling waterfall under growth of hemiock and chestnut, gorgeously colored with rhododendron and lau- rel.
 Women compete with men for numbers and sizes. Three of the most skillful and successful stream enthu- siasts at Fairfield during the last season were Mrs. w B. Riddell or Chattanooga, Tenn; Mrs. Thompson. wife of a prominent physician or Jacksonville. Fla, and Mrs. Dobler,
 popular society woman of St- Louis. Many brook and rainbow they cap
 tured ran as high as 12 to IS inches
 Occasionally catches up to 24 inches are recorded.
 The fishing on Fairfield Lake Is often superb. Of course. on some days, rises are few and far between for reasons unknown to man. That Ia part of the game. Your artistic. weIl-bred trout Is no loss finicKy than a debutante in a small town. Only rainbow are found in these waters, which comprise some so acres. Water lilies In full bloom fringe a large part of the shore line The lake is always clear. in many places 50 feet deep. and nestles amid half a dozen heights rising directly from it's shores TOO to 1000 feet. Some of the sunset and twilight sf- fects arc wonderfully. weirdly beau tiful with all the richness of eoicr characteristic of those mountains. One evening in July we were drift ing and dreaming of tinted beauties lust at twilight We had taken six of average size on Colorado spinners whirling TO feet behind our boat. A mellow mountain moon subtle In Its Influence stole over groat Hogback's shoulder humping t,700 feet skyward, and shimmered across the lake, lcav- ing acres of diamond twipkles. AS the DQdL QIiItGQ, nOfnc w iiaAA u dozen songsters were chirping their good nights" Ind sweet dreams" old Chimney Top. poking it's head 4.S0o feet into q flaming sky, recalled mans insginlficance amid pano- rama of nature at her best. It was all so peaceful, so inspiringly rem fniscent. ''Z-e-e-e-e-i" from trout reel came with startling sharpness The hook was set then the sport be- gan Several leaps with violent shakes offered giimpses of the pig beauty fighting for his life. And heavens, how he did fight, The sur face for 50 feet around changed in a flash from mirror to torrent. My companion looked on in half dazed Vaccination. He realized a spirited battle was on with each side carefully maneuvering for vantage Only once he spoke. Lord. what a beauty. Don't, lose him. For heav- ems sake play him to a finish" he blurted. l could have chucked him out of the boat. for no sportsman wants to, be enjoined or coached dur ina a contest such as this promised to be- He insists on being left severe ly alone even by his best friend. l did play him to a finish thoughs and in my own way. We had It Tor ten minutes DCNWctH SNtsfF-.-Ds stringing and cautious rodwork on my part and lunging, plunging, dart ing and lodging by the fish. Zig- tagging was my trump card at close quarters; the third dip by my excited companion put the prize in the net He measured 19 inches in all the tint and tinsci. gorgcousness and glory of thoroughbred with surprising strength and skill In athletics. I've seldom taken even cold water. trout of his size in high attitudes that ex- hibited more power and rarer trick cry In it's efforts to evade capture The next morning there was feast
 set for four, with the writer quickly made hero about the place for having taken. the largest rain bow of the season. The achievement amid surroundings and conditions that seldom enter into fishermans experience will long be a memory picture to couture up during prepa- rations for a month with brook and rainbow trout