THE FISH AT THE CAMPBELL RIVER
Different names have been given by different sportsmen to the salmon
found on the Pacific Coast.
Sir R. Musgrave talks of spring salmon of 53 lb. and silver salmon of
16 and 8 lb.
I inquired carefully from the manager of the Cannery Factory
in Quatiaski Cove, and believe the following to be the correct
nomenclature.
The tyee or King salmon, running from 28 lb. to 60 and upwards.
The spring salmon, which appeared to me to be the young tyee, having
the same relation to the big tyee as the grilse has to the salmon, from
15 to 20 lb.
The cohoe, which run from 7 to 12 lb.; and lastly the blue back,
generally termed cohoe, averaging about 6 lb.
These latter most of us called cohoe, and were the fish being caught on
my arrival at the hotel.
The run of tyee had not regularly set in, though a few odd ones were
being caught.
Later on, when making a trip on the Cannery steamer which collects fish
daily from various stations up and down the coast, the manager of the
factory, who was on board, pointed out to me amongst the hundreds of
fish we collected, the difference between the blue back and the real
cohoe.
The former runs much earlier than the latter, and is seldom over 6 lb.
in weight; the latter were, he stated, just beginning to run--then the
middle of August--and the largest on board weighed 14 lb.
It was not, however, till my return from Vancouver that I came across
the volume on _Salmon and Trout_ of the American Sportsman's Library,
edited by Caspar Whitman, and there found recorded all that is known
about the salmon and trout of the Pacific Coast.
To begin with, the Pacific salmon does not belong to the genus "Salmo,"
but to the genus "Oncorhynchus," which, according to Messrs. C. H.
Townsend and H. W. Smith, the authors of the most interesting chapters
on the Pacific salmon in the above-mentioned book, is peculiar to the
Pacific Coast.
One peculiarity of the Pacific salmon seems to be that they invariably
die after spawning, and never return to the sea.
In the case of the humpback, I saw this for myself later on in the
season, when every stream was literally a mass of moving fish all
pushing up to the head-waters, and there dying in vast numbers.
The tyee salmon, "Oncorhynchus tschawytscha," has many names. It is
known to the Indians as "Chinook," "tyee" and "quinnat," to others as
the Columbia salmon, the Sacramento and King salmon.
It appears to range from Monterey Bay, California, as far north as
Alaska.
Messrs. Townsend and Smith state that in the Yukon and Norton Sounds it
attains a weight of 110 lb., and in the Columbia 80 lb.
The largest I saw caught at Campbell River weighed close on 70 lb. The
largest fish brought to the hotel by any of us was about 60 lb.
The blue back salmon, "Oncorhynchus Nerka," is stated by the same
authorities to run up to 15 lb., and the average to be under 5 lb.
This would appear from its description to correspond with the fish
pointed out to me by the Cannery manager as blue back--though I cannot
quite reconcile its other names: red fish, red salmon, Fraser River
salmon and Sockeye--for the fishermen at Campbell River spoke of the
Sockeye as quite a different fish, running at a different season of the
year.
No doubt, however, the scientists are right. I only wish I had known
of this valuable book before instead of after my visit.
Another of the "Oncorhynchi" is the humpback, "Oncorhynchus Gorbuscha,"
averaging about 5 lb.
I only saw one caught on the rod at Campbell River.
At the mouth of the Oyster River, some miles south, I saw them one
evening in incredible numbers, and though right in the middle of
immense shoals, I could not get them to look at fly or spoon. A few
yards up the river they were said sometimes to take the fly.
The silver salmon, "Oncorhynchus Kisutch," known also as "Kisutch,"
"Skowitz," Hoopid and lastly Cohoe, is stated to attain a weight of 30
lb.--the average weight being about 8 lb. As stated before, the largest
I saw was 14 lb. and the largest I caught 12 lb.
The above being the fish I met with at Campbell River, I need not
enter into the other varieties. One interesting fact mentioned in the
book to which I am indebted for all the above information is that the
steel-head salmon is one of the "Salmonidæ." "Salmo Gairdnerii" differs
from all other Pacific salmon, in that it alone returns to the sea
after spawning, thus following the habits of the true "Salmonidæ."
The only trout I came across at Campbell River or throughout my trip
was that known as the cut-throat, so called from the red slash on the
throat.
On turning to Mr. Wilson's article on "The Trout of America," I was
surprised to find that there were thirteen varieties of this fish, but
so far as I could identify those I caught, they must come under the
heading of "Salmo Clarkii," the cut-throat or Columbia River trout.
After many inquiries and after having visited the aquarium at New York,
I was led to believe that my fish was the "Salmo Clarkii Pleuriticus,"
but as those I caught had no lateral red band they must have been the
"Salmo Clarkii."
The largest I caught weighed 5 lb., and, as I have mentioned before, it
was caught in the sea on a large spoon one and a half miles from the
river, when trolling for tyee.
The number of fish which frequent the Campbell River waters is almost
incredible. When it is realized that between one and two thousand
salmon of the various kinds are collected daily by the Cannery launch,
and that all these have been caught with rod and hand-line--the great
majority with hand-line--some idea may be formed of their numbers.
No one fishing at the Campbell River should miss the trip, which
through the courtesy of the manager at Quatiaski Cove is always
possible, of going with the Cannery steam-launch on its daily round
collecting fish at the various stations, north and south.
Starting from Quatiaski early in the morning, the run is down to Cape
Mudge, where perhaps thirty or forty boats, mostly Indian, have been
working their hand-lines the evening before. From Cape Mudge up to the
Seymour Narrows, about seven miles, many calls are made.
Picturesque Indian camps are numerous all along the shore, and at each
of these a stop is made. The canoes come crowding alongside, and the
fish are checked as they are thrown into the deep well in the centre of
the launch.
Each Indian has a book in which is entered to his credit the number of
his fish, and the launch passes on to the next collecting station, to
which single canoes from all sides are gathering. On the return the
boats of the successful hotel fishermen stop the launch and hand over
their catch, for the fish caught are the perquisites of the men who row
the boats.
On the day I made the trip we collected about 1,500 salmon.
The business of the Cannery must be a profitable one. So far as I could
gather there were but two prices: 50 cents for a tyee, no matter what
his weight was, and 10 cents for each smaller fish.
Associated with the Cannery is a general store kept by the Cannery
owners, and payment is partly made in goods, so the Cannery has the
double profit, first on the fish and then on the goods bartered in
exchange.
SPORT AT CAMPBELL RIVER
[Illustration: THE INDIAN CEMETERY, CAMPBELL RIVER]
[Illustration: A MORNING'S CATCH. 10 lb., 46 lb., 47 lb., 58 lb.
[_To face page 41._]