TROUTING IN CANADENSIS VALLEY
The Canadensis Valley in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, is a
_fontinalis_ paradise. With my friend George Blake I creeled the
little heroes by the dozen every day for a week. We each could have
easily caught fifty in an afternoon had we cared to do so, but there
were other rural pleasures to attend to, and we were not dealing in
fish, and saw more beauty in just enough to eat than in wasteful
quantity. Fishermen are generally known as exaggerators, and I do not
deny that they do sometimes resort to an innocent little fib when a
yarn may amuse many and injure no one, but I must say that this
region's beauties are too numerous to overpraise by all the
exaggeration of all the fabricators in the world. No word of mouth or
pen could do justice to nature in these mountains. And I need not
elaborate on the fish; the truth is bold enough.
Brook trout weighing a quarter of a pound to a pound and a half are
taken every day by Anglers, who more than fill their creels. Two
gentlemen took in one day sixty-five beauties on the stream known as
Stony Run, and two Philadelphia Anglers took half a hundred the day
before above the Buckhill Falls. Another great stream in this region
is the Bushkill, and still another is Brodhead's Creek. The latter
flows past our camp, and is famous for big trout. My favorite is
Spruce Cabin Stream, above and below the beautiful Spruce Cabin Falls.
There are big trout in this water, especially at the bottom of the
falls, and I can--if I will--take fifty trout in an afternoon, and
they'll weigh from a quarter of a pound to one pound and a half. I
like something besides fish about a stream, and this is why I am fond
of the Spruce Cabin water.
There are not many Anglers in love with the place. Though beautiful,
it is very hard to fish. I have to creep under great trees that have
fallen over the water and then wade up to my waist to gain certain
points in order to get along down the stream. The banks are lined with
trees and shrubbery, and my line is ever getting tangled. One does not
need to be a fly-casting tournament Angler to fish any of the
Canadensis waters. Distance in the cast is not required as much as
accuracy at more than one or two places on each stream. The rest of
the fishing is done by short, low casts, and by creeping under
branches and letting the line float with the ripples into the eddies.
Every step or two there are little falls, and in the white, bubbling
water at their bottom a trout may be taken. Under the big fall, and in
the still waters above and below, the big trout hide.
Artificial flies are the popular bait with the gentle Angler, though
all sizes of trout will take worms, and the big, educated trout like
minnows. Both small, medium, and large trout like flies if the flies
are the right kind. We have had great trouble in getting good flies. I
brought four dozen with me, and not over a half dozen of them are
worth the snell tied to them; they are too clumsy in size, of coarse
material, and bad in color. The six decent ones are the work of an
artist. I could give his name, but it might look like an advertisement
and spoil my story. Trout like choice food just as much as human
beings favor savory dishes. You may stick an oyster shell on a reed,
and decoy a summer yellowleg, but you can't hook a trout on any kind
of a fly. They know a thing or two.
Tyros who angle in a trout country without success go home and say
there are no trout. They don't think about conditions of water and
weather; about their line lighting in the water before their bait;
about their coarse line and poor flies.
Trout are philosophers, not only the educated ones, those which have
been hooked and seen others hooked, but trout in general. They're born
that way. A young man came up here the other day with an old cane
pole, weighing fully three pounds, and a big salt water sinker, and he
went away saying there were few trout in these waters. I think he had
a float with him, too, but am not sure.
A word or two about appropriate tackle for mountain streams, and I'll
put up the pen and joint the rod again. In the city a few weeks ago I
proudly displayed a four-ounce, nine-foot lancewood rod, and my
friends laughed at me, saying it was too frail for any service. Now, I
find this rod, shortened two feet, just the thing for this country
where trout run small and where there's no long casting. I frequently
run across good Anglers here with five-ounce rods, and have seen two
four-ounce rods. There is no use for a rod above four ounces in weight
and seven feet in length. When I come again I shall use a three-ounce
rod. The reel should be the lightest and smallest common click, and
the line the finest enameled silk,tapered if you like. The
flies--here's the main thing--should be the best, and of the smallest
brook trout pattern. Next year, when I make up my supply, I'll pack
fully two hundred, and they'll be the dearest-priced flies, for they
are none too good.
[Illustration: THE TROUT BROOK]
Oh, I must say a word about cooking and eating trout before I close.
I've tried them in all styles, and the best way, I think, is when
they're roasted over a camp fire on a little crotch stick, one prong
in the head and the other in the tail. And the worst way, I think, is
when they're fried in a pan with bad butter or poor lard.
Blake and I are in our glory. Our only displeasure is in knowing that
our perspiring city friends are not as comfortable. The days here are
warm and bright--not hot and close--and the nights cool and clear, so
that we live merrily all the time.
I went a few hundred yards down the stream in front of the camp to two
great bowlders, one morning, and there, during a little sun shower,
took a _Salvelinus fontinalis_ that weighed just a little over two
pounds and a quarter. He rose to a pinkish, cream-colored fly, with
little brown spots on the wings. I forget its name, but it's one of
the six really good ones I referred to. I decided to keep the large
captive alive, so I took off one of the cords tied about my trousers
at the bottoms (I never wear wading boots in warm weather), put it
through his gill, and tied the other end to a submerged tree-root.
Later, Mr. Trout was lodged in a small box, with bars tacked over the
top, and placed under a spout running from an old mill race. He was a
big specimen--large enough to saddle and ride to town, the cook said.
And pretty--as pretty as a gathering of lilacs and giant ferns decked
with wintergreen berries.