CHAPTER XXI. A FOREST PICTURE AN UPSET IN "LAZY BOGAN." There is, I think, a love of novelty in all anglers. We prefer to fish new waters when we can, and it is sometimes pleasanter to explore, even without success, than to take fish in familiar places. New and fine scenery is always worth finding.-W. C. Prime. HERE are a few pools on this river as on others, where an occasional salmon can be taken at any time from the first of June to the close of the season. Among these is the "Shedden pool," which is known as one of the very best between tide-water and the Forks. But after the middle of July, it is too near the sea to afford as rich returns as some others twenty or thirty miles farther up. It is salmon nature when started on their annual pilgrimage, to keep moving until they reach their maternal destination. On this river their chief spawning-places are from fifty to seventy miles from tide-water. But there are pools where they like to tarry on their journey; and we found none more generally thus honored than the pool referred to. Others might be "whipped" in vain, but this seldom failed to reward the patient angler, no matter when or how often it was visited. A monopoly of it for the season would afford any reasonable fisherman all the sport and pleasure he could desire, if he had no other object in visiting these waters than to fish. But they greatly mistake the temper and tastes of the true angler who assume that he is attracted to these quiet places simply to kill and to destroy. To have the opportunity to fish constitutes but one of the threads in the golden cord which draws him to the grand old forests in whose mountain streams trout and salmon "most do congregate." If he finds pleasure in the rise and strike and struggle of a mammoth fish, so also is he lifted up out of the rut of common-place emotions by his majestic surroundings—by the evershifting shadows on the mountain; by the incessant music of the birds; by the never-ending melody of the singing waters; by the splash and foam and sparkle of the leaping cascade; by the glinting sun-light upon ripple and rapid; by the shadowy depths of the impenetrable forest; by jagged rock and giant bowlder and dark pool and gliding river, and a thousand other" things of beauty" which remain upon the canvas of his memory long after the minor incidents of fish-taking are for gotten. No; it is not all of fishing to fish. That is but an incident in the angler's pleasant pastime. They have other and higher, if not more invigorating and exhilarating tastes to gratify. This beautiful picture of the poet is as often in their mind's eye as the rush and leap of the silver salmon : The trees are bursting into bud and bloom; I am sure that no one of our party would be content to visit any salmon river if they were restricted to such narrow limits as would afford them no variety in landscape, and no range for adventure. Quite as much pleasure is derived from experimenting in untried waters and in hunting up new bits of scenery, as in running up a great "score" to excite the admiration of partial friends or kindle the ire of envious rivals. As the summer tourist often finds the most charming nooks by diverging from the beaten path, so does the angler often find the most attractive scenery by following up some half-hidden brook or rivulet which empties its crystal waters into the more majestic river which bears them to the sea. I had often fished the "Escumenack pool," which lies at the mouth of the river of that name, and had as often resolved to explore its hidden chan nel through the massive mountains amid which it has its source. So, one sunny afternoon my canoe Iwas headed thitherward with as keen a relish for discovery as ever Columbus experienced while wearily waiting for royalty to launch him out upon unknown seas. And I had my reward in such a revelation of beauty as seldom comes to mortal vision. When we had pushed our way through some half mile of very swift water, we dropped into a natural basin of solid rock, whose picturesque surroundings constituted a fitting frame-work for the most charming and peaceful picture I ever saw. The water was from twenty to fifty feet deep, yet so transparent that the tiniest pebble was as clearly visible at the greatest depth as if held in the naked hand. What a pool for trout in their season! Now, however, not a fish revealed himself. I made a few casts, but without discovering any sign of life until my fly reached the rim of the basin, sixty feet distant, and then I only "flushed" a large trout, who refused my lure and moved off a few feet, as if disturbed by the unexpected apparition. But the water was so clear that I saw his every movement as he lay in seeming dread of what might befall him. In all my travels I never met. with any water so perfectly transparent, or in which a minute object could be seen at so great a depth. A few rods further brought us to the foot of the falls a triplet of terraced cascades, combining as many points of beauty as Trenton, with more picturesque surroundings and as much to captivate the artist and excite the admiration of the appreciative lover of nature. They are seldom visited, even by anglers, because they are but little talked of. My Indian guide knew of them, but seemed to have no thought that any one would care to see them; and it was not until I announced my purpose to start out on a tour of observation that he informed me that I would find something that would reward me for my trouble. Hereafter, so long as I shall be permitted to fish in these waters, I will be sure to pay these falls a visit. Similar bits of scenery are scattered all over this vast wilderness of forest, river and mountain. All the rivers have their sources hundreds of feet above the sea. The descent is not always made by a succession of rapids. At some points in most of them there are falls of no mean altitude, beyond which no salmon can ascend, and at the foot of which, in the season, they gather in fabulous numbers. There is such a gathering place on this river, sev enty miles from the sea. We were within twenty miles of it, but such fearful stories were told us of the difficulty of making the ascent of foaming rapids and jagged rocks, and probable shipwreck |