Haw-Ho-Noo; Or, Records of a TouristLanman, Charles
History
Haw-Ho-Noo; Or, Records of a Tourist
Lanman, Charles
Fishing -- North America; United States -- Description and travel
As to the pleasure of capturing a fine salmon, we conceive it to be more
exquisite than any other sport in the world. We have killed a buffalo on
the head waters of the St. Peter’s river, but we had every advantage
over the pursued, for we rode a well-trained horse, and carried a
double-barreled gun. We have seen John Cheney bring to the earth a
mighty bull moose, among the Adirondac mountains, but he was assisted by
a pair of terrible dogs, and carried a heavy rifle. But neither of these
exploits is to be compared with that of capturing a twenty pound salmon,
with a line almost as fine as the flowing hair of a beautiful woman.
When we offer a fly to a salmon, we take no undue advantage of him, but
allow him to follow his own free will; and when he has hooked himself,
we give him permission to match his strength against our skill. Does not
this fact prove that salmon fishing is distinguished for its humanity,
if not for its _fishanity_? We have set in a cariole and driven a
Canadian pacer, at the rate of a mile in two minutes and a half, on the
icy plains of Lake Erie, and as we held the reins, have thought we could
not enjoy a more exquisite pleasure. That experience, however, was ours
long before we had ever seen a genuine salmon; we are somewhat wiser
now, for we have acquired the art of driving through the pure white foam
even a superb salmon, and that, too, with only a silken line some
hundred yards in length.
One of the most fruitful salmon regions for the angler to visit lies on
the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, between the Saguenay and
the North-west river in Labrador. A few years ago, however, there was
good fishing to be had in Mal Bay River, above the Saguenay, and also in
the Jacques Cartier, above Quebec, but good sport is seldom found in
either of those streams at the present time. But the principal
tributaries of the Saguenay itself (particularly the River St.
Margaret), afford the rarest of sport, even now. The streams of this
coast are rather small, but very numerous, and without a single
exception, we believe, are rapid, cold, and clear. They abound in
waterfalls, and though exceedingly wild, are usually quite convenient to
angle in, for the reason that the spring freshets are apt to leave a
gravelly margin on either side. The conveniences for getting to this
out-of-the-way region are somewhat rude, but quite comfortable and very
romantic. The angler has to go in a Quebec fishing smack, or if he is in
the habit of trusting to fortune when he gets into a scrape, he can
always obtain a passage down the St. Lawrence in a brig or ship, which
will land him at any stated point. If he goes in a smack, he can always
make use of her tiny cabin for his temporary home; but if he takes a
ship, after she has spread her sails for Europe, he will have to depend
upon the hospitality of the Esquimaux Indians. At the mouths of a few of
the streams alluded to, he may chance to find the newly-built cabin of a
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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