It has been said that four times the length of the rod beyond the tip is the utmost length of line that can be handled with dexterity; it is not meant that more cannot be cast, for I have often cast five times the length, but with an effort that soon becomes wearisome, and, if across a rapid current, without the requisite command. It is best to fish down stream, if possible, as otherwise your line sinks, and even in fishing across there will be considerable slack line. This is a second reason for rapid striking. There is another mode of managing a line, which is sometimes called casting, and by which a distance of eighty yards can be covered. The angler has a rod as thick at the tip as one’s little finger, and a hair line as thick as the tip. Of course no reel can be used, as such a line would not run through the rings, or be contained on the barrel. The line tapers regularly to the fly. It is usually used in rapid water, and to cast, the fisherman waives his rod from side to side, lifting as much of it as possible clear of the water, and then throws out strongly with an underhand motion. The line rolls, as it were, raising itself from the water, as the impetus advances, till the fly is taken up and jerked over, so to speak, at an incredible distance. When a fish is struck he is drawn in by hand. I have not tried this proceeding sufficiently to speak positively, but think that the heavy waxed lines now in general use would answer to a comparative degree. It is a difficult though not refined mode of fishing, and is the only way of casting eighty yards.
The following is a list of the principal salmon and trout rivers of Canada and New Brunswick, with the distances of the former from Quebec, and such information as could be obtained concerning their character and condition. Those marked in italics have been leased to private individuals, but the leasing changes year by year.
In New Brunswick there are salmon in the St. John and its tributaries, but the best of the latter, the Nashwaak, has been closed with an impassable dam. From St. John it is easy to take the cars to Shediac, and cross to Prince Edward’s Island, where there is magnificent trout fishing, especially near Charlotte, and tolerable accommodation; or one can take the Quebec steamer to Bathurst and fish the Nipisiquit, which is admitted to be the best river in the province, or the Restigouche and its tributaries, an excellent stream, but much injured by spearing; or the Cascapediacs, which furnish some salmon and innumerable grilse. The Miramichi, between Shediac and Bathurst, is a fine large stream.
The streams in Canada emptying into the St. Lawrence from the south shore, are hardly worth mentioning as salmon rivers, having been ruined by mill-dams, with the exception of those that empty into Gaspé basin, but they all afford superior trout fishing. I would here remark, that where the name trout is mentioned in connection with the British Provinces, the Salmo Trutta Marina, or sea trout, is always intended; and the salmon fishing spoken of is fly fishing. The rivers that empty into Gaspé basin, such as the Dartmouth, York and St. John, are leased, as also the Bonaventure, that flows into the Bay of Chaleurs.
As explicit directions for travelling through the benighted regions called the British Provinces, the following are given from a somewhat unwillingly extended experience.
Take the night train or any route that will bring you to Boston before half past seven A.M., for at that hour the boat leaves for St. John, not St. Johns, which is in Newfoundland. If you are too late, you may still, by means of the cars, intercept the same vessel at Portland. This boat does not leave daily, but generally advertises in the New York and always in the Boston papers. It touches at Portland, where you may take a steamboat on its arrival to Calais, and proceed thence by railroad to the Scoodic River, where there is fine white, not sea, trout fishing, or stop at St. Andrews, whence there is a railroad in progress to Woodstock, on the St. John River. The Boston boat reaches St. John in about thirty-two hours, or at three o’clock; the fare is six dollars; the meals extra, and, consequently, extra good.
The Waverley House, in St. John, kept by J. Scammell, affords the best, though poor, accommodation, at a reasonable price. A train leaves on the arrival of the boat for Shediac, and makes the one hundred and ten miles in six hours, at a fare of three dollars. From Shediac a steamboat that connects with the train carries you to Chatham in twelve hours for three dollars and fifty cents, the meals being extra and infamous. At Shediac, John Q. Adams keeps the Adams House, and will furnish information by letter as to the time of the starting of the boats. Bowser’s Hotel is the best in Chatham. From Chatham to Bathurst, forty-five miles, you are compelled to travel in a stage that only leaves three times a week, and never on the arrival of the boat, and will occupy ten hours of your time at a charge of three dollars and a half; or you may take an extra for sixteen dollars. If you hire one of Kelley, the stage proprietor, make a tight bargain, for he is Biblical and takes in strangers. In case you should be too late to reach Bathurst the same day, or have leisure on your hands, stop at the Half-way House on the Tabasintac, which has the last syllable accentuated, and fish that night and the next morning for sea trout. They are taken from a horse-boat in abundance and of great size.
In Bathurst there is a good hotel called the Wellington, kept by Mr. Baldwin, with the efficient aid of Mary; and also a more private establishment, by Bela Packard, which is the customary resort of Americans. There is a telegraph from St. John to Bathurst, and Baldwin will meet at Chatham any guests that send him word, and bring them to Bathurst for fourteen dollars. In the latter place, Ferguson, Rankin & Co. will furnish all the heavy outfit, such as pork, biscuit, butter, tea, sugar, tobacco, and will have them ready put up if written to beforehand. As it is customary on the Nipisiquit to loan the guides blankets, the same firm keep them on hand, and will lend them to those that buy stores of them. Once or twice a month the Arabian leaves Shediac and stops within a couple of miles of Bathurst, and if you can manage to suit your time to hers, you can go direct and be ticketed through for ten dollars. Her days may be ascertained at the office of the Boston boats, but it is well to telegraph to Bathurst to have a canoe to meet you, as otherwise you may have difficulty in reaching town from the landing. The same steamer and its associate, the Lady Head, run to Dalhousie, at the mouth of the Restigouche, or a stage for that place leaves Bathurst three times a week. The Lady Head does not stop at Bathurst, on account of her draught of water.
On the Nipisiquit it is customary to have a camp-keeper or cook for the party, and two canoemen to each angler; they furnish the canoe and receive one dollar a day each. The following are good men: John, Peter and Bruno Chamberlain; John makes a good fly, but is sulky and willful; Bruno is lazy; Ned Veno and David Buchet, both of whom are excellent and willing, and Fabian Bodereau, who is a fair cook. To save your men some heavy work, where you do not intend to fish the Rough Waters, you drive with your stores to the Round Rocks, the Pabineau Falls, or, if you please, even to the Grand Falls, but the latter part of the road is bad.