for big game
and gold (from the date of the Klondike rush in 1898) no fewer than four
new species of the sheep family have been discovered; a pure white
mountain sheep, for instance, has been found to exist in great numbers.
"Heads" of this sheep are now quite common, but it is a most curious
proof of the general ignorance of the country ten years ago that such a
remarkable animal was then entirely unknown. Had any explorer in those
days reported seeing such an animal without bringing any tangible proof
to support his story, he would have been universally regarded as a most
unique liar, in a part of the world where such people are far from
uncommon. The enormous moose heads recently brought down from Alaska and
northern British Columbia were undreamt of not so many years back, and
the Alaskan grizzly is, too, I believe, a new species.

It is, therefore, far from unreasonable to believe or to hope that as
the country is opened up the fisherman will also achieve new conquests.
As yet they lie before him, for he only follows slowly in the footsteps
of the pioneer and the big-game hunter; he requires a railway and an
hotel, and he must be able to dispose in some manner of his catch, which
he cannot do unless he is at least near some settlement. I have
conversed with numbers of prospectors and hunters from all parts of the
north-west, and they all have the same account of teeming rivers and
lakes. Many a weird fish story have they told me, but none have really
been fishermen; they have simply caught fish for food, and have not
noted them much except with a view to their edible properties. It is,
therefore, highly probable that, as these strange waters are gradually
made accessible to the angler and become as well known as the more
southern rivers of British Columbia, many interesting facts will become
known too, and new varieties of trout and other fish will be discovered.
Even those southern waters are, in truth, little known, and several
interesting matters which could well bear investigation will be put
forward in these pages.

CHAPTER II.

Season for Trout Fishing--Principal Districts--Tackle
Necessary--"No Drawing-room Work"--Advantage of Plenty of
Time--Poor Fishing in the Rockies--The Thompson River--The South
Thompson--Its Course and Character--Clear, Swift Water--Difficulty
of Landing Big Fish--A Lost Thirty-pounder--The Successful Cherokee
Fisherman--Fine, Calm Days Best for F