ish were the result of a
day's work their beauty and possible size would be worth the trouble,
while the lake and its scenery are characteristic of the most beautiful
part of the interior of British Columbia, surrounded as it is by rolling
hills of bunch grass, range, and pine-covered bluffs. Vernon can be
easily reached by train from Sicamous, on the Canadian Pacific Railway
main line.

About twenty-three miles from Kamloops there is a lake known as Fish
Lake, in which the fishing is so extraordinary as to border on the
regions of romance, though locally it is considered a matter of course.
For lake fishing, in point of numbers, it is impossible that this piece
of water could be beaten; it is like a battue in shooting, the number to
be caught is only limited by the skill and endurance of the angler;
indeed, little skill is needed, for anyone can catch fish there, though
a good fisherman will catch the most. Also fish can be caught on any
day, some days being better than others, but a blank day is an
impossibility. The lake is twenty-three miles south of Kamloops, and is
reached by a good road, and there is now a small wooden house, where one
can stop and hire boats. Ten years ago there was only a trail, which was
rough travelling on horseback, with a pack horse to carry tent and
provisions. The lake has been a fishing ground for the Indians from time
immemorial, and fish used to be brought down by them to Kamloops from a
fish trap built in the creek running out of the lake. I have also seen
them fishing with bait and spearing fish at night; but the true bait for
Fish Lake is the fly, and, contrary to the usual case, the white man
with a fly and modern tackle can make catches which far surpass any that
the Indian ever made. The trap has now been abandoned, and the Indians
do not fish on this lake any more. From time to time half-breeds and
cowboys came into Kamloops with stories of big catches of trout made
with a willow bough and a piece of string with a fly tied to it;
sometimes 300 or 400 fish would be brought down which had been caught in
this way.

This stimulated the sporting instinct of the inhabitants, and a few
visits were paid to the lake and good catches were made, but the
fishermen who went were of a very amateur kind. In the summer of 1897 an
American proposed to me that we should go up and try what good tackle
could do; in fact, he proposed that we should go up and try to make a
record. We went up in the