20 AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



at full flood, until every cubic foot of space is choked with 

 fish, wedded tightly. In this helpless predicament they be- 

 come an easy prey to bears and other animals, as well as 

 men, and one can lift them out with his hands until he is 

 tired. This rush continues until the spawning season is over, 

 by which time most of those which have reached the distant 

 upper waters perish from the combined exhaustion of the long 

 journey and the labor of spawning. The passage of the river 

 is a sickening spectacle; maimed and decaying fish in myriads 

 offending sight and smell, and befouling the entire length of 

 the water-courses from the sea to their sources. 



Of course under such conditions the problem of fly-fishing, 

 or any kind of rod-fishing, requires no solution. At tide- 

 water there is always good fishing with bait and spoon, and in 

 California and Oregon and Puget Sound these methods are 

 much in vogue. Fish-roe incased in a double thickness of 

 mosquito-netting is the popular bait. There are exceptional 

 rivers, notably the Clackamas, in Oregon, where fly-fishing 

 may be practiced at certain favorable times in special locali- 

 ties, the fluvial conditions being more like those of Atlantic 

 rivers. The shorter the rivers, the greater the possibilities 

 for sport. Fourteen Salmon are reported as having been 

 taken from a Clackamas pool in one day by a single rod. 

 The favorite fly is of a reddish cast, though black hackle, 

 coachman, professor, red ibis, and a wine body with brown 

 speckled wings, were all killing flies. June, July, and August 

 were found to be the best months for fly-fishing. 



All of these Pacific Coast fishes have their several peculiari- 

 ties very strongly developed. The snout in the adult males, in 

 summer and fall, is greatly distorted; the prcmaxillaries are 

 prolonged, hooking over the lower jaw, wiiirh in turn is 

 greatly elongated and somewhat hooked at tip; the teeth on 

 these bones are greatl}' enlargetl. The l)od)- becomes deep 

 and compressed, a fleshy lump is developed in fn^it of the 

 dorsal lin, and the scales of the hack bi'conir inil)(.'(l(lr(l In the 



