42 



TJic American Aiij^lcr 



trout for themselves, their friends and to pay 

 expenses of the trip, was just to run down to 

 the coast and sail out on the broad Pacific. 



The legislature who so thoughtfully and in- 

 geniously knocked the hog hole in our trout 

 law ought to come forward now and claim the 

 credit of establishing a new Oregon industry ; 

 the industry of catching bushels of pretty six- 

 inch mountain trout of the briny deep, for the 

 market. 



What Dr. Jordan, our great authority on 

 the Pacific salmonoids, stated of the trout of 

 the Far West, will certainly prove prophetic 

 as to these fish in Oregon waters. He wrote: 

 "This is the last generation of trout-fishers. 

 The children will not be able to find Siuy. The 

 trout that the children will know only by 

 legend is the gold-sprinkled living arrow of 

 the white water ; able to zigzag up the cataract ; 

 able to loiter in the rapids ; whose dainty food 

 is the glancing butterfly." 



In the Eastern States, particularly those of 

 New England, efforts have been made by the 

 fish culturists to open the markets, under 

 stringent regulations, at all seasons for hatch- 

 ery bred trout. Theoretically, the justice of this 

 cannot be questioned. If the law permits 

 fish culture as a licensed business, it should 

 not restrict the sale of its products under 

 proper restrictions, but the great danger arises 

 from the loophole for evasion and fraud, and 

 this fact killed the " all-the-year round" bill. 

 But the ignorance of the Oregon legislators, 

 reinforced by that of a Dogberry, as to the 

 habitat of fingerling trout, will result in more 

 injury to the angling interests of that state 

 than could possibly arise in the East from a 

 carefully constructed law, such as Eastern 

 fish- culturists tried to obtain. 



There is but one way to secure the best 

 legislation for the angling interest. Fish com- 

 missions "out of politics," yet selected through 

 political influence; the disjointed and half- 

 earnest action of fish and game clubs ; the 

 spasmotic protests through the sportsmen's 

 journals and the influence of their editorial 

 columns, have all failed to secure the enforce- 

 ment of game and fish protection. The weak 

 spot is in the angler as an individual; the 

 remedy is in nis own hands, but he fails to use 

 it, just as the laborer does in his struggles to 

 better his condition, wasting the aggregate 

 power of associated labor in vapid speech and 

 selfish and bigoted individuality. If the 

 artisan or mechanic would absolve himself 

 from partisan affiliations and use his franchise 

 to better his class condition, in less than half a 



decade our government would be under the 

 control of labor, resultant in good or evil as 

 the future might unfold. Now, there are 

 nearly 1,000,000 of men in the United States 

 who, at periods more or less frequent, handle 

 either a rod or a hand-line. Let each one of 

 them, before he deposits his ballot, assure 

 himself that it is for a candidate who, if 

 elected, will vote for the protection and prop- 

 agation of fish for food and pastime, the two 

 conditions being identical and inseparable. 

 We could elaborate this view of the subject 

 into columns, did present space permit, but we 

 hope that our angling readers will take it up 

 and give it earnest consideration and enlarge- 

 ment, so that some concerted action may be 

 taken. 



Catching Chub with Blackberries. 



Forty-five years ago, in the Sandy Spring 

 neighborhood, Montgomery County, Md. , my 

 cousin, Edward S. Bond, and I started down 

 Stony branch one Saturday morning about 11 

 o'clock, to catch some fish. We had our tackle 

 in our pockets, our red worms in our boxes, 

 and we cut our rods with our Barlow knives, 

 and fished down stream. The water was per- 

 fectly clear, the sun very hot, and after going 

 several miles, taking a few sun-perch on the 

 way, our bait gave out just as we arrived at 

 one of the most beautiful sheets of water in a 

 bend of the stream, under two grand beeches, 

 with their roots extending far out in the 

 beautiful pool. With all of our industry we 

 could get no bait, and at the time never 

 thought of grasshoppers. We, however, were 

 hard to beat at expedients. Presently Ned 

 said: " Let's try blackberrries." " The very 

 thing," said I, " but get all the small ones you 

 can, for if the fish take them at all, we will 

 make surer work with small ones; we must 

 run the hooks through the caps and let the 

 points of the hook come up through the flesh 

 of the berry." 



We put our vial corks to the depth of two 

 feet, and threw in, and scarcely had they 

 touched the water when away they went. We 

 struck quickly and drew gently in, and landed 

 two beautiful white or fall-fish about 6 or 8 

 inches long. We could see the beautiful rocky 

 bed below. We cast out again and again, but 

 without any result, and finally concluded to 

 lie flat on our faces, and get back from the 

 bank out of sight of the wary beauties, and 



