CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 



73 



for all alike. Anyone who wishes may 

 enjoy the angling which these lakes 

 afford, and fishing conditions will im- 

 prove rather than deteriorate, as they 

 have the past few years. 



THE SPEARING OF STEELHEAD 

 TROUT. 



The most fundamental law of fish and 

 game conservation is the one which pro- 

 vides that fish and game shall be allowed 



can be carried to a pool where large 

 spawning fish are abundant and by feel- 

 ing around with the end of the hook the 

 whole pool can be stripped of its fish. 

 This is seldom possible when a spear is 

 used. The law as it now stands provides 

 that the people of the counties mentioned 

 can capture two fish a day between De- 

 cember 15 and February 15, a sufficient 

 number for use as food. The demand for 

 a more liberal law as regards the method 



Fig. 27. Wild sage hens feeding near Straw, Modoc County. Photograph by G. Courtright. 



to breed undisturbed. We demand that 

 all of our best game birds and mammals 

 be given the best of protection during 

 the breeding season and the closed season 

 is always made to conform to the breeding 

 season. In spite of this situation there 

 are a number of people in the coast coun- 

 ties who are demanding the right to spear 

 steelhead trout while they are on the 

 spawning grounds. Furthermore, they 

 are demanding the right to fish with a 

 gaff, thus increasing many times the de- 

 structive forces already at work. Just as 

 people are seeking a better grade of 

 sportsmanship by advocating the use of a 

 fly rather than bait in capturing fish, 

 just so the tendency should be towards 

 the elimination of such a destructive in- 

 strument as a gaff hook. This instrument 



of capture is in reality a demand for a 

 larger catch at the time of year when 

 fish should have total protection. Every 

 spawning fish killed means a direct loss 

 of thousands of young fish. Furthermore, 

 it is always the largest and therefore the 

 heaviest spawners that are taken by 

 means of a spear or gaff. 



As far as possible each section of the 

 country should be allowed to utilize its 

 wild life resources, but destruction of 

 such resources can not be permitted. 



It will be necessary, ultimately, to pro- 

 hibit the destruction of fish during the 

 spawning season. The move to take a 

 larger toll of the spawning steelhead 

 throughout the state is therefore directly 

 contrary to natural law and a depletion 

 of the streams is sure to follow. 



