30 American Fisheries Society 



rainfall, the wash from cultivated fields also makes the streams 

 unfit for trout. It would be a good idea for farmers and others 

 interested in fish and fish life to plant willow and tag alder along 

 the streams, making shade for the fish. 



I have one trout stream in mind in Wisconsin that in years 

 gone by attracted more sportsmen and men of note than any 

 other. Some thirty years ago when visiting this stream, I 

 observed that it was bordered by a dense forest of pine and 

 hemlock trees. Trees frequently were found fallen across the 

 stream and logs and brush formed pools — ideal hiding places for 

 trout. Several well-to-do sportsmen from nearby cities bought 

 small tracts of land along the stream and built elaborate summer 

 homes and others built cottages, and in time there got to be quite 

 a settlement along the stream. Practically all of the marketable 

 timber had been cut, except the small areas that were privately 

 owned and used as sites for summer homes. 



The time came when the sportsmen thought the river ought to 

 be cleared of all brush and logs so they would be able to fish from 

 the bank of the stream and also be more convenient to wade to 

 catch the fish. All those having an interest in the stream got 

 together and raised a sum of money to have the stream cleared of 

 all logs and brush. A man was hired to do the work and the 

 result was not what the sportsmen desired. The condition of the 

 stream was so altered and the former haunts of trout removed, 

 that today there is not one trout in the stream where formerly 

 there were twenty. The man who cleaned the stream kept a 

 resort and acted as guide for the accommodation of the many 

 sportsmen who visited the stream each year. Two years ago 

 he made the remark that he had been guilty of ruining his own 

 business and the reputation of the stream by accepting the con- 

 tract to clean out the river. He drove the fish away by destroying 

 their hiding places. 



Personally, I do not feel that we are getting as good results 

 from trout planting today as we did twenty or thirty years ago. 

 In the earlier days when the streams were first stocked there was 

 an abundance of insect life in the water, upon which the trout 

 seemed to thrive and grow much faster and larger than they have 

 in the past fifteen years. In the earlier times small fish, such as 

 shiners and others, on which the larger trout fed, were more 



