LET US GO AFIELD 



might make their way in numbers to the upper 

 waters of the Rogue River. Other towns, more de- 

 pendent upon the commercial fisheries, are in favor 

 of leaving the nets at the mouth of the river. Some- 

 times there is a compromise measure on the statute 

 books, under which commercial fishermen are al- 

 lowed to net salmon at the mouth of the river but 

 are obliged to return to the water all the steelheads 

 taken in the nets. It is easily predicable what the 

 result of this sort of law would be, and indeed is 

 the steelheads do not get returned to the ocean but 

 find their way into tin cans with other salmon. 



These things being as they are, it is without ques- 

 tion true to say that the supply of steelhead salmon 

 in the Rogue River is far less now than was once 

 the case. The usual American custom is to use the 

 gifts of Nature unsparingly. To an unprejudiced 

 observer this does not seem the best form of business 

 practice. The Rogue River, full of steelhead, in 

 these days of increasing travel and decreasing sport, 

 very soon would be one of the best publicity agents 

 and one of the best revenue producers which Oregon 

 could have. 



As it was and as it is, however, the steelhead ang- 

 ling on the Rogue River is one of the most exciting 

 forms of angling practiced in any land indeed is 

 one of the most difficult and dangerous. It far and 



52 



