66 



"Oh, Ranger!" 



testify. These baby trout are known as fry. When the ranger with a 

 can of fry arrives at a lake to be stocked, he gradually fills the can with 

 water from the lake, to accustom the little fish to the temperature of the 



water so that the dive into their new home 

 will not be too great a shock to them. 



It takes several years after a barren water 

 is stocked with fry before it becomes a good 

 place for fishing. Hence the planting of fish 

 must precede the building of trails or roads 

 which make the lake or stream accessible to 

 the angler. There are planted each year in 

 the national parks about six million baby 

 trout. This is but a small beginning com 

 pared to the billion nearly grown trout which 

 Mr. Hoover and the Izaak Walton League 

 would like to have planted each year, but it 

 is a start. Of course, the various states plant 

 many other millions of fish. The propagation of fish has passed beyond 

 the experimental stage. It has been demonstrated in the national parks 

 that it is possible to keep more trout in the streams and lakes than the 

 anglers can pull out with the aid of flies, spinners, and other lures, not 

 overlooking the humble angleworm, who is frowned upon in the best 

 circles but who manages to retain his standing with small boys every 

 where and with certain other older fisher folk from "down East." 



In the national parks the rangers, in the course of their plantings, 

 have learned some interesting and important facts about the rearing of 

 fish. One of the most fundamental lessons is that it is unwise to mix 

 breeds of trout in the same lake or stream unless their habits of life be 

 quite similar. All fish, and trout in particular, are cannibalistic. The 

 trout must be protected not only from destruction by greedy humans or 

 by stream pollution, but also from other members of the finny tribe. 

 Consequently, it is advisable in the parks to reserve a certain water for 

 a particular variety of fish and raise another kind somewhere else. That 

 system makes the sport more interesting for anglers, too. 



Yellowstone Park gives an illustration of this. The native trout of 

 the Yellowstone is the cutthroat, or the redthroat, as Dr. Henry van 

 Dyke says the species should be called. He is a fine, gamy fish, grow 

 ing to good size, a popular trout with anglers. In the early days, before 

 the authorities had studied trout propagation, other trouts were imported 

 and planted in the same waters with the cutthroat. The rainbow was 

 brought from California, the brook trout from the Atlantic Coast 

 streams, and the Loch Leven from more distant points. The cutthroats 

 and the rainbows spawn in the spring. The trout brought from the East 



