m 



The boys got me to talking about the trout 

 fishing in the upper Pecos River, where it 

 rises in the northern part of New Mexico 

 in the midst of the Pecos National Forest ; 

 of fishing in the streams of the middle 

 part region of Colorado where the State 

 helps to protect the fish and will not allow 

 lumber driving, which digs up and tears 

 out the streams beds; and best of all, 

 of the "Dolly Varden" and rainboe trout 

 in the McCloud River in California where 

 it flows down from the glaciers on the side 

 of Mount Shasta. I told them how the 

 Dolly Varden would not rise to the fly, 

 but how it fought when once hooked with 

 a bait of salmon eggs, for it has cannibal 

 tendencies. The rainbow trout readily 

 rises to the fly, but it is easier to land. 



BOUT this time the smallest boy 

 J\ brought in a bass, and then there 

 * arose a dispute as to who should 

 measure him, for according to the 

 State law those which are not up to 

 standard length have to be put back. 

 One of 4 the boys claimed that because he 

 caught it, it was his right to measure it. 

 The other one used the same asis for his 

 argument that since he hadn't caught it, 

 he ought to measure it. After it was 

 settled by having one hold the bass while 

 the other held the little steel folding rule, 

 the bass was found to be too short and 

 was put back in the water, diving down 

 with what the youngest said was a last 

 "wink" with his tail. 



For a long time there were no more 

 bites until finally I got a fish, which was 

 of legal age and size. We counted on 

 taking him home in triumph. But it was 

 like the largest fish which always gets 

 away, only it got away in a new and un- 

 expected manner. We were keeping it 

 alive in a large pail to show to mother and 



sisters at home, and I had just spoken of 

 the fact that the sun was getting low, and 

 that it must surely be near supper time, 

 when the youngest went to the edge of 

 the water and poured fish-and-all into 

 the stream. His explanation seemed 

 perfectly good, to him at least, for he said 

 that he had put it back so the oldest could 

 catch one; that he and father had each 

 had a chance. 



Needless to say, nobody caught any 

 more, and we went home empty-handed 

 and were met with jeers at being such 

 poor fishermen, and with the further very 

 true statement that if we had stayed home 

 we would at least have had the garden all 

 dug up. 



YET I felt that the time had not been 

 lost after all; that we had learned 

 how the fish were dependent on 

 the forests for pure, clear water 

 and right living conditions. We had 

 reviewed all of the ways that injury to the 

 forests had hurt the fish. At one ex- 

 treme, for example, are the terribly 

 devastating fires like the great Miramichi 

 fire of 1825 in New Brunswick, which 

 burned along eighty miles of the Mira- 

 michi River in a belt that was twenty-five- 

 miles wide. Those who saw the place 

 afterwards said that the fish were found 

 dead in heaps on the river banks. At the 

 other extreme, possibly, is the cutting 

 away of the brush from the banks and 

 headwaters of the little trout brooks by 

 those fishermen who think only of their 

 comfort for the present, and not of the 

 good of the fisherman who may be there 

 after them. We had spoken of how im- 

 purities which came into the streams from 

 factories and cities destroyed all except 

 the poorest sorts of fish ; and we realized 

 one more way in which forests may be 

 useful to man and may help in his pleas- 

 ure and recreation. 







