REPORT OF 8TATE BOARD OF FISII COMMISSIONERS. 89 



probably be found to change back to the original type if propagated in 

 different waters. 



In beauty of color, gracefulness of form and movement, sprightliness 

 when in the water, reckless dash with which it springs from the water 

 to meet the descending fly ere it strikes the surface, and the mad and 

 repeated leaps from the water when hooked, the rainbow trout must 

 ever hold a very high rank. "The gamest fish we have ever seen," 

 writes Dr. Evermann, " was a 16-inch rainbow taken on a fly in a small 

 spring branch tributary of Williamson River in southern Oregon. It 

 was in a broad and deep pool of exceedingly clear water. As the angler 

 from behind a clump of willows made the cast the trout bounded from 

 the water and met the lly in the air a foot or more above the surface; 

 missing it he dropped upon the water, only to turn about and strike 

 viciously a second time at the fly just as it touched the surface; though 

 he again missed the fly, the hook caught him in the lower jaw from the 

 outside, and then began a fight which would delight the heart of any 

 angler. His first effort was to reach the bottom of the pool, then, 

 doubling upon the line, he made three jumps from the water in quick 

 succession, clearing the surface in each instance from one to four feet, 

 and every time doing his utmost to free himself from the hook by 

 shaking his head as vigorously as a dog shakes a rat. Then he would 

 rush wildly about in tlie large pool, now attempting to go down over 

 the riffle below the pool, now trying the opposite direction, and often 

 striving to hide under one or the other of the Imnks. It was easy to 

 handle the fish when the dash was made up or down stream or for the 

 opposite side, but when he turned about and made a rush for the protec- 

 tion of the overhanging bank upon which the angler stood it was not 

 easy to keep the line taut. Movements such as these were frequently 

 repeated, and two more leaps were made. But finally he was worn out 

 after as honest a fight as trout ever made." 



" The rainbow takes the fly so readily that there is no reason for 

 resorting to grasshoppers, salmon eggs, or other bait. It is a fish whose 

 gaminess will satisfy the most exacting of expert anglers and whose 

 readiness to take any proper line will please the most impatient of 

 inexperienced amateurs." 



The steelhead {Sahno rivularU) is a large trout, reaching 12 to 20 

 pounds in weight, found abundantly in river estuaries and sometimes 

 in lakes from Lynn Canal to Santa Barbara. The spent fish abound in 

 the rivers in spring at the time of the salmon run. The species is rarely 

 canned, but is valued for shipment in cold storage. Its bones are much 

 more firm than those of the salmon — a trait unfavorable for canning 

 purposes. The flesh when not spent after spawning is excellent. The 

 steelhead does not die after spawning, as all the Pacific salmon do. 



It is thought by some anglers that the young fish hatched in the 



