492 Roosevelt irUd Life Bulletin 



fish with Httle thought of where the fish came from and whether 

 more are to follow. 



\ et even with ail the tremendous resources of in'and waters, game 

 fishing, that is, for fish that l;attle fierce!}- with the angler, has 

 gradually become restricted to the less accessible places. Trout 

 fishing has always largely been confined to turbulent streams and 

 mountain 'akes. But how often does one hear the regretful ex- 

 c-am.ation: '"Fished out!'' The angler himself is to blame: not 

 he individually, but his kind. There have been many fishermen, 

 but too few sportsmen. In the wonderful trout streams all through 

 the Rockies we see the same discouraging results. In the popu- 

 lated areas the streams are now fished out, while in distant but 

 readily accessible regions the numbers and size of the fish have de- 

 cided}' decreased. Throughout Idaho, for instance, the mountain 

 streams in their lower reaches have been fished so thoroughly that 

 a two-pounder trout has become a rarity. The old settlers tell o£ 

 four- and five-pounders, even of eight-pounders, but the present 

 generation does not know them. True, the streams are still plen- 

 tifully restocked, chiefly through the efitorts of the fish hatcheries : 

 but what are the chances of a trout against thousands of anglers 

 when each wants to catch his legal imit every day, regardless of 

 whether he can use them all ? No propagation, natural or arti- 

 ficial, be it ever so thorough, can keep pace when anglers catch 

 at the rate of sixty to a hundred fi.sh a day. 



Just consider for a moment what it means to raise a trout under 

 natural conditions ! The eggs are laid in great numbers in shallow 

 rapids, to be carried passively by the current. They become trapped 

 in the interstices between the rocks and there go through their de- 

 velopment. But before this the eggs may become the prey of larger 

 fish; they may be crushed between rocks, or si'-ted over; they may 

 be carried by the flood water to some lateral pool, to dr}- up later 

 with the pool or perish from lack of aeration ; or they may become a 

 prey to parasites or to a fungus ( Saprolegnia) that attacks the eggs 

 of ?lm3St any freshwater animal. 



If the eggs survive, they hatch into fry that carr}- their food with 

 them in a small yolk sac. \\'hen this stored food, received from the 

 parent, is used up by the fry they hunt the shallows in quest of sma'l 

 insects, diatoms and other minute food. But here they are exposed to 

 predacious insects and larger fish, to the action of molar agents, such 

 as winds, waves and currents, all of which combine to render their 

 life precarious. Parasites, too, lurk in the shallows. Everxthing 

 considered, it is surprising that so many do survive. But it takes 



