THE GAME PISHES OP THE WOELD 



enTironment.i If a typical rainbow, a steelhead and several 

 other trout are placed side by side a wonderful contrast is seen. 

 The steelhead is long, slender and silvery with fewer spots ; his 

 head is pointed ; the eye seemingly near the end of the snout ; the 

 head in the females insignificant in proportion to the body. The 

 scales of the steelhead are larger than in the rainbow, smaller 

 than in the cut-throat. The tail in the young fish is forked, and 

 in the adult more forked than in the rainbow. But it is a powerful 

 organ, as I know full well, having on several occasions re- 

 ceived an extraordinary amount of water full in the face, as 

 I attempted to net the fish. 



In salmon fishing in the beautiful bay of Monterey I have 

 seen the big steelheads lying beneath the floating kelp four or 

 five miles offshore, evidently with the salmon feeding on the 

 schools of anchovies prior to making the long trip up the Sacra- 

 mento, Eussian, Eogue, Klamath, or American rivers. 



Unquestionably, the steelhead is the king of the Pacific Coast 

 trouts. The life in the ocean gives him vigour and fighting 

 strength, and when fought fairly, and by this I mean with a rod 

 whose weight is proportioned to his size, he will give the angler 

 a battle royal. It is here that many a trout is condemned 

 without reason. A half-pound steelhead is murdered on an 

 eight- or ten-ounce rod, and the angling novice will condemn 

 its fighting qualities ; but if the same fish is taken with a two- 

 or three-ounce rod it is a different matter. 



I have taken the steelhead in many streams of North America, 

 and the Soquel and San Lorenzo, on the north side of the bay of 

 Monterey, appeal to me for their beauty of situation, as mere 

 angling without attractive environment becomes ' fishing.' 

 Tour real angler goes not after fish alone ; he leaves this feature 

 to the professional fisherman. To enjoy true sport one must 

 have a picturesque river, beautiful scenery ; and this remarkable 

 bit of country south of San Prancisco, where the redwoods end, 

 is, to my mind, made for the angler. 



^ It is poBsible that this is a different fish. 

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