88 THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 
undoubtedly a contributary cause of poor fishing. Hatchery operations 
show an annual increase in recent years in the number of steelhead 
planted, but need enlargement. 
The natural food supply in the Rogue is abundant. Fish culturists 
state that it exceeds all other streams in variety and quantity of fish 
food—and the rapid growth and prime condition of the fish proves the 
assertion. 
In average years there is an abundance of water in the Rogue. 
Clear and sparkling its quality, fed from mountain springs and melting 
snows, is unsurpassed. Its temperature is now even in the summer 
months, averaging at the Elk Creek hatchery a mean of 52 for June, 
55 for July and 56 for August. In years of deficient rainfall, the quantity 
of water flowing shows a marked decrease and the temperature a 
marked raise, particularly in the lower river. 
The steelhead is an anadromous fish —that is, one that ascends 
from the sea at regular intervals, and the volume of discharge of the 
fresh water probably governs its attractiveness. When low, the water 
of the lower portion of the stream becomes warm and repels rather 
than attracts the fish, which delay ascent until spawning time. That 
this is the cause also with chinook salmon was shown in 1915, a dry 
year, very few chinook coming up stream, although there was a large 
run at the mouth, the fish lurking in the deep pools of the lower river 
until forced by nature to rush toward the spawning beds. On September 
1st there were remarkably few chinook at the Elk Creek hatchery, yet 
the, take of chinook eggs at the close of the season a few weeks later 
was the largest in recent years. The steelhead and silverside salmon 
did not come into the river in any quantity before November—evidently 
delaying their fresh water jaunt until forced by nature to enter for 
spawning, 
That the stage of the water in the river has more or less to do 
with the quantity of fish seems more than probable, after a study of 
stream conditions. Records published by the State Engineer in ‘‘Water 
Resources of Oregon,’ show the flow of Rogue River for the past ten 
years. The stream discharge for the season is given at Gold Ray in 
second feet (the season being computed from October 1 to October 1) 
as follows: 
Max. Flood Mean Daily 
Year. Discharge. Discharge. 
1906-07 oo. 2 wesc OE een 4S:300 S000. HH. BIL SU: PRS 4,250 
1907-08. COR Peet eee Bee ZO AO tc nots. vee sa apt beep ween 3,140 
1908-09) Scie A ee are ae aa PAT Re eae Re BER Solr eee 3,550 
TOOGELO. otis oh ct Sea cheat een tae AS po OU Aretnase al «reer a ahaha mache 3,670 
1910-14. cc bak ee eae eee 31,000. ... i ARR eee 3,110 
LOWT=12 8525 2 SEAS E See eeee ete 35,000)... Sch. Sees Beale 3,530 
1912-13 ..:.: : gee beeen ASOD ee tet aie eit hea ahs 3,050 
1013-14) 2 2h tt eee ee 2A 2OO sor pueit as Rs ecules eee 2,850 
191 4-1 cs wand crusted tasuateiaees ares ODO soca tacudeae «trae plorka ethene ee 1,764 
Any angler who consults his diary will find that the best fishing 
years were 1907, 1909, 1910 and 1912, while 1908 and 1913 were fair 
years, and the year 1911, the year of forest fires, the first of the two 
years the stream was closed to all commercial fishing as the result of 
the initiative bill passed in 1910, and the years 1914 and 1915 afforded 
poor angling, the latter the poorest on record, 
Consulting the above table, it is apparent that wet years, years of 
flood and water and high average value of water, were the best fishing 
years, and dry years the poorest; that the quantity of steelhead 
varied with the volume of water in the river. 
