THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 109 
DON’T EAT THE NEST EGG! 
Cart G. Jounson Tells Why You Should Leave the Trout in Big Lake for Awhile. 
It was with a feeling that the worst had happened that I read in the 
last Sportsman a vivid description of the wonderful fishing to be had 
in Big Lake and the surrounding lakes. Being one of those responsible 
in starting the planting of trout in the Cascade Mountain lakes, of 
which there are several hundred, I have watched carefully their pro- 
gress and growth, and it is with sincere regret that I am told and 
now see published stories and pictures of the big catches of the same 
trout that were transported at a great expense of money and labor by 
pack horses, over many miles of rough mountain trails. 
A party of three men caught several hundred trout out of Santiam 
Lake in the summer of 1913 — one year after planting. They reported 
that these trout were of uniform size averaging about eleven inches 
in length. These were the fish planted the year previous and were 
never given a chance to spawn. 
Big Lake was stocked with Eastern brook trout in 1913. In the 
course of a year the fish had attained an average length of nearly 
twelve inches. Last summer, only two years after they had been liber- 
ated, they had grown to be as large as eighteen and one-quarter inches. 
Good fishing in a great many of these truly wonderful lakes has been 
delayed for many years as a result of fishermen catching the original 
fish before they have had time to spawn. Pansy Lake, near Bagsby 
Hot Springs, is an example, and a little farther south, near Pike’s Peak, 
Mushkoko Lake. Both were stocked in 1912. Many hundreds were 
caught in 1913 out of each lake and the rest were practically all caught 
in the summer of 1914. It is to be hoped that some escaped. A friend, 
at my request, tried Pansy Lake last summer, but he could not get a 
rise, although he tried spoons, dry flies and bait. 
In the article referred to above the author makes the statement, in 
appreciation of the work of the Fish and Game Commission, that “if 
there are any doubting Thomases who think the fish hatcheries are 
not a good asset and not worthy of their support, they should give this 
and the surrounding lakes the ‘once over’ and be satisfied.” It occurs 
to me that our appreciation of the work of the commission would be 
better shown by allowing the natural propagation to continue until 
well established, as was intended, rather than by undoing what has 
already been accomplished. The only protection which these young 
fish have at present is the inaccessibility of the lakes and the fact that 
their location is not generally known to sportsmen. Those mountain 
lakes are natural spawning grounds for trout, with abundant food and 
being free from, other fish, so that, if given a fair chance to increase, 
the angling will be second to none in the whole country. 
There are between twenty-five and forty lakes which have not as 
yet been stocked and it is to be hoped that the Oregon Fish and Game 
Commission will complete the task that was so well begun by Mr. 
Finley, Mr. Cranston and the 1912 commission. In this connection let 
me suggest that suitable notices, giving the date of planting, posted 
near these lakes for the benefit of the uninformed, would assist ma- 
terially in this effort. 
Let us then refrain from catching any large number of trout from 
those recently stocked, and in a few years’ time we will have most 
excellent sport that will also be permanently established, and the joy 
of landing a large speckled beauty will not be marred by the thoughts 
of depriving fellow sportsmen in future years of that same pleasure. 
“It never pays to eat the nest egg or the seed potatoes.” 
