218 THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 
THE UNDERSIZE TROUT 
By H. A. THOMSEN, JR. 
The Fish and Game Commission of California is doing some fine 
work in the way of stocking the streams with fish, and after having 
gone to all this work, expense, time and trouble, it is up to the 
angler to be careful of the undersize fish, and return them to their 
natural element with as little injury as possible. 
When I say undersize fish, I mean trout that are less than six 
inches in length. It is unfortunate that the present laws of California 
do not protect them, and it depends upon every fisherman to do 
what the law has failed to enact. 
The utter failure to restore them to the water, or rough restora- 
tion, may be due to ignorance, thoughtlessness, or disregard of fish 
life by novices or persons unworthy of the name of sportsmen, but 
the true angler will always handle the undersize fish so that if 
possible they will survive the unsought-for and unexpected catch. 
The proper and only thing to do is to moisten one’s hands before 
grasping the fish in removing it from the treacherous hook. The dry 
hand removes nature’s protective covering—the slime—from the back 
of the fish and when this occurs, even though they are returned to 
the water, in a little while they will die of fungus. 
We protect our game and birds, also the trees on the mountain- 
side, but are we protecting our fish? There is just as much beauty 
in them as in bird life, and as much grace in action. 
A hunter would not think of shooting into a bevy of half-grown 
quail or a brood of ducklings, and neither should an angler retain, or 
destroy, undersize trout.—Pacific Outdoors. 
Editor’s Note—In Oregon it is unlawful to take trout under six 
inches in length. 
THE DIAMOND BACK RATTLESNAKE 
By Deputy Warpen Rost. H. Youne. 
That the diamond back rattlesnake is on the increase in Morrow 
County is evidenced by the fact that many new dens of these snakes 
are being found. This specie of the rattler is now found in this county 
where a few years ago it was almost extinct. 
While I was returning from interior Oregon recently, after a trip 
into the mountains to take the trail of some Columbia Indians who, 
it had been reported, were killing deer, I and some fellow travelers 
came across one of the most prolific dens of the diamond back rattler 
found in this section of Eastern Oregon in years. 
The den was located on a rocky hill. The day was one of the 
first real warm ones of the season and the snakes had crawled out 
of their home in the shellrock to take their first bath of spring in the 
bright sunlight. My friends and I walked up to this den, because 
years ago snakes were found there, although of late years they had 
seemed to have disappeared. But, sure enough, when we approached 
the opening in the rock cliff, the snakes were there—hundreds of them, 
