THE ORBGON SPORTSMAN 25 
yearling stages. In swiftly running streams I do not think the steel- 
head has anything on the rainbow, but in the still waters of inland 
lakes there is no question but that the steelhead far outfights its 
scrappy cousin, and rises much more readily to the artificial lure. 
All things considered, I really believe the steelhead trout to be the 
hardest fighting salmon in the world. One real, sound, logical reason 
for this belief is the fact that it is the most nervous and excitable 
of all the species handled by fishcultural operations. The other reasons 
you’ll know when you’ve hooked fast to one. It is a free-rising fish, 
taking the artificial fly in both lake and stream, when conditions are 
favorable for this method of angling. In those lakes where the water, 
even on the surface, stays fairly cool during the warmer weather, fly- 
fishing will prove successful throughout the entire summer. If the 
surface water becomes so warm that they cannot come up into this 
higher temperature, then of course deep trolling or still-fishing must 
be resorted to in order to locate the fish. When hooked, this fish 
makes at once for the surface, where it leaps repeatedly clear of the 
water, shaking itself madly in an attempt to throw the hook. Its 
fighting tactics are all its own, and its many unlookedfor and eccentrie 
rushes will keep the most finished disciple of Izaak Walton on the 
jump from the time it is hooked until safe within the creel or boat. 
Of all the varieties of trout and salmon it is the most nearly ideal 
of any for artificial propagation. And it should especially appeal to 
those who may be contemplating the establishment of a small hatchery 
for stocking their preserves, for its spring spawning habit means that 
the hatchery need only be in operation from April or May until some 
time in the fall. This spawning in the early spring at such times as 
most streams are running full makes this fish a most valuable one for 
planting in Eastern lakes or ponds, for in this section of the country 
the smaller tributary streams are usually so nearly dry during the fall 
months that fish like the brook or brown trout are seldom able to 
reach their spawning grounds, and consequently there is little increase 
through natural reproduction. At the Tuxedo Club’s fisheries in 
Southern New York, the taking of eggs from domesticated steelhead 
breeders usually begins the middle of March and lasts about four 
weeks. The collection of eggs from wild fish in the Tuxedo Lakes 
coming somewhat later, though never extending beyond the 10th of 
May. The fish that are held in the hatchery pools for breeding pur- 
poses develop their first eggs at the age of 3 years, though physical 
maturity is not reached until two years later. These eggs taken in 
the spring when the water is rising in temperature, develop exceed- 
ingly rapid and hatch usually in not more than six weeks from the 
time when they are taken. The fry are ravenous feeders, and as they 
put on growth quickly are fully as large by fall as those fish result- 
ing from eggs collected in October or November. Its comparative 
freedom from parasitic diseases, and especially from fungus, makes 
it a species well worth more attention from the different Fish Com- 
missions than at present. In over sixteen years of daily experiment- 
ing with the steelhead, my only losses to speak of have been from 
diseases of an obscure nervous origin. Although having been handled 
over and over again in hatchery work, the steelhead never seems to 
lese its fear of man, and even those fish that are the product of sev- 
eral generations of so-called domesticated trout, are as timid and 
easily frightened as those that have never known the incubation trough 
or hatchery pool. Of course this is somewhat of a disadvantage in the 
work of rearing this fish in captivity, on account of feeding and the 
cleaning of the pools; but it certainly does add to its attractiveness 
