106 THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 
ing on the status of net fishing at the mouth of the river. Some of the 
Oregon towns think that all netting ought to be stopped, so that the 
steelheads can make their way in numbers to the upper waters of the 
rivers. Other towns, more dependent on the commercial fisheries, are 
in favor of leaving the nets at the mouths of the rivers. Sometimes 
there is a compromise measure on the statute books, under which 
commercial fishermen are allowed to net salmon at the mouth of the 
river, but are obliged to return to the water all the steelheads taken 
in the nets. 
It is easily predicable what the result of this sort of law would 
be and, indeed, is: the steelheads are not always returned to the 
ocean, but sometimes find their way into tin cans. The usual Ameri- 
can custom is to use the gifts of Nature unsparingly. To an unpreju- 
diced observer this does not seem the best form of business practice. 
The Rogue River, full of steelheads, would in these, days of increasing 
travel and decreasing sport very soon be one of the best publicity 
agents and one of the best revenue producers Oregon could have. 
As it was and as it is, however, steelhead angling on Rogue River 
is one of the most exciting forms of angling practiced in any land—one 
of the most difficult and dangerous. It far and away surpasses salmon 
angling in all the qualities of skill and daring required for success. It 
has been the fortune of the writer to fight a forty-pound salmon on 
the Grand Cascapedia, of Quebec; and surely in dignity and splendor 
there is no sport with the rod entitled to the palm over that form of 
salmon angling. None the less, it is free of risk and is pursued under 
conditions of ease and comfort, as well as of safety. The excitement 
lies in the combat between the man and the fish, 
In this Rogue River angling for steelhead the case is quite other- 
wise. The combat between man and fish is there, but also the combat 
between man and Nature—Nature bent on destruction; Nature riotous 
and uncontrolled. The angler for the steelhead must take his life in 
his hands when he wades into that mountain torrent in pursuit of his 
sport. There are a few places on the river where a boat can be used, 
but boat fishing for steelhead is not de riguer and, indeed, is practically 
unknown. It is wading angling raised to the nth degree. Of all the 
angling in the world it is of the highest class in those qualities requir- 
ing courage and skill alike. Push it just beyond its natural status of 
risk and it would no longer be sport. 
The Rogue River wader for steelhead risks his life no matter how 
good a swimmer he is. The water runs from two to twenty feet in 
depth, and the river in many places is more than a hundred yards wide, 
while the momentum of the downcoming flood is something enormous. 
Any man who knows the downthrust of even a smallish rapid stream 
will know how to estimate the strength of this tremendous river. More- 
over, the footing is not always very secure. 
Deep Wading for Steelhead 
This is lava country, and there are great rifts of lava rock lying 
like flat dams here and there almost entirely across the course of the 
river, These may alternate with what the local men call smooth rock, 
which offers at best only slithery footing for the wader. Now and 
again there are cross cracks or upthrust boulders of lava that send 
the water up in foam. Again, there are long gravel reaches, where 
deep and silent pools give the river a rest. 
The trout fisher naturally takes to the rapid water. Knee-deep 
seems pretty deep on some of these white-water channels; hip-deep is 
