THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



THE BLACK SPOT. 



The black spot which it a trait of this Claris trout, is [usually larger 

 and darker on this than the throe others, which are also black-spotted. 



The spots are not quite black, and indeed they become in certain conditions 

 a pale dusky hue. They vary also greatly as to number in different indi- 

 viduals, -'mi'- being thickly sprinkled and others sparsely. Males are more 

 distinctly spotted. I think no man can recognize this trout by his spots 

 alone; yet the spots in their placing, color and peculiarities seem to have 

 a special character — to "belong'"'' to each variety — though it would be hard 

 to say just why. Anglers of Cascade streams have a better chance for 

 comparison than those who. like myself, fish almost wholly in the Coast 

 streams, -where we never see a Kainbow or Dolly. 



THE SMOLT STAGE. 



in April in many westside streams your flies are seized by myriads of 

 little fingerlings that rush eagerly upon them, frequently preventing your 

 catching one legal fish in a day. If you have patience to examine these 

 innocents you'll see that they are as silvery as the big sea-run trout of 

 early winter. Many are young salmon, and not distinguishable by spots or 

 marking from trout. Vou ean easily know them by examining the anal fin. 

 Tn all trout of whatever species you will find not more than eleven (usually 



ten; rays or bones in this fin not counting two short, rudimentary ones 



at the forward margin. In all the salmon there are sixteen — or not lesa 

 than fourteen in any case. 



These smolts. if salmon, we know to be on their way to the sea. The 

 trout in this stage are believed to be making their journey seaward too; 

 but it appears incredible that these little fish of less than an ounce in 

 weight will return only six months later weighing ten to twenty ounces; 

 yet this is the belief of many naturalists. 



If true, it is hardly more marvelous than the growth of the salmon. 

 I have examined the scale-markings on Chinook salmon almost three years 

 old, the specimen weighing then less than one pound. These were reared 

 in captivity at Bonneville, and were not half as big as their brethren who 

 had gone to sea as smolts, six or eight months old. But similar examination 

 of many Chinooks taken from the sea show weights under three pounds at 

 three years old; yet the biggest salmon I examined in 1913, weighing above 

 seventy pounds, showed by microscopic examination of the scales an age 

 of hut four-and-a-half years! 



Other tests made last year showed many fish six years old and upward, 

 which weighed only twenty to thirty pounds. None so far are reported 

 among our western salmon of over seven years old. In Scotland, where 

 many thousand tests have been made, no salmon of above eight years old 

 (by the scale test) has been seen. 



It arjpears certain, and is but natural, that greater numbers of Cutthroat 

 trout go to sea from Oregon waters than any other trout. Streams of the 



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