TROLLING FOR PACIFIC SALMON 



By JAMES E. SAWYERS 



HERE is no better or more 

 beautiful stretch of water 

 for the angler to do battle 

 with the royal chinook, or 

 with his smaller brother, 

 the pertinacious silverside, 

 than in Oregon, where the 

 Umpqua's crystal flow 

 mingles with the salt water 

 of the Pacific. 

 In the bays along the Pa- 

 cific Coast, and as far up their tributa- 

 ries as the tides ebb and flow, these red- 

 meated fish gather on their journey to 

 the spawning shoals. At this time they 

 are vigorous, in prime condition and 

 may be taken by trolling with hand-line 

 or rod and reel. 



In autumn great schools of silver- 

 sides enter the bays and inlets, and wait 

 until the streams are swollen by the 

 fall rains, when the ascent is begun. 

 Instinctively they battle with the turbu- 

 lent waters, often jumping over falls, 

 winding through rugged gorges and 

 performing almost incredible feats in 

 overcoming the furious currents, until 

 the goal, the spawning ground, is 

 reached. 



The chinook begin running early in 

 the spring, when the streams are roily, 

 still swollen, and experience less diffi- 

 culty than the autumnal silverside. 

 However, small runs of this species con- 

 tinue to enter the rivers as late as Sep- 

 tember. The head waters of the streams 

 are beset with continuous rapids which 

 the fish must overcome before the des- 

 tination is reached. Good chinook fish- 

 ing may be had in the channels and 

 eddies where they congregate about 

 April or May, a few being taken at the 

 spawning grounds. 



It is conceded that these fish do not 

 feed after leaving salt water. The fact 



that their bodies become emaciated 

 when in fresh water, throats contracted, 

 stomachs shriveled, with the consequent 

 loss of weight, sustains this theory. 

 This deterioration becomes more evi- 

 dent as the reproductive organs are de- 

 veloped. Yet they manifest a desire to 

 feed, not unlike a dyspeptic, craving 

 something that can not be retained, 

 which explains why they pursue float- 

 ing leaves, flecks of foam, dart at the 

 spoon, and occasionally take a fly. 



Were it not for the extraordinary vi- 

 tality of these fish they could not re- 

 tain strength enough to follow up the 

 streams whose waters rush and swirl 

 through irregular channels and over 

 rugged boulders, plunging under log 

 jams, and over falls many feet high; 

 but the irresistible impulse to go up 

 stream urges the fish to surmount every 

 obstacle. 



The Pacific salmon does not always 

 realize when it has finished spawning, 

 often instinctively continuing these ef- 

 forts until death ends its career. Those 

 that do not die on the spawning-beds 

 are so weak that they drop back to the 

 deep pools where they exist but a few 

 days. They are frequently blind, and 

 covered with a fungus-like growth 

 which attacks the many cuts and abra- 

 sions received when dashing against 

 sharp rocks or rubbing over gravel 

 beds. Truly, they present sorry figures 

 as compared with their condition when 

 in the salt water. 



Most of the trolling is done when the 

 silver salmon are running in the fall, 

 at which time they are near the head 

 of tide water, or in the deep eddies near 

 the rapids. There are, also, enough 

 chinooks about these favorite fishing 

 grounds during this season to render 

 certain the capture of these royal fel- 



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