§68 
FOREST : AND « STREAM. 
[May 12, 1900. 
Fish in the Colorado. 
At all times of the year the water in the Colorado 
River carries enormous masses of silt, probably more than 
any other river of its size in the United States. Tt is so 
mud-laden that at no time, even in mid-winter, when the 
flow is reduced to a minimum, is it possible to see into the 
water, but notwithtsanding the amount of sediment car- 
ried, the river is reasonably well stocked with fish. Few 
of these, however, are really fit for the white man's table, 
the flesh, on account of the mud and heat, being soft and 
tasteless. The market, in consequence, is extremely 
limited, the demand being wholly local. This applies to 
whites only, for with the Indians everything goes, from a 
strangled dog to a dead horse. 
The largest fish in the river is locally known as Colorado 
salmon. The largest one to come under my notice 
weighed 19 pounds, but I have been told that they are 
occasionally taken even larger. The head is of immense 
size. It will average about one-third the entire length 
of the fish, and will weigh probably as much. The flesh 
is soft, white and insipid. When hooked they show but 
little fight, and can be landed almost as easily when 
newly caught as when dead. This fact is characteristic 
of nearly every fish in the river. A small green leech, 
identified by Dr. J. Percy Moore, of Philadelphia, as be- 
longing to the genus Piscicolaria, is parasitic on this fish. 
They attach themselves to the sides of the body, usually 
back of the fins, and not unfrequently in the mouth. 
Sometimes eight or ten specimens can be taken from one 
body. 
Another native of the river is the humpback sucker, a 
fish said to be much sought after by the Indians. They 
attain a length of about 20 inches and a weight of 5 or 6 
pounds. They are much the color of a Spanish mackerel 
and are accounted "the best fish in the river," but just 
why I am unable to say. The flesh is perhaps a little 
firmer than in the other species, but to the average mortal 
the line of distinction is not plain. At present these fish 
are affected by disease and are dying in large numbers. 
For miles their dead bodies can be seen, belly upward, 
along the river. The cause of the epidemic is probably to 
be found in the spring rise of the river, but why I cannot 
determine. Even of that I cannot be sure, for no other 
species is aft'ecfed. When examined, before death, the 
lower sides of bodj' and sides of the tail are covered with 
raw, red blotches about J4 inch in diameter. When 
affected, they come to the surface of the water, move 
about as if half dead, turn over and die. 
The gamiest fish in the river is the German carp, bul 
-that is not sa}ang much. Their presence here is due to 
Government stocking the water with them some years 
ago. They are very plentiful in the back waters of the 
Colorado, as well as in the river itself. From S to 6 
pounds is the average weight when full grown. During 
the spring and summer freshets the Gila Valley overflowi 
for a mile beyond the channel, and when . these waters 
recede tons of fish are left to die and rot on the land. 
Generally the yare small, not more than 6 or 8 inches in 
length, and almost invariably the number of dead carp ex- 
ceed the others many times to one. The large fish follow the 
channel of the retreating waters, and escape with much 
less loss than do the smaller ones. Cormorants, bitterns, 
herons, pelicans, buzzards and ravens have a picnic while 
it lasts. 
Within the past two years catfish have appeared ill the 
. Colorado, hereabouts. The town of Yuma stands in an 
angle formed by the Gila River entering the Colorado 
east of the town. It is down the Gila the catfish are said 
to have come. I was told by parties from Silver City, 
N. M., that some years since two ranchers built a reser- 
voir on Duck Creek, near that place, and that later it 
was torn out by a flood. It had been stocked with cat- 
fish, and as the creek empties into the Gila the river had 
been stocked with them almost from one end to the 
other, Ee that as it may, they are here. As this river 
crosses southern Arizona from one side to the other, much 
of its water is diverted for agricultural purposes. The 
sun and the sand generally manage to abosrb what re- 
mains long before it reaches its confluence with the 
Colorado, except during the flood periods. At such times 
it is wild and unruly and pours down its channel in 
great volumes. It was on such an occasion, during the 
spring of 1898, that the fish are said to have reached here. 
Back water from the Colorado flows into the channel of 
the Gila to a distance of about five miles, and although 
this water is apparently dead, and more than warm during 
the latter half of the summer, it seems to be a favorite 
water for catfish, carp, humpbacked suckers and bony- 
tails. The largest catfish thus far taken is said to have 
weighed 4 pounds, but 2 to 3 pounds is about the 
average. A year ago the average length did not exceed 6 
inches. 
The trimmest built fish of them all is one known as 
bony-tail. He is fashioned to make his home in the 
strongest of currents, is about 12 inches long and silver 
white in color, but, because of the almost numberless 
bones in the latter half of the body, undesirable for food. 
So far as I know, the foregoing are the only fish to be 
found hereabouts, but lower down toward the Gulf, where 
the water has a smack of the ocean, is a fisherman's 
paradise. I have been told that all a man has to do in the 
way of fishing is to call for %vhat he wants and get what 
he calls for. 
When other food is scarce, the Yuma Indians draw on 
"the rivers to a liberal extent, and to them everything is 
fish that comes to their nets. In other latitudes, where 
the waters are less turbid with mud than those here, to 
be expert as a fisher an Indian must be expert with a 
spear, but on the Colorado and lower Gila the work is 
done with nets. These are usually from 4 to 6 feet long 
and 2 to .3 feet wide, and are held against the current by 
the fisherman with a stick at either end. He generally 
.stands in the water about hip deep and waits patiently 
till he feels a fish .strike against the net. When this 
occurs he seldom fails to land it. If too far from the 
bank he threads it on a thong tied about his waist, and is 
ready for the next comer. Although naked, with the ex- 
ception of a gee string, the fisherman stands in the 
broiling hot sun for hours at a time, No white skin 
can stand for five minutes what they can stand for as 
many hours, but I guess it is "aS in the raising." 
Occasional. 
YoMA, Ariz., April 26, 
[All the fish mentioned by our correspondent — except 
the catfish — ^belong to the Cy'prtnidce or chub family. The 
humpbacked sucker is known scientifically as Xyrauchen 
cypho (Lockington). It is an inhabitant of the Basin of 
the Colorado and Gila rivers. The Colorado salmon is 
the largest of the American Cyprinida;, and is said occa- 
sionally to run up to 80 pounds in weight, and is regarded 
as having some value as a food fish. Its scientific name is 
Pfychocheilus Iticius, Girard. The bony-tail is known 
also as the "Gila trout." It takes its generic name from 
the river in which it lives, and is called Gila elegans, 
Baird & Girard.] 
JAn^Early Start. 
It was 10 o'clock, and Mr. and Mrs. Piper were closing 
■the house for the night preparatory to going to bed. 
'Tt does seem to me," Mrs. Piper. was saying, per- 
suasively, "that you might get up quietly in the morning 
and make a cup of coffee for yourself, and go fishing for 
once Avithout a hot breakfast if you must start at 4 
o'clock. 
■'All right, all right, Mandy ! Just leave a sandwich 
by my bait box. We've got a quart of the dandiest 
angleworms" 
"Angle worms!" ejaculated Mrs. Piper. 'Any one 
would think you were about twelve years old, and your 
brother David isn't one whit better. If either of you had 
to dig potatoes a half-day you would think you were 
killed." 
'T reckon not, Mandy; for there are fine worms m a 
good field of potatoes." 
"The squirmy things! Do you mean to say that you 
have a quart in that can? I believe you could be ar- 
rested for cruelty to animals.'' 
"There's plenty of dirt in with them. Say, Mandy, 
don't you want me to go fishing? Because if you don't 
I'll dump the bait in the garden and telephone David not 
to come round." 
"Want vou to go!" gasped Mrs. Piper. "I shall die if 
you don't go. Besides, David's wife said to me yesterday 
that it seemed to her she must have some bass, for they 
had had them only nineteen times this spring." 
"Sounds a little sarcastic, don't it? Well, David has 
been fishing pretty often, that's a fact. Can't say as I 
blame Lecta for not seeing him oft' mornings. David 
never fished any when he was a hoy, and he's trying to 
make up tor lost time. It's about all the fun I get, 
Mandy. Oft' on the road all the time. Kind of spoils it 
if you aren't in it. Don't you see?" 
If Mrs. Piper did see she did not say so, and Mr. Piper 
continued: 
"Now, to-morrow morning I am going to crawl out like 
a mouse about 4 o'clock. I don't want you to stir. When 
you wake I shall be gone, and half-way up the river 
with, like enough, a string of bass." 
Mrs. Piper smiled as she prepared a sandwich and 
nade some coffee ready. "You will only have to pour 
the hot water on this, and let it boil up, and you will 
remember to turn out the gasoline, and lock the back 
t^.oor, and go out the front way." 
"Yes, that's all right, honey. I guess I have been a 
little hard on you lately. Been three times this week. But 
to-morrow we have it all planned to stop at Pettibone's 
pasture for grasshoppers, and we have to get an early 
start," said Mr. Piper, as he wound the alarm clock. "I 
am going to set it at 3 :30." 
"That will wake me all right," said Mrs. Piper, pleas- 
antly. 
"That's so," confessed Mr. Piper; but he knew he could 
never wake up without it. "Do you think it would if I 
put it on the floor by my side of the bed, and put my 
coat over it? I shall wake at the slightest noise. You 
see, those grasshoppers in Pettibone's" 
''Do you mean, John, that you and David are going to 
Pettibone's pasture and catch the grasshoppers your- 
selves?" 
"Grasshoppers, my dear, are out bright and early, and 
it's the early bird that" 
"I wish some early bird with a camera would catch 
you two rheumatic old fellows out in the fields at day- 
light swooping around the grass like a couple of 
children. You would make a good picture for a comic 
weekly." 
"What do you want to poke fun at me all the time for? 
If you wanted to go I shouldn't say anything." 
"If heaven spares me my senses you will never have a 
chance," were Mrs. Piper's last words, as she smiled her- 
self to sleep. 
Promptly at 3. ,30 the muflled whir that was to break 
Mr. Piper's slumbers broke also upon Mrs. Piper's 
dreams, but she maintained a resolute calm in order to 
watch his heroic departure. 
Mr. Piper's exit from the bed was certainly a master- 
piece that any well-regulated family of rodents might be 
proud to call their own, but his subsequent career re- 
minded the sleeping Mrs. Piper of the conduct of a 
certain fox terrier, which seemed to never allow an>i:hing 
to escape its notice. Mr. Piper missed nothing. The 
bureau drawers and the closet doors bore testimony to 
his scrutiny. His clothing was all in its proper place, 
but he stirred up everything thoroughly before he found 
things. Once Mrs. Piper gave a little scream — it was 
when he opened her hox of ribbons — ^but the scream 
blended into a yawn as she discovered that Mr. Piper 
was at last fully dressed. 
Then ihe telephone bell rang: 
"Hello!" called Mr. Piper. 
"Yes, up and dressed. Going to get my owti breakfast. 
Had yours? 
"No; but I thought she betfef sleep this morning. 
"Yes. Say, David, what did we do with those grass- 
hopper nets we made two vears ago? 
"Well, I'll look round a little; guess I'll find 'em all 
right. 
"Yes. a quart. Hustle now, Dave, and get here inside 
of a half-hour. 
"Yes; good-by." , ' 
Mr. Piper had evidently st^arted the gasoline and left the 
coffee to take care of itself, for the aroma of it reached 
Mrs. Piper about the time the fox terrier came leaping 
on the bed to discover the cause of the condition of 
affairs generally. He left her as Mr. Piper returned to 
the kitchen from the barn, for he knew where there was 
coffee there was always something to eat. The terrier 
and Mr. Piper kept up an animated understanding until 
both had finished their breakfast. Then Mr. Piper tip- 
toed him.self into the bedroom. 
"Mandy!" he said, gently and apologetically, "can you 
tell me where to find those cheese-capping nets?" 
"Yes, dear; in the loft over the chicken coop." 
"Having good sleep? Sorry I had to disturb you." 
Evidently the net was found, and a search for a certain 
pair of fingerless gloves was instituted. 
"John," says a sleepy voice from the bed, "look in 
the left-hand corner of the upper drawer of your 
chiffonier." 
"How did she ever know what I wanted," pondered 
Mr. Piper. 
Ten trips to the barn, two up stairs and three times to 
the telephone, and Mr. Piper was ready to start. He 
comes to the bedside and kisses Mrs. Piper. 
"Good-by, dear. Don't get up until you are ready." 
But Mrs. Piper does get up as soon as the front door 
is closed. _ She calls after him because he has forgotten 
his sandwich and minnie bucket. He had not forgotten 
the box of bait. David waves his hat, and Mr. Piper 
drives over the curbing, giving the wagon a jostle and 
thump; but what do they care? — two old boys going 
fishing. 
The gasoline burned and the back door was unlocked. 
The fox terrier was peering into the open refrigerator 
quite undecided whether or not to make a dive. 
Gone all day. What did they get? Three small bass 
and an eel. F. L. W. 
Boardman Fish and Fish Stories. 
Traverse City, Mich., May 2.— The opening of the 
trout season found me "chained to business," and the 
best I could do was to go down town in the evening and 
listen to the tales that were told. 
The day was rather cold, and the most of the good 
catches were made in the small streams. Baskets of from 
forty to eighty were reported, the best being one of sixteen 
fish, weighing together 8 pounds, taken in a small mill 
pond two miles to the eastward. The river furnished no 
fish to those who took no bait and put their hopes in flies. 
The largest fish brought in weighed in the neighborhood 
of 4 pounds. There were a dozen or more good fish 
taken right in town, one weighing 2 pounds. 
I set up my casting rod, and stepping out on the street 
made a few casts with a sinker for bait, succeeded in con- 
necting with several telephone wires and other like de- 
vices, gave it up and went back to work. 
Not haying any experiences of my own to relate I in- 
close a clipping from the Daily Eagle, giving some of the > 
tales that were told. The Mark Craw whom Mr. Carver 
mentions is the very energetic local game warden. 
V. E. Montague. 
The report sent by Mr. Montague reads: 
With two fishing streams yet to hear from it is esti- 
mated that the amount of trout caijght yesterday totalled 
8.789^'^ pounds, besides a J^-ppund trout that Archie 
Cameron threw back into the brook at Williamsburg. 
This is considered the high-water mark, and it will prob- 
ably never be excelled in the history of this region for a 
single day's catch. 
The stories that are told by the returning fishermen 
are, of course, rather tall. Some of them sound strikingly 
similar to stories told by the same people tither years. 
That i.s one nice thing about a fish story, you can ad- 
vance it from season to season, and it never gets old. 
Some of the stories, of course, haven't to do with this 
year's catch. It is pardonable if the reminiscent flavor 
creeps in at this time, for probably no man yesterday 
made anything like the catch he did at some time in his 
career. The longer he fishes the longer grows that long' 
fish he caught clear back in the vista of the years, before 
any of his present friends knew him and about which he 
can lie with impunit}', for nobody can dispute him, nor' 
nobody ever saw the fish — including himself. 
Away back in 1861 Prof. Horst did his first fishing. "I 
remember the place well," said he this morning, regaling' 
a party of friends. "It was just outside of Stockholm. 
It was a warm, pleasant first of May, and there are no 
game wardens in Stockholm anyway. A party of us 
went out back of the Government buildings to fish in a 
little stream which dries up in August. I had just made 
a very difficult cast, missing the dome of the war depart- 
ment building by a narrow quarter of an inch, when — 
br-r-r went my reel. I knew it was no common fish and 
let my line out full length and then ran after it, knocking 
down an apple woman and jumping between the wheels of 
.a moving van. Well, to make a long story short, I landed 
the fellow opposite the treasury department building. 
It was a so-pound sturgeon, as sure as your life. How 
he got into that stream between all those Government 
buildings and how he had room to propel himself in a 
3-inch depth of water has been the mystery to me ever 
since. He probably crept in from the Zuyder Zee in the 
night, and in the morning became confused and followed 
the creek on up to Stockholm." 
One of those who had listened to Prof. Horst's story 
was O. P. Carver. _Mr. Carver likes a good fish story, but 
he looked a little incredulous as 'the Professor finished. 
'T will now," said he, "tell a true fish story," with signifi- 
cant emphasis on the word "true." "It was back in 1812, 
before there were any old-timers here except Howard , 
Irish, and those who fished usually went with the native : 
Chippewas. Mark Craw was at that time a mewling 
infant and the fish law was only in force on the Grand 
River at Lansing, where the Legislature could look out 1 
of the window and see that it was enforced. One day 
early in April — it was a remarkable spring, the ice going 
out of the bay that ytzr early in November — the chief of 
the tribe rowed up from Pashabatown and beckoned me 
into his boat. To refuse to go fishing with the chief would 
have cost me my life, I well knew, so I crept cautiously 
into the boat and two of his braves rowed us out to ' 
Bassett Island. At that time there was a beautiful stream 
through Bassett Island, which ha.s since been taken out to ' 
make room for a landing. The chief tied a heavy rope to 
