206 
FOREST AND STREAM 
May, 1922 
never been given in any American ang- 
ling book, at least to my knowledge, and 
I give an answer in detail in order that 
anglers in future will more readily take 
up the practice of bottom fishing with the 
same ardor as they have done in surface 
fishing for trout. The observing angler 
will more readily understand what trout 
are doing if he will keep his senses of 
hearing and sight at full tension by not- 
ing in a diplomatic way every circum- 
stance or movement of the water likely 
to betray to him the position of a feeding 
fish, such as the making of waves, rings 
or bubbles, to be more noticeable in shal- 
low water from two to six feet deep. 
There are five things fish may be 
doing to cause this water movement 
while under water and not surface feed- 
ing — viz. ; fighting for a choice position, 
smutting, tailing, minnowing, and bulg- 
ing. These particular terms are used by 
English dry-fly experts, and I use them 
that American anglers will not be con- 
fused when reading English angling 
books by different terms of the same 
things. When fighting a battle, trout 
rush headlong at each other in rapid suc- 
cession until the stronger has driven the 
weaker off its vantage ground. Such a 
place should be well marked for the 
future trial of a swimming artificial min- 
now or nymph, both of which might be 
the bone of contention. A “smutting” 
trout is when taking tiny diptera or 
“curses” or midges, those myriad little 
insects we see most during the hot. 
mugg}' July and the latter half of the 
season. In wide, deep pools we see large 
trout sucking them under, only just the 
nose tip visible, yet they obstinately re- 
fuse to take any wet or dry-fly, however 
small it may be. I anticipate an inter- 
esting experiment this coming season on 
such fish with the new small, black hump- 
back nymph — fished dr}'. 
A ‘‘tailing” trout refers to a fish lying 
with its head in weeds or streamside 
vegetation, and also, hunting for shrimps, 
snails, caddis, small crawfish among 
rocks and stones, with its tail at a much 
higher level in the water than the head. 
Sometimes the tailing trout will be work- 
ing in shallow water or boring its nose 
over the lower parts of smooth rocks 
where caddis cling to the slimy side. At 
times the angler will observe a surface 
disturbance made by the fish turning half 
over, with its body rubbing off. the caddis 
creepers, setting them adrift, after which 
the trout will follow to secure a mouth- 
ful. At times their tail is raised above 
the surface, and the angler is deceived, 
thinking it to be a rise for surface food, 
while the fact is they are busily engaged 
on bottom-food taking and so do not no- 
tice flies at the surface. At such times 
these fish may be captured by dropping 
a weighted cast of artificial caddis and 
nymphs or a trout helgramite, for it 
stands to reason a floating fly will not 
attract the busy fish nosing on the bottom. 
The ‘‘minnozviiig” trout are those of 
larger size which leave their chosen 
abode when insects are scarce to forage 
in various places of medium depth for 
minnows which may often be seen leap- 
ing frantically above the surface, where 
large waves denote the tyrants’ track 
of sudden and quick darts in every direc- 
tion. A floating “darter minnow,” deftly : 
cast, with its shining silver belly, is a‘, 
most deadly attraction that is bound to . 
seduce a voracious fish right in the act ' 
of taking minnows as food, and again it 
is obvious the fly is useless. 
When a trout is “bulging’ it is feeding 
on nymphs, darting rapidly forwards and 
backwards to the right and to the left; 
then after each mouthful taken from the 
great quantity then rising to the surface 
it will return to its original position, the 
rapid movements through the water caus- 
ing a continual disturbance of the sur-| 
face — whence the expression “bulging”' 
is derived. ; 
A S a rule, trout take nymphs under 
water, but sometimes they will fol- 
low their prey to the surface and only 
succeed in catching it at the very moment 
it emerges into the sub-imago state. 
Nymph feeding occurs spasmodically 
during the entire season. A glut of in- 
sects will rise in certain localities where j 
trout may be scarce, then adult winged, 
insects float down the surface in vast' 
swarms to attract trout where they are 
more plentiful in large pools. In such 
pools I have seen over a hundred fair-| 
{Continued on page 231) 
GAME FISH AND RESTOCKING 
SUCCESS IN PLANTING FISH DEPENDS ON AN INTELLIGENT 
CONTROL OF THE WATERS IN WHICH THEY ARE PLANTED 
I N view of the fact that an increasing 
interest is being taken in conserving 
and encouraging our wonderful na- 
tive fishes — and that the season of the 
year is now at hand when vague restless- 
ness stirs the mind to visions of clear 
skies, bright yet gentle sunlight and the 
thrill of open waters — I believe it would 
not be amiss were I to direct attention 
to certain features connected with the 
problem of restocking. 
For many years it has been the custom 
of those desiring to improve the fish life 
in any given body of water to secure as 
many as possible of the particular species 
of fish desired and liberate them forth- 
with into the lake or stream. Such pro- 
cedure representing direct action, seems 
at first thought to be rather conclusive, 
and whatever difficulty has been encoun- 
tered in actually securing the fish has 
merely served to concentrate attention 
and effort to that end. Comparatively 
very little thought has been given to the 
environment in which the young fish are 
expected to thrive, the usual considera- 
^tion governing selection of supposedly 
suitable fish being the actual, past or 
present, occurrence of the species in 
those particular waters, or the fact that 
BY ERNEST CLIVE BROWN 
the species is held in high esteem in some 
other section of the country. 
Of these two influences, in many cases, 
the first has resulted in restocking with 
fish which have been previously elimi- 
nated from the environment because of 
increase in conditions to which they were 
not able to adapt themselves ; in planting 
fish which increase the number of some 
particular kind already suffering from 
unsuitable temperature, lack of proper 
food, insufficient breeding areas or other 
disadvantages which additional numbers 
only accentuate ; or in merely bolstering 
up the weaker side in a destructive strug- 
gle between antagonistic species. 
The second influence has been respon- 
sible for the introduction of such preda- 
tory forms as the pike, pickerel, wall- 
eyed pike and black bass, splendid fish 
for sport (but in their proper place), 
into waters ideal for trout. Result : the 
trout gradually decrease and lesser num- 
bers of bass and pickerel take their place. 
So much harm has been done by the un- 
guided introduction of some of these and 
other game fishes, indigenous to the 
eastern two-thirds of the country, into 
the waters of the Pacific coast that the 
Bureau of Fisheries no longer grants 
applications for spiny-finned fishes for i 
shipment west of the Rockies. 
Another example of this danger is'^ 
found in the stocking of native trout 
waters with brown trout, but probably^, 
the greatest illustration of this tragedy,^' 
on a much greater scale, is the importa- 
tion of the European carp (a coarse com- 
mercial fish), much esteemed abroad yet 'll 
inferior to almost every one of our more 
highly-developed native fishes to which 
its increasing activities are highly detri - 1 
mental. | 
Aside from these things brought about 
by lack of accurate information (which , 
cannot but be distressing to anyone in- 
terested in the welfare of our native 
fishes, and who would rather see honest , 
intent succeed than fail), there are other 
powerful factors, the benefits of some of | 
which cannot be denied, yet which are 
operating, by force of circumstances, 
against the perpetuation of our game e ■ 
fish. Looking further — or perhaps more i ^ 
closely — than deforestation and pollution ) 
which, in the face of Inadequate legisla- | 
tion, have been and still are leading fac- f 
tors in the ruination of trout waters, it is i | 
seen that since it is difficult to disturb i 4 
{Continued on page 225) 
