70 
FOREST AND STREAM 
July 20, 1912 
AT GLENISLE, PLATTE CANYON. 
alluring flies and worms for a floating bug. A 
friend of mine who fishes often and takes a 
camera with him to verify his stories, tells of 
an experience on Jasper Lake. He had tried a 
royal coachman, a gray hackle and several other 
of his favorite flies without result, yet there were 
plenty of trout. At last he placed a yellow wasp 
on the line as he was about to quit. Previously 
he had had little luck with this bait except in 
the lower -streams. Almost as if by magic the 
trout began to strike. He could not cast fast 
enough, and as for putting the fish in the basket, 
that was out of the question. As he fished a 
storm came up, and he was finally driven to 
cover by the sharp lightning, with the trout liter¬ 
ally crowding for his bait to the last. This same 
bait, in the same place and under almost identical 
conditions, a few days later, was of no avail. 
But this very tantalizing uncertainty of the trout 
makes them fish worth fighting for. 
Almost all mountain streams of the State 
are good trout streams unless the fish have been 
killed by mine waste, and that is now almost 
past. Each fisherman has his favored place which 
he assures you is unexcelled, yet all agree that 
the headwaters of the Bear River on the west 
slope are among the best, though the Platte, Rio 
Grande, Arkansas, North, Middle and South 
Boulder, White, Eagle, St. Vrain, Big and Little 
Thompson, Gunnison, Roaring Fork, Frying Pan, 
Animas, Grand, Michigan, Laramie and others 
are rich with the trout propagated at the hatch¬ 
eries. The trout were once very abundant in 
the San Luis Valley, but the alteration of the 
streams for irrigation has greatly reduced them, 
as so many are killed in their fall migrations 
down stream, but the streams are being stocked 
again and fishing is getting better. In general 
trout ara confined to waters the temperature of 
which does not exceed 65 degrees Fahrenheit. 
Thanks to the efforts of the National and State 
Governments and of many private individuals 
there are numerous hatcheries in the State and 
the waters are being restocked continually with 
game fish. 
Near relatives of the trout are the grayling 
and whitefish, both natives of the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains, which have been found to thrive well in 
the northwestern part of the State. The State 
Commissioner of Fish and Game, Col. J. - H. 
Shinn, has had the fry of the grayling at the 
hatcheries, and this fish will probably become 
more important. In late spring and early sum¬ 
mer the grayling are very abundant in the more 
favorable localities. They migrate up streams, 
fairly crowding the smaller streams, and during 
the night the peculiar noise made by these fishes 
may be heard. The Colorado grayling is re¬ 
garded by some scientists as being the same as 
the Michigan grayling, but others think it quite 
a different fish. In habit it is much the same. 
The trout tribe furnish the game fishes of 
Colorado with the exception of the bass, which 
has been introduced into certain lakes. There 
are, however, other fishes in the State worth 
fishing for. The Pacific slope has two at least 
which will satisfy the most exacting angler if 
he be looking for queer fish. In the tributaries 
of the Colorado River one finds the hump-backed 
sucker and the white salmon. 
The hump-backed sucker or razor tail, as it 
is called, is a curious fish. The posterior portion 
of the body is rather thin, but of the general 
shape of the common sucker, the tail being per¬ 
haps a trifle thinner, hence the name razor tail. 
The head on the other hand is very much flat¬ 
tened in the opposite direction, being widest in 
a plane at right angles to the main axis of the 
fish and abruptly joined to the rest of the body 
which stands above it like the hump of a camel. 
On the under side of the head is the mouth, of 
true sucker type, which is almost the only feat¬ 
ure of this fish that would enable a fisherman 
unfamiliar with it to tell what he had caught. 
The razor tail reaches the weight of from eight 
to ten pounds, and although a sucker, it is re¬ 
garded as a food fish. Further south in the 
Mohave region it is much sought after by the 
Indians. Its large economic importance comes 
from its pernicious habit of eating trout eggs. 
The white salmon is more widely distributed 
through the tributaries of the Colorado River 
than the razor tail. It is concerning this fish, 
which is really not a salmon in spite of its popu¬ 
lar name, that Colorado’s “biggest” true fish 
story is told. This fish belongs to the tribe of 
minnows, and minnows to a scientist are not the 
young of any kind of fish, but a particular group 
of fishes that are usually small as adults. The 
white salmon has been known to weigh eighty 
pounds and average specimens usually exceed 
forty pounds. With the scientific position of this 
fish in mind, Colorado anglers may well boast 
that Colorado is the place to fish, since even the 
minnows are giants “out here.” The nearest 
relative of this fish is the squawfish of the Sac¬ 
ramento River in California, and this squawfish 
is easily remembered as the fish which may be 
readily caught, however incredible it may 
seem, on a large hook, the point of which has 
been covered with a single grain of soaked wheat. 
The white salmon, in spite of its close relation¬ 
ship to the carp, furnishes a fair grade of food, 
although not so fine as the trout or grayling. 
Unfortunately it, like the razor tail, eats eggs 
of the trout. It is best taken in small streams 
in the spring when ascending to spawn, and 
through the summer it is found in the deep pools. 
Carp have been introduced into several lakes 
and as elsewhere they thrive. They have not, 
however, secured the hold in the streams of this 
State that they have in many others. There are 
hundreds of lakes in Colorado that afford excel¬ 
lent trout fishing, and they are reached by good 
roads. 
Catfishes as a rule are not favorites, unless 
to the small boy, but during the summer months 
when the river is low they furnish amusement 
and a “bite of fish” to the people of the plains 
along the Arkansas. The bullhead and the chan¬ 
nel cat, the latter ascending from the Mississippi, 
are usually taken. 
Eastern fishermen must notice soon on com¬ 
ing to Colorado that certain fishes so common 
throughout the Mississippi Valley are not found 
here. The ringed perch and the bass are found 
only where they have been introduced in our 
streams and lakes. The native sunfish are small 
and few, and except for the Arkansas basin, cat¬ 
fish are almost wanting. Colorado fishes for the 
most part belong to the soft rayed types, while 
the fishes with the spiny-rayed fins like the bass 
are not native here to any extent. Including all 
kinds there are about forty-two species of fishes 
known in the waters of this State, according to 
Prof. Max Ellis, of the University of Colorado. 
That the fish fauna of Colorado is unique 
has been known for some time. This is due in 
part to the large amount of headwater, as the 
Platte, the Arkansas, the Rio Grande and the 
Colorado Rivers all have tributaries rising in 
the mountains of Colorado, and Colorado streams 
connect with both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. 
The fishing season begins May 25 and closes 
Oct. 31. The streams are the popular resorts of 
the natives and adopted sons of Colorado, and 
Colorado welcomes the true sportsman from 
every clime. Come while the water is good and 
the fish are biting. 
The streams are annually stocked by both 
the Game and Fish Department of the State of 
Colorado, and the- Federal Government. The 
State in 1911 put 11,000,000 trout fry into the 
streams, the output of the various State fish 
hatcheries. The output for 1912 will be about 
14,000,000 fry, insuring a continuous supply of 
the speckled beauties. Tourists intending com¬ 
ing to Colorado for pleasure will find inviting 
accommodations and camping grounds along any 
of the streams where beautiful scenery and fine 
