THE LEAP OF THE GAME FISH 
IT FURNISHES TO THE ANGLER A REAL THRILL, WHETHER 
THE FLASH IN THE AIR MEANS ESCAPE OR CAPTURE 
By Louis Rhead. 
(Illustrations are from oil paintings by the author) 
M OST anglers will grade their conception of 
real sport by the practice of the fish leap¬ 
ing, and with reason, too, for here it 
makes its supreme effort to escape from the barb, 
not so much of the pain, but of the restraint of 
its freedom. The hook always pierces the 
muscular skin of either upper or lower jaw 
when the artificial fly is used—and sometimes 
when live bait is used, though in the case of 
bass and pike being encouraged to gorge live 
bait, such as frogs and minnows, the hook often 
pierces a tender part, and, of course, they at 
once try to eject it. As they cannot do so owing 
to the resistance of the line and water, they then 
try to leap over it, and by doing so, often succeed 
in ridding themselves of the offending hook— 
especially if the line be too slack or too taut. 
American waters provide many more leaping 
game fishes than Great Britain, or any other 
well known angling locality of the globe. Our 
marine game fishes are equally wonderful in 
leaping qualities. Of the marine game fishes 
that leap above the surface on a restraining 
line, are the tarpon, tuna, ladyfish, Spanish 
mackerel, blue fish, southern king fish and the 
needlefish of Key West, which is the most skilful 
acrobat of them all, either in fresh or salt water, 
often making double somersaults while in the air. 
Of the fresh water game fishes there are the 
Atlantic salmon, ouananiche, brown trout, rain¬ 
bow trout, brook trout, black spotted trout of 
western waters, the muscalonge, bass, grayling, 
and in some places the eastern pickerel. 
In the treatment of this subject, one can only 
describe personal observations of the many 
varied ways in which fish leap and to take a 
general view of it. Other anglers of wide ex¬ 
perience will doubtless have somewhat different 
experience than what I describe—which is also 
true of my own, and I shall give some curious 
instances due to unusual or extraordinary con¬ 
ditions. 
I have found in all species of game fish it is 
almost universal that the youthful, vigorous age 
more often produces active leaping on the re¬ 
straining line than do the ponderous mature 
fish, which invariably sulk, tug or gigger at the 
bottom. This is especially true of very heavy 
The Rainbow Trout Is the Acrobat of the Whole 
Family 
trout and salmon. It is also true that the leaps 
are more likely and more frequent when fish are 
captured on the fly than on bait. 
Moreover, the chances are infinitely greater of 
a savage and prolonged resistance if the fish 
inhabits a rushing river than a placid lake, for 
the reason that in the capture of their prey, fish 
habitually move more rapid by constant battling 
with the flood. This fact is evidenced by the 
fiercer gameness of the land-locked salmon in 
the whirling flood of the Saguenay compared 
with the same species caught in Maine lakes. 
It is strange that readers of sporting maga¬ 
zines have not long ago become weary of those 
oft repeated minute details of how the big one 
fought, when all know (who have caught them) 
the big ones are generally little more gamy than 
a dead log—that the trout of fourteen or six¬ 
teen inches show much greater resisting power 
and savage effort than those fish of twenty 
inches and upwards. 
A number of game fish leap in play, or after 
their food. Salmon are constantly seen making 
a bow-like curve in the air two feet from the 
water and then slip back with barely a splash. 
In a like manner do brook trout, and bass, some¬ 
times only half out of the water for an insect, 
then, again, seemingly in pure wantonness or 
joyousness. Bass break water oftener than do 
trout; especially on quiet evenings we may see 
bass (where they are plentiful) time and again 
rising clear from the water’s surface, both in 
play and feeding on insects. But the superb 
gameness of the bass is most evident when, on 
feeling the restraint of the line, it starts off 
on a fiercely mad rampage and such rapid move¬ 
ments as to bewilder any but the calm, cool 
expert. 
In my favorite trout stream, bass are abundant 
in the deep smooth, though rapid pools, and I 
frequently cast a large green or brown drake, 
fishing it dry at the surface, to lose it invariably 
on trout gut-casting leaders when a bass rises to 
it, though a trout of larger size is invariably 
landed safe in the net. This, to my mind, is 
conclusive evidence that bass are stronger, more 
ingenious in resistance than trout, native or 
brown. It has also been my experience that 
