The morning call., 1895-02-24
ROD AND REEL.
What an Angler Accomplished With Clubs in
Trout Stream,

Reyes nowadays for the sport he may find in
fishing for steelheads,' said the well-known
angler Al Smith, as he stroked his golden chin
whiskers and looked wistfully through one of
the railroad car windows at a tempting pool OF
the Paper-mil Creek from which he had taken
many beautiful trout in days when anglers
were few and scattered.
eyes, there are five anglers now for every fish
that swims in Paper-nill stream" continued
Mr.. Smith, land the tidewater Of this creek
is so to speak, the objective point OF attack of
city anglers, it is no wonder then that as a
general result the disciples of the good old
Walton catch more water than fish in their
Sunday outings to Point Reyes.
"Six or seven years ago before the Tocaloma
Hotel was built l enjoyed many a pleasant
hour on those beautiful green banks. See that
dark looking pool under that projecting bank
OF clay on yOnder side of the creek immedi-
ately opposite the big rock. Well, judge it
was in the month of June, five years ago, that
filed my basket with beautiful fish taken from
that spot
The speaker smiled as he again stroked the
golden hairs OF his chin adoTnment, while his
thoughts wandered back to those happy days of
yore.
az hit upon scheme that day." he went on,
(which worked like a charm, and the secret l
rehgiously guarded Tor TWO years. You see l
commenced fishing at the paper-mill early in
the morning, and when got down as far as the
big pool had fairly nice basket OF trout, but
they were all small.
~ nile enuedNOrlng 10 please the cravings OF
the inner man, who had commenced to kick up
q disturbance about that time, 1 carelessly
pitched q small piece OF bread into the pool,
and ii slowly sank to the bottom saw
again, quickly. 1t had evidently concluded
that the strange substance not palatable,
but the actions OF the fish convinced me there
and then that the big fellows must be feeding
on.something more substantial than worms OF
flies.
AZ Immediately set out on a prospecting ex-
n q small q diSfa ne
above the spot where the king was under cover,
I discovered g school OF tat, notwithstanding
clubs basking in the sunlight l quickly con-
cluded that the club was the dainty morsel the
big fishes were existing upon, and catching one
OF the little fellows soon had 1t dangling from
q small hook | was using while worm fishing.
deeply anxious, OF course, 10 see what Mr.
Club would bring me, quickly retraced my
steps 10 shady spot within nice casting dis
lance of the big hole. In went the newly dis
covered lure, and il had scarcely touched the
water when there was a swirl and a commotion
below. Down went the tip OF my four-ounce
rod, and as struck, the reel actually screamed.
Twenty yards of line went out on the first
run, and as had just made up my mind for
hard battle with whopper, the tip OF the little
rod Strengthened into place and my line re-
manned slack in the pool. blessed my luck,
OF course; but when | found that the little
hook had come to grief quickly discarded ii,
and placing on another, with which l had
landed many large fish in the winter season,
again went prospecting for clubs and tried my
luck q second time.
''The next trial proved successful. hooked
and landed a slX-pounder that proved TO be
beauty. I remained clubbing in that old
pool until had caught ten fish, the smaller OF
which weighed one and half pounds. Having
discovered the oh dice food of the big fish had
picnic all OF that season and the next, and
would, in all probability, be enjoying good
sport up TO to-day had it not been for the CON
structon of hotel at Tocaloma.
1.-The visitors to this place during the angling
season whip the stream so persistently that by
June there is scarcely lingering left in the
stream within hours tramp OF the resort.
The Paper-miu is yearly growing worse and
unless there will be law making the killing
of trout under six inches in length misde-
meanOr you can safely conclude that Paper
mill, like some other good streams which af
forded good sport few years ago, can be num-
bered with the has beens."
When angling for steelheads double smells
should be used. Quite frequently single gut is
severed by the teeth of fish, much to the cha
grin OF the angler.
James Watt, an expert fycaster of the Rod
and Gun Club, received few days ago the fol-
lowing clipping from the Banffshire Journal
an English paper: In one of his fields near the
Ythan Mr.. Dow, Bridgefoot. Inverebrie last
week discovered salmon 5515 pounds in
weight. The river had peen IN spate, and evil
IDENTITY the immense fish had been carried be-
Yond its usual haunts. 1t is the heaviest fish
on record from the Ythan.
Charley Ohm, "the vineyard" angler will
smile when he casts his eyes on this.
Mr.. Bogart, cashier OF the Examiner, was
among the hapPy family OF anglers who had a
try last sunday for steelheads at Point Reyes.
He, like the majority, returned with an empty
creel.
To become a successful steelhead angler a
man must be lucky and have the patience OF
Job. L. Pockman states that ne has been going
TO Point Reyes for five years, and in that time
he has not succeeded in landing one good fish
This year, however, he decided to have his son
accompany him on his outings, and as a result
he Is thoroughly convinced that this salmon
roe angling Is game OF chance. The boy has
taken a big chip off his daddy's shoulder
He has made three trips TO the steelhead
rendezvous, and returned each time with q
lo-r fEh Gu d. L.. Al
assistance OF the Duke de Bransdorff n seven
pound fish, which he took special deli ght in
holding up TO the view OF his less fortunate
companion. Al Smith caught one which
scaled SIX and a half pounds, and those were
the only fish taken. although fifty anglers tried
all kinds OF lures TO win prize. Point Reyes
disc. & -''' 81 q
The following interesting communication
from the pen oi.that well-known ichthyologist,
a. V. La Motto, Will certainly interest all lovers
OF angling:
1t appears that certain people calling themselves
spor,smen are still kicking because the sports
trying TO preserve the goose which laws the
golden eggs. Much indignation is expressed on ac-
count of the effort which is being made to prevent
the slaughter Of the steelhead $50 caed) in tide
water. Now, one OF two things must be acknoyyl-
edged it must be game fish, or 1t must not. If a
game fish, no sportsman would destroy il on its way
TO the spawning grounds 10 reproduce its species.
II it is not a game fish, why protect it in fresh
and worthy of preservation, is it Just as bad to
kill it in salt water as it is to kill it half a mile
further up the stream in fresh water?
The whole thing is simple bosh and its destroyers
simply seeking plausible excuse for doing a
palpable wrong. They do not pretend 10 deny that
the so-called steelhead is the parent of our brook
trout. Neither do they deny that without the an
nual advent of the steelhead there would be no
trout in our streams Yet they say sit goes to sea
and if don't kill ii when il is within our reach
in spawning season it will escape and go 10 sea
again." What pity. Why don't they advocate
killing the quail in the spring as they sit on the
fences watching their and young broods {?
They easily murdered then, but if they wait
until the fall few of them hit them ION the
wing) and sportsmen may get them. One is no
worse than the other and no more improvident
All trout on the Pacific Coast anadromous
and run to salt water when they can do so TO free
themselves from parasites and seek better shelter
in deep waters. II is instructive and superinduced
by climatic surroundings. 0ur rains fall but at one
season OF the year then the became torrents
IN our trout streams and subsde as rapidly when
the dry season sets in the large fish receding with
the falling waters. The middle size and small fish
remain Sun finding ample shelter when the parent
hsh would be exposed 10 its enemies. l am firmly
convinced that the "Fontinalis' transplanted here
Will, when they become acclimated, take on the
same habit, and also that our ''Iridea,' when
planted in Eastern waters, will, for few genera
tons, try 10 so 10 sea- but when acclimated will
espouse the same habit the trout indigenous 10
the waters in which they are planted for their
habit is instructive and induced by their surround
ings
The German brown trout IS. Faria) when first
introduced into will probably ain in