The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-05-30

plres as the angler pronounces his requiem
"a right game fish,"
On the other side, the handled trout il
the lnclosed pond which is pampered from
the time it left the nursery-tank and
which has never known the sensation O.
going to bed in the weeds hungry, has MOI
heart to battle with any inimical strength
He is like the unframed and fat wrestler
whose wind deserts him in the first bout
or the pugilist who is put to sleep" by
the trst lab in the ribs. He cannot endure
the pain of the keen hook, and will follow
In any direction the angler urges him. He
is scarcely annoyed at the inconvenience
OF foreign substance between his laws
only gently surprised and a trife insulted
at the indignity.
The trout which were placed by the Fish
commissioners in Stow Lake in Golden
silver spoons in their mouths. They had
no necessity to acquire the lore of the
brook, the best place for flies, the
crumbllng bank where a worm might
be looked for at any time the hol-
low twig where the May fly deity con-
ceals her larvae. the ominous shadow
on the water that announced the presence
sealed book to the favored fish of the
park lake. They know when feeding time
comes around, and the quarter where the
chopped liver is flung to them.
They regard the small boy only as a
sailer OF miniature yachts, a harmless per-
son, for that nimble lad has never invaded
their peace with Irvine, bent pin and will
low branch. They are as innocent OF
angling as the first parents of sin before
the serpent entered the Garden of Eden.
1t was decided a few days ago to catch a
Few OF these fish for examination, and see
II any OF them were suffering from those
diseases so common to trout in confined
waters, and the services of an angler was
called in. At Huntington Falls, where
Superintendent McLaren is still improy-
ing, the committee of one put his rod to-
gether. The rush of the water down the
hillside between its rocky bounds, which
are so artistically arranged that they bear
no semblance OF having been constructed
by the hands of man, had the music of the
real tenant of the glen. The tiny trout
leaplng and tumbling about in the clear
pool at its base, the stepping stones over
the stream, where the water from the hill
bubbles into the lake, the fresh pungent
odor OF the ferns, damp with spray, were
all strikingly true to nature.
On the margin and close in shore half a
dozen big trout were wallowing. They
saw the workmen piling up the cairns, but
they had no terrors for them. They were
associated solely in the piscine mind with
chopped liver, fag ends of sandwiches and
the CLEAN of the noontide sun upon the
lunch cans. There was no necessity for
the human serpent who invaded this
paradise to conceal himself behind rock
and step lightly on crisp leaf and broken
branch. Who came or who went was none
OF the business of those fish. Man owned
the land, and even when he chose to slip
over their backs in his boats it was some
thing to which they had been accustomed
from fryhood.
The first cast of small flies brought a big
fellow to the surface. That is, he swan
lazily up, looked at the lure with surprise
ana settled back among his companions,
mad with himself at having been tempted
to this unwonted exertion. The next time
the flies rested on the water the fisherman
allowed them to sink a few inches, and this
woke up still larger fish, who opened his
mouth, sucked in the tail fly and was re-
t1rlng, doubtless to deliver an opinion to
the gang below on its flavor, when the man
at the other end of the rod struck. leased.
but not outraged, the fish wriggled his tail,
and then hung his weight on the line with
gesture OF supreme Incidence
The angler gently towed him toward the
shore, and when close to the bank the trout
made feeble effort to return to his friends
and ask what all this nonsense meant.
anyhow. When checked he lay on the sur
SAN eSCSpeSo thC oltudblOl Without a
rebellious flop. He was of the rainbow
species and was carefully examined. But
he was perfectly healthy fish and scaled
precisely one pound and half.
There was no fungi or parasites on him.
an exemption due, beyond question to the
aerating the lake water receives from
Huntington Falls. His only ailment was
one common to many men-a highly cul-
tiyated disposition to laziness.
The next fish was taken under the Roman
bridge, favorite lurking place for the
veterans OF the lake. A cast into the deep
twenty to the surface, and he nipped the
hy with an unusual briskness and danced
away about twenty yards at the prick of
the steel. This rush must have given him
pain in the side, for he helped the angler
with his tail and lateral-fins to bring him