The sun., 1900-11-04

abundant A. these FISH are not there. II Is IN
Illustration of the Darwinian theory that in IN"
struggle for existence thu weaker must sue
cumb 10 the Stronger That i tle fish with lh'
biggest mouth have taken therein thelr less
gifted brethren"
The report on tho third matter investigated
Will perhai interest n wid"r circle Il sports
men. namely those who are Interested IN 'hp
rc-cryati IA OF the trout streams. From a
careful examination OF two creeks, says the
report. both oc which wee ono" famous Tor
the size aud number Of their wild trout, ! am
sat sted tina, neither is any longer natural
trout stro1m and that there ar" to-day no trout
Ia the stream, except those which are planted
annual lv by your club Here are my reasons;
knew both these creeks in my boy hood ard
III v teemcd with wild trout -Four ears ago.
/ II he'd one OF them through thu courtc-y OF
the club and in a few hours caught the limit
allowed Nv recollection Is that they ran from
,ix 10 twelve inches in length with the exc ptiun
of four " icl were less than six inches. My
recollection on this is c'ear. because my guide
astons ID m" ly the decl rat on when ]
direC ed lin TO return them 10 the water. that
they cou ted on my fcii, The majority OF the
fish caught on that %, aston were genuine wlld
trout. that is. fish with bright red 81 OTIS andre
cooring OF the sides and belly. This year,
while on the same stream. ] again caught my
limit, in conn any with member OF the club.
In both hnskcis there was bit one wild trout.
All the fsl were of about the same s.z" namely,
OF or ears Old, and all OF them had the som-
bre hue and orange spots Of the hatchery-br,d d
specimens Throughout the entire stretch OF
water neither caught nor saw small trout
An examination Of the refrigerator when ! re-
turned to tue clubhouse revealed carcely "A
Wild fish"
Its on facts such as these according to there
port. that Il Is declared the creeks are no longer
natural trout streams. THIS has come about it
i asserted. first through over protection. and.
second through the planting OF too large fish.
Friends OF fsh culture and the increase Of
Ash in our streams sho' ID learn te lesson that.
FIRST rig d rod limit may in time be a tetr-
inent and not benefit TO a sream or lake:
second. that it is possible 10 overstock a stream
or lake with fsn and third that the planting
OF large or nature n-h may do more to injure u
stream than the work ~ fishermen.
"A flexible rod limit IN "A stream controlled by
an organ ,zation. the members OF which visit it
frequently. is desirable. but II not visited ire-
quently. tho stream will surely become over
stocked. The determination OF a rod limit
should be by comparing the number Of fish
caught annually with the number planted AM
l'i' TWO tuSl' 10 b' n'NIIN W" sdlIf. III we
cls" oC your club. only about one-llth the num-
ber planted are caught yearly. Asa result, al
the fry planted and all the fry naturally haiched
are dcvour'd by the mature fsh which escape
the angler
II would strongly advise your club and all
other persons q '-irous VI stocking streams to
adopt the following First, plant no mature
II h, second. pant nothing larger than year
ings, preferably four months old; third do
not plant more fish in preserved waters than
are liEcy G. grow TO maturity and do not far
exceed the annual catch. fourth, in preserved
waters be very cautious about establishing a
rg.d rod limit. better r,ly on heavier stock
Iug 7holsh rod limit altogether and rel on the
honor OF the members, fifth. make the mini
mum s2N which may be caught AT least one
inch above the legal size named by the State
sixth. bear in mind that no greater MIST urtune
cAn happen 10 a trout stream than to plant
therein any quantity Of mature trout; that il
would be better for the stream 10 lot a Caled
trout hog have free swing than a full grown
trout, for there il no greater trout hog ia the
world than n good lusty three or four year I'D
brook trOu'."