The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-07-21
WHY Do FISH FEAR MEN?
Not Afraid OF Animals on Shore or
in Water.
Chicago Inter Ocean.)

Some anglers who couldn't get away
from business 10 go fishing were con-
soling themselves by telling stories.
Just year ago this very day." said
one of them, 81 saw the prettiest sight
Of my life. 1 was ioafng about lake
upin Nomininique The fish were not
rising well, and 1 made my may across
to the Sugar Loaf hill and lay down to
get rest before trying a cast on the
little lake at its foot.
Il suppose l fell asleep, for all Of a
sudden a heard a spl2shing and look
ing between the bushes / saw a magni-
ficent moose standing knee deep in the
water. He was in deep study over
the rising of innumerable trout around
him.
Great big fellows. most of them,
they were perfectly wild over the flies,
which 1 suppose had just begun to come
out. Clear of the water they sprang,
coming down with decided flap, some
of them right under the mOOse's belly.
Now and then he lifted a big fore
paw and struck at big splash inquiT-
insly. Once d fish seemed to rise at his
big muzzle, probably to catch a fly. He
got mad at that and made a dive with
mis- clumsy antlers at the water.
THE trout were literally in thou
sands, and I learned then what is meant
books of the trout coming on the rise.
don't I get into the picture? 1 reached
for my tackle, and, of course. made a
rustic which sent off the bull moose in
stantly.
4 was out for trout not moose, and
l was not long in making up cast of a
black nudge, tiny red hackle and a
little silver doctor. l made no secret
of my intentions, since the fish ap-
peared TO be so bold with the moose, but
marched right into the water with the
sun at my back until there was room
enough behind me for the back cast,
and 1 stood where l could see the mark
of the moOse's hoOfs under me.
Something Seemed to Warn Them.
But something told those trout l was
no moose nor anything so harmless. l
stood there for over half an hour and
not a ripple showed on the water near
me. Some good fish took the smallest
fly on long casts, well out of sight but
the trout generally made no secret of
their suspicion of my intentions regard
ing them.
They didn't appear to mind the
splashing of those 1 played bit. 1t was
they were afraid of. / have been ever
since wondering why. Certainly they
had never known what it is to be
hooked, and it was not because of my
size, for the moose must have seemed
quite as tall as I did. How did they
know?
We'll, for one thing, it is not natural
for trout to be afraid of men, said one
of the others. when I was up beyond
Cobalt. over the height of land, fished
in lakes full of trout, where all you
needed was a good fly, six feet of line
and three feet Of pole.
With that outfit 1 once got enough
trout for a supper for our whole party
of ten men in about half an hour My
first fish took the fly from between my
feet before 1 cast it at all.
Another time l sat on a ledge of
rock and with bit of string and a big
bass hook, with pork for bait, caught
fourteen splendid three-quarter pound
red trout without a rod at all. 1 was
bathing my feet at the time and the fish
actually came up and examined my legs
at close quarters.
Yet when we had come to where the
waters had been fished for years before
we had to keep out of sight and act as
cautiously as possible if we wanted
sport. l cannot understand it."
It's heredity, 1 suppose" said the
other. But how q creature of such
low intelligence as a fish is supposed To
be able to distinguish between men and
the larger animals 1 cannot imagine.
Il once saw a bear throwing out fish
from a little narrow bit of water where
one lake passes into another. He SAT
right in full sight of the fish, and every
now and then made a scoop into the
water with his great paw and flung out
fish over his shoulder until he had
enough for dinner.
Il sat there myself afterward, but not
a trout passed by that even a bear could
catch. They either went at lightning
speed or backed out and turned tail as
soon as they came in sight of me.
And yet l could not have bulked sc
largely as the bear did. 1t is evident il
is not a matter of size altogether"
ION my fathers old place in Devon
shire" said the third man, there was
beautiful big trout stream. 1t was q
tradition that some monks had held
| the property some time in the Dark
| Ages, and had probably stocked and
preserved the river.
There were very big brook trout in
! it, and occasionally a bull trout, which
! is white scaled and more like a salmon
1 than a trout would be found. But they
were awfUliy hard to get.
"Our flies were tied to the tiniest OF
minnow hooks. We were taught to use
single hCrsahair instead of gut. Oul
rods were fairly long, but we had t.
cast lying on the grass, right out OF
sight of the water.
Even so. the least mistake in letting
the fly aIight was fatal to success. You
could hardly imagine anything harder
| to get sight of than were those trout
| in the old chalk stream.
Hid Behind a Horse.
| And yet we used 10 see trout rising
| al! around the horses as they stood knee
| deep in the water, even taking the flies
| they shook off their bodies. One great
day l got two three-pOund fish by
| standing close behind an old white
/ nOUV