Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1916-03-23

aibOi hotihS idpluo anu pOOlS III
deed, an ideal salmon river. 1t has
! salmon aiso-the silver salmon of the
sea-running in weight up to forty
fifty or sixty pounds. If these fish
would take the fly-if by any pro-
cess of human ingenuity they could
be coaXed to learn that habitat
once Oregon would spring into a fame
that would reach to all the corners
of the world. There is not a more
perfect salmon river out-of-doors
than the Rogue river; and, after the
king salmon himself, the steelhead is
the one fish that ought to and does
occupy those waters.
Time was when the Rogue river
produced steelheads in any quantity
desired. Today there are still
enough of the fish to offer fairly sue
cessful angling. There are good seas
ons and bad seasons, depending on
the status of net fishing at the mouth
of the river. Some of the Oregon
towns think that all netting ought
to be stopped, so that the steelheads
can make their way in numbers to
the upper waters Of the rivers. Other
towns, more dependent on the COM
mercial fisheries, are in favor of elav-
ing the nets at the mouths of the
rivers. Sometimes there is a COM
promise measure on the staute books,
under which commercial fishermen
are allowed to net salmon at the
mouth of the river, but are obliged to
return to the water all the steelheads
taken in the nets.
1t is easily practicable what the re-
suit of this sort of law would be and,
indeed, is: the steelheads are not al
ways returned to the ocean, but some
times find their way into tin cans.
The usual American custom is to use
the gifts of Nature unsparingly. To
an unprejudiced observer this does
not seem the best form of business
practice. The Rogue river, full of
steelheads, would in these days of
increasing travel and decreasing
sport very soon be one of the best
publicity agents and one of the best
revenue producers Oregon could
have.
AS it was and as it is, however,
steelhead angling on Rogue river is
one of the most exciting forms of
angling practiced in any land-one
of the most difficult and dangerous.
1t far and away surpasses salmon
angling in all the qualities of skill
and daring required for success. 1t
has been the fortune of the writer to
fight a forty-pound salmon on the
Grand Cascapedia, of Quebec; and
surely in dignity and splendor there
is no sport with the rod EMIT ed to
the palm over that form. of salmon
angling. None the less, it is free of
risk and is pursued under conditions
of ease and comfort, as well as of
safety. The excitement lies in the
combat between the man and the fish.
In this Rogue river angling for
steelhead the case is quite otherwise,
The combat between man and fish is
there, but also the combat between
man and Nature-Nature bent on de-
struction; Nature riotous and uncon-
trolled. The angler for the steeh-
head must take his life in his hands
when he wades into that mountain
torrent in pursuit of his sport. There
are few places on the river where
a boat can be used, but boat fishing
for steelhead is not de rigueur and,
indeed, is practically unknown. 1t is
wading angling raised to the nth de-
gree, OF all the angling in the world
it is of the highest class in those
qualities requiring courage and skill
alike Push it just beyond its natur-
al status of risk and it would no
longer be sport.
The Rogue river wader for steel
head risks his life no matter how
good a swimmer he is. The water
runs from two to twenty feet in
depth, and the river in many places
is more than a hundred yards wide,
while the momentum of the down
coming flood is something enormous
Any man who knows the downthrust
of even a smallish rapid stream will
know how to estimate the strength
of this tremendous river. Moreover
the footing is not always very secure
Deep Wading for Steelhead.
This is lava country, and there are
great riffs of lava rock lying like flat
dams here and there almost entirely
across the course of the river. These
may alternate with what the local
men call smooth rock, which offers
at best only slippery footing for the
wader Now and again there are
cross cracks or upthrust powders of
ava that send the water up in foam.
Again. there are long gravel reaches,