The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-01-22

a whole of the views held, in part at
least, by many f~ishermeA. If it meets
with your approval then adopt it as your
own, but if on the other hand it is an
t~agonistic to your belief then consider
it simply as argument on the other side
OF the question.
And the question is. Shall the season
for taking trout in streams close Aug.
las recommended by the state com
missioner, or September / as at pres
cnt?
Some Rutland. county fishermen have
already voiced a protest against the
change. but they advance but little argu-
ment in favor of the present arrange
ment. 1t i'll fact SINNERS down to two
Statements: First, that trout are poor
and hungry in April and will bite any
body's hook, while in August they are
lat and saucy and only an \ No. l fish
Crman can lure them from their lair ;
and second, that August is the banner
month for summer tourists and vaca-
t~iOniStS.
Possibly Rutland county trout do bite
better in April than in August, but in
Windham county some of our best fish
ermen aver that the reverse comes nearer
being true. Some Windham county fish
ermen are not thinking principally of
how they can manage to get every last
trout of legal length out of the brooks
but of how best to conserve the stock
now in our streams, and at the some
time continue to have some of the best
mountain brook trout fishing in the
state. So they say let the season open
as early as YOU please, not because the
fishermen will then all be able to get
big strings but because they will not as
a rule, make very large catches until
the snow lneltS back in the mountains
and the flood waters pass by.
\ trout fisherman who has the habit
in a chronic form begins to get ready
for business at least as soon as the snow
begins to melt away on sunShiny days
of March, and Windham county anglers
number many in that class. Their Symp-
toms increase in violence until they are
able to go out and fish a stream or two,
so the wise ones say that as far as con-
serving the supply is concerned the earli-
or the fishermen get out the better.
They will, on favorable Sunshiny days,
get Il few trout, and will at the same
time reduce their fever several degrees,
so that by the time the streams are at
their best, in May, June and early July,
these fish fanatics Will be back about
to normal and act like fairly reasonable
beings again, being then content With
an occasional trip out instead of want
ing to live on the brooks all the time.
In this county the streams are rapid.
and there is little or no saltwater along
them. Under such conditions it is, in a
general way, natural for a trout. eSpe-.
cially a large one. after she has spawned
in the fall. to hike downstream, some
times for many miles when the streams
are not Obstructed or polluted, until she
rceches deeper and more placid waters
in which to pass the winter months. the
run back upstream beginning early the
following spring and continuing by easy
stages during the summer until she
reaches the h~eadwaters, where she
spawns again in the fall, provided that
no angler prevents.
The Truth About August Fishing.
On every rise of water during the
summer months trout in general work
upstream, this being one of the customs
of their clan. Consequently in April
few trout, especially the larger ones,
are in the smaller streams. but in Au-
gust they ar getting along up there, and
that is why certain fishermen just like
to get out on small meadow brooks in
August. That's when they make a kill
ing, and that's when they rob the breed@
ing streams of every trout large enough
t. spawn, and no time left that season
for the little fellows to grow up and re-
produce.
Not every trout follows the routine
outlined above. but that is their habit
under favorable conditions, especially in
a saltwater country. Some, of curse,
that have found a location that suits
them. remain thereabOutS from year to
year. or until some fisherman ends their
existence.
Every farmer boy who fishes with an
alder pole and a box of worms for bait
knows tina be can get the biggest string
water in the streams has been low for
some time and food is consequently
scarce. When he sees an early season
fisherman out he grins and~says: "4ou
I'll ---H& - L. a@,u
hurt. Just wait till the water gets low
and a good rainy day comes, n III beat
YOU all hOller."- And the farmer boy
knows what he is talking about. \ fish
erman who hits a stream on a rainy day
i'm August. just as the water begins to
Use and the feed to float down, can break
the catch limit. If there are any trout
there, easier then than at any other
time, and usually he need use nothing
better than anglewOrmS for bait either.
But when he also has some graSshopperS,
Crickets. flies, etc, to fall back on, he
can if he is at all Skillful, get every le-
gal trout in the stream, thus leaving
it bare of spawnerS. ~-.
Do YOU want to get them all this year,
or are you sportsman enough TO want
to leave a few adults to reproduce and
stock the streams? Good trout fishing
throughout the state can never be wholly
maintained by dumping in artihcially
Matched fish. The cost would be pro-
hibitive. Some adult trout must be left
in the brooks to spawn, and by the way,
the spawn from one gOOd-slZed adult IS
worth more tina that of half a dozen
trout just barely large enough to repro
duce. The stock is stronger, more like
~ to live, and will show larger and bet
ter specimens. Ask any progressive
breeder of livestock about this law of
reproduction and then profit by what he
tells yOn.
4. :. +r,,a tbat If makas no 6;efaranca
about reproduction whether a female
trout is caught in April or in August, for
if she is caught in either month she is
then out of existence, but the point is
that if the season be closed Aug. l at
least some. adult specimens will then be
left in the streams. while the chances
are that if the season remains open I'M
It'll Sent. l most of them will very likely
Re deyoured by some Vermont, New
Hampshire. Massachusetts or New York
fisherman.
As to Outside Fishermen.
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