The Daily Alaska empire., 1945-04-02
F& " | DIRECTOR PENS NEW GUIDE
 ON SPORTS FISH

VHN Oe VbNuS k0us
 Concise. but comprehensive, a recent survey of sport fishing in Alaska has been prepared by Frank w. Hynes, Regional Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, for AL aska. Autographed copies of the paper are available at the Juneau office of the Wildlife Service.
 1 The survey presents sports fish ing facts of value to tourist a,d resident anglers alike, including. Descriptions of the various species of game fish, their habits and how to catch them-both fresh and salt water varieties; sports fishing methods that have been proved eff fective and fishing laws and regu- lations.
 The paper prepared by MT. Hynes is a fore-runner of a far more extensive work on the same subject, which is said to be now in production by Frank Dufresne, former Executive Officer of Alaska Game Commission, who is now Director of Public Relations for the Fish and Wildlife Service
 ] Following are excerpts from the introduction to MT. Hynes article: i Alaska is an anglers paradise, difficult to equal anywhere in the world. Nature has dealt lavishly with Alaska in respect not only to the fisheries of the seas but of the fresh waters as we'll
 ! The steady increase of airplane
 travel and the construction of trails, railroads, and more recently, automobile roads, have been respon- sible for the rapidly increasing travel to Alaska for recreational purposes, chief among which is fishing. Two or more days aboard a steamer passing through the scenic inside passage of British Columbia and Southeast Alaska and short trip by launch brings one to any of a number of beautiful trout streams and lakes, little marked by the progress of civiliza- tion. Here is a land one-fifth the size of the continental United States, containing countless streams that man has never fished, myriads of lakes whose placid waters have never felt the thrust of paddle or oar. And in most of them are game fish of some variety. Even the briny ocean yields its finny treas ures to the sportsman who is skilled enough to play and land the fight ing King and Silver salmon that swim in hordes in the inland and sheltered arms of the North Pacific Ocean along the bay-in- dented and island -incrsuted shores of Alaska. I The streams tributary to the coast differ considerably from those of interior Alaska. The coastal streams are short and fairly swift, flowing through narrow, densely- wooded valleys on either side of which are lofty mountains. The stream banks are frequently cov- dented and island-incrusted shores and perennial plants. Many inviting pools are formed throughout the course of practically every coastal stream. The clear water streams of the. ,. interior are usually very long and have their sources in lakes fed by melting snows of the different mountain ranges. The upper req ches of these streams are through high plateaus devoid of timber and only sparsely covered with dwarf willows and alders The lower reaches of such streams are quite free from underbrush and nowhere is the vegetation like that along the coastal streams. The larger rivers which frequently have their sources in glaciers are often heavily silt-laden, but most of the tribu- tary. streams are clear, and teem- ing with game fishes.
 Alaska game fishes include rainbow, steelhead, cutthroat, lake and Dolly Warden trout as well as grayling, great northern pike and inconnu. In many of the lakes in Southeast Alaska is found a small, silvery -colored landlocked form of sockeye salmon. Eastern brook trout were successfully transplanted in waters near Ketchikan, and Skag- way several years ago. Except in waters near the small cities of the Territory, the streams and lakes are stocked as heavily with these game fish as natural conditions will permit. To the visiting non- resident angler they appear to exist o1.l II