Fishing, Hunting, and Conservation News, October 1913 – Part I

These notes from the Oregon Sportsman.

The time of the fly fisherman for the present year grows short, and after a few sharp frosts there will be no more of it. Then we must resort tot he winter lures – the spoon, the worm, the flesh of sculpin, squawfish and carp; or the nasty salmon egg. Indeed on the lower waters of streams tributary to the sea, fly-fshing is already practically over.

But there remain, so long as the present delightful weather shall last, magnificent fishing on the Rogue, McKenzie, Santiam, Molalla, and Clackamas. The favorite food of the rainbow trout in these streams is now the stonefly, which hatches in late summer and early fall, coming out from the water in the larval stage and hiding among the rocks of the shore, where he shortly emerges from his shell as the mature insect in the form of a gauze-winged, soft bodied fly, which gather in great numbers on the branches of willows along the steams. Flies that light or fall upon the water are eagerly seized by trout, which frequent the shores at this time for the purpose of feeding on the stoneflies.

A party of sportsmen, just returning from the upper McKenzie, report remarkably fine fishing at McKenzie Bridge and Frizzell’s, where a large number of fishermen have enjoyed great sport. Their catches were made mostly by using the stonefly, carefully hooked, with wings spread, and very lightly cast. Rainbows of two pounds and upwards fell to the lot of several of these gentlemen daily, and many smaller fish, so that a four-automobile party had all the fish they cared to use daily for a week.

The Dolly Varden does not rise readily at this season to the fly in the Cascade streams, but skillful fisherman catch occasional monsters with salmon eggs.

Doubtless fishing on the McKenzie at this season will be found to correspond with that on the waters of other large rivers of the Cascade mentioned above. Fly-fishing proper has been better in the earlier months of summer on the Mckenzie. The fish reject the artificial fly now because of the abundance of natural fly food.

Note: There will be more to follow from the October 1913 edition……..

Jay Nicholas