(Oncorhynchus)
Notwithstanding the fact that the salmon is one of the most valuable
of all the food fishes, but little is known of its habits after it
leaves the stream in which it is hatched until it returns to spawn,
supposed to be from three to four years afterward. Whether they remain
near the mouths of the streams, or whether they migrate to distant
feeding grounds are questions that have never been solved. All of the
five species are caught with seins in Puget Sound in greater or less
numbers all the year round. From the action of those that spawn in the
Sacramento river it would seem that they migrate southward and far out
to sea, for on their return to spawn they enter Monterey Bay only on
its southern side, and following around it at no great distance from
the shore, leave it at the northern headlands and skirt the shore
northward until they reach the entrance to San Francisco Bay on their
way up the Sacramento river. Where the young fish make their habitat
from the time they drift down the stream in which they were spawned
until they return again to spawn has never been determined. They spawn
but once and die soon afterward. As I know that this last statement
will be disputed by some, for reasons best known to themselves, I will
quote from that excellent work by Evermann and Jordan, "American Food
and Game Fishes." "We have carefully," say these gentlemen, "examined
the spawning habits of both forms of the red fish and chinook salmon
in the head waters of Salmon river, Idaho, during two entire seasons,
from the time the fish arrived in July until the end of September, by
which time all the fish had disappeared. A number of important
questions were settled by these investigations. In the first place it
was found that all of the fish arrived upon the spawning grounds in
perfect physical condition, so far as external appearances indicated;
no sores, bruises or other mutilations showing on any of more than
4000 fish examined. During the spawning, however, the majority became
more or less injured by rubbing against the gravel of the
spawning-beds, or by fighting with one another. Soon after done
spawning every one of them died, not only both forms of the red fish
but the chinook salmon as well. The dying is not due to the injuries
the fish received on the spawning-grounds; many were seen dying or
dead which showed no external or other injuries whatever. The dying of
the West Coast salmon is in no manner determined by distance from the
sea. Observations made by us and others elsewhere show that the
individuals of all species of the =Oncorhynchus= die after one
spawning, whether the spawning-beds are remote from the sea or only a
short distance from salt-water."
The angler's concern, however, is not so much with the procreative
habits of the salmon as it is with their behavior while feeding and
after being hooked.
Salmon are rarely caught by still fishing, but they will take the
spoon or a sardine or other small fish impaled upon the hook. They
take the bait generally with some hesitation, though at times they
strike it with all the impetuosity of the trout. Then the singing reel
calls for careful and immediate action on the part of the angler, for
the ten to forty pound fish on his light tackle is going to put up a
fight worthy of his skill. In his mad rush for liberty the gamy fish
gradually rises to the surface, and when at last checked by the skill
of the angler, he will often leap out of the water to a height of from
four to eight feet, his beautiful sides scintillating in the rays of
the sun, forming a picture to gladden the heart of the angler, for if
he be a true sportsman he will fish with such tackle only as will give
his adversary a fair chance in the fight and require the fullest
exercise of his own knowledge and skill to bring his fish to gaff. The
salmon is a strong fighter but his rushes do not last long for a fish
of its size. For this reason much of the sport of salmon fishing is
lost through the use of too heavy tackle. The writer landed one
without difficulty weighing 33-1/2 pounds on a nine thread, Cuttyhunk
line and a 5-1/2 foot steel rod weighing less than six ounces, and I
believe that a fifty pound fish can be landed with the same tackle.
Trolling with hand lines for salmon is practiced by some, but such is
not angling. Hauling in an impaled fish hand over hand with a small
cable is neither sport nor sportsmanlike.
[Illustration: CHINOOK SALMON (Oncorhynchus tschawytscha)]