The Olympic Peninsula is noted for its many miles of beautiful streams.
This water provides an abundant world for fishes and gives joy to the
fisherman. In these coastal streams the fisherman’s fishes are trout and
their relatives, the salmon.
Trout found in the streams include cutthroat, rainbow, brook, Dolly
Varden, and steelhead. The steelhead spends the greater part of its life
in the ocean, but enters fresh-water streams to reproduce. After
spawning, it returns to salt water. During its life span it may make
several winter spawning trips up the fresh-water streams. The lives of
sea-run cutthroat follow the same pattern, except they spawn in autumn.
In autumn or spring, salmon of several species swim up-stream, driving
hard to reach the tributaries where they were hatched. Their mission is
to spawn. This is their grand and final act, for unlike the steelhead,
they do not return to the sea after spawning, but die. Sport fishing for
salmon is done chiefly in salt water, and the waters around the Olympic
Peninsula have become famous for the excellent salmon sport fishing they
afford.
Some mountain lakes contain rainbow and brook trout. Lake Mills, which
is impounded water, contains rainbow, brook, and Dolly Varden trout.
[Illustration: A COHO SALMON JUMPING THE RAPIDS OF THE SOLEDUCK
RIVER.]
The largest lake in the park, Lake Crescent, formerly contained two
varieties of trout that have not been found to be native anywhere else.
These were the Beardslee and the Crescenti, varieties of the rainbow and
cutthroat, respectively, which frequently reached a weight of between 10
and 15 pounds. These varieties of trout probably no longer exist in the
pure state. Recent studies indicate that present trout stocks,
contaminated by plantings of hatchery fish that were made before the
park was established, are now hybridized from crossbreeding. This is the
usual story that follows upon man’s interference with natural waters—a
story which has been repeated over and over again in the United States.
A license is not required for fishing in the park. There are
regulations, however, pertaining to the season, open water, catch limit,
and method of fishing. A copy of these regulations may be obtained at
the superintendent’s office or at a park ranger station.