Bass, Pike, Perch, and Others Part 10

II; scales 8-88 to 90-11; coeca 18; body elongate, compressed, highest under the anterior portion of the dorsal; head rather short, subconic, compressed, its upper outline continuous with anterior curve of the back; mouth moderate, the maxillary extending to below the middle of the eye; maxillary 6 (?) in head; jaws about equal; tongue, in the young, with teeth, which are usually absent in the adult; eye quite large, rather longer than snout; scales moderate; lateral line nearly straight; a small bare s.p.a.ce behind isthmus; dorsal fin long and high, about 3-1/2 in length of body; adipose fin small; a.n.a.l fin small; gill-rakers short and slender, about 12 below the angle.

_Thymallus tricolor._ Head 5; depth 5-1/2; eye 4; D. 21 or 22; A. 10; scales 93 to 98; gill-rakers 7 + 12; maxillary 2-1/2 in head; dorsal fin 5-1/2 in length of body. Otherwise much as _T.

signifer_.

_Thymallus monta.n.u.s._ Head 5; depth 4-1/2; eye 3-1/2; D. 18 to 21; A. 10 or 11; scales 8-82 to 85-10; gill-rakers 5 + 12; maxillary 3 in head; dorsal fin 4-1/2 in length of body. Other features much resembling _T. signifer_ and _T. tricolor_.

Owing to the restricted area of its distribution, the "graceful, gliding grayling" is known to but comparatively few anglers in America. He who has been so fortunate as to have this beautiful fish respond to his deftly cast flies, will bear me out in the a.s.sertion that for courage, finesse, and all the qualities that const.i.tute a true game-fish, the grayling is the equal of its congener, the trout.

In France it is known as...o...b..e, in Germany as asche, and in Norway as harren. Among all English-speaking people it is the grayling, though occasionally it is called umber in parts of England. All of these names are somewhat descriptive of its grayish, ashy, or bluish coloration.

Gliding along in clear, swift water it seems, indeed, a gray shadow; but fresh out of its native element it becomes a creature of mother-of-pearl, so beautiful and varied are its tints.

The graceful outlines and beautifully-moulded proportions of the grayling, together with the satiny sheen and delicate coloration of her adornment, have always impressed me as essentially feminine. The evanescent play of prismatic hues on her shapely and rounded sides, when fresh from the pure and crystal stream she loves so well, reminds one of changeable silk shot with all the colors of the rainbow. Her tall dorsal fin, with its rose-colored spots, she waves as gracefully and effectually as the nodding plume of a d.u.c.h.ess.

[Ill.u.s.tration THE ARCTIC GRAYLING]

[_Thymallus signifer_]

[Ill.u.s.tration THE MICHIGAN GRAYLING]

[_Thymallus tricolor_]

[Ill.u.s.tration THE MONTANA GRAYLING]

[_Thymallus monta.n.u.s_]

The grayling was named by the ancients _Thymallus_, owing to a smell of thyme that was said to emanate from the fish when freshly caught.

However that may have been in days of old, it is not so now, though an odor of cuc.u.mbers is sometimes perceptible when it is just out of the water. But the name, if not the odor, has endured to the present day, for _Thymallus_ is still its generic appellation. The graylings were formerly included in the salmon family, and are still so considered by European ichthyologists, who include them in the genus _Salmo_. Dr.

Theodore Gill, however, has formed them into a separate family (_Thymallidae_), owing to the peculiar structure of the skull, whereby the parietal bones meet at the median line, excluding the frontal bones from the supra-occipital; whereas in the other salmonids the parietals are separated by the intervention of the supra-occipital bone, which connects with the frontals.

There are three species in America: one in the Arctic regions, one in Michigan, and one in Montana. To the untrained eye no great difference is apparent between these various species as to form and coloration, [1]

and their habits are similar, all loving clear, cold, and swift water, with gravelly or sandy bottom. They feed on insects and their larvae, small minnows, crustaceans, and such small organisms. They sp.a.w.n in the spring. The eggs are smaller than trout eggs, running seven to the inch.

They hatch in from ten days to two weeks, according to temperature of the water.

THE ARCTIC GRAYLING

(_Thymallus signifer_)

The Arctic grayling was first described by Sir John Richardson, in 1823, from specimens collected at Winter Lake, near Fort Enterprise, in British America. He named it _signifer_, or "standard-bearer," in allusion to its tall, waving, gayly-colored dorsal fin. It is presumably the oldest and original species, and it is not unlikely that it was transported to Michigan and Montana on an ice-field during the glacial period. It is often called Bach's grayling, in honor of an officer of that name who took the first one on the fly, when with the Arctic expedition of Sir John Franklin, in 1819. It abounds in clear, cold streams of the Mackenzie and Yukon provinces in British America, and in Alaska up to the Arctic Ocean. This boreal grayling has a somewhat smaller head than the other species, its upper outline being continuous with the curve of the back. The mouth is small, extending to below the middle of the eye, which latter is larger than in the other graylings, while its dorsal fin is both longer and higher, and contains a few more rays. The sides are purplish gray, darker on the back; head brownish, a blue mark on each side of the lower jaw; the dorsal fins dark gray, splashed with a lighter shade, with rows of deep blue spots edged with red; ventral fins with red and white stripes. Along the sides are scattered a few irregularly-shaped black spots.

A friend of mine, an ardent angler, returned recently from Cape Nome and the Yukon, in Alaska, where he resided for several years. He informed me that the grayling is very abundant in the streams of that region, and that he had taken thousands on the fly; but not knowing that they differed from the Montana grayling, he did not examine them closely.

THE MICHIGAN GRAYLING

(_Thymallus tricolor_)

The Michigan grayling was first described by Professor E.D. Cope, in 1865, from specimens from the Au Sable River. He named it _tricolor_, on account of its handsomely-decorated fins and body. At that time it was abundant in the Au Sable, Manistee, Marquette, Jordan, Pigeon, and other rivers in the northern part of the lower peninsula of Michigan, and in Otter Creek, near Keweenah, in the upper peninsula. It has a somewhat larger head than the Arctic form, its length being about one-fifth of the length of the body; the outline of the latter does not differ except in not being so prominent over the shoulder.

The coloration is purplish gray with silvery reflections, darker on the back, belly white and iridescent; sides of head with bright bluish and bronze l.u.s.tre; sides of the body with small, black, irregular spots; ventral fins with oblique, rose-colored lines; dorsal with alternate dusky and rose-colored lines below, and alternate rows of dusky green and roseate spots above; caudal fin dusky with a middle roseate stripe.

In 1870-1876 I visited most of the grayling streams in Michigan, and found it abundant, affording fine fishing. At that time it was also in the Boyne, and in Pine Lake and River. I also took it in Lake Michigan while fishing for cisco from the pier at Charlevoix. Fish running from a pound to a pound and a half were common, and occasionally one of two pounds was taken.

It is sad to contemplate the gradual disappearance of this fish from the once densely populated streams of Michigan. At the present day the angler is fortunate, indeed, who succeeds in taking a brace of grayling where a few years ago his basket was soon filled. This deplorable state of affairs has been brought about by the axe of the lumberman, whose logs, descending the small streams on the spring rise, plough up the sp.a.w.ning beds, smothering the eggs and killing the helpless fry. As brook-trout sp.a.w.n in the fall they escape this calamity, the fry being old enough in April to take pretty good care of themselves. The decrease of both trout and grayling is commonly attributed to overfishing; but while this may have its influence to a limited extent in lessening the numbers for a season, other causes must be looked for to account for the permanent depletion of certain waters.

A stream or pond will support but a limited number of fish, the number depending on the supply of natural food for both young and mature. By the supply of food on one hand, and the natural enemies of the fish on the other, a certain balance is maintained which if disturbed by, say, overfishing one season, will be restored by natural laws the next. And this state of affairs will continue so long as the natural conditions of the waters remain undisturbed.

By cutting down the pine trees at the sources of the streams and along the small tributaries, which are the sp.a.w.ning grounds of both trout and grayling, the natural conditions are changed. The scorching rays of the summer sun are admitted where once mosses and ferns and the trailing arbutus luxuriated in the shade of a dense growth of pines and hemlocks and firs. The soil becomes dry, the carpet of green shrivels and dies, and the myriads of insects that once bred and multiplied in the cool and grateful shade, and whose larvae furnish the food for the baby fish, disappear. The brooks and rivulets diminish and vanish. A page has been torn from the book of nature, and the place that trout and grayling knew so well is known no more forever.

THE MONTANA GRAYLING

(_Thymallus monta.n.u.s_)

The Montana grayling was collected by Professor James W. Milner, of the United States Fish Commission, in 1872, from a tributary of the Missouri River, at Camp Baker, in Montana. He named it _monta.n.u.s_, from the name of the state. Lewis and Clark, however, during their wonderful journey that blazed the western course of empire, described, but did not name it, seventy years before, from fish taken near the head waters of the Jefferson River. A few years ago (1898) it was my good fortune to be the first to call attention to this prior description. Knowing that Lewis and Clark ascended the Jefferson nearly to its source in the Rocky Mountains, in 1805, I thought it extremely probable that those remarkably close observers had mentioned the existence of this beautiful and well-marked species. Upon investigation I found my surmise to be correct. On page 545 of Dr. Elliott Coues's edition (1893) of "The Lewis and Clark Expedition," I found the following:--

"Toward evening we formed a drag of bushes, and in about two hours caught 528 very good fish, most of them large trout. Among them we observed for the first time ten or twelve trout of a white or silvery color, except on the back and head, where they are of a bluish cast; in appearance and shape they resemble exactly the speckled trout, except they are not so large, though the scales are much larger; the flavor is equally good." (In a foot-note Dr. Coues stated that this fish remained unidentified.)

The locality where these fish were taken was near the head waters of the Jefferson River, where Lewis and Clark abandoned their canoes and crossed the Continental Divide on horses purchased from the Indians. At this point the grayling is abundant to-day, as I know from personal observation, and coexists with the red-throat trout almost to the exclusion of all other species.

Lewis and Clark were both remarkable for clear and correct descriptions of the animals and plants met with during their journey, many of which were new to science; but as they neglected to give them scientific names, others have reaped the honors of many of their discoveries. I published my identification of the fish in question as being undoubtedly the grayling, and soon afterward received a letter from Dr. Coues, congratulating me and indorsing my opinion, which he said was certainly correct.

The Montana grayling is found only in the tributaries of the Missouri River above the Great Falls. In Sheep and Tenderfoot creeks, tributaries of Smith River, in the Little Belt Mountains, it is fairly abundant, as it is likewise in the three forks of the Missouri,--the Gallatin, Madison, and Jefferson rivers. Its ideal home is in several tributaries at the head of Red Rock Lake, swift gravelly streams, and especially in the upper reaches of the Madison above the upper canon, where the water is rapid, though unbroken, the bottom being dark obsidian sand, with a succession of pools and shallows. I have taken fish weighing two pounds in Beaver Creek, in the upper canon, which is also an ideal stream. Such situations are peculiarly adapted to the grayling, being preferred to the broken water of rocky streams so much favored by trout.

The Montana grayling is a trimmer-built fish than its Michigan cousin, being not quite so deep, proportionally, and with larger scales. Its dorsal fin is about the same height, but with one or two less rays.

Its back is gray, with purplish reflections; sides lighter, with lilac, pink, and silvery reflections; belly pearly white. It has a few irregularly-shaped black spots on the anterior part of the body, but none posteriorly as sometimes on the Michigan grayling. It has two oblong dark blotches in the cleft of the lower jaw, and a heavy dark line running from the ventrals to the pectoral fin; these markings are more p.r.o.nounced in the male, being quite faint or wanting in the female.

The dorsal fin has a rosy-red border, six or seven rows of roseate, roundish spots, ocellated with white, and gray blotches form lines between the rows of red spots; in the upper, posterior angle of the dorsal fin are several larger oblong rosy spots; the ventral fins have three rose-colored stripes along the rays; the pectoral and a.n.a.l fins are plain; the caudal fin is forked.

As a game-fish the grayling is fully the equal of the trout, though its way of taking the artificial fly is quite different, and the old hand at trout fishing must pay court to "the lady of the streams" with the greatest a.s.siduity before he is successful in winning her attention to his lures. And even then he must become fully conversant with her coy and coquettish way of accepting his offer, though it be cast never so deftly. There is a rush and snap and vim in the rise of a trout to the fly that is lacking with the grayling. The trout often leaps above the water to seize the fly, while it is taken more quietly and deliberately, though just as eagerly, by the grayling from below. In other words, it is "sucked in," as English anglers term it, though that hardly expresses it, as the act is not so tame as might be inferred. On the contrary, the grayling rises from the bottom of a pool and darts upward like an arrow to seize the fly, though as a rule it does not break water, and is not so demonstrative as the trout; but it seldom misses the mark, if the fly is small enough, which the trout often does.

Sometimes the grayling will rise a dozen times to a fly, and for some reason refuse it, but will take it at the very next cast. Just why this is so is one of the unanswerable problems that often vexes or confounds the angler. Presumably the fly is too large, or is not presented in just the right way to please her ladyship. But the angler should not despair under such circ.u.mstances, but remember the old couplet, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Moreover, he must remember that he is fishing for grayling, not for trout. He must not cast on a riffle, or at its head, but below, in the eddy or still water, where it is deepest.

There lie the large fish, though small ones may be in the shallower water, and it is the latter that perplex one by their antics, oftentimes leaping over one's flies in play.

Trout generally lie in ambush beneath the bank, shelving rocks, or roots, usually in shallow water, from whence they rush with tigerlike ferocity upon the fly, often leaping over it in their eagerness for the fancied prey. On the contrary, grayling lie on the bottom of pools, in swift water, entirely in the open. They are also gregarious, a.s.sembling in schools, while the trout is a lone watcher from his hidden lair.

Some dry fly-fishers of England, echoing the opinion of Charles Cotton, term the grayling a "dead-hearted fish" that must be taken with a wet or sunken fly. This idea of its lack of gameness is implied in Tennyson's lines:--

"Here and there a l.u.s.ty trout.

And here and there a grayling."

As the English grayling grows only to half of the weight of the trout, it suffers by comparison when killed on the heavy rods of our English brothers. Their a.s.sertion, also, that the grayling has a tender mouth, and must be handled gingerly, is another fallacy, inasmuch as it has as tough lips as the trout, but the smaller hooks of grayling flies do not hold so firmly as the larger and stronger hooks of trout flies.

It must not be supposed that the grayling is not a leaping fish because it takes the fly from beneath the surface of the water. On the contrary, in its playful moods it may be seen leaping above the surface the same as a trout, and moreover it breaks water repeatedly after being hooked, which the trout seldom does. It puts up a stiff fight also beneath the surface, being much aided in its resistance by its tall dorsal fin. It is no disparagement, then, to the gamesome trout, to declare the grayling its equal when of similar size and weight.

Grayling fishing has been practised in England for centuries. In addition to fly-fishing, swimming the maggot, where a tiny float is used, is a common method. An artificial bait, called the gra.s.shopper, is likewise employed. While grayling are taken during the trout season, in spring and summer, the most successful season seems to be from September to December, when they are at their best, both as to gameness and condition.

With English anglers the universal practice is to fish up-stream, as the fish are not so apt to see the angler, and that plan undoubtedly has its advantages in the clear and shallow streams of England. In fishing for grayling, however, it is advised by some of their best anglers to cast across the stream, instead of above, and allow the flies to float down.

No reason is given for this deviation from the generally accepted method with trout; but I imagine that as grayling lie on the bottom of deep pools, it has been found by experience that they are not so apt to see the angler as other species in mid-water or near the surface, especially in the clear chalk streams.

In America, the streams being deeper, the necessity for fishing up-stream is not so apparent. Fishing down-stream is by far the best plan, for obvious reasons, if the angler wades slowly and cautiously, so as not to roil the water. The princ.i.p.al reason is that one's line is always straight and taut in swift water, and the flies can be more easily controlled and floated down over the fish, which always heads up-stream. Upon hooking the fish it can be drawn to one side, whereby the other fish in the pool are not much more alarmed than in the case of casting up or across. Casting across seems to be really a concession to the advantage of fishing down-stream.