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SAWTOOTH MOUNTAIN RED FISH Good Fishing for Game That Holds All Lures in XVhen a red fisli is mentioned your mind turns immediately to the big red fighters ef our south ¬ eastern coasts where these ruddycolored fisii fur ¬ nish amusement for many a sportsman and mental nourishment for those with anhetites leaning toward a BookThese fisli diet writes O M Jones in Outers Book These are not the fish however to which Idahos sportsmen refer when they speak of nil fish The species to which the Idaho fisli belongs is found in only a few places in thelTnited States and one of these places is the Red Fish Lakes in the Saw ¬ tooth Mountains And these fish belong to tho salmon tribe They look like a young salmon in the hist stages of scarlet fewr Their color is of a bright red like red flannel when they are in the water but this soon fades to a deep pink after they have been out of wafer for any length of time I say they resemble a young salmon on ac ¬ count of their size averaging about fourteen or fifteen lengthAs inches in length As a rule they run of a uniform size and I dare say you may catch a whole sack of them and the smallest fish of the lot will not lie two inches shorter lighterUnlike than the longest nor much lighter Unlike your red fish of the gulf or the father of their own species the salmon these fish have no scales Just a fatty sort of smooth skin sensi ¬ tive to the slightest scratch or mark as it shows black lines wherever scratched the least bit on sharp gravel or other rough surface Their skin resembles watersoaked rawhide or buckskin in its slimy texture which gives you i sort of impression of fat And this is not altogether an illusion illusionTim Tim meat of this fish is of a fatty texture but not enough to impair their palatability to the most Jelicate taste Just enough to make them a good rich morsel when turned to a brown in your frying pan A welcome change from most fish of the salmon tribe In fact this fish seems to have enough fat in its makeup to be selffrying That is there seems to be no loss of grease in the pan from frying a meal of them Even after they have been rolled in flour or meal they seem to give out is cookingAfter much fat as they consume in the cooking After you have become accustomed to the bright color of this fish its shape will be the next feature to attract your attention They are flattened con siderably more than the normal trout or salmon Not to the extreme of a perch or sunfish but just as though you would take a small salmon lay it on its side l etween two lx ards and exert sufficient pressun on these hoards to flatten the rounding ribs down just a little littleThe The red fish is a gamylooking proposition and when looking one over for the first time you will predict the sport they must create on a fly or spinner but in this guess you are due to disap ¬ pointment for there hasnt as yet been a suitable lure found for them This fish seems to hold all lures both artificial and natural in utter disdain but dont feel badly after this discovery You will Iiave plenty of sport in taking them and it is plenty exciting and somewhat of a change from the ortho ¬ dox fly or bait casting you have been accustomed to toTOOLS TOOLS STIFF POLE AND SNAG HOOK HOOKYou You must catch these fellows with snag hooks lashed to a goodsized stiff pole Not the long line of snag hooks you have seen used in the catch ¬ ing of smelt but just a single large hook or a roup of three cr four smaller hooks lashed or nailed onto the end of your pole These hooks ire made in all sizes and manners according to the dictates of the users own ingenuity And they all seem to have the faculty of doing the work for everyone seems to get the red fish On one trip in this country our party made hooks of heavy galvanized telephone wire which we bent arid then flattened and filed to points and beards And they delivered the goods goodsThese These gaudy fish are only in evidence about thirty days of each year when they run up the inlets to the lakes in great schools to spawn This run generally being the heaviest in the month of August when the deep clear pools of these streams are scarlet with these schools of fish Or they were at one time Of late years since the automobile has supplanted the horse to a great extent even In these rough mountain regions and the number of campers has increased ten fold as a consequence these schools of fish have diminished alarmingly And I am sorry to say dynamite has played its part in the destruction of these great red schools schoolsInhabitants Inhabitants of the neighhoring country besides some tourists generally salt down and smoke a great number of these fish yesrijtf anJ nt tiHa present rate of destruction it is soon to be up to the game department of Idaho to declare a closed season on these fish to nrevent their extermination exterminationAfter After spending their allotted time spawning in the streams feeding the lakes these fish return to the deep waters of the lakes and there disappear until time to make their pilgrimage the next year And in regard to this dropping out of sight there is considerable argument and speculation as to what becomes of these fish for the eleven months of the year but so far as I can leani there are no authentic facts to tie to this propping from sight of the red fish fishFirst First rig iip your hooks arid poles so they look real businesslike and then hike up the winding stream above the lake you happen to be on at this time You will find plenty of these fish in either Red Fisli Lake or Alturas Lake They belong to the same chain of lakes draining into the head of Salmon River and always referred to as The Red Fish Lakes Everyone must go to take part In this days novel sport It is time well spent I assure you and an experience you will not forget in a hurry hurryYou You peer into the deen clear water of the stream where it bends and eddies in big deep holes until you finally see a crimson flash in the crystalline depths followed by several more flashes flashesThere There they are you shout as you prepare to wage war against this little army of reds huddled back under the bank where they seem to be eying you with a great deal of suspicion as they wriggle aneasily in and out among the overhanging willows ind roots along the bank Finally lining up along the edge of the pool your iparty advances to ex ¬ terminate this fish colony but they are as shy as trout so their extermination is easier imagined than done and the first thing you know you are in the cold water to your armpits A regular band of jabbing screeching maniacs but so far you have not realized much on your mental investment and it looks like a hopeless task when an oldtimer comes along with a goodly catch and drops you the hint to go up stream and you will do better betterPOOLS POOLS ALIVE WITH SCARLET FISH FISHFollowing Following this tip you soon ccme onto pools literally scarlet with schools of these fish And here you pull off another strenuous stunt of frantic jerking and jabbing pf your snag hooks and finally succeed in landing a few wriggling on your new fishing contraption They arc so thick here you cannot help but get one on your hook once in a while if you only keep it in the water So your red fish stocks take a decided jump And so passes the day as you flounder through these deep pools of ice water shivering until your teeth chat ¬ ter driving these masses of fish within reach of each others hooks until you1 have a heavy string for your pains painsYou You had only intended getting enough for a mess or so but who can stop at that when those schools race tauntingly back and forth in front of you in their panicstricken efforts to get out of danger dangerNo No one stops at just a mess but then they are not wasted you can salt them down and they will be an insurance against bacon on the balance of your trip Finally deciding you have plenty of fish for an army you string out and plod back to camp like a band of Indians with your clothes flapping cold and clammy against you while your feet keep up a steady squirting slosh slosh in your water filled shoes Over among the willows on the creek bank you notice something bob up in sight and soon a pole rises in the air some ten or twelve feet as one of the natives of that region picks a wriggling red fisli poleWalking from the hooks on the lower end of the pole Walking over to watch this process you stop several feet back from the creek bank as you notice the care this fisherman takes to keep well out of sight of the fisli in the pool Parting the willows carefully the pole is lowered into the water slowly scarcely causing a ripple After a few minutes of watchful waiting he gives a quick Jerk and hand over hand the pole is raised again and another red fish tucked away in the natives sack As the pole is lowered this time you watch closely and approaching carefully see the fish wriggle to one side as this bunch of cruel hooks settle into their midst Soon this fear is allayed as the hooks lie still and seemingly harmless and the fish re ¬ turn to their old haunts when a quick jerk lessens their numbers by one more absent brother brotherThen Then you size up your new acquaintance to note that he hasnt a wet garment on him while you feel like a dishrag And when he has as many or more fish than you This is scientific red fish ¬ ing and you feel like a tenderfoot In your wet bedraggled condition but you have had a day long to be remembered and there are about thirty days each year that someone is doing just the same thing yes things you have been doing on this your first day of red fishing And I suppose they will continue to do so until thesi red fish are in a class with the buffalo and antelope
