State protect the fish after September 1, proceeding upon the theory
that its spawning season is later than that,--as it is in many cases,
but not in all, as we found out.

The fish are small in these streams, seldom weighing over a few ounces.
Occasionally a large one is seen of a pound or pound and a half weight.
I remember one such, as black as night, that ran under a black rock.
But I remember much more distinctly a still larger one that I caught
and lost one eventful day.

I had him on my hook ten minutes, and actually got my thumb in his
mouth, and yet he escaped.

It was only the over-eagerness of the sportsman. I imagined I could
hold him by the teeth.

The place where I struck him was a deep well-hole, and I was perched
upon a log that spanned it ten or twelve feet above the water. The
situation was all the more interesting because I saw no possible way to
land my fish. I could not lead him ashore, and my frail tackle could
not be trusted to lift him sheer from that pit to my precarious perch.
What should I do? call for help? but no help was near. I had a revolver
in my pocket and might have shot him through and through, but that
novel proceeding did not occur to me until it was too late. I would
have taken a Sam Patch leap into the water, and have wrestled with my
antagonist in his own element, but I knew the slack, thus sure to
occur, would probably free him; so I peered down upon the beautiful
creature and enjoyed my triumph as far as it went. He was caught very
lightly through his upper jaw, and I expected every struggle and
somersault would break the hold. Presently I saw a place in the rocks