Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 July 1889 — Trout That Reasoned and Remembered. [ARTICLE]

Trout That Reasoned and Remembered.

' “Some time before the death of Seth Green, the celebrated New York fish’ culturist and naturalist,” said a Philadelphian who takes great interest in piscicultural matters,” I paid a visit with him to the fish hatchery of that state at Caledonia. In one of the ponds there at that time there were 5,000 large brook trout, every one of which had been captured with the fly -iifed on barbless hooks—in unfrequented brooks in the Adirondack region. These trout, Mr. Green said, had convinced him that fish have reasoning power and memory. When they were hooked he said, and were reeled slowly in by the careful fishermen who were capturing them for the state pond, they had time and opportunity to note the form and character of the tackle that made them prisoners. According to Mr. Greer, they never forgot that experience. The trout had been in the pond a long time, the females never being allowed to spawn there, and would follow Mr. Green as he walked along the edge of the water, tossing bits of liver into the pond. To show that his theory about the memory and reason was correct he would carry a cane and a fish rod concealed behind his back. If he took the cane from its concealment and held it out over tho water the fish paid no attention to it; but the moment he produced the rod with its reel and line attached away the trout scampered like a flash to distant parts of the pond. Mr. Green told me that he would permit anyone to cast a fly in that pond to his heart’s content, as he was satisfied that not one of the trout would come near it, so vividly did they remember their enemy of live years ago.” Philadelphia Press.