FOREST, LAKE, AND RIVER 



trout, or what we can properly term, now, 

 " salters." T^here seems to be the place where 

 they look for them, and where they get them. 

 As one old sportsman writes in regard to the 

 habits of trout in the Mashpee River, " They 

 spawn in the fall, descend the river to tidewater, 

 go and come with the tide, and ascend the river 

 on or before the fifteenth day of May." 



In the Coonamessett River, of which I write 

 and to which my close attention has been given, 

 I fished on the first day of April, five miles from 

 tidewater, and secured large and elegant trout, 

 and there is nothing about those trout to indicate 

 to me that they have ever visited the salt water. 

 Possibly the same day I may go to the mouth of 

 the river to tidewater and secure trout at that 

 point. Now, why is it that all trout do not visit 

 the salt water ? Every opportunity is afforded 

 them to do so. 



This season, on the fifteenth day of May, ac- 

 companied by a friend of mine, a very expert 

 fisherman, I visited the mouth of the Coonames- 

 sett River at tidewater; starting my friend at the 

 bridge, which I had every reason to believe was 

 the best piece of fishing, I went below nearly a 

 quarter of a mile and entered the stream. I se- 

 cured four elegant salters which weighed at least 



140 



