Dolly Vanien Trout 319 



or lost entirely. I have seen in a small brook 

 flowing down from the Sawtooth Mountains of 

 southern Idaho, at least two thousand miles from 

 the sea, as the rivers run, a Dolly Varden weigh- 

 ing not less than six or seven pounds, which in 

 the shallow water showed plainly all its distinc- 

 tive and resplendent coloration. This trout was 

 probably a sea-run specimen, which, XW^Q/ontinalis, 

 on its return from salt water had dropped its 

 robe of silver for one of more brilliant colors, 

 which it had worn when in its adolescence and 

 living in a spring-water habitat. 



None of the salmon-trouts or charrs rises more 

 freely to the artificial fly than the Dolly Varden ; 

 when of a pound or so in weight, they have been 

 taken with trout flies tied on No. 8 Sproat hooks, 

 and the Dun fly and March Brown are generally 

 alluring; these fish, however, are not fastidious 

 in their feeding habits. In Alaska they swarm 

 around the mouths of rivers, and a short distance 

 up-stream is the best locality for fly fishing, 

 although they have been taken with flies in salt 

 water along the comparatively shallow but some- 

 what abrupt shores. The average of the fish 

 so taken seldom exceeds a pound, and I have 

 yet to learn, and possibly will, of a sea-run speci- 



