FISHES AND FISHING IN SUNAPEE LAKE. 43 



largely the smelt, ami the smelt may be largely the " obstmction " 

 that landlocked the salmon. In other words, salmon liaving entered 

 a lake and ascended its inlet or inlets to spawn, as they began to return, 

 finding abunchmt natural food in the smelt, tliey were, or some indi- 

 viduals were, content to stay in the lake. Or it may be that the 

 young, lingering as they do in their native streams sometimes for 

 two and three 3'ears and there attaining a weight of at least half a 

 pound or more, on entering the lake from the inlet or outlet found 

 congenial surroundings in the way of temperature and food and 

 remained. Whatever the facts of the landlocking process, the one 

 fact remains that it is easy to stock a lake having tJie requisite condi- 

 tions with landlocked salmon, thus indicating that but a few, if any, 

 of the salmon attempt to go to sea. The landlocked salmon does, 

 however, in spawning season, descend into outlets, where it breeds. 

 Also salmon have been known to follow a drive of logs, presumably 

 for the sake of grubs and insects dropping from the logs. But young 

 landlocked salmon have never been detected going to sea in the 

 manner of the young of "sea salmon." 



The young sahnon is largely an insect feeder until it comes in con- 

 tact with the smelt. It takes whatever insects it finds faUen upon 

 the water and seeks the larval aquatic forms occurring on stones and 

 submerged logs. 



Angling. — The usual method of fishing for salmon in the lakes is by 

 troUing with natural or artificial bait, but the fish will take the fly, 

 especially in the early evening, when insects are at the surface of the 

 water. As has been suggested elsewhere, the reason why salmon are 

 not rising to an artificial fly may be because there are no such flies 

 for them to rise to, or there may be no salmon to rise to them, or, it 

 may be added, the fishing may be at an improper season or time of 

 day. In 1890 a prominent summer resident at Sunapee Lake com- 

 menting in a sportsman's journal upon the fishing of that season, 

 among other things, said: "Fly fishing for bass never was finer. 

 Wliile casting a small brown hackle the other evening we raised a 

 10-pound sahnon, but he missed the fly." Mr. Ralph Davis states 

 that he formerly cauglit landlocked salmon on flies at the mouth of 

 Georges Mill Brook. Only one recent definite record of landlocked 

 salmon caught by anglers was available, perhaps, as has been pre- 

 viously suggested, because they were not always distinguished from 

 chinooks. This record referred to a 12-pound fish taken at Split 

 Rock on July 29, 1911. 



This fish is unsurpassed as a game fish and is an excellent food fish. 

 Its size and activity make it very attractive to the angler. But 

 the foregoing discussion of its habits indicates that it is an undesir- 

 able acquisition where it is desired to maintain the stock of trout. 

 In other places in this paper allusion has been made to the effect of 



