54 - FISHES AND FISHING IN SUNAPEE LAKE. 



taken in Pike Brook in April had been eating smelt eggs and larval 

 insects, and two other larger ones were found to contain partly digested 

 adult smelts, the remains of which, in each instance, measured 4 

 inches. 



On April 24, in a pool in Pike Brook, a trout 8 inches long, with 

 protruding, apparently blind eyes, was found near the hatchery. 

 It was probably a fish that had been hooked a few days previously 

 and one eye injured by the hook, the injury or inflammation extending 

 to the other eye. The trout when first hooked was a beautiful, 

 bright colored, plump fish. At this time it was somewhat emaciated 

 and very dark colored, probably due to blindness, and thus indicating 

 that change of color in a fish may depend, to some extent at least, 

 upon sight. It was interesting to note that its stomach contained a 

 partly digested smelt, the undigested portion about 4 inches long, 

 which must have been recently ingested. 



Small trout from 3 to 10 inches long were observed in Pike and 

 Blodgetts Brooks throughout the season, and whenever there was 

 water in King Hill Brook some trout were observed there. It wjis 

 stated by persons familiar with the brooks and their condition that 

 all the trout left the brooks and went into the lake after the first 

 heavy rains in November. 



On August 18, in the pool near the hatchery in Pike Brook, a school 

 of at least 60 or more trout from 2 to 9 or 10 inches long was observed 

 and they were still there about November 1. On October 30 and 

 31 many trout were seen in the brook as far up as Alaria Springs, but 

 on November 2 only a few trout, perhaps 6 or 7 inches long, seemed 

 to be left in the pool and but few observed elsewhere. On November 

 3, a very rainy day, about 3 p. m., three trout 5 to 10^ inches long 

 were found in an overflow pool in the beach formed by a rise in the 

 brook that day. The brook was pretty high and running swiftly 

 through the beach. In the evening a great many trout were seen 

 I'unning down and 30 or 40 were caught. A small percentage of 

 them would range from 5 to 10 inches in length (but the majority 

 were smaller), many of them spent fish. A 10^-inch trout was a 

 spent female. The biggest run was early in the evening. The fish 

 were descending head first. None was seen headed up brook except 

 when startled, when they would sometimes run upstream. These 

 trout evidently had not tried to get out of the shallow overflow, as 

 there were two quick-flowing outlets. 



On November 4 a few trout 5 or 6 inches long were seen in Big 

 Brook and many in Little Brook at Blodgetts Landing, and on 

 November 5 a few, perhaps 34 to 6 inches long, were observed in 

 Pike Brook below the hatchery, but none above as far as Alaria 

 Springs. 



