FISHES AND PISHING IN SUNAPEE LAKE. 

 Plants of Common Trout in Sunapee Lake. 



53 



o"Rangeley trout." 



6 Kggs taken at Sunapee Lake. 



c 5,000 are stated to have been delivered at Newbury. It is uncertain where they were planted. 



Number op Common Trout, Proportion of Males to Females, and Number of 

 Eggs Taken by the United States Bureau op Fisheries in Sunapee Lake 

 FROM 1904 to 1911, Inclusive. 



The records of the nimiber of eggs taken each year are not consecu- 

 tive. From 1893 to 1903, inclusive, there are 11 years of which no 

 records seem to be available. The number taken in 1892 was, as 

 previously stated, 125,000. In 1904 there were only 99,000 secured, 

 but in 1906 the unprecedented number of 253,344 were secured. The 

 average number of eggs to each fish indicates that the fish averaged 

 a fairly large size. That year (1906) 181 trout, as previously stated, 

 were caught; in 1907 the take dropped to 46, in 1908 to 47, and in 

 1909 to 8, and in 1910 and 1911 the catch amounted to practically 

 nothing so far as the eggs obtained were concerned. 



Wliile there are no conveniently available records of trout taken 

 by anglers in the past few years, the general impression is that they 

 are now too scarce to gratify the angler more than very seldom, and 

 it is plainly evident that not enough can be secured there at present 

 to restock the lake. And this is in spite of the fact that the brooks 

 still contribute to the lake a good many small trout. 



Habits. — The trout is almost omnivorous, as fully, if not more so, 

 than the pickerel. In lakes where smelt or other available fish abound 

 it subsists largely upon those fishes. An ll|-mch trout caught in 

 August at The Hedgehog in 90 feet of water was gorged with larval 

 smelts. In brooks the trout subsists largely upon insects but eats 

 any other fish and even its own kind at times. A 5-inch male trout 



