FISHES OF THE CONNECTICUT LAKES. 45 
are well stocked with minnows and small whitefish (Coregonus quadrilateralis), 
known locally as billfish. The stream flowing into these lakes are free from 
sawdust, and afford fine spawning grounds for adult salmon. 
Some salmon are caught every year, but nothing could be learned 
regarding the abundance in the lakes. 
The salmon subsists upon fish and insects and, as indicated before, 
in its native waters particularly upon smelts. In some waters this 
relation to smelts to a great extent determines the time and method 
of angling for the salmon. In the spring, when the’ smelt ascends 
streams and brooks or approaches the shore for the purpose of spawn- 
ing, the salmon follows it and feeds greedily upon it. The salmon 
is then taken by trolling, with any bright lure, but mainly hooks or 
spinners, with a smelt or shiner bait. At this season it may be caught 
also by casting a bait, or sometimes a fly, in streams, where it 
seldom lies in an eddy or pool, but just in the edge of the 
swiftest flowing water, feeding upon fish as they appear, or 
aquatic larve of insects, and occasionally insects at the sur- 
face. When taking bait it is sometimes, but not always, rather 
particular or capricious. Sometimes any kind of a bait, from a tinsel 
initation of a fish or a bunch of earthworms to a spinner or smelt, 
is acceptable. Again, it will take only one or the other; at other 
times, if it will take anything at all, it may take only artificial flies 
and only certain kinds of these; the killing flies of any body of water 
must be learned by experience. In some water bright flies like Scarlet 
Ibis, Silver Doctor, and the more somber Jockscot are killers; in 
others only plain flies will attract the least attention. They may be 
dark or light, but without much, if any, red or other bright color. 
The salmon im some waters may be caught all summer and into Sep- 
tember; in others it seldom bites much after the first part of July, 
and in September it begins to run to the spawning grounds, the run 
continuing well into November. The spawning, as a rule, takes place 
in November and the eggs hatch in the following spring. In most 
instances, if possible, salmon ascend or descend streams, to spawn upon 
gravelly bottoms in quickly running water. When streams are not 
available the operation takes place on gravelly shoals of the lake. In 
such places a hollow is made in the gravel, which serves as a nest. 
These are sometimes termed “ redds.” 
There are more or less structural and chromatic changes in the fish 
-at the approach of the breeding season. The jaws of the male are 
prolonged, the under jaw becomes hooked, owing to a cartilaginous 
knob which fits into a socket in the snout, but in some cases it passes 
up over the end of the snout. The hooked lower jaw of the male per- 
sists for a long time, the long-jawed hungry fellows being frequently 
caught in the spring. In many instances the fierce appearance of 
these fish have caused them to be mistaken for or regarded as other 
