38 Reminiscences of 



to active life again, which I have often clearly dem- 

 onstrated, but of which I shall not here go into de- 

 tails, reserving that feature for more particular men- 

 tion and details of in extenso which will be included 

 in the chapters I shall hereafter give concerning trout 

 and its habits. 



We found the trout plentiful and in fine condition, 

 as they are apt to be in favorable waters beneath the 

 ice in the month of December. In that month in 

 northern climes they are in good form, and also in 

 January, although from February and through March 

 and April they are more sluggish, and very many go 

 down to a depth and even into the soft mud at the 

 bottom of the lake, where they remain in a semi- 

 dormant condition, and those which continue to 

 circulate about are by March comparatively slow 

 in movement and appetite. As the weather moder- 

 ates in April more activity is shown, and in May, 

 when the ice generally goes out of the Maine north- 

 ern lakes by the early part or the middle of the month, 

 they are again in full activity. 



The same semi-dormant feature is shown in all 

 the varieties of the small fry of minnows and chubs, 

 which can be plentifully caught with a small hook 

 for bait for a few weeks after the ice makes, and in 

 fact seem more plentiful after the first freezing over 

 than at any time; almost wholly disappearing by 

 March, and so difficult have I found it in the latter 

 month to get live bait at the lakes that I have had to 

 send out twenty or thirty miles at times to get bait 

 from spring holes in the adjoining country. Then a 

 good bait would be almost equivalent to a trout. 



I have found that for the first week after the 



