FISHES OF THE YEI^LOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 17 



quisite coloration. The adult averages about 1 pound, but may 

 attain a weight of 4 pounds. 



The grayling prefers swift, clear, pure streams, with gravelly or 

 sandy bottom. It is quite gregarious, lying in schools in the deeper 

 pools, in plain sight, and not, like the trout, concealed under bushes 

 and overhanging banks. In search of food, which consists prin- 

 cipally of insects and their larvae, it occasionally extends its range to 

 streams strewn with bowlders and broken rocks. 



Unlike the native trout, the grayling will go long distances, if 

 necessary, to find suitable spawning grounds. It spawns in April 

 and May on gravelly shallows. In the north fork of the Madison 

 River, where the water is comparatively warm, coming from the 

 Firehole River in the park, the grayling spawns a month earlier than 

 in any other waters in Montana. 



In point of activity it even excels the native trout, when hooked 

 breaking the water repeatedly in its effort to escape, which the trout 

 seldom does. It takes the artificial fly eagerly, and if missed at the 

 first cast will rise again and again from the depths of the pool, whereas 



FIG. 1. Montana grayling. 



the trout will seldom rise a second time without a rest. It will also 

 take various baits, such as caddis-fly larvae, grasshoppers, and worms. 

 Among the recommended flies are professor, Lord Baltimore, queen 

 of the water; grizzly king, Henshall, coachman, and various gauze- 

 winged flies, with No. 10 and 12 hooks. As a food fish it is even 

 better than the trout, its flesh being firm and flaky, very white, and 

 of delicate flavor. The grayling is artificially propagated in Mon- 

 tana by the United States Bureau of Fisheries and the State fish 

 commission. 



2. ROCKY MOUNTAIN WHITEFISH ( Coreyon us williamsoni) . 



The Rocky Mountain whitefish occurs in all suitable waters on 

 the west slope of the Rockies from Utah to British Columbia. A 

 scarcely, if at all, distinguishable variety or subspecies bearing the 

 name of Coregonus williamsoni cismontanus is found in certain waters 

 of the upper Missouri Basin. In some localities this fish is miscalled 

 grayling, 4 with which it should not be confused, as it is a very differ- 

 ent species, and there seems to be a local Yellowstone River name, 

 the phonetic spelling of which is " sterlet" or "steret." 



Referring to the fishing in the canyon of Sunlight Creek, Clark Fork, Ralph E. Clark probably made 

 this mistake in writing the following: "You will probably first catch a scaly fish which looks like' a long 

 sucker. It is the Montana grayling, and there are many down there." 



