TROUT FLY-FISHING IN AMERICA 



or lake suitable for trout life being without it. In California the 

 species seems to be comparatively rare, and its range rarely ex- 

 tending south of Cape Mendocino. Large sea-run individuals 

 analogous to the steelheads are sometimes found in the mouth of 

 the Sacramento. In Washington and Alaska this species regularly 

 enters the sea. In Puget Sound it is a common fish. These sea- 

 run individuals are more silvery and less spotted than those found 

 in the mountain streams and lakes. The size of Salmo clarkii is 

 subject to much variation. Ordinarily four to six pounds is a large 

 size, but in certain favored waters, as Lake Tahoe and the fjords 

 of southeastern Alaska, specimens from twenty to thirty pounds 

 are occasionally taken. 



Those species or individuals dwelling in lakes of considerable 

 size, where the water is of such temperature and depth as insures 

 an ample food supply, will reach a large size, while those in re- 

 stricted environment, where both the water and food are limited, 

 will be small directly in proportion to these environing restrictions. 

 The trout of the Klamath Lakes, for example, reach a weight of at 

 least 17 pounds, while in Fish Lake in Idaho mature trout do not 

 exceed 8 to 9^ inches in total length or one-fourth pound in 

 weight. In small creeks in the Sawtooth Mountains and elsewhere 

 they reach maturity at a length of 5 or 6 inches, and are often 

 spoken of as brook trout, and with the impression that they are a 

 species different from the larger ones found in the lakes and 

 larger streams. But as all sorts and gradations between these ex- 

 treme forms may be found in the intervening and connecting waters, 

 the differences are not even of sub-specific significance." 



As it should be of great interest to the angler what 

 Doctor Evermann has to say about the game qualities of 

 the SalmO'clarkii, I give it here; 



"The various forms of cutthroat trout vary greatly in game 

 qualities ; even the same sub-species in different waters, in different 

 parts of its habitat, or at different seasons, will vary greatly in this 

 regard. In general, however, it is perhaps a fair statement to say 

 that the cutthroat trout are regarded by anglers as being inferior 



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