THE LAKE TROUT 99 



THE LAKE TROUT is almost of equal food value 

 to the Whitefish, but it is never caught in great 

 numbers by the Indians in their set nets. The 

 flesh of this fish is deep yellow, and firm and full- 

 flavoured ; but one tires of it quickly as a regular 

 diet, probably on account of its richness in fat 

 or oil. In shape those trout are full and lengthily 

 well proportioned ; in colour the fine scales are 

 silvery white on the lower body, and white- 

 spotted sage-green brownish above, while there 

 is a thin, dark, well-defined line along the centre 

 of the sides. They are powerful fish, usually 

 weighing between three and a half pounds and 

 eight pounds, though they are occasionally caught 

 of much greater size. I secured one weighing 

 nineteen pounds, and preserved the skin, which 

 is now mounted in the Saskatchewan Museum. 

 One is recorded weighing twenty-five pounds, 

 caught near the mouth of Stone River. 1 Those 

 trout can be easily caught on a rod by trolling 

 a minnow or spoon, but fly was tried on a few 

 occasions without success, though fish were seen 

 breaking the surface of the water in all directions 

 on suitable evenings. 



I had no occasion to catch more trout than 

 the day's needs required, and on Reindeer Lake, 

 particularly at the south end, half an hour's 

 trolling was often sufficient to take a five to ten 

 pound basket ; when the rod would then be put 

 away. Fishing for food in this way during the 

 six days it took to travel from the south to the 

 north end of Reindeer Lake, my catch totalled 



1 Report on the country between Lake Athabasca and Churchill 

 River, 1896, p. 14 D. 



