264 FISHING IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



except the caudal, which is forked. The head resembles the 

 brook trout's, even to the teeth. By some persons this fish 

 is supposed to be a land-locked salmon ; but it is a distinct 

 family of the genus Salmo, though in principal outward marks 

 of characterization it resembles the salmon-trout of Ontario 

 and the other great lakes, differing because of inhabiting lim- 

 pid spring waters with better food. 



TROUT OF SENECA AND CAYUGA LAKES. Salmo confinis. 



In May, after the waters become settled and clear, these 

 fish are taken by trolling with spinning-tackle and minnow 

 bait. It is necessary to sink the bait near the bottom, and, 

 as the trout remain near shore until June, a light sinker will 

 be sufficient ; but when the weather becomes quite warm 

 they resort to a feeding-level from fifty to two hundred feet 

 below the surface, where they are taken by trolling with 

 feathered squids. The line should be two hundred yards 

 long, of the size used for catching cod, and from twelve feet 

 above the hook to twenty-five feet leads an eighth of an inch 

 thick are rolled at intervals on the line, sometimes to the 

 weight of a pound. Row slowly, and let out line until you 

 get a bite, and then calculate the depth to the feeding-level, 

 as the water in some places is a thousand feet deep. 



Baiting the buoy and fishing with a drop-line is also prac- 

 ticed with success, though none of these methods of taking 

 lake trout are very attractive to the angler. 



THE MACKINAW TROUT. 



This trout is the largest of the genus in American waters, 

 generally running from two to five feet in length, and weigh- 

 ing from fifteen to fifty pounds, though Dr. Mitchill states 



