THE SALMON AND TRO UT OF ALASKA. 35 



venison ; but at the best they cared little for it, and 

 when the blood became soaked out, the bait was useless. 

 Although fairly gamy when hooked, fishing for these 

 trout was but a poor substitute, for one who had felt and 

 remembered the thrills caused by sudden strikes of our 

 Adirondack fish. I have often when pool-fishing, seen 

 them leisurely approach the bait, and nibble at it as 

 a dainty, full-fed kitten will at a bit of meat, and when 

 one did get the hook, we found it out only by a slight 

 resistance to the series of light twitches which it was ne- 

 cessary to give it. They have evidently been taught by 

 experience that salmon roe is not apt to attempt escape. 

 The usual size of the fish ranged from six to twelve 

 inches now and then one larger. The largest taken by 

 any of us, near Sitka, fell victim to my " salmon spawn 

 fly," and gave my little Orvis rod half an hour's good 

 work. It measured twenty-one inches, but was very 

 light for the length, weighing but two and three-quar- 

 ter pounds. At the Eedoubt river, much larger ones 

 were taken ; and two which I shot in Beardslee river 

 were over two feet in length ; how much they weighed 

 I never found out, for their surroundings of sick and 

 dying salmon, upon whose eggs they were feeding, prej- 

 udiced me against them and I left them. 



In shape and color the spectdbilis vary greatly, both 

 factors depending upon the length of time they have 

 been in fresh water. When fresh run, they are long and 

 lean, shaped somewhat like the lake trout of Adiron- 

 dack lakes. The colors are dark lustrous olive-green 



