180 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 



half pounds, five and a half pounds, five and a quarter 

 pounds, five pounds, and returned all the others in good 

 condition to the water. These trout were from twenty- 

 two to twenty-four inches long, and from thirteen to 

 thirteen and a half inches in shoulder girth. They were 

 all fine breeding trout, with the sexual differences 

 strongly marked even in the middle of July. "We took 

 trout with eggs fully developed in the middle of July. 



It may be well to remark here that the biting on the 

 Nipigon River is not all done by the fish. There are 

 three varieties of "fly " that bite. The mosquitoes are 

 thick and hungry. They are sometimes too hungry to be 

 driven away by endurable smoke or by the usual "fly iles." 

 Tar and olive-oil well daubed on will keep them off for 

 a few minutes. The mosquitoes do not bite when the 

 sun is hot on the water or when the wind is high. The 

 black fly is to some persons more annoying than the 

 mosquitoes. He is indifferent to the sacrifice of his 

 individual life. The angler wipes off a hundred or two 

 from under the protecting brim of his hat and from 

 behind his ears, and the eager swarms are instantly re- 

 placed. More than one man has been confined to his 

 camp for a day or two because the black flies closed his 

 eyes by their bites. 



When these two torments are quiet or absent, the 

 sportsman may be assailed by sand flies. These are 

 almost invisible, but they bite as energetically as a New 

 Jersey mosquito. When all three kinds assail the 

 sportsman at once, he might well flee for his life. 



