26 SALMONID^. 



that all fish that inhabit clear and sparkling waters are game- 

 fish : for there are many such, of symmetrical form and deli- 

 cate flavor, that take neither tait nor fly. But it is self-evi- 

 dent that no fish which inhabit foul or sluggish waters can 

 be "game-fish." It is impossible from the very circum- 

 stances of their surroundings and associations. They may 

 flash with tinsel and tawdry attire ; they may strike with 

 the brute force of a blacksmith, or exhibit the dexterity of a 

 prize-fighter, but their low breeding and vulgar quaUty can- 

 not be mistaken. Their haunts, their very food and manner 

 of eating, betray their grossness. 



Into the noble Neepigon which rolls its crystal tide into 

 Lake Superior, sluggish creeks debouch at intervals, whose 

 inky waters, where they join the main river, are as .dis- 

 tinctly defined as the muddy Missouri is at its confluence 

 with the Mississippi. In the limpid waters of the one the 

 silvery trout disport ; among the rushes that line the oozy 

 shores of the other, gaunt pike of huge proportions lie mo- 

 tionless as logs, and wallow in the mud and sunshine. Sure- 

 ly mere instinct should decide our preference between the 

 two species of fish, even if nature had not so plainly drawn 

 her demarcating lines. By the comparison the pike must 

 yield his place in the category of game-fish, even though he 

 be a bold biter and voracious. His habits, are offensive, and 

 he feeds not on such food as make fish noble. Trout and sal- 

 mon cultivate the society of no such "frauds" as he. They 

 mingle voluntarily with none but the select coterie of their 

 own kith and kin, and carefully avoid the contamination of 

 groveling bottom-fish. They will not thrive in confined and 

 muddy waters, but die eventually, crowded out by their 

 brutish companions : or they become altogether demoralized, 

 losing their activity, their brilliancy of color, beauty of form, 

 and delicacy of flavor. On nothing does the flavor and gen- 

 eral appearance of a trout or a salmon depend so much as the 

 character of the water in which he lives. There is no flesh 

 of fish so rank and repulsive to the taste as that of a trout 



