264 The Trouts of America 



creeled. Certainly fish as well as fishermen have 

 their " off days." But of one fact I am sure, the 

 Kern River trout will, when in a feeding humor, 

 take any fly that lures the charrs of Eastern 

 waters. 



In the upper Sacramento River will be found 

 the " Nissuee," or, as the Indians call it, the " No- 

 shee " trout (Salmo irideus stonei], which is abun- 

 dant about eight or ten miles above the United 

 States hatchery at Baird, California. It is distin- 

 guished by its large size, specimens having been 

 taken weighing twelve pounds ; by its small 

 scales and fewer teeth those on the roof of the 

 mouth consisting of a single zigzag series. The 

 upper parts of the body are of a plain greenish 

 color; the black spots are few in number con- 

 fined chiefly to the posterior part of the body, 

 and on the back and tail fins (including the small 

 adipose or fatty fin) they are small and sparsely 

 distributed. This fish is said to rise freely to 

 the artificial fly. 



The Kern River trout is believed by many 

 ichthyologists to be an intermediate grade be- 

 tween the rainbow, the steelhead, and the cut- 

 throat, and so nearly halfway between that it 

 cannot be said which species it is descended from. 



