270 The Trouts of America 



golden trout of Mt. Whitney are descended from 

 the Kern River trout ; but how the progeny ever 

 managed to mount or leap the lower falls, at least 

 forty feet in height and perpendicular, is a mystery 

 yet to be unveiled. 



This trout, with its gleam of gold, is a very 

 active fish, necessarily so below the lower falls, 

 where the stream is rushing over its rocky bed at 

 the rate of thirty miles an hour, with only, here 

 and there, a small pool averaging about two feet 

 in depth, hedged in by large and jagged masses 

 of rock ; and in these shallow holes, for they can 

 be called only by that name, this fish lies and 

 rises eagerly to the feathers dressed on the usual 

 standard patterns of the ordinary trout flies in use 

 all over the country. 



The proper season to visit the Mt. Whitney 

 waters is from July to September ; they are most 

 easily reached by rail, and within fifty miles of 

 the fishing grounds, the shortest route being via 

 Reno, to Mound House, thence to Pine station, 

 where guides and outfits can be had to ascend by 

 trail the Cottonwood Canon to the high Sierras 

 and to Mt. Whitney. 



The habitat of the golden trout, according to 

 Dr. Gilbert, is confined to the mountain streams 



