Dolly Varden Trout 319 



or lost entirely. I have seen in a small brook 

 flowing down from the Sawtooth Mountains of 

 southern Idaho, at least two thousand miles from 

 the sea, as the rivers run, a Dolly Varden weigh- 

 ing not less than six or seven pounds, which in 

 the shallow water showed plainly all its distinc- 

 tive and resplendent coloration. This trout was 

 probably a sea-run specimen, which, like fontinalis, 

 on its return from salt water had dropped its 

 robe of silver for one of more brilliant colors, 

 which it had worn when in its adolescence and 

 living in a spring-water habitat. 



None of the salmon-trouts or charrs rises more 

 freely to the artificial fly than the Dolly Varden ; 

 when of a pound or so in weight, they have been 

 taken with trout flies tied on No. 8 Sproat hooks, 

 and the Dun fly and March Brown are generally 

 alluring; these fish, however, are not fastidious 

 in their feeding habits. In Alaska they swarm 

 around the mouths of rivers, and a short distance 

 up-stream is the best locality for fly fishing, 

 although they have been taken with flies in salt 

 water along the comparatively shallow but some- 

 what abrupt shores. The average of the fish 

 so taken seldom exceeds a pound, and I have 

 yet to learn, and possibly will, of a sea-run speci- 



