14 ROD 6- CREEL 



tioned are not infrequently, and the first named very occasion- 

 ally, taken on the rod. 



The Habits of the Salmon. All salmon deposit their spawn 

 in the fall or early winter and they almost invariably pair 

 while ascending the rivers for the purpose. When they reach 

 their spawning place, the male fish, with tail and nose, exca- 

 vates a broad, shallow bed, sometimes in the silty bed of a lake 

 of little depth but more frequently in a gravelly bottom of a 

 stream, in rapid water at a depth of one to five feet. The eggs 

 are then deposited and covered with silt or gravel and the fish 

 themselves float down stream, and in the course of a few days 

 die. 



Whether any recover after spawning and return to the sea 

 is very problematical. Possibly a few springs and echoes do so, 

 but so far no Pacific Coast salmon has yet been discovered that 

 has spawned a second time. 



The young fish hatch out in from 120 to 180 days in cold 

 streams, the period lessening with higher temperature and, as 

 a rule, descend to the ocean in their first year, some remaining 

 a year longer. They grow very slowly at first, but in their last 

 year do so very rapidly. The age of a salmon is ascertained 

 by microscopic examination of the scales, which exhibit distinct 

 ring marks for each year. The number of years a salmon has 

 spawned is ascertained in the same manner. Spring salmon, as 

 a rule, spawn in their fourth and fifth years, some in their sixth. 

 Cohoes normally spaw r n in their third year though sometimes in 

 the fourth and even fifth years. 



One of the problems about salmon that has never yet been 

 solved is why they can be taken with baits in fresh water, see- 

 ing that when once they leave the sea the stomach contracts and 

 they cease to feed. In the salt water almost any "spring" 

 3 r ou catch will be found to have its stomach half full of smelts, 

 young herring or small sea perch, and yet nobody has ever yet 

 found even the remains of food in any salmon caught in fresh 

 water. It is sometimes argued that they do not mean to swal- 

 low it but only bite at it because it annoys them. This can 

 hardly be the case, as there are times when you can put baits 

 of all sorts right under their noses and they will hardly notice 

 it, while at other times they will come with a rush from as 

 far as they can see it. 



Trout. The identity of the trout of this Province has been 

 the source of a vast amount of argument, and while a certain 

 amount of scientific examination has been made, so far as I am 

 aware, no authoritative description of the trout of this Province 

 alone has ever been written. As far, however, as can be ascer- 

 tained, apart from a slight difference between coast and interior 

 types, no anatomical difference has been discovered between the 



