Sunapee Trout ; American Saibling 



like white ribbons under the ripples. There are conspicuous dif- 

 ferences in intensity of general colouration, and the gaudy dyes 

 of the milter are tempered in the spawner to a dead-lustre cad- 

 mium cream or olive chrome, with opal spots. The wedding 

 garment nature has given to this charr is unparagoned. Those 

 who have seen the bridal march of the glistening hordes, in all 

 their glory of colour and majesty of action, pronounce it a spec- 

 tacle never to be forgotten." 



That so conspicuous a game and food-fish could have been 

 aboriginal to Sunapee Lake, and for 100 years have escaped the 

 notice alike of visiting and resident anglers, persistent poachers, 

 and alert scientists is accounted for, as suggested by Dr. Quacken- 

 bos, by its habit of remaining almost constantly in deep water, 

 by its spawning on mid-lake reefs late in the fall when angling 

 is out of season and the locality of the beds dangerous of access, 

 and by its comparative scarcity prior to the introduction of black 

 bass in 1868. Quoting still further from Dr. Quackenbos, to whom 

 we are indebted for our account of this fish, "the Sunapee saib- 

 ling takes live bait readily, preferring a cast smelt in spring, 

 when it pursues the spawning Osmerus to the shores. As far 

 as is known, it does not rise to the fly, either at this season, 

 or when on the shoals in autumn. Through the summer months 

 it is angled for with a live minnow or smelt, in 60 to 70 feet 

 of water, over cold bottom, in localities that have been baited. 

 While the smelt are inshore, trolling with a light fly-rod and 

 fine tackle, either with a Skinner fluted spoon, No. i, or a 

 small smelt on a single hook, will sometimes yield superb sport, 

 as the game qualities of the white trout are estimated to be 

 double those of fontinalis. 



"The most exhilarating amusement to be had with this charr, 

 after the first hot June days, is in trolling from a sailboat with a 

 greenheart tarpon rod, 300 feet of copper wire of the smallest 

 calibre on a heavy tarpon reel, and attached to this a 6-foot braided 

 leader with a Buell's spinner, or a live minnow on a stiff gang. 

 The weight of the wire sinks the bait to the requisite depth. 

 When the sailboat is running across the wind at the maximum 

 of her speed, the sensation experienced by the strike of a 4 or 

 5-pound fish bankrupts all description. A strong line under such 

 a tension would part on the instant; but the ductility of the 

 wire averts this accident, and the man at the reel end of the 



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