26 THE FINE ART OF FISHING 



The discussion is futile. Rightly, there can be no 

 question as regards the respective sporting qualities of 

 the two. Our native trout, the speckled brook trout, is 

 clearly in a class by itself. No other trout, or any 

 other game fish, has ever been or ever will be so well 

 beloved by sportsmen. So let us consider the brown 

 trout strictly on its own merits and not as an actual or 

 even possible rival of our red-spotted charr. 



The German or brown trout was first planted in 



American waters, as above noted, in 1882, the eggs 



coming from Germany and England. 



Origin in -p or SQme t j me thereafter the fish were 

 propagated and planted by the United 

 States Bureau of Fisheries, but at the present time fry 

 or fingerlings can only be obtained from private hatch- 

 eries. The Federal Bureau ceased distributing the 

 brown trout for reasons which will appear later. Be- 

 fore the cessation of propagation, however, the range 

 of the brown trout had attained large proportions, and 

 they are now to be found in very many of our trout 

 streams both East and West. 



The brown trout is a true trout, a salmon trout, and 

 not a charr, in which it differs from our native trout. 

 If you are a good angler and kill your 

 The Brown s h immediately after landing them 

 Trii T t w ^ cn > as suggested in the preceding 

 * chapter, can best be done in the case of 

 trout of moderate size by inserting the forefinger in the 

 mouth of the fish and bending the head sharply back- 

 ward you will have reason to note very "sharply" an 

 anatomical difference between the mouth of a salmon 



