BROWN AND RAINBOW TROUT 35 



taken on the rod and after a season or two they disap- 

 pear entirely. But in some cases stocking with them 

 has been entirely successful and the streams wherein 

 they may be found afford some of the finest of fly- 

 fishing. 



As a game fish there is no harder fighter than the 



rainbow. Almost invariably its first act when hooked 



is to leap high from the water ; then f ol- 



TT* v? amC * ows a P r l n g e d> fast-fought resistance 

 sufficient to tax the skill of the most ex- 

 pert angler. The rainbow is a faster fighter than the 

 brown trout, its quickness of movement resembling more 

 the action of the native trout. The writer, however, 

 has cause to remember his first rainbow for the reason 

 that the fish did not leap for good and sufficient rea- 

 sons. Fishing at the confluence of two trout streams in 

 very fast water where the currents of the two streams 

 struggled for mastery, I hooked and after a running 

 fight landed about a hundred yards downstream from 

 that point a double consisting of a three-quarter pound 

 rainbow and a native trout of one pound and a half. 

 The native was taken on the end fly, a coachman, and 

 the rainbow on the dropper, a Beaverkill. In this case 

 the larger trout undoubtedly forced the fighting and 

 held down the rainbow so that it was impossible for him 

 to go into the air. Since then I have had numerous 

 opportunities to admire the leaping and other sporting 

 qualities of the rainbow. 



As to the distinctive coloration of the rainbow, Will- 

 iam C. Harris whose writings, both as a practical an- 

 gler and ichthyologist, on the natural history of game 



