37o SALMON AND TROUT. 



Moreover, spinning for brown trout in lakes is rarely, in my 

 experience, very deadly, unless in waters of considerable size, and 

 in rough windy weather. There are, however, exceptions to 

 this rule, and I have more than once made a good basket of 

 brown trout when the sun was at its brightest, and the surface 

 of the lake like a mill pond. 



In judging of the ground over which it is best to spin, the 

 following hints, in addition to those above given, may be of use. 



There is round the shores of almost all lakes a point on 

 the shelving bank under the water line at which light and dark 

 seem to meet ; in other words, where the rocky or gravelly 

 bottom becomes quite invisible, owing to the depth of water. 

 Just about this line, and rather a yard or two outside than 

 inside of it, is usually the best for spinning. The food of both 

 the Great Lake and brown trout consists, to a great extent, of 

 small fry. These usually, in nautical phraseology, more or less 

 'hug the shore,' up which, therefore, stopping short at the 

 shallows, the trout naturally comes in pursuit of them. This 

 question of locality is, as I pointed out in the ' Modern Prac- 

 tical Angler,' rather an important one, as thereupon it depends 

 mainly whether the bait is ever in a position to be seen by the 

 fish it is intended to catch. The observation has special refer- 

 ence also to the Great Lake trout, in regard to which I have 

 offered the following observations in the passage already re- 

 ferred to. 



The secret of success in spinning for the Great Lake trout 

 lies principally in four points time, depth, speed, and place, 

 thus : 



Time. As a rule, begin fishing when other people are 

 leaving off; that is, in summer at about six o'clock P.M. From 

 this hour until midnight lake trout may be caught. 



Depth. Instead of weighting the tackle to spin the bait at 

 some three feet from the surface, lead it so as to sink to within 

 about the same distance from the bottom, be the depth what it 

 may. Both for this purpose, and in order to keep the bait at 

 a distance from the boat, it is almost indispensable that from 



