CHAR AXD SALMON TROUTS 23 



sluggish streams, such as make their way through 

 mucky soil, are almost certain to turn out fish 

 black as Erebus, with brilliant red spots and 

 highly colored under parts. Last summer, fish- 

 ing a confluent of a certain well-known trout 

 stream, I took several fish, all so dark that one 

 might be pardoned for thinking them members 

 of another family from those of the main stream. 

 I have noticed also that fish from rapid streams, 

 water broken by many rocks and falls, are apt to 

 be of a pale washed-out color, sometimes almost 

 silvery. The deeply colored chars are of alder- 

 manic proportions, short and thickset; while 

 usually the silvery fish are slim and attenuated. 

 Naturally it follows that the latter fish are the 

 best fighters, trained to activity by their habitat, 

 fighting near the surface and dashing through 

 the rapid water with an unbelievable speed. 

 The dark-colored fish, sluggish and logy, fight 

 below the surface, rooting beneath snags and 

 off under over-hanging banks, tugging away 

 with all of a bull-dog's perversity and grim 

 stick-to-itiveness. The latter fish are tackle 

 testers. Once, when fishing Pine River, Wis- 

 consin, a number of years ago, I took what I con- 

 sidered an albino speckkd trout; at least it was 

 marked just like fontinalis save that it was of a 



