SALMON AND TROUT FISHING IN CANADA 

 Campbell River than elsewhere, but this may be because they are more 

 fished for there, and while the season commences early, as already shown, 

 the best months are from July to November. 



The Cohoe salmon is more numerous than the Quinnat, and while of 

 smaller size than the latter mentioned, it is just as game a fish, and per- 

 haps even more so. A good many Cohoes may be taken on the fly in October 

 and even as late as November at the mouth of the Harrison River, on the 

 mainland, above the city of Vancouver. This is probably the most pro- 

 ductive as well as the most accessible water for fly -fishing for the salmon 

 of the coast. 



The British Columbia fish that more closely resembles the salmon 

 of Europe and of the North Atlantic coast of America is not a salmon 

 at all, though sometimes classed as such. This is the steelhead trout 

 (Salmo gairdneri), which Dr Lambert has curiously enough described as 

 **■ the sea -going species of the rainbow," though it is scarcely necessary 

 to explain that neither anadromy nor any other habit can constitute even 

 a distinct variety — much less a different species. 



The rainbow, like the steelhead, is a true trout, and in addition to other 

 differences may usually be distinguished from the steelhead by the larger 

 size of its scales. Its scientific name is Salmo irideus* 



Colonel Andrew Haggard, D.S.O., has graphically described the splen- 

 did sport to be had in the Cowichan River, Vancouver Island, for both 

 steelheads and rainbow trout. Mr Babcock, of British Columbia, prefers 

 the sport on the Cowichan to that afforded by the famous trout of the 

 Nepigon, which river, he claims, is not comparable with the Cowichan, 

 even from a scenic point of view. 



The fact that large steelhead trout — often mistaken for salmon — ^take 

 the fly in the upper reaches of the rivers, accounts for many of the stories 

 of the killing of British Columbia salmon with rod and line in the interior 

 waters of the province. In the Kootenay and Okanagan lakes these fish 

 are very plentiful. They remain there all the year round. In the rivers 

 where they are anadromous they have been taken on the fly, under favour- 

 able circumstances, both in the salt water of the estuaries and in the fresh 

 water of the upper reaches. They have been known up to thirty-two pounds 

 in weight, but these very large trout are usually taken on a spoon. The 



*Io the opinion of some ichthyologists the steelhead and the rainbow are fish of the same species, the former 

 having the sea-going habit while the latter never leaves the fresh water. In like manner the European ehar, usually 

 exclusively a freshwater fish, goes to the sea from some Scandinavian rivers. Rainbow trout introduced into British 

 waters escape to the sea if they can. — ED. 



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